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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Prince of Wishful Thinking Tom Lucitor Retrospective: Divide and Conquer

In Loving Memory Of Jessica Walter

1941-2021

Hello all you happy people, and welcome back to Prince of Wishful Thinking, my look at the life and times of Tom Lucitor by going through every episode featuring my boy. And at long last we’ve come to the end of Season 3 and our interwoven look at the Meteora arc with the two part season finale, Divide and Conquer.

As for why it’s taken me several months to get back.... (points to the in memoriam up top). That’s the primary reason: This review was originally set for May, but I pushed it back to July, as I wasn’t nearly emotionally ready to cover an episode where Jessica’s character dies in a very heartbreaking and brutal manner and I suspected my audience wouldn’t be either. It then got pushed back an additional month or two because I overpacked my scheduled and thus had to pritoize things that were either paid for (via comissions which are open, and patreon ) or time sensitive, and didn’t want to try and rush a review that had this much analysis in it. IT’s things like this why i’m down to just four reviews a week: I wasn’t getting five done and i’d rather projects come out slower than not at all.

So now the time’s finally here, i’m pumped. While it was fully my choice, to better cover this very episode, adding the Meteora arc to thinks balloned the project to longer than expected and I still have decent stretch of road left. though a season filled with missed opportunites, wasted plots and ending depressingly for the boy and for pretty much everyone else but starco and Eclipsa’s family, only the latter of which actually deserves it. And if your curious why yes I will be covering the season 4 arc at some point, but given both how long this one’s taken and how much I have planned for next year there will be a break first.

For now there’s only two episodes left of the season, two of the series best episodes. So it was only fitting I brought along my wonderful friend, sometimes consultant, and mistress of all things star vs the forces of evil @jess-the-vampire to watch this with me as part of our weekly movie night, providing her usual incredibly helpful dollop of insight and snark. I’m also convinced she converted her entire body to salt because there was a lot rightfully thrown around, and a lot of praise too. But was the overall product good? Will the series promote a poly ship they have no intentions for? Will they not kill tad despite all of us wanting it? All excellent questions waiting under the cut!:

So since i’ts been a few months,

PREVIOUSLY ON STAR VS

Tom spent the season slowly becoming a better person, going from not knowing how to be nice, to trying to have his soul taken, to being an instesntive dick about Star’s politics and the plight of monsters, slowly growing into a charming, repentent young man and a true hero.

So the show naturally decided NOW, rather than when Star was single not 8 episodes ago, was the time to have Star and Marco finally resolve their romantic tension with a kiss, then both deeply regret it because Star’s with tom and Marco wants to be with tom is his best friend. Oh and just to make it so not even the shippers who want tom to die in a walrus stampeded so Starco can happen could be happy with this, said kiss was coerceed by a little goblin man who locked them in a booth so he could force two teenagers into a situation where they’d make out.

To the show’s credit, what I can give, both were shellshocked and didn’t have a chance to break it to Tom before shit hit the fan.

Yes twice in a row as after an episode with Pony and a Korean Soap Opera, Moon and Eclipsa went hunting for Meteora, who had gained a new soul sucking power.

Yeah they never explained this and never will but it makes her big and strong so fair enough. Eclispa tried talking her down but Moon’s own inherent racisim an dimpatience caused a fight and nearly ended in Meteora’s death with Eclipsa stopping moon.. and accidently wounding her in the process. Moon ended up portaling away , Meteora left and here we are: Moon’s gone, Meteroa’s only getting stronger, and Eclipsa is left devistated and alone. So SURELY Star will make it bettter for her after Eclipsa tells he everything right?

Nope instead it’s the dungeon for her. Mind you I get it, as this episode will lean into she’s in very bad place emotionally and given Star dosen’t think clearly on a GOOD day and this is a “lost her mother, had the crown dumped on her, and has a kaiju coming to rip everyone she loves asunder”, this is less of a bad day and more of a

day... so I can forgive her for not being 100% on her best all the time when her world’s crashing down around her, not helped by EVERYONE leaning on her to make decisions as Queen, with star emphasising “acting queen” as if that makes her any less responsible.

It’s both a parallel to the same pressures that turned Moon into what she is, and the cumilation of three seasons of build up. Star’s terror at her seemingly inevitible future has been part of her character since day one, her rebliious nature in at least some part coming from the fact Moon put way too much pressure on her teenage daughter. Now granted as we’ve seen with Tom putting NO pressure on your child who’s destine to inheit a country isn’t good either: by not pushing Tom to prepare at all for what he’ll be, he ended up a sheltered entitlted mess who had trouble interacting with people on more than a surface level. But Moon went too far in the other direction: constnatly badgering her daughter about proper etiquuite nad bullshit that HONESTLY dosen’t matter to how good a ruler star is and later sending her daughter into a mental breakdown with describing how restraining being queen is. To moon it’s just who she is but to star it’s a cage... a cage that nearly made her do a violence on a mermaid. Now with that incident it’s also Tom’s fault as part of his gaslighting, but the diffrence is, and it’s very hard to spot TOM IS A TEENAGER WITH SEVERE EMOTIONAL ISSUES. Tom was simply trying to nudge Star into marrying him and geninely apologized. Moon.. never seemed to realize she did ANYTHING wrong.

Star slowly accepted it on some level though, seeing she could try and change systematic racisim on mewni in a way her mother clearly would never do. Buff Frog outright said he’d comeback if she took over. The series had been building to it for this long and this is finally it.

Naturally even if she’s gotten better though.. she still dosen’t WANT the roll and all Star can think about is finding her mom. And while she is being selfish, bigger issues to worry about you have to remember again that this is a 15 year old kid being given no time to process what’s going on. It’s not helped by Moon having clearly been such a control freak she tightly managed everything.. something Star REALLY dosen’t have time for right now and on one seems to get. She lost her mom, was thrust into a role she didn’t want and now has to both find her mom, AND run the kingdom, AND save it somehow without half their usual resources, and with Marco, uch as he tries to be supportive, trying to get her to see that going after her mom simply isn’t the way to fix this. But despite all Moon’s done.. she’s still star’s mom and she can’t see past it or her own fear of becoming her mother if Moon dosen’t take the crown back so she makes mistakes.

Still she has a war room to attend... with the commison deciding to sit in as always. Star angrily asks what they think their doing here.... you know given this entire situation is directly their fault for imprisoning metora’s parents, letting the angry former husband of the queen decide what to do with her, and then clearly not having kept one iota of tabs on her since then. Not only that but since this whole situation was outed and it was clear Meteora was on a rampage they’ve done NOTHING to actually try and go out and stop her, and when confronted by star Hekapoo just says “Councling you?”

They’ve learned NOTHING from what they’ve done and Star rightfully tosses them out. And rightfully so: While they COULD be of use it’s very clear just by actions alone they’ve learned nothing. THEY caused this, all of it, and Mewni is in danger because of them, lives were ruined and they do not care. If they were contrite, if they truly cared about anything but their own power and egos, then Star would’ve been wrong for throwing them out and not giving them a second chance. But they don’t. It’s also VERY telling that only ONE of them actually bothers to help later and i’ts clear it’s more because Hekapoo likes Marco as a person more than because she actually cares who lives or dies.

This also brings me to a fun counting gag for this review: The Wasted Plots count. Things that the series either didn’t follow up on or BARELY touched and thus didn’t do so properly. So our first two up are not having the comission as the main villians of season 4: their responsible for a lot of Mewni’s bloody history, didn’t help in it’s hour of need and their desire to control the coutnry against it’s rightful ruler’s wishes could’ve been great. Mina still coudl’ve been around as the heavy for them, but it’s weird they just never got properly dealt with. I mean they die at the end but i’ts more a neat consequence of Star’s genocidal temper tantrum than any dramatic payoff

The other is that Omnitraxus.. has lost his empathy. He was the one who confessed, the one who felt sorry, the one woh truly seemd reptentant.. and it just vanishes here. From here on out he’s just a grumpy jackass who thinks the worst of eclipisa for no reason. He’s at odds with star and eclipsa from ehre on out because they coudln’t be bothered to write a complex motive because it’s not what they remotely cared about. So that’s two

Wasted Plots Count: 2

The rest of the meeting only goes slightly better: The Knights have no real working plans while one condescends to star which earns him a rightful blast across the room, and they did try sending mina.. but she comes back a husk.

So... after setting up Mina as this big brolly style threat, whose DETERMINED to stop meteora instead of following that up, giving us a cool fight scene, having mina turn out to be the real villian or at least have an enemy mine with star against her... you just.. have her sucked dry. And she’s supposed to be big bad next season after getting easily jobbed out OFFFSCREEN to this season’s big bad. And you thought everybody would be on board with that

Wasted Plots: 3

So Star’s out of time, out of options and out of patience and goes out into the hall, running into her dad. Naturally given the state she’s in she begs him to take charge but he dosen’t. He gives her a good reason to: while he’s good at parties at what not he’s just not good at ruling like Moon was, and much like everyone else he’s lost with her gone. He does give her the one thing he can though: his full support. Which in a LOT of situations would come across as a hollow gesture of an asshole foistering too much responblity on a stressed out teenager. Here though.. it’s him being honest. In a parallel of what happened with moon decades ago, he’s giving the stressed out queen the one thing she hasn’t gotten, and the one thing she’s badly needed: someone to say “I trust your judgment , you can do this, and whatever you do I will be behind you.”. And like those decades ago it makes the diffrence. While this dosen’t SOLVE Star’s meltdown, she stil goes back to her room to understandably mope in private, it’s clearly the first time anyone in the castle has been able to actually make her smile or give the poor girl hope since moon left. Before I move on credit to Jess for noticing the parallel, I missed it the first time and only got it the second time thanks to her.

I’d also like to say River.. is such a great character. Easily one of the series best, intitally introduced as what seemed to be your standard sitcom dad, if the parent star clearly got most of her personality from and liked better. Instead he proved to be a loving partner, a good father whose far smarter than he appears and a hell of a warrior. I honestly feel he desreved to actually get a reaction to the events of the finale and i’m still mad he didn’t. But.. that’s a story for another day.

For now Star is panicking, only getting relief once again because Larvbo comes in, the laundry knight guy who was the only good part of that terrible episode what where marco comes back, everyone but Eclipsa and Moon have lost hteir brain cells, and I die a little on the inside. But here he gets to be in a good episode and the simple act of picking out a bunch of outfits for star instead of pressing her for a choice and giving her plenty of options.

Star eventually has a eureka moment though: her mom disappeared into magic.. so Maybe she’s in the realm of magic. As a refresher the Realm of Magic is the source of all magic and the place where all those unicorns, and as Jess coudln’t help pointing out lizards and jellyfish, are.. .and all of whom star eventually kills directly or indrecitly, something Jess couldn't stop pointing out, and couldn’t stop making me laugh as a result.

Thing is SOMEONE needs to hold Meteora.. so Marco volunteers. This leads to one of the best fights in the entire show.. but starts with something confusing as Marco ONCE AGAIN says he has 40 years of experince. Yeah I think nows’ a good time to put on the breaks, and talk about the whole neverzone thing.

See the idea of the Neverzone was a bit dicey: having marco age 40 years and apparently remember it, meant that he was basically an adult.. and in a show where he had four diffrent possible love intrests, all the same age, that was a problem, especially since it did nothing to stop his relationship with Jackie. Now hard as it might be to belivie it was actually settled during season 2: In the remaining episodes in that season, Marco didn’t really act on his new abilities, and one of those weird live q+a’s where they used a limtited animation version of the characters to answer questions (thoguh using the voice actors) they had a perfect solution for this: It was like a distant childhood memory. This even accounted for Marco later having some memories of the NeverZone and having his skills: while they were distant, he could likely recall bits and pieces, and as for the skills the muscle memory was likely still razor sharp, and is something he could simply practice. He didn’t have to remember HOW he learned some form of neverzonan combat to remember it, just the steps to do so.

The problem is season 3 frequently implied Marco FULLY remembered everything that happened to him in this form. That meant Marco was for all intensive pruproses a 56 year old man dating high schoolers. A thing they JUST fixed and could’ve easily woven into the actual episodes.

There was a LOT of potetial that could be mined from either scenario.. but they instead kept it vauge and annoyed the hell out of everyone as there was no real answer to if they should stop shipping or not. Also this certainly counts for

Wasted Plots:4

As the idea marco was loosign these ablities or his longing to be his older self was a good idea and while the latter was touched upon in the portal episode this season, it wasn’t ever again. So it counts.

