#while i generally agree with what we finally have revealed in 'forget me not'

[starberry-cupcake]

It took me longer to sit down to do the recap than to read the bit. Note: please don't tell me anything that might be a spoiler or a reference to things that will happen in the future of the book! I'd rather not know anything as I read, I'll be happy to engage in conversation of the details after I'm done! Also, please be kind if I make a mistake, English isn't my first language and these books sometimes are difficult 🙏 Thank you for your patience and continued interest ♥

previously, in nona del 9:

this happened

this is the general tag of the recaps, for anyone wondering

DAY FIVE ("the saddest girl in the whole entire world" girl, same "paul gets born" happy birthday paul??? I guess???)

CHAPTER 20 (first house, we better run)

nona wakes up yet again, this time after a tantrum

she's throwing up and palmolive helps her out

they're in the BOE meeting room with the wake portrait again

palmolive had to do some necromancer operation shenanigans to remove the bullet from nona's head

and sriracha girlie decided to exit the chat

BOE freaked out about the operation and put a shackle on camolive and locked them and nona together

nona is embarrassed about the tantrum but palmolive is like "fuck them, actually"

palmolive is mad about them leaving the gang in the dark in so many ways and thinks they had it coming for doing that

I agree, I mean, I get where BOE is coming from with the hesitancy to trust people who were on the other side of this

but it's not like you have a chance to win against nona, pyrrha and camolive, if it gets to that

and there's so much you don't know to even think you can win

so, maybe this could have been planned better, is all I'm saying

in any case, nona finally tells palmolive about gideon dream girl

and palmolive says that if camilla and him didn't love her so much they'd throttle her and give her magazines to charity

nona thinks that's bs because she's "the most deserving person on the planet"

this ego thing she has going on sometimes takes me by surprise, I forget she thinks like this

I guess it's a kid way of thinking, but still

nona also decides to continue with the reveals and tells palmolive the Secret that I believe is the same she told sriracha girlie a while back

and it's that she's dying

1) how? 2) who, in that clown car of a body, is dying exactly? 3) did it have to be now??????

palmolive is looking like spock up there, actually

(would palmolive be a spock fanboy? because I think very yes, but we don't always agree on our palmolive headcanons)

palmolive has to roll up his sleeves and do some necro magic again

"Cytherea the First must have enjoyed those games she played with me"

I could have told you, my guy, but you were being a weenie, like gideon said

I feel bad about it, though, poor guy

*patting palmolive in the head in my mind*

so, nona apparently is starving, but energetically

because her soul is trying to leave the clown car of a body she's in

harrow's body, I think we've established at this point

it makes sense to me, it's not her body, allegedly

and maybe also nona's soul is extra weird, because this is ice cube barbie or some other weird thing that is too powerful for harrow's poor little clown car body

like trapping a genie in a glass dropper

that's kind of palmolive's train of thought too, actually, except he uses terms like "melange" and "gestalt theory" instead of "some other weird thing" and "clown car body"

what I remember of gestalt theory from uni is the concept that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

I don't know if he means, in this case, that maybe he thinks her a combination of souls and that, if that was the case, it'd give her bigger powers than harrow or gideon would have had on their own

differently from lyctorhood, in which their combination is more on the advantage of the necromancer, who keeps steering the wheel

unless you get og!gideon'd and die, leaving the car to pyrrha

but anyway, palmolive doesn't know about ice cube barbie, so he doesn't consider her in his train of thought

(that's why you need me in the polycule *drops cv*)

I'M TAKING TOO MUCH TIME WITH ONE PARAGRAPH OF PALMOLIVE TALK, WE NEED TO MOVE ON

palmolive tells nona that he can't let her body die because he has to give it back to harrow

nona asks further details of her potential identities

palmolive tells her that, if she's one of two people, he's not harrow

or not solely harrow

this is very funny to me personally because, as I mentioned back in this recap of chapter 2, when I didn't know anything from these books except for the covers and the names of gideon and harrow, I thought nona was their child in the future

so this idea that nona was born from a combination is really hilarious to me

disrespectful of me, laughing at this time

palmolive describes yandere twin as a very obviously dead person with fashion hair, so he roasted her for me

(we'll talk about the chad of it all in a minute)

he tells nona that dream girl gideon might be her, but nona doesn't want to be a redhead and a zombie

palmolive goes "then what are we all?"

not in those words, but that's the sentiment

he also says sriracha girlie "is a very young woman who has been living on her nerves for so long that I imagine she doesn't have anything else. She'll regret what she did at some point"

ouch, man

I think this isn't the last we've seen of sriracha girlie and she'll come to ruin the party at some point

well, not party, that's a sensitive subject

can't blame her, though, she's been harmed by these people and got her family killed, I can't judge this child

palmolive explains that the shackle they have is explosive and that we suffer and coronabeer have been planning things somewhere without them

kinda wild they ended up trusting coronabeer more than camilla, but I guess it isn't a matter of cv but of how they acted when they were brought in and how coronabeer became one of them

"I hate being locked up" "So did Gideon, I gather"

palmolive, if I told you how this whole thing started with gideon wanting to not be locked up anymore

well, it started with dr reverend emperor john becoming a streamer, but that's another story

"I haven't been able to save many people in my life, I'm afraid, but I'm intent on saving you"

camilla and palmolive switch places and in comes we suffer, without a mask

nona says she'd think her pretty if she wasn't so upset

does nona think everyone is pretty or is everyone pretty here?

is there a difference?

we suffer says that BOE was very impressed with nona going apeshit

she also doesn't want to tell them who angel teacher actually is

she does confirm that angel teacher is a member of BOE and that it was an awful idea to have both the gang and her in the same area

we suffer is also kinda upset at camilla for not telling her that she can do necromancy (which, technically, she can't)

and mentions that the whole thing that went down has made the BOE factions more undecided on what the hell to do with them

we suffer mentions someone volunteered to go face the house people because it wouldn't be a death sentence for her

immediately, I think this must be coronabeer twin

camilla doesn't think this is a good idea whatsoever and we suffer says she needs camilla to translate the stuff that will be said in the meeting

and that coronabeer claims that she's expendable whereas camolive is not

which yeah, to me personally, that's true, but I'm not the standard opinion here

apparently they tried to bomb yandere twin out of existence but we all know that doesn't work on a lyctor

unless you're palmolive, who is an expert on exploding and lyctors

we suffer also thinks it's time for BOE to attack because wake always had them on the defense and it hasn't worked so far

camilla says coronabeer is giving in and that we suffer has been, played because she can't lie to yandere twin

at this point, we suffer is just gonna have to sit there and listen, though, whatever happens

we have an idiom here, "estamos en el horno", which literally means "we're in the oven" and it's used to describe moments in which you're in a very rough situation that is inescapable

kind of like "we're fucked", but more metaphoric

that's what's happening over here

I'm teaching you guys very local idioms but I need you to see what I see

coronabeer reaches the houses spot and this happens

wild to hear someone say "my sister is a lyctor", since most lyctors we knew were a william years old and had no surviving family

that I know of

also, cohort dude at the door will have an awful day because I think coronabeer is the one person who has the most Let Me Speak To The Manager attitude in this whole book series

all she's been doing this time is speak to managers, actually

yandere twin shows up and hugs coronabeer and now I'm realizing she's using chad's body

which is so stupid of me, because nona mentioned yandere twin had brown hair in the video and I was like 'wasn't she blonde????'

but sometimes I don't understand things and you guys are like 'that's not what happened' and I feel dumb, so I was like 'ok, maybe all this time I was wrong about the twins being blondes'

but no, she's using chad like linguini from ratatouille

so that she can set foot in the planet because of the blue light and all that stuff

chad and yandere twin

(or yandere twin channeling chad idk)

roasts coronabeer for her jewelry and the state of her hair

yandere twin says she didn't know coronabeer would be there and that "he" (I assume this is dr reverend emperor john) will think she went there on purpose

so coronabeer unveils her very sick girlfriend judith

yandere twin is like

coronabeer goes "didn't harrow tell you?" and yandere twin is all defensive "when did you talk to harrow?"

this situationship yandere twin has with harrow is very complex

yandere twin doesn't want to help judith

she says "Judith Deuteros, who, when we played Marry, Kill, Reanimate, you used to say reanimate because nobody would be able to tell the difference?"

(I need to make a poll with those options in a recap at some point)

coronabeer being all helga pataki with judith throughout her life is great

she was so doomed

I need more of that, I live for the coronabeer/judith ship

I was trying to explain why I like their dynamic so much and while I was writing it I REALIZED THAT THEY REMIND ME OF

YUZUKI AND MAKOTO FROM SKIP AND LOAFER

pretty, popular, extroverted girl who doesn't want to be reduced to her looks and gets infatuated with the strict, formal, overthinking student council girl, you get me??????

I'm gonna root for them forever

yandere twin wants to crush my hopes and dreams, though, and kill judith, because she's already been putting down necromancers

she's also very upset because the third doesn't care about her becoming a lyctor but are grieving coronabeer instead

a lot of problems would have been solved if these girls' family wasn't such shit

coronabeer asks about gideon and yandere twin says "so you remember her name"

yes, yandere twin, thank god we've moved on from that problem

our current issue is a clown car body of a girl

it seems that chad can get thoughts through to her, or so she says

chad's comments are about coronabeer's accessories, though

also, at this point, when realizing that it was chad's body, I also realized that's who palmolive called "handsome"

palmolive and chad, in another life, you could have been like coronabeer and judith, with an unlikely bond

apparently, yandere twin doesn't want to be seen as "the bad guy"

yandere twin alerts those listening that she knows coronabeer was wired and uses the link to establish her demands: the sixth oversight body (which is not the oversight of losing gideon's body), camilla and harrow "as intact as you have her at this moment"

meanwhile, camilla thinks coronabeer is trying to tell them something through the overheard conversation

yandere twin insists on how judith never paid coronabeer any mind and coronabeer tells her she's a dick

when they get in the facilities, though, there's pyrrha

remember pyrrha? here she was all along

yandere twin says she's taking her (she calls her "him" because I think she still thinks this is og!gideon and not pyrrha) back to dr reverend emperor john

"if Poppa can look up from his mid-dismyriad crisis long enough to pay attention"

SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE SAVING HIS ASS

"You might be the Saint of Duty but I've been on call as Teacher's whipping girl for the last six months"

SHOULD👏HAVE👏THOUGHT👏OF👏THAT👏BEFORE👏SAVING👏HIS👏ASS👏

pyrrha also wants to kill judith, which is bad for me

leave that wet mouse alone

coronabeer asks if pyrrha told yandere twin about harrow and camilla

(I assume she means nona)

yandere twin says she has

is pyrrha triple crossing people? quadruple crossing?

acting like she's og!gideon in front of dr reverend emperor john was crossing 1, then she's acted like she's part of the gang as crossing 2, acting like she's actually on yandere twin's side is 3 and maybe being infiltrated here to pass on info or something would be 4

that's quadruple crossing

no wonder she was a cop

CHAPTER 21 (broken third skull, the girls are fighting???)

nona is happy that pyrrha's whereabouts have been secured

the rest, to her, is confetti

camilla tells we suffer that, all things considered, it all went better than she deserved

we suffer is having a mental breakdown because coronabeer has stolen judith and ran to her sister and they lost the bug they had on her

camilla advises her not to make nona angry and to scan for other bugs on the frequency

because camilla is wonderful and amazing and thinks of everything

camilla mentions nona, during her tantrum, attacked the guards with a chair with a two-handed grasp she never taught her

which is points for gideon in the leaderboard

but idk how ice cube barbie fought, it could also be her, for all I know

the sword was old and mysterious

it's not harrow because harrow had a toxic relationship with the sword

nona stares at camilla and "looked up into the eyes that used to belong to Palamedes, long before she knew either of them" and her nose bleeds

not sure who that's a point for

camilla and palmolive desperately want to talk to each other, which is so exasperating, poor babies

we suffer comes in all happy because camilla was right (did anyone doubt that?????) and there's a bug in the area

camilla assures her it must be on judith

I wonder where and how it was placed there

she also says nona was right about pyrrha giving them codes

and that pyrrha will do anything to get at the shuttle

palmolive and camilla switch again and nona has to update palmolive on everything that went on

nona thinks yandere twin wearing chad's body is coronabeer's boyfriend and is happy to know he's not

idk if she's interested in everyone romantically at the same time or she's not and that's how she expresses her feelings

palmolive introduces himself to we suffer and asks whether they'll give them the sixth if they retrieve gideon's body ("the key to the Locked Tomb")

I assume the bit about the key to the tomb was told to him via pyrrha, who's the only person with a memory present and aware at that time of the whole wake-augustine-mercygirl-emperor conversation

we suffer says she'll give him anything she can for the key to the tomb (including the sixth)

wild how the destiny of the universe was kind of hanging by a thread in baby blender's and kid jesus' playground in the ninth for a while there

palmolive thinks yandere twin is at a disadvantage with the limited abilities she has in the planet as well as with pyrrha, who he still completely trusts

palmolive doesn't know why yandere twin brought gideon along, he suspects it was to bait out harrow, but both him and we suffer need that bod

we suffer, because of the tomb

palmolive, because he thinks it will help nona survive, if that's her actual body, or the body of a part of her soul combo

he is more cautious than we suffer though, because she went from "we're en el horno" to "we've got this, team" real fast

and palmolive is like

palmolive is, though, very optimistic about his and camilla's chances of making this happen

or he's just risking it all for the sixth

when they switch, nona tells camilla that palmolive revealed it all to we suffer and camilla says "I don't know why I bother"

which is a mood

we suffer tells camilla that the whole sixth thing is complicated because BOE has factions that aren't always aligned and that wake could move them at will but she can't

I'm guessing they didn't know wake was having a close encounter with two sides of the same lyctor

camilla said she'd try to do it and we suffer goes "Palamedes Sextus thought you could"

if camilla is harmed here istg

I'm gonna eat these pages

I'm gonna rip them with my teeth and eat them

we suffer also requests that, if they leave planet, they take a package with them

unclear what it is

hope it's not a living being

or a kid, unless it's kevin

meanwhile, in the new audio coming from judith's intimates, coronabeer is talking to pyrrha and is upset that they're putting gideon in pretty dresses and parading her around like a doll

me too, actually, I mentioned it in the last recap

coronabeer is also disappointed that yandere twin didn't come for her specifically and it was only a mission to her

she missed you, though, back in the emperor's bolthole

between the lyctor orgies, the arm stuff, the nudes in the walls and the soup

yandere twin has apparently told pyrrha to not let coronabeer help judith

she starts doing a ward but also has time to both insult coronabeer's non existent necro abilities and act disgusted by the prospect of touching judith intimately

she also goes "What did Harrowhark use to always call you? Tortoise? Blorgus?"

is she trying to say "ortus"?

girl, I'm the one with the funny nicknames when the names are complicated, but ortus is definitely not

coronabeer wants to hear the whole story of the brain tampering that resulted in that

meanwhile, camilla seems to have de-coded pyrrha's message in there somewhere

and what she thinks is that nona is the key to something they want

which might be the body, but also who knows

camilla promptly asks for supplies because I think we're gonna try a heist!!!

a heist in which nona might pretend to be harrow?????

but A HEIST!!!!

love it for them

JOHN 9:22

"His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue."

