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bucknastysbabe · 1 month

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hello hello lovely

saw that your requests were still open, and I’m craving Aegon. need your precious writing to revamp my love for him 💓

could I request chubby!Aegon where the reader becomes jealous and he makes it up to her? don’t have anything specific in mind just along those lines. I need that big boy to grovel 🫠

thank you, appreciate you 💋

- @lovelykhaleesiii xo

Anything for you my helina🥰🥰loved writing this

Rating: Explicit

Tags: TW: mention of overeating, mentioned weight gain, chubby!aegon, au!no war, northern reader, pwp, Aegon being aegon, breeding kink, pnv!sex, certified boob man aeg ii, lactation kink mentioned, creampie

Taglist: @arcielee @aemonds-holy-milk @lovelykhaleesiii @dr-aegon @starogeorgina @jamespotterismydaddy @elaratyrell @zaldritzosrose @sugarpoppss2 @saintaegon @fairysluna @targaryen-madness

Aegon could put on a farce with the best of the mummers. He was all smiles and drunken japes at dinner. Talking, eating, talking, eating, and his favorite— drinking. Your husband’s abilities appeared to grow along with his new titles. He was a king now and certainly filled the part.

You sat next to him with a pinched face, carefully sipping your wine. Aemond looked on with barely concealed disgust, sharp features twitching. He raised a brow at you, jerking his sharp chin toward your husband. Aemond’s need for control might be worse than your own. The king was the king, there was not much you could do outside the bedroom. Aegon was chatting with Lord Jason Lannister. You despised the Westerman and what he represented, the Northron blood in you appalled at the South’s materialism.

Jason snorted, “Well, you’ve heard of the petulant princess down in Dorne hm? Fashions herself the new Nymeria. Heard she’s quite beautiful.”

Aegon replied around a gulp of wine, “Is it them or the Iron Islanders that take on all those wives? She can join my harem. I do know the Dornish are easy, much easier than mine own wife.” He leaned forward on thick arms to jest, “Pray tell, what’s this Martell’s name? Mayhaps I’ll send a letter.”

The pair guffawed. You quietly put your cup down and excused yourself. Aegon called after you between his giggles, “My love! Come on! Take a damn joke, yeah?”

You seethed, blood icy at his embarrassing behavior. He knew better than to insult you, his queen, the one he came crying to when times got hard. Your kingsguard filtered in behind you, scrambling to catch up. Ser Darklyn’s questions were ignored.

Safe in your chambers, you pulled down the kady bar. Rage unfurled beneath your skin— you would not show it to him. You never did unless it was a slap to his full cheeks. A tear fell, the droplet smacked away like a pest. You’d go to sleep, Aegon could wait until you’d calmed.

“Fucker. Southron cock-gargler.”

As expected, his familiar presence came to crawling. Well, flopping onto your bed with his weight, the ropes creaking as he cursed lowly. Aegon cursed, “Fuckin’ damn- beds!” You jerked up your legs, sitting upright to light a candle, blinking the little sleep out of your eyes.

The blonde frowned at the dim light, chubby cheeks pooching at the movement. He wore a simple linen shirt and breeches, white hair all mussed. You frowned at your thoughts turning soft, as your lord husband looked handsome in the gentle lighting.

Aegon murmured, thick fingers circling your ankle, “Are you upset? I was merely joking.”

“No, go on, take a mistress from every great house if you so desire, my king.”

His violet eyes rolled at your acrid reply, the man coming closer to your position. He sighed, “I don’t plan on it, why would I do that?” Narrowing your eyes, you threw a pillow at his head to escape further across the bed. Aegon grunted as he was pelted, the blonde casted a bewildered look your way, brows pinched.

“I don’t want to hear it, that was shameful to speak as if I were not there, go away Aegon,” you hissed.

He groaned loudly, hand running through his wild waves. The king asked, face dead serious “Do I need to beg? Hm? My frozen queen of the north is the only one I’m fucking. Sweetling wants to see me grovel?”

Your stomach fluttered at the thought, eyes flicking to his earnest expression across the bed. You sniffed quietly, holding out a hand, “Yes. I want you to beg for me. Then maybe I’ll forget the slight. You talk like such a whore at the table yet you forget who rules your cock.”

He moaned, eyes rolling at the words before taking your hand and lowering himself with a grunt. Aegon looked up through his lashes, plump lips pink and perfect. He murmured, “Can’t believe you. Lady wants me to grovel. All I do is think about my wife day and night.”

You stared him down, pleased so far.

“I’m not seeing anyone, nor do I care to. I’m not some young little slip anymore. Too busy eating your cunt than diving into every hole up the street of silk, yeah? Maybe that’s why I can’t close my belt?”

You moaned, “I didn’t make you, ah, you do that Aegon.”

“Mhm, that’s why you slide me extra cake. Now, what was I saying,” he was kissing an ankle now, carefully holding your leg, “Why would I go get some bratty Dornish nymphet, or any other lady for that matter? I’ve fucked a babe into you twice now. It’s a bit intoxicating watching you ripen up with my seed.”

You whined at that, resolved to break soon. Being pregnant with the children was some of your fondest moments. Some most erotic from your insatiable husband. His increased weight? Likely came from him drinking your tits up every night before each babe.

Aegon hummed, eyes blown with lust, lips at your knee. The king rasped, “I’d like to fuck more into you tonight if you’ll forgive me, I only love my queen. Always and truly ever you, sweeting. Mayhaps twins? Your teats will be quite ripe for me then.”

You gasped and pulled his shoulders, Aegon already knew the intention as he hiked up your shift and yanked it off. In a flurry of movement, you pulled at the strings on his breeches while he exposed his thickened body. He was stout, not necessarily a true softling. It made the king more intimidating, with wide hips and a sturdy midsection. You loved it.

“Uh-huh, you’re gonna fuck twins into me? That’s a way to make up for being an absolute t-twat.”

You tried to hiss but there was no real heat, especially with his soft lips against your neck, gluttonous hands on your tits. Aegon pressed your naked form into the bed, his flushed cock snug against your thigh. Delicate white hair tickled at your neck as you squirmed. The king’s bulk had you utterly pinned, stocky thighs keeping your legs open.

He nipped at thin skin, laughing, “Where’s all the cold anger hm? Needed to be coddled and warmed up? You’re no better than me, love.”

Another shiver ran up your spine, goosebumps erupting atop your skin. You hooked a leg around his cushy waist and gritted, “Kiss me dammit. You were the ass here.” He laughed again, lips searching your own, the familiar plush a balm to your stung pride.

You opened up for him, lips lazily caressing against Aegon’s more insistent kisses, tongue bullying its way in. He gripped at your waist, rutting a few times against your cunt. The bulbous tip catching your clit made you whine and cling to his fleshy sides.

The Targaryen breathed, “Never takes you long to get all nice and slick for me huh? Turn your nose up but your pussy gets wet. Every. Damn. Time.” He punctuated his words with jerks of his hips and grinned as you cursed his name, arching into his soft belly.

You rolled back against him, demanding, “Enough talk, you’re here to make it up. Ah, careful,” you chastised as he pulled one of your tits up to bite at your budded nipple, “Fuck me dammit! Breed me up then!”

Aegon grinned sharply, cooing, “Why didn’t you just say so, dearest? I’ll make sure you take it all.”

He shoved a pillow under your flared hips, pressing gentler kisses on any available skin. Aegon huffed as he jerked his hand under a heavy stomach to grab his cock, guiding it into your soaked cunt. Your knees tightened up around him, exhaling a shaky moan.

