#<- this is going in my tag for Bee causing herself so many problems but its entertaining to me

[thatoneluckybee]

i was a bit too silly help

[mareenavee]

WIP Whenever~

Hello my friends <3 Been tagged by @thequeenofthewinter to participate in WIP Wednesday Wife Worship Wednesday! I never get to play this because Nyenna and Athis have... so, so many problems. But today we do, because Nyenna is dreaming. Having brain nonsense, really. But first, tags.

Let's go! Tagging the most esteemed @paraparadigm, @changelingsandothernonsense, @thana-topsy, @rhiannon1199, @snippetsrus, @orfeoarte, @inquisition-dragonborn, @the-storytellers-seer, @archangelsunited and @polypolymorph!

Below the cut, part of Chapter 28 from The World on Our Shoulders.

---

She heard the wind before she felt the morning mist on her skin. Things were slowly greying, like a light after she’d hidden under her covers. The sun, maybe, though she couldn’t recall when last she’d seen it. It hid behind clouds, mimicking her own hesitation. She opened her eyes, not having realized they’d been closed before. Whatever this was, with how quickly the image changed, she was thrown off balance at best. But the mist — yes. This felt familiar. Something like Whiterun, out by the river. Yes. The tundra cotton. She could see it now. She could feel her hands and feet where they’d only been vague concepts before, and liminal ones at that. She sighed and flexed her fingers. She’d never seen Skyrim in the height of summer, but she’d always imagined it like this — warm, plenty of flowers. Even bees buzzing, working as if all was exactly as it had always been and not this odd dream-version of things. Nyenna turned her face to the sun, let herself bask in its warmth as if she was one of the scraggly trees which dotted the landscape. She reached her arms toward it, and a dusty blanket fell from her shoulders with a strange, muffled, heavy sound. “What are you doing?” came a voice. Familiar, but distant. Something ached in her chest at the sound. Athis. Gods, she missed him. Her heart hurt trying to decide if he was really here or if this was some cruel madness. Likely the latter. She turned anyway, her grey mage robes billowing in a warm breeze that cut across the plains. He was as beautiful as she remembered — all the stress gone from his eyes, none of the weariness held in his shoulders or jaw. The weariness she’d caused. “Waiting for you,” she felt herself saying, though this seemed like a lie. He accepted it easily. He ran a hand through his ginger hair, ebony mail gleaming in the summer sunlight. She closed the distance between them and crushed into his embrace, heedless of heavy layers of metal between them. He didn’t say anything, only shifted to hold her against his chest. He smelled of mead and snowberries, like he always did. The memory struck her like steel against steel. Like she’d only dreamt of leaving, and she would wake up any moment now, wrapped in his arms, skin against skin. “I waited so long,” Athis said, voice quiet and somber, incongruous with the life that thrummed through this place, like the cry of Nirnroot at the river’s edge. “I’m sorry. I was on my way back to you,” Nyenna said, and somehow, that too was a lie. She tried again, forcing the words from her throat, which still hurt. “I miss you.” “Do you?” Athis asked. Not sarcastic, nor accusatory. A question, which needed an answer. A real one. “Of course.” He accepted that, too, and kneaded the muscle of her shoulder blade as he held her. He’d looked off into the distance, eyes focused on the mountains or the clouds. Mist gathered on his beard, his armor; he seemed like a permanent fixture here, rooted deep into the soil, never to be cut down. And she loved him. The ache of it was tearing her apart. She’d do anything at all — anything — for this to be real. For this image to love her back. She looked at him and felt rootless. Unmoored. A scrap of parchment fluttering in an ethereal breeze, belonging nowhere and to no one. He took her face in his hands, expression still oddly distant, eyebrows knit in confusion. He kissed her and her eyes fluttered closed. This was was right. If she had to be lost in a dream, then she was glad it was one of Athis.

[duckingwriting]

Find the word game

Thank you for the tag @author-a-holmes, my words are:  Wet, Deep, Glow, and Groan.

Tagging with no pressure: @mariahwritesstuff, @wildswrites, @moonandris, @late-to-the-fandom​, and an open tag

Your words are:  vessel,  experiment,  tissue, and  identity

CW - sex

Wet

A broken sob ripped from her throat. The twins began to fuss in her arms at the movement, brought unwillingly awake. Aaro tightened his finger in her hair and brought his mouth to her cheek. Softly kissing the tears away. Before lowering his mouth down to hers. “I’ll build a pack.” He promised against her lips. “Then I’ll send for you, Ro, and Beth. And you’ll come back to Leo and I. We’ll be together.” “Won’t that be a fun pack?” A deep voice drew their attention to the human entering the motel room. “A rogue for an alpha, and two lunas? One of them a human ex-hunter?” “Ro.” Aaro smiled at the human who walked over to them with a limp. Roland reached down and carefully lifted the blue-wrapped bundle from his mate’s arms. “Shhh.” Roland rocked the child softly. “Leonis, you’re safe.” The baby went cross-eyed trying to focus on him. A soft, almost growl trying to form, the baby trying to twist and see where Sarah was quieting Elizabeth after Aaro’s bark of laughter shocked her into crying again. The werewolf grinned and pulled the human into their circle while trailing his fingers over his pup’s head softly. “That’s my boy.” Sarah’s laugh was wet and moist. “He really is…he’s going to be so strong.” “He already is.” Roland shifted the child over to Aaro. Aaro’s smile softened to something haunted. “If he wasn’t…I could leave him with you.” “We’d still be separating from you.” Roland squeezed Aaro’s arm before leaning over and pressing his lips against the corner of his mouth. Sarah let out another soft whine, pressing herself against her mates. She whispered into Aaro’s shoulder while leaning into Roland’s chest. “One more time.”

Deep

“They’re more than scent suppressors,” Simon whispered. He could feel his heartbeat picking up speed. Silence rang through the med bay as Simon’s words sank in. Mal frowned deeply at the medic. “Doc, I know how this’ll sound comin’ from someone like me to you of all people, but those are illegal for a reason.” Simon’s lips twitched. “Trust me I know.” “Then go off them,” Mal ordered. He had no problem letting people make their own decisions but everyone knew the stories of what suppressants could do to a body. “I can’t Mal.” “Gun HOE-tze bee DIO-se why the hell not?” Mal was glaring and towering over Simon. “You know how bad they are and don’t mind the crew knowing.” Simon sighed. “My father wouldn’t risk disgrace to save River. But after I presented he risked a felony to get suppressants so the verse would never know he had an omega son. I’ve had one heat my entire life, Mal. Of course, it was phrased to be for my benefit. No one wants an omega doctor, and I was already on the track to success.” “Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo.” Mal rubbed his face. “What’s that mean Doc? For those of us not the top three percent of the class.”

Glow

The scent of smoke and alcohol flooded Phil's nose. He reached up and rubbed his nose while looking around and letting his eyes adjust to the dim lighting. There was a low hum of to many voices crowded into too tight of a space with the undercut of a piano strumming softly beneath.  Phil wasn't sure if the scent of cigarette smoke or incense was the bigger cause of the haze filled room. He figured it was probably a combination of both. Not that they would stand a chance of getting anyone here to stop smoking. And the incense was needed to covered up the heavy scent of sex. Phil saw some of Marian's girls look his way but none of them approached him. He saw one of the newer women take a step in his direction, eyes nearly glowing with the prospect of fresh meat for the night but one of the other women grabbed her arm and shook her head. Phil gave a small nod of thanks in their direction before walking further into the room. Then he was stopped by a hand on his own arm. 

Groan.

Jake growled and pushed his hips back. He was not enthusiastic about the sting but he was not going to let the other use it as an excuse to pull away. He turned his head to bare his teeth in warning. Tsu'tey's lips curled in a not quite smile as  he began thrusting against his mate again. Jake hissed again and pressed his forehead back against the tree trying to control his breaths. Tsu'tey waited until he heard Jake's hiss melt into a groan of pleasure before changing his thrusts to sharp firm movements that punched the air from his mate's lungs. Jake scrambled against the tree in an attempt to get leverage. Tsu'tey whispered praise into Jake's shoulder with every thrust. He could feel his kuru seeking a connection. Tsu'tey gripped Jake's hip tighter, the last time they had connected he had seen many things he did not understand that were revealed to be a betrayal to the people.  "What other secrets are you hiding?" Tsutey grunted against Jake's shoulder. He wanted to connect his tswin with his mate more than he wanted to breath, but he feared what he would find.

[trainsinanime]

Zoé can never replace Chloé (and she’s not meant to either)

There’s still quite a bit of dialog in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom about the question: Is Zoé supposed to be a replacement for Chloé? I felt like examining that a bit further. The key to figure this out is to look at what Chloé’s role in the story is, and how it does and does not overlap with what we’ve seen from Zoé so far.

For example, is Chloé’s role to be the mayor’s daughter? I would argue no. Being the mayor’s daughter is how she gets her (considerable) power over the class, and thus, a large part of her ability to influence or create stories. You could just as easily imagine her getting that power from elsewhere, e.g. by her father being Monsieur Damocles or some school superintendent, or just a really rich political donor, and it wouldn’t change Chloé’s role at all. Alternatively, there are characters who are in similar positions of power and privilege, but don’t actually use it. Adrien and Kagami are both rich, and Gabriel seems to have at least an indirect connection to André, so you could easily make stories about Adrien abusing that power and privilege if you really wanted to - except it doesn’t fit his character and his role in the story at all.

Is Chloé’s role to be the carrier of the Bee Miraculous? Again, I don’t think so. The bee miraculous is a result of how Chloé acts. Its power of telling people what to do is tailor-made for her personality, and by that I mean pre-possible-redemption-arc personality if that makes a difference. The story does not really need to her to have the bee miraculous specifically. Any would do. The bee was created for her because it fits her established personality best. This is in general how the show works: It’s ultimately never that Marinette has a certain miraculous and has to find a wielder for it; it is that the show wants to highlight a certain character, and gives them a specific power-up that matches their established character and the plot of the episode (except arguably for Alya, where the only link is “orange”, but that’s a different post). The story works just as well if Chloé got a different miraculous, or a different way to get a glimpse into the superhero world, because the point of her getting this is to tell us more about who Chloé is as a person, what she really wants, and how she acts when she both gets and loses it.

Is Chloé’s role to be a close friend of Marinette’s? Clearly not. That may change in the future, maybe, who knows, but so far, when Chloé is important in a plot, it is often specifically because she dislikes and resents Marinette.

Ultimately Chloé has a very simple role. It is literally the same as Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter, Cordelia Chase in Buffy, Libby in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and many, many others like them. Almost every teenage TV show has someone like them. Chloé is here as the school life antagonist, as a counterpoint to Hawkmoth. Some author (I remember it as being Marjorie Liu, but I’ve never been able to find the quote again) once said that the fun the thing about writing teenagers is that everything has equal importance: Tomorrow is the big dance, and also the world is going to end, and both things are equally important. Miraculous Ladybug follows that scheme strictly, and in it, Chloé’s job is to make the „big dance“ part of this challenging.

A fun thing is that the show generally tries to link the problems she causes to the superheroics, because that makes for a better story. The obvious case is when she is the akumatized villain herself. But there are also for example things like Darkblade, where the show uses the situation with Chloé to draw explicit parallels even though her situation isn’t really linked with D’Agencourt’s at all. A few times Chloé’s role is to literally just show up, upset someone for no reason until they become Akumatization material, and then leave again, such as in Frozer, Stormy Weather 2 or Frightningale. And sometimes the superhero plot is all about Chloé’s actions and also a hilarious homage to every single zombie movie trope ever (Zombizou). Either way, Chloé exists to cause problems - and by extension, episode plots - on purpose.

Another aspect of that is that she helps Marinette grow. Sometimes she is simply motivation for Marinette to go out and be a better person (Darkblade), but she can also appeal to Marinette’s darker instincts so that Marinette can then reject them, or at least feel bad about her actions, such as in Animaestro.

Zoé, who is friendly and passive, and whose stories are all about her relationship with Chloé, is as far from a replacement as you can possibly get. Yes, Zoé has taken over the bee miraculous, but that was part of a plot that was all about Chloé as a person, and not at all about Zoé herself. And it doesn’t really matter, because Chloé isn’t here to get the bee miraculous, the bee miraculous is here to tell a story about Chloé.

Now, yes, Zoé may seem like she has taken over from Chloé if you look at it from a hypothetical end point: Throughout parts of season 2, it looked like Chloé might do a standard grade 1 redemption arc, become nice, a friend to Marinette and a member of the team. There were hints that Chloé might be interested in that, and hints that Marinette might be open to the idea, and then the show went very hard in another direction. Zoé is indeed very, very roughly the kind of person that Chloé and parts of the fandom thought she deserved to be. 

But that isn’t actually a replacement of Chloé, because the role of Chloé is not to become redeemed as quickly as possible. The point of a redemption arc, or in fact any arc, isn’t the endpoint, it’s the way there. That’s why people read 100,000 word enemies-to-lovers stories despite the fact that eventual result is already literally there in the tags. Miraculous Ladybug doesn’t need "mayor’s daughter who looks good in yellow and is nice" and takes shortcuts to get there; it needs - and most importantly clearly wants - an interesting story about Chloé specifically. You can’t replace Chloé in a story all about her personality and her relationships with people with anyone except literally Chloé herself, and certainly not with someone who is noticeably nicer.

(This does not mean Zoé is pointless; it means Zoé’s role is something else entirely. Maybe someone who pushes Chloé to be better? We’ll see.)

Now, will this story be told well? As of right now I’m honestly giving it 50:50 odds, and my guess is that it will both feel drawn-out and rushed at the same time in the end thanks to the "occasional large dumps of plot" technique of storytelling the show generally uses. We’ll see. But I am certain that the story will be told at all. If the show writers didn’t want to, they could have literally sent her off to America, that was literally a plot point in the season 3 finale.

So: Zoé as a replacement for Chloé? That’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

And final thought: Once more, I want to point out that literally all Chloé-related salt is true if and only if you insert Lila instead at the right place. First, she is the obvious replacement for Chloé. She makes Marinette’s life more challenging when not in costume, and she is very good at that because she’s specifically designed to push all of Marinette’s righteous fury buttons. Lila is literally an explicit counterpart to and partner of Hawkmoth. And finally, she’s the character the creators don’t seem to like at all, or at least don’t seem to know what to do with, considering how little she appears and how she’s gotten no development whatsoever. We really need a "justice for Lila, turn her into the meaningful dastardly villain she deserves to be" movement in the fandom.

[jasmine-the-fox]

Loose the model but win a hero

Here we go part 5!! I’m super excited for this and i’m going to do my best for this chapter because this is where were going back and forth from Metropolis, to Paris to Hawaii and back... So here we go!

Chapter 5: Meeting the Super’s

Previous First

Mari got to know Jon even more then before, he had a sorta group of friends but she couldn’t meet them “They live outside of Metropolis and I need to go see them, I end up living with them every time” he explained making her nod in understanding from what she could understand they all live in the West side of Jump city.

But for her to meet them wouldn’t happen anytime soon...

It sucked and Jon wanted her to meet them all, but things were happening... That being them being with there families at the moment, so for now she would need to wait until school start again for her to meet them “I’m pretty sure my parents uncovered a bunch of stuff about you and are going to ask my friends and I to transfer to your school” he said making her blush at the idea of having a group of people knowing her life in Paris.

But then again... Jon did believe her...

When they got into the fabric shop, Mari went further into what she went through at school, how her teacher and principal don’t call Lila’s mom or asks for a doctor’s paper, how they allow Lila to lie to her classmates, how her classmates demand Mari brings proof and when she does it’s not enough to them, how when Lila accuses Mari of doing something to her she doesn’t need to show proof and her classmates will attack her... Jon felt the urge to break something.

His dad was also feeling the same way, he was listening in on them through his super hearing and heard everything she said... He just wanted to destroy her school and get her principal and teacher arrested, even ruin her class from getting any job they hoped for... While Lila is deported and is never heard of again, but he knew it wouldn’t do go so for now he would need to wait while he watched his son be happy with Marinette... He wondered if they had feelings for each other, kinda like him and Louis now that he thought about it.

“Hey Jon... Can I ask you a question?” Mari asking something like that was a surprise to Jonathan, Mari was always straight to the point and nod... She sounded worried about something “Sure Mari, what’s up?” he asked back and it somehow clamed her down enough that he noticed it from her body language “Do you think... I’m a doormat? You know with how I did everything my classmates wanted me to do?” she asked, it actually surprised Jon because he didn’t know what to think about that... Then again she only told him about what her classmates did to her because of Lila.

“You would need to explain on that part. Why would you think something like that about yourself?” he asked and this caused Mari to go on the defense… it was like what she was about to tell him... It might destroy something inside of him, and it was bad enough that she would be scared of telling him all of a sudden “You... You need to promise that... That this stays between us... No one can know!” she claimed making him nod in understanding... Resulting in her relaxing a but before taking a breath... And telling him everything.

Now he and his dad really wanted to kill that class...

Back in Hawaii...

