#there’s some backstory and a bit more of this but it’s mostly still bare bones at this point

[lukerycyja]

 Parental instincts

Words: 0,8k

Warnings: slight cringe writing, zhonglis backstory that I made up, mostly fluff with a lil bit of angst, kind of crack fic i guess?

@zhongrin i tried, I really did, I swear

You had no idea what to think.

You have finally returned from long journey to Snezhnaya, chill still present in your bones, longing for the warm embrace of your husband and his signature cup of tea spreading its heat across your hands. And yet, you weren’t as lucky as you thought.

House was a mess. It looked like every blanket, pillow or cloth was stripped away. Living room and kitchen were is disarray, tea leaves scattered across the floor, drawers opened and their components more or less out of place. It looked like someone broke in and tried to find something. And it had to be some specific object, since valuables and antiques were still there.

House was quiet, or at least it looked like it, but you heard some kind of rumbling coming from deep within. Has some wild beast broke inside to catch your husband off-guard? He still was an Archon of Liyue, only planning his retirement so far, so could it be some contestant for this position?

But that still didn’t make sense, unless the culprit knew that Zhongli is a god, which was unlikely. Yes, his mortal form did resembled statues and his godly form, but clothing and his own muting of his godly aura did the job pretty well. Still, you were married to a god nontheless, so this was in the “possible” category. Wouldn’t even be in the top three weirdest things that happened to you since your relationship with a deity.

Arming yourself with a sword your lover made for you, and carefully stepping down the corridor, the rumbling sound became louder. You felt as if everything was slightly vibrating, which was technically possible. Checking the bathroom and office room, there was nothing out of ordinary, except of moderate mess and lack of blankets. Did the burglar wanted to take only those?

Slowly opening the door to the bedroom, you were met with almost comical sight.

In the middle of ginarmous blanket pile laid your lover in all his draconic glory, barely fitting in the room. He was purring rather loudly, explaining the rumbling and vibrations. Wall of warmth hit your face and you had to do double take at the object that was in the center of this “nest”, guarded by your husband.

There, slightly covered, lied brown egg with golden and red markings on its surface. Some of them looking similar to geo and pyro symbols mixed together, slightly pulsing. It was size of an infant, with Zhongli’s snout carefully checking the surface temperature of it. It was so ridiculous, that you bursted out laughing and dropped the weapon.

His big head snapped in your direction, golden eyes observing you silently. There was slight confusion and embarrasment swimming along the molten gold.

“What… what is this, Zhongli?” you asked once you were able to speak again.

He huffed and lowered his head.

“I am sorry for the mess, dear. I just- I couldn’t-” his voice, now even deeper in this form, sounded so weak.

He sighed and tried to bury his head in the blankets below him, leaving you with comical sight of great Lord of Geo with only his snout covered while his ears, horns and furry neck remained visible.

“I just… what is this about? And why there is this giant egg?” you questioned, still slightly giggling. “Wait” realization suddenly hit you “did you lay an egg?!”

Dragon only groaned and tried to further to bury himself.

“No…”

“Then what is that? Did you steal it? Is it a prop of some sort for you to train whatever ritual is that?” you were more and more confused “...or is this a sign for me that you want to start a family…?”

After a moment of silence his head resurfaced once more and this time you were sure that if he was in his human form, it would be as red as tomato.

“I couldn’t leave it… I found it abandoned, in an empty nest. Parents and siblings had left long ago, but the little one was still alive. I was left as well, I just couldn’t leave it, I just-” his sad and quiet voice broke your heart.

You knew that his parents abandoned him as an egg and that he barely lived when he was a hatchling. He was bullied by other powerful creatures, who looked at him as a funny, squeaky toy. He also thought that he was last of his kind in Teyvat. Quilin-dragon hybrids weren’t rare before the Archon War, but after that only a few remained, and even less survived to the cataclysm. After that, he was only one left. Or so he suspected.

Deciding to leave laughing about this whole situation for later days, you looked at him lovingly and petted his scales.

“Can I join you two?”

Zhongli nodded and made some space for you to join on the pile. Carefully navigating through the blankets, you sat near his head, putting your hands in his fur.

“This is nice” you said, as he started purring again, warmth swallowing you whole in its embarce.

#zhongli x reader #morax x reader #rex lapis x reader #zhongli x y/n #zhongli x you #genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact reader insert #you can certainly see that i did not write in a long while

[solidandsound]

Annual~ video~ game~ retrospective~~~

My goal for this year was to beat every game in my backlog from the year 2004, having already cleared out everything prior to that. I did succeed at this goal as it was set... but since then I have also added a bunch more games to my backlog, thanks to my partner and I buying up a bunch of stuff before the Wii U virtual console store closed. As a result, I'm setting the same goal again: to beat everything in my backlog from 2004 or earlier. As a subgoal, I'll try and get a head start on 2005 as well, as that year is packed for me!

In terms of numbers, I only beat 26 games this year. That's a fair bit fewer than last year's 33. I blame some of the meaty titles I tackled this year, as well as the stuff I played a lot of but can't say I'm done with. If I want to boost that number, I may decide to play more tiny indie games next year.

I went on a bit of a Fire Emblem kick this year. After doing my second playthrough of Three Houses, I still wanted more, so I tried Shadow Dragon for the first time. I'd always dismissed the game for its art style and knowing that it has a more bare bones story than other games in the series. Both of those things are true, but it ended up being such a blast to play regardless, and so interesting to see where the famous Fire Emblem permadeath mechanic began. I then went on to (re)play Fire Emblem (GBA) and Sacred Stones, and thought a lot about the pros and cons of FE's approach to permadeath and how it's changed as the series progressed, and ended up taking some notes on how I would approach it in a game of my own. And I closed off the year with a replay of Fire Emblem Echoes to top it all off!

I also went on a bit of a Zelda kick to prepare for Tears of the Kingdom. Unlike a lot of folks my age, I only got into Zelda as an adult, and there was still a lot of the series I hadn't gotten to yet. To remedy that, this year I played Minish Cap, Twilight Princess, Phantom Hourglass, and Skyward Sword. MC was charming. I loved Twilight Princess! It had such strong imagery, intense vibes, and Midna is possibly the best character in the series. Phantom Hourglass was kind of awful and I ended up dropping the game; they took the basic Wind Waker art style and then decided they didn't need to do any actual work on making the game look good. Skyward Sword was a mixed bag and ultimately feels pretty low-to-mid for the series; it's competent enough but excels at very little. And then, of course, there's Tears of the Kingdom, which I mostly loved. It's an impressively dense game with a world that feels very lived in, and it makes some smart balancing changes coming from Breath of the Wild. I wasn't too fond of the ending, though.

I went on a bit of an Etrian Odyssey kick, too. After Untold 2, I was really craving more, so I made the jump into the more traditional side of EO with EOIV. I had so much fun building my party and coming up with their personalities and backstories.

Here are some more highlights from the year:

Hades. Supergiant doesn't miss!

As a side adventure to my FE obsession, I played Dark Deity, an indie FE-like. It was quite fun early on, but became more tedious later, as well as much buggier. I eventually dropped it, but I'll be curious to see how the sequel turns out.

Voice of Cards: the Isle Dragon Roars. This game has a card-based aesthetic where you flip over cards to reveal the world map. It was great to play on the Switch touch screen, and I'll be sure to check out the other VoC games in the future.

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. I've been chipping away at this game on and off since last year. There's a lot of great stuff in here, and I can see why it's considered an early SRPG classic, but it also feels clunky and underdeveloped in places. Still, it's a Matsuno game, so it has an excellent sense of place and politics.

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. My second Matsuno game of the year! Starts off strong, but eventually the story pacing slows and you run out of new abilities to learn, so I did kind of rush the ending after a while.

Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright. A much meatier game than I expected from a crossover title, this is probably one of my favourite Layton games. I do think the villain got off easy, though.

Resident Evil 2 Remake. This was my pick for Spooky Month, and it was a good one!

Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. My third Matsuno game of the year, and the best game I played this year. I've attempted it multiple times before but always got stuck somewhere or other. I suppose I'm finally old enough to wrap my head around its mechanics, and I'm so glad. I was truly blown away and could not stop thinking about FFT for a week after beating it. That ending!!

I also continued my quests through the Yakuza series (Kiwami 2) and Higurashi (chapters 4 and 5), replayed the excellent Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy for the first time since I was a teen, and put hundreds of hours into Splatoon 3 and dozens into Theatrhythm Final Bar Line. The latter is part of why I moved FFXII and FFT up my list, so I could have greater appreciation for their soundtracks while playing TFBL.

I'm likely to go on a bit of an SMT kick again next year with SMT V, Soul Hackers 2, and/or Persona 5 Strikers. I've also been wanting to replay Fire Emblem Awakening with new context, as well as do my third run of Three Houses. Other than that, I have a lot of Wii U virtual console titles to get to now. That'll include my first forays into some classic Nintendo series like Metroid and Pikmin, so it should be a good time!

#personal #got some games for xmas but have instead started stuff from last xmas lmao #gifted games do go on the priority list because it feels bad not to touch something someone gave me #but even then there are over 40 games on that sublist #also i haven't done gifts with my parents yet so i don't know all my options #but even with the stuff i do know i'm very excited about games #games... good!!!

[keeper0fthestars]

GASP! Girl please 😩

AHahaha @mourningbirds1 you caught that tag did you? 😌 Thank you for the ask!! 💕 I’m so happy you want to know about the nonsense that goes on in my head.

Girl listen I have very loose thot here - a friends to lovers situation that starts with Javi being your neighbour - and it all stemmed from a prompt that @yespolkadotkitty sent me a while ago…

“I can’t keep kissing strangers in the dark and pretending they’re you”

——

You're still not sure what he does for a living but his hours are long and the walls are thin and you have some idea what he does to decompress because it’s not that much different than your own coping strategies and over the next few months, an easy friendship evolves.

There was the night he found himself sitting at your kitchen table in an adrenaline induced haze after a bust gone wrong and with whiskey on his breath he’s apologizing for dripping blood on your floor. You just wave it off and press a fresh glass into his good hand. You know better than to notice the dark circles under his eyes or ask what the other guy looks like. He watches your gentle fingers at work cleaning and bandaging the gash on his knuckles with smooth ease, like you’ve done this a thousand times. So mesmerized by your soothing touch, he forgets the whiskey altogether until he sees you reach for his hand. His brain takes too long to realize you’re reaching for the booze, not his hand. You down it in one gulp and refill the glass for him, ripping open a box of butterfly stitches. His eyes are on the smudge of lipstick on the edge of his glass, the shape of your bottom lip left behind. Dregs of whiskey blur down the side and he wants to taste it.

And he’s not talking about the whiskey.

You give him a frozen bag of peas to help the swelling over his cheekbone and he does as he’s told, wondering why your first aid stash contains eight bottles of hemostatic agent, and is that fishing line… wondering how you know what kind of whiskey he drinks, wondering why you care about him like this.

Fast forward a couple more weeks…

He knows you had a date tonight with that accountant again. Fourth date this month if he was counting. which he’s not.

So he definitely wasn’t expecting to hear you climbing the stairs by yourself at such an early hour.

And he has no right to the sheer relief that settles over him. But the pang of his misguided heart is getting harder to ignore when he’s wishing it was his fourth date with you instead, so he washes the sting of it down with something equally harsh. He doesn’t worry about you when you go out no matter how plain and boring your dates are with their polo shirts and obnoxiously expensive shoes (but the pile of cigarette butts in the ashtray on his coffee table tell a different story)

Then he hears your apartment door slam louder than usual. judging by your cursing, cupboard doors echoing in your kitchen, the evening didn’t go well and he’s off his couch and across the hall without even realizing it.

You’re standing there on the other side of the threshold, barefoot, in a dress he’s never seen before, the glass in your hand is half full and it’s not the cheap stuff. The furious storm in your eyes had already spilled over at some point and smeared your mascara.

There’s a special place in hell for anyone that makes you cry, he thinks, eyes darting across your features, sweeping for any other indicator that might require a little interference in a certain accountant’s affairs. Javi comes up short and he can’t decide if that’s good for him or not.

Once again his chest floods with the overwhelming need to protect you like you’re his.

He steps into your space, and it’s all the coaxing you need. Your face crumbles and he slips the glass from your hand, setting it down on the tiny hall table before gathering you in his arms, soothing your shuddering breaths against his chest.

you don’t see the seething rage darkening his eyes, trembling just underneath the surface.

‘What did he do?’

‘He had a wife.’

——

✨ Read the next drabble in this series here!

In conclusion this is nothing but pure self indulgence where javi desperately wants to be the man to show you that you deserve better, to treat you the way you deserve to be treated 😌

#💌 #javier peña #tw alcohol #neighbour!javi vibes #tw blood #pedro pascal #I’ve been on my Javi feels lately and this was the result #there’s some backstory and a bit more of this but it’s mostly still bare bones at this point #and it’s a little angsty bc it’s Javi #I just need the muse to start cooperating 😅 #*mine: writing #clare tag 🧸

[drabsyo]

I was wondering...I was always confused about Narcissa’s hair. It’s been a while since I read the books. Did she color it blonde to show her now belonging to House Malfoys. Or was it naturally blonde? Movies confused me a bit I guess.

Yes, this had me confused too! I've agonized and toiled over it, more than I probably should, about how I should draw her hair because people have generally different views, which is totally understandable! 💕

And I've always wanted to discuss it, so now that I've been given a reason to... Well.

If you take a look at some of my Narcissa fanart, you'll notice the different ways I'd color her hair. I was so confused. Is she a light blonde? Dark blonde? A mix of raven hair and blonde hair? If she has blonde hair then why does her family have (mostly) dark hair? And WHY does she have blue eyes?! This woman is absolutely confusing! (Which is kind of, you know, fitting because Narcissa always loves to be a mystery to literally anyone lol)

So I did my homework, asked around, and scoured every bit of information, canon or otherwise, that I could find about her. It led me to this:

In canon, this is what the Black sisters look like. You can find the page here. Narcissa is a child here, and already has blonde hair. So we can go ahead and safely assume that she was born with natural blonde hair. But in the films, Narcissa has black and blonde hair. I don't actually know why they gave her that hair color, maybe so that the audiences wouldn't question her blood relations with the Blacks--I don't know. I really don't. But now we have a book version Narcissa, one who has full blonde hair. And a movie version Narcissa, one who has raven and blonde hair. At least, that's how the different hair colors started: a movie version, and a book version.

