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vaalthus · 2 months

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Convergence Part 1 (spoilers)

*Deep inhale*

*Long exhale*

THE TIME IS NIGH!!!

So to start,

I have to say I was utterly shocked that Jaania chose not sacrifice any more of her forces to buy her more time weave her spell but after giving it some thought it's an action that makes sense for her. As I mentioned in commenting on the Final Steps release, Jaania is finally able to see that our motivations we're always intended to strive for everyone's sake in the best of ways we knew how. As a result, she's hoping we can see and have faith in the good she's trying to bring about through her ascension.

As such, it makes no sense in her eyes to waste the lives of those who have been so loyal to her in helping her reach this moment when there's a chance their lives can be spared by us and they in turn be able to experience the world she seeks to achieve. Though those same troops would have been more than happy to lay down their lives for her so that world is brought to fruition. It's just a pity Jaania didn't give the order to retreat sooner otherwise the last of the Pelekoans might have survived.

What troubles me is the comments like these:

It's no secret to anyone that the last of Jaania's forces were those who were most loyal to her and her vision but what I find troubling here is the inevitable aftermath of these people once this conflict reaches its conclusion. As Hansa, pointed out to us in the Awakened Depths, Jaania became a beacon for those who had a simple wish to be achieved: to be free of any and all magical threats that Lore offers. However, it's not just these soldiers that want that, it's the nobles, the farmers, the little guys that have been supporting the Rose all these years across Greenguard and likely still do, sure that number has definitely taken a dive since the start of Book 3 but I doubt it's still insignificant. All of those people will soon find their dreams and the person who was meant to bring back a sense of uninterrupted peace in their lives is about to be dashed. We can only hope their response to this reality is constructive as opposed to the opposite.

What I've been saying all along folks :3

Miss me with that "we're not so different you and I" speech.

I like to think this is the Hero taking all they've learned about the ability to make choices in the Maleurous saga and is just throwing that much needed wisdom back at Jaania who feels the need to instill order in the world.

This comment is interesting to me because we have seen the Hero effectively try and be everywhere all at once for eveyone's sake, quite almost obsessively I might add, and I feel if Jaania hadn't recently just had a change of heart on her perspective on them, and taken the time to analyze the Hero's deal, she might have been able to more strongly appeal to their need, their desperation, in protecting everyone they can. Not that it would work either way, the Hero's distrust and deep-rooted fear of her, as seen in Fear, showed that getting us on her side was simply not possible.

If she was more predatory, of course, she would have used that aspect against us as every other villain that attacks our psyche has done before. A neat contrast here is what I'm pointing out.

*sigh* Every single new questionable scene with this woman continues to force me to find comfort in the fact that her and the other Magesters too dependent on the Mana Core Fragment will be dead eventually thanks to Roirr's actions. I truly want to believe there's a positive future for the Shapeless Empire that doesn't involve exploiting its citizens through this agreed upon cycle without violence but the rotting hands of the past never want to let go of control easily.

YOU GAVE THEM TRAUMA AND WEREN'T EVEN SORRY!!!

Okay technically this right here is the more sensible reasoning, but I stand by what I said! What I like most in this scene is that we simply reaffirm what we've been trying to tell her since this whole mess started with her organization. Everything we bring up about the harm the Rose has done thus far has been consistent and aren't negated by the fact that Jaania, at heart, wants to do what she believes is best for everyone's sake.

What I love even more however is how she averts her eyes the moment we bring up Akanthus because she knows she can't even reasonably, or delusionally for that matter, deny she has made a grave error in judgement in allowing Akanthus' abuses on, well, basically everyone, and soon everything, in his wake. It's that "Yeah, ya got me there look" that just sends warm feelings down my spine.

Now if you told me at the start of this saga Jaania was going to offer us a bargain to effectively play as the puppeteer god of fate alongside her, I definitely would have called you insane. It's moment I'm sure comes as a complete shock to everyone, it certainly did to me anyway. And honestly why wouldn't it? It's one thing to ask us to stand down and simply allow her to achieve apotheosis but it's a completely different matter to propose to come and play god. But it's one that sadly makes all too much sense.

Jaania has admitted that she has made terrible mistakes and has been too much of an imperfect being in her quest to achieve peace and prosperity for Lore. So better way to accommodate for her ham-fisted actions and judgement so far then to have someone like the Hero to hopefully keep her worse tendencies in check. As opposed to someone like Akanthus or Zadd who would, in all likelihood, make things worse had they been afforded the opportunity. There's another reason I believe she makes this offer but I'll get to that later.

Nothing else to say here beyond epic callback!

Out of all the Hero's moments in this quest, I believe this is where their experiences throughout the Maleurous saga shines through the brightest.

In a way, you could argue that, in spite of the obvious chaos that will come with it, Jaania's plan is to instill an eternal order, a Destiny, upon Lore itself, one in which she will insists never ends as she dictates. Yet the Hero knows the importance of others being able to decide the paths they choose to walk, I'd argue they've known that since Calamity, without some transcendental hand to yank them in another direction against their own will. So they certainly would not agree to be the one to dictate the fate of all those that live on Lore let alone allow someone as misguided as Jaania to do it.

Okay, I think we all knew that the void pearl was too easy a solution to deal with Akanthus and was likely not going to work but there's something absolutely amusing about Hesperrhodos being used a shield to be sent to the Void and then teleport immediately back to Lore without issue since, ya know, Elemental Spirits can just do that at any time. Hell I at least would have thought that thing would have let a monster through or something. The downside to seeing Zvezdana looking completely slack-jawed after these events unfolded is the fact that we still don't have a damned plan to take Akanthus out of commission...so yeah.

I have to say I love this final appeal Jaania gives to the trio of combatants because it shows a few things. First, that she still fails to understand that her organization was really only giving the illusion of peace to all those the dwelt within range of the Rose's reach and even then only really through the lens of normal humans. Second, it displays that she never truly had a proper grasp on the relationship she fostered with those she worked alongside. Lastly, she places too much hope that wanting the same things is not the same as agreeing ideologically how get those things.

Which inevitably leads to one option: Violence

I have waited 12. long. years. for this very moment. 12 years spent waiting since we broke free from that ice cap. 8 years I waited since from the first time we saw her again in Timelines. 7 years since the original Gala and our spat. 4 years since dealing with the second rift and I had a deeper appreciation for her mental state which motivates her.

And now I am finally here to fight Jaania one on one. So, you best believe I fought alone to prove which of us was could beat the other!

The following boss fight that ensues is perhaps one of the best thematic story fights in the entire game at this point, as it should be for the antagonist that is the face for this entire saga. I'm quite pleased that devs designed her to be difficult, hell I'm even glad that couldn't easily soul gambit my way out of this one.

In terms of mechanics, it's everything you could expect, Jaania does everything she can to debuff us and each time she fails and has her health cut down in bulk she commands even more strength to take us down, even attempting to go for the old freeze'em solid trick and when that doesn't draw any purchase thanks to Aegis she relies on her new found soul weaving arts to dispatch us. All the while we deal with the tragic music in the background tugging at the heart strings for a conflict that should have been avoided.

How far we've come since the Doom Amulet was our first real challenge in-game for year, eh?

And can I say how amusing it is that Jaania trapping us in ice is something that could only work once? Aegis apparently always had the means of unfreezing, he simply couldn't due to Draco keeping everyone away from where we were placed. So, with him already being close by to protect our soul from going poof, there's no way he's going to let us get trapped again. Even more amusing is to think about how Jaania is basically using the old ice soul weaver meta to take us on.

But after all of that we prove in the end, with or without aid, to be stronger than Jaania, at least in this exact moment.

It's a pity though that the moment does not last as expected Jaania will not let it end without fighting at her full potential.

This right here is the reason I believe Jaania made her initial proposal to us and why I bring up the Maleurous saga. For me at least, it's easy to see the similarities between Jaania and Notha. Both are exceptionally powerful accomplished mages that desperately sought out to change a world that gave them deep rooted traumas that they wished to change that world so that the suffering they experienced could not continue. However, where Notha wanted to bring about chaos to change the order of the world; Jaania is hellbent on imposing order on the chaos the world of Lore and its magic offers its inhabitants. Furthermore, I suspect, unlike Notha, that Jaania cannot bring herself to reconcile with the trauma magic has placed on her life and the people she cared about. Most defining of all though, which will likely be her downfall, is her need to be in control of everything so that she or anyone else might never hurt again.

Antagonists like Jaania are always left in a hard spot. They seek to rid the world of suffering and conflict forever and while that is a noble desire they fail to realize how unfortunately intrinsic those things are to existence. Thusly they bang their heads on a wall until they're bloodied and broken only for that dream they longed for to dissipate before their very eyes.

And so, her last option is to go full synchronization. I can't guess what happens next here with Jaania. Judging by the increased streaks of white in her hair, her soul is continuing to unravel though I think she's in no worse of a state than Tomix was when he was at the end. I was originally going to say synchronizing with a corrupt spirit created through forbidden magic would spell instant catastrophe for Jaania but then I remembered Aspar was created through the same means, although he was just a fragment, so she might pull off the effect with little issue.

I suppose we must simply wait and see what becomes of our troublesome Arch Magus and where the winds will turn for her ambitions.

And of course, there's still this asshole and the doom device.

#dragonfable #dragonfable spoilers #jaania #The culmination of 12 years!!!#And it's GLORIOUS!#My doubts for the Shapeless are increasing #Zvezdana will give us trouble I just know it #I'm glad we were able to have some form of a heart-to-heart with Jaania even as foes #truly the devs outdid themselves with this boss fight #Ah but we still have Akanthus to deal with #Weaver abomination Jaania when?#I've not felt this feeling since fighting Remthalas #Uaanta and Notha #I wanted to post this on release but I had to sit think for a bit while I stared out through window #thinking about how close to the end we finally are #Can't wait for what comes next

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justforbooks · 1 year

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Martin Amis, the author of Money and London Fields, has died at the age of 73. Here are some of the most memorable quotes from interviews over the course of his career.

On writing

“What makes you a writer? You develop an extra sense that partly excludes you from experience. When writers experience things, they’re not really experiencing them anything like a hundred percent. They’re always holding back and wondering what the significance of it is, or wondering how they’d do it on the page.”

“I find that people take my writing rather personally. It’s interesting when you’re doing signing sessions with other writers and you look at the queues at each table and you can see definite human types gathering there … With Julian Barnes, his queue seemed to be peopled by rather comfortable, professional types. My queue is always full of, you know, wild-eyed sleazebags and people who stare at me very intensely, as if I have some particular message for them. As if I must know that they’ve been reading me, that this dyad or symbiosis of reader and writer has been so intense that I must somehow know about it.”

“To me it seems like a part-time job, really, in that writing from 11 to 1 continuously is a very good day’s work. Then you can read and play tennis or snooker. Two hours. I think most writers would be very happy with two hours of concentrated work.”

“Any smoker will sympathise when I say that after your first cup of coffee you have a sobbing, pleading feeling in the lungs as they cry out for their first cigarette of the day, and my desire to write is rather like that. It’s rather physical.”

“There are pains you have to go through when writing a novel. If I wrote a novel without that – where it was all flowing, from beginning to end – it would make me very suspicious. It has to have the admixture of pain. But otherwise it seems to me a hilariously enjoyable way of spending one’s time. Assigning life to all these propositions, and (usually) dreaming up people, rather than taking them from life.”

“I have no patience for anything experimental or obscure – above all, obscure. I have to know at all times exactly what’s going on. I’m very committed to the pleasure principle. You read literature to have a good time. Or why else would people go on doing it?”

On his father, Kingsley Amis

“He was brilliantly indolent: he never gave me any encouragement at all. I later realised how valuable and necessary that was.”

“I left the proofs [of The Rachel Papers] on his desk and went off on holiday. When I came back, he’d gone on holiday. But he left a brief, charming note saying he thought it was enjoyable and fun and all that. I think that was the last novel of mine he read all the way through.”

“I always thought if he had been born a generation later, he would have written my novels. And if I’d been born a generation earlier, I would have written his novels.”

On cancel culture

“Every fibre in my being resists. It’s a philistine manifesto. It’s anti-creativity. Appropriation means taking without permission – who do you ask permission of? It’s getting that way in every direction. I got bollocked for writing about the working classes in Lionel Asbo. But I’d been doing that since I started.”

On his comments about Islamism

“Well, there was an unpleasant flurry [at that time], and I certainly regretted having said what I said; already by mid-afternoon on that day I ceased to believe in what I said. Collective punishment is obviously ruled out by definition – it was the sort of thing you say towards the end of a long interview without really having time to clear it with yourself. But that never felt like a great convulsion in my life. One death threat and a lot of chat. It wasn’t much of a cancellation.”

On feminism

“I’ve been a passionate feminist since the mid-80s. It was Gloria Steinem who converted me in a single day in New York. It’s the rhetorical device she uses throughout, and it’s very effective: she just reverses the sexes – what if men menstruated, what if men had babies? It’s unanswerable.”

On politics

“I’m secure in my conviction that socialism doesn’t work, because it goes against human nature. The idea of people acting out of social altruism is not part of human nature. It’s an element in it, but it’s not a guiding principle. I’ve always been a gradualist.”

“One of the real truths of the 21st century, and earlier, is that history is speeding up. We’re all on a sort of rollercoaster now. There are existential threats that weren’t fully acknowledged not so long ago. We are sort of hurtling forward. It’s more of a task to ask people to slow down.”

Remembering Christopher Hitchens

“He had a greater love of life than me. He really enjoyed everything, so much. I quite like life, but I’m not as crazy about it as he was. It somehow formulated itself in me that, now he was dead, it was my job to love life as much as he did.”