Kagami had arrived from her competition and Luka was relaxing already, it felt nice to them right now and the fact that Mari wasn’t with them right now... Felt strange to them, of course Pollen, Plagg, Longg and Sass were relaxing together like there holders were doing... But they were watched by Sabrina “Which miraculous you think Mari will give Sabrina?” Adrien asked out of the blue, they all began to think about it... And sadly nothing came to mind, there was a limit of miraculous that had been used and so far none of them would be good to match with Sabrina “It can’t be the fox, turtle, bunny, horse, monkey or mouse... None of them would match her like ours do” Chloe claimed making them nod.

This meant that it must be a miraculous Marinette has yet to bring out...

For now they had to wait until she was with them to talk about that part, so for now they would relax “My queen, I believe that the guardian will give Sabrina a miraculous when she sees the time comes for her” Pollen explained making Adrien look confused about that “What do you mean by that?” he asked making the four kwami’s turn to him “You see kid, now that Marinette is the guardian... She is way more powerful, you see when an akuma will appear she can sense what miraculous is missing to the team to join in battle” Plagg explained to him.

“Which is why Fu turned to her, he knew Marinette would be a better guardian then he was by keeping us hidden” Longg said making them look at one another “Is that why she gave Kagami and I the miraculous back under the condition of a new name and look? Because we were needed?” Chloe asked as Sass sighs “It is more then that, you sssssee Marinette can ssssensssse when someone matches a miraculousssss... Because there ssssoul matches the miraculousssss...” he said as Pollen then spoke “There was another bee holder in Paris, but the guardian chose you, as for Kagami she was the only dragon holder” she explained making them nod.

In a way the two girls felt... Honored about this, the fact that Mari could have gotten the other possible bee holder showed Chloe had worked hard enough to keep it, as for Kagami she knew Mari could have gone to find another dragon holder and have them live in Paris but she didn’t and instead kept Kagami, but now they had a job to do, they still needed to defeat Hawkmoth and Mayura “We need to also stop Lila and her crimes... She’s also part of this as she does work with Hawkmoth of her own will” Luka whispered making them nod, Sabrina had filmed Lila grab an akuma to get herself akumatized making them have proof about her.

“We still need to talk to Mari about our plan on Lila, she’s the one who started this whole thing and she’s the one who makes the plans so we need her to guide us” Adrien said making them nod, Sabrina during this time was looking on social media to see Marinette’s new post “Hey! Mari is hanging out with Clark Kent and Lois Lane’s son Jonathan!” she claimed making them move to her side to see the picture... She was right, right next to Mari was Jon himself, she had tagged him to the post saying how he took her to have the best coffee in Metropolis and how she wished they had this in Paris.

“She is so going to use the horse to get some” Kagami claimed making them smile and laugh at how right she was, Mari was a coffee addict and needed every morning some sort of coffee concoction to wake her up or to stay awake and no matter how hard they try... They can’t keep her away from it, but still it was nice to know that it wasn’t mixed with a bunch of stuff to keep her awake so it was nice to know that “At least she can drink a normal cup in Metropolis without getting weird looks when she tells someone what’s in her coffee” Chloe claimed making them nod to that fact, there had been a number of times she was asked about her coffee and the number of things she has in the cup of hers... Always made people look at her like she was crazy.

But then again... What else was new?

Back in Paris...

Caline Bustier was doing her best to remember the excuses Lila gave her to not give homework or for being absent for some time... Pretty much everything, she needed to do this in order to explain all of this to Lila’s mother, she had the woman’s number and remembered to have called her once but simply hung up before Caline could speak to her, it was strange but she was certain that it was Lila’s doing, now she was working on her list of excuses Lila gave her so when she speaks to Lila’s mother she can tell her everything that the girl has done in reality and figure out if those trips, injuries, connections, gifts and diseases were true.

Once she wrote everything down, she looked everything over three times before making the call, if she was right then the woman would be at work on her break “Embassy, Rossi speaking” the woman’s voice was different from Lila “Hello miss Rossi, i’m Caline Bustier, Lila’s teacher. I’m calling to talk to you about the best way to help your daughter more at school since she has been traveling with you when she first arrived and is still missing many assignments to make her pass the year” she explained, she wasn’t lying even, Lila is missing a bunch of work and has kept on pushing it back for months.

“What? There must be some mistake, we have been in Paris for years! And she told me the school was closed for months because Ladybug and Cat Noir couldn’t take care of the akuma” the woman replied making Caline sigh “I was afraid of this... It would seem your daughter lied to the both of us and the principal” Caline replied and began to read over the lies Lila spoke since she got to there school... And there were many lies so it took her a while to read them all to miss Rossi... But she was certain the mom was getting furious towards her daughter for lying “I’m also afraid that she has caused a number of problems within my class, a girl named Marinette has been claimed a bully by your daughter... I believe Marinette knows Lila is lying and has spun it around to make it look like Lila was the victim from the start” Caline explained with a sigh.

Miss Rossi was silent after that, not a word was spoken from the woman... Caline worried she did something wrong at some point “How bad is it... Her school work” the woman spoke just like that with hidden anger in her voice “If Lila doesn’t turn in any work next year, not only will she be staying at the school to do the years all over again... But she will also be forced to go to summer school” Caline explained after looking at a paper that was written in her handwriting the consequences of Lila’s missing grades, she knew this was going to happen in the end since Lila was always told about it if she didn’t turn anything in and now... This will be what happens if she doesn’t do it still.

Caline Bustier was certain when miss Rossi thanked her and hung up... That she had sent Lila Rossi into the Lion’s den called her mother.

Back in Metropolis...

Lois had at last spoken to every person who’s number Jon got her, with all the info she gained thanks to them... She would be making the publishing news of the century... Ruining a number of lives as she was certain people from around the world will read it and translate it so everyone can understand it, not only that but she was making sure to make it in French too so to send it to Paris on purpose so they too will know the truth about Lila Rossi and what she did to a number of lives... Because that girl had a huge number of skeletons in her closet, and Loui cracked that closet wide open to reveal the truth on the Italian girl.

And she didn’t care how badly she ruins that girls life... She asked for it the moment she met Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Next

[indigobackfire]

May I ask you a question: why do you like Diego and Ismelda? I'm not their hater, just neutural on them, but I can't get why some people like them.

Oh that's okay, nice of you to ask (some people would just attack). (Please excuse the length and any misspellings).

For starters, I have a tendency to like unlikable characters, yes as simple as that. No, no characters like Merula who you're supposed to hate or be enemies with, but characters supposed to annoy or make the person interacting/reading roll their eyes. That's how I made some of my best friendships in school.

I won't go in depth why I chose them to ship with my ocs (I encourage you to go through my shipping tags if you'd like) also because it's a whole other topic and I'll end up writing a bible here. I'll try as much as I can not use headcanons cause those will mean nothing to you, but I think is worth to say what I, Bee, think of them is not what my MC thinks of them and I would say she has a rocky start with these two as anyone.

First Ismelda.

I guess my liking if Ismelda gets a bit deeper than just liking a character I find nice, I actually see some of my school experiences on her. I wasn't emo doing grusome comments at all, but I was this outcast who thought of herself as this unappealing, unattractive, and uninteresting person who almost everyday wished she could be homeschooled because I just didn't have the patience to witness other people's bullshit. I wrote sad poetry for people just like her! I took 6 years in the same school to finally find a real friend because the others kept leaving me.

So in some points I can't help but sympathize with what she's going through. Being alone, seeing the only friend you have slip away to someone you can't possibly compete with - I was not an MC in school, I was Ismelda! -, being unattractive in a place where everyone looks at least cute, getting the side-eye for going against the grain. I have no sister, no negligent family, but as human I can empathize with her troubles.

Besides points I can sympathize with, I like some of her attitude of screw everyone and what everyone thinks, which is a perspective I sort of took after years of being laughed at. On the gruesomeness aspect, my last fandom, that I'm still in, is Hannibal, so I'm not unfamiliar to gruesome and cannibal jokes, characters being terrible to each other and we still shipping them and joking about them, and idk stabbing people? In media ofc xD

Also HER BARK IS MUCH HARSHER THAN HER BITE. People often comment negatively about her on the things she says, but it's obviously for shock value, when threat appears she's pissing her pants and it's not fooling anyone. It's hilarious to me like watching a lil baby puppy trying to seem threatening, sometimes we even place a finger on their mouth so they can bite us softly.

The 'haha I wish Voldemort was back' is her being at the same time an idiot, a product of her house (let's not forget at this period in time Slytherin is full of straight up DE kids with DE ideals), and unknowledgeable about what it all means. She hasn't been, as far as I know, directly affected by the 1st Wizarding War like Barnaby or Merula - those two literally had their stupid ass parents taken away.

I also like to watch JC try poorly to build her an arc. The placing of Crushed for example is off, happening after many dating SQs, but is there her arc begins - she has a stiff moral compass that gets a lil loose after that -, then we have the Sphinx club where she's way less hostile, the Quibbler SQ where they do all sorts of weird stuff to her but I wanna talk about it another time, and the Great Cook Off where she actually apologizes for overreacting. She's not a fully baked character, she's a caricature of the emo girl and I like to watch her development, and even when there's no visible development, I find humor.

I don't like everything she does or everything she says - but I don't even like Barnaby a 100% of the time - but I know it's fertile ground where a great character can grow.

As for Diego this might be shorter because I've known him for less time in the game.

Diego is extroverted, he's confident, and he's always eager to help. People's problem with him comes mostly from he's flashy, he has a grandiose sense of self, and that he s flirty. And none of those things are aspects I take trouble with.

I've said before, this talking in third person, calling himself 'great', 'the best' is a way of asserting himself to himself and others. And there's nothing wrong with that as there's nothing wrong with being a shy introvert. So far, he has placed himself high without ever placing someone down and he gives praise where praise is due.

As being flirty, which people really seem to hate and I really see no harm. Is not like he tried to kiss MC or said something inappropriate. I find it quite endearing actually. I'm gonna guess JC wanted to make him a Don Juan but landed on Johnny Bravo and I'm here having a laugh about it.

The 'omg he thinks he's the best but but MC never lost a duel to him' argument is so stupid to me, because the duels we do value nothing, if we lose a duel the game makes you pay to do another one as many times as we need. The value is in things known and said, Diego is literally a dueling instructor - probably placed as such by Flitwick. Unfortunately when we duel him is not like the game allows us to lose, is different from Penny's potion making, where she makes it while we sit and watch and even before we see her doing a potion, we're told she's the best at it and she's knows she is.

Diego has shown to be, besides his more prominent characteristics, to be thoughtful, always willing to help, and enthusiastic. He never shies away from the blame, he encourages others, and he's eager to listen to others. But like Ismelda he's really underdeveloped and underused.

One point to make would be his personality vibes with my MC's personality. She's an extrovert, she likes to think she's desired, she takes pride in the abilities she acquired along her curse breaking.

To conclude, do I think you should like them? It'd be nice for me to have someone to talk about them with, but it's not about what I want. You don't have to like them, all I ask from people is respected, specially on other people's content. I have characters I don't like in the game (I didn't max out Tulip on purpose, and Andre who was starting to grow on me had a big reset lately), so I won't try to force them down your throat, but you won't see me dragging them down.

Your ask was why I like them and if all said wasn't enough, the simple answer is they're both ridiculous and the make me laugh and smile. I'd like to have them as friends.

[dessarious]

Misconceptions, Miscommunication, and Misinformation Pt89

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When Selina went down to the lobby the next morning she found Chloe being yelled at by what she assumed were the girl’s parents. Studying the two she was less than impressed. Being Bruce Wayne’s fiance she’d seen all sorts of affluent people and social climbers. Far too many of them either treated their kids like garbage, or ignored them entirely. Given the research she’d done after leaving the girls last night, Chloe’s mother traded off between the two, and her father bounced back and forth between the first and treating her like a princess depending on his wife’s mood. Dysfunctional was too mild a term to describe it.

“I’m not going to let you waste my money paying for one of your low rent friends Chloe. It’s bad enough you forced us to let that crippled girl stay here but at least she’s not taking up an extra room.” The woman’s tone was like nails on a chalkboard. Chloe looked to be on the verge of tears but judging by her posture and the way she was clenching her fists they were tears of rage.

“Really Chloe you need to learn some responsibility. Charity is all well and good for publicity but if you give handouts to every sob story you encounter you’ll just end up broke. Then how will you pay for all your new shoes and jewelry?” Okay, it was officially time to end this bull shit.

“Chloe! Thank you so much for what you did last night. My fiance and I are so grateful for the way you helped me.” All three turned to look at her and it just made her want to slap some sense into the adults. Chloe looked relieved, though a little confused. The Mayor was giving her an annoyed frown while his wife was looking at her like she was garbage that shouldn’t be allowed near her. Oh that bitch was about to swallow her tongue. “I called Bruce and he said he’d call with his information since I still can’t find my wallet. It was so sweet of you to hold it for us. Your daughter is such an amazing problem solver.” Both parents blinked at her like she’d told them the world was ending.

“And who exactly are you?” Of course the mother recovered first. Selina was going to enjoy wiping that superior expression off her face.

“Oh, I’m so sorry for not introducing myself properly. I’m Selina Kyle, Bruce Wayne’s fiance. He’ll be joining me in a few days to visit his sons.” All the blood drained from the Mayor’s face and his wife’s jaw went slack with surprise. “I was just going to go stay with the boys when I realized I didn’t have my wallet but Chloe assured me you’d be able to work with me. I am sorry for any inconvenience the delay caused but I’m sure Bruce will be happy to compensate you for the trouble since your daughter was so helpful and accommodating. Now, if you two wouldn’t mind I’d like to steal her for a bit.” She put an arm around Chloe and dragged her away before either could get their bearings back.

“That was… I don’t even… thank you?” Poor kid sounded so confused.

“Any time. I live to create drama. Well, drama for other people at least.” Chloe just gave her an uncertain smile. “How’s Marinette doing this morning?” The girl let out a few curses before changing course to the front desk.

“I can’t believe I let them make me forget why I came down here in the first place.” When she got to the counter she cleared her throat to get the attendant’s attention. When he saw her he paled. “Excuse me but has anyone had time to-”

“Liquid allergy medication. You didn’t specify non-drowsy or not so we got both.” The poor guy practically shoved a bag at Chloe who just looked inside before letting out a relieved sigh. She handed the man some money and he looked like his brain melted.

“Thank you Armond. Please share that with whoever had to go get this for me.” She turned around and headed to the elevator. The desk clerk just kept looking between the girl’s back and the money she’d handed him in obvious confusion. That was something to ask about later. She caught up to Chloe just as she changed directions again, this time towards the front doors. There was a very large man arguing with two very nervous doormen. “It’s okay. I asked him here, you can let him in.” The two shared a relieved look and let the man pass. Chloe just motioned at him to follow her and went for the elevator again. The man glowered at Selina when she entered the elevator with them.

“Nice to meet you too.” That just got a grunt.

“It’s okay Digg. She knows and I’m fairly certain she’s on our side.” Another grunt. He was almost as expressive as Bruce. “I just need you to stay here and watch after Mari. Tikki will explain and help you with dosing.”

“What’s wrong with the Guardian?” Actual words. So he could speak. Wait Guardian?

“Pigheaded stupidity for the most part.” Selina couldn’t help the laugh that came out. Judging by her wince, Chloe hadn’t meant to say that out loud. “She’s having problems with insomnia and overworking herself. We’re trying to make sure she gets at least one day of proper rest so she doesn’t burn out.” Digg was frowning at her.

“You need rest too. I’ll watch over both of you.” Chloe opened her mouth to argue but Plagg flew out of her pocket and into her face.

“Digg’s right. You’re both unbalanced and being together will help the both of you remain calm. There are no immediate threats and you both deserve a break. You’ve been tense ever since you let her out of your sight and your parents just made matters worse.” Selina rolled her eyes. That had to be the understatement of the year. Looking at Chloe she could see the bags under her eyes and the obvious tightness around her mouth and eyes. She forced the girl to look at her.

“You can’t help anyone if you don’t take care of yourself. You said last night that there were other people who could handle any emergencies that may happen. You need to slow down and take a breath. I’ll run interference with your parents if need be and everything else can wait.” She was not prepared for the girl to burst into tears.

