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winter-leftovers · 7 months

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Til The End Of Eternity || Chapter eight: Return of the Trollhunter (8/?)

(Douxie Casperan x f!reader)

Summary: Y/n is trying to figure her life out but is going to be hard since her brother is the new trollhunter and she is plagued by dreams and feelings she doesn’t understand.

Chapter Summary: Alfred reveals a secret and Blinky cracks the code to fight Gunmar

Word count: 2503

Warnings: no

(Season 1 Episodes 14, 15)

Song?: Arsonist's Lullabye by Hozier

Previous - Next

Masterlist

“What about this one? Did it help?” Al got up from his spot on the floor and lifted his tail in excitement. Maybe this exercise was the one that would help Y/n recover her memory.

Y/n opened her right eye “No” she sighed, sitting up.

“Ugh!” Al sat back down.

“This is stupid” Y/n got up and started pacing along her room “Maybe…Maybe my memories are gone forever. Some people never…”

“No! Do not say that!” Al jumped onto the bed.

“Maybe we should accept the fact that I’m not getting them back. I tried everything I could: meditations, memory exercises, I’m doing sudokus for crying out loud” Y/n turned to Alfred, wiping away a tear “I don’t think it’s working” she stopped her rant when she realized her friend was quiet. Al was standing on top of the bed, his eyes wide open and head turned to the side.

“What is it?” Y/n put her hands on her hips

Al’s golden eyes were shining, his mouth half opened as if he was about to say something. He slowly lifted his left paw in the air but fell back down quickly.

“Alfred, are you ok?” She crouched down in-front of him.

He blinked a few times “I think it is working!”

“What are you talking about?” She frowned.

“You looked just like you did back then!!!” He stood on his back paws and put his front ones on her shoulders “Maybe it's coming back slower than what we expected but it’s coming!!”

“I don’t know what you mean” she was confused. Y/n discovered that her cat could talk but sometimes he wouldn’t make any sense.

“You moved exactly like you would do back when we lived in Ca…” Al put his front paws on his mouth.

“What? When we lived where?” Y/n stood up.

Al muffled an answer under his paws but Y/n couldn’t understand.

“I can’t understand you” she pointed to his mouth.

“I’m sorry. I should not have said that” he sat back.

Y/n sighed.

“It’s not fair” she said quietly, tears burning her eyes. The anger rose fast like a tsunami destroying everything in his way “It’s not fair” she shouted kicking the wall next to her door making a giant hole.

Al crouched.

“I’m tired of trying, Alfred!” Y/n sighed “and I know, I know you can’t tell me anything but I’m getting tired” she hugged herself, tears starting to fall and said “There always has been a hole in my chest and…and I always assumed that’s what happened when your parent left you in a highway” she chuckled and rolled her eyes “but then I found out that maybe, maybe, it’s not that, that there's more I was hopeful but it quickly vanished because I just can’t remember, you know?” She stopped her pacing once again and dropped herself to the floor “and I finally found someone to talk to about this emptiness that I can not talk with anyone else and it is not helping” Y/n dropped her head between her knees and started sobbing .

“Y/n, I’m so sorry” Al left the bed and sat next to her “I understand you completely. I wish I could give you back your memories and your magic but I can’t do it without hurting you” he rubbed his cheeks on her arm.

“My what?” Y/n lifted her head and cleaned her tears with her hand.

“Oh no! I didn’t mean magic magic. I meant magic” he moved his paws in the air.

“Magic? As in wizards and Merlin and stuff?” Her sadness was completely overturned by confusion.

“Whaaat? No. Who said anything about Mer..lin?” He started walking backwards.

Y/n saw him eyeing the half shut door but she was faster. Y/n closed the door before he could escape. She lifted him up and she got close to him, almost nose to nose

“Talk, cat”

Al looked to both sides, maybe looking for an escape, maybe because he couldn’t maintain her dear friend's stare.

“Alfred?” Y/n raised a brow.

“You are a wizard” He sighed.His whole body was relaxed. He had given up “You have magic”

“What’d you mean? Wouldn’t I have noticed that?”

“You wouldn’t know about it”

“Yeah, I know that’s…”

“Hear me up!” Al was serious. He was never serious.

“Sorry” Y/n put him on the floor and sat in front of him.

