#which also kinda makes me wanna give her like several possible hair styles but for the main plot Id probably have to more so commit to one

[chisatowo]

I REALLY wanna redesign Aris but idk what I wanna change and how much.... Like overall she's probably the character who's design has changed the least in eternal gales, which means that while I am attached to a lot of it I think it's age also shows. Especially with the clothes since they've basically not changed at all, but even outside of that I just think her design is kind of.... Plain. And I don't want that! I want her to stand out more amongst the cast, and I also rly want her design to give off a more mature vibe ig, but idk how to do that without basically revamping her entire design dhsnhd

[julemmaes]

Payback

Rowaelin Month, Day Five

A/N: Yall I'm dying. I didn't even wanna write today and I kinda forced myself to and I'm not proud of myself for this but I just wanted you to have something so yep. Tomorrow's will be a lot angstier and sadder than this one, so soak up the very light fluff I'm giving you till you can

Signing off, goodnight yall

Word count: 3,614

Aelin hated the underground car park reserved for the residents of her building. It was dark, so narrow that you had to do at least a hundred swerves to avoid taking any corner and scratching off half your car, and it was impossible to find a spot when everyone came home in the evening after hours and hours in the office and parked as they saw fit while still thinking about the thousands of pieces of paperwork that would be waiting for them at their desks only nine hours later, sometimes taking up more than two spots at once.

The only reason she still tried to park down there was that there was a flock of pigeons in the trees just outside their block of flats, on the main road, which had made a nasty habit of shitting on anything - or anyone, on some unpleasant occasion - that stopped for more than five minutes under the thick branches. A perfect hiding place for birds, that no one had thought to warn her about when she had moved in only a few months earlier.

She had deemed herself lucky the night before, when she had returned before anyone else and found the lot completely empty. She'd been so happy that she'd driven around a bit down there just for the hell of it. She'd pulled up next to the exit, thinking it would be easier to get out the next morning.

She hadn't anticipated the three assholes who had parked so as to block her path in every conceivable way.

She grunted, banging her fist against the steering wheel when she realised she still wasn't clear, and put the car into reverse for the twelfth time, before changing gear and driving three inches forward. And so on, and on, and on, until she managed to steer the face of the car towards the exit and let out a satisfied howl.

She started up the slope towards the road, taking her eyes off the driveway and distracting herself for a moment to choose which radio to listen to, when the car hit something and the dull sound of the bang echoed throughout her body, propelling her forward.

Aelin squealed, hitting the brakes hard enough to cause a high-pitched squeal, and soon the smell of burnt plastic filled her nostrils.

The car shut off and she pulled the handbrake vehemently, getting out of the car and trying to figure out which wall she had hit, already cursing every deity that had ever existed. She didn't have enough money to afford a repair, and she knew perfectly well that the dent would be there for months before she let any of her friends help her.

She wrinkled her brow, noticing how no side of the car was touching walls or columns.

"What the..."

And then she heard it, a grunt of pain.

She opened her eyes wide, running around the car and finding a man on the ground.

To the view of a head full of stark white hair, the fear she’d just ran over one of the oldies that lived on her floor stuck her. But then the person got up on their elbows and she let go of a sigh of relief.

But still, she had just runapartment someone over. She hurried his way.

"Oh, fuck." said Aelin, approaching the stranger. The man pulled himself up to sit, bringing a hand to his face, on his cheek, where a cut was bleeding profusely on his shirt.

"Holy shit." muttered the guy, looking up at her, "That hurt."

Aelin was frozen in time, her hands to her gaping mouth, looking for the right words.

When he tried to stand, swaying a little, she pushed through the fog in her mind and truly looked at him, searching other injuries, but not failing to notice his sheer handsomeness.

The man looked like he’d been made in heaven.

She shook her head, mentally reprimanding herself – now was not the time – and started talking.

“I’m so so so sorry. I didn’t see you there and- oh god, you’re bleeding. You need me to rush you to the hospital? Fuck, you think you broke something?��� the words just kept flowing and flowing. “Where were you even going? Why didn’t you just got out of the main entrance? This fucking parking lot. I swear we have to call the landlord and have him put some lights down here. Your shirt,” she grimaced, eyeing the blood standing out on the white fabric. Aelin looked him in the eye, “I have a very similar one upstairs? You want me to go fetch it for you, I could-”

“Jesus Christ!” he yelled, putting his hands in between them, forcing her to step back, “Shut the fuck up!”

Aelin’s mouth closed shut and her eyebrows raised so high she felt her skin pull on her temples. She crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes popping out.

This man. Sure, she’d just ran him over, but no one had ever talked to her like that.

“I’m fine.” he grumbled, “And I live in this building, I’ll go take my own shirt, thank you.” He took a deep breath, brushing off his trousers and bending to gather his stuff that had scattered around during his fall. When he lifted his head again, he gave her a tight smile and his piercing green eyes stared at her with an intensity that had Aelin’s toes curling in her shoes.

“Have a nice day.”

He then proceeded to walk away, leaving Aelin alone in the darkish driveway.

She looked around, hoping to see someone who could confirm that it had just been a figment of her imagination, but there was no one.

Getting back in her car, Aelin started the engine and drove up to the street, chewing on her lips, “What the fuck just happened?”

***

Aelin had thought all day about the mysterious man. She hadn’t been able to focus during her meetings and hadn’t even finished one of her projects. Something that she sure as fuck knew her boss would make her notice and work her ass off to make up for once word got to him.

Her day had started off so bad she knew it couldn’t get any worse, but she’d been wrong.

Her assistant had spilled coffee over her only finished drawing and herself. One of her coworkers had decided today was the perfect day to quit her job and pile her projects on Aelin’s desk. Then she’d gone out for lunch with some of her friends and it had started raining so heavily she’d been forced to stay in the office, only eye-eating the mouth-watering dishes her friends had posted on their instagram stories. They’d made it to the diner just before the sky cracked open.

And, the cherry on top, someone had keyed her car.

She’d been on the verge of tears when she’d spotted the red stains of her neighbor’s blood on the parking lot floor when she got back home, but she didn’t let any fall.

She had a date.

And she wouldn’t let all these little things get to her and ruin what could possibly be the best night of her life.

One of her life-long best friends had set her up on a blind date with one of her boyfriend’s best friends. She’d promised the man was the perfect match, someone Elide thought would keep her on her toes and match her overflowing personality.

Aelin had been hesitant at first when Elide hadn’t wanted to give her a name, or show her a picture, claiming she’d go all FBI style on him and ruin their first meeting, but she’d also promised Aelin she’d met the guy a few times and he’d been nothing but a gentleman.

And she had heard so much of him she felt like she’d known him her whole life.

Some of the things Elide had told her, she’d liked better if she’d found directly from him, but Aelin was a picky woman and she wasn’t risking another date with a creeper.

She pulled up in the restaurant’s parking lot where Elide had reserved the four of them a table and turned off her car, clutching the wheel. She took a deep breath. And another.

She was still a little worked up and all the pent-up emotions of the day were threatening to spill over the surface any minute, but she could make it past dinner and then have her little monthly breakdown in the peace and quiet of her apartment.

She fixed her lipstick, tightened up her ponytail and let two strands of hair cascade on the side of her face. She blew herself a kiss in the mirror, “You can do it.” she whispered as a short pet talk.

She got off the car, pulled out her phone to check if Elide was already inside and she was so focused on the screen she failed to notice someone backing up right in front of her until it was too late.

The car only bumped into her hip, but it was enough to make her lose her balance.

Aelin merely had time to register what was happening that she found herself lying in a puddle of rain and mud. She closed her eyes at the dull pain on the back of her head, but she knew for a fact the hit hadn’t been that bad.

She lifted her arms up, looking down at the wet spots on her dress, darkening by the second. Her seventy euros purse soaking up the water all around her.

The tension behind her eyes just increased when she heard the driver’s door open and someone step out of the car. She couldn’t have stopped the sobs even if she wanted to.

“Miss? Oh god, I’m so sorry. Are you alright?”

Strong arms circled her waist and pulled her up in a standing position. She brought her hands to her face, her body now racked by her crying as she tried to get a handle of herself.

“Miss?” the voice called again, now nearer. “Are you hurt? I didn’t-” the man talking stopped suddenly and Aelin looked up, not seeing anything through the tears. “You.”

And then it hit her.

That voice.

She knew that voice.

She ran her hand over her face, rubbing her eyes and staring right back at the man she had ran over that same morning.

Her mouth fell open.

He was looking at her with an amused expression and Aelin couldn’t find the words once again.

What was it with this man and his ability to take her ability to talk by just showing up?

He had a transparent band-aid on his cheek, his cut far less severe than she had thought, and his eyes were glistening with mirth. He was wearing a simple black pair of jeans and a dark green t-shirt, but he was even more handsome than in his work clothes.

Aelin was taking rushed, trembling breaths, and she was about to kill this man with her bare hands. Shred his skin off his bones and have him beg-

“I guess we’re even now, uh?”

His attempt of a joke flew over her head and she charged at him, a scream lodged in her throat.

His eyes widened and he took a step back when she flung her arm at him, trying to hit him. His hands closed around her wrists, blocking her from causing him more harm that she’d already done.

“You asshole!” she was screaming at the top of her lungs. “You ruined my dress!”

Aelin lifted a leg, more than convinced to kneel his balls, but he managed to block her blow again, infuriating her even more.

“I was about to meet the love of my life and ruined my fucking dress!”

He tried to push her away from him, still squeezing her wrists, and his brow furrowed.

“He’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of. He’s a pediatrician! He loves children! And he has a cute fucking dog my friend said I would love and cuddle the shit out of! Her name is Fleetfoot and she’s a golden retriever and Elide knows I fucking love goldens. And he’s from Orynth, just. Like. Me!” she got louder and louder with every word she spit out. “And he’s tall, and handsome and he’s the perfect match! And I deserved this one night!”

The man was now looking at her with a dumbfounded expression, his hold slightly loosening.

“I’m so done with this dating thing and I’d finally found him and you!” she shoved a finger in his chest, making him retreat a few steps. “You wanted your payback so bad you ran me over with your car!

“And now he’s gonna take one look at me and think I’m a fucking psycho! I bet my hair are the most disgusting thing he’s ever seen and my make up. Oh fuck, I must look like a panda.” Aelin started crying harder, laying her hands flat on the man’s torso, pushing her head to his chest. “I look like a fucking panda.”

She tried to speak again but her mind just couldn’t form any coherent thought, until she felt the man’s arms closing around her shoulders. He stepped closer, running his hand up and down her back, whispering something she couldn’t really hear over her crying.

Aelin didn’t know how much time she spent in the stranger’s embrace, but when the gravity of the scene she’d just made in front of him downed on her, she felt her body flare up in embarrassment.

That was her life now?

Having mental breakdowns in a dark parking lot after someone she’d ran over with her car had returned the gesture and then making them console her?

She detached herself from the man and for a second she thought she’d felt him hesitate before he took a step back. And another, leaving her standing her in her soaking wet dress and her puffy, surely-red eyes. He bent down, picking up her purse and handing it to her.

She lowered her gaze, not even daring looking at his shoes and closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

The man made a sound of surprise, “Why would you be sorry?”

Aelin wished she could die on the spot. Evaporate out of existence.

“For hitting you. Or at least trying. And crying all over you.” she said and then grimaced. She ran a hand over her face. “I just had a very hard day and I wasn’t even sure I wanted to come, but this guy seriously seems like he could be the missing piece to whatever the fuck my puzzle-life is. I didn’t want to take a raincheck and have him thinking I’m not serious about this.”

A beat of silence, “I’m sure he would have understood.”

She shook her head, keeping on talking as if he hadn’t even been there, “And now I can’t go in like this.” she passed her hands on her dress, the tears building up again in her eyes. “Plus, Elide didn’t tell me what he looks like, cause she thinks he’s a real snack and wanted to see my face when I saw him for the first time.” she was bordering on pouting, “That means he’s gotta be smoking hot or I’ll be so pissed at her.”

The man snorted loudly, “A snack.” he hummed, “Maybe I should meet your friend and thank her.”

Aelin’s head snapped up, “Oh no, she’s taken.” she shook her head vehemently, “Like so freaking taken. I swear she and her boyfriend have been together for a whole of three months and they already act like a married couple.”

He nodded, a lopsided smile on his face, “I know the kind.”

She’d been so absorbed by her talking that she hadn’t noticed she’d stopped crying.

She breathed through her nose and clasped her hands together, before reaching one out towards him, “I think introductions are needed. I’m Aelin.” she offered a tentative smile.

His hand engulfed hers, shaking it with impressive gentleness. His smile grew even larger if possible and Aelin was starting to think she was about to het murdered.

But then he said his name and the world ceased existing around them.

Their hands still moving up and down between them.

She tilted her head forward, “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

He licked his lower lip, “I’m Rowan.”

Aelin closed her eyes, holding her breath.

She squeezed his hand before releasing it. She took a step back, wishing for the ground beneath her feet to crack open and just eat her whole.

“I’m gonna go kill myself now, if you’ll excuse me.”

His laugh reached her ears with painful speed.

Rowan.

She couldn’t believe it.

Well, she could. The man laughing his heart out at her expense was probably the most handsome person she’d ever seen in her entire life.

At least Elide hadn’t lied about that.

“A tad dramatic, if you ask me,” he said as his laugh died down. He pointed at the restaurant behind him, “You want me to go fetch the married couple so we can go back at the appartment and you can change? I’m not against you walking in there with this outfit at all,” he gave a pointed look, matched by a shit-eating grin that seemed to be etched in his lips, “I’m not gonna think you’re a psycho, not for this at least, and I’m ready to fight everyone who looks at you the wrong way. But you look like you could use the comfort of a warm house.”

Aelin looked up at him with a questioning look, trying to understand if this man she’d just tried to maul was seriously offering her options, letting her choose after everything that had gone down so far between the two of them. As if still giving her a chance.

Rowan arched a brow, looking around and glancing back at her, “Aelin?”

Oh, fuck.

She had been oh so not ready o hear her name from his lips.

She nodded and he smiled, leaning down a bit.

She could smell his cologne from here.

“Yes to what? Me calling Lorcan and Elide or getting inside even if you dripping wet?”

Holy fucking shit, this man shouldn’t have been allowed to say the words dripping wet.

She stilled herself.

What the hell was she thinking? She brought her hands to her face, “Please call them and let’s head home. I’m so fucking tired.” a yawn broke her sentence, as to prove her words, “And I’m freezing in this skimpy dress.”

Rowan rushed to her side, “Oh, god, sorry for not offering sooner, here,” he opened the trunk of his car and pulled out a huge blue sweater. Without even waiting for an answer he snatched her purse from her hands and shoved her head in his sweater.

Aelin felt better right away and gave him a big smile.

Rowan answered with one of his own and of course he had to be this perfect and more.

“I’m sorry for ruining your dress, I’ll make sure they wash it carefully when I take it to the laundry. If you’d let me.”

She nodded faintly, exhaling the panty-dropping smell of his sweater.

“And I’m hoping to see you wear it again once we finally get to go on a proper date.” he smirked, “I bet you looked amazing before I went and ran you over.”

Aelin chuckled, shaking her head, “You truly are a gentleman. Elide wasn’t exaggerating.”

Rowan’s demeanor changed completely and Aelin feared she’d said something wrong, but he averted his gaze as if he was embarassed.

“I’m sorry for this morning,” he said. Aelin almost tripped on her feet. He was sorry? “I shouldn’t have talked to you like that but I was just coming back from the hospital and Elide was right saying I work with kids, but I’m not a pediatrician, I’m a pediatric surgeon.”

His gaze grew dark as he looked over her shoulder, avoiding meeting her eyes at all costs.

“Yesterday night we lost a eight years old and I wasn’t really there when you hit me with your car. I didn’t mean to yell at you like I did, it was just-”

Rowan couldn’t finish his sentence that Aelin lunged for him, hugging him as tight as he’d held her a few minutes before, hoping she could relieve some of the pain that was surely clutching his heart. She felt him sag in her arms and hold her in turn.

She was glad she could offer some kind of support.

“It must be hard.” she whispered against his chest.

Rowan nodded, hitting her head with his chin, “It is, but it’s part of the job. The only way you can live with something like that in your baggage is knowing you did everything you could to save them.”

Aelin could feel the emotion lacing his every word and tightened her arms for a moment before freeing him of her embrace. He silently thanked her and told her he’d be right back with their friends.

The second he was gone she realized she couldn’t wait for when he’d be back and they could keep talking.

She’d never felt this way before. Not this fast at least.

Sure, she had loved all her exes, but this. This was different.

There was something there, a connection.

And while he walked back to her, Lorcan and Elide in tow, a bright smile on his handsome face, she couldn’t help but think she was ready to find out all about it.

tog tag list (if you wanna be added or removed just dm me or send me an ask)

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[motherstone]

If there was anything character-design wise that you would want to change in an Amulet character, what would it be? :00? As in, for example - what if Emily had a braid instead of her hair down? Character design is fun so y e e- [also I hope you're having a good day- :D]

WHEW, this is such a lovely question. I am not very good at character design i am afraid, but I CAN say something abt kazu’s designs: despite many of his character features are recycled, they are good character designs (rather mediocre and wacky but yes, dare i say it, good) but they are also bad. Good enough and logical enough to do it all simply, efficiently but still recognizable (I would know because I tried drawing the characters as simple as possible once, and I was still able to identify which is which), which is what character design is all about.

He isn’t exactly very good always, though, for starter’s: I FUCKING HATE HIS ARMOR DESIGNS. AT ALL. It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen and although it looks dangerous and mystical. it makes no damn anatomical and practical sense, and a huge pain in the ass to draw. And I’m sure he knows that, and i’m sure i wasnt the only person who sighed in relief that trellis’s armor got damaged in book 5. It’s literally a blessing to anyone who wants to draw trellis ever

I don’t really have much issues over anything else, but i dislike his robot designs but that’s just me. Tbh, I’d wanted him to diversify his facial features more and actually learn how to draw black characters because he sucks at it. And to one of my greatest frustrations, for all of his cartoon style, he is somehow abysmal at drawing expressions. A lot of his works are stiff and rather boring/lifeless that it’s hard to enjoy it. Instead of I dunno, going all out because the cartoon style is a a more liberating style than most, he doesn’t take full advantage of it (I would know because I tried drawing like him and now looking back i wanna gag at my works because I had to unlearn all that crap and I AM STILL UNLEARNING. The damage has been done).

Ok now that i reread all those answers are unrelated to the ask, so uh I’ll try to fix that (altho i kinda indirectly answered this with my recent char redesigns):

Emily: limit her color palette because god she is a vibrant over decorated horror. RED hair with YELLOW cap with CYAN shirt with GREEN pants?? IM GONNA MURDER YOU. Also thicker eyebrows for better expressions:)

Trellis: Give him a blind eye. I honestly am unsure if his monochromatic color scheme is good or bad. Give elf eyes color because ngl only having it as slits is super boring and severely limits its potential variety

Navin: give him an actual outfit that you could immediately recognize as his?? he has the most inconsistent wardrobe in Amulet I dont know if I enjoy or hate it. Also, same face as Emily

Leon: give his snout some depth dear god

Vigo: no offense Vigo but your outfit is boring as all fuck and kills the mood w your hat. How the heck do I rectify this

Riva: make her yellow coat look more like a thicker raincoat. Thicker boots, pants, and gloves ala chemist style and for comfort and maneuverability

Karen; give her red hair I guess?? And change her hairstyle. She looks wildly different from her kids its hard to think she’s the mother

Elf King: a complete overhaul redesign except for the palette because not only his wardrobe is boring, ugly, it ALSO MAKES NO DAMN SENSE. I like the mask concept, but the way kazu designs his clothes throws me in a loop

Max: would it kill him to actually clarify what the color palette his clothes are?? I’M GONNA SHAVE HIS HEAD HIS HAIR IS HARD TO DRAW

[laukora1030]

Captain Marvel

First off, spoilers if you’ve never seen the movies and you want to. And, english IS NOT my first language, so excuse me if I make mistakes.

I will start by saying that, unlike a lot of you, I actually really liked this movie, and Carol. I think the thing I didn’t like that much was the skrulls not being evil and Goose taking Fury’s eye, even if I thought it was hilarious, but Carol is a really cool character with incredible powers, and I don’t believe she’s overpowered. Like, yeah, she can get cocky because she knows she is extremely powerful, but y’all are acting like Tony (who btw, is my favorite character in the MCU) isn’t right there thinking he was a godsend for the first 4 movies he’s in. With this being said, let’s get started.

I like the beginning, and how different Carol’s memories are from what really happened. I think it shows perfectly, once you learn the truth behind everything, what the Kree are really capable of. 

I know people say Carol shows no emotions and that that makes her a plain character, but you guys have to take into consideration that not only does she not remember her life from before the 6 years she’s been with the Kree, but she was also taught that she should be in full control of her emotions for her to be worth it and a good soldier. 

I like the fighting style of the kree, even if I hate them. I believe that they made Carol stronger than she already was by teching her their techniques. 

Why are there kree that look human-like and kree that are green? How does that work? 

Unlike a lot of other superheroes, Carol was taught for 6 years, in which she had to get new memories, that the most important part of her was her brain, which isn’t wrong, unless you’re told, like she was, that her emotions are not important. She’s literally told by Yon-Rogg that she has to stop using her heart and start using her hair. She had to learn to stop being driven by her emotions. And even in those 6 years she still had her humor, and she had emotions, nevermind what you guys think of her.

Can we talk about how Yon-Rogg is a good manipulator? “I want you to be the best version of yourself” sounds like something I would say to my friends when they are feeling down, and he uses a phrase with a good meaning to make Carol believe he is the good guy. 

I like the Supreme Intelligence thingy where Carol stands. I don’t know why, I think it looks amazing. 

Again with her emotions. Y’all do notice that she was manipulated into thinking that having emotions is bad, right? It’s not her fault that she is “too plain” for your taste. She was told to be selfless for a bunch of selfish people, and I don’t know, I feel sorry for her. To not be able to remember even the person you admire the most yet still see her anytime you do something the government doesn’t like what you’ve done, and not only that, but be manipulated into working for them when we learn that it’s their fault that you’re in that position in the first place; Carol’s situation is kind of depressing. 

