#comes back after 2 weeks with art for an audience of me

[muzzleroars]

favorite scene in paradise lost where lucifer and gabriel insult each other back and forth until god breaks it up using astrology

#comes back after 2 weeks with art for an audience of me #i had a lot of fun looking through illuminated manuscripts for inspiration!! #esp with lucifer's little devil masks....ough i love their lil faces.... #doodle tag #paradise lost #lucifer #gabriel

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Neil talking about the responses to Good Omens Season 2 - from the Neil Gaiman interview with Brian Levine for The Gould Standard (x,x)

BL: The audience that you have built is a very passionately engaged audience. They, frankly, they love you. And one of the reasons they love you is that you fit into what I think of as one of two great divisions in art. There's, or in writing, um, there is: I'm entertained, I'm amused. I may be even enchanted; and then there's this hits me at a visceral level. You understand me as no one else does. You have touched something very central to my experience. And it seems to me that Much of your writing, maybe all of your writing, actually reaches your audience at that latter level. You know. I would say in the former category, sort of my quintessential and beloved example would be P. G. Woodhouse. He amuses me, but I don't feel like he's revealed my inner self at a very deep level. Um, were you aware that you were going to be able to achieve that? Um, that this is something... was it a startling thing when people began coming up to you, who'd read your work and said, this means so much to me?

Neil: Yeah. It was huge. And it wasn't expected. I... if I had a mountaintop I was heading towards, it was gonna be P. G. Woodhouse. Um, I wanted to be a proficient entertainer with a clear prose style who could tell stories. Um, it probably wasn't until Sandman that I found... I started to realize that in order for a story to work, I had to show too much. In order for a story to resonate, in order for a story to matter, I had to let it matter too much. And, and I remember the first people who would start coming up to me and saying, um, you, you know, your, your Sandman comics got me through the death of a loved one. Your death character got me through my child's death, through my parent's death, through my partner's death, through my friend's death. Um, and that left me kind of amazed. I'm like, well, I didn't write it to do that. I wrote it to feed my children. I wrote it to satisfy myself. I wrote it because nobody else had ever written it. And if I didn't write it, it wouldn't be written, but I don't think I wrote it to give you what you've taken from it. And I spent really about 20, 25 years feeling awkward about that. And then my father died, in March 2009, and never got to cry about it. Never... I, you know, I've, I've got on a plane and I went to the UK and dealt with the funeral stuff and organized all of that stuff and came back and go toff the plane and went and did Stephen Colbert's Colbert Report and wearing the funeral suit because and that was all I had with me and carried on. And then, somewhere in the middle of summer, I was reading a friend's script. They'd sent me a script and said, can you look this over? And I'm reading it, and on page 20, the lead character meets somebody, and on page 26 maybe, she's dead, and I burst into tears. And I'm bawling. I am sobbing. It is coming out of me in giant racking waves. And I realized that it's everything that I'd been, hadn't let myself feel, or hadn't been able, hadn't stopped enough to let myself feel, was suddenly being given permission to feel by the death of a fictional person who I'd met six pages earlier, ia script. And I thought that... and it was huge for me, and I thought, okay, that's that thing that people are talking about sometimes, when they come tome and they say, you, you did this. So right now, I'm in this weird, wonderful place where I think a lot of people in Good Omens Season 2 thought they were signing up for the P.G. Woodhouse, and didn't know that, no, no, no, you've, you've signed up for the whole thing. You've signed up for the feelings. You've signed up for the emotions. I... it is my job to make you care and to make you feel and to feel things you haven't felt before. And which meant that the first week or so after Good Omens came out, I was getting angry, furious, deeply upset messages on every possible social medium telling me that I had betrayed people, and it was awful, and they couldn't stop crying, and why would I do that to them, and did I hate them? And they hated me. And then a weird sort of phenomenon happened as people would watch the show again. And again. And now they started to know, okay, this is where it's gonna go, this is what's gonna happen, this is how it works. And they started realizing that they were actually feeling things, and that was good. And that they were caring about two people who don't exist. You know, I made them up, and then and Terry Pratchett made them up, and then, um, David Tennant and Michael Sheen gave them life, and then they get to walk around on a screen and you know they don't exist, but you can cry for them, you can love them, they can make you laugh, they can make you exult, and most important of all, they can make you care. And the number of people who are now writing to me, saying, 'This was so important to me. This has changed my life. This makes me feel like I belong. This makes me feel like I can cope. And it's let me sort of find myself. P. S. I hope you get to do Season Three.' is, is huge.

#good omens #neil gaiman #brian levine #neil the gould standard 2023 #interview #neil interview #videos #fun fact #gos2 #season 2 #2ep6 #s2 interview

[pinksilvace]

A few weeks back, I made a comment to the effect of, "Belos views himself as the single human character in a muppets production." It has since then spiraled into an entire AU in my head that refuses to leave me alone. A few weeks back, I made a comment to the effect of, "Belos views himself as the single human character in a muppets production." It has since then spiraled into an entire AU in my head that refuses to leave me alone.

The basic premise:

Caleb and Evelyn found a weekly children's program ("The Boiling Isles") that features puppets; little Philip is featured as the one human, and since the episodes with him do much better than the ones without, he grows up into the role and eventually becomes a big part of the production staff as well

When Caleb and Evelyn die in an accident, Philip inherits the show

Some of the main (puppet) characters are named Luzura, Willow, Amity, and Augustus (you can see where I'm going with this). Philip would be able to stand these puppets on their own BUT

In promotional materials and interviews, he is ALWAYS asked what it's like to "work with" Luzura/Willow/Amity/Gus. Philip is absolutely INFURIATED by this because they're PUPPETS why can't anybody see that they're PUPPETS don't you care about the STAFF or the ARTISTS or the LIGHTING MANAGERS why does everybody pretend that the PUPPETS are REAL PEOPLE and why does HE have to pretend that the PUPPETS are when he responds??? He's convinced that some of the interviewers genuinely believe that the puppets are alive and tries to patiently explain that, no, they are just puppets. The interviewers always refuse to break the immersion.

Expanded AU thoughts are under the cut.

Caleb and Evelyn meet at an arts college. Evelyn is a film student, and the show's prototype is her capstone project. Caleb offers to bring Philip in as an actor and it sticks. Caleb also helps make some of the first puppets.

Little Philip's identity is protected by 1) the presence of a mask, and 2) the stage name "Belos". The name sticks around for his on-screen appearances.

While sticking around the set, Philip learns a lot about the different areas of production. He especially likes building sets, backdrops, props, and puppets, though he finds the writing process interesting as well. When he's old enough to help out with paperwork, he takes over the logistical side of things because tbh both Caleb and Evelyn are helpless when it comes to that

By the time Philip takes over, he's basically the head supervisor of every single department. His management makes the show's popularity explode

Philip is definitely the best at building and controlling puppets. Every now and then, he makes an extra-large "final boss" sort of puppet that only he is physically capable of controlling, and some of them end up in museums

Philip raises Hunter, but he's sort of the neglectful sort. He's ultra-focused on keeping the show his brother put so much thought, effort, and love into alive, and it makes literally any semblance of life he might have had outside of the show suffer

Similarly to Philip, Hunter grows up on set, but not as an actor. The production staff looks after him. When he's old enough, he also becomes a part of the test audience

The production staff is composed of the Emperor's Coven members in canon; i.e. Darius is in charge of lighting and wires, Raine is the sound director, Eberwolf is the lead puppet master, Hettie is the on-site medic, etc.

Luz and Camila are also a part of the test audience. I'm going to pretend that Philip and Camila are good buds in this AU. Philip inserts Luzura into the show as a character based on Luz

Basically most of the ire that Philip has in this AU is directed toward the puppets because they're not REAL why are THEY getting the GLORY can we PLEASE not pretend that these PUPPETS have thoughts and feelings and personalities???

He also doesn't leave because 1) the aforementioned attachment to something Caleb loved so much, and 2) he's put too much effort into this show already and he knows that no replacement could ever be so proficient at his job

Let's be real, Philip's work ethic is super unsustainable, and it DEFINITELY keeps him from grieving properly

When Hunter reveals that he does not, in fact, want to inherit the company that Philip has built, it's CRUSHING to Philip, who feels like giving it up would be disrespecting Caleb's legacy, unaware that he's staring Caleb's legacy in the face

Ideally Philip's arc (which I have hardly described here) would end with wealthy retirement and him being able to say "goodbye Boiling Isles" and never having to appear alongside those godforsaken puppets ever again

#my art #belmup au #mullet caleb mullet caleb mullet caleb #I'll be honest the art was just an excuse to talk about this au but mullet caleb will forever live in my heart #the owl house #toh fanart #caleb wittebane #philip wittebane #emperor belos #toh au #evelyn clawthorne #also yes all of the puppets are left handed :) that was very important to Evelyn #fernart

[buckets-and-trees]

Consort

Fandom: MCU Characters/Pairings: Namor x female!Reader Word Count: 2.3k

Summary: Diplomatic fraternization is never easy and situations can turn on a dime. When you accompany your father to negotiate future ties between your two underwater kingdoms, one mistake changes everything.

Content Warnings: SMUT, thigh riding

Additional Notes: Before this week it had never even as a WHIM come across my radar to write anything Namor. But two-almost-three-days ago @artsynellyyy shared a ridiculously gorgeous unfinished piece of art she was working on, asked for some input, and it spurred a plot concept that just GRIPPED my brain and had me feeling THINGS. I don’t think I will be writing a lot of Namor, but I do know there’s certainly a part two to this because…there’s more story for these two in my head. There’s a particular moment that exists for them that as this developed, I knew could not happen yet for them, it would’ve been too rushed. So… just… Happy fourth installment of the 2022 Holiday Extravaganza!

A/N 2: Be gentle! This is my first attempt at Namor. I did some canon diving and research, but I did not dive deep into the Namor fandom because I didn’t want to get too influenced about established patterns or too intimidated about what’s already out there. Honestly kind of terrified to publish this one, so just... jumping out of the airplane and pulling the parachute okay bye.

“Let us speak without pretense,” the king of Talokan’s voice resonates powerfully through the throne room. “Tell me why you sought private audience with me today, Hamal.”

Standing at the right hand of your father, you observe the way he draws his shoulders up just a fraction more, the way his nostrils flare just before he speaks again. “Fine, I will speak plainly, Namor. Your recent dealings with the surface, particularly with the kingdom of Wakanda, is concerning to the kingdom of Fourchon.”

“Why should it concern you?” Namor patiently humors the conversation further, but you can read that the patience is wearing thin.

“King to king, I find it concerning because it calls into question whether we are moving into a state of volatility for all who dwell in the oceans, and I have no wish to see my people drawn into hostilities or war of any kind.”

“And you are here to ensure continued peace between our nations?”

“I am.”

Your heart isn’t racing, but the beats thrum more swiftly against your chest as you will this to go well.

“And what do you propose, Hamal? What does the kingdom of Fourchon possibly have to offer Talokan?”

There’s a moment of silence that hangs between the two rulers, then your father answers, “Her.”

Every muscle in your body seizes with dread, your heart skipping a beat. Your eyes widen, but every bit of diplomatic rearing mercifully allows you to keep your mouth from dropping open in complete shock.

“My daughter.”

You cannot look at either king, looking straight ahead to keep your composure, but you register the sharp change in Namor’s voice. “Fourchon is neither enemy nor ally to Talokan, and yet you come to my court with the arrogance of demanding peace between our countries when for more than three hundred years there has been nary a quarrel. Indeed, your small kingdom has meant nothing to me, an inconsequential player amongst underwater realms. We have maintained social civility only because you were not worth any more or less to me.

He pauses, and you can feel the tension rolling in waves off your father.

“Your offer is horrible, but I will give you what you came here to bargain and secure today for the sake of your people, despite the prideful blunder of their king. Now leave.”

You are desperate to acquiesce to Namor’s command after the humiliation of being offered first as a trinket or some form of tribute and then receiving by association a political rebuke, and you turn immediately to depart with your father.

“Not you, Princess,” his voice halts you.

You watch your father leave; he doesn’t look back at you or Namor.

“Come here,” the king of Talokan says.

You turn back to face him, squaring your shoulders and looking straight at him as you approach. Your father had asked for a private audience, and you are grateful for that as no one else saw the disaster that just took place.

He regards you openly. You focus on breathing evenly when all you want to do is flee from this room and let your emotions rage. When his gaze meets yours again, he tilts his chin and narrows his eyes ever so slightly.

“Do you not kneel for your king?”

Heat rushes from your chest up to flood your cheeks, and your throat feels thick with anger, but you manage to speak. “You are not my king.”

“Did I not accept the terms offered?”

“An offer you called horrible,” you say as you sink to your knees and bow your head as is customary.

“The offer, not you.”

Your head snaps back up at these words.

“And the offer was horrible in relation to you, not me.”

Your brow furrows in question.

“When your father made the overtures for this meeting, I asked my ambassador to share with me his outlook on your kingdom and your court.”

“You said we were inconsequential.”

“But an element that still exists.”

He evaluated the full landscape. You were under no illusions that the kingdom of your birth was small in comparison to Talokan or Atlantis, but  he was a ruler who wasn’t fool enough discount the smaller players.

“My ambassador said,” he continues, “that your people love and respect you and that it is a loss to Fourchon that you were both second-born and a daughter of the throne instead of a son.”

Resentment spreads through your veins at these words. You’d fought the unrest of what you would not be able to do while also feeling confident in your brother’s ability to rule, that he’d proven himself worthy of his birthright.

“He said you were your father’s favorite.”

You had thought that, too. And yet… “How easily he would bargain me away would say otherwise.”

“It was clear you had no indication of his intent.”

A bitter laugh escapes your throat. “Truly. I thought he valued my presence, my counsel, even perhaps my help in diplomatic relations, but I was only a pawn.”

“No.”

You narrow your eyes and cock your head to the side.

“I think you are wrong. Stand, Princess.”

You rise slowly, with as much grace as you can.

He moves from the throne, stepping over the jaw that frames his seat of power, and moves down the steps toward you.

“In future you kneel for only me, no one else.”

You remain in your place as he slowly circles you.  

“I did lecture your father for his arrogance on an improper read on the state of affairs, assuming Talokan would turn on Fourchon. However, as a king, I do not fault him for caring for the welfare of his people, or for overestimating the value of his kingdom,” he states, his voice warming with this admission. He comes to a stop in front of you. “And to negotiate safety and peace for his people?” He raises his right hand and draws his fingers down reverently along your jaw. “He offers you, his greatest treasure. He insinuates you are worth more than an entire kingdom.”

You open then close your mouth, unsure how to respond to this interpretation. Your eyes search his, but all you can see there is a resoluteness that he truly means what he’s just said. It’s disarming, and with the way your world fell out from under you only minutes ago, you’re unsure of what to trust now.

Namor radiates confidence, it rolls easily off him in waves, but when he takes a step closer, you can feel the heat of him. His fingers move over your shoulder and down the length of your arm, and you shiver but keep holding his gaze. Your instincts tell you that every moment in this room has been significant, it’s determining your future, every movement, every word, every observation.

He takes half a step closer, only a whisper of space between you now, and you hold your ground. He almost smiles, then he turns away, seizing your hand and leading you up the stairs of the dais, and you quickly lift your skirts so you can ascend quickly behind him. Up close you can admire the artistry of the jaw that encases his throne. Like him, it’s charming, beautiful, and dangerous, each intricate designs carved into the bone, and the teeth replaced with jade stones.

“Your father was right to anticipate a shift in my rule.”

