#┆ ╰ ❀ ╮ ┆ forgiveness isn’t all its cracked up to be. (main)

[physics-of-one-piece]

Another day, another I'll build castles for you, my love (look at me, not my brother) snippet post. And a poll for you guys at the end bcs I'm left uncertain about a scene, ie whether to put it in or not.

I reached 15.5k words on Rosinante's part, and that's not even with all the descriptions I still need to write (collapses). It consists of numerous things: his life at Marineford & meeting Reader, his friendship with his crew, proposal, wedding, married life, his decision to take on the Donquixote Family mission, and the main part of course being his 2 weeks spent with Law & Reader at the house. I'm gonna put 3 snippets here, one for Rosinante x Reader, one for Law & Rosinante, one for Doflamingo x Reader. All of them are mostly dialogue, bcs I really want to show the vibe of the fic without showing too much, and just the difference between the brothers overall.

Writing some of Doflamingo's thoughts really had me: "YOU ARE NOT IN HOLY LAND, IN FACT THERE IS NOTHING HOLY ABOUT YOUR THOUGHTS, SOMEBODY ARREST HIM OMG 😭😭" the only NSFW for now is just Doffy & his thoughts, and honestly, I'm fine with that being the only nsfw part of the fic? I'm just not yet confident enough writing actual smut, but I'll try it for them both cus they both love Reader 😤

Okay, onto the snippets:

Rosinante x Reader

“Rosinante,” you said. “I think you love your brother.”

Rosinante’s fingers paused mid-way in grabbing the empty bowl. You grabbed it instead, while he stared at you, mouth open, frozen in the moment.

You looked at him, and he felt naked. His heart was beating all around his body, and he wondered if he unconsciously put up a Silent bubble around the two of you, because everything felt so quiet, so intimate.

“If you really hate your brother, then I think it’s fine not to be able to forgive him. But, you’re a really kind person, so it looks to me like you love him despite of everything. It’s really admirable.”

“I won’t ever forgive him for abandoning you,” you said, frowning as you continued picking up the dinnerware. “He isn’t my brother, after all. To me, he’s a stranger who hurt the man I love, so I won’t be able to ever forgive him!”

Rosinante felt like his heart would explode; it was beating so fast, the thumping beats incredibly loud, resounding in his ears. He felt hot all over, and he felt himself starting to sweat.

Your expression softened when you looked at him.

“But, you’re different,” you said softly, staring up at him lovingly. You smiled at him, gentle and beautiful. “And I love that about you.”

That was it. Rosinante's body reached its limit after such words. It caught aflame from the inside, his face turning tomato red, steam exploding from his ears as the blush painted his entire face crimson.

Rosinante & Law (get ready for a gut punch)

“You’re not gonna die!” yelled Rosinante.

“Promise!” yelled Law.

“Of course I -” started Rosinante passionately, but Law cut him off.

“No!” yelled Law. He turned his face up toward Rosinante, and Rosinante felt like all the air was punched out of his gut at the sight of Law’s pleading, agonised face, his big grey eyes full of tears. “Promise if it doesn’t work, if the Op-Op Fruit doesn’t heal me, you’ll take me back here! Where I can… be with you and (Y/N)-san!”

Rosinante’s eyes widened, staring at Law.

Law’s trembling, tiny fingers clenched tight onto Rosinante’s pink dress shirt. “Promise that we’ll go to the beach every day, and we’ll have barbeque with your friends together. They’re not like them… they… they feel real.”

Law went on. “Promise we’ll eat meals together at the table, and pick cabbage and tomatoes together!”

Law… thought Rosinante, his eyes filling with tears.

“And when I start dying…” Law’s voice cracked, and he looked down, his fingers gripping tighter on Rosinante’s shirt, “when it starts killing me… I want you and (Y/N)-san to hold my hands!”

Law sobbed, his body trembling with the force of it, his snot clogging his nose.

“I don’t want to die alone!” cried Law desperately, the words coming from the depths of his chest.

Rosinante’s lips trembled, his heart weeping for the boy. His hands reached out, and wrapped around Law, pulling him close.

“Of course, kid. I promise. I promise, Law.”

“You won’t die alone,” said Rosinante, tears sliding down his eyes.

Law bawled into Rosinante’s shirt, clinging to him tight, weeping. Rosinante held him tight, cradling Law's head to his chest, hugging him close to his heart.

Doflamingo x Reader

“Your husband wasn’t a saint.” sneered Doflamingo, brows furrowed.

“Neither are you,” you replied firmly. “You were going to kill him either way, whether he was a traitor or not. Rosi chose how he would die, and it wasn’t for you.”

You continued glaring at the man swathed in the pink feathers.

It was for Law. All for Law. He wanted Law to be healthy, to be free. Rosinante wanted that so much he was willing to abandon the marines themselves, playing a double game with them and Doflamingo, fooling them both, getting the fruit for Law. Never in his life did Rosinante lie to Sengoku - the man was his adopted father, after all.

Except once.

When he told Sengoku he would stay away from the island.

Doflamingo’s smile fell, his mouth settling into a thin line. For a long, tense moment, he didn’t speak.

Doflamingo smirked, his smile curved like the moon.

“Well, I can imagine how much more it must hurt then, that he didn’t live for you.” he said, the cruel words coming out in a tone of nonchalance, folding his long arms behind his head, putting his right leg atop his knee. He tilted his head toward you, still wearing that devilish smile, and said, “He wasn’t even alive long enough to find out you’re pregnant.”

Your stomach hurt. Your heart wept.

Doflamingo didn’t give you time to recover. He went on.

“And where is he now, huh? Your marine hero? Where is my little brother to protect you from me? I’ll tell you where. Bottom of the sea. Do you want to know why I’m here and he isn’t? Because he let the marines brainwash him, made him hate me, and stuck his nose in my business. I welcomed him back with open arms, without any questions asked, and he spat in my face.”

Doflamingo spoke it all with a smile. Soon, that too, was gone. “Do you want to know why I’m the leader of the family?”

“Because I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty. Because I’m not soft like my father, or my brother. Because I don’t let my emotions cloud my judgement. When there’s a problem, I handle it. If my family is threatened, I protect it, no matter what it takes, no matter who I have to kill. The world won’t bend to a fist with no weight, or a good-hearted fool.”

“And that’s why your husband is dead and you’re stuck with me.” Doflamingo sneered, his grin demonic, wide and cruel, filling your vision. “Because he was the weaker one of the two of us.”

****

Okay, so for the poll, I am indecided on whether Law & Doflamingo should meet/interact at the hospital when the baby is born, as both will be present there in that location. I'm of the thought Doflamingo would, as delusional as he is, let Law do as he pleased with the "oh, he's having an indepentant phase, I'll leave him alone and he'll come back to the fold" attitude since Doflamingo doesn't know Law witnessed him killing Rosinante. But then another part of me is thinking Doflamingo might attempt a grab for Law since Law is still 1) not as strong 2) still young and frail-looking (even despite getting a full ass growth spurt from 110 cm to 150-160 cm after healing himself from the Lead Disease)

Taglist: @fanaticsnail @daydreamer-in-training

Oh, and have this pic of how Law & Rosi would be at home with Reader if Rosi survived. (Because if I have to suffer, so do you + this is def how Law looks like in the fic next time Reader sees him after Rosi's death)

Art source

[the-cinnabunny-archives]

Hi there! For those of you who have had the pleasure of not knowing me and my fics before, I’m Mia and I’m miathecinnabunny on AO3 (I’m @miathecinnabunny here too if you ever wanna throttle me talk). You may be wondering why I’m not posting on @join-the-joywrite and there’s a simple explanation: I Am Lazy. I don’t want to fix all the links there. I’m just not gonna do it. Instead, I’m going to do the “sane” thing and start over :>

It’s gonna take a while, so just bear with me a moment, folks ❤️

if you like my work, you can buy me a coffee!

���Masterlist✨

Banana Fish

The Ghost of the New York Public Library

Bungou Stray Dogs

All’s well that ends well (to end up with you)

forgive me for letting you down

I’ll dial drunk (I’ll die a drunk)

if you loved me, why’d you leave me [sskk multiverse au]

It’s a logical ruse

It’s a minor thing, okay?!!!

Love, Chuuya [skk, mcd, no ability au]

tell me it’s love (tell me it’s real)

this isn’t fair (this nightmare) [dazai mcd, dadzawa pov]

we love the things they are for what they are

what a wicked game to play (to make me feel this way)

wrap me all up (in your love)

Julie and the Phantoms

….. I’m gonna come back to these in a minute

Marvel

Pigs Might Fly [tumblr drabble, crack]

More to follow

Miraculous Ladybug

Coming soon

Moriarty the Patriot

Romeo, Romeo, wherefore the fuck art thou like this? [sherliam textfic]

My Hero Academia

Class 1-A and the League of Villains Adopt The Local Villain

Fake dating at its finest

I love you

Strawberry

The Kumi Chronicles [main story]

The Kumi Chronicles [side stories]

there’s no pain that i won’t go through (even if i have to die for you)

[dralanabloom]

brian zeller was one of the few people in this world who without fail always knew how to make alana smile. even before the two of them had gotten close the way they were now, in the middle of one of the most serious days, alana would have one interaction with zeller and she would laugh. without fail. some days, when things were hard ( before everything changed ) she would purpoesfully go down to see him. find an excuse or another to be around him. 

now she didn’t need an excuse. he was hers. and she was his.

‘ yes you are.’ she tells him, hand pressing against either side of his cheek, fingers massagging his beard before holding his face gently. ‘ but you happen to be my lovey-dovey dumbass, and i wouldn’t change that for the world. ’ finger gently runs across his lips, before leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to them. and then another. ‘ ever. ’

she laughs. ‘ it’s also a little contagious, i think i too, am becoming a lovey-dovey dumbass. ‘ she sighs dramatically, teasing. ‘ what am i going to do with you brian zeller ? ’

*      ╰       ⋮     “ yes, the rumors are true.  i’m a lovey-dovey dumbass.  ”  ━━  a meme (accepting)  ━━ @selfdeclared​

[noteasilyswayed-arc]

alana smiled as she looked out her kitchen window because today was a day that reminded her of something straight out of a hallmark christmas film. there was a fluffy layer of snow that covered the ground, and there was snow that fell from the sky in what seemed like slow motion----like they were trapped in a snowglobe and it was absolutely magical. & quite frankly, it was perfectly fitting for today.

she had plans today. plans that didn’t involve work, but actual human interaction for pleasure. she was going to go for a walk with her huskies, and nick kringle. she was quite excited, actually, and had been looking forward to it for days. she was so excited that she already had all of their collars on & in turn, it made them excited because they knew they would get to go out in the snow. summer, greywind, lady, shaggydog, ghost and nymeria all wagged their tails excitedly while alana sat in the kitchen and finished her ( now cold ) coffee.

alana figured that they would walk behind her house, there were woods for miles and miles back there and she would be able to let the dogs roam freely------and believe her it is not easy trying to walk six huskies on leash. and after, she figured, if he wanted, they would come in for hot chocolate. or something. either way, she couldn’t wait. 

almost as though fate intervened, as alana reached for her coat, hat, and gloves in the closet she heard a knock on her door, followed by a lot of barking. alana hushed her vocal pups and opened the door------------------just as she thought. it was nick.

alan grins as she watches the huskies greet nick and then immediately go frolicking in the snow. apple, her mutt, the eldest dog ( the one who hates the snow ) greets him as well, with a friendly lick. the good doctor then steps into her boots and zippers up her coat, and takes her turn to greet him. 