He never failed to fill you up perfectly, with a girthy cock that he well knew how to use. Aegon groaned, lashes fluttering as he bottomed out, “Mmm, fuck, always so godsdamn soaked for your king.” One of his big hands clapped down on your ass— you threw your head back as he began to fuck you in earnest.

Aegon was an…excitable lover. He was mouthy and rough, a true passion of his to empty his balls into cunt. Thankfully, it was yours and yours only for the past years. You panted against his soft jaw, nipping at the flesh as he stretched your walls out, tip dragging against the tender ridges and spongey spots.

He angled you further, allowing his lower tummy to rub and stifle your bundle of nerves. You cried out his name, heaving as Aegon paid no heed, single-minded determination across his face. Shivers wracked your spine, shooting down your spread legs.

“Mhm, that’s my baby, shaking all over, needed my cock to settle you down? You say I’m needy. Yet your body screams for more.”

“F-fuck Aegon, quit it, oh gods!”

He took your lips again, sweat building up between you two as passions grew frantic. You keened. “Breed me, love, want more babes, make me yours again and again- hnn- mm!” Blood suffused your face, irritably hot as you registered the wanton pleas.

Aegon doubled down, hands pressing your thighs up, bending your stimulated frame. His belly still sat heavily on your clit, sparks of pleasure muddling any sort of coherence. Aegon was panting now, hair damp with exertion. He growled, “Yeah, yeah, gonna keep you full mama, let the kingdom see how well my queen takes my seed. Gods, gods, fucking hell, gonna fill you up. Plug ya’ so you don’t leak.”

You whimpered as your belly was awash with intense sensation, bundling nerves ready to fire. Aegon’s rambling about you being his perfect queen and good mama throttled you to the precipice, pussy clamping down on his cock. You wanted it all, your cunt was milking him for it. Seeking that hot feeling of his spend coating your sore insides.

“Fucking others!,” came your howl— your delirious thoughts catapulting you into gushing all over Aegon with a squeal. The king stuttered and cursed, a broken moan leaving swollen lips. He surged forward, dragging his tip against your cervix, face cutely scrunching as he emptied, shaking and moaning your name.

His spend was molten hot and overfilling your cunt, Aegon selfishly feeling around the side of the bed, crushing your overwhelmed body. He whined, “Fuuh-uck, love, feel too good, hold on.” You furrowed your brows before surprise hit your features.

That motherfucker was going to plug you up.

His lidded eyes danced as he drawled, “I wanted twins, mama.”

You squirmed and mewled when his cock left and a cold wedge replaced it. He shushed and pet you, kissing you tenderly as you grew used to the foreign object. You could feel his seed stuffed inside— trying not to dwell on it so hard. Aegon flopped onto his back, pulling your body snugly against his soft, warm one. You murmured, “That was some hell of an apology. Bastard.”

He sleepily murmured, “M’sorry dove, was mean. I’ll do better,” he squeezed you tight and planted a kiss on the crown of your head, “Only for my queen. Mmh, pray to your old gods— papa wants twins.”

You snorted, biting back laughter at his outright silly statement.

“Mhm Papa, prayers coming up. Sot.”

#hotd fanfic #hotd smut #aegon targaryen x reader #aegon ii x reader #chubby aegon #Aegon ii targaryen x reader #Aegon ii imagine

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aphrodite1288 · 8 months

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Hello guys,

With all the DMs we receive asking to join the group I would like to inform you that : There's no Instagram Group anymore.

We will all interact here. We'll try to be more active here,

Let's do some kaisoo analysis, some Q&As about moments you doubted Kadi or moments you want to talk more about! Or Kadi moments you noticed and no one is speaking about!?

You can also ask about Exo and Kpop and other ships if we know we would tell you.

How about that?

Out inbox has over 1000asks but we'll open it now to answer few asks.

#kaisoo #kadi #kaisoo love #dika #love #kaisoo love story #jongin #kai #do kyungsoo #d.o

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chocoberry-dream · 2 months

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Hello again kaisooists 🐧🐻 Little ole me has stumbled across something interesting 👀

Remember back on April 1st in 2016 when the news broke that ji and krys were dating and chahn yall posted this really odd and cryptic “headline” on his Instagram?

This randomly popped into my head the other day now that I’ve been missing kadi and thinking about them lately.

I remember at the time it was posted, everyone in the kaisoo tag was trying to decipher what he meant, if it was supposed to be an April fools joke or if it had anything to do with the dating news. If I remember correctly he’d posted it either right before or shortly after the news broke and was confirmed by Es Em.

So I decided to go over to chahn yall’s insta again to see what the comments on the post were bc it’s been so long and I was curious if anyone wrote any kaisoo related under it. But when I went to look for it, I noticed that it had either been archived or deleted.

I screen recorded for proof, the right side is hidden for privacy due to some ppl’s insta screen names being visible since I follow him. The dates of the post are magnified on the left side:

I can definitively say that it had been left up on his Instagram for months after kxk and I believe even up til they “broke up” but I’m not sure when or why it was removed.

Something that was also peculiar to me is that besides that screenshot from the tumblr above, it was INCREDIBLY difficult for me to find this post anywhere on the internet. Even chahn yall bias pages that repost his Instagram posts did not have this post anywhere to be found.

I searched for 20 minutes and was only able to find this screenshot here on tumblr and on a random Russian page:

There’s two things I want to mention here.

First I will explain the picture a bit more for those of you who may not know.

The mosaic picture in chahn y’all’s post is of KS in his role as Kang Woo for the drama “It’s Okay That’s Love”. In this drama, the main character Jae Yeol (played by Jo Insung) suffers from undiagnosed schizophrenia and befriends Kang Woo. But as his illness worsens it’s revealed that Kang Woo is not real and is a hallucination, representing Jae Yeol’s younger self. When Jae Yeol begins treatment, Kang Woo doesn’t appear to Jae Yeol anymore .

I don’t speak Korean but I think the correct translation of the headline title in the post would be “Actually, I’m hallucinating” indicating that he’s the one hallucinating and not Jae Yeol. Since his role in the drama was him as a hallucination it wouldn’t make sense to admit to being a hallucination.

At the time I initially thought “okay, maybe it’s some sort of lighthearted April fools joke and a playful jab and ks”. But as I thought about it, the joke didn’t really make much sense bc we already know after watching the drama that ks isn’t the one who was hallucinating.

Then after reading theories and thinking about it more, I thought it was weird to post that on the same day the kxk news came out. Which leads me to my second point: I do think it has something to do with kxk and here’s why.

As we all know egg sew had a concert that day, secret night. When the pictures came out ji looked like he’d been up crying all day and ks appeared to have tears in his eyes. They also were super awkward with each other and it seemed like ji looked apologetic about something and ks wouldn’t look at him. This was after a long period of not really interacting or showing skinship and of course all those pann and dispatch gay couple blind items disappearing.

So it made me think more about the insta post, how he said that actor D admits “actually, I’m hallucinating.” We all know that ks and chahn yall have a close friendship, and it seemed like the kxk scandal caught both ks and ji off guard, almost like they both found out this media play was happening on the same day, hours before the news went out. Was this post supposed to be a hint at ks’s feelings about the news breaking? Did kxk come as a surprise to him and make him feel like the entire relationship between him and ji was actually what wasn’t real to everyone else now, aka a hallucination?

It might be a reach, but I can’t think of any other reason behind why chahn yall would delete/archive that specific post but not any of the other ones. Unless you’re a kaisoo supporter the joke would seem to have no relation to the kxk scandal, so it’s really suspicious that it disappeared.

