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catindabag · 1 year

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TBOSAS on Crack! ✨essential information✨

⭐️❄️⭐️

FIRST off, in honor of the book and its movie release, TBOSAS on Crack is solely (just) created as a JOKE!Alternative Universe that focuses more on the 24 OG Mentors of the 10th Hunger Games. This includes the funny/romantic misunderstandings of Coriolanus Snow and Sejanus Plinth that gave everyone the impression that they were actually “secretly” dating, and are indeed boyfriends (until they honestly were).

In addition, this Crack!AU will tell you the compelling story of how a bunch of delinquents “accidentally” stopped the Hunger Games from continuing, just because of a certain Mentor’s ✨nepotism✨.

MORE or less, most of the characters in the book are the same when it comes to their personalities and backstories. Well, except for our Mentors. They’re a bunch of crackhead Capitol kids with too much fun and stress on their hands. They even almost made Dean Highbottom and Dr. Gaul quit their respective jobs.

ALSO, these young walking disasters are not “all there” in the head. Heck! Half of them went crazy years ago because of the infamous 2 year Capitol Siege by the rebels that almost starved them all to death. Just ask Coryo Snow and Persephone. But as for the other half, let’s just say that all they want to do is eat, drink, party, and ✨graduate✨.

Here is a quick character info: [Read Me]

Here are their visuals: [Read Me]

Here’s the Hunger Games Origin: [Read Me]

Here’s their playlist: [Read Me]

Here are their ✨Code Names✨: [Read Me]

And here’s Dean Highbottom’s take: [Read Me]

Here’s that Epic The Musical Post: [Read Me]

Here’s the fate of District 13: [Read Me]

PS: For sanity’s sake, no Mentor or Tribute will be dying in this Crack!AU. No one gets killed! Bombs will still explode inside the Capitol Arena, but our crazy kids will wear the thickest plot armor EVER, just because I’m their only sponsor!🤣

Read the Cracks here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78,

The cracks are not in chronological order, but someday they will. . .

MOREOVER, this Crack!AU includes the following:

The accidental birth of ✨Snowjanus✨!😘

Also known as Corjanus, SnowPlinth, CabbageBread, The Grandma’am golden ticket to a rich life, and Strabo’s not so secret plan to rule all of Panem through his only son’s marriage to Crassus Snow’s boy.

Coryo Snow malfunctioning for the hundredth time because of how forward and shamelessly romantic Sejanus Plinth is.

“Fine! I’ll marry into money! I’m sick of eating cabbages anyway!”

“Stop throwing bread to the dead, Sejanus Plinth! Throw it to the living!”

The Mentors (intentionally) delaying the Hunger Games from officially starting because of their nonstop shenanigans with their Tributes (much to Dr. Gaul and her Gamemaker’s frustration).🤣

The Tributes slowly accepting (and sometimes rejecting) the fact that their Mentors are just a bunch of “dramatic nepotistic crazy clowns” who refuse to learn basic social cues.

The 10th Hunger Games being officially postponed (over and over again) because of Felix Ravinstill’s ✨nepotism✨ working overtime.😌💅

In truth, the Gamemakers were “forced” to stop the countdown (over and over again) because half of the Mentors illegally barged into the control room without Dr. Gaul’s permission. Afterwards, Felix just used the excuse of “My granduncle is the President of Panem, I can do whatever I want” card to postpone the games.

Lucy Gray ignoring the personal space of her fellow annoyed Tributes (and everyone she meets), just because she’s “Covey” and quirky.

The poor underpaid Capitol Peacekeepers wanting a salary increase, vacation, and promotion because they have been dealing with the Mentors’ extra curricular criminal activities for far too long.

All the Mentors (excluding Livia and Arachne) being genuine ✨Besties✨ to each other since their grade school days.

Livia Cardew only calls her classmates either witches or idiots.

Festus Creed being the real ✨Dumpster Diving Capitol Rat King✨ and the best free cheesecake coupon hoarder of the century.

“Dumpster Diving for free food coupons is a common school activity, officer!”

The Academy? More like ✨The Academy of Arts✨💅.

Everyone wanting to secretly major in ✨Theatre & Drama✨.

Crazy but rich AF Sejanus Plinth and his unhealthy obsession of being Coryo Snow’s beloved boyfriend, fiancé, sugar daddy, baby daddy, and future husband.

Ma Plinth slowly becoming the food benefactor of the Mentors. #feedmeMa

Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray being the best of friends who love to sh*t talk about their boyfriends every time they meet.

Seriously, Coryo and Lucy Gray are just friends here. Everyone knows that crazy Sejanus Plinth will strangle anyone who tries to flirt with his gorgeous Snow Bae sugar baby fiancé.

Lucy Gray genuinely liking the Mentors for their chaotic ✨dramatic✨ personalities.

Sejanus Plinth shamelessly calling his darling Coryo “Babe, My love, Snow Angel, Snow Bae, Snowy, Snow Baby, Sweetheart” in front of everyone and their dogs.

The Mentors randomly coming up to Lucy Gray and asking her to sing banned songs from the early 2000s.

Strabo Plinth’s unhealthy obsession with the Snow family. Apparently, he and the ever gorgeous Crassus Snow were very close “friends” and the best “roommates” back in their military days. They were busy “stargazing” and playing with their rifles all night if you know what I mean.😏

The Grandma’am and Strabo Plinth being the true evil geniuses of the Capitol.😈

Strabo Plinth insisting Coryo to marry into his family and change their surnames to ✨The Great Plinth-Snow Dynasty✨, just because it sounds more powerful.

Coryo Snow accidentally convincing his beloved sugar daddy boyfriend (Crazy Sejanus Plinth) to become the future ✨President of Panem✨ (after Felix).

Tigris and The Grandma’am selling Coryo’s hand in marriage to the Plinth family. They genuinely believe that old man Strabo Plinth will lower the food prices if Sejanus marries Coryo for the sake of Panem.

Tigris Snow finally quitting her job (she got fired for being a weird cheese addict) and happy dancing for a whole week when she heard that her sweet little Coryo will marry into the Plinth family fortune.

Tigris, the Grandma’am, and Ma Plinth planning the ultimate ✨Snowjanus Royal Wedding of The Century✨.

The Grandma’am and evil Strabo Plinth scheming together to rule Panem and its people through ✨The Great SnowPlinth Union✨.

Ma Plinth wanting at least 5 beautiful grandchildren out of The Great SnowPlinth Union, while Strabo and the Grandma’am demanded 2 dozen (and more). #24&More

Lysistrata Vickers being the founder and President of the Capitol’s SnowPlinth/Snowjanus Official Fan Club.

Lucy Gray supporting and promising Coryo Snow that she and her Covey will sing the best banned love songs at his wedding.

Reaper Ash being labeled as the “weird one” by his fellow crazy Tributes.

Treech and Vipsania Sickle being the best gym bros for some unknown reason.

Marcus trying (and failing) to ignore the annoying existence of Sejanus Plinth.

Lysistrata Vickers having dibs as Coryo’s official ✨Maid of Honor✨. Apparently, poor cheese addict Tigris Snow was tragically outvoted by the very influential and powerful SnowPlinth/Snowjanus Fan Club members out of jealousy.🥲

Festus Creed and Tigris Snow fighting for the position of ✨Best Man✨ through an epic ✨Dance-off Battle✨💃🕺.

Apollo Ring being forced to be Coryo’s ring bearer because of his surname. Honestly, Gaius Breen and Androcles Anderson just peer pressured him for fun.

Livia Cardew planning to crash Coryo’s wedding for the expensive wine.

The Mentors and Tributes avoiding the “Arena Bomb Explosion Incident” because of Palmyra Monty’s dangerous existence.

Androcles Anderson being a proud professional kleptomaniac.

Lucky Flickerman wanting to quit his job. Apparently, the self proclaimed magic man was extremely unprepared to face and deal with the Mentors’ collective stupidity.😭

The Gamemakers forgetting to edit out Sejanus Plinth’s little arena stunt.

“Marcus was just sleeping, Sejanus! He’s still alive, you idiot Plinth! We freaking postponed the games!”

“For the last time! Don’t kiss Coriolanus Xanthos Snow on LIVE TV! There are freaking kids and dogs watching!”

Coryo and Sejanus shamelessly kissing, hugging, and being dramatic AF inside the Capitol Arena, while poor Marcus and the others are left sitting on the stands annoyed and confused AF.

Dean Casca Highbottom intentionally calling poor Coryo “Crassus Xanthos Snow” out of spite and out of regret (and because he’s still madly and deeply in love with the ever gorgeous Crassus Snow).

Drunk Highbottom living and swimming in denial since the infamous ✨#Crasca4Ever! University Breakup✨.😔

Coryo Snow successfully convincing a drunk Highbottom not to expel him by pretending to be Crassus Snow. He later regrets doing it.

Drunk!Casca not being able to correctly pronounce half all of his students’ names.

Festus Creed and Androcles Anderson receiving a lot of demerits and expulsion letters from the Dean. However, they still go to school and join their class discussions like nothing happened.

Casca Highbottom banning the Mentors from attending ✨The Academy’s Annual Students Teachers Meeting✨ (forever) because of the infamous Heavensbee Hall Flooding Incident.

Coryo Snow secretly trading his cabbages for banned music albums at the Capitol Black Market.

The banned song “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” accidentally playing on repeat inside the Capitol Arena because Felix Ravinstill forgot to detach his phone from Dr. Gaul’s master speaker.

“Snow On The Beach” stealing the top spot on the Capitol Billboard Hot 100 because of Coryo Snow and Lucy Gray’s final performance inside the Capitol Arena.

The Mentors trolling Lucky Flickerman and Lepidus Malmsey for the hundredth time.

Hilarius Heavensbee secretly collects movie records from the early 2000s. His favorite banned film is ✨Legally Blonde✨.

Io Jasper and Urban Canville being a bunch of shameless nerds who can’t properly communicate with each other.

Professor Sickle trying to convince Drunk!Casca Highbottom to give her a raise and promotion for tolerating the Mentors’ shenanigans and stupidity.

Crazy Palmyra Monty forever mentally and emotionally scarring her classmates (especially Florus Friend) with her homemade poisonous snacks.

Florus Friend fearing and avoiding Palmyra Monty’s accursed deadly bread rolls and expired sandwiches.

Felix Ravinstill being a genuine good friend and great Class President to everyone.

Dennis Fling asking poor sensitive Felix to beg for some illegal ✨Miracle Pills✨ from Lysistrata to cure Hy and Dill’s respiratory related illnesses.

Everyone knows that Persephone Price willingly ate that infamous “Maid Stew” that her father made for them to survive.

Festus Creed’s ✨PerseFest✨ agenda.

Dairy Heiress Domitia Whimsiwick fawning over Tanner’s skills and biceps.

Coral perfecting her somersault to impress the Capitol crowd and her idiot Mentor.

The Mentors pretending to be stupid whenever they attend Dr. Gaul’s class.

Dr. Gaul giving up on grooming poor Coryo Snow to become her successor because she realized that his brain doesn’t work properly whenever he’s with Sejanus.

Poor homeless Hilarius Heavensbee getting disowned and kicked out of the ✨Queen Bee Mansion✨ by his evil weirdo parents for being a loser nuisance towards his smarter and perfect younger brother.

Livia and Arachne convincing themselves that Casca Highbottom is actually Coryo Snow’s true sugar daddy.

Meanwhile, Florus Friend thinks Strabo Plinth is the real sugar daddy of poor Coryo Snow and homeless Hilarius Heavensbee.

Dr. Gaul openly wanting to strangle the Mentors for acting being stupid.

Urban Canville’s secret mission to strangle Lucky Flickerman and his annoying bird.

Felix Ravinstill being the favorite darling grandnephew son of President Gran Gran.

Festus winning the position of ✨Class Representative✨. Apparently, Creed only won because Sejanus “accidentally” locked Urban Canville inside a bathroom stall.

Persephone Price and Mizzen being the best pizza partners in crime. Somebody, these two idiots will rule all of Panem with their ruthless ✨Pizza Palace Empire✨.

Drunk!Coryo genuinely believes that Felix Ravinstill is the current President of Panem.

Drunk!Sejanus, Drunk!Coryo, Drunk!Festus, and Drunk!Lysistrata acting like shameless fools in front of their Tributes. The poor and underpaid Peacekeepers were not amused.

Festus Creed and Sejanus Plinth stripping on broad daylight because of the summer heat.

Reaper Ash praying for some normalcy and mental peace every day.

Jessup and Sheaf talking and singing with the Capitol’s “sacred” rabid raccoons and wild squirrels in order to stay sane.

Mizzen being a terrible little gremlin.

The Mentors trying to recreate The Hunger Games until ✨Panemvision✨ was born.

Livia’s own version of The Hungers Games is basically ✨Love Island✨ on crack and steroids.

Because of the awful “Love Island” idea, the rest of the Mentors had to write a serious 20 page essay on why the Hunger Games should be recreated/revamped into a true reality TV show with a “no killing, no gore, no cannibalism” policy.

The Mentors trying to convince the School Board Members, the Government Officials, and crazy President Ravinstill to change the 10th Hunger Games into a non-deadly talent show to increase viewership and sponsors.

Moreover, Coryo strongly defended the proposal by having Lucy Gray successfully sing in front of a live audience (again) on TV. Billy Taupe was the only one who got offended (again).

Meanwhile, the rest of the Mentors also convinced their Tributes to show off their talents that same day. That was Reaper’s 2nd worst day of the week.😂

Dean Highbottom only supported the proposal because it reminded him of his wild karaoke clubbing days with his drop dead gorgeous lover. You know who it was.😏 #Crasca4Ever #crassusmylove #SnowBottom

Clemensia Dovecote also backs their weird essays by simply stating that killing children will only make the Districts hate the Capitol more. However, if they provide “real entertainment” without the violence, then the Districts might warm up to them.

In addition, Sejanus proposed that the winner of the contest will be made a ✨STAR of PANEM✨! 🤩

And as the ✨Star of Panem✨, he/she will be given monetary support and a lifetime supply of cabbages and lima beans by the Capitol.

Meanwhile, the losers will only get 10 boxes of pizza, 2 gallons of orange soda, one body bag of sandwiches (made by Ma Plinth) as a reward for “willingly” participating.

Juno Phipps then added a “rule” stating that no Tribute shall be punished (or killed) because the losers must live and remember their humiliation on television for the rest of their lives.😈

Coryo and Clemmie also proposed that each Tribute must have a Prep Team and Stylist to make them presentable for Lucky Flickerman’s Late Night Show with Jubilee.

Finally, Felix Ravinstill and Dennis Fling closed their arguments by stating: “That being forced to sing and perform ON STAGE and on LIVE TV, which could be replayed over and over again, even after death, especially for Tributes who couldn’t save their own pride and dignity for all of Panem to remember, is the worst punishment one could freely give to one’s enemy. They won’t even be allowed to forget how they had wronged you.”

After hearing the Mentors’ closing argument, Dr. Gaul was ready to end it all and commit bloody murder in front of everyone.😡🔪

But after some deliberation, President Ravinstill (and his puppies) approved the Mentors’ proposal and changed the Hungers Games into the ✨HGASC✨ (Hunger Games: Annual Singing Contest).

However, the Grandma’am and Strabo Plinth insisted that they should just officially call it ✨PANEMVISION✨.

Meanwhile, Dr. Gaul tried to persuade President Ravinstill (again) to reconsider the Mentors’ stupid proposals.

However, she was outvoted by both the School Board Committee and the Capitol’s highest ranking government officials, just because everyone (but her) wanted to see what “true entertainment” really looks like on screen.

Livia Cardew even defended everyone’s ideas nonstop because, according to her, there was a lack of spicy entertainment in the Capitol. Damn the rules! This is the Capitol! We want ✨Love Island✨ type of dramas! Where are the ✨Real Housewives of Corso✨?! F*ck the Hunger Games! Give us the 90 Day Fiancé from the Districts!

And that’s how the Mentors “accidentally” ended the Hunger Games and gave birth to the most popular and craziest reality TV show in the weird history of Panem.

As for every Quarter Quell, let’s just say, it’s gonna be a true ✨SHOW STOPPER✨!

The first ✨HGASC/PANEMVISION✨ Quarter Quell will have the Mentors reap kids from both Capitol and District. Afterwards, one District Tribute will be paired with one Capitol Tribute to perform a special duet act (whether they like it or not).

