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di-42 · 6 months

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Apology of Aziraphale

Like for many of us, Good Omens has been an almost constant thought since when I watched season 2. Like many of us, I'm heartbroken and I need to make sense of something that appears to be senseless. Why were we led to believe we were in a much safer, if, admittedly, slightly less eventful, place for the whole season only to have our hearts mauled and our precious, peaceful fragile existences turned upside down in the last 10 minutes?

So, like many of us, I immersed myself in fanart, fanfiction, more characters analysis than I can count and different interpretation pieces to try and make sense of it all and attempt to make it to season 3 (or the promised book, if it all goes horribly wrong) with some of my sanity left.

Although I am sure there must be analysis that read the (in)famous last 10 minutes the way I do -because I CAN'T be the only one- I am yet to read any.

So, though I'm no writer, I thought someone had to play, well, the Angel's advocate.

For the sake of brevity, I'm not going to consider the coffee theory, the body swap theory, the theories that see the Metatron offer as a genuine offer or the theories that see Aziraphale as a power-hungry angel (I mean, COME ON!)

The theories I'm going to confute here are the Aziraphale-still-thinks-heaven-is-good-and-can-be-fixed theory, the Aziraphale-hasn't-recovered-from-his-religious-trauma theory, the Aziraphale-wants-to-do-the-right-thing-even-if-it-means-sacrificing-his-own-happiness theory and the Aziraphale-is-lying-to-keep-Crowley-safe theory.

I do wholeheartedly agree with the theory that has the Metatron make an either, direct or indirect threat to Crowley's very existence were Aziraphale not to go to heaven. I believe this would be the only possible explanation for Aziraphale's choice, only not in the way it's been talked about so far.

It would also explain the narrative device of us (the audience) be shown the conversation between Aziraphale and the Metatron only through Aziraphale's recount of it. Not that it needs an explanation other than "we wanted to do it like that and if you don't like it you're at liberty to go". But still.

Aziraphale-still-thinks-heaven-is-good-and-can-be-fixed theory

Good Omens is a story about Faith. Aziraphale is an Angel of Faith. Aziraphale has nothing but Faith. Aziraphale's Faith is unshakable. Going by what we are shown in season 2, Aziraphale's Faith lies entirely in Crowley. "I knew you would come through for me. You always do". In season one we see that he's not quite there yet up until just before the almost Armageddon and in the scenes set in the past his reactions at Crowley coming to the rescue are more "I was hoping but not assuming" rather than plain, confident Faith.

But in season 2 we are shown a different Angel. Someone, in another post, suggested that the minisodes in season 2 are in fact Aziraphale's memories, so we see them from his present day POV. I don't know if it's the case but it would make much sense as we see that Faith, that blind trust in Crowley that Aziraphale acquires during/just after almostgeddon in those minisodes. The whole season is shouting at us "The Angel trusts the Demon with his life! The Angel trusts the Demon with the humans' lives! With children's lives! The Angel trusts the Demon with his secrets, the Angel trusts the Demon with his bookshop, the Angel trusts the Demon with his magic tricks! The Angel trusts the Demon completely, blindly, unquestionably."Are you sure, angel?" "Yes, quite sure"; "I'm getting the humans out of here and then I'm coming back. I won't leave you on your own" "I know"; "I knew you would come through for me. You always do.".

Where does Heaven-is-good-and-can-be-fixed theory come into play in this? It doesn't. Aziraphale has all but forgotten heaven. He doesn't need it. It has been shown to Aziraphale, over and over, that heaven is not better than hell. Heaven is a distant, unpleasant memory of the past. It can be scary but it's certainly not where his Faith lies, certainly not something he sees as good, hasn't for a long time. Aziraphale is not a soldier of the army of Truth, Aziraphale is a heroic deserter of the army of Deception. "I've made my position quite clear". I believe we would be doing Aziraphale a great disservice if we quietly accepted that the Metatron's speech changed that quite clear position in a matter of minutes (or hours, or years, for that matters). If nothing else, I believe NG loves his and TP's child too much to set him back to a place where he thinks heaven is good and can be fixed.

So: Aziraphale thinks heaven is bad and can't be fixed.

Aziraphale-hasn't-recovered-from-his-religious-trauma theory

And thinks he can't love Crowley freely on Earth because that would be a sin. But he could love Crowley of a heavenly love were Crowley to become an Angel and that's why he let the Metatron convince him to return to heaven and take Crowley with him. He and Crowley can be together and be safe.

Have we watched the same series? Aziraphale is so ready! He's happily out on the other side waiting for Crowley to join him! I honestly think his arch regarding this is complete. He is a different character to the one we were introduced to at the beginning (and before the beginning, too), he's done the learning and the growing and HE. IS. READY.

Look at how comfortable he is when Crowley is around, look at his body language. Look at the way he looks at Crowley, well, always, but just to mention a few scenes: the apology dance, Crowley talking to Muriel about love; "smitten, I believe" and my favourite: the way Aziraphale looks at Crowley when Crowley mentions Alpha Centauri to Gabriel and Belzebub. Micheal-the-king-of-all-the-wild-acting-Sheen manages to makes his pupils dilate and tell us what Aziraphale is telling Crowley: "you are talking to me and I know you are talking to me. And I am ready. You just watch me pack my best waistcoats and we can be in Alpha Centauri tonight. I'll miracle an orchestra just so that you can invite me to dance and you'd better invite me to dance this time. I'll stare into your eyes for eternity and I'll kiss you and I'll love you like no one has ever loved before. And as soon as this lot is gone I'll tell you that because I. Am. So. Ready".

Aziraphale-wants-to-do-the-right-thing-even-if-it-means-sacrificing-his-own-happiness theory

Aziraphale senses that something is wrong and thinks that the only way to avoid disaster for humanity is an act of sabotage from the inside.

I believe this could be true to an extent (though I'm hoping to see something more dramatic that an act of sabotage) but I don't see it being the reason why he accepts the offer. It appears that Aziraphale learns about the Second Coming only after everything was said and done with Crowley and besides, didn't they manage to avoid Armageddon once before, the two of them together, from Earth? And if this was the reason he's accepting the offer, why hurt Crowley so badly? Aziraphale knows that Crowley won't go back to heaven, he knows that suggesting he be turned back into an Angel must be insulting, does he really believe this to be the best way to handle the situation? The Metatron might have been watching, someone will say but still, why hurt Crowley so much? He loves Crowley, he trusts him, did he really need to punch so low just to make him understand the gravity of the situation? It almost looked as he was deliberately trying to drive him away.

Which leads us to...

Aziraphale-is-lying-to-keep-Crowley-safe theory

This theory is the closest to what I believe happened in that it's based on the threat theory. The Metatron threatens Something Terrible will happen to Crowley unless Aziraphale goes back to heaven for good. Being erased from The Book Of Life comes to mind. That would of course be an ongoing, eternal threat to live under. Aziraphale can take Crowley to heaven as well, it doesn't really matter. If Crowley accepts, he will be reinstated as an angel so as not to cause too much trouble. If Crowley declines, it's just as well in the Metatron's eyes.

I'm not sure whether the Metatron really believes Aziraphale to be naive and easily manipulated or if he's having to make do with plan B given that (in my personal opinion) heaven doesn't actually have the Book Of Life and therefore can't take more drastic measures against Aziraphale and Crowley.

According to this theory, Aziraphale lies to Crowley as to what the real reason is of him accepting the offer. If he told the truth, Aziraphale knows Crowley will try and stop him, will insist on running away together. Crowley won't care about the threat: the only way to keep Crowley safe is to hurt him, to break his heart.

Aziraphale knows that freedom is more important than safety for Crowley. Always going his own way, always asking questions.

Crowley WOULD tell the Metatron where to stick it.

Aziraphale knows that Crowley would always put freedom above safety. We have known Crowley for roughly 500 pages and 12 42-to-60 minute episodes and we know it, Aziraphale has known Crowley for over 6000 years, surely he must know too.

Except...

"I knew you would come through for me. You always do".

Crowley would always put freedom above his own safety.

"I knew you would come through for me. You always do".

But what would Crowley do once the penny dropped and he realised that he wouldn't be the only one in danger? That Aziraphale would be under threat too if he refused to go to heaven?

"I knew you would come through for me. You always do".

Crowley wouldn't allow any danger to come to Aziraphale and Aziraphale knows it only too well. Would Crowley just accept to part ways without the heartbreak, if he knew about the threat? If he knew this was the only real reason of Aziraphale "accepting" the offer? Would Crowley accept to part ways, knowing that Aziraphale is sacrificing everything? Knowing that Aziraphale would always be in danger anyway, no matter what? I believe Aziraphale thinks Crowley wouldn't just leave him. "I knew you would come through for me. You always do".

I believe Aziraphale thinks, and I with him, that Crowley would hang his head low and follow Aziraphale to heaven, admitting defeat.

I believe that over his dead, discorporated, erased from The Book Of Life body, would Aziraphale let that happen. Crowley, who gifted humanity with the ability to tell good from evil and the freedom to choose between the two, reduced to be an angel again at the mercy of heaven, deprived of free will. Aziraphale won't allow that.

Aziraphale is not lying to keep Crowley safe. He's lying to keep Crowley free.

What Aziraphale will do is being the hero we always knew he was going to be. What Aziraphale will do is gifting Crowley the freedom he didn't know he was about to lose.

What Aziraphale will do is telling Crowley he's one of the bad guys but he can be turned good again and be second in command in heaven, nonetheless. The side of Truth, of Light. Aziraphale will listen to Crowley saying things that don't bear listening to right now and he will look at Crowley in the eye and tell him that nothing lasts forever. He will utter the words "I forgive you" after a kiss he has been longing for, for so long. He will break Crowley's heart and his own in the process but he'll make sure Crowley keeps his freedom, be that the last thing he does.

I believe that if we, the audience, had any doubt as to which side Aziraphale chooses, then we really weren't paying attention for the last 6000 years.

I believe now it will be time for Crowley to complete his arch and do the growing and the learning. Wonderful, brave, generous, compassionate, wounded Crowley. He said "trust me", Crowley. He said "trust me".

But Angel, oh Angel. You, just like Crowley, mean so much to us. Oh, the magic of storytelling! You both really do mean so much to so many of us and we just want to take your hand and tell you that everything will be ok in the end.

But there's sorrow on the way and pain and loneliness. And possibly another Armageddon to prevent.

But Angel, oh Angel. Don't lose your Faith. Ultimately, you do know it, do you not?

You know he will come through for you. He always does.

#good omens #good omens season 2 #aziraphale #azicrow #ineffable husbands #ineffable fandom

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odusseus-xvi · 7 months

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Just saw a post saying that it didn't feel right for q!Baghera to bond with q!Jaiden about their neutrality for Cucurucho especially considering what recenty happened to q!Forever. And at first, yeah okay, it's definitely unealthy, I understand, HOWEVER what made me do a double take is the later comment "It makes sense for q!Jaiden because it's her character but I'm disappointed in q!Baghera." And I was confused, because her pov makes sense in that. And then I saw the "I don't watch her pov, it's just what I see of her character." and that's where I went "OH, I can help with that ! :D" Because it does make sense form her pov.

So, time to clarify :

First of all, talking about Baghera (it's the character from now on) and Cucurucho's relationship, she has never been anti Cucurucho. She has always shown compassion for him. HOWEVER it was never in the way "he's a perfect little guy, it can do no wrong" but more in a "They might not have free will, someone or something might be suffering under all this. "

Because that's the thing, Cucurucho is not just Evil Guy tm that uses the fact he's nice to people in order to manipulate people on his side, it's a anthropomorphic white bear, with a robotic voice, godlike powers, and that might not even have free will or anything. To her POV there might be someone suffering. Does it know what it's doing, Can it make choices on it's own, Was something transformed against their will to become this. Are all those acts Cucurcho or the Federation using him ?