“When you don’t know about magic you don’t realize you have it until it’s too much to handle or someone else sees it in you, or at least in most cases. Your case is different”

“Why?” She lifted her knees to her chin.

“You already master magic”

“I don’t remember my extracurricular magic classes” she joked.

“Exactly. You did it before you found the Lakes” Al looked at her carefully.

“What? A master wizard at five? C’mon” she laughed but Alfred didn’t react.

“I’m saying the next thing just because you seem well right now but I can not say more” he paused.

Y/n was nervous. Alfred was always silly and funny but now, he seemed serious. If she didn’t know better he seemed to be about to announce to her that someone had died.

“You had a life before this one. This is not your first time growing up”

Y/n went lip. If the door wasn’t behind her she would have fallen to the floor.

“How? I…I don’t get it” She took her right hand to her chest.

“Neither do I” he looked down “One moment I was with adult you and then you disappeared and I found child you on a park”

Y/n nodded and petted his head, Alfred gladly accepted it.

“Did I have a family? Shouldn’t someone be looking for me?” Y/n close her eyes. Her head was turning. The fog had become too dense. It was impossible to look for a way out of the maze. But amongst the fog, in the darkness of her mind, a little crimson string lighted “Wait. How old am I? How many years had passed since the day I was born? On one of Blinky’s books says that wizards are immortal”

Alfred avoided her stare.

“So, I’m older than I look” she stood up.

“You look happy about it” Alfred stared at her as she took different little notebooks from all over her room.

“What if my dreams aren’t just dreams?” In the bottom of the drawer from her nightstand was a black notebook with this year written in silver ink, this one was bigger than the others. Y/n opened the last notebook seeing all the dreams she was able to write down the last couple of months.

“What do you mean?” Al sat down with her on the bed.

“Some people with amnesia remember through dreams, right? What if some parts of my dreams are made of real memories? "She moved through the pages looking for a specific page. “Like this one” she stopped. The page was half turned and heavily tear stained. It was a miracle it was still legible “My last night at college I had this sad dream. Well, not sad but I woke up feeling sad. It felt so…real. I was in a small cave in the middle of this…dark forest. I was sad, I don’t know why, but I was crying, my nose was stuffed and I was grabbing this stone with all my might and then, I felt the darkness start to swallow me, like I was waking up, but someone, a man, called for me bringing me back into the dream. He’s screaming my name. And when he saw me, he dropped on his knees and held me in his arms. I couldn’t see his face, the forest was so bright now but I wasn’t…scared. He said ‘It’s okay, Little Bird. We’ll find something you’ll like’ and I thought it was my brain tricking me trying to console me on the decisions I had made but when I woke up my face was all wet from crying and I had this in my hand” Y/n finished reciting the dream from memory, the notebook long forgotten on her legs and opened the drawer from her nightstand and pulled out a small flat black pebble that had a hole in it.

Al looked at the stone and Y/n back and forth.

“I didn’t think too much of it at the time but maybe…It means something?”

“Why did you choose this dream to talk about?” Al caressed the pebble with his paw.

Y/n cheeks went red “I dream a lot about this man” she smiled and put the pebble back on the drawer “I don’t know who he is but my mind seems to think he is important”

Al leaned on her legs and started purring.

“I’ll take that as I can’t say anything” she smiled and scratched his head. “So…magic..uh? How does that work?” Y/n smiled.

Alfred looked up, eyes wide open “No, I’m not a teacher” the cat shaked his head side to side.

“Oh, come on. You must know something. A party trick at least” Y/n wiggled her fingers.

“No, no, no. Merlin would kill me” Al absently looked into the distance.

“Wait, wait. The Merlin? I knew the Merlin?” Y/n stood up and lifted Al up with her.

“No…yes…something like that?” Al swung his tail rapidly.

“Something like that?”

“Yes! And besides I’m pretty sure magic is like ridding a bike”

“What do you mean?” She furrowed her brows.

“You already have your staff which means you already are a master wizard”

“So you are saying that… if I wanted to do magic I could?”

He nodded and jumped to the desk.

“Close you eyes and try to move something small”

Y/n looked around the room and took the pebble from the open drawer and placed it on the floor and sat in front of it. She closed her eyes.

“Now take a deep breath and focus on the image of the stone moving” Al explained.

Y/n took a deep breath. For a moment, everything was quiet. Silent. She couldn’t hear the birds chirping anymore. She felt like she was under water.