“Christopher was a real contrarian. One of things I’m proud of is that friendship. We never had even the slightest froideur about disagreements. I think it’s a good rule never to lose a friend over an argument. Never get into these sincerity contests: “I feel so strongly about this that I never want to see you again.” Rubbish. I disagreed with Hitchens violently over literary things as well as political things. But it never got to the point of raised voices. That’s partly because real friendship is rare, particularly male friendship.”

On ageing

“My father said to me that when a writer of 25 puts pen to paper he’s saying to the writer of 50 that it’s no longer like that, it’s like this. The older writer, at some point, is going to lose touch with what the contemporary moment feels like, although some writers do amazing jobs, Saul Bellow being a good example.”

“I feel I’m only going to write short stories and novellas from now on. Chekhov said, toward the end of his life, “Everything I read strikes me as not short enough.” And I agree.”

“In the old days it came quicker, the prose. Now it’s a battle. It’s not about coming up with striking adverbs, it’s more about removing as many uglinesses as I can find.”

“I don’t want this to get out of control or I’ll be drowning in schmaltz, but it all starts to look very beautiful now that I know I’m not going to be around indefinitely. You know, the way that to a prisoner condemned to death, water tastes delicious, the air tastes sweet, a bread-and-butter sandwich makes tears spring to the eye.”

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #Martin Amis #Quotes

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xoniarainforest · 3 months

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Got tagged by @kiki-shortsnout and this seems fun, so let’s do it!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Great question! None! Mainly because I started using AO3 last year and I have natural anxiety towards the publish button.

(You may not understand, but that button… that button scares me.)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

I have a very prideful zero. My goal this year is to try publish at least a 1k word count fic? I think it’s a fair step towards conquering my fear with that publish button.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Various Minecraft YouTubers (MCYT). I’ve been in this fandom for years, wrote about lots of peeps, but my current obsession is GeminiTay o/ (and maybe a little bit of Ethoslab. I never watch the guy before and I’m finally discovering his charm whoops)

DanganRonpa. As in writing OCs in the killing game aspect. I barely written anything about the characters other than my top 5 favourites though.

Undertale and its AUs. Especially the AUs, I remember being so crazy about it. Still do, but a bit more tone down in these past years. I write them during my need of comfort days. I have this one incomplete story from the fandom that I intend to finish it one day.

Marvel. This is my current biggest obsession. Specifically FrostIronStrange, following up with the Avengers.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I’m gonna answer this based on other websites that I’ve published since my AO3 page is empty. I don’t normally publish my fics cuz I’m a bit awkward in sharing, but amongst the ones I do share to public (they are mostly taken down at this point):

Méng Yǒu

Five Nights at Team Crafted

Three Peaks Castle

Colours

Dream. Glitch. World.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Most of my comments are from my friends so yes!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably that one Marvel series about an immortal child entity who travels through the multiverse determined to help solve the universal problems/threats in every universe/dimensions that they visits. It’s a series of never ending one shots because she never stops travelling. Obviously there are bound to have some very angsty endings where they fail to save the whole universe. Or she saved the universe, but she had to make hard decisions that affects them deeply.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Uhm… the world is saved from not being converted into a coded game? If you don’t consider fluff fics about typical daily life. Now that I think about it, there’s never a ‘true’ happy ending with my fics. I usually write the ‘to achieve the ultimate win, you lose something along the way’.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope. My fics typically don’t get discovered by people. Let alone by haters.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

When I’m feeling horny. I write very questionable porn with plot fics. Don’t ask. I swore to never share them.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Yes! I love writing crossovers between two of my favourite fandoms! I think the craziest would be MCYT x FNAF. Cuz it’s my first ever crossover fic and it holds a special place in my heart.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope. I think people prefer stealing works that are both great and completed. Sadly I’m neither great nor have I ever publish a complete fic to the public.

12. Does not exist apparently

Like my works? I have a ton that I have completed but never share to anyone.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Does co-writing a comic counts? I’ve co-written a short comic series with an irl friend before. It was only shared amongst my group of friends.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

FrostIronStrange is definitely at the top. It’s one of the very few romance shippings that I do since I normally do platonic or familial ships like Gemtho, SansxToriel, CharaxFriskxAsriel, Grian and Pearl etc.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Most of my long fics. Don’t get me wrong, I love all of them and I’m not abandoning them, but I have this problem where once I finish outlining the plot of my fics, my brain automatically files them as completed and places them at the easily forgotten corner even though I didn’t finish writing them. Plus I have a habit of jumping around between different stories… listen, I write for fun okay? I enjoy writing for the sake of writing so I don’t really care if it gets complete or not. Thinking about ‘must complete’ gives me stress and I don’t think it’s worth carrying that pressure when life itself is already stressful.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Worldbuilding, plot making, character backgrounds.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Grammar, dialogue writings, endings.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I constantly writes in both English and Chinese, so that’s not an issue for me.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Team Crafted from the very old MCYT fandom

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I like all of my fic. Case closed.

(You are never gonna force me to pick one. NEVER)

Who to tag next for the game?

I’m tagging everyone who has seen this post and hasn’t done the answers yet. So TAG, YOU’RE IT!

#thanks for tagging me!#love to be part of it #about myself

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ariel-seagull-wings · 6 months

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@thealmightyemprex @princesssarisa @themousefromfantasyland @the-blue-fairie @faintingheroine @tamisdava2 @amalthea9 @adarkrainbow

Last night, I rewatched 1937's Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs on Disney +.

It's funny that the Dwarves are established as characters who resort to violence in case of danger the moment they get home. They show fear, but still plan to massacre the "monster" that broke into their house (before realizing it's Snow White).

When they enter the room, and Snow White is covered in the sheets, Happy asks "But where is the head?"

And then there's the subtle change that when the threat is aimed at Snow White, they don't tremble like they did when they imagined the threat was aimed at them: they behave with pure courage and determination to attack the Queen and protect Snow White.

From the vague memories I had (not helped by some comments that some friends and family made), I was bothered by some of the dwarfs (Dopey and Bashful) acting like they had crushes on Snow White. Rewatching it today, I acquired a more lenient interpretation: a detail that I didn't notice before is that when Snow White talked about being in love with the Prince, the Dwarves didn't feel jealous. On the contrary, they asked to hear more, and were moved by her dream of meeting him again.

So that's when I realized: the Dwarves' love for Snow White is the idealized love of a Knight for his Lady! This love goes beyond the labels "romantic" or "platonic", "brotherly", "filial", etc... It is a transcendental love based on the intense desire to see the Lady happy and protect her from all evil!

The main difference this movie has from later Disney movies is its simplicity, specifically the fact that it does not fit into the "Three Acts in which the Protagonist Undergoes a Major Change Throughout the Narrative" format; it does not explicitly preach a moral using the protagonist as an instrument to teach the audience a lesson.

Snow White continues being the same character from the beginning to the end. And when she suffers the apple's effect, at no point does a character say "I told you so."

When it appears that she has died, the Dwarves mourn her loss, and when she is awakened by the Prince's kiss, they celebrate her resurrection.

Grumpy is the one who has an arc (admitting that he likes Snow White and stopping being misogynistic), but it's something very subtle, instead of being treated as a "theme" of the film.

I've seen some people saying the film is a longer Silly Symphony. I disagree. The focus of most Silly Simphonies was to make the movements comical to the music, with one or another piece focusing on a quieter, slower atmospheric narrative.

In Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, the focus is not movement for movement's sake. Everything is calculated to be used to establish the characters' personalities and how they interact with each other. A Silly Simphony wouldn't stop to show a group of characters stopping to react to a story being told, or getting ready to find places to sleep.

Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs stops to show the moment sthe characters stop to breathe and how they move through everyday actions, without rushing to get to the next scene.

It's almost comparable to what Miyazaki would do decades later in his animated films.

Also, revisiting the scene of the Poisoned Apple, I was reminded of this definition of suspense by Alfred Hitchcock:

“There is a distinct difference between "suspense" and "surprise," and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I'll explain what I mean.

We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let's suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, "Boom!" There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o'clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: "You shouldn't be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!"

In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story.”

Basically: the Poisoned Apple was our first bomb as children. We knew it had poison, but Snow White didn't, and in the process we were tense with the suspense of whether she would accept it or not. And when you get older, you learn to notice the character's body language: Snow White is reluctant to accept that fruit or not.

#snow white and the seven dwarfs #disney #western animation #classic cinema

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somewhereinthepines · 7 months

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I can't quite remember where, it was either here or on ao3 that you mentioned that Chris is a bit of the jealous/possessive type. At least because of his condition maybe, and it got me thinking about that.

It feels like it would definitely have a sinister vibe to it, I can certainly see it building in GP. Watching Ryan, potentially following him around, the ambigious touches, the weird conversations, and the revealing dreams. It's just below the surface, but noticbly inches out closer to the full moon or after interactions with Dylan. It's just so interesting because nobody would think that Chris has any bad intentions. He's just an old dude who's hard set on his rules and is openly fond of Ryan in anyone else's eyes.

Seeing glimpses of what could be him losing his composure is tantalising and creepy at times. As the reader, we have a different perspective than Ryan. He just really wants Mister H, and it's amusing how frustrated he's become. But then that begs the question, what is going to happen when he gets him? All bets would be off, I guess.

I've been trying to imagine what they might be like once it's all up in the air. That Ryan knows Chris wants him and how Chris might alter his behaviour. What's the use of hiding his intent when that person is aware? It's difficult to think of how different things might be after that. And I'm quite curious just how open or obvious Chris might be about his possessive, overly protective feelings towards Ryan might be. I'm also curious about who else Ryan might be meeting, but I have a feeling it could be some of the other hacketts? Maybe Travis, god, imagine if Ryan somehow got to meet Constance or Jed. It'd maybe go okay if he did as he was told and kept being polite, but he wouldn't like them. Didn't he say he doesn't like Jed at the start of GP? If he met Bobby, under normal circumstances, I feel like there'd be room for a comedic moment. Both of them just awkwardly stand there in the woods or something.

Bobby not knowing what to do because there's nobody to tell him what to do, plus Ryan isn't a threat. Then our poor guy is panicking, thinking, "Who is he, is he a hunter, I thought they weren't allowed on the property? Why does he kinda look a bit like Chris?" Imagine Chris behind the camera freaking out and cursing up a storm. He rushes down there to defuse and talk their way out of the situation. Only to reach them and see of all the bizarre things that Ryan and Bobby are having a simple, weird, but positive conversation. Maybe Ryan said something blunt and awkward like "nice, knife?" and Bobby just started explaining to him how he got it and what it's good for. It could be the most crackiest, chaotic convo, but Ryan is just nodding, listening, and making a few comments. Meanwhile, Chris is just confused behind a tree or something, feeling conflicted bcs it'd bad that Ryan bumped into Bobby. But idk maybe if he and Bobby have a decent brotherly relationship, he'd feel kinda grateful or happy that Ryan is making an effort to talk to Bobby. Yk like how he liked that Ryan makes an effort with Kaylee and Caleb? It'd be the most chaotic and weirdly funny thing if Ryan managed to accidentally get Bobby to like him. Especially considering what happens in canon. But that's just a funny weird little imagine ramble, haha. I doubt it'd actually go like that, it was just funny to think about. Pfft, imagine Chris telling Bobby that if he promises to keep the interaction a secret, he can come see them later. All the hacketts except the parents having lunch with Ryan. It would be chaotic af, lmao.

Sorry for that long-winded ramble, I only meant to ask and wonder about Chris's hidden possessive mannerisms. I ended up coming up with an odd Bobby and Ryan bonding moment instead of all things, haha.

heya! it was a while, since we talked the last time. and considering how, i’m yet to re-read my works to recall, where i’ve dropped it all, my memory on that bit is also rusty. but chris sure is possessive! though, i’d say that the wolf part of his nature is only half of the problem. the other part is that chris himself have those feelings / emotions no matter what, but if he wasn’t a werewolf, he would have been better at hiding / controlling it.

and honestly, jealousy is generally not a good thing / emotion, even if i’m an absolute sucker and advocate for it in fiction. jealousy is hot to me, as well as possessiveness. irl, it would be a different matter, but considering how good portion (if not all tbh) of my ships usually have at least one ‘yandere’ or emotionally unstable individual, it makes perfect sense for them to lean very heavily into that aspect. express their dedication to a person in somewhat extreme ways. tho when i’m looking specifically at my supermassive ship, funny enough there is not much space for such stuff, haha. at least, not in how i write it. i mean, if we take idk john/andrew, there isn’t any possible rival there, bc andrew and john are kinda joined by the hip and get along to the point, where every other interaction in comparison just doesn’t live up to what they have. well, from my point of view, anyways. but in chris and ryan's situation, it’s different, since ryan despite being a quiet, weird kid has people, who have crushes on him and then there are folks, who are friendly to him. and generally, chris’s view on ryan isn’t similar to john’s on andrew. from chris’s perspective ryan would eventually date and prob marry people, which naturally doesn’t sit well with him. he’s not proud of it, of how he seem to put an invincible claim on ryan, but it is a thing lol. and in GP, he’s way more weak-willed vs in ASB. he cannot help himself, and the further it goes, the worse it gets. and yeah, that’s the scary, might i say even realistic part about chris. he’s fatherly, friendly, old-educational kind of man. you look at him, and think, hey he’s rough around the edges, kinda awkward, but he’s nice and tries his best. and yeah, he does tries his best. he's fatherly and overall (usually) means well, but he’s not nice lol. and while at first, he did tried to be a parental figure for ryan, he honestly wanted just that, eventually it twisted and changed as ryan got older….less boyish and more ‘easy on the eyes’. and then, most importantly, he’s also chris’s first ‘friend’, the only attachment beyond his family nest. so in a way, you can see how he will get weird about it tbh. esp bc he and ryan get along so well. he would be afraid to lose it. to see ryan moving on. and while he knows that it would be for the best, it's also one of those instances, where he wants to be selfish about it.

