#whether they've been married for hundreds of years at this point or not

[softquietsteadylove]

Let’s do some Christmas stuff! You choose wich AU! A snowball fight :D

"It's snowing!"

Jack's declaration of excitement had woken the entire house as soon as he was up. He was bouncing with excitement over the powdery snowfall all through coffee/cocoa, and breakfast, and presents.

Until Phastos was finally - finally - ready to let everyone outside.

The Genius Eternal yawned as he dragged himself to watch his son from the covered porch. He smiled as he felt his husband come up beside him, laying his head on his shoulder.

"Which number Christmas is this?" Ben asked softly.

"Jack's 11th Christmas, technically," Phastos answered easily as he rubbed Ben's shoulder, "that's all that matters."

"Baba, come on!" Jack waved to his fathers, but they both held out their mugs of coffee as their excuse not to roll around in the snow, at least just yet. Jack rolled his eyes at them. "Uncle Gil?--Aunt Thena?"

Thena, who had been avoiding the snow very purposefully, shot out the back door. Snow was not her favourite weather, and she actually didn't adapt to cold very well for an ageless being of Cosmic Energy. It made her sluggish.

But the Warrior Eternal flew into the backyard at Jack's beckoning, landing in deep - up to her knees - and sliding next to him. She smiled at Jack's excitement, who never tired of the displays of their inhuman strength and speed. "What are we doing?"

He held up a fist sized collection of snow, "build a snowman with me?"

Gil emerged only a few minutes later, with his own coat thrown on and Thena's draped over his arm. He cleared his throat loudly (aggressively). "Ahem!"

Jack blinked over at Uncle Gil, only now realising that Thena didn't have her gloves or scarf on, having leapt out to join in him in only the long sweater dress she had been wearing since that morning. "Aunt Thena, you'll get cold!"

"Eternals can't get cold," she stated rather factually as Jack started pulling off his mittens to try and offer them to her.

"That's not true," Gil corrected freely as he walked into the backyard with them. "Especially about Aunt Thena."

Thena sighed, sounding an awful lot like Jack. But Gil held her coat open for her with an expectant eyebrow raised. She let go of the snowball now rolled as high as Jack's shoulders, and slipped into it. She turned, letting him button it up for her. "Being around Phastos for so long has made you nervous."

"You," he corrected with a kiss to her nose, "running around in the snow makes me nervous."

Thena let him pull off his scarf and loop it around her hair, although she smiled as he used it as an excuse to pull her into a kiss. She sighed, eyes glittering as she watched a few snow flakes get caught in his dark hair. "Lucky I have you to warm me up, then."

"Uncle Gil, can you help us get the head on?"

"Sure can, buddy," Gil chuckled, releasing his hold on Thena to help Jack with the second, smaller snowball.

Jack watched his uncle pick up the snow barehanded. But he had also watched Uncle Gil pull stuff out of the oven without ovenmitts, so maybe he was the one exception to that rule, even among Eternals.

"Just two?" Phastos called out to them from the porch, "it's gotta be three pieces, Gil! C'mon, I'd expect you to know that!"

"We live in Australia!"

Ben hid himself behind his husband as he saw Thena's hand go up. Right in his assumption, he heard the snowball make contact with Phastos. "Oof, that sounded intense, Habibi. Are you okay?"

Thena merely looked at her brother, holding another densely packed snowball in her hand. "Shall you be a Fighter today, brother?"

"Oh, you are so in for it," the Genius Eternal chuckled. He pulled some snow to his hand with his powers, using them to shape it into the most perfect of spheres before launching it.

Gil caught it in his fist before it could reach her, the snow exploding back into powder as soon as it was in proximity to his Cosmic Energy, "nice try!"

"Jack, help your Dad!" Phastos cried out as he dove behind the barbecue for cover.

"Every man for himself!" Jack screamed out in a laugh as Aunt Thena menacingly approached him with a loose handful of snow.

"There's no escape, Jack!" Gil laughed as he caught their nephew, who was prepared for the capture and tossed a snowball at him. "Sneak attack!"

Jack scrambled up the back porch to his father's side. "Alliance?"

"Alliance," Phastos nodded seriously at his son, peeking out to look at the backyard. "They're gonna be hard to fight."

"We can do it," Jack said as his other father crouched down in their huddle as well. "Uncle Gil will get distracted by Aunt Thena soon and then we can get 'im."

