#(when they could be putting a much bigger emphasis on platonic love but that’s another rant)

[byeler]

the thing is i COULD like m*leven! the set up is there! i thought it was cute in s1 and s2! the reunion scene in s2 was SO poignant and palpable because you could feel how lonely they both were, how much they missed each other, how important they both were to each other. and then they spend the next two seasons throwing stupid, contrived relationship problems at them and instead of fixing them in a way that builds any confidence, they slap them with a band aid that doesn’t address any of the actual issues. s3 is an issue from the get go with their fight being based around a lie that hopper basically forced onto mike, but still doesn’t get around to resolving the wedge that it’s put between them and the rest of the party. and now s4 has mike afraid to say i love you, despite having all but said it already, and having to use their gay coded (but not explicitly gay, despite their insistence that it would be made clear) character to prop them up instead of allowing any happiness in his own love life. all while relegating mike to the background in both of these seasons and giving him so little plot outside of el.

m*leven’s potential is there, but they simply do not know how to get these characters to work together outside of a puppy crush stage. they could do so much more. they could have such a genuine bond. but it’s becoming more and more apparent that they don’t have anything in common besides codependency

#byler #i’m frustrated i really am #it’s feels more and more like they just don’t know how to write a good romance #quite frankly i’m not a huge fan of j*pper or j*ncy either #lumax is the only canon couple i genuinely enjoy #and when SO much of the plot is based around love #specifically romantic love #(when they could be putting a much bigger emphasis on platonic love but that’s another rant) #it’s very distracting to just be so off put by the romances they’re shoving at us #i think the reason byler appealed to me so much is bc they really weren’t trying to write a romance #they were trying to write a friendship and succeed with that way more than any of their ships #whatever!!!!! #idk!!!!!!!!! #st4 spoilers #s4 spoilers #stranger things spoilers

[giggles-and-freckles]

Okay woohoo some fic recs incoming!!!! These will probably be all over the place, but I’ve just got to scream about them for a second!!! PS gonna try to do these more frequently because this is fun!!!

Click below the cut if you dare!

Declarations by Nny11

Summary: A series exploring Obi-Wan and Ahsoka's relationship as Grandmaster and Grandpadawan.

Okay, so this is one of the first fics I can genuinely remember reading with a heavy emphasis on the relationship between Obi-Wan and Ahsoka where I was like 'hey oh my god I love them?’ It was a monumental moment for me because now I am so obscenely ride or die for them and I truly do think back to this fic often with utter fondness. 

A moment I loved: 

“From a certain point of view,” he finally conceded, motioning her to start again. “At least I know you’ve learned something from me!”

“Well I couldn’t learn the secrets of your hair routine!”

the flood comes rushing in by @kenobilovebot

Summary: "I have done this for you. I have put you first." Or, Anakin finds out.

A little bit of sith!Obi-Wan? As a treat? Hm, well...all right!!!!! I don’t want to say too much here because I would really prefer you read it than read any more of my mindless babbling but–it’s good.

A moment I loved: 

He can hardly think around the smothering darkness that has so wholly encompassed his master, so effectively destroying the light that has always been. He’s always been able to reach for it at the worst of times. Now he can’t feel it at all.

a time to say goodbye by Sokaless

Summary: Ezra isn't the only one facing the temptation of change in the World Between Worlds. Just minutes after facing Vader, Ahsoka falls through a portal seventeen years into the past and must relive her final encounter with Anakin and Obi-Wan without drastically altering the future. But Anakin Skywalker taught her many things. How to push her luck was one of them.

This is a short and sweet time-travel fic that finds Ahsoka back in that moment in the hangar with Anakin right before they unknowingly have their last goodbye. She knows more now than she did before and struggles not to say it all. But the theme of learning from loss is really special and powerful and I feel this sad sort of closure when I finish (I say that actively because I have...read this fic several several times). Painful, poignant–all the best things.

A moment I loved:

One last thing she learned from Anakin- teaching a lesson often requires holding your student to higher standards than you hold yourself. 

With the knowledge that she’s holding him to a standard she herself might never reach, Ahsoka tells Ezra, “I’m asking you to let go.”

good morning, sun by @katierosefun​

Summary: “You look miserable.” Ahsoka dropped her hand, spun around. Obi-Wan stood behind her, one arm carrying a cloak and the other half-extended to Ahsoka. [or: After she leaves the Order, Ahsoka has one last encounter with Obi-Wan.]

Let’s see how many of Caroline’s fics I can get away with posting before someone reports me. This one-shot is full of all the good post-wrong jedi stuff. Soka and Obi have a conversation at Dex’s that hurts a lot but also feels real and I will never not respect Caroline for understanding the nuances of the disaster trios intricate and intimate relationships with each other and how they shift and mold around different circumstances. This feels so authentically them that it hurts.

A moment I loved: 

What came out instead was a small, half-choked sound.

When Obi-Wan opened his arms, Ahsoka fell right into them. “It hurts,” Ahsoka said, her voice cracking. “A lot.”

“I know,” Obi-Wan replied thickly. “We’ll take care of it.”

You Haunt All My What-Ifs by @kckenobi

Summary: But then she saw the way Obi-Wan’s lip was quivering, and his eyes were shining, and she realized— He hadn’t called because he needed to tell her. He’d called because he needed her. “Obi-Wan,” she breathed. “Oh, Obi-Wan…” And she wanted to reach out, to hold him. To be his refuge, his shelter, his home. Instead she just watched as he shook his head, palmed at his eyes, apologized. She reached out. Touched the hologram. It flickered. — [Satine and Obi-Wan—then, now, and every echo of what if between them.]

One of the first fics that got me on my Obitine grind!! Just the right mix of angst and angst to create the perfect recipe of absolute sorrow. These characters feel so real I could reach out and hug them–and oh, how I want to after this incredible little fic.

A moment I loved:

And then suddenly she was thinking of every little what if—the other paths they could’ve taken, the millions of ways they could’ve ended up here. She imagined a future where he’d stayed. She saw white weddings, crying infants, painting nursery rhymes on a pale bedroom wall. She saw herself rolling over in the middle of the night, bumping shoulders, feeling his warm breath on her face. She saw family dinners, rushed breakfasts as they hurried the kids off to school. She saw laughter. She saw a lifetime. And at the end, she saw herself old and gray, holding his hand, his eyes the last thing she’d ever see.They had arrived at the end now. But she was not old and gray.

Dying Words by @cloudyskywars

Summary: Anakin is trapped beneath a collapsed building, and has one final conversation with Obi-Wan.

One of my favourite febuwhump contributions from within the mountain of wonderful fics that the second month of the year created!! Some good ol classic Obi & Ani pain. Hint of a deathfic...but mostly just the moments leading up to it. And they...hurt. Also!!! Melanie took the care to make Anakin’s final words be about Obi-Wan, which is very special to me for the reason she includes in her author’s note.

A moment I loved:

“And,” he said, “if you ever see Ahsoka again, tell her she was the best padawan I could have asked for.” His breaths were coming in rapid pants, now, and the room was spinning out of focus. “Obi-Wan?” he asked, voice barely audible. “Yes, Padawan mine?” he responded, his own voice shaky as well. “Thank you for being my Master,” Anakin said.

i’m only me when i’m with you idiots by @renegadeontherunn

Summary: who let Obi-Wan pick the holo? and where's the remote? they might need a bigger blanket. 

[or, Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan have leave on Coruscant and holo night is the perfect excuse to all squeeze onto a couch together, bicker, and be, well, a family]

Fluff, fluff, fluff! Yes, please! My dear Fiona does a wonderful job wrapping these three up in a blanket and plopping them in front of a holo for a night of witty banter and so-cute-I-could-melt platonic cuddles. I love these three, I love this fic!

A moment I loved: 

“You met a civilized Padawan? Couldn’t have been ours.”

get home by @curse-of-men

Summary: After a mission goes wrong and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker goes missing, it is up to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano to bring him home.

[or: a Grandmaster and a Grandpadawan go on a road trip to rescue chaos personified]

What? Me? Rec’ing another Obi-Wan and Ahsoka centric fic? HUH? Hehe, I love that Lou says this is the missing Obi & Soka arc in their author’s note because um, did they look into my heart and know that’s what I most desire? Anyway, this three-parter is incredible from start to finish and I demand you all go read it immediately. :-)

A moment I loved:

Making their way to the cockpit, Ahsoka tilts her head into Obi-Wan’s general direction and says: “You know, Master, Anakin would probably think things so far have gone excellently.” Obi-Wan returns her look and sighs.

“Now you surely must get why I am so worried about this.” Ahsoka grins and gestures back and forth in the empty space between them with one hand.

“For what it’s worth, I think we make a good enough team.”

we stand here, together by @nightdotlight​

Summary: Master Depa Billaba and Padawan Caleb Dume.

Windu worries for them, out in the wider galaxy. Waging war, while he and Anakin sit here, waiting.

But he trained Billaba, and Billaba is training Dume. Anakin once took lessons from her, when he himself was a Padawan, and he knows she is skilled enough by far, to ensure that both she and her student make it back to Coruscant safely.

It’s ironic, that when cut off from the Force he can understand other people better than he has in years.

ZOWEE!!!! This fic made me ugly cry on my conference period at school!! Ha! Another fic that culminates in, er...death. But!!!! The lead-up! Ooh, baby! The writing style of this one is also very fresh and unique which I appreciate as someone who essentially reads the same thing eight million ways (by choice, mind you!!!! and loves it every time!!!!). This is just an absolute gem of a fic. Queue: your best crying playlist.

A moment I loved: 

Depa, her Padawan braid hanging from her shoulder, hugs him around his middle and drags him to the training salles. The whole way, her laughter follows them– warm, like summer rain. Like the smallest, most ephemeral moments of happiness.

Her smile feels like a sunset on his back, and Mace smiles back even as they spar, as green and purple clash over and over again in a dance unique to teacher and student.

He does not need to reach out to know the galaxy is at peace. When they take a break from their own spar, Mace feels a light tap on his presence in the Force; when he turns, Ahsoka Tano stands there in training robes, her own Master a few paces behind– and beside him, Obi-Wan Kenobi, face lighter than it has been in years.

Her Padawan beads hang from her headdress; when she smiles at the banter behind her, turning to retort, they catch the light, and the half-formed impression of those beads torn asunder and held in gloved hand is dissipated by the glare.

Only Hope by @tessiete

Summary: The infamous "Year on the Run".In the wake of her father's death, Satine is assigned two Jedi to escort her safely back to Mandalore, but in the chaotic aftermath of a civil war, there is more at stake than one person's survival. Together, they work to unite Mandalore, overcome ancient grudges, and bring peace to a world ravaged by bloodshed.

Man, oh man, do I love a good year on the run fic! And man oh man am I loving the heck out of this one. It’s in progress so go ahead give it a bookmark and a subscription while you’re at it!!!! But the banter! The sass! The (I assume soon to come) pining! The Qui-Gon third wheeling! READ IT! Cannot recommend highly enough.

A moment I loved: 

“...and you’re bound to be hungry.”

“I assure you, I’m not.”

“Well, Obi-Wan is,” Jinn asserts. His back is to his apprentice and so he cannot see the mutinous glance which darts his way. “And as you’ve seen, he’s trouble when he isn’t fed. You have five minutes.”

Goes to Ground by jerseydevious

Summary: Obi-Wan has a question for Anakin following his experiences on Zygerria.

Silly Jedi boys trying and failing to communicate, gosh dang it!!! They get there, eventually, though. :’) Some post Zygerria angst and some tough discussions. HERE. FOR. IT. 

A moment I loved: 

“You are a bad influence, padawan mine,” Obi-Wan said. He gave Anakin that smile, the one that made Anakin feel like he shared a secret with his Master, something only for them.

In Sacrifice, Peace by @ilonga

Summary: “Shh. . .” Anakin says, gathering the younglings around him, reminding Obi-wan of all those whispered arguments where he had insisted to Anakin that yes, he was good with children, he’d be just fine teaching Ahsoka. He can almost feel the terror rising off Anakin from the hologram; Anakin doesn’t know what’s happening either. But he isn’t letting the younglings feel it. “You need to listen to me very carefully, okay? This--” his voice breaks, “--this is going to be scary. But you have to be calm, and strong. Just like Master Yoda taught you.” [Or, the ROTS au where Obi-wan finds a very different type of pain while looking through the Temple's recordings of Order 66.]

PAIN AWAITS YOU HERE! But that is exactly why you should click, kudos, comment, bookmark, and let this fic live in your head rent free like it’s living in mine. Truly couldn’t get it out of there if I wanted to! AND I DO NOT! Yet another deathfic and angst with The Team (TM). Read it, peeps.

A moment I loved: 

“And then?”Obi-wan closes his eyes, pretends he can’t feel the weight of the body in his arms, pretends it’s really Anakin he’s talking to and not some worrying coping mechanism. “And then we fight.” he says.

to hold by @katierosefun

Summary: “What—” Ahsoka looked up and, where she had expected to find a mumbling drunk, she found instead—

“Master Kenobi?” Ahsoka asked, stunned. She straightened, already swinging her backpack around herself again.

“Ahsoka,” Obi-Wan managed. He was breathing hard, just barely bent over because he was supporting, Ahsoka realized dumbly, Anakin.

Anakin, whose head was lolling against Obi-Wan’s shoulder. Whose face was two shades too pale and eyes fluttering and lips parted in a soundless groan that brought Ahsoka right back to battlefields and med bays and other places that she hadn’t been in a long, long while. [or: after leaving the Order, Ahsoka runs into some familiar faces.]

Caroline at it again with the post-wrong-jedi disaster trio angst comin’ in hot! Some platonic bed-sharing, some confused Anakin, some conflicted Ahsoka, some pained Obi-Wan. Well–strike that. They’re all in pain. But what do we expect, honestly? What do we want, honestly? Pain. We want pain.

