The "Someone Who Loves You" illustrated book is so adorable.
I am obsessed. It was gifted to me on Christmas and I finally took the time to go through it. This is absolutely without a doubt the sweetest book I've ever read. 48 pages of fluff. It's beautifully illustrated and written. 10/10 recommend for my fellow hanleia fans 💚
"Leia," Han complained, standing at the edge of the water with his arms crossed. "This is stupid."
"It is not stupid," Leia corrected from the water, arms spreading in big circles to keep herself afloat. The place she'd chosen for them was a secluded cove about a mile's hike away from their resort on Synjax. It wasn't very large, but it was deep, which exactly fit her needs. "It's therapeutic."
"Lounging on the beach is therapeutic," Han countered, making no move to step towards the attached ladder.
"Han."
"Leia."
"Do you really not want to do this?" Leia asked, her voice softer, head tilted lightly to the side. The last thing she wanted to do was push him into something he truly wasn't ready for, but she also knew Han and his tendency to lean into the comfortable. "If it really is something you don't want to do, we don't have to." Even she had felt some initial trepidation at getting back into the water, though the clear, blue, paradise of this ocean compared to the last they were in made that initial plummet much easier.
Han took a moment to scan the water, the muscles in his arms twitching. His jaw was tense, staring down at the gently moving sea like it was an enemy. It wasn't cold (or as cold), it wasn't covered in a layer of ice, and likely didn't have some hidden Empire something-or-another shooting laser beams of death through it's currents. It was already looking much more promising than the last bit of water he swam in.
So why was he not fucking moving?
Leia patiently hung onto the rungs of the ladder, giving him a soft, sweet look. She likely knew more of what was happening in his head than he did, which is probably why she drug him out here in the first place. They were sequestered away, no other people around to hear him flounder with excuses, recoil at lapping wave.
"Han?" Leia's voice was faint, soft, snapping him out of his stare-down with the salt water. "I'm right here with you, I won't let anything happen to you."
He scoffed before he could stop himself, using his momentary embarrassment to propel his feet across the craggily rock to the ladder. Leia moved, just enough to give him room as he jerkily descended, momentarily freezing as the water came up to his waist.
Han wouldn't describe it as temperate, but the water wasn't cold beyond it's initial shock. It swirled around his legs, the current soft but present. He'd never had a problem swimming before the carbonite, and certainly hadn't expected it to be one of the after-effects of escaping it. Still, his heart hammered against his chest in a way he wasn't proud to admit, his knuckles white with effort to maintain their grip.
Leia's warm hand at his back surprised him, but he eventually leaned into the touch, letting it guide him the last few rungs down the ladder and fully into the water.
It was deep, even his toes couldn't scrape the bottom, but his body took over before his brain could overthink it, easily treading water to keep his upper body afloat. He turned to see Leia's smile, small tendrils of hair that escaped her braid floated in the warm wind.
"Alright?" she asked, with no trace of a patronizing tone. She saw the tight lines of his body, the way he'd still yet to relax his jaw, the pulse she could see bouncing at his temple. He gave her a quick, stern nod, not quite able to meet her eye. She was careful not to hang on him, to only lightly drag her hand from the small of his back to his chest, placing no pressure, just a soft reminder that he wasn't alone. "Remember, I need you, Hotshot. Are you with me?"
Had Han not been actively fighting down a rising wave of terror, he might have ashamed by leaning so hard into her words. He never really believed in words of affirmation, what good were words in a world where so much was promised and so little was actually delivered? But Leia's words — Leia's words had always been different. There wasn't a thing that came out of her mouth that she didn't mean, never a promise she didn't hold herself to, even when it meant sacrifice.
I need you.
Leia's words aboard that cracking, death-trap of a submarine only days ago, repeated now, fueled something in him. Something more important than fear. He looked down and spied the ring he bought her, both stones shining in the afternoon light, and felt something in his chest lighten. Slowly, he nodded his head, finally finding her gaze.
Soft. Strong. Willful, yet gentle. He found himself melting into it.
The hand on his chest flit over to his arm, intertwining their fingers with a light squeeze.
"Ready?" she asked, leaving room for him to deny, for him to let her know that this was far enough — they'd continue again another day. Instead, she found his determined stare on her, his eyes looking as green as they ever did, reflecting the water. He squeezed her hand, nodding slightly.
"Ready."
They both took a deep breath, then Leia guided them under the surface of the water.
Han's senses went into overdrive, his heartbeat in his ears, his fingers twitching in Leia's grasp. His eyes instinctually opened, seeing a blurry outline of his wife floating in front of him, clear enough to just see the upward tilt of her lips, the encouraging roundness of her cheeks, pink with pride. Her hair floated behind her, her braid lifting like on an invisible wind, the tendrils around her face twirling and curling in the current.
And suddenly, instead of fear, Han felt a bolt of love utterly rack his system. No, not love — it was need.
She may need him, but he needs her just as badly.
Without a second thought, Han pulled Leia in close and pressed their mouths together. A flurry of bubbles left her nose, tickling his upper lip with her laughter, and he couldn't help but smile into it. He kissed her like she was the oxygen he needed to breathe, and she kissed him like he was the last sip of water she needed on a dying desert planet.
Need, it was a funny thing.
She could love him all she wanted. Plenty of women had loved Han in his life. But need? That was different.
His hands slipped off the feeble joystick of the submersible as he looked right into her eyes.
Need was real.