So yeah putting Marco vaugely being a pedophile aside, the kind of sentence that makes me regret my job for a second till I remember “Oh yeah I got to write about Goofy doing an exorcism yesterday what am I complaining about, the fight itself is spectacular, showing just how far both our heroes have come in 3 seasons. For Star it not only shows off her full range of spells, both invented classics like an upgraded version of the narhwal blast, a kitten shower, and of course spider with a top hat blast, it also shows how she’s changed as a person: while her style is still all about power and strength, instead of just blindly charging in each attack is designed to try and knock Marco off his guard and hit him while his guard is down in a specific way. Meanwhile with Marco he’s gone from Daniel Larusso about halfway into his training, to a full on master the present day , full on Sensei LaRusso would have trouble with, countering every attack of stars with expert timing and with whatever weapons he can grab off her wall. The fight is quick, brutal and ends in a draw, showing the two have stayed equals but have become MASSIVELY more powerful.. and that Marco is capable of stalling meteora.

So it’s here our two heroes depart into seperate subplots. As such i’ll be doing each one separately and then dovetailing back together for the climax.

Magical Bonding Time with your Naked Mother:

So star heads into the realm of magic. She’s prepared for the amnesia thing this time with a compact reminder telling her “you are star butterfly”, and having brough plenty of backups, traversing through this majestic and storied land she’s going to blow up real good in a season.

She runs into unicorns, other creatures that will die soon.. and most troublilingly one bathed in black magic. This ends up being a clue though as it turns out the pure magic flowing throughout the place washed off Moon’s magic... and corrupted the rest of the magic even though if it can wash it off that makes no sense, but the more I think about season 4 the more I get closer to have an ulcer so let’s not dwell on this kay?

So Star finds her mom... nude.. and using her own hair as clothes...

Yeah I don’t get who approved of this either. Point is Star TRIES to job Moon’s memory, slowly fails.. and then slowly looses hers, ending part one frolicing with her naked mother, a sentence I REALLY hope I never have to say ever again, as Marco desperatley calls for help.

As part to begins the two just sorta.. wonder around magically high and braindead for a while, though it does bring up something intrestnig: the fact the realm of magic zig zags into every other kingdom and seemingly every other type of magic... despite the fact Daron says other magic types are fine....and they ONLY use this for the finale and no time before that despite being an interesting idea and something Star MIGHT be curious about. Just saying.

Wasted Plots: 5

Eventually though the Unicorn in charge just.. zaps both back to Mewni. That’s it that’s all the climax for ten minutes of screentime. This plot isn’t TERRIBLE, I just felt we probably didn’t need most of what we get of it in part 2 as it starts to drag by then compared to Marco slowly loosing badly on the other side. Speaking of which.

The Marknificent 7

So with the fate of Mewni , Marco has to assemble his best team. His avengers, his justice league, his justice society, his fantastic four, his x-men, his x-force, his x-factor, his new mutants, his maruaders, his hellions, his legionaries, his legion of superheroes, his legion of substitue heroes, his teen titans, his team titans, his titans, his justice society, his all star squadron, his agents of wakanda, his extreme justice, his young justice, his old justice, , his inferior five, his robonic stooges, his freedom fighters, his arctic freedom fighters, his downunda freedom fighters, his forty fathoms freedom fighters, his secret freedom fighters, his secret avengers, his mighty avengers, his uncanny avengers, his defenders, his champions, his squadron supreme, his strikeforce, his skrull kill krew, his spirits of vengance, his gotham knights, his birds of prey, his web warriors his justice league international, his justice league europe, his runaways, his redeemers, his young avengers, his thunderbolts, his suicide squad, his teen angels his...

Oh thank god. Point is this is his superteam assembled of the finest people.. whose numbers he has: Kelly, Jorby, Talon, Hekapoo, Ponyhead, Tom and Himself, the Marknificent seven.

Breaking this team down itself, in case it wasn’t obvious I’m a bit of a fan of super teams: the picks are MOSTLY good: Kelly is his love intrest/one of his closest friends, Jorby is her closest friend, mount and one of the series most underutilized characters. Seriously after seeing his personal life in Lava Lake Beach I want to know this guy.. and do mushrooms with him. What is he like? Why is he dating a seemingly non anthromphic goose? how do they do stuff? Okay I don’t want answers to that last one but point is I want to know this guy.

Talon is a good addition as he didn’t get much real fleshing out in his debute, but here gets to be a grizzzly goofus who insists on group photos and shades for everyone. We also needed more of him and at least got ONE more proper episode with him. Tom is an obvious choice as tom’s best friend, one of his love intrests, and damn powerful.

The only questionable additions are Ponyhead and Hekapoo.. For ponyhead.. there’s only one way to put it she’s...

She is able to put stuff on her horn now so.. progress? I dunno. But she’s SOMEHOW not the most questionable member of the team.. which given who we’re talking about, is a TRIUMPH.

It’s also because the most questionable member is a fucking war criminal who staged a cou, ruined a baby’s life and out of all her collegue’s has been the biggest dick about it. It’s Hekapoo. And look in this one episode.. it’s forgivable: Given her mental state and tendency to avoid issues for as long as possible till they blow up in her face, it’s likely Star simply hadn’t told Marco the whole truth yet, and likely didn’t know how, knowing it’d cost him a friend and not really ready to face it.

The problem is later on. This issue is NEVER adressed, as we’ll see later in this very retrospective Marco still hangs out with her casually, and it makes him come off VERY badly to be hanging out with a sociopath casually knowing the horrible things she’s done. It dosen’t impact this episode.. but it really should’ve. Marco SHOULD’VE found out what she did mid battle and that easily coudlv’e provided the perfect reason for the plan to fail. Instead of what we get which is the plan being stupid. Instead it just NEVER gets explalined and it’s subtextual that Marco hangs out with someone he finds attractive despite them being one of the worst monsters (metaphorically) in mewman history.

Wasted Plots: 6

So about that stupid plan: Marco’s plan is the doomnut, basically creating a giant donut with a pit in the center and a giant pillar of flames to trap her.

He.. he wants to trap a juggernaut the size of a buildling.. with fire. Is she.. is she frankenstien now? This plan makes no sense and Marco is smarter than this. Don’t get me wrong he’s a dumbass a LOT of the time, especially this season, but he CAN actually come up with good tactical plans. This is not one of them. Tom hypes them all up to do it though when Marco’s inspriational speech fails, and they get to work.

We then get a REALLY great scene and one of the two that truly makes this finale VITAL to covering tom’s character. As tom gets dressed in prince Zuko cosplay, because why not, and I do agree with Jess this is a damn awesome outfit. My faviorite will ALWAYS be tom in a suit, but damn if samurai zuko tom dosen’t look dope. But Tom also has a heart to heart with marco, bringing up every shitty thing he’s done to the guy: the blood moon ball, the roulette wheel of death, beating his ass at ping pont, the mackie hand tickets, naysaya, the monster arm... which Marco then has to point out wasn’t him. Which, fair to Tom, that DOES sound like something Season 1 Tom would do. The point is Tom realizes he hasn’t exactly been the best person, or best friend, to marco over the years, and wants the guy to know he’s sorry, he has his back, and wants to kiss his face... okay the last parts’ implied. Look it is telling when these two have WAY better chemistry with each other than with star. Either of them. I see why Jess has that hidden mural in her basement next to the antilion and my betamax copy of weekend at burnies. Look I need to keep that shit safe as humanly possible and that basement is a fortress.

So the trap is sprung as Marco uses the best bait they have: Princess Turdina, putting on the dress again. And while this dosen’t really impact the plot the fact they just sorta had marco dump the identity and clearly state he wasn’t a girl in any way shape or form, especially when so many trans viewers identified with him, so it’s nice ot see it back. Also

Wasted Plots: 7

The plan goes off with several hitches as Marco uses Nachos as his ride.. only for the sentient being to somehow flood, thus making it so he gets a slow start and Meteora is able to soul suck him with that power that never gets explained, was pulled straight out of the writers collective rectums, and is op as hell. Also it never getting explalined

Wasted Plots: 8

Kelly and Jorby are able to save him.. but at the cost of Jorby. Also if Nachos was in the group dosen’t tha tmake it 8? Questions for later point is they get her in the pit.. and she easily puts the fire out with tail shockwaves.

So yeah Marco and friends are fucked, down two people, and flee for their lives as we end part 1.

Part 2 opens up with them hiding.. and everyone but Marco and Tom deciding to quit and flee to the nearest pub til this blows over.

Okay so taking them down one by one: Kelly is written out of character as all hell. While she can be flighty she DOES genuinely care about Marco and is implied all this season, and confirmed next season, to have a crush on him. It makes ZERO sense, especially after meteora killed her best friend, that she’d want to just up and bounce with Marco and danger and Jorby’s blood on the one endangering him’s hands.

The other three do make sense: Talon didn’t sign up for this, the plan he did sign up for failed, so while it’s a dick move it’s in character to bounce and given how easily he folds in a second, I can’t stay mad at him. Pony.... well that’s easy.

Hekapoo, unsuprisingly though is STILL the worst wanting to flee and not only leave a child she’s friends with, and in his future life has an implied relationship with, to die to a monster SHE IS FULLY RESPONSIBLE FOR CREATING. Meteora would nto be rampaging and probably would’ve been a good queen had you, crystal himbo, ba ba baaastard, and the doucheist cloud in existance not DIRECTLY CAUSED THIS. This. is. your. fault!

Thankfully Tom turns things around, calling them out and pointing out they don’t follow marco because he has good plans, they follow him because they like him, because he’s marco: he’s too stupid, too noble to give up and he’ll keep going tillt hey win and he WILL win because he’s Marco. Somehow it works, mostly because like Tom, Kelly wants to make out iwth him, Hekapoo figures why not, Ponyhead is a sucker for speechs and Talon... is sold once Marco agrees to the photo, the last of which I consider to be the best gag in the two parter.

So it’s on to Plan B, which is an actually GODO plan: Hekapoo gets Meteora’s attention, not hard given again THIS IS ALL HER FAULT. And if I sound like a record it’s only becasue the episode NEVER brings this up, and it’s infuriating. Anyways Meteora takes the bait.. only for marco to put his bloomers over her eyes.

Meanwhile Tom has been AWESOMELY using a GIANT FLAMING AXE TO CUT DOWN TREES FOR THEIR TRAP. THey then wrap her in the trees, seemingly beating her, only for her to roll off before they can take her back to the castle. Thankfully Tom improvises and simply opens a craggy pit to hell, let’s her go in then seals it.

So the day is saved.. for a bout a minute. Meteora claws her way back up, rips off the bloomers and takes out Talon, then pony and quickly gets an escaping Hekapoo.

More actually troubling is whose next: Kelly. One of Meteora’s attacks rips off part of her hair.. revealing Tad. Because apparently douchiness runs on equilvent exchange and with Hekpaoo and pony down, someone had to fill the void.

I LIKED tad: the twist with him and Kelly being some weird symboitic being at first was hilarous, and his apparance with Marco in Lava Lake Beach was fine. But they HAD to keep bringing him back and not only were his returns not funny he’s just.. a creep. He won’t leave Kelly alone, refuses to move out, stalks her, and last time we saw him questioned her on hvaing a crush on marco which is none of his buisness. This time he fakes his own death to read her a photo, refuses to move out, and Kelly eventually gets fed up and gives him a dressing down telling him to “Go live in the woods tad, go live int he woods” Maybe some deadites will get him there... eventually. I know we have one more episode but I like to think he found the necronomicon after that and nature took it’s corse. It’s the only way I sleep at night.

So yeah everybody’s dead dave, and Tom and Marco are left hiding> So Marco does the only plan he has left.. he’s going to go out there and sacrifice himself, hopeing Meteora toys with him long enough over their history so Tom has time to warn star. Tom, being the goodest boy and the purest of heart after his character development, naturally wants NONE of that, so Marco pulls the one trump card he has left, the ONE thing he thinks will guarantee his best friend will abandon him for his own sake and for star’s sake: He tells Tom he kissed star. And the pure devastation on that poor demon’s face shows that he gets it’s true and seemingly bolts.