as for how they will act once they’re properly ‘together’, well, it would heavily lean onto the lil plot that slowly happens in the fic. besides they cannot be a ‘normal’ couple in public for example. not only are they're a boss and employee, but ryan is way younger than chris. and it’s if we won’t take into account both of their families, and how ryan and chris themselves were raised. and how while it’s part of why they understand one another, they also will be 'weird' in any relationship. even if in their case, it’ll be somewhat comfy, bc they’re both like this. but what i can say is that ironically chris prob be less aggressive toward dylan, once he and ryan are together lol. one might have pictured it the other way around, but nope. but like, why would chris be jealous of that poor lad, when ryan picked him? it's like set in stone from that point on, esp when chris will see the 'proof' of it. ryan means business. but that applies only to dylan, haha. bc chris always feels somewhat bad for picking on him so much. since really, it’s not his fault for liking ryan, from chris's bias perspective, who wouldn’t? but there is also another aspect of how much one can let the other person know, the level of ‘creepy’ they are about them. if a person is smart and have at least some understanding about what is ‘okay’ and ‘what’s not’, and if they know that they're actively doing the later, they would try to either play it down or keep it a secret. out of all my supermassive ships, only du’met can be openly creepy, bc he’s a serial killer and he’s well-aware that he's what one might call bat-shit-crazy. and then, charlie is a low-key narcissist, so y'know...it works, haha. in comparison, everyone else will be partly scared to alienate the other person, to push them away, bc of how obsessive they are about them. and in chris’s case, it’s also complicated by a simple fact, that he’s a werewolf. him and ryan being together not only somewhat ‘problematic’ for 'normal' reasons, but also bc chris essentially a serial killer. it would be so-so much harder for him to be ‘decent’ about stuff, or seem this way, if one will be like ‘jesus, he’s a real deviant. he prob liked killing and eating those people too. and prob have some murder fantasy about that ryan kid too’. even knowing everything, ryan won’t think this, naturally. but chris will still hold that fear, bc he cannot know for sure what ryan might assume. to him, it’s a very tricky territory. but then again, if only he knew the extent of ryan’s own obsession, he might have been a bit calmer about that part, haha. i also must say, that ryan is prob the one, who isn’t fully aware about his own ‘claimship’ on chris.

i mean, he doesn't want to imagine mister h having a type and all. also if someone thinks, that chris is hella unreasonable with dylan (which he kinda is), you just wait what would have happened, if ryan suspected that chris might have new 'favorite' camp counselor. i even had that hilirious one-shot idea, where both ryan and chris are both jealous of dylan. like chris would try to keep dylan closer to himself, so that he'd spent less time with ryan, but from ryan's pespective it would look like he might be getting replaced. like y'know a classic rom-con stuff, haha. i honestly tend to feel somewhat bad for people like dylan, who is bystander and just kinda gets caught in the middle of it all, while being absolutely clueless. and it gets even more messy, if everybody learning what hackett fam was doing all this time. learning what chris was doing, and ryan is over there still openly simping for mister h, regardless of it, haha. like, it's pretty much canon, and it's amazing. i'll be honest, it's not super important to me what other characters think about my ships within the story. but i love how often, it would create some very awkward situations or an actual 'bruh, wtf' moments. ryan can overlook kidnapping, cut off limbs, deaths and all, if only it would mean, that chris did nothing wrong. amazing. great! one of my biggests personal let downs is that no one in LH, calls out john for almost instantly forgiving andrew abandoning / accidently killing people. john and ryan share that 'selective blindness' to a t.

and oh, since it takes me so long to continue the story, i’ll drop a lil spoiler for you. yeah, jed and bobby are one of few people, who ryan will cross paths with. but it won’t be cute, haha. and he will meet travis too. he prob will met every hackett, beside constance. i wanted him to hang out with caleb as well, since the last story had more spotlight on kyalee. feels fair to give the other hackett sibling some time with ryan too! and yeah, ryan did think that jed sounds like an asshole lol. bc well, he is. ryan despite his emotional stupor, still can see the difference between how his own grandparents raised him and what chris’s parents did. there is a thin line between ‘tough love’ and negligence / low-key sadism, but ryan can feel it. for him chris's family sounds closer to his mother vs his grandparent. so no good 'role model'. ryan also keen enough to notice, that chris has that weird almost automatic response to any critic toward his parents methods. if someone was raised in a norm fam, sure they would defend them, but not to the point of almost knee-jerk reaction.

and this kinda why i often feel, that people mistake chris’s obedience / need to inform his parents about things for him being ‘the spoiled child’ out of the 3. when in fact, he prob ‘has to do those things’, bc he thinks that he has to do them. same with travis. If you look at constance’s favourite phrase of ‘encouragement’ aka ‘good boy’, it legit sounds like smth that you would say to a dog tbh. not to mention, that all 3 of hacketts brothers still live in that very same place, next to their parents, even if they’re all beyond 40. And you can see why well, bobby be there. but while travis was no doubt gaslighted / manipulated into staying, bc what if they needed smth. chris on other hand most likely was ‘conditioned’ to keep the family business running. he might still like his job and love nature, but it didn’t mean, that he couldn’t try to open a camp someplace else. but he never did. like, there is a lot of ‘what the hell’ moments from ryan’s pov when it comes to things that he notices about chris and his stories and interactions with his family. if you love someone, and see them being mistreated or cut off from bigger opportunities or just generally mislead for someone else’s needs, you would feel offended on their behalf, won't you? besides, it’s not like chris is a big fan of ryan’s mom either. but at the same time, he’d be more mild and understanding about ryan’s grandparents, bc they low-key remind him of his own parents, and like travis, he tends to come up with excuses for them. anyways, sorry tangled! as for bobby and ryan’s dynamic, i actually feel like out of 3 brothers, bobby is naturally sadistic, even if in a child-like way. but i do think and hc, that he has this 'odd' kind of interest for ryan. not romantic or anything, but more of lines when a small, cruel kid sees a wounded mouse and decides to see what he can do with it, simply bc it cannot run away and prob will die, anyway. so their interaction won’t be adorable, but i love your take on it, haha. in a lighter themes fic, this surely has a place! in GP, tho it’s more of horror and ‘bad’ progression.

with this being said, i don’t hate any of the hacketts, not even constance. it takes a lot for me to downright hate characters. i also cannot hate characters, who are effective in the story, which chris’s family is. we as a player walk in their home, we see them interacting with one another, and we can see why chris and travis are the way they are. the message about the family sticking for each other isn't bad on paper, it's really aren't. but it depends on what sort of family it is. what kind of dynamic it has. and what we see paints a picture of a very unhealthy co-dependance between all of the hacketts. but it runs so deep, that neither travis nor chris seem to think that anything was wrong. or rather, that there was messed up stuff, and smth didn't felt right / nice, but it's all okay, bc this is just how family are, right? as even in the end, travis was like ‘we never wanted to hurt anyone’, when constance and jed, clearly gave zero shits about murdering and burying people as long as it kept their family safe. and it’s not the intent and motive itself that is chilling or twisted, it’s the way, both jed and constance talk and behave about it. like it’s nothing. and it’s kinda different to travis’s stoic and shell-shocked behaviour, to how he nearly numb to it, bc it’s too much. or to chris’s nervous, skittish guilt, that doesn’t stop him from doing those things, but clearly makes him feel disgusted with himself. jed and constance have none of those things lol.

either way, out of all the main characters, only laura had a chance to get ‘close’ to the hacketts and kinda explore their broken family in a more personal way. and i kinda really wanted ryan to do the same. esp bc is this also raises a question of how ‘better’ hackett brothers would have been, if their parents just idk, died. and i feel like, that in a scenario, where chris’s kids are still alive, things could have been somewhat ‘chill’. at least as far as it possible. but with them gone, well….yeah. i always felt like kaylee and caleb were kinda the glue, that held both travis and chris mental states somewhat together. but in better universe, without hackett patriarch and matriarch, yeah, thing might have gone somewhat well. i do believe, that kyalee and caleb could have made chris and travis be less bitter about things and each other. and ryan being latest addition to the family would get accepted just fine. like, travis cannot even be a bitch about chris having a romantic relationships with ryan, bc he himself prefers younger women lol.

and no worries! i love your rambles and i ended up rambling myself a lot, haha. and i really love hearing your thoughts tbh. or hear fluff set-ups, bc i actually very bad at fluff myself. i also rarely write smth like that, so it's always interesting to see the what could have been, but in more lighter, cheery tone. thank you for the message, they always make my day better! hope, you have a swell time as well!

#asks #quarry

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blacklister214 · 1 year

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Shadow & Bone Season 2 Predictions

Prediction 1 (Why a Memory Palace, not a Tether): I was watching an interview about S2 where the cast briefly discussed the difficulties of adapting the “tether bond” aspect of Book 2. I initially scratched my head because, it’s really not with the way the book writes the conversations. In the book its basically Darkling appearing to Alina like he’s in the room, but no one else can see him. That’s not hard to shoot. Then the actors mentioned that they are instead using a “Memory Palace” technique, and everything became clear.

There is potential in a memory palace that does not exist in a tether bond. Regular communication is hard when two people are as angry at each other as they are. With a memory palace we as an audience can watch Alexzander can find memories of the aftermath of his actions in the fold and Alina can find Alexzander’s history of how the fold was created in the first place. It means a fuller understanding of where each other is coming from, and possibly some good self-reflection. All we need to create enough empathy that they don’t kill each other in the finale.

Prediction 2 (Psycho Darkling Cuts): I don’t think we will see Alexzander perform his darkest Book 2 moves (Blinding Baghra, disfiguring Genya, and the creepy Mal doppelganger thing). I think he’ll lock his mom in a cell, and he scare the shit out of Genya with the threat of disfigurement, but no further. The rapey stuff will definitely not make an appearance. I do expect see him building his grisha following by massacring some Grisha experimentation labs in other countries. This way it will be a violent and rage filled “Reputation Era”, but also understandable a la Dany in GOT.

Prediction 3 (Toxic Mal Cuts): To my recollection a large part of Book 2 is Malina relation drama AKA Mal acting like an insecure, self-centered, possessive tool. I don’t expect to see most of that junk in the show. Show Mal is a dream (and I say this as someone more interested in the SHOW Darklina ship). I think we might get a little jealousy and insecurity as he realizes he is travelling a very different path from her. He will at some point have to break the news to Alina that she is pretty much immortal. However I generally expect to see them romantically together and supportive of each other on their Amplifiers hunt.

Prediction 4 (Amplifier Hunt): Based on the trailers think the whole of the amplifiers hunt discoveries will make it into this season. Darkling’s comment about her being willing to sacrifice want she loves the most seems suspiciously like he knows about the third amplifier. The fold won’t come down this season, but Alina will be aware what its going to take before the end of the season.

Prediction 5 (Crows and Nina): I think anyone waiting to see Nina’s and Matias’ story move is going to be disappointed. I think Nina will see him at the prison, but if he speaks to her at all it will be ugly. Nina for her part I think will spend the season proving her worth to the Crows, so that they’ll help her free Mattias next season. The Crows will need to deal with a pissed off Pekka until they are hired to steal information about the firebird from the Shu Han by Alina and co.

Prediction 6 (Darkling Final Fight With Alina): I think this season is the last time we will see a big showdown between Alina and Alexzander. In the trilogy it was so anticlimactic that all three stories end with Alina vs Darkling. More than twice is too much. I also don’t think we’ll get the Mal interference (which always reminded me of the Rose/Finn disaster at the end of Last Jedi). Alina will “win”, by which I mean I think they’ll play chicken and Alexzander will blink first, either allowing himself to be taken into custody, or running.

Prediction 7 (the New Enemy and Uneasy Alliance): The Apparat and/or the Royal family will betray Alina in the finale, leaving the final moments to be Mal visiting Alexzander and forming a pact with him.

#darklina #darkalina #darkling #general kiragin #much of this might be wishful thinking #but i don't care #shadow and bone season 2

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mikaharuka · 1 year

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☀️ (a comment that made your day?)

Heyo Alhaira!

There are four comments I wanted to shout out! The final comment is under the cut because it's long... but it's definitely the winner. Whew.

(@magma-saarebas19, @alpaca-clouds, @danceswithdarkspawn, @mrsmungus - I think y'all might be interested. It's a wild ride O.O)

Two simple and sweet ones (from Obsidian 10 and Midnight 14):

Your story is so good!!! This is literally my favorite twilight fanfiction ever!

I really like this fanfiction! I never thought I would like Mike as a character but here we go. Tbh I was looking for a little bit Carlisle action... but what I got was a whole new Twilight universe :)

One that made me think - this was left on Viridian 2 in mid-August last year, only 2 weeks after I started. It's stupidly obvious now... but I didn't know about my sensory style and this comment made it click:

Wow. I’m really in awe of your skills with scene setting and describing characters. You do it in such a way that provides a lot of lovely details but isn’t at all like your describing them consciously. It just reads really naturally while still painting a detailed picture in the readers mind.

And this last one... whew.

It completely freaked me out in the most flattering way possible!

...and yes, this one is on Azure. It's also the most recent chapter they've read. They haven't read Sapphire, Sangria, or Midnight yet!

So. This reader. This terrifyingly brilliant reader.

I'd call them a seer, but this goes way beyond that. Let me explain:

One - They had Mike pinned in a way no one else had. It's no big deal now, since everyone knows his color deal now... but this was written when Azure was the most recent chapter - back in September.

Back when even I didn't have his power completely nailed down yet. Before I went back to edit minor clues earlier on, about this power.

The part where both Beau *and* Mike come to school with dark bags under their eyes is quite damning. I have a strong hunch that Mike is hiding some pretty big shit from Beau. They both have a charm from Edward after all. Maybe Mike is starting to get some visions of his own? Or maybe he's had a Mandala of his own for as long as Beau, or just got one recently.

