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birlwrites · 2 years

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so i've been curious about this for a while: how exactly does the black familly specialty work? i assume that we'll get more into it later on, but i'm impatient lol

OKAY SO

you are correct that we will get into it more later - it's going to be a huuuuuuuuge plot point/plot arc?/plot thing, you know, so you will get many opportunities to ask for more details!

this isn't really spoilers but i'm going to put it under a cut anyway, because...... idk the vibes are correct. it's like, not really spoilers, in the sense that it's stuff people MIGHT have put together already, but i doubt most people have, so it's connecting some dots fairly early on. no big spoilers though so definitely not worthy of the spoiler tag

oh and some content warnings: part of the black specialty involves blood magic, so there will be references to self harm (a little more intense than what's in set those ghosts alight, for example, but not much more)

we already have our cereal metaphor for how an affinity for the black family specialty works. suddenly, you're wielding more magic than the average magic-wielder. you just have the additional capacity for it. like a family size cereal box? idk maybe i'm trying to push the cereal metaphor too far lmao

BUT that's just the affinity. that's not the actual practice of the specialty (which in and of itself strengthens an individual's affinity as well, like building up muscles). if you have the affinity, you have a greater capacity for magic - like, it flows through you easily. if you're using the specialty, you're *actively* drawing in and using that magic, and it has more dramatic results than just having the affinity and vibing

so, how does it work? in a word, RUNES! regulus says as much way back in chapter 5. but naturally it's a little more complicated than that lmao

the longer explanation is that since the black specialty involves drawing the magic into your body, the runes go on your body to tell the magic what to do. placement matters - the safest locations are basically as far away from your vital organs as possible. (your non-dominant wrist is a great choice for both convenience and safety reasons. plus if you dress the way regulus does, it's very easy to hide evidence of practicing highly illegal dark arts under your tightly buttoned cuffs!)

by placing it in the extremities, you slow down the rate at which the magic reaches your core - this is good because it gives your body the maximum time to adjust to having that extra influx of magic before you use it.

now, what about the runes themselves? sometimes they shape the magic for a particular purpose. more often, they have to do with the influx of magic itself - you don't want to just throw open a massive channel, you want to keep it very narrow and basically ensure that you're bringing in the minimum amount of magic that you need. so the runes control the rate at which the magic enters your body, and also how actively you're pulling that magic in (there's a spectrum from 'totally passive', aka not using the specialty, to 'grabby hands').

the safest rune chains are pretty complicated, so the black specialty (in its least dangerous form) takes a lot of prep time - i mean, the phrase 'a lot' is relative, but you almost certainly wouldn't catch someone scrawling runes on their arm in the middle of a battle. (they might do it before the battle, though, if they know it's coming)

okay, now on to methods. as i said, the runes go on your body. there are a few different ways of doing that (and here's where the references to self harm come in). here they are, ranked from least to most effective:

tracing them on with a wand

writing them with ink

writing them with your own blood (using someone else's doesn't really work as intended)

tattooing them on (bad idea)

carving them in (even worse idea)

as you might be able to tell, the more effective ones also tend to be the ones that leave more lasting effects and/or the ones that involve using your blood. the reason that carving the runes in is more effective than tattooing is because the user is literally opening themself up to the magic - this is NOT GOOD because that means the magic is going to pour in much, much faster.

as for tattoos, they're not a good idea because they last. temporary is safer.

tracing the runes on with a wand is very brief - it just lasts for a few seconds, maybe up to a minute depending on the runes you use. writing the runes on with ink lasts until the ink is too smeared/faded to actually represent those runes, at which point the channel closes. writing them with blood works the same way, but because you're using your blood instead of ink, the magic comes in faster

and where does that magic come from, you ask? great question! it's ambient magic - they pull from the air just around them, basically, and more magic rushes in to fill the gap. it's easier to use the specialty in a highly magical atmosphere - old magical buildings, like any of the blacks' estates, or hogwarts, are a good choice. (i say they're a good choice because if you are sensible, you will note the highly magical atmosphere and be VERY RESTRAINED in your choice of rune chains, and you will get the bare minimum you need quite easily, and then you will be done because you know your limits)

there are ways to pull magic from something/someone that is innately magical, but the blacks generally avoid doing that because that's the sort of thing that tends to get them Noticed (in a bad way). oddly enough, people notice when they have magic and then are drained of it - and the thing about being a magical being is that when your magic is taken away from you, it does not do good things for your health

plus, you thought drawing from ambient magic was intense? drawing from an actual magical thing/being is even more so - and, as we've established, that's bad for the user's health!

ok, moving on to clarifying all this ominous stuff i've been saying about health problems. aka: IT'S BLACK FAMILY MADNESS TIME BABEYYYY

the black family madness is a development from like... the last 500 years. before then, they just died young. they still do, by wizarding standards - it depends a lot on the person, but there has been more than one rumor about the blacks poisoning each other because they tend to die young and sometimes it's very sudden and medically inexplicable (because the blacks sure don't want to explain why and how it happened)

the key there is that humans are not meant to withstand that much magic. everyone has their capacity - someone with an affinity for the black family specialty has a higher capacity than someone without. the more someone uses the specialty, the more damage it's doing, in essence. in the first several centuries of the blacks using this magic, their affinity wasn't very strongly developed, and as a result, people who used the specialty a lot tended to die from magical overload before there were any noticeable mental effects

the stronger your affinity, the more magic you can handle, but basically what it does is it puts the negative effects into slow motion. you can get away with using more of the specialty without experiencing ill effects, but you're not immune, and if you go over your limit (acknowledging that your limit is higher than other people's), it's going to harm you

so how do you find your limit? uhhhh. in an ideal world, you don't. there's no safe way to actually test it, or at least nobody's found one (the family is perpetually doing more research) - the best thing to do is just minimize your use of the specialty and take long breaks in between uses

so birl, you say, this all sounds lowkey horrible. i don't want extra cereal if this is the price i have to pay. why have the blacks been developing this specialty for a millennium?

answer: first of all, the blacks, as a family, are really bad at giving up. second of all, having all that extra magic is a huge fucking flex. third of all, they didn't really connect the specialty to the early death/madness until after a few generations had gone by and by then the affinity was already strengthening and they were getting better at handling it, so they figured they'd just continue to get better at it. which is the truth!

fourth of all, you *can* recover from the madness - what you need is to notice it early and stop using the family magic entirely until you're 200% recovered, and after that, be veeeeery judicious about when and how you use it, because the madness creeps in more easily after the first time

if you're a family that prides itself on its long history, pure blood, and therefore on its loooong line of magical ancestors, wouldn't you want definitive proof that actually, you are better at magic and more suited to using magic than literally everyone else?

and regulus and sirius are the most recent generation of this family, with double-strength affinities for this magic. every new generation of the black family is better suited to the family specialty than every generation that has come before, but regulus and sirius take it to a new level (thanks incest). let's hope it works out for them!

#concert report turned in!#should i make an inbox tag #dark lord wip #i made a list of the stuff i have to do and when it's due #it's terrifying #send me asks #terror is not enough to get me to do things #im being very blunt because it is late #'having the assignment turned in' is insufficient reward for my brain #but 'ramble about story on tumblr'??? that seems to do the trick #atfhv worldbuilding

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samwinchestersbf · 1 year

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{ The Ghost of Beacon }

Chapter 1. "Do you really believe in ghosts?"

A RWBY x reader

warnings: small language, maybe ooc?

small authors note: I just created this idea on a whim, I am open to criticism. The gender neutral reader will be using they/them so anyone is welcomed to read. I apologize for any spelling/grammar errors in advance, I also have a small concept on how tumblr works beware! Please enjoy :) More chapters to come. (This takes place along with the original storyline with a few tweaks. I might toss in some romance when the time comes but who knows.)

Short Summary: The ghost of Beacon was thought to be a legend however with the recent spikes of activity, the school has grown unsure. The students with no idea of the story behind it all have determination to find out...

Reblogs are appreciated!!<3

WHY IS IT KINDA LONG OML SORRY 🙏

At first it was...difficult to come to terms with your death in the first couple of years. It's not like anyone noticed anyways, with all the speculation and lies.

Your days passed by very quick to say the least, you grew bored of it all. You craved to have fun if you were going to be a ghost trapped forever, right? Especially with new fresh students coming in.

Now here you were, amongst them all without their knowledge. These new students definitely piqued your interest, as did the last ones but there was something about them. You couldn't put your finger on it, perhaps it was just their behavior so you brushed it off.

You were too stuck in your thoughts to hear the headmaster's speech, along with his colleague. "Are there any questions?" He asked smoothly before taking another sip from his mug.

"Yeah...uhm sir?" You turned your attention to the timid blonde boy before he was cut off. "Good! Now take your positions." You let out a simple laugh and observed the group of teens ready themselves, the boy not aware of what was about to happen. "Uh sir...I've got a question" He still raised his hand.

Students were being flung into the air and he was still on rambling with his question as Professor Ozpin answered calmly. You walked over to him, "Good luck" You whispered into his ear before he was being launched at full force.

"My bets are on the energetic redhead" You tried to joke before realizing again no one can hear your remarks. You watched the collective group in the air, giggling a bit to yourself.

Professor Oz and Glynda pulling out their scrolls to watch on the surveillance system. "Hey! Let me get a peek" You tried to watch over Glynda's shoulder, she let out a little shiver. "Sorry, just let me see real quick" You attempted to take it before the tablet swung out of her grasp, her eyes widening.

You were able to see the students landing strategies before she scoffed, picking up the tablet from the ground. "Slippery fingers I see." Ozpin let out his own remark. "Oh shush, I don't even know how that happened." Her tone a little irritated. She walked off to go somewhere more private to observe.

You were a little shocked to say the least from your power. You didn't know you could do that? You decided to try again on the headmaster, you swatted at his mug, yet nothing happened. "Maybe if I- aha!" You hit the mug as he was about to take a sip, a majority of the drink spilling on him, before the mug took a tumble to the ground.

Glynda looked over her shoulder as she was walking away, "Now you've got slippery fingers" She mocked him, he seemed amused with his furrowed eyebrows. He glanced down at the mess, "Ignore that please." You bursted out in a laughing fit, feeling satisfied you now have the power over objects.

You recovered from your prank, thinking about it more now. If you were a stereotypical ghost, you could do much more than that. You could possibly try light tricks or even talking to someone finally. You yearned for conversation, sure you loved to be alone but you wished deep down for someone to hear your opinions and jokes.

You just wanted someone to know you were there, you wanted to be noticed.

You stood there, ruminating to yourself. It's not like Ozpin could see you, if anything he thought he was alone.

Soon enough Glynda spoke up again after quite some time, walking up to him. "Our last pair has been formed sir," She continued on swiping the scroll to a different perspective. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren...poor boy, I can't possibly imagine those two getting along." You peered over her shoulder watching Nora be quite silly.

"They seem alright to me." You muttered, Glynda turned to Ozpin. "What did you say?" He looked up from his scroll, a look of confusion on his face. "I didn't say anything." He cocked an eyebrow before Glynda returned back to watching with a small eye roll following. So you could talk to people, if you really tried of course.

"But still, he's probably better off than Miss Nikos." Ozpin replied with a small hum. "I don't care what his transcripts say, that Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat."

You wondered for a bit, it was possible to forge your way into any academy. You've seen it happen before besides no school is perfect.

Glynda put away her scroll, "I guess we'll find out soon enough" which in this case meant they were going to be finishing soon, you did want to test tricks on the new students. It'll maybe finally give you your own entertainment instead of listening and watching.

The collected woman walked off yet again, "At their current pace they should reach the temple just in a few minutes." She turned a little, she was truly a professional woman. As if you always knew that's who she's always been.

"Speaking of which; what did you use as relics this year?" She turned her full attention to him and called out his name again. He seemed too focused on his scroll, watching the kids from earlier have an argument. You believe he heard her because all he let out was another responsive hum.

He always did this, his little hums. Anyone was lucky if they had a full conversation with him.

All of a sudden you started to feel an intense pain in your stomach and throat, if ghosts could even feel a phantom kind of pain. You fell to your knees, trying to scream for help except not a single word came out. You coughed into your hand, pulling away to see your transparent hand stained with blood.

Get up. Get up. Get up

You blacked out and went dormant before waking up in a new scenery. You were in the academy now? You were still on the ground and quickly returning on your feet. An overwhelming confusion as you finally calmed down, realizing the pain beforehand was completely gone.

You woke up in that secluded spot you would go to clear your mind, a special place to your heart. It was dark outside and you could hear a faint commotion of people down the corridor.

You walked down there, walking through the door as you saw a sea of people surrounding the stage with four new students and Professor Ozpin. Everything must be over now, he's giving the new teams publicly.

"Oh shit, I missed all the fun." You sighed in defeat, still trying to figure out how that could've happened. You listened to Ozpin, making your way through the people to hop on stage.

"Looks like things are shaping out to be an...interesting year" He turned around, walking right through you. "Ow! You know that hurts right?" You hissed holding your stomach but he didn't notice.

He entered off stage as the girls and crowd cheered. You were obviously quick to follow right behind him.

He exited the room, Glynda waiting outside for him to talk to him. "I want to talk about what happened earlier today." He stopped in his tracks, and looked down at her. "Earlier?" He questioned before she took a breath in, "Earlier today, what happened wasn't ordinary. Stuff just doesn't come flying out of our hands and there wasn't any wind if I recall."

He raised an eyebrow before clicking his tounge to speak. "Yes that was quite odd but-" he was going to dismiss it all before a couple of students came to talk to him, surrounding him and Glynda. He politely answered some of their questions.

You saw the new team RWBY come out of the room, they seem to be having fun so you decided to follow them. They were chatting and walking to their brand new dorm.

After a while they finally made it there and you decided it was time to do what you originally wanted to do. Everyone was about to head to bed anyways so it was perfect for you.

The students said their goodnights to each other and were fast to fall asleep, now was the time to strike.

You went to team JNPR's dorm, knocking on their door and frantically shaking the door handle. "I'm coming..." Jaune's tired voice croaked before opening the door to absolutely nothing.

"Oh?" He looked down the halls with no sign of people whatsoever.

You decided to do it again every random hour of the night and you would follow him all day tomorrow to torment him.

The next morning he came off as very tired, explaining what happened and how no one has that much dedication to a joke like that. He believed it was a ghost, he was practically accusing you without knowing your name.

"Jaune cmon, maybe you were just restless all night from homesickness" Nora commented, she definitely had a heavy sleep effortlessly. Her friend Lie Ren was meditating on his bed.

He snapped his eyes open and whipped his head, drawing his teammates attention. He glared down where you were standing specifically, he must be able to tell you're there. He stopped before realizing he couldn't see you and apologized to them, "I thought I could sense something.."

Nora tilted her head and questioned the situation to the two boys "Do you really believe in ghosts?"

Jaune nodded desperately, "If it wasn't a ghost then it was most likely a student" Pyrrha suggested. "No it wasn't, I would've caught them!" Jaune rubbed his eyes, you did feel a little sorry.

"Then you should talk to Professor Ozpin about it later today" Ren replied, he was back to his calm meditation. The rest of the team agreed before you all heard team RWBY speeding out of their dormitory.

The four kids peeked out, falling onto the ground and catching up with the other team.

Hopefully this year would be interesting.

#rwby #rwby x reader #rwby vol 1 #rwby fanfiction #rwby fanfic #x reader #fanfic #professor ozpin #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xio long #ghost reader

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softguarnere · 3 months

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Fic Writer Interview

Thank you for the tag @mercurygray!

How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently 6, but hopefully that number will go up over spring break

What's your total AO3 word count?

119,136

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Like A Girl (Like A Man) - Band of Brothers

Just A Kid - The Outsiders

Bear The Burden Alone - The Chronicles of Narnia

For Whatever We Lose - Band of Brothers

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, absolutely! I share my writing because it allows me to connect with people who share my interests. If I'm not posting replies, it feels more like a one sided conversation, imo. Also, it seems the polite thing to do

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

It's about to be Like A Girl (Like A Man)! You'll see why soon >:)

What the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

On AO3, it's probably Bear The Burden Alone, but I try to keep the fics that I post here on Tumblr kinda upbeat with hopeful -- albeit open-ended -- endings.

Do you write crossovers?

Yeah! For Whatever We Lose is actually a crossover with The Pacific, and I'd love to do more crossovers in the future

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yep! I've deleted the comments, but some people were VERY ANGRY about the background Babe/Roe content in LAGLAM -- you know, despite the fact that the plot of the fic is driven by a queer woman's decision to cross-dress. Guess they had to draw the line somewhere, but the hypocrisy of it all makes me chuckle

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Kinda? I deleted most of it from the original LAGLAM drafts and instead just alluded to it, but things are going to be different in FWWL. Get ready for crappy ocean metaphors and religious imagery, babes!

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I hope not :( That would stink

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I think it would be fun!

What's your all-time favorite ship?

Everlark! (said while frothing at the mouth because they make me go insane) I've been obsessed with them since I first read The Hunger Games at age 9. I could write you a whole novel about why I think they're perfect together, but I'll spare you the ramble (unless anyone wants it?)

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Tears in my eyes when I tell you that it's probably the requests in my inbox. I keep telling myself that I'll get to them, but I've just felt unmotivated with all the stuff I've had going on in my personal life/at school. I really really do hope to get to them someday, though, because some of them will be really fun to write

What are your writing strengths?

I have no clue, lol. I tend to get compliments about how I describe settings, so I'm gonna say that!

What are your writing weaknesses?

My abuse of commas and italics.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Personally, I love doing it. Especially in a fic like LAGLAM, where even though most people don't speak the language I'm using (Cherokee), I feel like they can still see the importance to the characters and to the story. And I like tricking people into caring about Indigenous language preservation. My teachers told me that anything can be a vessel for carrying language on, and by God, I took that to heart

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Oh boy. I was in the fifth grade. I had won many writing competitions. Two classmates approached me and told me that they wished The Hunger Games had more post-Mockingjay Everlark content, and that since I was a good writer, they wanted me to write it. I was traded many cosmic brownies and other such snacks throughout the year for my services in providing my classmates with Everlark fics on pages of notebook paper that are probably crumpled up in a landfill by now. At the time, I had no idea I was writing fanfiction, but it was the start of my favorite hobby. Look at me now, baby!

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

I've always wanted to write for TURN: Washington's Spies but have never had the courage haha

What's your favorite fic you've written?

I have a couple of one-shots that I'm pretty pleased with, but currently I'm going to say LAGLAM because it's been so special to me <3

Tagging (but no pressure!): @almost-a-class-act @latibvles @footprintsinthesxnd @liebgotts-lovergirl

#thank you for tagging me :)#ask game #about the author

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glaivenoct · 7 months

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Hi :) Trick or treat! 🎃🍬

Ask Box Trick or Treat - Fic Edition

Hi there!! Happy hallow and thank you for sending one ^.^

I think I'm going to go with a fic idea for this one! It's not necessarily a new one, but it's one I definitely haven't ever mentioned on the tumblr side. ...I think?

The NyxNoct Furbabies --

I've been on the NyxNoct train since 2017, and in all the years I've spent gushing over these two, I've never been one to care for the idea of giving them kids, even just on their own as individuals or with other ships (if anyone out there likes playing around with those ideas, defos more power to ya, I'm not knocking it <3). At some point in one of my jobs I had a coworker who kept asking me really annoying/invasive questions about me having kids, and I decided I was going to project said annoyance onto NyxNoct. Particularly with Noctis, being an heir to the throne and all, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets asked shit like this all the time. And if I was ever going to indulge in the notion of giving Nyx and Noct kids - it was going to be of the fur variety.

So meet the NyxNoct kids!

Top Right: Nyx's baby, Rogue Bottom Right: Noct's baby, Reed

There isn't necessarily a set story/plot. If anything, this would probably just be a series of silly fluffy one-shots from different scenarios I've rambled into the twitter void over the years. Here's some basics tho!

Reed comes first. Noctis comes across him during one of the adoption events he's volunteering at - except there's no record whatsoever of this little black kitten being a part of the shelter's potential adoptees - all of their kittens are accounted for. He happens to be a random stray nearby, and he seems to be hungry. Noctis, being Noctis, buys a snack and shares with the little guy. He then proceeds to follow Noctis around everywhere. Later that night, when Noct goes to Nyx's place and shows up with the kitten cradled in his arms, Nyx just sighs and says "I knew this was going to happen one day."

Rogue doesn't come along until a few months later. Nyx happens to come across her on his walk home from late night watch duty. It's raining and he finds her as a puppy left in a box by a dumpster in an alleyway. The nearest animal shelter is a bit out of the way, so of course all Nyx can do is wrap the pup up in his coat and take her to Noct's place. Initially, Nyx will have no intentions whatsoever to keep the pup, but very quickly she worms her fluffy way into his heart and he decides he's not going to give her up.

REED: A fluffy black cat with bright blue eyes. Nyx says he looks just like his dad.

Noctis breaks the news to Regis with no context and just "You're a Grandpa now."

Regis is one of Reed's favorite people

Reed's favorite spot to sleep is the crook of Noct's neck. It always looks like he's wearing a scarf of fluff.

