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thankskenpenders · 5 months

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Sonic Prime Season 3: Final episodes, final thoughts

Well, here we are. The final seven episodes of Sonic Prime are out on Netflix, concluding the story of Sonic's adventures in the Shatterverse. I've previously shared my thoughts on the first and second seasons, which I was pretty mixed on, but there were still glimmers of hope. The fluid animation, Shadow being fun in all his appearances, Nine being fairly interesting as a jaded alternate version of Tails, etc. There was enough to make me believe that after some highs and lows there was still the possibility that this show could end on a high note - or at least a decent note.

This did not happen.

Sonic Prime's final season sucks. The ending sucks, and the road to get there sucks. It's left me wondering what the point of all this even was. There are still moments I like that I'll try to highlight, and the animators and voice cast are still clearly giving it their all, but these efforts sadly don't outweigh the overwhelming mediocrity of the story. I would barely even recommend other Sonic fans who are on the fence go out of their way to finish it. I won't begrudge people who got more out of this show than I did, but I think overall I just really, really dislike Sonic Prime.

...The problem, of course, is that all other discussion of the show has been overshadowed by needlessly hostile arguments over its place in Sonic's canon. So we've gotta talk about that, too.

(This post will contain full spoilers for Sonic Prime.)

The show's out of ideas but they've gotta stretch that shit out to hit the 23 episode mark somehow

Season 2 ended with the big twist that Nine decided to betray Sonic and Shadow, taking the Paradox Prism for himself so that he could go turn the empty world of the Grim into his own little paradise, since he doesn't believe he'll fit anywhere else. Nine has made himself the true big bad of the show.

The main impact this has is that now, instead of fighting endless identical Eggforcer bots and members of the Chaos Council over and over, the good guys and the Chaos Council have to fight endless Chaos Sonic-style robots sent by Nine while he goes "grrrrr I need Sonic's energy to stabilize the Paradox Prism." This continues for six whole episodes until the series finale, when the show decides it's time for Sonic and Nine to quickly make amends, fix everything, and send Sonic and Shadow home.

That's pretty much the whole season.

I cannot emphasize enough just how much of this final season is just fight after fight after fight against Nine's bots, and how fucking boring that gets. The season feels like one long, drawn out final battle that did not need to be nearly this long, but Nine had his big heel turn 2/3 of the way through the show and we've gotta fill up the rest of the time somehow. The novelty of the bots being based off of Sonic's friends (including the Chocobo-sized Birdie from the jungle world) really wears off quickly when they're just used as generic, silent mooks that the good guys have to fight by the dozen like it's the climax of an MCU movie. The first episode of the season with Sonic and Shadow fighting the new bots is pretty good, especially because Sonic and Shadow's dynamic is one of the few redeeming aspects of this show's writing, but after that it just gets boring. Three full episodes in a row are spent showing all the characters fighting robots in an empty wasteland while Nine scowls next to a big beam of energy. I found myself missing the in-your-face attitude of Chaos Sonic so much. He truly was one of the best parts of this show.

While the cast is busy fighting all these robots for what feels like an eternity, various things of varying levels of interest happen. There's a halfhearted attempt to have some kind of rivalry between Shadow and the main Grim Sonic throughout the final battle, but it completely falls flat because Grim Sonic has no personality whatsoever. It's like Shadow beefing with an above-average Egg Pawn. (Actually, no, that would be funny.) There's also a death fakeout with the two other versions of Tails, where they make a makeshift bomb and throw it a little too close to themselves on the battlefield and seem to get vaporized. If they had actually died there they would have had the funniest, most pointless deaths in the entire franchise.

I also realized at one point that they were trying to do the Avengers girl power fight thing with the three versions of Amy fighting a bunch of Rouge bots. This was very funny to me. Actually, so much of this is just following the tired MCU formula to the letter. Fighting over a macguffin, two armies just kind of running at each other and clashing in a big empty field, constant one-liner quips instead of actual jokes, the need to take out key targets to make the whole enemy army disappear, a villain who has a point but has to randomly hurt people so that there's an excuse for the heroes to fight him. When combined with how shit the multiverse stuff is, this whole show really is just Man of Action tackling some of the most played out storytelling tropes in modern pop culture in the most bland way possible. What a bunch of hacks.

By far, the one truly fun thing that happens in this protracted final battle is when a giant robot based on Big appears. It doesn't have arms or legs, but it can swing itself around to use its tail like a giant mace, and it can also shoot Froggy-shaped missiles out of its mouth. I wish the rest of the show was even half as fun as this. Again, Sonic Prime has just enough good moments to make you mad that the rest of the show isn't better.

The thing is, all this repetitive (but well-animated) action and the thin excuse plot would be totally serviceable if I just gave a shit about the characters involved. But I don't. I don't care what happens to the pirate version of Amy who goes "arrr." I don't care about what happens to Hipster Eggman. And unfortunately, by the end, I didn't really care about Nine, either.

Nine as a villain

It's hard to criticize the story here without it coming off as a broad condemnation of the tropes at play. The thing is, I like many stories that try to do similar things. I love clashes between heroes and villains that are really just fantastical exaggerations of more personal conflicts. I love stories where a tragic, sympathetic villain lashes out at the world as an expression of the pain they feel, and a compassionate hero just has to get through to them. I eat that shit right up. Undertale is my favorite game ever made. Shit, I love other Sonic stories that do these exact things. And Sonic having to fight an alternate timeline version of Tails also has so much potential for drama!

So I can very easily imagine a version of the show where all this works for me. That just isn't the version we got.

Like I said last time, Nine's motivation is just too sympathetic and understandable for his sudden turn to supervillainy to make any sense. He just wanted to start over somewhere where he can be happy after a childhood filled with bullying and loneliness. Nine betraying Sonic and stealing the Paradox Prism to go make his own world? That tracks! Especially since we don't even know if Nine will still exist if Sonic goes through with his plan to restore his original world! But trying to kill everyone in New Yolk City by tilting the world 90 degrees, intentionally targeting the civilian population because it'll get to Sonic? Nope! Sorry, that's a bridge too far. I don't buy it. He's jaded and antisocial, but he doesn't strike me as cruel. Writing in an excuse about him needing Sonic's energy to fix the Prism does not make this make more sense.

This was really just one of those conflicts where it felt like everyone should stop and talk it out. Instead we got six episodes of fighting before one of Sonic's many, MANY attempts at reasoning with Nine throughout the season finally works. This isn't me pulling some Cinema Sins bullshit where I complain about characters in a work of fiction not always behaving rationally - the real problem is that it's just so damn repetitive waiting for this conflict to resolve. This could have been wrapped up in two or three episodes and instead it takes seven.

A brief aside about that weird Dorkly-ass Sonic Advance 3 flashback scene hacked together with mismatched sprites where Gemerl happens to be present, presumably just because he's a part of the sprite for the Sunset Hill boss, and seeing him briefly makes me remember the extended cast from the games and how much I wish they had just made a cartoon about them instead of a bunch of stock characters wearing the skin of Sonic's friends, but then Gemerl just explodes with the boss machine at the end while Eggman is shown to get away so I guess Gemerl just dies in this flashback

Yeah that sure happened huh

The ending

Despite having a final battle that felt like an eternity, Sonic Prime is a show that just kind of... ends. And that ending is weird and haphazard.

The understanding I had was that Sonic's normal world had "shattered" when the Paradox Prism was destroyed, and from those remnants these new worlds were created. This is why they use terms like "Shatterverse" and "Shatterspaces" and why there's shattered glass/crystal/whatever imagery everywhere. This is a broken, fragmented version of the real universe. Right? Right?? Isn't that the entire premise of the show? And therefore, if the universe has been shattered, then fixing it means putting all the shattered pieces back together. Which I would assume means that the Shatterspaces cease to exist.

So, in the ending... Sonic's world seems to just exist as another Shatterspace. Restoring the Paradox Prism doesn't seem to combine the worlds or anything, it just fixes the broken portal to Sonic's world that exists alongside all the others. So... what exactly was the point of all the shattered glass symbolism?

Things only get more confusing as the ending progresses. Shadow brings Sonic through the portal before the draining of Sonic's whatever energy makes him disappear, and they're transported back in time to right before Sonic broke the Paradox Prism. Only Sonic seems to remember what happened (Shadow might remember, but he doesn't say anything), and with the Paradox Prism never shattered, it's unclear if the Shatterspaces exist now.

I'm not particularly hung up on the time loop ending. It's very much in line with all sorts of classic morality tales like A Christmas Carol or It's a Wonderful Life, where the flawed protagonist goes through some kind of magical experience and then returns home with a new appreciation for the people in their life. It's always been pretty obvious that was the type of story they were telling. I'm more bothered by the fact that there's no time whatsoever spent on whether or not the other worlds and the characters in them continue to exist. Sonic seems to act like the worlds will go on without him before he leaves, but it's not like we get an ending scene that shows how the other worlds are doing, so they really truly might as well not exist anymore. Sonic just wraps up the adventure from the first episode when he gets home, and before he can explain what happened from his perspective he's interrupted by a mysterious energy wave from off-screen and it's off to the next adventure.

(Despite this odd cliffhanger ending, the show is extremely over and not coming back. I have to imagine this is just a "the adventures never end" type ending and not a hint that more shit is going on with the Paradox Prism.)

This ending is also a terrible resolution to Nine's whole arc, despite him being the driving force of so much of the show. The way I see it, there are are three possible fates for him:

The Shatterspaces continue existing, and things go as Sonic expects them to go. Nine is allowed to make the Grim into his own little utopia, and everyone else leaves him alone instead of punishing him for all the trouble he caused. Instead of finding love and acceptance so he can heal from a lifetime of bullying and loneliness, Nine is allowed to run away, isolating himself from every other living being in the multiverse, and live alone as the god of an empty world with only his own creations as company. Sonic was his only friend, and he's gone forever now.

The Shatterspaces continue existing, but because of the time travel ending, most of the events of the show never happened. Sonic never helped defeat the Chaos Council, so they still control New Yolk City. Nine is back to living in this dystopian city with no friends. He never met Sonic.

The Shatterspaces have been erased. After fighting so hard for his right to exist as his own person and not just a "wrong" version of Tails, when the timeline is altered, he just... stops existing. Along with almost every other character in the show.

Do I even need to explain why these are all unsatisfying?

Misc. thoughts

I skimmed over this, but a lot of the final season is just spent seeing Sonic's friends bicker with the Chaos Council and then Sonic has to beg them to get along to save the universe. It gets old.

We also never really got an explanation for why the Chaos Council exists. They can't have come from other Shatterspaces because there ARE no other Shatterspaces. If the original Eggman was just split into five guys or time travel was involved or whatever, it never comes up. I can live with this, but it seems like an odd omission for a children's show that's constantly bogged down in technobabble explaining the mechanics of its extremely small and finite multiverse.

I have no idea where Shadow was for the first part of the final battle. I figured Nine must have captured him off-screen after Sonic first left the Grim, but Shadow was just... hanging around until his cue in the script, I guess?

Sonic saying "help a brother up" to Shadow was funny

Hipster Eggman pointing to one of the few nameless extras who tagged along for the final battle and going "Who are you? Seriously, does anyone know who this is?" was the only funny thing he did in the entire show

Mangy Tails randomly pressing buttons on the Chaos Council's generator like a curious animal and managing to improve its output was cute

Rusty Rose randomly realizes that the Birdie in her chest actually isn't being used as a power source, and that the Chaos Council was just... using that to manipulate her, somehow? I don't really know how that works but whatever

The Sonic Advance 3 flashback uses the actual boss music from the game, but they can't use the real Sunset Hill theme because they didn't wanna pay Masato Nakamura for using the Green Hill motif, I guess

To my fellow fans of bad games: did you know that Man of Action wrote the story for the bizarre Square Enix game The Quiet Man? The one where the lengthy FMV cutscenes play out with muffled audio and no subtitles because the protagonist is deaf, so you can't tell what's going on? And you had to do a New Game+ playthrough to actually hear the audio and understand what's going on? The worst-reviewed game of 2018? That one? I only learned that recently and it blew me away

So yeah, that's the end of the show. I didn't like it, and I don't think I liked the show much as a whole. I am far from alone in this sentiment, but the reasons why people dislike the show... those vary a bit.

The canon conundrum

More than anything else, it seems like most other discourse surrounding this show has been consumed by one talking point:

How can this be canon? Why is it canon?

I want to state very clearly up front that I, too, am a person who's noticed and complained about the inconsistencies with the games in Sonic Prime. Some of the characters are a bit off - or, you know, completely unrecognizable when discussing the writing of some of the AU counterparts. I think it's lame to say Sonic and friends all live in Green Hill and act like that's the entirety of their world. That sort of thing. But if Sega says it's canon to everything else? Sure. Fine. There's weirder shit in the canon.

Really, most of this can be explained away pretty easily. The show was written at a time when Sega was still figuring shit out and there were looser restrictions. Why does Sonic act a little more immature? Probably just because Prime is aiming for a slightly younger audience than the games or the IDW comics. (And also it's, y'know, written by Man of Action, who people have accused of only knowing how to write one kind of protagonist for years.) Why do Sonic and friends live in Green Hill? Because that's the most recognizable location from the games, and the game world doesn't get enough screentime to justify modeling multiple different environments, so they just focus on Green Hill. Why is this considered canon to the games? Because this is the first Sonic cartoon that outright references events from the games as things that have happened to Sonic in the past.

But announcing early on that Prime would be canon certainly let fans' imaginations wander. It was one of the few things we knew about the show before it premiered. People wondered if characters from the games and comics who had never made any appearances in Sonic cartoons might get their time in the spotlight. We wondered if it would tie into the lore or any existing storylines in interesting ways, like the IDW comics do. But above all else, we hoped that its canon status would mean that Sonic Prime would finally be the Sonic cartoon that was faithful to the source material with no catches. We've literally never seen the actual world of the games brought to life in a TV show. Sonic X came the closest, but that still took its liberties. And so hype built for this Canon Sonic Cartoon.

And then it actually came out, and after a brief intro in Green Hill based loosely on the games, it spent most of its running time focusing on things like "what if there was a version of Eggman who was a bratty teen who just wanted to play video games?" The disappointment among fans is understandable. I am disappointed. Look at how much I've bitched about this aggressively mid cartoon.

Some fans, however, came up with an elaborate theory about the series. You see, when asked about the show's place in the game timeline during a live Q&A, Ian Flynn (who only served as a consultant on Sonic Prime and did not write any of it) said this:

"I cannot answer because I know the answer, and you haven't finished watching the show yet."

A couple days later, when answering another question about Prime's place in the timeline and also about a writing discrepancy, he said this:

"As to where it fits on the timeline, I can't speak to it because that would spoil the show to a degree. So you're just gonna have to wait 'til it's done. Towards the other point, I don't know how much I can say, so it's probably better that I not comment. That's a really dissatisfying answer, I know, I'm sorry, but my hands are kinda tied on that one."