“Focus” the voice of the man in her dreams echoed through her head. Her brows furrowed and her hands lifted from her lap. Y/n felt a lighting run through her body, burning at her fingertips. The feeling became unbearable making her open her eyes meeting with the stone at her eyesight.

“I can’t believe it worked” Y/n said.

“Me either” Al looked at the stone gracefully returning to her place.

Y/n wanted go keep trying, play with her new found ability but a text from Toby stopped her.

—

“Hey Tobes! What is it about Blinky going ‘cry-cry’?” Y/n walked down the small stairs in Blinky’s library at Trollmarket stopping at the last step before Blinky walked over her. He seemed consumed in his rambling, walking up and down the library, to notice her. Y/n chuckled thinking this is how Al must have seen her moments ago.

“He’s been like that for awhile” Toby was sitting on the floor, building a tower with some books, next to him was a girl with a PapaSkull shirt.

“How long he been like this?” Jim enter followed by Aaarrrgghh.

“Looong time” said Toby.

“Maybe you should switch to decaf” Jim suggested

“Yeah, I don’t…” before Y/n could finish Blinky started to talk loudly:

“According to legend, only one scholar, the Dishonourable Bodus, uncovered a method of wounding Gunmar”

“The trollhunters just told me there wasn’t any way. How do you do it?” Jim complained.

“No one knows. Gunmar had Bodus and his students hunted down and dispatched in a most unpleasant manner” Blinky got closer to the table by the fireplace.

“Lovely” Y/n said to herself.

“But here, this book, The final Testament of Bodus. This is the last surviving copy of his work! This is the key!” Everyone joined Blinky to the table “And I’m going to burn it”

Everyone gasped.

“Long time” said Aaarrrgghh.

Blinky grabbed two rocks and hit them against each other quickly starting a fire.

“Blinky, no! What are you doing that book might tell us the…”Jim ran to stop the fire but Blinky stopped him.

“Bodus was being hunted! He knew he had to keep it secret” with his other arm, Blinky stoped Toby from throwing water at the book.

Aaarrrgghh tried to blow on but it didn’t help.

“Stop” Y/n threw a blanket on top of the book suffocating the fire.

Ignoring everyone’s complaints, Blinky pushed Toby and Claire to the side

“You don’t understand. Bodus hid the secret within the book. Watch!” He blew on the ashes revealing a message. “I am so glad that worked” Blinky whispered.

“What does it say?” Jim asked.

“In the darkest tide, when Daylight darest wane, the Myrddin Wylt obscured a Shadow’s bane” Blinky translated.

“What’s a Myrddin Wench” Toby asked .

“It’s another name for Merlin” Claire and Y/n said at the same time. They smiled at each other.

“Shouldn’t someone be taking a picture of this or something?” Claire got close to the table where the ashes were laying and took a picture with her phone.

Y/n took a couple of steps back letting Claire get closer. She closed her eyes and extended her hand to grab Toby’s shoulder, she felt dizzy and didn’t want to fall. Was this knowledge from her past leaking through the wall of her amnesia? Why remembering felt like getting kicked in the stomach after a violent rollercoaster.

“Three forces elemental thou must seek. In marshland, caverns deep and mountain’s peak. Where worthy perish, ye prevail in night and eclipse all who quarry with thy might” Blinky continued.

“Anyone else freaked out a little bit by this evil perish poem?” Toby grabbed Y/n arm back.

“Me” whispered Y/n only to Toby.

“No. It said we can prevail! We can win! He hid a Shadow’s bane” Said Jim.

“Gunmar’s bane?” Asked Aaarrrgghh

“It’s referencing a weapon of insurmountable power, forced by three forces unhallowed” Blinky grabbed three books from his library “Pff course! It must be the Triumbric Stones. Three sards of legend tied to Gunmar’s lifeblood, lost to the ages. If we seek out these stones…”

“We can kill Gunmar! Blinky, you madman! You did it!” Jim grabbed Blinky by the shoulders.

“We make the weapon and wham! Gunmar is done-mar” Toby let go of Y/n and joined Blinky and Jim.

“Indeed! The Triumbric Stones have been hidden for centuries, but if I can decipher this text, Master Jim, then you shall”

“Eclipse all who quarry with thy might” finished Claire and turned to Y/n that was leaning against a table.