Reed and Nyx have a very playful "love-hate" relationship. Nyx often calls him "furball" and swears Reed is plotting against him. (He's fond of him tho, he really is)

Reed's 2nd favorite spot to sleep and/or perch is literally Nyx's butt. Noct thinks it's the funniest thing ever.

When Rogue comes into the picture, Reed seems to be indifferent towards her as playful as she is, but in a couple weeks he is actually very protective and snuggly with her at times. They become two furry partners in crime.

ROGUE: A fluffy australian shepherd with black, gray, white and caramel tones in her coat. Noct thinks its cute that she snores softly just like her dad.

Nyx heavily claims in the beginning that he is Not a Dog Dad, then proceeds to call Rogue "baby girl" when she trots happily towards him.

Rogue becomes the unofficial "glaive mascot" and will accompany Nyx to trainings. She gets lots of love and attention here.

Rogue loves to play fetch, but she has a particular version of fetch she plays with Nyx at times - which is essentially her running towards and jumping on him whenever he warps.

Rogue loves taking morning walks or runs with Nyx in the mornings.

She absolutely throws herself over Nyx and Noctis while they're cuddling because, hello, she would like attention too pls and thank.

Rogue has that younger sibling energy with Reed where she constantly pesters him while he's minding his own business. Reed will act annoyed, but then later that night he will sleep on top of her.

OTHER THINGS:

It doesn't become uncommon to see the royal furbabies around the Citadel, either both with Noct or Rogue with Nyx.

Regis happily refers to both as his grandkids and they are always welcomed to join for lunches/dinners.

Reed has sat in on council meetings. Noct says he's an official council member and his input is very valued.

Prompto is their biggest photographer and Noctis demands every picture.

When Nyx is outside the wall or even stuck on duty or training recruits, nothing makes his day more than getting spammed pics/selfies of Noct with the furbabies.

Rogue & Reed are Nyx's lockscreen, his homescreen is Noct smiling and hugging Rogue while Reed lounges in his lap. Alternatively, Noct's lockscreen is Rogue & Reed together. His homescreen is Nyx, lying face down on the floor. Rogue is standing on one side of him, staring down with clear concern like "dad are u ok? are u alive? dad? dad pls". Meanwhile, Reed is perched on Nyx's butt and staring directly at the camera. The context of the photo? Don't ask, just know it's one of Noct's favorite pics and Nyx hates him for it.

There are also nights where they all fall asleep together in a big cuddle pile. Nyx laying on his back while Noct curls up at his side, Reed curled into the crook of Noct's neck and Rogue at Nyx's side with her head on his belly. They are one happy little family <3

Sorry this one got a little lengthy!

#fic asks #nyxnoct #nyxnoct furbabies

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tngrace · 2 years

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Baby Goose is an Aviator

Read on A03; Tumblr TG Masterlist.

So I tried my best with Chipper’s helmet. Thanks to a nice anon on here I was pointed to the 1st locker room scene which then led me to notice two helmets on the counter in the background. They were both a pain to see & since we have no idea which one is Chipper’s - or if it’s even his to begin with- I just went with what I could see/what would work. I hope you enjoy this. It was supposed to be all fluff, but there’s some angsty/tug on your heart moments in this. And there’s one spot where Bradley goes on a ramble to Slider and it’s one long run-on sentence because the kid doesn’t take a breath during it. Honestly it drives me crazy being a run-on sentence but I got tired of looking at it, so it is what it is. Anyways overlook that and enjoy the story & Happy Halloween!

Also thanks to my bestie for reading over this for me! Love you Em! @toews-a-peek

The first Halloween after Goose, all the flyboys were still stuck on deployment. Bradley was still too little to understand why mama wasn't feeling up to going all out like normal, but he was happy he still got to go trick or treating even if he didn't get to dress up like Dad and Uncle Mav.

The next year Uncle Mav was the only one in town, but Carole had been sick and stuck in the hospital. The nurses and doctors gave Bradley all the candy he could want, and they even had Mav take him around the different floors, but it just wasn't the same. Uncle Mav and Uncle Ice moved back home permanently, which Bradley loved, even if he missed his mama and daddy. Uncle Ice came over a lot, and Bradley loved when that happened. Uncle Mav was the best but Uncle Ice made everything better. The holidays snuck up on them faster than expected and by some miracle all the flyboys were home to celebrate Halloween.

The weather had been nice for the middle of October when everyone got home on shore leave so they'd taken Bradley to the beach. Ice and Mav were currently sitting under a canopy because Mav still refused to go into the water two and half years later. All the flyboys understood even if Bradley didn't. Slider and Merlin were grilling while Sunny and Chip were arguing over something. Bradley was in the water with Wolfe and Wood having a blast. He was currently perched on Wood's shoulders catching his breath from all the wave jumping they'd been doing.

"Uncle Wood?"

"Yea Baby Goose?" Bradley still giggled a little when any of them called him that, but he was more than used to it after two and half years.

"Why won't Uncle Mav come swim with us?" Mav and Ice neither one were able to explain it to the kid well enough for him to understand, and luckily Bradley missed the look passed between the pilot and RIO since he was perched on said pilot's shoulders.

"Well kiddo sometimes things happen that make things scary to one person that aren't scary to another."

"Yea so it's like how monsters might be scary to you but not to us," Wolfe smiled, but Bradley just gave him a puzzled look.

"Monsters aren't real Uncle Wolfe. Besides, it's just water," he sighs.

Hollywood snorts before sharing another meaningful look with Wolfe. He pulls Bradley off his shoulders and puts him on his hip. He knows the kid is starting to think he's too big to be carried around since he's six now, but they also promised Mav to keep him close in the water. "Kiddo, sometimes things that seem ok to us are scary to someone else. So with Uncle Mav it's water and while we could tell you why, you wouldn't understand right now, and it's something Mav needs to tell you when he's ready."

Bradley sighs but nods. "Ok. Just wish he could have fun like us," he pouts, tugging at Wolfe and Wood's heartstrings. They turn to look at Mav and Ice lounging on towels watching everybody else. They know Ice is the only reason Mav's not panicking about Bradley in the water, but he also looks relaxed for a change.

"I think he is having fun," Wolfe promises, ruffling Bradley's hair. "Now let's talk Halloween costumes," he grins, getting Bradley's mind off Mav for the moment. They all already know that Bradley wants to be an aviator and they're all wearing their flight suits to take him trick-or-treating but they want to hear what all Bradley has to say about it.

Bradley gives them the biggest grin. "I wanna be a-a-aviators like all of you. Uncle Ice already got me a flight suit and helmet. Mav says we can decorate it however I want. But I don't know who's the best at art."

"Slider," Wolfe and Wood say at the same time, making Bradley giggle.

"What have you decided on putting on your helmet?"

Bradley screws his face up like he's thinking extra hard. "I dunno. I wanna be like all of you. Not just one."

"Well let's go see what Uncle Slider thinks. Maybe between the eight of us we can come up with something." Bradley giggles and nods before they toss him back and forth between them as they head up the beach. He wiggles down when they're close to Mav and Ice and he takes off running, collapsing on top of Mav who pretends to be offended that Bradley's getting him all wet. Ice wraps him up in a towel as Bradley talks a mile a minute making sure they saw everything he did.

Slider calls out that the burgers are ready so they all scramble to fix their plates at once. Ice makes Bradley’s for him as Bradley gets chips out for everybody, dropping bags on their towels. “Thanks,” Bradley grins at Ice as he takes his plate. His towel is between Ice and Mav and once everyone is settled Wood brings up the helmet dilemma.

“Baby Goose needs help decorating his helmet for Halloween, Sli.”

“Yea Ice mentioned something about that. Whatcha thinking of putting on it kiddo?”

Bradley swallows his bite before looking between all of them and shrugging. “I dunno. Ice and Mav says we can get patches from Top Gun to put on my suit. But I can’t pick between all of you.” He’s pouting a little because he’s thought about this so much, and he still doesn't know who’s helmet he wants to replicate. He’d do all of them if he could. It tugs on all their hearts because they hate seeing him sad or upset.

Ice ruffles Bradley's hair to get the sad look off his face. "We've told him no one would be mad if he picked just one," Mav says with a shrug since it was obvious Bradley didn't believe them. The flyboys all reaffirm that, but Bradley still doesn't like the idea.

"Alright I'll come over tomorrow and take a look at the helmet, and we'll figure this out. Ok Baby Goose?"

Bradley gives Slider a nod and they finish eating before packing up to head home. Hollywood gives Ice a heads up about their conversation with Bradley in the ocean, and then they all head home for the night.

As promised Slider is at the house at lunch the next day with Ice in tow since it was a night Ice didn't stay over. While none of the flyboys cared what the two got up to, they still played it safe with work rules. Bradley was sitting on the couch waiting on them, helmet and flight suit on the coffee table.

"You took forever," he groaned, throwing himself at Ice first for a hug and then Slider, cracking them both up as Mav came out of the kitchen. He'd made sandwiches for lunch and passed them out while Bradley passed Slider his helmet.

"First things first," Slider grins, holding the helmet up. "What base color are we doing?"

Bradley looked between them looking stressed, which Ice just hates. He pulls Bradley into his lap which seems to help him relax some. "I think we decided red like Goose's," Ice finally says when Mav and Bradley neither speak up. He feels Mav push his shoulder into his own and knows that Slider won't say anything, so he throws his arm around Mav's shoulder to help ground him as well.

"Good choice," Slider grins, around his sandwich. Bradley seems to relax even more at that.

"D'ya think you can make it like everybody's Uncle Sli?"

Slider spins the helmet around in thought. "I think it'll be possible Baby Goose. I think we paint it red and then pick one thing from everybody's helmet and paint it on here. Was thinking about it on the way over and I think I got it."

"Really?" Bradley grins, lighting up and scrambling off Ice's lap to Slider’s. They love seeing Bradley’s enthusiasm now that Slider has told him he won’t have to pick just one helmet to replicate.

"Yea. So I think we take and paint stripes just like your dad and Mav's have right through here," he says, showing Bradley where he'll put them on the front of the helmet. He points to the left side of the helmet next; "We put Sunny's sun back here.” He spins it pointing to the back next; “Then we'll take the lightning bolt from mine and Ice's and put it here coming off the stripes from the front. We can put Chip's blue circle and red lines here with it making it look like the lighting strike is hitting it. Then on this side," he points to the right side now, "we put Wood and Wolf's stars with Merlin's moon. This way the sun and night sky are on opposite sides."

Bradley was staring at him in wonder, making Slider grin and ruffle his hair. "What d'ya think kiddo?" Mav asks from his place on the couch beside Ice. Honestly he’s just as astonished as Bradley after listening to Slider’s ideas.

"I think it'll be cool!" All three chuckle quietly at Bradley's enthusiasm. "Go get Sli the paint and brushes we bought then," Ice tells him. Bradley shoots off like a rocket to get the supplies they'd bought last week.

"Thank god you picked the stars from Wood and Wolf. I was gonna kill you otherwise," Ice deadpans.

Mav and Slider crack up knowing the options on those two helmets were slim. "Such little faith in me," Slider says mock-offended.

"I just know you dickhead," Ice deadpans, drawing laughs from his wingman & RIO. They settle back down before Mav softly thanks Slider.

"You know we all love the kid too. Besides ain't much."

"Still. Appreciate it," Mav says, squeezing Slider’s shoulder as he cleans up their lunch.

"He good?" Slider mouths to Ice once Mav's in the kitchen.

Ice gives him a nod as Bradley runs back in. "Here ya go Uncle Sli," Bradley grins, flopping back in his lap after handing him the bag. "Am I gonna be in the way?"

"Not at all Baby Goose. You can help me paint it red." Ice gets some old newspapers to throw down so they don't get paint everywhere and then he and Mav relax on the couch watching Slider teach Bradley how to paint.

Bradley chatters all about school and his friends while he and Slider paint the helmet red. Mav ends up wandering off to the garage once most of the red is done and when Ice inclines his head that way Slider gives him a nod. Once Ice and Mav are gone, Bradley seems to get really quiet while they let the red paint dry.

"What's wrong, Gosling?" Slider asks as Bradley curls up in his lap.

Bradley bites his lip as he shakes his head reminding Slider so much of Mav in that moment. "Come on kiddo you know you can tell me anything."

Bradley sighs softly but gives a nod. He turns so his face is buried in Slider's chest before mumbling out "I think I'm making Uncle Mav sad."

Slider feels his heart clench tight as he rubs Bradley's back to comfort him. "Oh Baby Goose," he sighs. Ice had already given him a heads up about what Wood said yesterday as they were leaving the beach and this just added to it. Their Baby Goose was growing up and they were going to have to tell him some truths before too much longer.

"Mav might be a little sad, yea. But that is in no way your fault." He gently pulled Bradley's face up to loom at him. "It's not your fault Bradley. He just misses your dad and mom, just like all of us. And he's always going to be a little sad, but he loves you kiddo and you make him happy. That I can promise you."

Bradley sniffles a little but gives Slider a nod. "I miss mommy and daddy too. But I love all of you."

Slider smiles as he ruffles his hair. "We know Gosling. We love you too. Very much."

Bradley hugs Slider tight. "Uncle Sli?"

"Yea buddy?"

"Can I ask you somethin' before I ask Ice and Mav?"

"Always." Slider had no clue what he was fixing to be asked, but he would always be honest with the kid and Bradley knew it.

Bradley was biting his lip again and fiddling with the hem of his shirt as he thought about what he wanted to ask. "Last week at school we were working on family projects and I made this drawing - it's really cool!" His face broke into a grin at that making Slider smile too before the kid broke into the longest ramble Slider had ever heard from him.

"And I wanna give it to Uncle Mav and Ice but I don't wanna make Uncle Mav any sadder. Because… 'Cause…. When I drawed my family, I drawed him and Ice and me and it says my dad and my pops and me on it. And then I drawed all my uncles off to the side 'cause I didn't know where else to put everybody and Mav and Ice are like my dad and pops 'cause they're always here and do everything mommy and daddy used to do for me even though Ice can't stay every night which is dumb 'cause everything is better when Ice is here and Uncle Mav sleeps better and doesn't wake up screaming. And I didn't know how else to s'plain it to everybody so i just did it but I don't want Uncle Mav to be sad or upset and…"

"Bradley…. Buddy breathe," Slider said softly, pulling the kid into his chest. Bradley took a deep shuddering breath as Slider rubbed his back holding him tight to him. He let Bradley take a few deep breaths as he just held him before he pulled him back and cradled his cheeks. "Uncle Mav and Uncle Ice are going to be so honored you think of them like that buddy. And I know things have been hard since losing your dad and mom, and things are confusing to explain at your age. And I know it's not fair that Uncle Ice can't stay here every night and that it's hard to understand right now, but we're all so proud of you kiddo and how you've handled it."

"Are they gonna cry?" Bradley asks, biting his lip.

Slider chuckles softly before hugging Bradley tight. "Yea probably Gosling. But it'll be happy tears. I know that doesn't make sense right now but one day you'll understand. Would you feel better giving it to them while I'm still here?"

Bradley nods against Slider's chest.

"Alright why don't you go get it, and I'll go get Ice and Mav. Once we're done it should be time to finish your helmet."

Bradley nods again before wrapping his arms around Slider’s neck and hugging tight. "Thanks Uncle Sli," he whispers.

"Anytime Baby Goose. It's what I'm here for." Bradley gives him a grin before he scampers off to his room.

"Well fuck," Slider sighs, running a hand down his face. He pushes up off the floor and wanders off to the garage. Ice is sitting on the hood of his jeep while Mav tinkers on the bike. They both look up when they hear the door open.

"Alright listen and listen close," Slider starts grabbing both of their full attention. "Bradley has something he wants to give you both, and he's afraid it's going to make you even sadder - yes he's picked up on it," he says, answering the question on the tips of their tongues as if he's a mind reader. "But I did my best to explain that there's always going to be a hint of sadness because we all miss Goose and Carole. And because I'm the best friend either of you dumbasses are ever going to have, I'm going to go ahead and tell you what he's giving you so you're not blindsided. They did a family project thing at school last week and the kid drew a picture of his family labeling it uncles, dad, pops, and Bradley. He didn't know how else to explain it, and he thinks of you both that way. Now you're going to act surprised and when you both cry, yes you'll cry too Iceman, he'll understand it's happy tears because again I'm the best."

Mav and Ice are both like statues just staring at Slider. "Hell no wonder the kid was scared," he mutters under his breath. "Would you two pull it together," Slider groans.

Ice is the first to snap out of it, his eyes meeting Mav's. He's not the least bit surprised that Bradley thinks of Mav as dad, but to know the kid thinks of him the same way is flooring. "Mav?" He whispers, pulling his wingman into his arms and holding him tight.

Mav barely chokes back a sob as Ice holds him. Slider gives them a moment before trying to break the mood. "He also thinks it's dumb that Ice can't stay here every night, and quite frankly I'm starting to agree with the kid." He gives them the biggest grin and a shrug when Ice turns his icy glare on him. "No reason two young officers can't share a three bedroom house to save on rent. Happens all the time," he smirks before he turns and heads back into the house leaving the door open for them to follow.

Ice holds Mav a moment longer before he softly cradles his face. "You ok?" He whispers.

Mav gives him a shaky nod before burying his face back in Ice's neck. He breathes for another minute before he pulls back. "Yea…. Yea I'm ok. Just not sure how I got so lucky with you or Bradley. I miss them…. God do I miss them," he whispers. "But I feel so lucky to have the family I never thought I'd get."

Ice rubs under his eyes wiping the tears. "I know the feeling," he whispers. He gives Mav a quick peck on the lips; "Come on. Let's not keep our kid waiting," he grins. He laces fingers with Mav as they head into the house.

Bradley is curled up in Slider's lap clutching a piece of paper to his chest. "Hey Baby Goose. Sli says you have something for us," Mav smiles.

Bradley gives him a nod before looking up at Slider. Slider too gives him a nod and then Bradley is scrambling onto the couch between Ice and Mav. He's biting his lip and clutching the paper against his chest where they can't see it.

"Whatcha got there B?" Ice asks, gently pulling Bradley's lip from his teeth. He knows it's a habit the kid's picked up from Mav, and he's determined to break it in them both one way or another.

"A picture." Bradley is quiet for another minute before he meets both their eyes. "Last week at school we were working on family projects and I made this picture. I…. I didn't know how else to s'plain it to everybody that… that my family isn't like there's 'cause mommy and daddy are gone. But I tried…. And I…. I wanted to give this to you." He quickly shoves the picture between them and his lip goes back between his teeth.

Ice gently takes it as Mav settles Bradley in his lap. He wraps his arms around the little boy and he feels Bradley relax against his chest. Mav squeezes him tight as Ice turns the paper so Mav can see it too. Bradley feels Mav's sharp inhale, and he bites his lip harder until Uncle Mav buries his head in Bradley's hair and just breathes.

Uncle Ice has tears in his eyes and Bradley feels tears well up in his too. "I don't like making either of you sad," he starts before Mav hugs him tighter.

"We're not sad B," Ice murmurs, leaning over to wrap his arms around Bradley with Mav. "We're not sad at all."

"But you're crying," he whispers. Ice pulls back when he feels Mav trying to move and then Mav spins Bradley to face him. Mav softly brushes Bradley's bangs back before kissing his forehead.

"We're not sad Baby Goose. Knowing you think of us as dad and pops is an honor." He pulls Bradley in and hugs him close. "I know things are confusing and hard to explain, but we love you and you love us and we're a family. That's all that matters. No matter what you want to call us."

Bradley clings to Mav as he feels Ice rub his back. Bradley shudders some breaths into Mav's chest before he sits back up. "I know…." He bites his lip until both his uncles give him reassuring nods. "I know you're not my dad, but you both are always here and you do stuff mommy and daddy always did and…"

Ice leans over and ruffles Bradley's hair when he seems unable to finish voicing his thoughts. "We know B." He shares a look with Mav and when he gets a subtle nod he continues. "We would be honored to be your dad and pops."

Bradley gives them the biggest smile before trying to hug them both. Ice gives a soft chuckle before spinning and squishing Bradley between them in a hug. Bradley giggles into Mav's chest as he's squished between his two favorite people. "I love you both," he giggles, making all three men melt.

"We love you too Bradley," Mav murmurs, kissing his head.

"Alright Gosling ready for me to finish this helmet?"

Bradley turns in Mav's arms and gives Slider a grin. "Yea. I'll let you do it 'cause it'll be too hard for me." He turns to Ice next. "Can we put my patches on now?"

"Go get them Baby Goose."

Bradley squeals and launches off the couch to go get the patches and velcro they'd bought to put on the flight suit so they can reuse the patches if Bradley wants them on something else. Slider's sketching away on the helmet not paying Ice or Mav any attention as Mav buries his face in Ice's neck just breathing.

"You ok?" Ice murmurs, and Mav just nods. Ice gently rubs his back before kissing the top of his head. "We'll talk more later tonight," he promises, as they hear Bradley running back into the living room.