‘ are you ready to watch the happiest dogs in the world play in snow ? ’ she asks him with a laugh and just a little twinkle in her eyes.

semi-plotted starter for my b  @namastekringle​

[noteasilyswayed-theme2]

VERSES TAG DROP 1/2

[kandyrezi]

*slips u a chocolate* spare yan siralos hcs pwease?

[ ♡ / ♢ ] Yandere!Siralos HCs.

(a/n: thank you for requesting my sun hubby ;o hehe. the god & devil groups are def my favorite characters to write for! ...it's so hot here though (like 34 degrees celsius) i feel a bit delirious writing this tbh.... )

- : - : - : - : - : - : -

» Siralos is a controlling and delusional yandere. It’s rare for him to fall for another, especially someone of lower status than himself. He typically does not mingle with anyone who doesn’t hold his interest for more than three or four minutes, so it can be a challenge to get his attention in the first place - yet, imagine the wonder when the situation is reversed and the sun god keeps trying to slither his way into your personal space, trying to make you pay attention to him.

» He is not modest with prosperity in the slightest. Siralos is convinced he can make you fall for him, he is nothing but relentless in his pursuit to woo you, but in a fair, courteous manner. Nothing seems wrong at first, you wouldn’t even know he was hiding any sinister intentions beneath his charming, polite gestures.

» In contrast to most yanderes, the sun god wouldn’t kidnap you so much as he would simply lure you into his home, disguising it as an invite for you to come sightseeing his world. It’s filled with intricate, mosaic glass windows inside the main palace, one of the many suns reflecting their colors and making a pathway on the marble-tiled flooring. Beautiful stained glass decorated the top, making it even prettier with light pouring in. Stone pillars holding up the ceiling - decorated with engraved ornaments - on both sides of the main entrance halls, and he thinks about how he wants to keep you and your adoration in this moment forever, as he enveloped his gloved hand with your own.

» Do you swear in earnest to stay with him forever? If yes, then you’ve made him so pleased. He promises in return to make you happiest you can be. If not, then... he’s not discouraged in the slightest, he can always try again. What’s a tale of romance after all without some inevitable cracks in the road along its way?

» It’s only after you eventually (and once you’ve gazed at the sun for too long it’s left you blindsighted with enamour) give in to the charismatic god and promise you’ll stay with him in the world of sun forever does something begin to change, bit by bit.

» Gone is suddenly his sweet, endearing demeanor. He becomes instead much more demanding; forcing you to behave exactly how he wants you to, going along with every song and dance without questioning him or his motives. At the beginning of your meeting, he was the one worshipping you, but now he’s somehow turned the tables and essentially turned you into his personal possession. Your relationship is more like one of a master/servant type - while that’s not to say he’s incapable of treating you like you’re on equal level with him, but he already knows his place and expects you to do the same.

» He acts as if taking you in is a privilege he’d granted for you and you should feel honored. He has not a single doubt in his mind you’ll come to agree with him on that. You don’t like his sudden change in personality, but you’ll quickly come to learn he does not like to be questioned.

» “You said it yourself when you promised to be here with me forever…” he taps a patient finger on the table as he looks at you with a steely, stoic gaze, the palace behind eclipses one of the suns behind it, casting shadow over his face, “...Or am I misremembering? Are you really going back on your word now?”

» Siralos would rather have you praising and pampering him, but he also has a way with words, saying how he adores having you here like a poet does with his muse, the romantic mysticism is almost enough to make you forget he isn’t the kind deity he really presents himself as.

» (You couldn’t possibly ever guess how he’s lonely despite having created a beautiful, radiant world and lucent angels to surround him always. Why is it not enough - there are parts of him that’ll remain a concealed mystery even to you.)

» If you go against him, he only gives you a warning not to cross him ever again, and never gives out second chances either - his piercing glare is intimidating enough to get you to submit to him. Siralos is a very “you’d rather die than be with me? then die.” kind of yandere. He has a short fuse concerning your attitude towards him and lets you know as such. He isn’t exactly forgiving of misbehavings, so it’s better to just give in.

» After he’s essentially done threatening to kill you, he turns around to walk away, but not before he tells you, “Now, be sweet and go ask Igls to make some tea for us, so we can sit in the parlor and enjoy the company of one another as lovers should. Maybe that’ll make you stop moping and get those nuanced thoughts out of your head, dear, it doesn’t suit you in the slightest.”

» It’s going to take some work (if your words are believable and actions genuine), but it isn’t impossible to pry out the sun god’s more lenient, gentler side and you’ll be showered with the affection you were momentarily so afraid of receiving before. (‘Whatever for, my evening glow?’ he would ask if you were to voice these thoughts out loud, and you even then hear the subtle threat in your own head.)

» Never would you have guessed sunlight could be so violent - it could warm your skin as much as it could burn it from painful blisters to dust if you were not careful.

[takahero]

some descriptions of Basta in Inkheart if you’re interested!! spoiler warning just to be on the safe side, in case u haven’t read it. and my unsolicited commentary here and there

“‘Naturally I recognised them at once. Capricorn had sent his best men. Even Basta was with them.’” — pg.99

“Rasping cat’s-tongue voice” pg.125

“(Basta’s face) was thin, sharply angular, with close-set eyes…Basta was not a tall man, and his shoulders were almost as narrow as a boy’s, but Meggie held her breath when he took a step towards her…He had an aura of fury about him, or something keen and biting—” pg.126

“Only Basta wore a snow-white shirt, just as Dustfinger had said, with a red flower in the buttonhole of his jacket, a red flower like a warning.” pg.131

“He caught her eye, and with a twisted smile kissed the blade of his knife.” — pg.173 (I JUST HAD TO ADD THIS)

“‘Oh, Basta can’t write,’ replied Capricorn calmly. ‘None of my men can either read or write. I’ve forbidden them to learn.’” — pg.176 (literacy rights for Basta 2k21)

“She could see the trepidation even on Basta’s face, although he was doing his best to hide it by assuming a particularly bored expression.” — pg.185

“‘Abduction!’ Basta savoured the word. ‘Sounds good to me. Really good.’” — pg.192 (ok but if u read it a certain way. unofficial evidence that basta would enjoy reading if he could LMAO)

“‘Where’s our luggage?’ she asked.

“Dustfinger looked at her with amusement. ‘I expect Basta’s divided it out among Capricorn’s maids. He likes to ingratiate himself with them.’” — pg.213 LMAOOOOOOO OH MY GOD

“Basta was still standing in the road. His face was sharply outlined when he lit a cigarette with a lighter.” — pg.215

“And he bent down to cut through the leather thong that Basta wore around his neck. It had a little bag tied with a red drawstring hanging from it.” — pg. 231

“‘Ah, Basta!’ Fenoglio smiled. Each of his separate wrinkles expressed self-satisfaction. ‘One of the best villains I ever thought up. A rabid dog, but not half as bad as my other dark hero, Capricorn. Basta would let his heart be torn out for Capricorn, but his master is a stranger to such loyalty.’” — pg.264

“‘You know, if you were to ask me which of those two I was prouder of, Basta or Capricorn, I couldn’t tell you! Even though some critics said they were just too nasty!’” — pg.265

“Basta emphasised the word, putting his foxy face so close to Meggie’s she could see herself reflected in his eyes.” — pg.301

“‘You’ll do no such thing!’ he spat at Flatnose, as the grey cat disappeared under the wardrobe. ‘Killing cats is unlucky. How often do I have to tell you?’” — pg.303 (friendly reminder that the last time he appeared, he kicked a dog in the ribs 😐)

“Basta was walking just behind her, and she heard him quietly cursing the rain.” — pg.304 (irrelevant but i kind of hc basta to like the rain, since it would dampen dustfinger’s showbiz LMAO)

“Basta’s eyes always narrowed when he smiled.” — pg.305

“‘You wear long sleeves,’ Fenoglio continued very slowly, as if giving Basta time to take in every single word, ‘because your master likes playing with fire. You burned both arms right up to the shoulders when you obeyed his orders and set fire to the house of a man who had dared to refuse his daughter to Capricorn. Ever since then, someone else has laid the fire, and you confine yourself to playing games with knives.’” — pg.308

“‘Oh, I know all about you, Basta,’ he said. ‘I know you’d give your life for Capricorn any day, and you’re always hungry for his praise. I know you were younger than Meggie when his men picked you up, and ever since you’ve loved him like a father. But shall I tell you something? Capricorn thinks you’re stupid, and despises you for it. He despises you all, his devoted black-clad sons, although it’s his own doing that you’re still so ignorant. And he wouldn’t hesitate to set the police on to any one of you if it was to his advantage. Are you quite clear about that?’” — pg.308 (FENOGLIO…..RUTHLESS)

“Basta winked at Meggie.” — pg.310 (wink 1)

“Every cruel deed with which he had ever credited Basta was probably going through his head. Basta relished the fear on his face for a few delicious minutes.” — pg.312

“Basta’s car had not been in the car park at all since they’d come here. It was unusual for it to be gone so long, because Basta didn’t like to be away from the village for any length of time.” — pg.318 basta is a homebody guys

“‘Save your tongue for later, scribbler!” Basta interrupted. ‘I don’t like whispering.’” — pg.324

“Almost all the women in the village kept away from Basta, but he didn’t keep away from them.” — pg.337

“‘Take him, for instance,’ he said, pointing to Basta. ‘I always knew he was a very unhappy boy before you picked him up. As it says in another very fine book, it’s terribly easy to persuade children that they are worthless. Basta was convinced of it. Not that you taught him any better, oh no! Why would you? But suddenly here was someone to whom he could devote himself, someone who told him what to do — he’d found a god, Capricorn, and if you treated him badly, well, who says that all gods are kindly? Most of them are stern and cruel, wouldn’t you agree? I didn’t write all this in the book. I knew it, that was enough.’” — pg.345 (this is really the part that made my stance toward basta change. like PHEW. that’s a lot to unpack)

“Basta was notorious for his silent tread.” — pg.363

“Basta’s breath smelled of mint, fresh and sharp. Apparently a girl he’d once wanted to kiss had told him he had bad breath. The girl had regretted it, but ever since then Basta chewed peppermint leaves from morning to night.” — pg.364

“He whistled softly through his teeth, then held the book close to Meggie’s face.”— pg.374 (i was rendered speechless)

“Basta’s lips quivered with annoyance, but he bit back his reply and, without a word, put his hand under the black cloth.” — pg.377 (ugh I loved this. like we know he worships capricorn like a dog, but earlier fenoglio flat out told him capricorn couldn’t care less about what happened to him. more than that, capricorn asked basta to bring meggie and fenoglio — prisoners — into his home. later dustfinger says that basta would’ve slept on the threshold of capricorn’s room if he could but none of the men sleep there. so with all of this fresh in his mind, you can imagine him feeling quite hurt and betrayed. UGH I wish he had a greater arc surrounding capricorn…like even if we saw a few hints that his loyalty was starting to show cracks…idk what his arc is in inkspell so maybe I’ll sit tight for that)

“He was in a hurry to get back to the light of day, away from the dead and their ghosts. His hand shook as he hung his lantern on a book and opened the grating over the first cell.” — pg.409

“Dustfinger was always surprised to find how easily you could scare the man with a few words.” — pg.409 LMAOOOOO

“‘That notion of burning us isn’t a very new idea, Basta, but then you were never fond of new ideas.’” — pg.422

“His teeth were almost as white as his shirt.” — pg.442

“Meggie saw from his face that everything in him felt revulsion, but he came closer and took the creature. He held the scaly body well away from him as it wound and twisted in the air.

