#with all the things we didn’t see in toh

[wkngsnds]

I really like the idea that while in the human realm, Bill is this horrifying and eldritch like terror

But in the witch realm, he’s just a little guy. At worst, he’s a prankster and kind of annoying. Occasionally incites riots among the kid witches, gives migraines to a few adult witches a week. Gets along great with King.

[sepublic]

The Rapture, the Day of Unity, and Happily Ever After

I wouldn’t be surprised if the upper echelons of the coven regime weren’t concerned with being sustainable, because they were privy before the public was to the Day of Unity, which was itself essentially one big rapture where everyone goes to a perfect utopia! They don’t have to worry about the world they’ve left behind, they just need to last long enough to make it to this endpoint, like Belos talking about how he only needs to ‘live long enough to see this through’.

So it must’ve been quite a shock, realizing that’s not it; There’s nothing for all their hard work. They have to go back to their lives as normal, but knowing it’s eternal in the sense of worrying about living life until it naturally ends for them, and making society run ahead of them for the next to pick up. Now people have to do their jobs in creating an actual functioning society instead of loftily dreaming of a fantasy, which is of course topical to the show’s themes about being beholden to the world and people around you as you make dreams practical.

I can see a comparison between the apathy that came from the Day of Unity and how a lot of rich, powerful folk —especially the ones running fossil fuel companies— don’t care about destroying the Earth and its environment, because they’ll be dead before it gets bad enough that the devastation reaches them in their cushy little suites. On the Day of Unity, Emira’s frustrations over her mother only caring about money feel in a similar vein, it all hearkens back to the same problem with these CEOs where their personal, material enjoyment is the only priority.

And this makes me think of the rapture comparison too; It comes from the Evangelicals, who are the descendants of the Puritans. I can see the writers playing with how Marx called religion the opiate of the masses; The idea that Christianity was often exploited by the upper class against the lower class to justify their suffering. The idea was that if you were poor, you didn’t need to worry about improving your material world because as long as you remained pious and faithful, you’d eventually inherit a heavenly afterlife.

Thus, working-class Christians were made complacent, believing their mortal suffering was just temporary and even a test for their ascension. Whether you think they actually got a heavenly afterlife is an entirely separate real-life theological discussion, but the point was that it was an excuse by those in power to avoid being held accountable in making the living world actually tolerable for everyone else, and everyone else would not hold them to that standard because they thought it didn’t matter anyway.

So I can see the Day of Unity functioning exactly like that, in fact I’m pretty sure it just did onscreen because we see wild witches such as the Demon Hunters accept the coven bindings because for whatever losses they suffer, eventually the Titan will make it all worth it right? And this framing of the Titan as an abstract God who will take you to an abstract universe is interesting; We know tangibly that other worlds exist of course, but in the context of the show, the utopia bit is a lie.

And if we apply it to real life, much how the show calls out IRL witch hunters (and its fictional one, because TOH’s fictional witches warranted nothing for their existence) as insincere… I do remember a college lecture in things like Animism or cosmocentric belief systems; They saw the ‘spirits’ as not existing on a separate plane, but our own. There was no afterlife or heaven, it was all in this world, people live on when they die and break down and are consumed by other beings, that sort of thing.

The practices of wild magic and the worship of the Titan seem to follow in a similar vein to these and Animism; The Titan is sacred and her body has its own life reborn as the environment, but she’s also undeniably dead, as pointed out by a Deadwardian witch. Eda stresses learning from the natural environment around you for magic, their ‘god’ is a mortal being and also their tangible world. The magic comes via glyphs in nature, as well as the magic in everything that witches get their own magic from. There IS something resembling an afterlife in-universe but we never get to see it, the beliefs of wild magic seem to be at odds with Belos’ Christian colonialism, and again its promise of a rapture and a separate, abstract God and utopia.

Point is; There is no universe after this, or at least that’s not how wild witches treat it. The focus is on the here and now and making this world last, and making it last for the future generations that will take your place. And this defiance of a rapture in favor of life always going on makes me think of how Dana hates the term Happily Ever After, for the implications of everything just being over and that’s it. That’s the end. All the problems are solved now, there is no story left to tell.

I can’t say this was intentional on a conscious level or otherwise, but I do have to draw a connection between this and how TOH’s ending was in response to this critique; Life keeps going on, the protagonists have to keep fixing the Boiling Isles, and then keep it going even if it IS fixed. They just undid coven bindings and King found his first glyph. The Archivists are still out there. The protagonists don’t get an eternal unambiguous happy ending where there’s nothing left to do, they don’t get a ‘heavenly afterlife’ as one could call it, and that’s good!

From a meta standpoint, you can see how it encourages fans to write more stories, to be inspired to keep it going, and it’s another way Dana made the shortening work in the show’s favor. Dana said back in 2020 that she encourages fans to build off of things, as she did as a kid with her own shows, she also wanted it to be that deep growing up! So both in-universe and IRL, TOH isn’t meant to be over, there is no absolute ending because fandom lives on.

Hell, Dana even professed interest in a prequel following Eda’s childhood; She’s since become pessimistic about the possibility, more than likely on account of her cutting ties with Disney and executives’ disinterest. But the point still stands; Life keeps going, IRL. The lives of the characters keep going, in-universe and IRL through fandom.

I also wonder if you could discuss Lumity under this lens; I’m making exceptions for queer romances, especially in children’s media, because they often have to deal with censorship pushing them to the last minute. But when it comes to romance in general, romance involving the main character largely consists of Will They/Won’t They, with the climax having the romance achieved. But because of the Thrill of the Chase, a lot of writers don’t want to explore how characters actually navigate a relationship, hence why it’s drawn out and saved for the ending; The romance has been nearly tied up as a Happily Ever After, there’s no more story to tell. So when they get a continuation, they’ll often undo progress.

Lumity avoids this; Lumity has them get together at the halfway point of the series, and then actually explores their dynamic as a couple together, without creating misunderstandings or breakups or anything. We see how they work as a couple, how they get to enjoy each other as a couple. So them getting together isn’t the ending climax, it’s just another stage in their continuing dynamic. There is no Happily Ever After; There’s problems for them to face together that do sometimes strain their relationship, but they still work on it together; Dana was adamant on showing these things instead of settling for them asking each other out and letting the rest be an implication.

And I think that’s so much more healthy to show kids than just idealizing the Thrill of the Chase and its climax, without appreciating the mundanity of just being together. Because kids grow into adults and don’t really expect or care to pursue a romance past that point, and I wonder if this is part of the culture behind cheating, of still reaching for something unattainable because media doesn’t normalize already having things when it comes to romance. Nor does it care for tackling things together as a couple most of the time.

Dana was raised Catholic, which is separate from Puritanism, but she did have to deal with Evangelicals growing up, as they raged about innocuous things like Pokemon; And Pokemon was her Good Witch Azura, a last gift from her father before he died in a car crash. It’s something Dana still enjoys and she’s done crossover art for it and TOH.

So I can see the coincidence/connection in Dana critiquing Evangelicals’ rapture ideology and how the end of everything is used to placate people instead of worrying about what needs to be eternally maintained, and like. Her feeling similarly with stories and even romances where it ends definitively and perfectly. Because fandom keeps going and she’s a part of it too.

The world keeps going, there is no endpoint to history IRL or in the show; People have to adjust going back to the banality of continuing to live and worry about running society in the long-term, rather than expecting it to not matter because they were going to be raptured anyway. And you know what, this could be good, it means it lasts forever as we see Luz and co. embrace it, happy to enjoy their lives, actually getting to be in a relationship; But life is fragile as we see with the Titan, so we gotta work to keep it going, so that even when we get our definitive end, the people after get their time.

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

Steven Universe: A Complicated Relationship

I’m starting to fall out of love with this show. I used to be obsessed with it and it was important to me as a way of figuring out my gender and sexuality. Yet, my relationship to it has become more complicated as of late. I’ve defended it myself and have been passionate about it, yet seeing the way a lot of stans have acted has kind of ruined it for me especially due to dismissing any criticism. This is not me saying I hate it or think it’s irredeemable Nazi propaganda but not everyone who dislikes it watches Lily Orchard and there are valid things to criticize about it.

There’s definitely bad faith criticism of the show such as flanderizing Steven into a crybaby with those Jack Horner/Hitler memes or claiming it was made to attack Christians but some people do have valid points. The episodes Bismuth and Gem Harvest may have not intended to come off as racist but one could interpret them as forcing people to forgive their abusers or bigoted relatives. As someone who’s Asian and knows about the way we’re represented, the way Priyanka and Doug were portrayed in the early seasons as tiger parents has not aged well.

One other criticism I’ve seen is that the show copies a lot of old sci fi or anime tropes without recognizing the issues with them or removing them from their original context. I and others have compared the show’s ending to the Highbreed arc from Ben 10 Alien Force. The difference is that the Highbreed were treated as supremacists who needed to be stopped, not as abusive family. People can debate over whether they should have gotten more consequences but they were not treated as dorky relatives. The only one Ben befriends was a low ranking officer who became the new leader and convinced the high council to accept having their DNA changed. There’s also the human zoo, another sci fi trope that’s aged badly with the racist implications.

The series is also compared to a lot of anime. There’s references to Ghibli, NGE, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball and many have compared the show’s idealism to that of magical girl shows like Madoka Magica. The difference is that those shows didn’t use subjects like colonialism as a backdrop for family drama. SW suffers from that as well especially with the rebels only wanting to restore the old liberal system while taking imagery from the Viet Cong. People who wanted a revolution story weren’t necessarily wrong as that’s what the early seasons did set up.

Some will accuse me of fandomizing the war but I’ve noticed a lot of the hardcore stans are white queers who support Israel or demand complete support for democrats. Not saying every SU fan is a bad person btw. There are a lot of decent people who are anti Zionist and like the show but a lot of these pop progressive cartoons as well as SW, Disney and Marvel/DC are used by people with gross beliefs to infantilize themselves and dismiss any criticism from POC fans. If mainstream kids media is where you’re getting your all political takes from then maybe you do need to branch out and watch more mature stuff. Watching NGE helped me grow up a lot and learn nuance.

As a recap, I’m not saying SU is a bad show or that people are bad for liking it. It was important for my own development as well as a lot of lgbt youth and was a jumping point for a lot of my current interests such as classic anime or Lisa Hannigan, who’s an amazing musician and is pro Palestine btw. Future did help me a bit with mental health yet people are allowed to dislike it or find that even if it wasn’t intentional, there are some implications that should be addressed. I don’t hate it and there’s some stuff worth defending in it but it’s not the greatest show ever and people who get all their politics from it need to grow up. Between it, TOH, Dead End and She-Ra, I think a lot of the pop progressive media that we have today will not age well and that’s something we need to accept.

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

The reason why the toh fandom can have such wildly diverging interpretations of the Wittebane story is because the show did not do its job. How old was Philip when Caleb left? Did Caleb truly believe in witch hunting or was he just playing along to what the town expected? Did Caleb ever tell Philip anything? Did he ever talk to his brother and try to change his mind? How long was Philip searching for Caleb? How did he get cursed? How exactly did the knife fight start? Did Philip kill Caleb accidentally or on purpose? Did he kill him only because he married a witch or because he left him? Or both?

The fact is, we don't have definitive answers to any of these. We only have educated guesses based on portraits barely glimpsed in the show that lack any context, Masha's barebones version of events, and Belos' self-justifications. Casual fans shouldn't have to be knee-deep in fandom just to get the main villain's backstory, especially when said story is the literal basis of the whole plot.

Plus, if you're going to spend the final half of your last season barely exploring the villain's origins, only to completely ignore it in the series finale, then you've written a bad ending.

Update: This is getting some notes so I'm including additional thoughts to the original post. The rest will be under the read more:

Just to add onto this because some folks argue that we don’t need his backstory because we already have the essentials or it’s not really important to the plot. The thing is though is that Belos’ story launches the entire plot of the show, his character and motivation are the direct result of actions that happened centuries before the main characters were born. It needs to be depicted and not largely inferred. 

His story is important to creating a more fleshed out character and can strengthen the themes of the show (the rivalry between Eda and Lilith and Luz struggling to fit in at home are parallels to Belos). Instead the show gives little kernels of his story and character that make him more interesting than just Evil Emperor (the fact that the brothers became witch hunters to fit in, the fact that Belos worst memories are of killing Caleb and making grimwalkers are never touched on again). The first (and last) time we see Caleb in a full scene is in For the Future and it has huge implications for the dynamic between the two brothers. But again, nothing is done with it. It seemed like the show was building up that Belos’ lies and self-justifications would lead to his undoing but it doesn’t. So him dying with his ideology and self-delusions intact feels empty.

The worst part of how the Wittebane story is handled is that since it’s largely inferred and you have to be pretty involved in fandom to have a more nuanced take of it, a casual fan can easily just accept other characters’ views on the matter. Masha says “looks like little bro was jealous of big bro” and it undercuts the story of the Wittebanes (to say nothing of the tonal whiplash). The Titan dismisses Belos as only caring for himself and to be the hero, which while technically true, misses a lot of context and makes it easy to dismiss Belos as a whole as simply being evil and crazy instead of a more layered villain. And it can’t be argued that these are just the characters’ perspectives and we shouldn’t take it at face value because there’s nothing really in the show to pushback against that. 

Now, yes, it is fun to imagine how the Wittebane story played out and in hindsight, it’s probably better that the show didn’t depict the entire story because they probably would have botched it. But the point remains that the handling of this storyline was a mess (and don’t give me the cancellation excuse, the show learned early on about this and wrote all of 2B with it in mind). The Wittebane story and Belos as a whole showcase why setup and payoff matter. You show the villain feels guilt about their worst deeds? What’s the payoff to that? The villain was originally an outsider who tried to fit in and conformed to a town’s toxic ideologies? What’s the payoff? The villain continually lies to himself and commits atrocities to justify his actions? What’s the payoff? 

If you’re going to raise interesting and thought-provoking questions then don’t give the audience a simplistic answer.

[mdhwrites]

I’ve been watching Amphibia while studying. I should definitely do a rewatch during the summer, but it’s occurred to me that Amphibia’s strengths are criminally underrated.

Amphibia feels like a more focused show than TOH. It has its flaws ofc especially in Season 3, but Amphibia’s cast comes across as a lot more developed than TOH’s cast. I mean, Andrias got a dedicated flashback episode and Belos didn’t???

Amphibia’s execution of the found family trope is one of the best things I’ve seen in animation. In contrast, I always felt that King, Lilith, Eda, and the Hexside crew are plot devices to get Luz where she needs to go. Eda has some depth but generally speaking TOH never “got into their heads,” unlike with the Plantars, Sasha, Marcy, Grime, and Andrias.

And I gotta praise Amphibia’s ending!!! I wish more kids cartoons embraced the idea of permanent, bittersweet change. The idea of letting things go but not forgetting them.

So while I agree Amphibia is more focused, I actually don't think that's what the bigger difference is between TOH and Amphibia that I think needs to be highlighted. No, instead, I'm interrogate something you said: Does Belos not get a dedicated backstory episode? For that matter... Does he potentially get MORE time spent on backstory than Andrias?

Andrias literally only gets The Core and the King. He actually gets VERY little screentime, mostly because the effects of his cruelty are more important than what he does himself. So for backstory, he gets 11 minutes. MAYBE you could stretch to like 12 or 13 if you want to include hints to Lief but that's all post her time with him. So 11 minutes because Andrias only gets one segment, not two.

What does Belos get?

Well... I think everyone just forgets about Elsewhere Elsewhen. That IS backstory. That is previous characterization. It's not a flashback but it is still interacting with a Belos earlier in the timeline, like a backstory exposition dump or a flashback does. And interacting with Philip is the main purpose of the A plot of the episode, even if it takes a bit to get to him and then he dips out before the end.

