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redhairedwolfwitch · 11 months

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Sombra y Amor

First part - Sombra y Fuego

A/n: I forgot where I was going with this part 2, but I have a vague idea of a timeline running up to the 2023 summer transfer window👀 but keep in mind it's set in the 2021/22 season in this part so whoops. I decided to be nice since I passed my driving theory test today:)

Summary: R’s family were family friends of the Putellas family, R grew up with them, goes over to help establish Manchester United WFC whilst studying there, over the years befriends some Dutchies and Ona when she arrives too.

///

Whoever organised the villas for Ibiza clearly thought you needed to be babysat. You were in the room next to Alexia’s, and Alba was in the same villa too.

The agreement for your birthday was two celebrations, one in Manchester, which you had with your United teammates, a celebration that ended with you waking up the next morning with Ona using your chest as a pillow, and a teasing text on your phone from Jill, about how you fell asleep on the call with her.

The other celebration would be in Ibiza with as many of your Spanish national teammates as possible, plus, much to Alexia’s resistance, and Jenni’s encouragement, Jill had tagged along, meeting some of her Wolfsburg teammates in the process.

You weren’t going to admit that you’d been staying up to work on your final assignment of the trimester, the part-time degree taking up chunks of your time when you weren’t training for a match or participating in said matches.

Your sleep schedule was a mess though because of it, Ona having woken you up so you could both get to the airport in time to head back to Spain being one of the more significant events. Or how you slept on Ona’s shoulder for most of the flight back.

Footsteps approaching your room were the first thing you heard, but whoever it was knocked gently, waiting before opening the door slightly, then walking in. You ruled out Alba, Ona and Jill, and nobody else would walk into your room whilst you were sleeping but one. The knocking and waiting, the door opening slightly to peek in, it was Alexia.

“Buenos días mi pequeña sombra… are you awake? I hope you are, Jenni’s plan was to dump water on you, but I said I would check first…” Her voice was soft, reminding you of when you were a child, sneaking into her bed when you had nightmares. You would choose Alexia over Alba then because Alba accidentally rolled you out of her bed, waking up the entire Putellas household because you had hit your head on the way to the floor.

A soft groan left your mouth as you rolled over, leaving space for Alexia to sit on the edge of the bed, her hand gently pulling down the back of your pyjama shirt from where it had rolled up.

“Hm… buenos días…” you whispered, rubbing at your eyes as you rolled over to look at her.

“What’s wrong? You have that look on your face- the same one you had when… what’s bothering you?” You trailed off, avoiding admitting what you had thought of last time Alexia had that expression on her face.

“You re-signed with United?” Your signing with United in 2018 had taken Alexia, Alba and Eli by surprise, but you explained your reasons well, for the three year contract anyway, but now you were tacking on another two years, taking you up to summer 2023.

“My degree… It's taking longer than I thought, since it’s part time, but after the lockdowns, the universities got better at online work, so I’m ahead… I re-signed because it’s going to take another year at least, and United is getting better. Ona’s contract is until 2023 too, if they activate the option year. The WSL is fun, and it’s not like Barcelona needs Sombra.” You replied, about to bury your face in your pillow but Alexia let out a sigh.

“By the way, thanks for kicking Chelsa’s ass in the finals.” You changed the subject, seeing the disappointment in your older sister’s eyes at you saying Barcelona didn’t need Sombra, referring to yourself like that.

“Come on, get dressed, you’re missing breakfast. Jenni, hold off on the water. Sombra is awake.” Alexia nudged you, calling out to Jenni, who let out a bored groan in the hallway, peeking her head in as Alexia nudged you again, spotting you going back to sleep.

“Finally!” Jill teased you whilst Ona laughed, but you chose to ignore them both in favour of breakfast, sitting down next to Ona with Jill opposite you. You could feel other eyes on you as you realised that Alba, Jenni and Alexia were all watching you three.

“Hoe zijn je nieuwe teamgenoten?”

Jill let out a chuckle before replying in Dutch, the two of you chattering away as Ona looked overwhelmed, but a smile lit up her face when she saw the looks on the other Spanish players’ faces.

“How much of that do you understand?”

“Jackie’s Dutch lessons are really good, plus I like the looks on everyone’s faces when faced with a language they don’t understand.” You shrugged, before Jill said something in Dutch that left your face burning.

“Ik probeerde dat te vergeten."

Jill laughed at that, leaving you to huff as your sisters looked confused, and Ona shook her head in amusement, having a slight idea of what was happening.

“Let’s move on… what are we doing today? Also where is everyone else?” You glanced around, taking another bite of your breakfast.

“They went to rent a boat.” Jenni explained, as you got up to make a drink, following you over to make a coffee.

“A boat?”

“Yes. You can reenact Titanic.” Jenni smirked, but you frowned in confusion, taking a moment before realising.

“I’d understand that reference, if I had actually been awake during that movie.” You retorted, watching as Jenni removed the teaspoon from her coffee cup.

“Have you told Alexia about when we’re back in Barcelona? What did Mapi say?” Jenni asked into her coffee, sparing a glance in the direction of your sisters as you hummed.

“Mapi offered to do it herself, but Alexia would kill her. I haven’t told Alexia, but I think she’s still a little offended that I went with Alba for my fourth one, instead of with her. She had a media thing so couldn’t go with me.”

“Fourth? It is like you are growing up before my eyes!” Jenni teased, grinning as you grimaced into your drink.

“You’ve known me for years-”

“What are you two talking about?” Alba raised an eyebrow, walking over to make herself a drink.

“Nothing!” “Nothing!”

///

“Are you sure those three aren’t all dating?” Lola gestured to where you, Jill and Ona were on the dancefloor together.

“We’re sure, but… I don’t think our baby sister realises anything beyond trying to annoy Alexia.” Alba replied before disappearing onto the dance floor.

“Annoy you?” Lola enquired, turning to Alexia, who rolled her eyes, swaying to the music slightly as she turned to look at Lola, no longer watching you, Jill and Ona.

“My baby sisters… who have somehow disappeared?” Alexia frowned, looking over the dancefloor again to spot Ona dancing with Leila, and Jill was talking to some of her Wolfsburg teammates.

“Maybe they wanted some air?” Lola suggested, looking over the dancefloor and seeing no indication of you or Alba anywhere.

///

You had to grow out of sneaking into Alexia’s room as you grew up, because she grew up too, and you saw her less and less due to football. Instead, you’d lay awake at night, staring up at the ceiling trapped in your thoughts. Sometimes Alba would find you kicking a football outside, or Eli would wake up to find you studying at the dining room table in the early morning.

Exiting your room at the villa, your feet were soft against the floor, tapping your knuckles against the door you needed carefully, waiting before opening the door enough to peek in hesitantly. It was only when you saw that it was safe that you slipped into the room, curling up on the floor next to Alexia’s bed.

You tried not to flinch as you heard the bedsheets rustle, but Alexia was peeking over the bed to look down at you curled up on the floor.

“What’s wrong? You had a nightmare? Why are you on the floor?” Alexia whispered into the darkness, hearing you let out a sigh.

“I can’t sleep. Jill admitted she’s had feelings for me for a while, but she’s leaving for Germany, and I’m not going to see her unless Spain plays against the Netherlands and I’m on the roster. We both accepted it was a missed opportunity, but it still hurts.” You wrapped your arms around yourself, curling up further on the floor until Alexia reached down to rub your shoulder.

“I’m sorry, mi pequeña sombra, although, you’re not that little anymore…”

“I’m still five years younger… even if I’m not that toddler running after you and Alba anymore.” You replied, leaning into your sister’s touch as she huffed.

“The ball was bigger than your legs but you wanted to play with me. You would cry if I wouldn’t let you. Mi pequeña sombra… my little shadow…”

“Too long for a jersey. I still remember when they started calling me Sombra, but it didn’t warm my heart like mi pequeña sombra did. You called me just Sombra once, and I wanted to cry. You’re my sister, even if we’re not blood. You, Alba, Eli, you’re more my family than… them. I love you.” your rambling was cut off as Alexia shifted in her bed, wrapping her arms around you to pull you into her, the hold reminding you of when you were little, clinging to your big sister after nightmares had woken you up.

“I love you, mi pequeña sombra, my littlest sister… Does Alba know about it?” Alexia hummed, gently rubbing your back as you shifted.

“Yeah, we talked the entire way back here from the club, I think I wrecked her plans to dance with whoever she was eyeing at the club but if Ona saw me cry, or Jill realised her confession made me cry… Alba’s had my back ever since she threw a boy in the mud for trying to kiss me.”

“¿Qué?” Alexia almost flew up from the bed, confusion all over her face at what you had said, quickly asking when this had happened, and where she was at the time of the event.

“We were at the park. You had gone off to play football with the big kids, and I wasn’t allowed to join you since I was seven, you were twelve, Alba was nine. I’d played with the boy before on the playground, but I don’t know why he thought kissing me was a good idea. Alba spotted it, shoved him into the mud and glared at him, he cried, and I cried too when Eli came over… and that’s the story of how a boy was almost my first kiss.”

“Remind me to thank Alba. Wait, almost your first kiss… who was your first kiss?” Alexia asked, but you were either asleep, or pretending to, as Alexia got no answer. Who your first kiss was was something only you and some of the Spanish squad from the under 17’s championships in Iceland knew.

///

Your sleeping-in habit was apparently contagious. You and Alexia both were still sleeping when Alba went to check on you, finding your bed empty, so she headed towards Alexia’s room, finding you asleep, having stolen the blanket from a sleeping Alexia, and your foot was dangling off the bed.

A shriek echoed through the villa, leaving everyone else in the villa, and outside it in the pool to immediately look around, wondering what had happened.

“Alba! Don’t do that!” you yelled, having awoken to a hand grabbing your ankle, whilst Alexia flew up at your shriek, protectiveness in overdrive until she realised it was only Alba pranking you.

“Lo siento, but you left your foot dangling over the edge.” Alba smirked, but you huffed, glancing around to realise you were not in your bed, or your room, and the three of you were not alone.

“Buenos días, everyone!” you got out of bed, heading into the hallway, bypassing the audience to head to your room to get ready for the day. It wasn’t until they heard another shriek for Ona that had them hurrying to your room, finding you jumping around.

“What’s going on?”

“I got my grade back on my assignment, the one I stayed up until 2am to finish, I got 75! That’s a first class!” you exclaimed, jumping around in excitement as Ona eventually realised what you had said, and what assignment you were talking about, quickly jumping into your arms to join your celebrations.

You didn’t see the way your sisters exchanged looks, because you were busy jumping around with Ona in your arms, grins on both your faces.

///

Floating in the pool, you stared up at the blue cloudless sky, the water rippling gently against your skin.

It was only when you heard a sploosh, eyes staying on the sky as the water rocked you roughly, turning your head to spot Ona swimming towards you.

“What are you doing?” Ona enquired, floating on her back next to you.

“Just thinking.”

“Be careful!” Ona teased, making you huff and roll your eyes, spotting a lone cloud drifting over.

“You, thinking can be dangerous, Sombra.” A new voice teased, making you and Ona sink instead of float, hurrying to swim over to the edge of the pool where Laia Aleixandri stood with a smirk.

“Charming… so, are you going to stand there like a lawn ornament or swim with us?”

“You two weren’t doing much swimming.” Laia deadpanned whilst Ona frowned.

“Lawn ornament?”

///

“Do you know who the first kiss was with?” Alexia quietly enquired to Alba, spotting you, Laia and Ona chatting in the pool.

“You don’t?” Alba went to tease, but Alexia’s sigh was enough to stop Alba from teasing her older sister, “I just know it happened, no details, too awkward to talk about it, but it was with a girl.”

“When, Alba, when?”

“That football trip in Iceland.” Alba replied, trying to recall more.

“In 2015?” Alexia perked up, trying to recall who would have been on the Spain squad back then.

“Hey, we’re getting ready to go to the restaurant now!” Lola called out, whilst Jenni tried to jokingly wrangle everyone out of the pool with a broom.

“Why are you so interested in my first kiss anyway? It’s not like I know who yours was, or that I want to…” you dramatically grimaced as Alexia let out a gasp, whilst Alba snickered, watching on as Alexia went to tease you back.

“So it was in Iceland with the under 17’s… you’re close to a lot of our national teammates-” Alexia began but you ducked behind Ona and Laia.

“Was not us!” the two defended themselves, hurrying after you as you all went to get ready for the restaurant, not going to dinner in your swimsuits.

///

“You’re so nosy today.” You pointed out, sipping your drink through a paper straw as Alexia put down her glass.

“You never told me-”

“The entire concept of a first kiss is awkward, and I haven’t spoken to her in a while because she plays in Spain, like nearly everyone else on the national team besides Ona, who isn’t going to tell you, and neither is Laia, who I also haven’t seen in ages so…” you shrugged, turning to talk to Laia, whilst Alexia sighed.

“First kiss, that happened already?” Lola turned, raising an eyebrow as she remembered you from years ago, how little you were.

“Five years ago apparently… no idea who it is, but someone from the national team during the under 17’s in Iceland. Not Ona or Laia…”

“Maybe you should drop it, Sombra does not have to kiss and tell.” Jenni suggested, leaving Alexia to nod in agreement, especially since dinner was beginning to arrive.

“You never told her?” Ona whispered, leaving you to shrug.

“You know me, I don’t realise people like me until it’s too late. Carmen, Jill, there was even a girl at school, we were fourteen. No point telling my sisters every missed opportunity of a relationship.” You explained quietly, poking at your meal with the fork, your appetite gone as you recalled what Jill had admitted to you yesterday.

Ona frowned slightly, reaching over to take your hand and squeeze it gently, gaining a forced smile from you in response which she shook her head at.

“How about we celebrate your assignment grade, that first, not your first kiss?” Ona asked, making you laugh slightly too loud as you gained the attention of some of the others.

“Fine, fine, yeah, let’s do that.”

///

Heading back to Barcelona, your sisters had noticed your sneakiness, but hadn’t been able to figure out why. Jill had left to pack up her stuff in London for the move to Wolfsburg, so it wasn’t about her.

“Have you seen-” Alexia began to ask Alba, but Alba already knew, since you three were supposed to be going out for dinner with Eli soon.

“Out with Mapi and Jenni-”

“Dios mío, they went out to get tattoos.” Alexia let out a sigh, but Alba wasn’t done.

“Leila and Ona too.”

“Sure, everyone else… didn’t even ask me.” Alexia began to sulk, much to Alba’s amusement.

///

“Happy?” Leila enquired, turning around to see you were giving Ona a piggyback as the five of you walked through the streets of Barcelona.

“Sí!” you grinned, but let out a groan when Jenni leaned back to pat your head, making a remark in Spanish about how you were growing up before her eyes.

“You’ve known me for years!”

“You were so little!” Jenni replied, pretending to wipe away a tear.

“And now I live in another country to play club football whilst studying for my degree, and have a few tattoos so…” you shrugged, shifting slightly to not drop Ona.

“You have more than a few!” Ona cut in, gaining Mapi’s attention.

“The ones on my ribs are private!” but what you said didn’t help, as Mapi looked between you and Ona on your back.

“But Ona saw them?”

Jenni and Leila stopped walking to raise eyebrows at you and Ona then.

“We share a flat, and we don’t have a shower curtain, it’s a pane of glass.” You deadpanned, about to retort when your phone began to ring in your pocket, “I’m going to be late for dinner, look, if you’re that interested in my tattoos, I’ll snapchat you… just not the rib ones, Alexia looked murderous when she found out Ona saw one, and that Jill went with me to get one done…”

“Alexia looked murderous about that? Good luck to whoever you end up dating!” Mapi deadpanned, noticing the look on Ona’s face as you huffed.

“No, too young to date!” Jenni cut in, with Leila agreeing, whilst Mapi began to laugh and Ona buried her face in your shoulder to hide her laughter.

“Literally the same age as Ona!”

///

Heading back to Manchester, you hugged Alexia, Alba and Eli tightly, not wanting to let go but your home was in Manchester, at least for the next two years.

“Ay, you’ll miss your flight.” Alba poked you in the sides as you fumbled with your suitcase handle.

“You have to go, mi pequeña sombra.” Alexia hummed, noticing your hesitation, but you nodded, smiling softly before turning to walk into the terminal.

///

Spain didn’t qualify for the Olympics in Tokyo, so you and Ona were well rested by the time that pre-season for the 2021/22 season began. Starting with some club friendlies, then the WSL began. The first game back against Reading was memorable, for more reasons than one, as Ona had scored the second goal in the match, Kirsty getting the first, and you scoring the third one.

The first game back was also memorable because of the meowing you heard on the way back from the cafe you had picked up breakfast from for you and Ona the morning after. You both had the day off, but you had volunteered for breakfast, allowing Ona some more time to sleep.

You froze at the mews, glancing around but there were no signs of the source. Paper bag of breakfast for two in one hand, you hummed, glancing around to try to get closer to the source of the voice.

“Oh, no, poor baby, no, I’ve got you, I’ve got you… Ona’s gonna kill me, I’m bringing home more than just breakfast.”

///

Ona didn’t expect you to bring a soggy stinky cardboard box back for breakfast, a box that happened to be transporting a furry meowing creature that was determined to try and eat the breakfast you bought.

“I’m going to find a vet now, just don’t let any of the breakfast get eaten… also, I’m not sure how long the box was in the bins outside the cafe, so… be careful of fleas and ticks.” You grabbed your phone, starting to google, while Ona looked in the box to find the meowing creature trying to climb out. The breakfast sat forgotten on the kitchen counter as you and Ona began to sort out the latest edition to the household.

///

The fuzzball had no identification, and since being found in a soggy cardboard box near the cafe, was assumed to have been abandoned, meaning that after a few pouts between you and Ona, the cat was staying.

“Desayuno.” You ran your finger over the fuzzball’s head, the feline still not happy with the veterinary handling, but was also happier to be out of that box.

“Breakfast? You want to name the cat, breakfast?”