WELL, THEN

pov person who was called harrow but might not be entirely harrow talks about their regenerative powers

they seem to be walking in the ruins of the place where dr reverend emperor john used to reside

so like, post apocalyptic earth?????

are they astral projecting????

apparently, going theatrical and calling himself a necromancer did the trick to reach big audiences

maybe if one of the lyctors had been a marketing specialist, this would have taken half the time

"It even scared A— He was all, Matter doesn't play by these rules! You are doing bone parthenogenesis! I told him his mum did bone parthenogenesis. A— told me he'd kill me one day"

GOD, I WISH HE HAD

they're still going around the fact that, since he can't recuperate the soul, he can't really bring people back to life

he was happy, though, that some people showed up and were pushy enough to be shot so that he could witness people dying live

I'm glad it worked out for you, asshole

he also gets kind of hooked on witnessing violent death because of how it makes him feel

so, he just started killing people remotely

pyrrha shook him and stopped him and was like "what in the fuck are you doing?" and he gave a ukelele apology

"Guys as careful as you shouldn't have accidents"

when the cop is talking reason, you know how twisted things are

they brought in all the corpses for the "skeleton army" he was no longer joking about

pov girlie asks if he know what caused his accident and he said "guys as careful as me don't have accidents"

I don't want to kill him anymore

that'd be too kind to this man

that'd be too merciful, he doesn't deserve that

AND THAT'S IT FOR NOW!!! Sorry this was a long one again! These are taking so little time to read and so long to recap >_< I end up finishing them at ass o'clock and sleepy, but I wanted to get it out!! See you in the next one! Please be kind ♥

[angstbyangeline]

Just A Glance

genre: slight angst

Jean Kirstein x gn! reader

author’s note: been a while but I finally got some ideas in the works! The reader is a titan shifter but it doesn’t matter to the story much. Enjoy the story :>

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪

Sometimes you wondered if staying on the Devil’s Island was a wiser choice than going back to Marley. Maybe Paradi’s punishment would’ve been more merciful than what Marley Inflicted on you. After Annie’s identity was discovered, you couldn’t risk them capturing you too. So you ran. Rode as far as your poor horse could take you. In a matter of days, you arrived in Marley. The nation that hated your kind. You threw yourself at the mercy of Marley. Sadly, they had none for those with Eldian blood.

They demanded results and information that you didn’t have. They didn’t kill you but threatened to have your titan power stripped from you. With that being said, they struck you and beat you over the simplest of things. This left you in a bloody mess most of the time. No one would come to your aid, all the soldiers believed you deserved it. Only your friends and warrior candidates had empathy for you. Marley would put you on the front line of battles and wars. It was both necessary for a win and a form of punishment.

You confided in Porco and Pieck a lot. Never revealing your true feelings or experiences on the island to Porco though. He would rat you out if he even caught a whiff of you being empathic towards anyone from Paradi. Pieck held more love in her heart. Especially for you. She understood your feelings and why you may feel bad but remind you that it was their form of manipulating you into sympathizing with them. You knew this was untrue but nodded along regardless.

Marleyan-Eldian citizens were forbidden from leaving the restricted area. This didn’t stop Porco from finding a way to the other side. He offered for you to come along once he was absolutely sure that it was safe to sneak out. You happily agreed, it would help take your mind off the battles and recurring stress. Once everything was in order and everyone was asleep, you and Porco left the building. You visualized the shops and performances you’d see on this secret adventure.

It was thrilling to break the rules and see different sights from what you had been bound to. You didn’t want to go back home. Porco and yourself had a great time. It was wonderful to forget your duties, past and concerns. You shopped and danced the night away.

Porco made sure to not sneak out with you so often as to not make it a habit. Regardless of if he went with you or not, you snuck out. It was fulfilling to escape to a different side of your home where you weren’t known or hated.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Theo Magath must’ve been feeling generous and kind on this particular day because he had given you and the other warriors a day off.

An idea popped in your mind, we should sneak out today. You ran to find Porco, who was usually chilling in his room. You knock on the door and wait for a response. You let yourself in after hearing a muffled ‘come in’ from Porco.

“Porco!” You whispered as you silently shut the down behind you.

“Hmm?” He responded.

“Wanna sneak out today? Most of the guards will be off duty and I want to see the town in daylight.” You explain, quickly crouching down beside the bed.

“Eh… I don’t know. It’s risky” Porco expressed.

“Come on! We won’t get caught, trust me.” You gently shake his shoulder in a weird way to convince him to come along. He stayed quiet for a moment then exhaled an exasperated sigh.

“Ugh, fine. If we get caught, best believe I’m telling them it was your idea.” He rolled his eyes while lazily getting up from his bed.

You gave him a quick hug and sped off to your room to get ready. You let your friends know that you and Porco were going to see family and that you’ll probably won’t be back until nighttime. Since it wasn’t uncommon for you to visit your family, everyone took this at face value. Plus, your family rarely left home so this lie was impossible to be exposed.

The pair had left the building in a superficial hurry. And in almost an instant, you were on the other side of the wall. You flashed Porco a huge smile. He returned a half, uneasy one. He was a wreck. Constantly paranoid that someone will find out.

“Porco, the more you overthink it, it’s going to show on your face and people are gonna think we’re sketchy. Please, calm down.”

Porco scoffed and lightly pushed your shoulder with his own before walking in front of you. You giggle softly while following close behind, looking at all the delicious treats the stands had to offer. For some odd reason, you seemed to be craving ice cream.

The weather was perfect. The sun was warm and the wind was refreshing. Once you catch a glimpse of the ice cream stand, you take Porco’s hand and bypass the crowd. As you got closer, you realized that there was a line and let out a disappointed sigh. Defeatedly taking your place in the back of the short line, you scanned this side of Marley. It was busier and had more stands than it does during the night.

Some people from the crowd began to stare in the same direction, you took notice and tried looking to see what the big deal was. To no avail, you turn back to the ice cream stand. The line is gone and before you can take a step, a woman rushed in front of you and exclaimed to the ice cream man that she’ll take one.

Growing irritated at this woman, you crossed your arms, let out a huff and turned to complain. Only to realize that Porco was at another stand. You look back at the woman and two men had joined beside her. All three wearing the same attire, they must be from the same area. Something itched at you that they seemed familiar. You just couldn’t pinpoint it.

The trio began to cause loud commotion over the ice cream. Surprised that it was… cold? It’s literally ice cream. After everyone got their ice cream, they got out of your way. It was finally your turn to purchase the cold dessert. Out of curiosity you glanced over at the group. They praised the cold treat and encouraged the rest of their group to buy one as well. One had asked where to purchase it from, the taller man began to point towards your direction while saying something unintelligible.

The kind seller broke your gaze by asking,

“Excuse me? Would you like the usual today?” He became an acquaintance as you constantly bought from him on your secret nights out.

“I’m sorry- yes! The usual please…” You gave him a sweet small smile and watched as he scooped the ice cream into the brown cone.

Your brain ached at you to glance at the group again. You took a peek from the corner of your eye only to see a familiar face. A face you had forgotten because it was too painful to remember.

The face belonged to Jean Kirstein.

Your breath hitched, face flushed, heart pounded. It couldn’t be him. There’s no way they could’ve made it to Marley of all places. Before Jean could even register that it was you that he was looking at, you quickly paid for the treat and began to speed walk in the opposite direction. Your mind raced with thoughts, scenarios, choices and regrets. There was so much you wanted to say to Jean back then and much more you wanted to tell him now. Suddenly, a voice broke your train of spiraling thoughts.

“Hey! Excuse me-” Jean calls out.

You froze… he caught you. After what felt like forever, you made the choice to face him. You slowly look over your shoulder, eyes filled with horror. The world seemed to have stood still. Your eyes jumped all over the place. Taking in the new, old and matured features on his face. It was almost breathtaking how handsome he had become. The short beard and grown out hair suited him perfectly.

Jean noticed the new things about you too, your build was much muscular but skinner. The thing that jumped out to him the most was your eyes. They became duller and eye bags have been paired under them. He knows of Marley, what they have done to countries and their Eldian blooded citizens. Jean believed that you’ve been through worse than what you experienced on Paradi. Even still, your eyes and person were beautiful and angelic in his eyes.

You had only been standing there for roughly a minute but felt lost in his features for hours. The beaming sun had melted some of the ice cream. It was now dripping down your fingers. Not that you cared away. You were mortified to see the Jean Kirstein right before your eyes.

“Hey! What are you looking at?” Porco called out.

Your head snaps back to face Porco, who was now in front of you. You remained silent for a moment, thinking of an excuse. The nervousness was painted all over your face. Porco knew something was up.

“Sorry, I was looking at,” you paused to turn back to Jean for a split moment, ��someone who looked like an old friend.”

Porco looked past you to see who this ‘old friend’ was. He got a good look at Jean before clenching his jaw and whispering, “huh? You’ve never lived out here, let alone known anyone. Come on, let's go, you’re drawing attention to yourself.”

Porco took hold of your spare hand and dragged you behind him. With a shaky exhale, you looked back to Jean to Porco then back to Jean. Your mouth felt agape, like you wanted to desperately say something- anything. Jean saw and felt the melancholy in your eyes. Neither wanted this to be the last time you encounter each other. But sadly, life had different plans.

Will I ever see you again? The pair thought as the distance between each other expanded.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Long overdue: my thoughts on the final book in Kendare Blake's "In Every Generation" series titled: "Against the Darkness."

Now, for some reason I think I'm going to start off with some of the things I didn't like about the book first (which is maybe a weird way to do a review--especially for a book and series I do genuinely like--but trust me when I say I did enjoy this book). We'll get to the good parts down below. But we all know finales are always hard and don't always completely stick the landing: I just expect that at this point. But even with that, I standby that this is my favorite Buffyverse continuation, yeah. I'm also really hoping Kendare Blake somehow gets contacted to help with the Buffy TV show reboot coming up, though I know it won't happen.

...

Okay, one complaint I kind of have is that I feel all of our heroes get handed the Idiot Ball at least at one point in this book--and they've gotten extremely bad at communicating with each other--but though I said that it's a complaint... I'm actually not bothered by it that much. Like our Scoobies of old, our new Scoobies are high school students, after all, so they're not always going to be making the best decisions. And there are reasons as to why some of the characters might be choosing to be keeping secrets from one another. And with the stakes higher than they ever have been before, it probably makes sense why everyone is super emotional and probably not one-hundred percent thinking clearly. That being said, it is kind of sad seeing them like this when you compare them to their past books' selves.

2. At first as I was reading the series, I was getting really excited about the idea that Willow was clearly going to go Dark again at some point... But then I read this one fanfiction criticizing Buffy season 8 having Willow go Dark again in that world's future, since season 7's ending seemed to indicate that Willow found a perfect balance with her magic and surely never would again: maybe was even incapable of it? And while I think why Willow in the Dark Horse comics going Dark is justified (though this fic author didn't know that at the time, because this fanfiction was written just when season 8 had come out, and the reason as to why Willow went Dark isn't revealed until season 12), I do largely agree with them. So then a part of me found myself wishing that maybe there wasn't going to be a plot about Willow going Dark in this book series, and that maybe it did break canon some... But that being said, I did definitely enjoy it when it did happen. And the build-up to it was expertly done throughout these novels. And no matter what, it's always fun to see Dark Willow again.

3. One thing I liked that Kendare Blake had done in one of the previous books, was having Spike mention that he and Buffy had never gotten together--or had a relationship together (I forget the exact wording)--after their previous one in season six/after he'd tried to rape her and that sort of thing. And I'll admit that I'm someone who has come to hate Spike as a character now (something I don't want to be doing, and am actively trying not to do--as I used to love his character: and he used to me my preferred person for Buffy, if you can believe it). But I admired that Kendare Blake did this because, if I'm being honest, even with Spike going to get a soul after the attempted rape to try and make things right... I now don't think there should have been any shipping of Spike and Buffy after that fact: it sends a bad message, in my mind. So, yeah: I liked that Kendare Blake had written that it seemed Spike and Buffy hadn't had any sort of (romantic and/or sexual) relationship after that.

But in this book, after Buffy is rescued, it's sort of left up to the reader if Spike and Buffy kissed or not. The new Scoobies are trying to guess if they did. And I think it's Buffy who says, "What happens between my and Spike's lips is between me and Spike alone." Also, at the end of the novel, Buffy is taking Frankie (our main character Slayer) with her for some training, and Spike (who is Frankie's Watcher) is thinking of staying behind, in believing Frankie now doesn't need him anymore. Buffy quickly corrects Spike that he's being an idiot--and that of course Frankie still needs him. She still needed her own Watcher well into her twenties, after all, and she tells him to come with them. And it's also hinted at that maybe something could happen between the two of them if he does. Or perhaps not. I'll admit that I'm not the biggest fan of us now getting this up in the air stuff with Spuffy, when I'd thought that Kendare Blake had made a poignant choice in having had nothing happen between them before. But also the fact that it's up in the air means that I can take it (since I can choose to decide nothing happens with them, if I want). I'm glad that it's nothing concrete.

4. I'd prepared myself for a long while that Angel wasn't going to appear in this series--I prepared myself for the worst, actually, after "Buffy: The Last Vampire Slayer"--and I was right that Angel is not in these novels (side note: I have the strangest feeling now that Disney owns the Buffyverse, ugh, they just... don't like Angel--for some reasons I could maybe understand. But Spike also has issues, if we're being honest, and it seems they're maybe Draco in Leather Pantsing him?--and are trying to keep him out of things, but I could be wrong), but I'm glad about the Angel references we do get throughout the series. Also that Frankie and Grim are somewhat Bangel 2.0. But no: I'm mostly glad of the Angel references we get in this book, and that while he's not here, it's not a "Buffy: The Last Vampire Slayer" situation, thank God! Buffy clearly still has feelings for Angel, too (not just Spike), and she even teases Spike when asking him to come with her at the end, that on their journey they'll "stop in L.A., because Angel's always good for some training." LOL. I'm just going to headcanon that Angel, while not joining the Scoobies in trying to save Buffy, was trying to do so by himself, like we find out Giles apparently was doing in the background of a majority of these books. Or something big was going on for him again, and he had no idea what happened to Buffy, and he's going to be miffed when he finds out and that no one told him: like something similar to when he was in Pylea during Buffy's death in season 5.

5. While I was always going to prefer for Willow to end up with Oz in this series (it somewhat hurts that we got teased with it, only for it to be taken away. But oh well. Their beautiful friendship in this still means the world to me, too), I do like Safarina DeWitt. And she and Willow are cute together... Though I do think it moved to love pretty fast (even in knowing they had a past relationship with each other). One minute it seems like Willow is falling for her again, and maybe entertaining the idea of things with Safarina once more, and then she's thinking that she wishes Buffy were there to talk to, because she thinks she might be in love with Safarina--all while Safarina isn't even there at the moment, because she's gone on a long mission with Vi. What?

6. I don't know if I'm the biggest fan of some of the stuff that happened with the Slayer power in this overall series, but it's whatever.

7. This isn't truly a complaint, just a slight disappointment (but one I can live with): I'd kind of hoped that this book would somehow reveal that Faith hadn't actually died like we'd earlier been led to believe, but no dice:( But oh well, I guess:( Buffy died a number of times. I guess it's time we finally got a story where Faith did. At least our girl went out heroically -sobs-

I think that's most of the bad that I can think of: Onto the good!

I already made a post about this, so I'm basically going to copy it here: "It's so nice it is that this is probably one of the few things that exists that treats Kennedy well (Vi actually turns evil for a bit in this series, which is surprising because I’ve never seen anyone give Vi that kind of treatment [especially over Kennedy]. But she turns it around in the end).

You’d probably say, 'Of course it has to treat Kennedy well. It’s an officially licensed thing.' But so was 'Chosen' by Kiersten White. And that book had Buffy calling Kennedy a bitch in it:(

Even though Willow and Kennedy have broken up by the time this series is taking place, Kennedy still calls Willow 'goddess.' It’s cute. And Kennedy is quite the badass."

