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genericpuff · 8 months

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The Mishandling of LO’s S3 Mi(n)season Hiatus - Part 3 1/2

Here we go, Part 3 of my analysis of the current FP episodes - a three-parter episode set leading up to the midseason finale of LO.

Part 1

Part 2

Truth is, I had actually forgotten a lot of the weird (and very stupid) shit that happened in this episode, that I thought Episodes 251 and 252 had already offered up the worst that this three parter set could dish out. Boy, was I wrong, because when I went back to check out Episode 253, I was reminded of a reality that my brain had wiped out in an attempt to protect my withering psyche-

I also forgot just how long this episode is. It's so long that I frankly can't even fit it all into this post, so this is gonna be part 3 1/2.

Anyways, let's just get on with it. This is the final stop on our trip into absolute nonsense.

CAUTION: THIS IS PART 3 OF A 3 PART SERIES IN WHICH I WILL BE SPOILING MUCH OF EPISODES 251-253. THIS WILL BE A LONG POST. BRACE YOURSELF.

Well, it's the midseason finale, and what better way to open it up than with the final title card-

Typo and all. It wouldn't be an LO episode without one. Granted, IIRC this typo has been edited out, but the version of the screenshots I have from it feature it in all its original unedited glory. So enjoy that.

And yes, just like the last two times, the title itself only applies to the final cliffhanger, which is an absolute doozy especially for those who were there to experience it in real time.

This is already a bit of a wild opening compared to the last two episodes, but it's quickly revealed that this is laying the foundation for the prophecy that Psyche gave to Apollo back in Episode 252. In true LO fashion, the story can't actually be linear in any regard, we're always segmented from pieces of information at a time. Loyal fans will call this a "writing style", I call it Rachel just trying to get another 70 cents out of me.

That said, I will say the art here is fairly decent, but I think that just goes to show that LO's one of worst features these days - ironically enough - is its coloring. What began as its strongest feature has now become one of its biggest weaknesses due to the sheer laziness in its rendering and the colors become more and more saturated into the grotesque over time. So at this point, you pretty much have to rob these characters of their colors to make them look decent, and of course at that point it just further highlights Rachel's same-face problems. She definitely tried to make them look distinguishable here, at least, with Hestia and Poseidon being the most unique.

Now, this isn't the first time that we've heard of this herb being referenced - it was stated by Hades that Hera was the one to originally poison Kronos with the herb after gaining his trust - but to see it suddenly just pop up and play a role again out of nowhere already gives me a bad feeling in my stomach. It feels like yet another plot device - especially when presented in this type of format - that Rachel is suddenly using to try and seem "unique" in her writing, much like the strange narration we got back during the "Run For Your Life" sequence. It's just once again LO lacking any specific identity, it's always trying to be a million other things at once.

I will say, much of this in and of itself is panel filler. Why? Because the location of the herb doesn't matter. You'll see what I mean in a moment, but the mentioning of Anthedon plays no role here, it's just yet another obligatory "see, I know how to Google things!" lip service moment from Rachel "self-proclaimed folklorist" Smythe.

Anyways, Eros is perplexed by this but Psyche immediately catches on, knowing right away that Apollo is going for Zeus. And this is where we get yet another one of the dumbest sequences in this comic.

(see what I mean that the location of the herb doesn't matter? Because Apollo already got it and laced it into the cupcake).

Now, first of all, the fact that Eros and Psyche believe Kassandra's prophecy is already hilarious in and of itself, because ... well, because it literally defeats the point of her establishing it as a curse in the previous episode. Unless it only works on mortals? It never stated as such, so we literally just have to go with it and pretend not to notice that.

But most of all, of course LO had to play this off as some joke. Like, "hahaha how awkward! I've already eaten the cupcake!" and he still doesn't seem to really be in shock. Zeus has seen what this herb has done to gods before him, and yet his reaction to this is akin to a dad getting upset that he stepped LEGO's that he asked his kid 20 times to pick up off the floor. The whole "record scratch" style formatting of this followed by Zeus' lack of reaction just really makes me not care about any of this, because clearly the story doesn't care either.

But we don't see who he makes these calls to because the comic, of course, can't spend any longer than 10 panels on a single scene, so we cut to Hades and Persephone.

Again, I don't know what the point was of having Hera relay this information to Persephone for her to relay to Hades, aside from the fact that Rachel needed to act smart with Therapy Speak that didn't even apply to Hera's situation (as we talked about in the last part). They gotta make Persephone the center of everyone's world though, so it's Persephone who's delivering this info and trying to come up with the solution.

Hades, though, wants to focus on his wife's birthday the commemoration of spring.

SIR. THE WOMAN YOU WERE IN AN AFFAIR WITH SINCE BEFORE YOUR WIFE WAS BORN IS CURRENTLY GRAPPLING WITH YOUR FATHER WHO ABUSED HER AND IS NOW HAUNTING HER. THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR FLUFFY ROMANCE TIME. THERE IS A CHILD BEING HELD CAPTIVE IN TARTARUS AND LITERALLY NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE.

Anyways, apparently (for some reason) Hades is the one who has to go meet Demeter out front. Even though Hades has literally NOTHING to do with this ceremony, it's not his domain, but Persephone literally says "yep, that's correct" when he asks if he needs to go out to meet Demeter.

This just feels like such a pointless conversation and I don't get what the point of this exact exchange is. Again, this isn't Hades' domain, so I don't see why he needs to be the one to go meet with Demeter.

But then, of course, to make matters worse, this man has the absolute audacity to pretend like he's never done anything wrong to Demeter. As if she should be obligated to be cool with sharing a bench with this man who literally terrorized her for years and then essentially groomed her daughter.

I hate him so fucking much and I can't believe we're supposed to be rooting for him. He has not undergone ANY of the character development necessary for me to want to care about him.

Anyways, Hades has a seat with Demeter, and the conversation is very brief before Hades says that he has a gift for her. And what is it, exactly?

Oh great, Hades. Sure wish you would have had this consideration hundreds of years ago. I fail to see what good this does for her now because it doesn't change the fact that he still cost her the role of Queen of the Mortal Realm and treated her like shit for hundreds of years. This comes across as such a shallow and empty "apology" because it's barely even a "gift", rather something she was OWED back then that he didn't want to hand over for his own selfish reasons. He still comes out the winner here because he's gotten to spend thousands of years being a rich slave-driving oligarch while Demeter has had to maintain the Mortal Realm on her own even without the glory of having a title.

I especially detest this "twist" because it's less of a twist and Rachel finally accepting the fact she couldn't come up with anything better than what her fans had to come up with for her. If this had been the fact the whole time, we would have seen it established back when we first got those flashbacks showing Hades being a total prick to her over the volcanoes. Instead, Rachel dragged it out for weeks and weeks until finally dumping this "twist" that her fans had been talking about all that time. This is yet another one of those "Rachel used her fanbase to come up with her ideas" moments. I know that that seems a little mean and presumptuous, but the fact of the matter is that the writing in this story is such an absolute mess that you just know Rachel's writing by the seat of her pants and has to rely on her audience's headcanons to actually fill in the gaps of her story. Most of the time when people commend her for the "great storytelling" in LO, what they're referring to are things they came up with entirely on their own because of how easy it is to just make assumptions about LO's storyline. Rachel benefits off the story being as vague as possible because then her fanbase will fill in the gaps with their own assumptions and give her all the credit for an idea they came up with.

By the way, to the "self-proclaimed folklorist" who wrote this, the volcanoes were really just entrances into the Underworld. Hades did not own them. They were owned by Hephaestus. And I would argue that the volcanoes were only seen as "entrances" into the Underworld because, fun fact - if you jump into a volcano, you die!

Hades frames his reasoning as feeling like Demeter was pushing him out of the Mortal Realm, but this makes no sense because none of that is on her. He claims that he felt like an "outsider" but the reality is that he made himself that way. He resigned himself to being King of the Underworld, he ate the pomegranate and made the deal with Erebus, and even he stated that he could still actually leave the Underworld, just not for long periods of time. So he was the only one keeping himself away from the Mortal Realm, not Demeter. We even see that in the VHS tape flashbacks where Hades stumbles onto Demeter's property and she lets him sleep it off in her home. So this whole sob story about how he felt "pushed out" by Demeter is such a bad take from someone who's routinely known to make himself out to be the victim. Because Hades can't have an actual reputation for a reason, no, this is a "retelling" told by someone who got all their Greek myth info off Tumblr circa 2016 and the front page of Google, so Hades has to be the misunderstood uwu sad underdog. Even though he routinely does things that reinforce the reputation he has within the comic, like being a slave driver, abusing lower class nymphs, and grooming teenagers.

Minthe showing up for a split second in the background is the best this comic has been since S2. We stan our girl Minthe, fucking run girl, do what Persephone couldn't do. She's the real hero of this story (｡･∀･)ﾉﾞ

And honestly, I'm sorry, but Demeter really SHOULDN'T be taking the high ground on this. She has more than enough reason to be upset. For a comic that tries to celebrate feminism and holding abusive men accountable, it sure is willing to make the women - often victims of the men - the real villains who have to "do better". Except for Persephone of course. Persephone is married into the system now, she doesn't have to "do better", she's a "boss babe" for being abusive and petty and undeserving of her status because she's the self-insert Y/N character.

So the ceremony for commencing Spring begins. I gotta say, for the final major scene of the mi(n)season finale, the art is severely underwhelming. You can really tell the difference between S3 and S1 art here, there's barely anything extra done to make this scene even half as impactful as the most basic of scenes from S1.

Like, it's fine, but it still feels so half-baked and rushed to attempt to replicate the kind of art that's been gone from the series for years now. The full sequence itself is actually quite lengthy, with a lot of nymph hands just moving around and playing instruments, but it's about as bland as any other panel, so it makes the sequence itself feel dragged out and boring.

This is about as pretty as the sequence gets and it's still not even as good as the original Dread Queen transformation. There's barely any rendering in the skin, and they couldn't even be bothered to make the hands look normal. It's like it's trying so hard to be "original LO" but is fundamentally missing the point of what made the original LO so captivating.

But oh noooo, looks like Persephone did a bad!

Are they actually gonna give her some kind of flaw? Are we gonna FINALLY gonna find out what she traded to Erebus?

No. We're just gonna make her the cause of winter.

Spaghettios.

And that's where I'm leaving this review for now because, as mentioned in the beginning, this episode is a LOT longer than I remember it being. There's still a whole ass segment with Apollo that we need to cover and I don't want to leave it out but I also don't want to do it entirely in text format and I've hit that pesky image limit. So I'll be posting that second part as soon as I can!

That said, I really can't stand this "subversion" by making Persephone the reason for winter.

First of all, because this is a common problem in a lot of H x P "retellings", as many of them fundamentally miss the point of why Persephone is the "Goddess of Spring".

Persephone was not born the "Goddess of Spring". She was born Kore (Κόρη), a maiden born from Demeter. It wasn't until after she was taken by Hades that Demeter, in her grief, took away the harvest and created winter. It was the return of Persephone every six months that brought about the spring, hence, she earned the name, "Goddess of Spring". What these retellings COMPLETELY MISUNDERSTAND is that the gods aren't 'born' with their titles, they're granted these titles by the mortals who comprehend them and write of them as harbingers of their respective elements, stories, and messages. Zeus wasn't "born" the God of the Sky and Heavens, he was granted that title after he overthrew Kronos and took the Heavens for himself. Hades wasn't "born" the God of the Underworld and the Dead, he was granted that title after he became the ruler of the domain of death.