So... here's where it gets confusing.

To my knowledge, it isn't actually explained why her hair color is the way it is in both the movies and the books. Having blonde hair does raise many questions, how is she the "only" blonde in a family of dark hair and dark eyes? To top it all off, it gets even more confusing, because fanon writes and draws her either as a full blonde or a mix of raven and blonde hair. We just have this large pile to sift through of her having either hair color. No one actually explains anything. She's just... infuriatingly there. She's either blonde or raven haired and blonde. BUT fanfiction writers, as I've observed, give their own reasons why Narcissa's hair color is the way it is in their respective stories. And it's actually pretty creative and interesting! It adds even greater depth to her character, and it fits the narrative of the story even better. Remember, the character we're dealing with is Narcissa Black. One of her main traits is "she won't do anything unless there is a clear purpose behind it." This character is deliberate, meticulous, and she makes sure to plan ahead at all times. And so, some fanfiction writers decide to play on that.

You can skip this part if you want to avoid spoilers but I've compiled a small list of instances in (Cissamione) fanfiction where Narcissa's hair is mentioned.

🔹 In Extinction by rubikanon in Chapter 10: Build and Break, Hermione asks Narcissa about it. Here, Narcissa has black and blonde hair. She explains that she only decided to dye it blonde to "fit in with the Malfoys." We can gather two things from that alone, which resonates with her character perfectly: 1.) Narcissa is loyal and 2.) Narcissa purposefully wants to show the rest of the world how loyal she is by committing to having blonde hair. The woman has some serious commitment, and it shows. But now, the way that it's slowly growing back into her natural black hair color, hints that perhaps Narcissa no longer wishes to fit in with the Malfoys. However, if we take an even closer look, we can safely assume that Narcissa isn't the kind of person to just leave her hair color "unattended" like that. Remember, she's meticulous. And this is a big deal for her, the fact that she's just kind of letting it grow back instead of either fully dyeing it back to black, or dyeing it back to blonde. It suggests that perhaps she's a little unsure this time, perhaps it is her uncertainty that is the reason why it's now a mix of both. Another grey area? Or maybe it's actually something more deliberate? Maybe now, she likes that it's a mix of both. That other half now being solely for Draco, and not to fit in (completely) with the Malfoys any longer. Who knows why Narcissa does things the way she does? We can speculate to the ends of the earth, or be as smart as Hermione Granger (or with the case of Extinction, see Hermione's thoughts), but something tells me we'd still be a good step behind.

"Which one is your natural hair color?" I wondered aloud.

(Narcissa) She glanced up at the unexpected question. I was relieved she hadn't sensed my attention yet. It's not like I meant anything by it, I told myself. She was so beautiful, one couldn't help but notice. And feel physically drawn to her. And want to see her two-toned hair fanned across her back, slipping over the bare skin, silky beneath my fingers...

"Why do you ask?" Her query brought me back to reality, and I hurriedly corrected my imagination to include a pretty dress covering the rest of her.

"I don't know." I chewed the inside of my cheek, suppressing my other thoughts. "I'm just curious."

Her gaze returned to the fire. "You've seen enough of my relatives to guess which color is genetic. The blond is something I added to fit in with the Malfoys, after Draco was born." She was quiet for a moment. "He looks so much like his father. I suppose I wanted to share some resemblance."

🔹 In Killing Me Softly by Looktotheedges in Chapter 4: Nagging, Hermione suggests that perhaps Narcissa is part Veela because of her blonde hair and very attractive features, like Fleur. Which is this whole other theory/plot that's very interesting, but won't be discussed in this post. Narcissa tells Hermione that Sirius has always been blonde, and that it isn't out of the question for her to be blonde either. Sirius Black. A blonde. I know! Maybe it's there because it's funny that Sirius is actually blonde like Narcissa. Prissy, haughty, lady-like Narcissa. Arguably the 'girliest' cousin that he has. No, no, no. He doesn't want to be anything like Narcissa. Anyway, if that's the reason, I think that's hilarious and cute.

Narcissa turns away. 'I am aware my appearance is frightfully drab. Work has been…'

Hermione holds back a disbelieving scoff. 'Narcissa. You always look beautiful. And you’re talking to the witch with grass in her hair who practically lives in her office all week.'

Narcissa just leans further over the crib. 'A blonde little boy. It has been so long since… I can almost imagine…'

Hermione stands next to her. Looks down at the peacefully sleeping Louis. He does look remarkably like Draco. 'Are you sure there’s no Veela blood in you? You weren’t secretly switched at birth?'

'Like a changeling?'

'It would explain your blonde hair.'

'Sirius was also blonde, it is not completely out of the question for us Blacks.'

What?!

(...) 'I know. But it is the truth. He was blond until he was about seven… then it began to darken. Mousy. Dull. He wanted to look cool and brooding instead, so he got his hands on some kind of charm right before he set off for Hogwarts. A new, edgy Sirius. It was around then he forbade us from calling him Siri. Said it sounded too girly.'

🔹 In Fixed in Time by TheWorldsaBeastofBurden in Chapter 9: Sisters and Saviors, it's also tackled a little humorously. Andromeda let's a little comment slip while they're in the middle of trying to heal Hermione. Something funny, something that suggests Andromeda and Bella, when they were children, have always wondered why Narcissa is blonde unlike them.

The first words spoken occurred after they’d risen and attempted their casting. Andromeda’s preparedness to take on their task had been clear in her mind so Narcissa rose with her sister, wrapped an arm around her waist and held her near as the woman raised her wand to draw up the rest of the injury she’d dropped, half a slash across Hermione’s hip bone…

That remained half, as Andromeda growled out, “...it isn’t working.” she looked to Narcissa, “Why aren’t you powering me?”

What nonsense? “I am!” she insisted. She was! Or “I- I am trying to!” Her magic was active and alive, pulsing to rise from her skin and transfer into Andromeda’s but it- it wasn’t working! “Could...could it be that you were disowned?”

“Disowning doesn’t take away the fact that we share blood, our magic is directly related. Ugh, Bella always said you were adopted!”

“Oh ha- oh.”

“...oh?” Andromeda returned.

“...it’s not an issue of power. It is what I intend to aid in casting,” Narcissa slowly worked out. Oh, it was most blessed Mister Goyle could be brought to assist the present Hermione. If her present self had been brought to aid Andromeda? “...I cannot harm Hermione.”

Andromeda sighed with some frustration. “I understand you are so tenderly in love-”

“It isn’t- I’m avowed! I- when we arrived from the future we had to escape Malfoy Manor, I couldn’t bring Hermione through the wards without...I couldn’t add her directly, that would be visible. I had to...attach her permission to mine.”

🔹 In Glass Silence by Zarrene Moss (Menzosarres), which probably gives one of the most interesting backstories for Narcissa's hair, for why it's blonde. I can't put a clip of the scene here without hogging up a huge chunk of space on your dash, so I'll try to explain it as best I can instead.

Understand that these come with serious 🛑spoilers🛑 so please do read it at your own risk.

In Glass Silence, Narcissa's hair and eye color was black at birth. But after an accident with raw magic, something Bellatrix wasn't able to control when they were children, Narcissa almost dies. Bellatrix, using even more raw magic, tries desperately to pull Narcissa's "life force" back, but at the cost of losing the eumelanin that made Narcissa's eyes and hair black. Narcissa survived, but now has very little eumelanin left, which is why she's so pale, blonde, and has blue eyes. Every time Narcissa looks at a mirror, her reflection is a reminder of the day she almost died. Bella, on the other hand, is reminded of that day every single time she looks at Narcissa.

So! These are only a few fanfictions I could think of at the top of my head that tackles the issue of Narcissa's hair. In the books, to my knowledge, she is described as having blonde hair and very pale skin.

But let's take another deep dive, if you're up for it.

These are mostly theories, which are largely unconfirmed, but I think they're interesting to think about.

There's this description in the wiki:

"Narcissa Malfoy is described as tall, slim, "nice looking", and very pale, with blue eyes, long blonde hair, and a clear, cold voice. Her hair colouring thus differs from most of the House of Black, who generally have dark hair, though Narcissa does possess the arrogant good looks characteristic of her family."

There's also this pinterest photo of the Black sisters being compared to each other side by side, descriptively and physically. I'm so sorry, I don't know who drew it, but here's a link to the post on pinterest.

"Narcissa threw back her hood. She was so pale she seemed to shine in the darkness... long blonde hair streaming down her back."

Which is interesting because this hints that she's... different. It's a bit literal in this sense--she comes from a pureblood family, arguably the most influential and notorious one, the Blacks, who mostly have dark hair and eyes, and yet her physical appearance directly contrast that. There's also the matter of her namesake. She's the only Black to be named after a flower instead of a galaxy or a star. We aren't really given any explanation why she's the only one who's different. Even Sirius, who fought and died for the side of the Light, is named after the brightest star in the sky. Even Andromeda. It's been said that this is actually meant to be a parallel of some sort to Lily Evans. Narcissa and Lily are both named after flowers, even Petunia (Lily's sister). And I know there's this thing where it's a tie up to how Harry was ultimately saved by a mother's love: Harry lived at the beginning because of his mother's love, and Harry lives once again at the end of the books because Narcissa, a mother who wanted to save her own son, saved him.

If you read that scene in the books where Harry is saved by Narcissa, the whole scene is actually... pretty soft? There's that sort of disarming softness about Narcissa in that moment, where Harry expected to be callously dragged and prodded for a heartbeat. Instead, he gets a surprisingly gentle touch, a curtain of long blonde hair shielding him from the darkness, and the kind of tenderness he wouldn't expect from his enemies, "Is Draco alive?"

It's almost like Narcissa's appearance is something of a "tell". With Andromeda, she's described to have kind eyes, open, unguarded. She inherited her family's dark eyes and dark hair, and she even looks like Bellatrix's twin. I suppose we could say, Andromeda wants to fight that in any way she can by being openly kind. Narcissa is quite literally the opposite--guarded eyes, stoic expressions, cool and calculated emotions. We're veering into this fine line between fanon and canon in terms of their characterization (but only due to lack of canon materials) but personally, I think Narcissa having blonde hair and blue eyes is somewhat more fitting for her character. Again, this line:

"Narcissa threw back her hood. She was so pale she seemed to shine in the darkness... long blonde hair streaming down her back."

It's like that one glaringly obvious hint that everyone overlooks simply because... because it's the most obvious one. "Me! I'm different! I'm the last person you'd expect, but it really is me!"

Anyway. I've rambled on long enough. Hope this clears up some of that confusion, anon. Hoping it didn't ADD even more confusion... 😂 At the end of the day, this is just me speculating, gushing, and being One Big Fool™. So.

But either way, blonde hair, dark hair, mix of both, I adore her. Pretty much.

#narcissa black #narcissa malfoy #cissamione #anon #HAIR TALK #drabstuff #stupid ramblings

[bestjeanistmonster]

For rewriting the Isolde-Tristan character dynamic:

Definitely make her more confident around Tristan. This is a mace wielding warrior who doesn't hesitate to fuck shit up. Make her act like it.

On that note, maybe a little bit less volatile. Instead of trying to murder Percival and crush his dick, maybe something more like pushing him away and "Hey, what the Hell is your problem??"

I saw someone somewhere mention her picking up Tristan and sprinting away with him, and that is a fantastic idea. She cares about him and wants to support him and make sure he's OK. She can do that without putting him on a pedestal.

As for how Tristan acts around her... Look, they're teenagers. When teenagers have crushes on each other, they're stupid cringey confused little creatures. Our boy is half goddess, half demon. In both those cultures, gift giving is an important gesture. Except he doesn't want it to be SUPER obvious.

He gives her a rock. (His parents are absolutely laughing at him.) And if they should try to flirt...

"Isolde! Hi! You- You look very today!"

"...Very? I- thank you?"

"Uh... yes... very, you look very. Because you have eyes!"

"You, uh, also have eyes! They're good!"

"Yes, I do! I-I can like... see and stuff... with them..."

"Me too!"

"Hah, who knew? Haha!" *flees*

(Meliodas is trying very hard not to blow his cover where he's listening in around a corner)

( I wrote this while I was tired so it’s probably shit but-)

Meliodas would probably want to scream in frustration while simultaneously laugh burst out laughing at his sons attempts at flirting, while Elizabeth thinks it’s adorable and it reminds her a little about her and her husband’s attempts at flirting when they were younger.

[at breakfast]

Tristan: guess what dad, i wrote Isolde a letter telling her how i feel!

Meliodas, excited: that’s progress!

Tristan: yeah, i tore it up and burned it!

Meliodas, his expression immediately falling into a small grimace: uhh

Tristan, pouting while playing with his food: it’s still progress...

also

Isolde, bench pressing a barbell during training:

Tristan crushing his metal water canister in his fist while bright red: gods i wish that was me-

I also imagine her as being the tough as nails type of character, the type you definitely wouldn't want to fuck with but at same time being chill around people she likes and a bit softer with Tristan. Not like simping, but like: checking on him more than everyone else, her eyes softening when he enters a room, letting him rest on her shoulder when he’s tired, stuff like that.

And with the whole volatile thing, i thought it'd be better if Isolde was that prone to violence when she was still training to be a knight but then had mostly grown out of it . (since their like 16, I'm gonna say she started training at like 10-12) 

Queue backstory that i just pulled out my ass and will most probably change later:

Back then she would always attack first and ask questions later, but her opponents usually couldn't answer those questions cuz they'd be too beat up and injured to answer said questions. 

