#It also makes me sad to see the state of the sequels

[me-loving-woso]

Monthly visits.

Prompt: Honestly? I don’t know what this is, nor I know if it’s any good. The idea came from one of my midnight delusions when I think about stuff to write. Is this a kid fic? Yes? Kinda. Most probably. Do I care? No. Will there be sequels about it? Most probably. I still don’t know. Probably the sequels will feature more Alexia, but for now, you have to endure this 7.4k Drabble.

Actual prompt: In one of your monthly visits to a children’s hospital you meet Ava, she is going to change your life completely.

It was a hectic day for you in Barcelona today. Every month, whenever you had a day off, you would go to the local children’s hospital to support children with Leukaemia. Your younger brother had the same condition, so it has always been an important topic for you to support. 

Every month you tried to convince one of your teammates, or from the girl’s team or the boys, to go with you. Usually, the children would go crazy if you brought them Pedri or Gavi. They would sign autographs and shirts and sometimes even get a ball and show off some of their tricks. When the club found out about this, they wanted to set up interviews and shootings in which they would broadcast or post your visits with them on social media, but you always said no. You liked this to be kept quiet, to not stress the kids, and not bring unwanted attention towards them; you weren’t there for the money, but just to give happiness to anyone you could. 

You knew you weren’t the most famous athlete in the club, especially when you had the likes of Lewandowski, Pedri, and Gavi. On the girl’s side, you played for one of the most famous women’s soccer clubs and was one of the captains; well, if Alexia and Marta wouldn’t play in a game, which wasn’t very probable. But still, Alexia and Mapi were more famous than you; therefore, the children they tend to want their jerseys to be signed by them, but occasionally, some would recognize you, and you were delighted in signing and taking pictures or carefully playing with them whenever they wanted to. 

You tried not to get too attached to the kids as you knew that they still had a deadly illness. Initially, it was hard, especially when you asked a nurse about a kid, and they would just give you a sad look. You would come home from the day and lay in your bed, absently trying to make sense of it. You hated seeing children suffer. 

But there was a girl you met 5 months ago; she was brilliant but also a little prick. Her name was Ava. The first month you saw her, you brought with you Pedri. He was like a little brother to you, you got along great, and he was great with kids. 

You went into her room, she was super excited to meet you both that she even asked for a double autograph. At first, you were confused by the request, but then you figured that the second autograph would be for a friend or a family member. So you went on normally with your day. The kids were all happy, you played Fifa with them and then, when it was time to leave, you decided to say goodbye to all of them. As you entered Ava’s room, you saw her working on something with her computer. As soon as she saw you, she shut it down very quickly. 

“What are you doing?” You smile, walking to her. You were curious as to what she was doing. She was eight, so you knew that whatever it was, it was going to be something funny.

“Nothing!” She says quickly, hiding her computer behind her back.

You started to gently tickle her sides, conscious of her weak state. She started laughing, but soon you stopped and got her computer.

“If you open it, I will cry, and you will never come here ever again!” She threatens me, pouting.

“Why don’t you want to show it to me? Is it a secret boyfriend?” You smirk suggestively.

“No! Ew! Boys are gross!” She exclaims disgusted.

“I agree with you.” You say. “Boys are gross.”

“You can’t see it! It’s - It’s a secret.” She says, trying to grab the computer from you.

“Oh, come on! I’ll tell you one of my secrets if you tell me.” You try to convince her.

“Okay, but promise me that you won’t get mad.”

“Pinky promise.” You say, putting up your pinky and waiting for her to do the same.

You slowly open the screen and see a tab with eBay. She posted one of the two autographs she received today, with a picture of you and Pedri signing it. You start laughing and looking at her, amused.

“You sneaky little child! You are selling them?” You chuckle.

She crossed her arms unamused and replied as if it was the most obvious thing, “One is for me, and one is to sell.”

You look at her with a questioning look.

“My sister told me that I can’t buy too many books and video games because they are too expensive, so I buy them myself.”

“You are a little businesswoman.”

“Shh, you can’t tell anyone, especially my sister. She would get so mad. She hates it when I do this kind of stuff!”

“Your secret is safe with me.” 

“Pinky promise?”

“Again?” You chuckle.

“Yes.” So you promise, then you stand up from the side of her bed and are about to leave when she asks, “Will you come back?”

“I come every month,” You say, turning around to face the little girl.

“If I’m already better, can I come here just to see you?” She asks shyly, hiding her mouth with her hands.

“Of course, you can!” You say goodbye to her and leave the hospital, waiting for Pedro. When you see him, you both get in the car.

“You know, today, I saw Ava again, and I saw her selling our autographs on the internet.” You laugh.

“That girl is sneaky!” He replies. 

“She even insisted and made me promise not to say anything to anybody.”

Over the next three months, whenever you saw her, you would wink at her and make whoever was with you that day sign a double autograph for her. Then when you finished staring with the other kids, you would go into her room, and you guys would talk and play with cards. You would always question why she would never talk about her parents but only about her bigger sister and how great she was. You weren’t expecting her to be sixteen when you finally meet her. Her name was Lucia. You saw her as you were about to say goodbye to Ava. You went into her room, but she was already asleep, and Lucia was sitting on a chair next to her.

You thought both girls were sleeping, so you quietly left the room, but as you were about to close the door, you heard a quiet whisper.

“You must be y/n.” She states, rather than asking. She stands up and walks to you. 

“Yes, that’s me. Are you Ava’s sister?”

“You know, she always talks about you.” She says, whispering and closing the room behind her.

“She always talks to me about you.” You say. “I think that as of right now, I know more about you than myself.” You try to joke, but she doesn’t laugh, leaving an awkward silence between you. Making you notice how tired she looks, as if she hadn’t slept in a long while.

“Do you want a cup of tea or coffee?” You offer.

“Nah, don’t worry.” She shrugs.

“Come on, I’ll pay for it. Five minutes, then I’ll get out of your hair.”

She slowly nods and then follows you to the cafeteria, which is open 24/7. Thankfully there was nobody there, so you could sit in peace.

You follow her as she sits down at a table, and then she breaks the silence.

“Why are you helping her?” She whispers.

“What?” 

“Listen, I don’t know your intentions here, but she is really getting attached to you, and whenever you are done with these ‘trips’ to the hospital for the kids, she will suffer from it, and I don’t want that.”

“What are yo-“

“She has already lost so many people in her life; she doesn’t need another one.”

“Your parents are not in the picture anymore, right?” You ask. 

She slowly nods. “It’s just me and her for now.”

“Where are you guys staying?”

“As you know, she is staying at the hospital.” She says as if she is stating the obvious.

“You?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Listen, I know what it’s like to be in this situation; let me-”

“No, you don’t know that!” She says defensively.

“Ten years ago, I was you.” You slowly explain. “My brother, Nico, had Leukaemia, and I was in the same position as you. I was just a little bit older and could work. My parents didn’t give a shit about us. They said it was too much work to take care of Nico and wanted me out of the house because I was a footballer and gay. I didn’t have a support system. I was the support system.”

You take a deep breath and then continue. “Fortunately, I had a job, so I was able to take care of Nico and I, but not everyone is that lucky.”

“So you are saying that you feel bad for us?” She asks rhetorically, standing up from her chair, ready to leave.

“No, I don’t. When I started these ‘trips,’ as you say, five years ago, I told myself that I would never get too attached to any of the patients. But then I met Ava, and she is so smart and also a little sneaky, I grew fond of her.” You give her a light smile and continue.

“I know that the money she gets from selling autographs, t-shirts, and stuff, isn’t for buying books and video games, as she says, but for you guys to survive. I would love to help in any way. And I know that you probably won’t trust me. I wouldn’t trust a stranger either.”

Lucia sits again and looks at the table, playing with her drink. Looking almost guilty, as if you found out about a secret no one was supposed to know.

“I can’t do this anymore.” She barely utters, breaking the cold and defensive mask that she put on with you.

You slowly take her wrist, trying to reassure her. “You are stronger than you think.”

“I’m just so tired. She deserves better than me. She deserves a whole family. A better support system, and instead, she got stuck with me. I still need to finish school. I don’t have a paying job; how will we go through this?” She starts to silently sob. Hearing her cries breaks your heart; you stand up and circle around the table to hug her.

“You are already doing a great job. Ava is so proud and thankful for you. You are already doing the best you can, which is more than enough.”

She removes herself from the hug. And you continue, “Where are you staying? Not Ava, but you.”

“I’m staying during the night at a local women’s shelter. I know it’s not ideal, but it’s the best option.” She says shyly.

You couldn’t let her get back there. 

“Come to my home with me. We have a spare bedroom, food, and whatever you need.”

She takes two steps back. “No no. You are already doing more than enough for us. This is too much.”

“Let me help you. You won’t leave her for too long. You need to rest too, so you can be there for her. Come on, go get your stuff. I’ll wait for you here.” 

She just nods and goes to her sister’s room.

In the meantime, you text your girlfriend Alexia that Lucia will stay at your house for the night. After a few minutes, she reappears with a backpack. you exit the hospital and get to the parking lot.

You get inside your car, and she sits beside you. “I live fifteen minutes from here. I hope you are not scared of dogs because you are going to see one.”

“I don’t have a problem with dogs. I didn’t even know you owned one. Ava didn’t tell me anything about that.”

“Well, it’s not technically mine. It’s my girlfriend’s. And you will probably see her too.”

“Is she okay with me staying? Cause if that’s not the case, it’s okay.” She soon rambles.

“Don’t worry, she knows. Most probably, she won’t even know you are there. She is a sleepy head.” You smile, remembering how Alexia would never get out of bed if not for training.

“Is she a footballer too?”

“Yeah, it’s Alexia Putellas. I think you know her.”

“Oh my god! So the rumors are true.”

“Well, we tried to hide it.” You remark, slightly blushing, thinking that you actually hid your relationship well from the media.

“Not that much.” She laughs.

-

As soon as you get home, Alexia greets both of you. 

“Que tal, mi amor?” She hugs you instead of kissing you and then focuses on Lucia.

“You must be Lucia. Hi, my name is Alexia.”

“Yeah, I know who you are. Here in Barcelona, everybody knows you.” She chuckles while your girlfriend blushes lightly.

You take her to your guest room and show her the bathroom. She takes a shower while you go to your kitchen, searching for Alexia. 

You sit on top of the counter and ask her to come closer to you. She finds herself between your legs while you take hold of her shirt. 

“I believe you owe me a kiss.”

“I’m sorry. I just didn’t know if you told her we were together or even if you wanted to kiss me in front of her.”

“Don’t worry, Amorcito.” You cutely rub her nose with yours, then put your finger to your lips, asking her to kiss you. 

She kisses you sweetly, then gives you pecks everywhere on your face. First on the cheeks, then on the nose, on the forehead, and finally on the lips again. You smile at the action. Even though you had been together for three years now, she still managed to make you feel all fuzzy on the inside with even the smallest actions.

When she finished, you hugged her and stayed in her embrace until you heard a door open, and Lucia came down the stairs. 

“Sorry to interrupt you guys.” She says awkwardly. “I just wanted to thank you guys again and say goodnight.” She quickly goes up the stairs, embarrassed to have interrupted something, not letting either of you reply.

“Go to the nena; I’ll get ready for bed.” Alexia encourages you.

You get to the guest room and knock on the door; you hear a faint ‘come in’ so you enter.

“I’m sorry I interrupted you guys.” She says she had her back on the head board, with the covers tucked to the stomach.

“You weren’t interrupting anything.” 

“Thank you for letting me stay today. You really didn’t have to.”

“Nonsense, I’m happy you stayed. Honestly, I really needed some new energy around the house. Don’t tell Alexia, but sometimes living with her it’s like living with a granny.” You joke, earning a laugh from her, while you hear from the other room, “I heard you!” 

“Ooh, she’s mad.” Lucia teases you.

“Nah, don’t worry, I said worse in three years of relationship.” Now turning back to serious, “Listen, I’m really sorry, but tomorrow I have training early tomorrow and-“

“Y/n, just tell me when I have to leave.”

“You can stay until you want; I can call you a taxi or take you to the hospital whenever me or Alexia come back from training.”

“I’ll be out of your hair in no time, don’t worry.”

“I don’t care, honestly. I know reaching out for help is difficult, but here is my phone number; if you need anything, just call me.” You gave her a note with your phone number, then affectionately caressed her cheek. “Good night Lucia.” You close the guest room door, turn off the light, and go to your room.

-

As soon as you enter your room, you are met with your girlfriend, who is cutely pouting on the edge of the bed. “I’m not a granny!”

“Yes, you are! You always go to bed early and make weird faces when you can’t see properly.” You tease her. 

“I’m a footballer!”

“Yes, you are! A pretty darn good one!” You add. While literally pushing her onto the bed and getting on top of her.

“Get off me!” She says, trying to be serious. “I’m still mad at you!” She says while trying to squirm out of your grip. 

“Nope! I’m sorry for calling you a granny. Will you forgive me?”

“Never!” She says, so you begin to tickle her sides. She started laughing while trying to remove your hands from her, but she couldn’t. “Okay, okay, I forgive you! Stop it!” You stop tickling her and get off her going to the bathroom.

You get ready for bed, putting on one of her nike shirts and a pair of soccer shorts, and then you plop on the bed beside Alexia. “Can I have cuddles, Amorcito?” You ask while stretching your arms, opening and closing your hands.

“Si, mi chiqui. Come here.” You put yourself on top of her and begin giving her sweet pecks in the middle of her chest. “No funny business tonight; la nena is sleeping two rooms from us.”

“I wasn’t going to do anything.” You say, continuing while smiling. 

“I’m very proud of you today, Y/n.”

“I’m really sorry if I didn’t tell you beforehand.”