“‘As you see, Basta doesn’t care for my snakes!’ said the Magpie, with a smile. ‘He never did, not that that means much. As far as I know Basta doesn’t like anything but his knife. He also believed that snakes bring bad luck, which of course is pure nonsense.’ Mortola handed Basta the second snake. Meggie saw the viper’s tiny poison fangs when it opened its mouth. For a moment, she almost felt sorry for Basta.” — pg.446

“‘Basta likes to use snakes to scare women who reject his advances. It didn’t work with Resa. How did it go exactly — didn’t she finally put the snake outside your door, Basta?’” — pg.446 (10/10 resa & snake well-deserved)

“Basta did not want neighbours. Indeed, he wanted no other company but Capricorn’s. Dustfinger knew Basta would have slept on the threshold of Capricorn’s room if he had been allowed to, but none of the men lived in the main house.” — pg.478

“Basta was probably the only man in Capricorn’s village who locked his front door.” — pg.480

“They said in the village that whenever Capricorn had a house set on fire Basta took away a brick or stone, even though he feared fire at other times, and clearly that story was true.” — pg.480

“(Everything in Basta’s house was scrubbed clean, as spotless as his snow-white shirt.)” — pg.481

“Once or twice, footsteps approached, but each time they passed by the house. What a good thing Basta had no friends.” — pg.482

“Basta was not in a good way. Whenever they looked at him they saw his hands clinging to the bars, knuckles white under his sun-tanned skin.” — pg.503 (BASTA’S SUNTANNED?!?!)

“Basta in particular was the object of enough scorn and derision for ten men, and from his failure to react at all one could only guess at the depths of his despair.” — pg.503

“For the fraction of a second life came back into Basta as his former lord and master stopped by the bars; he raised his head, his eyes pleading silently, like a dog begging for forgiveness…Basta only bowed his head and stared at the floor. Elinor thought he looked like an oyster with the flesh and life sucked out of it.” — pg.504 (i honestly still can’t wrap my head around his behaviour in this chap. i mean yes, the gladiator-style death sentence looming over his head can’t be understated. but i think for me it was how rapidly his spirits deteriorated from screaming for help in the cell to becoming a husk of a man before he even saw capricorn again? how?? was it all because of dustfinger spooking him so bad in the crypt?? 🤔🤔)

[logical-crysis]

Xiaother + Chilumi concept: battlefield

Aether meets up with his sister in Celestia, where he tries again to convince her to side with him. And Childe, who is obviously with her at this point much to the chagrin of Aether, is trying his best to coax her along with him, because while he may love her he does believe her position is a bad idea, Princess of the Abyss or not. Xiao stands behind Aether, spear at the ready as the twins and Childe continue to argue.

Xiao and Childe do not get along, mostly on Xiao’s side. He holds a grudge, won’t so easily forgive the fact that he sacrificed Liyue (and Aether oop) because he was throwing a tantrum (because let’s be real, that’s exactly what he did). But Aether forgave him and they’re relatively good friends now, so he keeps his glares to a minimum behind Aether’s back so he doesn’t get scolded.

Now they’re standing across from each other on what’s soon to be the main battle field, two people Xiao really could not care less about because they’ve put Liyue and Aether and the rest of Teyvat in danger with their work with the abyss, but he can’t do anything but watch as Aether does his best to once again try and get his sister to come home with him, or at least join him becuase now that they’re in Celestia they have a common enemy. Destroy the Unknown God that trapped them here and caused this destruction, and return Celestia and Teyvat to its former glory! Lumine refuses, again, and a three-way battle begins. Aether fights close to Lumine, because even if they’re not fighting for the same goal he wants to keep her safe, and Childe and Xiao stick close to them in turn. There’s a lot of unnecessary bloodshed, fighting back to back with someone not on their side. They fight hard. Lumine and Aether fall back into a routine, their backs to each other, guarding each other’s blind spots, using their elemental resonances with their “borrowed” powers to their advantage. And right as Lumine realizes this is stupid, that this war isn’t worth losing her brother or the people she’s come to care about, that Unknown God finally makes herself known. She turns the room on it’s top in less than a second, splits a chasm right down the middle between the twins. It’s short work to knock the twins out, with how close her corruption got to them, and they’re left unconscious and unguarded on either side of the split where the Unknown God hovers.

Childe stumbles to the edge, and sees Lumine lying motionless on the ground across the corruption. He knows, when he sees Xiao across the way, that his own face is probably just as twisted in worry as Xiao’s. An Adeptus, normally so cold and uncaring, scared for the life of someone he’s come to love. Childe almost laughs at the thought. He watches as Xiao’s eyes turn from Aether to him, then over to Lumine’s body on the floor, then back to him. Childe bristles, bow drawn as Xiao takes a few short steps to where Lumine lies, and Childe does the same towards Aether. The battle continues around them, corruption eating away at their friends and enemies alike. A moment of tense silence surrounds them then, as they stare at one another, while the Unknown God watches on in amusement. She would so love to watch them destroy each other.

Then Xiao places his spear down, standing between Lumine and this Unknown God, and lowers his head to Childe. A sign of trust, of understanding, and while Childe can still feel the cold aura Xiao exudes against him he knows he can’t save Aether any other way. Childe doesn’t need words to know what he’s saying: “I’ll protect her for you, if you protect him for me.”

And that’s all Childe needs, bow disappearing over his shoulder as electricity cracks at his fingertips, and he can’t stop a bitter laugh from escaping this time.

Aether SO owes him his blessing after this.

[morosemagick]

Listen, Before I Go | Finan x Reader One Shot

Welcome to my first one shot/first Reader!Fic.

Be gentle, I'm trash.

Warning: Major Character Death, (its sad, okay, idk what else to say.)

Words: 3847

Tagged:

@solinarimoon @lauwrite1225

You had seen many things in your life as a traveling healer. Wounds and illnesses alike, taking you from place to place wherever people may need you. Taking care of people was in your blood. Both your parents were healers, and you planned on using all they taught you to care for people around the world. And yet, when you met Uhtred of Bebbanburg and his crew of accident-prone warriors in the aftermath of the battle at Tettenhall, something inside you told you to stay. A feeling in your heart, telling you that no one will ever need you more than they would. Over the months that passed, that feeling proved true. You healed every cut, bruise, and battle wound they would come to acquire. Each wound healed was a bond growing stronger with each man in Uhtred’s service, including your lord himself.

Osferth, the first of the Coccham boys you healed. His kindness was always warming to the heart. Sihtric, who spoke often of his wife and joked about his desire to return to her in one piece. And of course, Finan, whose laugh made your heart skip a beat and smile did things to you that was certainly ungodly. They were your family, and you loved them all dearly.

And you would do whatever it took to save their lives.

Especially now, when they needed you most.

“Sihtric!” You scream out at the sight of him, bloody and broken. The snow falls thick and heavy around you, stained red with the Danish man’s blood and Osferth and Finan work together to lift him from the ground.

“We got him, Y/N, just go!” Finan yells out, and you nod okay. The storm is picking up and though the raiders that ambushed you are dead, none of you are out of the woods yet.

Up ahead is a cave. It’s cold and dark but it’s dry, and getting Sihtric out of the storm is your main priority.

“This way, to the cave!” You call out as you lead the men forward, being sure to check for any unfriendly creatures that might be hiding out from the storm inside. When the coast is clear, you wave the others on.

As carefully as they can, Osferth and Finan lower Sihtric to the ground. The injured warrior groaned as he touched the ground, “We need to make a fire.” Finan tells the rest of you.

“Did anyone see Lord Uhtred?” Osferth questions, making you and Finan glance at each other.

You shake your head no, and then Finan looks back to Osferth, “He must be with Lady Aethelflaed.”

“Should we look for them-”

“We can’t,” Finan cuts him off, sighing, “We must stick together, make a fire, and take care of Sihtric.”

“I will tend to Sihtric,” You tell them, “Go get what you need for a fire but please stay close, this storm is only getting worse, and finding your way back might get harder.”

Finan nods okay, and the two men leave as you bend down to check up on Sihtric. He’s breathing heavy but he’s still alert so that has you at ease. Checking his wound on his side, it doesn’t seem bad but it will definitely need stitching. His skin, however, is freezing to the touch and that makes you nervous, “That bad?” Sihtric chuckles the best he can, his eyes looking so very tired.

“Not at all, you needed stitches. That’s all,” You tell him as you look through the pouch tied to your belt.

“You are a bad liar, Y/N,” He huffs, looking up to the ceiling of the cave, “Tell me, please.”

Biting your lip, you sigh and glance away, “You're freezing, you need fire or you may get sick.”

“I could have told you that,” He laughs but the motion makes his side hurt and his laughter turns to a wince.

“You must rest, Sihtric, please,” You tell him as you find your needle and thread, “Eahlswith will not forgive you if you do not make it home in one piece, remember?”

“Ealhswith,” He smiles slightly, and then grunts as you start to clean the wound, “I miss her.”

“And you will see her soon, I promise,” Glancing up, you can see fear in Sihtrics eyes, and it breaks your heart, “I swear it, Sihtric.”

He only nods, and you continue to care for him in silence.

------------------------------------<3---------------------------------------

Time has passed, and the fire has been made, but it’s small and just barely enough to keep you all comfortable so to make up for the lack of heat you all huddle close to each other. You are to Sihtric’s left, Finan is to yours, and Osferth is on the other side of Sihtric. Sihtric’s wound was cleaned well but he is still very cold and you’re trying your best not to show how worried you are. As you take a deep breath, you let out a shiver and it shakes your whole body.

Noticing how cold you are, Finan scoots closer and wraps his arms around yours and holding it tight, “You alright, Y/N?”

You glance momentarily at Sihtric, who's currently half awake with his head on your shoulder and his eyes on the fire ahead of them, and then look back at Finan, “I am.”

It’s a lie. You’re terrified.

Terrified of losing your friends, of dying to the cold, but mostly you’re terrified of not being able to keep the oath you made to Lord Uhtred and yourself to keep them all safe. It’s killing you inside.

Sihtric is shivering to your right, his cold body against yours sending chills down your spine.

“Alright there, Sihtric?” You ask him, though you know the answer. Instead of staying strong, you can feel him shake his head no. His fear brings a tear to your eyes, “It’ll be okay.”

“It will not,” Sihtric whispers, making everyone else suddenly alert to how beaten he’s feeling.

“It will be, Sihtric, we will get out of this mess like we have every other mess Uhtred has gotten us into,” Finan tries to joke in an attempt to keep everyone’s spirit up.

“Uhtred isn’t even here,” Sihtric tells him, his head still rested on your shoulder, “We might never see him again. I might not-”

“We are getting out of here,” Osferth adds, “God will see us through this.”

“He is not my God, Osferth, he does not care if I live or die,” Sihtric argues.

None of you have seen him so defeated before.

“Hey, hey, look at me,” You tell Sihtric as you turn your body to face him, forcing him to lift his head up. You can tell it’s a struggle for him to hold himself up, and it’s hard for you to keep a calm expression. You grab Sihtric by his face and put on your best smile, but your eyes are still watering and the wind outside has made it so unbearably cold; so at this point, you don’t know if you have it in your heart to lie to him. So you don’t, “I know you are cold, and you hurt, but I will do whatever it takes to make sure you get home to Coccham. To your wife, and to your son.”

Sihtric nods okay, but his eyes tell another story as he starts to cry.

Past his shoulder, you can see Osferth is also looking mighty defeated as his own eyes start to get red, and behind you, Finan’s hand has gripped your cloak and tight.

And then, to make matters worse, the fire dies.

“Fucking bastard fire!” Finan growls loudly as he kicks the still hot wood with his foot, making soot spread, “Fuck!” His scream echoes throughout the cave as he gets up and stomps around in anger, and you look away from Sihtric as you start to cry, biting your lip in hopes of keeping your fear to yourself.