A moment I loved: 

“Only another dream,” Obi-Wan said. He looked at Ahsoka, his face just barely shadowed. “Seems that it’s passed.”

Another. 

Ahsoka’s stomach twisted. She looked at the hand she was holding. It was strange—she couldn’t remember if she had ever actually held onto Anakin’s hand this tightly before, but now she could feel the familiar callouses, make out just the faintest of old scars. Ahsoka squeezed it once.

Not near as many as I planned to do or have saved and ready to rec, but...this already got, er...quite lengthy. So! Same time, next week! I’ll have some more! (Well, probably not same time and maybe not even next week...but soon.) 

#fic rec #how is this only thirteen fics hahahahahaha #I literally just cannot shut up #go kudos and comment and reblog their stuff PLS I beg you!

[hongism]

hi caly boo its ur 🌊 anon! i finally finished the most brilliant darkness and oh my lawd i’m in spain without the s. to put it shortly: U DID NOT DISAPPOINT BESTIE, and it seems unreal that u and ur mind and this fic even exists bc every moment is just polished to perfection, while simultaneously every character is polished to a sort of imperfect perfection(?). i have so many questions and things to say idek where to start, and tho im not good with words and even worse at deciphering hidden meanings, here are just some of my thoughts that i remember from the story.

hello my dear!!! eee im gonna answer separately since i think i’ll be very long-winded as usual but first of all thank you so much :(( this fic is actually very full of subliminal messages and hidden nuances that are weaved throughout which i think could be quite confusing so i apologize for that! if i had managed my time better, i would have adjusted when i started the fic to account for managing those aspects of the fic but alas i’m terrible at time management and i suck so. anyways.

first of all, ngl halfway into the story i lowkey forgot this was a wooyoung fic bc SANNN and also bc wooyoung appeared like 3 times lol. even after it finishing all that, i still had my doubts as to why this is a wooyoung fic, or more like why is san this significant in a wooyoung fic. im still a bit slow on these pls forgive me and im just curious why u made it like that.

i think yeah the most interesting thing about this fic is the emphasis on san over wooyoung. and when looking over it yeah i could have switched san and wooyoung’s characters and called it a day, but wooyoung really in my mind acts as the integral turning point for decisions made in the story. 

the goal with the fic wasn’t really to be hyperfocused on the pairing itself, but rather the emotions and thought processes of each character (aside from wooyoung). wooyoung was kept intentionally mysterious and a bit set apart from the rest of the fic because his role in story was moreso an abstract of hestia, the goddess of the hearth and home. wooyoung’s character appeared in times where y/n was struggling with the thought of home or adjusting to the new changes in her life! wooyoung’s pairing itself was actually intended to be solely platonic at first, but as the story went on i thought having mc develop feelings for him added another turning point in the fic!

moving on, the second biggest question i had is the whole hestia!wooyoung and cafe aurora situation. i did a bit of reading on hestia and only found out that she was the goddess of hearth, which might explain the fireplace and the kind of homey feeling to the cafe. and ‘cafe aurora not really existing to most’ part, which was already hinted at wooyoung randomly disappearing, mc never seeing the cafe before or wooyoung only bringing people he wants into it. i get that him inviting mc must suggest her significance to him, but why was he so adamant about his friends not mentioning him or the cafe to mc before that? wooyoung is quite a mysterious character i think, and given that this fic is supposed to be about him, it’s a bit odd that there’s still so many things left unknown, but its kinda cool that way nonetheless and im guessing u would also like to explain that further outside of the story too.

i think my biggest regret about this fic is the fucking summary.... i wrote that summary well before i even started writing the fic thinking it would go in that direction but it didn’t. and since this fic was for a collab, i left the summary as is because i genuinely cannot for the life of me figure out a better one. but i’m trying to figure out a better one. but i really fucking hate the current summary because it’s not at all what the fic is truly about and i hate it.

however, i don’t hate the fic itself, and the reason why i don’t is because i got to play with both my writing style and how i displayed the story. for this collab we were asked to pick a greek god and one of the seven deadly sins, and i selected hestia and sloth. and initially i had intended to have sloth be represented by the reader’s depression, and wooyoung be a more ‘real’ depiction of hestia. i shifted gears very early on in the fic but what it became is moreso abstract realizations in the characters.

san’s character is meant to be this idea of sloth, and it’s mentioned several times that he doesn’t want to move forward, he wants to go slow, he wants to stop moving so fast through life, and those things point to him being a depiction of sloth

wooyoung’s was harder to encapsulate in a more abstract way but you hit the nail on the head really with the homey feeling of the cafe. beyond that, mc talks about just naturally feeling at ease and comfortable with how things are with wooyoung and being around him, and he takes up this role of being the likeable, warm, cozy, comforting character. it all comes to a head in the last scene where he brings both y/n and san into the cafe.

and again wooyoung’s character is meant to be most mysterious and abstract, but if i had had more time to fully flesh out the fic, i think i would have liked to touch more on him. at the same time however i left it more open-ended and open to interpretation. the significance in him inviting mc in and not being mentioned by the others sooner is twofold. one; the others never really had any reason whatsoever to mention wooyoung. he was a friend outside the circle who never joined in with them when mc was around. i personally in my own friendships don’t mention friends outside the circle by name or anything, just kinda vaguely talking about them unless im certain the people know who this person is. the concept of wooyoung having to invite mc in was more nuanced and vague as well, intentionally so, but that was moreso meant to represent this idea of ‘you can’t make a home somewhere where you aren’t invited’ so y/n couldn’t fully make a home of the place she was in without being invited in and welcomed in, but again that’s something i wish i had more time to fully flesh out.

the hongjoong speech about love (and also the interaction with seonghwa after that) deserves a standing ovation of its own 👏 unfortunately, or not, im not actually going through the emotional turmoil regarding love the same way as hj or mc to be able to fully relate to his words, but the whole ‘if you dont love what u see in the mirror then u dont love it’ mentality really hit me hard, and i’d like to hang onto that when i make decisions in the future haha thank you wise caly! seonghwa and hongjoong’s story is also beautiful, and just like mc said, the more i look at it the more it hurts :’)

the hongjoong speech about love was meant to be something very jaded and specific to his worldview. it actually isn’t wholly how i view love personally, but it was a perfect description to how both he and y/n perceived the love in their own lives. mostly thanks to their own emotional turmoils. the mentality of the mirror quote is something that i think i also struggle with, which is why i included it. it’s hard to do, but even in friendships, i think it’s necessarily to stop and look at the person you were before this relationship and then the person during this relationship. if you don’t love the one you are now, then maybe it’s a sign to reflect and see the bigger picture, so that was a lil reminder to myself and i’m glad it touched you as well!!!

“do you love him, or do you love the idea of being in love with him?” - haha i see what u did there (or maybe i didnt please dont laugh at me if i didnt). its still so good everytime i see it bc i keep finding myself loving just the idea of things time and time again even when this makes total sense to me oof :/

heh yeah again with the more abstract concepts this one was more direct and ‘cliche’ but i fully wanted that cliche in the fic because i thought it suited the situation where mc was constantly struggling with a version of san that she thought she loved vs the version of san she got every time they were together

despite how enlightened she seems to be, mc still made the same choices, and i wanna smack her for it and pat her back at the same time. and maybe also bc of the fact that she feels so differently for the two men that i feel like no ending could really justify her decision, so ending in the vague is probably the best. your ending might kind of allude to someone more than the other already, and tho i still don’t think he’s the best one for her based on just my pov on love, i kinda agree with you. but again, this raises the question of, why a wooyoung fic and not a san fic?

and yeah the whole knife in the chest at the end of it all is that she was still too scared to face the music so to speak. but really i would say she made the same choices up until the conversation on the balcony with san. and you’re absolutely right, the reason i chose the ending the way i did was because either way, there’s no justification. and actually although it might seems like i was alluding to someone specific, san being in the cafe at the very end was moreso to represent that as much as they fought, he still very much loved her and wanted to be loved by her. it was kinda an open casket ending there were no nails in the coffin, the choice between wooyoung and san still stands and an argument could be made for either of them! i think this is a fic that i could see myself revisiting one day with two endings - one for san, and one for wooyoung.

something i didn’t mention earlier about wooyoung’s character being left intentionally mysterious was that he was representing a new and budding love. the honeymoon phase where you’re falling for someone you don’t even really know. you are the reader aren’t meant to really know who wooyoung is because of that beyond what you read about him, so his past and such was left out intentionally to represent that idea of ‘hey wow im in love with a stranger!’ whereas san was this gritty love that’s bad for you. and there are pros and cons to each just as with anything!!

so,,,, why a wooyoung fic and not a san fic? well i picked wooyoung for my collab so he was one of the main focuses of the fic regardless of which direction i took with it. as for why wooyoung wasn’t more forward, i already answered that but !!! i view it as both a wooyoung fic and a san fic. both are highlighted characters with main pairing roles!

i literally just woke up to write this and am going back to sleep ahaha so i apologize if this makes no sense. i somehow felt like i’ve read so much yet so little at the same time, maybe bc there are still so many things i havent fully made sense of, and that’s where i hope you come in and enlighten me. i still stand by my word that this fic deserves so much more recognition despite the lack of explicit smut bc of how much more you’ve explored through character building. love you caly and thank u for working so hard <3 — 🌊

no worries my beloved i hope you go back to sleep and get lots and lots of rest!! and i hope my response helps enlighten the not so clear things as well dgjdklfg but really thank you so much. it was a long fic and hard to get through at times, but as a whole, i’m proud of it and what i created, so thank you for recognizing my efforts and appreciating them 🥺

#🌊 anon #fic; the most brilliant darkness

[taxicabinmemphis]

Prince Charming -  Chapter 2

chapter one - chapter two - chapter three - chapter four - chapter five - chapter six Indications of Janus lying are in italics but fair warning I do use italics on some words Janus says that aren’t lies bc yk they’re italics and they’re used for emphasis and Janus says some sTufF in this so idk just keep an eye out lol

Word count - 3,204 Pairing - Intrulogical, Prinxiety (I didn’t plan it, it just kinda happened and I rolled with it), pre Moceit, platonic Logicality Warnings - some characters are a lil insensitive in spots but I wouldn’t call them unsympathetic, creativitwins and Loceit angst ig (not shippy at all), swearing, food mention, sword fighting, self-deprecation from most sides bc they’re all wrecks, a character gets a lil hurt, pining, and then there’s Remus-typical behavior (body horror mentions, sexual innuendo/mentions of sexual stuff, and other stuff heh), if there’s anything else that should be tagged or put in the warnings, tell me!

A yellow light with a size similar (if not a little bigger) to that of a softball appeared in front of Virgil’s face for half a second before disappearing. When it faded, the sides could see Virgil’s mouth had closed and his gaze was directed to the floor. The room was enveloped in an agonizing silence.

“I told you we’d know, Patton,” Roman said quietly, with no real bite in his words.

---

“No matter that!” Janus exclaimed, interrupting the uncomfortable silence. “You won’t be getting your crown jewels.”

“Looks like another lie, snake face!” Roman exclaimed, jumping back into the adversarial mood.

“It seems the red prince is running out of nicknames!” Remus teased. “Waste them all on Virgil, back when you were so intently hating him?”

Roman flinched; Remus had clearly hit a sore spot. “Take out your frustrations on my sword, you contemptuous, chaotic cephalopod!”

Remus laughed. “I like that! Lovely alliteration, dear brother. Though, it is something you’ve always seemed to excel at. Take with Virgil again--”

Roman swung his sword at Remus, red in the face and white at the knuckles. Remus parried it easily, clearly unsurprised by his brother’s attack. Neither sword moved for a moment, and Remus laughed again.

“So easily provoked, Roman? I expected better from a prince,” Remus said with a smirk. “Does talk about your...dare I say...regrets or unflattering moments make you want to maim a fellow side?”

Roman glared at him and shook his head, pushing his sword against his brother’s before striking at the green-clad side’s left shoulder. His sword was parried again.

“Not really.” The prince blocked a blow to the head, the swords in place there for a moment. “Just you.”

He pushed the Duke’s sword from his head and made a swipe at the legs. Remus jumped back but took a jab at Roman’s torso.

“Or,” Remus continued as if Roman hadn’t replied, “are you still in denial of the way you treated the purp man? Are you refusing to address it for fear of him realizing your mistakes...or of him admitting he was never fond of you in the first place and likely never will be?”

“STOP!” Roman shouted while disarming his brother, the rapier clattering to the floor. Roman held the tip of the sword in front of Remus’ nose.

“What is it, Roman?” Remus asked, alarmingly unfazed by the sharp metal so close to his face. “You cast me as the villain. This is me playing the part!”

Any small amount of movement Roman had been showcasing at that moment ceased, and Remus chuckled, using his brother’s stillness to back away from the sword. After taking a few steps back, the Duke put his hands up in a surrender-like position.

“Aren’t we antagonists supposed to be pushing your buttons, fucking with your mind to try to get you to lose? Is that not a classic villain tactic?”

Remus extended his leg to where his sword lay on the floor, still holding his gaze with a stiff Roman, and kicked the sword into the air where he caught it and immediately hit Roman’s sword to the side, disarming him.

“Or I could press different buttons if your demonization of Virgil is too fresh and painful a wound. I certainly have a lot to work with!”

Roman growled out a sound of anger, picking up his sword. “Oh, Remus, you forget.” He struck a hard blow to the dark side’s rapier. “I’m your brother too.”

Their fighting returned to a proper speed, Roman and Remus seeming equal.

“You crave attention and validation, which is probably the only reason you agreed to participate in today’s adventure,” Roman started, a grunt accompanying a few of his words. “You find it difficult, nearly impossible, to receive the latter, so you settle for being the most chaotic and disturbing version of yourself you can be in the hopes of a couple of spare glances in your direction.”

Remus’ confident smirk faltered.

“You haven’t argued against Logan sifting through your contributions in the hope that he will give you a spare compliment or show any sort of appreciation,” Roman added. “He’s logic, so he’s honest with no added emotions. You appreciate this, as there is no disgust-fueled fire that he uses to insult your creations.”