I like this scene. It looks so badass.

I’m still asking,why are some of them green and some of them human-like? It makes no sense to me. 

Note to self: I like the kree suits, they look so cool, and I love the colors. 

I find Carol hilarious from time to time, like, she’s not the funniest character in the MCU (that’s Luis) but she is really funny sometimes. I also really like Kree technology, it reminds me of Tony’s technology up to some point, with the whole holograms thing. 

Their phrase represents exactly what they stand up for, and I love that because they were never really lying to you with that. “For the good of all Kree” shows that the one thing they will always think about, before anything else in the Universe, is themselves, showing how selfish they are, but to someone who has no idea what they mean, well, it just sounds like they’re fighting for their lives, when really, they’re fighting to end that of others. 

I really like it when Carol wears the helmet thingy of her suit, I think it makes her look badass. 

It’s really sad that Carol was manipulated for 6 years by the one person she thought was her friend. Reminds me of Tony being manipulated by Obadiah. 

I do not like Minn-Erva, she’s a bitch, but she’s an amazing fighter. 

Question. Are all Kree super strong like Carol or is she only super strong because of the Tesseract?

Note to self: I love the name “Vers”, it sounds so cool. 

I am intrigued with Minn-Erva’s gun. It looks so cool, but also really impossible. Yeah, I know, it’s based on a comic, I get that, but how is it made? What type of technology do the kree use to make it possible for the “bullet” to go through several different targets? 

Talos tells Carol that he’ll tell her his secret once she’s told him hers, but what exactly does he mean? Is he talking about Mar-Vell, or her powers? How did he know about them if they imply that this is her first mission outside of Hala? 

I am not sure if the skrulls are geniuses or not, but I really like their memory machine, it’s really cool. That also brings to question. If we were able to do something like that, could it be used with patients with Alzheimer and memory loss?

Am I the only one who thinks that Carol looks great on her military clothes? Just me? Okay. Let’s continue.

“Higher, further, faster” is such an incredible motto. I don’t know you but it kind of makes me wanna be able to fly. That and every time I remember it it just gives me a sense of euphoria that I can’t really explain. 

McKenna Grace is an outstanding actress and whoever thinks differently can meet me at the parking lot. 

Carol Danvers on a tank top, send tweet. 

Learning about Vers past is both endearing and depressing. We know her father was a sexist asshole, and she had to endure, alongside María, all of the misogynistic comments the guys in the army said to her, but we also get to see her good relationship with her brother, and the found family she had with the Rambeaus. I love it. 

The scene with the multiple Lawsons is intriguing to me, for two reasons. First, she said she was working late at night, which I suppose means she was either working on something for project Pegasus, or she was working to get the skrulls to a better place. Second, it’s kinda obvious that this exact time in her memory is what makes her realize someone’s reading her mind, but it makes me wonder how the machine works.

The last two memories, the fight against the skrulls and the one where she’s on a spaceship, those are definitely triggering her, but is that the reason she wakes up, or does she only wake up because the effect of the weapon Talos used on her is no longer effective? 

Also, I wonder what exactly was going on through the skrulls’ minds after seeing themselves in those memories. 

Carol is a badass, sorry not sorry. Honestly, her powers are cool, her fighting style is almost impeccable, she looks threatening, and she does have emotions, a lot of them. Plus, she has a cool suit and is like, really gorgeous, but that’s just my gay ass talking. 

And once again I ask. Are all the kree super strong or is that just a Carol and her powers thing?

She’s so funny, what the fuck?

Carol is pretty intelligent, isn’t she? Or does she work well under pressure? She was quick to discover how skrull spaceship worked, even if she was not familiar with the technology. Her little proud smile, though. 

Note to self: I miss Blockbuster. I had great memories thanks to it. 

Question! All of the planets of the Yggdrasil know the Earth as Midgard and every other planet knows it as Terra, why’s that? Also, what does C-53 mean? Is it something kind of like coordinates in Hala or something like that?

Her equipment was damaged, why? Is it because it doesn’t work on Earth or because she fell from a high altitude and the impact broke it?

Note to self, again: Two things, the security guard has amazing taste in music, and I love it when Carol smiles.

So, Talos and the other skrulls transform in the middle of the beach, in the morning, and you’re trying to tell me no one saw them? Bullshit.

So, back to the memory machine. Yon-Rogg says that their codes are buried in their unconscious. Does this mean that, were we to invent a machine like that one, psychologists would be able to enter their patients unconscious and therapy would be both shorter and easier? Sorry, I’m studying psychology and it sounds like a big opportunity to improve therapy from what it is. Also, side note, Carol is extremely intelligent, although I don’t know if that’s something all the krees can do. 

Let’s talk about SHIELD. In Iron Man they made it explicitly clear that they were a secret organization, right? And even through the next movies they mention it. So why is it that in this movie it seems to be a common practice in the 90s to call them when a security guard sees a weird woman? Or did he call the police and SHIELD intervene? 

Note to self: It’s agent! I missed him.

Yeah, by all means, if I was Fury (what the hell happened to you man, you were cool in this movie) I would also not trust Vers, because every single word she uttered during their conversation sounds like nonsense. 

Again, how does no one see the fucking surfer transforming into an old lady? There were people in the subway, why aren’t they paying enough attention to it? What the fuck was wrong with people in the 90s?

I love that Carol is the first female superhero to get disheveled after strong movements (looking at you, Natasha with the perfect hair). 

Note to self: Stan Lee, I will miss your cameos. 

Carol has a strong right hook. I flinch everytime I see her hit the old lady skrull. 

I’m not gonna stop wondering if she’s strong because of her powers or because of the kree blood in her.

Note to self: Finally! One man realizes there’s some weird shit going on in the train and sees the skrull changing forms. 

How did the skrull get Coulson’s gun? It makes no sense. I get the getting the clothes they have, but do they also get all of your stuff? Like, in this year, 2021, if the skrulls were to take my form, and I had my glasses, my cell phone and my wallet with me, would they also get it? 

I fucking hate that they use the name SHIELD in this movie. Like, do y’all even watch all of the other movies to see if yours makes sense? In Iron Man, Coulson says that they are looking for a shorter name, and here some idiota decided that Fury would go around saying SHIELD, and talking about it when they’re supposed to be a secret agency. It makes no sense and it pisses me off. 

Note to self: Carol using a computer reminds me of Patricia Fernandez in Betty La Fea. If y’all speak spanish, watch that telenovela, it is incredible. But yeah, that’s it.

There’s a deleted scene with the asshole who tells her to smile, where she gives him a handshake, hurts him, tells him to give her a smile, and that she’ll be taking his jacket and his bike. I love that deleted scene. It makes my respect for Carol grow. 

I think it’s cool that the skrulls can emulate the voices of those they copy. Just wanted to say that. 

Now, to the important question. How did Talos get to the SHIELD director that fast, and that easily? Did he steal someone’s identity back at the blockbuster and then took off to SHIELD's HQ, and then got to the director and stole his identity? And, where’s the director? Did Talos has him hidden in a supply closet or something like that?

If Carol, according to the memories of her unconscious, used to spend so much time at Pancho’s Bar, why did the barman not recognize her? Or did the barman that used to serve her and María not work there anymore?

Question, again. What did Carol do with her suit? Is she wearing it under her clothes or did she take it off and hid it in, I don’t know, the bike, or something?

Out of the topic question. If Buzzfeed Unsolved existed in the MCU, would Shane still deny the existence of the aliens?

Fury mentions Budapest and now it only takes me back to 2012 Avengers and wondering what the hell happened in Budapest. 

Carol, darling, that’s not how the world works. Just because you know a skrull does not have photon blasts, mostly because you’ve spent the past 6 years looking for them and fighting them, doesn’t mean a man who has had no previous experience with them other than that morning’s car chase would know that information. 

I HATE THAT THEY USE SHIELD INSTEAD OF THE ENTIRE FUCKING NAME!!! FUCKING MARVEL AND THEIR INCONSISTENCIES!!!

Fury, you liar. Everyone calls you Nick in the future. 

You know, Carol’s not wrong. If it’s a secret agency, why do they have their logo on caps? Makes no sense to me. I mean, cool, but makes no sense.

If they knew who Wendy Lawson was, and what she was working on, and that she had taken a pilot with her, and they had pictures of that said pilot, why didn’t they recognize Carol?

Did Carol think that her fingerprint was gonna work on the door? Or was she unaware of how they worked and just thought it was the way doors open on Earth? 

The scene where Fury opens the door with tape heavily reminds me of that scene in Scooby Doo 2 where Daphne gets them all out of the cage in the Wikles’ mansion.

So, we know that Goose is a flerken, right? He’s an alien that looks like a cat. Does that mean that, as an alien, he has good memory and recognized Carol? Or is he like a cat except he has pocket dimensions in his stomach? Also, he was supposed to be Lawson’s cat, why did they keep him after she died?

Was Carol sad because she couldn’t get answers for the kree or for herself? We know she sees Lawson in the Supreme Intelligence. Was she sad because she wouldn’t be able to meet the woman who she admires the most, even if she doesn’t remember her?

Lawson says the phrase Carol says in the trailer, or well, a variation of it. “This isn’t about fighting wars, it’s about ending them”. I’m not gonna lie, that phrase in the trailer was what sold me the movie at the end. I loved it, was a little bit mad that Carol didn't say it at all. 

Did the kree soldiers/government lie to everyone about the war against the skrull or did they only lie to Carol?

So, the skrulls also have super strength, or they are at least stronger than humans. Good to know. 

I like that they show that Coulson not shooting either of them or handing them in is technically the reason as to why Fury trusts him so much. 

Carol had muscle memory to fly the ships or are they similar to the kree ships?

Note to self: I need a cat, but my parents won’t let my siblings and me adopt one, what do I do?

I like Carol and Fury’s friendship, I think it kind of represents a normal new friendship where you feel so comfortable you’re able to joke around almost without hesitation.

I don’t understand the task of the Accusers. Are they all supposed to destroy planets or is that just Ronan and his team?

Monica Rambeau is an angel and whoever says anything different can fight me. 

I think it’s really sad that after 6 years Monica still thought Carol was alive. It just means she was stuck in the denial part of the grieving, and that’s not mentally healthy, especially, I think, for a child. 

Maria Rambeau owns my ass, end of the statement. 

I get their hesitation to believe Carol’s story, I also wouldn’t believe her if she came to me telling me some crazy bullshit like that. Thank God she had her powers to prove it. 

This is my reaction everytime I see Carol’s powers. 

I really feel so sad with Monica and Maria’s situation. To lose a member of your family is already painful enough, to not have been given closure, well, I don’t think I can describe that pain.

I love how both Carol and Maria fall back into their usual banter almost without noticing. That just shows pure friendship to me. 

I can’t even begin to imagine the pain Maria is going through, having her best friend, her sister, in front of her, knowing she doesn’t have at least one of the memories they did together. Seeing the friend she thought had been dead for 6 years, and knowing that she’s a completely different person. That’s it, at the moment Carol was Vers, not Carol Danvers. 

And Carol, poor soul. She has known only kree, and the war against skrulls for 6 years, being taught that her past and her emotions are not important compared to this war, and now she’s learning she had an entire life, friends and family, that she left behind. She’s learning that they haven’t lost hope, and she can’t remember shit. Tell me you don’t feel pain knowing this, cause I do. 

Imma leave it here, I’ll continue tomorrow. I hope you enjoy this and, if you don't like Carol, I hope I’ll change your mind at least a bit. See y’all tomorrow.

[the-quiet-winds]

Your Time Will Come, if You Wait for It (part three)

here is the third and final part of this installment of the tiny kat au! i always thought this one was really soft and also kinda painful it just depends on how you roll. @ichlugebulletsandcornnuts and i both know, however, the next one. she’s not soft.

[part one] -  [part two]

[Part 3: And I Keep Coming Up Short]

jane gets very little sleep that night, mind occupied with anxiety for the future. katherine, on the other hand, doesn’t stir at all until the ladies arrive to help jane and katherine prepare for breakfast, and even then sits bleary-eyed and still half-asleep as an attendant styles her hair.

the king is present at the breakfast, but the new queen is conspicuously absent. henry glowers at some courtiers who are whispering together, then  digs into his meal, pointedly focusing on his plate.

katherine is very quiet during breakfast, noticeably disappointed over the absence of the german queen. jane feels so incredibly sick to her stomach that she picks at her food and barely eats a morsel. 

neither katherine nor mary, who arrived a few minutes after jane and katherine, say a word about it. 

it’s towards the end of breakfast when katherine finally seems to muster enough courage to speak directly to the king. “your majesty,” she starts formally and politely, “where is her majesty this morning?”

henry looks at her for a moment. “i don’t see why that’s any of your business, little girl.” he turns his head to jane. “my beloved sister, please control your... ward.” the way he says the way ‘ward’ is such that it could easily have been replaced with the word ‘brat’ and still made sense.

katherine falls silent, looking down at her plate with an embarrassed blush staining her cheeks.

jane nudges katherine’s foot under the table so she looks up. jane sends her the most gentle and loving look she can, but katherine doesn’t seem to react. so jane stands. “katherine, love, will you join me for a stroll in the garden?”

katherine shrugs, but stands and makes her way over to her mother.

jane takes her hand and leads her out of the room, concerned at the way her daughter’s spirits had dropped so much. to her, it’s just another sign of their relationship failing, that katherine was growing apart from her, and katherine’s sullen expression doesn’t pick up as they take a walk through the grounds.

she doesn’t let go of jane’s hand, though, which is the only solace through everything.

jane leads katherine over to a small bench in front of one of the fountains. they sit, side by side, not speaking. katherine idly swings her legs, jane doesn’t know how to start the conversation. 

jane misses her usually so social little girl, and tugs her gently into her lap. “are you ready to go home tomorrow, love?” she asks quietly.

“mhm,” katherine nods, although the joy is missing from her voice. jane’s throat constricts slightly and she swallows.

“is something the matter, love?”

“i’m worried about anna,” katherine looks up at her. the distress is clear in her face and jane tucks a loose strand of hair neatly behind her ear.

“i’m sure she’s okay, love,” she tries to reassure her.

“but she wasn’t at breakfast,” katherine protests. “and the king seemed really mad.”

“maybe she just overslept, yesterday was a long day.”

katherine looks at her, half-disbelieving. “aren’t you worried about her?” she scowls, the best an eleven year old can do. “don’t you care?!”

“of course i care!” jane says beseechingly. “but...” she doesn’t quite know how to explain it to katherine; she can think of several reasons why anna would be absent and henry would be annoyed, and none of them she wanted to explain to her daughter.

katherine frowns up at her. “but what?”

jane bites her lip. “something may have happened between them.” 

katherine jumps to her feet, shocked. she grabs jane’s hand and pulls her up. “we have to go check on her!” katherine insists. “what if she’s upset?!”

“kat,” jane sighs, trying to sound sympathetic but still firm. “it’s... grown up stuff. i’m not sure anna would want to talk about it.”

“but we could still cheer her up!” katherine insists, attempting to pull jane along.

jane finally relents and lets katherine drag her back into the palace before stopping.

“I don’t know where her rooms are,” katherine admits, looking up at jane for advice.

jane hesitates. she does know. she stayed in those rooms for weeks before she was asked to leave. 

it would be so easy to lie. but she’s already losing katherine, she feels, would a boldfaced lie do her in completely?

she gives katherine’s hand a gentle squeeze. “let’s go, love,” she hums quietly, then leads her off towards where anna would be.

there are some ladies waiting outside of anna’s door, but they let jane and katherine pass. katherine knocks on the door and listens carefully.

“anna?” she asks. “it’s katherine,” she adds, somewhat unnecessarily, as if there was going to be another eleven year old girl seeking anna’s presence.

“i’m here too, anna,” jane says softly, feeling its better to let her presence be known right away.

there’s a long stretch of silence, then a muffled, barely audible, “come in,” reaches their ears. 

the room is very dark when they enter. all the blinds and curtains are still drawn, and it’s hard to make out the vaguely anna-shaped lump in the bed. but as their eyes adjust to the darkness, they see anna, still in her nightgown, curled up and facing away from the door. 

katherine immediately breaks away from jane, rushing over to climb on the bed. “anna?” she quietly asks. 

jane does follow, albeit hesitantly, and sits down on the edge of the bed to watch them both.

anna looks tired and miserable, but she sits up and smiles slightly when katherine rushes to hug her.

“guten morgen, katherine,” she says quietly.

“i was so worried about you,” katherine mumbles, hugging her tightly. “you said we could sit together at breakfast but then you weren’t there and-”

“hush, katherine,” anna soothes. “i am okay. see?” she indicates herself. “not a single scratch.”

katherine, believe it or not, looks anna up and down in near disbelief. if she wasn’t hurt, why didn’t she appear this morning. 

while kitty is distracted, anna and jane’s eyes meet, and anna gives the barest shake of her head, and jane immediately understands. 

“i had a tiring night, katherine,” anna explains, “and i wanted some extra sleep.”

“you’re sure you’re okay?” katherine asks one more time, and anna chuckles, although it’s slightly forced.

“i’m fine, katherine. you are very sweet for coming to check on me.” she presses a kiss to katherine’s forehead (an action that sends a slight pang to jane’s heart). “now, you go and spend time with your mama. i’m sure she’s missed you, what with all the wedding planning we were doing.”

“but i wanna make sure you’re okay!” katherine protests. “i don’t want to leave you if you’re upset!”

“katherine,” anna says calmly, “i really am alright, just tired.”

“but-“

“no buts, katherine.”

jane feels her heart stinging, was katherine really so adverse to spending time with her anymore that she’s just flat out refusing it?

anna, of course, because she’s brilliant and kind and everything katherine would want in a maternal figure, seems to spot jane’s anguish.

“go on, now, katherine.”

katherine reluctantly stands up and jane reaches out her hand to take hers.

“I’ll be back later,” katherine promises.

anna gives a small wave as they leave.

katherine is unusually quiet as they walk back down the hall, and jane gives her hand a light squeeze. “are you alright, love?”

katherine shrugs. “just worried about anna.”

jane presses her lips together. she saw this coming. “you saw her, she’s okay, love.”

“she’s hiding something,” katherine declares very seriously, and jane gives a soft sigh.

“kat... it’s grown-up problems, like i said. she’s going to be just fine, i promise you.” jane didn’t really want to explain to katherine about what had happened - or more accurately, not happened - between the queen and king last night. katherine shouldn’t have to concern herself with anything like that until she was much older.

jane gives a tug on katherine’s hand, and she drags her feet as she follows her mother down the halls and down the stairs. “what if we went into town today?” jane asks, running a hand over katherine’s hair. “we can even stop by the bakery if you want, love.”

“sure,” katherine shrugs, sounding dejected and altogether not quite there. jane hates that every sign points to katherine drifting away from her, and she makes a desperate stab at more conversation.

“it’ll be nice to make the most of the town before we head back to the country, won’t it, kat?”

again, katherine shrugs absently.

jane’s soul aches at katherine’s distraction and obvious wishes to be anywhere else. but she can’t do anything about it. she doesn’t want to put any of her guilt into katherine, she only wants what will make her the happiest. and if that involves staying with anna at court instead of coming home, then she might just have to take that loss. “well, what would you like to do today, love?” jane asks as kindly as possible.

again, katherine shrugs. “i don’t mind.”

they stand there next to the staircase for several moments. jane isn’t sure what to do; she knows that katherine wants to go back to anna, but she suspects anna will just try and get them to leave again. jane can’t help but feel, though, that katherine will be distracted and dejected for the rest of the day.

jane pulls on her hand to lead katherine to the portrait gallery. she sits down on one of the sofas and pats the spot next to her, which katherine fills with a rigid posture. 

“katherine, love,” jane says as gently as she can, “i know you’re worried about anna, but i don’t want you to miss our last day in court being upset.” she cups the girl’s cheek and turns her head so they face each other, “tell me what i can do to help you feel better.”

katherine is silent for a few moments, gaze darting down to the floor.

“i just want anna to feel better,” she mumbles.

there’s a small part of her that marvels at katherine’s incredible empathy, but most of her mind is taken up by her own sadness that jane really can’t get katherine’s attention away from anna.

“anna will feel better,” jane says softly. “she just needs some alone time. you’ll see her later, for dinner, maybe even for lunch.”

katherine gives an empty shrug. then she lights up. “do you think we can invite anna to come to the country with us sometime?” she asks excitedly.

“i don’t see why not,” jane says, seemingly composed. underneath, however, she’s full of slightly conflicting emotion, although a lot of it is relief. anna still seems to be her priority, but katherine still wants to come back to the country with her.

katherine beams. “she’s going to love it there!” she says excitedly. “i’ll have to show her all around the grounds, as she’ll love brighton!” katherine seems to get even more excited at the thought of their hound, being watched by a neighboring family while they were in court. “we’re going to have so much fun!”

“you’ll have to ask her very nicely if she wants to come and stay, then,” jane laughs softly, enjoying her daughter’s enthusiasm slightly more now that katherine seemed to still want to live at home. katherine nods emphatically.

“do you think she’ll want to stay with us?”

“well we’ll never know if you don’t ask, love,” jane says. 

katherine nods wisely. she really really hopes that anna would come to stay with them, especially to get away from the king.

but then another thought strikes katherine. he always seemed nice when jane was around, so maybe they could help anna... 

“what if we stayed here?!” katherine rushes out. “at court!”

jane’s heart drops out of her stomach. “I...” she begins, trying to make her voice as gentle as possible. “i don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

“why not?” katherine asks, tilting her head slightly. jane debates over what to tell her; she knows she couldn’t stay here around henry, not when the pain was still too raw.

"court life..." she starts, her throat feeling quite dry, "court life isn't as glamorous as you think, love. just ask mary, she grew up here and hated every minute." she lowers her voice. "it's dangerous, sweetheart. you never know who you can trust, what you can say, who you can talk to..." jane trails off, an image of henry materializing in front of her eyes. she shakes her head and looks back down at katherine. "you won't be happy here, love. neither of us will."

“so anna won’t be happy here either?” there’s a note of panic in katherine’s tone as she looks up at her mother with wide eyes. jane sighs.