On the tips of your fingers, you feel Sihtric’s tears falling down.

“Finan, sit... please,” Osferth calls out, and you can hear his voice cracking, “Being angry will solve nothing.”

Sihtrics’ crying has worsened, and now they can all hear him.

You pull him closer to you, cuddling him like a child in your arms, trying your best to keep him warm. His sobbing is enough to shake you both, but you keep your grip on him strong. Osferth scoots his body closer to Sihtrics, putting his arm around his brother, and to your left, you can hear Finan return to his seat. After a moment or two, you can feel his arms wrap around your waist and hold you tight.

At least if you die, it will be next to those you love the most.

The four of you sit this way in silence for some time, the only things you can hear are Sihtric crying and the strong snowy winds blowing outside the cave. You have never been a very religious person, but at that moment you find yourself praying to every god you can think of to save the ones you love.

A moment later you hear Sihtric sniffle, and shuffle a bit in your arms before he sighs and speaks, “Y/N?”

“Yes?”

“Can you sing for us?” He asks, and you nod yes.

If you can bring him comfort now, in what very well might be his final hours, you will do whatever he wishes.

“Take me to the rooftop. I wanna see the world when I stop breathing. Turning blue,” You rest your cheek on top of Sihtric’s head, and your eyes glance away as you continue, “Tell me, love is endless, don't be so pretentious. Leave me, like you do. If you need me, wanna see me, better hurry 'Cause I'm leaving soon,” There's sniffling in the air as you sing, you can hear Osferth shuffling, probably to get closer to Sihtric, and you can feel Finan’s arms grip you tighter. “Sorry, can't save me now. Sorry, I don't know how. Sorry, there's no way out but down, mm down.”

You move your left hand down to where Finan is holding you tight, and he moves to grab it, squeezing it as best he can. His hand is lacking a glove, and yet you can feel his warmth.

You hold on to that feeling as you continue singing, “Taste me, the salty tears on my cheek. That's what a year-long headache does to you. I'm not okay, I feel so scattered, don't say I'm all that matters. Leave me. Deja vu. If you need me, wanna see me, you better hurry. I'm leaving soon,” Finan’s head is on your shoulder, you can feel his breath on your neck. It makes you think of all the times you should’ve kissed him. You should have told him. Probably too late for that now, though, “Sorry, can't save me now. Sorry, I don't know how. Sorry, there's no way out, but down, mm down. Write my friends and tell them that I love them. And I'll miss them... but I'm not sorry. Write my friends and tell them that I love them, and I'll miss them…”

Sorry.

------------------------------------<3---------------------------------------

The men have been asleep for some now, but you’re still awake. You have been staring at Sihtric all night, watching his chest rise and fall. Making sure his chest still rises and falls. A couple of times you’ve even put your fingers to his lips to make certain that he’s still breathing. Anything to make sure he’ll survive through the night. On the other side of him, Osferth is sound asleep, you can hear the man snore just slightly, and see him cuddled against Sihtric’s side.

The inside of this cave is freezing but you know it’s better than being out in the storm.

“Y/N?” You hear Finan whisper, “Are you up?”

“I am,” You whisper back, your fingers hovering just above Sihtric’s lips. Still breathing, good. You roll over slowly to not wake him, and when you are facing Finan, you sigh, “He is still alive, thank God.”

“Do you think he’ll make it?” Finan asks quietly, his eyes a red mess.

You shrug, not wanting to lie right now, “I do not know, Finan,” You shake your head, and the tears are building in your eyes again and your next words barely make it out, “I fear the worst.”

The tears fall down your cheeks and you try your best to not cry too loudly because you fear waking them more than you do crying in front of the man who’s stolen your heart. Finan reaches out to hold you by your cheeks and you can feel how warm he is still, it’s not much but enough to feel wonderful against your cold face as you cry. He shuffles his body closer to you, and you can feel his breath on your face as you open your eyes.

You don’t want to die without him knowing how he makes you feel. How he makes your heart flutter. How he fills you with so much life.

How loved he makes you feel.

“Finan- I need to tell you something,” You get yourself ready to say the words, but he stops you with his finger on your lips.

“Tell me in the morning, Y/N,” He’s smiling, but his eyes are red and full of tears.

“But what if we don’t make it to morning?” Your voice cracks, and instead of answering Finan leans in and kisses you. It’s warm and delicious, and you want to kick yourself that it’s only happening now when you might not live to see another day because your body is cold but kissing Finan now fills your soul with so much warmth.

Perhaps this wouldn’t be a terrible way to die.

The two of you stay like that for a while, and you're trying your best to etch every inch of him into your mind as he pulls you in closer by the way to deepen the kiss. It’s everything you’ve ever wanted. It’s like coming home, and when you finally break apart the content smile on his face says he feels the same.

Finan leans back in, kissing your face over and over again. Making sure to kiss away all the tears that have stained your cheeks and then finding his way to your neck, “If I didn’t fear waking them, I’d pull my cock from my trousers and warm you with that.”

You try to bite your lip to contain your laughter, but a snicker comes out anyway, “I’m sure that is that last thing either of them would like to see now.”

“Aye, but what a sight it would be,” He smirks, leaning in for another kiss, “But If I’m going to bed you, Y/N, it will be properly I swear it.”

“I will hold you to that,” You tell him with another kiss, and as you move to separate you can see the expression on his face shift and the mood become more somber, "We should try to sleep. We need our energy."

"You sleep, I'll keep watch," Finan tells you, kissing your forehead.

"Nothing is going to hurt us here but the cold," You try to tell him, "Please try to sleep, Finan."

"I will, Y/N, let me just hold you for a while," Finan nods for you to turn around and you comply, and a moment later his arms are around your waist again and he's kissing behind your ear. Then, barely a whisper and more like wind, you can hear him say something in your ear, "Tá grá agam duit."

It's the last thing you hear before you fall asleep.

------------------------------------<3---------------------------------------

You wake from your sleep in a cold sweat, your heart racing as you rise quickly from the ground. The first thing you do is turn your body to your right to check on Sihtric, and to your surprise you find him sitting up and wide awake.

It brings tears to your eyes.

"Oh thank God," You can't help but say at the sight of him.

Sihtric smiles slightly. He looks tired, but he's alive and that's all the matters, "Good morning, Y/N."

"How are you feeling?" You ask as you lean over to put the back of your hand on his forehead. He's warmer than he was last night, which is a good sign, "Warmer? Is your wound okay?"

"Looks like you did it again, Y/N," Osferth calls out as he enters the cave with firewood in his hand, "Told you you’d be okay." Osferth drops the wood where the original fire once sat and then walks over to Sihtric and ruffles his hair, "Lord Uhtred will be pleased."

You chuckle, wiping your face of tears, and then suddenly you remember last night and Finan.

With a smile still on your face you turn to your left, where you can see his body still lying there, "Finan, it's morning-" the moment you put your hand on him your smile fades and your heart drops as you notice something very important. His fur cloak isn't on his body, but on yours and Finan is cold, "Finan?" You shake his shoulder as you call his name, the frantic sound of your voice getting the other’s attention, "Finan!"

Osferth rushes to your side just as you turn him on his back, and you place your fingers to his lips and can barely feel a thing. Osferth, however, has his hand on Finan’s forehead, "He's burning up."

"I cannot feel his breath," You tell Osferth as the tears hit you quick, and your breathing is all over the place, "Finan, come on, please-" you start to pump at his chest to get his heart moving, breathing into his mouth to help him get air. You do both this over and over again, trying not to let the sobbing stop you, "Come on, Finan, please!"

"Y/N?" You can hear Sihtric's voice question you from where he sits, the sound of fear clear.

You keep going, refusing to give up on him. Thinking about the other night.

You still haven't told him-

"Y/N," Osferth calls to you, but you do not stop, "Y/N," He tries pulling you away, but you keep going, and going, but now Osferth is pulling a little harder, "Y/N, please-"

And just as Osferth is about to tell you to stop, Finan starts to gasp for air and your heart can beat again, "God, thank you," you cry as you pull Finan close to you, taking off the cloak he gave you in the night and putting it back around his body. He's breathing lightly, but he's breathing so that's good enough for now, "You're okay, Finan, you're okay." He lifts his hand up to grab yours and you place a kiss on the top of his head.

“It seems your God is with us, Osferth,” Sihtric chuckles from behind them, making you and Osferth look back at him with a smile.

“We need to get out of this cave,” Osferth smiles, patting your shoulder as he rises to his feet.

“Why, when you’ve seemed to have made it home?” The voice from behind you has you all turning heads, a shocked and pleased look on your faces when you see Lord Uhtred has found you, “Y/N, what have you done to my men? They look awful.”

You laugh in relief at the sight of him. It seems all the Gods have heard your prayer.

------------------------------------<3---------------------------------------

You all get home to Coccham in one piece, and you’ve never been happier to see your little home in your whole life. They leave Finan with you so you can watch him recover, and you do not mind giving the Irishman your bed. It’ll take him a few days to heal, and after everything that has happened, you’d prefer to keep a close watch on him. Sihtric and Ealhswith stop by to visit, partially so you check on Sihtric and partially so Ealthswith can thank you with meals for bringing her husband home.

Osferth and Lord Uhtred stop by as well. Finan isn’t always awake so they usually sit by his side for a while. Osferth prays and you think Uhtred might too.

You are cooking dinner one evening when you hear movement in your bedroom, and the sound of something falling over. You immediately rush to the other room to find that Finan is trying to sit up, and has knocked a cup of water to the floor.

“What do you think you're doing?” You giggle as he leans back down, feeling grateful to see him awake.

“If you wanted me in your bed, Y/N, you only needed to ask,” Finan jokes as you walk closer to him, sitting at the edge of the bed, “What happened?”

“You’re a fool, that’s what happened,” You tell him as you put your hand to his forehead and he is no longer burning, which is good, “You had a fever, almost froze to death,” Your smile fades as you take a deep breath, “I thought I lost you for a moment…”

“A fever?” He questioned, looking generally lost, “I don’t remember a fever,” He reaches out and takes your hand, gently rubbing your knuckles, “But I do remember some things. You were going to tell me something, were you not?”

You smile and lean down to kiss his forehead, “I’ll tell you when you're out of this bed.”

Finan laughs, using his other hand to reach out and hold you close from your neck, “Will you now?”

“You have promises you have to make good on first,” Your smirk as you lean in closer.

“Oh and I plan on making good of them, Y/N,” Finan tells you in a low voice that makes you squirm.

You chuckle as you lean in even closer, “God is good.”

“Aye,” He smirks as he hovers over your lips, “Praise him.”

Oh, you do. You thank him later that night in bed as you ride him and Finan makes good on his promise to warm you. A bed that Finan ends up never leaving and now you share together. You praise him on your wedding day, and multiple times on your wedding night. You praise him a few months later when you find yourself pregnant with your firstborn, and again when you give birth to your first son. You thank God for every child you have after, and every moment with this family of yours; made and found, that you decided to stay in Coccham and make it your home.

You thank God, all the Gods, for every moment they bless you with.

Even once your husband passes on.

And one day, when you're old, tired, and lying in the grass surrounded by the ones you love most you thank him one last time; before you go, for blessing you with such a life.

Grateful to go out under the heat sun, taking in the world one last time.

[dralanabloom]

it wasn’t uncommon for judith to spend the night at alana’s. truth be told, ever since she let her into her life, she didn’t want to sleep alone anymore. so she actually found it rather hard when the other didn’t spend the night. 

funny enough, though, even when judith was there, it didn’t meant that alana slept well. she often woke from nightmare's and couldn’t get back to sleep. that night was no exception. it was one in the morning, she woke and couldn’t help but smile when she woke up and saw judith peacefully sleeping next to her. she then rises to get herself a drink, talked to her dogs quietly for a moment and then returned to the bed, where judith was now awake.