I feel the need to quote Ian directly here, because these very basic statements about how he can't talk about behind the scenes shit or anything from unreleased episodes was GREATLY misinterpreted by the fandom. People clung onto Ian's claim that we had to keep watching like a life preserver. Some took it as Ian saying that the ending would explain everything. Finally, we'd have a definitive answer for every little discrepancy and the apparent differences in worldbuilding. An explanation for why Sega and the producers repeatedly insist this show HAS to be canon.

And to these fans, the only explanation that made any sense... would be if the ending of Sonic Prime pulled a Flashpoint.

As this theory explained, the Sonic we were following in Sonic Prime wasn't the Sonic we know from the games and the IDW comics, and likewise the world he comes from isn't really the game world. This is a different Sonic who fights a different Eggman in a world that's literally just Green Hill. It was a hint that something was off all along! But in the end of the series, this Sonic would sacrifice himself to merge all of the Shatter Spaces together and form a brand new world, and that would be the more visually diverse world of the games and comics. According to this theory, Sonic Prime was canon because it was a new origin story for the entire franchise.

I want you to really stop and think about how asinine of an origin story this would be. Really drink this in. The idea that there was another, slightly different version of Sonic who went on a kinda shitty multiverse adventure and then sacrificed himself to create the real Sonic that we've known since 1991. People convinced themselves this made more sense than the simple explanation that a different team of writers got some stuff wrong and Sega didn't make them change it. Interviews where producers talked about drawing on Sonic's "mythology" (ie: they reference the games in the show) were taken very literally - they must be saying that Prime's story is mythological in nature, and that this show would be integral to the games' mythology. Why bother making a show that's canon if it's not going to be crucial to that canon, after all?

The final episodes dropped, and none of this happened. Because of course it didn't. It was all Sherlock fandom-level copium. But fans were left confused by the lack of a grand reveal of where Sonic Prime fits in the timeline, believing they had been promised this, and they turned to Ian for an explanation. Ian's answer:

It doesn't matter, b/c Prime wipes itself out. It's sometime after Advance 3*, but otherwise, it's moot. I didn't want to sour anyone's expectations or investment by spoiling how Prime resolves, that's all. If you enjoyed it, awesome. Savor it. If you didn't, then you can safely ignore it. Simple as that.

* About a trillion people have um, actually'd Ian to point out Orbot and Cubot briefly appear in the show, but if we're really being pedantic here we don't actually know how long before Colors Eggman built Orbot and Cubot, so it wouldn't be fully accurate to say a story featuring Orbot and Cubot couldn't be set before Colors. Either way, a story set anywhere around Colors, or at any point later than that, could still be described as "sometime after Advance 3." Advance 3 is just the most recent game that has specific in-game events referenced in the show. Yes I can feel myself morphing into the nerd emoji before your very eyes

Anyway, this is the latest reason Ian is getting death threats on Twitter. This time it's over a show he barely even had any input on!

I'll cut to the chase. It is truly wild to me that people are getting this heated over canonical inconsistencies in a series as historically inconsistent as Sonic, to the point that they think threatening Ian is justified. The aesthetics of the entire world Sonic inhabits change every other game. Sonic Chronicles may no longer be canon due to the Penders lawsuits, but it was canon at one point, and it took huge liberties with Sonic's world, moving Green Hill off of South Island and reinterpreting Station Square as a tiny outpost in a snowy alpine forest region. Characters' personalities change from writer to writer and based on what Sega wants at the time, with some being WILDLY different across different games. One game Sonic will be stoic and cool, the next he thinks "Baldy McNosehair" is the funniest thing ever. Sega's STILL trying to figure out what Amy's personality is supposed to be. We still don't have the explanation for how the two seemingly contradictory backstories for Blaze can fit together. There have been multiple huge, sweeping retcons, and retcons to those retcons. Sonic Forces claims that Classic Sonic is from an entirely different universe than Modern Sonic, and the plot only makes any sense if that's true - otherwise, Modern Sonic would have already known Eggman was going to beat him and take over the world when he did, because his younger self had already lived through that war. All of that makes no sense in the newly reunified timeline, but Forces is very much still canon.

For fuck's sake, we're talking about the series where Eggman blew up half the moon and then it looked completely normal in every other game after, explained away as "the moon just rotated so we can't see the destroyed side from Earth." This has never, ever, ever been a franchise where everything lines up perfectly with no issues. It's not that serious.

The real core problem with Prime isn't that things don't line up 100% with our current understanding of canon, or that Sonic's characterization means this can't be the real Sonic, or anything like that. The problem, as I've been saying this whole time, is that the story is bad. None of these discrepancies would truly matter if the story was better. They'd just be nitpicks. The fact that Sonic and friends live in Green Hill would be the farthest thing from my mind if the drama was more engaging, if the villains were better, if the jokes were actually funny, if more of the alternate universe counterparts of Sonic's friends had more than one generic character trait each, if the multiverse was more creative and varied, if the final seven episodes of this show didn't devolve into the third act of an MCU movie and then just arbitrarily end, if Nine's character arc actually had a satisfying conclusion instead of ending with either isolation or nonexistence. Maybe we'd be seeing people talk about more than just whether or not it should be considered canon if the writing was any good.

"Canon" is not real, and it sure as hell isn't worth sending people death threats over. It's a storytelling tool. Real human beings decide what does and doesn't go into that canon, or how much they do or don't want to draw on past stories, when creating a new story. Serving that canon is secondary to creating a story where the emotional truth resonates with the audience. And Sonic Prime failed to do that. That is its true failing.

And finally, to close out...

Since people will ask, here are my current ranking of the Sonic TV shows, now that Prime is finished.

Sonic Boom

Sonic SatAM

Sonic X

The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic Prime

Sonic Underground

Yes, I'd say Boom is my favorite. It's far from my ideal Sonic cartoon, but it gets a lot of points for being as funny as it is. But the top four are all shows I'd say I like, more or less. They all have their pros and cons.

So now, uh... I guess let's hope the live action Knuckles show coming to Paramount+ is better than the underwhelming synopsis of "Knuckles helps deputy sheriff Wade train in the ways of the echidna warrior" would imply? Maybe we'll get lucky?

#tkp post #other media

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thebestofoneshots · 7 months

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Gilded Constellations | wolfstar x reader

Series Masterlist | Previous episode

Pairing: Wolfstar x Reader Word Count: 11 K Warnings: None Prompt: Halloween has arrived, you see the boys in their costumes for the first time and they see you in yours. Things are perfect, just don't let your thoughts get to you before the euphoria does. This IS a wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it. This chapter may be read as a stand-alone / oneshot too.

Chapter 17: Tonight's What It Means To Be Young

When you entered your room, the only person there was Lily, you smiled when you saw her, she already had her stunning green dress on, and she did look like a total princess.

“You’re stunning,” you said honestly.

She turned to you with a little frown, “Not sure what to do with my hair.”

You smiled, “Come sit,” you told her, motioning to a chair, in front of your desk, you pulled a soft brush and started to lightly brush on her soft auburn hair. “Do you mind if I use one of the potions we made?”

“Not at all, do whatever you want, I trust it’ll look pretty.”

You smiled, and walked inside the bathroom, taking some of the enchanting hair serum, and letting a few drops fall over the brush, before going back and brushing her hair with it. It instantly looked a lot more vibrant and hydrated. After that you started pulling sections from the front, and making soft twists. You were far from an expert hair stylist, but this one, in particular, was simple enough for you, and it would look perfect with the mediaeval vibe of Lily’s dress. Once that was ready, you took some of the perfect curls potion and added it to her hair, but you defused it with the serum so that the curls were just soft waves. Once she was ready you handed her a mirror, and she smiled.

“You like it?”

“It’s perfect!” She added, standing up from the chair and turning to you with a hug. “But what about you? When are you getting ready?”

“Now, actually,” you said, rushing towards your wardrobe and grabbing the iridescent bustier you’d gotten for your costume. Lily leaned over next to you and looked at it, she hadn’t seen it up close, the pearls and chains that dripped from the side made it an absolute treat to observe, it was pretty much a piece of art. It was actually a family heirloom from your grandmother.

“It’s stunning,” she said as she looked at it, almost completely mesmerised. That was, in fact, one of the charms the item had, fairies enjoyed dragging mortals into their parties, having fun with them, and sometimes, at expense of them. Some fairies could be really wicked creatures, which is why wizards tended to stay away from them. Therefore, and to drag them in, they invented all sorts of magical items. If mermaids had their chants, fairies had their charms. Some as dangerous as being able to force people to do things with the mere command of their voices, known as glamours. Your mom still had the ability to do that. You didn’t, except sometimes you could be a little too convincing. It was the little bit of fairy bIood still cursing through your veins. You would have to tone down the charms of the bustier if you didn’t want everyone to react like Lily.

“It is,” you agreed, closing the box again. Lily blinked a couple of times before turning towards you, “Why don’t you walk downstairs and help Tom with the reception while I finish up getting ready?”

“Don’t you want me to help you?” She asked, looking like she wanted to open the box again.

You shook your head “It’s fine Lils, I can do this,” you reassured her. She nodded and waved at you as she approached the door. When she left the room, you used a simple spell to block the magic emanating from the bustier and walked inside the bathroom, finally taking the glow potion you had prepared earlier that week. In a matter of seconds, a soft glow started emanating from you. You giggled at your reflection, it made you look like Tinkerbell. You then grabbed some of the perfect curls potion and applied it over your hair along with the serum. You pulled your hair back a little and added some flowers you’d gathered from the greenhouses earlier that day. Letting some curls fall to the side of your face, on an organic but put-together look.

When you walked outside of the bathroom, Mary and Marlene were there already. Marlene had her Cher wig on and Mary had charmed her nose to look like a kitten’s, she had also added curl potions to her curls and was scrunching them around her face to look like a mane. Both girls turned to you when they heard the door “You’re glowing!” Mary said.

“The potion worked!” Added Marlene excitedly, she was now putting on her loose shirt.

“Yes it did,” you said with a smile, twirling around a little, “love what you did with the whiskers.” You told Mary, she then stood up, and you realised there was a tail wiggling behind her, you gasped, “That looks incredible!”

“It does, doesn’t it?” She said as she wiggled the tail a bit higher, playfully brushing it over your arm as you approached.

“All right, I’m ready.” Marlene said, as she finished applying her eyeliner, “Holden should be already waiting for me.”

“Me too, I’ll come down with you, unless you need help with anything luv?” She said, turning to you attentively.

“I’m good girls, I won’t take long anyway,” you said and waved them goodbye. As they left you walked towards your trunk and picked out the short skirt you’d be wearing along the top. It was a very flowy thing composed of a few layers of gathered fabric. Some longer than others. You put it on, and then pulled the cover of the box again, carefully grabbing the bustier and placing it over your chest. The sides of the piece extended, adjusting to your body, while the chains and pearls wrapped all over your back. It was almost like a fairy transformation scene, as the pearls and pieces continued to wrap around your body.

Once that was ready, you pulled a pair of flats, of the same iridescent tone as the rest of the outfit, and put them on. Small vines grew from the side, wrapping themselves all over your calves. You grabbed your wand and performed a short spell on yourself, your ears turning slightly pointier, like your mom’s.

Finally, you turned to look at yourself in the mirror, and you gasped, you looked every bit a fairy. You started doubting if it really was a good idea to dress as a fairy, when you were actually part one when you heard a knock on the door.

You walked towards it and opened it, finding Remus standing on the other side, your words nearly escaped you; if you thought he’d look handsome in the sexy pirate costume, you had vastly underestimated how captivating your friend was. He wore this white flowing shirt, paired with a snug burgundy vest. A vest that, incidentally, Sirius had borrowed. He had a pair of pants, subtly tighter than his usual go-to, and thick leather boots. All of that along with a belt, slightly tanned skin, and trinkets dangling loosely from his hips —including a holster with its accompanying gun— it all suited him like a dream. He had a few rings all over his fingers, some with burgundy gems that combined with his vest ––they had also been borrowed by Sirius, you could easily identify one or two–– and they made his long fingers look daring and mischievous. As you stared back at his face, you noticed a single earring adorning his left ear, a small icy blue gemstone droplet (like Sirius’ eyes), making him look even more like a pirate, like he’d just stepped out of a romance novel, or perhaps even a romance novel wouldn’t do him justice.

And Remus, from the other side of the door, was just as stunned as you were, first because of the glow emanating from your body, which had him squint just a little when he saw you; but then, when he looked at you, he realised how alluring you looked. It was not a particularly sexy Halloween costume like Sirius had proposed, but it was definitely something; enticing, borderline bewitching, and Remus knew about bewitching. So much so, he’d been bewitched with amorentia once. This felt like that, a sudden urge to hide you from all the eyes at the party overcame him, he somehow thought he wanted you all to himself. No, not just himself, Sirius had to see you. He had to see just how beautiful his girlfriend was. He cleared his throat, trying to snap himself from the trance, and pulling you from yours in the process “Eh… Tom was, Tom was looking for you downstairs.”

“Remus!” You said excitedly, finally getting yourself together, “You look fantastic! You really are getting all the bitches tonight, aren’t you?”

Remus blushed, from how honest and unabashed your compliment had been “Thank you, you look dazzling yourself. Sirius will go crazy for you, I’m sure.”

“He should already be,” you said playfully and walked towards him, now analysing his outfit “You’re missing something.”

“He is, trust me… What are you looking for?” He added as he saw you look around your trunk.

“This!” You said, pulling out a necklace. It was a simple pendant of a mermaid, thick but dainty, when you had it you walked over to him, he pulled back just a little. And you realised what happened, he may have thought it was silver. “My mom gave it to me a couple of birthdays ago, she said it was made of some special sea metal, that would warn against evil spirits, goes with the vibe, don’t you think?” you added casually, he relaxed visibly and allowed you to get close enough to place it around his neck. You had to stand on your toes to reach him better, but you were done rather quickly. You pulled back and looked at him again. “We should unbutton your shirt a little more, I think…” You said approaching him again, but stopped yourself before laying a hand on him “Do you mind?”

“No, it’s fine.” He responded with a small shrug, already missing how close you’d been to him earlier, and cursing himself for it. My friend’s girlfriend, My crush’s girlfriend, damn it!

You grabbed the box plate of the shirt then, and started to unbutton it, being as careful and gentle as you could. After the second button you spread the shirt open just a little, moving your hands upward to adjust the collar, raising it up slightly, for dramatic effect. When your hands brushed against his neck, he looked to the side and gulped, his heart was drumming against his ears and he wondered if you could hear it too. Eventually, you pulled back and smiled to yourself “There you go Rem, you look perfect.”

“Thank you,” he said, and motioned to walk to the door, but you stopped him, “No wait! Erm… would you mind helping me with this?” You asked, grabbing a shiny golden oval and showing it to him “I was gonna use the mirror to do it, but you’re much better with transfigurations than me, I’m sure it’ll be a piece of cake. That way we can just come down together.”

