#I mean we’re all obviously… hugely looking forward to my father dying but…

[kiribakuhappiness]

I wanna know your thoughts on the possible new my hero moivee With all the different theories going around I wanna know you standing point

I’m glad you brung it up ‘cause I’ve been dying to talk about it for a hot minute, first of all -

Okay. I have so. many. thoughts. on this and I’ve been waiting until I felt a bit better after being sick to answer this ask because I tried to write up a response already and my brain was so foggy that it literally made no sense, I was just *rambling* and then I pointed to a picture that was completely unrelated and went - see?!?! Ahaha! Like, oh my god.

But! Now I’m back on my coherent rambling bullshit so - here we go. (Please be aware of any slight spoilers regarding the manga / series in this post and that all of these are my own opinions and my own theories, which you are more than welcome to disagree with or have some kind of rebuttal for. I’m just here to be a part of the discussion and throw in my two cents on a few things since some of my followers are curious!)

These are all of my first immediate thoughts upon seeing the promotional image and the tagline included.

*cracks knuckles*

Their new costumes??

Their new costumes?????

I don’t know how to describe this feeling that I have nor do I have any evidence to back up this first claim that I am about to make but my only thought on the costumes is that they are government-issued or specially-made specifically for a certain mission or training exercise, mostly because of the NHA (National Hero Association???) logo printed on the sides and also because they’re not shown in the manga or anything like that outside of this promotional teaser -

But damn, are they sleek as FUCK.

Like, if Todoroki went the rest of his days using that suit, I would die happy, because wow, immaculate. I am so in love with Bakugou’s new gauntlets. Just fucking send me to heaven (or hell idk the rules) now.

As for the “HE” in the teaser sentence shown on the original image – I think, like most people do, that it is meant to be inferred that they are referring to All for One in some degree (though I don’t think that All for One is going to be the main villain of the movie. I think there will probably be a side villain or something that takes precedence over All for One and that All for One might appear just for a bit at the end or something).

HOWEVER, I have other theories about who “HE” is referring to, which I will get into in a moment.

(Quick side bar here –  Do any of my followers also think that All for One is Deku’s father or something? Because let me tell you, ya girl just can’t get this damn fan theory out of her head ‘cause like... Deku was born quirkless, All for One is about borrowing and lending quirks, all the other parallels, and we know how much my man Horikoshi loves parallels… I just... I don’t know what happened along the way and I think someone posted something ages ago that may or may not have debunked that entire theory already but after the Dabi reveal of recent chapters it just feels very in line with the BNHA mindset and previously displayed plot twists, but WHAT DO I KNOW, BACK TO THE SHOW!)

So.

The three musketeers.

There’s a lot to unpack there.

Firstly, I think Todoroki is going to experience One for All at some point in some way, because Bakugou already experienced it and the whole slogan for the three musketeers is “all for one and one for all, united we stand divided we fall” - which is obviously a play on the quirk and All for One, blah, blah, blah. So I think that at some point Todoroki is also going to have One for All for a short period of time just like Bakugou had in Heroes Rising (but boy, if they try to pull the same bullshit they did before where they were like “OOP. He used OfA but he doesn’t remember any of it lul” I’m going to lose my fucking mind, cause that really pissed me off in Heroes Rising LOL).

But. I also wanted to take a closer look at Alexandre Dumas’ novel “The Three Musketeers” - just for funsies (stay with me on this wild ride, I promise I connect all the dots at the end):

Disclaimer: I am a huge literature nerd. I’ve read “The Three Musketeers” so many damn times, it’s insulting, and there’s A LOT that happens in those novels that I won’t ever be able to ramble on about for long enough to do it justice for those who haven’t read it and that’s fine because there’s only a few things that I would like to bring to everyone’s attention in regards to the original stories and how they may or may not connect with this movie.

1. None of the three musketeers are the protagonist of the story.

The protagonist is actually a man called D’Artagnan, or sometimes he is referred to as “the fourth musketeer” by readers, who arrives in Paris because he wants to join the King’s musketeers, but somewhere along the way he ends up offending/pissing off the three musketeers and they all end up challenging him to this duel (because of course they do, violence solves everything, don’t you know?) and the duel ends up getting interrupted by a bunch of guards working for the ‘bad guy’ (who I won’t name just to keep this as simple and straight forward as possible) and D’Artagnan ends up fighting WITH the three musketeers to defeat the guards and they all end up being friends (LMAO I am way oversimplifying this but that’s literally what happens and now you get the point).

2. The ‘bad guy’ has a lot of his work done for him by his right-hand woman; MiLady de Winter.

I believe (and this is just one of my theories) that MiLady from the three musketeers is SUPPOSED to make us believe that it’s the reflection of the UA traitor, but I don’t think she actually IS, and I will also explain what I mean by that in another moment.

SO!

With these two pieces of information in mind, I theorize that the aforementioned “HE” in the tagline actually doesn’t have anything to do with a villain or All for One at all, but it’s actually referring to whoever ends up fighting alongside the three musketeers (Bakugou, Midoriya, and Todoroki) in the movie, and who the entire movie is going to be centered around in some way or another (don’t misread this; I still think that Midoriya will be the main NARRATOR of the movie but I don’t think that means that he will be the main CHARACTER – there’s a very distinct difference between those two roles. One of them is telling the story, the other is who the story is actually about).

Now, IF we’re sticking with the three musketeers theme (which you can tell I’m obviously leaning very heavily on that being the case in all of my theories because that is literally all that we are given to theorize about at this time), then I would like to provide my take on who is who, because I think it’s a very important distinction, which are as followed:

Bakugou is Porthos

Porthos is generally known for being very extroverted, loud, he is known for his physical strength, and he is described as being “gullible” (which, that word by itself with its reflexive connotations doesn’t seem to fit him at all, but when you think about what the word gullible actually means – easily persuaded or manipulated – then yeah, it fucking fits the boot LMAO). Not to mention that he (Porthos) is often used as a sense of comic relief, which I truly believe that Bakugou is ‘used’ sometimes as a comic sense of relief throughout the manga and anime, because it off balances his ferocious nature in a way that further proves to the audience that just because he is feral, that doesn’t inherently mean that he is bad.

Midoriya is Aramis

Aramis is generally known for being vastly ambitious and never satisfied in the sense that he is always working for more, which stumbled me at first because I was originally picturing Bakugou as Aramis, but he (Aramis) craves to live the life of a solider (see the parallel? Midoriya craves to live the life of a hero), and he (Aramis) sees every new victory as a step in the right direction to a ‘greater power’ (which, if my characterizations are correct, parallels Midoriya’s mindset that every new victory or challenge he overcomes is another step towards better handling and controlling One for All and making it his own quirk).

Todoroki is Athos

Athos is generally known for being very noble, handsome, and he is a bit of a sad or melancholy character, as he has a very depressing and mysterious backstory that he actually ends up telling to D’Artagnan, but he doesn’t end up telling D’Artagnan that the sad story is based on him (which, I don’t know about you guys, but that damn near sounds like Todoroki Shouto to me).

Now.

NOW.

Are you guys ready for this? We’re gonna get into the really good theories here.

I would no doubt be flooded with inboxes and messages if I didn’t mention the poses that the boys are portraying in the teaser image and how it all connects to the mysterious UA traitor and how everyone (including me) is losing their damn minds over the fact that Bakugou is using Kirishima’s pose, and so people are theorizing that must mean that Kirishima is the traitor since Midoriya and Todoroki are mimicking both Shigaraki and Dabi, respectively.

Here is my theory on all of that, and here is the detail that I think a lot of people are overlooking that I think might be really important IF (seriously, all of my theories ride on this) IF Horikoshi and the producers are indeed leaning heavily on the comparisons between “The Three Musketeers” and the BNHA characters (which I can only assume that they are, otherwise they would have chosen different wording, etc, for their promotional images).

So, Athos’ big sad backstory is all about how he was married to this woman who then ended up being revealed as this convicted thief and all this angst happened and by the end of it, Athos believes that his thieving wife is dead.

Athos believes that his thieving wife is dead.

Athos (TODOROKI) believes that his thieving wife (MURDEROUS BROTHER - DABI) is dead.

I just. I feel like this is really important BECAUSE in “The Three Musketeers” story, Athos’ thieving wife who he believed to be dead (drink every time I repeat that line ahaha) is actually alive and well and working for the aforementioned ‘bad guy.’

HMMM. DOES THAT SOUND LIKE ANYONE WE KNOW????

It’s my theory (and my own opinion) that this whole movie is going to be heavily driven by the Todoroki family and all of their Keeping up with the Kardashian type drama in some way (maybe not directly because manga and spoilers and blah, blah, blah, but in some sort of significant way), because the first movie was all about Midoriya going to I-Island and learning more about One for All and All Might and everything like that, and then the second movie was all about Bakugou and how he ended up using One for All and how he and Midoriya worked together and they showed snippets of the LoV doing their things back in Musutafu, and now I just assume that Todoroki is probably going to be given One for All at some point in this movie, or he’s going to share it amongst Bakugou and Midoriya, because the three musketeers, and the fact that he’s in the promotional teaser when literally nobody else is, and the fact that his character heavily seems to reflect Athos character in the novel to an almost absurd degree.

So, for me, the whole ‘Kirishima being the UA traitor’ and that being proven by Bakugou using his signature move in the teaser photo is not anything to seriously worry about - and I don’t say this just because I’m a KiriBaku fan or anything at all like that (though seriously, if it’s true, what the fuck am I gonna do with this damn blog, I-?? Ahaha!) but I say this for a few different reasons;

I don’t think the “convicted thief” or whatever that is heavily implied within the three musketeer story is connected to Bakugou in anyway, I think it’s all a contrasting parallel to Todoroki and the Dabi reveal somehow, and that the UA traitor won’t be making any kind of appearance in this film in that way.

I don’t think their relationship (Bakugou and Kirishima) is center stage enough to be used as any kind of plot twist in the story, unfortunately. And what I mean by that is; I think that the entire relationship was built up as a way to influence the audience into rethinking their original thoughts about Bakugou’s character from the beginning of the series (since in the beginning he was literally the most horrible shit kid to Midoriya and everyone hated him and he was treated as a villain – blah blah blah – thus building up the suspense leading up to the rescue arc in which the audience was genuinely divided at the time on whether or not Bakugou was actually going to side with Shigaraki and join the LoV), because then once he (Bakugou) declines the offer to join the LoV and he accepts Kirishima’s helping hand, it was supposed to be a turning point for the audience to realize that they may have been misled by his feral ambition into believing that he could really be a bad guy when in the end, he’s just as much of a hardcore hero fanboy as the rest of his class, and that if such a great guy like Kirishima can befriend him then he must not be all that bad.

We have already seen Kirishima’s backstory. We have already seen the struggles he faced to get accepted into UA, we have already seen how much he looked up to Mina’s bravery, we have already been introduced to his undying love for the most chivalrous hero Crimson Riot, and hey, maybe this whole persona thing he has going on is all an act, sure. Maybe the villains got to him when he was still dark-haired and weak, and maybe they are copy+pasting Crimson Riot into Red Riot as a way to slip under the radars, yeah, maybe. But I really fucking doubt it. Mostly because, unfortunately, I believe his relationship with Bakugou (as mentioned above) was written specifically to reverse the audience’s opinion of Bakugou, but then since he became so popular and was such a loved character, that then his inclusion in the Eri rescue operation sort of solidifies him as the man that Horikoshi says he is. It just wouldn’t make any sense, in my opinion as a writer, to turn Kirishima right around in a 360-twist to be revealed as the traitor, since it would just feel like too much of a stab in the back in regards to the trust that the readers are giving Horikoshi in believing that what he shows us is more or less the truth because we don’t have anything else to go on and he went into such great detail into his backstory that it would be such a waste to then say, ha, SIKE.

I think that Bakugou using Kirishima’s pose is a deliberate red herring – I think it’s specifically meant to throw the audience off in all these different directions and to get the theories growing in the fandom, and I actually think that it’s meant to pull attention AWAY from Todoroki, because in my opinion, the entire movie will most likely focus heavily on Todoroki in some way or another (whether because of Dabi or not), since I believe that he will probably gain the use of One for All at some point during the film, just like Bakugou had, and I believe that the LoV (and more specifically, Dabi) will have some part in this film outside the realm of All for One.

I just think that the narrative is constantly trying to lead us in different directions so that you don’t end up paying much attention to all of the other little details that would then point towards something else, much like how (spoilers for some of the manga chapters here - if you don’t want to read then skip the rest of this paragraph) they keep kind of hinting at Bakugou’s death, over and over again, like dangling it on a string and being like, is he gonna die this time? What about this time? What about now - with his guts all over the place after he fucking saved Deku’s life? Could happen at any moment!

So, I just think that Bakugou using Kirishima’s pose is just because Kirishima has had a huge influence on his character development and it would be the perfect red herring to lead the fans on some wild goose chase in the interest of gaining public awareness for the movie.

(Also - in the discussion of the UA traitor, I really believe that it’s Class 1-B’s sensei, actually - ahaha! Either that or Aoyama, but I’ve started to kind of lean away from that one because Class 1-B’s sensei is fucking sus and I don’t care what anyone says, that’s my own theory until proven wrong! Just let me live in this world a little longer, okay?! :,D)

Soooo... to sum this shit up (TLDR AMIRIGHT LMAO), because holy shit this got way out of hand and I haven’t even really gotten into the meat of all of my theories regarding the fucking PLOT of the new potential movie yet but whatever –

TLDR;

-        I think the really cool NHA suits are temporary costumes issued specifically for some type of training exercise or undercover mission or something like that.

-        I think Bakugou posing like Kirishima is some kind of red herring meant to make everyone panic, but I don’t think it really holds any weight in the UA traitor discussion/theory, and I don’t think the UA traitor will be revealed in the movie – because it would kind of be dropping a BIG plot point in the series into a separate movie that maybe a good portion of the manga readers / anime watchers might not even see and therefore would not fully understand once the series caught up with the movie (whenever the timeline might be). I just think a lot of the stuff that happens in the movies are not directly related to the series for the very purpose that if somebody watches the anime but then doesn’t watch the movies, they don’t miss anything too important.

-        I think the movie might lean heavily on Todoroki and perhaps include some of his family drama, especially in regards to Dabi (since the reveal happened right before the promotional teaser dropped and generally speaking it takes about 8-9 months after initial speculation for the movie to then come out with a trailer of some kind, which would be plenty of time for those who want to read the manga to have done so by then), and that at some point during the film Todoroki is going to use or obtain One for All in a similar manner that Bakugou did in the second movie in order to help fight off a random side villain that doesn’t have much of an impact in regards to the fight between heroes and villains happening in the main storyline.

-        I think the “HE” in the teaser image doesn’t have much to do with All for One, but actually it’s referring to some mysterious side character who is going to end up fighting with Bakugou, Todoroki, and Midoriya (playing the parallel, inferred role of D’Artagnan) and that All for One won’t actually be the villain in the film, but he may show up for a bit at the end.

All of these theories revolve HEAVILY around the basis that the producers and Horikoshi are attempting to lean on any of the other parallels regarding “The Three Musketeer” novels – or if they just thought that The Three Musketeers sounded dope as fuck, let’s throw that on there because there’s three of them, right? Get it?

Which, if that’s the case, then literally most of my theories go right out the damn window and I have no idea what this movie could be about, LMAO!

So… yeah. What do you guys think?? I’d love to hear your ideas – rip this post to fucking shreds if you want to, because there’s like an 87% chance or higher that I’m completely off base with everything I’ve just said and that my over-active imagination clung onto The Three Musketeers relevance and just wouldn’t let go of it and it totally sent me off in the wrong direction, I don’t know! It’s possible, ahahaha!

Anyway

#these are all just my initial reactions #and the first thoughts that were rattling around in my head when I saw the promotional image #obviously I have no idea what the movie could be about #or even if there is a third movie at all #though it seems like it's very likely #so #do with this what you will #please don't bash me too much if I got any details wrong #or something doesn't line up right #this is literally such a rambling mess #I don't even know #ahaha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia movie #bnha theories #mha theories #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #todoroki shouto #kirishima eijirou #kiribaku #ua traitor #all might #all for one #other relevant bnha tags that I am too lazy to think of #bnha #my hero academia #asks

[twdmusicboxmystery]

10x22: Here’s Negan - Details

All right. Here are a LOT of details. 

***As always, spoilers abound below for 10x22. Don’t read until you’ve watched!***

We start with Maggie and Hershel walking around Alexandria early in the morning. She calls him “a little rat” affectionately, which I’m side eying. Because of Carol’s rat last episode and because we already established parallels between Hershel and Beth from ep 17 in that he went missing and Maggie and Daryl searched for him.

Then they sing “you are my sunshine” together, which is the same song Carl sang Negan. Because the sun is a Beth symbol, we’ve always seen her in that song. I also wonder if it foreshadows Maggie losing Hershel in some way. I don’t mean him dying, but rather being kidnapped. A lot of us have thought about one or some of the kids being taken at some point, and their parents having to search for them.  

Carol looks out a broken window (Broken Glass Theory) and sees the exchange. So, she leaves Alexandria and takes Negan with her.

Actually, the next thing we see is a dead rabbit she pulls from a snare. The rabbit is SUPER interesting. I answered an Ask HERE about the moon rabbit, and I really love this explanation of the symbol. It makes perfect sense for Beth because the moon rabbit sacrificed itself, which is exactly what Father Gabriel said cryptically in 5x16. “How you sacrificed one of your own….”

Plus the Moon rabbit is resurrected and combines the moon symbol and the rabbit symbol.

So what does it mean in this context? 

Well, I still don’t want to go into too much detail, though I will soon. (I promise.) But if rabbit = Beth, I think this is yet another example of symbolism that points to Negan and Beth having a big arc together later. (And Carol will probably be thrown into the mix.)

That evening, Negan drinks by the fire. What he’s drinking is clearly moonshine. It’s from one of those big glass moonshine bottles. I don’t know where he got it. I looked a second time at the stuff they left for him, and it might be in there, but if so, it isn’t visible. It would certainly be interesting if Daryl left him moonshine, but I don’t see any super-obvious hint at that. If it’s already there in the cabin, well, that’s Leah’s cabin, so….

This is where he sees his old self from the trailer. Some of the dialogue jumps out at me as things Daryl might say about himself. Evil Negan says to his good self, “You are nothing without her.” That sort of thing.

The next day he goes back to the tree with the stained-glass windows where Rick cut his throat. One of the plate glass windows has a hole in it and the other one is lying on the ground. 

My go-to explanation of course is that the one with the hole represents the bullet hole in Beth’s head. (We actually said this of the stained-glass window in Father Gabriel’s church that Sasha shoots a hole in in 5x16 as well.) And I always see someone falling down as a serious injury. So, when Beth belly-flopped in the elevator shaft with Noah, that was a foreshadow of her getting shot. So I’m kind of seeing the window lying flat on the ground in the same way.

Of course, Negan digs up Lucille, and then it goes into the flashbacks.

It starts of course with him being a prisoner of the biker gang. We do think this gang is a parallel of the Claimers from S4. Remember that I said, overall, Negan = Daryl, right? So, this guy (Craven) even kind of looks like Joe Claimer. They dress in a similar fashion, are rough-and-tumble kind of dudes. But also, Negan runs into them after he loses Lucille. He doesn’t realize she’s died at that point, but she has. Just like Daryl ran into the Claimers after being separated from Beth in Alone.

And we immediately see a blue cooler with IV bags inside. They’re Lucille’s chemo treatments. So blue cooler/Frosty Cola symbolism. Plus this can parallel to 6x06 when Daryl accidentally took off with Tina’s medicine when he met Dwight. Basically, these are both pointing to the same thing: a future arc involving Daryl and Beth. There are also 22s on the IV bags. So, 22 theory.

I will say that the format of this episode is a lot like 10x18 because so much of it is flashback. They even use the same font to show the time jumps. The main difference is that with Daryl, they started 5 years ago and then jumped forward, toward the present. Here, they actually move backward first and then forward again.

So it’s like a swinging pendulum. They go back 12 years to where he’s a prisoner of the bikers. Then it goes back 6 weeks to when he’s with Lucille in their home , and then it jumps back again to before the apocalypse when she first found out she had cancer, which was right about the time the turn happened. And then it moves forward to the two of them together in the house, and then back to him with the bikers.

Okay, so, “12 Years Ago” he’s telling his story to the bikers.

Then it actually says “Two or Three Days Ago” and it’s odd to me that they don’t specify which one it is. Negan says he found the mobile medical clinic 2 or 3 days ago, but there’s got to be a reason they don’t just go with one or the other. Anyway, this is when he found an RV with supplies. He tries to hold the doctor up and Laura (Savior) comes up behind him with a bat and hits him.

We also get a bit of a hallucination theme. When Negan looks at the RV and the dummy guards on the roof, his sight sort of warps in and out like he can’t tell for sure. When he wakes up, he’s also hooked to an IV. (Parallel to Beth at Grady.) The doctor says he was dehydrated, malnourished, and exhausted. So maybe, in addition to all the mental break stuff we’ve already said about Daryl in 10x18, we should add these to the list.

“Six Weeks Earlier” and it shows him and Lucille. The first thing we see is that she tells him he’ll have to kill the walker but he doesn’t want to. He just turns off the generator, hoping it will go.

So, she makes him read Pride and Prejudice to her. The Pride and Prejudice thing is really interesting. He only reads a line or two, but anyone familiar with the story will be able to pick out the scene. Basically, in the story, a man asks Lizzie to marry him and she rejects him. He doesn’t love her or anything. He’s just looking for a “suitable” wife, and she can’t stand him. After she rejects him, her best friend marries him instead. And this friend doesn’t care that it’s not a love match. She just wants to be settled in life.

So the scene Negan reads part of is where the friend, Charlotte, is coming to tell Lizzie that she’s marrying him instead. This is the part Negan reads:

"I see what you are feeling," replied Charlotte. "You must be surprised, very much surprised--so lately as Mr. Collins was wishing to marry you. But when you have had time to think it over…”

Here’s the thing. No way they’re putting dialogue from such a well-known book like this into the show without reason. And I know they said on TTD that it’s supposed to be an Easter Egg for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Fair enough, but it’s not enough of an explanation for me. In the past, there have been things Nicotero has labelled as homages to various horror films, and I’m sure that’s true, but they’re also clearly Beth symbolism.

So, you could say that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies applies to Negan and Lucille. It’s a true love story, but zombies are thrown in. That works. But why this particular passage? It’s about NOT marrying for love, or the passing of a man’s offer of marriage from one woman to another. None of that applies to Negan and Lucille. It would have made more sense to have him read a different passage between Lizzie and Darcy, you know?

So, what does this mean? We’re not entirely sure, yet. For me, I tend to think it foreshadows a future arc (I’m sure you’re shocked) and I’ll get more into that in the next few days.

@wdway​ suggested perhaps we could apply it to the Leah situation. Daryl is in love with one woman, but hallucinating a relationship with another. I think that works, too. For now, let’s just keep it in mind, shall we? ;D

Dialogue parallels include Lucille saying, “we’ll have to kill it,” which parallels Beth saying the same thing about the walker at the moonshine shack.

And of course then we get that all important scene with the green wig, “serious” mention, IV stand and bag, and walker in the eye.

We see Negan going out to look for more gas for the generator, siphoning it out of cars.

We also see them having fun together. Obviously them playing darts is a callback to Still. The part where they play darts is actually just like half a second in the show, which just goes to show that they did the promo shot because they wanted us to see the symbols in the scene. I want to draw everyone’s attention to the fact that the British flag is printed on the darts. This is part of the template I’ll talk about in a day or two as well. For now, I just want you to notice it. It’s important.

When they do the candlelight dinner (*coughs alone*) they eat DOG food. Sirius reference. She suddenly says “happy anniversary” and pulls out a present for him. He says, “You know what day it is?” and she says, “no, I just wanted you to have this.” So I think the idea is that it’s not really their anniversary. She just said that as an excuse to give him a present. It reminded me a little of the “New Years Eve” theme we saw around the Claimers. Not exactly the same, but a similar vibe. It’s not REALLY New Year’s Eve. They’re just saying it as an excuse to do something else (in that case, kill Rick). Here, it’s not really their anniversary, but Lucille is saying that as an excuse to give him the jacket.

When Negan says she doesn’t owe him anything Lucille says, “I stuck with you because I could always see the man you are right now, even when you weren’t.” So again, kind of a Beth theme of seeing the best in him even when he doesn’t see it in himself. That’s a huge theme throughout this episode.

There’s more refrigerator/cooler symbolism when the fridge defrosts, ruining the last of Lucille’s treatments.

Then it jumps back to before the apocalypse. There were some symbols here as well. The main ones I noticed were specifically around Lucille. After her diagnosis, she gets in the car and hears the broadcast about the virus victims eating human flesh. Kind of a callback to hearing the Terminus broadcast in 4a.

Then she gets mad and says, just play some g**d*** music. (Music reference.) When the car pulls out, you have to check out this license plate!

XVD-1144. The 1-1 you should recognize from @frangipanilove’s 1-1 posts. The 44 references the comic book issue where Andrea was shot in the head, and survived. And of course there’s the X. So then @wdway had the ingenious idea to ask what roman numerals X and D stood for. X=5 and D=500. So we basically have “X, 550, 1-1, 44.” Yeah, series number 55 was Slabtown. Beth was on the 5th floor. And all the rooms around them in the hallway at Grady were in the 550s. If that’s not proof that Lucille is a Beth proxy, I don’t know what is.

Plus, notice the type of car: mustang. We’ve talked about this before, but horse symbolism, and the type of car is always important.

Another thing @wdway​ with her eagle eyes picked up. Lucille is scrolling back and forth between Negan and Janine’s numbers, right? Notice the date:

November 12. Recognize that:

Yeah, not kidding. It’s a reference to the headstone in Alone. 👀

Back in the future again, Lucille asks Negan to stay with her. You don’t realize this the first time watching it, but clearly she’s ready to die, and just wants him to be with her, but he’s bound and determined to save her, an goes anyway.

A couple of things to point out. Negan looking for meds parallels to Daryl looking for meds at the veterinary college in 4a. Also, on TTD they pointed out that Negan is constantly putting Lucille in a position to be alone. Before the apocalypse, he left her alone to fool around with another woman, who was her best friend. He made her go to the doctor alone. (Lucille alone at the hospital could = Beth at Grady.) We see him constantly leaving her here to get supplies. And he leaves for like 6 six weeks to track the mobile clinic.

I think that’s mostly an anti-parallel to Daryl. Daryl never left Beth intentionally. But I also think it could be a future theme, not in the sense that Daryl will leave her, but I’ve always thought he would feel super guilty because they left her behind and now she’s been “alone” for 8 years. And again, not physically alone as we know she’ll be part of other groups and such, but without him and her family.

Back with the medical people again, Laura gives Negan her bat, the one she first beaned him with, since he doesn’t have any other weapons.

All they said about Laura on TTD was that they wanted to use her—someone the audience would recognize—but also someone who had a relatively minor role. So they talked about how they could have brought Austin Amelio on and had Dwight give it to him, but because Dwight is a bigger character, and because his onscreen relationship with Negan was much bigger, it would have made it a Negan/Dwight moment and they wanted to keep this episode focused solely on Negan and Lucille. So they used Laura.

And sure, that’s fine. But they could have used any Savior they wanted. And why did they even WANT a familiar face? Why the return of the Savior with the blond hair, you know? I’m just saying. ;D

Of course Negan tells the biker gang where the medical RV is and then goes back to Lucille, but she’s already dead. This really was a very tragic episode.

We obviously have a suicide theme here, and the fact that Negan never actually shoots or stabs Lucille in the head, both of which parallel Beth. 

On TTD, YNB even pointed out that she’s wearing the same clothes as she was the day he left, which means she committed suicide the day he left. Most of the 6 weeks he’s been out looking for medical supplies, she was already dead. Super tragic, no?

We also see keys, matches, the blue cooler again, and Negan wrapping the barbed wire around his bat. 

So, a couple of preliminary thoughts here. The 6 weeks was bugging me because they said it 2 or 3 times, really emphasizing it. I’m kind of wanting to equate it to 6 seasons. Because if Beth doesn’t show until S11 (and clearly now she can’t, unless she shows in Fear or something, but I’m not holding my breath for that) then it will be 6 seasons since Beth left the show.

And again, it’s more anti-parallel than parallel. For 6 weeks, Negan thought Lucille was alive, but she was dead the entire time. For 6 seasons, Daryl thought Beth was dead, when really she’s been alive the whole time.

And, of course, Negan burns the house down, much like Beth and Daryl did in Still.

But here’s the other thing @wdway noticed. Check out the similarities here:

Similar colors and structures, and both seem to be on fire at some point. And I don’t think the cabin in 5x09 was pointing toward Negan and Lucille. Rather, I think the symbolism in both instances point toward something we haven’t seen, yet. But the parallels and repeated symbolism are there.

When Negan leaves, he gets on his bike with Lucille (the bat) and drives away from the burning house. And interestingly, we see him smack his mailbox with it and knock it off it’s post. 

Couple of things here:

The name “Smith” is written on the mailbox, so apparently that was their last name. And they mentioned it on TTD. Smith is such an everyman sort of name. It might be one of the most common surnames on the planet, so there’s definitely some interesting symbolism there having to do with Negan.

But I’m side-eyeing the actual mailbox, as part of the Communication Theme. And, on a very basic level, I’m thinking that the mailbox was intact when Lucille was still alive. He destroyed it after he lost her. So maybe it represents something along those lines, or even represents the person they lost. So mailbox = Beth.

The scene that keeps flashing in my head is from 6x03 when Daryl is riding around on his bike, searching for Rick, and he’s passing all these mailboxes in the background. 

Then in 10x21, we see him walking toward the military walker on the train tracks (*coughs CRM, *coughs Rick*) and he passes the blond, Beth walker, but doesn’t actually look at her or see her. Do you kind of see the similar theme there?

Negan brutally killing the biker gang can parallel Rick doing the same to Joe Claimer in 4x16.

Negan tells Craven a story about how he lost his job. He got in a bar fight. It was their favorite because it had a JUKE BOX. And they loved the juke box because it played their favorite song (You are So Beautiful to Me.) He even talks about “seeing red” and how he now realizes he can do anything he wants (read: kill anyone he wants) so we kind of see his evolution into S6 Negan here.

And honestly, they leave a lot of loose threads here. We never learn what happens to Franklin (he’s still alive at this point) and obviously Laura stays with Negan long term, but they really could do more flashbacks about how he started gathering people and found the Sanctuary.

So then we come back to the present where he’s just dug Lucille up under the stained glass window tree. In the first scene at the beginning, we see a walker making its way toward him. Yes, it’s a blond, female walker, and I’m pretty sure she’s wearing Daryl’s shirt from when he was at the Sanctuary. Here at the end, Negan has been lost in his own thoughts so long, the walker comes up behind him and he turns around and kills it with Lucille. 

When he does, the bat splits down the middle. Yet another symbol of Lucille’s death.

He goes back to the cabin and sits in front of the fire and talks to Lucille (both the bat and his actual wife). He says, “I’m sorry I left you…I made myself not feel anything…I miss you.” See how we could apply that to Daryl?

He also says, “I’m going to do your fighting for you,” which I take to mean he’ll honor her memory better, now, rather than go back to the old, evil Negan he was. Which was really just years of him avoiding his feelings about her death. (Kind of like Daryl has with Beth, hence the Leah situation.)