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moongothic · 6 months

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Look I just had to get this out of my system man

I keep on thinking about what kind of theoretical hoops Crocodad would have to jump through to happen in canon and I figured being able to actually visualize the known timeline would help

And that's what this post is about. We have a visual of the timeline. Now let us think about it a whole lot.

Minor notes about the timeline graph; Luffy's birthday is on May 5th and Croc's is on September 5th, so both would get a +1 to their ages by the end of this year in the timeline. On this note, if I am not mistaken, the year Luffy was born Crocodile would've been 27 at the time of his birth and would then turn 28 a few months later. But this is assuming Crocodile is already, at this moment, 46 years old (as opposed to if he was only turning 46 this year in which case he would actually be 45 at this moment, which would further mean he would've been 26 at the time of Luffy's birth and would've turned 27. It's slightly hard to tell what the case is exactly since we don't really get those exact timestamps during the actual story, but I think he's supposed to be 46 turning 47, and that's the assumption this post is written with). (Further sidenote, according the Vivre Card Databooks (appearently), the Strawhats got to Whiskey Peak in February and by late March had obtained Thousand Sunny. Thing is that Luffy was implied to have left on his adventure around his 17th birthday, which would mean that 8-9 months would've passed between Luffy setting out and arriving at Whiskey Peak, and he would've been a few months away from turning 18 already. Which, like, is plausible, but I'm personally willing to ignore this trivia information, not gonna fucking lie)

Anyways, to recap the timeline

We don't know

When Crocodile set out to become a pirate; since he was present at Roger's execution I think the implication would be that he would've set out soon after that, at age 22, but it's entirely possible he might've already been a no-name pirate before that or he could've set out a few years after the execution

When he met Ivankov and if their meeting was like a one-and-done thing and that they never saw each other again until Impel Down, or if that's just when they first got to know each other. (In Iva's own words (in Japanese), they knew Crocodile "during the era when he was still considdered a rookie")

When he got humbled by Whitebeard; it was "soon after" he became a Shichibukai (in Oda's words), but we can't tell if that was like 2 days or 10 months after becoming a Shichibukai

What we do know is that

Crocodile made a name for himself fast "much like Luffy" (in Oda's words); you could interpret that as him causing just a ton of chaos within like a year of entering the Grand Line

He rose to fame and became a Shichibukai in the first half of his 20's (in Oda's words), so before he turned 25?

He supposedly "calmed down" / "went quiet" (again, in Oda's words) for an unknown period of time

By the time he was 30 he was appearing on the news for his heroics; we don't know when he started appearing on the news, just that by this point he was appearing on the news

So I believe the implication is that Crocodile set out on his adventure between the ages of 21-24. If you wanted to push the Crocodad angle, you might want to push it to that 24 (since his Rookie Adventure happened so fast), which would also be around the time of the Revolutionary Army's founding. And while it is entirely plausible Crocodile could've had his ass kicked by Whitebeard VERY soon after his promotion, or it could've been around the time he was like 25-26, if you really wanted to push it for the Crocodad angle. And indeed, we don't know how Crocodile and Iva-chan knew each other. The implication I think is that he transitioned before he rose to fame as a rookie, but he could've just befriended Iva-chan at the time and gotten more well acquainted with the Revolutionaries after his ass kicking and transitioned later. It would just push the "knew him in the era he was considdered a rookie" to an absolute limit, but it would be technically true, just. Kinda pushing it.

And indeed, the Problem Point; Crocodile would've transitioned at age 27 after having Luffy, already a Shichibukai, a public-ish figure.

So if you wanted Crocodad to be canon, either

A) Crocodile being trans isn't a secret, it's something else that Iva-chan tried to blackmail him with B) Crocodile being trans is a secret, so how the fuck did he keep it if he transitioned at 27

If A); Indeed, if there was a scandal about a Shichibukai suddenly transitioning, it would've been like 17-19 years ago. Arguably that would not be something worth bringing up by anyone anymore considdering he had spent at least the past 14 years (pre-timeskip) being a hero to the masses, followed by his warcrimes. Like, it'd be old news. Which would just leave us wondering what the hell the "weakness" Iva-chan mentions really was about (a child, maybe? Or a threat of detransitioning him? Something else?)

If B); Although he was clearly a menace as a rookie as he got himself a relatively massive bounty relatively fast and became a Shichibukai at a young-ish age, we don't know how many bounties he went through before he was offered the position and how he appeared on the news at the time. Like if he went through 2-6 bounty updates before becoming a Shichibukai and appeared in the news A TON it'd feel unlikely he'd be able to keep transitioning later a secret. But if he only had like 1-2 bounties in a short span of time without being photographed too much, it'd definitely feel more plausible. Especially if his OG bounty photos were either shitty sketches (like Sanji's OG poster) or like otherwise poor photos that didn't show his face/features too well. This could also be helped if pre-T (and pre-pregnancy hormones)!Crocodile was kind of androgynous (like Cavendish) and people confused him for a man to begin with On top of this, if Crocodile lost his left hand and got his scar from Whitebeard, if he just went "missing" and then came back transitioned 2-4 years later, he could maybe argue that he was like. A late bloomer. And had hit the gym after Whitebeard kicked his ass. Like yeah he had changed a lot but it's not like there's other Sand Sand Fruit users around claiming to be Crocodile. And it is worth reminding that Iva-chan ability to change people's bio-sex isn't super well known in-universe. So even if people saw him on the news and were like "wait wasn't Crocodile a chick", without knowledge of Iva's abilities people could've been like "no way, surely not, that's not possible". And although the Government maybe could've found it suspicious if they knew about Iva's abilities (which they might've, as Ivankov was a Revolutionary, and their Warlord interacting with a Revolutionary would be sus), as long as Crocodile played nice (which he did, during his Heroic Era) they might've just let it go? (Also if Crocodile was rich at the time he probably could've bribed Morgans to make sure whatever news they published about him didn't ever question his gender or anything)

So all of this to say,

The Most Likely and Most Viable Timeline for Crocodad to be canon would be, approximately;

24-25 Becomes a Shichibukai, gets his ass kicked

25-27 Enters his Quiet Era, Romances Dragon

27-28 Luffy is born, transitions, back to Shichibukai'ing

Of course, this is not an absolute timeline, it's just the one that seems the most viable to me. 'Cause even this timeline is really pushing what Oda and Iva have told us about Crocodile, both the "first half of his 20's" (as opposited to mid 20's), and the "when he was considdered a rookie".

It's pushing it. But it's kind of plausible. And I can't imagine how else it could work in canon.

I do find it interesting though how Crocodile's "quiet era" does overlap nicely with when Luffy was born. Like we don't know how long that era lasted, for all we know Crocodile could've started to get Alabasta like a year after getting his ass kicked by Whitebeard. But it's interesting! And interesting coincidence!

Another interesting note is that 17 is an... interesting number. Like Oda's first one-shot, WANTED! was published when Oda was 17 and that in some ways marks the begining to his adventure as a comic artist. Similarly, Luffy set out on his adventure at the age of 17. A lot of people have been speculating if the God Valley Incident is what caused Dragon to leave the Marines because he would've been 17 at the time. And... It's not quite the same, but if Crocodile transitioned at 27 (as in, started a 'new life', a 'new adventure' as a man at 27)... IDK it'd be an interesting coincidence

Sitenote Re:Missing Kuja Empress

19 years ago, the year Luffy was born, Hancock and her sisters were kidnapped off of the Kuja Pirate's ship when the previous Empress was still the head of the crew

15 years ago the Boa sisters escape slavery and return to Amazon Lily, the status of the former Empress is unknown

13 years ago Hancock becomes the new Empress, the former Empress is presumably dead by this point (as she is said to have died from Love Sickness)

Point being; I reaaally doubt Crocodile is the missing Empress. Like if the former Empress had also been a Shichibukai and had transitioned and was still around, there's no fucking way people wouldn't know about that, right. Like surely they wouldn't say she had died specifically of Love Sickness, right. Like it's not impossible but surely not

#Moon posting #Sir Crocodile #Crocodad #Look I just figured if I want to get this out of my system I should do that before Oda debunks the theory entirely #I know I've posted a lot about this but previously my posts have been just unfiltered thought vomit #And I just wanted to like. Organize My Thoughs and get them out of my system all nice and tidy #The worst thing about this is that at first I look at the timeline and what we know and I'm like ''no way. It's not real''#But then I think about the potential ways to get around The Problem Point and I'm like ''but what if?''#I must smother my own hopes and dreams lest I become disappointed when Oda debunks it #And yet I wish to hang onto hope #I am Boo Boo the Fool #Anyway this has been your Daily Crocodile Meta Post please enjoy #OP Meta

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arteastica · 7 months

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early in the morning, especially when it rains, and a little before noon. (14)

erwin x fem!reader

chapters: (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) | (8) | (9) | (10) | (11) | (12) | (13) | (15) | (16) | (17) | (18) | (19) | (20) | (21) | (22) | (23) | (24) | (25) | (26) | (27)

summary: I basically took Isayama’s work, forced it into a romance story, and made Erwin the love interest. Commander meets cadet and they fall in love (not instantly though)

notes: very berry canonverse (but some events were modified to fit my narrative), wasn’t intended to be this long, but it all is in the details right?

content warnings: smut where it fits (or where I make it fit. Also, reader is NOT underage, so likewise, MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, please.) slow burn (I really mean it. I’m not olympic diving into any form of smut for the first chapters.) no angst. I dislike angst. I would never. I could never. (Although angst can be somewhat subjective so take it with a grain of salt?)

wc: 3.6k

“He absolutely despises me.” Hitch took a sip from the generously sized mug you had brought for her when she had appeared at your front door earlier that afternoon. She then pulled your favorite childhood blanket over her knees before proceeding to wear an amused expression that, much to your confusion, completely contradicted the story she was telling. “I would love to say such hate is unfounded but…”

“What did you do?” You eyed her suspiciously, the corners of your mouth already curving up in preparation for the inevitable burst of laughter that always followed your friend’s stories.

“Well, you need some context first. This man. He is a creep. And by creep, I mean his soldier is always standing. Even when it doesn’t have a reason to.”

“Quite alarming indeed. Especially if he’s your superior.” Your nose crinkled in disgust. You couldn’t imagine how uncomfortable it would be to work under someone like that.

“Right? And also for the sake of context, I feel you should know that he has a god complex. He even told some of the girls that he has royal blood and that, get this, was supposed to be a prince! Ha! As if!” She rolled her eyes in disbelief before continuing with her story. “Anyway, he’s always following the girls around like a dog, not me though, because in case I haven’t made it clear by now, he doesn’t like me. Luckily.” She raised a finger to emphasize. “And if you are a boy, or me for that matter, you can be damn sure that he will find the most unpleasant and annoying activity and immediately task you with it.” She smirked and her face reminded you of a high schooler who was about to brag about their grades. “He already disliked me before the night of the ball, but after it, oh I made it to the top of his list!”

You nodded, leaning forward, eager to listen to what was coming next. You knew you were about to get to the part of the story where the Hitch in her name was going to show.

“So, everybody who had been working that night was on the verge of a mental collapse and couldn’t wait to go home and have it in private. We were waiting for the last guests to leave and when they finally did I went to him, my superior, who was talking with a wealthy looking grandpa and, what I hope was his daughter, to inform him that all the guests had left.” Hitch decided to take a sip of her chocolate, and you couldn’t help but feel that it had been solely with the intent of creating anticipation, and not exactly because she was thirsty, but you had to admit it was working. “He saw I was exhausted, so naturally, like any good boss would, he told me I could go home…” She brought the mug to her lips again, but you widened your eyes at her, so she decided to complete her idea instead. “After I made sure the toilets were spotless.” You looked back at her with a pained expression that completely contrasted the proud grin that, for some reason, was crossing your friend’s face. “The stupid smirk he had on his stupid face told me he was expecting me to complain, but let me tell you, he couldn’t have been more wrong. Because instead, I accepted my fate with grace and walked away after leaving some equally graceful words behind: Yes, your hardness.”

You opened your mouth wide, stomach already tensing up in anticipation of the good laugh you were about to get, but before that, you needed to ask one more question. And, as if guessing what it would be, Hitch nodded. “Yes, the shape was clearly visible through his pants. You had to see his face. It was an unforgettable evening, indeed.”

A pleasant warmth filled your chest the same way your laughter filled the room. You looked at Hitch through teary eyes and realized how much you had missed your friend. You couldn’t complain about life back at the base, but you really craved moments like this, with her, moments that had been part of your night routine during the three full years you had spent as roommates.

After the laughter died down and you were able to speak again, you asked: “But like, how come you are still alive after that?”

“Well, as you may imagine, things would most definitely get terrible after such an incident. But I can’t confirm that, because I didn’t stay to find out. The next morning, I went to Commander Nile and begged him to transfer me to another unit.”

“And? Did he?”

“Yes, but I had to write like ten formal requests and practically get down on my knees before he even started to consider it. Because the thing about Commander Nile is that he is also insufferable, only that he does it in a different way.” As you listened to Hitch complain about her superiors, your heart started to take distracting leaps inside your chest, and you did your best to fight back the smile that threatened to spread across your face at the thought of your own boss and how good he was to you. He was good. So good.

“He’s moody and annoying, but at least he’s respectful, professional, and most importantly, isn’t trying to sleep with everyone. Oh my goodness. Not me complimenting Commander Nile.” She crinkled her nose in disgust. “Anyway, that doesn’t change the fact that he’s moody all the time, and permanently has the face of someone who hasn’t been able to poop in years. At first, I thought it was because he wasn’t getting any, but then!” She raised her voice, suddenly and unnecessarily, and in an equally dramatic fashion, raised both index fingers as if asking you to pay close attention. “The other day his wife walked into the headquarters, and imagine the way my jaw dropped to the literal pits of hell when I saw her.” You shuffled in your end of the couch, making yourself more comfortable. Other people’s business was your favorite literary genre. “Not only because Commander Nile pulled a one-eighty, completely transforming himself from insufferable boss to soft-eyed husband in a matter of seconds, but also because his wife is the complete opposite of him.” Her eyes widened, and even though you weren’t too fond of the annoying cliffhangers she deliberately sprinkled here and there in between sentences, you loved how expressive she was. It was all part of her incredible storyteller skills.

“What does she look like?” You sipped from your mug. The chocolate, nice and warm, and just as sweet as you liked it.

“A goddess. Gorgeous doesn’t even begin to describe her. Beautiful falls short. Stunning doesn’t do her justice.” She explained, very dramatically. “Okay maybe I’m exaggerating but she does look good. Lush strands of gold falling to her hips, swaying synchronously with them as she gracefully makes her way to wherever she has decided to charm with her presence next. It’s important for you to know that she doesn’t just walk, she makes her way gracefully.” You knew what she meant, you had come across that type of people before. The holders of the type of grace that couldn’t be learned, borrowed, or created from experience. And you suddenly remembered the title of a book the commander kept in his office: ‘Walking artwork. Talking poetry.’ The name had stuck with you for some reason, maybe you would borrow it from him one of these days. “Eyes bluer than the summer sky, porcelain skin that reminded me of that expensive doll I spent half my childhood begging my mom to buy for me.”

“Are you sure you aren’t in love with your boss’ wife?” You joked, as a part of you wondered what it would feel like to be so attractive and unforgettable that people would spend so many words attempting to describe your beauty.

“Actually, I’m not sure. Because on top of elegance and good looks, she also has manners and good personality. She smiled and greeted everyone she passed by. And it wasn’t one of those fake smiles you put on just to show your perfect teeth, you know. She’s genuinely charming, and most importantly, smells good.”

“You’re right. Smelling good is what it all comes down to in the end.” You agreed, smiling to yourself at the thought of a very distinctive, musky scent you had grown quite addicted to.

“I don’t understand how someone like her ended up marrying my boss. She could have married anyone she wanted. In fact…” She smirked in a way that successfully reminded you of good old classroom gossip. “Did you know she was this close to marrying your boss?”

You held the mug against your lips, fingers completely freezing around the warm ceramic, unresponsive hands forcing you to taste the liquid that had strangely turned bitter all of a sudden. Sour, even.

