#but obviously maddox is my child

[galaxysharks]

Look what they done to my girl....

TIM LET MADDOX DO THE LESBIAN SIT. She looks so uncomfortable, like she's not sitting on the block, she's hovering near it.

Look at how much better the Season 3 ones were

Look, her weight is actually on the thing supporting her.

Maddox doesn't know how to use chairs Tim, this is an ultimate violation of character integrity.

Exhibit:

Yes the second one is a different instance than the first. She stands up and sits back down between those ones.

One of those isn't even a chair.

Ps. Yes I did rewatch the episodes to find these pictures. Don't judge me, I took a picture with my phone of my computer screen. I know they're garbage. This is my tech fluency and I take no criticism.

#Hsmtmts #high school musical the musical the series #hsm the series #hsmtmts maddox #god awful poses in the new posters #they making the queers straight sit #blasphemy #dare i say homophobic #let maddie sit on a backwards chair again you cowards #jet can still prop up his leg #we dont need saylor to do that awkward wakk sit on a box #the poster has other issues #but obviously maddox is my child #and jet #I guess #by proxy

[soursfilms]

thoughts on the ships that are going to be potentially endgame this season? (madlyn +jetney) and also what do you think is going to happen to rina this season based on the teaser!

i am so excited to see how the ships develop this season. i think both madlyn + jetney have a lot of potential. however, i saw both of these ships as sort of slowburns, but with the time left it does make me hesitant to see how they pan out. especially with jet and maddox being recurring characters. i am highly intrigued with how their story may play out however. so i guess what i am trying to say is, i am putting my trust on the writers to deliver a good/satisfying storyline for them.

as for rina and the teasers. i have sooo many thoughts! (sorry if this is long i tend to ramble)

first, i have to say, it is so so sweet how in love they look! it makes me so happy that after three seasons we can finally see them together like this. happy and in love and in a healthy relationship!

gina being a cheerleader for the hsm4 movie and ricky the nerd is perfection to me. popular girl x nerdy boy is one of my favorite tropes ever. (they did this for me!) it’s also genderbent troyella, so i’m expecting lots of rina parrallels to troyella this season.

it seems gina will have some type of storyline with mack. or at least, that’s what they want us to think from the teasers going into the show. more so for drama purposes i suppose. they revealed in the character description mack is a child actor and has something with dani. so, i do not believe it will be something in regards of romance whatsoever, but more so to do with where gina’s career may be heading. since, it seems that gina will have a bigger role in the hsm4 movie. this seems to be a big season for gina so i am thrilled to see, as she is my favorite character.

honestly, ricky and gina are so in love with each other that the idea of any outside character “getting in between” just will not make me flinch. (though i am already rolling my eyes at the anti rinas who will cling unto mack and gina out of spite…)

i do think there will be some conflict with rina, because obviously, every plot needs some. but i see their main conflict being more about their circumstances. something that parallels troyella’s in hsm3. as individual characters, it looks like ricky and gina will be going through a lot of changes and ups and downs this season. which is something that will ultimately trickle down to their relationship. however, i know they will work through it to show the contrast between them and their past relationships. the core of rina as a ship is them fully understanding and getting each other, so they will get through things smoothly. joshua also called them a healthy relationship, so i am sure they will handle things fine.

what i hope to see is the orange buggy making a comeback! it is only right to bring back the car one last time since it is where they first felt a spark between them. if they brought the hat back then they could bring the car back too. to which, i hope leads to a rain/car scene. the bts pictures leads me to believe there will be a rain/car scene. i am fully convinced! there could be an emotional build up to lead up to that scene too. in the teaser we saw a scene where ricky looked sort of sad where he spoke with ej, so it may be a big moment. we will have to wait and see. hoping we get something more in the trailer to add more credibility to this theory.

lastly, i think i am most excited for an i love you scene. i just think that it will show great growth on ricky’s part and will be a sweet moment overall. (they’re so in love i wouldn’t be surprised if ricky just blurts it out without noticing :ag&/sjisakakjkjk)

hoping we get a full trailer soon so we have more content to dissect! thank you for this question!

#hsmtmts #rina hsmtmts #ricky x gina #gina x ricky #madlyn #jetney #ricky bowen #gina porter #hsmtmts s4 #rina

[inkbutterflyuniverse]

Sooooooo, I finished episode 4.

I... What... Who... How...

Just WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

It's episode 4 and it's already such a mess?

Spoilers below.

About Maddox and Ashlyn almost kissing: I glad they didn't. The song was very cute and I felt the alchemy, but it wouldn't be right. Ashlyn isn't talking to Big Red anymore, but it doesn't mean they broke up. Plus, he deserves to hear from her that she's bi and she likes Maddox. Even if he knows because he saw the documentary and saw the tension.

For Carlos and Seb situation. I was saying, less than an hour ago, that I didn't understand why Seb was so mad because it isn't him. Now I understand. But I don't like this situation at all. Seb CHEATED?! WOW, I didn't see that coming. I like that at least he told Carlos, because I had a situation where a friend cheated on her boyfriend, she told us because she felt guilty, one of the girl's boyfriend was the best friend of the guy who'd been cheated on, she let it slide to her bf who obviously talked his friend.

All this to say that I don't like when you learn it from someone else. You deserve to hear that you've been cheated on by the person who did it. And that's great that Seb did that.

But what's not great is what he said after. "If you had cheated on me it would be fine because we would have been equal". Like no?! It's worst. If the two part cheated then maybe it's a sign that you shouldn't try again? It's not a situation where you can erase it by cheating too.

Jared showing was so funny, I died of laughter. I don't know the guy, I don't really remember him, but I'm curious to see what could happen.

Miss Jen/Michael Bowen/Benjamin Mazara situation is coming to an end. I like that they actually talked like adults. Miss Jen and Michael were nice, but I wasn't very excited for them. As Ricky's dad said, he's still not over the divorce and it's normal. Miss Jen was a nice person to hang out with, but he isn't ready to take it to a step over casually dating. They discussed as real adults of their views on the relationship and decided to call it quit in the respect of the other. It's not something we see a lot on TV shows where everything is over dramatized.

I'm glad that Mr Mazara is still here, he was a great help to EJ when he was figuring out his future. Now he will help the other kids and him and Miss Jen will maybe have a chance!

Now, let's talk about the biggest mess. Mack/Gina/Ricky/Dani.

In what workd would Gina be happy about not being in the musical anymore when she literally said to Ricky that it was important to her and she wanted to do it?

I understand why Miss Jen called Dani, even though at the beginning I thought of Olivia (not Rodrigo, the other Olivia, the blonde. I don't remember her name), when Miss Jen said that maybe she needed a mentor I was like "it could be her", but then she talked about the hotel and obviously it was Dani. I would have appreciate seeing Lily (is that her name? It came to my mind like that), because honestly it would have been very funny. Ricky's ex-girlfriend that everyone hates coming back to be the lead in the musical. Very dramatic.

Anyway, it was sure it was going to be Dani, but I didn't think properly. I'm not a fan of the actress, I didn't really liked her voice in the Descendants party they've done for the third one, and her show about aliens wasn't for me. But from what we heard in the first episode, I think she definitely progressed, she was very great.

So the drama isn't really working for me... It was very predicable that Ricky and Gina would have problems due to the two new people. Of course Mack wants a fake relationship to promote the film. (Even though I'm not sure about his examples, especially the Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, weren't they really dating at the time? And didn't she cheated on the Snow White set, or something like that? Anyway, not important).

I understand Mack, he's a child star, that's all he knows, and faking a relationship isn't a bad idea because people have a tendency to ship co-stars when their chemistry is good.

I also understand Dani, she was expelled from the movie and now it's her chance to do something. She's also a star so of course she would be dramatic about Ricky not telling.

Now about Gina and Ricky. WHY IS RICKY RUNNING AGAIN?! He constantly says that he changed, but it's the same. Gina didn't told her mom and he's angry and wants a pause? Like wtf dude, I'm sure you know Gina's situation with her mom? And even if he doesn't, he said before that Gina's mom wouldn't be happy with him being here (so not about sneaking but being here), so he knows that she doesn't really like Gina having her boyfriend at home which was exactly where he was, even if there was people.

Gina didn't told her mom for a reason, and even if she wanted to talk about Ricky, isn't really the middle of a party the right time? "Oh yeah Mom, do you remember when you said that I shouldn't have a boyfriend to concentrate on my studies? Funny because ahahaha surprise, it's Ricky and he's my boyfriend." I could easily turn into an argument and it's not something you want to happen at your party.

So just why is Ricky running and not letting her a chance to explain to him? I get that he's jealous of Mack, but the running situation is annoying. If you run for something so little, I can't imagine what it will be next time something bigger happen?

#high school musical the series #hsmtmts #rina #hsmtmts season 4 #hsmtmts spoilers #hsmtmts 4x04

[organic-guacamole]

HSMTMTS SEASON 3 EPISODE 6 REACTION

fully sleep deprived rn let's go

these cameramen snooping around in children's bunks is so fun!

sorry but like, the caswen moment of hugging Ricky from behind to keep him from jumping on Corbin Bleu's head 😍

jet is cute.

the same Kourtney who was scared to leave the tent is running around at night to claim the mental health status of Corbin. love that for her tbh.

"you just have to commit to one side" 🤨🤨🤨🤨

ooo brother trauma share

EJ's sweatpants

they were gonna canoe in a pool? huh??

I love portwell again !