Roman felt Remus’ strikes get weaker.

“You’ve never known a true compliment or real validation, so anytime Logan doesn’t react negatively to your contributions makes you happy. Who can imagine what would happen if he complimented your work?”

Roman started to gain a clear upper hand, walking forward as Remus crept back.

“Maybe you’d...I don’t know...regret lodging that throwing star in his forehead,” Roman said with an air of nonchalance, a small smirk growing as he spotted Remus’ eyes widening and his grip on his sword loosening. “Regret shutting him up like everyone else does when he’s the only one who actually listens.”

Remus’ cuts got more reckless, less on target, and he was barely following the red prince’s sword.

“We’re creativity, insecurity is in our job description. You know Thomas will likely never do what you suggest him to,” Roman tacked on. “So you do everything to get your ideas noticed. Commented on. Even if it’s negative. But when Logan says something logical—not unkind—what do I know, maybe he’s even said something nice...you have a taste of validity. You experience appreciation."

Remus’ face hardened, and thrust his sword at Roman’s neck, only for the prince to parry it expertly.

“My only regret, dear brother,” Roman continued, walking forward so Remus’ back hit the cold, stone wall behind him, “is that after the original happiness that came from the logical side’s kind words subsides, you realize that you’re grasping at the straws of what everyone else has. And that, Remus, is a shame.”

The rapier fell to the floor.

Roman smiled at his win, sheathing his longsword. “You’re right, Remus! Pouring salt into the enemy’s wounds is a magnificent tactic! Thanks for the advice. Now, I’m taking this…” Roman picked up the rapier, “...and I’m taking it with me.”

---

Janus charged at Logan.

"Why are you participating in Roman's fantastical escapade so loyally, Janus?" Logan queried, blocking Janus’ attack, thankful he’d chosen a sword who’s wavy blade gave him the advantage of causing his opponent discomfort when their sword would collide with his. "You strike me as one of the last of us who would agree to such an unrealistic and far-fetched activity.”

Janus shrugged, the discomfort caused by his sword’s collision with Logan’s wavy-bladed sword showing visibly. “Everyone else did. And I definitely wanted to be stuck as the only side dealing with Thomas for a whole day.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think any of us want you to be the only one dealing with Thomas for an entire day.”

“Fair enough.”

Janus’ sword clashed into Logan’s, and it took the deceitful side everything not to loosen his grip on his sword because of the uncomfortable vibrations the intense collision with the flamberge caused. Logan held his sword horizontally over his head, never letting his grip falter, as Janus stared the logical side deep in the eye. The yellow-clad side took forceful steps forward, causing Logan to take several steps back.

Janus, upon noticing that if Logan were to go back further, he would trip and fall into broken glass, relented his aggressive pushing. He took a step back as he knew Logan would use his moment of kindness to his advantage, and thrust his sword at the side’s chest, turning it into a horizontal cut when Logan dodged it by moving to his right.

“That was a purely illogical mistake you just made, Janus,” Logan criticized. “One that could have been easily avoided.”

“You shouldn’t be thanking me, Logan,” Janus said with an annoyed growl. “It’s not like I saved you from tripping and falling into broken glass or anything.”

Logan’s movements froze for half a second before he quickly composed himself. “Thank you, I suppose,” he said after a pause, half-heartedly aiming a strike at the deceitful side’s head.

Eventually, Janus and Logan’s swordfight had escalated to become much harsher. Janus was using the range his sword gave him well, and Logan’s wavy-bladed sword was only becoming more useful as his strikes became harder and more uncomfortable for the serpentine side to bear.

On the other side of the room, Patton tripped and cut his ankle on a piece of glass; the surprised but pained yelp that accompanied it caused Janus’ head to turn. Logan ignored the fatherly side’s exclamation and took Janus’ reflexive breach of focus as an opportunity to gain a more significant advantage. Janus was barely able to block the strike the logical side made at his left shoulder but ended up having to take a multitude of steps back and he ended up at a lower level.

Logan withheld a triumphant smirk, eyeing a nearby wall in his peripheral vision. Cornering Janus would make his victory almost guaranteed.

“Getting tired, Logan?” Janus said through gritted teeth.

“I thought you would be the fatigued one,” Logan replied in return.

Janus growled at him and reluctantly removed all of his focus from Patton and returned it to him and Logan’s sword fight.

“Does your function of self-care make it difficult to let Patton get hurt, much like it did earlier when you spared me an undesirable encounter with broken glass?” Logan inquired, and Janus couldn’t tell whether the logical side was teasing or genuinely curious. Janus supposed it was probably the latter as Logan had very little capacity for that type of teasing but still acted on the hypothesis that Logan’s motivations lied with the former.

Janus slammed his sword at Logan’s violently, making him raise an eyebrow. The action prompted Logan to return the amounts of force Janus was using and more. With every one of Janus’ harder swings, Logan’s were more intense. The indigo side could see the discomfort parrying his sword brought Janus was weighing on him.

Before long, Logan was hardly having any trouble walking forwards and pushing the yellow-clad side back. Janus’ arms and shoulders were starting to shake. A few seconds later, Janus felt his back make contact with the wall. Not roughly, not in any way that would hurt, but it still demonstrated Logan’s present superiority.

Janus gave him a menacing glare showing his current disdain for the logical side that would probably dissolve after this whole sword fighting fiasco was over.

“It seems I have you cornered, Janus,” Logan observed. “If you surrender now, you could make this much easier and less troublesome for both of us.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Janus retorted, flailing his sword at Logan in an embarrassing attempt at a strike to his neck.

“We could also,” Logan continued, easily blocking the strike, “sit back and watch the others’ shenanigans after we have agreed on the terms of your surrender.”

Janus gave Logan a smirk. “Oh Logan, no matter how fun that sounds, I’m not ready to give up yet.”

He turned his head to look at where Virgil and Patton were on the other side of the room, Logan’s gaze following. Patton had wrapped his ankle up in cloth and was looking significantly better, and Virgil was standing stock still, gaze directed at the ground. Patton was pacing in worry, most likely scared his friends would end up severely hurting each other. Virgil was unnaturally unbothered by this and was showing absolutely no emotion. His body refused to even give any hint of movement. Logan couldn’t be sure the anxious side was breathing. The behavior Virgil was displaying was concerning and not like him at all.

“Virgil,” Janus started and said side’s head raised to look Janus in the eye, “do me a favor and engage Patton in a sword fight. And don’t even think of going easy on him.”

A yellow light similar to the one seen the first time Janus ordered Virgil to do something appeared in front of Janus’ lips and flew over to Virgil, disappearing as it made contact with his head. Patton’s attention had been gained at the utterance of his name, and his expression held only what was sheer terror. Fighting his dark strange son was the last thing he wanted to do. But as it would seem, he was helpless to prevent such an event from occurring.

Logan watched with concealed horror as Virgil’s body turned robotically to face Patton, whose eyes were wide and cheeks flushed in fear and apprehension. Virgil drew his sword, a black bladed katana with a purple hilt, and raised it in front of him while getting into a fighting stance. His gaze locked on the moral side, no emotion or familiarity showing in his heterochromatic eyes.

“I’m sure you’re feeling absolutely at ease and unworried right now, Logan,” Janus remarked, slight mockery residing in his tone. He pushed himself off and away from the wall Logan had cornered him against. “Would a blow to the head ease your fulfilling tranquility?”

Logan turned away from Patton and Virgil, directing a hard glare at the lying side. He parried the strike Janus made at his head, and then directed another one at his adversary’s neck. The strikes Logan was making no longer held any mercy or restraint that could’ve been there at the beginning. “Why would you do that? You know how hard it must be on Patton to engage in a violent and aggressive activity with anyone, much less his best friend and the side he sees most as a son.”

Janus didn’t reply, focusing only on Logan’s sword. Logan noticed that Janus’ face was seeming to withhold emotion, the snake side’s jaw set and eyes contorted into a glare that appeared to be forced.

“Not to mention, Patton is wounded, Janus,” Logan reminded him, deflecting a thrust at his solar plexus. “You were so concerned a few minutes ago, but now you’re forcing him to not only walk on the foot but also to fight on the foot? The wound may not be anything severe, but as a function of self-preservation, don’t you care about him?”

Logan could hear a growl sound from Janus’ throat. “I couldn’t let you think that now could I?”

Logan’s eyebrows furrowed, the intensity in his strikes faltering. “You felt like you needed to prove something to me, didn’t you? That you don’t care about us.”

Janus made no indication that Logan was correct, but started to strike harder.

“You don’t need to prove anything to me, Janus. I know what you can do, I know how cruel you can act and how caring you can be.” Logan paused, not wanting to overstep or make assumptions. “And, I don’t need to say anything if you don’t want me to.”

“Patton should’ve been sword fighting like the rest of us anyway,” Janus stated, practically ignoring Logan’s previous statement. “Maybe he wouldn’t have gotten himself hurt.”

Logan’s eyes narrowed at that. “Patton being a kind and gentle person is in no way a problem.” His words were accompanied by harsher cuts to Janus’ head and torso. Logan was starting to back him up again.

“It can be quite annoying, though, can’t it?” Janus snarled rhetorically.

Logan’s ferocity had returned to what it was directly after Janus ordered Virgil to fight Patton, not suspecting Janus’ previous statement of relaying any falsehoods.

As the fighting continued, Logan took note of how Janus’ incredibly long sword would likely not bode well in a shorter range. Deciding to use this to his advantage, Logan got in closer to Janus without pushing the side back. He struck a hard blow to the Zweihander that forced the sword to Logan’s right. Logan took this opportunity to give a small but effective kick to the deceitful side’s right knee, causing him to fall to his knees. He then easily disarmed Janus, and let the Zweihander clatter to the floor. Logan sheathed his flamberge and then picked up the black and yellow blade.

“It seems your...tactic of evoking an emotional response from me by causing distress on my fellow sides did not prove fruitful in your attempt for victory.”

“Maybe not, but it made the fight last longer,” Janus replied. “Besides, it was not fun at all. I mean, did you see the look on Patton’s face?”

Logan’s grip on Janus’ sword tightened. “I am currently finding it...difficult to restrain myself from knocking you out with your own weapon.”

Janus smirked. “Such emotion from the logical side, hmm? I thought you were the cold one with no emotions. I guess it figures that you’d have a capacity for anger and other emotions if you already experience a great deal of love.”

Any movement Logan was currently engaged in paused. “...What? What do you mean?”

“Come on, Logan,” Janus said smoothly, starting to stand on his feet, Logan instinctively pointing the sword at his throat. “You admitted it in the Q&A! Look at you, defending Patton like that, you...care about him, you love him. And even still, you care about me, the kick you gave to my knee was just enough to take me down and nothing more, and you totally wanted to fight me in the first place. You despise Roman, criticizing him when he advocates engaging in violent activity, obviously trying to protect him. Oh, and don’t get me started on Remus. You volunteered to sift through his contributions.”

“And debunk them, as well as expose them for being unrealistic and dangerous.”

“Yes, but say those things to Thomas. I haven’t had Remus complain about you to me once, totally implying that you’ve said downright terrible things about his creativity to him. While I’m sure much of this comes from your function as logic and what is a tendency to show any and all emotion on a topic that doesn’t require or call for it, there’s surely something else behind it. How could you not attach yourself to the one person who listens to you? Or will you not admit this as you’re scared he only listens to you because you listen to him? As a trade, a deal, an arrangement of begrudging respect and nothing more. You’ll listen to his ideas and he’ll listen to your opinions and criticisms, but you’re scared he only does it out of courtesy. But, Logan. Dear, sweet Logan. He listens to you. He’s the only one who does. And, what of motivations? Do they matter to that pesky little thing that is love?”

Logan gulps, his face reddening. He pushed the tip of the Zweihander closer to Janus’ throat. Any movement further would make the sword touch the skin of his neck, and perhaps break it. There was a long silence as Janus moved his hands up and above his head in a surrender-like position. Logan’s eyes stayed on him unwaveringly, but his mind was somewhere else.

It was almost as if they were in a staring contest, one neither of the two was focused on. Logan was raking over Janus’ words, hoping that the deceitful side would be lying the one time he wanted him to be, and Janus was feeling victorious despite his defeat.

Logan would have to leave the side eventually, either to help his fellow knights in their sword fights or later when they all would leave Reptania. But Janus was wrong, he was lying, he was messing with his mind. He had to be.

“You won, Logan. Yes, I’ll admit it. But we both know that I was right.”

~

Hope you enjoyed chapter two! Meant to post on Thursday but school happened. I love y’all, thanks, and chapter three which will happen sometime in the next week!

~

Prince Charming taglist: @the-sympathetic-villain @justanotherhumanstuff

#ts fanfic #intrulogical #prinxiety #roman sanders #logan sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #pre moceit #prince charming #fic #swearing tw #creativitwins #feel free to ask to be on the taglist #sanders sides #kill writes

[5-falsehoods-phonated]

Overgrown Metal

Chapter 1: A Distant Roar

Summary of Fic:

Almost two decades ago, the fae rose up from beyond the value with technology far surpassing the human race, quickly taking over after lating waste to nearly everything in their wake. Virgil and Roman, Society escapees and hunters run into an uncertain future while fleeing from their pasts. Remy and Remus stare their only chance straight in the face as they teeter on the edge of reluctant adventure. Emile is left his cousins engineering palace and is given the tools to change the world. Logan, a lone researcher and outcast is found by an old friend who offers him a chance of the century. Hyden (deciet), can shift into anything he so chooses, but staying true to his form as his heritage slaps him sideways proves harder than he thought. Patton mourns the loss of his son as he slowly uncovers secrets he wishes aren't related.

Or less wordy:

Eight idiots with trust issues fumble around each other and try to save the world from killer mechanical beasts and fairies that will snap your neck without taking their hands from their wine glasses.