The holy knight that was training her didn’t exactly help her in that department, he didn’t take her training seriously, often slacking off only taught her the  bare bones basics once and never helped her to improve. He didn’t even try to correct her stances or anything, forcing her to spy on the other knights training and copy them to the best of her ability.

This only served to make her angrier.

Isolde would often let her emotions cloud her judgement, leading her to be reckless and make rash (usually violent) decisions

...until she met Tristan that is.

Howser, wanting this child to take a chill pill, made her the personal knight of Prince Tristan. Isolde wasn’t exactly thrilled with this, why would she want to look after some snobby prince when she could be learning how to fight dragons and destroy armies?! 

Despite that, she took her job very seriously because her trainer promised to take her out on a mission if she did. (imagine this scruffy 11-12 year old girl, who might have a lisp, puffing up her chest trying to be serious lol)

But to her surprise, the tiny prince (well tiny compared to her anyway) wasn’t snobby in the slightest, he was a hyper ball of sunshine who basically bounced off the walls and ran away whenever he got the chance. That kid could run fast

Tristan was a little scared of her at first, the girl was intense and terrifying, but eventually with a bit of encouragement from Elizabeth, tried to befriend her.

He noticed that Isolde’s form was off when she swung her mace making her lose a bit of balance, so he offered to teach her what he knew. Isolde begrudgingly accepted because although the prince’s weapon of choice was a sword he did know a few things about how to use a mace cuz he thought they were cool.

Plus he kicked her ass in training in like 2 seconds flat, so she needed all the help she could get.

Eventually Isolde found herself endeared by his friendly goofball nature and she started to recuperate his friendship.

Their friendship became official after the two were walking through the streets of Liones and they almost got mugged. Through joint teamwork they beat the thrives up, but Isolde was pissed off and nearly broke one of their legs in a fit of rage.

Thankfully Tristan held her wrist tightly to stop her mace from coming down.

“Prince Tristan?! What’re you-“

“Isolde, they’ve had enough, look at them.” Tristan gestured to the three thieves on the ground, they looked thin, incredibly thin. “Their just hungry and needed some money.”

Tristan gently pulled her wrist down and then offered the thieves the loaf of bread they had bought to share. The thieves ran away with it obviously, and left them both staring after them.

“Welp come on Isolde we still have to go to park!”

“…how did you notice that they were-“

“Hungry? I don’t like running into things before I know all the facts cuz you never know what could’ve actually happened or if it was a misunderstanding, you can’t just rush in weapons first cuz it’ll just make the situation worse, ya’know?”

“…right?”

They make it to the park and sit on the swings, Isolde being deep in thought while Tristan is swinging so high that it’s likely he’s gonna fly off any second.

“…do you wanna be friends with me?”

“Hah?!!”

Tristan let’s go in shock and catapults himself face first into the grass.

“Prince Tristan!!!” Isolde ran over to check on him.

He immediately sat up, his face bruised slightly and covered in dirt, “I will absolutely be your friend!!!”

“Great…uhm but are you, like, okay?”

The hybrid held up his baby tooth that had been knocked out in the crash before smiling at her with a bloody smile.

“Yep!”

“…let’s get you to the infirmary.”

“Yes please-“

After that they became friends and Isolde started working on her anger issues, and by the present manga she’s seriously improved! Although there are a few times where she lets her emotions get the best of her but not to the extent of her trying to crush someone’s balls.

Basically I like to think that Tris and Isolde would be a calming presence for each-other.

(I’m open to changes)

#nnt #nanatsu no taizai #seven deadly sins #sds #sds anime #meliodas #nnt tristan #4kota isolde #4kota tristan #4kota spoilers #4kota #tristan liones #4 knights of the apocalypse #4kota manga

[delimeful]

the end of being alone (4)

warnings: mentions of Roman's tragic backstory, health concerns, chronic fatigue mentions, but really mostly fluff

-

“Roman!” A hushed whisper-yell came from halfway across the cave.

Roman looked up from where he was carefully taking apart and cleaning out his communicator, feeling a stab of exhaustion upon seeing Patton crouched next to their resident baby Human. They’d just spent what felt like half a suncycle entertaining the kid, who seemed to wake up with more energy than all three of them combined.

Virgil was in fact the source behind the crumbs of mud and dirt that had worked their way into the cracks of his communicator: Logan was currently at the ship working inventory, and the kid had insisted on checking up on him as often as he remembered that the Ulgorii wasn’t with them, which was often.

Still, they’d managed to tucker him out eventually, and he’d fallen asleep in their presence for the third time ever, which felt like some kind of accomplishment in itself.

An accomplishment that they were about to undo if Patton didn’t stop making a ruckus. Roman drew his hands apart slowly, signing ‘quiet’ at his friend as he cast one last look at the partially assembled communicator and then padded over.

“What is it?” he signed, since whispering was both rough on his throat and not always guaranteed to come out as low volume as he’d like.

Patton took a moment to gesture wildly at the Human, who was slumped over on his side. Roman felt a sudden stab of fear, and leaned over to check his breathing.

To his relief, Virgil was simply sleeping, no injuries or illness visible in him. He turned a frustrated stare onto Patton. If the Ampen had called him over here and scared the scales off of him just to have another fit about how cute the Human was, he was turning right around and walking to the nearest river to dunk his head under and scream.

Before he could say as much, Patton finally found his words. “Roman, he’s purring!”

Roman jerked back slightly in surprise. “He’s what?”

“Purring!” Patton looked up at him, antennae fluttering back and forth rapidly like he couldn’t contain his confused alarm. “He’s never done this before! Do you think…,”

Roman moved closer, ears pricking forward attentively. Sure enough, there was a low little buzz coming from the Human. He couldn’t help but notice the purr’s odd tone, the weakness of it, the way it stuttered and paused and occasionally seemed to falter entirely.

“It’s not right,” he muttered to himself, placing the pads of his hand on the Human’s torso and feeling the faint buzz.

Patton whistled in worried query, glancing between them both. “Is he hurt?”

“He’s Human, Pat, I don’t know if—,” Roman froze midway through lifting his hand away; Virgil was making a short, high noise, almost like a whine. His little face had crinkled up in sleep, the way Human distress looked, and his purr had turned to hitching breaths.

Roman glanced at his broken communicator and swore under his breath, feelings strong enough to make Patton fluff up with secondhand panic.

“I’ll go find Logan!” he said, twisting and scampering out of the cave, quick enough that his skittered footsteps had vanished by the time Roman’s wordless sound of protest made it out of him. Roman had longer legs, and Patton was better with the kid, so why had things turned out like this?!

He looked back down at Virgil, who had begun to unconsciously curl inward, leaving his back exposed. The motion hardly made sense; according to the body scan Logan had coaxed the kid through, the center of all his nerves met there, with only a thin layer of skin and muscle surrounding it.

He had no scales or rough hide or even fluffy plumage to protect his back, but he still curled up with it facing out, as though defending his squishy underside like a Crav’n.

The thought made something in him twist, and his scales went slicked back as another whimper tore through the tiny Human. He glanced at the cave opening: There was no sign of the others’ return. It would probably be a while yet.

Regardless, Roman couldn’t wait around and watch a kit cry any longer. He carefully lifted the Human up into the curl of one arm, crooning lowly at him. Virgil settled slightly, but the tiny, haphazard purr had yet to start back up, and the thought was enough to make him feel nauseous with worry.

He reached back and only hesitated a fraction before unhooking his plate armor, pulling it free and setting it away for the first time in the kit’s presence. Despite the sounds of metal, Virgil didn’t wake, head slumped against a shoulder and gangly limbs pulled in tight.

Still, no purr. Not even that sickly little stutter.

If Virgil had been a Crav’n, a true pup, he would have spent each night cuddled up with his family, falling asleep to their low rumbles and quickly developing his own. It was an automatic reflex, a vital part of deep sleep, a vibration that kept their bodies in good condition.

There were ways it could go wrong. If a pup was abandoned, they’d have problems developing their purr alone. If a pup felt... unsafe enough, they’d stop purring entirely, quiet even in the deepest sleep. When it was a choice between being healthy and not being hunted, even the smallest pups knew which to choose.

Even after rescue, it could be a struggle to regain the reflex, especially without close family. It had taken Roman years to manage, and he could still remember how much better he’d felt when he’d woken up after a full night of low, purring sleep. The sense of relief that came with realizing the ache in his bones didn’t have to be permanent.

Roman wavered, looking down at Virgil. The kid was Human. There was no guarantee this was even what he needed.

But if he did need it, the way Roman had needed it so long ago…

He pressed a thumbpad to the little crinkle in the Human’s brow, smoothing it out, and then sat down with a little grumble of acceptance. He shifted to lean back, his tail keeping him balanced as he settled Virgil’s little curled up form atop his chest.

It had been a while since he had purred while conscious. Parents got plenty of practice, of course, but once a kit was old enough, everyone would greet them with their own rumble, let them know they were safe. It was the best way for older kids to keep practicing their purrs while awake, too.

He hadn’t practiced in a long time, but looking down at the kit, he found his own deep, consistent purr started up with barely a hitch.

It took a few moments, but Virgil cuddled closer, seeming to lose a little of that fearful tension. Roman carefully adjusted him as he got floppier, and frowned at the little sharp bits of bone he could feel under the skin. Patton was right; the kid needed to eat more.

Embarrassingly, his purr got louder, as though he could heal months’ worth of living off a scavenger diet through pure force of will. He should tone it down. He wasn’t a brand new parent looking after their first pup. He didn’t even know if this would help at all.

…

Well, it couldn’t hurt to keep trying, though, could it?

—

When Patton scrambled into the cave ahead of him and then stopped short, Logan feared the worst.

He’d always known that this venture could end in disaster, from the moment they’d realized they were dealing with a Human. Roman had been worried about aggression or violence, the classic fears when it came to Deathworlders and the expected response considering the Cravon’s past.

Logan had been more worried about the situation itself. The black market trafficking industry had led to an abhorrent number of cases with rescued feral children. Very few of them had been successfully socialized, and though Virgil was older and seemed to be improving with them, his worry about the child had never quite gone away.

“Is he…,” Logan felt his throat buzz with some sort of wordless grief, and Patton turned to look at him with wide eyes.

He chirped a negative as quietly as possible, and Logan felt some of the weight on him fall away. Reaching out, Patton curled his little fingers around Logan’s wrist, tapping an apology against his chitlin.

“They’re okay,” he whispered, and then pulled him forward excitedly. “I was just surprised, really surprised— look!”

Once his eyes had adjusted to the slight change in lighting, Logan could see Roman, who was laying on his back up against the wall of the cave, his face lax with sleep and a low rhythmic rumble emanating from his chest. This in itself wasn’t entirely unusual; Roman needed a lot of sleep, and he often took naps here and there.

No, the unusual element was the Human that currently had his cheek squished up against Roman’s neck, sprawled out in the most relaxed position he’d ever seen from the pupa. Roman’s chest plate had been set aside entirely.

“They’re cuddling,” Logan said, bewildered.

“They’re cuddling!” Patton squealed, ecstatic.

He clapped his hands over his mouth, but going by the way Roman’s purr shifted to a growl, the damage was done. Roman’s eyes slit open, and without a moment’s pause his tail curled in front of him defensively, his scales pricking up to make a wall of sharp points between them and Virgil.

The Cravon looked entirely ready to disembowel whoever had dared to try and disrupt the kid’s sleep.

“Roman,” Logan called dryly, “it’s us.”

He ran through his identifying ‘friend-safe’ clicks to cement the statement, but Roman was already settling his scales back down and averting his gaze.

“Sorry,” he forced out, ears flattened back with embarrassment as his growl settled back into that low purr Logan normally only heard while they were settling down to sleep. “Didn’t mean to—,”

“It’s quite alright,” Logan interrupted, unable to completely conceal the amusement he felt. Roman had yet to shift in any way that would jostle Virgil. “Though this is a touching scene, I was under the impression that something was wrong.”

Patton piped up to answer his non-question, though his antennae had yet to stop their excited swaying. “We found out Virgil purrs!”

As if on cue, a haphazard little buzz started up, a rough, faltering pattern that was barely audible. Roman lowered his own purr’s volume, though it seemed to make his ears twitch with reluctance.

They all went quiet to listen to the undersized sound for a moment, the Human still blissfully unaware of all the attention.

“It’s too weak by far,” Roman said, his Common a little more accented through the purr. He was looking at the Human in his arms with blatant worry, a far cry from his original reluctance to interact. “I didn’t know a purr could be this weak.”

“That’s because it’s not a purr,” Logan said, trying to keep any hint of fondness from his voice. His shipmates turned to look at him with wildly varying expressions.

“I’ve seen this phenomenon before,” he continued. “I used the medscanner to check Virgil over, because I had also originally assumed it was a purr, and if it was…,” he faltered.

He’d been just as alarmed as the two of them now were, hearing it. If it had been an internal maintenance process like a Crav’n purr, it would have been even quieter than Roman’s when they’d first started travelling together. He and Patton had witnessed firsthand the difference in Roman’s mood and health once he’d gotten through those rough nights.

Next to him, Roman’s ears were tucked completely flat, as though he knew exactly what Logan was remembering. Logan didn’t understand why Roman was so embarrassed by moments of weakness-- was often frustrated by his friend’s reticence, even-- but now wasn’t the time to address it.

“I was simply concerned about the possibility,” Logan finally settled on, “but after investigating his scan thoroughly, I found it was simply the result of soft tissue vibrations from a partially blocked airway.”

Patton blinked up at him. “What does that mean here?”

“It means I-- we freaked out for no reason,” Roman grumped, carefully pushing himself up as his purr ground to a stuttering halt.

Logan held out a stilling hand. “Not necessarily.”

“So, it is a bad thing?” Patton asked, drooping.

“Not at the moment, however,” Logan cast a meaningful look at Roman, “I have no control to work off of, but I do believe Virgil’s general skeletal and muscular health is in worse shape than they should be. He may not have the capability to self-maintain like you, Roman, but that doesn’t mean he gains no benefits from this. The opposite, really.”