"unless you praise Nickelodeon, it's going in the doc" SEE THESE ONE LINERS SHOUKD NOT BE AS FUNNY AS THEY ARE

dude how am I supposed to believe that Ricky and EJ aren't friends.

woah they actually explained why the other campers don't get any important parts... good for them though, I'm not letting chad film me in the woods for weeks either.

imagine fighting to win sweaty sports to get back your phone....*slips on headband*

at what point did Ashlyn realise that she likes Val? has she yet? why is she running??

I'm still trying to figured out which one is older, Maddox or Jet. what he said about "why does she get to date when I'm not allowed to" implies that she's younger than him? but idk maybe they're really close in age?

the way Ricky talks about joining the show to make her happy as if Nini was not extremely pissed at him for that.

no they did not put that in as a throwaway line

"THERES A THIRD OPTION WHERE THEY BURN THE RESULTS IN A PIZZA OVEN" GIRL WHAT

is she... okay

"EJ my tallest child"

🧍🏻‍♂️"...I've missed you"

the horror part of the season starts now.

I love the part where she says "the local shopkeeper, Susan. Fine selection..."

SUSAN FINE

I actually desperately need sleep

the horror continues, Gina is the first to die.

why is the audio like that-

this is really... Sofia's voice is nice but like, the song and cinematography is not it imo

girlie pops she was just knocked out, take her to the hospital, why are we making her shoot a basketball now?

this EJ and miss Jenn montage is actually the funniest part of the episode I think

"don't use Carlos, Carlos is mommy's" see! funny! (if we ignore the implications)

what is this timing? was the miss Jenn/Nini scene in ep1 like before camp? otherwise how was she back from the cruise?

WHY DID EVERYONE TURN TO JET WHEN HE CHEERED ON KOURTNEY HELP MY HEART

love how miss jenn shuts up a bunch of strangers just by saying "mommy's talking" like this is all really weird, isn't it?

still not convinced Miss Jenn isn't like, a witch of some kind

what kinda hacky sacky wrapping paper wad is that present? it better be something good in there Michael Bowen.

"they're so good" dewey, darling.

the blue team kid with the tutu on is so... scary? horror #2, revenge murder?

portwell what is going on with yall?

the tears in ashlyn's eyes when she realises and the fireworks and everything omg its so beautiful

nice idea for the moon rock but like, anything else? for your only child's 18th birthday??

ricky can you rest for like, a second

I can't believe there are only 2 more episodes. i feel like nothing is happening but also, everything is happening and i don't like 60% of it.

still love the show obviously, for some reason.

#hsmtmts #hsmtmts s3 #hsmtmts season 3 #ej caswell #ricky bowen #gina porter #carlos rodriguez #kourtney greene #ashlyn caswell #val hsmtmts #jet hsmtmts #maddox hsmtmts

[dastiel4ever2111]

Okay so next on the list of families from my AU universe is the Bischoff Family. Like Vince, the boys actually have a mother but in my AU she passes right after she gives birth to Brad. Eric, in my stories, is enjoying retirement with Vince and supporting Paul Heyman in everything he does.

The patriarch of the family is Eric Bischoff.

The oldest is Matthew Evan Bourne Bischoff.

The middle child is Garrett Bischoff.

And the youngest is John Bradley Maddox Cena Bischoff. He was adopted and raised by John Cena Sr. He obviously goes by his middle name. He discovered he was adopted when he was 16 and sought out his biological family.

Look at these pictures and tell they don't look alike. For me, it just works.

#alternate universe #matt sydal #brad maddox #eric bischoff

[spot-has-a-phaser]

Hey do u have a list of the best data episodes?? I want to rewatch next gen but in the most specific way possible

My friend, I’m so glad you asked.

now, a disclaimer: these aren’t necessarily the best episodes, but they are enjoyable to me, solely for Data’s role in each episode. I’ll order them chronologically. And of course, spoilers below.

We‘ll begin with actual Data-centric episodes

First up, obviously, is Datalore, in which Data meets his twin brother with questionable morals, Lore. I love this episode because it introduces a really interesting character and it’s so fun to watch the crew figure out why Data isn’t acting quite right

After this, Elementary, Dear Data. Data and Geordi LARP as Holmes and Watson, and in the process accidentally create a sentient Moriarty in the holodeck. Pulaski is also in this one. I don’t really mind her all that much, but if you do, that might affect your enjoyment of the episode.

My next favorite is The Measure of a Man. In this one, Data has his humanity questioned in court by a certain Bruce Maddox. Not only does it have an emotional moment between Geordi and Data, but there’s also an impactful monologue from Picard. It’s a little stressful for me to watch, though, so while it is one of my all-time favorites, i don’t always have the emotional capability to process it.

Pen Pals isn’t mentioned all that much, but I really love it because this is the first time Data really interacts with a child, and he nails it. It melts my heart when Picard is so pissed off that Data brought his pen pal on the ship, but Data continues to believe it was the right thing to do.

The Offspring is brilliant. Data attends a cybernetics conference and builds his own child, Lal . Highlights include Data allowing her to choose her own gender, Lal accidentally kissing Riker(and Data asking him about his intentions toward her afterwards) and Lal developing the ability to feel, telling her father she loves him.

The Most Toys isn’t my favorite, but I’m including it for one moment right towards the end, where it’s heavily implied that Data is developing some form of emotion. This is part of why I hate the emotion chip so much.

Brothers! The return of Lore! Plus, we get to meet Dr. Soong, who made some questionable choices parenting Lore and Data. The emotion chip is introduced in this episode, unfortunately, but we also get to see Lore acting immature and childish, so the episode is largely good.

Now, arguably my favorite episode in this series could be Data’s Day. Data records one entire day in his life for Bruce Maddox to study and understand. This episode is entirely Data, and it’s fantastic. Spot is also introduced in this episode, which makes it SO much better.

In Theory is not one of my favorite episodes. In it, Data attempts a romantic relationship with a fellow member of the crew, and it is horrendously awkward. But Pip, you may ask, if you don’t like it, why would you include it? Well, for one moment, and one moment only. At the beginning, Data’s ‘love interest’ starts talking about an old ex she might get back together with, and Data begins listing all the reasons she said she broke up with him, which she apparently asked him to do. This gets me every time. I will literally open the episode just to watch this part.

HERO WORSHIP HERO WORSHIP. Data saves a young boy, named Timothy, the only survivor of a destroyed Starfleet ship. Timothy mistakenly believes he is the reason the ship was wrecked, and consequently begins to pretend he is an android just like Data to deal with the guilt. I love how patient Data is with him, and how they continue to bond after Timothy starts recognizing and dealing with his trauma.

The Time’s Arrow episodes are slow at times, but the jokes more than make up for it, and the premise is very interesting. Data finds his own head sitting in a cavern, and the crew determines it’s been there for 500 years. Data accidentally gets sent back in time 500 years and the crew must work to get him back while figuring out what is killing people off in 19th century San Francisco. I love it when Data beats everyone at poker, and also when he takes an anvil from Jack London without realizing he shouldn’t be able to lift that much weight with one hand, and drops it. Unrelated to Data, I adore it when Riker says “I want you to know I respect the law” then straight up punches a police officer in the face.

A Fistful of Datas is one of those “let Brent go wild” episodes, wherein the ship fucks up and starts incorporating different aspects of Data all over the ship. Replicators only make cat food, the computer will only play Data’s music, and most notably, the holodeck makes all the NPCs look like Data, while simultaneously trapping Worf, Deanna, and Alexander in the middle of a Wild West shootout. Watching Brent play both father and son is endlessly amusing(of course, he does this in Brothers, too)

The Descent episodes mark the third and final appearance of Lore Soong, when he kidnaps Data and gets him addicted to emotions using the emotion chip he stole from Dr Soong in Brothers. I don’t care much for the plot, but I love to see Lore and Data interacting, plus Hugh from I , Borg shows up again! I love Hugh

Phantasms is wacky as hell but very entertaining. Data pulling a ringing phone out of his abdomen, talking to Sigmund Freud, watching Beverly drink Riker’s brain juice, and cutting into a Deanna Troi cake? Unequivocal masterpiece.

Inheritance gives Data another member of his family, a mother who apparently assisted Soong in the assembly of Lore, Data, and three brothers he previously did not know about. Juliana telling embarrassing stories about Data as a new created android in front of Geordi never fails to make me laugh

Thine Own Self was a very interesting episode to me. Of course, we are led to hate the majority of the minor characters In this episode(anyone who hurts Data deserves no redemption). But it also brought up an interesting concept. If Data was not aware that he himself was an android, then would it really matter to anyone else?

The final Data-centric episode I have is Masks. The plot is wildly, needlessly complicated and I had to look up the synopsis afterwards to understand what was going on, but fuck, Spiner can act. He pulls multiple characters out of his ass faster than you can blink, and for that, it belongs on this list.

Honorable mentions include The Naked Now(Data gets drunk), Peak Performance(Data beats a smug alien’s ass), The Ensigns of Command(Data gets kissed), The Big Goodbye(Data forgets how lamps work), Timescape(Data hilariously misunderstands Deanna), The Game(Data saves the Enterprise with a strobe light), and Ship in a Bottle(Data gets trapped in the holodeck with Moriarty again).

So yeah, these are some of my favorite Data episodes, and why I enjoy them. I hope this helps. Feel free to add on your own favorite episodes!

