#I can’t decide if we live in the best or worst timeline
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Walk The Plank (K.HJ x fem reader)
Chapter 6: Yunho’s Brother
You had grown up hearing tales about the infamous pirate crew ATEEZ—the fearless, power-hungry men that roamed the seas in search of the most valuable treasure they could lay their hands on. You almost didn’t believe the stories your mother had told you as a child...not until you wound up on their ship
Warnings for this chapter: cursing, mentions of loss
A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! I can’t believe we’re halfway through the story?! I can’t wait to keep the adventure going :) Ah! Love y’all!
Previous: Chapter 5, Masterlist
Chapter 6: Yunho’s Brother
Sometime in the early morning, you had begun to toss and turn. You had woken up frequently enough to notice Hongjoong slip in and out of his quarters a few times, also unable to rest—just as he had predicted. Because of your restlessness, you sit in the crow’s nest once more, reading the captain’s journal of adventures. The light from the sunrise now illuminates the pages enough for you to blow out your lantern.
The adventure you had started reading about was one where the ATEEZ crew was chasing after people they called the "Guardians". They had stolen Yunho's brother away from him after hearing about his special abilities, and Yunho and his mates were determined to get him back. On the current page, Hongjoong mentions that this encounter was the first of many with the Guardians. They were apparently always up to no good, harming people for the sake of their idea of a perfect society in a perfect timeline.
The description of Yunho's brother lifts the corners of your lips. He seemed lively, intelligent, and most of all, the others seemed to adore him.
"Back up here again, aye?" You startle at the sudden sound of Wooyoung's voice so close to you.
"Yes." You breathe a sigh of relief as he climbs into the crow's nest with you.
"Guess what? I'll have ya know Seonghwa showed me the rest of the alphabet, and me and San read the whole first page! You must be proud, huh?" You giggle at his smugness.
"Very proud, Woo! Say, I am reading of your encounter with what you call the 'Guardians'. Who are they?" you ask. Wooyoung's expression turns sour as the name leaves your lips.
"They are bad people, Y/N. You do not want to run into them. They're greedy beings that commit the worst of the worst. 'For the good of the universe' or something like that. Some fuc—"
"The universe? Are they people from this planet?" you ask. He shrugs.
"God knows. Maybe some of 'em. Hard to tell when they just show up to take things and then leave." Your curious eyes scan through the page and then look back at the man next to you.
"Did you know Yunho's brother?"
Wooyoung looks down at his lap, playing with his hands. "Not for very long. I liked the lad, though. We all did. Just as much as we like Yunho. He was on board for just a couple of weeks. Wherever he is now, I hope he's not suffering."
"Do you think he is alive?" you whisper, squirming as a sick feeling rises in your stomach. You feel like you had known Yunho's brother just by the fond way they speak of him.
"Hard to say. But we feel like if he were, we would have found 'em. Or...maybe he would have found us." Wooyoung's eyebrows furrow. "Mingi kind of reminds Yunho of his brother. He finds comfort in his presence." You can only imagine how Yunho himself must feel.
You decide that it's a good time to change the subject. "I see, my apologies for asking so much. I am sure it is hard for you. Do not mention it to Yunho, yes?"
"I won't tell!" He looks up at you and his adorable smile returns.
"Tell what?" San's head appears above the rim of the crow's nest.
"AH!" You and Wooyoung yelp at the same time, grabbing onto each other.
"HAHA!" The surprise visitor gasps for air after seeing the two of you. Wooyoung gives him an angry look, but his face begins to soften as his best mate continues to smile. "Want to eat together?" San asks, as if giving a peace offering.
"Yes." Wooyoung hops up, taking your arm to help you up as well. "You first, princess." You smile at his endearments; he gives you a different one every time. San climbs down before you and keeps a careful eye on you from below. Wooyoung does the same from above. As soon as he climbs down, Woo is running off to head below deck.
"Wait for us!" San cries, grabbing your hand to pull you after his mate.
***
To your surprise, Yunho and Mingi are the only ones below deck. Everyone else had made their way to perform their morning duties above deck. They must all be up early to prepare for tomorrow.
"Mornin'!" San greets. Yunho and Mingi sigh as Wooyoung comes between them to place his arms over their shoulders. Yunho groans.
"Too early," says Mingi, throwing back the rest of his rum from the glass he holds. San rolls his eyes and grabs a few pieces of bread to hand to you and Wooyoung. You're so happy to finally have some fresh food now that you had gone to land. You take an apple along with your bread and go to sit atop the bottom stair step. Yunho comes over and sits beside you, his long legs extended in front of him.
"Hey!" Wooyoung whines. You can only assume that his pout is because he had wanted to sit next to you. He settles for the floor in front of you and San sits on a barrel. Mingi hovers beside him, leaning against a wooden post.
"So..." Yunho starts, taking a bite of his apple. "What are your plans after we get our treasure? You'll be free to go." He gives you a wink.
"Well, I actually have not thought-"
"I've heard tales that ya have to sacrifice someone to get to the Cromer," Mingi interrupts, a suspenseful tone finding his words. "Little Y/N here will be the first to go." He laughs, his broad shoulders shaking.
"That is complete shit." Yunho chuckles, rolling his eyes.
"Don't scare her!" Wooyoung cries. "It's not true."
"Oh, don't be so sure!" Mingi says. You glare at him with as much hatefulness as you can muster. Yunho catches your glare and looks to Mingi.
"Careful...she will have you fear her!"
"I do not understand you, Mingi," you say. "I have tried my best to be on good terms with everyone, and you are the only one that has not reciprocated."
"Oooh." Wooyoung smirks. "Mingi must have taken a liking to her. Are you afraid, Mingi?"
Your eyes widen as Mingi grabs Wooyoung by his shirt collar, threats spewing from his lips.
You would be more concerned, but the smaller man just continues to giggle, not frightened my Mingi's actions. The others seem unfazed, and Yunho stands up and takes your hand. You follow close after, letting him lead you to the main deck.
"I take it this is a common occurrence?" you ask.
"Wooyoung loves to be a bother." He rolls his eyes and then meets your gaze, smiling at you. "And I hope you are not upset by Mingi. I do not believe there is a sacrifice...of a life, at least." Yunho scratches his head, a timid look displayed on his face.
"I am not upset. I know he is not serious." You sigh.
"That does not mean it was right. Please excuse him...I think that he is afraid of change and does not know how to act. We have never—" Yunho clears his throat. "Had a woman aboard." Your eyes widen at his statement.
"That is what this is about?"
"Well...perhaps he fears liking you. Being attached to someone new, maybe? I know him quite well, but I cannot speak for him."
"Ah, yes. I heard today that the two of you are close."
"How so?" Yunho asks, his curiosity causing him to lean forward.
"Wooyoung," you reply shyly. "He brought it up when we were talking about a past journey of yours."
"Did he mention anything more of me?" he asks.
"Nothing bad, if that is what worries you." You giggle. "But...I did happen to read a bit about your brother." Yunho swallows thickly. "He seemed lovely, Yunho. Just like you." You cup his cheek, brushing your thumb softly across his skin. He finds comfort in your gesture and leans into your touch. His hand eventually encompasses your own, bringing it down to where he can hold it between you.
"You are very kind, Y/N. Thank you."
"Of course, Yunho. I hope that you can find a friend in me."
"Attention!" You hear Seonghwa's boots stomp their way towards you. You and Yunho immediately straighten up, awaiting his orders. "The Captain beckons us to his quarters."
"Aye," Yunho replies.
"Aye."
Seonghwa continues on, stomping down to where he will soon find San, Wooyoung, and Mingi.
>>chapter 7
#hongjoong x reader#ateez au#ateez x reader#ateez x female reader#kim hongjoong#park seonghwa#jung yunho#song mingi#kang yeosang#choi jongho#jung wooyoung#choi san#ateez pirate au
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College/University Roommates Masterlist
a home for two (ao3) - watsonmj (divineauthor)
mj/peter
T, 3k
Summary: MJ can’t count how many times Peter has shown up in her dorm.
Peter and MJ become unintentional roommates. They’re also incredibly in love with each other.
A Little Larceny (ao3) - checkmate
bucky/tony
T, 5k
Summary: Bucky has a bit of a thing for his roommate, but Tony is far too busy setting him up on blind dates with other people to notice.
California king (ao3) - withered
bucky/tony
T, 1k
Summary: Bucky should be used to Tony ending up in his bed.
cross your heart (ao3) - softnslow
mj/peter, ned/betty
T, 6k
Summary: God, he's so pretty.
His eyes dart from the textbook to his journal, and his head is lowered so a brown curl droops down from his forehead. His dorky T-shirt is hiked up slightly so it reveals- his stupid perfect six-pack, damn.
The soft glow of the lamp outlines his sharp, perfect jawline to his pretty boy features.
MJ looks back down, biting the inside of her cheek.
She's crushing so hard on Peter. A nerd. A dork. A really hot, cute, awkward, pretty guy.
--
or, a sweet roommates au featuring babysitting morgan stark, snowball fights, and study sessions.
Death and the PhD (ao3) - buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (hutchabelle)
steve/bucky
T, 3k
Summary: PhD student Bucky Barnes loves his research on Thanatos, the Greek god of non-violent death. So wrapped up in his studies that he doesn’t realize someone’s stalking him and his roommate Steve who’s come to mean more to Bucky than only someone who resides in his apartment, he’s forced to find the courage to resist when he comes face-to-face with his stalker.
Education is the key (ao3) - SrebrnaFH
G, 1k
Summary: Steve Rogers is rescued from the ice earlier than in the MCU timeline and Army decides he needs to complete his education.
Howard Stark suggests MIT. Guess who is going to be Steve's roommate... Or roommates.
for all of the perfect things that i doubt (ao3) - spoondrifts
loki/mobius, valkryie/ravonna
T, 6k
Summary: Mobius M. Mobius, age twenty-three, philosophy major, isn't sure what to make of his new roommate. Especially considering that it's three months into the semester and he hasn't even seen the guy yet.
Home (ao3) - Pandagirl86
tony/bruce
T, 4k
Summary: It's been a long time since Tony's felt at home.
In This Together (ao3) - i_buchanan
bruce/tony
E, 62k
Summary: Bruce was pretty sure that he was going to be the youngest person at MIT. He didn't realize that honor actually went to his roommate, the already-infamous Tony Stark. Granted, the child prodigy turns out to be nothing like he expects, for better or worse, and Bruce figures that they just have to make it work. Besides, it should only be for one semester, right?
Or, the fic where they live together, move out together, and eventually get together.
Let Me Love You (ao3) - inclinedtoarson
mj/peter
M, 3k
Summary: Peter is Michelle's best friend, and Michelle is his. He is always there for her on her worst days, and now that they're roommates she's spent a lot of nights confiding the deepest parts of herself with him. There's no one she trusts more in the world, no one who knows her better. So when her boyfriend just up and leaves, MJ is glad Peter is there to tell her she's beautiful and valuable and that he's there for her. He'll always be there.
Marvel Collegiate University (ao3) - Ultra
bucky/natasha, pepper/tony, steve/peggy
T, 48k
Summary: What if all the Avengers were ordinary human beings who just attended college together?
Oh where do we begin (ao3) - steveandbucky
steve/buckt
M, 24k
Summary: Halfway through his third year of college, Steve Rogers rents out the spare room in his apartment to make living close to campus more affordable. At first sight his new roommate, Bucky Barnes, seems to be the stuff dreams are made of, but living together turns out to be a nightmare, and the academic year is a lot more adventurous than either of them expected, as they slowly turn from enemies to friends to lovers.
Painterly (ao3) - avintagekiss24
steve/bucky
E, 8k
Summary: Steve's entire semester hinges on the art project that Bucky just kinda, sorta put a hole in.
save, saving, saved (ao3) - firebrands
steve/tony
G, 1k
Summary: simple joys, or: tony exhausting himself trying to help literally everyone and steve tutting and making him noodles
Smart Enough (ao3) - AuroraWest
loki/stephen
T, 3k
Summary: Loki has never been smart enough to keep his mouth shut around people who don't like him. When he gets beat up by the university rowing team (seriously?), his roommate insists on helping with the injuries.
At least Loki is smart enough not to fall for his roommate, despite Stephen's crooked smile and floppy hair. Right?
some days i'm lonely (and some days i'm not) (ao3) - wittepain
peter/harley
T, 77k
Summary: Harley turns eighteen in a day, graduates in two weeks, and despite all of the questions now being thrown at his head, he has absolutely no direction in life.