“Yuno for short. I went out to get breakfast for us, and came back with it, and a stray cat, thus, we have Desayuno… Sombra-Batlle.”

“Desayuno Sombra-Batlle?”

“I don’t go by my surname, and legally I’m not a Putellas, so… okay, no Lion King moment for Yuno-” you immediately put down the flailing fluffball who wasn’t enjoying being picked up and held in the air.

“Maybe once Yuno is bigger.” Ona shrugged, looking over at how the fuzzball was now exploring the flat.

“We have a couple of neighbours who can watch Yuno when we’re on away trips.” You added, following the fuzzball around the flat as Ona playfully rolled her eyes, getting her phone out to text Alexia.

///

“How many tattoos do you have now?” Vicky glanced over at you as you held the cafe menu between your fingers in thought, turning it over to make sure you’d considered all the options.

“More than my sisters think I have, but last time I went was with Mapi, Jenni, Leila and Ona in Barcelona a few months back…” you turned the menu over again, not seeing the look on Vicky’s face.

“Did you five book out an entire studio or something?”

“The others have connections, plus it was an excuse to hang out with them, bringing everyone together. Although Alexia gets grumpy every time I come back with another tattoo she didn’t know I had planned. She just needs to wait until her birthday. Tattoos, no matter your background, they bring you together, y’know…”

“That is far too philosophical for someone who used to hide behind Alexia at national team camp.” Vicky pointed out, making you falter, but Ona’s return from the cafe bathroom was enough of a distraction for the conversation to be forgotten.

///

An instagram notification distracted you from your reading, glancing up from the online textbook on your laptop to your phone to look. Yuno’s eyes opened slightly to acknowledge the movement of your arm, but the cat stayed put, happy as could be curled up in your lap (regardless of the fact you were starting to need the toilet.)

“Ona, did you tag me in something on your stories?” You enquired, but Ona had gone to her room for something after the two of you had had dinner, leaving you with a stubborn, sleeping Yuno.

Opening your phone to see what Ona had tagged you in, you chuckled at the photo of you reading, with Yuno in your lap, asleep.

Your phone buzzed again, reminding you of the time as you saw Jackie’s text, quickly opening zoom to join the group call that Jackie had sent you a link to.

“Hoi!”

///

Ona raised an eyebrow as she exited her room, hearing you talking to someone, and as she entered the kitchen, she glanced into the living room to spot you on the couch, on video call to a chunk of the Netherlands national team that you had crossed paths with at Arsenal and through knowing Jackie. Jill was part of the call, the defender discovered as she walked over to the couch, falling into frame of your camera as you leaned back to acknowledge her.

“Hoi, Ona…” you murmured, smiling as Ona sat next to you, waving to the camera. She didn’t know Dutch, but she could still pet Yuno, who stretched in your lap, a paw pressing into your stomach that made you grimace slightly. Yuno had developed a sixth sense that involved being able to press paws over your internal organs.

You froze at a comment made specifically in Dutch so Ona wouldn’t catch on, feeling your face burn as you murmured back a “misschein.” Maybe.

Maybe you looked at Ona like she hung the stars in the sky. Just maybe.

/// hopefully some translations ///

Buenos días mi pequeña sombra - good morning my little shadow

Hoe zijn je nieuwe teamgenoten? - how are your new teammates?

Ik probeerde dat te vergeten. - I tried to forget that.

¿Qué? - what?

Lo siento - I'm sorry

Dios mío - my god

Sí - yes

Desayuno - breakfast

Hoi - hi

misschein - maybe

#woso x reader #woso imagine #barcelona femeni x reader #ona batlle x reader #jill roord x reader #barcelona femeni imagine #barcelona femeni imagines #woso imagines #manchester united wfc x reader #manchester united wfc imagine #arsenal wfc x reader #jill roord imagine #ona batlle imagine #alexia putellas x reader

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breelandwalker · 1 year

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Sneak Peek - Spoons In Spades

At a little distance he saw a fire, and beside it there sat three giants, busy with broth and beef. They were so huge that the spoons they used were as large as spades, and their forks as big as hay-forks: with these they lifted whole bucketfuls of broth and great joints of meat out of an enormous pot which was set on the ground between them.

- Niels and the Giants (The Crimson Fairy Book)

[img src]

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Intent: To give oneself additional “spoons.”

Ideal Timing: This charm can be made at any time.

Materials:

Spoons

Large Jar

Cotton Balls

Herbs: Hyssop, Rosemary, Thyme, Juniper Berries

When I asked my readers what sort of spells they'd like to see in this second volume of fairytale-inspired spells, one of the most strikingly popular responses was, "Is there a spell to give me more spoons?"

If you're not familiar with the term, "spoons" or spoon theory is a metaphor which describes the reduction in mental and physical energy experienced by people who are disabled or chronically ill, with spoons used as a unit of measurement to represent how energy and motivation must be rationed throughout the day to accomplish necessary tasks. Spoons are only replenished through rest or sleep, so once a person runs out of spoons, that's it for their day.

The term was coined by Christine Miserandino in her 2003 article "The Spoon Theory," in which she uses dinnerware to demonstrate to a friend how living with invisible chronic illness required careful daily planning and prioritization, and how even with the best intentions and efforts, tasks are often left undone due to a lack of energy or an increase in pain. The term has since been adopted by wide sections of the online community in relation to struggles with disability, chronic illness, or mental health, as a descriptor for daily energy and motivation levels, i.e. "I don't have the spoons for this," or "After a full day at work, I have exactly one spoon left, and I need it for laundry, so going out is off the table."

As someone who regularly battles ADHD, anxiety, executive dysfunction, migraines, and depression, I'm a big fan of spoon theory, largely because it makes those invisible daily struggles, which so many of us have, much easier to visualize and explain. So in honor of all my fellow spoonies, here is a spell to help you gain those critical extra spoons.

For this spell, you'll need a fair-sized jar, some healing herbs, and a bunch of spoons. You can use plastic spoons or metal ones, if you happen to have spare silverware lying around. Use as many or as few spoons as you feel you need. If you need more spoons than can readily be acquired, you might draw or print out pictures or spoons and use those instead.

Place the spoons in the jar with a big handful of cotton balls. Apart from their mundane medical and cosmetic uses, cotton has healing magical properties and also represents the comfort that may feel lacking on low energy or high pain days. If desired, add several pinches of Hyssop, Rosemary, Thyme, and Juniper Berries, or a sachet containing the herbs if you'd rather keep things neat.

Close the jar, give it a big hug, and say:

I bless this jar and spoons And ask for the strength to function; And when I need a helping hand, These extra spoons I'll summon,

Set the jar aside somewhere safe. If desired, you might want to label it. You don't want anyone borrowing your magical spoons for their cereal, after all. When you need an extra boost to help you get through the day, simply open the jar and take out a spoon. You can carry the spoon with you, place it on your altar, or discard it to activate the charm.

Please keep in mind that performing this sort of magic should always be accompanied by appropriate medical and self-care measures. Magic isn't going to cure a chronic illness or permanently alter your brain chemistry. But it can help you cope with the symptoms and give you that all-important push to get yourself through the day. Stay strong, witches!

(If you'd like to check out more fairy-tale spells or any of my other published works, please visit the Willow Wings Witch Shop!)

#A gift for all my readers on my birthday - hope you enjoy!#witchcraft #witchblr #spells #spoonie witch #The Sisters Grimmoire II

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zehiiro · 19 days

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I over analysed the new TBOC Teaser and Sneak Peek

There's so much to cover here, and I'm so happy right now because of all the content we've gotten today! I'm going to focus the analysis on the new things we see in the teaser and trailer since many of the things shown today have already been discussed on here many times.

So please grab yourself a cup of tea or your morning coffee and bear with me through this post. It might be a little long, but I'd love to hear your takes on my timeline theory at the end. ♡

The Teaser

I'm starting with the teaser because that's what I got to see first.

Firstly, we see in the below photo that Daryl has finally gotten himself some arrows, which means we're finally going to see him with a bow (excluding that one time he used a crossbow in twd:dd 01x02). These definitely don't look like crossbow bolts, which implies that this shot is pre-reunion.

I also want to break down the dialog here:

Isabell: Tell me a story Daryl: There was this guy, he left home looking for something, and he couldn't get back.

I'm focusing on the part where he said "he couldn't get back" because he didn't say "he didn't go back" or "he didn't want to go back"; he said he couldn't; he's not there by choice.

~~~~~~

Secondly, we have this shot of Carol and her crew on a mountaintop. What stands out here is that it's not just her (on the right) and Ash (on the left); there are two other people there with them (middle).

Making notes of who these people are, here's a breakdown of what we can see about them.

There are two people.

First one: seems shorter with longer brown/black hair and wearing a beige coat.

Second one: seems taller, shorter auburn hair and wearing a black coat with a faux fur collar.

Unlike Carol and Ash, neither of them is visibly holding a weapon.

Also unlike Carol and Ash, they both seem to have bags/supplies.

They must trust each other at this moment because Carol and Ash don't seem to have their weapons drawn or their guards up.

The last three points make me think that the two in the middle might be locals from wherever they've landed in France and are helping them find their way. Additionally, to the local's guess, there's no way that the plane (image/model below) C/A flew in could have fit more than 2 people.

Beechcraft S35 Bonanza:

~~~~~~

Next, we see Carol (looking amazing as always) holding/shooting the crossbow, killing the walker we see below.

What's interesting here is that this walker is covered in moss and what looks like fungus growing out of it, which would happen to walkers who have been around water and/or in humid environments. The walker is also wearing winter clothing, which aligns with the snowy mountains in the background.

The only other place I remember seeing a walker like this, in France, was on the way to Normandy Beach, where Daryl looked over at the walker that had similar moss on it with trees growing through it; however, if I had to guess I'd say that's not relevant to the location of this new scene.

If the filming location accurately reflects the actual location of Carol/Crew, based on the surroundings and lake in the above shots, my best guess is that they are near the French Alps, somewhere around the area highlighted in red, OR the Spanish Alps highlighted in blue, since the rest of France is relatively flat and does not feature any large mountain scapes like we see in the photos.

It is also possible that these photos of Carol and Ash in the mountains are pre-France, set in the US while they were planning their departure via plane, with the only reason being that I don't think I've seen any photos of Carol or Daryl with the crossbow in France (that we know for sure were set in France). However, I'm still leaning towards it being in France because I don't see why Carol couldn't have taken the crossbow with her if they managed to take the rifle along.

Carol is later seen in a clip at Chantier Naval de la Passagère (purple mark on map), placing her right next to Daryl/Crew at Mont Saint-Michel (green mark on map).

~~~~~~

The Sneak Peek

The first thing to note with the sneak peek is that it looks like these images from the first teaser (below)...

are not at the same location as Daryl/Crew fighting in the sneak peak (below).

Another thing to note that's different is the people present with Daryl during each fight, which brings me to the next thing I've noticed.

~~~~~~

When the back of the truck is opened in the sneak peek, we see three people sitting in the back. After playing with the image a little bit, it becomes a little easier to guess who we're looking at.

To me, it appears that it's Fallou and Emile on the right, and the guy on the left resembles the man highlighted in the image below (from the first teaser).

All of this leads me to believe that somehow/somewhere, Fallou, Emile, and the ??? Man are taken by Genet and her people. This would explain Daryl's desperation during the sneak peek fight to stop Genet/Crew and get to whatever/whoever is in the back of the truck.

However, it gets a little complicated with how the timeline of these two fights relates to the below scene with Carol/Fallou/Codron.

I have two theories about how the timeline can go, but for now I'm just going to break down the one I think is the most feasible.

Firstly, we know that Fallou and Emile leave Daryl/Crew in 01x06, potentially heading back to Paris. On their way, they run into Codron, who's been badly hurt/tortured by Genet, along with Carol, who has tracked Daryl to Paris at this point.

From here, after resting, resupplying, and with the new information that Codron and Fallou gave her about Daryl's whereabouts and what he's been going through to try and get back to her, Carol leaves the Paris group and heads out to resume her search for him.

Sometime after Carol leaves Paris, the Paris group/base could have been attached, leading to Fallou, Emille, and ??? Man being captured.

This leads us to the fight we see in the sneak peek between Daryl/Crew and Genet/Crew, which results in Fallou/Emile/??? Man being rescued and joining up with Daryl and the Nest Crew again.

Here's where I think it gets interesting: Now that Fallout is back with Daryl, he tells him everything he knows about Carol, how they ran into her, how she's been looking for him, and how, right before the attack on that Paris base, she left to resume her search for him.

This would light a fire under Daryl, realising how much danger she could be in because the areas between Paris and Mont Saint-Michel are swarming with Genet's men, and Carol could very likely be unknowingly walking into an ambush that wasn't meant for her.

Knowing that Carol is somewhere between Paris and Mont Saint-Michel, Daryl can now easily track her to Maison Mere, where she happens to be trapped in a car with Ash, surrounded by walkers (image below).

This leads us to the scene from the first teaser, where we see Daryl, Fallou, Isabell,??? Man, and a few others from the Nest, are searching through what we've said appears to be Maison Mere.

In the first teaser, We see the walkers surrounding Carol's car get killed by something/someone that's not visible to us, other than the lone hand we see on the back of the windshield, which we have all agreed strongly resembles Daryl's (image below).

Leading us to our long-awaited life-changing reunion!!

Thank you so much for sticking with me and getting through this post ♡. I really hope reading it made sense like it did in my head.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of the above and specially on things that I've missed.

I'm so happy we'll have Caryl back in a few short months!!! Our wait is almost over ♡♡♡

#daryl dixon #carol peletier #caryl #tboc #the book of carol #caryl positivity #twd #the walking dead #my gifs #twd spoilers #spoilers #CarylArchives

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clintbartonswife · 6 months

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i achoo you

Pairings: Peter Parker x Wade Wilson Summary: Peter is sick and Wade is smitten. Whumptober prompt #26 : working to exhaustion / 'you look awful' Notes: i love this pairing so much ill cry. (also, peter is mid 20s) masterlist || whumptober2023

"I'm totally 100% definitely dying."

Peter stretched out on the couch, sniffling woefully. His phone was pressed against his left cheek, sticky with sweat.

"Is it that even possible?"

"Yes. Yes it is. And I've got two college essays due in this wee-ee- ACHOO"

Matt let out a laugh, "You know spiders cant actually sneeze?"

"Lucky for the-em- ACHOO"

"This is pathetic, even for you."

"Wow, thanks Red. This is the last time I ever call you for advice."

"Yet you'll call me next week over a stubbed toe no doubt."

Peter could practically hear the eye roll in his voice, frowning as shivers once again decided to wrack his body.

"I dont have any other semi-responsible friends that I can talk to, and I - I dont want to bother May -"

"Dont make me feel sorry for you, or I'll really regret sending the backup."

Peter groaned, "Oh god, who?"

"Blasphemy - and he should be arriving any time now. Foggy's just arriving at the office so I've got to go. Drink lots of water, okay?"

Matt hung up before he could answer, a knock at the door occurring seconds later.

"It's op-ehh-eehhh-ACHOO"

"Say it, don't spray it baby boy!"

Peter groaned again, louder this time, and threw his arm across his eyes. "Why you?"

"That's not a nice way to greet someone bringing you soup!"

Peter made a pathetic noise, halfway between a sniffle and a cough, moving his arm so he could sneak a peek at the merc as he made himself at home in the kitchen.

"That's a pathetic excuse for an apology, but I'm willing to accept it due to your pretty face." Wade was humming quietly to himself as he rummaged around in the cupboard, taking out a bowl with flair and transferring the soup in to it in one smooth motion.

"That wa-aa-as -" Peter paused a moment, waiting to see if the sneeze was about to escape him, continuing as the urge dissipated, "was the most elegant thing I've ever seen you do."

"I dont fuck around with my food," He replied, walking towards the couch, "Unless it's in a sexy-I'm-going-to-lick-chocolate-off-your-body-way, which I'm totally down for any time."

"Charming." Peter rolled his eyes, fighting against his tired muscles and moving into an uneasy sitting position.

"Always for you, baby b- wow. Petey pie, you look awful."

Peter let out a hoarse laugh, accepting the soup with a sarcastic smile.

"Not holding back, huh?"

Wade collapsed backwards on to the ratty futon opposite the couch, throwing his feet up on the coffee table. After wiggling in to a comfortable position, he lifted his mask to just under his nose and popped a bright pink unicorn lollipop into his mouth. "So, how did the amazing spider-man come down with the common cold? I thought you were immune to shit like that."

Peter shrugged, gulping down the soup.

Wade looked around the room for a few moments, sucking loudly on the lollipop. "How about this for a theory: you worked your pretty little butt off, on your daily patrols, part time job and now... college?"

Peter paused his eating for a moment, "Bio-chem."

"Smart and sexy, the whole package!"

"How you find me sexy right now, I have no idea."

Wade slurped extra loudly on the lollipop, looking Peter up and down. "Those hello kitty pyjama pants look good on you. Plus I can't get sick."

"Is that so?"

"Scientifically proven, baby boy. My skins so fucked up because my cells are dying and reproducing every second. Ergo, can't get sick."

"That... proven how, exactly?"

"Trial and error." At Peter's questioning look, he smirked, "There's only so many times you can regrow the majority of your body and not realise that something's funky."

"Funky is one word fo-oor-ACHOOO."

Wade jumped up from his seat, running to his bag and pulling out a disney themed box of tissues. "I came prepared!"

"Princesses? Really?"

"Yes, and look there you are!" He replied, pointing at Cinderella.

"Okay... I'm going to need an explanation."

"She's broke, you're broke. Twins!"

Peter rolled his eyes, though accepted the tissues. Wade laughed, "I guess you're just lucky that I'm here, your knight in shining armour, offering to be your sugar daddy."

"Oh god - don't phrase it like that. I've been getting by on my own just fine, tha-ahhh-ahhh-"

"Bless you."

Peter glared at him. "You jinxed me."

Wade pouted, "Want me to kiss it better?"

At this, Peter threw the tissue box, successfully hitting him in between the eyes.