I also can’t say for sure, but I also wonder if SM has something to do with it being gone and almost no trace of it online or on fan archives. I noticed that after the kxk “break up” kaisoo went back to their own ways, but little by little different kadi blogs were deactivating and some fansites were disappearing abruptly. I’m talking hardcore kaisoo blogs and fansites that I would have never imagined would disappear (cuddlekaisoo, alvabear, kaiser-dolly, 8812 just for example, some of their posts are even hard to find here on tumblr). To this day I still am seeing things like “so-and-so-deactivated09122018” here on tumblr throughout the tag thinking to myself like “omg, this person was a super big kaisoo supporter and they deactivated? I would have never imagined..” 😶

Of course things happen, ppl move onto other things and maybe the second scandal with jinnie has something to do with it too, but it’s all just very odd to me. I’d love to know other ppl’s opinions about this too if you’re interested!🩷

#I’m writing this super late so sorry if something doesn’t make sense lol #if you need clarification or anything just lmk!#hope all my jagis are doing well haha #how are we surviving the ji drought bc let me tell you I am PARCHED ☹️#he needs to be discharged EXPIDITIOUSLY #I think I spelled that wrong lol #I can’t wait until 2025 😔💔#long tags are long #kaisoo #kadi #dika #beri theories

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magpiemagica · 4 months

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-My Personal Mean Girls Movie Musical Song Ranking-

*The ranking will be based on the song in comparison to the Broadway show (how well it changes and/or honors the source material), how good it stands on its own, and my own thoughts. I have not/am not planning on watching the movie so this ranking is purely based off of the soundtrack available. I feel overall neutral when it comes to the OG musical and movie. I will not be counting Not My Fault; it's a bop but not part of the musical.

12. Stupid With Love: Same energy (or lack thereof) as What Ifs. It is very clearly modified to sound like a modern pop song. Just like What Ifs, Kady’s singer is not in a character voice. There are repetitive back vocals added, it reminds me a lot of Toe Jammer from My Singing Monsters. Stupid With Love (movie ver.) is so low energy that it doesn’t really match the situation our main character is in (falling head over heels for a boy in her math class). Much more boring/annoying than What Ifs and overall not a good song, in a pop OR musical setting.

11. Meet the Plastics: A lot less dramatic and a lot more serious/”adult”. The whole song sounds like the start of World Burn (Broadway). Grechen and Karen don't even sing or introduce themselves; it's only Regina. This song takes itself SO DAMN seriously. They do know that the reason Mean Girl’s is a cult classic is its humor and over the top nature, right?

10. Someone Gets Hurt: The song has a Billie Ellish quality to it; it is very soft-spoken for the most part and includes a lot of whisper singing. Someone Gets Hurt sounds very underwhelming, especially when you compare it to the original Broadway song. The song is supposed to be seductive but also powerful and dramatic. I think they only focused on the seductive part. The instrumentals are all toned down so much that it doesn’t fit the scene it is sung in (Regina kissing Katy’s crush, a big betrayal of their “friendship”). Ignoring the context, I don't think it works as a non musical song either.

9. Apex Predator: This cover is a total enigma to me. It is so weird sounding; the singing, instrumentals, tone, background vocals, pacing. Apex Predator is SO all over the place. Maybe it makes sense in the context of the movie? I honestly have no idea what was going on with this song but it didn’t sound…good. No disrespect to Auli’i or Jaquel; they did the best with the direction they were given. Really disappointing considering Apex Predator was a pretty strong song in the Broadway musical.

8. Revenge Party: This song feels a bit disconnected from itself. The instrumentals don't match the singer’s energy, especially Janis’ strong singing voice. This is a song about getting revenge so why does it sound so mellow? Auli'i vocals are really nice in this song but everything else falls pretty flat. Janis saying “Yes, bitch!” did make me chuckle though; caught me a bit off guard.

7. What’s Wrong With Me?: It is fine for what it is; it gets the job done. Not really a lot to say.

6. What Ifs: A new song written for the movie. The song sounds kinda somber and low energy; very different from the upbeat and hopeful song it is replacing, Roar. Angourie Rice has a nice voice; it’s just very soft and fits much better to a genre like pop. Speaking of pop, that is the weirdest part about What Ifs, it doesn’t sound like a musical theater song at all. What Ifs is a totally fine pop song but in my opinion, it fails in the context of a musical. The song tells us pretty much nothing about Katy or her circumstances. It's just a fine pop song.

5. A Cautionary Tale: The first song (and impression) of the Mean Girls musical movie. A lot more edgy sounding; it sounds like the musical was trying to really stray away from the classic Broadway style as much as they could. It has a lot less singing variety (less note variety, belts, etc.) Some of the stuff that they change, I really don't like (like the background oohs and cut of Janis and Damian’s witty banter). It feels more foreboding and boring than fun and exciting.

Less energy, less of a campy atmosphere :(

4. I’d Rather Be Me: Auli'i vocals are great in this but the instrumentals are underwhelming. I don't know why this movie is straying away from loud and powerful musical choices. Mean Girls is all about drama; why isnt that energy showing up in the music? I’m confused and tired.

3. World Burn: Another song that is super dramatic in context but not in execution. Renee’s riffs and belts are awesome (as always). It's not bad but not very good either.

2. Sexy: Thank you Avantika for giving us some much needed joy to the soundtrack💗! She totally embodies Karen in this song. Sexy has a funky instrumental. Sexy in the movie is very fun!

I See Stars: It’s pretty good. The instrumentals match the energy of the song, the singing is great, the background vocals add a lot, it's just an overall good cover.

Songs cut from songs from Broadway: It Roars, Where Do You Belong?, Fearless, Stop, Whose House Is This?, More Is Better, Do This Thing

Overall: I saw this movie making a bit of negative buzz and as a musical theatre nerd, I wanted to know what everyone was talking about. Based off what I've seen/listened to, Mean Girls is a musical that doesn't want to be a musical. This negatively affects the music. Hopefully studios see the reception and improve this movie's flaws in future projects.

#magpieposting #mean girls #renee rapp #mean girls musical #mean girls movie #musical movies #soundtrack #musicals #musical theatre #broadway #regina george #cady heron #theatre kid #tina fey #mean girls 2024

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eliotqueliot · 3 months

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Art for Eliot Rocks the Memory Palace

This art covers a scene that takes place at the end of Part Two from Quentin's point of view, and is briefly recapped at the end of Part Three from Eliot's POV. I included a little reminder-excerpt with the art in Chapter 4 of the fic.

Eliot Rocks the Memory Palace (with Art) (15271 words) by EliotQueliot Chapters: 4/15 Fandom: The Magicians (TV) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh, Margo Hanson & Eliot Waugh, Quentin Coldwater & Julia Wicker Characters: Eliot Waugh, Quentin Coldwater, Julia Wicker, Margo Hanson, William "Penny" Adiyodi, 23rd Timeline William "Penny" Adiyodi, Henry Fogg, Alice Quinn (The Magicians), The Monster (The Magicians), Kady Orloff-Diaz Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-Typical Behavior, References to Depression, Depression, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Possession, Episode: s04e05 Escape From the Happy Place, Imprisonment, Physical Kids Cottage (The Magicians), Gods, Memory Magic, Studying, Repressed Memories, Communication, Peaches and Plums (The Magicians), Rewriting Season 4 after 4x5, There is no such thing as Season 5, And canon stops at 4x10 anyway, But this is so AU and gets more so as it goes along, Quentin Coldwater Lives, Queliot is Endgame, Memory Palace, Past Child Abuse, Starbucks, Jennifer (The Magicians) - Freeform Summary: What if Eliot did a lot more from inside the Happy Place than take a greatest hits tour of his deepest regrets and speak to reality-Quentin only the one time? What if Eliot kept putting himself through the wringer to get out to Quentin when he could, especially when Quentin needed him? And by practicing, could stay out for longer stretches of time? What if the memory palace is actually the greatest study hall Eliot has ever known, and the enforced solitude with all his memories gives him the chance to level up into the master magician he was always meant to be? Eliot sees Quentin struggling--with the Monster, with exhaustion and burnout, with depression--and he'll be damned if he doesn't do everything in his power to help. Especially since he feels responsible for it all. 4x9: Eliot to Penny-23: "This is a mind palace situation, and we don't have a lot of time, and I have some extremely major shit to tell you." Penny-23 to Quentin: "I saw Eliot in there. Alive. And poking around like a pro. The Monster, everything he can't remember. It's in there. All of it."