Warnings: Violence, fight scenes, dark fantasy, apocalypse setting, some gore, blood

TW for this chapter: None? Though if you see any let me know

Ships: Remy (sleep) x Remus. Brotherly Roman and Virgil. Platonic Logan and Hyden (Deciet)

-----------

"Long ago, humans existed as a thriving race, full of hope and promise. Their faith was strong, the resulting bond stronger and technology was accelerating towards a prosperous future.

It was a time when the tales of fae were still passed down as children's stories, and warnings were scoffed off as superstitions. Humans as a race believed the shadows of the night hid nothing and when dawn painted the sky whatever evil that may have lurked in the darkness was wiped away as cleanly as the shores by the waves of the ocean.

With that mindset adopted, when the calamity fell we thought only that the autonomous monstrosities were an advanced technology from an enemy country, meant to start another world war to wipe out whatever they could. When reports poured in from around the world, tin hats began screaming of aliens, and the churches filled with the cries of righteous damnation. No matter which reason you picked, it was almost a guarantee you would be wiped off the map given enough time. The creatures were gleaming gold and silver, blinding those who dared look too closely, deafening those who listened too carefully. Heavy as they seemed in their armor of metal they stayed light on their feet, crawling their way up from the earth, bounding through cities from the deep forest growth and swooping down from the unassuming sky.

It was over in mere days, cities laid to waste by the metallic creatures of an unknown origin, plains made unsafe from their territorial prowl; even the sky offered no escape as planes were clawed from the sky and set reeling into the maws of the swiftly growing forests. Trees unnaturally twisted to form barriers of wooden steel, the ruined cities overtaken by growth that should have grown in centuries rather than weeks, wide expanses of fields left unwalkable by twisting vines meant to trap and muffle. And over all of that the protective beasts walked their territories urged on my a master unnamed; following the bidding of a race none knew existed until the foolish humans decided it was safe to venture out again.

The fae, fairies, demons, creatures of another realm; this race went by many names bug the fact remained they were here to take back what was theirs. Too long, their leader said, have we cowered in the cover of your industrial hell. No more shall we hide in fear of your smoke smeared air that kills the very people who make it. We have been here long before your kind, and so shall we remain long after. Group your people however you like. Send any weapon of your choice to try and turn the tides to your favor. We will reign over the ashes you crumble to.

What this race of unnatural being didnt count on was a Hero of Ages to rise in a cliche of a fairytale epic. He stood tall over the bones they crushed his brethren too, sword dripping with vengeance and arms splattered with the fruits of his bloodlust. The day had come, for he, Remus, Harkened Duke of the Unseelie War, had clawed his ways from the depths of hell to face-"

"Babes. I love you...so very much. But you've been monologuing for twenty minutes now and I'd hate to waste my coffee by dumping it on your head."

Shoulders dropping in a pout, Remus turned towards his husband, leaning against the counter as he watched Remy reach for his still-hot-somehow coffee while nudging a can over into a growing pile, the plastic recyclables already having been sorted and bagged some time ago. His dark hair hung low over his tired eyes but Remus could still see the spark of amusement in them even as an annoyed huff left his lips. Smiling, he walked over to sit beside Remy, stretching out his legs and sweeping an entire pile of cans to the bigger pile scattering the displaed aluminum across the floor in the process. Ignoring another annoyed sigh he simply leaned his head on the others shoulder and smiled sadly.

"You never wish for something more than this?" He gestured vaguely around their small apartment they were quite lucky to have as Remy say back on his heels carefully so as not to knock his head of his shoulder.

"We're safe here." Punctuating safe with a flick to the back of the other mans head he continued. "Something more...that would mean going outside. And theres no Original Remus' Specialty coffee brew outside now is there?"

"It wouldn't take much to take the French press with us."

"It's starting to worry me how much you're bringing this up lately. I'm pretty useless," he waved his left hand around as emphasis, metal plating refracting the rooms dip lighting. "And you...are very loud. So very loud babes. We'd last a day, maybe two."

"If we had more people-"

"Which we don't. Unless we get a hunter or two stumbling in here wanting to drag a couple of inexperienced fighters along with them I don't see it happening." Putting the empty coffee mug in the sink, he turned back around to find Remus standing just behind him.

"I could fight for us."

"Very brave, but imaginary blades does not a dead beast make."

Remus swiped at the finger attempting to boop his nose, smirking lightly. "I have real blades!"

"Surgical scalpels don't count hun." Remy ducked under the strong arms attempting to pull him closer and bounded back over to his carefully sorted piles. "Now, either help me these or-"

A faint roar cut his words off suddenly, leaving him trembling from more than just the vibrations running through the floor. Remus was quick to be by his side, pulling him down and looping a protective arm around his shoulders. Squeezing his eyes shut behind the dark shades he wore even though he hadn't seen unfiltered sunlight in months he ducked his head down and moved closer into the protective embrace, tensing as another tremor reverberated through his bones. Minutes passed like hours as the couple stayed tense and alert on the floor, the beast eventually quieting, seeming to move off much to their intense relief. Dragging in a deep breath, Remy sagged against Remus, subconsciously rubbing at his left wrist and sinking further into the comfortable lap.

Gasping as he was lifted quickly, a deep blush colored his cheeks as he found himself being scooped up bridal style and twirled around before being carried through the short hall to the bedroom.

"My responsibility!" He cried out in mock desperation as he reached towards his sorted plastics and aluminum, ready to be traded later that week.

"Your plastic castles can wait until morning. It's late and we need sleep." So saying, Remus dumped his load unceremoniously onto the creaky bed and swiftly hopped in after, rolling to trap the barely struggling man under his body with a laugh.

Remy pushed at his shoulder playfully. "Who died and made you the responsible one?"

The mood sobered slightly, a look of pain flashing in the others eyes before quickly being replaced by mirth once more. Before he could offer an apology it was being swallowed effortlessly with a kiss that left him without a breath to spare one.

"Either sleep or I'm experimenting with bean strength again and make you taste test espressos until you faze into next week."

Laughing lightly, he bucked his hips just hard enough to push the other to the side so he could curl into Remus' arms for the night. "I'd rather not repeat that experiment again. I stay for your coffe, not for my stomach issues."

Remus smiled and threw his leg over his husband's hip to pull him even closer, pulling off his shades before resting his chin on the soft brown locks in contentment, swirling thoughts winding down to a rare dull roar as their breaths matched and evened out for the night.

The mechanical beast roared in anger as its tail lashed out to the side, hoping to catch the annoying pest that had lured it out into the feild. As beats went it was fairly small, resembling a feline with its lithe frame and small sharp teeth, only coming up to about 10 feet at its shoulder. Crouching down and twisting its head around it caught fleeting movement from the corner of its eye and whipped around to face it, only for the past to dart out of its sight again somewhere below it field of vision. Roaring in frustration it leaped straight into the air, turning and flexing its impressive claws hoping to smash down on whatever it was that eluded its attacks. Landing heavily, the beast took a second to recover from the rocky landing, flexing its spring loaded joints as it started to straighten.

A second was all the past needed to run up the length of its tail, impressive gait taking them to the beasts neck in no time at all to bring their weapon down and through the mechanical monstrosities neck, severing vital components and falling it before it got half of it last roar to rise from its throat.

The pest leaped from the beast as it fell to the side, stilling in the grassy plain with nary a twitch to make a passerby believe it was ever alive in the first place. Straightening from where they had landed, the pest sheathed the spear properly on their back and walked calmly over to the enemy, taking out a faded gray notebook as they did so.

Pushing a thick pair of glasses back up his nose, Logan looked over the creature with a passive interest before sighing and putting the notebook back in his pack. There was no use taking down data of a creature identical to one he had already slain a month prior. He knew he needed to start traveling more if he wanted more diverse data but he was loathe to leave his impromptu lab that lay hidden within woods no one dared enter. Looking around and seeing nothing more in the immediate vicinity he sighed again before adjusting the pack on his back and turning to walk back home.

There was always tomorrow.

This is also available on AO3 if you're interested. I can't promise regular updates but I really like this story so I'll be picking at it for a while.

I'm not really sure how to do fanfic layouts on tumblr so if this can be improved please let me know how. Please do not repost, reblogs however, are appreciated.

#sanders sides #sanders sides fic #thomas sanders #virgil sanders #roman and remus #remy sleep #patton sanders #logan sanders #deciet sanders #dark fantasy au #apocolypse au

[heyktula]

Closer, Chapter Four: Kink - Bonus Features

Chapter four of Closer, the first installment in Somewhere in Canada (the Terror kink AU)... is now up! It's a plot-heavy chapter! There's some platonic kink! There's the plot to an entirely different story if you squint!

Technical notes first, story notes after, line notes to finish it all up.

Alright, here we go.

Technical Considerations:

Chapter Titles: So I didn't have any particular chapter titles in mind when I started this story. The original structure I'd planned for was one chapter for Friday, one for Saturday, one for Sunday, with Jopson POV at the very beginning of chapter one, and then again at the very end of three.

Obviously, uh, there was too much story for that to fly. So I cut it where I needed to cut it, and swapped my structure to have Jopson POV at the beginning of every chapter (and bonus Jopson POV at the end of the chapter). So I needed five chapter titles. First I couldn't think of anything good, and then it occurred to me that I could name four of them after the RACK acronym (Risk Aware Consensual Kink), and then it was super fascinating from a storytelling perspective because of the way the chapters lined up. Like, Risk deals with the risks that Edward didn't take because he totally ducks out of talking to Jopson that first night. Aware covers them starting to know each other. Consensual covers the dungeon scene, Kink covers platonic kink, and also the very normal way that both of them have integrated kink into their regular lives, and how it leads to these intimacies that are normal for them, but would be strange from a vanilla perspective or in a vanilla relationship. And then, finally, since I needed a fifth chapter title, Aftercare seemed like the obvious solution, which cracks me up because the entire chapter is, uh, well. I mean, it's aftercare for them. But yeah.

Mornings: So I wanted the structure of this fic to be all chronological in order--ie, no re-covering events that have already happened from someone else's POV within the same fic. (The Tozer/Irving fic, obviously, will be covering many of the same events, but it'll be different enough that it won't matter.) Which led to an icky bit for me, because I split the chapters differently than I anticipated (see above), and needed to start the day out with Jopson-POV even though I already had this lovely Little-POV drafted out.

Thankfully, Jopson came in for the win with that one, because he's a morning person, and Ned isn't, and their alarms were set for different enough times that I could go right from Jopson's wakeup to Ned's wakeup without having to retread the same information or the same section of the day (technically, there's a small chronological overlap, I think Jopson is probably eating breakfast when Little is trying to resurrect himself from his bed, but I've decided I Don't Care).

The Three Bears' Bed: This is such a smol technical note, but I wanted to bring it up because it's one of the really fun things that you can do with deep POV. It's implied (and confirmed in the next chapter) that Jopson and Edward are in essentially identical hotel rooms. But if you squint--they both describe their beds very differently. Jopson's bed is "too big", ie, he clearly sleeps on a single at home, and it's probably not as nice as the hotel bed. Edward's bed, a carbon copy of the queen bed Jopson is sleeping in, is "too small", ie, he's clearly got a king-sized monstrosity for himself back at home. I absolutely live for these kinds of things that are literally too minor to be noticed (nor should they be, they're meant to fade into the background), but which communicate so much about the characters.

(Ah, god, there's going to be so much adjusting for them to do in London. Their lives are very, very different. Jopson is starting to clue in, and he's going to have to sit with that once he has a clear head and lets all the subconscious stuff he's been picking up on actually gel together. Right now, he's very much in the 'whoa that looks expensi--hooooly fuck Ned Little is hot' phase. He'll have a Moment in London, though, where he'll sit bolt upright in his single bed and go wait a minute he put fifties in the donation bin when I blacked his boots and didn't even blink, he just casually throws large denomination bills* around.)

*I grew up low income, and I never carry anything bigger than a twenty in my wallet. People who are used to having more money, in my experience, tend to carry larger bills in their wallets. I know a fifty isn't actually a large denomination bill, but it is when you aren't used to carrying that kind of money around. Fifties make me tense until I break them. If I have a hundred, it's because someone gifted it to me, and I am gonna stress about it until I get it to the bank to deposit. Twenties are good for me, thanks.

Story Considerations:

Jopson's Work Ethic: Jopson's work ethic is in full force here, and I love to see it. I also love to see how firm he is about not hiding it. Like, Blanky understands how rare it is for Jopson to find someone he connects with the way he connects with Nedward, and was perfectly willing to skip the dungeon* to give Jopson another go at it. But Jopson, at some point, has transitioned from 'perfect, a weekend hookup' to 'perfect, I would like Ned in my life always'. (Gonna guess it was that post blowjob cuddle-nap that tipped it over, to be perfectly honest.) And Jopson knows that for Ned to be in his life always, Jopson needs to be realistic with him about what his life actually looks like--so he's going to work the long hours that he usually works, and he's going to run Blanky's booth so that Blanky can head to the dungeon tonight, and when Edward asks to be told literally anything about Jopson's life, Jopson moves immediately to telling Ned about his job.

(You'll note that Jopson has a schedule for working in the morning, the afternoon, and also the evening, ie, decidedly more than an eight hour day/forty hour work week. He did not mention that he frequently goes to Terror, and then shows back up at three am to do more work in a haze of subspace, but I'm sure he'll get around to it.)

I think it's important to Jopson that Edward accept him as he is--that is, no arguing about what comes first (it's work), or what Jopson's priorities are (also work), or how much availability Jopson has for a relationship (all of it...after work). So in that sense, this is pretty much a trial by fire--Jopson is saying 'look, this is what my life is like, and if you fit, you can stay', and Edward, in turn, is saying 'please just let me sit next to you, I like it here'. (I'm sure Tozer would be irritable about Edward's changed loyalties if he weren't currently sorting out, you know, every bad decision he made the previous night).