2. Frankie is so freaking wonderful. She's the heartbeat of this series, as she should be, and I love my little Willow-Buffy-Usagi Tsukino Slayer with my whole heart (she's one of the best Slayers post-season 7 that we've ever gotten, hands-down. Maybe even the best. And I hope the new Slayer we get in the Buffy reboot series is even a fraction like her). But one thing I loved about Frankie in this book, was that we really see her Slayer intuition shining through when it comes to the villain, Aspen. Aspen really starts wrapping everyone around her little finger (and she even had me fooled some, which is a testament to Blake's writing. And the fact that Aspen is a good villain who isn't one-dimensional. As some of that stuff with her, like her friendship with Hailey, was real). But Frankie saw right through her, ala how Buffy would have, and I was proud of her for it. Though the tension that Frankie's hatred for Aspen created between her and Hailey was hella interesting!

3. Speaking of Hailey, I love my badass Potential Slayer SO much (and I missed her when she couldn't be with her Scoobies--though her scenes with Aspen when she was being a double-agent were intriguing). And the fact that she's actually more talented than Frankie is is interesting. Her whole story in this book is interesting. I was always big on Hailey, but I don't think I took a shining to her this much until this book. Her and Vi (her older sister) get to be part of the Slayer line together! But I adored when Hailey told Vi something like, "I guess the Slayer line wanted me, too." And Vi frowned and said, "The Slayer line's greedy." Hailey reminds me a lot of Isabelle Lightwood from "The Mortal Instruments" series.

4. Truthfully, I think that this is the first time that I actually enjoyed Sigmund as a character and wanted him and Hailey together. The way he was actually such a good friend to her in this novel, when she couldn't go to the Scoobies without blowing their cover? And how he kept her secret about being a Potential for her when she didn't want anyone to know about it? -applauds- And it was clever on Blake's part that since Sigmund, who is a demon, is supposed to marry a demon (which is why he and Hailey had to break-up), she had Hailey become a Potential Slayer in this book... which is part-demon, you know;)

5. While I somewhat enjoyed our werewolf Jake as a character before, and his relationship with his uncle Oz, I don't think I fully appreciated him until this book, either (also, his boyfriend is the sweetest). He fucks up terribly (because of Jordy pretty much wanting him to, no less--he wanted him to not "completely muzzle the wolf, but rather be more wolf": paraphrasing here). But the way he recovers from that, and handles his newly made pack that he created, made me truly appreciate him.

The Scoobies all coming together to fight a super-powered Aspen (when they really had no chance), with all the Slayer strength she'd stolen, also made me care for them all the more.

6. I did like Grimloch and Frankie as a couple quite a bit. But, yeah: they did need to breakup as they did in this novel, since they were mostly lust above all else. Edit: Frankie liked Grim, but she wasn't in love with him yet. And Grim thought he shouldn't be her first love--and even Frankie had to agree--so they broke up. But I did enjoy how Frankie said something like, "You may not be my first love, but could you be my fifteenth?" And Grimloch replies, "I may be your last love." That was sweet. So there's hope for them in the future, then, and that they could perhaps even end up together someday.

7. Using Buffy's cross necklace that she got from Joyce (this idea that Joyce gave her a cross necklace is monumental and I need a fic about it, STAT!) to be the thing to bring her back was just such a great idea. And seeing her and the Slayers finally get to return and kick Aspen's ass in an epic battle, after she'd imprisoned them for so long, was everything.

8. Giles! How could I forget Giles?! I actually sort of knew beforehand what characters were going to appear in this series, because of an interview of Kendare Blake's that I watched. She, however, did not mention Giles in said interview. And it was such a pleasant surprise to have him show up right when the shit had hit the fan. And she wrote him so well. Giles and Spike's interactions, in particular, were hilarious.

9. I said above that I don't really like Spike as a character anymore. But Kendare Blake's writing is some of the exception to that rule: she reminds me of why I loved him to begin with--she writes him in-character, I believe, and so funnily. And she shows him as a true hero and father figure to Frankie, while still having flaws and being Spike (like in being a drama queen and being a bit of a child). It's a lot of fun, really.

10. I kind of mentioned this above, but Oz is everything right in this world--as he always has been--and his relationship with Willow, Jake, the other kids like Frankie, and Spike is really something to write home about.

11. Willow and Frankie's relationship mother-daughter relationship in this series is something I'll never get over from this series. It's just so beautiful.

I think that's mostly everything. I'm very glad Kendare Blake was the one who got the commission for this series, and I'll always remember it and surely return to it soon. And I very much thank her for writing it.

Shutting up now.

Edit: I forgot to mention that finally getting to see Frankie and Buffy interact at the end of this was everything.

[xthe-writing-vampirex]

In the Walls: Part 8

Word count: 1,498

Trigger Warnings: N/A

•••••••••

“It may be best for us to try and help Montgomery while he's still stable.” Freddy suggests, not wanting to deal with the angry gator but wanting to help nonetheless. You bite your lip nervously, still standing inside of your protector's chest cavity. You know he's right but being around that gator has always given you a whole new level of fear.

“O-Okay……can you hide me somewhere?” You ask timidly, even if you hate being in his stomach hatch you do feel at least somewhat safer in there than out in his hand where the whole world can see you. Freddy’s expression filled with worry, looking down towards you.

“That's the issue, superstar. We won't know exactly where the part is on him and will need someone to go in and find it. The glitch in my system only gave me a general error code and identified a rather large area as the source. I may not be able to see it in Montgomery but he can give you a general idea of where it is by scanning like I did.” Freddy explains, knowing full well how much the idea of all of this will scare you. Unfortunately he's right and your eyes widen with stress, making you back into Freddy's stomach hatch.

“N-No, nope. Monty scares the shit out of me. Like more than you did when we first met.” You explain, voice strained and trembling from stress. Your heart pounds in your chest at the idea of being anywhere near the gator much less inside of him like you are with Freddy now.

“I know little one but I know you can do it. You're a brave little thing and Montgomery needs our help.” The bear explains, making you blush at the compliments. He resists the urge to scold you for cursing, figuring now was not the time. You let out a shaky sigh. He's right. Monty seemed terrified when he was talking to Freddy earlier and even if the gator scares you, your better nature gets the best of you.

“O-Okay.” You agree, still trembling from the idea of all of this. Freddy smiles happily in response, proud of you.

“Alright superstar. I'll keep you in my stomach hatch until I explain everything.” He states, doing his best to keep you calm and make sure no one else sees you. You nod in response, forgetting he probably can't see you, before backing further into his stomach hatch to allow him to close it. Once he does you're bathed in blackness again, well other than the different lights from different parts that make up Freddy. You feel him moving, relatively slow it seems to protect you from moving into anything and getting hurt again. Soon enough he's at Monty's door and knocking on it.

“Montgomery?”

“Fuck off Fazbear.” Comes a rather growly and grumpy voice. It's obvious Monty wants nothing to do with Freddy. The bear doesn't give up though.

“Montgomery, I think I've figured out what caused you to lose consciousness.” Freddy replies, hearing silence for a moment before the thud of Monty's footsteps can be heard approaching the door. After a few more seconds it opens, revealing the rather skeptical gator.

“What do you mean you figured it out?” He asks, raising an eyebrow. Freddy’s blue eyes never waver from the gators red ones.

“It seems to be an attempt to mess with our hardware. We found this on my endoskeleton where I'd located a glitch in my system earlier.” The bear explains, holding out his hand with the odd purple glowing device in it. Monty looks down at it, confused and trying to scan it to figure out what it is. All he gets is a notice that it's a foreign electronic. Then he looks back up at Freddy.

“Who is we?” Monty asks, noting the bear said we and not I. Freddy looks away for a moment, not keen on revealing you for the gator to see. He knows he'll have to eventually but still worried about your reaction as well as Monty's.

“The tiny human you were chasing after.” He says finally, causing you to tense when you're mentioned. Monty blinks in surprise, raising his glasses to try and locate you on Freddy's person but he's unable to. A part of him honestly believed what he saw was a trick of the light or something.

“They're real? Damn Fazbear. How'd you manage to catch them and get them to help you?” Monty asks, still trying to locate the little being.

“Language, Montgomery. I helped them with their injured arm. It seems to have broken while they were running.” Freddy replies, avoiding blaming Monty directly though he believes the gator had scared you into falling or somehow doing it. Monty rolls his eyes in response when scolded about his language. Right now his focus is on the tiny being he'd thought he'd simply imagined.

“Alright. Where are they then? You seem pretty convinced for someone who doesn't even have them with you.” The gator says, making Freddy sigh. He doesn't want to reveal you unless he has no choice. Unfortunately it seemed like that was going to be what had to be done.

When Freddy opens his stomach hatch your breathing practically stops. You can see a bit of the gator in front of you and you back up further inside of Freddy to avoid being seen. The bear feels this but knows Monty won't believe him unless he sees you for himself, so the bear puts a hand down level with his stomach hatch for you to climb onto.

“Come on superstar. It's alright.” Freddy says gently, trying his best to calm you. It doesn't work but you appreciate the effort. Monty raises an eyebrow, looking down at Freddy's hand skeptically. That look however is wiped off his face when you cautiously and timidly step out onto the bear's hand. Monty's eyes widen and he gapes in awe at what he's seeing. You look human other than you being smaller than even one of his fingers.

“Well fuck Fazbear….you weren't kidding.” Monty says, causing you to flinch. You back up close to Freddy's thumb as if it's going to protect you from the rather terrifying gator. Your heart beats rapidly and you have to fight the urge to run with every fiber of your being. The gator eventually bends down, trying to get closer to your level and actually look at you. “You've had quite the night eh Cher?” The gator says, completely aware of how scared you are. Usually it would irritate him but given how unimaginably small you are he really can't blame you. If you weren't so terrified you might just find that Cajun accent of his attractive.

Freddy watches, surprised by how careful Monty is being around you. He's like this with the kids though so it's not totally out of character for the alligator. “They’re willing to check and see if you have one of these devices on your endoskeleton like I did……but it might take some coaxing.” The bear replies, causing you to look up at him nervously. You're not sure this will work the way he seems to want it to but you also do want to help, even if the idea of all of this terrified you. Monty looks up at Freddy for a moment before his red gaze goes back down to you.

“Pauvre ti bête.” Monty says gently, making Freddy raise an eyebrow. He has to run it through his translation software but eventually figures out it means ‘poor little thing'. You unfortunately don't know this but the gentle way he says it confuses you. You're not used to seeing the gentle side of this gator, just the version of him that tears up his room constantly. “I'm surprised they're even willing to do it at all.” Monty continues, watching you with interest. He's not trying to be creepy, he's just never seen anything like you before and can't help being curious. “What's your name Cher?” The gator asks, watching you grip onto Freddy's thumb to try and ground yourself a bit.

“Y-Y/N…..” You reply timidly, unable to stop your voice from sounding strained. Monty smirks in response, finding you adorable.

“Well Y/N. I'll let Freddy hold you for this. Just don't go poking things. I'd rather not have to deal with a malfunction.” Monty replies with a wink before standing back up to his full height. You're definitely not a fan of these two looming over you like this but you do your best not to panic, taking slow deep breaths.

“Maybe we should go to my greenroom. Y/N has to avoid being seen and your room doesn't have any lights right now.” Freddy suggests. Monty shrugs. The bear is right, when he destroys everything he really destroys everything. Sometimes it's on purpose but usually it's an accident when it comes to the lights.

“Alright Fazbear.”

[codenamesazanka]

Regarding your recent post about deku releasing tenko’s story — while I can absolutely believe that doing it would be a bad look for him, all might, and heroes in general, with the way the war arc progressed (and how much collapse could arguably be contributed to ‘people’s overinflated expectations for heroes falling apart when it turns out they’re all mortal fallible people’), I’m not entirely sure that that would actually make Izuku not share the story. Like, it might not gain coverage or press, but there’s a level of honesty and transparency that doing it implies and that the world at large didn’t seem to have beforehand in a way that makes me think it’s supposed to gain that honesty and transparency.

You're totally correct, anon! I do think that, if Deku were to want to share Tenko's Story, he would forge ahead even though it potentially is a bad look for him/Heroes/All Might. After all, he sought to save Shigaraki despite Shigaraki being a Villain; he made sure Overhaul saw Pops again; and he encouraged Spinner to write a book despite it being one that will "stick it to the Heroes." A determination to see things through once he set his mind to it. If he were to want to share what he learned, he would commit to it with honesty and transparency.

The key word is 'if', though. What the story has shown us is that he doesn't seem very interested in doing so, beyond telling All Might and maybe Tsukauchi. He doesn't seem to have told Spinner, who he knows is Shigaraki's friend, someone who was at the center of Shigaraki's heart, and who it might help to know.

Not to mention he never really told anyone in reality his desire to save Shigaraki anytime during the entire third act, besides Gran (implied in Gran's advice that death is salvation), maybe All Might (generous guess), and vaguely Uraraka (tho his words were "I can't ignore that crying inner child.").

Plus like, Deku also learned through Nagant that the HPSC were doing extrajudicial executions. Now that is something that is basically mandatory to expose to the public. The right thing to do is to whistleblow that to hell and back. The HPSC's black ops were injustice, what they did to Nagant was injustice, and should to revealed to the world, as the honest and transparent thing to do. And yet it doesn't seem like Deku ever does so.

Deku, as he is in the story, simply has no interest in speaking out about things like these. (So much for reaching out a hand when it's none of his business, huh?)

And I have to wonder if it's even enough to be just honest and transparent in HeroAcaLand. We've seen Endeavor confess that Dabi's video was true; we saw Hawks point blank admit he killed Twice... and nothing really came out of that. It didn't seem to have gained much coverage or brought about the controversy it deserved because the collapse of the state was a more pressing matter (despite these things arguably being a factor in the collapse of the state), despite Endeavor and Hawks being honest and transparent. That was the honesty and transparency that the world didn't have beforehand - Jaku forcing these things to be exposed to the light and the heroes readily confessing to them (probably helped by the HPSC having its head killed off). And it barely penetrated society's thick skull.

If Deku were to share Tenko's story, I agree that he would do it despite it reflecting poorly on him and the Heroes and All Might. I agree that he would be honest and transparent about it. But that's it. He'll just tell it once, just to have it on record, then never again unless it's specifically brought up. IMO, of course, but look at how he promised to never forget Shigaraki, and yet Shigaraki is never mentioned at all in the final chapter, only getting one small ghostly panel.

No, what needs to be done, then, is not just being honest and transparency, but also fighting for these things to matter. To stay relevant and change actually made in response. To advocate for the villains-who-are-also-victims. Sadly, Deku has just never been too interested in truly helping Shigaraki in this aspect.

*as always, substitute criticism of Deku for criticism of Horikoshi's writing to the amount of your liking.

[mossyscavern]

Dresses, flags, pride and all

_______________________

Its pride and miles invited Pavitr, Gwen and hobie to their dimension.

They’re planing to go to 1610 Brooklyn’s pride parade in their prideful outfits and miles found a couple of things from their parent’s room she wanted to try on for the event.

Pav is pretty excited for these cause it means he can understand his friends a lot more…

Except miles was taking a pretty long time to get out of the room she went to change in. It took a lot of coaxing and a bit of patience... only this time miles really took a while to come out.

“Nope, this was a mistake.” They heard from the other side, making two out of three groan. “Miles, we promised we won’t laugh.” Gwen says.

Hobie shook his head, sighing as he lays across the couch. “And you said you needed a second opinion!” Pav added, staring at the door intensely while fiddling with his bracelet a bit. “I’m sorry, it’s-… never mind.”