"Ow!"

Peter grumbled something under his breath, placing the empty soup bowl on the table and burying himself once more into the couch.

"I take back the Cinderella comparison. You're much more like Grumpy Peg-Leg Pete."

Wade laughed at the offended noise emanating from the sofa, finishing his lollipop with a satisfied sigh and jumping up from his seat. "Well, if my assistance is no longer needed..."

"Wait."

Wade grinned, holding his hand up to his ear mockingly, "Sorry what was that? I didn't quite hear you."

Peter huffed, sticking his head fully out of his blankets, enunciating his words clearly. "Don't leave... please."

Wade's grin widened, throwing himself on to the end of the couch, grabbing Peter's feet and placing them on his lap. "I knew you needed me Petey Pie."

"How did you know," the boy replied, sarcasm strong in his tone, "I want you, I need you, oh baby, baby."

The merc's smile didn't drop, relaxing into the chair as he began massaging one of the spider's feet. "Jokes on you, your sarcasm just turns me on more."

"You're insatiable."

"For you? Yes. I'm all the big words. Unquenchable, titillated, concupiscent." He gave a look off to the side, "Thanks for the tutoring Prodigy."

"You -" Peter tried to see what he was looking at, writing it off as one of Deadpool's quirks, "whatever. You missed a word though: persistent."

"How else am I going to get you to admit your deep and passionate love for me?"

Peter rolled his eyes, though didn't offer a rebuttal, instead allowing himself to melt into the pillows as Wade's fingers methodically worked out all the tension in his feet. He let out a sigh, arm thrown over his eyes once again as he willed for the grogginess to leave.

"What's troubling you, baby boy?"

"College essay is due in three days and I still haven't started it."

"Oh?"

"'S all about chemical bonding agents and I - aaaACHOO -" He paused, using his webs to grab the tissue box from across the room and blowing his nose with a pathetic lack of energy before continuing. "I just think that if I think too long about one thing I might die."

"And you can't get an extension?"

"No."

"What about if Bea and Arthur ask?"

"You're not going to threaten my professor with your katanas."

Wade sighed dramatically, but let the issue drop. Now bored, he began to tap out the tune of Grace Kelly on Peter's legs, humming quietly under his breath.

In that moment, the weird domesticity of the scene hit the student, peaking out from under his arm to watch Wade. It felt comfortable, safe in a way that he hadn't felt since developing his powers. He felt cared for. Loved.

Eyes flaring slightly, he pushed that thought away.

"Thank you, 'Pool."

"Hm?"

"Thank you. For coming to look after me."

"Anything to spend time with you and your tight little ass, Petey!"

He snorted, rolling his eyes fondly at the intentional lewdness, gently kicking his chest with his foot. "I mean it."

Wade pressed both hands to his cheeks, shoulders raising as he let out a squeal. "Oh em gee, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"This is what I get for trying to be serious -"

To Peter's surprise, Wade paused for a moment. When he next spoke, it was with a certain genuineness that he rarely heard from the merc. "I'll always be here for you, no matter what. There's nothing to thank."

Breath caught in his chest, Peter allowed himself to sit up, looking at Wade with new eyes. Without even realising it, his hands had moved to lie on the edges of the mask, waiting for an answer.

"Webs -"

He could feel Wade's breath brush along his palms, finally removing the mask as the merc let out a hesitant nod.

Wade's eyes were blue, deep and endlessly curious.

Mask laid to the side, Peter's eyes rushed to drink in every detail of the man's face, fingers moving across the textured surface with barely restrained admiration.

"I think you're my favourite person."

The confession escaped him, surprising even him with the certainty behind the words.

Wade's eyes sparkle when they smile.

"You're going to make me blush, baby boy."

His eyes flickered to his lips.

"Did you mean what you said... about not caring that I'm sick?"

Wade's eyes widened, wordlessly nodding.

"Good."

Their lips clashed together with unbridled passion, Peter pushing away any doubt he held on to and clinging on to Wade's deceptively strong arms for balance.

The merc met him eagerly, gleeful as he buried his hands into the boy's hair, gripping just hard enough to send a shiver down Peter's spine. At his reaction, Wade smiled, nipping at his lower lip in order to pull another delicious response from him.

The spider had to pull away first, cheeks blazing and chest heaving.

Wade moved one hand down from his hair to cup his cheek, thumb caressing the smooth skin as his eyes searched for any sign of regret. "Webs..."

"I think - I think I lo-oo-ACHOO." He quickly turned away, sneezing into his shoulder.

Wade roared with laughter, offering a tissue as Peter's blush deepened.

"I achoo you too."

#whumptober 2023 #marvel #whumptober #peter parker fic #peter parker #wade wilson #peter parker x wade wilson #spideypool #spiderman #deadpool #team red #marvel fluff #fluff #whump and fluff #whump #spiderman whump

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sepublic · 1 year

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Anyhow, I want people to understand the significance of me crying over TOH ending because. I generally do not cry. It’s hard for me to cry, I feel sadness and grief sure! But tears themselves are difficult. And as much as I love media, it’s very rare and hard for it to make me genuinely cry. Other cartoons and shows I’ve gotten into haven’t done it, but...

The Owl House genuinely made me cry. After the grief of Agony of a Witch, the lonely despair of King’s Tide, and so many other painful moments. The Owl House finally made me sob, genuinely, wails I had to cover up, hot tears, sore eyes and a dripping nose. I heaved and made myself cry even more, because goddamn is there such a relief in the catharsis of feeling this pain, and knowing it means you’ve felt something, you’ve felt happiness to begin with.

So yeah. The Owl House has always been pretty special to me. But I think this expression of how I felt was low key what I was waiting for, working towards, after the finale. The absence hurts, but it makes me appreciate all the more the presence it entails for TOH in my life. For the community, for the experiences, the analyses, the genuine fun and laughter and speculation! The hype and friends I’ve made along the way, me building up my own skills as a reader thanks to this show!

I remember being enamored by The Owl House’s first announcement in February 2018, the first ever, possible public reveal of that show; You could’ve only known it beforehand if you worked at Disney and/or were one of Dana’s friends. Something about Luz, about Eda, about King... The very premise itself, the magic. Something about this show felt special to me, I had a really good feeling about it I couldn’t explain.

I ended up checking Dana’s Twitter obsessively for updates, was excited when she posted this one art of Luz and King having an ice cream run, while Eda was displeased with a little demon trying to get her dessert. I expected mostly casual things, but something about the vibes, the magic and wonder experienced through the lens of Luz... It got to me in a legitimately depressive state of my life.

Because I was depressed. Suicidal, even. It was perhaps the worst phase of my life ever, and I hope it’ll stay that way. The beginning of 2018 felt like me finally getting over the big hurdle, that enormous halfway point at the top, and how it was all relatively smooth, downhill sailing from here. So it feels fitting that it was the beginning of the easier part that TOH was announced for me. All I knew were Luz, Eda, and King; I eventually gave up checking Dana’s accounts for art, because I was SO excited and impatient for this show, inexplicably.

That’s probably why I missed Dana’s little sneak peek of Amity Blight, haha... But anyhow, TOH gave me something to look forward to. Something to live for. And when I finally got a shot of Eda throwing treats to Luz and King, the former taken aback by the eyeball, the latter having it bounce off his skull. It didn’t make it to the final cut obviously, but it was my first glimpse of how the show itself would look.

I was in despair when The Owl House was delayed to 2020; I had to wait another whole year for it! And going from 2018 to 2019 was painful enough as is! But man... Was it worth it. The first teaser, the mystery and wonder it promised. My Bionicle brain freaking out over the reveal of the Boiling Isles as a giant corpse.

And then the theme song. Me learning Luz’s VA, scouring very obscure media to get an idea of how she might sound like. And finally I heard it, we got other announcements; Eda by Wendie Malick, who made perfect sense, and King by Alex Hirsch, cue those obnoxious Bill Cipher theories I still hate to this day!

Some crew members announced cupcakes they made, complete with banners like “Drinkers Coven” and I got hyped for this little content. I wanted to try cashew meringues because of it, and later recognized the repurposed frames of Luz, Eda, and King in actual episodes. I saw some concept art and expressions removed from the show, and was glad to recognize them later, as I did a frame-in-process of Luz wondering about her magical destiny.

I checked Tumblr but it seemed like I was the only person actively anticipating, and not just including TOH as part of a larger collection of media posts. I wanted TOH for itself, someone was curious if it had owls, I scoured the first teaser for a screenshot to satisfy them! I wanted more people in on it! I saw some clips, figured out Luz’s ethnicity from her squealing “Ay que lindo!” in response to King.

I made a few ancient posts, my first TOH post was me admitting I was excited and wondering if anyone else was. It got NO traction, at least not until much, much later... But that didn’t stop me! I had a dream where Luz was revealed to be disabled, her legs were prosthetics and Eda ended up giving her new magic prosthetics styled after owl feet. This would prove weirdly prophetic... Less so, my dream about Luz being the Anti-Christ (this was framed as a good thing), hence why she found the isles.

I speculated Luz was an orphan who had nobody, hence why she found the isles; But then an article mentioned her mother Camila. I went with that spelling until some end credits confused me with a typo that gave us Camilia, which led to a big fandom debate later until Dana clarified.

I analyzed the trailers, trying to figure out the plot and trajectory, wasn’t quite right there. I was happy to see TOH would have full 22-minute episodes, allowing them to get nitty gritty and elaborated, instead of truncated into 11-minute segments. Boy did that pay off, and looking back I can appreciate what a rarity that was, an achievement. People pointed out the anagram for me...

I speculated on the titles, confused bits from Covention with scenes from the first episode, wondered if Escape of the Palisman referred to the tower. And in the end, the first episode finally came out, after I was enjoying Infinity Train Book 2, and I was enamored. It was wonderful, it utterly blew me away and was all I wanted and more. I had to get more! The moment Luz spoke of liking editing anime clips into AMVs and all that other stuff, I felt seen, and that was just the beginning.

I spoke my praises, but alas there was no fandom. The next week, I was surprised to find posts for the next episodes so early, and learned the episode was released ahead of time on DisneyNOW, so I immediately subscribed. I was excited to meet Amity Blight, Willow and Gus; And I was caught by surprise by how openly mean Amity was when she debuted! But I analyzed the sub-text of her actions and dialogue, and was vindicated.

Amity was such a fun and interesting character because she really felt like a puzzle that we unlocked more and more pieces of, to better understand her. And I really got the sense of TOH’s re-contextualization and surprising character continuity, such as when King’s B-plot in one episode actually became the focus of the very next! You could tell the writers really cared about making a deeper story for kids and teenagers.

One nice memory was when I wrote a post appreciating Willow and Luz’s friendship, the idea of Willuz as a ship; I took a shower and went back to check afterwards, and got notes! I analyzed the mechanics of glyphs deeply when they were first revealed, getting nitty-gritty; I remember the events of a few nights and what happened around me writing a post, comparing glyph magic to artificial replication of dragon breath!

I looked for crew art, which alerted me ahead of time to the existence of Emira and Edric, thought I didn’t know their names, and was delighted to learn Amity had older siblings!!! They were hers! Shoutout to @anistarrose who was one of the few people in the tag at this time. I really appreciate that post where you called out people constantly trying to make King into Bill Cipher in a serious manner, and the annoying implications of it. And how you realized a tweet poem by Dana foreshadowed Warden Wrath and the Emperor’s Coven... AND THE CODES TOO!!!

I distinctly remember this one meme video in the tags, a song singing “This girl is a lesbian” as Amity showed up as the punchline. I thought it was cute and loved the idea, I had no clue...! I even tried to analyze the dates on her diary entries because I was so obsessed with the show and wanted more, trying to see if I could figure out a calendar...

Spoiler alert, I didn’t. but it was FUN trying! Putting in all of this unnecessary effort for a detail nobody cared much for, because you could tell the crew were people who did the same, Dana even confirmed it later for herself! I remember being shocked about Eda having a curse, that one theory it was a Blight who did it. I suggested King being the Boiling Isles Titan, some Youtube channel even asked permission to use my post in discussing that theory! I was skeptical but checked and it was legit, and was pleased.

I went through that godforsaken Witch’s Apprentice game, realized too late the artifacts represented each episode and gave hints to the rest of 1A. I watched Look Hoo’s Talking, with Owlyvia and Horus, shout out to those who remember! I was amazed by Eda’s self-awareness in deciding things for Luz, especially after Luz briefly called it out in Covention. I found myself so ATTACHED to the characters, which makes sense since I hyped myself from the start!

I remember being surprised to see King wasn’t an overlord... Or was he? The original 2018 announcement suggested as such, but the way the show played around even after the premiere seemingly disproved it was fun. I speculated on what Luz’s magic track would be, enjoyed fanart of her in Potions as Eda was. Seeing Young Eda was a blast, and I remember being so distraught at the idea of her being cursed! I made a post wailing about it and Cat-Harman Mitchell commented LOL as I ranted about taking vengeance on the curser. Little did I know...!

I was afraid of a cliffhanger with Season 1A, but nope! Eda made it out despite the demon hunters! With a hiatus, I was left impatient and needing more. I scoured crew art, speculated on what Emperor Bellows would be like; Covention’s subtitles mispelled him as such, and Dana had to clarify in a tweet when 1B’s trailer released! I got into deep discussion with @fermented-writers-block about the show, about the mysterious owl mural.

I guess TOH was my first start at really analyzing a show from the start, especially since nobody else was around to do it for me. And coming fresh from reading the meta of those who did inspire me, I went HARD, reasoning that even if it was disproven, the process was fun! I analyzed snake motifs, the mysterious green hand that stole King’s crown. I made a whole diagram about parallels between Luz, between King and the Gildersnake, between ‘human counterparts’ to Amity and Willow and Gus. This definitely fed the revelation of Creepy Luz later on...

But yeah. To think the snakes did pay off with Luz’s palisman Stringbean; Back then people speculated as such with the title’s design, and I’m so happy to see it came through! I speculated on lore, wrote my first TOH fics, The Bile Coven and Amity’s Diary Entries, the latter of which I feel particular pride for since it was a character study of her that proved rather on the spot!

I was obsessed with the worldbuilding, came up with my own ideas. Imagined what Bellows and Kikimora were like. I waited IMPATIENTLY, and even had a dream where Eda was captured by Lilith, Kikimora, and Wrath, as well as some covenscouts... But then it was revealed her curse was a result of possession by the creature depicted on the mural; And it progressed to the next stage of converting her body to its own as she got more feral and escaped on her own!

The airship used by the Emperor’s Coven proved prophetic. And after 1B seemingly disproved this idea, 2A brought it back after all and I was delighted! TOH was and is a show that keeps giving for me, makes me feel rewarded for engaging with it, and is grateful even when I’m wrong, as Any Sport in a Storm’s B-plot attests. I made jokes about King being Mata Nui because I was a Bionicle fan. Someone saw a Grom poster in the background of a shot and suggested Lumity, but I didn’t get my hopes up... Hah.

There was a trailer that alluded to an episode of Luz and Eda in a snowy place; I knew of an article on TOH that mentioned a ‘Witch’s Arena’ at the Knee and guessed this was it. I liked the song that played because I associated it with TOH, found out for myself.

Rebecca Rose, shout out to one of the OGs talking about the show on Youtube! She made a wonderful video discussing Amity’s development and potential, speculating on her, and I felt SOOOO vindicated and followed her for it! As you know, she became THE fan channel for TOH, and was eventually ascended to a full-on crew member for it. We’d all watch her reactions and discussions afterwards.

Adventures in the Elements leaked, I correctly guessed it wasn’t the next episode but the one after it. I was delighted to see the twins be good siblings, and Amity’s casual outfit... Before that, I read a fic during the hiatus of Lilith adopting Amity from abuse (Remember when we thought she was that functional?), and it understandably depicted the twins as mean-spirited and basically apathetic. It was a good fic.

I remember joke-speculating that Bellows would be short, because I was projecting analyses of the Pale King from Hollow Knight onto him! I considered making an animatic of Farquaad’s reveal from Shrek but with Bellows, but alas I’d never actually done an animatic and had zero clue lol. I had another dream about Bellows coming in with the Emperor’s Coven to apprehend Eda, who became an even larger version of her Owl Beast form in response.

Then Summer 2020 came around. What a wonderful time of my life... New fans came in when they saw the possibility of canon sapphics with Lumity, and I was exhilarated! So careful not to get my hopes up, but look now... I was hyped to see Belos’ appearance. I analyzed the 1B trailer, took screenshots and organized them to guess which episodes they were. Rebecca Rose found foreign titles of 1B and translated them, and I did note how translations could skew the intended anagram. I remember “Mini-Problems” being an episode title...

You can probably guess the rest from here, since this was about when the fandom really kicked off. And boy did people stick around for it all. I felt delight in knowing Grom was sooner, due to Understanding Willow being paired with Really Small Problems on the same day! Two episodes at once, instead of the original plan for the last two episodes of the season together! I ended up regretting that low-key with the angst and pain of Agony of a Witch, which made me realize how much I cared for Luz, Eda, and King, and made me the closest to crying from the show.

I felt vindicated to see a popular artist like MoringMark begin making fan comics, I had no idea that’d be THE thing he’d be known for, after I knew him as the Gravity Falls guy. I followed Matthieu Cousin on Tumblr, got excited for that trend of dressing up TOH characters for Grom and sending in your designs, with a winner announced! I don’t think that ever happened. Anamanaguchi’s Prom Night became a thing thanks to a crew member, and who can forget Little Miss Perfect? Kwame rolled with the success and I was glad for him. Eda’s gray eye appearing after the season finale in the end credits shocked me.

There was the Reddit AMA, where I prepared lore questions afterwards and had none of mine answered, but we learned a good deal! Especially the telling “Clawthornes are a bird motif” from Dana, her being put into a headlock by a nun. Amity and Lilith weren’t close but as I mentioned a while back, Dana expressed that she also made connections with cartoons as a kid. Odalia liking her kids color-coded, hence Amity’s hair, and Alador being interesting. Which led to a bunch of fanart that proved off the mark but also not? Alador wasn’t THAT well-put but otherwise...