“Oh yeah, I heard it from my senior.” Hitch explained, completely misreading your reaction, wearing an amused expression, as she continued to provide gossip that, at any other point in your life, you would have found juicy. She had no way of knowing the silent commotion that piece of information was actually stirring inside you. “Apparently, they used to be close friends back in the day, all three of them. Both, your boss and mine, were completely smitten with her.” You realized your chocolate had gotten unpleasantly tepid as well. “But she ended up choosing mine instead. I wonder if she regrets her decision. Because I would sure as hell do. I mean look at your boss. He’s aging like fine wine, and then look at mine.” She made a face that, under any other circumstances, you would have found funny, maybe next time, when your heart stopped acting like a lemon, a very bitter one, being squeezed for lemonade, and your chocolate, like you hadn’t sweetened it yourself. “But maybe I’m biased, since it’s mandatory for everyone to hate their boss. You know, rule of thumb, law of nature, common sense. Which reminds me, how’s life working under the infamous Erwin Smith? Is he as insufferable as your average boss or worse?” She asked, bringing the mug to her lips.

“We slept together.”

“Sorry?” You didn’t know if she was double-checking because she didn’t believe her ears, or because she didn’t actually hear you, as you had purposely lowered your voice in fear your mother would catch this part of the conversation.

“I slept with the commander.”

“You fucked Erwin Smith?!” She shouted, effectively choking on the sip she had just taken.

“Yes, but please don’t announce it to everyone. I don’t want Mother to think that’s the only thing I’m doing there. Even though I wish it was.” You added, unable to stop your teeth from biting your bottom lip, as the rest of your body reminisced about that night.

“Okay but, I knew it!” She then said, now whispering.

“What do you mean you knew it?”

“I saw the way you look at him. At the ball. I instantly knew those eyes were looking for, you know, a little bedroom activity.” She glanced at the ceiling as if it was a cabinet filled with her memories, and the wood beams, files she was passing a finger over. “And then I saw you guys leaving together, and I thought to myself: there is no way he isn’t going to rip that dress off her later.”

“I really wanted him to. But nothing happened that night.”

“But then when did it happen? And how? And wait, how old is he anyway? Isn’t he like 15 years older than you?”

“Not that much. I mean, I don’t really know, but-”

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter. I’m just asking because, you know the difference in experience brings some very interesting topics to the table… like… tell me, was he any good? Goodness, that face says it all.” She leaned in closer, incredulity making her jaw hang slightly open, and curiosity, her eyes squint tightly.

“The commander’s performance was more than satisfying.” You said in a rather pretentious tone that matched the cheeky smile you were now wearing.

“thE cOmmAndEr’s pErFoRmAnCe wAs mOre thAn saTyiSfying.” Hitch threatened to throw your own pillow at you. “What the fuck does that even mean? I’ll need you to elaborate further, miss. I’m not going back home until you answer all my questions, and I have lots.”

“It means it was fucking perfect. He’s- He’s so-”

“Big?”

You nodded, teeth sinking into your bottom lip.

“It wouldn’t make sense any other way, would it? After all, it takes massive balls to lead a suicide squad. And it takes a rough, unforgiving, sturdy, aggressive, and unbelievably tough man to carry them.” She concluded, lips curving up in a complicit smirk.

“But he’s, you know, so gentle. And warm. And I- I just-” You realized you didn’t know how the sentence was supposed to end. It was all so hazy and misty inside your head, but in a dazzling way. The haze was silky, hypnotizing even, and the mist smelled good. So good. It smelled like-

“Shit…”

“No! Wait, what?” Hitch’s sudden, and rather random, intervention cut through the haze, dissipating it.

“Do you love him?” She asked, now leaning backwards as if trying to gain a new perspective, fingers stroking her chin as if trying to come to a conclusion. She reminded you of a critic trying to decide what to think about a painting.

“What? I-” You realized the dazzling haze was now turning into a confusing fog.

“You love him.” Hitch’s words lacked the intonation of a question and the vacillation of a suggestion. They sounded like a conclusion. A confident one.

“Wait wait wait wait- That’s a big word. Isn’t it… isn’t it a little too early to be throwing it out there?” When the question left your mouth, you realized it had been directed more at you than at Hitch.

“I don’t know, you tell me. I don’t have much to work with, woman. You have barely provided me with any information. I literally have no context at all, other than he has a massive dick, and, apparently, knows how to use it.” You snorted, mostly out of courtesy to your friend. It was the type of laugh brains automatically play for the sake of avoiding awkwardness, when they are busy processing something else. “I can only tell you what I think based on what I see now, in front of me, sparkling in your eyes, seeping through that huge ass smile you’re wearing.” She gestured with her hand and tried to mirror your expression, as if to make you understand what she was seeing. “What I see escaping through the gaps left by the words you are purposely omitting from your sentences. The parts that, for whatever reason, you are not telling me.” You made a pained expression, starting to feel slightly under fire. “And based on all the aforementioned, I think it’s safe to say my friend is deep into her boss’ shit. Just as deep as he has been burying himself into her all these nights.”

You rolled your eyes. “It has only happened once.”

“All the more telling! It means it only took one taste of his dick to fall in love with him.”

“I didn’t even do that. It was not like… that, you know. I told you he was very sweet.” One thing was to think about it, but to reminisce out loud about him and all the things he had made you feel that night, came with a whole different set of sensations. You were sure your stomach would burst anytime now, simultaneously freeing all the butterflies along with all your secrets. The ones you seemed to be keeping, even from yourself.

Hitch sighed and glanced at the ceiling for the hundredth time that afternoon. It looked as if the more you spoke, the more you proved her point. “Sweet, gentle, warm… Woman, in my experience, when you start talking about a man and his dick like that, you’re already far gone.”

“Am I?” You tried to read yourself, but in doing so, discovered that there was a reason our eyes could see virtually anything but our own face. Before this conversation, it was attraction. You had never questioned the label you had attached to the feelings you had for the commander. But now, now the question was poking at you, and there was something that made you feel uncomfortable and uneasy about changing such label. It was the kind of anxiety you imagined would be felt when walking close to the edge of something, so close to falling, not knowing how high the fall would be, or how long it would last.

You heard a sigh coming out of your mouth. “Hitch. I honestly don’t know. What am I even expecting? Doing? What’s going to happen now?”

“Hey, hey, hey.” She lowered her head so she could be eye level with you, because yours was now staring down at your own lap, admitting some sort of defeat. “It’s okay if you don’t know what you’re feeling. Heck, it’s okay if you love him, as well, there’s no fault in that. He’s not married. Loving him is not punishable by law. And it’s not a mistake either.” She placed a reassuring hand on your knee. “You can’t control any of that shit anyway. It all just happens. Inside, you know. And, as for what’s going to happen? You just keep riding him like a stallion, and sucking him like a good old popsicle.”

You snorted, either your friend’s words or her warm, supportive hand lightening some of the tightness trapped inside your chest. “I haven’t done any of that yet.”

“Oh, I bet you must be counting down the days to go back to work then, unlike the rest of us who are not having heated, toe-curling desk sex with our boss.”

That’s what you thought you would spend the winter holidays doing: happily reminiscing about such heated toe-curling sex until you were able to have it again. But you should have known better than expecting that from your busy, overthinking mind. As you lied in your childhood bed that night, hours after Hitch had left, you tried to think about the commander, and whether he had enjoyed the little present you had prepared for him.

“I left something for you downstairs. It’s sweet and tangy. Can you guess what it is? Make sure to eat it while it’s still fresh. Happy holidays, Commander.” You remember smiling as you placed the small piece of paper beside the game of chess that have been left unfinished the previous night. You remember smiling as you tiptoed out of his room, stealing one last glance at his sleeping figure, before picking up your clothes and closing the door behind you.

But those warm memories must have frozen under the snowy winter night you were staring into, because instead, you found yourself reminiscing about the conversation from earlier. Did you love him? You decided you didn’t want to answer that now. You didn’t want to think about that now. Instead, you wanted to think about him. So you tried again.

What was he doing now? Probably sitting at his desk, working under the candle light. Had he eaten dinner? Probably not. It was so in character for him to skip it, to completely forget about it. If it wasn’t for you bringing it to his office, he would starve. Hitch would say you were acting like his wife. And for a moment you smiled at the thought. For a moment, until you felt a sudden sting in your chest.

So the Commander had been in love before. In love with Commander Nile’s wife. Even though it had probably been years since then, and you had no right to feel uncomfortable about his ex-lovers, you couldn’t help whatever emotions were trapped inside you from uncomfortably poking at your chest, demanding to be let out.

You couldn’t help your chest from stinging at the thought of him letting his hand get held by someone else’s, and his mind get filled with someone else’s smile, and his bed infused with someone else’s scent, and his heart cherished by someone else’s… love. You turned to the other side, and buried your face in your pillow, as if the cotton fibers could provide the oxygen your lungs needed. Did he get close to love with her? If so, how close? Did he miss her? How close had they been? How intimate had they gotten? Did he recall moments he spent with her? Did he sometimes write about them in those journals? In the journals, were there entries dedicated to her, to his feelings for her? Did he sometimes wonder what could’ve been? How badly had he hurt when she chose his friend instead? Was he still hurting?

You hated to be this type of person. But you couldn’t help it. It was all you knew. You pulled the covers all the way up to your chin, feeling colder than the back side of the pillow your face was still buried into. You wanted to fall asleep, either that or to go back to a point in time where this information was unknown to you. But there was something in the air. Something bitter and sour. And it was finding its way inside your lungs. Filling every inch of your body.

Why did you feel as if you had lost a race? As if you had come in second in a competition, a very important one. You didn’t want to know about all the women who had passed through his life, you didn’t want to because thinking about them made you ask a certain question you wanted to avoid answering: Were you also just passing through?

next chapter

taglist: @elnyrae @angelaevangelion @depitaangeline @ynackerman9499 @afatalheat @pumpkin-toffee @velouria17 @gassytritis @goddessinsweats @nube55 @jeanboyjean @crazychaoticizzy

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dragonnwriter · 1 year

Text

Masterlist

Only one fic published for now, a couple shorts/one shots in drafts, always open to prompts!

Inviolable Bindings

170k words and counting! (Planning for ~250k to wrap it all up.)

Aemondxfem!OC and Aegonxfem!OC

As the granddaughter of an exiled Targaryen, Viserra has always craved connection to those who also share the blood of the dragon. Summoned from Essos to King's Landing for her dragon and skill with the sword, she enters in an unstable realm complicated by an unspoken divide under the crown. Amidst the chaos, she finds herself navigating the unexpected pull between two Targaryen brothers. Balancing the complexities of loyalty and desire, she finds that the path to finding her purpose is more twisted than she ever imagined. ----------------------------

“The lot of us…” Aemond repeated her words, “You speak of others. Is this what you feel towards my brother as well?”

The sensation of his hand tightly wrapped around her wrist reignited the familiar magnetism of fire within her body. It was indeed similar, as if there was some invisible force drawing them together, something deeply rooted within their blood.

NSFW/18+/slow burn/strong fem lead

Possessive/Typical Aemond, Relatively Canon Aegon

Warnings: smut, canon typical violence, Blood & Cheese, possessive and unhealthy relationships, etc.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 (NSFW)

Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 (NSFW)

Chapter 10 (NSFW) | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 (NSFW)

Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 (NSFW) | Chapter 15

Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 (NSFW) | Chapter 18

Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 (NSFW)

Chapter 22 (NSFW) | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24 (NSFW)

Chapter 25 (NSFW) | Chapter 26 | Chapter 27 (NSFW)

Chapter 28 | Chapter 29 (NSFW) | Chapter 30 (NSFW)

Chapter 31 (NSFW) | Chapter 32 (NSFW) | Chapter 33

Chapter 34 | Chapter 35 | Chapter 36(NSFW) |

Chapter 37 (NSFW) | Chapter 38 (NSFW) | Chapter 39

Chapter 40 (NSFW) | Chapter 41 | Chapter 42

AO3

Wattpad

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shreya11111 · 2 years

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post volume 2 byler hope

i know volume 2 has left us feeling very pessimistic and hopeless for the possibility of byler. yet, i do still think there is reason to hope and so i have compiled a list of amazing posts that have definitely increased my faith in s5 byler.

(here is a small disclaimer that even though byler just makes sense to us narratively and overall, there is still a chance that the duffers won’t go through with it. if you choose to have hope regardless, that’s great! but pessimism is absolutely valid too. cautious optimism is definitely recommended)

on tumblr:

1) Ok This may be something that can give us bylers a little more hope. by @beepboop358

3) Five act structure: reason to hope by @reservoir-god

4) Will’s First Lie & First I Love You by @aurorabyler

5) Listen, I know that feelings are mixed in this tag right now but hear me out. by @admirablespoling

6) wanted to put this on here bc it perfectly summarizes my thoughts 🙃 by @lesbos4robin (and cr to @/causeineedu on tiktok)

7) i guess the thing giving me the most hope right now by @queerstshit

8) Mike’s monologue sorta feels like a (weird) Wikipedia article (also check comments) by @wakeupthemembersofbylernation

9) insanely steaming hot take but the Will / El / Mike arc was kinda insanely well done by @mssingrls

10) it’s so insane to me how mike just hasn’t been able to tear his eyes away from will the entire season by @heliumcake

11) I just actually watched season four all the way through and byler is 100% gonna happen it’s so obvious. by @tinyteenieworld

12) This scene reminded me a lot of the beginning of s3, when Mike is goofing around by singing in the middle of kissing by @howtobecomeadragon

13) Piggybacking off of and inspired by this rad post by @admirablespoling. by @tsugarubecker

14) there really is no point to byler if it's unrequited. by @11byers

15) The m!leven flowers are rottin— by @dancing-in-our-snow-globe and @beepboop358

16) It would appear I am indeed one of the very few optimistic (delusional?) Bylers left. by @chirpsythismorning

17) a part of me feels like it's possible that the end of episode 9 was preparing the general audience for Eleven going off on her own, and a Byler ship by @merthurfan-blog

18) my analysis of mike’s “feelings” for el and what leads to the monologue/his feelings behind it by @strangerfigs

19) Here’s a handful of cautious optimism as a treat, my brothers in byler by @hopfields

20) Mike's S4 jacket (and who his heart is really pointing to) by @mlchaelwheeler

21) St@ncy’s revival is like one of the biggest byler proofs in V2. by @neverforever09

22) michael’s airport outfit by @prfctmxxnlight

23) analyzing ST S4/Byler from someone with a film degree. by @swift-fated and credit to @/joannimal on twitter

24) Somebody on twitter noticed how the scene at the roller rink… (parallel to Little Women) by @justmeandmyships

25) Do you find it possible that Byler will definitely happen in season 5 and if so why by @upside-down-byers

26) volume 2 & instant vs delayed gratification by @chartreuse-goose

27) Whenever you doubt Byler, remember that… (a little reminder of all the things pointing towards byler as endgame) by @byernation

28) i just rewatched “the piggyback” and oh. OH. !!!!!!! by @hawkinsp0st

29) i can’t get over “we’re friends. we’re friends.” and “are ‘friends’ electric?” on mikes official Spotify playlist by @strangerfigs

30) “False Confessions” & “Piggybacking” in ST4: Ask Yourself if We Are Being Encouraged to Pick Apart the Inconsistencies... by @bluemeetyellow

31) Byler is going to be Canon and Here’s Why: by @allnaturalapplejuice

on other social media:

1) this beautiful twitter thread on ‘stranger things and the art of slow burn’ by @/hawkinshermit on twitter

2) any and all videos by @/causeineedu on tiktok. this one is one of my personal favs.

3) all the videos by @/naturallybrielle on tiktok

4) the analysis videos of @/girlskth on tiktok. she made a really cool discovery here and here.

5) this post on the use of little women parallels in the show by @/sbyleril on twitter (check comments! there’s a really good video with the parallels too)

6) this perfect harry potter chamber of secrets/byler parallel by @/folklorent on twitter

7) this twitter thread on the parallels between the romances in little women in stranger things by @/rosiec4ke on twitter

i will definitely be adding more posts to this list if i come across any. thank you to all the bloggers for giving me permission to include their posts! i really appreciate it. i also really hope this helped restore your hope in s5 byler, even if just a little bit :)

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sk8termikey · 8 hours

Text

Chapter 18 of 21 Questions

better interface on wattpad + updated till chap 27

FLORIDA VERSUS TOUR SHOW (meeting)(plot is plotting)

Matt🍂

[2 attachments]

Hey, here are the tickets

I hope you'll have a great time tomorrow :)

Thank you so much<3

I'll never forget this fr

I'll repay you one day

And thank your cousin also

You can repay me by not hating me when you discover the truth…

Unsent

No worries

And yeah, I'll tell her it did end up useful for someone else

I'll try to take good pics for her!

That's very nice of you, can't wait to see them if they're as good as those you take of the world

“Damn you're so adorable Lily”, Alex said as she was reading the texts above her friend's shoulder.