‘ i’m sorry if i woke you. ’ she says softly, curling up beside the other, holding her in her arms. heart touched when she hears the other say she wants to hear her voice until she falls asleep. alana says nothing, but she shifts her position, reaches to her beside where she kept a small book light and her flannery o’conoor short stories. 

‘ as you wish. ’ she says softly, repositioning them both so they were comfortable, and begins to read until she feels the other fall asleep on her lap. pure bliss.

*      ╰       ⋮     “   i  just  want  to  hear  your  voice  until  i  fall  asleep  …   ”  ━━  a meme (accepting)  ━━ @lambliing​​

[noteasilyswayed-arc]

it was a sincere question that she was about to ask, but she was scared to ask it because it seemed rude. she just was absolutely itching to know why in a bar, in the bows of the evening, when it was both dark inside and out, was he wearing sunglasses. she spotted him from across the bar, rather curious but at first she wondered if he was sight impaired-------but judging on everything she observed, that was not a possibility. it simply perplexed her as to why he had them on, and truthfully, she found it pretty damn irritating that she couldn’t let it go.

she moves across the bar, a little bit closer, so that maybe he would walk by and she would be able to get his attention-----------she was given the opportunity several times, but did not succeed. she would turn a little bit, open her mouth to speak and then lose her courage. alana bloom was never one to lose her courage in any situation, she wondered what the hell had gotten into her. 

finally, she musters up the courage, goes up to the bar that he was sitting at, and orders herself a shot of--------and i quote---------whatever was cheap. she downs it, it sends goosebumps all over her skin. shoulders shimmy as she tries to shake the taste, eyes squeeze shut, nose scrunches. surely she was a hell of a sight. 

she then taps the mans’ shoulders ‘ hey, can i ask you something ? ’ she’s not asking him, she’s going to say it anyway. ‘ this is going to sound so rude--------------but it’s been driving me insane; why the hell are you wearing sunglasses in a dark bar at night time ?  are you trying to be like corey hart or something ? ’ that came off even worse than she had anticipated. great job alana. foot has been inserted in mouth.

                               sc. // accepting // @survivedempathy (crowley)

[teruthecreator]

sweet surprises

lord forgive me for the cringe i’m about to post. i fully blame this post and this post for planting the seeds of berdley having a crush on kris in my brain. also shouts out to izel for listening to me go insane at 3 AM about this. 

anyways, here’s a thing. 

______________________________________________________________

Excitement is in the air.

Unlike the usual calm monotony of life at school, things recently have been quite...electric. Not because of the portal to the Dark World hidden behind the door of the closet, or the adventures had by a select group of students through the portal in the Librarby a few days ago. No, this isn’t about that.

This is about the Sadie Hawkman’s Dance. The once-a-year phenomenon where the school puts on its best interpretation of a formal dance for the incredibly small number of students who attend class. Students buzz in excitement for the event, preparing their most formal outfits and getting ready to dazzle their friends and fellow classmates with their dramatic entrances into the auditorium.

And, of course, there’s the all important ritual of asking someone to the dance.

There’s already been a few proposals made this week. Jockington rolled into class like a hula hoop and asked Catti to be his “best bro” for the dance, to which she happily agreed. (And by that, I mean she looked up from her phone, smiled, said not a single word, and went back to typing.) Temmie loudly announced to the class that she would be taking her egg, which was somehow...embarrassed that she mentioned it. And, of course, Noelle finally managed to work up enough courage to ask Susie to the dance. It was done in an incredible display of candy canes that spelled out the phrase: “CAN(E) YOU BE MY DATE TO THE DANCE?” Unfortunately, Susie was about halfway through scarfing the display down before she realized what it said. She then began choking on one of the candy canes out of disbelief, which wound her in the nurse for the rest of the day. But, when she could speak again, she very quietly agreed to Noelle’s proposal (and, if you happened to be a fly on the wall in that room, you could hear a tail thump rhythmically against the doctor’s bench as she did so).

Kris was pleased with everything. They were happy to see their friends so happy together. A long time coming, if you asked them. And they’d be just as happy attending the dance solo, since they’ll undoubtedly be dragged along by Susie. They’d never gone to the dance before--never had a reason to, truth be told. But with their newfound friends, they may just enjoy being a wingman for the night.

...Speaking of wingmen, Berdly will probably be going solo as well. Unsurprising, but Kris makes a mental note to ensure the bird will be in attendance. As much as he is kind of a lot sometimes, he’s their friend. And Kris is going to make sure all of their friends are having fun at that dance!

They walk into class thinking of this (surprisingly early, for a change), which is why they almost miss the massive display sitting boldly atop their desk. They freeze the instant it catches their eye and, for a second, they almost believe it isn’t real. Like some leftover thoughts of the Dark World lingering in their vision. But, after wiping their eyes and seeing that it’s still there, they decide to approach and...investigate.

The display is expertly crafted by someone who clearly knows their way around a glue gun. It is a heart-shaped arch that is decorated with a myriad of printed illustrations of Super Smashing Fighters Melee characters, all having cut-outs to hold different bars of chocolate. There are also numerous origami hearts glued around the characters on the arch, in colors spanning across the rainbow. The arch is painted in swirls of blues, pinks, and reds and covered with a border of glitter that sprinkles onto the desk when Kris reaches out to pluck a chocolate bar from its perch. On the desk itself is a big origami heart that says “TO KRIS” in gold calligraphy. It is by far one of the coolest, nicest, cheesiest things Kris has ever seen.

They look up from the display to see if anyone else is seeing this shit, and that’s when it all clicks.

Because sitting at the front of the classroom, fidgeting way more than normal, is Berdly. He keeps interlocking his ankles underneath his desk before unlocking them and kicking the air, turning around every half-second or so to try and catch Kris’s reaction. From the brief moments Kris can see the front of him, they notice he’s not in his usual white collared shirt and black khaki shorts. Instead, his shirt is buttoned all the way up, with a nice blue bowtie tied around his neck. He also traded out his khaki shorts for a pair of dress pants that look to be a tad too long for his legs. He keeps reaching up to smooth out the feathers on his head, which immediately stick back up from stress.

Now, Kris may be a straight B student, but they’re not stupid. Context clues are a very good thing, and all signs point to Berdly as the culprit of this public display of...affection?

Beyond Berdly is Ms. Alphys at her desk, who shoots Kris a look of deep understanding and maybe...guilt? She looks at Berdly for a split second and shrugs her shoulders, indicating he was probably in here long before she was and so she had no way of stopping him from leaving it there.

Kris looks back down at the display and picks up the large origami heart. As they begin to unfold it, they see a sprawling letter written in the same flashy calligraphy. Kris squints at the letters--they’re dyslexic, so everything kind of just looks like spaghetti on paper. Still, they’re able to make out the largely printed question of “WILL YOU GO TO THE DANCE WITH ME?” with no issue.

Huh, guess they won’t be going to the dance alone after all…? It’s a little confusing as to why Berdly would want to go with them, though. Like, they’ve hung out a little bit--usually whenever Berdly wanted a “worthy rival” to play video games with, he would come over and Kris would whoop his ass for a few hours. And, of course, there were the recent events in the Cyber World; but Kris is pretty sure them and Susie had thoroughly convinced Noelle and Berdley that that was all a dream. So, why them?

They’re lost in this train of thought for so long that they don’t even notice the other kids enter the room until they suddenly hear:

“Yo, Kris???????? What the heck is this thing????” Susie’s voice doesn’t startle them, but it is loud enough to get them to look up. Susie is standing next to their desk, looking at the display with genuine amazement thinly masked by disgust. She’s also loud enough to basically stop the whole class (who were all muttering amongst themselves about it anyway), which gives Kris only a second to gaze around the room before--

SLAM!

The door to the classroom slams shut, leaving one seat unoccupied.

Berdley’s.

“This thing’s got chocolate on it????” Susie continues to marvel at the display while Kris looks at the door, frowning. They feel...bad. It isn’t Berdley’s fault for trying to fit in with the other kids' proposals; he admitted to feeling like he needs to do more just to stand out enough for people to acknowledge him back in the Dark World. And this thing is really...thoughtful! The characters are all ones Kris typically mains, or ones they know Berdley mains, which means he remembers things about Kris. And the chocolate is a given, but it is nice to be able to stock their personal snack stash with some fancy stuff. Ultimately, it’s very sweet, and Kris can’t help but feel a little guilty for not saying anything immediately.

They turn and lock eyes with Ms. Alphys, who looks extremely out-of-depth with this situation. She makes a number of gestures from them to the door in a flustered way of saying I have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on please help me Kris I know I’m asking a lot of you but I don’t know how to deal with teenage angst I’m like thirty-five. They sigh, standing up and walking past Susie (but not before giving her a stare that warns her if a single chocolate bar is gone that they will be holding that over her until the day she dies) and following Berdly out the door.

It doesn’t take Kris very long to follow the trail of labored breathing to where Berdley is--in the abandoned classroom, hyperventilating as he teeters on a breakdown. Luckily, when Kris opens the door, it seems to put a halt to his spiralling because he just kind of...freezes. Like a deer caught in headlights. Or a Berdley caught in Kris-lights. Kris takes this moment to let the door shut behind them, trapping the two in here. Together.

“U-Uhhhhh, hi--he--Um. H-Hello, K-Kris…” Berdly attempts to put on his usual bravado, but his voice betrays him brutally by squeaking and cracking on every syllable. Kris can’t help the smile that comes to their face.

“Uh, hey,” they reply with a wave. Berdley continues to stand there and stare (almost like he wasn’t expecting Kris to care enough to follow him) before the present circumstances return to his mind and he begins breathing hard again.

“I-I-I-I, uh...I was. Um. J-Just, uh. G-Getting some fresh air! Y-Yes! The classroom can be s-so stuffy sometimes, I’m sure y-you--you, uh...you agree?” Berdley makes a valiant attempt at hiding his panic, which Kris almost takes pity on. But they don’t think the monster will feel any better if they just pretend what happened back there never happened.

“Yeah. I liked the display.” Kris says simply. Berdley stands stock-straight at that, looking even worse for wear in the “being normal and completely cool” department.

“O-Oh??????? That ol’ thing????? I, um--well I just--y-you see, I--uh. Um,” You can really hear the gears in his head turning as he attempts to come up with an excuse. “I-I-I just thought you w-would appreciate the craftsmanship of!!! A t-true artisan, such as myself!!! So, I!!! M-Made it!!! COMPLETELY PLATONICALLY, OF COURSE!!!! I-I would never imply that my intentions w-were anything other than for bro-sies, i--You didn’t read that whole card, did you?”

“I can’t read,” They mean this as a joke, but they can see Berdley seriously consider this for a second too long. “Dude, I’m dsylexic. I can’t really read cursive…” Berdley freezes up once more, which makes Kris realize they haven’t really projected that as loudly as they might’ve thought.

“Oh! Right! How could I forget! That you’re! Dsylexic!” Berdley’s smile is stapled to his face as he begins to rhythmically knock on his head. “And I! Wrote! That! Entire! Note! In! Cursive! Which! You! Can’t! Read!!!” Kris steps forward in an attempt to keep Berdley from bashing his own skull in, but that only makes Berdley more tense, so they take a step back. “I-I just--The note isn’t important! None of it’s important actually can we forget this interaction ever happened okay? Okay yes that’s great have a wonderful day Kris I will be returning home to sitinmyroomandneverreturntothecorporealrealmalrightgoodbyeforeverKris--” He attempts to sidestep around Kris and out the door, but is very easily intercepted.