Roman slumped back down immediately, eyes wide. “It’s helping?”

“Yes,” Logan confirmed. “I was planning to bring the topic up with you, actually, once you were more comfortable around him.”

“I’m so proud of you!” Patton chirped delightedly, darting forwards to bump his head against Roman’s chin. “You really stepped up when he needed you, Roman.”

“Of course I did, who do you think I am?” Roman shot back confidently. Everyone politely pretended not to notice the flustered twitching of his tail. Patton peeked over Roman’s shoulder, crooning slightly at the sight of Virgil.

“Cuddle pile!” he cheered softly, using Roman’s arm as a helpful bar to climb up onto him. Roman shifted obligingly, shifting his horns into range for easy handholds when Patton inevitably slipped.

As soon as Patton was settled, feathers puffed out for maximum soft padding, the two of them turned to look at Logan with matching pleading expressions, as though choreographed. Logan clicked with faux reluctance even as he stepped closer.

“Oh, very well,” he conceded, and was pulled into the haphazard pile posthaste.

He mentally tabled the rest of inventory for later, knowing quite well that nothing was going to  get done for as long as the impromptu session lasted.

Still, with his friends beside him and Roman’s pleased purr rumbling through him, he couldn't seem to find anything to complain about.

#sanders sides #teoba #wibar #ts roman #ts virgil #ts patton #ts logan #writing #my writing #the end of being alone #humans are deathworlders #yaaay i wrote #*claps for myself*

[babybluebex]

english love affair [tom holland x reader]

➽ pairing: tom holland x fem!reader ➽ word count: 2.1k ➽ summary: you attend the bronx school of science, and you’re immediately taken by the new student: ben perkins. ➽ warnings: deception ig?  ➽ a/n: PART 1! no idea how many parts this is gonna be, but stick around! (taglist link is in bio)

As soon as you stepped off the bus, you heard the chattering that only came from one occurrence. A new kid. That confused you, though. It certainly wasn’t unheard of for kids to drop in halfway through the semester, but, at your school, it was rare. The Bronx School of Science was an elite high school and it took amazing test scores and the grace of God to get in, so a new kid in the middle of the year was a rarity. 

You saw him the moment you walked into your first period chemistry class. After all, he was the only face you didn’t recognize. Dark, curly hair that was just a bit long, with rosy cheeks and wide brown eyes. He seemed nervous; as new kids usually were. He wore a red hoodie, his hands shoved deep into the front pocket, and he was looking all around the room. The seat next to him was empty and, while it wasn’t your usual place, there was no formal seating chart. “You new?” you asked, swinging your backpack to the floor. 

The boy looked at you with a keen alertness in his dark eyes, and he swallowed thickly. “Yeah,” he laughed softly. He sounded a little Queens, maybe; perhaps even Brooklyn. “Just, uh… Just moved here.” 

“Nice,” you said. “From where?” 

The boy clenched his jaw. “Queens,” he said, and you nodded. 

“Well, welcome to the Bronx,” you laughed. “I’m Y/N.”

“Ben,” he said quickly. “Ah, Ben Perkins.” 

“Ben Perkins from Queens,” you repeated. “What brings you here?”

Ben shrugged. “Parents,” he mumbled simply. Ben seemed like a guy of few words, but you didn’t mind too much. It was a welcome change from the other guys at your school who wouldn’t shut up. 

You decided to not really say much to Ben. If he didn’t feel like talking, you didn’t want to push him and make him uncomfortable. The first day at a new school was stressful. “If you need help with any classes or anything, just let me know. Getting into the routine here is hard as shit.” 

“Thanks,” Ben told you with a nod. “That’s quite nice.” 

You couldn’t place why the usage of the word “quite” tickled the back of your brain. Maybe because you had never heard anyone use it like that. “You’re quite welcome,” you replied, biting the tip of your tongue. Ben looked at you and the rosiness in his cheeks grew deeper as he smiled. 

The class started normally, until your teacher got to the Ps on the roll sheet. “Oh!” she cried. “We have a new student! Benjamin Perkins!”

Ben’s face grew red, this time not from laughter. He gave a quick two-finger to the class, and he mumbled, “Just Ben is fine, actually.” 

“Welcome to the Bronx School, Ben,” your teacher said. “I’m sure you’ll do great here.” 

About halfway through the lesson, you looked at the boy sitting beside you. He wore jeans and scuffed sneakers with the red hoodie, a dark curl bouncing along his forehead as he looked at the board and diligently copied notes. He was cute, a lot cuter than any boys you knew, and you wondered what he was like when he was in his element. His hands were big, veins popping as he gripped his pencil tightly. You took a second look at the mechanical pencil, and your heart soared. Quickly, you ripped a page out of your notebook and scribbled a quick “i like your pencil :)”, and you passed it over to Ben. 

He tore his attention away from the lecture for long enough to look at your note, then at the pencil. It was red and blue with various white spiderwebs all around it. You liked the Spiderman pencil; your dad had practically raised you on the Toby Maguire Spiderman movies, so you liked anything Spiderman. In fact, you had been Spiderman for Halloween three years in a row when you were little. Not Spiderwoman, you said, Spiderman. Ben wrote something down and gave you the paper back, and you bit your lip as you read his message. 

“spiderman’s pretty cool i guess. you like the movies?”

“yeah!! toby maguire’s awesome”

“cool. i like them too :)”

You invited Ben to sit with you at lunch, and he did. You usually sat alone, and you secretly liked having Ben there with you. You two talked about Spiderman, mostly: how Toby was a better Peter Parker but Andrew Garfield was the better Spiderman. “You know,” you started. “In the comics, Peter Parker becomes, like, an intern for Tony Stark. Tony makes him this suit and he becomes the Iron Spider.” 

“Really?” Ben said. His eyebrows went up, and he scratched at a few upturned hairs. “That sounds cool.”

“I wish they’d add Spiderman to the MCU,” you added. “I think he’d fit really well with everyone, ya know? I mean, I guess they’d have to cast the right guy, but…” You shrugged. “A girl can dream, right?” 

“Sure thing,” Ben said. “I like Robert Downey Jr. a lot, he seems really fun.” 

“Oh, definitely!” you agreed. “And Chris Evans! Man, I’d love to meet them, I would just die right there.” 

Ben smiled and nodded along with you, and he slotted his chin into his palm as he listened to you chatter about Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. There was a hint of a smile on his lips, and you stopped mid sentence when you noticed it. “I just think Elizabeth Olsen is so underrated, and-- Ben. You alright?” 

Ben blinked a few times. “Yeah,” he said. “M’all good. Just listening to you.” 

You flushed. “I’m not talking too much?” you asked, feeling the urge to sink into yourself. “I’ve been told I do that.” 

“No, not at all,” Ben said quickly. “I like it. I like how people get when they get excited about something, you know? It’s cute.” 

“Cute,” you repeated, rolling the word around your mouth. Did Ben just call you cute? Or did he call the whole concept of your dumb blathering about some movies cute? Did that still qualify as calling you cute? You raised your eyes to his and, nervously picking at a loose thread on your sweater, hazarded, “You think I’m cute?” 

Ben shrugged. “I mean, yeah,” he said, as if it was obvious. “You just seem so passionate about those movies. I would listen to you talk about them for a long time.” 

“You wouldn’t want to.”

“I do,” Ben said quickly. “I promise you, I don’t mind one bit. I’d tell you if I did.” 

You nodded again, and you scooted just a bit closer to Ben. “For the record,” you started. “I think you’re cute too.” 

Ben smiled, little dimples appearing in his cheeks. “Cool.” 

Before the day ended, Ben had given you his phone number. “I don’t have Snapchat or anything,” he said. “Strict parents, ya know? But I’d love to talk to you.” 

You liked the way that Ben texted. He used a lot of emojis and even a few goofy emoticon faces, a la 2012, and he signed every text off with xx. With texting, you felt like Ben was a little more open than at school, probably because it was just the two of you, completely private. And, man, did the boy talk. He sent two, three, four messages in a row, just spewing thoughts the second he thought them. You didn’t mind one single bit, though; but your parents did. 

Even though the sound was off and your phone was in your pocket, the entire dinner table could hear your phone buzzing. “Is someone calling you?” your dad asked. “Your phone just keeps going off.” 

“Oh, no,” you said, your face going warm. Quickly, you pulled out your phone and set it completely silent, and the buzzing ceased. “Sorry. Just texts.”

“From who?” you mom asked. 

“A boy from school,” you began, fully intent on explaining the situation, but your little brother was quicker to the uptake than you. 

“Ooh, Y/N has a boyfriend!” he squealed. 

“Shut up, you little fungus!” you hissed. Brothers of any age were unbearable, but 13 was an especially difficult age, you had come to find. 

“Don’t call your brother a fungus,” you mom sighed. “That boy’s texting you an awful lot, though, Y/N.” 

You shrugged. “He’s new,” you said. “Just asking questions about school and stuff.”

“And his name?” your dad asked. 

“Ben Perkins,” you said. “He just moved from Queens.” 

“He’s a senior?” your mom asked and, when you nodded, her eyebrows creased. “That poor boy, moving schools in the middle of his senior year. Well, good for you, making new friends. I bet he really appreciates you.” 

Tom slumped himself down on the couch. You weren’t answering his texts and, while he knew that you probably had homework or were eating dinner or any number of other things, he couldn’t help the anxiety that filled him at the thought that maybe he had scared you off. 

Tom hadn’t had a normal high school experience by any means. Sure, secondary school was a thing that was semi-normal, but normal in the sense that everyone around him was in the same boat. And he was certain that British secondary school was a hell of a lot different than American high school. Hence, the joke that had landed him here.

“It would be funny if I went to an American high school for a few days. Just to see what it’s like, ya know?” 

Apparently, Anthony and Joe Russo didn’t seem to understand his British sense of humor, because he was on a flight to New York within the week. The Russos had helped him come up with the bare bones of a backstory: Ben Perkins, originally from Queens. American. 17. Quiet. It was a far cry from Tom Holland, originally from London, British, 19, and loud. But the Russos, in their infinite wisdom, had seen through Tom’s joke and understood something that was integral to the character that had taken Tom a few days to really see. 

Peter B. Parker was a high schooler. A smart one, an unusual one, but he was still 15 and trying to understand himself and the world. Tom didn’t have that knowledge; at least, not in the way that Peter Parker would have had it. He needed to see the inside of an American high school to get to the core of his character, and even Tom understood that. The filming for Captain America: Civil War hadn’t started and the news of Spidey’s introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe hadn’t hit the airwaves yet, but Tom knew that, if his contract was to be upheld in the way that Sony and Marvel had promised, he would have plenty of time to use this high school experience to better the character. 

Tom really and truly did not intend to develop a crush on a girl. Yes, a beautiful, smart, and funny girl that shared a love for the same things he did, but he was sure that the Russos would disapprove of it. After all, he was only slated to go to the Bronx School of Science for three days. There wasn’t nearly enough time to have anything more than a crush. But you. There was something about you, something intangible. He had felt a pull in his stomach when you first walked into the room and, when he had texted Harry about it, his brother had only laughed at him and made a joke about wanting to get his dick wet. And, yes, while that thought was in Tom’s mind, you were already so much more to him than that. 

As much as Ben Perkins was a character, Tom felt like he could be himself around you. He had shared stories from growing up, mostly about his brothers pulling shenanigans, and had shown you pictures of him and Tessa when he had first gotten her. The little squeal and sigh that had left you when you saw the puppy made his heart swell. Then, he had said something that still made his stomach turn: “Maybe you can meet her soon.” 

What a great fucking thing to say to someone that he would have to abandon in three days. Sure, he could keep texting you after he left, but he would have to explain everything to you. He knew what your reaction would be, too; somewhere along the lines of laughing at him and going, “Dude, you’re fuckin’ nuts, bro.” Or, on the other end of the spectrum, getting mad at him for lying to you. He was sure that you would be more mad than amused. And, after the conversation that you two had shared about your requited love for Spiderman, he knew that trying to tell you wouldn’t land him anywhere except alone again. 

And, God. Tom was tired of being alone. 

#tom holland #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland x reader #tom holland x y/n #tom holland fluff #tom holland x reader fluff #tom holland angst #tom holland x reader angst #tom holland x y/n angst #angst fanfiction #fluff fanfiction #tom holland fic #high school au #sorta??

[shinidamachu]

I often give Kikyo a hard time and is probably one of my least favourite characters. But she's a tragic character who didn't deserve her fate. I think it would have been more exciting that after her resurrection, she would turn into a villain with so much bitterness and hatred towards Inuyasha and Kagome, to then having one of the most greatest and compelling redemption arcs in the series. It would kind of be a parallel to Naraku. I would of loved Kikyo if that were the case. What do you think?

Do you really give her a hard time? Or are you just being critical of the way her character was portrayed? Because let me tell you, that’s not a crime. No piece of media or character is above criticism. As long as it’s not unnecessary bashing, I think it’s perfectly okay and healthy to use our critical skills, just like it’s fine to unapologetically enjoy something without thinking about it too hard.

ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ is probably one of my least favorite characters as well, but she had gorgeous character design, her backstory was intriguing and she had a crazy amount of potential. It's not her fault that it was all wasted.

The biggest problem, at least to me, is that the narrative was constantly trying to paint ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ as a victim only of Onigumo's obsession, of Naraku's traps and of fate itself. Because she was also victim of her own wrong choices and of bad writing. That was the real tragedy.

The narrative barely holds her accountable for anything she did and therefore her character has no room to improve or grow. And yes, I know this might be the case for several characters, such as Koga. The difference is that they were never treated as the epitome of purity and didn’t have the same level of importance to the story as she did.

It was essential to give her more backstory, to truly make her face and regret the consequences of her actions, to make her reevaluate herself, to challenge her belief system. The way they tried to do that, mostly with Kohaku and a little bit with Kagome, was unsatisfactory to me. 

The way it happened, it felt like she was a side character who was there just to be sad, pretty and to create angst between the protagonists. And could have been so much more!