-
or, it takes leaving everything he's ever known for harley keener to finally learn how to love and be loved.
Surprise! (ao3) - Ray_Day
peter/harley
T, 2k
Summary: Harley and Peter are dating and are roommates in college. Neither of them knows that they know Tony Stark (Though on Harley's end, he just doesn't connect the dots).
So when Tony shows up for a surprise lecture for their shared class, neither of them know what to do.
The Loveliness of Loving You (ao3) - ElisabethMonroe
sam/bucky
E, 4k
Summary: Staring SamBucky, featuring:
Valentine's Day ✔️
Baking Cookies ✔️
Lingerie ✔️
Mutual Pining By Friends With Benefits ✔️
And They Were Roommates ✔️
The One With The Haus Party (ao3) - neversaydie
steve/bucky, natasha/sam, past steve/tony, bucky/pietro
M, 8k
Summary: Sam ends up giving Mr Five-Feet-Five of Cock-Deprived Fury a piggyback home, mainly because he's too drunk to protest being carried and Sam would like to get home before the sun comes up this time.
"I hate Bucky." He's been grumbling about Barnes for the entire walk. There's a thin line between love and hate, Sam supposes, and apparently that line is someone else's dick in Bucky's mouth. "Fucking… gonna call him Fucky from now on."
"He'll like that." Sam points out, shifting Steve's weight to get the bony knees out of his ribs. He'd better get some good karma for this shit, he wishes he didn't have such a strong conscience that he can't knowingly let this guy sleep on a sticky frat house floor for the night. He's way nicer than his messy friends deserve.
"Gonna call him fuckface then. Fuckface fucking Barnes. Sucking all the dicks. S'not fair, where's the dicks left for everyone else?!"
[the gang go to a house party at a hockey frat, mistaken identities and inadvisable drunken behaviour abound, and Steve is a Hot Mess]
The Rift (ao3) - seapigeon
steve/bucky
M, 53k
Summary: Steve Rogers is used to things going wrong. He's had poor health and bad luck his entire life. He's not really sure why he thought witchcraft would be any different. Maybe because he didn't believe it was real...?
Turns out, it's all kinds of real, and now he has a ghost in the attic, a mystery to solve, and a huge crush on his roommate.
#themculibrary#marvel#mcu#masterlists#au#college#college masterlist#university#university masterlist#roommates#roommates masterlist
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so I went off a bit about this online and offline so ok rocking up to these emotions 45 years later (or however long) than everyone else but hey you get to see someone having these emotions For The First Time In Real Time!
Hawkeye leaves the base without proper permission in a reckless bid to properly say goodbye to Trapper, because Trapper (for reasons I hc as relating to general bad mental health behaviour, similar to how when we see Hawkeye in opening s4 is even less respectful of Frank and generally “how he is perceived” than usual -- because they’re both grieving Henry’s death) Did! Not! Leave! Him! A! Note! Nor a Letter!
(he left him a kiss, which I would hazard was not intended for on the cheek, but Radar did his best but no note and Hawkeye can’t accept the lack of words, he needs those words whatever they are, however messy)
so Hawkeye drives hell or high water to catch Trapper in what to modern audiences is recognisable as the 11th hour most romantic of moments: The Airport Run, an unfailing plot-device that I have never seen fail
and then Hawkeye
FAILS the airport run
he doesn’t manage to say goodbye to Trapper, despite disobeying direct orders not to leave base, despite lying to the guards on the road, despite driving so fast he’s covered in dust (right after coming back from a large hangover and dousing himself fully-clothed in a shower)
he looks like shit, he doesn’t care who tries to stop him and
he FAILS THE AIRPORT RUN!!!**
not for any particular reason, there’s nothing that stops him. he just... was never going to be on time -- he fails it BY TEN MINUTES, and is walking around like a man in shock covered in dust from the road, repeating it to himself (ten minutes??? I missed him by ten minutes????)
* * *
and in the midst of all of these repetitions (are you sure he didn’t leave a note? nothing? ten minutes???), which, on top of Henry dying after he’d left Korea, just seems to add to the amount of senseless cruelties mounting on top of each other, he meets BJ Hunnicutt for the first time
literally as he is processing that he cannot say goodbye to Trapper, BJ appears in his pressed new uniform, and is introduced to him, and Hawkeye isn’t supposed to be there to meet him! He’s only there because of his -- and I keep stressing this -- failed airport run
if Hawkeye had been reachable on-leave instead of (from the sounds of things) being even more depressingly hedonistic, or if Trapper had left him a note instead of getting drunk for two days, he probably wouldn’t have gone there, and those actions feel like they were marinated in grief and exhaustion (+ I think of that episode of that guy who becomes paranoid after he’s discharged and so tries not to touch anything for fear of him getting injured -- I think of Henry who said goodbye and then died, probably only a week or two earlier, and then I think it’s easy to read Trapper as terrified of saying goodbye of speaking about feelings to Hawkeye, just in case saying those things mean a permanent goodbye...)
the fact that he missed him (By! Ten! Minutes!) and that it was the exact time that BJ was arriving --- that feels like fate
BJ Hunnicutt: new suit, bright and afraid and a new father and Hawkeye seizes upon the distraction, buys him a drink and decides to steal a general’s truck because their own disappeared and why the hell not! Let’s show the new guy the ropes!
and because of the timeline/confluence of events they get shot at and then stuck in a mortar shelling where BJs fancy uniform gets completely muddied and he throws up (but recovers and does his job well and Hawkeye comforts him by holding him and placing a hand on his forehead) and they help a girl who triggers a mine, and take her to a dilapidated hospital, and then they get even more drunk in a bar down the road from the unit and after that I guess they can’t become anything but inseparable, because they both just went through one of the worst days of each of their lives together
I don't think it was meant to be construed specifically as I construe it in the hindsight of 2022 (what with the Tropes in play that I don't even think existed then), but the episode really does feel like something special...
it’s as if the whole of the opening of season four is mired in reckless abandonment and incorrect decisions (Hawkeye being unreachable, Trapper leaving without a note) brought on by grief, that just quietly tears Hawkeye and Trapper apart -- he doesn’t fail because of anything, he just couldn’t have made it on-time --
only for the universe to gently offer Hawkeye the chance for a new story --
and the episode makes it very clear that the story won’t be daisies and daffodils, but he won’t be alone in it
he wasn’t on time to say goodbye to Trapper but he was just in time to welcome BJ to Korea
--
--
**Sidenote: seriously when did the airport run become one of the most well-known staples of romantic gestures? did it exist prior to this episode? I need to know if this whole sequence is done consciously invoking romantic text, or if by some mad happenstance it just retroactively not only invokes it but fucking subverts it before it even existed by having him fucking fail! I am tearing my hair out here (metaphorically, I am only tugging on it intermittently literally)
#MASH#hawkeye pierce#trapper mcintyre#bj hunnicutt#can you tell I'm fine?#i actually feel a lot calmer having written this post#im watching MASH
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A rottmnt au I wanna write
Before I start! If anyone has made something like this already, I’d be really interested in seeing it!
Now. As far as I know, we don’t know for sure that bad timeline April died in the attack that killed future Leo and Mikey. She probably did, but maybe, just maybe she didn’t. So consider: bad future April leading the very last of the survivors through an even more broken world than the one they’ve lived in for years, knowing that the Kraang have completely taken control and knowing that they can’t win, but hoping to find some place to live out the rest of their lives peacefully, even though they’ve lost everything and everyone but each other.
I texted this all to a friend, and they said it sounds really dark, and there is that path, but I feel like it could be sorta hopeful if well written, like they find a safe and beautiful place deep in the woods, a long abandoned cabin or something, and the few of them who survived learn to make the best out of what they have now, knowing that soon enough they’ll be with their loved ones again but now they can take even just a few months to make peace with their lives on earth (longest sentence ever written).
It’s April leading maybe five others and giving them hope, knowing that after all this she’ll see her family again.
My current thought is that she almost dies, but when Mikey makes the portal and dies he sends out a burst of magic to all the people he loves, and it reaches April and saves her from the brink of death. Her family reaches out in the brief moment when Mikey and Leo‘s deaths let them interact with the world mystically, and they put their energy into healing April.
And she carries that with her. She carries the knowledge that her family is waiting, and the knowledge that they want her so strongly to live, and she uses the time she has left to take care of those who also survived. There are kids amongst them, and she gives them as much of a childhood as she can. Together, this group grieves for those they lost and grows close.
Here’s a scene I’ve written already! It takes place after the big Kraang attack, when April is nearly dead:
At the back of April’s mind, there are two flames.
One is orange and feels like childhood joy and sage wisdom at the same time. It flares up, bright and warm and brilliant, and then it goes out forever. It feels like, You’re not dying that easily. It feels like, I’ll see ya soon enough.
The other is blue and strong and steady and feels like a safe hand reaching out in the middle of a storm. It bursts with warmth as it flickers out. It feels like, Buh-bye, sis. It feels like, Don’t worry, the kid is safe.
At the edges of her perception, there’s a trace of purple energy that feels like electricity and dry sarcasm. A trace of solid, smiling red warmth in a protective wall.
If she looks further, she can feel more.
The smallest suggestion of soft whiskers and ridiculous movie star glasses from days past.
The tiniest possibility of an ancient smile that was briefly a part of her.
The faintest chance of cafeteria food and disgust that covered love.
And maybe it’s her mind playing tricks on her, but she might just sense off-brand girl scout brownies and determination. Might just sense green explosions of joy and stupid jokes about laser tag.
All of the people she’s lost smile at her, and then they’re gone.
And April’s alone again.
April’s eyes open slowly to the red sky and cracked remains of a roof.
That’s wrong. She’s supposed to be dead now. Unless she is, and the world decided to leave her as part of the worst joke ever. Maybe the afterlife is just the real world, but she can’t feel anything around her.
Wait. That’s also wrong. A bit of debris presses into her back, and her arm and leg hurt. Not as much as they should, though.
She should have bled out from those wounds. It doesn’t make any sense.
Slowly, she pushes herself up and looks around. The tunnel is completely destroyed around her. Old concrete lies in chunks and pieces, and underneath are the bodies of those who died in the battle.
She was supposed to be with them. This really, really doesn’t make sense.
She looks at the giant cut on her arm, and finds it… covered? A slightly blue tinted bandage is wrapped around it tightly. Her leg is similarly wrapped in orange stained bandage, with a tiny smile drawn on.
Ta-da! It’s bad, but still, ta-da!
#rottmnt#rottmnt au#rise april#rottmnt april#rottmnt fanfiction#tw death#i guess#rottmnt bad future#rottmnt bad timeline#rottmnt Kraang#rise kraang
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I caught up on the Ash vs. Cynthia fight and folks, I am choosing violence.
My stance on the anime has overall been really negative this tournament run. Barring Diantha vs. Lance, nothing has been particularly exciting to me. I can live with the Alain vs. Leon outcome, and the Ash vs. Steven outcome, I just feel like they could’ve done a bit more to make the match feel like it mattered. I’m still not over Diantha vs. Leon, and doubtless, never will be. But barring how hard they disrespected Diantha...this is the most bothered I’ve been. This is worse than how sidelined Iris was.
It’s not because Cynthia lost. I feel like I need to preface that. Cynthia was always going to lose, no one should be surprised. It’s not even strictly how she lost. Ash still fights like a cheating anime protagonist (what the fuck is “Use Breaking Swipe on the shield to remove Stealth Rock supposed to be?), but most situations could’ve been handled equivalently without it, they just did it for dramatic effect (just have Pikachu tech in Electric Terrain this fight for Hypnosis immunity and it checks out, Breaking Swipe on Garchomp would’ve dealt damage that cancels out what Lucario would’ve taken from Rocks and the same outcome occurs anyway, etc). It’s a mild inconvenience at worst. In fact, I’m willing to say that on the whole the fight itself is really solid. Part 1 is fantastic for ramping up the tension by taking Pikachu out early, the reveal of Dynamax Togekiss was amazing and that little blob actually did fantastic. Even smaller bits like surprise, Roserade has Natural Cure, Gengar effectively accomplished nothing, is great. It’s a little dumb that Cynthia apparently didn’t bring a Ground-type attack on Garchomp, but small potatoes in the grand scheme of an otherwise good fight.
No, what bothers me is what they did with Cynthia herself.