They all heard, the three looked at each other then back to the door. “Hobie wears dresses all the time, at least listen to the guy who knows hobie doesn’t even believe in gender roles.” Pav shouted, hobie nodding with pride.

“… ok, just- don’t laugh… please.” Miles says. Miles finally opened the door and revealed the outfit she’s planing to wear to the parade.

She’s dressed in a blue, white and red Spanish dress with a red scarf around their neck and to top it off, a sunflower pin in their hair. Looking nervous and their face dusted with maroon.

“Miles, you look great!” Gwen shouted jumping up from her spot, wrapping her arms around the Afro-Latina. “R-really?” She asked, generally curious. “Yeah, why the blue, red and white tho luv?”

Hobie asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Tilting his head to the side as he arched his brow at the young teen. “Right, why the Cuban flag?” Gwen wonders.

Pavitr doesn’t care about the colour, the outfit itself is gorgeous and seeing miles in the dress with a red neckerchief and a sunflower pin, miles looked beautiful and Pavitr can’t pry his eyes away.

“Puerto Rican actually.. it’s mi mamí’s, this dress is a traditional white, blue and red.. told me when younger she used to dance a lot in it…” Miles trailed off sadly, shuffling a bit before shaking their head.

“But it is nice to see Mamí never got rid of it.” Miles explains quickly, holding the skirt of the dress tightly in their fists. From what Pav sees in her body language and how quickly they said near the end, sounds like miles didn’t want to explain further.

“And the red scarf?” Gwen asked, pointing to miles neck. “Neckerchief actually and it’s part of the male outfit so… why not?”

“Breaking norms? Respect.” Hobie nods, shuffling through his pocket before passing each their respective pride flag badges.

Trans for the four spiders each, a pan pin too and different gendered pins each. He/him for Pav, no labels for hobie, she/they for miles and she/her for Gwen.

“Alright, let’s get to parading!” Hobie shouts, hands in the air.

“Don’t think about threatening the bible bashers again.” Gwen warned, following the punk. “Seriously? He did that?” Miles asked, following Gwen.

Leaving behind Pav, who is now down bad for miles, more worse than normal. ‘Gayatri is so not going to let me down for this.’ He thought, shouting towards the others to wait up before he loses them.

He just hopes gayatri would understand, maybe she’d open up to a polyamory relationship…

_______________________

… to be honest I wanted to see/write miles in a traditional Puerto Rican dress.

Best way I can do that with a transfem? Is with she/they pronouns. That and very true to what I do..? Chaiflower. Shoot! Almost forgot.

———

Gayatri, holding a photo: so this is Miles?

Pavitr: yeah… she goes by she/they

Gayatri: … they’re gorgeous! You’re right to have a crush on her!

Pavitr: … so you agree to open a poly relationship?

Gayatri: duh!

———

Can’t forget the aftermath! I Still very much like gayatri as Pav’s girlfriend.

[daydreamsandafternoonteafics]

Let's Pretend It's Love- Chapter 14

banner by ren

So far everything about preparing for Penny’s wedding has been a drag.

I’d trudged through mailing out invitations and sorting out R.S.V.P’s and cringed during the discussion of flowers and venues. But Penny was finally getting to the part I was looking forward to: the food. Forget about the vows or the flowers or the dress.

On the rare occasion I’m dragged to a wedding, the highlight of my experience is the food. Mum had agreed to having one of the finest restaurants in London cater to Penny and Liam’s wedding and I don’t know who was more excited, me or them. It had been a while since the bridal party’s last meeting so Penny had planned a night out of food and wine tasting for everyone. Sure I hated them all but when there’s booze and gourmet food involved I couldn’t complain.

“How on earth did you ever snag this restaurant, Pen? I heard they’re always booked with reservations!” Ailsa announced as Penny passed the bottle of Chardonnay around the table.

We all probably looked like thirsty, starving mad women but we didn’t care. At least I didn’t.

Charlotte flipped her shiny blonde hair.

“Penny’s the bride. She can make magic happen. You’re one lucky bitch.” I rolled my eyes as she brought her glass to her mouth.

Penny chuckled. “

As much as I’d love to take all the credit I have Mum to thank. She wouldn’t stop calling until something came available. Amazing, innit? Presley’s helped out a lot too.”

Penny sent a smile in my direction and I smirked at Charlotte who’s face held a scowl before lifting my own champagne flute to my lips.

“I’m the maid of honor. I could’ve done it ,you know.”

“I was just more available. No hard feelings though, Char. We’re all adults here.” I shrugged casually before going back to my drink.

Libby and Ailsa seemed too engrossed in the wine to comment. I’d been pulling all of Charlotte’s weight. I rightfully deserved all the credit and I’m not sure if I would ever stop reminding her of that.

“Relax Char, I’ll let you know next time I need help with something. Presley deserves a break anyways.” Penny smiled politely just as the waiter came out with a tray of food informing us about the starter salad that Penny had chosen and giving us instructions on which forks to use. I wasn’t really listening I, was too eager to start eating.

“Well look at that, I’m just in time.” A familiar voice rang diverting Penny’s attention away from the food.

Liam was standing there brushing new-fallen snow from his coat and smiling broadly at Penny.

“Babe, I thought you wouldn’t come.” Penny announced standing from her seat and ushering Liam over to the table.

“Who the hell tries food for the reception without the groom?” He asked his eyebrows furrowing deeply as he pulled a chair next to Penny.

“My sister did. Her fiancé was stuck in traffic. Wasn’t willing to wait on ‘em.” Came another familiar voice that made me grin.

Harry appeared in all his glory tugging his beanie from his head and giving his hair a generous shake. It was nearly like watching a L'oreal Paris commercial.

“Oh, hey there Harry. I wasn’t expecting you either.” Penny replied.

I stopped forking my salad.

“Me neither,” I replied honestly.

I thought this was just a gathering of the bridal party, not the whole entire wedding party. But this time I wasn’t annoyed with Harry popping up out of the blue. I knew for sure he’d make dinner more bearable for me.

He shrugged.

“Liam invited me. Figured you ladies needed more male opinion.”

“Like we need you to tell us what tastes good. Shut up and get over here.” I smirked standing from my chair and tugging Harry in the direction of my end of the table.

“You’re not going to introduce us all?” Charlotte asked giving Harry a once over.

“How rude of me. Girls this is Harry, my boyfriend. Harry, meet Libby, Ailsa and.. Charlotte.” I introduced with a smirk.

Harry smiled revealing a dimple.

“Pleasure meeting everyone. I’m sure you’ll all look lovely in the wedding.”

Libby and Ailsa murmured polite greetings but Charlotte just eyed the both of us suspiciously. Even if Harry and I weren’t in a real relationship I couldn’t have loved it more if it made Charlotte shut up.

He took a seat in front of me before unraveling his silverware. I wasn’t sure if the waiter would come back with another round of salad for he and Liam to try so I pushed my plate in front of him urging him to try.

“You sure know how to make surprised entrances.” I grinned whilst poking a tomato with my fork.

“I text you but somebody wasn’t checking their phone. We’ve talked about this.” He replied in a mock lecturing tone.

I rolled my eyes.

“I was distracted, H. There's so much good food and expensive booze being dispersed at one time you can’t possibly expect me to receive your text,” I replied.

“How’s your day been, love?” Harry smiled before forking through the lettuce on his plate.

I sighed.

“Boring? Jess hired a new employee and I’ve been training him for the past few days. He’s practically a kid. Not to mention he’s so jumpy. On the plus side I did get some snuggling in with Ollie before coming here. You?” I asked.

He shrugged.

"Interesting as it’ll ever get. But, I do have a side gig in Wales next weekend at a friend’s wedding.“

"Take me with you?” I whined.

The waiter was beginning to ladle out soup in everyone’s dishes as Harry chuckled.

“If I could, I would. I’d stuff you in my duffle bag but I reckon you won’t fit and that’s rather inhumane, innit?”

“I’m kidding, of course. Fill me in on the details, yeah?”

“Deal. You’re using the wrong fork by the way. That’s the fork for the main course. You need a salad fork.” Harry declared matter of factly pointing to the fork in my hand as I tossed a few tomatoes about the fork.

I kinked an eyebrow.

“And just how would you know?"

He grinned, dimples denting his cheeks.

"You’re looking at a former best man at my mum’s wedding and groomsmen at my sister’s. You have to learn these things, otherwise you’ll look stupid when everyone else is using a different fork from you."

I rolled my eyes before grabbing my spoon to taste the soup.

"Don’t be a smart ass.”

We made small talk and playful banter while we waited on the main dish to come out. I have to admit that I was enjoying myself much more with Harry around than I would have if he weren’t here. I probably would have stayed to myself and spent most of the night rolling my eyes whilst listening to Charlotte’s endless chatter if it weren’t for him.

I wasn’t sure if I should tell him how much I’ve appreciated his company tonight.

“Does it bother you?” Harry asked after some time.

I furrowed my brows and the waiter suddenly came, sitting the main dish in front of us before I had a chance to reply.

“Does what bother me? I asked before going for a sip of wine.

"That your sister is getting married before you? Don’t you want to settle down eventually?” His green eyes met mine for a second before adjusting his silverware.

I sighed.

I’d never been asked that question before. Well yeah, I’d been asked it before by relatives and Mum but none of them ever put it that way.

I stuck my fork in the pasta on my plate with another sigh.

“If it happens then it happens, I guess. But God bless the poor bastard, whoever he may be, that gets stuck with me.” I laughed it off with a shrug.

“What about you?”

Harry had just finished forking a mouthful of pasta in his mouth and he whipped the corner of his mouth with a sigh.

“I mean, bachelor life is pretty proper but there’s always that desire to grow old with someone someday. It seems to grow every time one of my mates gets married. I want to settle down and have a family but there’s the chore of finding the right one and then there’s the fear of being alone. I don’t wanna be alone."

His green eyes softened and I couldn’t help but feel an ounce of sympathy. Harry was really likeable. Sweet even, when he wanted to be. I was positive he’d find someone. Me on the other hand, I’m a riot.

"Hey, having someone isn’t everything. You can always just get some cats. They’re great company.” I replied.

The corner of his lips turned into a small smile.

“Gee, thanks for that.”

His eyes looked watery and red. Was he crying?

“This is really goood.” I exclaimed twisting a few strands of pasta on my fork.

Harry only coughed violently in response.

“Makes my mouth itch.” He eventually replied.

I shrugged taking a sip of wine.

“Taste fine to me.”

We went back to eating in silence which was short lived by Harry’s constant coughing.

“Is it too spicy? Do you need water?"

I looked up at him. In a short amount of time his usually clear skin had broken out into little red hives. My eyes widened in shock.

"Shit. Harry, you don’t look good at all.” I exclaimed.

He frowned.

“I don’t feel so good. What was in that stuff?”

Hell if I knew.

“Penny!! What do you call this dish?!” I shouted frantically to the other end of the table.

“Lobster pappardelle. Do you like it?” Penny replied giddily.

Liam looked down at our end of the table and his eyes grew wide.

“Holy shit, Presley. Your boyfriend is blue!!” He exclaimed.

Instantly everyone’s attention turned to Harry and I. I stole another glance at him and sure enough Harry’s normally tan complexion had this odd blueish tint. He ran a hand through his curls in disbelief.

“Shit. Shit. Shit!”

“Are you allergic to lobster, Harry?” I asked frantically.

“I don’t know! I never tried it before.” He cried.

“He needs CPR!” Charlotte shouted.

By now everyone was stood from their seats and gathered around Harry watching him as if he was some show at the circus.

“He’d still breathing!” I shouted. Idiot.

“Everyone back up! We have to call the ambulance!” Penny shouted feverishly reaching for her mobile.

“Wait, no! I don’t wanna go to the hospital. I’ll be fine.” Harry begged.

He really didn’t look good and I was beginning to panic. I’d heard about how dangerous food allergies could be but never had I witnessed it first hand. I didn’t know what to do.

“We have to get you help, mate.” Liam declared placing his hands on both of his shoulders.

Harry moaned loudly in dismay.

“Everybody back up or I swear I will projectile vomit on all of you!” He snapped.

The circle quickly dispersed. You didn’t have to tell us twice.

I wasn’t used to seeing Harry this snappy and grumpy but I knew he was in pain and would probably apologize to everyone later. My stomach dropped and my throat grew dry but I suddenly got an idea.

“He’s going to be okay. I’ll take care of it, I promise.” I announced to the group as I feverishly began gathering mine and Harry’s belongings.

He looked so bad and I couldn’t help but want to help him.

“C'mon Harry. We don’t have a lot of time.” I urged extending my hand to him that he gripped too tightly.

Whenever we’re together things just always seem to go awry.

***“

Presley, I’m hot.” Harry murmured whilst snuggling deeper into the blankets I’d brought him.

After making a run to a nearby Tessco talking to a pharmacist and excessive googling, I decided to take Harry back to my flat to rest up for the night. His food allergy wasn’t as bad as everyone thought and with Benadryl, sleep, and hydration I was told he’d be back to himself by tomorrow.

“If you take off one more article of clothing, Styles, you’re going to be naked. Suck on some more ice chips. It will help reduce your fever.” I instructed extending a cup to him. Ollie had jumped on the couch and curled up into a ball in the crook of Harry’s arm. I’d told him to get down but Harry insisted that it was okay.

With a deep sigh, I sat down on the rug bringing my knees up to my chin and closing my eyes. It had been an exhausting day and I just wanted to go to bed now.

“You can’t go to sleep now, Presley! You have to stay up with me. Come cuddle with me. I’ll let you be the big spoon if you let me be the little one.” He whined and I couldn’t help but giggle.

I knew he was drowsy and delirious at the moment and I wouldn’t hesitate to remind him of it later.

I grinned.

“You have Ollie to cuddle with. He’s a great cuddler. Plus, I don’t think the both of us can fit on this couch.”

Harry frowned.

“We could try.”

I smiled standing up from my spot on the floor.

“You’re such a baby. How you try and get some sleep, yeah?”

His eyebrows furrowed.

“Please stay. At least for a little bit. I don’t wanna be alone."

His last words echoed in my head again. I don’t wanna to be alone. Sure he was under the influence of sleep inducing allergy medicine but he’d said them before when he was completely fine and something about it alarmed me.

I sighed.

"Scoot over a bit then.” I squeezed myself at the end of the sofa and stretched his never-ending legs across my lap.

“Happy?” I asked. He nodded.

“Yeah, much better.” A slow dimpled grin spread across his face and I could feel him sloppily reaching for my hand.

“You’re so sweet, Presley. So sweet and so beautiful."

His grip on my hand tightened and I felt sort of uncomfortable. I could see his green eyes begging to droop.

"Thanks for taking care of me.” He rasped.

I grinned.

“That’s what friends do right?”

“Yeah.”

I trapped my bottom lip between my teeth.

“Harry?” I asked in the silence.

“Yeah?”

“You don’t have to be alone.”

[melhyan]

🎇✨ It’s December 31st, 2024! ✨🎇

Here we are, folks—the grand finale of 2024!🎭 The curtain’s closing, the hobbits are heading home, and I’m staring into the fiery eye of 2025 like Frodo with a to-do list. Let’s get into this:

A./ Art Grind Resolutions 2025™️ (No Promises Edition):

Back on the grind! Like Geralt on a monster contract or Gandalf after yelling "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" I’ll be dusting off my brushes, my pens, and my cursed Dwarven sketch tablet. Expect more art, more chaos, and fewer excuses.

A Schedule? MAYBE. We’re aiming for organization here, but no promises—this isn’t Rivendell, and I don’t have Elrond planning my days.