“What’s this?” He asked with a frown, taking the small item in between his hands.

“My wings,” you responded, “just put it in the middle of my back,” you said, turning your back to him, “and do this spell.” You handed him a small piece of paper.

He cleared his throat again “You want me to place it?” He asked, looking at your exposed back.

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead,” you nodded eagerly, oblivious to the way Remus was blushing from behind, but he complied, gently placing the little golden box, avoiding your skin as he did, a real gentleman, you thought.

“It’s– It’s not sticking.”

“Just press a little harder, it’ll stick.” He did, this time around he used his fists as leverage, you could feel his cold rings digging onto your skin a little, and he pressed again, with his thumbs this time, the box finally stuck. He then chanted the spell along with a little wave of his wand. The little metal box seemed to fade into your skin, and shortly after, a pair of wings started unfolding from the exact same place it’d been. Thin, translucent but shiny wings, came out. You adjusted your back, Remus couldn’t help but notice the way your shoulder plates moved, soft skin moving along with your muscles, he wondered what his hand would feel like pressed against it. Suddenly the wings started to bat, softly. You turned to him with a smile, the merriment in your face making you look impossibly divine, “They look incredible,” You said, the wings fluttering excitedly behind you.

“They do indeed, Breagha Nicnevin,” he said the last bit in a soft breath, almost unwittingly.

“What’s that?” You asked curiously.

“Nicnevin? It��s a Queen Fairy or Queen Witch from Scottish Folklore, my mom used to tell me the story when I was little. It’s a muggle tale, but it’s based on some truth, according to Bins.”

You listen to his explanation attentively “And the– the other word… Breha?”

He smiled, at the way you butchered Gaelic, but you weren’t far from the real word he’d said, and he wasn’t sure he’d want you to know the meaning either, so he changed it “Beag, stands for little. My mom used to call me Beag Boy too.”

“Little witch? You called me Little Witch!”

“Or fairy, yeah.”

“But I’m not little!” You argued.

He looked at you and tilted his head just a little, Remus was at least a head and a bit taller than you, and he used his hand to measure your height, it falling just below his collarbones “You sure?”

“Reeemus!” You whined playfully.

He just shrugged, an even more playful smile on his lips, “I’m just stating the facts.”

“Ugh, for a sexy pirate, you surely are exasperating.”

“’M taking that as a compliment,” he said, still smiling.

After the laughter between the two died, a moment of comfortable silence fell, you felt your wings flutter and you turned to look at them from behind, turning back to Remus with an earnest smile “Thank you!” You said, “I couldn’t have done it better.”

“I’m sure you could’ve.” He replied confidently, “But you’re welcome.”

Finally, you motioned at the door, “Shall we?”

Remus nodded and the two of you walked outside, you were still talking to each other when you started walking down the stairs. Sirius saw the two of you first, and he wasn’t sure where to look, he didn’t know Remus could look so handsome, the combination of the daring outfit and the tanner skin, made him look like a true pirate, but the kind of pirate that you would let kidnap you away on his boat. In fact, he was so enthralled by the way his friend looked that it took him a minute to distinguish the shiny figure beside him, oh, but when he did; Sirius Black was a goner. He just couldn’t stop looking at you, except for the moments in which Remus did something and he got completely lost on him. And then back at you, at the way your curls gently bounced with every step down you took, at the way, you laughed while talking to his friend, at your long legs, and the way pieces of shiny skin would appear when the folds of the skirt moved to the side, at the pearls and chains adorning the smooth skin of your arms, and he hadn’t even seen your exposed back, but he was already growing mad.

Remus was the first to notice Sirius’ staring, but he was too late, he didn’t notice the way he had looked at him, only how he had completely surrendered himself to you. And he couldn’t help but feel a mix of emotions, there was the pride, that his friend had finally found the one, that he knew Sirius would go crazy when he spotted you, and he had been right. But also a pang of sadness, one that he understood but felt even worse for having, he hated seeing Sirius looking at you like that, simply because his gaze was completely lost on you, and not on him. And he couldn’t even blame Sirius for it, you were definitely an absolute sight to behold. He noticed when he turned to you again, you still had a beaming smile on your face as you looked at him ––just as dashing and alluring as you had been in your room–– at least you were looking at him. Until you weren’t anymore.

Just as you finished telling the words of a joke, you turned your head to the front, to look at a funny step that was always tripping people, when you noticed Sirius hollymotherofmerlin Black. He was wearing a pristine white 3-piece suit, a tie ––the colour of bIood–– with a small trident pin just below the knot. The first hint of who he was dressed as tonight. On the pocket of the jacket that draped seamlessly over his broad shoulders ––giving a glimpse of the confident stance beneath–– there was a matching burgundy handkerchief. On the bottom, he wore a pair of tailored trousers, tapering down to polished white dress shoes.

Sirius looked like an angel, more now than usual, but they do say the devil’s in the details for a reason, even if a halo floated above him, a red devil's tail emerged from the side seam of his trousers, waving casually behind him, like that of a lion, one that knows that he is the king of the jungle. And behind him, a pair of dark angel wings, that went from black to red as the light hit them, just like raven’s wings sometimes had a tint of blue to them. When you finally turned to his face again, you realised his icy grey eyes sparkled with mirth and allure, almost drawing you to him, hair pulled back behind his ears, perfectly arranged, making him look more polished than usual. Sirius wasn’t just wearing a costume tonight, he had in fact, embodied the devil himself, the charm and the sophistication in which he stood, the mischievous quality of his stare, hinting at secrets only known to him. No wonder some witches got burned at the stake for devil worship, if the devil looked half as good as Sirius did tonight, you’d worship him as well. If this was hell, then hell’s a wonderful place to be.

But then you realised, Sirius was looking at Remus, just before he turned to look at you, but his gaze, it didn’t change, the same hungry eyes, for both. It was barely a flicker, and the thought escaped your mind just seconds after. Remus didn’t notice either, he was still staring at you when Sirius turned his head to him. Finally, you reached the bottom of the stairs and walked towards the boy, Remus was just a couple of steps behind him.

“So your costume was a handsome devil, after all.” You told him with a smirk “Should’ve guessed.”

“Too bad you didn’t.” He replied, leaning down for a quick peck on your lips. Remus took a deep breath, a mix of feelings churning in his stomach.

You shrugged “Maybe too bad for you, I’m sure you’d have enjoyed my wish.”

“Would I? Why don’t you tell me about it?”

You pretended to think about it for a second before speaking again “Nope.”

“And you’re a fairy. Should’ve said I was close when I guessed mermaid.”

“That would’ve made it way too easy for you… You like it?” You asked with a little smile.

Sirius’s tail whipped a little from behind “Oh, “like” is an understatement Starshine.”

“Welp, that’s my cue to leave,” Remus said, nodding, but Sirius stopped him.

“What did you do to him? He looks different from when he stepped out of the room.”

“Me?” You asked innocently “Just spiced him up a bit, and got him a necklace.”

“Simple, but it works,” Sirius said. At this point, both you and your boyfriend were attentively looking at Remus, and he felt a little self-conscious, he wondered why on earth he wanted Sirius’ stare on him earlier when it could be so unnerving.

“Maybe we can raise the collar a bit more?” Sirius asked.

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.” You agreed, and the two of you approached Remus, adjusting the neck of his pirate shirt together.

Remus started to panic, having the two of you all over him made him feel things that he wasn’t sure he wanted to savour, he was sure he wouldn’t get enough of it if he did. And so, in his desperation, he snapped “All right, both of you, get off me. NOW!”

Both you and Sirius were startled and pulled back, Remus did not have a problem when you fixed his collar earlier, he also didn’t have a problem when Sirius was adjusting his belt and weapons back at their room, which had the two of you confused.

Remus took a deep breath, your faces almost broke him “It’s just…” he turned to look around “People are starting to stare.”

“I don’t mind.” Sirius said with a shrug “You?” He asked, looking at you, you shook your head.

“Well, I do.” Remus said, still a little snappy “I’m getting some punch.” He added before leaving the two of you.

“It’s not even that time of the month,” Sirius whispered as he saw Remus walk to the other side of the room.

You pretended not to hear, even if you finally understood what it meant. You wondered how many inside jokes you’d missed so far and then you turned back to your boyfriend. And ran a hand through his wings “They’re stunning.”

“And you say I’m the one into costumes.” He responded, what a tease.

Remus had already reached the sweets table and leaned his hands onto the edge of it as he tried to ground himself. Why the fuck did he have to go develop feelings for both his best friend and his best friend’s girlfriend. He should be sent to hell, he didn’t even know who he liked more, not that it mattered of course, he would never dare try to get in between the two, and he was sure as hell if the two of you broke it off yourselves, it’d break his heart too. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Maybe I do deserve to be locked up after all, forget about the monster, I’m worse as myself. He then proceeded to grab the ladle and pour a good deal of punch into his cup, downing it in one go before serving himself again, by the time he was moving away from the table, he already felt a little better, a little lighter in fact. Maybe it hadn’t been just “a tickle” of alcohol in there. All thought he doubted you would lie to him. He filled two more glasses and walked towards the two of you. When he reached up to where you were, you and Sirius were already laughing about something.

“Thanks, Rem,” you said with a smile as he handed you the cup, you took a small sip, before Tom showed up from behind.

“We need to talk.” He said in a serious tone. You frowned as you took another small sip. He tilted his head a little, pleading with his eyes “Come please?”

Sirius was staring daggers at the boy from behind. You didn’t notice, but Remus did, and he placed an arm over Sirius’ shoulders, to distract him from acting like an asshole. You turned to look at the boys and handed your glass to Sirius “Mind holding this for me for a second, Pups?”

Sirius nodded and grabbed the glass in between his hands. Remus’ hand still lazily draped over his shoulder as he took a sip with his other hand. You walked behind Tom for a couple of metres, just far enough away from where you stood –close to Lily and the girls– so no one would be able to hear, “We have an emergency.” You squint your eyes at him, nodding for him to elaborate “It’s the potion.”

“The potion” you said with a nod, as if you knew what he was talking about, and then asked “What potion?”

“(Y/N)! Stop thinking of your handsome as-hell boyfriend ––pun intended–– and focus. THE. POTION.”

You gasped when you realised what he was talking about, whisper-shouting now “That potion? The potion we don’t talk about— potion?”

“Brilliant, you’re back on this earth.” He said, “Yes that potion!”

“What happened with it?”

“Um… well, how do I put this?” he asked nervously, “It’s lost, yeah that’s it, it’s lost.”

“Lost how?”

“How do you lose something (Y/N)? Lost, lost.”

“You lost a very potent euphoric brew, in the middle of a party?”

“Shhhhhh… Will you? Yes, I don’t know where it is. It was in my bag, okay?! But then I threw all the contents of my bag onto the sweets table and when I went to check, it just wasn’t there either–.“

“-Tom.”

“And I don’t know what to do, because if anyone finds out, let alone accidentally drinks it, without being aware of the possible consequences I-“

“-TOM!” You shouted, shaking him as you did “Tom breathe, it’s just a potion, it’s not poison, if it’s lost it’s lost. And if someone drank it then they will have a very high time tonight, but that’s it. Besides, nobody except for us knows who brewed the potion, so even if it somehow got to teachers’ ears, it would be fine.”

He frowned “Why aren’t you worried?!” He asked.

“Just forget it Tom, have fun!” You told him with a soft pad on the shoulder before walking back to where you stood earlier, most students had already arrived at the party, and James was already walking downstairs, so you went straight to greet him “JAAAAMES!”

He smiled at you, and pulled a skull, similar to the ones you had hidden all over the common room earlier and set it right in front of his face “To be, or not to be?” He said dramatically as he stared into the distance, then turned to you with a small grin“How was it?”

“Perfect!” You told him with a bright smile, “We should find Lily, you should get pictures together.”

“You think?”

“For sure! Why put so much effort into your costume if not?” For a short second, you frowned yourself, wasn’t James right? Originally it hadn’t seemed like the best idea to have James dress as Hamlet and match with Lily when she had refused a couple’s costume initially, but now it seemed like a great one. You just felt so happy.

When you arrived at where the girls stood, they all had their own cups of punch in their hands. And you smiled brightly when you saw them, Lily was the first one to speak “OMG! You’re Hamlet!” She said with a gasp as soon as she saw James.

“What a coincidence, right?” You said dumbly.

Lily just blinked a few times but nodded “We should get pictures together!” She said and pulled James along with her onto another side of the room. When he was being pulled he turned to you, you winked, and then nodded in an encouraging manner, whatever had gotten onto Lily, he better use it in his favour, and if she wanted pictures, then he’d have to take as many as she pleased.

More and more people started to arrive then, you saw Neil, Alice and Marina and introduced them to Mary, who you’d been left talking to earlier, and they all seemed to bond really nicely. You’d originally wanted to introduce Neil to James since you thought they’d make great friends, but in the end, decided it would be best not to interrupt him. Especially since he looked really happy while Alex took fun pictures with him and Lily.

“And we were in this class, right? Suddenly people start standing up at their desks, and it’s just insane, Muggle studies is just brilliant sometimes,” you heard Neil talking, and then spotted Sybil on the door, walking alongside Tod. You smiled and went straight to greet them, Sybil was dressed as a muggle fortune teller, while Todd had worn white clothes and used magic to make himself look like a ghost.

“You made it?” you said with a huge smile when you saw them. Todd nodded shily while Sybil pulled you in for a hug.

“I absolutely love your costume,” she told you as she looked at it. Sybil had guessed you were part fairy weeks ago, and she understood more than most what your costume was really about. “You look stunning, Nina should’ve been here to see you.”

“Nina?” you asked with a bit of a frown, you didn’t quite understand what Sybil said but continued talking regardless “She’s not gonna make it, she’s on a date.”

Sybil arched an eyebrow at your answer. Is that what she told you? She wondered but decided to let the subject go. “How’ve you been?” she asked instead.

“Great, actually,” you responded honestly. “I mean, there’s the really annoying Slytherin group that has it against me for some reason, but other than that, I’ve been brilliant.”

“I heard about that,” she said with a bit of a frown.

“Just ignore them, they’ll forget about you eventually,” Todd added, you smiled, he was clearly opening up a little. Hanging out with Sybil would definitely do him good, she was so unapologetically herself, it was downright inspiring.

“And you? Have you come up with any prophecies yet?”

She shook her head “All pretty good vibes so far.”

“Let’s toast to that!” you said but then remembered you didn’t have your drink anymore “My cup?” You went through the things you’d done tonight “Puppy has it!” you said with a smile and then bit your lip “Do you guys mind if I leave you for now? There’s punch and sweets over there, and also some snacks over the coffee table. Peter got them from the kitchen elves, they’re delicious I’m sure. My common room’s your common room, feel at home, please.”

Sybil nodded and pulled Todd along with herself to the sweets table “Go ahead hun, we’ll be alright.”