"I believe our time is now," Ben chuckled, pointing around the barbecue's covering.

"Gil!" Thena laughed as he wrapped his arms around her waist, spinning them around with snow at their feet. It almost looked like they were still in the snowball fight, but it quickly devolved into him dipping her down in his arms to kiss her amidst their little dance.

"Now, Jack, now!" Phastos whispered, handing Jack a perfectly crafted snowball.

"I don't wanna hit Aunt Thena!"

"Let your father throw it," Ben chuckled, ruffling his son's hat.

Phastos had no trouble taking aim at his sister. But of course, there was no getting a sneak attack in on the Warrior Eternal. Phastos sighed as she let her shield materialise to block their kiss.

Gil pulled them upright again, staring at Thena as the snow fell gently into her already sparkling hair. He stared into her eyes, catching his reflection in them. "I almost forgot how beautiful you are in the snow."

Thena blushed softly, leaning into his touch as he held her cheeks in his hands, "almost?"

"I could never," he whispered before pulling her into another kiss.

Thena sighed against his lips, reaching inside his coat to wrap her arms around him.

Gil's lips gave her an extra little bump as the snowball collided with the back of his head. He brushed it off, of course, turning around to glare at his brother (who was being abandoned by his husband and child, knowing what was to come).

Thena, already crafting the densest snowball yet, relented as Gil held his hand out. "Don't crush it."

"I won't," he laughed, holding it just so and letting his Cosmic Energy build up behind his hand instead of in his palm. Ben held Jack a good distance away, both of them laughing in preparation for what was to come.

"Now, Gil," Phastos held his hands out, moving away from his precious barbecue so it wouldn't get caught in the crossfire. "Let's just...talk this through."

But Gilgamesh was already laughing. "No one interrupts me when I'm kissing my wife!"

The snowball flew, faster than any pitch any human professional could make. The ball of snow hit Phastos like a brick, tossing his sturdy body into the side of the house and then down to the powdery snow below.

Ben laughed. "Darling, are you okay?"

"Fine," Phastos grumbled in return. It had been a long time since he'd trained or sparred with any of his relatives. How could he forget the punch Gil packed in whatever he did? And this was Gil, joking around and having a good time. If Thena decided she wanted to get serious... "I yield!"

Thena had been preparing an attack of her own when she heard his admission of defeat. She sighed, knowing it would only be dishonourable to attack him now. She dropped her tightly packed snowball - half of it pure ice - to the ground, "fine."

"Dad!" Jack ran over to his father to help him up. "That was so cool!"

Gil wrapped his arm around Thena's waist again, all of them slowly heading back inside after their little battle. "You get it out of your system?"

"Hm," Thena mused. Gil wasn't asking if she had burned off her energy; he was asking if she was going to try and get revenge on Phastos later for the snowball he'd thrown. "Maybe."

Gil kissed her cheek, "Ben and I will be cooking dinner in the kitchen. Just don't do anything to damage the house."

"Of course," she murmured, letting her husband nuzzle his cold nose into the hollow of her cheek. He took her coat right off of her, as well as the scarf that had, at one time, been Phastos'. She pulled Jack's hat off his head for him.

"Aunt Thena, come on, you can show me how to use my new sword game!" Jack beamed at her, pulling her to the tv where Ben was hooking up the motion sensors necessary for it.

Phastos smiled as his son excitedly booted up his new game. Thena looked ever serious as the Warrior Eternal, but Jack could have no one better to show him how to stand and how to move without hurting himself. As much as it was in her nature, it was a nice change to see her smiling as she instructed.

"Cute, isn't it?" Gil chuckled beside his brother before setting his stockpot full of ingredients. "Be careful, though."

"Huh?"

"Thena hasn't forgotten you nailing me in the back of the head with that snowball," Gil advised as he started sharpening the knives and Ben pulled the turkey out of its salt brine. "She's still gonna get you for that."

"Oh, come on, you already got me," Phastos sighed, although he knew it was true. His sister was the Warrior Eternal, and she did not forgive any transgression against the Strongest Eternal.

"Yeah," Gil snorted, "but she didn't."

"I'm sure Thena's more mature than that," Phastos said loudly, as if that alone would keep him safe.

Thena listened from where she was watching Jack play his new game. She grinned as she heard Phastos scream at the top of his lungs. He could assume about her maturity all he wanted, but she had put snow in his slippers, in the sleeves of his house robe, even inside his news paper, all in the name of her husband.