Their is then the shock and the recent revelation. You have to realise it's not just "the trauma she rediscovered is blinding her a little bit on some subjetcs." It's so much more intense. The PTSD was so intense she dissociated for 2 full weeks. The Federation had to go fetch her in order for her not to die. It was clear that this happened before AND can happen again. This is one of the reasons she tends to just clock out important and negative details that can induce stress, ESPECIALLY since she discovered she was created entirely by the Federation, in her pov yes Forever is part of her chosen family, but at the same time a BOMB of an information was dropped on her and the first reaction you have is not "It's okay, they are not my chosen family, I'm gonna focus on the people I care about." It's "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK DOES THAT MEAN ABOUT ME" And that might be something she sees in Cucurucho, it might have raised her. And it might be in a similar situation. She was also so Anti-Federation for so long that now that she knows she was made by them, that she can't escape them, she is so terrified that people would start seeing the Federation in her the same way they see it in Cucurucho.

In a way it's a bit like realising years later your parents are complete assholes, but in reverse. She realised the Federation are the reason she is alive, the reason she exists. She might know they are evil, but they raised her.. She HAS to find some good in them, there has to be right ? If she is of them, there has to be some good.

In a similar way the "Cucurucho has never done anything bad to me" is not JUST reassuring herself and blocking out the problems of the others (it's partly that, and I agree it's very unealthy, that's why we are cheering, we want the angst) but it's also "I know they are capable of good, I've seen it, there has to be a way to point it towards that good and fight the Federation's influence". Imagine the "I can fix him" meme but infinitely more fucked up.

I want to be very clear everyone who follows her POV realises everything she is doing is VERY unealthy and unfair to a lot of people (to q!Forever, among others yes, q!Etoiles himself commented on how she acted strange recently), BUT it does make sense from her pov, and because she hides things to the others, I do realise now that YES, from other povs it feels like a shift, and her just not caring, but she does care, she is just REALLY lost, confused and scared at the moment. And that is partly why we are all SO interested and invested in her bonding with Jaiden, because it's terribly unealthy and it offers two amazing possibilities, either they get out of it together, with some help or not and it's beautiful, OR they make each other worse.

I can't wait to see where they go with it.

#qsmp #qsmp baghera jones #qsmp etoiles #qsmp baghera #qsmp forever #qsmp jaiden #qsmp cucurucho

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kingtheghast · 1 year

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I wrote this as a comment on the actual vid but I'm posting it here cuz I'm feeling so much about it.

Okay you know why I like that ending so much? I think it made the most sense in the world- just hear me out.

Martyn was completely right, it IS a death game! All the formalities and concession seen before- an even match inside a cactus ring, waiting for the countdown of one final battle, blowing oneself up sky high to offer the first place- those don't need to happen at all. c!Martyn maybe went against the rules of the fight that he, Scott and Impulse agreed on, but the rules of the game? He followed them perfectly. You could even argue that it wasn't quite him at the end, even, not quite. The time being "tasty"- too reminiscent of the Watchers loving the taste of despair on the players' souls.

And then back to the Watchers. Every player has that intrinsic urge to try and survive, but Martyn? There's also an external force at play here, that wants him to win so, so badly. The Watchers want a show, and for some reason they're keen on c!Martyn putting on the main show for them. He's been hearing them since Dogwarts (and unless it's been said otherwise I don't see a reason to why he hasn't continued to hear them through the whole four seasons), putting that pressure on him… And after so long, he just has to crack, right? No time for games in a game of death, not when maybe, finally, he can fullfill "their will" and maybe stop this for good. He's no stranger to killing allies, anyway.

I think this ending was what was meant to happen. Play to win, everyone for themselves. This may be a stretch but remember Dogwarts? If Martyn had kept running instead of turning and trying to fight Scar after he killed his king, then maybe he would've lived. Finally, a policy of no attachments at the end, and it gets him the win, because maybe THIS is how the game is meant to be played.

And lore hat off, it was overall so fun to watch. From Cherri's amazing thumbnails, to the fast-forward of the watch, the skins, the hourglass, to even the little whistle of the tnt minecarts falling- and then of course, THE falling, once again. It made this pov very unique and I loved it so much. GG :)

#limited life smp #inthelittlewood #limited life spoilers #trafficblr #ghast.writing #ghast.post #counts as both i'll count it as both

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joelsgreys · 8 months

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Talk Tonight l Part 1 (Joel Miller x OC Female Reader)

Series Masterlist

Summary: After their flight home is canceled, two complete strangers decide to spend the entire night getting lost together in one of the most beautiful cities in the world—what could go wrong?

Pairing: Pre Outbreak Joel Miller x OFC Camila Mendoza

Warnings/Tags: 18+ Only Minors DNI. NO big age gap, Joel is 35 and Reader is 29. Reader is a mixed woman of color, she is multilingual, although it is written in second person POV (I am terrible at doing third person, sorry) she does come with a name. I also do give her a physical description EXCEPT for her body type (she is shorter than Joel though). Ultimately, if you choose to read this story, you’re more than welcome to read it how you want! If you want to picture her as I write her or as your own—whatever tickles your fancy!

Chapter Warnings/Tags: preface angst (I sorry), we have our girl Sarah, Tommy is a pain in the ass but we love him, airport meet cute, Camila has a physical description, talk of her career and profession, I think that’s about it.

Word Count: 4.3k

A/N: Well, here she is. My lil passion project. It has been kind of nice to write something with zero expectations, not going to lie. No pressure, just straight vibing with this one. This chapter is quite tame, not a whole lot of action yet, but it obviously sets the story up for the good stuff. Tbh, the next chapter is my FAVORITE of the whole series and I almost wish I could skip this part and post that one because when I tell you it is cute, it is so fucking cute lmao. But anyway. I know this series might not gain a ton of traction, but I hope that the few people who DO read this enjoy my OC and grow to love her as much as I have and that you love this story as well. Also I just want to shoutout Doni @morning-star-joy for being so lovely to me and supporting my idea and letting me scream about Camila to her. 🩷

Charles De Gaulle Airport

Paris, France

September 26th, 2002

07:00 Hours

“I beg your pardon?”

Startled by the sound of that rich, deep voice, that heavy Southern drawl that had become so familiar to you over the last nine hours, you lifted your face from your hands and whipped around in your seat; you’d turned so fast that you almost gave yourself whiplash. Your lips parted slightly in surprise when you saw Joel Miller standing there in the aisle with his plane ticket clutched in his hand.

He looked at you, then his dark eyes flickered over to the man sitting next to you. “Sorry I don’t mean to be a bother, but would you mind swappin’ seats with me?” He asked, politely. “I’ve got a good seat up in business class. It’s all yours if you’re willin’ to switch with me.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “What’s the catch?”

Joel shook his head. “There ain’t no catch, sir.”

“There has to be a catch,” he said, suspiciously.

“Ain’t no catch at all. It’s all yours, no extra charge, sir,” he told him, earnestly. “It’s more comfortable; there’s plenty of legroom. There’s also free food, a better selection of movies to watch. Oh and all the complimentary drinks that you can toss back from here to Austin,” Joel added, practically shoving his ticket right under the man’s nose. He hoped it had been enough to tempt him into agreeing to switch with him. “So? What do you say? Can we swap?”

“Well, I say you had me at complimentary drinks,” he remarked with a grin. He stood up, grabbed his carry on bag from the overhead compartment and took the ticket from Joel’s hand. Eagerly, he made his way up the aisle towards the front of the plane.

Dumbfounded, you couldn’t help but stare at Joel, your eyes widening as he slid himself into the seat beside you. “Hi baby,” he greeted you, his lips, soft and warm, brushing against your temple.

“Joel?” You sniffed, quickly dabbing at your damp, swollen eyes with the sleeve of your cardigan. “I’m confused. What in the world are you doing here? Is this even allowed?”

“It’s fine, Mila. I asked one of the flight attendants, she said it was okay so long as he agreed to it.” He put on his seatbelt and glanced over, noticing that your own seatbelt remained unfastened. Reaching over, Joel grabbed the two straps and pulled them around your hips, buckling it for you. He then gave it a firm tug to make sure it was secure. He felt the way you were looking at him and murmured, “Just wanna make sure you’re safe, baby. That’s all.”

“Joel,” You whispered his name thickly. “Seriously, what are you doing back here?”

Joel’s eyes met yours. “If I can get just a few more hours with you, I’m gonna take them. Camila, I will take every last second I can get with you, alright?”

“But—”

You stopped, clamping your mouth shut as a fresh batch of hot tears threatened to spill over.

“C’mere.” He cupped your cheek with his opposite hand and delicately tucked your face into the spot between his neck and his collarbone, soothing you softly, “I’m here, baby. It’s okay, I’m right here. I’ve got you.”

You clutched fistfuls of his denim jacket and clung to him desperately—it was almost as if you’d been clinging onto dear life itself.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Joel promised. “We’re gonna be okay, sweetheart. We’re gonna be okay.”

But that couldn’t have been father from the truth.

You and Joel weren’t going to be okay.

You knew that.

And he did too.

Charles De Gaulle Airport

Paris, France

September 25th, 2002

21:00 Hours

“You’re still in Paris?” Sarah shrieked loudly.

Wincing, Joel pulled his Nokia away from his ear.

She had nearly blown his goddamn eardrum out.

“Please tell me this is some kind of sick joke?”

He sighed heavily, tiredly rubbing at the side of his face with his opposite hand.

He should have known, expected even, that Sarah wouldn’t take the news of his current predicament all too well—she wouldn’t take it well at all.

Joel brought his phone back to his ear. “Sorry, but unfortunately this ain’t a joke, babygirl,” he replied to her after a minute, letting out another sigh. Joel glanced across the crowded airport lounge and he squinted over at the big digital sign hanging above the airline’s counter displaying all the details of his flight home to Austin, Texas. Even after about four hours, it still flashed red, signaling to everyone the flight was still very much delayed due to the harsh weather conditions on the route. Like Joel, several other passengers were growing restless. “We were supposed to take off a few hours ago, but there’s a pretty bad storm on the East Coast—”

Sarah cut him off with a dramatic groan.

“Oh, come on man! Are you fucking serious?”

“Hey now, you had best watch your language!” He chastised his teenaged daughter. “Don’t you think for one second that I ain’t gonna ground your little behind from halfway across the world, missy. I will ground you right from this airport.” He reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Christ, I leave you alone with Uncle Tommy for one weekend—”

“Tell me you’ll be home by tomorrow night, dad.”

He could hear the disappointment in her tone.

As if she already knew she would be let down.

Joel couldn’t blame her.

“I’m not sure when I’ll be home,” he admitted. “It’s lookin’ like the flight might get even canceled.”

“But tomorrow’s your birthday!” Sarah cried. “You have to be home for your birthday.” There’s a long, silent pause on her end of the line, but just as Joel was about to ask her if she was still there, she said in a sad, devastated voice, “It was supposed to be a surprise, but Nana and Grandpa are coming into town tomorrow. We planned a big birthday dinner, even ordered a special cake and everything. You’re always working on your birthday, we haven’t had a chance to properly celebrate it together in years.”

Joel’s heart sank, the guilt creeping in. “Sarah, I’m sorry, babygirl—”

“You just can’t be stuck in Paris, dad. You can’t—”

Suddenly, he heard Tommy in the background.

“Wait a damn minute, what did you just say? He’s stuck where, now? You’ve gotta be—here, give me the phone, kiddo.” There’s another long pause and then his younger brother’s voice came on the line. “What the hell do you mean you’re stuck in Paris?”

“Exactly what it sounds like,” Joel replied, flatly.

“You better be fuckin’ talkin’ about Paris, Texas.”

“Christ, Tommy! Watch your fuckin’ mouth around my daughter,” he hissed, knowing damn good and well that Sarah was standing beside him, listening to him. “I’m stranded at the goddamn airport here in France. I’ve been sittin’ on my ass for hours now just waitin’ around. My flight’s delayed due to that big storm over on the East Coast,” he explained. “I don’t know how long I’m gonna be here since they grounded all air traffic to the States. Nothin’s flyin’ out in that direction right now.”