“Well, it's thanks to a fellow fan that we can see the triplets again, so anything for her now!”

“No but for real, that was so sweet of Matt's cousin to give them out”. Alex side hugged Lily to show appreciation. “I really can't wait to meet them again”.

“Yeah same”, Lily agreed.

Thinking back to how everything happened so quickly, Lily was glad to have been able to trust her online friend. She knew she had every right to be weary of this, but she also wanted it to be true – which she believed to be. She didn't know how she could ever repay the favour to Matt, but she was set on finding something for him one day. Maybe this is a good situation to write that letter for him, he deserved it already but now even more… Lily thought as she smiled at her idea. Although they had never talked about it, Lily suddenly wished to meet Matt. She felt like their friendship was getting to a point where they could actually enjoy each other's presence in real life – they had called a few more times since they played Fortnite together a couple months ago but had never facetimed. None of them knew what the other looked like, but them being friends was solely based on their personalities and common ground so it didn't matter much. However, Lily's wish for an eventual meeting would happen sooner than she'd ever expect thanks to someone who wasn't as impatient – and it could even be said it had already happened though none of them was aware of it.

A day later and the two best friends found themselves in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Completely off plan – they had indeed wanted to go back to Spring Hill today but fate had it otherwise, Alex and Lily were now on the Southeast Coast. The weather was lovely as the girls parked near the venue. They hadn’t gone to their hotel yet but Matt – Alex had learnt from Lily – had apparently been kind enough to book a room for them not far from where the venue was, “an apology for this last minute plan” Lily had said. Obviously, Lily had refused to let him pay so Matt had only put his card for a refundable deposit and Lily would pay for the room when she and Alex would leave the city. As it was Sunday, the girls had decided that they would stay until Tuesday at most – they had been gone for a week and although Lucas and Jade didn’t mind being alone at the café, Lily and Alex felt bad that they were leaving them for so long. They were also missing their cat a lot, but would never tell their friend that their fake child counted more.

This was now it, the final show of the Versus Tour where Alex and Lily would be once again part of the wonderful atmosphere that were the Sturniolo Triplets’ shows. They had arrived later than they did for the other shows as they didn’t have the small talk nor the group pictures included in their tickets. This didn’t bother the girls though as they were simply ecstatic at the idea of seeing Nick, Matt and Chris for the fourth time. They saw that not many people were left outside as most of them were already inside the venue for the extras that were happening before the show. When they approached the queue, Lily unlocked her phone to get the tickets ready to be scanned. This was the moment of truth: had Matt scammed her or not? Damn, I hope not because I like the kid… Lily thought as it was their turn to enter the venue. When the security guard scanned the tickets, he let out a confused face – though unnoticed by the girls with how quick he composed himself – until he confirmed the names on his list and knew that what he was seeing was not a mistake.

Indeed, the tickets that Matt – Laura actually – had custom made for Lily were not meant to exist because they had never sold any GA tickets with only the backstage pass as an extra. The security guard eventually let the girls enter and as he signalled to someone else to take his place to scan the next people, he quickly went inside through another door where he knew that he could find who he was looking for. Fortunately, he was able to find her rapidly enough. He called Laura who was overseeing that the group pictures were going well and told her about the two girls he had checked in a couple of minutes ago. Thanking the man before he went back outside, Laura waited until everyone had gotten their pictures taken – luckily it was almost the end – and as she walked the triplets to the stage where they would soon be on for their show, she notified them about the girls who had arrived. Hearing this, Matt let out a sigh of relief he never knew he was holding and his two brothers patted him on the back to comfort him. She’s here, Matt thought. I’m actually gonna meet her, damn… The stress started getting to him and he knew he wouldn’t be able to relax until he saw that she was here with his own eyes. When they arrived on the side of the stage, the triplets found a small space behind the curtains where they could look at the crowd without being noticed.

“Do we even know who we’re looking for?” Chris asked as he had no idea which team colour the girls were supporting today.

“Well, she’s Matt’s girl so probably blue.” Nick replied as he tried to recognize the girl with whom he had gotten along a few days prior.

“Not my girlfriend…” Matt mumbled. “And she doesn’t even know that she’s here for me so I actually can’t say who she’s rooting for today.”

“I mean– I think I had told her to come in orange last time we saw her but I guess we can each look for our team colours when we’re on stage”, Chris suggested. “We might see better with the lights above us.”

“Good idea, let’s not be too obvious though.” Nick warned. It was now time for them to go on stage and start the show so he gave the final instructions. “We’re mainly searching in the last rows because she had General Admission; a brunette with possibly animals painted on her face accompanied with a blonde girl who’s most certainly in orange as she supported Chris in my memories. And remember, BE. DIS–CREET.”

Matt and Chris nodded as they understood their task. They would never jeopardise their last show but it wouldn’t hurt to confirm that their guests were here as they were literally in front of the crowd where said guests were. Hugging each other, the triplets were now ready to go on stage for the last time of their tour. It had been such a wonderful experience for them and they had found a way to make this last show even more special thanks to the partners they had chosen. Indeed, as their family and friends were present, the triplets had invited three of them to share the stage with them and it was now time to get them on as they were being introduced after the popular vote had happened – Matt won again, what a surprise!

The three teammates were therefore the triplets’ brother Justin, their best friend Nathan – or Nate – and their friend Tril who had travelled with them for a couple of shows to sing at the end. Nick then announced that the three would each pull from a box a friendship bracelet based on one of the teams in order to decide who they were going to partner with. After they all took out a bracelet, Nick made them reveal at the same time and the result was Nathan on team blue with Matt, Tril on team orange with Chris and finally Justin on team purple with Nick.

As usual, the first game was the painting competition which Nate had won, thus granting a second point to Matt’s team blue sharks. The next game was called Saved by the Bell where the teams would answer trivia questions. From the age required to enter the Hunger Games – twelve years old – to the number of moons Mars had – two, the three teams had to answer several chaotic other questions such as the temperature at which water freezes – 0°C or 32°F for y’all weird Americans – or the number of elements in the Periodic Table – a hundred and eighteen. They were now playing the third game which was called We’re Playing Basketball and thanks to Tril, Chris’s team orange deers was now in the lead before the fourth and last game that was Jenga Showdown started. Matt and Nate were closely behind and the Jenga game that Matt had lost a handful would be decisive. Indeed, the loser would have five points removed from his score, which is why it was essential for Matt to not lose again.

Back to our two girls in the crowd, they had been enjoying every minute of this last show. Per Chris’s request, Lily had showed up with an orange tank top and deers drawn on her face by Alex, who was also wearing orange. Although Alex would be over the moon if Chris won this show and therefore the whole tour, Lily was actually awaiting his defeat as she was really curious regarding the tiebreaker that would decide the winner between Chris and Matt as Nick announced that he had a great one planned already. Only time would tell and it wouldn’t be too much waiting as the game finally began. The tension was slowly building in the venue along the Jenga tower. After what was unusually long compared to other shows, the tower eventually collapsed when it was Nate’s turn, thus making Matt’s team lose five out of his nine points. Matt’s loss thus meant Chris’s victory of not only the show but of the entire tour, which sent the crowd in a frenzy as everyone was screaming – one part was actually cheering on the youngest brother while the other was just screaming for fun as one does during a concert whenever the artist on stage does something as simple as breathing.

Now that the show was ending, each team received their medals and as the lights were on, Matt took that as an opportunity to check the crowd for a certain face. He tried to make his brain work its hardest ever and searched for a smiling brunette of whom he had a faint memory. As he stilled for a second, Matt thought he had seen her and when he tried to keep looking at the back of the venue for this particular person, he was nudged by his friend Nate who made him notice that he would end up seeming weird on stage. Nate and the two other teammates did know why Matt had spent a couple of times during the show simply watching the crowd – they had been notified along with the triplets’ parents about Matt’s chaotic plan – and so their role had been to prevent each of the triplets to creepingly stare at the fans too much. Finally, the coronation ceremony happened and Chris received the Versus Tour trophy before everyone left the stage for Tril’s last mini concert.

Unbeknownst to them, Alex and Lily were being observed by three similar-looking people who were watching the fans until they recognised those they were searching for. The show had been over for a little while and so the two girls were currently waiting in the queue leading to backstage as the tickets they had been given by Matt allowed them to meet the triplets after the show. Although they had been trusting Matt, they were still relieved to get the confirmation that they indeed had access backstage when they had first entered the venue a few hours earlier – though it was Laura who had notified the staff beforehand that those two specific girls had a “special treatment” due the ticket combo that wasn't supposed to exist.

As the girls were simply talking about the fact that Chris had won the show and therefore the tour – which Alex was over the moon about, her being a Chris girl, they didn't notice someone from security coming towards them. Exchanging a glance of uncertainty, Lily and Alex were surprised that the bodyguard was asking them to follow him somewhere else in the venue. Questions raised in the girls’ minds but they complied and went with the man. They didn’t understand at first and were just confused that they were being dragged out from the queue.

“What the fuck is happening?” Alex whispered to Lily as they were still walking in the corridors of the venue.

“I DON'T KNOW!” Lily whisper-yelled to Alex. “It's scaring me, like have we been scammed?”

“I hope not bro, they’ll probably give us an explanation.”