Where these retellings really fuck up is constantly trying to "subvert" the H x P myth in an attempt to romanticize it, thus undoing the point of why Persephone is called "The Goddess of Spring". A Touch of Darkness also made this mistake by putting a "twist" on Persephone's character by having her start out as someone who couldn't make things grow. But if she sucks at making things grow, then why is she still referred to as The Goddess of Spring? In LO, Hades is referred to as "Grandpa Winter" and the seasons already seem to exist as we saw in this episode through the ceremony, so why has she been called "The Goddess of Spring" this whole time?

But I also can't stand this "subversion" because it fundamentally misunderstands the very myth it's trying to "retell". By giving Persephone the "curse" of creating winter, it further robs Demeter of her own agency in this story, more than it already has. It wasn't enough to make Demeter a helicopter mom, it wasn't enough to drive an actual rift between her and her daughter, they had to take away Demeter's entire role in the story and the creation of the seasons and give it to Persephone.

And this is, surprisingly enough, NOT the first time the comic has done this. There are many traits associated with different gods that have been given to Persephone and Hades. The volcanoes belong to Hades rather than Hephaestus, Persephone is "more beautiful than Aphrodite", Thanatos' and Psyche's butterfly symbolism is given to both Hades and Persephone, Aphrodite's symbolism of roses is given to Persephone, the list goes on. Every single plotline has to involve Persephone as the hero, and every single attribute that's commonly associated with other gods has to be granted to H x P in some way to make them better and more interesting than every other cast member in the comic, and yet they still come across as vapid and boring protagonists with nothing to show for themselves.

So to give the ONE thing from the source material that made LO what it is, it comes across as so unbearably cruel.

But then again, we should have seen this coming. After all, Rachel does not cite this as a retelling of The Hymn to Demeter. She simply refers to it as its more unofficial name: The Taking of Persephone.

Look, I get it, the story is meant to be told from Persephone's POV (or at least through the lens of her being the main character) so I can understand why Rachel may have chosen to reword this to make it more clear. But it's really depressing that she went to such an extent with making it about Persephone that she had to rob one of the most integral character of her moment and retribution. Especially when one of the only books in her cited "research" that's primarily about Persephone is, shocked, The Hymn to Demeter, which is listed at the very bottom of every "research" list you can find in LO's history.

LO should have just stayed as self-indulgent fluff. This isn't "subversion", this isn't a "twist", it's just yet another item on the list of making Persephone the most Important One of all. Even when it attempts to be a 'flaw', it fails tremendously by acting as yet another aspect of her being a Mary Sue, because her 'flaw' has come at the cost of another character's story, identity, and strengths. What was originally a tale of grief, retribution, and standing up against a patriarchal system, has now been warped into a consequence of a muddied plot that doesn't have anywhere left to go. For a story that claims to be "feminist", it has ironically missed the original point of its source material entirely, and completely robbed itself of the feminine strength it could have had if it hadn't tried to be "subversive".

I don't really have anything much more to say than that. I could leave it here for good, but we do still have that extra segment to talk about that covers the actual final cliffhanger in this episode, so... we'll see you on the other side.

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lore olympus

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silvergarnet12 · 2 months

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Splatoon was the first Nintendo game to push me out of my comfort zone of single player games, and with the closure of it's servers I wanted to draw a tribute to a game that really means a lot to me.

Some long rambles about the game under the cut.

When I first played the Global Testfire I was 15, and the only mutliplayer games I played were with friends in the same room.

Splatoon was also the first shooter I ever picked up, as I always liked bright colours over more realistic graphics in my games, and back then the only shooters I knew about were Halo(and that was only really a name to me!) and the CoD games.

Any worries I had about being bad quickly vanished as the sheer vibe of chaotic fun the game had, particularly when no one had played it before, got rid of any worries, and all I remember is having fun. And choosing to play as the guy instead of the girl for the first time, solely becuase I wanted a ponytail like in real life(I would continue to use the guy through the series as a tradition, a contrast to what I saw most people online doing).

When the game came out I binged the single player, and vividly remember the first time I fought DJ Octavio, and the first time I heard Calamari Inkantation. If ever a game was to convince me that a song could irreversibly change your life, it was Splatoon. Because to teenage me, in that moment, with Calamari Inkantation playing in the background while I fought an octupus DJ, it did.

It gave me terminal brainworms for this series. And here I am, 8 yrs later. Older and more tired, been through some shit, had some good times, tried, succeeded and failed in things throughout the years.

I've always been grateful that they made the decision for the player character from 1 to return, everytime they've shown up it's felt a bit like seeing an old friend, especially since as the games time skips have always had them close to my age(which probably helped my attachement back in the first game). So hi Three, can't believe we both probably pay taxes now.

I have the original two Inkling Amiibos, in a collection that is slowly building, I'm still attached to Marie, and yes I was on her team for the Final Splatfest.

I cried when it was over, just like I did in 2's Final Fest(I was team chaos, two for two baby!) and will probably do so for 3's as well. Something about this series just makes me super attached to it's world and characters.

So booyah Splatoon, my final online game of yours was well and truly years ago, but I replayed story mode to share you with a friend recently, and I think I'll refight Octavio tonight in honour of the good times.

You encouraged me to try out games I wouldn't have otherwise(hello Overwatch and Deep Rock Galactic), and outlasted one of the other major games of my teenage years(...Overwatch 1 I miss you). So thank you for that.

I'll miss Squid Jump, Inkstrike, the og kit for the NZap 89(why does it's new one not vibe with me ;-;), the Squid Sister's broadcasts and the more saturated colours. At least I can always return to the Plaza in 3, and that Spyke isn't dead like I was concerned he was when 3 released, and see the Squid Sisters perform during Splatfests again.

I have so much more to say in my heart about you but no more ways to word it.

You've been a fantastic game, and will always be a treasured experience that I am grateful to have been a apart of from the very beginning.

Now bring back Moray Towers in 3 damn it! It's in 2 but I DON'T WANT TO LOSE MY FAVOURITE STAGE IF IT"S NOT IN 4.

#splatoon #splatoon shutdown #my art #wii u #nintendo

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oh-austin · 2 years

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not my husband (austin butler)

summary: it's your first night out since having ines and in your drunken state you're surprised to find that the attractive man looking after your baby has the same name as your husband.. and looks a lot like him too

request: I was wondering if you could please please write an imagine going out drinking with friends and Austin coming to pick you up and telling him you have a boyfriend. He said it’s him, and his name and being super drunk telling him your boyfriend has the same name. Basically being super drunk and Austin having a way harder time than originally expected but finds it hilarious and cute?

authors note / warnings: mentions of alcohol! i changed this request slightly, because I see boyfriend!austin and raise you husband!austin- I hope you love it!! <3 also planning on writing 'going method' soon which should be fun!!

────── ∘◦❀◦∘

You were concerned earlier on in the night that you wouldn't be able to leave Ines at home with Austin. However, now was a different story. Skulling your drink on the sidewalk, whiskey dribbling down your chin, your Uber approaching at an alarmingly fast rate. Your stamina since being pregnant had dwindled immensely when it came to alcohol, so you abandoned the half empty glass on a nearby table outside of the restaurant you had eaten at.

Your friends weren't in much better states. One of them having to be picked up earlier on in the night, they didn't make it to the main course. Sure, you were still periodically checking your phone, updates coming from Austin on an hour rotation- selfies of him and Ines beginning to fill up your text chain. But seeing all your friends again and being able to let go was enough of a distraction from how much you missed your husband and daughter.

So as you stumbled into the Uber, you couldn't help but be filled with warmth as you thought about how you would soon be snuggled up on the couch with them both.

You thanked the driver before getting out of the car, the yellow light coming from your living room made you feel happy to be home. The door was left unlocked for you, which was helpful because you didn't have to fumble with your keys to get inside. You kicked off your heels and left them in the doorway as you shut the front door behind you.

"Hey pretty mama," A man's voice startled you. You turned around to meet soft blue eyes that could still pierce a soul and lips that could've been crafted by the Gods. "How was your night?" He came over to you and leant in for a kiss.

"Um- no," You pulled away suddenly before his lips could touch yours, "I can't kiss you,"

Austin's face dropped, confusion flooded his features. "What, why?" He asked.

"You're really cute, but-" You sighed with wide eyes, dumbfounded that someone would try this with you- "I'm married,"

Austin had to stop himself from bursting out in laughter. Your slurred words and smudged mascara under your eyes, showed him that you were drunk- but he didn't think you were that drunk.

"And we have a baby together, like I'm wearing a wedding ring!" You held the wrong hand up for a moment before switching to show your ring to Austin, he stifled a laugh. "I can't believe you would hit on a married woman? Who does that?" You scoffed, "You're lucky that Austin isn't here," You slurred.

"Baby baby baby," Austin said as he rested his hands on your upper arms, rubbing them up and down to soothe you in your drunken state, "I'm Austin,"

You stood there for a moment, just looking at him- expression blank. "It's a very common name," You shrugged. Austin couldn't help himself, he let a laugh erupt from his chest. "Shh!" You scolded him, "My daughter is probably asleep right now," Your arms were suddenly crossed over your chest, "My poor husband had her all alone tonight,"

"Mama, I am your husband- I know I had her alone," He was bewildered with the fact that his wife was so intoxicated that she was having trouble recognising him. "It's just me, baby"

You let Austin take you into his arms, he held up your head as you gazed up at him. "Oh my god, Austin!" You smiled, your voice coated with relief as you realised who was holding you. "How are you?"

"I'm good baby," He chuckled, his smile reaching his eyes, "You had a good night?"

"Yeah," You nodded slowly, your eyes were beginning to flutter, "I had a great night, but I missed you and Nezzie a lot,"

"We can go see Nezzie and then get you into bed," He nodded, "Sound like a plan?" Austin asked, admiring your flushed cheeks.

"Definitely,"

#Austin butler #austin butler imagine #austin butler one shot #austin butler drabble #austin butler x reader #austin butler fluff #elvis 2022 #celeste writes fics

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sourw0lfs · 5 months

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dance with the devil - part seven

This has been done for days but I told myself I'd write ahead a bit before I posted it. Then my brain went on vacation about it, so uh here?

Words: 692 | Rating: E (mostly parts 1 & 2, but also future parts) | CW: no warnings this time! except Eddie's continued bad time

part one || part two || part three || part four || part five || part six || part seven || part eight || part nine || part ten || part eleven || part twelve

Most of the details surrounding his actual death are fuzzy to Eddie, and he supposes that makes sense in the grand scheme of things. Something about blocking out trauma or whatever. He isn’t really sure how any of that actually works. Instead he just focuses on making it all into a cohesive story for the girl that’s still staring at him judgingly. And yeah, he’s earned that look if he’s being honest with himself. He did show up uninvited.

“Well,” he says with a dramatic sweep of his arm. “It all starts in this very city, about twenty-three years ago.”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down, I want the long story but not your life story,” the girl interrupts him. “Start with how you ended up in the same room as Steve.”