“Oh?”

“I’ve been king of Talokan for centuries, but my dealings with Wakanda have me considering eventualities of the future.”

Namor takes steps over the jaw, then draws you carefully in with him, still holding your hand as you step over the mighty frame, before finally releasing it. He turns back to look out over the throne room and further the drop off to look out over the kingdom of Talokan, but angles himself slightly toward you as well, and you mirror him. It’s a breathtaking view, and you imagine it is an altogether different manner of beauty with the court or an audience of people called to convene. But like this, still and quiet, it’s ethereal.

“You will be my queen.”

“That’s a bold declaration.”

“You’ve been offered to me in exchange for a promise of peace for your people, would you renege?”

You close your eyes briefly but square your shoulders and shake your head.

“Now you can choose your course in this.”

“Enlighten me,” you can’t hold back, though you do manage to keep your voice even.

There’s a flicker of something in his eyes, but he’s speaking again before you can decipher it. “If I’m to have an heir, to secure the future, ensure stability for my people, I need a queen; but whether you merely bear my child or become my consort is something I cannot determine for you. I would prefer the latter.”

In the next second, he’s pulled you to his side and captured your lips in a kiss that is altogether slow and searing. His arm winds around your waist, bringing you flush against him, and your hands move of their own volition to rest on either side of his neck. Heat runs through your veins, and you know without question he could consume you.

You break off the kiss, but he respectfully retreats. He takes a seat on the throne, and you see he’s as breathless as you are.

But you broke off the kiss to ask the question that will haunt you if you don’t ask it.

“You’re truly ready to bind me to your side, just like that? You don’t even know me.”

“This is not a marriage of convenience. This is a marriage of opportunity.”

“I’m not–“

He holds up a hand to silence you, but it’s not in impatience, you can see that in his face, and he immediately says, “I will grant you that we do not know each other yet, but I know enough to know who you are. I have the trusted insight of my ambassador, but I also have accounts from people who have served and interacted with you here in my own kingdom these past two days, and biologically prolonged life or not, a king also doesn’t keep his crown or the respect of his people for as long as I have without being able to judge those around him well. You were taken by surprise today, but you are not naïve. You came to my court to be of counsel, serve, influence. Why should that not still be your fate?”

“A foreign princess?”

He shakes his head and holds his hand out to you. “A queen consort.”

You search his face again. This was the moment. You could not read any falseness, arrogance, or cruelty. Indeed, though he was surprising you with this swift and forthright proposition, your intuition doesn’t question him or his intentions.

You take the hand he presented, and he pulls you forward, placing his hands on your hips once you are close enough and guiding you to sit astride one of his powerful thighs, the rich fabric of your dress sliding up your legs. You place your hands on his shoulders to steady yourself.

“I want your mind, your body, and your soul,” he says, sealing it with your name, not your title.

“I want the same,” you say.

“You’re sure?”

“I need the same.” Being this close to him is both invigorating and steadying. The way he is looking at you, the way he is holding you, it’s also intimate and heated, and those feelings are amplified as he pulls you just a little closer.

“Then take what you need,” he commands in a tone that makes your heart soar and desire bloom in your stomach. He flexes his thigh against your core, and it spurs you to lean in and kiss him again, hungry for more.

He matches your eagerness. When his tongue seeks entrance, you open your lips, moaning. He begins rocking your hips back and forth over his thigh, and you know he can feel the heat and the wetness of the desire he’s stoked within you seeping through the silk of your underwear. As you take control of moving against him, his hands travel up your sides until he reaches your breasts, and his thumbs brush over the tender flesh. You both moan, him in approval, and you with pleasure. You’re swept away completely in all the sensations, in his passion, your body singing for him. He is a powerful force, one you will have to be sure to meet with your own spirit and fire so you aren’t lost. This union is for fulfilment for you both, not to be destroyed, diminished, or tossed away.

As you speed up, he drops one hand down to anchor on your hips, helping you grind down on his thigh. He keeps flexing it against you, and you whimper, head falling back.

“Keep going,” he growls against the column of your throat, kissing his way down to the sweet spot at the base of your neck. “I love the way your body is trembling; I can tell you’re so close.”

“Yes, Namor,” you keen.

“K’uk’ulkan,” he says, and your head snaps back up, eyes locking intensely with his.

“K’uk’ulkan,” you repeat – the invitation to use the more personal name drops the intimacy between you two to a deeper level.

You both move with a desperate frenzy now, you craving the release and him eager to give it to you, his lips searing every inch of the exposed skin available to him at your neck, collar bone, pulling at the neckline of your dress.

“So close,” you cry.

“Let go.”

And you do, tight coil of ecstasy peaking and releasing, you cling to him, and as your body begins to relax wish pleasure, you press your forehead to his, both of your eyes closed now, sealing the moment in your memory.

His hands are slowly running up and down your back. “Jach ma’alob,” he croons softly. “This is enough for now; there will be so much more, my queen.”

Jach ma’alob = very good

PART TWO: COMPANION

↠ Masterlist | Aspen's Ask Box | Field Guide to the Forest

If you enjoyed, reblog to help others find this story AND to normalize the fic-reblog culture. There are so many talented writers, and a reblog really fuels the muses of the soul more than you know - we all appreciate it whether we're big or little fish in this pond.

My askbox is always open. See you on the flipside for day four of AHE...

#namor the sub mariner #namor smut #namor x you #namor x y/n #namor x female reader #namor fic #tenoch huerta namor #aspen wrote something #aspen's holiday extravaganza #ahe 2022 #namor x reader #to become his queen series #female reader

[skylinx2o]

Admittedly, I've been feeling terrible lately. I didn't even finish my weekly drawing and broke my now months long streak. I thought I would be able to do it, but my emotions weighted me down too much. I might go back to drawing one art every two weeks.

Anyway, I feel like I should do more fun things. I mean, drawing is fun, and I love creating stories for my OCs, but I do have a lot of other interests. And tho I'm sticking to talking about LEGO today, I want to talk more and get out of my shell. And maybe give you more insight into me as a person.

So today I'm going to talk about my favourite LEGO themes and why I love the series, plus how I personally got i to all of them. It's not a normal review whatsoever, just an excuse to ramble about my interests freely. Just remember this is my experience and my feelings.

(And it's not at all like I'm making this post because I need all of this to prepare for a speaking class and the only way to motivate myself is by making a post about it o _o Come on, I'm killing two birds with one stone here!)

Okay, so, my all-time favourite themes are (in chronological order to when I found them):

1. Bionicle

Honourable mention: Hero Factory

2. Ninjago

3. Legends of Chima

4. Monkie Kid

5. Dreamzzz

1. So. Bionicle. I have a weird history with Bionicle. My dad's friends used to get movies for us, and one day it just happened that my dad's friends gave us a pen drive with Bionicle: Legend Reborn on it. I think I would be around... Seven or eight when I watched it I've seen fans say that it was a pretty weak film, but I didn't know Bionicle back then, and I really enjoyed it! That movie was a soft reboot of the series, and as someone who started their Bionicle obsession with that movie, in my opinion it worked really well as a standalone supposed to capture new audiences. I really loved the sense of mystery that was probably lost on new fans. It wasn't exactly explained what or who Mata Nui was, besides him being a warrior who lost his people. And the ending... I really thought there would be a sequel to it, and was really intrigued by whom the great beings were, and what happened to the world, why Mata Nui knew them, what the giant ahh robots were supposed to do.

Of course, when a few years later in middle school I looked for the sequel, I didn't find it. And to be honest, the ending was disappointing to me. However, there was a whole other storyline in Bionicle to catch up on! And so one faithful summer was spent reading all the comics I could find, reading wiki pages one after another, playing Mata Nui online game obsessively, refusing to use a walkthrough. Believe me when I say I was obsessed!

And then out of nowhere in 2015 g2 came out, and I was stoked since I missed out on practically the whole g1 as it was being made. (I mean, it's understandable, I was born the same year the first Bionicle movie came out.) I mean, can you blame me for being excited? A dead franchise that I just started becoming a devoted fan of is suddenly revived from the grave. I felt like the luckiest person on earth that day. Honestly, g2 was a lot simpler than g1, but I really like it, even if most people said it sucked. Sure, it wasn't exactly like g1, and even I cringed a few times when watching the g2 show, but for what it was, it was cool in my eyes, and loved finding all the g1 references. And there were quite a few of them! The story of g2 was simpler, but for little kids I think it would've been fine. But alas, LEGO did a crap job promoting it, and it died early, with an ending that was so bad even I can't defend it. It just didn't make sense, and it was rushed as hell. But I still wished it would've continued.

I love both generations for different things, and I'm sad I didn't get any g2 sets when they were out (Lewa was my favourite one). But years later I managed to get a promotional anniversary set of Tahu and Takua, and you wouldn't believe my happiness when I was building it. It's strange being a relatively new fan compared to others I see online, but I still remember seeing Bionicle commercials, and even have a very vague memory of seeing a Phantoka commercial on our ancient TV. I mean come on, I was so into it, I even learned the Matoran alphabet! My mom had to listen to my countless rambling, and if I ask her about Bionicle today, she still remembers some answers, that's how much into it I was. Hell, this blog started as a Bionicle blog before I moved fully to Monkie Kid content.

Okay, this Bionicle ramble is getting a tad long, so I'll wrap this up. Would I recommend Bionicle to anyone? Well... Not really, unless you like long lore researching adventures. The story is so convoluted, with many sides stories, and it went on for so many years, that despite my obsession I still probably missed like, 40% of the lore. G1 at least, wouldn't vibe with casual audience probably. G2 might be easier on the brain, despite it having some deeper lore too. Plus, there's the cultural appropriation issue, that I'm not qualified to talk about, but others already made pages long blogs and articles about. Plus the weird gender situation. But, it's still a good story in my eyes, despite its many faults. But that's just me, and if you didn't catch on yet, I'm already deep in this hole and there's no getting out of here now.

Honourable mention: This brings us to Hero Factory. I watched the first few episodes at around the same time as the first Bionicle movie. Came from the same source as before. I think it deserves a mention, because I still loved it, and did some lore digging, but I wasn't as obsessed with it as the other positions on the list. I didn't like the later stuff as much, tho some concepts were really cool too. But the story of the first episodes was really well done, and worked great as a movie. The fights were tense, and when watching it for the first time, I couldn't really know if the characters would be okay. Honestly, it got me really excited and invested. A factory of heroes is a unique concept, and I always found it intriguing how they made the robot society work. But, I don't think it needed more time than it needed, unlike Bionicle, where I didn't like the ending of either generation. I think it wrapped things up quite well with the first episodes, and the later ones just feel like cool side stories, and it works in my opinion.

This one I would definitely recommend, because I feel like it's underrated, and it's not long. Like I said, the version I got was just a one movie like compilation. I checked and there's just 11 episodes. It would probably take 1–2 hours to watch it, not counting the later movies and all.

2. Next one is Ninjago! I started watching it almost from the start. I must have been around ten or so... The episodes aired on TV, so I had easy access to it! I almost never missed an episode, and watched even the reruns. And believe me, I was hypnotised when watching it. Tho, starting from rebooted I watched the episodes online, first in my native language, then in English since I started getting too impatient to wait. This was my first obsession. For the longest time, when people asked me what I wanted to do, I said I wanted to be a ninja. One of my oldest OCs is Mika, and she grew up with me. Whenever a new season was to come, I would design a new suit for her. I have a whole dedicated blog to her, I wonder if you all can find it lol. Anyway, for a kid's show, the first seasons were really well written, and the show could be dark when it wanted, but it didn't lack jokes, and most were very funny. And honestly, Ninjago had a really big impact on my life. It taught me not to give up, and it made me want to make the world a better place. Grade school was a horrible time for me, and Ninjago was like my escape. Tho, I might have daydreamed about it too much at one point...

I started distancing myself from Ninjago around hands of time. I didn't watch the show as regularly, catching up on seasons long after they aired. I think that's also where the writing quality started dropping… I just didn't like it as much any more. But it should've been expected with a series that went on for so long. I'm not one of the people who think old Ninjago was better than anything. It wasn't perfect at all. But I didn't like the short format of newer seasons. But then secrets of forbidden spinjitzu dropped, and i as a person started getting better too, so I went back to Ninjago, and while it wasn't still the best and people had a lot of issues I loved those few next seasons. I mean, they somehow hit right into my interests with those seasons. First the adventure movies like atmosphere with the Egyptian like tomb, then they get sucked into a video game, then the very DnD like feeling Shintaro. It was right up my alley. My love for Ninjago was back in full force by then. So you can imagine how sad I was when the word that Ninjago was ending started going around. The series has been with me for half my life. My friends even knew how much I liked it, my best IRL friend even bought me a Ninjago set for Christmas one time. But you know, I thought it was probably Ninjago's time. Nothing can last forever after all, and it had a very good run. Why not end it when the story was still quite alright? And then… Crystallized happened. I didn't watch Crystallized. I heard the spoilers, and I wasn't… thrilled. Especially with Harumi. And people hated that season. It left a bitter taste in my mouth. It didn't feel like a send-off Ninjago deserved.

So you can imagine how damn happy I was about Dragon Rising! And surprise, it's the best Ninjago has been in a while! I absolutely loved the first season. The new characters are wonderful, and that change was certainly what Ninjago needed. And the fact that it's merged with one of other of my beloved LEGO series only makes it better. And that's probably my cue to move to it hehe

So, would I recommend Ninjago? Yeah. Its story is easy to follow, you just need to watch the show. If you're ready to watch sixteen+ seasons that it! Even the worse seasons have some value to them I'd argue. But I may be biased with how close to my heart that series is.

3. Yeah boy, Legends of Chima! I started watching Chima around the same time I started watching Ninjago, and I was equally hooked. And yes, my mom remembers this one as well, I watched it every time it was on too. Actually, I think the first fanfiction I've ever written was about Chima. With a pencil on paper. I think that, while the other series captivated me because of magic or the setting or the action, in Chima it was the characters and their dynamics mostly, despite there being plenty of magic powers and action too, plus a unique setting. The main characters all have distinct personalities, and it's fun to see how their personalities clash or work together. I think it's cool because the conflict between lions and crocodiles takes the main stage in the first season. Later seasons are great too, and they shake things up to make things interesting quite well. The lore isn't as broad as in other series, but it's pretty cool and interesting either way. There were some unique concepts there. I can't explain my love for this theme as well as with other series, because I don't think there was anything big that made me like it. It's just a cool show. I think what there was has been satisfying, tho young me was really sad and angry it ended anyway. But it's great for what it was. But I can't say I'm not happy that Chima is now merged with Ninjago, and it works so well together, and I absolutely love Lord Ras.

I would absolutely recommend it. It's a fun show, and only three seasons long. It can be both fun and serious, and I definitely had a blast watching it.

4. Now one of my newer obsessions! Monkie Kid! I watched the pilot in Chinese when it came out, then I promptly forgot about the series and binge-watched it all when season 3 came out. I was reading about Journey to the West long before the series was announced, since I have a liking for old stories and legends and myths and stuff. And Asian cultures fascinate me. I blame Ninjago with its Japanese influence and all the martial arts movies that were on the TV all the time. Plus Mulan and Kung Fu Panda. Anyway, I can't say much about how accurate it is or anything since I'm not Chinese, but I think the show is great. I noticed a lot of references to Journey To The West. No shocker here, it's inspired by it. But being in this fandom made me learn a lot of new things about China, tho I still have a bunch of things to learn. I'm no expert yet. Tho, I try my best to be respectful.