As the author of the journal though, he also counts for backstory whenever passages of the journal are told to us. It's unreliable but it is still previous characterization. So stuff like Eclipse Lake and the end of Looking Glass Ruins adds a little here and there.

Then of course... What the fuck do you call Hollow Mind if not a dedicated backstory episode to Belos? The majority of the run time is literally go through his brain, and his memories, to show his rise to power. His backstory. And while there is technically a B plot, it doesn't take up much time so probably at least a third of the episode is spent on this and these are 22 minute episodes. If just two thirds get spent on backstory, that's more than Andrias gets.

So why doesn't it feel like that? Why does it feel like we get a VERY complete version of Andrias' backstory, despite seeing cumulatively three days in a row of his life, while it feels like we were never told Belos'?

Efficiency. Amphibia is a VERY efficient work. It crams a LOT into its run times. It's part of why the episodes are so satisfying because they actually manage to tell complete stories with morals, sometimes their own A and B plots in an 11 minute segment and actually move the characters forward a full step within the span of that time. It does this while also being hilarious and action packed, much more than TOH or, honestly, a lot of cartoons. Not every episode segment counts for this but ESPECIALLY the important ones do and The Core and the King should be taught in classes for how to get across a character's motivations and backstory in a nuanced, breezy way while also being DENSE. AS. FUCK.

In eleven minutes, we get a clear idea of the utopia that Andrias used to live in, the cost of that utopia, the pressures upon him as a prince, how deep his relationships are with two other characters, Lief gets some genuinely good characterization that helps explain her choice, a logical progression of events that matches with the sillier side of Andrias we know of, an escalation and then a climax. We can VERY clearly see what Andrias lost, what he is trying to get back, and why he would want it back on multiple levels, both societal, familial and even personal, that will motivate into being a MONSTER for a thousand years. All while still being a lot of fun and having some really great jokes. It introduces so many elements but it never feels bogged down by any of this. Instead, it chose the PERFECT moment to get across everything it needed to and left very few questions that you as an audience couldn't figure out yourselves. This also all while being explicit about much of the motivation and what not instead of relying on background details.

Which TOH can't claim for Belos. In Elsewhere Elsewhen, we see that Philip hates witches, that his journal is unreliable and that he has ALWAYS been an asshole and a manipulator. That's befitting who he will be but doesn't actually tell us jack shit. It also includes I guess how he met the Collector but that's moving plot, not expanding on your villain. Because the journal is unreliable, it tells us very little to nothing about him except for some reason he donated his journal to the people he fucking despised. Then Hollow Mind shows how he came to power... But not who he is. Not his motivation, what he actually wants to accomplish besides murder, etc. like that. The paintings in the background tell you far more just by being far more suggestive of what he's been through.

TOH is fucking awful when it comes to density. Most episodes, not even just Belos, have the problem of only taking half steps. Each of Belos' parts are those half steps. Revealing only one or two elements when it easily could have shown more to be more satisfying. As an example: Amphibia has a GREAT episode between Ivy and her mom about rebellion, the consequences of fighting what your parent wants for you, why they might do the things they do, etc. like that. In 11 minutes, we get a genuinely complex relationship between Ivy and her mom who haven't had much talk about each other or their relationship up until now. Meanwhile, TOH decides to focus on Luz being expelled for the episode about Amity and Odalia, meaning Amity is in like... Three, maybe five minutes of that episode? A full minute of that being the intro to the episode where she's just showing off the abomaton?

Because it isn't actually focused on Amity, the relationship between Amity and Odalia isn't actually explored. Because they can't explore that, they also need to now make Odalia cartoonishly villainous so as to fit the fact that Luz also spends very little time with her due to making the conflict be about Hexside so we have to waste some time with a stock standard montage of Luz, Willow and Gus trying to get back in. And by the end, what is the resolution between Amity and Odalia? "Get in my way again and I will kick your fucking ass."

Much deep. Very brave.

There's TONS of stuff like this where Amphibia is genuinely the work trying to do more interesting, more meaningful and deeper things than TOH and managing to do it in literally half the time. If not even less. That breakneck pace is part of what makes Amphibia feel like a kids show but it's also what makes it just more enjoyable to watch.

Which actually makes TOH fit in better with our current era of streaming television. TOH is constantly baiting you for the payoffs it promises. It keeps swearing that its elements are deeper than they appear so make sure to tune in next week because this SURELY can't be all there is to, right?

Unfortunately, that is all there is to it. And once you realize that and look at the show with that sort of lens, it starts falling apart. It's part of why TOH should be thankful it was shortened. It lets people more easily claim that it just needed another season. Another fourteen episodes. That TOTALLY would have solved all the problems with episodes that happened even before the shortening.

That is extremely rarely how this works everyone. Sorry.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[daystarvoyage]

I often see fans demonize some characters like Belos,The Blights, Camila, into far worse versions of themselves like fans portraying Camila as abusive since she wants Luz go to Reality Check Camp to correct her behavior and certain people interpret that of her sending her to a conversation therapy camp or the Blights while they are bad parents for sure they are sometimes depicted as physically abusive or homophobic despite that sort of thing not existing in the boiling isles and Finally Belos gets made into a bigot who is sexist,racist, homophobic because he a white Christian male despite not making any insults for Luz being a woman or POC while his stance of sexual orientation or gender identity is unknown the fact he didn’t insult Luz for being a woman or POC is remarkable progressive for a Man who is born in the 1600’s also He FICTIONAL and we already have enough of those people in real life what do you think?

I do say this, people need to start separating the art from the artist and fantasy from reality,

this type of writing and fictional perspective, a lot of viewers and fans sit through, its been done throughout animation, Even in real life affecting how we see our adult figures.

hope i say this, the best way i can cause the show did the adults and supporting characters dirty with its ill pacing in storytelling and character exposure

The Fans Of their favorite media love to exaggerate disliked characters (be it villains or unpopular ones) cause of how there perceived physically or in writing in the creator's eyes. We get this at the start of the first episode introducing Camila (whos a great mother who I relate to cause, I also was on the spectrum being raised by a single mom) I feel I look at her as a character who carries a burden with her being a single mother) yet relatable cause she does her best to take care of her daughter on earth cause she to is a single mother protecting her daughter from the harsh reality cause its not all huckydorey (like the ending of the show),when she wants luz to conform. the way fans see luz assomeone needing protecting, might villanize camila firsthand(DEMONIZING ADULT MOMENT BY FANDOM) as a cheerful person luz is, fans forget that she's also impressionable, impulsive, don't think far on consequneces and needy, might gloss over the fact she needs proper mannerisms (to get by in the world at times), cause shes young & fits the viewers mold of perception, that no one should be punished cause of sexuality, it might show she doesn't need help. Let's be clear the fans are gonna gloss the fact shes a troublemaker who brings harmful items to school WHICH fans should be concerned, i mean neurodivergent character doesn't mean good personality,

2. The blight situation I swear they did Odalia dirty with this GRRR & how talented and amazing Rachel MacFarlane is (Her VA voicing hayley from American Dad.) thanks for moring mark giving her proper depth in her character on how odalia acts.

She’s also over exaggerated for being ( DEMONIZED BY FANDOM cause SHE's an ADULT) to being just an abusive mother, but however others will see it is a character who was a dark and humorous character at least & she has great writing tools to be & alador was just a plot device to make amity look good even the twins, & get rid of odalia even though her had his hand in amity's abuse, which I feel no one in the blight fam is not innocent (neither was amity, also which the twins didn't get fleshed out more & used as plot device for lumity, Which fans at times gloss over. Fans will over-exaggerate that Odalia was physically abusive to the kids but NEVER WAS! cause that's a negative perception on the fandom that (We have a adult hater situation nowadays of how this new age of Gen Z & alpha kids are raised,

i also wrote a post on the matter btw

The Belos Treatment (we al know how the creator treated him, such good potential DOwn the Drain.)

Bruh or GiIIIRRRRLL, I commend the Belos fans for being on their own ship supporting and adding more to his BG in fanfic & art

Belos was an intriguing villain who rivaled not only Frollo, the horned king, & Prof. Screweyes. This man also has a perception amongst the fans who followed the creator's way of how he was written (basically the new Chloe bourgeois treatment from miraculous.) He was only a character who was hell-bent on piping witches out and saving his humankind NOT BEING Racist Homophobic, or BIgoted, However, Chloe made racist & prejudiced remarks To Marinette in the cooking episode,(BUT BELOS DIDNT!) So he's an equal villain Who is all about equal rights means equal fights (falls under the neutral evil cause of how he was depicted into a person of tragedy upbringing to now a one-sided character (getting tired of how creators write villains in a one-sided manner.) oh and some people need proper knowledge of the 1600s cause belos was born in that era and I heard someone saying he was born in 1700s which I feel the show does suffer from anachronisms.

And don't get me started of how the fans look over poc in animation, (Darius) cause that has angry black man written all over it, along Manny being ONLY relevant in Luz's dire moment not being explored more,

hope i put down a lot of tea & crumpets for everyone hope you also can look at my video essay on my YouTube.

hope you enjoy comment and subscribe for more.

[l00rem]

Gibeon & Amethio are related, but they are not father and son.

So, ep45 had me applying my clown makeup as I was a firm Gibeon is related to Amethio denier and that has uh clearly been proven true by that final scene… but I still don’t think they’re father and son like most people seem to be saying. First, let’s start with Gibeon’s physical condition.

It seems clear by his position in the reveal that he suffers with functioning properly, this is further demonstrated with Hamber’s ‘Gibeon is awake’ comment. Considering he’s at least over 100, this is probably him abusing his mortality coming to bite him in the ass or some injury he sustained when Lucius kicked him out of the Rakua gc. And while pokemon never acknowledges topics like sex for obvious reasons, I doubt the writers would ignore the fact that Gibeon is clearly not in any condition to be breeding (dude only holds like 3 min meetings before going back to bed, he could never last that long in a physical activity such as that)

Now, this brings me to another theory i’ve been seeing: Amethio is some sort of clone/ artificial human being. I can see why some people think this, but i don’t think it’s going to happen. I just think it goes against the themes horizons has been setting up about generations (ex: ep34 where Hamber and Diana both pass things down to Liko and Amethio) i think it would be weird to have all this stuff about ancestry and then just throw in ‘oh and amethio’s not human btw’. It’s also just a really dark existential topic for pokemon, i know they can go dark and have done artificial creation before but that’s always been strictly for pokemon at least to my knowledge. I think people who believe in clone theory are getting too caught up in their Amethio and Hunter from ToH comparisons- ofc your free to theorise what you want but I just don’t see this happening.

To give some more solid proof that Amethio isn’t Gibeon’s son, let’s look at Liko’s ancestry.

As we can see, hair does seem to matter when it comes to being directly descended from someone. All three have the same hair pattern, even if we can’t see the brighter blue for Lucca’s. Compare this to Lucius’s hair:

It’s been made very clear that Liko is a descendant of his somehow, but this isn’t as direct as a great grandfather because then Diana could’ve literally just asked her mom who the man in the photo was to learn they’re related. Lucius resembles them somewhat but there are very clear differences.

Likewise, this seems to be the case with Gibeon and Amethio’s hair differences. They have the same colour scheme of white and black, but the way the two colours are separated are completely different. Just as Lucius and Liko’s family both have that sticky outy bit of their hair, Amethio and Gibeon both share that little white antenna although Gibeon’s is positioned differently.

So here’s my proposition: Amethio is related to Gibeon the same way Liko is related to Lucius.

Perhaps then Amethio is some distant relative to Gibeon who he located at some point- likely he didn’t have any family and so when Gibeon pulls up with his ‘oh hey we’re related’ spiel Amethio jumps at the chance for any form of connection. It’s not clear how much Amethio knows regarding Gibeon (he didn’t even know why he wanted the pendant after all) but perhaps Gibeon uses his condition as a further way of manipulating Amethio: not only does Amethio work for explorers to get Gibeon’s approval but also to find whatever he needs to not die so he won’t lose his last chance at family?

I also believe this is supported by all the Amethio-Liko parallels the show has been building up. It’s likely that Amethio’s backstory could be a dark mirror of Liko’s where the Explorers are to him what RVT is to Liko. Although, Amethio’s situation takes the ‘found family’ part more literally and instead of experiencing happiness he gets moulded into a child soldier…. yaaaay…

So then why does Gibeon actually need Amethio? Aside from the obvious meta reason, it’s likely Gibeon speculated someone with his blood could function as a Lucius detector (the pendant only stopped being dormant after amethio came into close contact) and this is also one of the reasons Amethio gets booted off the mission as he’d already performed his purpose of confirming the pendant was related to Lucius. Perhaps there’s something about Amethio’s ancestry which doesn’t apply to Gibeon that’s important? Or maybe Gibeon just put an easily exploitable child to good use.

Either way, there really isn’t a happy explanation for Amethio’s circumstances. Poor guy :(

I’ll potentially be eating my own words in a few months when we learn more about Gibeon and Amethio’s relationship but hey it never hurts to theorise. Hopefully we learn more stuff soon and that Amethio doesn’t get locked into off screen jail for another 11 weeks 💀💀

[anemonelovesfiction]

Fated Mates 3

Ao’nung x Fem! Human Reader

Warnings ⚠️ : No full on sex in this chapter (just a sliver of a flashback for you thirsty ahh ppl), very angsty chapter, long asf. Birth scenes kinda explicit stuff.

As always, English is stricken through.

I do wanna let y’all know idk what the family name for Ao’nung and Tsireya are so I had to make one up.

For Neytiri its the Neytiri Te Tskaha Moat’ite; for her children it’s Lo’ak Te Suli Tsyeyk’itan.

So for Ao’nung it’ll be Ao’nung Te Tswa’ìn Tonowar’itan. “Swahh-een”. I also decided to drop the I from Tonowari’s name since the word for ‘son’ starts with an i and if that shit happens in spanish we change the whole word so I’m trynna make it an easy read.

So it’s just “Tonowar’itan” (toh-no-war’ itan)

Translation Station

Ma’itan: My son

Ma’sempul: My father

Tawtute: Sky Person (used as “human”)

Tsaheylu: Bond (with kuru)

Sa’nok: Mother

Itan: Son

Yawne: Beloved

Tìyawn: Love (my love)

Nga yawne lu oer: Beloved you are to me (I love you)

Vrrtep: Demon

Um’ma: Mama

Pukap: Six (6)

Tsmuke: Sister

Tsmuktu: Siblings

Tahnì: Bioluminescent freckles

Kuru: Braid (neural queue)

Word count: 10.7 K because I got carried away again…

<<Previous | Next>>

I’d been at a loss for words as I stood in the water with a heavy feeling in my chest as I’d clearly made Ao’nung upset, but what pissed me off was how he was talking to me like I was a child who didn’t know anything. We’d been paired up together by his father so he could teach me how to fish, but I’d apparently been casting the net too early, alarming the fish and making them swim away. We’d have to stand still for a while before they felt safe enough to return and we’d start the process all over again.

“How is it my fault!” I yelled angrily, scaring away more of the fish that had felt it safe to swim back. I’d let him finish talking before I began because I knew it would give him another reason to be upset with me.

“I’d already told you to back off on casting the net, but you turn around and do it either way!” He yells back, his frustration is clear as the skin of his brows are furrowed as he yells at me.

“Well maybe you suck at teaching!” I returned his sass back to him, feeling it was unfair how he yelled at me. He knew I was strongest with weaving, singing, and dancing, I was starting to learn a little healing with Tsireya, but physical labor wasn’t for me.

“I don’t, you just suck at listening. And you’re too loud! Those feet of yours have never learned to be quiet, you keep splashing around and scaring these fish back to the other clans!”

“The loudest and most obnoxious thing right now is your voice!” I’d stated with a huff as I turned to pull my body up on the walkway to get away from this conversation, already turned around before hearing him speak again.

“And you think running away is going to help you learn?” He asks angrily while crossing his arms across his chest.