And that stream! That wonderful stream! I contemplated spending so much money via donation to get something. Eda drinking Apple Blood, Spencer Wan almost spoiling Lilith having a Raven form. Our first sneak peek at Hunter’s face, not counting his appearance as the Golden Guard in S1; We all guessed he and the Golden Guard, or “Owl Mask” were the same. I was stumped and baffled how he fit into Belos’ dynamic... Hoo boy. And we all thought Hunter was an adult, even Alador at first, because of those eye bags!

I wanted to see the coven heads, based on their banners we saw; I liked the Potion Head especially and even when his design proved different than I expected, it was still my favorite! I thought Darius might be a Blight grandfather and he DID have a connection... I had a dream of the twins working for Osran at a library and messing with him, recognized Mason from Covention, and dreamed Terra was named Botanica.

Christmas art of the cast came out, I was happy to see Emira and Edric happy there, after being saddened by Dana’s Grom art of them and even writing a whole fic about it, which I’m chuffed about! She also drew Mattholomule... I recall in the wait for Season 1B, she did some art of the characters. Gus playing games, Mattholomule losing to him; King despairing over stubby thumbs.

Fanart of the kids in quarantine, Amity declaring it’d be easy to stay away from Luz, to Luz’s sadness; Boscha being mad because she couldn’t talk to her friends. Remember when Boschlow was a big thing, until Understanding Willow killed off some of the hype? And confirmation that Willow worked out, which we saw come to fruition in Season 2; People were surprised but I wasn’t! And of course, Frewin being his own entity from Bump, and not Bump himself.

But back to chronology, I guess this is where I should end off. Sorry, this ended up being MUCH longer than I intended, and really you could write a book about my experience with TOH and the journey on a meta level. But those were interesting times, those beginning eras. Back when I didn’t feel the need to always add screenshots to posts unless necessary. And it’s making me nostalgic. It’s making me appreciate everything we’ve been through, the roots of my hyperfixation. And how it all led to me finally crying, because I really did build up THAT much of a love for the show.

I found my first fandom I really felt a part of, found so many people who enjoyed my meta and validated me for it! I feel I’ve grown so much as a person because of TOH. And as I nostalgically reminisce on how different the show was then, I appreciate all the more how far we’ve come, and what it is now. Snapping back to the present does make me sad over how much has passed and changed, but I also appreciate it while remembering the ideas I once had.

I’ll miss that era, and TOH as a whole. And boy do I associate that classic ending theme, how I loved the melancholy of those end credits, speculated on them paying off in the finale. And they did...! It feels good to hear it one last time after a year without it, due to the end credits being removed or redone. There was something so idyllic and dreamlike about that original sequence, capturing the feeling of coming home, and I’m glad TOH did that once more with it.

#the owl house #ramblings #long post

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1braincell4rent · 10 months

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Welcome, my dear humans to this... rambling?

Yes, I think that´s probably it. I´m just going to analise the Good Omens Season 2 Opening, talk about a few things that caught my attention, do some innacurate predictions and probably make more questions that are not gonna be solved (not even when the season actually gets released).

That being said, I apologise for tha will I´m about to write. But I had nowhere else to write it, so bear with me, okay?

Okay, we begin with a sequence pretty similar to the opening for the first season. Where´s this? I wonder.

But there´s two things that inmediately caught my attention, as Crowley and Aziraphale begin their particular procession across the fields.

The first one, there´s a person walking with a box on their hands. That same box has a couple of arrows signaling upwards and I can tell it´s also the same symbol we saw on at least one of the promotional posters of GO S2. So it´s probably the thing Gabriel had to deliver, if we go with theories plus what was said in the sneak peeks.

The second thing here... Why are here so many goats? Is this a hell reference?

So now we set the goats on fire because why not, and there´s a building on the top right that gives me ancient roman vibes (nevermind me guys, the clear thing here is that we´re soon all going to hell and more people will join the charade).

We keep going to a cementery now with people following the angel and demon and there´s a few tombstones with eyecatching things written on them.

"Jane Austen", says in one and I wonder why.

"Here lies the former shell of Beelzebub", in another (which clearly makes reference to the fact they changed the actress for that part).

"Everyday", in reference to the song.

And also "Here lies Adam"...

Wait, Adam? What the actual f-

Anyway, so now they finally descend to hell and I can just tell by the chair and computer set in there what whoever has that administrative job is not getting paid enough for this shit.

Back up in the Earth I´m finally able to spot Muriel (sorry guys, I´m real shit to spot characters in these things) and we´re clearly in the middle of World War II, as you can see by the Winston Churchill signs and all the destructive ambience very fit for that historical period.

Now, what I wanted to talk about was the movie that´s being announced, "Stairway to Heaven". I´m going to leave down here the summary because I think it might be interesting:

"Returning to England from a bombing run in May 1945, pilot Peter Carter's plane is damaged and his parachute ripped to shreds. He has his crew bail out safely, but figures it is curtains for himself. He gets on the radio, and talks to June, a young American woman working for the U.S. Army Air Forces, and they are quite moved by each other's voices. Then he jumps, preferring this to burning up with his plane. He wakes up in the surf. It was his time to die, but there was a mix-up in heaven. They couldn't find him in all that fog. By the time his "Conductor" catches up with him twenty hours later, Peter and June have met and fallen in love. This changes everything, and since it happened through no fault of his own, Peter figures that heaven owes him a second chance. Heaven agrees to a trial to decide his fate."

So we got a miracle, a romance and heaven and hell involved in conflict... Does it sound familiar to you?

As we keep walking rabbits start to fall from the sky and I feel as we approach the theater the time has come for Aziraphale to do his so much awaited magic show.

So, there´s a few things to point out here as well.

For starters, the posters of The Ladies of Camelot (that I´m guessing are the showgirls), those same ladies joining the procession and... have you noticed this is the first time in these openings where Aziraphale is not walking with Crowley but joining him later at the stage, dressed as magician?

And so here goes one of my crazy theories: what if the scene in the trailer where we see Aziraphale surprised at the theatre is because he´s surprised Crowley arrived? Surely we also see a whadow before him and it could also be something completely different and scary... But then again, if what Aziraphale is seeing at that second is real bad stuff, why are the showgirls in the background looking amused?

The theater curtain opens and we get this scene when, again for the first time, Crowley and Aziraphale fly together. Like, literally together, not one after the other as until now.

Wasn´t Crowley proposing to run away to another galaxy together last season? (ah, of course they´re not going to do that now, they got things to do on Earth).

But I´m hopeful we can see where these people were before the beginning of times, before the Eden, when Crowley was still an angel and helped creating galaxies. I read somewhere a theorie that he might be Raphael or (and I thing this is more plausible) someone close to Raphael. So yes, we´ll see where this goes...

Back on Earth we can see Crowley and Aziraphale sitting together on the bookshop roof and, have I mentioned since the space thingy now are raining hearts? What is this? And who was the genius who thought putting "Give me coffee or give me death" to a coffee shop was a good idea? (ah, we all know this and we love Neil for it, just saying).

Anyway, I´m so glad to see the Bentley again. And all those discs... Will it be so important the constant repetition of the song Everyday? Why? And had it something to do with the fact Crowley´s car has a similar problem and no matter what CD he puts it always plays a Queen song?

People´s announcing the "Second Coming" which could very well be a reference of Season 2 and we don´t need to panic yet.

But there´s a lot of elevators here, with angels inside, so we can fairly guess it´s time to go to heaven (and it´ll probably be the last stop).

But before that, and notice that no one in this procession uses an elevator, they get to this cinema where "The Arrival" is screening.

Could it be a reference of the movie of the same title or just a hint because the first episode of this season is titled like that? I´m gonna go for this last theorie, because it makes more sense to me.

The same symbol (arrows pointing upwards) that were in Gabriel´s box are now here in the screen...

Finally, all these people get to heaven not by the usual system (the elevators) but by some stairs and under it there´s a lot of stuff piled that I´m not going to analise because I basically blind at this point (my fault, don´t cancel me).

Can I guess here there´ll be more conspiracies with heaven involved?

#good omens #good omens season 2 #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #anthony j crowley #neil gaiman #terry pratchett #good omens fandom #crowley

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walker-extended-universe · 2 months

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Walker Season 4 First Look: An Overanalysis of TVLine's Exclusive Sneak Peek

TVLine released this article earlier today and there is SO MUCH to talk about

First off, we have an official premiere date for season 4! 4x01 will be hitting our airwaves on April 3rd! Which leads us to our next point: Walker will now be airing on Wednesdays. Regardless of the network reasons for changing the air day of our beloved show, I do appreciate the alliteration of Walker Wednesdays.

Second, let's talk about the plot that awaits us.

The first episode will cover Cordell's birthday and I am literally BEGGING the powers that be to give us an official birthday for Cordell. If we don't at least get a month timespan to work with, I'll be quite upset.

We also have a few cliffhangers coming off of the season 3 finale but this article spends the most amount of time talking about how the reopened cold case "The Jackal". Jared shares that Larry James will be having a few issues with this case, specifically "past trauma". We know from the season 3 finale that James was obsessed with the case and hearing about it on his wedding day probably didn't help matters. Jared also says he hopes Cordell will get to "get to return the favor and be there for him" during his time of need so I'm looking forward to a lot more Walker & James scenes in the coming season.

Jared also specifically called out Cordell and Geri giving things another try and being a "good tag-team for Stella and Auggie", so it looks like we're looking into some romance mixed with co-parenting.

Now, onto the promo pics!

This picture has a few interesting details in it. First off, where's August???? I know it's entirely possible for him to be in a different room or just out of frame of the picture but literally everyone else is here!

Second, it looks like there's some heated conversation between Larry and Ben. Taking in a lot of surprised and concerned faces on both sides of the table, I'm going with the theory that Ben said something that accidentally ruffled some feathers. Abby and Bonham tactfully staying out of it only reinforces that idea for me.

This photo is also very interesting to me. Based on the chairs and the candles, I'm betting this is also at the ranch house dinner table. But this time, it's dark and Cordell is all alone. The article describes him as "somber and contemplative" and I have to agree. The big question is, why? My current theory is that he just got some bad news relating to the "Jackal" case and this will be our end-of-episode cliffhanger. But there are other options too! @theladywyn posited August's absence in the previous photo may be deeper than it looks and could be contributing. It's also possible that Cordell learned about what happened between Stella and the home invader in 3x18- and that she called Liam for help.

So many possibilities, so little information, and so many questions left to answer. April 3rd (or 4th if you- like me- are stuck watching the episodes online) can't come soon enough!

#walker #walker bts #walker spoilers #season 4 #walker speculation #walker theory

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neveah-llama · 7 days

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Usagi Yuichi: You Can Either Manage Your Caffeine Addiction or Fight a Mass Murderer From 500 Years Ago

This is just a little sneak peek from my new fanfic, it's a ROTTMNT x Usagi Chronicles crossover, and I have *some* plans for this one. Muwahaha!

Breathe in, breathe out…

There was no time for hesitation, no time to show any weakness, just grip your sword tighter and be ready.

Breathe in, breathe out…

The smell of the fire was getting to him, burnt wood and something unidentifiable choked his nose, it made his eyes fight back tears, made his stomach twist and turn in a sickening way.

If he was a lesser man he would have emptied his stomach the moment he set foot into this town. But thankfully he was not.

Breathe in, breathe out…

Usagi remembers visiting this village just a few months ago before the first snowfall, it was lively. Children were running down the streets with food in hands and masks on their heads. Parents and other adults were chatting, gossiping about the latest happenings of the small town. There was a festival, Usagi remembers, with a big giant pyre in the middle. It was charming, with a gentle feeling that grasps at his heartstrings. Jotaro would have liked it, he thought then, especially the decorative masks that laid on the small heads.

He can’t help comparing it to the before and the after. Now, most of the buildings in the outer ring were charred, a couple of their roofs caving in on themselves, a skeleton of what they were supposed to be. But surrounding him some of the fire still lingers, greedy with hunger. A wood crack under the fire behind him, if he was a lesser man he would have snapped his head to the side or maybe even jumped in fright. But he forces it down, forcing himself to block out all the noise and the distractions and focus on the enemy ahead. The smoke of the destruction blocking what would be a nice spring day, added with suspicious stains on the ground, was enough for Usagi to deduce what may have happened here.

Breathe in, breathe out…

So many candles have been burned out in such a short time, and for what? Was it really all for some grandiose delusions of being a messenger to the gods?

Breathe in, breathe out…

There was no time for hesitation, no time to show any weakness, just grip your sword tighter and be ready.

Behind him, the sound of wood cracking met his ears, but this one had a peculiar sound to it that made his ears perk up. There was a heavy force behind that crack, and though the force of a fire is great, it was never enough to make that sound.

Before he knew it, Usagi snapped around, sword at the ready, right in time for him to block the katana in his foe's grasp. The wolf let out a snarl, his milky white eyes showing the deepest depths of hell, promising Usagi that he will have a slow and torturous death.

The rabbit gave out his own snarl, pushing the wolf back with as much force as he could, kicking his legs to force the crazed swordsman to make room.

“Miyamoto Usagi,” The wolf said, taking his time to roll the vowels of his name. “I am honored by your presence, many of these sinners have proclaimed you of being the greatest swordsman in edo. And though pride is beneath me, I would like to test that theory.” There was something off about his smile, Usagi decided, one that reeked of bloodlust, something unbefitting of the wolf he used to be.

“Jei, please put down your weapon, you are not in the right state of mind at the moment.” Usagi tries to do this peacefully, truly he did. And it seemed like the wolf may be contemplating his offer.

But Usagi’s hope was dashed when the wolf shook his head. “I unfortunately can’t do that, Miyamoto. So much sin in this world and no one to purify it. The gods have given me the honor of being their messenger, they gave me the ordained right to purge this world and I intend to honor their wishes.”

“Even if it means cutting down innocents?” The rabbit questions, positioning his sword on the offensive.

Jei licked his lips, “I never cut down the innocent.” grimacing in disates as he sheathed his sword and pulled out a spear from behind his back, “Only those who have sinned and support the sin and unfortunately, you seem to be both of them.” The wolf shot off like a lightning bolt, quick and unyielding. Usagi barely had enough time to switch to a defensive position right before he had to block the blade from nicking his face.

The rabbit used the momentum from his dodge to then quickly disarm his opponent from his spear, careful at making sure the blade was far enough away from him. Unfortunately, it seemed that Jei had predicted what he was doing, twisting his spear in the process and getting out of his grip.

Usagi cursed in his mind, quickly jumping away to get more distance between them, just stopping when he felt the hot flames of the fire raging behind him.

His situation was dire, not only was he fighting against an opponent who seems to favor long-distance, but there was nowhere for the ronin to run too. He was well and truly cornered.

But Usagi forced himself to slow his breathing (breathe in, breathe out…) blocking all of his doubts and worries and focus on the task at hand.

Jei went and feinted right, Usagi blocking it. Jei did the same thing with Usagi’s left side and just like before, he blocked it as well. But he didn’t waste his chance.

Taking a risk, Usagi grabbed the shaft in the middle, using all his strength to twist, forcing Jei and him to switch positions. Usaigi even tried to forcefully pull the spear from the wolf’s grasp, but here this is where Jei drew the line. Usagi can feel him gripping the spear tighter and any minute now Usagi would have to let go.

But Usagi knows that this will make him lose the fight, he can’t let go of the spear. Besides, he didn't need to.

Usagi acted quickly, gripping the shaft in one hand and swinging his sword in the other. It was a precise blow, one that Usagi had mastered with great efficiency; it would have cut both of Jei’s hands off if the wolf didn’t hesitate. And not wasting this opportunity, Usagi pulled the spear out of the wolf’s grasp tossing it far behind him and into the fire, the wolf didn’t even have time to shout before Usagi’s sword pierced his chest.

The wolf looked up to the rabbit with a shocked look on his face, slowly slumping down when the energy was draining out of him, until finally…

Breathe in, breathe out.

“I hope you find peace.” Wherever that may be, he silently added. He closed the wolf’s eyes with his hand before looking around the area.

“You can come out now!” A boy barely the age of majority, poked his head from behind one of the burnt down houses. He was a dog with simple farmer’s clothing, looking lost at the destruction of his village.

“We are too late.” The dog’s eyes began to water with unshed tears as the situation finally seemed to get to him. Usagi solemnly nodded, there was no point in denying it, after all the best course of action is to feel the grief freely before it changes you in anger and revenge. He had learned that lesson the hard way.

“I am sorry that there is nothing more I can do.” Usagi says, making his way to the cursed spear. The dog looks at him with wide eyes.

“Miyamoto-san, you have done more than enough, I just wish I was enough to save them.” Usagi opened his mouth to say something, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement.

Without thinking, he shoved the spear towards the dog, the young man taking it with confusion. “Miyam-!”

“Run, go!” He felt something piercing his side, red hot searing pain pulsing in his insides as something long and cold slid out of his body. His body falters, but he forces his legs to be strong, pumping the last of his energy into them. He turns around to see the wolf smirking at him.

“You really think you could ever kill me?” Jei’s blade was soaked in blood, his haori caked in it, matching Usagi’s new stain.

“I think you may have forgotten, rabbit, but I was blessed by the gods. Nothing can kill me.” The wolf let out a scream, arching his sword high in the air before swinging it down. The last things he saw were his brown eyes staring back at him.

Usagi Yuichi woke up with a gasp, tumbling out of his bed and flinging Spot from his spot. His pet let out a ‘yip!’ in fright, shaking his head to chase away the stars.

Meanwhile Usagi groans, rubbing his forehead before looking at his darkened room.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

It was just a dream.