“By the way, win or lose, I’m retiring after this.” That had people pretty mad, but personally, I was all for it. Cynthia’s always had her fixation on her research and travels, and I had assumed this was leading into Black and White timeline stuff, where she’s going off to visit Caitlin’s villas around the world in her research, and is participating here just to show off that she’s the best, and retire on top. Which is cool and interesting and works for her character. But that’s not what happens. No, instead, we get some nonsense in part three as she gets really into the tension of the fight with Ash, and decides that no, actually she’s not retiring, how could she ever give up something as fun as battling?
Fuck. You.
That is stupid. That is bottom of the barrel bullshit stupid. You’re telling me the whole retirement thing was just so arrogant ploy of “Oh, I am simply just so bored of always winning.” Fuck off. That is the least compelling reason for anyone to do anything. Especially for someone in her position. You’re not even #1, Cynthia, what the fuck do you mean you’re bored? All this motivation serves to do is make you intolerably arrogant for no reason. To say absolutely nothing of the sheer disrespect it paints toward Iris. Iris also had you down to your last Pokemon and was battling pretty well, but apparently absolutely nothing in that counted for anything? Nothing Iris accomplished made you feel excited about battling, or like there was something worth doing in the fight? Are you goddamned kidding me? Fuck Iris I guess, not even good enough to register. Oh but Ash is though. I guess if you wanted to showcase a divide in his skill compared to Iris, there you go. Just grind the poor girl further in the dirt, why don’t you? But at the top of this list of bullshit, there is the most frustrating aspect of this whole situation.
THAT’S JUST VOLKNER
Apparently the anime’s grand plan of action with Cynthia was to whole-hog rip off Volkner’s entire personality. I’ve been on record saying I can’t stand Volkner, and it’s because of this exact thing. Dude, you’re a Gym Leader in a region with a proper Elite Four. There are five people at minimum who are better than you in the region, and you’re bored of battling because no one’s challenging enough for you? Sounds like a you problem. Like maybe you’re avoiding facing off against opponents that obviously exist and can challenge you, and then complaining when there’s not enough challenge. It’s intolerably arrogant, self-important, and stupid. And despite having plenty to draw from on the topic of a regional champion, this is all they could think to do for her. Copy the worst personality trait of a gym leader from her own region.
I legitimately don’t know what I expect anymore. I got two parts of really fun engagement with the battle, before the anime decided to remind me it can’t do anything right with its characters. I’m just blown away at how little everyone matters. Lance and Steven get swept aside and effectively do nothing. Iris gets a little but is unceremoniously pushed aside, her entire association with Ash as a former travel companion and rival just rendered meaningless. Diantha gets a really cool debut fight, only to be obliterated off-screen and pushed aside for Leon, who has been given exactly 0 personality thus far. And now Cynthia just gets her entire personality obliterated and replaced with Volkner. What an absolute shitshow. In for a penny and all that, I’ll get to Ash vs. Leon eventually, but boy I am not expecting anything beyond the battle anymore.
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Westworld 4x05 : Zhuangzhi
ALERT SPOILERS
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You know, two years ago, while Mother of the Exiles (3x04) was aired and was a so good episode with the revelation “they’re all Dolores”, the next episode, Genre (3x05), disappointed me. I thought it was normal, that after a reveal episode like this one, the next episode seemed less good for me. And after the episode of last week, I expected the same with this episode. BUT NO ! IT WAS BETTER !
-So, we discover how works this world. Funny that after akl this time saying the hosts are better than the humans, they finally act in the same way once the roles are inversed. It annoys Dolores a lot.
-I love how Dolores (Charlores) can’t help herself to be herself : after the loss of her family, she decided to believe that OG Dolores was wrong, that humanity needed to be controlled, and in the end, she can’t accept this world she created herself. She’s still this person who doesn’t want to be part of a story, she wants to live in chaos and freedom, not in a world where everything has a meaning. It’s hilarious, I love her.
-I still think that Christina, Teddy and Maya aren’t in the same timeline than Bernard, Stubbs and Frankie. They’re definitely in Dolores’ world, but I think they’re two or three years after Bernard wakes up. Because I’m sure he’s Teddy, and I can’t see how it could be him if they are in the same timeline than Bernard.
-I first that the transcendance was the access to consciousness, but host William, Clementine and the others doesn’t seem to have reached the center of the maze. Finally, transcendance is something that Dolores wants for her kind, a way to abandon their human part and become more. And she’s frustrated to see that most of her kind actually likes this human part. But I wonder what exactly means “transcendance” and “abandon their human part”.
-About Dolores, I thought this version of Dolores was s2 Dolores in worst, but actually, like OG Dolores in season 3, she have learnt some lessons of season 2 : she doesn���t want to force the hosts to do what she thinks is the best for them, unlike what she did with Teddy in season 2, even if it’s very frustrating for her. And she doesn’t want just to do eye for eye with humanity. Like, it doesn’t mean she’s good or anything like OG Dolores who changed her mind and actively fought to free humanity and create a world where hosts and humans could live together and free. But we start to see more elements of Dolores in her beyond Dolores’ anger towards what humanity did to her and her kind, and it’s really pleases me.
-So, the hosts can make what they want with the humans, change their story like they want, it’s what we see at the beginning of the episode with William. Every host has the privileges of an administrator. And Christina is a host who doesn’t know she is one and that she can controls people, it’s what she has been used to write the stories of everyone : she made them live the life she wrote for them without even knowing it. Like, it was expected that Christina’s stories were written in this goal, but the fact that it directly her will which controlled the humans when she wrote, it’s soemthing I didn’t see coming.
-Host William is going to reach the center of his maze, which is a big source of fun for human William. I think that’s the point : the hosts who killed themselves reached the center of their maze, but couldn’t support the weight of consciousness, especially in this world. It’s strange that Dolores didn’t figure out that it’s the cause of the failures, but in my opinion, she did but she doesn’t want to face truth. I like thinking that host William will become the real better version of William, that human William couldn’t become, but actually : I think he will be worse. Dolores, at least, doesn’t want just to use the humans like they used her, she wants more. Host William doesn’t exactly know what he wants, but we saw in this episode that he liked torturing humans, that he wasn’t bored at all. And I’m terrified of what he could do.
-”It’s you”. Or “It’s an alternative version of who you were, but it’s complicated, so I’m going to simplify ; it’s you”. Thanks Teddy.
#WESTWORLD#westworld hbo#westworld season 4#westworld spoilers#william westworld#dolores abernathy#charlotte hale#christina westworld#teddy flood#clementine pennyfeather
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WoT S1E1 Retrospective Part 4
Final Part!
Spoilers below for the entire show/series
go to previous
^ I watched this episode with a friend (who knew nothing of WoT) and he was saying that the effects here look really weird/bad. I didn’t really care at first, but looking back there’s definitely something that just feels...off. I believe that this is partly due to the weird white back light that is being cast on Moiraine, which doesn’t really make sense...the weaves are all around her not just behind. I think a more subtle light to show her channeling would have been more effective.
^ cool imagery, but again, I wanna complain about Moiraine’s choreography. Channeling here suffers from what I have dubbed “magical inefficacy” in which the magic user spends far more effort looking like they’re doing magic than actually doing magic. It feels inefficient. Her movements should have been snappy (they are in some parts) and instead the majority of channeling moves require so much effort to weave, it just feels like a trolloc could swoop in and take her out at any second. It simply does not seem worth the effort to channel because she’s not getting nearly enough output as work she’s putting in. Vaguely this sequence reminded me of the bending in the live action The Last Airbender movie, but not quite as bad as that. I think...elemental magic is just difficult to pull off in live action.
^ THE WOMENS CIRCLE HAHAHA i love them
^ Laila fights with a hammer...interesting :)
^ so in the show Nyn is a ta’veren too...which means the Dark One probably wants to have a chat with her. I’m assuming this is why the trolloc dragged her off instead of immediately killing her.
^ i’m not convinced this is the only reason why they took her! She’s a ta’veren!
^ I like the idea of Perrin killing someone accidentally to set up his story...but I don’t like that person being his own wife. At all. I really wish it was Master Luhhan (at least) because wife fridging just isn’t it...
It really makes me wonder how they’re going to do Perrin’s relationship with Faile, because setting up that romance in the show where that starts in the book timeline is waaaay too soon. Perrin needs years of therapy to recover from this, realistically.
^ the books could be very gory in parts but actually seeing it on screen makes me o.o
^ the acting!!!! holy crap
^ NO don’t pull it out!!! jeez, you would think Lan as a warder would have at least some medical knowledge in case his Aes Sedai gets wounded. That is, unless they had to pull it out because the blade has Trolloc poison on it?
^ not the Winespring Inn!!! ;-;
^ this was so dark, man, i feel bad for Perrin
^ Don’t be rude, Rand, she just saved your father’s life!!
^ The fact that they cut right to Rand after Moiraine says “They’re here for you” feels a liiiiitle too obvious. But that could be just me since I already know who the DR is at this point
^ well, dang. There’s really no time here to “think” about going with Moiraine. The village is so crippled that that they can’t really fight off another wave of trollocs (honestly, they couldn’t fight the first wave either without moiraine). The urgency here is what forces the EF4 to make their decision without really weighing it. It’s either they go with a stranger who as an Aes Sedai probably knows what they’re talking about...or almost certainly doom their village.
^ At the very least I’m happy that we got the “The Wheel of Time turns...” iconic phrase somewhere in this episode.
^ Sigh. One of my fave parts looking back at EoTW is Tam and Rand’s last chat before Rand decides to go. We were ROBBED! JK, i know it doesn’t fit into the story here (plus focusing on Rand too much would be a no no) Sadge. I will pretend it happened behind the scenes
Final Thoughts:
IMO this isn’t the worst episode, but it certainly isn’t the best either. Once i “accepted” the changes it makes it a little more enjoyable bc I’m not nitpicking the show based on the book canon.
WoT desperately need the “Rings of Power Treatment”, where we’d get this first episode drawn out into two quieter episodes that take their time setting things up and getting us used to the characters. From what I’ve heard, many non-book fans had trouble connecting to the EF5, so a slower start to the story might have fixed that! Realistically, WoT is incapable of doing this since WoT isn’t an established on-screen franchise and many who watch it are unfamiliar with the source material. The showrunners needed to focus on getting the audience “hooked” faster in order to retain their interest. It’s unfortunate but it’s what needed to happen.
Has the worst cold open out of all the episodes. Grrrr
I enjoyed how they tried to give each of the EF5 backstories here, not just Rand
This goes for the entire season (excluding one episode) but it kinda feels to be like a high-budget fan production. I can tell there was care going into the script, but they also had to take many liberties with the story to make it work as a TV show and fall within budget and time constraints. However, a lot of the editing/lighting/direction feels very amateur, and this is especially apparent in the scene where Moraine enters the Winespring for the first time. There a general “weirdness” that’s happening with this show on the technical side. I’m praying it get’s fixed in future seasons.
To me, this still feels like WoT. Not exactly how I remember from the books but perhaps another turning of the Wheel. I can get on board with that
The actors here are AMAZING. I think that’s the main reason why I think the show still embodies the spirit of WoT. The characters act for the most part like their book counterpart would act if they were in the same situation.
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Pride Month Drabble Challenge: Day 17, Name
Reblog of the challenge rules with links to my posts are here.
“It suddenly occurs to me that as long as we’ve been together I’ve never actually asked how you picked your name.”
“Not much of a story, really. Just a name that I used in a lot of online space and for characters in games. It was a slightly uncommon word that I took a weird liking to after the first time I came across it in a book and a younger, edgier me probably thought it was fitting to basically call myself ‘Empty.’ Eventually though it just started meaning ‘me.’ I actually tried out some ‘real names’ for a little while but none of them ever seemed to fit as well, you know?”
“I do. I can’t remember the last time someone other than my folks called me by my birth name and it didn’t feel weird.”
“How did that come about anyway? I know you said a couple times it started as a nickname, but I don’t think you ever told me the story behind it.”
“Less of an intentional nickname and more of a repeated failure by everyone I knew to pronounce my real name right.”
“Really? It’s not that hard.”
“Didn’t you say you practiced for an hour after I told it to you, trying to get it right?”
“Yeah, so?”
“...”
“Right. Point taken.”