“No,” My voice trembled and I hated myself for it but I turned to face him with tears slipping out of my eyes after being humiliated by his words. “But at least I won’t be yelled at for not understanding.” I admitted and through the cloudiness of my tears could see his face shift, seeing Tonowari coming up behind him.

“Yawne-“ He starts but I shake my head and walk off, not bothering to listen to any explanation he had begun rehearsing in his head.

I’d managed to make my way toward my family’s marui and step inside, allowing myself to be welcomed into a hug by my adoptive mother as I cried in her arms, Jake coming next to us as he placed a hand on the small of my back, poor Tuk was sick today and was sleeping at this moment.

“It’s okay, kid, we’ve got you.” Jake reassures me as Neytiri pets my hair gently. If I couldn’t tell them about Ao’nung I don’t think I could ever tell them why I had been crying so I waited for my tears to stop coming and I’d calmed down a bit.

“Whats going on?” He asks and I take in a big breath.

“If I tell you, do you promise you won’t hate me again?” I asked not looking at any one of them specifically but I’m sure by the way Neytiri had stopped petting my hair that she knew I was talking to her.

“What is troubling you?” She asks as she starts petting my hair again.

“I feel guilty for keeping this from you, but I have to tell you whats been going on.” I admit and Jake lightly rubs the small of my back to urge me to continue.

So I tell them from the beginning about a month and a half ago when I’d been swept away from the current and how Ao’nung saved me but wasn’t aware of the sex pollen in the cave. I’d told them about our attempts to hide our relationship from the group and how Tsireya had noticed, becoming upset that her brother hadn’t confided in her, and how we finally introduced myself as his girlfriend. Then how Spider had become nosey and Ao’nung telling me we’d have to tell our friend group. How the two of us had this petty fight over fishing and how inadequate I felt with learning this new skill. Ending with the inner turmoil I’d felt myself fighting because I couldn’t tell them when in reality I just didn’t want Ronal to find out because I didn’t want a repeat with what happened with Neytiri when she found out.

“You think we haven’t noticed?” Jake asks with a small scoff.

“Y/n, you smell of him quite often.” Neytiri comments while continuing to caress my hair but I jump and look at them, the two were smiling gently.

“You- you aren’t mad at me?” I asked in a small voice, feeling like I deserved to be called out for moving on too quick, or for moving on at all? Mo’at has remained single this entire time and although I’m certain they don’t allow themselves to be mated to another and mourn their entire lives, she had been mated, Neteyam and I had not.

“Why would we be mad at you?” Jake asks but I’m focused on the beautiful omaticaya woman before me, wondering if she’d start yelling at some point, or capture her slip from the calmness she was portraying.

“Because- Neteyam,” I stated as if it were obvious and Neytiri’s face softened.

“Y/n, what I had done before was-“ She pauses as she speaks and looks like she’s trying to find the right words to say.

“I was wrong for what I had said and ma’itan had shown me that in the way he loved you, I have never truly apologized to you but I hope you can forgive me for how I had acted after finding out. I prided myself in having a son who would take over once Jake and I were no longer alive, wanting him to take over with a tsahik of his own and blinded myself in the perfect fantasy I built in my head, forgetting that Neteyam was his own person and had his own feelings.” She stated while looking back up at me, hand outstretched to place my cheek in as she continues holding eye contact.

“I am very well aware of how much you loved Neteyam, you would often look for him and the way it seemed that all of the weight left your shoulders when you found him was proof enough for me. The way you comforted him whenever he’d had an uneventful day or an unsuccessful hunt were the many ways that proved me wrong.” She tucks a piece of my hair that had suddenly fallen loose right behind my ear.

“You, too, are your own person with your own feelings. You are allowed to move on from this and feel love for another. Your life is not as long as ours is, therefore the part where you move on to enjoy life has to be celebrated as well. And I want you to know you have our full support.”

“Neytiri-“ My tears were blinding my vision and I’d started crying for the second time today as she embraces me with her arms, and I could feel warmth spreading all over.

“We want you to be happy, kid, no matter who thats with.” Jake stated as I feel him joining in on the hug and I let out some light hearted laughter at his words.

“When Ronal finds out- and she will eventually- you shouldn’t let her words get to you. She might have choice words to say as this is something new for her, but Ao’nung said he doesn’t care what his mother says, and thats exactly what Neteyam said to me. He will stick by your side and this little argument between the two of you is not the end and I doubt his mothers words will end your relationship, okay?” He reassures me and I nod into his shoulder.

“Atta girl,” He says happily and we all disband from our hug.

“Now if you could help us by watching Tuk while we go do- something, you would be helping us tremendously!” Jake places an enthusiastic smile and two thumbs up as he states that and I could only roll my eyes in fake disgust.

“For being my adoptive parents you guys are gross,” I joke but shoo them away with my hand.

“Go have your adult fun times but please do not make another child!” I whisper-yelled at them and can hear Jake’s chuckle before it stops abruptly after Neytiri had hit the back of his head.

“Don’t rush home either, Tuktuk usually doesn’t need much when she’s sick and likes to rest. I’ll just weave to keep myself busy, I’ll get her some fruit in a bit so she has something in her stomach.” I reassure the two as they thank me before leaving. I once again roll my eyes after they’d left and I could hear their little laughs, finding myself laughing lightly in the marui to myself.

“Well sleeping beauty,” I looked over at Tuk’s form as she slept peacefully. “It's just you and I.” I smile softly, walking over toward where Neytiri kept her yarn and began weaving a blanket.

_________

“That was quite the screaming match.”

I hadn’t bothered reacting to my father’s voice as he came up behind me, but turned to look at him with an unamused face, not really caring how rude it seemed to stare at him in that way.

“I’m sorry for causing a scene.” I apologized to him out of habit.

“No, ma’itan, I’m not the person you owe an apology to. You owe it to your mate.” He stated simply and I nod along to what he had said.

“I just want her to be-“ I stopped myself from continuing as my eyes move to face him, my face unmoved, I’d absentmindedly agreed to what he had said and started an explanation like nothing. I could tell he was hiding a smile but I wanted to scream- the biggest secret I had been hiding and he sniffed it out after an argument? How was I going to continue hiding this now.

“How?” I asked him, I knew he would understand why I had asked that, and awaited his answer.

“You do not think I know you?” He asks with a smirk on his lips. “You disappear from one task and not long after she is headed off in the same direction. I believed my mind was playing tricks on me until I caught your smell lingering with hers. No matter how much you two act like you cannot stand the other, you’re letting the act slip the longer you spend time together.” He says as I wince a bit at having been discovered.

“Is it that obvious?” I asked him while looking away in embarrassment, feeling his hand snake around my shoulders giving me a comforting squeeze.

“No, to everyone else you guys argue a lot, to the trained eye, it’s starting to become obvious. How did this start?” He asks and I can feel a blush building on my face, was this something I really wanted him to know?

“If you want my honesty, I’ll need you to pretend you aren’t ma’sempul for the moment.” I stated and he nods, taking his hand from my shoulder and placing it in his other hand.

“It started when she was swept by the current underwater.” I admit to him.

“That far back?” He asks in shock, it had been quite a while looking back at it but it also felt like this had just happened. I only look at him with an annoyed expression after he’d cut me off and he raises his hands in defense.

“Well two weeks before that I visited Neteyam in the spirit tree,” I rubbed the back of my neck as I tell him. “-without a diving partner, and he told me that he had chosen her as my mate because Eywa said I had a temper-“

And with that he chuckles as if he had agreed with that statement, I turn to glare at him once again and he holds his hands up in defense once more. Letting a small apology out as he looks back down to the water and urging me to continue.

“I took her to my thinking cave, the one with the white lilies, I swear I didn’t know the flowers were in bloom, she’d ended up getting some of the pollen on her hand and she wiped it on her leg, but later used that same hand to rub her face. I had no idea it affected tawtute the same way it does for us, but one thing lead to another and we mated without tsaheylu.”

“According to JakeSully, tawtute mating doesn’t need tsaheylu, according to her and her people, you have already bonded with her.” He stated wisely and I raise a brow at his words.

“Does he share with you from when he was tawtute?” I asked out of curiosity and he grunts, confirming what I asked.

“Some times I ask him as I get curious about his life before he became a Na’Vi. Especially after catching her smell on you the day after the union ceremony.”

“It must have been the blanket I’d given her to use to warm up in the cool night air, she had mentioned that tawtute are sensitive to temperatures and I wanted her to be comfortable for when she was introduced to Tsireya as mine.”

“You should apologize to her with a kind gesture, a gift.” He says and it catches me off guard.

“What kind of gift? I do not know what she prefers jewelry wise and am only able to make armbands, I doubt she’d need a spear-“ I started rambling off as he chuckles.

“Whatever you decide to make, use it to apologize to her, okay? I’ll tell the others you weren’t feeling well since you’ll be a little too busy to go on this hunt with us.” He cuts me off with a smile and I can only nod at his answer.

“I want you to know something, Ao, you will have many fights like these. Some will be easier to apologize than others. Some of them you will be wrong and some of them you will be correct- but apologize either way, even if you are correct. I can guarantee her own apology will follow after even if she was right.”

“Is that what you do when you and sa’nok argue?” I raised a brow and smile widely, not needing to hear his response.

“We are still together after many rotations, are we not?” He asks smugly and I let out a laugh.

“With that being said, women also like it when other people tell their mate they were in the wrong. In this case you wanted to teach her to fish, but you let your temper get in the way. You were in the wrong, itan, you must go make this right.”

“I see,” I nodded at him just as his right-hand-man shows up to ask about the hunting they’re supposed to be starting. My father tells him to gather anybody willing to participate and turns to me once he leaves.

“Make her an armband, she doesn’t wear much jewelry and I don’t think she’s the kind of girl to wear much. I will see you when I get home, okay?” He asks and I nod, turning to head over to our Marui to fix up a quick armband.

I’d managed to find the right materials but struggled to find the correct colored rocks and shells. There had only been one other time that I had asked her what her favorite color was and the answer had honestly shocked me. But I knew I had to incorporate it in the armband I was making and felt giddy once I stumbled upon the colors I needed.

~~~~~

“So what’s your favorite color?” I asked her as I slowly thrust into her, watching her greedy cunt swallowing me whole, whimpering at the sight and feeling.

“Is th-this really the time?” She struggles to think of her words stuttering badly.

“Yes yawne, I’ll let you come if you answer.” I tried keeping my composure but failing to do so with how well she took me, I was on the edge myself.

“It’s you,” she responds and meets my thrust halfway with the loudest moan ever, her eyes shutting at the pleasure.

“What?” I mutter and continue focusing on her face.

“You’re my favorite color-“ She sucks in a big breath. “Can I come now?” She asks as she holds her own hips back.

“Yes tìyawn, come-“

~~~~~

I’d decided on taking my time making my way toward her family’s marui so I could rehearse my apology. I didn’t want to leave anything out of it and wanted to make sure she still felt loved all around. I see half the curtain hanging over the entryway, most of the marui was darker and cooled down, while the other half was folded open to allow air flow into the room and prevent it from getting stuffy.

I can see Y/n sitting behind little Tuk as she took the poor girls braids out one by one. The poor forest girl looked like she had been tired and barely had any energy. She had been taking slow bites of fruit as Y/n finished off the last couple of braids.

“Hello,” Tuk stated with minimal effort and energy, she’d definitely just woken up from a nap, but her voice was raspier. Y/n’s head moves to the doorway and she thins her lips.

“Tuk Tuk, I’m going to step out for a second but I’ll be right there, call me if you need anything okay?” She reassures the younger Na’Vi and it makes my heart swell with pride at how sweet she is to the children, she steps closer toward the entrance and I move back to allow her the space she needs.

“Have you come to finish yelling at me for my fishing?” She asks in a calmer tone than the one she had earlier but she has crossed her arms over her chest and her eyes weren’t even meeting mine. I felt saddened by that.

“No Yawne, I came to apologize,” I spoke softly and although I’m nervous of her reaction I pull the armband out to show her. “I made you something,” I stated with a bit of a waver, she turns her face to look at what I had in my hand, her eyebrows had previously been furrowed in anger but the pop up after seeing the gift, her eyes finally sliding up to meet mine.

“Y-you made that f-for me?” She asks a voice barely above a whisper and she looks back down at it as she smiles. “It’s my favorite shade of you,”

“Would you like to wear it?” I asked her and she looks back up to meet my eyes, her bottom lip tugged between her teeth as she nods, giving me her hand so I can slide it on.

“This is my way of saying I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier. I might not be a great teacher like I believed I was and I hate that I made you upset, I don’t like it when I’m the reason you cry, Tìyawn.” I’d held on to her one hand with both of mine as I apologized, feeling comfort in touching her in any way possible, taking note of how perfect the armband had fit her.

“It doesn’t excuse my own behavior but I didn’t like being yelled at as if I were a child, I already know I don’t know how to fish, or cast the stupid net, but I expected you to communicate with me on how to do it correctly. But I am sorry for raising my voice at you.” She stated tenderly and I couldn’t help but cup her cheek with my hand.

“You are not in the wrong here, it was me, and I hope you can accept my apology, little one.”

“Of course I do, Ao’nung, nga yawne lu oer.” She stated all of a sudden and I could only squat on my toes just to crash my lips onto hers right after she said that.

“Nga yawne lu oer,” I replied back toward her.

__________

“I now see why you continue running off, it’s a shame this is where you hide.”

We both turned our heads in unison toward the person who had spoken, standing before us and I knew we’d been caught. This was the person I had least expected to catch us, the very same person I’d been avoiding and desperately praying to Eywa so she wouldn’t catch us. A few feet in front of us stood his mother, who happened to be glaring directly at me, not once sparing a glance toward Ao’nung, and I would be lying if I hadn’t just felt my knee’s buckle.

“Unbelievable.” The disgust is very evident, dripping entirely within that word.

Instinctively I push against Ao’nungs chest to put as much distance between us as possible, trying to hide whatever embrace we’d had, although I knew she had seen it already. I felt empty right after feeling his warmth leaving me and I had to look down to stop myself from freaking out.

“I was worried about you after seeing you run into our marui but wanted to give you space to collect your thoughts. And when I had decided you might have had enough time sulking on your own, I head to our marui, only to see you making your way here.” She stated as the tone of disappointment stays in her voice.

“You followed me?” Ao’nung asks even though she had just stated that.

“I wanted to make sure you weren’t going to do anything stupid, only to find myself proven wrong.” She yells angrily and I flinch at the pitch she uses.

“Ronal, please-“ I begin pleading but am unsure where my words were going, but am also somewhat thankful for the hiss that cuts me off.

“Silence.” She continues glaring at me and my immediate response is to look down, maybe if I don’t look into her eyes, I won’t feel threatened, but that theory is tossed out the window.

“Have you mated with this vrrtep?” She pointed at me, a disgusted look settling on her features as I peek up and see her looking at her son, waiting for his answer.

“What if I did?” He asked too nonchalant for my liking. His body hadn’t been trying to face away from hers like mine was. I shouldn’t have been surprised since he has dealt with her more than I have, but she was a scary woman.

“She is a disgrace to every suitor you’ve had. She doesn’t stand near any of them. Why would you want someone you cannot bond with, ma’itan?” She asks with genuine concern for him.

“You are right, she doesn’t stand near them,” He stated and I felt my blood run cold. I looked up at him with pure sadness, had he resented me this entire time?

“She’s more than they will ever be. She has single handedly tamed my anger with her kindness. She has taught me how to be careful with someone else and being aware of my words and how much they could hurt another person. She has a strong heart, she is worth it to me.”

“You do not realize the implications of these words ma’itan. If you decide to mate with her before Eywa you’ll be stripped of your status.”

“No!” I yelled immediately as my eyes widened. Ronal smirked at my outburst and laughed a bit.