The interruption should be rude, but Eddie just shrugs. Less work for him and his already fuzzy memories. It’s like as soon as he died, everything got jumbled up and thrown away if he didn’t need it. It’s a pain honestly. “Right, so,” he starts again with a pointed look at the girl. “I don’t know if he mentioned that I’ve been assigned as his guardian angel, but I have been. Because I died recently.”

Something twinges painfully in Eddie’s chest as he says the words, but he presses on anyway. It’s not like he knows why he’s sad about being dead. “I don’t know why I got assigned your friend or who made the decision or whatever,” he continues. “I just know that I’ve got a job to keep him safe, and I have to do it or it’s adios to somewhere much less fun for me.”

Hopefully that’s enough to appease both the girl and Steve, because Eddie doesn’t really have much else on the topic. They’re both looking at him like he’s grown a second head, and that does absolutely nothing for Eddie’s worries.

“So you’re not actually an angel then,” the girl says after studying him for a few minutes. “Because if you were, failing Steve wouldn’t be it for you, would it?”

It’s then that Eddie decides he doesn’t like her. Not because she’s wrong. She isn’t wrong. But because there’s something deeply uncomfortable about a stranger calling him out so quickly and easily.

He sighs heavily, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. “No, it wouldn’t be. Or I imagine it wouldn’t be. I don’t actually know. I just know I woke up from dying and a really scary, really tiny lady told me I had to keep ‘Steve Harrington’ out of harms way until I stack up enough good points to get real wings. And that failing would be bad.”

The girl is frowning at him, studying him like a bug under a microscope again, and Eddie squirms. Then her expression softens, and it makes Eddie feel bad for disliking her just a little. “Thank you for protecting him,” she says quietly. “Usually that’s my job, but I don’t have angel magic or whatever.”

Eddie isn’t sure why she just believes his words for what they are, but he’s not going to question it. Not if it makes his life (non-life?) easier. "I mean, I barely do, but you're welcome all the same. I'm Eddie." He thrusts a hand in the girl's direction.

"Robin," she returns with a smile as she takes his hand and gives it a firm shake.

It's a lot better, a lot calmer, than his introduction with Steve. Considering Eddie still wouldn't even know his name if he hadn't been sent in with it. Despite the original hesitation, Eddie thinks he might like this Robin girl a lot more. Maybe that'll make this whole thing just a little bit easier to swallow. Because Steve certainly isn't doing Eddie any favors, even after Eddie got him out of what would have been a full-on murder charge. Ungrateful, but Eddie has a job to do, thankless or not.

"Glad you two are getting on, really," Steve says as he looks between the two of them with a grumpy frown. "But what exactly does this all mean for me? It's my life being invaded."

Tags below the cut! Let me know if you want added <3

@chaosgremlinmunson @soaringornithopter @hbyrde36 @shares-a-vest @dreamwatch @quevadilla @tboyeddie @penny00dreadful @momotonescreaming @stevesbipanic @dawners @steddiejudas @just-my-latest-hyperfixation @estrellami-1 @vthx @lolawonsstuff @gleek4twd @littlebluejane @swimmingbirdrunningrock @lawrencebshaggoth @sadisticaltarts @queenie-ofthe-void @r0binscript @anaibis @hairdressersdoitwithstyle @goodolefashionedloverboi @spookednsaucy @anne-bennett-cosplayer @flustratedcas

#fox writes things #steddie #steddie fic #steve harrington x eddie munson #steve x eddie #steddie brainrot

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ingravinoveritas · 2 months

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You know what's kind of wild to me? Anna just confirmed they've been together for 6 years. People forget she's still 29, and isn't 30 yet. So they met when she was still 23. Not hugely different from 25, but notable I think. Idk where the narrative that she was 25 came from and how that stuck.

Hi there! So I am still catching up on Asks, and I wanted to make sure I addressed these (grouped together due to similar themes). For those who might not have seen, what is being referred to are two separate incidents that occurred in the days after Anna posted the t-shirt story on Instagram. On Tuesday, she posted this story lashing out at a Swedish publication for sharing a story originally from a UK publication (The Independent) about Michael's answer to the age gap question on The Assembly. The story was originally in Swedish, but the English translation is on the right:

Then on Wednesday, she did the same thing again, this time with another Swedish paper:

Since so much of this hinges on what Michael said in his response, I will post a short clip of that here, so we have the visual:

When AL's stories were first posted, I noticed a few comments on a post from @nightgoodomens from someone who speaks Swedish, and after reading the article, their observation was that all the magazines did was literally translate what Michael said, word for word (which we can then also further confirm by watching the video above).

So Michael's words were translated directly, and on top of that, Anna was not tagged by these papers, or contacted by reporters "for comment"--she seemingly sought out these news stories and shared them on her own social media. What's strange is that most of us would never have even seen them otherwise, and yet she chose to draw attention to them. And if these articles truly are meaningless clickbait, I'm confused as to why Anna would lash out so hard at them, especially if she feels as secure in her and Michael's relationship as she has wanted us to believe.

The other thing for me is that the one voice that is (again) noticeably absent here is Michael's. Nearly every post Michael has responded to/shared in relation to The Assembly was about a moment between him and one of the interviewers, Leo. Not only has the clip of Michael's answer to the age gap question gotten much less circulation/attention than the initial clip of the girl asking him the question, he has not said a single word about it since the show aired on April 5th.

He has especially not said anything about being misquoted (either in UK magazines/newspapers or international ones). And this becomes even more glaring when you realize that Michael immediately jumped on someone Twitter the day before AL shared that first story and corrected them for misquoting him (in regard to his comments about Welsh actors and Welsh roles). So it's very clear that if Michael thought he was being misquoted, there is no reason why he wouldn't speak up about it. And yet...complete silence.

I also find it interesting that for months, Michael was being attacked on social media, first in the aftermath of his comments about the situation in the Middle East, then more recently after recording a video saying hello to Good Omens fans in Russia. In both cases, he was defamed over and over again, accused of supporting war and genocide, and in general had his comments twisted and distorted beyond recognition--in other words, he was repeatedly misquoted (to put it mildly). Not once did Anna defend him against any of this. Not once was there an Insta story or anything speaking up in support of Michael. But as soon as it was something about her/their relationship, here she was posting these stories and letting us know exactly what her priorities are.

To your comments @lookforthelight97 about AL inadvertently saying the quiet parts out loud, that was also something that caught my attention. We could be here all day talking about the narrative and who is trying to change what, but for those who don't know, the narrative of her being 25 came from every media outlet stating that Michael and AL met in May of 2019...despite the fact that she gave birth to Lyra just four months later, in September.

It was this discrepancy that gave a lot of us the feeling that something was off even back in 2019 (and I would urge folks to check out @problematicwelshman, who covered a lot more of this at the time). In actuality, Michael and AL would have had to have met in late 2018 (when Anna was actually 24, as her birthday is in August) for her to then become pregnant and have the baby in September. All of this to say that if the official PR line for the last five years has been that they met in 2019, it makes you wonder why AL is suddenly publicly contradicting it, especially to show the lack of contentment she seems to feel about the relationship even after five (pardon me, six) years.

In any case, my incredulity is and continues to be at AL so readily showing her insecurities in this way, because all these two Insta stories have done is to draw more attention to her response than to the articles that are mentioned. Articles that again, none of us would have known about if she hadn't shared them. Yet as was said above, I don't think there is anything that anyone could post or write that casts doubt on Michael and AL's relationship the way her own social media posts do.

And to what you @vaguelyomens and @angelsadvocate96 said about Michael mentioning that his greatest fear is being alone, I feel like maybe Michael has such a fear of being alone because he already knows what it's like to feel alone. To know deep down that you are not remotely on the same page as the person you're in a relationship with. To know that they don't understand you and never will, but feeling responsible for them nonetheless, and not knowing how to reconcile those two things. It's difficult to imagine anything that would make someone feel more alone than that.

So, those are my thoughts on the Insta stories AL shared earlier this week. As I have said before, I know that I could be completely wrong, and I'm happy for folks to share their perspective, whether you agree or disagree. A heck of a lot to think about, for sure...

#lookforthelight97 #vaguelyomens #angelsadvocate96 #reply post #michael sheen #welsh seduction machine #the assembly #this is cringey all around tbh #and if this is just one thing about Michael and AL's relationship that has been fudged/manipulated #it's hard not to wonder what else has been left out of the story. and why #curiouser and curiouser #also her posting those stories and attacking the media outlets with no comment from Michael feels like a one-sided conversation #the more i think about it the weirder this all seems #choices #not all of them good #but i will leave it to my followers to make up their own minds #anna lundberg #relationships #discourse

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dearasteria · 10 months

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Major Gale romance SPOILERS below, so please DO NOT read and watch if you don't want to get spoiled.

I was REALLY worried about how romance with Gale would go, especially after talking to him right after he gets Karsas' book. My Tav wanted to believe and trust him, but something didn't feel right. At the end of Act II, when Tav tries to convince him not blow himself up for his ex's forgivness/to save Faerûn, it can be summed up with that one gif from Grey's Anatomy: "So pick me. Choose me. Love me" 🤡. Honestly, she asks not only to choose her, but also not to kill her and the rest of the team. Gale is so easily swayed and tells Tav that he loves her, even more than Mystra. Tav should be happy, right? But I'm like WAIT A DAMN MINUTE, it was faaar too easy, I mean, no protests from him, I didn't even have to use persuasion to convince him. At that point, after the trauma that Bioware had caused us with Anders and Solas, I'm getting paranoid. Gale doesn't love Tav, he's definitely hiding something. But I'm thinking to myself, "Okay, calm down, he just doesn't want to die, super understable. Maybe he really loves her and he needed to hear it? He needed reassurance that he has something to live for? Yes, it must be it". But then I go to the quest journal and see this:

DAMMIT GALE, you snake 🐍 My poor baby Tav (especially since the romance scene in Waterdeep was so warm and tender). She's so in love in him. Now I'm convinced that he will definetly betrey us, stubs us right in the heart.

At the beginning of Act III, he becomes obsessed with a book called The Annals of Karsus that may help him learn more about the crown. He becomes obsessed with how powerful he can become. When Tav gives him the book and says, "We already know the crown's dangerougs. Wouldn't that make things worse?" he replies:

"Worse? It could be the best thing that ever happened to me. To us."

After all this, Gale tries to convince Tav to help him reconstruct the crown. We have this beautiful scene on the boat and when I tell you my jaw dropped. HE CHOOSES TAV, listens to her concerns and simply chooses her.

The way he says it, the way he corrects himself… damn. For Tav, it's like a bucket of cold water. And I'm like, "Here we go again" 🤡

Furthermore, when we visit the Stormshore Tabernacle in Baldur's Gate and interact with Mystra's statue, he seems to feel so uncomfortable, he doesn't want to be there. Tav starts to think he's definitely hiding something. She would like to hear Mystra's version of what happened between her and Gale (I hope we can talk to her at some point in the game, it would be very interesting).

My Tav, however, disagreed, and Gale replies, "I hope you're right. I truly do. Godly power, perhaps I can live without, but you? You're everything". Has the curse of dating mages that leave players heartbroken been broken?