“Yeah,” Todd agreed. “Go find your puppy or whatever.”

You frowned at his answer, staring at them as they left, and laughed when you realised Todd had no idea you meant Sirius. Then it made you wonder if Sybil knew about it, she seemed to know a lot of things, but you weren’t too sure. You were still thinking about it when you heard a scream from the side of the room, you turned around to find Steve –the skull– cackling as it clung to… was that Minho? You approached them and laughed merrily for a couple of seconds as you saw the boy struggle, deciding to help Minho when he was becoming too desperate. “I’m sorry, Steve can be a little intense sometimes,” you told him.

“Steve?” he asked with a horrified face.

“Yeah Steve,” You told him matter-of-factly, casually pointing at the skull before letting Steve walk back to his closet “Nice to see you here Minho,” you told him, he was wearing a Tutshill Tornadoes’ Quidditch uniform “That’s a brilliant costume!”

“Not nearly as brilliant as yours,” he said, motioning at you, and you remembered you’d literally drank a glow potion and laughed.

“I take Halloween pretty seriously.”

“Yeah, I can tell! You look beautiful.” He said with what looked like an honest smile, no wonder so many girls had fallen for him, Minho was indeed very attractive in his own way.

“I thought Comet would be coming with you.”

“She did.” He said pointing behind him, she was talking to Imogen, and had a shiny star filled dress that seemed to change and ripple as she moved.

“Woah, what a cool dress,” you said, Minho nodded in agreement, it was even cooler that she’d picked a star theme that went along with her name. Kind of like you, wearing a fairy costume.

It was then when you noticed Minho looking around rather suspiciously. You squinted your eyes at him, and he gave you a questioning look “What is it?” he asked.

“Nothing, have you seen Sirius? I was looking for my drink.”

Minho shook his head in response “I was looking for the boys too, I brought them something.”

“Something? What something?”

“Promise you won’t tell anyone?” You nodded fervently and he pulled his backpack to the front, opening it just a little for you to see what was inside.

You gasped “You’re their Firewhiskey dealer!”

He put his hands over your mouth “Shhhh…”

You nodded, and he finally took his hand away “Sorry,” you mumbled.

“Why do you think I’m one of the few Slytherins allowed at your parties?”

“Should’ve guessed,” you said with a smile “Let’s find them together, shall we?

He nodded, and the two of you started walking around the party together. You spotted Tom at some point, he was talking to Todd as the two of them drank some punch together, Tom looked a lot more relaxed now, and it made you smile satisfied. Minho was also looking at the two boys, but his expression was a bit sour instead. You turned to him and noticed, he was staring daggers at Tom as the boy in question moved closer to Todd. You turned to Minho, and then back at Tom, and then back at Minho again and it downed you. No wonder the most sought-after bachelor at Hogwarts had never gotten a girlfriend, he just didn’t like them.

“You should tell him,” you said softly.

“What?”

“You should tell him you like him,” you said then, for some reason you didn’t even consider that maybe Minho would be shocked by the fact that you noticed he liked Tom just like that. Had Sirius perhaps put more alcohol on the punch than you’d seen? But you’d only drank like 3 sips before you left your drink with the boys?

Minho looked at you with panic, he was pale, a lot more than he’d been when Steve was clinging onto him earlier “What did you… how do you know? Did Remus tell you?”

“Remus?” you asked confused “Why would Remus–– shut up,” you said shocked.

Minho realised too late what he’d done “You didn’t hear a thing.”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” you whispered as you tried to gather your thoughts, Remus knew as well, maybe it was because he was very observant, and open-minded, that or… How was it possible one boy had so many different secrets? You thought, and you still didn’t know half of it. “Remus and you…?”

“One time!” he said, to get you to stop thinking about it “Now forget that, how did you know?”

“I knew about Tom,” you said, quietly, still a little distracted. “He did warn me most people hid it really well, but Remus?” You asked as you remembered the way Tom had looked at the boy earlier.

“Please forget about that,” Minho said, now distressed “He will kill me if anyone finds out.”

“I wouldn’t say a thing,” you told him honestly, for Merlin’s sake you already knew a lot more secrets of the boy that you were gonna protect with your life if it were necessary.

“Was I that obvious?”

You shook your head “Not at all, I just… the way you stared at Tom, I recognized that stare, it was like looking in a mirror.”

“You like Tom?!?” He asked, confused.

“Godric heavens NO!!” You said with a frown “It’s… the same way I looked at Sirius before we started dating,” you explained.

“You’re dating Sirius?!” He asked, shocked.

“I really thought that was old news,” you said with a shrug “But I meant it earlier, you should just tell Tom.”

“But what if he doesn’t like me back?” He asked, finally accepting that you knew, and letting himself talk to someone about it. Minho had been hiding that for so long that none of his friends knew about it, let alone his family, who’d probably cut him off.

“Minho,” you almost deadpanned “have you ever looked at a mirror in your life? Besides, you’re really funny and nice, and attentive, Tom would love it.”

“You’re only saying that because we haven’t played Quidditch together, I’m not planning to make it easy for you on the field.”

“You better not!” you told him with a smile “And either way, that’s what Quidditch is about, even if you threw me off my broom, I wouldn’t change my mind about you.”

“Awwww…. that’s so cute,” he told you, “I think I’m gonna do it.”

“Will you? Then go ahead, it’s your turn!” You said as you saw Todd leave to talk to someone else.

“You still gonna look for the boys?” He asked, you nodded. “Do you mind giving this to them?” He said as he took off his bag and handed it over, you grabbed it with both arms, the bag was very heavy, and bottles clinked against each other with the movement.

“I’ll find them!” you told him with a smile before giving him one last encouraging nod.

Then you turned around and started to look for the boys. Sirius and Remus were still talking to each other near one of the faraway couches, James was still with Lily, and Peter was hanging out with a girl, who -because of the resemblance- you assumed was Annie Doxon, Beth’s cousin. You didn’t think twice and walked towards the couches. As you approached the boys, Remus was quick to notice you were having a hard time with the bag and quickly approached you to help.

“What’ve you got there, luv?”

“Little errand from Minho,” you told him with a complicated smile, he grabbed the bag from your hands and when he felt the weight and heard the sound, he instantly knew what it was.

“You’ve got the… Did Minho tell you what you were carrying around?” Remus asked, a little shocked as he closed the bag again and carefully placed it on the table.

“Oh, he showed me,” You told him with a confident smile, “Guess I’m just trustworthy like that.”

Sirius still had your cup in his hands, and he handed it over “Remus drank your punch earlier, but we refilled it, there’s almost nothing left there.”

“Did you pour more alcohol on it?” you asked as you took a sip.

“I would never,” Sirius said with a frown, offended, “I’d never pour anything on your drink without you asking for it.”

You stared at him confused, and let a soft breath out when you realised the confusion “Not my drink silly! I meant the punch. I know you’d never do something like that, I trust you.”

Remus shrugged “Maybe he poured Amorentia on one of your drinks and that’s why you’re so in love with him,” he joked.

You took the cup from your lips and pointed at Remus with it “Touché.”

Remus nodded, and raised his eyebrows with a playful smile before turning to Sirius, “But actually, I had the same question, Pads.”

“It was nothing, you saw how much it was,” Sirius said looking at you, and then frowned “But it does feel kinda strong, doesn’t it?”

“I mean it’s not like it tastes a lot of whiskey or vodka but…” you said.

“But it does leave you a little lightheaded, doesn’t it?” Remus added.

“Exactly!” You said, agreeing with him, and then turned to look at Lily still wiggling about the Common Room with James trailing behind her. She was actually pulling James along by the wrist, “Look at those two,” you told the boys “Lily’s been hyper for a while now, she was also drinking punch.”

“That’s odd, maybe the alcohol you had was heavy?” proposed Remus. Sirius took a small flask for his jacket and opened it, giving it a whiff.

“Smells normal,” he said.

You pulled the flask from his hands and brought it to your mouth, taking a sip, and playing with the liquid in your mouth for a second before swallowing “Tastes normal,” you said, as you winced “Like the one from Marlen’s party.”

“It is the one from Marlene’s party!” Sirius said.

“Maybe someone else added something to the punch,” Remus said with a shrug.

Someone else added something to the punch, you repeated in your head, someone else added something to the punch! you gasped “The potion!”

“What potion, love?”

“The potion we don’t talk about, that potion,” you responded. Sirius and Remus were visibly confused. “I should talk to Tom.”

Remus, who spotted Tom with Minho through the people thanks to his height, grabbed onto your arm softly, to stop you “He’s busy.”

You frowned at him and stood on tiptoes to try and see, and you saw Tom’s curly locks next to Minho’s perfect hair and you remembered. “Very busy, never mind,” you said before turning back to the boys with a smile. Sirius paid them only the shortest glance and assumed they must have been talking about something important, he didn’t know, but it was Tom so he was just happy you wouldn’t leave them to go see him again. “And I mean it’s not like there’s anything we can do at this point, the punch is almost empty anyway, right?” you reasoned.

“Yeah…?” Sirius responded a little confused still.

“Well then,” you said looking at the cup “Live for the moment, right?” You said with a smile before raising your cup for a toast “Bottoms up.”

Just before your cup touched your lips Remus turned to you “What was the potion?”

You smiled mischievously “Euphoric Brew,” you said before tilting the drink towards your mouth and downing it in a few gulps. Sirius smirked and followed suit. Remus stared at the two of you for a second, Sirius’ tail was wagging patiently behind him, making him look even more like a lion as he waited to see what Remus would do.

“You don’t have to drink it if you–“ you started, but Remus had already tipped the drink over his mouth. What was one more cup anyway? He’d already had like three.

“Do you feel anything?” Sirius asked.

“Nope.” You said as you shook your head, and then you laughed. Sirius laughed along with you.

“I’d never tried Euphoric Brew before, how did Tom get his hands on it?” Remus asked.

“He made it,” you told them “We got the ingredients from Slughorn’s stash, he let us use it when Lily asked, that’s how I managed to pull this off,” you said as you bit your lips and dramatically made a ta-da hand movement.

“The costume?” Asked Remus a little confused, his head getting fuzzier.

“The glow, dummie!” Sirius responded.

Then you heard a couple of chords from a song, “Merlin I love this song!” you said with a grin so big it reached all the way to your eyes “We should dance!”

“Dance?” Remus asked.

“Yeah dance!” you repeated, grabbing the two boys by the wrist and taking them to the place where some other guests were already dancing. You noticed Lily and James dancing together a little further away and you smiled and waved at them, before starting to dance yourself. Sirius looked at you diverted before joining, your wings were batting blithely as his tail wrapped around his leg as if not to be stepped on.

You had danced for at least a couple of minutes when you realised Remus wasn’t dancing, but just staring “Rem! Come dance with us!” You said with a pout.

“Yeah Moony! please,” Sirius joined you.

Remus was already going to start dancing –there was no way in hell he’d be able to say no to those puppy eyes you were giving him– when both you and Sirius approached him and placed your hands all over him, prompting him to move. You had one hand on his right shoulder and the other one on his chest, while Sirius had both of his hands on his left upper arm, both of you moving Remus along the rhythm.

You may have not been able to feel the potion, but the potion was definitely doing its job, both you and Sirius were throwing your manners to the wind –not that Sirius minded them that much anyway, especially with how whimsical he could be– completely invading Remus’ personal space. But Remus’s senses were cloudy already, with how much euphoric potion he’d gotten in his system, along with the few drinks of Sirius’ flask they’d shared earlier, that he wasn’t thinking properly, either that, or he just didn’t care to think.

He started dancing along the two of you, all bodies pressing and brushing into each other like you shared the same personal bubble between the three, and the three of you were having the time of your life. At some point, someone from behind pushed you accidentally and you ended up falling towards Remus, Sirius held you by the waist while Remus placed his hand on your shoulder, they both steadied you as you laughed and a minute later, you just kept dancing, a lot closer now that the dance floor was getting a little more crowded. Remus did not remove his hand, only let it travel a little closer to your neck, it sent shivers down your spine, his touch felt soft and intimate, but when you turned to him, he was busy laughing about something the other boy had whispered in his ear.

Sirius was definitely aware Remus had his hand all over you, but he didn’t even mind it. He was too happy, there was so much joy pilled in between the three of you that things felt electric. It was like everyone else didn’t exist, and it was just the three of you, paying no mind to your surroundings, while looking at each other. You wondered for a second if that was what humans felt when they went to fairy parties, if that's what it was to twirl and whirl until your shoes were danced to pieces and your feet bled. Because if dancing with Sirius and Remus could go on forever, you might just dance to dеath. You wouldn’t have the strength to stop.

Remus placed his other hand on Sirius’s shulder and pulled the two of you closer to him as he leaned his head “I’m so happy I get to be alive at the same time as you, wankers!” he screamed, both you and Sirius laughed merrily, Remus was so close to you, that you didn’t even think about it and gave him a soft peck on the cheek. Remus’s neck started to turn red from the bIood rushing to his cheeks, but Sirius was too busy looking at you, and the way you’d kissed his friend. But it wasn’t jealousy why he was so attentive, no, Sirius had an idea, and he smirked when it fully developed in his head. He leaned down, copying your actions earlier but instead of a soft kiss, he straight up licked Remus’ cheek.

“Ugh, that’s gross Pads!” Remus complained as he wiped his cheek with his sleeves.

“Shut up Moony, I know you love it,” Sirius joked. Remus felt a pang in his heart when his friend spoke because really, he did.

You laughed and hugged both boys, bringing them closer together, “I’m also really happy I got to live at the same time as you,” You said as you burrowed your head in between the two boys. Remus’ heart raced and he breathed in, trying to memorise the way both you and Sirius smelled, from your hair to the saltiness of your slightly sweaty bodies, both so close to him that a chill ran down his spine. He wanted to carve on his brain the way your soft skin brushed against his hand and the way Sirius’s muscles felt against his chest. It was chilling, it was exciting, It was pure bliss. Remus Lupin was in heaven, and he did not want to fall away from it.

But then it happened, a sheer moment of what he considered clarity crossed his mind, and he realised what exactly he was doing. This is wrong, he thought. He was, quite literally, getting in between the two of you, and it repulsed him. You’re being selfish, his mind said again. And poor Remus didn’t only feel selfish, but also greedy, loving two people at the same time? That was off. But loving two people that were already dating each other, that was straight-up heinous.

And the worst part was, that he’d gotten a taste of what it would be like to be with you both and he was sure the joy he had felt wasn’t just there because of the potion, it was there because he yearned for it. Remus was drowning in his feelings, a suffocating mix of desire, guilt, and longing that was quite literally dragging him down from heaven and he hated himself for it. For feeling things when you hugged him or when Sirius placed his arms around him, it was a constant reminder of what he wanted but couldn't fully have.