This one act to me.. is one of the best Marco moments in the entire series, and helps make up for a series of terrible decisions including the one that brought us to this one: his mildly predatory and terrible act of kissing star. He intitated, he went for it, and he didn’t try anything else. it was a douchey, scummy, creepy thing to do... but it was clear from seconds later he regretted it, and it was clear from the earlier scene he felt nothing but guilt. Not about getting caught, not about not being with star, he just felt bad he hurt his best friend this deeply for his own satisfaction and BADLY wanted to tell him.. but couldn’t. Their lives were abotu to be at stake. He couldn’t risk putting everyone else at risk just to ease his own concnsionse. I feel fully from this act and from the way he acts during this two parter that Marco would’ve told tom as soon as things were better. But he choose to tell him now. Not to aleivatie his concionous, not to redeem himself, not for the glory of a bit sacrifice.. but because it was the right thing to do. Tom is stronger than him, can fly and could be there quicker. Marco probably woudln’t of made the journey but Tom, Tom can and tom HAS TO if Star is to have any chance. And Tom being just as noble would not leave him. Marco had to do SOMETHING to get the love of his life to save the other love of his life even fi it meant destroying him. Him telling tom is not an easy thing, and in these circumstances? Telling tom when he might DIE knowing this horrible thing and die in pain and heartbreak? It’s something no one would wish on someone they care about.. but Marco HAD to. After way too long a season of being selfihs, of putting his needs before everyone elses, of being all about marco... he puts everyone elses above him to save those he cares about. He does the hard thing to save a life.

So Marco accepts his fate but unfortunately, Meteora’s just.. stopped carring about him. Star is the only thing standing between her and the crown and while kiling Marco is fine.. i’ts no longer her life’s purpose like it once was. So she dosen’t bother taking forever reveling in it, she just tries to kill him... and Tom gets in the way, taking the shot for him.

This is easily Tom’s finest hour. While he flies in telling marco “i’m calling your bluff”... it’s very clear he’s at best lying to himself: Tom knows deep down Marco wouldn’t lie to him about that, even to save his life.. and that let’s face it with the smooch buddies thing and Tom’s eyes not clouded by jealousy anymore, tom knows his boy can’t lie. But he went back anyway. Because he loves marco, because marco’s his friend.. and because like Marco trying to shoo tom away.. it was the right thing to do. No matter how bad Marco wanted to sacrifice himself.... Tom can’t let him do that. It’s not what Star would wnat and more importantly it’s not where he wants.

It’s the culmination of 3 seasons worth of character development: Tom started as an entitled creep, an asshole who DEMANDED star’s love instead of trying to earn it, and refused to see why she left him: his anger, his arrogance, his need for control. She had every reason to walk out on him and he couldn’t see it. All he could do was blame Marco because SOMEONE had to be responsible for STar breaking up with him and it couldn’t be Tom himself.

And it was marco that broke that: Marco who got tom to see that trying to dominate star and make her do what he wants.. isn’t healthy and isn’t who she is. Star is a person who does what she wants.. and that’s what he loved about her. You can’t love somebody for being free then try to cage them. So Tom... finally let her go. Sure his next interaction with marco was a scam.. but hte geninely bonded with the guy, letting go of his hatred and finally finding a friend.

And with that... Tom slowly changed: After the song he realized he was never getting star back for good.. but was still inspired by her wanting to be a better princess by trying to be a better him. Sure he stumbled: ignored her instead of apologizing to her, nearly caused a war, tried to yank his soul out instead of actually trying to change, but every step was for himself, and not to win her back... and because of that he got her back anyway, the reasons she left him in the first place melted away.

Tom still had bumps: he had to learn empathy, just HOW bad monsters had it and to accept he was one of them, only insulated from it because he was rich.. and even then not entirely. He realized deep down that he had still gotten his share of funny looks and fear just for being waht he was, and not helping the other monsters get it was horrible.. and thus got why Star spent her time on it. T

By this time Tom’s evolved from a spoiled brat to a true, purehearted hero... and it’s all come down to this. The Old Tom, he would’ve left marco to die and laughed about it. This tom...leaps in front of a psychotic demon to save a Marco who geninely hrut him, who tom would have EVERY REASON to want to abandon.. but can’t because that’s not who he is. He’s Thomas Draconius Luciotr, he’s a good person... nad no matter what his best friend’s done, Marco dosen’t die if he can help it.

Tom does have good logic too: he has a LOT of souls so he’s the natural weakness to metora’s ablitiy: she can keep absobring and abosrbing, but he cna’t be rendered a husk from it. Unforunately this has a natural side effect: every soul just makes her stronger. The two are seemingly doomed.. just as Star Awakes.

The Right Thing

Star wakes up, and River assumed she just napped. Once she’s concious though she remembers.. and has to sadly tell her dad Moons lost.. again. Now Star has almost no hope lest.. and looses the last of it as a heavily battered tom comes to the door.... carrying marco like a baloon. Marco’s been soul drained.

Oh and to make matters worse Meteora is at their doorstep. Star runs away, with tom following, leaving River to take care of it. Star, in a panic, tries summoning the citadel so she can heal marco the same way her mother healed the comission, using the basin at the temple. But she can’t get it right, so Star’s simply left looking crazy to her boyfriend and wallowing in despair. Some could insult her for this, call her out for being selfish.. but she’s a 15 year old whose mom is missing, whose kingdom is in ruins, whose best friend is basically dead, and implicilty given who marco recurited so’s all but two other people she cares about, and she has NO idea how to stop it. She’s not a queen in her own eyes.. she’s just a scared child desperately wanting her mommy.

So Tom tries to fix things, in a slightly shitty but understandable way; he opens the pit to the underworld and offers to take them both away, get her to saftey. It’s what Marco would’ve wanted and it’s all he has left. Meteora can’t find her there. He promises. he can’t really keep that promise but he can try. Star, at her lowest point, with nothing to gain and only two things left to loose prepares to go.. only to notice the eagles her father road in drifting back souless. Her dad has died.. and because she didn’t stay to help she’s responsible. As bad as she feels, ad much pain as she’s in she can’t just walk away and pretend this sin’t her fight. Sure it’s understandable why she’s been in such a terrible state and made terrible choices.. but it makes it more admriable when she realizes the consequences of her constant running away, the lives it’s cost.. adn decies no more. She trusts Marco to tom, and flies off to confront her destiny.

Tom naturally follows..balloning in, and as he makes his way through we cut to Star, in a geninely haunting scene as she goes through the castle, seeing all the dead, souless husks around her.. nad finds meteora, sitting on her throne at last. ... and holdling BOTH tom and Marco and glefully taunting Star about how she killed “both her boyfriends.

Let’s hit the breaks one more time to talk about Meteora. Meteora.. is easily the best of the shows antagonists and the only one to reach her full potetial. Toffee is still my faviorite, but we never got to see the full scope of what caused him to be this way, or got any sense of why he was like this. Mina we got a little of.. but she ultimately came off as a lunk headed racist instead of the tragic figure she could’ve been with just a little more pushing, and clearly WAS supposed to be.

Meteora on the other hand is perfectly excuted; As Henious she wasn’t bad, Jessica walter is a delight no matter what form she’s in, but slowly offered dimnishing returns as her threat dropped and dropped.

But by turning everything about her on it’s head, by revealing this cold, uncaring headmistress who abused teens, stalked one just because he had the gall to... destroy her mind rape academy and give it to the people she was abusing to run better, we instead see something diffrent: We see an innocent child who was yanked from her parents, tossed to an uncarring robot and abused into being something she wasn’t: Told what made her special, her scales and tail and cheeks, were all monsterous and to repress them, that she was somehow wrong for being born and needed to change... and thus morphed into the spitting image of the machine that made her: a cold, heartless woman who glefully drained the joy and individuality from teens, good , abd and neutral, it didn’t matter, it was sick etiher way, to supress what she was, to keep herself alive.

And then she finds out her years of doing that, her years of hard work and horrors.. were for nothing. She was never SUPPOSED to be a metephorical monster lining up children for slaugher. She was queen... and it broke her. Everything she was was gone and all that was left was rage; Rage at her abuser, who rightfully died, rage at the kingdom for throwing her away, and rage at the people who replaced her. All that was left of what could’ve been a charming, wonderful young woman, thanks to abuse, racisim and scorn.. .was pure anger, deterined to burn down everything that had mocked her and rule over the ashes. Even if there was nothing left in the process she would be queen.

it’s terrifying, heartbreaking, and amazing all at once, taking a seemingly one note villian who clearly had layers to her.. and peeling back those layers to reveal a tragic monster created purely by racisim. Purely by people thinking just because of how someone was born, they were less and didn’t deserve their birthright. And her story... as tragic as it was... could only end one way.

So we’ve come to that ending, and sadly to the ending of Jessica Walter’s time on the show, though for her final performance, this is one hell of a showstopper. Star TRIES one last time, begs Meteora to help fix it together, to work.. but what parts of metoera could’ve done that, could’ve made a better world.. their dead. All that’s left is a want for the crown.. and to kill the last person in the way of it.

And so we get the best fight in the series. Jess said it, I agreed. It’s an utter spectacle, with both sides using everything they had: meteora her strength and bullshit soul sucking powers, and star all her spells pumped up to infinity, finally using her golden mode for full combat and showing just how poweful it is again. Every blow has purpose, every spell is dazzling and every move is captivating. It’s just one long, glorious fight with EVERYTHING for both sides on the line.

Sadly.. it’s a fight Star can’t wint. Eventually exaustion gets to her and while Meteora’s not at full either.. she’s still far more powerful. Star is left iwth one last desperation manuver: PUT ALL HER MAGIC into a spirit ball type bove and shove it at meteora. It does a lot of damage.. but ultimately leaves Star exausted.. and Meteora about to win. It also apparently DOSEN’T drain sta’rs magic despite that looking exactly like what it was, and star having to navigate without it would’ve been both intresting and made the ending of next season make WAY more sense. So

Wasted Plots: 9

But the fight isn’t over.... A NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHES for what is easily the best scnee of the entire show: Eclipsa. There’s a moment of worry at first as Eclipsa takes the wand from a stricken star and in a stunning sequence transforms it back into her parasol.. and takes back her full power.

Eclipsa has been through hell: She lost her husband, her daugher, her throne and her legacy to racisim, was woken up only to be used, nearly tossed back despite being freed fairly, had to be shackled up, and then found out her tormentors had rewritten history to erase her child and left her child to her abusive ex who threw her to an even worse monster, turnign Meteora into a being of pure hate. She then had to make the hard decision wether to save he rfriend or her daughter, was unfairly scorned for it.. and now faces the impossible. Fight her daughter.. or let the daughter she’s found die.

And it took me this long to realize that. Star isn’t her grandaughter, like she thought.. blood or no blood.. Star is Eclipsa’s daughter, more so than she was ever moons. Star was the only one who ever fully embraced this poor woman, accepting she wasn’t some evil boogey man but just a woman. Sure star later has to parent her own surrogate mom a bit.. but Eclipsa returned the favor plenty: She’s been nothing but supportive of star, and while her advice sometimes lead to some bad stuff... it was neerintetional. She always trusted star to make the right call when she needed to and time and time again she proved her mentor right.

So when faced with the choice.. Eclipsa sees no chocie at all. She TRIES to talk down meteora.. but it’s clear that won’t work. But she had to try.. because what comes next... is painful to watch as it is beautiful. In just a few spells, asll said firmly and authoratively, Eclipsa easily finishes metoera, showing off just HOW powerful she is, how dangerous she is.. and just WHY no queen until star was said ot be as strong as her. We’ve been hyped up with how powerful Eclipsa could be and how dangerous it could be and in one awesome sequence.. we see there was no hype: Just fact.

We also see pain, the poor woman streaming tears down her face, as her daughter desperately calls for Mommy.. her final words as Eclipsa completes her spell.. and killls her daughter, tears streaming down her face, panting in exaustion the following exchange just pure heartbreak, and a pure example of Esme Blanco’s talent as Eclipsa

Star: “What did you do?” Eclipsa: (Utterly heartbroken but firm) What I had to

For the good of her people, mewman and monster, Meteora had to go. Her child had gone from an innocent child to pure desctruction and nothing would be left if Eclipsa hadn’t done this. By doing so she freed the souls her child had destroyed, gave the kigndom a future.. but it dosen’t make having to kill her own child, a child who never had a true chance to live, any easier. Meteora died as she lived... tragically.