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[ardenttheories]

Your takes on gender can be applied these ways also: 1. Their species could be transphobic solely because they might view gender as unnecessary (which isn’t true, due to so many trolls being trans with no problem, so that’s out the window,) or 2. The Condesce herself or her generation created gender roles on Alternia; it would also make sense with The Signless preaching beliefs of freedom and possibly even expression, if we were to go that route. While it doesn’t fix all, it’s better than nothin

Continuing on with Signless and the Condesce, it would have actually made more sense for Sign to be a Fuchsia if society is based on blood caste, for more than one reason (I mean the political implications of a thief of BLOOD being a tyrannical emperor and what you could do with that are pretty fucking apparent but hey who gives a shit amiright) and while life can be just as politically aligned as blood, the inherent structure of blood and the way it’s broken and set up makes Sign a better fit

The bulge-nook standard is all just a bunch of useless bullshit, but it wasn’t in the past apparently; I think it’s mentioned somewhere in the comic that they’re actually close to extinction because the mother grub method is unsustainable and was created BY the Condesce? And that they actually could procreate together but they’re slowly losing the ability? Therefore you could also say that those who are still able to reproduce via encounters could be labeled differently, but that’s still shit

Continuing once again off of the whole mother grub thing (Sorry I’m spamming your inbox I just really like your think thoughts,) the only reason I could see a troll harboring certain ‘gender’ traits (boobs for example) would be for advantages in different climates, besides possible ovaries which, if trolls are more bug than human-like, don’t even make sense anyway. It’s all just a bunch of crud BUT the argument for being trans lies solely in what could remain, OR societal reconstruction I guess

I suppose HIC could have been the generation to assign gender roles to her society, but my only issue would be this: why? I pointed this out in another anon, but there’s no actual divide into “trolls who are superior for being x gender” and “trolls who are inferior for being x gender”. She’s the empress, so you’d think she’d have a preference for women - but her closest and most valued are both men. And even then, she kills indisciminately between genders. Her only preference I’ve ever seen gender-wise is that she always views women as heiresses (or, people who are possible to take her throne), and even that doesn’t entirely make sense; it can easily be explained away as Hussie trying to build a matriarchy where one just didn’t need to exist, to parallel Alternia and Earth. 

To HIC, hemospectrum trumps gender. A male and female rustblood could be standing side by side, both accused of a crime, and neither would be considered more or less guilty on a gendered basis: they’d both be culled for being rust. Likewise, two violetbloods could kill a purpleblood, and the male wouldn’t be more likely to get caught than the female, or viseversa. They’d both get away scot free because they’re highbloods, and higher than the purple they killed - or, they’d both be revenge-slaughtered by other purplebloods.

This isn’t even getting into the fact that, although our canonical legislacerator is female (Redglare), the actual judge (His Honorable Tyranny) is male. So, again, we have a male in power. Yet there’s no explicit bias towards or against men. 

It’s this foundational issue for trying to put a gendered system - as we understand it - on a system that just doesn’t work for it. I do very firmly believe that the trolls would have a gender system, yes; but I think it would revolve around something entirely different. More like how bee genders work; if they’re all “female”, then how do you differentiate the “gender” of bees? By focusing on what actually differentiates them societally: their roles in the hive. Queen, worker, drone - these are the bee genders. How you could implement that to Alternians, I’m not totally sure; I’d have to think on that a little more.

The Signless works well as a mutantblood for the martyr status Hussie was going for; he’s a very clear allegory for Jesus as-is, and having him be a fuchsia wouldn’t have really worked in that sense (because he would have been born into an inherent place of power, without the requirement to go through the martyr journey - and he could have much more easily set about a better, more equal structure had he been an heir than he could have being a mutant). 

It’s a good way to impose on readers just how violent troll society is against those who don’t fit into the spectrum, since the hemospectrum is a class structure that was instilled by both HIC and Doc Scratch (which doesn’t exist as strictly on Beforus, except that the upper classes look after the lower). It also just allows for the equal “one troll of each caste” motif Hussie wanted to go with. So, again, this is an unfortunate instance of Hussie choosing design over lore.

That said, being a fuchsiablood - or even a mutated fuchsia, if we still want to go down the mutant route - would have been endlessly interesting. It could have completely different to see a not-so-shoddily hidden allegory. How The Signless would have attempted to go against HIC, his abilities as a Blood Player, the potentialities of him still raising a rebellion and attempting to change the entire structure of Alternia to something more Beforean - it’s definitely juicy food for thought, if nothing else.

I couldn’t find anything on the Mother Grub method being instilled by HIC, or the fact that it was unsustainable - at least, not on Alternia. Everything I’ve seen relating to Alternia and Mother Grubs very much seems to state that these are the natural ways of the world, something that wasn’t meddled with (which goes along with a theory I had with a few anons some time ago, under the “#homestuck biology” tag, wherein the Mother Grub, trolls, and Drones are actually all founded from the same ancient species, but the trolls just so happened to be the ones to evolve into intelligent life). 

(Edited note: I did find something mentioning that the threat of global extinction allowed for the implementation of the caste system to begin with - as in, the hemospectrum didn’t exist until that specific point in time. It doesn’t mention anything about the Mother Grubs before or after this event, or what caused the near-extinction of the troll race. I would assume Doc Scratch, in order to force the Hemospectrum to exist in the first place, since he takes full credit for its conception. In either case, it isn’t an inability to breed that almost killed off the entire Alternian race - otherwise, even post-Hemospectrum, they would have still died out.)

Anything regarding unsustainability might be instead referring to HIC’s attempts to reintroduce the troll population to the Alpha kids’ Earth; she tries to bring lusii into the world and tries to repopulate Earth using genetic material via the Mother Grub (including for humans), but ultimately fails to do so (partly because her attempts to do so were thwarted by a clone of her lusus, partly because, I assume, human DNA isn’t compatible with the Mother Grubs). 

So, unfortunately, it doesn’t look like trolls ever had the ability to mate with each other and reproduce in a more mammalian way. Which I still despise as a concept, if I’m completely honest; the trolls are clearly meant to be based on insects, are surrounded by insect-like evolutionary divergences, and breed in a very insect-like way. The idea that they ever, at any point, had a more mammalian lineage just makes no sense. That’s like saying that we descended from ancient bees instead of ancient apes. 

It’s, again, one of those instances were you can tell Hussie tried to make something unique and interesting, but then didn’t fully think it through and returned to what he knew most - which is a very much more human experience. 

I think the best explanation for the “gender” differences - beyond “Hussie needed a way to show male and female characters because he didn’t think to include different genders in a society that clearly needed it - probably is the climate concept. It’d be more interesting, for one, and still allow for the potential that trolls don’t have - or show - inherent sexual dimorphism. Especially because, like you said, those are very mammalian traits? Insect-based species don’t have an evolutionary need for those things. 

[embarrassingresultofmyfreetime]

2020 Masterlist

Here’s a list of all the fics I’ve posted this year! (Listed by category, then chronologically:)

Link to my ao3 where you can read all of these: embarrassingresultofmyfreetime

~

Currents wips:

And They Were Quarantine Mates

An old disease has resurfaced on Earth- one which most humans recover from but is permanently lethal to Time Lords.

Because of this, the Doctor stays on Earth to make sure her humans make it through okay.

And because of the Doctor, the Master- against his better judgement- also chooses to stay.

Reluctant to leave the safety of the Doctor's Tardis, the Doctor and the Master find plenty of ways to pass the time but it can be difficult to enjoy each other's company with so many things left unsaid.

Good thing they have plenty of time in isolation to work it out.

Word Count: Currently 88,172

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Spyfall: Battle For Humanity

This is a little number I like to call: Roleswap AU with Dhawan!Doctor and Whittaker!Master

It's sort of a rewrite of Spyfall p2 but it's better.

Word Count: Currently 5,688 (will be about 12k when finished)

~~~

-

Main fics (completed):

Please Tell Me Why Do We Worry

Summary: After learning about the final loss of Gallifrey, the Doctor takes some time to grieve and finds herself with surprisingly mixed feelings about the whole ordeal.

To her surprise, a knock at her Tardis door soon reveals the Master not only alive, but in uncontrollable mental agony as he reveals that the Doctor's suffering has been amplifying his own emotions via their telepathic bond.

Note: (After so many kind and positive comments on this fic, I finally gained the confidence to start posting more! A huge thank you to so many people it means so, so much to me!)

Word Count: 5,068

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Second Chances

When Graham finds a teleportation cube offering an all-expenses-paid vacation, he, Ryan, and Yaz take up the offer and give the seemingly-distant Doctor some time to herself.

After the events of Skyfall 1&2, the trust between the trio and a certain timelord is shaken. However, when their vacation quickly becomes a nightmare, it's up to the Doctor to bring about peace on an upsettingly familiar planet.

Note: (A rewrite/fix it of S11 episode Orphan 55)

Word Count: 7,130

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All’s Fair In Love And War

Having escaped alive and alone, the Master dwells on his failure and uncertainty at what to do next.

Purely by accident, he runs into a version of the Doctor he's never met before and she gives him a much needed perspective on their relationship.

Word Count: 4,653

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Truth and Reconciliation

“I... I destroyed a lot of things, but not this... trove of secrets. This is what started it all.”

Missing Scene where the Master goes to Gallifrey and discovers the truth of the timeless child for the first time + alternate ending to The Timeless Children episode

Word Count: 7,563

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The Doctor Finally Gets Some Rest

(Ch2 update Missy pov)

The Doctor promised to guard Missy for 1000 years, but Missy doesn't mind returning the favor.

Word Count: 5,671

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I Wouldn’t Wish It On My Best Enemy

"Just deserts appeared to finally be served for the Doctor. All her running had come to an end, all the lives she's taken or caused had finally been assigned a numerical value, and all the morals she had once believed in seemed to crumble to dust right before her eyes.

A life sentence.

She had JUST BEEN TOLD she would never die, and the first thing the universe does is give her a life sentence.

What kind of cruel joke is that?"

Basically: The Doctor reflects on herself while in prison, the Master rescues the Doctor and actually helps her, and idk read the tags

Word Count: 4,629

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Brand New Reality

In an alternate timeline: The Master is killed in the Time War but the Doctor finds a way to salvage his oldest friend's mind by binding it to his Tardis and building him an android vessel as a way to interact with the physical world.

The Doctor also manages to save the Time Lords from their war- but he is still a renegade in their eyes. As punishment, the High Council uses the Doctor- and by extension the Master- as their personal diplomats/field agents.

The Master isn't too happy about being trapped on the Doctor's Tardis, the Doctor is fed up with being the equivalent of a dog on a leash to the Time Lords, so in a moment of anger and also pure luck- they break out from their world and end up on a parallel one with a very different version of their universe and very different versions of themselves.

(Shalka!Universe Doctor and Master meet their modern counterparts- the Thirteenth Doctor and Dhawan!Master)

Word Count: 10,148

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The Imposter(s) Among Us

The Doctor has been searching the universe for the Master, but it's only when she takes a break to help a damaged space vessel that she runs directly into him!

The Doctor has a hundred and one things to ask him, but there's no time for any of that now. The ship is barely functional and if the mysterious murderer doesn't get to the Doctor first, then the trigger-happy crewmates might throw her out the airlock before the killer gets a chance.

Word Count: 12,655

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My Dear, Doctor…

The Doctor investigates an anomaly to find that her previous self has stood up their oldest friend for the umpteenth time.

Confused as to why the Doctor can't recall ever receiving Missy's invitation in the first place, the Doctor goes searching for answers and ends up finding far more letters than just one…

Word Count: 6,657

~~~

-

Series:

And They Were Happy Au Parts 1-4:

Part 1: Dinner and a Show

All his lives, the Master had always believed that he and the Doctor could hold on for about the same amount of time. He always imagined that when they reached their last lives, they would both give all this up and spend their retirement years bickering and raising bees or whatever. The Master didn't particularly like bees, but he had always imagined that the Doctor did and as long as they were together, that was enough to satisfy him.

What he had discovered in the Matrix had proved his ideal endgame impossible.

The revelation that the Doctor was The Timeless Child meant that the Doctor would always live on. They would always evolve and survive no matter what happened. The Doctor would always race to people in need; and now, they would never have any reason to stop.

(AU where the reason the Master wanted the Doctor to kill them both in The Timeless Child is bc he's on his last life)

Word Count: 5,120

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Part 2: Dinner and a Show One-Offs

"The Doctor did her best to space out her visits with O. For every couple adventures she had with her 'fam', she would stop by his home once or so. Sometimes she let months slip by, because she knew that the longer she waited, the less of O's limited time she used up.

She felt guilty to calculate it, but if O was already in his mid-thirties and he lived a full human life...

Suffice it to say, she wanted it to last for as long as possible. She had never had a situation as stable nor as safe as she now had with O. After everything they had both been through to get to this point, she refused to jeopardize a single moment.

For all the pain the Master had caused her, O was well worth the wait."

(By popular demand, a continuation of 'Dinner and a Show')

Word Count: 10,926

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Part 3: Unjustifiable

O- having no recollection of his actions as 'The Master'- returns to being Earth's Horizon Watcher.

O is proud of his work and he cherishes the Doctor's frequent visits, but it's becoming increasingly apparent that she's been keeping more secrets about his past than he had theorized.

To make matters worse, the arrival of an advanced species of aliens on his doorstep brings with it a whole new plethora of problems. Something terrifying resurfaces when O hears they're searching for a Tardis and things go terribly wrong.

Word Count: 23,870

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Part 4: Found Family

The Master finally gets around to seeing the universe in a more peaceful way and runs into a young woman looking for her father.

Word Count: 3,663 (Will possibly be updated at a later date, but complete for now)

~~~

-

Oneshots Inspired by others (specific inspiration in the beginning notes of each):

All Alone In The Dark

While heading back to Earth, the Doctor hears someone calling for her help.

She tracks it back to the Master- injured yet alive- and finds him trapped in his own head, reliving his last confrontation with The Time Lord Council before the destruction of Gallifrey.

Word Count: 1,926

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You Again

The 10th Doctor and Missy each escape their last canon appearances believing that the other is dead for good.

So imagine their surprise when they run into each other at a party in the 1920's.

Word Count: 6,943

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Sick Day

The Master has everything set up for his latest evil scheme but when he tracks down the Doctor, he realizes his best enemy is in no condition to fight. So the Master does what any good nemesis does and takes care of him.

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

Word Count: 2,807

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Prompt: "Right now, I don't know if I want to kiss you or shove you off a bridge!" "Can I pick?"

The Master’s Tardis had traced the call seven minutes in advance to this exact time and location. He pushed open his Tardis door to find himself in front of some no name bar with graffiti scrawled on the side, situated in front of an empty ravine. He was on Earth, and there was probably a similarly ramshackled city around him, but he didn’t so much as spare it a glance.

The Master’s steps were determined, his jaw clenched, and his hands shaking despite his signature device in hand.

He had been on the other side of the universe, licking his wounds like any old villain would when disappointed by their latest nemesis showdown. It all made his blood boil to have caved so soon. To come back and HELP the Doctor.

The Doctor still had O’s number and her call was scheduled to be made in exactly seven minutes. A hysterical, agonizing call that begged the Master to intervene. He wasn’t sure what was worse, hearing the Doctor in so much despair, or the disappointment that hearing her in such agony somehow didn’t lessen his own.

Word Count: 2,410

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The Beginning and The End

Prompt: First Doctor, Dhawan!Master, Gallifrey, and the dialogue: "I know my words mean close to nothing for you. But I do, in fact, love you very much."

Basically Theta (Academy Era Doctor) accidentally runs into the Master on a burning Gallifrey

Word Count: 4,499

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Kisses Like That

The Doctor's never understood why humans enjoy kissing so much- but a certain, somewhat familiar woman piques his interest.

(Missy goes back in time to give 10 a lil kiss)

Word Count: 1,885

Spyvember 2020

Collection of short fics I did inspired by Spyvember prompts (from Tumblr)

Word Count: 15,506 (6 separate chapters)

~~~

Thank you to everyone who has inspired me, commented on my work, read any of my writing, and overall has just supported me in any way this year!! Thank you for keeping me motivated and helping me improve as a writer!

My best wishes to you in the new year! <3

[wefoundloveunderthelight]

Marco’s Home for Lost Boys

Read on AO3 - Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4

Tagging:

@lfh1226-linda

Summary:

“Ok, I’ll see you Saturday my sweet Emma.” She clicked the end button on her phone and stared out at the forest in front of her.

She was definitely, maybe, possibly going to have sex with Neal!

Notes:

Thank you everyone again for reading my little fic. I truly appreciate anyone taking the time to keep up. References to sex included, but not earning that M rating just yet. Saving that for something a bit more special! :)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter 4: Definitely, Maybe

2 years later

It’s nearly impossible to get any alone time at Marco’s home for Lost Boys.

He just needs to save enough money to get a place of his own, but currently Killian Jones is flat broke. Which means he’s stuck sneaking around and stealing moments with Milah when everyone is out of the house.

If he’s being honest, he’s tired of all the cloak and dagger bullshit. He wants to be able to announce it to everyone that Milah is his girl.

“You’re thinking again.” Milah’s mouth is on his as she groans in frustration.

“Sorry love, I’m here.” He opens his eyes and runs his hand down to the curve of her ass.

She pulls back and looks at him. “No, you’re not.”

“Do you think it’s time that we tell everyone about us?”

He feels her anger before she even speaks. “We’ve talked about this; do we really have to do this again?” She sits up, re-arranging the buttons on her shirt.

“I just don’t see why we have to keep this hidden, we love each other, what is wrong with people knowing how happy we are?”

“Baby, this is special. You and me. Why do we need to shout it to the world?”

They’ve had this argument for years now. It always ends with the two of them screaming at each other and Killian drowning his anger in a bottle of Rum, alone. And currently he’s not in the mood for either. He may not have the opportunity of an empty house for a while.