Then he covers the bat in a white cloth (clearly meant to be a shroud) and puts the bat in the fireplace, burning it. On TTD, they do say this is meant to be the funeral she never got. 👀

Oh, and at the end of the “in memoriam” on TTD, it actually says, “Negan is burning down his past.”

So, at the very end, he actually goes back to Alexandria. Maggie, Carol, and Daryl are near the entrance and he asks where the “A” team is going. Carol warns Negan that if he lives at Alexandria, Maggie will kill him at some point. I actually really liked this ending. It was a good way to kick us into S11.

That’s the end of the episode. So, I’ll say this again and it will be a good segue into my next post about what I think Beth’s arc will be in S11, and how she’ll appear. I’ll post it either tomorrow or Thursday.

Without getting too much into the weeds, I think Negan and Beth will have some major, future interaction. And I really think the symbolism here backs it up, for various reasons. The symbolism itself wouldn’t prove anything, as we’ve seen this stuff repeated with lots of different characters and especially true love couples, which Negan and Lucille clearly were, despite his cheating.

But on TTD, Hilarie Burton talked about how strong Lucille was. She said she liked the character because so often when cancer victims or victims of other prolonged diseases are portrayed on film, they’re seen as angelic, ethereal beings. And while that’s fine if that’s truly who they are, you don’t lose your personality just because you become sick. So she liked it that Lucille was a little rough around the edges. She says that even before the apocalypse, Negan was just fussy enough that he would need a strong woman to rein him in, and he would also be attracted to exactly this kind of strong woman. 

Strong woman = Beth.

So, I’ll just leave it there.

Anyone find any symbols I missed?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

[agentofscifi]

 Success is the Best Kind of Revenge

I didn’t want to feel smug, I really didn’t, but I just couldn’t help the pin prick of smugness. My entire classes sat around, horribly disappointed in our Lycée classroom. Many of them had gotten responses for Universities jobs, and internships over the winter semester. They hadn’t turned out well. 

Alya had applied to a job at a newspaper, applied to three internships and sent four university applications out. She lost every one of them. Nino hadn’t gotten his internship either nor did he get into the music school he wanted. Kim had a scholarship and college acceptance revoked, and the two other Universities who had been offering swimming scholarships pulled their offers back too. Ivan and Myléne had both been under investigation over the break for charity fraud. Though they were cleared, no other charities wanted their help and their university had pulled their acceptance out. 

Rose’s eyes were still red and raw looking. Prince Ali had cut all contact with Rose and she was denied from her music schools. All of Max’s scholarships and every since school he applied to, all fourteen of them, pulled back their acceptance. Nathaniel’s comic strip was no longer being printed and there was a pending copyright suit. Sabrina was under investigation too, for theft, breaking and entering as well as illegal photography. Her university denied her as well. She assisted Lila and Alya in harassing me over the past few years. Adrien was sitting in his seat, a numb sort of look over his face as Nino patted his shoulder. Lila, however, was the only happy one in the class. She had a firm grip on Adrien’s arm as she chatted to an unset Alya about how she helped catch Hawkmoth with Ladybug. 

The only reason I knew all of this was because of their parents. Despite their children no longer speaking to me, my classmates' parents and siblings were still in good relations with my family. Their parents had described their disappointment and confusion to my parents after all of the university issues. 

I was sitting in the back with a sad looking Juleka, an annoyed Alix and an over smug Chloe. A weird sort of girl group that formed as the rest of the class refused to grow up. I wanted to feel bad, I really did, but honestly, they made their own graves. I tried to warn them, I tried to keep them from this. They choose the fool’s gold. 

Alix, Chloe and Juleka came to the light. Chloe figured it out the quickest, many of Lila’s lies had holes in them. Chloe saw the holes quite easily. Juleka became wary of Lila after Luka met her. Apparently, Lila’s inner song is like nails on chalkboards and dying kittens. As for Alix, she had asked Lila about the Rabbit Miraculous only for Lila to tell her that it was wielded by a man in the future. Either way, they all saw what was really going on. 

Mrs. Bustier walks into the room just as the bell rings, a large smile on her face. “Hello everyone. I hope you had a good break. Did everyone do their homework?” Most of the classmates looked down at those words. Our winter break homework, making a list of options for after Lycée this year. Normally we’d have private meetings about all of this today, while the rest of us worked in the library. Mrs. Bustier decided that our class would share our options with everyone else. 

“Well, would anyone like to start? Alya?” Mrs. Bustier gives a big smile to my former best friend. 

Alya’s face pales and she mumbles for a second before clearing her throat. “I, ahh. I’ve decided to take a year off, to do a year of work. There’s a grocery store that has some openings for me and the Zoo where my Dad works is hiring summer people for the gift shop and concessions.”

Mrs. Bustier’s smile drops. “Alya, what about your internships at the newspaper, or the one at TVi?”

Alya looks down. “I didn’t get them.”

“What about Goldsmith University in London? Or Cardiff University? Of the University of Amsterdam? Or ESJ Paris? You were looking forward to all of the programs these schools offered.”

Alya’s hand on the desk clenches. “I didn’t get in.”

Mrs. Bustier’s smile was completely gone now. “What?”

“All four Universities denied me. I didn't get into any of them.”

“Oh.” Mrs. Bustier blushes a deep red and looks around to the room before settling on me. She nudges her head towards Alya, telling me to comfort my classmate. 

I raise an eyebrow at her, causing her blush to deepen. She did that everytime I reminded her, either subtly or not, that she couldn’t put all of her responsibilities onto a child. Regardless, I spoke up. I really did feel some pity for the class. “I’m sorry about that Alya. Try again next year. A job or something might help boost your application.”

Alya whips around and glares at me. “I don’t need your pity! I’ll be fine! Unlike you, you’ll just be a nobody. I bet not a single University in the whole world wanted you!” I sigh and glance over at Mrs. Bustier. She remained silent as Alya rips into me. Typical. 

Chloe lets out a small laugh. “You’re one to talk.”

Alya’s face heats up again and Mrs. Bustier finally cleared her throat. “Well, let’s move on. Nino, what about you? What about that school in America?”

Nino rubs the back of his head. “I, uh. I heard back. They don’t think I’m ready to start at Musicians Institute in Los Angeles. I didn’t get the internship either, the one in Hollywood. My parents are letting me keep my DJ work up next year, but I have to find a job.”

Mrs. Bustier’s smile is obviously forced now. She’d spent the whole break bragging about her classmates on social media and in an interview. So far, the class was not doing so well. “Rose? How about you? What music school are you going to?”

Rose immediately starts to tear up. “None of them! Julliad didn’t want me! Neither did the Royal Academy of Music or Royal College of Music in London. They said my music wasn’t good enough!” 

Rose was just about sobbing at this point in front of me. Juleka looks even more sad and I agreed with her. Rose’s lyrics were actually pretty good, until Lila got a hold of her. Now the music was less inspiring and unique. 

Mrs. Bustier looks up at me. A desperate plea in her eyes. I look away almost instantly, pulling out a small thing of tissues. I pass them over to Rose’s shoulder, getting a soft thank you in response. Juleka pulls out her phone and starts to text. More than likely offering a shoulder for Rose to cry on after class. 

Mrs. Bustier fumbles with her hands for a minute, looking around the class. “Sabrina, what about you? Do you still want that social justice degree?”

Sabrina drops her head into her arms. “No. I’m not going to University next year. My father wants me to stay in Paris with him until next year. He’s...worried about me.”

Mrs. Bustier’s eyes are a little more frantic now. “Myléne! Ivan! How about you two? Where do you hope to go to University next year?”

Myléne sinks in her seat. Ivan glances around the room like he’s hoping someone will help. No one does. “We’re ah, taking a year off too. Our summer volunteer trip in Africa fell through also. So, we’re sticking around for a while. Looking at our options.” Myléne nods. 

“Oh, good for you.” Mrs. Bustier looks around the room again. She avoided us. No surprise. Unlike the rest of the class, we really didn’t get much time to discuss our future with Mrs. Bustier. She seemed to be focusing on the students she believed would be going somewhere. “Kim! How about that swimming scholarship?”

Kim flushes red too. “I uh. I’m not going to be swimming in the fall. I’m thinking about some basic classes at a local university.”

“What about the scholarship?”

Kim’s eyes darted around, briefly looking at me, before continuing on. “I lost it. There were some issues, I didn’t qualify anymore.”

“Nathaniel! What about you? Did your new comic strip kick off?”

Nathenial’s head drops to his desk and he moans. The whole class stares in shock. Nathenial shakes his head on the desk, another moan emitting from below the red hair. 

“Max!” There’s a look of comfort in Mrs. Bustier. Her smartest pupil would come through, wouldn’t he. “How about you?”

“I got denied. All fourteen schools denied me!” Max had a slight crazed look in his eyes. As I looked closer I could see how unkempt me was. His suspenders were a little askew, his hair wasn’t quite as controlled as usual, and his glasses weren’t straight. “Me, the kid who made an AI was denied from MIT, Stanford, Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, Berkeley, University of Tokyo, ETH Zürich, California’s Institute of Technology, Technical University of Munich, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Nanyang Technological University, Princeton, and Grenoble Institute of Technology. All of my scholarships, gone!” A hysterical laugh rips through Max as he sits in his seat. 

Mrs. Bustier franic look was back as she scanned the room once more. She briefly looks up at the four of us then shakes her head. Alix rolls her eyes from across the row. Obviously Mrs. Bustier thought we’d all be failors too. Instead, she looks at Adrien and Lila. 

“Adrien, what about you? Any University plans?”

Adrien’s mouth opens and closes a few times. “I’m moving in with my Aunt. I plan to teach piano to some kids in the fall. I have some… stuff to do with my father’s company this summer. I don’t think I’ll be going to a University anytime soon.”

“Lila!” Mrs. Bustier’s voice is high and cracking. “What about you? Still doing charity work? Going to University?”

Lila gives a huge smile to the whole class. “Yes. I’ll be working in Achu for a little bit this summer. I got into a few schools in the U.S, France, England and in Italy. I’m not sure where I want to study yet, but I’m sure I’ll be the next best thing in Fashion. Opps!” Lila looks up at me. “I’m sorry Marinette! I didn’t mean to offend you.”

I give a small, fake smile. “Don’t worry Lila. It’s fine. Maybe I’ll see you next year? What schools did you get into?”

Lila’s fasade drops slightly. “I, uh. Parson’s in New York, and um, Central Saint Martins in London, and um Accademia Costume e Moda in Rome. I decided to go to Central Saint Martins.”

“Impressive. I didn’t send anything to the Accademia in Rome, but I’m happy to see someone else got into Parson’s and Saint Martins.” My smile is a little sharp. I could afford to fake my congratulations when I knew that Lila’s tower was about to collapse underneath her. 

“Marinette, you got into Parson’s and Saint Martins?” Mrs. Bustier’s smile was back and slightly crazed. “Which one of those will you be going to?”

“Neither. I did get into Parsons school of design in New York, as well as Central Saint Martin’s in London, but I’m not going to either of those.”

“What school will you be going to?” Mrs. Bustier’s eyebrows are furrowed. 

“The London College of Fashion. I got into ESMOD in Paris, Istituto Marangoni International in Milan, as well as Parson’s School of Design and Central Saint Martins. I thought about staying in Paris, but I just wanted a little distance. You know, spread my wings.  I didn’t feel like going to New York either. It’s pretty far away. I almost agreed to go to the school in Milan, but I think I’m going to hold off on that school until I go to get a Master’s Degree. So, it was between London College of Fashion and Saint Martins and I just liked the London College more.” 

“Oh, that’s fantastic Marinette!” Mrs. Bustier’s enthusiasm returns in full swing. 

Alya snort ruins the moment. “If she’s even telling the truth.”

Lila blinks and then looks back up at me. “Yah, that’s true. How do we know you’re not lying. You’ve been doing that alot the last four years.”

Mrs. Bustier smile turns into a frown and she instead gives a glare meant for a child. “It’s not nice to lie, Marinette.”

A smirk earns its way onto my face. “I’m not lying. I don’t care if you believe me or not, but I’m not lying. I’ll be in London, come Fall, studying to be a world class fashion designer.”

Alya snorts again. Mrs. Bustier gives me an exasperated look, but freezes as she meets my gaze. Any sort of appreciation or respect for my teacher was gone, replaced by annoyance and I hold Mrs. Bustier’s gaze for over a full minute, causing the woman to fidget. 

Chloe finally nudges me and clears her throat. “Well, I finally decided where I’ll be going in the fall. I even have a roommate picked out.” She nudges me with a smile. 

“No way you’re going to University.” Alya’s teeth are bare as she all but growls at Chloe. “Who would want you?”

Chloe shrugs. “Oh, you know. Harvard, Stanford, Cambridge, Oxford, INSEAD, Bocconi University, and the London Business School. I’m going to the London Business School. It’s ranked third in the world for Business studies. The only places above it are Harvard and INSEAD, but I don’t want to move all the way to America quite yet and I was not staying in a town less than an hour from you all.”

The whole class looks at Chloe in surprise. That was something they never realized. Chloe didn’t put work in when she was younger because she didn’t have to. Everything was given to her until Lycée when our teachers finally started to push Chloe. Now, she was a budding business woman already helping me with my MDC company. 

“No way!” Max looks up at Chloe. Anger in his eyes. “How did you get in and not me?”

Chlor rolls her eyes. “I’m fluent in French, English, Italian, Spanish, Mandarin, as well as Portugese. I have a 4.00 GPA and perfect grades in all my classes. I got all A* grades in my A level exams to get me into the Schools in London. I even took the ACT and SAT for the Universities in America. I got a 33 on the ACT and a 1520 on the SAT. I have been helping my Daddy with the hotel for over three years and I’ve had three different internships.”

The whole class is staring at Chloe. They wanted to argue, but Alix cuts them off first. “Well, if we’re done arguing about how Chloe got into top Universities. I’m attending Cambridge in the Fall, just like my Dad and brother. I’m also tagging along on a dig in China this summer. There’s this old temple the Louvre is investigating with several other museums and colleges.”

The class just stares at her, completely complex. Alix shrugs and looks at Juleka. “Juleka, your turn.”

Juleka pulls her hair back and clears her throat. “I’m attending Guildhall School of Music and Drama, in London. I’ll be studying music and production arts. I’ve also been signed to a modeling agency in London, so I'll be doing that too.”

“So, you’ll all be living together?” Myléne looks at us curiously. 

I shake my head. “No, Alix and Juleka will be living on Campus this year, in the dorms. Chloe and I will be sharing an apartment however. Our schools are only 30 minutes apart when walking.”

“We’ve already found a place. 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a large kitchen. Mari gave me the Master Bed and Bath so she could convert one of the extra bedrooms into a studio.”

Alya scoffs. “You doing anything else this summer?” She tries to sound strong, but it comes off a bit flat. 

“We’re all doing a Graduation trip to Italy, you know, because we couldn’t go on the class one. Juleka’s mom and Marinette’s Grandmother are chaperoning. We’ll be touring all of Italy over a month.” Alix gives the class a smile as someone knocks on the door. 

Mrs. Bustier gives us a small smile and goes to the door. There’s a gasp and Mrs. Bustier slowly backs up. There’s four police officers just outside the classroom door along with a small collection of people. Two of the people have a strong resemblance to Lila, and another person has an Italian look. Another three people all standing together, looking over the class. Principle Damocles is present as well, looking very pale. More people are filtering in and I realize it’s the parents of most of our classmates. Each set of parents comes and stands next to their child or sits on the bench with them. Juleka’s Mom gives me a little wave as she sits next to her daughter. 

Principle Damocles clears his throat. “Students, if I could have your attention please. There have been some... issues over the break that need to be addressed.”

Alya perks up. “Have you finally come to deal with Chloe and Marinette? They’ve been bullying poor Lila for years.”

“No.” One of the women who had been surveying the class turns to look at Alya. “We’re here for a variety of reasons. First of all, several students in this class are under investigation for a variety of charges. Second of all, almost every single one of you has ended being denied from every college you applied to. Lastly, We’re here to deal with the improper and naive mindsets that your Principal and Teacher have. Especially considering Ms. Rossi. Speaking of which.” The woman turns to Mrs. Bustier. “I’m not even going to touch your bluntly stupid way of dealing with bullies. That will be handled after all of this. Right now I’m going to ask why you threw every single rule about parental contact and special privileges out the window. You do not give students special privilege for medical conditions if they do not have doctors notes. You do not just ignore the fact that you can’t contact one of your students parents by anything but email. You don’t ignore when one of your students disappears willy nilly when every she feels like it.”

Mrs. Bustier opens and closes her mouth. “Who are you? I’ve been in contact with all of my students' parents.”

“I am Amelia Vaux, the Superintendent of Education in France. And no, you have not been in contact with all of your student’s parents. The email Lila Rossi gave you is an email she set up. Mrs. Rossi has never spoken to you, received an email or signed anything for the school. The woman is still operating under the assumption that your collége closed down for months at one point.”

“I, what?” Mrs. Bustier looks completely lost. 

“Lila Rossi gave you a fake email and a fake phone number for her Mother. Lila Rossi’s father is not asstrange, despite what she has been saying. Lila Rossi has a clean bill of health according to a doctor's visit over break. No tinnitus, no arthritis, no sprains, no breaks, no vision issues, no hearing issues at all. The worst thing she’s had was a bad case of influenza when she was 11. Of course, this is ignoring the fact that the girl was diagnosed as a pathological liar and with antisocial personality disorder when the girl was 13 years old. It’s in her medical file and her student file, along with a warning about the girl’s bullying habits.”

Everyone was staring at Mrs. Vaux up front, the parents looked sick and my classmates were staring in disbelief. “No,” Alya is shaking her head. “This can’t be true. Marinette is the liar.”

Mrs. Vaux turns from Mrs. Bustier and look at Alya. “Actually, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng was telling the truth and has unfairly suffered for it for years. From what I understand, most of this class had vandalized Mrs. Dupain-Cheng’s belongings or stolen things from her. All on the words of Ms. Rossi, who’s lies could have been proven false by a google search. Jagged Stone is allergic to cats. Prince Ali only runs children’s charities. I could continue.”

One of the women in the room clears her voice at this point. “If I may, I am here on the behalf of several people of various nationalities.” She sets a pile of papers before Lila and Alya. “These are cease and desist orders for the both of you. The Ladyblog must be shut down and deleted on the ground of libel, slander, and a violation of rights. As for Ms. Rossi, you have multiple charges of libel, slander, illegal photography, and a variety of charges you order to be sent to famous people who don’t know you.” Lila was paling quickly. “You also have a case of breaking and entering, theft, copyright violation and assault.”

“I have diplomatic immunity. All you can do is kick me out of the country.” Lila stands up from her seat, a smug look on her face.

“No!” A woman with a heavy Italian accent frowns at Lila. “We have revoked your diplomatic immunity. You will be charged here, in France, and will serve out your sentence in a French Prison. Italy already made a mistake when they let you have therapy for your original incident instead of time in a juvenile detention center. We will not make that mistake again.”

A police officer clears his throat and looks over at Lila. “Lila Rossi. You are under arrest for breaking and entering, theft, copyright violation, assault, destruction of property, libel, slander, charity fraud and terrorism. Hawkmoth had a camera in his lair. We have videos of you visiting his lair. He also confirmed that you willingly took akumas, helped him akumatized people and a variety of other things.”

Lila stands frozen as the police officer cuffs her hands behind her back. She finally snaps out of it as she looks towards the other two Italian people. “Mamma! Pápa! Do something!”

The woman takes one look at Lila and then bursts into tears. She’s full on sobbing into her hands. The man simple lays a hand on Mrs. Rossi and levels his daughter with a deadly stare. “No Lila. We cannot help you out of this mess.”

Lila gaps and then glares at her father. “Why not?”

“You’re not a child anymore, Lila! You’re over 18! There’s video evidence of your crimes! That blog is filled with your lies! You can’t lie your way out of this. You can’t get off scot free! You’re being charged with terrorism!”

Lila gaps for another minute then screams. A blood-thirst, angry scream as she whips around and glares at me. “You! This is all your doing Dupain-Cheng! You stupid bitch!”

I level with Lila’s glare. “Yes. I got the ball rolling. You see, when you broke into my room before break and stole my designs so you could add them to your portfolio for University, you didn’t realize that I had a video camera set up. I got on camera, breaking and entering, theft, and copyright violation. I gave the evidence to the police. I didn't expect all of this, but I’m not sorry.”

Lila screams again and starts to fight the police, forcing the second cop to help grab Lila and drag her from the room. Lila’s parents follow them out, with the Italian woman giving the class a nod before following. The lawyer gives Mrs. Vaux a nod and follows after them. 

The other two police officers exchange looks before one clears his throat. “When investigation Ms. Lila Rossi, all of you were brought up. Most of you have broken a variety of laws at the behest of Ms. Rossi. Whether you knew that you were breaking the law or not doesn’t matter. Most of you destroyed the property of one of your classmates, more than once. You also physically assaulted her on more than one occasion. We have the video footage to prove it.”

Several parents were moaning now, forlorn looks on their faces as they started to realize the consequences of their children’s actions. 

“Oh, my god!” We all look over at Max who looked a second away from hyperventilating. “I wrote my University admissions paper about a project Lila worked on. She gave me all of the data!”

Max’s mother moans. “You didn’t look up any of it!”

Max flushes. “She said it hadn’t been published yet.”

Max’s mother mumbles under her breath. “This is why all those Universities denied you! This is why you lost all our University acceptances and scholarships! Because you took the word of some Italian classmate above your own common sense.”

“Max thought that a napkin could cut his eye.” Chloe starts to file her nails, ignoring Max’s mother, who was now staring at her. “And he wears glasses.”

Max’s mother moans once again, and slumps onto the steps next to Max’s seat.

The police officers exchange looks once again. The first one continues his speech as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “Due to the fact that most of your crimes were committed when you were a minor and were against the same person. There will not be any fines or jail time for any of you.”

There’s a large collective sigh through the room. Nino’s mother looks like she’s praying. Mrs.Vaux clears her throat. “While that may be true for legal terms, you are all on probation. One step out of line and you will be expelled from this school. You will also all have to complete anti-bullying seminars to graduate. Mrs. Bustier is also no longer your teacher. Mrs. Aveline will be your homeroom teacher for the rest of the year.” She gestures to one of the women behind her. “Mrs. Fortier is your temporary principle for the rest of the year. Mr. Damocles is no longer your principle.”

Rose hesitantly raises a hand. “Why are you firing Mrs. Bustier and Mr. Damocles?”

Mrs. Vaux’s frown deepens. “None of this would have happened if the two of them had done their jobs. Ms. Rossi’s habits were clearly outlined in her student file. If either of them had bothered to do their job correctly four years ago, we wouldn’t be in this position.” Rose nods meekly, sinking back into her seat and leaning into her mother. 

The police officer clears his throat again. “Now, while none of you will be fined or be serving jail time, you do have to serve a certain number of community service hours to complete within the next six months. If you don’t complete the service hours, you will be fined for the crimes. Your parents have already agreed to the terms we will lay out for you. However, because all of you are over 18, you can try to bring this to court.”

Alya turns and glares at me. “This is all your fault!”

Alya’s mouth grabs her by the shoulders and jerks her around. “Alya. You will complete these service hours. If you get convicted you’re looking at thousands in euros of fines and almost a decade of jail time.”

Alya gasps. “What did I do?”

The second policeman glances down at a clipboard. “Libel, slander, damaging of property, theft, and assault.”

Alya stares at the man, going slack in her seat. It was like the consequences of everything she’d done of the past four years were finally hitting her. 

The second policeman clears his throat once again. “Alright. Rose Lavillant, Ivan Bruel, Mylène Haprèle, Nathaniel Kurtzberg and Max Kanté, you will have to serve 50 hours of community service over the next six months. Nino Lahiffe, Lê Chiên Kim, Alya Césaire, and Sabrina Raincomprix, you all will be serving 100 hours of community service.”

“Ms. Césaire, by court order, your Ladyblog will have to be deleted as well.” Alya gaps at the officer and goes to stand, but both of her parents hold her down. 

Mrs. Vaux sighs, and moves her gaze up to the four of us at the top. “Ms. Dupain-Cheng, Ms. Bourgeois, Ms. Couffaine, and Ms. Kubdel, you will be switched into Ms. Mendeleiev’s class for the remainder of the year. I believe it would be best for you to be out of this environment.”

All four of us nod and start to pick up our things. The rest of the classmates stare at us. “But, who’s going to be class representative now?” Rose looks close to tears again.

I shrug, pulling my bag over my shoulder. “The job goes to the deputy now.” 

The whole class shifts to look at Alya, who pales once again. The four of us walk down the stairs to the near silence of the room, our parents trailing after us. As soon as we were out the door several people started yelling in the room. 

I knew I should care, and part of me did, but I just felt happy that most of this was all over. It took four years, but finally, everyone knew about Lila. I hadn’t felt this light in years.

Ch. 2 ~~~~ Ch. 3

#lila salt #alya salt #ml salt #bustier salt #class salt #miraculous ladybug #lila exposed #success is the best kind of revenge

[thedoctorcried]

Runaway - Part Two

~Masterlist~

Concept: Hazel Richards is a twenty-year-old woman living in London. When she meets a mysterious time-travelling alien known only as the Hunter, she’s thrust into a world of wonder she could only have imagined.

Warnings: swearing, follows S1 of Doctor Who.

As Hazel entered, she met the Hunter with a smile, and the Time Lady even smiled a little herself. "You were right, you know."

"What do you mean?" Hazel asked, walking up to the console.

"I do have a name. Asides from the Hunter, I mean." The Time Lady shrugged. "I was named Artemis the same way you were named Hazel, but my people often choose titles as well. Mainly because it's easier. Titles are meaningless, they are not names, not really. They just reflect us."

"Artemis, huh?" Hazel repeated, raising her eyebrows. "Like the goddess?"

The Hunter smirked a little. "Well, I did leave an impression on the ancient Greeks, yes. Me and my --" She cut herself off.

Hazel frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It doesn't matter." The Hunter took a deep breath. "Right then, Hazel Norton, you tell me. Where do you want to go? Backwards or forwards in time. It's your choice. What's it going to be?"

"Forwards," Hazel replied, letting it slide.

"How far?"

"Uh..." Hazel shrugged. "One hundred years."

The Hunter set the TARDIS into motion, before landing it a few seconds later. "There you go. Step outside those doors, it's the twenty second century."

Hazel's eyes widened. "You're kidding."

"I'm not." The Hunter smirked a little. "That's a bit boring, though. Do you want to go further?"

"Fine by me," Hazel grinned. The TARDIS went into flight for a bit longer this time, before settling down again.

"Ten thousand years in the future. Step outside, it's the year 12005, the new Roman Empire."

"You think you're so impressive," Hazel accused, smirking.

The Hunter snorted. "I am so impressive."

Hazel scoffed. "You wish!"

"Right then, you asked for it. I know exactly where to go," the Hunter decided. "Hold on!" She piloted the TARDIS a lot further this time, and the flight was much more turbulent.

"Where are we?" Hazel asked when they landed. "What's out there?"

The Hunter didn't answer, just gestured towards the door with her hand. Hazel grinned, going outside and down a flight of steps. As she and the Hunter walked towards it, a large shutter in the wall descended to reveal an orbital view of the Earth. Hazel's breath hitched in her throat.

"You lot, you spend all your time thinking about dying, like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible, that maybe you survive," the Hunter began. "This is the year five point five slash apple slash twenty six. Five billion years in your future, and this is the --" She checked her wristwatch. "Hold on." Her head bobbed a little bit as she counted down in her head. Outside, the sun flared and turned red. "This is the day the sun expands. Welcome to the end of the world."

Hazel's eyes widened. "I take it all back, Artemis. This is pretty damn impressive."

The Hunter smirked, leading her down a corridor. Up above, a tannoy announced a message to the whole space station. "Shuttles five and six now docking. Guests are reminded that Platform One forbids the use of weapons, teleportation, and religion. Earth Death is scheduled for 15:39, followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite."

"So, when it says guests, does that mean people?" Hazel wondered.

"Well, that depends on your definition of people," the Hunter shrugged.

"I mean people," Hazel clarified. "What do you mean?"

"Aliens," the Hunter replied simply.

Hazel frowned as they took a left. "What are they doing on board this spaceship? What's it all for?"

The Hunter raised an eyebrow. "It's not really a spaceship, more like an observation deck. The great and the good are gathering to watch the planet burn." She used her sonic screwdriver to open a wall panel and check something behind it.

"What for?"

"Fun," the Hunter shrugged. They walked into a large room lined with display cases and a huge floor-to-ceiling window looking out onto the planet below. "Of course, when I said the great and the good, what I meant is the rich. Some things never change."

Hazel shook her head. "But hold on. The sun expanding, that takes hundreds of years, right?"

"Millions," the Hunter agreed. "But the planet's now property of the National Trust. They've been keeping it preserved. See down there? Gravity satellites holding back the sun."

"The planet looks the same as ever," Hazel sighed. "I thought the continents shifted and stuff."

"They did, and the Trust shifted them back. That's a classic Earth," the Hunter explained. "But now the money's run out, nature takes over."

"How long's it got?" Hazel wondered.

"About half an hour, then the planet gets roasted like a slightly bigger-than-usual chestnut."

"Is that why we're here? I mean, is that what you do?" she asked. "Jump in at the last minute and save the Earth."

The Hunter shook her head. "I'm not saving it. Time's up."

Hazel frowned. "But what about the people?"

"It's empty," the Hunter responded. "They're all gone. No one left."

Hazel sighed, biting her lip. "It's just me now."

"Who the hell are you?" The two girls turned to see a tall, blue-skinned man with golden cat eyes striding towards them.

"Oh, that's nice, thanks. The Steward, I presume?" The Hunter looked up at him expectantly, one eyebrow raised.

"But how did you get in?" the Steward spluttered. "This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked. They're on their way any second now."

"Yes? We got here early, is that a problem? Look, I've got our invitation." The Hunter pulled out a leather wallet, and showed the man what looked to Hazel like a blank piece of paper. "There, see? The Hunter, plus one. I'm the Hunter, this is Hazel Norton. She's my plus one. Is that all right?"

The Steward blinked. "Well, obviously. Apologies, et cetera. If you're on board, we'd better start. Enjoy." He strode over to a podium with a microphone attached.

"The paper's slightly psychic," the Hunter told Hazel. "It shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time."

"He's blue. An alien, right?" Hazel checked. When the Hunter nodded, she sighed. "How comes he's speaking English?"

"That'll be the TARDIS. She translates for you. Meant to mention it earlier, sorry." The Hunter bit her lip.

"Okay," Hazel nodded. "That's... cool."

"We have in attendance the Hunter and Hazel Norton. Thank you," the steward announced. "All staff to their positions." Several people who only came up to Hazel's waist appeared and started bustling around. "Hurry now, thank you. Quick as we can. Come along, come along. And now, might I introduce the next honoured guest? Representing the Forest of Cheam, we have trees, namely, Jabe, Lute, and Coffa."

Hazel blinked as a bark-skinned woman entered with two larger male escorts. "Oh, he really meant trees," she realised.

"Yep," the Hunter agreed.