#I had a lot of fun putting this together #Thanks for the ask! #ask #stellarchai #star trek #star trek tng #tng #data #data soong #geordi la forge #lore soong #noonien soong #jean luc picard #will riker #william riker #bruce maddox #pulaski #lal #lal soong #deanna troi #worf son of mogh #worf rozhenko #alexander rozhenko #beverly crusher #juliana soong #brent spiner

[blog-sliverofjade]

Hearth Fires 4: From the Mouths of Babes

Pairing: Remi Denier x OFC

Summary:  Lorel Maddox just wants to live as a human, run her bakery in peace, and forget. Unfortunately, the alpha of the local leopard pack has very different ideas.

Remi Denier doesn’t know what to make of the female Changeling who wants nothing to do with him or the RainFire pack. He does know that he has a driving need to protect her. Even if it’s from herself.

While they’re embroiled in a battle of wills, there’s a war brewing on the horizon. The outside threat could not only destroy everything they hold dear, but tear apart the fragile new bonds of the Trinity Accord, plunging the world into bloodshed to rival the Territorial Wars of centuries past.

Word count: 2174

Hearth Fires Masterlist

Beta read by the sublime pandabearer

        Lorel started to demand to know how much RainFire knew about her past and how they knew, but the sound of a branch cracking overhead had her looking up.  Instinct had her on her feet and catching the cub that tumbled out of the tree.

        She stared at the small leopard with wide eyes; light green eyes as large as saucers stared back while golden hickory leaves rained down around them.  The part of her that was still a scared little girl braced for the inevitable recrimination for the display of inhuman speed and her ocelot readied to fend off an attack for daring to touch one of their cubs.

        “Good catch.  Jojo here’s still learning what branches can or can’t hold her weight, ” Tien smiled and ruffled the tufts of hair between her daughter’s ears.  She had also leapt into action, although she’d been a few feet farther away.

        Lorel bit back a snarl, an inborn need to curl protectively up around the cub still gripped her hard, but she forced herself to pass the cub to the other woman.  Tiny claws caught in her sweater stopped her. Jojo tried to retract them, and stopped when they threatened to shred the fabric, mewling in what was obviously a plea for help.

        Tien nudged them towards a table and together they extricated Jojo from the cardigan.  Once freed, she placed her forepaws, sans claws, on Lorel’s chest and headbutted her as she purred in thanks.  The warm weight and casual affection of the girl grounded Lorel in her body in a way she hadn’t felt in a very long time.  It felt so right she almost stroked the baby soft fur.

        As tempting as it was to pet the richly patterned coat, she didn’t feel like losing a hand.  She’d heard that predatory Changelings could be violently protective of their offspring. Moreover, she knew that interacting with one, especially in its animal form, was a slippery slope away from what it meant to be human.  She could feel her own cat rising to the surface, brushing insistently at the inside of her skin. Soon, she knew it would punish her with claws and teeth for denying it’s needs.

        Jojo, however, had different ideas.  A fluffy head nudged at her hand, a tiny whiskered nose squirming under her fingers.  Lorel gave into the urge and gently worked her nails between the ears that seemed too large for the little head.  Jojo purred and arched into the attention, her paws doing a slow dance like she wanted to knead at Lorel’s lap, but was too well-mannered to do so.

        A lump formed in her throat.  Had she once been this small and trusting?  Had she ever been this loved and cared for? Vague but colourful memories, like an impressionist painting, surfaced with the happy echoes of a childhood long past.

        She felt the eyes of every adult watching her, either overtly or in darting glances.  They would kill her before she could hurt Jojo. That watchfulness was somehow reassuring.  They’d embraced their savagery to protect their youngest and that, paradoxically, allowed her to relax.  While she would never intentionally harm a child, she wasn’t so certain about her other half; she only knew she shouldn’t trust it.

        A sandy-haired man in a blue plaid shirt set a few plates of food on the table and leaned down to press a kiss to Tien’s lips when she tilted her head up in welcome.  It was more than a quick peck. When his hand cupped the nape of her neck, Lorel averted her eyes. While the festivities certainly weren’t orgies like in the sordid tales with which she'd been regaled, the open affection was more than she was used to.

        Jojo stood with her forepaws on the table, her nose twitching at the scent of the food, and reached out with one claw to snag a cookie.

        “Hands for cookies,” Tien said as if it were an oft-repeated admonition.

        A shower of multi-coloured sparks burst in Lorel’s lap; she froze for fear of interfering with the shift.  An instant later, there was a naked girl sitting on her knee. Lorel shrugged out of her cardigan and helped Jojo into it.  The soft yellow hem fell to her knees. Lorel glanced at Tien and her partner. Neither of them appeared as if anything was out of the ordinary, no cutting rebukes or punishment for being nude where others could see.  There was a twinge in her heart from memories of a very different childhood.

        “This is my mate, Avery.”  Tien gestured to the man who had joined them.

        Lorel was thrown by the term.  “Mate” was such a primal word that it threatened to bring a flush to her cheeks.  She didn’t have time to mull it over because Avery offered a hand as he sat next to his… wife.

        “Nice to meet you.  Please eat.” He smiled and nudged a plate arranged with crispy bread and some sort of creamy dip towards her.  Meanwhile, Tien had moved the cookies away from Jojo and pushed the crudite, also arranged to be shared communally, in front of her.

        Lorel opened her mouth to politely refuse, but Jojo offered up a stalk of broccoli.  She couldn’t say no to that earnest expression. Making “nomnom” noises, Lorel carefully snatched the vegetable with her teeth, making the girl giggle.

        Allowing herself to relax, Lorel sat back and took the chance to look around at the people chatting, playing, and laughing. Several of the leopards looked back.  No one hid their open curiosity, but they didn’t stare either. At least they didn’t swarm her, although she suspected that if Tien wasn’t there then all bets were off.

        They all seemed so... human.  No one licked their lips over the grilling meat.  Perhaps it was too well-done to salivate over? At least they didn’t have a bloody carcass roasting in a pit.  While she was no vegetarian (her physiology couldn’t handle a no-meat diet), she couldn’t have stomached such a barbaric display.

        “Not what you expected?” asked Tien.

        “Not really,” she admitted.  “I know RainFire’s only a few years old, how did you get this many members?”

        “Well, Remi met some of us, like Lark and Theo, when he was roaming.  Some of the sentinels, and our healer, Finn, came from packs where there weren’t many opportunities for them.”  Lorel blinked at the blithe reference to soldiers, as if their occupations were something as prosaic as accountants or teachers.  That was the darker side they tried to hide, the violence hidden with a thin veneer of humanity. “Avery and I lived on our own until I got pregnant with Jojo; we wanted her to grow up in a pack like we did.  We put our feelers out among our friends and family and heard about RainFire.”

        The contentment pouring off the couple made Lorel want to wrinkle her nose.  She knew it was all a lie: love, loyalty, family. Scratch the surface and it was all illusion.  They were like everyone else, only with a public façade to lure in others. She wasn’t going to fall for that again.

        “And how many were press-ganged?” she muttered under her breath.

        Being accustomed to humans and Psy, Lorel had forgotten that the leopards had hearing as sharp as her own until she caught the twin glares cast her way.

        “He said he didn’t fall, he was attacked by invisible ninja.  I asked, ‘Isn’t invisible ninja redundant?’”

        Remi was only listening with half an ear to Hugo’s story of how Jasper had broken his arm while his eyes tracked Lorelei’s every move.  His leopard was restless at having an outsider in their midst. It hadn’t even reacted this strongly when he’d rescued two half-drowned Psy assassins, unarguably among the most lethal people on the planet.  Then again, neither of them were as beautiful as the ocelot.

        She was short with curves like a winding back road that he wanted to explore.  The cat wanted to memorize what she smelled like without her bakery mixing with it.  Underneath the acrid layer of fear, which was lessening now that Tien had gotten her talking, she smelled sweet with a bite of spice.

        He had to force himself to back off.  The need to shadow the virtual stranger in their midst was riding him hard, no matter that she appeared about as dangerous and as delicious as one of her cupcakes in that mint green dress.  Her flats, while practical indoors, sank into the thick carpet of leaves. Nor did she wear anything warmer than a butter yellow cardigan. While she was a Changeling and would be fine, most cats preferred to be warm.  He was wearing a forest-green cashmere sweater himself because he liked the texture of it, not because he was cold.

        Judging by her clothing, she hadn’t known what to expect, or no one had told her that she was a guest.  He cast a sideways glance at Elijah, who gave an unrepentant shrug.

        “No bear tactics involved.”  The soldier held up his hands as if to ward off a chewing out.  “All cat. But Tien might have forgotten to tell her she was invited.”  Remi and his cat were amused at their strategy. A pack circle event was meant to reinforce bonds: and thus, were perfect for introducing someone to the benefits of pack life.

        “That’s smart, so I know you weren’t the brains behind the operation.”

        “Au contraire.”  He pronounced it "ow contrary."  Remi rolled his eyes.  Elijah spoke several languages to varying degrees of fluency, but he liked to butcher French just to yank his alpha’s chain.  “I said we should place an order for the party, Tien and Avery took it from there. So really it was all my idea.”

        Remi started to formulate a quip, but stopped at the sound of Tien’s voice vibrating with anger that carried under the ambient noise.  He shifted towards the dominant maternal to hear her better.

        “…here because we want to be.”

        Lorelei’s response was a murmur that not even his sharp ears could pick up, but whatever it was, it cooled Tien’s temper.

        “We can’t let a predatory Changeling live within our borders,” she explained.  A thread of surprise wound through her words, like she hadn’t imagined that someone of their race could be ignorant of their laws, but she was as patient as if she was addressing the juveniles. “There are some who’d assume that meant we can’t hold our territory and would press the issue.  We’re not big or strong enough yet for that.”