“Alright love, I’m sorry, you’re right. This is perfect, just the way it is.” He quickly pulls her back on top of his lap, pulling her lips to his.

“Then why do you…” His hands tighten in her hair, pulling her harder against his mouth. “keep bringing this…” Her hips grind into his as she pulls back and smirks at him. “up.”

“No more talking, I promise.” Her hands are under his shirt in a second and he groans at the contact of her nails on his flesh. He clutches the hem of her shirt, yanking it over her head, leaving her in her black lace bra.

“Mmm, this is more like it.”

“Killian, have you seen my…”

“My God you silly girl, do you knock?” Milah slides off the bed, glaring at the intruder standing in the doorway to his room. Her face is flushed, her lips are pursed in a scowl, but she is doing nothing to cover herself up. Instead, she seems to be trying to intimidate the girl, as she goes about pushing her breasts up as she adjusts herself in her bra.

“I um, God I had no idea anyone was in here but…”

His eyes lock on the girl standing in his doorway, Emma’s eyes currently fixated on his lower half. He grabs a pillow to cover the erection currently tenting in his boxers. “Well as you can see the room is occupied, so if you wouldn’t mind relocating yourself, love!”

Her eyes snap to his and he sees red begin to creep into her cheeks. “Um, I uh, yes. Leaving!” She turns and slams the door shut behind her.

“Oh my God.” Milah exclaims. “What are you going to do about that?” She gestures toward the door.

“Swan?”

“Yes, HER, she just walked in on us, she’s going to blab it to all her little friends.”

“Emma’s not like that, I’ll talk to her, it will be fine.”

Milah crosses her arms. He tries to pull her back to the bed. “Killian!”

“It’s alright, love. I promise, Emma won’t tell another soul.”

“Then go see to it now before she does. You can’t trust silly little teenagers.” Looking at her face, he knows he’s not going to win this battle.

“As you wish.”

~

“Um hey.” Killian finds Emma on the back porch and walks over to join her on the swing.

“So um, that was awkward.” She’s looking anywhere to avoid making eye contact with Killian.

“Uh yeah, so I should probably explain.” He scratches his ear before turning to look at her.

“You aren’t going to tell me about the birds and the bees, are you? Cuz uh, David already tried to have that talk with me about a year ago.”

“That’s what I told him, but I’m not exactly a child you know.”

“Yeah whatever, you’ll always be my little swan.” He winks at her before pausing. “But um, the part I was referring to was Milah and I. You see, it’s not public knowledge that she and I are together.”

“Oh. Why not?”

“Milah thinks it’s special just keeping this between her and I.”

“And what does Killian think?”

“I uh, it doesn’t matter what I think. So, I really need you to keep this between us.”

“Uh, sure, that sounds a bit one sided, but it’s not my place to tell your business.”

“Thanks Swan. I apologize that you had to see me,” He coughs before continuing. “Er, us like that.”

Emma laughed loudly, “Yeah next time can you put a sock on the door or something cuz I definitely don’t want to have to tell David that I got a live lesson on the birds and bees.”

~

Emma isn’t sure if she’s actually mortified or intrigued by what she walked in on in Killian’s room. It wasn’t like it was news to her that Killian and Milah were seeing each other. He wasn’t very good at hiding anything. At least not with her. She could always tell when he was lying to her and had picked up on his deception regarding Milah the moment she met the girl.

She remembers all the times she caught him staring at Milah when he thought no one else was watching him.

But currently all Emma could think about was the image of Killian half dressed, lying on his bed in an obvious state of arousal.

She had never seen an erection before. Sure, she had felt a hardness against her leg on previous occasion when she and Neal would sneak off to make out but seeing Killian’s rather large member standing at attention behind the thin fabric of his tight white boxers caused a reaction she had never experienced before.

Neal had been pushing for them to take their relationship to the next level, but something had always stopped Emma from taking it that far. Emma wasn’t sure she was ready. Something always caused her to panic when she thought about it.

Sure, she enjoyed the excitement and it felt nice when Neal kissed her, even made her a bit flustered when his hand would travel under her shirt and rub against her breasts through her bra.

But she didn’t know if she was interested in sex or the just the idea of sex.

However today, she definitely felt the warmth in her core when she walked in on the scene in Killian’s room. As soon as she closed the door behind her she felt the need to squeeze her thighs together to stop the ache. Maybe that was a sign that she was ready to go to that step with Neal.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she smiled when she saw Neal's face pop up on her screen. “Hey you!”

“How’s my favorite girl.”

She laughed, “What do you want now Cassidy?”

“Hey, can’t I say nice things about my girl?”

“Fine, what kind of nice things do you want to say to me?”

“Well, I was thinking maybe you’d let me say these nice things in person to you this weekend. My dad’s going out of town, I thought maybe you and I could uh, hang out here.”

Emma blushed. “Hmm, you and me alone. Now just what would we do with a house all to ourselves, Neal.”

“Oh, I have so many ideas I’d like to share with you.”

“Care to give me a sneak peek?” She cooed into the receiver, almost at a whisper.

“I’d prefer to show you. So, what do you say? You, me, Saturday night.”

She paused, knowing what this would mean for them. “Um, Sure. It’s a date.” She said, trying to sound confident. “I uh, I gotta go, Neal.”

“Ok, I’ll see you Saturday my sweet Emma.”

She clicked the end button on her phone and stared out at the forest in front of her.

She was definitely, maybe, possibly going to have sex with Neal!

“Uh sorry.” She jumped when she heard Killian’s voice behind her.

“Hey.” He walked out and set down on the step next to her.

“I uh, didn’t mean to eavesdrop on your conversation…”

Emma blushed, “Oh?”

“So uh, you and Neal. Saturday. Are you in need of the birds and bee’s conversation, Swan?” His look was definitely disapproving.

Emma frowned. “Please don’t be David right now.”

“Are you and Neal…”

“Oh God!” She turned away from him. “No um, we aren’t, not exactly, I mean we haven’t done THAT yet.” She stammered nervously.

“Oh good!” he said quickly which caused Emma to roll her eyes in annoyance.

“Hey, that doesn’t mean I couldn’t have done it!”

“Swan!” He growled.

“You’re one to lecture ME right now!”

“I’m older than you.”

“That’s a stupid reason.”

“I’m not trying to lecture you, love. I’m just saying that you should be careful of Neal’s intentions.”

“God you sound like a dad right now.” She snorted.

“I’m serious. You shouldn’t just jump into something you might regret later.”

“Who says I will regret it. Maybe I want that with Neal.”

“You don’t really know him Emma.”

She groaned. “God Killian, what is your problem with Neal anyway?”

“I just want you to be careful. With Neal or anyone you chose to give yourself to.” He reached out and pushed a strand of her hair from her face, dragging it across her cheek and behind her ear. “You should wait until you are sure you love the gent.”

“Killian Jones, who would have thought you would be such an old-fashioned gentleman.”

He leaned closer to her, their foreheads almost touching. “I’m always a gentleman.”

Did he always smell this good?

His steely blue eyes were locked on hers and she let out a shaky breath she hardly realized she was holding in. “I should um, get some sleep.”

He blinked, not moving an inch as she stood up and walked back into the house, his voice trailing softly after her. “Just think about what I said.”

~

Does it really matter if your underwear matches your bra?

She was frowning at the polka dot underwear in the reflection of the mirror in front of her. Nothing seemed to look good. Her legs weren’t long enough, her ass was too flat, her breasts didn’t perk up the way Ruby’s did in a bra. In fact, she looked nothing like Ruby did.

Would Neal care what she looked like naked.

She groaned at her reflection. “Of course, he cares Emma!”

Determined that nothing she wore was going to be perfect, she quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and the first shirt she found in her closet.

She ran a brush through her hair, lightly glossed her lips, buttoned and then quickly unbuttoned the first 2 buttons of her shirt.

This is as good as its going to get.

She found her dad in the living room tinkering with a small clock on the wall.

“I’m off to Ruby’s for the night.” She kissed his cheek and smiled at him, trying not to look guilty.

“Alright dear, you two behave and don’t cause Granny any trouble.”

She giggled, “Of course, Papa.”

She turned to see Killian standing in the door, frowning in her direction.

“And what are you and Ruby planning for the evening?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“We have all kinds of plans, Jones!”

“Oh, it would be most enlightening to hear of these great plans.”

She rolled her eyes in his direction. “See ya tomorrow, Jones.”

She took off out the door before he could respond, yanking her bicycle off the front porch. She really needed to get her driver’s license.

“Swan.”

She groaned, hopping onto the seat and looking back toward the front of the house.

“What?”

“Since when did Ruby start covering for you lying to our dear father. You and I both know where you are off to this evening.”

“Oh please, Mr. breaking the no-sex-in-the-house rule just 3 days ago! I kept my mouth shut! You owe me!”

She peddled herself down the drive leaving a brooding Killian Jones watching the dust kick up from her wake.

She is definitely having sex with Neal tonight!

~

Her confidence begins to falter about 30 minutes after she arrives at Neal’s home.

She isn’t sure how Neal’s family can afford such a nice home with just the income from the pawn shop, but the place is amazing.

However, she barely has time to take in the tour because it ends abruptly once they reach Neal’s bedroom.

“Emma, I have wanted you for so long.”

Emma moans softly at the feel of his mouth on her neck. Her heart pounding in her chest when his fingers slip under her bra and brush her nipple.

You can do this Emma. Just breathe.

The warmth of his lips disappears and her eyes pop open just in time to see him yanking his t-shirt over his head and tossing it into the corner of his room.

He is immediately on her again, she gasps when his hands tug at the zipper on her jeans.

“Relax, Emma.” He breathes into her ear, tugging at her hips to pull the jeans down her thighs.

She feels like her heart is in her throat.

His hands dip into her underwear and she squeaks when his fingers jab quickly inside of her.

His head pulls off her neck as he looks down at her. “Em, seriously, you need to breathe.”

“I’m sorry, I just need a minute.”

He groans, “Seriously Emma you’ve had a lot of minutes!”

Come on Emma, you want this.

She smiles up at him and kisses him slowly before she hears his pants unzipping. She squeezes her eyes shut and tenses beneath him. Behind her closed lids steely blue eyes come into view.

You shouldn’t just jump into something you might regret later. I just want you to be careful. With Neal or anyone you chose to give yourself to. You should wait until you are sure you love the gent.

“Get out of my head!” She whispers.

“Huh!?” Neal pants above her.

“Um nothing, sorry.” He kisses her and she feels something hard pressing against her thigh, flesh against flesh and she gulps, trying to sit up.

“Em!”

“Sorry Neal, I uh, I just I’m not sure I…”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now Emma?” He’s staring at her, anger in his eyes before he quickly recovers and sits back.

“I don’t think I can do this.” She says softly.

“Ems, I love you. I’ll go slow. It will be fine.” His lips are on her neck and he’s pushing her back down against the bed before she sits up abruptly.

“Neal.” She says firmly, putting a hand on his chest.

“Emma, I’ve been waiting for this for 2 years now. You can’t just get a guy to this point and tell him to stop.”

“I’m sorry! I just, can you please just wait a little longer?”

“You’re…sorry?” he stands up, yanking his pants on and storming out of the room.

Emma chokes back tears, feeling around the bed for her clothes. She feels foolish. She knows Neal is mad, this was the farthest they have ever gone before stopping.

She feels awful for getting him all worked up again. But she doesn’t want to regret something she can’t take back. No matter how she feels about Neal. Damn Killian for getting in her head. But mostly for being right!

She pulls her clothes on and pulls her phone from her back pocket.

She groans as she pulls the contacts up on the screen. She’s never going to hear the end of this. If only Ruby hadn’t failed her driver’s exam twice in the last month she wouldn’t be in this situation.

She’s definitely taking that stupid exam next week so she can get herself out of her own embarrassing jams!

E: Can you come get me?

She sits nervously and waits on the bed. She knows she should go talk to Neal, but she also wants to allow him time to calm down.

Ten minutes pass and she still doesn’t have a reply text. She really doesn’t want to have to ride her bike all the way home at this hour and she knows she needs to stop delaying and go downstairs and talk to Neal. But most of all she really needs to find older friends who can drive.

She walks down the steps and sees Neal sitting on the couch, a bottle in his hands. She hates when he drinks because he always gets so angry.

“Are you mad?”

Neal groans. “What do you think Em?”

She frowns. “I’m sorry, Neal.”

He tips the bottle and gulps, looking over at her. “When are you going to be ready? Ever? Do you not love me?”

She sits next to him and takes his hand. “Of course, I just… This is a lot for me. I’m just scared and while I can’t tell you how long it will be, I promise I’ll tell you as soon as I know.”

Her phone buzzes in her other hand.

Suddenly there is knocking on the door and Neal jumps up from the couch. She looks down at her phone.

K: I’m outside the door now.

Neal looks out the window and turns angrily toward her.

“You called your brother! Really Emma?”

“I thought it best that I just went home for the night.” She stands and walks toward the door swinging it open to an angry Killian Jones.

“Get on the bike, Swan.” He tosses her a helmet and points her toward his bike parked in front of the house.

She grabs the helmet, turns toward Neal and smiles. “Good night, Neal.” She says softly, turning to leave, before mouthing “I’m sorry”.

~

“Baby, I want you so bad.”

“Then show me.”

Milah pulls at his T-shirt, yanking it up his body. His phone begins buzzing on the dresser beside her bed.

“Don’t you even think about touching that phone, Killy.” She demands.

Her lips are on his in an instant. He tries to lose himself in her kiss, ignoring the voice in his head telling him that it might be Emma texting him.

He knows where she is and what she plans to be doing right now, with Neal.

Neal Cassidy, the last man on earth he would choose for Emma. Hell, he’s not even in the top 10. Not that he has a list of men he would choose for Emma. Honestly, he would prefer she just stay away from men altogether. Celibacy seems like a good path for her honestly.

Come on Jones, she’s trying to do the same thing you are right now! She’s probably already in bed with Cassidy right now.

“Ouch, would you pay attention!” His thoughts come back to the woman in his arms and the grip his fingers currently have in her hair, releasing her dark locks from his tightened fist.

“Sorry, a bit distracted, love.” She sits up and rolls over to his side. He quickly reaches over and picks up his phone.

“I told you not to touch that.”

“I know, I just…” He stops when he sees the text.

E: Can you come get me?

“I gotta go.” He gets up immediately and starts pulling on his clothes.

“Killian!”

“I know, but family emergency.” He shrugs before leaning over to kiss his annoyed girlfriend on the forehead and running out the front door, yanking his jacket on as he shuts the door behind him. There will be hell to pay for this tomorrow but right now he just needs to get to Emma.

He rides his bike with a fury toward the Gold residence hoping that the Sheriff isn’t out patrolling tonight.

He parks his bike near the small bicycle propped up behind the pawn shop in the alley beside the house and pulls out his phone, typing quickly as he runs up the stairs to the front door and bangs his fist on the wood.

K: I’m outside the door now.

The door swings open and he’s faced with the subject of his anger standing behind a slightly disheveled but embarrassed Emma.

“Neal.”

“Jones.” His annoyance is clear as he watches the boy stare angrily between him and Emma.

“Get on the bike, Swan.”

She hesitates but takes the helmet from him, turning back toward Neal before setting off down the walkway.

The moment she’s at his bike he steps toward Neal.

“Stay away from Emma.” He growls.

“You threatening me, Jones?”

“Just telling you how it’s going to be. Leave Emma alone. She’s innocent. She doesn’t know who your father really is.” He pushes a finger into his chest. “Or who you are!”

“Oh, and you’re gonna tell her, are you?” He laughs. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” He shoves his hand off his chest, taking a step toward him. “After all, you wouldn’t want Emma to know what exactly it is that you do for my father, now would you?”

Killian turns away from Neal and storms toward the bike, grabbing his helmet from Emma’s hands before pausing and looking down at her. “You ok, Swan.”

She stares at him with what he can only describe as red-faced humiliation. “Um yeah, I just want to go home.”

“Mr. Cassidy’s performance not everything you were dreaming of?” He says with a hint of sarcasm.

“Oh, we didn’t, I uh, yeah I definitely don’t want to talk about this.” He climbed on the bike and he felt it dip as she settled in behind him, her arms wrapping around his waist.

“Sorry to hear, love. Though I am happy I was able to be at your disposal to rescue your virginity.”

“Oh, shut up, Jones.” His smile grew as the bike roared to life and they set off toward home.

Notes:

Uh oh, what is Killian involved with? And will Emma get sucked into Neal's world?

[dreamcatcherfication]

Sting Me Once, Shame On You

Finally! Another one-shot! A request! I’ve written something new! And in the span of an hour and a half? I’m on a roll here.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to your daily programming. Today we have a fic based of off this request, and I was very interested in this one. Some people in my family are actually allergic to bees, but the descriptions I used for this story actually come from my brother, who’s allergic to nuts. I’ll probably explain it more in the tags, but it’s not important to the story. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this very specific fic! Sorry for any spelling/grammatical errors, I had literally no time to edit this, and I’m praying it’s the least bit coherent.