“Oh c’mon, that can’t be true! Somethin’s gotta be flyin’ out of that airport to the United States. Have you tried switchin’ airlines?”

Annoyed, Joel snorted and rolled his eyes. “Jesus, Tommy, that ain’t how it fuckin’ works, you moron. Nothin’ is flyin’ out in that direction right now,” his voice was firm as he repeated himself. “That really so goddamn fuckin’ hard to understand?”

“Those Europeans put somethin’ in your water?”

“The hell you fuckin’ talkin’ about?”

“‘Cause your ass is crankier than usual, brother.”

Joel pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to keep his composure.

Even in his late twenties, Tommy refused to grow the fuck up and it often drove him to his wits end.

“Look, this long distance call is costin’ me a damn fortune, so listen and listen good, ‘cause I ain’t got a whole lot of time left,” Joel snapped. “I need you to do me a real big favor, alright?” Without waiting for a response from his brother, he continued, “It’s Sunday, so I need you to make sure that Sarah got all of her homework done this weekend. But check it for yourself—and don’t let her lie to you, Tommy. She’ll swear to you she did it, even if she didn’t. I’ll also need you to take her to school tomorrow. She can’t be late again. Her homeroom teacher already chewed me out for droppin’ her off after first bell. I need you to get her there before eight o’ clock. Do you think you can handle that for me?”

Tommy clicked his tongue. “Sorry I wasn’t listenin’ to you, what did you just say?”

Joel’s jaw clenched. “Tommy, I swear to Christ—”

He laughed. “I’m just fuckin’ with you, Joel. I got it all handled, okay? Uncle Tommy to the rescue.”

“Uncle Tommy’s a fuckin’ idiot,” Joel mumbled. “It ain’t a joke. Can I trust you to do this for me or do I need to call Mrs Adler and ask her for her help?”

“I’m a little offended,” Tommy scoffed out. “I think I’ve been takin’ real good care of Sarah on my own over these last few days since you’ve been gone. I mean, she’s alive and she’s breathin’ ain’t she?”

“Tommy—”

“Relax, Joel. I’ll check out her homework tonight, I promise. And I’ll get her to school tomorrow, make sure she ain’t late. You can trust me. Alright?”

“Not like I’ve got much of a choice,” he muttered.

“That’s the spirit.”

Joel rolled his eyes. “I’ve gotta go. Tell Sarah I love her and I’ll do my best to make it home on time for that not so surprise special birthday dinner Mama and Pop are comin’ into town for tomorrow night.”

“You got it, big brother.”

Joel ended the call and then shoved his Nokia into the pocket of his faded, black denim jacket.

He had to get back home by tomorrow night.

If he didn’t, Sarah would be absolutely crushed.

He’d spent his last three birthdays working double shifts just to help make ends meet—but ever since he finally got his construction business going with Tommy, the hours had been even more brutal now that it was just the two of them doing big jobs. He swore both to himself and to Sarah he would try to take more time off—for birthdays, holidays, soccer tournaments, dance recitals. To spend more of his time with her.

So far, he hadn’t been able to keep his word.

He felt like a jackass for it, but what could he do?

It wasn’t just about paying the bills anymore.

Sarah would be turning fourteen next year.

In a few years, he’d be putting her through college.

He needed to work to secure her future for her.

Joel sank back into his chair, taking a look around; his dark eyes scanned the lounge with disinterest.

That’s when you caught his attention.

Caught it and held onto it with a vice like grip.

Joel’s throat went dry.

Christ, you were so fucking beautiful.

Dark brown curls, soft skin the color of deep sand.

Your white sundress only accentuated the warmth of your smooth complexion, giving you a glow that was so radiant it knocked the wind from his lungs, making it hard for him to catch an even breath.

You were sitting in the row of chairs opposite his, a couple chairs down. He couldn’t be too sure, but it seemed like you were traveling alone—the chair on your left was empty and the one on your right held your tan leather satchel bag. Your nose was buried deep into a worn out, paperback book and he took notice of the way you would take the ballpoint pen that you had tucked behind your ear, using it to jot down notes on the crinkled, yellowing pages every so often. Then you would put the pen back behind your ear with a the tiniest, satisfied little grin.

Joel swallowed, his throat bobbing harshly.

He couldn’t take his eyes off of you.

You must have felt his stare because you suddenly looked up from your book, meeting his gaze. You’d seemed a bit startled at first, but then flashed him a pleasant, friendly smile.

Embarrassed, Joel quickly turned away from you.

Way to go you fuckin’ idiot, he thought to himself, silently. She probably thinks you’re a damn creep.

He feigned a sudden interest in the airplane that is parked right outside the gate, the very same plane he was supposed to have boarded four hours ago.

“Êtes-vous coincé ici aussi?”

The sweet, feminine voice came from beside him.

Startled, Joel looked to see you’d moved, and now occupied the once empty seat next to him.

“Uh, sorry. I don’t speak French,” he sputtered out nervously.

“Oh, I’m so sorry about that,” You said, making the effortless transition from French to English. “I just assumed, but I shouldn’t have.” Tossing him a soft and apologetic smile, you asked, “So then, you are an American too?” Of course, there was no reason to ask such a question when the answer was quite obvious, but you were trying to get a conversation with him going.

“Yeah.” Joel winced, mentally kicking himself over how curt he’d sounded. “I’m from Texas.”

Your hazel green eyes glimmered with amusement and you flashed him a brilliant smile that made his heart skip a beat or two inside his chest.

“I thought I detected a hint of a Southern drawl.”

“Oh trust me, it ain’t just a hint, darlin’.”

You threw your head back slightly, laughing. “Well, hello there cowboy,” You teased him, playfully. You were even more stunning up close and all he could do was hope that you couldn’t tell how nervous he was underneath the surface—eager to be chatting up a stunning woman like you, but still nervous.

“So what did you ask me just a minute ago?”

“I asked if you’ve been stuck here like me.”

Joel grinned, feeling a little more courageous.

“Ain’t it obvious what flight I’m waitin’ on, angel?”

“Oh very much so, cowboy.” Grinning back at him, you leaned back into your chair and made yourself comfortable. “I’m waiting on that same flight too.”

Joel chuckled. “At this rate we’d get to Austin a lot faster by swimmin’ across the Atlantic.”

“It’s too bad I don’t know how to swim. Otherwise, I’d say let’s get paddling,” You kidded, causing him to laugh again. “How long were you here in Paris?”

“Few days,” he answered. “Buddy of mine married his longtime girlfriend here. I was his best man.”

You wrinkled your nose at him. “Really?”

Amused, he asked, “Somethin’ wrong with that?”

“I mean, getting married in the most romantic city in the entire world? Don’t you think that’s just a bit cliché?”

Joel shrugged. “I suppose it is,” he agreed. “Come to think of it, can’t get more cliché than that. But I couldn’t say no to Wyatt. He’s been my best friend since we were in diapers,” he explained. “He asked me to be his best man. I couldn’t say no to him, no matter how fuckin’ cliché the whole thing was—”

He suddenly stopped, face burning.

“Sorry darlin’,” he apologized, sheepishly. “I should mind my manners. It ain’t polite to curse when I’m in the presence of a lovely lady.”

Your laugh sent a pleasant shiver down his spine.

Waving a hand, you assured him, “It’s totally fine. I don’t it mind at all.”

Joel smiled, angling his body towards you.

His nerves hadn’t disappeared, not completely.

But as the seconds ticked by, he felt more at ease.

Talking to you felt as natural as breathing.

Joel decided to turn the tables. “What about you? How long were you here for?”

“Oh, I wasn’t. I’m actually just here on a layover.”

“From where?”

“Somalia.”

Joel frowned. “I damn near failed geography when I was in high school. You’re gonna have to help me out a little here, darlin’. Where’s Somalia?”

“East Africa.”

“Africa?” His eyebrows shot up in surprise. He had never been into traveling—he preferred to stay put in his bubble in Texas. Flying out to Paris for Wyatt and the wedding had been Joel’s first time leaving the United States. He never had a desire to go and see the world, nor the interest. But he would have been lying if he said you hadn’t piqued his interest with such an unexpected answer. “What were you doin’ down there?”

“Working. I’m a traveling physician.”

Joel’s mouth fell open slightly. “You’re a doctor?”

You quirked an eyebrow. “Is that such a surprise?”

“How old are you?”

“It’s not polite to ask a lady her age,” You smacked his arm playfully. “Don’t you know that?”

He flushed. “Sorry, it’s just—you seem a bit young to be a doctor, that’s all. I wouldn’t have thought.”

Tilting your head to the side, you asked, “Well how old do you think I am, cowboy? And don’t lie to me just to stay in my good graces. I won’t be offended by your guess, I promise.”

“Twenty five?” Joel guessed, honestly. “Or twenty six?”

“You flatter me, but no. I’ll be thirty in December.”

“So tell me, doc. How long were you in Africa?”

“About a month,” You replied. “I was there with my team to visit some of the villages in Somalia to see families in need of basic healthcare. We offer them medicine and supplies, we offer vaccines. I tend to the children, mostly. I specialize in pediatrics.”

Joel couldn’t help but stare at you in awe.

“What?”

“That’s just really impressive,” he admitted. After a minute, he found himself asking, “Now that you’re done workin’ down there, are you goin’ back home to Austin for a while? That where you’re from?”

You shook your head, and he hoped he didn’t look as disappointed as he felt.

“I’m from Laredo,” You said. “But then I moved for college. I did pre-med at The University of Texas in Austin.”

“You visitin’ your old stompin’ grounds?” he joked.

“Something like that.” You giggled. “One of my old professors, he invited me to give a lecture to some of his students who are interested in medicine and might want to pursue careers in the field—I’ll only be in Austin for a day, then it’s off to my next work assignment.”

Joel shot you another incredulous look.

“What? Why do you keep looking at me like that?”

“I just figured you’d have to be some old geezer to give a lecture to college students.”

“Nope. You just have to be really good at what you do,” You winked at him. “That’s all.”

Before Joel could say another word, an attendant at the airline counter picked up their radio to make an announcement over the intercom—the flight to Austin had been canceled and all passengers were required to book a new one for the following day.

There was a collective groan in the lounge.

“Well, that’s a bummer,” You let out a tiny sigh and stood up, slinging the long, thick strap of your bag over your shoulder. Turning towards him, you gave him a warm smile. “Thank you for talking to me. It was nice having some company.” Lightly touching his shoulder, you said, “Good luck in getting home tomorrow, cowboy.”

Retracting your hand, you whirled around.

Joel jumped to his feet, ready to stop you.

But it was too late.

With the hustle and bustle of everyone scrambling towards the airline ticket counter, he’d quickly lost you in the massive crowd of people.

Joel craned his neck, searching around for you.

“C’mon,” he muttered. “Where’d you go?”

Finally, after a couple of minutes, Joel spotted you walking away from one of the counters with a new plane ticket in hand.

He didn’t even have to think twice about it.

Making his way through the crowd, Joel rushed to the counter and up to the same blond woman who had assisted you. “That girl who was just here, the one with the dark curly hair,” he said. “Can you tell me which flight she booked?”

The attendant gave him a strange look. “Yes she is on the first flight available to Austin,” she stated in a thick, French accent. “Seven in the morning.”

“I need to be on that flight,” Joel told her. Noticing the hint of annoyance on her face, he added in the most polite tone he could muster, “Please. And I’d like the seat next to hers, if it’s possible.”

She shot him another odd look, but typed away at her keyboard and checked the computer screen.

“My apologies, Monsieur. But the seat next to her has already been booked by another passenger.”

“What ‘bout one close to her, then?” He tried.

“I am afraid the only seats left available are at the very back of the plane or business class.”

Joel sighed. He pulled his wallet out from the back pocket of his jeans and handed her his credit card.

“Fine. I’ll just upgrade to a business class seat.”

The attendant nodded. “Of course, Monsieur.”

Once he was all set, he thanked her and started to make his way through the lounge and towards the exit. He walked outside and took a look around the terminal, his eyebrows pulling together.