#fanfic #writing #rottmnt #yuichi usagi #miyamoto usagi #tmnt 2018 #rise of the tmnt #rise leo #rottmnt: divergence #This came to me in a dream

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grimaussiewitch · 6 months

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So we’ve got a sneak peek at the new life series through gem’s blurry photo. In it we can see that she either has two or three heart bars. Now there’s been “leaks” that the name is hard life and while I don’t think that’s the name, I do think it fits the extra hearts. So here are my theories on the gimmick:

Everyone has a random amount of hearts: could be more or less hearts and it defaults to a normal row on red. Secret life one might say. I do think this one is interesting because you will have no clue if you will one hit someone or if it will take forever to kill them. The only problem is that if it goes under the 10 heart limit it might be unfair to some players

It’s different then the extra lives rule from last life but a still similar when compared to other seasons.

Three rows green, die, yellow with two rows, die, normal row on red: very simple, it’s third life but with more hearts. A bit boring in my opinion because it’ll take a lot for people to go to their red life.

More hearts mean green less equals red: I’ve seen people say that your life changes depending how many hearts you have. So you only have one life: Now I don’t know if that means there’s a way that you can’t get hearts back but I highly doubt this is it. It’s basically hardcore mode with one life. Also you regain hearts so you’ll just bounce back and forth between lives way more than in limited life.

No yellow: yep you heard me. Now people have being theorising this one because of scar’s traffic gif. It’s janky and skips the yellow light. So maybe these extra lives are there because you will go straight to red. Interesting but I would hope there’s a way to bounce back. But to counter this everyone is still make green, yellow and red jokes/emojis, why skip yellow yet still have it in your texts? Could be to hide it but I doubt it.

Gem is just like that: she just is built different.

Lets see if I’m close lol.

#grim talks #trafficblr #traffic smp #geminitay #theory #not sure if they’ll be a boogie or not just yet #I kind of hope there isn’t so it a once every season thing

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magpies-gold · 10 months

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Back From Mysterium

I did a very small couple of posts before this, but Saturday at Mysterium blew my expectations out of the water, and so I decided I needed to circle back around and try again as a much bigger post.

First, foremost, and coolest - yes! I got to meet Rand Miller (bonus infamous RAWA just to the left as well)! Even better, for once in my life my social anxiety didn't turn me into a non-verbal lump and I was able to say a grand total of two full sentences and a greeting. If you know me at all, then you know that that's quite the accomplishment. Usually @timmcosplay has to do the talking for me when I inevitably choke on my own tongue, but by a quirk of fate we got separated (he wanted to get our Book of Ti'ana signed and got yoinked into a different line up from me, who wanted photo evidence) and I had no choice but to attempt to be a functional human. My theory is that I've talked to Rand's face so many times during the intro to Riven (I always talk back) that it was just second nature to say hello the second he looked at me. Genuinely, though, he's so kind and so patient and I'm stoked that he made time to meet all of us and then spend a couple hours even after that being a presenter and answering heaps of questions.

Tim may have not been with me directly, but he was still creeping in the sidelines getting photos of me getting photo'd and briefly chatting. ;)

Ultimately, we were split into three groups and everyone ran through the events of the day in a different order.

Tim and I were on Team Ytram (or Team Forg as I insisted on calling it) and had little Rivenese froggos on our badges.

After the meet and greet, we got lunch. It was simplistic fare, but the fact that we got hot dogs and Cool Ranch Doritos out back of the Cyan HQ means that they were very special hot dogs and Cool Ranch Doritos. Legendary!

And then... they actually allowed my wee goblin self and Tim to go through the iconic archway entrance and to scramble around their actual studio. I've seen pictures of the place on the internet before and knew how neat it would be to some degree, but now I know where everything is!

In no particular order....

Iconic signage and that giant honkin' Moiety dagger that Adam Savage apparently worked on?? It is truly large in person!

Costumes from Riven! Including Catherine's dress, which I remember my mom was always cooing over when I was playing the game on my clonky PC in the late 90's, and Gehn's costume, with Tim posing (and having not totally slightly held up the rest of the group by getting detail shots for cosplay purposes, no, no, he wouldn't do that....)

Art! Design sketches and THE MAP.

The infamous elevator wherein you'd better know your D'ni numbers if you want to get anywhere (I would get stuck).

And then... artifacts!

They had THE LEVER from the beginning of Riven. Did it never occur to me that the lever was a real lever? THE LEVER IS A REAL LEVER.

Plus there were goggles and books and Gehn's gun (AKA the only Game Over inducing object in Riven) and more character design sketches with actual costume fabric swatches! That last bit made Tim make high pitched glee noises, as someone who both designs and makes costumes himself.

There were presentations after all of that. Trailers, talks, a non-profit project to digitize over a hundred hours of behind the scenes footage from the making of Uru and Riven and other things, which we got a sneak peek of. They showed off a snippet of the remake of Riven. There was just so much. It was hours and hours and I was practically vi-bra-ting by the time we finally were ushered back to the bus and back to Spokane.

I will never entirely get over the fact that I was able to go see all that with my own two eyeballs. As someone who's been enamoured with the universe surrounding Myst island for the full 30 years of its existence, ever since I was 8 years old, who used to make big calligraphy posters of passages from The Book of Atrus and The Book of Ti'ana and tape them up all over Thorhild Central School whether my fellow students and teachers wanted me to or not, and who was so solidly influenced by the idea of books as literal doors to other worlds that it became a foundation for how I view my own characters and stories (namely that I'm no god, and they do have a life all their own), this is a treasured memory.

#mysterium #mysterium 2023 #myst #riven #cyan worlds #rand miller

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planetkiimchi · 10 months

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a love letter to your ex | x.dj

featuring: xiao dejun x gn!reader (but y/n tries to wear a skirt so), huang guangheng (hendery) ft. huang renjun, johnny suh

warnings: mentions of food, glass shards, mentions of blood, xiaojun is an idiot, so so much angst. i didn’t realise i was this evil? but anyway hope it’s good angst <3

word count: 5.6k

summary — dealing with a breakup is hard. but you thought that it would be because you hated the other person, not because you still loved them! no one told you that. xiao dejun, in particular, seems especially determined to make things harder for you, and maybe, just maybe, you want to go running back to him.

dedication: @loves-theory hey nada! i hope you enjoy this one, and it doesn't let you down after the sneak peek you got. it's kinda crazy how this one came out less fluffy than i thought it would, but i hope it's okay.

GETTING OVER PEOPLE IS HARD. You would know. Yes, you and Xiaojun had broken up on good terms, knowing full well that you couldn’t put up with his late-night gaming and his habit of just kissing you instead of making up properly. In turn, he found you too organised (and particular) for him to deal with and hated your club-going habits.

So yes. You realised you just couldn’t live with each other. But that didn’t mean you didn’t love him anymore, and you definitely still liked him.

You see, it’s very difficult to undo months of loving habits and strange peculiarities. Every time you tied your hair, you were reminded of his fingers running through your hair and getting tangled in it, while you laughed it off because you loved him. Even if you were just a little bit annoyed.

You signed your texts with an “xx y/n” because that’s how Xiaojun did it. He always started his texts with “dearest y/n”, and signed off with “your favourite man”. Which was true, at least until you broke up.

With all this in mind, it was very difficult to be “just friends” with Xiao Dejun, despite your wholehearted promises that you would try your best to do so. Because all he had to do was run his hands through his hair, and you found yourself falling into the rabbit hole of no return.

Again.

These were the thoughts running through your mind as you half-heartedly listened to your friends, Shin Hyewon and Kim Aeri, discuss their own love troubles. Only theirs were much more amusing to listen to, because Aeri’s boyfriend, Renjun, was a literal angel. Her love troubles went something like, “He bought me my favourite perfume for Valentine’s Day, but I can’t get him anything for White Day because I’m broke and I feel so bad. Do you think he thinks I’m a gold digger because I never get him anything?”

(You don’t think Renjun would ever think that of her. Renjun is the most understanding person you’ve met, and he doesn’t look down on anyone. Out of all the trashy men in the universe, Renjun is definitely the most likely to be empathetic to Aeri’s financial debt, even if he didn’t and could never relate. That was just the kind of man that he was.)

You didn’t have to say that aloud, because Hyewon was ready to be the voice of reason. In the least patronising tone possible, she managed to convey your thoughts exactly without any snarky remarks that reminded Aeri how lucky she was to have a boyfriend like Renjun. Which was three entire snarky remarks less than you could have managed.

Hyewon’s troubles, on the other hand, often went unsaid. Hyewon hated to make things about her, even when she was obviously in need of support. You and Aeri had realised that if Hyewon needed help, you would have to provide it subtly, so as not to hurt her pride.

Hyewon was a strong, independent woman (who sometimes needed her man). But Johnny was a busy person, and sometimes he got caught up in his work, prioritising “his boys” over his girlfriend. Hyewon was no stranger to being stood up by Johnny, and there had been many a time that you and Aeri had had to show up in a fancy restaurant to order one meal to share to save your wallets. There were never any questions asked, but it went without saying that Hyewon’s relationship wasn’t the best.

The real reason she stuck with him was that Johnny had been the perfect picture of a significant other for three years, and after five years of dating, Hyewon just didn’t want to give that up. For a while, you even thought that Johnny might be intending to propose.

You supposed, that with all the similarities in yours and Hyewon’s relationship, you should have guessed that it would end up similarly. Not wanting a loveless, unmaintainable relationship, you had broken up with Xiaojun on good terms. It was a mutual breakup. It was supposed to be a stepping stone in the journey of your life. It was not supposed to be something to haunt you for the rest of your holiday.

Perhaps deciding to work at an amusement park was not a good idea, you fretted. You, Aeri and Hyewon had decided to do it ever since you were in highschool, to get a taste of having a job that was fun and exciting before you lost the chance to. At the time of decision-making, it had seemed like the perfect way to get a discount to theme-park tickets for a date with Xiaojun.

Now, it felt like a painful reminder of how many of your classmates, friends, and Xiaojun’s friends frequented amusement parks during the school holidays. Friends who were almost 100% sure to pity you for your breakup. (Friends who didn’t understand the concept of a breakup without cheating or shouting or crying or arguments involved.)

“Riri? Is it okay if I wear this to work?” You twirled around in the mirror, calling out through the open door.

“It doesn’t matter anyway, they’ll give us standard jackets to put on and—” Aeri’s voice, which had been growing louder as she came closer, stopped abruptly. “Y/n, I know your fashion taste leans towards the cutesy side, but I don’t think they’ll allow you to wear a plaid skirt to work. In winter. In the outdoor amusement park.”

You smile sheepishly. Aeri never criticised your fashion taste before, mostly because you took after her for the most part. However, that meant that you didn’t have a perspective on what to wear to different occasions, because your wardrobe consisted of the same style of clothes in different colours and patterns.

Hyewon grinned as she came in, taking your outfit in. “Is this how you plan to make Xiaojun jealous? Because it’s definitely going to work.”

You scowled at her. Was there no way to put the unprofessionalism of your clothing choice nicely? Hyewon was dressed practically in a black suit with a blazer, and she looked like she would blend in easily in an office situation. Clearly, you needed to borrow from her repertoire of comfortable yet presentable clothes.

Hyewon tossed you a matching set of black trousers and a white blouse, pulling Aeri out and closing the door as they left you to get changed.

“Oh and by the way, you have ten minutes to eat breakfast, or we’ll be late.” Way to make an exit, Shin.

IT WAS BITTERLY, FREEZING COLD. You had left your chapstick at home, and you were sorely regretting it. Despite the morning rush, your chapstick was an essential item and you never should have left home without it. You wrap the standard coat, laced in an ugly orange colour to differentiate the staff from the park visitors, tighter around your body as you try not to visibly hop from foot to foot. That’s a surefire way to get fired before even working for a day there.

Luckily, you were not working at the entrance, scanning people’s tickets as they passed through the barrier. That would mean having to look at your classmates individually and watch the flash of recognition pass over their face and the excitement in their eyes turn into pity. Why was it always pity?

Instead, you were out in the cold, limbs freezing to death. “Move along,” you called out, clicking the metal clicker once for each person passing through. One, two, three, four…

“Y/n?” Oh crap who is it please don’t be Yangyang or Haechan or one of the nosy ones…

Oh. It’s even worse, you realised as your heart sank. It was Hendery, the school prince. Probably prettier than yourself and master of making everyone’s heart swoon with his jet-black hair, which fell over his face and the back of his neck in waves. He was accompanied by no other than his best friend, Xiao Dejun.

You couldn’t help but feel the sting of, not jealousy, per se, but something close to betrayal and closer still to missing and longing. You used to be Xiaojun’s best friend, his confidante, his other half. Yet, it had taken no longer than the span of a week for you to lose your title and fall to the ranks of a, if not real then at least a forced, stranger.

You avoided his eyes and tried to remain in working mode. Because if he just bit his lip or turned his head to show off his perfect, sharp jawline, you probably wouldn’t be able to focus. In fact, you might just collapse right where you were, and your job would go right down the drain.

You chose instead to focus on Hendery, holding out one hand to stop them from progressing further in the queue. “Please wait here, sir.”

“Your lips are really dry. Would you like to borrow my chapstick?” You looked down at Hendery’s hands as he offered you his chapstick. Actually, you would, you decided. Your lips were cracked and you still had the rest of the day to endure. It wasn’t going to get any better, so you would take any help that was thrown your way.

You applied it quickly and gratefully before returning it to Hendery and waving the next batch of park visitors into the ride. Obviously, you realised the health concerns, but you weren’t crossing any boundaries socially. Over your time spent as Xiaojun’s significant other, you had grown close to Hendery, enough so that you could borrow items of his without feeling awkward or strange. As you waved them through, you didn’t miss the expression of jealousy that flashed over Xiaojun’s face, feeling a small sense of triumph at getting him to feel the way that you had.

LATE EVENING, SNOW FELL in dribs and drabs. It was still only the beginning of winter, so there was no heavy snow and no flurry of white, chilly wind. However, it was dark outside and freezing, and your blood felt frozen. You could swear your bones were stiff from the cold.

Still, it was a lovely evening, and the coat was comfortable enough. There was only one last batch of people going on the ride before the theme park closed, and just as you let them in with a smile, Xiaojun passed by.

You hadn’t been able to pay attention to him earlier, but his cheeks were red from the low temperature, and his eyes were as starry as the night sky. His smile was exactly the same as you remembered, gentle and encouraging.

“Are you leaving yet?” He asked.

“No.” Of course, as a staff member you would have to close up the ride before you could leave. It wouldn’t take long, but you didn’t want to be left alone with Xiaojun for any longer than a few seconds. More than that, and you couldn’t—and didn’t want to be—responsible for what would happen.

Hendery came up to the both of you, panting slightly. He had clearly been running, which gave rise to the question, had Xiaojun ran to find you? Why was he still at the park so late?

As the questions ran through your mind, Xiaojun said, “I’ll wait for you outside the entrance,” leaving before you could protest. Even if he had, what would you have said to him? You knew that once his mind was set, he wouldn’t change it no matter how hard you tried to persuade him.

You were saved by your coworker calling your name, and you went inside the heated area (oh, blissful warmth) and tried not to stress too much about it.

The sound of Hendery asking Xiaojun, “What are you doing, man? They clearly don’t want to talk to you.” didn’t go unheard by you, but by then they were too far away for you to be sure, and you had trouble discerning Xiaojun’s response.

The ambiguity of the sentence hung in your mind, fogging your senses. You mindlessly swept the snow off the seats and wiped them down, your body going through the motions, mimicking your coworker’s without a second thought.

However, as you picked up the lost and found items, your mind was on Hendery’s words. He was right, Xiaojun was (weirdly) a sore subject for you, and you didn’t really want to talk to him more than you had to. It went without saying that what Xiaojun was doing probably went further than what most friends did, and hovered in the grey area between platonic and romantic. Obviously, you still loved Xiaojun. You understood that he cared for you, but if he didn’t stop that you were going to fall for him all over again.

True to his word, Xiaojun was waiting outside the theme park for you, with Hendery idling beside him. Hendery’s arms were crossed over his chest, tapping his foot impatiently when you arrived. He shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, I tried to stop him. What more can I do?

But Xiaojun was too focused on you to realise the silent conversation you two were having. He looked like he was having trouble restraining himself from rushing over to envelope you in a hug. He jiggled his knee nervously as you went over hesitantly.

Aeri and Hyewon waited beside you, huddled together in the cold, but you were too curious to be bothered by such a superficial thing.

“What do you want?” Hyewon asked for you, seeing how slow you were to speak.

“P-please hurry so w-we can go home,” Aeri chimed in, teeth chattering.

“Just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Xiaojun mumbled. Noticing how red your ears were, he removed his scarf and wrapped it around you, almost as familiar as when he’d done it before you had broken up.

“I’ll meet you at the café down the street when school starts again?”

“I- Alright,” you sighed. Stupid feelings and the way you always fell for him.

“STUDY HANGOUT’,” AERI SAID mockingly, making bunny ears as she did so. “Yeah, right. It’s obviously a café date.”

“Ugh!” You threw your hands up in the air in defeat, collapsing in a heap on the bed. Xiaojun had taken you to that café so many times before for dates, and now that you two were “just friends”, he thought it would be okay to reuse the same idea? That wasn’t going to work!

Your friends weren’t oblivious, they knew Xiaojun still liked you, but you really thought you had made it clear that now that you were broken up, you would have to draw a line somewhere.

“I need to bring a friend,” you decided. “Someone who can make the boundaries clear and prevent us from doing stupid things— Not you, Hyewon. That’s too obvious. Maybe… Ten?”

Hyewon shook her head. “He’s too transparent, and he’ll either be absorbed in something else or completely forget that he’s the chaperone and not a wingman.”

“Kun?”

Aeri quickly shot off a text, and the ‘ding’ sound chimed almost immediately after. “He’s busy.”

“That leaves… No.” You stopped in your tracks. You couldn’t! That would be too awkward for all three of you. Plus, you inviting Xiaojun’s friend over? Wouldn’t that be against protocol?

Hyewon grinned. “Yes.”

“No!” You leapt up from the bed, trying to leave the room, but Hyewon blocked the way.