"There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace. if you could keep the room circulating, thank you," the Steward requested. "Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, we have the Moxx of Balhoon."

The Hunter started patting down her pockets, and cursed when she didn't come up with anything. "Hazel, got anything we could use as gifts?"

The girl shook her head. "No, sorry."

"It's okay, doesn't matter," the Hunter told her. "This is going to be interesting."

The trio of trees stopped in front of the Hunter and Hazel. "The Gift of Peace. I bring you a cutting of my Grandfather." Jabe handed Hazel a rooted twig in a small pot.

"Thank you," the Hunter smiled politely, which Hazel noticed looked a lot different to one of her genuine smiles. "Yes, gifts. Uh, I give you in return a... a Kiss of Tranquillity." She leaned forwards and gave Jabe a quick peck on the mouth.

"How intimate," Jabe smiled.

"There's more where that came from," the Hunter winked.

"I bet there is." Jabe and her bodyguards moved on.

Hazel chanced a glance at the Hunter. "That was a nice gift."

The Hunter raised an eyebrow. "There's a queue.  Besides, it was either that or we each lose a few hairs as 'cuttings of ourselves'. I figured you'd prefer the kiss. My brother would've --" She froze, clearing her throat.

"From the Silver Devastation, the sponsor of the main event, please welcome the Face of Boe," the Steward declared.

A squat blue alien rolled up to them on his travel pod. "Ah, the Moxx of Balhoon," the Hunter greeted.

"My felicitations on this historical happenstance," he replied. "I give you the gift of bodily salivas." He spat at them, and it hit Hazel in the face.

"Thank you very much," the Hunter snickered, blowing him a kiss in return. Next was a group of black-robed bipeds. "The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. I bring you a Kiss of Tranquillity." She blew them a kiss.

From underneath a robe, a large metal hand held out a silver ball. "A gift of peace in all good faith."

"Thanks," the Hunter nodded, taking the ball as she handed Hazel a tissue to get rid of the Moxx's spit.

"And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and gentlemen, and trees and multiforms, consider the Earth below," the Steward began. "In memory of this dying world, we call forth the last Human. The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen."

Hazel frowned as she saw a face in a piece of skin stretched in a rectangular frame was wheeled in. "The last Human?"

"The last pure human," the Hunter corrected, her lip curling in distaste. "If you can call that pure."

"Oh now, don't stare," Cassandra chastised in an aristocratic voice. "I know, I know, it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference. Look how thin I am. Thin and dainty. I don't look a day over two thousand. Moisturise me. Moisturise me." One of the two men who'd wheeled her in sprayed her skin with something, and she relaxed.

"Truly, I am the last Human," she continued. "My father was a Texan, my mother was from the Arctic Desert. They were born on the Earth, and were the last to be buried in its soil. I have come to honour them and say goodbye." Cassandra sniffed dramatically. "Oh, no tears, no tears. I'm sorry. But behold, I bring gifts. From Earth itself, the last remaining ostrich egg. Legend says it had a wingspan of fifty feet and blew fire from it's nostrils. Or was that my third husband?" She chuckled. "Oh, no. Oh, don't laugh. I'll get laughter lines. And here, another rarity."

Hazel frowned, walking around the room to see just how thin Cassandra was, and turned to see a 50's jukebox being wheeled in. She didn't notice the Hunter watching her with an eagle eye, evaluating how she was taking things. "According to the archives, this was called an iPod," Cassandra announced. "It stores classical music from humanity's greatest composers. Play on!" Hazel shook her head a little as Tainted Love began to play.

"Refreshments will now be served. Earth Death in thirty minutes," the Steward stated.

Hazel caught the Hunter's eye and mouthed "I'm sorry" before running off out of the door to try and clear her head somewhere away from all the aliens. The Hunter made to follow her, but Jabe interrupted her. "Hunter?" she asked, snapping a picture with her device. "Thank you." The Hunter looked at her weirdly before leaving.

***

Hazel found herself in a corridor with a window, and stood there for a while, watching the sun. A young woman came round the corner, looking similar to the Steward, except she was wearing overalls and a baseball cap. "Sorry," Hazel muttered. "Am I allowed to be in here?"

The woman winced. "You have to give us permission to talk," she whispered.

"Uh, you have... permission?"

"Thank you," the woman smiled. "And no, you're not in the way. Guests are allowed anywhere."

"Okay," Hazel nodded, watching as the woman went over and unlocked a wall panel. "What's your name?"

"Raffalo."

"Raffalo? I'm Hazel."

"That's a lovely name, miss," Raffalo complimented. "I won't be long, I've just got to carry out some maintenance. There's a tiny little glitch in the Face of Boe's suite. There must be something blocking the system. He's not getting any hot water."

"You're a plumber," Hazel realised.

Raffalo grinned. "That's right, miss."

"They still have plumbers?"

"I hope so," Raffalo joked, "else I'm out of a job."

Hazel smiled. "Where are you from?"

"Crespallion," Raffalo replied.

"That a planet, is it?" Hazel asked.

"No. Crespallion's part of the Jaggit Brocade, affiliated to the Scarlet Junction, Convex fifty six. And where are you from, miss?" Raffalo paused. "If you don't mind me asking."

"No, not at all," Hazel shook her head, looking out of the window at the Earth. "Uh, I don't know. A long way away. I just sort of hitched a lift with this woman. I didn't even think about it. I don't even know who she is. She's a complete stranger." She sighed. "Anyway, don't let me keep you. Good luck with it."

"Thank you, miss," Raffalo smiled. "And er, thank you for the permission. Not many people are that considerate."

Hazel nodded, smiling shyly. "Okay. See you later." She made her way back to the area that they'd first arrived in.

"Would the owner of the blue box in private gallery fifteen please report to the Steward's office immediately. Guests are reminded that use of teleportation devices is strictly forbidden under Peace Treaty five point four slash cup slash sixteen. Thank you."

She rolled her eyes, going inside and sitting next to the steps, putting the ball and pot down next to her.

"Earth Death in twenty five minutes."

Hazel sighed. "Oh, thanks." She picked up the plant pot and peered at it. "Hello. My name's Hazel. That's a sort of nut. We might be related." She checked herself, and sighed again. "I'm talking to a twig."

"Oi, now, careful with that. Park it properly. No scratches!" The Hunter's voice filtered through the door, and Hazel rolled her eyes. "Hazel? You in there?" She entered, and nodded when she saw the human. "What do you think, then?" she asked as she sat opposite.

"Great," Hazel sighed. "Yeah, fine. Once you get past the slightly psychic paper. They're just... so alien. The aliens are so alien. You look at 'em... and they're alien."

"Good thing I didn't take you to the Deep South," the Hunter quipped, allowing a small smirk to rise to her lips.

Hazel looked at her curiously. "Artemis... Where are you from?"

Though it had hardly been expressive before, the Hunter's face completely shut down, only her eyes showing the pain she felt at the memory of her home. "All over the place," she replied curtly.

"From what planet?" Hazel questioned, not missing the flicker of pain spreading across the Time Lady's face.

"It's not as if you'll know where it is!" the Hunter shot back.

"Where are you from?"

"What does it matter?!"

"Tell me who you are!" Hazel shouted.

"I can't!" the Hunter yelled. Hazel blinked, shocked into silence. "I can't tell you who I am, because I don't know. I just... I don't know who I am." She took a deep, shaky breath. "Please, Haze. Don't ask me to try."

Hazel's eyes had widened considerably. This was a different side to the Hunter than she had seen before. This wasn't angry, or stubborn, or snarky, or quirky, or reserved. This was pained, and exposed. This was frightening. "All right." She went over and sat next to the Hunter, tentatively putting her arm around the woman's shoulders. "It's okay, Art. As Mikey the Pikey always says, don't argue with the designated driver." She pulled out her phone. "Can't exactly call for a taxi. There's no signal. We're slightly out of range."

The Hunter tried for a smile. "Tell you what." She took Hazel's phone apart, glancing up at the girl. "Art?"

Hazel blushed a bit. "Yeah. Short for Artemis. I mean, if you don't like it, I -"

"No, it's cool. I love it," the Hunter assured her, before handing the phone back. "Try it now."

Mystified, Hazel hit speed dial. "Hello?" Jason's voice echoed into her ear.

"Jace?" Hazel asked, her eyes lighting up as she grinned.

"What's wrong, H? You never call in the middle of the day." Hazel laughed a little at hearing his voice while she was five billion years in the future. "What's so funny, squirt?"

"Nothing," Hazel lied. "You're all right, though?"

"Yeah, course I am." Jason sounded confused as usual. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"What day is it?" Hazel inquired.

"Wednesday, all day. You and Pikey got a hangover again?" Jason asked, sighing. "You're gonna have liver failure."

"Oh, shut up, you dipshit. I was just calling cause I might be late home," Hazel laughed.

There was a pause. "Haze, is something wrong?"

Hazel grinned. "No. I'm fine. Top of the world." She hung up, and looked at the Hunter, who was wearing a small smile too.

"You think that's amazing, wait till you see the bill," she joked.

"That was five billion years ago," Hazel realised. "So, he's dead now. Five billion years later, Jace's dead."

The Hunter rolled her eyes. "Bundle of laughs, you are." Both girls looked up as the space station shook vigorously for about thirty seconds. "That's not supposed to happen."

***

"That wasn't a gravity pocket," the Hunter was saying as she marched onto the Observation Deck with Hazel. "I know gravity pockets, and they don't feel like that." She beckoned to the trees. "What do you think, Jabe? Listen to the engines. They've pitched up about thirty Hertz. That dodgy or what?"

Jabe shook her head politely. "It's the sound of metal. It doesn't make any sense to me."

"Where's the engine room?" the Hunter questioned.

"I don't know, but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest suite. I could show you and your wife," Jabe offered.

The Hunter and Hazel shared a glance. "She's not my wife."

"Partner?"

"No."

"Concubine?"

"Nope."

"Prostitute?" Jabe asked innocently.

The Hunter didn't miss the way Hazel froze, her face losing all its colour. "Definitely not," the Time Lady stated, shooting Jabe a look.

Hazel took a deep breath, looking away for a second. "Whatever I am, it must be invisible. Do you mind?! Tell you what, you two go and pollinate. I'm going to catch up with family. Quick word with Michael Jackson." She turned to go and talk to Cassandra, but the Hunter caught her elbow.

"Don't start a fight," she ordered with a small smirk, before letting the human go and offering Jabe her arm, her face back in its usual expressionless mask. "I'm all yours."

"And I want you home by midnight!" Hazel called after them, smiling as the Hunter laughed.

***

"Earth Death in fifteen minutes. Earth Death in fifteen minutes."

"So who's in charge of Platform One?" the Hunter asked as she poked around in a maintenance duct. "Is there a Captain?"

"There's just the Steward and the staff," Jabe replied. "All the rest is controlled by the metal mind."

The Hunter frowned. "You mean the computer? But who controls that?"

"The Corporation. They move Platform One from one artistic event to another," Jabe answered.

"But there's no one from the Corporation on board," the Hunter sighed.

"They're not needed," Jabe assured her. "This facility is purely automatic. It's the height of the Alpha class. Nothing can go wrong?"

The Hunter raised an eyebrow. "Unsinkable?"

Jabe tilted her head. "If you like. The nautical metaphor is appropriate."

"You're telling me." The Hunter snorted. "I was on board another ship once. They said that was unsinkable. I ended up clinging to an iceberg. Nearly got frostbite. What you're saying is, if we get into trouble, there's no one to help us out?"

"I'm afraid not," Jabe agreed.

"Fantastic," the Hunter grinned, leading her through the pipes.

The tree frowned. "I don't understand. In what way is that fantastic?"

***

Cassandra sighed as she watched the Earth and the sun, with Hazel standing next to her. "Soon, the sun will blossom into a red giant, and my home will die. That's where I used to live, when I was a little boy, down there. Mummy and Daddy had a little house built into the side of the Los Angeles Crevice. I'd have so much fun."

"What happened to everyone else?" Hazel asked. "The human race, where did it go?"

"They say mankind has touched every star in the sky," Cassandra replied.

"Right," Hazel dragged the word out sarcastically. "So you're not  the last human."

Cassandra scoffed. "I am the last pure human. The others mingled. Oh, they call themselves New humans and Proto-humans and Digi-humans, even Humanish, but you know what I call them? Mongrels."

Hazel narrowed her eyes. "And you stayed behind."

"I kept myself pure," Cassandra agreed.

"How many operations have you had?" Hazel wondered.

"Seven hundred and eight." Hazel's jaw dropped. "Next week, it's seven hundred and nine. I'm having my blood bleached." Cassandra eyed her. "Is that why you wanted a word? You could be flatter, Hazel. You've got a little bit of a chin poking out."

Hazel raised her eyebrows. "I'd rather die."

"Honestly, it doesn't hurt," Cassandra assured her.

"No, I mean it. I would rather die. It's better to die than live like you, a bitchy trampoline."

Cassandra gasped. "Oh, well. What do you know."

"I was born on that planet, and so was my mum, and so was my dad, and that makes me officially the last human being in this room, cause you're not human," Hazel shook her head in disgust. "You've had it all nipped and tucked and flattened till there's nothing left. Anything human got chucked in the bin. You're just skin, Cassandra. Lipstick and skin. Nice talking." She marched off, but the Face of Boe looked at her from the corner, and she heard a voice in her head.

"Hello, Hazel."

She frowned, walking over to him. "Was that you in my mind?"

"Yes, it was. I wanted to talk to you about the Hunter."

Hazel blinked. "The Hunter? What do you mean?"

"You should trust her," the Face advised. "She will help you blossom into an incredible woman."

Strangely enough, Hazel found herself trusting the Face, as if they had already met. "I want to. She's... she's amazing. But there's so much I can't tell her. About my mum, what happened to my dad. She doesn't even know my real surname."

The Face eyed her knowingly. "She has her own haunting past. If she is to open up, you must do so too. The Hunter's memories scar her far more than any injury. The people she has lost were dearer to her than anything else, and she blames herself for their demises. She is a broken woman, Hazel, and only you can help her. She has no one else."

***

The Hunter smiled politely as they walked along. "So tell me, Jabe, what's a tree like you doing in a place like this?"

"Respect for the Earth," Jabe replied, shrugging.

"Really?" the Hunter raised an eyebrow.

Jabe nodded. "We respect the Earth as family. So many species evolved from that planet. mankind is only one. I'm another. My ancestors were transplanted from the planet down below, and I'm a direct descendant of the tropical rainforest."

"Huh. Excuse me." The Hunter used her sonic screwdriver to try and get through a computer-controlled door lock.

"And what about your ancestry, Hunter?" The Time Lady froze. "Perhaps you could tell a story or two. Perhaps a girl only enjoys trouble when there's nothing else left." Jabe sighed. "I scanned you earlier. The metal machine had trouble identifying your species. It refused to admit your existence. And even when it named you, I wouldn't believe it. But it was right. I know where you're from. Forgive me for intruding, but it's remarkable that you even exist. I just wanted to say how sorry I am." Jabe put her hand on the Hunter's shoulder, and the Time Lady took a deep breath before getting the door open, brushing a tear from her cheek brusquely.

The pair of them walked through the door into a room with a series of massive oscillating fans. "Is it me," the Hunter began, her face expressionless as she regained her composure, "or is it a bit cold? I mean, that's an effective method of air conditioning. Sort of nice and old fashioned. Wonder if they call it retro." She scanned a panel with her sonic. "Gotcha." She pulled the panel off, and a metal spider scuttled out and up the wall. "What the hell is that?"

"Is it part of the retro?" Jabe asked.

The Hunter snorted. "I don't think so. Hold on." She aimed her screwdriver at the spider, but Jabe lassoed it. "Hey, nice liana."

Jabe blushed a deeper green. "Thank you. We're not supposed to show them in public."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anybody," the Hunter winked, picking up the inert spider and sonicing it. "Now then. Who's been bringing their pets on board?"

"What does it do?" Jabe inquired.

"Sabotage," the Hunter replied darkly. "And the temperature's about to rocket. Come on."

"Earth Death in ten minutes."

***

They came across a corridor that was slowly filling with smoke. The little assistants were swarming the area, carefully not stepping in the bit where unfiltered sunlight was shining through the Steward's windows. "Hold on, get back," the Hunter ordered. She soniced the access panel for the room.

"Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising."

"Is the Steward in there?!" Jabe asked, horrified.

The Hunter nodded gravely. "You can smell him. Hold on, there's another sun filter programmed to descend." She ran off, leaving Jabe to usher the small assistants away.

***

Hazel groaned as she stirred on the floor of the room they'd arrived in.

"Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending."

Hearing this, Hazel shot upright, in time to see the piercing glare start to fill the room. She sprinted for the door, trying to get out, then hammering on it when she realised it was locked. "Let me out! Let me out!"

"Sun filter descending."

"Let me out! Let me out! Let me out!"

"Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending."

Suddenly, a familiar voice called from outside. "Anyone in there?"

"Artemis! Let me out!" Hazel cried, banging on the door.

"Oh, well, it would be you," the Hunter sighed.

"Open the door!" Hazel shouted.

"Hold on, I'm working on it."

"Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending. Sun filter rising Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising Sun filter rising. Sun filter descending."

Hazel heard the Hunter curse outside. "Just what we need. The computer's getting clever."

"Art, please!" Hazel screamed, running down the steps to avoid being hit by the deadly rays.

"Haze, I need you to try and keep calm for me. Which I know is a really stupid thing to say, but trust me, okay?" the Hunter asked.

Hazel nodded, breathing heavily. "Okay. Calm. I can do calm. What exactly is happening right now?"

"I'm trying to override the computer, raise the sun filter. The computer's fighting back," the Hunter replied.

Hazel whimpered as the light got closer. "Art!"

"I know," the Hunter soothed.

"The lock's melted!"

"Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending. Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising."

"Hazel?" The girl ran back up to the door as the Hunter called her name.

"I'm okay!"

"The whole thing's jammed," the Hunter told her. "I can't open the doors. Stay there!"

Hazel rolled her eyes. "Where am I going to go, Ipswich?"

***

"Earth Death in five minutes."

Jabe sighed. "The metal machine confirms. The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of Platform One."

"How's that possible?" Cassandra gasped dramatically. "Our private rooms are protected by a code wall. Moisturise me, moisturise me."

"Summon the Steward," the Moxx of Balhoon suggested.

"I'm afraid the Steward is dead," Jabe announced, wincing at the general outcry from the other guests.

"Who killed him?" the Moxx demanded.

"This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe," Cassandra pointed out. "He invited us. Talk to the Face. Talk to the Face."

The Hunter entered, holding a wriggling mechanical spider. "There's an easy way of finding out who's responsible. Someone bought their little pet on board. Let's send him back to master." She put the spider down, and it scuttled over to Cassandra, scanning her, before going to the black-robed group.

"The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!" Cassandra exclaimed.

"That's very well, and really kind of obvious," the Hunter said, rolling her eyes, "but if you stop and think about it..." She walked over to the Adherents, and when the leader tried to knock her out, she grabbed its robotic arm, yanking it off. "A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that's all they are, an idea." She pulled on one of the wires dangling from the arm, and the Adherents all collapsed. "Remote controlled droids. Nice cover for the real troublemaker." She nudged the spider with her boot, and it scuttled over to Cassandra.

"I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed. At arms!" Cassandra cried. Her attendants raised their spray guns at the Hunter, who was unimpressed.

"What are you gonna do, moisturise me?" she raised her eyebrows.

"With acid!" Cassandra snapped, then sighed angrily. "Oh, you're too late anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, ta free, past every code wall. I'm not just a pretty face."

The Hunter crossed her arms. "Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it? As plans go, that's pretty terrible."

Cassandra ignored the slight. "I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous."

"Five billion years, and it still comes down to money," the Hunter rolled her eyes.

"Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune. I am the last human, Hunter, me. Not that freaky little kid of yours." Cassandra blanched a little as the Hunter tilted her head, narrowing her eyes.

"Don't talk about Hazel like that," she warned icily.

"Arrest her, the infidel!" the Moxx cried.

"Oh, shut it, pixie!" Cassandra scowled. "I've still got my final option."

"Earth Death in three minutes."

"And here it comes," Cassandra smiled. "You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies, and they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go? Burn, baby, burn."

Jabe glared at her. "Then you'll burn with us."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but I'm such a naughty thing." Cassandra smirked. "Spiders, activate." The others struggled to keep their balance as a series of explosions rocked the Platform. "Forcefields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband. Oh, shame on me."

"Safety systems failing."

"Bye, bye, darlings. Bye, bye, my darlings." Cassandra smiled as she and her attendants were beamed out.

"Heat levels rising."

"Reset the computer!" the Moxx of Balhoon shouted.

"Only the Steward would know how," Jabe protested.

The Hunter shook her head determinedly. "No. We can do it by hand. there must be a system restore switch. Jabe, come on. You lot, just chill." She smirked as she and Jabe ran out of the door.

***

"Earth Death in two minutes. Heat levels critical."

"Oh, and guess where the switch is," the Hunter groaned as they arrived back in the engine room, seeing the reset switch on the other side of the huge fans which were still turning. She pulled a breaker lever, and the fans slowed a little, but they sped up again as soon as she let go.

"External temperature five thousand degrees."

The Hunter stared as Jabe pulled the breaker, holding it in place. "You can't. The heat's going to vent through this place."

"I know," Jabe stated.

"Jabe, you're made of wood!" the Hunter exclaimed.

The tree fixed her with a steel look. "Then stop wasting time, Time Lady."

"Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising."

With a sigh, the Hunter nodded, and timed her walking past the first fan.

"Heat levels critical. Heat levels critical."

She glanced back at Jabe, then ran past the second fan.

"Heat levels hazardous. Heat levels hazardous."

Jabe started to combust, but she held onto the lever until she could not. When she let go, the fans sped up to faster than ever before, until they were just a blur in front of the Hunter's face.

"Planet explodes in ten..."

The Hunter looked back at Jabe, burning on the floor.

"Nine..."

She turned back to the lever, wondering how the hell she was going to get past the last fan.

"Eight..."

The Hunter closed her eyes, thinking of Hazel, trapped in Gallery 15, with nothing protecting her from the heat of the sun.

"Seven..."

She thought of Jason and how, if Hazel died here, she'd have to bring her body back to him, and watch his heart break at his sister's death.

"Six..."

She thought of herself, and what she would do without the human girl who had started changing her already.

"Five..."

She stepped past the last fan.

"Four..."

The Hunter opened her eyes, realising she had succeeded, and threw the reset switch. "Raise shields!" she yelled.

***

When Hazel entered the Observation Deck, the Hunter was talking to Jabe's bodyguards, giving them the bad news. As the two trees hugged each other, the Time Lady walked back over to the human, looking a little shell-shocked. "Are you all right?" Hazel asked softly, putting her hand on the woman's arm.

The Hunter nodded decisively. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm full of ideas, I'm bristling with them. Idea number one, teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two, this feed must be hidden nearby." She grabbed the ostrich egg Cassandra had brought and smashed it open to reveal a small triangular device. "Idea number three, if you're as clever as I am, then a teleportation feed can be reversed." She pushed some of the device's buttons, and they heard Cassandra's voice before she appeared in front of them.

"Oh, you should have seen their little alien faces," Cassandra laughed, before realising where she was. "Oh."

"The last human." The Hunter shook her head in disgust.

Cassandra looked scared. "So, you passed my little test. Bravo. That makes you eligible to join, er, the Human Club."

"People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them," Hazel accused.

"Remind me of your past, freak?" Cassandra shot back, and the girl blanched, stepping back a little. "Besides, it depends on your definition of people, and that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries." She smirked at the Hunter, who was glaring right back. "Take me to court then, Hunter, and watch me smile and cry and flutter -"

"And creak?" the Time Lady asked.

"What?" Cassandra frowned.

"Creak. You're creaking," the Hunter pointed out emotionlessly.

"What?! Ah!" Cassandra wailed. "I'm drying out! Oh, sweet heavens. Moisturise me, moisturise me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!"

"You raised the temperature," the Hunter reminded her. "Look what you've done to yourself."

"Have pity! Moisturise me! Oh, oh, Hunter! I'm sorry! I'll do anything!"

"Aren't you going to help her?" Hazel whispered.

The Hunter shook her head, her eyes fixed on the skin. "Everything has its time and everything dies." She leaned a little closer to Cassandra. "You tried to kill my friend. That was a mistake."

"I'm too young!" Cassandra cried, and the Hunter didn't even flinch when the skin grew too taut and dry, and exploded.

***

Hazel was stood looking out into space long after the other guests had gone. She heard the Hunter's familiar booted footsteps behind her as the woman came to stand by her side. "The end of the Earth. It's gone. We were too busy saving ourselves, no one saw it go. All those years, all that history, and no one was even looking. It's just..." Hazel trailed off, shaking her head.

Watching her, the Hunter made a decision, and held out her hand. "Come with me."

***

The pair of them stepped out of the TARDIS onto a busy London street. The Hunter watched people going about their lives for a moment before sighing. "You think it'll last forever, people and cars and concrete, but it won't. One day, it's all gone, even the sky." She swallowed, and Hazel squeezed her hand encouragingly. "My planet's gone." The human's eyes widened. "It's dead. It burned like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust before its time."

Hazel gaped at the Time Lady. "What happened?"

She raised her eyebrows briefly, ignoring the tears in her eyes. "There was a war. And we lost."

"A war with who?" Hazel asked. The Hunter didn't reply, so she changed tack. "What about your people?"

The Hunter sighed. "I'm not just a Time Lady. I'm the last of the Time Lords. They're all gone. my friends, my family, everyone. I'm the only survivor. I'm left travelling on my own, because there's no one else."

"There's me," Hazel offered shyly.

"You've seen how dangerous it is," the Hunter pointed out. "Do you want to go home?"

Hazel shook her head decisively. How could she leave the Time Lady on her own again? "No way. I want..." she trailed off, sniffing. "Oh, can you smell chips?"

The Hunter eyed her in amusement before nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, I can."

"I want chips," Hazel murmured.

"Me too," the Hunter agreed.

"Right then, before you get me back in that box, chips it is, and you can pay," Hazel decided.

The Hunter smiled a little, shrugging. "No money."