“You see, she only wants you for your status.” She states as if it was the clearest thing.

“I can’t allow that. It’s all you’ve wanted since you were young, I can’t let you lose your status over this-“ I stated as if I was pleading him, but this is exactly what I needed to do.

“You are confused, ma’itan, you do not even know what you mean to that vrrtep!” She exclaims and I feel as if it was another blow to the chest. This was exactly everything I wanted to avoid.

“Sa’nok-“ He begins before she starts once more.

“Do you not see how this vrrtep has corrupted you? I told your father to not allow them in even if they were trusted by JakeSully, I knew they would eventually mess something up, it was a matter of how. Come to me, ma’itan, we need to cleanse you.”

“Choose someone else.” I stated in a clear and steady voice. Although my heart felt itself break. I could only feel Ao’nung grasp my shoulders gently.

“No.”

“Please, let me go, choose another. You’ll still have the life you wanted-“ I felt the tears blur my vision so I turned around to stop looking at him.

“Not if I don’t have you in it.”

“I’m not worth it, choose someone else-“

“I’m not leaving you, little one, I’ve said that multiple times.” He tries reassuring me as my tears slide down my cheeks, how was I going to stop them.

“So you can be wise,” Ronal hums at my words as I was trying to get him to leave me.

“No, I only want you, I only see you, I only love you.” He stated as he forcefully turns me around. Tears continuously sliding down my face.

“I can’t bond with you-“

“I don’t care about that, little one, we bond in different ways.” He holds my face with one hand gently.

“I’ll die too fast anyway, we can’t have kids. She’s right, this is only a fantasy that’ll never work. I’ve done this once before and didn’t learn the first time.” These reasons were resurfacing from Neytiri’s previous conversation within me when she’d found out those years ago, reasons to why I was not fit for her son, reasons I am not fit to be with Ao’nung.

“Neteyam told me different, ma’tìyawn, he told me he Eywa needed his help in choosing a mate for me and he chose you as my mate, Eywa agrees with his decision. He told me we can have children of our own and told me your age will slow down with mine after completing our mating.” He explains in a gentle manner.

But the way he’d stated that with ease, he had never told me about that previous to today, and I could feel my head dizzying at his words, when the hell had he been told about this?

“When, when did he tell you?” I asked because I just had to know. He remains silence but face fallen into a wince as if he’d meant to either keep that a secret or expect his words to change my opinion without problem.

“When the fuck did he tell you this?” I asked in a harsher tone after his silence.

“Two weeks before we went to the spirit tree, but I-“

“That was two months ago and you’re only telling me this now?” I pulled myself away by pushing on his chest to let go of me, I knew there was no way I’d hurt him but with the way he backed up as if I had worried me a bit.

“Yawne I-“

“You need to leave.” I stated as I squeezed my eyes shut tightly.

“What?” He asks in disbelief upon hearing my request.

“Leave, go!” I yelled at him and he seems shocked. He looked like he was about to refuse leaving, he held onto hope more than I could, but before voicing his opinion the sound of water suddenly splashing had caught our attention. I turned back to Ronal to see her staring at the space between her feet, a protective hand placed around her swollen abdomen.

“Great mother, why now?” Ronal groans as she protectively places a hand on her swollen belly. Typically when a NaVi’s water breaks you had about thirty minutes or less for when the child arrived, so even if their gestation lasted about a year, their births happened incredibly fast. But with her being Tsahik and going through her labor meant she’d either need the help of the retired Tsahik- who was her deceased mother in law- or the Tsakarem, her daughter.

I glanced over at Ao’nung who was standing with his eyes widened. I could only figure he had never seen his mother in this position and if he had, he was a toddler when Tsireya was born so he didn’t have any experience when it came to these things.

“Agh!” Ronal screams as she holds onto her abdomen.

“Get her into the water-“ I run into the Marui and see Tuk is still awake, half finished with her fruit, I’m sure she’s heard everything that had happened but her face seems unfazed.

“TukTuk, please tell me you’re well enough to go for a swim?” I asked in the most hopeful tone possible and she nods, getting up from her mat, following behind me as I grab a couple things from the marui. I step back out with Tuk behind me and see Ao’nung full on carrying his mother with a worried look in his face.

__________

“Come on Um’ma, let’s get you into the nice cool water, I think you’ll feel better there,” I try reassuring her as I continue to hold her, her weight becoming less as she floats in the water, her groans coming out in short spurts, she’s gritting her teeth and her eyes are looking around.

“What now, Y/n?” I ask as she has Tuk hold the things she was carrying, while she hops down from the walkway onto the stairs and into the water, Tuk carefully handing Y/n everything.

“Let her stand in the water, Tsireya said it helps with tearing, she’ll be on her feet, make sure her lower back is covered.” She instructs and I follow along as I do what she says, my mother sighing in relief, one of her hands grasping mine suddenly and refusing to let go.

“And now?” I ask as she fumbles with her equipment, I can see various towels, a blanket, the knife Neteyam made for her, and a clamp. I’m not entirely sure what these were for but she finally comes over toward me, stepping directly in front of my mother, a hiss ripping through her as soon as she see’s Y/n.

“Hiss all you want but we don’t have much time before your child gets here and Tuk is too sick to get help.” Y/n stated and as I look on over toward where Tuk was, the poor girl had already passed out on the walkway snoozing along and getting her rest.

“If you want I can get another woman from the clan whose given birth before but I doubt they’ll get here by the time your baby is born.” Y/n stated firmly upon looking at my mother before taking a deep breath and going under the water, I could tell she started untying my mothers skirt and I blushed while looking away.

“I dislike how helpful she is, even after I insulted her-“ She manages to grumble between her groans and grunts.

“She is always like this, Um’ma, I love her.” I stated and my mother hisses again. Y/n resurfaces and steps around behind me.

“You’ll need to push her lower back, here, when she starts pushing, it helps relieve pain, or something like that. She’ll squeeze your hand and it’ll hurt you, but remember she’s in more pain than you will be.” She pointed toward her lower back and I could see my mothers tail fidgeting in a similar pattern from when we all hurt ourselves unexpectedly.

“Ronal-“ She steps back around as my mother is hunched over. Her anger from beforehand is gone as she continues breathing.

“You’ll need to spread your legs further,”

“I know how to give birth, child, this is my third- AGH!” She yells gutturally after her half insult, but follows Y/n’s order and spreads her legs further.

“Push when you feel the need to,” She tells my mother just as she’s moaning or groaning, maybe grunting, all at the same time, before looking back at me. “Every time you hear her make that sound, press where I showed.”

“Push Ronal,” She takes a deep breath before going back under and checking for how my mother is doing.

“Please respect her, she’s doing better than I am over here.” I utter just as she starts making that sound again and I push on her back, I could hear the sound lessen as if I was helping relieve pain. She takes a quick break to breathe before pushing again.

“Something feels wrong, it hurts more-“ She gasps.

“Don’t quit, Um’ma, keep pushing.” I encourage her as she starts yelling painfully while pushing.

“What do you see in her,” She catches her breath again as she pushes.

“The same things dad saw in you, she’s kind, caring, compassionate, adorable, and willing to put up with me.” I answered as she begins pushing and yelling again, I pushed on her back once more.

“Stop pushing!” Y/n resurfaces suddenly and my mother looks bewildered.

“Why on Eywa’s life would I do that!” My mother hisses.

“He’s coming out feet first, his cord isn’t coming out like it should and I’m scared its wrapped around his neck.” She stated.

“He?” My mother isn’t asking, more as if she were in shock.

“I’m having another itan.” She stated wobbly as her tears cascaded down her face.

“The next contractions will hurt like hell but I need you to try and not push during them, if you do, the constriction will cut off blood flow to the-“

“Ma’tìyawn, you’re rambling in English,” I stated as she looks up immediately with a blush.

“Try not to push when you feel the need to, I know it’ll be hard-“

“The pain is too great for me, I do not want to lose ma’itan,” Her tears fall down more rapidly as she weeps, her hold on my hand getting harder.

“Don’t say that. You are Tsahik of the metkayina, you fought tawtute mounted on a tsurak while heavily pregnant, you have birth twice before, how is this one any different!” Y/n states and I can see a passion in her eyes as she says these things.

“You are admired by many in the clan and you have been standing before other mighty warriors who have given birth telling them that all would be well. Don’t give me that shit, Ronal, you can fucking do this.”

My mother nods as another contraction hits her, she trembles badly and looks down before her face is picked back up by ma’Y/n with both of her hands.

“Don’t fucking quit on me, Ronal.” She stated as my mother starts yelling through her contraction, I push on her back regardless as it dies down.

“Once the shoulders are out you’ll be done, okay?” Y/n states as she takes another deep breath and sinks down below to check on my baby brother.

“That is why I love her, Um’ma,”

“Maybe I was wrong about her-“ She sucks in a big breath and clenches her teeth. Y/n swims closer to her and my mother yells once more.

Just then a bit of blood fills the water where Y/n and my mothers legs are, her hand has let go of mine as she sighs in relief, Y/n popping up without my brother.

“Where is he?” I asked in shock upon not seeing my brother.

“About to take his first breath.”

First breath, the tradition where, when allowed, the baby is supposed to swim upward after being born to take it’s first breath. The first right of passage coming into the clan.

“The cord was only loosely wrapped around his neck, probably because you held back on your pushes, all I did was unwrap it, clamp it, and cut it.” Y/n stated and seconds later he pops up, the physical sound of him taking his breath bringing us relief in that moment.

I couldn’t help but look at my baby brother in awe at the smallest patches of hair on his head, his little nose, his kuru being naked and small, Y/n is quick to pick him up and turn him to place him on my mothers chest. Taking my hand to place it on my brother’s abdomen as I watched him breathe. My mother started crying out of pure joy upon seeing my brother.

“Let us connect these, huh?” She grasped my mother Kuru gently and connected it with my brothers, creating the first bond any child creates- with their Um’ma. She’d gone at some point to bring the blanket to wrap him around in and I couldn’t help but smile at him.

Spending this time with my mother and brand new sibling was a joyous time, but when I’d turned around to see where Y/n had gone my smile falters as she and little Tuk were nowhere to be found.

_________

That goes without saying that once I’d come back into the marui with Tuk- after helping Ronal give birth- her parents had come back and were wondering where we went. I once again had to fill them in on the situation starting from the moment Ao’nung had come to give me my armband and ending with coming back with a still sick Tuk. They were surprised about Neteyam hand picking Ao’nungs mate and they did have questions to which I did not have the answers to.

After helping the Tsahik giving birth, I’d taken it upon myself to stay out of her and her families sights. I knew the words she had spoken when she had caught myself and her son together were spiteful yet truthful. There was no way that my assistance in her birth would change the way she felt about me. And I would say I’ve been doing well, I’ve avoided them for two and a half weeks by this point, but I did have a little help from the Sully’s. I’d essentially made myself disappear from their lives.

We made sure to always walk in pairs of three whenever we were out. If they happened to catch Lo’ak, Kiri, Spider, Tuk, Neytiri, or Jake the other person with us would tell me to go the opposite direction or hide somewhere to avoid having to make any contact with them.

While I was in the marui, Tsireya had come wanting to talk to me, but due to Lo’ak loudly stating that he wasn’t sure if I was there, gave me the chance to escape by diving into the water and swimming underneath the marui until she had left in disappointment. I was willing to take any measure I could to avoid them, Ronal had made it clear where she stood with me, so I wanted to make it clear to her that I understood her boundary.

“Theres supposedly a banger going on tonight,” Lo’ak stated as we all huddled into a little family meeting.

“What would you like to do, Y/n?” Spider asks as all eyes turned to me.

“You guys make it seem like they’re actively searching for me, the only time anyone came here was Tsireya a while ago. None of them have asked about me so I’ll just stay here.” I stated while weaving a blanket for Tuk, when she was sick she claimed she felt cold and didn't have a comfortable blanket on her.

I told her that if she could find some yarn she felt comfortable with, I’d take it and make a blanket out of it for her. She’d found the right one two hours after I said that and said she spent the entire two hours hugging yarn from the yarn lady, who had been awkwardly staring at Tuk while assisting her- or so thats the story from her ten year old perspective.

“Would you like one of us here with you?” Jake offers and I laugh.

“You guys should go enjoy the party, as long as you have fun thats all that matters.” I admit.

“We could even take shifts, I can stay for the first part and come get one of the kids to cover for an hour at a time-“

“It’s been fifteen days since Tsireya came here, thats half an Earth month, I will be fine, nobody is coming in here.” I reassure him and he only thins his lips.

“Go have fun, just bring me back something sweet, okay?” I asked and they all seemed to agree.

It did take a bit to get them all to leave but they did take their time leaving little by little. It started off with Jake and Neytiri leaving at the start of the little celebration, Kiri had left with Tuk since the younger one had started to get hungry. I had been left with Lo’ak and Spider, the two most stubborn people ever.

It didn’t help that we were mostly sitting in silence so I suggested we played a game. Spider had smiled happily as he remembered Jake had hidden a deck of Uno somewhere around here. Something about him having brought the game over from home in case the kids were bored.

“You definitely have a draw four, Y/n, don’t lie!” Spider yells angrily and I roll my eyes, placing a reverse card to switch the order we were going in already.

“Hell yeah!” Lo’ak exclaims as he places a wild card of his own, switching the color to red.

“No fair, you know I don’t have any red!” Spider states while continuing to draw, having drawn twelve cards before finally placing a red one down. I place my own red reverse down on the deck and try to hide my laugh.

“Uno,” I call out as I held my last card.

“Not funny.” Spider is already pissed and I knew this would get him to leave soon.

“Draw four!” Lo’ak stated after Spider luckily had to draw two cards before getting a red, but I smirk as I pull the draw four my brother said I had and stack it on top of Lo’ak’s.

“Red.” I stated the color and Spider throws his variety of yellow and green cards down angrily.

“You guys always fuckin cheat, I’m out.” He yells as he stands to walk out of the marui while Lo’ak and I laugh.

“Do you think we were mean to him?” I asked as I gather the cards.

“Nah, we’re the dream team, plus the look on his face was worth it.” He smiles widely while handing me his own cards.

“I’m thinking about heading out and meeting up with ‘Reya, you’re sure you’ll be okay?” He asks and doesn’t even bother getting up. Had the circumstances been different he would have started standing up already, not waiting for an answer as he headed out toward his girlfriend.

“I’ll be fine, Lo, honestly wanna get this blanket done so Tuk stops asking me if its done,” I smile as I take the half finished project I had with a grin.

“She has no patience.” He agrees as he stands up.

“I’m sure the others have forgotten but I’ll bring you back something sweet, kay?” He states.

“Thank you, you’re my favorite brother!”

“I always have been,” He chuckles as he slips out of the marui.

It doesn’t take too long before the curtain ruffles again and I’m surprised at how fast anyone had returned but keep my focus on my project.

“Did you forget some-“ My eyes wander up and see the person I’d least expected standing in the marui, before me stood the teal goddess I used to spend a majority if my time with.

“Y/n!” She yells excitedly in a hushed voice and it pained me to see her excited.

“Tsireya-“ I stated in shock, just staring at her, how is it the one night Jake asks me of I’m certain I could handle being alone that Tsireya pop’s back up right when I least expected it, especially after a while of not seeing her.

“Hi sweets,” She says softly while waving at me from the entrance, my blanket project long forgotten, using my term of endearment for her, on me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked in confusion as Lo’ak had just stepped out to meet with her, how long would it take him to notice she wasn’t out there.

“I came to take you to get ready,” She stated as if it were obvious why she was here, but I was still lost.

“Get ready? For what?” I asked her two questions and I notice she’s looking past me with a smile. I turn and don’t notice anything there and look back at her.

“You’re still wearing it.” She stated and I look back down on my arm and the realization hit, I had completely forgotten about the armband being on my arm as it was comfortable, kind of like it was meant to be there.