Writing Masterpost

If you want to send a request or a prompt, my inbox is always open! I publish a story at 8:00 AM PST everyday, so I’m always in need of new ideas. If you want to be tagged in my works, just let me know and I’ll be sure to tag you!

Prompts | More Prompts | The Trifecta of Prompts | Original Prompts

Trigger Warnings: Anxiety, fear, allergic reactions, bee stings, descriptions of swelling, difficulty breathing, hosptials

Summer days with the queens were spent out in the park, or walking to lunch together as they enjoyed each other's company. It was their main reprieve from the stress of the modern world and its constant moving. These few summer days were their moments to calm down and simply enjoy the company of each other and the beauty of the world. 

Today, the queens had decided for a relaxing picnic in their small garden. There wasn’t anything special, but the quality time they spent together was enough to make it a wonderful day. It was sunny for once, a blessing for the women who sat sprawled on the grass and blankets. It was more for aesthetic than anything, but a small woven basket sat in the center of the blankets, its top open to show the many foods Jane had managed to pack in there. 

Kat and Anne were off to the side, throwing a frisbee back and forth as they ran around the garden. Jane was unloading the basket, spreading the foods out for everyone to see. Cathy was on a lawn chair, reading a book while Anna stood behind her, in a perfect position to block the Sun from Cathy’s eyes. Aragon was sitting with Jane on the blankets, her eyes on the beheaded cousins, making sure they wouldn’t run into a wall when trying to catch the frisbee.

Anne threw the frisbee high, forcing Kat to jump to get it. Just barely, the girl grabbed the frisbee in her grip, keeping it from getting lodged in the bushes. “Nice catch, Kat!” Anne cheered for her cousin. Without responding, Kat threw the frisbee like a blade, the disk slicing through the air and impaling Anne in the stomach. Anne made an oof sound as she collapsed on the floor. “I’m good!” She wheezed, standing up. “All good.”

Over with Cathy, Anna had a hat on that blocked the sun from her eyes. “How long do you think that disk’ll entertain them?” Anna questioned, turning her head to face Cathy.

Putting a bookmark over her page, Cathy shut the book. “I would say not much longer, but you never know with those two.”

Chuckling, Anna helped Cathy out of the chair and they made their way over to Aragon and Jane. By now, Jane had managed to spread out all the food items on the blankets, plastic containers keeping them safe from ants. “We can start eating whenever the cousins are ready,” Jane told them. “But that might be a while,” she mentioned, raising an eyebrow at Kat and Anne who were still running around the garden, shouting with glee. 

“Anne, Kat -” Aragon called. Again, Anne had thrown the frisbee high, so when Kat turned her attention to Aragon, the disk went flying over her head. At the last moment, Kat attempted to jump and grab it, but this time she missed.

“Come on!” She groaned. The frisbee became lodged in the bushes, thick with thorns.

Anne crossed her arms and walked over to the other queens. “How are we gonna get it now? The bush is filled with thorns, there’s no way any of us can get that.”

Anna and Cathy exchanged looks and shrugged. Jane frowned at the thorns and shook her head. Kat seemed just as hesitant as Anne, already itching her skin subconsciously. “Sorry Anne,” the German queen offered, “You can always try later.”

“Yeah, we’ll probably do that,” Kat plopped down on the blankets next to Anna. Anna nudged her friend’s shoulder playfully as the two got comfortable.

Watching everyone’s nervousness, Aragon didn’t get it. “You can avoid the thorns, the frisbee isn’t that far inside,” Aragon pointed out.

Still, the others weren’t on board. “Maybe it’ll be better to come back with some weed cutters,” Jane said.

Aragon stood up and made her way over to the bush. “It’s my fault it got stuck, I’ll risk getting a scratch.” The others were silent, watching Aragon as she leaned down in front of the bushes. They were thick, and it was hard to see very far into them. But the bright red of the frisbee would’ve been visible for miles, so it wasn’t hard for Aragon to reach her hand in and find it.

Jerking her hand around, Aragon realized the frisbee was stuck on something. She yanked on it, harder and harder, trying to get the thing to come loose. “Ah!” she gasped, falling backwards, frisbee coming free. There was a small stinging in her arm, nothing too bad, but noticeable. Glancing down, Aragon realized it was a bee sting. The stinger was still stuck in her arm, but the little bee had fallen somewhere on the grass.

“Are you alright Catherine?” Jane called from the blankets.

Picking up the frisbee, Aragon made her way back to the others. “I’m fine. See? No problem.” She handed the frisbee back to Kat and nodded at Anne, who shot her a grateful smile. 

Sitting down next to Cathy, Aragon extended her arm. “I got stung by a bee in there. Do you know how to get it out?”

Cathy nodded and pulled out her bookmark, folding it in half so that it was thicker. “Hold still,” she instructed, putting the bookmark next to the stinger. “It’s not too deep, so this shouldn’t hurt.” Before Aragon could protest, Cathy quickly flicked the stinger with her bookmark, causing it to go flying out of Aragon’s arm.

Letting out a small hiss, Aragon shook her arm. It felt a little numb, but she chalked it up to being stung for the first time. “Thanks Cathy,” she rubbed her goddaughter’s shoulder.

For the next minute or so, everyone let their guards drop. There was nothing to be worried about, and the day was going by smoothly. That was until Aragon found that she was having trouble breathing. Her throat seemed a lot tighter than usual, and her eyes felt heavy. Her arm was starting to expand, a great pain enveloping it. She didn’t know what was happening, she didn’t know and because she didn’t know, she just didn’t know and -

Her thoughts ran wild, a panic starting to overtake them. “Aragon?” Kat noticed something was off first. “Is something wrong?”

Heaving a breath, Aragon reached her hand out. The others gasped at the sight of her swelling skin, covered in hives. “Oh my God,” Anna breathed out, leaning away from Aragon.

Right away, Cathy was on top of it. She pulled out her phone and dialled 999, knowing exactly what was going on. She was the only one who had seen the bee sting, and hopefully she would be able to get the right help in time. “Hello?” She said when the line picked up. “Hi yes, my friend is having an allergic reaction and we don’t have any way to help her.”

“What?” Anne had no idea what Cathy was talking about. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Aragon, terrified for the woman. Some innate fear had rooted itself in her chest, the crushing worry that Aragon wouldn’t be alright. That she had been powerless to help her friend. Anne knew fear, she would say she was more accustomed to it than most people she knew. But she had never felt the type of fear she felt now. The fear of not being able to help, and being the reason that someone she loved died. 

Following Cathy’s lead, Anna started to prop Aragon up. “Hey, talk to me.” She shook Aragon lightly. “We have to keep her talking,” Anna told the other three queens, making sure they were informed on what would help.

Jane put Aragon’s head in her lap, keeping it from falling on the hard ground. “Catherine,” she started, “what do you see in the sky?”

“Hmm?” Aragon mumbled. “Clouds. Lots of clouds.”

“Any shapes?” Kat questioned, moving to sit next to the spanish woman.

There was a moment of silence, suspended further with fear, but Aragon responded, “There’s a boat.”

“Good, what else?” Anna pushed.

“A sailor. Two sailors.”

Kat glanced over at Cathy who was still on the phone with emergency help. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be too long. The teenager turned her eyes to Anne, who was still sitting at the edge of the blankets. Her eyes were staring at the ground, unable to check on Aragon. “They’re waving goodbye. Goodbye to France and hello to England.” Anne’s ears perked up, but she didn’t move her head. “And, and, and.” Aragon choked on her words. “And there’s a maiden.” At that, Anne’s head shot up, her eyes wide with surprise. “Beautiful and carefree. But she carries a shadow around her. The other clouds block out the sun before it can reach her. Now there’s a man.”

All the queens, save Cathy and Aragon, shared concerned looks as they realized what story Aragon was telling in her haziness. “This man is big and large. Towering. He blocks out all the sun. The maiden is trying to run, but she can’t. She tries to fly away, but he catches her. And now she prefers the gilded cage to freedom.”

Before the story could continue, Cathy came up to them. “An ambulance is almost here. I need to go out front to let them in, you four stay here and keep her talking.”

Standing up faster than the speed of light, Anne was suddenly at Cathy’s side. “I’ll come with you.” Cathy ignored Anne’s strange behavior and jogged through the house to the front door. Kat watched her go, noticing how Anne refused to look anywhere but straight ahead, her muscles tight and unmoving. 

The three queens left sat in silence, staring at Aragon as she breathed heavily. The queen was muttering different words, her sentences incoherent. At least she was still talking, which was good. It felt like a million years before Anne and Cathy returned, followed by a handful of EMTs. They scooped Aragon up, one of them administering an epipen that would stabilize Aragon. After making sure she was stable enough to transport, she was picked up and carried to an ambulance.

Anne released the tension in her chest ever so slightly and fell to her knees. It wasn’t over yet, and her chest still felt like a million hands were squeezing it as tightly as possible. But Aragon would survive, and that was enough. She wouldn’t be killed by a stupid bee sting. Not today. 

The hospital was as typical as those seen in television shows, the halls white and the doctors in plain scrubs. Aragon was hooked up to an IV, her heart rate steady and her skin back to normal. No more hives, no more swelling, just her. Just Aragon. There was still a small puncture in her arm, a reminder of the original sting that caused all this panic.

A knock at her door alerted Aragon that someone was waiting for her. “Come in!” She called, adjusting in her bed so she could better see everything. 

After a moment, the door creaked open and Anna poked her head in. “Hey Catherine,” she greeted. “Are you okay to see all of us? The doctor said yes, but I wanted to warn you before everyone comes crashing in.”

“Yeah, send them in,” Aragon gave her consent, preparing for the appearance of her fellow queens.

The first person through the door after Anna was Kat. Her eyes twinkled with relief when she saw Aragon’s smile, and she came to stand at the foot of the bed. Next was Cathy, who rushed to her godmother’s side, gasping thankfully when she saw her happy and healthy. Then Jane, who came up beside Cathy and wiped a tear from her eye when she made eye contact with Aragon.

Finally, Anne sulked her way into the room. She came up beside Kat, her head down in shame. “I’m sorry,” she admitted immediately, addressing Aragon.

“What for?”

“I got the frisbee stuck in the bushes,” Anne confessed. “And you were the one who had to get it. I know it was your choice but… it’s my fault this happened.

Frowning, Aragon shook her head. “No, no it’s not. I got that frisbee under my free will, like you said. Therefore it can’t be your fault. It was my choice. Besides, I don’t blame any besides that bee.”

Hopefully, Anne glanced up and watched Aragon’s face for any sign that she was lying. “You mean it?”

“Yes, of course I do Anne.” Aragon opened her arms, and Anne came around the bed to hug her friend. “I’m fine, and I will be fine.”

“It’s probably a good thing Catherine was stung when she was,” Cathy commented.

It was Jane’s turn to be confused. “Why?”

“Because otherwise we never would have known she’s allergic to bees. And if something were to happen when we weren’t all together, things could’ve been a lot worse.”

A collective shiver travelled through the whole room. “I’m glad that didn’t happen,” Kat commented from in front of Aragon.

“Me too,” the older queen chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

“Of all things to be allergic to, why bees? Why not something cool, like poison ivy?” Anna tried to joke.

Kat laughed. “I don’t think it matters if you’re allergic to poison ivy. It’s poison ivy. It’s gonna suck anyway.”

Anna rolled her eyes and shoved Kat’s shoulder lightly. Cathy watched the interaction and raised an eyebrow at Anna who cheekily smirked back. “Once Aragon’s better, we can resume that frisbee match. Once we buy a beekeeper suit. Gotta be safe, right?”

“Really Anna?” Aragon laughed.

“Really.”

(They all laughed at the joke, but it was only a week later when Anne brought home an actual beekeeper suit that the experience became ingrained in their memories forever.)

-----------------------------------------

@radcowboyalmondtree @boleynhowards @annabanana2401 @babeebobo@dont-lose-your-queerhead @everything-insanity @mindless-pidgeon @i-wanna-dance-and-sing-six @thenicestnonbinary @its-totes-gods-will @thatbolxyngirl @thenameisnoone @sixqueendom @frogs-in-clogs @timetoriseabove

[heliothen-stories]

Hello everyone! I’m finally introducing my wips!

Please tell me if you would be like to be added to my tag list for any of these wips :D

We’ll fly together again

Almost a hundred years ago, a Sorceress named Erato became the bodyguard of a demon princess, Aurelia. Together they would come to face many secrets and conspiracies as they became more enthralled in the heart of the demon court. Soon, a strong bond was built between them. But then … they died.

Years passed, and Erato got reincarnated as a demon herself. With no memories of her past life and going by the name Bee, she gets sent to the Stargazer Academy to investigate what seems to be a normal case of haunting. However, this case might hide more secrets than normally anticipated, and soon she will learn that the past that she has been searching for might have been searching for her just as much.

Genre: urban fantasy, NA

Additional info: wlw main couple, many queer characters and relationships, reincarnation, angst but with a happy ending, supernatural creatures galore

The rest of my wips are under the read more~

Into the witch’s cauldron

Being the only human in a school for Sorcerers is hard, especially when both of your parents are Sorcerers and the Headmistress is your mother, but Lethe is set on proving that magic cast by human witches can be just as powerful as a Sorcerer’s. However, she goes a little overboard with her magic and when she frees someone who should have stayed locked she runs away from the school to escape punishment.

Running away proves to be both more difficult and more fun than she anticipated and soon she finds herself in the city of Callithae, one of the most enchanting and mysterious places in this world. Living with a far too welcoming werewolf pack and carrying with her an endless curiosity, nothing will stop her from experiencing all the city has to offer and causing some shenanigans along the way.

But her past just doesn’t seem to want to leave her alone.

Genre: urban fantasy, YA

Additional info: wlw main couple, found family, supernatural creatures galore once again

Rooftop talks

Starting her second year in university, Sonia has to deal not only with the increasing number of art assignments but also with the thin walls of her apartment. Wanting to escape the very loud television of her next door neighbor, she decides to go to the rooftop of her apartment building, a place that always brings her inspiration. There she meets the person that lives above her and he just happens to be the loudest neighbor of them all. While their first meeting doesn’t go the best way, through a series of random encounters on the rooftop the two start to build a close relationship and feelings begin to develop.

Genre: romance, NA or YA? Who knows?

Additional info: m/f relationship and both of them are bisexual disasters, just a funny-fluffy read

Before the roses take us (a beauty and the beast retelling)

Once upon a time, a wandering merchant stumbled across a castle. A castle that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. While she doesn’t think much of her arrival there, the truth is that she might be the only hope for the castle’s two inhabitants, a prince and his magician. The prince is cursed and the curse affects not only him, but also those around him. For the curse to be broken, the prince has to realize what love truly means. But love doesn’t have just one face and it doesn’t always come the way you would expect it.

Genre: fantasy, YA 

Additional info: I am very proud of many of my little plot twists which I don’t want to spoil, so if the description seems a little vague it’s because it is, lots of queer characters, figuring out your sexuality, I’m trying to have a balance of both funny and darker themes

When you call the love experts

Do you have trouble asking your crush out? Do you have no idea how to plan a first date? Or maybe you just need someone to play music while you and your crush look at the sunset on a sandy beach.

Look no further: the cupid gang’s got your back!

Melina and her two best friends, Khai and Trice, are the people to call when you have crush problems. Love advice, first date advice, even fashion advice is their thing. But when they get called to help the school’s star basketball player, Yvonne, ask out one of her teammates, Penelope, then it might be Melina finding love for a change.

Genre: romance, YA

Additional info: wlw main couple, mlm side couple, no girl hate since I’ve had enough of that, high school setting, slowburn, mutual pining

[bugaboosandbees]

Reine Ruse Part 5

Hello all! I finished this chapter a bit early, so I figured that I'd post it a bit early!

There's a LOT going on emotionally in this chapter, and I only hope that I managed to do it justice. I am writing from my own limited experiences, so if you see anything I missed or handled in a way that feels wrong to you, please let me know.

It means the world to me that so many of you are interested in these dumb ramblings. Thank you all so, SO much for reading!

As always, if you’d like to be tagged, shoot me a message! (And please remind me if I forgot to tag you... computers are hard!)

Chloe

Chloe lay back in bed, resting one hand over the necklace that now hung around her neck, the silver metal seeming too little a weight for its importance. Her new kwami and partner, Trixx, was happily burrowed into a den she’d made him out of one of her dresser drawers and several of her fluffiest winter scarves. Her head was still spinning.

Tikki had left after setting the necklace down on the table between them. “As soon as you pick it up, Trixx will appear. They’ll explain everything.” Her eyes had softened. “Thank you, Chloe. It will be nice to know that someone has her back.”

Chloe had stared at her determinedly. “I won’t let her down.”

“I know.” Tikki had smiled and then vanished into the night.