“Stop.” Kris grabs him by the shoulders, which seems to shut him up for a second. “Can you just tell me what’s wrong?” Berdley gapes at them as his face steadily grows redder, which makes Kris feel as if there’s something on their face. But he quickly shakes it off, going from completely neurotic to...dejected.

“I just…” He starts, trailing off immediately. “You deserve to have a big proposal, same as everyone else. I-I see you in the back of the class, just...watching. And I, uh, felt it was time to...give you the spotlight! But that was silly of me, wasn’t it?” He looks off to the side at the floor, smiling sadly. “After all, who’d want to go to the dance with me…? I-I’m alone every year, standing in the background. Just kind of...taking it all in...and th-thinking about how it’d be...nice to be a part of it. But that’s...not probable. It was just nice to think about taking you to the dance because you’re--well, you’re nice to me, and you’re funny, and you actually listen to me when I’m talking, an-and you’re a good person and an incredible gaming legend...but I shouldn’t have put it all on you in front of everyone...I’m. I’m sorry, Kris.” He won’t make eye contact with the human, but Kris can still see the tears collecting in his eyes.

“Berdley, that’s stupid.” Kris says, which Berdley cringes at, “Why wouldn’t I wanna go with you?” That part is...not what Berdley was expecting. He looks up at Kris, unsure of where to go from here.

“U-Um…? Because of all the previously stated things? Like me being a complete loser who nobody likes?”

“I like you,” Kris replies immediately, leaving Berdley’s feathers sticking straight up as he flusters. “And I like your display. It’s...really sweet.”

“E-Even if you can’t read the note?” Berdley’s voice cracks.

“I mean, I could read the: WILL YOU GO WITH ME TO THE DANCE part, so, like. Yeah.” Kris shrugs. “Plus, you got me chocolate. Nice chocolate. Nobody...gets me things like that.” They smile, a light dusting of blush across their face. “I’ll go with you.” Berdley’s entire body seizes up for the third time, eyes wide and mouth agape.

“W-W-w-W-w-w-w-w-W-W-W-w-w-w-Wh-Wha-wh-w-w-wha-wha-w-wh-Wh-Wha-wh-Wha-wha-w-w-W-W-W--” Berdley continues to struggle with the word “what” for a solid minute and a half before he’s finally about to manage a: “What?!” Kris can’t help but laugh.

“I said that, Berdley,” at this, they move their grip from his shoulders to his hands, “I will go to the Sadie Hawkman’s dance with you.”

The circuits in Berdley’s brain struggle with this frequency for an extended moment before his face erupts in the giddiest smile Kris has ever seen the bird monster sport. He even begins to jump up and down, taking Kris along with him, as he cackles. It is a surprisingly cute display that Kris finds themselves blushing a bit at. It’s nice to be this...cared about.

“I-I--We have to start thinking of outfits immediately!” Berdley blurts out, returning to their usual demeanor. “I was thinking of some complimentary color schemes on the way to school today which I will be happy to show you at lunchtime. I’m also a master with a sewing machine, so if you are unable to procure an outfit that meets the color requirements, I would be delighted to take your measurements and--w-wait, don’t read into that phrasing, I just m-meant that I could make an outfit for you! B-But I’d need your measurements, and--Oh, goodness, hasn’t class started already, Kris?! We should head back, but--” He looks from the door to Kris and back again a few times before finally settling on something.

“I’lltalktoyouaboutthislaterseeyouinclassKris!!!!!” He says this right before he gives Kris a solitary peck on the cheek before bolting out of the abandoned classroom, leaving Kris blinking at the Berdley-shaped cloud he left behind. Their hand gently grazes the spot on their cheek--luckily not actually pecked by his beak, but more of a quick-kiss kind of peck--and feel their heart skip a beat.

Huh.

That’s...different.

They elect to not dwell on that feeling any longer and head back to class. They have to make sure Susie hasn’t eaten all of the chocolate on that display.

They wouldn’t want to make Berdley go through the trouble of re-proposing  just so they could rightfully claim their other sweet surprise.

[weebswrites]

The Demon Bros: Their Dark Side (combining these two asks because they have very similar energy^^)

- if anyone is interested I can write a part 2 to this where MC and the demons reconcile hehe -

Lucifer (TW: attempted physical assault (not sexual))

He’s the avatar of pride, so the event that causes him to snap is when you accidentally tell the bros about how the two of you like to unwind (rated pg)

You didn’t think it’d be a big deal, they’ve been brothers for how many thousands of years?

But Lucifer erupts, suddenly in demon form

He stands over you, roaring his hand back as if he were going to slap you

Beel stands up and intercepts Lucifer’s hand, grabbing his wrist with all his strength and saving you

You wince, falling back a bit into Asmo’s arms, and he hugs you close

“MC!!!” he yells, rage obvious in his voice

“Asmo…what did I do…” you whisper, voice quivering in fear as the love of your life just snapped and almost hit you

“I think he wanted that to stay private, he doesn’t like us to know that he relaxes…” he whispers, “Don’t feel guilty, he shouldn’t be reacting like this”

“Lucifer…” you say, standing a bit straighter and looking into his dark red eyes, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know”

“You should have!” his voice booms, anger not subsiding at all

You look at him, eyes full of confusion and regret. You plead for him to calm down, to talk to you rationally and listen to your apologies

He growls, “The rest of you, out!” he yells, and they obey instantly. Asmo squeezing his shoulders around you quickly and Beel giving you a small smile before leaving

You ramble on for as long as he lets you about how you’re sorry and you didn’t mean to upset him

After a few minutes he cuts you off, “You didn’t upset me, you betrayed me”

His voice was cold, and without hesitation he turns and leaves the room

Mammon

You didn’t think Mammon, the avatar of Greed, would get mad about anything. You’d never heard stories about him turning into demon form, so you assumed it basically never happened

That is, until you take Levi’s side and scold him for taking more of his games and selling them

“I thought you were supposed to take my side no matter what!” he yells, two bat-like wings appearing before you

Your face gets red, and you take a step back, “Mammon…” you whisper, completely in shock

“What? You’re actually surprised that I’m pissed off right now? Humans really are idiots!”

You take a small step behind Levi, and he puts his arm in front of you, a bit of a shield from Mammon

“Mammon, calm down. They’re right and you know it, you just let your greed override your sense sometimes. Listen to your partner, they’re trying to help you” Levi defends you

“Yeah, Mammon, please. I don’t mean to insult you, I just don’t like seeing you always hurting others and stealing their things just to get money”

“I’m the avatar of greed, damnit! What do you expect?! You knew that before you started dating me, you can’t act like this now just because we’re dating”

“Mammon, I just want what’s best for you. There are better ways to get money than backstabbing your family!”

You’re definitely a bit afraid, but you’re not going to let him walk all over you

You bicker back and forth, arguing in circles before he storms off to his room, slamming and locking the door behind him

Leviathan

You’ve been hanging out with a new friend more and more, and he gets envious

You reassure him that he’s just a partner that you got assigned for a class, nothing more, but Levi can’t help but be jealous that its not him

Until one night when he asks if you can binge the new anime that came out, and you tell him that you have to meet with him to work on your project

“Why!! Why are you constantly with him, talking and laughing and working and everything!” he screams, voice cracking with emotion as he transforms into demon form

“Levi, I’ve told you it isn’t like that! The professor assigned us together, I didn’t even know him before this!” you defend yourself, exasperated with your boyfriend’s jealousy

“I don’t care!! You need to make time for me instead of him! He’s probably funnier than me, and he’s obviously handsomer than I am, you’re probably ashamed of always being seen with me so you’re trying to be with him more!”

“Levi, please. You know I love you and only you” you say, voice half caring and half irritated

“Yeah, right! See if I care, go be with your real boyfriend then, see if I care” he says, crossing his arms and exhaling aggressively

“Levi, no. I can reschedule if this is going to be a problem tonight, but he’s my partner. We have an assignment to do”

“No, go. I’ll watch the new season on my own. You probably don’t even like anime, you liar!”

“Levi!! Please, love, you know that isn’t true”

“I can’t trust you, not after this. Just go, have fun with your real boyfriend” he sneers, turning his back to you

“Fine!” you snap back, leaving his room and slamming the door behind you

Satan (18+ language)

You’re chatting about a book that’s supposed to be released sometime this year

“I heard that the ending is super cliche, the main character was unconscious the whole time or something overused like that”

“You what?!” he exclaims, transforming into demon form

“Fuck…Satan…I forgot…” you whisper, stepping a bit back as you remember how each brother took time to tell you to avoid spoilers at all. costs. with satan

“You sure as hell did!! I can’t believe you!!” he screams, running a hand through his hair in anger

“It’s probably not even true…I doubt the author would do something like that” you mutter, trying to save yourself from his wrath

“I don’t care!! There’s the chance now that that’s how it’s going to end, you know how my head works, now that’s all I’ll be able to think about while I’m reading!! Damn it!!”

He’s pacing back and forth, heat radiating off his body as he tries to control his anger

“I can’t forgive you for this” he states, voice cold

“Satan…” you whisper, stepping towards him a (tiny) bit

“Get away from me…” he scoffs

“Satan, please…I’m so sorry” you plead with him, desperate for him to forgive you, “I know how badly I messed up, I know. I would do anything to undo it, or to make you feel better. Please just forgive me”

“Anything, huh?” he retorts, smirking at you

“Yes, anything, please” you say, resisting the urge to step towards him again

“Then leave. Get out, I don’t want to look at you right now”

You feel your heart break and sink in your chest. Tears well in your eyes, but Satan stays silent, eyes unwavering at your emotions

You leave, walking slowly to your room, tears rolling down your cheeks

Asmodeus (drinking mentions)

You’re out one night at a club, dancing together and drinking (just to loosen up, not to get wasted)

You go to the bar to refill your drinks, and let a stranger hit on you, flirting back a bit until he offers to buy you a drink

You let him, because hey, a free drink is a free drink, and it’s not like Asmo hadn’t done the same thing before

Suddenly you feel a tight hand on your shoulder and you’re ripped away from the demon

Asmo drags you outside the bar, to an isolated spot beside the building

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?? Are you cheating on me??” he explodes, putting his hand against the building behind you, trapping you beneath him

“Asmo, I was just getting him to buy me a drink, I don’t even know who he is” you explain, “Why are you in demon form? It’s not like you haven’t done the same thing, you have no place to be mad”

“Excuse me?! I’m the avatar of lust, I can’t help myself from flirting with everyone, you have no excuse!” he yells, gritting his teeth

You go back and forth, him angry at you for flirting with someone else, him enraged at you for thinking he can control his urges

“Asmo, I’m always understanding of when you flirt with others, because I know it’s hard for you to control yourself. It hurts me to watch you do that, but I let you do it. I bite my tongue. I do that for you every time we go out, you should be able to let me do what you do every time at least once”

“I don’t care, I don’t want you flirting with other demons. Now let’s go, you’ve ruined the night and I want to go home”

Beelzebub

You’re snacking in the kitchen on some of his leftovers, scrolling through your D.D.D.

He walks in, “MC…”

You look up, instantly freezing when you see the anger in his eyes

“Beel…”

He erupts, “You’re eating my food!! How could you!!”

You drop it, “Beel, I’m so sorry, I thought it was okay…”

“Why, because we’re dating? That means nothing when it comes to food!”

His words hit deep in your heart, and you feel tears start to well in your eyes

All you can do is quietly apologize

“Damnit!” he yells, slamming his fist on the table hard, but not hard enough to break it

“I’ve made it so clear not to eat my food! Ever! Under any circumstances! And no one ever does!! What makes you think you’re special?”