“Now come on,” She steps closer taking my hand and I couldn’t help but allow myself to be dragged on by her since I’d missed hanging out with her for two and a half weeks, maybe spending some time with her wouldn’t hurt.

She’d brought me to a waterfall I’d yet to see before and made me wash my hair, I was confused at first but thought this was more of a girls-day type thing. As she had waited for it to dry before braiding it intricately, I’d just sat there and waited for her to finish. Just when she had finished, I turned to look at her as she gasps, holding both hands over her mouth in awe.

“What? Do I look bad in braids?” I joke but she shakes her head.

“You look beautiful,” It wasn’t until now that I could feel some of the beaded accessories she’d placed in my hair.

“We need to head back over,” She states and I could only imagine she meant back in the marui which is why I didn’t mind when she grabbed my arm once more.

“Come on-“ She gently tugs as she runs in front of me.

“Where are we going?” I let out a laugh as I’m essentially out of breath from chasing after her.

“You’ll see, come-“ She tugs me again with an excited smile on her features, one that made me forget my surroundings only because I hadn’t been near her in a while, I truly missed spending time with her.

“You need to walk through,” She states as we stand behind some curtains of some sort but I look at her weirdly.

“Is someone killing me if I step through?” I asked, wondering if her mother was on the other side of the curtain.

“Just step through,” She says with a smile and my curiosity peaks finally stepping through the curtains, being placed on a stage in front of the clan, eyes widening.

“Kaltxì-“ I nervously stated, just to see Ronal stepping up, I look down immediately and try backing up through the curtains again, there was no way I am going to stay here.

“Hey-“ I bump into someone and their hands are on my shoulders, I only turn my head upward and see Ao’nung looking down at me, my brows furrow in confusion and before I could say anything Ronal turns to address the clan.

“We’re gathered as a clan today to celebrate the union of my son, and his mate Y/n.”

“What?” I asked in complete shock and disbelief, but my voice only having been a whisper, nobody hearing me as the cheers of the crowd had grown.

She turns to look at her son, arm stretching out overtop of me, essentially being caged in by two Na’vi bodies. Her hand reaches to what I assume is his cheek.

“A mother will always love her son for their entire lives, but your life is only beginning with her, take care of her and love her more than you have ever loved me, ma’itan.” She speaks gently to him and he squeezes my shoulders gently as she looks down at me, I want to look away but she places her hand on my cheek, the sudden act of affection catching me off guard.

“You have shown me that I was wrong about tawtute. You helped me during a great time of need and I can see how you have loved ma’itan. You are strong and capable of many things that I was too blinded by my own prejudice to see. You are a worthy mate for him. Oel ngati kameie, Y/n.” She stated and placed her finger on her forehead, extending it toward me as she said that.

“Now if you are agreeable to your own union, I would like to speak blessings upon the two of you.” She stated as she awaits my answer.

“You said you didn’t want your son with a vrrtep-“

“I know what I have said and I was wrong. I am hoping you can accept my deepest apologies. When I was giving birth, you helped me even after the nasty things I said to you, you were willing to let ma’itan be happy and keep his status by trying to leave him, you were willing to sacrifice your happiness for his.” She stated with tears welling up in her own eyes. “I am not a perfect mother, but I try to be, and seeing how happy he is when he talks about you proves he follows his heart, just as closely as he follows you.”

“You already know how I feel about you, Yawne,” Ao’nung speaks gently, I crane my neck backward just to catch him looking at me with a sweet smile.

“I missed you so much,” I place my hand on top of his, which remained on my shoulder and I give him a light squeeze.

“I missed you too yawntutsyìp,”

“What do you say?” Ronal asks and I give her a small nod.

And she starts letting the many blessings fall from her tongue. Starting with the growth of the clan by the union we were sharing and blessing each of us separately, that Eywa may use us to assist in her workings as well as blessing us with many children- even though I felt that would never happen.

“And before the clan you must speak your vows. As always, the male will speak first.” She nods toward her son as she steps to the side and he steps from behind me, turning to face me- from what I’d seen during the other ceremony’s I follow his steps and face him, to have him squat on his toes so he is eye level with me, our hands holding each other.

“With these words I present my vows to you, Y/n Y/m/n Socorro, as your faithful mate.” He stated the typical introduction before looking right into my eyes with a small smile as he speaks words from his heart, my eyes tearing up as I try holding my big fat cry-baby tears for nothing since they slide down my cheeks.

“With these words I present my vows to you, Ao’nung Te Tswa’ìn Tonowar’itan, as your faithful mate-“ I start my own vows and for the first time I notice the tears collecting in his eyes as I continue.

“Now you may turn, and let Eywa decide your familial fate.” Tsireya speaks loudly and notice the garment placed before us. The biggest shell catching my eye, it was the color of their ocean and I smile.

“Ready?” He asks while squeezing my hand affectionately.

“Get closer to it so we can step on it at the same time,” He gently pushes the small of my back and I feel nervous, looking back at him as he lifts his leg.

“On three,” He reassures me and I nod. I knew it was wishful thinking but I closed my eyes harshly and slam my foot down on the shell as hard as I can, opening them and turning toward him, not even bothering to look at the pieces.

“Pukap!” Tsireya yells as everyone cheers and my shocked face turns to see the shell having broken into six unequal pieces, I look back at my now husband in shock, he��s smiling excitedly.

“Having four children is a big blessing, tsmuke,” Tsireya says as she waits for us to pick our respective pieces.

_________

Having Kiri, Spider, Lo’ak, and even little Tuk on my side on this day has proven effective. They had mentioned how Y/n was wanting to avoid me and I found it devastating at first but completely understood where she was coming from.

I’d planned this entire thing myself but was honestly thankful to Y/n’s tsmuktu for helping me and allowing this entire thing to happen. I was happy to have the love of my life forever now, officially.

Knowing we’d have four children was unexpected but a blessing nonetheless, but could tell that having children was still something Y/n was not expecting. I could tell she was skeptical but I knew it would happen.

She picks up a piece of the shell that I was eyeing myself and felt saddened by it but accepted it, until she turns and hands it to me. I look at her in surprise as she smiles.

“I figured this was the piece you’d like the most,” She stated shyly and I smile, taking it from her grasp.

“Thank you little one, does this mean I get to pick yours?” I asked her and she blushes before looking down and nodding.

Something of this nature had only been done one other time before- I’d heard the stories many times around the fire pit- my own parents union ended like this, but it was not a story Y/n had heard before, which was what warmed my heart the most, looking up at my father I can see him smiling at my mother with adoration.

“This one,” I pick up a piece thats similar to the shape she often shows me with her hands, a heart is what she calls it.

“It’s perfect,” She smiles as she takes it and I couldn’t resist the urge after she’d said that.

“You’re perfect.”

She blushes and looks away before I use my fingers to bring her chin back up to make her look at me, her face looking adorable, it felt warm underneath my fingers.

Before either of us could say anything, many people joined in on the traditional first song sang after the shell being broken, the garment being thrown around us as everyone joined to happily sing. It doesn’t take long for the song to finish and I have another place in mind where we could be.

“Would you do me the honors of following me?” I ask her and she furrows her tiny brows in confusion but takes the hand I had offered her and we start walking toward the beach.

“Where are we going?” She asks once we’re pretty close to stepping into the water.

“The spirit tree.” I admit as I call an Ilu over, stepping into the water, tugging her arm gently to get her closer to me.

“But first,” I settle her onto the Ilu before sliding on after her, placing my arm protectively over her waist. “We need to talk.” I’d sat her backward so her back was toward the Ilu’s head, as she faced me, my arm gently running across her spine to reassure her that it was nothing bad. “We’ll have to go the long way so we can sty above water, okay?” I state again.

“What is there to talk about?” She asks shyly and tucks her own hair behind her ear while looking at the ocean, eyes hesitant to look back on mine.

“A lot of things, Tìyawn,” I stated as the Ilu moves forward.

“Why would you visit Neteyam?” She asks and I’’m glad she does, I’m surprised she’d managed to get the hint.

“I felt guilty for how I’d spent a majority of the time he was here bullying him and your tsmuktu instead of trying to make friends with everyone. And I was lonely really, having two tawtute join the clan when you hate them was hard, he gave me an escape and we talked about anything and everything.” I share with her.

“Why didn’t you tell me about visiting Neteyam?” She asks.

“I didn’t see it as something I needed to share, but I was wrong on that.

“What did he say to you?” She doesn’t have to specify the night she was talking about and I look down with a soft smile.

“He said Eywa came to him to tell him she had trouble choosing a mate for me, and he said the only person he could think of was Y/n,” I tell her, placing my finger gently on the tip of her nose as she smiles at my action. “I look at him confused because that sounds like a word in your vrrtep language, he laughs and tells me thats your name and I am to use it to address you.” I explain and she nods along.

“He says he has chosen you as my mate because of how sassy you are, but that you were very sweet. He said you were captivating in every way possible.” Her eyes are widened in awe as she listens to the story.

“But you know me, I was stubborn, didn’t want to hear it but continued asking questions about how he knew these things and he finally tells me the two of you were courting. I was surprised, because nobody has ever heard of a union between tawtute and Na’Vi, I didn’t want to hear anymore and broke my connection with the spirit tree.”

“Do you regret it?” She asks in a tiny voice but I’m unsure of what she meant.

“If you mean disconnecting my kuru and swimming away from what he said, yes, if you are asking if I regret being with you, never.”

“Do you think you could do me a favor?” She asks nervously chews on her bottom lip.

“For you I’d do anything, all you have to do is ask.”

“Can you connect to the spirit tree and tell him I said thank you, for everything?” She asks sweetly and I nod.

“It should be me thanking him, little one, but I will tell him anything you want.”

“Can you tell him to visit me in my dreams?” She asks hesitantly and seems as if she regrets saying that.

“I will.” I reassure her just as we exit the retaining wall and turn to go to the spirit tree.

Arriving at the spirit tree had planted a smile on her sweet little face. The illuminated space was beautiful during this time of night and seeing her face lit up was even better.

“Your tahnì!” She states as she looks at my chest, smiling widely, letting her hands slide down my arms.

“I want you to sit up here while I dive, okay?” I state as I take her by the waist, lifting her off the ilu and up onto the magnetic rock walkway she had sat on once before.

“Please be safe,” She expresses concern on her beautiful face and I couldn’t help but kiss her, it had been a while since we did that.