#I'm bumping this up in the queue #because it's mistlefoe season #happy holidays everyone #I hope you're taking care of yourselves #Jack and Thenamesh again #because we're here for good vibes today everyone #but is Gil still going to flirt with his wife? #of course! #Thenamesh #always has time to flirt #whether they've been married for hundreds of years at this point or not #And if anyone #has the audacity to throw snow at Gilgamesh #they are going to get to know why Thena is called the Goddess of War #especially if he's their brother #I mean she's already taken his scarf from him #Jack gets to see his dad actually acting like siblings with them #and Phastos gets to see them acting like a family with his son #everybody wins

[land-of-holly]

Okay, here are some of my thoughts/predictions in advance of the finale:

(I tried to skim the tag to check if I missed any major questions, but it just made me depressed, so if I forgot anything I apologize)

In no particular order:

All the Vibes point to the Stranger being Gandalf. The writers have already proven they belive that anything before roughly T.A. 2000 is fair game to count as Second Age, so whatever. In my opinion it would be slightly boring but well supported by the narrative. In any case I don't think the full reveal will happen this season; we might learn that he's a wizard but not which one.

I have no earthly clue what is going on with the creepy cult ladies but signs seem to point to them working for Sauron?

There are obviously a lot of hints that Halbrand is Sauron for those who want to see them. I personally think it would be a waste of a perfectly good character arc if the entire persona is revealed to be nothing but lies. A theory I like that I've been seeing bits and pieces of here and there is that when Adar "killed" Sauron, he claimes to have "split him open", so maybe there's like, a piece of Sauron in Halbrand, Voldemort-style.

Honestly I'm still mostly on team "Sauron is already in Eregion fucking things up" because it's the only possible explanation for Gil-galad's utter assholery. I'm holding out hope that "the elves will all be dead by spring and only mithril can save them" is just a deception spread as the first step in Sauron's evil plan.

GALADRIEL IS NOT ATTRACTED TO HALBRAND. Say what you want about his feelings for her but SERIOUSLY THERE IS NOTHING THERE. Oh my god, is this what straight people feel like all the time?? When we're clearly picking up sexual tension between two same gender characters and they just don't fucking see it?? Idek anymore. This will never be "disconfirmed" because there was nothing to confirm in the first place; as far as I'm concerned her mentioning already being married is all that needs be said.

That said, I think if we're LUCKY we'll see a tiny glimpse of Celeborn in episode 8 without really knowing where he is or what he's up to. I really have not a fucking clue what would keep him from rejoining his wife for hundreds to thousands of years, so I guess prisoner of the Enemy? Amnesia maybe?

"Who is Theo's dad?" is something that was clearly teased as a possible reveal when he and Bronwyn were introduced, but at this point I don't think we're getting an answer. I doubt there's a satisfying one out there anyway.

I don't think Disa's gonna do a Princess Ursa and regicide King Durin in order to save her husband's best friend. I mean, I believe she COULD do it, and if she did I would support her, but I'm not quite getting that vibe from her. Murder's like plan K, and they've still got plans D-J to get through first.

Isildur will not be reunited with the rest of the Numenoreans until next season. Sorry, Elendil. He'll hang around Middle-earth for a while, maybe do some surveying for a fortress on the outskirts of Mordor, then meet up with the army when it returns.

I'm actually having a hard time figuring out what the last episode is going to look like, because they seem to be wrapping up a lot of their plotlines already. I would not feel like I was left hanging if we didn't hear more from the Harfoots or the Numenoreans; they already seem poised to set out on their next major story arc. Same with Adar and the Orcs; they got what they wanted, so there's no real plot left in them unless, say, the creepy cult ladies show up and start to stir shit up.

It's entirely possible that we'll see the forging of at least one ring of power in episode 8, maybe from Elrond's little mithril chunk, but whether it's a prototype or one of the Great Rings remains to be seen; probability of Great Ring goes way up if Sauron is already hanging around Eregion.

Oh! The Stranger (and thus the four Harfoots) are going into Greenwood the Great. Maybe we'll meet Oropher? That would be cool.

Okay I think that's all I got. See y'all on the other side!

#rings of power #i may poke around the manifold prediction markets #and see if anyone's got any predictions up #so i may come back to this if i see anything good to weigh in on