He knew the chances of finding you were slim, but he took comfort in knowing that he would see you in the morning on the flight back to Austin.

Until then, he had about nine hours to kill.

“Suppose there’s worse cities to be stuck in,” Joel muttered to himself. Most places had translations, and he figured he could get by on his own alright. The hotel he’d stayed at with the wedding party, it wasn’t too far from the airport—after a drink and a bite to eat, he could book a room for the night and crash until the morning.

He started down the sidewalk, but then stopped—out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of your curls and his stomach fluttered eagerly.

You were standing in line waiting for a cab holding what appeared to be a map in your hands.

Before his mind and body could even try making a connection, he found himself walking over to you.

“Hey there,” Joel greeted as he approached you.

You looked up from your map and beamed at him.

“Hey! Did you manage to get a new flight home?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I did. I’m on the first one out to Austin at seven o’ clock in the mornin’.”

Your smile widened. “I’m on that one too!”

“You don’t say,” Joel said in a nonchalant tone. He didn’t want to admit he already knew that. “Well, if that just ain’t a funny coincidence.” His eyes fell to the map in your hands. “What’cha got there?”

“A map to the city.”

He laughed. “Gonna go sightseein’ or what?”

“I am indeed going sightseeing, actually.”

Joel’s smile faltered. “You serious? At this time?”

“I’ve been to Paris a couple of times before. I have always wanted to see it at night, but never had the guts to do it,” You confessed. “But here I am stuck for the next nine hours, so I suppose tonight is the night I finally do it.”

“You’re crazy.”

“I prefer the term adventurous.” Folding your map, you looked at him. “What about you, cowboy? You have anything planned for your night?”

Joel shrugged, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “Was gonna go grab a bite to eat and then get a hotel room to crash in.”

He was tempted, oh so tempted, to ask you to join him for a late dinner and drinks—just when he had worked up the courage to go for it, you spoke.

“Did you get to see the city while you were here?”

“I didn’t see much of anythin’,” he admitted. “With the weddin’ and all, I didn’t have the time. It ain’t a big deal, though. I ain’t a big sightseein’ kinda guy to begin with, you know?”

You raised your eyebrows at him. “Wait a minute, I just want to make sure I have this straight—you’ve got an entire commitment free night in Paris, and you’re going to spend it cooped up in some hotel room?”

Joel shrugged. “I reckon I am.”

“No way.” You grabbed his arm and started to pull him over towards an available cab. “You’re coming with me tonight.”

“Wait just a minute, darlin’—”

Ignoring him, you continued to drag him along. “It would a crime if you didn’t see this city before you go back home,” You stated, opening the back door to the car. You tried shoving him into the backseat but he caught himself on the roof of the vehicle.

“Whoa, whoa. Hold on there a second, angel,” he said with a chortle. “You’re really just gonna spend a whole night in a foreign city with a complete and total stranger you just met half an hour ago? What if I’m some kinda serial killer?”

You blinked. “Are you a serial killer?”

“Well no I ain’t a serial killer, but my point is—”

“Then we’re fine,” You chirped. “Come on, let’s go. There’s no time to waste.”

Pushing past him, you climbed into the backseat.

“You coming?” You asked over your shoulder.

Joel chuckled, sliding in next to you.

“Guess I am.”

He shut the door behind him—this was happening and yet somehow it didn’t even feel real.

A chance to spend the entire night with you?

It just didn’t feel real to him.

“I’m Camila,” You introduced yourself, extending a hand towards him.

He took your hand, holding it in his.

“Camila,” Joel repeated with a smile. “That’s a real pretty name for a real pretty girl.”

You grinned.

“How about you, cowboy? You got a name?”

“Joel. Joel Miller.”

You gave his hand a squeeze.

“Well Joel Miller, it seems like we aren’t complete and total strangers anymore, are we now?”

His own grin widened. “No, darlin’ I suppose we ain’t.”

#queued to post #fic: talk tonight #joel miller x ofc #joel miller x original character #Joel miller x original female character #joel miller fluff #joel miller angst #joel miller story #joel miller series #pedro pascal characters

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ymaohohoh · 2 months

Text

Elriel Masterpost

Elriel - Writing prompts & Masterlist.

(reposting from my main)

Just some ideas I’ve been thinking about (over and over). Posting them to inspire others or I may take a stab at them myself. Completed fics are linked. Open to requests.

Completed

Elain is struggling with her first Fae blood cycle alone and refuses to ask for help because she’s embarrassed. Azriel leaves her a tonic. - oneshot

Their first time is obviously out in the garden - oneshot, M rated.

Azriel’s POV when they go to the Hewn City in Silver Flames. He and Elain steal a quiet moment together while Nesta dances. - oneshot with angst and smutty thoughts.

Azriel teaches Elain how to use a dagger. - oneshot

Azriel teaches Elain how to winnow and they end up angrily expressing their feelings. - angsty oneshot.

Elain learns about Rhys’s interruption on Solstice. She tells her brother-in-law to back off and respect her choices. Rhys, to her surprise, agrees to support her.

Elain and Azriel are about to die and confess their feelings. - oneshot, angst party

Elain asks the cauldron to take back her gifts, she wants Azriel instead. - oneshot

Prompts

Elain still finds it difficult to put her head under the water in the bath. She prefers her baths to be piping hot against the chill.

Elain dancing at Nesta and Cassian’s mating ceremony – she wears cobalt blue and the stars are shining.

Elain sees the sea for the first time. She wants to swim in it but she doesn’t know how.

Mor spots Elain admiring the Illyrian boy’s wing’s and tells her about the wingspan rumour. Elain laughs until she cries. It’s the most she’s laughed since the Cauldron.

Elain catches a bit of the Valkyrie training and admires the strength and power of the fighters, though she knows her own inner strength can match it.

Elain makes a pledge and gets her very own tattoo. It’s not in a place you see easily. Azriel has a look for it.

Elain rejects the bond with Lucien and he's thankful. She feels a crushing sense of relief as the bond vanishes and they work on their friendship (they actually get along well now the drama is gone).

Elain sees her first Starfall. Azriel flies her somewhere to get a better view.

Elain tries on some Illyrian leathers for the first time. She can feel a certain person’s gaze on her. She looks just as good in a flowing dress though (and better yet - nothing at all).

Elain embroiders something for Azriel and he keeps it by his bed.

Gender Swap AU - Elain is the deadly shadowsinger and Azriel is the quiet gardener.

Elain and little Nyx play together. She thinks about children and motherhood and what it might mean for her.

#elain archeron #pro elain #pro elriel #elriel #azriel shadowsinger #elain and azriel #azriel and elain #elain x azriel #azriel x elain #acotar #elriel headcanon #elriel fanfic #elriel fic

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sgiandubh · 8 months

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Sasnak City - a different view

I will never encourage you enough to read the whole comments' thread of a post you liked. Otherwise, it's blink and you'll miss it, as I almost missed the only feedback of the Sasnak City event we have on this side of the spectrum: @rosfrank's. She graciously agreed to let me repost them and I truly thank her for the kindness.

Her comments were made under two different posts, so I collated them and vetted their content as much as I could, given the unprecedented context of the SAG-AFTRA strike and the scarcity of details. I did not watch the recap on Instagram, because I am not a fan of the format.

I had no idea Sasnak City was a consistent partner of the Camp Encourage for autistic children project. At least since 2020, as a very superficial Google search shows:

...in 2020, with RR...

... in 2022....

What is Camp Encourage?

This:

Do you have any idea of what it is to be the mother of an autistic child? I don't have this honor. I have never been through the stress and the pain of looking for the right solution, for the good therapist. I never had to swallow my impotent tears and fight with the angel, fruitlessly asking myself why did it happen to me.

I can assure you that career, money and the white picket fence house which mortgage you just paid off do not matter. Not when you wait dejected, with your well-garnished checkbook and no hope in sight, until the good doctor will finally see you. Not when your child is a desperately inaccessible fortress. Not when you tell yourself you just can't take it anymore and yet miraculously find out that yes, you eventually can, over and over and over again.

Before judging, you might want to take a moment.

Side note: the man who supposedly is not good with kids interacted with the organizer's autistic son. On stage (try and take an autistic person out of their comfort zone, anyone?). Oh. What an inconvenient truth, again.

Different figures circulate. I think this is pretty close to reality and also to the 'small and personal fan convention format'. Not sure it made anybody rich overnight, after you deduce all the costs - part of proceeds went to the above charity, anyways. Zealots would like more transparency, perhaps. With which moral authority?

Second bone of contention and a particularly unsavory one, at that, the disrespect of the SAG-AFTRA's strike rules:

What was I telling you, the other day?

As for the limbo, I cannot believe no one bothered to look around a bit for confirmation. On Facebook, for example:

They did their due diligence homework. This announcement was posted on July 14, 2023, with a solidarity with the strike hashtag to boot. Propaganda? Hypocrisy? Oh, give me a break. It is legally impeccable.

There you go. No mention of the show anywhere - check. Screened questions - check. Only the SS paraphernalia (pics, etc) supplied - check. Books still ok for autographs (at S's discretion to go ahead or not, which means SAG-AFTRA is ok with, by the way) - check. Make lemonade when life gives you lemons and 'be creative' - check.

Where is the problem? Why certain sleuthing skills suddenly vanish when it's about formulating a balanced, reasonable POV?

Let me guess. It's all about the "go away, ugly socks, your story sucks" syndrome. Oh.

You'd wish, duckies. You'd wish.

I am not these people's lawyer. Playing Atticus Finch completely ceased to interest me sometime around 1998 AD. I even doubt we can stand each other IRL, for reasons. But I am not discussing people, here. I am discussing and debunking a homespun web of self-righteous lies.

Thank you, @rosfrank. Your gesture was generous and very, very brave.

#sag aftra strike

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striderl · 5 days

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I always wanted to ask this but I wasn't sure just how much importance he had but after seeing several mentions of him, what was the relationship each member of Film Industry (excluding Polaroid) had with Chief? How did the rest of the members took to his death when they got the news? They seemed to respect him alot :'( What relationship could Chief had with Polaroid if they had met anyways?

We could pretty much agree on the fact that Chief is a selfless hero of the alliance, from the action of tossing the prototype disinfection gun to the POV in Ep.35. Regarding some of my headcanons about Chief, I can envision him being an optimistic person with a rather inviting personality.

Chief had personally recruited Styrofim from the infantry division. To be fair, Styrofilm was seriously traumatized since the beginning of the war, with the accidental murder of his mentor and almost losing his head due to the Kamikaze Skibidi in Ep. 14 (if you check the post of pre-Film-Industry Styrofilm, he has a notch in his filmstrip-holder and he is missing one of the handles). Chief valued Styrofilm not because he considered him too smart to be a cannon fodder, it was because he genuinely sympathized with Styrofilm. He took Styrofilm under his wing and helped him move on from the tragedies.

Chief was introduced to Foley when the speakerman faction allied with the cameraman faction. Despite Foley’s expertise in weapon smithing and organic biology, many units were weirded out by Foley’s eccentricity and ominous and refused to interact with him under any conditions, especially due to the fact that he returned to his faction with a bomb strapped to his core. Different from most units’ reactions towards Foley, Chief was willing to accept his differences as well as his defects, disregarding the Speakerman faction directors’ warning about Foley’s past. Foley was surprised by Chief since he never had an actual friend, which led to him developing a close relationship with Chief.

As mentioned in a previous post, Chief first encountered Gaffer when the alliance formed with the TV faction. Gaffer always has trust issues due to the TV faction culture and her experience of being used by humans to commit atrocities. But with Chief and Styrofilm’s kindness, she soon opens up to them and offers her complete trust toward the Film Industry.

In short, Chief was the one who kept the team together. Losing him really takes a toll on all the members of the Film Industry, as he had been emotionally supporting them for so long, especially Foley. As mentioned in the Film Industry Intro, Foley has been so emotionally dependent on Chief, that he almost completely lost it when he heard about Chief’s death.

[A throwback to what Foley talked about in this comic]

Also, if you are asking about Chief and Polaroid's relationship if they meet, well...