“Just for you,” I reply before dipping my head below the water and heading over toward the petals. Grabbing my braid and looking at the tendrils sliding out of it, looking back up through the water and seeing my love’s little feet in the water, I look back at the petal before connecting my kuru and allowing my mind to calm itself.

~~~~~~

“It’s nice to see you again.”

I wince as his voice has remained the same. He didn’t sound angered one bit, I allowed my nerves to busy themselves as I observed the scenery before me and it comes as a shock that we aren’t in the forest like we usually are.

“We are home, why?” I asked as I turn, looking at the sky, before settling back on him.

“Change of scenery. I was getting bored in the forest.” He states nonchalantly.

“Neteyam, I want to apologize for leaving abruptly when I did-“

“It appears I was right hmm?” He raises his brows in amusement, smiling wide. “She has humbled you.”

He comments and I’m blushing.

“You had it the moment I told you about her.” He smiles and I’m in awe.

“She is everything you said she would be and somehow even more.” I respond and he nods.

“She is your wife now, I take it.” He asks and I can’t stop myself from nodding as a childlike spirit with no real body runs up to him.

“Neteyam, can you-“ The little spirit cuts itself off from talking as it catches a glimpse of me.

“Hello there,” I wave at the adorable white glowing orb, its body mostly glowing so I couldn’t really make out the gender.

“Ma’sempul!” The little spirit flies over to me and tackles me happily bouncing all over my chest.

“I’m afraid you have me confused with someone else, I’m not your-“

“This is the spirit of the first child you are set to have between yourself and Y/n.” Neteyam says as he gently picks the child up and off my chest.

“Those exist here too?” I asked in disbelief as Neteyam nods.

“Yes,” He smiles at me before turning the kid around and pushing them by the shoulders. “It’s not your time to head out into the world yet, but soon, I’ll be back in a second to play with you okay?” He reassures the tiny spirit and I feel my heart ache at the sight of them leaving.

“For obvious reasons I cannot tell you much about them, only that they will definitely be a handful.”

“As long as I have Y/n, I’ll be alright.” I admit and Neteyam nods.

“That is true, how-“ He cuts himself off and I only smile as he tries fitting the words the way he wants.

“How is she?” He asks with genuine curiosity.

“I would love to tell you, but she told me to make sure and tell you to visit her in a dream. Maybe there you can catch up. Maybe destress together, if you catch my drift.” I stated and his eyes widened.

“Think about it, okay? I’ll make sure to tell her to enjoy herself. It’s the least I could do for you.” I smiled at his shocked face.

“Thank you for coming to see me again.” Neteyam stated pleasantly before the little spirit started walking back over. “But my hands are full at the moment so I will see you another time, yeah?” He asks and I nod.

“I’ll visit you again, and thank you for everything Neteyam.”

“You’re welcome, Ao’nung.”

I opened my eyes as soon as I pulled my Kuru from the spirit tree, feeling a sense of relief flooding through me as I’d finished my visit with Neteyam. Kicking my feet as I floated upward closer to the surface to meet my wife.

__________

I’m not one to write notes at the bottom of the story but I didn’t wanna spoil anything up there^^ but I have a question for y’all if you could answer in the comments

Should I include a Neteyam x Y/n dream scapes smut for the next chapter? She won’t get pregnant off of it but I figured I’d ask to see what you guys wanted. And it also doesn’t help that Doja cats “Shine” was playing in my ear and I got to the part where she says “Yeah I’m fucking Mike, Dick was hella mean, slipped in so nice” 😖😫

This is legit the only reason I posted this chapter a lil earlier, just to get y’alls opinion in how the next one should go… the more feedback I get the faster I can start the next one… tysm

[sunshinechay]

15 Day BL Challenge! Part 4!

Day 51: Top 3 BLs that you'd never want to explain to your parents

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Well the first one was easy but the other 2 were a little harder but!

1. Pit Babe The Series

I absolutely DO NOT WANT to have to explain omegaverse to my parents, much less the plot of the vroom vroom omegaverse “we accidentally stumbled upon a human trafficking ring” BL. Even explaining the basics of the plot to my older sibling who does know what omegaverse is was a trip. (I was trying to convince them to watch it as they like kdramas and I wanted to see what they thought. Juries still out on whether or not they’ll actually watch it).

2. KinnPorsche The Series

I remember way back last year, someone made a poll about which event in KP didn’t happen and I thought it would be funny to send it to my dnd group, who had never seen it and ask which one they thought was most likely the event that didn’t occur. None of them got the answer right (which I wasn’t expecting them too but you know) and were absolutely floored when I had to tell them which was the right answer. I do not want to do that with my parents. Mostly because I know them and I know they would look at me like I have 3 heads for rest of my life.

3. Secret Crush On You

I love this BL so much, but the cringe factor is right throughout it all and I just know my parents absolutely would not vibe with it. Okay my mom might if she can get back the absurdity but who the heck know if that would happen. I think the thing that would weird them out most though would be Nuea and Toh’s freak4freak relationship. It is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea and I’m afraid it would not be my parents’s.

[lo-toh-takes]

I’m gonna be honest for a second: I don’t like Hunt/low. I don’t think it’s canon, I don’t think it’s cute, and to be 100% brutally honest with you, I really do think they just had some shippers on the crew who were pushing a bit too hard for something with no real substance. But here’s another thing: I also don’t like the way Lily talks about Hunt/low. It reminds me of some of the nastier Hunt/low shippers I’ve seen and talked to.

There are the ones who have accused me and other non-shippers of the ship of being racist or fatphobic because we don’t like it, like how Lily seems to think shippers are racist for liking it. Or the ones who seem to see Willow as something Hunter “deserves,” versus how Lily just seems to think of her as something Hunter DOESN’T deserve instead, as opposed to seeing her as her own damn person. And of course the hand holding; if you pay attention to Willow instead of just seeing her as shipping fodder, you’ll notice that yes, she holds hand with Hunter… and Luz… and Amity too! It’s literally just a platonic expression of friendship for her, not “proof” of Hunt/low or Wil/luz or anything else!

Honestly, I think this all just goes to show that LO is a contrarian. She simply took an opinion, flipped it on its head, and then didn’t think any further about anything.

This seems to be a common issue with Lily as a critic; her need to villianize anyone who has an oppossing opinion to her. The reason why people say Lily treats her opinions like facts is because aside from Lily trying to make her personal preferences into an argument for why somethings objectively bad, she seems to have an inability to handle oppossing opinions.

Her TOH takes is where this is especially bad, with her racism narrative being built on nothing but pure lies so she can demonize the TOH fandom for having oppossing opinions to her. Lily saying that shipping Huntlow makes you racist is another instance of this; she's doubling down on her bullshit here with the amount of vitrol she has towards Hunter.

And this isn't even going into the fact that Lily 100% only dislikes Huntlow because Willow ended up with the white boy she hates. It does not seem like a coincedince to me that both of Lily's favorite TOH ships are both ships that pair Willow up with a POC girl who Lily finds to be "more interesting", and one of Lily's main complaints about Hunter litteraly being that he's an "angsty white boy" who would've been "more interesting" if he was black.

It's just pure bias plain and simple.

[sidecharactersdomatter]

Thoughts I had during TGCF S2 Ep 2

Also watching this while sketching now here we go!

Previously on TGCF… 

-And starting off at the Gambler’s Den!

-Hey you’ve heard the old saying, “It costs an arm and a leg” I think this fits perfectly for the red demon masked gambler

-Hey! No getting sweat on the gambling table!

-Hua Cheng: No Thanks~ *fans myself with a hand*

-Yeah those are the best house policies San Lang

-Man, the loop braided ghost assistant is literally all of us fawning over Hualian amirite? (that Ghost maiden is going places!)

-This den operates on Hubris Logic

-Stop decreasing your child’s lifespan!

-Now Roll!  That just made think of DND, I dunno why

-Those dice weren’t loaded (Anybody seen Road to El Dorado 10/10 totes recommend)

-Worst dad I’ve ever seen and he’s just a gambling NPC

-Hehehe Just imagine Toph in the Gambler’s Den (For those anticipating The Scrap Immortal and the Avatar, I’m afraid that’s going to be a scene that won’t come to fruition, really sry readers)

-“It’s despicable, and that’s coming from a ghost like me” that was a really great quote ngl

-Kinda hard to accomplish since you were talking to a ghost

-Yep prolly the worst Dad I’ve ever seen in all of TGCF

-Hi Rouye

-Hi Windmaster

-Honestly, the reason they have Qingxuan switch from Male to female in this season is that from a Union Standpoint, they had to allow Anjali Kunapaneni dub other series while Jacob Eiseman took over and vice versa.  That’s just my theory, I’m not sure if it might be true.

-Aw, he’s worried over his complexion

-Man, Xie Lian’s expression shifts as he inspects Qinqxuan’s complexion.  I love that little attention to detail in the animation.

-And then Qingxuan happily exclaims while putting both hands on his cheek was 100% precious!

-“If I were a mirror where would I be” they have the best lines of this Season 2 so far!

-Wind Master laugh is clearing my pores

-Hi Qianqiu, Hi Mengyou

-Not so smart to me

-All the ghosts have really unique and distinct designs (it’s that kind of uniqueness I’m trying so hard to capture in my TOH Oc murder mystery au)

-“Aw man!  What was his number!  Not cool Taihua!” - Literally every ghost in the Gambler’s den, and also me.

-Well, you’re not wrong, Qianqiu

-Hehehe the double facepalm XD

-Not the brightest candle on the altar

-Let’s face it, we all lost it during Hua Cheng soft chuckle!

- He noticed the laugh!

-Man the background ghost voices are on point

-And I’m like at Qingxuan, “You didn’t read the signs?” Does anybody other than the ghosts, read the signs???

-“He might be fine if he doesn’t reveal who he is” Qianqiu: *reveals who he is* Too soon dude

-That blue masked ghost woman sure has sass

-That blue beaked ghost also has a cool design tho

-Don’t mind me just fanning myself whenever Hua Cheng speaks cause it gives me the vapors~!

-The fact that they thought the same thing!

-No not the gambling table!  

-Woah he sent it right back!

-This is infinitely better than the live action martial acts films I’ve seen in my whole life

-It’s like a stake raising tennis match

-That glow in his eyes

-He’s going Super Saiyan

-That animation really did get better

-“He’s stuck up there!” My comment: “Like a fly on fly paper” My sister’s comment: “Like an idiot on idiot paper” lmao

-Yep just point and laugh ghosts, point and laugh

-You mean from bad to worse

-I told you Ghost City’s the Las Vegas of Ancient China, told ya~

-A new table!

-You’re not wrong on luck

-Snake eyes is even worse

-“Like I said, biggest is so overdone!  Crazy idea, what if smallest wins? Sound fun?”  Qingxuan is spitting bars in the dub people!

-They’re just gonna believe that from two newcomers?

-Xie Lian, internally chanting: “Small…small…small…” His cursed and horrible misfortune: LOL nope :3

-Not your fault for looking like a snack Qianqiu

-Wait till you see the fandom, Taihua

-Alright, hat got Hua Cheng enticed

-Literally everybody witnessing a man in white robes desperately shake a pair of dice: Is…that guy ok?

-His smile widened!

-“I can’t watch!”  I can and it’s gonna be something!

-Oh he sees a lot in that raggedy jerk than you do right now buddy

-“What’s there to teach about shaking dice?  It’s just shakin dice!”  The best random quote of this episode, and the tone when that side character said it!

-“And you’re the expert!” He got sassed back

-*Hears Hong Lian Qian starting up like* Aw yeah, the best song of the new season! *Vibes out with writing and sketching like no tomorrow*

-Dude! Pass me the Aux cord!  You better not be playing mainstream garbage!  *Casually plays Hong Lian Qian like a G!*  WOO!!!

-There he is, just a red transparent curtain keeps them apart, also Hua Cheng’s status but let’s not get ahead of ourselves

-The wind animation!!!, and Wind master’s not even summoning it

-Literally when my older sister first saw this scene she was like: It’s the pottery scene from Ghost

-He rolled an 11!

-If my underaged TGCf OCs witness the infamous dice scene like in season 2, Qing Tao and Chun Xue(both 12) look up to their older friends: “..ssShould we be listening to this?”  And then Lan Hai and Nuan Yu (both 14) frantically respond with covering their younger friends’ ears: “…pProbably best if we played it safe.” (Quotes are from an episode of Close Enough) heck I can imagine the Gaang reacting like this witnessing the dice shaking too, just swap Qing Tao and Chun Xue with Aang and Toph, and Lan Hai and Nuan Yu with Sokka and Katara, (Zuko would also try to cover the Southern Water Tribe Sibs’ ears, but this hypothetical scene also won’t happen in my TGCF x ATLA xover, now back to the reaction!)

-The singing really is timed well with the animation!  10/10 baby!

-“You see, it’s bigger now” …I got the joke

-“It’s starting to feel like San Lang is just teasing me” Oh yes he is~

-They’re chucking their dice at him!

-It’s a 10!

-“Now I’m sure San Lang is just teasing me”  Told ya~

-The chibi scene!

-Welp, looks like those rolls were just practice rolls

-You gotta love Xie Lian’s internal monologue

-Qingxuan chucked his fan at Taihua, and it came back like Sokka’s boomerang (I had to make that reference!)

-That tapir/baku headed Ghost

-It’s a 12, and it timed well with the rising crescendo!

-That one monkey like ghost

-Right on the gambling table!

-Did he cheat?

-The music change!!!  The soundtrack team knew what they were doing!

-“Who cares it’s gorgeous!  He’s so handsome I think I might just die right here!”  “What are you talking about?  You’re already dead!”  That was a really great exchange!

-And he is seeing his real face!

-“Please my lord don’t tease me!”  Oh yes he will~!

-Now the ghosts are suspicious it took em like half an episode!

-Hey guys I think we’re all gonna get a kick outta this, “The stale half eaten bun from Ep 5 was in Xie Lian’s sleeve the whole time!”  I’ve always wanted to quote that, and it was totally worth it!

-Man, I can’t wait to write Aang’s reaction seeing Xie Lian and Hua Cheng interact together!

-“Um, I’m afraid it’s gotten a bit hard” Yep, they slipped that in, and James was a boss at writing the whole english script for the season

-He tosssed the bun up and down like San Lang did with a small piece of a broken sword in S1 Ep 6, the parallels people!  The parallels!!!

-And him biting the stale bun got XL all flustered! AAAHH!!!

-Look at him go!

-Not that random stand, wait it’s still in tact

-Slay that performance Qingxuan!

-Chide him good!

-And Xie Lian’s still does a great job as a strategizer and a mediator

-The introduction that would change the season forever, also Qingxuan’s emotion shift when it came to describing his new friend’s current occupation with collecting scraps as a living

-He knew San Lang was Hua Cheng?!?!?!

-Hua Cheng is messing with them!

-They’re using him as bait!

-Oh yeah, that’s right, they’re friends

-Geez savage, Wind master

-Hey, no dissing Ling Wen she’s doing her best!

-Gone from Season 1 eps 2-3 and Ling Wen still couldn’t find him???

-Welp, there’s the cliffhanger

Does this reaction count for Hua Cheng’s B-Day?  More reactions will be on the way, I’ve got 3 weeks left of my quarter and I’ve got two big projects to finish so hang tight everyone!

[sepublic]

I find it funny how some people insist the narrative should’ve portrayed Belos as sympathetic and tragic to Luz and make her “understand” him so she can see how people can be driven to do terrible things because of misguided good intentions because like. Other characters already exist for that purpose? Like Lilith, who cursed her sister but ultimately did want and need and choose family in the end. Or Gwen making Eda feel terrible about the curse because she feared for her family’s health. The Collector enslaved an entire population because they were lonely, and the Titan imprisoned an innocent child, which led to the show’s current conflict, because she was a survivor of genocide. Kikimora was someone Luz personally related to regarding their mothers. Hell Luz even understood in the previous episode why her own mom sent her to reality check camp, the whole inciting incident of the series. She’s allowed one instance where she can just call a guy out and not try to make excuses for him. Luz is entitled to setting boundaries and prioritizing her own health.

It reminds me of Steven Universe, which had an opposite but also similar problem where people bemoaned how the Diamonds were ultimately forgiven and allowed to grow, because they insisted Steven needed to see how some people just won’t listen or change. And meanwhile Marty was right fucking there. Steven and Sour Cream tried to be friends and it backfired, with the latter especially realizing he didn’t owe his dad the time of day, and cutting a toxic relative out of his life. Which is further relevant since the Diamonds are also toxic relatives. The show didn’t even try to portray Marty as sympathetic. Plus Greg did the same thing as Sour Cream too, and didn’t have to go back on that!

And sure we know for a fact that Steven Universe was forced to end fast (like TOH) because of confirmed executive homophobia, so maybe we were supposed to get something else with Marty but lbr. It just seems that people are salty about the narrative focusing on one framing, because despite their insistence that the show needs to cover all its bases for its protagonist and by extension the kids watching, it… already did??? Fandom misogyny really does mean demonizing women while excusing men.

[sanskari-kanya]

@hum-suffer i didnt want to tell this on whatsapp so here is a tea for all of my moots 🥰😻

Bg knowledge : I got periods a day before my biochem, gen and microbio exams and I didn’t study a single ppt out of the 12 :))

On the day of exam : re-enter a side character from season 1 : ‘P’

P hadn’t conversed with me in her entire life before but constantly claimed to my bf how pretty I was and how lucky he was to have me and that we both look cute tgt etc etc. And that thing ki mai to badi behen hu tum dono ki.

Girls will understand the problem with these compliments 🥰

Anyways so my very kind man, told her ki meri bilkul padhai nahi hui hai since I was sick the whole night and told her ki badi behen bolti hai khud ko toh dikha de usko thode answers exam me and I was like…um? okay? You really dont need to because honestly i hate copying at this point of my life. This is not about marks, this will be about someone’s life in 5 years and copying will take me nowhere so I was like meh about it but she agreed to show ha.

Exam start hui, I sat behind her and Miss P, sat in a way I wouldn’t even see her exam screen. Even a bit. And i was like? okay? Usne bola haj toh uska complete hone ke baad help karegi maybe. And it was past 30 mins now and I was solving my own paper and I called this girl to check where she has reached and this mf she clicked the submit button and GOT UP AND LEFT without me??? Badi behen ka B bhi tha tere me didi??