#queliot fanart #the magicians fanart #queliot fanfic #the magicians fanfic #quentin coldwater #eliot waugh #Monster!Eliot #quentin x eliot #eliot x quentin #my art #my fic

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kadytimberfox · 6 months

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Kady's Expanse (Re)Watch Blog

Episode 1.01 - "Dulcinea" (Pilot)

And here we go for my...fourth time I've watched this episode I think? It's a really wonderful pilot that does so much work with introducing you to the world, our cast of characters, and setting up the threads of the main plot and does it all perfectly in a very tight 45 minutes. It reminds me a lot of Deep Space Nine's pilot "The Emissary" which is similarly a masterclass in tight storytelling and how to properly kick off a new series.

And speaking of kicking off a new series, hey! I'm watching this show that I absolutely adore again and I'm going to take the time to spout my thoughts about it on the internet because that seems like a fun idea! I really enjoy thinking about media critically but I've never taken the time to write down my thoughts before. It's a style of writing I've always wanted to try so where better to do that than a Tumblr blog? I'll try to keep these Brief and Not Boring but no guarantees on either. Especially on this one. It's the pilot, after all.

I also want to keep this as light on spoilers as possible; again though, no guarantees. Also if you haven't seen this show yet just go fucking watch it it's so good.

Later in this post is a description of torture that happens in the episode. I marked it with a TW and formatted the text to make it distinct from the rest of the post.

With that out of the way, there's nothing left to do except pick apart this pilot!

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Summary

We kick off with a bang (and then some more banging) as we see a young woman named "Julie" fight her way out of a locked compartment, explore the darkened hallways of her Completely Fucked Spaceship, and watch her friends get eaten alive by some evil blue space goop. Surely none of that will be important later.

Cut to the adventures of hard-boiled Belter detective Joe Miller and his new Earthling partner Dimitri Havelock. They're private cops for an Earth corporation who theoretically maintain order on Ceres Station in the Asteroid Belt, the biggest shithole this side of pretty much anywhere. They go to a murder scene and do basically nothing, antagonize and then arrest people minding their own business at a bar, and take a bribe to half-ass a health inspection. Y'know, classic cop stuff.

Back at the precinct, Miller gets an off-the-books job from his boss to find one Juliette Andromeda Mao, daughter of megacorp magnate Jules-Pierre Mao and coincidentally the spitting image of "Julie" from our opening scene. Apparently, her pro-Belter activism is starting to piss off dear old dad and they want her to come home before she embarrasses the family any further.

In the middle of his investigation, he finds out that those air filters he "inspected" earlier crapped out and poisoned some children. Instead of taking accountability for not doing his job, he decides to throw the sleazy air filter guy into an airlock and only lets him out after he promises not to fuck it up next time. And also to pay Miller double. I'll let it slide though because Sleazy Air Filter Guy is an asshole.

Back on Earth, United Nations Undersecretary Chrisjen Avasarala shows up for about five minutes in this episode. The only thing she does is torture a guy. End scene.

Meanwhile, the good ship Canterbury is on its way to Ceres with a big haul of space ice that the station needs to turn into water. Second Officer James Holden gets immediately promoted, much to his dismay, because his previous boss Mike Ehrmantraut went insane from being out in space too long.

Mystery strikes when the gang gets a weird distress signal from a ship called the Scopuli. Captain McDowell, probably having watched enough Star Trek episodes to know that this can't be anything good, decides to ignore it. Holden just can't stop himself from doing a good thing, though, and secretly reports the signal, officially making the Canterbury Legally Obligated™ to investigate.

He picks his away team (unknowingly also picking the people he's going to spend the rest of this show with) and takes a shuttle to investigate the drifting Scopuli, where they find everything shut down except for the beacon that brought them here. "Pirate bait", or so it seems.

Suddenly, McDowell advises the away team that a very scary ship has appeared out of nowhere and that they need to get the hell out of there. The gang gets back on the shuttle just in time for the mystery ship to fire not just regular torpedoes, but nuclear torpedoes at them. The torpedoes close to zero...and then continue streaking towards the Canterbury.

Holden tells McDowell to eject the space ice to form a protective barrier, but he refuses, apparently willing to die rather than lose his payday. The payday (and everything else aboard) is lost anyway, however, as the Canterbury erupts into the most beautiful supernova I've ever seen.

"She's gone. They nuked her. She's gone."

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My thoughts

So this is where I actually have to do the analysis thing. Since the beginning of this show is split into three primary subplots that all deal with a different piece of the Julie puzzle (a narrative device that I fucking love, by the way), I'll divide things up by talking about each one individually because that just makes sense.

Before I do that though, I just want to briefly say that that opening scene with Julie on the Scopuli is just the perfect opening to this show. It immediately gives us a very brief glimpse inside the puzzle box that our main cast is going to spend all of this season (and most of this show) trying to open. It's quick, it's tense, it's completely terrifying, and it's unforgettable if you've seen it.

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Miller on Ceres:

And we follow up that perfect opening scene with a perfect choice for which of these three main threads to start with. The thing that's great about dividing up the characters like this is that each of them only has a piece of what's going on with Julie and the Scopuli, but no one has the full picture. Miller, though, gets the most information off the bat and is the only person in the main cast who's looking for Julie specifically, so it's only natural that we should start with him.

His story is also the inspiration for the title of this episode, "Dulcinea". For those of you who aren't big Don Quixote fans, it's a reference to Quixote's fantasy lover that he invents because he styles himself as a knight and, of course, every knight needs his damsel. He describes her in excruciating detail; she's royalty in a far-off land who is the epitome of feminine beauty, the ideal of Womanhood Incarnate--or his vision of it at least.

And the deeper Miller goes in his investigation, the more quixotic he gets with his idea of who Julie is. He's never met or spoken to Julie, but as he unravels her activities prior to departing on the Scopuli, he becomes increasingly obsessed with her, imagining what kind of a person she must be, picking apart every little detail and transposing it onto his vision of what her life must be like. I'm sure he would call it "being a good detective", but it's much more than that to him.

Throughout Miller's jaunt around town with Havelock, they banter back and forth, and through their conversations, we get a great sense of their personalities. Whereas Miller is the grizzled veteran who's had his morality thoroughly beaten out of him, Havelock is a by-the-book rookie cop who seems genuinely interested in learning about Belters, if only so that he can police them more effectively.

It's a very tried-and-true buddy cop pairing, but it works really well here. Havelock gets to be our audience surrogate for this story as we learn more about how Ceres and Belters operate.