Personally, I love the idea of ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ as a spiritual guide to Kagome, the way Roku was to Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender. In this scenario, ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ and Inuyasha truly loved each other, not just the idea of having someone. She still helps Onigomu and it still bites her in the ass, but the difference is that when he became Naraku, he couldn’t fool Inuyasha and ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ into turning against each other. What he achieved instead was killing her and putting the blame on Inuyasha, who is then sealed to the Tree of Ages as a punishment.

ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ reincarnates as Kagome and everything else is pretty much the same, but using her spiritual powers, Kagome has the option to go to ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ for guidance and  ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ is always there to help her clean up the mess she made, as well as Inuyasha’s name. They then could have focused more on Kagome’s struggle to measure up to ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ, getting out of her shadow, finding her own place in the world. The romance with Inuyasha would be held back by the fear that ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ is the one he is seeing whenever he looks at her. 

And Inuyasha could have trouble with the same doubts, until they find out together that it was a “yes and” situation. Yes, he loved ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ. And now he loves Kagome. For her part, ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ would have achieved nirvana once Naraku was defeated and Inuyasha is finally, truly happy again, instead of doing it by spending ten seconds in the arms of a man who's not in love with her anymore and maybe never really was.

Now, if that couldn’t have been done, everything was the same and it was essential to bring her back, she should have been brought back as a human. Flesh, bones, blood, the whole package. That would have given her a fighting chance, it would have made the love triangle less shallow. It would have given ɪɴᴜᴋɪᴋ a second chance, let them try to fix what was wrong in their relationship. 

To me, narratively speaking, Inuyasha ending up with Kagome still would have made much more sense, but at least they would get to see for themselves why they don’t work and never again be haunted by “what if’s.” ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ would have realized that she wanted to be an ordinary woman more than she ever wanted Inuyasha. That she doesn’t need him or any man to achieve that. So this is what she finally becomes. Inuyasha would have realized that what he felt for ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ was infatuation and that Kagome was the one he truly loves, that they were born for each other.

In the meantime, ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ could have been working as a double agent, pretending to be consumed by hatred and evil only to give the Inugang precious information and trying to destroy Naraku from the inside. This could have given us an amazing dynamic with ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ, Kanna, Kohaku and especially Kagura. I get chills just thinking about the parallel between ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ wanting to be an ordinary woman and Kagura wanting to be the free wind. By extension, she could have actually interacted with Sesshomaru, which would also be cool.

And finally, I would have made ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ show affection for her sister. It felt like Kagome had more quality time with Kaede than her own blood, who didn’t seem to care about her at all. Do you have any idea how crazy that was? They only had each other, ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ died and Kaede had to grow up without her. Then she comes back from the death as young as she was before, to a gray Kaede. And none of this was explored. Nor this dynamic shift, nor the feelings they had about her ressurection. Nada.

But I also love your idea. I agree that ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ as an actual villain would have been exciting to see! A fallen priestess, consumed by darkness. Struggling with the good and the bad within. The parallel to Naraku, to Tsubaki. I think this would actually be the easier choice to go with in the original, because she did some pretty questionable things already. It would be a simple matter of taking a step forward and making the narrative call it out rather than just brush it off.

#Inuyasha #Thank you for the ask babe #Sidmailing

[darkpoisonouslove]

Winx Club Rewrite Is a Go

I don’t know how I ended up here because I’ve always maintained that rewrites aren’t my thing (and I still kinda do) because it feels a lot like reading the same thing over and over again and to me it can be annoying. Yet, here I am with my very own Winx Club rewrite.

I started writing the first episode today but I have A LOT planned out already. Seasons 1 and 3 are pretty solid already even if there is still a lot of character work to be done and logistics to be figured out. I also have some structure for seasons 2 and 4 and I figured out the backstory of the Wizards of the Black Circle yesterday and that gave me an indescribable feeling which is pretty much what I took as a sign that it’s time to talk about this project.

To explain what I am doing - I am taking everything and changing it while keeping it the same. If that doesn’t make sense, then imagine that I am keeping the major plot points and most of the episodes (I have removed some because they are just irrelevant) have the same starting and ending point as they do on the show but there are big changes between those. Seasons 5, 6 and - you’ll find out in a sec - are going to have a lot more changes. I have removed transformations and switched around some of the transformations so that they are earned at a different point than in canon. I have picked a place to end this already and I have arcs for each season.

Now when it comes to the seasons, I have removed season 7 which will be done as a “movie” and will have additional plot still because there really is THAT little to season 7. Season 8 becomes season 7 in my rewrite and is the last and final season. It is the end of Winx’ journey and I think it is a satisfying end to a pretty long story. I am keeping the movies but:

1) There will probably be “movies” after seasons 1 and 2 as well just to make the structure make sense and because I feel like there is enough to be talked about between the seasons.

2) SotLK is majorly different from canon because there was no sense to that movie and only plot holes instead. I’ve saved what was salvageable from it and mostly put it in season 3 to free the whole movie for more interesting and logical stuff to happen. The end goal is the same, though - bringing Marion and Oritel (and Domino) back.

3) Magical Adventure is the least changed but there will be several changes here as well. The plan is to make the movie relevant on a wider level than just to Winx and the Specialists but I still don’t have that clear a vision of it. Just some things that I want to see but need piecing together.

3) The “movie” after season 5 will deal with the season 7 plot instead. I have switched them around. There will be Kalshara and Griffin and Faragonda and some major Bloom drama as well. I need to make these pieces connect, too, but this one feels almost coherent at the current time.

4) Politea is saved for the last movie that is after season 6. You’ll see why. Anyway, major Daphne and Bloom feelings are planned for that movie... and I don’t know what else yet. We’ll see.

I am currently working on all of the seasons and all of the movies at once so it is a bit of a mess. I write down and rewrite ideas. Everything is one big map in my head that isn’t completely translatable to someone else. Anyway, you can find everything I have posted about this in the “wc rewrite” tag. You can ask me questions if you have them and I’ll see how much I’ll share while trying to resist the urge to spoil everything because I have been at this for about 5 months now and I have so many ideas that I adore and want to talk about. Despite that I have no idea how quickly I can work on it. This is bound to take years which was the hardest part of this project for me to reconcile with but I really want to do it. So let’s see how that goes.

I want to say that I am planning on doing one episode a chapter but because I have decided to both develop the characters and be self-indulgent, that will make the chapters long. I don’t think that they are devoid of tension or action, however, because this thing is packed with so much stuff happening. Here’s a little sneak peak from the first episode:

“Bloom, honey, wake up,“ Vanessa’s mellow voice reached her through the colorful explosion into which her dream was retreating.

“Just five more minutes, mom,” Bloom mumbled as she wormed her head under the pillow to block out the interruption. She reached for the fairy princess in her dream with hair of liquid light and a touch like sinking through the reflective surface of a mirror that showed none of Bloom’s own features to her. She’d lose not just the way but her own self if she let go of the figure in front of her.

“You’ll be late for school, sleepy head.”

The woman evaporated in a heap of steam with a nasty hissing sound that rattled Bloom’s bones as she jumped into bed. Vanessa’s apologetic smile came into focus to draw a groan out of Bloom’s parched throat as she threw her head back.

“Not funny, mom,” Bloom grabbed her fallen pillow from the floor and plopped herself back down on her mattress, eyes wide open as the image of the fairy burned in her mind. “I wanted to see where she’d lead me!”

“Who?” Vanessa sat down on the edge of the bed.

“The fairy from my dream,” Bloom covered her eyes with her free hand to narrow her focus to the woman. “I’ve seen her before, I just...” she threw the pillow next to her on the mattress. “I can’t remember where.”

“Well, I’m not surprised. You’ve read every book on fairies that you could get your hands on. It’s only natural that they’ve started blurring together,” Vanessa chuckled.

“Yeah, but it’s not that.” Bloom shot up once again, her vision spinning for a moment from the sudden action. “She’s not a character. She’s something... someone else.” She twisted a strand of hair around her finger looking for the warmth enveloping her at the presence of the mystery fairy. It couldn’t be the first time she’d dreamed about her but she couldn’t recall more than that. “Grandma always said that dreams are important.” Another reason not to let go of the fleeting imagery in her head.

“I’m pretty sure she meant the other kind of dreams,” Vanessa’s amusement was more of a ghost itself now that Bloom had mentioned the newest loss in their family. It was her who had to stay open and talk to Bloom about Mike’s mother when he froze every time the topic was brought up until Bloom could no longer bear to cause him that. “Did you finish your art project last night? I sure hope it was inspiration that kept you up so late and not the lack of it.”

Bloom beamed despite the deflection. “I did!” She jumped out of bed as her mom made space for her to launch herself at her desk where her masterpiece was covered by stray sheets to keep her parents from peeking without her there to see the reactions. Finals had really inserted themselves in all areas of her life–including dreams–to throw a wrench in her works. Finishing a drawing she’d been sitting on for over a month had let her breathe fresh air again. “Here it is.” She pulled two sheets from the pile. “This is the sketch I did during spring break.” She’d spent a whole day wandering Gardenia looking for the building to put her vision into. “And here is the one I’ve reimagined.”

Vanessa gasped, hands flying to her mouth as her eyes gleamed with unformed tears. Not unlike her response to Bloom’s first steps in art back when she’d been three but, somehow, her reactions had developed to match Bloom’s growing skillset without giving undue credit.

Bloom’s heart swelled in her chest with pride boosted by the trust she had in her mom. Her work was almost complete now that it’d accomplished the desired effect with one parent. She’d been in awe herself by the alterations she’d made to Earth architecture to make it elaborate and alien enough for a fantasy... something. She still couldn’t decide what format she wanted to create her world in. Comics were a handy option but a vision of an elusive deal for a TV show still reared its head every time she reached for a pencil and a blank sheet of paper. And there was, of course, the popularity of video games accompanied by her lack of skills or contacts when it came to coding. There was always one more step to the door of her fairy utopia but she had to focus on the art for now.

“I hope that keeping this up will be easier after school is done stifling my inspiration,” Bloom chewed on her lip as she waited for her mom to collect herself enough to give the verdict of whether a summer job was about to take over that function now.

“Uninspired? You?” Vanessa shook her head in disbelief. “Honey, you have the imagination to create worlds and I am sure that one day you will,” Vanessa reached out cautiously towards the museum Bloom had created for her fantasy world. Her fingers barely brushed the paper to leave no traces of their presence and the bittersweet look on her face was too much for Bloom to stand. Her art was not meant to be an untouchable monument. It was supposed to be a temple, a home. Maybe her yearning had come through too well.

#winx club #wc rewrite #winx bloom #winx vanessa #my wips #my writing #my fanfiction

[charmspoint]

As much as I praised Talentless Nana and it’s handling of Nana, trauma she’s recovering from and the redemption she’s undertaking, I do have some problems of how it handles it’s other important character, this funky boy right here.

Lots of ranting and spoilers under the cut.

Now I do like Kyouya a lot. I think he’s a perfect blend of straightlaced serious and fun and quirky. One of his core motivations being making friends, where all of his attempts are at the same time so terribly awkward and so touchingly sincere, makes him potentially a very interesting and relatable character to have on board.

I say potentially because Kyouya himself is very underutilized both in the show and in the manga. I made a meme about it before, remember that. Most of my love for the characters comes from discussing the show with my brother and developing him in my fic, not from the actual story itself.

At first I assumed Kyouya is supposed to be a deuteragonist, an equal to Nana, mostly because of how much he and Nana were and are compared to L and Light (I might talk about that later but for now: It’s a hard comparison to call because ye I can see why but Talentless Nana is more about the characters while Death Note is more about the conflict so it’s mind games aren’t really comparable at all, Nana and Kyouya are more interesting and loveable than L and Light combined, Misa is the best character in Death Note.) But rn I can’t help but feel that Kyouya isn’t so much a deuteragonist as just an overly emphasized extra, maybe a relic from when the author did intend to make Talentless Nana more about the conflict before switching it over to more of a character driven story. Either way at this point I feel like Michiru, catboy Jin and Moe all have more development and backstory than Kyouya and Moe wasn’t even introduced in the anime. When you add to that Mr. bet you thought you’d seen the last of me, it kind of gets ridiculous.

Like there’ve been multiple times in the manga when Kyouya would show up and I’d have this moment where I just remembered ‘oh this guy is here too, he’s a character’, like I’d literally just forget he was in the story because he wouldn’t be there for the longest time and then would randomly show up when it was time to solve a murder. Like the author just remembered ‘oh yeah I’m supposed to use this guy too’.

And it’s really a shame because Kyouya has so much potential and it’s just never explored. Like his whole motivation to find friends? He does! And it’s just sorta…brushed off. Like when he introduced Fuuko to Nana as his friend, with Nana remarking she already met Fuuko here:

Like you can tell he is genuinely super excited to finally have a friend and with a good reason. Despite being technically on the side of good, through most of the story Kyouya is a lot less popular than Nana with their classmates, sometimes even suffering ostracization because they are starting to see him as a conspiracy theorist that ruins all the fun. While they respect him for his intellect they are quick to turn on him and his own awkward and blunt nature doesn’t help here at all. Nana said it herself when talking to Yuuka:

Nana presents herself as a sweet, caring, extroverted girl. She acts cute and clumsy in social situations but is trusted enough to be deemed Leader and her classmates genuinely believe that she is working herself to the bone to protect them. She is also heavily endorsed by Michiru who is the living definition of a cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure. On the opposite end, Kyouya is very stoic, sometimes even scary looking, He gives of an unfriendly air as soon as he arrives, he’s socially awkward, he doesn’t know how to talk to or connect with people, he can be too blunt and insensitive and he seems to have a habit of picking on the most popular girl in school, calling her out for horrible murders. And he seems to be always be proven wrong which cements him as someone overly suspicious, as someone who just has a bone to pick with Nana. As someone unlikable.