*This is not a Blanky-specific thing. If Esther were here instead, she and Jopson would have the same arrangement. I think either Blanky or Esther would be equally fun to play with, don't you?

Duty and Responsibility: I also love the differing approaches to duty and responsibility, as displayed by Joplittle--Edward talks, multiple times, about his duties and responsibilities here as something that he needs to shoulder, like it's a too-heavy pack that he's hauling around behind him when he would really rather just pull the covers over his head and stay there. Jopson, however, is thriving under his.

I would posit that, perhaps, if Edward managed to distance himself further from Hickey's bullshit, that maybe his responsibilities wouldn't suck so much. But for Edward to get away from Hickey's bullshit, that would mean Tozer would also have to put his foot down, and Tozer has been ambivalent about doing that, so far.

Sadomasochism, and the ‘Gold-Star’ Dom: Oh, Edward, my sweetheart, my dear, you have a track record of dating terrible people, and hanging out with people who kinkshame you, and I am so sorry that it's come to this.

There's this really fascinating (by which I mean it's incredibly toxic) culture difference between old guard spaces and the "newer" spaces. For people Francis' age who grew up in old guard leather kink scenes, they would have come up in the scene submitting first, and then either continuing to submit, or transitioning into being a dominant as they gained experience. However, for newer spaces--and here, I'm talking about something that was starting to happen for people around Fitzjames' age--there started to be a shift toward just doing one or the other*. By the time we get to people in the same age range as Little**, Tozer, and Jopson, the emphasis on picking one or the other is much more prominent. You should 'know' your orientation when you enter the scene--and then that's typically where you stay. There's no requirement for a dom to have ever subbed--and there's no requirement for doms to be familiar with the business end of their implements either. (If I had a dollar for every talk I'd been to where a dom was proud that they've never actually tested gear on themselves, I would have a lot of dollars.)

This leaves Little in an awkward spot--he's got no interest in submitting (as per the way he nopes out of any sort of cuffs or protocol with James Clark Ross), but, unlike Tozer, who tolerates getting hit in the context of fighting but doesn't particularly like it, Little actively enjoys the pain of getting hit. Based on how awkwardly he discloses that to Jopson, we can infer (correctly) that it's gone down badly in previous hookups.

(The general stereotype that dominant-sadist-top*** and submissive-masochist-bottom are one scale instead of, you know, three different scales, is not helping Ned at all here.)

So Ned is in this spot as a sadomasochist dom where he's had a hard time finding a partner that is willing to accept that he has a masochist streak as well. Enter Jopson...

*I think, though I'm not sure, that part of this shift was kink culture moving into the straight scene as well. Heterosexual kink tends to avoid the formalized learning process, and focus strictly on I Have Always Been A Dom.

**For the purposes of kink!AU, I'm going with approximate show ages for everyone--I think I saw somewhere that historically, Little was older than Fitzjames--but I'm going with an older Fitzjames and a younger Little here, for Fitzier Reasons.

***Note that I’m talking about top and bottom in a BDSM sense here--the one who wields the flogger vs the one who has the flogger used on them. The penetrator/penetratee during intercourse is an entirely separate thing, which....you guessed it....is also unrelated to the above-mentioned scales.

Service: Jopson thrives when he's engaged in acts of service. I really loved working with the translation of canon-to-kink!Jopson, because it's really fascinating to dig into how those canon aspects of his personality translate. Like, the long hours as a steward translate directly to the long hours that he works for Francis. But those acts of service translate really easily into submission as well. (I would posit that, for people who pursue more 'lifestyle' kink as opposed to 'bedroom-only' kink, there's a great chance that they'll pursue jobs that play to those strengths.)

The particular benefit to this that's working in Ned's favour here is that Jopson loves nothing more than to arrange things for people to make sure they have what they need. So this intersects perfectly with Ned's typical methods for managing his top drop--if Jopson can leverage his connections to make sure that Ned has access to people that will let him bottom-but-not-submit for them when he needs it, well, that's a win for both of them.

(I would hazard a guess, if you squinted, that Ned is sexually monogamous, and generally dates other monogamous people, which sometimes makes the negotiation of play with other people outside the dyad a non-starter. I would also guess that Jopson wouldn't consider monogamy to be a particular value of his, and so anything he can do to make sure Ned is looked after is perfect for him.)

Top Drop: Pretty much any kink conference that even slightly touches on educational aspects will have a talk about subdrop, typically led by a sub or a panel of subs, or sometimes by a dom/sub pair, discussing how to properly care for one's sub, how to deal with subdrop, and all those coping kinds of mechanisms. I can guarantee Edward has attended a number of those talks, written at least one blog post, and probably could speak on it if you really bullied him into it.

Those same conferences typically do not talk about top drop. I've been to lots of talks on sub drop. I've only ever been to one on top drop, and it was so horribly done that we’re still talking about it years later. Even googling when I was brushing up on my research for this fic didn't give me much.

Anyways, it's good that Jopson works for Crozier, who treats drop as something that can happen to anyone regardless of position. In turn, this means Jopson is able to recognize it happening to Ned, and will just merrily bulldoze and/or gently bully Ned until he gets the information he needs to be able to help.

RACK and SSC: Ah, look, it's the author picking a pedantic fight in the middle of their fic using their POV character as a mouthpiece. SO. When I was first getting into kink in the early two thousands, SSC (Safe, Sane, Consensual) was the name of the game. It essentially means that the activities you do under the BDSM umbrella should fit all three of those criteria.

The issue that I and many others have with the acronym is that it doesn't particularly fit that well for a lot of the activities in BDSM. After all, what's really safe? You can trip walking down the same stairs that you've walked down every day of your life if your shoelace is loose, or if your ankle goes weird, or if you're just not paying attention. What's sane? No, really, what is it? What defines sane? Should we be using mental health terms to determine whether or not something is a good idea? What's the opposite of 'sane' in this context?

(I'm not gonna bicker about consensual, obviously, that one I still hold to.)

How do you practice edge play under SSC? Can you safely punch someone? Is it sane to do so? (God, I hate the inclusion of 'sane' in the acronym so much.) Can you consent to something that doesn't fit the first two criteria? If you decide an activity fits all three criteria, does that guarantee nobody gets hurt? (Absolutely not.)

So, there's a shift in the scene to use RACK instead--Risk Aware Consensual Kink. RACK is more focused on assessing the risks to specific activities, and consenting to do those activities even though the risk exists. You can definitely punch someone under RACK--because RACK supposes that you've discussed the risks of punching them, you're both doing your best to manage those risks, and you've both consented to the activity while recognizing that it’s inherently risky to do it and you’ve taken as many precautions as you can.

Sir John 'actually the expedition is outfitted for seven years and we don't need any rescue' Franklin is clearly focused on SSC, with an emphasis on no further risk assessments once a particular activity is deemed to be safe. This isn't to say that everyone who practices SSC ignores possible risks--but it is to say that the acronym doesn't encourage active risk assessment the same way that RACK does. (Doing X is safe, therefore, I don’t think about the risks while I do X, because it’s safe.) I personally think that RACK is a more robust way to assess kink activities, but, as you can probably infer from, you know, the entirety of this fic, I take part in a lot of activities that don't fit under SSC, so I'm biased.

I do not blame Edward one bit for getting into that argument with Sir John. I do feel pretty certain that Blanky surreptitiously filmed it, though, so that he can send it to Francis. I also am pretty sure that Francis’ own stance on RACK, which comes through pretty clearly in his books, would have informed Edward’s stance as well, so, you know, full circle there. (Do you have any idea how many people you’ve informally mentored via your books, Francis? It’s *cough*JamesFitzjamesAlso*cough* a lot.)

Florentine Flogging: Here's the reference video I was using for Florentine flogging! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGCQGsxbwtw

Sharp eyes will notice that this is a very similar skillset to spinning poi, which I thought was really neat.

Line Notes:

Jopson will be back in six months to give his talk, and Edward is going to be right there in the front row to support him, and that means that nothing can go wrong this weekend.

It...doesn't actually mean that. I mean, obviously, yes, not being banned from Canada is a requirement. But not having the booth open wouldn't have killed anybody.

Irving dragged you home—please advise how, he’s half your size?

This is funnier once I did some googling and realized that Ronan Raftery is six goddamn feet tall, which makes him two inches taller than Matthew McNulty, but I decided to let Edward's inaccuracies stand because they're pretty goddamn funny. Also, I maintain that Irving gives off smol energy.

“Oh, good,” Irving says, the tension instantly melting off his face. “I’m so glad he made it to bed.”

Tozer did not make it to bed, but, tbh, I wouldn't correct Irving at this particular moment either. Especially not in front of Lady Jane Franklin.

“Who’s this, then?” Lady Franklin asks. She’s wearing a vintage dress from a decade Edward should probably recognize, but doesn’t. (Jopson would, he’s sure of it.)

The 1950s, Edward. It's literally the most easily recognizable decade.

“…he’s fine,” Edward says, more confused than ever.

Edward, Edward, Edward. Both more confused than ever--and completely unwilling to do any followup on this whatsoever, because why ask questions when instead you could eyefuck Jopson. (In a sense, though, this is Tozer's problem, so Edward's ability to disconnect from it completely is probably an improvement from, say, Edward of a few years ago.) Normally, leaving plot threads hanging like this would bother me extensively, but because I'm drafting the Tozer/Irving fic as we speak, I'm comfortable just letting all of this just hang for a bit. These plot threads are important to include because they happened, but they're not important to resolve, because Edward doesn't give a shit.

Nothing fancy—just Ned, with a little handwritten squiggle next to it that’s almost a heart, if you squint.

It's definitely a heart. Jopson just channeled the patented Francis Crozier technique of 'if I make a vague line here, people can interpret it how they want'. Not very characteristic of Jopson--but, as we discussed last week, poor boy is carting around some baggage re: his affection, so we’ll just let him have this.

It’s probably the goddamn bruise from yesterday’s fuckup. Well, that, and the fact that Tozer isn’t there. Or maybe Edward’s just fucking up something else that he’s completely unaware of.

I'd like to propose option four, which is that Edward is hot as fuck, dressed in leather, and was part of a scene that gathered a respectfully distant crowd in the dungeon the night previous. Edward is not aware that option four is an option, but I would like to reassure him that option four is, in fact, an option.

“What do you do for aftercare?” Jopson asks curiously. “Like—what did you do last night, after you walked me home?”

Bold of Jopson to assume that Edward spent two seconds looking after himself. (He won't make that mistake again--Edward's blog entry on aftercare was detailed enough that last-night!Jopson made the endorphin-blurred call that Edward had his own routine sorted, and is now finding out that Edward has no such thing.)

Edward sighs, starts to mentally assemble an apology. He’s done it again—let his guard down, said too much. The apology has never worked in the past. But he’ll have to try. There’s always a chance Edward will get it right this time, even though he’s not remotely ready for this (it was going so well), but he has to, he has to start, he’ll just—he’ll start by—saying—

In true Ed Little fashion, Edward is assuming that the reason this conversation has never gone well in the past is because of him, instead of the more rational suggestion that perhaps he's just trying to hook up with people who aren't actually compatible with him.

Jopson’s face is very pink. “Quite the mental image,” he says. He swallows, visibly. “You and Tozer were, uh. Both holding back during the demo yesterday, then.”

Ah, yes, the look and sound of a man who is rather quickly realizing that a wank fantasy he'd watched unfold in real time yesterday was actually just the tip of the iceberg.

Jopson’s eyebrows shoot up. “Why?” He scrunches his nose, frowns. “Was that meant to be a joke?”

Can't get all sad about Edward's past of attempting to have relationships with people he wasn't compatible with until we also get sad about Jopson's history, which apparently includes men he thought were tapping into his fantasies, only to find out that they were kidding. Ouch, my heart.

“Only if you want,” Jopson adds. “We could also, um. Go for a run?”

I don't believe that Jopson has ever gone for a run in his entire life. I appreciate that he's trying to help, though. That's very kind of him.

Jopson turns. “Hi, yes.”

Jopson cannot let a customer go unserviced, and I, for one, admire his dedication to looking after other people's booths as well as his own. I also think, although this action here is entirely instinctual, it's also a good checkpoint--had Edward reacted poorly to Jopson stepping in, well, that might not have been awesome. As it is, Edward is grateful, so he just keeps landing in Jopson's long-term prospect box.

“You know that huge guy they have on security?”

It's Tuunbaq! Also, Tozer should cool it on the whole "he doesn't speak English" thing, because it's not like Tozer speaks Inuktitut. (And while we're talking about Tozer, yes, he is wearing the equivalent of his mutineer hoodie.)

“And I’m like, yeah, I know him, I was drinking with him last night. And they just look at me. And they look at each other. And then the doctor guy is like ‘we had some concerning reports about his behaviour’, but I don’t know who would have said anything, the only other person there was Irving. Fuck, man, I was answering questions for an hour.”

Tozer, look, buddy. You can have a pass because you're as hungover as shit and I'm sure you've been contemplating death since you woke up, but you answered your own question there. The only other person there was Irving.

The only other person there was Irving.

One would hope that this might, you know, cause you to rethink your association with Hickey, considering that someone else's assessment of his behaviour has resulted in all of this, but I guess we'll have to chill on that for now until we get some Tozer POV.

Edward frowns. “He doesn’t drink?”

Pulled this bit directly from canon, and because I also think it's a fascinating bit of character development. Adam Nagaitis had such insights into his character in the AMC interview (https://www.amc.com/shows/the-terror/talk/2018/04/the-terror-qa-adam-nagaitis-cornelius-hickey) and I really think it's interesting working with that in a modern AU as well. So--this version of Hickey doesn't drink either. I think it's also interesting in how Edward and Tozer deal with this--Edward has known Hickey for years, and never noticed. Tozer knows--and still gets shitfaced anyways, even though he's drinking alone.

Tozer’s eyes go distant. “It’s the weirdest thing,” he says after a moment. “I think I told Irving about Heather.”