“Anyway, I actually even went to my friends and teachers - this would have been back in third, maybe fourth grade - with an actual nickname that was a shortening of the full thing and everyone still kept getting it wrong, so I got frustrated enough that I just went with it. The mythological reference was pure coincidence but once I found out about it I doubled down on that particular mispronunciation from there on out. Heh, if I’d been a bit older and known what Final Fantasy was at the time I probably would have ended up as Aerith instead.”
“Waaaiiit… Didn’t you say once that botany was another field you’d considered going into back when you were first picking out college majors?”
“Or geology, linguistics, or psychology. I had a lot of interests growing up.”
“Dude! You totally could have been Aerith and studied and grown flowers for a living!”
“Honestly? As hard a time as I had deciding, I probably would have.”
“I can picture it now.”
“We probably wouldn’t have met though.”
“Oh… Worst timeline.”
“And how’s this timeline rate?”
“The best, obviously. Although…”
“What?”
“You know what I’m going to have to call you know every time I see you tending the plants.”
#pride month drabble challenge#The origins of their names are the same in the canon timeline.#I've tried to reference those other interests/considered majors of Eris's in the main story as well.#This one got a little bit meta with the humor towards the end I'll admit.
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Mirroring Identities
Connor Temple believed he was close to returning to his own timeline and home. Instead he finds himself in a world that should not exist while he struggles with non-existent memories. Can he ever remember his identity? Pre/post Alice. Post Primeval S3.
Original source: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6106179/1/Mirroring-Identities
Chapters: 13
Published: 2010-07-03 - 2010-09-06
Words: 19945
Rated: Fiction T - Language: English - Genre: Romance/Drama - Characters: Abby M., Hatter - Reviews: 86 - Favs: 13 - Follows: 15
Exported with the assistance of FicHub.net
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
a
b
Chapter 12a:
David walked down a rough cobbled street. While he was absolutely sure he never been to London before, the streets felt familiar underneath his boots. He only lost his thoughts long enough to notice for a moment, then went right back to getting lost in those thoughts.
It had been nearly… no, it was heart-breaking. He had chosen and decided he needed to be his old true-self. David… or rather Connor had picked Abby. He realized he would always pick Abby.
Of course, when David met Alice at the hotel she was less than thrilled by his decision. She kindly gave back his ring though and seemed to understand. She also told him she hoped he was happy, even if it wasn't with her.
"I think we got caught up in the moment and adventure of Wonderland," he tried to explain as they headed to the airport with only her luggage. Alice nodded in agreement as she stepped into the airport. "You always have a home in New York, if things don't work out," Alice said with a smile then frowned, "I know we just got caught up in the moment but I meant it when I said I trusted you, I always will and I trust your decision."
David smiled as he whispered a thank you before speaking, "I just need to know Alice. If your father had lived, don't you think he would want his old life back? Instead he gave it up for the little girl he remembered and I want to be that man. I cannot leave here when so many people who cared and loved me are left in the cold with no answers," he paused before smirking, "Just a friend, remember?"
Alice again nodded before taking her luggage from him. "You're wrong, you're my best friend and more. I might not love you but I care for you," she stated solemnly then continued, "I should have realized in all this time when I couldn't say it to you, it meant I wasn't in love with you." This time David nodded, wishing he had been born in Wonderland and never had to go through this but understood all the reasoning and rhyme. God, he hated rhyme especially when it was with time.
The worst feeling for David was knowing Alice had to go through this. "You'll find a good man, Alice. One your mother actually likes," he stated with his usual grin. Alice smiled back, "Oh well, I always had the worst luck with men," she laughed and David knew she would be fine.
Once again, as if summoned, Jack appeared in his black suit, trench coat and old fedora. He looked different from what David could remember; his hair was darker and he looked… softer. While David was horribly confused and odd smile seemed to appear on Alice's face.
"David. Alice. It's great to see you again," Jack greeted the both of them. "What happened to you?" David exclaimed. Jack gave him a grimaced grin before stating, "When I was in Alice's world I felt like it was my true self. No acts, no fronts, no lies. I want to be able to feel that again and was wondering if I could feel that with Alice."
Alice tried to hide her smirk before stating, "Why would you think I would ever want to help you?" Jack looked down and David swore this might be the first time he heard the man speak truthfully. "Because I can't imagine a future without you."
Alice couldn't help but gap at the man but David smirked. He had been like that once, so deeply entranced by Alice he couldn't imagine a day without her. Yet, David was not that man anymore and saw several possible directions in front of him. He hoped Jack could be the man he couldn't.
It nagged him after he left the airport what he should do next. Could he really go back to Abby's? He needed time to think about it.
He had bought Alice for a cheap emotion, misleadingly thought he loved her when he barely knew her and jumped right after her. Maybe it was fate to bring him back to the world to get back to Abby. He wasn't sure.
Suddenly, David stopped in front of a building and could not help but smile as he looked up. His feet had managed to lead him directly to the place he needed to go - Abby's flat.
David finally decided to climb up the steps to the door. He supposed he should be surprised that the door was locked but he felt relieved that he could just enter despite what she was feeling. He didn't know how Abby would greet him after the incident with Alice and the talk with Sarah. He had no idea what Sarah and they had discussed.
Abby was laying on her… their couch with her face buried into a pillow. David moved silently and cautiously towards her. He sat gently on the couch and reached to rub her back. Abby stiffened slightly before relaxing to his touch and faced him.
Trying to stifle his laughter, David beamed a smile before stating, "Abbs, love, you look like you went after the mer creatures again." Abby could have just punched him after that but laughed as she realized he was probably right. She felt as if she went up against the mer creatures again, probably worse.
Abby desperately wanted to ask him a million questions. Did Alice talk to him about the girls' conversation? Where was Alice? What was David planning on doing now? And most importantly - was David going to stay?… with her? Yet, Abby couldn't bring herself to ask them so she waited for David to answer them for her.
David took a shaky breath as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders to usher her into an embrace. "Abby," he began, he had no idea where but thought he might as well. He was best at making stuff up as he went along.
"I never meant to hurt you like this. I wish we had all returned to the present like we had planned," he began. "I always seem to screw things up, don't I?" he asked rhetorically but Abby answered anyway, "No, you don't Connor." "There was that one time I shot you," he reminded her with a grimace. "True, but you've always seemed to redeem yourself," she smiled and lightly cupped his face. "David… Connor… I really want to know…" she trailed off but he knew what she wanted to ask.
David hugged her soothingly before telling her definitely, "I'm home," he assured her as he lightly kissed her, "I'm home, Abbs, and I'm staying here with you."
The two seemed to look at each other as they silently answered each others questions with a kiss. Abby felt her old self returning along with Connor's past attitude as he kept his eyes blissfully closed after she pulled away.
Abby beamed a smile as his usual expression before giving a horribly hidden laugh. "What?" Connor asked with his signature smirk. Abby tried to muster up all seriousness before stating, "Lester said if you decided to stay he expects you to be at work tomorrow or relent all past pay checks from when you were missing." She smiled as she tried not to laugh at his grim expression. "Conn?" she whispered as he was unresponsive to her caresses. "Bloody Hell!"
A.N.: Yep, Hatter and Abby is the official pairing. If you are horribly disappointed you can go to the next chapter to see the secret chapter that you might enjoy.
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#primeval#alice 2009#itv primeval#bbc primeval#syfy alice#fanfiction#fanfiction.net#fanfic#archiving#queued
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TTC Journey
I’ve never been one of those women who DREAMS of becoming a Mom. In fact, I sometimes make fun of those who got pregnant immediately after the wedding. In my mind, I’ve always wanted to wait a year or two before we venture into parenthood because I want to really enjoy my time with my husband. There’s still so many things to do, accomplishments to achieve, places to travel and adding a child into those just makes them all impossible. Of course, this is because of a silly assumption that creating a baby is just as easy as having sex.
My husband and I started actively trying in March 2022, so just shortly after we celebrate our one year anniversary. In the beginning, I promised myself I wouldn’t be like those women who kept meticulous schedule of when they’re ovulating, tracking their cycle, basal temperature, etc etc. I thought we could just have fun doing it. 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, the tests came negative. That’s odd, we thought. This is supposed to be easy. One month, my period was late by 7 days so I decided to go to the doctor to get tested, only to finally be diagnosed with PCOS. She said it’s not impossible to get pregnant with PCOS, but it’s going to be much more difficult, especially because I don’t even know if I am actually ovulating every month. The rest of 2022 became a period of my life where I’m trying to pay more attention to my body. I tried gluten free, dairy free, intermittent fasting, keto. Took all the supplements that everyone in PCOS community recommended to conceive. I also stopped actively tracking my cycle and ovulation because I found myself even more stressed when I did all of those things. Still no pregnancy even after all those efforts.
We haven’t even reached a full year of TTC, but by December 2022, I feel defeated. Christmas came around and many people in my social media announced their pregnancies, to my dismay. A lot of questions began to swirled into our minds. Did we make a huge mistake by waiting? Is there a huge sin in our lives that’s preventing God from blessing us a child? and the worst, is there something wrong with us physically?
I never knew how difficult conceiving is, and frankly, I always thought this is a problem for women over the age of 40. After all, a lot of my friends become a mom in their 30s. It was never my plan to be a mom in my 20s, so I thought me being 31, this would still be an easy thing to achieve. But what I didn’t comprehend, is how much I would be affected by my own friends’ pregnancy. I pride myself in my ability to celebrate my friends. I love it when my friends are successful. But boy does it feel different when it comes to pregnancy. When one of my best friend told me that she got pregnant even though they did not even plan it, my heart leapt for joy because I love her and her family so much, but I can’t deny that deep down, I too felt some sort of sadness. I’ve always wanted to be pregnant together with her so that hope is gone now. When another close friend announced their pregnancy even though they just got married recently, I felt happy for them but again, sadness lingers a tiny bit. On valentines day, my timeline was filled with 4 pregnancy announcements and my soul cried out loud. It’s like I want to scream “everybody gets their blessing but ME”
But the voice of the Holy Spirit is calm and gentle upon my ears. He reminds me that God’s timing is perfect AND, it’s not easily understandable by mere humans because, that’s just how it is. I try to comprehend it from my own lens. There’s a lot going on this year and adding a baby, though it may be a blessing, it will no doubt hinder a lot of things in our lives. He reminds me that this is the time to wholeheartedly seek God because I know, I haven’t done so in a while. My faith journey has been wishy-washy to say the least, and I haven’t made the effort to really get in the words and hear God’s words.
I now know what I have to do and I have decided to let God take control of this. Prayers are appreciated.
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Brace for impact y'all cuz my brain is being Extra Rude this fine Sunday. OKAY, so...
What with Lena's new unemployment status, obviously we have all these hcs about her being unable to afford the penthouse and moving in with Kara.
Then of course we have all the accompanying hcs about Lena's time in the apartment between now and when Kara gets back (blanket sniffing, inability to sleep in Kara's bed, ready-to-pack corner of belongings so as to not alter Kara's home, and all those other super fun things that make me wanna cry).
I see all of those (and love them) and I raise you one: the Mxy tapes.
So, we see right after Mxy leaves when Kara picks up "The One Where Lena Decided To Work With Lex" which is what, in combination with her realization that telling Lena the truth always has "huge" consequences, motivates her to make that super OOC decision to absolve herself entirely of her guilt and tell Lena she'll treat her like a villain if she works with Lex, yes?
Now, what if that wasn't the only tape Mxy left behind? What if he left a recording of each of those alternate timelines because, after seeing Kara twist what she learned to fit her frustration over Lena's continued cold shoulder and hearing what she said to Lena, Mxy decided she might want to watch them again at some point to remember the real takeaway: she's fighting for the relationship that saves the world...
Kara found the tapes stacked on the coffee table when she got home, with a note that said "You found the magic. Now don't lose it." She wanted to get angry, but instead she just put the tapes in a box on the shelf under the TV and tried to forget about them.
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Lena's hand shakes slightly as she slides the key into the lock, feeling the ghost of Alex’s hand rest gently on her shoulder as it had when she’d pressed the cold metal into her palm a few hours earlier with a silent offer and an encouraging nod. The door swings open slowly, and Lena is hit by a sudden wave of cold. Not temperature, but energy. It’s too quiet - no NSYNC on the speaker or Bachelorette on the TV. It’s too empty - no smell of fresh (slightly burnt) bread or yarn strewn all over the counter from Kara’s various crochet projects. It’s too...Kara-less.