#Ask #Skibidi Toilet #Skibidi Toilet OCs #OC Foley #OC Gaffer #OC Polaroid #Chief #Cameraman Scientist

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ouabhs · 6 months

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acftl review (finally)

I give it a 3 ⭐️ (as much as it pains me) even then it’s only this high bc I love evajacks so much

so I was finally able to gather my thoughts into one post and while there were many things I enjoyed a few others didn’t sit right..

1. the whole story curse thing.. it makes sense that the story curse would twist things which is why some things were left unexplained but it doesn’t feel like it was done deliberately?? it just felt like stephanie genuinely didn’t know how to tie some things together.. like sure not every single thing needs an explanation but she emphasised certain things wayyy too much in the first two books for them to be completely ignored for example evajacks talking to each other in their minds. Even the broken heart scar wasn’t addressed again after like halfway through acftl

2. too much apollo.. sorry this is not even just me being biased or whatever like I do agree his pov helped explain the plot from a different perspective but he got wayyy more of a backstory and a conclusion to his character than jacks for a someone that wasn’t as present in the last 2 books.. and this was supposed to be jacks’ series kinda (ik it was evangelines too) but I feel like jacks got sidelined hard and that’s disappointing. It also didn’t help that whenever there was an intense scene between evajacks the pov would switch to apollo.. to be fair I think having 3 povs was just hard to execute in general

3. the kiss scene.. usually it would not be a big deal but it’s a big part of jacks character that he can’t kiss girls without killing them idk I thought him finally getting to kiss evangeline would be a lot more… grand? they barely got a page or any detail and then the next chapter was “once upon a time there was kissing and more kissing 🥰🥰” which was even more underwhelming. Even apollo and evangelines kiss scenes were longer and more detailed and they got multiple

4. the overall vibe of the 3rd book felt very different to the first two I couldn’t put my finger on it at first but I feel like it had something to do with the writing.. at some parts it felt familiar (like all the descriptions and the fairytale aspects) but others it just felt different?

5. during too many scenes it just felt like stephanie was rewriting tbona.. like I haven’t really seen anyone say this yet but a good chunk of the book was quotes from tbona which I feel took up a lot of unnecessary space and could’ve been used to develop other plots or characters? Literally someone that hasn’t read tbona could get a gist of what happened cause it’s all summarised in there 😭

6. the plot in general.. contrary to popular belief I don’t think this was that romance focused (as people claim as to why things weren’t explained) because I think stephanie incorporated more plot in here but it was just different to what we saw in the last books because previous characters (luc, marisol, tiberius, kristof) weren’t as present in this book and new characters plots and explanations were just thrown in.. not much felt connected

7. jacks’ backstory.. (going back to my second point) how he became a fate was really glossed over I feel and was only briefly mentioned but I just wanted more.. I do like the fact that he said he did it for chaos and I wish their friendship was delved into more because he literally turned to immortality because his friend would be alone. What about his parents? His friendship with Lyric? The merrywood three in general? His life when he was trapped in the card?

8. the first fox.. again wayy too significant to be missed out especially since jacks doesn’t really remember whether or not he had a thing for her and chaos said evangeline was similar to her.. how was there no link?

I definitely have more to add but for now my main takeaway is that while tbona was very hard to top I feel like acftl could’ve been so much more especially since it was set up so well.. I think so many people are disappointed because it doesn’t hold up as well for the last book in a series but I’m just glad evajacks got their happy ending 🫠

#acftl #evajacks #ouabh #acftl theories #evangeline fox #caraval #jacks x evangeline #tbona spoilers #the ballad of never after #jacks prince of hearts #a curse for true love #acftl spoilers #stephanie garber

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ladystarksneedle · 6 months

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What happened to Liv? 😭 I know you two are close I can’t find her blog anymore 😭😭😭😭

Hey anon! Thank you for reaching out. Liv decided to deactivate or delete her blog after all the hate anons she received. It was a pretty pointless debate, if you'd even call it that at this point, with her getting very vile and personally attacking anons to the point where she felt this wasn't a happy place to be sharing her thoughts, to which I absolutely agree with.

Since you've brought up the topic that was the shortest answer I could give you above. If you are interested in reading more I'll expand below the cut, as I have a lot to say.

This whole thing started about a fictional character, Michael Gavey, who hasn't appeared on screen or will appear for 64 seconds and sparked a debate on whether you should write or read or plainly consume fanfiction about a character who hasn't been properly defined.

Now it could have remained that. A debate and I personally see things from both povs

This is a post I agree with as a writer.

Here

I'm an amateur, I've just begun writing but my style or whatever I'm finding, matches the one mentioned above. I need visual cues and I need to see and analyse a character more if I ever consider writing about him so yes, I personally would not write about a character I haven't completely analysed or who hasn't appeared on screen yet.

As a reader however, I have a different perspective. I love spoilers. I like knowing things beforehand and going through them in my head before reading a book or consuming media. Its fun to go "oh what I pictured turned out to be quite close to what's being shown here". The accuracy or near accuracy gives me a boost. I'm happy when I feel like I analysed or thought about a character similar to what I see later on. It shows me I understood the creator and what they were trying to portray even before seeing it. Gives me a "we are maybe on the same wavelength" feeling and thats fantastic.

That's why I can see a similar perspective to authors and creators already writing fanfiction for him before they've seen the movie. They have an image in their head and they want to be creative and show you how wonderful their imagination is. What's wrong with that? I have many moots who've written lovely stories that I want to read and I probably will.

Coming back to the point, what I don't understand is why people decided that these were such drastically opposite views and decided to sling hatred at whoever didn't conform to their idea of consumption and creation of media.

Why was there a need to send hate to a creator who said she didn't want to read or write as yet just because she wanted to get to know him better before doing so?

Why was there a need to harass writers who wanted to write and express their feelings being all gatekeepy over their work instead?

And why was there a need to constantly continue this anon responding and giving them traction all over again. It should have been shot down long before a fellow creator was forced to leave this site for good. We're all friends here why can't we be civil and respect each other's opinions.

A post stating your preference is not calling the other out. It is simply that, stating your preference and we as a fandom need to stop clinging to crumbs and overanalyzing stuff like this and use them for call out games.

Look at his pretty face and analyse those crumbs instead.

This is supposed to be fun, please continue to letting it be fun for others too.

That's all.

#asks #fandom bs

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jpitha · 1 year

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Table of Contents!

Hi Everyone! I'm jpitha!

I write sci-fi shorts and stories! I have a few universes that I like to write about, mostly so I can keep worldbuilding straight. I post here and on r/HFY (a scifi writing focused reddit) and I've been trying out posting links back to here on Threads.

I like to post nearly every day. My longer works usually get posted once or twice a week, but I try and fill out the week with other stuff.

Since I have a bunch of posts now, here's a ToC to help you find the kind you want to read, broken out roughly by theme:

Multi-Part Long Reads

The Race (2 parts) First long one I did and the first time I introduced a K'laxi. I edited it from its original post as I learned more about them. Complete

Blockade Runner (2 parts) Might come back to this one later

Awakenings (4 parts, Intertwined with Hidden Depths) Complete

We Need a Ride (7 parts, 2 Codas stuff in Awakenings and Hidden Depths references it) Complete

Hidden Depths A Multi POV Adventure about when everyone on the Joint Human/K'laxi Starbase comes together to defeat an invasion force with the help of a long lost colony ship. (27, plus extra parts, Intertwined with Awakenings) Complete

Just A Little Further YA Flavored, first person adventure about Melody Mullen and what happens when she goes along on an exploratory trip to try and reach the end of the Warp Gate system. (40 parts) Complete

The Dreams of Hyacinth Cyberpunk Noir. Nicholas North is a easygoing small time crook who lives on the Corporation owned High Mars Orbital Hyacinth. When he is asked by a friend for some help, he agrees readily, not realizing what he's getting drawn into. Ongoing

Aliens are Gardenworlders

I want to live on the Gardenworld

Tumbling on a low gee world

Diary of a Human on the Gardenworld

Spacediving

Gord the Maplelegger

Gord's Tall Tale

On Lawbreaking

Gord Goes Curling

Gord Meets His Match?

Worldbuilding

Blockade Runner (redux)

Avoid Humans are Mary-Sue's

Remember that your Aliens aren't idiots

The Fire Brigade

Starjumper age

On AIs

How to Communicate Across Vast Distances

Working out the Day/Time/Date differential

The Real World is Messy

Humans Are Old (friends)

Humans get fevers

How to Communicate Across Vast Distances

Hidden Depths: A Side Story

On Cooperation

Did AIs Ever Think to Wipe Out Humanity?

The First Few Rows Will Get Wet

Slice of Life Stories

The Cyclists

Acetone is bad?

Gene's High Gee Gym

Hospitality

K'laxi and Human kids playing

Office Cookies

Humans and their Hobbies

All Human Ships Have a Manual Override

Allergies

Liver and Kidneys mean we eat anything

Frisbee tricks

Risk Tolerance

The Dinner Party

The Long Way Round

Humans Solve Problems With Explosions

Humans Play Wargames

Everyone has Proprioception

K'laxi Used to Run on All Fours

Humans Still Solve Problems With Explosions

Tattoos and Piercings

Ambassador Transport

Just One Question

Lin Makes Art

Bar fight Aftermath

K'laxi and Cats

Do it With Style

Upgrading Starbase

How are AIs Powered Anyway?

Computing Power (edited)

Outside the K'laxiverse posts

Humans and their computers

Who Is The Human?

Throwing

Mating Rituals

Hunting

Determination

Lateral Thinking

Catching

Oxygen Ain't Nothing to Mess With

Flash Fiction Friday Posts

FFF187 - You Can't Be Serious

FFF189 - Because You Need It

FFF191 - We're On Our Way

FFF200 - It's Just a Walk for You?

Encyclopedia Posts

Humans Make Friends with Anything

Human Kids Make Friends Easily

Humans Make an Entrance

Humans bring Busking

War Emergency Power

On Starjumpers and Battle

War Stories

A Matter of Scale

Just Another Merc

Time to Go

Gotcha! (or is it?)

Inter-Colony War

Always Ready

The Sacrifice

Relationship Stories

K'laxi Can Eat Waffles

Peripheral Vision

Dancing

Flirting through exercise

Nilan and Ta'reni learn about timekeeping

The Big Game

Heart to Heart

YA-esque Stories

Water Balloon War

The Birthday Surprise

Kelly and Panemi look at kittens

#jpitha #humans are space orcs #humans are deathworlders #table of contents #introduction #humans are space capybaras #humans are space oddities #scifi writing #writeblr #writing #worldbuilding

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skayafair · 2 months

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John, Lies and Trust, and the Dark World

Okay, okaaaayyyyy I'm so normal about all this you have no idea *exhaaaale*

This is basically John's character study after all the s4 finale's revelations. The post ended up being too long, and I know how we're all here either ND or just hate long walls of text, so I broke it down into a series of about 4-5 posts I'll put here gradually. The last (?) part, the parallels between s3 and 4, is still in progress, but others are completed.

There's goint to be a general introduction, then the Dark World, the deal, John's personality after the Dark World, and S3 &4 parallels. Enjoy! I'll be glad to discuss.

Introduction

So, I've relistened to s3 and the finale once again. I'm not feeling well, fellas. The more I think about this whole deal, the worse it gets.

What initially tripped me off was how lifeless Arthur sounded after he learned about John's deal with Kayne and how easily he agreed to Kayne's offer, like he suddenly lost all the fight he used to have in him - because John betrayed him with his lies, in Arthur's pov (probably). Now, I've listened to the finale about 3 or 4 times and still can't determine if The Great Divorce is waiting for us or not. There wasn't that much time for any interactions or processing, so while Arthur sounded shocked initially, it's also Kayne they're dealing with, and, moreover, ecstatic Kayne, which is worse, and he's just blew up one person's head and yeeted another gods know where. AND he hears John, so not much room for talking things out. Maybe Arthur was just being smart and cautious. That's what I'm hoping for, anyway, because the boys were getting MUCH better at communication and established a remarkable level of trust between them. And Arthur had all the hints at what was going on in general, so. Is he an investigator or what.