Commissions are opening! That’s right, a shiny new comms sheet will drop in 2025. Look out for it soon! (Or, you know, soon™ in classic D&D planning.)

Adoptables galore! I’ll be trying to whip up 1–3 adorable, edgy, or delightfully cursed adopts every month. Tieflings, elves, maybe even a Witcher-inspired griffin bard? WHO KNOWS.

B./ Level-Up Goals:

More detailed pieces! Like crafting the ultimate dragon-slaying sword in Kaer Morhen, I’m pushing myself to work harder on those sweet, sweet details. Sparkly magic effects? Yes. Backgrounds? We’ll see.

Art tutorials?! A sprinkle of artistic chaos for you to learn from? Maybe. If I don’t get distracted by building another NPC in D&D.

Patreon revamp! I’m aiming to polish this up so you lovely folks can enjoy exclusive behind-the-scenes chaos, sketches, and more.

C./ New Stuff:

Some projects are lurking in the shadows like Gollum with the One Ring. Stay tuned for the shiny reveals.

Oh, and let’s not forget: 2025 is also the year I fully embrace my Self-Indulgent Era™️. That means you’ll probably see a lot more of the hyper-specific, slightly cursed, and delightfully niche content that lives rent-free in my brain. If I want to spend three days drawing Eredin, King of the Wild Hunt, in thigh-highs and a garter belt, guess what? I’m doing it. And if you see it posted, just scroll on by, Geralt. This is between me, my pencil, and my artistic freedom.

I’ll try to stop overthinking every little thing I want to share. I mean, it’s my page—why not throw in some weird Witcher-D&D crossover fanart? Why not write an entire essay on why emo Legolas would 100% listen to My Chemical Romance? (He would. Aragorn would roll his eyes but secretly agree.)

I’ll sprinkle in more of the stuff I love, the stuff that makes me laugh, cry, or sit there saying, "Is this too weird to post?" Spoiler: Nothing’s too weird anymore. 2025 is the year of feral, unhinged creativity. If you’re here for it, great. If not, well, I’m not changing the dice rolls for anyone.

D./ GENERAL DISCLAIMER FOR 2025 AND BEYOND!

If you catch me lovingly drawing, writing, or screaming into the void about a particularly unhinged, deeply problematic blorbo (you know the ones), please consider this your blanket disclaimer: I do NOT condone their actions, behavior, or life choices.

If they’ve committed war crimes (looking at you, certain Witcher villains), I am NOT saying war crimes are cool.

If they’re the kind of character who would definitely steal candy from a baby, set the baby on fire, and then gaslight the witnesses into thinking the baby was the problem, just know I’m not here for that behavior in real life.

If they’ve poisoned wells, burned villages, or lied on their taxes, rest assured I am firmly against all three (especially the taxes part, IRS scares me cause I'm really bad at maths and they have calculators).

However, will I still make self-indulgent art of them lounging dramatically on a throne, wearing lingerie (again), holding a glass of wine, and staring into the distance like the messy little war criminal they are? You bet your chaotic little soul I will.

Examples include but are not limited to:

The sexy but utterly terrible lich who probably eats people but, like, is so aesthetic about it.

That one D&D villain who monologues for 20 minutes while their henchmen are actively losing a fight.

The morally bankrupt sorcerer who only uses their powers for evil but still has incredible eyeliner game.

Eredin, in lingerie. Again.

Just remember, folks: it’s fiction and art here. Let me thirst for the villains with the tragic backstories and the devastating cheekbones in peace. In real life, I promise I’d be the first to call the local paladin squad on them.

Probably. Maybe. Okay, fine—if they apologized really well, I’d consider negotiating. That said, me thirsting for the local baddie doesn’t mean I wouldn’t go full Vicious Mockery on their ass to roast them to filth about their behavior. I’m not a bard—good looks won’t move me from my morals. Not yet, anyway. (Eredin, stop calling. babe)

So buckle up—if you see more lingerie Eredin, angsty bard OCs, or a niche analysis of why Geralt would win a baking contest against Radovid (he would), just know this is my ✨artistic vision✨.

Let’s raise a glass (or a mug of hot cocoa, Witcher style) to the new year! Thank you for all your support this year—whether it was likes, comments, shares, or chaotic energy in my inbox, you’re the Legolas to my Gimli, the Roach to my Geralt, the Tarrasque to my roll for initiative.

See you in 2025! Let’s make it one for the (spell)books. 💫 (P.S. If I don’t follow through, just blame the dice rolls.)

[ichika27]

OnS Chapter 130

Aaaaaaaah!!!! The lore thickens!

I am just dreading to make this since tumblr's post editor updated to being a pain the ass to use lol. I can't just not blog about reading OnS chapters cause it's the only way I can "re-read" them when they become unavailable. Why have the scanlators stopped working on this, I'd never know but I'm sad they don't seem to be around anymore for this manga (I mean I'd still read stuff on mangaplus but if I want to backread at least I'd have a way...).

While Yuu-chan and Mika are having a chat and probably some potential existensial crisis, Rigr seem to be checking out the 1st Progenitor's memories.

Would you look at that? He got there at the exact point in the memory world that Yuu-chan and Mika last watched! How convenient lol.

Rigr now knows about Shika Madu's past.

The reincarnated angels don't remember their past lives but it seems Shika Madu is okay with them living unaware of it. After all, tragic backstories and all.

Rigr now knowing the truth, it seems he now cares about the 1st Progenitor. Shika Madu might be an asshole but he still cares about his angel subjects even after all this time. He knows it would be difficult and he might not be able to succeed but he's not going to give up hope.

It makes me wonder more what his plan is in the present since he seems to be fucking over those he says he cares about.

Anyways, Rigr ends up crying even if he doesn't have his past life memories which made him wonder if those memories still lie within him somewhere.

I'm not gonna lie, I have no idea what to call him now that it's revealed he's the real Mika. Anyways, he was finally noticed by Shika Madu which is bad cause he has a plan.

Angel Mika is alive now and he needs to make his father think he's still dead so he asks homonculus!Yuu to take his place. He'd even forget his real identity to make things more convincing.

"No matter how many eons it takes... no matter how many generations we go through... in the end, we'll save everybody!" declared human Yuu whose actually the real angel Mika (this is gonna be confusing lol. I'm calling him Past!Yuu). It didn't matter how long it took and what the circumstances have become, Yuu-chan has always wanted to save everyone no matter when and it's always been his goal.

(I wish I could take the screenshot of when he said this but it's hard to crop with the length)

Homonculus!Yuu seems hesitant at first but he happily agreed with Past!Yuu's plan and he's now the new Mika.

New!Mika (yes, I'm not calling him that) is given his first task for his newest role. I'm guessing the "seven lights" are the black keys? Maybe? Anyways, he basically made it so that his father would do a bunch of detours before getting to his goal lol.

Past!Yuu erased (although more like locked away) his memories of being Angel Mika. He promises New!Mika that no matter what, he'd come back and collect him and New!Mika happily promises back.

Beams of light shoot out from New!Mika and Shika Madu catches one of them. On his hand he finds one of the black keys (I was right earlier! lol). He thinks homonculus!Yuu might've done something but basically thinks "Nah, I made him and he can't think for himself." so he turns his attention to Past!Yuu.

Past!Yuu acts like he knows nothing (either he's acting or the memory lock worked too well) and Shika Madu doesn't buy it and checks his memories which kills Past!Yuu in the process. Shika Madu confirms that Past!Yuu totally knows noting (lol if only you knew).

Shika Madu laments the fragility of the humans he created as he estimated that they might not even live to be a hundred.

Shika Madu doesn't realize that close by, Past!Yuu aka the real Angel Mika had been reborn again.

Aww!! A proper reunion between Mika and Yuu! Yuu-chan had fullfilled his promise! They still don't actually have their past life memories but they're okay with it as they think it'd have been bad if they actually did all this time. After all, it took this long to get this far in their plans and they went through so much that if they remembered everything, it'd have made them suffer more and give up.

They're reminded of the vampires who hated being immortal cause it caused them suffering.

These two are now having a discussion on the meaning of (their) life. They wonder why they should keep going and why Yuu-chan should make Mika human again. Mika answers that he wants to live and die with Yuu-chan (aww... that's so sweet!). Yuu-chan asks if that'd really make Mika happy and Mika says he thinks so.

Mika is slowly but surely turning into a full demon and Yuu-chan says he won't let it happen. Yuu-chan concludes that they don't clearly remember their past lives and they'd continue living this life and would try to reach their present lives goal: save everyone (especially the dead Hyakuya orphans and Guren and their friends) and turn Mika back to human.

Hope restored! Yuu-chan likens their current situation to a video game and thinks that they have a chance now that they know the lore. Mika agrees!

Their current goal? Get the seven keys!

Oh!! Flashback to eight years ago!

Ferid is wondering why the First Progenitor wants to make a "Mikaela" and what even is a "Mikaela" in the first place. He says he wasn't compatible to become this Mikaela and the First Progenitor himself cannot be whatever it was.

He also got his hands on little Yuu-chan and Mika (they were drugged and were sound asleep) to check their memories. Someone else is there with Ferid however...

Ferid asked Guren if Guren had checked the kids' memories and he hasn't yet.

Oh... what does this mean?!

--

That last panel though. Guren looked weird lol. Had their chins always been this round/big? I mean I knew the illustrator's artstyle had changed over the years as this manga had been running for a long time now but this is the first time I really notice. I don't like it lol. Makes them look weird and old. I might not like Guren that much but I have to admit he's handsome and this? Not at all lol.

Okay! We got the lore!! I'm happy and excited and this feels like the most hilarious development I've seen in this story in a while. Angel Mika is smart and immediately have some kind of starting plan for his goal. Sadly, it seems turning himself into Yuu-chan also lowered his braincells lol jk. It seems no one else in this metaphorical chess game realized that someone they wanted to take as pawn is also playing the game.

Guren and Shika Madu totally fucked up their plans all because they were targetting the wrong kid! Especially Guren who had been with Yuu-chan longer in this current life cause his actions in the last couple of chapters made Yuu-chan reject helping him. I think if Yuu-chan had gotten back his memories of being Angel Mika and if Guren knew about this fact, Guren probably would've had a better chance of convincing Yuu-chan to sacrifice himself since Yuu-chan's goal in life (both the past and present) was to save everyone including Mika.

Oh, ther irony! XD

This isn't a perfect story, I admit. I don't think this turn of events had been hinted before (if it had been, then it's my fault I missed all the clues) but I don't care. I'm still having a lot of fun reading.

Mika telling Yuu-chan once again that he'd just want them to live together until the end made me sooo happy! Ah, it's times like these I'm happy to be a MikaYuu fan haha. I remember that in the PSP game, they did mention this also with Mika and Yuu wanting to live and raise kids together. (>///<)

I'm curious now about what Shika Madu is actually feeling about all this in the present. He did care a lot about everyone back then but now it doesn't seem to be the case and he's willing to sacrifice the other vampires just to get his son back. But then again knowing that he could just have them reincarnated, maybe he's okay with sacrificing the current them cause he can just make new bodies for the vampires.

Also wondering why Shika Madu kept remaking the Yuu from Ancient Greece. Did he realize there's something special about this new human? Did he realize that in a way, this was the human form of the homonculus eyeball (actually Angel Mika)? Or did he just think of making a human version of homonculus Yuu cause it'd be easier to experiment on something like him which he could just remake? I wonder if it's the reason why Yuu from Ancient Greece didn't have emotions while the new humans created in the past had personalities or seemingly could have one even before getting possessed by angels?

Also, Shika Madu's tragic backstory is enough to make Rigr sympathize or at least care about him though. I wonder how this would affect things as Rigr hated the First Progenitor and was willing to oppose him. How about now?

That ending there though. What did Ferid mean by "Have you looked into their memories?" when talking to Guren? Vampires have now been revealed to be able to read memories - Rigr and Shika Madu did so earlier and Ferid says he would at the end although I think I should've seen this coming since vampires turn into demons and demons have that ability. Does the question mean Guren also have that power? How?? Or is it Mahiru-no-Yo's power their talking about since she's now Guren's demon? Hmmm..... but then again, didn't they mention a connection between the Ichinose clan and Rigr?

Oh my god, so many questions! XD

I'm so glad I didn't end up taking too many photos cause tumblr had a photo limit for posts and I didn't hit that. Excited for the next chapter! Hope it's as fun as this one.

If I don't get to post anything in the next few days, here's a Happy Holidays to you! I hope you have fun and thanks for reading. :)

[bonesandthebees]

that ties into the fact that we have no idea whatll happen to wilbur afterwards

I would love to believe that he wont be forced into any roles (maybe even get to figure out his relationship with clara, communicate it out with her in a way or something tho that is very hopeful and foolish) and get to live as a person if he wishes to (which im confident to say he does)

he has phil on his side (and surely also tommy, niki techno, some other deathlings too) and I would even dare to believe eret wouldnt force him into a strict role like that, plus he did agree to the plan but im not sure if that really accounts for any insurance

but does any of that really matter if he still keeps getting visions

at this point it doesnt feel like enough for wilbur to get to be a person while still getting and relaying vision, bc there is deep rooted trauma

I think he either ignores the visions or fixes his relationship with clara ig (idk how that could even happens but it would definitely be very interesting ngl)

not sure if that makes sense but in general im just praying for some closure and freedom for him, my boy deserves at least that

wilbur has made some insane progress lately and it can be seen, especially in the last chapter and I go over that in my comments but just trusting more in general, less afraid to break pythia rules, ... im so proud of him

what I do want to point out is how, despite the deathlings being his friends/family now, the good ones basically, and even kristin being more there than clara ever really was, wilbur still doesnt like kristin and doesnt want to be a deathling

like hes with them and hes one of them in a way, but hes not a deathling, he isnt switching to kristin just bc he hates clara

and I absolutely love that, bc while switching to being a deathling would make sense, his journey here is about discovering himself, without the influence of anyone else, especially not goddesses (I think if he werent chosen as the pythia he wouldve been an atheist, talking to q about it was very intriguing to him)

on completely different note I noticed that the kind of visions wilbur receives (or maybe how he perceives them) is relevant to how he feels about something rn, like the vision about escaping vs the new vision being confused bc hes confused

not sure if thats what's actually happening but it feels like it

and ofc I cant forget, THAT SANDDUO SCENE? WITH THE NAME REVEAL? BONES YOUR SANDDUO ARE EVERYTHING TO ME

so unbelievably proud of wilbur for how far hes come and prying this all goes well and he gets to live the life he deserves

and a mandatory "the pythia"/"wilbur" narration changes bc I dont think ill ever be normal about that, it just always gives every moment even more meaning, its genius

2/2

hm... while it would be great for wilbur not to be forced into any more roles he IS still clara's chosen. he is still going to receive visions of the future whether he wants them or not. and that means something even if he doesn't want it to.

guess you'll have to wait and see how that turns out :)

yeah the thing is I think a lot of readers expected wilbur to switch to kristin since she's the 'opposite' of clara in a sense, but that's not the route i wanted to go down. wilbur's trauma is so deeply ingrained, any kind of religious institution leaves a bad taste in his mouth now. the past ten years of his life have been dictated by the rules of the divine, but he doesn't want that anymore. he wants to step away from the divine entirely, and get the experience he's been denied for so long: just being a person.

aaa thank you I loved writing that sandduo scene so much. he's made SO much progress it's been so fun to write his slow character growth throughout this entire fic, and finally reap the rewards.