Star finds Marco they hug.. and to close ourt our boy he decides to make this weird and joins them, the two accepting. This.. REALLY promotes the three as t throuple and really makes me wish they’d gone with that instead of..

Wasted Plots: 10

So Star goes to comfort Eclipsa.. and in a show of just what a good person she is despite the hell she’s been through, Eclipsa gladly offers the wand back... and Star shows her own development.. by giving it back Not because of the fears she’s had all episode of the crown.. but because time and time again the butterfly family has hurt people. And ever since the Comission destroyed the line and started over, it’s only gotten worse. An endless cycle of vengance and death with no defendants, mewman against monster, mewman opressing monster, monster fighting back, some monsters going too far, some mewmans doing worse. it just got worse and worse.. and has just resulted in what could’ve been a great queen some day long past put down like a mad dog by her greeving mother. Star truly wanted to change things.. but she can’t. And she knows deep down while she needs to find her mom, Moon won’t either. Only one person can fix this... and that’s the person who was robbed of her chance to do so. Star gives her the wand back, telling her it’s the right thing, putting her trust in Eclipsa to fix the mess both their ancestors, and the comission, and so many other horrible people, have made.

And after getting the first kind gesture she’s gotten in far too long.. Eclipsa gets another: she hears a baby cry.. and finds meteora. While her old daughter is sadly dead and gone... she’s been reincarnated. How?

Wasted Plots: 11

But i’m not going to fight it: after a lifetime of hardship... Meteora gets a chance, reborn to get the life she truly deserved all along, free from racisim and supression and Eclipsa finally gets to raise her daughter. She thanks star then Mary Poppins off into the distnace, Star unsure if she did the right thing.

It’s then Glossaryck runs in, screaming Globgor as he did all season.. before swtiching from professional asshole Jefffery Tambor to professional sex god Keith David, who uses his silky voice to reveal that’s the name of Eclipsa’s husband, and that’s where she’s headed. He then fucks off for the rest of the series, only showing up thrice more for plot stuff and a few times in the background, never explaning why he was only saying globgor for a season. He created the line of queens and stuff sure, and plays a key part in the finale and premire but that’s it.

Wasted Plots: 12

So with that we get our final scene with his awesome. Eclipsa flies to the monster temple, does a few blasts.. and finds her husband, frozen in crystal, and ending the season on:

“Hello my love... we’re home”

Final Thoughts; Divide and Conquer are an excellent set of episodes. I’ve poitned out my flaws; The doomnut is stupid, something it once again took jess pointing out ot me to have it click, Hecckapoo should’ve been called out, and some parts of the Star and Moon plot meander.. but i’ts not enough to take away from the whole. And the whole is an emotinal roller coaster ride, full of payoffs for character arcs, setups for later, some pays off way too damn many not so much, and jawdropping moment after jawdropping moment ,leaving on an excellnent cliffhanger the next season sadly fails to live up to. And we’ll get more into that some other day. For now the story of Metora has come to it’s tragic conclusion.... hopefully her other self’s life comes to a better on

Final Thoughts on the Meteora Arc:

This arc is excellent, as should be made clear. It’s easily star’s best arc, starting with Eclipsa’s proper on screen debut in battle of mewni, and tragically concluding here. It has the most depth, unmasking the comissoin as true villians and throwing a lot of the series into question, Eclipsa and Meteora are both throughly engaging characters and it evolves star intrestingly..... before next season utterly wastes that development but again story for another time. I was glad to take a detour for this arc, and while there was still plenty of tom, this arc was one for the record books..... and i’m going to miss it as we slowly descend into crap.

But now it’s time to fully double down on tom, and to make sure this dosen’t get put horribly behind again ill be covering another tom episode next month, as Star finds out Tom knows about the kiss , and Tom’s mother also knows and is understadnably ready to throw a white girl into the volcano.. because I assume all rich people, especially demons own volcanos. It’s Lava Lake Beach.

#star vs the forces of evil #star butterfly #tom lucitor #marco diaz #meteora butterfly #eclipsa butterfly #globgor #moon butterfly #river butterfly #mina #hekapoo #kelly #jorby #ponyhead #prince of wishful thinking #startom #tomco #startomco

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clownwzrd · 2 years

Text

mane 6 redesigns but i talk about them for the record i think theyre all some form of neurodivergent (primarily autistic and/or a mix of other things)

from this post

Twilight twilight was born with the intent of being a successor to celestia and luna, they just never planned on her being so powerful. a cutie mark extending down a ponies leg is rare– borderline unheard of, and a symbol of raw power among ponies. twilight never wanted to be ruler but seemingly has no choice, as luna urges her to ascend to the throne as soon as possible to mend celetia’s ways, of course, celestia isn’t a horrible ruler but she was thrown into it at a very young age causing her to make questionable decisions over a millennia.

in this version, once celestia had sent twilight to ponyville to fix her own mistake with nightmare moon, luna becomes twilights mentor; as celestia grows far too jealous of twilights raw power and call to responsibility to continue aiding her to the proper degree. the more time twilight spent with the mane 6 the further down her leg her cutie mark extended and eventually with a spell from luna and celestia combined she became an alicorn and began her slow rise to the throne of equestria.

Rainbow dash rainbow dash was born premature and small, while her wings remained above average for a pegasus. this was honestly more inconvenient than impressive at times, causing him to be clumsy for most of their childhood earning him the name “rainbow crash”. he performed a sonic rainboom as a filly during a race which lead to permanent discolouration of her mane and coat, alongside burn marks, scars, chronic pain and partial hearing loss. this rainboom was also the cause of the mane 6 gaining their cutie marks much like in the show, although slight alterations to the events in some cases. Fluttershy fluttershy, having partial earth pony heritage (1/4) was born with slightly underdeveloped wings, of course they can still fly just to a much lesser degree than most pegasai. she fell from cloudsdale as a filly (yes, because of the race) and discovered their love for animals in ponyville, this urged her desire to move to ponyville and she did as soon as she could live on her own. during the period she couldn’t move she had a variety of pets, some of which terrified her parents half to death. Rarity rarity had a strong passion for fashion (ha ha) from a very young age, this was further sparked by a series of events leading to rainbow dash's sonic rainboom revealing a large geode to her (basic show lore stuff), though the outfits she made for the play did not contain them just were inspired by them (im sorry but the ones in the show were atrocious you cant tell me otherwise)

her crystal pony heritage is only obvious through faint gem-like patterns on her coat and in her eyes. in this version of the mlp universe only crystal ponies or those related to them are effected by the empires appearance effecting enchantments, so her heritage is revealed to her during the events of the crystal empires return and restoration (cadence is also crystal pony descendant) Pinkie pie pinkie pie is half pegasai, this gives them an airy quality (very bouncy) and an ability to interact with clouds (to a lesser degree than a full pegasai but she still can). unlike in the show her mane doesnt deflate when they become sad– her entire body becomes discoloured and they lose her "pinkie pie" like qualites (no more streamers in her mane :<). fun fact she knows multiple languages and ends up being the sole communicator of the group when they interact with other species (none of the mane 6 knew they could do this) Applejack applejack has an abnormal cutie mark, as it stretches further down her flank than most cuties marks do. it's not quite a symbol of power like twilights is simply due to its nature, she says its a symbol of her dedication and loyalty to her family (shes the element of loyalty in this it makes so much more sense) but twilight suspects something else (possible powerful unicorn heritage) no one takes twilight seriously with this theory though.

to elaborate on the family thing 3 apples means granny smith, big mac and apple bloom, tree family tree (considering making it so once a new member of the family is added or born into the family the tree extends/grows more apples)

#mlp #mlp fim #my little pony fim #my little pony friendship is magic #my little pony #twilight sparkle #fluttershy #rainbow dash #applejack #rarity #pinkie pie #princess celestia #princess luna #sunset shimmer #starlight glimmer

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dimitrescus-bitch · 3 years

Text

New York City Standard (Veronica Lodge x Reader)

“Hermione, thank you so much for inviting to come and stay with you. Riverdale is an absolutely charming little town,” you thanked your exgirlfriend’s mother. Technically, you and Veronica had never broken up when she left New York, but she had essentially stopped talking to you. You understand that it was hard for her, but now that her father was out of the picture once again, things should have been easier for the two of you to rekindle what you had before.

“The pleasure is mine. It’s been far too long dear. How have you been?” Hermione asked you. She had always liked you. Hiram, on the other hand, hated you and the fact that your ambitions didn’t necessarily benefit your family’s business. You were your own person and you’d definitely influenced Veronica a bit to seek out her own path, which he hated.

“Very well. I’ve been accepted into Columbia for a pre-law program and if all goes well with that, I’ll have my choice at a number of ivy leagues for an official law program,” you told her. “Has Veronica mentioned college?”

“She has been a bit reluctant to speak with me lately. I’m hoping that you will remind her of a better time.” Hermione led you through their home and knocked on a door. “Mija, you have a visitor.”

“Okay, just a second!” Veronica called back. Your heart skipped a beat at the sound of her voice, a sense of nostalgia taking over. You smiled a little as Hermione walked away and you were left standing in front of Veronica’s door. She opened it up and paused for a moment, almost as if she couldn’t believe that you were standing in front of her. “Y/n?”

“Hello Veronica, may I come in?” you asked and Veronica stepped aside. You noticed two people sitting in her bed, a boy on her bed and a girl sitting hunched over a book.

“Um, guys this is Y/n Y/l/n, she was my best friend in New York. Y/n, this is Betty and my boyfriend, Archie,” Veronica introduced you. You offered both of them smiles, even as they both eyed you suspiciously. “She’s nothing like Nick. In fact, she probably hates him more than anyone else.”

“Veronica, I see that you’re busy, but when you’re free, I’d love to go to dinner. It’s been far too long since we’ve had quality time, lovely.” You leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the corner of Veronica’s mouth. “It was nice to meet the two of you. Hopefully, we will become better acquainted during my visit.”

“How long are you staying?” Veronica asked you and you shrugged.

“I don’t really know yet, but hopefully by the time I leave, we’ll have arrangements for you to come into the city with me. It’s been horribly boring without you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You know, Archie is suspicious of your intentions being here,” Veronica said as the two of you sat in her living room having some drinks. “He thinks you’re here to steal me away from him.”

“Technically, he’s the thief. We never really broke up, you just stopped answering,” you pointed out. Veronica looked down, guilt evident on her face. “I’m not mad though, that was a whole shit show of a situation. I also didn’t really expect for you to be that into me.”

“Excuse me?”

“I was always like your little show pony. The progressive streak to distract from the fact that everybody assumed your family was corrupt. They don’t care about embezzling whenever the golden daughter is dating the troubled black sheep from the business rival family. It’s a miracle that your dad didn’t try to have me whacked or something after he caught us kissing.”

“Too obvious, and he wasn’t the only one who saw that,” Veronica told you. You sighed as you took a sip of your drink before setting it down on the table. “Besides, where is your evidence I didn’t beg him not to kill you? I meant it when I told you that I love you Y/n.”

“Yeah, but if you said it again, would you still mean it?” you asked her. Veronica sighed and you laughed at her.

“What’s funny?” Veronica asked you.

“The golden boy found the golden girl. You’re just golden by New York City Standards. He’d crumble against the concrete if you weren’t behind him.”

“And let me guess, you’d soar from building top to building top?”

“Damn right Lodge.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Why is she still here?” Archie asked as you walked into Pop’s. “Veronica, you said she went back to the city Friday.”

“She did, I watched her plane take off,” Veronica promised him. She was puzzled as to why you were there, but the second she saw the familiar mauve box in your hands, she knew what was going on. “You’re a character, you know.”

“I’ve been told, but you wouldn’t refuse the best pastry in New York City, would you?” You held the box out towards Veronica. She took it from you and nodded at the empty spot in the booth across from her and Archie. “Afternoon Andrews.”

“We’re sort of on a date here, if you don’t mind,” Archie said, his voice sounding agitated.

“Oh no, I don’t mind one bit,” you laughed melodically. Archie muttered something under his breath and Veronica smiled as she saw the heart shaped scone. “I would have brought you coffee, but it would have gone cold. I dropped grounds off at your house though on my way here.”

“Of course you did,” Archie scoffed. “You know that you can’t win her by buying her love. Maybe you could have before, but not anymore.”