Hazel rolled her eyes, grinning. "What sort of date are you? Come on then, tightwad, chips are on me. We've only got five billion years till the shops close." She pulled the Hunter along with her as she ran through the crowds, heading for the nearest chip shop, and the girls both laughed as they nearly ran into a business man.

~~~

If you enjoyed, please like and/or reblog, and consider helping me stay afloat by donating to my Kofi! Thanks for reading :)

#doctor who #doctor who fanfiction #oc insert #thedoctorcried #lgbt #gxg #slow burn #series

[trensu]

Episode 28: The One where LXC Loses his Title as Greatest Wingman

THAT’S RIGHT GUYS

WE’RE HERE

THE ONE THAT HOLDS ONE OF THE MOST PRECIOUS, CLASSIC WANGXIAN SCENES IN THE WHOLE SHOW

THE SCENE THAT JUST BURSTS WITH WANGXIAN DOMESTICITY AND WE DIE FROM THE SHEER FLUFFINESS OF IT ALL

Shockingly this VERY IMPORTANT wangxian moment doesn’t start until the 34min mark.

So we’re gonna power through those first 34min to get to the parts that actually matter

We’re still at the burial mounds

Emotional Yungmeng Bro Drama happens

It’s very upsetting

There’s a lot of feelings everywhere.

I can’t defend you if you keep this path, jc protests 

You can’t defend me? Then Leave me, wwx says, tell the world i defected, he says, my actions are no longer associated with the jiang clan he says

WHO KNEW BROTHERLY LOVE COULD BE SO PAINFUL, AMIRITE GUYS? HAHA *CHOKES BACK SOBS*

LET’S SKIP AHEAD!

Jc’s gone, maybe it’ll get better now??

A-YUAN TIME!!

Oh no, little a-yuan is hungry!!

Wen qing gives him the last of the fruit because a-yuan activated her Good Big Sister instincts

Ah, look at his happy face as he takes the fruit!

The wwx shows up with MORE fruit and a-yuan does the leg-grabby thing!!

ADORABLE 

Great, now we get Emotional WWX and WQ Bonding Time

SHE TRIES TO GIVE HIM AN OUT

SHE TRIES TO GET HIM BACK TO HIS FAMILY

Wwx is not having it so instead he acts all charming and teases her until the matter is dropped

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

Other stuff happens, boring boring boring

Moving forward

Yunmeng bro fight scene!

The first half was pretty neat and then they did a bunch of funky flying moves that had me like, why, why must you do this, please stop and give me wangxiantics instead

They did not stop

But they did do some wonderful Twirling, so I guess i can forgive them a little

Oh, sadface, a paperman gets viciously slaughtered by jc

(@theuntamednarrator​ pointed out that this fight scene PARALLELS a future fight scene on a moonlit rooftop THAT WE’RE NOT GONNA THINK ABOUT BECAUSE IT MAKES ME SAD)

Wwx, at some point in this fight is all: oh look, i’ve been impaled

(what’s a little light stabbing between siblings, amirite?)

More stuff happens that we don’t care about

But we’ll take a moment to laugh at wwx here

Wwx is like, imma hide this gaping stab wound from the world’s greatest doctor by distracting her with potatoes

It doesn’t quite work bc wen qing immediately makes a grab for him

Wwx is scandalized!

Wwx: Men and women shouldn’t be improperly intimate!!

Wwx: you suddenly doing this makes me scared for my virtue which i’m obviously saving for lan zhan!

She backs off for half a second; then wwx winces but he recovers quickly by being all i’m totally fine, look at how fine i am, i’m flinching because of HUNGER PAINS, NOTHING ELSE

If he weren't so charming and adorable none of this would've worked

Other non-wangxian nonsense occurs

Some more non-wangxian stuff

A scene featuring Disaster Het Jin Zixuan and our Perfect Elder Sister Jiang Yanli

Jzx is all, i know carp tower isn’t your home but i’m willing to build another lotus pier here for you

...ugh, fine, okay, maybe you’ve grown on me a little by now, you huge Disaster Het BUT ONLY BECAUSE YOU’RE MAKING JYL HAPPY, YOU HEAR ME?? ALL BETS ARE OFF IF YOU MAKE HER CRY AGAIN

We’ve made it through the 34 minutes!!

GET READY GUYS

We’re at a tea house in Yiling! There’s lots of people! AND THEY’RE ALL TRASH-TALKING MY BEAUTIFUL SUNSHINE BOY WTF

But hey, look in the background is lwj, (angrily) listening to people trash-talk our sunshine boy.

God, he sits so straight, it looks almost painful

I mean, in terms of posture

We know he’s not straight in any other way lol

The only time we get full body shots of him in this scene is when he’s blurred and out of focus in the background, which is interesting

When he’s at the forefront of the scene, it’s all close-ups of his (angry) face 

But even with the close ups, we only see parts of his face. One half of his face at a time, close-ups on the eyes (or one eye) specifically at times

It’s not until the end of that teahouse scene that we get to see a full shot of him and that’s only when he’s had Enough of people slandering his soulmate and slams his (poor innocent) tea cup onto the table and (viciously) glares at the gossipers

He leaves the teahouse (angrily)

Lwj is (angrily) walking through the marketplace 

He walks past some random lady and the lady turns the hell around so fast and BLATANTLY CHECKS HIM OUT, oh god, that’s HILARIOUS

(you are not alone in this, lady, YOU ARE NOT ALONE)

Then, we have one of the best tropes of all, ACCIDENTAL CHILD ACQUISITION

THERE IS A CHILD CLINGING TO HIS LEG

IT’S A-YUAN

A-YUAN HAS SURGICALLY ATTACHED HIMSELF TO LWJ

WE ALL LOVE HIM FOR IT

Wwx does not notice his child is missing bc he is haggling, which is important but maybe not as important as missing a child. 

Omg the look of panic on his face when he finally realizes a-yuan is gone gutted me for half a second. 

REALIZING YOU’VE LOST A CHILD IN A CROWDED PLACE IS THE WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD, OKAY

But i get over this quickly bc WWX FINDS A-YUAN CLINGING TO LWJ’S LEG. 

GUYS

GUYS

THIS SCENE

THIS SCENE MAKES ME SO HAPPY

IT’S MADE OF RAINBOWS AND BUTTERFLIES AND ITTY BITTY KITTIES

Okay, let's break it down because there’s JUST SO MUCH GOOD STUFF HERE WE NEED TO PROPERLY APPRECIATE ALL OF IT

FIRSTLY, lwj’s face.

There is a loudly crying child clinging to his leg

He is surrounded by nosy talkative strangers (PARENT strangers!!) all Judging™ him for his (lack of) parenting skills

And lwj’s face is about as External Panic as lwj can make it bc our boy is FREAKING OUT

THERE IS A CRYING CHILD

LATCHED ON TO HIS LEG

STRANGERS ARE ASSUMING HE’S THE FATHER

BUT HE ISN’T

THEY DON’T LISTEN WHEN HE TELLS THEM HE ISN’T

THEY SAY THEY HAVE THE SAME NOSE?? THEY SAY HE RESEMBLES THIS STRANGE UNKNOWN CRYING CHILD SOMEHOW?? 

AND WORSE STILL, THEY’RE SAYING HE’S A BAD FATHER

THEY’RE ALL LIKE, OH LOOK HE SCOLDED HIS POOR KID AND NOW WON’T EVEN HUG HIS KID TO MAKE HIM FEEL BETTER??

HIS FACE, OMG

HIS FACE SCREAMS: DEAR GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING HOW DO I MAKE IT STOP 

LWJ IS DYING INSIDE

AND HE KIND OF WANTS TO DIE OUTSIDE

(There’s one guy who kinda takes pity on him and was like, ah, he’s your first kid, huh? I was like that with MY first kid but now i know everything after my wife gave a few more births. It’s a learning process!)

And ohoho, boy, does lwj learn (later, after horrible horrible things happen)

Secondly, WWX IS HAVING THE TIME OF HIS LIFE WATCHING ALL OF THIS UNFOLD BEFORE HIM

HIS SMILE IS HEART-STOPPINGLY BEAUTIFUL

HE’S STIFLING GIGGLES

IT’S SO CUTE I WANNA DIE

Finally, wwx takes pity on poor lan zhan

I would like to point out that he takes pity on lan zhan only after  the crowd of Judgy Parents start asking A-Yuan where his mother is

And like, i don’t want to fall into the pit of heteronormativity and stereotypical gender roles, BUT THAT’S HILARIOUS

Wwx: Lan zhan!

Lwj looks up and the world fades away when he sees wwx, with his cute little smile, making his way towards him in slo-mo

Like, literally slow motion and literally the world fades away until basically only wwx is in focus, THIS IS HOW LWJ SEES WWX ALL THE TIME, OMG IT’S AMAZING

AND OF COURSE ~THEIR SONG~ IS PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND

I’M SCREAMING, EVERYTHING IS GREAT

LWJ STARES AT HIM WITH SUCH YEARNING

And even when they’re right in front of each other, they KEEP STARING AT EACH OTHER, SOAKING UP EACH OTHER’S PRESENCE

WHICH I LOVE, but also there’s a crying child right there maybe take care of him??

Wwx: lan zhan, what a coincidence! What are you doing i yiling?

WHAT DO YOU THINK HE’S DOING IN YILING, WWX

IT’S NOT LIKE HIS SOULMATE LIVES AROUND THAT AREA OR ANYTHING

Lwj: night hunt. Passing by.

Short and sweet and to the point

I’m convinced it’s because his brain has short-circuited from the double whammy of Accidental Child Acquisition and OMG My Beautiful Soulmate is With Me and Smiling

Lwj: ....this child

Wwx: ah, yes, this is MY son

I read a post on tumblr that says the actual translation of that line was more like “ah, yes, i gave birth to this child”

Which would explain lwj’s absolutely stunned and confused expression

I mean, the fact that he doesn’t immediately dismiss this as the nonsense that it is, is absolutely HILARIOUS to me

Like, for a split second there he honestly believed wwx??

He must’ve been like, wait, is this a side effect of demonic cultivation??!?!?

That doesn’t sound right but i don’t know enough about demonic cultivation to dispute it

But then wwx starts giggling at him which gives away the game

Wwx: hey, lan zhan, what did you do? Why is a-yuan crying?

Lwj: I didn’t do anything

Wwx: ah, i see what happened. Lan zhan, as pretty as you look, you still have resting bitch face. 

(no for real, wwx called him pretty, i died a little when i heard him say it and i’m pretty sure lwj did too)

Wwx: a-yuan doesn’t know any better so of course he’d look at you and start crying!!

Lwj stares at a-yuan (who is now clinging adorably to wwx) and you can see in his face that his New Life Mission is to get A-Yuan to Like Him.

It is IMPERATIVE that this small child Like Him. Not for any particular reason, of course. But this Must happen.

Even if it means having to go to an Ancient Fantasy China plastic surgeon to get his resting bitch face problem resolved

THANK GOD WE DON’T HAVE TO RESORT TO THAT

Wwx kneels down to comfort a-yuan and lwj watches him interact with this small child and VISIBLY SWALLOWS before looking away

Like it was too much cute to handle

Like oh shit, i want wwx’s children

Like oh shit, i want to be a dad???

GUYS WE SEE THE EXACT MOMENT LWJ REALIZES HE WANTS KIDS

THANK YOU WORLD FOR BLESSING US WITH THIS MOMENT

Okay, quiz time! 

How do we make a small child stop crying?

Answer - Distraction!

What is the best distraction for a small child?

Answer - TOYS

Wwx pulls a-yuan to a toy stall 

The music here gets all upbeat and playful. (In fact, it’s the same music that played in the ‘flower petals rain on LWJ’ scene in The One where NHS is Total Cockblock omg i just had to reference my own guide to make sure that was the right episode lol this is exactly why i’m making this). I love this music!!

So they admire the toys and wwx picks up one of them and is like, do you like this one?

A-yuan of course says yes bc all kids love toys

Then wwx is like, cool, and proceeds to drag a-yuan away from the toy stall without the toy

SAD FACE A-YUAN :(

Lwj sees Sad Face A-Yuan and does the Lan Clan version of running (aka lengthening his strides and quickening his steps slightly)

Lwj: wei ying, why didn’t you buy it for him?

Dude, he sounds almost accusatory here, it’s GREAT

Wwx: ??? why should I???

Lwj: you asked him if he wanted it, doesn’t that mean you’re going to buy it?

Wwx: asking is asking, buying is buying. Who says i have to buy something just because i asked about it?

Wwx, lwj has a point tho. It’s kinda mean to lead a kid on like that 

And here lwj sounds all hesitant (and shy?? maybe??) like he doesn’t want to scare a-yuan again. He looks at him briefly

Lwj: which one...do you want.

Then when a-yuan doesn’t immediately burst into tears, he speaks more confidently.

Lwj: among those, which one did you want?

And a-yuan points to the toy he wants with all the confidence small children have when  they know they’re about to get exactly what they want

Omg, lwj looks at wwx as soon as he sees which toy a-yuan wants

It’s a look that says I’M GETTING THIS CHILD A TOY AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME

And wwx just beams at him like a ray of sunshine!! HE’S MELTING INSIDE, YOU CAN TELL

HE’S ALL LIKE, OMG LAN ZHAN IS SO SWEET WITH CHILDREN

OMG LAN ZHAN WOULD BE A GREAT DAD

OMG I WANT LAN ZHAN TO CO-DAD A-YUAN WITH ME

Cut to a-yuan gleefully playing with his new toys 

He and wwx are play fighting with cute little wooden swords and it’s SO ADORABLE I’M GONNA DIE

And lwj watches them for moment with the FONDEST LOOK ON HIS FACE

A-yuan notices that lwj is there again and immediately ditches wwx to cling to lwj’s leg

Smart, kid, smart

Butter up the rich guy who makes wwx smile

Wwx laughs: lan zhan, congrats! My kid likes you! He only hugs the legs of his favorite people and then never lets go

Lwj: *internally probably* i wish YOU’D hug me and never let me go

Also

YES! LIFE MISSION COMPLETE. WWX’S CHILD LIKES ME

Wwx: you should ditch your night hunt and have a meal with me

Lwj: a meal?

Lwj: *internally probably* OMG DID HE JUST ASK ME OUT ON A DATE?? AND HE CALLED ME PRETTY EARLIER??? TODAY IS THE BEST DAY

He then pretends to hesitate bc YOU GOTTA PLAY IT COOL

CAN’T CLUE HIM IN ON HOW DESPERATELY YOU WANT TO KEEP HIM WITH YOU FOREVER

BE COOL, LWJ, BE COOL, BE COOL

Wwx: c’mon, we hardly see each other! We can reminisce about the old days! It’ll be my treat~!

Wwx what, YOU HAVE NO MONEY WHAT ARE YOU EVEN SAYING

Wwx grabs lwj’s arm and drags him away

Lwj’s brain rn: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But they run off WITHOUT A-YUAN??

Good thing a-yuan is quick on his feet, god damn

AND THAT’S THE END OF ONE OF THE BESTEST EPISODES OF THE SHOW

GOD I NEEDED THIS AFTER THE HELLSCAPE OF LAST EPISODE WHERE EVERYONE MADE ME ANGRY

And lets give a round of applause to our precious adorable A-Yuan who somehow managed to latch on to the one person in the entire town that is completely head over heels in love with wwx and who wwx has been pining for since their sad separation in the rain.

FOUR FOR YOU, A-YUAN. YOU GO, A-YUAN!!

Return to Masterpost

#WangXiantics #wangxian #the untamed #cql

[rafivadafreddy]

Pretty Little Psycho.

A Nevada Ramirez and Nettie Perez Story. Part Three.

Part One - Part Two

Summery: Nettie isn’t amused with Nevada’s men following her around. It seems like she can never get away from King Asshole. Some trouble from her past comes back and her life get’s messy.

Word Count: 2,181 Warnings: Cursing. Nettie gets aggressive. Gun Use, Blood. Shooting. Stabbing. Spanish! Death. Lovely ending (not really. this is sarcasm. don’t use my words against me! lol.)

She tried, honestly Nettie tried to find Nevada again to return the money to him. But whenever she believed she knew where he was. It was almost like he had people following her.

Huffing when she noticed a car a few days later. Nettie couldn’t believe this asshole had the decency to follow her. Who the FUCK did he think he is? Following her like she belonged to him. If anything, that asshole belonged to her. It was his guy that stole from her. Sure, he got her purse back and paid her back, paid her back a few thousand more than she was missing…

But that wasn’t the point!

The point was, since he appeared at that café that night. Her life went from eh, too bad to Worse. All thanks to this bitch who thinks he’s the shit.

So obviously when Nettie noticed the car following her, she started walking back-ways and going through the alley ways. Doing everything she could to make sure the car couldn’t follow her.

One afternoon when she was walking home, Nettie noticed one of Nevada’s men following her. So, turning a corner and grabbing her gun. She held it out in front of her. Finger on the trigger and as soon as the guy turned the corner he froze.

“Look, I don’t know you and I could care less if the fucking Papa asked you to follow me.” She said, moving her finger to turn the safety off. Showing him that she was not joking around. “Tell Nevada he owes me nothing and I definitely don’t owe him shit… tú entiendes?” she hissed out and clicked the safety back on before turning around and walking away.

‘honestly, who did this guy think he was? As if I couldn’t take care of myself. I’ve proved I can. Fuck him.’ Nettie kept thinking to herself. Only to let out a gasp when a hand gripped her upper arm and pulled her back as a car rushed by.

“Now mami this is how you show you can take care of yourself?” a very familiar voice said, and Nettie had to clench her teeth together.

“Ah, King Asshole. Just the guy I wanted to see!” she shook his hand off her arm and opened her purse. Pulling out the wad of money. Nettie handed it over. “This right here? Yeah, not fucking mine.” She told him and still held the money.

Nevada making no movement to grab it, irritating Nettie to no end.

“No.” was all he replied. Making Nettie gasp.

“No? What the hell do you mean, no?” she demanded. Her fingers wrapping around the money. Crushing some of the bills. Not that she cared.

“I mean, No. do you wanna hear it in Spanish? ¡No!” he smirked and tilted his head to the side.

Tensing up as Nevada stepped closer to her, Nettie didn’t notice the people around them. How they would cross the street to not pass them or turn the other way and find another way to pass. So, when one of his men stepped behind her and slid something into her purse, Nettie never noticed it.

“I told you mami get something nice for yourself with that money. Think of it as a… gift.” Nevada chuckled and brushed a strand of hair away from her face.

He was so close she could see how green his eyes are, surprising her. ‘Wow… he has some really gorgeous ey- NO NETTIE. Do NOT finish that thought!’

Watching him wink before turning around and leaving. Nettie just watched him walk away honestly confused and with a frown on her face. “Puto loco…” she mumbled before calling out. “Tell your men to not follow me anymore by the way! Or you’re gonna find yourself one guy short.” She smirked and turned around as well. Walking away.

Ignoring the looks she was getting. Nettie went home where she started to clean up. “Let it go! Let it go…. Can’t hold it back anymore! Let it go, let it gooooo turn away and slam the door!” she was singing around her place as she cleaned up the downstairs.

The money that Nevada had refused to take back was in a safe in one of the cupboard in the living room. Come one day she’ll need it, at least she knows where it is.

As Nettie cleaned her home, singing a lot of different Disney songs. Dancing around and never knew that just inside her purse was a little device, allowing Nevada to listen to everything going on around Nettie.

As she went about her day, singing and doing what she needed. Getting her chores out of the way. Grocery and pharmacy mainly before washing clothes. Nettie had a relaxing day, the little run in with Nevada didn’t count.

¬_¬

It wasn’t until later that night did, she leave her home in some black pants that were tucked into knee high boots. A black t-shirt and a jacket over it. Nettie decided to just throw her hair in a ponytail and not bother with touching up her makeup. The mascara and pink lipstick were enough for her. Walking around with her headphones in and music on. Nettie walked to a cute little Italian place for dinner.

Once seated, a glass of wine in front of her. She played on her phone before looking around. Was it sad that she was having dinner alone? Hell no. Fuck what people think.

Yet, as she looked around. Nettie wanted to cry when she saw who entered the restaurant. Of course, he had his minions with him. But this time, Nevada was walking with some women and a kid.

“Hermana… please. Just sit the hell down.” She heard him speak and had to roll her eyes.

‘Of course, I decide to treat myself to a night out and this asshole chooses this place to eat.”

Instead of acknowledging the man and what seemed like his family. Nettie went back to her wine and played on her phone. Though something did surprise the girl. She watched his sister walk to the bathroom and Nettie listened as Nevada started to him ‘Let It Go’ and she turned her head slightly. Seeing he had a nephew.

‘Either he secretly loves Frozen, which I doubt since he wouldn’t hum the song out in public like this… or.’

Gasping, Nettie grabbed her purse and searched through it. Pulling out a Little device. Her eyes narrowed. Asking for her food to go, Nettie paid for it and drank the rest of her wine. Standing up once she paid for everything, Nettie walked over to Nevada`s table. Dropping the small device on his lap, Nettie leaned forward. Ignoring the look, she was getting from those at the table.

One hand softly brushing his cheek that was covered in scruff from not shaving in a few days. A look she learned he liked since his beard never changes. Her other hand dropped to his thigh, where her nails were grasping in a tight grip. Her nails digging into his jean covered thigh.

“Nevada…” Nettie softly breathed out as she whispered in his ear. The hand on his cheek moving to the back of his neck and toying with the hair there. “If you ever… plant something to spy on me again. I’ll take that promise I made to Jose and do to you.” She planted a small kiss to his cheek. “So… forget me and Let it Go.” Nettie tightened her grip on his thigh and was satisfied when she heard him hiss.

By the look on his face, Nettie couldn’t tell if Nevada was shocked, aroused or angry. Hell, he was probably feeling a little mixture of all three. Standing up, Nettie winked at Nevada and nodded to the company he had at the table before turning around and walking out.

By the time she made it home, Nettie took precaution and looked around the street. The lights in her home were turned on and Nettie was certain she turned everything off. Going up the steps, gun in hand. She pushed the door, allowing it to swing open. Something it should not have done, seeing as she locked the door. Nettie slowly stepped inside with her arms up and gun pointed in front of her.

Seeing the house trashed, Nettie grabbed her phone from her back pocket and speed dialed the police. Sadly, a few seconds later, hearing a crunching sound. Like someone stepping on broken glass. Nettie spun around on heel of her foot and glared at the stranger. It wasn’t anyone she knew, heck it wasn’t even one of Nevada’s goons.

“Ah, Miss. Perez. I see we finally found you.” The man chuckled, a sound so cold and heartless it sent chills down her spin.

“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint. But your finding people skills, they are shit.” She snarled and quickly shot at the stranger before dashing out of the house. Cursing as a bullet went past her head. ‘Shit… shit!’ she kept screaming to herself and didn’t make it far before someone grabbed her by the hair.

Next thing Nettie knew she was screaming out in pain as something stabbed her in the stomach. Being dropped to the floor, Nettie was kicked in the head and was falling into unconsciousness. Blacking out as a car was heard pulling up and people were yelling.

Allowing the darkness to consume her, a darkness where she didn’t feel the pain anymore. Nettie felt nothing as memories of her childhood played in her mind.

Running around in a white sundress, 6-year-old Nettie was laughing and twirling around. Her father watching her from the bench. Reminding her to not go too far.

Watching the girl twirl and play, without a care in the world. Not knowing the heartache and pain she was going to feel in just a few years when her life would change. When slowly, one by one her family would be dying leaving her alone. Nettie was shocked to see the small 6-year-old stop and stare at the older Nettie.

“It isn’t your time yet… you need to wake up Nettie” the small girl said, and the older version was taken back.

“What?” she asked and blinked a few times.

“It isn’t your time to leave the earth…”

“She’s losing a lot of blood! We need to hurry her to surgery!”

“No… no! She’s flat-lining! We’re losing her! Bring the paddles!”

As the defibrillator charges the paddles, they are placed on the girls naked chest and after a second, it goes off. Giving the young girl a huge dose of electricity. Her back arches and her limp body lifts up off the bed. Yet the monitor stays the same, the straight line never showing signs of a heartbeat.

“Come on Nettie! You need to continue. We can’t let our life end like this!”

The older female frowns and looks around. Two ways she can go. Right, towards the light and left, towards the yelling she can faintly hear. With a deep breath. Nettie makes her decision. Stepping forward. Nettie knew what she had to do.

Nevada:

If asked what made him go after the girl, Nevada wouldn’t have an answer to that question. He himself didn’t exactly know. He just had to go and give her a piece of his mind. Telling his sister and nephew he would be back soon. Nevada got into his escalade with Miguel and Manny. Leaving three men with his sister to look after her. Miguel drove to Nettie’s house.

But as the car turned on the street, the car came to an immediate stop. Causing Nevada to almost fly forward from his seat. Though before he could ask, an ear-piercing scream was heard, the three men rushed out of the car. Each with a gun in their hand.

While Miguel went after the man, Manny went to bring the car closer and Nevada. He ran over to Nettie. Placing a hand over the huge gash on her stomach.

“Don’t worry Mami… you’re gonna be alright.” He whispered to her. Hearing a gunshot, Nevada looked up in time to see Miguel return. Nodding to Nevada who nodded back. Knowing that the man was taken care of. They soon got Nettie in the car and Manny broke every traffic law known to get them to the hospital.

As soon as they entered the hospital, Nettie was taken away on a gurney with a doctor and nurses. Nevada answered as many questions as he could before finally losing his patients and telling them all to fuck off. Telling Miguel to stick around, make sure no one suspicious got in and went after the girl, Nevada left and sent his sister a text. Canceling the rest of their dinner. He couldn’t exactly show up covered in blood.

One thing Nevada was certain of, he was going to get to the bottom of this. No one comes to HIS neighborhood. Tries to kill someone he took interest in and gets away with it. Oh no. Nevada wanted blood.

Tagging: @the-baby-bookworm​ @garturbo​ @not-that-kinda-gurl08​ Anyone else who would like to be tagged, just message me! Woo this one was fun to write! What did you think of the ending!?  Please heart and Reblog!  Masterlist found here

#nevada ramirez #rafael barba one shot #raul esparza one shot #nevada ramirez fanfiction #nevada ramirez fanfic #nevada ramirez x reader #nevada ramirez x you #raul esparza #rafael barba #rafael barba x oc #rafael barba fanfic #rafael barba fic #rafael barba x reader #Rafi Barba #trujillo #trouble in the heights #Raúl Esparza fic #Raúl Esparza x oc #raúl esparza

[fillybuildsahouse]

I am VERY curious about why you think the writing of outlast is subpar (and quite frankly? You’re not alone in thinking it was :/)

THANK YOU I WAS HOPING SOMEONE WOULD ASK-

Okay so I feel like I should preface this by saying: I like Outlast gameplay-wise. I could probably nitpick a few things here and there, but we’re here to nitpick poor story structure not gameplay >:3c 

The most obvious (and frankly the worst most terrible) reason that I despise the story is because the ending (where your character Miles gets possessed/becomes a new demon host or whatever and immediately gets shot) is a HUGE bummer and really makes everything you go through to beat the game feel completely worthless and like you’ve just wasted a whole lot of your time. Putting that aside though, (for now) I’m gonna start with what I felt was the turning point in the writing, which was the single objective: Find Father Martin (or smth like that I don’t remember the wording shh).

By this point there is literally no reason why Miles should trust Martin. Before this point in the game, he see’s you almost unconscious and certainly hurt and just calls you a prophet and leaves you, shoots you up with a syringe of something that makes you pass out, sends crazy goons to ‘look after you’ (goons which defy that order and just end up trying to kill you while naked which is completely unnecessary by the way there is literally no nudity in this game that means anything or has any purpose). Not to mention that every note you find relating to him clearly depicts him as unstable and the leader of a cult. He mentions once or twice that he’s glad your safe and that he doesn’t want you to die but would that be enough for you to disregard all that, and try and find him once you get outside instead of taking your chances with barbed wire?? (Not to mention - and this is a nitpick I know -you find a shed outside with no bolt cutters but certainly tools that looks sharp enough to cut a hole in the fence so???). 

Aside from all that, following Martin eventually leads you to his mock crucifixion thing. This is the point where I realized that the cult storyline doesn’t really have a purpose except to have a reason as to why goons are after you, and I guess to through some admittedly cliche’ ‘spooky religious’ imagery at you (My favorite thing is that this troupe always boils down to ‘What if... Christianity was SCARY and A CULT’). 

What bothers me especially about this ‘following the crazy cult leader for no reason’ bit is that most of my problems with it could be solved with a single note, weather from Miles or a file in the asylum. Just anything that suggests that Martin either knows the only way out, or is the only thing stopping you from leaving, meaning it would be best to go with his plans until you can safely leave. 

It is at this point that I would like to mention that the doctors portion of the game, wherein you get captured and tortured and loose two of your precious fingers, is my favorite part in terms of story because it’s so tight and it makes more sense to me than most of the story and conflicting character motivation in this game. This doctor guy is crazy and he likes to torture people. He doesn’t know you, but he doesn’t really need to know you, and the fact that he speaks like a sane person makes it all the more infuriating that he’s going to do this to you just on a whim. 

When you’re being rolled around strapped to a wheelchair, there’s a bit where you see the open exit. The glowing red exit sign and the dark abyss of the storm outside is so close yet so far that it hurts, and this is made even better by the doctors dialogue, which taunts you with an offer of waiting while you frolic in the crisp outside air for a while. Then he cruelly wheels you (backwards so you can see your exit slipping further and further away as you go) into the elevator to torture you. This part is great! This part of the story is tight and self contained and it doesn’t interfere too much with the rest of the plot once the doctor dies. Also, giving the player a glimpse the exit (not just a way out but an open, earned, and easy-looking way out) and putting it  just out of reach like this is not only a cleverly cruel bit of writing, but it motivates the player moving forward by dangling a silvery thread of hope in front of their face for a brief moment before yanking it away. 

Credit where credit is due, you should never get to the point in a survival-based horror game where you’re saying ‘by this point I would just lay there and die honestly’ and this part prevents that from happening, if only to get you to a bad ending. 

There are other details that I’m not remembering I’m sure, but MOVING ONTO THE ENDING WHICH IS TERRIBLE. I just wish once that the ‘experiment gone horribly wrong in a horror game’ thing didn’t lead to the realization ghosts or whatever are real. I wish the walrider really was just a myth that crazy people saw in their dreams due to the experimentation. Because now not only does it take away a touch of originality (I wanted them so badly to go with the ‘it’s Billy’s suspended consciousness and because he’s now criminally insane it’s killing people and going nuts and making crazy people even crazier) but it validates every crazy rambling lunatic you come across who insists that the walrider is real. I don’t want those guys to be validated even a little bit! I want them to be wrong and crazy! 

As for Miles dying. Obviously it’s disappointing, and a huge bummer, and makes the whole game feel like a serious waste of time rather than a journey or a horrifying but otherwise fun experience, but they really kick you while your down with the realization that killing you doesn’t kill the walrider. The thing that you worked through the whole game to defeat, that posses you and drives people crazy, doesn’t get defeated by the end. Usually in a horror story this would be fine- if it had been written differently, I might even be fine with our character dying as well! But I can’t even comfort myself over the death of all my wasted effort because his death meant nothing in the grand scheme of things! The walrider is still out there being the source of cults and making people violent and crazy!  

Not to mention that while I was playing me and my brother gave Miles a wife character named Nancy because it was comforting at the time, and nOW HE’LL NEVER GET HOME TO SEE HIS BEAUTIFUL AND LOVING WIFE CAUSE HE DIED FOR A BADLY WRITTEN PLOT

GOSH this got long, but those are my thoughts! Fueled by my annoyance of sub par writing and the fact that I only got four hours of sleep last night! Enjoy and lemme know what y’all think or if you found other issues/gems in the writing that I didn’t catch!

#Outlast #Filly Writes A Thing #I know this is a rant but I always have such fun talking about this kinda stuff #And I know it may seem a little over excentric and maybe I'm just comparing it to the dumb plot stuff but I really do LOVE that doctor part #It's legit my favorite part of the game #I'm also a fan of the portion where the floor breaks under you and you loose your camera and have to get it back #It's quick it's scary and it makes you feel less safe because you don't have the luxury of nightvision mode #not to mention after that point you now have to deal with the crack in the screen and the occasional camera glitch which is SPOOKY #AMBIANCE BABY #Like I know by this point loosing your light/camera/whatever is not super original or surprising #But usually portions in games like this would drag on and be ridiculously difficuly #and this one wasn't so!

[tbhwhocaresanymore]

Nancy Drew 1x10

SHE’S BACK BITCHES. DEAD LUCY IS BACK.

Ahem. Sorry, had to get that out of my system.

Okay so I finally had time to rewatch the new Nancy Drew ep and it is just as fantastic as the first time. When you look at it in comparison to episode one you can really see just how much the characters have grown, as individuals and especially as friends. Bess being very obviously in George’s office so she’s not alone with Ryan? Watching George go from hating Nancy’s guts to trying to break open a door with poison on the other side just to get her out? Nancy very resignedly saying to Claire “yeah but they don’t ever listen to me.” Beautiful. And Ace is back from his coma, and it sounds like Lara Tandy also soon will be. The writers are just juggling so many storylines with such a huge cast, and they are doing such a great job which is a nice change of pace from the other shows I watch.

This episode had some phenomenal jump scares, mostly involving Dead Lucy (my literal favorite character). When they entered the gym and the lights and buzzer switched on with no warning? I physically fell out of my chair. And the plot was really good too. It was written like a stand alone episode, but also in a way where it still tied into the overall plot. Nancy hanging all the ghost traps, mentions of her dad’s arrest and her arraignment, the Bonny Scot stuff. As for Claire being the murderer? The second Nancy started showing symptoms and not Claire I grew suspicious, but the plot twist was still wonderfully done, and Claire’s actress did an amazing job for only having like five minutes of lines. Also, Ace’s dad? Huge plus. He seems like a cool character and I am always down for deaf/ASL representation, and they did it so well.

I don’t trust that the Bess being a Marvin storyline is fully wrapped up, it could just go so many different ways. And for it to have been the point of like six episodes only to be wrapped up in thirty seconds? Maybe Bess is not really a Marvin and Owen is playing her to get her to help him with the Bonny Scot case because I still do not totally trust him. But I may be biased here, because the book fan in me is still rooting for her and George to turn out cousins somehow, and if she’s cousins with both George and the Marvins? That’s pushing the suspension of disbelief a little bit.