And fir maine khud ka paper solve kiya aur bahar aai

I got 18/20 and Miss P got 15/20 🥰🥰

[honeybeezgobzzzzz]

𓃮 Even the Sun Influences the Tide: Chapter Twenty-Two

Even the Sun Influences the Tide: After the death of your foster brother, King T’Challa, you had spent much of your year of mourning in isolation. When your mother gathers you and your sister to end your mourning period, you encounter the newest threat to Wakanda: Namor. You don’t know what to think of Namor, but you do know one thing: he probably shouldn’t be making trips to see you at your beach hut.

Warnings: Non-Graphic Birth Scene, K’uk’ulkan is Smitten with His Daughter.

To Note: Namor/K’uk’ulkan x Fem!Reader, I Tried To Make The Yucatec Maya & Xhosa Translations/Traditions As Accurate As I Can Get.

Word Count: ~2.6k

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When you had discussed the birthing of your child, you had hesitated at the suggestion of an underwater birth. It wasn’t that you were against it, you just feared the unknown of your baby and questioned whether or not she would be able to breathe underwater, by gills or osmosis. You had spent many hours pacing back and forth while Namora tried to calm you down. Ultimately it was Tlalli who had sat you down and managed to reassure you. Which is how you ended up floating beneath the deep waves, K’uk’ulkan wrapped around your back and letting you squeeze his hands in a white knuckled grip.

You were trying not to break his fingers with your grip, but each time a contraction hit you your knuckles clenched in a strained grip while you tried not to scream. Why the fuck did women get pregnant when it hurt this much!? K’uk’ulkan pressed his face into your neck and whispered encouraging words in your ear, trying to soothe and lessen your pain.

“Focus on your breathing, In k'iino’,” He softly called, feeling your entire body quiver. You felt like snapping back at him that you didn’t know how to, when you breathed through your skin now, but your next contraction stole any words you might say. A strangled moan echoed through the water as Akna, a renowned Talokanil midwife, checked the progress of your labor.

“Tell me I’m close because I just want this baby out of me,” You rasped out. Akna checked and clicked her tongue, eyeing you.

“Would you like to start pushing, my queen.” You nearly felt like shouting at her.

“YES!” You howled, your fingers clenching K’uk’ulkan’s once more. You were half convinced that your body was going to split in half with the way pain was erupting along your flesh. To K’uk’ulkan, you screams of pain, the way you clenched his fingers, and the writhes of your body were something he never wished to see or hear again. Why did something so beautiful as bringing a child to life, have to cause you so much pain?

You couldn’t quite tell how long you had been pushing, trying to get this baby out of your body, but her first squeal was music to your ears. You would have collapsed back against K’uk’ulkan’s chest if you hadn’t been floating underwater, but he did cradle your limb body with his entire devotion. He nuzzled your neck, telling how proud he was while Akna swiftly handed you your daughter. The umbilical was still attached as she was pressed into your chest, but all you could stare at was her ankles.

“We are in so much trouble,” You whispered in horror, clutching your daughter to your chest and trembling in realization. K’uk’ulkan was immediately standing to attention at your words.

“What is it, In k'iino’, what is wrong?” He urgently pressed, his eyes glossing over both you and the newborn infant cradled within your arms. You carefully pulled up one of her legs to reveal a winged ankle.

“How am I supposed to keep track of her when she can fly!?” You whispered, your gaze turning to his in horror. “Ancestors, Ch'ah Toh Almehen, she could—“ K’uk’ulkan took your chin and pressed his thumb against your lower lip.

“Calm down, Y/N,” He reassured you, sliding his free arm to your waist. “You think you are alone in raising our child?” You blinked at him, worry still clear on your face. K’uk’ulkan smiled at you before pointing out one glaring fact that surely would reassure you. “See how our daughter breathes, my queen? She is one with the ocean and our people will gladly help watch over her. She has the sea to guide her.”

Looking down at your daughter, you did notice that she was breathing perfectly fine despite having no gills upon her neck and shoulders. Snuggled against your chest, your daughter gazed at you with eyes just like yours and skin and hair just like her fathers. She was sleepily blinking at you, the little wings on her feet feebly flapping. All that worry over nothing. You lifted a finger and traced her cheek, smiling when her little baby fist reached for yours. The moment tiny fingers wrapped around one of your own, dread filled you once more.

“Ch'ah Toh Almehen?” You asked, your head ever so slowly turning to face your husband. He was frowning once again.

“What is it?”

“I’m pretty sure she got your strength.” You replied meekly, trying not to wince at the strength of the fingers grasping your own. It was going to take all of Talokan to raise this little one, you were sure of it.

“Be at peace, Namora,” You spoke while your hands secured the fabric around your chest and back. “There is no place safer than Wakanda and our home, and should anything happen? We both know the little devil will just take off on her own.” You could have sworn Namora was reliving Yuritzi’s last incident in which she had managed to sneak out and fly off. It had taken at least an hour to track her down and return to your arms. That was only one of the many incidents that had happened since she had learned how to fly.

How ironic that your daughter learned how to fly before walking.

“Besides,” You continued. “You’ll be by my side the entire time and Abha will be with us as well.” Abha, an Orca that had taken to you, was obsessed with Yuritzi and at this point you were fairly certain that the deadly marine animal would kill to protect your daughter.

K’uk’ulkan was already in Wakanda at Birnin Zana with Attuma, meeting with Ramonda for a yearly alliance talk. You hadn’t been home since you left after the battle that nearly killed you, and it was time to visit your family. Certainly it was time that you introduced your daughter to Ramonda and Shuri. You had been on the fence on when to visit them.

For one, your daughter habitually broke out of her crib and cleverly evaded Zyanya and Tlalli who helped you raise her. K’uk’ulkan found her escapes to be endearing and funny, then you had pointed out that she might be able to slip out of the safety of her home. The look of horror on his face had made you laugh as he quickly called for Attuma to discuss making a tracking device for the little princess.

“Very well, my queen,” Namora answered bowing her head as Yuritzi kicked her feet against your stomach and you grunted.

“Yuritzi, In sáasil,” (my light) You sighed, wincing as your stomach ached. “Easy with the kicks, na' is not as indestructible as you.” (Mama) Yuritzi beamed at you, showing off her few teeth she had. No one could ever stay mad at her when she smiled, it was her secret weapon that had Talokan’s toughest warriors melting. Double checking that Yuritzi was strapped firmly to your chest and wouldn’t escape, you looked to Namora. “Shall we?”

“Yes.” You both moved to the water and began swimming to the mouth of the cavern. From there you met up with Abha, and began the trek across the ocean to Wakanda. You could tell you were getting close to the boarder of the country you once called home, hearing the subtle hum of the scanners that now graced the waterway entrance. K’uk’ulkan was a lesson well learned.

Approaching the barrier, Abha surfaced to reveal your and Namora’s forms to the border guards. The both stood to attention and you called out to them.

“Would you care to let us through?” You requested, keeping one hand on Yuritzi’s back in the event she got excited and wanted a look of her own. The guards immediately recognized who you were, of course, they would never forget their princess’s face… but they clearly weren’t expecting you. Regardless of their surprise, you were allowed through and surely your mother and the Dora Milaje would be notified. You’d never be able to surprise your mother. The question was… would she inform K’uk’ulkan?

Abha swam up to the fish market and parked herself near the other Orca’s currently playing with some children.

“They are having the time of their life.” You commented as you and Namora slipped from Abha’s side. Namora raised an eyebrow.

“The children?”

“The Orca’s,” You replied dryly with a soft giggle. While you and Namora were watching the children and Orca’s, who Abha was quick to join with a squeal and click, Ayo came striding over flanked by two other Dora.

“Greetings, Queen Y/N,” Aye spoke formally. “Queen Ramonda welcomes you back to Wakanda.”

“Hello Ayo, good to see you again,” You greeted warmly, rubbing Yuritzi’s back as she squirmed around to try and look at who you were speaking to. Ayo nodded her chin before her dark eyes dropped to the bundle of squirming limbs strapped to your chest.

“And who is this?” She questioned. You smiled and looked down at Yuritzi who was giving you a pleading face mixed with one of impatience. You stroked your fingers through her dark hair.

“This is my daughter, Yuritzi,” You explained, “and she is a little escape artist with a proclivity to fly away from her own mother.” As you spoke, Yuritzi beamed at you and squealed, several babbling sounds erupting from her mouth. “Would you mind directing us to where K’uk’ulkan and my mother are?”

“It would be our pleasure,” Ayo agreed before turning around and leading you to a new royal talon fighter. Namora was distrustful of the fighter, and you had to reassure her that it would not harm her, before she even entertained the idea of allowing you and Yuritzi on board. Even then, with you sitting calmly and playing with your daughter as the ship brought you to the citadel, Namora remained on high alert. By the time the royal talon fighter touched down outside the citadel, Yuritzi was passed out on your chest, positively exhausted from the brief moment of excitement from being away from home for the first time.

“Queen Ramonda is meeting with K’uk’ulkan and Attuma within the council chambers,” Ayo explained as you walked down familiar halls.

“And my sister?” You asked, your thoughts wandering to Shuri.

“The princess is in her lab.” The warrior explained, coming to a stop just outside the doors. “You should know, Queen Y/N, I do not think that Queen Ramonda nor K’uk’ulkan will be happy that you are here.”

You snorted as your lips twitched.

“Why does every seem to be forgetting the Queen part of Queen Y/N?” You asked with a tilt of your head. Ayo stared at you with her usual cool blank expression.

“They will be done momentarily.” You nodded at Ayo before moving towards the windows to look out the windows. Yuritzi stirred against your chest, her little fist pressing against your chest. You patted her back and hummed her back to sleep, you were still humming quietly when the doors behind you opened and you heard the familiar voice of your mother.

“…considering that my daughter still has not…” You glanced over your shoulder as Ramonda trailed off the moment she caught sight of you standing by the window. You smiled.

“Hello, mama,” You greeted warmly. While Ramonda stared at you as if she could not believe her eyes, K’uk’ulkan was striding towards you.

“Y/N! What are you doing here!? And without guards!? What of Yuritzi? The little one will escape! You know nothing holds her in! What if she—“ You turned in place mid sentence, revealing your daughter sleeping against your chest.

“My sea, if you would kindly lower your voice, or you shall wake her up.” You told K’uk’ulkan watching as his entire attention was diverted to the sleeping baby.

“In ujo’,” (My moon) He breathed, a hand automatically reaching up to caress Yuritzi’s midnight tuffs of hair. His eyes rose to meet yours and silent conversation passed between you. You sighed.

“I was feeling cooped up and figured that it was time for her to meet her other family.” You explained in English before nodding your head to Namora. “Namora was with us the entire time and besides, you think I’ll leave her with anyone else? The little escape artist will disappear in under five minutes.”

K’uk’ulkan sighed, knowing that you were technically correct, but wished that you had a full guard to escort you. Even with Talokan’s good relation with Wakanda, he was still highly protective of you and your daughter within the ocean. So he leaned his forehead against yours and nuzzled his nose with yours.

“Forgive me, my sun, I only imagine the worst when you are not surrounded by our people.” K’uk’ulkan murmured, his lips brushing against yours. At his soft and gentle words, Yuritzi stirred against your chest and drowsily opened her eyes. At first she blinked at you with her adorable grin, but then she seemed to realize who was standing in front of you, and let out a piercing shriek, her arms waving in your face. You took a baby fist to the jaw and winced. K’uk’ulkan was on her before you even had a chance to react. “Do not despair my moon, your papa is here.”

Rolling your eyes as K’uk’ulkan began unstrapping your squirming child from your chest, you glanced at Ramonda and saw that she had finally collected herself.

“Apologies for the shrieks, she get’s very excited every time she sees her father,” You explained as K’uk’ulkan hefted her up with his hands, a glowing smile on his face as Yuritzi squealed with laughter, her ankle wings fluttering with excitement.

“You have a child,” Ramonda softly spoke as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. K’uk’ulkan settled Yuritzi against his chest, holding onto her firmly so she didn’t make yet another break for it. He could withstand Yuritzi’s baby punches much better than your.

“Yes,” You answered, reaching up to brush a few of Yuritzi’s wayward curls from her face. “This is Yuritzi, and she is an absolute terror.”

“Yuritzi,” Ramonda repeated, looking at her granddaughter with a smile.

“Our Preciosa waal is as you count, eight months old and already able to sneak away from her mother.” (Precious daughter) You gave K’uk’ulkan a glare for how proud he seemed of that fact. His cheeky grin in response indicated he knew exactly why you were glaring at him. The absolute cheek!

“She get’s that from you, you know.” You griped, your eyes dropping to Yuritzi’s ankle wings. You then addressed your mother. “She figured out how to use her wings to get around before she even knew how to crawl. She’s an absolute menace to track down when she get’s out. I literally have to put a leash on her so she doesn’t get out.”

“Reminds me of a certain daughter of mine,” Ramonda countered, her eyebrow arched. K’uk’ulkan began chuckling while you huffed and then pressed a kiss against the side of your head, nuzzling your hair.

“Like mother like daughter, no?”

“Do you like having a place to sleep at night?” You countered, giving your husband a look. AKA: do you like sleeping next to me? Because if you do, I suggest you stop. K’uk’ulkan blinked at you, mirth still clear in his eyes.

“Very much so, In reina,” He replied cheekily.

“Then stop tempting fate, Ulwandle lwam,” (My sea) You told him firmly. “Now,” You turned back to Ramonda. “Ayo said that Shuri was in her lab? I believe I am due for a ‘I told you so’.”

“Indeed,” Ramonda confirmed. “We shall visit her, and while we walk, you must tell me all there is to know about my granddaughter.” As you waked towards Shuri’s lab, you told your mother everything there was to know about Yuritzi, including her superhuman abilities that tested your abilities to be her parent. Even after all this time, Ramonda had remained hesitant about K’uk’ulkan being your husband, let alone an ally of Wakanda. But hearing you talk about your daughter and watching the mutant man/god, it became painfully clear that while the moon does influence the tide, so can the sun… and you were K’uk’ulkan’s bright star.

Date Published: 7/30/23

Last Edit: 4/5/23

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[things-arent-what-they-seem66]

Just wanted to share my thoughts on canon Adam and Canon Lilith, I hope you don’t mind my rant.

So I think that what happened with with Adam and Lilith it’s a bit similar to what happened with Stolas and Stella in HH(no trying to throw any hate on Stolas or to defend Stella just trying to tell my experience when I watched the show for the first time).

I feel like at the beginning of HH both Stella and Stolas were relatable characters, like I could understand that Stolas would be unhappy with his marriage but that wouldn’t give him the excuse to cheat on Stella, publicly humiliating her, whether she liked him or not. So that scene in the kitchen when she’s insulting him and throwing things at him, I saw it as a normal response from a partner who has been cheated off, I didn’t really read it as someone who was regularly being abused (maybe that’s on me but I know I wasn’t the only one so…)

Also, when we find out that Stella is trying to kill Stolas, I mean it’s hell, I don’t think there’s a better way to deal with things and I kind of sympathized with her, and saw a lot of people who did too(not that I’m agreeing with it or that I think it’s right but I could understand where she was coming from). But suddenly the second season comes around and it turns out being that she has always been abusive to Stolas and he has been a victim all this time so him cheating on Stella is now an empowering move. (Again I’m not throwing hate on Stolas or anything, I love him and I love that they made him get out of this abusive relationship and try to come out in such a great way). But it feels like a bummer, because we could have had such complex and well written rounded grey characters with both Stolas and Stella, but they made Stella an asshole just so we would not see Stolas cheating on her as something bad.

It’s similar to what they did in TOH with Alador and Odalia, in which they were both bad parents in season one but suddenly in season two Alador is just a goof who follows his wife’s wishes and she’s the real bitch while he gets to be redeemed. Again, I love Alador and I love that he got redeemed, but changing his whole character just so he can be a victim to earn redemption is kinda lame. I know it would have been more complicated to redeem a adult than a seriously traumatized child(Hunter) and it would have taken a lot of screen time that they didn’t have, but still…

Now coming to Adam, I feel like something similar was done with him and Lilith. Like both Lucifer and Lilith did wrong things, besides the fact that they took the apple they also tricked Eve into eating it too, but since Lilith was escaping a “abusive controlling misogynist man” it’s okay! She is the hero and everything is Adam’s fault. Like instead of doing them both round grey characters in which we can sympathize with both sides, they make them flat but one is pure evil and the other one was just trying to escape a abusive relationship so whatever they did to do so (be it right or wrong) is okay.

Again, I’m not trying to throw any hate to either the characters or the writers of the show, I’m just commenting on what I feel is happening with characters I love and would have loved to have seen get more fleshed but couldn’t. It also makes me sad that as much as I want him to appear in the next season, Adam will probably just stay dead and we won’t get his side of the story(but again I don’t think the writers would go around to make him a justified character and he would just stay as an asshole, so maybe it’s just for the better that he stays dead). Sorry for ranting so much it’s just that I have no one else to rant to and had this on my head for too long

They likely won't bring Adam back and that really sucks the big one. But yeah we probably won't get his side of the story he likely is just the villian that died in the end.

He served his purpose time to move on.