Bradley stops and peers over Slider's shoulder before climbing back on the couch with his flight suit and patches. Mav curls into the corner and watches Ice patiently help Bradley arrange patches all over his flight suit while Slider starts painting his designs on the helmet. He quietly gets up and grabs his Polaroid camera and snaps a picture of B and Ice with their heads bent together in concentration. He gives them a smirk when they both look up at him before he goes to put the picture on the fridge.

It's a productive afternoon and Slider gets the helmet done. Bradley is extremely ecstatic with how it turned out. He begs them to call the other flyboys to come over and see it, so Mav relents, unable to tell Bradley no. He orders pizza and they take Bradley out to throw baseball in the yard while they wait on the food, flyboys and helmet to dry.

The flyboys arrive at the same time as the pizza, and Bradley is so excited throwing himself at each of them for hugs even though he'd just seen them all at the beach yesterday. "Food first," Ice declares when Bradley tries to go for his costume.

He's slightly dejected but the idea of his favorite pizza is appealing, so he doesn't protest too much. They eat and talk about anything and everything, Bradley showing off his drawing now that he'd shown Ice and Mav. All the flyboys are honored and speechless and Bradley gets several tight hugs which make him giggle.

Once everyone is done and everything is cleaned up, Slider goes to help Bradley into his costume. Bradley wants it to be a surprise for Mav and Ice too, so he picks Slider to help him. They get him zipped into his flight suit and Sli double checks that the helmet is dry before settling it on Bradley's head.

"You're a mini aviator Baby Goose," Slider grins as he tries to hold back his tears. The kid looks so grown up.

"I need dog tags Uncle Sli. Mav's 'posed to be getting me some made but they're not here yet."

Slider chuckles as he slips his tags off and over Bradley's head. "There ya go. I'll get them back later."

"Thanks," Bradley grins. He holds his arms up for a hug and Slider picks him up hugging him tight. "Alright Gosling let's go show you off," he smiles. He sets Bradley down, and Bradley takes off into the living room.

"Surprise!" He yells, causing Slider to chuckle behind him. The living room goes quiet as the flyboys take it all in. "Uncle Sli gave me his tags til mine come in Mav," he grins. He slowly spins so they can see how Slider did his helmet before he jumps into Mav's lap.

He turns his eyes to Slider when no one has said anything yet. "Uncle Sli," he says, his little lip trembling.

"It's alright Bradley. Just a lot for them to take in," Slider reassures as he shoots them all looks.

Ice is the first to recover of course. "Slider’s right baby." He pulls Bradley into his lap giving him a hug as Mav tries to hide his tears from the kid. "You look like a true aviator, and so grown up. You're not going to be our Baby Goose much longer."

"I'll always be your baby goose," he declares which seems to break the rest of them out of their shock. They pass him around, each one of them taking time to inspect the helmet and his patches. Bradley is so proud of it, and they all love how wonderful it turned out. By eight that night Bradley is fading quick, so the flyboys all head out after goodbye hugs. Slider leaves with them, giving Ice and Mav reassuring hugs, knowing they have a lot to talk about after this weekend. "If you need me to get him from school tomorrow just say the word," he tells them and then he's gone.

Ice creeps down the hall to Bradley's room where Mav is helping him store his costume and get ready for bed. "You're not still sad are you Uncle Mav."

"Not in the least buddy." He tucks Bradley in and kisses his forehead. "I'm really proud of you kiddo. You're growing up too fast on me."

Bradley untucks and crawls into Mav's lap as Ice props up in the doorway to watch. "I'm really glad I can be an a-a-aviator this year," he says around a yawn.

"I know you are B. Your daddy would've loved to seen you as one too."

"I know. I know you miss him and mommy… I do too." He snuggles against Mav's chest. "But I love you and pops and the flyboys and our family."

"Oh kiddo… we love you too, so much." Mav softly kisses Bradley's head as he rocks him side to side. "Sweet dreams baby goose," he whispers, tucking Bradley back in. Ice quietly walks over seeing Bradley's eyes close. He helps Mav tuck him in and then kisses his forehead before following Mav back out the door.

The next week flies by, and before they know it Halloween is upon them, and their house is chaos with all the flyboys waiting on Bradley to get in his costume to go trick or treating. Since they're all on shore leave besides Mav and Ice, they all got into their flight suits at the house while Ice helped Bradley into his. "I'm ready," he shouted once in the living room.

"Picture first," Slider declared. He grabbed Mav's Polaroid and snapped a few before he made all the flyboys bunch up, Bradley in Ice's arms to get a picture of them all. Bradley giggled watching Slider try to bunch them together and use his long arm to snap a picture, and it turned out precious.

They take Bradley around the neighborhood that Mav's off-base house was in, before they went on base. Bradley's costume was a big hit on base, and the flyboys even saw Viper wiping a tear even though no one would call him on it. By the end of the night Bradley was tuckered out and fast asleep on Hollywood's shoulder. They got back to the house and Mav carefully took him while Ice took the candy to the kitchen. They let the guys get anything they wanted knowing there was no way Bradley would eat it all.

Mav carefully changes B out of his flight suit, thanking Ice for thinking ahead and putting his pajamas underneath it, and tucking him in. Bradley murmurs a quiet "love you dad," before he turns over grabbing his stuffed plane and falling right back asleep. It was definitely a successful holiday this year with many more to come.

#top gun #top gun fic #tg #tg fic #icemav #icemav fic #baby bradley fic #halloween fic #my writing #flyboys

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digital-chance · 10 months

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Author Ask Tag Game

thank you @rmgrey-author for the tag!

I'll be using "you still would've been mine" for this. Template beneath cut.

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it? I would say that the main lesson is anti-war. I heard once that all war movies are anti-war, and I'd even extend it to writings. Showing war and showing the impact of it on society and overall life is not only exactly what I want to show but also a huge part of anti-war. // I chose that theme because I was thinking about Captain America and his timeline. He went into a war and woke up and had to continue fighting for SHIELD. It didn't seem like he got much of a break. And also I didn't like how Endgame happened. It was too sudden and implausible and pissed me off. He deserves a break but I really wanted to do it my way.

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)? tumblr, pinterest, webcomics, sometimes kdramas or tv series. inspiration comes and goes at the most random of times so I honestly can't quite say for sure. i also have shitty memory so idk haha

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person? Cap is the main MC and the main POV of the fanfic and he is trying to achieve balance after being thrown out of time. I hope to show people his recovery and stabilization and to show people how that process is different for each person. Bucky is the other MC/POV and with him I wanted to show that self-forgiveness and being able to let things go is important.

How many chapters is your story going to have? I have literally no idea. It'll have as many as it needs. Hopefully it'll be an even number.

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it? It's fanfiction and I'll post it on ao3, here, and maybe wattpad too.

When and why did you start writing? I started writing initially as a kid because I wanted to read a story and no-one else would be able to write it like how i wanted it.

Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow? Just write. Literally just open up a word document and write shit down. It doesn't have to be any good quality content, but it is something. I've learned with art and again with writing that the empty page is worse than literal scribbles or ramblings. Using brackets [] as placeholders is also a useful way to keep this flow. // I follow quite a few writeblrs. I tend to tag the writeblrs I follow in most tag games and the ones below are just part of the amazing community on here. The one section of writeblr i heavily depend on are all those writing prompts. I love you guys and couldn't do this without you <3

gently tagging : @tea-and-mercury, @scribbling-stardust , @anonymousfoz , @squarebracket-trick , @leisoree , @bethodical , @mthollowell-writes , @all-write , @karolinarodrigueswrites , @janec23 , & @daughter-of-inklings

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

How many chapters is your story going to have?

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

When and why did you start writing?

Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

#tag game #wip: ysbwm #love you guys #writeblr

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tavyliasin · 4 months

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Welcome, Raphael Fans ;)

My little ramble may have resonated a bit, so I feel like recklessly re-sharing my Fiend-centric Fic Chapters~ I will likely just update and reblog this as needed. This is taking forever to check over to compile... This should be a relatively comprehensive list and is 99% NSFW so 18+ only. Links currently will take you to the chapters on Tumblr, but my newer side blog @atavsguide will be reposting anything from my ongoing fic work as FULL chapters every day for the next couple of weeks~ That side blog is only being used for full chapter reblogs so those without AO3 have somewhere to read them, and I might make a second one for the other one shots etc~

Chapters from A Tav's Guide

ATG is my ongoing fic centred on f!Tav x Astarion until the act 2 conversation, where they agree that love and lust can be entirely separate, allowing Tav to explore other opportunities for sex with the arrangement that she will write about it in her diary to share later. Rough premise, I know, but it works to allow a fun and smutty story~ Raphael and Haarlep feature a fair few times so far, especially when their appearances were far too fun.

ATG 4 - Dream? Nightmare.

Tav is having trouble sleeping, but eventually manages to drift off. Her dreams, however, are far from restful when a certain devil decides to dance through her sleep. CW and Tags - None, aside from mild powerplay dynamics. ---

ATG 7 - Love? Lust.

Raphael needs to let off some steam, and if there's one thing Haarlep knows it is exactly how to do it. There's no room for any emotional connection beyond pure undiluted physical desire, wants tempted and needs met, and it seems a raised temper can indeed spice things up a little. CW and Tags - Hate sex, Brat Raphael, Dom Haarlep, light BDSM, oral sex, biting, bondage ---

ATG 9 - Mouse? Rat.

Tav breaks in to the House of Hope desperate for help, but all she finds is...Raphael? No, that's not him... Haarlep is bored, but luckily a Little Mouse stumbles in to their room, lost and alone. But are they a Mouse? Or perhaps more of a Rat? Tav discovers the downsides to avarice and hubris, biting off far more than she can chew this time. Part 1 of 2 CW and Tags - BDSM, Aphrodisiacs, Bratty Tav, Dom Haarlep, bondage, whipping, mild blood

ATG 10 - Cat? Claw.

Part 2 of 2 Raphael arrives back in his boudoir to find Haarlep busy with an uninvited guest, one who has taken in far too much aphrodisiac and requires relief from that particular issue. He is loathe to help, but Haarlep has their ways to convince him. CW and Tags - BDSM, bondage, group sex, power play, aftercare, transforming during sex,

ATG 11 Deal? Done.

Part 1 of 2 Haarlep is bored again, and finds a fun little scroll to use with Tav. But it'll take a deal before the plan can work fully... Tav finds herself enticed by an interesting prospect, and decides to put her own spin on the deal before her. CW and Tags - Shape changing, power play, BDSM

ATG 12 - Friday? Freaky.

Part 2 of 2 Raphael comes home to find the "Archduchess" mocking him as usual, despite not asking Haarlep to take that form. Still, he is easily mislead by clever words and an illusion that none of them will soon forget. Tav plays her part well and is rewarded by an intense night of pleasure, and the sight of Raphael on his knees before her is a more than pleasant bonus. CW and Tags - Alter Self, threeway sex, bondage, power play, tails, switching, Dom Tav, sub Tav, Dom Raphael, sub Raphael, Dom Haarlep, body double, aftercare

Tricks and Treats in the House of Hope - An ATG Side Story, Halloween Special

Not placed in the main timeline, this is after a point where Halsin and Astarion are firmly in a poly relationship with Tav and both comfortable in sex. Meant to be a Halloween Special short it ran long. Haarlep holds a costume party, where almost everyone is invited. The guests quickly remember their host is an incubus as the events take a turn for the delicious. CW and Tags - Sex toys, group sex, biting, blood, double penetration, BDSM, heavier bondage, brat, brat taming, costumes, orgy

ATG Winter Holiday Special - The Fiend's Feast

Another special so not in the timeline, but after the Halloween special. Haarlep is hosting another party, and even though they knew what to expect this time the guests are still caught by surprise with a few little gifts from the incubus. CW and Tags - group sex, orgy, bondage, power play, biting, blood, control, mild knife play

ATG Side Story - Villain? Saviour.

The last side story so far, Raphael swoops in at the last moment to save Tav from an untimely demise, and finds himself...caring? No, that can't be right...can it? A softer side to Raphael, until he realises the incubus has poisoned the healing potions with their devious plans. CW and Tags - implied aphrodisiac, power play, hurt/comfort, willpower bondage

The Prequel Series - Scent of Cinnamon

With only 2 chapters so far (but more to follow), this is my newest series, a prequel to the games intending to follow from the first meeting of Raphael and Haarlep until the beginning of the game. It may synch to ATG canon, but will otherwise focus far more on the Cambion and the incubus and the relationship they share.

The Cambion, The Gift, and The Contract

The very first meeting, also establishing Haarlep before they became Haarlep and what they looked like. The incubus steps in to the mansion in Avernus to meet their new Master, the one they've been sent to spy on, carrying nothing but the clothes on their back and specific instructions. They don't even have a name any more, trading everything away for the promise of far greater rewards if they succeed. Meanwhile, a young Raphael does not have time or patience to entertain the idea of another attempted distraction, until they both realise there might just be a way that both can get what they want. All it takes is a little contract... CW and Tags - Mostly talking but sets up the premise, slow burn, devilish deals

The Contract, The Kiss, and The Cambion’s Pride

The talking is over, the deal must now be seen through. Raphael gets a taste of what the incubus can do, while the newly named Haarlep claims ownership of their own Master, ensuring he will remember every inch of their body when they give it up to become his double as they both agreed. This includes Haarlep giving Raphael a taste of both forms they can take, to ensure nothing about them can be forgotten. CW and Tags - Oral sex, mild choking, genderfluid character, changing physical form, power play, BDSM, sub!Raphael, Dom!Haarlep, rough oral sex, mild blood, light choking

One Shots and Shorts

Short Drabbles (Mixed)

These are all mixed chapters, but several feature Raphael and/or Haarlep. Many are only a few paragraphs or a page at most. Tavs are unique to these works and not part of continuity Brat Raphael - Haarlep lacks patience. How To Tease A Devil - f!Tav and Haarlep enjoy playing with a submissive Raphael. Raphael Being Bad At Sex - f!Tav finally gets to sleep with Raphael instead of Haarlep and finds it isn't the same. Self Indulgence With Devils - Raphael and Haarlep tease f!Tav The Devil On Your Shoulder - Second Person, Haarlep helps inspire "you" to write. The Muse's Return - Second Person, "you" have been struggling to write recently, but luckily Haarlep is home to help... Confession: The Devil Gets His Due - inspired by a confession blog, power bottom Dom!Raphael demands m!Tav satisfies him. The Shrew Who Tamed The Incubus - Haarlep is surprised by m!OC Shrew as he seeks only warmth and care, not sex. Soft, warm, loving...Haarlep is confused but fine with it. The Morning After The Artist's Dreams - Inspired by a Tumblr artist. An artist wakes up in Haarlep's bed to find the incubus perched on the end suggestively. ---

Gala of the Damned

Raphael needs to attend a ball for the powerful and influential fiends of the Nine Hells, but he needs a date. Haarlep reluctantly takes on their Archduchess form, wearing a corset and overall far too many clothes for their liking. Later, Haarlep makes a corset out of Raphael with cruel metal hooks and ribbon, taking what they feel is owed for the night. CW and Tags - BDSM, power play, bondage, hooks, piercings, pain play

The Mouse Trap

f!Tav goes a little far in pushing Raphael, working to her favour as he shows a far more dominant side. CW and tags - Dom!Raphael, BDSM, Pain Play, blood, brat, impatient sex, power play

The Sleepless Dream

2nd person short fic, where Haarlep is "your" sleep paralysis demon. CW and Tags - Insomnia, Teasing, Power play

----------------------------- ----------------------------- COMPLETE LIST AS OF 4th January 2024 ----------------------------- -----------------------------

For a full list of ALL of my works, including word counts, pairings, and summaries, please check out my Carrd! I keep it up to date with each new link.

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oldmagpie · 2 years

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number 5: tagging

Whether AO3 or Tumblr, tagging is so damn important it might as well be an unskippable box. Wish it was, really. So what is tagging, why tag and how do you tag?

I’m fairly sure I’m repeating not only myself but a thousand other exasperated people, including almost certainly the brilliant AO3tagoftheday account. But the simple answers are:

Tagging is a list of individual search terms that are attributed to your work. Tag so that people can find your stuff who want to, and so people can avoid it who want to. Tag the things that are in your fic, and don’t tag things that aren’t. If it is useful to help someone find your fic or to know to avoid it, tag it.

In more depth:

Tagging is your way of listing the things in the fic. Whether that be a pairing it covers, the genre, some tropes, elements of the plot or setting, or simply a good ramble. It can actually function as its own sort of blurb for the fic itself, giving an insight into the story that will happen at a glance. On AO3 there are distinct sections (pairing, characters, and ‘other tags’) which give you an outline for putting some things in, but there are some disagreements over what belongs where sometimes. I’ll cover that below in the how to.

Why tag? Because readers want to know what they’re getting into. They might be specifically searching for something they want to read, or they might just be curious and find your tags interesting and click where they might have passed by otherwise, or they may see a tag that contains something they very much don’t want to read and know to avoid it. Your tags are not there to trick people into reading your fic, they’re there to inform the reader what’s inside. It’s entirely unlike irl books, but the system is so useful that it has been growing in popularity with irl book readers, and there are sites you can look up a book and see its tags before buying, the same as some sites exist to do the same for films.

How to tag is the thing people don’t seem to understand. It’s fairly simple once you get into it. Firstly you put the pairing, then the characters. Simple, right? Well, until you get into minor appearances and background relationships and the like. For these two you need to consider your readers. Someone searching the minor character tag will see your fic and read it, will they be pleased or disappointed that you were recommended to them to read and their character only appeared for a few lines? In that case put something along the lines of ‘cameo by X’ or ‘minor/background X’ in the ‘other tags’ section, so people can still see that it’s in there, but there won’t be any confusion about what the story is actually about. This goes for pairings as well. Other things to put in the tags, is the setting (the Alternate Universe: X tags are very extensive by now), the style or genre (or give a sense of this with other tags, list a few things like ‘first kiss’, ‘romance’ and ‘meet cute’ and people will know it isn’t a murder mystery), and then any notable elements. Is there a dog companion? Great! Tag them! A particular focus on food as a method of therapy? Tag it! Aliens? Tag! And that goes for warnings too. You don’t need to list everything out as a warning, someone might be looking for that kind of story. It isn’t putting people off or damning anyone that includes that thing to tag it, it’s simply a statement of content. Are there guns and warfare? Tag them! Unhealthy relationships? Tag!

There are also what we might call main content warnings, which are right at the start. You have the option between ‘chose not to use’ which implies a fic could include any of the above but doesn’t want to disclose (and which a fic defaults to if you don’t pick any), ‘no warnings apply’ which tells a reader none of the above apply, or those above options, which range from character death to non consensual sex. You can also put these into the other tag section if you choose, why not double up? Tagging is all about being honest and on the safe side, for the sake of your readers. Don’t want angry comments? Tag properly. Want to be found by readers looking for your niche content? Tag! Want to be searchable down the line for someone with a list of search tags and filters a mile long? T a g.

This isn’t even a recommendation, it’s essentially an order. Tag your shit. Everyone benefits, especially you.

#magpie's pet fandom peeves #less a peeve and more an instruction manual #okay no it's also a peeve #is it so hard #there are thousands of how to guides out there by now #but pls just be better #and don't tag with something there isn't #don't do it

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anime-grimmy-art · 3 years

Photo

What do you do when there’s not much to an AU? You make up your own stuff, ofc. And as is per usual when I make Character Designs, I make up a shit ton of lore too.

The ramblings under the cut, but what I’m really interested in, is what you guys think. Do you guys have any headcanons/ideas for this AU? Let me hear them! Also, if you don’t wanna read on tumblr, here’s the Google Docs link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/151yshHxnb_--P6eMKkwkI2dee9xC_Llb/view?usp=sharing

Before I get into the characters’ roles, here’s some general facts and backstory of their town:

- Basically, it’s Undertale meets Harvest Moon / Stardew Valley. Well, kinda. I at least used that approach for coming up for the jobs for the characters. You know, how there’s always a general store, a doctor, a smithy, etc.

- The usual story of a HM game is that you come to a town that’s way past its glory days and you, as the player/farmer, help them get back to that. The “backstory” of the town is that that already kinda happened. I’ll get into it more in the character description, but basically when Asgore was still mayor, the town got really popular. Then yadda yadda, a certain tragedy happened, two kids died, and the town suddenly got very bad publicity. There was a lot of stuff going on back then, bad reputation being spread and also a lot of law stuff, cos, you know, supposed child murder ‘n all, so Asgore made the decision to shut off the town to ppl from outside. This was in the interest of most monsters living there, because as fun as it is to have a lot of people coming there, most just wanted to live a quiet life. Not everyone was happy with that though, so many moved away from town and some others are trying to get the town back on its feet. But more on that later.

On to the characters:

I’m just gonna start with the skelebros, cos it’s their fault in the first place I got so invested.

Basically, they are what the player is in hm/sdv. They just showed up one day, took over the abandoned farmhouse and began their life there. The two came to town way after it was “closed” and since then a new mayor has opened the possibility for new residents to move in. Their farm helps the economy of the town a lot and the mayor, like usually in hm games, is trying to use that to make the town more known again. The skelebros aren’t really working towards that goal however.