“Look at me.” She says, waiting for you to look at her.

“You did what is right and what everyone should do. Whatever you do, I will always support you.”

You give her a loving kiss on the lips, thanking her for the words. “Next month I’m coming with you. It’s been long overdue, and I want to meet Ava.”

-

The next day you wake up and go to see Lucia; you knock at her door, but she doesn’t reply, so you slowly enter the room. You found all of the bedsheets neatly folded and a note that thanked you for everything. You were a little disappointed, but you knew how difficult it was to trust people and accept help, especially when you are alone. You figured that she probably went to see her sister in the hospital.

-

The following month you finally brought Alexia with you. The kids would always ask you to bring her to the hospital, but unfortunately, she never had the time to do that with her busy schedule. You had already informed the hospital that you would come, and the children were thrilled to do something different rather than always boringly watching tv or reading some children’s book. 

As Alexia greeted all the kids and played and joked with them, you went to see Ava, hoping that you would see Lucia too. You didn’t expect to see everything packed up and the two girls with their backpacks on, ready to go. 

As soon as she saw you, Ava ran up to you, and you lifted her weak body, giving her a hug. “The doctor said I can go home now! I’m not sick anymore!” 

“I’m so happy!” You say while hugging her a little tighter.

“So, who is it today? Who did you bring today?” She asks you excitedly.

“Why don’t you go and find out?” You say, indicating where Alexia is; she quickly squirms out of your embrace, exiting the room and leaving you alone with Lucia. Her eyes stuck to the floor from the moment you opened the door. She wouldn’t look at you.

“I’m really happy that she is finally healthy now,” You say honestly.

“That’s the most important thing.” She agrees weakly, finally looking at you.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling better now that she is better.”

“Where will you guys stay now?”

She hesitates, but then slowly, she starts, “I do-“ 

“Lucia! Look who came today with y/n!” Suddenly Ava came inside the room, dragging Alexia with her.

“Hi, Lucia.” Alexia waves at her, then focus again on Ava. “Y/n, how did you manage to convince Alexia to come here today?” Ava asks you in awe. “She is soo famous and the best player in the whole world!”

“I know! She really wanted to come, though, right?” You say, searching for Alexia’s confirmation. “Yes, of course!” She says, then kneeling in front of the small kid, “Y/n talks a lot about you.” She whispers, “She never talks about you, though,” She remarks, smirking. Alexia puts her hand on her hand, pretending to be offended.

“Who cares? I’m still better than her at football,” She whispers loud enough for you to hear, then sending you a cheeky wink; you react by poking your tongue out at her. This made Alexia earn a laugh from Ava and a chuckle from Lucia. She then drags Alexia out of the room, asking her if she could show her a trick with the ball.

“She’s her favorite player; our dad always brought us to your games.” She says sadly.

“I didn’t know you liked football.”

“I loved football, I even used to play it until a year ago, but now it brings out too many memories, so no football for me for a while.” She chuckles.

“Which position did you play?” 

“Guess.”

“Center back?”

“Nah, striker.”

“Oh wow! I’m sure you were the top scorer in your team.” You nod, surprised.

“I was, I even was called up in La Masia, but my parents wanted me home, and then Ava got sick, so I never was able to go.”

“Oh wow! You were good then!”

“Don’t act too surprised!” She says, teasing you, hitting you on the shoulder.

“I’m not!” You say rubbing where she just hit you “If the circumstances were different, would you have wanted to go?”

“Yes? I guess, I don’t know? I loved football.”

“Not anymore?”

“I haven’t played in so long; I don’t think I even remember how to kick a ball.” She chuckles.

“Well, I guess we have to find out!” You say, while she looks at you puzzled. 

“Come on, go get your stuff.” You say to her while putting your backpack on your shoulders, waiting for her to do the same.

“Where do you want to take me?” She says, looking at you puzzled.

“Don’t you wanna show off your skills?”

“I guess I don’t?”

“Come on, it will be fun!” You try to convince her.

“I don’t have cleats.” She tries to find an excuse.

“What’s your shoe size?”

“39, why?”

“I have the same size. If you want, you can use a spare pair of mine.” You offer.

“Why are you so nice to me?”

“I’m not being nice; this is me trying to show you that you, too, deserve to be happy, and you can have fun even if you think you don’t deserve it.”

“I-I don’t know what to say. I can’t leave her alone in the hospital; that girl has too much energy for a cancer patient.” She jokes.

“I think Alexia is keeping her busy enough. I genuinely think she is trying to steal my girlfriend from me.” She’s still not convinced. “Besides joking, Alexia is really good with kids, and she wouldn’t mind, but if it bothers you, we can bring her with us. Or they can come later on.”

“Oh, definitely, later on, I won’t embarrass myself with Alexia Putellas; I don’t think I could recover from that.”

“Oh, thank you! You know I am too a Barça player, right? And that I was the one that scored the winning goal in the last champions league, right?” You fake being offended.

“Oh, it was merely a tap-in.” She jokes, trying to rile you up. You knew she was joking, but you also knew this was a low blow to your confidence.

“Patri was the real hero in that Final, and I guess it was a tap-in, but it still brought us to the victory; that’s got to be worth something.”

“You know Ava basically woke up the whole floor when you scored that goal; she was so happy.” She smiles at you, quickly reminiscing that memory.

“Well, I can show you that I can score goals that are not tap-ins if you come with me.”

“Let’s see if you can do that!” She challenges you.

“If you win, I will get you two tickets to Camp Nou next year for every match you want to see, but if I win, you will let me help you.” You hesitate to say those words, hoping you wouldn’t push her away.

“Prepare to spend a lot of money because I never give up.” She teases you.

“You have some confidence, pequeña.”

“I’m not small!”

“Come on, go and say goodbye to Ava; we’ll leave in five minutes.”

As she exits the room to find Ava, you wait in there for her when you see your girlfriend appear from the door.

“Ava is wonderful.” She says while taking your hands.

“So wonderful that you would stay with her for another couple of hours?” You try while she gives you a puzzled look.

“What did you do, Y/n?” She asks, removing her hands from yours.

You tuck your arms behind your back, and shyly, you explain. “I’m taking Lucia to the field. Apparently, she played football, so I want her to have fun for a minute.” She doesn’t reply, so you continue, “But if it’s too much, I can bring her with me and Lucia, no problem. I just-“

“You are rambling, mi amor.” She says while grabbing you by the waist, trying to ground you. “You go have fun with her. I will come to the field after so we can play together.” She offers while smiling at you.

You give to get on your tippy toes and give her a small peck on the lips, “Thank you, Amorcito.”

“Just don’t have too much fun without me.” She grins, giving you a forehead kiss. You hear steps coming your way; you turn your head and see Lucia and Ava looking at you.

“You two are disgusting,” Lucia says, giving you guys a disgusted face while you just laugh at her. Ava instead looks at the two of you, trying to understand what the relationship is between the two of you. She looks at you and asks, “Is Alexia your wife?”

You choke on saliva, not expecting that question. After a mild coughing session, you received an annoying look from Alexia and Lucia. 

Not that you didn’t want to marry her because she was the only woman you could see yourself growing old with, but you were just waiting for the right moment to propose. Honestly, you didn’t even know if she wanted to get married, especially to you. 

You reply, “No, no, she is my girlfriend.”

“Wow, how did you land her?” She asks you curiously.

“Why is everybody bullying me today?” You say exasperatedly without even replying to the question. “Lucia, are you ready to go?”

After saying goodbye, you get in the car with Lucia and drive to the training facility.

“So I guess you don’t like the idea of getting married?” Lucia asks, breaking the silence.

“No no, it’s not that. I would love to get married, especially with someone like Alexia; she is incredible and so supportive.” You take a deep breath. “Do you want to know a secret?”

“Wait, are you going to propose?” She asks excitedly.

“I was planning to!”

“Oh my god!”

“Don’t you dare tell her! Or I swear I’ll get mad.” 

“I won’t” She makes the movement of zipping her mouth with her hand and throwing the key away.

-

You get to the training facility a few minutes later; the field is closed, so Lucia looks at you and asks, “If it’s closed, how can we enter?”

“Can you keep another secret?” She nods, and you take out a key and unlock the door. “I was drunk after we had won our first Champions League, I don’t know why, but I decided I wanted the keys to the field, so I convinced Mapi and Patri to help me. Let’s just say that Alexia had to come out and help us because we were too drunk to keep quiet, and she didn’t want me to get in trouble. I got the keys, made two other copies for my accomplices, and slept on the couch for two days, but it was well worth it.” You say proudly.

“You know, when I imagined what you were like, when we would see you on tv or at the stadium, I pictured you differently.” She smiles at you while following you to the changing rooms.

“How did you picture me?” She asked curiously while handing her a spare pair of cleats. 

“They call you the asesina silenciosa for a reason, you know?” While putting on the cleats, she continues, “You are always so cold and precise on the pitch, scoring and assisting in so many games, whereas in real life, you are basically the opposite. You are very nice, and you always try to help everybody, and a literal gay panic in front of Alexia; it’s so funny and very painful to see.”

“She’s just very beautiful and amazing, okay? Leave me alone.” You reply shyly, blushing a little.

“So, are you ready to get your ass beaten?” She asks you jokingly.

“You know that I’m a professional athlete, right? I get paid to play football.”

“Don’t get too cocky, Y/ln.” 

You get on the pitch and begin passing the ball to each other; initially, she was a little rusty, but as soon as she got comfortable with the ball, you knew she had a lot of talent and potential. 

“So favorite player?” You ask her.

“Messi. He’s just way too good and so great to watch.” She answers. “What about you?” 

“All-time favorite, of course, is Messi too, but right now, I really enjoy seeing playing Rodri and De Bruyne.”

After passing the ball to each other and chatting, you begin doing some shooting drills and dribbling. You were shocked, to say the least; she was so good, she dribbled with ease, and her finishing skills were incredible.

The first time she dribbled past you, your ego got scarred for life, but then as time went on, you began cheating a little by holding her shirt or picking her up from the air and moving her whole body away from the ball. She would get mad at you, while you would just laugh it out, but she began to do the same thing to you after a while. By the end, you were laughing on the ground, trying to catch your breath. 

As you both calmed down, she began talking. “I really missed it.” 

“Playing football?”

“Yes, and having fun. You know, I couldn’t even touch a ball after our parents left us; my dad was the one that loved soccer and Barcelona maybe more than anything, probably more than his family. I tried playing soccer to make him proud of me so that maybe he could see and pay attention to me, but I guess it wasn’t enough. After Ava was diagnosed with Leukaemia, they told me they would have to go on a ‘work trip,’ but they never returned. And I stopped playing football.”

“I hope that this didn’t bring back bad memories. I know how it feels when you think you are not good enough, but if it helps, you are a great kid, Lucia. In these last months, you have proven yourself to be more than enough for Ava and your parents. Any parent would be proud of what you did for Ava; not everyone is capable of that or willing to do it. You have proved everyone wrong. You couldn’t be more proud of yourself.” 

“Thank you, I really needed to hear that.” She breaks down crying. 

“Come here.” You say to her while gently holding her while she cries. “Let it all out; I’m here for you.” After a few minutes, she stops; you keep hugging her, waiting for her to let go of you, when you hear a car arrive. “Your sister is here. Do you want me to come with you to freshen up?”

“No, no. I can go alone; just tell them I went to the bathroom.” She informs you. 

“Will do, captain.” You say, giving her the military salute; she replies with a surprised chuckle and a ‘you’re so weird.’ 

As Alexia gets inside the pitch, you see Ava running towards you, giving you a crushing hug that makes you stumble from your sitting position on the grass to falling to your back on the ground. 

“How did it go with Alexia? Did she behave well?” You ask the little girl.

“We stayed at the hospital, we played games and I pranked a nurse!” You hear the voice of Lucia from behind you, so you tell her sister to go to her and cheer her up. As she walks to her sister, Alexia sits next to you, and you turn to her.

“You are really good with kids.” She remarks.

“You too, you know. Would you ever want kids?” You ask her.

“I never thought about it, but I think it would be something I would like with you.”

“I think I need to help them. They deserve to have a house and a support system. Lucia is so smart and kind, and fierce. While, Ava is so full of energy, funny, and sneaky.”

“I love you, Y/n, and even though this is too early and I still haven’t fully processed every-“

“It’s too much for you. I get it. But they’ll be on the streets if I don’t help them. You must understand why I’m doing this, but I can’t do this without you.”

“We’ve been by each other’s sides for years; you think I’m gonna leave now? If you’d let me finish, Y/n, I would have told you to do it. I will always support you, and I kinda got attached to the Nena. So go through with it; you have my full support.”

“If it actually happens, our lives are going to change drastically, would you be ready for that?”

“I got you all for myself for three years; it’s time to expand our little family. Of course if they want to. Don’t push too hard; she is still scarred and scared to trust again. Be cautious.”

“I don’t know how I got so lucky.” You say beaming at her.

“I’m the lucky one.” She smiles while gently rubbing my thigh and then standing up. 

She goes to Lucia and asks her if she wants to play some football with her; she is hesitant at first, but after a bit of convincing from you and Alexia, she eventually decides to play with her, but you know that she is holding back. 

Alexia knew that something was wrong. Hence, she took the ball into her hands,  and stopped the little competition that they were doing, “I’m not made of glass; you can play harder on me, you know.” She offers.

Lucia throws her hands in the air, “I’m not going to be the reason why La Reina got injured again.”

“I’m taller and stronger than you; you won’t injure me.”

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes, I’m sure.” She chuckles while they return to playing, Lucia clearly getting more physical. 

You laughed at their interaction and how Lucia worried about hurting Alexia;.while Alexia just wanted to have fun. After a while of playing, Alexia turned her head to you, mouthing the words “She’s good”, you respond by nodding approvingly, shifting your focus on the little child next to you, who at the moment was very quiet.