This thread has the biggest worldbuilding burden out of the three and it pulls it off so well. We get so much about life in the Belt, the politics of the Solar System, the Outer Planets Alliance, or OPA (who will definitely be showing up later), and the logistics of maintaining a huge population of humans on a space station. And none of it feels clunky or awkward in the slightest. It's exactly the style of worldbuilding I loved in "The Emissary" from Deep Space Nine.

Ceres itself also has huge DS9 vibes, and not in a good way. The set design team did such a good job making this place look old, weathered, and completely falling apart. Except, of course, for the nice apartment buildings where the cops, off-worlders, and everyone else rich enough to ignore the seedy underbelly get to live.

There are a ton of fantastic, evocative lines in this arc, but I think my favorite is Miller's deadpan proclamation that "There are no laws on Ceres, just cops." A perfect summary of everything we see on screen about how power is wielded in this place.

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Chrisjen on Earth:

This is the shortest thread where the least happens, but it will grow into one of my favorites. We don't get too much additional insight into what's going on, but we do get two important things: 1) Chrisjen Avasarala is a stone-cold bitch who thinks the OPA are terrorists, and 2) the OPA are apparently trying to get their hands on illegal stealth technology, which doesn't help with the whole "terrorism" thing.

This links up to both Miller's and Holden's subplots: we know about the OPA from Miller, and the ship that eventually blows up the Cant was using Martian stealth tech. Of course, since Holden and crew have no idea about the OPA, they immediately start thinking that Mars is out to get them, which will continue to play into the story going forward.

!-- TW: DESCRIPTION OF TORTURE --!

Also important to note is that Chrisjen is getting this information through the most brutal torture I've seen on TV in a long time: forcing a Belter whose body can't handle Earth's gravity to stand for hours on end by holding him up with hooks under his arms. After Chrisjen goes on and on about his "weak Belter lungs and brittle Belter bones", she coldly turns around and tells them to hold him up for another 10 hours. "If he survives, call me."

!-- TW ENDS --!

Fucking ghoulish, and definitely not a good look for Madam Undersecretary's first appearance. You're gonna have to trust me now when I say that she becomes one of my favorite characters in the main cast. This is about as bad as she gets, but she continues being manipulative and cold-blooded for most of this show. That's just who she is. To me, it's part of what makes this subplot of scheming at the UN so engaging.

We'll be seeing a lot more of Chrisjen going forward, and she'll get much better. At the very least, she will stop torturing this guy. But only because someone will tell her not to.

-----------------------------------

Holden on the Canterbury:

If Miller's story shows us life in the Belt and Chrisjen's shows us the politics of the Solar System, Holden's thread is all about life onboard a spaceship, which is important because we're going to be spending a lot of time on spaceships. This is also the part of the episode that has the most CG and honestly it holds up really really well. I know it's less than a decade old and they probably got a lot of money for the pilot but still! It looks great!

I'll drop a brief shoutout here as well for the ship designs in this show. They knocked it out of the goddamn park with the Cant's design: it's a big, boxy, dull gray, ugly thing that looks designed to haul ice and do literally nothing else. Everything is so practical and, above all else, plausible. They look like humans from the near future built them and that's the highest compliment I can give them.

There are shades of the first act of "Alien" here as we are essentially dropped into the Cant in the middle of its mission and get to see the camaraderie and hierarchy between all the members of the crew. We also get to know more about Holden, and immediately he begins showing us his defining character trait: he wields a lot of authority and respect, but he hates being in charge.

We see this in the very first scene onboard the Cant when one of the ice haulers, Paj, gets his arm severed while working outside the ship. He seems completely unfazed by this, though, since the company will send him a prosthetic and he's been working for them long enough to get a really good one.

Not only does this happen often enough that the company just buys prosthetics as a cost of doing business, there are literally tiers of coverage depending on years of service. What an optimistic future this is turning out to be.

Paj pleads with Holden to make sure the company doesn't send him a "used" arm (a frightening thought), to which Holden replies with something that he will continue to say, in so many words, over and over: "I'm just another clock-puncher like you." Holden knows he has authority on the Cant, but all he wants to be is a clock-puncher, which he makes very clear to pretty much everyone he talks to, including Captain McDowell when he essentially forces the XO job onto him.

Later on, we get our first glimpse at Holden's other primary personality trait, that being that he is The Main Character and therefore the most kind-hearted soul that can exist in this cold, selfish world. He logs the distress signal they received from the Scopuli, thereby ensuring that they'll have to divert from Ceres (and lose their on-time bonus) in order to investigate.

He shares this privately with Chief Engineer Naomi Nagata before the shuttle mission, to which her only reply is to tell him to keep that to himself. Fair play, considering she was just talking about how she wanted to strangle the little fucking do-gooder before she realized it was her new XO. Excuse me, Acting XO.

Before the shuttle launch, we're briefly introduced to the rest of the away team: the aforementioned Naomi; her mechanic Amos Burton, whose defining character trait is doing whatever Naomi tells him to do; ship's pilot Alex Kamal, who we previously saw being an annoying blabbermouth on the Cant; and Med-Tech Shed Garvey, who sewed up Paj's arm and wants everyone to know that he does not want to be here. Yes, his first name really is Shed.

Most of this part of the episode is setting up what'll happen next so we don't get a lot of time with any of these guys, but we'll have time for some great character work in the coming episodes.

----------------------------------

And that said, what a great setup for what comes next! Nearly all of the people we just got to know on the Cant are vaporized by a mysterious ship, there's a cloud of space debris hurtling toward Holden's little shuttle, and we have a hell of a puzzle box to dig into. Did Mars blow up the Cant? Did the OPA? Why would either of them want to? What does it all have to do with Julie and the Scopuli? And what the hell was that fucking space goo??

Despite covering so much ground in this pilot, The Expanse makes it very clear that we've barely scratched the surface. And even though I've already seen this whole show and know where it's going, it took everything I had to not hit the "next episode" button.

I will be doing that very soon though because I had a blast writing this up and I definitely want to keep doing it! Apologies that this one ran so long -- I assumed I was going to write a lot with this being the first episode and everything but I had so many thoughts that didn't make it into this post. I'm sure I'll be refining the format as we go along as well.

If you read all the way to here, I'm genuinely flattered and I hope you have a wonderful day.

~ Kady <3

#the expanse #media analysis #sci fi #kady's expanse rewatch blog #<- whenever I write more of these they'll be in this tag #tw torture #torture mention #random tags of things I didn't mention:#fucking LOVE this show's intro sequence. absolutely fantastic and I loved hearing it again #the little bird that only has to flap its wings a little bit because of the low gravity!!!#I love Miller's absolutely rancid vibes with his ex-partner-girlfriend

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adanseydivorce · 7 months

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Julia be like I’m going to have an intense possibly homoerotic bond with every magically knowledgeable older/mentor figure woman who offers me a hint of validation…

#in my genderbent Shane au of s4 idea I was talking this is what the ideal Bonnie arc is…#TM 1.06 #unauthorized magicians rewatch #s speaks #the magicians #the way she interacts with Marina Kady’s mom Kira… yes I said Kady’s mom I’m not sorry speaking my truth #julia wicker

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highviews · 2 years

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he is down ASTRONOMICALLY for her

#🌱. kadie speaks #🔱. webtoons

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densi-mber · 6 months

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With Mistletoe and Presents for Pretty Girls

“Ok, what else do we need?” Deeks asks, surveying the spread in front of him. There’s a meat and cheese tray (he refuses to call it a charcuterie board), fruit, desserts, a variety of snacks, and drinks.

“A kitchen sink?” Kensi suggests wryly, peering over his shoulder. A tiny hand grabs ahold of his shirt, and he turns his head, grinning up into Caleb’s round face.