The tight knot in Remus's chest only tightened further when you pulled your head back up with a smile, looking at the two boys, so innocently, so oblivious of his loathsome thoughts. He felt like an invisible vice was gripping his heart, his head was torturing him, torturing because he couldn’t let himself feel bliss, not in between your arms, not in the heat of your bodies, not in a corner of your heart. He felt like a marionette caught between two puppeteers, each pulling him in opposite directions; the strings of desire and duty were tangling around him, threatening to tear him apart. This has to stop. It HAS to stop! His mind shouted at him, and he pushed the two of you off of him, a little too forcefully, and you stared at him a little shocked.

Did I somehow upset him? Your hurt expression, and the little frown of confusion that stared back at him almost smashed his heart. But he cleared his throat, “I’m just feeling a little dizzy, I’ll go sit down for a minute.”

Your frown deepened, still a little confused “We can hold you,” you offered.

Remus felt the temptation pulling onto him, your words so soft, but he shook his head, a forced smile paying on his lips “It’s fine, you guys have fun.”

You saw him walk towards one of the couches, not too far from where you were dancing, and sit down, you started to walk to get him, but Sirius placed a hand over your arm softly, stopping you. Remus had done the same thing to him before, he knew how to deal with it better “Let him cool off,” he said softly, gently pulling your chin so you’d focus on his grey eyes rather than on Remus “He does that sometimes, he’ll come back eventually,” Sirius explained softly, letting your eyes focus on his, he smiled mischievously “Dance with me?”

You smiled, a little giggle coming out, how easy was it to lose yourself on Sirius. You leaned into him and continued dancing. After a couple of minutes, you realised his tail was wagging in between the two of you, still away from the rest of the dancers but now swaying along with the music. Curiosity got the best of you and you reached to grab it, Sirius flinched at your touch, and the tail pulled away from your hands.

You turned to him with a surprised expression “You felt that?”

He gulped but nodded, “When I found the spell I didn’t expect it to be so… so sensitive.”

You raised an eyebrow at that “May I?” you asked, your eyes still fixated on looking at it. His tail lifted itself a bit higher again, closer to your hand, you slowly leaned your hand, and gently grazed your fingers over it. It was soft and sleek, very different from his skin, except it was just as warm as him. Sirius’ breath got caught in his throat as you continued to move your hand through it.

“All right Satarshine, that’s enough,” he said, voice rough and a little strained.

You turned to him, his pupils were blown out as he stared at you, and you gasped “Sirius Orion Black!” you reprimanded, he winced at his second name “What on earth were you thinking of?” you asked with a diverted smile, you almost wanted to laugh.

“I wasn’t!” he posited, “I told you it was sensitive. You still wanted to touch it.”

Your eyes opened wide in surprise. “You didn’t say… sensitive like that?”

“Thought it was obvious,” he retorted.

You just giggled “Poor Puppy, I was straight up torturing you and you just allowed it.”

Sirius nodded along with you, playing the victim “Why don’t you make up for it?” he asked, a smirk playing on his lips.

You raised your eyebrows, placing one of your hands on his shoulder, a little diverted at his ploy “How ever would I do that?”

He placed his hand on your waist and brought you closer to him, with a smile “How about you take a guess?”

The two of you were smiling like idiots at each other, dancing like there was no tomorrow, and Remus was sitting on one of the sofas, looking at the two of you every now and then, really trying not to look as miserable as he felt. Of course, you’d just completely forget about him the moment he left your sight, you were deeply in love with each other after all; meanwhile, he couldn’t get the smell of your hug out of his head, it was invading his mind, colonising his senses and he felt jealous, and he cursed himself for it.

He yearned for a distraction, and the universe delivered. Alice Becket, a tall Hufflepuff girl he’d seen in a couple of classes approached him with a smile and sat next to him on the couch. Very close to him. “Hey Remus,” she purred as she placed a hand on his leg, “why so lonely?”

He looked at her, Remus would surely run away from a situation like this on a normal day, not today though, he wanted to stop thinking about you and Sirius, he wanted to forget. Alice is pretty, he thought, not as pretty as you or Sirius, but she’s got a nice smile. Remus tilted his head a little, and shrugged “Maybe I was waiting for a pretty girl like you to approach me.”

Alice raised one of her eyebrows and looked at the boy with a smirk, thrilled her advances were being reciprocated. “What do you say we find a more quiet area?”

Remus looked at her, and then back at you and Sirius, you were both standing so close together, his stomach churned again, but he slowly turned his head back to Alice, she was wearing a short blue dress. Dressed as Alice from Alice in Wonderland, Remus concluded when she saw the blackhead band and the small apron, He’d seen the movie with his mom a couple of years ago; the dress was a lot shorter than the one in the movie though, barely reaching mid thigh. “How about we stay here instead? It’s comfortable.”

Alice arched her eyebrows, diverted, “Is it? I’d have to see.” She said before she lifted herself up and accommodated on Remus’ lap. She moved around just a bit and then nodded “Hm… I see, definitely comfortable.”

Remus smirked, impressed at her teasing “Told you so.”

Alice leaned in closer to the boy “Will you just stare?”

Remus let a soft laugh out before leaning in to kiss the girl. Her lips were soft, but not as soft as yours. Her kiss was kind, but not as kind as yours. The way she held him, wasn’t gentle nor caring, it was hungry, and it made him feel more like a toy for her than a boy, but it didn’t matter. Because a broken heart is blind, and the more he focused on the kiss, the easier it was to forget you and Sirius dancing together a couple of metres away. It wasn’t until Alice turned herself completely, one leg on each side of his waist, that he managed to lose himself. Alice was pretty much grinding onto him as they kissed, and it felt good, finally something felt good.

Sirius was the first to notice Remus on the couch, he had been lost on you until he saw Alice approach Remus. He had continued dancing with you but kept a close eye on the two of them as they talked. Something twisted in his stomach when Alice sat on Remus’ lap, and he frowned, Remus with a girl? he’d never seen something like that. Sirius still thought Remus didn’t have much experience in the realm of romance, and yet, he had a girl on his lap, and he was flirting. Sirius turned the thoughts to the back of his head and turned to you again, you were still glowing, he smiled, he really was the luckiest man on earth. But then his mind got distracted again, she’s kissing him! She’s kissing him, and he’s kissing her back!

A sudden urge to kiss you came over him, he smiled at you flirtatiously “Dancing’s good to make it up, yeah, but how about a kiss?”

“Just one?” you teased.

“Satshine, you can kiss me until my lungs run out of air and I faint. And even then you could continue kissing me.”

You blinked a couple of times at his words, sometimes Sirius could be so romantic it took your breath away. Eventually, you smiled and finally leaned in to kiss Sirius. His kiss was hungry, hungrier than normal. It must be the euphoric brew, you thought as you kissed back. Sirius’ hands had travelled to the small of your back, just below your wings, and his warmth made you shiver. Sirius kissed you like he was starving, opening his eyes just to check on Remus, he was still kissing the girl, and Sirius turned back to you, deepening the kiss.

Alice’s lips started to trace kisses down Remus’ jaw when he finally spotted Sirius, he was kissing you feverishly. Remus’ mouth was slightly agape and his sight a little unfocused as the girl continued to kiss his neck, but not so much that he didn’t notice Sirius’s gaze focused straight on him, there was something in his gaze he hadn’t seen before, and it pissed him off. How was it possible that he was kissing you, and focusing on anything other than your sweet lips? Remus stared at Sirius one last moment, before turning his head again, grabbing Alice’s face and bringing her back to his lip. He wasn’t there to think about Sirius.

As you kissed Sirius, you felt something wrap around the middle of your thigh. His tail, you realised, like a snake, it was clinging to you like its life depended on it, you smiled and continued to kiss him, for some reason you liked it when Sirius got clingy. But then you felt it tightening even further, enough for it to be uncomfortable rather than hot, so you broke the kiss off “Sirius what are you…?” You started and turned to him, but he wasn’t looking at you, he was looking at something else, you followed his gaze and it landed on Remus and Alice Becket?

Until literally that second, you’d assumed Remus was gay, because of the conversation you’d had with Minho earlier, but perhaps, he was more like Tom? “He really did get bitches after all,” you said surprised, the smallest bit of anguish slipping into your heart. It didn’t make any sense, but it was there regardless.

“Yeah…” Sirius said, letting a breath out “I’d never seen him like that before,” he admitted.

“Maybe it’s the euphoric brew?” You said with a shrug “has him doing things he’d usually do in the dark.”

“You think he’d do it in the dark?” He asked you with a frown.

“You don’t?” You asked matter-of-factly “Remus is pretty damn handsome! Especially with the sexy pirate costume.”

“I know.”

You tried to step out, to rest for a moment since you were a little tired already, but you couldn’t “Sirius your tail…”

“Sorry?”

“It’s um… kind of trapping me,” you said awkwardly.

“Oh, sorry.” He whispered and finally released your leg, blushing when he realised how high the tail end had gotten.

“‘Tis fine,” you said even as the marks of it had itched onto your skin.

“Let’s go sit somewhere,” he suggested, looking at the marks he’d left on your skin. A part of him felt bad for hurting you, but the other really wanted Tom to see them. You nodded and let Sirius guide you to the couches. You thought he’d take you near Remus, but he instead took you to the other side of the common room and sat with his back facing him. Sirius did not want to continue being a witness to Remus’ little show.

“He did not give me a 3-day notice,” he complained with a little pout as he sat down.

You raised an eyebrow, not quite believing Sirius would fuzz over that, but then again, you all were pretty drunk and under the influence of the potion. You saw some people enjoying a game of potion pong in the corner before you saw Remus and Alice were still glued to each other’s lips. You didn’t remember Remus being so fierce when he kissed you. Maybe it really had been a soft kiss because of the game, after all.

“I highly doubt he planned it.” You reassured Sirius as you sat down beside him “In fact, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t close to Alice before now.”

Finally, Sirius let go of the subject, almost forgetting about it as he looked at your leg, specifically at the marks he’d left. It was a little red, he frowned as he etched his hand closer, “‘m sorry.” He whispered, even if he still kinda liked that the marks would be there for a while.

“Oh, that?” You said looking at your leg as Sirius graced his fingers over the marks, it made a shiver run down your spine, and it wasn’t because it hurt, Sirius had never touched your bare thigh. “It’s nothing. I’ve had worse.”

“If I had known how whimsical the tail would be I would have chosen a different costume.”

You shook your head “I kind of like it, actually…”

Sirius raised his eyebrows “Oh, you do?”

Bad idea, bad idea, Sirius will never cease to tease me about this, “Looks hot on you, not everyone would be able to pull it off,” you said besides your own warnings.

An amused smile was playing on Sirius’ lips, “Ah… so you do think I’m hot. It’s not only sexy pirate Remus this, sexy pirate Remus that…”

You laughed at that and turned to him. You didn’t think it would be possible for Sirius Black to doubt his attractiveness, and there you were. A little idea came to your head, maybe you’d have to reassure Sirius yourself. So you crossed one leg over his lap and sat on top of him, just like Alice had done with Remus, if it works for them.

“Luv, what are you...?”

You leaned into him, hands over his shoulders, as your lips brushed against his ear “Do you really need me to tell you how bIoody hot you look tonight?” Sirius’ mind went completely blank the second he heard your voice purr out of your mouth. You pulled back with a smile, “Cat got your tongue?” you teased. He looked at you, chest falling and rising slowly, “I can tell you how much I liked the wings you chose, or the stupid little halo that still glows over your head, or I can tell you about how interesting your naughty little tail felt wrapped around my leg,” Sirius’ hand, that somehow had reached your thigh, squeezed it a little “Or aside from the costume, I could tell you how nice your hair looks,” you said as you brushed a strand behind his ear, “or how in love I am with your eyes.”

“Yes,” he choked out.

“Yes? Yes, what Puppy?”

“Tell me more.”

You smiled, “How about I tell you how I literally had to press my thighs together when you gave me that ravenous sight of yours as I was walking down the stairs…”

Sirius leaned in to kiss your neck when you felt someone plop in the couch beside the two of you. You both pulled away from each other, but the two were looking at none other than James Potter, smiling like an idiot beside you.

You sighed when you saw him, there was something about James, that even in that situation, you couldn’t be mad at him for interrupting. He just looked really, really freaking happy, it was contagious. And James hadn’t even taken a drop of punch that night. Sirius, on the other hand, was glaring at his friend, and he might have told him to piss off if it wasn’t because James spoke first.

“Guys you won’t believe this!”

“Really?!? James?!?” Sirius complained, nodding to the fact that you were quite literally straddling him still.

James’ head was too high up in the clouds for him to acknowledge Sirius’ sarcasm “Lily said she’d go on a date with me!”

You looked at the boy with a smile, crossing one of your legs over Sirius, so you wouldn’t be straddling him anymore, even if you were still sitting on his lap “Really?” You asked, now fully invested in the new subject. Sirius was still a little pissed, looking straight at the place in your neck he’d wanted to kiss earlier rather than at his friend.

“Yes, and I’m gonna make it the best date of her life!”

“How?” You asked with a frown.

“With your help of course!”

click to see the boys in their costumes

Series Masterlist | The Interlude | Next Chapter

TAGLIST: @rayrlupin @callmelovergirl @warcelia @ireneop @endversewinchester @moonyunebi @smuttysluttybitch @mazzymoons @drugs-for-memes @sofiacblair @vmpir3lvr @remuslupinisbae @rabluver @willgrahamisalesbi4n @thatobsessedreader @orkwardx0 @itskailey24 @hell0-kittie @belovedmoony @blacksgarden @loving-and-dreaming @cassie-love20 @starchaser-lily @zucchini-queenie @springflwer07 @sseleniaa @cometsghost @orkwardx0 @imdoingbetternow @sbrewer21 @remuslupinsbae @maxinehufflepuffprincess @wifiatthetrainstation @unstablereader @mablacklupin @oliversaurus @jaylienpotter @remussbitch @hermionelove

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A/N: BOOO! HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Can you tell I love halloween? Because I love Halloween! And we barely celebrate it where I live. Woaaaaah, I really did write this, what a freaking rollercoaster this chapter was, right? Still one of my favs but uff... so much excitement and then... Baby Remus I'm sorry, my editing literally had me squealing both in excitement and dread. Remus needs to get off his own head. But I did warn him at the beginning, didn’t I? ps. pls don't hate me you know I love you. I’m almost scared to ask this one but… thoughts?

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shepherds-of-haven · 5 months

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Happy New Year, everyone! I thought it would be fun to do a little retrospective on the game's progress over the last year... Shepherds of Haven has grown so much from the little demo I posted in January 2018, and it continues to steadily build and flourish in so many different and exciting ways! Here's a look at just some of the things we accomplished in 2023!

I added 143,151 words to the game (2.5 main chapters, 8 new character interludes) in 2023: the equivalent of writing the longest Lord of the Rings book in one year! We also broke our huge 1 million word milestone—without including code—meaning Shepherds of Haven is now officially twice as long as War and Peace, and almost as long as the entire 7-book Harry Potter series... and all in a single game!