“Did you get your autograph from Alexia?” You ask her, trying to break the silence.

She slowly nods, still looking at her sister, then turns to you. “Yes, only one, though.”

“You didn’t want one for you?”

“No, I only got one for me; I didn’t want to sell hers.” You see her softly yawn, trying to keep open her eyes.

“Did you have fun today?” 

She nods, then looks again at her sister, who was trying to dribble past Alexia, “I hadn’t seen her that happy since before I got sick.” She smiles like a proud sister, showing signs of her tiredness again.

“Are you tired?” You ask her.

“No.” She says defensively while crossing her arms, yawning again. You chuckle at her, finding it adorable how she tries to hide how much she wants to sleep. 

“Yes, you are!” You say, poking her side. “You can nap if you want; I’ll watch out for your sister for you.” You offer.

She slowly nods and then moves near you; you didn’t expect her to sit between your legs, curling on your chest. You were shocked; you didn’t know what to do, so you just put your hands on her tiny body and rubbed her back. “You’re comfier than the grass.” She says, dozing off to sleep. You kiss the top of her head and then whisper, “Go to sleep, Nena.” And she did. 

You were physically in a very weird position, as you knew that you would be getting cramps in a couple of minutes, while mentally, you couldn’t nor remember the instance of ten years ago when you were holding your brother in the same position you were with Ava. She reminded you of Nico, both of them had the same personality and were too smart for their age.

Trying to get more comfortable, you slowly sink to the ground from your sitting position. At the same time, Ava gently stirs, repositioning herself, fisting your shirt with her tiny hand, not wanting you to let go, even though you wouldn’t go for the world. After a few minutes, you doze off and get woken up by a light caress on your cheek. You slowly open your eyes, Ava is still sleeping soundly, and on your side, Alexia is waiting for you to wake up.

“Mi Chiqui is getting dark outside; we need to leave.” You slowly get up, still Ava in your arms, spoiler alert: you couldn’t feel your arms and back anymore. She gently stirs awake, “Shhh, go back to sleep.” You whisper to her, still rubbing her tiny back. She was so small for a six-year-old.

You see Lucia, she was taking your cleats off her feet; putting on her shoes again. You give Ava to Alexia, and then you walk up to her. “I’m sorry she had to sleep on you; I-I was just too caught up playing that I didn’t even notice she was tired. I’m really sorry.” She tries to explain.

“Hey, don’t apologize; you were having fun, and she was just tired after a long day. And now look! She stole my girlfriend again.” You say sincerely while trying to joke in the last part, pointing at Alexia, who was rocking Ava in her arms, showing off one of her big smiles reserved for children and for the people she loves. 

Then you turn to her and ask her, “Are you hungry?”

“Oh yeah, I’m starving. I haven’t run that much in months.” Then she backtracks. “Oh, wait. I knew what you were doing; you are trying to manipulate me into eating with you guys.” She asks, clearly understanding your intentions.

“Manipulate is a big word, isn’t it? I guess you can call it offering to eat something with us?”

“Nah, the right word is definitely manipulate or gaslight.” She remarks.

“Well, do you want to come with us?”

“I don’t know; I must get her to bed.”

“Where are you guys staying, if I can ask?”

“You already know the answer. And don’t you dare ask me to stay with you. That is too much, and I wouldn’t know how to repay you. I can deal with everything on my own.”

You knew she wouldn’t budge on that one, but you had to give it to her; she knew your actions before you said anything.

“Why don’t we just eat something and figure everything out later?” You offer. 

-

So you did that; you brought Lucia and Ava into your home, ordered take-out, and put on a movie to watch. Alexia and Ava were petting Nala, which in the beginning, the little dog hid in your room, but progressively through the night, she slowly got accustomed to the new people and gladly accepted the cuddles that the younger girl had given her.

The scene that was before your eyes oddly felt really domestic. Most nights with Alexia, if they weren’t spent out with friends, would include snuggling on the couch and relaxing; the only difference was that there were two new other people now. 

You tried not to get too attached to them and tried not to act as a parent but more like someone that could help. They already had parents, and you for sure didn’t want to replace them. You just wanted to give the help you weren’t given when it happened to you, so if some food and a roof were needed, you wouldn’t hesitate to share that and maybe a little love here and there. 

Ava was asleep, and Alexia was about to, so you tried to get the attention of Lucia so you could talk to her. You went outside on the porch with her so you wouldn’t disturb Ava from her much-needed sleep. 

“Thank you for today, I really appreciated everything you did for us, but I think we have to get going.”

“You can always stay here.” You offer while she tries to dissuade you. “Listen, if it’s a problem to stay with us, I can book you a hotel room, but please let me help you find accommodation. I would love for you to stay until you find a better place. Ava can start school, while you could go and play in La Masia, or finish school and go to university, or both, whichever you prefer.And I know I’m not your mother, nor your relative, I’m just a stranger, but it wouldn’t sit well with me to let you guys leave somewhere that maybe it’s not even safe.”

“I don’t want to be a burden. And you don’t owe me anything.” She scratches her forehead, thinking, “Why are you even doing this?”

“What?”

“Why are you helping us?” 

“Honestly? I don’t know. I just know that I would love to help you in every way you let me. And you can always tell me to fuck off. But I hope you don’t” She chuckles, and for the first. The time she looks at you. “So what do you think?”

She remained silent for a while, while you patiently waited for her to reply, hoping it would be a positive answer. “Only until I can find a better solution for us. Plus, Ava already loves it here and loves you. When she saw you for the first time, she kept gushing about you and how you were her second favorite player, the first being Alexia” You chuckle. “And maybe living in a real house is better than waiting for social workers to find another accommodation.” She shyly adds. “I think you should ask Alexia if it’s okay for her too; I don’t want to get in the middle of you too.”

“She’s okay with it. She loves kids, and believe me, in a matter of days, she’s going to turn all protective, especially with Ava; she always had a soft spot for kids. As for the social workers, let me handle it, okay? I’ll try my best to make it as quick as possible.” She slowly nods and whispers a ‘thank you,’ taking you by surprise and hugging you. It took you a second to react, but soon you tightened the embrace, waiting for her to leave it.

“Probably, it’s going to be much of a burden for you rather than us.” You chuckle, “When our friends and Alexia’s family and my brother find out that we have two new people in our home, they’ll want to meet you. But I’ll take care of it.” You explain.

She removes herself from your embrace and looks at you. “Can I come to your games too? I miss being at the stadium.” She asks shyly.

“Oh, you must!” Your jokes. “I expect you to come every week with my jersey on.” You grin, pointing at her.

“We’ll see about that. I also like some other players in the squad, like Mapi Leon or Caroline Graham Hansen.” She playfully smirks.

“Then I don’t think I can give you any tickets.” You fake being offended. “Now go to your sister and take her to bed.” You grin, winking at her.

“Yeah, yeah. Thank you y/n.”

#woso imagine #woso x reader #alexia putellas x reader #alexia putellas #woso fic

[ifuckinglovedinosaurssomuchjesus]

On the subject of Dinosaur Documentaries...

So Life On Our Planet dropped a few days ago, another installment of this seeming boom of these kind of shows since Prehistoric Planet last year, and it got me thinking about this whole little niche genre.

The very first "Paleodoc" was released in 1922, made by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to educate museum goers on how the fossils they saw were collected and prepared. This began the format I like to call the "Talking Heads" Paleodoc which is mainly in the form of interviews or narration over actual footage of Paleontologists at work with the occasional "Live" Dinosaur for visual aid. These are by far the most common form of dinosaur documentary you'll find, even today, mainly because they're cheap to produce and fit in the general style of most science documentaries.

For many decades throughout the 20th century, Paleodocs were pretty rare. They would pop up time to time, and with the sudden influx of attention they got after Jurassic Park, we got some really good ones. Yet they were all the same Talking Head types. What really changed the game was the good ol Magnum Opus of the field: Walking With Dinosaurs.

WWD pioneered the second type of Paleodoc I believe to exist, which are the "In Their World" Paleodocs. These are different in the fact they focus almost entirely on the live visual aids, with the human presence being limited to narration or brief pauses for context. They're meant to simulate the modern nature documentary, like Planet Earth, that focus more on showcasing animal behavior with state of the art filming techniques than being a source of in-depth science.

The success of WWD cannot be overstated, and I have to say I do find the In Their World format a lot more engaging and easier to connect with. They portray the wonder of prehistory spectacularly, letting audiences get emotionally connected in the animal characters the story creates, even if this has lead to criticisms of anthropomorphism. These programs also almost always use real footage of modern day earth for their prehistoric creatures to roam on, which I'm sure is very sad for the people who want to see their favorite dead plants on screen.

The Walking With... series would expand into sequels and spin-offs and Nigel Marven, and other companies like Discovery would jump on the bandwagon and release their own takes on the concept, but by the mid 2010s the format had basically died out. We'd get one or In Their World style doc every few years until we just didn't get anything. Outside of the occasional TV special that reused When Dinosaurs Roamed America footage, it was empty.

It took until Disney's Live Action remake of The Lion King of all things for that pendulum to start swinging again. Seeing those expressionless CGI cats got Jon Favreau thinking about how he could use this technology and the talented people behind it to make something really cool, and we got Prehistoric Planet.

And, in a repeat of Walking With Dinosaurs, we're seeing more of these In Their World type shows. The original guys behind WWD are even making a comeback with their own series, Surviving Earth. Plus even more little hints and rumors of massive incoming projects from overexcited paleontologists trying not to break their embargo.

It looks like the 2020s will be another resurgence in these types of spectacle Paleodocs, and while a good ol Talking Head will always be there, I can't help but get excited for these animated spectacles and all the weird and wonderful ways they flash those visual aids across our TV screens.

#dinosaur #prehistoric planet #life on our planet #media #so much musings

[just-prime]

Ahsoka is so slow I could cry. She was trained by Anakin and presumably Obi-wan and several other Jedi, and Rosario can hardly do an actual lightsaber twirl, let alone make me believe she could survive Ventress, Maul, Grievous, or Vader, survive order 66, or run in a way that looks fast. Bo-Katan moves faster, Shin moves faster, Sabine moves faster, Ezra moves faster, even Ewan's lazy twirls while walking around and not actively engaged in battle in the prequels were roughly as fast as Rosario's in an actual duel.

It's also canon that in this era, in a less prequels flashy version of standard Jedi abilities, a Jedi can leap SEVERAL feet. Luke in ROTJ- even GROGU can jump higher, while Rosario's feet are consistently glued to the ground. Her choreography and speed are so inconsistent with this established era and people keep writing it off and praising it as her fighting like a samurai now, even though it makes NO sense for her to, given who trained her. She isn't A New Hope Obi-wan, nor sad cave dwelling Obi-wan who hasn't stretched or lifted a weapon in a decade, and a 44 year old Jedi is still supposed to be in their prime.

I truly wonder if part of it is that they can't keep her lekku on properly if she does a flip, and they are shorter because they were meant to be more practical, but I'm really not seeing a character agile enough to need stunt modified lekku.

If they couldn't bring this to life in live action convincingly, it should have remained animated and each passing week demonstrates this more and more.

I'm sorry to anon into your inbox like this, but your post about the last episode has been so refreshing, and I've felt like I've been watching a completely different show than other people and don't know how they considered any of the actors ready. (Rosario has said she was training during filming). Thank you for your brutally honest take, you're spot on on all counts.

Couple of things.

A) I agree with everything you just said. Always feel free to come and rant into my asks.

B) I HAVE BEEN ANTI TINY LEKKU SINCE MANDO S2. It's laughable that we've seen cosplayers with more Rebels accurate headpieces. And of course everyone defends it with the 'it wouldn't be fair to the stunt person to have them try and do flips in that' and it's like NEWSFLASH Ahsoka isn't doing flips anyway!!! And sure, they probably stuck Rosario in a 5 week sword training class, but she's clearly not had to do any serious combat training given how clunky her fights are. And again, this was also a problem back in Mando s2, only she was in the middle of a foggy woods, so it was easier to hide the fact that she is incompetent when it comes to fight choreography.

C) "If they couldn't bring this to life in live action convincingly, it should have remained animated" Exactly. This is why every passing day I am increasingly pissed that this show killed and ate the animated Rebels sequel series that was in fucking development. Everything about this show, from Ahsoka, to Hera (hell, even TBoBF cameos like Cad Banes) prove that Disney is not willing to shell out for a decent makeup and/or CG designer. No shade to the artists that are currently working on it, they are doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. What I mean is they didn't have anyone on set that was in a high enough positions to say 'Hey, have any of you heard of contouring?' Like, just looking at the alien makeup of the OT...which somehow holds up better than state of the art Disney budget makeup. It's just fucking embarrassing at this point. There is no reason everyone should look as flat as they do, but it's no surprise that they do when mary elizabeth winstead is celebrating that her makeup only took an hour. Sure, it's understandable that you don't want to be sitting in the makeup chair every morning of hours on end, but in the end you are an actor who signed up to play an alien...Suck it up buttercup.

D) I totally understand how hard it is to be not liking this show right now. The amount of people who've told me that "well, clearly it's just not made for you" after I point out a simple fact that a character is out of character is painful. Looking at twitter after each episode as everyone seems to think Filoni is creating the second coming is painful. Because it really does feel like we're watching a different show than them.

Okay, I think I covered everything. Thank you again for your kind words and your wonderful rant!!!

#rambles #dave filoni critical #ahsoka critical #ahsoka series #ahsoka spoilers #star wars #prime responds #anti filoni

[adorethedistance]

Princess Antics - Trevor Zegras x Actress!Reader

Hockey Masterlist

Warnings: swearing, PDA

Words: 1352

Summary: Dating a famous hockey player is tough sometimes, but dating a Disney Princess may just give Trevor a run for his money.