So, now a bit more detail on them individually.

Papyrus:

- The design is mostly based on what’s “canon” in this au.

- He works mostly on the fields and is in charge of the crops. Their fields aren’t spectacularly big, but still big enough to plant a few dozen rows of veggies.

- Paps also helps out a lot in town when he has the time. He helps Asgore with his plants, he goes fishing with Undyne, helps Toriel carry crates around and so on. This is inspired by the part-time job mechanic in HM ToT.

- Unbelievably, in this AU Pap is not an absolutely awful cook. Since he helps out at Muffet’s and Grillby’s a lot, they tend to show him some tricks to cooking. Even though Pap’s not a big fan of the greasy or overly sweet cooking those two do, he picks up a lot.

Sans:

- Again, design mostly based on the “canon” look. Maybe a bit more baggy.

- This is finally an AU this dude gets to rest. Since there are no resets and he doesn’t have to see his bro die again and again, for once in his life, he’s not a sad ball of depression. He’s just a chill and lazy dude that loves to make puns. Though, since he’s not too experienced with the feelings of loss, helplessness or grieving, he still tends to hide behind puns and fakes smiles if he does feel bad.

- Sans is in charge of the animals on the farm. Papyrus begrudgingly gave him that role since Pap’s loud demeanour and hectic movements usually scare the animals. Sans’ relaxed attitude draws the animals to him naturally and even if Pap mostly finds him sleep against a tree, in a stack of hay or on one of the sheep, the animals are always fed, healthy and relaxed, so Sans seems to be doing his job.

- Sans always has a small chic sit inside his hoodie or hat. Is it always the same one? Who knows, maybe.

- Sans also, somehow, can produce eggs out of thin air. Grab into his hoodie pocket, in his pants pocket, in his hat, in his slipper, there’s suddenly always an egg there. On good days he can even make butter or cheese appear.

Gaster:

- He’s literally just a scarecrow in this. Though, if you ask any of the bros why they designed their scarecrow that way, they won’t have an answer.

Frisk&Toriel:

- Frisk is mostly based on what I wore myself as a kid in summer. Just a loose shirt with a cappy. Toriel basically has her ut gown, just with an apron on top.

- Frisk just appeared outside the “magical” forest one day. Napstablook and his cousin found them and brought them to Toriel, who has been taking care of them since.

- Toriel runs the general store in town, but also often takes care of the few kids that still live there.

- Frisk usually helps out in Toriels store, plays with the other kids or sits around at Asgore’s. They’re notorious for nabbing small snacks, mostly from Asgore’s plants. You’ll always find them munching on something.

- Frisk was in town before the skelebros. Since they’d moved in, Frisk often went to spy on their farm. After a small incident with angry chicken, Frisk got to know the two better and now they see them as something between brothers and uncles.

- But Frisk honestly gets along with everyone. Just like in UT, they’ve not only been adopted by Toriel but literally everyone.

- Toriel and Asgore’s relationship is not as bad as in the main game, since, you know, Asgore didn’t kill literal children, but there’s still tension between them. Back when Asriel and Chara died and the whole thing with the bad rep for the town began, Toriel felt betrayed by Asgore focusing more on the town than giving their deceased kids the grieving they deserved. They’re not divorced, but Toriel still moved out and said needed space to think. Now that Frisk is in the picture though, the both of them are slowly coming to even ground and may even be able to talk things out and clear up the uncertainty of their decisions.

Asgore:

-Asgore has his UT Ending / Deltarune clothes, just with a gardener’s belt.

- He’s the previous mayor of the town, but after all the crap that happened, he stepped down from the position. Now he has his own little shop and sells seeds, saplings, homegrown veggies and fertilizer. So, basically what e.g. the Marimba Farm is in HM AP

- His main customer is Papyrus and they’re on friendly terms. Asgore is worried about how much and how hard Pap works, so he often gives him a discount.

- Since his family’s past tragedy, Asgore is kind of nervous around kids. So, when he first met Frisk, he hoped they’d not visit him too often. But to his chagrin, Frisk took an instant liking to him and spends a lot of time at his shop (and steals eats the fresh grown veggies). Now, he’s really grateful for that, because for one, he loves Frisk as dearly as he had his own children, and also because now the tension and mistrust between him and Toriel seem to grow smaller day by day.

Undyne&Alphys:

- I gave Undyne a pretty basic fisher’s outfit. Alphys basically has Elli from HM’s outfit, just a bit more doctory stuff added. She still has her canon lab coat too.

- In essence, Undyne and Alphys have 2 completely different jobs. Alphys is the resident doctor and Undyne runs the fish market.

Two things. Yes, I know Alphys is more a mechanic than a doctor, she fits the aesthetic though, so she’s the doc now. And no, Undyne being a fisherwoman is not cannibalism, think of it more as a shark hunting smaller fish.

- The reason I lump them together is because they act as the local “smithy”. Alphys is still really tech savvy in this (I mean, Mettaton is still part of this AU), so she takes on most problems with electronics and stuff. For Undyne, I didn’t want to lose her Royal Guard’s Captain image, so she’s really good at handling tools (and weapons, but Al doesn’t let her make them anymore). So basically, if there’s a broken tool, you can be sure that either Undyne or Alphys can fix it.

- As for relationships, those two are still an item. Alphys is still really shy and a shut-off, but since Undyne and Pap become best friends, she gets to know the skelebros better. She and Sans especially get along well, since most of the time Undyne and Papyrus are let loose, they sit back and talk about science-y stuff. (no, Sans doesn’t have a background in science but he’s still into sci-fi)

- Alphys has a bit of a strained relationship with both Asgore and Mettaton.

Back when Chara and Asriel died, it was because of “illness” (maybe poisoning?). Alphys feels awful because with her back then limited knowledge on medicine she couldn’t help the two. Asgore doesn’t hold anything against her but Alphys can’t help but feel guilty.

Alphys still built Mettaton’s body in this one. The two had a really big disagreement, because Mettaton hated the fact the town was going to close, and he couldn’t understand how Alphys could feel otherwise, even more so endorse the idea.

Mettaton, Napstablook, Mad Dummy/Mew Mew:

- Napsta and Dummy are pretty self-explanatory, they got straw hats. Mettaton’s outfit is a bit of a joke cos it’s a play on “work at the top and party at the bottom”. The tie has two different sides, one with the yellow red pattern, the other completely red. His “top part” is the business part, because when he’s on tv or in the mayors’ office, you don’t usually see his feet. The bottom is his party/dance part, cos his dancing/entertainment channels mostly feature his legs.

- Mettaton, still a robot, Napstablook and Mad Dummy are all still cousins in this AU.

- Originally, they all lived and worked at the Blook Farm, the Animal Farm of this AU. Mettaton, however, despised that simple live and after befriending Alphys and her building him a body, he left the Farm to pursue bigger things.

- Mettaton runs the local tv network. From weather to game shows, he does it all. He also runs the tailor shop in town that sells his designer clothes and merchandise. After Asgore stepped down, Mettaton also took over the role of town’s mayor and now works towards making the place more known again. Not everybody is happy with him doing that though.

- One of those people is the Mad Dummy. He can’t stand people anyways and he always claims that history would just repeat itself.

- Since the whole family is made of ghosts, they have different dummies and scarecrows they can use to take care of the animals. To mock Mettaton and kinda get back at Alphys for giving MTT such an opportunity, Mad Dummy found the blueprints for the Mew Mew robot and now modelled one of their scarecrows after it.

- Napstablook isn’t fond of taking over obejcts like his cousins do, so he mostly takes care of the snails. Somehow, he can interact with them even when incorporeal.

Muffet&Grillby:

- The two of them run the Inn together. Muffet cooks in the daytime and makes desserts, Grillby manages the bar in the evening.

- The two still can’t really stand each other but working together like this benefits them both because their rivalry just spurs them on more.

- Even though Grillby is a patient person, somehow Muffet is the only person who riles him up enough to retaliate. (Well, maybe except for Sans, he’s a strong second).

So, basically everything between those two is a challenge in some way. Even if Papyrus doesn’t notice, even his cooking lessons are a challenge for them.

- Even though they’re constantly bickering, after working together for so many years, there’s a strange level of respect and trust between them. Even if back when they first started this business, they’d pour salt into an already open wound, nowadays they’d know better and just take a step back from the other or even comfort the other (on very rare occasions only).

Asriel&Chara:

- They be dead. Kinda.

Some Characters that’d live in that town too but that I haven’t made designs for:

- Gerson is the original smithy of the town. He’d grown up in a family of smiths, but he’d always had an appreciation for the sea. That’s why, when the town became more deserted and Undyne had a good enough skill level as smith, he took up the Captains hat and now mostly spends his days out on sea. He also ferries people to places if they need him to. Oh, and just like in canon, Undyne learned most of her skills from him.

- Burgerpants is a poor dude Mettaton basically kidnapped when he was trying to get fame in the city. Now Burgerpants works wherever MTT needs him to, be that as cameraman for the tv shows, cashier in his tailor shop or his slave secretary in the mayor’s office.

- MK is Frisk’s best kid friend. MK’s parents are in charge of shipping the goods out of town and paying the individual people. MK’s the one that usually collects the goods at the end of the day.

- Other than that, there are only a few people in town. I’d imagine the older folks or the really young families stayed in town after it was closed. I think the librarby dude would still run the library. Some Snowdin residents like the stone family or the dogs also might still live there.

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siswritesyanderes · 3 years

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I've always wanted Yandere Edmund, who is the King of Winter. Jadis just didn't betray him and in fact made him her successor because she didn't have much time and she was dying. And the reader appeared in Narnia like the Pevensie siblings through the wardrobe. Edmund would have fallen in love quickly enough and would like to make her his queen.

Oh, this is so good. Also cool because the story of Narnia relies on pitting pure evil against pure good, and since pure evil can't comprehend love, pure good has to win (by the machinations of "deep magic" Aslan references). But impure evil, with some comprehension of love and the power it wields over Narnia and its inhabitants, could have won that fight. A Jadis who understood what a sacrifice from Aslan would mean, or just the fact that the other Pevensies could never have fought against Edmund in a real battle, would have been significantly better-off than canon Jadis. Obviously, the idea that the Evil Cannot Comprehend Good trope places evil at a disadvantage isn't a new one, but it made me start to think about the metaphysical workings of Narnia, and I'll probably be pondering it for a while. Like, Pure Evil can't win, but can Pure Good? Is that why Aslan needed the Pevensies? Impure good will beat pure evil? Maybe both Aslan and Jadis tried to dilute their own respective attributes by involving humans, but because Jadis was pure evil, she also betrayed him, guaranteeing her own defeat. And that's just from the perspective of Aslan being pure, objective good by the rules of the universe. I'm rambling; here's the yandere stuff.

(I've seen people use gifs for their Tumblr fics, and I might start doing that, too...Man, Younger Me had such a crush on Edmund.)

A son of Adam had taken the throne, almost as the prophecy had foretold.

The White Witch's eternal winter had not ended, though the White Witch herself had. At least, she had "gone away", not exactly dead but not present in the physical way. With a son of Adam ruling Narnia in her name, she didn't have to manifest physically, any more than Aslan would under the rule of his chosen "heroes". (None of whom had stayed in Narnia. Eventually, they'd given up on trying to sway their brother. There hadn't been much of a choice.)

You knew nothing of Narnia, of course. All that you knew was that there wasn't supposed to be an icy forest at the back of this vintage wardrobe. You wandered deeper, mainly because you expected to find a wall, or at least an explanation as to how this trick was being done.

But the farther you walked from the opening of the wardrobe, the more it seemed like this was a real forest, and real snow, and a real...lamppost.

You didn't plan to stay long, so you didn't bring a coat.

It didn't feel that cold, anyway.

At first.

By the time you got to the point of both 'No, there are no walls, this is in fact a forest' and 'Yes, the snowy woods are, in fact, cold', you had trouble finding your way back to the lamppost and the wardrobe.

You didn't think it was entirely your fault, either; you had walked in pretty much a straight line, but somehow all of the trees you'd passed seemed to be elsewhere on the way back, and making sure that you passed the same trees only drove you deeper into the woods.

Eventually, you heard the faint sound of sleigh bells.

You moved in the direction of the sound and shortly crossed paths with a large, white sleigh pulled by large, white horses. You stumbled out of the way, but the vehicle merely pulled to a stop.

Riding the sleigh (or driving it, you supposed) was a lean young man who looked as though the sun's rays hadn't touched his skin in years. In stark contrast to his pallor, dark-brown locks framed his face, streaked and tipped though they were (in places) with frost. He wore extravagant furs, and under them, a tunic and sash like a fairy tale prince. He even had a white crown on his head, though it was as difficult to look at as snow in bright daylight.

It seemed that you ought to ask him for help getting back to your home, or at least tell him that you were lost, but something made you hesitate. His eyes were a pleasant shade of brown, but they seemed sharp, and wickedly intelligent, and dancing with mirth. He hadn't reacted to finding you in his path. Not with surprise or concern or anything. Just a smooth expression and that sharp, mirthful gaze.

Your shivering won out, however.

"I'm lost," you said, lamely, your breath visible in front of your face as you spoke.

The princely young man tilted his head, and for a second it seemed he might say nothing. Then a silvery voice left his mouth: "How dreadful."

You could have sworn that the forest itself quieted when he spoke. No creature moved. No tree swayed with the breeze. No snowflake dared to touch down. The wind held its breath.

"You must be freezing." The young man smiled, but it was very slight; barely a muscle moved in his face. If anything, it contributed to the general look of lofty amusement. "Come here; I can get you warm."

You hesitated. This was all so surreal. A man in a sleigh in a wardrobe. And the way he waited; he didn't move towards you, didn't ask you any questions or offer any information. He just presented his offer and waited.

You succumbed, because you were cold and couldn't find your home.

As you climbed up into the sleigh, the young man's smile grew and then softened, and he wrapped his furs around you, and pressed a silver chalice of something warm and sweet-smelling into your hands. You didn't drink it; it felt good enough just to hold.

"The trees told me that someone new had entered my woods," he intimated. There were flecks of snow in his dark eyelashes, which seemed not to bother him. "Narnia hasn't seen a daughter of Eve in many moons." He raised his hand a bit, to nudge the chalice to your lips. He wore a ring on almost every finger; they were as bright as his crown.

Before you fully processed it, you were drinking the warm beverage. It was like hot chocolate, but not quite. Hot chocolate, but a little to the left. Warmth passed down your throat, to your stomach, and then radiated out to your skin all at once.

"My wardrobe wasn't supposed to have a forest in it," you said.

His smile grew still more, now baring his rows of pearly teeth. "You should rest, now."

"No, I'm...supposed to go home," you said. Then: "Can I have some more hot chocolate?"

He poured you more.

(You weren't sure why he didn't correct you about what this drink was called. You knew that it wasn't really hot chocolate, but he didn't correct you.)

The king raised his hand, and the horses started to walk, despite the fact that they were facing the opposite direction and the king hadn't made any sound.

"I'm supposed to go back to the wardrobe," you repeated. "I don't know why all of this was here, to begin with..."

He didn't answer. He listened to your rambling.

"Where am I?" you finally asked.

"You're in Narnia. The magical realm of which I am king."

"King?" you echoed. A shift in the lighting drew your attention to your surroundings; there was less shade, because there were fewer trees. That wasn't right. You weren't supposed to be leaving the forest; the wardrobe was in the forest, and the wardrobe was your way home.

Also you were out of hot chocolate again.

"Can I have some more hot chocolate?"

"Later," the king said.

You found that, without the beverage to keep you warm, the wind seemed to bite at you harder and harder, the farther you sat from the king. You leaned as closely against his side as your modesty allowed, and he kept his furs around you, and the cold was bearable, but your nose was already starting to feel congested.

The king trailed his fingertips over the curve of your wrist. He stared at the site of contact as though fascinated. "I've not touched another human since my siblings left," he mused. Each time he spoke, it seemed as though he were making a weighty decision. As if he didn't usually speak aloud but was choosing to make an exception just this once. As if his very words were indulgences that he was offering you, the value of which could not be matched in gold. "I've not asked anyone's name for longer still. Everything and everyone in Narnia, I have the power to name myself. When I am bored, I name the snowflakes."

"Is that a castle?" you asked, sitting forward to squint at the horizon, and then recoiling back into the king's arms when the chill of winter hit you all at once.

"My castle," the king replied. "There is more hot chocolate inside."

You sighed at the thought.

For a while, the king silently moved his lips, as though framing a word that was so impossibly important that he refused to say it aloud without rehearsal. At last it left him: "Edmund. I was called Edmund, before I was called the king."

"Edmund?" you repeated. "That's a nice name. My name is-"

"Don't you listen?" The king smirked impishly. "It's been such a while since I've had to repeat myself. Everything and everyone in Narnia, I have the power to name myself. I will give you your name."

You frowned a bit, at this, but you felt viscerally that you shouldn't argue until you knew a bit more. As mild-tempered as the king seemed, you were getting the impression that he wielded a dangerous amount of power. Something about the wind going quiet when he spoke gave you a healthy wariness.

"The door to Narnia was opened to you," he continued, pensively. "This land always delivers me just what I want."

This comment made you particularly uncomfortable. As the king showed no signs that he planned to elaborate on this or the naming thing, you turned to look again in the direction of the castle.

"Oh!" you exclaimed. "That's a lot of statues."

It was a veritable forest of them. Some were humanoid with some animal features, and others were animals in their entirety. All were incredibly detailed and posed in different ways. They lined the path to the palace on both sides.

The king lifted a scepter that you hadn't noticed was propped at his other side and laid it across his lap and yours. "Do you like them?" he asked.

They were sort of eerie. Most of them were posed like they were fearful, or in pain. "They're nice," you said politely.

"I can make more. I've heard that there's meant to be a huge lion somewhere. I'd like to have a statue of him." The king's fingertips trailed over his scepter fondly.

The castle was beginning to loom above. Looking out at your surroundings again, you spotted the first sign of life since the forest: a man was out polishing one of the statues, with an air of tenderness and misery more commonly displayed at the sickbed of a loved one. When he spotted the sleigh, however, he dropped into a hasty bow, and his expression just as quickly morphed into a bright, forced-looking smile that reminded you all the more that something was terribly wrong here.

(One more glass of hot chocolate, and then you had to find a way home.)

The sleigh passed the man, and you had to do a double-take when his whole body came into view, because he wore no shirt in the freezing cold, and his lower body appeared to be that of a goat, as did the lower body of the statue he'd been polishing. You gaped at him until the cold was too unpleasant and you had to huddle against the king again.

Edmund looked as entertained as ever, by your reaction, and he gave no explanation.

The sleigh entered a tunnel underneath the castle and came to a stop.

A little man in a long, drooping hat ran up and unrolled what looked like a large wolf pelt for the king to step out onto. "Welcome home, sire," the little man said, smiling just as hugely and with just as much clear desperation (almost pained) as the half-goat creature had. "Dinner is ready, and a room has been prepared for your..." He trailed off, waiting for the king to supply him with a word to call you.

The king eyed his servant archly before saying, "My Delight, for now," he decided. "But you will not speak of her."

"Of course, sire." The little man bowed low. "Did the horses behave to your liking?"

"Yes, they may go," the king allowed, and his servant went to quickly untie the horses from the sleigh.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," two voices said in unison, and it sounded startlingly as if they were coming from the horses, but that was...

Impossible? Could anything really be considered impossible, today? Either this was a dream, or the word 'impossible' was losing meaning.

Still, you eyed the horses warily as they trotted away.

The little man stood before the king again, still with his pinned-on smile.

Edmund stared down at his servant for his second, and then twirled his scepter idly between his fingers. The little man winced as if the king had raised a sword, and Edmund let out a quiet laugh. "You may go, as well."

"Thank you, and a thousand blessings, sire." The little man half-ran in the same direction the horses had gone.

Edmund turned toward you, offering a ring-covered hand and a seemingly all-knowing grin. "Come, My Delight," he said. "I'll show you around."

...

Like I said earlier, my computer randomly restarted while I was writing this and I had to rewrite a bunch of it, so I'm sorry if there are any mistakes or if the ending is abrupt. I could have taken my time rewriting, but tbh I really had my heart set on posting this today, so I hope the quality didn't suffer too much. Hope this was okay.

#male yandere #yandere narnia #yandere edmund pevensie #kidnapping #obsession #possessive #female reader

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hellyescharlesedwards · 2 years

Text

Reggie's story time: Best of Enemies

You know my story posts by now, but if you don't, they're extremely long and rambly. This one will likely be the longest ever as I have to tell you everything that happened these past few days. Get comfy, this is gonna be quite a ride:

So, I recently snuck down to see Charlie in Best of Enemies at the Young Vic.

The first time was actually back in December but when I travelled down it got cancelled. Fortunate I snagged a lucky dip ticket for a future showing, so all I had to do was wait a little longer.

(Theatre was having a rough time of it during December with the O*****n wave, so the Young Vic was certainly not the only casualty.)