A lot goes into game creation behind the scenes, including the coordination and creation of visual assets for the game—like character cards, codex entries, maps, portraits, and backgrounds—fun stuff for the fans (like the MC info template we created), and songs for the official soundtrack. As the game creeps slowly and determinedly towards its initial completion, that also means learning new things as a solo developer to prepare for the future, like learning to build an official website, researching business and tax practices, and beginning to think about how to conduct testing, publishing, and marketing down the road. Much of what I enumerate here hasn't been made public yet and will continue to cook in the background for a while, but I'm very proud of the work I've gotten done this year and will be excited to unveil more in the future!

And of course, for even more Shepherds of Haven content, I've added and completed even more stories for our little library on Patreon (which also has sizable word count at this point): The Bridge of Bones (a Trouble and Riel murder mystery), O Happy Dagger (a dark adventure featuring Briony, Chase, and Red), and The Hunt (a wild tale involving Tallys, Halek, Shery, and new kinds of spirits, fey magic, and Elves) were all serial stories completed in 2023, while Some Kind of Virus is a cyberpunk zombie apocalypse AU that will continue to be updated with new chapters monthly.

A full list of the Shepherd short stories and serial novellas (with links) can be viewed here!

I hope you enjoyed this session of Shepherds of Haven Wrapped! Honestly, this doesn't actually cover everything I've been working on, but some things can't be packaged and listed out neatly, or otherwise won't seem very interesting to anyone else but me! 😂 As we inch through Chapter 9 and get more interludes done (only a few more main chapters to go), I'm hopeful that I'll also be able to find time to work on my next novel, but we'll see if the Shepherds schedule ends up ramping up or settling down as we work steadily towards finishing the main story!

One important thing before wrapping up is to acknowledge your guys' role in this wonderful, wild journey. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you for your invaluable contributions to the development of Shepherds of Haven. Whether you took the time to share links to the game, supported its growth on Discord or Patreon, left encouraging messages or asked interesting questions, reported bugs, or showcased your remarkable works of fanfiction or fanart, I am sincerely thankful for the unwavering support from this amazing community! Your collective efforts have played a pivotal role in shaping the world of the game into what it is today. Words cannot adequately convey my gratitude for your support, and I am truly blessed to have such a passionate community surrounding this project.

As we step into 2024, I am filled with anticipation for the developments awaiting Shepherds of Haven. Big things are on the horizon, and I am so excited to share these experiences with you! Thank you for being an integral part of this journey, and here's to the continued growth of our shared little world. Cheers to 2024—may it be a year filled with creativity, adventure, and joy! 🎊

#Shepherds of Haven #milestone #update #short story #short stories #Patreon #alpha build #alpha preview #year in review #wrapped #recap #2023 #master post #master list #happy new year #long #long post

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altf4d3lete · 3 months

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Wednesday series takes itsef far more seriously than the movies. Murder is a serious thing in the story. Here we won't find a poor girl cooked inside a cake and get a "C'est la vie!" joke. While W herself is proud of having of mutilated Dalton, seeing it as a rightful retribution, it's clear that she despises senseless murder, or killing for pleasure. EG when Enid tells her she's sorry for Xavier, W answers, without regrets, that he was a liar and a murderer, implying he deserved to be jailed.

BUT she accepts murder as a mean to protect others or themselves. When Enid and W see eachother again after the battle, for what W knows, if E is alive that means she killed Tyler. W saw what a Hyde is capable to do, and doesn't know that the Sheriff shot his own son, so the only conclusion she can reach is that if Enid survived then Tyler is dead, or so mauled that he's dying. So, Enid killed somebody, yet Wednesday reciprocates the hug. The emotional climax of the show was never about Tyler, it was for Wednesday to open completely to the girl who constantly offered her friendship without losing hope. And Tyler's final battle wasn't in the story for him, but to make Enid shine. The writers willingly wrote that.

If they really wanted to depict Tyler as a victim, I'm sure they would have been perfectly capable to write him as a victim, not as a willing participant.

EXACTLY ‼️‼️‼️ THIS RIGHT HERE.

First paragraph: this! Wednesday is shown to be morally strong in this show, in her own weird sense. She doesn’t like people who murder innocents, she doesn’t think people should be in pain if they don’t deserve it. She actively goes out of her way to be nice (as she can be) to Enid and Eugene. She only messes with people once they mess with her. If she was the way that Weylers see her as, she wouldn’t have bothered with the piranhas. She just straight up would have finished the job and killed dalton and probably killed Eugene’s bullies as well. She doesn’t like murder unless it’s justified in her eyes. And there doesn’t seem to be a lot that justifies it. Even when she found out Tyler was the Hyde, she wasn’t going to kill him. And that says a lot about her character I think. It’s also weird that people think that she’d forgive him because he was forced to do those things while she was under the impression that Xavier was the Hyde (and forced to do things) and didn’t care. Straight up threw him in jail 0 qualms about it.

Second paragraph: I already talked a little about the first half so I’ll focus on the second! this entire thing is so true. Her arc was with ENID, not Tyler, and I think that says a lot about the direction the writers want to take the show. It was never about her opening up romantically, it was never about her being shipped with Tyler or finding love. It was about her and ENID, and it always will be about the two of them, whether they end up romantic or not. It was purposefully set up that way, and the writers have already said that they’re the center of the show. Whether Wednesday ends up with Enid, someone else, or alone, no one will ever be as important to her as Enid is and that is just *chefs kiss*.

Paragraph 3: if they wanted to depict Tyler as a victim, they would have made it WAY more clear that the Hyde is a split personality or that they really have no control over their actions. Iirc, there was even talk of a Hyde who offed their master, so it’s not looking good for Tyler. It’s looking more like he has SOME sense of Will if he really tried to fight it, but he gave into the murdering and enjoyed it rather than showcased himself as an actual good guy. He didn’t look all that sad to be killing Wednesday in episode 8. By that point he would have remembered the things he did/had control over himself and he tried to kill his dad, too. Crazy that people still think he’s good. He’s a tragic villain, but he’s still that: a villain

#wenclair #wednesday #wednesday addams #enid sinclair #netflix #tyler galpin #wlw #lgbtq #wednesday x enid #enid x wednesday

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gimmethatagustd · 3 months

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✨ important blog update ✨

Dear esteemed colleagues,

Please read the entirety of this post. 😭 Or at least the TLDR at the end.

You may have noticed that there has been a shift in the type of fics I've been writing (mxm). You also may have noticed that I've been fairly open lately about how I've struggled with writing reader-inserts for a long time for various reasons, and I want to be upfront with y'all about how I'm doing. Thus, I have an important update about the future of this blog:

I'm opening requests indefinitely because I will only write reader-insert fics if they're submitted as requests, if they're part of my 100 Drabble Challenge, or if I randomly find inspiration.

For now, I don't want to completely stop writing reader-inserts because I really enjoy sharing my stories with those of you who prefer them. Unfortunately, every cool idea I come up with only inspires me to write mxm fics. That's why I'm reopening my requests. I want to continue exploring reader-insert fics based on what you're interested in (assuming I'm comfortable with the request).

Of course this means I’ll write the fics y'all requested for my "part 2 when?" anniversary game, so don't worry! I'm actually very excited about those. However, I won't be finishing any incomplete reader-insert series.

This blog and my moots/followers have brought me so much joy over the past 2 years. It's my safe space and, hopefully, a safe space for y'all. Some of you will probably be disappointed by my decision, but please don't see it as the end of anything. I'll still write reader-inserts; they'll just be more infrequent. If you want to be notified whenever I write a reader-insert, you can join my taglist(s) and/or subscribe to my reader-insert AO3 account (daddytaehyungie).

That's all I have to share for now. If anything changes, I'll let y'all know, of course. I just want to be honest about my struggles and the solution I hope will help me enjoy writing again.

💜 your bestie, jai

TLDR: Jai is opening up their requests forever because they can't find inspiration to write reader-insert fics anymore, but they still want to write them for you if you have any ideas for fics you'd like to read.

#fic update #jai talks #i'll reblog this a few times

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bratbby333 · 4 days

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. . . ⇢ ˗ˏˋ [ blog update ! ] ࿐ྂ

+ some housekeeping and info on new writing

hello my loves !! i wanted to give y'all some insight on what's been going on in my mind palace lately. there's a lot...so...cmon, take a walk w me...and maybe bring some snacks.

ੈ♡˳ first and foremost ! my work has received a lot more attention recently and i am so excited. with actual tears in my eyes, im happy to report that i surpassed 1,000 followers the other day. i am at a loss for words...just...stuck in a perma-state of disbelief.

im sending out the biggest thank you to everyone who has supported me, who's interacted with my work, to the lovely friends ive made though this account and to the heartbreakingly beautiful anime that brought me here in the first place. i am genuinely in awe...overwhelmed, even...i didn't expect any of this to happen when i started this blog and i am forever indebted to all of you for getting me here. im actively fighting off the inevitable surge of imposter syndrome as i type this out...i just love y'all so fucking much. this community means the world to me and i wanna scream at the top of my lungs in order to demonstrate my deepest appreciation for each and every one of y'all.

ੈ♡˳ secondly ! a message for my little angel babies, my day one followers; thank you for taking a chance on me. for watching me grow. for sticking around as i worked to get better at writing. im sure a lot of you started following me for my gamer!bf sukuna series...trust me, i love him and i know y'all do too. but i feel like my writing is heading in a different direction...and with a heavy heart, i'm absolutely gutted when i say that i am taking a pause on that series. i am forever grateful for the support and may return to him soon, though i cannot promise that. i owe so much of what my account is now to that series and i will never forget that.

for everyone who joined me as i delved into dark/dead dove content, thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me a safe space to explore different forms of story-telling. my choso fic was the first stepping stone and then i skipped every other stone on the path and jumped head first into the deep end with my dead dove gojo fic...i deeply appreciate all the positive feedback i received on both of those. after posting them, i realized that i am very into writing dark content. i know that taboo themes/dark content/dead dove subject matter isn't for everyone and i understand people's apprehension in regards to it. but with that being said, i will be moving forward with publishing darker content.

ੈ♡˳ so here's the writing update !

i did a poll asking y'all what kind of content you enjoy. a good chunk of people said long form fics (which is great, cause i do too !! mommy needs plot). so, i am migrating away from one shot writing. both because i've been thinking about it for awhile and because y'all are into longer stories, as well. but fear not, i will still write shorter stuff along with headcannons, drabbles, etc...it just won't be the main focus of my blog anymore.

ੈ♡˳ now, time for the big reveal ! perhaps it's a bit anticlimactic, but bear with me...

im so excited to announce that i have two new series coming ! it will be a dark, modern!au featuring choso (with a few other special guests) and a dead dove sukuna series.

i'm almost finished with the outlines, and have fully completed the theme layout + mood boards for both works. i hope to get the first few chapters wrapped up in the next couple weeks. if you want to be tagged in either of these (or both), just leave a comment or send me a message !

(also !! i may or may not be cooking up a dark medieval au series in collaboration with another writer on here...so be on the lookout for that hehe)

while i take breaks from writing my two series, i'll be working through my requests ! so if you've sent one in, i promise i will get to it, unless i literally cannot think of a good way to write it (im only human, im so sorry). also, im sure we already knew this, but im a slowww writer. i wish i could churn content out quick as fuck but i am too hypercritical of myself…it's both a blessing and a curse, honestly.

if you made it all the way to the end of this nightmare of a brain dump, i love you. if you've been with me for a while, i love you. if you're just now joining me, i love you. everyone who’s supported me in any way, shape, or form, i love you.

i present you with the sloppiest kiss with tongue (only if you want it, of course. i can also give you the tightest hug, the gentlest head pat, or my social security number...access to all my bank accounts? a mansion in the hills? my passport? hand in marriage? my first born child? literally whatever you want, babe).

okay !! i think that's all for the updates. feeling: very ambitious and motivated but also overwhelmed and mildly stressed but overall super excited for what's to come. im looking forward to this new adventure and i hope y'all come along with me ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

thank you again…for literally everything. yall hold a special place in my heart and always will. so, here we go !

see you on the other side, my loves.

— jade 𓆩ᥫ᭡𓆪

#—bby’s babbles🪴#jjk fanfic #jjk smut #jujutsu kaisen writing #jjk x reader #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #bratbby333

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atamascolily · 6 months

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One critique I have seen of the whole "Homura (or her double) is/becomes Walpurgisnacht" theory for WnK is that it's "too obvious and therefore won't happen". This is so funny to me because a certain degree of predictability is actually a sign of good writing--the best plot twists do not come randomly out of nowhere, they are heavily foreshadowed earlier in the work, even if this is only obvious in hindsight. Or, to quote one of my favorite pieces of writing advice ever from Kurt Vonnegut,

Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

In other words, as the story progresses, the number of possible routes dwindles, until only one path remains. The best endings not only make sense, they are inevitable.

From this perspective, the original Madoka Magica TV series is one of the most predictable shows I have ever watched, dropping exposition with remarkable precision and clarity at steady intervals. It's like watching a chess master at work, moving the characters from square to square until suddenly--CHECKMATE!

On my first viewing, I blinked when Mami demonstrates how a grief seed purifies a soul gem in Episode 2. "Wow, that looks just like a soul gem," I said to myself. "And it powers their magic, too? That can't possibly be a coincidence. Magical girls and witches are connected in a symbiotic relationship, but it's clearly meant to be a secret, so let's see where this goes." Later on, of course, the show makes a big deal of how Sayaka is refusing to purify her grief seed and the ominous but unnamed consequences that would come of it, and it was abundantly clear to me at that point that magical girls transformed into witches when they ran out of magic, several episodes before the actual reveal.

Likewise, when Madoka didn't immediately become a magical girl after hearing Kyubey's offer in episode 2, I took this to mean the show was actually about her journey to become a magical girl (and not being a magical girl, an important distinction), and she would only make her wish in the final episode after she was fully aware of the consequences. Sayaka's narrative role was to leap headlong into her wish, and show us exactly what the downsides were--through her failures, Madoka's hesitation would not only be justified, but that knowledge would inspire her to reform the clearly corrupt magical girl system entirely (an impression supported by Kyubey's speech by the fountain where he tells Madoka she has the power to become a god).

You might think that seeing these big plot twists coming would ruin my enjoyment, but quite the contrary--it was so refreshing to feel like I was on the same page as the author and that my careful attention to detail was rewarded. Paradoxically, it made me love the show even more precisely because I could see the twists before they happened--as if I was watching the show for the second or third time already. The best plot twists deepen the experience, allowing us to fully appreciate and savor them on subsequent viewings. It's why tragedies tell us in the beginning that the hero will die; the drama and suspense are not so much in what happens, but how and why.

I mention all of this not to try to impress people with how smart I am (when it comes to predictions about the future, past performance does not guarantee future success), merely to explain why I trust my instincts when it comes to this show, because they've served me so well before. Unless Gen Urobuchi and SHAFT have completely changed their approach with Walpurgis no Kaiten, I expect every single twist to be carefully foreshadowed in advance, just like previous installments--and therefore, inherently predictable, at least in theory. Whether we currently have all of the information and/or interpret it correctly are entirely different questions, of course.