A/n: I've posted this fic before and if you want to know the reason why, I've included an author's note at the end to explain.

A fruit smoothie. All week I have been craving a fruit smoothie, but because I’ve been in the recording studio all day everyday, I’ve had to eliminate dairy from my diet completely. I’m recording songs from the upcoming sequel to my first Disney movie “Cassie and The Prince”; a half-animated, half-live action Enchanted style movie, in which I play Cassie, the cautious and delicate wallflower-princess whose best friend is a grey rabbit. ‘The Prince’ aka Prince Oliver, who is voiced by Tom Holland, is the rambunctious, rifting presence in her life that gets her to live a little.

This week, the two of us have been recording vocals for a duet that the characters share at the beginning of the movie, and continuous days of singing equals ‘it’s better to not risk it’ with foods that affect your vocal sound and ability. We eventually wrapped on the song and the arrival of the weekend means I can finally fulfill my smoothie craving. My supportive as ever boyfriend, Trevor, accompanies me in getting my hard earned smoothie, figuring we could make a date out of the outing.

As we enter the small shop on the outside of our favorite mall, Trevor and I breathe a little easier to see we’re the only ones in the place. When you’re a Disney Princess and NHL player together, at least one of you can and will be recognized in public at any time. However, it’s hard to be recognized by people that aren’t around. I give Trevor my order (although I’m sure he already has it memorized), spewing the information at him as quickly but coherently as I can, as I have to use the bathroom urgently. Trevor assures me he’s got it and ushers me away to finally use the restroom. 

Once I finish, I look at myself in the mirror and gasp aloud at the realization that, in my hurried state, I forgot to tell Trevor I wanted a vitamin boost in my drink. With a pouty bottom lip and a melodramatic sadness in my eyes, I exit the smoothie shop’s bathroom, and approach my boyfriend who’s sitting on a bar stool that’s facing outside the store window. I begin to whine because of my own slip up,

“I had to pee so bad I forgot to tell you I wanted the vitamin boost in my drink!” Trevor laughs as he pulls out the adjacent stool, patting it for me to sit on,

“Good thing I got it for you.” 

“You did?!”

“Mhm.”

“Ah! What would I do without you?”

“Not have a vitamin boost probably.” The quip makes me laugh and Trevor smiles upon hearing the sound. I open my mouth to ask him another question but my voice is caught in my throat when a tiny squeal interrupts the mechanical sounds of the smoothie shop.

Looking to the source of the noise, I spot a young girl who can’t be any older than pre-school age with her mouth open in a gaping-smile. Her tiny brown eyes glitter with pure shock upon seeing me look at her. I can’t help but smile at her excitement and look at Trevor who is trying very hard to conceal a smile of his own.

“Princess Cassie! Mom, look! It’s Princess Cassie!” The girl tugs on her mothers hand to grab her attention before pointing in my direction and I grin at the mother to ease her previously startled demeanor. Her face morphs from confusion to a smile of disbelief.

“Oh my goodness, you’re real!” I laugh lightly at the woman’s joke before turning my attention back to the little girl who can hardly contain herself.

“Hi sweetheart. What’s your name?”

“Lucy.” I bend down to her level to both hear her and to let her know she has my attention.

“Lucy! What a pretty name. That sounds like a princess name, are you a princess, too?”

“Well, sometimes.”

“Sometimes? Me too. How old are you, Lucy?”

“Four- Also, I saw you in the mall yesterday,” responds, clearly not interested in talking about herself at the moment.

“You saw me in the mall?”

“The poster for Cassie and The Prince is in the window of the Disney store,” her mother clarifies, as the ramblings of four year olds can be incoherent at times.

“Ah, gotcha.”

“And, also, you were on the tv there, too, singing ‘Be Free’ with all the animals and Prince Oliver.”

“‘Be Free’ is a fun song. Is that your favorite song from the movie?”

“No. I like ‘Today Of All Days’ when you teach the prince how to talk to Louie the Bunny,” Trevor and I still haven’t gone public with our relationship, so I honored him in naming the Princess’s animal sidekick after his own real-life animal sidekick “What happened to your hair?”

“Oh, Lucy!” Her mother scolds the bluntness of her daughter’s question. My hair is up off my face today, and nowhere near the length of the extensions hair and makeup puts me in, so the contrast is notably different.

“It’s okay. I had to cut some of it off because it was getting too heavy.”

“Order for Trevor!” The one man cashier-barista calls from behind the counter, setting down the two smoothies Trevor had ordered not just five minutes ago. The mother clocks Trevor--the unfamiliar man I’d been talking to earlier--rising to grab the two drinks and leans down to speak to Lucy.

“Honey, we should let Princess Cassie go, I’m sure she has things to do today.”

“Can we take a picture?”

“You have to ask her for a picture, not me.”

“Can we take a picture with you?”

“Of course, honey.” I squat down to be closer in height with the small girl before beckoning her over. “Is it okay if I hug you for the picture?” I ask to which she nods yes and wraps me in a tight hug, pressing her tiny cheek against my face. Her mom snaps the picture on her white iPhone 12, using her index finger to do so. After, she motions for her daughter to come view the picture, and once Lucy’s attention is centered on the picture, she mouths a silent ‘thank you’ to me; I break character to wave off the complimentary closing and, miraculously, gracefully rise from the floor. When I’m back to full height, I take my smoothie from Trevor’s extended hand, smiling at the fact that he took the liberty to unwrap ¾ of the straw like a restaurant would.

“Thank you, kind sir.” Trevor steps in front of me to hold the door open, and with a wave, I give Lucy a final goodbye. As the two of us begin walking back to his car, I don’t miss the indiscernible smile he’s giving me. “What?” I ask. He shrugs nonchalantly,

“Nothing.”

“Whaaat?” He then shakes his head in partial amusement, partial disbelief. 

“I can’t believe I’m dating an actual disney princess.” 

“I’m just glad she didn’t ask me to sing.” Trevor barks a laugh as he nearly chokes on a sip of his smoothie.

“Has that happened before?”

“Oh, babe,” I puff out of exasperation just thinking about it, “They want the whole album!”

“Did you?”

“Yes! I’m not gonna crush a little girl’s dreams just because my voice is cold. Would you refuse to throw a puck to a kid over the glass if your arm was sore?”

“This isn’t about me, Princess Cassie.” I roll my eyes as I slip into the passenger seat of Trevor’s car. Once buckled, I pull the remaining straw paper off my straw and at the first taste of the fruit smoothie hitting my tongue, I let out a groan at the satisfaction of what had been a week-long craving in the making.

“God, if I’d known a smoothie was all it’d take to get that kind of reaction out of you, I would’ve brought you here ages ago,” Trevor jeers from the driver’s side. I playfully shove his shoulder which doesn’t do much in the way of inconveniencing the six-feet-tall pro hockey player. 

“That’s no way to talk to a princess!”

***

A/n: If there's anyone who's been following me for a while now, you'll recognize this is the exact same fic as one of my Owen Joyner fics. I originally wrote this piece about Trevor but posted it for Owen because I didn't have a hockey following then and I didn't think anyone would want to read it at the time. Now that I have a relatively stable hockey following I figured posting the original would reach the original intended audience.

#NHL imagine #NHL fanfiction #NHL x reader #Trevor Zegras #Trevor Zegras fanfiction #Trevor Zegras fanfic #Trevor Zegras fic #Trevor Zegras writing #Trevor Zegras blurb #Trevor Zegras drabble #Trevor Zegras oneshot #Trevor Zegras one shot #Trevor Zegras x reader #Trevor Zegras x y/n #Trevor Zegras angst #Trevor Zegras fluff #Trevor Zegras smut #Trevor Zegras imagine #TZ 11 #TZ 46 #baby duck

[sailorblossoms]

I’ve talked a lot about how awtwb takes some of the things Simon has been putting down in the previous books and makes them a lot more clear and explicit (like the many instances where he’s saying “I already had feelings for Baz long before I kissed him” and “my previous relationship was void of both romance and attraction” and “I already felt like I wanted out of it, I just waited until the other person ended it because I didn’t want to be the one to do it”)…. But you can also see that with Baz

It has been brought to my attention that before the sequels (and it seems like even after them in some cases) there was an idea of Baz as sort of “edgy” and more “rough” than he actually is like… even in CO you can see that, while he has thorns and barb wires, this is a wall – a mask to protect his soft and vulnerable heart. He might have a somewhat “mean” sense of humor, but being genuinely hurtful isn’t like him at all. It hurts him as well – it’s him going against his nature. You can see that from pretty early on, when he tells us that when Simon is getting all worked up… he might taunt or push him away, but what he truly wants to do is to comfort him.

In CO, iirc there’s a scene in Baz’s house when Baz laughs and Simon asks him to not make fun of him (he thinks Baz is laughing at him). Baz goes along with it with “When will I ever laugh then?”… but that’s just the wall coming up, it’s Baz not being ready to be vulnerable yet. It’s different from when Baz says “I’m texting my other boyfriend, the one who texts me back” (let me wack you for making me suffer like that) or “That’s the only thing (petit fours and where they sell them or something like that) that you learned in first year” (essentially some sort of good-natured verbal sparring and foreplay for them at that point – Simon hits back with “not true, learned you were a git,” Baz pushes him into the bed, and Simon pushes him against the wall to kiss him… I mean).

What Baz is doing in that CO scene, which he has likely been doing up to that point, is to pretend/let Simon think he’s laughing at him, when in reality he’s laughing because he simply thinks Simon is funny, which is a different thing. Baz finds Simon funny! (it’s one of the things he likes about him, but he can’t just let him know just yet) (and Simon likes Baz’s sense of humor too, finds it a turn-on even, which gives us Golden Moments later). In awtwb Baz says “Simon makes me laugh,” “he always manages to make me laugh” or something like that.

Similarly, when Simon says “I’ll always be less than you” in CO and Baz says “I know, it’s a dream come true,” because again, he can’t allow himself to be vulnerable. It’s too early in the relationship for him to let Simon know how much he means for him. He has spent too long believing Simon could never want him, too long protecting himself. You have to remember it took Baz seeing the humdrum (he believes himself to be monstrous, and he sees Simon is as messy and, through the humdrum, as “villainous” as he believes himself to be – “we match”) to even admit that he’s attracted to Simon. But he never for a second believes Simon is less than him, or that he’s anything less than everything he wants.

You have enough information to say he’s just saying shit he doesn’t mean in CO (can’t be vulnerable yet) but this is way more explicitly after Simon’s breakdown makes all of Baz’s thorns and barbed wires go away (and even that sense of humor Simon loves, as Baz knows Simon is unwell and is so afraid of doing anything that could hurt Simon more)… Baz thinks “he’s lovely, a sad mess and rough around the edges… but still so lovely” – even when Simon is at his worst, when he’s “fading away” and in a state a lot of people would be put off by (and wouldn’t have patience for) Baz still believes he’s lovely.

Baz never believes Simon losing his magic makes him less than him. Simon mistakenly believes losing his magic makes him “not worthy of Baz” but the reality is that Baz would give up magic without a second thought if it gets in the way of being with Simon. We know how much he loves magic, how important it is to him… and he would have broken his wand for Simon in a heartbeat. (Simon would never let him, though, because he knows how important it is to him! The mere idea causes him distress) (Baz’s completely matches Simon’s unhinged “I have killed for Baz and I would do it again” “there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for Baz” energy, he’s just a bit more dramatically poetic in expressing it. “What a ridiculous creature, like I wouldn’t make the world etc”)

#simon snow #snowbaz #baz pitch #simon snow trilogy #carry on #baz x simon #baz grimm pitch #awtwb #wayward son

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 3/19/2024

boy hope i never run out of zelda games to play or my mental health is going to Tank. there are very vague endgame stuff spoilers (not where zelda is, but some of the time fuckery) but i am going to spoil a bit of the rito sage quest. nothing is rot-13'ed. i feel like that's a fair compromise since this game has been out for about a year? please let me know YOUR opinions on recent game spoilers

listening

Thanks A Lot But No Thanks from the 1955 musical It's Always Fair Weather, sung by Dolores Grey. this was Dolores Grey propaganda in the @hotvintagepoll. i love a sugar baby song and this is sort of an. anti-sugar-baby song? a satitrical sugar baby song? she thanks suitors for increasingly improbable gifts (the state of Maine, et al) before killing them??

the PIPES on this woman!!! the comedic timing!!! she pulls out a gun and shoots suitors dead while thanking them for an autographed picture of john wayne!!! she pulls a big lever and they all fall under the stage!!! ive been having kind of a Time in the depths of unemployment and this made me genuinely laugh (not one short sharp bark of laughter, full on cackling).

thanks for the darling uranium mine indeed

reading

the moonstone by wilkie collins (and philip). this has been my falling asleep reading book. this is decidedly not a cozy mystery but the stakes are not like. so high i have to keep reading through the night to find out what happens. i'm having a good time with it, currently about halfway and still very irritated with rachel, the main character right now. i have not revised my "spoiled brat" opinion and i look forward to seeing if i ever revise it.

-

watching

The Three Musketeers (2011, dir. Paul W.S. Anderson). thank you mackintosh (this is a discard from my hometown library and no one needs to know where that is thanks). it's pretty widely available on free platforms rn which is how you know it's good. it's not Good is the thing but it is extremely fun. it is straight up the three musketeers but with an airship. milla jovovich jumps off an airship into the channel. milla jovovich does some assassins creed shit. luke evans does some assassins creed shit. there is an airship fight and an airship chase. it is So cheesy and unfortunately never got another sequel. it also inexplicably has some of the finest cinematic swordfighting since the golden age of hollywood.

this was a really successful impromptu movie night pick for a more widely varied gang than usual, including some teens. my bestie also enjoyed it, which i am So pleased by bc she has extremely exacting movie taste. this cast is so stacked for no good reason: orlando bloom, luke evans, christoph waltz, mads mikkelsen, matthew macfayden...