11th January

I had a scare the day before as the YV cancelled the performance before mine due to suspected C***D (I believe it was a crew member who tested positive?) so I spent most of Tuesday on tenderhooks waiting for any news of more cancellations. They didn't come, and I was so relieved. I arrived at the theatre and plopped myself on the second row.

Left a "sensible" review on Instagram so gonna use tumblr to become Unhinged about one scene:

Vidal and his toyboy (Sam Otto) have the pleasure of being the characters chosen to take their kits off. At one point in Act 1, they face the audience whilst watching a news report on the assassination of Robert Kennedy. Both are in dressing gowns and the audience sat in the most expensive seats get the best, full on view of both Charlie's and Sam's bodies being teased under their gowns.

After this, they both get into bed to begin the next scene. Vidal lies half in bed, while the twink, named Matthew, stares longingly at Vidal while he watches on with a concerned expression. After a short while, Vidal pats Matt's leg and gets up. He proceeds to remove his dressing gown to change into his regular get up, and so does Matt.

Vidal is trim and triangular, with a hint of tummy, and there's a potential 6 pack trying to come through. Large upper arms. Dimpley back. He isn't ripped but looks very good and healthy for his age.

Matt is fully ripped, with small, muscular arms and fully formed 6 pack.

Throughout the play they share a few kisses, ranging between light pecks to long smooches on the lips. There's the odd flirty line exchanged but Matt is mainly there to help Vidal with his research and debate preparation.

Now we move on to what happened after the show. And the tale ready kicks off.

Outside the theatre, I had James Graham, writer of the play, pull up right in front of me in a taxi and enter the bar. I knew it was him and I should've said something but I didn't and I don't know why.

This was then followed by a young, homeless magician named Felix approaching me and performing some neat card tricks and slight of hands. I gave him money and he shook my hand and hugged me. (Hope he's doing OK.)

THIS was then followed, at about 10:45 at night, by a tall man coming out the doors in a sage green rain mac. I didn't clock on to who it was initially as he had a blue mask covering half his face, but fortunately I gauged the tol frame, the dishevelled blond hair, the trademark shoulder bag and converses, so it all pieced itself together.

"Hey...Charlie?"

He looked confused too but as we got closer, his eyes seem to light up. I think he said hello back, but what I remember first was getting a hug from him. This shocked me mostly because of, yknow, C***D-19. I wouldn't think he would risk a hug given the situation, but I'm not complaining 🥺

"Nice coat!" he said, looking at my mustard coloured hooded parka. I laughed.

He pulled his mask down and we talked for quite a bit; at one point I had to explain to him what a lucky dip ticket was as he had no idea they existed. I also gushed over David and he's like "yeah ikr he's absolutely amazing".

Then the following happened (not verbatim but close enough):

CE: "So where are you staying?"

Me: "The Wellington, opposite Waterloo Station."

"Ah OK. Do you want me to walk you there as I'm heading that way anyway? But if you wanna hang round here longer that's fine..."

NO I'LL COME.

So he sorta becomes my bodyguard and we walk down The Cut and he's like "So what's happening your life?" And I'm like "Whut? You actually want to know!?" And he's like "YEAH SURE :)" so the first thing that popped into my head was... my car accident... so I talked about that. Got a lot of 😯 faces from him as I recalled it. Then we discussed his recent radio interviews and stuff and things and soon enough he spotted the hotel and went "Ahhh there it is!"

He then said, "It's so good to see you, Naomi, thank u so much for coming" while his long arms enveloped me into a goodbye cuddle 😭 I gave him a little present in the form of a box of treats, a mini care package if you will. I had another for David who I missed and Charlie offered to give it to him the next day. He couldn't guarantee David would show up after the show so at least if we did it that way, it would definitely get to him.

We then parted ways.

12 January

Same show, different position. This time I got better views of Charlie and his tiddies and benefitted from seeing the show a second time. James Graham showed up again after the show and via a mutual, who is besties with him, we all sat down and had a prosecco together and a good chat (he referred to Charlie as a "beautiful man" or was it gorgeous? can't remember). He was very sweet, he comes across as such when I've seen him in interviews, and I'm glad to report he's just the same irl. Managed to get his autograph in my programme. He also hinted at a likely transfer for Best of Enemies to the West End next Spring, with Charlie and David remaining in the lead roles.

David also showed up as he went out fetching some grub to eat in his dressing room between shows. He kept a fair distance from us as he didn't want to risk catching anything. Gave James a goodbye elbow bump, and I was off back home!

And then I feel asleep on the train lmao but the entire trip absolutely wrecked me. But hell it was worth it.

#charles edwards #sorry its so long #but i had to get it out #best of enemies

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thefallenbibliophilequote · 3 years

Text

You Are In Love

Loki x Reader

1989, epilogue

"You are in love, true love."

Summary: It's hard to find the one, but even if you do find him it's always going to be a daily struggle to make it work. Can you even make it work after he broke your heart? The answer to that is complicated, but it all started when you found each other again in the stark tower- and that's where our story begins.

Word count: 7,106

Warnings: some angst, some unreliable narrator, fluff, me being a hopeless romantic.

A/N: this is the very end- the epilogue, and it is based on the 1989 deluxe song You Are In Love. I really think this is important to the story despite it being an epilogue because I based some of the things solely because I wanted a scene here to happen, I needed that scene. Okay idk how this got so long, I'm sorry! Also, not me stealing quotes from my favourite book… I cried writing this.

A/N2: thank you to @chrissquares for all the incredible dividers she made for my series, and for @nacho-bucky who beta read it all and managed to put up with me. I appreciate you two so much, I love y'all!

No one is allowed to repost my writing or steal or copy my work! Reblog on tumblr is fine.

Series masterlist

Song on Spotify and YouTube

The room was dark and silent as you got into bed, playing the same thing that has been in your mind for weeks now. You heard him in your head, and saw him in your mind as you went to sleep. It hasn't been long since you first saw Loki, but he plagued your mind. Being asleep did not make him go away. You shut your eyes.

The wind felt cold on your skin but your palm was warm as he held you close. When you looked down you found yourself in a dark golden gown, a smile spread on your lips when you looked into his eyes and he took you to dance with him. You saw nothing but him as he twirled you around, your surroundings did not matter as the whole world stood in silence, the two of you were only focused on each other. You were wonderstruck, dancing around with him and looking at his bright blue eyes, you prayed he won't let you go. He only held you lightly with the palm of his hand and the arm around your waist but you felt enough.

He whispered in your ear terms of endearment and you could feel yourself blush. He twirled you around and out of his reach. You danced around all alone, until you turned around and saw Loki sitting on the back of a car, his hand inviting you. You felt your confusion go away as you climbed up to sit next to him, your jeans barely touched his black pants. Then he talked to you.

"Do you remember?" You heard his voice say to you and you turned your head.

"What?" You sat there when Loki talked to you.

"Look up." You heard his voice say to you and you turned your head up and looked at the stars, and your shoulders brushed. A shudder of warmth coursed through you as you saw the brightest star in the sky. You turned your eyes on Loki and the lights turned out.

You woke up in a shudder, heaving, you looked at the clock that mocked you. 1:58.

You turned to the other side of the bed and hoped sleep would take you quietly this time.

•

Loki walked along the bifrost, his heart was beating and racing, it didn't matter how many times he visited Heimdall, he was still anxious for his answer every time.

"Heimdall," Loki greeted the guardian.

"Prince Loki, are you going to ask the same question every time?" Heimdall looked over at the distressed prince. He remembered seeing him, when he was so young, so happy when he snuck him out at night so he can go to see the human woman he fell so hard for. He remembers Loki coming back in the morning with a smile on his face that he has never seen on him before; he remembers the young innocent prince showing him the necklace he carved especially for you, with his insignia on it; he remembers him being hopeful for the future- with you.

"I just want to know how she is."

Now he is an idiot.

"Just like she was the last time you asked me." Loki merely nodded, looking down on the ground. Heimdall waited for him to ask the other question he always asked.

"Is she- is she seeing someone?" Loki kept his eyes down, he held his breath.

"No." Heimdall tried to comfort the prince but he knew the answer won't do. Loki nodded to him, he never knew if he liked the answer or if he wanted you to find someone and be happy even if it is without him.

"Is she happy?"

"Yes, she is. She is happy and content," Heimdall stepped forward and put a hand on Loki's shoulder. "But it's been four years- don't you think there is a reason why she is still alone?"

"She just hasn't found-"

"She won't find someone who will make her happy like you did."

Loki refused to be selfish like he was in the past with you. Now that he understood what you asked him all those years ago at sunset, he refused to destroy your peace. Yet, he refused to forget you.

"However, your highness, she will not be available forever." Loki finally looked up at him, "and forever is not a lot of time for mortals."

"Then what am I to do about it?" Loki has told Heimdall a great deal about you, he never told his mother about you but since Heimdall was the only one who knew- Loki conversed with him after you had a fight, gushed to him about new midgardian stuff you taught him, and Loki knew that he didn't have to hide you from him.

"Do not sabotage your own happiness, it is not a selfish act if both of you will be happy from it. She will be happy to see you again, I can see that." Heimdall looked into the prince's eyes and hoped he could bring some sense to him.

He almost missed the way his eyes shone for just a moment, before the prince turned away to go back to the palace.

"Thank you, Heimdall, truly." Loki turned to him briefly before turning once again.

He wasn't as uncertain as he thought he would be; he pondered as he made his way across the rainbow bridge.

•

You woke up yet again alone, another sleepless night made you long for something you didn't have, leaving you tired. You reluctantly got out of bed, closing the curtains and concealing daylight and opting instead to turn on the lights. You had a long day ahead of you, so you shook the blue eyes that haunted you from your mind, you could almost see them in the shadow at the corner of your room.

It was just a trick of the light. You checked.

You walked out the door, not before taking a double look at the apartment, it was empty but… it felt wrong. You could almost see a silhouette, you must have been losing your mind, you thought, as you turned out the lights and walked to work. But right before you closed the door you sneaked one last glance, and you could still see it with the lights out.

Work had been tedious, Pepper was busy which meant that so were you, but at least you amused yourself in your breaks. Seeing the competitive supersoldiers spar on the mat sure could bring a smile to your face any day.

You weren't lonely by any means, you were happy with your new family that seemed to adopt you the moment you got the job, you were happy with your job, but from time to time you couldn't help but feel… hollowed. Something was not quite right, something was missing and you couldn't figure it out. Sure, you didn't have a boyfriend but that wasn't it. Every guy that hit on you just seemed wrong, you didn't feel the need to get one. You were satisfied and happy… was that enough?

You buttoned your coat to shield you against the autumn chill as you went back home. Happy suggested driving you, Tony basically commanded it but you sneaked out as he was arguing with someone on the phone, waving Happy goodbye as the elevator doors closed. You felt like walking today.

Autumn air swept past you as you walked, you looked through store windows at the TV, one reporter was talking about how there were sightings of the evil god of mischief. You stood there and stopped to look at it, could you have missed him? You remembered when you saw him at the Avengers Tower- when you first met him at the Tower- he left too soon, you fixed yourself in your own mind and watched as the reporter showed pictures after rambling about how dangerous it is.

Your heavy chest breathed again when you saw the photos- Steve's hair has not been like that in years, this was not recent. You shook your head and continued walking.

You remembered when he passed by you, you remember the chill of him that for some reason gave you warmth. And now in the cold weather you could feel it all over again on your way home. You could imagine it, and it was so real there, him being on your left, you could almost feel him breathing on your neck.

You opened your eyes and looked over your shoulder. He wasn't there.

Long story short, you were sure you were going insane- having an unexplainable crush on a god you met once upon a time, what was it? Four year ago? You hoped your mind would stop listening to your heart this one time.

You met him one time, you talked a bit before he passed by you, meeting him was rare as the glimmer of a comet in the sky- that is what you told yourself at least, when days passed and you remembered him but you didn't see him again.

You shook your head again, shaking him away, you were just chasing shadows and there was no point in that. You knew that and wished logic would calm your racing heart.

•

Loki stepped into the Allfather's throne room and dismissed all the other Asgardians that were there.

"My son, what are you doing?" Odin rose up before he saw the look on Loki's face and with a raised interest he sat down as Loki went up the golden stairs.

"I have a request, it is important to me."

"And you came to ask me to grant it?" Odin raised a brow and studied the god of mischief, doubtful with every moment that went by. This sure is intriguing.

"I am afraid you are the only one that will be able to fulfill my wish." Loki's thoughts were still messy in their silence, scattered in ways he didn't try to collect. He thought about it the whole way to the palace. Even when he was satisfied here, and when he and Thor became true brothers after everything went down… it still wasn't home. It isn't home- it never was since he met you.

"Well do tell me what made you so desperate that you came to me?" Loki took a breath in.

"My love." He breathed out.

"The mortal midgardian girl?" Odin seemed to understand the situation. He never thought it would come from Loki, he never thought anyone would come to him for it, especially not the prince. "What would you want me to do?"

"The one thing only the Allfather is capable of doing." Loki lifted his head up and looked at his father with determination. He was certain with his decision.

•

Loki walked the rainbow bridge feeling different and yet the same all at once- he felt new. But with one weight lifted, another dread took its place.

Heimdall nodded at him with a small smile and Loki found himself returning it, it reminded him of the first night he came back to Asgard after meeting you in Midgard. Heimdall always knew from the start.

He stepped into the Avengers Tower, knowing that by this hour you were probably back at your apartment- at home. He stepped into the living room and found the witch, the billionaire, and the captain there sitting around on the several couches.

"Loki?"

"Captain," The god nodded to him in recognition. He wasn't quite sure what to say.

"What are you doing here?" the god walked around to stand in front of the three avengers.

"I've come to a decision."

"I used to want the Throne, father." Loki continued, "The very one you are sitting on, or the one I'd put on Midgard. As the rightful heir to the throne, and as the King of Jotunheim, I deserve that.

"I was born for it- and so, I used to want the throne. I used to think myself superior to everyone in the nine realms, the mortal midgardians out of all… that was until I met her, my love. When you met your love, father, it didn't change you. You caused ruin and shed blood and now you are sitting on a throne built on that in a world that now I am fit to rule." Loki did not let the Allfather speak in between. He deserved this, he knew that now.

"During the time you were away and under my spell, I made Asgard prosper… look how well it all turned out," he chuckled bitterly. "I used to want the throne but now I realize I just wanted to be acknowledged for my abilities, for my wit, instead of being shadowed to the side- all because you decided to pick up a baby and use it as political gain only to find it useless." Loki took a breath to close his eyes, he remembered it all, he remembered the day he found out about it all, about his glorious purpose his father planned for him.

"And Then I met my love, and she saw everything- all of that-inside me already without me having to prove it to her. She made me realize that I have nothing to prove to you- an abuser who calls himself king.

While Thor is my brother, and I acknowledge that I still am both Odinson and Laufeyson, this is not the home I thought I could make it out to be… by fixing everything else and making the people love me, fear me, acknowledge me. Even when my mother was here, I was not able to be fully myself, not here, not like I was whenever I'd sneak out of Asgard to be with her." Loki smiled, thinking about all of your moments together.

"Those were the sole moments where I felt what a home should feel like- though I never had anything to compare it to, and you made me think that somehow I should be grateful for you- for taking me here instead of dying in the cold, even though you were planning to use me as bait to gain advantage on your opponent.

Then I found her and she warmed her way into my heart and despite it all she still loves me and cares for me and I know that if I ever had a home… it wasn't on Jotunheim or here with my brother- it was with her: In a small apartment in Midgard, surrounded by mortals.

"And so, yes I am the rightful king of Jotunheim and a prince of Asgard, god of mischief… but I also have a home waiting for me in Midgard and I also am in love. And only now I realize all I want I can get, which is the home that I gave up on all those years ago- trying to make this home better. I don't want the throne anymore.

"So now, now I choose her."

"You decided to come back?" The witch leaned forward and asked him, he was about to nod when the captain spoke up.

"What about you saying that you want her to have peace?" Steve crossed his arms and rose up, "You said that as a god you won't be able to give her a peaceful life?"

"Yeah what changed in the last few years?" Tony continued sipping on his drink, casually looking over at the god with an arched eyebrow.

"Well, I came to a few realizations about her and myself which is why I am here now." Loki started, "now I can be what she needs me to be, if she will take me back."

"She still thinks of you, her thoughts are so loud sometimes." Wanda smiles at him, he is still wary with her after she saw inside of his mind. "How did you change then?"

"Well," Loki took a breath. "The ruling god, the Allfather, has the ability to revoke the immortality of a god. And so- I asked my father to take away my immortality."

They stared at him in silence, one in disbelief, one studying him, and one confused.

"So now if I stab you, you will die?" Stark asked and the god rolled his eyes.

"The Asgardian gods were never immortal, we are almost immortal, so even if you had stabbed me before I could have died- I however doubt you would have managed to do any harm to me." Loki dismissed the small man.

"Wait, what about your… magic?" Steve asked and one shrug later an identical Captain America stood in front of him, smirking.

"Patriotism, Justice, god bless America!" Loki shapeshifted back to himself before continuing, "I still have my magic, powers, and the rest of the qualities as the god that I am- that make me way above all of you- I am just not as immortal, and I will be able to live with her properly."

"So, you are like a supersoldier." Steve nodded in understanding, and Loki smiled slightly.

"Yes, but a lot more powerful and better."

Steve shook his head but let out a small laugh.

"So when are you going to see her?"

"Well, I think I wasted enough time already." Loki let out a chuckle, and he didn't even bother hiding the excitement in his blue eyes.

•

Loki hoped his excitement, as well as his nervousness, were hidden- he gave up using illusions around you a long time ago, and it was very long ago but he didn't want to use them now. This time he was going to make it right.

It was weird, not having unlimited time anymore. But his doubts about the decision stopped when you opened the door after hearing his soft knocks.

Your eyes were beautiful, they always were but he missed them terribly, now they were filled with a mix of confusion and excitement. He couldn't help the slight smirk that slipped out across his lips- at least he still had that affect on you.

You had a hard time processing who was at your doorstep, but you could already feel the butterflies blooming in your stomach. So long trying to suppress your weird crush. It seems to be inevitable now that he showed up years later.

When you saw his smirk you realized you must have been staring at him longer than you should have.

"Loki?" his name tasted weird on your tongue, you couldn't place the little spark that flew in your mind, making your head ache a bit.

He brought his hands up and with a light green glow he held blooming flowers in his hand.

"May I come in, love?" you could barely speak with the way his blue eyes shone, like moonlight against the darkness of the night like the suit he wore.

You nodded and stepped back to let him in.

You were certain that when he walked past you and handed you the flowers he had a certain glow to him, like an aura that was visible to the naked eye, it both calmed you down and overwhelmed you, so you looked away.

"These are my favourite, how did you know?"

He turned to look at you and you couldn't help but blush, wonderstruck at the little whispers you could almost hear his eyes hold, a silent question. You couldn't answer.

"I have magic, did you forget, dear?" Loki smiled when you locked the door and turned back to him. "I can read minds."

You laughed, and what a sound it was.

"That's bullshit, I didn't think about flowers now. Can you read what I'm thinking now?" you raised a brow at him, happy to call him on his bluff- you hoped it was a bluff, you'd rather the earth swallow you alive than if he could know what you're thinking while he is here.

"You are wondering what I am doing showing up at your door close to midnight." He took a step towards you. He wasn't wrong. "A little birdie told me."

You let out a nervous chuckle when you saw him standing closer now, but it turned to anger when you understood his words.

"Steve told you?" you went around him contemplating how to kill Steve, Natasha owed you a favor after all; you muttered, "That son of a bitch…"

Loki figured he will go with your answer, it is the easier answer. You came back shortly with a vase and the flowers in the water in it.

"Do not fret, those flowers are special, they have an enchantment on them so they will not die."

At least you didn't have to worry about that, he was so considerate and normal that you almost forgot about the odd situation.

"Why are you here?" You asked and clasped your hands in front of you.

"You told me to come to you if I ever plan to take on the planet again, so here I am." He smiled at you such an honest smile, and you didn't even know why he was so happy, but you knew that smile will linger in your mind like a tattoo kiss. It was so tempting to look at his lips for longer and imagine to yourself what his kiss would taste like. "If I'm honest, you've left quite an impression on me the last time we met."

"Oh?" you hoped the heat in your cheeks was not visible, you bit your lip. "Can I trust the god of mischief to be honest?"

"Of course you can, just trust me." His serious look contrasted your playful one.

"Why do only the untrustworthy people say that?" you mused and smiled at him, hoping to ease whatever tensions you felt brewing in his mind.

"Well, love, that is because the people that you know you can trust don't need to say it." He looked at his shoes and you took the time to really admire him now that he was up close and real.

"Well then, I guess you don't need to say it." You found pride in how he lifted his head and a sly smirk took over. "Do you want something to drink?"

If he was here, after all those years of only imagining him, you could ignore the odd situation just so you could make him stay a little longer this time.

"I'd like that, thank you." You invited him to your kitchen as you made yourself some tea.

"What would you like?"

"Coffee is good." He wondered how far he could take it with you, letting a gentle glow almost reach you when you turned around and he stopped.

"Coffee at midnight?" you questioned him, "Okay, what kind of coffee do you like?"