Despite its reputation for obfuscation, I have found the original PMMM anime to be remarkably straightforward in its storytelling approach, and I hope that Walpurgis no Kaiten will be no different in this regard. Thus, I see no need to second-guess myself or to assume that the simplest approach is automatically off the table in favor of something more complicated.

That said, if you don't personally care for the idea that Homura and/or her double is Walpurgisnacht, or you are skeptical it will happen, that's fine. But "it's too predictable, therefore it can't happen" is not an argument I can take seriously given my own experiences.

#puella magi madoka magica #pmmm analysis #walpurgisnacht rising #walpurgis no kaiten #madoka magica

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harley-michaels-main · 8 months

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It's been awhile since I did a tier list but I've been into shojo anime and manga recently so I'm gonna rank my top five.

#5: Ouran High School Host Club

Haruhi Fujioka is recruited to join the host club after she breaks a vase!

Ouran is probably one of the best known shojo animes there is. It's funny, light hearted, adorable, and probably is one of the first reverse harem anime to gain a large fan base. And for being made in the early 2000's, the animation still holds up today.

However, the characters do not. There are a lot of things about this show that just did not age well. While I recommend this series I also recommend taking it with a grain of salt. This was made when certain things were socially acceptable that simply are not today.

That is the only reason I would have it at number 5. Other wise, the cast is great. The plot is hilarious. The pacing is well done. Overall, it's a hilarious and feel good show for when you simply don't want to think about what you're watching.

#4 Kamisama Hajimenmashita

After being kicked out of her apartment due to her father's gambling habits, Nanami Momozono must find her place in this world. But becoming an Earth God? How the hell is she supposed to do that?!

This is the first shojo I watched knowing that it was a shojo. I immediately fell in love with the characters and their dynamics. There's complicated back stories as well for those to like to drive a bit more into characters.

Sadly, the anime was rushed to a finish and a lot of the manga was never adapted. While the anime is still great, the ending just feels wrong without having the full story. The manga is completed and I highly recommend reading it. Yet because of the cancelation, I have to put it at number 4.

#3: Yona Of The Dawn

On her 16th birthday, the sole princess of Kouka, Yona, goes to ask her father to reconsider her marriage proposal to the love of her life. Her love had other plans with her father that night.

This is arguably one of the best shojos out there. With an amazing ploy and some of the best characters ever written, your heart is sure to be captured by this.

There is only one season of this however and it sadly looks like there won't be more any time soon.

The reason for this getting third place isn't because of the anime but actually because I just like the other two more. I love the fantasy setting, but I tend to like it more in shounen than shojo.

#2: My Love Story With Yamada-Kun at level 999

After being cheated on and dumped by her boyfriend over a girl he met in a game, Akane Kinoshita sets out to get revenge! By going to an irl game event and make him realize what he's missing out on! If only her luck with shoes was better.

This is a very new shojo with the first season just wrapping up a couple weeks ago. However, the manga has been going strong since 2019 and I have loved every minute of it. Thus has some of the best characters I have ever seen and it just continues to get better. It's also the type of shojo where we get to see the couple progress their relationship as a couple which is amazing.

I will say there are some... spicier bits in the manga so beware of that if it's not your thing. (Nothing explicit is shown)

However we get to see progression from te side characters as well which is also amazing. I love every moment of this and it had me squealing and kicking my feet like a little girl.

#1: Horimiya

The queen bee and the loner realize that maybe they can be their true selves around each other.

This is my all time favorite. I read the manga, watch the og anime, watched the remake, and the missing pieces. I love this story so much.

It portrays realistic relationships and shows that both of the main characters have faults that they work through in their relationship. Not just that, but the side characters get a lot of development as well that makes you rooting for them.

This whole story is so wholesome and it's the perfect thing to unwind to.

#my love story with yamada kun at lv999 #loving yamada at lv999 #horimiya #yona of the dawn #yona of the red dawn #ouran high school host club #ouran host club #ouran #ouran hshc #ohshc #kamisama kiss #kamisama hajimemashita #anime #shojo #shojo manga #shojo anime #romance #romance manga #romance anime

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silverskye13 · 3 months

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I've been meaning to ask about this because I love love LOVE your writing but aren't really very deep into the hermitcraft fandom....

would I need to know anything prior to reading your hc fics? I've heard very many good things about redstone and skulk and I want to read it , but I dunno if walking in clueless is a good idea...

Oh. Hm. Well. I'm maybe not the best person to ask this, ironically. I have a hard time differentiating between actual common knowledge and fandom osmosis common knowledge. My thoughts under the cut because this might get long, but here are my, I guess, fandom initiation thoughts on my fics, for anyone curious?

Redstone and Skulk:

I think it can reasonably be read with little-to-no prior knowledge of the fandom. I do a decent job of explaining what the story is about, since most of it is original worldbuilding with (mostly) original characters. It's a mirror world, where in the main world death doesn't exist, but in the mirror world it does. All the mirror world characters are the bad parts / evil twins of the main world characters, and how they cope with that varies (and is sometimes explicitly stated). The first few chapters do a decent job of establishing this information, and I've had a few people mention RnS was either their first delve into hc fandom, or they had never been in the fandom and read it anyway because it came recommended by a friend. This signals to me it would be about like reading a sequel to a book series. You're clearly missing some establishing character stuff, and maybe some setting stuff, but you're not missing enough to be completely lost.

[basic knowledge of Minecraft mobs and game mechanics would definitely do you good, but that goes for all of these].

Monsters Splitting Hairs:

I personally think you can jump into this with no prior knowledge. All the characters are loosely based on the hc members they're named for personality wise, and place names [Octagon, Horsehead Farms] come from builds the players have made. Just about everything else is my personal world building though. The only upper hand knowing about HC will give you, is maybe cluing you in to who/what the different monster characters are before they're revealed [a la Rendog, who walks around with dog ears on his MC skin, is very obviously a werewolf in the fic.]

This fic is unfinished, and while I plan on finishing it eventually, it isn't being actively updated, and probably won't until RnS is done. It does have a lot of words on it though.

Hound's Tooth:

You need to know a lot of information to go into this one. Not only do you need to know a decent amount about the HC characters, knowing about both 3rd Life and Last Life is also kinda necessary, since the crux of the character motivation is Doc angsting over Ren doing Last Life after 3rd Life fucked up all his friends so bad the first time. Also, you need to know a decent amount about the early Octagon plotlines in s8 of Hermitcraft, the different adventure mode trial rooms they did.

This fic is finished.

Everything else I've written are ficlets, little one or two chapter deals. Anything tagged "RnS fic", you should probably read RnS before reading. Most of the others you need specific information for, since they're generally addressing topics that I had /just/ watched an episode for at the time, and I was responding to an idea or plot point being brought up. Anything with "Hels" or "Helsmet" in the tags or title, know it's about the mirror world and the evil twins.

[shrug]

I hope this helps?

#answering asks #anonymous #im glad you like my writing enough to try to read stuff out of your normal fandom sphere :')#thats very very cool of you #if you do give the fics a shot i hope you like them! and i hope theyre not confusing

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icy-watch · 6 months

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Well, that was certainly an ending to a season.

I can tell what inspired the Hageman Brothers for the ending of Rise of the Titans (2021). It’s pretty much the same ending beat for beat.

I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't that.

I really don't have too many thoughts on the finale, it's mostly just "at least this was the ending to the season, and not an entire series". Was it the best? No. Was it the worst? No. Just meh.

Had I seen this 2 or 3 years ago, I might have felt differently, but RotT really did a number on me. (If you haven't seen any of the Tales of Arcadia series, please consider yourself lucky. It started off very well but ended Badly.)

I'm glad the the sky pirates turned out to be pretty ok in the end. I really grew to actually like them. I'm going to be sad if they don't show up again.

And Echo! Oh, gosh Echo. Sweet baby boy. I loved the little bit of time we got with him. I hope he comes back again.

I haven't looked to see what the next season will be called yet, but I'm hoping we learn more about the previous Elemental Masters. We've been getting a little bit here and there, but it feel like there's more to their story than we've been told so far.

Tomorrow, I'll be watching the Day of the Departed, and maybe the Wu's Teas shorts, if I can find those. Until tomorrow!

@ninjamelissajulien

Below the cut are the predictions I got right and wrong.

Correct

The ninja will be caught at some point by the po-po. And get thrown in a jail cell with one bed.

Nadakhan will pick them off one by one.

The wedding is inevitable. It sure was something.

Mutiny from the crew. Better late than never.

Jay will recruit Echo Zane to help him rescue everyone. He did and he got more friends.

I'm going to cry bc of the wedding thing and everything surrounding that. I cry at things very easily, so this wasn't really a surprise on my end.

Incorrect

Cole will get cured of being a ghost this season. He sure didn't.

Pixal will get a new body. RIP queen.

Nadakhan is going to use Wu to draw out the ninja and make them retrieve the Realm Crystal. This is such a great AU idea.

Going The Mummy (1959 & 1999) route to raise a loved one from the dead -- to bring back Delara. She was brought back via wish, not an entire sacrificial ceremony.

Nadakhan will be trapped in the sword once he's defeated. *disappointed noises*

Flintlocke had a thing for Delara. I'm actually surprised that this wasn't a little subplot. It actually felt like something they would have done.

Jay will be forced to help piece Djinjago together. There were other plans.

Cole, Nya, and Lloyd are going to spend the whole episode planning on how to save Jay. The used that time to try to leave the island. I completely forgot that was something they needed to do in order to even start planning for a rescue mission.

Ronin will help in the rescue mission for Jay. He really didn't.

Jay knowing the ins and outs of the Keep will help them navigate their rescue mission. Yeah. He did all that cleaning for nothing.

Flintlocke swiped the poison and the dart from Clancee. Clancee told Jay where he hid it.

Partially

No one from the Cursed Realm will come back. Sort of? Clouse wasn't in the Cursed Realm when it collapsed, but he was a resident there for a while.

They won't lock Misako up. The didn't even get a chance to finish questioning her before she was kidnapped by Nadakhan.

Kai will be needed to collect the Tiger Widow Venom, and without him the team will struggle. They did struggle without him, but I'm not sure how much help he would have been given the circumstances.

We're going to learn how Jay lost his eye. Sort of? But not really.

#liveblogging #ninjago #skybound #season 6 #episode 10 #the way back #s06e10 #ninjago predictions

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faithfromanewperspective · 3 months

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gotta say it now bc i've been spending so much time in the 5sos fandom where we're all super protective of our creators: I know supporting an author isn't the same. I know cassie doesn't put herself out there in the same way as zillennial musicians. and I know there are things people in the fandom disagree with her on and I'm not here to minimise that.

but everywhere I interact with the fandom and it's been like this for years now, jokes and things about how old we'll be when the series is finished and yeah it's funny to some extent but as someone who knows what pressure to create does to me, who knows how much it dries my creativity, she's on tumblr. she's seeing some of this. and we gotta tow this line and be careful: careful as to how we're treating her and also careful for the sake of fans ourselves--we don't want to be acting in ways that incidentally result in content being delayed and lower quality because she's been burnt out for ages and we're just giving so much pressure to read twp, read tbvotd and read whatever else she'll doubtless come up with after because she loves the shadowhunters world, she always ends up writing more for it even when she says she won't. and aren't we lucky for that? we love the tsc universe. and if we're old by the time it's all finished, that's the result of her loving this universe she created so much that she just kept writing for it. it's a blessing.

and maybe i sound like an aussie who grew up under a rock in the middle of the bush (which I am) saying this but. when my only queer representation was a singular jacqueline wilson book until i was 14 and read malec's story in tmi, when i've never seen another author portray such a diverse range of realistic neurodivergent characters, when i'm a half white poc with grandparents from borneo which is partially in indonesia and magnus is indonesian, I do find in myself some appreciation for her: the author who created a world of characters I see myself in and I do hope she's okay and I want her to recover from burnout, I know how much it sucks, and it still kinda baffles me how she'll share bits and pieces of her mental health experiences (and she's my parents' age!! and a lot more emotionally aware than most gen x's I know which I so appreciate) and we don't, largely, as a fandom, seem to care. like i get we're in a fandom for the characters and stories she created not her, herself, but like ???

I love seeing the artist behind the art they create. I love it when they're human and imperfect and yet we can still see the good in them that they put out to impact the world with, a legacy, and when we see their imperfections and we can acknowledge this all together, acknowledge and come together for the fans who have been hurt by these mistakes, oversights, harmful views, that are mixed in with the good. and I love it when we can still come together after this and be like, I support this creator, I want them to be okay, I want them to keep discovering love and I want to see it in their writing. and this I don't think should only apply to conventionally attractive twentysomething men who sing! maybe i'm biased in the observation that it is usually where I see the most artist support. or maybe it's actually a trend and as feminists, as people who see our dignity in more than being fuckable and more than being Perfect Leaders, we can do better.

and so i don't care when the wicked powers come out. i'll have finished my masters' degree before I finish that book series and hear the rest of kit and ty's story i started reading in high school. but that's okay. if that's what it takes to get a good story. i don't care when we get the final tec book, even though i've got two copies of the other two on my bookcase and don't know if the cover art will even be the same when the third one comes out. because we love pretty timely things but we're not owed them. and I have to say, this isn't completely true. I do care. I do want to know. I do want to experience that joy. but much more than that I want cassie to write at her own pace and I want her to enjoy it and I want her to keep discovering her own creativity and the proof is honestly in the pudding that every artist I've seen decide to do things at their own rate has ended up way more productive than before they decided that. and artists are people after all. it's what makes their art so good and forms the basis for the fandoms we're in. so I hope she knows it's okay to take her time.

#cassandra clare #tsc #tmi #tid #tda #twp #tec #the wicked powers #tlh #kit herondale #ty blackthorn #again. i really don't want to say 'she's perfect and can never hurt people'#but the point of this is that she still deserves to have freedom over her schedule and we can do our part by not being demanding to the #extent that we forget that she's human. that she's poured so much of herself into the characters and worlds she's made and she deserves to #keep looking after herself even when that means we don't get what we want as soon as we want it. we can be a loyal fandom

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tsukimefuku · 4 months

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❅ Sand and Snow | Chapter 1

ALL CHAPTERS HERE.

In the city of Odate, Akita, there have been multiple deaths in the past few weeks. The first-grade sorcerer Nanami Kento is sent out to investigate the snowy city, not knowing that it would be his last mission as a Jujutsu High student. OR: Why Nanami left Jujutsu High to become a corporate 9/5 slave.

Images via @incepstla on Tumblr

DISCLAIMERS

* This is cross-posted from AO3, link here.

* This is a murder/mystery story. Like so, it contains depictions of violence that some readers may find disturbing.