Two - They didn't just pin the future. Oh no. They also nailed my abandoned Apricity 1.0 as well! Beyond that, they even got me to reconsider using more of the original scene/intentions (still not sure how much, though)... and they have no idea about any of that:

I don't think Beau will doubt that they're vampires anymore after this dream, lol. The amount of time that Carlisle spent caressing his neck, biting his lips to the point that it breaks the skin, and finally biting into his neck to drink from him really made it clear. Carlisle was definitely showing off his possessive side with his pet names, but that last sentence was particularly chilling. "You're mine now, sweet boy," sounds like both a threat and a promise all wrapped in one. I shudder to think of what might happen if he saw someone was flirting with Beau. The other boy would be dead so fast...

I was so shocked that they nailed my original Apricity 1.0, that I actually clued them into it, in a deeper reply. I wrote this back to them - back when I was certain I wouldn't use the majority of it:

Oh yeah! I forgot to mention something earlier - bizarrely applicable to the point you made about what Carlisle might do IRL if someone tried something with Beau. So funny story - last year, when I was first writing out Cerise (the hospital chapter), I'd actually written an off-screen scene to get a feel for the characters and the actual in-chapter scenes. Mind you, that outtake and the first draft of Cerise are so far outdated now, that a good chunk of it doesn't connect to Cerise or Apricity of today... but traces of that scene still exist in both Cerise and Azure today. . In any case... in that super old Cerise outtake, after Carlisle grabs Edward and drags him out, they end up in that isolated hallway/room and Carlisle pretty much confronts Edward about... something (pretty obvious that something happened, even from today's Cerise). But within this very outdated draft, at some point, Edward starts egging Carlisle on about liking Beau, that first day at school, and Beau being his singer - just to get his straight-laced brother to react and well... Carlisle reacts... uhh... badly, to say the least. He ends up at Edward's throat on an instinct, but at some point he comes to and feels really terrible about it. Strangely enough, I was channeling a few pieces of that old outtake when I wrote Azure (and rewrote the today's Cerise from scratch)... so I'm actually kind of impressed that you somehow saw a piece of this old outdated reference I used for the dream sequence! . That being said, I'll leave it to you to decide just how outdated that outtake is relative to Cerise today. There are definitely a *lot* of major changes... but the outtake isn't totally irrelevant XD

And their cute reply to that:

Well, what are the odds of me asking what Carlisle would do in a specific situation, and that scene actually happened in an unpublished draft? Lol, that's amazing.

Three - You thought it ended there? Nope. It goes even further.

This person somehow nailed at the core of the mystic bond that those two share, as well as the elements of the dreamscape.

To be fair, they openly admitted that they read the chapter twice and noticed a ton of shit they didn't notice the first time around.

Also don't worry about spoilers. This is high-level enough that it won't give away stuff on its own... though Alhaira, I rambled about all of this in the DMs, so you should be able to see how close this person got.

The scariest part?

I think this person figured out my subconscious mind before I did:

The dream/vision was very interesting to read. Beau was able to recognize his surroundings, smell petrichor, remember to find his friends, etc. even in such a state. That he had so much control over his senses was surprising but seeing as this was more of a magical vision rather than a normal dream, it makes perfect sense. [...] The part where he felt a rush of power from the forest was intriguing. I know that he has more of the Current surrounding him than usual, but this is making me believe that maybe Beau can become a shifter or learn magic himself. [...] That Beau is enamored with him to the point that he'd let Carlisle do anything he wanted to him sounds extreme- so much so that I'm beginning to think that vampires have a lure or a siren's call or something else in your story. It's making me wonder if the actual Carlisle was present in this specific vision, and that's how Beau is being so affected by a supposed dream. [...] And boy, I'm excited to get some answers myself. The way the Mandala works is eating at me. I don't know if Beau is being affected so strongly from the Mandala because he isn't familiar with the current, he needs protection from the current, or if it's just the pull/lure of the vampire that he's connected to.

Well, I'll leave it at that for now... on its own, this isn't enough to spoil or anything, since they don't know the details for sure and are just theorizing. But this comment put a stupid amount of stuff into perspective, dragging so much stuff from my subconscious mind.

This was also the comment that made me revisit the whole thing with the Mahabhuta interlude, exploring the dreamscape and mystic stuff even further... even though this comment happened a whole three months before the vampire bingo card happened!

(I'll explain that in a post about the interlude soon, for Miranda's ask)

To say that I would pay money for their take on Midnight... wouldn't be a lie. I want to see what else they can drag from the depths of my subconscious. Heck, I'm like... 80% sure that if they read Midnight and soon, Prithvi, they'd be in striking distance of my exact plans!

Long story short... to say that this comment "made my day"... that'd be the biggest understatement of the month of last September!

#mizuka answers #my ask games #ask game #apricity plans #apricity outtakes #the abandoned apricity ver 1.0 #apricity #winter light headcanons #bellisle #carlisle x beau

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asagi-red-wolf · 2 years

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We all knew this was gonna happen so here’s an AU absolutely no one wants

Vivziepop-Yuri On Ice

wait no hear me out

Stolas the bored and lonely silver-haired charmer who’s attracted entirely to One Mess On Skates with massive self-esteem issues except Blitz’s anxiety presents as anger more than it does nervousness or depression but Stolas doesn’t know this at first (this poor child is in for An Awakening and not just a sexual one)

Blitz begrudgingly works at a hotel to pay bills and help out his twin sister, who’s in rehab after her own skating career was upended by a teenage injury, he’s kinda miserable all the time, and one of the reasons why seems to practically live at the hotel, it’s name is Angel and it’s A Problem but more on that later

Stolas: Starting today I’m going to be your coach!

Blitz: ...fuck off

The thing is, Blitz does admire Stolas, but he keeps it a closely guarded secret and he’s 100% sure Stolas is only there to humiliate him- he’s not sure how yet, but he’ll figure it out at some point

He’s also partly mad that Stolas is retiring because No, Blitz’s entire life goal was to steal your gold medals you coward and now what huh???

I actually feel like Stolas and Viktor would be weirdly similar in their- let’s call them “methods”, Stolas’s good-natured-but-ultimately-shitty-coaching-tactic teasing is right in line with Mr. Piggy Comments and I’ll be surprised if Blitz manages a full year with this man and never purposely steps on him even one time

Blitz is fine with eros though, it’s agape he has to learn, and oof that’s not easy for anyone involved....

All of this, ofcourse, is compounded by the fact that at the last GPF banquet Blitz absolutely threw himself half-naked against Stolas and most definitely dragged him to his hotel room for a night Stolas would never forget and Blitz would never remember- spoiler alert, he was absolutely a hundred times drunker than Stolas thought he was and Blitz doesn’t even remember there was a banquet in the first place

Meanwile, The Problem living in the hotel is Angel, who’s A Threat to everything Blitz holds dear

Because Angel is a fucking prodigy because ofcourse he is

That man hasn’t failed to place on the podium a single time since entering the senior division at barely-eighteen and it makes Blitz froth with rage, it feels like every competition that’s unfortunate enough to contain both Angel and Stolas is just a dick measuring contest to see who can do the most quads and score the best composition points, Stolas always edges out a win but the gap has been getting frighteningly small lately and Blitz is worried that his dream of being the first one to rip the gold off of that pretty motherfucker’s neck is going to be some blonde bimbo who gets everything he wants because he bats his eyes and looks like an ange- ooooh that’s where his name comes from....

Meanwile, Angel is completely unaware that this “rivalry” exists and honestly couldn’t care less about Stolas, the one he cares about is named Alastor, who is also constantly a front runner, but doesn’t climb quite as high or quite as fast as Angel does, something Angel personally believes is because of 1. Alastor growing up in New Orleans where skating just isn’t really A Thing like it is in New York and 2. Alastor being stiff

Alastor does dance with emotion but it’s always the same two or three emotions, he never really gets sensitive like Angel and Stolas do, he has the raw power but he lacks fluidity and grace and sometimes his composition falls flat compared to the more heart-pulling types of things Angel and Stolas compose for

Angel keeps hoping to get Alastor’s attention if he can keep beating him- because he seems competitive that way- but Alastor won’t give him the time of day, so one day he decides he’s going to force Alastor to pay attention to him by offering to be his coach

Something Alastor responds to with a very quick “Ha! No,”

Angel is half stunned, half furious, HE FUCKING FLEW TO CANADA FOR THIS SHIT?!!?

The thing is, Alastor isn’t really skating with any motivation, he’s not trying to be an Olympic athlete or anything, he doesn’t really care about winning, it’s just what his hyperfixation has been for most of his life and he’s good at it and he’s still very young so he’s doing this wile he figures himself and his future out, it’s not the same all-consuming “Win or die” situation Angel is in, where Angel had to constantly claw at the leaderboard like his life depended on it because it fucking did, because the only reason he was allowed to keep skating is because he was getting recognition from an early age and starting to earn money with it and he had it drilled into his head that if he lost he would be forced to quit

Skating is Angel’s entire life, but it’s only a temporary fixture of Alastor’s

And that kinda... breaks Angel a little bit

He really thought he had found someone- in his own age bracket and with his level of skill- that he could bond with, who felt the same way he did, loved the same things he loved, but.... no

It’s lonely, it’s isolating, and it’s actually embarrassing that Angel had been so confident his coaching speech would work only to be turned down and then told that Alastor doesn’t really care about improving in the first place

It’s all.... alot....

And that’s- surprisingly- what gets Alastor’s attention

Angel is on top of the world, there isn’t a person in figure skating who isn’t clamoring for his attention, so why is he so lonely? Why is he so sad?

Alastor is dreadfully bored with life, everything is always the same, he aches for change but has such limited interests- and limited finances, skating is expensive and moving to Canada as barely an adult to continue pursuing it is even more so- that he can’t do much to improve that bleakness

Angel has provided him with something that makes him feel..... curious again though, so he catches Angel before he leaves and agrees to let Angel coach him, on the condition that he NOT try to push anything on Alastor that’s even remotely sensual- Alastor has made it this far in a “romantic” sport without showing a single hint of love or lust and he intends to keep it that way, thank you

Angel is all too happy to agree, and they find out that they’re a strangely good match, Alastor is a calming presence who actually listens to Angel instead of writing him off as a ditzy blonde with nothing going on in his brain, and Angel is compassionate and very supportive of Alastor’s asexuality and how he wants to represent it- something Alastor can’t say anyone else in his hobby/career has been thus far, they work well together and communicate with surprising ease, a stark contrast to The Mess going on between Blitz and Stolas who barely get their shit together before it almost falls apart again, atleast at first, they get it together eventually- and eventually Alastor decides.... maybe this is where he’ll stay

He hasn’t really grown much fonder of skating, he’s learned to appreciate a few new things about it but that’s really it, but.... he has grown much fonder of Angel, and, you know, he hyperfixates, skating has been his fixation for years, now that fixation is Angel, and skating just happens to come along with it, so what’s there to complain about?

#hazbin hotel #helluva boss #stolitz #radio dust #not fic #*inhales* ah the au truly no one wanted

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vendettaparker · 3 years

Text

Bound to You: Series Masterlist [T.H]

Summary: A life you never wanted with a man you loathe. Life in the royal court has always been sour, but when you’re forced into a loveless marriage with the person you despise the most, you realize what little control you truly have.

Pairing: Prince!Tom x Princess!Reader

Warnings: angst, swearing, major character death, forced marriage, depression, SMUT (easily skippable), typos, (more to be added)

Status: Completed

Chapters that include smut are marked by *

a/n: can’t wait to start this adventure with you! comments and reblog are greatly appreciated 💗

moodboard made by @evyzyii (she’s amazing, send her some love!) ps. she makes them for free ;)

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

➳ Prologue: She Will Destroy You

Summary: (Y/N) hates lace trimming, satin, sipping her tea, and the entirety of her life in the royal court. But most of all, she hates silly British boys that happen to resemble frogs.

Word Count: 7.3k

➳ Chapter One: Love Persevering

Summary: (Y/N) returns to court, burdened with the knowledge of the duty she must fulfill. Harrison proves to be the most trust ally in court, and Tom proves to be yet another hurdle for (Y/N) to jump.

Word Count: 7.3k

➳ Chapter Two: Tears of Gold

Summary: In the aftermath of Tom’s betrayal, (Y/N) begins to feel more and more out of place at court. Nikki and Dom do what they can to push Tom to make the right choice regarding his marriage. (Y/N) is forced to face the girl in the mirror, and it’s safe to say that she doesn’t like her.

Word Count: 6.1k

➳ Chapter Three: Once Upon A Dream

Summary: Painted in hues of black and white, (Y/N) reminisces about her time in France as her and Tom are bounded to each other for life. James decides to fight for what he believes is his, Tom decides to do the right thing, and Hawthorne finally becomes aware of his fatal error.

Word Count: 5k

➳ Chapter Four: First Love/Late Spring*

Summary: (Y/N) is definitely not a fan of hens in court, Nikki is more of lioness than originally thought, Tom needs to learn to keep his mouth shut, but it’s okay because he finds a better use for it instead. And Tom realizes that maybe he does like serpents.

Word Count: 9.2k

➳ Chapter Five: Two Birds*

Summary: (Y/N) recalls the last time she ever saw Dahlia and how strained her relationship with her sister had become before she left for France, her mother, as always, is no help to her emotional woes, but thankfully, now she has Tom in her corner. All is bliss on Tom’s birthday, until a certain lady with a vendetta against (Y/N) present her gift to Tom.

Word Count: 5.4k

➳ Chapter Six: All For You*

Summary: Tom has to do his best to win back (Y/N)’s affections and prove that his love for her is as true as love can be, Lizzie leaves with a final warning to (Y/N), and time flies as James makes the arrangements to weasel his way into the palace.