Which is a waste, the potential there could be. You can't tell me that in the beginning where he was supposed to be kind and innocent free of sin that Adam was an asshole.

Something happened that we don't know that really changed him. Something more than Lilith cheating. Or maybe that's it idk.

I already gave a rant about this on another ask about the book of Hell, Lucifer and Lilith, all that jazz.

I just want him to come back. lol

[piss-pumpkin]

Never goodbye (Hunter TOH x Reader)

Enemies to lovers if you squint? friends to lovers also. Anyway, human reader yeah. And angst at the end.

Like 3k words

You’d known Luz for God knows how long. Elementary school you were acquainted, but you really blossomed into friendship in middle school. She was weird, and that was cool, and more then that you bonded over hyper fixating on the same books. 

But then things changed. First year of high school, she was different. She just… stopped being herself. She was… average. Normal, even. And she avoided you, her former friend who still liked talking about very un normal things. It wasn’t like you didn’t have other friends, but it still hurt.

So when she came to school one seemingly random day in the spring, and acted like she hadn’t seen you in years, you were surprised. 

“Holy shit, Y/n!” she cried, running up to you to hug. She quickly jumped up and wrapped her arms around you. Startled, you awkwardly put your arms around her too in a strange embrace. “Y/n, oh my god, you won’t believe it…”

”Luz, uh, yeah… I am having trouble believing it,” you said, pulling back. “What is up with you, today?”

That looked like it hurt. She winced, and for the first time today you really saw her. There was a scar that wasn’t there yesterday… and the hair was off. “Wait, Luz, what the fuck?” you say, pointing at the scar across her brow.

”Y/n, I can’t wait to tell you everything…” she said, an otherworldly smile crossing her lips. Once more she lurched foreword to hug you. “It’s so good to see you.”

”Uhhh, sure, yeah okay, good to see you too.”

                                            …

And suddenly it made… a little bit of sense. Luz wasn’t Luz, this past year. It was her newfound sister that has been avoiding you, for which both of them apologized profusely. 

It was strange seeing her with this her new family. She had finally made some real friends, even found a girlfriend. As you were introduced to all of them, you felt nothing but proud of her, and honoured she wanted you to be a part of it. 

One of her new… cousins… was less pleased. Luz had warned you he was a little… abrasive. 

You heard him mutter under his breath, “Luz, are you sure we can trust this… human, with our identities.”

”What the fuck are you talking about?” you respond. He wasn’t speaking to you, and you did know that. He winced, and curled his fingers as you finished. “What, you thought I just wouldn’t hear you?”

”Y-yes!” he exclaimed, a blush forming on ears. “Don’t listen in when other people are talking, it’s basic manners!”

You scoff. “Yeah, okay,” you turn your head, crossing your arms. “Chat away.”

In being catty, you missed Luz’s growing anxiety. And this was the moment she decided to chime in. Putting a hand on both your and the blond boys shoulder, she sighed, “You guys got off on the wrong foot…”  She took a breath. “I’ll introduce you formally, okay?” She turned to you, and flicked the boy on the cheek. “This is Hunter, and he’s a little bit shy around new people.” She looked back to Hunter, “and this is Y/n, a good friend of mine from way before I knew any of you, who can be trusted.” 

Luz stepped back and looked at both of you expectantly. Hunter spoke first, much to your surprise. “Sorry, Y/n,” he muttered. 

In truth and honesty, you expected him to stay stubborn. Luz really did have a way of bringing people together when she wanted to. “Yeah, uh… sorry, Hunter.”

Not knowing what to say more, you outstretched a hand to shake, maybe to solidify a friendship. He seemed like a handshake guy. He looked down at your palm and moved to take it. Smirking, you pulled back just before he reached you and brushed back your hair.

His expression quickly soured, and his face flushed pink. There was a brief confusion in his eyes, and in a delayed reaction he mimicked your action, and ran his fingers through his own hair. Unfortunately, his hair was a tad bit tangled and his fingers got stuck. He flinched, and muttered a quiet ow before detangling his hand. You smirked as you watched. 

In honesty and truth, your first thought was to judge him as a loser. But on occasion, things change.                            

Hunter remained abrasive. Shy, at times. It was a tad bit awkward, when you came to Luz’s house and the cabin where the witches stayed. But the others outweighed any feeling of mutual discomfort.

You had a habit of walking in like it was home, the same way you did for the main house, because it was. It was a home. It was a place where you could stay as long as you wanted with your new found close knit group. 

You pushed the door open, making quick eye contact with the owl face painted on the exterior. Crossing the threshold, you saw Gus laying back on the couch with a phone in hand. “Gus, my man, my homie,” you said, walking up to him and flipping down beside him. “What’s up.”

He turned to you and showed you the screen of the phone. There was a YouTube video playing of a magic show, in which a magician was dazzling the audience with tricks. “Think I could do that, but with real magic?” Gus asked. “Like illusions.”

You laughed slightly, “I mean yeah, and you’d be way better then this dude.” As Gus pulled the phone back to study, you shifted so you could keep looking. “Yeah, like right there,” you pointed to the magician sawing somebody in half, “you could do that super easy, and that’s a pretty popular trick.”

Before he could respond, a voice steadily grew louder from the hallway. “Gus! I think I’ve finally perfected it!” The not so mysterious voice was very distinct, and you sighed a quiet sigh before he walked in.

Gus turned his head to the doorframe as Hunter approached… in the strangest clothes you ever saw on him. A yellow onesie with questionable stitching, a tool belt, and a mock robotic eyepatch. Your eyes widened, and you pointed at him. 

Hunter winced, and Gus looked back and forth between the two of you, worried. He must of been expecting you to make fun of Hunter, who seemed to be bracing for it, a frown tugging at his lips when he saw you. 

On the other hand, you were still wide eyed. Breaking the silence that fell over the room, you interjected. “Holy shit, is that Cosmic Frontiers?” 

All at once Gus sighed a sigh of relief and Hunter perked up. “You… know it?” He asked cautiously. His expression was still guarded, preparing for potential ridicule. 

“Dude, of course!” You said, starting to bounce your leg. “Wait hold on- you’re…  fuck what’s his name… you’re the clone dude!” 

He grimaced again on the last beat of your question, but quickly recovered. “Yeah! Oh my Titan, he’s my favourite character,” Hunter started towards you and sat down on the couch beside you. On the edge of your seat, you shifted away from leaning on Gus to scoot closer to Hunter. For the first time in your tenuous relationship with him, you felt a common ground beneath your feet. Hunter was talking with his hands, and flopped back into the couch cushions, “Man, he’s so cool, he’s such a complex character. And the way he hides the secret… you can tell it tears him up inside. And I relate to him so much too. Well- a normal amount. I relate to him a normal amount.”

You felt yourself laughing, “Augh, I think my favourite moment with him is when he gets found out.” You recalled the scene, though the details were fuzzy. “He was so worried for nothing! The captain could never hate him!”

”Well he couldn’t have known that!” Hunter retorted, “he had every reason to think people wouldn’t accept it, he was disowned on his home planet!” 

“But he knows the captain, he should know-“

Gus interjected. In the moment you forgot he was there. “I gotta back Y/n on this one. But either way the moment between the two of them was one of the best moment in the series.”

Your eyes widened once again, “Gus you’re a fan too?” 

“Dude, I was the one who got Hunter into the series,” he said smugly. He folded his hands behind his head. “How has this never come up?” 

You smiled, “God, I don’t know. I’ve been a fan of Cosmic Frontier as long as I can remember…” Hunter beamed, and you could only do the same. Come to think of it, you couldn’t remember him smiling at you and not looking forced. But in that moment? It had always been this way, you couldn’t imagine otherwise. “I think my favourite character is the chief science officer- yeah, officer Ozaki.”

Gus thought for a moment, and made eye contact with Hunter across you. “Y/n, we’re actually doing matching Halloween costumes as engineer O’Bailey and captain Avery, do you wanna join?” 

Hunter remained silent, but nodded when you looked at him. You didn’t consider him a friend, but he seemed to give the unspoken permission. Maybe your relationship was about to change. Maybe from annoying acquaintances to friends. However abrasive he could be, you didn’t hate him. Maybe he didn’t hate you.

”Isn’t Halloween in like, several months?” Last you checked it was early summer.

Hunter chimed in, “Costumes take a while to sew, we’re just planning in advance.”

You laughed, “Then yeah, for sure I’ll join!”

                                              …

And despite the rough start, your relationship did in fact, change. Even just that day, your newfound camaraderie shocked Luz and Amity when they got home. 

With October slowly approaching, the three of you  started to work on costumes. Gus was doing the details, handy illusions, Hunter the stitching, the boy loved that machine, and you were making the prosthetics. The basement became synonymous with arts and crafts. On occasion, it was just you and Hunter down there, accompanied by the tension that still lingered behind your fresh new friendship. 

Hunter was putting your blue fabric through the sewing machine while you taped some coloured cardboard together. You’d already exhausted the easy conversation topics, various plots from Cosmic Frontiers, and and silence hung in the room. 

“So Hunter, what’s with the tattoo?” You said, pointing up at his wrist from the floor where you sat.

He looked at it mindlessly, still focusing on his sewing. “Oh it’s the emperors coven sigil, it means I’m a member.”

You’d heard them talk about the emperors coven in less then positive terms. “Wait I thought we didn’t like the emperors guys,” you asked curiously, looking up from your little project.

He grimaced, “yeah, I kinda... defected, when I found out the truth.” He rubbed the back of his neck, a small blush creeping into his ears. “When you’re raised in it you- you don’t know it’s bad at first.”

”Well yeah, I mean how could you? That’s like… psychology right there.”

”Hm?” He was still looking down.

”Yeah that’s like one of the first things we learned in psyche class last year,” you said, rolling over so you were laying in your back. “How kids mimic their the adults in their life and stuff. If you were raised with something weird you’re little brain thinks it’s normal if your parents say it is, usually.”

Hunter perked up, and looked down at you from his project. “That’s… kind of interesting,” he said, curiosity roused. “What else do you learn there?”

You folded your hands behind your head to rest on. “Well, lots of stuff, lots of theories. A lot about how childhood affects you, I guess.” You pondered a moment, “I guess that’s what you’d be interested in?”

He nodded eagerly, “Yeah, I wanna know about… that kind of stuff.” He leaned back in his chair with a sigh. “I sometimes wish I could go to school, it sounds interesting.” 

You laughed, “Eh you aren’t missing much, it is where none of the fun happens.”

”That makes perfect sense, you have to be focused!” He said, clearly passionate. “Anywhere you have to learn should be a place of… discipline, and rules!”

“That sounds very emperors coven,” you said. “Is that what they did there?”

He stopped himself, a nervous blush creeping across his face. “Well, yeah but- I don’t think that was one of the bad things.” He fidgeted with his hands as he spoke. 

“Well if you liked it I guess,” you shrugged. “School here is a lot less strict, I imagine.” You closed your eyes as the lights on the ceiling stared into your eyes. “But hey, I can tell you what we learn when school starts up again if you want the second hand experience.”

”I-I’d like that, actually. The human realm is quite curious,” he stuttered. “Anyway, do you think this is the right size?” He held up the shirt for your costume, the final locking seam not yet sewn. 

You opened your eyes and stood up, moving to examine it. “Uh, I think so. I’ll check” Hunter handed you the fabric, his fingers tips brushing yours in the action. They had bandaids all across them from when he was first learning the machine, and the needle was still a challenge. You wrapped the cloth around your torso and turned around so your back faced him. “does it go all the way? I can barely feel it because if my shirt.”

He pinched the pierces of fabric together behind you, “yeah if that’s comfortable, then we’re good!”

                                           …

Somewhere along the way that newfound friendship changed. Somehow, you were sitting much closer to Hunter when the group was on the couch. Somehow you loved to taunt him and get a reaction out of him when you beat him at games. Somehow you found yourself smirking every time you made his face flush red.

Strangest of all, somehow he felt the same. Mildly awkward at first, with Luz’s match making help, you managed to find yourself in a relationship with Hunter. This was something that seemed to baffle the occasionally self doubting boy at first. 

This was a relationship that lasted through the summer when it started, quietly shedding any awkwardness by September. And when Halloween came around inevitably, the banter between the two of you when you were dressed up in cosplay could fool anyone into thinking your characters were married.

But that night wasn’t all sweet.

Holy shit. 

In front of you, he’d changed. He’d gone from Hunter, to something evil. A malignant green… disease… has spread across his face, and his eyes were alight with something new.

Willow muttered beside you, “Belos…”

You looked to her and whispered, “That’s Belos?” You’d heard the stories, you knew what Hunter was. You never imagined you’d see it, though.

“I think so,” she said. As Hunter… Belos, started to walk closer to all of you, the witches turned to attack mode. You were left in the dust as most of them flew forth on their staffs.

You found yourself moving forward without thought, guided by instinct and adoration. Camila held out and arm to stop you though. “Hold back, Y/n.” She looked at you with concern in her eyes. “Please be careful, we humans don’t have a lot of experience with magic,” she said. She had a bat over her shoulder, but this was Hunter. She couldn’t use it without hurting him, if she could even get close.

You would have responded, but you were cut off before you could.

It had echoes of Hunters voice, but it didn’t sound like him shouting your name. He must have been speaking before, and you only hear when he singled you out. “And you Y/n, you’re the worst of all,” he said, fighting the others off. “I can feel that this… failed experiment loves you,” he laughed, “you’re the reason we need witch hunts.”

One of the others called out to you, Camila surely tried to stop you, but neither voice reached you. You had to join the fight, if only to shut him up.

Charging in, you could hear him laughing. You made eye contact with Gus flying above you, and nearly telepathically you knew what to do. He swooped down to grab you and fly you up above Belos, and dropped you down on him, knocking him over. As you took him down you did your best to restrain him and hold him to the ground for a moment, before rolling out of the way of a magic blast from Luz. Teamwork. 

You weren’t immune to falling though, and stumbled and tripped in the dirt before finally being able to stand. Belos was beside you by then, looking down on you. In the sickening voice, “I hope he likes seeing this,” as he moved to grab you. 

“Y/n!” Gus yelled, quickly attacking with Willow to distract him. While Belos’s head was turned you swiftly punched you on his jaw to knock him off balance for the others again.

Willow picked you up flying by, “Do you need to go to Camila?”

You shook your head quickly. 

“Then let’s do and easier drop.” She quickly sped up on the same level as Belos, who’s back was turned, giving you momentum without the height as you jumped off to hold him down.

It seemed you were beating him back. But things go wrong, fights are won, and birds die.

He’d come back from the dead, and lost his oldest friend. You stood in front of the portal with him, ready to follow him anywhere. But he had some thoughts. Hunter looked down, fist clenched at his side. His voice was a mutter, but you still heard. “I think… you should stay behind.”

You grabbed Hunter by the cheeks, “No, fuck you,” you tapped his face with your finger to get him to look at you, and noticed his eyes had taken a new colour. “You aren’t walking into an apocalypse without me, okay? Not a chance in the fucking world.” 

He was tearing up, and failing to hold it in. As tears started to fall from his eyes he put his hands on your forearms, keeping them pressed firmly to his cheeks. “You can’t do magic… you’ll get hurt, Y/n… I- I can’t let you.”

”Eat shit not a chance,” you shook your head. “You know me, I don’t need magic. And you have to know there isn’t a chance I let this be goodbye.”

He hung his head for a moment. “It won’t be… I promise.”

You could feel yourself breaking as you looked into his pleading and watery eyes. “But… it’s dangerous.”

”Exactly,” he begged. “You could get hurt or…” he paused, and you could hear the Autumn wind blow by. You were thankful the rest of the gang hung back, letting you have this conversation, as hard as it was.

“But…” you couldn’t place the words. Sighing, you wiped away a few tears from Hunters face with your thumbs, and gently leaned your forehead on his, closing your eyes. “Please?”

“I-“ he sputtered. It was nearly a whisper. It seems you were at an impasse. Neither of you could leave each other but neither could follow. Somebody had to bend. “I can’t lose you…”

Tears fell from your eyes, “When Luz went though the first time… the door broke she was gone for so long.” 

”That won’t happen again,” he said, life coming back into his words. “And if it does, I won’t give up, I’ll still find a way back here. I’ll show you the boiling isles when it’s safe, I promise.” 

You pulled your forehead away from his and glanced at his lips, which were wet from the tears that had spilled down his cheeks. You knew he was right, in your heart of hearts. You held his hands close to your chest, letting him feel your heartbeat. “Promise?”

You felt his hands shift from your chest to around your back and waist as he pulled you into a hug, burying his face in your shoulder. You did the same, staining his carefully home sewn shirt with your watery eyes and runny nose. You felt him mutter against your neck, “I promise, Y/n.”

You leaned heavily on him, and he was more then happy to support your weight. You sighed. How did we get here? It would almost have been easier if you stayed strangers with him. You barely remembered what that felt like now. It seemed it had always been this; wrapped in his arms and in love. Any other day and you wouldn’t have considered having it any other way. 

“Y/n?” He muttered. He started to pull away, trying to read you for emotions. His hands still steadied you. 

“I love you,” was all you managed to say, your voice weak and hiding. 

You felt a tremor go through him. “Y/n, I-I love y-“

You cut him off. “I know, but if you say it I’m gonna cry more, so stop.” You leaned your head against his shoulder for a moment. “Just get outta here already,” you whispered. “And keep your promises.”