But I have to admit, when he said: "With you, I forget my goddess. I love you. Tell me you feel the same way. Tell me you want what I want. Please" - OH GODS 😳. I was so close to agreeing to this madness. The VA did an amazing job (side note: so many talented VAs in this game, it's mind blowing), the writing is amazing, the music is incredible, I was blown away, really.

Next day, after the boat scene, he's so adorable and full of love for Tav. Then I remembered his gratest flaw (for me it's more like his biggest fear) from the scene with Zethino in the circus: "He thinks he, and the world, might be better off if he were dead". At the time I thought he was lying, manipulating Zethino and his answers. My distrust of mages in games… Yes, I have a problem 😅

I haven't finished the game, but I have high hopes for a happy ending. No spoilers please, thanks :)

What a rollecoster of emotions, I love it, I love Gale. It felt like I was playing Dragon Age: Origins for the first time, way back when I was a teenager. It's really insane how this game makes me feel, how much I care about its characters and story.

EDIT: Okay, so we have an audience with Mystra, I mean only Gale, but we see the whole conversation between them. My only complain is that Gale doesn't mention Tav when Mystra asks him why he defied her 💔 The outcomes are different depending on whether you do it before or after the boat scene. Personally, I think doing the boat scene before meeting Mystra is much better. I get the impression that Gale is abandoning the plan to reconstruct the crown solely for Tav and his love for her. And the drama 👌🏻 it gives me life.

#sorry for the wall of text #ignore my rambling #the thing is i'm very excited and none of my friends play bg3 and my husband can't listen to me anymore 🤭#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #bg3 spoilers #Gale #gale of waterdeep #gale romance #might delete later #Tav #gale bg3

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vvaspoppie · 8 months

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Doc Ock x Symbiote!Reader

→ Author’s Note: Requested this from another writer (that’s also really cool), and decided to also write my own version. No specified version of Ock, pre and post evil versions are mentioned.

→⚠ Warnings ⚠: unethical science,

→ Fandom: Unspecified

→ Genre: Headcanons

→ Pronouns: They/Them

The Backstory:

You were a scientist who worked on studying the organic matter samples Colonel Jameson had brought to earth. Unfortunately, one of those samples was capable of a lot more movement than originally believed.

Long story short: Some of it bonded with you, you quit soon after due to not wanting anyone to get suspicious then started working at Oscorp.

Pre Tentacles:

He, and almost every other co-worker, is a little bit curious about the fact that you quit your last job to work at Oscorp but drops the subject after the mention of an NDA (which wasn’t true)

Notices you talking to yourself a lot, but doesn’t question it much. Most of the scientists he works with have an odd habit or two.

You totally slip up and call yourself 'we' in a conversation, which he does bring up

"There's a perfectly reasonable explanation if you give me enough time to think of a lie."

On to the actual dating

You guys keep it on the down low and by that I mean absolutely nobody knows. He likes privacy

His love language is talking about his experiments and asking you about yours (and physical touch but that takes a while)

The symbiote makes the relationship difficult, especially because he doesn't know about it

You don’t ever tell him about the symbiote, the symbiote speaks for itself (literally, and to a disastrous extent)

He takes a while to process it, but once he does he shares his work on his tentacles

He tries not to think of the moral implications of the whole situation because he loves you and knows you wouldn't do harm intentionally (he is wrong)

Post Tentacles:

Ok so in most versions Otto goes missing for a brief time after the accident™

So what happens in this brief time?

Chaos. Pure chaos and fear

Not only are you distraught and angry but your symbiote also formed an emotional attachment

Absolutely no one gets a break. Criminals, civilians, co workers, Norman even Spider-Man

The streets are filled with nothing but fear and it stays like that until you get your Otto back

At which point:

Yay, evil power-couple time!

I mean what did you expect, you’re the host to a symbiote that eats people to survive and likes to commit crimes; there is almost nothing he could do that you either 1) haven’t already done or 2) had to literally fight yourself not to do

He changed after the accident, and it reminds you of when you first bonded with your symbiote. You try and be patient, knowing that he's still the same person, just with a different attitude and outlook on life.

With some communication skills being flexed, the relationship works out well

He also gains a new thing to be mad at the world about (Tabloids keep calling him a monsterfucker and so does your Symbiote)

It's that whole Roger and Jessica Rabbit thing except no one knows who's Roger or Jessica at any given moment.

You keep working at Oscorp to keep suspicions low and provide insider information

Yes, the suit makes you look very good - now do you want to be part of the Insidious Sinister Six or not?

You don’t want to fight Spider-Man head-on most of the time (much to the Symbiote's chagrin) so you agree to work with them, but not be on the team.

Anyway you end up kicking ass and now half the team is scared of you (Much to the Symbiote’s delight) (remember that episode in the 90s show were Venom Spider-Man almost kills Rhino and Shocker? Yeah you do something like that)

His ego may be nearing the size of the sun, but even then he’s slightly scared of what would happen if your symbiote gained full control. (Your symbiote likes him so his nerves are good, but still makes sure nothing happens that affects your memories)

Speaking of which he wants to do some - totally not evil because he loves you- experiments revolving around the Symbiote

Overall, the relationship is wholesome, if not unconventional.

#pop se sierskrif #doc ock x reader #otto octavius x reader #tssm x reader #doc ock #marvel x reader #x reader #symbiote reader

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pupmkincake2000 · 4 months

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Some thoughts.

Okay, Halsin, what the hell?

When I was playing Gale origin, I didn't know what lines to choose so I pushed any friendly dialogue button I saw so it felt okay when Halsin offered me to be his lover. Everything I had to do was to refuse his offer. This time (playing Astarion origin) I was extremely careful and didn't choose a single line that could trigger such a dialogur, even friendship ones. I did not ask him about his past (lovers) or whether he has potential partners, I only talked about helping to save Thaniel, but Halsin still offers me a polyamorous relationship and sex! Hinting that he went to Baldur's Gate with us because of... us, right after a fight with Ketheric. With Gale it felt normal because, again, I didn't know what lines to pick. But with Astarion it feels at least strange.

I mean, why? I didn't cross the line when talking to him this time. When I played Gale origin, I wasn't sure what lines would trigger his proposal, but now I've carefully avoided anything undesirable and yet he still offers me sex! God, I do love this bear, he is the walking embodiment of everything I could love in a man, both his appearance and personality is a masterpiece, except for polyamory, because it is not my cup of tea, not in this case at least, but now it is his behavior that makes me feel disapointed in him. And what infuriates me most is the confidence with which he says I also feel attracted to him, although - again! - I carefully avoided any potentially dangerous lines that could trigger his confession. What's going on with this character? So to be just friendly with him is enough to get these scenes?

Since my Astarion is in a relationship with Gale, I decided to look at his (Gale's ) reaction if he was offered such an open relationship. I decided to try different lines and it really made me smile that Gale’s first thought about adding a third person to the relationship was a child.

Also, as I thought, Gale is monogamous in a relationship and is not ready to share. I like that he speaks openly about it and to some extent even with anger that he does not agree to this, in fact, that’s why I like him.

And it was really painful to choose a line about breaking up, even if it was just to see his reaction. I never want to see that pain on his face again. This only lasts a few moments, but his disappointment in love, in the very concept of relationships, is very palpable.

I think that after such a “betrayal” he wouldn't soon decide to open his heart to someone or would not dare at all. I think that's why I like him so much. And that's why I like their relationship with Astarion. Gale is ready to give his all for someone he loves, and Astarion (at least this is very much in his character after so many years of hardship and suffering) will tightly hold on to what he considers his.

Of course, Gale can be persuaded to have sex with the drow twins (I checked this too), but I consider this a flaw on the part of the developers. You may not agree with me, but I think it isn't in his character.

Because a person who so vehemently argued that two lovers should be dedicated only to each other would hardly agree to such a thing. Same story with Astarion. People say he agrees to have sex with the twins once he's completely free of Cazador, but the narrator's words make it abundantly clear that he's still not into it: "his mind is miles away."

And the fact that Gale has to be persuaded… his first reactions tell a lot. This is clearly not in his character too. I would never believe that a person who kicks the cat out of the bedroom while changing clothes would easily agree to such a thing.

Most likely, the opportunity to persuade him to do something like this is necessary for the variability of the game, no more. In addition, Gale leaves his copy in a room that just watches this makingout, he takes no part in it. People might assume, of course, that he shouldn't/cannot have sex because of the orb, but there was nothing stopping him from sleeping with Astarion before they reached Baldur's Gate. However, it seems strange to me that after this he does not break up with Astarion/Tav/whoever or at least discusses the thing. It’s probably still a flaw on the part of the developers, because Gale doesn’t react to the situation at all. And this despite the fact that he only recently screamed about how he categorically does not accept such things.

Therefore, I believe that in order not to mislead people, the developers need to stick to the character's personality as they were intended. If a character is meant to be monogamous, then why do they need lines that suit polyamorous characters only? I understand that the game is variable, but this is not about the plot, but about the characters, whose personality has already been developed and established.

Just saying.

#bg3 #bg3 astarion #bg3 gale #bg3 halsin #baldurs gate 3 #baldurs gate astarion #gale x astarion #gale of waterdeep #astarion x gale #galestarion #astarion #astarion ancunin #astarion romance #halsin #larian studios #larian #gale dekarios #bloodweave

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hyperactivewhore · 11 months

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The characterization of Klaus in his fanfics is just insane.

First of all, this is gonna be bashing to 96% of Klaus’s fanfics lmao. I still love reading them tho.

But straight to the point, why are people writing him as if he would ever allow someone, anyone, to disrespect him the way authors make their ocs do??? No, Klaus wouldn't be giggling and shit if you call him "puppy" or "Santa Klaus", he's literally gonna murder you in the spot and even worse lmao.

I've read so much stories where the protagonist is constantly insulting Klaus and bickering with him (it's funny tho) and he just... allows it. Yes, Klaus, the man who's literally shown to tear off heads whenever someone as much breathes in the wrong way, and yet he allows this teen (because in 99% of fanfics the protagonist is a girl not over nineteen, at least physically) to talk shit about him.

Like I absolutely love those kind of stories, they're good and I'll continue reading them, but the Klaus they write is 100% ooc. And I understand why, because as someone who used to write fanfics of him, his character is just so difficult to write but it doesn't seem like they even try to.

Moving to another famous trope in his fanfics: soulmate stories. I find it very ooc that he would actually accept he has a soulmate: he wouldn't believe it, he's literally the most paranoid character of tvdu, Klaus would 100% believe it's just a plot made to control him and he would probably kill his soulmate, only to regret it forever. Or those "I've been seeing her/having dreams about her for a thousand of years, she's without a doubt the person I'm meant to love forever", what?? 😭

If Klaus ever saw this person in real life, there are just two possibilities I can think of:

A) he would be extremely paranoid and would kill this person on the spot

B) he would be extremely paranoid, but decides to not kill x person for some barely explained reason and would get to know her/him and perhaps fall in love.

I'm aware Klaus can and has been soft in canon: with his family (in occasions, more in New Orleans modern era), with Hayley, Marcel, and Cami. I mean, Klaus loved Cami so much he actually begged her to not leave him, to fully turn into a vampire because he was terrified of losing her, and a decade after her death he was still in love with her (something a certain part of the fandom fails to see lmao).