Word Count: 7.1k

➳ Chapter Seven: Violent*

Summary: After the death of a loved one, Tom realizes where his priorities need to lie; with his wife and nation. Harrison pleads with Ivy to spare him the pain of heartbreak, while a certain someone pays him a visit, coincidentally looking for the same thing, though his intentions may be a little more… nefarious.

Word Count: 6.9k

➳ Chapter Eight: Exile

Summary: James can not pinpoint where it all went wrong as he plays back his fondest memories of (Y/N). Tom promises to make it up to (Y/N), granting her whatever she desires, which means sending Harrison to France to fetch someone dear to her. (Y/N) pays a final visit to her old friend, before their inevitable goodbye.

Word Count: 5.4k

➳ Chapter Nine: Falling

Summary: A rift forms between Tom and (Y/N) as the former seems to grasp air in his attempts to soothe the latter. Harrison and Ivy travel to France, and while one finds it to be all on business, the other finds pleasure in the little things. A surprise guest enters the English court, spoiling an otherwise lovely coronation.

Word Count: 6.4k

➳ Chapter Ten: Broken Glass

Summary: Threats are made as (Y/N) tries to expel the evil from her home. Arthur proves to be the leading light in her life, while Tom proves to be... easily manipulated. Now who’s truly the bad guy?

Word Count: 9.1k

➳ Chapter Eleven: Clipped Wings

Summary: Tom tries his best to keep his secrets from slipping out, but the truth always has a way of presenting itself.

Word Count: 7.8k

➳ Chapter Twelve: Little Dove

Summary: Tom quickly realizes how deeply his betrayal stung. However, in his attempts to make it better, he only adds more fuel to a raging fire, leaving a tiny trail of blood in it’s wake.

Word Count: 15.3k

➳ Chapter Thirteen: Evil? Most Definitely

Summary: (Y/N) battles the darkness taking shape in her mind, the kind that only bloodshed can quell. But in the end, darkness only attracts that like itself, and what a mess this has become.

Word Count: 10.6k

➳ Chapter Fourteen: Listen Before I Go*

Summary: With Ida’s life on the line, (Y/N) is finally forced to come face to face with the demon in her court. The resulting battle is calamitous.

Word Count: 10.5k

➳ Epilogue: Glimpse of Us

Summary: Life in the royal court goes on, with or without you.

Word Count: 1.9k

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

✧tags & moots✧ PERM

@ptersmj @princessofguineapigs @peterbenjiparker @cherrytholland @itsapeterthing @justapurrcat @kelieah @iovebug @celestialholland @hollandcrush @scarletspideyy @blissfulparker @spidernerdsblog @spideyspeaches @andilovetowrite @sinisterspidey @hollandsdream @annathesillyfriend @lovelybarnes @white-wolf1940 @wierdteenagenerd @arvinsescape @super-not-naturall @allthisfortommy @selfcarecap @misshale21 @morganwilliams @loveaffaire @tomfknholland @pogueslandia @tomshufflepuff @aayaissaa @micaelaf05 @hallecarey1 @a-daydreamers-day @holland-styles @cloudyfeel @peni5parker @slut-for-steve-rogers @vavilip @kitkatt18-blog @kitkat2015-blog @bookfrog242 @slutforfics @wildxwidow @hollandsfirstlady @hollandswife @writesforholland @prancerrparkerr @petesrparker @arlo-sanders @sxuxgarplxum @peter-parkers-gf @namoreno @niallberry @iaminlovetomhollandmarvel @1-800-lov3r @bisexualdragongirl @xoxokiaraaxoxo @hollandsvogue-blog @hallecarey1 @marvelobsessed10031917 @z3ndaya-blog @swiftnmarvel @sunflowerfive @yunho-leeknow @xxxstormyninixxx @marvelhasmyheart235 @kierstiniscrying @lowkey-holland @blahblahblah-boo @nocturnalms @happyt0exist @kpostedsum @noemiix1 @spideymix @mischieftom @sophi54 @allazay101 @spideybrina @runawaywithmyghost @rqmanoff @oxyparker @rory-cakes @parkerdarling @samaraaaaa @holland-horan @freds-slut @gingerbreadgodofhyperdeath @spideymixmain @blue-4-55-readinglist @camrenrodrigoswift @brown-eyed-doe @misslady246 @tonystarksfavoritedaughter @adayasgeorgia @mn-jun @parkerflms @holland-horan @scorpiowhores @marvelxholland @hufflepuffseeker @spider-man-stiles-gubler @lost-girl24

✧tags & moots✧ TOM HOLLAND

@harryhollandsgirlfriend @hollandlover19 @teenwishes08 @bradtomlovesya | @worldoftom @hollandsrecs @theonly1outof-a-billion @thevelvetseries @moonchild-s-blog @ottitt @lmaotshollandd @mcu-spiderman @tomhollandlol @watermelonsponge

@frogsbelike1

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eulchu · 2 years

Text

LET'S TALK: DREAM AND THE DREAM STANS

PART 1: DREAM STANS

i'm going to start this off by sharing a very cherished memory.

mcc day, september 2021. my roommates and i tune in to watch dream's live stream. it's the first time watching for my best friend who, although clinically online and very well versed in twitch etiquette, had always stuck to hispanic streamers. dream loses after a very close competition. still, my friend turns to me and says: "i'm a little emotional right now. i've never seen a chat so kind and encouraging in my life. usually i have to close it because they're, well, horrible, but this was one of the most heart-warming things i've seen on twitch chat. it's like you guys are his little cheerleaders."

i've heard bad things about the dream stans. i've DEFINITELY seen some of them. i'm no stranger to fandom culture. i hate making 'not every...' posts because that defies the point of holding accountable those who are toxic. i'm not above being critical of my own 'fave'.

however, i'm sick of seeing the demonized version that the internet has deemed reflective of reality in regards of dream 'stans'. because it's not true! i've seen the worst of the worst. i've been involved in pretty shitty fandoms. you know how dream keeps standing up for his 'stans'? he's not enabling the 'stan' community that many people think it is.

not to be cheesy, but dream fans are like nothing i've ever come across. maybe because we've had too much shit spewed at us. because we've had to endure death threats that, upon reacting, would not only make things worse for us, but for dream too. we've learnt to keep quiet in our little bubble to avoid conflict. we've been driven to the point of exhaustion. now, i'm not claiming this has been the case since the very begining. i'm sure early 2020/2021 had many dream stans who were a pain in the ass.

it is, however, quite revolting to realize dream's community's growth keeps getting looked past. by anon users. by ccs. by whole ass men older and more mature than many of us, with far more power and not one ounce of regret when their comments send a hurricane of harassment dream's (and by default, our) way. if any of them took a second of their day, they would find out all most of these 'dream stans' nowadays do is respectfully denfend themselves and their cc.

i'm tired of the whole 'dream enables hate in his community' narrative. we're human too. i could've snapped so many times at threats being sent MY way - not even dream's - and i never do, because god, i could fight fire with fire. but we've learnt the hard way that it doesn't benefit anyone. doesn't help the situation. certainty doesn't help dream. so we keep quiet. we turn into the bigger person per request for dream. i'm a mindless dream stan for being decent because dream asked me to? sure, say that to my face when you're not telling me to die. you're LUCKY dream is the last line in defense that's still standing in my moral compass.

dream has managed to create such a community that reflects who he is as a person. which isn't the cold, manipulative bigot that people think he is. dream's community is nothing but a reflection of his infinite kindness, compassion, acceptance and eagerness to learn and grow. thinking dream enables his fans' behavior as marketing strategy is a major downplay of who he is as a character.

i remember one quote from him, a long time ago, "don't let anyone tell you you're weird for liking something because they're the weird ones". i can imagine dream, who latches to games for days straight, and forgets to sleep sometimes, was just another kid who was shamed for liking things 'a little too much'. if anything, all dream's ever wanted to do is create a safe community where people aren't shamed for their 'weird ticks' or 'fixations'. when he's defensive of his community, he's not defensive of the people who send death threats and harass and doxx. he's defensive of a community that he built with care, in hopes to shelter all the 'freaky' kids that don't have something to go back to.

fuck anyone who tries to paint dream's community as something toxic. it's the furthest thing from it.

#im parasocial about all of you none of you have done anything wrong in your entire life #dreamwastaken #dwt #long post

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kpopaeipathy · 3 years

Text

Relax (Eun Woo Oneshot)

Pairing: Guard! EunWoo x Royal! Reader (gender-neutral)

Genre: Fluff, maybe slightly angst

Word count: 1,987

No warnings

Summary: When Eun Woo wants to protect you, but you just want him to relax and enjoy.

A/N: This was inspired by this prompt.

The mountains that surrounded the city reflected the colors of the sky more clearly, as if they were its own starless, self-lit expanse, lacking only by the hardy winter trees. Looking at them brought a feeling of peace and tranquility, protection even, because no one would dare tarnish such beauty. But it was not the splendor that prevented the invaders.

The few who tried to cross them quickly understood the dangers that probed the ground covered with frozen water in crystalline form. A sound at the wrong time would cause the crime to be covered by the cold, deadly hands of the natural shield of that small royal town.

The entire realm, in fact, was devastatingly beautiful and intimidating, hidden between mountains and valleys, protected by nature more than by guards and armies. They didn't need to get unstuck much to deter invaders and thieves. Never, in all its grand history, had the kingdom of Hanian been so threatened as to demand extra protection from any royal or its subjects.

Therefore, the citizens of Etherna, the royal city, did not understand the gravity of the situation and continued to offer their grandiose balls and banquets, to which the royal family could not refuse to participate, as the flaunting would be more dangerous than the possible invaders.

Also, there was the fact that this city was the most protected and the most difficult to enter or leave. Which in itself was a danger, as escape was unlikely. Even so, they were all gathered in the magnanimous gardens of Lady Khmer's mansion, dancing to flutes and violins.

"Would it kill you to relax?" you provoked your personal guard.

Since before you left the palace, Eun Woo had been alert, rigid, ready to attack anyone who got in your way (which almost happened when one of the guests who had already arrived at the dance drunk bumped into you and fell in front of you). Cha Eun Woo was the best guard in all of Hanian, assigned to you to protect the sole heir to the throne, but the fact that he was inordinately good bothered you a little, mostly because you would do anything to see a smile on his perfectly shaped lips.

“Probably,” he responded to your teasing, still scanning his surroundings as if searching for some hidden killer. “Likely it would kill you too. That's rather the point."

You smiled. Eun Woo's acid humor and straightforward responses were the traits you liked best about him. Of course, you also appreciated the symmetrical face and satin skin, with eyes so expressive they made up for the constant serious and focused countenance. The body was also not to be thrown away, with defined muscles and prepared for any battle.

“I'll risk it,” you said, drawing the guard's gaze to you, and held out a hand. “Dance with me.”

Eun Woo frowned and didn't move, noting the gloved hand in front of him.

Before he even opened his mouth to respond, you already knew what the words would be, so you just spoke before him: "It's an order."

A deep sigh was the only clue to the tormented state of your personal guard, as he remained serious and alert as he gave in to your request and took your hand to lead you onto the dance floor.

The smile on your lips deepened when you saw Eun Woo sigh once more at the scandalized looks of the other guests. It wasn't the first time you decided to shock royalty by dancing with your personal guard. In fact, that was your most common rebellious act and you didn't understand how the nobles and burghers weren't used to it yet.

“Look at me,” you ordered as Eun Woo's dark orbs scanned the hall on your first lap of the track.

He didn't sigh this time, just looked into your eyes and stayed that way for the rest of the time. The muscles were still stiff under your hands, a clear indication that he was still prepared to jump in front of an arrow to defend you.

“I'm not going to tell you to relax,” you stated, realizing that your words had exactly the opposite effect.

That was your best-known trick, at least between the two of you. After so many years as monarch and personal guard, you and Eun Woo had forged a kind of friendship that no one in the realm understood. Sometimes even you didn't understand. However, you came to appreciate the man in front of you so much that you used every resource in your power to make him relax and have fun whenever you could. Eun Woo never complained, not even to his companions, who often blurted out near you that Eun Woo had already commented on appreciating your dedication to his mental health.

He had never questioned you either. From the first time you had tried to make him relax, Eun Woo had accepted your orders like any other, as if your every word mattered. Until this moment, of course...

“Why are you doing this?” he asked, his husky voice invading your senses and raising the hairs on the back of your neck.

"I don't like to see you so stiffened."

"I have a duty here, Your Highness." Despite the firm tone of voice, you could feel that he was dancing calmly, as you intended. “If anything happens to you because I was careless for a minute…”

“Nothing will happen,” you interrupted him. “We are in the most protected kingdom in the world, in the most difficult city to penetrate. I have the best guard ever.”

“None of this is a guarantee…”

“If someone breaks a plate somewhere, you will stop your steps, put me behind your back, and verify who was responsible so you can kill or forgive. If a hum invades the melody that surrounds us, you will scan the surroundings with those deep eyes and find the reason to decide whether to hide me or continue dancing.”

"Your Highness..."

“I'm well protected,” you wouldn't let him speak and stiffen again. After all the turmoil your kingdom was going through, you and Eun Woo, as well as everyone in the royal family, deserved that night's rest. "I have you so I'm fine."

He sighed again, this time more softly. And for a split second, you saw the corners of his beautiful lips move upwards as if they were trying to smile.

“You overestimate me,” he said, causing you to snap back to reality and stop dreaming of a completely relaxed Cha Eun Woo.

“No, I'm a realist. It's different,” you replied, still smiling.

You were silent again, enjoying the last chords of the waltz that lulled you. Eun Woo was by far the best dance partner you've ever had and the fact that you talked and interacted in those few minutes made it the dance you'd most enjoyed in your entire life.