[tsarinatorment]

Worth noting that in THO Will performs some definitely godly feats by reattaching multiple limbs for Paolo, and this is played off by him as no big deal while Apollo outright says Will's healing powers rival Asclepius himself. Asclepius who ascends to godhood for literally curing death. And I've seen arguing on the Riordan Wiki over Will's glow qualifying as heliokinesis: TON seems to imply a connection to the sun with both his tattoo and Apollo noting how Will gravitates toward sunlight coming through windows when indoors. His glow in the tower, also comparatively godly, reminds me of how Percy describes Helios. Blazing and bright, with pupils like "pilot lights for an industrial oven." Not just in terms of brilliance but in that Helios' light ALSO came from internally, as opposed to the other gods' divine auras like Nero and Apollo. I'd personally assumed up until TON that Apollo's kids wouldn't have solar based powers because Apollo as a sun god isn't quite the same as Helios; the distinction tends to be that Apollo is the GOD OF the sun whereas Helios was the sun itself. So thank you, Will, for clearing that up.

I'd bet anything he has natural skill in music though. He has to have inherited some degree of talent from Naomi. I also disagree with general fandom consensus that he's BAD at archery? He has no inherent talent in that area but he's been at camp long enough to work at developing some offensive skills, even if it's definitely not his strong suit.

Right then, finally got around to tackling this one. Sorry about the wait, anon!

Will's healing is definitely godly to an extent - he downplays what he can do, or perhaps in the case of healing doesn't realise the implications of what he can do, because he never seems to consider his healing ability sub-par, just the fact that healing is "all" he can do (even though that's definitively not true).

Right then, Will's glow. I forget whether I've talked about this on tumblr or just in the toa discord, but when we look at the comparisons made between Will and the gods, it could easily be that what Will is actually doing is channelling/revealing his own divinity (he's half a god, he has divinity, like all demigods do). I stay away from the wiki (aside from occasionally correcting some pieces of canon info, but that's rare) so I don't know exactly what discussions go on behind the scene there, but I personally don't mind calling it either. My initial reaction is photokinesis, but heliokinesis also fits - I'd disagree that general godly glows are external, though. Apollo's descriptions of at least his own heavily imply that Apollo, too, glows from within, and I think the other occasional descriptions we get (Hera and Artemis spring to mind) also seem to be an internal glow.

Will's other inherited domains, however... I'll start with archery, because I agree with you on that one. I believe Will is decent at archery - compared to the rest of the campers, he is probably one of the better archers, however, compared to his siblings, he is the worst, and it's his siblings that Will automatically compares himself against, because he considers that they're the base line. They're all children of the god of archery, after all, so surely they're all starting at the same place?

But that's not how Apollo's kids work - because Apollo has so many domains (seriously, it's like he hoards them or something), there's no way all of his children inherit all of them to the same degree, or even at all. Will has clearly inherited healing as his dominant ability (although the glowing is also neat and rare), unlike the rest of his siblings we're introduced to, none of whom are shown to be his peer, while archery is something he has only inherited a latent skill in, by which I mean yes, he can pick up a bow (any bow) and shoot it and probably hit the target just fine, but he can't do all the super-accurate almost trick shots the likes of Kayla and Michael can do.

Music, on the other hand, I am going to disagree with you with. We know Will does have musical abilities because he says so himself in BOO when talking about his ultrasonic whistle ("one of my few musical talents"), but I don't think his musical talents can be along the lines of the traditional ones, like we see with Austin. If he could sing/play an instrument, etc., he would probably admit it because Naomi would (hopefully) have given him some affirmation. Even if not Naomi, at camp the thing we see the Apollo kids do the most is perform - I don't know if the campfire is every night, but it certainly seems to be most nights, and I don't think any musical talent would be missed.

What I think Will's musical talents are are more along the lines of sound manipulation - we know he can go ultrasonic with his whistle, perhaps he can vary that to different types of sonic. Perhaps it's not just when he whistles, but he can do it with his voice, too - being able to yell really loud is the sort of ability that I could absolutely see Will having and also fitting in with his personality. He's yelled a few times in the books, and he's confident enough in his beliefs and morals to stand his ground, so having an extra layer to his voice that he could tap into if he wants to would be both really neat and different from the bog-standard music abilities we otherwise know about.

I just can't see him having any sort of standard musical abilities otherwise he wouldn't be so derogatory about them, especially as it would be a link to his mother (unless, of course, Naomi Solace was a horrible mother that Will wants nothing to do with, but from the canon descriptions of her, even though I think she might have been a little emotionally distant at times and struggled with motherhood, I can't see her being that bad).

[hyetiny]

c// fem!reader, sex worker hongjoong, detective reader, mentions of murder and crime, bratty hongjoong, joong small cock <3, humiliation kink, oral (f receiving), degradation (use of slut), dumbification, yay for protected sex

you weren’t at all fond of the dingy, dim hotel you found yourself in front of - it smelled of damp decay, and had only one flickering light in front of the entrance. nonetheless, it was essential to be here for the case.

you never enjoyed working homicides, having to look into the depraved faces of killers as they more often than not showed no remorse. with a sigh and a silent prayer, you walk into the motel.

when you show him your badge, the person working the register wordlessly handed you a key with “room 117″ messily scribbled onto it. the climb up four flights of stairs isn’t fun, but finally you unlock the door hastily, wanting to get this over and done with.

as expected, there on the bed is a rather stunning young man. he has sharp yet youthful features, heavy makeup and is only wearing a robe. it’s obvious he has nothing on underneath it. you don’t miss the “do me” eyes that cross his eyes when you enter the room - it’s all an act, you think.

“you can put the money on the table.” he says after a short silence.

“100 for the hour?” he nods. you rummage around your pocket, putting said amount on the table next to you. if you landed a conviction, you’d be getting the money back anyway.

“you can keep your robe on.” you say, getting seated on the bed a safe distance away from him.

a smirk crosses his face. “oh, you want to play with me a little bit first?” his voice changes drastically - it’s more seductive.

you shake your head. “that’s not why i’m here. last night a man was killed, and if my sources are correct, you’re the last person he saw.”

the man pauses, looking at you as though waiting for you to continue.

“i need to you to tell me everything that happened last night.” you state.

he pauses again. “alright.”

“your full name, please?”

“kim hongjoong.”

“okay hongjoong, so what happened when you met up with mr lee last night?”

hongjoong sighs. “well he paid for three hours. he was married, so he paid me extra to stay quiet about it. he was actually really good at sex, he had me in at least five different positions and his cock was massi-”

“relevant details only, please.” you shudder. 

hongjoong rolls his eyes. “anyway, he told me he had somewhere to be after, so he wanted to relieve some stress before he went.” you jot down the important detail. 

“did he tell you where?”

“he said it was an important meeting at a club down the street.”

you nod. “thank you, hongjoong. we’ll be in contact if we need anything else.”

you start to get up, but he clears his throat. “you paid for the full hour. why don’t you use up the time instead of wasting your money?” 

you raise an eyebrow. naturally you assumed that he would want to keep the hour for himself. 

“i haven’t had any clients today so i’m feeling a little... pent up.” he continues. “and you look like you could use some stress relief.”

it catches you off guard. you curse yourself for thinking about it - he was right, you did technically have the next hour to do whatever you wanted until you had to get back.

without a word, you begin to unbutton your button up shirt.

“this is strictly casework, got it?” he nods, grinning like a child who just got a jar of candy.

“i’ll make it well worth your time, detective”. he whispers into your ear before nipping on it, catching you off guard.

you weren’t fond of his cocky attitude - it spurred a desire within you to put him in his place. 

“off.” you say, pulling at the fabric holding his robe together. he obeys, revealing the expanse of his tan skin, taking notice of every little mole, every little birthmark, every small scar that decorates his skin. but of course, what catches your attention is his hard cock, smaller than average and flushed pink at the tip.

“is this supposed to make me feel good?” you ask, wrapping a hand around the short length. to your amusement, your hand comes up more than is necessary when you jerk him off. it only adds to the humiliation.

“don’t judge before you try it, sweetheart.” he says, not affected by the snide comment at all. “besides, it’s not the only thing i can use to make you feel good.”

at this point you’re only stripped of your shirt, while hongjoong is stark naked. although he lets out pleasured moans, he pulls your hand off his cock and implores you to lay down. he scooches down on the bed, laying down on his tummy and to your surprise, hooks his hands around your panties underneath your pencil skirt. you gasp in surprise, feeling exposed now that he could see your wet pussy.

“hm, you’re a lot of talk for someone who’s already so wet for me.” he giggles. as though to accentuate his point, he runs a finger up your folds and brings it up to his lips.

“oh, you taste divine.” he whispers. “you’ll let me be greedy, right?”

with that, he pulls your skirt up your thighs and wastes no time in licking a stripe up your core, earning a loud moan. his lips suction around your clit, his tongue peeking out to repeatedly stimulate the bud. a finger comes up to tease your entrance.

“f-fuck, hongjoong-” you cry out, already feeling close to your high. “s-stop or i’ll-”

he takes mercy on you, pulling off when your legs start to shake around his head. 

“i should have gotten you to sit on my face, you have the sweetest pussy i’ve ever tasted.” he says. you roll your eyes, thinking he must say that to every single person he eats out.

looking at the ticking clock on the wall, you look him straight in the eye. “you have thirty minutes to fuck me until i forget my own name.”

it clearly affects him, because he gulps and nods. he rummages around the bedside table, pulling out a box of condoms and shaking the box until one falls out - clearly the last one in the box. he wastes no time in quickly putting it on before lining himself up with your entrance.

“any day now would be good.” you say angrily. it doesn’t slip your notice that he pushes into your core with more force than necessary.

“fuck, such a tight pussy. no one’s fucked you properly in a while, huh?” he growls into your ear. he’s right - you shouldn’t have judged him, because his cock still manages to fill you up perfectly. it only gets better when his hand meets your clit, and he immediately sets an aggressive pace, ramming into you and perfectly hitting your g-spot with the way his cock curves into it.

“holy shit, fuck joong!” a garbled mess of curses and hongjoong’s name is the only thing you can manage to get out as he only speeds up, letting out pretty, low moans of his own and speaking nothing but pure filth into you ear.

“gosh, you’re such a slut aren’t you? needing a good fuck while you’re on the job?” in your fucked out state of mind, you don’t bother to remember the fact that he was the one who asked for sex. instead you just blindly nod, agreeing with everything he says.

“oh, look at you going all dumb for me. are you gonna cum, my dumb little detective?” you nod again, your moans only getting higher the closer you get to your orgasm.

“i-i’m-” it’s the only warning he gets when your pussy spasms around him, your hips grinding against his harsh pace as you reach your high. it’s enough to spur his orgasm as well, a groan leaving his lips as he empties into the condom.

you both take a minute to catch your breaths before he pulls out, taking off the condom, tying it and throwing it in the bin.

“so, do you feel any better?” he asks when you come back from using the bathroom.

“much better.” you smile, getting dressed and making your way to the door. “thanks, hongjoong.”

“hey.” he speaks up. “take the money back.”

you turn to face him, and shake your head. “think of it as a generous tip.”

a cute pout graces his lips. “i usually have to fake my moans and pretend to enjoy it, but you were really something else.” he says.

“in that case, we can meet up again to compensate.” you say with a smile, which he returns.

“i’d like that.” he replies. “i’ll see you around then, y/n.” and with that you leave, weak in the knees and your head filled with thoughts of the pretty blonde boy.

tag list:

@seongsangsgf @mingi-ivity @shinyddeonghwa @galaxteez @bobateastay @ddeonghwva @spacepiratehongjoong @multidreams-and-desires @a-soft-hornytiny @serialee @yunhospuppy

[ceruleanchillin]

Honeymoon Headcanons: Mayans Edition

Characters: Angel, Coco, EZ x F!Reader

Miami (Angel)

It wasn’t difficult at all to decide where the two of you would take your honeymoon. When you weren’t gonna be naked, Angel wanted you in sundresses and bikinis. You wanted him in linen shirts, and to feel him up in a club. Couple that with you both wanting a tropical environment, and Miami it is.

Angel letting you handle the accommodations, because you seem to know more about what you wanna see/where you wanna go than he does. He only cares about a bed and shower for when he’s not taking you in the inappropriate places. He just hands over the cash, though he complains about his hurt wallet.

Angel hard as a rock when he sees your new name on your plane ticket.

The two of you nearly missing your flight because your husband needs to “show his wife he loves her”.

You babying him on the flight, because Angel has never flown anywhere before.

“Mami, it’s perfectly valid to feel like a flying toaster can’t safely get you anywhere but a casket. Which they can’t even put you in, because you’ll be everywhere!”

Cue you distracting him with kisses and dirty words in his ear, which gets you initiated into the Mile High Club

Barely making it into the cute little condo before the two of you are at it again, collapsing in the late hours to jet lag and mutual satisfaction.

Your first official day is spent dragging Angel around the humid streets. Knowing he stresses easily if you plan things too tightly, and wanting to wing it yourself. It’s surprising how well you to fit in, it almost feels like home.

Angel switching from being jealous, because your tiny cotton sundress is attracting more than just his attention, to him kissing all over your dewy skin because so much of it is visible.

You getting as jealous as Angel, because it seems like each place you drag him to has openly interested ladies. It’s the white linen shirt that he won’t fully button no matter how many times you try to make him.

Angel basking in the attention, and even playing it up to force you to be the one to initiate inappropriate public sex.

Smirking when you break after a woman pays for his (and unintentionally yours) order at a small cafe you stepped into and you snap and drag him to a hidden place.

“I only love you querida, mi alma.” he whispers in your ear when he bottoms out inside you.

You two are a beautiful couple. Photogenic as all hell. Alone, neither of you have a problem attracting interest, but together, you make people want to be seen around you. That’s why you have no problem club hopping to all the exclusive places.

Angel taking photos and videos of you dancing because he’s so enthralled. He can’t wait to show your kids one day when they ask why he fell for you, and he explains how full of life you are.

Getting enough liquor in Angel to get him dance somewhere away from the club, especially since he (lies) and says he can’t.

You and Angel competing to see who can get the most people to buy your drinks + the two of you losing track because you both get drunk.

A quickie in the coatroom is the prize, Angel fucking you to the hypnotic beat.

Spending a few hours apart the following day, only to still keep texting and FaceTiming each other until you met up, touch starved, at a small restaurant.

Deciding to spend the rest of the day at your Airbnb laid up under each other after Angel scores weed. Teasing Angel about his monetary complaints when you spend all night enjoying the small backyard pool.

Angel thanking God for getting an adventure loving woman as his soulmate when you wake him up the next afternoon to inform him you rented jet skis for the day.

You being impressed when, while jet skiing, Angel silver tongues your way into an invitation to a nearby yacht party out of the host.

FaceTiming Gilly to make him jealous that you two are doing Hookah and drinking Casamigos in a hot tub.

Angel ramping up the mockery when EZ and Coco appear on screen, attracted by Gilly’s whining. Everyone looking overworked and salty, while you and Angel are living your best non-sober lives.

Slipping away from the party to one of the rooms on the boat, because once again, you and Angel never know when to stop teasing each other before it ends up in sex.

Feeling bold enough to suggest that since Angel’s been documenting so much of the trip, that maybe he should film this too.

The aftermath being a surprisingly sweet series of kisses and confessions where the two of you express how thankful you are to have found each other. How you can’t wait to build a forever together.

Marfa + Roswell (Coco)

No one knew how you got Coco to agree to travel for your honeymoon until you finally revealed where you were going. Splitting a week between Marfa and Roswell.

You and Coco are that “weird” conspiracy, incense, and weed couple, so it makes sense.

Giving Coco an edible before you leave, because like Angel, he doesn’t fuck with air travel like that.