"I am a god, love, it doesn't affect me the way it affects you," he laughed when you rolled your eyes. "Pick whatever you think I would like."

You nodded at him with a shy smile. You turned away from him and made his coffee as he sat around you at the isle. You felt little tickles in your brain then. You tried to shake them off somehow but when they got stronger you winced at the slight headache.

"Are you okay, love?" god, you were already getting used to the pet name he gave you.

"Yeah, just a headache- nothing tea cannot fix." You laughed and turned back to him and the headache was gone, you couldn't help but wonder if he used his magic to heal your headache. It would be stupid to assume that though, so you stayed silent and took a sip of your tea. You gave him his cup of coffee and your hands brushed- it was one touch but you felt enough to know that he will linger on your skin.

"So tell me," you broke the silence that took over as he kept looking at you with soft eyes. He hummed and urged you to continue, "How can I help you take over earth? Where do we start?"

He laughed and you promised yourself to make sure he will laugh again. And you wanted to hold him, but you held back that urge and relished his familiar- no, comforting presence as you talked through the night.

•

From there you saw Loki around more, at work or when he would invite himself into your house at night or during your day off. You fell so easily into routine with him, he filled the space in your life that used to be vacant, you never really noticed it until he had to go to Asgard for a month to deal with a meeting. He made up for it when he came back though, walking you home that night and the next night, and the one after that…

It did nothing to sooth your crush on the god, it increased it if anything. Whenever you saw him, he would sooth the headaches you were getting lately, you could almost feel the gentle almost featherlike caresses of his magic- it had to be his magic, even if he never said anything, you saw it in his eyes.

You managed to handle it until he followed you around at work- and you were surprised when the Avengers did not even comment on it or flinch.

"You look lovely as ever, my love," he picked the necklace on your neck and your breath hitched at his closeness and the way his fingers brushed your chest and throat, "Always a sight to behold."

"Oh, Loki," you always stammered at his compliments that he shamelessly threw at you, "you're so sweet thank you, I- I have to go now, I need to go to Pepper- I have work, yes work."

You cringed to yourself as you turned around and down the hallway, only to shriek in surprise when Loki suddenly materialized in front of you, causing you to fall… almost.

Loki caught you just before you hit the ground, with a hand around your waist and the other holding your hand and bringing you upwards to him. You didn't dare say a word.

"You know that with a beauty like yours Asgardian princesses could never compare- and for your steadiness I'm certain I could teach you Asgardian ballroom dancing- to help you, of course."

As if it couldn't get worse, your cheeks were heating up, and you were caught in his eyes before he thankfully let you go.

"I assure you I am steady and not clumsy, a person appearing in front of me would catch anyone off guard!" you laughed it off.

"I am not a person, dear, I am a god." At the intense look in his eyes you clutched your hands to your side, holding in a gasp you just nodded and went around him to try and get work done.

If Pepper noticed anything, she didn't comment on it.

•

As the days went on, he became bolder and bolder and you couldn't deny that you loved him courting you this way and knowing that he only has his eyes on you. On some days he was bolder, on others you took the leap to get closer to him when you noticed he was having a bad day, and sometimes he would be so gentle with you the genuine way of it made your heart soar.

It was all gentle touches and intense eyes that you still saw when you closed your eyes in the dark of the night. It was the slowest build up that made you feel like he was always there with you, whether it was in your heart or soul or body, it surrounded you in warmness you didn't know you missed.

And then he asked you out, as you showed him your favourite spot in the park. He just laughed and smiled at you and when you asked why he held your cheeks and asked you out on a date. He wanted it done properly.

So now you stood at your home in your best dress- it was green, you found it in your closet and you liked how it matched the colour of the shirt he often wore.

The doorbell rang so you looked in the mirror one more time, seeing the dress and the necklace he seemed to love. You looked around the dimly lit room and the set table and once you were sure everything was ready- you opened the door.

And there he was in all his glory, you couldn't have stopped the smile you shone at him even if you tried, he seemed to have that affect on you. You could see royalty on him, you could feel it, even when he stood there with a simple black suit.

"Hello dear," he looked you up and down, remembering another night you wore this very same dress, only you didn't wear that necklace, not yet. "You look ravishing."

"As do you, I really like this suit on you." You brushed your hand on his chest, straightening the tie. "Come on in."

Loki stepped into the room, appreciating the memories he has of all of your date nights, even those that you had before the two of you got together. He appreciated every single one of them.

Then he once again looked at you, the candles giving you a glowing aura, making you shine and his breath left him speechless.

The light reflected the chain on your neck, the one he gave you all those nights ago, that faithful night.

"Loki? What are you hiding there?" you laughed at him as you tried to circle him and see what he was clasping behind his back. Only to see green lights as he made whatever it was disappear with a smug smile on his face. "Hey that's not fair!"

He put his hands on your hips and pulled you to him as you tried, and failed, to stay stern.

"You are dating a trickster, love, you brought this on yourself." He laughed at you as a giggle escaped you before you again tried to drop the smile that gave away your true emotions. "It's your fault that you love me!"

His laugh stopped when he saw the wondering look in your eyes and he realized what he had said. Then he backed away from you.

Shaking his head, he laughed it off before putting on a smile that you knew was a cover for his true emotions. He pulled out a golden box, you had never seen something like this before. You knew he was distracting you but chose to let it go- for now, at least.

He looked at you with gleaming eyes, urging you on as you held it and opened it.

You caught your breath when you saw a golden necklace laid inside it. It was fairly simple, but it was golden and even had a glow around it. The pendant of the necklace was a simple circle that held a weird S shaped symbol on it. You looked at Loki as he took it out and held it in his hand.

"What is it, Loki?"

"That, my love, is my symbol. Two snakes circling each other, biting each other's tails, and in a way- they symbolize me."

"That is beautiful, Loki, thank you." You traced the symbol delicately- it was intricate but you could tell it was hand carved. You let him put it on you.

"This way, you will have a part of me wherever you go."

You held back tears and tuned around to face him, jumping in and hugging him close.

"You were right before, you know, I've been meaning to tell you this anyway." You pulled back only by an inch but he went and sat on the couch, so you went ahead and sat on his lap, letting his arms circle you.

"What do you mean?" he asked nervously.

"I love you."

Norns, he was so afraid to tell you back then, but now he wasn't afraid, and all he had to do was wait. He was willing to wait until you were ready, he hoped the light spells he had been casting were doing their work well, he hoped it won't be long.

•

You woke up in your bed, smiling at the golden daylight, you turned around and reached for the other side of the bed, happy to see Loki was still asleep.

It was rare to see him like this- peacefully sleeping. You lightly traced his face, careful with the light bruises he came home with. They were already healing but you still didn't like seeing them. You convinced Loki to let you clean them up, he argued about how he is a god, and yet he let you do it anyway.

"Good morning, beautiful." He murmured, still half sleeping, he grasped your hand in his and kissed the inside of your wrist.

"Good morning, handsome." You smiled at him. "You said I have you for the week, right?"

"I'm all yours, my dear." He pulled you closer now, "I have a few ideas on how to spend these days…"

You laughed and let him kiss you, you were just happy to have him home.

It was a few hours later that morning that you got out of bed, groaning at your sore muscles and chuckling to yourself at the smell of the burnt toast, it was only Sunday.

You put on his shirt and stepped outside to the kitchen.

"Will you ever not burn the toast?" he shrugged at the comment but didn't reply as he tried to break an egg into the pan.

"This is ridiculous." He grumbled to himself. "After all this time and I still don't get it."

"You didn't try to do this that long." You chuckled as he finally gave up and used his magic. "You have only been here with me for like half a year now."

"Right," he fixed himself, quickly coming back to you and serving you your breakfast the way he remembered you used to like.

"Thanks, Loki." You kissed his cheek as he sat next to you. "But how about you take the first bite?"

You bit your tongue to stop yourself from smirking.

"Now, darling, there is no need for that."

"Sure there is, I'll be very amused." You laughed at the look he gave you and how he tickled your side.

"I am not amused."

"You know, for an Asgardian you sound so British."

"False, English people sound like Asgardians." He pointed a fork at you before he ate from your breakfast, you joined in only after he approved of it to your surprise.

You sipped on your tea, sighing at the perfect morning you got to enjoy. That was when you realized that you are in love. In love with a god. You read books after you met him, you knew that this wouldn't last.

"How are your bruises? They seem to be healing okay, do they hurt?" you brushed away a strand of hair out of his face.

"I told you, darling-"

"I know, I know, you're an immortal Asgardian god, you can handle wounds like these." You laughed and hoped he wouldn't see through it. That was the one sentence from the book you read that haunts your brain. It made you remember a sunset, but you've never been with Loki to a sunset, maybe you should go sometime.

"Actually, Asgardian gods are just almost immortal. But I am not immortal anymore." He said, sensing your anxiety, hoping that this information will make it all okay, hoping you will realize that this will last.

"What? Why not?" you should not be delighted by the news, you should be worried of him getting hurt now.

"I decided to give up my immortality, while I still am a god and I assure you I am just as strong as I was before," he took your hand in his and looked into your eyes. "I decided that I want a better, more peaceful, life."

"But why would you-" you shook your head.

"I had my reasons." He kissed the back of your hand,

You nodded to him and looked away, a sinister kaleidoscope of butterflies of hope rose in your stomach.

Maybe some things last forever after all.

•

"I am both terrified and excited." You held onto Loki's arm for support, praying to any god out there that you won't mess it up and stumble.

The gown you were wearing was golden, with a dark glimmer to it, Loki was matching you in his royal suit in black, green, and gold. Loki finally took you to a ball a year into your relationship, you asked to celebrate it here and he complied

Asgard was beautiful, though you were getting a bit lightheaded from it all, it got worse when you entered the ballroom.

"I told you." Loki leaned in to whisper to you as you took in the scenery.

"What?"

"You are more beautiful than any Asgardian princesses in their best dresses." Heat rushed to your cheeks at the compliment, remembering when he so casually said it to you at the tower.

Loki remembered the night he taught you to dance, the one he finally kissed you and told you those same words.

Loki made sure to keep you away from Odin, and put an armor of magic around the two of you, hoping it would ease your headaches. And then you danced in your own little world, around and around until you got tired and Loki took you home.

•

Half a year later you were going to sleep, Loki was right there beside you, holding you close to him as you laid your head on his chest.

"Goodnight, my love."

"Goodnight… I love you."

"I love you too." Your lover kissed your head and then as you closed your eyes you felt the same tingles in your brain that you started to get whenever you went to sleep or even when you went to work.

Soon enough you fell asleep and your dreams took you along.

You wandered along places with Loki beside you. You were there with him on a high hill, staring at the sunset. "I'll treasure this moment forever." You heard him tell you but you didn't hear him- no, it was something else. You smiled at him and suddenly you were in your apartment, and you were smiling as he kissed you, you saw two paper airplanes flying around and he said- talked to you. "I told you my way was better." You heard yourself laughing at him and felt yourself bringing him back to a kiss. You were there with him as you ran through the trees until you stopped and climbed up, where was this again? "Come on, Loki, I now a place we won't be found." You giggled to him- no- you heard yourself giggling. Was this a dream anymore? With the growing headache this must be a nightmare. Since when do you have vivid dreams like this? Your apartment looked different as you danced around it with Loki. "I bet you'll look just as beautiful in an Asgardian dress. Like a true Asgardian goddess." But no- he couldn't have told you that there. You felt ecstatic as he leaned in to kiss you right there, it's your first kiss. No, it wasn't. You felt it all, you knew this was inevitable. Did you know that? Your head was spinning as you saw that golden necklace you found in your drawer. "It has my symbol on it, two snakes circling each other," biting each other's tails. No, you must have read it somewhere. Then you walked towards the spot in the park that you loved, at least that was familiar. "You will get a cold if you keep sitting in the rain, don't you have an umbrella?"Loki looked at you, he seems so much younger, you got shivers from his blue eyes. Your head hurt more and more, you didn't know where you were. All you felt was confusion. You saw the bifrost and there you saw the man with the golden eyes greeting you, he knew you- he knew everything. Did you know? "Do you remember?" Loki came home to you, with a fake smile which turned real when he said "I love you." He loved you. In Asgard yet again, why were you saying goodbye? "Promise you'll get me back, Loki." And then he bowed- but you already knew he was going to do that, the dream didn't have to tell you- "I'll see you around, my love." You remembered.

"I'm going to miss you, even if I won't know it." You did miss him, you missed him all along.

You waked, shot up from Loki's grip, with a hand over your mouth. You could hear the hushed whispers of memories in the silence of the bedroom; you could feel him on the way home even when you had nothing but his necklace; you could see it all now in a kaleidoscope of memories playing with the lights out. You were in love with him- you were in love with him over and over again. You never stopped loving him.

Now you saw it all: yes Loki was your lover, but before that- a lot of things happened before that, he was your best friend.

Loki woke up to the strange look on your face, rising up to be face to face with you. You paused before looking at him and he teared up at what he saw.

"You're my best friend." He saw you- his love- and now you saw him. And he knew what it was, you came back to him.

He took you in and held you close in a hug, laughing as tears ran both of your faces.

"So, 1989." He brought you in for a chaste kiss.

"What?"

"It's been 1989 days since the last time you remembered me." You chuckled.

"Took me that long?"

"It felt like an eternity." You tentatively caressed his cheek.

"Why did you give up eternity for me?" you asked him and he laughed as if it was obvious.

"The only way to survive eternity is to be able to appreciate each moment- and I couldn't do that, not without you." He pressed a kiss to the palm of your hand, "and now- now I get to spend my eternity with you."

You leaned in to kiss him once more, savoring it, you knew: You were ready to fall in love with him all over again.

You lost each other, but you found each other again, and somehow that was everything.

•

Tags: @ayybtch @buckys-other-punk @chaoticpete @madcrazy50 @mishkatelwarriorgoddess @the-departed-potato @rogerrhqpsody @onceupona-happilyeverafter-love @percabethismyotp14

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florrickandassociates · 3 years

Text

TGF Thoughts: 5x03-- And the court had a clerk...

Hello again! It’s nice to have this show back. This episode was a bit less of a standout than the previous two, but I’m still happy with the overall direction for this season. More under the cut (or here, because tumblr sucks).

When Robert King tweeted the episode title, I asked him if all the titles this season were adding up to one long sentence/story, hoping he’d confirm it and give a little more information. He did! He said it’s “in the Farmer in the Dell mode” and while I think I get what he’s saying, I’m very curious to see how it plays out. Haven’t been able to track down 5x04′s title yet, but the promo is out. (As of this morning! It’s interesting they’re not putting them after the episode this year; I kind of like it.)

Kurt’s job is up in the air given the new administration. I think this scene exists mostly just to remind us where Kurt works and the stakes.

What month is this supposed to be in? The transition seems recent but no one is wearing masks.

Kurt spots a poster asking for help ID’ing people at the Capitol on January 6th. He thinks he recognizes someone...

And now we’re in case of the week land. This case is about a small business owner whose business went under after someone created fake news articles accusing him of pedophilia.

I think the whole point of this (kind of long) scene is to show that this case is a pretty small deal. Low stakes, inexperienced opposing lawyer. (Not even sure why Liz would be arguing this in court, but whatever.)

Tbh I thought this was going to wind up in 9 ¾ court.

Now that we have junior level characters, we get scenes showing that there are, in fact, people at RBL who are mid-level. Liz asks an associate to work on something, he asks another associate to work on it, she delegates to other associates, and they delegate to Marissa and Carmen. This work seems terrible.

It’s so funny to me how this is probably more realistic than most of the lawyering on the show and yet it only shows up selectively. We only see the hierarchy here to make it clear that Marissa and Carmen are at the bottom.

David Lee interrupts and asks for Carmen. He’s very rude to her. Interestingly, she’s hesitant to leave her grunt work and follow David, even though she must know he outranks the associate who gave her the grunt work.

“Why am I supposed to know you?” David asks her as they walk through the halls. “I don’t know if you are,” Carmen responds. “Why does Benjamin Dafoe know you?” he asks. She doesn’t know who he is.

“Who are you?” Dafoe asks when Carmen enters. She states her name, again. “Why are you important?” he asks. “I don’t think that I am,” Carmen responds.

Then Dafoe says his top client, and it’s a name that the characters all know. I’m glad this scene is free of any “he’s the white OJ” expository lines (that’s from Sweeney’s introduction) -- it’s clear from the reactions and the discussion of police and rape that the top client is a bad guy, probably a rapist. The rapist wants Carmen to represent him.

Putting 2 and 2 together, Carmen asks if the rapist knows Rivi. He’s not, but he’s at the same prison. As soon as Carmen says she’s representing Rivi, David Lee switches gears, understanding the situation and trying to sign the new business. He’s so shameless!

Marissa sorts ALL the papers. There are a LOT of papers. I’m swamped. Look at all this paper.

She catches the associate who assigned her the task leaving for the night just as she finishes up, and cheerfully notes she’s finished the task. Then the associate mentions this was only half of the bills. Marissa does not like that. Since her goal in wanting to be a lawyer is mostly just to give her something exciting to do and earn respect... this hierarchy thing is not going so well.

Marissa decides that after her rough day, she’s going to stop by Wackner’s court. He’s in the middle of a case about Emily in Paris fanfiction and he’s very happy to see Marissa.

Wackner’s night court has a program—it notes the sponsor is Copy Co-op (I thought it was Copy Coop?) and the paper products were also provided by them. And “there will be regular intermissions at the discretion of Judge Wackner.” It’s very theatrical.

Wackner takes a recess and calls Marissa to his “chambers.” He asks for her thoughts on the case. “All they want is attention and to feel like they’ve won,” Marissa notes. Wackner’s on the same wave length and compares it to the Scarecrow’s diploma at the end of The Wizard of Oz. So, he makes copyright certificates and some minor modifications to each of the fanfic books. They say “I respect you and I love you” and that’s that.

Wackner catches Marissa before she leaves and asks her to be his law clerk—part time or full time, 10% of all the legal filings and unlimited use of copy machines. She is hesitant because she “doesn’t even know what this is.”

Wackner says his court is “the future.” Marissa turns him down; notes she wants to pass the bar. “You know why all these people are here? ‘Cause the courts and the lawyers and the appeals have made justice... unattainable. Out of reach. To anyone who doesn’t have a shitload of money to wait it out. That’s why Exxon beats out Mr. Nobody. Read Kafka’s Before the Law.”

I just read it, and you should too! It literally is a page, but tl;dr, there’s a man who wants to get to the law and instead he spends his whole life trying to win over the first of many gatekeepers on the path to the law. He never gets through the gate.

“Justice is only just if it’s available to everyone,” Wackner says. Marissa thinks about that.

As I said last week, it’s smart that Wackner makes so much sense. Hearing him say all this, knowing that it’s true... it makes it very easy to get on board with the thought experiment. Of course there would be huge repercussions to this kind of system, but it makes so much sense it’s compelling TV!

Kurt’s showering when Diane gets home, which gives her time to stumble across the WANTED poster and notice that Kurt has drawn facial hair onto one of the pictures. “Who is this?” she asks him. “No one,” he says. “Well, you drew in a beard and a moustache on him,” Diane notes. Kurt says he was doodling, but Diane calls him out as he is the “exact opposite of a doodler.” Kurt says he thought it was someone he knew, but he’s not sure. Diane pushes him to tell the feds. Kurt reiterates he’s not sure, but it’s someone he went shooting with. “Oh my God, then it’s him,” Diane jumps to (not incorrect) conclusions. Kurt says he didn’t talk that way; he’s a veteran. “Kurt! That’s the profile!” Diane argues. Kurt isn’t convinced and he doesn’t want to be responsible for naming names. He notes he’ll be threatened with indictment for not naming names and then only lawyers will end up benefitting. Diane is not convinced.

I think this is an interesting conflict for Kurt and Diane. I understand why Kurt is hesitant to speak out before he’s sure. And I understand and agree with Diane that it’s important to identify the attackers and prevent anything like that from happening again.

I don’t mean to blame Kurt, exactly, but I feel like all of what happens next could’ve played out differently if Kurt had been just a little clearer with Diane about why he was hesitant to ID the man. Like, the threat of indictment for not naming names sounds like some typical anti-government rambling. Saying you specifically are afraid that this will turn back on you and you need to weigh your options and come up with a plan first would put Diane in a very different mode, in which they’d work together to craft the best strategy. Because this man would’ve been ID’d by someone, sooner or later, and Kurt would’ve needed to be prepared.

Diane stares at the wanted poster at work and asks Jay to find his identity. He’s on the FBI TEN MOST WANTED? Ten!? Ok!

Diane shares the extra information she has—the gun range and that he’s a veteran—and Jay gets to work.

Turns out there’s no money in the case that Liz, a name partner, is working on and Marissa just spent all those hours sorting bills for. I could’ve told you there was no money in that case lol.

Jay IDs the guy very fast. He’s faster than the feds because they didn’t know where he shot. The range had his license on file, and Jay got ahold of it.

“Well, we don’t pay you enough,” Diane says. “Oh, I know that,” Jay laughs.