We can assume, for better or for worse, that Tozer's memory of last night is a bit spotty. I am sorry, though, that this is one of the things Tozer remembers. It's further away in kink!AU than it was in canon, but I don't imagine Heather's death was any easier for Tozer here than it was canonically.

(Also, the choreo of Tozer physically shifting Edward's hand off his arm was a late addition, and I hurt my own feelings adding it.)

Tozer raises his eyebrows, and then winces, goes back to squinting. “Hanky code,” he lectures. “Black is for S&M. Your proclivities aside, I don’t figure you meant to flag sub. And stuff it if you tell me it’s a fashion choice, I ain’t got headspace for that bullshit today.” He glances upward. “I swear they turned the fucking lights up in here, Jesus. I’ll see you after, I gotta go.”

Edward, you absolute himbo of a man. Jopson has been trying so hard, and I'm sure that you have a blog entry about hanky code buried somewhere back in your archive, but you also buried the information in your head, and thus did not access it, and all of Jopson's efforts were wasted.

“No, you misunderstand me,” Edward says. “I love that. Christ, the fuck did he finally do?”

Edward, Edward, Edward. Jopson has the right of it with his missing stair comment--but you're just as complicit as Tozer is in this, because by saying nothing and waiting for the problem to go away, you've been rubber-stamping Hickey's behaviour. I feel as though there's going to be Discussions about this in London.

“Honestly, Thomas, after all we’ve been through.” Sophia sighs, and then turns to face the table, braces her hands on the edge of it. “You know you can still call me Sophy.”

One of the things that really sucks about breakups is the part where there are ripples out into the rest of your social circle as well. I have the feeling that Jopson and Sophia might have gotten along really well--but Jopson's loyalties are with Francis, and so he's been pulling back since the most recent breakup in an effort to, you know, not hurt Francis any more than Francis is already hurt. I think it's significant that Edward is allowed to see this interaction, to be honest--because this is insight into who Jopson is as a person when he's not working or submitting.

Ross has a firm handshake, and a bright smile. He’s dressed casually—jeans, and a tshirt—and Edward feels horribly, awfully overdressed.

Edward is not appreciating casualdom!JCR nearly as much as I would like him to, and this is really, really upsetting me, because I would like to appreciate casualdom!JCR a lot.

I also really, really appreciated the opportunity to include some platonic kink here, because platonic kink is really important to me too. Sometimes you’re just in it for the experience, you know? And there’s no additional emotional or sexual connection there.

“Some kind of a multi-tailed flogger,” Edward says. “Little polished leather cord knots on the ends? Punches like a son of a—er, it’s a fairly sharp sting.”

Look, I wanted to include a reference picture for this. I did some googling. I like this style of flogger. But in the course of my googling, I found out that Walmart sells a twenty four dollar version of this in the states (I’ve since been informed it’s a third party seller BUT IT THREW ME OKAY), and I'm too Canadian to handle this, I can barely even handle American Walmarts selling alcohol, okay? So there's just. There's just no pictures. Anyways, good ball end floggers start at about two hundred Canadian, and they punch pretty fucking hard.

Good, Edward thinks. “So, the shower. I went up to the hotel room, figuring, ah. You know. Strip naked, step under the water, all that. And that’s what you should imagine, because I opened the door to our room, and...well, yeah. I’m here.”

Edward is going to need to update his dirty talk game, because this is Not Great, buddy. It's Not Great. And, let's be honest here. I'm sure you have years and years of filthy stories. You're going to need to learn how to tell them, because Jopson will appreciate and value every single one.

Phew. That's it for this week! Chapter five, Aftercare, goes up next Friday, and it is the very last chapter, can you believe. That's not it for this verse, though--I'm starting work on the Tozer/Irving story that runs parallel to this story. There's also a Fitzier that takes places in six months' time (during the winter conference). I have things to say about that Gore, Le Vesconte, and Cracroft situation. I have a story about Peglar and Bridgens. I might have some things to say about Goodsir. I could talk about Edward Little and Thomas Jopson until my tongue falls off. I just have a lot of feelings about kink, okay? And we're very lucky with The Terror because we have an extremely rich background of source material, both historical and tv show.

And if you have questions or anything in the meantime, you can always drop me an ask on tumblr or Curious Cat.

See you next week!

#the terror #the terror fic #fic: closer #joplittle #fic breakdown #ktula writes #fic: the terror kink au

[inkerii]

A HTTYD 3 AU

@hiccup-is-left-handed did a thing (which I cannot link because mobile) and I really don’t wanna hijack their post but credit where credit is due ok? Ok.

This got way out of hand, I apologize for the long post… Idk how to put it under a read more on mobile, heh <3

—

So. The Hidden World AU where Toothless and the Light Fury are friends/“just like me” sort of situation + Hiccup is the one captured:

• That add on where the beginning was dark and grimy, yes. • The Grimmel scene happens between him and a fallen drago. Drago desperately needs a new Alpha to control his dragon army, so he enlists Grimmel. • The Light Fury in the cage is not in fact our LF girl, but a young male, about Toothless’ age in HTTYD 1 • Grimmel’s comment about him is around the line of “Furies are social creatures”, so through that line we learn that Toothless would in fact crave a “pack” (I keep calling a group of furies a pack bear with me), except he doesn’t really know that yet.

• Toothless meeting this equivalent of yearling male would go the same way except the dynamic would be (as hiccup-is-left-handed mentioned) similar to spiderverse’s “you’re like me”– a connection but not a romantic one

• Grimmel would still attack Hiccup’s home, but his deathgrippers actually torch down a good deal of the village • Because of the grimy beginning we see this is just another attack and Berk’s people have been suffering (injuries, slings and stuff in the great hall scene) • a bigger deal is made out of them leaving, there’s probably a scene where Hiccup is sitting next to his father’s statue after the meeting and talking to it, asking for advice • Astrid comforts Hiccup there– you’d have time for this since we’d cut most of the Hesitant To Get Married subplot, it’s in fact treated as something to happen someday in the future but both agree with the current situation it’s best to postpone it • or maybe Valka, since because we’re removing the marriage subplot, she could still get One Good Scene with Hiccup. It would still be a little stiff between them, since she’s still relatively new at this mom thing, but they both try. It’s up to you. Either way, Hiccup is convinced they must leave now. • Personally, because I’m a nerd, I’d make the beginning of the scene about Hiccup telling one of them (Valka or Astrid, your call), about how when he were little he always wanted the glory, and to be a Hero to his tribe… But he has so many difficult choices to make and it’s hard. And Valka/Astrid comments that yes, indeed, some people win glory “easily”, how Hiccup would have gotten had he killed that Night Fury, others… Well, others like him need to become Heroes the Hard Way <3 • Probably a scene of the Berkians sadly looking back to their old island and and then forward to their new future

• The yearling doesn’t go back for Toothless, but (in Nova Berk) Toothless does pick up his scent and follows him to that beachy area Toothless tries to woo the LF in the actual movie • There we find out the yearling male has a sibling, a sister, and THAT would be our girl. He calls out to the mountains and she appears and makes a huge fuss about him being back (which gives them both some nice personalities as well as showing their devotion to each other)

• Toothless is in fact attracted to her, but it’s a very minor thing in the grand scheme of him meeting others like him • Toothless tries to join them, and like in the movie Hiccup tries to coach him through befriending these dragons which are so like him • LF girl still gets offended, Toothless still falls down from the tree. yearling LF is very amused at this but also very curious about the branch, so he picks it up and starts playing with it in a rather catlike fashion • Toothless decides to show them how HE plays with the branch, so he picks it up and starts drawing • It’s no big fancy drawing, just his usual scribbles, but both siblings are very intrigued and impressed by it • Toothless still growls at the LF when she tries to step on it, and she growls back (they do NOT get started on the best terms despite Toothless’ original attraction– it could even be read as him just being curious about the fact that she’s a female), but the young male does get it, so he hops around the lines like Hiccup did, grabs the stick and flies away • Following her brother’s example, the LF tries to get to Toothless by hopping around the scribbly lines • We’d get a similar scene to Hiccup hitting his back on toothless and looking up at him, except the LF just gazes at him and Toothless smiles a little at her • She in turn tried to copy his facial expression and smiles as well, and it’s -then- that they click • The siblings still find Hiccup, but Toothless stands between them and his friend so they just choose to leave instead • Toothless still falls on the water trying to follow them but he doesn’t glare at his lack of tail, just looks longingly up at them

• Hiccup does NOT make a new tailfin right away for Toothless. Instead, we get a very “See You Tomorrow” montage, except it’s with Toothless going between the dragons and Hiccup, and each time he learns something new about himself • You could also show Hiccup looking a bit down/feeling left off during this montage, but trying to be happy for Toothless • Eventually, Hiccup decides to make the new tailfin. The scene would go basically the same way except there’s a bigger moment for Toothless not wanting to leave Hiccup, he smells the old saddle and Hiccup comforts him, saying it’s okay. He would have explained to astrid the reason why he made the new tail is not cause Toothless “never had a reason to leave”, it’s just cause Toothless is discovering a new side of him and Hiccup wants him to be happy

• the “third date” scene would be mostly be a platonic scene between the three furies, where Toothless learns to harness lightning • The difference would be the young male gets separated from them for a bit, chasing after some bird or something (he’s young and excitable, also a personality point for him) • You’d then get a smaller version of a romantic scene, but you can clearly see that after that wrong first impression the LF and Toothless do seem to like each other. Still would get the scene of them flying up into the moon and Toothless kissing her, and the “wing holding”. That was cute, and I like that scene, but the romance would still be comparatively secondary • The young male would interrupt the “hand holding”, and that’s where they’d find the hidden world. Male goes in excitedly and toothless hesitates but LF cheerfully drags him down after her brother

• The Hiccup side of it remains the same. They go after Grimmel, there’s an emphasis on all the anti-dragon humans banding together to take down berk. • Grimmel’s villain speech gets a flashback in which we get a scene more akin to the one of the first Dragons movie, there’s a slight discrepancy compared to Grimmel’s words. In the flashback, Grimmel -hesitates- before killing a wounded, sleeping night fury (it could even be faking its sleep, kinda like how Toothless just closed his eyes and waited for death, but that might be too much for a kid’s movie), but eventually does kill it • All the riders make it out of Grimmel’s trap.

• Hiccup and Astrid still go after Toothless • the Hidden World scene is expanded upon. We actually get two things that Hiccup sees: one (and this is optional but a personal headcanon of mine) being the LF siblings introducing Toothless to small, wary, scarred group of night furies (complete with Hiccup’s awe at finding more of them but also his realization that HUMANS did that to those dragons, they’re scarred and crippled because of them) • The other would be that Toothless doesn’t have the time to meet them properly, he gets distracted by squabble between two groups of wild dragons over food. Toothless instinctively uses his alpha command to take one of the groups to another feeding location, avoiding a fight. • The dragons recognize Toothless as a benevolent Alpha, and bow to him. It’s then that Astrid says that “now that’s a king” line.

• Hiccup chooses to leave Toothless there (the shock and pain of the Night Fury survivors being a factor of Hiccup deciding Toothless is better off without him, and besides, we’ve been building up on that “Toothless prefers his new friends over me” issue Hiccup is dealing with) • The whole rumblehorn thing happens and Toothless still brings Hiccup home, but Toothless isn’t angry or anything. The two light Furies do follow them. Seeing them actually only hardens Hiccup’s resolve, and he essentially kicks Toothless out, but he’s lashing out out of hurt, worry, rejection, and overall being overwhelmed by his duties as a Chief (namely the very large group of vikings bent on destroying Berk due to their philosophy) and his love and worry for Toothless • Toothless does leave, looking hurt but he does. • Astrid tries to comfort Hiccup again, but this time he just wants to be alone. Once she leaves, Hiccup mourns a little, but then he’s suddenly shot with one of Grimmel's darts. Astrid sees him be taken, but it’s too late to rescue him

• Hiccup wakes up in a ship of the armada his mother had seen on Cloudjumper, and is surprised in a very angry way to see Drago there (we hadn’t seen him since the moment he lashes at Grimmel for letting the Berkians get away– but he does so in a logical and tactical way) • Drago wants the location of the Hidden World – something he probably got from Grimmel who overheard it during the raid on his lair – and he plans to use Hiccup for it • Remember when Hiccup was called a devil in the beginning of the movie? This scene would get its payback here!! In a very clear parallel to Dragons 1, Drago would shackle Hiccup and sail east, and in a very Stoick-esque way, tells him to “lead the way, [to the nest], little devil” • Y'know like what happened to Toothless in HTTYD 1

• Cut to Toothless in the Hidden World. He’s looking at his tail, rather forlorn and lost • The Lightfury comes to see him, looking rather affectionate- they’re a couple, it seems. Toothless looks to her and then to behind him, where the other Light/Night furies (and some other dragons in the background) are waiting for him • Toothless isn’t ready yet. He licks the LF (think of a “I have to” kiss on the cheek Hiccup gave Astrid in HTTYD 2), and flies towards the waterfall and out of the hidden world, back to Hiccup.

• Drago is sailing towards the general direction of the hidden world, guided by the direction Toothless flew off before he captured Hiccup • Hiccup is unable to free himself, but then he (and the antagonists) is surprised to see that Berk is flying towards the armada to free him, en masse. All seem determined to defend the Hidden World’s entrance from Drago’s fleet • It’s a nice shout out to both HTTYD 1, where that small team fought the read death, but also to how the vikings have changed, how Hiccup has changed them. A small team has become a whole village. • no one can quite get to Hiccup tho, but then Drago is surprised to find Toothless there, looking very very angry • Grimmel still threatens someone Toothless loves, but it’s Hiccup this time. For a brief moment, Toothless controls the dragons away from the fight, so Hiccup isn’t killed. Toothless cannot let Hiccup die. He can’t. He loves him too much. • Drago and Grimmel however, are distracted long enough for Toothless to grab Hiccup and flee– not by humans but by the whole group of light and night furies. It seems as though Furies are a very territorial species, and act as protectors of the hidden world.