Chloe had stared down at the necklace for some time, noting the way that the silver metal reflected the light in the room. Finally, she had reached down. As soon as she’d touched the chain, she’d had to close her eyes against the blinding orange light that had erupted. When she’d opened them, there was an orange fox-like being the same size as Tikki and Pollen in front of her.

“Hello,” they’d said, “My name is Trixx, and I’m your kwami! Tikki’s explained the situation to me. I can’t believe what my previous kit did that to Ladybug, but I thank you for taking care of her. I’m looking forward to getting to know you, and I know that you won’t make the same mistake.”

Chloe wasn’t quite sure what to make of Trixx. They were different from Pollen… Pollen was kind and quiet. In the few moments Chloe had had with her, she seemed pretty content to cave to Chloe’s judgment. Although Trixx put on a playful front, they seemed wise and looked at her like they knew a secret she didn’t. She had the feeling that this was a kwami that wouldn’t let their wielder get away with the kinds of things she’d done as Queen Bee at first. She wasn’t going to lie, that was reassuring.

Trixx had explained the powers of the fox to her in as much detail as she could wring out of them. She was going to be the best damn superhero partner Ladybug could ever dream of having, and she couldn’t look anything short of competent her first time out. Illusions were going to be new. She was a bit annoyed that the fox miraculous sounded less combative than the bee, and she must have looked it.

“Don’t underestimate the power of perception, kit.” He’d looked around her room. “You seem like the sort of person who knows what lies people tell themselves, and how far they’re willing to go to cling to those illusions. You may not be able to paralyze your foes physically as a fox hero, but if you figure out what matters most to them, you’ll paralyze them mentally, which is infinitely more fatal.”

She’d thought about what Trixx had said and concluded that they were right. When they’d put it that way, she’d started to see that her new power set was more suited to her than she’d thought. She’d grown up in a high-class world of glitz and glamour, learning early on that no one could truly be trusted to not want to use her as a connection to her parents. She’d spent more years than she’d like to admit lying to herself that her mother’s abandonment and her father’s passivity in her life didn’t hurt her, that they really were the perfect family they pretended to be for the press, and that she bullied Marinette Dupain-Cheng because she hated her -- not because she was jealous of the other girl’s boundless kindness and loving home. She could do this. She knew what people wanted and how far they were willing to go to get it. She knew how people lied to themselves and what kind of pain those lies could cause. She could do this, she could use the few, shitty lessons her parents had sought fit to teach her for some kind of good. She had to -- Ladybug was counting on her.

Marinette

Marinette awoke to sunlight streaming over her face. She stretched, still half asleep, and curled her toes into the soft blanket. She felt so relaxed...  She turned her head and slowly opened her eyes to find Tikki sitting on the small bed she’d fashioned for her, eyes closed as a shimmering red glow emanating from her, covering the entire bed.  

“Tikki? What’s going on?”

Tikki slowly opened her eyes. “Good morning, Marinette. I… I thought that after last night, you deserved a really good night’s sleep. Just think of it as a bit of kwami magic.”

Marinette smiled softly. What had she done to deserve Tikki? “Thank you, Tikki.”

The red glow dissipated as Tikki rose into the air, hovering over her charge. “And, it’s Saturday, which means that you should be able to work on the dress you’ve been meaning to finish!”

Her eyes lit up. “You’re right! I’ve been so busy, but all I have to do this weekend is the history report, and I’ve already picked out my sources, so that shouldn’t take too long!” She rose out of bed, clambered down the ladder to the floor, and stretched, arms raised high over her head.

“... Marinette,” Tikki sounded almost hesitant. “There is something I should tell you before you get to work.”

Marinette looked up at Tikki questioningly. “What is it?”

The tiny god sighed. “Last night… after you went to sleep, I was just so worried about you, and about everything happening with Chat Noir… I was so angry. I went to visit the Guardian, and when he didn’t share my concerns… I chose a new permanent hero myself.”

“What?” Whatever she’d been expecting, that was not it.

Tikki barreled on. “And, I couldn’t take the turtle or the bee, so… I took the fox. I know that things have been complicated with Alya lately, but I didn’t even consider that before I went last night, and I know that the person I picked is someone who is going to really protect you, but I don’t want to make anything more complicated between you and Alya --”

“Tikki, Tikki, it’s okay. I… with everything that’s happening with Chat lately… it will be really nice to have some back up that I can count on. And, as for Alya…” she quieted. “I’m not sure I’d be able to put my feelings aside enough to trust her in battle right now. Honestly, I was dreading the next time my Lucky Charm would call for the fox because Master Fu tells me to choose people that I trust, and… I’m not sure if I can trust her anymore.”

Tikki flew down to rest a comforting paw on Marinette’s cheek. “It’s okay, Marinette. Everything’s going to be okay. For now, why don’t we get to work on that dress?”

Marinette nodded and turned towards the half-finished gown on her mannequin with a determined smile. Her kwami was on her side, and she had someone new that she could trust to watch her back. She’d deal with Chat when she had to, but, for now, Tikki was right -- it was time to do something she enjoyed, and she wasn’t going to let anything taint that.

Adrien

Adrien had been pacing his room for hours. He was so tired, but he hadn’t been able to sleep at all the last night. Every time he’d tried, he’d seen the fear in his Lady’s eyes as she’d run from him the previous night. How had he not recognized it? How terrible of a person was he that his Lady’s fear hadn’t been enough to make him see what he was doing was wrong? Why had both Chloe and Plagg had to set him straight?

It was clear that he’d need to do more than just apologize. He wanted to kick himself. He’d thought he’d been doing things right -- he’d just wanted Ladybug to know how much he cared about her. But he’d forgotten his duty to the city -- and to his partner. His Bugaboo was right -- first and foremost, they were superheroes. And he’d been acting like a jealous anime protagonist. He thought of how he felt when Lila or the models he worked with would hang off of him and flirt and invade his space and felt sick. Of all people, you’d think he’d be the one to realize when someone’s boundaries were being crossed!

He paused in his pacing and leaned his forehead up against the cool glass of the window. He had no idea how to fix this. When it had happened to him, he’d either just dealt with it, in Lila’s case, or his father had filed restraining orders. Neither option was viable here, and, frankly, his stomach churned at the thought of exiling himself from the only person felt like he was really himself with.

The crux of the problem was that he needed advice. Plagg seemed to have exhausted his short bout of wisdom, maintaining that he made this problem, and it was his responsibility to fix it. The tiny god had been more affectionate than usual, curling up in the hollow where Adrien’s neck met his shoulder rather than on the small bed Adrien had fashioned for him next to the cheese cupboard. His kwami’s support despite his monumental screw up was the only thing keeping him optimistic that he might be able to fix this somehow. But who else could he go to for advice? He couldn’t talk to anyone as Adrien, that was for sure. If word got back to the press that he’d behaved the way Chat Noir had, Agreste Fashions would get enough bad press that he was sure he’d never leave the house again. But who did he know as Chat, besides his Lady?

The answer hit him like a bolt of lightning. Of course! Who better for a superhero to ask for advice than the famous Ladyblogger?

Alya

Whatever Alya Cesaire had been expecting to happen that Saturday morning, it certainly wasn’t one of the two superheroes of Paris knocking sheepishly on her window, much less that the superhero in question was Chat Noir. She hurried to open the window and let him in, mind racing.

“Chat Noir! What’s up?” She exclaimed. Internally, she was confused. Chat didn’t know she was Rena Rouge, so, unless Ladybug told him, he wasn’t here to recruit her for a fight… But it was unusual for him to stop by -- for that matter, how did he figure out where she lived?

“Hey, Alya,” he muttered, dragging a clawed hand through his hair in a gesture that was uncharacteristically nervous for the confident superhero. His eyes looked a bit watery through the mask. Had he been crying? “I know this is kinda strange, but, I don’t really know many people as Chat, and I needed some advice… If you’re busy, I can totally leave, I didn’t mean to impose, I mean, you’re probably busy and --” he looked like he was working himself up into a frenzy. Just what was going on? “Chat Noir! Calm down, it’s fine, I’m not busy. Why don’t you have a seat?” Alya quickly dumped the stack of school books on her computer chair to the floor.

He complied, sitting ramrod straight, knees pressed together, and hands clasped in his lap. She raised an eyebrow.

“Alright,” she said slowly, “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on.” Chat looked down at his hands. “I really messed up.”

“What do you mean?” she questioned. Was it something to do with an akuma? No, she’d have heard about that… But what else could he mean?

“It’s… Ladybug. I… I’ve been an awful partner and a worse friend, and I don’t know how to fix it!” His voice rose in distress near the end of the sentence, and he clenched his hands so tightly Alya was sure that, if he hadn’t been wearing a super-suit, his fingernails would have dug bloody crescents into his palms.

“Slow down there, tiger. What do you mean by that?” Alya’s mind was racing. What had happened between Paris’ heroes? Sure, Ladybug seemed to be running off pretty quickly after each battle lately, but that wasn’t super out of character… If only she’d been able to get closer to the fighting, she might know what was going on! “I know that Ladybug really values you as her partner, she’s made that really clear in the past. If you’re worried that she thinks you’re not pulling your weight, I’m sure she’d be the first person to tell you --”

“That’s not it!” He broke in, anguished. “I -- I’m kind of a shut-in in my civilian life. My d-parents are really overprotective, so I don’t get to leave the house much, and I guess I’m kind of clueless socially. I thought that I was… I thought that I was just flirting, but I… I’ve been harassing Ladybug and I think she’s scared of me, and I don’t know what to do to fix it, because I can’t just apologize --” his breaths were coming faster and faster.

Being friends with Marinette, as much as that had gone south lately, Alya knew how to deal with a panic attack. She rested her hands firmly on Chat Noir’s shoulders. “Listen to me, you need to breathe with me. Can you do that? In…  and out. In… and out. In… and out. Just focus on breathing. In… and out.” She could think about how strange this was, and how in over her goddamn head she was later. She kept up a steady stream of soothing words until Chat Noir’s stabbing, choppy breaths had leveled off.

“Are you alright? Do you need me to get you anything?” She looked at the superhero, worried.

“I’m… I’m fine. I just need advice. How do I fix this?”

Alya paused. “Well, I’m not sure exactly what happened, but you’re her partner and I’m sure that you can come back from this. It may not be easy, or fast, and the friendship that you have may never be quite the same as it was, but I think she’ll see you’re sincere. If things are as bad as you say they are, it might not be right away, or even soon, and you need to be okay with that. I’m… I’m sorry too. I’ve helped make it worse.”

Chat looked up at her. “What do you mean?”

Alya sighed. “The picture of the kiss from when you were battling Oblivio? She told me not to post it, but I did anyway.” She smiled ruefully. “It looks like quite a few of us have had trouble respecting her boundaries. Just, respect her opinion from here on in. Apologize, be sincere, and act in a way that shows that you’ve learned your lesson and you’ll never do something like that again. Don’t push her. If all you ever are to each other is fellow heroes from here on in, you need to make your peace with that. Okay?” She maintained eye contact with him, watching as tides of rolling emotions passed over his face.

“Thank you, Alya.” He finally said quietly. He paused. “Would it be possible to film an apology for the Ladyblog? I… I don’t know if any civilians have been close enough to see my behavior, but, just in case, I want them to know that I know that I was wrong and that the way I was acting isn’t something any of us should stand for.”

Alya offered him a bittersweet grin. “I think we can manage that.”

As Alya was setting up her equipment for the video, a thought struck her. “Hey Chat, if you don’t mind me asking, I mean, I’m grateful that you trusted me enough to come to ask me for advice, but, I was wondering, why didn’t you go to Lila? I mean, you’re so much closer to her, and the girl’s aunt is a world-renowned counselor, surely she could have given you better advice?”

Chat was still distracted and fidgeting, unsure of what he was supposed to say on the video. Without seeming to think about it, he scoffed, “Why would I go to Lila? She lies like she breathes, and she hates Ladybug so much she tried her best to separate us when Onichan attacked.”

Alya sucked in a breath as if someone had punched her, and Chat seemed to realize what he had said. “ Shit, shit, forget I ever said that Alya!”

Alya’s voice was small and deadly. “Why?”

“I mean,” he looked unsure, “She’s been akumatized three times already and M’Lady is pretty sure that two of those were willingly, and every time someone calls her out on her lies it happens again, and I’m sure if we just give her a chance to get better on her own it would be better than telling everyone she’s lying and just getting her akumatized again.”

Alya was having trouble processing. “Wait. You said she was akumatized three times? Wasn’t she only akumatized twice.”

Seeming resigned, Chat shook his head. “You remember Heroes day? Before Hawkmoth turned himself into Scarlet Moth, he gave everyone in Paris negative feelings by showing them that illusion. That was Volpina. And,” his eyes darted back and forth, “I mean, this is speculation, but Hawkmoth can only akumatize one person at a time, and he wasn’t active as Scarlet Moth yet, and M’Lady and I never purified Volpina that day… which means he must have called back the akuma himself…” his voice got quieter “which means she might have… been akumatized willingly.”

Her world was spinning. If that was true, it would mean… “What have I done?”

Chat looked over at her, puzzled at the horror she was sure was etched all over her face. “Alya? What’s wrong?”

Did he really not understand? Okay, Cesaire, calm down. He’d said he was sheltered, but damn this was pushing it. Still, he had come to her, so she’d give him the benefit of the doubt. “Did you really think that it would be better to let her keep lying?”

“I mean, I guess? She’s not really hurting anyone, and she’ll never get better if we don’t give her a chance?”

A scoff broke out before she could hold it back. “Sorry, but…” she thought for a moment before it hit her. “How does Hawkmoth make akumas?”

“He uses people’s negative emotions.”

“Exactly. Look, I know that you’re a superhero and you wouldn’t know this, but… well, Lila’s in my class at school. If what you’re telling me is true, she’s been lying to us since she got there. And… those lies have had consequences. I mean, the Ladyblog is the prime source of akuma alerts and information. If it got out that I’d posted false information,” she winced, “people might not trust my blog anymore, and it wouldn’t be able to serve its function. I’ve wanted to be a journalist my entire life, Chat Noir. If I lose people’s trust in my journalistic integrity… that’s almost the worst thing I can imagine.” She took a deep and bracing breath. “I say almost the worst, because,” she paused, clenching her fists, “something worse has already happened. You probably don’t know her, but my… best friend, her name is Marinette. God, because I didn’t want to believe Lila was lying, I don’t know if I even have the right to call her that anymore. I shouted at her on Lila’s behalf and insulted and… bullied her, these past few weeks. Lila told us all such ugly lies about her, and I believed her. Forget the blog, what kind of negative emotions do you think I’m feeling right now, knowing that I might have ruined the first, most meaningful friendship I made in Paris?” She was crying, she realized.

He looked shocked. “I… I never thought about it that way.”

She wiped the tears out of her eyes almost violently. “It looks like we both have a lot to make up for. Now, let’s get started.”

Tags: 

@demydreamer-otaku-and-book-lover , @anastasian-dreamer, @donegonewrong , @twinkletoes-rp , @asandygraves , @fatimaabbasrizvi , @im-here-for-the-content , @theorangelizard , @captainrose35 , @pleasefollowmeuwu , @the-ice-goddess , @ofpassionsandobsessions, @starberry-mina, @mikantsume, @bloody-no-kissu , @chocolatemilk52

[foofygoldfish]

20 otp questions

tagged by @minilev, @faithchel, @shellibisshe, and @chyrstis​, all a while ago... sorry! skdflj

going to do this for faith/alice and elizabeth/tess!

1) who can outdrink the other?

faith/alice: alice. easily. you wouldn’t expect someone her size to have such a good alcohol tolerance, but she can easily keep up with hurk and sharky.

elizabeth/tess: hmmmm. tess, probably.

2) who says “i love you” more?

faith/alice: alice says it casually more, but faith says it with meaning.

elizabeth/tess: elizabeth.

3) who has trouble sleeping alone?

faith/alice: faith - she can sleep alone, she’s just much, much happier when alice is there with her. sometimes she feels a little silly curling into alice’s side when she’s that much taller than alice, but she feels safe that way.

elizabeth/tess: elizabeth. generally, when she has no option other than sleeping alone? she stays up until she literally can’t stay awake. the first night she gives up and sleeps in the same bed as tess? that’s her first proper night’s sleep in years. her nightmares don’t stop after she gets to jackson like she had hoped, but by then? neither her nor tess mind the cuddling.

4) who swears more?

faith/alice: lmao have you met alice

elizabeth/tess: listen, a lot of alice’s traits came from elizabeth (before i had decided to add elizabeth in) and uh... the swearing was one of them. tess gives her a run for her money, but elizabeth absolutely swears more.

5) who does more of the housework?

faith/alice: technically faith - they both do housework, but after faith moves in, she’s home more.

elizabeth/tess: ....hmmm.... elizabeth, i think - she hates cleaning, but she’s very particular about how things are cleaned.