“Beel…” your voice is quiet, “I mean…yes. I love you, Beel, I thought it would be okay…I’m sorry”

“It isn’t okay!! I’ve been looking forward to this all day and you ruined it…” he ranted, “Whatever, I’m leaving”

“Beel, no, please. Let me make it up to you” you say, getting up and chasing him out of the kitchen

But he doesn’t stop, he storms off and locks you out of his room

He’d never snapped at you before, much less turned to demon form because of something you’d done. There had been plenty of stories about Lucifer and Satan turning to demon form, and some of the other demons, but never any of Beel

You didn’t know what to do

Belphegor

He’d been sleeping more than usual, and you missed him

You knock on his door, eventually letting yourself in when he didn’t answer

“Belphie…Belphie…wake up” you whisper

He slowly wakes up, “MC…what…is everything okay?”

You reassure him that everything is okay, and that you just wanted to spend some time with him

He rubs his eyes and shakes his head a bit

Suddenly, he’s in demon form, and you have no idea what is happening

“You woke me up for that?? Because you want to spend time with me?? Ugh!!!” he yells

“Belphie…” you whisper, stepping back towards the door

“You know how much I need sleep, why would you wake me up for something as unimportant as you wanting to spend time with me!”

He’s steaming, “And don’t call me Belphie!”

You start shaking a bit, “B-Bel…Belphegor…” you whisper, feeling hurt and betrayed

“Leave!! I don’t want to spend time with the person that disturbed me!” he yells, walking towards you quickly

You flinched as he approached, not sure what he was going to do, but he just opened his door and shoved you out

He locks the door behind you, the click of the lock causing your heart to sink a bit

You place the palm of your hand against his door, “I’m sorry…” you whisper, sinking to your knees

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

A/N: This got a bit general angsty, so I hope it’s okay! Thanks for the request, anon :) My inbox is open for anyone who wants to request! You can send in more than one per person, about any of the fandoms found in my post here. Love you guys <3

[trainsinanime]

For the ask game: 13, 15, 17, 19

13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

I’ve said this before: The Gorilla is not “Adrien’s only parent”. The Gorilla is the jailer who physically enforces the limits on Adrien’s freedom that Gabriel has set. That’s his job, and it’s one he actually does most of the time. In Gorizilla, Adrien and Marinette are trying to dodge him (and Adrien’s fans) long before he turns into an Akuma. In Origins, Adrien tries to dodge him when he wants to go to school.

Yes, the Gorilla is often bad at his job, and sometimes will let himself be bribed into being even worse at it. And yes, he has genuine affection for Adrien, more so than anyone else living in the Agreste mansion (Nathalie stans: Fight me). And I could imagine that someone else in the same role might be worse for Adrien. But still, when Adrien is running towards his freedom, the Gorilla is the person he is running from.

I don’t think he is irredeemable, far from it, and I’m perfectly okay with stories where Adrien decides to forgive him. I just think the fandom needs to acknowledge that there is something to forgive here in the first place.

15. Unpopular opinion about the manga/show?

I’m still trying to sort my thoughts enough for a long-form post, but basically, I think the strict format hurts the show. There is only ever the one villain; there is only one plot; there is only one kind of threat. If you compare it to other shows in a vaguely similar conceptual space like The Owl House or Buffy the Vampire Slayer (what is Miraculous if not Buffy but happy), you can quickly see where it leaves a lot of development on the table because of those structural deficiencies.

Having multiple enemies in succession means the bad guys can have meaningful victories over the heroes, keeping the threat level up. At the same time, the heroes can make significant progress at times. Miraculous Ladybug just doesn’t have that, and the one time they did have a serious victory for the bad guy (exposing the other heroes), they couldn’t do anything with that.

The show also generally doesn’t have B-plots; at least no B-plots with any substance to them. The time spent on B-plots is instead given to the CGI battles, and to be fair, those can be a lot of fun. But that means there is really no opportunity to develop side characters better because there is no time; even the main plot often feels more like we’re watching a summary than a well-told story.

It also doesn’t help that the show is so strict about secret identities and amnesia for akuma victims and the like. Marinette can’t talk about superhero stuff with Alya (for most of the show anyway) and Chat Noir can’t talk about superhero stuff with Nino, which means those two don’t get any development. And Marinette can’t really reason with an Akuma victim, nor talk about personal stuff while in costume, so in the end the CGI battles are fun, but usually irrelevant when it comes to characterisation and plot developments.

The show seems to address some of these issues, especially with Rena knowing, but still, it’s far from ideal.

It’s a weird thing where it sort of balances out in the end; the show doesn’t seem to have the the time to develop any overarching story well, but it doesn’t have a good overarching story to begin, so it evens out. And they have given me enough bits for the minor characters so that I love all of them.

I’m a bit hesitant to post all this stuff because it makes the show sound horrible, which it is not. I genuinely love it and enjoy watching it. I just think that it could have been so much better if it had chosen a different format.

Not sure if this is unpopular, but it is a thing we’re not really talking about.

17. Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…

Apart from “restructure the entire show completely and rewrite every single episode”, you mean? 😁

I think we could cut Lila, and instead give more time to Chloé. People keep acting like “Zoé is supposed to replace Chloé”, and no, obviously not; Lila is. People also keep saying “the writers hate Chloé”, and again, no, obviously not; if they hate anyone, they hate Lila.

Lila’s job in the show is to be the Cordelia Chase character; the antagonist for the non-superhero side of Marinette’s life. This is the role that Chloé previously had, until Marinette realised partly through season 1 that being the bigger person in that relationship is both easy and fun. But Lila isn’t a good replacement, because Lila has absolutely no character, no depth; she’s either conspiring to make Marinette’s life harder, or, more commonly, she’s functionally completely absent. The writers seem to have no clue what to do with her.

So either expand her role, or remove her. I’m leaning towards removal because Chloé could probably be a better antagonist; she has all the motivation and backstory, and the writers seem to genuinely enjoy making her the center of attention.

19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

Honestly I am at a point where either the salt has died down, or I’ve managed to block it well enough, that I am basically very happy with the fandom. There are certainly a lot of hot takes I don’t enjoy, but my impression is that these are mostly the results of young people trying critical analysis for the first time, and I don’t want to be too harsh on that.

So… the thing that tends to disappoint me the most is really at the other end of the scale: I think the fandom is way too serious at times. The show is blatantly silly and cracky in every aspect, from its world building right up. Marinette may seem over-the-top, but in the context of the show, she seems to have about an average level of chill. Every single episode, if written as a fanfic, would be pure crack. The fandom is by no means a joyless place, far from it! But I think it could embrace the sheer insanity that is the world of Miraculous Ladybug even more. If you write a fanfic, and the Eiffel tower remains completely stationary the entire time, what are you really doing? 😁

[heliads]

Tells

Based on this request:  “the Avengers fight another battle in New York, including Buck. They win but between the destroyed buildings, Buck finds one familiar face, his Ex-girlfriend from Bucharest. He gets her free but fears she’s not surviving her injuries and he realizes how much he still loves her. While she’s in the hospital he finds out that she came to search him & after she wakes up a few days later, they decide to give their relationship another try”

masterlist

Bucky had known that this was going to happen for a while now. He had probably known since the moment he had met her. Every second of sunlight eventually turns dark with storm, and the loud crack of thunder always follows lightning, no matter how brightly it flares. 

He had not intended to stay in Bucharest. If Bucky was being smart, he would have moved on after a month or so, changing from country to country without leaving a trace. You can’t turn your back on an organization like HYDRA without garnering at least one tail, which is why Bucky had only planned on staying a week or two at most. If he could pass through Bucharest and out of Romania, he could disappear into some corner between Serbia and Bulgaria and be gone forever. That was what he had set out to do, anyway.

Then, he met her. The hour was early; most of the residents of this corner of the town were still asleep, passing the time away until they would have to get up and face the details of their otherwise mundane lives. Bucky couldn’t sleep anyway, too many nightmares crowded every space behind his eyes, so he had gotten up, jammed a black baseball cap over his head to at least partially obscure his face, and wandered around until he found a street packed with vendors, white tents already set up and displaying their goods.

Bucky passed by them aimlessly, not really looking for anything particular until he saw the fresh fruit vendor. He approached the tent, glancing over the tables in the front. There was a woman bent over some newly arrived crate in the back, but she straightens up and turns back around once she hears Bucky come closer. For a second, Bucky feels like he’s speechless. The woman is beautiful, and she walks with an easy grace as she waves goodbye to a friend of hers. She flashes him a smile that looks sweeter than any of the fruits set out before him.

Her name is Y/N, and she lives three streets down from him. Bucky hadn’t intended on staying, certainly not the five months, one week, and four days that has passed since he first arrived. He hadn’t intended on buying himself the small, shabby apartment down one of the sidestreets. He definitely hadn’t intended to start dating Y/N, to fall in love with her as if he was just some perfectly ordinary man who could hand away his heart to any pretty girl he saw.

Bucky told himself that despite his worries, he could be happy here. He had a dependable source of income from the odd jobs he found around the city, he had a shelter over his head, food on the table, and Y/N, a girl he found he loved more than anything. What more could he ask for? Yet after each perfectly ordinary day, he found himself lying awake at night, head pounding as he thought up every possible scenario in which things could go wrong.

It’s after one of these nights that Bucky finds himself awake after yet another night of not sleeping. The bags under his eyes only grow from week to week, and the stress he feels outweighs even the sense of exhaustion that hangs about him. He’s got a few more minutes before the day starts, so he decides to head over to Y/N’s apartment. He walks quickly, careful not to be noticed by any security cameras. Bucky honestly thinks that he might have made it, that he’s finally escaped from HYDRA’s reach, and then he reaches Y/N’s front door.

Instantly, he stops in his tracks. There’s a brochure tucked under one corner of her faded welcome mat, poking out just enough to be spotted. It’s a dark grey, with a red logo in the center. Bucky’s throat feels dry as he stoops over and pulls it out, and his heart drops with a sickening thud when he realizes just what that logo represents. It’s a skull, surrounded by six tentacles. 

HYDRA has found him.

More importantly, HYDRA has found Y/N. If this brochure is here, then that means they not only know where he is, but they know where Y/N is and that she’s important to him. They’ll hurt her if they think it’ll get Bucky to come back to them. That's a definite. Bucky runs a hand through his hair, mussing it even more, then clutches the brochure in his hand and walks quickly away, his visit to Y/N forgotten.

Bucky barely makes it back to his apartment before his nerves overwhelm him. It probably wasn’t the smartest decision to go immediately back home, especially seeing as HYDRA was most likely following him, but it doesn’t matter. He has to protect Y/N, has to get her out of here before HYDRA makes their move. But that doesn’t work either- wherever he goes, HYDRA will follow. He knows that. Besides, he can’t ask Y/N to uproot her entire life just to come with him. Bucky drops his head into his hands as he realizes just what he has to do to save Y/N. It will kill him, but at least she will be safe.

He doesn’t meet up with Y/N again until later that night. He places a brief phone call asking if he can talk to her at her apartment, and hangs up almost immediately once she agrees. His feet feel leaden on the walk over. 

When she opens the door, her happy grin at seeing him starts to fade when she sees the look on his face. “What’s wrong, Bucky?”

She’s sitting on the couch in her apartment. Bucky is still standing, arms folded tightly over his chest. He has to do this. It’s the only way. 

“I-” 

His voice cuts off for a second. “I want to break up with you.” 

Her smile looks frozen. “What?” 

Bucky speaks again, forcing his voice to come out stronger. “I want to break up with you. I don’t think we’re right for each other.”