• Grimmel still grabs the LF, Toothless still follows him with Hiccup. The whole thing that went down in the movie happens here. Grimmel dies. Toothless is rescued by the young, excitable LF Male, while our girl, who has always been more distrustful of Hiccup, saves his life. She does smile crookedly at him, that very Toothless smile she learned from him.

• Drago is still out there, though. Hiccup, Toothless and the dragon gang regroup while most of Berk still fights. Hiccup is alive, but feels lost, he always wanted to prevent a war and now a war has happened anyway • This is where Astrid comes in again, and where she repeats that “what are you going to do about it” line • The gang goes after drago– and surprise: Hiccup is using the old saddle, but Toothless still wears the new tailfin, one last big fight for the two of them: this time, while they’re still connected, they’re able to fight apart from each other– maybe it’s here that we get that sword/explosion/look between Hiccup and Astrid. Toothless is flying on his own, and Hiccup is fighting on his own as well. By mutual choice this time, knowing how their differences don’t affect their devotion to each other • The furies fight alongside Hiccup, Toothless and the Berkians, showing the beauty of cooperation and mutual respect between humans and dragons that do decide to work together… As well as allowing Hiccup one big flight with Toothless and other night furies, as was his dream for his friend. • Drago is defeated, and the army scatters (how it’s up to you, I’m still fond of the jailed idea, except Drago falls under water and drowns, or something. Idk. For a man who’s so determined to control and dominate, dying in a cage designed to control and rip freedom away would be pretty good poetic justice, but idk.)

• Hiccup and Toothless still part ways. Hiccup’s speech isn’t really about how his dream wasn’t the dragons’ dream. Instead, much like the books, he says that Humanity isn’t quite ready to share the world with them, and that Toothless needs to take them away for their own safety (basically the same message of the movie but sans the weird “hiccup is clinging to toothless” subplot.) • That heart-wrenching scene still happens pretty much the same way.

• The ending is also very much the same, the babies and stuff. We’d probably see more light furies and one or two night furies on the other rocks surrounding the hidden world– they still act as protectors. • the ending goes very much the same way: I’d just tweak the words a little to explain that this isn’t just about hiding the hidden world’s secret (though you do see that in a way, Hiccup and Berk = the Furies’ role, all are guardians of the Hidden World, kinda binding them together even if they are away), but also about spreading the message that one day humans and dragons (wildlife?) can coexist someday, and when We’re ready, the Dragons will one day return.

— ……. Well that was long. I’ve been furiously typing on my phone for a good hour and a half actually. My fingers are dead but I just love this idea so much.

Also very much Not Revised so forgive any grammar/spelling mistakes!

Sorry for like. Making this way too big, Hiccup-is-left-handed. I got way too excited about it :’D

#welp I haven't been this inspired in ages #sorry for the wall #is this a Httyd 3 AU? or a fix it? #probably both #httyd #httyd 3 #httyd spoilers #httyd3 spoilers #httyd 3 spoilers #httyd salt #httyd3 criticism #kinda? #httyd 3 salt #httyd 3 criticism #httyd thw #httyd thw spoilers #thw spoilers #httyd hiccup #httyd toothless #hiccup and toothless #inke speaks

[hoopdiddies]

I'm Not Over You // Ben Hardy x Reader (Part 4)

A/N: I was on vacay for a while and I had a hard time thinking the plot through but this could work. If you want to be tagged, just ask me uwu

Summary (for the entire series Ofc) : You had always loved Ben ever since you two met in university and became the best of friends. That feeling went out like a candle flame when the two of you parted ways until he re-entered your life...but this time with someone who has already occupied his heart.

Word count: 2148

Tags: None

Warnings: Mentions of drinking. And some angst, yet again *sigh*

Part 3

Part 2

Part 1

Parallel to the nature of the grimace present on your face shrouded by the umbra of the umbrella, the thunderclouds become bleaker and unwelcoming, complimenting the harsh pour of the rain on the city. In your mind, it could just get worse.

You tighten your grasp on the stem of your umbrella, the pressure of your grip making the veins in your wrist visible. To think you were enthused to spill the news to him, only to end up feigning the real one because you couldn't bring yourself to accept what must be.

You know he loves you, he loves you so much. He tells you 24/7. But that love is purely limited to hugs, small arguments, spontaneous fits of laughter, gentle pats on the back and forehead kisses. Compared to the almost spiritual connection he has with his fiancee. You've known and been around him longer than you could remember and yet, you're always several steps behind.

Well how else does platonic love compare to something romantic and sexual?

You stop in your tracks just half way through the wet sidewalk and stare at your reflection on a puddle beneath you. The tears dripping from your cheeks making bigger ripples on the puddle in contrast to the ones made by the rain. You sniffle, wiping your eyes quickly with your sleeve.

You hear a faint ring from your pocket and pull out your phone, seeing Lucy's name flash on the screen. You swipe the answer button and go on walking along the moist pavements.

"Hey Luce!" You blurt to hide the cracks in your voice.

"Y/N! Where are you right now? I just got back from a photoshoot and I want to hang out with you!" She giggles through the line and you keep your eyes ahead.

"Well I'm walking back home-"

"In the rain? You could get sick!"

"Lucy, relax. I'm covered up."

She sighs in relief, chuckling at her little mistake. "Sorry there. But mind if I stop by at your place?"

You don't think twice before answering, feeling the need to have some company. "Of course. Hurry up, I'm almost home." You aren't though, you're a dozen blocks away from your destination but you kind of want her to be there just in time for you to...vent.

You hear an audible slam echo from the line, almost coming off as a car door slammed close. "I'm on the road, I'll see you, Y/N!" You hum in response, your mouth curving slightly to the side. "You too, Lucy. Drive safely."

She bids you adieu for the meantime and you pick up your pace along the streets, careful not to glide recklessly over moist surfaces. The rain is not going to lighten very soon, you're sure of it.

As soon as you step foot into your living room after drying off, you are welcomed by a laid-back version of Lucy seated on the couch with a can of Mountain Dew in hand. You chuckle softly at how mellow she's positioned during such a weather, even more so at her choice of beverage.

"You're late." She shakes her head at you, pretending to be upset.

You shrug out of your coat and drape it over your shoulder, trudging to her and crouching down to hug her. "I am so sorry I left almost too quickly last night though."

She pats your back, letting a 'tsk' slip past her lips. "You are lucky Gwilym was there to accompany me."

"Hmm, he's not mad at Joe and me, is he? " Pulling away, you joke a little to cheer yourself up.

"No," she takes a sip of her can and puts it on the table, "in fact he's furious." This could be a little enlightening, a chat with Lucy to shed a beam of light on your mood. You take a seat next to her and begin your conversation. It's not much except that it's full of what happened at her photoshoot, the promotions she is required to attend, a few people she's had a little beef with and apparently her planned getaway with Rami to France. The topic is almost unilateral but you always take genuine interest in everything she says. Notwithstanding the fact that she constantly groans at the mention of the situations she underwent, you both still take a laugh out of it.

It's Lucy, she's a fascinating person with a fascinating life. You sometimes even wish you had her glam and eye for fashion.

She moves a lock of her blonde hair away from her forehead and looks at you curiosly. "Okay enough about me, what went on with you this week?"

You shrug, in an attempt to recall anything at all. "Not much. New Year's was a blast and last night's party was another thing," you turn your glance to your shoes, a frail smirk ghosting on your lips, eventually turning into a hopeful beam as your acceptance into the medical school flashes in your mind, "and... I got accepted into the medical school I applied for."

Lucy's eyes snap wide open at the news. "Shut up," she grabs you by the shoulders and gapes at you with eyes sparkling like they just found a heap of treasure, "you applied for medical school?" The slight disbelief and utter amazement can never be any clearer in her voice.

You nod happily and without warning, Lucy pulls you in for a tight hug, squealing at your success. "Oh my god, that's amazing! When did you get the letter? Have you told anyone?"

"I was sent an email from the institution this morning and told my parents and Joe about it soon after."

Lucy shifts on the couch, sliding her hands over her lap. "Which medical school though?"

"It's outside the country."

"Have you told Ben? "

With her question still hanging in thin air, you pause for a while before turning your head to her, shaking it slowly.

"Why?"

You stand up and head for the kitchen to grab a glass of water, your action confusing Lucy. "Y/N, are you okay?" She asks and you return on cue with your glass in hand. You let out a soft exhale and descend onto the couch. "I just...dont want to make him worry."

"Worry and Ben aren't exactly two words that mingle well. Solely in the context of a great news such as your acceptance."

"Of course, but I don't know how long I'll be gone." You notice your voice dwindle down to a whisper with the cast of your gaze to the side. The look on your face is deciphered by Lucy who's somehow adept at reading expressions, the blank that is your face making it easier for her.

And she suddenly knows what those furrowed brows mean. "There's something you're not telling me, Y/N. Just say it. I mean...even if you don't say it, I already hinted at it." She slides a hand over yours and you slowly turn to her, your expression becoming mildly stark. Of course she'd have a guess and it's only fair that she knows, she could help you get over it.

Your lips part but quiver as you try to find the right words. "I love him."

Lucy's gentle hold turns into a light squeeze, an indication of her comforting you. Her lips curve into a tender yet sad smile as she draws you in close again.

No matter how hard you're trying to let the tears fall, it just doesn't. It hurts but your tears aren't present to highlight that churning burn. Against all the odds to have them resurface in your eyes, you dip your head onto her shoulder and just squeeze your eyes shut. You mumble languidly on how it was an impulse to lie about your acceptance to Ben after he had broken the news about his engagement to you and soon after you had the thought that he would slowly forget about you once he and Rosy marry, and that your friendship wouldn't matter in the long run. As the decision that it'd be best if you go without him knowing, thinking it would make it easier for you to move on.

Lucy clears your face of your hair strands, staring at this once hidden,broken side of you. "I'm so sorry. I know this might not change a thing but you must tell him. He would never forget you, you're like the first person on his mind when he needs someone to talk to."

"Rosy's his life-"

"Y/N, don't demote yourself to a third party. You're more than what she is in his life," a brief pause from Lucy followed by a heartwarming emphasis, "you're his soulmate."

That word always meant something different to you. It involved a deep,romantic relationship but with how Lucy uttered it, it now means something entirely new. But you can't bring yourself to believe it. It's not a concept that can suture the gaping cut left in you.

With the little emotional strength left in you, you smile, launching at her with another hug as a requital to her presence during a time as this.

"I know it hurts...but- bloody, that's what love does to everyone."

--- (Apparent time skip 👀)

Amidst the hectic schedule your job has burdened you with throughout another week, never once have you faltered in between. You've gotten tons of invites to get-togethers during your weekend from friends yet out of the fear of losing all concentration on your duties, you turned them down politely. The second week of a new year means a new batch of spine-cracking, workload for everyone with jobs.

You're doing all this to save up for med school and it's something you tend to prioritize first and foremost. And regarding med school, you are to leave a month before enrollment to ensure your documents are in tacked and get served first. Since a few days before first semester arrives, enrollees would be lining up from different backgrounds and classes would be heavily filled. You have weeks left before your departure...and still, you haven't told Ben the truth...or talked to him in days, at least. For all you know, he could be on a tour, at a conference, an awards ceremony that you don't know of- certainly not the Oscars since you've been told that it's scheduled on February. He's probably busy enough to have other things in mind.

You discard the distraction and go about your business in your work area, with the intention of letting it purposefully distract you.

Minutes close to your dismissal, one of your co-workers strut in to invite you to have a drink with them. You could do no more than turn her down politely but with regards to the strain you've put yourself in with work, she insists and demands that you don't hesitate.

"But-" You try to protest, only to fail as she cuts you off. "I beg of you. Just for tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Yes."

You lightly clap your hands on the desk, springing from your chair with your head lightly tilted to one side. You turn your head to the wall clock on your far left and bob your head. "Do we leave now?"

"Most certainly. Come on!"

You haven't sped out of the building that fast with your colleagues before, not that it's not the first time but it certainly feels like it with how relieved you feel to go out. You needed a distraction from your personal ordeal and you got it, in the form of a night out for a drink.

You hit the pub that's just right across the street for the sake of convenience, half expecting your night to turn out eventful. A light buzz from your pocket stops you halfway into the entrance and slightly indisposed, you fish your phone out from your pocket, holding up your index finger at one of your colleagues to take the message you've received. They stride in ahead of you as you read the message, a little surprised to know Joe's back in London in the favor of Lucy who had asked him to come back. He's asked you out for a dinner with his friend but you tell him you're out for a drink with your colleagues, to which he replies with, "Mind if we join you then?"

And of course, you invite him over. Traipsing through the near rayless place to find your friends, hilariously realizing you're walking to the beat of the music coming from the speakers, you do a double-take at the table to your near left, quickly covering your face and speeding away to continue your search as the sight of Ben with his mates and Rosy ruins the first half of your evening.

What a distraction from a distraction.

#borhap #queen #ben hardy imagine #ben hardy x reader #ben hardy #imagine #borhap imagine #borhap cast x reader #borhap cast #joe mazzello #lucy boynton #queen band

[gg-astrology]

For the Namjoon ideal thing - would fire placements like Aries and Leo also go well with his moon? And also would it help if the chart is supported with earth and water placement to tone down the fire? 🍃

Hey there! 💕 Thank u for the ask uwu 💕 I’m glad you’re interested in NJ’s ideal thing! 💕 

Honestly any placement would be good with him. Every relationships depends on your own interaction with your chart, your own personal development and how much work you’re willing to put into relationships y know?

That’s why there’s no such thing as bad compatibility. It’s probably just how much you understand about yourself/others, and how much effort/forgiveness you can give to someone else. Tolerance, communication and understanding is a big thing in compatibility– and that’s just across the board (platonic/romantic ones). 