Umm... Like I said, not much to say about how accurate the story is. But I really liked Journey to the West, so naturally I like Monkie Kid too. Plus, MK i really relatable to me. I feel like my personality is really similar to his, tho I'm more introverted. For some reason, I relate to this portrayal of Macaque and Wukong as well.

I dare to say that from all the series so far, I find this one to be the most well written. I just find the writing to be the most impactful. Plus, the artstyle is very different from other LEGO shows. Action scenes are really fun. The artstyle definitely works in its favour. And yeah, I would recommend this show 100%.

5. And finally, the newest addition to the LEGO series, Dreamzzz! The show is really new and just starting, but I love the concept and the writing! Plus again, I really relate to Mateo. The characters feel like real people you would meet, and how they interact feels realistic. And I found myself liking even the characters that annoyed me, because their personalities were the realistic type of annoying, one that you might find out in the wild. And the concept of a dream world just really speaks to me. And it gives the creators a lot of creative freedom. All wacky things can happen in a dream after all. One thing I didn't expect in the show was the secret agency, and I think it's a clever addition to the story.

I would recommend this series. I hope it'll have a bright future, and that the writing will stay this good.

Well, time to wrap all of this up. Whoever suffered through this whole ramble deserves a juice and a cookie 🍪🧃 For a few finishing thoughts... I noticed a lot of the series I like blend magic powers and technology together. I just thought it's interesting. And I wanted to mention that the songs for Bionicle, Ninjago and Chima absolutely slap. I used to listen to them on repeat all the time lol Even my mom really enjoyed those songs

Yeah, I don't know what this post was for, I just felt like writing all that :v

#long ahh post #pointless rambling #bionicle #lego bionicle #hero factory #lego hero factory #ninjago #lego ninjago #ninjago dragons rising #lego ninjago dragons rising #dragons rising #lego dragons rising #monkie kid #lego monkie kid #lmk #dreamzzz #lego dreamzzz

[wigglebox]

NYCC The Winchesters - 1x01 screening, panel

Good morning/afternoon/evening people! 

So I had to take a break from art in order to write down my first impressions on things for the prequel pilot and the subsequent panel after. 

Note that I haven’t had any time to watch any interviews the folks did before the screening/panel, so this is just me writing what I experienced in ~*the room where it happened*~. The bulk will be behind a read more! 

** Note, I try to avoid mega spoilers but I do go into my impressions of the pilot and my emotions with it, AND I do outline the characters. I try not to get into the nitty gritty since y’all will mostly be seeing it tomorrow anyway, but if you don’t want even a HINT of a spoiler, just don’t read it lol. 

The tldr; I loved it, it has so much to expand on, and I can’t wait to start speculating with y’all again on something SPN based. 

—

I won’t lie, I was nervous.

Not because I didn’t think this show wouldn’t do a good job, because it’s made it this far — which is a lot considering the last two attempts at a spin-off were dead in the water. I was more or less nervous of the audience reception.

Living in one's own head as a Supernatural fan makes you and your goldfish bowl of friends in your Twitter GC and Discord servers, have a set of parameters of what makes a good Supernatural episode or not. But not everyone else shares those parameters that you have convinced yourself are right.

And I was nervous because, given those parameters, I had to keep reminding myself that this isn’t Supernatural. It is its own thing. It’s its own form, own show, with a connection to the main show. These are new characters, even if we knew the older versions of two of them already. Everything is still basically brand new.

My nerves came from a mixture of anticipation, fearing audience reception after the year and a half wait we had to think about this show, and not knowing if I or the audience can see this show as its own individual self and not just another Supernatural episode.

Suffice to say after like, the first five minutes those nerves were gone.

The Pilot

I’m going to get this out of the way before I continue. Pilots aren’t ever perfect. Even Supernatural’s pilot, which is a pilot that I consider to be top-tier, has some clunkiness. 

Pilots can drag, or pilots can speed — there’s rarely an inbetween. The Winchesters pilot seemed to be a little fast paced, trying to introduce the premise of the show a little too quick. The pacing of events and understanding and dialogue kind of felt like this should have been a two hour episode and not the 40 minute one we’re going to get. 

And, some of the dialogue, just like in its predecessor, was indeed clunky exposition. 

But I’m saying this as someone who yes, understands that’s what that was — but also someone who doesn’t take this into account when it comes to what makes a pilot successful. In fact, I never expect perfection in pilots. 

The Winchesters pilot has a lot riding on it. Not only is it the third attempt at a spin off, but it’s having to perform two duties where the original Supernatural pilot only had to do one.

The Winchesters pilot has to both grab old fans, and intrigue new ones. The original Supernatural pilot just had to attract new fans and build up a new world.

So, given that The Winchesters has to do a little extra work, and given that it’s a network pilot, a pilot in general — for me — the fast-paced nature of the episode doesn’t really affect it negatively for me. I expected it, and I’m sure others did as well.

A successful pilot for me is 1) am I interested in this world/characters 2) did you make me ask enough questions to come back next week?

And, The Winchesters scored on both of those accounts!

The episode opens up with its standard cold open where you mostly see a character you have no idea who they are, doing something that’s going to launch you into the next 45 minutes of adventure with the main characters. But, this cold open also has to launch us into the entire season. It’s the first-ever cold open for The Winchesters and it worked very well.

I’m not going to get too much into plot, to keep this spoiler free, however I will say in my head I described it as the Scooby Doo Avengers. When I say Scooby Doo I don’t mean campy, zoinks, goofy monsters of the week — but that there is this team, that is clearly already close, willing to do what it takes to figure something out. And... they have a van lol. 

In the group there is tension already from the get go, which I love. By group, I mean Lata [Latika but Lata is her nickname], Mary, and Carlos have already known each other.

Small spoiler, but at once point Lata tells, not asks, Mary “You’re still mad at me.” Carlos and Mary have tension and unresolved past things that they gotta talk about at some point probably. And John blends in with them rather effortlessly. I will say I’ll be keeping my eyes on John and Lata right now.

But all four of them had a chemistry that already worked. Not like “Oh we all love each other here, no problems at all!” kind of chemistry, but chemistry where you can tell that interactions aren’t being forced. Almost like they’ve been acting together for years by that point, even though they hadn’t.

That was another thing I enjoyed about this core four, the fact that they’re each their own characters but they’re also not standing out too much from each other. That they both don’t blend into each other, but also they’re not so over the top it feels like a caricature.

Here are my first impressions of the characters:

Lata is a book nerd, clearly the “brains” but she’s also rather timid, nervous about hunts, and finds her satisfying success when it comes to what she’s learned on the page rather than hunting down a monster. She’s softer-spoken, and I can see her being the more level-headed grounded one of the group. However, I can also see where her self doubt can get the better of her, and her fear, and given a conversation she has with Mary in the van — I have to wonder if something bad happened in the recent past that made her like this.

Mary is the kind of Mary I felt like we got with Sam Smith. Marching forward, doing what she has to do, almost “going through the motions” of being a Hunter. She already voices her desire to walk away from this, and it’s hinted in that conversation with Lata, something went wrong recently that caused a big upheaval in her life. But that’s kind of a plot point that can be saved for when you watch it Tuesday. Of all four of the characters, it felt like I knew Mary the most because we got later-seasons Mary for a hot second. However, you can see how Meg Donnelly brings her own understanding of the character to the table. I am so very interested to see where she goes throughout this series.

Carlos will be the problem child (affectionate). When the role was first cast, and you got his description, you saw JoJo getting cast, and then seeing him in the trailer, folks already pinged on him being the fandom favorite and I can see that. He’s sharp, witty, already has some one-liners, and I can easily see him causing but also solving problems for the group. One thing that gets me is that he comes across as almost stubborn, not willing to admit when he’s wrong, so I can imagine that comes back into play. That indication comes with a small conversation with Lata over something that happened in the past. It’s played off as a “ha ha,” but if you think about it deeper, you’re seeing someone who knows what he wants and likely will do what he has to do to get it. There are definitely two Alphas in this group, Carlos and Mary, and I can see them butting heads at some point.

And now we’re at John.

When this prequel was first leaked onto Deadline in June 2021, folks (save for myself and a few others that were on my timeline and Discord) immediately rocketed to their feet to voice their displeasure at John being a focal point.

Accusations of trying to twist the narrative and make excuses for John’s behavior in Supernatural-Prime (neglect, child abuse, etc.), or that the constant reminder that John and Mary’s love story was manufactured so how on earth could you have a story about it — or just the attitude in fandom that’s been in there since I’VE started, back in 2013, that John Winchester is an Asshole.

But, a few pointed out that indeed we don’t actually know anything about John aside from his father, Henry, “walking out” on him and his mother, and… that was it. The flashback episodes we had with Matt Cohen’s John were that of a story that we kinda already figured. “In the Beginning” was more about Mary and showing Dean how that deal was made, and “The Song Remains the Same” served as a lesson for Dean and Sam to understand that they “can’t escape fate” with their bloodline. 

Nothing’s really known about John at all, especially before 1973. 

That being said, I really have to spend this portion completely cheering Drake’s John on because holy moly. 

Drake has, and will continue to have, an uphill battle trying to get the most hardened Anti-John folk on board (a struggle Matt Cohen didn’t have to have as much I think). But, given the life that he’s brought to John in this pilot alone, I don’t think it’ll be too much of a struggle. 

I joked that with them casting Drake that “it’s almost like they want us to love and adore him” but I’m not even joking anymore. I adore him. 

Indeed, it’s important to note that this John is not the John we wind up with in the main show. And the cast and everyone involved knows that and have stated as such in interviews. They’re not erasing or rewriting anything. 

The truth, for me, is far more tragic:

The John in the pilot is likable with an almost puppy-like innocence, looking to get answers but also someone dealing with trauma himself as someone who went into the Vietnam War way too early and suffered the consequences of that. I won’t get into specifics, but there’s a touching moment when he’s describing what he saw and what happened to a dear friend and I almost cried. 

You have a kid, and yes I’m calling him a kid, suffering from this trauma in a way that you see twice in the episode, while also someone keeping his head held high while following orders and the motions from his new group of Scooby Doo hunters that he stumbled into. 

When asked how he found someone so fast, John remarks that’s what he does because he was in the Marines. So we get little glimpses of that. 

His ending moment after the final climax of the action was so adorable I wanted to squish his cheeks and yes, I know that’s weird, but he was so proud of himself. 

But, in my opinion, it also demonstrated something that I think may or may not come back — and that’s that he did what he did down there in the tomb almost a little too easily and without freaking out. And was excited to tell his new friends about it.

John in this show I think will become someone that even the most reluctant watchers may come to find they really like. 

And to me, that’s making him automatically, from episode one, one of the most tragic characters. 

Already in the pilot, I was mentally screaming for John to turn back, don’t investigate, don’t do any of this, because we know what’s waiting for him down this path.

I have to mentally make a line in the sand to separate Drake from Matt from JDM because there’s no way I can continue going with The Winchesters and not completely support and adore John and his efforts to understand the Men of Letters and also being with his friends.

With characters out of the way, I’ll mention we don’t get much with Ada or Millie, however I can’t wait to see more of them in the future and what they have to offer. Millie seemingly already knew about the Men of Letters and Ada — in my head when she was first announced as a character I saw her as a Bobby character, just the know it all that can be their “save us because we don’t know what else to do!” character. However it feels like she can, and likely will be, more than that. 

As for the plot of the episode, this is where my “Is a pilot successful” requirement is filled for “Are there enough questions to keep me coming back.”

The answer is, holy shit yes. 

Particularly two things, which I can’t wait to speculate on when the episode airs. One involves John and his letter with the Men of Letters star on it, and the other of who the big bad is for the entire season. I’m so excited to speculate with people on that.

But also, this hunters world in the 1970s is so different to me than what we were first introduced to in 2005. They don’t have cell phones, they don’t have GPS, they don’t have computers, they don’t have quick ways of communicating with each other. They will have a network, sure, but its the 70s. They also don’t have access to THEE Men of Letters bunker, at least for now, which holds a lot of information as well. 

So I have questions about those too. 

I didn’t want this show to just be about “hey let’s do a case study on John” and it doesn’t feel like it’s going to be that. I don’t mind that, but I also wanted this show to stand on its own.

And it’s clear that they’re looking at it in a way that will provide an actual story that can get folded back into Supernatural-Prime.

The Panel

After the pilot screening, there was a 30 minute panel with Danneel, Jensen, Meg, Drake, and Robbie and holy wow.

I wish I could convey to anyone reading this, especially anyone who had any doubts over anything, just how much this group cares. 

Like, it’s not even just in their words saying it, but you can feel it, and I wasn’t even in the front row. It was this like, almost electrical current in the air that could reach you and make you truly, fully, 100% understand that they’re not doing this just for kicks. 

They’re not just tossing aside whatever they want, that they’re not just doing this as a cash grab or anything — but that they’re a team of creatives that really truly wholly believe in this world that the main show created and wanted to explore that more. 

They do treat the existing material with respect, and that they’re not going to just throw all those 15 years of blood sweat and tears down the drain.

I remember in the months following the Deadline leak, folks online kept stamping their feet about canon this and canon that. We haven’t had much press until just recently about it therefore come comments that would be made at a Supernatural convention by Jackles from time to time would have to suffice, but still didn’t convince many.

I think at the time also, when the Deadline leak happened, a lot of opposition I saw came from younger fans, or newer fans, who started season 12 and onward (or even after the show ended) and didn’t quite understand just how monumental it was that Robbie was brought on board.

Robbie stopped writing for the show in season 11 and I wanted to take an informal survey of fandom asking them if they truly understood the word that he did. Some folks don’t pay attention to who writes what.

His episodes I find tend to be some of the most gif’ed episodes on Tumblr or most talked about episodes in general. Any one of his episodes you’d likely find up in any fan’s top 10 list. He’s given us Charlie, Eileen, and even had a hand in bringing Chuck back both in Fan Fiction and in Don’t Call Me Shurely.

For many folks who were in fandom before Andrew Dabb took over some time in season 11, Robbie was easily one of the top three writers for many people.

And there’s a good reason for that. Between writing snappy dialogue and getting characterizations down really well, he’s also seemingly a master at these unconventional episodes. He’s had more normal ones like Goodbye Stranger, 8x17, and First Born (9x11) among others, but he’s also done Baby, Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo, LARP and the Real Girl, Bitten, Fan Fiction, Meta Fiction and the like.

He’s written episodes that were great for character showcasing while also having unconventional storytelling apparatuses as well. My favorite one of his episodes was Time After Time, 7x12.

Suffice it to say, them grabbing Robbie for this project really stood out to me, which is probably why when Deadline first leaked the project, I wasn’t upset. To me, if Robbie was involved, then that’s really all I needed to feel secure in knowing that whatever, or however, they were going to tell this story, he’ll have fun figuring it out.

And I can’t even begin to describe how much it really does come across how much Jackles cares. 

It’s very very easy for someone with that amount of talent to just peace out from a 15-year show that ended, a show that likely made taking other roles nearly impossible, and just go on to do bigger things. 

But the fact that he stuck around and that even before the show wrapped in Sept. 2020 (due to the pandemic) he was already starting on this? That means a lot to me. Like, no matter what he does, he seems to want to keep one hand on his roots and that can only benefit us because you don’t do that unless you really believe in it and care about it.

It’s also hilarious to me that in these press interviews, he’s basically being outed as THEE biggest SPN brain rot stan and, he’s not alone there. We have jackets, dude!