“Think about it. It’s perfect: Xiaojun would feel too awkward with his best friend around to hit on you, you and Hendery know each other well, and Hendery definitely agrees that Xiaojun shouldn’t go back to you. He’ll definitely cooperate the best among all of them. Unless you think Yangyang could do a better job?”

“There’s always Winwin,” you offered meekly.

Hyewon scoffed. “Please! As if he could look up from his games. Or if Kun successfully gets him to change this year, then he won’t be able to leave the library. They’ll be studying together.”

You sighed defeatedly. There was no use in arguing, once Hyewon had won the argument, she would definitely not budge. Aeri didn’t want to go against her, either, so you were forced to ask Hendery to chaperone you.

“Okay,” you announce. “He said yes.”

Hyewon nods approvingly.

YOU WERE THE SECOND TO REACH, and when you made a move to sit down, Hendery waved you over. You sat down opposite him, watching his concerned eyes but not giving any kind of answer.

The silence settled like sediments at the bottom of a flask of unstirred tea, uncomfortable and distinct from the smooth conversations you were used to, but nothing that would be harmful to your relationship.

Seconds passed, stretching like minutes. You tried your best not to fidget, avoiding Hendery’s eyes before his concern could overwhelm you. The anxiety and sweaty hands were enough to deal with.

“So what’s going on with you and Xiaojun?”

Speaking of the devil… Before you could reply, Xiaojun saved you from the awkward situation. He came up to you two, confused but not surprised at seeing his best friend and ex at the same table. His hands were behind his back, clearly hiding something.

“Am I interrupting?” You shook your head, and Hendery moved over for Xiaojun to sit.

With a shy smile, Xiaojun presented you with a small bouquet of flowers. The bouquet was a deep shade of red, with red chrysanthemums, carnations, and camellias, with blue salvias hidden in the center. You didn’t know how to tell him what the flowers really meant, having been interested in the language of flower bouquets for a time before.

“From a friend,” Xiaojun said quickly. “Just- just a friendly bouquet. For our friendship.”

How many times did he need to say it to convince himself? Because you knew better than anyone that Xiaojun did not give thoughtless gifts.

Red chrysanthemums, I love you. Red carnations, my heart aches. Red camellia, you’re a flame in my heart. Blue salvia, think of me.

Xiaojun knew what he was doing. You could see him asking the florist what best to give, trying to describe his message in terms that fit the flowers. You could see him watching attentively as the florist arranged the flowers delicately, carefully carrying it from the florist’s to the café.

And it was your anniversary. White day. You should be giving him flowers, if you were together. That was traditional, and you adored tradition. You always wrote a note or a card when you gave him gifts.

“Happy White Day!” You grinned, holding out the chocolate controller. You had specially ordered it for your one year anniversary, and were so proud of it.

“Happy White Day,” he replied softly, gazing at the controller with loving eyes. Perhaps, that was the same gaze he used to look at you. You tilted your head as if to say, Well? as you eagerly awaited his response.

“It’s beautiful.”

“It’s beautiful,” you told him. Then, right as he sighed in relief, “But not from a friend to a friend.”

Your words were whispered, but perhaps still too harsh. You took care to keep your voice low and not attract attention, but it didn’t ease the pain.

“Really, Jun? I love you, my heart aches, you’re a flame in my heart? Think of me? You can’t expect me to believe you randomly picked a bouquet. I know you too well for that. I don’t know what you mean by it, maybe you didn’t want me to know outright, but I do. And we can’t keep doing this anymore. I really can’t live like this, Dejun. You can’t keep chasing after me and expect me to be okay.”

“Why would you have to?” He asked, getting heated. Hendery put a hand on him, ready to calm him down—wrestle him back into sitting if needed—but he immediately lowered his volume.

“Because. We broke up, Dejun.” You stood up as you said this. You made to leave, and Xiaojun stopped you with a hand that was clearly clutching something. You pushed him away, maybe a bit too hard, because whatever was in his hand clattered to the ground. You noticed that the clear shards resemble glass, a choked gasp of shock stuck in your throat.

You stumbled back, too stunned to notice that you accidentally stepped on what’s left of his gift. You were so busy trying to get away that you didn’t see what happened next.

XIAOJUN FELL TO THE GROUND on his knees. tears streaming from his eyes. Quiet sobs wracked his body as his chest heaved, practically breaking down. He picked up as much of the glass as he could, the crystal shards glinting cruelly back at him. He sobbed as he tried (and failed) to put his broken heart back together, except it felt like it was falling apart exactly the way the shards of his gift did in his hands.

Hendery had seen enough.

“Get up,” he told Xiaojun. He handed him a stack of napkins, which Xiaojun used to wrap the shards in, stuffing it into his pocket. “Don’t touch anything, I don’t want you getting splinters and needing to go to the accident and emergency unit.”

Xiaojun's hands slid into his pockets, and Hendery immediately pulled them out. "You have glass on your hands. Don't be an idiot, you're already doing enough to hurt yourself."

Hand still on Xiaojun's wrist, he dragged him back to the bus stop, mumbling under his breath, "I just don't get why."

Xiaojun’s mind went blank as Hendery brought him over to his house, picking the splinters from his palms with a tweezer, muttering under his breath. Hendery’s parents weren’t home, or they would have asked Xiaojun to sit down for a cup of tea and fussed over his injuries like he hadn’t fractured his leg playing football before.

Luckily, Xiaojun was mostly fine. The blood was minimal, and there weren’t any deep gashes or cuts. The glass in his pocket dug against his hip bone, but the discomfort was at least familiar, and better than the emptiness he would feel for weeks without you.

Hendery slammed bandages and antiseptic on the counter, watching Xiaojun to make sure he cleaned up his wounds properly. Xiaojun tugged the bandages tightly around his palm, mouth pressed tightly together unhappily.

“You can’t keep doing this to yourself, you complete fool. You have to let them go. Don’t talk to them until you can do it without crying. I know, breakups hurt, but you agreed. Both of you are mature enough to get through this, you hear me?” Hendery reverted to Cantonese to say this to Xiaojun, sighing exasperatedly.

Xiaojun didn’t know if he could promise that. He didn’t know if he could live with a gaping hole in his heart, with the lack of interaction and “love you”s, cuddling under sheets with you.

He missed you so, so much, every bit of you. From the tilt of your head to the tips of your hair that curled when the air got too humid, the baby hair that fell in your face. He loved to watch you shake your head in annoyance, the hair curling around your ear in familiarity. The glint of your eyes when you were up to something, the way they sparkled when you held back tears, how they disappeared when you smiled.

He missed pressing kisses into the curve of your dimple-less smile, brushing over your cheeks and reminding you how stunning you were even when you were insecure of your skin. Loved the way your neck fit just right against him when you hugged him, the crook of your neck perfect for falling asleep in.

He missed your hands. Missed how icy cold they were in air-conditioned rooms, the gentle warmth coming off of them after gym class. Missed holding hands with you, fingers interlaced in a comfortable, unchanging pattern.

He wanted you back, wanted to carry you back into his life and welcome you to the home as if you’d never left. He wanted to have a conversation with you and not have it end in awkward silence, wanted to go back in time and change everything and what did he do wrong?

Could he have done something to make you cry when he gave you flowers, made you despise him to the point where you consciously avoided him? He couldn’t remember, but sometimes you bottled up your feelings and exploded at the seemingly smallest things. It took time to unpack your feelings and talk about it, after you’d avoided confrontation for so long.

He wanted you back, and he knew that to do that he had to apologise first.

EXCEPT THAT HE DIDN’T REALLY know how to. Not when Hyewon glared at him as soon as he got within two meters of you. Aeri’s glare was even scarier, it killed his courage immediately.

He had always seen Aeri as demure, pretty but innocent, and completely harmless. He hadn’t seen her defend somebody with her eyes, baring her teeth without opening her mouth in the slightest.

Her face fell so quickly when she saw him, scaring him away immediately. He couldn’t get near you, and as days went by, he started to question if it really was worth it.

He probably would have left you to simmer in your feelings if he hadn’t decided to play sad songs at home and cry in his room, which led to him flipping through old cards that he had received from you, leading to the (not-so-)brilliant idea to send you a love letter.

From a secret admirer, obviously, because if he put his own name, you would probably throw the entire envelope away before you read a word.

He sat by his desk for a good hour and a half, writing with a pencil and furiously erasing it when it sounded even the least bit like himself. Soon, his table was filled with eraser dust and the paper was marked with indents, and he finally settled on,

dearest y/n,

i think i like you. i’ve watched you for a while, and i want you to know you’re the most attractive person i’ve ever seen. meet me at the library, the middle row if you’d like to give me a chance? please?

- your secret admirer xx

The last line was a bit risky, since he knew you would recognise the way he signed off his texts, but it was still just ambiguous enough that any cheesy person could have written it.

He wasn’t good at changing his handwriting, but his hands were so sore from gripping the pencil tightly that he could rest assured you wouldn’t recognise it at all. The library’s inconspicuous, right? She’ll never suspect it’s me. I hope we’re far enough that Winwin and Kun don’t turn around to see us.

It haunted him throughout the night, the envelope sitting atop his table like a doll, watching him sleep and entering his dreams.

“A LOVE LETTER?”

You looked at it in surprise. It was plain, with the only indication of it being from a secret admirer the heart-shaped sticker used to seal it loosely. The cream paper felt thin, and was nothing extravagant. You were glad, at least it wasn’t blaringly obvious to anyone who passed by.

Hearing your words, Aeri was by your side in a flash. Renjun came over, eyes examining the envelope without a word.

“You got a love letter?” He asked. You frowned. Yes, you were surprised too, but why did he have to say it like he was shocked? Couldn’t you get love letters? After all, you were single now.

“I’m just saying,” Renjun said with a good-natured shrug. “I’ve seen Aeri get plenty of love letters even though we’re dating, but you’ve never gotten one before.”

“Well, times change.” You pried open the letter curiously, and scanned the contents quickly, trying not to raise your eyebrows too much.

Aeri snatched it from your hands, confused when you didn’t put up any resistance, frowning like you. Renjun peeked over her shoulder, nosily reading it as well.

“Wonder who it’s from,” Hyewon said suddenly. Your heart leapt in your chest, but you nodded and jerked your chin, asking her to read it as well to give her opinion.

“The handwriting looks familiar,” you muse, “but I can’t really put my finger on who it belongs to. Anyway, I’ll probably go, but just to reject them politely. I’m still… I think I’m still caught up in how Xiaojun makes me feel. I’m not really ready to move on yet, so I’ll probably think of some way to say that nicely.”

You have to give Renjun credit for not grimacing at what you’re saying, because usually if you talk too much about deep things, men tend to grow bored or cringe in embarrassment. Like you said, Renjun’s perfect and you hope Aeri treasures him.

You banish all thoughts of the letter to the back of your mind, that’s a problem for future you.

YOU’RE REHEARSING YOUR REJECTION SPEECH as you trudge towards the library, not dragging your feet but not particularly eager, either.

It’ll go something like: Sorry, I’m not interested. I understand that I’m available now that Xiaojun and I have broken up, but I don’t want you to be a rebound. (If it’s a sweet person that you know, you might tell them that they don’t deserve that.) I’m not ready for a relationship, and I won’t be able to commit to one in the near future. Please, leave me alone.

You’re also contemplating if it isn’t someone nice, and whether you’ll have to run if they get violent or if it’ll be fine since you’re in the library. What would the librarian be able to do, anyway?

The library seat (in the middle row) that the mysterious person had specified for the meeting point was empty, but you sat down anyway. You anxiously tapped your fingers against the table, drumming impatiently as you waited for said person to arrive.

You gave your surroundings a quick look, spotting Kun, Xiaojun’s friend, who smiled at you and waved. Sitting opposite him, clearly struggling, was Winwin, who looked up and tipped his chin in acknowledgement before biting his lip and going back to his work.

You were just about to get up and search for the person elsewhere, when somebody walked up to you, and Xiaojun took a seat opposite you.

your secret admirer, xx. dearest y/n. It struck you like a punch to your gut. It was an innocuous enough way to start a love letter and to end one, but it also screamed Xiaojun, after all that time he’d sent his texts to you, you couldn’t believe you hadn’t seen his fingerprints plastered all over it. Quite literally so, because he had probably handwritten it. That was why the handwriting looked so familiar!

You got up, ready to bolt, but his hand grabbed your wrist before you could go anywhere. “Please.”

It was soft, filled with so much desperation and pleading that your past self would not have been able to endure. You would have caved immediately, listening to every word of his and hanging on to his apology. You could never turn him down anyway.

But you’d had enough. You were sick and tired of walking this tightrope, dancing between your tears and his. It always felt like with Xiaojun, you were going head over heels, tumbling, unconsciously turning over and over again. Now, the slope was getting steeper, and you were falling so quickly both you and Xiaojun were going to get hurt.

“I’m not your toy, Xiao Dejun. I’ve had enough with you. Please, leave me alone. I don’t want to do this,” you whisper hoarsely.

“Before you go- at least tell me something. Just- just this one question.”

He hesitated for just a second, but you caught it. “Was I a bad person to you? I hope I wasn’t. But I guess I was.”

“I didn’t want to- I didn’t think I was good enough of a person. I felt like I didn't do enough to deserve you and I don't want you to end up the way hyewon did, with a person she loved but couldn’t treat her right.”

The old Xiaojun probably would have left the moment tears threatened to drop from your eyes in a public place, in the school library nonetheless, where many people knew him and you were supposed to maintain silence.

As flustered as he was, he still refused to leave you like that, fumbling through his pockets for something to help. Fortunately, he found a packet of tissue in his pocket and he offered it to you, relieved.

“Xiaojun, can you not do that?” You sniffled, pressing the tissue to your eyes and your leaky nose.

“Do what?” The gall! The audacity to sit there and look handsome and clueless and pretend like he didn’t know he was driving you mad. That was the reason that you couldn’t stand just being friends with him! Didn’t he get-

“That,” you said, gesturing to him vaguely. “The thing you do with your hair. And biting your lip. And turning your head so I’m forced to see that perfect, sharp jawline. And really just being in my presence.”

“Lovely to know I’m ruining your day,” he replied. He dropped his hand to his side and fished in his pocket for something, pulling out a clip and pinning his hair back so his fringe stopped flopping in his face.

You grinned half-heartedly at his response, happy with the dynamic you knew best.

“So, about that letter…”

“Don’t push your luck. We’ll… We could try,” you say. Before he can rejoice, you add, “No promises.”

“Trying’s good enough for me.”

#xiaojun #wayv #nctinc #k-labels #💌 — a love letter to your ex #nct #hendery #renjun #johnny #xiaojun x reader #nct fic #wayv x reader #🪁 — my works #kpop fics

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reallyghostlypost · 6 months

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Camilla might be a dark witch - not evil, just dark...

We don't know much about Camilla yet. She's the strongest known magic user alive (maybe even strongest ever), she basically rules Castle Village, she's part of the Ministry of Magic's ruling Council and she has a very irresponsible personality. Anything else we'll discover in the 2.0 update. But there are already some interesting hints about her in the game and in the sneak peeks FlashShifter shared with the community.

(This post will have spoilers both from the late game content and from the extra info FlashShifter posted on reddit, twitter and his patreon. I'm not subscribed to the patreon, so I don't have access to any extra information that's not already public, but if anyone wants to avoid spoilers then it's better to ignore this post)

I always felt like there's something off about Camilla. The way she teleports around the player feels almost… predatory. Sure, she's playful, but in the same way a cat likes to play with her food. Every time we meet her she doesn't take anything seriously, she says nothing about what she thinks or feels, she comes out as almost cold, impersonal, like her playful personality is just a mask.

But the thing that I found the weirdest about Camilla is the way Morgan describes her: "There's a witch that visits us. She doesn't really talk to me. Her name is Camilla. She gives me the creeps." Again, she comes off as cold and dismissive here, like she doesn't care about Morgan's existence, potentially since they're not useful to her. But the last part is the interesting one. Morgan finds her creepy, not odd, not intimidating, creepy. For a good witch it's a very odd description. A kid could easily be intimidated by Camilla's personality and Morgan already finds lots of things in their new home weird, so this line might just be here to emphasize their childlike innocence. But in media kids are often used to tell important information about other characters with the idea that they're still too simpleminded to be tricked by illusions or someone pretending. So this line might actually be significant.

And Morgan is not be the only one who thinks that. Throughout the few dialogues that mentions her it seems the common sentiment is that the other adventurers find Camilla to be pretty intimidating too, even if they agree that she's impressively powerful. Magnus, her friend, describes her in a very odd fashion: "Galdora has many marvels and horrors within its borders. Camilla is just one of them". Both Lance and Edmund imply that no one even questions her, they all just accept her decisions even if they might disagree with her.

And sure, she has huge responsibilities on her shoulders, so her being slightly impersonal makes sense, and her unusually powerful magic could be intimidating to other mages even if she isn't trying to be. And what's the harm in having some fun in the few moments she has some spare time, even if others find it unsettling? Her cheerful personality could just mask how much stress she has to deal with daily. Camilla seems to be the good creepy witch archetype.

But there are hints that there might be more to it. FlashShifter shared a sneak peek with her tower on his reddit and twitter accounts, and it's a really interesting building. There are skulls on the bricks and one tower looks more like a jail, with bars on the windows and door. And while the taller tower is fully lit with furniture and decorations visible through the windows, the 'prison' one is barebones and shrouded in darkness, with deep gashes in the stone walls. What is that exactly? A prison? A place to store monsters? None of the options have good connotations. From the few info you get from FlashShifter's patreon without subscribing, Camilla also has a goblin servant, a thing witches, specifically evil ones, have. She gives off a very weird vibe at this point.

But I discovered the last bit of evidence for my theory only recently. A while ago Flash posted this on reddit. Basically a fun post where he decided to show Camilla as a pokemon trainer. Aside from her creepy sprite her pokemon team is made almost exclusively out of dark and ghosts pokemon with the single exception of Cloyster, which Flash admitted that he picked due to it's unusually strong battling ability and it's creepy sprite. So Camilla would basically be a Dark trainer, and the closest thing to dark pokemon in SVE would be dark magic.