I also truly do not know where they’re trying to take Ryan Hudson’s character. Maybe going for some sort of morally grey character, or an anti-hero? He told Bess and Owen he wouldn’t help them but he also has an artifact that was clearly from Bonny Scot, and wants to get together with his dad. If I had to guess, and I love to guess, I’d say he’s planning to blackmail his family with it. Whether to just get out, or maybe get recompense for Lucy all those years ago, I don’t know. But I do love that George does not buy his bullshit.

Nancy did a really amazing job this episode. Seeing what her father’s arrest has done to her, how much it has taken away her confidence and made her question herself. I am very much looking forward to her coming out the other side of this stronger than ever. And she is honestly so brilliant. Realizing Claire must have taken an antidote and that it was the ring on her finger because one of the pearls was missing? Are you kidding me? And even though she’s dying, using her possible last breaths to try and find out if this is the woman who killed Tiffany. And then seeing Nancy Drew, badass, crooked cop catching, murder solving, take no prisoners Nancy Drew, asking for mercy, saying she doesn’t want to die, because after all she’s only 19 years old? Spectacular.

All the Nancy and Nick moments? I am officially deceased. When he was performing CPR, his voice cracking as he yelled “come on Nancy!” And then when she woke up and he gave this little sort of half-sob and just held her into him, saying “got you, I got you.” I am dead and these writers have killed me. Then at the end, when they were leaving, and Nick left and Nancy sort of turned around and rested her head against the door. The shipper in me was hoping they would get back together right then, but I also think it’s good that they didn’t. Nick broke up with her because he feels she just doesn't have room for him in her life, I think he’s going to stick with that for a while, regardless of his feelings for her. In the meantime, still pretty sure the writers will go in the Nick x George and Nancy x Owen direction, or maybe Nancy x Ace? This episode definitely showed off their chemistry.

Now I have to talk about this, you know I have to talk about this, I am so looking forward to talking about this.

DEAD LUCY.

As I said, she’s BACK. When Nancy was walking toward the light and you could just sort of see her standing up? Poetic cinema. The second I could sort of see her silhouette I was like “FUCK YES.” Nancy is literally about to die and she’s just like “not today” and screams her back to life. I have two possible reasons. This plays into my Nancy is Lucy’s daughter theory, or it could be that she knows Nancy is her best chance of her murderer getting brought to justice after almost 20 years. And then at the end of the episode, when the camera pans, I legit sat up straighter and leaned toward the tv, all ‘come on where is she’. And then she was there in the closet doorway and I felt so vindicated.

The one downside of having a cast full of amazing characters is I want all of them to be on screen all the time. (Except Owen and Ryan, they can go get married and move to Europe and be shady husbands only mentioned in passing and I would be fine with that.) Chief McGinnis, Lisbeth, Victoria who I am still waiting on, Ace’s dad, Lara Tandy. I want them all to come back.

A few final thoughts moving forward. Is Nancy ever going to get arraigned for breaking and entering? This happened all the way back in episode one or two, and it keeps getting mentioned. I mean at this point Dead Lucy better show up and kill the judge, like I need something important to happen at this thing. I am also now even more invested in my ‘Nancy’s mom killed Lucy’ theory. Her dad isn’t explaining any of the evidence against him away, and the only reason he would do that is to protect Nancy. Now either he is protecting her from the Hudsons, because they told her dad to take the fall and he knows they’ll hurt her if he doesn’t; or, he is protecting her from the knowledge that her mom is a murderer. And because I feel like we’re supposed to think the Hudsons killed Lucy, it makes me think the mom killed her. Speaking of Dead Lucy, I’m hoping there was a specific reason Simon threw her very far away, and it’s not just chalked up to ‘he’s evil’. Still hoping that George eventually becomes psychic like her mom.

Super excited for 1x11 the promo and summary look promising. I have no idea how Carson’s arrest relates to the Bonny Scot sinking, but I can’t wait to find out. And Dead Lucy will be present, which immediately improves any episode quality by five thousand percent. And the episode title, the Phantom of Bonny Scot, makes me think we might be getting another ghost. Fingers crossed.

#Nancy Drew #Nancy Drew cw #Nancy Drew 2019 #George Fan #Bess Marvin #Ned Nick Nickerson #Nancy x Nick #episode analysis #I analyze things #or try to #Dead Lucy #my theories #the mark of the poisoner's pearl

[welllpthisishappening]

All Was Golden in the Sky (19/27)

Magic is dying.

Emma knows it. She can feel it, the emptiness rattling around in her, like it’s trying to make sure she disappears as well. What she doesn’t know is what to do about it, because, suddenly, there is a man in Storybrooke claiming she’s the Savior and a seeress certain a prophecy promises the same and the last thing she expects is for her minimal amount of lingering power to pull her away.

To New York City.

And another oddly familiar man with blue eyes and a smile that sinks under her skin and makes magic bloom in the air around her. Things are about to get interesting.

—

Rating: Mature AN: Ariel and Dark One!Killian wandering around the Enchanted Forest fucking shit up may be the greatest thing I have ever half-plotted out in my car. 

|| Also on Ao3 if that’s your jam || 

“That one.” “That one?” “What was confusing about that?” Emma cannot roll her whole body, but she tries, letting her head loll between her shoulders as she makes the world’s most dramatic noise. That, however, only leads to Killian’s eyes widening, mouth going tight and a sharp inhale that is even more ridiculous than her. 

She kind of resents that he’s winning that particular competition. 

It’s not a competition. 

It’s grand larceny. 

Of the nautical variety. 

“That is huge,” Emma hisses, crouched behind what, at first glance, appeared to be empty crates. They are not empty. They are filled with something that smells absolutely horrendous. 

That also seems to be the entire schtick of this place, though, and now they’re going to steal a ship and get to Neverland, somehow, and there wasn’t much of a plan, just a selection and Killian is determined. 

And stubborn. 

Impossibly stubborn. 

“It’s a ship, love,” he reasons. His shoulder keeps bumping against hers, trying to pull his sword out of its scabbard without also elbowing her in the side. It’s not really working. “They are, by their very nature, rather large.” Emma sticks out her tongue. She’s a picture of maturity and magic and she knows their options are rather limited in this God awful town. If she never sees another fish again, it will be too soon. 

“Won’t there be a crew, though?” Kristoff asks. His voice is starting to sound a little stronger, less slurring of words and a slightly more focused gaze. It’s a small victory, but he’s got a good point and Emma’s going to horde as much positivity as she possibly can. 

“What happened to your sword?” she asks. 

“You want to fight the crew?”

“I mean,” Emma shrugs, eyes flitting towards Killian. His lips twist. “Let’s try to avoid any serious bodily harm.” “Really aiming high, huh?” Ariel mutters. She huffs, and her hair must have a mind of its own because it always seem to be flying towards her eyes. It takes her a moment to brush it away, but that also gives Kristoff a moment to come to terms with fighting his way out of Roior and that ship is only a little intimidating. “Do you have a plan here, Hook,” Ariel continues, “or did you just want to storm in? You can’t--you know.” Killian glares at her. “Thank you, Fisk.” “I’m just saying.” “Oh, I know you are and I am well aware of what I’m lacking, but--” “--I mean,” Emma cuts in, twisting her wrist and letting her fingers flutter slightly, “we’re not exactly missing the magical part.” “Are we attacking or not?” Kristoff demands. He’s almost standing, which kind of throws off the whole sneaking thing and none of them had really decided to do that, but it seemed like instinct or something. 

Emma assumes pirates do a lot of sneaking. 

Killian groans again. “Attacking is such a vulgar way of phrasing it. We’re…” “Borrowing?” Ariel suggests with a smile. 

“I mean--no.” Emma snickers, mostly because it’s ridiculous and there are tiny spots of color on his cheeks, like he’s embarrassed. She can’t be anything except endeared by that. So she twists, ignoring the ache in her calves and how much it hurts to rest most of her weight on her toes, a quick kiss pressed to those spots and Killian’s breath catches when he feels the surge of her magic. 

“I don’t think we’re going to be giving the ship back,” he admits softly, and Emma can’t stop laughing. That’s probably against the pirate code. 

“I’m sure they’ll understand. Once they wake up.” “Are we knocking people out?” Kristoff sputters. “Can’t we just---” He waves his hands through the air, a note of frustration that’s starting to drift ever closer to desperation. Emma’s started breathing through her mouth. 

“Is that a human thing?” Ariel asks, brows flying into her hair like Kristoff has started speaking in tongues. “Should we understand what that means?” “Fisk, you have lived here for literal years.” “Yeah, yeah, but, you know, sometimes, you lot do exceptionally strange things and--” “--You stabbed him with a fork twenty minutes ago!” “That was a trident,” she hisses, voice going dangerously low and Emma hopes she doesn’t use the stupid thing again. At least not on them. 

Killian pinches the bridge of his nose, a mumbled Gods help us that only makes Ariel’s eyes go slimmer and whatever sword Kristoff has found is not the same one as before. “Where’d you get the squid ink?” “Went back to Ursula's father. He was...well, let’s say rather disappointed with the way things had turned out and then she was gone and the Dark One was gone. And--” Ariel clicks her tongue, more explanations that would probably sound better on a stolen pirate ship. “I didn’t know what was going to happen,” she whispers. “If you came back or would come back or could and then there was Rumplestiltskin and I just...I figured it didn’t hurt to be prepared.”

“And you never could say no to a good trinket.” “Well now you’re just getting insulting” Emma makes another noise – and eventually, she’s sure, she’ll be able to control the sounds her body makes, but she’s impossibly curious and far too impatient and Kristoff looks close to self combustion. 

“What exactly is it you were suggesting before?” she asks, doing her best to keep any type of less-than-positive out of her voice. 

Killian kisses her hair. 

“You showed up here,” Kristoff says slowly, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “With magic. Right?” “Obviously.” “Why can’t we just magic our way to Neverland?” Emma blinks. “Oh, well--” “--Neverland isn’t like that,” Killian cuts in, and there’s no mistaking the tone of his voice. It’s soft, but a bit menacing and unquestionable, an authority there that brokers no discussion. Particularly when he keeps talking. “The magic that exists there it..it wouldn’t accept us, not if Emma were there. I’m positive.” “Jeez.” “There’s a reason I never went back, it’s not a particularly good place. That magic is dark. Exceptionally so.”

“Like you?” Kristoff asks, and Ariel absolutely curses. This one also involves a fish and its progeny. 

Killian grits his teeth, and they’re going to be found out if they keep lurking in this corner. Kristoff doesn’t look all that concerned though, a challenge in his expression and the tilt of the stolen sword in his hand. 

Emma twists her wrist. 

And the sword turns. Towards Kristoff. 

He gasps, choking on oxygen and lingering rum and Emma’s answering smile is equal parts unnatural and a little mean. She’s going to have to get Ariel to teach her some curses.

They’re incredibly creative. 

“Ok, you’re going to shut up for two seconds, you understand?” He doesn’t answer. Emma didn’t expect him to. “If Killian says we’ve got to steal a goddamn fleet of ships, that’s what we’re going to do. Because we are getting out of this shit hole to an even worse shit hole so that we can save the entire realm. And you can either decide that you’re going to help, without the pointed allusions to magic or previous interactions, or not. Because you were looking for me, right?” Silence. 

“You can answer that one,” Emma sneers, waving her hand again and Kristoff’s whole body falls forward with his gasp. 

“Yes,” he breathes, and she doesn’t think she imagines the tears in his eyes. It almost makes her feel bad. Almost. “I--I just want to find Anna.” “You don’t know where she is?” “No. I--she wouldn’t have stayed with Hans and every rumor I’ve heard about Arendelle is that he’s still in power there. But now Elsa is back and maybe Blackbeard knows where she went and--” “--Ok, ok,” Emma interrupts quickly. Her mind is racing, a few jumps and there’s probably a water obstacle, just to really drive the point home that this is some kind of insurmountable challenge. “Here’s what we’re going to do. We are going to steal this ship. We are going to try, very hard, not to kill anyone. I do, actually, have magic, so that shouldn’t be too difficult. We round up the crew, get rid of the crew and then set sail for Neverland.” “Then,” she adds, a sharp head shake when Kristoff opens his mouth to interject, “No, no, still my floor. Then. We are going to find Blackbeard, we’re going to fuck him up a little bit--” That gets a laugh out of Ariel and another kiss out of Killian. “--Oh, shut up, shut up, shut up, I am not the speech-giver.” “You’re doing fantastic, love,” Killian promises. “Keep going.” She’s going to do damage to her tongue if she keep sticking it out like that. “We’re going to fuck up Blackbeard, get the hell out of Neverland, find Anna, help Elsa and--” Emma takes a deep breath. “--We’re going to make sure that the people in this stupid realm know that we’re not a threat. Arthur will stop being an asshole. There’ll be treaties and plans and everyone will be safe. Like they’re supposed to.” “Except maybe this crew we’re going to presumably knock unconscious,” Ariel says, and Emma’s laugh is really more a guffaw. 

It’s not all that inspiring. 

She falls forward, letting her forehead crash into Killian’s shoulder, but that makes it easier for him to wrap his arm around her middle and she’s starting to get very dependent on the feel of his hook pressed against her back. 

Like an anchor or something. 

Emma should learn more nautical terms. 

“I want to help,” she adds, glancing back up at a paler-than-normal Kristoff. “And that’s why you were looking for me, right? Because you thought I could?” He nods slowly, more anxious energy in the movement. “I hoped, at least. I...I just want to find Anna. Go home. Maybe actually get married.”

“That’s nice.” “Could be.” “Will be,” Emma amends, and it’s a promise she isn’t sure she should make, but the words are out of her mouth before she can consider the implications of them. She wonders where the box is. Maybe under her floor. “So,” she turns back towards Killian, not surprised to find him smirking at her, “what do we do first?” The smirk turns into a smile, a flash of excitement in his eyes that’s almost a memory. It’s like jumping back in time, landing with both feet in those same metaphorical puddles Emma was thinking of before, but she’s pleasantly surprised that the water is warm and not quite as deep as she originally expected. 

“We have to be quiet,” Killian starts. 

“Oh my God, you’re just being obvious now.” “From what I can tell there really aren’t too many on that ship who aren’t wobbling--” “--What kind of eyesight do you have?” “Swan,” he chastises, but Emma’s still standing in that puddle and she’s mostly doing it for the way his eyes widen in exasperation. “Look,” Killian continues, jerking his chin towards the shadow leaning against the rail of the ship. “That one can barely keep his feet under him. This isn’t going to be bad, love.” “Far too confident for you own good,” Ariel grumbles, Kristoff tapping impatiently on the hilt of his sword. 

“Look at him. He’s hanging over the rail.” “And that’s the lookout?” Emma asks. Killian shrugs. “Ok, babe, that’s honestly not really a ton of help, actually.” “I’d imagine he is. There’s two more on the other side of the deck, probably half a dozen below and--” He looks at Kristoff, standing up and wincing slightly when one of his knees pops. “Do you know where that ship is from?” “Does it matter?” “I’d rather not start any wars if we don’t have to.” “I thought we weren’t going to kill anyone.” “He’s being very royal,” Ariel mutters. She stands as well, hair everywhere and smile obvious and, maybe, once they get rid of the crew she and Emma can have a rather in depth conversation about...everything. 

“Thank you Fisk,” Killian growls. “Once again, you’re adding a lot to this conversation.” “How did you plan to get on the ship, exactly? There’s no gang plank. Did you expect to simply scale the sides?” “Well…” “No.” “Fisk.” “No!”

“C’mon,” he goads, a smile that's only a little patronizing. “This’ll be fun. You get in the water. You just...pull yourself up. You stab some people.” “What kind of upper-body strength do you think I have?” Ariel shouts. It’s far from their first mistake, but it’s definitely their loudest, and the man hanging over the side of the railing does not seem to have lost his ability to hear things. 

Whatever Killian says is not in English. 

“I refuse to take responsibility for that,” Ariel hisses. “And you’re being unreasonable, Hook. I can’t take on an entire ship on my own. That’s insane.” Killian’s eyes are barely open anymore. “Do you have a better plan?” “You have gotten so bad at this!” It’s another far-too-loud cry, voice rising and cracking slightly, and it’s made all the more ridiculous because Ariel actually stomps her foot as well. Which is not really a sentence Emma thought she’d come up with when she realized they’d be working with a mermaid. 

The railing guy is standing up now, head darting around, looking for the source of the sound and Emma can hear more voices coming from the ship, an entire crew being roused to the possibility of an attack that’s gone entirely pear shaped before they’ve even moved out of the corner. 

“How did you ever get anything done?” Kristoff asks, sounding genuinely interested even as he directs his sword towards the empty space in front of him. 

Killian makes a noise in the back of his throat. “Probably some kind of dark magic miracle, honestly.” “Ok,” Ariel groans, and she’s got tridents in both her hands now. “I am standing right here.”

“And we’re all going to have to fight before we even get on the ship.” “Well, that’s your fault then, you should have picked a ship with a less alert crew. Plus, Emma is right. It’s enormous. You’re trying to show off.” “I’m going to steal your cuff.” “Dark One,” she hisses, getting a smile that’s more a sneer and a questionable amount of sarcasm and the thud of the gangplank landing on the dock is loud enough that Kristoff jumps in surprise. 

Ariel giggles. 

“Oh, don’t do that,” Kristoff whines. “This is--I am also having a hard time standing upright and now I’ve got goddamn Captain Hook fighting with someone who keeps making allusions to humans like she isn’t actually one--” “--Did we not mention that Fisk is a mermaid?” Killian asks lightly. He’s got his sword out now, shifting his weight between his feet and doing his best to work his left arm behind him. So he can move Emma. 

Her sigh hurts. “You know you have no tact at all?” “Honestly,” Ariel agrees, crouching slightly like she’s going to pounce at the first crewman who comes near them. Kristoff does not appear to be breathing. 

“Occupational hazard,” Killian says. He sounds slightly distracted, head twisting back and forth and it only takes Emma a moment to realize what he’s doing. 

Counting. 

“Oh for Gods’ sake,” she grumbles, leaning forward to grab his hook. “You know there’s barely anyone on that ship now.” She gets to five before his head snaps around towards her, something like pride and several other wholly inappropriate for a soon-to-be-fight emotions flickering across his face and Emma’s only slightly disappointed he doesn’t kiss her. 

“We should just let you come up with everything now. Plans. Sweeping speeches. All of that.” “Ha ha ha.” “I’m serious, love. Unparalleled royal control.” “All I’m saying is that the ship is probably fairly easy to seize at this point. We’ve just got to get through the battle we’ve created for ourselves.” “Easy.”

“Your compliments are sorely lacking, Lieutenant.”

His eyebrows jump, another flash and the tip of his tongue peeking between his teeth. Someone from the crew shouts something that sounds a hell of a lot like intruders and--”That doesn’t even make any sense,” Emma mutters, and it should be impossible to see how blue Killian’s are. “Like in context. Right?” “I’ve already surrendered complete control of the situation to you, Swan. If you don’t think it makes sense, then--” “--Ariel, give me another insult to throw at the Lieutenant.” Ariel laughs, taking a step forward and using Killian’s shoulder as leverage. She clicks her tongue as she takes in the latest crowd to advance on them, a trend Emma hopes will stop as soon as they save everything. 

And everyone. 

Again. 

“There,” one of the men shouts, a wobbly arm and shaky steps, even as he picks up into a run. “They’re hiding there!” Kristoff sighs again, put-upon and exhausted and Emma understands the feeling perfectly. She does the ground thing again. 

“Don’t tell Regina that I cast the same spell twice,” she says, “I’ll never hear the end of it.” Killian chuckles, pulling his arm back to his side so he can immediately swing it through the air, the loud crunch of his hook colliding with the nearest man’s nose oddly satisfying. Ariel shivers. “Oh God, I hate when he does that.”

“Did that happen a lot?” Emma asks. She turns when she notices a blade flickering at the edge of her vision, only a little annoyed and not entirely unsurprised that more people have joined the fray. Drunk men in shoddy seaside ports, it has been her experience, love few things more than a fight they are not explicitly a part of. 

“No,” Killian says at the same time Ariel mutters “absolutely.”

“What kind of relationship did you two have?” Kristoff asks sharply, smacking another rum-soaked man with the side of his sword. “Gods, that hurt. Jones, how do you not hurt your arm when you do that?”

“I’m very impressive in battle,” Killian drawls, drawing a scoff out of Emma. “Is that disbelief I hear, your highness?”

Emma rolls her eyes, pressing her shoulders further into his back and she can’t see his face, but she knows he’s grinning like an idiot. 

She’d also like to get home and get married. At some point. Maybe she’ll bring that up. At some point. 

“How many people would you say you’ve incapacitated so far, Lieutenant?”

“This is not a competition, Swan.” “I think that’s because you’re losing.” She waves her hand, proving a point in an argument that isn’t that, is absolutely misplaced flirting and the three men jogging towards her with cries on their lips and rusted swords in their hands immediately start moving the opposite direction. 

Directly off the dock. 

“Oh that was good,” Ariel muses, elbowing someone and she really is very talented with her feet. Her stomps seem particularly effective. “Wait, wait, I’m confused,” Kristoff mutters. He ducks under a wayward blow, grabbing a handful of dirt when he lands on his back and it’s an on-target throw that lands in the man’s eyes. “I thought Jones was a captain.” “Obviously,” Killian grumbles. 

“And doing a very good job of ignoring my question,” Emma adds, smile wide enough that she’s briefly worried about it stretching out her muscles. Her whole body is humming, a buzz under her skin that’s pleasant and almost kind of warm, proof positive, she’s sure, that they’re doing the right thing. 

They haven’t actually killed anyone. 

So. Points, or whatever. 

“You’re playing with a stacked deck, Swan,” Killian argues. “Although the water thing was very impressive.” “Flattery will get you everywhere.” She twists back around him, grinning and it’s somewhere between idiotic and romantic, which is a very fine line to walk in the middle of a quasi-battle, but that’s probably just the life they live at this point and--”Captain.” He groans. Right there. Right out loud. 

And the rush of magic that sears through Emma’s veins is intoxicating, powerful and world-altering and she’s got a few suspicions she hasn’t voiced yet, because she might be as stubborn as he is. 

“Oh, that’s not fair at all,” Killian says, head falling forward until the ends of his hair move as well. Ariel appears to be gagging. 

Emma hums. “I know, right? I think I’m at like...eight. Possibly nine.”

“Right, right, well, that is incredibly impressive, Swan,” Killian says, one side of his mouth tugging up and she’s not a superhero, does not have spidey sense, because it’s another incorrect idiom, but Emma does have magic and really rather good hearing. So she’s not entirely surprised by the boots she can hear moving behind her, but she is a little stunned by the arm around her waist and the hook digging into her hip and, well, she supposes there had to be a few instances of blood.

The man behind them gasps in tandem with Emma – as soon as she crashes into Killian’s chest and Killian’s sword pierces his right arm. “Gabh transna ort fhéin,” he mumbles, twisting into the blade and--

“That’s only going to make it worse, mate,” Killian says. He doesn’t stop moving, gritting his teeth in pain. “Honestly. This is sword fighting one-oh-one.” “What in all hell are you talking about?” Kristoff demands. 

“Wrong realm for that joke,” Emma murmurs, magic still making her skin feel as if it’s vibrating. She takes a quick breath, letting it out even faster, shaking her arms and bobbing lightly on the balls of her feet. 

Killian’s eyebrows jump. "Are you alright, love?” “Are you?” “Fine.” “Yuh huh.” “Fine,” he repeats, glancing around and they’ve done a fairly good job of stymying the immediate threat. Anyone still standing looks a little less inclined to challenge them. And, for a moment, she’s certain he’s telling the truth, but then his shoulders shift and his sword is still embedded in this man’s arm and Emma can’t think about anything except the way the muscles in his throat move when he swallows. 

“You want to go best two out of three or something?” she asks. 

“I’m not sure that makes sense.” “Should the sword thing be less attractive?” “Hmmm?” “The sword thing,” Emma says, nodding slightly and the man is getting paler. “It was all very smooth. The whole saving the princess schtick.” “I really doubt you needed to be saved.”

Emma hums, magic fluttering at an actual compliment, and she cannot possibly be expected to do anything except blush demurely when Killian’s expression turns like that – wanting and a little needy and she thinks she remembers a silencing spell she learned several lifetimes ago. 

A stolen ship on the way to an infernal hell island seems like the perfect place to test that. “Can we get this blasted blade out of my goddamn arm?” the man shouts, trying to move again, but that only ends with more grousing and gnashing of teeth. 

“That was your own fault,” Killian says, pulling his arm back and dragging the blood-stained blade against the side of his pants. “Gods, I hate doing that.” “Bad form?” Emma ventures, fully expecting the look she gets. She matches it, blinking quickly and letting the magic fly out of her. It feels that way, at least, soaring through the air and wrapping around the man’s bloody shoulder, twisting skin back together in a way that’s far nicer than it sounds. 

He gapes at her. 

“Witch!” “Aw, c’mon,” Emma groans, both Killian and Kristoff lifting their swords again. “Man, we were the good guys here. Also, for the record, you came at me!” “That’s how it works here. We draw swords, we fight, we--” “--Oh my God, humans,” Ariel grumbles. She’s back on her windowsill, feet kicking out like she’s only slightly bored by the entire scene.

The man ignores her. “You’re not going to be able to get out of here, witch. Not without a fight for your lives.”

“That is unnecessarily dramatic,” Emma says. “Also--” she reaches behind her, smile tugging at her mouth when the cool feel of metal brushes across her fingers, Killian mumbling instructions to both Ariel and Kristoff. “--like, we’re obviously already winning and, you know, there’s just no reason to be rude. So.” She shrugs. “See ya or whatever.”

She blinks, a rush of air and burst of light behind her eyes, and none of them fall over when their feet land on planks of wood.

And she was right, there aren’t many people left on the ship – although the few on the far side of the dock do jump and that’s kind of enjoyable, particularly when they all charge forward. Emma barely lifts her arm. 

They freeze. 

“Did you say see ya to that guy from DunBroch?” Ariel asks conversationally. 

“Yeah,” Emma nods. “I think I did.” “That’s what I thought. Ok, ok, I just wanted to make sure. Good.” One of the crew – Emma isn’t actually sure if they’re pirates, and it feels wrong to generalize like that – is trying to move around her magic, curses that are the most creative they’ve heard so far and-- “What in Merlin’s name do you think you’re doing?” “Are you from Camelot?” Killian asks, and Emma has to chew on the side of her tongue to stop herself from smiling. 

“What was the first clue?” “I mean--nothing, Camelot is landlocked. So we’ve been told several times recently.” The understanding that moves across the man’s face is a bit like watching the sunset, mostly because it leaves his eyes slightly hooded and his shoulders curling in on himself and Emma has lost all her patience entirely. 

She barely hears the explanation – something about DunBroch and an alliance and some kingdom with a monarch this man keeps referring to as Briar Rose and--”So, I will ask you one more time, what do you think you’re doing?” “You know it’s disappointing that we weren’t clearer about this,” Emma says, taking a step forward and ignoring Killian’s quiet sound of protest, not able to wrap his fingers around the back of her shirt with his sword still in his hand. “And,” she adds, leaning into the man’s space with magic simmering around her, “We’re commandeering you’re ship.”

There are, naturally, objections, but Emma’s too busy being a goddamn witch to be worried about them, bodies soaring through the air and landing in the water. 

Again. 

She’s starting to really like that one. 

Any oxygen she’d been holding in her lungs flies out of her as soon as he crashes into her back, face buried in her hair and chin jutting into the side of her neck and it’s impossibly comfortable, even with the far-too-tight arm around her waist. 

Neither one of them is breathing evenly, but that’s probably to be expected, magic and adrenaline and Emma knows Killian can feel both, as easily as if they were his. 

“Gods, but you’re a good pirate,” he whispers, soft enough that even Emma can barely hear. That may have something to do with the thrumming of her heart. 

“Present tense?” “Currently.”

Emma twists in his hold, enough of her pressed against enough of him that it’s difficult to breathe for a wholly different reason. “The sword thing was stupid attractive.” “I will keep that in mind.” She giggles. It’s not her initial plan, but that is also seemingly par for the course, head tilted up and Killian has to sheath his sword so he can brush his thumb against her lower lip. 

And he’s definitely going to kiss her – propriety, seemingly, be damned – but there are still two other people on deck and they’ve got to get out of that town and--

“What are your thoughts on--wait for it, this is a really good one,” Ariel says, slinging most of her body over Killian’s back. “Seaweed brain.” “Ehhhh.” “That’s a good one!” “Seaweed does not have a brain, Fisk,” Killian mutters, trying without much success to get her off him. “You’re going to have to go back to the drawing board.” “Stop making references no one understands.” “These are bad insults.”

Ariel huffs, dropping back onto her feet. “Yeah, so say you. Also, uh...how say you in regards to getting to Neverland? You think you can sail this tub on your own?” “Why does everyone keep asking me that?” “You did pick the biggest ship in the harbor, babe,” Emma says. “Lots of---deck space and do you think there’s food on here?” “There better be,” Kristoff mumbles, already sitting down with his head in his hands. “Is the whole thing spinning, though?” Killian sighs. “Land locked.” “That’s really not an insult either,” Emma points out. 

“And I didn’t pick this ship because it was the biggest deck. I picked it because it’s got the biggest sails.” “Explain that.” “Neverland’s not exactly an easy place to get to.” “So we’ve heard. Why did we need big sails?” He clicks his teeth, a bit of unexpected trepidation that makes Emma’s heart drop. “Gods, is it bad? What is it? Neverland’s not another realm.” “No, no, we’ll definitely be able to sail there,” Killian promises. “But--” “--Jeez.” “But,” he continues, “That magic I was talking about? The kind that wouldn’t be inclined to letting you blink us there? It’s...ok, your magic, love, it’s light, right?” Emma makes a noise, neither an agreement nor otherwise, and Killian widens his eyes. “It is,” he nods. “This is the opposite. This--I don’t know if Darkness originated from Neverland, but the magic there is twisted. Time doesn’t match up there the way it does here. The nights last forever and you could probably spend a hundred years there without aging.” “These are all very interesting facts, babe, but--” “--We have to fly there,” Killian says quickly, wincing when Emma’s face does something a face should not do. It hurts her jaw. “What? Why?” “The magic is embedded in the land there. And, like I said, it’s not good. It’s...heavier. Dark magic weighs on you, love. Drags you down. Literally, in this case. Neverland, doesn’t really match up with the rest of the realm.” Emma shakes her head, trying to piece this together in a way that doesn’t sound entirely impossible. “But you were there. How did you get there before? As far as I know George didn’t have any flying ships.” “No, no, he didn’t. But he did have a Pegasus sail. The Gods know how he got it, but it made The Jolly, ah--the Jewel fly. You come to Neverland from above.” “That is insane,” Emma says evenly, Killian’s quiet hum of agreement a bit of a solace. “Did you take this sail off the Jolly before you traded it?” He shakes his head. 

“Fucking--” Emma grunts, and her forehead is damp when she drags her hand across her face. “What aren’t you telling me?” “Probably asking, if you want to get technical,” Ariel mutters. She’s perched on the rail, toying with a few droplets of water on the wood. 

Emma’s head snaps back around, eyes going wide when she sees the expression on Killian’s face – not quite nervous, but a little close to imploring and maybe he’s got more muscles in his throat than the average person. 

She’s going to drag her teeth over every single one later. 

“You think I can make it fly, don’t you?” she asks, not quite an accusation because she knows the answer and the realization leaves her feeling a little bit like she’s floating already. 

Killian nods. “Aye, I do.” “I have no idea how to do that.” “You’ve never had to use spells before, love,” he says, crowding into her space with his thumb back on her cheek. “It just...happens. I wouldn’t ask if--” “--You didn’t really ask,” Emma grins. “And you wouldn’t have to. Alright, just--” She licks her lips, watching every shift in his face, the bit of light she’s certain are in his eyes and the burst of power in the pit of her stomach only appears when he moves his thumb. Right over the pinch between her eyebrows. “Don’t let go.” “Never.” Nothing happens at first. And that’s only kind of disappointing, but Emma’s whole body feels like it is legitimately on fire and they are standing on a ship made entirely of wood, so that’s probably not great, really. 

It takes two seconds for that to change. 

Maybe less. 