So that's not what I want to talk about but needed to get this out of my system, and it leads to the actual topic.

Trust.

Trust between these two has been something like a cornerstone since the very beginning, has been tested and broken and mended a number of times, but it becomes one of the most important and prominent topics as early as in season 2. We all remember the pits, thank you very much, right.

This was an important lesson for John to learn. He... that's a bit of a projection but it seems to me like he's finding out the limits of what's what (the good and the bad, acceptable and not, hurtful and healing, etc.) a bit like I do - by hitting the extremes and gradually coming to the happy middle, like a pendulum. Once the extreme is found, he'd try his best not to go there again unless it's really necessary in his opinion. Before the pits he learned that saying and doing some things was a no-go, and lying to Arthur was one of them.

Frankly, it's almost funny how bad he was at it almost since the beginning. He's supposed to be a great manipulator, and seemed to be pretty sucessful at it at first, but lost his cool too quickly, being too annoyed by Arthur and just grumbling the orders. Even so, when he started getting attached even in the slightest, lying immediately became more difficult for him. So this is one thing we learn rather early: John actually hates lying. He's really, really BAD at it when it comes to Arthur whom he cares about, even when he's not very sure about it yet. He lies so reluctantly that it's pretty easy to spot when something's off and you don't even have to be an investigator for that.

Could it be partly because the original King in Yellow is supposed to whisper the truths any sane person cannot bear, and not just manipulate them?

Right before the pits, when they agreed to trust each other and John rolled back to lying, it wasn't just for funsies or a vicious manipulation. And he didn't like what he was doing. But, in his opinion, it was necessary, it was useful and helped him - and them - in a precarious situation. He lied about the depiction of the KiY on the wall and some other things which seemed objectively dangerous and could trip Arthur off if mentioned, but didn't take anything away if stayed hidden. And the wall carving thing was simply about John's fear. I'm not sure what exactly he was scared of, but to me it seemed as if it was of losing Arthur's trust just when they established it. They arrived to the KiY's place, what if Arthur suspects John was plotting something (when he wasn't, but how does he prove it?!), so better not to mention this. It's just a carving, who cares, they'll be fine. It probably sounds irrational, but that's how I saw the situation. And it was irrational, because John panicked.

I can't remember which ficwriter said that John reverts to lying when he's scared (pls tell me I'll leave the credits here), but I think it's a very good observation that's never come across my mind before I read it.

So he was panicking and making things up as he went, and it backfired exactly with what he was trying to avoid.

Therefore:

John hates lying and isn't good at it

reverts to it when deeply scared

learned it was a very important point to never lie to Arthur, otherwise the trust will be lost (and John values this trust a lot)

It goes without saying that the no lying rule goes both ways as both boys hate being lied to.

And right after this newfound knowledge and determination to be better John promises to never forget Arthur (mutually), then promptly loses Arthur (not being sure if he's even alive) and gets pulled back to the King.

I was impressed to learn he stayed true to his word and fought the King tooth and nail every moment he could. Even Kayne confirmed that, so it's not just John's bravado.

He won. Actually this is a huge revelation in on itself, because it shows how just strong and big part of the King John is: he's beaten the King in a battle of wills in his own realm. Think about it, just think. No wonder he defeated Yellow, too.

I bet he thought he had nothing left to lose and was desperate not to lose himself. John actually wants to live really bad, I think, and not as a part of someone else, but as his own person. but definitely together with Arthur by the way he sounded in s3 and 4

And then he ended up in the Dark World, alone, just like he used to fear.

TBC

#malevolent podcast #malevolent spoilers #john malevolent #john doe malevolent

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pjohoo-reclists · 9 months

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Outsider POV Fic Recs

A list of fics where mortals get glimpses of the greek world and/or demigods. Last updated on 8/8/23. Enjoy!

This is War by Tibbitoo

Gen | 1.1k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Paul Blofis

Titan War, Violence, Angst

Because even though the movies get it all wrong, Paul Blofis knows. War is war, and seeing those demigods fighting for their lives, seeing the fallen on the ground, made him finally understand. This wasn't a dream, but a cruel reality where Good and Evil clashed in a bloody battle. This wasn't a book where Good always won. This was a real war. It was reality. His stepson's reality.

Start Over by RainKiss

Gen | 1.5k | Complete

background Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase

Goode High School, poor education system, Paul is a good dad

Mr. Morelli is not a nervous person by character, but the file in front of him gives the scholastic transgressions of the new kid, who has been allowed to attend Goode High school—the place where he works.

Um.... Oops? by grainjew

Gen | 2.8k | Complete

background Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase

Identity Reveal, Post TLO, Pre HoO

Scarlet Williams, sophomore at Goode High School, was stretched out in the back of her friend Percy's car when a twelve year old materialized in the passenger seat. The next thing she knew, apparently Greek mythology was real and liked trying to kill her friend. Great.

Riding on the Rolling Tide by mrthology

T | 3k | Complete

Jason Grace & Percy Jackson

AU, Slice of Life, Crack Treated Seriously

“I think that’s Percy Jackson!” “Who?” Sarah rolled her eyes. “The kid who jumped off the St Louis arch years ago, and then there was all that weirdness,” she added, waving her hands for effect, “with a kidnapping or something.” “Oh, the one that’s a demigod?” “Yeah,” she said. She still wasn’t sure if she believed in gods or demigods, but it was hard to deny it at this point. Monsters and worse walked among them, and Sarah hated it. At first, she’d thought it was some strange publicity stunt for an upcoming show or movie—studios had done stranger things to draw crowds, after all—but she knew better now. Gods were real, and so were monsters. ... After the Second Giant War, the Mist falls. The results aren't what anyone expected.

Someone to You by mrthology

Gen | 3k | Complete

Percy Jackson, Triton, Amphitrite, Paul Blofis' Parents, Estelle Blofis

Triton is a Good Sibling, Big Brother Percy, Slice of Life

Anna wasn't sure what to think of Percy Jackson, truth be told, having only met him twice. She adored her daughter in law Sally and her little granddaughter, but there was something about Percy that put her on edge. She had no idea what - he was a kind boy, eager to help with his baby sister when most teenagers would run for the hills and clearly adored his mother - but there was just something about him, something about his too-bright eyes that made her feel uneasy. ~~~ Or, Paul's parents are taking care of Estelle for a few days. When picking her up, they meet Percy again as well as his older brother (what was his name? Tri?). At this point, Anna just wants to know what the dad looks like to have kids that look like THIS. Especially when, several days later, they meet the stepmother as well.

Here On The Sunny Side by mrthology

Gen | 4k | Complete

Percy Jackson/Apollo

Post Trials of Apollo, New Rome University, Attempt at Humor

“Just talk to him.” Cody blinked. He could do a lot of things, but approaching Percy Jackson and just talking to him was not one of those things. “We can’t just go and talk to him!” Aida yelped, shifting nervously in her seat. Cody agreed. Percy Jackson was nothing if not intimidating. He’d done so much for Camp Jupiter and walked with more gods than Cody could begin to fathom. There were even rumours that Jupiter (or, Cody supposed, Zeus) had offered him godhood when he’d only been sixteen. Everyone in New Rome knew he spent time in his father’s realm below the sea, and even the Praetors seemed to defer to him at times. No. Cody couldn’t just go up and talk to Percy Jackson. Not many in New Rome would dare. ——— Or, Percy’s part of a group project at NRU. His group mates aren’t exactly sure what to make of him. Or of his mysterious paramour.

A Thin Barrier Between Two Worlds by Skywalking_through_life

T | 5.7k | Complete

Percy Jackson, Hudson River Spirit

Post Gaea & Second Giant War, Canon Compliant, Eavesdropping

"'Man, If I avoided everyone with a bone to pick with me, I'd be a hermit. But I haven't figured out what I'm supposed to have actually done this time?" He could only see half of Percy's face, and even that at a distance, but there was no mistaking the lazy smirk he was wearing, or the way his arms were casually folded across his chest. He wasn't scared of this guy, which didn't make a lick of sense, because just the guy's voice was scaring Giovanni. What could the rest of him look like? "Don't play stupid, kid, it ain't a good look for you. You know good and well what you did." A sudden thud shook the wood of the old dock, making it creak and sway and causing bits of plank to fall. When the dust cleared, Giovanni bit down hard on his tongue to stop himself from gasping, because now that he could see both people above him, he wasn't sure the person opposite Percy was, in fact, human. In which Giovanni learns that there is such a thing as knowing too much about the world around him...

The Overwhelming Specter of Your Mothers Book Club by 60sec400

Not Rated | 5.9k Complete

Sally Jackson/Paul Blofis

Meeting the Parents, Sally Jackson is a Good Parent, Oneshot

Martha Blofis stared at her son in shock. “What do you mean,” she said slowly, “that you’re married?” Her son fidgeted nervously. First, he ran a hand through his peppered hair, and then his eyes flickered down and away. Then he lifted them again and smiled meekly at her. “Paul,” she said, “I need you to tell me what in gods name you were thinking.” “Her name is Sally Jackson?” Paul said, his voice lifting as he weren’t quite sure what the name of his wife was. AKA Paul tells his mother he hasn't seen in four years that he's married. Really, the only thing she can think about is what she's going to tell her book club.

Percy Jackson and the Scrutiny of his Coworkers by pqrker

Gen | 6.4k | Complete

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson & Original Characters

Marine Biologist Percy Jackson, Adult Percy Jackson

Jim turned back to the tank and looked at Marcie the seal, who was now staring at the spot his coworker had been standing just moments before with that same strange look of reverence in her eyes. Percy Jackson truly was the oddest person Jim Elpool had ever worked with. or 5 times percy's coworkers were confounded by his fish magic, plus 1 time they try to figure it out.

More Things in Heaven and Earth by Skywalking_through_life

T | 7.1k | Complete

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase

Post-Gaea & Second Giant War, Canon Compliant, High School

"Sticking her head further out of the light of her doorway and into the dark hallway, she peered left and right, trying to catch a glimpse of movement in the shadows beyond the dim glow of the emergency lights. Nothing. But as her eyes fell on the bank of lockers outside her classroom where the first thud had come from, they widened in horror. A long smear of blood, thick enough to start to drip down the dented metal, stained two of the lockers." Ms. Lafayette is a teacher, not a detective. But that doesn't mean she's not curious - and concerned - when a trail of blood appears in the hallway outside her classroom in the early hours of the morning...

good doesn't equal Goode by vani_em

Gen | 7.3k | Complete

Percy Jackson, Paul Blofis

off screen Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase, BAMF Percy Jackson, good dad Paul Blofis

One thing was clear: Percy Jackson was not Goode High School material.

In a Field of Dandelions by mrthology

T | 7.5k | Complete

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase

Future Fic, Kid Fic, Domestic Fluff

"You okay there?" she asked once she was closer, smiling in what she hoped was a welcoming manner. The man smiled back, still looking a bit confused. Nicky's breath caught in her chest when he met her eyes. His gaze was a little too vivid, his bone structure a little too perfect. He seemed a little too much more than human. Part of her wanted to run, while another part wanted to follow him to the ends of the earth and beyond. "I think so," he replied, breaking the spell. "Just trying to figure out day one, I suppose. I'm Percy!" ----- Percy and Annabeth's eldest child starts school. Percy inadvertently causes a bit of a stir, and Annabeth isn't jealous, not at all.