— The Princess and the Scoundrel by Beth Revis
okay so this is a rant abt smth none of yall know abt (SADLY) but I feel the need to write down my thoughts publicly because I want to :)
theres these cool games called mysteries of the house, in a summary a bunch of guys live in a house controlled by the creator, who is basically a god (though not all powerful just very powerful), and they all have magical abilities. now, I want to look at the different parallels between members of the house.
each of the three completed games (ignore game four its irrelevant for this) have two members of the house in the title, first off the jester and the prince, then the phantom and the sun, then the maiden and the moon. we have one more character with a name like that, the reaper. there are some pretty obvious pairs there, right?
if we follow that logic, each house member should have a pair. the prince and the maiden, the phantom and the reaper, the sun and the moon, and the mc and his sister (theyre twins and neither have a name like all the others, they just go by their real names).
lets look at their abilities in comparison. all can have some sort of connection.
first, the prince's ability, his main one is to make anyone he kisses sleep forever, while the maiden's ability is to extract some of someones life energy and put them into a physical object (typically her dolls though it can be anything) and grant that object temporary life. this energy can also be transferred to others to basically make them more powerful. both deal with someones life, and the prince takes it away fully from those who have life while the maiden grants it to things that dont have it.
then, the sun's ability is just cloning, but the main sun controls the clones and their duration. the moon's is to resurrect the dead as "moon spirits," beings that are there basically just to aid her in any way they can, though it takes away from her lifespan. both abilities give the user more people to help them in any situation, and are decently similar
next, the phantom's ability is to shapeshift into anyone who has the the same or less strength than him magically, and he gains their abilities and skills. the reaper's is to look at someone's past through eye contact. while its harder to find a connection than the others, they both have to do with others specifically and they cant do anything with them alone, and it relies on the different people the abilities are used on how helpful they are.
finally, the mc, or ellian, has the ability to control others with his voice. he can make them do anything if they hear him. his twin, ellora, has the ability to create and invisible barrier that stops the powers of others so they can't reach her. both can control abilities, the contrast being between ellian basically taking them while ellora gets rid of them.
now, who is missing there? the jester. jesters are hard to pair up, theyre typically seen solo. while your first thought would be jester goes with prince, he already has a pair so thats not possible. now, the jester is the only one who isnt human (outside of the moon spirits, who were humans up to their deaths), he's a demon. in the most recent demo, it is shown that this is because the jester made a deal with ego, a demon who is in direct opposition to the creator. while the creator can kill him, it only lasts as long as the creator remembers. he can and will always be back (william afton har har har har SORRY). the ego is obviously still there, as in another route he is shown in the present day. the specifics of the deal are ego says he would have part of himself "take root" inside the jester, which would take away his pain and suffering, saying "the world will no long break [him]." this deal was made earlier, and would be activated whenever the jester wanted. he activated it after his brother died.
the jester's ability is to create illusions. no other being in the house can do anything similar, at least not naturally. the only other one shown to be able to do this is ego, who is a clear outlier and against the house. alongside that, since he is a demon, he can also do all the normal demon stuff like have the urge to eat humans and if they drink his blood theyll basically just become whatever he wants. its implied ego has all of these abilities too, due to being a demon as well.
this makes me think, is the jester the real key to the figuring out the mysteries of the house? (name drop)
I wrote this all while watching dream academy with the final game above as reference.
can we tell this is one of my hyperfixations??
Im gonna color code this all now just so you know I am going in by hand for it. be thankful.
Antonio sighed , dangling his legs over the tree branch. “This isn’t right, Felipe. My mother is taking people’s spark- a part of their soul for crying out loud- and they don’t even know it. And I’m doing nothing about it!” He rested his chin in his hands and huffed. “Not that I probably could do anything to stop her…”
Felipe bleated and nudged Antonio, rubbing his head against his side. Antonio reached out and gently scratched him behind the ear. He looked up at the starry sky, and a thought popped into his mind. He remembered when he was younger, Abuelo had talked about people and the stars being connected. He couldn’t remember the much of what he talked about. He remembered one story however. Once, a peasant girl had made a wish upon a star and the star had come down to help her and her kingdom from danger. His mother had always despised the story, and told Antonio it was complete nonsense. It did sound very far-fetched to him. But he was desperate for help and answers. And maybe…just maybe…
Antonio took a deep breath and stood up, looking up at the sky. He scanned the stars and settled his gaze on a dimmer one to the north. He clasped his hands together and closed his eyes tight. “I wish…I wish for all the people of Navarra to have their sparks back, and for my mother- Queen Maria- to stop using dark sorcery.” He slowly and opened his eyes. The night remained still and silent, apart from a few distant crickets. He sighed and glanced down at Felipe “I knew this was a stupid idea-“
Just then a bright light filled the entire sky, making Antonio shield his eyes from the glare. A strange rumbling filled the air, and Antonio could swear he felt something rush past him. The light dimmed and Antonio looked back up at the star he had wished on, only to find it gone. “What- what was that?” He half-said, half-shouted. He trembled and took a few deep breaths, hoping to calm his nerves. “We should probably head home. Before mother realizes I’m gone and gets mad.”
Felipe bleated excitedly and bucked, running off towards the woods. “Hey! Wait!” Antonio quickly ran after his pet, weaving through trees and bushes as he tried to catch up to the kid. When he finally did, he found Felipe staring at a pile of clothes that had been knocked out of a basket. He panted as he slowly approached the goat. “What has gotten into you buddy?” He was about to grab the young goat when he saw the clothes shake. A little at first, then more and more. Slowly he approached the pile of clothes and lifted it up. He expected to see a rabbit or a raccoon under it all, ready to dash away at the first sight of him. But that’s now what he found at all.
He found a girl.
(Apologies if this sounds bad, I sort of got a random itch to write this and caved in, so it’s very first -drafty)