So yes, up on stage, with them answering questions and describing the process, how they’re viewing this — you can tell there’s a reverence they have for the material and understand truly how much time, energy, blood, sweat, tears, smiles, sadness, chaos had gone into the main show.

--

The pilot was good, it was something that would keep me interested with the characters they presented and the premise of the rest of the season to come. It established that we’re not in 2005-2020 anymore, it established a kind of big bad that we’re not used to seeing*, and it had enough easter eggs that satisfied my little Supernatural heart but not over doing it.

*This is something I can’t wait to speculate about.

On a personal note, I’ve been excited since that night, and had felt almost like I was in limbo for the last year and a half waiting for this moment and it was so satisfying seeing the pilot and understanding that my excitement and enthusiasm wasn’t misplaced in the slightest. 

I went into this with the question of “Will I be disappointed in all of this hype that I’ve helped build up for this, both in my head and outwardly?” And the screening and panel shot back: “Nah you’re good.” 

So I can’t wait to rewatch this Tuesday night, and then I can’t wait to watch it the following Tuesday, and again, and again. 

I’m excited for The Winchesters to grow its wings and fly! 

#long post #spnwin #the winchesters #spn #supernatural #nycc22 #i left out a lot of spoilery things #and still can be kinda spoilery so keep that in mind!

[flamboyantly-incompetent]

HPB, Chapter 2 - Something Wicked

Draco Malfoy x Hufflepuff!Reader

Warnings: none?

Masterlist

Word Count: ~5,200

Note: Y/M/M/N = your mother's maiden name, assuming reader's mother took her father's last name (yes this is awkward, I wasn't sure how else to do it, sorry)

The summer warmth dissipated just as you thought you might drown from the amount of homework being assigned in each of your classes, and with it went your hopes for the Quidditch season. Zacharias had been running the team ragged, which only served to emphasize how poorly everyone played. It was sabotage so effective, Yvette suggested in jest that perhaps he was a plant from Slytherin to secure the cup.

Transfiguration remained the most difficult class, even with Professor Snape teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, and even with the advice from Draco Malfoy last term lingering in your ears.

You stared daggers at the owl perched in front of you. It stared back, indifferent and aloof. All around you, everyone else had already turned their own owls into opera glasses, and time was running short. The owl blinked at you, and began preening.

The wood of your wand had warmed in your grip, the anxiety you felt pouring into sweat on your palms. You adjusted your grip and prepared to cast. It would work this time. The owl’s huge eyes mimicked closely the shape of opera glasses, you could see the connection. The owl was not vicious. You had enough wand power, you had enough power.

This would work.

“Strigiforma,” you commanded. The magic pulsed out of your wand and-

The owl’s eyes enlarged, swelling its head.

Professor McGonagall tsked as she strolled by. “Reparifarge,” she said and the owl returned to normal. “Try again.” She hovered over you as you prepared to cast again.

As if it wasn’t hard enough without an audience.

“Ahem,” you cleared your throat, and rolled your shoulders back. “Strigiforma.”

Once again, magic flowed from your wand in a sliver and swirled around the poor creature. You watched, mortified, as it transformed down into a single drinking glass.

Professor McGonagall de-transfigured the owl again, and said, “And yet you managed to perform the Aguamenti charm.” You opened your mouth to protest. “It does not matter how I know, Miss Y/L/N. Keep trying, and see me after class.”

Donna looked over at you through an ornate set of opera glasses. She grinned, “Don’t take it too hard, Y/N, you had to be bad at something.”

You grimaced. “But did I though? Did I really?”

Class wore on. You continued trying to turn the owl into opera glasses, though the closest you got were a pair of half-moon spectacles like Dumbledore wore. You shooed your friends off to lunch when the bell rang, no need for them to witness your shame and go hungry.

Professor McGonagall was waiting for you at her desk. As you approached, she folded her hands in front of her and gave you a long appraising look.

“It should come to no surprise to you,” she began, “that I have noticed your continual struggle with this subject. The O.W.L. examination will be rigorous, and I am sorry to say I have not properly prepared you.”

You raised an eyebrow and prepared to protest.

She raised a slender hand. “I should have done this sooner, and for that I apologize. I am planning to meet with the Headmaster to discuss finding you a suitable tutor for this year, until I see a significant improvement. Now, I understand you have joined your house’s Quidditch team?”

“Yes, Professor.”

“We will do our best to ensure this does not interfere with your extra-curriculars. Expect a note from Professor Dumbledore within the week. You may go.”

“Yes, Professor.” You made a bee-line for the door, then paused. “Thank you.” She nodded graciously once then returned to her desk.

Herbert, Donna and Yvette had all laughed when you told them what Professor McGonagall had said.

“’Continual struggle’?” Yvette hissed through her nose. “That woman is brutal.”

You sulked after them down to Hagrid’s, chomping on an apple tart Donna had been kind enough to swipe for you. Care of Magical Creatures had proven to be the only bearable class what with the pressure of O.W.L.s looming down on you for every other subject.

Donna snorted. “Do you know who’ll tutor you?”

“Not a clue,” you said dully. “Only person good enough I can think of is Hermione Granger.” You remembered being paired with her in DA, and shuddered. “If Dumbledore wanted to torture me I suppose he could arrange it.”

“You don’t like Hermione?”

“She’s fine, just a bit of a know-it-all I guess.”

Yvette gave you a look. “Oh, but Malfoy was fine.”

“First of all, I was tutoring him - totally different. And it’s not like she doesn’t know what she’s doing, it’s just she does everything by the book and it works for her. I’ve done everything by the book, and it’s almost never worked for me.” That was only partially true, though, wasn’t it? Draco’s advice from last year had helped, a little anyway.

Hagrid was waiting at the edge of the forest, hands on his hips, ruddy cheeks set in a grin. His hippogriff (heaven only knew how he’d convinced Dumbledore to keep a pet hippogriff) Witherwings pawed at the ground next to him. The four of you were the first to arrive.

You bowed low to the beast. “Handsome as ever I see, Witherwings.”

The hippogriff nodded his head gracefully. He still liked you.

“There’s my favorite fifth years,” Hagrid drawled. He seemed to take great pleasure in greeting you this way at the start of every year.

“Afternoon, Professor,” Herbert said mid-bow. “What’ve we got today?”

Hagrid clapped his hands together excitedly. A few other students had gathered, including Luna who waved dreamily at you. “Today we’ll be relocating a branch of Bowtruckles whose Wiggentree has started to die. Go ahead and grab a pouch o’woodlice from the basket while we wait for everyone else.”

Once the rest of the class arrived, Hagrid led everyone into the forest. Tendrils of mist curled through the trees, slicing through whatever warmth the sun had bestowed upon you. You knew which tree it was as soon as you saw it. A massive rowan tree sat in the middle of a mushroom circle, the gnarled roots of it black as ash, leafless.

Someone spoke up, “Why’s the tree dying?”

A somber look passed over Hagrid’s face. “A good question.” He did not elaborate.

The Bowtruckles were hard to spot, their natural camouflage made them look like new branches of the tree itself, but once you saw one you could make out no less than fifty. Their movements were slow, catatonic even, and their spindly fingers had started to turn that ashy brown of the Wiggentree’s roots.

You sucked in a breath. Had they been slowly withering all summer?

Hagrid directed each of you to try and get a few of the stick-like beasties to follow you with the woodlice to a newly planted magical rowan further in.

A few were tempted by them, so you lured them up to sit on your shoulder, feeding them one or two every several feet. Donna was not having as much luck; one had made a mad grab for the pouch in an unexpected burst of energy while another snuck around to try and desperately reach for her wand tucked into her back pocket. She looked at you pleadingly.

“Don’t worry,” you said, lowering your wand and letting the two Bowtruckles grab on to be carried. “You had to be bad at something.”

“I resent your tone.” Donna let them have a few woodlice. “I am bad at many things.”

The two Bowtruckles on your shoulder joined the ones clinging to your wand. They all sat there, contented by the healthy wand wood. A few others tried the same thing.

The new Wiggentree was barely big enough for every Bowtruckle to perch comfortably in its branches, but they flocked to it desperately. Hagrid’s eyes turned a little misty watching them squabble over their preferred branches and settle into their new home tree.

With all the Bowtruckles successfully relocated, Hagrid led the class back through the forest to where Witherwings had been waiting.

“Next week,” he shouted over the bell tolling from the castle, “we’ll check up on ‘em, and talk about why their old tree had died, if I can find the reason meself. Now off with ye!”

By mid week, the expected summons from Professor Dumbledore still hadn’t come, and you were starting to hope that both he and McGonagall had forgotten about the whole thing.

During your free period before Potions, while Donna and Yvette had Divination, you joined Herbert in the library to finish up an essay on the many uses of moonstone, but you found yourself distracted by what Draco Malfoy had said in the owlery.

You tapped your quill against your palm and frowned. What did he expect you to do, exactly? If Helga Hufflepuff hadn’t wanted a password, who were you to even try to change that? This would require no small amount of research.

Herbert fixed you with a stare. “You look like you’re chewing on something. Care to share?”

“Just thinking about the other night, is all.” You threw a look over your shoulder to see who was close. “About what Malfoy said.”

“Shh!” Madame Pince’s shushing cut across the room.

“Ah,” he said in a lowered voice. “That old chestnut.”

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to add a password to a room that’s a thousand years old.”

He thought for a moment and shrugged. “What if it didn’t have to be a password?”

“What do you mean? He said password.”

“Well,” he smirked, “first don’t worry too much about following his directions to the letter, this is Malfoy we’re talking about. And he asked about a password, but he said line of defense. That’s a bit broader at least.”

“Hmm. That is something.”

“You want me to spell this out for you?”

“Yes, please.”

“What we need is a good old fashioned trap.”

“Go on.”

“Something that won’t affect anyone who’s supposed to be there, nothing they’d even notice. But something that’d spring on anybody trespassing.”

“Okay,” you said slowly, “I can see the logic in that. Any ideas?”

He smiled sardonically. “That is where my genius runs out, unfortunately. And it’s time for Potions.”

You still hadn’t gotten used to the Potions classroom in the middle of the dungeons being comfortable, but Professor Slughorn was chipper as ever during his lesson on Strengthening Solution, and caught you on your way out.

“I wonder if I may have a word, Miss Y/L/N?” he said. His voice was smooth and kindly. “Are you related at all to a Ms. Y/M/M/N?”

“I am,” you said, surprised. “She’s my mum.”

He smiled genially. “I thought that may be the case, the two of you look so alike. Talented witch, your mother, I remember when she was in school. I wonder if you’d join me for dinner in my rooms on Friday - I’ve put together a little party. A few people you may have met before, and I hope,” he leaned in conspiratorially, “a Mr. Potter may be in attendance.”

“Oh! Um, well. I,” you paused. He looked so hopeful. “I would be delighted. Is there anything I can bring?” Your mum had trained you well to never appear at someone’s home empty handed.

Professor Slughorn chortled. “No, no, that’s very kind of you of course. I’ve got it all covered. Look forward to delicious food and stimulating conversation.” He patted his belly and winked amicably. “I know I do.”

When you explained why you’d been held back to your friends, Herbert gave you a strange look.

“I want to go to dinner with Slughorn and Potter,” he said. “But I guess my mum wasn’t cool enough when she was in school.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” Yvette said, “it seems like you were only invited because of your mum.”

You frowned. “It does seem that way, doesn’t it.”

“And Donna and I are muggleborn,” she continued. “He never asked us about who we were related to.”

“I’m sorry, would you like me to apologize for being related to someone he taught years ago?” you asked, incredulous. “What’s happening?”

Donna put a hand on Yvette’s arm. “No, that would be like asking us to apologize for being muggleborn.”

Yvette deflated. “I think I’m just jealous, is all.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t really want to go. But I’ll put in a good word for all of you. I’ll tell him all about your dueling talent, Donna’s affinity for transfiguration, and Herb’s perfect rendition of Celestina Warbeck’s greatest hits.”

Herbert laughed. “Don’t forget about my Patronus. Only took me one try.”

You laughed too, “Right right, how could I forget?”

Friday morning, you sat yourself down to breakfast, crossing your fingers you wouldn’t have to follow through with Transfiguration tutoring. Alas, Ernie was already seated, but as soon as he spotted you, he held up a roll of parchment and wiggled it in the air.

You groaned and took it from him. Your heart sank as you read the slanted writing.

Miss Y/L/N, I have arranged a tutor for you. Kindly meet Professor McGonagall outside my office at 5 P.M. for details. Sincerely, Albus Dumbledore

With any luck, this could turn into an excuse to miss Professor Slughorn’s dinner party.

Professor McGonagall was waiting for you in the seventh floor corridor in the West Wing, standing perfectly poised in front of the massive gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster’s tower.

Her expression gave nothing away, but she acknowledged your presence with a polite nod. Then she turned to the gargoyle and spoke the password. “Acid pops,” she said.

You had only ever been in Dumbledore’s office once, in your first year when Professor Sprout had all but begged him to let you jump ahead a year in Herbology. It looked almost exactly the same, four years later.

The Headmaster himself was seated casually at his desk, peering at you over his characteristic half-moon glasses, and smiling, welcoming you in.

You returned a nervous smile of your own, and tried not to stare at his withered hand.

“Miss Y/L/N,” he greeted you, “please, sit.” You obeyed silently. “Surviving your O.W.L. year, I take it?”

“Uh, yes, sir.”

“No need to be nervous, this isn’t a punishment.” His eyes twinkled. He was up to something, you were sure of it. “Your tutor should be here any moment. In fact,” a small device on his desk began to spin around like a top, “Minerva, would you be so kind as to show him in.”

Professor McGonagall nodded her head once more, and went to retrieve whoever had arrived.

Professor Dumbledore continued to appraise you. “I have heard, of course, of your experience with Herbology, and your affinity for magical creatures. I am, therefore, not surprised you have had some trouble with Transfiguration. I have found that students with your skill set often dislike transfiguring living creatures, find it repugnant, even.”

You gave a cautious nod. That could be the problem, maybe.

“Ah, excellent,” he said, now looking at someone behind you. You turned to look and your stomach curled. “Thank you for coming.”

Draco Malfoy glared down at you.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” you said.

At the same time, he huffed, “Of course.”

Before he could say anything else, you turned back to Dumbledore. “Please, Professor, anyone, anyone but him.”

Dumbledore feigned surprise. “Miss Y/L/N, I was under the impression the two of you were friends. Is that no longer the case?”

You sputtered - the Slytherin common room, that must’ve been how he’d gotten that idea.

Draco didn’t argue; he only sat down next to you. Instinctively, your arm pulled itself off your chairs armrest, away from him. Dumbledore clocked the movement, eyes still twinkling.

The Headmaster ignored your protests and explained, “Mr. Malfoy received excellent marks on his Transfiguration O.W.L., and Professor Sprout reported how well the two of you worked together last year.” Draco shifted uncomfortably at the praise. “I have already checked your schedules, and I believe this should not interfere with either of your Quidditch schedules.”

Draco turned to you sharply. Apparently he hadn’t heard you’d made the team. You still refused to look at him.

Professor McGonagall chimed in, “I have provided a rough curriculum to Mr. Malfoy, as well as some spells from previous years I believe will be helpful.”

“Thank you, Minerva. Does Monday work for the both of you?”

Draco nodded sharply.

You replied sourly, “It does.”

Dumbledore let your tone slide. “Then I’ll expect a report from either of you by the end of next week, on your meeting schedule and any other concerns I, or Professor McGonagall may be able to address. I imagine you will require a quiet place to study, as I hear the library can be rather barmy.” You marked his inflection - was he unofficially recommending the Room of Requirement for this use? He certainly must know you were aware of it, your name had been on the DA list.