So when Kyouya, who’s been rejected by the majority for most of the story despite his best efforts to help, protect and befriend them, FINALLY gets a friend, finally gets someone who fully believes in him and tells him she will follow where he leads, someone who is willing to go through his stoic front because she truly believes he has the right answers and he’s doing the right thing…you’d think that would be given a bit more weight. You’d think we’d see some changes in Kyouya, a bit more focus on him, a story unfold. We don’t, not really. We see Fuuko following him around and helping him and they even get a solo scene together where Kyouya says he will tell her the weakness of his talent but then it…cuts off. Like ooo must preserve the mystery, forget about the fact that we’ve known this character for almost 40 chapters and we are long overdue any new information about him. A good way to develop him is dropped right in our laps but nothing happens with it aside from Kyouya being overexcited to call Fuuko his friend whenever he can, which is admittedly very cute.

That’s not even the worst arc that’s been left dangling for him, remember his missing sister? You know, his biggest motivation to come to the island in the first place? I honestly wouldn’t blame you if you forgot, because that plot is still stuck basically in the same place where it was introduced in like ch 2 or 3 (out of 56 mind you). Like he doesn’t go anywhere with that, at all, we don’t even see him looking for her. When they burn all those bodies Nana thinks about how he might have missed his shot because his sister might have been amongst them, but that’s never confirmed or denied. My absolutely favorite set of panels on that is this one where Kyouya looks like he himself genuinely forgot he had a sister to look for.

Only to immediately be interrupted by some shenanigans. This hint at conflict doesn’t even come to be, like later Kyouya is packing up completely normal and he leaves the island completely normal without any seen resistance or last ditch attempt to look for his sister. It’s like he simply just forgot she existed again. Like at least his wish to make friends is brought up often, I stg Nana mentions his sister more times than he does.

Again, his primary reason for even being involved in this plot, is not given any sort of development or even focus. 

And like when I talk about this I usually say smtng like; Well he and Nana are slowly getting closer and are starting to look like they will form a team so maybe then he will get development. But goddamn Nanao got more development and even a flashback, completely outside of Nana’s knowledge or influence, and he’s been presumed dead since ch 1.

Not to mention that the lack of Kyouya doing much of anything aside from what he’s strictly needed for leaves his and Nana’s relationship very lacking to say the least. Like I get the idea, they are supposed to start out as enemies and eventually grow closer and team up to defeat the real bad guy and that’s a perfectly solid idea, I love these two, I love how they bounce off each other. It sure would be even better if they, you know, actually got closer. Like we barely see them interact outside of immediate rivalry and while the times they work together to discover a killer that isn’t Nana are very welcome, they are also a far cry of what we should have gotten by now. We really get no sense of Nana starting to understand Kyouya better or him starting to understand her better. When he suggests a team up, it’s because that’s what comic book characters did, not because he came to understand her better as a person and grew a trust with her that made him want to start that partnership. And again it’s endearing that he mirrors his actions towards what he sees in a comic book but also…they REALLY needed that level of trust and connection they just never got.

 I really hope that this gets better, especially now that Nana is making moves to confess her crimes and is working side by side with Kyouya instead of against him. I really hope we get more on him , his backstory, his talent, his sister, I’d take his preferred idol at this point. But until that happens it’s really hard not to feel like so much about Kyouya has simply been wasted and neglected by the author.

#talentless nana #munou na nana #kyouya onodera #lucy rants #talentless nana manga spoilers

[scrabbleknight]

So when you get to Season two in SaTF and have Sasha and the Plantars in the fwagon are you probably notebook new Original towns and pit stops for the Plantar crew on their road to Newtopia different from Anne’s, and possibly a small gravity falls character cameo.

Also in your AU version of Toadcatcher with Anne and Grime on the run from Bounty hunters and the Newtopia government, would Anne be training with Muay Thai in an obstacle course and a Sasha dummy to punch out on. And her battle with General Yunnan would differ as her reasons to stick with and protect Grime would be as well.

I doubt she’d support Grimes idea of Laying siege of Newtopia for power obviously. Mostly help him as a means of getting back at Sasha and she’s come to be the one person besides Percy and Braddock she can trust at the time. And does genuinely feel the toads are mistreated by the Newtopian government.

This is an old ask I never bothered to answer, so I apologize on that. But to answer all your questions, I made a list!

Original towns will be a thing but canon towns will still exist. For one thing, I like places such as the truck stop and Wally's richfolk place. So it's definitely a thing.

I'm not sure about the Gravity Falls episode though. I like Gravity Falls like anyone else but really, that episode is just a fun filler crossover that doesn't add anything. I don't think I'll do an episode on that.

General Yunan will still be hunting Anne and Grime. I want to add a bit more on her though since she's just bare bones in canon. Maybe some backstory and whatnot. And there will be a Sasha dummy! Except due to spoiler reasons, I can't tell you what happens to it.

Anne will agree to siege Newtopia, not because of Grime though. It's to follow a theme: Do you know what the opposite of 'heart' is? If you can answer this correctly, you get good boy points and I'll murder you in your sleep to avoid spoilers :)

#and no the answer is not 'heartless' #its a different word #scrabble talk #satf #sasha and the frog #amphibia season 2 #amphibia #sasha waybright #thanks for the ask! #ask is open #fanfic update

[nostalgia-tblr]

voyager’s bizarre love(/hate) triangle

I don't actually know if other people are into the Janeway/Chakotay/Tuvok Whatever-it-is Triangle but I very much am. I mean some of it comes from the inbuilt Voyager flaw that Janeway basically has two First Officers but the show barely has room for her to have one. She and Tuvok have Backstory and they should have got more episodes together not just the wee bits and pieces that mostly involved her dying or trying to die and him being there at the time so they got to do things like hug or more likely look at each other angstily while one of them does emotions and the other one represses everything. Repression is of course great drama because people tend to be bad at it and it's not always a good idea anyway. And obviously there is Whatever The Fuck was going on with Janeway and Chakotay, so that's another side of the triangle, which is basically the same as the Janeway-Tuvok side but with more romance and less history, and then of course the two men can't fucking stand each other which is a Strong Emotion and therefore again Good Drama. And Tuvok seems to make barely any effort to conceal his simmering hatred there, which is probably because of contempt. I have not yet found people writing about the hatesex those two might have had but I'm going to assume it exists or existed because I have met fandom and know that if something exists then someone somewhere is into it, either as their jam or as their weird kink. Anyway I watched 'Night' and it has basically the whole triangle in it, because the dudes worry about the captain and have to have a conversation with each other where they admit that they don't get on but they still do their gossiping together because they love Janeway even more than they hate each other. That is the true power of love, yes it is. And Tuvok is married but in an odd way that doesn't matter because he can repress everything and never actually kiss Kathryn because he is an alien and that is what his sort of alien is good at. (A whole species made of repressed lust and repressed anger? YES GOOD!) It's like "I adore this woman and resent that you have essentially the exact same relationship with her that I have" and she is above intervening to stop them hating each other but she must know because face it everyone knows it's not like they hide it very well. Also you know Tuvok covets that job he never got and that is another bone of contention right there. He doesn't get a nice comfy chair on the bridge even though by rights he should have because if the one above you dies you deserve to get promoted into their comfy chair, damn it.   I don't see much or like any fic about this weird dynamic, so I am very aware that I have probably just invented most of it in my head but I am extremely into it and will take what little is offered in my direction.

#st: voy #a rarer OT3 than I would have expected #it's very messy but that's the appeal of course #tuvok is always good times #i suppose people are more into j/c but this is like that but with extra bits? #not bits as in that sense get your mind out of the gutter #but yeah also that kind of extra bits i suppose #if you're into that sort of thing #look just let them all kiss and/or punch each other in the face and we're good #janeway x tuvok my secret love #stuff no one else cares about #star trek voyager

[sadaboutniall]

happy halloween! 👻 here’s a quickie little yn x niall fic to celebrate my fave holiday! this song is the vibe, if you want some listening to go along with.

the moon laughs and whispers, ‘tis near Halloween

Unsurprisingly, Halloween is perfectly at home in Edinburgh. The night is dark and damp, a pervasive chill hanging in the air as you and your friends rush  drunkenly along the cobblestone street, rain hitting the backs of your necks, and  warm, golden lamplight from flats above trickling out onto the dark stone. The city is as alive as it always is—alive in a way that feels like a million different lives, like it somehow knows both the past and the future, like it’s holding you close but also hurtling you forward. It feels like tonight is a special night—and, although you have no real reason to think this Halloween will be different from any other Halloween, you let that feeling in, let it settle into your bones and carry you forward toward the party. 

It had been Fiona’s idea, going to the football squad’s Halloween party. Your other friends had championed a pub crawl or a scary movie night at the flat, but Fiona’d heard about the football party and, knowing the keeper she’s been crushing on would surely be there, insisted. And now you’re here, drunk in a witch costume on a dark October eve, your pointed hat barely keeping the rain off your face, orange and brown leaves crunching under the heel of your boots  as you pick up the pace and run toward the party, giggling into the night.

The football house is packed even fuller than you’d imagined it would be, the air thick with the smell of beer and weed and Fiona, dressed as Posh Spice, spots the keeper just milliseconds after your group ducks into the party, disappearing in a flurry of rhinestones. It leaves just three of you—Fleur, Amina, and yourself—standing in the middle of a heaving party, first years entirely out of their element. 

“Drinks?” Fleur, dressed as a zombie bride, asks. 

“Drinks.” Echoes Amina, the antennas on her alien costume bobbing as she nods her head. 

The three of you clasp hands so as not to lose each other and Fleur leads the way, zig zagging through the crowd of goblins and ghouls and strangely sexual Boris Johnson costumes until she finds the kitchen, a dark, damp little room with one, singular coffin shaped window above the sink and no furniture save for a wooden table in the middle of the room, without a single chair. Atop the table sits a literal cauldron, cast iron and all, with a pink liquid gently swaying inside. 

“Ick,” says Amina, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth. “Boys.”

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s been in here for a hundred years,” you say, voice low. Something about the room makes you feel like you’ve travelled a million miles away from the party, just on the other side of the door. You can’t hear a thing in here—just the pitter patter of the rain against the window, and the creaking of the floorboards as Fleur steps forward.

“That’s probably true,” she laughs, peering into the cauldron. “I bet none of these lads can cook. They must order Nando’s every night.”

“Probably,” Amina agrees, stepping forward to peer over Fleur’s shoulder. “At least they went through the effort of making a mixed drink, though. I’m far too bloated for a beer.”

“Aye,” Fleur’s Scottish accent thickens when she’s drunk, but it sounds even thicker all of a sudden. “Commitment to the theme as well.”

“It smells lovely,” says Amina, shutting her eyes as she smiles. “Like roses.”

“Really?” Fleur says, as you step deeper into the kitchen and join them around the cauldron. “I reckon it smells like chocolate.”

You lean forward, too, despite yourself. The scent of the drink is intoxicating—neither roses nor chocolate but, you think, the distinct smell of a chilly day by the sea: salt air and a rising tide and it’s more like a memory than a scent, a moment in time, the most peculiar sense of deja vu. Whatever it is, it’s not the kind of smell that should be coming from a mixed drink at a house party. Whatever it is, you don’t want to step away from it.

The three of you—the witch, the bride, and the alien—stand over the cauldron for a long moment, breathing it in. There is no sound beyond the rain outside, no semblance of the party raging beyond the kitchen door. It’s just the three of you, this cold, quiet room, and the strangely comforting feeling that you are, after all, not alone. 

“Are there any cups?” Amina speaks first, glancing up at you, across the table from her. Her brown eyes are glassy, her gaze faraway. 

“Cups,” you echo, a little floaty, your mind still by the seaside. “Right. Let me find some.”

The room’s only cabinets flank the sink and the single window, one on each side. You find the first cabinet empty except for a shimmery spider web and an old looking candle, but the second holds exactly what you’re looking for: three cocktail glasses, set on the shelf in a pretty row, glinting despite the dingy light. Perfect.

“Bingo!” You say, turning back toward your friends. “And only three left anyw—guys?”

The room is empty. 

The cauldron still sits atop the table, its intoxicating smell strong as ever, but your friends are not where you left them, twenty seconds ago, when you turned toward the cabinets. Your friends are not anywhere in sight. 

“Guys?” You call out again, taking one step forward. “You’re so not funny. I found cups.”

Silence.

“Fleur? Amina?” You step forward again, toward the center of the room, toward the drink. “You want a drink, or no?” 

Still, silence—somehow more silent than before. Even the rain sounds like it’s whispering. 

“This is fucking freaky,” you say, one last shot, trying to keep the tremble out of your voice. “You guys win, I’m fully freaked out, Happy Halloween.”

Silence. Stillness. A sudden, oppressive need to get out of this room. 

Quick as a cat, you do. 

-- 

When you step back through the door and out into the party, alone, it’s like you were never gone. In fact, it’s a bit like time has stopped—the party is just as packed as it was when you arrived, and you’re pretty sure the same song is still blasting through the speakers. Confused but ignoring it, you start to push your way through the crowd, in search of your friends.

A few steps deeper into the crowd and you spot a sliding back door. It makes perfect sense to you, the idea of Fleur and Amina slipping out into the backyard for some air, so you head straight for it, stepping out into the chilly, dark night. 

The rain has mostly stopped, though the leafy  ground is still damp beneath your feet and the air feels wet, like it could begin again at any moment. Although it’s dark, you can see well enough—the yard is illuminated by a group of jack o’lanterns lined up along the back brick wall, and fairy lights strung between trees, casting a warm, flickering aura—and it’s immediately clear that Amina and Fleur are not out here. In fact, no one is. 

You turn around to head back inside, pulling your phone out of your pocket as you do. And that’s when you walk right into him. 

“Lads, are you—oof. Deo, you eejit—shit, you’re not, I’m so sorry, are you okay?” 

“I—” you step back to collect yourself for a moment, eyes trailing up the hard chest you just stumbled straight into. It’s just a guy—blonde hair, bright blue eyes, thick Irish accent—but there’s something about him that keeps you rooted to your spot. Something about him that feels safer than going back inside. 

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He rushes, when you don’t answer. I should’ve been looking, I’m so sorry.” 