“anna... has responsibilities as queen of england. it’s not an easy life, love, but it’s one she has to fulfil.” until henry discards her, that is, she can’t help but think slightly bitterly. it had happened to her, someone he supposedly loved, and it had happened to his past two wives as well. even though jane still loves him, she can’t help but feel like part of a pattern, a chain of women cast aside at the first sign of trouble.

"but still!" katherine protests, not entirely noticing her mother falling away into thought. "the king seemed less upset with you around! maybe if we stay it'll be alright for all of us!"

jane blankly looks at the space on the floor near their feet. she has nothing left to say to katherine, nothing left to convince her that this would most definitely bring her mother to an early grave. so she simply pleads, tears blooming in her eyes. "please don't ask me to do this, love," she asks. "i can't do it."

katherine freezes slightly at the sight of tears.

“i’m sorry,” she mumbles out.

jane can’t reply, voice caught in her throat. she tries to wipe away the tears before they can stream down her face but she’s too slow.

“mama?” katherine asks, slightly anxiously.

jane can’t answer, not right away. there are a thousand things she wants to tell katherine, but she can’t find the words to say any of them. 

katherine gets a little more upset and a little more nervous with each second jane doesn’t answer, and katherine ultimately climbs into jane’s lap, curling up against her. “what’s wrong, mama?”

“i can’t stay here,” jane finally chokes out, voice barely a whisper. “if you want to stay with anna... i understand. but i just-“ a broken gasp of a sob escapes her, “-can’t.”

“mama?” katherine is well and truly panicked now, trying to cling as tightly as she can to jane as if it’ll calm her down. “mama, what do you mean?”

“i’m so sorry, kat,” jane sobs. “you can stay here with anna, but i can’t. i’m sorry, love, i’m sorry-”

“stay here without you?” katherine looks even more alarmed, if possible.

jane is so consumed in her emotions she doesn’t recognize the panic in katherine’s voice. “you can stay here with anna, with the hounds, all of them,” jane whispers.

“mama,” katherine pleads, near tears of her own. “don’t leave me here alone.” she chokes on a breath. “i need you, mama,” she whimpers, knowing you childlike she sounds.

when katherine starts crying, the maternal instinct cuts through the fog of jane’s mind and she suddenly realises the state of the girl in her lap.

“kat, no,” she suddenly gasps. “i won’t leave you here if you don’t want me to, i’d never do that. i just thought you’d want to stay here, with anna.”

katherine is nearly inconsolable, clinging to the fabric of jane’s dress like it’s the only thing keeping her tethered to the world. she leans against jane even more, becoming all but dead weight in her arms. 

“i wanna stay with you,” she mumbles, the words barely there and nearly empty. “i want you, mama.”

“it’s okay, love, you can stay with me,” jane tries desperately to console her. “we’ll stay together, i promise. it’s going to be okay, kitty-kat.”

seeing katherine like this makes jane feel immensely guilty. how could she have thought katherine was forgetting about her just because she liked spending time with anna? she tries to push the guilt down as best she can as she cradles the little girl in her arms, hushing her gently.

katherine latches to jane and doesn’t let go, and jane takes up the usual soothing measures of rubbing soft circles on katherine’s back and weaving her fingers in the girl’s hair. “you don’t have to be afraid, love,” jane promises quietly. “i’ll never let you go alone if you don’t want me to.”

“please don’t leave me here,” katherine half-sobs out, almost incoherent in her mumbles. she chokes out something else but her words blur together too much for jane to understand it.

“i won’t leave you, love, i promise,” jane soothes. “i’ve got you. mama’s got you, and she’s never going to leave you alone if you don’t want me to. i promise, my little seymour.”

the way katherine grips her, holding on as though she were the only thing left in existence, sends another wave of guilt through jane. how could she ever think katherine didn’t want her?

“i’m here, baby, mama’s here,” she murmurs quietly, still trying to soothe the girl in her arms. 

katherine presses herself closer and mumbles into her shoulder, “are you mad, mama?”

“no!” jane half-gasps, pulling back slightly to look her daughter in the eyes. “no, love, of course i’m not mad! i’m not angry or upset with you at all, i promise.”

she leans forward and presses a kiss to katherine’s forehead, trying to pour all her love into this one gesture.

katherine doesn’t react to the kiss. immediately after, katherine curls against jane, whimpering pathetically, feeling much more like the scared girl that had been dragged into the throne room than jane’s pride and joy.

“i’m sorry, mama,” she mumbled shakily, still not quite believing nothing was wrong considering jane’s earlier breakdown. “for whatever i did.”

“sweetheart, you don’t need to be sorry,” jane tries to hush her. her heart hurts and her stomach aches with guilt. how could she have put all those emotions onto a child? onto katherine, her pride and joy, whose only crime was making a new friend? “i’m the one who’s sorry, love.”

katherine immediately pulls back in confusion. “what are you sorry for?”

jane sighs. she wasn’t getting out of it now. “i was jealous, love,” she admits quietly. “i thought you liked anna more than me.” she inhales so sharply it’s nearly a gasp. “i’m jealous of anna, love, because she’s married to the man i still love.” she takes a calming breath the best she can. “but i mostly thought i was losing you to her. that you...” she looks katherine in the eyes, brushing hair from her face. “you wouldn’t want me around anymore.”

katherine stares up at jane with wide eyes, slowly letting jane’s words sink in.

“but... you’re my mama,” she says with a tone of confusion, as if not quite understanding. “and i love you.”

“i know that, love,” jane sighs softly. “jealousy is an ugly thing, though, and it made me think bad things. i’m so sorry, sweetheart.”

katherine presses herself further into jane’s hold, unwilling to let go. she rests her head against jane’s shoulder, her face in the crook of her neck. “you’re my mama,” she repeats softly. “i don’t want anyone else as my mama. ever,” she declares with all the might an eleven year old can muster.

jane presses a soft kiss to katherine’s temple as she lets the girl curl up against her.

“i know that, kat, and i should have remembered. and i promise, i’ll always be your mama. even when i’m old and grey and you’re all grown up, you’ll be my little seymour.”

“even when i’m a hundred?” katherine asks, and jane chuckles quietly.

“even when you’re a hundred.”

———————————————————————————————————–

tag list: @percabeth15 @kats-seymour @qualquercoisa945 @jane-fucking-seymour @a-slightly-cracked-egg @justqueentingz @annabanana2401 @wolfies-chew-toy @broad-way-13@tvandmusicals @lailaliquorice @aimieallenatkinson @sweet-child-why03 @gaylinda-of-the-upper-uplands @funky-lesbians @thinkaboutitmaybe @hansholbeingoesaroundzeworld @anaamess @beeskneeshuh @prick-up-ur-ears @theartoflazy @justqueentwo @brother-orion @paleshadowofadragon @lafemmestars @beautifulashes17@jarneiarichardnxel @idkimbadwithusernamesandstuff @sixcago @mixer1323 @boleynssixthfinger @aimieallen @elphiesdance @boleynthebunny @krystalhuntress @lupin-loves-chocolate @bellacardoza16 @bluify

[callsignbaphomet]

So I’m just gonna get right to the point. I love playing Skyrim, I love playing as my OCs in Skyrim. I especially love modding the living heck out of this game while playing as my OCs and pretty much living vicariously through them.

However, as much as I love this game IT IS SEVERELY LACKING IN LGBTQ+ CONTENT AND THE OPTION TO MARRY SOME CHARACTERS OF THE SAME GENDER AND ONE INSTANCE OF AN MLM COUPLE THROUGH A LETTER BECAUSE THEY’RE BOTH DEAD AF IN THE DRAGONBORN DLC IS NOT ENOUGH FOR MY QUEER ASS!

So what to do? Mods! It’s 2020 and a lot more people are openly accepting and open-minded, right? So finding LGBTQ+ mods should be a lot easier, right? Eh.........no. I’ve spent several days trying to find mods to make my Skyrim playthrough as queer as I possibly can make it, specifically for my High Elf OC who is trans (FtM), very effeminate, has a none muscular body and build and very gay. I think now, after several days of research, tutorials, testing and an endless amount of headaches I think I have the mods to make my play through true to how I imagine and have written this character as.

Bare with me for a few seconds, I promise I’ll get to the point and this is worth reading. I’m trying to get as much information in this as possible.

Disclaimer:

This mod list is only for the PC version of the game. Look, I’m super, super sorry but basically over 95% of all these mods are exclusively found online and even if they ARE on beth.net they aren’t used at full capacity from what I understand. Believe me, as a mainly console player, it breaks my heart that I can’t include the consoles for this list.

I won’t be linking to just Nexus. I’ve found a bunch of mods outside of the Nexus that are reliable.

I’ll only be working with the Special Edition version of the game. It’s the one I have and am playing on.

I will NOT be covering female body replacers. At freakin’ all. There are literal dozens of mods covering this. There will only be ONE and it is for very specific reasons only.

In my little venture into finding these mods I came across a lot of homophobic, transphobic and downright disgusting comments within the Nexus. I also found out a lot of queer mod authors were driven out of the Nexus because of said homophobic people. This is what happened to Vector and also why SavrenX refuses to upload anything other than weapon, item retextures to the Nexus. Nexus users and community overall is very homophobic and toxic so I’m very sorry if you see or read something upsetting. I advice you avoid the comments (known as posts on Nexus) tab as to avoid seeing some vile shit. Ignore them and don’t engage them ffs, they just want a reaction out of you. There’s no correcting these assholes much less educating them. They ain’t worth your time. Just report and move on.

The majority of the mods linked in this post have been tried by me, if I haven’t tried them out I’ll say so. Again, I’m learning as I go along and believe me this hasn’t been an easy task to find all of these working mods.

No, I won’t be searching or uploading any ports, texture, mesh or mod edits I myself have done. I ain’t confident in how well I may have or not have edited the mods and more importantly that’s as bad as uploading art that wasn’t done by you. Sadly, you’ll have to do these changes yourself. I’ll try my best to link tutorials. Also don’t go and harass the authors for a port or an update ffs.

I’ll most likely be editing this list as I learn more.

Yes, I will leave links from adult sites. A lot of these sites pretty much force you to sign up in order for you to download their content. It’s fine, just make some random account and you’ll instantly gain access to the mods. Just know there’ll be nsfw images, gifs and videos everywhere in these sites.

While I will be referring to male characters a lot of these if not all can also cater to non-binary characters too!

No, I will not be covering sex mods. I have no intention of adding them to any of my load orders and I really don’t care to. You’re on your own for that category. Try Lover’s Lab.

*Body Mods/Replacers/Races:

Schlongs of Skyrim (aka SOS). Not the only choice out there but the most current and fully working one. Pretty much mandatory for a bunch of mods so might as well have it, ya know?

Tempered Skins for Males. Was known as Better Males; pairs up beautifully with SOS. Super amazing work if you ask me.

Shape Atlas for Men (aka SAM). This is literally the god king of all male body replacers. Want a twunk? This mod will do it. Want a regular Joe? This can do it. Want a bear of a man running around in Skyrim? Yeah, girl, this can do it. Ever since I discovered it I have been obsessed with it! HOWEVER, the full working mod is only available for Old Skyrim, maybe for Legendary Edition but I’m not sure. Vector said he had plans to port the full working mod to Special Edition but confessed he was having issues with the scripts. Also afaik Vector’s last updates on working on the mod were back in late 2016 so I think it’s safe to say this beautiful mod will never be seen running on SSE. Sadly Vector just up and left the modding scene somewhere in 2018. It none of our business but from what I read he faced a lot of homophobic harassment from people not liking his body mod or giving him shit because he didn’t want to make a female body mod. He even faced harassment from our very own community.

Not all’s lost though. Some of the amazing modders in Vector’s site have made a working version for SSE.

SAM Light, SAM Morphs for RaceMenu, SAM SE Vanilla Armor Refit, SAM High Poly Conversion, SAM Light Texture Add-on, High Poly Head

The Ultra Femme. Title should be super self-explanatory. Super good if your character is really femme or non-binary or trans. I haven’t tried out this body myself and I’m not entirely sure whether this is compatible with SE or not. RefurbMadness has a lot of mods hosted in her site and still has some in Nexus that are being hosted by the site’s Care Taker. I’m actually gonna link a few later. I honestly suggest going through her site and reading up everything. She’s pretty clear when it comes to instructions, the only problem is she’s not exactly clear on whether her mods are compatible with SE or not. Maybe it’s written somewhere in there, I’m still new to modding and need very clear descriptions (you kinda gotta talk to me like I’m 5 when it comes to mods). I need to check more of her content and test a bunch of things. She also has armor and clothing mods.

Milkdrinker Male Texture and Slim Male Body for SoS (<3<3<3). Both by the same mod author. Sadly only available for Old Skyrim but the only reason why I linked it is because both mods are super easy to convert to use for SSE. Sweetie, if I managed to do it, you can do it too. Watch this, or this or this or try to Google it and see what comes up. Personally I tried the Slim Male Body and it was pretty good. Unfortunately you’d have to refit all the armors to fit either body yourself.

Transgender Race and NPCS SSE. Like I said before I wasn’t going to link or talk about any female body replacers except for one. This one! Look, there are a few out there but they’re extremely transmisogynistic and fetishistic and use a lot of outdated and transphobic language plus they’re mostly sex mods so I will abso-freaking-lutely NOT be linking them. Anyway, the people behind this port are back to working on this mod and have plans for adding transgender men. As of now the mod only has transgender women. They can’t add more genders due to the engine limitations and FYI they used “race” in the title because this isn’t a body mod, it’s actually a race. This is one of the few mods that won’t play well with SoS.

There IS one more body or better said, race, I tried but I really didn’t like it. Mod worked as it was advertised but--well, whatever, it’s for personal reasons that I didn’t like it and it depended way too much on a lot of more mods and it bloated up my LO something fierce so for that reason I ain’t gonna link it. Mod’s called Femboy if you wanna give it a try yourself.

*Extras (edits, armors, clothes and more):

Enhanced Character Edit SE. Tl;dr this is like RaceMenu but on steroids. It offers way more sliders and because of this it has fantastic potential to mold your character’s body to your personal liking. I used this instead of RM for my High Elf I mentioned earlier. He has a more “delicate” frame and is much thinner than my other OCs and this mod did exactly what I’ve been trying to achieve for a very long time now. Works like a charm.

SSE Luscious Locks for All - Unisex KS Hair. Makes it so that male characters can use all the hair options that comes with KS Hairdos SSE. Guys with long hair! Yummy! <3

Oooooooorrrrrrr you can just install ApachiiSkyHair SSE which has a bunch of long hair options for men to look fabulously yummy! This is the one I’m using.

Femfeet Redesigned SSE Port For Everyone. Look, it’s a foot texture mod, that’s it. Works with Better Males aka Tempered Skins and SoS, so yes, your guys will have pretty feet. Load this AFTER you body mod of choice.

Apachii Divine Elegance Store. This store has so much to offer. Really beautiful clothes and armors, exceptional jewelry, wonderful accessories aaaaaand your male character can also use the nails that are offered by the mod. So if you want your male character to have some stunning and colorful manicures done this mod offers it. They also offer actual claws that also comes in different colors so you can have both styles. Look, imo this is a must for femme male and enby characters. Your guys are going to look beautiful!

Immersive Jewelry - Earring for Male Characters. This enables Immersive Jewelry earrings to be wearable and visible on male characters.

Light Elven Armor for Men, Light Glass Armor for Men, Light Daedric Armor for Men. Tired of women being the only ones to get skimpy outfits? Ja, me too! Here’s some of the armor mods RefurbMadness ported to SSE before she left Nexus. There’s more available for Old Skyrim but you’ll need to convert them over to SSE yourself.

Slof’s Lair. Slof has a collection of skimpy armors, some accessories and even modern clothes (if that’s your thing). They have a link to their Nexus profile on their page but instead of adding all the links I just figured to leave the link to their site so you can check everything they have to offer. I haven’t tried any of Slof’s mods myself though I’m super interested in the Just For Men collection of mods and the Goth Shop (chill, it’s mostly Tera armors without the need to download that massive Tera mod).

Tera Armors Collection - Special Edition. And here’s that massive mod I previously mentioned but it’s actually a really good one. I’ve tested this out on both pc and Xbox One and it looks gorgeous on both!

The Well Dressed Mage. Not exactly skimpy but kind of revealing. Idk, these look lovely af and I wanna try them on my Altmer. Maybe someone else will want to try these too.

Modular Bandoliers and Pauldrons for Males. Pretty simple and to the point. Haven’t tried it since it wouldn’t go with my elf’s more refined bitchy tastes.

Bad Dog’s Skimpy Clothes SE. Some skimpy outfits for guys that were converted over to SE apparently not too long ago.

Bodyslide and Outfit Studio. So none of the stuff listed above is to your liking. That’s where this comes in. Thing is you actually CAN convert female armors and clothes for male use. So download the armors and clothes you wanna use and throw them and the body meshes you use into Outfit Studio. I myself am still learning how to go about doing this and the tutorials out there are kinda hard to come by. Try this video. I followed it and managed to convert a female outfit to fit on a male body I was using. Still need a lot of practice though but am working on it.

As far as makeup goes you can edit the colors of your character’s eyeshadow, eyeliner, cheeks and lips but with ECE or RaceMenu you can edit the colors further. May need to do some extra hard tweaking some choices though, not gonna lie. If I find a much better option I’ll post it.

I’m currently trying to find how the heck to get male characters to wear heels or if there’s a mod that has it. Like, that’s the last thing I need to make clothes complete. I’ll get back to this when I find it.

*Animations:

FNIS PCEA2 - Player Exclusive Animations (Dynamic) SE. So you got your character, you’ve dressed them and done up their hair and all that and to this point it’s all come together perfectly...until your femme male/enby character or your butch female/enby character starts walking and standing idly by and the poses and animations are completely and utterly wrong. Why is he walking like an angry gorilla? Why is she walking like a Victoria’s Secret model down the walkway? Can you switch their animations?

YES!!!

PCEA2--and yes, you will need FNIS to get this working--allows you to make animation changes to only your character. You can even add and/or remove which animation packs you want your character to use! I’ve just barely begun testing this mod as well as adding some specific packs for my Altmer and the pretty female idles works like a charm for him. I downloaded FNIS Sexy Move SE to try this out on him and see if it works but according to Fore it should work as long as you installed everything correctly and ticked the appropriate box to activate the animation pack you want. I’m not entirely sure if you can customize the choices given by each animation pack, probably something as simple as deleting the animations you don’t want and leaving the one you do want. I’ll have to test this further.

*Gameplay and Voices:

Simply Gay Letters. Simple and sweet little mod that adds some letters in certain places all over Skyrim tying certain NPCs to other NPCs. The hinted at couples are all the mod author’s headcanons so if that bothers you I suggest moving on.

Queering Skyrim - Blueflower Necklace. Basically it stops female NPCs from showing interest in your male character when wearing an amulet of Mara. Queering Skyrim - Lavender Menace Necklace does the exact same thing but for female characters.

Same Sex Perks - A Lover’s Insight - Agent of Dibella - Allure. Y’all remember Confirmed Bachelor from New Vegas? Remember how no Beth game has put it in their games again but are totally adding some lazy attempts to include us LGBTQ+ folks? The author has a pretty clear and easy to understand description of the mod in the page. There’s also Gay Insight - A Lover’s Insight Tweak which does the same as the other one but much simpler. I guess it’s up to you and your tastes when it comes to which one to use. I myself am using Same Sex Perks since it adds other perks.

Player Voicesets for SSE - Custom Voice Version. I downloaded this but I haven’t installed it yet. If I understood correctly this lets you change your character’s voice to any of the in game voices. My advice? Go into the page and read everything.

PC Head Tracking and Voice Type SE. The reason I haven’t installed the previous mod is because I have THIS one installed because of the head tracking but it also comes with an added voice feature so this might clash with the other one. I still need to test whether they do the same thing or not.

Skyrim - Player Re-Voiced Series. CaseyTheVA was kind enough to make a bunch of voices for your character. Just your character. I’ve tested these on Xbox and they are legit really freakin’ good! They seem to have added a lot more since the last time I checked. Unfortunately these are only available on beth.net or for Old Skyrim on the Nexus. You could just download them from the game’s mod page and remove the files and upload them back into the game using whatever mod manager you use. I did this with Cheat Room. Or you can port them yourself from Nexus. Honestly the quality alone is worth all the trouble.

[aspiestvmusings]

THE MASKED SINGER: SEASON 2 [SPOILERS]: MY THOUGHTS & GUESSES

I was gonna do a full guesses post for the shows second season, but then I realized... I might be on to something (because I guessed 50% of the first double-episodes masks) & I don’t wanna ruin it for so many, so I am only giving my HINTS of the my guesses, not the names or anything. But still...

SPOILER WARNING!

I didn’t watch during S1, but I saw the clips over summer & have watched the first few shows this season... 

During the first week I knew one of the reveals. The other I did not know, because I'm “old” & am just not familair with current young generation idols and stars... And the more I think about my guesses (I did just google each of my guesses..fast, and many things I read match with the character clues I suspect they play on this show, so...) 

CHARACTERS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER 

1. The Black Widow =  before I heard her & could make my own guesses that weren’t guided by others opinions, I heard other peoples guesses & now can’t see/hear anyone else...besides the ones others suggested. Yet I am not sure which of the possibilities it actually is. I’m torn between two ladies - R. & A. ETA on Oct 17th: After tonight’s ep clues it’s basically conformed - that’s miss R.

2. The Butterfly =  before I heard her & could make my own guesses that weren’t guided by others opinions, I heard other peoples guesses & now can’t see/hear anyone else... besides the ones others suggested.  Yet I am not sure which of the possibilities it actually is. ETA: After the Oct 17th episode it’s pretty much confirmed that it’s miss M. (the singer, not the actress) 

3. The Eagle =  HAVE NOT HEARD HIM PERFORM YET, but based on the outfit & first clues it is a big “rock” star from the “past”.  Yet I am not sure which of the possibilities it actually is. ETA: Well, this one was pure character play - he was the “weakest link” of the episode. Not a singer. He was the one unmasked. It was... SPOILER. And since I’m not from US, he’s one of the stars I did not know & hence would’ve never guessed. 

4. The Flamingo =  before I heard her & could make my own guesses that weren’t guided by others opinions, I heard other peoples guesses & now can’t see/hear anyone else... besides the ones others suggested.  Yet I am not sure which of the possibilities it actually is.  ETA on Oct 17th: After tonight’s ep clues it’s basically conformed - that’s miss A. 