Draco frowned. He must’ve caught it as well. “Yes, sir,” he said in his typical icy tone that gave nothing away.

Dumbledore smiled again. “Then, now that that’s all good and settled, Miss Y/N, I believe you have made a commitment for dinner? You may go, give Professor Slughorn my regards.”

You nodded again and rose, ready to be anywhere but this office. Finally, you locked eyes with Draco. His lip lifted subtly in a small sneer. Pivoting on your toes, you fled before either of you could say anything more than had already been said.

You cursed the whole way to Slughorn’s rooms.

What was Dumbledore playing at? You’d joked about Hermione tutoring you if he’d wanted to torture you, but this? This was never something you’d considered a possibility. And Draco had agreed. Obviously he couldn’t have known who he’d be helping, but that he’d agree to help anyone. Dumbledore must’ve offered him something he couldn’t pass up.

You bit your tongue to stop it’s grumbling before you knocked on the door.

Professor Slughorn opened it in the blink of an eye. He wore a decadent smoking jacket embroidered with shiny golden stars and a matching cap. You were almost surprised there was no lit cigar in his hand, but rather two mugs of Butterbeer, one of which he offered you as he shepherded you inside.

Standing by a roaring fireplace, two students you recognized as Slytherins glanced up from their conversation and looked you up and down. The boy, Blaise Zabini, you knew had worked his way into Malfoy’s little group. The look did not last more than a moment before they deemed you inconsequential and resumed their own conversation.

Ginny had been cornered by some massive Gryffindor you didn’t know from the DA, so you made a bee-line to her.

She looked up gratefully and said very quickly, “Oh look my friend Y/N I have to go talk to her now thank you goodbye,” before stepping nimbly out of his grasp. She took you by the arm and steered you around.

“What was all that about?” you asked.

“That,” she whispered, “is Cormac McLaggen. He is very upset he was passed over for Quidditch and he keeps asking me to talk to Harry. Like I could get him to change his mind if I wanted to. And Dean hates that he keeps talking to me.”

“And how are things with Dean?”

“Oh, they’re,” she sighed, “they’re alright. We’ve had a few spats but we’re working through it.”

“Doesn’t everyone?”

She laughed. “Right.”

A few others trickled in after you: Neville, a Ravenclaw you didn’t recognize, and Hermione (who mentioned twice that she was late because of prefect duties). Once everyone Professor Slughorn had been expecting arrived, he invited all of you to sit down for dinner.

A dark wooden dining table appeared where nothing had been before. He chuckled lightly at the couple surprised looks the conjuration had caused, clearly pleased with his party trick. The table was already laden with a full Sunday roast - Yorkshire pudding, roasted potatoes, three different variations of a horseradish sauce and a basket of steaming rolls surrounded the massive beef roast. The smell of it made you homesick.

Professor Slughorn bid you all sit down, and you clung to Ginny, who did her best to maneuver away from McLaggen and sat next to Neville. McLaggen then tried to snag a chair by Hermione, but the Ravenclaw beat him to it. Stymied, he slouched into a seat between the two Slytherin students.

Your host barely let you fill up your plates with food before launching into a litany of questions about school, family histories, and career goals. He started going around the table clockwise; you tried to sink lower and lower into your chair and then -

“Y/N, how is your mother’s shop doing these days?”

Everyone at the table turned their attention towards you.

You nodded and put down the potato you’d speared with a fork. “It’s doing well, she’d started to plan to expand last year, but with things as they are…”

“Of course, of course. I’m glad to hear it, she was one of my favorite students when she went here. Slytherin, right?”

Blaise snorted. “Your mother was in Slytherin, and now she owns a garden shop?” The Slytherin girl next to McLaggen laughed too.

You smothered a look of disdain, and substituted a winning smile. “That’s what she wanted. To build a successful business from the ground up, and she did. I wonder if you’ll be able to achieve whatever it is you desire.”

Slughorn chimed in, “Ho, ho - a good wit too, from her no doubt. You mustn’t blame Mr. Zabini, his family is used to a more gilded kind of success than us common folk.” He tossed a wink Blaise’s way, who smiled thinly at the attempt to break the tension. He waved a hand, “Anyway, Neville, how is your grandmother?”

Dinner dragged on for another hour, before Professor Slughorn ran out of questions and dessert was served, and then another half an hour of poking the same chunk of ice cream around a bowl before Ginny gave you a look and you both excused yourselves.

In the hallway, the moment the door closed, the both of you burst out laughing.

“That was maybe the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been,” you said, breathless.

“Oh, but did you see Zabini’s face? That was worth the whole thing.”

In the common room, you sat your friends down to deliver the news, that Draco Malfoy would be tutoring you for the forseeable future at Dumbledore’s request.

No one but Herbert said a thing.

“Well, at least one good thing may come of this,” he quipped.

Exasperated, you asked, “Like what?”

“Now you’ll have the opportunity to ask him what the hell he wants you to do about the common room.”

You slept exceptionally poorly the next three nights, tossing and turning, trying to figure a way out of tutoring with the biggest git at Hogwarts again. Who could’ve known that one ill-conceived attempt at kindness could ruin two school years in a row?

You fell through every stage of grief - denial that it had not been a bad dream, anger at Dumbledore, bargaining with whatever force governed the universe as we know it, and depression as you faced the Room of Requirement on Monday evening. Draco must’ve already arrived and gotten settled, the door wouldn’t have appeared so quickly if the room was empty.

It was not too late to run. To beg Herbert for a Puking Pastille you knew he had leftover from last year.

No. If someone was going to run, it was going to be Draco Malfoy, running from you. Whenever you got around to chewing him out.

You pushed open the door.

The inside was not what you’d been expecting. Where you’d imagined a cold, clinical classroom designed to impart knowledge and nothing else, was a sitting room, nice but not too grand, with a few crushed velvet armchairs and a large coffee table suitable for note-taking in front of a cozy fireplace, where a kettle was already about to whistle.

Above you, a sneakoscope dangled from the ceiling, eerily still.

Draco looked up from his place on one of the armchairs, book open upon a knee. He still looked tired around the eyes.

“Y/N, good. The water’s almost ready.” A lovely floral tea pot and two tea cups appeared on a tray on the table.

You blinked. “You’re making tea?”

“Yes.”

“And it’s not poisoned?”

“I’m not an animal, Y/N.”

“And you’re making it? There’s no house elves hiding in the corner ready to do it for you?”

He finally huffed. “If I wanted a house elf to make my tea I’d have to tell them about this arrangement. Now are you going to sit down or do you have more insipid questions?”

Satisfied that this was not an assassination attempt, you did sit down across from him and set your school bag on the floor. Even in the cushy chair, in front of the crackling fire, you couldn’t relax. You sat forward in the chair, hands rubbing your knees.

Draco rolled his eyes.

“What?” you asked.

“Go ahead.”

“Go ahead… with what?”

He snapped the book shut and poured the boiling water into the teapot. “You want to know why I’m doing this - Dumbledore asked me to - when my time is so precious to me - which it is - and you’re the last person I’d want to help - not technically true and I didn’t know Dumbledore had you in mind when I agreed.”

“But why did you agree in the first place?”

“I figure it may keep me out of trouble.”

“Uh huh.” You took a long pause, debating. “And if it’s not me, who is the last person you’d help?”

He grinned wolfishly, “Potter, obviously.”

“Ah.” You should’ve known. Even in light of every sin he undoubtedly counted against you, you’d never be as despicable as Harry Potter, The Chosen One. You wondered if it was terrible that, for a moment, you were grateful for that years-long grudge of theirs.

You took the tea he offered and sipped on it silently. It was fragrant and floral, jasmine, maybe.

His grey eyes watched you carefully, looking for something. What, you couldn’t say. “And how was your dinner meeting then? With the Slug Club?”

You grimaced. “Is that what we’re calling it? Yikes. It was fine, I guess. I met a friend of yours, one Blaise Zabini. Delightful conversationalist.”

“You never said you had family in Slytherin.”

“You never asked.”

“Hmm.” Then he reached around and retrieved a cardboard box with holes in the top.

You grinned, you couldn’t stop yourself. “Is that a hedgehog?” you asked.

An eyebrow twitched up. “It is.”

“So this was on McGonagall’s list then.”

“McGonagall’s list,” he scoffed, “I could’ve come up with. I’ll get to that later. Maybe. But let’s stick with what you can already almost do for now.”

You frowned. “But she said-“

“I know what she said.”

“But, Draco if this isn’t on the O.W.L.-“

“You still need to learn it.”

You crossed your arms and huffed. “Will you just listen to-“

“No.” He pulled a squirming hedgehog out of the box and set it on the coffee table. “Now turn this into a pin cushion.”

You whipped out your wand, furious, leveled it at the hedgehog, and hesitated. What if you couldn’t do it? What if, even with help, you remained incapable of this one thing?

“Y/N,” he said impatiently.

“I’m getting there, I’m getting there.”

“No, you aren’t. Just cast the spell.”

“But-“

“Cast the spell.”

“Draco-“

“Y/N. Do it. Now.”

You did. But not on the hedgehog. Draco Malfoy, all hundred-eighty and some odd centimeters of him shrunk down into a pin cushion you could fit in your palms. You picked him up in shaking hands.

“Oh my god. Shit.”

Dumbledore was going to find out, and then after congratulating you on how well you’d transfigured a whole person he’d expel you and you’d be gardening for your mother without magic for the rest of your lift. Which wouldn’t last long if Draco’s family ever found out what’d happened to their silver haired progeny.

No, no. McGonagall fixed bad transfigurations all the time. If you could do this you could do that - simple.

You put the Draco-cushion on the coffee table and picked up your wand again. The hedgehog gave him a sniff then retreated to the behind his box.

“Ahem,” you cleared your throat, still steadying your hands. “R-reparifarge.” Nothing happened. You smacked your wand against your other hand a few times, white sparks flying from the tip with every thwak. “Reparifarge!”

The pin cushion began to spin and stretch until it was roughly the size Draco Malfoy had been before, then with a sharp pop, the material of the pin cushion changed back into skin and clothes and Draco blinked several times.

He looked around, confused by how he’d moved from the chair to the coffee table in less than an instant. Then he looked at you, your ashen face, and guessed it. “Did you turn me into a pincushion?” he asked, quietly.

The calmness in his voice unnerved you. Heat flooded into your cheeks, you pressed your fingers into them trying to calm the blush.

“Yes, b-but I fixed you. Do you feel alright?”

He gave himself a once over, patting down his legs for leftover pins. “I’m fine, I think.” He smiled that scheming smile again, and you leaned back in your chair. “Now, not only have you just committed an actual crime, that was also pretty advanced magic.”

“Well, you were being a bit prickly.”

He laughed at that. It was cold and sharp and over before it began, but it was an actual laugh. “So it should be child’s play now to transfigure this.” He set the hedgehog in front of you again and moved back to his armchair.

Too shaken to argue, you obeyed and tried again on the hedgehog. When you were, once again, unsuccessful, Draco scrubbed a hand down his face and slumped down in the chair.

“This is going to take a lot of work,” he remarked.

At the end of the hour, the wrist of your wand hand was sore. If Draco was frustrated, he was doing an excellent job of not letting it show as he bid you goodnight in a civil tone. It was almost too civil.

You parted ways down opposite sides of the hall, the paths to the kitchens and the dungeon evidentially being different. But when you reached the stairs, a gentle itching began on the back of your neck, and you indulged it.

You turned around, and, stepping softly, crept back to peer around the corner. You felt silly, surely he was already halfway to his common room by now.

But he wasn’t. He had also circled back, and was re-entering the Room of Requirement.