“No, no,” you manage. “I’m fine. It was my fault anyway, was looking at my phone. Are you okay? You sounded, like, worried?” You don’t know this man, you have no idea what his worried sounds like. But you can’t stop yourself from saying it. 

“Can’t find my mates anywhere,” the stranger says, eyes sweeping the backyard over your head. “It’s like they fucking vanished.”

“I lost my friends too,” you echo, turning to look with him, though you know you’ll only find an empty yard. “I thought they might be out here, but nothing.”

“Two lost souls,” says the stranger, a smile in his voice. When you turn back around he’s pulling at his phone, saying, “I’m just going to text them and tell them I’m out here. They can come find me.”

“I was about to do the same,” you tell him, glancing down at your phone in your hands to shoot off the text. “There are way too many people in there.” 

“Wanna wait it out together?” He looks up from his phone, a smile on his face. It brings out one tiny dimple, and sets your heart moving a little faster. “I’m Niall.” 

“I’m a witch,” you smile back at him and he laughs, blue eyes trailing down your body once. It sends a jolt of something through you, makes you hope the flush creeping up your face isn’t visible in the flickering light. 

“Have you got any powers?” Asks Niall, his eyes moving back up to meet yours. The blue is stunningly bright, even in the darkness. 

“That’s for me to know,” you say, more smoothly than you ever imagined. “And you to find out. What’s your costume?”

“You can’t tell?” He glances down at himself, dressed in double denim with an American flag bandana tied around his neck. “Bruce Springsteen.”

“Right,” you nod, though it wasn’t obvious to you at all. “Course. You need to work on that accent, though.” 

“Do I?” He raises an eyebrow, and adopts a surprisingly good—if over exaggerated—New Jersey accent. “I’m pretty proud of it, honestly. Been convincing people that it’s real all night.”

It’s not all that difficult for you to believe, actually, a bunch of drunk Brits buying into a fake, over the top, American accent without a single question. Instead, you ask him, “is there a tragic backstory, then? To go along with the tragic attempt at an accent?”

Niall laughs, bold and loud into the dark night, and suddenly you realize how entirely unafraid you feel with him—how you’d been on edge since the moment you stepped into the party but now that’s gone, evaporated, replaced, with a warm feeling in your belly and Niall’s infectious laughter. You bring your drink up to your lips and take a sip before you realize yet another thing: you have no memory of filling up your cup before leaving the kitchen. 

Across from you, Niall’s clutching what looks like a pint of Guinness, which is a drink that makes very little sense at a house party. The more you think about it, the less of the night makes sense. You shake your head to push it away, not quite ready to give this up just yet. 

Under the golden, flickering light from the jack o'lanterns,  you study Niall: the way his freckles sprinkle across his thick neck, how his roots are so much darker than the blonde at his tips, the tuft of chest hair peeking out from where his denim shirt is unbuttoned—everything about him leaves you breathless, desperate, longing, attracted to him in a way you’ve never experienced before. You feel, distinctly, that you are both supposed to be here, tonight, alone, together. 

You feel, distinctly, that something went out if its way to make sure this would happen. 

And maybe it’s the drink—the mysterious thing that smells like sea salt to you and roses to Amina—but here, with the wind rising around you and the night settling in, you have the distinct feeling that Niall is on the exact same page. 

“I have the strangest feeling,” Niall says, voice dropping to something like a whisper. Behind him, leaves rustle as the wind blows a strong, measured gust though the garden. “We haven’t met before, have we?”

“I don’t think so,” you can’t look anywhere other than Niall’s eyes. “But I know what you mean.”

Niall nods, taking one step forward to lessen the gap between you. He’s so close you can smell him: warm and musky and soft and something else, too—something that reminds you of salt air and days by the sea. “I just feel like,” he says, and you nod. 

“Me too.”

Far, far away someone calls your name, but you can’t stop looking at Niall, stepping closer and closer to him with every distant shout of your name. The shouting grows louder and louder until it’s impossible to ignore, although Niall doesn’t seem to acknowledge it at all. You open your mouth to ask him if he can hear it too, but before you get the chance something shakes your shoulder, calls your name one more time, and you open your eyes. 

“Jesus,” says Amina, a mixture of relief and concern clouding her features. “You are impossible to wake up.”

“I’m—what?” You sit up in bed, head foggy, limbs heavy. “Fuck, what time is it?”

“Noon,” Amina pulls out her phone to check. “We’re gonna be late for our brunch reservations, that’s why I came to wake you up.”

“Oh,” you rub your eyes, shaking your head to try to bring yourself back down to Earth. “I was having such a vivid dream, sorry.”

“It’s cool, just hurry up.” Amina makes her way to your bedroom door, but pauses before she steps back out into the hallway. “Oh, by the way, Fiona said there’s a Halloween party at the football house tonight and she’s fucking desperate to go since she fancies the keeper. Could be fun, no?” 

-- 

On Halloween night, dressed as a witch, you stand in the backyard of the football house with your friends. The yard is illuminated by jack o’lanterns and fairy lights and Fiona is off snogging the keeper upstairs and you feel warm and safe and happy, despite the autumnal chill in the air. As Fleur tells your small group a story about the weird couple sitting across from you at brunch today, you drop your head back to stare up at the night sky, sprinkled with stars, and the full moon peeking out over the clouds. It feels like you are supposed to be here tonight. You exhale, watching your breath fog with the cold and curl in the air above you. 

“I’m going to refill my drink,” you say, smiling at the small group you’ve been standing with. You can feel something budding between Fleur and the pretty girl she’s been chatting to, dressed as Britney Spears, and you want to give them a moment alone. Fleur flashes you a grateful smile as you walk away.

Back inside, you locate the entirely normal kitchen, bright and airy and crowded, with a coffin-shaped window above the sink, and pull open the fridge to grab a beer from the stock inside. When you shut the door, there’s someone standing on the other side. 

He’s dressed as Bruce Springsteen, double denim and an American flag bandana around his neck. He’s blonde hair with dark roots, and bright blue eyes. He’s staring right at you, with an unmistakable look of recognition on his face. 

“Hi,” he says, stepping forward to lessen the gap between you and him. He smells warm and musky and safe—with a whiff of something like salt air.  “Sorry if this is a bit weird, but I’m Niall. Have we—have we met before?”

####

sources for images: 1, 2, 3

#one direction #1dff #one direction fan fiction #niall horan #niall horan fic #niall horan fan fiction #niall horan imagine #niall #niall horan x reader #halloween #thank u to rand for all her help with this as always!! #this is v different for me I hope it's ok!

[teeforhee]

okay just had. a realisation about part of why I think uprising was so bad. they had a larger cast but they had wayyy less thematic meaning.

like, I tried to make a list of the important characters in PR and it's just Raleigh, Mako, Pentecost, Chuck + Herc, Newt + Hermann. You can also include Tendo, Chau, the Wei Tang brothers, and the Kaidonovskys if you want (and we do because we love them, Chau's on thin fucking ice but ' Frankenstein and the newt' warmed me to him), but that's it. and with those characters we have this beautiful and compelling narrative about grief and loss and the power of love (not just romantic love!). We have Herc and Chuck and Max and how they show the love to Max that they can't show to eachother, we have Stacker and Mako as a beautiful and tragic father/daughter dynamic, we have Raleigh and his loss and Mako and her loss and we have Newt and Hermann as comic reliefs but also as another power-of-love (plus bravery and teamwork) story within this larger power-of-love (plus bravery and teamwork) story with an added 'importance of curiosity and science and information' aspect. We have the Wei Tang brothers and the Kaidonovskys as more holders-on, the last few Jaeger pilots trying desperately to defend a world that does not believe in them, does not make space for them anymore, who are no longer rockstars but arent doing this to be rockstars, the resistance and they are symbols of resilience and sacrifice and duty, as real human people who's faces we see and who we don't see directly die (they aren't used as suffering porn, they are people) but who we loose in this war. We have Tendo, face of the hundreds of people working in the Shatterdome doing the non-sexy jobs that still need to be done, who is also a funny and kind person with a deeper personal life that we don't see much of but we know it's there. It's a very small cast but everyone is there for a reason and they are all so detailed and their places in the narrative are all essential. You remove any one of them and it's kind of hollow. This is an example of a story stripped down to its bones (with just enough meat to still be enjoyable) and it is wonderful.

Then fucking uprising. We have so many more characters. Newt and Hermann are still here, we have Mako, and Jake, and Nate, and Amara and Victoria and all their friends, and we have the woman in the love triangle with Jake and Nate (I do not remember her name at all) and we have Shao. All of Amara's friends serve the same purpose and we don't have enough time (because of this films absolutely terrible tone and pacing problem, holy shit) to properly distinguish them beyond single traits (Victoria gets a little more, but barely) so it's Amara and the Nice Boy and the Nervous Boy and Victoria, and then Jake and Nate we're going for 'troubled good guy who pretends to be selfish because of a sad backstory' and 'sad asshole with a heart of gold' and they just. don't go any deeper. Jake feels a bit deeper because we know Pentecost and we know Mako but like... we don't get anything more than 'troubled good guy' in the actual film. And it's just... the themes are so much more garbled in this film in general, maybe I just missed it because I was so distracted by the Tone And Pacing Problems, (and the dialogue, good fucking gd the dialogue is atrocious) but the ways these characters tie into/symbolise/contribute to the themes of this film? I honestly don't know. the woman in the love triangle is a nothing character. Shao has some depth which is nice, mostly because she was set up as a villain and that turning out to be false naturally adds depth to her on a rewatch or if you go in knowing that the villain is Evil Noot. This movie is so much military propaganda it forgot to have other themes I think. so every character is either 'not in military = bad/misguided' or 'in military = good/well intentioned'. I cannot come up with any ways these characters add actual meaning other than Jake and Amara who have a pretty cookie-cutter 'be brave' story. Correct me if I'm missing something though, please, I've only seen this all the way through once a couple years ago and 3/4 of the way through last week.

in conclusion uprising is a bad movie which doesn't know how to use its characters to further it's narrative or to reflect/deepen it's themes.

#mine #newt writes #damn i like. for real could write my discursive essay on this. this is like 1/4 of the word limit and I'll need to make more points in less #words lol #pacific rim: uprising #pacific rim #pacrim #pacific rim uprising

[gracestone]

I'm reading Siege and Storm for the first time after first having watching the show twice and then reading Shadow and Bone for the first time. After binging the show, I read in interviews that the showrunner thinks the show could run for more than three seasons. And after having read about 1/4 of S&S, I actually think it definitely needs to run for more than 3 seasons, because I don't think they can cover that book in just one season. In this post, I want to outline why and to give my version of how I’d write Alina’s storyline in season 2.

Before I go into my reasons why I think so and what I hope the show will do, I just wanna say that I haven't read the books about the crows yet, so I have no idea what their book plot is and how to incorporate that into the show. Therefore I'm mostly leaving them aside, apart from some instances where I think there could be potential for them to be involved.

After finishing the first book, what stood out to me the most was that the show didn't cover several important parts of Alina’s arc:

Her deep fear of being captured and controlled by the Darkling. She was so afraid of that she asked Mal to kill her rather than let her be captured.

The immensity of her power with the amplifier and how intoxicating having that much power already is to her. 

Her using the Cut for the first time.

Mal and Alina getting together.

I think all of those things are essential to convey to the audience before Mal and Alina get captured by the Darkling again to hunt Rusalye. Yes, Mal and Alina getting together could potentially be postponed a bit and wasn’t essential to get to in season 1, but I think them being together raises the stakes for when they do get captured again. Plus, from what I’ve heard, a lot of the second book relies on them not being able to be together, so we need to see their honeymoon period, so to speak, to make that work. Therefore, imo, the best thing for the show to do is to split the second book in two parts and take a few episodes of season 2 to cover some of the things from S&B they skipped in the show. Here’s how I would write that:

Have Mal and Alina go to Ketterdam first with the crows. There, they can spend a few episodes bonding with the crows, but more importantly exploring Alina's new amplified powers, her fear of what could happen if the Darkling regained control of her, and her and Mal getting into a romantic relationship. The show could still hit some similar beats with them as the book did, just in a different place. Let them stay in the same room, afraid what would happen if they were separated, but also hesitant to make that first move. Have them sleep together in the same bed, back to back at first, until Mal puts his arm around her when she’s having a nightmare about what happened with Novokribirsk. After that, show how they now sleep like that every night, just like in the book, with an emphasis on how Mal’s trying to help her fight the nightmares. 

Have Alina talk to Mal about her fear of the Darkling regaining control of her pwoers. She can still ask Mal to promise to kill her if it comes to that. It’d make sense for her to do so after seeing the destruction that could come of the Darkling having control of her powers. Given that I’m not that far into S&S yet, I’m not sure when Mal could be challenged to act on that promise and fail. Perhaps at some point after they realise the Darkling can influence Alina through that bite from his creature.

Alina finds or is given a place where she can train. She is be determined to master the Cut, as a way to fight back against the Darkling. In the book, Alina and Mal don't find the stag until they kiss and Alina reconciles her human part with her powers, instead of burying one of them for the other. I think the show could show Alina struggling with the Cut and her new amplified abilities. At the same time, she could still be struggling with some of her insecurities both in regards to her place in the world and in regards to Mal. At the beginning of S&S she feels like Mal is so competent while she isn’t. This could flare up some of her insecurities in regards to her belonging with Mal too. Mal could notice this while she’s touching her hand where her scar used to be. This could lead to a convo about her time at the palace, how isolated she felt from him and her feeling of not belonging anywhere, especially now that she can’t even control her power. Which in turn could lead to Mal’s epic “So don’t tell me that we don’t belong together” speech and their first kiss. In the book, Alina described her love for Mal as “just as bright, just as undeniable” as her power. The show could visualise that by having her powers come out as they kiss, surrounding them with beautiful white light. After that, she attempts the Cut and succeeds. Something in her has shifted and she suddenly feels more whole, more at peace with herself (like she did in the book). This could also help foreshadow what Mal really is (yes I’ve been spoiled on this lol) and set up how he helps her regain control of her power after she puts on the second amplifier.