When you left the dance floor and returned to the secluded and sheltered corner you were at before, you treasured that night even more, as it was the first time Eun Woo had held your hands together for so long after the dance. He only released you when you were stopped and alone again.

“Your Highness,” he called softly, drawing your eyes to the perfect face that didn't even resemble that of a royal guard. "I appreciate your concern and I admit that perhaps I overreacted tonight."

Even though your eyes widened at the unexpected words, you managed to control yourself in time to joke and say, "Perhaps?"

This time, contrary to everything you knew and recognized about Cha Eun Woo, the smile rehearsed on the dance floor actually appeared on the guard's face, reaching his dark eyes, which thinned as they smiled along with his lips. Your heart raced in such a way that you thought you were having a cardiac arrhythmia.

"As I was saying," he continued, keeping the corners of his lips raised and your heart pounding, "I may have overreacted tonight, but I need to ask you not to distract me again."

“What? Why?" You didn't understand. You even won a smile with your endeavor, how could he not want you to do that again?

"I cannot lose you."

Frustrated, you took a deep breath and huffed, clenching your hands into fists before you began gesturing as you said, "I already told you, I know I'm well protected..."

"You'll always be," it was Eun Woo's turn to interrupt you, "that's not the point."

"Then what is?" you asked, moving closer to him when you noticed the smile leaving that face you cherished so much. "Why can't you just have a little fun with me?"

“But I have fun with you all the time…”

“Eun Woo…”

“Your Highness,” he spoke pointedly, cutting off any argument that began with his name that would make him keep silent if you ordered him to. "I wouldn't forgive myself."

“What are you talking about?" you asked, furrowing your brow.

Again, he sighed. Then, once again contradicting your expectations and shocking anyone who looked at you, including yourself, he placed his hands on your shoulders to stop the advance you kept making towards him. But he kept you close enough that the whispered words that came out of his mouth could only be heard by you.

“I can, yes, pay close attention to my surroundings and protect you faster than any other royal guard, but even I have my limits, and having you in my arms, looking at the smile that paints your face, is a very powerful distraction.” Once again, your eyes widened at the words. “At any other day, any other time,” he continued, “I wouldn't mind not resisting you. But we are facing a unique threat, an enemy that knows how to penetrate our defenses that should be impenetrable. I can't afford the distraction. If I lose you, I won't forgive myself.”

That was definitely the longest speech that Cha Eun Woo had given you in all your years together. Not only because there were so many words, but also because there was still so much he was saying between the lines. And it was everything you've dreamed of hearing since setting eyes on that perfect-in-every-way guard.

You knew you could never ask for more from him than that, knew you could never get what you really wanted from him because it wouldn't be fair for you not to be able to give it back. Your eyes filled with tears at the realization that you couldn't respond to unspoken words. Your lips trembled with the force you took to hold back the answer that was on the tip of your tongue. You loved him. With all your might. Nor would you forgive yourself if you lost him.

So you understood and accepted his argument, nodding once firmly so that he could see that you were agreeing without saying anything. Eun Woo watched your face and opened his eyes a little wider than usual, in his own expression of surprise, before reluctantly releasing your shoulders and taking two steps away.

“I promise not to distract you anymore,” you finally managed to say.

"Thank you," he muttered, looking away from you and taking in his surroundings.

Once again, you looked at the icy mountains that surrounded the city and wished that protection was enough to bring peace to Eun Woo's mind and body, you prayed to any of the gods that the threat would be neutralized so that your guard could relax in your arms again.

You smiled then, looking back at Eun Woo, who once again had the mask of concentration and seriousness on his face.

"But can't we even take a walk in the gardens?"

"Sure," he responded to your teasing, "I can put a target in your head too if you like."

The acid humor was still the man's best feature.

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fizzyxcustard · 2 years

Text

Covert Eyes (10)

Fandom: Spooks

Pairings: Lucas North x OC (Amy Holland)

Warnings: Stalking behaviour, anxiety, language, sexual references.

Summary: Lucas takes notice of a young woman, Amy, but his obsession and want to get to know her begin to spiral out of control. Their relationship is back on track; with them living a ‘normal’ life. But how long will their domestic bliss last? Amy now has another pair of eyes watching her, and Lucas has submitted a security vetting application to complete all necessary background checks on his new girlfriend

Comments/Notes: If you wish to be tagged in any of my tag lists for fics or characters, please let me know, and stipulate what you want to be tagged in. The above image was located on Pinterest, with no link back to the original source.

I also wanted to stipulate, and I don’t mean to be rude, but if you ask to be on my tag list and never interact (even if just a ‘like’ on the chapters I post) then I will remove you after a few weeks. Please try and show some kind of engagement, or ask to be taken off my list if you’re no longer interested.

Reluctantly, Amy requested for a meeting with her manager to discuss the incident with Jonathan. At ten sharp, on the Tuesday following Jonathan’s buzz at Amy’s block, Amy sat opposite her manager. The two of them had a cup of tea next to them. Thankfully her manager was a kind hearted woman, a lot like Debbie, only less outspoken. Avril was of a very slight build and would always listen to concerns, unlike a lot of the other managers in the building. Most of them were disconnected from their staff and only listened to the senior management who held the whips and forced everyone into submission with threats of disciplinaries and performance reviews.

“I’ve had someone following me,” Amy said with a sigh. “I’ve called the police and been given a reference number and a file has been opened, but they’re pretty loathed to do anything yet because he’s not actively come after me with a weapon or intent to harm.”

Avril rolled her dark eyes and took a mouthful of her hot tea. “That’s what they always say,” she replied, her voice thick with a Cornish accent. “I’ll have a word with the security guys and make them aware of what’s going on. Is there anyone who lives close to you who you can walk home with?”

“My boyfriend has been coming to meet me, but I can’t always rely on him as he’s got work as well. He walks in with me as well. It’s not fair on him.”

“I get that. He’s not always going to be there, but I’m sure he tries his best.”

“Somehow this man has found out the building I live in, so he’s been following me. I met up with him after matching on Tinder and agreeing to go out. He wasn’t very gentlemanly, let’s put it that way. So I walked out on him while he was getting another drink. And it’s only been in the last couple of weeks, just after I started seeing my now boyfriend that he’s started following me. I was at my local café and the manager had to escort me back because he was watching me. Then a couple of days ago, he tried to buzz into my building.”

Avril sighed. “What an arsehole. I’ll definitely go and have a word with security now to make sure they keep an eye open for anyone waiting outside. Do you know if he’s a claimant?”

“As far as I know, he’s not, no. I’ve never seen him in here.”

“Leave this with me, Amy, and I’ll tell security. Do you have a description of him?”

On the other side of the city, Lucas was sat at his desk, lost in his thoughts of Amy. She had bewitched him, making him feel as if he were swimming in a dream. It was a dream of love, peace and joy. There were no questions of motives, worry of who she really was. Today would be the day when he would give over her details for vetting. True, he had already looked up her details on most of the systems he had access to, finding only the ‘normal’ traces through her national insurance number, driving licence and passport. Executive Officer at the Department for Work and Pensions, civil servant. Youngest daughter of three. Two previous addresses. No trace on any warning indexes or security databases. No police record. Such a good girl, Lucas thought. It raised a smile. He’d never fallen in love with a good girl before. It had always been the women with secrets.

Just before lunch and Lucas took Harry, the senior intelligence officer of the team, to one side in an empty office. He held up a case file. Amy Holland was marked on the front. “For vetting,” Lucas said simply. “My application is inside.”

“Anything of note before we proceed?” Harry asked. “Anything I need to know?”

“I’ve told her what I do for my job,” Lucas replied, taking a deep breath. “But nothing specific.”

Harry blinked and straightened his back and shoulders. “Do you think that was a wise move?”

“I trust her.”

“How long have you known her?” Harry asked.

“We’ve been seeing each other now for almost a month, but known each other for approximately three months.”

“How can you be sure you trust her?” Harry countered. “It’s easy to fall into the trap of trust with people who are detached from our work.”

“I know her, Harry,” Lucas insisted. “Please, just do the vetting. Then I can at least feel more normal when I’m with her. It’s a breath of fresh air to be able to share your time with someone who isn’t fishing for intel. She just wants to be close to me.”

“Fine,” Harry said. “I’ll submit it this afternoon. But, Lucas? Just be careful. Our hearts aren’t always the best gauge for seeking out good company.”

Lucas said no more and disappeared out of the office swiftly, the door slamming behind him. Harry merely sighed and took a quick look through the file, stopping on a photograph, and stared into the large eyes of a young woman whom he hoped for Lucas’ sake was everything she appeared to be. In all his years working on the team, Harry Pearce had seen many people ‘outed’ by romantic partners, even if only in an innocent way, such as simple conversation with a family member. Normally it didn’t end well.

“How did it go?” Jo asked as Lucas sat back down.

“Fine. Harry has her application now. I can’t see any reason that she won’t pass the vetting.”

Lucas slipped out of work early and took the tube to Amy’s work place, and waited. His blue gaze flitted back and forth, looking for any sign of Jonathan. Nothing. This guy was going to be slippery; Lucas could feel it. A scorned potential lover, left behind on a date with no word. Of course he’d be pissed off, as most people would. But all of those ‘most people’ would also carry on with their lives and not bear a grudge.

As they always did, Amy and Lucas greeted each other with a kiss and then walked back to her flat. Amy spoke about her day, filling him in about the meeting with Avril. Then she continued on about a budding romance between two of her colleagues who worked together on the second floor. “They were pulled out of one of the meeting rooms after going in there for a quick snog,” Amy giggled. “The best thing is the fact they’re both in relationships. One is married and one is engaged.”

“Sounds more like a hook-up bar, your work,” Lucas chuckled.

“That is true. We did find another couple last year having it away on the photocopier,” Amy laughed. “Another married couple, and not to each other.”

“Have I got to worry about all of this?”

“Dear God, no,” Amy laughed. “Never. I struck gold with you, love. I’m still wondering why you even look at me the way you do.”

Lucas tightened his grip around her waist and pulled her in closer to him. He whispered to her ear. “I have to go back into work, but I once I get back later, I’ll look at you all night if you let me.”

Amy giggled like a little girl. “Depends on the angle.”

“Any angle with you is perfect.”

At Amy’s flat, she let both of them in. “Do you want to stay for a quick cuppa before you go back to work?”

“Just a quick one,” Lucas replied, unable to deny her proposal. Every moment with her was to be treasured. “I should be home by nine though. Only got another application to write up which shouldn’t take too long. I put your vetting application in today.”

Amy let her gaze sink to the floor. How could he be so serious about her that he would do this? Was this his way of showing her that he really was serious about their relationship? Or was it just a protocol that everyone followed when sleeping with someone? How many other people had been vetted for Lucas?

He watched her for a few seconds as her gaze remained locked on the floor. He shifted closer to her and curled his arms around her waist, pulling her in against him. Her small hands reached out and pressed against his chest. Then she finally looked up at him. But only for a few seconds, not seeming to be able to hold his gaze for too long.

“What’s wrong?” Lucas whispered. “Something is bothering you.”

“I just can’t fathom it.”

“What?”

“You. You see me. And you actually like what you see. There seems something wrong with that. No one has ever made me feel like I’m in any way attractive or what men want. But you somehow like me. It feels like a bad joke.”

“I think it’s a bit more than just liking you, Aim. I love you.”

“All those mornings in the café, and you could have easily just watched me walk in and out, like everyone else does. I’m only noticed when it matters or it’s something advantageous to someone else. No one actually notices me for who I am and then wants to keep me around.”

“And do you know why? Because you’ve kept the company of arseholes.”

Amy laughed. “And what if you’re secretly an arsehole?”

“I was hoping you’d try and find out for yourself.”

Lucas raised his eyebrow and smirked.

Much to Ros’ annoyance, Lucas scooted back into the office half hour later than he had originally stipulated.

“Domestic emergency?” Ros hissed, crossing her arms.

“Sorry,” Lucas replied, swiftly edging around her to sit down. “Not exactly an emergency,” he continued to himself in a whisper.

Jo looked up at him and then smiled to herself. “I hear you put in your vetting application this morning for your lady friend. Did the emergency involve her?”

“If we’re referring to this as an ‘emergency’, then absolutely.”

Ros came striding over to Lucas’ desk. “Can I have a word, please?”

She took Lucas into an office which was empty, and sat him down opposite her. “Harry told me that you’ve put in a vetting application for Amy, Lucas. And you’ve also told her about your job. You’re being reckless.” Her eyes were dark with frustration.

Lucas crossed his arms in defence. “Ros, I haven’t broken any rules by telling her. And I’ve submitted vetting, in line with protocol.”

“And being late? That’s unlike you. I don’t even understand in the first place why you had to leave, but I gave you the benefit of the doubt. If she’s going to cause you to act like this, then I’m going to have to keep an eye on you.”

“Oh, come on. Enough of the parent child talk.”

Ros leaned forward across the table. “I’m doing it because you’re acting like a child, and we don’t have any place for that here. You should know that. You’re one of our best operatives; damn well act like it.” She said no more on the matter and left the room.

Lucas sat with his arms resting on the table and took a deep sigh. Amy made him feel the most alive that he had been in years. Maybe she did bring out that child-like side in Lucas, the one who hoped and dreamed. It was the part of him that could watch Disney films while eating chocolate and not give a damn what anyone thought. He could laugh with Amy while in bed, tickling her under the sheets and then chase her into the bathroom while she screeched with laughter.

Work had to remain a priority, but not the priority.

Amy was watching reaction videos on YouTube when Lucas hit the buzzer. As usual, she allowed him in. It was only quarter past nine when he came into her flat, looking deflated. She could see in his face and posture that something was bothering him. Lucas always had an ability to look intense, no matter his emotion, but whenever something serious was on his mind, she couldn’t quite place the emotions.