5. The Flower =   HAVE NOT HEARD HER PERFORM YET, but based on the clues  it can only be one person. An actress. The clues that reveal it’s her are: There are a dozen (read: 12) reasons...; She blossoms in every field she plants herself in. Also...the number 314 was seen at one point (which in this case is not P = 3.14, but stands for something other). These three clues alone tell us who she is.  Miss M. The doctorate clue also points to her. But... then there are clues & things that say the opposite. EDIT: And after seeing & hearing her... I’m torn...cause now it seems that it’s someone “legendary”, cause of that voice!  ETA: It was miss P.L.

6. The Fox =  The clues strongly suggest this is one of the Marvel superheroes. Since I haven’t heard him perform yet, I cannot be sure who. But based on the looks (his posture, movement...), and the clues so far it sounds most like Mr. J. EDIT: But... after hearing him it sounds more like mr. W (who I originally considered for Thingamajic) - he worked with actors, who were hinted at the clue section. Yet... I still think that despite what he sounds like it actually is someone, who plays a superhero on TV/in films, and I’m still leaning towards MCU actor. But I have to re-listen to make a better guess. Cause the clues suggest different MCU actors than I initially thought based on the previews... Yet it could also be someone else, who has been in film industry.... But based on the voice it’s most likely mr. W. 

7. The Ladybug =   before I heard her & could make my own guesses that weren’t guided by others opinions, I heard other peoples guesses & now can’t see/hear anyone else...  besides the ones others suggested. Yet I am not sure which of the possibilities it actually is. It does sound a lot like miss K. based on the voice, and the clues, though. ETA: Yes, it was K.O.

8. The Leopard =  The clues point to several possibilities, but based on the voice alone..my first guess (and so far only guess based on that voice) is Mr. S. Most clues also fit him. A few clues don’t fit that well, but his voice to me sounded most similar to the man known by the artist name different than the one he’s portraying. And all the lines mentioned by/about him on stage were direct references/quotes/titles of his hit songs etc. The other clues hint more towards a stage presence of a more colourful persona though, so other peoples guesses that it’s B. or R.  or R. or J. or D. are good, too. I’m just unfamiliar with some of their voices, so cannot agree/disagree. Based on his behaviour I’d say it’s mr. J. The personality seems more like J. (a known “prankster” with amazing voice & talent), or R. (he’s worn leopard print outfits that made into headlines, he’s British, has had hits...only thing is that to me the voice doesn’t match the characters...though great singers can mask their voices, too...). 

The clues: British Elizabethan dress/costume; the “British accent”, the newspaper headlines in the clues segment: Crazy game ends with win for the Leopard + Out of Hits & Out of Time + The Runaway; adaptable & can survive anywhwhere - even under harsh conditions; knows what it’s like to be at the top; has had many hit songs (he’s been a heavy hitter);  “scandals” & “celebrity culture” - people/fans more interested in the celebrity aspect & rumours etc... than in his music/talent; he really doesn’t care what they about what he’s wearing...or about his relationships; clock hand on number 9; J’adore; “Don’t stop”; DIVINE: "Leopards can be fierce, and yer so divine”; playing with the hosts/Nick's tux/suit; Kiss(ed by) from a Leopard; “from the jungle”; “piercing green eyes”; ready for the spotlight; “ready to move mountains”; “spectacular performances”; "The Secret Service”; “Spotted with the presidents”

ETA on Oct 17th: After tonight’s ep clues it’s confirmed - that’s mr. S. Almost no chance it could be anyone else... Oh, darling...that gave you away. And even though several clues fit also mr. T.D., the song title references to me confirm my first guess. 

9. The Penguin =   I HAVE NOT HEARD HER PERFORM YET

10. The Rottweiler =  The voice and several clues say it’s well known singer Mr. C. (who lost to miss K.M.), but the clues are also very fitting to a singing actor Mr. S. (who co-starred opposite the same miss K.M. on a certain show)…but though I know he has a great singing voice, based on many things I’m currently leaning towards my first guess. Both fit several of the clues..in several ways, though! All the (fantasy) football, abs/six pack (and most likely coming clues that claim he’s a comic book fan & supports his wife...publicly, is a proud + great father)... clues fit both of them - these two men have quite a lot in common. Both are also born in the same year & both had/have a big birthday this year. The voice seems so much like the singers, and the clues fit so well (everything from the football to roses to the “beauty salon setting” and the LIVE fit this great voice, who has had hits on radio). At the same time almost all clues & much more suggest it’s the actor with a good voice (whose old band had the word dog in it, whose been in a boy band, whose done musical theatre, and who might have found bigger fame on tv/film, but to those who know him... he’s always been a great singer & performer, he’s even been in a band that was a “warm up act” for N’Sync tour once. He’s a multi-talent, who studied to be a structural engineer... and even though he was working on one big project this summer, I do think he would’ve had time to also do this). 

For me the greatness of the voice + the hair salon and one specific line in the clues suggest it’s the singer & the on-stage-presence and backwards hat suggests the actor. Everything else fits both! So it all depends on if the chose the “hip hop” look as a disguise...cause the singer is not known as hiphop artist, or if the hip outfit is more his style...which would mean it’s the actor. If I’d figure out the dog’s (that’s god backwards) height, I’d know which of the two he is, because one of them is 172cm and the other 182cm & the taller one is also buff-ier (he’s all muscles!..and the dog seems quite small under the costume) - The Rottweiler seems to be about the same height as the host Nick (he is 183cm) - their shoulders seem to be about the same height, so this would tip the scales to the actor. But after a re-watch it now seems to me the dog is shorter than the host, so that confirms the singer. Even the fact that they’ve always had the lead roles (on screen, in bands...), but they’ve also both lost to someone else...is similar.   If they’d include numbers as clues, then number 5 would suggest the singer & number 425 the actor. If the blue roses symbolise a tattoo, its the singer, if the blue & purple symbolise something else (HD), its the singer... 

Only thing I can’t directly connect to either of the two is the gold chain... That seems to suggest at the third option... or maybe it was added just to make the two parts of the costume blend in better together...not be so obvious)  But then I’ve also heard some great guesses from others & though I am unfamiliar with Mr. B.W.’s voice, several (dog) clues fit him, too.  He’s done music with canine titles, and he’s talented + he’s also known to wear gold. Plus I am also kinda suspecting (based on the great voice) that it might be a certain Canadian even though I cannot fit most clues to him... But in my minds if it’s not one of the two I suspect, I will be very surprised. It would also be a great and fun “promotional” trick, if the dog would be the spider-kid T.H., who is the voice of a dog in an upcoming film (he even posted a pic of his charcater with the same words the dog used “This dog’s bark is just as good as his bite”. But it cannot be either him or his screen-dad mr. R.D.J, cause while they both match the height, they dont match the voice or the clues. Based on the costume choice it’d be the funniest if it was one of the (hiphop) artists, who use a canine name: Snoop Doggy Dog, Pitbull... but the voice and clues match others better.

The clues: The hair salon/beauty salon style setting; the vinyl record with the title/name LIVE playing; “grooming” shaving the dogs “body hair”; “touched the pigs skin under the friday night lights” (pigs skin = football) = Friday Night (Lights); preparation is key; blue roses; (being a) hungry competitor; rising to fame (by being a competitor)... almost overnight;  Fantasy (Football) Champion (ring); was bitten by a dog/rottweiler as a kid; “it’s not over”; gold chain around his neck; the big (golden) wrist watch; (golden) bowtie; the (backwards) baseball hat;  the fashionable look and the sneakers;  “this pretty pup’s got chops”;  “take a bite out of this competition”;  just “wait and see”;  “get up on our high lanes”;  “he’s there to be the best in show and his bark is just as big as his bite”;  he’s a total perfectionist; “he’s gonna work his tail out to earn your puppy love”; the fashionable hip-hop look of the costume; roses are blue - violets are red (a poem by Patrick Star?), “rockin’ a furry 6-pack”, = the six-pack! (abs)

If the next clues say that he has strong arms it’s the actor, if they say that he wanted to become the iNext Michael, but didn’t..it’s the singer. Either way...all eyes are on the Rottweiler...  ;) And since the height & the song clues pretty much confirm it’s the singer....the song choice makes sense, too. He has actually performed with Hall & Oates. I’ve heard him sing “Out of Touch” with the band/duo. So, while I still wish it could be the actor... there are clues that pretty much confirm it is the singer... the height alone does that. Yet... the dog is holding the mic in his left hand... and I’ve only ever seen the singer hold the mic in his right, when he performs, but the actor switches hands (ambidextrous while holding the mic), so...  I really need to hear and see some more to solve this mystery, cause I keep going back & forth... ETA: It is mr. C.D. 

....

11. The Skeleton =  If this is not some known comedian/host/comedic actor, I will be surprised. Based on the voice alone I can’t really guess. Based on the stage presence the character reminds me of Mr. M.’s character on a certain streaming services show, - there was/is a storyline about him doing musical theatre, and this stage presence + voice to me looks so much like that characters stage presence. Only thing throwing me off is that though that actor is also shorter & older, it doesn’t really seem to be him (the appearance). But… actors can be good at disguising themselves… Also..the clues apparently fit him… so well! I do not read gossip magazines (usually), but I just googled him to see this latest projects, etc...like I did with all the names that I suspect are hiding behind the masks...to check the facts for this post) and the headlines about him this year match the skeleton’s clues…quite well, so now I'm not sure. But I still think its someone a bit younger than mr. M.). 

12. The Thingamajic =  The stage presence screams tall athlete (basketball/baseball player). The clues give us a possible birthday and from the people born on that day who can sing (read: who I am aware of that can sing)  Mr. V.  fits most of the clues + what can be seen & heard. It could be some other tall athlete, or non-athlete. Like mr. J (who  has played a character, who was a huge Chewbacca & SW fan), who is tall...though I remember his natural voice being different. But..since the show likes to trick us, I’d say that the person inside the costume is not as tall as the outfit suggest, so I would guess more based on the voice than by the height alone.  So.. it could also be Mr. W., who is not 7 feet tall, but whose voice (to me) seems very similar to this characters (many clues fit him extremely well). For me its either V. or W. ETA: It is mr. V.O: 

The clues: The height (7 feet tall with the costume); backstage dressing room style outfit closet; plaid/tartan shirts; karaoke style subtitles during the clue segment; rhyming text during the clue segment; puzzling/puzzles; gentle giant, feather (feathery kind of gentle giant); portfolio case with wings; a magic case (magic ticks); keep up the pace; triangles; old school style microphone stand; loves to sing...but isn’t necessarily known as a singer; silhouettes of people & palm trees...; he’s more than fashion shoots and dreams; sneakers; “walk the line” - rope walking;  magnifying glass,  number 4 (on a cupcake), colourful glasses frames, dressed in plaid, rip/tear in the costume on the “thigh”, his eyes are actually at the height where the costumes mouth is. He’s ALL the things we see (in the clue package & more), “I’m easy like a Sunday morning", ON AIR 31-33-41-43, in need of a dentist, he’s kind of a big deal, “welcome to my kingdom”, his puzzling persona, he’s literally unlike anything like you’ve ever seen or heard before, He’s not Chewbacca...though they do celebrate together. ETA on Oct 17th: After tonights ep clues it’s conformed - that’s mr. V. 

13. The Tree =  before I heard her & could make my own guesses that weren’t guided by others opinions, I heard other peoples guesses & now can’t see/hear anyone else...  besides the ones others suggested. Yet I am not sure which of the possibilities it actually is. I wish it was an actress, who also sings - miss Z. She’s done Christmas films/music... but that voice is not really hers, so...

EXTRA: If I am correct in guessing their identities, then two of the male singers behind the masks have worked together on a special musical project in 2016. 

ALREADY BEEN REVEALED

1. The Egg = Johnny Weir (He was the only one I guessed based on the clues + his on stage performance & presence + voice)

2. The Ice Cream = Tyler “Ninja” Blevins (The kids may start to know the popular names amongst todays next generation, but I am “old”, so his name & persona were completely unknown to me)

3. The Panda = Laila Ali (I should’ve known based on the letter the baby panda wrote to her daddy panda, but I didn’t guess immediately & decided to watch the reveal right away… not giving myself time to guess some more)

4. The Eagle = Dr. Drew Pinsky (radio host) 

5. The Skeleton = Mr. SPOILER 

NOTE: I am new to this show, but since I love music, and I love puzzles, I have decided to follow this season. And since i did’t watch last year (just watched clips etc later...), and am unaware of how things are done on the show, but... based on the two shows I’ve now seen... it kinda seems to me that they are hiding clues about the contestants in other contestants parts. Like... if we’d use last season as an example... they’d say “this person has felt PAIN... a lot” for someone else than the Monster character. Or “he’s a KNIGHT in shining armor”...for someone else than the Bee character. I just had this strange sensation when listening to/watching the clues that the things they alluded to weren’t always about the character whose segment was on. 

Also: I do not think the comments that the “judges” say are pointless. I do think that they’ve chosen very carefully which ones to keep. Like I think that “I don’t think its an actor on a tv show” is meaningless. The little, seemingly random lines often seem to me actually like clues. 

For those, who are familiar with showbiz and people in showbiz the show is/should be really easy. The voices + the clues combined make it too easy... but none of us are familiar with every “celebrity”, which is why not all masked singers are guessed correctly. But yeah, I would say that the clues are often too easy. Like...if the Flower, Fox, Leopard, Rottweiler turn out to be who I think they are... they are still making it too easy. They are literally telling you who it is. Including song titles/words and film/show titles and/or character names, or sports team names...literally... in the dialogue/voiceovers.... 

But...the thing is that some of the clues are actual helpful clues, and some seem to have been added as “red herrings” - to muddy the waters, and make it more confusing. Also... many of them do seem to mask their voices & not reveal their real voice right away, so that is also a distraction method... making it harder to guess. 

So... this is all for show, because there is no way the “judges” don’t recognize some of the voices & think of certain people as possible options for specific characters. This year it’s specifically means that there’s no way they did not hear & consider certain singer being the leopard...as the voice just sounds like his...even if its an act (someone is mimicking him). So this alone tells me that the panel is putting on a show - they’re directed to not say the right name right away..if they know/guess it... to keep the suspense longer. And/Or the show is edited so that if someone guesses some character too fast...that part is cut out..and/or saved for later (they do add audio from the panel...at times...when they’re actually showing the artist, so it also seems to me as some editing has been going on... to mix different moments...) 

[yxkanna-a]

——— character question sheet.

▌real name: nicky maxwell lee ▌/real/ name: nick. nicky is a CHILD’S name >:/ ▌single or taken: extremely single in his canon but i have several quality ships on here which frankly is what he deserves ▌abilities or powers: despite being such a dumbass nick is super analytical and 97% of the time is pretty effective at rationally thinking through a problem he’s presented with (provided he’s already in that mindset and isn’t having to react based on gut instinct alone). he can save ur life which i guess is cool. he’s bilingual (english and japanese). he doesn’t have powers in his canon but he does have some in aus which u are free to ask about 👀 ▌eye color: dark green, reminiscent of pine trees ▌hair color: jet black ▌family members: a father he hasn’t seen or heard of since the age of five. a mother who meant well but never really had time for her sons. an older brother he’d kill and/or die for. that’s it ▌pets: none in his canon but he wants at least one kitty cat :( give him the ugly cat in the shelter who stinks and nobody wants ▌something they don’t like: people trying to manipulate him >:/ he’s not stupid, he knows what ur doing, cut that shit out ▌hobbies/activities: nick frankly doesn’t have time for hobbies but on the weekends u can find him in clubs drinking and dancing his lil heart out. he’s a decent drinker and a v good dancer ;) ▌ever hurt anyone before: let’s just say that he dishes as good as he gets ▌ever killed anyone before: none in his canon; verse dependent honestly. nick doesn’t wanna kill people. that sort of defeats the whole purpose of his job, y’know? but if he were put in a situation where it was himself or someone else trying to kill him, he’d choose himself, if u catch my drift ▌animal that represents them: an alley cat. comes and goes as he pleases, doesn’t really trust anyone, just looking for food. turns into a purring puddle when someone shows him genuine affection.... ▌worst habits: using his usual sarcastic tone w/ people he doesn’t know yet. driving like a maniac. crowding people sometimes bc his sense of personal space is a bit skewed. eating far too much ramen when he’s too lazy to make anything else oops ▌role models: his brother......! also his paramedic partner to some extent bc she’s a badass ▌sexual orientation: biromantic bisexual ▌thoughts on marriage/kids: he wants to get married one day but he has this idea in his head that he’s never gonna be bc people tend not to like being in a committed relationship w/ him for extended periods of time and it’s kinda fucked him up. he’s iffy about kids bc he doesn’t mind them but he doesn’t know how to act around them sometimes and he curses too much and he’s terrified he’s gonna turn out like his dad ▌fears: phobia wise- any kind of water he could possibly drown in, suffocation as a whole, being restrained, loss of control. on a more generalized level, he’s afraid of being abandoned or betrayed by people he trusts. he’s worried that nothing he does will amount to anything. he’s afraid of being alone, or being with someone and turning into the type of person his dad is, especially since he knows that he exhibits some of the same personality traits as his father ▌style preferences: simple t-shirts or graphic tees. skinny jeans. converse. leather jacket. tends to prefer black over other colors ▌someone they love: not 2 be sappy on main but his brother..... bonk bonks him on the ass w/ a cardboard tube... ▌approach to friendships: if they can stand being around him for an extended period of time and aren’t nasty w/ him he’s ride or die ▌thoughts on pie: eat up mothafucka ▌favorite drink: defaults to straight vodka, sometimes goes for a long island iced tea if he’s feeling sexy and dangerous ▌favorite place to spend time at: his fucking HOME on his COUCH where he doesn’t have to worry about anyone BOTHERING HIM or being all like “iS tHeRe A dOcToR iN tHe HoUsE??” NO, KAREN, THERE ISN’T, BC HE NEVER WENT TO MEDICAL SCHOOL, BUT SURE, HE’S THE NEXT BEST THING!!!! ▌swim in the lake or in the ocean: if u put a gun to his head and threatened to kill everyone he ever knew and loved he’d choose a lake bc it’s theoretically shallower and there aren’t as many things that’ll eat him in there and there aren’t riptides or anything, but also he doesn’t wanna swim in anything so pls don’t make him ▌their type: women who exude enough raw power to disintegrate their foes make his heart go badump badump. men who look all big and bad and could break him in half but are soft and sweet and kind w/ him make him swoon. he just wants to love and be loved, y’know?? he likes being able to quip back and forth w/ someone who doesn’t mind his sometimes abrasive sense of humor so that’s a nice plus ▌camping or indoors: indoors...... this motherfucker is a city slicker cut him some slack

TAGGED BY: @kodo-kai yeehaw TAGGING: HHHH idk if anyone hasn’t been tagged yet so if u see this and think it’s neato take it from me

[oc-rehab-centre]

OC Design Basics #1 - Colour Palettes

Every part of an original character, fandom or non-fandom, humanoid or animalian, is important to the bigger picture. Your original character is like a mosaic or a puzzle, every piece is crucial to having a “good” character: personality, backstory, relationships, etc., you know the deal. But today we’re going to discuss: the importance of OC design, common mistakes and what you can do to fix them. 

Now, this isn’t a post made only to talk about how OC fame/attention is linked to OC design… Which is really isn’t, and I hope that’s clear! This isn’t a tutorial on how to get famous either, but rather a collection of information and tips meant to help you! This is also geared towards a younger audience - so some things are pretty obvious.

Alrighty then, let’s get into this~

Importance of Design

We all know the idiom “don’t judge a book by its cover”: which discourages people to prejudge something’s overall worth from a mere first glance, positive or negative. However, when it comes to characters, you’ll often see the images before you see their biography or information and get to know the nitty-gritty information about them.

It’s pretty superficial, but first impressions can make or break your OC’s popularity and reception, but alas, that is just human nature. If you have a fandom OC; how well your OC’s design blends in with the existing cast, or how much they stand out against them can reel in an intrigued audience. Your OC’s design is just one of many factors which may bring you an audience, or leave you with just a small one - but shove aside that notion and let’s focus on what’s actually important. 

A good OC is congruent, with all the little pieces working together naturally to tell your OC’s story and fit with aspects of their personality in a way that doesn’t feel forced. Their appearance should reflect things about them, and give the audience an idea as to what they are like from a first glance or two. It’s a challenge, but as you grow more experienced, it becomes easier. However, some help along the way is always nice, and that’s why we’re here! 

In this tip & tutorial post, I’m mostly going to cover more natural colours and make your OC look more, well, “original”! Of course as always, these are just opinions, and you are just as entitled to your own as I am to mine! Also, I’ll be talking about more common mistakes I’ve seen several young artists and creators make, so if you’re new to OC creation, here’s some tips from someone whose been doing too much of this kinda thing! 

I will not be covering facial features and shapes here, but perhaps I will in the near future??? This mostly focuses on colours!

For this tutorial, by the way, I used a colouring page found HERE. I’m not entirely sure if this is the original artist, nor is the original artist credited. If you ever find the source and wanna let us here at @oc-rehab-centre know, that’d be just dandy!

Common Mistake #1 - Hair Colours/Styles

If you’ve browsed the undiscovered page of DeviantART, you may find yourself browsing the work of younger creators. It is always wonderful to see young artists working to produce their own characters, but it’s a shame to say that most OC creators can determine or guess your age range and experience from the way you design characters, or perhaps an inability to credit base makers lmao.

What I see a lot on DeviantART when it comes down to hair colour is often… unstimulating. Hair colours like black and oversaturated colours are often used, perhaps due to a lack of understanding the colour wheel of infinite possibilities or how to make colours beyond what they can find in their box of 24 Crayola coloured pencils.

When it comes to OC design, you want to try your best to avoid black and bright, bright colours that are hard on the eyes unless absolutely necessary and essential to your character. 

Black hair can easily be substituted for other dark and natural colours, like shades of brown or red. Heck, there are entire charts of natural hair colours online you can browse. 

Blinding shades of red, green, blue, etc. can all be made easier on the eyes by simply mellowing or darkening the colour. Perhaps you might settle for pastel hues, or a darker and less saturated tone. Both your eyes and the eyes of your viewers will thank you for making something other than pitch-black or a vibrant hot magenta! 