Lena shakes off the feeling and slides her bag off her shoulder in the corner by the bookcase, careful not to knock Kara’s favorite cinnamon candle off the stool beside her, as she tells Alexa to play Nina Simone. She zips open her bag to pull out her favorite copy of Mrs. Dalloway and finds it missing. Realizing she must have left it in her desk drawer at LexCorp, Lena makes a mental note to send Brainy in after it tomorrow with the promise that he can change all of Lex’s passwords one more time before they leave the game for good.
Lena stares at the blank TV screen for a moment, dreading the thought of watching anything in this room without Kara’s head on her shoulder or in her lap. So, she crouches to look at the shelves of the TV stand, hoping to find at least one of the books she’d gotten Kara for her birthday last year wedged between the latest issues of CatCo Magazine and the recipe books Alex had gotten her in the hopes of spending less money on pot stickers every week.
She’s just zeroed in on The Color Purple when she notices a box she doesn’t recognize laying across the tops of the books on the other shelf. She reaches for it on instinct, then hesitates. She hasn’t touched anything of Kara’s since their falling out, and what if Kara’s “what’s mine is yours” rule no longer applies to her now? She considers leaving it alone and waiting for Kara to get back and explain, sliding The Color Purple toward her without taking her eyes off the box, before her curiosity gets the better of her and she caves, tossing the book onto the coffee table.
She opens the lid and starts at the sight of VHS tapes. Hasn't she taught Kara better than this? They'd converted all her old tapes to DVDs months into their friendship ("Kara, these things deteriorate so easily and the picture quality becomes awful, don't you want something that will last?"). She picks up the first tape and reads the label on the side: "The One Where Lena Doesn't Make It Back In Time." Her brows furrow as she stares, unblinking, at the title - demanding answers she knows only one person can give her.
She glances around, but doesn't see a VHS player anywhere, so she sets the tape on the floor beside her and picks up the next one. "The One Where Lena Can't Save Sam Or Herself." Lena shoves down her growing horror and discards the tape, hoping the next one will be less ominous. She picks it up and chokes back a sob as she reads: "The One Where There Are No Survivors."
Lena can't wait for answers anymore, so she gathers the tapes back into the box, grabs her purse and Kara's key, and heads to the closest library. Lena finds the old CRT sitting on a rolling cart in the back corner of the library, tucked between the stacks of kids' books. She pulls the first tape out of the box and slides it carefully into the slot.
30 minutes later, with tears and too-cheap eyeliner streaming down her face, Lena picks up the last tape. "The One Where Lena Was Never Your Friend." And here she'd thought things couldn't get worse. Lena takes a deep breath as she inserts the tape.
At the sight of the ruin that meets Kara and Mxy, Lena stifles the urge to laugh. Of course this is what a world without her best friend looks like. This exactly how it feels now, and she's only been gone a few weeks.
Lena's breath catches as she hears herself ask "who's Kara?," the mere thought of a world where the reporter had never believed in her, never cared enough to love her, almost too much to bear. Her hand drifts absent-mindedly to her chest as she watches herself reveal a kryptonite heart, and for a moment she can hear the sounds of her own screams as her mother's experiments rob her of the last of her humanity.
She presses her hand closer to her heart, sure that it's stopped beating at the sight of Kara on the ground, in pain at her hands but still refusing to fight her. Feels it shatter when her worst self says exactly the same words she'd said to Kara in the Fortress when asked why she had pretended to be Kara's friend for so long.
And she thinks it might kill her, this agony that's filling her body like acid. She wonders for a moment if this is what kryptonite feels like to Kara. Because it sure feels like her skin is getting seared off her bones and there are nails in her blood and it sure seems like she won't survive watching herself kill her best friend as she lies helpless and desperate on the floor.
And when Mxy pulls them out, Lena's breath returns full force until she's hyperventilating because Kara is gone and she doesn't know how long it will be until they get her back; and she was terrified of what she'd become when she lost Jack but she survived because of Kara; and if this is what losing Kara without ever having her in the first place looks like, Lena has never been more afraid than she is as she realizes what will happen to the world if she doesn't get Kara back. What she'll do to the world if it dares to take Kara from her.
So, when she gathers the tapes and goes to return them to the box and finds a note at the bottom that says "You found the magic. Now don't lose it," Lena promises herself that, for as long as she lives, she will do everything in her power to keep the magic that is Kara Danvers in her life.
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Alex knocks on the apartment door three days later and finds it unlocked. She pushes the door open and her hand drifts to her gun, but relaxes as she sees Lena's sleeping form curled up on the couch. Alex approaches a box she knows the contents of all too well and finds it open and empty on the table before she notices the VCR player and tapes strewn across the floor. She smiles softly as she recalls the image of Kara in the exact same position months earlier. And, as she carefully plucks the handwritten note from Lena's clutched fist, she smiles at the knowledge that, once Kara returns, no force in the world will be able to keep them apart again.
UPDATE: Ask and ye shall receive
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
#supergirl#supercorp#supercorp headcanon#lena luthor#kara danvers#alex danvers#this got so much more elaborate than I planned#but oh well#have fun suffering with me
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Is it okay to bombard you with a thot I had yesterday on my way home from work? I literally spent a day daydreaming about it but it's still kind of all over the place, so I'm sorry.
Imagine reader is Bucky’s sister. Due to a accident in the timeline nobody knew about her until Dr. Strange is cleaning up the mess and brings her back (post-endgame).
But now she becomes a target of Bucky’s enemies and he and Sam decide that she's best hidden with Steve, who didn't go back in time for good but retired anyways. Think of IW!Steve with the beard and flanel shirt who lives in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.
They hadn't really met before and Steve promises to look after her.
One afternoon, while he's chopping wood, a discussion goes heated (because we all know that Steve is passionate about his views) and he basically rips a log a la age of ultron. And she just goes wide-eyed "wow that was fucking sexy!" and then he proceeds to show her how strong he really is.
And I.... 🤤
Safe With Me
Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader
Word Count: 543
Summary: You are hiding away with Steve and he's either the best roommate there is or the worst...
Author's Note: This is for the HBC's @the-ce-horniest-book-club Candy Hearts Club Event and day 5 (feb 16th): XOXO, Hot Stuff, Fax Me and Crazy 4 U. Again, no candy hearts but the words were my inspo! I love that you shared this with me anon, LOVE THIRSTY THOUGHTS and this is DELISH! It also made me think of my friend Nix's amazing edit that you see here below! OOF! Thank you for sending this my way sweets, hope you have a great evening! HUGS! Enjoy! 💕💕Thank you all so very much for reading and much love always! ❤️❤️❤️ Divider by my lovely friend @firefly-graphics thank you bunches 🥰
Warnings: teasing, flirting, sassiness, fluffy spice
EDIT NOT MINE: This beautiful photo is by my lovely friend Nix, you can find her on Insta HERE. ❤️
“Come on sweetheart. I can’t be that bad of a roommate?”
You shield your narrowed eyes from the bright morning sun and consider your answer. Steve drops the axe to the ground and holds your gaze as he rolls up the sleeves of his flannel. You can’t stop your eyes from drifting to the taut muscle that he exposes and the prominent veins running through his arms.
A bead of sweat slides free from his temple and follows the sharp outline of his jaw until it runs down his thick neck. It disappears into the open buttons of his shirt and your tongue darts out to trace the outline of your lips.
“That’s what I thought,” he simpers.
You shift on your feet and place your hands on your hips, huffing under your breath.
“You…you…”
With one hand Steve grabs another large piece of firewood and raises his brow.
“I what?” he asks, taking a step closer.
His distinct scent overcomes you, the smell of warm vanilla mixed with something woodsy filling your senses.
“You’re always asking me where I’m going or what I’m doing or how long I’ll be…it’s like living at home again!”
“I’m keeping you safe,” he states plainly. “That’s my job isn’t it?”
With that he grabs the end of the log and rips it clean in half.
“Fuck,” you mutter.
At your intake of breath he smirks, dropping the two halves and taking the last step to close the space between your bodies.
“Any other complaints?” he murmurs.
His chest brushes yours with his next inhale and you reach up to grab the material of his shirt. His long lashes kiss his cheeks when he looks down and he gently wraps his fingers around your wrists.
“You have sawdust on your collar,” you breathe out. “I was just going to get it off.”
He lifts your hands to his mouth, brushing his lips across your knuckles and pulling you closer.
For a moment you’re too caught up in your haze of lust to make any movements but when he places your hand at his collar you clear your throat and rub your fingers over his shirt. As you keep your eyes on his you slip your hand under the material and brush your fingertips over his warm skin.
“I think I got it all,” you whisper.
“Thanks,” he hums.
“Anytime,” you swallow. “And thanks for taking care of me. I’m sorry if I seem ungrateful. It’s just…”
Your head drops and you fight the urge to bury your face in his broad chest but his strong, calloused fingers caress your cheek until you’re staring back into his clear blue eyes.
“I’m sure it’s hard being cooped up here with me all the time,” he says softly. “Maybe I need to do a better job of taking care of you.”
His last words carry a different tone, one that’s possessive and holds the promise of something sinful. Your chest heaves with the effort to keep your breathing steady and when he tilts his face closer a small moan leaves the back of your throat.
“I have a long list of ways,” he simpers. “Things I’ve been thinking about since the moment I saw you.”
“Do them all,” you plead.
#steve rogers#steve rogers x reader#steve rogers imagine#steve rogers fanfiction#steve rogers x you#steve rogers x female reader#captain america#steve rogers drabble#chris evans
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because I could not stop for death
because I could not stop for death / he kindly stopped for me / the carriage held but just ourselves / and immortality ~ Emily Dickinson
Danny Fenton was dying, properly this time.
Somehow, in the back of his head and in his worst nightmares, he knew it would end this way: bleeding on the floor of his parents’ lab where it had all began. He was so hot he felt like his skin was on fire, blood and ectoplasm were dripping all over him and his lungs and heart were working overtime to try in vain to keep him alive a moment longer. He’d imagined at the time that there would be more screaming but death, in the end, was turning out to be a quiet little affair. A lonely table set for one.
“Danny, Danny come on, you-you gotta slow down your breathing, just relax, for me, please,” Sam moaned, more than making up for his lack of noise. She was shaking and touching him all over, his chest, his face, his hair. Normally she jumped right into action but she had to know, deep down, that there was nothing she could do. All that was left was to watch her panic and cry, it wasn’t his favorite image.
“Vlad!” He heard Tucker scream cry into the phone, “please it’s Tucker, Danny’s dying I think. The Fentons had some new invention, something about his core, please we don’t know what to do!”
Ugh Vlad, he was probably going to be so happy Danny was on his way out. He wasn’t looking much forward to his last images being his archenemy gloating. Tucker hung up and reached down to grasp Danny’s hand so hard it hurt. “Don’t worry dude, Vlad’s coming. He knows so much about you half ghosts that you’ll be fixed up on no time.” Right, Danny was already dead. If calling Vlad, feeling like he did something, helped Tucker move on then he’d deal with it.
Danny tilted his head to the side where Sam’s fingernails were carding through his hair. It was getting harder to see with the blood pouring out of his eyes but he looked at her, and tried to memorize her face. He’d never been able to tell her how much he loved her, that any day spent with her was a blessing. Tucker too, his best bro and a part of his soul. His best friends in the whole wide world, through thick and thin. God, he was going to miss them.
“Glurk,” he said, trying to convey those feeling but the fluids in his mouth and airway made it impossible. “Blerh.”
“Shh shh shh,” Sam soothed, “it’s okay, don’t try to talk.”
“Daniel!” He heard Vlad’s voice shriek as he materialized in front of the portal. Sam and Tucker were violently pushed out the way. Danny wanted to be angry at his loved ones being taken away in his final moments but anger was for the living, he barely had the energy to breathe. This death was too long and too short all at once. He made eye contact with Vlad who all at once lost the frantic edge to his tone and and instead knelt on the floor. “Oh my dear boy. What did they do to you?”
“What is going on?” Sam demanded, shoving her way back in. Danny was glad, he could see again like this. “Why aren’t you doing something!”
“There’s nothing to be done,” Vlad said in a flat, monotone, he picked up one of Danny’s hands and patted it gently. “His core is dying, it’s like a ghost’s heart. It contains their very essence, it is from which everything they are comes from. If Jack and Maddie somehow disrupted it then there’s nothing anyone can do to save him.”
“But he’s human too,” Tucker defended, grabbing Danny’s other hand. His human warm skin burned but the contact felt so good, he twitched his fingers closer to his friend’s. “He-he doesn’t need a core, he’s already got a heart. So, so he doesn’t have powers, we can do normal again.”