The ends of his cloak disappeared inside and you were on the move. The door closed, and no sooner had you reached out to touch it, it disappeared under your fingers.

~~~ Taglist ~~~

@jemomgershippingco

@snickersmee

@lafrone

@cillshot

@reb0rned

#draco malfoy #draco x hufflepuff!reader #harry potter #draco x reader #slow burn #half blood prince #does this count as forced proximity?

[rainysflowers]

Tosses this out into the eather for the most niche audience I could think of. *NYEAH!!*

After seeing the lovely @species-whump-weekly and waiting excitedly for their Demon prompt list for the purposes of using them against my favorite Mazoku, I decided that it would be fun to do something similar. Therefore, I'd like to offer to you, the whump and Slayers community...

Mazoku Whump Week!!

This is the perfect opportunity to take your beloved Mazoku, be them canon or original, and beat them up (maybe comfort them too) for the world to see! What fun ^^ If this does interest you, please look under the cut for more info and prompts!! If not, then have a lovely day!!

CWs/TWS: Themes of Hurt/Pain, Dehumanization of Non-Humans, Neglect, and Similar Content

ALSO I feel that upon farther community interaction that I should mention to PLEASE write out/tag your entries with content & trigger warnings and the characters involved as to not offend/trigger anyone who may come across it without interest in said character/content!!

Personally, I like to give a general overview of what content is in the media much like my CWs/TWs above, then also add on SPESIFIC tags for worse things like Major Character Death, and finally PLEASE SPESIFY which character you'll be hurting in the media!!

Now, I call it a week because that's the way i formatted it, but there's no timeframe and there's no start date. I just made it for fun and my own enjoyment ^^ All I ask is that you please tag me in whatever you choose to create [Writing, art, GIFs, ect]:)) You totally don't have to be a part of either community to participate, I just made this for Slayers fans specifically because I love that anime <3 They are also more so anime-based, than light novel-based, as a side note.

Prompts are formatted as a single master-prompt, something that sets the theme for the sub-prompts under it, and three sub-prompts that you can write one, two, or all three of!! There are also seven alternative prompts that follow the same general theme of the master-prompts (I.E. alternative prompt one (1) has the same theme as master-prompt one (1) and so forth). !!! Two alternative prompts are based on my personal headcannons, but those are labeled as such, and do not have to be used !!!

Here is the prompt list:

01) Summoned.

1] I’ll Treat You Like My Pet/Dehumanization

2] Defiance/Defiant Whumpee* (*Whumpee refers to the character who is in pain, which is in this case the Mazoku of your choice)

3] Terms and Conditions

02) Used.

1] Losing Control

2] Astral Wound/Pain

3] Magical Exhaustion

03) Misunderstood.

1] Kindness Makes the World Go Round

2] Starvation

3] Botched Shapeshifting

04) Betrayed.

1] Backstabbed

2] Found Out

3] Ritual Sacrifice

05) Returned.

1] Uncaring Master

2] Can’t Go Back

3] Demonic Punishment

06) Inherited.

1] Immortality

2] Bleeding Black

3] Ingrained Morality

07) History.

1] Scars

2] War Never Changes

3] Falling Comrades

Alternative Prompts

1] Orihalcon Restraints/Weapons (Based on a headcanon where the metal Orihalcon is able to suppress the Mazoku's ability to either return to the Astral Plane or negates their ability to be impervious to physical wounds in the real world.)

2] Reluctant Caretaker

3] Presumed Dead (Based on a headcanon where if a Mazoku is injured enough, they must ditch their assumed form to return to the Astral Plane, leaving them looking like a corpse in the Human World.)

4] “I can’t believe I trusted you.”

5] Assassination (Attempts)

6] “I thought that you couldn’t love?”

7] Survivor’s Guilt

Here is the Prompt List in a Google Doc:

Thank you so much for checking out this post, sorry for the crappiness lol, I just wanted to share some stuff. Ill be back sooner or later, and if you have any questions, please send them on in ^^ luv yall with the strength of a thousand suns <3 Have a good day, night, and whatever else!!

#🌧op #🌧opwriting #whump #whump community #whump event #whump prompts #slayers #the slayers #Writing #Writing Prompts #I hate tagging things

[honoringthehorrific]

Is Late Night with The Devil worth tuning in for?

Don't adjust those sets...spoilers in 5..4..3..2...

First off sorry for not being able to find a gif from the movie! Tumblr gave me a real hard time with that one.

Second off I would like to say I do not support the use of AI art. I think it is abysmal. I watched this movie with my partner after saving up points at our local theater for free tickets. If this still supports the movies we see in some way please let me know and I will be sure to find another way to better watch these movies without supporting their actions...🏴‍☠️🦜 It just may mean you get your reviews a touch later!

Onto the movie. The aesthetics were very enjoyable I could appreciate the ties back to satanic panic and the fascination with the occult. The costuming, the filming of the movie, it all felt right and very few times did I feel my immersion in it break. I feel like maybe there were one or two shots where the actors looked too well made up if that makes sense.

One fun fact my partner pointed out was that you can see the twin towers in the opening shots and the city cut aways because they were built 4 years prior! I really liked that this movie didn't shy away from showing us the towers mostly because I feel like that's something that would have broken the idea we are in the 70s.

While the filming was fitting and awesome the effects were....I would say B tier at points. I think it adds to the charm of course I can always appreciate a homemade effect but it does slightly pull me out of this being something that really happened. Don't get me wrong I know it's not trying to be the next Blair witch "true story" but i feel like there is some level to this that wants the audience to feel that this is real.

My partner notes too that cutting it from a television camera view to the audience view might have helped as well!

Onto the fun stuff, we get hints throughout...sorry no, not hints...we get TOLD throughout the movie that our star of tonight's show, jack delroy, is in a fraternal organization...sorry, i mean cult. He is in the Bohemian Grove cult. We get told there are rumors of this in the opening almost documentary style retelling of Jack's fame and struggles with being as good as Johnny Carson. We'll come back to that.

Tonight is 1977. Halloween night. Sweep week. A night where Jack really needs to scrape in the views. He has no idea that the plans he has this evening will go awry...recently his wife madeline who will be reffered to by her "special nickname" mini has passed away from lung cancer. Tonight's show is also jacks first one back and man is it a doozy. We get to see how he banters with his co-host and honestly kind of berates him. I had this struggle with jack where I wanted to like him but every time I tried I just got these kicks and hints that he was kind of an asshole? But it's show biz, who isn't? His first guest is a medium who intends to commune with the dead. He seems like other shoddy Vegas types until he accurately assess a family who lost their son and brother to suicide. It's later revealed to be a bunch of hooey when the next guest a renowned skeptic chats with the family and realizes they were questioned prior to the show.

The first chilling moment we get that isn't the use of AI art is the medium seemingly becoming possessed by the grieving spirit of mini however no one claims the name and only later does jack reveal he thinks the message was for him.

I'm not gonna foot around it. The use of AI art while not overly used and egregious it's present. Personally it being present feels like an issue. It bugs me and it should bug you. I know many people want to cut it a break for being an indie film but it doesn't take much to put some money towards what was it? 5-6 pieces of art? Yeah some people will have higher rates for working on this but I'm sure they could have found someone to do the art if they felt theirs wasn't up to par. I don't think they're fully evil or anything for it. I don't support AI art but I can understand the other side of the argument. However when you turn a blind eye to one film and it does well it doesn't matter if it's an indie project or not. It makes the big guys think hey we like this. Give the devil an inch and he'll take a mile right?...

That all being said I could ignore the cut aways kind of??...I paid attention for mistakes the first few times before the sight of them just elicited an annoyed eyeroll from me.

As the movie progresses we meet the skeptic. He's offering checks to people who can prove without a doubt that they're the real deal and he says hes not lost a nickel yet. The medium claims he doesn't want the money and when Jack vouches for him and says the last message was meant for him the medium's behavior gets more and more erratic before he finally spews black vomit all over the studio including onto the skeptic.

Little do we know on the way to the hospital our medium turns up dead. This starts to brew panic in the crew and our co-host as our next guests are brought on. June and Lily. Lily was found as a 10 year old by the authorities as the only surviving member of a satanic cult that kind of parodies the satanic church and Anton lavey. Lily is possessed by a demon she calls mr.wriggles. mr.wriggles is an interesting one alright! Wether it's trauma, the demonic possession or my boyfriend's theory- autism. Lily exhibits off behaviors like staring directly into the cameras and seeming very monotone at times. It isn't until Jack pushes for and honestly...kind of corners June on live TV that June and Lily decide to showcase Lily's ability. Man does this demon have something to say.

The demon begins by noting that him and Jack know each other hinting at a tie between the Grove cult again. Before intent focuses again on June. Calling her out for her and jacks relationship and telling her to remember what happened to his last whore. Possession doesn't cease until June slaps the girl. Let me tell you I didn't trust this at all. June goes to undo the straps after some crazy electrical issues and levitation and I just felt uneasy the whole time. That typical feeling while watching these movies of "are you stupid??" Lily in my eyes had a very sinister look to her still that later gets touched on again. We then get the skeptics explanation and recreation with hypnosis. Making our co-host believe his phobia of worms is suddenly real life with them wriggling from his neck stomach and lastly eyeball. Only for us to cut back to reality with his activation phrase and see that none of it was true. They watch the tape back and realize that the whole audience was hypnotized because none of that truly happened on their TV sets. However when watching back what happened with Lily it triggers the girl.

She levitates and glows while her head splits open. She immolates the skeptic when he offers the hefty check in exchange for his life and hangs her guardian/doctor by the necklace meant to keep the demon at bay. And unfortunately our chunky loveable co-host gets his neck snapped when trying to "the power of Christ compels you" the demon away. It isn't until we get this gorgeous dream like sequence after Jack seemingly gets away. Him going through the routine of the show only to try and escape. Him telling us to turn off our sets and stop watching before we get a sequence with the cult and him drinking from a chalice as he meets his wife. She reveals that he sacrificed her health for fame. He didn't know. And this is where I felt sympathetic for him....the entire time he was unaware...he murdered her unintentionally. And so she asks him to murder her in the physical. Take the ritual knife from Lily's old home and finish her off before the cancer can take her....only for him to plunge the knife into her and reveal that the dream was fake. And he has stabbed Lily to death. He stands and we get a heart wrenching scene of him trying to say the skeptics activation phrase to wake up while surrounded by the carnage he somewhat unknowingly caused...

Overall I give this 3 worms out of 5.

The AI made my eyes roll and the effects were corny but the premise and scenery and aesthetics were beautiful. I sort of reccomend it if you can watch it in a non supporting way.

#late night with the devil #not an aesthetic #regurgitated reviews #horror

[nemir]

We love a Welcome Home/Wally AU in this house. I’d like to introduce everyone to Concept Wally! He’s the product of a single brainstorming session by a failing studio, who needed to come up with an idea for a children’s programme. Unfortunately, the studio closed and everything was scrapped. The only thing that remained was a single concept sketch - that would be him, Concept Wally.

I’m just gonna copy/paste my notes from here because I’m lazy BUT please enjoy him and I hope you all love him as much as I do!! ;; He’s just a lil guy who doesn’t want to be forgotten!! Be nice to him.

welcome home in the early 70s; wally was going to be a fresh university graduate who just had a passion and desire to teach kids more than what school ever did, and he was going to do it with song! (specifically rock & roll genre, for a mass audience appeal)

 it never progressed the conception phase. somehow, he gained sentience - perhaps because of the sheer belief in the show his concept artist had

unfortunately, the studio closed only 2 weeks after wally was designed, and so the entire idea was scrapped.

wally was just a picture on paper. he hated that the idea was scrapped, didn't want to "die", so to speak.

somehow found a way to get in people's dreams, to "inspire" them to draw this character they dreamt of. and as they draw him he gains more power until he was able to tear himself from the page.

he's still able to go back into paper, and uses that to travel or get around quickly, and watch people (some 'take on me' music video type shit)

as above and so below: "as above" is being in the outside world, "so below" is being restricted to the paper. in order to stay out of below, he needs people to draw him. if they stop, he'll lose power and lose the ability to tear himself off the page

this mfer absolutely has gradient inky arms because I SAID SO. it is peak character design. (it wasn’t part of his original design, it just happened because of bleeding ink as paper ages, etc)

he cries ink. bleeds it. vomits it. it's his spit. it's literally what he's made of so no surprises there

the original concept was a life-sized puppet, or rather, someone in a thin felt-covered body suit, with a puppet head (think doodlebops but not painted). this wally is about 5'9".

his designed was loosely based on early 70s David Bowie.

the more people draw him in one type of way, that's how he'll appear when he's in the world. so if a bunch of people are drawing him like a lil Muppet man, then lmfao that's how he'll look until people start drawing him differently (which means people would have to be drawing him in a similar way for him to appear that way), otherwise he'll just take his initial concept sketch form on paper.

voice claim; g-man. half life. (he was never given a voice so finds speech odd. his words are stilted, and sound like something trying to mimic human speech. lots of weird emphasis, run on sentences. odd breaths here and there)

his main outfit is just a pair of trousers with a white button up that usually has the sleeves rolled 3/4, and a few buttons undone with a bright orange undershirt and heart patterned suspenders.

when his face goes dark and you can only see his eyes, there's ink dripping from his chin/cheeks (as if the ink is covering his whole face)

personality wise, he's a little odd. doesn't quite know how to "people", since he isn't one; they never got past concept art after all! but he isn't completely devoid of emotion or empathy. he holds strong affinity for the people who draw him (even if all you draw is a little stick figure of him!! he appreciates it so much ... and it still gives him power), calling them friends. he does get a bit jealous when he catches you drawing other things though! otherwise, he's completely harmless and just doesn't want to be forgotten

#welcome home #wally darling #welcome home au #wally au #wally darling au #concept au #conceptwallyau

[shippingdragons]

Know no shame: queerness in the golden age of TV and piracy

Both Our Flag Means Death and Black Sails go all in on queer pirates — eventually

By Samantha Greer Jun 2, 2022

Our Flag Means Death has become a bit of a sensation, to put it mildly. The show skyrocketed in popularity for weeks after its debut, both in terms of streaming metrics and the outpouring of fan art. That’s in no small part thanks to its centering a romance between two men, Stede Bonnet and Edward “Blackbeard” Teach, which captured the hearts of many, especially among queer viewers starved of on-screen representation. Even as queer representation has improved over the decades, with several ongoing shows featuring queer characters and subplots, it’s still rare for a series to focus squarely on queer romance, especially in genre shows.

Perhaps some of the infatuation stems from how Our Flag Means Death marketed its romance story — namely, it didn’t. Those initial trailers, teasers, and handful of episodes focused on the comedy hijinks of Stede Bonnet and his inept band of pirates. Not so much as a longing glance between Stede and Ed. For an audience more often used to queerbaiting or sometimes no inclusion at all, the shock that this show really was going to commit to that romance seems to have come with much elation, not to mention a viewership which tripled somewhere between its debut and its finale. Even creator David Jenkins has commented on the matter; speaking to The Verge, he said, “I think I didn’t realize — because I see myself represented on camera, and I see myself falling in love in stories — I didn’t realize how deep the queer baiting thing goes. Being made to feel stupid by stories, I guess. […] [L]ooking at how people were kind of afraid to let themselves believe that we were doing that was a surprise to me, and it’s heartbreaking.”

Oddly enough, though, this isn’t the first time a queer pirate show has buried the lede. Though the shows don’t share channels, decades, or even sensibilities, the way they slowly revealed the queerness of their protagonists reveals how both of these shows reflect the different climates in which they were released.

Image: Starz

Black Sails, which premiered back in 2014, is a series that acts as both a prequel to the classic pirate novel Treasure Island and a mishmash of real history. Long John Silver brushes shoulders with real pirates like Charles Vane and Anne Bonny. In spite of any misgivings you might have about its gritty Treasure Island take, it’s a genuinely thoughtful exploration of history and fiction. To be sure, it has its fair share of bloody violence and sex; it was seen as Game of Thrones on the high seas among critics. What it absolutely does not do upfront is let the audience know that one of its central characters (arguably the story’s primary protagonist), Captain Flint, is in fact a gay man, and that his oppression and persecution under British society is the root of his entire violent quest.

In Black Sails this twist serves a purpose, held back until halfway through the second season. Flint, initially an enigma to audiences and his crew alike, is a larger-than-life character — an inscrutable, cunning, and ruthless pirate, much like the character first referenced in Treasure Island. He is allowed to embody a hypermasculinity, the archetypal bloodthirsty captain who will do anything for gold. The reveal that he’s gay and that his mission is to rebel against the British Empire, to create a nation free of its rule, complicates everything he has done and will do, turning him from a mercenary into a revolutionary.

The fact that Black Sails and Our Flag both smuggled queerness into their narratives is made all the more interesting when considering the real-life parallels of the characters. Both shows play with our conceptions of history and well-known figures. Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard really did hang out, and the show simply makes a leap as to why that could be; Jenkins has explicitly said he’s interested in treating recorded history as merely a jumping-off point. After all, it’s unclear how much he’s even reading into their relationship. To this day, there’s a lot of debate about how much queerness has been exorcised from records and accounts, either by omission or by individuals’ own necessary discretion.