“You okay? Work alright?” she asked.

“Yeah, just had a bit of a run in with one of my managers as I was late going back,” Lucas replied, peeling his jacket from his shoulders. “She decided to give me the parent child lecture.”

“That was my fault as well, Lucas,” Amy said, flicking the kettle back on for another hot drink. “We shouldn’t have decided to have sex on the table again. It doesn’t really bode well when you’ve come out of work only to bring me home, not satisfy me sexually as well.”

Lucas swept over to Amy and curled his arm around her waist. “I satisfied you, you say? That’s one good thing to come out of this afternoon.” He grinned, feeling a sense of pride swell in his chest.

Amy giggled. “So your main mission in life is to know that you easily get a girl off?”

“If that girl is you, then yes.”

***

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kohanayaki · 3 years

Text

.:Time And Time Again:. (Marauders Era x Reader) Ch 8

You come across an old photo book full of untouched memories and decide to go through it with Harry, though there are some things you decide he doesn't need to know and some things you'd rather forget. (Takes place mostly through Marauders era flashbacks)

LINKS: CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 5 CH 6 CH 7 CH 8

Ch 8 .:Snapshots, Secrets, and Sentimentality:.

“Hey, Harry?” you called out into the living room where said boy was reclined on one of the large charcoal armchairs, “I found something you might want to see.”

His eyes widened behind the round frames of his glasses as you carried over a large, leather bound book that was thick with laminated pages. You sat across from him on the couch, setting it down on the coffee table in front of you.

“We still have a few more hours before the others arrive for the meeting,” you said, “and I don't know when the next time we'll be able to talk like this will be.”

“Wait,” he said before you could open the book, “you aren't staying?”

“I can't,” you smiled at him sadly. A statement that was true for a multitude of reasons you'd rather not get into with your godson. “I wanted to show this to you before I left, though.”

With a wave of your hand the book's pages gently flipped open, revealing a number of old magical photographs. The page you had turned to had a picture of James, and you could see Harry's eyes lock onto it. His father was beaming at the camera, holding up the Quidditch cup as two of his Gryffindor teammates held him up on their shoulders.

“Now you see why everyone always tells you how much you look like him,” you chuckled, “that's him in his fifth year, same as you now.”

Harry stared in wonder at the photo. He really did look like his dad. James was slightly taller, lankier, but he had the same disheveled waves of dark brown hair and boyish grin as Harry. Their faces were nearly identical; except for the eyes, of course.

The photo right next to that one was you wearing a Seeker's crest. You were posed, standing with the rest of your team with a wide smile on your face. Harry's brow furrowed as he spotted an unknown yet somehow familiar boy next to you with curly black hair and light eyes.

“Who is that?” he asked, “he almost looks like—”

“Sirius?” you finished. Harry nodded. “That would make sense,” you said, “that's Regulus, his younger brother.”

“I. . . didn't know he had one,” Harry said in wonder.

“Well, you know he doesn't talk about his family often.”

“Right. . .” Harry trailed off for a moment, “but you knew him? His brother?”

“Yeah,” you said, feeling a tug at your heart, “We were friends, for a while.” Your eyes subconsciously looked up towards his room which now stood empty. “He, um. . . he died, some time ago.”

“Oh,” Harry said, not knowing what to say, “I'm sorry. . .”

You gave him a small smile in thanks, trying to shrug off the grim feeling the memories brought up as you turned the page of the book to the next.

This photograph was one that was moving— you and James in your Quidditch captain's uniforms. He was reaching over, ruffling your hair while you were ducking to avoid him, pushing his face away and turning his glasses askew despite the grin on your face.

“We both became team captains in year six,” you said, smiling fondly at the picture, “we'd squared off as Seekers the year prior, so it was only natural. You were already playing Seeker your first year, weren't you?”

“Yeah,” Harry said bashfully, “although my first time catching the snitch was bit rough to say the least.” You laughed at that, recalling the time he told you the story of how he had caught the snitch with his mouth his first match.

“You take after your father, for sure,” you said, “he was always a creative flier; came up with all sorts of purposefully confusing strategies as captain. By the time the other team figured out what he was doing, he'd have already caught the snitch and the match would be set.”

Harry felt pride fill his chest at your words, glad he was taking on his father's good qualities.

“So you were a Seeker your fifth year and played until you graduated,” he recalled, “but I thought you said you played Chaser before?”

“Well, sort of?” you admitted, “Not officially. My introduction to the game was unconventional, to say the least. . .”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1974 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James and Sirius huddled with the rest of the Gryffindor team on the Quidditch pitch, gearing up for the match. The energy around them was electric, the stands packed with students and faculty from every house.

“Remember, keep to the left,” Halls, their team captain, said sternly, “and take advantage of Parkinson's blind spot. If Rollins and the rest of the Chasers start scoring above 40 before halftime, we'll go in for the Pincer.”

Sirius nodded, determined to win this match. It was the first one of the season, so a lot was riding on this. However, his attention was diverted as the crowd's cheers suddenly grew louder. The Slytherin team had arrived on the field, marching towards them. Something Sirius didn't expect to see, however, was you, dressed in Chaser's robes next to his brother.

“What are they doing here?” Sirius scoffed as he spotted you, “they're not even on the team!”

“Rollins took a spill last practice,” Vanity said as she stepped forward. The Slytherin captain had a wicked grin on her face, “(L/n)'s a last minute replacement. Don't bother trying to argue, I've already cleared it with Madame Hooch.”

“Convenient of you to tell us ahead of time,” Halls' eyes narrowed.

“Is there a part of 'last minute' that escapes your understanding?” Vanity rolled her eyes.

“Well, no matter,” Halls said, “you've lost your best Chaser, we don't have anything to worry about.”

“That classic Gryffindor confidence,” Vanity smirked, “we'll see about that. I don't choose just anyone to fill in.”

Halls scoffed as Vanity turned on her heels, not bothering to look back.

“Seems you've found yourself another game to lose, (L/n),” James smirked at you.

“Have I?” you arched a brow, “what's our score now? 10-9?”

“10-10 since I got you with that scalene water in the Prefect's bathroom,” James reminded you, “how was being half fish for a day?”

“Marvelous, felt just like you,” you quipped.

“Settle down, everyone,” Madame Hooch said, stepping out onto the field, “Potter, (L/n), I know you two have taken to pranks on each other in class, but I don't want to see a lick of that up in the air, understood?”

“Perfectly,” you said, a smirk sneaking onto your face as you mounted your broom.

“Wouldn't dream of it, professor,” James said with sarcastic flair.

Sirius eyed you cautiously. Gryffindor had flying class with Hufflepuff, so they'd never actually seen you fly before, but there was no doubt that if Vanity approved of you, you had to pose some kind of threat.

“Take your marks,” Hooch said, and you rose off the ground in unison, staring each other down. “Let the match begin!” With a strong, well placed kick, the Quidditch case was thrown open to release the bludgers and the snitch, and as she threw the quaffle up in the air you lunged forward into a dive. You were just about to grab the ball when a blur of red and gold nearly knocked you off your broom.

“Potter has the Quaffle!” Kingston commentated from the box, “he passes to Longbottom, who evades Catchlove and Regulus Black. Longbottom scores! The first ten points go to Gryffindor!”

The patrons in the red and gold stands went wild, the roar deafening in your ears. This was definitely different from flying class. You had to get it together.

The hair on the back of your neck suddenly stood straight up when something whizzed right past your head as you barely moved to dodge it. Sirius gave you a passive shrug from the other side of the field, a beater's bat resting on his shoulder.

“Tosser,” you grumbled under your breath. You had half a mind to throw him right through the left-field hoops without his broom, but dealing with the bludgers wasn't your job; you just had to evade and score. You wouldn't let your team down.

Your eyes searched the skies for the quaffle again, and found it as you spotted a Gryffindor snatch it out of Catchlove's hands. You built up momentum, lowering your body to your broom handle as you picked up speed, swiping the ball from the red Chaser's hands before his eyes could register. You flew under him before their team could rearrange formation and spun around quickly, swatting the quaffle towards the lower right goal with the tail end of your broom. Their Keeper dove to block it, but was one second too late. The ball flew through the hoop and straight into Regulus' hands, who looped back around and threw it through the top right, leaving the Gryffindor Keeper too disoriented and too low in the corner of the goal posts to do anything about it.

“(L/n) outmaneuvers Johnson and scores!” you heard the commentary box boom, “Regulus Black follows up with another goal, we are 20 Slytherin to 10 Gryffindor, what a quick turnaround to start off the match!”

You huffed, impressed that Regulus was able to make the most of your shot. You knew he was Sirius' brother, but that was about it. He was a year younger than you, so you didn't have any classes together and never really talked to him before.

“Nice shot,” you said, flying next to him.

“Same to you,” he said with the slightest upwards quirk of his lips.

“Oi, keep it up you two!” Vanity shouted, hovering over you before dodging the bludger that flew her way, “Black, keep point on Johnson, he's off his game today. (L/n) I want you on intercept and watch for Potter.”

“Gladly,” you smirked, flying off towards the other side of the field. You were starting to feel more comfortable in the air, like you were when you were just flying by yourself; the sounds of the crowd disappeared over the wind rushing in your ears, and you were able to concentrate on your main objective:

Kicking James Potter's arse.

And that you did. The all too confident smirk that seemed to be permanently plastered to his face disappeared when he suddenly felt the weight of the quaffle leave his hands. A victorious smile graced your lips at his dumbfound expression as you threw the ball long to Regulus, who caught it with ease, swatting Johnson away like a fly before scoring another goal.

“(L/n) passes to Black who scores another ten points for Slytherin!” Kingston announced, “it looks like the two rookie players are really hitting their stride now. Choosing (L/n) as a last second fill in is really paying off!”

Sirius' eyes narrowed, grunting in frustration as he hit another bludger your way. Regulus' head turned at the sound of the crack of the bat and signaled over to one of your Beaters, who tossed the bat his way just in time for the Slytherin to send the ball flying back towards his brother. Sirius cursed under his breath, rolling to the right and spinning out of control for a moment before reorienting himself.

“Hooch, what gives!” he shouted, “penalize them!”

“Fair play under protection,” Hooch denied him, “you've been taking headshots, Black. Be grateful I'm not docking you.”

Sirius grumbled a few choice words under his breath before flying back into the fray.

“Thanks for that!” you called over to Regulus.

“Don't mention it,” the boy said, his expression still fairly neutral save for the slight smirk on his face. How the hell was he so calm during this game anyways?

You continued to work with Regulus throughout the match; you'd found a system that worked, and your captain told you to roll with it. Pass after pass you intercepted and scored, mainly targeting Potter not just because Vanity had told you to, but because it brought you a considerable amount of personal enjoyment.

That's when you saw it— a tiny, nearly imperceptible flash of gold that whizzed by your peripheral vision. Neither of the Seekers had caught sight of it yet, but you watched as it zoomed low towards the ground, hovering just beneath one of the crowd stands.

“Oi, Talkalot!” you shouted over the crowd at your Seeker, “Dive low at Hippogriff, now!”

You'd only had a few hours to look over the strategies that Vanity laid out for you, but you knew the Slytherin team had come up with code words for each quadrant of the Quiditch pitch so you could alert your Seeker if you saw the snitch without the other team knowing where it was. You hoped to Merlin you'd gotten the code right, and you exhaled in relief as Talkalot zoomed past you, taking a sharp dive straight down.

“Nice eye, (L/n)!” she shouted over her shoulder, her voice trailing off as she went after the snitch at top speed.

Sirius' eyes widened as he saw the sporadic move from your Seeker. That could only mean one thing.

“Halls, they've got eyes on the snitch!” he shouted to his team captain who cursed under his breath, taking off in Talkalot's direction, but her lead was too great.

“She's got it!” Kingston hollered into the mic, “Lucinda Talkalot has caught the golden snitch, scoring 150 points for Slytherin! Our score comes out 50 Gryffindor to 230 Slytherin, and this match is over!”

“Slytherin wins!” Madame Hooch proclaimed from her broom.

Everyone in the emerald stands cheered so loudly you thought their tents would topple. You couldn't believe the amount of adrenaline coursing through your body in that moment. It was a complete sensory overload as you were bombarded by the Slytherin team, mostly comprised of people you hardly even knew, and thrown on top of their shoulders and they cheered for you.

“What a game, (L/n)! I never knew you could play!”

“Where the hell have you been all this time, eh?”

“You better try out next year or you're dead!”

You laughed at the last comment from Vanity, people buzzing around you as soon as you were set down. You broke away from the congratulatory comments and pats on the back, however, as you spotted James across the field. You couldn't help but rub this in his face a little.

“Why so blue, Potter?” you grinned as you bounded over to him, “what was that about me 'finding another game to lose'?”

For once, James had no clever comeback, and his face flushed as you laughed at his expression.

“I do believe that leaves us 11-10,” you said cheekily, doing an overly exaggerated bow before tossing your broom from your left hand to your right and stalking off.

“Not for long,” James said to himself once you were out of earshot, equal parts impressed and supremely annoyed. It was time for him to pay another visit to Zonko's. He'd show you blue all right. . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“After that year I tried out for a permanent position as Seeker,” you said, “your father and I concluded our prank war, Sirius and I put aside our differences, Lupin vouched for my involvement with the map, and the rest is history.”

“I seriously can't believe you became such close friends only two years later,” Harry said, shaking his head in bewilderment.

“Neither could we,” you said, “it was just a series of chance encounters that we learned we were more similar than we thought. I really do believe that friendship can come from anywhere, Harry. Even more so when you least expect it. So if there's anyone around you that you think you might never get along with, I'd say it's worth it to give them a chance.”