“I am not trying to buy her love Andrews. I’m giving a gift to my best friend. She doesn’t get to the city very often and I know that this place is her favorite. I’m sure if you were moved away from your home, you’d want someone to bring you Pop’s?”

“Let’s go Veronica.” Archie got out of the booth and you set the money for his order on the table.

“It’s on me, sorry for ruining your meal. Veronica, I assure you it’s not what I mean to do,” you promised her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You really are an asshole,” Veronica said as she caught you coming out of your hotel. “Archie is nice and I was happy before you showed up.”

“Veronica, I’m sorry. I really am,” you told her. She grabbed your arm and tugged you away from your cab. “I’ve got a plane to catch.”

“Is there room for one more?” Veronica asked you. “I want to go with you to the city. Even if it’s just for a little bit, I miss it. This place has made me soft. I’m not up to standard.”

“Maybe you were always a bit soft and that’s why I liked you,” you suggested. “Maybe you could make me soft and that’s why I fell in love with you.”

“Then, let me come with you for your sake,” Veronica offered. You nodded and opened the car door for her.

“About your boyfriend?” you asked Veronica as you turned your head to look at her.

“He hasn’t been my boyfriend since you crashed our date. Jughead is dealing with that aftermath and Betty’s just telling me not to screw this up too badly a second time,” Veronica said and you smiled a little. “I think she liked you too.”

“So, when you find yourself coming back here, I’m allowed to call and visit you?” you asked and Veronica nodded. “Good.”

Taglist: @storiesofsvu @xixxiixx

#Veronica Lodge #veronica lodge x reader #veronica lodge imagine #veronica lodge imagines #riverdale imagine #riverdale imagines #riverdale x reader #riverdale

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ziracona · 2 years

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Do you get annoyed when people keep asking you about dbd even if you're not really into it anymore? How does it feel to have people following you for your dbd works even if you probably won't continue them (I know you may, but let's say you won't)?

When I was 14 I left My Little Pony fandom with some unfinished fanfiction and people kept asking me about it. It haunted me for like three years. Even 10 years later I'm sometimes invited to fandom meetings and get asked questions about my fic and I'm fuckin dying bc I have to confront cringy 14 yo me.

Anyway I hope you're feeling good today <3 <3

Awww, that’s a very sweet thing to ask. : )

Well, let me think. It really depends. I cooled originally because of the archives and the retcons being so bad back to back to back, and stopped around when Sally’s tome released. But the last straw for stopping was that I got harassed over dbd for about a week the exact same time I got the call one of my family members had just been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. And while it was hardly the first time and usually I don’t care much, those two events kind of left a joined taste in my mouth. Even if that doesn’t make entire sense, I guess it does though. When I was about 10, I had moved, and a friend of mine I’ll call K, their mom got diagnosed with breast cancer. The way their dad broke the news was to take them to see the movie Hoodwinked, and get nice food, to try and soften the blow. That was a sweet intention, but to the best of my knowledge, even though that film truly has nothing to do with K’s personal life, the thought of it alone is upsetting, because that’s just how traumatic associations work. So, circling back. At the time? Almost infuriating, even if irrational. Didn’t help I’d made online friends for dbd, basically all of whom that knew, did the opposite of be there for me while I watched a family member die. Getting asked, especially after I’d answered the same question a lot of times, it felt like no one was listening to or respecting my choices or the tragedy I was going through. Really bothered me when I got that from friends. Sometimes I made it very clear it was not a topic I wanted to be discussing, and got straight up ignored. Both more personal and the more public versions were a very dismissive, and unpleasant, experience overall.

To be clear though, I am happy there are people still following me for my dbd works—I haven’t cooled on my own creations. I’m very proud of them, and I love those stories, and I am quite happy other people do too, and that some of the people originally interested for that have stuck around. I’m also really excited every single time a new reader finds and comments on, or starts asking me about my work. To me, DbD the currently ongoing game, and DbD of my works are divorced concepts like nearby islands. And I love my own stories. So I welcome asks about my own work. I don’t think that ever stopped. It’s more complicated with just about DbD updates kind of asks, now, because I tend to get them on anon, so it’s not like I can know if it’s a long time follower ignoring they know I left & hoping I am/assuming I’ll magically get back into dbd just because I was a bnf for so long, or if it is someone just popping in or following recently bc they just got into my stuff, and have no clue. When I first started being like ‘I haven’t been paying attention any more, here is why,’ and that got ignored; genuinely hurtful, is how it felt. Now, I know decent odds it’s someone with no clue, and if they don’t know, it doesn’t bother me. I have been invited to things, and in general I find that sweet, because it’s never from people who’ve interacted like here, on Tumblr, enough to know I’m peaced out. It’s always just people who know and like my work, and that, again, I see as very different to me, and it makes me happy. A little funny, at times, especially if they want to talk about an update I barely am aware even happed, but flattering and sweet none the less.

So I guess, in tldr, I actively enjoy engagement with my own content—a lot. And if I get dbd requests from people who don’t know, I don’t mind. It used to be extremely hurtful to regularly get asks about a game I was very publicly off of, while going through so much shit last year, and I hated it. Now I mind less, because I know people don’t all know now. It can still be mildly irritating depending on my mood though. I do still intend to continue my own stuff though; for a long time it was too close for me to want to touch it, but time has helped and I’ve really enjoyed especially all the people asking about Signifying Nothing this year. It was very nice. : )

So my stuff: Actively Enjoy. — DbD updates: I won’t really have an answer and how I feel will depend on my mood. — Dbd in general?? Mmmm. Depends. Old/OG: interesting and I enjoy it—I still like that too. Archives retcon changes and updates I know nothing about? Do not enjoy that. And I guess like? — tbh, while I never stopped liking my stuff and am very happy for interaction with it, and plan to write more, I really don’t think I will ever go back to being into/playing dbd the game, because I was already like two straws from quitting. Unless the online play got way less toxic, the devs retcon their bad retcons and fix their un-research, and stop making their lore worse and worse all the time w tomes—especially in F You ways to the fans, and the devs stop doing shady stuff like shit redesigns and cosmetic choices, and participating in NFTs, I’m not ever going back to the game because it’s no longer….good. As an experience, to me. Too much I’d be like ‘I don’t really want to affiliate w this anymore’ at. I really don’t think that’s such an uncommon fan response, is the funny thing—especially with tv shows, where writing seasons 1-4 can be great, but then the next six seasons fall apart, so it’s kinda odd to me it seems so hard for some video game people to grasp some players might feel that same way. It’s not even uncommon to love something at start, see it get worse and worse, and spend six years writing fixer for the bad writing because the characters or world had such potential. It’s not like I hate dbd or something either—I’ll always love my own stuff, and OG dbd, just New Dbd, I am disinterested in. It lost me, haha. Anyway! I digress.

Circling way back, I’m sorry that you had to deal with that. I’ve certainly experienced versions of that before. And it was really considerate of you to ask me this, so, thank you. It means a lot. You’re the first and only person I’ve ever known because of dbd who has asked me something like that, and it made me feel listened to. It really means a lot.

#if you read this & have sent that kind of ask not knowing-dw. you’re not what upsets me #if you see this & get curious-/please/ do not try and go through my archive looking for personal posts I made about multiple death last year #you have to realize that’s a fucked up and invasive response to have to hearing I had a family member die of cancer right?#and I would appreciate that experience respected. if you have genuine questions you can ask me. but I made a lot of upset journal kinda #entries in a real bad place since this /is/ my personal blog. please don’t go read them simply as curiosity or enjoyment #ask #alcyone-meissa #like last time I looked at the game I saw they’d redesigned their two plus size characters one to be smaller and the girl to have that one #behated fatphobic design where you take the body type only thin girls have and inflate it instead of what she had before which was realistic #—so they have more ‘pleasing’ proportions and the little archway thigh gap at the top of thighs with legs apart instead of regular thick #come shape she used to/plus size girls actually /have/ and it made me furious. I’m sick of that shit #dead by daylight #long post

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wallwriterstuff · 4 years

Text

The Little Ways You Say I Love You ||Demetri Volturi x Reader||

Summary: Demetri is well aware how fragile humans can be and needs a little reminder that to touch you isn’t to kill you. Loving a vampire isn’t easy, but you find a way to compromise that suits both your needs.

Warnings: None, for once it’s nice and fluffy

Words: 4071

There were certain things humans did that were very endearing. The way you scrunched your nose for example when you were confused or showing your distaste for something, and that sweet way you snuggled down into your duvet when you slept. It was also incredibly cute how excited you got when exploring somewhere/something new, eyes shining as you bounced about. Your sleepy confusion when you first got up or had been up too long, your sweet little sneezes and sniffles when the flowers in the garden invaded your nose, your habit of fidgeting – it was all still so new to him and Demetri would be lying if he said he didn’t find it absolutely adorable. Your humanity was something he had originally not batted an eye at – you were going to be a vampire in the end after all so what was the point – until you had started showing these little traits that left him falling a little harder for you every time he saw them. Then, of course, there were the downsides to mortality.

You got sick. You couldn’t go without eating lest you become sluggish and nauseated. You sometimes had nightmares when you slept and terrified him when you woke with a gasp or a scream. Your skin turned shades of black, yellow and blue when you hit your limbs off of inanimate objects - and Felix’s abdomen but you had both sworn a pact to never tell Demetri that was how your knuckles had ended up bruised – that Demetri never seemed to be able to steer you clear of despite his speed. If you tripped or hit them just right your skin also, heaven forbid, tore like tissue paper, tempting him with your sweet sweet blood. He was grateful that didn’t happen as often as you added to your collection of bruises. He was also well aware of how fragile your bones were, susceptible to shatter from the slightest pressure. In short, all the things he found so endearing could very easily be wiped out by illness, injury, and the common flaw of mortality that was, simply, that it wasn’t built to last.

Demetri was painfully aware of all of these things when it came to you, having accidentally left his fingerprints on your wrist for days after trying to make sure you didn’t step into the way of an oncoming car once. He had felt awful; it was almost painful to watch how slowly your skin faded back to it’s normal colouring, and he’d honestly had no idea you’d get so sick when he ran with you for the first time, feeling immensely guilty as he dared not put his hands on your heaving form lest he make it any worse. It was a pattern you’d noticed for a few weeks now and you hated it. Demetri had been nothing but good to you from the day you’d met him, a bit dismissive at first perhaps but very attentive when it came to your needs so you were never uncomfortable in your new home. You’d not had much choice once you’d been pulled from the tour group but to stay with him, especially after hearing the screams you should have been contributing to – nobody of sound mind would let you go with what you knew.

It was very obvious that Demetri had never really expected to meet you, and the sudden appearance of his mate had left him at a bit of a loss, especially when he realised you were human. You could almost see inside his mind in the early days as he watched you explore your new home with a mystified but doting expression, looking very much like a parent watching their child toddle about after finding their feet for the first time. What do I do with a human? The answer was very simple and you let him know soon enough, that if he expected you to fall hopelessly in love with him then you’d like to see the real him doing things he loved. He’d taken you out a lot after that, having to learn to balance your need for rest with his fun-packed dates. In all that time, from the first moment he’d accidentally bruised you (and consequently saved you from the wrath of a very angry Italian woman who was clearly in a hurry that day) pulling you out of the way of that car, he’d not touched you since.

You weren’t expecting the world from him, you knew it took a lot of self-control for him to even be near you some days, but you were only human. You were never one of those people who preferred their own company and had grown up in a family were physical touch was common place, whether it be from hugs or from cousins poking you constantly, you naturally craved physical contact and Demetri seemed to naturally withhold it. You knew it was out of fear for your safety, and you didn’t want to force him to spend long hours snuggling with you or do anything extravagant if it meant putting him through any sort of discomfort, but would it really kill him to hold your hand when you went out and about to places? Was it really the end of the world if he gave you a brief hug when you were upset? He seemed to think you’d collapse if he so much as breathed on you, or at least, that’s how it felt.

At first it had just been a bit annoying. It was a quirk of his you’d tried to learn to live with until it began to wear you down some. You had been given a three-month grace period to settle in, and time was very quickly passing you by. The longer it went on the less desirable you felt. Logically you were well aware your thinking was stupid, that Demetri was refraining from touching you for any other reason than simply wanting to ensure he didn’t hurt you, but the lack of contact forewent all logic to that lingering anxiety that perhaps your human self wasn’t enough to attract him. Maybe he didn’t want to touch you. You’d subconsciously tried dressing a little nicer and being a little more flirty just to see if it would encourage him to touch you, even if it was just his hand on your arm briefly, and you were disappointed to find that it didn’t work.