Hopefully this little diagram shows what a difference a bit of playing around with your colour wheel can do! Now time to address another common trope in OC creation when it comes to hair: hair styles. 

A very common hairstyle that you see is the hair over one eye. OCs with their bangs draped down over one eye. TV Tropes discusses this infamous design cliche as a way of symbolizing sexuality, shyness, solidarity or powerful [HERE].. However, most OCs with this hairstyle are not always explained and if it is, it’s done poorly, making it seem as though a) the creator was merely going for a run-of-the-mill edgy look with their character OR b) they just can’t draw the other eye. 

While having an OC who's a bit on the edgy and badass side is cool and all, it is a trope to avoid. I went through a phase of having my hair over one eye in my elementary days but trust me, it’s not a very practical hairstyle, and it’s certainly not very stylish if your bangs are all scraggly too. If you have chosen this hairstyle to avoid drawing the other eye, just take the leap! You’re not going to improve unless you push yourself to experiment with new hairstyles, of which there are many! 

Finding other hairstyles to use for your OC is as simple as browsing the Internet. There are countless of video and written tutorials to watch on how to draw hair styles, all of which are arguably more appealing and interesting than that mock of edgy bangs. If you are striving for an edgy character, there are other ways to show that in their design than simply such an ill-mannered hairstyle! 

Credit: doggerland

Common Mistake #2 - Eyes/Facial Scars 

Much like hair colours, overly-saturated colours can ruin eyes when they seem out of place. You can have an OC with natural coloured hair, a good colour palette and then oh wait - an eye colour that doesn’t really fit. I’ve seen many young creators using eye colours that really don’t exist and look very unnatural, clashing with their character’s design. 

Like with hair, a certain number of natural eye colours exist. Even if you’re bending from natural eye colours, avoid using saturated shades or shades that are just too dark. You can get some nice and more natural colours by playing around with your colour wheel. You can be bold without using such assaulting colours! XD

Another common trope derived from anime and gaming are scars. I know I was mostly going to discuss colours here, but like hairstyles, it’s something worth addressing!Once again, I’m gonna make reference to TV Tropes’ article. The most common scars include:  

A cut over one eye

A claw mark (usually three or four even gashes on the chest or face)

Any of the Standard Bleeding Spots

Any scar shaped like an X.

A scar on the face that happened in a sword duel.

Credit: TV Tropes

Regardless of the universe, fandom or non-fandom, scars may add to your character’s story, but it takes a lot to make a scar on the face seem original. I’m personally not a fan of OCs with scars on their face, since it’s often not acknowledged or even drawn in a way that is realistic. 

For example, getting slashed across the eye with a sword or blade would not leave a clean scar and a pearly, blinded eye, as we often see in anime. It would look nasty and it would look as disabling as it feels, so when people don’t abide to the very nature of how the human body heals, it irks me a little bit. 

My tip here would be to avoid scars that go over the eye unless you’re going to do it right. Research the injuries if you don’t have a weak stomach, and see what injuries like that would really look like. Overall, facial scars are also something you should steer away from. Important scars can go elsewhere, you know! There’s more to your OC’s body than just their face. 

Scars also come in more shapes than just 3-4 animal claw marks, burns from abusive parents or straight-lined sword scars. Scars come in different shapes and sizes. Some are hypertrophic/raised while others are flat and just sort of look like birthmarks upon healing. Are you willing to give up your action-packed duel scene and settle for a more realistic scar for your OC? It’ll help in the long run if you’re aiming for accuracy. 

Common Mistake #3 - Colour Palettes

Oh goodness you guys have probably heard enough about me yammering about colour. But hey - this tip post is mostly about the importance of colour. This here is the last major tip for designing your OC. This will be the last part of this post, and I apologize for this being a bit of a mess! I was trying to keep this one as general as possible! 

ANYWAYS-

Colour palettes are essential to a character! I hope that’s ingrained in your brain at this point because it really is! Their wardrobe should reflect their personality and should be carefully considered as well. Too many times have I seen colour palettes that just do not work at all with the character’s attire nor their apparent personality. 

Using the girl who has been our base for examples in this post, let’s take a look at her attire. A baggy hat, a bandanna around her neck, a sweater, fingerless gloves and a layered skirt. This is rather cutesy attire and while perhaps you could argue that a pink and teal getup or an edgelord black and rainbow outfit could work, there are palettes that might fit this character a little better.

Pastel colours fit better with this style of dressing. It feels more correct to have the four palettes on the right than the two on the left. This is the effect your colour choices have on how pleasing your character looks to the eye. 

And that is all! 

We hope you enjoyed this tip post! Likes, reblogs and follows are always appreciated. Some aspects of OC design were not covered here, especially the important stuff that more experienced creators would’ve wanted to see like how to make face, eye, nose, etc. shapes more unique and clothing design. I’ll try to ensure that gets covered in the future, as I said before, but I hope that those that read this enjoyed it!

[lizzybeth1986]

Quick Thoughts on TRR Book 3 Chapter 20

• Note: Screenshots for Hana are from @kennaxval , HIMEME YouTube Channel for Drake and Vika Avey YouTube Channel for Maxwell. Alright. Looks like this book will take another two chapters, fam!

• I feel like one will be for the final showdown between Liam and Anton, and the eventual aftermath, and the last one will be an epilogue of sorts, where the MC either has her coronation or is honoured in a special ceremony for her bravery. But I could be wrong, so don't take me altogether on my word.

• Wanna know how to be friendzoned by your spouse at your own wedding reception? Be Hana.

• I'm serious. Even if she's fucking married to you she's still expected to play the part of Professional Best Friend™. She acts more the bridesmaid than the actual bride.

• Title: A Warm Reception. Well that reception is about to get scalding hot by the end of this chapter!

• The chapter begins with a lovely sweet scene with your husband/wife (it's so nice to finally say it!!) and what they're looking forward to at the reception. In the options you get to hint at the main course you picked (if you paid the diamonds) or the cake (if you paid the diamonds) + the toast (for which you will now pay diamonds).

• We meet Ana de Luca at the boutique and she shows us a dress that...still looks like it would be more suitable for a wedding instead.

Okay maybe a little risque for a wedding...but still. I guess I'm more used to the bride changing into a different colour for the reception (for us Malayali Christians, we usually change into saris of whatever colour - but mostly red - after the wedding and the mass is over).

Well of course I'm choosing this. The other option is the dreaded LBD (alright not that dreaded. It's a lot better than Bluebelle, after all).

• Madeleine is extra snippy and snarky compared to her usual, and is determined to change her job description from Press Sec to Professional ClamJammer/Cockblocker™.

• Look, you lucky sods who did the fling option. My MC has had no sex since Valtoria and SHE. IS. THIRSTY.

• So we enter the hall, congratulated and complimented like any regular wedded couple, our friends surrounding us with joy and promises of a good time. Court members like Kiara and Penelope confess to crying over your vows (I'm guessing this crops up only if you chose the vow diamond option in Chapter 18).

• Boy they really are laying it in thick with Liam's heartbreak if he's not marrying you aren't they. Like they HAVE to drill it in you that THIS MAN STILL LOVES YOU AND IS IN PAIIIIIN before this entire betrayal fiasco occurs. They're like a few lines short of literally writing it on the poor man's forehead.

• In each playthrough, once you're done getting felicitations from everyone, you then get to meet the rest of the groom/bride's families.

In Liam's playthrough Regina and Leo tell Liam how proud they are of him, and Leo is impressed at his wedding taking place in Bossina Cathedral (hinting at the fact that if you married him in RoE, he was one of the few royals who did not get married there). In Drake's playthrough, the MC meets Bianca, and we find out more about both her and Jackson (Jackson wasn't a big fan of big events with lots of people, and Bianca can't wrap her head around the gazillion spoons and their purpose on the dinner table. Don't let your future son-in-law Bertrand catch you saying that, Bianca!). In Hana's playthrough, Xinghai and Lorelai sound nostalgic, and Lorelai tells Hana that she wishes Hana had let her braid her hair. Hana tenses up at the comment, but given the speech Lorelai gives later on, it seems more like a sentimental moment she wanted to share with Hana before the wedding. In Maxwell's playthrough, the family members are Bertrand, Savannah and Bartie, and Savannah uses her time with the newlyweds to...make pointed remarks about "how hard it is to take the leap" and give Bertrand shade for taking their relationship further yet. Um. Okay Savannah.

• We then move on to the main course. Now if you didn't buy the group scene at the festival in Castelserraillian, you do have a main course - they just don't specify what it is. If you do, however, the main course you chose will unlock a scene with the LI that recommended it. The chicken tagine unlocks some playful dialogue between Liam and Leo about how much Liam disliked this dish and how much his tastes have changed since then. The ash-e reshteh unlocks a cute scene between Hana and her parents about their experience in Iran during the Persian New Year, including a sweet story about how Lorelei had lost her bag and ended up walking around in a t-shirt instead. The feijoada stew doesn't give us any extra stories, but it does unlock a funny scene where Bertrand looks suspiciously at the stew ("It smells like...Drake". Bertrand Bertrand Bertrand. If only you knew how much grovelling you'd have to do in front of Drake later), Drake encourages him to try it, and Bertrand is bowled over by the taste. I guess that's to be expected, considering Drake only specified that he liked the taste of the stew rather than assign any personal connection to it. Overall...nice touch having the food item connected to the LI that suggested it to you, and it makes me a little sadder about the fact that they didn't assign one to Maxwell at all.

• The LI you married gives their speech for free, each in their own unique style, each giving us an insight into their individual stories:

In their individual ways, each LI stresses on how their love story wasn't expected to work out, but did despite all the odds. Both Maxwell and Drake are self-deprecating: one speaks of how he - even now - cannot imagine that this beautiful feisty woman would choose a 'cynical bastard' like him, while the other highlights how fairytale-like her journey was expected to be and how he was the court jester who shouldn't have been getting the girl, but did. (Lol I also noticed that the married Drake now calls his spouse "Walker" 😄 Edit: Looks like this is by option. @i-dream-so-i-write tells me that in the carriage scene post the wedding, you get to choose what he should call you, which I missed. Nice touch!). Hana speaks of how her feelings towards the MC gradually developed over time, becoming stronger and more difficult to ignore even though she knew they were both supposed to be here on the same purpose (ie. vying for Liam's hand). Liam's highlights his constant fears that their relationship would be brought to an abrupt end several times, but above all, he speaks of her as Cordonia's Queen, reminds his subjects that she has proved her worth as a leader time and again. This is important, because it's a reminder that Liam will always belong to two: to his country, and to the woman who marries him.

• You then get a diamond option to hear the toasts of all your friends (the remaining LIs + Olivia) + a family member of that particular LI. In each playthrough, there are discrepancies: ones that seemed odd and confusing to me at first but that clearly show a pattern. Each LI will have just one fellow LI who will speak about them as well, rather than just the MC, and a family member who will reflect on that person's growth. Out of all of them, Olivia addresses only one directly with substantial attention to the LI: and that is Liam (she has a line directed to Drake that is doubtless funny but actually doesn't add anything and could have been done without really). Each one ends with a final toast from Bertrand. So here's what the breakdown of the toasts in each playthrough:

Liam: Toasts given by Drake, Olivia, Maxwell, Hana and Bertrand. Family member: Leo.

Leo's speech is primarily about bringing us back to the roots of the TRR story (his abdication and the aftermath of it all is how this story begins, after all), and reminding us of how it all began. He acknowledges the toll his decision must have taken on Liam, but also makes it clear that the MC has helped Liam find the balance between his duties and his needs that he so clearly needed.

The LI who focuses on Liam is Drake. This is but natural, given their deep bond and personal history. He speaks of Liam's "heart of gold" that matches the literal gold he's got around, and considers him his brother.

Maxwell and Hana focus on the MC, and only cursorily mention Liam (Maxwell does cute finger guns though lol).

Olivia's toast is special to the MC because it's where she makes clear her respect for her, and confesses that though she hated her in the beginning it turned into respect. Liam is perhaps the only LI Olivia properly acknowledges:

In the rest of the playthroughs, Olivia may end up being Liam's eventual Queen, but in this one - she is affirming that whether he belongs to her or not, he remains her inspiration and she will always care for him. Kinda like a fitting goodbye to that dream I guess? Comparatively, she ignores the other LIs, except for Drake whom she baits and then declines to make a toast for.

Bertrand speaks of his personal journey with the MC, but does not make more than a cursory mention of Liam and the fact that the MC is now Queen.

Drake: Toasts given by Liam, Hana, Maxwell, Olivia and Bertrand. Family member: Savannah.

Savannah's toast is more centered around the MC than it is Drake, and possibly gives the MC more credit than is wise. Like yes, if the MC chooses she can convince Drake to actually reach out and talk to his sister, but she wasn't the one who - in Savannah's words - "found" Savannah. That was all on Drake. Drake was the one who found the address. He was the one who took initiative to check it out and see who stayed there. All the MC does is maybe give him the required push to stay, and even that is optional. In any case...when Savannah does talk about Drake it is to reaffirm his deep denial that there was anything between them up until he was able to get engaged to the MC.

The LI who focuses on Drake is Liam. He speaks of their long-standing friendship, how Drake deserves happiness, and hints at how much he has sacrificed for Cordonia without taking anything in return.

Again, Maxwell and Hana do not mention Drake except in passing, and their toasts are mostly dedicated to their friendship with the MC.

Olivia's toast is basically added here just because Olivia-roasting-Drake is popular, and I think it falls a little flat really.

Bertrand, being Drake's future brother-in-law, speaks briefly of his affection for the Walker family and therefore affirms his respect for Drake based on what he has heard of him from Savannah.

Hana: Toasts by Maxwell, Liam, Drake, Olivia and Bertrand. Family member: Lorelai.

Lorelai's toast ties in with what she tells Hana at the beginning of the reception. She brings up the way she used to braid Hana's hair as a reference point to her childhood, speaking at length of how close they were even if the relationship was a strained one. She speaks of how afraid she was of losing Hana, and how she is now coming to terms with the fact that by setting her free she is actually becoming closer to Hana than she ever imagined. Which is nice...but as with most things Hana related...it's a whitewashed pretty picture that really doesn't delve properly into this relationship as it has been depicted before.

The LI that focuses on Hana is Maxwell. It's clear that there is a tiny element of hero-worship there ("when I grow up I want to be like Hana Lee"). He acknowledges her particular manner of caring for people, her amazing dance skills and her kindness. It's quite sweet, even though frustrating because I've seen more of the LIs laud Hana's perfections in lieu of proper characterization. But that aside. It's sweet.

In this case, it is Liam and Drake who do not focus on Hana, instead stopping at their toast to the MC. Olivia does not directly address Hana either.

Bertrand, as with Liam's playthrough, doesn't have much to say about Hana the way he does about Drake and (understandably) Maxwell.

Maxwell: Maxwell's has only four options - the remaining LIs and Olivia. This is because Bertrand, Maxwell's brother and only surviving family, is also the MC's sponsor and speaks in that capacity as well. In the case of Maxwell's playthrough, he represents both the bride and the groom.

Bertrand's toast here is pretty much an extension of his toast in the other playthroughs, with him exploring his history with his brother. He recognizes Maxwell's gifts, acknowledges the childlike quality that is a part of him, confesses there is so much about Maxwell that he doesn't and may never really understand, and apologizes for making him feel like he deserves less than to know his brother is proud of him. It reflects on the journey the Beaumont brothers have taken, and how he finally realizes Maxwell's worth.

The LI that focuses on Maxwell is Hana. Like Maxwell she speaks of his excellent dancing skills, but then again she also speaks of his zest for life, his sense of humour, his playful spirit.

Liam and Drake focus on the MC instead of Maxwell, which feels a bit odd since they've known him for long enough as well, but I can appreciate that Liam and Drake are closer to each other than to anyone else in the group, and so are Hana and Maxwell.

Again, Olivia does not say anything about Maxwell either.

It looks like they decided to center the toasts around the MC for the most part, with a few insights on the LI from those closest to them. They spread that out by including a family member and an LI close to to them, and additionally in Liam's case, Olivia.

• Seeing Hakim try to say "WOO" and then ask if he's doing it right if you ask everyone to say make some noise, has to be the cutest thing about this chapter xD

•

Yes Esther. He picked the song. From the HSS soundtrack.

• Each LI then speaks about/alludes to their previous dances with you. Liam recalls the first dance at the Masquerade, Hana alludes to the many dances they have done over the course of the story (mostly because dancing with her is optional), Drake speaks about wanting to get things right especially on their special day and Maxwell speaks about having the right mood and music depending on the situation. Quite sweet.

• Once the wedding dance is done, the LIs dance in a group together. Liam twirls Hana, Hana performs ballet, Maxwell challenges Drake to do spin kicks, Drake does some killer spin kicks, crediting self-defense with teaching him those moves. Penelope (and Kiara, very cautiously once she realizes Maxwell is volunteering to coach because she clearly wants all her bones intact by the end of the night) is so impressed she asks to be coached. Maxwell does the coaching.

• Olivia is not here, and Maxwell assumes she's gone to check out the hors d'ouvres. Hmm. Hmm.

• Cake cutting time! Now technically, if you didn't buy this option, it still happens - you just don't get to see what they're cutting. Choosing your cake allows you to see it and (more importantly in my opinion) gives you some lovely food descriptions. You also get gag options for cake cutting and for either feeding the cake to your spouse or smearing it all over their faces.

• If you're getting married to Liam and bought the gastrodiplomacy scene in Castelserraillian, you get an extra chocolate souffle. I wasn't sure they would remember this one post hiatus, but looks like they did. Now if only they'd remember Hana was an actual character deserving of a good arc with that much accuracy...

• If you bought the cake scene, you also get to surprise your spouse with an extra dessert. Liam is willing to share his baklava with you after being outed by his brother as being a Joey (I DON'T SHARE FOOD), Hana loves the hot chocolate and wants to refine her recipe based on it, Maxwell calls it the "second best cake" he's had (the first being their wedding cake). Drake's is the s'mores, but the playthrough I saw shows him enjoying the Cordonian Ruby pie (which honestly looks more like its been filled with berries than apples) and speaking of how nice it is to have one down-to-earth dessert. I'm guessing he must have either a similar reaction to the s'mores, or there's some reminiscing of the time he prepared it for her back in Book 2.

• The scene now shifts to BertVannah, who are having an argument. Savannah looks pissed off about Bertrand not calling and informing her about the attack in the boutique (gee, I wonder how that conversation would've gone. "Hey honey. At the brink of death here. Toodles!"). But her real ire is because she wants to take things to the next level but is getting mixed signals from Bertrand. She tells him she will probably be joining her mother in Texas instead. The timing of all this is supposed to be terrible, because Bertrand was planning to propose. With that ruby ring from LoveHacks.

• What ensues is a diamond scene to help Bertrand give Savannah her fairytale proposal, one last exercise in teaching Bertrand words and this couple to hold hands. Whether you choose it or not, Bertrand proposes, Savannah says yes and we find out her middle name is Jane.

• The diamond scene itself is quite sweet. It begins with Bertrand buttering up to Drake to get his approval, the highlight of which is him imitating a chicken to prove to Drake that he would do anything for Savannah. It then moves ahead to the Cordonian barbershop quartet (Liam, Drake, Maxwell, Bertrand) agreeing to get together after their last appearance in Book 2 to help him with the proposal, which will be sung to Savannah during the bridal bouquet toss.

• Somehow, no matter what, the TRR writing team have to remind us that they don't consider Hana a bride at her own wedding:

They somehow forget that Hana is a bride in this part of the Hana playthrough, have her round up the bridesmaids when that should be done by someone else (Madeleine or Kiara or literally any other woman), and make her stand in her fucking wedding gown in the line with the other bridesmaids. It's bad enough that she remains the "professional best friend" even after you're engaged, has to wear black at her own bachelorette and a glitch in the game during the ceremony directly affects her fans more than anyone else. Like if I were Hana I would circle the photo album of this day and mark it WORST WEDDING EVER. Yes. In red 😠

The MC is really out there treating her bride like a wedding planner on their wedding day. So much for making this wedding Hana's dream wedding, MC. Such love much wow.

• Proposal done, it's now time to give the LIs their gifts. Very nice, very emotional, they all love what you got them and they're all adorable.

You get the usual with the remaining LIs, and some extra kissing with your spouses. Overall, quite nice.

That's a lie Hana and you know it.

• So Olivia is completely MIA post the toast, Gladys is walking around looking poker faced, Bastien is taking Mara's place while (I'm guessing) she recovers...and Madeleine is still being a colossal cockblocker/clam jam.

• You get a few last minute conversations with Kiara and Penelope, including a default acknowledgement of how much Kiara sacrificed to be here and how tough it was for her (nice try, PB, but I'm not forgiving you for Lythikos).

•

We get a lovely call-back to the first chapter of Book 1, by having Not Henney be part of our wedding.

• Regina then comes up to talk to you, admitting that she was wrong in thinking that the MC would be "dangerous for Cordonia", and is now happy you're here.

• Gladys then comes and asks us to accompany her because someone is "impatient" to be with us.

• Uh huh, uh huh, I thought. Time for a diamond sex scene?

• But nope. It's free. (Waiiiiitaminute. Something is not quite right about this. We can't be boinking with our fiancé/es for free. What's going on!)

• ...oh. OH.

• Shame on you Gladys!

• When I asked you to call me Lamb Shawarma I didn't mean for you to turn me into one!

General Thoughts:

• If you're marrying Hana, Drake or Maxwell, they are lured into the maze first, and used as bait to catch hold of the MC. If you're marrying Liam, however, you're the bait.

• Prior to this, Olivia is missing as well, possibly for Anton to establish his "rightful" claim over his wife (good luck with that, buddy. I'd love for this to end with one of her knives on your throat) in the next chapter.

• Which is probably why Liam having feelings for the MC keeps coming up so much in the final few chapters. It propells him into anger either way, and seeing Olivia in a danger as well allows Liam to finally wake up to his possible feelings for her in the other playthroughs (I hope?)