Lily agreed and a couple of minutes later, the two girls found themselves in a huge room with several couches and drinks on a table. They got told to stay here until someone would come back for them later. They both were so stressed and although they had snacks as well as beverages to pass the time, Lily and Alex were shitting themselves.

~~~

Half an hour later and the girls were still alone in the room. While they had been wondering about what was going to happen to them – their assumptions were being killed or abducted, the actual backstage was close to being over. Due to confusion still being present, Alex had suggested the first good idea of the evening and told Lily to text Matt.

“Damn, we should've thought about that earlier. I hope bro has a good explanation!”

Matt🍂

Hey Matt, please can you tell me what's going on bc Alex and I have been waiting for so long. We don't know what's happening and it's kinda scary so if you could text me back and explain wtf your cousin was supposed to do at the show, that would be nice

Lily was hoping that although Matt wasn't the one initially going to the show, he could still give her an explanation as to what was going to happen to them. However, as soon as Lily hit ‘send’ on her text, she and Alex heard a notification sound in the same room. This clearly raised more confusion in the girls’ minds. They thought it was a coincidence but were still suspicious of the fact that someone's phone received a message right as Lily had sent hers. As if it couldn’t get worse, the door suddenly opened and three people casually walked in.

“Honestly, it's such a Matt thing to forget his phone on the other side of the venue.” The voice of a man could be heard. “Don't think we needed to immediately bring it to him though.”

“You have to understand him sweetie,” a woman replied to him. “He's really nervous about today even though we spent a while reassuring him before the show. And he might need it to text his friend. I don't know, it might be useful.”

A second man agreed with the woman while Alex and Lily were watching the scene with widened eyes. They couldn't believe what they were seeing: the triplets’ parents, Mary Lou and Jimmy, as well as their brother Justin were currently standing in front of them. As the woman noticed the girls, she stopped talking and nudged her husband then her oldest son to make them notice.

“Hi there!” Mary Lou said with the nicest tone. “You must be my son's friends, right?”

“Wha–” Lily was the first to reply as she had no idea what was going on.

Seeing their confusion, Justin quickly understood that the timing had been completely off.

“Mum, I think we might be early…”

“Oh god!” Mary Lou exclaimed in surprise. “He told us he would notify you before we arrived.”

“I'm sorry, but…” Alex took Lily's place in wanting to know the truth as the brunette was now lost. “Who was supposed to notify us of what?”

“OH MY GOD! WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?” The voice of a young man yelled as he ran into the room and started rambling. “Dad came to get me. Damn, I leave you guys for an hour and you can't wait ten more minutes. Fuck, sorry I shouldn't curse at you and I know I said that thing about my phone but I was about to come get it and now–”

Matt stopped talking as he turned to face the two confused girls still sitting on the couch. His dad, Jimmy, had left his wife and first son to try finding Matt before the situation would get more chaotic than it already was. He had stumbled upon Matt, Nick and Chris who were coming back from backstage as the show was definitely over, which led to the middle triplet running to the room his dad was coming from as he started panicking as soon as Jimmy had explained what was happening a few corridors away.

“Hey,” Matt said to the girls with a soft voice to not frighten them. His gaze was mostly on Lily before he spotted his phone and unlocked it. “Oh, you texted. Sorry for the confusion, I swear I can explain everything.”

What the actual– the fuck he means? Lily wondered. I texted? Like– I'm so fucking lost… She tore her eyes away from Matt as she saw Chris, Nick and Jimmy entering the room then going to stand next to Matt who was trying to calm down.

“Ok so… I know you must both be very sceptical about everything but please listen to me.” Matt almost pleaded as he was scared of how Alex and Lily would react. “Hmm, well… Hi, I'm Matt.”

As he said his last sentence with a small wave, the girls were still not understanding.

“Yeah, we know that”. Lily replied with a nervous laugh. “That's why we came to see y'all I guess.”

“No yeah, sorry. I mean like– Matt, your Matt?” He sounded almost unsure as he saw that Lily was still not completely getting it. He then had an idea and went to his conversation with Lily to show her what he meant. “Wait a second…”

Matt quickly typed a message and sent it to Lily, which made her phone's screen light up.

Matt🍂

Hey, please don't hate me

Both Lily and Alex looked down to read the message, the latter almost having a light bulb appearing above her head.

“Oh fuck I should've known! I knew it!” Alex semi-shouted.

It's true that the blonde had had suspicions a couple of times when Lily had told her that she was texting a guy named Matt who liked Pokemon, Fortnite and had several brothers. They were probably a thousand guys on Earth like that but at that time, it had been the only Matt she could think about.

“Oh…” Lily finally knew what he meant. “Oh… I was absolutely not expecting that.”

“Yeah…” Matt was still afraid of what would happen next. “If that's ok, I just want to properly do introductions?”

Lily nodded as she and Matt were still holding eye contact for the past several minutes. When the girls both stood up and approached the Sturniolo family, Matt got even more nervous and Nick took that as his cue to take charge of the situation.

“Hey, Nicolas here but call me Nick! So we have Matt obviously and Chris who you both know, I mean we all met but let's reset everything. Then it should've been later but improv I guess so I want you guys to meet our mum Mary Lou, our dad Jimmy and our brother Justin.”

“Hi, I'm Alex.” The blonde said as she could feel her best friend was in a sort of shocked state. “This is Lily, my best friend and Matt's friend then?”

Everyone nodded and as an awkward silence was almost forming, Mary Lou let her bubbly personality shine to brighten the mood.

“Okay boys, why don't we just relax and enjoy the snack while getting to know those lovely ladies? Matt darling, go talk with your brothers as I take your nice friend with me. You guys will have all the time in the world later on.”

Mary Lou walked towards Lily and gently grabbed her arm to then go sit on another couch in the room, further away from everyone else. The rest of them scattered in the room as Chris decided to join Alex – they had gotten along well the few times they had seen each other – while the other brothers stood with their dad and chose to pour themselves some drinks.

While Alex was talking with Chris and reminiscing about their victory together, Lily found herself in a conversation with Mary Lou whom she thought was the sweetest woman ever. After Matt, well Nick in all honesty, had introduced her to his mum – a bold move from him to have her meet him AND his whole family at the same time, Mary Lou immediately shooed her son away as she wanted to properly get to know his new friend. This is why Matt was currently with his brothers Justin and Nick. The two oldest were discussing what they could do the next day around the city, which Matt was half listening to as he was stressed regarding what his mum and friend – friend? Acquaintance? More than that? Less? Yeah, friend is good – were talking about. However, as he dared to glance in their direction, Matt found Lily's eyes already on him. She quickly diverted her gaze back to Mary Lou but as she still felt observed, Lily looked back to Matt. They then shared a soft smile across the room and as if it was magic, both were suddenly feeling at ease and fell back to their respective conversation. They'd only had a two second interaction as the Matt and Lily they both knew, but it was like they were turning back into their usual selves when they would text each other.

“You do know you guys are kinda obvious, right?” Justin asked his younger brother.

“Wha– what do you mean?” Matt was confused, although he somehow already knew what this was about.

“Matt come on”, Nick sighed as he dragged out his brother's name's vowel. “I'm pretty sure you didn't listen to what we've been saying because you're only thinking about her.”

“And looking at her like a lost puppy”, Justin added. “She should be the one panicking, yet here you are.”

“I don't look at Lily like a lost puppy…” Matt mumbled. “Just making sure Mum isn't overwhelming her. Can't believe she gets to talk to her before me, she's my friend!”

“A friend who probably made her live the most stressful experience ever,” Nick retorted. “I think today was confusing for everyone so let her breathe for a minute and you can go talk to her after.”

Matt and Justin agreed with the blonde, then tried to trust their mum to make Lily feel better.

Speaking of the devil, the girl was actually enjoying her conversation with Mary Lou, who was telling her about Boston life.

“It sounds great, I hope to go there one day.”

“Maybe if my son keeps you in his life – which I would be glad about, you'll have the opportunity to travel there”. Mary Lou said as she put on her kindest smile.

“Yeah, I hope he does too.” Lily replied with some awkwardness in her voice. “It's still weird to me that he was the one I was texting this whole time, but I really want us to become friends in person now. Not that I want to take advantage of him simply because I know who he actually is of course, please don't think bad of me! But, I–”

“No worries my dear, if Matt trusted you enough to reveal himself to you, then I trust you as well”. The woman reassured the girl sitting next to her. “He's a good boy, so please take care of him.”

“I– yeah I will, I'll do my best to make this friendship work”.

The two exchanged a smile and kept talking about their respective lives: Mary Lou telling Lily about her and Jimmy while Lily told Mary Lou about the café she was working at with Alex.

They had been talking for a good dozen of minutes until Matt – who had been motivated by his brothers – finally decided to join them.

“Hi”, he waved again at Lily – seems like it was his current go-to move when feeling nervous. “Mum, I'm gonna steal her from you – if that's ok with you Lily obviously – because we need to talk now.”

Mary Lou kindly agreed and nudged Lily to stand up. As the girl was expecting the conversation to start now, she was actually surprised when Matt asked her to follow him outside. They both left the room under everyone’s curious stare and Matt took her elsewhere in the venue in order to be far enough for anyone who could walk by. When he found what seemed like a good spot, Matt looked back at Lily to silently ask her if it was ok. As she nodded, he opened the door and they were now on a balcony that was overlooking the parking lot behind the venue.

“Sorry, it looks kinda sketchy but I'll feel better with some fresh air.”

“No yeah, I get it.” Lily agreed with Matt. “I think I needed it too.”

“So…” Matt started as he was fidgeting while leaning on the railing.

“Yep…” Lily whispered as she was doing the same awkward movements.

None of them felt like holding eye contact as they were both extremely nervous. Knowing that he was responsible for all of this, Matt eventually started talking:

“Ok first, I have to apologise for everything. I put you in a very uncomfortable situation and it was a shit move.”

“It's okay… Well it was not completely ok but I understand where you come from so I can forgive you.” Lily smiled at Matt as she was feeling less awkward now that they were actually talking about it. “Never forgive you for not liking sushi though.”

“Damn,” Matt let out a laugh at that. “Can't believe you still hold that against me.”

“Yep, always I guess…” Lily chuckled too and let a now semi-comfortable silence start until she interrupted it with the most important question. “How long have you known?”

“Hmm?”

“Since when have you known it was me like– I was me?”

“Oh, well… when you posted those pictures,” Matt explained. “I was ninety-nine percent sure of you coming to our shows and the last percent was when I texted you.”

“Ok ok,” Lily nodded. “And your first reflex was to make me come to another one?”

“It seems weird but yeah actually,” Matt confirmed as he was actually surprised of himself being so honest. “I was a bit in denial at first because it felt crazy that the person I'm texting is literally a fan – although you are my friend first and foremost – but when I talked about it to Nick and Chris, the first thing that popped into my brain when we agreed that you were Lily was that I needed to meet you again, but properly this time.”

“I'm glad you thought that because I wanted us to eventually meet and I'm happy it's you.”

“Yeah?” Matt asked as he felt relieved that Lily wasn't hating him.

“Yeah, it's just sooner than expected but in a good way. I'm grateful for our friendship Matt.”

“I'm grateful for that too Lily.” Matt had a soft smile on his face. “You wanna meet my other friends/come see everyone else now?”

“Hmm,” Lily hesitated. “Can we stay here a bit longer? Just the two of us…?”

“Yeah, okay.” He agreed. “We can do that, fine by me.”

Basking in the silence, the two newly acquainted friends were enjoying this moment of peace. It would be the first one of many, but for now, it felt like a necessity to take their time as they were now slowly starting to navigate their friendship.

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad

#matt sturniolo #nick #nick sturniolo #matt sturniolo fanfic #sturniolo triplets #matt #christopher sturniolo #chris #chris sturniolo #nick stuniolo #sturniolo #sturniolo fanfic #nick stuniolo fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #matthew sturniolo #versus tour

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officialyourdailyinspiration · 3 months

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Concerning Almsgiving

1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Concerning Prayer

5 “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 “Pray, then, in this way:

Our Father in heaven, may your name be revered as holy. 10 May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.

14 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Concerning Fasting

16 “And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Concerning Treasures

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The Eye

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Serving Two Masters

24 “No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

Do Not Worry

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the gentiles who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today. — Matthew 6 | New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE) New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved worldwide. Cross References: Exodus 22:2; Exodus 34:7; Ruth 1:6; Ruth 3:3; 2 Samuel 7:26; 1 Kings 3:13; 1 Kings 10:4; 1 Kings 18:21; 1 Kings 18:26; 2 Kings 4:33; 1 Chronicles 29:11; Job 35:11; Psalm 38:9; Psalm 39:5; Psalm 90:6; Psalm 103:20; Psalm 111:5; Proverbs 20:6; Proverbs 25:22; Isaiah 5:20; Isaiah 58:5; Jeremiah 45:5; Hosea 14:5; Matthew 5:7; Matthew 18:35; Matthew 19:21; Matthew 20:15; Matthew 23:5; Mark 11:25; Luke 10:41; Luke 12:34; Philippians 4:19; 1 Peter 5:7

#charity #prayer #fasting #treasure #lamp of the body #serving two masters #worry #Matthew 6 #Gospel of Matthew #New Testament #NRSVUE #New Revised Standard Version Bible Updated Edition #National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America

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topazshadowwolf · 8 days

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GoopTales: Part 23, Date Night

*passes over this part, which is covered in FuzzyNight glitter.* :3

Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23(you are here)/34

AO3: Ch 1 (1-4), Ch 2 (4-8), Ch 3 (9-12), Ch 4 (13-16) Ch 5 (17-19), Ch 6 (20-23), Ch 7 (24-27), Ch 8 (28-31), Ch 9 (32-34)

---

Killer walked up to Mr. Night as he finished giving medication to the three-legged cat. Killer giggled as the kitty hissed and spat at Mr. Night before walking over to Killer and purring. “you should be nicer,” Killer scolded while petting the kitty. “mr. night is only doing that because you need the medicine.” Tri, the kitty, did not like the scolding but accepted it from Killer with a questioning ‘murr.’

“Killer, should you not be with the others?” Nightmare asked as he put the bottle of medicine away.

“i told lyra that i needed to tell you something important. i told her about how one of the chickens laid two eggs and how cool that was and how you should know,” Killer explained.

“Well, now I know,” Mr. Night replied as he picked up Killer with a tendril. The tendril moved Killer closer to Mr. Night, and Killer stretched his arms out to the goopy skeleton. As gently as his dad would, the dark skeleton took Killer into his arms, and Killer snuggled against him.

“but that wasn’t what i really wanted to say to you,” Killer continued, “that was just the excuse i used to ask you something very, very important.”

“Oh, I see, very crafty of you,” Nightmare mused as he walked out of the cat feeding room.

“uh huh!” Killer puffed himself up, looking rather pleased with himself after that praise. “me and the others-”

“The others and I,” Nightmare gently corrected.

“the others and i decided we wanna thank ms. lyra for helping you and being so nice to us. none of us know what having a mommy is like, and i think, if i had a mom, she is what i’d want that mommy to be like,” Killer explained.

Mr. Night paused and looked at the floor in silence for a moment. He then looked up as if looking at someone on the ceiling while muttering, “Give me strength.” Then, after that, Mr. Night looked at Killer. “That… sounds very nice, you wanting to thank her for helping.”

“and being like a mommy!” Killer announced happily.

“Ah… yes, how could I forget that part,” Mr. Night mumbled.

“you’re silly, mr. night!” Killer giggled.

“Between the two of us, I do believe you are the silliest,” Mr. Night said while poking Killer’s cheekbone. That made Killer giggle and squirm in the arm Mr. Night was holding him in. “Now that has been clarified, what were you four thinking of doing?”

“oh! we wanna have a picnic, with flowers, and, and, and games! oh, and pie! and we want her to just relax and play with us and… and… give hugs, and we wanna make her cards,” Killer said the last parts quietly.

“Hmmm, except for the relaxing part, does she not do most of that already?” Nightmare asked.

“yeah, but she’s the one who does eeeeeeeeeverythiiiiiing for that. we wanna do it so she can have a day off, but we’re too small to do all of it and were wondering if you could help,” Killer said, finishing his reason for coming to Mr. Night.

“I suppose that will work. And what day were you four thinking of doing this?” Mr. Night asked.

“mother’s day!”

“Oh…”

---

Oh, indeed…

Nightmare worried that such a celebration on Mother’s Day would drudge up bad memories for the guardian. It would also encourage his feelings of having a new family. Just as he felt that pang of longing when Killer first announced Lyra was like a mother to him. But that is beside the point. The focus was on Lyra, and he was about to convince the boys to choose a different day. But he then considered it a chance for her to make new memories. Albeit… with four hooligans that Lyra would not want to be the mother of.

Although, if that were true, she was showing the opposite.

She was always eager to care for the boys and their pets. It was sweet watching them interact with each other. Every morning was so soul-warming as he watched them happily greet her for the day. Even Dust was starting to warm to her and was not always clinging to Nightmare. They all excitedly go to her after she returns from tending to her duties as a guardian, begging her to tell them how things were outside their home.

She truly was being motherly to them.

So, if she is filling the role, he might as well help the boys celebrate her on a day meant for beings like her.

He helped them, one-on-one, during moments when she was busy or away to make their cards and start preparation for Mother’s Day. For the most part, there was no evidence for her to suspect something was going on. But, on the rare occasion, the Guardian of Balance would notice something. “Killer, how did you get this glitter all over your hands?” “Cross? Where are you going with that stack of blankets?” “Horror, is that flour on your shirt?” “Dust? Oh, there you are… Please do not wander off without telling me.”

Nightmare should have known he could not have hidden everything from a momster. Still, he luckily was around to save the boys from interrogation each time. “Ah, we were considering an art project, but he quickly reminded me how that stuff gets all over everything. I guess I failed to wash all the glitter off.” “Ah! Thank you for getting those for me, Cross. These were used last for the nest during the boys' movie night and should be washed.” “I do believe that is my fault. He was nearby when I spilled that flour while looking in the cupboard.” “Ah, sorry, Lyra, I am equally to blame. He followed me to my office after I got my drink. I should have sent him back. But… well…”

That last one resulted in some light-hearted teasing from her at how soft he was with the boys. It was embarrassing, but he would admit it was true.