There could be a short honeymoon period for them (a few scenes or so) where we see them in this newfound relationship, trying to build a temporary life in Ketterdam as they figure out their next move. This is when the Darkling could show up, but given that I’d love to see the Malina jail kiss, I’d prefer another scenario. One that parallels the scene in which Mal gets himself locked up in jail just to be with Alina. Instead of the jail kiss happening when they’re captured by the Darkling before going into the Fold, have it happen when Mal has been captured by Fjerdans. Now, I’ll admit that I don’t know all the details of their politics and if what I’m about to suggest is realistic within the Grishaverse. But the way I imagine this scenario, Mal gets recognised as a Ravkan soldier and captured so he can stand trial, just like they have grisha stand trial. Alina asks the crows to help her save him. This could be an interesting opportunity for Matthias to show his allegiance to the crows, but I’m hesitant to suggest that since idk what his canon storyline is. Alina gains access to the Fjerdans’ ship by asking if she can say goodbye to Mal. They agree to let her do so, but only after she proves she’s not grisha. They cut her arm before she can answer, so the pain is sudden. But Alina was warned about this by Matthias and, just like during her test, is holding a sharp object in the palm of her left hand. She gets to see Mal and they kiss through the bars. Mal notices her bleeding hand and the wound that will definitely leave a scar, and says “We match again.” Alina and the crows’ plan unfolds, but something happens that forces Alina to use her power. They barely make it off their ship but Alina realises that they will keep coming after her now that they know who she is. In that moment, she makes the choice to use the Cut to sink their ship and kill everyone on board, just like she did in the Fold in S&B (the book). 

After these events, the crows tell Mal and Alina that it’s too dangerous to stay in Ketterdam. Mal and Alina agree and make their way to Novyi Zem. I don’t think the show needs to spend much time there, but it’d be good to show Alina struggling with how she felt about the immense power she wielded when using the Cut and how it has her torn. Maybe she can voice that to Mal, or maybe we see her struggling with it through her nightmares as she sleeps in Mal’s arms. That would set up her inner struggle quite well, imo. 

While all of this is happening with Alina and Mal, we could see the Darkling return to court to gather his grisha to go after Alina and Mal. This could be an opportunity to see the grisha react to the Darkling’s new powers and why they came to be so afraid of him. At the same time, we could see Genya and David struggling with what they did to Alina and their allegiance to the Darkling. Maybe show some moments of doubt before Genya joins the Darkling in his mission to capture Alina and Mal and kill Rusalye. 

Mal and Alina don’t have to spend much time, if any, in Novyi Zem before they’re captured by the Darkling after all of this has been covered. But I think the show can’t jump straight into the events of S&S without covering all of this first in some shape or form. Alina getting a second amplifier happens so quickly in the books but it doesn’t have the same resonance or present the same inner struggle for her if the show doesn’t show how she already struggles with wielding one amplifier. So they need to take some time to set that up. And that time could also be used to dig into the backstories of the crows and show us what the grisha left at the Little Palace are going through, especially Genya and David. 

#shadow and bone #alina starkov #malyen oretsev #malina #shadow and bone spoilers #siege and storm #siege and storm spoilers #shadow and bone speculation #i suppose #more like borderline fanfic #just my take on how they should start season 2 #i couldn't suggest a natural stopping point for s2 though since i'm not that far into the book yet #but i really think it'd be wise for them to not cover the entire book in one season #not when they skipped over some important moments in alina's arc #skipping them in s1 is fine in theory #but they need to cover them before getting into the s&s plot #this is very malina focussed but i'd obviously love to see some interaction between them and the crows too #i just don't know what the crows will be up to so idk how they could interact with malina inbetween doing whatever it is they'll be doing #but i'd love to see them help malina in a big way one more time before they separate #anyways i'm done rambling #i'm open to suggestions based on this but try not to give me too many book spoilers

[disgruntledspacedad]

Better Love Notes

If you’re confused about location, timing, or characters in my Narcos AU series Better Love, this is the post for you.

Better Love is an AU reader insert series that begins midway through Narcos season two. Because it is AU, and because Narcos is complicated af anyway, I wanted to take some time to clarify what things in Better Love will be different than what you're used to seeing in the show.

Hannah “Ears” Aarons

First, I think it’s important to clarify that Ears is more of an OC written in second person than she is a generic reader insert. I might refer to her as “you,” but Ears has a name, a face claim, a backstory, and a huge personality. If that bothers you loads, I totally understand and you’re free to duck out at any point, but don’t come at me. If you have specific questions regarding Ears’ background, personality, physical appearance, family history, or whatever else, get with me privately. I would love to introduce you to my chaotic sunshine child.

Official Job Title: Ears is officially an employee of the CIA, but she is not an agent (read: spy). She was brought to Colombia to be a liaison between Centra Spike, the DEA, and the CIA. She introduces herself to Search Bloc by saying, "I'll be your ears," but in reality, she was put in place to be Bill Strechner’s ears. More on that later. She has a background with the US Army that's basically useless (desk job), a ton of training and zero practical experience with flyover recon and radiofrequency tracking, and she's itching to do something real with her life.

Timing

Ears arrives in Bogotá around August of 1992 and falls in bed with Peña pretty much immediately. Horacio Carillo did die recently, but Javi did not start working with Los Pepes and Don Berna until November of 1992. Assume all of the drama with Martinez Jr. and Los Pepes took place around the time that he and Ears were on the outs - that's just another factor that led Javi to make the emotional, rash decision to work with the cartels that he winds up regretting.

There is actually a one year span of time between season two, episode six and the end of the show. Pretty much the entirety of Better Love (for now) takes place during this year, so if it seems like I’m really stretching things out, that’s actually because the show mushed it all together. I promise, guys, I have done my research here.

Locations

The majority of scenes in Better Love will take place in Bogotá, the capital city of Colombia. It’s important to keep Bogotá separate from Medellín, which is where the nit and grit of the hunt for Escobar takes place. 

Getting to Medellín from Bogotá requires a one hour flight or an eight hour drive (Colombia is roughly twice the size of Texas, fyi). For a gringo, driving around the cities was dangerous, but driving outside the cities was suicide. Javi and Steve might take planes, or they might take an armored chopper, depends on my mood when I'm writing. Assume there's a landing strip nearby the embassy, because I'm lazy like that.

The U.S. Embass(ies): Centra Spike, Search Bloc, and the DEA office are all housed in the old embassy building that's basically right across from the new one (the super upscale nice one that actually functions as an embassy). 

There's a lot of confusion and shuffling around in the show, so I wanted to clarify what goes where (also, the real Murphy and Peña had offices in the old, unused embassy, so this is sort of legit). For simplicity's sake, I am assuming that CNP (Colombian National Police) headquarters are also in or nearby this building. Ears might refer to "headquarters," "the office," or "the embassy," and it's all the same place. Basically, everything is centrally located in Bogotá, and when I refer to “the DEA office,” or “Javi’s office,” picture it from season one - two desks that are not shoved on top of each other, with glass windows and real filing cabinets. The CIA is also located here, as is Strechner's office and the fabled White Room.

These buildings are in Bogotá, nearby Peña’s and Murphy's apartments. I will differentiate between the New, Swanky, Functional U.S. Embassy by capitalizing it and giving it its full title. If I say “embassy,” assume I’m talking about the older one where Javi and Ears are based.

The Carlos Holguin School: This is the base of Search Bloc operations in Medellín, and the primary location that we see in season two of the show. Think of it almost as a military base - training grounds, barracks, bare-bones, no a/c, shitty food. Javi and Steve often stay at "the school" overnight while conducting operations in Medellín. They might also refer to this as “camping” or “the camp,” or “base.” It sucks balls. This is where Javi and Steve have their messy, shoved on top of each other desks that we tend to associate with the show. Javi and Steve still work from here just as often as we see in canon, there just won’t be as many scenes in this location because Ears is never there. 

Javi’s apartment: Javi and Steve primarily live in Bogotá. This is the same apartment building that you see in season one, with the big steps in front of the building and then an even larger set of stairs inside. There is also a big set of stairs on the back end of the building that leads to an underground parking garage (we see this in the season one finale, where Steve gets snatched by Navegante). This building is a five minute walk to the U.S. Embassy, but Javi and Steve mostly chose to drive for safety and convenience. It’s in a pretty decent part of Bogotá. There is one small canon deviation in regards to the apartments: in Better Love, Javi lives upstairs, across from Steve’s front door instead of below him like we see in the show. They share a large front landing. I just really liked the idea of Javi having a view of the city from his bedroom window.

Ears’ apartment: Ears lives in a tiny little flat on top of a drug store, a place that she found on her own through the friend of a work friend. It’s also in a decent part of Bogotá, but not quite as safe or upscale as Javi’s. It’s about a ten minute hike from the embassy and fifteen minutes from Javi’s place.

Miscellaneous 

CIA/DEA Collaboration: The relationship between the CIA and the DEA in Colombia was not pretty. The show makes it look like a personal conflict between Strechner and Peña, but in reality, it was so much deeper than that. These two organizations have opposing goals, and communication and sharing of information was a real problem. Basically, they squabble more than they collaborate, and there was a lot of backstabbing, underhanded fuckery, and generally getting in each other's way. Naturally, this is going to create tension between Ears and Javi.

Bill Stechner: The show makes it clear that Bill doesn’t give a shit about Escobar or the cartels except in regards to the power dynamics they create, but let me reiterate here - his primary goal in Colombia is to keep it from becoming a communist state. That’s all he wants.

OC Sicarios: Don't get Velasco (canon sicario) mixed up with Verdugo (my OC sicario). They are different characters. Verdugo is the guy who features in The Rules of Engagement. 

Feo is another sicario who is an OC. More updates on him later.

Canon Deviations in Better Love

Series spoilers from this point on. I’m going to take it fic by fic, so if you haven’t read something and don’t want to be spoiled, stop at the bold print. Again, Better Love is super fucking plotty, so I thought it was only fair to give you guys a reference sheet. Lord knows I need one, too.

The Rules of Engagement: Introduces Ears. Horacio Carillo did die recently, but Javi’s role in his death is undetermined/not mentioned. Javi does start working with Los Pepes during Rules, but only after he and Ears have their fallout. All of the bullshit with Martinez Jr. and the Castaño brothers takes place during the time that Javi and Ears aren’t speaking.

Aftershocks: Establishes with certainty that Javi is working with the cartels. His primary contact with Los Pepes is Don Berna. This is going to be critical later. Also establishes that Don Berna has more connection to the Cali cartel than he does in canon. 

Yours: Establishes that Connie Murphy is a badass biker bitch with a heart of gold, because I think the show did her dirty. She loves Steve and Steve loves her. Ears and Stechner get to know each other a little better, and Javi doesn’t like this one bit. Ears starts thinking about a leak in Search Bloc, and how dangerous that might be for Javi.

Bang: Javier Peña gives Ears a shady ass, probably trafficked gun for her protection. We don’t know details of where he got it. Solidifies the bro/sis relationship between Steve and Ears. Implies heavily that Javi is doing some shady things with some shady folks. A light introduction to the theme of weapons trafficking in Colombia, which was a massive problem that is barely even mentioned in the show. It will feature heavily in Better Love.

The Shoebox: Introduces the character of Arturo, Ana Delgado’s shady older brother. Ears starts wondering if Ana knows more than she should. Confirms that the Fernando Duque arc does take place in Better Love, and that Javi is genuinely torn up by it like he is in canon. This leads Ears to start thinking more deeply about that leak in Search Bloc, and she begins to actively collect evidence with the intention of sniffing out the rat and keeping Javi safe. Mentions sex trafficking, a major problem in Colombia at the time, and also a minor theme later on in Better Love.

Shit Hits the Fan: Establishes that Arturo Delgado is actually a hitman working with Los Pepes, and that he and Javi have gone on some raids together. Javi is desperate to keep this a secret from Ears, who is friends with Ana, both for her protection and because he’s kind of ashamed of how deep he’s in with Los Pepes. Establishes that in the wake of the Ferando Duque debacle, the Castaño brothers did not reach out to Stechner for help, but instead decided to put a hit out on Javi to either kill or scare him off. Javi is no longer working with Los Pepes, but he never did find out that Stechner was the one who set him up in the first place.

The White Room: Bill Stechner reveals to Ears that her purpose in Colombia is to be his own personal spy on the DEA. He is investigating a mysterious sicario named Feo in relation to a massive russian weapons ring. Bill wants Ears to report everything that the DEA learns about Feo because he suspects that Feo might have connections with FARC, a communist guerrilla group that is Stechner’s public enemy number one. Ears realizes that she’s in deep shit, and also realizes the depth of the resentment between the DEA and the CIA, and how much their goals in Colombia actually oppose. Stechner is revealed to be a real bag of dicks here.

Closing notes

Whew, okay. I will update this post periodically if more information becomes necessary or if you guys have questions, and I’ll reblog it if I do. I’m going to go ahead and tag my taglist folks in this, just because it’s a huge information dump. Of course, you probably don't need to know these things to get the gist of what’s going on in Better Love, but if you’re a chronic overanalyzer like me, it might be helpful. 

Also, let me know if you guys want a list of the characters who are major players in the series. I know I had to make one for myself but I wasn’t sure if posting it would be overkill (this is probably already overkill, tbh).

Tags: @jedi-mando, @aerolanya, @pikemoreno, @bitchin-beskar, @mostly-megan, @huliabitch, @starsandmando, @starlight-starwrites​, @thirstworldproblemss, @knittingqueen13, @yespolkadotkitty

Javier Peña tags: @magpie-to-the-morning, @tiffdawg, @danniburgh, @1800-fight-me

Mad love to you guys if you’ve stuck around for this long.

#Javier Peña #Javier Peña x reader #Narcos #pedro pascal #Narcos fanfiction #Javier Peña x you #Javier Peña fanfiction #Better Love #the rules of engagement #better love notes