• I think there will be a duel. I think it will be a parallel to the Costume Gala duel between Drake and Neville, except here the stakes are much much higher. Which is why Neville is shown in the chapter, after a long time of not being shown at all even though it's clear he's still part of the tour. He's probably there as a way to foreshadow what is to come. Also, it works as a bit of an inverse.

In the Costume Gala duel, Drake was clearly the underdog, and Neville clearly the noble who needed to be taught a lesson. Drake has spoken about agreeing to the duel to prove that as a commoner he has his worth and dignity, and it doesn't need to be trampled on.

In this duel, Anton appears to be the underdog fighting valiantly against the king of a "tyrannical" dynasty, and this is a rhetoric that at least some people take seriously, as we saw in the riot in Chapter 17, and in a little of what Gladys says before the betrayal.

But here...the tables are turned. Anton is the power-hungry candidate for the throne who is willing to destroy the livelihood of Cordonia's farmers and throw the economy of the country into shambles (ironically, since his father was part of the Sons of Earth), to get access to the throne. Liam has been established over and over as someone who genuinely cares for his people and wants them to prosper with him, not have himself prosper at their expense. So in this case, the non-noble here is established as the one who would be absolutely wrong for the country, and Liam as the monarch Cordonia needs and deserves.

• I wonder how much of this chapter will the actual duel take. I'm guessing half of it, with the LI, Liam, Olivia and the MC then going through the aftermath, and then eventually moving into the Coronation/honouring ceremony of the finale in another chapter.

• There will (hopefully) be some focus on Liam's emotional state? That man has been through way too much shit minus any space to actually talk about what he's been through. It's high time he gets his space to really open up about his trauma and actually get to heal, because this book has been keeping his state of mind in limbo for way longer than it should. It's been poorly worked on and poorly built, his overall crisis arc, but I'm hoping this coming chapter will make up for that.

• I deserve TWO sex scenes for the kind of crap I have to put up with at my own fucking wedding. An attack the day before! An attack before I dress! An attack at my reception! What BRIDE goes through this shit!

I'd better get great lingerie and explosive sex for the kind of stress getting married in Cordonia takes out of me.

• So technically Gladys is supposed to be our surprise element this chapter, and I guess it makes sense, since she is a recently introduced character and you can push her forward as shady without making it very obvious because she only enters the story when the book is close to being done.

• One thing I did find interesting is that if you choose to thank her while she leads you to the hedge maze, she looks sad and speaks of how "the nobles are usually too busy thinking of themselves on a night like tonight", leading the MC to feel sorry she's had such a bad experience. Which kinda gives us a hint why she might be in cahoots with Anton in the first place. Anton is not a nobleman (though he is married into a noble family), and seems to be preying on commoner emotions to get support for overthrowing Liam's government. I'm sorry Gladys, but I think you've been fooled.

• That's it for this chapter, guys. On to Chapter 21!

[higgins5]

Tag game

Oof, this is so so late, but I am doing it! And thank you to the lovely @foxsoulcourt for tagging me!

LAST

drink: Water, we are being healthy children here 

phone call: My District Manager at work to discuss my transfer

text message: One of my best friends about his terrible life choices (jk but really binge watching a show for 14 hours straight? Boy get to sleep!)

song you listened to: I’m Over You by Bryan James (it may or may not have been on loop for a while)

time you cried: Last Thursday 

EVER

dated someone twice: Haha, yep. Didn’t work out, but we’re still friends

kissed someone and regretted it: Not yet!

been cheated on: Unfortunately

lost someone special: I think we all have, but such is life

gotten drunk and thrown up: Oh god no

fave colors? Sea green, storm gray, oh I can’t believe i almost forgot! Really any deep blue or purple, like how the night sky gets just before it’s almost black

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE I?

made new friends: Multiple, and i am so greatly for all of the lovely people who have graced my life

fallen out of love: Not so much people. But things I believed I loved turned a little false, yes

laughed until you cried: Gosh, all the time. It’s awful, I call it my seal laugh because I’m laughing so hard I can’t breathe and i’m just doubled over hitting a table or my leg to express my joy because that’s all I can do

found out someone was talking about you: Just two weeks ago! And honestly I hate that. Like if you’re gonna talk bad about me just do it to my face. I’ll find out one way or another, might as well be from you

met someone who changed you: Some good people, some not so good people. But I believe it was all for a reason

found out who your friends are: Yes

kissed someone on your Facebook friends list: Hmm... Well, I do not actually have a Facebook so I guess that would be a no

GENERAL

how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: I guess I can clarify about FB here. My parents were always freaked out about the internet so never let me get one, and being a good child I never did- plus I was just not interested, so I just... never got around to it in adulthood. AND like whenever I needed to talk to a friend through FB I just used my parents page cause that was their solution, so there was no real need. But like, from the friends I had on my mom’s page yes, I know all of them irl

do you have any pets: SEVERAL AND I LOVE ALL OF MY FURRY CHILDREN! I have an 11yo poodle/terrier mix (mom was a poodle, dad was the terrier next door. Truly a scandal) named Bear and i love my grumpy old man to death; a 2yo boxer/husky mix we rescued that was originally supposed to be a lab which was a total lie named Nutmeg, but it’s okay I love my babe even if i can take her on a 3mi run and she’s still ready to run 3 more; an 8yo wonderfully affectionate and beautiful tabby cat named Willow; a 6 year old (oh my god, she’s 6, it feels like yesterday she was a satellite dish in a collar that meowed) purring machine tabby cat named Sage; and two beautiful girls. Lagertha and Gwenievere are two very playful and loving one year old dumbo eared rats

do you want to change your name: Eh, not really. I’ve had it for this long, might as well keep it

what did you do for your last birthday: Oh that was so fun. I went to the Melting pot (this fancy fondue place, so good) With a couple of friends and had a really great time, even though someone got me crayons as a gag gift (I.... hate, crayons with a PASSION, but she’s known me for like 10 years so of course I accepted.... hesitantly)

what time did you wake up today: Like 7:30? but i didn’t actually leave my bed until 9ish because don’t be fooled, I am not a morning person. I just run because I’m an idiot

what were you doing last night at midnight: Sleeping

what is something you can’t wait for: Figure out where life is taking me and then be a bomb ass bitch at it

what are you listening to right now: X&Y by Coldplay

have you ever talked to a person named Tom: I have, and he is a lovely person. Go talk to a Tom everybody, nice people

something that gets on your nerves: Horrible people. Like just those people that are horrible for no absolute reason. Like grow up, get a life, why do you have to make other people just because you’re unhappy. there are many people you could see for help and I have a number you can call if you need a recommendation 

most visited website: Probably a tie between Tumblr, Youtube, and Spotify

hair color: Well, naturally I am blonde but rn it’s a reddish auburn color (but hey, people ask me all the time if it’s my natural color so who knows maybe i was destined for this shade)

long or short hair: ish? It’s growing from a pixie (that I might go back to soon) so its like... not quite shoulder length yet but give it another month and we might be there

what do you like about yourself: You know what, i’m gonna give myself some love and say everything. Lol, but as a serious answer probably my personality/nature. I have a very big heart but am also incredibly sarcastic so it is a delicate balance 

want any piercings: SO many. I’m saving up to get my nose done soon (nostril) and later I’ll get my daith, helix, third piercing in my lobe, tragus, and maybe rook

blood type: Some kinda O? Honestly for someone who donates blood as much as I do, I should really know (but important blood donation note, if you wish to make sure not to do it too frequently! Healthy people = healthy blood = healthy donation receivers!)

nicknames: Gosh, too many to type. Apparently I’m just nick namey. But uhhh, the most common: Ash, Ashbash, Higgins, Higgy, Higgs, Figgins, Chief 

relationship status: Single

zodiac sign: I’m one of the twin fish babes, Pisces all the way

pronouns: She/Her

fave tv show: Don’t watch as much tv as I used to but Supernatural is always a good go to (recently I’ve been watching a lot of HGTv and doctor Phil and Hallmark with my mom though, if that’s anything)

tattoos: None (yet)

right or left handed: right handed, I’m basically useless with my left (unless an instrument is involved)

ever had surgery: Nope, and hopefully we keep that trend goin!

piercings: two ear piercings 

sports: Uh... in High School I was pretty active and track and I was a competitive shooter (air rifles- but I’m from Texas so). Nothing in college at the moment, I might try out for the track team just cause i miss bein a part of stuff

vacation: I am broke, I can only dream (but I do really wanna travel, so gotta save up!)

trainers: my totally stylish suede brown vans are my go to, but Adidas for running

eating: Currently? Nothing, but I did have some steamed broccoli and carrots&rice, and grilled chicken for dinner

drinking: Orange Juice

I’m about to watch: Absolutely nothing

waiting for: Didn’t I already answer this? it’s so much pressure. Uh... change?

want: To be successful in whatever I 

get married: Eventually

career: Haven’t gotten there yet, but everyday is one step closer

hugs or kisses: Depends on who and when

lips or eyes: Eyes. First thing I notice

shorter or taller: At 5′3 I don’t think I can even pretend to say i’m tall

older or younger: I probably fall more on the younger spectrum

nice arms or stomach: Yes

hookup or relationships: I am a committed relationship kinda person all the way. Never really understood the whole hookup thing but to each their own

troublemaker or hesitant: A hesitant troublemaker is probably more me. I say I try to stay out of trouble, but it just kinda finds me

HAVE I EVER?

kissed a stranger: No

drunk hard liquor: Yes

lost glasses: Ugh, all the time, worst is when I lose my contacts AND glasses

turned someone down: Yes

sex on the first date: Not my style

broken someone’s heart: Yes

had your heart broken: In love and life

been arrested: Nope, and i’d like to keep it that way!

cried when someone died: Yes

fallen for a friend: Yes

DO I BELIEVE IN?

yourself: Well someone has to, so might as well be me!

miracles: I do. And if they aren’t true, at least the belief of their existence helps make their outcome possible

love at first sight: In some fairytale world maybe, but for me, nah

kiss on the first date: Possibly

angels: Yes. Of what way and form I think that’s for you to decide

OTHER

best friend’s name: I have a couple because there is too much life to only need one person in it! Lexi+Brittany+Mauricio+Imaya from all the way back to middle school and Ronan (a recent addition)

And even if we don’t talk every day of our lives I know they’ll always be there for me when I need them. Good or bad. And they know I would do the same. That’s all that really matters in the end. They’re my little chosen family

(oh that got a bit sappy, okay moving on)

eye color: Light blue? Blue? I dunno, people say it’s pretty so I go with it

fave movie: Don’t really have one...

favorite actor: Yeah... same with movies, don’t have one of those either

extrovert or introvert: I like to call myself an introverted extrovert

favorite flower: white peonies 

favorite hello kitty character? I wasn’t aware there were characters aside from hello kitty....

oof this is a long post, but very fun to do! Hopefully y’all haven’t done this yet but if so well I’m gonna tag you anyways @i-h8-u-no-u-dont @pansexualpandion @rvmengf @egglorru @it-has-the-gay-fanfiction and really @ anyone who wants to do this! I’d love to see your versions!!

[toxoiddiamond]

T H E B A S I C S

Given Name: Jaxon Elliot Weaver

Nicknames: Jax, J.E. Weaver (the name used on all his published works)

Age: 37

Birthday: June 1st

Zodiac Sign: Gemini

Birthplace: Houston, Texas

Current Location: Venfolk, North Carolina

Speaks: English

Dominant Hand: Right

Education: He has a Masters in English Literature

Occupation: He's the author of several best-selling novels, and sometimes teaches literature and creative writing classes at Nash Community College. He has a recognizable name, but people don't usually know his face, so he doesn't get stopped on the street or anything.

Vehicle: Red 2016 Volkswagen Golf. He picked it out because it's nice looking, while still being a good family car, and also being very safe.

Worldly Possessions: A nice laptop, dozens of notebooks filled with ideas and story outlines, and an old typewriter he never uses but which his father gave to him as a gift. He also has a few photo albums/scrapbooks his wife put together, with lots of pictures of their family/their kids, but he hasn't been able to look at them since she passed away.

Pet(s): None at the moment, but his kids have been begging for a puppy or kitten, and he's on the verge of giving in.

A P P E A R A N C E

Height: 6'0"

Hair: Since his wife died, he hasn't kept his hair as neatly trimmed as he used to, and it's gotten a bit long and unruly. It's a sandy brown sort of color, with some gray mixed in.

Facial Hair: Again, he used to keep his beard neatly trimmed, but he's stopped caring about it as much and now he kinda has a mountain man look going on, and there is a lot of gray in his beard, which his kids sometimes tease him about.

Eye Colour: A very striking, crystal-clear blue. He gots quite a lot of comments about his eyes.

Skin Tone: He tries to go out in the sun at least occasionally, especially with his kids. So he's not pasty, but he is a bit on the pale side.

Clothing: He dresses like a grandpa. Cardigans, khakis/jeans, soft t-shirts and lots of plaid. He wears slippers around the house, which his daughter gives him a really hard time about.

Distinguishing Marks: He has a small tattoo on his wrist of three different dates-- his wedding day, and the birthdates of both of his children. His wife had a matching one on her wrist. He also has a tattoo over his heart of a red carnation surrounded by forget-me-nots, which he got a few weeks after his wife passed away.

Face Claim: Chris Pine

H E A L T H

Physical Health: Not too bad. He could probably take better care of himself, but he gets a decent amount of exercise, doesn't eat too terribly, and is mostly healthy. Most of his physical issues stem from his mental issues (particularly his extreme fatigue and his frequent migraines), and once he's able to deal with said issues, he'll be okay.

Physical Abilities/Limitations: His eyesight is not so good, probably due to sitting in front of a computer screen for hours on end/reading in dim light when he really shouldn't. He has glasses, which he should wear all the time, but he insists he doesn't need them unless he's reading/writing.

Addictions: None, except maybe caffeine. It's hard for him to fully wake up unless he has a cup of coffee or an energy shot.

Allergies: No allergies, lucky for him.

Mental Health: Right now, it's not great. He's hanging in there, but his wife's death hit him really hard and he hasn't been able to get past it. It's been almost two years, but he's still very depressed over it, unable to let go. The only thing that's kept him going is his kids. He loves them more than anything, and has done his best to make sure they're taken care of, make sure they've been able to deal with the death of their mother (including ongoing therapy for both of them), be involved with their lives, etc. If he would show himself the same attention and care/if he went to therapy himself, then he would be much better off than he is now.

H I S T O R Y

Job History: His first job was at Blockbuster Video, as a teenager. He did a couple of internships during his college years, and published his first novel shortly before he graduated, which turned out to be a bestseller, much to his surprise. He spent a while doing book signing tours, before settling down, finding a job teaching creative writing at a community college, and buckling down to work on his next novel.

Fondest Memories: His wedding day. The birth of their daughter. The day they adopted their son and brought him home. All the family trips they took together. Countless little happy moments with his wife and his children.

Worst Experiences: By far, the worst experience of his life was finding out his wife, Hazel, had stage four breast cancer. Her treatment, watching her condition get worse and worse, and eventually losing her, absolutely devastated him.

C O M M U N I C A T I O N

Speech Pace/Style: Jax is very easygoing and laid back when he talks, never really raises his voice or anything. I wouldn't necessarily say he's a smooth-talker, but he doesn't often stumble over his words or anything.

Accent: He used to have a southern accent, but he actively worked to get rid of it during high school. Now it only comes out if he's really, really tired or if he has a few drinks. No one would guess he's from Texas just by listening to him, though.

Favorite Phrases or Words: Whenever he sends his kids off to school (or anywhere else) he always tells them to "be good, and be safe." They say it along with him now and kinda roll their eyes, but he still says it anyway~

Usual Curse Words: As much as he's tried to take curse words out of his regular vocabulary, he can't help but let the f-word slip out sometimes.

P E R S O N A L I T Y, M I N D S E T, A N D B E L I E F S

Personality Type: INFP-T

Sense of Humor: Honestly, he is just full of dad jokes. He loves making horrible puns and saying things that make his daughter groan and his son laugh~ So basically, he has a terrible sense of humor.

Habits: He bites his nails like crazy, but has been trying to stop because he knows it's an awful habit. He talks to himself a lot, especially when he's trying to think up ideas or work out the kinks in a description or a line of dialogue.

Fears/Phobias: Anything happening to either of his children-- that would just really destroy him. Or anything happening to him, and his children being left without both their parents. Although there is a plan in place for them if that should ever happen, it still makes him sick to think of it.

Strengths: Jax is a very responsible person-- he didn't used to be, but ever since he got married and had children, he worked hard to stay on top of things, especially anything relating to his kids' wellbeing. He never forgets to pay bills, sign permission slips, etc. He is also involved with both his kids' lives, always encouraging them to pursue their interests, signing them up for activities they may be interested, and always attending any performance/recital/presentation they're part of. He spends as much time with them as possible-- they have a family day every weekend, even if it's just staying in and watching a movie. He is, of course, a gifted writer, and has quite a way with words. He used to write love letters for his wife that made her swoon, and any future partner of his (Ren~~) can expect similar expressions of love.

Flaws: Although he is a responsible person, and takes great care of his kids, Jax has a tendency to forget to take care of himself. He forgets to eat a lot, especially when he's working, and he never gets enough sleep. He puts everyone else in his life before himself, though he really should put himself first on occasion and do something for his own enjoyment. Whenever he's depressed, or even if he just gets really absorbed in something he's working on, Jax will shut other people out. Even his kids know when something's up, because even though he's physically there for them, he's emotionally unavailable and closed off. He doesn't mean to be that way, and often doesn't realize he's doing it. But it's not unusual for him to disappear from his friends/loved ones lives for days or even a week or two while he works his shit out.

Hopes/Desires: He wants his kids to grow up happy and healthy, and to have good lives, whatever that may mean for them. He wants to be able to support them financially through their college/young adult years and give them security and peace of mind, that no matter what, he'll always be there to help them if they need it. He also really wants to be able to find someone to share his life with, though it's still hard for him to imagine that and he feels guilty whenever he thinks of being with someone else.

Self-Esteem: All things considered, it's not bad. He doubts himself a lot, especially when it comes to being a parent now that his wife isn't there to help him make decisions. But he's aware that he's not doing too badly, and tries not to be too hard on himself. When it comes to his writing/work, he's aware that he's good at what he does, but he's very humble about it and never brags about his success.

Religion: He used to believe in some kind of higher power. Now, he's not so sure.

R A N D O M

Sleeping Position: On his side, usually hugging a pillow to his chest.

Boxers or Briefs?: Boxers.

Day or Night?: Day. He much prefers going out, spending time with his kids, finding various distractions, as opposed to sleepless nights and nightmares.

Top or Bottom?: Either, really? I think he'd just wanna switch it up a lot, or do whatever his partner wants.

Partying or Relaxing?: He does okay at parties, but doesn't love them. Unless, of course, they're birthday parties for his kids, he loves those~ But generally, he prefers to relax.

R E L A T I O N S H I P S

Closest Friend: Besides his brothers, his closest friend is his coworker from the community college, Shaun. They've been close for several years, and are close enough that their kids each refer to each other as "Uncle Shaun/Uncle Jax."

Relationship History: Jax dated around a lot in high school and during his first couple years of college, but was never very serious with anyone until he met Hazel. Things just seemed to click between them, and he fell for her fast and hard, before he even realized what was happening. They got married as soon as he got back from his first book tour, and settled down together.

Sexual Partners: Not a whole lot, maybe five or six. He was never the type to sleep around a lot or have one night stands.

Thoughts About Sex: He thinks sex is pretty great. He went through some confusion about his sexuality during his college years, during the time he was dating Hazel, as he started to realize/accept the fact that he was attracted to both men and women. Hazel was very supportive in helping him figure himself out, and Jax now identifies as pansexual, though he sometimes forgets that he's not straight, after thinking he was straight for most of his life~

P A R E N T S

Name(s): Deacon and Charlotte Weaver

Age(s): 63 and 62

Occupation(s): His father is an attorney, and his mother was a nurse but she's retired now. His father also intends to retire in a couple of years.

Religion: They're Christian, but not fanatics. They believe in god and think Jesus was pretty great, and they only go to church on Easter and Christmas.

Quality of Relationship With Their Children: Very good. They love their children and are proud of all of them. When Jax came out to them, they were very loving and accepting (though they were also quite surprised), and though they do occasionally say offensive things, they're always quick to apologize if Jax calls them out on it.

Living/Deceased: Both living.

S I B L I N G S

Name(s): Sterling Weaver, Casey Weaver

Age(s): 39 and 31

Occupation(s): Sterling is the head chef at a very successful restaurant in New Jersey. Casey spent a few years teaching English in Japan, and now he's a Japanese teacher at Texas State University.

Religion: Both are still religious, but like their parents, they're not fanatical.

Quality of Relationship With Their Family: Very good. They all talk on a regular basis, and after Hazel died, both of Jax's brothers came to see him and stayed with him for a couple of weeks. They all pay each other visits whenever they can, and they all go to see their parents on Easter and Christmas (they take turns having their parents over for Thanksgiving).

W I F E

Name(s): Hazel Weaver

Age: She was nearly 35 when she passed away.

Occupation: She was the stage director for the Imperial Centre for the Arts and Sciences, over in Rocky Mount. She absolutely loved her job, and Jax went to every single production/play to support her.

Religion: She believed in god, but wasn't particularly religious.

Quality of Relationship With Her Family: It was fantastic. They were a sickeningly adorable family, and they all loved each other.

Living/Deceased: She died of breast cancer; by the time she was diagnosed, it was already advanced and had begun to spread. She only lived for about a year after her diagnosis.

C H I L D R E N

Name(s): Paige and Liam Weaver

Age(s): 12 and 7

Interests: Paige is very into science, and likes doing experiments and reading about anything that catches her interest. She also likes to write poetry, though she doesn't often show it to anyone. Jax and Hazel signed her up for karate when she was five, and she still does it and likes it, though her life doesn't revolve around it. Liam is still discovering what his interests are, but one thing is certain-- he likes to be the center of attention. He loves drawing and showing off whatever he draws, and he's been in a couple of school plays and had a great time. He also takes karate lessons because he wanted to do what Paige was doing, though he's kind of been losing interest in it.