        Pride swelled and ebbed within him.  Tien was a damn fine dominant maternal and he’d never regretted allowing her and her family to join the pack.  It was the sting of shame that tempered that pride. Most alphas, if they grew up in a functional pack, were carefully guided from a young age.  Remi partly blamed that lack of formative education for having waited so long before developing his own pack.

        If he’d started building RainFire earlier, then they could have weathered the turbulence that was the fall of Silence and the subsequent restructuring of the world better.  And he wouldn’t have had to deliver an ultimatum to a single submissive Changeling whose only mistake was to live on land they needed to claim.

        He huffed a laugh that brought him out of the pity party for one.  Once, being alpha of his own pack was unthinkable to him. Sometimes he looked around at his people and what they’d built together and felt as bemused as Lorelei looked.  Now he was kicking his own ass for not starting sooner. Fate was no doubt having a laugh at him.

        “…dominants are driven to protect,” Avery explained.  “…sives…” The male was no doubt explaining the hierarchy to her.  Really, it should have come as no surprise that she was unfamiliar with the power structure, but he’d assumed that she knew instinctually.  Then again, he of all people should know that instincts didn’t always coincide with what experience taught.

        Taking a drink of his beer, he turned to catch a glimpse of the small group.  Lorelei looked down at Jojo with an abashed expression. She had looped her arms around the girl to ensure she didn’t tumble off, not that the cub was in any danger of that.

        With the innocent honesty of small children, Jojo wrinkled her nose and said, “You smell funny.”

        Lorelei frowned and made a show of sniffing herself.  “I promise I showered today, with soap even.” She feigned confusion and the cub giggled.

        Remi’s blood ran cold.

        The slashes on Jojo’s face were more than an unusual birthmark.  They were the sign of a hunter, someone born with the skills to hunt those of their kind who went rogue, ones who subsumed themselves in their animal half.  Once they lost their humanity, they slaughtered without compunction, beginning with their loved ones.

        And a hunter’s chief ability was scent.

#my writing #psy changeling #fan fic #nalini singh #eventual romance #kid fic #sci fi #paranormal romance #pack dynamics #psy changeling trinity #original female character #remi denier #paranormal romantic suspense #scifi #werecat #leopard #sci-fi #eventual smut #hate to love #paranormaromance #fanfic #fat character #cajun french #plus-sized character #pack alpha #ocelot #shapeshifter #halloween #shape shifter #autumn

[rosykims]

ok so heres an obligatory twc/detective oc infodump since i was up til 2am last night feverishly thinking abt Her

(tho um disclaimer i literally have just started so i know less than nothing abt anything lol)

her name is beatrice maddox ! but her friends/the whole town just calls her triss. hearing her full name just makes her feel like shes in trouble Unless its ava saying it and then shes 😳😳😳😳

shes bi ! aaaaand nobody is surprised in the slightest lmao ! she dated bobby and im ..... considering doing the n/a love triangle route tho i kno nothing abt it. definitely going to end up w ava tho bc i cannae resist

tattoos. EVERYWHERE. a couple are meaningful, but for the most part??? absolutely nonesensical 🥰 her tattoos were very carefully chosen to represent and Symbolize that she is Cool and Bisexual and Hot. thats it ✊

her personality is.... ok im not gonna try with the whole canon stats thing but she's very cheerful ! in a sort of Cool and casual and lighthearted way. maybe a little too lighthearted, almost as if it maybe.... it was a little forced 👀

shes a realist as opposed to an optimist/pessimist , but she tends have an ironic/lighthearted sense of humour that makes her seem a lot more silly than she is i guess? in truth, outside of like surface level warmth and extroversion for the sake of saving face, shes actually very reserved and awkward. i mean, she IS genuinely a very warm person, but theres a lot of darkness she tends to keep very deep inside herself, that virtually nobody has ever rly seen from her. shes the type of person who's GREAT at like, first impressions and having dozens and dozens of amicable aquaintances, but she rly struggles to form close friendships bc shes quite aloof and eccentric, sometimes says stuff that makes her sound callous, keeps a LOT of secrets and... hates opening up to ppl authentically lol! for reasons i'll get into!

she progressed thru her education and career stuff really quickly mostly due to being a gifted child ! obviously tho that means she also has gifted child syndrome lol. while she still excels professionally and on the surface she seems very functional and cheery and put together, her personal life has rly suffered bc of burnout and anxiety nd whatnot. emotionally shes not at the same place as others her age and shes just. very caught up inside her own head i guess and has a LOT of trouble relating to others, tho she's aquaintances/friendly with most everyone in the town. longterm relationships are VERY hard for her.

so. im already editing canon lol which is very on brand for me and it might not work idk !!!! but my lore for her rn is when she was a child, like 8 or 9, she um witnessed a murder/a body being discarded in the woods. it REALLY fucked her up.obviously. she was a kid and alone at the time and when she got home she was so ????????¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ abt it that she didnt tell her parents or let anybody know. at the time she still didnt rly understand what she saw, or at least didnt know how to handle situations like that bc literally Who would, but it still keeps her up at night, and shes still plagued by guilt and fear over it. the murder was never reported and nobody ever discovered anything, so sometimes she convinces herself that what she thinks she saw didnt actually happen ..... she rly doesnt know ! and it scared tf out of her !

that whole deal lead to her becoming uh quite morbid ! she was still a bright happy kid, but death sort of became like.... a n interest of hers, as well as criminals and finding out stuff. im still not sure if her focus is gonna be on detective work primarily or on science, ill maybe decide after my first playthru. anyway she never did anything that was like an actual red flag or anything xbxjsksms but she was just a Weird Girl growing up after that. she'd watch a LOT of true crime and read everything she could get her hands on and absolutely would have annoyed the shit out of all the detectives at the station.

speaking of annoying cops, shes also a reformed Rascal teenager. she was VERY rebellious as a kid, again mostly bc of Trauma, and was basically the loveable bane of wayhaven's existence for a good four years. again, she was mischievous but not in a malicious/dangerous way, but she definitely would have seen the inside of the station's jail cell a few times for like..idk. egging houses, graffiti, maybe weed idk ! just girly things! she ended up mellowing out soon afer highschool but shes still cool enough to have arm sleeve tattoos so u kno she still absolutely passes the vibe check

last point abt the murder but ! that event basically got repressed pretty quickly after it happened, she does not talk about it EVER, not to anybody. literally not a single person on earth knows what happened that day except her and the possibly-not-real-killer. and, while its sort of filed under the "Dont Consciously Think About This Ever" section of her brain, she obviously is haunted by it and has nightmares consistently, and its basically what inspired her to become a detective in the first place. bc its not so much about Seeing it that affected her so much as... not knowing who did it, not knowing what happened, and not being able to stop it. so much of her life after that was spent of Figuring Everything Out as like a coping mechanism, which obviously put a lot of pressure on her and strain on relationships, but it makes for great detectives lmao !

she is a hugely active person and needs constant mental simulation bc she genuinely hates quiet, and being left alone with her thoughts and memories. living alone sucks for her, so she usually has to play music as soon as she gets home, needs to go to sleep w music, needs to drive with music.... and driving is the worst. she sort of.... goes thru life feeling very ghostlike ! like shes living in a verh different world to everyone else. like shes waiting for something terrible to happen in every waking moment - its mostly practice that allows her to hide it with lightheartedness and jokes and deflective warmth, bc otherwise she'd go crazy !

i'll add more to this when i know more but if u read all of this i love you so much and you deserve a medal. im actually shocked im getting so into this already like i RLY didnt think i would

(ps her pinterest is a work in progress but it's here if anyones interested!)

#oc: triss #i love her so much already i love her so damn much #also i mentioned previously but her faceclaim in adelaide kane!!!!! #so like. bubbly but in a Hot way

[mythsofmodern]

                     LIST OF MUSES

PRIMARY MUSES

Chloe /previously at @soulcoded​/ [Detroit: Become Human.]        Due to Chloe being a minor character in a video game, her character will be very headcanon based, but follows canon with the things we do know about her. Mostly using icons from the game, at later point she might get a live action FC as of right now I did not pick one. Chloe was modelled after Gabrielle Hersh. Jessica Riley /previously at @minesurvived​/ [Until Dawn.]        Much like with Chloe, Jess will be very headcanon based since she is a video game character and we have very limited information about her. However with that information I will stick to canon. I will keep Meaghan Martin - who was the actress she was based on and who voiced her - as her FC and will use a mix of icons from the game and from other movies.  Lily Potter /previously at @doeeyeful​/ [Harry Potter.]       Follows canon, but there is also headcanon based. If you don’t specify a verse for her, I’ll usually just put her in 6th/7th grade. My main FC for her is Samantha Heck Müller, occasionally using Sadie Sink (as child FC) and Deborah Ann Woll and Karen Gillian for older FCs. Sabrina Spellman /previously at @spvllman​/ [Archie Comics/Sabrina the Teenage Witch]         Mostly comic based, with some influences from the 90s TV show. She is NOT Chilling Adventures of Sabrina based, but I might add a verse later on. I might use some comics icons (because she is simple too cute not too), but mostly my main FC for her is Josefine Frida Pettersen. Elise Avery /original character/ [Harry Potter.]        Original character. Elise is a Death Eater, keep that in mind when you interact with her. You can read more about her here - please read her bio before interacting. My FC for her is Bella Heathcote.