“You-” Vlad hissed before taking a calming breath. “The accident that made Daniel like this irreparably altered him. His core was as much a part of keeping him alive as his other organs, without it, his body is shutting down.” Vlad turned down to look Danny in the eye and saw true, genuine grief in those hateful red eyes.
“I cannot imagine the agony you are going through, I’m so sorry. I’d say it will be over soon but,” a hitch that sounded almost like a sob if it was coming from anyone other than Vlad. “But you’ve hovered on the edge of death for years, son, and you’ve always been such a fighter. You have minutes at most but those minutes are an eternity when you’re suffering.”
Sam and Tucker’s sobbing blended together in the background, Vlad was saying something with a miserable, stunned expression. The swirling of the portal in the background seemed louder than anything, louder than his heart beat pounding and pounding as it ran it’s last race.
“Daniel, Danny,” he focused his eyes back on Vlad who had a stubborn, unhappy set to his brow. “Do you want me to make the pain stop? An ectoblast to your chest will end your life instantly.”
“Don’t you dare touch him,” Sam shrieked, coming back into view and looking like she was trying to fight Vlad off. “You do anything to him and I’ll kill you!” Tucker just sat and stared at him, like he too was trying memorize Danny’s face.
“It’s a mercy, Samantha or do you want his last moments on earth to be drowning on the blood in his lungs.”
“Sam, he has a point. I don’t- I don’t think we can fix this.”
“No! No we always fix things, I’ll do it myself if I have to!”
Danny’s vision was starting to go, more black than anything else. He closed his eyes and readied himself for the inevitable.
“Time Out,” Danny opened his eyes and found he was no longer in pain. He was standing up and apart from where he’d previously been lying. Sam had her hands in Vlad’s face and the older hybrid was snarling something at her. Tucker was midmotion trying to stand up, presumably to get Sam but the three of them were frozen in the moment. Danny turned and found Clockwork floating, looking very out of place in his parents lab. “Good evening, Danny.”
“You that short on cash that you work part time as a grim reaper?” Danny quipped out of habit. He looked down at his body and grimaced a bit, that wasn’t a pretty sight. No doubt traumatizing for Tucker and Sam. God how were they going to explain this to his parents? “Gonna ferry me across the River Styx? I don’t have two pennies but I think I have a bloodied $10 on me.”
“You’re core is dying and you have 17 seconds left in this world before all your organs give out and finish the process you began when you turned on your parent’s ghost portal,” Clockwork explained as he changed into child form.
“O-okay,” Danny said shakily, trying to be brave even when he was so, so scared. He was going out whether he wanted it or not but he refused to leave crying. “Nice of you to come say goodbye then but, uh but unless you have something to say then you should let me go back. No one knows better than me that you can’t outrun death. Thanks but I’m uh I’m ready.”
Clockwork stared at him for a bit, not sure how long, time was weird like this but he changed forms a few times. “You’re quite the remarkable young man, Danny Fenton.”
“Uh thanks,” Danny added, once more looking at his body which had, according to Clockwork, a 17 second expiration date. “What’s going to happen? Am I going to become a ghost? Does heaven or hell exist for someone like me?”
“I don’t get to decide what happens, I merely see options,” Clockwork stated easily, taking his time. “If you die naturally you’ll become ghost, a mere shadow of who you are now and one who would fade fairly quickly. You don’t have strong enough anger or regrets to tie you in the real world for long.” Not great but okay he supposed, hell for his friends and family though. “You could let Plasmius deliver his mercy kill, destroying what’s left of your ghost core and ensuring you do not come back.” Better, probably won’t help the Fruitloop’s instability but he can’t save everyone.
“That one comes with it’s own caveat but I’ll get to that in a moment,” Clockwork explained. “There is a third option where you get up off the floor and walk away.” Danny blinked then looked back at his body which certainly wasn’t walking anywhere but into a plush casket. Clockwork opened his hands and the Ghost King’s Crown materialized in his hands. “If you accept your claim to the King’s Cown, it will revitalize your core and your life would be saved.”
Danny blinked.
“By sealing Pariah Dark, you won by proxy and established a legitimate claim to the throne. The Zone has been without a king for millennia, most have forgotten the old rules. Those who remembered were not too keen on a half-ghost child assuming leadership and kept you in the dark. If Plasmius ends your life then your claim transfers over to him, which he is aware of. It had been his plan all along to trick you into defeating Pariah so he could steal the Crown from you at a later date, a much easier opponent.”
Danny’s mind was overloaded with information, he didn’t know what to focus on first. He stared at his 17 seconds from death face and tried to process it all. Crown? Claim? Vlad?
“Of course,” Clockwork tutted, “he didn’t plan on your dying and in such a gruesome fashion. If he kills you and takes your claim, he would spend his remaining years ruling the Ghost Zone in a just, controlled fashion for your memory. He destroys all the stable portals and keeps the ghost and human worlds separate.” Clockwork became and old man and titled his head, “it’s not a bad timeline, all things considered.”
“And if I take it?” Danny asked quietly.
“You’re compassionate, brave and motivated, you have all the makings of a revolutionary king,” Clockwork smiled. “The Zone would experience and unprecedented era of peace, there would be positive interactions between human and ghosts for the first time since life and death split into two. Your name would spoken with reverence for the rest of time.”
“But I don’t want to be king,” Danny frowned.
“I know, I’m sorry,” Clockwork stated. “Which is why I am giving you the choice. If you pass peacefully there will be no one to claim the Crown and life will continue on, ghost attacks and all. If Plasmius kills you, he becomes an effective but unmemorable king. If you take the Crown, you can get the chance to tell Sam and Tucker how much you love them.”
Danny rubbed at his face, he didn’t want to die but he’d be sealing away his entire future with a move like this. He didn’t even know if the Crown would let him go with death, maybe he’d die and be stuck as the Ghost King until his core finally gave out lord in who knows how long. Eternity was an awful long time to carry such a responsibility. He couldn’t bring himself to ask, too afraid of the answer.
“Is there ever a timeline I became an astronaut?” He asked instead. Clockwork hummed, seemingly unsurprised by Danny’s non-sequitur.
“Yes, in one of the few universes where you never walked into the portal. You never go into space what with human politics putting a halt on the programs but you work for NASA. You leave Amity Park at 17 and don’t come back save for your parents’ dual funeral.” He paused and Danny felt read down to his very bones, “from the moment you became half ghost you were always heading for this moment. The circumstances varied but it always came down to you and the Crown. Time is straining to continue, to see how this drama plays out. Will you accept it and all the joy and grief that comes with it?”
Danny looked over at Vlad, still mid-sneer but there was a scared desperation in his face. He and Vlad sniped at each other all the time but Danny didn’t really hate him and he didn’t think Vlad did either. Leaving him alone, plus making him be king was a heavy burden to put on his enemy.
Sam and Tuck probably wouldn’t recover from this, he’d put them through so much already but he just knew that they’d never be the same. Could he do that to them? Take the easy way out and leave them to suffer? Mom and Dad didn’t deserve to come home to a dead son, the truth would come out and they’d never forgive themselves. Jazz certainly wouldn’t, she was 2 states over at University but he could already hear her angry, grief-stricken screams.
Death, death was quiet. It was quiet and merciful and sad, but it was also easy. And Danny Fenton had never once taken the easy route. He reached out and took and the crown before shakily placing it on his head. He gasped, throwing his head back as his core swelled, taking up residence once more right next to his heart. Clockwork smiled, looking like the cat who ate the canary.
“The Crown of Fire, pardon me the Crown changes with each core, the Crown of Ice is now yours as is the Zone. Your reign begins now but so too does the rest of your life. People are waiting for you. Time in.” Danny slammed back into awareness on the floor of his parents’ lab, the floor he’d almost died on twice.
He sat up as cold radiated off his body, causing frost to crawl down his arms and along the floor. Sam, Tucker and Vlad, who’d been frozen up until now, jumped back to life. There was a new, familiar weight on his head that he didn’t dare acknowledge.
He squeezed his eyes shut and said a silent goodbye to a quiet, normal life. It wouldn’t be all bad, he could be happy like this but the Crown still felt like a iron manacle around his neck. But he got used to the ghost powers, he could get used to this too. Maybe one day he won’t look at the stars and say ‘what if?’
“Danny!” Sam shouted, throwing herself into his arms soon followed by Tucker. Their warm weight, their relieved sobs, their shaky breaths in his air, now this was something worth living for. He squeezed them tightly.
“But how dude, you were at death’s door!” Tucker asked, still not letting go.
“You accepted the Crown,” Vlad said evenly, “I wasn’t aware you even knew about your claim. Who told you?”
“You don’t know everything, Vlad,” Danny sighed, sitting himself upright. Ugh his shirt was covered in blood and ectoplasm. He needed to trash these clothes before his parents freaked. And find a way to hide the floating ice crown on his head.
“Even an old man can be surprised every now and again,” Vlad said wearily. He stood up to his full height before startling Danny by dipping down to one knee. “Then allow me to be the first to welcome my new king and wish him well.”
“I thought you wanted this,” Danny questioned.
“I do, I did,” Vlad said, unusually off balance. “To be quite honest, I’m not sure how to feel about it but, right now, I’m just immeasurably happy you’re alive, little badger. Now I best be off, enjoy your kingdom, my liege, I’ll be sure to come bother you some time soon.” Vlad disappeared in a swirl of pink leaving just him, Sam and Tucker still clinging to him.
Danny may have a kingdom, a job he didn’t want and his whole life decided in a spur of the moment choice, but he also had something very important. He squeezed his friends tightly.
“I love you guys, thank you for being my friends even though I have the worst ideas for activities. Dying? On a Sunday night? How lame is that?” Sam laughed, a bit hysterical but it was real and it made Danny feel weightless.
“Don’t do that again, buddy,” Tucker breathed into his shoulder. “So you gonna explain what just happened and why you’re apparently the Ghost King or something?”
“Yeah, yeah I will but let’s get changed first. Mom and Dad will be home soon and I think I’m going to need to have a conversation with them about my new job.”
#danny phantom#i was watching forever phantom and said 'i should kill danny' and then i fucking didn't#im obsessed with ghost king danny as end game#Im not sure this is the route I would want to go but I want him to end up woth tje crown#its bitter sweet bc its a *lifelong (possibly afterlife) commitment that he didnt get a choice in#he will be happy and he will be a good king but it wasnt his choice and he'll always regret it a little#i love clockwork but he's a bit shady and will always work in favor of the timeline#anyway happy fucking sunday bitches#have some homemade angst#also i typed this directly in tumblr and almost hit the power screen on my computer instead of backspace#god was trying to stop me from publishing but i overcame#Only did one quick edit Im too tired to care anymore#lmk if you want it on ao3
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So. Some of you may be wondering why we haven’t written a whole ton about the secondaries or what have you. Here’s the reason: we were waiting for them to end before we really dug into the problems we were noticing. We felt that it was only fair to wait for the routes to finish so that we had an understanding of the writers’ vision. Who knew, we thought, maybe they would see the problems themselves and course correct, maybe they are building to something we can’t quite see yet and these issues will have actual payoff, maybe-
In light of Muriel and Lucio’s endings, and the general mess that has dominated Portia’s route for a year plus now, we are breaking our silence. We are actually going to talk about this shit show.
The fandom at large has talked about a bunch of issues with the secondaries but for me, the cardinal sin, the thing that really all the issues lead back to, is this: the writers lost sight of the tarot themes which so strongly defined and held together the primary routes. Let me explain.
The primary routes each center around three thematic cores:
The Love Interest’s Major Arcana and its Reversed/Upright meanings
The MC’s Fool’s Journey, both how it can go right and how it can go wrong
A question about the MC’s identity and their relationship to said identity
Asra’s route asks: Who was the MC? How does the MC navigate a past they cannot and will not remember? What do they owe a past they cannot remember? How do they handle the revelations of what Asra, Nadia, Julian, etc did? How do you right the past? Can you?
Nadia’s route asks: Who is the MC? The MC has no past. Are they the Fool only? Are they actually the same person they were? How can they tell? Who are they, really? Are they an imposter? No one can answer these questions for them.
Julian’s route asks: Who will the MC become? How does the MC see their future? Is there anything worth fighting for for that future? What will become of them and their loved ones?