D A I L Y L I F E

Living Arrangements: He owns a nice, modest, two-story house in the suburbs of Venfolk. Each of his children has their own room, and he has a small study where he writes, though he hasn't done much writing since Hazel died. The house has a very lived-in, cozy vibe, with lots of cushy furniture, and though everything is clean, it's not too clean.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Countless Roads - Chapter 9

Fic: Countless Roads - Chapter 9 - Ao3

Fandom: Flash, Legends Pairing: Gen, Mick Rory/Leonard Snart, others

Summary: Due to a family curse (which some call a gift), Leonard Snart has more life than he knows what to do with – and that gives him the ability to see, speak to, and even share with the various ghosts that are always surrounding him.

Sure, said curse also means he’s going to die sooner rather than later, just like his mother, but in the meantime Len has no intention of letting superheroes, time travelers, a surprisingly charming pyromaniac, and a lot of ghosts get in the way of him having a nice, successful career as a professional thief.

———————————————————————————-

Len’s noticed that there have been more ghosts around recently.

Like, a lot more.

He’s not entirely sure what to do about it.

“Maybe it’s because you’re getting laid regularly,” Julie suggests.

“He was getting laid regularly before,” Nora objects.

“Maybe marriage noogie’s got some extra juicing powers.”

“As someone who was married,” Nora sniffs, “it most certainly does not.”

“Please stop,” Len says to them, pinching the bridge of his nose.

They fall quiet.

“That was sarcasm,” he adds.

“Have you considered that you’re becoming more powerful?” Nora asks.

Len makes a face at that. That does not sound appealing, thanks. “I still only have as much life as I have,” he points out.

“You’re getting older,” Julie says. “You should have, like, less life now, right? Since you’re using it up living it? But instead, it’s like you have…more.”

It has been easier to give extra life to the ghosts, come to think of it. Len hasn’t been so tired out by it recently, even though he’s giving more of it away because there are just so many friendlies around.

“I’m more worried about the fact that your mom said that people like you start to die around this age,” Mick says from where he's supposed to be napping in Len’s lap. They’re on their goddamn honeymoon. Mick needs to relax more.

Okay, okay, the honeymoon’s been going on a couple of months now, but whatever. They’re back in Central – the wedding ceremony was lovely, Lisa was the world’s most kick-ass flowergirl-slash-maid-of-honor-slash-best-man, the officiant rabbi was a Gotham transplant and had the amazing ability to ignore everything but what was going on right in front of him, and the justice of the peace even got over having a gun held to his head enough to clap by the end of it all – but they’d opted for a nice stay-low-at-home vacation for their honeymoon and damnit, Len doesn’t want to let go of the honeymoon mood just yet.

Even if Mick does seem intent on spoiling it.

“I’m fine,” Len says, even though he has noticed an increase in attacks from the unquiet dead recently. Everyone’s noticed the increase in attacks. That’s why they ended up deciding against going to Aruba or Iceland; Mick didn’t want to risk going somewhere where they didn’t have a good supply of friendly ghosts. “I’m not that old yet.”

“You said your family dies when they hit 50,” Mick says darkly.

“I’m only forty,” Len points out. “I’ve still got a few more years. Besides, forget the unquiet dead attacks! There are more friendlies now, and no one’s gotten through the wall yet.”

Even before they got over themselves and gotten back together, Mick was taking advantage of the increase in friendly ghosts, which seem to come in from all over nowadays, to set up a rotating defensive ‘wall’ to protect Len from the unquiet dead. Len would protest, but the ghosts are so happy to help him out. He barely has to do anything for them, though he tries whenever possible to still spread out some life to them where he can.

He is not a necromancer.

“Are we going to go back and take on the Flash again soon?” Mick asks, changing the subject when he senses the downward change in Len’s mood.

Mick’s always known the right thing to say to cheer Len up. “Yep,” Len says, mood lightening already. “We’ll lure him out and set up a big showdown in front of all the cameras, make a big show of it. They won’t be able to deny he exists – or that supervillains like us do – after that.”

“How do we get him to come to a pre-arranged time and place without screwing us in advance?” Mick asks, sounding a touch dubious.

“No idea,” Len says. “Try to steal something really fancy? Kidnap somebody?”

“Let’s call that Plan A and Plan B,” Mick says.

Plan A does not work, so Plan B it is.

They end up kidnapping one of the girls that helped ‘stop’ Len the time before, since apparently trying to steal high-end luxury cars and successfully stealing an intensely modernistic painting worth millions of dollars isn’t enough to catch the Flash’s interest these days.

Len’s not pouting about it, no matter what Mick says.

(Sure, he might've made a comment about certain superheroes getting snobby, but that's hardly pouting.)

“Sorry about this,” Len tells the young woman they kidnap, a doctor of some variety from what Len can tell. “I don’t think vacuum-boy has left his lab in something like a week, so you were my only option.”

“Your only – wait. Vacuum-boy?”

“Long black hair, kinda short, threatened me with a vacuum cleaner gussied up with some LED lights?”

“Uh, I mean, I guess – wait. You knew about that?”

“Well, yeah,” Len says with a shrug. “I have seen industrial strength vacuum cleaners before. Left because I didn’t see any need to finish off the Streak – wait, it’s the Flash now, right?”

“Yeah,” she says, blinking. “Uh. If you don’t see any need to attack the Flash, then...what are you doing now?”

“Establishing my supervillain bona fides,” Len tells her. “Obviously. No one has officially confirmed the superhero yet, which is a pain. Once we have a confirmed superhero, then we can be confirmed supervillains.”

“Just like in the comics,” Mick says gleefully.

“You’re both nuts,” the girl opines, but she’s stopped screaming and she looks a lot calmer now, which was what Len was going for. Slightly incredulous and disdainful, too, but whatever.

“It’s a matter of opinion,” Len says with a shrug. “Any place you’d prefer to be kept?”

“You’re asking me?”

“I really only need you for the video threatening the Flash and naming the place and time,” Len points out. “After that, you just need to sit tight till our fight is over, and you’re good to go. Would you like a nice spooky warehouse or are you more the comfortable coffee shop sort of kidnapee?”

“You’re very strange.”

“You have no idea,” Mick says with a smirk.

Len rolls his eyes at Mick. He’s actually quite proud of that, thanks.

They end up taking her to an unused apartment that Len knows. It’s mostly used by the Feds when they’re phonetapping the local Families, but they don’t have any ongoing stings right now. It’s nice, pleasant, but empty.

Well. Mostly empty.

“Julie, Deena, make sure she doesn’t leave or use the phone,” Len says, and holds out his hands. Each one grabs a hand and shivers into translucence – still invisible to Caitlin Snow, which turns out to be the doctor’s name, but enough power for a decent poltergeisting. They'll keep her inside the room, and if Len knows how to read people, and he does, the mystery of why she can't walk out the open door will be enough to keep Miss Snow from doing anything rash.

“Nora, Rakesh, Eli, you’re with me,” Len instructs, heading down to the car. “Mick, you take George and Betty.”

“I don’t need guards.”

“As back-up, Mick.”

“Isn’t Plan A for us to get captured so we’re confirmed as supervillains?”

“Well, yes. That's not the point. We want to be captured, yes, but we want to be captured in style - well, so long as we don’t end up having to waste the guy. Have some dignity, Mick.”

Mick smirks and pets his gun. “I think we’re probably going to waste the guy.”

“Probably,” Len confirms cheerfully. He’ll learn to deal with a superhero ghost if it makes Mick keep smiling.

Sure enough, the hero shows up to the stand-off and it’s all going well: they’re exchanging quips, fighting in the street – all the police hanging back along with the media to watch with big wide-open eyes as Len and Mick kick the kid’s ass – and then –

Well, that's when it goes wrong.

“Oh, my god,” Nora suddenly shrieks, seeing the kid stumble and rub at his face in what Len would not have taken to be a sufficiently characteristic way to enable someone to identify him under that mask but which apparently works for Nora. “Barry? Is that Barry? Len – you’ve got to stop – that’s Barry – that’s my son –”

“Well, shit,” Len says, and glances over at Mick. They can’t kill Nora’s baby boy, about whom they’ve heard so much over the years.

Guess they're going to have to go for being captured early.

Mick sighs, but nods. “Wanna ghostbusters it?” he suggests. They’ve already learned not to cross their guns’ streams, thanks to some incautious experimenting, but Mick’s not wrong, it would make for a splendid finale to their fight.

“I’ll take left, you take right,” Len says, and they split up, letting the Flash run between them.

The resulting explosion when their guns clash is very impressive.

Len’s very happy he had a few ghosts helping to cushion him when he gets thrown backwards, because otherwise, ouch. It’s totally worth the minimal loss of life it takes to power them up enough to help catch him. Explosions hurt.

“Guess you win this time, Flash,” he tells what had damn well better be Barry Allen under that cowl.

“There won’t be a next time,” the superhero says confidently. Incorrectly, as it happens, but it’s nice to see he has confidence.

They get hauled through the police station in the traditional handcuffed walk of shame. Len’s keeping an eye out on the crowd and sure enough, there he is, Barry Allen, CSI, just like Nora says.

About the right height and size to be the Flash, too.

“You’d better be right,” Len mutters under his breath.

“I’m sure,” Nora says. “Want me to get your guns back?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

It takes Lisa less than ten minutes to break them out of the prison transport with the help of several of Len’s ghosts. No sweat.

Of course, after that, Len can’t just leave it. Nora’s gotten all mopey about her baby boy putting himself in danger and her not able to help, Mick’s incredibly invested in the whole supervillain thing since it’s practically part of their marriage vows – something has to be done.

Some sort of agreement has to be reached, and Len knows just the way to do it. He has a plan.

That plan doesn’t stop him from kidnapping Cisco and his brother the next time he’s in town.

“I need a few improvements,” he says, plopping his gun down in front of Cisco. “And Lisa needs one of her own.”

“You tricked me,” Cisco says sulkily to Lisa.

“I meant it,” she says. “You are cute.”

“And she is a mechanical engineer,” Len says dryly, having heard the entire story from Betty. “Stop judging people by their looks, Cisco – it is Cisco, is it?”

“Yeah,” Cisco says. “And if you think I’m going to –”

“You are,” Len says. “You don’t want something to happen to your brother, do you?”

Once everything is put together, Len examines the new guns and the improvements he’d requested, all in pristine condition since he’d had a ghost alert him every time Cisco tried something squirrelly. The improvements should make the gun harder to track, even by its creator, and Len loves the fact that his ‘cold field’ idea seems to actually be plausible, even if Cisco isn’t entirely sure it obeys the laws of physics. “Good,” Len says. “Thanks for your contribution. Now it’s time for you two to go.”

Both young men gulp audibly.

“So, where would you like to be dropped off?” Len asks, mood lightening because of their visible terror. He’s not usually a ‘better to be feared’ sort of guy, but, hey, he is a supervillain now.

“Uh,” Cisco says, and then, after a few moments when Len doesn’t continue, asks, “Are you serious?”

“Entirely.”

“It’s not like a ‘drop off by the hospital or the morgue’ sort of thing, is it?”

“Not unless you really want to,” Len says. He hopes not; he refuses to go anywhere near the city morgue, for obvious reasons. He has enough ghosts. Besides, it’s not like Cisco didn’t give him everything he wanted. “How about ice cream?”

“What?”

He drops them off at Friedlander’s Ice Cream Parlor and buys them each a cone.

Social niceties and sheer shock keep them there long enough for Len to get away.

Sure enough, Len’s four blocks away before he’s passed by a familiar crackle of lightning. The Flash is no doubt looking for a man in a parka, not a man in a hoodie reading a magazine in the nearby park with a cute girl on his arm.

“Cute,” Len says, shaking his head at the passing superhero.

“Let’s go get that armored car,” Lisa says, lifting her head from Len’s shoulder, her eyes twinkling. “You promised you’d get me a nice necklace, Lenny.”

Len’s not exactly expecting to be kidnapped by an angry speedster mid-heist, but he’s not exactly surprised, either. Some people take a spot of kidnapping and ice cream so personally.

It doesn’t matter. Plan Ally-The-Flash is officially a go.

“You kidnapped Cisco,” the Flash snaps.

“Good to see you again, Flash,” Len drawls. “Or should I say – Barry Allen?”

The Flash frowns, shifting uneasily, then crosses his arms. “I don’t know what you’re –”

Len decides to have pity on him and nods. On his signal, Julie yanks back his cowl, sliding her ghostly hands all the way through the suit, up and down from toes to top, her ghostly interference disabling all the electronics that might serve to record or broadcast this conversation. She probably cops a feel, too, but Len's not going to hold that against her.

“Barry Allen,” Len says, smirking. “I knew it.”

Barry yelps and lifts his hands to his cowl. “You knew already,” he says accusingly, though he does sound somewhat bewildered by that fact. “But Cisco didn’t tell you; he says you didn’t even ask – how did you do that bit with the cowl? Something with Cisco’s improved guns?”

“You can’t blame Cisco for improving our guns,” Len says, ignoring the original question. “I put him in a tight spot.”

“Same kind I’ve got you in right now,” Barry replies, rallying.

“Can’t really stop me now that I know who you are,” Len points out.

“I could speed you to my own private prison where you’ll never see the light of day,” the kid replies cockily.

Len’s eyebrows go up. “Now, now,” he says, shaking his head. “That’s not at all the Barry Allen I’d been hearing so much about.”

“You mean Cisco? Because –”

“You know what I like about this part of the woods?” Len says musingly. “It’s dark, there’s a full moon out. Perfect haunting weather.”

“Haunting? What are you talking about?”

“Ghosts,” Len says.

“Ghosts,” Barry says skeptically. “You believe in ghosts?”

“Says the man who runs at Mach 3,” Len says.

“…point,” Barry concedes. “So, you mean, like possession and raising the dead and stuff?”

“No, not possession. That’s mediums; they’re weird. And raising the dead is necromancy, and I am not a necromancer.”

“Oo-kay,” Barry says. “Sure. No one was saying you were, Mr. super judgy about stuff that doesn’t exist. Besides, why are we even talking about ghosts, anyway?”

“It’s actually quite relevant to the situation, I think you’ll find.”

Barry arches his eyebrows scornfully, crossing his arms. “Right. How, exactly?”

“There’s a house in the suburbs,” Len says. “Very quiet, very nice, not far from where you live now. There was a ghost there. Lovely lady, thirty-something, very dead – one stab wound to the chest.”

Barry’s back stiffens. “So you figured out my name and can read the newspapers. Big whoop.”

“Your favorite book as a kid was the Runaway Dinosaur,” Len says. “You have no space to talk about who can and cannot read.”

“…how do you know that?”

“I told you, kid,” Len says. “Ghosts. Specifically, this one.”

He nods permission at Nora, who’s only been bouncing around waiting for her cue. She steps forward, solidifying.

Well, mostly solidifying; she’s not used to having mass. She’s still translucent and incorporeal. But she’s back on the visible spectrum.

“Mom?” Barry croaks.

“Oh, baby,” she says, holding out her arms to him. “My beautiful boy – look how you’ve grown! I’m so proud of you – so proud –”

“If this is some sort of trick –” Barry says, but his eyes are wide and glassy with tears.

“No trick, baby,” she says. “I’m sorry; I was the one who told Len it was you. I figured it out when you were fighting – I had to get him to stop shooting at you, and he wouldn’t listen if I didn’t tell him –”

“You…” Barry swallows. “You can’t be real. Some sort of holographic projection.”

“Len, could you go away for a minute?” Nora asks. “I want to talk to my son in private.”

Len sighs and walks over to a nearby tree. For good measure, he also closes his eyes, covers his ears, and starts loudly humming something. He’s pretty sure it’s “Mama Said There’d Be Days Like This”, but he can’t help his sense of humor.

He starts in surprise when a hand falls on his shoulder, hand dropping automatically to his gun.

“Sorry!” Barry yelps.

Len turns to face him.

The kid’s been crying. He’s one of those unfairly attractive criers, who gets a bit of a red face and tear tracks down his cheeks and maybe a little bit of swelling in the eyes, nothing like the snot-nosed bawling that Lisa used to do when she was a kid. “Um,” he says. “Mom says you can help her – if I wanted to hug her?”

Len refrains from rolling his eyes and pushes the life into her until she shimmers almost solid.

Barry falls into her arms with a choked-off sob.

“Don’t mention this to anybody,” Len says grouchily. “Either of you!”

“Thank you,” Barry says, still clutching at his mother. “Thank you.”

“I told you he’s not so bad,” Nora says, her own face similarly wet.

“I’ll have you know I’m very bad,” Len says. “Liar, thief, murderer, supervillain – probably going to go steal something right after we finish this little chat –”

“I can’t let you keep stealing whatever you want, whenever you feel like it,” Barry objects, pulling away just enough to twist to look at Len without actually letting go of Nora. “That needs to end.”

“Uh, yes, you can let me do it,” Len says. “You just don’t want to.”

“Couldn’t you just stop?”

“No. I’m a supervillain now. I like what I do. The adrenaline, the thrill of the chase – same reason you keep running after guys like me. I love this game, and I’m very good at it.”

“Go play it somewhere else, then!” Barry exclaims.

“I take my ghosts with me when I do,” Len says. Barry’s arms curl tighter around his mother’s waist. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Besides, this city is my home. I ain’t leaving it because you’ve got moral qualms about my chosen profession.”

“Can’t we find a compromise or something?” Barry asks. “I can’t just let you be.”

“I’m not expecting you to,” Len says patiently. “I’m going to keep stealing, you’re going to keep trying to stop me, the best man wins. You make me up my game. I like being a supervillain, but to be a supervillain, you need a good superhero.” He grins. “Like I said. Adrenaline.”

Barry can’t help but smile back. “Yeah, okay,” he says. “I guess I kind of see your point. But one thing – from here on out, no one else dies. If you’re as good as you say you are, you don’t have to kill anyone to get what you want.”

“That’s true,” Len says, and sighs. “Fine, agreed. I’ve mostly given up the killing anyhow, unless they’ve explicitly tried to kill me recently.”

“Really?”

“It just makes more ghosts,” Len says. “There’s been a disturbing increase in them lately.”

“…really?”

Len shrugs. It’s not really Barry’s problem. “So do we have a deal?”

“Yeah,” Barry says. “You don’t kill anyone, I fight you – why do we have to fight?”

“Fun.”

“…having a nemesis who doesn’t kill people would be kind of cool,” Barry concedes. "Not going to lie about that."

“I know, right?” Mick says, stepping out from the trees with a bit of a scowl. It took him a while to find them; Lisa must have insisted on cracking the armored car first. “Just like in the comics.”

“Yeah, just like – holy crap, I’m a living comic book.”

“Are you just realizing that?” Len asks. "Now?"

“It’s not the superhero stuff,” Barry says. “It’s more – I’ve been having this problem – there’s this girl, and I’ve been – wow. I’m an asshole.”

Len arches an eyebrow.

“I’ve maybe kinda been treating her like she’s my love interest instead of a person,” Barry says, wincing.

“Barry,” Nora says disapprovingly.

“I’ll be better now!”

“Good.”

“God, Mom,” he says, turning to pull her in close again. “I just – I’ve missed you so much. Mom. Oh, mom…”

“My beautiful boy,” she says, embracing him in return and kissing his cheek. “My beautiful, beautiful boy…”

Barry sniffs. “Can – will you let me see her again?” he asks Len.

“I was planning on sending her along with you as a good faith gesture on my part of the deal,” Len says dryly. “But if you’d prefer to settle for just a no-killing pact…”

“Wait, what? You are?”

Len shrugs. “She’s been moping a lot recently,” he says, understating the situation. She'd fallen into a depression about eight months into the coma and refused to leave his house for weeks and weeks. “I’ve given her enough juice that she should be able to stick around for a while, as long as she stays invisible – you’ll be able to hear her, talk to her, but seeing her…well, you can probably see her in mirrors and stuff. Ghosts can do that easier for some reason. But not all the time like now, or she'll run out.”

“That’s fine,” Barry says. He’s crying again, little sobs and heaving breaths as he tries to keep control. “That's totally fine. She can stay invisible. I don't mind. Thank you. I can’t even begin - I - just – thank you.”

“Just remember you owe me one,” Len says flippantly.

“I owe you a lot more than that,” Barry says, sounding entirely sincere.

Len hates sincerity. It makes him uncomfortable. He looks around. “Don’t suppose you can give me a ride back to the city?” he asks.

“Oh! Yeah. Sure. Uh, I can only take one of you at a time, though,” he says, glancing at Mick.

“S’fine,” Mick says tolerantly. “I’ll float along.”

“Float – wait, you’re a ghost, too?”

Mick smirks.

“But you’re so solid!”

“Lenny would’ve have trouble marrying me if I wasn’t,” Mick says.

Barry’s nodding, and then – “Wait. Before or after?”

Mick laughs.

[birdship]

all of em. have fun, nerdo.

Femme or butch? Soft butch.Do you have a “type”? If so, describe it

Plaid button-ups or leather jackets? Plaid.

Describe your style Tacky and comfortable.

Describe your aesthetic Space, the ocean, birds, robots, cats, the meeting point between technology and nature.

Favorite article of clothing? I have this tie-dyed zip-up hoodie that’s super comfortable and warm without being TOO warm.

Favorite pair of shoes? Uhhh I don’t really have that many pairs of shoes, and the ones I do have I guess I like equally for different practical reasons.

Current haircut? Shitty.

Any haircut goals for the future? Not shitty.

Describe the best date you’ve been on Uhhhh none.

Describe the worst date you’ve been on None?

Single? Taken? In a relationship.

If taken, talk about your girlfriend/wife! My girlfriend is my best friend of almost 5 years, though we only started… dating? (I guess I can phrase it that way? It’s an LDR) earlier this year. They’re funny and sweet and talented and they understand me and my garbage brain better than anyone else I’ve ever met. And we’re an amazing creative team.

If single, what are you looking for in a potential girlfriend/wife?

Describe your dream wedding It’s autumn or late winter, and the wedding is held outdoors but under cover. Like maybe a gazebo or something. There’s no sound except for the rain pouring down outside, and the guests are wondering where we are. Suddenly, I poke my head in the doorway, smile and apologize and hurry to the altar as some jpop song plays very softly in the background. I stand awkwardly at the altar alone until the song is over and the next one begins… then suddenly there’s a crash! It’s my partner, who has punched through the roof of the gazebo and as they land, the John Cena theme begins to play. The rain soaks through the fancy carpet runner as they join me at the altar. We high five. Then when the priest starts doing the vow stuff, Life is Beautiful from Deadly Premonition starts playing louder and louder until nobody knows what’s even going on anymore. Then everything goes normally and we act like nothing happened.