SECONDARY MUSES

Callie Cadogan [The 100.]       There is not much canon material about her as of right now, so while on what we have I’ll follow canon, she will also be headcanon based. I’m keeping Iola Evans as her FC.  Sharon Spitz [Braceface.]       Based on the early 2000s cartoon and follows canon, although in the show she is 13/14 and I’m aging her up to be 16/17 (and obviously older for college and adult verses). Apart from show canon she is also very headcanon based. My main FC for her is Claire Holt (mostly as Emma from H2O). Wanda/Wanderer [The Host.]        Based on The Host book by Stephanie Meyer and not the movie Host by Bong Joon-ho. Follows canon and for obvious reasons headcanon based. Writing her as both, in Melanie’s body and after. Her FCs are Katarzyna Markiewicz when she is in her own body and Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs for Melanie. Brooke Maddox /previously at @numbxrfour​/ [MTV’s Scream.]         Show based and follows canon. I have as of yet not seen the Scream movies, however I’ve watced the reboot of the series and am familiar with those characters too. I’m keeping Carlson Young as her FC. Meg Masters /previously at @daemonicum​/ [Supernatural.]         Follows show canon until the point where she dies, duh. We know little about her backstory, so that will be headcanon based. I’m keeping Rachel Miner as her FC, but Meg might occasionally jump into other bodies, thus me using other FCs.     Katie Bell /previously at @courageousbell​/  [Harry Potter.]         Follows book canon but very headcanon based due to the fact that she is a very minor character in the books. I will not use the movie FC, instead I’ll use Saoirse Ronan and Lily Loveless mainly and Kathryn Newton occasionally. I know many people headcanon her as a WOC which I respect and I’ll reblog such edits too, but when I first read the books I saw her as a blonde girl in my head and I stuck with that for all the years I have been writing her. Sybill Trelawney [Harry Potter.]         Book based and follows canon. Not using the FC from the movies. Instead I’ll use Lily Rabe (mostly AHS:Coven appearances) and Imogen Poots. Myrtle Warren [Harry Potter.]        Also known as Moaning Myrtle. Book based and follows canon, but for obvious reasons very headcanon based. I’ll use caps from the movie for her icons, but my main FC will be Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries before the makeover. Gillian Owens [Practical Magic.]        Follows movie canon and I’m currently also reading the book, but since the canon source is limited, she will be also headcanon based. I’m keeping Nicole Kidman as her adult FC and for her teenage verse I’ll be using Kennedy McMann.  

/The muses status of primary/secondary/on request could change at any time, however should that be the case, I’ll mase a post about it./

[ninety6tears]

More disorganized thoughts on Dublin Murders (eps 3-6)

(As before, lots of books-centric talk and speculation that may be spoilery.)

I feel like I should begin by giving Phelps a bit of credit in that it does seem clear enough, even in the changes from French, that she is an enthusiast and has probably read this series over and over aside from professionally. There are times when I smile because it’s so obvious she’s a fan, but then there are other moments...we’ll get there. 

I feel like it’s always a little...bad or whatever to bag on child actors, but ugh, with the exceptions of some minor ones I just can’t with these miscast kids. I can’t with that cheesy decision to have Adam yelling and yelling when they find him in the woods (the nail-breaking catatonia was so much creepier, come on). This slightly deranged stuff with little Cassie and Lexie is another quick shortcut for the viewers who can’t piece together psychological implications for themselves--it’s that stuff that makes me wonder if relying on a lot of voiceover would have actually been more subtle. Yes, Cassie had an imaginary friend when she was little because she felt alone after her parents died, but that isn’t spelled out in a couple clauses like I just did, or like the series basically does in two minutes with a strangely emotionless scene they were so proud of we had to watch it twice just in case the ins and outs of her formative trauma wasn’t clear enough. 

How depressing to think of a kid buried with their favorite color when kids change their minds about their favorite color every few months. That being said, my mom somehow always kept it straight! Something’s not right in that house, man.

The thing with McCabe being haunted about Knocknaree till his death and leaving crackers notes in the evidence is a little corny but I like it. And like, Rob saying it’s irrelevant but clearly being shaken to hear that...and Christ, that bit later on when he makes up a probable suicide for Adam Ryan...boy.

Oh my LORD can we talk about how Rob is so cold with his mom?? Cassie was more affectionate with her than he was. That scene is so sad, it’s perfect. And no shit, when she told Cassie she wasn’t a good liar, I scoffed at that...and then she told Rob and they both laughed about it <3 <3

It’s been commented on, but Rob has a key to her place? He comes over to wake her up with coffee, and he’s about to leap in his car and come to her after she sees Lexie’s body, because of course he would have (while Sam awkwardly tries to approach her over her shoulder, lolll). Their platonic intimacy, I just... <3<3<3

LOL @ O’Kelly reacting to Lexie the way more people probably would: “Are you all on ketamine?! Am I the only one looking at this?!!?”

“You get to know his tell.” That’s mean for my Cassie but

I gotta say, I’m less annoyed than I was when it happened but still annoyed that Rob and Cassie sleeping together happened with her emotions as the catalyst rather than his. Like it makes enough sense if you believe the whole complication was going to happen sooner or later, but it really backs away from the part of In The Woods where Rob is at his most absolutely naked vulnerability and is clearly capital ‘t’ Triggered and it might significantly compromise how sympathetic he can be, and what his development does with male trauma. At least they do make him cry later, and remembering witnessing the rape works as a stand-in for what brings that on, but it’s undeniably disappointing to not see him go through that raw breakdown with Cassie in a way that feels in multiple ways like a tragically brief lapse in his walls.

Sam? Goading Cassie into admitting she slept with Rob after they’d fallen out and then saying “Fuck you, I have to work with him”? More likely than you think. Nah, I don’t know, these two were practically incapable of being harsh with each other in the novel and it’s...unexpected. It’s interesting because it’s like here we are treating Sam’s idealization of Cassie as more obviously a Problem while it was more just an annoyance in The Likeness, but I don’t really see book!Sam having this level of breakdown like he hardcore has been in denial that Cassie has probably done some stuff she’s not proud of, so they’re very different in my mind.

HOLLY, though. Holly actually knows Cassie like in the fanfic I’d like to read. Frank’s cheesy Dad shirt! This is the shit that makes me feel that Phelps is a Fan. But like, what is her deal with The Likeness because she doesn’t seem to dive into the things that a lot of the fans love about that book at all? I know they’re short on time (because of who’s choice to condense these in one miniseries, I’d like to know) but there’s a reason the book takes its time with the prep of the operation. With this, we mostly get some cursory stuff about where the kitchenware goes and one bit with a videotape and like...I have no clue how Cassie thinks she knows what Lexie is like, and because of that weird-ass talk with Sam where she seems disconnected from reality about where she came from and Frank showing little concern about how to instruct her to do this and the totally anti-climactic way she arrives at Whitethorn House and they just SKIP TO THE NEXT MORNING like it’s all no big deal, it’s almost like we’re not supposed to care or even think about the central fulcrum of suspense and audaciousness that made the premise of the book so fucking good.

But that’s not even half the problem, because the Whitethorn characters are just kinda lost on this take. So far I either haven’t noticed or haven’t much liked the cast’s performances of them, their connections are simplified to who's banging or wanting to bang who right away, and there’s a sad shortage of actual non-awkward warmth before we get to those fissures of ugliness and resentment. And you know, the worst of it is that Cassie doesn’t give a fuck. She wants to nail one of them to the wall, she believes from the beginning one of them did it, and that’s a completely different story that doesn’t really need all this surreal gothic pomp which is already a lot to swallow in the same season as In The Woods. She and Frank are totally on the same wavelength and that’s fun to watch because sometimes that’s the fundamental note of their sense of intense history in the book too, but in The Likeness, Frank has this contempt for the residents that says more than he realizes about himself, and she has this desire to protect this strange family from the inevitable which says something about her and everything she’s been through, and that comes around in so many ways that I doubt they’re going to suddenly establish in the last couple episodes, unfortunately.

I will say though, while I figured that pulling these two relatively insulated high-concept stories together wouldn’t work and it doesn’t seem to be working, I am enjoying how much it emphasizes the thematic threads and imagery shared between them, even things like doubles/twins. Even though at least one of Rob’s hallucination sequences doesn’t land right for me, I love the visuals always emphasizing that insurmountable intrusion of the woods and the feral world, most literally realized in that horrifying car crash in slow motion. It makes me think of Scorcher’s “Wild stays out” bit--inevitably it doesn’t~~

And at the same time, Cassie leaving Rob to go under is a different way of approaching that pile of angst that I’m finding interesting and I look forward to seeing how they tie everything back in.

Though I did kinda like that one scene with O’Kelly, I have a big bone to pick with that “Mackey gets people killed” thing, because...no? Dead operatives don’t get “results.” You’re not a badass like Frank Mackey is supposed to be if you can’t pick the undercover types and teach your cops how to not get killed, because you get to that point by being good at not getting yourself killed. Mackey even says at one point in Faithful Place with some defensive pride that his moles don’t end up dead. Frank is shady and opportunistic and manipulative, but he is not a fucking idiot, and making him hold the bad-guy ball to just shrug about the gun in ordeI’r to remove--even more!--the emphasis on Cassie’s increasingly compromised and reckless decisions is not something I’m happy with (I’ll admit I’m not 100% sure about this, but she keeps it from him in the book, right?).

Hmm: “If anything happens to her I'll fucking kill you” vs. “Maddox is a survivor.”