* Classic Nanami and Gojo shenanigans will ensue. This is my copium.

* This fanfic is mostly built on original characters that are plot-centric (we need ppl to kill and to be questioned in a murder/mystery story, amiright?), though Nanami is the protagonist. There won't be any romance/smut/fluff/ship involved, but in case you don't like OC's at all, this story probably isn't suited for you.

* I wrote this in the most faithful way I could to JJK Canon and events, with the intention you could read this as an actual one-off light novel from the series (even inspired the writing on the translation from the official light novels). I hope you enjoy.

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Chapter 1

Traveling alone became a common occurrence in Nanami's life ever since Haibara's death. More common still after his promotion — turning into a first-grade jujutsu sorcerer in his third year came with some perks, like a raise, for instance. But it also meant he would be frequently dealing with complex missions by himself. To fill up time, he was reading a pocket version of "The Devotion of Suspect X" by Keigo Higashino, as he drank a small and well brewed cup of coffee.

As Nanami approached his destination, he closed the book and started to mentally review the details of this mission. He anticipated it should take around a week for completion at most.

Around the city of Odate there had been 7 deaths, all containing traces of cursed energy. All involving poison. The presence of a cursed spirit was not out of the question, but considering the way those people died, a curse user was most likely. If that was the case, the curse user should be captured and taken in for questioning.

His phone rang. It was Yaga.

"Hello." he said, as he accepted the call.

"Nanami, be sure to report as soon as you get there, and report to me daily." Yaga replied.

"I will. Has something happened?"

"No, but those that sent this mission our way are very keen on accompanying every step taken." The contempt Yaga tried to hide in his voice was pretty clear.

"Fine. Let me know when and if Gojo is coming my way." The thought of meeting Satoru with his whimsical personality during a mission made Nanami involuntarily sigh.

Nanami was on his way to Odate because Jujutsu High's first choice, Satoru Gojo, was off on another mission that took longer than expected. This had been disclosed to Nanami right from the start. He would be there up until Gojo Satoru got to Odate or until he just finished the job by himself, whatever happened first.

He couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that they wanted to send Gojo, a special-grade sorcerer, on a mission suited for a first-grade, though. But dutiful as he was, Nanami simply did not spend his time questioning. Orders were orders, after all.

"About that… Gojo requested for you to work with him if you still haven't finished the job when he gets there.”

Nanami was annoyed.

"Why?"

"Who knows. He's always acting on a whim. Just accompany him. I have been told this is an important job, and you're the responsible one."

Nanami was annoyed, times two.

"Fine."

Getting “punished” with more work for being a good jujutsu sorcerer was the kind of thing that happened to him regularly. Not so different from a normal job. Nanami sighed and ended the call. There was now a pretty good incentive to get things done as fast as he could, and it didn't involve (just) overtime.

***

As the train came to a stop, the doors opened, letting a cold breeze seep in. I should get to the hotel and leave this luggage before I go out investigating, Nanami thought to himself, before stepping out and making his way onto the exit from the train station.

There were few to no taxis so early in the morning, so he just decided to walk. It wasn't terribly far, and it gave him the opportunity to look around the city for anything out of the ordinary along the way.

There were many snow sculptures by the roadside, and some ice figures resembling the Akita dog breed. At the end of February, Odate had many winter festivities, with a lot of Akita-dog related decor and souvenirs.

He had nothing against cold weather, but preferred the beach, ever so slightly.

Nanami picked up his phone and sent Yaga a text that said "I'm here. On my way to the hotel".

"Ok" Yaga replied instantly.

They must really be on his case, he thought, as it was out of character for Yaga to reply so fast. He usually had more things to deal with as the new Jujutsu High principal.

After an uneventful walk, Nanami got to the hotel and was greeted by a woman at the main desk.

"Good morning. My name is Yoko. How can I help you, sir?" She asked politely.

"I have a reservation."

"Perfectly. I need your full name."

"Nanami Kento."

The lady typed quietly on the keyboard, and around two minutes passed.

"Sorry, our systems are kind of slow today."

Nanami said nothing and just waited.

"Hey, Mr. Kento... Be careful."

That grabbed his attention. It was clearly not a threat, and the lady was visibly concerned, even though she tried to hide it.

"There have been some people dying these past few weeks. Somehow it hasn't made national news, and I can tell you're not from here. I mean, new face and all. So... Be careful, ok?"

"I appreciate your conce-"

"It was the majo!" someone shouted from the inside office. The lady got startled, and instantly irritated.

"Grandma, please stop with these silly superstitions!"

There were heavy and steady footsteps, and shortly after, an elderly woman came from the back office, raising a finger and pointing towards Nanami and Yoko.

"They are not superstitions. Hear me out! The majo, the witch, she did it!"

Yoko sighed and felt her third migraine of the week paying her a visit. Wednesday had barely started.

Nanami looked at her, as if asking for further explanation about what the old woman was talking about. She put on a cordial smile and started to speak.

"My grandmother has old superstitions about a woman that lives just outside the city. Her parents went missing when she and her brother were young, and they sell herbs and things like that. There is not much to it, but people in the city have had that long held superstition against their family for a while now."

Her smiling face and calm voice did not match the angry energy she was emanating.

The old woman interjected once again.

"Her parents went missing because she is a witch, and I bet you, these people dying must be related to all of that!"

The migraine had settled in.

"What 'all of that', grandma?"

The old lady gestured vaguely with her hands in the air, as if there was some obvious fact that everybody was unaware of.

The computer emitted a sound, and Yoko promptly grabbed a key and gave it to Nanami.

"Here. Room 409. If there is anything you need, you can just dial #903 for room service."

“Thank you. Excuse me.” he replied. As he started walking towards the stairs, it was possible to hear Yoko chastising her grandmother about scaring travelers and people she did not know. The words were followed by loud footsteps into the main office and a door being slammed.

As Nanami got to his room, he started texting Yaga.

NK: I'm at the hotel. There is a local superstition around a person whom they call “a witch”. I've been told this person deals with herbs and medicinal plants, so they probably also have poisonous ones. I will be checking this out before going elsewhere.

MY: Let me know if you find anything. Also, talk to Ijichi, he will assist you researching this.

After settling in, Nanami got out of the hotel and started walking down the street, intent on questioning people about it. He failed to notice the man following him from afar.

***

It was already two in the afternoon, and he figured he might as well stop and eat something for lunch. After all, expenses were completely paid for.

As Nanami went inside the restaurant, he went over mentally the information he got about the family.

The Yamadas were a pretty old family in that region, and most lived northwest of Odate. After the disappearance of some of the family's members, mainly a couple with two children, most relatives just left the city. Aside from that, there was not much else to be said about them. Nanami had already sent Ijichi all the details he was able to gather and asked for research as soon as possible.

His phone lit up. It was Ijichi.

KI: Hey, Nanami, I found some interesting things.

NK: Tell me.

KI: So, the Yamadas were a family of jujutsu sorcerers, it seems.

Nanami felt that was definitely suspicious, to say the least.

KI: Apparently, they had little to no ties to Master Tengen or anything. They were all from that region of Odate, but most of the members have since disbanded throughout Japan in the last 10 years. I couldn't find much in the archives, especially about cursed techniques that run in the family.

NK: I see. Let me know if you find anything else.

KI: No problem.

***

After some asking around, Nanami finally got to Yamada's “witch” house. It was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and a snow-covered dirt road led the way there through the woods. As he was approaching from the forest quietly, he could see a lady with short black hair and a pretty thick coat putting some food bowls by the side of the house. He didn't see or sense anything particularly suspicious. The house was considerably big, having two separate floors and a very traditional Japanese ceiling for snowy weather.

Not long after she put the bowls, the lady whistled loudly. A fox came out of the snowy forest and started eating.

"There you go, Haru. Eat well!" she said, as she went inside the house.

Nanami was unsure if he should go question the woman, or if he should simply stay hidden and watch for anything strange. After all, this could be nothing, or she could be a sorcerer that would attack him on sight. He chose the latter, and sat down near some bushes as he paid attention to the house and its apparently sole resident.

From the frosty windows, he could see her in the kitchen, sitting idly while drinking something from a cup. Behind the house, there was a greenhouse with many pots of plants and other greeneries planted directly on the soil.

This will take a long time, Nanami figured, feeling disheartened for having to work late that day. Resigned, he used his flip phone to take a picture of the house and waited. He got to see the fox finish its food and go back into the woods.

Around an hour later, there were some scratching sounds that he could not really see what was the source. The lady came out of the house, sprinting hastily to the other side, where Nanami was having a difficult time seeing her. He moved his position to try and see where she was headed, and walked quietly around from the opposite side in a semicircle, but she had vanished. The fox from earlier was there, looking directly at him.

He went into alert mode, but before he could do anything, Nanami felt somebody get behind him.

The sound of a gun being loaded could be heard, and he froze on the spot.

"Raise your hands. Who are you and why are you watching me?" a female voice asked.

"I'm someone investigating the deaths that have been occurring in Odate". He said, as he was lifting his hands and putting them on his head. Nanami figured there was not much of a point in lying. She didn't ask why he was there, but why he was watching her, so she probably had noticed it for a while. Also, if she was a curse user that wanted to harm him, she would've probably done so by now.

"Turn around."

He turned to face her.

She was pointing a small handgun at him, keeping her distance. Her green eyes seemed irritated. He could probably disarm her and further question the woman on the subject, but weighing his options, it felt more responsible to avoid conflict escalation.

"Look," she said, picking her words carefully. She sounded annoyed, but not scared. "I don't know what you've heard about me or this house, but I am not a witch, and I'll tell you what I already told the officer, I didn't kill anyone."

She examined his face.

"Why are you pointing a gun at me, then?" He asked.

"I'm a woman living alone in the woods, and a creep has been stalking me for god knows how long. Sorry if I chose to pull a gun first and ask questions later."

Both of them examined each other, and the air was tense. She seemed inclined to simply let him go, and his instinct was that she harbored no ill intent on hurting him out of anything other than self-defense. He decided to try to de-escalate the situation further.

"My name is Nanami Kento."

She was slightly taken aback, as she didn't expect him to present himself like that given the circumstances.

"I'm... Shiori. Yamada Shiori."

"I'd like to ask you some questions about these deaths. I'm a private investigator of sorts. Preferably without a firearm between us." Nanami said calmly.

She hesitated and examined him. Her instinct was that he was telling the truth. After a few seconds, her arm relaxed, and she put the gun down, then inside her coat.

"Ok. We can talk." Shiori said. "But I'm keeping the gun on me."

Nanami sighed as he lowered his arms. "Fair enough."

She pointed at the house. "And you go first."

They walked towards the house, and she unlocked the front door, letting him in. She indicated a table where he could sit, and pulled a chair for herself. Once both were seated, as Nanami was about to say something, she took a crystal ball from her other pocket.

"Here. Please hold this."

Nanami thought about it for a second, and held the ball in his hand. The small sphere started to glow blue after about 5 seconds. "Tsk", Shiori groaned, "Figures."

"Sorry, I don't understand."

"Where are you from? Kyoto?" She asked, grabbing the crystal from his hands. "Is this really about the deaths, or are you guys here to try to recruit me and my brother? He is away, just so you know."

Nanami was confused, and it must have shown.

"You're a jujutsu sorcerer, aren't you?" She asked. "Look." The crystal was glowing in her hands too. "This is my sort of 'jujutsu sorcerer detector'. The last time one of you came was a few years ago, so I'll just cut to the chase. I'm happy in the woods, and I don't want to go to Jujutsu High — I’m actually 18 now, and have just graduated. Please, leave me alone."

This was definitely not how Nanami expected this conversation to go, and he definitely did not expect to be dealing with cursed objects in Odate. After collecting his thoughts, Nanami started to speak.

"I'm here because of Jujutsu High, but I came from Tokyo on a mission regarding the deaths that have occurred recently. I questioned a few people and after some research, found that your family had sorcerers, and that you and your brother work with medicinal plants. Given the cause of those deaths was poisoning, I came to your house for further investigation." He answered bluntly.

"I see." She put the crystal ball back inside her pocket. "You're not the first one to think that, though. A police officer was here a few days ago. Those town's people still hate us, even centuries later, simply for being Yamadas. But I truly had nothing to do with those deaths."

"I see." Nanami muttered the thought for a moment. "And do you have an innate cursed technique?" Cursed techniques in sorcerer's families that were passed through generations were common, even if those that involved poisoning their victims weren't that common.

She was a little surprised with the question. "Well, it has nothing to do with poison, I can tell you that much. I can show you, but it can't be done inside the house."

"Why?"

"Because I still want to have a roof over my head. Come." She pointed to the door, and they went outside. Behind the house, there were plenty of wide holes in the ground just barely covered in snow, something he hadn't noticed earlier.

"Please, step back." She concentrated, put both hands together and said "cursed technique: melt grenade". Then, Shiori threw a small blue ball of cursed energy towards the holes. It exploded loudly, and made a hole around 2 feet deep, covered in a thick corrosive black substance.

"That's all?" Nanami asked. He waited for a response, but after a few seconds of silence, looked at her just to see Shiori falling to the ground. He started walking to her side offering assistance, but she was already sitting herself up, as if this was something the woman was accustomed to.

"Yes. That is all. I can only throw one or two of these before passing out." She stood up slowly. "So this is it. Unfortunately, there is not much I can do to help you." She had a surprisingly laid back approach, even if the circumstances they had met were somewhat odd.

Nanami sighed. At least this explained why she used a gun. Nevertheless, it was a dead end, after all.

"I was told you had a brother. Where is he?" He asked.

"My brother decided to do some traveling about a year ago. He went looking for our parents. I told him it was a bad idea, but he did it anyway. I don't know where he is currently." Shiori responded. "His name is Shiro. Our parents weren't very creative naming twins".

"Well, I won't occupy you any longer. I'll be on my way, then." Nanami said, as he bowed and started to leave.

"It's fine. But if you come by again, please, just knock on the door." Shiori responded with a half smile, putting her hands inside her pocket while she calmly walked back inside the house.

***

Back at the hotel, Nanami was on the phone talking to Yaga and giving him his report on the investigation. He informed Yaga about Ijichi's findings, and the conversation he had with Shiori.

"I see." Yaga said. "Keep an eye on her, though."

"Why?"

"Well, she has a cursed object we were not aware of. Doesn't seem like anything serious, but she could be hiding something."

"I understand." Nanami pondered for a moment. "She had some visitors from Jujutsu High years ago, more specifically from the Kyoto sister school, according to her."

"We usually scout families that have a history with jujutsu for potential students, but they don't always accept the invite." Yaga replied. "I didn't know she was one of the people we visited."

Nanami, still on the phone, walked towards the TV and turned it on. Local news had an urgent news broadcast on.

"Well, I imagine this is it for resting today." he said.

"I'll make the necessary calls. Go there now." Yaga replied.

He sat on the bed as he heard the reporter say police had just discovered a new body.

"I'm charging overtime fees."