“What do you think? Should we add some peanut butter and jelly, maybe some spaghetti?”

“Tootie,” Caleb whispers with a grin that shows two tiny, perfect teeth. It’s pretty much Deeks’ favorite thing ever. Sophia has an almost identical set.

“Oh, you’re totally right. We definitely need more cookies,” Deeks says, leaning in to give Caleb a smacking kiss on the cheek. “How’s everyone doing out there?”

“Great. Your mom is entertaining Kilbride with scandalous stories from her past. I’m not sure if he’s amused or horrified,” Kensi reports.

“Hey, it’s got to be better than Arkady.”

“Kady,” Caleb repeats solemnly, looking around the room expectantly.

“Otherwise, everyone has drinks and food. They seem pretty happy.”

“Are we crazy to host a Christmas party when we’ve got twin one year olds running around?” Deeks asks.

“Probably,” Kensi confirms lightly.

“Speaking of twins, where’s Soph?”

“Oh, I left her with Eric and Nell.” Deeks purses his lips at that revelation, and she quickly adds, “Don’t worry. Sam’s on standby.”

“Good. I trust them. But they also are slightly insane,” Deeks says.

Smiling, he turns, bracing his back against the counter. He settles his hands on Kensi’s hips. “Hey, did I mention that you look fantastic?” he asks, smoothing a thumb over the soft fabric of her dress.

“If you like this, wait until you see tonight’s wardrobe,” she murmurs, leaning forward to brush her nose over his. Deeks’ breath catches, and he chuckles softly.

“Can’t wait.”

“Mm.” Kensi stays pressed against him for a few more seconds until Caleb decides he wants to be included and smushes his face between them. “Ok, ok, time to rejoin the party,” she says, snatching a mini quiche off the counter and popping it in her mouth.

Together, they head out into the living room, which is at capacity with the tree, manger, and guests packed inside. Said guests are gathered in a semi-circle, their attention focused on something in the center of the room.

The reason behind that focus becomes obvious when Deeks sees Sam toss Sophia above his head, and Nell says,

“Ok, ok, enough of that. Kensi left her in my charge and I’m not gonna let anything happen to Sophie.”

“Like I’d drop her,” Sam scoffs.

“All right, quit hogging the baby,” Rountree’s voice filters through.

“Oh no, it’s my turn,” Fatima protests.

“Looks like we didn’t need to provide any entertainment after all,” Deeks drawls, watching Sophia unwittingly participate in a round of musical baby. “Small children are sufficient.”

“Just so long as we get them back at the end of the night,” Kensi comments, stretching her neck to follow Sophia’s progress around the room.

“Ca down!” Caleb requests, kicking his legs as Kensi crouches to set him down. As soon as he hits the floor, he’s off running on his chubby legs, towards his sister, and the guests.

“Caleb!” Nell shouts out, squatting and holding her arms out. He runs towards her willingly, letting her scoop him up into her arms. “I call dibs.”

“Nell, it’s not a contest,” Callen reminds her, but she ignores him in favor of taking Caleb to a clear space and spinning him in tight circles.

The next few hours are spent enjoying food and drinks while the twins keep them entertained. Everyone has brought a gift of some type as well, and soon the room is littered with little strips of wrapping paper and tissue.

“Best Christmas party we’ve ever had,” Deeks sighs. Kensi’s curled up against his side, Sophia and Caleb settled on his lap. Most of the guests have left by now, but Eric and Nell are passed out on a chair together.

“It was.” Kensi lifts her head, pressing her lips to his for a lingering kiss. “How about we open that present?”

“Now?” Deeks asks in surprise.

“Yeah, the twins are asleep,” Kensi says.

“With Eric and Nell in the house.”.

“Eric sleeps like the dead and Nell drank a lot of egg nog,” Kensi reasons. “They’re not going to be waking up for a while.”

“I don’t know…”

“C’mon let’s be risky.” Pulling away from him, Kensi gives him that look he can’t resist.

“You are a menace,” he says with a grin.

***

A/N: Perhaps not the most traditional Christmas Party, but I hope you enjoyed it.

#densimber 7.0 #densimber 2023 #densimber day 13 #ncis la fanfiction #densi #kensi blye #marty deeks #and co #Christmas party #fluff #by ejzah

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nellie-elizabeth · 7 months

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tagged by @awildwickedslip, thank you!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

103.

2. What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

1,825,148

3. What fandoms do you write for?

magicians and roswell, new mexico primarily! Also wrote a good omens fic recently but that might be a one and done for now.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

tales from a bookshop (good omens post season 2, fairly sure I'll never write anything this popular ever again because holy shit)

Lover's Touch - Queliot fic!

Promises - Queliot fic!

Maybe This Time - Queliot fic!

Fragments - Queliot fic!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! I didn't used to in my earlier fandom days but now I'm pretty consistent about it.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I once wrote a major character death fic for Queer as Folk where Justin died. Not really my style anymore. Back in my ff.net days I also wrote Merthur major character death fic, I'm just remembering.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I always try and do happily ever afters! A lot of my stories end with a sense of "and then they continue on their adventures, and life isn't always simple or easy", so in terms of the most pure, joyful ending? I guess I'll go living proof, which is the end of my episode series for Roswell, NM, which is just a "now they're married and happy forever" fic.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have before, but not as a rule. Once got called an abuse apologist & incest support (oh the horror /s) for exploring the canonical close friendship (not even a romantic relationship!) between two dudes from Shadowhunters lmao. And there's a troll in the Roswell fandom who writes hilarious and idiotic unhinged rants and I've been hit by her before, but she's got a scatter-shot approach and attacks a lot of people, so, at least I know it's nothing personal.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yep! What is meant by "what kind" here? lol. I'm pretty vanilla. Mostly m/m, but I usually don't pass over the chance for m/m/f. I actually recently wrote my very first m/f full-on sex scene ever for a little Magicians snippet, Kady/Penny lol.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No, I don't wrote crossovers in the sense that characters from various worlds don't meet each other in my fics. HOWEVER, two of my favorite things I've ever written have been Magicians AUs that crossed over the characters from that show with the full plot from other films. One is The Old Guard (A Comet Pulled From Orbit), and one is When Harry Met Sally (When Quentin Met Eliot).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, a few times! Used to happen a lot back with old ff.net stuff, and I recently had my good omens fic translated.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I'm co-writing a series right now! First time I've ever done it and it's a blast.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

uhhhhh don't make me choose? lmao. In terms of fandom engagement and longevity I guess Queliot at this point. But in terms of... the ships that made me discover and appreciate and explore fandom in the first place? Kirk/Spock and Brian/Justin. Classics.

16. What are your writing strengths?

dialogue and tone setting, I think?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

plot details (I get bored and distracted mapping things out)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

tbh I usually wince when I see it in fic? I'm not a fan. It always feels a little silly. Maybe very very sparingly if there's like a singular phrase or term of endearment or something but I'd rather just indicate that someone is speaking another language rather than write it out. I feel like it can often be tokenizing if you just have one character who's bilingual and you give them little one-liners in a different language. Idk. If the author is bilingual and doing a thing, then that's awesome. But I can usually tell when someone's just using google translate for stuff lol.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Gilmore Girls!

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

I'm gonna cheat and name one each for my two big fandoms. Also idk if these are my favorites but they're two I really love that aren't my most popular:

Regrets, or the Absence Thereof (Magicians)

all the roads that lead you there (Roswell)

tagging @portraitofemmy @spiders-hth-is-an-outlier @orchardsinsnow @r-dtoblack and YOU if you're reading this and want to play!