“They got me with that bullshit in the military, but that was out of my control. You askin’ a lot right now, you’re lucky you’re cute mujer.”

Coco getting progressively handsy during the flight as the edible hits. Eventually, you stop fake-fighting his neck kisses and forward touches.

Also like Angel in that he’s unafraid to become a member of the Mile High Club.

The ride from the El Paso airport, to the car rental place, to Marfa takes far longer than Coco would like.

He’s used to long stretches of trip on his bike, and when you notice him becoming antsy, you distract him with interesting facts about Marfa.

The entire time, Coco can’t help but think that you’re the perfect road trip co-pilot, only to realize he actually meant his life in general now.

Coco proud as hell when you fall in love with his accommodations choice like he did. The colorful airstream trailers of the El Cosmico hotel are the two of you through and through.

You both trying to be responsible adults and refresh after travel, but continuing to get lost in each other during the whole process.

Shower sex -> Making out while drying off -> Touching while searching through your bags for something to wear -> bed sex -> repeat

Looking thoroughly mauled when you finally manage to get Coco off of you and into the car in search of food the next afternoon.

Coco being happy you can’t cover up due to the heat, while you wonder what superpower he and his boys have that let them wear flannel and long sleeves in the heat.

Dragging Coco to a cute cafe you saw on instagram, and him knowing, by the hipster design of it, that his wallet is about to cry.

Stealing food from his plate, and laughing at him sucking his teeth and whining when he catches you.

“You’re stuck with me forever now Johnny sooo….get used to this.”

“Small price to pay for that I guess.”

Finding small shops to go to and being Siamese twins in every one. Coco showing he has good taste in a lot of things one might think he wouldn’t. Him opening up his wallet at everything you 'ooh' and 'aww' at. He can’t help it, he likes you happy, and your kisses and adoring looks are addicting.

For almost everything you get, Letty gets something too. Neither of you wants that tantrum when you get back.

You fighting yourself to avoid the art supply store, and Coco not having it.

“I have so many supplies already, it’s an addiction at this point.”

“So? Get some more. It’s our week, we shouldn’t stress about shit.”

Coco bragging on your talents and successes to the art shop cashier when you checkout.

“Cocoooo.” you murmur hiding your face in his shoulder, arms around his waist.

“Don’t be shy ma, you’re fucking amazing. I love your skills.”

Cue the cashier swooning at the two of you.

Finding unique liquor stores and getting tipsy on samples. It becomes twice as fun when locals, and other tourists alike, start discussing the Marfa lights with you, and you and Coco impress everyone with your ideas.

Being invited to a bonfire smoke session with the other El Cosmico guests when you get back.

Sketching Coco by the firelight, because he’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen in that moment, and now he’s officially yours.

The sex being on another level of intimate that night, because all day you and Coco have been engaging in your respective love languages, and it culminates in mutual need for each other.

The drive to Roswell being more tolerable for Coco, but he still misses his bike. Your excitement about AlienFest is so palpable however, he quickly forgets.

Your hotel being more conventional, but the people you meet making up for it. Finally, you and Coco aren’t the weirdest ones in the room.

Taking the time before the festival starts to check in with friends and family and accumulate odd souvenirs for them. You believe Coco is intentionally getting them stuff they’ll hate.

“Taza won’t wear that baby, he has better taste in jewelry than UFO earrings.”

“Ok, but can he bitch about us not getting him anything? Plus, you can guilt anyone into anything.”

Doing cute edible pastries at the festival.

“You know Aliens are demons right? Jack Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard were doing summoning rituals in the Mojave in 1946, and Roswell was the following year.”

“Word?…Shit. Tell me that again when we’re not rolling. I wanna read about it………you’re so smart mami.”

Coco realizing between every snack stop, every dance he shares with you, every trinket you pick up, and every little conspiracy tidbit you share, that you’re his wife now. That the peace he’s been feeling all week, that he thought he’d never have, is going to be his new normal.

New Orleans (EZ)

You and EZ both enjoy engaging with history and culture, and felt that your honeymoon should be built off of your shared interests. During your meticulous wedding planning, it was decided New Orleans would be the honeymoon destination. It didn’t hurt that you missed your southern roots too, even if you weren’t from New Orleans.

Traveling with EZ is a dream considering you’re both pretty organized, together people. He’s not afraid of flying, but you’re always a little nervous.

EZ being Best Husband™️ and soothing even the most minor of your stresses by turning your attention to the excitement of your trip and your new relationship status.

Teasing EZ in-flight won’t get you Mile High Club initiated, because he finds it much more entertaining to punish you by letting you work the both of you up, and making you stay that way for the duration of the flight. He’s got enough will power to suffer through it, because your soft whines make it worth it.

The airbnb is everything it was promised to be, and you’d appreciate that later, but all you can think of is your husband when you step through the door. That’s the other half of why EZ likes to leave you waiting. Your aggression and exclusive desire for him gets, and keeps, him hard.

It rains the following day, which is just as well, because neither of you are quite ready to stop physically expressing your love for each other. The day consists of ordering food, falling out of your clothes and onto each other, separating to read, falling back on each other, and quick naps.

Angel sending mocking texts in your Reyes group about how you’re trying to turn his brother bamma like you, only to stop when you threaten him with no souvenirs.

EZ and you taking responsibility for your own tour because let’s face it, you both know exactly what you want to see, and can plan a more satisfying tour for the both of you. You take turns deciding where to go next.

When it’s his turn, EZ picks an art museum, and can’t quit smiling about it. You think it’s because he picked a place he really wanted to go to.

“Babe, I have a surprise for you.”

“What?” your excitement always makes EZ’s heart race with his own.

He hands you the guide brochure he picked up at the door, folded to the section he wants you to look at.

“Faith Ringgold exhibit?!”

He hums and nods, grunting when you knock into him with a hug.

“Thank you for thinking of me. I love you.” you look up at him, eyes shining with unshed tears and he just kisses you, afraid he’ll cry if he says anything.

The two of you avoid the tourist trap spots for lunch and find a cute family owned cafe. You order for the both of you based on what you know about southern cuisine and both of your tastes.

You love watching EZ fall in love with the food as he keeps asking “Can you make this?” about everything he eats.

The two of you walking through the Garden District in the evening. Hands swinging between you with no plans but to admire the beautiful homes and foliage.

EZ noting how awestruck you are, and you describing what you love about the historic, towering homes.

He catches that when you describe what your dream home in the area would be, he and your future children are mentioned frequently, and it makes butterflies dance in his stomach. He can picture your family in the yards around him.

The two of you almost make it back to your Airbnb, but give into your baser urges after all the domestic conversation. EZ pulls you into an alley for a quickie, the two of you fighting to silence the other’s vocal expression.

You teasing EZ after that he’s more like his brother than he thinks. Him teasing back the two of you would’ve been caught and arrested if he was like Angel.

The following day is relaxed and less planned. The both of you getting thoughtful gifts for each member of your family, blood and otherwise. EZ scores major points for the gifts he suggests for your mom and dad, and you kind of want to jump him again.

EZ is glad you’re impressed, but it’s nothing to him. It all comes naturally because he loves you so much, and refuses to be anything other than the husband he knows you deserve.

AN:

I didn’t want to add this, cuz I wanted to end on a sweet note, but you just know Angel would accidentally send that vid to one of his boys.

Personally, I lose it for shit like this. Anything domestic in writings is my jam, so I decided to make these headcanons.

- Fun fact: Jet Ski is kind of like Bandaid in that it’s become the generic term for “personal water vehicles”, but it’s actually a specific brand’s name for their PWVs. I learned this while writing this enjoy💀.

[acourtofbooksandfantasy]

Starfall - Azriel x fem! Reader

Disclaimer: this is my first piece I’ve ever published. I’m not taking requests but would be open to ideas for new things to write! Let me know what you think. I had this idea the other day and couldn’t stop thinking about it until I wrote it down. I also originally named the main fem! character but decided to make it Y/N at the last minute, so if her name is in there then whoops! Either way, enjoy xx

Starfall. The most beautiful night in Prythian. Souls traveling to a far off place, leaving a blinding beauty in their wake. The Night Court prepared for weeks to welcome their passage.

Each member of the Inner Circle enjoyed this day, but Azriel often used this day to mourn. And to hope. Each year, he would wish upon those flying glimmers of starlight. Praying. Hoping. One day, he would find his mate.

In the past, he used the evening to drink and pray and hope that Mor would realize she was his mate. But when she and Emerie confirmed their mating bond two years prior, Azriel simply used this evening to wish upon the stars for someone of his very own.

This year was not any different, until two months before when a secret Illyrian camp was raided and a young woman was found, wingless. She was battered and bruised, terrified of any male who came near her. Cassian had brought her back to the House of Wind with Feyre’s help, to give her a place to recover and rest.

Over the coming weeks, she revealed to Mor and Amren that her name was Y/N, and that she had been sold to the foul Illyrians at a high price to help support her family. She was used for work, cleaning and cooking, and kept in a small room. She revealed her wings were taken after a visit where Rhysand and Cassian required Devlon to start training all Illyrian females. As she told the story, even Amren shed a tear.

Cassian and Azriel were introduced to Y/N, along with Nesta, to help train her. Even without wings, Feyre believed it would do her much good to know how to protect herself. And Y/N vowed she would never again let someone lay hands on her unless she asked. Over the weeks, Cassian and Azriel coached from the sidelines as Nesta and Mor demonstrated and helped, since Y/N still feared the males being too close. Each day she grew a little stronger, and became more confident. It became evident just how much the training was helping her mentally when she agreed to come out for a night at Rita’s with the Inner Circle. Much to Morrigan’s delight, as she would finally have a friend to dance with who wouldn’t make inappropriate comments like Cass.

Azriel couldn’t help but watch from across the bar as Mor and Y/N jumped and spun, without a care in the world. However, he became alarmed as he noticed two dark males approaching her from behind. Each one reached to grab her arms, and he growled as he flew from his chair. He pushed the men back, scooping Y/N into his arms and winnowing both her and Mor to the back of the bar where he knew no one would be. When he put her down, Y/N stared at him breathlessly. She couldn’t believe it, but when he came out of nowhere to rescue them, she hadn’t felt fear. In fact, she felt a strange pull in her stomach. Deep, aching. Longing. Like, she had known him before, in another time perhaps.

The mating bond.

It caused her to step back as it snapped into place.

But Azriel didn’t seem to notice a thing.

“Are you alright?” He asked, gently brushing a hand to her elbow as she stood, star struck.

“Yes. I’m fine….thank you.” She replied after a few awkward seconds.

Mor gave her a puzzling look, “Uh…okay you two let’s go home. Az…”

He grabbed their hands and winnowed them back to their home.

That night, Y/N sat alone in her room, feeling a pull towards the shadowsinger’s room. She knew she should probably stay, but she couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if she went. Her curiosity got the best of her, and all of a sudden she was stood outside his bedroom. One hand ready to knock, but unsure of what she would say. She stood there nervously until the door cracked open, and Azriel popped his head out into the hall. He was only wearing some trousers, his hair disheveled from the slumber he’d just awoken from.

“ Y/N. Is there…something wrong?” He asked nervously.

“I…I…” Y/N scrambled for a reason to be in front of his door, “I sometimes have nightmares. I can’t fall asleep because I’m afraid of having a terrible dream.”

“Oh. I see.” Azriel said.

Y/N stood there, unsure of what to do next, “I shouldn’t have come. I’m sor-“

But before she could finish her thought, he grabbed her wrist gently and brought her inside.

“You can stay for a little while if you’d like,” Azriel started, “I have nightmares too. About my hands. And my mother. We can watch out for each other. And I can take you back to your room when you’re ready. You take the bed, I can sleep here.” He gestures to the small couch at the foot of his bed.

“Azriel I don’t want to take your bed.” Y/N stated, feeling guilty about coming in the first place.

“I insist.” Azriel gestured to the bed.

She sat down on the edge, as he laid himself on the couch that was barely big enough for him and his enormous wings. Even with them all tucked in, he nearly spilled out the sides of the couch.

She laid down as well, waiting for slumber to set in, but it didn’t, because she could only focus on the tug from her to him.

Close to an hour had passed, when finally a whisper emerged from the quiet. “Az?” Y/N lay flat on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

“Yes?” Azriel replied timidly.

“Can you…can you come up here?” Y/N asked rather calmly.

Silence filled the room, before the tall and dark Illyrian stood from the couch, slowly setting himself down on the other side of the bed. He lay flat on his back as well, as if trying to avoid touching her at all costs.

She reached across the bed and found his hand, interlocking her fingers in his. She rubbed her thumb along the lines of his scars.

“Thank you. For rescuing me. Maybe I can help rescue you from your nightmares?” Y/N said.

Azriel smiled at the ceiling in the dark, “Perhaps.”

________________________________________

Each of the girls from the Inner Circle had gone to the seamstress weeks prior to the event to have gowns made for the celebration. Each of the girls selected a gown some shade of Night Court black, except for Y/N. Feyre and the rest of the Night Court females found a gorgeous silver silk fabric, embedded with tiny crystals. When held up to the light, the fabric twinkled like a sea of stars.

“ Y/N! Since you are our special guest for the celebration, you should have a dress made from this!” Mor shouted, shoving a pile of the fabric into Y/N’s arms.

Y/N stared, mouth wide open, “I’m not sure, I don’t want to…”

Feyre stopped her by gentle placing a hand on her shoulder. “You are not a burden, and no one will be upset if you outshine every one of us. You deserve to have a night as fabulous as you are after all you’ve endured.”

Y/N smirked and nodded. “Okay, you’ve convinced me. I’ll have a dress made from this!”

________________________________________

The males waited, rather impatiently, in the front hall at the bottom of the staircase.

“You all have been getting ready since 10 o’clock this morning, you can’t SERIOUSLY still be primping can you??” Cassian grumbled as he leaned back on the wall.

Morrigan exited her room where they had all been drinking, giggling, and preparing for the evening. “You clearly have no understanding of what getting ready means to females, “ she said as she rolled her eyes at the general.

One by one, each of the girls stepped out. Feyre and Y/N were the last left inside the room. “You look lovely, Y/N. I’m so glad you’ve become one of our best friends.” Feyre gave Y/N a small squeeze. Y/N smiled, still appearing somewhat nervous for this evening.

Feyre studied her face closely, “He will think you are the most magnificent creature in the room tonight,” she whispered with a wink.

All the breath left Y/N’s lungs as she thought of the spymaster.

Mate.

Mate.

Mate.

Her heart pounded as Feyre gave her hand a quick squeeze before heading to the staircase. “Come along, Y/N. Let’s show them what you’ve got.”

________________________________________

His breath caught in the back of his throat at the sight of her at the top of the staircase.

The floor length gown had a deep v down the front, with two sheer straps that wrapped over her shoulders and crossed in the back. The silky fabric flowed as she took each step. She shimmered like starlight, and as the shimmering fabric moved it made it as thought Y/N herself was glowing in the night.

“Holy shit.” Cassian mumbled under his breath. Nesta elbowed him in the stomach, causing him to go into a coughing fit.

As Y/N reached the bottom of the stairs, everyone stopped what they were doing.

“Well, shall we?” Rhysand asked with a playful grin, simultaneously locking arms with his mate and nudging his spymaster brother towards the girl in the sparkling gown.

Azriel and Y/N stood for a moment. Y/N’s eyes remained focused on her feet, and Azriel watched as she tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. In that moment, when she looked up and locked eyes with him, he felt everything. A rushing of magic, or spirit, or something, coursed through his veins.

“Mate,” he said, so softly that only she could hear.