The fanfics where he cheats with Hayley/Cami/Caroline/ Genevieve/Aurora or he just cheats while he's in a relationship also are ooc imo. If he's in a commited relationship and he loves the person he's with, I don't see him as the cheater type, especially because he wasn't sleeping around in the program.

But either way, show me the fanfics with true depiction. Show me fanfics where he's so screwed up that he continually pushes the person he loves away, where he constantly hurts them with/without intention as he did to his siblings, where he constantly uses his s/o for his own personal gain or similar. Where he's actually his true self, the man he was in tvd before having Hope and even after having Hope, because she actually did not change him that much.

I think I only found three fics like that: one in ao3 called I Would Hurt A Fly, where the oc was a witch or something like it and he used her as a personal sex toy/blood bag but there were slight hints of his love but sadly was deleted.

Or the ones written by @viavolterra and @saintsir4n, the way they write Klaus is the closest I've ever seen to his canon self and it's genuinely good writing. Patisserie is also a really good written fanfic that writes the characters well, but it's a poly Mikaelson fic (which it's even better, the more the best)

Either way, a violent man isn't gonna change with the power of love and family. The Originals tried doing that with Hope and they failed, because Klaus was the same man he was at the start, just slightly less mean to his family.

#klaus mikaelson #niklaus mikaelson #klaus mikaelson x reader #klaus mikaelson fanfiction #niklaus mikaelson fanfiction #klaus mikaelson imagine #mikaelson family #hope mikaelson #hayley marshall #the originals #the vampire diaries #tvd #to #joseph morgan

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sparksqfly · 11 months

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⭒dancing with our hands tied ❆

"because i care about you, i cared about you for the past five years. i'll care about you every day of my life. i care about your well-being because i love you."

figure skating, enemies to lovers

synopsis: modern au , figure skating- after five years of hating ellie williams you are forced to get to know her better in a contest that is more important than how much you hate her or want to kiss her. but ellie always gets under your skin whether it's good or bad but now it's your turn to be professional.

auhor's note: originally this history was going to be published in the pride amount, but due to scheduling issues or priority to other stories i couldn't do it. you know how the deal is, there are several references to taylor swift and possibly mistakes in some parts since english is not my first language, thanks for reading <3

warnings!/about ths story: this is pure fluff, no angst or smut. just a cute story i came up with one day in class. there are mentions of reader wearing a dress and makeup but you can change it to your liking as there are all kinds of appearance options for ice skating competitions. speaking of which, this story is probably not the best representation of the sport but because i have never done it. sorry if any pros are reading this, i did my best. there is a scene of a man being a jerk and mentions of violence, caused by this man and the sport itself, joel is referred to as ellie's dad and ellie and reader are both 19.

wc: 7,8k (sorry)

you remembered when you hated ellie. it was that short and that clear. you were only 12 years old and had just started taking professional ice skating lessons. your mother was very strict and wanted you to excel at something, no matter what it was. so when you started watching ice skating competitions on television your mother didn't hesitate for a second to sign you up for professional lessons at the best ice skating center she could find.

"remember you always have to be the best, honey" said your mother giving you a kiss on the forehead the first day of your lessons. she left you in the hands of the coach, grabbed her bag and left. you wouldn't lie that was one of the first days you really felt anger towards her. she was the one who wanted you to do this stupid sport, because of her need for you to excel in something. "ok, y/n come with me to the track. let's get started straight up, we're here to help you." that was the first time you saw ellie, she was at the rink with another trainer. holding on but she looked ready to let go and start skating on her own. "that's it baby girl! very well done!" a gray-haired man with a grin from ear to ear admired her as he pointed to another "look how she does it!"

"she's ellie, it's only her third class and she looks like she's rocking it" you nodded. It was obvious that you, as a person who had been raised on the whole to excel at absolutely everything and be the best, didn't like that a little girl who had "three classes" seemed to excel at everything. especially since by the time your class time was over you had already fallen more than thirty times and, on the other side of the rink, ellie seemed happy and calm skating back and forth almost without falling.

over the next few years you continued to take lessons, and found that you were happy that your mother had been so insistent that you do it. you had developed a real passion for the sport and when you turned fifteen, you started to specialize in figure skating, you kept up all the things you had learned in your lessons over the last three years and you were lucky that everyone supported you and believed in you. another thing that had stayed with you was your rivalry with ellie, she had also specialized in figure skating and had obviously stayed in the same club as you, sometimes even having her training right after. "wassup muffin" ellie used to say to you whenever you left the rink to get her to come in, you hated her. that nickname had been born two years ago, from a day when trying to turn on the move with some new skates you had slipped, not seeing that ellie was right behind you and you had made her fall too. "testing if I was comfortable to land?" ellie teased you as you tried to get up recovering from the dizziness "fuck you elizabeth" you told her, trying to get her to understand that you weren't in the mood for that shit right now. ellie laughed even though she tried to hide it "what the fuck is your problem?" you turned around facing her, ellie was still lying on the floor, amused. "why elizabeth?" you rolled your eyes "it's your fucking name, isn't it?" "no, it's just ellie" you rolled your eyes again "whatever".

you went back to your trainer to continue your routine. "everything okay over there?" asked frank, looking over your shoulder at ellie "she's a fucking idiot, you know that" you said trying to completely remove the ice splattered in your hair. "she's a nice girl, she likes you" tried to convince you frank "i don't like her then, i can't stand her" you rolled your eyes. "ok, let's get back to what we were doing. ellie... can you not" sighed frank, when you wanted to turn around you felt ellie's hand around your shoulders playfully and she put her mouth close to one of your ears "since you were kind enough to give me a nickname, now i'll call you muffin, what do you think?" laughed ellie and smiled at you with all her teeth. "motherfucker..." you were really about to attack her when frank and ellie's trainer stood between the two of you, preventing any idiocy you could do. "you two have had enough, haven't you?" bill tried to tell ellie "don't worry, we're fine." ellie smiled and disappeared, propelling herself backwards on her skates.

it was weird to say, especially if you took into account the way that every time more than three minutes passed you ended up yelling at her, but you had fallen in love with her. it took you a long time to realize that this was what was happening with you. yes, you were jealous of her and she annoyed you. too much, but you wanted to kiss her and punch her face at the same time. maybe you wanted to kiss her more.

it was a secret you would take to your grave anyway. by the time you realized how much you were in love with her you hated each other and she was getting on your nerves. what were you going to do? tell her out of the blue "oh ellie, i know i yelled at you for two hours but i've liked you for years and iI’m madly in love with you. no." no.

besides that you knew you could never be together. it would be impossible for her to reciprocate and if you did, you were both partners. you were rivals, you had to be professional. she wasn't your friend, she was your competition and you had to be better than her.

now the 2022-2023 season was starting, you knew that your club was aspiring to be able to compete in a national olympics with its best skaters and you were happy about it. you headed to the gym, you knew you had to start training for the choreographies and that bill and frank who had been having fun last summer since they had gotten married and bought the center had a proposal to make to you. when you walked through the door you found several people, all acquaintances scattered around the gym and ellie in the background running on a treadmill with bill timing her. "hey princess" frank greeted you and you went to hug him. you hadn't seen him in almost a month since you couldn't complete the summer season due to an ankle injury that had really screwed you up. "frankie, it looks like you have some great news for today" he touched your shoulder affectionately. "god willing," he kissed your forehead and called everyone to gather around.

after a while everyone finally sat on the floor waiting for the news, ellie leaned against one of the walls with a bottle of water, she also had not been able to continue with the summer season because in a figure skating session with her partner she had hurt her eyebrow with the blade of her skate, it had left a noticeable scar on her left eyebrow. "ok, now that we are all together we have some good news to tell you" said frank "some of you know that our institution has had some problems with the people who moderate the competitions, but finally we have been able to recompose the negotiations and last year and we were able to send margarita to compete in the under fifteen years old competitions" frank pointed to the girl who looked at the others with a smile on her face. "this year we have a chance to compete in the major leagues!" he said with a big smile, everyone smiled and looked at him impressed, you knew that many years ago your ski center had stopped participating in competitions to focus on being a more local and community sport club, but it seems that now they wanted to do it again. "and who's going to do it?" asked one of the girls raising her hand.

bill stepped in front of the group, freeing frank from having to communicate the choices. "well, clearly we have an amazing and talented group but we think those who best represent our values are ellie and y/n" everyone seemed surprised but pleased with the choice. some even applauded. "congratulations girls, you will start your training tomorrow" said frank and you smiled at him. it looks like it's going to be a long season.

"yes i'm asking you in a good way to hold that fucking rope so i can finish this fucking exercise it's the only job you have williams" you yelled at ellie "i didn't fucking do it on purpose! you're taking this too personal" "how the fuck do you want me to take it, you fucking idiot? you almost made me fall, are you so scared of me that you want to knock me out of the competition with your bare hands?" "what the fuck are you insinuating y/n" shouted ellie, throwing the rope you were using to stretch your muscles to the floor "enough, both of you!" frank stepped between the two of you, it was already the fourth time this week. "did you hear what she just said? she's accusing me!" ellie said to him, looking at bill for support. "if the shoe fits..." you provoked her "y/n, please." you rolled your eyes and grabbed your bag "training's over, right?" frank sighed and nodded. without another word you left the gym and headed for the locker room.

you locked yourself in a bathroom cubicle for a while, trying to calm your thoughts. maybe you were going too far with all the rivalry you had with each other, besides now ellie wasn't even your rival, you were competing for the same thing. because you had insinuated that she wanted to hurt you on purpose, anyway, it didn't matter. it was better if you hurt her, that's what you wanted. you sighed, walked out of the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror to wash your face.

as you were drying your face you saw ellie walk into the bathroom. she had her training bag slung over her shoulder, she quickly set it on the floor and pulled out a box of cigarettes, lighting one and setting the box down roughly on the marble of the sink, it was her curt way of offering you in case you wanted one. you rolled your eyes and dipped your hands a little more to smooth your hair. "you're an idiot, you know that right?" ellie broke the silence "more than you i don't think so" you countered her. "see? you always react like that. i can't say a fucking word without you snapping back at me" really? she really going to say that like she didn't know how much it bothered you that since she came into your life there wasn't a single day that she didn't bother you? "don't play dumb, williams. it doesn’t look cute on you" "don't call me that" oh my god, she was insufferable "isn't that your fucking last name?" "call me ellie, we've known each other for more than five years" insisted ellie "oh yes, i’m going to call you ellie because clearly we are both best friends and i have incredible memories with you, right els?" you ironized looking at her "we could have been friends" sighed ellie. you grabbed your bag and headed for the exit, but not before nudging ellie with your shoulder. friends?! oh god, you really wanted to fucking kill her.

it was the opening day of the contest. the atmosphere was too tense but at the same time you were having fun. these things don't happen all the time so you wanted to enjoy it, you had gathered with some of your friends to drink beer and watch the pre-opening and the opening itself with the ceremony, the choreography and the announcement of all the participants and institutions. you didn't want to admit it to yourself but you were also looking forward to seeing ellie's participation in the opening choreography. you knew that she had given her blood sweat and tears to get it right, in the last weeks you had seen her several times sleeping in the corridors of the gym and in the corridors leading to the ice rink. yesterday had been one of those days, she was lying on a bench in the locker room with her skates on and leaning uncomfortably on the bench, you had found out that she had been proposed to participate in the opening with too little anticipation and that was why she had to stay extra hours. when you saw her sleeping on the bench a force greater than you insisted that you had to take care of her, so without making noise you went to a closet and grabbed a blanket with which you carefully covered her and then grabbed her skates and put them next to her but not before removing the remaining ice. another thing you would never admit to yourself was the time you spent admiring her face, looking at her eyebrows with her new scar, the beautiful freckles that decorated her cheeks, her perfect nose and how her hair perfectly framed her face.