She screws her eyes shut, lips pressed together and teeth clenched. Her fingers curl around the front of Killian’s jacket, wrapping around leather and the chain around his neck, focusing every bit of energy on something she can’t actually see. Emma does her best to keep breathing, knees locking into place because any Savior worth their salt should be able to stay upright while casting levitation spells. 

She can hear quiet mumblings around her, but that might be her magic, a vocal hum to it that makes Emma wonder if it’s not alive as well, its own sentient being with a brand of determination that she’s only sort of controlling. She takes another deep breath, far too much salt in the air, but she never really forgot that smell and--

“Ha,” Emma exclaims, eyes flying open and there is light everywhere. It circles around her ankles, creeps up her side and bathes the entire deck in a glow that’s not far from blinding. It trails across ropes and moves up the mast, makes Ariel gasp in delight because--” “Holy seashells, that’s warm!” “Holy seashells,” Emma mutters, head falling onto Killian’s chest and he doesn’t flinch. He kisses her hair, her temple, any bit of her he can reach and the first lurch of the ship out of the water is only a little disarming. 

There’s blood in her mouth now, teeth finding her tongue again, but Emma doesn’t close her eyes, just focuses on that one particularly large sail and the gust of wind she knows she’s got control over as well. 

And it takes a few more minutes, shouts and screams and several instances of witch being called from the docks. Until. The water underneath them is barely more than a dot of ink and the sky around them is littered with stars, a coolness to the air that makes it easier to breathe and even easier to see. 

There’s probably a metaphor there. 

“I love you,” Killian says, pressing the words into the crown of Emma’s head and her knees are never going to recover. She feels like she can alter the trajectory of the Earth.

For now, she’ll take the pirate ship. 

It might not be a pirate ship.

“Holy shit,” she breathes. It works another laugh out of Killian, arms around her middle when he tugs her up towards his mouth. The kiss isn’t quite bruising, but it’s getting there, a tease and a possibility and Emma swears her skin is going to melt off her bones. 

She’s halfway to yanking off his jacket right there. And, like, his pants. 

That would probably annoy Kristoff. 

“Bloody, goddamn brilliant,” Killian continues, peppering her face with his mouth and that’s even worse because all Emma can do is chase after him. 

“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.” He laughs against her cheek, more warmth that sears itself on her soul. Gods, but she is melodramatic now. “That’s my princess.” “Are you going to steer the ship or what? There should be a course to plot, right?” “You’re starting to sound like the captain, love.” “I’m not going to quote something because it doesn't make sense in this realm, but just know that I want to.” 

That kiss is less...scorching, more akin to embers and memories that couldn’t be tempered by any curse and--”Noted,” Killian mumbles, and Emma can hear him smile. “If I tell you that I’m consistently and constantly stunned by you is that going to be annoying?” “Yes.” “I won’t say it then.” “Good.” “We’re going to crash into a cloud,” Ariel calls, standing at the helm and Kristoff is having a difficult time getting back to his feet. 

Killian rolls his eyes. “That is not how this works at all. Also, look at you, Fisk, you’re like a flying fish. You’re a cliché in action.” “Seaweed. Brain.” He barks out another laugh – and Emma’s mind latches onto the sound because it’s so good. That’s not enough. It’s more than that, but she’s suddenly kind of exhausted and Kristoff is muttering about exploring the rest of the ship and they are flying. She enchanted a ship to fly.

“I love you too,” Emma says, knuckles cracking when she finally unclenches them. 

Killian beams. There’s a moon joke in there. Several stars, at least. “Aye, I know,” he says, tapping his thumb on the edge of her mouth when it drops open. “And that’s been everything, love. Sit down though, you’re making me nervous.” “Aye, aye,” Emma salutes, only after she catches his lips once more and the step she crashes onto is almost comfortable. 

She loses track of time. It is, she reasons, because she can’t tell the differences between the stars and everything is so clear and vast and that’s only a little overwhelming, but she’s still on this saving everyone kick, those unspoken assumptions bouncing around the corners of her brain while she unabashedly stares at her pirate boyfriend. 

He’s taken the jacket off. 

And rolled up his sleeves. 

Emma hisses in a breath, not wholly steady, but maybe a little confident, the bits of magic lingering in her fingertips warding off any chill from the seemingly ever-present wind in the sky. 

“You doing ok?” 

She jerks her head up at the question, Ariel smiling softly at her with arms crossed lightly over her chest. The ends of her hair are, somehow, twisted in between around her elbows. “Am I giving off a not-ok, vibe?” “Oh, not you too.” “I’m not sure what mean.” “Yeah, sure you don’t,” Ariel grumbles, nudging her shoulder against Emma’s until there’s room for her on the step too. ”It’s incredible how similar you are.” “Is this another mermaid insult?” “That, in and of itself, is kind of insulting, honestly, but--no, it’s not. It’s an observation. Years in the making. He’s not good at giving up information either. Thinks it gives the enemy something on him.” Emma isn’t going to have a tongue left by the end of the night. “How--” she starts, Ariel’s smile growing because this conversation was probably inevitable. “How did you meet Killian? If it’s not--” “Oh, no, no, it’s not an overstep for me,” Ariel says. “Him, on the other hand.” Her eyes flicker back up towards the helm, Killian’s hand barely holding one of the prongs of the wheel, an ease that Emma was certain had disappeared several curses ago. “I don’t think he’s very proud of it.” Emma sighs, a hint of guilt creeping up her spine. “That was my fault. I--” “--Gave him the magic? Yeah, I figured that out. Eventually.” “Wait, what?” Ariel’s smile turns a little regretful. She leans back, flipping her wrist and there’s something in her palm. The paper’s worn, torn edges and a yellow-tinge to it that makes it obvious how old it is. “I told you,” Ariel whispers, Emma’s fingers shaking as she unfolds the page, “your eyes are exactly right.”

It’s her. The drawing isn’t much anymore – barely more than a shadow, but Emma can tell there was time taken in getting the details right, hints of her that make it feel as if the picture is breathing as heavily as she suddenly is, a magic to it that makes her chest ache and her heart thud erratically. 

“I’d always been fascinated with this world,” Ariel says softly, and Emma doesn’t pull her eyes away from the paper. “Grew up listening to tales of humans and love and--I...well, I started dreaming. But there are rules. Traditions that haven’t been broken for a thousand years and interacting with humans was one of them.” Emma’s lips quirk. “I take it you sort of blew that out of the water.” “That was funny. Yeah, I did. There was a storm. Bad. One of the worst I can remember and I’d been sneaking to the surface for years already, trying to find out more about this world and these people and I saw it all happen. The ship sinking and the people dying and I couldn’t just let it happen.” “Sounds heroic.” “Or foolish, depending on who you ask.” “The man. The one you told Killian about. Was he on this ship?” Ariel’s face lights up, a quiet laugh and quick squeeze of Emma’s shoulder. “He was. And, well, a million different things happened. I got caught up with Ursula, got on land, got legs, got separated from Eric--that’s his name by the way.” “Good name.” “I think so,” she laughs. “Anyway, he was leaving. Going exploring. And, wouldn’t you know? Another storm. Hook thinks it was Atlantica, but that’s--” Ariel shakes her head, a disbelief that Emma knows she doesn’t entirely agree with. “It doesn’t matter. Eric was gone and I had to find him. I heard a rumor that he’d been picked up by a pirate ship. The only pirate I knew was--”

“Killian?” Ariel hums. “I’d heard about what had happened in Misthaven. Everyone had. And I knew that Captain Hook was ruthless. What he’d done even before the royal family was gone, but I was desperate and...I was wrong.” “What?” “Wrong,” Ariel repeats. “It wasn’t Hook. It was Blackbeard.” “I don’t--” Emma starts, but that only leads to a dismissive hand in her face and magic churning in her gut that’s probably distracting even on the other side of the ship. 

“I found a sword. Did several things I’d like to never think about again in order to get it, but I was told that the man who wielded that sword had Eric and so I found Hook. Took forever, Gods. I didn’t know he had magic, and it honestly wouldn’t have made much of a difference, but I--” She grits her teeth. “Well, I attacked him.” Emma does not expect that. She expects several thousand things. Not that. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Don’t bother asking him, he won’t admit it, but that’s totally what happened. I’m very cagey. Good at jumping and sneaking. I’m usually quiet. Even got the sword pointed at him. Until, you know, he went all dark magic, intimidating on me and announced that I was this realm’s biggest fool. It was very rude.” “I’m going to admit that you’ve lost me, but I’m kind of tired from the making the ship fly.” Ariel hums, a scrunch of her nose that’s probably an agreement. “The sword was Blackbeard's. Hook still had his. Obviously. Never let it out of his sight.”

“Until you.” “Yeah, me,” Ariel sighs. “I told him about Eric and Blackbeard and he wouldn't help.” “I can only say what so many times before it gets embarrassing.”

“It’s a very convoluted story, it’s understandable. He wouldn't help. Told me that love was nothing but years of eventual torment and--I know, I know,” she adds, when Emma’s face falls. “He was very dramatic about it, but that’s my point. I asked him what had happened. What could twist him like that to make him believe something he very clearly didn’t want to.” Emma swallows. She hopes her tongue stays where it’s supposed to. It doesn’t really feel like it, though, which is understandable, what with the bile in the back of her throat and the magic rushing through her and Ariel’s still got that hint of pity in her expression. 

“I was never really scared of him,” she continues softly, “not really. But--then, I...I asked him if he still loved her. The woman that broke his heart.” “And?” “Oh, Emma you know the answer to that.” “And?” “He told me your name.”

She lets out a breath, a rush of air and emotion and far too much magic, actual pinpricks of light hanging in the molecules around her. Ariel’s hand is warm when it curls around her shoulder. “And I knew, oh Gods, it was obvious,” she adds. “It was like he was being ripped apart at the seams sometimes. He’d hate you. He’d rage and everything would get clouded, that voice creeping in and reminding him you were gone and there wasn’t anything he could do about it.” “But,” Emma whispers, not sure she wants the rest. Her lungs hurt. She hurts. She really cannot get over his forearms. 

“You always brought him back. Every single time.”

Emma can’t actually sigh. She tries, but there’s not enough air in her lungs or, possibly the world, and the tears that cloud her vision make it difficult to keep ogling Killian. 

And Ariel isn’t done. 

“He’d talk about you sometimes, memories and moments and it never lasted long, but it would change everything. His whole--self would shift, straighter shoulders like he was standing at attention and trying to prove how good he was.” “And when he wasn’t?” Ariel lets out a shaky exhale. “He wasn’t. I think part of him did despise you, Emma. I think part of me hated you, for what you’d created and left behind. He never deserved that.” “I know. I--” She presses her lips together. “Did you find Blackbeard? If you two were together for awhile that must have--” “--Oh yeah, we did. He gave in eventually, told me I was like a barnacle because I wouldn’t leave him alone, but I couldn’t. I’d watched humans forever, Emma, wondered what it would be like here only to find a world that had been ripped of its magic and its light and I knew part of him missed that too. That he missed you.” She whistles, a quick something that’s probably supposed to be a wink. “You should have seen him when he realized what Rumplestiltskin was planning. He would have ripped apart the world for you.” Emma licks her lips, breathing even heavier. “That’s not really an answer to the question.” “Blackbeard wanted the ship. He didn’t have Eric anymore, but he knew where he was and Hook wouldn’t do it.” Emma’s shoulders drop, stunned into silence by the force of her thoughts and the roar of her emotions. “Right?” Ariel says, one side of her mouth pulling up. “Oh, I hated him for that. For months. Wouldn’t say a word, which he claimed was a gift, but--” Her laugh has no place in this conversation. At all. “--that changed. I wasn’t even surprised when he gave up the Jolly. Made perfect sense.” “But you found Eric, right?” Ariel hums. “I did. And that was Hook too. He, uh--coercion of the mind is apparently very difficult, even for those with all the dark magic in the realm, but...he got it out of Blackbeard. Hangman’s Island. What an awful name, right?” “It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, no.” “Ah, well, I got there eventually. Found the prince and--”

“--And answered a call from a magically enchanted seashell?” “He’s always been bad at using that,” Ariel grumbles, leaning back on her elbows and staring up towards the sky. “Can never remember that he doesn’t have to shout.” “You know it’s not very polite to talk about those when they aren’t around to defend themselves, Fisk,” Killian says, appearing in front of them like he’s teleported there. Ariel barely reacts when he steps on her left foot. 

“I’m stating facts, Hook. And what did you say to me about eavesdropping?” “Mmhm, are you going to stay up here or--” “--Please.” He grins. “Right, right, fresh air and an aversion to cramped spaced.” “The ocean is very large.” “Naturally,” he murmurs, holding his hand out for Emma. She takes it immediately. “C’mon, love, there’s got to be at least a vaguely comfortable floor somewhere on this heap.”

They make their way below deck slowly, a ladder and dew-covered rungs, and Killian’s hand never leaves hers, hook hovering just above her back, like he can’t bring himself to pull further away. Emma keeps licking her lips. 

And he notices, of course, because that’s always been the way and it probably always will be and--” “I think you’re doing it on purpose now,” Emma mumbles, spinning on her heels with her hands flying up towards his shirt and he left his jacket on the deck. There’s something very symmetrical about that. 

Killian arches an eyebrow. “Doing what?” “Toying with me. Did you read that women are super into guys with their shirts pushed up their arms in New York? Something about Fashion Week?” “I promise I was no more aware of Fashion Week while I was in New York than I was that I could have magic’ed myself out of New York.” “Oh, that wasn’t funny.” “Swan, that was hysterical.”

She sneers, not nearly enough venom to it. She’s going to blame the eyebrow. And, seriously, his forearms. It isn’t easy to pull her arm down, what with the hands that have made their way back to her hips, and they’re already in a cabin, an impressive bit of direction that’s probably the product of years spent on a ship and a life at sea and--

“You’re doing it again,” Killian mumbles, dropping his head so he can mouth at her neck. 

“Doing what?” “The magic. It’s--” His breath catches loudly when Emma refocuses, pushing the feeling out of fingers that ghost over his jaw and she probably hurts him when she yanks on his hair, but there’s more groaning and not much complaining and it feels like something tips. 

Or flies off a stolen ship, directly into the harbor. 

Emma gasps when her back slams into the wall, hips against hips and it’s all she can do to keep her balance. So, naturally, she tries to do it on one foot, wrapping her other leg around the back of Killian’s calf if only because she’s fairly certain it’ll get that-- “Fucking hell, Emma.” “It’s your fault,” she accuses, and that gets another noise, a soft grunt of disagreement with a nip of his teeth. The room is spinning. She might spinning. Gods, she hopes she’s not the one actually spinning. 

“And how--” He moves again, more friction that’s not nearly enough because Emma can’t stop squirming, an energy in every one of her limbs. “--Do you figure that?” She doesn’t answer. She can’t possibly be expected to answer. Not when he’s dragging his mouth over her skin, brands that make her forget where they are and what they’re doing and there’s a goddamn mermaid sleeping above them. Emma gasps against the feel of him, but it’s not sharp, it’s a soft sound, like giving in and falling backwards and the hook that presses against her spine is almost alarmingly cold. 

“Asshole,” she hisses, drawing a dark chuckle out of Killian. She closes her eyes, arching her back away from the metal and further into him and that’s really the point. 

As close to him as she can get. 

“That’s not an explanation, Swan.”

They’ve done this more times than she can count – which is not nearly as romantic as she wants it to be, but Emma can’t even fathom a number that would come close to the amount of times she’s kissed him – and yet. 

And yet. 

“Swan,” Killian says, dragging the name out until her shoulder pops out of her shirt. “That’s ridiculous.” “You’re running the gamut of insults, love.” He tilts his head up when she clicks her tongue, gaze bright even from underneath his eyelashes. “Although I can’t be entirely opposed to the sounds you make.” “So I’ve heard.” “Ah, are we rehasing, you think?” Emma shakes her head, a soft knock against the wall she’s still pressed into. “I just--” She’s a mess. She can’t move her hands fast enough. And his sword belt sounds impossibly loud when it falls to the floor. “Gods, I---” “What? You’ve got to tell me what you need, love.” She can’t breathe. And not because of his fingers or the goddamn curve of his lips or anything except the want in his voice, how much he means it, the honesty slamming into Emma and wrapping around every inch of her, settling into the middle of everything and making her magic spike. Again. Indefinitely. 

Every single time.

“You,” she breathes, letting her nails skid across the back of his neck until he lets out his own shuddering breath and they must move. She’s not leaning against the wall, at any rate, a mess of limbs and lips that latch back onto her neck, leaving soft scratches on her skin from the stubble on his jaw. 

And it’s all a bit of a whirlwind – discarded clothes and blankets on the floor, not entirely comfortable, but wholly perfect, the flicker of light around them soothing and only a little crazy. 

That’s the line they’re walking now, apparently. 

“I could feel it,” Killian says eventually, fingers tracing between Emma’s shoulders. “Your magic. Like it was on overload.” “Distracting?” “Eh, more like true north.” “Gods, the puns are not even funny anymore.” “Got you to laugh though,” he points out, and Emma doesn’t try to stop herself from burrowing closer to his side. “So.” “So.” “What are you thinking, Swan?” “How do you know I’m thinking?” “Because that’s what you do, love. And you’re really rather horrible at lying to me.” Emma groans, but he’s absolutely right. “Ariel said everything in this realm flipped after us. The curse and Misthaven and even you. It was---we fucked everything up and I thought it was over when the Darkness was gone, but now I’m starting to think maybe--”

“A prophecy doesn’t just end?” “Yeah, something like that. Mostly that being the Savior is kind of a full-time job.” Killian hums, cheek brushing over the top of Emma’s head when he nods, “It’s possible, I suppose. Although it doesn’t seem very fair to you. Or your magic.” “Yeah, well, that’s kind of how it works, right?” “I don’t know about that,” he mutters. “I don’t think it should. Not after everything.” “But?” “But. I know you, Swan. And I know you’re not going to stop until you have saved everyone. It’s--you wouldn't be you otherwise. So, we go to Neverland and we find some lost Arendelle princess and get all these kingdoms to believe again and the story can keep going forever, an indefinite string of absolute nonsense--” “--That’s pointed.” Killian grumbles at the interruption, sliding down to kiss between her brows. Right where the skin is pinched. “It could keep going forever, love. And I’m still going to be right here. If you’ll have me.” “What a ridiculous caveat.” “Aye, I think we’ve established my breadth of ridiculous.” She laughs again. He’s always been good at that too. “I love you.” “I love you too, Swan. Go to sleep. We’ve got some time.” Emma hums, pulling herself closer to his side and she swears she can still smell the salt in the air even after her eyes flutter shut. 

#cs ff #captain swan #cs fic #captain swan ff #all was golden in the sky #that stupid witch fic #i have to run a photo shoot with 200 people showing up at once today #finish three stories #and try not to cry again in the bathroom #so think happy thoughts #WE TIED THESE VERY MELODRAMATIC TAGS BACK AROUND TO THE PLOT #heyoooooo #(the pixie dust doesn't show up until next chapter tho)

[captain-kingliamsqueen]

Pancakes and Eggs - Liam x Riley

Pairing: Liam x MC

Word Count: 2,119

Masterlist

 ASK IF YOU WANT TAGGED! SORRY IF I MISSED ANYONE!

I always notice every single spelling mistake or issue after I’ve posted…so apologies in advance! 

Tags aren’t working so I will be tagging in the comments.

It was the morning of the annual Easter egg hunt at the palace. Every year, the royal family would invite as many children as they could to come to the palace and take part in the hunt. The staff were sent out into the palace grounds on a mission to hide as many eggs as they could. The sun was splitting the trees when Riley had woken up that morning, she smirked as she looked beside her to see Liam sound asleep, with their two-year-old daughter, Delilah, lying between the two of them. she was the most perfect little girl, she was the kindest, most considerate child. Delilah had woken earlier that morning crying, Riley had gone to check on her, the little one had not long been moved into a bed from her cot, so she was still getting used to it.

“good morning, my little deli bear” she smiled tiredly as she approached the little one’s bed. Delilah sat rubbing her tear stained eyes. Riley took a seat next to her, as Delilah climbed onto her knee, cuddling into her chest. “what’s wrong sweet pea” she whispered, “did you just get a little fright, baby?” Delilah nodded as she calmed down. Riley hated seeing her baby girl cry, she knew exactly how to cheer her up. “does deli bear wanna go see daddy?” she smirked as she seen Delilah’s face light up at just the mention of her father. “alright, come on” she smiled as she stood to her feet, with Delilah in her arms then headed back to the bedroom. Once she reached her side of the bed, she carefully placed Delilah down, she chuckled to herself as she watched her daughter wriggled over to Liam and cuddled into his chest, he instinctively moved his arm to hold her. Riley quickly followed, pulling the duvet up to cover her, both her and Delilah fell back to a sound sleep.

Riley leaned over giving Delilah a gentle kiss on the head, causing her to stir, she didn’t want her sleeping to late, the last thing they needed was her being up all night.

“Mommy?” the little one mumbled as she woke.

“hey, baby bear” Riley smiled “why don’t you and mommy go make some breakfast for daddy?”

Delilah nodded with a grin. Riley took Delilah to the bathroom where she changed her diaper then they headed for the kitchen where they made blueberry pancakes. After piling them onto plates they headed back towards the bedroom. Riley placed the tray of plates onto the bedside table, then helped Delilah up onto the bed, the little one giggled as she made her way to Liam. She climbed over him, sitting on his chest. placing her tiny hands on his cheeks as she leaned over and placed the gentlest little kiss on his nose.

“wake up Daddy Bear” she whispered so adorably “Daddy” she repeated placing another kiss on his face. Riley smirked as she seen him smile. “mommy? Daddy tired?”

“I think so baby…try again”

“daddy!” Delilah shouted as she leaned forwards and blew a raspberry on his cheek causing him to laugh as he opened his eyes.

“oh, my goodness it’s a Deli Bear!!! Help” he laughed as she done it again. “Mommy bear! Help me!”

“Daddy NOOOOO” Delilah laughed as Liam tickled her feet. She quickly moved to the end of the bed where she sat cross legged, looking at him with the same look Riley gave him when she was annoyed.

“Deli bear, I think daddy needs a morning hug”

“mmm mmm” the little one refused

“why not? You always give daddy a morning hug” Liam chuckled

“daddy tickle my tootsies!” she stood her ground.

“well, I guess you won’t want some of these delicious pancakes then mm mmm mmmmmm, you won’t be able to reach them from all the way over there” Riley giggled as their daughter’s face lit up as she jumped up to the top of the bed, climbing under the duvet beside Liam.

“can daddy get a hug?” Liam smirked knowing her answer would be no

“mm mmm” she mumbled as she watched Riley placing her bowl with cut up pieces of pancake in, in front of her. she handed Liam his plate then she took hers and climbed in on the other side of Delilah. Delilah watched Liam as he cut a piece of his pancake then lifting it on the fork…before he got a chance to put it in his mouth she shouted “DADDY!! Wait!”

“what is it sweetheart?”

“some?” she smirked as she opened her mouth, waiting for him to share.

“Delilah, you have some look” Liam pointed to her bowl.

“some?” she repeated.

Liam smirked, knowing she wouldn’t give up until he gave her a piece…she done it every time they ate, she would happily eat hers, but before she done that, she had to have a piece of his food…even if it was just the tiniest bit. They had been trying to get her out of the habit, but nothing would help. Liam couldn’t tell his daughter no, she had him wrapped around her little finger. He moved the fork for her to take the piece of food then she shoved it in her mouth with a grin.

“fank oo” she mumbled

After they finished breakfast, they placed all the plates back on the tray, then Riley climbed from the bed. “come on Deli Bear, let’s go get dressed” “Wait mommy” Delilah stopped her from lifting her “what’s wrong?” Delilah smiled as she turned to Liam and pressed a sloppy kiss on his cheek, wrapping her tiny arms around him.

“Mowning daddy”

Liam chuckled as he held her tight.

Riley and Delilah headed off to Delilah’s bedroom to get her ready, whilst Liam went to the bathroom then moved the empty plates to the kitchenette when he washed and put them away.

By the time it hit twelve o’clock the small family headed down to the palace gardens, where there were tables, and gazebos set up, the children were already running around, playing games.

Liam and Riley done their rounds with Delilah, who was dying to get away and play with the rest of the children. She wriggles as much as she could to get her hand out of Riley's grasp.

As they approached Olivia Delilah smirked, she had become extremely good friends with Olivia.

“hey squirt!” Olivia smirked as she kneeled in front of the little one. Riley let go of Delilah’s hand letting her wrap her arms around the redhead.

“you’re a jumpy little bunny today…you wanna come and play? I think uncle max is looking for Easter eggs” Delilah nodded frantically bursting to go and play.

“is that okay guys?” Olivia asked Riley and Liam as she looked up at them.

“of course, she’s dying to run around with everyone” Riley giggled Olivia took Delilah’s hand then they made their way over to Maxwell. Liam took Riley's hand in his as they finished their rounds then made their way to sit down.

“I wish she had a little friend…someone to play with” Riley frowned “she is always on her own, I know I know we obviously play with her and her aunts and uncles, but I mean someone…her age” she whispered

“well…what if we help her out?” Liam smirked

“what are you talking about?”

“well…what if we give her someone to play with…a sibling maybe”

“a sibling…” she blushed “baby number two?”

“yeah” he nodded with his hand placed gently on her leg.

“is that something you’ve thought about?” Riley smiled

“yes, a lot lately actually, she’s getting bigger, and we already said we don’t want them too far apart in age, if you were to have another baby, in the next year, they would be three years apart”

“yeah, I suppose they would be” she smiled “alright…yeah…let’s do it…lets have another baby” she whispered as she leaned in and placed a kiss on Liam's lips.

“I think she would burst if we told her she was gonna have a little sister or bother” Liam laughed

“oh definitely”

Liam gave Riley's leg a gentle squeeze as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

“I love you, Liam”

“I love you too, mommy bear” he chuckled

Not long later, Olivia returned with Delilah, with a plastic egg in the little one’s hands, and a huge grin to accompany it.

“DADDY!! DADDY!!!”

“Oh wow! Did you find an egg?” Liam asked with so much enthusiasm as he lifted her to his knee

“pink!” she held it out for him to see.

“a pink egg? Oh wow!!!”

“Delilah, sweetie, do you need a new diaper?” Riley asked, Delilah smirked knowing what was coming Riley's way.

“do you want me to do it?” Liam asked

“no, it’s okay, I’m going to the bathroom anyway”

Riley took Delilah’s hand then they made their way inside.

About five minutes after they went inside, the caterers brought food out to the tables.

Liam took a piece of food on his fork, before going to put it in his mouth.

“daddy!!!!!” Liam's head dropped with a smirk as he shook his head laughing. Just seconds later, Delilah was beside him, watching him as Riley sat down.

“yes, sweetie?”

“some?”

With a laugh Liam moved his fork for her to eat the food on it.

Liam lifted Delilah, sitting her at the table in her booster seat, where she dug into her food.

A little while after everyone ate, the children were all running around, whilst Liam was talking to some of the families there. Riley took Delilah to play with the children.

“your Majesty…” Bastian smirked as he handed Riley the item she asked him to get.

“alright guys…who wants to play a joke on King Liam?” she grinned as they all gathered together. an echo of “Me” was heard from everyone as the laughed. “alright…so this is what we’re going to do”

As she informed the children of her plan the all started laughing…” alright, so I’ll go and get him, you guys wait here” she and Delilah headed over towards where he chatted with one of the families.

“Hi, it’s so nice to meet you, apologies for the interruption” Riley smiled as she greeted the family, “Liam…” she smiled

“yes, darling?”

“the children would like to know, if you would play hide and seek with them?”

“of course, Delilah do you wanna come and play?” he asked with her hands out ready to take her from Riley.

“I think she’s getting a little tired”

“okay” he nodded before placing a kiss on Riley's lips then one on Delilah’s head then taking his leave.

“Alright guys who’s ready for a game of hide and seek!” he asked causing them all to shout and cheer.

“alright…who’s going to count?”

“YOU!!!” they all shouted

“MEEE??? Oh, Alright!” he grinned as he closed his eyes. “ready…set…go!!! Go hide!!!” he laughed as he covered his eyes. Unbeknownst to him, the children all stayed exactly where they were.

“alright deli bear…right on daddy’s head” Riley smirked as she handed Delilah the egg that Bastian have given her. Riley, Delilah and Olivia quietly approached him from behind, Riley lifted Delilah up so she could get to his head, then Delilah, raised her arm with the egg in it and brought it down on Liam's head.

“AHHHH!!!!!” Liam's hands went to his head as he laughed and turned around. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” he laughed as he tried to stop everything dripping onto his face, it was about the only place it didn’t get to, it was dripping down the back of his head, onto his Shirt.

“Daddy yuck!!!!” Delilah laughed

“Olivia…could you take Delilah for a moment” Liam smirked not taking his eyes off Riley.

Olivia agreed, then put her hands out to take the little one from Riley.

“no! she’s my protection…he won’t retaliate if I’m holding her!” Riley laughed

“livvy!” Delilah grinned reaching out for her, Riley laughed as Delilah moved from her hold to Olivia’s.

“what a traitor” she laughed

“come here” Liam smirked talking to Riley.

“no, you stay back…you’re a mess!” she slowly backed away.

“come on! Your husband wants a hug!”

“no!” she laughed as she took off, with Liam quick on her tail.

“just wait!” he called after her.

Once he eventually caught up with her, he quickly snaked his arms around her waist from behind, lifting her in the air.

“AHHHH” she laughed as Liam put her down, he bowed his head, wiping his hair on her shoulder.

“oh my god…ewwww” she chuckled. “I’m all sticky!!!!”

“good…just means you’ll have to shower with me later” he whispered in her ear, then turned and walked away.

#trr #mc x liam #liam x riley #liam x mc #king Liam x mc #king liam x riley #king liam #king liam of cordonia #the royal romance #choices the royal romance #choices the stories you play #the royal romance fanfic #trr3 #trr au #playchoices fanfic #playchoices #playchoices fandom #play choices fanfiction #choices #choices fanfiction #choices app #queen riley #riley x liam

[mentallydatingahotcelebrity]

My Friend Saw Ragnarok

Here’s her opinion on it. Warning: she’s a writer. She only has a “casual” interest in Marvel; ie she’s not a fan of Loki, is mildly interested in the MCU as a whole, and only talks about it cause it’s all I talk about outside of our writing. (We’re both writers.) Here you have it, an outside opinion of Ragnarok: 

(second warning: this is unedited except for some things I think would be hard for people to understand, which I revised to be understandable.)

LOL YES ugh. It was just bad. Okay, to compare, GotG was like that. I almost didn't like those movies the first time around because they're one of those movies where nothing is really explained, you just sort of have to go into it blindly accepting all of these random alien life forms we've never seen before and their powers and planets and scientific laws and such. It was hard for me as someone who likes a lot of reasons and lore for things, to just jump in and be swept into the current. But then they started to grow on me because once you watch them again, the nonsense of it makes sense. That's the point, that you're just suddenly joining this world that you've never seen before and just have to jump in feet first and go with it. Sakaar was like that in a bad way. The aesthetics were terrible, like I said. Literally Star Wars meets Teletubbies meets the Exodar (from World of Warcraft).

(there’s Exodar so you have a visual)

Oh and throw in some... I dunno, 70s space themes or something??? It was just BAD.

And the Exodar was BEAUTIFUL and I looove the Star Wars themes, Teletubbies, not so much LOL But mash all 3 of those together and it's terrible. Just terrible. None of those things belong together. It's like trying to put two magnets together, end to end. It's just a freakin mess and you just sit there, your muscles all locked up, trying to get it to work but it's just not happening.

And WHAT was that wretched prison/holding cell thing where the fighters were kept? That was just weird, and why did you only ever see TWO freakin gladiators?? And the rock guy was kind of cool, like you really wanted to like him but the rock appearance with his weird high pitched voice just wasn't doing it for me, and then that other alien guy who I couldn't even describe to you visually because we never saw him long enough to know what his features were. And obviously Hulk was living in the champion's bedroom, so that was that; but whyyyy did they put Thor in there with him?? It was such a bad plot point because it was just way too convenient. Like "This guy lost because we zapped him at the last second because [who knows why]. Let's throw him in the same room as our champion instead of tossing him back in the pen with the other 2 low-lifes."