They remained frozen in time, stood there, taking in one another. As if their souls needed time to catch up on all the time they had been apart.

Azriel extended a hand to her, and their hands intertwined as they left the front hall. As they walked, Azriel leaned in and whispered to his mate, “You know, it might be hard to keep my hands off of you tonight.” Y/N peered up at him through her thick eyelashes. “You are quick to forget, I have not accepted the bond yet,” she replied with a smirk.

“You wound me, my love,” he stated with a look of bewilderment and shock. It took everything in him not to scoop her into his arms and winnow back to his room, to have his way with her right then and there.

________________________________________

They danced most of the night. So much so, that Cassian made several jokes about how he’d never seen his brother dance that much in their entire lives. It didn’t bother Y/N or Azriel one bit.

The couple stopped to sit and watch as the souls began to descend across the sky, traveling to wherever they belong. Azriel couldn’t help but watch his mate as she stared into the sky, absolutely enamored with her.

Y/N could feel the sting of his stare on her cheek. She turned to him, and reached across the table, her hand closed holding an object tightly inside. “I’d like to give you something,” she smiled. Azriel gave her a perplexed look, opening her hands to find a macaron.

He looked at the pastry, then his mate, and back to the pastry. “Are…are you certain?”

“I’ve never been more certain in my life.” Y/N replied confidently.

Azriel forced himself to savor every bite of the macaron, when really he wanted to shove the whole thing into his mouth so he could whisk her away from the party. Once he was finally finished, he stood, gesturing for Y/N to take his hand.

Cassian shouted from across the dance floor, “Hey brother!! Don’t be too loud tonight, SOME of us need our beauty rest!!” Nodding his head towards Rhysand. Feyre smacked him across the back of his head and Rhysand laughed. Azriel let out a low growl, but Y/N placed her hand on his lower back and stood on her tip toes to whisper in his ear.

“Take me home, shadowsinger.”

And they winnowed away into the night, as fast as the spirits had traveled across the midnight sky.

[aspoonofsugar]

Hi if its not too much trouble, would you mind writing a meta on Nora and her semblance?? Shes my absolute fav and kinda underappreciated imo

Hello anon!

I love Nora as well! I think she is the most emotionally intelligent character in the series, to be honest. That said, I am waiting for her story to reach its climax before writing a meta on her semblance. This is because I think we are still missing the heart of her arc to be honest.

That said, I have talked a little bit about her here and here. Moreover, you can find some general thoughts under the cut.

It is clear that Ren and Nora’s arcs are strongly intertwined. What is more, I think the Atlas arc has clarified how they are structured and what their role is in the overall story.

First of all, Ren and Nora’s story revolves mainly around each other and their relationship. They are introduced in volume 1 as a set. They are a couple of opposites that complement each other:

As the series goes on, it is revealed that they share a traumatic past event aka Kuroyuri’s destruction. That night they meet and they both receive a weapon:

Li’s dagger becomes the basis of Ren’s StormFlower, while the toy hammer becomes the basis of Nora’s Magnhild. So, Ren defines himself through his dead parents and his destroyed village, while Nora defines herself through Ren. Not only that, but Ren’s rudimentary weapon being a real one, while Nora’s being just a toy highlights that by that point Nora’s sense of self is frailer than Ren’s.

This all creates an asymmetry in their relationship:

Nora: I don’t actually know who I am… without Ren. Pretty sad, huh?

This asymmetry is explored and commented on throughout volume 8. Basically, Nora is clearly in love with Ren, but their recent conflict makes her understand how she has depended on him too much and how, if they want to have a healthy relationship, Nora needs to discover who herself wants to be.

Volume 8 really marks a shift in their relationship, not just when it comes to them in-story, but also structurally when it comes to their arcs. Up until volume 8, Nora has been Ren’s helper. Volume 4 is really Ren’s arc with Nora supporting and helping him. In volume 7, we see Nora working hard for their relationship, while Ren puts distance between them. Finally, volume 8 has them struggling separately. In this volume, we probably see Ren finishing his personal arc (or a major part of it) and Nora starting her own. I am expecting Nora’s arc to reach its conclusion in Vacuo with Ren as the helper this time around.

Still, what is Renora’s arc role in the narrative? As for now, I think their struggles have offered a commentary to some major themes.

In volume 4, Ren’s arc ties into the theme of the arc of knowledge. You should not let your fear or anger stop you from doing what is right. He overcomes the fear that paralyzes him (Raven and Leo) and the anger that blinds him (Jaune).

Volume 7/8 is instead Ren exploring the theme linked to the arc of creation. You should embrace your feelings even if they are hard and make you feel vulnerable.

So, what about Nora?

Nora’s journey in volume 8 explores this motif:

Blake: When you’ve been at someone’s side for so long, after a while they become a part of you. But that’s just it, they’re only a part of you. Don’t forget about the rest.

Penny: But there is a part of me... It's making me...

Nora: It's just a part of you. Don't forget about the rest.

Penny: I won’t be gone, I’ll be part of you.

It is the idea that people are complex, made of several parts. In order to be yourself you must accept all your parts, but without letting one of them define yourself. Similarly, to have healthy relationships you should aknowledge that others have also different sides and you might not like all of them or agree with all their choices. Still, this does not make loved ones less loved:

Vine: Then perhaps Clover was wrong too.

Harriet: Don’t you dare! Clover was… He was…

Vine: …Important to you.

As for now, the ��it is a part of you” motif has been used to explore different concepts: grief, relationships, trauma.

Each one of these themes are explored through the same motif. The conclusion is the same.

-The people you lose will stay with you forever, but you should not let yourself be defined by grief (Harriet and Qrow’s arcs, Penny’s death).

-Trauma and abuse are not something that can be cancelled, but you do not have to let it define you (Penny’s virus, Yang’s arm).

- Loved ones are a part of you, but they are not you. They are people you choose to stay with because you want to, not because you need to.

So, in volume 8 Nora’s story ties into this specific concept and it comments Penny’s arc. This fits because deep down both Penny and Nora’s arcs are about identity... Who is Nora? Who is Penny? Are they worth something just as themselves? Penny has finished her arc, while Nora’s arc needs to be finalized.

We do not know what her story will be about. As for now, I think it will thematically comment the main story and will tie in one of the themes of the Vacuo arc. I also wonder if we are going to discover more about her past:

Nora: Oh, got shocked by lighting, didn't die. Crazy Thursday!

Personally, this phrase has always sounded suspicious to me :’’’) so I wonder what the story behind it is. Considering the strong connection she has with Ren, I would not be surprised if Nora managed to activate her semblance in order to protect him, just like Ren did with her. Alternatively, we may discover more of Nora’s past before meeting Ren and her ability to turn electricity into strength might be related to turn trauma and pain into a resource. This is a motif shared by many characters, Yang (positive), Cinder and Mercury (negative), for example.

Anyway, I am curious about the thunder symbolism, specifically in relation to her lightening heart symbol. As for now, I can see two meanings to it.

a) A symbol of a heart hurt by trauma (thunder).

b) A symbol of Nora being thunderstruck as if in she having fallen in love with Ren.

Both meaning may apply given what we know about Nora (and both could be true). Surely, thunder is probably going to be important for her character :’’’) given it is a huge motif for her and something even present in her emblem. Nora’s emblem is basically a combination of her weapon and her semblance. Still, we know where her weapon comes from (Ren), so I wonder if we will know more about the thunder motif. Does it tie with her feelings for Ren (thunderstruck) or with her family (Valkyrie)? Or maybe with both?

What’s sure is that the meaning behind it is clear:

Ren: You put everything you have into what you do. You support everyone around you, you help without worrying about how it might hurt.

Nora would do anything in her power to help others, even if it means hurting herself in the process.

Thank you for your ask!

[gerrydelano]

Ive only followed u for a little while so apologies if u've already said this but do u have any opinions on gerry and goth culture etc, like how it ties into their narrative? And do u have any goth bands u like or that u think gerry would listen to

For me i feel a little weird when people put gerry with emo stuff / dont know that goth is a music based subculture, that might come from growing up around goth elitists though haha

i MIGHT have mentioned it somewhere but i honestly also forget so let’s just speedrun it again aaaand this is not a speedrun oh no okay.

my general philosophy with gerry + subcultures is based in the fact that the only Anything that got a name put to it in canon was his mastodon t-shirt in 2002? lots of music gets called “death metal” when you don’t listen to it (or are, for example, perpetually falling and have no idea where you are and are also a theater nerd who probably doesn’t give a rip about that distinction anyway) and i have a hard time buying that leitner could properly identify someone’s specific subculture just based on their style. everybody who wears a lot of black is An Goth to old people who don’t know what any of the words mean.

so while i definitely do think goth obviously does work for his style and taste, i personally write him with a hefty serving of punk in there too, and music wise there are any number of possibilities. aster said once “for all we know he could be a metalhead,” and i think there’s some truth to that!

most of the times gerry has been described by other people, they’ve missed, assumed, or subtly misidentified something about him! it’s actually an interesting part of his character i really like a lot, because it gives some extra weight to the person he’s revealed to be when we finally get to hear him speak.

there’s a lot of room for interpretation basically is all i’m saying! and i’ve seen some really cool takes on it that i don’t really go with myself (there are just so MANY), but i see where they came from.

i personally don’t, like. go with the heavy goth makeup for him or have his clothes get very complicated because it feels like he doesn’t really have the time for that. for my gerry, punk is more where it’s at (DIY jackets and stuff, uses lace code on his boots, etc) but he does wear Almost Exclusively Black while doing it, sure. to each their own! not saying my way’s the only way or anything.

but i DO 100% agree with you that the emo music does not feel right dkfjhdj. please.

hard NO on the MCR, the joke is tired and i'm tired. aster said wisely, “he’s not a fan, it’s just something people play around him he nods his head to” and i agree Yep. he probably is like that about a Few of the bands that people throw on him here. not a bad sound! but he doesn’t know the song names or give a shit about the band, and he’s not going to remember to google it.

the guy was born in the ‘80s he’s got like. a little different of a music pool to splash around in than some of us really pay any attention to. it’s not bad music i just really don’t see him getting into the stuff that’s more well known around (american) teenagers-20somethings TODAY when he’d have found the stuff he liked way beforehand and fell down whatever pipelines came from it through that.

i think “if it hurts your head he probably loves it”, but also i think the general tone of it matters to him y’know like i don’t think he wants the sad dreary stuff ALL the time! i think he wants passion and Refusal and fight and the sometimes-paradoxical brightness you CAN find in the lyrics of some of the harsher sounding stuff. lover of contradiction. lover of also just annoying the shit out of people around him who he thinks won’t want to bother to understand. whatever music he likes into his 30s, i don’t think it’d be the sort that puts a romance to suffering.

venting is all well and good and surely something he’s done but i think if i were going to make his music such a big baseline for how he kept himself together all this time, kept his identity in check and gave him something to get excited about (“i’ll try to stick it out until X month next year because that’s when Y band is gonna release a new album and i want to hear it” — that stuff can actually save your fucking life sometimes, y’know?) then i would personally lean more towards something with more hope in it. hope and fire.

a more narratively impacting HC i have is that whether he chooses to hunt it down or not, he IS aware of and knows the words to a lot of mainstream pop shit among other maybe-unexpected things just because he travels so much and surely spent time in places that had their own music playing and you can’t always have headphones on when you go places. he has a wide array of useless knowledge and trivia and lyrics on hand just by pure osmosis.

i think Boredom, Curiosity, and Spite drive a lot of his littler habits and hobbies because my g-d what else is he doing. hanging out with friends? aha. ahahaaha. aaah ,,, :-I

(my) gerry likes all sorts of random ass international bands, too, because he’d have more exposure to THAT stuff, too, and also a reason to do some research just for fun. van canto is a german a capella metal band what the fuck that’s so cool. harmaja is also good, they’re finnish. i think if you put some SKÁLD on in front of him he WILL be choreographing a dramatic music video as he walks down the street to it. like, no, he’s not gonna download them but if he fell into a youtube autoplay rabbit hole while he got distracted with something else you know he would have like a solid weekend of being super into “some random french folk group that based their whole schtick on norse mythology.” he would totally have obscure kicks like that every now and then even if he has something more stable to return to for comfort later!

he’d also just be fine listening to some rock bands when they’re just On, etc, and there's probably stuff outside of A Set Genre he DOES enjoy because human beings aren’t just one-dimensional “i only like this specific thing always forever and everything else sucks” and i think he’s spoken enough in canon about his adherence to the notion that Everything Has A Grey Area that he’s not too pressed about it. he’s got his niche, totally! but he’s not completely boxing himself in, either. i think he probably has had Enough of feeling isolated and only exposed to one perspective that he actively seeks other experiences and tries to see what other people love about things he’s not immediately familiar with!

movies and television, too, for similar reasons! for something to DO when he's stuck in a hotel room or to have on as background noise when he’s restless, even if it strays out of favored genres. just. watch whatever’s on, or whatever he hasn’t seen before. he can scroll IMDB in his own brain, can recognize actors from the most obscure single appearances on a show with 20 seasons that he half-watched 4 years ago. ridiculous. hilarious.

in general that’s how i have him consume media BEYOND whatever music he uses to keep a tighter grasp on his identity, but i haven’t gotten too specific with artists and bands in anything i've published yet because it just hasn’t come up! the only band i've referenced by name in something i’d written before WAS the mastodon (i have a lot of feelings about how his attachment to the lifesblood EP in particular), but i tend to play it safe and use that as like a Starting Point if that makes sense?

other suggestions from my group chat were joy division, and like. as far as “off brand” bands go, he might like the killers well enough. i do think he'd like against me! because. punk rock, yeah, and also laura jane grace herself is just. somebody i think he’d really enjoy, from the perspective of also coming out as Gender later in life. she’s so cool,,,

i could see symphonic metal being enjoyable to him. within temptation is so strange but he’d vibe with it, especially since they were popular overseas first. the Drama of it all. apocalyptica is fun, so is sonata arctica. probably enjoys seether in the same way of like “digging it when it’s on, never bought an album himself, but DOES remember where he was the first time he heard Broken.” he knows the local scene in sweden. why is he singing along perfectly to this german song he doesn’t even speak german.

also because it happened to come up in the GC i’m also gonna paste this here but it was generally agreed upon, too, that like. with his “music taste and Fashion taste not necessarily being the same umbrella i feel like he’d love the aesthetics of glam rock and hairspray punk even though it wasn’t his favorite musically.” and he’d probably really love drawing people he's encountered with those aesthetics. i think he’s just appreciative of a lot of stuff out there even if it's not the CD he's gonna pop in to try and sleep to.

TL;DR - j summed it up pretty well just now with “i think gerry is a combo of ‘knows bands you’ve never heard of’ and ‘has never learned the name of the very popular universally known band you’re telling him about even if he recognizes the song.’ he likes the american idiot album but could not summon the name Green Day if you put a gun to his head.” and i just think that’s beautiful.

aster just said the best thing, too, about how i said he tries to branch out on purpose: “it may be your first week in this country and maybe you dont speak the language but that cool girl with the leather jacket bought you an iced tea so all is right with the world. like it doesnt make ppl more likely to help him or anything but it makes very specific people more likely to i guess? sense of community even in transit”

and j responded: “i think that fits well on the fact that punk and its adjacents are so community focused, so if anyone was going to give him experiences like that, being alone and having a stranger stand up for you in some little way before you both move on, it would probably be the alts around the world. just like his genres are all over the place, he wouldn’t probably call himself goth but the attraction to alt and it’s media was basically nurture for him so he was always gonna land there”

that’s the shit it comes down to!!!! matters way more to him than being an elitist about specific artists, i think.