Retelling well-known histories as queer tales is more about putting back into our past what has been erased from it. As Black Sails co-creator Jon Steinberg said to Den of Geek regarding the show’s historical figures, “There’s some freedom in the moment you realize that the historic record is severely compromised in terms of what these peoples’ lives were like. They had a motive to lie, and so did the people in London. [...] It gives us the room to try to tell a story that will hopefully feel real. It probably won’t necessarily match up to the textbook to what happened, but I think we would probably argue that the textbook is already a narrative that somebody with an agenda put together a long, long time ago.”

Image: Starz

Photo: Aaron Epstein/HBO Max

Not that it’s hard to read queerness into existing histories, even if the terminology and conception of the ideas differed at the time. Romanticized pirates have always been portrayed as camp, an image perhaps spurred on by historical figures like Jack Rackham, nicknamed Calico Jack on account of his colorful outfits (who also makes an appearance in OFMD). Mary Read spent a portion of their life under the name Mark Read, and whether it was simply a disguise or fluid gender expression or if they were even trans, it lends itself to storylines like that of Jim on Our Flag Means Death. Accounts of Blackbeard spending all of his time with Stede Bonnet can so easily be understood through a queer lens that it’s shocking no story put such a twist on these figures before Our Flag Means Death.

But the answer to why no one had might be captured somewhat in the response to Black Sails’ own voyage into queer storytelling.

To be fair, Black Sails does have queer characters from the outset — two women, Eleanor and Max — but the first season generally presents them under a leering male gaze, seemingly intended to titillate general audiences. The show’s interest in the revolutionary qualities of queerness didn’t take center stage until its second season. While it spawned a fervent following among some queer fans, it equally drew the ire of homophobes who felt betrayed by the reveal that half of the cast was queer. Reddit is littered with rants against the show’s “gay agenda” by lads who thought they were getting a show “just about pirates,” all part of an outcry that even got Flint’s actor, Toby Stephens, to comment. “Before the revelation I had this huge following from guys, but as soon as that happened it was like they had been betrayed. It was the sense of utter betrayal and I wasn’t surprised because I knew it was going to be a massive thing.” The degree of discomfort among men, that simply by being gay Flint no longer adhered to their rigid standard of a male icon, is hardly something that’s gone away.

In the present, though, the TV landscape has changed considerably since Black Sails aired. Streaming services have come to rule the roost and fracture the monoculture, and the pandemic has only further shaped that. Black Sails had to compete against The Wire, The Sopranos, and Game of Thrones to earn its place at the table. For Our Flag Means Death, which is much more a comedy than a drama (and not at all an epic genre TV series, though there are still plenty of old-fashioned stabbings), things are a little different.

Photo: Aaron Epstein/HBO Max

While the special effects (the revolutionary StageCraft developed for The Mandalorian) that allow Our Flag Means Death to seem like it’s taking place at sea would have been reserved for much higher-budget shows only a few years ago, they’re a flourish for a series that largely takes place on small sets. It could’ve been a tiny budget sitcom a decade ago. That smaller scale may be what allowed it to take risks that, sadly, still feel daring in 2022. It’s not just a romance between Stede and Edward but an entire cast full of queer characters — a queerness that in its own context largely feels unremarkable, with the crew quietly tolerant and respectful of each other throughout the series.

In the last few years things have moved along, but even still, both shows had to operate under the very conditions of which they’re critical. As America and the U.K. both ramp up in homophobia and transphobia, with legislation seeking to target those vulnerable groups, the stories of Black Sails and Our Flag Means Death don’t feel like purely historical stories. They’re tales of the here and now. Pirates are a way to recontextualize those who society “others,” who are made outcasts and fringe by the mainstream. The shows invite us to ask why someone would choose to live on the edge, to unpack their histories and motives until their popular image is vanquished. To take the most well-known of pirates and to reframe them as traumatized queer outcasts is not intended as a historical rewrite but as a rebuttal of the very idea of a history written by the conquerors.

The British Empire present in both stories is depicted as an entity that is, at its worst, all-consuming barbarism and, at its best, all-consuming barbarism propped up by a veneer of civility. It’s an entity that not only destroys but warps reality around itself, reshaping history in its likeness.

In our present, queer people are once again being miscast as villains and boogeymen. In a way, Black Sails and Our Flag Means Death always dance on the edge of tragedy. Either they meet the same ends as their historical counterparts or we see the bittersweet truth of stories that are written out of history, their actions twisted into something evil. By giving that other perspective, by suggesting another account, these shows are a rallying cry for queer folk looking for their place in a world that doesn’t want them to exist at all — and a reminder to everyone who stands against us which side of history they’re on.

Article source: Polygon

#black sails #toby stephens #our flag means death #ofmd #edward x stede #flinthamilton #pride month

[ghostykapi]

it's easy to fall (harder to leave)

pt. 2 of what if I (never) told you I had fallen // angst + happy ending bc once more I can't handle pain

hello, I lived from suffering from 2 weeks of cramming. enjoyyyy

"thank you for much for coming into this interview!" you couldn't help but feel the ball of anxiety slowly build up as the interviewer happily closes out the segment of the show.

feeling vulnerable underneath all the gazes of the cameras and the live audience wasn't a new feeling to you. after all you are the writer and producer of the group, the brains that help create the identity of your art. you had to learn how to battle the pressure, criticism and hardship your group had to go through everytime you had a comeback with the title track coming from (mostly) you

now that was out in the open, all you had to do was figure out if she understood what you said in that interview, if she ever bothered to watch it anyway.

the promotion period came and went, draining you both physically, mentally and emotionally. you had never felt more thankful for a break that lasted longer than usual.

on the first day of the said break, your group decided to have a brunch out before going your seperate ways. some decided that it would be best spent with their families, and some decided that they're going to spend it in their dorms, recharging their energies and hanging out more with other idol friends.

you also decided to do the second one, with the intention of finding more thrift shops across the city to get some clothes for the fall. so when the brunch rolled around, you had a notebook with you at the table to show to your group how you made your most recent song.

"you know" your maknae mumbled as she flips the pages on her left hand and eating her food on the right hand "I knew you liked her this much but not far enough to make a song that brought us 5 wins"

"no pain, no gain" you joked while playing with the ends of your sweater, a habit you do when you get nervous "but honestly I didn't expect that too. the liking her that deep kind of thing"

"whatever it's worth" your leader gives you a reassuring pat on the back "it's good that you're painfully aware of your feelings and doing your best to try to move on"

yeah. trying to move on is a hard ongoing experience for you. especially when you see son chaeyoung spam your phone that you'd deliberately leave in your dorm to avoid confrontation

yeah, definitely a hard experience on you

"thanks you guys" you give them a smile before they end up swishing you into a group hug with shouts (of love) in between

after the brunch, you found yourself waking along side the han river. taking in the scenery of the happy people around you with the change of a more chilly season.

finding your usual spot, you sit down, opened your notebook and started to scribble random drawings your mind thought of.

a pair of lips, a bouquet of flowers, a small tiger, two promise rings, a bunch of random strawberries-

fuck.

fuck fuck fuck.

you really need to figure out new things to draw and not anything associated to chaeyoung anymore

closing it shut, you decide it's the best idea to finally head back home and get some rest. you stand up and start walking back home. you barely take more than 10 steps when you feel your phone vibrate in your bag, indicating that there's a caller

not bothering to check the name of said caller, you answer your phone while continuing your walk

"hello, y/n speaking"

"stop walking and turn around"

you feel your heart stop as you quickly turned around, seeing chaeyoung standing right there with a phone against her ear.

by the heavens she still looks gorgeous as the day you lost her

"you should really stop avoiding me" she complains as she drops the call

"I wasn't avoiding, I was just busy with the comeback" you can't be in her presence right now, not when your heart is still hurting "and speaking of comeback, I just finished my promotion period, so I'm heading back home to get some rest"

you tried walking away from her to save your already broken heart, but she grabs your arm and tugs you back to her. the grip not leaving any negotiations to let you go

"y/f/n I swear to god" even though she's tiny, you swear that son chaeyoung angry is a scary thing "you will not avoid me again"

you avoid her gaze and only stared at the ground, feeling the sobs climbing out of your throat "you know why I do"

"no I don't"

"yes you do"

"no" you can hear the hurt and desperation in her voice "I don't"

you still refuse to look at her as the tears blur your vision

"yes." you feel the grip finally loosening up but the emotional pain leaving you to stay put to the ground "yes you do, it's true. it's all true"

you don't hear the laughter of the people anymore. you can't hear the swaying of the trees and the crunch of the leaves anymore. you only hear the sound of your heart taking in more cracks as you finally admit it to her

"y/n" chaeyoung brings you into a hug as you softly cry into her shoulder "y/n/n"

"I'm sorry" you gasp out as you feel each wall finally come crashing down "I didn't mean for it to happen. I didn't want to scare you away-I was so scared-"

"it's ok" she cuts you off, rubbing circles on your back to calm you down "you don't have to be sorry"

"I should be" you shake your head, remembering that he's still in her life "it's not fair for you and for him"

she feels her heart break at that, even if you had the chances to hate him and tell her to break up with him, you still choose to support it despite loving her

"you don't have to be with me unnie" you pull away to properly look at her despite the tears still going, to show that you're serious "it's ok. I'll be ok"

"no" she softly calls out and tries to stop your from leaving, but you were determined to go "no no no please don't go"

"unnie" you plead with her, gently prying her hands away from you depite the panic settling in her eyes "I'll be fine, just give me some time and I'll be back being your best friend"

this has to be it right? the good decision that brings your heart and her's at ease sooner or later

"for what it's worth" you smile with all the love that lets you "thank you for teaching me what is love, my muse"

that breaks her.

"don't go" she's more stubborn now, her eyes panicking as she tries to bring you in "please don't go away again"

"how will I move on if you won't let me go?" you gently push her away but she clings unto you with all the strength that she can have

"don't move on, just, please stay. don't go. don't leave. please don't. I can't handle you gone again" she cries out "I just got you back, please don't go"

"unnie" you try to reason with her but it's hard. not when you also tears come out of her eyes and you're quick to wipe them away

"don't go" she whispers, as if she's scared to scare you away "come back home to me please"

you can't say no to that, not when she still has your heart in that palm of the hand just like that.

"what about him?" you can't help but feel the guilt eat you up inside but chaeyoung is quick to shut it down

"broke up with him the moment I heard your interview" she explains "I couldn't be in a relationship with him when I know my heart couldn't move on from you. he understands too and I couldn't let you slip away from me"

"what do you mean" you feel your brain run through a million thoughts, the most prominent one being "couldn't move on?"

she doesn't say anything, only bringing you back to her dorm, to her room to show you the amounts of notebooks she ran through that was just full of drawings, pictures and words that were all of you.

you sit on her bed as you trace her drawings of you, each one accurate with your features. you can't help but feel tears come back

"don't cry" she kisses your tears away, bringing her hands to cradle your face "it hurts to see you cry"

"I can't help it" you look into her eyes and feel the overwhelming sense of relief and love "it's hard to believe something you're brain thought was impossible"

"it's not" chaeyoung reassures you, just as you always did for her "it's not hard to fall in love with you and it's not easy to move on from you too"

she kisses you that day, as you both mend your hearts over sharing stories of how you both fell in love with each other. each crack won't be healed that day but as the weeks, months rolled by and as you both go back to each other, you can feel it getting better

"my muse" you whisper one night as she sleeps in your arms, the moon giving her the softest glow "I'm home"

#son chaeyoung #twice imagine #twice imagines #twice reactions #twice scenarios #twice x reader #son chaeyoung reaction #son chaeyoung imagine #son chaeyoung scenarios #twice angst #twice fluff

[ladyzirkonia]

Shattered minds - Part 2 - You came.

Doc, an idealistic GAR doctor, becomes obsessed with helping Jenot - known as Commander Ghoul - a severely traumatised clone trooper suffering from severe survivor's guilt after losing his entire battalion. As Doc tries to mend the broken pieces of Jenot's mind, she struggles with her growing feelings for him, believing he hates her for forcing him into this life.

Tags and warnings for the whole work:This story is written for an adult audience so MINORS DNI, violence, death, medical procedures, mental disorder, mention of prosthetics, drug abuse

Commander Ghoul belongs to @cloned-eyes (here and here), Doc belongs to me. (here and here)

note: I wrote this part in complete obsession and it's one of my favorites I wrote until today. Have fun with the first appearence of commander Ghoul. And I'm still not normal about this piece of art. tags: @staycalmandhugaclone @passionofthesith

PART 1

Part 2 - You came.

word count: 1.270

It was relatively quiet in the medbay that day. She didn't have much to do, so she sat with her back to the entrance, hunched over her datapad. The only sounds were the rush of a bacta tank and the faint beeping of a nearby monitor. These sounds were somehow soothing, at least to her. She was buried in a medical paper discussing cybernetic prosthetics when she was suddenly torn from her little bubble. Someone had entered the station quietly, and most people probably wouldn't have noticed. But she knew who was standing behind her back, she didn't even have to turn around. How did she know? She couldn't say for sure. But she didn't turn around; she seemed to freeze for a moment while there was silence, only the familiar sounds around her. She slowly looked up from her datapad but did not move and said in a calm, almost stoic tone,

"You came."

She couldn't help the fact that her voice almost cracked at the end, that she sounded somehow relieved when she spoke. If she was honest, she had not believed that he would come, but here he was, and she was both relieved and nervous at the same time. After waiting for another moment, she slowly turned around, adjusted her goggles, and looked into Jenot's face. He just stared at her for what seemed like an eternity and then just growled at her in a slightly provocative tone,

"You called."

When she heard his voice, she almost immediately realized how tight his grip was on her. Damn that idiot. She didn't want to admit it, but she had missed him, worrying every day about his emotional state and fearing that he might do something stupid and be decommissioned. Without waiting for an answer, Jenot had stripped off his clothes and was staring at her with a defiant expression in his eyes.

"Let's get this over with, Doc", he said in a rather impatient manner.

She cleared her throat and nodded, her eyes lingering a little too long on his tattoos. It wasn't that she didn't know his body like the back of her hand, she had worked on him and examined him so many times, so why did it feel different today? "Get a grip on yourself," she told herself as she stepped up to him and began the examination.

***

Some time later, she sat smoking in her favorite spot, knowing that no one would disturb her here. She'd always been an occasional smoker, but after her usually brief but intense encounters with Jenot, she'd always been unable to resist. His latently aggressive and dismissive nature had never really bothered her, at least that's what she'd told herself. She never stopped feeling guilty about his condition, for she had made him what he was, and what he despised so much, he had always made that more than clear to her. But something had changed in the last few weeks and months; she couldn't even be sure when it had started. Was it because of her that it had become harder and harder to keep a professional distance, or had it started because instead of being angry and hostile towards her, he was trying to avoid her and in the end didn't show up for his examinations?

The rarer he made himself and the more he avoided her, the more she became attached to him. She refused to allow him to jeopardize his health. She could be as stubborn as a falumpaset about it, and she was sure it drove him crazy. It had eventually led to him blocking the channel to her datapad. This action had left her with such anger and disappointment that it had taken her some time to come to terms with the emotions she was dealing with. She knew that her behavior was wrong, that she should not feel that she was losing control. It was not appropriate, it was not characteristic of her. It was this state of extreme crisis that had finally led her to leave him that note. And now she was sitting here. Did she feel better? A little, she was relieved that he was all right, considering the circumstances. But why was she still so upset? So upset that she had started smoking again, while a restlessness was spreading through her body and her mind seemed to be dazed, making it impossible to concentrate.

***

The examination had gone without incident, or so she told herself. Physically, at least, everything seemed to be in order, as far as one could tell from his condition. But she had found it harder to keep her composure today, only touching him when absolutely necessary and avoiding his penetrating gaze as much as she could.

"You look scared, Doc," he said in a mildly amused tone. "Not so pretty to look at, huh?" he continued to tease her.

At first, she didn't respond to his mocking words and tried to stare at her datapad with as much interest as possible.