"y/n look!" jesse's voice snapped you out of your reverie. you watched the television with a local news channel on. on it appeared ellie, positioning herself with a wall papered with brand logos and the contest logo behind her, she looked gorgeous. several microphones approached her, were they doing interviews?

"miss williams! how do you see yourself for the opening today?" asked a reporter "it's your first national competition, are you nervous?" asked another black haired guy "could you give us more details about your life as a skater" "how does it feel to be the first skater to appear in the contest after so many conflicts" ellie looked at bill and frank unfocused by the amount of questions and by the flashlights that were starting to shoot in her face. after a nod from her coaches she looked at the reporter who had asked the last question "it's an honor, we've all been dreaming about this for years and I love representing my club at the opening" ellie responded with a smile "do you see you and your partner as contenders for the big medal?" asked a reporter "i definitely trust us but i don't want to detract from the other amazing contenders that are here, we all did a great job" "and speaking of your partner, y/n, she's been at this for several years too. you think you're going to do better than her? do you consider it a victory to be you opening the ceremony and not her?" ellie felt anger coursing through her body, she frowned but forced herself to calm down before responding. "not at all. y/n is focused on her choreography full time and due to scheduling issues, it was more convenient for me to do it, but if she had done it she would absolutely have killed it too. y/n is an incredibly talented girl, we have known each other since we both started in this and this is absolutely not a competition for either of us, i admire her a lot as a professional and i am sure this is her first step to show the world her talent and life will give her many, many opportunities bigger than this one. besides, there is no need to create rivalries between women, we both support each other, and we are partners".

"now, that is a big dick energy" said jesse turning to look at you. ellie's answer also surprised you "she has a crush on you" dina said settling down on the couch and leaving a cut pizza on the table "dee- what the fuck" you asked quizzically "i've always told you, the way that girl talks about you and how she reacts to you, gives me no choice but to think she is in love with you" you rolled your eyes and cracked open a beer. "that was ellie williams, first female skater representative from jackson, wyoming. born in california, she moved to wyoming to pursue her dreams and today she will make her national competition debut at the opening act in just a few hours." said the reporter talking about ellie to make time before the commercials. "she was born in boston, you asshole." dina and jesse burst out laughing “you two are going to be the cutest couple when you stop being so scary.

you were already on your third beer when they finished interviewing all the fucking contestants and announced that the opening performance was about to start. "finally, my god" you said and settled back on the couch "this is what we're going to have to go through when you perform, honey" dina said mockingly.

the presentation began. various fireworks, smoke flares and fabric shows appeared on the screen, giving it an important artistic detail. some ice skaters came out to move around the rink, one of the girls came out in a costume with two long pieces of fabric, she was dressed as a swan. after several ice skaters performances, two boys came out doing a choreography with classical music, it looked like a tribute to romeo and juliet. like the audience, you were surprised that they were two men, it was not common in skating. "look who's back there" whispered Jesse in your ear. right in the shot where they were taking the choreography, ellie could be seen in the background. she was at the low door of the rink holding herself and watching for the other guys to finish.

"that was beautiful" said dina wiping away a tear. the choreography had really was beautiful. two other older skaters, winners of previous editions, had appeared near the end. pretending to be the parents of romeo and juliet they ended up separating them and both boys acted out the tragic death of the two. "shhh, y/n's girlfriend is about to come out" said Jesse and you laughed ironically, a little blushed.

they finally showed a close-up of ellie's face entering the rink. she looked intimidated but happy. she never wore makeup but at that moment she was wearing some blush, and some little glitter pebbles spaced across her eyes, highlighting her emerald, green eyes. "she's beautiful" said dina "she really is" you said, mesmerized by her eyes. you heard some giggles coming from behind you but you were concentrating on ellie's every move. they focused for a few seconds on the audience who were showing confused faces. finally, when they focused on the rink, you saw how they had divided it in two with a black tape. you found it strange since they almost always recommended not to alter the track in any way as a precaution but something told you that ellie's presentation was the last one.

you saw her, she had a full black suit, some very thin feathers and more shiny stones decorated her outfit. her partner, on the other hand, was wearing an outfit that simulated a dress, completely white and full of feathers. taylor swift's "don't blame me" started to play in the venue. ellie began to move gracefully. picking up boost and doing little jumps that her partner imitated to perfection. it was a sort of "mirror performance". when the chorus of the song broke. ellie performed a triple axel. that trick consisted of jumping and doing three spins in the air on your own axis. the challenge was to land well, given the amount of weight put on the skate blade, and ellie performed it to perfection. however, her partner did not, she fell on her hands when she lost her balance.

from that moment on, she could not keep track of ellie, who moved ethereally around the ice rink looking unreal. a few seconds before the song ended, both changed places on the rink. ellie stayed on the light side and finished her performance with a two-foot spin. both spun for the last seconds of the song but you couldn't take your eyes off of ellie. who was doing it faster and with more grace.

finally, when the song ended, they focused on ellie. who smiled incredibly happy. she looked beautiful with her hair disheveled by the movement and blushing from all the physical effort she had made, she bowed to the audience and applause broke out. a black rose fell at her feet and she picked it up, brought it to her face to smell it and then stared at the camera with the rose in her hands. so beautiful, how could she be real?

the next day, when you arrived at the venue where you were going to compete, everyone was talking about the girl from the last choreography. how it was the first time they had seen her and they were amazed. you, for your part, couldn't believe how many times you had re-watched her performance on youtube, you didn't exaggerate that it was the best you had seen in a long time and it seemed you were not the only one who thought so.

you knew that ellie skated very well but you had never been interested in seeing her on ice, you only saw her rehearsing on the floor at the gym but she had definitely exceeded your expectations. you were a professional and knew when it was time to put differences aside and congratulate your "competition" so on the way you had bought a small bouquet of roses, to congratulate her. maybe it was too impersonal, but you didn't know what she might like.

you looked for her for a while until you found her with her back turned, wearing a jacket and a light blue flannel underneath. she was talking to one of the contest judges, the judge was congratulating her. she was saying that her choreography had made her hair stand on end and that ellie was going to go far. you waited for them to finish talking and made time leaving your bag in the corner. you pulled out your skates and set them aside. "ok little one, you have been brilliant and it was a pleasure to see you. i'll leave you with your friend, she looks like she wants to talk to you" ellie turned around, disoriented and when she saw you she turned back to the woman "thank you ma'am, i really appreciate it. wait till you see her, i'm sure you'll be even more surprised" ellie smiled at her and the juror left the room. smiling at you.

"i know you probably didn't expect this from me but, i really loved your performance yesterday. you were stunning" you told her, you could feel yourself blushing and she smiled even more "you are right, i didn't expect this" ellie told you and you took out the roses you kept hidden behind your back "i brought you roses, if i would have been in the audience i would have totally thrown them to you because you were amazing" ellie looked incredulous but happy. she took the roses from your hands smiling at you, your hands touched hers for a brief moment. she was warm "thank you y/n, i'm sure i'll be the one throwing roses at you today, you're going to be amazing" she had always been so nice? maybe if you two could become friends.

"are you going to make me wait any longer?" a voice interrupted you and ellie. you quickly broke away from her and saw aaron, your partner for today's choreography. ellie turned around quizzically. "jesus, calm down i’m almost done" you said rolling your eyes and taking off your shoes to put on your skates. "hurry up, they're going to take away our rink," he snapped her fingers at you and before you could answer she disappeared out the door. ellie watched you as you laced up your skates and put the blade guard on it. "are you... are you okay?" ellie asked you, doubtful. you knew exactly what she meant. "i'm fine ellie, don't worry, he's just a little strict."

you two practiced the choreography several times, they didn't get to complete it because every time something went wrong you practiced it until it was right. just when you were about to start the choreography to make it complete, a girl from the staff came to tell them that the next couple was going to enter to practice "we just want to practice the last part of the choreography, could you leave the music for us? they can stretch for two minutes" the girl nodded and went to talk to the people who were coming in, who conveniently were Ellie and another guy. "all right, do your thing," the girl him them and left. you grabbed aaron by the forearm. "i think we'd better go with the second version of the choreography; i don't know if we're ready to do it" "if you don't try you'll never know" insisted aaron.

they played the song for the last time, you were a little intimidated by ellie's presence on the rink. you were worried about invading her personal space and not allowing time for her to get her choreography right. rihanna's "diamonds" playing on the speakers as the song of choice for your choreography. the first part of the choreography didn't involve many tricks, it was just synchronicity between the two of you and some flips where you had to hold on to aaron. it got more complicated when the song drop, it was slow but sure. aaron's task was to pick you up in his arms and turn with you and then launch you to the other side of the rink, you had to turn in the air and land correctly. the trick was that he would throw you close to one of the rink edges, making it easier for you to get up once you landed.

this time it was obvious that it was going to go wrong. you had been too disoriented from having to start the choreography in the middle, and in the spin with aaron you had been too dizzy. so much so that you couldn't make the turn properly, that said and done when your partner launched you couldn't make the spin, you managed to land well but not to slow down as you slammed into the low wall of the rink. you didn't hit hard, but it looked more violent than it was, and you did hit your head. before you knew it someone had come running to your aid. "hey, stay with me, hey focus on me" after your sight came back into focus you saw ellie helping you. she was holding a hand in yours and stroking your back slowly. "it's ok baby, i'm here, you're ok" you saw several people surrounding aaron, even ellie's partner. they all seemed to be scolding him. "fuck, my shoulder" ellie turned her attention to where you brought your hand. "let's get you some medical attention, ok? i'm going to get you up" you nodded and ellie ran your hand over his shoulder. you grabbed hold of her and tried to stand up but she wasted no time in grabbing you and pulling you up. With a little giddiness you hugged her. "joel! come help me" ellie called her father who was quickly with you. he helped you out of ellie's arms and with frank's help they pulled you off the runway. taking you to the infirmary. ellie was about to go until she remembered the reason you had to go to the infirmary.

without thinking for more than a second she went out to look for your partner, who was looking at all the people who were talking to him with some disbelief. "what the fuck is your problem? how could you neglect her like that?!" shouted ellie, pushing him against a wall. "it's her job to be prepared to do-" "it's your job to take care of her! you're nobody, understand?! you're just a complement to her, she's the real star here." aaron rolled his eyes "it was nothing, she was fine when they took her out" he tried to defend himself. ellie, wasting no time grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him against the wall again, making sure he hit his head. "you fucking asshole, i should slam your head right here so you can tell me if it hurts or not" "ellie!" bill's voice made her stop concentrating on your partner "that's enough, come here. let's discuss changes." ellie left the rink, but not before throwing aaron to the ground and with the blade of her skate, throwing all the ice that had come off the rink in his face. "if i see you near her again, and I swear to god i'll rip your fucking head off," ellie said with contempt and walked out of the rink.