-

playing

i have a post in my head about breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom and their dialogue with each other about loss and grief, but i think that's going to have to wait until i have a little bit more brainpower. perhaps i can talk a little bit about how they make me feel about loss and grief, and how i was upset for zelda and her hundred-year siege in the last one but i am so so so desperately sad for zelda in tears of the kingdom.

i played through breath of the wild with a constant background sense of loss and grief. this is only partially due to the real-life severe depression and joblessness. i think this is a personal brain thing and not a game thing, but i did feel guilty when fucking around in breath of the wild and not actively doing main quests to save zelda. like i would look at the castle off in the distance and feel kind of bad. the champions (and zelda!) telling link as soon as physically possible that it wasn't his fault made me cry in real life every time. i get it's like a month max of in-universe time between games, but it still feels like he has once again missed SO much. i think this is sort of a larger symptom of depression in that i look at [REDACTED] in tears of the kingdom and get a bit hopeless about [REDACTED] and it's like. well i might as well go pick golden apples and not do main quests. time is meaningless.

i am really glad they kept the shrine of resurrection on the plateau in tears of the kingdom. if that hadn't been there i the player would have felt very unmoored. i cannot begin to think how unreal and depersonalized it would have made link feel.

enough of that! the hero's path function is so funny. there are such huge swathes of the map i looked at and said No Thanks! Not Yet!

my depths map is even funnier. eight lightroots so far. no thank you! too scary still! i thought until VERY RECENTLY that all the caves and wells led to the depths and was avoiding them. mistake! cool shit in caves and wells! some horrible boys as well but they are vastly outnumbered by the cool shit.

the rito sage quest fucked SO severely. i had so much fucking fun with that boss fight even though it took me a real life two hours to get up to the arena with the puzzles to unlock the boss fight. i also surprised myself and did not have to look up how to beat any of the puzzles or the boss! just entered a state of flow and looked up and it was three hours later! i know a lot of people are very grumpy about how this was not a totally new game with a totally new map, but i have nothing but praise for the mechanics in this completely new section. knocked my socks off. made me think but wasn't too frustrating. made me use all my powers and all my weapon types. it was simply a great deal of almost frictionless fun! some over the top sick as shit stuff that is the whole point of video games as a medium imo

unlocked all the geoglyphs and i am Upset. i am UPSET.

and now for some horse talk (TM): i kept the very first horse i caught out of nostalgia even though these stats are not very good. i think the naming scheme for this game will be H (the last game was C). the breath of the wild giant ganon horse is so funny. you can't do shit with this horse. you can't change the mane. you can't change the tack. you can't increase his stats. he's just There. Large.

tangential horse talk: why is this lynel in the wetlands. his feathering and fetlocks are going to rot off. he is going to founder

some places ASCEND works where i didn't expect it to: tree. water you can stand in.

i stumbled across the last power completely accidentally while trying to deliver some eyes to a mysterious god and this was so fucking funny. i DID throw this guy down a big pit in the last game and he never came back. i forgot about that.

also people were fucking gaga for rauru but why didn't i see people talking about either of these two last summer on this, the -girl affix site and the scruffy shredded boy site

some other bits and bobs:

i was so annoyed patricia was part of the compendium in the last game i fucking got her this time ok

very hashtag relatable languages moment

unrelated to either of those things, i have done the gerudo sage quest except for the boss battle and i missed two huge swathes of hashtag tunnel gameplay (going to find riju through the tunnels. simply went overland) and getting to the central temple chamber (simply used ascend). whoops

there's a little tower concept art piece in purah's room in the ancient lab! that's a fun little touch i really love, it really helps differentiate the games and show changes in the overworld between games in a very cheap and east way for the devs

bc i play these games like dressup simulators, i also want to note that misko's tents are also really fun, they really feel like they're from a much earlier era and i'm stumbling across an untouched archaeological site

-

making

garden update: growing along okay, it has been so so so wet lately and i should have bitten the bullet and bought the big expensive bag of perlite, the drainage is not terrific. i should elevate all the planters and that would help a bit too. tomatoes are bit leggy, i moved them out of the partial shade on the end of the balcony and in front of the window. i am a bit concerned about them getting scorched, but again it's been so wet lately they need all the help they can get. i feel like they're established enough to be pruned a bit to make them bushier but i am Afraid. there are worse things in life than leggy tomatoes

the pic on the left below: these bush beans are looking a bit strange as well. the four shorter ones came up, promptly withered their cotyledons, and i thought they died until they popped out their first true leaves. the larger ones i think may have some kind of mosaic virus but it's a little early to tell. these are bins that haven't been used outside (they stored clothes in for the move) and new dirt from home depot. either the dirt or the seed stock itself may have been infected? very strange. the cucumbers in the bin in the back (hidden by the beans) are also taking forever to get going. at least the sweet peas are doing fine. the spinach i planted in that back bin withered where the stems met the soil and died. i think it was simply to early and too damp for them.

anyway on the right pic above: these normie peas and normie climbing beans seem to be doing fine. that's dill in the gray pot and basil in the bucket, they also seem to be doing fine. just sort of a perplexing corner on the other side of the balcony.

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem

[eerna]

after a tfota reread and the suren duology, im totally obsessed with taryn. i recently read the lost sisters tfota novella and there is suchhhhhh juicy stuff in there. locke targets taryn dead to rights, playing on every insecurity, and taryn’s insecurities are so interesting, especially her thinking about her vulnerabilities!! taryn thinks that jude has her place in faerie secured and so taryn is the weak link here and she’s trying to barter her way into a good position. (i also loved her analysis of vivi’s state of mind and that once vivi leaves, she and jude are even more vulnerable.) i love how her and locke’s bargain is a parallel to jude and dain’s. even after just fifty pages can i see how taryn was driven to straight up murder. the more page time locke gets the more sinister he is at how very competent he is at manipulating feelings and what seems like almost psychological torment. taryn makes a lot of mistakes but it really only makes her character so much interesting!!! another taryn novel/la for me please!!!!

YAASSS TARYN FANCLUB!!!!! I love the novella for the exact reasons you mentioned. It is a short retelling of the first part of TCP, but from Taryn's POV, and it gives us SO many interesting parallels. I especially like how while Jude's TCP arc is realizing she is cold-blooded and violent and wondering if that makes her a monster, throughout the novella Taryn is like "oh I am not violent, oh I am so prim and proper" but the more people test her, the more she finds it may not be so true. My personal fave is when Locke shows up beneath her window after ghosting her for weeks and she's like "Hehe what if this time Madoc caught him sneaking around the property and killed him, that would be sooooo cool he totally deserves it- WAIT NO WHAT AM I THINKING THAT IS HORRIBLE???". People always forget that she was always just like the rest of her family. She IS vicious and vengeful, as evident in how she treated Jude for putting a target on both their backs and "stealing" Locke, but like Cardan said, she doesn't want it to be true. She refuses to accept that part of herself, even though she is aware, she chooses to pretend she is all softness and kindness so that's the thing everyone sees her as. She wants to be better than the Folk, and be rewarded for it. It shames her that Jude abandoned that idea and decided to be worse, because now she is the only one cowed and scared. ANOTHER cool narrative is Taryn's relationship with food, how she is a comfort eater and keeps consuming more and more the worse her mental state gets, but is still always hungry. Then there's the metaphorical role of food that Locke presents, where a life she might want is a banquet, all the various experiences of love spices, and she is "refusing to eat" because she is scared of Faerie. But by the end of the book she is "gagging food down" through the Jude trial to prove that Faerie food or no she can take it, even though she hates the taste. She is trying to drown her sadness and guilt in the belief that staying true to Locke will finally make her feel full and satisfied. Where ELSE did I see that greedy streak huh I wonder!

Anyway. The Lost Sisters ily what a 10/10 addition I need a sequel except HB gave up on Taryn years ago

#eernask #eernanon #eernask talk tfota

[hellsfirekeepsyouwarm]

All Hell Breaks Loose Pt. 4.

Hello there my loves, i brought to the next part of my angst series. :D Still no happiness, just excitement and all the feels in the world. So, it's not my first time to bring in some other love interest (i'm greedy af), i can't help it, i love it. Also i'm thinking about a sequel with Graves, let me know if ya'll interested in that. Happy reading!

Simon "Ghost" Riley x F!Reader

Warnings: language, mentions of torture, injuries, military men, canon typical violence, Graves is bad (but i kinda like it), as i see it now it's lighter than the previous chapters.

Summary: You need to remind Graves of your shared past, hoping for more and easier time with him while Ghost and the team puts together a plan to get you out of the shadows by becoming one.

You have his attention. His full and utter focus. Everything froze in place when the words left your mouth, and you could even hear a pin drop. You see memories flashing on his battle scarred face, and for a moment, a tiny little second you see Phil, your friend, your partner, your most trusted companion. Only for a moment really, while the pain lives so urgent in you, it's a weak split second, but you can't deny it. It leaves you as soon as the numbness take over in your mind, so you can block out the the physical body you are trapped in.

Graves stares at you. No visible emotion displayed on his features, he just stands there, arms crossed over his bulletproof vested chest. This is not the time to stop damnit.

"Because i remember. Fuck it was a good time to be a Shadow, wasn't it? Doing important and reckless shit while making a shit ton of money. "

His eyes widen, maybe not so recognizable for his men, but you know you stirred something up in him. What you don't know, if anything, a shallow wave of nostalgia that hits him, but it's perfectly enough for you. A small grip on him, but it's better than nothing.

"Leave." He states, eyes remaining on you. You hold his gaze, brave and stupid enough to do so, no fucking way he can have the gratification of seeing you tormented any longer.

Shadows leave without a word, but not without some suspicious looks towards you and Philip. It's quite quick, how they clear the room with ease, remembering they are not only mercenaries and criminals, but soldiers too.

You feel yourself let out a breath, left with the only person who can provide some familiarity, conflicting feelings clash in you as you realize you trying to find comfort in the person who's hurting you with no remorse. But for now, you'll let yourself to be more vulnerable if it means you can have a win in a long run. You sigh again, Simon's face flashing in front of before you speak again. You gather every moment that you can recollect about Philip Graves, involving all the cases where he was stuck between you thighs. You want to replace those memories with better and happier ones. But for now, you need to push Simon in the back of your mind in order to have a grip on reality.

"Who would have thought, that we will end up like this. On the opposite sides of the battlefield. Not me for sure, not when i was tangled in between the sheets with you. Damn, i thought i can fucking conquer this piece of shit planet with you by my fucking side." The images of him, a younger, cleaner, healthier him, with a shiteating grin, clutching an AR firmly, already turned on by just a look at you mirroring his smugness. The thoughts start to mix up with memories of the 141 seeping into your life. Your brain tries so hard to replace the naked and filthy recollections with Philip, it feels so surreal to think about purposely of him, while you yearn for Simon and only Simon.

He looks sheepish, hell almost sad if you are being honest. Maybe not every human part in him is lost. Not that it matters, it doesn't. He'll die at the end of this, either with you or by your hands.

"After that mission everything changed. The job, the team, you, us. Every fucking thing turned upside down because you was greedy. You had everything on this world, and you wanted more. More money, more to your name, more power, more more more." You rant, words spilling like they should have years ago. You need time, you have to gain time for the guys to get inside. That's what matters, not Graves and his feelings. Not your feelings.

"OH FUCK OFF! Like you didn't enjoyed it. You fucking loved every damn minute of my power. You fed off of it like a hungry leech, you were a lost puppy until you met me, always ridiculed by the others, always the outcast." He tries to get to you, get under your skin. Just by the look on his face you see that he counts on you getting defensive, clinging to your truths, to yell and ague. And you don't do it, he so mindful that he leaves you time to speak up, to regain some strength to go against his acclaims.

"You can say whatever you want, Philip. I know what i know, it's my memories too. And at that time, you looked pretty much like someone whos enjoying it. Everything of it. You can be fucking mad at me for leaving, admitting that you went to far with it, it won't fucking change a thing. You lost. You lost the day when you did that job for Sheperd. You aren't the one who came out on top, and i know you fucking despise the feeling. Oh i know. It's written all over your face, i have seen it a million times before, and those scars on your pretty face couldn't hide that from me." Shit you have to be careful what you say, you are aware of the things he is capable of. But the words just comes so effortlessly.

"Because you know me so well, huh? You think you have that against me? Darling this goes both ways. Does dear Simon knows what horrible things you have done to amaze me?" He smiles wickedly, just like so many times in your past. He's getting close to you, enjoying the bickering between you two, the back and forth, it's entertaining him. He waits for your response. "I bet he doesn't. You just smile sweetly, nod 'yes sir', riling him up on the field just to spread your legs later. Yes of course you do that."

"Don't tell me you are jealous now Phil." You smile up at him, the upward stance of your lips feeling out of the place considering your position, but it sets him off completely. "Yes you are. You just went through all the times in your head when you were lucky enough to experience me. All the secret glances, all the 'yes sir's you like so much, the sneaking around, fucking me into the wall as soon as we hit safety. Oh you do remember Istanbul just the way i do, don't deny it."

He smiles too, maybe too openly, too honestly for your liking. After all, he is still Philip Graves. He's not immune to you. You still have a firm hold on him, since the day you put down your Shadow patch. No, since way before that. Now you can taste freedom on your tongue.

"Jealous? Why darling? I have you, am i not?"

And with that, a genuine smile on his lips, he leaves you bleeding onto the old wooden chair.