#my posts #my fic #fic talk

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bongo-spindash · 5 months

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"Sonic? Like, The Hedgehog?" Chapter 2

The thing about being a global hero whose entire schtick is running faster than the eye can see is that, well, people don’t actually see an awful lot of him. They know his name, they know what he’s done, and they recognise the iconic blue blur he leaves in his wake—but, just walking down the street, you don’t expect every single blue Mobian you see to be the one that routinely fights off giant mechs and ancient deities. Really, how were they supposed to know who the guy actually was? (Or: Five times Sonic invoked the Tony Hawk phenomenon, and one time someone recognised him.)

You can read the first chapter on Ao3 here or on Tumblr here!! Hope you enjoy!! :D

Chapter 2: Place for the Night

(Fic under the cut!!)

Kadie, in all honesty, has not been having the best day of her life so far. She slept in this morning, which meant her plan of getting out of the house early to get to the nearest town for groceries and back before it got dark was a bust, and—if that wasn’t bad enough, it decided to rain on her way back. It was lucky that she’d brought her umbrella, but, right now, she’s just looking forward to lighting the fire in the living room and cozying up with her wife.

Despite the forecast claiming that it would only be a light drizzle, the rain is really coming down; a thick sheet of water slamming against the plastic shielding her from the worst of it. With every second that passes, it’s turning more into a full-on storm. Just as she’s thinking I’d hate to be caught in this for much longer, she hears something over by the treeline.

A little frightened yelp, and something resembling a shushing noise as a clap of thunder rolls along the sky.

Usually, Kadie is fine ignoring the general bustle of wildlife around their home. She and Sophia have lived out in the beginning of nowhere for long enough now that the occasional screeching flickie is just background noise. But… those noises didn’t sound like flickies. They sounded like people. And as much as she wants to get inside and dry off, she can’t in good conscience leave someone out here to freeze.

“Hello?” The koala calls out, as she approaches the source of the noise, loud enough to be heard over the rumbling of the wind. There’s another squeak as her boots squelch against the path, and after a few paces, she comes across a little alcove—a tree hollowed just enough at the base to make room for two small forms.

Those are kids. It’s hard to make out amongst the weather and the dark, but neither of them can be older than thirteen; the older something like a porcupine, and the younger a tiny ball of fox or wolf. Kadie is struck with a writhing mix of terror at the thought of such tiny children being abandoned out here to get hypothermia, and all-consuming relief that she was here to find them before that happened. The tree hollow has kept them dry, thank the stars, but she doesn’t want to imagine what might happen to the two if the storm continues until morning.

The pair look up at her with cautious eyes—the older narrowed with suspicion, the younger wide with nerves. She tries to look as careful and unthreatening as possible as she speaks. “Are you two okay?” She asks softly.

The maybe-porcupine makes a circular motion with one hand before raising it into a thumbs up; she can just make out the words ‘We’re okay’ being mouthed along with it, exaggerated and slow. The little wolf-or-fox goes to agree, but a fork of lightning peels into the sky behind her, and he yelps, flinching hard before burying himself into the other’s side, shaking like a leaf. The older curls him in further, looking to the trembling ball of fur with big, concerned eyes.

Looking at the two in the hollow—a little kid weeping into the side of someone hardly older than him—she makes a very sudden and very certain decision.

“The storm’s really nasty, isn’t it?” She says, watching as the older nods hesitantly. “My wife and I live not too far up, and I’d hate to just leave you two out here when we’ve got a warm house so close by. How does waiting out the storm inside sound?”

He looks like he wants to refuse on principle, but he can’t stop casting glances to the little fox-or-wolf next to him, and eventually, he nods—shaking the younger kid’s shoulder gently and gesturing for them both to stand.

The walk takes a few minutes longer than it would otherwise. The younger kid clings to the older like the canopy of quills can singlehandedly protect him from the storm, and Kadie is constantly trying to make sure they’re both under the umbrella. Eventually, though, they make it to the cabin, warm yellow light already seeping through the windows and into the open night like a gold thread in the dark. Opening the door, she practically shivers at the contrast in temperature—taking off her soaked-through tartan coat and gesturing the two kids inside.

Now that all of them are stood in the light, she can make out their features more clearly. The older one, who she’d initially thought was a porcupine, much more obviously resembles a hedgehog, with azure quills slowly darkening to cobalt with age, and bright, emerald eyes. The younger is a fox—a little auburn-brown kit who can’t be a day over five years old—and though she hadn’t noticed in the midsts of the storm, two identical tails flicker nervously behind him. Both of them look like they’ve been trying very hard to keep their gloves and shoes in good condition, but it doesn’t seem like either of them have been very successful. The walk to the house has only served to make their soles muddier.

“Kadie?” Her wife calls out from the other room, effectively disrupting the quiet mutual observation. “Is that you?”

She turns around with a soft chuckle, cupping a hand around her mouth to call out in response. “Sweets, who else would it be?”

“Well, for all I know, it could be some mysterious stranger breaking in under cover of night. Did you get the extra firewood like I asked?”

“Yeah—though I don’t know how dry I managed to keep it with the storm outside.” The koala replies, before turning to the two boys, voice lowering gently. “I’m just gonna go put this stuff down. You two make yourselves at home, alright?” Once she’s received a nod from both of them, she moves over to the other room.

Sophia’s waiting for her there on the couch, some old mystery novel comfortable in her hands. She kisses her loudly on the cheek as she passes, making sure her gloves are dry enough before getting out the kindling and logs, setting them down in a basket by the fireplace. The remaining groceries are silently left aside on the dining table to be put away later.

The snow leopard notices the difference in her demeanour immediately, and puts her book down on the cushions when she lingers by the table. “Is everything okay?” She questions worriedly.

“I’m fine,” Kadie hurriedly reassures. “But… Soph, there were these kids stuck in the storm. They were just hidingunder a tree trying to wait it out; the littler one looked frightened out of his mind.”

Her wife quickly catches on to the implication, and the sigh she lets out in return is equal parts exasperated and fond. “Let me guess, they’re in the hall?” At the confirming nod, she laughs gently, shaking her head as she rises from the couch. “Alright. I’ll get the blankets—you go make sure they aren’t hungry.”

Easily assenting, the koala moves back towards the entrance to find the kids right where she left them, looking around the cabin like they’ve never been inside a house before. Sympathy tightens in her chest as she approaches, both their gazes snapping to her when the floorboards creak beneath her feet. She smiles at them reassuringly, relieved as the two smile back, though the little fox does so with a touch more hesitance.

“My wife’s just getting some blankets so we can set you up on the couch. Do either of you want something to eat first?”

The blue hedgehog grins, a thumbs up moving from behind a flat palm, with accompanying mouth movements following the rest of the gestures. Despite it being easier to see with the cabin’s light, the further distance between them means she can’t quite read the words on his lips. Seeing this, the little fox takes mercy on her and translates. “Sonic says he can always eat.” The kid repeats, looking at the hedgehog as he puffs up and smiles at the fox.

Kadie laughs. “Sonic, huh? Like that hero?” It’s pretty cute, she thinks, that the kid would name himself after his hero. She can imagine a lot of kids these days like to play games pretending to be the spiky blue blur, fighting off Doctor Eggman and all his evil robots.

“Yeah! And, um, I’m Tails! It’s nice to meet you!” Tails continues, before his expression turns a little more bashful. “I’m kinda hungry too, is that okay?”

Stars, these are the sweetest little kids she’s ever met. Kadie can’t for the life of her figure out why someone would just leave them out in such a bad storm. “It’s nice to meet you too, Tails; I’m Kadie. And that’s more than okay—come on, you can pick something out from the kitchen.”