Harry paused at your words. There were more than a few people who came to mind.

You turned to the next page, which was a spread of you and the rest of the Marauders in more casual settings. One could clearly tell you had taken them of each other, if the shaky camera movement and blurry rendering were anything to go off of.

You smiled to yourself as you saw a photo of you and Remus asleep in the Hogwarts library, lightly leaning against each other with your eyes peacefully closed. Suddenly the camera flash jolted through the photograph, and you two bolted upright. You glared at the person taking the photo and reached out to smack the camera away, the picture going blurry for a moment before resetting. Harry laughed at the brief repeating scene, as did you.

“Your father took this one,” you huffed, “because of course he did.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1977 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You rested your head in your palm as you transcribed a few spells into your notebook. The lantern in front of you gave you just enough light to read the elaborate Latin, as the sun had long since set. Your eyelids felt annoyingly heavy, attempting to close on their own as you fought against them to stay awake.

“How are you holding up?” Remus asked with a slight grin, catching you jump awake at his remark.

You and Remus had gotten permission from Madame Pince to use the library after hours to study; after all, you two were outstanding students. If James and Sirius had made the request, they wouldn't have gotten so positive a reaction.

“I've been more awake in my life, but I really need to get this done tonight,” you sighed, “NEWTS start next week and I have to be ready.” You stared up at the boy who was looking at you with obvious concern. “I'm fine, Moony. And I don't want to keep you here, so whenever you want to head off to bed, feel free to.”

“It's no trouble,” he said, “I'll walk you back to your common room, at least. At this rate you'll fall asleep in the middle of the hall for Filch to find you.”

You gave him a light but well-meant glare, groaning as you turned your tired eyes back to the parchment in front of you.

“Why the sudden all-nighters anyways?” Lupin asked, “I thought you'd be plenty prepared.”

“My Charms marks haven't exactly been the best lately,” you admitted, “that's kind of important if I want to become an auror, Remus.”

“Really?” the lycanthrope said, surprised, “but you're always in the know on some spell or another I've never even heard of. You've even made some of your own, right?”

“Yes, but the Ministry wants people who can conjure a corporeal patronus, not someone who made up a spell that makes antlers grow on someone's head to make a very specific joke.”

“Well, I thought it was impressive,” Remus laughed, thinking back to James asking him 'why does my head feel so heavy?' “but I see what you're saying,” Remus continued, “Have you thought about Dumbledore's proposal? Joining the cause might call for some more specialized tasks that would fit you well.”

“Right,” you bit your lip, “I just. . . I don't know. It's a lot to take on. A big part of me is scared, Remus. I'm not like you guys. I can't just fearlessly leap into a battle without any second thoughts. James and Sirius gave their answers so quickly and. . . I couldn't say for sure right away like they could. Honestly, I was terrified, and I still feel guilty because of it.”

“Fear is wisdom in the face of danger, (Y/n),” Remus said, “It's nothing to be ashamed of. No one is forcing you to make this decision right away, nor are they requiring you do it alone. There's a war going on out there, (Y/n). No one would blame you for not diving into it headfirst.”

“Always the quoter of muggle proverbs,” you chuckled lightly, “thank you, Remus. Really.”

A quiet yawn snuck into the back of your throat, and you stretched out of your chair to try to get feeling back into your body.

“Maybe I should turn in soon,” you said, your voice already groggy, “just a few more transcriptions. . .”

Remus stayed by your side as you continued to work diligently, and he found himself smiling at your innate stubbornness. It was something he greatly admired about you; when you decided on something you stuck to it no matter what, sometimes to a fault. You fought to keep your eyes open, even as your head began to slope and your handwriting gradually became slower.

Lupin was beginning to tire himself, which surprised him. He was naturally nocturnal, after all, and usually had no issue staying up to the early hours of the morning. But the quiet scratch of your quill against the parchment, the occasional sound of a page turning, and the smell of your shampoo that wafted with the motion, all lulled him into a sense of ease that was much too easy to doze off to.

Just when he thought he might fall asleep, he almost jumped out of his skin as he felt a soft pressure on his shoulder. He looked to the side to see you sleeping peacefully, your head having slipped from your palm and onto the soft fabric of his sweater. His face flushed a deep red, and he thanked Merlin you were sound asleep. He was caught in between embarrassment and slight panic as he instinctualy wanted to wake you but also ensure you actually got to sleep tonight.

He meant to wake you, he really had, but his mind and body betrayed him, and without even knowing when, his eyes fluttered closed and he drifted off into quite possibly the best sleep he'd had in weeks.

The flash of the magical camera was blinding, even through your closed eyelids. White spots danced in your vision as you groaned, shielding your face from the camera.

“MORNING, LOVEBIRDS!”

Remus jolted awake, remembering last night's events in an instant and banging his head on the bookshelf beside him in an attempt to put some distance between you two.

James was stood there, camera in hand and doubled over in laughter.

“Prongs, you better start running before I skin you and turn you into a pair of shoes,” you growled.

“How is it that I always catch you two sleeping together?” James chortled, completely ignoring your statement, “Can't be long till you get it on to the other sense of the phrase.”

And that's when you lunged at him. Too bad he didn't take your advice for a head start.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That twat,” you said fondly, a statement that about summed up your and James' friendship.

Harry found himself smiling as you recounted your memories with his father. It made him feel that much more grateful for what he shared with Ron and Hermione.

“Oh, Merlin,” you laughed as you saw the next picture. You, Remus, Sirius, Peter, Lily, and James were standing side by side, Slughorn smiling in the middle of all of you. “This was the first and last Slug Club party that we ever attended all together,” you said, “Like I mentioned, Lily and I had always gone, and—”

You caught yourself.

And Severus would pretend to be reluctant tagging along, you finished in your mind. After what happened he stopped attending the parties.

You cleared your throat.

“Ahem, well, we'd always gone together as friends but none of the boys ever went with us,” you said, “It was our last year, and Lily finally convinced James to tag along, because by then they were together and he was contractually obligated to do so. I talked Sirius into coming because Slughorn had been trying to get him to come for years, and I made Remus my plus one. So for the first time ever, we were all at the party.”

“So it was the last party of the year?” Harry asked.

“Um, well, no,” you laughed, “it was the last party we were invited to. Let's just say your godfather thought it would be funny to enchant the ice sculptures to chase Lucius Malfoy around the dance floor. I'll admit, watching that stupid blonde ninny run screaming from a rapidly melting octopus to the tune of a classical string quartet was pretty entertaining, though Slughorn obviously felt otherwise.”

Harry chuckled, clearly seeing the spark of mischief in Sirius' eyes, even through a photo. As Harry's gaze drifted across the page, he noticed an empty space near the corner of the book. A discolored square remained where a photo should have been, the caption reading 'Christmas, 1976.' As he saw the way you ran your fingers lightly across the page, he decided against asking you what used to be there. He instead turned his attention to the next photograph, which was one taken in an all too familiar setting.

“Hold on,” Harry said, pointing to the picture, “that's the Gryffindor common room!”

“Sure is,” you grinned, “that secret passage from the dungeons to Gryffindor tower went from being used purely for pranking purposes to a way for us to actually hang out together at night.”

You stared down at the photograph fondly. You all looked so much older than the first pictures. You and James were lounging on the couch, not bothering to hide the overly full glasses of firewhiskey in your hands. Sirius and Remus were sitting on pillows on the floor, caught in the middle of a fit of laughter before all four of you turned to the camera which flashed. A pang of hurt and anger hit you square in the chest as it did. Peter had been the one taking the photo.

“I remember this day,” you said, an expression Harry couldn't quite figure out on your face, “it was the night before graduation. Our last night at Hogwarts. . .”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1978 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A giggle rose in your throat as you took yet another drink of firewhiskey with James and Sirius, something that Remus insisted you were going to regret come morning.

“Oh, don't be suck a stickler, Moony,” Sirius guffawed, “tonight's the night! This time tomorrow we'll be packing up camp and heading out into the great unknown.” He made an expansive gesture with his hand that was cut off promptly by James smacking him upside the head.

“I'll brew a pepperup potion tomorrow if anyone really needs it,” you assured Remus.

“Not really the point, (Y/n),” he rolled his eyes.

As you leaned back to look at the four of them, all grinning like idiots and laughing, you felt a strange sense of sadness come over you. This was your last night at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the place you had spent most of your life and where you had met the people you could no longer imagine that life without. As the reality of that fact sunk in, you grew quiet.

“Everything's going to be different after tomorrow, isn't it?” you said.

The boys looked surprised at your sudden and intense declaration, and James was the first to break the tension you'd created.

“Aww, Fangs is getting all sentimental,” he grinned, slinging an arm over your shoulder.

“I will toss you out this window, Prongs.”

He laughed, poking you in the cheek, his smile only widening as you huffed in annoyance.

“It won't be different,” he promised, more serious but with that smile ever present on his face, “we'll still be friends. We'll still be a pack. And besides, after we graduate we could go. . . well, anywhere together! Just think, the five greatest heroes Hogwarts has ever seen, going on top secret missions from Dumbledore, saving the world!”

“It'll be dangerous, James,” you said, “there's a war going on, remember?”

“What war could ever break us up, huh?” he said reassuringly. You felt your heart swell at the remark. “And besides, you're gonna have to see me next year for the wedding anyways! Lily wanted it sometime in Spring.”

“. . .”

“WEDDING?!” you, Sirius, Remus, and Peter screeched, practically in unison as if it had been planned and rehearsed. Chaos erupted in the room, and you couldn't care less if you woke everyone in Gryffindor tower.

“You sly git, when were you gonna tell us?!” Sirius whacked his friend over the head with the map.

“I just did!” James said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, “And ow, Merlin, Pads. . .”

“You hit me first!”

“I can't believe you just dropped that on us,” you said, “Lily actually agreed to this?”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” James huffed.

“Hey, I'm just saying you tend to drift off into fantasy land when it comes to her,” you said, putting your hands up in mock surrender, “I was just making sure this was rooted in reality.”

Remus laughed at that, lifting the needle on his record gently.

“They have a point,” he chuckled.

“Yes, I actually proposed, and yes she actually agreed,” James said, a lovesick smile on his face, “I wanted to get married pretty soon after we graduated, and she had no problem with that. She said she'd want to start a family—”

“Oh GOD,” Sirius said, drunken horror on his face.

“An actual nightmare,” you joined in playfully, “imagine another one of you running around. Even Lily's DNA couldn't balance that out.”

“Alright, that's it,” James said, “you're not gonna be godparents anymore.”

“I'd be terrible at that anyways,” Sirius chortled.

“I disagree,” James said earnestly, and the comment struck Sirius completely off guard. He chocked up the welling tears in his eyes to the alcohol, taking another sip to mask it.

“You're going soft, Prongsy,” he grumbled.

“Look who's talking, tough guy,” James laughed, clapping his best friend on the shoulder.

“We should take a picture,” Peter suggested quietly, turning red when everyone stopped what they were doing to face him, “I-I mean, since (Y/n) was worried about things changing, and we're all graduating, a-and who knows when—”

“Good thinking Wormtail,” James beamed, pulling you closer and leaning down towards Sirius and Remus so you could all be in the frame.

Peter was looking down at his shoes, fidgeting with his wand.

“Peter, you don't wanna get in the picture?” you asked.

The large framed boy jumped at your voice, looking nervously between the people he had come to know as his friends. There was an oddly fearful look in his eyes that left as soon as it came— a look you wouldn't understand until years later.

“N-no, that's alright,” he said.

And that was one of the last peaceful days of your life you could recall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I haven't even thought about these in the longest time,” you said, staring at the faded photos, “it's crazy to look back on them. It feels both like yesterday and a hundred years ago.”

The next page immediately summoned a lump in your throat.

“This was their wedding,” you said, fighting to keep your voice level, “the year after we graduated.”

Harry looked down at the dozens of photos of the ceremony and party that took place after; James at the altar in his burgundy and gold embroidered suit, and Lily walking down the isle with a bouquet full of the flowers that shared her name. Remus raising a champagne flute to the large crowd of guests as he made a heartfelt speech. You and Sirius dancing under the floating lanterns made to mimic the Hogwarts ceiling.

“Your father never was one for subtlety,” you laughed lightly, “he wanted the ceremony to be as extravagant as possible. He pulled out all the stops. . . and then, the very next year, they announced that they were going to have you.”

You looked up at Harry, and the resemblance he shared with two of your closest late friends conjured feelings of happiness, love, and deep, cutting sadness all at the same time.

Your fingers moved to turn the page, wanting to move on to something else, but you froze as you saw the edge of the next one. So much for that plan.

“I think that's enough for now,” you said quickly, smoothing the page back down, “the others will be arriving soon for the meeting, you best get washed up.”

Harry was curious, of course, but he nodded, not wanting to press for anything else as he reluctantly headed back upstairs.

When you were left alone with the photo book you sighed, bringing yourself to turn the page to see a picture of you and Severus. You were beaming at the camera, proudly holding out your perfectly brewed Draught of Living Death, the photo having been taken by Slughorn to put up on his famous wall. One of your arms held the cauldron haphazardly, the other slung around Severus' shoulders. He certainly wasn't displaying your level of enthusiasm, but a small smile graced his expression, allowing his lips to fully curve upwards, which was as close to 'beaming' as he ever got. He looked so much younger— less burdened.

Right next to that photo was an older one from 1973. It was one you had taken from the top of the oak tree, with Severus and Lily looking up at you. You knew he'd be here soon, and you knew you should talk to him, but you found yourself stuck back in the cycle of doubting every opening spiel you came up with.

You groaned in frustration, snapping the book shut and resting your forehead on the table as stress flooded your being. You refused to live in this perpetual state of dwelling on what happened. You were ready to talk, you just had to take the first step.

Chapter 9 coming soon!

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