There were so many other fighters outside the colosseum getting ready to fight; where WERE those guys?? We never saw them. This whole movie was like convenience to convenience. It was like reading an indie novel. Nothing extra is ever shown,only exactly what you'd expect and exactly what was needed for each scene. You might, if you're lucky, see a rare moment where a really neat plot point or worldbuilding things was implemented, but those moments were more like flukes than anything else.

The plot overall was "okay". I wasn't floored, but it had good substance underneath all that crap.

 Odin dying, Loki and Thor having to work together to defeat Hela, Asgard being taken over while Thor is stuck in some other planet as a lowly gladiator. It had good potential, but I dunno. It was one of those movies where you felt like you were always waiting for something that never came. And in the end you're not even sure what that one thing was that you were waiting for, but you finish the movie just feeling like you never got to see "it", whatever it was.

It's hard for me to judge or compare specifically because I never did see The Dark World and it's been yearrrs since I saw the original Thor.

I really liked that Hulk/Banner had a ton of screen time. I feel like he's sort of in the background of a lot of the Avengers movies, and he never did get his own movie, so it was neat to really see a lot of him. On the other side of that though, his arc was totally flat. There was nothing to it, there was nothing that made him grow or change. He was just Hulk, and then he wasn't, and then he went Hulk again in a little sacrificial moment and just stayed that way. His arc was like a really flat line with a tiny little blip in the middle where he saw Black Widow on the screen and changed back and was all confused and had that emotional moment. Then maybe another blip where he decided to go Hulk to save the Asgardians on the bridge.

Valkyrie (idr her real name) was okay. She had the potential to have a really cool arc too, getting defeated by Hela forever ago and just sinking into that abyss of being a random collector for the GM and drinking her memories away. But I felt like she stayed flat for a long time too, until finally her arc shot upwards at a 90 degree angle when she decided to help Thor after all. And after what? After Loki showed her her memories? That was it? Like she already KNEW all that, that shouldn't have been her major changing point. Also the fact that Thor just HAPPENED to find her armor on the orgy ship just FRIED me to pieces. It's those little things, guys, those little things. You can't just pull that stuff out of thin air. It's bad planning and makes the plot cheap.

Hela was another one that was just "okay." I kind of kept waiting for some real substance from her, but she just didn't have any. Once again, it was just sheer convenience that they find Odin, spend like 36 seconds with him, he tells them he's dying, Hela is coming, there's nothign they can do, he dies, she appears instantaneously and BAM. Everything is wrecked in one moment. And I felt like there was no arc for her either. I never really remember hearing about her previous to this movie, so suddenly Odin just comes out with the fact that he has a daughter that he locked away, etc etc. And we never got to see any backstory or anything on her. She just "was" and then at the end, she just "wasn't" anymore. Like she just blinked in and out. I know her story is part of the real mythology, but it felt like they were just like "Okay we have no threads left to play with from the previous movies, what else can we do?" and just pulled her out of the lore and plopped her in there. The only thing we saw of her story was when she went in the hall and broke the tiles off the ceiling and we saw the "ONE" picture of her and Odin side by side, and are basically left to imagine the rest in our heads. FLAT.

And the Odin thing felt weird to me too. It felt rushed and strange and so disappointing. I never saw TDW like I said, so I dunno what led up to that, but why was he in that "rest home" apparently? Sent there by Loki or something? And then they get there and the building is torn down? That made no sense to me. Maybe it would have if I had seen TDW. But then they find him out in Norway or whatever (I did really love the Dr Strange part) and there he sits in his terrible fashion, almost on the verge of going insane because he's so near death, but he didn't really look sick or weak, just hella old. And he's all "My time has come" and with no more warning or reason than that, he just disintegrates into nothing. Like I always expected that when Odin died, it would be this HUGE thing. Like I would expect some great moment with good music where everyone around him is all tearfully saying goodbye and then all of Asgard is mourning him. Not him going broken-glowstick on a cliff in Norway wearing horrible clothes with only Thor and Loki to see. And they didn't even seem that broken. Thor was more broken by Loki's death in IW (who he only likes about 50% of the time) than he was over his father's death who he loved dearly from what I remember.

And last but not least, Thor's arc itself was.... I dunno even. His was a weird one. His was kind of up and down. Like he lost him hammer, and I would expect some HUGE moment from him after that. Like tearing up or being angry or defeated or something but then they just shot him off to that trash planet and he was so caught up in all that weirdness there, that we never got a good moment from him. It just went like 70s hookah party so fast, that we never got any real emotion from him. And then he never had a moment of weakness. Never that "this is too hard, I'm giving this all up" like all characters have to have. He literally never lost his drive to fight, which would have been cool if there was some epic force behind that, driving him to keep pushing forward, but they really lacked on showing us why he wanted to rescue Asgard so badly. I mean he's Thor, he shouldn't need a reason, but they never let us see the emotion behind that, or let us see some tender moment where he's sitting there telling some story of Asgard and his father or Loki or his mother or anything, and talking about why it means so much to him. The only time he wanted to give up was when he went to fight Hela, and all she did was barely knock him around (less than what Banner did to him, might I add) and then suddenly it was "Poor me, I can't do this. This is too hard." They had it so backwards. He was all amped up and driven to fight her, and all cocky about it, and she smacks him around for a few minutes and suddenly he's like "I can't do this." It was just really weird placement for me.

Literally the ONLY person in the entire movie who had a good arc, was the Executioner. (idr his real name either lol) He shows up, sort of this irresponsible guy , just using his position to get girls and get "things", and then Hela comes and he has no real morales and is kind of a coward who doesn't want to stand up to her so he becomes her second hand guy. First you see him following her around like a puppy, and then he goes from that to actually carrying out her orders. (GROWTH. Even though it was in a negative direction.) Then there's that moment when Hela pulls that girl out of the crowd and tells him to kill her, and he actually hesitates for half a moment, which was SO GOOD because it made him deep. It made you realize he had regrets about it, deep inside. But then he pushes those thoughts away and goes to kill her anyway. So now you know he's totally sold out to the villain's side of things. Then towards the end, when Hela starts to lose, he goes coward, and hides away on the ship with the other Asgardians. (More change and growth, even though again, it was for the negative.) Then at the last minute, when their ship is being overrun, he makes that final decision to forget what Hela wants him to do, to forget his fears, and do what he knows in his heart is right, which was to save his people. And he does, and he dies for it. It was really brilliant. It was such a beautiful, full circle of a character.

Also he was the only one that had GOOD armor. I loved his costume and armor. Everyone else's was crap, but his was good.

I still didn't really like him that much, cause he was kind of cliche, but he was literally the best arc out of all of them, if that tells you anything.

Last but not least, they just tried waaay too hard to be funny. It was like watching some kids’ show, like Frozen or something, where all the sudden things get really meaningful or deep, and you start to feel that moving feeling in your chest like "Okay, I like where this is going." and then some random character pops their head in with some stupid comic relief and ruins the whole thing. The whole movie felt like comic relief to me. There were moments that felt natural and funny, like a few of the moments between Loki and THor, or Banner and Thor, that felt so original to the Avengers movies and I loved that. Avengers is supposed to be funny, because that's how they've always written it, but it's never just PURE humor like Ragnarok. Even Iron Man is more serious than that, and he's like the most humorous out of all of them. So I hated that they kept ruining these good moments with stupid quips or weird things.

You know what it felt like? It felt like if they let the Grandmaster actually write and direct the plot himself. "Hmm you know, I woke up this morning feeling like a public execution." And then he just does it, and what we're left with is Ragnarok.

Overall, it had such good potential but it just fell so flat.

#my friend watched Ragnarok #Ragnarok #review #a writer's opinion #Gagnarok #Thor #Loki #Hela #Odin #Korg #Asgard #Marvel

[tae-spacito]

sope: a fairytale (pt. 1)

Word Count: 3393

J-Hope (Hoseok) x Suga (Yoongi)

Genre: Fluff; some crack ;)

Warnings: none! just crackhead bs, and kinda sorta fluff? idk 

Summary: So you think you know the story of Cinderella? As children, we all must have read the fairytale, or even seen the Disney movie, I’m sure! But have you heard of the fairytale of how Sope came to be? No? Well kiddos, here we have Hoseok, whose father is always out travelling for business, so he’s living with his step-mother and step-brothers, Namjoon and Seokjin. Meanwhile, on the other hand, we have our very own Prince Charming: Min Yoongi! Now buckle up kids, we’re gonna go on a magical ride! Here is the story of how Jung Hoseok and Min Yoongi lived happily ever after. ❤️

AN: YO WHADDUP TUMBLR!! It’s been a while since I updated with a story here... sorry!! :( I’ve been too busy with university and all, yea I know, excusessssss... besides, I’m now on break! So hopefully I can balance work with writing and y’all can get more frequent updates. Please enjoy this little weird thing I wrote up. It turned out to be way too long so I gotta split it up into 2 parts! Also to those who just finished exams, congratulations! And to those who just graduated, congrats to you all as well! Anywaysss, enough blabbing on my part. Happy reading!! *sends love* 

Hoseok quickly dashed into his room as soon as his step-brothers left the house. He threw open his closet doors and skimmed through his clothes, searching for the perfect outfit for the party.

“Shit, I can’t find anything to wear! I’m going to miss the biggest party of the year!” Hoseok whined.

Finding something close to suitable to wear in public, Hoseok ran into the bathroom and got ready. Upon coming out of his room, he searched for his favourite pair of shoes, which were nowhere to be seen.

“Argh, Namjoon did not just hide my Balenciaga’s…” Hoseok grunted. He ended up slipping on his worn-out loafers, fixed his orange-dyed hair and left the premises.

He had to make sure no one knew he got out of the house. Not even his step-brothers, Namjoon and Seokjin, or his step-mother. If they did, he’d be done for.

“And so, all eligible sons and daughters may attend the party hosted by Prince Yoongi, son and heir of the Kingdom. Please RSVP as soon as possible, since we need a few days to arrange for the guests.”

Hoseok’s stepmother closed the invitation and carefully placed it back into its thick and cream coloured envelope.

“Well my boys, looks like you two will be going to the party and having tons of fun, right?” Step-mother crooned.

“Hell, yeah mom! I’m gonna pick up some hot chicks and probably, hopefully, really get into something serious with one of ‘em.” Seokjin smirked. Namjoon elbowed him in the stomach.

“OW you idiot! What was that for?!”

Namjoon smiled sweetly and stepped forward, “Mom, I’ll make sure Seokjin doesn’t do anything stupid out there. We don’t want anyone spreading weird stuff about our family, right?”

Namjoon, Seokjin and the step-mother were busy planning about the party, meanwhile Hoseok was in the kitchen washing the huge load of dishes. He sighed and wistfully thought about Prince Yoongi’s party at Club Monaco, which was one of the most prestigious nightclubs in the city. Gathering courage, Hoseok entered the living room and asked Step-mother if he could go to the party as well.

“Huh? Hoseok, you want to go to the party?” Step-mother scoffed, “why, you don’t even have anything to wear!”

“Yeah mom, I know that, I was thinking of using my allowance money to go to the nearest store and buying some—”

“Oh, are you gonna match your outfit with your ugly neon green Balenciaga’s?” Namjoon snickered.

Hoseok gasped, “They’re not ugly! You guys just don’t know how to appreciate true fashion!”

Seokjin cackled, “Yeah f’ing right. You? Fashionable? What kind of delulu shit are you getting yourself into?”

“Boys, that’ll be enough!” Step-mother raised her voice. “Hoseok, if you want to go with your brothers, you’ll have to make sure the entire house is clean, and all your chores are completed!”

“Not to forget, find some other shoes to wear.” Seokjin muttered. Namjoon snickered upon hearing him.

Hoseok felt that he had a chance to prove to his step-mother that he can and will succeed in whatever he puts his mind onto. He had to go to the party, and no one would stop him otherwise.

Turns out, he wasn’t able to finish his chores, as Step-mother kept assigning him more things to do. On top of that, he had so much homework to catch up on but whilst in the middle of all this, he didn’t even touch his school bag. His step-mother had gone out to a friend’s place for a get-together, while Namjoon and Seokjin were on their way to Club Monaco in a luxurious limousine, where they would have the time of their lives.

Hoseok carefully placed pillows on his bed and covered them to make it look like he was sleeping before he left. If his step-mother came home and noticed the bed was empty, he’d be screwed. He left his house and locked the door and searched for a taxi to take him to the party.

It was 9 pm, the party is probably just getting started, Hoseok mused. He searched everywhere on the streets for a taxi, but none were in sight. Having wasted over 30 minutes on his street, Hoseok gave up and decided to walk towards the venue.

Passing by alleyways, Hoseok noticed people hiding around in them doing who knows what. Probably super sketchy stuff. Nonetheless, that meant he needed to get out of the area as soon as possible before he landed himself into trouble. A pungent smell wafted in the air, smelling like a mixture of a skunk’s spray and rotten eggs. The scent became more prominent as if he were coming close to it, or the smell was coming close to him.

Goosebumps rose along Hoseok’s arms and across the back of his neck. Feeling as though he was being watched or followed. He heard footsteps clapping loudly against the stone-cold pavement and heavy breathing behind him. He tries to look behind him without being too obvious and noticed two shadows on the ground. Not knowing what to do, he sped up and ran further away from the men that were following him.

Hoseok kept running, without paying attention to where he was going. His foot stumbled upon a rock and he tripped and fell onto the sidewalk.

“Oof!”

“Hey, kid! Watch where you’re going! What’re you doing here anyway?” One of the men grunted.

The two mysterious people stepped closer as they towered over Hoseok, shifting backwards as he was whimpering in fear. Before anyone could take action, Hoseok felt a harsh grip on his arm as it pulled him up and dragged him through one of the shops that were closed for the night.

It can definitely be said that Hoseok was screaming his ass off. Not to mention, clawing his sudden attacker on his neck.

“OW! Hoseok, shut up!” A deep voice exclaimed.

“WhoareyouandwhydidyoudragmeinhereIwilltellyourightnowthatmydadisacopand—“ Hoseok rambled loudly in fear until the lights flickered on and he noticed that he was in fact, safe and sound, and within safe perimeters.

He slowly glanced in front of him and saw his best friend Taehyung sitting in front of him wearing-

“What the fuck Tae! Also, what the hell are you wearing?!”

“OH GEE! I saved you from those weirdos out there, and you attack me, scream in my ear, attack my Gucci apparel, and I don’t even get a freaking thank you?!” Taehyung wailed.

Hoseok sighed deeply as he got up, rubbing his arms and walked towards Taehyung.

“Ok, thank you for saving my life and not letting me wither away out there in the cold and in the presence of those big guys. Also, what’s with the outfit? Trying out to be Gucci’s next top brand ambassador?”

Taehyung took off his oversized sunglasses and cocked an eyebrow. He was wearing an oversized white collared shirt, tucked into khaki coloured pants that flared out. He wore leather slippers, obviously Gucci, and a thick red, green and black striped belt, also Gucci. To top it all off, he had on a purple velvet cloak and a loosened red Gucci tie around his neck.

“Bro please, I was trying to make a fashion statement since I thought I was gonna be alone tonight at the shop. Guess I had some rescuing to do.” Taehyung rolled his eyes. “Besides, didn’t you say you were going to that party hosted by Prince Whoongi?”

“It’s Yoongi, you prick.” Hoseok rolled his eyes.

“Whatevs. Hey, what the heck are you wearing? You call that party wear?” Taehyung asked.

Hoseok flushed, “Y-yeah I was trying to find a good outfit for tonight but… but Mother wouldn’t let me…” He looked down, fumbling around with the hem of his shirt.

“Well Hobi, fear not!!” Taehyung exclaimed, “Wanna know why? ‘Cuz your fairy godmother, Vantae Kim is here to save the day! I mean, night!” He immediately rushed to the back of the room and began to frantically search through hangers.

With mock disgust, Hoseok took a step back, “Bro isn’t that some photographer guy? Did you actually just try to merge your name with his?” He snickered.

“Shut up, you need me the most at this time. Don’t you want to catch Yoongi’s attention there?” Taehyung winked, throwing finger guns at Hoseok.

“Oh, come on man, a prince? Noticing me? Have you been watching too many dramas these days?” Hoseok laughed.

“I may have watched too many dramas, but at least I know what needs to be done in terms of attracting someone into your pants.” Taehyung wiggled his eyebrows, smiling suggestively. He walked over to Hoseok carrying a ton of clothes and dumped them into his hands.

“Try this stuff on, I’ll help you arrange your look afterwards. Go, go, go!” He shoved Hoseok towards the dressing room.

Hoseok tried to speak but Taehyung shut the dressing room’s door on his face before he could even say a word.

“Wha—"

Taehyung called out behind the door, “I’ll be here picking out some accessories for you ok? Shout if you need me!”

“OK!” Hoseok called out in response, “Now where do we start…” he murmured, looking at the pile of clothes Taehyung picked out for him.

20 minutes later

Hoseok shifted uneasily as he put his hand on the doorknob. Deeply inhaling, he opened the door and walked outside of the dressing room.

“Ahh, there you are! I was wondering what took you so—” Taehyung turned around and stopped as he took in the view of Hoseok standing right in front of him.

“Oh, daaaamn! Hobi, my man, you look dashing as hell!”

Hoseok wore a crème coloured collar silk shirt with a bow adorning the neckline, slightly uneven, paired with a floral blazer on top, and black jeans. The sleeves of the silk shirt were protruding from the sleeves of the blazer, giving his outfit a classy touch. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he tried to avert his eyes from Taehyung, embarrassed by his reaction.

“D-do I look ok?” Hoseok stammered.

“Bro, I think you’re gonna snatch everyone’s hearts once you step into the party. Seriously.” Taehyung smiled his boxy grin, “hol’ up, lemme fix your shirt for you.”

Taehyung tucked in Hoseok’s silk shirt into his jeans and fixed the bow to make it even.

“There, much better!” Taehyung patted Hoseok’s shoulder, “now let’s fix your hair, and then find you some good shoes.” Unbeknownst to Hoseok, his best friend secretly smirked when he turned Hoseok around towards the stairs.

Hoseok was dragged upstairs to Taehyung’s “lair” where he spent 90% of his time designing new clothes and outfits. Not to mention experimenting on his workroom walls with paint. This lair was actually his apartment, which he personally got constructed so he could be close to his business. Hoseok sat down on the king-sized mattress, glancing at Taehyung in confusion as he dug through his personal closet. A few minutes later, Taehyung brings out a small rectangular shaped cardboard box, which seemed to carry a pair of shoes. He sets the box aside as he motions to Hoseok to get up and sit down in front of the vanity.

“This box is for later, let’s not worry about it. First, I gotta focus on making you look presentable.” Taehyung smirked.

Taking out a comb, blow dryer and some unrecognizable hair products, Taehyung began to work away. Not knowing where to look, Hoseok just sat there with his eyes closed. Seeing that, Taehyung chuckled quietly to himself, knowing that once he opens his eyes, he’ll be shocked. A few minutes later, Taehyung steps back to admire the hairstyle he created.

“Yo Hobi, wanna do me a favour and open your eyes so I can get some amazing feedback on the work I did?” Taehyung teased.

Hoseok slowly opened an eye as he looked at the person sitting across from him. His reflection. Having his hair blow-dried as it was styled to perfection. His hair was parted from the right, exposing some of that glorious forehead that Hoseok always covered up with his orange-dyed locks. Taehyung applied some hairspray to ensure that his hair doesn’t become unruly.

“Tae… is… is that me?” Hoseok pointed to his reflection with widened eyes.

“YES!! It is you! Do you like it?!” Taehyung squealed as he drummed his fingers along the desk he was leaning upon.

“I’ll be honest, I’ve seen you work wonders on others when you style them for their shoots but this? This is incredible. I-I don’t know how to thank you??” Hoseok grinned.

Taehyung hit Hoseok’s shoulder as he feigned annoyance, “Listen, did I not tell you I’d be your fairy godmother for tonight? I don’t need anything in return! I just need you to do me one favour though”

“Which is?”

“Go and have the time of your life!!” Taehyung yelled enthusiastically, “Oh, let me take a few pictures of you! You’ll charm everyone’s pants off!!” He grabbed his camera and snapped a few pics, earning a chuckle from Hoseok as he weirdly posed for the camera.

“Oh right! Before we forget…” Taehyung remembered the box he took out of his closet. He walked across his room and fetched the shoe box, and placed it in Hoseok’s hands, “Open it!!!” Taehyung gleefully smiled.

Hoseok looked at him in confusion, shook his head and slowly opened the box. He peered into the box, then suddenly his eyes widen in surprise.

“TAE, ARE THESE THE NEWEST BALENCIAGAS?!” Hoseok yelled. He stroked the smooth leather of the loafers.

“Surpriiiseidiot! I had these shipped in for you so I could give it to you for your birthday next year before these even entered the market. Consider this entire thing my birthday treat for you. You owe me big time, dude.” Taehyung grinned.

“Yo, I’ll make it up to you, big time. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!”Hoseok jumped around.

“No need, my man! I was just joking! There’s no need to owe me back anything at all! Put them on, I’ll go call a taxi to take you there.” Taehyung smiled warmly, patting Hoseok’s shoulder.

Taehyung called a taxi to take Hoseok to Club Monaco, and Hoseok sat down to wear his shoes. The two went downstairs to the entrance of the stores, excitedly conversing about the party. Once the taxi arrived, he hugged Hoseok tightly.

“Also, another thing I must mention to you, as your fairy godmother,” Taehyung put on a serious tone, “this isn’t real life Cinderella, where you need to get back home before midnight, where your carriage turns into a pumpkin, and horses into mice. Go have fun and get some action for once!” He ended off with a cheeky grin.

Hoseok laughed, getting into the taxi, “Okay, bro! I’ll update you on everything! Not, every, every single thing, but anyways, I really wish you could come with me!”

Taehyung shook his head, “Nah dude, I got tons of designing to do for my upcoming clothesline. But definitely next time, we’ll go together!”

Hoseok pouted, “Argh, alright. Good luck! Let me know how things go!”

Taehyung winked, “I think I should be saying that to you, shouldn’t I? Lemme know if you got into someone’s pants by the end of the night!”

“Shut up, Tae! I’m not giving you any details!” Hoseok cringed.

“Uhh, if you guys are done, can we go now?” The driver hesitantly asked, face beet red.

Hoseok and Taehyung turned to look at the driver, and Hoseok choked out a ‘yes’ while his face, in turn, was becoming red. The driver probably thought they were both nuts. In fact, everyone in town thought the two were nuts. Ever since Taehyung made Hoseok run through the town butt-naked, and in turn forced Taehyung to climb the local seamstress’s roof and yodel at the ass crack of dawn. Ahh, just best friend things!

Hoseok shut the door and waved goodbye to his best friend, as the taxi driver drove off into the night.

Approximately 15 minutes later, they drove through a luxurious neighbourhood with lots of expensive cars, flashy outdoor home apparel and huge fountains decorating most of the entrances of the mansions they pass by. Hoseok gaped at the view with his mouth in a slight o-shape. He didn’t realize when the car stopped until the driver told him they arrived.

“It’ll be $15.75 please.” The driver hummed.

Hoseok took out his wallet and saw that he was short of 75 cents, but since the taxi driver seemed to be in a good mood, he accepted the $15 from him and drove off. He turns around and observes his surroundings. There right in front of him was the most prestigious club of all time, Club Monaco.

The club was surrounded by palm trees and soft hues of blue and green rays shone up from the lights embedded on the sidewalk. Hoseok could hear a soft bass thumping noise coming from the entrance, not too loud to deafen his ears though. As he approached the red carpet, he enters a line-up of people that were trying to get in. Still not familiar with the atmosphere, Hoseok kept glancing around and absorbing each and every little thing he could notice. From faint splashing noises, indicating an outdoor pool of some sort, to the people’s outfits, Hoseok took note of everything. He just tried not to show himself as a newbie amongst all the elite people he was surrounded by.

“Heard the bouncer is being quite selective about who enters and who doesn’t…” He overhears a girl talking to her friends. Suddenly getting nervous, Hoseok turns around and asks,

“What do you mean being selective about who goes in? Doesn’t everyone get access to the club?”

The girl shook her head, her long brown locks moving around with every movement, “Not tonight I’m afraid, it’s the Prince’s party, they must have some sort of agenda they’d be following.”

Hoseok sighed, “Well, maybe I should get going. This isn’t a place for some commoner like me.”

“Commoner? Boy, are you out of your mind? You look freakin’ gorgeous! I’m betting they’ll totally let you in!” The brunette replied with a grin, “Am I right ladies?”

One girl gave him a once over and winked, while the other friend smirked and nodded. “You’ll be fine! Say, this your first time at Club Monaco?” The brunette asked, “My name’s Natalie, by the way!”

“Nice to meet you, Natalie!” Hoseok smiled cheekily, “I’m Hoseok, and yes, it’s my first time here. Kinda nervous, but really excited to see what this place has in store tonight!”

Natalie scooted closer, “Hoseok, huh? Let me tell you one thing, don’t miss the chance to check out the outdoor pool they got here! You’ll love it!” She grinned.

The line-up near the entrance quickly started to move, and Hoseok, Natalie and her two friends were at the door. The bouncer looked at Hoseok, giving him a once over and gave a nod, sending the approval for entering. He looks at the three girls and scrunched his nose. Before the bouncer said anything, Hoseok interrupted him.

“The girls are with me.” He smiled suavely, showing off his pearly whites. The man raised his eyebrows and smiled, “Ok, go on in. Have fun ladies!”

Natalie and her friends cheered as she gave Hoseok a hug, “Thanks, love! I believe you saved our girl’s night out!”

Hoseok raised his hand for a high five and Natalie reciprocated, “I believe you three have to go and enjoy your night now, I won’t be holding you back any longer!”

Natalie gushed, “But first, let’s exchange numbers! Let’s not let this be the first and last meeting we have!”

Hoseok, Natalie and her two friends, named Laura and Jasmine, all exchanged numbers and went their own respective ways. Not knowing where to go first, Hoseok opened the first door he saw in his line of sight and entered the room. Muted music suddenly blared into his ears as he cracked the door open. Hoseok’s mind, body and soul were all ready to be engulfed by the music as he got ready to spend one of his best nights at Club Monaco, not realizing how truly amazing of an experience it would be for him.

A/N: end of part one! i apologize if there are any spelling or grammatical errors in here hahaha i will be coming in with part 2 soon! as always, if you have any questions, feedback, or even requests, feel free to send me an ask! take care fellow readers, happy summer! :)

#bts #bts fanfic #bts fanfiction #bts smut #bts writing #kim namjoon #bts rm #bts namjoon #kim seokjin #bts jin #worldwide handsome #min yoongi #bts suga #min suga #lil meow meow #jung hoseok #bts jhope #hobi #jhope #sope #yoonseok #hwagae market #sunshine hobi #park jimin #bts jimin #jimin #mochi #chimchim #serendipity #kim taehyung

[everything-is-by-design]

SPN!Lucifer & Reader Shipping Imagine

Gender neutral imagine. We’re just going to assume that the reader is friends with the Winchesters. Gabriel, Castiel, and Balthazar are mentioned. I didn’t include Jack because I didn’t want to. Sorry, not sorry. This is also relatively dirty, because Lucifer, honestly. This was fun to write. Hope y’all enjoy it!

-He pops up into your life and always scares you, the slight flutter of wings never being enough notice. “Dammit Lucifer! You need a bell around your neck.” He obviously doesn’t stop, finding subtle amusement in making you jump. He makes up for it with kisses, which you never deny.

-He shows up where you work and bugs you, “Are you done yet?”, “I’m bored, are you done?” He also makes sure to be invisible to everyone but you, so you look like a crazy person who is talking to yourself. He thinks this is amusing as well even though it drives you crazy. He thinks kissing will make up for anything, really.

-If customers are rude to you at work he threatens them, “You know, no one would miss her, she’s being a bitch to you.” “Lucifer, stop. You can’t just kill rude people.” “Sure I can, I’m the devil.” You glare at him. He smiles.

-Lucifer is basically a cat, he paws at you constantly, usually your butt. You have to smack him in the arm to make him stop. He waits for any opportunity for you to bend over so he can prod at your ass. You consider seeing if he would chase a laser pointer. “Lucifer, stop it!” You secretly kind of like it.

-He hates the fact that you’re friends with the Winchesters, and tries to intervene when they call you. He will go so far as to hiding your phone on you and then will act completely oblivious as to its whereabouts. “Seriously, Lucifer? You’re such a child.” “Yeah, but you love me.” More glaring and smiling.

-When you manage to reunite with the Winchesters, Lucifer tags along. You insist that you can handle yourself. His harsh gaze softens when he thinks of you getting hurt. “Lucifer, I don’t need a babysitter.” “Just think of me as your guardian angel.”

-He gets incredibly jealous when you interact with the boys, especially if you touch them in any way, even if it’s platonic. He times your hugs and yanks you away if you’ve exceeded ten seconds. “Okay, that’s enough.” “Lucifer, it’s just a hug.” “Don’t care.”

-He’s always flirting with you and uses his Grace to tease you at the worst times and usually in public. Of course, you adore the sensation and very rarely ask him to stop. “Don’t make a sound.” “Or what?” “Or else I’ll have to punish you.”

-Your touch drives him insane and you know it. He had no idea how much of an effect a human could have on him. Even the smallest bit of contact makes him shift on the spot. You’ll rest your hand on his thigh and trace small circles into his pants absentmindedly. He tries not to let you see how much it affects him but fails and pounces on you.

-He refers to you as ‘mine’ all the time. He makes you say that you’re his. You love saying it, mainly to see the desire and satisfaction rise in his eyes. “You’re mine too, ya know.” “Oh?” “Yup, and I will cut down anyone who tries to take you from me.” He praises your violence.

-Any time you go shopping for clothes, you come home and your choices have somehow mysteriously changed colour. Lucifer taps his chin and smiles, “Ah, yes. Red suits you nicely.” “Yeah, except most of these items were black and blue.” “Weird, I wonder what could have happened.”

-You’re in heat most of the time around him, and he tortures you endlessly. You’ll be on your bed and he’ll stand over you, arms folded and admiring your squirming as he edges you with his Grace. You begging for release gives him the biggest hard-on, as well as you saying his name out of pure desperation. “What’s the magic word, pet?” “Please.” “Please what?” “Please Lucifer.” He snaps his fingers and you slip into ecstasy gasping his name in an unholy chant.

-You pray dirty things to him. All. The. Time. And you’re graphic about it too. He’ll show up all ragged and almost sweating a little. “Oh, I like the way you think.”

-You challenge his dominant nature, in which he’ll pin you to the wall with his hand around your neck. He doesn’t put any pressure on your throat but you revel in the feeling. Seeing your eyes roll back into your head from the gesture turns him on to no end.

-You’re bratty with him. You make jabs at him and bug him for the sole purpose of his domination over you. He’ll hold out for a decent amount of time but after you keep irritating him, he’ll snap and fuck you into submission. “Is this what you wanted, huh? To be my little bitch?” “Fuck yes, Sir!” “Who do you belong to?” “Lucifer! I belong to Lucifer!” The grin on his face pushes you over the edge.

-Even though you adore challenging him, you’re also quite obedient, and you enjoy seeing what this does to the great and powerful archangel. “On your knees.” “Yes, my king.” Lucifer bites his lip as lust fills his eyes.

-When you’re ‘dying’ of hot flashes, you make him take his shirt off and press yourself against him. He pats your back awkwardly, “Are you okay?” “I’m so warm and you’re a walking ice box.” “Is that a compliment?” Lucifer wraps his arms around you and you sigh happily. He’ll kiss your forehead and smirk at what an adorably strange human you are.

-You ask to see his wings. He’ll show you the shadow but you roll your eyes and gingerly ask if you see his actual wings. After some consideration he agrees. He releases the huge appendages and you marvel at their beauty. Even though his wings are black, they aren’t empty like the vacuum of the void. More like the vastness of space with chaotic glinting stars embedded in each feather. You’re completely mesmerized and you run your fingers through his wings. He watches you with admiration. You repeat the word ‘beautiful’ consistently. He moans as you preen him and he holds onto his control as tight as he can before snapping and ravishing you.

-He enjoys preening very much, having never experienced it previously. To an angel, preening/grooming is very intimate and also quite relaxing. You’ll sit on the couch and Lucifer will be sitting cross-legged on the floor with his wings spread wide while you run your fingers through his feathers. His head usually slumps forwards and his breathing is heavy. It always looks like he’s falling asleep. “You okay over there Satan?” “Don’t stop.” “Feels good, huh?” “You have no fucking idea.”