*

It's the most unnatural feeling. To wear a shadows gear. Ghost feels almost naked without his own shit, skull changed for a plain black mask, the M4 alien in his hands, with the wrong attachments, his senses altered by acting like a Shadow.

From the moment the light-bulb lit up in his head, he felt lighter, suddenly he had a clear view on the operation.

"We thought about it Lieutenant, we went through it, and it's not possible. " Price was right, they went over it. Multiple times, but they never talked about one.

"No, it's possible. We did a job, it was one of her first with us. She went undercover, completely alone, in the blind, with only a code phrase. 'The good ol' days' in a shite accent you 've just heard. We teased her about for weeks after that." Soap explained, his face displaying a fondness of the memory.

"She wants us to go in alone, separately?" Price is shocked, not understanding it yet.

"She wants one person in there. One person is enough. If he's inside, and we set out a number of distractions, Graves will be busy with that, thinking we are using brute force to get inside."

Price and Gaz both looked wary of the idea. Yeah it can work, but will it work?

"We choose one Shadow who patrols outside. Preferably alone for at least minutes, i grab his stuff, get in, follow orders until i exactly know where she is. When i find where she is held, i can give out a signal to you for decoy." Simon feels life blooming inside him, the first usable plan in days. The one he knows will work.

"Let's say you find her, how do you get her out? She will be heavily guarded, you are one hell of a soldier Simon, but you are only one man." In any other scenario, he would have agreed with John. Him alone isn't enough, but he's never been more sure of anything.

"She will be guarded, but he'll have to cut the numbers if we hit the decoy right. If he thinks we are coming onto him with an army, he'll focus his strength on that, not guarding a door. Yes, a number of Shadow's will be there, including me."

There is no space left for protest or doubts. While Simon couldn't assure Price fully, he still went with the idea. Honestly it was the best they've got.

That led Simon to a Shadow about his height, wandering outside far enough and long enough to put on his clothes. He won't need them no more. He's walking down a hallway, listening to directions and orders from the radio, occasionally Shadows passing by. Not one of them paid any attention to him, to his surprise.

Simon is okay. He's on the field, alone, right in the middle of the monsters belly, on the edge of danger and safety. He likes the rush of it, he thrives in this situations. This is the first time in days he felt in control, despite he's more like out of control. Completely. He needs to wait and see, gather the intel, orientate himself from the memory of the blueprint. He knows where he's going, but he doesn't.

"Soldier! Where are you going?" A stern voice behind him calls out, probably for the poor guy who should be in the suit. He acts on his sudden fright, plays into it like he's caught like a kid fumbling in the cookie jar. "Let me hear it."

Well shit.

"I had to take a piss." He mumbles out, feeling his cheeks burning under the mask. He hasn't done this in ages, honestly he forgot how irritating it was to be ordered around, and questioned all the damn time in his early days in the military.

"No shit boy, you took a while. Now get back to Jameson, he's been talking my ear off about how long you take all the fucking time."

Ghost stands there, completely baffled by the absurdness of being scold for taking a piss for too long. "Not just stand there moron, MOVE"

Okay fuckin 'ell. He turns right on the corridor, hoping praying that it's the old locker rooms what they use for keeping you. Rooms are small, reachable and easy to look out for. There is one way in, bet plenty of ways to get you out of there, just in case. If he would have a captive, that's the best place to held them.

The voice behind him doesn't follow, or speak up again, so they choose the right person. There was a heated debate at the table around the blueprint on who is the lucky bastard to die quick. Soap and Ghost was on the same page about their guy, and so far it's payed off great.

Simon can feel it in his chest that he' s close, gloved fingers tingling on the weapon. He tries not to grip on it too hard, ease his hold, not look so fucking tense, but how can he be not tense when you are somewhere behind a door. How can he not be on the fucking edge?

He slows his steps down as soon as he meets two other men mindlessly kicking the dust with their boots in their boredom. Just where he thought they would be, locker rooms, one or two door before maintenance rooms. Three people guarding you isn't that of a surprise when other Shadows walking by every goddamn minute. It's crowded, people come and go in the neighboring hallway, and by the look of them, Ghost is in the very place where he wants to be.

"Finally you sonovabitch, right about time dude, i thought i'm gonna shit myself soon." The shorter guy leaves with that. Ghost takes his place on the other side of the rusty metal door. The fucking door he dreamed about every minute of his restless sleep. And now he found it, but he can't just barge through. He can't do that. He can't.

Simon tries not to think about anything. Not the hostiles walking around unknowingly of his presence, not the burning in his veins, not the utter silence behind the door. That silence what makes him question everything. Are you even there? What if he's guarding the fucking weapon stash? Or supplies?

He knows you are close, but his mind can't stop doubting the instinct. He just knows. He always knows when you are close. When you sneak up on him at the mornings to wrap your hands around his torso, while he pours the steaming hot coffee for both of you, when you slide soundlessly under the sheets after your millionth of gaming youtube video that evening, seeking his warmth with tired eyes. He just knows, and he's never been wrong. Right?

His mind could eat him alive, but he chooses to press on the small device between his fingers and the M4, letting know the team it's time. Whatever happens after this, he'll get trough.

Exactly 180 seconds later, the alarms goes off after a small shake of the ground under him. He's ready to bring hell to this place.

*

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#simon ghost riley imagine #simon ghost riley x reader #simon riley x reader #ghost x reader #ghost imagine #all hell breaks loose #simon ghost riley #ghost

[lupinusalbus]

Sad Inability to See the Writing on the Wall

I was watching Kit’s appearance at the GOT Convention where he stated (somewhat apologetically) that he thought killing Dany was the right ending for the show. Its kind of sad that he has to be apologetic and also to qualify his remarks by saying something to the effect of “it’s ok if you see it differently.”  There was reportedly a backlash against him on twitter because he dared to state the obvious.

It all makes me wonder what universe Dany’s champions are inhabiting.  Do they really believe the book(s) are going to end differently for Jon/Dany when the ending makes so much sense for Jon Snow as the protagonist? He’s half Stark, half Targaryen, and he must choose between these two aspects of himself. He is effectively ending the Targaryen Dynasty by killing Dany, and plot wise, it all makes perfect sense. The two Ds made a lot of errors in judgement for seasons seven and eight, but significantly altering the end point of Jon and Dany’s trajectory from Martin’s plan was not something they would have had the temerity to do.  It's convenient to blame them though, because the books aren't published yet.

But some are apparently living in a fantasy world, even saying that Dany is going to be resurrected and will get back together with Jon Snow. It’s one of the most ridiculous theories ever. If it happened (which it won’t), it would ruin the elegance and symmetry of Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire. He will never write that, nor would he approve of it being part of any sequels about Jon based on the upcoming books.

But the character of Daenerys has been deceiving people all along. I mean those show characters who saw with their own eyes how cold blooded Dany was when possessed by her “fire and blood” Targaryen persona but remained blind to that brutality. Crucifixions and burnings were not enough to turn them against her because they became dazzled by her “charisma” and smitten by the dragons.

The Starks and Jon Snow are the antithesis of Dany, and that’s ultimately why Jon Snow had to make his choice. It’s also why Kit Harington is right.

#kit harington #jon snow #jon snow show #anti daenerys

[ladye-zelda]

How old do you think each Link is during their first adventure?

Sky: Probably 17. It would make sense, considering how once a year they would have the wing ceremony, and only a select handful who seem to be around the same age are participating. (Then again it sort of raises the question on how the wing ceremony even works in the first place just like that post that was floating around earlier... huh.) it would also make sense considering how in Breath of the Wild 17 is the age of adulthood, so if the wing ceremony is for 17 year olds competing to become knights then that would be where that tradition comes from. Maybe lol

Four: Considering how he had to be young enough to see the minish, probably no older than 9 or 10. Maybe 8 at the youngest.

Time: I like to headcanon that he had just turned 10 right before his adventure. I know a lot of people like to think he's 9, but if he was 10 that would've made him 17 when he woke up; an actual legal "adult" in Hylian terms if they still have 17 being the age of adulthood in their society.

Legend: I like to think he was older, about 15, but I kind of agree with all of the other headcanons of him being younger. Idk; there's a kind of disconnect between the sprites and the official artwork of A Link to the Past that it is really hard to say, as his sprite makes him look like he was 10, but we'll just settle for the middle ground and say he was 12 or 13.

Hyrule: Canonically, he is 10 due to the sequel stating that he was 16 and it had been 6 years since the events of the first game, so...

Twilight: Definitely on the older side; probably late 17 or 18. Verging on 19, perhaps?

Wind: It did say canonically in the game that he was 12, right? (Wait, then that would've made Time 12 when he left Kokiri Forest? Idk; that kind of always bugged me whenever I watch wind waker lol; perhaps they were going for a middle ground between Time's young age and adult age)

Warriors: Again, kind of hard to tell, but he does seem to be around Twilight's age, perhaps slightly older. Probably early 20's.

Wild: 17, or I guess 117 by the time he wakes up lol. I like to think that it also took him a year to finish his adventure (due to what one yiga npc says outside of Kakariko village on the northern edge leading into the lanayru region; really odd place to put them there since that's really early game btw) but in context of LU I suppose he's still 117. Sad :(

#the ladye answers #amazing stormy!!! #linked universe #lu chain #thank you

[overlordraax]

Why I didn't like 'Rise of the Beasts'

(Warnings: spoilers for ROTB and also mentions of character death)

This is just a little rant essay talking about why even though I wanted to like ROTB I quickly stopped enjoying it.

It all comes down to a simple reason: I love 'Bumblebee' (as in the 2018 film). That still stands to be my favourite Transformers movie. No shade to anyone who enjoys the Bay movies but I did not enjoy them (the casual sexism was so drastically off-putting for me as a teenage girl when it first came out), so I was overjoyed when Bumblebee came out and the movie was nice and sweet and made me really care about Bee and his connection to Charlie.

So when ROTB came out I was hoping it was going to be a good follow up and 'Bumblebee', and it was quite quickly apparent that it wasn't. It seemed that while 'Bumblebee' got the best overall reviews of any TF movie, it also didn't do that well at the box office (since it came out against the first Spiderverse movie which ended up being such a massive phenomenon). It seems Hasbro considered it a failure because ROTB doesn't feel like a sequel to 'Bumblebee', it feels more like it is trying to be a spiritual successor/sequel to the Bay films (probably evident by how the main threat is Unicron, who was the teased threat at the end of 'Last Knight').

It just doesn't quite have the spirit and sentiment of 'Bumblebee' but what made it a true disappointment for me was actually in the movies treatment of Bumblebee itself.

I came to this film because of 'Bumblebee' and I wanted to see how Bumblebee's story continued.

Then he dies in the first fight of the film. It wasn't even that in itself. It was the way they approached it in the story. The actual moment held surprisingly little weight, the characters seemed at best mildly upset by one of their comrades dying. There was no depiction of proper sadness or grief which you think you would expect for one of the main characters of the movie being actually dead, especially when they emphasize these Autobots potentially being the last of their kind.

This is even more severely undercut after the fight is over and they instantly establish that there is a way to bring Bumblebee back to life. Oh, so that's why no one was acting as if they cared, it's because the story already told us not to bother about it.

This was the point for me when I emotionally checked out of the moved. I found that it completely undercut the depiction of death in the film. In fact why should I bother getting emotionally invested in any death in the movie after that? The film seemed to want me to care when Airazor died, but why should I? Why can't she come back as well? All it would take is an excuse from the writers. Why should I care about Mirage's sacrifice? How could I trust that that moment with heavy narrative weight would actually matter? (and actually for the record I didn't mind Mirage being brought back at the end, because it was at least made clear Noah went to some effort in repairing Mirage and bringing him back. I just felt that the moment would have had more impact if they hadn't pulled that same trick earlier).

The annoying thing is I think there would have been a very easy fix: In that first battle, just have Bumblebee wounded and in the state of dying rather than actually dead. Then the characters can be like "Quick! We need to find the energon maguffin in order to revive Bumblebee." The rest of the movie would have gone exactly the same with a nice ticking clock for tension, but the premise of death itself wouldn't have been severely undercut.

I think there is a problem overall with how a lot of media handles death (though I feel I am mostly talking about US made media), but especially in franchise stuff it's become too weightless and ephemeral. Characters are killed and brought back to life with relative ease because there are probably corporate overlords demanding these characters come back so they can continue making money off their image.

#Transformers #ROTB #Rise of the Beasts #TF Bumblebee #Bumblebee 2018 #Raax facts #character death #media analysis

[writing-for-marvel]

🍁 Fall Vibes 🍁

Are you having apple cider with Bucky?

Or making pumpkin pie with Steve?

Rogers Family Recipe

(The Fall Edition)

Steve Rogers x Fem!Reader

< < PART 1 (The Cookie Edition)

Summary: As the season changes to a rustling fall, a new wave of homesickness overcomes Steve.

Warnings: homesick Stevie, a tinge of angst for like 0.5 seconds, hurt comfort, fluff, implied sex

Word count: 1.5k

A/N: this is my entry for the beatiful @jadedvibes’s Falling In Love writing challenge. This can absolutely be read on its own, even though it’s technically a sequel. Thank you for this lovely ask Navy 🧡 this actually gave me inspiration which I have been severely lacking lately. Banners by @maysdigitalarts

Masterlist | Ask me anything! | Library

The sweltering and bright summer transitioned almost overnight to a crisp and vibrant fall. A layer of orange leaves crunched underfoot everywhere you went and the scarf and pair of gloves which had migrated to the back of your closet over the warmer months saw the first rays of daylight since the frosty winter thawed to a blooming spring earlier in the year.

With the change in season, also came a shift in Steve’s mood. He had been making progress in adapting to life in the twenty-first century, but in the week since temperatures started declining and the leaves turned orange, he had locked himself in his apartment and not spoken a word to anyone.