She smiled when noticed the younger girl looking at her.

A/n: early post because why not?

#douxie x reader #tales of arcadia #douxie #hisirdoux casperan #hisirdoux x reader #trollhunters #toa #my writing #Til The End Of Eternity

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madokast4r · 2 months

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Since I'm one episode away from finishing Saving Hope, here's some of my thoughts (I will edit this post tomorrow)

! Warning: Long post !

- 1st impressions:

I thought having a storyline of a doctor talking with ghosts was weird at first...

But my curiousity got the best of me and I started liking the show

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- The Charapters:

• Charlie Harris (The main charpater): I love him sm, he's definitly one of my favorites, his style reminds me of Conrad Hawkins (The Resident), I loved how he tries to help the ghosts.

• Alex Reid (The 2nd main charpater): I love her sm and I feel so bad for her😭, in just 5 seasons she lost her brother, colley, mother and husband.

She might be a little annoying sometimes, but she's fine overall

• Joel Goran (The fan favorite): For some reason, he reminds me of Douxie Casperan (Tales of Arcadia), but I love him sm too, its sad that he had to die on "All the pretty horses" (Last ep from S3)

• Maggie Lin: LOVE LOVE LOVE HER SO MUCHH💗🫶🏻! I loved her smm on S3 (S3 Maggie on top>>) She might had left on S5, but hey! She's happy with her gf (Sydney)

• Sydney Katz: Sydney ily but how many times you had to left😭, but I love her sm too!

She might had left for the hundred time, but hey! At least this time she's with her gf (Maggie)

Lintz defender since 2023 :3

• Dawn Bell: I feel like this will be contervercial... But... I liked Dawn

I do admit...I didn't rlly loved her on the 1st seasons. But her charapters develoment was amazing! (Dawn pls take a break)

• Zack Miller: Another charpater that deserves better. But he's a decent charapter, I feel bad for him on "All the pretty horses" after witness Joel's death (Him and Joel were friends)

• Shahir Hamza: ONE OF MY FAVORITES!! Has a autistic person, I loved how it was well protacted and respresented during the show!

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- Extras charapters:

• Wayne Sharp: He deserved more screentime. But he's a nice charapter

• Jackson: I love his humor, he didn't had alot of screentime, but during it, he was iconic

• Jeremy Bishop: Probably another fan favorite, he didn't had much screentime, but hey, him and Charlie were friends and I loved that

• Dana Kinney: MY GIRLL!! I loved her so much! She deserved so much better, her and Alex are a inseperable bond>>>

• Cassie Williams: Her charapter develoment>>>, in the last seasons she was amazing!! I loved her energy so much!

Sad to see her go, but at least she's working with her idol

• Dev Sekara: Another charpater who had a incredible develoment, him and Cassie were so cute togheter!

• Asha Mirani: She didn't had alot of screentime, but she deserved so much better, I feel so bad to her

I have nothing to say much about hed since she left during S4

• Kristine Fields (Another ghost speaker): At 1st she was fine...But after her incident she started to be a little annoying and even she went to the point to haunt Charlie during her sugery😭

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Series Finale / Final thoughts:

Just finished watching "First and Last".

When I said that Jackson deserves more screentime... THATS NOT WHAT I MEANT

You might think its getting worst? It does, when they all waiting for Jackson, a huge acident happend. And just like the description of "Hope Never Dies"... "They can't safe everyone"

I. AM. NOT. READY FOR THE FINALE

Finished "Hope Never Dies". I cried at the end of the episode

Charlie's gone, gone in his own series. The series started with him in a coma, ended with him brain dead.

Alex deserves so much better, I feel bad for her...

The hole episode reminds me from "The Long and Winding Road" - The Resident: S5, ep 3 (Trust me, I'm still in denial with that episode after a year ago), but a little bit more extreme...

Overwall, I loved the show sm!! Its sad it didn't got another season but I enjoyed watching it

Let me know what you think about this!