"you have to be more careful," said bill as he walked with ellie off the rink. "you saw how he threw her too, he wasn't careful at all. he could have knocked her out, he could have broken her arm," ellie defended herself. the image of you slamming into the wall replayed in his head. how could he hold you so close and treat you with such carelessness? "i know, it bothers me too, but the day a camera catches you being like that, your career is over," bill tried to reason, but she quickly pushed that line of thought away as they reached the infirmary.

ellie saw you, sitting on one of the gurneys with an ice pack and couldn't help but be distressed, you looked so distressed. "let's give the girls a moment" said bill motioning for joel and frank to come out. when you two were alone, ellie looked back at you "how are you feeling?" "fine" you replied curtly, you hated looking vulnerable in front of ellie "i'm sorry about what happened, i know you might have wanted to talk to him but i couldn't stand still while-" "it's ok" you interrupted her. ellie frowned and looked at you. "what's wrong with you?" "nothing, williams leave me alone". ellie sighed heavily. "and we're back to square one" "leave me alone" you said and ellie looked at you again. "you didn't expect me to stand idly by while that idiot hurt you" "why do you care?!" you yelled at her. ellie's eyes widened in surprise, you hated what she did. that she treats you like a friend, like she trusts you, only to pretend after two days that nothing happened and make fun of you again. "what are you talking about?" ellie said and you got up from the gurney, leaving your ice pack there "why are you doing this?! why are you pretending to care about me?!" ellie grabbed your hands, holding your body to hers. "because i care about you, y/n i cared about you for the past five years. i'll care about you every day of my life. i care about your well-being because i love you."

you looked at her. what? "what did you just say?" it couldn't be, she was playing a joke on you? someone had gone to tell her that you liked her? it couldn't be, the only people who knew were dina and jesse and they didn't even have a way of contacting her "i love you, i fucking love you. i've been in love with you for five years. are you happy?" "don't play games with me williams, not with these things. please" you tried to pull away from her, but without wasting time, ellie grabbed you by the waist. "i'm not playing but i really don't know how to tell you anymore. since the first time i saw you enter the rink, five years ago, i fell in love with you" "you're kidding me, you're playing with me, you think i don't know you, ellie".

you tried to break free from his grip, urgently wanting to run out the door and run but ellie, without wasting a single second, pulled you closer to her and pressed his lips against yours. you immediately calmed down, trying to process everything that was happening. ellie slowly pulled away from you, paying attention to your every move. "i'm sorry... i" but before she could apologize any further it was your turn to pull her by the neck to kiss her deeper. getting drunk of her and feeling her perfume close to you, finally letting your hands caress her hair and stir it to your liking. when you broke away from the kiss you cradled her face in your hands pulling her close to you, admiring her perfect features, all her freckles and those beautiful green eyes "you... you do it too...?" ellie broke the silence pulling her face away a little to get a good look at you. "what?" you asked quizzically. what did he mean? "you love me too?" you laughed, so adorable. you grabbed her face again and leaned in to give her a kiss on the forehead. you had wanted to do that for years. "yes I love you ellie, i don't know when the hate turned but it did, i'm so sorry for the times i was mean to you. i didn't know how to deal with everything that was happening to me" ellie shook her head and pulled you to her chest, hugging you.

the following days were frenetic. too frenetic. you had to adjust as a partner and as a couple. it turns out that earon, your partner had been expelled from the competition, the judge who had gone to congratulate ellie found the video where he threw you and together with other judges and members of the committee had decided that for the next four years he would not participate in the competition. on the other hand, ellie's partner had dropped out of the competition just because. you didn't know if someone had had a hand in it but according to ellie, he wasn't even that good. so Bill and Frank had juggled to create a new performance in such a short time.

and speaking of ellie, she really was a gentleman. She let you choose whatever song you wanted for the performance and when it came to choosing costumes she simply wanted to go toe to toe with you. "you pick whatever color and style you want baby, I'll manage to find a matching outfit." after that, she had even insisted on wearing all black and that you wear a bright yellow suit full of glitter. in the end it ruled out since they didn't get around to altering your outfit in time. and speaking of ellie as a skater, you couldn't believe what an amazing partner you had. the first time you saw her skate was at the opening. but she was so talented, you even dared to say that she was wasted in the opening performance because she had so much more to show. several times you were stunned before entering the rink watching her skate, do tricks, jumps and spins incredibly fast. the choreography that bill and frank had created for you was a mix of the individual choreographies you both had with your partners because you really didn't have much time. doing tricks with ellie was a breeze, much easier than with any male partner you had ever had. she always held on to you without letting go at any time, so the choreography was looking very impressive. you saw the whole thing filmed with professional cameras the night before you had to performed it. it was amazing how well you moved with ellie, how you both complemented each other perfectly, how neither of you looked wary of the other's movements and how your hands matched perfectly when you had to build momentum together. "ready for tomorrow?" asked frank as the five of you walked out of the enclosure together. you and ellie already changed into normal clothes. "don't make them nervous," bill scolded. "they're not allowed to be nervous," agreed joel. "but i am a little," you said and felt ellie's hand grab yours and caress it. joel looked back and smiled to himself, ellie had told you something about what he already knew but you weren't sure. "it is an honor for you, you are going to be the second same sex couple to perform. and the first both female couple to do so" right, the romeo and juliet boys had been the first. "we're going to live up to it," said ellie and squeezed your hand.

……………………………………………………………………..

"perfect" said one of the makeup artists who was doing your makeup for the competition. you got up from your chair and thanked them. when they finally left, you walked out of your hotel room and headed to ellie's room. you felt a little funny walking down the hallway in a bright red dress-suit, but you had to wear it to get used to it in a few hours. when you got to ellie's room her door was open and there were bill and frank helping her into the suit. she looked beautiful, she had a full body suit, black and red which matched her hair which by the way was slicked back with gel. again, she had no makeup on, just a few sparkly stones decorating her face. bill and frank went out, taking advantage of the fact that they had seen a contest coordinator. it turned out that in addition to being the first female couple in the competition, you and her were the last couple of all contest. "you look beautiful" you said to her, you had been admiring her for quite a while. "hey, that's my line" said ellie, a little blushing. "you look beautiful too, you look like a princess." you smiled goofily and moved even closer to her to kiss her. "i love you" you said in the middle of the kiss. it had become a habit for the two of you to say it to each other every five minutes. you two had spent so much time holding it in that now it was a necessity. "i love you too, you're going to be amazing."

on the way to the place, you were too nervous. you kept fiddling with your costume and needed to keep your hands busy with something. ellie seemed calmer since she had done it at the opening but you just couldn't take it anymore. "hey" said ellie softly taking your hands in hers. "you have nothing to be scared of, you're going to look amazing." you smiled at her, she was so sweet. "your line now shouldn't be "you look like you're pooped muffin?" williams?" even though you were already on good terms, you loved teasing her. "maybe so, but sometimes i like to vary the script" said ellie, teasing a little but at the same time leaning over to kiss you on the cheek. "girls..." called bill from the driver's seat. frank rolled his eyes but smiled at them "we're here anyway." some reporters were even waiting for you to come out, the worst of all is that your trainers had given you and ellie the order not to accept interviews before the presentation, to avoid forming controversy about the suspicious retirement of your two companions.

when you parked the car, ellie got out first, you found it strange until you saw how quickly she came to your door and opened it. you smiled at her but grabbed her hand anyway so you could get out. "let's go inside quickly, don't look back" she said in your ear and you listened. you got inside the place and ellie was still holding your hand. you saw that they had gone in alone as bill and frank had stayed behind to do the interviews. a man dressed in a suit led them to the dressing room, you could tell he didn't want to pressure them but he told them that in five minutes you had to leave. ellie thanked him and quickly took off her shoes to put on her skates. you imitated her, sitting next to her, your hands were shaking so she tied the laces of your skates. as you put on the blade guards you saw how ellie's skate had your initial written on the ankle. "really?" you asked teasingly, you thought it looked adorable anyway. "it's for good luck" mentioned ellie laughing. before leaving you gave her one last kiss. "i love you, you're going to be amazing" you smiled at her and together they left for the dance floor.

when you got to the dance floor and the audience you felt like you were about to throw up. before going out on the runway you two posed with bill and frank for the press. the flashes made you a little dazed but you were more nervous because of the amount of people who had their eyes on you. ellie posed with her dad, your mom hadn't come to see you but joel motioned for you to get in the picture with them. finally you both hugged your trainers and got ready to go to the rink. you took off their blade guards and went out to the track. you had a few seconds to test the ice before starting the choreography. ellie shot off to move on the ice and you tested your skates for landing as well as doing some quick spins to get used to the feeling and not get dizzy. finally you went to the center of the rink to meet up with ellie who looked you in the eye "are you ready?" she asked and you nodded. your girlfriend motioned to some people who responded with a thumbs up. "breathe" ellie ordered you and you did. those seconds before it started felt like forever, you guessed they must have been in commercial breaks. the lights went out and two huge spotlights shone on you. one to Ellie and one to you.

adele's "rolling in the deep" started to play on the rink. the first part of the choreography was pure coordination between the two of you. both of you had to be careful not to lose the tempo of the other at any moment. in the moment of the chorus, when the rhythm dropped, ellie grabbed you by the waist to start going faster. Finally, she carried you, turning you in the air so that you were on top of her, forming a perfect pose. several people applauded. you were already feeling more confident. the next step in the choreography was to do the trick that had gone wrong with aaron. ellie held you by the waist. "be careful." without another word, she launched you across the rink and you landed perfectly. the cheers and screams from the crowd intensified as you held on to ellie's shoulders and she held on to your waist for the last trick which to your surprise went perfectly. you two finished spinning just as the song ended. you heard screams from the crowd but you couldn't take your eyes off ellie who had you hugged tightly against her.

when you were finally able to separate your face from hers you both looked at the audience, you were surprised at how many people were standing, applauding the both of you. ellie grabbed your waist to hold you close to her and you both bowed to the audience. ellie broke away from you to get something that had been thrown at her. there were several things, even teddy bears. but Ellie came back with a cloth, you didn't know what it was until she unfurled it and you saw that it was a queer flag. the rainbow colors shone under the light she had pointed at it and not caring about the questioning looks from some people in the audience and the jury she wrapped herself in the flag, motherfucker she thought she was going to get in all the trouble by herself. before the applause ended, you tucked yourself under her arm wrapping yourself under the rainbow flag as well. ellie looked at you in surprise but smiled proudly for the pictures.

you were back in the rink. it had been 20 minutes since you and ellie finished the performance and the jury was deliberating. you had used that time to greet some of the couples in the contest and talk to the media. you hardly had time to do anything else. the scoreboard counted 30 seconds to go on the air and you looked at ellie, who intertwined her hand with yours. you couldn't take your eyes off her as they did the introduction of the program and how their judging system had been for choosing the winners. before they announced third place you looked at the small podium they had set up for the winners. someday.