As you opened Steve’s front door with the key you used a lot more than just for the emergencies you had initially been bestowed with it for, you noticed the state of disarray his kitchen was in. Messy bowls and spoons littered the sink, flour sprinkled the floor and splotches of sticky pastry dough were smeared on the countertop.

“Stevie, it’s just me.” You called into the otherwise silent apartment, hesitating a moment at his front door to hear his usual response welcoming you further inside. However, his reply never came.

As you walked slowly into the sitting room, it hit you how much effort Steve had made in the past few months to incorporate more modern, yet cosy furnishings in his apartment, which gave the feeling that it was indeed his home rather than a temporary safe house, something he had struggled to come to terms with after waking up from the ice.

A twinge of guilt speared into your stomach at the thought that perhaps your suggestion of updating his decor when he wasn’t quite ready for that step was the reason for this new wave of homesickness.

The creek of a door opening pulled your attention back into reality. A large figure emerged from the bedroom, shoulders slumped, dragging wool sock covered feet along the hardwood floor, bundled up in an oversized sweater.

With a distinct forlorn expression, Steve’s eyes finally met with yours. Though his eyes remained sad, the twinkle of recognition that you were the one coming to check on him was hard to miss.

He mumbled his greeting from the other side of the room and mentally you scolded yourself for not coming around sooner.

“You wanna talk about it?” You asked in a soft tone, and with a quiver of his lower lip, Steve shook his head. As if you were capable of predicting the future, in the moment before his eyes brimmed with tears, you had bound over to him, wrapping your arms around his waist in a tight hug and snuggling into his cosy sweater.

With a sniffle, Steve buried his head in the crook of your neck, hands reaching around you and grasping onto your sweater for dear life.

You slowly rubbed circles on his back, whispering sweet nothings into his ear until he felt comfortable to either speak or let you go. You were determined to be there for as long as he needed you - the past week you had wanted to keep your space as to not overwhelm him, he had asked for time that day you both acknowledged your feelings a couple months ago, and you didn’t want to pressure him, or overstep in your position as a friend. But now seeing how miserable he truly was, you cursed yourself for not following your instincts.

“Ma’s favourite season was fall. Bucky too.” Steve disclosed tentatively without pulling away from the warmth and comfort of your body. After a moment of further hesitation, he continued with a crack of vulnerability in his voice. “Would you help me make Ma’s famous pumpkin pie? She always made it once October came around, and I’ve tried to recreate it, but failed miserably.”

Suddenly the mess in the kitchen made much more sense.

You weren’t sure you would ever be able to say no to your Stevie, but when he allowed you to pull back from his embrace, the desolation flooding his eyes fractured your heart, and you were positive you’d sell your soul for him to be happy again.

“Of course we can, today’s all about curing your homesickness.”

After doing a hasty clean up of the kitchen, and a quick run to the grocery store for more ingredients, Steve was already looking more at ease. You both had fun making the pie together, hands occasionally touching as you went to grab the same item, and smearing pastry dough on each other's noses. There were multiple moments throughout the day where you genuinely thought Steve had forgotten about being homesick.

Though you spent the afternoon reminiscing about the 40’s whilst making his Ma’s pumpkin pie recipe from scratch, Steve’s mood had completely inverted from that morning by the time the pie was placed in the oven. Your theory was because he finally had some company and wasn’t wallowing around his messy apartment by himself. If you had asked Steve, he would have advised that it was because he was spending time with you, the woman he had fallen in love with over the past few months.

It was as you were cleaning up the mess in the kitchen that Steve could finally reflect on the events of the day, and the progress he had made since finding himself in this modern age. You had been an instrumental part of him acclimatising to this new world - Steve would never have made as much headway without your patience and consideration, and now he had experienced life with you, he didn’t want to go back to a time where he was without you.

“Thank you for consoling me today, I didn’t even have to ask for you to come over, and yet you came anyway. Sometimes I need to remind myself that I don’t have to go through everything on my own.” Steve said over his shoulder as you were by the sink and he was wiping the counter.

Taking your hands out of the warm, soapy water, you turned to him, wiping the suds off with a hand towel as you spoke.

“Progress isn’t linear, Stevie - there will be harder days, where absolutely everything reminds you of the past, good days where you think there won’t be any more bad days, but I promise you, you have come so far from that day in Times Square, and I will be here in any capacity you need me to be.”

“In any capacity?” A cheeky grin spread on his face.

“You can have me however you want me, Captain.”

“Doll, you must know that I want you in every way.” Steve stated with such sincerity that your knees felt weak. “In a world that is so foreign to me, that’s full of daunting new milestones, and where I feel so out of place sometimes, I always feel safe with you.” With a jubilant smile, Steve reached out and grabbed your hands, pulling you closer to him.

You could have kissed him, you wanted to kiss him, but you had made a promise with yourself that you would take it slow with Steve, let him set the pace.

“Part of me feels guilty for moving on with my life, and that I haven’t rightly earned my place here. But having spent today with you after isolating myself for the last week wishing I was back in the 40’s, it's helped me realise that it doesn’t matter what time period I’m in, it’s not until I’m with you that I truly feel at home.”

Warmth rose up through your chest and butterflies fluttered in your stomach. You were his home, as he was for you.

You wanted to find the right words to convey exactly how you felt, though you thought saying you had fallen in love with him might just scare him off before he was actually yours.

“Stevie, I have never cared about anyone more than I care about you.” You squeezed his hands and poured all your earnestness into making sure he believed your words. “But I don’t want to rush you - I’m not going anywhere, you take all the time you need, I know you’ll be worth the wait.” If it were possible Steve’s smile grew even wider, and the tips of his cheeks flushed bright red.

“I don’t want to wait any more, doll. It took me almost a hundred years to find the girl of my dreams, I don’t plan on wasting any more time with you.” Steve Rogers was no liar, and this instance was no exception. True to his word, in that moment he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulled your body flush with his, and kissed you.

As his tongue slipped into your mouth, his hands found their way under your sweater, cool against your back. It wasn’t long until he lifted you to sit on the counter, and you were fiddling with the hem of his sweater as Steve placed teasing kisses down your neck.

When the buzzer of the oven timer finally sounded, the pumpkin pie fully cooked, you were both too caught up in each other to notice.

#Steve Rogers #fallinginlovewritingchallenge #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fanfic #steve rogers fluff #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x y/n #steve rogers x you #steve rogers imagine #Captain America #captain america fanfic #Captain America x reader #Chris Evans #chris evans x reader #chris evans x y/n #chris evans x you #marvel #mcu #marvel imagine #mcu imagine #marvel fanfic #mcu fanfic #marvel fanfiction #mcu fanfiction #em writes

[dc418writes]

•|I Got You, Always|•

✨Pairing✨: collegeQB!Chris Evansxblack!reader

Summary🪄: An unexpected surprise changes your plans (sequel to Safety Net)

⚠️: mayyybbeee a tiny bit of angst, mentions of pregnancy, worries of reader’s mental health/harming herself, all fluff for the most part tho

For 30 minutes and counting, Chris sat with his back pressed against the bathroom door waiting. His head tilted back and gaze lingering on the slow twirling blades of the ceiling fan while one knee occasionally knocked into the other. He just desperately wanted some sign to let him know you were okay.

At your frantic voicemail about feeling a knot in your abdomen that wouldn’t go away no matter how many crunches you did, he was obviously confused at what you were talking about. Then he was frozen. Blood pounding and heating his ears but also running cold in the middle of the packed locker room seeing the picture of a positive pregnancy test between your fingers.

“I’m sorry,” your following text read.

His teammates weren’t sure what happened watching their captain quickly pull up his sweats and toss a grey tee over his broad shoulders still sprinkled with drops of water from his shower. Their questions of “what’s up?,” and “you good?,” going unanswered as the metal door slammed against the tiled wall.

His locker even left partially open from his abrupt exit.

His jeep swerved in and out of traffic—just barely missing other drivers at times—until he finally arrived at his apartment.

“Baby I’m here,” he announced knocking on the door and trying to catch his breath after bounding up the steps two at a time. He’s only met with silence though making his forehead wrinkle in worry.

“Y/N? You okay?” He knocks again before trying to turn the handle. It’s locked, and he’s still yet to hear anything from you.

The door rattled and silver handle shook from how hard Chris’s palm banged on the door repeatedly trying to get you to open up. It wasn’t in anger though—no matter how frustrated you might’ve made him, he’d never direct any sort of ire towards you. He was scared that your silence was a permanent decision based on you’re fear and possible sadness as well.

Something he definitely could’ve stopped if he’d gotten back sooner.

“Nonono..hey Y/N if you can hear me, come open the door. I’m giving you until five or else I’m breaking it down! One! Two!…”

That’s when he heard your sniffles and muffled sobs, making his heartbeat begin to slow as a heavy sigh of relief left his lungs. Placing his hand in his pockets, his voice softens at your quiet hiccups coming from the tub if his ears heard correctly. “Hey sweetheart, I-I’m sorry if I scared you I was just freaked out since you didn’t answer a-and thought..”

He didn’t even want to finish the sentence himself not wanting to think of a world without you in it.

“Look, when you’re ready I’m gonna be out here okay? Right by the door,” he states squatting down to eventually sit on the cream, short-haired carpet fibers. “Need anything, you just let me know.”

And true to his word, he sat there like a puppy eagerly waiting for his owner to walk through the front door after a long day of work. The dull taps against the white tub made him perk until he was finally able to see your tear streaked face as you opened the door. Eyes burning from crying, and surely exhaustion, along with your wet lashes appearing darker and nose lightly tinted red—which was always adorable to him even though you swore you looked like a low budget Rudolph—you shyly meet his soft eyes gazing at you with sympathy and that ever present warmth they possessed whenever you appeared in front of him.

Your mouth slightly gapes, but no words flow out being immediately scooped into his arms and nearly cradled as he moved you both to the bed. His lips repeatedly pecking the top of your head as you nuzzled deeper into his chest.

“Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“S’alright,” he lowly chuckles against your curly hair. “Just don’t do it again. Too young to have a heart attack.”

The silence is comfortable this time—at least for Chris that is—as he slowly rocks you back and forth savoring the feel of you against him. His breathing has calmed and heart a simple patter against your body, while your mind continues to race and shift from thought to thought similar to a fly zipping from different landing spots. Staring at both of your reflections in the mirror mounted on the closet door, your eyes drift to your hidden abdomen apparently changing by the second as it prepares for the world’s newest addition that would be equal parts you and Chris.

“I’ve only talked to your mom twice,” you softly speak causing your boyfriend to pause his soothing motions to peer down at you. “Once on the phone when we we’re studying, and then when we finally met at dinner after your game.”

“What about it?”

“The third is gonna be me potentially ruining all the dreams she and your dad had for you.” Your voice cracks as he turns you to face him. Moving you to straddle his thigh as he wipes your newest tears trying to comfort you through shushes and chaste kisses.

“None of this is your fault, so stop okay? It takes two. And you’re not ruining anything, they’re only dream for me, or any of my siblings, is to be happy. Trust me, they say it enough times that I know it for a fact.”

“What about the NFL? Plus you graduate this year.”

“Although nice, the pros was never end all for me. And what? You think they won’t let me walk just because of a little extra fun?,” he smirks hoping to return that heart stopping smile he loved so much.

“No it’s just..,” you sigh trying to rid the oncoming tremble from your voice and withhold any further tears from falling, “when you leave, then what? I-I still have another year.” Hands on either side of your face, it’s as if you just spoke gibberish the way his eyebrows furrow at you.

“You really think I’d leave you? Baby or not, I love you Y/N, and I’m always gonna be there. Even in those times you’re sick of this mug and need your space, I won’t be too far away.” Your soft giggle is music to his ears, making a small smile spread along his lips. “I won’t let you fall remember?”

It was the promise he’d made to you when you both agreed to progress from your friends with benefits-esque relationship, and he hadn’t broken it. In your moments of uncertainty created by your anxious thoughts and unnecessary overthinking, he was there to bring you back down to Earth with a hug and a kiss, along with his soothing words of assurance.

He truly was there to catch you in more ways than one, and you’d be forever grateful for his love.

Silently nodding, his hands fold behind your back as you let yourself lean forward to nuzzle against his neck. Your nose resting inches from his Adam’s apple taking in his woodsy shower gel as his lips peck the top of your head. “I guess we got a lot to talk about huh?”

“Yea, but it doesn’t have to be tonight. Whenever you’re ready.”

-

“You see mama lovey? Yea?,” Chris coos to the one-year-old he lightly bounces in his arms. “She looks pretty huh?” Her tiny hands reach out towards you with a quiet “ma” and “tee” tumbling from her lips before giggling at the prickly sensation of his beard as he kisses her chubby cheeks and blows raspberries in their wake.

“Thank you honey,” you smile pecking her forehead before your lips fall on Chris’s. “And thank you baby. Alright I’ve got four bottles, two half and half; two just formula, diapers, an extra outfit, bibs. She should be okay in the stands with you guys.”

“Got her binkies?”

“Yep, front pocket,” you answer slipping on your heeled mules.

“You sure?,” he asks setting his baby girl down on the plush rug to wobble towards her favorite teddy.

“Mhm.”

“Positive?”

“Yes Chris,” you giggle moving towards the Winnie the Pooh themed diaper bag. “See? Right here in-,”

Rather than being met with her two pink pacifiers, you instead find a black velvet box instantly making your eyes water as you turn towards your boyfriend now down on one knee.