Diane says she’s going to think about calling the feds—it's definitely the same guy.

Marissa notes someone high profile (David Cord, who I presume is a thinly veiled stand-in for David Koch given the name, his role in the plot, and the fact that he is “David Cord of the Cord Brothers”) in the lobby giving a fake name and goes to tell Liz.

David Cord is performing magic tricks for the receptionists (they don’t recognize him) when Liz and Marissa show up. “I knew your father. I hated your father,” Cord says. “Yes, well, he hated you too,” Liz says. He says he gave a fake name to see what the reception would be like since he’s kinda infamous.

Liz introduces Marissa as one of the law clinic lawyers. Marissa knows what to say in this situation. Specifically, she knows that it is the exact right moment to name drop her father.

“Democrats as far as the eye can see,” Cord notes. At that, Liz asks Marissa to get Julius involved.

More good expository work! (No, editor feature of Word, I do NOT want that to say “Better expository work,” that would change my meaning, go away and please stop grading my recap??? I don’t know how I brought this up but it’s telling me my score is 72%, so a C, and it’s driving me crazy. Oh, now I’m a 71%. It had me at like, 50%, because I had written “Wackner” and “Wackner” is not a word. No shit.)

Anyway, back to the exposition. I like that we don’t get a line like, “Liz! David Cord, the Republican super donor, is here!” We just get to see Liz’s reaction, Cord’s hate of Liz’s father, and the line about democrats. Then it becomes clearer who Cord is.

Just noticed Liz is wearing an Apple Watch.

Liz stands for her meeting with Cord, likely to maintain power. Cord says January 6th changed everything to him and now he’s all about unity and loving America.

Cord has something to say about Liz’s case, the one that’s not making any money, and he seems to know quite a lot about it. That spooks Liz.

Then Cord offers her $12 million to continue the case for another six months (all of these months, seemingly, will play out in the couple of days the rest of this episode takes, but, whatever). He just wants them to go after the social media company that distributed the fake news... and Section 230.

Don’t know what that is? Now you do, because there is a Good Fight short! These work so much better when they’re actually needed (explaining concepts, etc.) than when they’re trying to force one into every episode (remember that Downton Abbey one? What... was that?)

I was talking to @mimeparadox about this short and he pointed out that this short has a VERY clear POV on an issue that actually doesn’t seem to be all that straightforward. If you’re like me and only had a vague sense of what Section 230 was prior to this episode, this short is telling you what to think of it—it isn’t just explaining what it is.

I do tend to agree with the show’s POV on most things, but this is an issue I’d like to read more on. I love how Section 230 was something I hadn’t really read up on prior to this episode and now that it’s been on TGF I realize it’s something that actually, yes, I would’ve been interested in knowing about earlier. Is this because things that are on TGF are interesting to me because they’re on TGF or is it because TGF generally only discusses things that would be interesting to me? Probs a little bit of both.

Diane asks Jay how to make an anonymous phone call and he hands her a burner phone. She calls the FBI with the rioter’s name. She doesn’t leave her name and then she dumps the phone.

Credits! Did you catch there’s a Jordan Boatman in the credits? She plays one of the associates who passes down the grunt work to Marissa, and she’s Michael Boatman’s daughter in real life! She’s also been in one other episode, in season 3.

I never get tired of these credits!

The RL partners (and some associates who are on the case? I think these are the same ones who delegated the work to Marissa?) debate whether or not they should take Cord’s money. Madeline notes that he’s funded a lot of Republican campaigns; Julius notes that both Republicans and Democrats agree that Section 230 is flawed and this is an opportunity for unity.

Diane notes that the right doesn’t want to stop conspiracy theories from spreading, so is this really that bipartisan? “It would help if the boomers would stop falling for those conspiracy theories and sharing it with their friends,” an associate (I believe this is Michael Boatman’s daughter again) notes. That quiets the room and the partners all glare at her. Yeah, that was a kind of stupid thing to say. First of all, it’s just not appropriate to say to the partners, and it’s also, like, missing the point? If it’s easy for conspiracy theories to spread among boomers, maybe just expecting each member of that generation to suddenly have a millennial’s understanding of the internet is the wrong strategy? Maybe there’s some structural issue here? That maybe, just maybe, this case is actually about?

The associate also points out that the internet is currently a place where people can speak out about sexual harassment-- “they repeal section 230, and there would be no #MeToo.”

One of the partners says he doesn’t believe that—if they regulate section 230, then newspapers can actually be competitive and there’s still free speech online.

“We’re not going back to reading newspapers, grandpa,” some associate says. What the actual fuck, dude? Who talks like that to their boss?! It’s so condescending. He’s also wrong! “Newspapers” are not just physical things... reporting by major publications still matters and will continue to matter. Like, is he suggesting that in the future all news will just be random people tweeting things they think are true with no fact checking or curation? Sure, journalism is struggling right now—but I don’t think that’s because there’s a lack of desire for well-reported news.

I am glad the partners call him out on saying “grandpa” and honestly I’m shocked he isn’t asked to leave the discussion after that rude remark. Unless this young looking dude is a partner too? But I don’t think he is.

Julius notes that if they’re going to pursue this case, they need money like Cord’s. At that, Liz starts to leave the meeting. “We haven’t decided if we’re taking this Cord money yet,” Madeline protests. “Of course we are,” Liz says and leaves.

Now that’s more like it! I’m not sure if this is necessarily the best way to handle this, but she’s a) correct, they were always going to take the money because it is $12 million and an issue of interest and b) using her authority. Should Liz be making decisions totally on her own? Maybe not. Does Liz making this decision and then leaving (with everyone accepting that she’s correct) cut through a lot of bullshit and establish Liz as the one in charge? Yup.

Diane says, “Ooh-kay” with a little bit of an eyeroll after Liz exits, but she’s still laying low. I think in a different season Diane might’ve tried to push back.

Is it me or does Baranski get a lot of material this episode we haven’t seen before? Lots of really good reaction shots/tones in this episode I don’t really think we’ve seen from Diane before. I’m impressed there’s still new stuff after 12 years.

At some point maybe I will actually write the essay I’ve been wanting to write for ages about how TGF is still so relevant despite being in a universe that should be showing its age by now. I wish I could find the first time that I called TGW a period piece set in the present day (I know it would’ve been during season five) because I think that’s the key to TGW/TGF’s enduring success. The shows always feel timely because they try to capture the present moment (which is, of course, always changing) and don’t get stuck in any one moment in time. Further, the fact that the writers are always so tuned in to events and skilled at quickly reacting to what happens in the world makes them VERY good in a pinch, which is (I think) why they’re able to make the most of unexpected situations (Josh leaving TGW, the pandemic).

Liz and Julius bring a suit against ChumHum to attack 230. Judge Friend is initially skeptical of their argument that 230 is unconstitutional; then she’s intrigued. I am too. This argument about the press is a very interesting one. I obviously have a lot of reading to do on 230, but my take after this episode is pretty much that social media platforms have to be held responsible in some way, but I don’t think it’s feasible or desirable for them to be responsible for every single one of billions of posts. I think there has to be some way to regulate social media giants that would allow everyday people to share things and speak out but would prevent the curated (even by an algorithm) spread of fake news and make social media giants accountable when there are very public bad actors using their platforms. What that regulation would be I have no idea. I just refuse to believe that our options are to give the social media sites full immunity or to regulate the internet so strongly that no one is able to speak freely because all the platforms are worried about lawsuits.

Over at the VA, people are being fired. When Kurt gets into his office, Madeline Starkey (wait, are there two characters named Madeline in this episode?) is waiting for him. She’s still very quirky and scary.

Starkey says the guy that Diane reported is now saying Kurt trained him on using assault rifles and buying ammunition in bulk. Kurt notes these were topics covered in a group setting, which Starkey knew—and what she’s really after is the names of the others in the group. (She may already know them, since she knows there were five of them.)

Kurt refuses to name names and just stares at her.

Case stuff happens! (I liked the last two episodes a lot but it’s much faster for me to just write, “case stuff happens” for some of the scenes.)

Hey, surprise Aaron Tveit! (Not really a surprise; he is in the credits. But still yay!)

I don’t really know why Liz and Julius are talking about newspapers specifically and not all types of fact-based journalism/press? I feel like their argument is most convincing when it’s about actual newspapers (especially local ones) but still would apply to cable news...

Marissa’s still hard at work sorting papers when the associate comes back in and informs her she can stop; they’ve changed strategies and everything she’s done is now irrelevant. She also says “I forgot to tell you” at the start of that thought, meaning that she neglected to tell Marissa this important information earlier and wasted her time. Marissa is not pleased and so she goes to Wackner’s court, where Wackner now has a deli ticket machine and is wearing super-sized novelty sunglasses. Why not!

He sees Marissa and calls a five-minute recess. In “chambers,” Marissa tells him she’d like to work for him part-time but keep her RL job.

Wackner needs her help processing more copyright certificates. He’s priced them competitively at $20 and found that a lot of writers want these certificates, even though they have no legal value. (Neither do actual copyrights, Wackner notes. And he notes that if anyone plagiarizes, they can sue in HIS court.)

“Marissa, I’m building something here. I want you to join me. I want your advice on cases. I want to bounce legal theories off you,” he says. “What are your legal theories?” she asks. “I don’t know. That’s why I need to bounce them,” he says.

Marissa gives him from noon to 2 and 5-7, which seems awfully ambitious for someone working at a law firm!

“That’s how revolutions are made. Back rooms of copy shops,” he says, accepting her offer.

Kurt is sulking in the dark when Diane arrives home. He lets her know about Starkey’s visit and she immediately goes into lawyer mode. Notably, this scene does not spend much time on how Starkey found out the rioter’s name. Curious if they’re saving that for later or if Diane and Kurt both know what Diane must have done or if Kurt think’s it’s a coincidence.

Kurt SET UP A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL for one of the veterans in his shooting group, and that tour was ON JANUARY 6TH! I really do wish he’d told Diane that upfront.

Maybe the long pause where Kurt refuses to tell Diane which congressperson arranged the tour even after she promises she won’t say is him letting on that he knows that Diane ID’d the guy? Or maybe it’s just Kurt.

I do not like the dead birds in Starkey’s office, mostly because I do not like thinking about dead birds.

Starkey compares Diane and Kurt to the Conways.

And now more case stuff happens.

Julius gets to question a witness for the first time in two years! He’s a little shaky at first but then he does a fantastic job! Yay Julius!

When Diane arrives at the office, reception is filled with around a hundred teddy bears. “What?” she asks. “Build-a-Bears. They were sent to Marissa,” the receptionist explains. “Okay... why?” Diane asks the logical next question. The receptionist does not know.

“This one’s a Marissa bear,” she says, showing Diane a bear wearing boots and a wig. It does not look much like Marissa and it says “Hug me.”

Diane looks confused and furious at the same time. Her look here is, like, a milder version of the death stare she gives Alicia in Outside the Bubble when she learns about Alicia and Cary’s plan to leave.

“Why don’t we, meaning you, take all these stuffed animals and put them in the conference room,” Diane instructs the receptionist. She is NOT! HAPPY! The receptionist seemed to be having fun with the bears, but clearly the right answer was to have done something with them and... not to have put them over every surface in reception. Eeek.

Carmen’s new client, the rapist, arrives at the firm before anyone can hide the bears. “This may not be the firm for you,” his advisor/lawyer (I’m not totally sure what this dude’s job is) warns.

Madeline notices the rapist and glares at the receptionist. “I know. I’m putting them in the conference room,” the receptionist says, thinking Madeline is upset about the bears. She is not upset about the bears.

Diane finds Marissa, who’s working with Carmen again. She asks Carmen to give them a moment.

“Why are there hundreds of teddy bears in our reception?” Diane asks. Marissa is confused. Diane shows her the Marissa bear. Marissa looks horrified and amused. “That doesn’t even look like me,” Marissa notes, completely missing how pissed off Diane is. I don’t think we have seen Diane be this direct/no-nonsense in ages.

“That would seem to be beside the point. What is going on, Marissa?” Diane demands. Marissa suspects this is based on some advice she offered to a client who was buying a Build-a-Bear franchise and thinks this is a thank you gift. “What client? You’re not a lawyer! Why do you have clients?” Diane says exasperatedly.

Marissa gives her a look, and Diane immediately understands that she’s been back to Wackner’s court. “Oh my God, this is about that Copy Coop court?”

“Marissa, no. By participating in that simulacrum of a courtroom, you exposed this firm to malpractice, sanctions, and God knows what,” Diane says. If that were really true, she wouldn’t have sat there and argued. I mean, I don’t know the legality of this all, but I feel like it’s a bigger optics issue than legal issue if Diane and other lawyers are willing to even consider participating?

“If you wish to continue your employment at this firm, you will never do anything like that again. Do you understand?” Diane says. She will not hear any arguments.

I love that Marissa is the thing that keeps Wackner coming back. It’s a good plot for her, but structurally, it also allows the show to keep Wackner around without many contrivances. Wackner sees that Marissa would understand what he’s up to, she sees that he shares some of her frustrations with the law, and they both want to work together again. It’s not like suddenly everyone’s talking about Wackner’s court and all the cases somehow end up there or anything.

The receptionist, who is having a truly terrible day, comes into announce that Kurt and Starkey have arrived. “Don’t put them in the conference room!” Diane commands, knowing that the teddy bears will be there. It’s too late, though, because the receptionist (who previously seemed to be fine at her job if bad at recognizing public figures and understanding that partners might not find teddy bears amusing) has already put them in the conference room. I feel bad for her, and don’t think the other things were her fault, but I feel like she could’ve seen this one coming...

I find the teddy bears HILARIOUS, mostly because the reactions to them are so funny. It’s kind of the same gag as the balloons for Lucca in season two, but I don’t really care, because I’m getting to see Diane Lockhart treat hundreds of Build-a-Bears like they are a real work problem.

Starkey jokes about the bears; Kurt is silent.

The rioter from the poster is now accusing Kurt of coming up with the STRATEGY for January 6th, which Kurt and Diane both dismiss as bullshit.

I could do without Starkey’s musical cues.

I can’t tell if Kurt is in trouble here or if she’s just pressing him to name names. Why wouldn’t she just have rioter guy name names if he’s so eager to blame Kurt? I guess maybe if the others were actually there, he might be less likely to name the names of his actual co-conspirators? Or, Starkey might already know the names (surely the shooting range has logs) and be using this to raise the stakes.

No one (except maybe the partner named Daniel) is happy about the rapist in reception. “Since when are we representing people like Wolfe-Coleman?” Julius asks. Didn’t these people help both Sweeney (though I think Sweeney was in some weird police brutality case and they didn’t actually want to represent him) and Bishop? And Rivi? But they draw the line here? Sure.

Ah, there we go, an expository line-- “he’s the next Jeffrey Epstein”. Almost made it the whole episode without one of these. I’ll forgive it since it’s so late in the episode lol.

“Did you approve this, Liz?!” Madeline demands. Liz did not. Daniel wonders if that means Diane approved it. Liz doesn’t think so and calls Diane (who happens to be walking past) in.

“I know, the teddy bears. I’m working on it,” Diane says when she opens the door. I think the teddy bears are a bigger issue to Diane than to anyone else.

Diane didn’t approve representing Mr. Rapey either. She’s uncomfortable that a meeting was happening without her; Madeline notes that she is standing there specifically because they wanted to involve her.

David Lee pops up out of nowhere with the answer: one of the new associates (not Marissa, “the real one”) pulled in Mr. Rapey. Are there only two associates now even though orientation was for a big group?

Firth is gone, btw. David Lee is the new Mr. Firth. I have no idea why David would want to be STR Laurie’s guy for managing RL but... sure, whatever? David Lee is an effective antagonist, especially in small doses, and this allows the writers to keep him around and continue the STR Laurie plot without a key guest star. If STR Laurie is still a thing, and it seems like it is going to be a thing for a while, then having David Lee take on this role makes sense for plot. Otherwise they’re going to have to shoehorn him in to every plot somehow. At least now he has a reason to be around.

Liz and Diane take a walk to chat. Diane is worried about having David as their boss. Liz says she has a worse worry—David Lee knew exactly when to come downstairs with information, suggesting he know what they were talking about. “Would he do something like that?” Liz asks when Diane wonders if there’s a bug. “Oh, yeah,” Diane replies. Hah, yeah. He absolutely would.

They decide to have Jay search for bugs and Liz is frustrated with how much time they have to spend on things other than lawyering. Yup.

“What is going on with all the teddy bears in the conference room?” Liz asks as they head back to the office. “It’s a long story,” Diane sighs. I also love that the teddy bears link the various pieces of the episode together—it feels like all of these threads are happening simultaneously because of that constant.

I don’t get RL’s approach to clients. Bishop and Rivi are ok, Wolfe-Colman is not (except that actually he is fine). Cord is okay too. Do they draw the line anywhere? I know Liz was right when she said that OF COURSE they were taking the money, but is there really nothing that differentiates that situation from this one? I feel like there should be.

Marissa goes back to see Wackner. Since someone refuses to say “I respect and I love you,” Wackner reverses his ruling. This is part of the “Bad Loser Law of last Wednesday,” so the rules of Wackner’s court are clearly a work in progress.

Marissa explains she can’t be the law clerk because of Diane. She tries to connect him with a real lawyer, still not understanding exactly what Wackner’s after. “You know just enough not to crush what I’m doing here,” Wackner explains. “A real lawyer will look for reasons why not. I need someone to look for reasons why.”

Case stuff happens. I cannot read Cord’s handwriting. Liz and Julius lose the case because Judge Friend says what’s happening isn’t fair, but it is constitutional. (So here we have, at least in the show’s POV, a good and attentive judge who can’t make decisions that make sense because she’s bound by a document written before anyone had ever dreamed of the internet.)

Cord is waiting for Liz in her office. He’s prepared to bankroll an appeal. Did they blow thorough that $12 million already? Impressive; it’s been like a day.

Cord says they are definitely the firm he wants. Interesting.

Now Liz wants a meeting with Carmen, so it’s Marissa who leaves the room. This scene seems like it was meant to be a different day?

Liz wants to talk about Mr. Rapey. Carmen is, yet again, chill about the case. “Carmen, is there anyone that you would not represent?” Liz asks. Funny, Liz, I could ask you the same. Being hesitant about it is not changing the fact that you’re representing bad people. Carmen’s just cutting the bullshit.

“I don’t understand. Is there someone you don’t want me to represent?” I love how Carmen’s incredibly polite responses always seem very pointed. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Carmen’s reply, and yet it puts Liz in a place where she can’t dance around what she’s trying to say.

“I’m just trying to get a sense of who you are,” Liz explains.

Then Liz decides she’s going to help on the Craig Wolfe-Colman (Mr. Rapey) case, and they will keep talking about her career path. Liz, this does not seem like the right solution! You're worried about your associate representing bad people so you’re like, I know, what if I ALSO represented bad people? If your goal is to convince Carmen not to take clients like this, you’re kinda shooting yourself in the foot!

“Are you worried about me?” Carmen says, again turning things on Liz. “I don’t know what I am about you,” Liz replies. Me either. Well, I know I'm intrigued, but beyond that, no clue!

All the bears have ended up in Diane’s office, where Wackner is waiting. He jokes about how his court is always seen as informal, yet this real fancy law office is covered in Build-a-Bears. Then he says he wants to hire RL—he's willing to pay. He wants consultation from Marissa (“consultation on legal issues”) and he’s prepared to spend a lot. And, if there’s one thing we know, it’s that they’re always going to take the money. So, they do.

I love that Wackner’s goal is to “perfect my little clubhouse of the law.” It’s a fun plot, and it also allows for the rules in his court to change (I’m sure we’re going to be treated to/subjected to a lot of whimsical gags around changing and ridiculous rules). It's also a good way to work through the thought experiment over the course of the season. It’s not like Wackner already has a system set up and it’s perfect—I'm sure we’re going to see his system run into issues and explore that more, too.

Wackner monologues a bit here about why he’s running fake court, and he lets us know he’s going to monologue. Basically he thinks people no longer want to help people and are only motivated by their own self interest. He notes that no one talks about the Peace Corps anymore and asks the last time Diane heard anyone say those words. I’m sure I’ve heard a reference more recently but my mind went RIGHT to season one Cary Agos saying “Peace Corps. Belize,” as some kind of smarmy pickup line. This is likely not where my mind was supposed to go.

Wackner wants “A new Peace Corps. For America.” Diane’s sympathetic to that and agrees to take him on as a client.

Wackner asks if he can take a bear. Diane instructs him to take two.

Aaaand Wackner and Cord end up on the elevator together. Wackner hands Cord a bear, the elevator doors close, and the episode ends. Since last episode ended with Marissa and Carmen in the elevator together, I’m hoping this will be how every episode this season ends. I think using the Kings’ favorite liminal space to transition between episodes is kind of fun, and it fits with the ellipses at the end of every episode title.

Speaking of... did you see today’s elevator-themed episode of Evil? It was written by the Kings. Those two have been obsessed with elevators for at least a decade.