6) who forgets their anniversary?

faith/alice: neither of them are really sure what day they should actually cound as their anniversary lol - the day they met, the day they started dating, the day they started dating again... etc.....

elizabeth/tess: okay so. elizabeth doesn’t actually remember what day her and tess met, or what day they became a “thing,” since that technically happened on their trek across the country. until they got married, they agreed to just use the day they arrived in jackson, but elizabeth really wishes she remembered. (Tess does - for both - but she knows elizabeth will immediately forget it... again....)

7) who steals the duvet in their sleep?

faith/alice: i think i’ve said alice for this before, but honestly? faith. she’s a massive blanket hog.

elizabeth/tess: elizabeth omg. tess doesn’t know how she does it.

8) who keeps the other awake at night with their snoring?

faith/alice: faith. and the cats. faith usually blames the cats, but alice knows she snores too.

elizabeth/tess: elizabeth says she doesn’t snore. tess says she talks, which is worse.

9) who finds stray animals and begs the other to let them keep them?

faith/alice: oh god. it’s alice. 100%. the worst was when alice decided that peaches was going to be a house cat - she was talked out of that, but she still made her a nest in the garage.

elizabeth/tess: once again, alice got her ‘adopting every animal she sees’ habit from elizabeth lol - she says all the semi-feral or feral cats she finds can be barn cats, but every single one that she finds that is friendly? it either ends up in her and tess’ house (which is tiny) or someone else’s. same with dogs and... any small animal, really. tess asked her to stop, but uh - then the neighbors started bringing elizabeth animals to place, which is how they ended up with their ferret, noodle.

10) who usually makes dinner?

faith/alice: alice is not allowed to cook.

elizabeth/tess: they generally will cook together, or whoever is home first will - neither of them are particularly good at cooking, but they like the process of it.

11) who plays their music out loud?

faith/alice: alice! faith has come home to alice having a dance party with the cats many times.

elizabeth/tess: hmmm. they both will - elizabeth’s more likely to blast her old record player, but tess will be a little more aware of the people around her and the house.

12) who hogs the bathroom?

faith/alice: listen. alice’s hair takes a lot of maintenance. she’s also terrible at putting in her contacts, so uh, that takes a while.

elizabeth/tess: elizabeth, once again lol. before arriving in jackson she didn’t really care, but once they were settled in, she felt like she could take time on her appearance again. and hot showers. god, she missed hot showers. and baths. (tess joins her in those sometimes - to save water, of course - but tess still takes significantly less time in there.) ....also, she tends to read a book when she’s in there and completely lose track of time lol

13) who gives the most compliments?

faith/alice: oh, they both will. a lot. i’m just terrible at writing them lmao

elizabeth/tess: tess. elizabeth is terrible at giving and receiving compliments

14) who usually starts/causes arguments between them?

faith/alice: after faith ditches the cult, it’s usually because alice did something reckless, which happens a lot more as they get closer to willow arriving in prosperity - faith is worried, and alice feels like she’s useless if she’s just hiding in the ranch.

elizabeth/tess: similarly - it’s usually because someone did something stupid/dangerous. tess has gone out on patrols when elizabeth didn’t think it was safe - incoming weather, too many infected nearby, etc, and elizabeth has burnt herself out before working in the barns, taking barn shifts, or (more often than she’ll admit) deciding the best way to fight the infected is by getting more than a little too close.

15) who isn’t afraid to embarrass the other in public?

faith/alice: .......faith.

elizabeth/tess: elizabeth.

16) who gives the other cringe-worthy pet names?

faith/alice: alice tries. she really does.

elizabeth/tess: okay i know i call her this too - but elizabeth hates being called bee lol. she’s not a fan of nicknames in general, so if you don’t get yelled at for calling her that? you’re pretty special to her.

17) who fusses over the other when they get sick?

faith/alice: alice will fuss, but faith? she goes full momma bird. there might be a taste of that in the next chapter (9, not 8) of otb 👀

elizabeth/tess: elizabeth tries, but her idea of helping is continuously handing tess soup. tess is a little better, but she will also listen to elizabeth when she says to stop hovering

18) who finds it impossible to stay angry at the other for long?

faith/alice: both of them. the fight they’re currently having in otb is the longest one that they have at about... i think my timeline has it at about three weeks total? there’s more but - spoilers! 😉 anyways, most of their fights are a few minutes to a few hours - they have a rule of not going to bed angry.

elizabeth/tess: elizabeth. she’ll sulk, yeah, but she can’t really stay mad at tess. or anyone. ever. it’s kinda a problem, honestly

19) who clings to the other for comfort when they’re sad or scared?

faith/alice: faith. alice is safe.

elizabeth/tess: elizabeth, though she’s gotten pretty good at talking herself out of being scared or showing the signs that something is up. she tends to hover near tess when she needs comfort, and tess learned pretty quickly how to recognize what was going on

20) who is more ‘physically passionate’? (hugs, kisses, or maybe more…)

faith/alice:  alice. jesus christ, alice. slkjdf. i know faith is canonically very touchy - but uh... alice.

elizabeth/tess: tess - elizabeth is a hugger, but she’s also very bad at expressing emotions and knowing what touches are appropriate when (so she tends to just not).

[angelofthequeers]

Little Devil

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

You know, if Adrien didn’t just sit by and be an enabler. And if Chloé’s character development actually stuck. And if the writers could actually write consistent characterisation.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Alya to bits. But this girl was so wildly OOC in this episode that it’s not funny. I also like all the other classmates. But since it’s Chloé’s POV, we all know our blonde bitch will take any chance she gets to drag them.

The fic idea came from @gale-of-the-nomads and Little Devil from @zoe-oneesama (in case you want a picture reference). And @angel-of-death-2015 requested a tag in this here saltfic, so here you are! Part 2 coming tomorrow when I’ve caught up on sleep!

Part 2 | AO3 link

This is ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous! Okay, so Chloé doesn’t like Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and you’d have to be an idiot to not realise that by now. But if there’s one person that Chloé dislikes more than Marinette, it’s that serial liar Lila Rossi.

Actually, scratch that. Chloé doesn’t even really care about Marinette anymore. Hell, after all that stuff Marinette had done to get Chloé’s maman to like her and then throw that party for Queen Bee, Chloé’s inclined to think that Marinette is average. Not worth her attention, whether positive or negative, even though Chloé had been a bitch about the macarons on Heroes’ Day (but then Marinette had invited her to the picnic, so. Yeah.). And sure, Marinette’s crushing on Adrien – really, who wouldn’t crush on him, that’s just common sense – but she doesn’t hang off him like some kind of…ugh, leech. Even Chloé’s not as touchy as this Lila girl, who had practically been sitting in Adrien’s lap in class.

And really, Chloé has a right to be so physically affectionate with Adrien. They’re childhood friends, after all. She’s started to suspect that he’s not really that into it, but that’s something they can deal with another day. Right now, the problem is Lila Rossi. More specifically, how everyone in the class seems to be under some sort of spell or something, because how else would they swallow these utterly ridiculous lies?

Hmm. Maybe Lila’s just a permanent akuma from now on, with the power to make anyone believe her ridiculous lies. Queen Bee should really investigate that…with a few small hits to make sure. But Chloé can’t really go Queen Bee right now, so it’s time for the next best thing: the enemy of her enemy is her temporary ally. And that ally just happens to be one Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

“Ugh, really,” Chloé scoffs, shattering the silence. Having taken the cafeteria by surprise, the attention is now on Chloé, just as it should be.

“Is there a problem, Chloé?” Lila says, all sickly sweet and pathetic. Ugh, really. At least Chloé doesn’t have to tell so many lies for attention; that just comes naturally when you’re the mayor’s daughter. Small lies, sure, but at least she can say she’s not Liar Rossi.

“Duh,” Chloé drawls. She pushes her gourmet lunch from her personal chef away and stands up, hands on her hips, her lip curling at how everyone’s crowded around Lila to cater to her every whim like Sabrina does for Chloé. The difference is that Chloé actually gives half a fig for Sabrina, whereas Lila clearly doesn’t give a damn about any of these losers. “The problem is what’s wrong with all of you.”

“What’s wrong with us?” Alya says. Hmm. Some best friend to Marinette she is. “You’re one to talk, Chloé!”

“At least I’m not two-faced to my friends,” Chloé says. “Sabrina knows what she’s signing up for by being my best friend, though I’m not so sure I like how she’s fawning over Lila like that when she’s supposed to be fawning over me.” She puts on a look of exaggerated thought. “But I don’t think Marinette expected this from her friends…if you can even call yourselves that.”

There’s predictably immediate uproar, which Chloé drinks in with a smug smile on her face. Chaos is absolutely beautiful. Cause enough of it and you can pretty much get away with anything while everyone’s distracted by their hurt feelings. Lila just stares back evenly, the look in her eyes promising that somewhere, sometime, Chloé will pay for this.

Which would be a lot more intimidating if Chloé hadn’t mastered that look for herself, to be honest. What could this pathetic liar do to her, Chloé Bourgeois?

“Oh, come on,” Alya scoffs. “Like you care about Marinette. You’re just jealous of Lila because you’re not the centre of attention anymore.”

Chloé lets herself laugh at that because honestly, she doesn’t give a damn about Lila. Maybe if Lila was actually a credible threat. But really, Chloé can disprove half her lies on the very spot; she’d just rather not until she absolutely has to get her hands dirty. Make everyone stew just that bit longer.

“You’re right,” she says. “I don’t really care all that much about Marinette. But at least I’m honest about it. I don’t go calling myself her friend and then turning my back as soon as some lame new girl shows up.”

“Hey!” Kim says. “We didn’t turn our backs –”

“No, stop,” Lila sniffles. A tear slides down her cheek and it’s all Chloé can do to not double over laughing at how obviously fake it all is. “Chloé has a point. I didn’t mean to take Marinette’s friends from her –”

“Dude, you didn’t take us,” Nino says. “You needed help because of your ear and wrist.”

“Yeah!” Rose pipes up. “Marinette’s just upset. But she’ll come around! And then she’ll just love being your friend!”

“Oh, this is priceless!” Chloé laughs, wiping a tear from her eye. “Do you even hear yourselves? ‘Marinette will come around, then she’ll love being your friend!’ She can’t stand Lila!”

“And I don’t understand why,” Lila says, delicately dabbing her nose with a napkin with the hand that Chloé’s pretty sure is the one she claimed had arthritis. “I’ve tried to be nice to her! I want so badly to be her friend, but I guess some people are just incompatible…”

Chloé laughs even harder. “Oh. My. God. How am I the one defending Marinette while the rest of you treat her like some horrible person because she’s the only one smart enough to see through Lila?”

“You’re just defending her because she’s acting like you,” Alix says, her arms crossed. “Now that she’s started being mean to Lila because she’s jealous that Lila’s sitting next to the guy she likes, I bet you think she’s just the best person ever.”

“Do you even hear yourself?” Chloé says. “I don’t even like Marinette.”

“No, really?” Juleka mutters.

“In fact, I have a whole list of reasons why I don’t like her,” Chloé declares. “Sabrina can back me up there. But you know what isn’t one of those reasons? Being a bully. If there’s any one person out of the lot of you who’s least likely to be a bully, it’s Marinette.”

“But Adrien –”

“Think, people!” Chloé interrupts Rose. “Is Marinette really the kind of person to be mean to someone over a crush?”

Most of the class looks like they still want to demonise Marinette in favour of Lila, but it’s Mylène who looks down and mumbles, “We did try to help her talk to Adrien. But she told us to stop because he liked Kagami and she didn’t want to get between them.”

Chloé files that nice bit of information away in case she needs to deal with Marinette later, although it probably won’t be for a while if this lot are any indication. She and Marinette may never end up friends, but it might be wise to call a truce while Lila’s around. “So, you know Marinette wouldn’t be mean to someone because she’s jealous,” she says. “But you still rushed to kiss up to Lila because she told you a few cool stories?”

“I can understand why you’d doubt me,” Lila says, still putting on her pathetic ‘woe is me’ air. “I know a few of my experiences sound pretty outlandish –”

“That’s an understatement,” Chloé says. “How anyone believed those utterly ridiculous stories is beyond me. And see, as soon as anyone calls you out, you cry and whine and act like a baby to make people feel sorry for you. And it works! Now everyone hates Marinette. And now everyone hates me even more, not that I really care.” Actually, she does, if her outburst to Ladybug when her father had been akumatised is any indication. But they don’t need to know that. “I hope you’re all happy with yourselves.”

Though everyone’s still glaring at Chloé, there’s a far less hostile atmosphere. In fact, the cafeteria is starting to feel shameful rather than angry, like everyone’s beginning to realise that Chloé’s right. Of course she is. She’s grown up around people like Lila all her life, who’ll say and do anything to win over others for their own use. And while Chloé’s never had the subtlety to do it herself, she’s very much familiar with the whole backstabbing business of it. One wrong move and you’re done for. Unfortunately for Lila, Chloé doesn’t care about being subtle and not making enemies, because at least she knows where she stands with people while being nasty to their face.

“You told Marinette that a journalist always uses sources,” Chloé says to Alya, recognising this as the time to strike. “Did you use any sources, Ladyblogger? Or did you just believe Lila because she told you what you want to hear?”

“Excuse me?” Alya looks like she wants to spit nails.

“You believed a random girl over your own friend!” Chloé says gleefully. “Your best friend! You didn’t even look for sources yourself like a good journalist would! And hmm…Marinette’s the one who searched for sources on Heroes’ Day, right? She did your job for you and you ignored her. Because she was just jealous.”

The look of dawning horror on Alya’s face is absolutely beautiful. “I –”

“My daddy’s the one who invited Prince Ali here last time,” Chloé says, her entire body about to float away from just how perfect this all is. “All I had to do was ask him and he said there was no way that Prince Ali could’ve invited a commoner like Lila to be his personal guest. The timing doesn’t work out. And I’m sure that Rose could call him up and ask, since they’re just the best of friends.”

“I told you,” Lila insists, shedding a little of her pathetic air, while Rose looks away. “He never said that he’d be in the country with us.”

“Okay, whatever,” Chloé says. “But even if Marinette can’t prove that, what about Jagged Stone’s kitten? Isn’t Marinette the one with Jagged Stone’s phone number? Didn’t she design his album cover? Couldn’t you have asked her to check with him?”

A wide-eyed Alya says nothing, so Chloé goes in for the kill, revelling in how obviously Lila is trying to hide her panic.

“And even if you didn’t do that, you’re the Ladyblogger, right? Ladybug talks to you. Why don’t you just ask Ladybug if she’s Lila’s best friend? After all, a journalist always checks her sources! But sure,” Chloé shrugs, “Lila’s totally telling the truth.”

“Leave her alone!” Nino growls when Alya backs away from Chloé and turns away, her face twitching and eyes shining suspiciously. “Why do you have to be so mean, Chloé?”

“Mean?” Chloé smirks. “For once, I’m not being mean. I’m being honest. But you can’t handle that. And Alya’s not the only one who turned her back on Marinette, so she’s not the only one to blame. You all made up a whole seating plan to cater to one person without even asking the one being kicked to the back.”

“I have to sit up the front!” Lila says. “My tinnitus –”

“Oh, I can’t prove that’s fake, as much as we both know it is,” Chloé says. “And I’m not mean enough to accuse someone of faking a disability. But you and I both know that the only reason you wanted that seat was to sit next to Adrikins. And your ‘disability’ isn’t even the problem. It’s how everyone here made plans without even asking Marinette if she was okay with being pushed into the back row, then turned on her as soon as she asked why it was her who had to go when she wasn’t asked in the first place. She didn’t even say anything about Lila’s hearing!”

“I offered to sit up the back because I felt bad that I’d caused that trouble,” Lila says with a well-timed head droop.

“No, you said that to make Marinette look like the nasty bad guy so everyone would hate her more,” Chloé says. “My maman is Audrey Bourgeois. Do you really think I don’t know how this works? You suck.” Her eyes sweep over all her stunned classmates, who are standing there with open mouths like some sort of hive mind. Ha, hive mind. Her sense of humour is as impeccable as her sense of fashion. “You all suck. Especially if you believe some story about napkin balls cutting eyeballs out that even I know is fake, and I don’t even do my own homework. And the funny thing is that it took me to tell you all this and I’m not even Marinette’s friend! In fact, hasn’t she always stood up for all of you against me? And the only time you’ve paid her back is by helping her with a picnic where you got to eat her food anyway.”

“W-Where are you going?” Rose says in a high, unstable voice when Chloé starts to walk off. Chloé turns back around.

“To find Marinette and kick some sense into her, seeing as none of her friends seem to want to do that. Also, thanks for ruining my lunch. I can hardly eat it now that it’s cold.”

Chloé whips her ponytail around in a move honed over years and walks out of the cafeteria. No one says anything as she goes. They probably all hate her even more than usual, not that Chloé really cares right now. She’s used to being hated, and she’s too drunk on the high of actually being in the right for once. Now to find Marinette and kick a spine into her.

“Chloé?” she hears as soon as she leaves the cafeteria. When she turns and sees Adrien standing behind the door, she can’t help but beam.

“Adrikins!” she chirps, immediately rushing to his side. When he gives her the same look that he gave Lila, however, she forces herself not to throw herself all over him. Maybe all she needed was to see someone else do it to realise. “Please tell me you don’t believe Lila and her awful lies!”