[conduct] not unbecoming men who [strive] with gods by Skywalking_through_life

T | 8k+ | On-going as of 8/8/23

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase, Sally Jackson/Paul Blofis, Percy Jackson & Paul Blofis

Post Second Giant War, Slice of Life, Identity Reveal

"Some students find it hard to find a poem that they identify with," she said simply, even tone belying the gravity of the look she was giving him. "I…I can imagine that you, perhaps, might be one of them." For a moment, he just stared back at her, heart now thumping almost painfully fast as he tried to decide how to respond to that. She was right of course, but now that the moment he'd been waiting for had definitely arrived, was he really prepared to do this? "Are we talking about poetry?" He finally asked, mouth dry, as though he didn't already know the answer to his own question, "Or are we talking about…something else?" Or, a week in the life of Percy's senior year, featuring: a poetry project, a swim meet, prom, several identity crises, and maybe, just maybe, a long-overdue conversation with a certain sharp-eyed teacher.

some have entertained angels unaware by Skywalking_through_life

T | 21k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Sally Jackson, Percy Jackson & Paul Blofis, Minor or Background Relationships, Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase

Post Second Giant War, Field Trip, Powerful Percy Jackson

"Slumping at the table next to his now slightly raspy stepfather, Percy decided to make one last appeal. "Paul, you can't seriously think me dying of frostbite or exposure on the way to see the Statue of Liberty for the eighty-millionth time is a good death, right? Like, I could do so much better." Paul shrugged, eyes dancing. "I'm not the expert on death in this family, Perce. But I do imagine it's probably more heroic than dying of boredom in US Government class?"' Percy didn't think there was a god of field trips, but if there was...he was pretty sure that they hated him.

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love-toxin · 1 year

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Omg fluffy fruity four aaaaaaaaaahh!!!! Just imagine them when you first agree to date all four of them though 😍.

They absolutely smother you with love. Individually they’re always coming up to you with a new gift (lol your two dummies Eddie and Steve nearly mauled each other when they realised they’d both gotten you the same present and didn’t communicate, until you tell them they both got you a gift card to the same place and it literally just adds up). They’re always taking you out on dates because finally they can do so! Everyone’s always calling you, and knocking at your door, and throwing rocks at your window, and climbing through your window; because you’re not living together yet, soon though, they hope, but until then, every day you’re with all, or some, or at least one of them! And you’re so happy because you’re favourite people in the world are. Just. Always. Smiling!!!! Every singly minute every one of them are all shiny eyes and big smiles because everyone’s so excited and in love and it’s all finally here!!!

FIRST DATE....FIRST DATE ON MY MIND....i want that first moment.....anon u are making me always smiling.....this was so fucking fun to write

(cws: steve pov, post-s4, references to s3, polyamory, roller rink date, first kisses, established relationships/friendships, secret relationships, angel can rollerblade, angel's confident + protective (you'll see), brief mentions of blood/broken bones/injuries/scars, post-recovery, extremely mild violence, flirting, teasing, fluff fluff fluffy fluff, featuring the eddie breaks his ass saga, fem reader.)

A group date has never been much on Steve's mind, he's usually been a lone wolf when it comes to the pursuit of love. Sure, he's been on double dates, like when he and Nance were first together--but never like this, never with people he's involved with joining in. It's never been like...."Hey, this is my boyfriend Eddie, and my girlfriend Nancy, and my platonic life partner Robin, and-"

Woof. Getting a little ahead of himself; this may be normal with the others, but this is technically a first date with you. He airs out his shirt with his hand, having worn his nicest red-and-white checkered polo with jeans and the leather jacket that Eddie had thrifted for him, although it's hung over the bench he and the other three are sitting on. Nancy's in a prim little baby pink dress that flares around her knees, white stockings and a matching cardigan that's joined his, Eddie's, and Robin's jackets, with her permed hair teased up so it fluffs out. Robin's got her cuffed acid wash jeans and a brightly patterned blue t-shirt tucked into them, her sneakers scuffed and scribbled all over with bright markers. And Eddie's dressed up a bit, his hair washed and curlier than ever with a sleeveless black Judas Priest tank top (one of the few he has that isn't ripped) and black jeans, the fit accentuated with a chain on his belt, rings aplenty, and a necklace close to his throat that he carefully constructed out of soda tabs for this particular occasion. Even Steve has to admit it's pretty impressive, although his eyes are distracted a little by the inky expanses of skin that Eddie's showing off more than usual. He's surprisingly chipper for having just recently recovered from his injuries and gotten out of long-term care, bobbing his head to the music that fills the roller rink as he takes a sip from his soda, before crushing the can and launching it into the trash nearby.

With the usual haunts not seeming romantic nor special enough, the four of them had agreed on a trip to the roller rink for your first date as a complete group. It's one of the new buildings that's gone up in the section where Starcourt used to be, and it feels a little nostalgic in a way, the neon lights overhead and coming off the arcade in the corner reminding him of the view out of Scoops--which is bittersweet for both him and his best friend. But Nancy had agreed that it would be therapeutic for both he and Robin to make a hopefully good memory here, that it would help put those bad ones to rest. Still, though, his leg is bouncing nigh uncontrollably as they wait for you to arrive, his heart still rocketing around his chest cavity at the thought of you not showing up. His brain is begging him to check his watch again, but he knows that it'll only make it worse, plus Eddie's bound to slap his hand away again if he tries it.

"Relax," Robin whispers from beside him into his ear, Nancy on her other side seeming just as anxious, although she's keeping cool and still with her hands folded in her lap. His partner in crime pats his shoulder and smiles, her eyes creasing with a reassurance he wishes he could take to heart so easily. Granted, you were Robin's friend first before you met any one of them face-to-face, so she's liable to know you the best. Although Steve knows that she's probably spent so much time fawning over you she might not catch everything you say the first time, especially thinking back to when she would rush out from the backroom of Scoops just to come out and give you free icecream. Even then, you were cute as a button--but on the promise of the best friend code and the crush code, he'd never snatched you up for fear of Robin's wrath.

He's still reminiscing on that memory with his elbows perched on his knees as he's hunched over, chin supported by his locked hands, so he misses when the other three's eyes light up at the sight of someone coming straight for them. But Steve's pulled out of his reverie by your voice, chilling and sweet in the same way that forces him to sit up and look with a jolt.

It's not hard to spot you at all. You're dressed in a cute skirt he's seen before, paired with a flowy top with big sleeves that cinch at your wrists, collar open a bit to show off your pretty neck and the delicate little necklace Robin had got you a couple birthdays ago. Plus a big, sweet grin that shows off your teeth and tugs his focus off of anything else for a moment as you greet them all with a wave, your other hand clutching your bag over your opposite shoulder.

Robin's the first to get up and hurry to meet you, throwing her arms around you in a big hug that you're happy to reciprocate with a tight squeeze. Nancy's next to smooth out her skirt and get to her feet, with Eddie so close behind he's practically on her heels as they gather around you for a "friendly greeting". They've still gotta be lowkey as much as they can--no lovey hand-holding or kissing certainly, but he was more worried about Robin keeping her eyes off yours and Nancy's legs and Eddie's hands off his own ass than anything else.

He's barely even aware that he's being rude, not coming up to join them in welcoming you and just staring. But when the others part with smiles on their faces for you to set your bag down with their stuff, you approach without an inkling of disgust on your face--and when you've stopped about an inch from him, Steve finally clears his throat and gets to his feet to stand at your height.

God, you smell amazing. And he's really glad he didn't say that out loud, but rather turns his energy towards something he does know how to do properly and with ease--be a gentleman.

"Hi." You beam, so close that the desire to kiss you feels just about impossible to ignore. You've got such plump, soft-looking lips, all glossy with the same cherry stuff Nancy and Robin use that just tastes divine.

"Hi." He breathes out, eyes stuck on you even when you giggle, and tilt your head down to cover your mouth with your hand--only then does he break into a laugh himself, mostly at himself for being so awkward when he intended to be totally suave. He's got a sense that you like this better, though. Because you're you.

"Your skates, milady." He reaches back to grab the pair he'd had tucked between him and Eddie by the laces, and holds out his hand to take your bag in exchange as he passes them over and brushes your knuckles.....how are you so soft?

"Thank you, sir!" You're all too happy to take them, and reach around yourself to hold your skirt back against your thighs as you plop yourself on the bench to put them on. In the meanwhile, the rest of them hurry to dress their socked feet with their own skates, either joining you on the bench or propping themselves up elsewise to tie them up tight.

Honestly, he feels like kind of a dingus for being so nervous. Not only are you a sweet person, but you've met them all before. You've cried and fought and bled with them, you joined the party late but you were the one to follow Eddie's lead when he ventured alone into Mordor--and you were the one to bring him back, half-dead and clinging to you with pale hands and a bloodied mouth. You, who had barely gotten to know them by then and had just gotten sucked in because you were worried for Robin, kneeling over Eddie and breaking his bruised ribs as you gave him CPR every agonizing minute on the way to the hospital. The Samwise to his Frodo, as he called you so affectionately while pumped so full of painkillers when he saw you for the first time after the fact.

It's hard to see that same girl today in you, sitting thigh-to-thigh next to him as you each lace your skates like you haven't got a problem in the world. You turn your head while you do so and catch him staring again, but with a wink you somehow spark the desire that lies inside him to burn even hotter. And then you're gone, up and on your feet to roll yourself towards the opening to the rink, with Eddie already there with a hand outstretched to help you down the step. It's a bit of a trek for himself as he follows your lead, but he manages without too much hassle and it's much easier to roll along once he's on the shiny, waxed ground of the rink.

Being a Friday night, the roller rink is populated with a decent amount of people, but it's thankfully not overcrowded--just enough for you all to seem like normal friends as you skate together, but not enough that you'll feel like you're being watched every second that you're there. Which, after the Russians, is a big fear for him that lurks in the back of his mind on more days than not.

It becomes obvious very quickly that there's a distinct range of skill level between the five of you; Nancy's pretty solid on her feet, and so is himself to a lesser extent, but Robin is a bit shaky and Eddie.....lord, the man is the opposite of suave. He's barely keeping himself up, and he can already hear the complaining and grumbling from a few feet ahead where you four have gotten a head start. But you glide up to Eddie's side, speaking gently with your hands reaching for his as you help him away from the wall.

"There you go! You got it, see?" Feeling already like he's getting left behind again, Steve propels himself forward to join the rest of you, and gets a knowing look and a smile from Nancy that soothes his beating heart for the moment.

"Feel like I'm gonna fall on my ass-"

"Can I give you a tip?" With your hands locked together, you two drift back to cut in front of your other three dates, and it's really quite impressive that you're managing to absorb Eddie's horrendous lack of balance that's causing his feet to slide every which way, and forcing him to keep catching himself.

"Course you can, sweetheart."

"Don't fall on your ass." You chuckle at your own joke, but you're nice enough to show him your form and wait for him to adopt it, mimicking the stance of your legs so he can stand on steadier ones of his own.

"Aw, don't wanna breathe life back into it?" Just as he's grinning like a fool, you tug him forward and catch him by the elbows as he collides with your chest, a whisper boldly uttered into his ear before you let him go and skate on ahead a few feet. Whatever you said, Eddie's blushing hard--and when he turns back to the other three, all Steve catches is him mouthing "Holy fuck!" with a huge grin and eager eyes.

"Coming anytime soon, kiddies? Or am I skating alone?" You laugh uproariously, showing off by taking a few rolling steps backwards before you turn and skid off towards the curve of the arena. And Steve's not gonna be left watching again--he's gotta reclaim his title as King Steve, and does so by shooting off after you with Nancy and Robin just a few steps behind, the two of them encouraging Eddie along who thankfully seems confident enough now to keep up. It doesn't take long for him to catch up, and when he does, you don't seem one bit bothered by his presence--which at first puts him off, wondering self-consciously if maybe your teasing is a ruse and you haven't got any affection for him and just for his partners. A glimpse of conceited terror flashes by, and he considers the image of the ones he loves leaving him because you'd rather them instead of him.

Thankfully that doesn't slow him down, though, because then he would miss the bite of your lip as you check him out from head to toe when he rides up beside you and matches your pace. It disappears when you realize he's looking, but your expression doesn't fall, which is a good sign....hopefully.

"You look really pretty tonight, by the way. I meant to say that earlier, but you left me speechless." Luckily for him, it seems that cheesiness is your kind of romance--because you seem genuinely flattered, your hair whipping back as you two have a little moment together, riding round the curve to hit a long stretch of track again.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one." His brow raises, and he leans a little closer into your space with a "Really, now?", unawares that the whiff you get of his cologne is totally striking you into the dreamy lover zone. "Really! Nancy looks so good in her dress--I'll have to borrow it off her sometime."