"You can get dressed again," she had replied to avoid his words. Because he could not have been more wrong. His appearance did not bother her, not in the least, and she was not afraid of him, but of what he might unleash in her. She briefly reached for her goggles, something she had been doing quite a lot that day, an unconscious gesture to hide her insecurity. After a while, she had decided to look up from her datapad and give him a hard look instead.

"Why should I be afraid of you, Jenot?", she could almost feel his whole body tensing when she said that. But that didn't stop her from calling him with that name over and over again.

"I refuse to call you by that horrible name they gave you. You are not a monster." He had said nothing in response to her words, his gaze had become indefinable to her, and she had decided to drop the subject.

After the examination he had, of course, asked for his cigarettes. Of course she had lectured him on how bad it was for his health, and of course he had told her, mockingly, that she should stick to her own rules first. She had no idea how he knew about her bad habit. Maybe he had noticed that every now and then some of his cigarettes disappeared. And in the end she had given them to him - as she always did. Kriff those cigarettes! He had come and they had other problems to work on, Force knows.

After he had dressed, she asked him if he would come next time without an angry message from her, or if he would still insist on blocking her messages.

''That depends.'' , Jenot just replied smugly to her words.

''Depends on what?!'' It had slipped out a little more emotionally than she had intended.

''That depends on you stopping stealing my cigarettes and having one with me instead.''

She couldn't help the fact that her features were now slipping completely off her face, causing her to adjust her goggles even more aggressively this time.

''Until next time, Doc.'' , he saluted in a mocking manner that showed the anger he still felt towards the GAR, then turned on his heel and left the station. She had stared after him motionlessly for quite a while before finally going to her little secret place to smoke.

And now she was sitting outside, completely flustered. Smoking nervously and wondering how deep she would go down into that bogling whole.

Little did she know.

#shattered minds #commander ghoul x doc #clone oc x oc #commander ghoul #oc doc #clone wars fanfiction #clone wars #star wars fanfiction

[circumstellart]

[Short ID: A twelve page comic about theatre and temporary/lasting friendships, featuring colorful painted silhouettes of people against detailed ballpoint pen backgrounds. Longer description under the read more.]

I finished this barely days before the pandemic hit at approximately 6am after eating exclusively salt packets

Detailed image description:

Page 1: A mustard colored silhouette enters a brick building, walking by a bulletin board where a cast list has been pinned. 

Narration text reads, “Anyone involved in theatre has heard the word ‘ephemeral’ tossed around like a given. Theatre is an art that exists for a short period of time, and once the curtain falls on closing night, it’s over. Of course, the script is fixed, and the same show can be put on hundreds of times -”

Page 2: “But it’ll never be quite the same,” finishes the narration. 

A group of silhouettes, each one a single solid color, sit around a room. We are shown the set of a play - a cluttered bar - along with a few groupings of the silhouettes in character. 

Over it all, a purple silhouette says, “So here’s my capital V vision for the show: You’re all childhood friends, reconnecting in a bar after a while apart, when one of you asks, ‘Hey, does anyone remember that game we used to play as kids about orphans and sailors and pirates and starcatchers?’”

Page 3: The purple silhouette continues, “So yes, this show is about Peter Pan and Captain Hook and all the other characters we know and love, but it’s also about you - a group of friends being kids together for a while, remembering that story and remembering each other.” 

The first two panels show the purple silhouette talking, and the latter two depict the rest of the silhouettes goofing off as a group and singing, “Tonight!” while playing instruments and raising bottles joyously.

Page 4: Narration across multiple panels reads, “I didn’t know what to expect, coming into the theatre department for the first time. I certainly didn’t go into the rehearsal process with the explicit intent to make friends. But I think it’s impossible to spend upwards of sixteen hours a week with people and not become close.” 

First panel shows the mustard silhouette at a piano, saying, “Uh...let’s just start learning the shanty and see how it goes?” 

Second panel has a mauve silhouette ask, “Can we get those ‘ahhs’ like...one more time? Maybe two,” as everyone crowds around a piano on set. 

The third panel shows everyone singing together, “Vino bianco trebbiano!” in triumphant poses.

Page 5: Multiple panels show the set and various spoons hidden throughout, two held by a red silhouette and the rest leaning in different locations. The final panel shows the purple silhouette sitting in the audience, and they say over the rest of the panels: “So [red] has the musical spoons, and then theres the small spoon, the medium spoon, the large spoon, and the giant spoon.”

An offscreen voice asks, “...Please tell me that’s all.”

“You’ll never guess what the tiara is made out of,” continues the purple silhouette.

“Is it spoons?”

“...Yes.”

Narration text starts and continues to the next page: “From collecting inside jokes -”

Page 6: “To catching each other, and learning to fall ourselves.”

In the first two panels, a green figure stands atop a chest on set, falls backwards and is caught by five others.

The second panel shows six people holding each others’ wrists, ready for a basket catch. Unlabelled voices say, “Everyone safe? Everyone ready? Yeah.”

The third panel is two silhouettes leaning back against each other while sitting on the floor.

Page 7: Narration for the page reads, “It’s hard to do a play about found family without finding a bit of family along the way. But sometimes, at the end of rehearsals -”

In the audience section of the theatre, a dark blue silhouette at a table says, “That’s 10pm, everyone.”

As people pack up to leave, a yellow silhouette says, “Wait for [orange]! Let’s walk back together.” 

“I wanna stop and see the shrimp!” says a brown silhouette.

A group of six walk into a different building and look at an aquarium tank built into a wall.

“I guess it’s not technically a crab room, per se,” says a red silhouette.

The mustard one continues, “But it is a room for crabs!”

“Don’t they look like aliens?” asks the brown silhouette.

Page 8: In the same spot, the brown silhouette says, “Hey I think that one’s dead.”

“Where?” asks the mustard one.

“That one!” says a pink silhouette, pointing.

The next panel is a bird’s eye view of a path splitting in different directions amid grass, buildings, trees, and a pond. The red silhouette continues in one direction, the other five in the other. All of them say, “Goodnight!”

Narration finishes from previous page, “I think about how the end of the show is coming up fast, and how the end of college seems to be coming up even faster.”

Page 9: The purple silhouette asks, “So...what does goodbye mean to your characters? Especially the friends in the bar?”

Over several panels showing various scenes of the silhouettes interacting with each other, the mustard one answers, “It’s definitely a little bittersweet. You’re happy that you got to see people you loved, and you fall back in with them so easily, but you only know them as who they were the last time you saw them.

“That’s not who they are, though. They’ve done a whole lot of growing while you were away.”

Page 10: Over more scenes of holding hands, hugging, and standing together, they continue, “So you say goodbye, knowing you won’t see this version of your friends ever again, but also knowing that once they leave you, they’ll grow so much more.”

The last panel zooms out to see the full set and the edges of the rows of audience chairs, all the silhouettes tiny in the middle of the clutter.

Page 11: The first panel shows the silhouettes all together against the set.

“Guys, this is gonna be one awfully big adventure,” says the green one.

“You said it!” remarks a bright blue silhouette.

A teal one says, “Alright!”

The next three panels zoom in on hands and feet as they help the green silhouette to climb up on other people. The background fades away, and disembodied voices say: “Ready? Ready. Set? Set.”

Over the page, narration says, “I honestly don’t know how many of these people I’ll see again once school is over. I hope that number is nonzero. But even though theatre may be ephemeral, the lessons we learn from each other can last a lifetime.”

The last bit of dialogue from a disembodied voice says, “Go.”

Page 12: The green silhouette stands on two others’ knees, supported and surrounded by the remaining silhouettes, crowing like a rooster. The rest of the page is blank white, a stark contrast to the cluttered backgrounds of the rest of the comic.

#yeah i haven't looked at this in almost three years and it kinda suckerpunched me so i guess that's a sign to put it on the internet huh #comic #theatre #peter and the starcatcher #sequential art #my art #long post #artist described

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (08/10/23)

big catch up this week that had been a long time coming AND a buncha new anime doesn't even feel like it's me doing this, tho still not watching nearly as much as back in the day this is a good season tho, and there's even a buncha other good shows I'm not watching for a variety of reasons but anyway

green - new series/new to me pink - catching up

Anime

Undead Unluck Ep1

WOW that was soo good??? what the hell. I mean it already looked good from the previews but still crazy to see it in action. I was a bit worried after how disappointing the mashle anime was, but UU is in much better hands god bless. really looking forward to see everything in motion, tho curious where it'll end since it's confirmed 2 cour. we'll have to get some more episodes to see at what speed they're going to have a better idea. but anyway, UU is very good and even if you don't read the manga the anime is really good so check it, just be warned the start is a bit crude with a bunch lewd stuff going on (like andy being naked most of the time) but it gets better and it's a really fun series, give it a shot

Adult Precure Ep1

hey that was pretty good. I didn't know what to expect but it was nice. you can tell it was made for older audiences like that had said it'd be with them talking about some more mature topics and even saying stuff like the 2nd pic. anyway, no action or anything, it was just setting up (mostly) nozomi and rin a bit and hten meeting the rest of the cast. from the preview it doesn't seem like they'll transform on the next episode? so it'll prob be on ep 3. I just hope they have new cure forms as adults instead of transforming into their younger selves.

Imas Million Live Ep1

while this would've been a billion times better with traditional animation I gotta admit the cg models weren't as bad I expected, at least for the characters, there was some rougher looking ones for other stuff. however, I Am Not Immune To Idols and they got my ass, regardless of cg or not, so I can't complain much. I'll be very much looking forward to seeing my girls animated and this makes my expectations for the shinymas anime a lot better

Frieren Ep5

good ep, had more action than I expect (which was 0 so not hard but yknow), buncha funny moments tho

Manga

Jujutsu Kaisen Ch1 - 238

where do I even start huh. I hadn't read jujutsu cause it started at the time where I wasn't really reading anything but I've always had a general idea of what's going on cause of other people talking about it. my goal is to be reading everything on jump so I was gonna get to it sooner or later but because it seems it's getting close to the end that turned out to be sooner, but anyway. from the first few chaps I could see why it became so popular, the art's really good and the interaction between the characters was fun, but I didn't think it was THAT good to warrant it's popularity. that is, until I got to shibuya. up until here the series had felt kinda weird to me, like it was aimless or there was a lack of stakes but the shibuya really put things in motion and it was well structured. ofc the main point of the arc was to get rid of gojo since akutami wrote himself into a corner with how op he made him but yknow (I'm a gojo supporter btw). after that came the culling game, which was my favourite part of the series, you could really tell akutami was in his element and having fun just writing creative fights, however I could see why people would be getting tired of it cause it went on for a WHILE, and by the time it moved on it felt like it was more of the editor making akutami do it then it moving on naturally but oh well. if akutami ever does a series after this I hope it'll just be like the culling game with him being able to spread his creative wings and go wild with strange power fights. now the culling game is over and we're in what feels like the final arc. gojo got unsealed and fought sukuna, in a very cool fight, and despite being a big gojo fan I was content with the result. before catching up it just felt like he got unsealed and then immediately was gone again but the fight went on for quite a while so it wasn't actually that bad. idk how our cast is gonna get out this pickle now, but I doubt they'd let the bad guys win in a jump series so they'll make it somehow. anyway, I gave it a provisory 8/10, but it might go up or down depending on how things go from here. OH also I forgot to say but.. yuji is not a very good protagonist, he grew on me over the series but he's still p weak compared to most other jump protags OH ALSO ALSO, my favourite character is maki, I always love the "character with no powers that's strong enough to go toe to toe with the super powered people" trope, like rock lee or kenpachi, and she is that and I really liked her path until she got where she is

Kill Blue Ch24

haven't talked about this in a while but we're just coming off a short arc where a lot happened, including ogami turning back into an adult somehow, tenma learning he's an assassin and noren getting hyptonized into thinking she loves ogami for real. that's what this chap was about, ogami going to school and trying to avoid her for that reason hoping the hypnosis would wear off. it was a good chap, especially that little action sequence at the end, good luck next week ogami you'll need it

Blue Box Ch 120

a new school year has started and with that we get new cast members to shake things up a bit, tho I don't really like the idea of the new girl butting into taiki's and natsu's relationship when we just got done with the love triangle plot with hina but we'll see

#silver talks animanga

[foundfamilymafiaboss]

Final(?) Update:

Hey, Everybody. So you've probably noticed my last post was from quite some time ago, And I've been silent since. Well, There's a reason for that. And I wanna finally address this and dust off this blog.

A while ago, I promised a fanfiction that was massive, And was gonna tell the story of the Mafia Boss's revenge after getting a new body from the empress and engineer metro cats. I started writing it, and last year when I went on a vacation, I wrote while I was away. I really wanted it to work because I had the entire plot I've had for a few years about this mech revenge thing, and I was so excited to share it with everyone on this website. I had made a lot of posts about it on an art website I was on before I moved to Tumblr and with the new audience I had and the Fandom being able to see it, It made me even more excited.

But then I didn't touch it. I took what I thought was going to be a short break, but weeks turned to months, Days into nightsbrain rotation, And then an entire year, And it sat in my Google docs, collecting dust. I realized I had hit huge burnout. And then I never recovered. It was a mix of both writers burnout and Fandom burnout. (I love you all!! It's not you I just meant the fandom itself. Not anyone in it.) I still love a hat in time, Don't get me wrong, As it's still one of my main special interests, But around October, A new special interest came to me. I fell head over heels for the game "Poptropica." At first I thought it was just brainrot, But I started making ocs, Stories, And nonstop the characters and lore took up my brainspace. I even started drawing fan art, and it turns out it was a special interest. I joined the fandom shortly after, And it kinda overtook others for a bit. Basically, What I'm trying to say is.. I lost motivation. The project became overwhelming, and I wound up not wanting to work on it. And burnt myself out. It's not that I've stopped liking a hat in time (My main blog theme proves that) but Poptropica is just what's been on the brain. ..That and something else but we'll get to that. Also, I don't think I'll have a blog for it.

I think I'm stepping down from this blog. I'll return to it one day, maybe, But for now it's on permanent hiatus. I don't know when I'll come back, but maybe it'll be with a post summarizing the story I was gonna tell. I love this game but it's just not the main fandom anymore. A Main special interest? Yes! But not the main main one anymore. (Also, life stuff. That was a huge factor for this blogs inactivity.)

I'm sorry to anyone who was excited to see where it went. I'm sorry that I disappointed you and went radiosilent. I'm sorry I didn't fulfill my promise. I should've made this post way earlier, but i didn't.

One day, Who knows when, The Junior Mafia cook and Jar Man Mob Boss will make a return. Maybe not into a large fanfiction that I didn't calculate it's length for and thus led to it's early cancelation, But still a return in some way shape or form. (I also lost the file and all my progress for the cover art.. Haha..)

That being said, I still post about Piper sometimes. Or Ahit as a whole. But just.. Not as often. To those who see this: Thank you for understanding. And for sticking around as long as you did.

This isn't goodbye, This isn't the end, This isn't even the final act. It's just the intermission. It's just the pause. It's just the wait. It's just the rest.

Over time, My focus just shifted. That's all. And it sounds redundant, I know. If you want more activity, Check out my main blog @gengar-pixel-2 . It's where most of my stuff is, including fandom things.

That being said.. Here's what I've been up to:

-Gained two new special interests. It's four now instead of two. These being Poptropica and the Jumanji Franchise. (Minus the reboots.)

-I did start writing a fic.. But this time I prepared myself. It's only gonna be 13 chapters long, And isn't even Canon. It'a a crossover fic. I'm taking my time.

-Made new fandom friends.

-Reunited with old fandom friends.

-Went to Chicago for my birthday.

-Made a bunch of new ocs, Little guys.

-Birthday and Christmas happened I suppose.

-Got onto DND. (Haven't played yet though..)

-Got nominated for fan awards and won fourth place. And more..

..Anyway I'm sorry for this sad sounding ramble post. But I wanted to say...

Thank you. For the support, For sticking around, For listening to the stories I had to tell, All the asks, The fan art, The jokes, All of it. You made my day, and I'm not even joking. You all made it worthwhile. I didn't think anyone would even enjoy a story about one of the fandoms most hated characters. Thank you for showing me otherwise.

Anyway, I hope we meet again, Soon. Only time will tell. ..But for now.

"Keep it up! You are amazing and my best friend!! Remember! When you come to HQ, I'll have a sticker for you! Remember: I'm always gonna be there for you. Even if I'm not there!"

"Goodbye, For now. Come back anytime! It does tend to get boring around here. ..But you better not plant any bombs inside of my headquarters. Maybe I'll have a new body next time."

"..Farewell, I suppose. Perhaps you can stop by my metro sometime? Maybe then we can discuss some business.. There's a place in my metro where you would fit right in. ..So long as you fulfill the end of your bargain, Of course."

"I'll see ya some other time, Sugar cube! And you better be ready because I'll whip up something delicious for the next time you come to the island! Remember, I'm always in the rafters. I'll be there for ya when ya need me."

..And from me, Gengar, I'll see you on the other side. Wherever that may be. -Gengar, Signing out.

#a hat in time #ahit #foundfamilymafia #ahit mafia boss #ahit oc #empress ahit #cooking cat ahit #gengar rambles #update