“I heard what you said in there,” Adrien says. “And I think you could’ve been nicer about it but…you were right. Everyone did wrong by Marinette.”

“Not you,” Chloé insists, looping their arms together to pull him in the direction of the bathroom, where Marinette’s probably hiding out. There’s really nowhere else she can be, since bathrooms seem to be a magnet for crying teenage girls. “You didn’t say anything mean to her, Adrien!”

“But I didn’t stand up for her,” Adrien says. He looks down, green eyes crinkled and mouth drooping, and the urge to slap Lila for all the trouble she’s caused grows even stronger in Chloé at the sight. “I should have said something. I should have offered to sit with her at the back of the class. I knew Lila had a problem with lying – I should have said something then –”

“And had her make you look bad too?” Chloé says. “Please. It’s not your fault.”

Adrien doesn’t say anything to that, so Chloé just harrumphs and hopes that an akuma doesn’t come flapping its way in because if Queen Bee has to beat on her Adrikins then there’s going to be hell to pay. When they finally reach the girls’ bathroom, he freezes on the spot.

“I can’t go in there!” he says. “I’m a boy –”

“Adrien, if Harry and Ron can go into the girls’ bathroom to save Hermione or make some potion, you can go in there and cheer Marinette up before she gets akumatised and wrecks the school,” Chloé says. Adrien stares at her. “What? I saw the movies. And I’m not as dumb as people think I am. Come on.”

“I never thought you were dumb!” Adrien protests as Chloé pulls him into the bathroom. There’s no one in there, but one of the stalls is closed and Chloé can hear faint sniffles from behind the door.

“Dupain-Cheng!” Chloé announces, her voice echoing off the tiles. “You better come out right now.”

“C-Chloé?” Marinette’s voice is thick and wet. “Go away. I can’t deal with you right now.”

“Marinette, Chloé’s here to help,” Adrien says soothingly, like he’s talking to an animal about to spook. Judging from the gasp from inside the stall, Chloé thinks she’s pretty spot-on with that simile.

Yes, she knows what a simile is. Just because she makes Sabrina do her homework doesn’t mean she doesn’t actually learn the stuff. She just can’t be bothered doing the work.

“A-Adrien?” Marinette squeaks. “But – but this is the girls’ –”

“Who cares what bathroom this is?” Chloé says. “Look, Marinette, I just lectured our whole class and made an enemy of Lila, so you’d better get out here this second.”

Honestly, it’s probably shock that gets Marinette to open her stall door, but Chloé doesn’t care what it is. All she knows is that the lurch in her gut at seeing Marinette with red-rimmed eyes and a wet face should not be there because she so doesn’t care about Marinette at all.

And yet, a small part of her can’t help wondering if this is how she’s made Marinette feel with her own meanness. It’s not exactly that good a feeling. Ugh, is this what it’s like to actually care about other people?

“You – you did that?” Marinette looks from Chloé to Adrien, seeking proof that Chloé’s telling the truth.

“She did,” Adrien says with a small smile. He unloops his arm from Chloé’s so that he can wrap it around Marinette, who squeaks and flushes brightly and accidentally pushes her damp handkerchief into Adrien’s chest. “Chloé was amazing. She told everyone exactly what they did wrong, especially how they could’ve just asked you about Jagged Stone’s kitten or Ladybug about being Lila’s friend. And she also made them see that it was wrong to not ask you if you could sit up the back because they all thought you were angry at Lila’s disability.”

“It wasn’t that!” Marinette bursts out. “I never said she didn’t have it! She just – and everyone believed her, when she’s done nothing but lie but I always help everyone – oh, I’m sorry!” She covers her face with her hands. “I shouldn’t be acting so entitled –”

“Marinette, shut up,” Chloé says. “You’re allowed to stand up for yourself.”

“Especially after everything you’ve done for everyone,” Adrien says. “I meant it when I said you’re our real-life Ladybug.”

The bell ringing at that moment drowns out Marinette’s squeak. Adrien looks around at the door, panicked.

“I can’t miss class,” he says wildly. “My father would be furious if he knew I skipped class to comfort a friend. But I can’t just leave Marinette –”

“Go to class, Adrikins,” Chloé says. “I’ll stay here and talk some sense into her. And the principal wouldn’t dare punish me for missing class or I’ll tell my daddy.”

“Are you sure?”

“Please go!” Marinette lets out another squeak. “I mean, don’t go – I mean – I don’t want you to miss class because of me!”

Adrien looks torn but, with one last squeeze, he lets go of Marinette and heads for the door. As soon as he’s gone, Marinette squints at Chloé.

“Why are you doing this?” she says. “Why would you stand up for me?”

“Because I hate Lila more than I hate you,” Chloé says. Before she can launch into some speech about calling a truce because they both hate Lila’s lies, there’s the sound of fluttering and Marinette shrieks and jumps away from Chloé.

“Akuma!” the noirette cries, backing away into a corner of the bathroom.

“Damn it, Marinette, stop being upset!” Chloé snaps, her eyes flitting to the bathroom door so that she can make sure she’s got enough time to run if Marinette gets akumatised.

“I’m trying!” Marinette wails, waving her handkerchief in front of her. “I’ve tried breathing – I’ve tried thinking happy thoughts – but I can’t help it this time! I’m sorry!”

Okay, wow, Lila is so going to pay for this because Chloé totally didn’t sign up for an akumatisation today. She backs out of the room, determined not to be the first victim, but she pauses outside the door and peers inside when Marinette does something strange. As though resigning herself to the akuma, Marinette stops trying to get away and instead, yanks her earrings out and flings them into a corner of the bathroom a split second before the akuma hits her handkerchief. Chloé’s distracted from the oddness of the action by Marinette sliding to the floor, whimpering and tugging at her hair as a purple outline appears over her face.

“No!” she shouts. “Leave me alone, Hawkmoth!”

Wow, is Marinette actually going to fight this off? Chloé sure hopes so. Her nails were just done yesterday.

“I don’t want your power!”

But Chloé can see the exact moment when Marinette is overcome by Hawkmoth’s sheer will. Not that she can blame Marinette, really. Chloé’s been subject to it three times and she hadn’t even tried to fight (though to be fair, she’d been hit by Despair Bear and Dark Cupid the third time). Hawkmoth can be super persuasive, especially with all the negativity amplified by ten and surging through you when the akuma hits.

“This isn’t even my fault for once!” Chloé whines softly when Marinette’s head whips up, an uncharacteristically dark smile spread wide across her face, and she’s engulfed in dark purple and black from head to toe.

When the akuma magic fades away, the thing floating in the bathroom is nothing but an ugly mockery of Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Her skin is now a blood red, her eyes still bright blue but the whites now burnt yellow. Her pigtails look sharper, more like downward-pointing horns, while she has little horns poking up that look like hair but, knowing Hawkmoth, are probably real horns. She’s wearing a black one-piece that ends in short shorts and T-shirt sleeves, with thigh-high black boots and gloves a darker red than her skin, with hearts cut out of the back of her gloves and dotting her suit. And on her back are little black devil wings, though they’re probably not keeping her afloat since they’re not flapping. It takes Chloé a moment to locate the akumatised handkerchief tied around Marinette’s throat like a cravat, and she’s just wondering if she can somehow grab it without getting herself hurt when Marinette lets out a loud laugh and floats to the door, slamming it open and sending Chloé crashing to the ground.

“I am Little Devil!” Marinette announces, her voice warped deeply and horribly from the voice that Chloé knows. Chloé idly notices that she has a narrow black tail, like Chat Noir’s but ending in a love heart-shaped point, just like the pitchfork she’s carrying. “You want me to be the bad guy? Fine. Now I’m the bad guy.”

[loveturtlesx]

Bar Musings

Part 5. I struggled with this one a little bit. Shawn is not in this part that much (sorry), but he will be everywhere in the next one. I would love to know your thoughts! Let me know if you want to be added to the tag list! -xx.

She luckily had a few seconds to calm her heart rate before Kate had met her at the elevator bank with Joe. They showed her the pristine apartment and then talked briefly about the price and utilities. Kate could leave her current apartment at the end of November because her lease was monthly. This meant they could be moving in within two weeks.

After viewing his apartment, she and Kate walked over to Bee’s for a bite and to discuss everything. 

“I don’t know, Kate. It’s beautiful, but I’m not gonna lie. Living with Joe might be weird.” She picked up a french fry— her current stress level was high.

“Okay, that’s fair. Why don’t we invite Joe out to dinner sometime this week? And you can get a chance to know him more. That way you can see if living with him is a possibility.” 

Kate took a bite of her burger. It had been too big of a bite because some ketchup ran down her cheek. She grabbed for the stack of napkins on the table and they were knocked onto the floor. She watched the mess happen and gave a half smile at Kate’s mess. 

Kate was rather clumsy. Although she couldn’t talk because she was just as bad, which is part of the reason they got along so well in college. Moving into her dorm a few years ago had been hectic and sweaty. The lines for the elevator to get up to the dorm were ridiculous. Not wanting to wait and ignoring the heat, her dad convinced her that they could make it up the stairs without a problem. So, with her father in the lead, they dragged her two suitcases up four flights of stairs. She was trailing behind, and it was a good thing she was not in front of her father. By the time she made it to the fourth floor landing, her sweaty grip hadn’t held and her suitcase tumbled down the stairs. Flinging her super plus tampons (not the cute little ones), thongs, period granny panties, bras, and her stuffed animal, Elliot, all over the stairwell. She had lost her footing when the suitcase went down, but luckily her father was agile and grabbed her arm before she took a tumble too. Kate happened to be on the third-floor landing when her things rained down like confetti. She caught her suitcase from passing the third floor, but in doing so, sent her box of DVDs down the stairs. The only casualty of the whole ordeal was Love Actually, which she replaced for Kate the same day. Their first encounter had been quite memorable-– “here are your tampons.” “Thanks, and here’s My Bloody Valentine.” The irony hadn’t been lost on her.

“Hmm,” she played with the half grilled cheese left on her plate.

“Hey, what’s up?” Kate inquired noting her mood. 

“It sounds great, Kate.” She said halfheartedly and dropped the fry to her plate.

“No, what’s really bothering you? You were pretty quiet back at the apartment.”

“I-I-I’m feeling so many different emotions right now, and I don’t know how to process it all. I’m sorry. I do want to meet up with Joe. I think it’ll be good,” she took a breath, “I just… Tom, and Shawn, and grad school…”

“I know. It’s a lot.”

“It is a lot. Is it weird that I don’t feel as sad about Tom as I thought I was going to?”

Kate wiped her fingers on a napkin rescued from the floor and picked up a fry, “No, you were mentally mourning that relationship long before it was officially over.  

“You missed some,” she pointed to Kate’s ketchup cheek, “and yeah, but we were engaged. Don’t get me wrong. I’m sad and I do miss him, but not in the way I thought I would.”

“What? More like he was a friend than a boyfriend?”

“Kind of, I guess so.”

“It wasn’t a healthy relationship in the end.”

“No, it really wasn’t,” she continued to play with her grilled cheese.

“And Keira did nothing to help that,” Kate added, “you dodged a bullet.”

She forcefully snorted, “psycho.” 

Keira and Tom had “dated” in fourth grade. It lasted for two weeks, and yet that was a fact that Keira felt the need to bring up every single time they were all together. She felt compelled to tell her that she knew Tom better, and would make jokes about how she had him first. No one thought any of this was funny except for Tom. Keira, in his eyes, could do no wrong, and it was a fight they had a few too many times.

She added, “maybe Keira will finally make moves.”

Kate paused, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she already has, or maybe not. Maybe it was only fun because she got to torment you. I don’t remember her being as clingy with Tom when you weren’t around.”

She rolled her eyes, “it’s in the past.”

Kate nodded in agreement with her mouth full.

“Oh, call Joe, and invite him out to dinner on Friday. I think it’s a good idea.” 

The side door to Bee’s opened, the bells attached to the frame twinkled. Into the warmth came G and a beautiful blonde woman. It was undeniably G, if nothing else, the height and the beard gave him away. The couple sat in a booth across the diner. She eagerly looked at the door again, hoping that just maybe he’d appear too. 

“What,” Kate probed. Her cheeks heated at the realization that she was half standing from her seat to get a better view. Kate leaned over and stuck her head in the aisle of the diner to look at what had her so preoccupied. 

“Who is that?”

“That’s G, and I think, his girlfriend.”

Kate went back to her burger, “the one who was drugged?”

“Shh,” her eyes widened looked around to see if anyone overheard their discussion.

“Oh, come off it. They’re all the way over there.”

“Kate,” she warned. 

Kate smirked at her paranoia, “okay. I’m sorry. So now what happened again?”

“I’m not entirely sure what happened, other than that she’s okay,” she practically whispered.

“How’d you hear that?”

“Shawn told me,” she lowered her voice again and this time Kate laughed, “stop mocking me.” She whined and Kate laughed harder.

“Wait a second. Shawn told you?”

Her cheeks colored almost immediately, and her face felt hot. Internally, she cursed her genetics for making her so easy to read. Kate smirked, “ah, so you bumped into him? Where?”

“He actually lives in the same building as Joe.”

“No way. We need to move in then!” 

“What? That cannot be the reason we decide to make a thousand-dollar decision.”

“It’s not the only reason! But oh, come on, think about how fun and easy that relationship would be.” 

She giggled softly, allowing herself to think about Kate’s suggestion, at the thought of creeping up in the middle of the night to see him. Him bringing food by when she was too lazy to move. Stealing his jacket. Maybe have some of her reoccurring dreams like the one from this morning actually transpire. It would be just an elevator ride…Her smile stilled and she looked at her left ring finger which was resting on her mug of hot chocolate. She barely knew Shawn, and she had literally just gotten out of a relationship in which she had been engaged. Was it too soon to even be joking about moving on? She didn’t even know if Shawn really liked her or if he was just being friendly. She ran her fingers along the rim of her mug.

Kate reached out and put her hand on her arm, stopping her trailing fingers. “Hey,” Kate said softly, “what’s going on in your head?”

“It’s just –—“ The front door of Bee’s chimed announcing another patron’s entrance. They didn’t have a clear of a view of the front door from their booth. The figure was wearing a snapback and running shorts. Whoever it was, was extremely tall. Kate looked round at the sound too, “I call dibs on this one. You can have Shawn.” 

She laughed, “what about Joe?”

“What about him? We’re not dating.”

The man walked over to G’s booth and sat. She felt a giggle bubble up at the absurdity of her life, and pulled her leaning body back into the booth, away from any prying eyes that might see her in the aisle. She couldn’t stop laughing. Kate looked confused. 

“That is Shawn,” she breathed out and let out another chuckle, “sorry. I- it just took us weeks to bump into each other and now I’m seeing him everywhere.”

Kate smiled at her, and pointed her hamburger at her, “it’s a sign. Go over there.”

She shook her head and bit into her now cool grilled cheese causing her to grimace, “no let’s just finish our dinner and maybe I’ll say goodbye.”

“Why are you being weird?” Kate tossed a fry at her. It hit her shoulder bounced onto her plate. 

She picked it up and took a bite, “I’m not being weird. I just don’t want him to think I’m stalking him.”

“Girl, that doesn’t even make sense. Why would he think that?”

Her phone vibrated on the table. She flipped it over.

iMessage from (xxx)xxx-xxxx: Picture attachment.

Kate leaned over the table to see the message and laughed, “looks like he’s the one giving off stalker vibes.” 

The photo was of Kate tossing a fry at her in their booth. It was clearly taken from across the diner.

iMessage from (xxx)xxx-xxxx: I spy a jacket thief

She poked her head out from the booth again and laughed when she made eye contact with him. He looked… hot. His curls were spilling from under the snapback, and his cheeks were rosy. He looked like he just came from a run. He was grinning widely at her, and when she poked her head out, he stood and made his way over with a water bottle in hand. 

Her eyes widened slightly and she pulled back into the booth a bit – feeling terrified and elated. Kate was still staring at Shawn, and under her breath appraisingly whispered, “fuck.”

He stopped at their table and smiled warmly at her, “long time.”

“Too long,” she found herself smiling back. It had only been a few hours.

Kate grabbed her purse, and scooted to the end of the booth to stand, “well, I hate to leave, but I have to finish all that paperwork for my current lease. Maybe you can find someone here to keep you company.” She teased and pulled her coat on. Shawn introduced himself to Kate with a smile.

“I’m Kate. Think you can take on this awful task of keeping her company while I’m gone?”

“Eh, I don’t know,” Shawn looked over at her still sitting in the booth. Her heart jumped. 

“I mean, she is quite low maintenance. Occasionally requires wine and chocolate, but mostly she’s self-sufficient,” Kate joked.

“Toilet trained,” He looked back at Kate for an answer.

“Hey!” she called from her spot in the booth. They all laughed. 

Kate put her scarf on, “nice meeting you,” she directed at Shawn, “see you at home.” Kate gave her a pointed look that said she wanted details later.

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