Y/N stands up slowly, fixing him with a questioning look that feels as if it could cut right through Bucky’s soul. “What are you talking about? Just last week, you were telling me about how I was the only one who you could trust, about how I truly understood you.” 

Bucky shifts slightly on his feet. “I didn’t mean anything by it.” 

Y/N raises an eyebrow. “Okay, fine. Tell me you don’t love me. That’s why you want to break up, isn’t it? Say it directly to me.”

Bucky feels as if he’s going to fall apart right here in Y/N’s apartment, but he forces himself to harden his heart. Remember, he’s protecting Y/N. That’s all that matters, even if she hates him for the rest of her life. “I don’t love you.” He turns away for just a second, forcing himself to stay calm. 

“I don’t know if I ever loved you. I was just looking for a reason to stay.” 

The second the words leave his mouth, Y/N flinches as if he’d slapped her. Her eyes start to glisten with unshed tears, but her face otherwise remains calm.

“That’s all I wanted to know. I understand.” She says, and Bucky starts to open his mouth to say something, anything, to fix this, but one look at Y/N and he knows there’s nothing he can do. 

He starts to head towards the door. “Goodbye, Y/N.” 

He doesn’t have to say anything else to know that this will be the last time he sees her.

One week later, the headline in the papers says that Bucky bombed the Vienna International Centre, killing many including King T’Chaka of Wakanda. One week later, Steve Rogers shows up at Bucky’s apartment. One week later, Bucky leaves Bucharest, this time for good. He wonders if Y/N still thinks about him. He wonders how badly he hurt her, and if she will ever forgive him. It shouldn’t matter, as their paths will never cross again, but yet it does.

New York City is a tangled mess of destruction and desolation. HYDRA soldiers have dreamt up yet another villain, this one surgically enhanced to have supernatural abilities. With a slam of his foot against the ground, he can send a shockwave racing through the streets of New York, rattling the buildings and sending a shower of broken glass raining down from skyscrapers.

Bucky now fights alongside Steve, Natasha, and the rest of the Avengers. It’s odd, considering he’d only become their ally one year ago. Yet here they are, taking on this HYDRA threat as if they’d been a team since the very beginning. 

Steve’s voice echoes over his comms. “Bucky, Nat- the enhanced is heading towards Avengers Tower. If you stall him long enough, we can trap him with that new tech from Wakanda and knock him down long enough to take him out.” 

Bucky nods. “Affirmative. Heading over now.”

Nat is already waiting for him there, and the two Avengers launch a series of attacks against the enhanced. Angered, the HYDRA fighter slings a massive rock their way, one Bucky barely manages to deflect with his metal arm. He rotates his arm in a circle, making sure it still functions enough to hold a gun, then keeps moving.

Two bloody, dirty, exhausting hours later, the fight is over. The HYDRA enhanced is unconscious in a cocoon of light energy, and will be transported to S.H.I.E.L.D., where he will be handled accordingly. Bucky doesn’t even want to think about what will happen when HYDRA finds out its latest toy has been confiscated, and so he diverts his attention instead to helping Steve take care of the wounded, which still litter the streets of the city.

He’s almost done clearing one main street when he sees one particular body lying underneath a pile of broken rock and concrete. It couldn’t be- no- that’s impossible. He races over, using his metal arm to fling away the largest of the pieces of rubble. The second he sees the face of the injured woman, his heart drops in his chest.

Y/N lies before him, a thin line of blood trickling out of her mouth. Her left arm is bent behind her back, probably broken. Her legs are already littered with splashes of color that are quickly becoming bruises. Even like this, looking nothing like the girl he’d left behind, Bucky still feels frozen in place.

It’s been a year since he broke up with her, a year since he tossed away everything good in his life to protect her. On that walk home from her apartment, Bucky had felt sick with himself. The look in her eyes when he had told Y/N he didn’t love her felt like a gunshot straight through his heart. Now she’s here, mere inches away.

Bucky picks her up, holding her close to him. “Y/N? Y/N, can you hear me?” 

She coughs slightly, and it hurts Bucky to hear how much dust seems trapped within her lungs. “Yeah, I can. Not dead yet, you know.”

Bucky can’t find it in himself to laugh at her joke. “What are you doing here? I thought you were still in Bucharest.” 

Y/N shakes her head slowly, painfully. “Ever since that last time I saw you, something didn’t feel right about our conversation. I thought it was just because I felt so hurt that you didn’t love me, but then I realized what it was. You have this tell when you’re lying, you know. You look quickly to the side, so fast it’s almost impossible to tell. You clench your jaw slightly, and then you look back.”

“Right before you told me you didn’t love me, you looked aside. I couldn’t figure out why you would lie to break up with me, and then the lies about you bombing that place in Vienna were everywhere in the news. I figured you did it to protect me, and I knew I had to find you to tell you I was alright and to make sure you were too.”

Bucky just stares at her in wonder. “You figured all of that out? When did you come to New York?” 

Oddly enough, she doesn’t answer. Bucky looks at her, confused. “Y/N?” 

A sickening dread starts to spread in his stomach, and he realizes her eyes have this blank, distant look, like she isn’t there at all. Frantic, he places two fingers on her wrist. There isn’t a pulse.

Bucky carefully gathers her in his arms, then runs back to the main square. “Medic! I need a medic now!” 

There’s one doctor right around the corner, but why is he taking so long to get here? Doesn’t he know that Y/N’s about to-

The hospital waiting room smells of antiseptic. The floor has a repeating tile pattern of off-white and muted green. There are rows of square ceiling panels, one after the other. 

Bucky had been waiting for approximately four hours before the doctor finally comes into the room and nods at him. “Ms. L/N is just starting to wake up now. You can visit her if you like.”

Bucky stands up unsteadily, and follows the doctor back down the hall. The doctor stops before a set of doors. “She’s in here. Don’t be too long.” 

Bucky can only nod at the man dazedly before stepping inside.

It’s strange seeing Y/N like this, lying in the hospital bed. She looks so weak and frail, completely unlike the vibrant girl he’s so used to seeing. 

He must be staring, because she glances up at him with a quiet chuckle. “Come on, it’s not that bad.” 

Bucky moves closer. “You tell me- you were without a pulse for a while. Guess I’m just nervous.” 

Y/N smiles up at him, gently gripping his hand. “I’m okay now. Promise.” 

When Bucky looks back at her, he can’t help but think of all the regrets he’s had over the last year. Lying to her. Breaking her heart. Leaving her behind. 

He speaks up after a minute. “When you came here-” 

He breaks off. “Is there a chance you still love me? After everything?” 

Y/N nods slowly. “That’s why I took the flight to New York. I knew in my heart that James Buchanan Barnes would still mean too much to me to let go.”

Bucky can’t help a quiet chuckle. “Now you know my full name? I don’t remember telling you all of that.” 

Y/N joins in his laughter. “I’ve been to a couple of museums. Background research.” 

She straightens slightly, her tone shifting to become more serious. “But I do love you, Bucky. I never stopped loving you.” 

Bucky lets out a quiet breath he didn’t know he was holding. “I love you too. I had to lie to protect you, but I regretted what I said every single day.” 

The door opens, and the doctor leans in the room. “Sorry to break this up, but we need to run a few last tests on Ms. L/N. You can come back in about half an hour.” 

Bucky stands up reluctantly, saying his goodbyes to a tired Y/N. He doesn’t know how long it will take her to get out of the hospital, or how long it will take for her to truly move on past everything he had said back in Bucharest. All he knows is that he finally has the chance to get back with the love of his life.

[kirric-the-fan]

Here I am, yet again, because these dynamics fascinate me : D

Can casita fix itself if it’s damaged (hit by canon balls etc) or would the ship actually sink?

Could you elaborate on Mirabels relationship with her parents? Does she have some buried resentment there?

Also, isn’t Julieta annoyed that Pepa obviously favours her own children? (you mentioned that she sometimes sends Julietas children on missions instead of her own etc.)

Why didn’t Pepa want to live on land? Why does she want her children to be stabbed all the time and live a life of danger? Isn’t that a bit neglectful as a mother, especially since baby Antonio almost died?

Who is Bruno closest to and how does he deal with the Pepa-Alma drama? Did he have a vision after Miras failed ceremony?

Hello again! Love the enthusiasm, and I'm more than happy to indulge you Anon!

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Can casita fix itself if it’s damaged (hit by canon balls etc) or would the ship actually sink?

To a certain extent. The main two things Casita can do is shift its boards around, and seal up smaller cracks. So if they get a cannonball size hole in the hull, the Casita can move things round to close it off, buying more time to get it fixed properly (a specifically cut bit of wood, taking off the rough edges). So the ship might take on some water still, but it’s not as bad as if it was a non-magical ship. Casita also makes it easy for the crew to help repair it, meaning they can fix damage out on the sea that other ships couldn't, and in quicker times too. If there's sail damage, Isabela's gift makes it super easy to fix that too.

--

Could you elaborate on Mirabels relationship with her parents? Does she have some buried resentment there?

Yes. It’s hard for her not to- she feels like she was too easily dropped, that her parents could have done more to stop her being abandoned onshore like she was after her ceremony failed. More of the resentment was felt towards Julieta than Agustín, because she’s First Mate and should have had more leverage against Pepa’s decision. But both of them worked hard to rebuild their relationship with her after she returned aboard, and in time Mirabel did forgive them. But it still happened, and it’s still a niggle for her. It still hurts sometimes, and that’s a pain only time can ease.

(More q's and answers below the cut!)

Also, isn’t Julieta annoyed that Pepa obviously favours her own children? (you mentioned that she sometimes sends Julietas children on missions instead of her own etc.)

Julieta and Pepa are a lot closer in this au than canon. They are, and always have been as thick as thieves. They know everything about each other (all the triplets do). Julieta understands the reason behind Pepa’s decisions a lot more than other people do. But on top of that, Julieta can also be easily swayed by Pepa. If Julieta queries the mission assignments, Pepa usually manages to come up with a reasonable-sounding explanation for her choices. So, to a certain extent, Julieta isn’t as aware of it going on as maybe the others are.

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Why didn’t Pepa want to live on land? Why does she want her children to be stabbed all the time and live a life of danger? Isn’t that a bit neglectful as a mother, especially since baby Antonio almost died?

There are advantages to living at sea too- freedom to go where you want, explore, stop off at an uninhabited island for a day on the beach. Also they can get a more comfortable lifestyle with the coin they bring in doing what they do. Yes it can be pretty dangerous sometimes, but in Pepa’s mind, it’s better to be able to get away from danger if you have to. (and ofc, they’re protecting the village too. The Madrigals need training with their gifts to be able to do that).

Another element is ‘what will Pepa become if she stayed onshore?’ If we take a look at her canon self in comparison to her role in the pirate au, you can start seeing why that might not be as appealing to her.

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Who is Bruno closest to and how does he deal with the Pepa-Alma drama?

His rats.

...

Okay, fr though, Bruno isn’t particularly close to anyone. He’s an introvert, and keeps himself to himself most of the time, spending a lot of the time up in the crows nest (He loves his family, and gets along with them pretty well, but doesn't go out of his way to spend his time with people, or any particular one of them). He gets along well with his hermana’s because of the triplet bond and everything they went through growing up, but they don’t spend as much time together as they used to.

As for the Pepa-Alma drama, both him and Julieta have the same approach: Not to bring it up unnecessarily around Pepa, and visit Alma when they get the opportunity to. Keep the two sides apart as much as possible, and that keeps everybody happy.

--

Did he have a vision after Miras failed ceremony?

Bruno didn’t have a vision after the ceremony, but this question is also veering dangerously towards spoilers and so I might also be lying (...or am I?) about that to keep it in the air. Sorry!