#Saving Hope #charlie harris #Alex Reid #Joel Goran #Maggie Lin #Sydney Katz #Dawn Bell #Zack Miller #Shahir Hamza #Long posts writen by Skyler during class #Opinions #darwingsuselesscomments #darwing being darwing

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azriel-the-shadowsinger · 1 year

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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

✷ lowercase intended

DC. bruce wayne, jason todd, dick grayson, tim drake, damian wayne, roman sionis, deathstroke, maxwell lord, diana prince, barry allen, connor kent

HARRY POTTER. harry potter, tom riddle, james potter, regulus black, remus lupin, newt scamander, draco malfoy

MARVEL. steve rogers, tony stark, natalia romanov, thor odinson, t’challa, druig, ikaris, steven grant, marc spector, jake lockley, bucky barnes, sam wilson, wanda maximoff, pietro maximoff, steven strange, loki L1130, loki laufeyson, frost giant loki, tasm! peter parker

ACOTAR. amren, azriel, cassian, dagdan, eris vanserra, feyre archeron, lucien vanserra, amarantha, rhysand, tarquin, tam-ew-lin

MISC. darkling, alina starkov, din djarin, hisirdoux casperan, percy jackson, apollo, nico diangelo, poseidon, arthur pendragon, merlin, morgana lefay, bakugo katsuki, keigo takami, jesse swanson, jason dean, jacob day, pedro pascal

__________________________________________________

TROPES. mutual pining! fake dating! enemies to lovers! lovers to enemies! vampires! domesticity! age gap! guy falls first! hurt/comfort! dub-con! second chance romance! enemies have mutual friend! crossover!

NO NO's. non-con, pedophilia, age play, pet play, water sports, scat, sister!reader, overpowered!reader, rpf

#masterlist

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thecasperanfamily · 2 years

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Concept: One year, Julia's church was struggling to get enough kids to sign up for their annual Christmas pageant. So naturally, she roped her new best friend (and by association, his family) into helping out.

My Writing Brain is still fried from finishing up my last project, so no fic for this one, but here's a messy doodle dump I threw together whilst pondering the idea.

Archie suddenly and inexplicably decided he wished to spend Christmas Eve at his father's, so he was absent for the pageant. I'm sure it had nothing to do with Douxie kindly volunteering him to play the part of Mary's donkey.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from The Casperan Family! 🎄

#tales of arcadia #toa #the casperan family #douxie #toa zoe #zouxie #toa nari #toa archie #lin casperan #tcf julia #niki doodles

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rikalovesrice · 3 years

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It’s that spooooopy time of year everyone! Which means it’s time for some fun shenanigans hehehe 👻💀🎃🖤

Give a cold, unenthused welcome tooooo :

*horrible screeching fanfare*

The CasperAddams Family! :D Indeed our beloved Casperan Family but with a sickening ✨twist✨

I’ll be making CasperAddams posts all throughout October hehehe :P

In the meantime, enjoy these brief introductions! Let’s meet the family, shall we?

Hisirdoux CasperAddams :

- After a tiresome day, watching houses burn to the ground on YouTube is a lovely way to relax.

- Likes to go gravedigging for human remains to use in potions (and for a nuclear time being haunted by angry spirits :3) ✿

- Oh right. Master Wizard. Successor to Merlin and was high key jealous when the old man kicked it and turned to ash :/

Zoe Ashildr CasperAddams :

- May or may not be the actual inventor the electric chair.

- Makes sure to keep the hairdryer plugged in for when she takes a bath ^_^

- After bringing it home from Hex Tech, a dude’s laptop started chasing him around his house eager to scalp him with its wires. Zoe considers it one of the highlights of her career.

Lin CasperAddams :

- A vampire boi adopted by Douxie. ✿

- Douxie would come home to toddler Lin covered and soaked with pig’s blood. Douxie thought it was the cutest thing uwu

- Is actually in love with Julia and stoked for the day she dies of old age and breaks his heart💕

Tilly CasperAddams :

- Creepy doll girl? Creepy doll girl.

- See those glowing red eyes staring at you in the dark? Yeah, it’s just Tilly :)

- She’s at that age where there’s only one thing on a girl’s mind : Arteries.