"in third place we have..." said the announcer looking at the couples waiting on the rink. "noah and brandon representing foxborough, massachusetts!" everyone applauded, the boys from romeo and juliet. they deserved a higher place as they had done amazing. ellie clapped for the boys and you did the same as you watched them go to place their medals. "second place..." continued the presenter. you started to get nervous, did you have a chance of being in the top two? "sasha and ben! representing arlington, texas!" you were happy for them too. you knew they were friends that ellie had made while practicing for the opening performance. they were very nice and you knew they deserved it. you were surprised that they both went to hug ellie and you. "and in first place" you pulled yourself together, you felt a little defeated but you held out a little hope, you knew how unrealistic it would be to want to win first place in your first competition. "the winners of this seventh sixth edition of the contest, who will take home the gold medal to their hometown" come on you idiot, say it already. "representing jackson, wyoming. wllie and y/n!" you felt time stop for a second ellie looked at you, incredulous. "you did it" she said to you with wide eyes, it had been hard to hear her over all the applause. "we did it" you corrected her and grabbed her hand to lead her to the front.

as you were presented with your medals and you were given a bouquet of flowers, ellie seemed absent. she looked thoughtful but smiled at the sight of bill and frank crying. you felt like crying too, this was all thanks to them. though your anguish quickly evaporated when you saw joel with a beer and jumping up and down with ellie's uncle celebrating his victory. "ready girls?" asked one of the staff and led them to the top podium of the winners. ellie helped you up and smiled as they handed you the trophy, it was really beautiful. for the first picture she took the trophy with one hand and hugged you with the other. you grabbed your medal, showing it off and also hugging ellie. for the second picture, of just the two of you, ellie hugged you even tighter and just at the moment when the flashes went off to take the picture that would surely be on the front page of every newspaper in your hometown, she pulled you to her body and kissed you in front of all the ten thousand people that were there, fearless.

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teethcritter · 1 year

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Alright, so. Finn and Princess Bubblegum. Yeah, yeah. Hero and the princess, a story as old as time. We all know the princess in question is by no means into boys, as Patience put it.

So what happens when we look at their relationship from a purely professional standpoint? A lot!

So, let's start with some background information, at least in my view of the characters. I think personally, that it makes sense for PB to have known Finn for a while before season 1. I like to think that she actually helped Jake with raising him, as she probably would've checked on the tree house from time to time with all her surveillance issues and a certain vampire breakup. And I mean, who's to say she wasn't in contact with Joshua and Margaret as well? They had, supposedly, the only human left in their hands. She would've been interested in that. She would've been very interested in that.

Now, let's take a moment to consider what being partially raised by a princess / mad scientist would do to your brain. Let's take a moment to consider what being a knight at such a young age would do to your brain. Clearly a number since the very first episode of the series is Finn and PB causing a zombie apocalypse.

PB was shown in a very morally grey light right from the start. What Have You Done?(s1ep24) is one of my all time favorite episodes because of how well it's portrayed.

Finn is pretty willing to cross her in this episode once he realizes that the right thing is not what she asked of him, but it certainly sets the groundwork of the CONSEQUENCES for doing so; as well as "The princess is always right," mentality he seems to have for most of the series. (A/N: these clips are taken out of context of the full episode, I highly recommend you watch the full thing to understand what happens in it, why PB and Finn do what they do, etc. This goes for all the eps I'll mention.)

As Finn ages, we see his relationship with PB change a LOT. Even after he gets over his crush, he still seems to worship her. In a way that she's kinda conditioned him to.

A very important thing to note while I talk about this, especially around this part, is that I STRONGLY believe that neither of these characters are in the wrong in the relationship. I don't think one is abusing or manipulating the other. It's a two way street. They are both making it worse.

The next episode I'm going to reference is Princess Cookie(s4ep13) (Another A/N: I apologize for the google drive links from here on out, Tumblr only allows one video per post. Cringe.)

By this point, Jake is willing to cross PB AND FINN in the name of doing the right thing. Finn however, is not. As we can see clearly here. Jake has a criminal past. Jake understands that crimes are often committed by people with a very messed up mental state. Those people need help, not a lifetime in the dungeon. But clearly, Finn doesn't get that. Which is not his fault whatsoever. He's been a knight since at least age 12.

I also find this dialogue from the same episode incredibly interesting. I know Jake was playing a part here. I know he was trying to de-escalate the situation so that PB wouldn't send in the guards, but these words still left his mouth.

And I don't know, the fact that he quickly had to correct himself makes this seem genuine to me.

This concept can actually be explored further in Burning Low(s4ep16) which is literally two episodes after this.

I was originally going to avoid Burning Low in this analysis, despite it being one of my favorites, but it is pretty important to the relationship between Finn/Jake and PB. It doesn't take much for Jake to flip out on PB in this episode, which is a drastic contrast from his demeanor in the first half of it. It really makes me consider the fact that he could have some deeply rooted issues with her. Or even, some deeply rooted issues with how much time Finn spends with her.

Another small note from this episode, is this.

We know for a FACT that this is not romantic jealousy in the slightest. I think that Bubblegum has gotten so used to being worshipped by Finn, that now that there's someone in the way — especially someone who she has such a strained relationship with — there is this weird jealousy. Not because she's in love with Finn, but because he's growing up. Because she isn't the sole princess in his life anymore. Because she has one less person 100% fixed on her and her alone. Because Finn is HER knight.

Alright, now before we move onto season 5, there's one more thing from season 4 that is worth talking about. This scene in The Lich(s4ep26).

This scene is one of the most disturbing scenes in the whole show for me, because of a few reasons. First of all, this is after Burning Low. This is after both of them have their explosions at her. But this is about Finn. Finn, right now, thinks that PB is jealous of him and Flame Princess. He thinks that now that there's someone in the way, that suddenly she cares. Which isn't entirely wrong, as I stated in the previous paragraph.

I think that her reaction here was partially a trauma response. Her reaction to Finn in general around this time period could be in relation to Mr. Cream Puff as well, since as we see in Bonnibel Bubblegum(s10ep4), was not a consensual relationship. Of course though, his pursuits were unwanted. Her reactions don't have to be because of a specific thing. She said no, case and point.

Now, I'm not going to get into the insanity of Farmworld Dimension, but I do think it's interesting that this interaction is the last one between the original Finn and PB. Of course Finn after Farmworld is still technically the original because of the paradox Jake created, but it's still interesting to me. Anyways, like I said, I'm not going to get into that in much detail.

Onto season 5! Frost and Fire(s5ep30) is a hard watch. But I rewatched it for this and actually made a connection that I've never made before. Jake says to chase the Cosmic Owl dream, which leads Finn down this road of manipulation. I don't put Jake at fault whatsoever, I highly doubt he expected Finn to do what he did. Finn fucked up — Aaand... I can draw some pretty distinct parallels between Finn and Flame Princess' breakup, and PB and Marceline's breakup.

Frost and Fire

Obsidian(AT:DL ep2)

After the breakup, Finn is not in the best mental state, obviously. He still doesn't understand what he did wrong and I think that's partly what's eating away at him. He doesn't understand what happened. But in a desperate attempt at getting back to normalcy, he gives himself entirely up to PB again. And then we get this line from the episode Rattleballs(s5ep46)!

PB tells him to relax, and he goes off to fight things in a dump. As you do. He finds Rattleballs there and after some training, Finn asks how he ended up here. Rattleballs explains that he escaped Bubblegum's mass execution. And he asks Finn to not out him, but loyalty to the Princess comes first.

Finn thought that Rattleballs and PB could talk it out at this point. Which they did kinda end up doing. But that is so goddamn interesting to me. He doesn't know the lengths of which PB goes, but it's so clear that deep down he DOES acknowledge that something is not right with her. Which means by proxy, something's not right with him either.

I'm going to break away from the show here to reference the comics. I know they're not canon, however the Princess and Princess graphic novel doesn't really contradict anything from the show, so I think this is of note. Finn isn't scared of her, he's scared what she'll do to other people. Very interesting.

Okay, back to the show.

In Hot Diggity Doom(s6ep42), PB loses the crown. This interaction is one that stands out to me.

Obviously the situation is tense. They don't want to serve a dillweed, but "We pledged our allegiance to you," freaks me out a bit! We didn't see this happen. This was before Slumber Party Panic(s1ep1). We don't know how Finn and Jake became her knights. They also seem to be aware of something relating to Cream Puff, as both of them know he died somehow. They both mention in it Slumber Party Panic. Besides exploding when scared, candy people don't die of natural causes as far as we've seen thus far. I do wonder what happened to that guy.

And this monologue in The Thin Yellow Line(s7ep25) doesn't make me feel any better about it. I am fully aware that implying PB did something to him is grasping at straws from what we're given, but hey! It's PB. And boy oh boy, is it interesting to consider that maybe Finn and Jake knew that.

Moving on from that random headcanon though, I want to talk about how Finn reacts to all that information from Banana Guard 16. Obviously he embellished the truth there. PB did what she had to do for the most part, although... not very ethically. Finn knows that. He knew a good chunk of that by this point in the series, and his opinion on her hasn't seemed to have changed. When he actually sees PB at the end, he realizes that maybe Banana guard 16 was right. Maybe she is gonna take him apart. So he, y'know, does a super sneaky thing and switches the guards. Instead of taking to her about it, he puts an innocent guard to death, as far as he knows. And we all know that she didn't actually do anything to anyone in that episode, she even says she's not proud of her past!! Growth!!! We love to see it. Though Finn, seems to have gotten worse.

He's gotten better socially, as he makes up with Flame Princess in Bun Bun(s8ep6), but worse professionally.

And here we go! Another parallel in Varmints(s7ep2).

At the beginning of Islands, we get my favorite scene in the whole show. We get Fern, PB, and Marceline seeing the gang off. And then we get a very interesting interaction between Finn and PB. She explains that if he finds humans, he might find out some heavy stuff about where he came from. She makes him promise that he'll come back to Ooo. And he doesn't promise. They hug, and he leaves. And she says, "He'll be safe." But clearly she doesn't believe herself. Finn, in my eyes, is probably the most important person in PB's life next to Marceline. And she's terrified that he's gonna leave his family for blood.

In season 9, when Elements starts, and Finn and Jake are greeted with the candy tree house, Finn automatically assumes that it was PB, which is something I don't see talked about a lot.

And wow, speaking of season 9! Fern would not have died the first time if PB didn't install a FATALITY SETTING TO THE WEED WACKER. Just a thought. Just an observation, if you will.

Then by season 10, he pretty much spends the entire season trying to prevent the war she's starting. And then in Obsidian, he's still ready to be by her side at the drop of a hat. And to top it all off—

In Together Again, even in death, his first thought for outside help, is her.

This never ended. They never fixed any of these problems. Finn is the knight of a dictator. Even if he wants to be ethical, he can't be. And I think somewhere, he knows that.

I'll probably go into seasons 7-10 deeper at some point in the future but tumblr's image limit for this post was hit a while ago LMFAO

TL;DR if you're going to talk about PB's wrongdoings, you can't pretend Finn is innocent. I strongly believe neither of them are bad people, and that they really do need each other. But that's not good. They actively make each other worse.

#analysis #adventure time #atimers

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