Do you want kids? Nope.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? Honestly, I’m not sure. There are places that sound appealing, but… I dunno where I would want to settle down.

Favorite lesbian movie? I’m struggling to think of any movie I’ve ever seen that could be described as “lesbian”…

Favorite lesbian novel/story? Can’t think of any novels, and I can think of waaaay too many comics/manga, which is my way of subtly saying that I can’t possibly pick one. So rather than pick a fictional story, I’m going to say the non-fiction autobiographical comic My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness.

Favorite lesbian song? I’m not sure what necessarily qualifies as a specifically lesbian song… but uh… I’ll go with Magnet (yes, the Vocaloid song) or maybe Thao Nguyen’s cover of With A Girl Like You.

Favorite lesbian musician? Uhhhhhh… OSTER Project maybe?

What lesbian stereotypes do you fit into, if any? I mean… I’m pretty gender non-conforming in general so like… several of them, lmao. I don’t wear makeup, I have short hair, I own several plaid flannel shirts, I don’t dress in a way that is attractive to men…

Ever been assumed to be nothing more than a gal pal? No, simply because there’s never been the opportunity.

If a woman wanted to woo you, what would a surefire way to accomplish that? Send me weird MMD videos.

Be positive! What do you like most about being a lesbian? Girls………. But seriously, uh… I feel like, especially since it took me so long to come out and to stop being in denial, I now understand what I want from a relationship better than I think most straight people do. In coming to terms with my orientation, I did so much introspection and soul-searching about what love and romance means to me, conceptually.

Are you more of a cat person or a dog person? Cat for sure.

Turn ons? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Turn offs? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Do you usually ask other women out or do you wait for them to ask you? I’ve literally never asked anyone out, so um… probably the latter. I had a huge crush on my best friend for the entire time we’ve been friends, but I was 98% sure they didn’t feel the same way, so I just buried my feelings and felt really insecure and frustrated and hurt about how they definitely don’t actually care about me… until literal years later when they suddenly asked me if I wanted to try the girlfriend thing. And now we both know we both love each other. So that was a long way of saying I absolutely don’t do confrontation of any kind, and I wait in angsty silence.

What is your dream career? What I’m doing now except more and better and with much more success. Also maybe a chill job at a bookstore or an art store on the side. Or opening my own business.

Talk about your interests or hobbies! I draw, write, make games, crochet, dabble in music sometimes, play video games, bird watching, taking photos, uhh… Light hiking? I guess? Not anything as strenuous as the word “hiking” brings to mind, but like… walking in interesting places.

What is the most attractive quality a woman can have? Kindness.

Do you love easily or does it take time for you to warm up to someone? When it’s the right person, I love immediately. That’s… one hurdle my best friend/girlfriend and I hit early on, and I’m glad we were able to move past it. Like… We started talking and I was like !!!!!! WOW !!!!!! new best friend and maybe we could be more than friends in the future??? And they were like “uhhh maybe chill a little, we JUST met”. Like.. I dunno, I don’t fall (platonically or romantically) for people easily in general. I tend to keep my distance. But when I meet someone who I click with, I can come on way too strong sometimes.

Ever fallen for your best-friend? I mean… obviously. Yeah.

Ever fallen for a straight girl? No, because I can’t remember the last time I even interacted with a straight girl. I had a couple fleeting crushes in college, but one was in an LGBT history class full of other gay people (and the person in question was bi and non-binary, I think?). The other one may have been straight, though, I’m not sure… She sure seemed like she was flirting with me, though, idk. But seriously, almost every friend/acquaintance I’ve had any significant platonic feelings for, let alone romantic, has ended up being LGBT even if I (or they) thought they were cishet at the time. Awkward gays stick together, even subconsciously, I guess.

The L-Word: yes or no? (love it or hate it?) Never seen it.

Favorite comfort food? Bread. Like just plain bread. I love a good plain bread.

Coffee or tea? Coffee.

Vegetarian? Vegan? None of the above? Neither.

Do you have any pets? Yup. A cat and a bird.

Early-riser or night-owl? Both, which works out about as well as you’d expect. My sleep schedule is a mess. I guess I’d say I’m a night-owl who wants to be an early-riser. Or maybe an early-riser who can’t manage to sleep properly.

What is your sign? Capricorn.

Can you drive? Nope. I have a learner’s permit and I’ve driven in parking lots twice - once as a teen, then once as an adult - but it was too scary and uncomfortable. I should learn to drive, but ugh, I wish I didn’t have to because I really don’t want to.

Who was your first lesbian crush? Uh, I’m not sure. I definitely liked a lot of female characters for reasons I didn’t quite understand as a kid, but I don’t know which was the first or whatever. So instead I’ll just tell the story I told my girlfriend recently - when I was first seriously coming to terms with being attracted to women, I happened to watch the video for BoA - Eat You Up (warning: flashy) and I remember just sorta watching her like… ah, hm, yes, perhaps girls… are extremely hot actually… maybe this is okay.

At what age did you know you were a lesbian? Specifically a lesbian? Uh like 25 or 26. Attracted to girls in general? I was in denial for a long time but I started kinda sorta slightly coming to terms with it around age 19 or 20.

At what age did you come out (if you have)? I came out around 25-26, shortly before realizing that I’m not bi or pan and I don’t have to “stay open-minded” or “give men a chance”.

Are you crushing on anyone at the moment (celebrity or otherwise)? My girlfriend and Hana (see answer 2) are my eternal, permanent crushes.

Talk about how your day went Pretty boring. I went for a walk and saw two dogs. It rained. It was nice, but not very exciting.

Talk about your dreams/aspirations for the future I wanna live with my girlfriend and have a studio for working on all our projects, both together and separately. Maybe open a store by the ocean selling art and stuff. I want to keep drawing and writing and making things.

Least favorite gay celebrity? Leaving aside the obvious assholes and transmisogynists… Ellen Degeneres. I don’t hate her, but I’m a little bitter about some shitty things she’s said (particularly fat shaming things).

[franeridart]

Hmmm.. what do you think about the monoma x shinsou ship??

It’s… possibly a good ship? I guess? I’ve seen it around a bit, but ngl I don’t really understand it haha

Anon said: when’s your birthday?

November 13th! It’s still pretty far~

Anon said:you say you like seeing the bakusquad taking care of babies hmmm? draw them maybe? OuO

I did haha

Anon said:Because of your art (you made me fall in love with Bakugou and Kirishima and Kaminari) I started BNHA and got my best friend into it. Now I can’t stop writing them and my friend and I have several AUs already.

This is the best kind of ask omfg !!!!! Glad I could get you into my disaster trio!!! …but also are you maybe gonna share like I’m starved for bakushimanari content a n o n

Anon said:Aw man i was gonna recomend that fic by newamsterdam to you. Like i finished reading it and thought you could like it since you like that other kuroo x teru fic (thanks to you and the anon for that btw) and it seemed your style? Im kinda sad i missed the chance (ok i know this whole ask sounds stupid)

Awwww don’t be sad anon, reccing me bakushima stuff is seriously hard because I might or might not go daily in the ao3 tag to read anything complete that’s been updated and I might or might not be following all fics regularly updating unless they have a character death/angst with no happy ending warning oops - thank you for thinking about me tho!!! That made me happy haha

Anon said:I pestered my friend until he watched (and fell in love with) bnha and now I’m pestering him to look at your blog because your art is top notch and every bnha fan should look at your art imo

Thank??? You???? Holy smokes !!!

Anon said:Aaaaaaa I really love your bakushima art its just so pure and wholesome and makes me really happy when I see it!! ;;u;;

B O I THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:The Uraraka and Bakugou fight!!! !!! !!! Probably my favourite fight in the tournament ahhh just the depth of character from both of them I’m ;; and the “Todoroki isn’t you” line ahhhhhhhhhhh

Haha well my fave is still the bakushima one ngl I’m weak for Bakugou actually having fun, but I feel this!! It’s a great fight and the anime did it so so well too!!!! Can’t wait for next episode tbh aahhhhhhh !!!

Anon said:With the latest chapter, I’m gonna assume Midnight ships the hard bros lmao. But honestly tho, she was me!! I love them!!! It was everything I hoped it to be, the graphics, the focus on their hands, the handshake, thE FREAKING SPARKLES!!!!

It was!!!!!!! Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! And such a sweet surprise too, I thought I wouldn’t get to see it this episode and YET!!!!! I might have yelled hahaha

Anon said:“Three sets of eyes and still can’t see bakugou” 1000% accurate I’m crying

*wiggle eyebrows*  the pun was calling for me

Anon said:I FLIPPING LOVE YOUR ART SO FRICKING MUCH

AND I LOVE YOU ANON !!!!!!!!!

Anon said:Things that automatically make my day better: seeing a notification that says “franeridart has posted a photo”. I always give a little gasp and go “FRANNY!” Before immediately looking at the picture. Even the ones that aren’t for fandoms I’m in are so super cute!! So long story short I love you and your art k bye

Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You’re so sweet oh my g o s h!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *O*

Anon said:Would it be possible to see any bokuroteru or bakushima art in your rb?

Anon said:The bakushima smooches would look great on a notebook/mug/etc !

I added the smooches!!!! And I mean to go through my bakushima stuff to see what else works!! As for the bokuroteru, is there anything specific you’d like to see? Nothing seems worth it tbh haha rip

Anon said:I just bought a bag and a t-shirt and this shirt will be worn at anime expo in July and I would looooooove it if some of YOYR matsuhana S made it into your shop because I would buy all of them

THANK YOU SO MUCH OH MY G O D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:M'cryin the way young Mirio looked was like a colonial American teen. Also holy shit the character development showing Tamaki’s anxiety and pessimism, and then Mirio being the super supportive friend he is and just ugh everything about this chapter was amazing

IT W AS I love it so much Amajiki’s such a good character honestly and his relationship with Mirio is!!! So good!!!! Also long haired Mirio might have been a nod to his liking rock music actually!! I love it!

Anon said:Do you ever wonder if Mirio is maybe too good and one of these days we’re gonna find out he’s actually a bad egg

…Nah. He’s not the only exceptionally good character after all, Deku, Uraraka and Kirishima are right there with him, and Toshi too! Pure characters are a Thing in bnha, which makes sense since they’re all heroes, it’s their job to be good haha

Anon said:Heeyyy so, I have this dream of owning a bookstore, and was wondering if I commissioned so e work, if you’d be ok with me displaying it in my store? Just you know… hypothetically speaking…

Well, as of now my commissions aren’t open so there’s that. But once I’ll open them then it’ll depend on what exactly you commission me to draw, I guess? I dunno! Once my commissions will be open you can contact me off anon and we can talk about it one on one~

Anon said:What do you think of platonic Tokoyami x Tsuyu dynamic? They work so well together! I think they could be good friends! Also do you ship Tokoyami and Shouji? They earned a place in my heart since the training camp!

I love!!!! TokoTsuyu!!!!! Holy heck!!!! I’ve drawn them together a couple of times, their exam together was really amazing I wish I could see more of them interacting! Also they were my first faves in bnha, so seeing them interact has always been like a treat to me haha also yes to ShoujiYami!! Drew that once as well, they’re so cute~ smallest boy x tallest boy, what a good couple !!

Anon said:Have you ever thought about Tetsutetsu x Kendou? I can’t stop thinking about it since the training camp, I love Kendou so much she’s so awesome and sweet, and Tetsutetsu is amazing and a true hero, and they have such a lovely dynamic!

MY MAIN TETSU SHIP !!!!!!! I drew them once too, I love them so so much they’d make such a good couple honestly I should draw them more

Anon said: I love your Hagakure hc you posted! She’s so lovely, I hope she learns how to make herself visible because I can’t imagine meeting people and knowing no one knows how you look like. She’s probably cool with her quirk now, after so many years, but I’m sure she must get upset sometimes…

My fave thing about Hagakure is that she sometimes acts as if she forgets no one can see her - not even in an angst way, like she complains about Mineta looking in their changing room or stuff like that, I can’t tell if she just genuinely forgets or if she’s so used to being invisible that for her is like being visible anyway???? Either way it’s gonna be fun if and when she’ll learn how to make herself visible! 

Anon said:This latest chapters have me shipping Kirideku a little~~~~ haha. Man, I love their interactions, they are so supporting of each other and so work well together. Its nice seeing Deku interact with someone who doesn’t expects anything of him and who is just a friend

Nah, there’s lotsa people who don’t expect anything from him, Deku’s friends love him a lot~ but yeah his interactions with Kiri are fun, most times it’s just Kiri getting excited and being overly energetic as usual and Deku going “ye-yeah!” with his uncertain face, it’s??? fun??? Seeing the members of the bakusquad interact on friendly terms with the dekusquad is always fun for me exactly for that, Deku’s friends are all so mild compared to Baku’s, you notice the squad’s energy even more like this haha

Anon said:(Waifu2x anon) *gasp!* I’m not worthy!!

You keep me in too high regards, anon haha

Anon said:fran!! i saw your art for todays chapter and promptly died all over again. ive fallen in mirio/amajiki hell and i dont wanna get out. ive also taken to using miriama as their ship name too?? so idk what else people use but!! i just need to scream at you how beautiful your art is and i would buy things from you if you ever opened a shop

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Since posting those doodles I’ve heard MiriAma MiriTama MiriMaki MiriJiki TogaAma and TogaJiki and I love??? All of them???? I don’t know which I’ll end up picking honestly I wonder what the main tag is atm haha is there even art for them? There should be t b h

[hamiltonmirandaimagines]

Don't Let This Be The Last Time (Philip X Reader)

Y/N’s POV

It was your first day at King’s College and you didn’t know a soul. After a long first day and a load of homework, you make your way to the local coffee shop to grab your favorite drink to help you push through. “Y/N!!” The barista calls as your order is up. You grab your cup and inhale the aroma like you need it to live. You hear snickering behind you and you whirl around to catch the culprit. He was standing beside a tall table with another guy. After seeing that he was busted, he shook his head, his head full of chestnut curls bouncing around. You decide to walk over and set your cup on his table. “So, what’s so funny, Curly Sue?”

His companion doubles over with laughter. “‘Curly Sue’?!?!?!?” You smirk at the guy’s reaction but continue to stare at ‘Curly Sue’.

“Sorry, it’s just that I had never seen someone so into their coffee like that before.” He smiled.

“After the day that I have had and the load of homework I’ve got to get through, you’d be the same.”

Curly Sue’s face lit up. “You’re going to King’s College too?”

After that, Y/N and Curly Sue became the best of friends. She also found out that Curly Sue’s real name was Philip but you liked your nickname for him better. Come to find out, they both were in several classes together.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Philip’s POV

“Gah, isn’t Professor Tremblay just the worst?” I asked as I collapsed in a chair beside Y/N in the cafeteria.

“Yeah, the worst. His teaching style and my learning style soooo don’t work together.” Y/N sighed as she picked at her lunch. I could see that classes were bumming her out and I hated to see her even remotely sad.

“Say, how about after classes Friday, we hit the bar, maybe do a little karaoke?” I knew I had hit her weak spot, karaoke. I knew she couldn’t resist going out for karaoke night and it would make her happy. Y/N started bouncing in her chair, her excitement permeating the air.

Y/N’s POV

Friday night came and I decided to dress up. I donned my favorite dress and boots. Just as I was finishing my hair and makeup, Philip knocked on my door. “Come on in, Curly Sue!!! Door’s open!!!” I called from my bedroom. Philip opened the door and made his way in. “I’m almost done. I’ll be right out.”

Philip’s POV

I had been in her apartment before but I had never really looked around. I was looking at some trinkets on the shelf by the door when Y/N cleared her throat to get my attention. I turned to see Y/N in whole new light. She stood there in a dress that matched her eyes and it accented her curves perfectly. I had never thought about her as more than my best friend until that moment. She was beautiful. Probably the most beautiful girl I’ve ever laid my eyes on. She walked over to me. “Philip, hello??? We gotta go or we’re gonna be late!” Y/N waved her hand in front of my face then grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door. When she grabbed my hand, it sent a bombardment of sparks through my hand and arm. I had never felt this way before and it kinda scares me.

Y/N’s POV

Once Philip and I arrive at the bar, I head to find us a table and Philip went to the bar to grab the first round. As I settled into my seat, a guy walked by the table. He stopped when he saw me. Holy cow, it’s George Eacker!!! “Hello, what is a beautiful girl like you doing in a place like this on her own?”

He called me beautiful…

I shake out of my revelry and reply that I was here with a friend who was grabbing our drinks. “Oh, you’re taken…” he sounds despondent.

“Oh, no, Philip is just a friend, we’re not dating.” You blush.

“Oh, well then, would you like to dance?” George extended his hand which I took and he lead me to the small dance floor in front of the stage.

Philip’s POV

After finally being able to wrangle the bartender and get our drinks, I arrived at our usual table but it was empty. I frantically look around to see if I can find Y/N. My heart sinks as I see her in his arms. George Eacker, captain of every team possible, student body president and ladies man. I had a feeling that, like every other girl on campus, Y/N had a small crush on him.

No, Y/N is my girl…she just doesn’t know it yet.

I walk over to them to try to pull Y/N away. “Hey, I got your drink.” She didn’t even hear me. So, I tap Eacker on the shoulder, “mind if I cut in?”

He looked at me like I was latest fad that he was so over, sneering down his nose. “As a matter of fact, I do. I was just about to ask Y/N if she would like to go on a date with me.” Y/N was blushing but still had that huge grin on her face, the one that made me go weak at the knees when she flashed it at me on our way over.

Next thing I know, “Yes, I would love too!!!” Y/N squealed as she jumped into his arms. My heart fell to pieces. I turned on my heel and headed for the door. As I passed the table where George’s friends sat, I heard the only thing that broke my heart even more, “Damn, he did it! Guess I owe him $30.” Now, conflicted thoughts ran through my mind as I ran back to my dorm. Do I tell her? No, because then if I tell her that I love her she’ll think that I made it up because I was jealous. But, if I don’t tell her and she finds out that I knew about the bet, she’ll never forgive me. He tugged at his curls as he paced his dorm trying to figure out what to do.

A few days later…

I hesitantly knocked on Y/N’s dorm door.

“I’ll be right there!!!” She called from inside, sounding so happy. I was hating myself for what I was about to do. She flung the door open. “Oh, Hey, Curly Sue! What’s up?”

I drag my fingers through my hair, “Hey, can we talk for a minute? I have something really important I need to tell you.” A look crossed her face, a mixture of confusion and concern.

“Sure, come on in.” She ushers me into her living room and onto her couch. “So, what’s going on?”

Okay, here I go. “I don’t think you should go out with Eacker.” Her face drew back and crinkled up. I held up my hand as she went to speak, “Just hear me out.” She crossed her arms and ankles and glared at me with a “ok-enlighten-me” look.

“When I left the bar the other night, I overheard Eacker’s friend, Edward, say that Eacker bet him $30 that he could get the next girl who walked in to go on a date with him. I wanted to go back and tell you but, you looked so happy and I didn’t want to take that from you at that time. But, now I have seen the errors of my decision. I just know he’s gonna break your heart and I just can’t stand to see you hurt. I just want to be honest with you.”

Rage is all over Y/N’s face. “You just jealous that Eacker asked me out before you did! Get out! I never want to see you again!!!” I stand, in shock, and make my way to the door. Y/N follows me and slams the door with no goodbye. As I quietly make my way back to my dorm, trying to hold the tears back, all I can think was, well, at least I was honest with her.

Y/N’s POV

I pushed what Philip had said to the back of my mind. I didn’t need to put up with his bull shit right now. I had to get ready for my date. After putting the last touches on my makeup, I hear a knocking on my door. It must be George. I take one last glance in the mirror, calling “Coming!!” as I ran for the door. I breathlessly open the door. “Hi.”

“Well, hello there.”

He escorted me to his car and drove us to the restaurant. He was a perfect gentleman to begin with. But, then, his manners started slipping and his attitude totally changed. He started making sexual comments that made me feel uncomfortable. I was fed up. Then, Philip’s words from earlier slipped to the forefront of my mind.

“It’s true, isn’t it?” I ask.

“What?” he asked as if I was boring him.

“That you and Edward bet on this date?” I scowl at him. He laughs at first but he slowly stops as anger overtakes my expression. I grab my glass of wine and throw it in his face and stomp out.

I want to go home and cry but I need to see Philip. I hail a cab and give the driver Philip’s address.

I run in my 4 inch heels up the 6 flights of stairs to Philip’s dorm. I bang on his door. “Philip, are you there?” I call through his door. No response. Then, I remember a song I had heard the other day that fit the situation perfectly. I knew he was on the other side of the door. I could feel his presence. I pressed my body to the door and began to sing the chorus.

So don’t let the last time I hurt you Be the last time I heard you Don’t let the last time I held you Be the last time I felt you

Wouldn’t let you get away If I had another day So don’t let the last time I saw you Be the last time Be the last time

My voice cracked on the last line. The door flung open to reveal a tear stained face. I threw myself into his arms. “I am so sorry. I was so stupid not to believe you.” I sobbed into his shirt. Philip wrapped his arms around me and buried his nose in my hair.

“I love you.” He whispered in my ear. “I think I have been since I met you but I just realized it the other night.” He pulled away as he said the last sentence to look into my eyes.

It dawns on me that, yes, I love him too. I don’t know what I would do without him in my life. “Philip, I-I love you too, so much. It just hit me like a ton of bricks.” I clasp him tight around his neck and press my lips to his.

He pulled away and gazed into my eyes, “I’ve wanted to do that since I saw you in that dress.” I blush at his words.

“Well, Mister Hamilton, I must say,” you say in a joking snooty voice, then add in a more serious tone, “that all you had to do was ask, I have cared deeply for you for a while and when you didn’t say anything that night, I thought you wasn’t interested in me…”

Philip shook his head profusely causing his chestnut curls flying around his head. “No, total opposite, you left me speechless with how beautiful you are.”

If you wanna be tagged in future stories, just message me or drop me an ask!! I don’t bite, I promise!!!

@ruth-hamilton-delrio  @gratitudejoyandsorrow