He’d been on a mission for his masters for the last few days, leaving you alone to wallow in your thoughts. You’d been lonely with all your usual friends gone from the castle and you knew full well you couldn’t expect him to greet you with a hug when he returned, though he would, in his own way, still greet you warmly. Vampires, you had learned, were eerily quiet, though you supposed they had no reason to be loud, so consequently when they weren’t around to make conversation with the castle was silent. Creepily silent. In an effort to chase away that silence, you’d turned to music. Demetri’s quarters were on the floor reserved specifically for the high-ranking guardsmen, and since they were all out there would be no Jane to pound on the door and demand you turn it down, or Felix shouting from his own room that her taste in music was horrible.

So you cranked the volume up.

High.

Then turned it back down because Caius’s face had unwittingly entered your mind and he looked even more irritated with you than usual.

After a few minutes of altering the volume to what you considered the optimum level, you finally settled back onto the sofa with the intention of just enjoying the music as you continued to read one of Demetri’s many books. By the bottom of the first page you were tapping your toe along to the beat. By the bottom of the third you were bobbing your head. By the time you hit page number five you were bopping side to side in your seat. You had abandoned your book entirely by page number seven in favour of grabbing the TV remote and using it as microphone, and you had an absolute blast. You imagined yourself on stage, a thousand adoring hands reaching for you as you sang your heart out and danced around the room, switching between air guitars and pillow dance partners. You could practically feel the way your mood shifted, the beginnings of your sulking long gone as your face flushed and your smile widened, nothing but the light, euphoric love for good music filling you from head to toe.

Then the ultimate karaoke song came on, and you squealed in delight as you uncaringly turned the music up far louder than you knew any of the ancient masters would like. You danced about the room, trotting like a pony and waving your arms to the beat as the intro played itself out, and then your microphone lifted, the fans went wild and you turned to point at them all, only to freeze. Demetri’s vibrantly red eyes were filled with mirth, his lips spread into a wide grin as he stood in the doorway, cloak draped over his arm. Mouth frozen open, you took a moment to feel the sheer horror at being caught red-handed.

“Please, don’t stop on my account.” He insisted, turning to hang his cloak up on the coat stand near his door. It hung neatly beside your own jacket and coat. He looked unfairly good considering he’d probably crossed hundreds of thousands of miles on foot in the past few days, not a hair out of place and pearl white teeth gleaming at you. You, on the other hand, were flushed bright red, hair falling in your eyes thanks to your dancing knocking it out of your neat style, and probably sweating a little.

“You…are back.” You said. Demetri tilted his head slightly, discarding his jacket next and rolling up the sleeves of his button up shirt.

“I am back.” He confirmed. You bit your lip, your embarrassment lingering still as he crossed to turn the music down slightly, to a more bearable volume for his sensitive ears.

“I missed you.” You told him honestly, fingers itching. You wanted to reach for him but couldn’t bring yourself to do it. Demetri seemed to sense your change in attitude, his amusement fading and being replaced instead by something that seemed to be an odd mix of confusion and concern. He came to stand before you, hand almost reaching for your arm before he retracted it.

“I didn’t mean to embarrass you my love, you looked like you were having fun.” He said. You couldn’t quite bring your eyes to move from his hand, the hand that had almost answered your silent prayers, that had very almost touched you. He’d been gone for three days, would he really deny you the contact you wanted if you were just honest with him?

“I was.” You agreed softly, tossing your remote control microphone aside and trying to pluck up the bravery to just do it. His hand was right there, loose and open. You could easily slip your palm against his. What was the worst that could happen? Well he could always snatch his hand away and reaffirm your ridiculous beliefs about being undesirable in every way shape and form but, what were the odds of that? You quickly stopped letting yourself think when your brain tried to work out the statistics.

“I need to shower, you’ll have some more time to yourself while I’m in there if that’s what you would like.” He assured you. You shook your head immediately, the last thing you wanted was for him to leave you so soon after he’d just gotten back. You took a breath and quickly reached for his hand, looking up at him with pleading eyes while he visibly stiffened at your touch.

“Dance with me?” you pleaded. Demetri’s crimson irises flickered to your joined hands briefly, his grip was non-existent, and you could almost feel him trying to pull away. Your heart quietly shattered.

“I’m not entirely sure how you would dance to this music.” He admitted. It wasn’t a resounding no at least and he still hadn’t forced you to let go. You bit your lip, a small flicker of hope igniting in your chest that must have shown on your face.

“Please try?” you asked, slowly lifting your joined hands so you could twirl beneath his arm. Demetri’s grip remained awfully loose and he almost seemed to flinch when you reached for his other hand, carefully moving your arms back and forth, hips swinging. You had no clue what you were doing either, you were simply compiling dance moves one on top of the other with no rhyme or reason, speeding up as you went. It was…honestly hilarious. Your discontent was very quickly forgotten seeing the effort Demetri was putting into this ridiculous dancing for you. His movements were gracefully awkward, his vampirism not letting him look stupid despite the fact that he very clearly should given the mismatched way his top and bottom halves were moving. You giggled at him and Demetri shot you a playful glare in response.

“What? You think this is funny? I am the height of trendy. My moves are so fashionable they’re ahead of their time.” He teased, letting you go in favour of pulling a ridiculous John Travolta pose, his head bobbing as he did the classic disco moves you were sure the human race had tried to bury in the film Footloose. You laughed, happily mimicking him with far less grace as the pair of you utilised the space in your room to full advantage. Demetri made no attempt to stop you whenever you grabbed him, your smile only widening whenever he let you take his hand to twist him one way or spin yourself about the next. You were exhausted, barely able to breathe through your laughter when you inevitably tripped over your own feet, colliding with his chest as the cliché moment demanded.

Panting and still giggling to yourself you were completely unaware he even had his arms around you until you tried to pull back and found yourself trapped in his embrace. Your giggles stopped abruptly, the shock clogging up your throat. With wide eyes, you looked up at him, slowly lifting your own arms to wrap back around him as he stared down at you with the most soft, vulnerable expression you’d ever seen on him. He looked entirely uncertain, his arms not quite loose but not tightly wrapped around your body either, as if he was fighting with himself to simply keep hold of you.

“Demetri…” you whispered. It was all you had wanted now for weeks, and here you were finally, home. There was a sense of contentment growing within you the longer he held you, a rightness that his embrace offered that made it feel like he’d locked all of your troubles and insecurities outside of the little bubble he’d created. You snuggled closer, determined to make the most of it while it lasted, but quickly felt guilty for the selfish move when he stiffened, muscles rigid with tenseness. “I’m sorry.” You said, attempting to squirm backwards out of his grasp. He let go immediately, his eyes widening.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked immediately, eyes a little frantic.

“No!” you groaned, sounding more exasperated than you wanted to. Demetri frowned, picking up on it and looking equal parts confused and wounded. You sighed, crossing to the speaker and turning it off. The silence between you was deafening for a long moment as you organised your thoughts, trying to figure out what to say to him next.

“What’s wrong my love?” he asked quietly, “Please, talk to me.” He looked so earnest, like he really wanted to listen and figure out how to fix the problem. He was like a big puppy sometimes, desperate to give you love but unsure how to do it in an acceptable way. It made your heart ache and your cheeks flush simultaneously because you knew it was really your own problem, your own silly insecurities. Playing with your fingers, you ducked your gaze and took a deep breath, exhaling in a huff before looking back up at him.

“I need you to know you’re not going to hurt me just by touching me.” You said finally, “I’m not made of glass Demetri, I’m not going to shatter at the slightest touch.” Demetri’s brows tugged down into a frown.

“I am very capable of hurting you my love, I’m only careful with you to avoid that.” He answered.

“But you don’t avoid that, you avoid me.” You retorted, eyes dropping to the floor again, “I know you mean well and I don’t want to make you do anything you’re not comfortable with but…isn’t there a way to compromise? Something little we could do that just, that makes me feel like…” you stumbled over the words, knowing they’d hurt him greatly. Demetri was nothing if not dedicated to you and to suggest he wasn’t was practically blasphemy.

“Like…”he prompted. You swallowed, risking a quick glance up at him and feeling your stomach curl at the anxious expression on his face.

“Like you actually want me.” You said softly. The way his entire expression crumpled made you feel intensely guilty, so much so you felt tears spring to your eyes. You forced yourself to blink them back. You’d had such a good afternoon, you’d been laughing together without a care in the world not ten minutes ago and you’d just had to go and spill your guts to ruin it hadn’t you? You really hadn’t been expecting his cold hand to envelope yours, his eyes watching your expression carefully as he tested the smallest amount of pressure he could possibly exert to tighten his grip on your palm.

“I am careful with you because of how badly I want you.” He said, his voice quiet and earnest, “Please believe me, it was never my intention to make you feel undesirable. I still can’t honestly say I feel entirely comfortable with the idea of embracing you but…maybe, we could start with this?” he suggested, lifting your hands slightly. Your heart swelled, eye shining as you stared down at his fingers curled around yours, relished in the strangely warm coolness of his skin. You nodded earnestly.

“Please. I’m happy with just this.” You promised, squeezing his hand lightly. Demetri sucked in a breath.

“Are you sure?” he questioned. You nodded vigorously, unable to keep the smile from spreading across your face. You hadn’t wanted the world from him, just a small amount of contact comfort every now and then. Demetri looked utterly relieved you weren’t pushing him further, quietly content with his own brave leap.

“I’m sure…didn’t you need a shower?” you asked, cocking your head to the side. His lips twitched into the smuggest little smirk you’d ever seen on him.

“Maybe I’m not done holding your hand?” he suggested.

“Then maybe you can keep on holding it?” you smiled.

Demetri kept true to his word to, trying his best to introduce a little bit of physical contact throughout your day. He kept it at hand holding for a while, slowly testing the waters with a hug or two here and there. He had developed a nice little system of taps for his worse days, where the fear he’d hurt you was just a little too much, and you came to cherish the small but meaningful touch between you both that only the two of you ever understood.

Suddenly, three months were up. Demetri had prepared you well for what you’d face during the change theoretically, but nothing he could have said or done would have ever prepared you for the sheer agony of it all. You burned constantly, a raging inferno consuming every cell and every fibre of your being. You dared not scream though. You knew better than anyone how deep his fear of hurting you ran, that the anxiety in his eyes when he had pulled his teeth from your skin was nothing to do with whether or not you’d make it but had everything to do with the fact he knew he was causing you an intense, immeasurable amount of agony. He had never wished to do that at all, so you pursed your lips so hard your teeth cut your lips and you tasted blood, determined not to make him feel any worse for this than he probably already felt. Your fortitude was admirable all things considered and every time you envisioned Demetri’s heartbroken face it was renewed, your lips clamping once more after the agony had slowly worn them down and loosened the seal holding back your screams.

By the time the fire rescinded, you were so ready for it to be over you had considered, selfishly, begging for Alec to take the pain away, Demetri be damned. You went from the odd sensation of floating on fire to being lowered deeper and deeper in a cool lake, soothing the ache and the burn that had ravaged your body. Once the cold lake had stole your breath, you were catapulted to the surface, and your eyes snapped open. You were acutely aware of every little detail surrounding you. You could count the threads in the curtains surrounding the four-poster bed you lay on, trace the grooves in the wooden bed frame with your eyes. You could feel every stitch in the duvet beneath you, the softness of the interwoven threads leaving you in awe. Then there was the sound, the far off sounds of something scurrying in the castle gardens, of people talking and laughing, of music. Your nose twitched to life then to, a mixture of fruit and flora and cologne and fresh breeze and –

“Y/N?”

Your head snapped right, lip curling back over your teeth as a warning growl slipped up from your chest and rumbled in your throat. It took you a fraction of a second to place the features of the man before you, the dark red eyes, the sharp jawline, the chestnut brown hair…

“Demetri.” You said, blinking in shock at your new, melodic voice. He chuckled slightly, but his eyes remained somewhat sad. He was in awe of you as you zoomed to an abrupt stop in front of him, giggling at your newfound speed like a child, but there was something in his eyes that spoke of an intense amount of guilt you had trouble placing. His hand was soft and warm against your cheek, nothing like the cool temperature you were used to feeling from his flesh, but you leaned into his touch regardless, surprised he’d so willingly given it. Then you remembered, you were a lot more durable now, weren’t you? He was far less afraid of breaking you and probably more wary that if you weren’t careful, you could break him. You almost flinched, the sudden, intense stab of terror that you might accidentally crush him both ironic and bringing a level of understanding you’d struggled with before.