It took careful planning on the days leading up to Mother’s Day. The tendency for immortals to lose track of time helped him, as Lyra was not carefully watching a calendar like Nightmare was with the boys. Finally, the night before arrived. The boys assigned him one task: make sure she sleeps so she is rested for tomorrow and in place for a surprise breakfast in bed.

Nightmare let her get the boys ready for bed, which will be her last bit of work before relaxation begins. While she was away, he cleaned up the toys and mess in the entertainment room and set out some candles while turning off the lights.

While he was not an avid movie watcher, he did enjoy the few he has watched. Especially if he read the book first. Sure, the movies were often different, but as long as they held to the spirit of the book, he honestly didn’t mind that much. Nightmare might grumble a little when scenes he enjoyed in the book did not show up or were not portrayed accurately enough to his liking. But, in the end, he acknowledged it was a movie and had limits to how much and what it could show.

The mind will always be the greatest movie theater.

All that aside. Shortly after starting their… relationship, Lyra and Nightmare formed a sort of “book club.” It was mostly them taking turns reading aloud a book together. He discovered that one they particularly enjoyed for its wit and humor had been made into a movie. They had picked the book since it was set in a “fantasy” setting in the time period he preferred, and it was a romance. It is not precisely Nightmare’s favorite genre, but this was enjoyable with the action and parts of revenge, war, and trickery. With the boys in bed and it being the night before celebrating Mother’s Day, well… might as well have a date night. Once the movie is done, he will have Lyra go to bed.

“NightStar?” he heard her say, and he looked over at her.

She looked around the room and smiled while placing her hands on her hips. “I thought you said you had a lot of work to do,” she said.

“I did,” He chuckled as he lit the last candle. “It was a lot of work setting this room up for something other than child care.”

“I was going to help you with all that paperwork you claimed to have from the latest alliance,” she argued. “Will this momentary distraction mean we will have more work during the next few days?”

“I may have exaggerated how much I had to do in order to secretly plan tonight,” And tomorrow, but she didn’t need to know that part yet. Instead, he walked over to her and held out his hand. “M’lady, if you would join me?”

“How could I say no?” She asked while extending her hand and letting him take it.

Which he did. While taking her hand, he bowed to her slightly and lightly placed his teeth on the back of her hand, against the white fur, in a skeletal kiss. He then looked up at her with a grin as he saw the hint of pink appearing on her face where her fur was the thinnest, such as around her nose. However, he could feel the warmth on his own face, telling him he was blushing as well—not that he cared at the moment.

With that, he stood straight and guided her to the sofa. “Sit, and re-,” he started. The sound of flatulence filled the room as she sat, and both were startled by it. The silence that shock caused was broken when Nightmare sighed, and Lyra burst into hysterical laughter as she fished the whoopee cushion out from under herself. “I would ask you not to laugh since that would only encourage them, but they are not here to witness. I must have missed that one while cleaning up.”

“Indeed,” She wheezed as she tossed it onto the stand beside her. But she continued snickering, and Nightmare could not help but find that… endearing in a way.

“You truly found that so funny? Typical Toriel behavior. You may act mature, but deep down, you enjoy childish things,” He teased.

“Oh hush, you old fuddy-duddy,” Lyra taunted with a grin.

Nightmare mock gasped, placing his hand over where his soul was and acting offended, “Me, old?”

“Honestly, Nightmare. That is the part that offended you the most?” Lyra teased.

“Naturally! The notion that I am old when we are both immortals is insulting,” He said while turning his head to look away to feign indignation.

“Well, if you act the part,” She chuckled.

“Fine, then. If I am old, I will act as the grandparent and spoil the four with sweets and whatever they wish. Then, once they are a rowdy and unmanageable lot, I will pack them back over to you to tend,” he replied with a grin.

It was Lyra’s turn to mock gasp, though hers was in faux fear, “How devious! I take it back. You are still youthful! But a fuddy-duddy all the same.”

“I suppose that will do,” he said, rolling his eyelight. He then smiled at her, turning their focus back to the matter at hand. “Though, I think that banter will be a good segway for the movie we will be watching tonight.”

“Oh?” She tilted her head.

“Romance and humor… though this also has sword fighting, drama, and action,” he said while putting the movie in the DVD player. He won't claim to be great at using the player and TV, but he was proficient enough to complete the task.

They sat together, holding hands, as they watched the movie about Princess Buttercup and her true love, Wesley.

It was nice… especially when the movie ended and she gave him a kiss on the cheekbone. He then followed up with a kiss on her nose, which then turned into a true kiss… one that he hoped she enjoyed as much as he did.

This was still all so awkward and new to him. Yet, feeling her lips on his teeth, their magic meeting with the physical contact, and the love they shared for each other being accepted and reciprocated was almost intoxicating to him. The fact that she seemed happy enough to keep this kiss going told him that she was enjoying it enough not to stop anytime soon. However, the sad fact of life is that all good things must eventually come to an end. If the boys were going to wake her up with a surprise breakfast in bed, then she needed to be in bed and sleeping.

“Lyra,” He said, finally pulling away, “as much as I am enjoying this. One of us should sleep while we have a chance. I will tend to everything else tonight and in the morning. It is your turn to rest.”

“Is it? I thought it was your turn,” She said with a frown.

Nightmare shook his head, “No, I rested last. Remember, we both had a chance to sleep last week, and I was the last one to sleep. So, you need to go to bed, rest, and get ready for another busy day tomorrow.”

“Hmmm…,” She hummed as she coaxed one of his tendrils to curl around her hand and arm as she often does. “That may be true, but I am not sure I am tired yet. Or done being around you.”

“Ah, yes,” He felt flustered by that. He wasn’t truly done being around her and would love to wake up cuddled with her again. But, he reminded himself he had his standards to hold to. Rules of propriety that may be ignored by some, but keep him in a moral code that made him who he was and not like the other cruel Nightmares off in their own multiverses. It might not seem that important of a rule. Though breaking one purposefully, as that one time was an accident brought on by mutual exhaustion, will invite the idea of breaking others.

“Well, as true as that may be, you should take this chance while you have it,” He said as he turned his attention to the TV.

The menu screen for the movie was playing on repeat in the background; during the kissing, he blocked the noise out. Now that he could turn his mind to other things, he had to admit the repeated short song was starting to become annoying. When the screen turned black, it darkened the room further, though that never bothered him. Nightmare can see easily in the dar-

Nightmare clapped his hands over his mouth as he struggled to hold back the sound wanting to emit from his mouth. A sensation he had not fully felt in centuries nearly forced him to laugh. In shock, he looked at Lyra, who looked back at him with equal shock and slyness. The tendril that felt the tickling sensation was no longer being tickled but still squirmed in a failed attempt to flee her. But no luck; she was not about to let the limb go.

He watched as she turned her attention back to the tentacle. Her fingers started moving over the limb in an oddly delicate yet aggressive way. Lyra leaned closer as Nightmare again struggled to hold back laughter, “My, my, what is this? The King of Negativity is ticklish after all?”

He wanted to deny it, but he didn’t dare utter a sound for fear he would burst into laughter. A snort did escape, but he held strong. No, he would not give in to this.

“I warned you, did I not?” She said with a mischievous grin on her face.

And yes, she did warn him about testing her theory that he was ticklish, but that was about four months ago. It had slipped his mind completely.

“You are so quiet, not even a retort?” She teased. “But not a laugh, either.”

Behind him, the remaining tendrils curled tightly as if trying to hide from her tickling fingers. He needed to will them to act, to push her away. It was a struggle, as his main focus was on trying not to burst into laughter. Still, he started to get them to respond, but they could not reach her to push before she pounced.

Those deft fingers moved to each side of his body, aiming for the tender area under the arm. Nightmare made the most undignified of sounds as Lyra continued this childish assault on areas he long since thought were no longer ticklish. With that, he could no longer hold it back any longer. Laughter, unlike any laughter that has burst from him in centuries, poured forth. He struggled, mid-gasps for air, to beg her for mercy.

What shame he would feel… if this wasn’t her. Indeed, if he were to display such vulnerability and weakness, it might as well be to one who has been doing the same towards him. Spending every day together caused him to shed his wall of defensive pride when around her. Still, his tendrils finally obeyed and spared him as they worked together to push her away.

“And here I thought you said you were not ticklish,” Lyra taunted with a giggle as Nightmare leaned back against the sofa arm, catching his breath.

“To be fair,” Nightmare wheezed, “No one has dared to test that theory since I was a child.”

“I suppose that is true,” Lyra replied. “But now, you look more tired than I do. Perhaps you should be the one to sleep?”

He shot her a glare and then sat up. “Winded from that ridiculous display of frivolity you coaxed out of me, sure. Tired? No. It is your turn. Do not make me carry you off to bed like I do the boys.”

“Would you tuck me in?” She teased.

“You are an adult who has tucked in more beings than I ever have. I think you can manage,” He taunted in return.

“Not even a goodnight kiss, then?” Lyra said with a “sad” pout.

“You have already had a ‘goodnight kiss,’ multiple even,” He replied.

“Oh, have I?” She said while looking off at nothing as one does to recall a memory. “I am not sure I remember.”

Of course, she remembers. He sure hopes she did. Still, if she was going to play that game, he would give her a kiss she would not likely forget anytime soon. He leaned forward and drew her attention back to him as his hands moved to her face. Fingers moved through her soft fur and touched the skin beneath. Nightmare called on his magic, his love, and his emotions for her while he kissed her as if he were trying to smother her in affection. She gasped, shocked by this display from him, but then hummed contentedly back at him as she returned a kiss.

It now was a contest of wills to see who could pour out more love and affection for the other in this single display—one he was determined not to lose. Digging down deep, he pulled on his past emotions, converting them to magical energy that she could interpret but shared through a kiss.

How they once were enemies, and at that time, he truly did despise her and how she interfered with his plans. And yet, even then, there was admiration for her doggedness to stop him and protect those weak mortals he had, at that time, no respect for. How his anger for her only increased when she seemed to disappear. When it was then Dream who was upsetting the balance. Then, the shock of how she stood up for him… Aided him and the boys, which sparked something in him. It was not love at that time, and it was more than admiration. It was the growing seed of an alliance. As time went on, he took that feeling and formed a bud of friendship. That bud grew and blossomed as they worked together for peace, and as she showed the same kindness to his boys he showed them. He… liked seeing her show off her motherly side to them. When most hate his boys and find him revolting, she showed nothing but kindness and friendship. And oh, how that confused him.

Nightmare had tried to push her away for her own good. But just as before, when they were enemies, she was too stubborn to leave. She shared her love for him with him, and he relented to that confirmation that he was not alone in those feelings. And now, here they were. This time together, tending the boys, drawing them closer and closer, deeper and deeper into love. And he was devoted to her. If he were her “NightStar,” guiding her on the ocean of life as the stars guided the sailors, then he would do his best to keep her safe and direct her back here, to her home.

And with that, she surrendered, pulling away and gasping. Hints of blush were now visible through her fur over her whole face. He won, and he grinned while watching her catch her breath. Sitting back, he let a little smugness change his grin. His tendrils flipped contentedly from side to side as a display of playful superiority. “Now who is looking tired, hmm?”

“You say that with such confidence, but your face is covered in that lovely teal blush,” She teased back. “But I give… my sweet Night… we will need to discuss this kiss another time, as… I think you,” She looked at him for a moment, and he started to frown, tilting his head. “We will discuss this ‘goodnight kiss’ another time. For now, I will go to bed. Good night, my love.”

“Good night, Lyra.”

And with that, she stood and left.

Discuss the kiss? What was there to discuss about it? Granted, it was their history displayed to her in his view through magic shared in a kiss, but… that is all there is to it. They both lived through that. Did they really need to talk about it?

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villainousshakespeare · 1 year

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Therapy Fit for a God Chapter 27

“Loki/OFC Rated E: Trigger Warnings: Smut, Sex, Oral Sex, Angst, talk of suicide, therapy, unhealthy family dynamics, mention of torture and mind control, touch starved, drinking, memory loss.

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20, Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, Chapter 24, Chapter 25, Chapter 26

Loki’s plans to conquer and rule Midgard have come to a disastrous end. After being captured by the Avengers, he is being held on Earth. Odin has refused to interfere, and the outlook for the God of Mischief appear bleak. His only hope may lie in one mortal woman, a Psychiatric expert brought in to interrogate him.

Dr. Caroline Thorpe is intrigued by Loki and thinks that more lies beneath his actions than is commonly known. Can she find out the truth before he is shipped off to die for crimes against the Earth? And can Loki bring himself to care?

@yespolkadotkitty @just-the-hiddles @hopelessromanticspoonie @wine-and-whines @arch-venus25 @caffiend-queen @devilish–doll @enchantedbyhiddles @hiddlesholic @i-do-not-fangirl-i-fanwoman @kellatron55 @ladyoftheteaandblood @latent-thoughts @yespolkadotkitty@maryxglz @myoxisbroken @nuggsmum @nildespirandum @pedeka @redfoxwritesstuff @sinfully-lustful-darling @vodka-and-some-sass @wrathkitty @kingtwhiddleston @wolfsmom1 @poetic-fiasco @shiningloki @dangertoozmanykids101 @bookworm-christina @amwolowicz @delightfulheartdream @frostbitten-written @what-a-flammable-heart @tom-hlover @nonsensicalobsessions @myraiswack @loki-yoursaviourishere @ghostypau @ms-cellanies @colorfulfreakstudentpizza @mareebird @colorfulfreakstudentpizza @szycha22 @chokemedaddyloki @queenofallhobos @just-the-hiddles-reads @alwida10 @justjoanne242 @chantsdemarins @lovelysizzlingbluebird @lokiprompts @evieplease @unlucky-number-13 @bitchassbecky691 @georges-left-ear

Eir was an imposing looking woman. Easily over six feet tall and crowned with a cap of snow white hair over steel grey eyebrows, she looked more like a general than a healer and tended to run her medical team accordingly. Loki had always had a great deal of respect for her, but he also found himself unaccountably ill at ease in her presence.

They were seated in his mother's study having gathered to discuss, much to his irritation, Loki's condition. Eir was the last to arrive, entering with the air of one barely humoring her inferiors. This look was lessened slightly as she nodded deferentially to Frigga but returned in double intensity as her eyes swung to Loki and Caroline.

"Thank you, gracious Eir, for agreeing to meet with us at this late hour," Frigga said, indicating a high-backed chair similar to the one in which she sat.

"When the AllMother calls, it is our duty to answer," she replied, sitting bolt straight in the chair, back not touching the carved wood. "The young Prince looks to be healing nicely from his wounds. I sense no lasting cellular deterioration beyond the elasticity which he always has possessed."

Her words were clipped, spoken in a deep, resonant voice. It was all Loki could do to keep himself from slipping back into the posture of the boy saw him as, slouching down to draw less attention to himself. To say the healing goddess had intimidated Loki, Thor, and their friends would hardly be stretching the truth.

"Indeed, his injury seems to be well on the mend," Frigga smiled.

"Pardon me, dear ladies. Do you think you might consider talking to me? I am in the room after all,” Loki asked with a look of false courtesy plastered on his face. His self respect, after all, would not allow them to completely send him scurrying back to the school room.

"Loki, behave yourself," Frigga chastised him gently, causing his eyes to roll.

"You see, they treat me as a child," he complained to Caroline who gave him a small smile of commiseration.

"That is what you are, comparatively," Eir said, though no intended offense was detectible in her voice. "I had lived two lives before you were even born."

"I must be an infant then," Caroline said weakly.

It was a valiant attempt, and he admired her for finding her voice among such imposing women, but Eir was ancient even by Asgardian standards.

"Less than that," the healer turned her ice grey eyes on Caroline. "You are the blink of an eye, a wave on the shore. Here now, but soon gone with barely a trace to show you existed at all."

Sitting close to her on the sofa, Loki could not help but feel the wince that Caroline tried to hide from the room. Knowing what a slap that sentence would be, squeezed her hand in support. To Hel with Eir and her superior manner. Caroline deserved better.

"Dr. Thorpe has made more of an impact on me in the past month than all the population of the Citadel of Asgard did in my entire life," Loki defended Caroline, glaring at the woman who had saved his life.

"Has she? May I ask in what way? I am curious about the lasting effects of Midgardian exposure."

To left, Caroline smothered a laugh. Alarmed at first that something was wrong with her - a reaction to all of stress he had put her through would not be out of place - he belated realized with surprise that her humor was genuine. Something clicked inside Loki's brain. Caroline had looked at Eir, a Goddess who terrified most of Asgard, and realized the truth of her. The woman was not trying to be rude or offensive, not a bit. She simply looked at the world in through a scientific lens rather than an emotional one. Eir was legitimately intrigued by their connection. She would probably like to take Loki and Caroline's clasped hands and study them under a microscope.

"Well, young prince?" Eir prodded again. "What changes did the Midgardian girl make on you?"

"Well, that is just the problem," Loki sighed with a rueful smile. "I don't seem to remember."

"The spell we wove, clouding the disruptive memories," Frigga jumped in to explain. "It seems we obscured more than we intended."

"Ah. I see. The brain is a complicated piece of machinery, and we were pressed for time, if you recall. Had he woken up again and continued to fight his recovery, he may not have had enough energy left to heal."

"I do recall," Frigga's voice trembled a bit at the memory. "I am not reprimanding you, or myself, Eir."

"I should hope not. How much time has he lost?"

"A year or more," Loki answered for himself, the barest trace of annoyance in his tone, even though Eir looked at his mother. "I have no firm recollection of anything between Thor's would-be coronation and waking up in the infirmary."

"Well, a year is hardly so great a matter. It may come back eventually. Or not. It is difficult to say."

"It was a rather significant year," Frigga put a slight emphasis on her words that added to Loki's misgivings.

"Meeting a Midgardian woman hardly seems significant to me."

"And your opinion of it seems even less so to me," Loki snarled. Quirk of nature or not, he would not allow anyone to disrespect Caroline.

"Loki," Frigga admonished with a glance. "As much as I am sure Dr. Thorpe was important to my son, there were other things that transpired that may hold more wide scale significance."