[Below Cut: NJ’s ‘ideal’ placements - Fire Moons + Earth/Water placements - Relationships 101] 

In terms of Moon Signs, yeah Aries/Leo Moon would be good with Sagittarius Moon specifically. Having the same element in the Moon signs brings a lot of understanding/sharing sympathy/vibing temperaments. But having the same elemental moon just isn’t enough to bring people together. That’s why there’s so much emphasis on looking at people’s complete chart, and their own interaction with their charts. Because in most cases, the way that Moon works/manifest in us individually is different from one person to another. 

We can share the same Moon sign with someone (and same sun/ASC) and come across completely different. That’s because our chart aren’t working the same, and the traits of say, an Aries Moon often find themselves not sharing the same traits as another person who also has an Aries Moon y know. It’s not a guarantee, and signs themselves are so vast/multi-layered that you don’t really get to pick what you’re predisposed to (that’s different from others). There’s camaraderie there, a sympathetic understanding of each other obviously (like being on the same colour-team)– but even sharing the same sign with someone, it’s not going to guarantee you’ll have great compatibility with them (which is why you see people awkwardly trying to vibe with each other, but their vibes are too stiff/awkward because they share the same sign/placements sometimes) 

It’s also to do with our houses, our other placements, our aspects, our decan, etc. The relationship from one person to another can be so different, it depends on what you feel comfortable handling and your exterior conditioning as well (like, having grown up surrounded/adopting traits of a certain sign/placement– social conditioning) 

So yes, fire-moon would definitely go well with his Moon (Tae, Jin, JK are good examples) but it’s not a guarantee/principle rule for an ‘ideal’ placement to someone. There are lots of other factors involved in making that decision, and sometimes your Moon is the same one betraying you when trying to connect to someone else. 

For the second question, it’s less about taming the fire but making the fire feel accepted/belongs/fit in. So no, having earth/water placement isn’t going to tone down the fire. Because the fire wasn’t the problem in the first place. The earth/water placement is however, going to agitate the fire even more but in the worst way/non-productive way (when it doesn’t understand each other: see below) 

It’s also more about polarity? Like the part of him that is fiery and exerted is his air/fire qualities, but it’s grounded in this heavy earth/water he has already. So when it comes to vibing off another person/wanting to see it replicated in someone else, it’s gravitating towards that same fiery/air-fire driven combo. With Tae/Jin in particular it’s because they exude heavy air (Tae’s Aquarius- Aries Moon) and fire combination (Jin’s Sagittarius Sun- Aries Moon) but there’s also conflict with the heavy Capricorns placements in them as well. 

That’s part of the reason why I didn’t include water-signs in his ideal placements, it’ll be good for him sure but that totally depends on how in-touch Namjoon is with his water-qualities/placement/consciousness. The water-sign stuff isn’t posing as the biggest problem for him– the sagittarius-libra thing is. And that’s the part he’s probably invested in more when looking to vibe off another.  

I nearly included Pisces for his ideal placements but I figured I should explain it more here, water signs are good for him (especially since Pisces/Sagittarius share the same ruler - Jupiter) but it’s more about temperaments and consciously understanding ourselves. The earth/water heavy chart poses a bigger problem of having a different approach/temperament to certain things (depending on their placements) —that without any type of air/fire conflict in them, Namjoon would feel disconnected to the person - y know? And that’s also the biggest thing with Scorpio. 

Scorpio Venus is pretty adaptable like it doesn’t have to be a water-sign or earth-sign it feels connected with. In fact it can be very fire-driven/appreciate fire-traits/earth traits. So what matters the most here is that the other person has to have that sparkly fire/air combo (20%) and an earth thing going on for them (80%). (Since his own ratio/how he perceives himself is probably going to be 80% fire/air and 20% earth/water – balancing each other out, supporting each other) 

Also understand that Sagittarius Moon like his, especially with Libra Mercury, shies away from unprompted/unexpected emotional talks of any kind. Or clear communication/personal intimate connection as a whole when he doesn’t have the time/emotional connectivity for it. It takes him a while to get into that gear, that connection to his own water-traits. So heavy water-earth temperament/approach can sometimes pose to be too ‘heavy’/ ‘emotional’ for the fire-air spark dominant relationship he’s looking for. 

It’s also just a matter of – you yourself and how much you’re willing to put up with each other realistically y know? Like as much as this is about finding what he’s good with, it’s also a matter of not compromising yourself to fit what his standards/needs are as well. Tolerance, acceptance and understanding shouldn’t be forced/felt like gritting your teeth through the entire thing.

Having a fire moon, with an earth/water heavy combination is good for you and you have your own understanding of yourself/how you can deal/sort/help with a situation someone else might be having, but its never about compromising yourself to put someone else first. 

For relationships to actually work, it’s about collaborating with one another and finding it in yourself the understanding/sympathy to another person– without ever putting yourself second to someone else. It shouldn’t feel that way ever, even when you’re coming to a decision together. It should feel like you’re working together for something for yourself, always. Even if that ‘something for yourself’ is selfless or for another, it’s something you still have control over and you’re not– sacrilege to someone else’s will (power dynamic will be tilted when you don’t take responsibilities for yourself or your inaction/action) and start the blame game/letting your relationship lead your life, y know?

I hope this answers your question! 💕 I’m sorry I pointed out a lot of ‘nos’/’buts’ in this answer sdkjfn I feel really bad for it. Again, any relationship/compatibility can work. It’s just a matter of what you know about yourself, what you’re willing to put yourself into and what you yourself decide to stick by. It’s about not compromising yourself, but also having strong sympathy/understanding for another.

So if you really feel strongly about someone else– and your ‘compatibility’/astrology says otherwise– please still go for it!! Pursue it and don’t be disheartened!! This is all just to give guidance, and making people conscious/aware of what they should/shouldn’t tolerate in others. Astrology is about looking for directions/having control of yourself  to apply it to your own life/how you treat others. All I’m pointing out is just the challenges/difficulties the relationship might face–  ‘perfect’/’ideal’ placement doesn’t exist completely (even with AA+ aspects) and a little friction/challenge is good between two people. 💕

No relationship is not going to benefit from a little difficulty/challenges that involves self-evaluation, growth and learning how to work with others. It’s the same as social conditioning, you just have to be careful with the energy you put out, the conscious effort to check yourself and to love yourself as much as you love another as well. 💕

EDIT: Also having a fire moon would make the moon trine his moon, depending on how you view that/the rest of your chart looks it could be good for your overall synastry. 💕 

#bts #bts asks #namjoon #kim namjoon #knj #namjoon asks #nj asks #nj #bts ideal types #bts ideal placements #namjoon ideal placements #🍃 #🍃 anon #anon #asks

[nevospitanniy]

Rambly Teen Wolf/Big Wolf On Campus meta

Preface this by saying I didn’t expect to actually get into TW. This show kicked me in the teeth, balls and every organ I do and do not possess. If I’m going to be any degree of helpful, I need some structure up in here. Fair warning, it’s just like my opinion man.

1. Characters

Tommy is Scott. A werewolf with a heart of gold that cares deeply about people around him. It’s explored much more in depth with TW, duh - they had more seasons, more money and a higher age rating, using more drama and angst. But the outline is definitely there: they are both introduced to the fantastic world of lycanthropy by their extremely knowledgeable and helpful buddies (Merton/Stiles respectively), can be shitty to their best friends (Tommy throwing Merton under the bus to save his popularity/Scott abandoning Stiles for Allison multiple times), take on the role of the designated savior of the town from supernatural threats, prefer non-lethal methods, are Alphas (Tommy’s status could be contested, I guess, but the show never put an actual emphasis on pack dynamics, probably they thought it was too odd of a concept to start explaining because then you have to get to the whole omega part and that is c o m p l i c a t e d), fight organized evil!werewolves, had two main love interests, none of which held up (yeah, weaksauce, but I thought I’d still put it out there), kinda subpar in academics but good athletes. Scott gets so much more actual character development it’s not even funny, while Tommy just sort of meanders in what he has and gets dumbed down a lot for seasons 2/3.

Merton is Stiles, no shit. A nerd best friend, a friend in need more importantly, a loyal (mostly) spastic (very) companion. Dynamic between sciles and tommerton (platonically) is quite different because of how their backstories differ - after all, Scott and Stiles have known each other since forever, while Tommy pays attention to Merton only after being bitten, when they become friends almost out of necessity. But there is no denying that all four of them, in their respective duos, are joined at the hip, oftentimes with an inclusion of a girl to break up their awesome bromance (Allison/Lori and Stacy). Merton/Stiles go unappreciated for their efforts a lot, especially if you consider they are human and yet get into the same exact shit as fast and durable werewolves, surviving by wits, last ditch effort loyalty change (Merton) or a fear override (Stiles) and saving the day half of the time because they actually do research. Both seem to have a penchant for magic (unsubtly implied but never expanded upon for Stiles), both are comedic reliefs, even if in slightly different ways as commanded by the genre, both are excellent students, both are mostly unsuccessful with women and ambiguously bi/pan/omni, if you consider the technically non-human options. Complicated family relationships. Both have abandonment/commitment issues, both room (jury is still out there for sciles because of 6b) with their best friends in college. As for notable differences, Stiles undergoes a massive character transformation, a monumental shift, I’d say - not exactly doing a 180, but inching closer than any other character to actual plot relevant growth, and not for better, which is a rarity. Merton’s personality also changes for the worse, but it’s a result of clumsy writing and forced female presence in the shows plot as a romantic crutch. It would be interesting if fan meta on Merton’s less ehh flattering moments was expanded upon and explained in the series; what I wouldn’t give for an actual quality heart to heart between Tommy and Merton Ike every show nowadays seems to have in abundance, where they call each other out on their issues.

Women are more complicated. There are no exact parallels, barring the very basic archetypes, which would do no justice to any of the four, namely Allison and Lydia for TW and Lori and Stacy for BWOC. But yes, Allison is close to Lori - a fighter, someone who can take it and dish it out. Problem with Lydia/Stacy comparison is that it breaks down as soon as Lydia gets a sliver of character development, because at first, her queen bee status definitely resonated with Stacy, but while she was put on a bus without any real involvement in the show’s plot, Lydia becomes downright plot essential.

2. Writing

BWOC had an incredible season 1, with select episodes of season 2 being very good and, well, we don’t talk about season 3. Point being, even with the constraints of a cheap Canadian show for kids it managed some genuine brilliance, I’m sure in a big way thanks to the chemistry between cast members (specifically the two of consequence). Monster Of The Week format certainly seemed to work well for them, and I will forever mourn the loss of all the potential arcs and plot twists that never saw the light of day. TW had the privilege of, despite a mediocre display in season 1, becoming popular enough to spawn 5 more seasons, and I think they definitely had very strong moments, most of them carried on the back of Dylan O'Brien, like void!Stiles, relationship between him and his dad, and yes, his relationship with Derek, which turned out to be largely inconsequential to the plot (writers queerbaited the f u c k out of its audience and then just did nothing of worth with the pairing, BUT THATS HARDLY RELEVANT). I don’t know whether Peter Knight is just that good or the innocent nature of BWOC lends itself to less complicated plots and finished stories, but most BW episodes were microcosms, closed systems that had little bearing on any overarching storylines. They provided closure, well-defined villains and good guys, which is a very appealing quality, if a touch simplistic. I admit, I would’ve liked to see something with more “depth” and conflict, but the restrictions of the channel/network/rating are nothing to sneeze at. TW on the other hand ties almost every episode into another, weaving a continuous storyline. Personally, I think they should’ve done more one off episodes to break up the monotony of waiting for action set pieces. You need some hella witty dialogue to keep people watching while fuck all is happening and they sort of failed at that (again, Stiles carried most of the comedy). Almost everyone in BWOC is uniquely likable; TW has a much bigger cast so they definitely had ups and down as far as character writing was concerned.

Main problem with this whole disjointed comparison is how you can’t compare things that aren’t on the same level. It’s not a dig at quality or anything, but TW had 6 seasons and a huge budget, while BW barely got 3. TW and BWOC kinda started in a similar vein, but boy do they differ. That being said, I have an inkling that BW may have ended up looking a lot like TW in different circumstances - if it was made at a later date, on another channel, with a different rating/audience in mind. But then again, a lot of good things BW is liked for are a direct result of these aforementioned “hurdles” - all the double entendres would never fly for a tv-14 rated show, its generally cheerful and uplifting tone was probably required by the network and being a child of the 90s it carried a lot of charm that would be borderline impossible to fabricate now if they wanted to keep the ~aesthetic. So I can only compare real TW with hypothetical BWOC that got a bigger budget and more screentime. But doing that makes NO SENSE, so imma just finish with some general thoughts about the direction show might’ve gone.

I genuinely think that in different circumstances, Merton could’ve had a wonderfully dark character development. He’s a non-violent character, but does have this morbid curiosity that could’ve put him eventually in a position to cause grievous bodily harm to someone. He seems to get off on power play (both having power over someone and surrendering it), and that’s a slippery slope for an emotionally tender and damaged character. Tommy is his rock in a number of ways, his human connection outlet, a more teen oriented show would, of course, use his ‘scars’ to carry the narrative of overcoming tragedy. Merton does the same for Tommy, being his emotional support, because how liberating it must be to not hide his werewolf side and he could do it literally with 1 (one) person before Lori came into focus. Queerbait aside, their relationship was great, a deep involved friendship, and with Tommy being so resistant to evilness and Merton being so easily corruptible, they could’ve played off this contrast in a way more interesting than what we saw in s3.  

I also would’ve loved to see some female characters that aren’t barely two-dimensional; Stacy was, in one word, confused - we know very little of her actual personality, aside from her feminism rhetoric and an allergy to committed relationships. Lori was ‘the action girl’, and she got a slightly bigger piece of pie, but still not nearly enough. Fuck, I don’t even know if the show passes a Bechdel test. TW showed us actual fleshed out female friendships that weren’t toxic or competitive, would’ve been nice to see something of the sort in BWOC.

#teen wolf #big wolf on campus #readme.txt