Archie :

- Literally wants to eat everyone (bones go crunch crunch)

- A scholar in the most effective ways to mutilate bodies with your teeth alone✨

- “And you desire…roasted Steve?” “Guilty.” (Steve : *FEARING FOR HIS LIFE*)

Nari of The Withering Wood :

- Wants to destroy the world just as much as Bellroc and Skrael but they’re no fun :/

- Really proud of all the poison ivy and dead roses in her garden💚

- Careful of the thorns! They’re sensitive :’(

*Lin Casperan and Julia belong to @nikibogwater. She was also the inspiration for some of these little tidbits ✿

#Let’s get morbid kekekekekeke #The CasperAddams Family #douxie #hisirdoux casperan #toa zoe #zoe ashildr #zouxie #lin casperan #Tilly casperan #Toa archie #nari of the eternal forest #the casperan family #CasperAddams AU #tales of arcadia #rika tries to draw

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coccinelle-et-chaton · 3 years

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10 Fandoms, 10 Characters, 10 Tags

(I started on a new post because the last one was getting kinda long ^^“)

Thanks for the tag @sugarcubetikki!

This is gonna be hard 😃 (they are in no particular order except for Adrien because he IS my favorite right now, otherwise I wouldn't be torturing him with angsty headcanons 😌)

1. Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir - Adrien Agreste 2. Avatar: The Last Airbender - Prince Zuko 3. How To Train Your Dragon - Hiccup Haddock 4. The Hunger Games - Katniss Everdeen 5. The Legend of Korra - Lin Beifong 6. The Owl House - Amity Blight 7. Wizards: Tales of Arcadia - Hiserdoux Casperan (my beloveddd) 8. Trollhunters - Claire Nunez 9. RWBY - Lie Ren 10. Harry Potter - Hermione Granger

Tagging:

@dandelionrumpancake @pegasus-anarchy @sketchy-panda @thesquipproject @inimoo @sweetmeatdale @syeko @unreliable-trash @gwennavierre @veebeejeebies

And anyone else who might want to do it! No pressure to my tags (and sorry if I retagged you, you can also ignore it hehe)

#the nelle q #still not here but i had a few couple hours to just browse through tumblr so i thought to get on top of my tags #tag game

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dreamsarelikedragonflies · 3 years

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Okay, so I warned you this was coming: I intentionally didn't mention Zoe in my post about Lin (age 17) because I wanted you to be the one to decide what their relationship looks like. I'm thinking Zoe ended up becoming a permanent member of the Casperan household shortly after Lin's adoption was made official, because Douxie wanted him to have a proper Mum (and he and Zoe were practically already married anyways by then). But apart from that, I don't know what Zoe's dynamic with Lin looks like.

The serotonin I am feeling tonight is REAL. Like I think my brain can’t handle the asks and now this, soooo lol. Stuff is under the cut bc it will probably get long.

Zoe has always been a bit more on the rebellious/hardcore punk side of things than Douxie has, and so when Lin starts displaying that very same headstrong behavior she has, she buckles down and tells Douxie to back off. She handles it supremely well.

Zoe is not exactly physically affectionate with him at first(as a baby) because she just,,, doesn’t ‘get’ kiddos yet? But as soon as she starts reading up on it and everything and how kids need it, you can bet she’s always dancing and playing with him (yknow how like throwing/spinning/physical play for kids around is good for motor development? Que Douxie on two hours of sleep walking in to find her tossing him up into the air- mind you Lin is cackling and all, thrilled -and just screeches)

“ZOE WHAT ARE YOU DOING PUT HIM DOWN YOU ARE GOING TO HURT HIM.”

“Douxie, hun, it’s called helping with mental development.”

Zoe wearing the baby in a baby pouch thing whenever Douxie isn’t(cuz lets face it, he wears the baby like 90% of the time)

Zoe is like,,, a soccer mom but in the best of ways. You don’t mess with her kid and she is hella supportive of him, no matter what.

The only reason Zoe is ever disappointed in him is that he never picked up on everything she taught him about fashion stuff and she tried so hard.

Every swear that Lin ever learned was from Zoe and it was not on purpose at all. (Zoe: you had better not tell your father I said that)

Zoe’s magic, being a hedgewitch and all, is also a bit more volatile and emotionally charged much like Lin’s, so she helps teach him how to control it and regulate his emotions in general.

She is all for letting him dye his hair, get piercings, wear whatever he wants, she really pushed the whole “he needs to develop his own personality thing” and she helped him dye his hair for the first time.

She taught him how to play the drums. Douxie took a short vacation(presumably with Archie) to save his eardrums.

She also taught Lin how to cook(and he loves it) because Douxie is a disaster cook and no adopted son of hers was going to get that trait.