Ah yes, the mysterious other things. Loki stole looks at his mother and the healer under lowered lids. What was it that had them all so on edge? He knew from what Thor and his idiot friends had let slip that he had committed some errors in judgement in regard to Midgard, but instinct told him that this was not the extent of his actions. Torture had been alluded to, as well as some sort of break down. The more he heard of his lost year, the more anxious it made him.

"Frigga, have you seen Thor? Ah, Eir, what brings you here this time of night?"

The door to the study slammed open and a man strode in. Considering he had entered without so much as a knock or a by your leave, there was only one person this could be. Not that Loki needed to know that to recognize his father.

Odin was huge, not just in stature, but in presence. Burly in a similar manner to Thor, if perhaps not in such dramatically fit shape, his presence made the room feel as though it had shrunk to half the size. His hair was mixture of white and grey, with a few dark strands showing the color it once had been. One eye hid behind a golden eyepatch, permanently affixed to his face, but the other shrewd orb seemed to hold a stormy sky tossing in its depths. A similar storm surrounded him, it always seemed to Loki. He radiated an energy that pulsed through the room, commanding all attention rest immediately on him.

"AllFather," Eir greeted Odin, nodding from where she sat. Even she sounded deferential when she spoke to Odin.

"My queen is not unwell, I trust?" Odin's eyes flicked from Eir to Frigga, concern clouding them.

"I am fine," Frigga brushed off his worry. "We are discussing Loki."

"Good evening, Father," Loki stood to acknowledge his sire, bringing Caroline to her feet with him as he was not about to drop her hand now.

"What has he done now?" Odin demanded. "You are awake, I see."

"I am. Your well wishes are much appreciated," Loki couldn't resist from adding in the last words.

"Loki has not done anything," Frigga told her irritable spouse.

"Well, there is a first time for everything," Odin said with a hard look at Loki.

"You are not being fair, father," he said with the merest hint of a smirk. "At least half of the time it was Thor's fault."

"SILENCE!" Odin shouted, causing Caroline to let out a squeak she would be relieved to know only he could hear. "Now, would someone tell me what I walked in on?"

"Loki has lost some of his memories," Frigga said, shooting Loki a look when he opened his own mouth. "It is a side effect from the spell Eir and I wove on him."

"The Princeling is missing approximately a year of time," Eir added.

"Considering how he spent that year, I would think that would be all to the better," Odin opined, making him even more uneasy about his deeds. "If he is truly innocent, or at least not culpable for his actions as you claim, then it is better to let the unpleasantness lie in the past and hope we all forget it."

"That is the worst thing you could possibly do!"

Loki heard the words ring out in Caroline's clear voice. If he could have jumped in front of her and stuffed them back in he would have. Odin's eye, dark with anger at being gainsaid, swung to pin her to the carpet like a bug in one of Eir's experiments.

"And who is this person who dares contradict me in my own palace?"

"A Midgardian woman the Prince has befriended," Eir was the first to answer in a voice that said she was impervious to the tension crackling in the room. "He claims she is important for some reason, though I have yet to discover how."

"Caroline is my consort," Loki said boldly, puffing out his chest and hoping he sounded confident.

"A Midgardian woman? Consort to a Prince of Asgard? Don't be absurd. Call one of the guards and have her escorted to a room in the servants' quarters at once. We can send her home on the morrow."

"If Caroline goes, I go," Loki was angry now, and used it find the confidence he had never had to stand up to his father head on. "I am in love with her."

"He is obviously more disturbed in the head than you led me to believe," Odin said to Frigga.

"Dr. Caroline is a brave woman who saved Loki's life. Thor told me all about it today when we went to retrieve her. Perhaps we should hear her out." Frigga defended her, surprising Loki himself with the revelation. How had Caroline managed to do that? What other secrets did this wonderful woman hold?

"Regardless, she knows nothing of these matters. Her opinion is irrelevant."

"On the contrary," Caroline countered, taking a step forward. "I know a great deal. Loki and I have spoken at length, before he lost his memories, about what he was put through. I would go as far as to say that at this moment I know more about the situation than anyone alive. What's more, I have made the study and aid of trauma victims my life's work."

Loki stared at Caroline with love and admiration as she locked eyes, or eye, with his domineering father. Few even among the other Gods would dare to stand up to the AllFather when he was in a temper, and here was a diminutive mortal doing just that. He was immensely proud of her.

"Your life's work," Odin mocked. "A child on Asgard would have studied longer."

"Yes, we have already been through the disparaging of my age," she said. "I admit that my life is short by comparison, but I believe in this one matter if nothing else my expertise should be respected."

"You talk of respect - "

"Father - "

"My love," Frigga cut through Odin's next growl and Loki's protestation. "I believe we should listen to her. Just hear her out. After all, what harm could it do? If she fails to convince us, we have lost nothing. On the other hand, if it could harm Loki or anyone else to keep his memories buried, better to find out how and deal with the problem."

Loki held his breath, waiting to see if Frigga's calm and common sense would carry the day over her husband's pride. Sometimes it did, but not always by a long shot.

"Very well," Odin agreed at last. "We will here this person out. But I warn you, my decision will be final."

"Of course," Frigga assuaged him.

Loki didn't say that regardless of what Odin decided he would stop at nothing to recover his memories, but he was fairly certain everyone in the room knew it to be true. He bit his tongue instead as his parents seated themselves in the highbacked chairs that were not quite thrones.

"Loki, you should wait outside."

Caroline spoke so softly to him that at first he thought he must have misheard her. Surely, she did not expect him to leave her to face his father's wrath without him? Did she thing him such a coward?

"I most certainly will not," he insisted.

"We need to discuss what you have been through," she said practically. "Part of my concern is about the way in which you find out what you are missing. For you to hear it baldly discussed would be particularly cruel."

"I can deal with whatever it is."

"You could, but you shouldn't have to. Please, Loki. You have been torn apart once already by this. There is no need to have it go that way again."

"Dr. Caroline is right, Loki," Frigga echoed.

"Why don't you come into the next room with me, Princeling. I will look into your brain and see if I can determine just where the edges of our spell lie, in case we want to attempt to alter it."

"I do not like this," Loki looked from one of them to the next, eyes landing last on Carolines.

"I promise she will be fine, Loki," his mother assured him. "I will look after her."

"I am not a damsel in need of rescuing, Loki. This is my job. Please, let me do it."

"I will be just next door," he said reluctantly.

"I am hardly going to harm the girl," Odin grumbled.

Ignoring his father, Loki searched Caroline's eyes one last time before sighing in defeat. She was right. If he had really shared his story with her, she was the best equipped to decide what to do. He just wished he could spare her the unpleasantness of a confrontation with his father. Leaning down, he gave her a long, lingering kiss. He had meant it as a show of loyalty for the others in the room, but the moment his lips met hers he forgot them.

"Come along boy, you have made your point," Eir interrupted.

"Call out if you need."

As Caroline nodded, eyes slightly glassy, Loki reluctantly allowed Eir to lead him from the room.

***

Caroline's father had warned her that someday her need to ease the emotional pain of others despite the circumstances would land her in hot water over her head. Well, it didn't get much hotter than where she was now.

The departure of Loki and Eir had left her alone in a room on an alien planet (that she wasn't even sure actually was a planet) with her lover's parents, beings of immense powers who had inspired the gods of ancient Earth societies. It was all a little daunting to say the least.

"Very well," Odin grumbled, pinning her to the spot with his one eye. "Let's get this over with. You will tell us everything that Loki said to you, leaving not out a word out."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I cannot do that," she replied automatically, taken aback by the brusque request.

"I do not understand," the God glared at her. "I thought that was the reason we were allowing you to remain."

"Perhaps you can explain what you mean, Dr. Caroline," Frigga suggested with an encouraging smile.

"Loki is - was my patient," she tried to keep her voice professional. "As such, some of the details of what we spoke about are confidential. Ethics will not permit me to share them with anyone."

"Your ethics are of no concern to me. We are dealing with the safety of whole realms."

"They may not concern you, your Majesty, but they are of great concern to me," Caroline shot back, before taking a deep breath. "I cannot tell you word for word what Loki said, but I can discuss matters in general."

"Go on," Frigga said, as her husband just glowered. "Though some of it I have pieced together. He was tortured?"

"He was. For months on end. I do not know, and I do not wish to know, all of the ways in which he was tormented, but I do know that included mental and emotional torture as well as the physical. Loki was broken down bit by bit by someone who knew exactly how turn someone's mind, a creature he referred to as The Other, in service of Thanos."

"The Mad Titan!" Odin seemed interested now. "He was involved in all of this?"

"He was," she nodded. "His children abducted Loki and he used The Other, with the help of one of the Infinity Stones, to bend Loki to his will."

"The Mind Stone," Frigga said. "Thor told us it was in the scepter Loki used in his invasion."

"The invasion was guided by Thanos through the Mind Stone," Caroline went on. "I believe Loki was fighting against it as much as he could."

"I did wonder how one I trained could be so clumsy," Odin said grudgingly. "The Mind Stone is a powerful tool."

"I have had some small experience with it. Nothing compared to what Loki endured, I was only possessed for a matter of minutes, but it was the worst thing I have ever experienced."

"You were possessed by the stone and survived with your mind intact?" Odin sounded marginally impressed.

"Only thanks to Loki. He had prepared me for what might happen, and when I could not prevent it he sacrificed himself for me. That is how he came to be injured."

She couldn't quite bring herself to confess to Loki's disapproving father that he had sacrificed himself by jumping in front of a gun and allowing her to shoot him. He already had reasons enough to dislike her.

"If what you say is true, then perhaps Loki is not to be blamed for the battle on Midgard. While I am disappointed that he would be careless enough as to fall prey to the Mad Titan, once subjected to the Mind Stone even Thor might have difficulty resisting its urges."

Caroline almost bit a hole in her tongue at that. Thor was physically strong, but compared to Loki his mind was that of a child. He would have been easy pickings for the jewel.

"I did not think the details we heard of the invasion sounded like our son," Frigga agreed with Odin, tactfully ignoring the second part of his statement.

"I still do not see the current difficulty," Odin said. "You claim to care about Loki; why would you wish him to have to remember the pain and torment you say he endured?"

"If it was only the torture and invasion he had forgotten, I might agree with you," Caroline struggled not to take offence. "But we all know there was more. The memory loss goes back further, to the day of Thor's coronation."

"What of it?" Odin crossed his arms across his chest, in a gesture Caroline had seen Loki mirror many times before.

"Loki has forgotten he is Jotun," Caroline said baldly, deciding the best way was to rip off the band aid.

"He told you, did he?" Odin's words were laced with contempt.

"He did. But even had he not, it was in his SHIELD folder that I was given at the start of our sessions. Thor apparently informed his fellow Avengers when they were attempting to form a defense plan against him."

"Damnation!" Odin growled, banging his fist on the arm of the chair.

"The secret is out, your Majesty. Earth knows. From what I have gathered, many people on Asgard know. The lie of him being your son is no more."

"He is my son!" Odin shouted, face turning red.

"Then perhaps you should have treated him as such!" Caroline snapped back.

He was an innocent, and brilliant, and longing for love and you treated him like a possession. You never thought to look at the potential locked within and find a way to help it to bloom. You took him into your home and your family, you should not have done that if you were not willing to open your heart to him as well. The words screamed in her head unspoken, but she was sure her face said them all.

"How dare you!"

"Odin, please!" Frigga placed her hand on his arm. "Caroline, despite what you may believe, we raised Loki as our child."

"But he was not born your child," she replied, getting a handle on her emotions, "and he found this out in the worst way possible. There was no one for him to talk to about it. Thor was gone, his father was incapacitated, and you were tending to him. Loki's entire world was broken, and he had to deal with it all alone."

"I admit, the timing was not ideal," his mother said in an extreme understatement.

"That knowledge is still there, somewhere in his psyche. He may not be consciously aware of it, but on some level Loki knows. On some level, he probably has always known. It was difficult, but I was finally beginning to convince him that this truth did not make him a monster, condemned to be alone and hated."

"Thank you," Frigga said simply.

"It was my pleasure. I would have done as much for anyone, but Loki is special."

"He is."

"If we keep this knowledge from him, particularly when everyone else is beginning to know, I worry what will happen this time when he finds out. All of the work we have done to get him over the worst of his self-hatred will have been for nothing. The last time he learned of his true origins, he descended into an identity crisis that led to an attempt on his own life followed by the lives of millions. Don't put him and those around him in that danger again."

#Loki #Loki fanfic #Loki/ofc #therapy #Odin #Frigga #romance #mention of torture #odin's a+ parenting #angst #memory loss #previous smut #future smut (I promise)#healing #Loki needs a hug

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fundieinfoplace · 1 year

Note

Do you have any info or confirmation on the rumored Caldwell-Duggar #4 or Swanson-Duggar #2 & #3?

Jim Bob confirmed in Joy's baby video that Gunnar was indeed #30 and being the 15th boy and that Nora #31 is the tiebreaker. So here's the breakdown

1. Mackynzie Renee Duggar oct 2009

● Baby M #2 Duggar

2. Michael James Duggar june 2011

3. Marcus Anthony Duggar june 2013

4. Israel David Dillard april 2015

5. Meredith Grace Duggar june

6. Spurgeon Elliott Seewald nov

7. Henry Wilberforce Seewald feb 2017

8. Samuel Scott Dillard july

9. Mason Garrett Duggar sept

10. Gideon Martyn Forsyth feb 2018

11. Garrett David Caldwell Duggar june

12. Felicity Nicole Vuolo july

●Asa Matthew

13. Ivy Jane Seewald may 2019

●Annabell Elise

14. Addison Renee Caldwell Duggar nov

15. Bella Milagro Swanson Duggar nov

16. Maryella Hope Duggar nov

17. Grace Annette Burnett Duggar jan 2020

●Halleli Grace

18. Evelyn Mae Forsyth aug

●Baby C

●Baby Seewald #4

19. Evangeline Jo Vuolo nov

20. Brooklyn Praise Caldwell Duggar feb 2021

21. Fern Elliana Seewald july

●River Bliss

22. Madyson Lily Duggar oct

23. Daisy Marie Swanson Duggar april 2022

24. Truett Oliver Nakatsu Duggar may

25. Collin Gene Caldwell Duggar june

26. Frederick Michael Dillard july

27. Charles John Burnett Duggar sept

● Baby Seewald #5

28. Brynley Noelle Wissmann Duggar Dec

29. Ezra Robert Swanson Duggar May 2023

30. Gunner James Forsyth may

31. Nora Kate Nakatsu Duggar may

Mackynzie, Meredith, Maryella, Madyson, Gracie, Ivy, Fern, Felicity, Evangeline, Addison, Brooklynn, Bella, Daisy and Brynley (before Nora)= 15 girls

Michael, Marcus, Mason, Charlie. Israel, Samuel, Frederick, Spurgeon, Henry, Garrett, Collin, Ezra, Gideon, Gunnar and Truett= 15 boys

So Caldwell #4 is a boy with my chosen Placer name of Collin Gene.

Swanson #2 is a girl named Daisy Marie.

And Swanson #3 is a boy with my chosen Placer name of Ezra Robert. Also here's a recent picture of Lauren Pregnant with her third

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walkswithmyfather · 1 year

Text

“Be aware that a time is coming when you will be scattered like seeds. You will return to your own way, and I will be left alone. But I will not be alone, because the Father will be with Me.” —John 16:32 (VOICE)

“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.” —John 16:32 (NIV)

Friend, you might sometimes feel very alone, but you are NEVER really alone. Your Father is with you at all times, just as He was with Jesus. And Jesus promises that He will be with you “until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). And Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with you always (John 14:16) When you feel alone, shout it out, “I am NOT alone, for my Father is with me and so is Jesus and the Holy Spirit!” Amen and Hallelujah!🙏🕊🙌

“What does John 16:32 mean?" By Bibleref.com: “Earlier in this same conversation, Peter arrogantly declared he would follow Christ anywhere, even to his own death. Jesus responded by predicting Peter wouldn't even remain loyal until sunrise (John 13:36–38). It's not that Peter will never be brave and loyal; he just hasn't arrived at that state, yet. After Christ's resurrection (John 20:19), empowered by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13), Peter will be radically fearless in declaring Christ (Acts 4:13). One day, that faith will indeed lead to martyrdom (John 21:18).

Other gospels record the same prediction Jesus makes here (Matthew 26:31; Mark 14:27). When crisis arrives (John 18:1–3), every one of these men will abandon Jesus and flee in terror. This is also part of fulfilled prophecy. That Jesus will be left alone is prophesied by Isaiah (Isaiah 63:5). The phrasing found in Matthew and Mark more clearly implies a prophecy in Zechariah 13:7, referring to sheep scattering from the shepherd. Despite being abandoned by His earthly friends, Jesus will not be entirely, infinitely alone. His relationship with God the Father will be the cornerstone of Jesus' faith during the upcoming hardship (Matthew 26:39–42).

Context Summary: John 16:25–33 completes Christ's combination of encouragement and warning as He prepares the disciples for His impending arrest (John 18:1–3). This passage summarizes the general message of that discourse: that hardship and persecution will come, but believers should remain faithful, knowing this is all part of God's knowledge and His will. Rather than reacting in panic or doubt, followers of Christ should feel a sense of peace. This confidence is inspired by knowledge that nothing they experience catches God by surprise. The expression "take heart" implies courage: knowing Christ's victory overshadows all those troubles.

Chapter Summary: Throughout His teaching in the Last Supper (John 13:1–5), Jesus has often brought up the fact that He's giving His followers advance warnings (John 13:19; 14:25). His intent is to provide encouragement—persecution as a result of their faith is inevitable. In keeping with that reassurance, Jesus again promises the coming of the Holy Spirit. He explains that after a time of deep sorrow, His followers will experience great joy and clarity. This concludes with a beloved promise that Christ has "overcome the world."

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epicrox · 7 months

Text

Till The End Of The Moon Thoughts - Episode 2

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

PARTS: 1.1 | 1.2 | 2 |

This is mostly for me to look back on and see the moments that I caught my eye. Nothing analytical. I offer nothing to the table

I'm also a visual person so there's a lot of screenshots x

This is called my thoughts because I refuse to call what I'm writing down as a review. Reviews inform people and this post does nothing for people.

I’ve seen posts on Tumblr calling Tantai Jin a Disney princess cuz he’s being mistreated and talks to animals 🤨

The scenery is so pretty.

3. There seem to be Chinese subtitles on the right side of the screen indicating that background music is playing but I think they cut it out because I’m not hearing anything. Maybe it’s because I’m watching it on YouTube. I don’t know about other platforms.

4. Yeah, they cut the music now and it just sounds awkward and empty.

5. Omg she’s just leaving him there! Aren’t you supposed to keep him alive?

6. He legit looks like an old man because of the snow.

7. This man looks so delicate.

8. Even at the brink of getting hypothermia, he looks like he has a better chance of getting a modelling contract than me.

9. Disney Princess indeed.