The two follow her through to the kitchen, passing Sophia as she lays their good blankets out on the couch closest to the fireplace. Kadie picks up the bag of groceries she left on the table as they go, her wife walking next to her, and they watch the two kids peer at the fruit bowl on the counter with huge eyes, glancing back as if to double-check that she hasn’t changed her mind and looking curiously towards the new person.

“Soph, meet Sonic and Tails,” Kadie smiles, gesturing to her wife and the kids respectively, before repeating the motion vice versa. “Tails and Sonic, this is Sophia, my wife.”

Sonic curls his fingers together and brushes his thumb against his chin, before sticking up his index fingers and curling his thumb in to press the almost-fists on top of each other, pointing towards Sophia. “Sonic says it’s nice to meet you.” Tails translates, before smiling sheepishly. “Uh—I also say that! It’s nice to meet you.”

Sophia laughs, smile turning softer at the embarrassed flush on the fox’s muzzle. “That’s very kind of you to say. Feel free to take anything you like! I mean it, we always buy way too much.”

Reassured, the two pick out a couple pieces of fruit from the bowl each—politely rejecting Kadie’s offer to get them something more to go with it—and eat it at the kitchen counter while Sophia puts the shopping away. She and Kadie watch as the two chat quietly between bites, Sonic struggling to sign with a hand full of fruit, and Tails giggling through replies. The thick walls of the cabin muffle the sounds of the storm outside to nothing but background static and the gentle tapping of rain, and the contrast between the kids’ joy now against the shaking forms she’d found in the tree hollow makes her heart swell with relief.

Later into the night, Kadie stands beside her wife as the pair lay curled up in each other on the couch, practically swimming in the blankets Sophia laid out. The snow leopard’s voice is like a hearthfire in her ear. “They’re such cute kids.” She says, with all the warmth of the sun.

“I just hope everything turns out okay for them.” Kadie says in return, head resting against her wife’s shoulder.

In the morning following, the kids will eat breakfast with them at Kadie’s insistence, and will leave soon after despite Sophia’s offer to let them stay until they’re sure the storm has truly rolled away. Neither of the pair will realise just who that little blue hedgehog and that tiny brown fox were until about seven hours later, when one of their friends in the nearest town stops by for a visit.

“Did you hear?” They’ll say, excited smile echoing over their face as they lean over the dining table. “Apparently that Sonic the Hedgehog’s been seen around the area over the last few days! My cousin said he’s probably looking for a Chaos Emerald, but I don’t buy it.”

“Oh.” The koala will say, sharing a glance with Sophia as the pair quietly short-circuit, dots finally connecting. And within the split second of eye-contact, both make the executive decision not to mention a thing. “That’s nice.”

Stars above—she’d thought the kid was pretending to be himself. If their friends found out, neither of them would ever live it down.

#sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #sonic the hedgehog fanfiction #sonic fanfiction #sth fanfic #outsider pov #Bongo's Writing!!!

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archduchessofnowhere · 2 years

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"It is a feast for the eyes to see the happiness and harmony that radiates from them": Archduchess Sophie's reaction to her son's engagement (part 2)

Continuation of the letter Archduchess Sophie wrote to her twin sister Queen Marie of Saxony on the ocassion of Franz Josef and his cousin Elisabeth's engagement (part 1 is here):

The Emperor's gentlemen are delighted about his choice and full of touching joy about his happiness. Grünne [Emperor Franz Josef's adjutant general] cries as often as he speaks of it and as often as they speak to him of it. - Unfortunately, the weather was bad on the 18th, but it was perhaps favourable, as the Emperor could devote himself all the more to his young love. At the family dinner the Emperor was so proud that Sisi, who was allowed to sit next to him, had eaten with a very good appetite!… (The afternoon excursion took place in the carriage due to bad weather). He [the emperor] must have been very fond of her to have lasted so long in the closed Caleche! Lenza [Helene] talked a lot and was entertaining, the girl has a great charm for me, my eyes followed her, and that is always the case when I have sympathy for a young person. But you can well imagine that my eyes are also busy looking at Sisi, and they rest with delight on this happy couple who love each other so much and in such a charming way; it is a feast for the eyes to see the happiness and harmony that radiates from them. After the promenade, the Emperor came to me and I noticed that he had something on his mind and wanted to talk to me. I asked him if he had anything to say. He replied: 'Yes much, yes much!' Jokingly I sent Bubi into the other room and there he said I should ask Luise to find out from Sisi whether she wanted him, 'but', he added with his usual modesty, 'ask her not to exert any pressure on her daughter'. Then he said: 'My situation is so difficult that, God knows, it is no pleasure to share it with me!' Then I said: 'But dear child, how can you believe that a woman is not too happy to ease your situation by grace and cheerfulness?'… When Luise came to tea, I gradually acquainted her with the Emperor's wish. She pressed my hand with emotion, for in her great modesty she had always doubted that the Emperor would really think of one of her daughters. In the evening I could not refrain from saying to Elise [likely the Queen of Prussia, Sophie and Ludovika's elder sister] and the brothers as I passed by: 'I am so happy!'…When Luise spoke of the Emperor's intentions to Sisi, the latter was completely moved and looked at her mother with her deep gaze, so radiant and enchanting and with her seductive smile; and when the mother asked if she could love him, she said: 'How should one not be able to love the man?' Then she burst into tears and assured me that she would do everything to make the Emperor happy and to be the most tender child for me. 'But,' she said, 'how can he think of me? I am so insignificant!' - This word proves that she is not. The next day or the day after - I don't remember, because in these days we were so fortunate in a few hours that one can no longer count the time - it seemed to us all again and again as if we had been in possession of this happiness for a long time, and yet it has only existed for four days… on one of these days Sisi said to Kadi this charming word: 'I love the Emperor so much! If only he were not an emperor…!' That is what makes her so shy, this future position. The Emperor was literally delighted when I told him this touching saying from his bride, as it contains so much deep and undemanding understanding for him.

Luise wrote me a few touching words on the evening of the 18th, which I received on the morning of the 19th. I quickly sent them to the Emperor, who immediately appeared at my house, beaming with joy. At 8 o'clock he went to the hotel to Luise, who told him of her joy, and then rushing towards Sisi, the two of them fell into each other's arms, as Luise then told me: and she was so pleased about it! We smiled with tears, Elise and I, when she described it to us. You can't imagine how much and how often we laugh now, Elise and I… When they left the hotel to have breakfast with us, the Emperor gave his bride his arm, and when Kadi and Fischer (the Court Counsellor, as the little ones respectfully call him) saw this, they could no longer doubt that everything was all right, and were heartily pleased about it.

You can't imagine how lovely Sisi is when she cries…! My Karl, Charlotte and brother Karl [Prince of Bavaria, Sophie and Ludovika's elder brother] came to dejeuner. They were delighted when I introduced them to the young couple! I sent for Fritzi and Paula, they were all puffy and red from crying. The Emperor sent for Grünne and his other winged adjutants to introduce them to his bride… At 11 o'clock we all went to mass, which the Emperor had especially wished for. The priest received us with holy water, his eyes full of tears! …"

#not sophie ignoring all the red flags because she was delighted about the engament bye #sophie of bavaria archduchess of austria #empress elisabeth of austria #franz josef i of austria #ludovika of bavaria duchess in bavaria #helene in bavaria hereditary princess of thurn und taxis #queen elisabeth of prussia #archduke karl ludwig of austria #karl ludwig von grünne #prince karl of bavaria

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