Zoe has made all sorts of little magical toys for him in her free time and they’re his favorite things and he keeps them in a keepsafe box once he’s “grown out of them”

Lin gets his music taste from Zoe, he’s really into Indie/Folk and alt stuff, he doesn’t mind rock but it’s not quite his cup of tea.

Zoe convinces Douxie to join her in telling bedtime stories to Lin, but really, they’re just their adventures over the years with the bad parts taken out.

She sings old lullabies to baby Lin and Douxie is just floored by her voice(”Zoe I literally thought you could only scream song lyrics why didn’t tell me you could SING”)

Lin gets his sense of sarcasm from Zoe and at first Douxie goes up a wall because TWO Zoes sassing him is almost too much. Archie thinks it’s hilarious.

Bonus that mostly pertains to this particular topic: Lin’s first word was “kitty” and Archie was the first to hear it and he is so, so proud (he spent a whole afternoon trying to get Lin to say a bunch of words and settled on trying for “kitty”). Lin’s second word, much to Zoe and Douxie’s frustration and amusement, was a swear, courtesy of Zoe letting it slip when she burned herself cooking.)

ANYWAYS this was soooo much funnnnnnn ahhhhhhh I love this too muchhhh.

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spiderdreamer-blog · 4 years

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Tales of Arcadia: Wizards (MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD)

Guillermo del Toro and DreamWorks Animation’s Tales of Arcadia franchise that began with Trollhunters back in 2016 comes to an initial close with Wizards, the final of three planned series, though a just-announced movie called Rise of the Titans is on its way to give a proper finale to the whole. I confess I’m looking forward to such, as Wizards got me back onboard after being left cold by the sci-fi/alien-focused middle chapter, 3Below (I got several episodes in before deciding it wasn’t for me; I tend to cast a wary eye on “suddenly ALIENS” in otherwise traditional fantasy-based stories, and this did not really dispel those concerns, well-made as it otherwise was). Like Trollhunters, it’s a rousing fantasy adventure with charming, nuanced characters and terrific action scenes, though some of my criticisms of the franchise as a whole still stand and it has some pacing issues. It’s never going to be my FavoriteTM animated streaming franchise currently on the market, but this offers many pleasures for a casual fan like myself.

Set after the events of both Trollhunters and 3Below (one handy thing about not having gone through all of that is that the series obliges in catching one up on what happened, even briefly), Wizards centers on Hisirdoux “Douxie” Casperan (Colin O’Donoghue), a previously and mysteriously introduced figure who turns out to be the apprentice of Merlin (David Bradley) and has been keeping an eye on humanity in his master’s absence with the assistance of his cat-dragon familiar Archie (Alfred Molina) for the past 900 years. But Merlin comes calling with a quite dire task indeed: collect the remaining guardians of Arcadia like the Trollhunter Jim (Emile Hirsch), currently dealing with a shard trying to get to his heart and kill him, Claire (Lexi Medrano), Steve (Steven Yeun), and others to protect Nari (Angel Lin), a former member of a previously unseen group called the Arcane Order who are, as per usual with magical creatures in this setting, dedicated to wiping out humanity. Things go pear-shaped quite fast, and Douxie, Archie, Jim, Claire, and Steve are sent into the past. Camelot’s past, specifically, where a war between King Arthur (James Faulkner) and Gunmar the Black (Clancy Brown) of the Gumm-Gumm trolls is brewing over wide-ranging conflicts of land and magic. Quite a sticky situation to have landed in, one further complicated by Arthur’s sister Morgana (Lena Headey, getting to add depth to a previously fairly one-note cackling villain) burning with resentment over the king’s hatred of magic thanks to the death of his queen Guinevere and his increasing obstinacy towards any possible peace (which I have to say is a rather daring route to take for such a beloved cultural icon). On top of that, the timeline is all now screwed up all to hell, so Douxie and the others must make sure history aligns once again, or EVERYONE could be doomed.

This is QUITE a lot to pack into 10 episodes, particularly since seasons/arcs of TOA tend to average out about 13, and I can’t help but feel this would have benefited from that in places given some of the pacing ends up EXTREMELY fast as a result. It’s not an unforgivable sin, mind, and they make the most important matters and relationships land in the ways they need to (though I confess a profound ambivalent disinterest in the Jim/Claire teenage romance, not least because Lexi Medrano continues to be the weakest vocal performer in the show). But it definitely lends to a sort of speed-reading feel in the early going as all the pieces are arranged, and some characters like Steve seem to have arcs that don’t quite fully materialize outside of a few moments here and there.