Now, if you notice, these themes are expertly woven throughout the primaries. Asra’s past dominates his route, Nadia is also missing memories and trying to construct her identity both with her family and with Vesuvia, and Julian’s fear of the future drives his flailing for control. Asra has to learn to take a broader view of his actions to get his Upright Ending, Nadia has to learn to trust herself and those around her for hers, and Julian has to learn how to let go for his. These lessons are the issues their cards stand for. The primaries are so dang elegant and delicate in their handlings of theme it is honestly awe-inspiring.
Thematically, the secondary routes have completely lost their hearts. First of all, the MC does not have strong, core questions which need to be answered. They just don’t. I suppose the writers did not want to retread old territory (which is weird considering how tightly bound the primaries are; it really tricks you into thinking you’re living the same events but from different angles depending on your route) but they did not replace the old with anything new. Muriel’s route is, on the surface, about discovering and owning his past, the good and the bad. Why not tie MC’s self-discovery to that story? Or they could have taken the angle that Muriel’s route is about convincing him to be present and active in the world while MC builds an identity for themself outside of Asra, the shop, and the memories they cannot retrieve. Why not tie the investigation themes running through Portia’s early route back to MC and their past? Portia has the unique angle of being as in the dark as MC about all of this, why not discover the past together? And for goodness’ sake, Lucio has no future when his route begins, why not tie that to his need for growth, responsibility, and MC’s own future between the Fool, the Devil, or something mortal and in between?
Secondly, the routes lost their tarot backbone. We have a primer on how to get specific endings for each LI and it still holds, but the writers did not follow through on the thematic coherence of each secondary. The Hermit is looking for something, be it perspective, insight, a solution to a problem, whatever. The key here is that the Hermit must find or learn what they are searching for, this thing must change their understanding of the world, and finally, they must bring this lesson back to the world from which they retreated. Can someone please enlighten me as what exactly Muriel learns then teaches the world around him? Nothing Muriel learns from Morga, MC, or even the Hermit ties back into anything. The Devil warns that you are out of control and exerting a lot of manipulative, destructive behavior on the world around you. It asks you to take responsibility for yourself and your actions. So can someone tell me why Lucio’s route actively avoids any interaction or reflection on two of Lucio’s biggest victims: Muriel and Julian? Why does the route only try to make amends with the “easier” of his victims in the cast? The Star is first and foremost the card of clarity, the light at the end of the tunnel. Perseverance, if you will. Yet Portia’s route has been the muddiest of the trio; the writers drop the investigation aspect of her route in favor just handing her and MC information they could have easily found and muddying the waters with Tasya (she blows up the palace but it’s all okay bc she has a secret daughter Julian never thought to bring up or mention) and the complete removal of the Devil as antagonist.
So that leaves just the Fool’s Journey trying to hold this stool up with only one leg. And well...it doesn’t go well. At best, the secondary route books pay the barest surface level homage to the themes of the individual cards. At worst, they ignore the cards completely. Muriel's Moon book has nothing to do with illusions or delusions or lies or even an Alice in the Looking Glass upside down world. Portia's back half is a complete and utter mess, starting with her Temperance book being so badly mangled that Muriel's aftermath book does it better. Lucio's route too bungles the Tower and the Star. There just isn't enough here to carry the routes alone.
Add to the core loss the loss of intertextuality. The primary routes are very good, even great but they too do have their moments and mistakes. What helps strengthen them when the cores stumble is how the trio is woven together. Things you learn in Asra's route can inform the way you play Nadia's, for example. Julian's route informs what is going on in Asra's route and slots some missing puzzle pieces together. Nadia's route tells you of the power struggles she is facing and informs the other two routes' handling of Julian and his trial. On and on, the three routes support each other because they are built out of the same basic plot beats, just tackled in very different ways. Now, the writers are allowed to try and write whatever they want. They apparently wanted to be more experimental and less tied down to an overarching plot with the three secondaries. Okay, fine, they are allowed to do that. The problem is that they sacrificed one of the key strengths of the primary trio and didn't replace said strength with anything else. They also, on some level, harmed the very premise of the game, which is that only the player's choices and route selected change the overall plot. Instead of feeling like legitimate possibilities or offshoots of the same timeline/plot, the secondaries feel almost like Arcana AUs. The secondaries throw out all relations to the primaries and each other as quickly as possible and for what?
It is probably the height of arrogance to suggest fixes for works whose behind the scenes I do not know. At the same time, some small, obvious changes could have salvaged Muriel and maybe Lucio's endings (rip Portia). Instead of having the Hermit appear as a disappointing cameo, why not have him say something cryptic to Muriel, then have MC start trying to seal the Devil. Then let Muriel use his forget me mark to cloak MC and hide them from the Devil's attacks. Protecting MC by hiding them from Lucio, keeping him focused on Muriel, seems to me a simple third solution between Muriel's desire to run and his desire to never fight again. It lets him stand up to Lucio and let him have it while holding onto who Muriel has become. The Reversed End would have MC try to draw Lucio's attention at some point, disrupting the sealing, and eventually leading to Muriel killing the Devil. With Lucio's Upright End, I just have to ask: why doesn't MC fully claim the power of the Fool instead of the Devil? We don't need the other Arcana involved in this fight; we have three routes that demonstrate that. Just have MC pull Scout into the conflict, then have Lucio tell MC he believes in them, then add his power to the mix. You got yourself a full Fool who leaves Scout guarding the realm until they and Lucio's mortal bodies fail and they return to the realm to be together forever. Boom, you're done, you can even add some ambiguous lines so that players can decide how happy their MC is with this arrangement, send me the check.
Here is the bottom line. Our group is full of aroace, and several combinations therein, individuals. We are the last group who should have gotten into a dating sim of all things. But the Arcana did something with the primaries that was special; they wrote a compelling plot with dazzling lore, complex characters, and strong themes wrapped up in a dating sim bow. The writers know better and we know they know better. I do not know what happened with the secondaries, especially around books 10-11, which is where minor issues slowly start spiraling into major ones, but it is clear that Nix Hydra needed some more planning before they released these routes. Hopefully they will learn.
TL;DR: Nix Hydra fired their tarot consultants about eighteen months ago and it has wrecked their secondary routes until they were just embarrassments. They never intended for the secondary routes to even exist and once they had to make them, they scrambled and threw out everything that made the primaries work.
- Mod Telos
#the arcana#The Arcana Game#arcana game#arcana game meta#arcana meta#arcana discourse#the arcana lucio#Lucio route#the arcana muriel#muriel route#the arcana portia#portia route#lucio morgasson#lucio montag#muriel#portia devorak#The Wheel Turns
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Hello !
I was wondering whether you could rate and tell us of your top 5 favourite webnovels/cnovels of all time ?! (Sorry if this has already been answered lol😅)
Thank you, stay safe and have a nice day🖤
Awww, thank you and that is such a lovely ask!!!
From n1 to n5, here they are (they happen to be all danmei.)
1. The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (2ha) - my n1 forever and ever.
Taxian Jun, the horrific cultivation emperor of the world who razed cities and destroyed sects, is surrounded on his mountain. The righteous sects are terrified to confront him but tired of living, Taxian Jun consumes poison and dies by suicide at the age of 32. And opens his eyes as 16 year old Mo Ran, Mo Ran long before he became Taxian Jun, Mo Ran who is excited at a chance to save the one person he loved and lost. Oh, and to deal with his loathed shizun, the unapproachable and strict Chu Wanning, his past life’s biggest enemy.
I have no idea if it’s objectively the best on this list but it hits every trope I love, its bleak worldview (the world will change only incrementally but that’s enough, average person will not appreciate the sacrifice but it’s still worthwhile, and love is worth everything) mirrors mine, and the sheer complexity of the plot and cascade of plot twists each of which is insane and yet completely logical, is amazing (this is a rare novel where it’s even more fun to reread than read for the first time because you keep seeing all the hints and trail crumbs laid out that you did not see the first time.)
And the characters!!! I mean, this novel has multiple universes/timelines, a side trip to the Underworld AND the demon realm, a plot more twisted than a store’s worth of pretzels and yet the thing that hits me the most are the characters. Mo Ran is my favorite web novel character of all time and I love Chu Wanning so. All the secondary characters are wonderfully written (and some of them made me bawl) and they are all complex. My opinion of all of them changed many times over; the novel doesn’t make it easy to love some of them but then you do and it’s so worthwhile! That slow change is one of the delights of the novel - I started out disliking the unpleasant, superior Chu Wanning and cruel, callow Mo Ran and then I loved them so so hard and cried for them so so hard and was in awe of their heroism and sacrifice and selflessness and capacity to love.
Oh, and the fact that this novel does something almost impossible - it has its protagonist start out as so clearly irredeemable and then slowly and painfully and thoroughly redeems him (without ever letting the reader forget what it is he needs redemption for.)
Also, for a novel that made me cry so hard I felt ill, this book is just so damn funny with the most sarcastic sense of humor imaginable (the serious angst doesn’t even kick in until 90+ chapters!)
Anyway I should stop or I will write a dissertation. But this is the one web novel that I would put in my top 5 not just web novels but any novels in any shape or form. The plentiful trigger warnings are there for a reason so stay away if they are an issue, but if not, if anyone hasn’t read it yet, what are you doing with your life?!
2. Stains of Filth (Yuwu) - another novel by the author of 2ha. Clearly she just pushes all my buttons every time. This one is much shorter and has a plot that is twisty but less twisty than 2ha. Still, all that means is that intensity and the pain are more concentrated.
Aristocratic Mo Xi and former slave Gu Mang were both legendary generals of the empire and lovers. But Gu Mang betrayed the country and switched to the enemy. Now he is back as a peace offering by that country and Mo Xi has to deal with the fact that his feelings are as strong as ever.
This novel!!! So much pain and intensity!!! So many amazing plot twists and supporting characters. The same bleak world view, the same unjust society, the same protagonists doing right things despite the cost. Mo Xi’s intensity and inability to let go (he’s imprinted on Gu Mang and that’s it) is romantic, bone-shakingly intense, and tragic all at once. And oh Gu Mang! So many times I just wanted to reach into the book physically to protect him. The novel deals with unjust societies, memory versus personality, what it’s like to be good in a bad universe etc. And it both made me sob and giggle, repeatedly, and sold me on literally death-defying (but not honor-defying!) love.
Oh, and special shout out to the fact that like 2ha, you may start out hating some characters and end up a rabid fangirl (cough Murong Lian!)
3. Qiang Jin Jiu - a dense political tome that takes a while to get going but then it’s a runaway train.
In a fictional dynasty, Shen Zechuan, the only remaining son of a disgraced aristocratic family and Xiao Chiye, the younger son of a family of generals guarding the border join forces (and then something else) to get power and pull down the dysfunctional system.
This is so elegant and smart (a rare web novel I’d recommend to anyone who just loves solid period fiction) and you probably need a notebook to keep track of the politics and military strategy. These characters are very very smart not just because the author says so.
As to the characters, there is a large cast and I love many of them, but for me the novel is made by Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye. SZC is gorgeous and delicate and icy and can kill you before you have time to blink. Saddled with the sins of the family he had no pleasant interaction with, he claws his way out of hell (seeing the sinkhole he was trapped in, literally as well) to take down those who wronged him but also to amass power so all the tragedy and corruption won’t happen again and the whole rotten system comes crashing down. XCY is a military genius who is trapped as a hostage in the capital because the court doesn’t trust his family. He longs to return to the plains of home and to take his rightful place. The two men start out as bitter enemies, then reluctant and sniping allies, then as friends and eventually as one of the most gorgeous, tender, swoony OTPs.
Anyway this is one is a bona fide masterpiece, equal parts smart and emotionally intense.
4. Wu Chang Jie - are you an emotional vampire? I am and this novel is a banquet.
In a highly fantastical setting, we meet our protagonists - the sunny Xie Bian and the intense and surly Fan Wushe. Xie Bian is a human who assists his master in conveying souls to the underworld and making sure no mishaps happen. Bian is concentrated sunshine in human form and to meet him is to love him. When the novel opens, his drunk master brings back another human to be his shidi and assist with duties - said human is uncommunicative, intense and surly Wushe. Bian is excited to have a shidi but little does he know that a story dealing with the horrors of past lifetime is about to start.