Her odd personality and her creepy tendencies would make a lot more sense if Camilla would actually use dark magic, instead of just researching it. And it would also explain why her colleagues are vaguely scared of her.

Looking back, Camilla's personality is mainly defined in opposition with Magnus's one, a fellow Council member who is very serious about his responsibilities and studies, unlike the fun-loving Camilla who doesn't take anything seriously. The cutscene she had with him shows how different their personalities are, and even the cutscene where she meets the farmer on Sheerwater Bridge contrasts with the way Magnus behaves when the farmer discovers the Void Shard. She doesn't care what the Ministry thinks and will leave in the middle of a meeting while Magnus does everything in his power to act according to what he thinks the Ministry might want him to do. The way he adopts Morgan just because the Ministry ordered him to is further proof of that.

But Camilla might also be defined in opposition to Mr Qi. She tries to protect the town Qi seems intent to destroy and she tries to clear the corruption Qi spreads (maybe?). It's also implied that they are evenly matched power wise. And as another similarity, Qi's personality is also defined through his opposition to Camilla and Magnus, the latter who specializes in plants and forest magic while Qi prefers to use dark/void magic.

Speaking of the Void, one of Qi's defining moments in SVE is when he kidnaps the farmer and places the Seal of Silence on them. Qi teleports the farmer in a pitch black area that is called 'void' in the files. But when the farmer dies in the Badlands and Camilla rescues them she also teleports the farmer to a borderless dark area eerily similar to the void. Between this and her potential dark magic, she's weirdly similar to Qi.

As a final point, if Qi is contrasted by Magnus through a life-death opposition, then it's possible that Camilla contrasts him through a dark-dark similarity. They might both use dark magic, they might both stand out due to their power and magical abilities, and they both have a guarded and mysterious personality. But while Camilla uses her magic to protect thousands of people Qi seems willing to sacrifice them all to further his goals (or for funsies I guess). While Qi works alone in the shadows, Camilla cooperates with the magical community. Even the way they interact with the farmer in their 'void' events shows that - Camilla teleports him there in order to save him while Qi teleports him there to threaten him.

#there's a map called galdoran void in the files and i'm pretty sure it refers to the place camilla teleports you to #the only other badlands areas associated with the void that have their own maps are the slingshot cave and the iridium quarry #and they both have different maps #treasure cave and iridium quarry respectively #so it's not them #didn't add it to the main body because i couldn't confirm it's actually the area i'm talking about either #anyway if i'm right about this then it fits oddly well with the way i imagined void magic working for thad #:D #sve theory #sve camilla

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cssns · 1 year

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We’re back, y’all!!! Please help me welcome @spartanguard to the CSSNS23!!!

What’s your Tumblr?

@spartanguard

How long have you been in the CS/OUAT fandom?

A looong time--I watched the show live for its entire run, but didn't become super active until fall 2014 (4a).

When did you start shipping Captain Swan?

I don't know that I can fully pinpoint a moment, but sometime during 3A. (And my answer to that changes constantly, haha)

What drew you to this event?

The same thing that drew me to OUAT in the first place--I love seeing different takes on fairy tales/fantasy, especially against the backdrop of the real world, and love seeing what new adventures we can all take Emma & Killian on.

What inspired your topic?

So I've technically been working on this story since 2015. IIRC, there was a mirror-image manip going around of Colin on set, which brought up the theory of two Killians in my friend group. Which prompted one of them (I believe it was @kat2609) to send an anonymous ask regarding the shenanigans that Killian and his double/twin could get up to. (Note that this was long before the Wish Realm was even thought of, so well before there actually were two Killian Joneses in canon.) I kind of ran with the idea at the time, but then hit some dead ends when the 5A storyline resolved different than anticipated. It sat for a very long time until I finally came up with a workaround sometime last year. and now it's almost done!

If you would like to share a snippet/sneak peek/summary of your fic or artwork, please use the space below.

"I'm disappointed in you." The man almost sounded sad.

"As I told the asshole in the diner, you don't know me." He groggily sat up to stare the man down; a sheriff's badge gleamed from where it was hooked to his jeans, below crossed arms and a stern glare.

"I know you plenty well, pirate." He'd been called many things, but that was a new one. "How could you do this to Emma?"

Who? "Who the f*ck is Emma?" Something weird was going on, but his brain hurt too much to process it.

"I the f*ck am Emma," came a feminine voice from the hallway, followed by the clack of boot heels as she approached. The sheriff ran in her direction, stopping her before she came into view.

"Emma, hold on; I have to tell you something."

"Dad, what's going on?" His vision was blearier than he thought if he hadn't noticed that the man was old enough to have an adult daughter.

The rest of their conversation was too quiet for him to hear, so he slumped back against the concrete wall and glanced around the station.

The sheriff came back, followed by his daughter. Ooh, now there was a sight. A gorgeous blonde came into view, a vision in a red leather jacket. Now why wasn't she at the bar last night? A much better bedfellow she would have made.

Until he saw that she, too, wore a sheriff badge. Law enforcement was an immediate turnoff.

She wore a concerned look on her face as she slowly approached his holding cell. It seemed as if she was studying his face, searching for something. But she must have come up empty, as relief flooded her features, followed quickly by confusion.

"That's not him."

What are you looking forward to most about participating in this event?

Seeing all the great stories and gorgeous art everyone comes up with!

I’m so thrilled that Kaitlyn is back participating again this year! Her MC featuring Killian’s evil twin will be dropping on Wednesday July 5! Everyone go say hi and welcome her back!

#GTKM #CSSNS23 #spartanguard #gtkm interview

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cheeriecherrymain · 1 year

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The Alchemist [Chapter 3]

Pairing: Viktor x Reader Chapter Rating: T Chapter Warning: None Proofread: no beta we die like men Taglist: @bangtanbecks @uniquedeerwitch @underpriceddirt @the-high-lady-of-3am-crackposts Chapter Summary: In an attempt to prove that he loves you, Viktor sends you on a scavenger hunt.

Viktor has been startlingly quiet since your talk on the couch. He’d left you well enough alone for most of the afternoon, instead finding a seat at his own desk to hastily work on…something.

You weren’t entirely sure what he was doing, if you were being honest, but he was doing it with great urgency and focus. You’d tried on a couple of occasions to sneak a peek at his papers, but he’d caught you and shooed you away each time, without fail. It was only a little bit infuriating, to not know what was up, but most of all concerning.

You’re fairly certain that he’s still under the effects of the potions, so knowing that he’d gotten some kind of idea was…well, concerning.

But you figured as long as he stayed nearby, and you didn’t let him out of your sight, then no harm could really come of it.

It’s at least allowed you to get some of your own work done.

You’re still not positive what exactly was happening with Viktor, but you’d spent the past several hours cross-referencing ingredients and effects, and you have a theory.

“See, if he’d just drank one potion, then it might not have affected him so much,” you explain to Jayce, whom you’re fairly certain is barely listening to your ramblings. “But the brew I made to mimic happiness could have potentially been too strong - which would have made the feeling closer to love. And that would have been fine on its own; it would have faded in a couple of hours. But combined with the other potion, that was supposed to get rid of my feelings for the rest of my life?”

“So the second potion backfired, and made the gooey mushy emotions…perpetual?” Jayce suggests, and you nod, secretly pleased that he was actually paying attention.

“I just don’t know how to fix him without dipping into the arcane,” you admit with a sigh, slouching back in your chair. “I mean, you know better than anyone how trial-based that is. If I make one wrong move, it could…”

You don’t even want to think about what kinds of ill effects you could bestow upon Viktor, should you make a mistake again. Though having him be so openly affectionate towards you was a bit of a pain -not to mention unsettling- it was still better than not having him at all.

Jayce finally sets his pencil down and turns towards you, sensing the sudden drop in your demeanor.

“Why don’t you two take the rest of the night off?” he suggests. “Vik isn’t getting anything done, and you look…tired.”

“You can just say I look like shit,” you say, swatting at him and missing completely.

He laughs, nudging you away and off towards Viktor. But as soon as you lay eyes on your scientist, you freeze.

“Jayce,” you squeak, swiveling on your heel to face your friend, “Where’s Viktor?”

—

The next two hours are spent running all over campus, checking every single one of your best friends’ frequent haunts. There aren’t many students milling around at this time of night, but anyone that you run across, you ask for help. No one has seen him, according to their replies, and it both worries and frustrates you.

It’s an hour until midnight, and you have no clue where the hell he is. You briefly wonder if his disappearance might have something to do with whatever he was working on earlier, but honestly…you’re tired.

You’re tired, and you want to cry, and you want to go to bed.

Surely if Viktor wanted to be found, he wouldn’t have made himself so scarce?

Thinking such a thing immediately fills you with guilt, despite knowing it’s probably true. As nervous as you were about leaving him alone in his current state, he was still a grown man and was fully capable of taking care of himself.

Maybe you just…needed to let him be for a while?

Maybe, you think, as you trudge back to your dorm, the potion effects have finally worn off. Maybe he’s just annoyed about it, or embarrassed.

Or hell, maybe he’d gone back to your room already!

But once you set foot into your dark little apartment, you know you’re wrong. Every light is off, and there are no sounds that suggest anything living is nearby - no soft breathing, no rustles of clothing, no creak of your bed. Just…silence.

Deafening, sickening silence.

You let your shoulderbag drop to the floor in the front hallway, and you nudge the door shut behind you, leaving it unlocked in case Viktor decided he wanted to come home sometime, and you wander into your bedroom.

The lights stay off, as you’re not in the mood to see anything or deal with any problems you might come across. Instead, you plop down on top of your bed, above the sheets and still fully clothed, and curl up into a ball.

You’re unsurprised when you can feel hot tears beginning to burn behind your lashes. The last couple days have been rough, and you can’t help but feel like you’ve ruined all the good things in your life. You’d been by Viktor’s side since the day the two of you met - always looking out for each other, and picking one another up. You never would have gotten as far in life as you had, without him.

And now he’s returning your feelings - showering you in affection and sweet words and gentle touches. All you’ve ever wanted was for him to look at you the same way you looked at him.

And to know that his feelings are entirely false?

It breaks your heart.

It breaks your heart to know he doesn’t really love you, and it breaks your heart even more because you know you have to make things right. You love him more than anyone, so though you know it will make you ache to never feel his love again, you know you have to give him back his autonomy.

You have to.

Fuck, you wish you’d never made those stupid potions.

—

When you awake the next morning, you can already feel a headache coming on. The back of your neck is stiff and sore, and it radiates a dull pressure all the way up to your temples. Normally you’d gulp down one of your homemade pain remedies, but with how your brewing had completely upended your life, you don’t really want anything to do with them

Headache or not.

Your resolve wanes when you roll over, though. The other side of your bed is cold and undisturbed, and your concern shoots another sharp pang through your skull. Viktor hadn’t come home last night - and you know he very well could have retired to his own room, but with how he’d been acting, such a thing was unlikely.

But you can’t fathom where he would have gone.

There was the off chance he’d ventured into the undercity, as he sometimes did on his days off, but would he have gone without telling you? Though you usually declined his invitations to return to your stomping grounds for an afternoon, he still always asked if you wanted to join him.

Why would he suddenly stop?

With a groan, you finally manage to sit up, and it’s only then that you notice a blanket has been tossed over you. Thick and fluffy and soft, and certainly not one you remembered ever owning - nor did you recall covering yourself before falling asleep.

Thankfully, your questions are answered when you toss your legs over the side of the bed, and your feet meet with…paper?

You glance down at the floor, to find a single envelope.

It’s small -smaller than the standard size- and the paper it’s made of is a pastel shade of your favourite colour. It’s also a little bit crooked in its folding, and the way it’s cut is…unusual.

Is it handmade?

You pop the wax seal open, and slide the contents out: a letter, at first glance, though the card is strangely thick. But the words scrawled neatly across it is distinctly Viktor’s hand.

You’re not sure if you’re comforted or unsettled, to know that he’s been in your dorm.

Regardless, you turn your attention to the note:

The day we met, I had no idea how significantly my life would change. Through thick and thin, you’ve kept pace with me - followed me as I chased my dreams, and carefully led me past my problems.

There’s a tiny arrow at the bottom of the card, so you flip it over.

Oh, you realize, It’s a photograph. Of a very familiar place, no less - as pointed out by the text underneath the image.

Follow me again, to where we spent our first night in Piltover.

You’ve half the mind to ignore the note and go on with your day of work - to not humour Viktor in the slightest, and keep pedaling towards finding a cure for him. Even though you didn’t really know where to start.

Even though you were abysmally curious as to what strange plan your best friend had concocted.

Fine, you think, shaking the blanket off your lap to stretch your arms above your head. I’ll take a break, and follow the silly note.

—

Your back hits the wall with a dull thud, the plaster beneath the paint creaking under the pressure. Your breathing is laboured and quick, and your lungs burn with effort - your legs, too.

Four flights of stairs is a lot of steps - too many, in your opinion, but you weren’t about to send Viktor to carry boxes up to your new apartment. Though the amount of items you were able to bring with you were scarce, you were still regretting taking as much as you did.

When you’d been packing, it had all seemed necessary. Dried ingredients, bottles and stoppers, your entire alchemy set that was just about on its last leg of life. But now, after traveling up and down through a startlingly warm building, on the hottest of summer days, you think you might have been better off bringing nothing.

“You’re taking your sweet time,” Viktor says, poking his head out the open front door of your new home, “I thought you were excited to get settled?”

You can hear the teasing in his voice, and swat blindly at him with barely enough strength to raise your sweaty arm. “Like you’re one to talk,” you wheeze, your hits missing him entirely, “I’m the one doing all the lifting.”

“Something tells me you would not appreciate the outcome were I to carry your things,” he retorts, nothing short of cheeky.

You groan in dramatic despair, sliding down the wall to the ground. Your hair snags in the crooked wood paneling, but you don’t have the wherewithal to care.

“Am I supposed to be this dizzy?” you whine. “Viktor, are we sure that oxygen is good for us?”

He doesn’t dignify a reply.

“Viktor, I’m serious,” you continue, “I think there’s too much air here. I feel like I’m going to pass out.”

“Then it is a good thing you’re already seated, no?” he finally calls, flippant and without worry.

You pretend to be offended.

But only for a couple moments.

Eventually your heart rate slows back to normal, and you’re able to get back on your feet to finish dragging your belongings up. There are only two more boxes, if you remember correctly, and if you push yourself you might be able to bring them both up at the same time.

It works, in the end, though not without consequence.

You kick the front door shut behind you, set the remainder of your items on the coffee table, and all but collapse onto the tiny, lumpy couch.

All the furniture you had, had come with the apartment. Just a couple of basic things, like beds and places to sit, though you’d also been fortunate enough to have a full kitchen. The appliances were dated and slightly disgusting, with old food baked and dried into them, but it was nothing a little bit of cleaning wouldn’t solve. Nothing was broken, and for that, you’re grateful.

Even though everything was old, and dusty, and the floors were creaky and worn…it was yours.

Your home, with Viktor.

The student housing budget hadn’t been particularly generous, but it had at least allowed you to board together in Piltover; and with the job you were meant to start in a couple days’ time, you’d be able to spruce the place up. It just needed a little bit of love, and some patience.

“What are you smiling about?” Viktor asks, wandering out of the kitchen to come and stand at the edge of the couch, where he bemusedly stares down at you.

You tilt your head back on the arm of the couch, and grin up at him as hard as you can. “Welcome home,” you tell him, “It only took half the day to get everything sorted out, but it’s done. We’re…home.”

The two of you share a soft expression for a few seconds, your words unspoken but loud as ever: We did it. We made it out.

Until realization dawns on you.

“Viktor!” you squeal, jumping off the couch to run to the window. You peer out through the glass in excitement and - yes! “Grab a blanket, and I’ll get the pillows!” you order him, darting into your shared bedroom for half a second, before reappearing in the front lounge.

Though confused, your best friend doesn’t question you, and instead does as he’s told - he knows better by now than to even bother asking what you’re doing - that you’ll do what you’re doing regardless of whether or not he’s with you.

Most of the time, though, your ideas are brilliant. Most of the time, when he follows you, it leads him to some kind of dazzling experience.

Like tonight.

The two of you climb the rest of the stairs in the building, all the way up to the rooftop. You’re quick to find a good spot to unroll the blanket and spread it out, and plop the pillows down on top of it. Really, it does very little to lessen the hardness of the concrete beneath your bodies, but it at least hides some of the dust and grit.

“Have you ever seen so many stars?” you ask him in awe, as you stare up at the twinkling black mass above you.

You stay out there for the rest of the night, curled up beside each other as you observe the beauty of the abyss. You count the shooting stars you see, and you try to get him to reveal the constellations to you. You doubt he knows much about them all, but he’s able to point out a few of the brightest - you in turn point out the ones you recognize, though really you’re just drawing shapes in the sky and making up stories.

Viktor doesn’t correct you, though. He just nods along with your tall tales until sleep claims him.

—

You arrive at the old building where you’d first found a home in Piltover. It looks the same as it always has, though it’s more noticeably cracked and dusty. And if the gate across the front entrance is anything to go by, it’s also been condemned. Your heart twinges to think of your old home being knocked down, after making so many memories there.

You slip past the metal gate with ease, making sure to remain silent and out of sight, and slink into the old building.

The interior is far worse than the outside. The wallpaper and plaster is crumbling to reveal the wooden slats underneath, and there are miscellaneous piles of stuff stacked in nearly every corner. Everything is coated in a thick layer of brown dust, and the ceilings are littered with sticky cobwebs.

The stairs creak as you slowly make your way up them, taking care to stay close to the wall. You doubted Viktor would have brought you somewhere if the structural integrity was a true danger, even though you can’t help the way you wince with each groaning step.

As you pass by the apartments on every floor, your heart grows heavier. Where had the families gone? The people you once knew and loved? The little old couple who would often bring you home cooked meals, and the single mother with her three rambunctious children that you would play with on the street?