Also: “She looks at Daniel the way Sam looked at you.” Aww, Frank, you bastard.

I forgot to say last time that Rob having a roommates-with-hate-sex-benefits thing with Heather is just...yeah, that could happen. But what was up with her not even noticing he looks like he needs an ambulance, lol

I stopped at quite a cliffhanger so I think I’ll just end this here.

#dublin murders #dublin murder squad #cassie maddox #frank mackey #rob reilly #rob ryan #tana french #Layla very occasionally liveblogs #yeah sorry I can't figure out how to do a cut on here anymore

[lyrasilverspring]

Aren

CW- some gender dysphoria stuff, not explicit

After her parents had died- been killed, Valkyrie had been sent to live in a peacekeeper’s observational house of care. There were very few in the district, and due to district two’s firm belief in the importance of family and lineage, they weren’t good places to end up. The carers didn’t know how to feel about her- to stand against one’s own family was taboo, but to do so in the name of the capitol demonstrated strength. As such, they tended to avoid her. She was discarded, but had potential. District two was not a good place to be a grey area. From the adults, the other children learned to avoid her, to be distrustful, and from them, Valkyrie learned to be distant. As she fuelled all her time into her studies, she began to overtake the other children in her class, and so her peers moved from avoidant to resentful. And she got used to having no one around.

When she was fifteen, she got her first job. She knew she would be kicked out of the home at eighteen, and that no one would be bending over to help her out. The peacemakers had signed her up for tribute training from a young age, and she continued it so as not to further hurt her reputation, but there were still a few hours outside of education and training that she could fill with work. So she did. She began at the lowest levels, carting building materials around sites. She was younger and smaller and more vulnerable than any of the other staff, but she learned how to stand her ground. Learned to walk the line of obedience versus submission. It was in her fourth week, after her third fight that she met Aren.

They’d strolled up and offered a clean cloth for her to wipe the blood off her fists.

“That was pretty impressive, Igor’s been asking for a beat down since the day he started here,” they grinned, seemingly unperturbed by the death glare Valkyrie was giving them, “I’m Aren, by the way.”

They stuck out their hand, and dropped it comfortably when it became clear that Valkyrie wasn’t going to reciprocate. They shrugged and began walking alongside her.

“They don’t like me either,” Aren offered, “Say that I think above my station as a lowly district two peon. Especially since I’m a no name.”

Valkyrie couldn’t help but stiffen at those words- she’d generally avoided learning anything about anyone, figuring it was mostly just distraction. But a no name? That meant their family had kicked them out, and they were no longer allowed to use their surname. It was essentially the worst thing that could happen outside of the peacekeeper’s rulings. To be a no name was to be no one. Meaning it was a bad idea for Valkyrie to be talking to them.

Aren must have seen the thoughts in her eyes, or perhaps just known from experience how people responded, “Look I’m not a bad person. My family kicked me out because I told them I wasn’t a boy or a girl, that’s all. It’s not that big a deal!” they kicked some debris angrily, “The Capitol accepts stuff like that, it makes no sense that it would be such a big issue.”

Valkyrie frowned, “Well that wouldn’t work for tribute selection though. You have to be picked as a boy or a girl, so obviously the districts can’t have that form of identity.”

Aren shrugged, momentarily surprised by the fact Valkyrie had spoken, “Well I’ll get my name put into both. Who cares. Besides, they’ll have to put in my surname even though I’m a no name- reapings are for the Capitol, not us.”

Valkyrie stopped suddenly. She hadn’t heard someone talk about the Capitol so dismissively in seven years. It was shocking, and uncomfortable, but familiar.

****

Aren had remained in Valkyrie’s life long after that day. Despite her coldness, they’d been happy to just fill the awkward silence with small quips and observations. Almost four years later, Aren was the closest thing Valkyrie had to a friend, and Valkyrie was the only person who would talk to them in more than curt and aggressive instructions. They were the only ones who would tolerate each other, and so each became the other’s entire support system. They lived in different houses of care, but had become old enough to go wherever they wanted, whenever. They found spots of abandoned building sites, edges of the district that were uninhabited. They would sometimes spend entire nights out in the open, choosing to brave the cold and watch the stars over returning to the suspicious, sometimes disgusted looks waiting for them at their respective homes.

Valkyrie wasn’t in love with Aren. She wasn’t sure that that was an option for her anymore. But she loved them. There was an unwavering certainty that they would have each other, in spite of anything that might come their way. It was a small comfort, but one she could cling to when she heard someone sneer under their breath about her parents, or watched them choose a less qualified strong blood for a position based on name alone.

One night Aren was late to their favourite spot, and when they showed up, they were so drunk that Valkyrie smelt them before she saw them.

“Valkyrie!” they stumbled down next to her, spilling some sort of spirit onto her leg, “My favourite person!”

“Aren?” she frowned, “Since when do you get this drunk?”

They’d drank a bit through the years, but never this much. They weren’t safe enough to be found this drunk- no one would care enough to help them, and many would jump on the choice to hurt them, physically or in reputation.

“Well, my love,” they drawled, “It has been quite the day,” they took another swig, spilling more onto their front, “Guess who walked back into my life today?”

Valkyrie opened her mouth to answer but Aren spoke before she could, “My dearest mother! My father died, it turns out. No one told me, but now I know, and guess what? She always disagreed with me being sent away- she always thought it would be better to keep me locked away in the house,” they began to imitate a high, foreign voice, “After all, anything Aren does out in the world might get back to the family!”

Valkyrie blinked, “Aren this is… a big fucking deal.”

Aren grinned lazily, eyes slightly unfocused, “That it is Valkyrie my dear, that it fucking is! Because my mother,” they spat the word, “Has already been speaking to the house of care, and I absolutely will be returning to them. And I will be kept within the walls of the family house and kept as the girl I was always supposed to be,” they laughed miserably, “She was very clear about that. They ‘will not be entertaining my fantastic ideas of grandeur’ anymore.”

Valkyrie just watched them for a second, noting the shaking hands holding the bottle, “Well… you’re going to turn eighteen in just a few days, right? Then you can leave them, and we can get that place we were looking at- you’ve been a no name this long, and you never thought they’d take you back, it’s kind of no different, right?”

Aren’s laugh was bitter, “Oh Valkyrie. Little Miss Maddox. You know as well as I do that there’s no choice in this. I’m going back to them because they want me, and the minute I cross that threshold I’m never seeing the light of day again.”

Valkyrie’s face dropped, “Why- I understand that,” she began slowly, “But what I don’t understand is why you’re giving in so quickly. You’re strong and smart, and I know you could get out if you wanted to. Why are you so accepting of what’s going to happen?”

“Valkyrie,” Aren’s hands came up to grasp her face, and she felt the spit slick bottle against her cheek, “No names don’t get second chances. This is literally my best chance, it’s a fucking act of god.”

Valkyrie felt her stomach fall. Aren was choosing this. It was a shitty position, but Aren was still making that fucking choice.

“You would rather live your life locked up with them than with me?” she whispered, their faces close enough that they would feel her breath on their cheek.

Aren threw her head back, “You’re making this about you? How fucking self-absorbed can you be? They’re taking me back, Valkyrie! And you know that if your parents were still here you’d make the same fucking choice!”

Valkyrie let her head drop, wrapping her arms around her knees, “You’re just drunk. You’re just saying this because you’re drunk. Please, just put the fucking alcohol down, and then you’ll sober up, and then we can have an actual conversation-“

Aren laughed again, angrier this time, “There she is! The strong, brave, untouchable Valkyrie Maddox, ladies and gentlemen! Still the same lost, unloved seven year old begging for someone to take care of her!” they took another swig, “Do you know what they say about us? Do you?”

Valkyrie just shook her head. She had always avoided listening to the others and kept her head down.

“They say,” Aren’s voice dropped into a low sneer, “That you may have traitor parents, but it was insane that you would waste your time with a disgusting no name like me. They say that you’re so brave and strong and could be so much more without someone like me holding you back. But what they don’t know,” they crouched down to whisper into her ear, “Is that deep down, you’re just that same pathetic child who couldn’t convince her family to care about her.”

Valkyrie reared back, getting to her feet, “Aren, your family don’t want you! I don’t understand why you would choose them and the prison they have planned for you!”

Aren watched her as they took another lazy swig, “Valkyrie this whole district is a fucking prison, we just get to choose our cell. And this?” they looked around the exposed, dusty site they were in, broken tools left to rust, “This just isn’t good enough for me.”

Valkyrie didn’t wait to hear what else they had to say. She began to walk home, and for the first time in four years, Aren didn’t follow. And Valkyrie didn’t return. To any of their spaces. A week after Aren’s eighteenth birthday, she heard a coworker whisper about the unfortunate accident in the Castell family. A fire. Everyone had made it out but the returned no name. ‘Good riddance’ they’d said.

She didn’t react. That night she’d gone home to her new single room, paid for with her own money, and waited for the tears to come. They didn’t.

#cgtaskthree #whoops #very sad #as per #apologies for the ridiculous length

[themagicalmysticalboy]

Ok woah. "Child molesting rapist." I don't like jimmy page at all. In fact I'm pretty disgusted with him tbh but I'm sick of hearing him called a pedophile because all the young girls he was with were at least 14 (to my knowledge, and obviously that does take it ok but he's not a PEDOPHILE ffs). And I believe it was all consensual. Again, not ok, but still. Obviously you'll have to look things up for yourself, but he was famously with Lori Maddox and... yeah it's disappointing to find out about.

i’ve been looking around on google a bit and one article claimed that he kidnapped Lori?????

idk man. regardless of consent, 14 is really really young and gross and definitely illegal.