“I am…awestruck. You are magnificent my love,” He said, voice soft and wistful, “Can you forgive me?” Forgive him? Your face fell into a frown? Forgive him for what? For changing you? You’d already forgiven him for taking you out of that tour group long ago, happy beyond belief to be with your mate and not six feet under somewhere, even if you did miss home. You felt it even more acutely now, how right it was to be with him, to be near him, to be touched by him. You decided whatever he wanted forgiveness for didn’t matter. You wouldn’t even ask him to qualify what he meant. This was a fresh start for both of you now and you were ready to take it, to start eternity with him by your side. So, you reached up to the hand cradling your face and gently tapped the back of his hand twice. Demetri’s lips twitched, and they pulled higher and higher until his face had split into an adoring smile.

There were many things he had found endearing about your humanity, but the little ways you said I love you were perhaps his favourite.

#Demetri Volturi x reader #Demetri Volturi Fanfiction #Demetri Volturi imagines #demetri #volturi #volturi fanfiction #twilight #twilight imagine #twilight fanfiction #x reader #volturi x reader #demetri volturi #demetri volturi x reader

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kelca13 · 3 years

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What you and the prev asker said about new-ish Jikook supporters being easily prone to crises of insecurity struck a chord. For some people, the potential for Jikook's bond being romantic was obvious quickly. For others, accepting it as possible or probable meant having to interrogate and dismantle ingrained biases about fan culture, queer identity and projection. The point is, Jikook supporters do not, as a rule, rely solely on unevidenced belief. Jikook is not a 'ship' to many of us. Its epistemological status is different than that of Taekook or Yoonmin. We cannot be certain about anything, but we have years worth of instances and, more importantly perhaps, informed, intentional choices, to suspect. Supporting a possible LGBTQ couple who has certain political and social forces stacked against them, is meaningful and personal to a lot of people. But that doesn't mean that we know the details of their lives, or are entitled to having our 'faith' fed constantly. The fact that so many people put more weight on not sharing a car once or twice than they do in EVERYTHING else we have seen from Jikook this year, and other years, does not speak to realism, but to how fragile the idea of this maybe being an LGBTQ relationship still is in a lot of people's minds. I didn't realize our conception of Jikook was predicated on continuous car sharing.

Back in November, before the pony tails BE video, Jin's birthday phone call, and the BS dance, a lot of people were experiencing legit dread over Jikook not having eye contact during promos or something. People were up in inboxes wearing widows weeds. It seemed to suggest that some Jikooker's support was hostage to up to the second demonstrations of 'coupledom'. This isn't logical. If one considers the parameters under which we witness Jikook, it is pretty remarkable we are privy to what we are privy to. There is a difference between requiring evidence to believe in the probability of something, and interpreting every superfluous occurance as directly negating it.

Anon, I’m sorry — I missed this ask, and I’m not sure how long it’s been sitting in my ask inbox!

But yes, I agree. Sometimes I think about my own long-term relationship and how others may view it, and I have to laugh — it would be very confusing to these nonexistent viewers, I’m sure. 😂 The thing about being in a relationship is that you don’t have to prove that you’re in one. So your behavior varies based on your mood, whether that person did the dishes, if you feel like being touched, etc.

There’s just no way to 100% understand why anyone does the things they do, and saying, “They’re DEFINITELY broken up because they didn’t talk in X promo” is a stretch, in my opinion.

Also, this: “There is a difference between requiring evidence to believe in the probability of something, and interpreting every superfluous occurrence as directly negating it.”

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glapplebloom · 2 years

Photo

I, for one, welcome our new Overlord.

So the Main Six and Spike are heading back from Abyssinia when they found a newly created Hot Spring. Now Abyssinia seems to be a Kingdom containing a lot of locations, including the Capital of it called Pantera. Now I want you to remember this whenever I get around to the issues in Pantera. Because this combined with that makes those Season 10 Comics a lot more frustrating than they are.

Another thing to note: everyone BUT SPIKE, has shown to be relaxing in the Hot Springs. In fact, despite Spike being there he has no lines whatsoever in these opening moments. So remember this. Either way, the next day, everyone who did took a dip in the Hot Springs have been acting weird.

Applejack is so focused on Business she threatens her sister, Twilight declares herself Empress of Ponyville, Rarity rejects it, thinking she’s better at ruling, and Rainbow Dash is making Sonic Rainbooms non-stop. And to spoil things, Pinkie Pie became a clown with the intention to spread Chaos while Fluttershy is sort of like Poison Ivy but for animals instead of plants.

Celestia thinks Luna is the best choice since she has experience being a Dark Entity herself. But apparently the waters not only perverted their best traits but made them stronger too. Even Luna couldn’t hold Applejack. The issue ends with the Crusaders going to find Zecora while Spike and Luna try to prevent as much damage as they can.

The next issue begins with Twilight making a device that will steal the intelligence of ponies. Now they’re so dumb, they think the Martha Scene to Batman V Superman is good. Back with the Crusaders, despite the last issue showing them confronting Fluttershy and her army of critters, show them running through the forest stepping on a bunny by mistake and then confronting Fluttershy.

And I really like how Fluttershy looks in these issues. The flower motif would work well on her even if she isn’t evil. If I was capable of drawing, I would probably have Fluttershy look like this by default. Meanwhile back in Ponyville Pinkie Pie captures a bunch of ponies to force them to sit in her comedy act. All the while Rarity fights Princess Luna, doing very well against her.

The Crusaders find Zecora and escape Fluttershy and her critter army. See, she still looks good in this. Just in time as Rarity Vs Luna becomes a three way as Pinkie Pie blows off the roof of the building, literally. And with Zecora there, she theorizes that the cure is related to Spike because...

So remember how I highlighted Spike had no lines and also didn’t appear in the waters like the others? I get the feeling that they couldn’t think of a way to cure the girls and decided to add Spike to get this conclusion. This is all an assumption but honestly considering how bad the continuity from last issue to this one concerning this and Fluttershy makes me suspect that this was a last minute addition.

It ends with Rarity ending her fight with Luna to fight Twilight, Pinkie Pie spreading the Water in balloons, making anyone hit by it evil (instantly compared to the time it took them to turn evil), thus Nightmare Moon returning after Luna got hit by it. And more importantly, Fluttershy preparing her armies by playing the Drums of War...

The next issue begins with Nightmare Moon Vs Joker Pinkie Pie, since Nightmare Moon wants Order while Pinker wants Chaos. Luckily Zecora uses Spike’s Dragon Scales to make a potion to turn the Bad Water into Good Water, as in Water that will reverse the effects of this. First with Pinkie Pie because she’s there, then Applejack. Followed by Rainbow Dash who makes it rain the cure for everyone else...

Except for Rarity and Twilight who were still fighting in the castle and Nightmare Moon who thinks its better for them to work together than to fight each other. But a toast reveals that it was really Princess Luna trying to trick them. Works for Rarity but not Twilight who claimed to be able to predict every possible outcome there is...

Except Pinkie Pie because F YOU IT’S PINKIE PIE. Twilight reverses her Brain Drain and everyone works on repairing the damages they caused while under the influence of Dark Water.

See, told you it makes them that dumb.

It ends with Zecora negating the Hot Spring’s Evil magic, them enjoying themselves again, and Luna being grateful that the Waters Negated their friendship because if they were together, they would have been unstoppable. Overall, I would say its an enjoyable mess. Lots of fun background stuff and I did enjoy Evil Fluttershy. Though I do say its a mess because of some logical flips it had to do. But its not canon with GLAB... At least not yet...

#mlp review #MLP Revisit #Green Lantern Apple Bloom #IDW Comics #Comic Series

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setsunasknife · 3 years

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That scene from episode 21 where Kaede tells Towa she reminds her of her mother makes me smile. This statement follows after Towa gets all frustrated from Setsuna babysitting her and telling her what to do. There are a couple scenarios that I can see where Rin would have a similar reaction to her daughter. So here goes:

1. Rin’s frustration of being the youngest: I imagine it was difficult for Rin to make the transition from child to adult woman in the village. All of her friends (Inugang) likely viewed her as the child of the group. I can imagine Sango and Kagome talking about lady things and Rin trying to get into the conversation but they tell her “You’ll understand when you’re older.” Or something along those lines, and not because they disrespect her, but because they’re used to happy-go-lucky little Rin. I can see Rin going through little changes to appear more womanly to those around her. For example, taking her pony tail out and allowing it to fall freely or not going to play with Sango’s twins because ‘she’s not a little kid anymore’. (She would feel bad because the twins really look up to her.) Hell, I could even see Rin getting so angry she has an outburst and that’s when everyone finally realizes she isn’t a little kid anymore and they need to treat her better.

2. Sesshomaru: This one is fairly general because there’s a lot of change that needs to go on between these two. She could be frustrated because she wants to see him more, but feels bad for being so demanding. She could be frustrated because she wants him to recognize her as an adult woman and not a child. Or she could be frustrated because he isn’t allowing her to follow him when she wants to. There’s a lot of places where miscommunication can happen between them if they’re not careful and open with each other. She easily could’ve been frustrated about all those around her being in happy loving relationships while suitors keep trying to force themselves on her. “I want to marry for love. I will not have some man come and demand I clean up after him and bear his children. I’ve been allowed choice most of my life, I will not allow some man to take it away from me.” And she could’ve been frustrated trying to deal with her feelings for Sesshomaru. She knows him the best, but I’m sure doubt sunk in at times making her afraid that she would never be worthy of someone like him. I feel like Rin’s teens were a tumultuous time for her emotions, but also between her and Sesshomaru. They both were just trying to figure out their emotions and it could get dicey.

3. Finally, and this ones a little funnier, during her pregnancy: Rin does not handle being told what to do well. She also likes to explore and be active. Now, she’ll listen to Sesshomaru because she loves him and knows he has good intentions for her. However, that doesn’t mean she won’t get frustrated. Especially early in her pregnancy, Rin would want to help around the village. She likes to be helpful and roam about the village to visit people. “I’m pregnant, not useless!” Now Sesshomaru is very protective of his little pregnant wife. He knows half-demon pregnancies can be a lot on human women, and he knows she’s carrying twins which is even riskier, so he tells her she can’t be running all over. Hormonal Rin gets upset at being told what to do, and this is where I imagine they have their first fight as a married couple. I can picture Rin saying something like “I’m pregnant, not dying!”, and Sesshomaru going into silent panic mode. He doesn’t like Rin and dying in the same sentence or thought. They of course will make up and make compromises, but this is where I could see an exact parallel between Towa and Rin occurring.

This is very long winded, but the point is Towa and Rin are very similar in their reactions to their overbearing loved ones. They’re both free spirits and while they appreciate the sentiments, they’re not stupid.

#sessrin #sessrin positivity #sessrinners please interact #pregnant rin #I love the idea of teen Rin not putting up with anyone’s bullshit #Like mother like daughter #Sesshomaru and Setsuna just want to protect their sunshine girls

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cakebeam · 3 years

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I may be remembering it wrong but Alex wasn't once at the Pony with or without Maria before 2x06. Was Forrest's poetry slam at the Pony? 2x08, 2x09 and 2x13 have him there but Maria is absent every time. All Alex/Maria scenes in s2 took place outside of the bar and they were all initiated by Maria going to Alex for a favour, which is a complete 180 from s1 where Alex was always the one making time for her and checking in on her. I don't know if that was supposed to be intentional to show avoidance on Alex's part or if it was just part of compartmentalizing Malex and M*luca or if scenes were filmed and ultimately cut. But s3 can easily continue the trend. And if Alex supposedly has this very personal journey in s3 that actually focuses on his feelings and not have him prioritize everyone else's, it is very hard for me to imagine Maria being involved much, especially if she gets a new love interest and is experimenting with her powers. Honestly at this poiny I am not excited about either Alex/Maria or Alex/Liz. All I want is quality Alex/Kyle content, Alex spending time with Rosa and Michael growing for himself and becoming an actual support system for Alex in whatever he's up to the way Alex was for him in s2.