#the good fight #tgfthoughts

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maghrib-genova · 3 years

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Hello, forgive my anon, I have no Tumblr. I was looking for reactions to Instinct and saw yours. I liked so many of your points. I also wanted to ask if you thought Nicoline had some predatory behaviors, her trip to the fast food place, her being the therapist, Idris had no agency as a inmate, following him. To me it seemed this movie was far more complicated than Nicoline's survivor journey. And wasn't Idris a survivor too? I would love to hear your feedback if you feel so inclined.

Hello!!

No worries! (I will try to answer eventhough I think I might have forgotten some details about this movie and trying not to repeat myself much of what I have written in my review of this movie in the post that you have seen☺️).

I understand why you feel this way about Nicoline, when I watched this movie, I also keep having doubt toward her. What if she was just paranoid and have ulterior motive, we become like her colleagues, we didn't believe what she was saying right away.

Her colleagues have the datas and they have been following what Idris was doing 24/7 and he did look like he was a changed man already, but Nicoline has something the others didn't have, she has her own "instinct" because she can sense that Idris as the kind of predator that will strike again, not because she is a predator herself but because she has been around one for so long.

Also I think "predatory" word is not really accurate to describe Nicoline, unlike Idris who knows that he has the charm and use it to his advantage to lure his victim like the way he acted around the other younger therapist, that was quite manipulative, he likes the attention, and I bet if they weren't in the facility with many securities around, he might do something to her while Nicoline didn't act the same when given the attention.

When one of her colleagues shows interest in her, she didn't trick him into doing something he didn't want to do, but I think she did unintentionally reveal her true desire toward him when she was in her drunken state.

It means she does has a peculiar taste when in comes to sexual activities but it didn't make her a bad person, the fact when that man make a move the next morning, Nicoline didn't even feel comfortable to be touched by him anymore.

She didn't approach anyone the way he does with Idris. She didn't have the tendency to manipulate people. I think she instead was really vulnerable like her inability to stay away from her abuser/her own mom.

I think at some point she does crave the danger that Idris has. She wants to be treated in certain way because it gives her thrill eventhough I think she didn't actually like the idea of having that kind of urge because she feels that desire was bad. But actually this kind of desire can be explore in safe environments with the right partners that have good communication, safe bdsm play I think. ( and also Nicoline herself need a therapy and she needs to open up and end the circle of abuse, she needs to get away from her mom so she can be her own person devoid of her mom influence about her self worth. I feel so bad for her seriously. Some part she looks like a child trapped in a adult woman body.)

And about Nicoline going to the fast food place, I think it was just her way to try to confirm the truth of what Idris was saying to her, later we know it was all lie, so It was right for her to check about it in the first place.

And her being the therapist upperhand and use it against Idris I think it was just her way to do her job (The therapist who does take advantage in manipulating his patient is Hannibal lecter. That's an example of someoneone who use their profession to make his patient question himself even more 😅 not treating him in anyway and it even pushes will at some point to bad place). In Nicoline's case it gives her a more leverage to see the truth inside Idris's head, because it was her job to understand her patient without doubt.

When she asked a provocative question that makes Idris lost his temper in the first time in a couple of years after trying to appear normal in front of other therapists. Nicoline is clever and knows what button to push. It was just unfortunate for her to really desire the appeal Idris has in the process.

And when she followed him to that beach, I think she was both curious to see what happened in her own twisted desire and also trying to reveal Idris true color.

Nicoline will totally look like the bad person in this story if Idris was actually a different kind of man, not a manipulative sexual predator.

He does have something Nicoline want but with consent and some boundary. when Nicoline told him no in her appartment, Idris should have stop but he didn't but instead he closed all the window shields and put her in position of no where else to escape, she has no choice there anymore.

The story might look complicated at first because it seems like Nicoline was the one who was trying to manipulate Idris into falling to her trap by keep poking the beast and in the process it seems like she got what she deserved. But Idris has to be accounted like human and he should be able to control his urge because this is no jungle if he wanted to get back into a society where everyone might be juat doing their own business but for a man like Idris it could be an invitation for him.

That was what Nicoline was trying to proof, she was scared of him too, but I think she chose to be brave at the end and cage the beast for real and make herself as the bait. Nicoline's trap will not work if Idris wasn't the man that Nicoline's instinct was telling her that he was. At the end of the day, Nicoline didn't force him into doing something he didn't want to. Idris was real capable of stopping himself but he is just a morally corrupt twisted sick man and he really shouldn't be out in the open anymore. So I didn't think Idris is a survivor of any kind because I never see him as a victim.

I hope my rambling made any bit of sense and answer some question you were looking for.

😅

Sorry for the late reply. I was trying to put my head in order. The explanation keep mixing up and entangle with the beginning and ending haha

It's just this movie is amazing I think anyone watching can have their own perspective in how they see these characters and take conclusions from this story.

#instinct #marwan kenzari #anon #answer #carice van houten #instinct 2019

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pigeontheoneandonly · 3 years

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Author Interview

Tagged By: @bardofheartdive, @rpgwrites, @dafan7711

Tagging: Anyone. I think most have been tagged by this point? But if you haven’t and this looks fun, please tag me so I can read!

Name: Pigeon

Fandoms: I’ve posted fics for Mass Effect and Dragon Age. I’ve written fics and parts of fics for World of Warcraft, Baldur’s Gate, SWTOR, Neverwinter Nights, Pathfinder, D&D, and probably other things I’ve forgotten, but not posted any.

Where you post: AO3 and tumblr (masterpost)

Most popular one-shot: Smut: After Mars, a small fShenko AU where Kaidan isn’t injured on Mars in the opening of ME3. Non-Smut: Once More, With Feeling, an mShenko story where Kaidan goes to Andromeda.

Most popular multi-chapter: Mass Effect: Labyrinth, my fShenko ME2 novelization featuring Nathaly Shepard. It is canon-divergent while trying to stay true to the spirit of ME2, if not the exact canon, and includes a novel-length intertwining fic about Kaidan’s activities during this era.

Actual worst part of writing: Wanting to write all day and having no energy left when you’re done with work, dinner, and other life responsibilities

Favorite story you wrote: This changes frequently, but right now it’s Lemongrass, a Nathaly/Kaidan post-ME3 one-shot about trying to rebuild one’s sense of self after investing your entire identity in war and survival.

Story you were nervous to post: All smut, really, ever, every time. Certain chapters out of Discovery and Labyrinth. A chapter coming up in Labyrinth that I’ve been nervous about for literal years, since I first put it in the outline, and frankly will be a test of how much my readers trust me from a storytelling perspective. Not because it doesn’t make sense, but because it introduces some uncomfortable elements that will need to be addressed and resolved.

How you choose your titles: Mostly by giving up and realizing I have to call it something. I tend to like my short fic titles more than my long fics. But generally, my titles suck.

Complete works: I’m not sure exactly? My masterlist has 43 complete.

Incomplete works: Of stuff that is partially posted, Labyrinth and Wanderers (my DA/ME crossover) are the ones that stand out. Lots and lots and lots of partially written one-shots and other unposted stuff.

Do you outline: Absolutely. Anything longer than a few thousand words, and I’m totally lost without one. My outlines tend not to be super-formal however.

Coming soon ideas, maybe? I’ve been typing away like a fiend on a Pathfinder fan novel tentatively titled Shallow Graves. It could be summarized as: Found family siblings must confront their grief and learn to forgive each other in order to stop the man who murdered one of their own from destroying the world.

Ask me anything: I’m not really sure how this question is supposed to be used? So I guess I’ll just ramble… I’m routinely asked about my writing process. But at the end of the day, the truth is that I write because I have to. My mental health, my ability to “adult”, my enjoyment of life and ability to be present all plummet when I stop writing, to the point that it’s the first thing my therapist asks about if I seem to be in a particularly sorry state. It’s my biggest and most enduring coping mechanism, even though I’m rarely writing directly about what is bothering me. And for some reason, some quirk of my psychology, it has to be fiction… journaling never does the trick but just causes me to dwell on the bad.

(And I want to note that this is not remotely exclusive with “because I like to”… I also enjoy it! But my whole life destabilizes if I stop altogether for an extended period of time.)

Best writing traits: I think I’m really good at digging into a character’s head and occupying their space, and that comes out when I write them into the fic.

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write: The aforementioned Shallow Graves, and honestly also looking forward to getting back to Labyrinth. There’s some good stuff coming up! If also nerve-wracking stuff…

Spicy Tangential Opinion: Hot mustard sauce is the only acceptable chicken nugget dip.

#about me

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tsukkeisimp · 4 years

Text

Truth or Dare

A / N: so hi this is the first thing i’m posting here and it is part of a much longer project i have been working on (and that i plan on posting on here? maybe?). i wanted to share this small portion of it just to see if anyone would actually be interested in reading what i write. if it flops, i never posted it lol.

since this is such a small random part of my project some things might not make sense. so i’m gonna put here some details i think are useful to understand the fic better.

mc (i’m trying to give her a name) is a first year, she goes to seijoh and plays volleyball. eri and mika are her best friends and they’re on her team. she’s childhood friends with tsukki. mika likes oikawa, oikawa likes mc, iwa likes oikawa, mika is iwa’s sister, mc and tsukki are hopelessly in love with each other oop what?. (this is chaotic i know). this is all placed during tokyo camp and yes some girl teams are there too. if you read all this rambling... thank you, i appreciate you a lot. also this is my first time using tumblr i have no idea what i’m doing and english isn’t my first language. okay bye.

Genre: friends to lovers!!! fluff? tsukki simping for mc.

Pairing: tsukishima x reader

“I am soooooo bored!”

Hinata faked an exaggerated yawn after saying that and then pouted, when no one acknowledged his little act. It was 10.30 pm and most of the usually energetic and loud volleyball players had already gone to their rooms to rest; some were tidying up the gyms, after a bit of satisfying but really tiring individual training. and a couple were just outside the gyms, sitting on the grass, yelling and laughing at Hinata.

“Bored. How can he be bored? Does he seriously have any energy left?”

Tsukishima had his earphones on. But no music was playing. The earphones’ typical function had been taken away, and instead they were given a brand new purpose: they were a shield. They protected him from his teammates annoying attacks. From their rambling about how pretty the girls looked that day, their over the top conversations about nationals and their non sense laughing at everything. He didn’t have to be involved in any of this, thanks to his shield.

He casually sat there, staring blankly at the sky, trying so hard to block out all the noise, all the giggles, all the meaningless and unnecessary discussions that were happening.

There was one person who wasn’t fooled by the earphones’ trick though.

“Yo Kei, move over. Let me sit here.”

MC just came out of the gym she had finished tidying up. She had been practicing with Mika until late. They were trying to perfect some of the attacks they were planning to put into action during the friendly matches the following day.

She plopped down next to Kei, their shoulders brushing slightly against one another and her leg resting against his. She took his left earphone out and put it on. There was something incredibly familiar and comforting about that simple act. Suddenly the earphones’ function changed again. They weren’t a shield anymore. He didn’t need one when MC was next to him. The earphones were now like a soft fuzzy blanket, under which him and MC were alone. They were alone together. No annoying teammates allowed. No rambling about stupid stuff. He finally started to feel at peace. All the irritating noise that was becoming unbearable to his ears slowly faded away. He couldn’t help but give all his attention to the girl sitting next him. The noise was officially gone. He could only focus on the warmth of MC’s hand resting on his knee. Her heartbeat, still a bit accelerated after the intense training. The butterflies that were now dancing around in his stomach. Kei didn’t know exactly why or how MC was able to make him feel this way. But he was used to it. It had always been this way. And he liked it.

MC drank the last drop of water that was left in her water bottle and then placed it carefully next to her. Her mind was going over and over Mika’s words of advice regarding the few struggles they had during their last match. Despite the late hour she just couldn’t stop worrying, panicking and stressing. About not being good enough. She was usually pretty confident about her skills, but sometimes her brain liked to give her a hard time.

She was in the middle of giving herself a motivational speech, when Tsukishima’s words interrupted her internal monologue.

‘Are you worrying about your shit timing during blocks again?’

Tsukki had never been one to sugar coat his thoughts or to say half truths. He had always said it as he saw it. And even though a lot of times in the past he had hurt MC’s feelings doing it this way, she had learned to appreciate his brutally honest words. She sighed and nodded slightly.

‘You’ve been improving like crazy though. I think you’re gonna get it right soon if you keep working hard for it. And you never stop working hard so…’

‘I’ll get it right soon.’

‘Yeah you will.’

‘And then I’ll be better than you at everything!’

‘Don’t get ahead of yourself now.’

MC giggled and rested her head on Tsukki’s shoulder. A sense of complete peace and calm spreading through her whole body. She was about to close her eyes to appreciate better this quiet momet with her best friend when…

‘HEY HEEEEY HEY!

Hinata’s right. I am boooored! Let’s do something. How about... we play truth or dare?!’

Bokuto screamed his proposal as if it was the best idea ever.

‘Truth or dare…? What are we? Middle schoolers?’ Mika giggled a little and then looked up from her phone. She was surprised to see most people seemed rather amused with the suggestion and not disgusted like her.

‘Don’t be like that Mika… it could be fun! And we could uncover some secrets!’ Eri laughed, excited. Yachi, who was sitting next to her, couldn’t help but laugh with her and nod, approving of the idea.

Sitting in a circle that night was a weird group of people. Karsuno 1st years and Nishinoya and Tanaka were there, mostly because they wanted to hang out with the Seijoh girls. Mika, MC and Eri were there, with the 3rd years looking over them. Oikawa and Iwaizumi had joined because Iwa debated that ‘It’s not like I’m gonna let my little sister just hang out with you all alone’. Bokuto was of course there, Akaashi sitting next to him praying he wouldn’t get himself into trouble. Then some of the Nekoma guys and girls.

‘I don’t think I’m gonna get involved.’ Tsukishima stated. Putting his earphones back on.

Kuroo immediatly grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him next to him.

‘C’mon Tsukki dude, don’t be boring! Play one round!’

The game had been going on for 20 minutes. It had been pretty standard. Most people were choosing truth and the questions were always about volleyball. Who do you honestly think is the best spiker in this circle? And who’s the best setter? Do you think that team really has a chance at nationals? Who’s the best at receiving? And so on. A couple of the guys had chosen dare. Run around the gym 2 times. Do a handstand. Challenge this other guy at arm werstling.

It was Oikawa’s turn.

‘Truth or dare?’ Iwaizumi asked.

‘Dare.’

‘Kiss the prettiest girl in here.’

Iwaizumi knew exactly what he was doing. All Oikawa had been talking about for the past month was this girl. He didn’t know if it was a serious crush, but he definitely saw something in her. She had all of his attention, but she didn’t seem to care too much about it. Which was pretty stupid, Iwaizumi thought. Because anyone would be lucky to have Oikawa’s attention and care.

Everyone went silent. There hadn’t been any kissing yet, so it was exciting someone finally asked a question like that. But also gross and childish some would argue.

MC had gotten a little bored with the game, she wasn’t really paying attention anymore.In fact she was too busy looking at her phone to even notice Oikawa was right in front of her.

‘Huh?’ she looked up, confused. Everyone was looking in their direction. ‘Is it my turn already?’

A couple of the boys giggled, the girls were just staring, too curious to know if Oikawa was really going to kiss a first year.

‘Oikawa has to kiss the prettiest girl here.’ Iwaizumi repeated, to give her a little warning of what was about to happen. But it was too late. Oikawa was already pressing his lips against hers, everyone watching in a mixture of shock and amusement.

Iwaizumi looked away. Mika, who had been sitting next to MC for the whole game, moved uncomfortably closer to Eri, but she just couldn’t take her eyes off from what was happening. Her best friend and the guy she had always had the biggest crush on were kissing.

Nishinoya, Tanaka and Shoyo opened their mouths in shock and they were about to scream at Oikawa to keep it short, to stop it already. Five seconds had already felt like five minutes. They were about to scream, but MC beat them to it.

After a couple of seconds of pure shock and panic, MC finally realised what was happening and pushed Oikawa off of her.

‘What… I … what?’

MC was usually the type of person who always had something to say, a story to tell, an opinion to share, a compliment to pay. She never kept her mouth shut. But in that moment she truly was at a loss of words.

Tsukishima hadn’t really been paying attention to the scene. Until now. He was alarmed by MC’s silence.

He didn’t really care Oikawa was kissing his best friend. He wasn’t shocked, he already knew he liked her. And he knew she didn’t like him back. He had observed the kiss from afar, without feeling any special way about it. When he saw MC pushing Oikawa off of her, he was expecting to hear her laugh and say something sarcastic. Or to see her roll her eyes and scream at him that the kiss was disgusting.That didn’t happen though. It was only silence. From that lack of words and the absence of her usual laughter and sarcasm, Tsukishima understood something wasn’t right. He didn’t know what, but the expression on her face said it all to him. She was upset.

The game didn’t last long after that kiss. The tension became unbearable pretty quickly. It was unclear to everyone what the cause of this tension was. MC was awfully quiet. Mika had switched places with Eri, as if she didn’t want to sit next to her best friend anymore. Iwaizumi refused to high five Oikawa after the kiss and Nishinoya claimed he would’ve punched Oikawa first chance he got.

A couple minutes later they all agreed it was time to go to bed.

‘Kei...’

As they were all walking to their rooms, MC tugged Tsukishima by his shirt and whispered to him.

‘Mh?’ He tried not to look concerned, as if he hadn’t already noticed something was bothering her.

‘Can you talk for a minute?’

‘Yeah, I guess.’

They waited for everyone else to go into the bedrooms and then they walked outside again. Tsukki leaned on the wall, looking at the girl that had been his best friend for years behaving in a way he couldn’t quite read. He was going over what had happened in his head, analysing every little expression he catched on her face, every single sound. But he still didn’t understand.

‘Is something wrong? Did Oikawa bit your tongue or something?’ He chuckled.

What was an attempt to make MC laugh, made her blush violently instead. She was freaking out. That kiss came out of nowhere and disiorented her. She was not ready.

‘That was my first kiss.’ she spat out, sighing immediatly after and biting her lip nervously.

Tsukishima still didn’t really see the problem.

‘I know.’ he just said quietly.

‘I can’t believe that was my first kiss. I can’t believe I had my first kiss with Oikawa. I didn’t want it to be with him.’ MC’s leg was was bouncing up and down. It was something she always did when she was worried or concerned or stressed about something. It drove Tsukki insane.

‘Why did you let him kiss you then?’

‘’I- I… I didn’t let him! It all happened so fast. As soon as I looked up from my phone his lips were… there. God, this is a disaster. I can’t believe it just happened. Uuuugh.’ She let out a loud exasperated breath and covered her face with her hands. Her leg still going crazy.

‘… Whatever MC. It’s just a first kiss. Not that big of a deal.You’ll get other kisses. Plus it was barely a peck.’

‘I wanted my first kiss to be with someone I liked...or at least tolerated. But not fucking Oikawa.’

‘Just pretend it never happened. Pretend it doesn’t count.’

‘But I can’t stop thinking about it! Ah God…’

Tsukishima was quiet for a moment. He was really trying to think of a way to make his best friend stop panicking so much. He was tired and wanted to sleep and she looked sleepy too. He needed to find a solution and he needed to find it quickly.

‘Okay. I’m gonna give you a kiss right now. You can pretend this one is your first kiss and not Oikawa’s. You said you wanted it to be from someone you tolerate right? Unless you wanna go wake up one of the other guys… I can do it.’

MC’s leg didn’t stop bouncing, She thought about it for a moment and then nodded.

‘Mh… okay.’

Tsukishima didn’t think twice about it. He walked towards the girl, who was leaning against the wall, took her face in his hands and placed a short and sweet kiss on her lips. He felt her whole body relax under his touch and her leg finally stopped moving. Her back relaxed against the freezing cold wall of the building, but Tsukishima’s kiss was making her feel nothing but burning.

Tsukki had planned to break off the kiss after just a couple seconds, but his head was spinning so fast and the butterflies in his stomach were dancing so violently he just couldn’t stop himself. He wanted more. He wanted to stay that close to her just a little longer. He wanted to feel the soft skin of her cheeks against his hands just a little longer. He wanted to be intoxicated with her perfume just a little longer. He wanted to hold her and protect her just a little longer.

But just as he was wishing, praying, imploring for a little longer, MC decided that was actually enough for her. She didn’t need a little longer.

As the kiss ended, they both blushed violently and looked away from each other.

‘Night Kei… thank you.’ MC was grateful for her best friend. He had actually managed to make her stop thinking about Oikawa’s kiss. Kei’s kiss… actually made her heart feel something. Her brain was now only focusing on Kei’s hands on her face, Kei’s lips on hers, Kei’s flustered expression as they parted. She didn’t know why her heart felt like it was about to burst. She assumed it was because he was so so so special to her.

Kei’s heart also felt like it was about to burst. He knew exactly why though. He didn’t have to assume. He had just realised, as raging disappointment took over his body when MC ended the kiss before he was ready for it to end. He was in love with her. He was deeply in love with her. And he probably had been for a while. As quickly as he understood this though, another sudden realisation got clear into his head. She hadn’t been praying for a little longer like he did. He was certain she didn’t love him the way he loved her.

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