#i need to research more i guess #got my head spinning

[craezynewthangs]

i don’t have a lot of time to make this look all pretty, but i wanted to try and gather up interests for a couple wanted chars / plots that my boy maddox jeun will be wanting.

1.) maddox’s older sibling(s) //  so maddox is the youngest child in his family.  he has 1-2 siblings who he’s super close to, as growing up they kind of helped take care of him.  their parents weren’t exactly the best.  there was time when they really did try, but by the time the oldest was a teenager the parents had kind of given up trying, allowing oldest to take charge when it came to looking out for their siblings.  maddox doesn’t hate his parents, but neither does he feel any desire to get closer to them.  how the other siblings feel is open.  i can easily see oldest resenting them since due their neglect toward the younger sibling(s), oldest wasn’t really able to have a full childhood.  maddox is super close to his sibling(s), and i see them all as being a very tightly knit unit even if they do fight occasionally.  fc’s are open so long as they are at least half korean. 

i should also mention that the family moved to minneapolis when maddox was still young, so he was 0 memories of where they are originally from.  oldest sibling might have some, and if we want we can figure out where they had lived previously.

2.) maddox’s best friend and ex // this is more open atm because i would like to leave things up to discussion.  the basis is that maddox and best friend have known each other since they were five or six.  around high school they began dating after realizing that maybe their feelings were more than platonic (and they def were), and remained in a relationship until after they both graduated.  best friend was accepted to a college out of state, and left to study while leaving maddox behind.  afraid that the distance would be too difficult to work with, and deciding it was better if they both were allowed a fresh start, they broke up on amicable terms.  maddox did keep in touch with best friend, and i envision he sent emails once a week (or once a month at the very least) because he didn’t want to lose that friendship.  maddox is now 22 and a college dropout after realizing that college just wasn’t for him.  best friend has most likely finished their fourth year of college.  recently they have returned to minneapolis for reasons that are left open. 

i would love these two to meet up and reunite.  maddox most likely still has some lingering feelings for best friend, but will be too afraid to act on them right away.  most likely he will want to try to reconnect and re-establish their friendship first.  i would love it if these two are an endgame ship, but for now it’s open and we can always see how things ultimately works out.  i’m just over here flailing and combining two of my fave tropes.  childhood bestfriends to lovers and reunited exes into one plot idea.  but if things don’t work out that way, then i’d be more than happy for them to continue being besties and partners in crime at least.  fc for this request is completely open, so you’re free to use whoever you might want!

that’s about it!  both of these ads are fairly open.  obviously the siblings might require a bit more discussion, so we can make sure family stuff lines up but still very much open.  you are allowed to do whatever you like with them!  and i’d love to discuss ideas and figure out dev things if you so wish.  if interested feel free to hmu here on tumblr or on discord @ crystal in wonderland#0651

#lgrp #lgrpdc

[ibreathwords]

“The queen of nothing” review (with spoilers)

Rating: 4 1/2 🌟

Unpopular opinion ((at least, from what I’ve read so far)): this one was my favourite of the trilogy.

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with the tcp series since the beginning: meaning, I didn’t really like the first one and I enjoyed a little bit more the second but I never actually fell in love with them. It’s not like I didn’t see and appreciate its perks ((Jude!!! Fairies!!! FINALES!!!)), it’s just that some things annoyed me too much. For example, I highly disliked Cardan in the first book and part of the second as well. I thought he was the usual absolute-jerk-with-an-unhappy-childhood everybody falls in love with just because. However, I really liked how his character developed and I adored him the tqon. This being said, I’ll review tqon only since I’ve read the other two when they came out and I can’t say I remember them well enough to write a fair detailed review :)

~

1. Fast pace

Many say that this book was rushed and could have been a little bit longer and explain everything better. I agree, but I think that’s why I liked it. Let me explain. I usually like books that take their time but at the same time I felt like this pace suited this plot. My issue with tcp was that the first half was absolutely useless to me, and even in the second half there were like two relevant things happening. And also twk, though it was better, kinda left me like many things were just fillers.

2. JUDE

Jude is the fucking highlight of this trilogy and I’m ready to fight whoever says otherwise. She is not the usual princess-in-need-to-be-saved nor the chosen one. She is a human raised in a world she doesn’t belong to and that doesn’t want her, so she makes it, makes the people, accept her ((and as the High Queen nonetheless)).

I love she is nothing special at all and that she doesn’t discover that somehow she really is the long lost child of a powerful fae sent to the mortal world to be protected and blablabla or bullshit like this.

Jude is ruthless but human. She doesn’t just want to survive, she wants to belong, to be respected: she is ambitious and ready to fight. Yet, she doesn’t become some kind of killing machine without feelings. I was also skeptical at Jude immediately forgiving Taryn and becoming besties with Nicasia, but in a way I understand why: first, she is desperate to go back to Elfhame and I think she took the opportunity as soon as it came to her, even if it was from her traitor twin ((she could have stayed mad for a little longer throughout the book, I agree)). Second, Nicasia isn’t a real threat. She is just a petty, spoiled princess and as soon as her mother can’t protect her, she is just a scared girl. They just became allies, they didn’t swear eternal love to each other.

3. The Ghost

I really liked his redemption story and that he wasn’t a traitor just because. It was refreshing.

Also, I don’t get people who complain about Jude forgiving him. Like, it’s not his fault....?

4. Cardan

My petty prince. Even though I totally despised him in tcp and kinda tolerated him in twk, he grew on him so quickly.

In the beginning, I found him the stereotypical asshole that in some magic way redeem himself. I don’t think that’s what happened with Cardan. In a way, he stays the person he is and even his childhood I started to see more as an explanation than a justification. He doesn’t pretend to be good, he knows who he is and what he has done but I never really found him trying to look for an excuse.

Obviously, I adore his love-hate relationship with Jude: the fact that deep down they despise and believe they deserve each other, which I think it’s true tbh.

((Bonus: bottom!Cardan !!!!))

5. Finale

I liked that it was so wrapped up. Everything was explained and sorted out, not much left to speculation or imagination: Jude becomes High Queen officially, Maddox and his crew are punished and Cardan visits the mortal world.

I’m usually a fan of tragic endings but I think this one fitted the book and the series and I found myself wanting them to be happy.

~

There are things I didn’t like or that I found kinda rushed ((like Locke’s death and the fact it was treated so quickly and bluntly)) but overall I enjoyed tqon, as a book per se and as the conclusion of a series.

I obviously wasn’t able to keep it short nor focused on tqon but, hey, that’s me :)

#the queen of nothing #book review #the cruel prince #the wicked king #holly black #with spoilers

[headfulloffantasies]

Miscommunication

Star Trek fic (Alternate Original Series. Word count: 1794)

5+1 misuses of the ship wide communication on the USS Enterprise

1.

“What could go wrong?”

As if summoned by the cursed phrase on the captain’s lips, the shadow of Bones appeared on the bridge. 

He jabbed a finger at Kirk. “You are staying here. You will not being going down there.” The finger jabbed at the lush green planet on the display.

“Why not?” A yeoman with a death wish might have described the captain’s tone as whining.

“Because all the green stuff down there is Feleran rose. You are allergic to Feleran rose.”

“Fine,” Kirk agreed.

Several hours after the landing party came back, Kirk slunk into the med bay. 

“Bones? I got a rash.”

Bones refused to turn around. He stared into the depths of his PADD. “Where?”

“My hands… and back… and ribs.”

“You itchy?”

“Yeah.”

“How’re your eyes and throat?”

“Normal, I guess.”

Bones finally looked up. “Fine. Sit. I will take a look.”

He scraped at Jim’s red raw hands and took the sample over to the computer.

Bones glared at the results. He went deadly still. “Jim. This is Feleran rose.”

He turned around. Jim had vanished. 

Bones calmly pressed the button on the wall to open a ship wide communication. The button screeched with disuse.

“Jim Kirk if I find out you stepped one foot on that planet I will throw you into a supernova myself.”

2. 

There was a party in engineering. The unlucky crew who were scheduled to duty and the unfortunate who had been duped into covering shifts were miserably serving their time. 

On the bridge, Ensign Kelly had the con. She was slouched almost to the floor in the captain’s seat, glaring out into open space. If she ever got her hands on Yeoman Slater she was going to launch him into the void for tricking her into this post.

The ship wide communicator chirped. Kelly jerked to attention. Music and laughter filtered over the speakers.

“Hellloooo Enterprise!” A very drunk voice sang. “This is Lieutenant Luis. I am hereby announcing my romantic engagement to Lieutenant Nelson. Aaaaaand, I am cordially inviting the whole crew to our wedding at the next space dock!”

A loud cheer echoed through the comm. 

“Alright,” a grumpy voice interrupted. “You’ve had enough. We’re all very happy-,”

3. 

Ensign Maddox had been attacked on the surface of a planet. Four hours after being returned to the Enterprise, Bones was finally satisfied with Maddox’s stable condition. The young ensign was awake, but heavily sedated. He would be counting his own fingers for a few hours. 

Bones leaned his head in his hands with the door to his office shut. The kid was so young. Freckled green skinned, red haired little child. They got younger every day. Bones was already planning the booze he’d be drinking to stave off the nightmares of blood on freckled skin.

The ship wide communicator chirped. Bones jumped. 