-When you’re away from him you notice that there are always a few demons close behind you. They trail you and peek around corners to keep an eye on you. You always catch them looking at you and you give them ‘what the fuck’ looks, to which they avert their gaze completely. You ask Lucifer why demons are stalking you, “Seriously, is that necessary?” “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

-You end up buying the stalkers demons coffee which they hesitantly take and smile a ‘thank you’. You have to reassure them, “It’s not poisoned.” “Thank you, ma’am.” “You’re scared of him, aren’t ya? It’s okay, I won’t say anything.” “Bloody terrified, ma’am.” You laugh hysterically.

-Lucifer claims you as his mate and always has a hand on you in some fashion when you’re both around his siblings. Lucifer stares menacingly at them and they keep their distance; save for a few. Gabriel likes to present new and exciting candy to you and you return the favour. Castiel helps you plant flowers to help the bees. Balthazar shows you his aged scotch with a proud smile, you play him ‘My Heart Will Go On’ and he frowns at Lucifer who laughs.

-Lucifer talks to you about his siblings and his father. He opens up to you and you feel incredibly privileged. He shows emotions around you and when you validate them an unexplained warmth fills his essence and he falls further in love with you. He listens to you too, but you almost have to give him a warning before you start talking because you know he’ll get all huffy at the thought of someone hurting you in any fashion. “If I tell you this, you can’t kill them.” Lucifer pouts. “I mean it, Luci.” “Alright, I won’t do anything.” His childish smile makes you suspicious.

-He is surprisingly affectionate with you; giving you forehead kisses, cheek kisses, being gentle and kind with you. He will hug you, sometimes randomly and you always embrace him until he lets go. However, he does the same for you so now neither of you really know when to let go. Lucifer is still an angel and doesn’t really understand time or human interactions, “Should I let go now?” “If you want to.” Lucifer thinks this is a test, “Do you want me to?” “Of course not, halo head.” He laughs at your sad attempts at insulting him.

#spn!lucifer #lucifer x reader #lucifer #shipping imagine #supernatural #smut #fluff #gabriel #castiel #balthazar

[angelkurenai]

Seal of approval - Bill Skarsgard x Reader

Title: Seal of approval

Pairing: Bill Skarsgard x Reader

Warnings: None

Imagine: YN is Stephen King youngest daughter,and also a very famous author on her own!Bill is a HUGE fan(*wink,wink) and one day she goes to set to see her dads work and Bill sees her for the first time,and he's just so adorkable that's painful,so dad King and the kids help him to talk to his crush .It could be him talking about it on an interview (they're dating now)

- Flashback -

“Yeah, of course sweetheart. Just drop by on set, I'm sure it won't bother anybody.” the man paused for a moment hearing what the person was saying on the other line before smiling and nodding his head subtly without realizing they couldn't see him “Of course, I'm sure Andy wouldn't mind you sticking around. If anything he'd be very glad if you gave him a hand with directed when you're that good.”

He paused for another moment before continuing “Alright, yes. There are plenty of people here to greet you anyway and I'm sure once the kids find out you'll be here they are going to drop everything and be all over you in a matter of seconds. You will definitely not feel alone!”

And another small pause before he chuckled “Ok-” he glanced at Bill that was flipping through the pages of the script “Yeah yeah Pennywise will be just as happy, I know that.” he said, catching Bill's attention for a second “See you in a little while, sweetheart. Love you too.” he added in the end before hanging up.

“Everything ok?” he asked, trying to be as polite as possible because it wasn't really his business.

“Yeah just fine, sorting out some things is all.” Stephen shrugged “We'll be having visitors, that's all.”

“That's what Pennywise will be happy about?” Bill asked with a small smile and Stephen nodded his head with a chuckle.

“Oh trust me, you'll be more than happy. And without any spoilers, I'm just going to say we're talking about a great fan of yours and this story. But you'll see later, now onto work. You were saying?” he said with a smirk and focused back on the script he had in front of him as well.

“Oh alright yeah, uh about that scene...” and Bill continued to explain to the author how he wanted to go with it although part of his mind was still on the topic that had started with this mysterious phone call. He couldn't even tell who the person was in specific and part of him, great part of him that at the moment kept him from fully focusing on the scene, and it was a very giddy part of him that hoped it could be his daughter. You.

He wished, wanted it real bad, but at the same time feared it would be you because he didn't know how he'd react to all of it with how much of a fan of yours he was. He wanted to think he could act all cool and calm but at the same time his brain refused to think of any good scenarios. And then there was the part that thought it could be all his hopes getting high and in the end he'd be let down by it.

~*~

“Bill, hey Bill! Wait!” a voice called after the actor and once he heard it he turned around to face the group of kids running towards him.

“Hey guys, what's up?” he asked asked with a small smile, all of his attention leaving the script and going on them.

“Did you see her?! We've been trying to find her but only Sophia, Jackson and Wyatt have seen her so far. We asked Mr King but he had no idea.” Jack said with a small shrug and tight smile and Bill's frown deepened.

“See who? I was with him about an hour and a half ago but didn't see anybody.” he said, taking another sip of his coffee.

“Oh she came only half an hour ago but we had a scene and couldn't see her. We thought you might have.” Jaedenexplained.

“She? I'm sorry guys but I have no idea what you're talking about.” he shook his head.

“What? Did you not learn the news?” Jack was the first one to ask all excited.

“What news?” he asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Dude you live to much in the sewers you know that right?” Finn asked with a scoff and the boys snickered as Bill chuckled “You should get out a little, see the light of the sun and interact with people. You know, more normal ones that don't eat kids!”

“Careful now, you might float down there too Richie.” he said with narrowed eyes and a creepy smirk, his voice almost close to the one he used for Pennywise, and they all laughed.

“Oh my I really hope not, he's been one of my favorite characters ever since I was a kid.” another voice sounded behind Bill and he almost froze in his place as the gasps from the boys were heard.

“Holy freaking shit! I'm dreaming, someone pinch me. Someone pinch me!” Jack exclaimed, holding onto Finn's arm and shaking him violently.

“Ow!” he exclaimed and jumped when Finn gave him a hard pinch and glare “I wasn't talking seriously!” he huffed and Finn shrugged.

“You said it.” he mumbled.

Your giggle filled Bill's ears and he found it in himself to turn around and face the source of the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard. He almost felt like all air go knocked out of his lungs and he coul barely hold on his coffee and script much less have his legs support him. Yet they did and that was a great surprise.

“Well it certainly is a great pleasure to meet you all as well.” you said with a soft smile, eyes moving between the kids as you took all of it in.

“Great great great pleasure to meet you as well!” Jack said with a wide grin, moving forwards first and the rest of the boys followed suit, pushing Bill backwards so they could all face you, circling you like the great fans they too were of you. Shaking one after the other's hands very excitedly because their enthusiasm was purely contagious.

“Don't mind him, he was casted as Eddie for a reason.” Finn shook his head “But it's really great to meet you in person! We've all read at least one or two of your books and are great fans!” he extended a hand and you shook it with a soft smile.

“This really is so sweet and nice to hear! I'm so happy about it, my father has talked to me a lot about you and it feels like I know all of you! I've always wanted to visit you on set but I just got a little too busy.” you said with a sheepish shrug.

“It's better late than never.” Jaeden said with a smile and shrug “Besides we've all been asking him to invite you over on set for quite some time he must have gotten tired of us.”

“I definitely agree, but it's alright. I don't think any other kid can ever give all the trouble I've given to him as a child. Good thing for him is that I finally grew up and turned out to be more mature than he is at times!” you chuckled “Also, I've been dying to meet you all to be honest. I've seen some of your work and it is all so so amazing! I really need to give a congratulations to all of you for all the great work I've seen so far and above all-” no words left your lips as you looked at the older actor who only seemed like a deer caught on headlights.

“And you're Pennywise, right?” you breathed out and he almost jumped, feelings his throat close when your eyes locked with his and even more so when you smiled at him “Bill Skarsgard-” boy did he love the sound of his name coming out of your lips so so much “It's such a great pleasure to meet you in person, I've been a great fan of yours for so long!”

“Oh he-he- hello? I'm- wow- you are- really? I was- never thought- have never thought-” and as expected he didn't do all that well with forming the right words because everything in his mind was a mess.

“Don't mind him, he's not usually this awkward. Not when trying to kill us.” Jaeden said with a shrug and you chuckled.

“But to translate his words: Hello, it's great to meet you as well. I'm Bill but you obviously already know that and I am at a total loss because of that. Oh and because I am a huge fanboy of course!” Finn said in a different voice tone and shrugged and the boys giggled as Bill shot them a small glare.

“S-sorry about that.” he finally managed to say with a small smile and you just shook your head with a smile.

“It's absolutely fine, I know how it feels.” you shrugged.

“Oh no you don't! You seriously don't!” Jack didn't miss a second to pipe in and you grinned, raising an eyebrow as you still looked at Bill who seemed to be even more nervous than he was before.

“I really have to agree with him.” Jaeden said casually “We all are fans but Bill takes it to the next level.”

“It's because he's a huge fan, if you know what I mean.” Finn nudged you with a smirk and you grinned, your eyebrowsshot up.

“Wink wink.” Jack added and they all snickered.

“But it's kinda weird you know?” Finn said casually “You'll have to go to your dad and say 'Hey dad, I may or may not begoing out on a date tonight with that creepy clown from your book. No big deal, right?”' yeah not easy.” he shrugged with his hands in his pockets and you raised an eyebrow, glancing at Bill whose eyes were wide in pure shock.

“Date?” you smirked and they chuckled.

“Oh what he hasn't asked you out yet? Oops. Sorry.” Finn pretended it in a quite poor and fake way that he was actually sorry.

“Spoiler alert!” Jack exclaimed before they all laughed “You're welcome by the way!” he said to Bill, patting him as high as he could reach on the back of the older actor.

“We'll see you later, (Y/n), hopefully I guess. If Bill lets us have some time with you.” Jaeden said with a smile and the other boys laughed “We have a scene now and we should get going!” he glanced at one of the crew members motioning for them to follow him.

“Try not to stutter too much and remember to breath! You'll be just fine!” Jack tried to make him feel cool and relaxed but all the teasing was not making things easier.

“And if you need any more tips we are always here!” Finn gave him a thumbs up before the boys ran off.

“Well-” you chuckled after a small awkward pause followed “They really take teasing to a hole other level huh?”

“Yeah s-sorry about that, it- well, it usually doesn't happen and... I probably shouldn't have let out on how much I admire you and your work either.” he laughed nervously, looking down at his feet.

“And I guess I shouldn't have let my father know how really excited I was about you getting casted as Pennywise.” you mumbled, more shyly than him and he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow shocked but pleasantly stunned “I mean I definitely wanted to see his work come to life, that was always my favorite thing about his books being a movie, but this time it was more special. This... is different, it's-” you paused, biting your lip “Well, I told you you're not the only fan here.”

“That's- You mean-” he blinked, just when he thought he could talk properly he went back at it “I made it special?” he caught himself whispering in awe and with a soft chuckle you nodded your head.

Well he would certainly not be able to form a proper sentence after that.

- End of Flashback -

“It feels-” Bill chuckled, glancing at his hands “It feels like it was just yesterday, you know? When we auditioned, when I- I talked with Stephen King for the character, when we got the make up done for the first time, when filming with the kids began and when-” he smiled to himself at the memory “When (Y/n) first came on set, yeah above everything else that-that this movie, being part of this movie, has allowed me to experience I know meeting (Y/n) is- is- it's the best thing that I got to experience in my life. She was the best thing to happen to me, without any doubt.”

“As Stephen King's youngest daughter, one to take after her father in the writing career as well, and one to be a great fan of his work as she has admitted numerous times it wasn't that surprising to see her that often on the set of IT. However, your younger costars revealed that there were some pretty awkward moments unlike any other time?” the interviewer asked and Bill nodded his head.

“Well, maybe because her father's character was trying, and- and probably failing miserably too, to flirt with her.” Bill confessed with a chuckle “Sometimes I forgot I even had the make up on but she didn't seem to mind it that much. I- I know now, she has confessed it to me, that she- she found it uhm adorkable. She always uses that expression with me.” he said with a grin.

“Uh yes, I was going to comment on that next! The two of you are actually together now, am I right?” he asked and Bill grinned.

“Yes, yes we are. And we've never been better and happier!” he said softly and with complete honesty and adoration.

“The kids have said a few things here and there, mostly to tease you, but we only know so far that she was there to help you with the role more than her father himself. We haven't gotten to hear any parts on how your relationship started. Could you- could you tell us about it if you want to?”

“Well, uh yeah. We- we started spending more time ever since that first day and- and since I managed to be able to form a proper sentence around her with stuttering or forgetting how to breath.” he laughed, running a hand through his hair “But uhm yes, truth is she helped much more than I had realized I could- I could go with the character. To know him and-and to hear what someone that has known the story for so many years would- would want to see in him. And when we weren't talking about it, we'd- we'd usually do our thing which again was talking for hours to no end about everything that interested us.”

“With her father coming so often on set, I'm- I'm pretty sure he could have noticed something right? And that would be on heck of a situation to explain!”

Bill laughed, nodding his head “The funny this is- I think he noticed that I uh had a crush on her from day one when for (Y/n), well, it took her a couple weeks to be honest. But uh truth is if it wasn't for her father, and for the kids although I won't dare admit it to them cause they- they just live to tease the life out of me, I don't think her and I would be here today. I mean almost everybody knew I loved her work and- and admired her a lot but I think, or at least hope, I did a good job at hiding my- my feelings, I can now say.”

“So you really owe it to them then?”

“Absolutely! Each time I- I got so intimidated by my own thoughts and feelings that it didn't matter how many times we'd talked to each other. So, I-” he chuckled “I think her father had had enough at some point and just joined in with all the kids and gave me that final push to do something about it. And- and I think it was really important because it got me to, kind of, get over every worry and just get to know my now girlfriend and- and yeah after some time end up here.”

“So in other words you pretty much have her father's approval?”

“Oh yes, yes getting his seal of approval to the whole Pennywise issue was very important to me but-” he grinned “But getting his seal of approval to date his little girl and possibly be with her for the rest of our lives is- that's the greatest thing of all!”

#bill #bill skarsgard #bill imagine #bill skarsgard imagine #bill x reader #bill skarsgard x reader #bill one shot #bill skarsgard one shot #bill fanfiction #bill skarsgard fanfiction #it #pennywise

[alluratron]

Galtean-Human Keith theory

I’ve been floating this theory for a while now (since s2 actually) but when i post about it it’s usually submerged in other theories so im gonna talk about it on its own.

I think Keith is half human, a quarter galra and a quarter altean (or polluxian but I’m gonna keep saying altean because its easier than “altean or polluxian” and I think the two races would be similar enough to have the same features and abilities).

Where is this theory coming from?

Well the first thing that strikes me as off is Keith’s appearance. He is part galra and yet bears no likeness to any galra we’ve seen, especially now that we’ve seen 5 part galra characters, all of whom display at least some galra traits.

I don’t believe that human genes are so dominant as to completely overpower galra genes, so this can be explained by two possibilities:

His galra blood comes from a very distant ancestor and as such is very diluted with human. I find this unlikely, due to his family and history still being such a big mystery/plot point.

His true appearance is hidden in some way.

When it comes to alteration of appearance, we know one way this is possible - alteans shapeshifting ability. This is by no means the only possible explanation for alteration of appearance in vld, as Haggar was able to take on Shiro’s appearance at the end of season 1 in “The Black Paladin”. We don’t know how she did this however, whether that was an altean power or a druid power, or she was just in Shiro’s head. Considering the uncertainty around this, it is easier to focus on the explained altean shapeshifting.

When we first learn of the altean shapeshifting ability, Allura uses it to appear more galra by changing her skin to purple and growing taller in “Collection and Extraction”. After this episode, it is never mentioned again.

In this episode, however, Keith goes face to face (face to mask?) with a druid and is struck by the druids magic. This damages his glove and injures his hand, giving it a sort of burned appearance, except the burns are purple. Before season 2 this was taken as evidence for the galra!keith theory, which was proven to be true.

But galra do not react this way to druid magic strikes. In season 2, “Best Laid Plans”, Thace is struck by druid magic and his injury is a glowing wound. When Shiro is struck by Haggar in “The Black Paladin” his injury is also a glowing wound. This shows that humans and galra have the same reaction to druid strikes, so if Keith only has human and galra heritage, why does he not react like them?

We have seen a different reaction to such a strike, though. When Allura is struck by Haggar in “Blackout”, she absorbs the energy and is able to use it herself. 

Now, Allura is obviously a very special case as even Haggar was not expecting this to happen. But in the wondercon panel in April, Lauren Montgomery said that a lot of Alteans have a close connection to quintessence (23:53). Perhaps Keith’s unique reaction is due to altean blood enabling him to absorb some of the energy.

In the same panel, a fan asked about why Keith could sense the blue lion and could fly the black lion, despite being the RED paladin. JDS replied that they went into those storylines knowing that Keith was “sort of going above and beyond maybe some of the abilities of the other paladins” (25:40). Tim Hedrick added on that the season, for Keith, is about “unlocking new powers, finding more about who he is” (25:58). This certainly seems to suggest that there is a lot unexplained about Keith’s abilities that is to do with his heritage. (It’s also worth mentioning that when asking the question, the fan referred to Lauren’s previous point of Alteans and their affinity for quintessence, and when answering the question, none of them denied/discouraged that there could be a connection there. The whole thing was huge spoilers territory and they had a really hard time answering lol)

Speaking of Keith sensing the blue lion, we saw someone else that was able to do this without necessarily having any sort of connection or bond to the blue lion.

Haggar, who is also altean (although, disclaimer: it might just be that she was informed of the blue lion’s return by the galra that gave chase).

Going forward, when Keith is revealed as galra he’s never actually referred to as half galra. The BoM simply say that galra blood runs through his veins. In fact, in the very next episode, “Belly of the Weblum” Hunk lampshades this by asking Keith, “was your mom the galra? your grandpa? how galra are you?” to which keith replies that he doesn’t know. 

I don’t think this was a throwaway line - I think it was very deliberately included. Upon finding out that Keith is galra, the audience’s default assumption is that he is half and half. If it were as simple as that, I don’t think attention would have been drawn to the fact that we don’t know this for fact and neither does he. Even in the paladin guidebook, he is described as “part human, part galra”, not half.

We’re probably all aware at this point that Keith’s original design had him have white hair that he dyed and fangs that he filed. Who do we know with white hair and fangs?

both of whom have altean blood (SPOILERS: Lotor confirms his mother to be Honerva in a recently relesed clip from season 4). Haggar obviously did not look like this originally, but it is likely that Lotor does.

So to tie everything up, my theory is that Keith’s mother is half galra, half altean. A member of the BoM, she came to Earth on a mission, where she met Keith’s father. Using her shapeshifting abilities, she blended in with the local population and lived as a human. Eventually, she got pregnant.

This is where it becomes mainly speculative.

She has twins: Keith and Acxa. With Keith, he inherited enough of his father’s genes (round ears, white sclera) to pass as human. He was purple, but his parents managed to get him to shapeshift at a very young age, giving him a human skin tone. Acxa however, inherited more of their mother’s alien features (pointy ears, yellow sclera) and could not pass as human. To protect her, their parents decided to separate, with Keith and their father staying on Earth and Acxa and their mother returning into space. Their mother left her blade as a token.

Somehow, similarly to how Keith was separated from his father, Acxa was also separated from her mother and, similarly to how Keith found purpose and family in Team Voltron, Acxa found them in Lotor’s team. Acxa latched on to Lotor like Keith did to Shiro, which is why they both display that unwavering loyalty to their respective leaders.

#vld theories #voltron meta #keith #galtean keith #vld #vld meta

[overthinkingkdrama]

I'm the kind of person who doesn't write a thing about what I'm watching, but, I have to say I love Money Flower, and I love every post you make about it. You're not alone (?) ;) As a spoiler but something I have to say, I'm dying with Boo Cheon going badly, and it hurts that what finally crack him was Pil Joo's betrayal. Jang Hyuk's final face was too much :v

Thanks for dropping by to throw some gasoline onto the fires of my own personal hell, anon. I think I spent 3 hours ranting to my BFF about this exact subject yesterday. I was trying to organize my thoughts to write a post about it but I couldn’t. I feel ya. Oh yea, you and I are in the same boat.

In all seriousness, I love it when I get anonymous message that give me an excuse to write about something I was already privately ranty about. So thank you, lol.

[Fair warning…I went HAM on my reply. Sorry?? Huge spoilers for the show past this point, y’all.]

It was hard watching my three crazy kids fall apart this week. Especially Boo. The turn his character took this week broke my damn heart. Full disclosure: Boo Cheon is my favorite character in this garbage fire of a show. Has been for weeks now. I feel like I’m pretty much alone in that opinion. My mind twin, agaggleoffandoms (for whatever reason tumblr is refusing to let me @ her) and I are on the same page, but for the most part people seem to really hate Boo. I don’t get it. I can’t wrap my head around how you could love and root for Pil Joo in this whole thing, and yet have no sympathy for Boo Cheon whatsoever. Like, I get it, but I really don’t get it.

Okay, so, I think Kang Pil Joo is actually Satan himself and this is why…

First, let me disclaim and say that I like Pil Joo as a character. I like him a lot. I like the way Jang Hyuk is playing him. I like his scenes. I like him because he’s twisted and terrifying. I like what a manipulative monster he is. I went into the drama expecting it and I was not disappointed at all. He’s every bit the sociopathic puppet master the poster promised me. I watch this show because it’s a crazy-sauce makjang mess. I enjoy the characters because of how insurmountably dysfunctional they are.

Additionally, this isn’t supposed to be a post to justify Boo’s actions, or claims that he’s done nothing wrong. Clearly that’s not the case. I’m just trying to understand the audience’s reaction to him. Why I find myself rooting for him so much, and other people have no time for him at all.

The first thing Boo Cheon does at the beginning of episode 17 is threaten the mother of his child making it clear in no uncertain terms that if she goes through with the press conference and torpedo’s his chances to be chairman she’s as good as dead. That’s monstrous. I make no bones about that. I would just argue that Boo is merely the monster that Pil Joo has made of him.

If we’re going to completely jettison the possibility of Boo’s redemption arc based on that scene, Pil Joo shouldn’t be getting a pass. In the moral landscape of the show, Pil Joo has done everything Boo has done, but three shades darker.

Pil Joo has personally laid hands on Seo Won not once…

But two separate times….

He has also directly threatened her life on multiple occasions. He’s the Jang family fixer. We know how dirty his hands can get. The show has shown us. And we can argue all day long that Pil Joo never would have actually harmed her. That he was trying to put the fear of god into her because he was also a victim of Jang family violence toward mistresses and their unacknowledged children…but does that justify it? Boo has also on multiple occasions attempted to remove her from the situation, and taken steps to protect her from his family by bringing their son to Mooshimwon. Seo Won is either too foolhardy or too determined to take the hint. She revealed herself to Mo Hyun with malicious intent and became indirectly responsible for the loss of his unborn child.

He goes to the hotel room to meet Seo Won because Pil Joo sent him there. He threatens her with a knife–Pil Joo’s knife interestingly enough–making good on his promise not to let anyone stand between him and the chairman position. Why does he even want the chairman position? Because that’s what Pil Joo groomed him to want:

Sure, Boo has said that he wanted to become chairman for his own reasons now. He is motivated to succeed so that Mo Hyun will praise him and feel proud of him. He’s motivated to do it because he’s developed a real affection for his wife. He loves her enough to feel jealous over the prospect of losing her, to go head to head with his mother over her, and even to put his own life at risk for her. Why is he even married to Mo Hyun? Because of Pil Joo’s manipulations.

Everyone is in the position they’re in because of Pil Joo’s manipulations. Look at what he’s done to Mo Hyun! He lied repeatedly, fed Boo lines, write apology letters for him, engineered situations to further the seduction plot for his own personal benefit. He has continually withheld crucial information from her in order to control her actions. Because it all forwards his revenge plot.

Furthermore, he resents Mo Hyun for falling in love with Boo according to his own plot.

This is a pattern we have seen repeatedly. Since as early as episode 4:

Pil Joo blames other people for falling into his traps. He doesn’t take responsibility himself. He is “unable to stop himself” so they have to be the ones to resist him. He merely writes the scripts, he sets up the pieces, but if you fall for his tricks then it’s your own fault. That’s the attitude we’ve seen again and again.

And sure, he’s in denial. He obviously still has feelings for Mo Hyun. But those feelings have always been subordinate to his need for revenge, and continue to be sacrificed in the name of his goals. Along with the people around him, their lives and their happiness. Whether they deserve it or not. Everyone is expendable in the name of revenge.

He sets Mo Hyun up to hear the ugly truth about their deception and her arranged marriage as though he’s about to tell her everything, but then he only tells her enough to break her and drive her away from Mooshimwon. He didn’t even tell her why he, the real Jang Eun Cheon, is hiding his identity and staying in that family. He didn’t tell her why he was doing what he was doing. He didn’t explain why he became the Jang family dog. He only told her enough to devastate her and driver her away. Let me repeat that: he didn’t even tell her the whole truth. His whole “confession” was just another one of his manipulations!

This has nothing to do with making a clean breast of it with Mo Hyun, and everything to do with the revenge plot. Pil Joo isn’t a martyr. He’s a monster.

Immediately after the confession, where is he? Planning his take over of Cheong A. He doesn’t even take a breath to recover. He immediately asks Yong Goo to go over the final leg of the plan with him:

After intentionally breaking Mo Hyun’s spirit and wrecking his supposed “friend’s” sham marriage of his own design, Pil Joo is right back on his slash and burn war path toward the utter destruction of Cheong A. We may want to attribute all these suppressed emotions and noble feelings to Pil Joo to try to mollify his guilt in some way. His mysterious friend/helper Yong Goo sure seems to want to. But you know what kind of person consistently suppresses their better feelings in the name of goal oriented, ends-justify-the-means pragmatism?

A cold blooded, sociopath. Which is what Pil Joo is.

By contrast, where do we find Boo after he threatens to kill the mother of his child in the name of his goals? Sobbing like a child in his car:

Where is he after his wife’s very understandable mental breakdown upon find out that the last five years of her life have been one long series of lies and manipulations orchestrated by and large by the man she loves? Watching over her as she sleeps.

Of the two of them, Boo is the one most visibly shaken and horrified by his actions. And it’s honestly a wonder that Boo isn’t more messed up than he is, morally speaking. Considering that he’s been physically and emotionally abused by his terrifying mother and manipulative friend for the past 20 years.

Oh yeah, remember how Pil Joo frequently uses violence with him when Boo doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do?

Boo still has a soul and is capable of feeling things like remorse and betrayal. Like the desire to protect his son.

While I feel terrible for Mo Hyun, because her life has been utterly and undeservedly wrecked by these people, I think she’s capable of recovery. After all, she already suspected what kind of people lived a Mooshimwon. She has had multiple indications of what kind of situation she is willingly placing herself in. Boo is coping with the shock that everything he believed about his life for almost 20 years is a lie. His sense of identity has been shaken–everything he’s wanted, everything he’s ever attained is part of this lie. He was forced into an arranged marriage that he didn’t even want at the time and now that he truly loves his wife, she’s calling out Pil Joo’s name in her sleep! He just found out that his only friend has never been sincere with him. Rather, he approached him maliciously with the intention of ruining his family and taking his place. Not only that, he’s found out that he’s not even the biological son of the father that he idolizes. Pil Joo is the true heir, here to take everything away he’s ever taught Boo to want.

Anybody would crack up in these circumstances. And he can’t even talk to anyone about it. He can’t tell his mother or confide in wife or the person who was supposed to be his best friend. He ends up going to his unacknowledged father (I think he knows, or at least strongly suspects who Driver Oh is) to vent some of his grief.

He talks about the truth of Pil Joo’s deception being enough to kill Mal Ran if she was to ever find out. But I think the same scene can be taken a different way. He doesn’t want his mom to find out the truth, because he doesn’t want her to feel the way he feels right now. Like he might die from it. Because Boo really loved Pil Joo, damn it! If we can say nothing else about Boo Cheon, we have to at least give him that.

Even if they intend to make Boo the antagonist from this point until the end of the drama, I just can’t bring myself to hate him. He’s too pitiful. Sure, he’s weak and selfish and entitled. But he is what he was conditioned to be from a very young age. His mother has treated him like an incompetent disappointment and Pil Joo has turned him into a puppet. If things had played out different, who knows where he would be right now? If not for Pil Joo’s interference, who knows what kind of person he could have become?

One big thing that the shooting range scene demonstrates (besides the fact that Boo has officially been driven around the bend) is that when he isn’t comparing himself to or being hopelessly dependent on Pil Joo, he can actually perform very well.

As much as I despise his cousin, I think Yeo Cheon was right about something:

Anyway…that’s why I can’t help but root for and feel sorry for Boo. I hope that he’s not past the point of no return. And I’m still waiting for Pil Joo to recognize the fact that a) Boo is a victim of this corrupt family as much as he is himself and b) he doesn’t have the right to manipulate and destroy other people’s lives like some kind of vengeful god. Even when the deserve it.

If it’s not evident from what I’ve written above: I really, really like this show. It’s mad entertaining, and the character arcs are as complex as they are tragic. I am still hoping for Pil Joo’s redemption, I think the man is utterly fascinating. I don’t see this train wreck having a happy ending. But I’m still waiting for Pil Joo and Boo to actually have it out about Pil Joo’s lies before someone gets shot or stabbed. I want to believe, even at this point, that Pil Joo really did come to care for Boo. Even if he started out hating him, I can’t believe all he feels for Boo is hate, anymore than I believe he really put a stop to his feelings for Mo Hyun. Forgiveness might not be possible at this point, but at the very least I’m hoping for closure. A lot can happen in 6 hours, so lets keep our fingers crossed.

Anyway, those are my TL;DR feelings about Money Flower. Raw and  unabridged. Thanks for your patience while I worked on your ask, and thanks for sticking with me if you read this far. Goodnight, my lovely followers. You’re all so beautiful.

Jona

#answered #mbc money flower #money flower #I should never be allowed to screencap things #I always go overboard #what even is this? #meta #commentary