I think you're right, Alex only visited Maria at the Wild Pony in season 1. All the other times he was in that bar was either with Forrest or Michael and when he was seen with Maria they were always outside of the bar. Also, can we get some new sets please? I don't want Alex to have to go into this bar anymore, let him have freedom away from this manipulative sexual predator.

I don't think any of the Maria/Alex visitations was very deep in thought for the writers. I think it was just more about Carina getting her sick fix on forcing this gay character to love his straight friend, no matter the emotional/mental harm she was placing on him. Whether that be her visiting him or vice versa wasn't really the focus. And let's be real, the writing took a huge slide in season 2 and so anytime we saw Alex show up on screen with any of the core group in season 2, it was almost always written as a favor or to help another character aka Maria, Michael, Liz, etc. Or if it was a Malex scene, Maria was always unavailable or out of town (in order to come up with an excuse to call Alex) and was used like some kind of a formula or "rule". Why not just have Michael WANT to call Alex cause he want's to see him? Why did there always need to be a Maria excuse?

And separating Alex from Kyle was total crap and Kyle's season 2 storyline sank miserably because of him being separated from the core group for the majority of season 2. The writers had him go out on mysteries with MAX of all people instead of Alex which is the obvious choice. If Max needs a friend on the show outside of his siblings, don't make it Kyle (he's Alex's!), that so uncomfortable and badly thought out. Your partners ex does not = bff. Please RNM stop with this gross nonsense.

I actually want Liz and Alex scenes. She is the main character and has to actually involve herself in his life, he's suppose to be her best friend from high school! Like what gives?! She's spent enough time on screen being bff's with Maria, it's Alex's turn for someone to give a sh*t about him. I mean omg, what is going on with every character on this show not checking in on this guy? He has PTSD! He was just in a war where he LOST HIS LEG! He's probably traumatized. We as an audience can't learn anything about the lost decade or his time overseas or his mental health issues until a character TALKS to him about it so it can be shown on screen. It's been two seasons already with us getting no information, that's way too long. Liz needs to spend time with him and actually show respect and consideration for Malex and not just play on team Miluca (the f*ck was that?!).

But I agree nonnie, Alex needs a support system. And for that to happen Maria needs to f*ck off and stay out of his life. It's only ever about her when she's involved. I want Alex spending time with the core group, same with Kyle, and not just being placed on the wayside. It's time Alex got the spotlight so we can finally know what is going on with him. I mean the guy was just shown struggling with internalized homophobia for two seasons, was a cheerleader for his best friend pursuing the man he's in love with, and continues to bring up a mysterious PTSD that we still don't know anything about. These issues need a platform to be discussed, it's all very problematic that they haven't been already.

#ask bee #alex manes #anti maria deluca #anti miluca #anti carina #rnm #roswell new mexico

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quentinbecks · 3 years

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stillness in woe

Summary: Charlie left Hope County years ago hoping never to come back. But when she learns of her parents involvement with the local doomsday cult, she finds herself heading back to a life she thought she left behind. (Begins two years before the reaping/events of the game)

Pairing: Eventual John Seed x Non Dep OFC

Word Count: 1.9 k

Warnings: mentions of death and vomiting

A/N: I was a little nervous that introducing Charlie’s descent into the cult in the second chapter would be too soon, so I made a little filler chapter. Not the best, but the real meat of the story begins in the next chapter.

Chapter 2: Family Reunion

She hears footsteps coming up behind her. She pauses, thinking it’s only a figment of her overtired imagination. The noises don’t stop. Instead, they only increase in proximity. She’s barely turned around when she notices the red and white camo that signals Jacob’s hunters. The sight alone sends her into a panicked frenzy. Both the hunter and its prey raise their weapons at the same time. Luckily for Charlie she shoots first. Stomping over to the body she rips the red ski mask of their face. This time it’s not the usual boyish face that greets her; it’s her own.

“Charlie!”

The young woman awakens with a start. For a second she’s confused about her whereabouts, not used to sunlight first thing in the morning. After realizing that she’s in Mary May’s apartment she quickly relaxes, but that doesn’t last very long. Her nightmare combined with her current hangover causes bile to rise up in her throat. Charlie bolts upright and runs towards the bathroom, Mary May following right behind her.

She can only make it as far as the sink before her body retches into it. She feels Mary May rubbing circles on her back as she trembles, clutching the porcelain.

“You okay?”

“No” Charlie sniffs, wiping away the tears pooling down her face.

“You wanna talk about it?”

Charlie shakes her head no. She doesn’t need her friend knowing about what she was doing up in the Whitetails. She knows Mary May said things were bad in the valley, but she doubts John Seed is as much of a monster as his brother is. At least not yet. Instead of worrying her, Charlie chooses to tell a white lie.

“It’s nothing. I’m just worried about going to Joseph’s service. Can’t shake the feeling I’ll be held hostage at his compound.” It’s not completely untrue. Charlie is worried about losing herself to the Seeds. She’s heard and seen too much to not have that weigh heavy on her mind.

“Hey” Mary May says, forcing her friend to look at her. “I’m not gonna let him take you. Not when we just got you back.”

Good luck with that she thinks to herself

“My hero” Charlie says with a smile, choosing to forgo voicing her doubts. “I should shower and at least make an attempt to look decent. I wouldn’t want to show up to a Sunday service looking like a sewer rat.”

“Clearly you haven’t seen many peggies.”

In the shower she tries to wash away all of her fears, but the image of Mary May’s scar keeps flashing through her mind. How many other people in the county have been scarred by the youngest Seed? His handiwork looks painful and she doubts anyone would choose to have it done willingly. She wonders what sin will be chosen for her when the time comes. With her luck her whole body would adorned with all seven.

Charlie leaves the apartment to find Mary May helping Casey Fixman open up the bar. She gives a twirl as she hits the ground floor. “You think daddy Seed will like me in this dress?”

Mary May crinkles her nose in slight disgust. She had been gracious in Miami her friend a dress her, recently deceased, brother Drew had bought her for her graduation. On Charlie’s newly slimmed down body the white dress hangs a bit loose, the straps barely clinging to her shoulders.

“I’m sure Joseph will like a lot of things about you if you call him daddy.”

The blonde studies her friend’s appearance closely. The two of them know the importance of appearance to the cult. Due to the release of the documentary ousting the behavior of Eden’s Gate, the group has become more serious in trying to root out those that come with ill intent. And given by the knife holster strapped to Charlie’s thigh, the woman isn’t going in with good will.

“Come here” Mary May pulls on her pony tail once she’s close enough, letting her waves cascade over her shoulders. “There, see, now you look docile and sweet. Just the way the cult likes.”

Charlie wants to remind her friend no one has called her docile or sweet, not even when she was a child, but she can see something is bothering the younger woman. “You do know Nolan will there, right?” Mary May inquires before she can even ask what was wrong.

“No. No I didn’t fucking know that. I shouldn’t be surprised that he’s involved with something illegal, but I am.”

“Your ex husband is basically a glorified drug dealer. He’s helping turn the people in the Henbane into angels” Casey calls out from the kitchen.

“Angels? You know? No. I don’t want to know what that means.”

“Hey” Mary May calls out, bringing her hands to rest on Charlie’s shoulders. “Don’t think about him. Focus on what really matters. Like getting your family out of a cult.”

Charlie nods. She knows Mary May is right, but she can’t help how she feels. It’s been five years since they divorced and she left Hope County, but the wound still feels so fresh.

After promising to check in after the service, she decides to head out to the church. The warm, late summer sun and some classic rock helps Charlie relax on the ride over. Makes her realize there are bigger problems in the world than cheating exes.

The woman is shocked to see the throngs of cultists loitering around and inside the compound, making it almost impossible to find a spot to park her car.

After ditching her car at the end of the drive and doing a few sets of breathing exercises, Charlie makes her way inside. Before she can make her way past the gate she’s stopped by burly, bearded middle aged man.

“Sorry, ma’am I’m afraid I can’t let you past without searching you for any weapons.”

Choices quickly flood Charlie’s mind. She can run past this guard, try to hide amongst the crowd; the crowd wearing mostly uniformed clothing. Or, she can try her hand at improvisation; pretend she really is innocent and sweet. She chooses the latter option.

“I’m sorry” she says, lifting her dress a little to show the knife strapped to her thigh. “You can never be too safe as a woman.”

Charlie pulls the weapon out of its scabbard, holding it out to the man. “If you do me a small favor you can keep this.”

The cultist eyes her warily; unsure of whether she’s worthy of his trust or not. But, to her surprise, her charms worked on him. “What do you want?”

“Well,” Charlie bites her lip before getting as close as she can “I was just wondering if you could introduce me to John Seed. My mom works for him and I just wanted to meet the man she speaks so highly of.”

“I don’t know…” he trails off, looking back at the Seeds and the flock congregating around them.

“Please?” Charlie looks up at the man through her lashes. The man has a rancid odor to him and she wishes she had chosen to duck and run into the compound instead of flirting. “You don’t know how much it would mean to me.”

“Fine. But don’t try anything once you’re inside.”

Pathetic

Charlie flashes him a smile. “Thank you so much.”

The man leads her up the gravel path and through the crowds up to the front of the church. There stood three men and one young woman that everyone seems to gravitate towards.

The Seeds

Charlie’s blood runs cold at the realization that she’s finally in their presence. It dawns on her too late that they may know she was the one responsible for the death of the young chosen. Fortunately she doesn’t have time to dwell too long on that thought as the man pulls her gently towards John Seed.

“Brother John?”

The young man looks up and she’s struck by the fact that he’s actually handsome. He’s well dressed and equally well groomed with a lordly posture. She recognizes immediately that she can’t manipulate him with her feminine wiles, he’s clearly too worldly for that. The older man pushes past two young women who were waiting in line to speak to the herald.

“This lost soul has been looking for you.” Charlie tries not to roll her eyes at the descriptor, but she knows she can act the part if it brings her closer to her parents.

“Is that so?”

“Yes” Charlie answers for the cultist, a sudden surge of bravery overtaking her as she steps around him. “I haven’t heard from my family in years. I heard they were here and I wanted to see if they were okay. A wellness check, if you will.”

“That’s not what you…” John cuts the man off before he can continue on.

“Did you not recognize her?” he asks as his eyes light up with recognition. Charlie freezes.

How? He can’t possibly know.

“She’s clearly our accountant’s daughter” he says lightly spinning her around.

The other man studies her face for a moment. “Huh. You really do look exactly like Christine.”

“You know, there’s really nothing to worry about. Your family is doing well here, but, if you want to do your little ‘wellness check’, you best follow me, sweetheart” John suggests over her shoulder.

Charlie fights the urge to make a snarky retort, choosing to cast a smile over her shoulder instead. “Of course. After you.”

They head inside and Charlie is flanked on all sides by peggies. Two to her side, one behind her, and John in front of her. If she’s being honest she doesn’t understand why they need to guard a tiny, unarmed woman. Besides, who goes to reunite with their family just to attack them?

All of that goes out the window when she sees her mother. She barely registers John calling out to her mother before she’s shoving past him.

“Mama?”

Christine steps forward, her hands cupping her daughter’s cheeks. “Charlene? Baby, what are you doing here?”

Charlie blinks back the tears she can feel tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. “You haven’t returned any of my calls in almost three years. I was scared” she whispers, hoping none of the cultists can hear.

Unfortunately for her the youngest Seed does hear. “I told you there was nothing to worry about” he says, clasping both Berger women’s shoulders. “Your family is doing well here, even better, they’re thriving.”

Her mother nods and smiles at John. Charlie can tell her happiness is real and it pains her to see it. If it weren’t for the armed militia around the compound she would punch the smug look off of his face.

“Sweetheart, now that you’re back in Hope County; now that you’re home, why don’t you move back in with your dad and I?”

It sounds like a terrible idea. The last thing she wants is to be stuck in a house with two people who only want to talk about Eden’s Gate. She goes to protest when she realizes she hasn’t even seen her father yet.

“Oh, no I really couldn’t... Wait, where is daddy?”

Before her mother can explain a deep voice from behind her interrupts, stopping everyone in their tracks “Who’s this?”

Charlie turns around to see who intruded on their conversation. She recognizes Joseph almost immediately, his man bun and glasses giving him

Shit

#if anyone wants to be my beta/sounding board for the rest of this fic pls hit me up #i would love you forever #far cry 5 fic #far cry 5 oc #john seed x oc #oc: charlie berger #fic: stillness in woe

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