“Chris-,”

“The first time I did this, it uh didn’t really go well,” he nervously chuckles taking your hand in his. “I understood what you said though, and I’m sorry I made it seem like I was just proposing because I thought it was right. I promise that wasn’t my intention baby. Y/F/N Y/L/N, the woman I couldn’t imagine not having in my life, I love you, and I thank you for all the beauty and good you’ve added to my life over all these years.”

Your daughter giggles as she walks back towards the both of you in her tiny overalls trying to climb over his bent leg as if he was a jungle gym.

“Yea that includes you too lovey,” he chuckles kissing the top of her head before taking the box from your hands to open. A simple yet gorgeous singular princess cut diamond front and center on a polished silver band shining on display in front of you and causing a mix of a laugh and cry to escape your mouth.

“So what do you say? Wanna spend forever together?”

Kneeling down beside him, you excitedly nod while your hands caress his cheeks bringing him closer to mold your lips with his soft ones. “I just wish you would’ve asked after graduation. Now I’m gonna look like a raccoon,” you both chuckle.

“The cutest raccoon though.” Smacking his arm, his chuckles deepen pulling you to stand with him as he meets your lips again before gently wiping the wetness from your cheeks with his thumb. “You’re fine. Beautiful as always.”

“Promise?”

His fingers gently glide along yours sliding the cold metal along your skin to sit in its proper place, gleaming and sparkling back at you with every tilt and lift of your hand. “Of course. You know I got you.”

Taglist: @celestianstars @stargirlfics @fumbling-fanfics @lady-olive-oil @themyscxiras @melinda-january @lovelymari4 @adoreyouusugar @lovebittenbyevans @royalwriteroftheuniverse @omg-mymelaninisbeautiful @theartisticqueen @chrisevans-world @literaturelove @ivorylei @elrw24 @pono-pura-vida @yinx1 @justile @sunsetfreedom05 @jackiekae @luvingmyships @give-me-a-million-dollars-pls @bekinds @maxcullen @curlyhairclub @plokyu23 @fullofmelaninsarcasmandepression @nunubug99 @felicity-x0 @ellixthea @jojolu @jnk-812 @captainsamwlsn @wildfirecracker @nina-sj @iammyownlover @chaneajoyyy @thesecretlifeofdaydreamss

#chris evans #chris evans x black reader #chris evans x reader #chris evans x woc!reader #chris evans au

[friendsim2]

Just a question, I don't want to appear rude or anything...

I like your game, really do, but have you considered writing MSPAR as literally anything else than a pathetic little pleb who just can't seem to do a single thing right unless they have some sort of guidance?

I recall they were some kind of God or at least a supernatural entity, weren't they? All that Green Sun bullshit. So then why does majority of the characters treat us like complete trash? Even less than that in extreme cases (cough cough tyzias)

I understand Alternia is harsh or whatever, and they are just pissed at everything that breathes (if a fictional character's feelings are really needed to be taken into consideration) but this just feels like weak writing to me, especially after several volumes. I played both revolution and salvation to see if the treatment of the main character would change, but.....nope!

In og friendsim, they were a dork too, absolutely, but they also had the qualities to stand up for themselves (ie. insulting both Mallek and Galekh, highblood enough to rip us to shreds if they wanted to) but now, all their "personality" revolves around the fact of how trully incapable, pathetic, and weak they are despite the fact template MSPAR wasn't even that hard to stomach. This one on the other hand....

I didn't expect a sequel of a literal meme goldmine to be so negative (again, Alternia is Alternia, ik), even aggressive towards the player in certain moments. I guess winding down while playing was never the idea in the first place? I felt personally attacked by the ooc characters for something I didn't even do lol. If this was your intention, then you did a really good job.

Chickening out made perfect sense in the first volume, new surroundings and a murder to absorb, but as the volumes grew more brutal and savage, it truly makes no sense to keep a main character so mentally weak. I swear, I can't be the only one who is immensely annoyed by this.

But hey, that's just my humble opinion after 35 hours of playtime. Still excited for Marvus ofc

Peace out

So, I think there's a couple things worth pointing out here - and just to preface this isn't "your take on this is bad and wrong" but more "have you considered this?"

Don't expect this will change your opinion that much, since you clearly put a lot of time into this, but maybe you'll see things in a slightly different light - at the very least, I feel like this is thought-out critique that deserves a response.

First off, and I feel like this is an important baseline to set - we treat MSPAR as a character, not a reader insert. They are being influenced by an outside force, but exist in a kind of weird meta-narrative state where they're kind of also in control of their own personality. While this might not be explicitly stated in FS/PQ, it's definitely the vibe you get from the writing - MSPAR clearly shows a personality separate from the person playing it.

The "god powers MSPAR" is very much the product of the end of Pesterquest, not OG Friendsim. Keep in mind that literally none of the Friendsim characters have seen that side of MSPAR. Also, MSPAR mostly used their god powers to try to fix things for their friends... although there's a path where they're very much condescended to by the narrative itself. But like, Friendsim MSPAR is kind of a sad wet cat - they get hurt a lot and spend a lot of time wandering kind of aimlessly. They're in a lot of situations - and that was our influence moreso than PQ's tone.

The MSPAR that everyone on Alternia knows is basically not the same MSPAR as the end of PQ. Because stuff happened in PQ that none of them are aware of. But they've stepped back into another part of the story and subjected themselves to the influence of other, darker forces (Scratch) by choosing to go back for their other friends so... shit's fucked, man.

The story is intentionally darker in tone that the original Friendsim and Pesterquest - that was an intentional choice, and we know it might not be to everyone's liking. And if you're more in it for the lighter, more humorous vibes of FS/PQ that is completely fair and understandable. Some of that is the result of taking the Alternian world-building in a more serious direction, some of it is to reflect the changing attitudes as characters grow up and fill into their roles in the system more, and some of it is just a difference in writing style. And, like, fully acknowledging that the story gets downright grim at times. Not to say that there aren't darker moments in OG FS - stuff like the bad ending with Nihkee or the stuff with Daraya and the mall - but it is overall a little more humorous.

At it's heart, Friendsim 2 is a story about trauma - both the trauma of Alternia and what it represents, and also the trauma inherent in MSPAR's attempts to deal with the implications of how the timelines work. The trauma is both from MSPAR and from other characters who've interacted with MSPAR. That does inform both how MSPAR responds to stuff (keep in mind they're basically slugging through like a week of time here with very limited rest, just moving from point to point without a strong idea of what's guiding them). But also, it is a story about pushing past that trauma and getting to place where recovery and healing might be possible. And yeah, some of the payoff for that is coming in volumes 12 - 14 so it's not fair to be like "why can't you see this?!" The arc of the story is very much a "start at the bottom and crawl your way up" kind of thing, with moments of triumph along the way (breaking Skylla and Konyyl out in volume 3, helping Chixie in volume 7, helping the rebels in volume 9, freeing Folykl and Kuprum in volume 11)

Idk if I'd say everyone is negative towards MSPAR. Obviously there's some very prominent examples (Tyzias, Polypa) - but that varies from extremely positive (Stelsa, Mallek, Bronya, Lynera) to neutral (Amisia, Tirona, Tegiri) to "we don't remember you" (Diemen, Charun, Fozzer). The balance is probably neutral-to-negative, which was an intentional choice.

The story is about to throw some curveballs at you in volumes 12, 13, and 14 which may or may not influence how you see things. I suspect at least one of these (from volume 13) will probably not be something you vibe with, but a couple might be positives for you.

I really hope that the ultimate conclusion of the game itself helps put some stuff in perspective. The final volume is a way of tying all the threads together in a way that will hopefully feel satisfying - and there's a bunch of ending slides that will show the outcomes of various choices you made along the way, Fallout style.

Anyway, appreciate the well thought-out critique. It sounds like you might have gone in expecting a slightly different story than the one you got - and that's completely fine! Hopefully the last few volumes will prove to be a satisfying send-off - and regardless we appreciate the investment of time and energy into the game!

#friendsim 2

[koreandragon]

Kdramas are in such a sorry state lately it's so sad. We're getting all these sequels for shows that mostly weren't supposed to have multiple seasons so they're a mess bc they have no story to tell. They're all dazzle razzle and no actual decent writing (taxi driver, nine tailed fox, romantic doctor etc) and then we have the 500 crime/thriller shows which are mostly deeply mediocre or downright awful. At least with romcoms if the chemistry is good and the character work is decent enough you can have a really fun show. With these dramas most of it hinges on a well written plot at which the majority fail spectacularly. News came out a few weeks ago that there are 80 dramas made that might never air bc they have no platform bc all the big ones cut the wen-thurs slot except jtbc so there are 80 dramas that will most likely rot after so much hard work and these could be great dramas, because their criteria is it will air if it has big names in it, so this is not a quality issue. Netflix really f*cked us, not only did it start the collapse of the us industry( writers are striking, actors are about to strike, shows are getting cancelled after 1/2 seasons and 8 episodes, shows getting purged for a buck, everyone is only looking for IP with big names and no one cares about good ideas or creativity) it also insidiously burrowed into the kdrama industry and changed the genres of dramas we get, the number of episodes we get, even the sequels bc it used to be no matter how huge a shows ratings were, the worst they could do was an extension, sequels weren't a thing that happened except very rarely in prodecurals like ten or vampire prosecutor. The entire thing is a sad state of affairs, another case of tech bros devastating an industry (I'm referring to the US tv/movie industry) they don't understand to line their pockets and moving on to the next one while the wreckage left in their wake will never be salvaged.

anon i absolutely agree. this is such a depressing topic for me especially because i just love cinema so much. my parents raised me to love movies then i eventually fell in love with tv shows and kdramas and it literally kills me to see the downfall of these amazing comforts in my life. i think the main reason why i haven't been here is because i just wasn't feeling like dragging through another kdrama with a medicore plot. y'all know what i was doing instead? watching old movies i've been meaning to watch for a long time or rewatching classics. you hear this every day and you could jump me for it but...they don't make them like they used to anymore. and idc how corny it sounds cause it's fucking true. exluding some very good recent movies where people making it still care about making an enjoyable piece of media (i don't give a fuck what anyone thinks of tom cruise or top gun, maverick was the only new movie in a long time that made me feel like i used to while watching movies and i literally cannot wait for the new mission impossible film). i'm a 100% with the writers strike, i really hope that they can get what they want and we will finally get back at least a fraction of something that was lost along the way. netflix was supposed to make things accessible, not turn the industry upside down and inside out then light it on fire and piss on the flames. every time i read a season 2 announcement of a kdrama i just go UGHHHHHHH. why are we adding seasons to a show that doesn't need it and why are we cancelling seasons for shows that needed to go longer to tell a story? what's the fucking rationale? oh oh OH mONEy???? netflix don't have enough MONEYYYY??? can't pay residuals to writers or renew a show that has moved people and has more story to tell but has money to make a squid game IN REAL LIFE (which is in itself like....the point flew over everyone's heads) and renewing shows NO ONE ASKED FOR?? oh what? what? more and more people are unsubscribing from your service? how could that be.....only if there was a solution to keep your subscribers by offering them quality content instead of mindless cash grabs....

i'll close this with probably one of my favorite posts on this site

#ask #anonymous

[kelean]

replayed commander lilith and the fight for sanctuary recently and now i'm thinking about all the lost potential and it's actually making me so, so sad.

like! if they would've just continued from where the pre-sequel left off we could’ve had athena somewhere on sanctuary because you can't tell me that after hearing the watcher's words about the incoming war she would just go and become the ceo of whatever (fuck you ntftbl) instead of staying and helping the little people. because yes, janey did ask her to step aside from the vault hunting business, but, you know, there is plenty of work to do without needing to kill anyone – and athena wouldn’t be alone now. or at least she wouldn't be working with some questionable people

also, can you imagine what athena would've felt like after going to the helios ruins? the exact place where her life took a 180-degree turn? all the memories - the bad and the good ones - that would've flooded back? especially with the fact that lilith - one of the people who tried to kill her here the last time - is fighting alongside her. they are allies now. friends, even. (also, there is a thing to say about cassius - we don't know if she canonically spared him, but in this dlc she would've had the chance to see that it was actually the right choice. yes, he was manipulated to work with the bad guys again, but he atoned himself in the end, making a sacrifice for people he barely knew - something she could definitely respect)

and athena would be here with janey, too, because at this point they are quite literally married. and because janey is a damn good mechanic she would definetly be besties with ellie, with them bonding over some mechanical stuff (and i’m still convinced that janey should have been the one to build a spaceship for sanctuary 3. you know, considering her specialty). and she was also the one who had been working with scooter for some time so. she would probably have some stories to tell

besides, i just can’t stop thinking about how awkward the first meeting between janey and bl1 vhs would be. with lilith, brick and mordecai going "yeah sorry we kidnapped your girlfriend and sorry that we tried to kill her. we are on good terms now tho. she's a really good storyteller and everyone loves her. tina is probably her number one fan" while janey would be standing there staring daggers at them

oh and also consider this - athena and brick becoming friends on the basis of both of them needing to find a less... uh... murderous hobby. maybe doing some (real) gardening together as was suggested by mordecai. or cooking! or knitting! i don't know. there are just so many possibilities. and they would also spar in a free time. and athena would win every single time (becaue it was stated that if not for the vallory's interference, she would have taken both him and mordecai down so. yeah. she might be short but she is extremely deadly)

and i'm not saying that she should've been the dlc's main focus because in the end it is a story about lilith becoming a true leader for the crimson raiders, but still. having athena around would've made so much sense

#the dlc was still very lovely and i enoyed it a lot but you know. i miss my girl athena. she would've fitted there prefectly #also uhhh idk if i should've made a point about it but hector kinda reminded me of knoxx and zarpedon. like. A LOT #and BOTH of them were the MAIN villians in her stories. so. do with that what you will. because it might as well just be a coincidence #and the fact that all of them are military people #borderlands #athena the gladiator #vi.txt