10. Bingchang looks really sweet. I’m praying she doesn’t turn out evil or two-faced.

11. Wtf is this crow’s voice?!

12. It sounds like a demonic robot. This further proves my point about this show being sci-fi.

13. The crow’s basically a camera.

14. Then don’t let him die! That celestial being never told you to kill him and didn’t even mention the evil bone, your dad did. He literally told you that Tantai Jin’s torment and death triggered his demonic powers. All you need to do is prevent that! And what do you mean he deserves this?! He hasn’t done anything yet!

15. Her strategy is irritating me.

16. It looks like she’s cradling a head. Just the head.

17. I love that he just had to faint for her to understand the severity of the situation.

18. Wtf is that? His subconscious?

19. This demonic being reminds me of that demon that trains Luo Binghe after he gets pushed off the cliff.

20. He wants Tantai Jin to give him his soul to allow him eternal peace? Does he want to use Tantai Jin’s body as a vessel?

21. It’s the 2nd episode and we’ve got Xi Wu feeling him up.

22. Ma’am, how are you sleeping with that on your head?

23. She even got her dangly earrings on!

24. Get over what?

25. Ha! Xi Wu is having thoughts.

26. So am I.

27. She beats him?!

28. Why am I surprised?

29. OG!Xi Wu was an evil person.

30. The fact that she is hesitating about hitting him! Put the whip down! Even though he’ll see you’ve changed and would make him suspicious, at least he’ll be happy about not getting whipped.

31. She cares more about staying in character than changing the past.

32. At least take the gear off before you go to sleep.

33. After literally TORTURING HIM, you're worried for his health. It seems you’ve figured out actions have consequences.

34. AHHH!!!

35. Also as an otherworldly being, deity or whatever she is, Xi Wu can be really dense. I’d understand if she didn’t know how some things worked in the mortal world but for someone responsible for saving the world, your strategy is confusing.

36. I know she’s grieving for what had happened but she can prevent tragedies if she were a little smarter.

37. Is that even comfortable? I’ve always envied my parents for being able to sleep while sitting down because for some reason I can’t.

38. Awww. I love how confused he is.

39. He’s so delicate (This man is over 10 years older than me).

40. Yes, she’s possessed.

41. Just like villainess stories, is she hated by her family?

42. Oh no. She seems to be the favourite. Makes sense since the OG!Xi Wu was running around making trouble without much consequence. How can you be punished for your actions if you’re the Apple in your family’s eyes?

43. Also how many concubines does Xi Wu’s dad have? Does Bingchang and Xi Wu have different mothers?

44. It’s very clear from the beginning that the eldest brother is going to be useless.

45. Ze Yu just vanished. And make Xi Wu apologise to Bingchang. OG!Xi Wu must’ve thought she was entitled to everything. Bingchang must feel ostracised by her own family.

46. Wow, even the kitchen boys are bullying him. They’re probably gonna get beaten by Xi Wu and zapped when Tantai Jin gets into power.

47. This whole thing must be so humiliating as a prince.

48. How is he working in the kitchens and doing dishes while looking so pristine?

49. Is that ice?

50. Are they purposefully making him wash dishes in ice-cold water? Or is it something people did historically?

51. HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING YET. But he’s going to.

52. I’m not sure you’re aware of this but you’re in the body of his abuser. Of course, he’s avoiding you. Like didn’t you whip him last night?

53. Also, you haven’t spent long enough in that body to make this statement.

54. Yep. I think they put the ice in to torment him.

55. This reminds me of a trope you mostly see in isekai mangas/manhwas where the ML is so rude and aloof towards the FL that all the servants start to think they can do it too.

56. One thing that irks me about these tropes (it irks a lot of other people too) is that when the FL begins to stand up for herself against the servants, she slaps them.

57. Ooh, the music changed.

58. Not only does he speak to robotic crows, but he’s also talking to flies. Or was that a wasp?

59. I was under the impression Tantai Jin would commit murder but he just made the head cook (I think) swallow a fly. His reaction after swallowing the fly would have made you think he was being poisoned or choked.

60. It’s funny that she’s lecturing the staff about how rude they are even though this whole time she kept on saying he deserved it. You left him in the cold and whipped him. You know he’s a captured prince.

61. She’s putting all the blame on the servants rather than saying that OG! Xi Wu and even herself were wrong.

62. Instead of Xi Wu slapping them, they’re slapping themselves.

63. “If I had dignity, I would’ve died years ago” He really is a Disney princess.

64. More specifically, Cinderella. I saw a video essay from a channel called The Take. They talk about how people victim blame Cinderella a lot for not fighting back her abusers. In one part of the video, they talked about how Cinderella allows the abuse to continue as it is very likely that her stepmother would kick her out if she acted out.

65. Tantai Jin doesn’t know that the Xi Wu in front of him is not the original. So if I were him, I’d be more cautious about what type of food Xi Wu feeds me than the servants. Although, OG!Xi Wu could’ve ordered the servants to poison Tantai Jin’s food.

66. This man gives me Jin Xixun vibes or Mo Xuanyu’s cousin who died in the first episode of MDZS/The Untamed.

67. Oh, this is hard to watch.

68. That guy threw the cake on the ground and then stepped on it. Even if I was hungry I could never take a bite of it. It took me a while to even eat/drink something that someone else touched with their hand or mouth.

69. Is she drugged or drunk?

70. omg

71. They kissed! And we’re on the 2nd episode. I know it isn’t the FL but still. I count it.

72. Ok, they’re drugged.

73. I remember the two actors were together in a previous drama and there was a make-out scene that everyone freaked out about. So I assume they know what they’re doing in this drama.

74. So someone tried to make Bingchang and Jin Xixun prince spend the night together by drugging them but instead, they both ate it. It was 100% OG! Xi Wu.

75. Oh wait, they actually did it? But they’re clothed.

76. He has every right to be suspicious of you and the food you’ve given him.

77. Gosh. That crow’s voice is terrifyingly comedic. I giggle every time it opens its beak.

78. Tantai Jin is definitely planning something.

79. At least he’s pretty while doing it. Look at this shot.

80. This king looks familiar. Wasn’t he the emperor from Ashes of Love?

81. Tantai Jin is definitely ripping his head off.

82. This whole political drama is going to push Tantai Jin to join the dark side.

#till the end of the moon #tteotm thoughts #tantai jin #ye xiwu

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arteastica · 10 months

Text

early in the morning, especially when it rains, and a little before noon. (4)

erwin x fem!reader

chapters: (1) | (2) | (3) | (5) | (6) | (7) | (8) | (9) | (10) | (11) | (12) | (13) | (14) | (15) | (16) | (17) | (18) | (19) | (20) | (21) | (22) | (23) | (24) | (25) | (26) | (27)

summary: I basically took Isayama’s work, forced it into a romance story, and made Erwin the love interest. Commander meets cadet and they fall in love (not instantly though)

notes: very berry canonverse (but some events were modified to fit my narrative), wasn’t intended to be this long, but it all is in the details right?

content warnings: smut where it fits (or where I make it fit. Also reader is NOT underage, so likewise, MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, please.) slow burn (I really mean it. I’m not olympic diving into any form of smut for the first chapters). no angst. I dislike angst. I would never. I could never. (Although angst can be somewhat subjective so take it with a grain of salt?)

wc: 2.5k

“Everyone is to be positioned at fixed intervals, to extend the message relay range as far as possible.”

At the Survey Corps headquarters, time seemed to pass rather quickly. Two weeks had already gone by, and with them some of your insecurities. The more familiar you got with your job, the more comfortable you felt in your position. And the commander’s words had proven to be true: your days had grown repetitive indeed. But that was something you didn’t feel the slightest need to complain about. In a world where one moment you could be at home making breakfast, and the next, in a titan’s stomach, you found reassurance in the predictability of your job.

Every day, you woke up early, washed your face, walked into the office, disposed of the spent candle, replaced it, prepared the commander’s work space, received a thankful smile in return, brew his morning tea, received another one, organized his mail, wrote responses, then sent them, then trailed behind him, paused for lunch, then trailed behind him some more, sat at your desk, wrote reports, organized them, brought him his evening tea, heard a ‘thank you’, double-checked you had replaced the candle, asked if he needed anything else, got a ‘no’ followed by another ‘thank you’ and the respective smile that always came with it, bid him goodnight, wrote a diary entry, went to bed, and repeated it all over again the next day. Exhausting? No, not for you. Repetitive desk work happened to be your area of expertise. Oh, and once a week, you attended meetings like this one.

“A black smoke round will be fired as soon as an abnormal is sighted, which they will be since the area is full of them.”

From the secluded corner you liked to stand in, you listened attentively as the commander went over the formation one more time. Your eyes drifting from his face to the now familiar expedition plans that were laid out on the wooden table. Every morning, there was a new scribble on the paper, and it was getting increasingly difficult to see what was underneath. But maybe it was just you. Neither the commander nor his captains seemed to have any problem seeing through all the additional lines and hasty handwriting.

“And it’s primarily the forward recon soldier who will encounter them.”

The forward recon soldier. You checked in with your notes before fixing your eyes back on the table. Ever since you noticed it one morning while organizing his desk, you had been wondering if there was a particular reason why the commander assigned only one person for that position. The third column, however, was marked as multiple.

“Anyone who sees the flare should fire the same round to relay the signal”

And when the commander sees it, he’ll fire a green smoke round, and show the formation where to go. Impressive. The formation looked impressive enough on paper, but you wondered how it would look in real life, under actual life-threatening circumstances. And with the expedition quickly approaching, you were surprised to discover in yourself, even though slight, a tinge of excitement at the thought of seeing it all play out in the field. Impressive. The commander was really something. You thought as you watched him. Firing that green smoke round would be nerve-racking for anyone, knowing so many lives depended on whether you made the right call or not. A slip in judgement, even the slightest one, could mean his soldiers wouldn’t live to see another day. And yet, there he stood: solid and resolute.

Impressive, indeed. To think such complex strategy had been devised entirely by one man. Sleepless nights working tirelessly on his project. No, not his. Humanity’s. So many nights spent under the candle light, leaning over his desk, so focused, so determined. Just as he was now. And you couldn’t help but notice that the rumors you heard in the capital never mentioned how attractive he was. Sapphires instead of eyes; neatly combed hair, fair and trimmed short at the sides; well built and broad-shouldered, yet elegant and sophisticated. If one didn’t know any better, one could have assumed he descended from royalty.

“What do you think?” A question with your name attached at the end took you by surprise. The commander was talking to you. “I’ve noticed you’ve been staring at that one spot in the paper since the meeting started. What’s on your mind?”

“Sir, I-” the short woman with strawberry blonde hair, whose name, you had learned, was Petra, gave you an encouraging smile “I just think the third relay, the one in the third column, would work better as a one-person position” you explained, leaving your self-appointed confinement in the corner of the room to join them at the table “I mean, because of the place it is located in, I- I think it is unlikely that they will encounter a titan before the others” you said as you tried to focus your attention on the commander only, doing your best to make it past squad leader Miche’s sniffing and Captain Levi’s dead eyes. “And in the event that they do, I think it would be more efficient to use a strong soldier for that position, instead of multiple of average… strength” you continued, trying to convince yourself that ‘average’ wasn’t an insult “that- that way the strong soldiers could deal with the situation alone as a one-man team, and we would be able to send more people to the peripheral positions and support those who are more likely to find titans, like the recon soldiers, for example. I believe this way the chances of survival would be slightly higher for everyone” you concluded, relieved to have reached the end of your intervention “It’s just my opinion, sir.”

After, what you estimated, had been a century of the commander contemplating the paper before him, he finally grabbed his pencil and wrote something in his small black notebook. Then, he moved on to the next topic.

“You’re not one of many words, are you?”

“Sir?” You looked up from the papers you had been organizing.

“Strange. Something about you also tells me you are quite fond of talking. I can’t decide.”

Oh, you talked. Inside your head. There, you never shut up.

“I used to think it was an innate ability, you know, being able to choose one’s words intentionally” the commander told you as he drew his signature on a report “But one author I read once, said it was actually an acquired skill. And now I can’t decide either. But whatever it is, I respect that” he looked up and smiled softly “Today, however, was the first time I heard you string more than two sentences together. And I must say, I would be delighted to hear your input more often.”

You liked that. Very much. So you smiled back.

“Nanaba told me they had never heard a recruit speak so much for a first interview.” You had to pause what you were doing “She admitted she was overwhelmed at first, but then grateful, because, after such descriptive self-introduction, she knew exactly where to place you.” Did he know about all the things you told them? “I confess that, knowing that, it was starting to concern me, that you may be scared of me. That’s why you never talk. Am I that scary?”

Not scary. Intimidating maybe? But definitely not scary. So you shook your head lightly.

He smiled, looking a little bit defeated by the continuous silence on your end, and then said “In the future, share your ideas with us. There’s value in them. I won’t keep you any longer, you may go.”

But you didn’t move, instead you took a deep breath and opened your mouth. “I think that paper is a mess” you pointed to the formation plans “There’s so much written on it, and it’s getting difficult for me to understand what’s going on underneath. I mean, I understand because I saw it before it turned into the chaos that it is now, and because I go to the meetings every week, of course. And your explanations there are always very detailed. I think you’re great at explaining things by the way, you could explain chess to a titan. But I was just thinking, the other new recruits may find it rather confusing too. When we present the plan to them next week, they’re only gonna see scribbles and doodles and lines that go in all sorts of directions. And they’re gonna be left to wonder if your son grabbed his colored chalk and wrote on it while you were sleeping.”

He looked down at the paper, then back at you, and then threw his head back laughing.

“Very good. I’ll work on that tomorrow. Thanks” he concluded, seemingly satisfied.

“And also” he said as you were almost at the door “I don’t have a son.”

And you found yourself smiling back complicitly.

“Good night, commander”

You opened the map and when you saw it, it made you smile. The forward recon position was no longer a soldier but a squad.

Like hell you were going to let him rewrite the plans. This was the whole point of you being there, to take over trivial stuff like this so he could focus on more important things. So you showed up even earlier the next morning and started working on it.

When he opened the scroll later that day, his eyes immediately went to find you at your desk.

“Scribble on it as much as you like. I’ll make a new one when I see it starts getting messy” this time it was you giving him the reassuring smile.

“Erwin, it was about time you cleaned up that thing. It was starting to upset me.”

“It wasn’t me, Levi. The new recruits will be here” he pointed at the space between the wagon defense squad and the support squad. “They will be moving with the spare horses, as well as relaying signals.”

The one month anniversary of your enlistment had arrived, and the day of your first expedition beyond the walls was quickly approaching. As you had expected, the atmosphere at the headquarters had gotten more and more hectic. That week’s meeting had been significantly longer. They had taken hours going over each one of the soldiers individually, and deciding their positions in the formation.

Captain Levi’s squad was already in charge of Eren, so you assumed they would continue to serve that role for the expedition as well. But the commander hadn’t specified so, neither revealed their exact position yet. Not during the meeting, at least. You didn’t understand what was the reason behind all the secrecy. Did he suspect something was off? Was he worried someone might hurt Eren? If so, who and why? Eren’s name, however, wasn’t the only one missing. You couldn’t find yours anywhere on the paper.

“The forces this time are significantly smaller than in previous expeditions, we should concentrate on getting back with minimal losses. Any questions?”

“Yes, sir” you raised a hand “What is going to be my position?”

“Commander, please”

“I’m not risking losing my assistant to a titan” he said while opening the door to his office “I need you here, not in a titan’s belly.”

“If a titan grabs me I’ll scream for it to unhand me.” Not even you knew if that was supposed to be a joke “Unhand me, monster.”

He chuckled as he sat at his desk, still not bothering to look at you. “I can guarantee you that’s not the way things work out there.”

“I know those plans like the back of my hand. And that too” you said pointing at the map scroll he had just placed on the table. “Commander, I swear, when I close my eyes at night, I’m only able to see that thing. I’m forever haunted. By that and by your scribbles.”

“All the more reason to stay then” he looked rather amused, and for a brief moment you were tempted to ask if he derived some sort of enjoyment from the situation. But you settled for listening instead. “In the event we all perish out there, there needs to be someone left who’s able to pass on the knowledge to the next soldiers.”

��All the more reason to go then” you said as he gave his full attention to a pile of reports. What was he even doing? You were supposed to organize that later. “If you perish out there, so will my intentions of going beyond the walls. Because I’m not following anyone else out there.”

He put down the papers and finally looked at you. And something about his demeanor reminded you of that night.

Are you ready to die if I ordered to? But the memory didn’t make you think of him as much as it made you think of your past self. What would she say? How would she feel knowing that all it took was one month. One month working under Erwin Smith, and you were already begging to be taken on a suicide mission. Talk about unexpected.

“Commander, back then you said all the new recruits would join you in the expedition beyond the walls” You added in a composed manner, watching your tone the whole time because the last thing you wanted was to sound whiny. You knew that wouldn’t help. You needed to make him understand it was not an impulsive plea. Because it really wasn’t. You wholeheartedly believed you could be of some assistance out there. Maybe not fighting titans but helping with provisions, running spare horses, anything he needed. Him or anyone. Plus how would you call yourself a scout if you never, well… scouted.

He remained silent. So you took it as an indication that you could keep going.

“You said you wanted to hear my ideas. I can’t tell you what I think if I’m here and you’re miles away.” you stepped closer, the front of his desk meeting the front of your thighs. “Please, let me go with you.”

He stared back at you. All amusement seemed to have abandoned his eyes. But beyond that, it was difficult to guess what he was thinking. After a while, however, he spoke again.

“You’ll take the position to my immediate right.” You released the stiffness your muscles had been holding. The spearhead. Through your relief, you tried to go over the plans in your mind. “Don’t stray too far apart and keep your eyes open at all times.”

“Yes, sir” you didn’t try to hide the contentment in your smile.

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