Oh, so you are a jokester. No wonder you and Robin get along so well, the laugh you both share being cut short only by you stumbling forwards as someone crashes into you from behind. Steve's hands shoot out to catch you, but thankfully you manage not to fall, and instead stand back up straight from wrestling with your balance to find Robin herself scrambling to keep upright too. He's just about to give her a verbal jab for nearly knocking you over, before he feels a collision with his back that's preempted by a girlish yelp from behind him--and he's unfortunately not as coordinated as you, because while Robin's got her arms around your middle as you stand together, he falls straight forward with an "Ah!" as someone lands right on top of him.

"Shit!" Nancy squeaks as she collapses into him, barely braced for impact against his toned back nor him into the hard floor, his hands hitting the waxed surface with a loud slap that turns heads all over the rink. Fortunately for him she's quick to get herself back on her feet, you and Robin looking out for her dress so it doesn't ride up, and from behind the two of them Eddie erupts into laughter--and no wonder, it's no surprise that he's the one who pushed her. By the time Steve's on his feet and dusting himself and Nancy off, Eddie's meandering up with a smirk, and rolls right past him with a "Don't look now" as he passes the two of them by. Obviously he does, turns his head over his shoulder to look at you--and for a split second he loses himself in a memory that only ever crops up in his dreams.

In his mind, he sees you there again. Dressed in your hoodie and jeans as battle gear, wielding nothing but a broken mop handle from the Munson's trailer wrapped with cloth, hair matted with gooey Upside Down gunk. The image of you burning the end of it like a torch with the lighter Eddie entrusted to you, and thrusting it upwards into the sky to keep the swarm at bay before you were forced to use it like a bat on the stragglers. That's what Eddie had told them he saw when he lay there, bleeding out--that's when he knew he was in love, watching your tears dry on your cheeks as sorrow and fear were refreshed with fury and frustration, and you stabbed and thrashed and beat those bats feeding on him into bloody submission. If you were there when he and Robin....well, if you had been there from the beginning, he knows that you all would've been better off. Hell, if he had met you years ago, he probably would've enjoyed a much different life, because he never would have let you go.

"Steve," Nancy nudges his arm, unusually upbeat for having just been shoved over, and when he comes back to reality he's found that you're just as lost in his eyes as he is in yours. Robin's held on to you for awhile longer, longingly clinging to you from behind as you stroke her hand around your belly, before all four of you manage to disengage and move a more respectable distance away from each other. But you're still close, all four of you rolling along at a leisurely pace in a group while other skaters pass you by on both sides. And just as Eddie's enjoying his jump on you all by rolling backwards and cackling, his foot suddenly slides out just a touch too far and he lands flat on his ass with a shriek--much to your collective and very deserved amusement, both you and Steve rolling over to help him up with minimal complaint even though he has plenty as he rubs his sore behind. You're just in the midst of cooing at him, reminding him of his previous transgressions with lovely Nancy and the value of karma....before the chatter of the crowd and the upbeat music is cut through by two middle-aged riders, one of them spitting out a single word as he passes by you five.

"Freak."

There's no question who it was directed towards. Eddie cringes, the fun and the laughter dissipating immediately like a match being blown out. Steve feels his own anger bubbling to the surface with increasing frequency as he watches their backs, but a deep breath and Robin's warning hand on his arm stop him where he's at, just barely manage to contain the rageful words that would have burst out of him otherwise. It's unfair--unfair for all of you, for Eddie especially, but it's unfair that it stings his heart so bad but he can't...can't do even the simplest thing about it, he can't even yell or fight back, because then people would start to wonder.

It hurts even worse that this is just a glimpse at what you can expect as a part of their collective. To even associate yourself with them, with Eddie, means you'll be branded as a fellow freak for life. There's worse in store, he's sure, and living with that fear is barely tolerable for the four of them--now that it hits him with reality, it seems unfair for them to even ask you to take on that same responsibility, no matter how much they adore you and wish to keep you close and safe.

Yet, you're ahead of the four of them. Literally--you're out in front of them, blading forward on practiced feet and your face set as you roll quietly but with determined intention. You come right up behind your harasser and his friend without interruption or notice. And what Steve sees next is almost too shocking for him to digest, the same for his partners beside him as they watch you check the guy with your shoulder, dashing forward and whizzing by him so fast he has no chance of catching himself--and you hit him hard with no aid of your hands, the ungentle-gentleman crashing into the ground with no semblance of grace and a pained shout that causes his friend to wobble and nearly fall himself.

"Oops."

You circle back around to meet with them, passing just close enough by the other bystander not to collide with him too, but for him to flinch away and cause a smirk to twist your lips as you stare him down. Your eyes only shift when you skid to a stop in front of your dates, completely aware and prideful at all the eyes on your back and the attention you've just shamelessly drawn to yourself and the rest of them. Steve's left without words again, just turning and sharing a look amongst all of them before aiming his gaze back towards you. God, he's never wanted to kiss anyone so bad in his life.

And it gets better. He didn't even realize his mouth was hanging half-open until you reach your hand up to his chin, and close it for him. With that one show of confidence, he knows that his doubts were wrong--you belong nowhere else but with them, that much is more than obvious now that his eyes have been opened. It's too much to take, he's a little too wrapped up in the admiration and devotion and love he feels--because yes, he knows it, he's in love--he grabs your face in his hands, dips down, and kisses you for everyone to see. Warm, sweet, and sticky, your lips compliment his as perfectly as honey on fruit and tastes a bit like it too. The cherry flavour makes itself known on his tongue, eyes closed and breath stopped to savour the fleeting kiss in its entirety like he won't ever get it again. He might not; you might slap him for being so forward, but he doesn't care....well, he cares a little bit, but not enough to feel any regret as he breaks off with a smack and is left standing there, cupping your face and breathing hard.

When he dares to open his eyes, yours are still blinking back into the light, those lashes fluttering as you look back at him with surprisingly delicate doe eyes. Your first kiss in the middle of a roller rink--not as romantic as he thought it might be, but you don't seem all that bothered, surprisingly.

"Hey! You two!" Your heads both snap towards the source of the yelling, broken out of the haze of being trapped in your own little world to spot the manager or what-have-you storming towards you from the DJ stand.

"Run!" Shockingly, the onlookers are witness to prim and proper Nancy Wheeler being the one to yell that out, the five of you bolting at once--while you and Steve have your hands locked together, and you whip your other arm back for Robin to grab as the three of you race like hell towards the exit on the opposite side, you can hear Nancy pushing Eddie along and his cries of "Shit! Fuck! Fucking Christ, Wheeler-!" before he hits the ground again. Fortunately with a look back for Steve to make sure you're not abandoning your other dates, he catches a glimpse of Eddie kicking his skates off and Nancy following suit before helping him up by the arm, the two of them choosing instead to sprint on their bare feet across the arena to catch up with you three at the gate.

One after another you hurriedly kick your skates off in succession as you hop up the step to the carpeted side area, even quicker to grab your bags and jackets and shoes as the manager hustles after you with a grim and annoyed look on his face, motioning for some other members of security to hurry over to cut you off. Unlike all of you, though, they don't truly know the rush of running for one's life--while the adrenaline of such is still fresh in all five of your minds, and you're able to gather everything in seconds on your way by before dashing past the other rink-goers to hit the entrance. And like always Steve's the one bringing up the rear, hurrying you all along and just barely missing the grab that one of the security makes for him before he makes a run for it too.

Before he knows it, you're all past the glass doors that clunk as you throw them open and running through the darkened parking lot, Steve's BMW standing out alone amongst the other cars too nervous to park close to such a nice ride. Doors unlocked in a flash, he haphazardly throws his jacket and shoes into the backseat with Nancy, Eddie, and Robin squished in the middle, and is the last one in his seat with a last glance towards the doors you just ran out of. As if he'll suddenly see a crowd of men in uniform pass by the glass, and feel the cold silver of a gun on his neck as someone shouts at him with words he doesn't understand.

Your voices calling his name bring him back, though, and he drops into the seat and slams the door shut to fumble with the keys and turn them in the ignition. As Steve starts up the car, the dulcet notes of Here Comes The Rain Again strikes up midway through the chorus, orchestrating the background track of your speed away from the scene with hopefully few consequences--although he's sure you'll never be allowed back there again, which is quite the ironic turn of events considering his history with the place. And honestly? Fuck it all to hell, he thinks as he peels away from the place and skids on to the road from the lot to vanish into the darkness, save for the glow of his tail lights disappearing slowly into the night.

Aside from the panting from all of you, Eddie's the first to speak through the realization of what just happened. What you all just did, right in the middle of supposedly keeping a low profile. "I think you stole my kiss, big boy."

With a glance into the rearview, Steve's heart swells with relief at seeing his boyfriend smile at the laughter he gets out of you from that joke. It takes him a second to realize that both the girls have the same smile--that soft, relieved smile of peace after the storm, that he'll never stop loving for as long as he lives.

"I've got plenty, promise. Also, how often do you guys run from the law like that?" It's almost like he forgot you were in the seat next to him, although that might be a good thing, because in the panicked shuffle he might have crashed had he caught a glimpse of your pretty legs in his seat and your skirt hitching up.

"How often do you body check old men? That was amazing," Nancy laughs in the seat behind you, still completely in disbelief. You reach your arm back over the console and grab her hand after she says that, the two of you holding each other for a few beats of content quiet.

"Told you she's awesome," Robin sighs happily, sinking into her spot and letting her head hit the back behind her, as she settles her thudding heart with a hand on her chest.

"I know that, she saved my life."

You seem to grow a little sober at that idea, your hold on Nancy's hand broken and yours sliding back into your own lap to fiddle with the hem of your shirt. You're shy around praise, that's pretty obvious--kind of funny to think about, considering you didn't seem too shy when you were kissing him breathless at the arena.

"I didn't, really. But...thank you, Eddie."

"You kidding? I wouldn't have an ass to bruise if you didn't, angel. I'm holding you to that promise, by the way." You turn to him with a finger to your lips in a "Shh!" motion, giggly and lighthearted as you smack his knee and he makes kissy sounds at you with his lips puckered.

If it wasn't abundantly clear by his own feelings and theirs, he knows with complete confidence that you fit right into their dynamic now. In hindsight, there should have been none of those tense conversations shared between the four of them for those nights leading up to the day that would decide their fate, because it's turned out a thousand times better than he hoped.

"...I don't regret it, y'know. Not for a second." Your head lolls to the side to look over at him, and he manages to tear his gaze from the road to meet your eyes--like fiery cinders among the ashes of simmering coals. When it drifts, though, and he lets his sink downwards, he catches sight of something he never even knew you'd been carrying all by yourself.

Where your skirt's ridden up, he can spot what looks like a mostly-healed gash in your thigh. It runs from one side to the other and disappears where your skin meets the seat, still bright and painful-looking despite not being an open wound....if he didn't know better he'd think it was the mark of a demobat's tail wrapped round your leg, because that's exactly what it looks like. And he'd know better than anybody what that looks and feels like. You meet where he's looking with a tilt of your head, and move to pull your skirt down to cover it--but while making sure he moves his attention back to the dark road, he grabs your wrist before you can do it.

"It doesn't hurt, Steve." If he could see it, he'd be unnerved by your smile. It's definitely fake this time.

"I know. Not anymore, right?" He glances back one more time, bringing his hand off yours with haste once he realizes he's squeezing you too tight. But the way your smile lifts up your face this time, shifting from lips parted in awe to flicker up into an expression that makes his heart melt....it's better than when you put it all on for their sake. Way better.

"Right. Not anymore."

#fruity four #fruity four x reader #steve harrington #nancy wheeler #eddie munson #robin buckley #steve harrington x reader #nancy wheeler x reader #eddie munson x reader #st 4 #stranger things #ellie writes #anons

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