It was one of the poorest parts of Piltover, though nowhere near as desolate as the undercity. Everyone who had lived there with you had also come from nothing, had also fought tooth and nail to escape the hell that you were born into - none of you had much, but you had some.

You had food, you had water, you had a roof over your head. Clothes, clean air, and access to safer jobs.

You wipe hastily at your eyes, trying to tell yourself that it was just the dust.

But you know better.

You finally make it to your old home, and are unsurprised to find the front door unlocked. It squeaks quite horribly when you nudge it open, as it always had - no matter how much you oiled the damn thing, it wailed in pain every time you used it.

The rest of the apartment is much the same, too. The wallpaper is the same faded beige as when you’d first arrived, and all the scuffs in the floor are where you expect them to be. You even catch the toe of your boot on the lip between the lounge and the kitchen, as you had so many times in the past.

It’s all very bittersweet, to revisit your true beginning.

And boggling.

“There’s nothing here,” you realize out loud, once you’ve wandered from room to room, reliving your memories. No furniture, no appliances, no decorations - that much you expected.

What baffles you is the lack of Viktor.

Not even a sign of him. No footprints in the grime, no letters left behind.

With a frown, you pull the old photocard from your pocket.

“Follow me, to where we spent our first night in Piltover,” you mumble. Several times, in fact.

Until it clicks.

“First night!” you gasp, and take off out the front door.

—

Viktor is…also not on the roof, you realize, when you barge through the old trap door. You’re not sure why you expected him to be there, of all places. If he was trying to woo you in some grandeur romantic gesture, then the top of a condemned building would certainly not be the place to do it.

You do, however, find another letter.

Much the same colour and shape as the first one you’d received, held down by a stone in the exact spot where you’d set up your blanket on that first evening.

You hate the way your stomach does a flip when you open the envelope.

“We spent so many nights up here,” you murmur, scanning over the words scribbled in his handwriting, “talking about everything while staring off into the universe. Admittedly, I spent most of my time staring at you, though you never realized. Do you remember the day you got your academy acceptance letter in the mail? You were so shocked - you had no idea you’d even sent in an application.

Truth be told, I’m the one who sent it in…though you probably figured that out a long time ago. I had run into your boss on several occasions - she was a lovely woman, she loved you a lot - and we spoke about what potential you had. She didn’t have a family anymore, but I know she considered you as such. It’s why she agreed to sponsor you, if you got into the academy.”

You try in vain to swallow the lump forming at the back of your throat as you continue, “We both knew that you’d never take the opportunity on your own, so we conspired. We filled out your application, and listed as many references as we could, and then we sent it off. I know you were shocked to receive an acceptance, but I wasn’t - you’re brilliant, and you always have been.

You’re tactical and clever, always looking to understand how things work, and what they do - it’s one of the things I admire most about you. Even if it does cause you to commit crimes from time to time - but you’ll face no judgment from me. I cannot say I haven’t done the same.

If you’ll continue to follow me, might you come to the place we’re not allowed to go? Forgive me, you’ll have to be a little sneaky.”

By the end of his note, you’ve got tears staining your cheeks.

How you’d managed to create a potion that so vividly duplicated love, you did not know. But the way he writes of you, the way Viktor seems to be in awe of your very existence - it’s nearly enough to fool you into believing he really does have feelings for you.

It makes the pain in your chest so intense you can barely breathe.

You can’t imagine letting him go after this, though you know you have to.

It’s what’s right.

But in order to cure him, you first have to find him. And you have a sneaking suspicion you know where you’ll find his next clue.

#viktor x reader #viktor arcane x reader #The Alchemist #im putting as many cheesy things in this as I possibly can

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giggly-squiggily · 1 year

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Great In Theory, Bad In Execution (Moriarty The Patriot)

Two fics in one weekend- whoop whoop! So Moriarty the Patriot. A gem of an anime filled with equally shiny characters! I love Sherlock so much, so naturally I have to write him! I hope you like it! :D

Summary: After one too many incidents of his ticklishness being discovered, Sherlock decides to create a "remedy" to make himself immune. Of course- how will he test it? Watson finds himself dragged in to help.

“Dreadful, shameful, an embarrassment to my reputation, how’d I let myself slip so easily-” Sherlock was pacing about his room, one hand shoved into his pocket while the other pushed his hair out of his face. All these hours later and his cheeks were still tinted a stubborn pink, deeping whenever the memory of that night replayed in his mind. “I should have never- I could have- UGH!”

“Sherlock?” A pajama clad Watson peeked in, cringing some at the glare his flatmate shot him. “Are you well? You're making quite a bit of noise. Miss Hudson-”

“Sherlock Holmes! If you don’t stop that insistent pacing I’m putting you on the street!” Said woman stormed in, tugging her robe tightly over her. Much like Watson, she was dressed in her nightwear, her sleep mask crooked against her forehead. “What in god’s name has you so excited?”

“Oh come now, you two! It’s only…” Sherlock looked at the nearby clock, blanching at the hour. “Eh…eheh. I hadn’t realized how late it was.” He cleared his throat, grinning sheepishly at his companions. “Well, I should be off to bed now. Goodnight you two-”

“Oh no you don’t!” Watson blocked his path. “You woke us both up with all your noise! Knowing you- if I leave you be, you’ll just go right back to pacing!” The doctor took him in then, brows furrowing at Sherlock’s outwear. “Did you just get back from somewhere?”

“Yes- the local pub. I had some business there when I ran into Moriarty.” Sherlock waved the details off, a gesture that would have seemed nonchalant if it weren't for the pink still staining his face. Watson and Miss Hudson shared a look.

“Well, I’m off to bed.” Their landlady announced, figuring what was about to be spoken should stay private. “Keep the noise down, will you Sherlock?” She smiled kindly at Watson before disappearing down the hall. Upon her exit, the detective seemed to relax some.

“It’s just the two of us now, Holmes.” Watson prompted. “Wanna talk about it?”

Sherlock groaned, walking towards the nearest couch and flopping down. “No. But…”

~~Earlier that evening~~

“Aha! Professor- what a pleasant surprise!” Sherlock grinned when his eyes landed on the familiar blonde man sitting by. “I take it you’ve finished your evening classes at the local university?”

“Hm? Oh, Mr. Holmes. A pleasure to see you too, yes.” Said man smiled, the expression a bit tired. “I’ve been stuck at the office for quite some time today- I’d much prefer teaching my students over grading their work.” Turning to the bartender, he ordered a round of drinks for them as the detective sat down. “How are things with your profession?”

“Boooring. If I get one more missing cat case, my head’s gonna explode.” Sherlock groaned, leaning into a hand as he vented about his most recent cases. If Watson were here, he’d probably scold him for speaking so crudely about his work. At least with William he could be frank. The Professor never seemed to be phased by Sherlock’s lack of filter.

“I suppose that’s the cost of popularity. You gain more work, but it lacks the intrigue you’re searching for.” William smiled behind his whisky as he watched Sherlock shoot his back, slapping his cup down with a satisfying nod. “Surely it’s not all boring?”

“Eh, I suppose. We did uncover quite the cheater! This lord- heh, he really thought he was slick.” Sherlock turned, something sinister in his tipsy grin. “He was sneaking women into his bedchambers almost every night! You know how he got caught? We found him in the bu-”

In Sherlock’s excitement, his hand accidentally knocked his empty glass towards the ground. Both men reached for it at the same time, William’s reflexes faster due to sobriety. Sherlock missed altogether.

What didn’t miss was William’s hand accidentally brushing the detective’s side.

“Gah!”

“Oh? Apologies, Mr. Holmes. Did I hurt you?” William looked up at the other, eyes curious at how red the other looked then. “Mr. Holmes?”

“I-It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Sherlock turned back to the bar, arms crossed around his middle in a failed attempt to look casual. That certainly sobered him up. William tilted his head curiously before his easy smile returned.

“Very well- I shall take my leave. My brothers; they tend to grow worried for me if I’m out later.” He gathered his bag and hat, leaving a coin for the bartender with a nod. “We’ll have to pick up where we left off next time, Mr. Holmes. I’m intrigued to hear how your riveting story ended.”

“Oh? Yeah, sure, definitely.” Sherlock nodded, unable to look anywhere but that blasted whisky glass. William passed by from behind. As he did, Sherlock felt something like a prod to the ribs, making him shoot up with a yelp.

“Apologies.” William smiled, eyes dancing with devilish delight. “I tripped.”

Sherlock was left sitting there at the bar for quite a long time.

~~Current Time~~

“That’s all?” Watson asked, blinking at his friend. “Sherlock, with all due respect, don’t you think you’re overreacting to such a small gesture?”

“Overreacting?” Sherlock sat up, his glare hot. “That was no small gesture, Watson! Moriarty, I could see it in his eyes! He knew what he had discovered!” Sherlock started to stand, pausing as if remembering Miss Hudson’s warning before easing back in his seat. “I felt like a fool- for something so, so childish!”

“Sherlock, many people are ticklish.” Watson reassured him, wincing some when Sherlock cut him another look. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, and besides- the likelihood of Moriarty using it against you is slim.”

“That’s not the problem, John! It’s not that he knows I’m…” Sherlock stumbled, squirming in his seat. “Sensitive- It’s how annoying it is in my everyday life! I can’t even get fitted for a suit or checked at the department without being reminded of it!” The detective huffed, crossing his arms. “I was cursed with this dreadful ailment- a trade perhaps for my intellect. Given the ability to solve cases but now I must live with too sensitive skin!”

“Yes. Unfortunately there isn’t anything that can be done for that.” Watson mused. “No potions or medicines exist to remove ticklishness from the body.”

Sherlock nodded glumly, and then stopped. Eyes widening, his brain went into overdrive. “John, you ol’ chap, you’re a genius!” Sherlock grinned, making the doctor look up with a blink. “A medicine to stop being so sensitive! It’s perfect!”

“Sherlock I wasn’t being serious-” Watson began, finding himself being pushed out the room gently by the detective. “Sherlock?”

“No time! I must get to work, Watson! Time is of the essence!” Sherlock smiled before shutting the door in Watson’s face, leaving the other staring at old mahogany.

“Oh dear…” The doctor yawned, suddenly too tired to deal with this. “This will only end in disaster, won’t it?”

~~~

“John! John! Come quickly!” Sherlock’s cries shocked Watson out of his morning routine. The doctor raced towards the bedroom, panic setting in. Has Sherlock hurt himself? Did an experiment go wrong?

“Sherlock, what is it?” Watson sprinted into the room, finding Sherlock in mint condition before him. In his hand he held a beaker containing a ruby red liquid. “Erm..you have a drink?”

“What? No, this is no ordinary drink, John!” Sherlock shook his head, presenting the glass to the other. “This is my creation! A cure for the dreaded sensitivity afflicting my body!”

“What…oh. Your remedy for being ticklish.” Watson felt his body relax, glad to know no real danger was before him. “I’m glad you’re- What are you doing?”

Sherlock, after presenting the cup, chugged the entirety of its contents in one go. Wiping the drips of red from his lips, he nodded. “Oh yes…I feel it, John. My genius is working!”

“You’re mad!” Watson cried, running over and grabbing Sherlock’s collar. His skin looked fine, no sudden changes in color or texture. “Why would you drink that? Oh no- where’s the charcoal? Tell me you have charcoal!” John yanked open the nearest drawer, searching for the tablets. “We need to get you to the hospital before you-”

“John, John, easy!” Sherlock took his arm, pulling him away from the drawers. “I’m fine! If the solution was dangerous, clearly I’d be dead now, wouldn’t I?”

“Poisons work differently, Sherlock!” John grabbed the beaker, bringing it to his nose. “If we can identify the chemicals-”

“John.” Sherlock cut him off, finally silencing the other. “I assure you I’m fine. I know my way around a lab, thank you.”

The doctor was quiet, still staring at the beaker in hand. Finally, he sighed, putting it down on the table and turning to his flatmate. “Alright. I trust you. So, this magical medicine you made?” John gestured to Sherlock’s body. “Does it work?”

“I don’t know. That’s the thing about humans, we can’t exactly test ourselves regarding our sensitivity.” Sherlock looked thoughtful before making his way over to the couch, shrugging off his jacket and shoes. Once comfortable, he sprawled out along the cushions, tucking his arms behind his head. “Come on now.”

“Erm…what?” Watson asked.

“Do it.” Sherlock told him. Watson stared some more. “Come on now- we don’t know how long this remedy will last.”

“You want me to…tickle you?” Watson asked. Sherlock flushed at the question, but nodded. “Are you sure?”

“Yes yes! Now hurry! Before the solution wears off!” Sherlock fussed impatiently. Watson sighed before walking over, stretching out his hands.

“Very well. Just remember, you asked me to do this.”

“Hah, no worries! If this worked, I’ll be imu-uuhhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuuhuhne!” Sherlock spasmed when Watson’s fingers touched his body, clawing at his stomach and sides. “Aheahhahahahhahaha! Whahahahhahaht the hehhehehehhheehhell?”

“Did it not work?” Watson asked, brows furrowing as he continued dragging his fingers along Sherlock’s torso. “You sounded so sure. Should I stop?”

“Nohohoohoohhohoho! Keehehehheheep gohoohohoohing! Mahahhahaybe it neehehehheds tihihiihime to kihihihihck ihiihih-IIHIHIN!” The detective all but squeaked when Watson pinched his lower ribs, his hands shooting down from behind his head to guard his torso. “Johohohohohoohn, dohoohoohohon’t!”

“Don’t what? If I recall, you weren’t even that ticklish here.” Watson mused, starting to smile. He let his other hand creep up Sherlock’s open side, walking up his ribs one bone at a time towards his armpit. “Or ticklish here? Maybe your medicine made it worse?”

“Perehehahhahhahahahps? Ihiihihihihihi nehehehehhehed to dohoohohoho mohohohore reeheehehshehehehharch! Aheahhahahhaahaha!” Sherlock squirmed to and from on the couch, batting at the hands. His cheeks were bright red now, his hair growing messier by the minute. “Geahhahahaha, ohoohoohkay! Ohoohohohkay, Wahahahhahatson, stahahhahap ihihiiihhit!”

“Already? But shouldn’t we check all the usual spots first? You never know- the medicine might have numbed a few.” It was absolute bull, what Watson was saying. Really, he was just starting to have fun. Sherlock could be quite the disaster when he wanted to be, driving him and poor Miss Hudson into his antics. It was nice to finally get some much needed revenge.

“Gohoohohohohohd pohohohoohint! Prohohohohoohcehehehheheed!” Sherlock nodded, arching with a cackle when Watson’s hands dug into his armpits. “AHEHAHHA I TAHHHKE IT BAHAHAHCK! I TAHHAHHAKE IT BACK GEHEHHET OHOHOHOOOHOHUT!”

“Hmm…nope, that’s still the same.” Watson dropped his hands down, grabbing Sherlock’s waist. The brunette all but shrieked, nearly jumping off the couch in his hysteria. “That’s the same too. Actually, I think your waist got worse, Sherlock!”

“WHHAHAHHAHAHTSON PELAHHAHHHAHAHSE!” The detective squealed, practically hugging himself to protect his tickle spots. No matter how tightly he pressed his arms in, Watson found a way past his defenses. “MOHOOHOHOVE SOHOOHOHMEWHERE EHEHHHEHLSE!”

“Okay okay…how about here?” Watson grabbed his hip, nearly getting a fist to the eye from Sherlock’s wild squirms. “Okay, definitely still ticklish. Here?” He squeezed his thigh, giggling some at the snorts he earned. “Yep, that’s still normal.” He even dared to tickle his feet, running a single finger down Sherlock’s sole.

“JOHOHOHOOAHAHHHHAAHAN!” Sherlock’s voice cracked from how bad it tickled, eyes wet with mirthful tears and voice fading in and out.

“Yep, you’re still ticklish everywhere.” Watson laughed, finally pulling his hands back. “Looks like your new medicine was a bit of a bust, ol’ chap.”

“Eheh…eheheh…heheh….” Sherlock groaned weakly, body limp with exhaustion against the couch. His hair fell in his face, matted with sweat and blocked his vision. Watson reached out to move it away when Sherlock proved too tired to do so. “Shahame…and heheere I thoohhought I did sohohomething…”

“Perhaps you should count yourself lucky you didn’t die from it?” Watson offered, earning a light pinch to the arm. “If anything, I think it made you even more ticklish than before.” “Drahahats…that’s ihihit. I’m leahhahving medicine to ohohohothers.” Sherlock groaned, closing his eyes. “I…I need a moment. Mahahaybe several.” He was out moments later, soft snores puffing out his lips. Watson smiled before standing.

“Here I was thinking you were killing him.” Miss Hudson’s voice made him jump. Watson turned to find her leaning against the doorframe, a soft smile on her lips as she watched Sherlock sleep. “Can’t blame you if you were. I’d want to kill him too.”

“Did we disturb you? I apologize.” Watson began, stopping when she waved him off.

“It’s fine, truly.” She walked over to the desk, picking up the beaker. “He drank it too. Such an idiot.”

“Yes. Though I have a feeling you knew he would.” Watson walked over, a secret smile touching his lips when their eyes met. “Wine, Miss Hudson?”

“It looked similar enough.” She winked, tucking the glass in her skirts. “You really think I’d let him drink whatever that concoction was? He’s bad enough alive. Imagine what he’d be like dead?” She shuddered. “He’d haunt us for all eternity.”

“He certainly would.” Watson agreed, laughing. “Would you like to have some tea with me, Miss Hudson? I’m curious to know what other interference you’ve done for the sake of Sherlock.”

“But of course, John.” She nodded, turning to the door. “That would be lovely.”

Thanks for reading!

#MTP #tickle #tickle fic #sherlock holmes #john watson #miss hudson #fluff #Lee!Sherlock #Ler!John #I love the idea of Sherlock being more ticklish when tipsy/or drunk #I don't know why- it just works in my head #Wrote this on a whim lols #long fic #Mentions of Moriarty

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