Heavy breathing rasped on the comm. “This is Ensign Maddox. I am officially resigning my commission on the basis of I want to live to forty! Y’all can keep risking your lives for whatever it is we’re doing out here in the black. Give me a space suit, I’m jumping ship.”

Bones scrambled out of his office. Maddox was leaning half on the wall, still slurring into the communicator. “Starfleet can kiss my space rocks. I’m going to be a farmer.”

Maddox screamed when he saw Bones coming. He scrambled closer to the wall and thus the communicator.

“Help! Help! I’m being attacked!”

“I’m not attacking you, idiot. You’re under the influence of heavy meds. Get your butt back in bed.”

“Oppression!” Maddox yelled into the wall. His feet windmilled.

Bones grabbed his arm before he fell. Into the communicator he said “Can I get a security detail to watch Ensign Maddox while he sleeps off his drugs, please?”

“Oppression!” Maddox shrieked in Bones’ ear. 

“Hurry it up before I go deaf. McCoy out.”

4. 

Replicator 3 was out to get her, Kelly decided. Every time she asked for the spaghetti and garlic toast, replicator 3 used too much garlic. The other replicators didn’t treat her like this.

The ship wide comm chirped. Chatter in the cafeteria slammed to a halt.

“I don’t know, Spock,” the captain’s voice said. “Lately I just want to punch Pike in the face.”

Kelly’s cheeks burned. This was obviously not a conversation the captain meant to broadcast. All around the cafeteria, giggles were being stifled in hands and leering grins were exchanged.

“I was under the impression your relationship with the Admiral was on pleasant terms,” Commander Spock answered.

“It is,” a sigh crackled static shipwide. “It’s just that sometimes he still treats me like a kid. Like I’m still that guy who joined Starfleet on a dare.”

“I don’t mean to misunderstand you, Jim, but you are that person.”

“I know.” Something shuffled, like the captain was rearranging himself. “But I’m more than that now. I’ve earned more respect that that. But sometimes, just for a second, I can see Pike comparing me to my father’s ghost.”

A bang echoed over the speakers. Doctor McCoy’s voice suddenly cut in. “Hey idiot. Pick up your bleeding comm. You’re broadcasting your sob story to the entire ship.”

The captain cursed. “Spock, why didn’t you say anythi-,”

Kelly bit her tongue to keep the giggles in. She looked up and caught Yeoman Tar’s eye. They both lost it.

5. 

Kelly was enjoying some peace and quiet in her quarters when the ship wide comm chirped. She set down the book she was reading on her PADD. 

“-For the fourth time. Is this thing on?” The Scottish melody of the Chief Engineer floated through the ship. “Attention Enterprise. We are experiencing communication errors throughout the ship. Please be advised that faults are causing ship wide communication failures and, er, not failures.” There was a pregnant pause. “The comms may start broadcasting without warning, so, ah, watch what you say, yeah?” The message ended. 

Almost immediately, a ship wide comm chirped. “Ever seen a binary nebula? Most beautiful thing in the whole universe if you ask me. There’s one out by Scorpio IV that’s all red and purple. It looks like a rose opening up. I always thought it would be a real romantic spot-,”

Kelly groaned into her PADD. It was never a dull day on the Enterprise.

Kelly was in the cafeteria cursing Replicator 3 when the next comm flub happened.

“-nothing more than a sprain, Ensign.” Nurse Chapel’s voice flooded the ship. “You’re lucky it wasn’t worse. We have safety protocols for a reason-,” the broadcast ended. 

Kelly exchanged a glance with Lieutenant Nelson. 

“At least it wasn’t personal medical information,” he said.

“It’s just freaky, though. It’s like there are no private conversations today,” Kelly poked at her replicated yogurt with too many chunks. “I feel like I can’t talk to anyone.” She was interrupted by another ship wide comm.

“If you ever need help with this stuff, I’m always willing to show you again-,” A female voice crackled.

Kelly waved her hands. “Like that! That was a private, essential conversation and now the whole ship is going to gossip about it.”

It went like that all day. The ship became haunted. It was eerily quiet in the halls, and in common areas, where no one wanted their private conversations to suddenly become public. Ghostly voices floated through the ship, the echoes of people who were not there.  

Kelly ground her teeth through her bridge shift as she was forced to listen to someone in engineering detail the entire plot of the book Kelly had only just started. If she wasn’t on duty, she would have stuffed her fingers in her ears and sang ‘lalalalala’ until it was over. 

Captain Kirk consulted with Commander Spock and Lieutenant Uhura at her station. Kelly couldn’t hear them over the villain ruining her book, but she noticed Kirk was pushing a lot of buttons and Uhura was letting him. The ship wide broadcast suddenly changed from the engineer’s voice to Kirk’s.

“If anyone besides Scotty can fix this, it’s you.”

“Then let me do it,” Uhura said. Kelly watched her lips move with the broadcast as she swatted the captain’s hands away from her controls. 

“Captain-,” Spock started.

Kirk interrupted, “I’m just trying to help. What if you feed the broadcast back into a single location?” Clearly none of the team had noticed their bridge crew was tipping their heads towards their conversation.

“I tried that,” Uhura fumed. “The only place the system will let me isolate the broadcast to is the bridge.”

Spock tried again to get Kirk’s attention. “Captain,-”

“Hang on Spock.” Kirk addressed Uhura. “So isolate to the bridge. Is that so bad?”

“Do you want to listen to the crew chatter all day while you’re supposed to be commanding a starship?”

Kirk shrugged. “It’s more entertaining than plotting a course to the middle of nowhere.”

Ensign Wells stifled a laugh. Commander Spock locked eyes on him. The Vulcan eyebrow went up. 

“Captain, I believe this conversation is no longer private.”

Kirk straightened up, his shoulders rigid. “Whoops.” 

The whole bridge burst out in muted giggles. 

Kirk turned around and faced his crew with a fake smile plastered on his pretty face. “Ok folks, show’s over. Back to your stations.”

Apparently the isolation of the broadcasts to the bridge had only been a temporary patch. In the middle of Kelly’s sleep shift, she jolted awake to a loud chorus of punk music blaring throughout the ship. Kelly groaned and stuffed her head under her pillow.

A door slammed somewhere near the location of the song. “Gary! Everyone can hear your horrible taste in music!”

It was going to be a long night. 

“Good morning Enterprise,” Scotty’s whimsical accent interrupted Kelly’s breakfast again. “You will all be glad to know that the ship’s communications system has been fixed. The technology responsible has been tried and executed for its crimes. Scotty out.”

+1.

“Good morning Enterprise,” The captain’s voice echoed throughout the ship. “I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the fact that today is day 1000 of our 5 year mission. We’ve loved and lost over that time. We’ve discovered things no one has ever imagined before. We’ve paved the way for new adventures, new loves and new losses. I’d like to have a moment of silence for those who haven’t made it this far.” 

“Thank you. And now I’d like to play for you a classic Earth song that I think perfectly encapsulates the journey we are on.”

A woman’s sang along to a pumping beat. “I’m all about that bass, ‘bout that bass, no treble-,“ the song abruptly cut out.

“Scotty! I thought you said you fixed it!”

End

#star trek #alternate original series #jim kirk #bones mccoy #spock #uss enterprise #5+1 #fic #star trek aos #captain james t. kirk #dr leonard mccoy #commander spock #scotty #montgomery scott #miscommunication #buttdial #malfuction #technology #fanfiction #fanfic #ensign kelly #all about that bass

[hcrmoniouss]

That’s [Jacqueline 'Jacks' Louise Ackery] not [Zoey Deutch]. She’s [24] years old and a [Human]. She may be +Tough, +Self-aware, & +Reliable but she’s also -Inappropriate, -Trigger happy & -Defensive. 

we love and stan a Human Mess. ( why do i always start my intros off like this Yeet )

she was pretty much normal in every sense of the word since birth. she was born to human parents, in a human town, u know the whole nine yards.

shes not one of Those People who will gut you if you call her jacqueline but like she will throw her yoghurt at you like a makeshift slingshot. and she won’t regret it. so proceed with caution.

didn’t really believe in the whole supernatural deal but was like hey Yeet if they exist cool. 

essentially, she used to be pretty cool and pretty chill about life. until she got into her teenage years and started dating. and then it all went Downhill From There Bucko. she started dating natalie, and that was all fine and dandy, she was actually jacks’ first love. until some demons thought it would be fun to torment natalie and kidnap her girlfriend to taunt her.

unbelievably, it wasn’t the kidnapping that got to her most. obviously it was traumatic but the worst part came when natalie decided to leave her for no apparent reason. she’s never really gotten over that betrayal; she was kidnapped because she loved someone and utterly defenseless, and her girlfriend left anyway. 

and then, yes, slept with her best friend. so yeah, she never really got over that.

she’s like if harper from set it up and brooke maddox had a love child; soft as a marshmallow on the inside, but hard as hell on the outside. 10/10 would murder again. ( she’s never murdered, but you get the idea. )

after that, she obviously tried to get on with her life. but the natalie story’s always been kind of an issue because she thought if she went around proclaiming demons kidnapped her for falling in love she’d be institutionalised.

honestly? just really bitter. not in the life owes me something kind of way, but more in the life can suck my dick anyway manner.

so she decided to go to san francisco, because she thought she would try and make her twenties not boring, and well - they definitely aren’t boring now.

totally aware of all the supernatural. she’s the cool human who isn’t really all that phased. 

people are people, even if they moonlight as feral animals, in her opinion.

#apx:intro #this is the worst intro but I Did It