Anyway, why WCJ? So many reasons. It has such a dark bleak worldview - this world is a horrifying system where powerful cannibalize each other’s cores for an impossible chance to ascend, where gods have sealed off their realm and all that’s left is neverending human misery and hell (the only way you’d see a deity is if they’d been sent down to suffer over and over and over), where even reincarnation doesn’t fix things and bad acts are often unpunished. And the novel then asks - is it worth being a good person in such a world? More, is it worth being a good person in such a world when nothing good has ever happened to you and you have been repeatedly betrayed due to your goodness? And the answer, on Bian’s part, is an uncompromising yes.
Ah yes, the other reason to love this novel - the protagonists and their fucked up fucked up relationship. Bian (who was Prince Ziheng in the past life) is so genuinely good. But he is that rare thing - good but not saintly, noble but not cloying. So much of the novel is his getting taken apart over and over and barely able to put himself back together every time but his soul is still as amazing as ever.
And then there is Wushe (who was Prince Zixiao in past life, Ziheng’s not-bio-related brother.) Wushe is not a good person. He is a monster. And he loves Bian/Ziheng more than his life and his soul and the entire world but he’s also the one who hurt him more than anyone else ever could and did it over and over. His love survived a literal century of torture in the worst kind of hell and refused the usual memory loss of new life. But it also humiliated and broke Ziheng down to his constituent parts.
One of the things that is so fascinating to me about this novel is the question of what can be forgiven/what should be forgiven/what kind of expiation is enough/can you ever love someone who you loved so much and then he hurt you so badly and is now repentant? And it never sweeps trauma under the rug or hand waves it away but deals with it head on.
If you want healthy relationships, you should stay far away from this novel but if intense insane ones with a feral barely human one capable of destroying the world leashed by love and guilt to the sane deeply good one is your bag, come right in.
There is also the world building and the fact that yes, the big fall out between Ziheng x Zixiao is based on not knowing all the facts but it’s not “why can’t you talk?! This is dumb!” But is totally in keeping with both events and their characters. It’s reasonable for Ziheng to do what he does and for Zixiao to misunderstand and decide Ziheng is now his biggest enemy (but still one he’s fixated on) and for Ziheng to never be able to clarify.
Anyway, once again this is trigger warning central so please heed those, but if they are no issue, this one is wonderful.
5. OK, this is hard and switches between Sha Po Lang, Heaven Official’s Blessing and The Golden Stage depending on my mood. So what the hell, I am gonna write about all of them.
Sha Po Lang - so smart and so much clever world building. There is enough politicking to satisfy a Qiang Jin Jiu fan, it’s steampunk, and our two protagonists - Gu Yun, the empire’s most powerful general, who’s loyal to the empire despite being badly wronged by it, and Chang Geng, a cursed prince with barbarian blood and horrifying childhood - are wonderful separately and together. This is a huge slow burn but it’s totally worth it! They fall in love with each other’s hearts and brains and ability as much as anything. (Yes, this is the one with the yifu thing. Gu Yun is made Chang Geng’s foster father when he rescues him and brings him back to the capital as a way to keep CG safe in imperial strife. They are 12 and 19 at the time so clearly it’s never a parental relationship.)
Heaven Official’s Blessing (TCGF) - I love it’s sprawling narrative and cast, I love its inventive setting and picaresque story. It’s hilarious and can make me cry. But the novel’s place on this list is due to Xie Lian who is part Kenshin part drama WWX part pure goodness wrapped in heartbreak and trauma wrapped in sunshine.
The Golden Stage - two smart and principled (yes, they both have principles different though they may be) men navigate their arranged marriage, their past friendship and their past break up, become a super couple (one of the healthiest danmei couples I’ve ever read and proves healthy doesn’t have to be boring), save the country and bring down the emperor or two and just generally this is my rainy day book.
I guess I didn’t write as much for the three n5 candidates as I did for 1-4 but my brain is beginning to curdle so...
#cnovel#heaven official's blessing#2ha#yuwu#sha po lang#qiang jin jiu#wu chang jie#the golden stage#tcgf#asks
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If Bella was somehow bitten somehow and woke up alone during New Moon, but the Cullens didn't find her (I don't know if this is still 'Edward mercy kills Bella' territory but if it is then maybe her gift knows this and starts blocking Alice) and she became a nomad, would she still do the diet and if so for how long?
This is shockingly in the realm of possibility and not necessarily in the land of Edward mercy killing Bella.
Though there are some dangers Bella would have to avoid somehow for survival.
Bella is Bitten Alone in New Moon
We have one vampire who meets Bella during New Moon and another who with very little difference in the timeline would have run across her: Laurent and Victoria.
In the case of Laurent, he and Bella have a chat, he decides Bella smells delicious and he'll spare her the pain of being slowly murdered by Victoria, and just as he decides to go for it he gets run down and eaten by giant wolves.
Bella survives her vampire encounter.
In the case of Victoria, she never really gets close enough to do damage until the fight between Edward and Victoria and Riley and Seth in Eclipse.
So we have a few ways this could go:
Laurent's a few seconds ahead of Sam and company. He manages to get a good bite in and doesn't crush Bella on impact. He's run off by the wolves and Bella survives.
The problem here is that Bella has now been bitten and there's no coming back for her. It's a tragedy, and the wolves will feel a shared sense of failure and burden that they failed to save her, but she's dead anyway. They have to kill her before she fully turns.
Bella's gift, while powerful, doesn't appear to help in this kind of situation. Though, that said, in her dire need it could suddenly give her the ability to project illusions like we see in Renesmee. Doesn't seem to be how Bella's gift typically rolls, but hey, this is her darkest hour.
Otherwise, Jake could pull his alpha move much earlier in order to save Bella's life. He ignores Sam's order, flees with the turning Bella, and dumps her in the wilderness somewhere with a note from Jake that she must never return to Forks. She wakes up alone, only guessing though not knowing what Jake has done for her, and stares blankly at the wilderness.
If Victoria catches up to Bella, well, it's not looking good. All too likely, Bella dies painfully, and Victoria leaves a video tape of the entire ordeal in the Cullen house for when they eventually return (as they surely will).
Though, that said, the ease with which Victoria accomplishes this and the complete lack of Cullen intervention could catch her off guard. Perhaps... Edward doesn't actually give a rat's ass. That says terrible things about James' needless death, but Victoria's holding this girl hostage. She will die, in the most painful manner imaginable, and the Cullens aren't there.
Victoria might turn Bella out of pity or else turn her as she figures out, in part from Bella, that Bella becoming a vampire is Edward's worst case scenario. However, in that case, it's unlikely Victoria would abandon Bella, so Bella wouldn't be on her own.
Which, I think for this post, makes Jake's alpha sacrifice the most likely path. He dumps Bella's half-vampire body somewhere in nowhere Canada.
Bella After the Bite
Being dumped in the wilderness helps a lot. For one, Bella already has unbelievable control, for another this is Edward's penguin scenario. There is no one else out here for her to eat even if she wanted to.
So, following the diet is easy.
And it's something she'd very much wish to do. Bella sees the world of vampires divided into two types of vampire: the good Cullen vampires who don't eat people and the bad vampires who, well, eat people.
This left such a mark on Bella that she has very little idea of what a vampire even is.
Bella would be horrified at herself if she became a bad vampire. In wanting vampirism she wanted the vampirsim she sees in the Cullens. Bella might be miserable and alone, without a friend in the world, but she would be horrified to choose anything other than the Cullen way of life.
At least, at first.
The Return of the Cullens
There's a few paths for Bella after she's dumped in the middle of nowhere.
Alice sees that Bella's become a vampire, an abandoned newborn, and is wandering aimlessly around the wilderness somewhere. Even though Edward has forbidden contact, this is probably enough to motivate Alice who was genuinely worried.
She likely goes behind Edward's back and tries to find Bella with Jasper and possibly the rest of the Cullens.
Edward, of course, is still in Rio being a miserable saint for leaving precious human Bella.
Eventually, they manage to find her, and there's a lot of miscommunication, very hurt feelings, and heartfelt apologies even from Rosalie because look what happened to this poor girl. Though they each, either reluctantly or more enthusiastically, agreed to leave this was not what they had in mind.
Bella forgives them quite readily, as she did in canon, because she has the self-esteem of a thimble. The Cullens are awed and very grateful, Rosalie would never have forgiven them for this.
It probably takes them both a) a while to decide how best to tell Edward and break the news to him b) a while to get a hold of Edward because he's ignoring all their phone calls.
Eventually they do, it's a shit show, for the purpose of this post we'll say he does not mercy kill Bella. He might actually be feeling too guilty for that. Instead he grovels on the ground constantly, begging Bella's forgiveness, and refuses to enter a relationship with her because he's unworthy.
This undoubtedly upsets Bella, because she's also unworthy and Edward knows it and doesn't love her, but that's not the point of this meta.
In this world, the Cullens keep Cullening after picking Bella up, Bella's adopted into the fold and made Edward's twin sister due to looking the most like him (which, of course, makes them look actually incestuous in high school to add to the Cullen mystique).
With the support of the Cullens, living the Cullen lifestyle, and having the control that Bella has there's no question of ever leaving the diet.
Bella stays on the wagon.
Bella Seeks Out the Denali
Alice is successful and doesn't see Bella's future for whatever reason. Edward will be so proud. Bella is left alone in Canada to eat moose.
Eventually, Bella decides that however great being a vampire is, she's lonely and miserable. She wants companionship.
Well, obviously the Cullens hate her, so even if she could find them they probably never want to see her again. But what about the Denali?
Bella's already in Canada, she could head over to the Denali National Park in Alaska, and surely the least she could do is actually introduce herself.
Of course, the coven sounds blonde, hot, aggressively female, and very intimidating. Tanya's history of wanting to bang Edward has Bella feeling very small and worthless. More, the Cullens may have told the Denali all about how stupid and ugly Bella, Edward's current human girlfriend, is and they've all laughed at her.
However, Bella's so desperate for companionship, for some connection back to her old life, that she goes for it.
She makes it to Alaska, wanders around until she eventually finds the Denali coven, and introduces herself. The Denali are weird assholes, but Bella's so oblivious she actually doesn't notice.
That said, they've had their brush with the law, and Tanya doesn't want a newborn running around by herself. Eleazar also gives a truly pompous, awful, speech about compassion to their fellow man. It's unbearable, Bella finds it charming.
They take Bella in, she can be the dark-haired sister. Her control is so good the three single ladies quickly take her clubbing and encourage her to sleep away her troubles with human men.
Bella quickly finds that, when you're on the vampire end of the equation, the relationship with human thing is kind of gross. These people smell like food, are squishy and overly warm, and have the substance of tofu.
Bella feels even worse about her relationship with Edward.
She sleeps with human men anyway so that the Denali sisters won't judge her/will think she's cool.
They're so proud of her.
Regardless, Bella stays on the diet as the Denali follow the diet. She will likely have a few accidents with her human lovers, and will be inconsolable, but the coven will be there to offer comfort and help her get back on the wagon.
Bella stays on the wagon
Bella's Low Self-Esteem Wins and She Becomes a Hermit
Bella can't return to Forks and she's so ugly, stupid and boring that even though she's a vampire if she met anyone new they'd realize how ugly, stupid, and boring she is.
Better to just forsake society altogether and live with moose.
Bella's able to do this for quite a long time. Years even. And it's... fine. But her life has no purpose nor any direction to it.
She becomes tempted by society. How many years has it been? Has the world changed since she left? Has Forks changed? Is Charlie still alive? Is Renee? What about her classmates?
Bella starts travelling and visiting human cities and, thanks to her control, she does very well.
However, it's very likely that one day she'll slip, she takes her control far too much for granted and all it takes is one mistake.
And that's where Bella starts getting into trouble.
She's horrified at first, of course, and that likely doesn't break her. She gets back on the wagon, but the second time it happens...
There are no consequences to her breaking the diet. She has no companions, no one cares. Why is she living in constant agony, every single day, for people who will one day die anyway? Why is Bella choosing to suffer?
As time goes on, as humans start to mean less and less to her and all the humans that she knew when human herself are dead, Bella starts forgetting the reason that the diet seemed so vital to her existence.
At one point, it stops meaning anything at all, it's just Bella pointlessly choosing to live in agony.
Bella falls off the wagon.
TL;DR I think it'd take a while, at least ten years, but if she becomes a solitary nomad, it would inevitably happen.
#twilight#twilight meta#twilight headcanon#twilight renaissance#bella swan#jacob black#edward cullen#anti edward cullen#edward/bella#anti edward/bella#alice cullen#the cullens#the denali#tanya#eleazar#anti eleazar#meta#headcanon#opinion
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