Still, the pacing does have its advantages, which is mainly a whirlwind sense of “well THAT escalated quickly”, and I like some of the devotion to side characters like the troll Deya (Stephanie Beatriz), whose true narrative purpose as the original Trollhunter is sneakily hidden and creeps up on one with refreshing subtlety. It’s also a lot of fun to see the backstory of Camelot and Killahead Bridge in its proper fashion after seeing it talked up so much on Trollhunters, and the difficulties that came with such an alliance given that our usual band of heroic trolls is naturally skeptical of the humans’ sincerity in such given their previous hostility despite the clear threat of Gunmar to both groups. And things ultimately do line up in surprising and fun ways, such as a villainous reveal that holds a great deal of pain for characters who were coming around emotionally, or how we see the initial steps of the brotherhood between Blinky and AAARGH. I do think that Jim becoming human again and losing his troll-dom is a bit of a cop-out. That was one of my favorite twists in Trollhunters, especially since it was so heavily stressed that it was permanent. And here it just gets undone with....turning into stone and Claire cries magic tears of love, bam, he’s a shrimp again. Fine, whatever, he gets to be “normal” and happy again, I guess.

Vocally, the series is up to its usual standards. Despite my grumblings about Medrano (I could do immensely without the whine her vocal pitch reaches every time she screams “JIM!” or tries to make a heroic speech, which is a lot this season), the series regulars like Hirsch, Yeun (who is intensely hilarious and faux-macho as always; he really has a fantastic vocal range between roles like this and Keith, and I kind of want his high-pitched shrieks as my ringtone), and Brown hit their notes well. Though I must admit to missing GDT regular Ron Perlman as Bular despite Darin De Paul admirably filling in; I presume Ye Olde Scheduling Conflict reared its head. O’Donoghue makes for an immensely likable punk-ish lead, and even manages to split the difference well between the present-day “modern” Douxie and the less confident past Douxie that we meet (time paradoxes, bro). Though I freely admit some of this is my residual bisexual affection for him slogging through 7 seasons of the nonsense that was Once Upon A Time and remaining effortlessly charming throughout rearing its head. Molina is a charming dry-wit sidekick and gets some nice material late in the season playing off of BRIAN BLESSED as a dragon king, because why else would you get him in a series like this. Bradley remains a terrific, complicated mentor as Merlin: genuinely wise and not necessarily wrong about the cost of our heroes’ actions, but terrible at dealing with people, and he gets some of the best emotional-wreck moments in the season as a result of some much development and a wonderful back-and-forth with O’Donoghue. As said, Headey gets to mine real layers to a villain who was previously a showcase for her admirable scenery-chewing skills, and as a result, there’s genuine heartbreak in how the relationship between Morgana and Arthur breaks down. Faulkner holds up his end admirably as well, giving us a king who can be by turns brutish, thoughtful, and finally suffused with deep, cynical regret.

In terms of visuals, the franchise has always set a high standard for CGI TV, and this is no exception, nearly reaching feature quality in places with the battles and effects-driven sequences. A particular highlight comes with a magic battle between Douxie and Morgana that has a kind of glorious POWER OF ROCK payoff. Character designs are pleasing and fairly diverse as usual. I particularly enjoy that Deya is a short, stubby troll woman who gets to be the first Trollhunter. Though I admit to some amusement at just how bulky Arthur’s armor is; it’s like I can just reach into the screen and pluck out the potential action figure. And the Arcane Order is absolutely awesome in terms of aesthetic and threat. It’s clear they’ll be getting to flower more in the conclusion movie, and I’m immensely looking forward to seeing more of such.

All told, despite the aforementioned nits, Wizards might be my favorite TOA series because of how it directly appeals to the fantasy nerd in me even more than Trollhunters. I felt a certain impatience towards that occasionally in terms of its use of high school drama tropes that I think are frankly past their sell date, and the series immeasurably improved when it moved past them into thornier emotional territory like the Barbara/Strickler romance. Wizards is full-bore adventure from jump and drenched in all kinds of payoff, and for that, especially if you’re a fan already, I highly recommend it.

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