#(I also didn't elaborate on what she's supposed to tell him because I wasn't sure what that could be xD - or maybe not telling but she shoul

[arlakos]

The High Road: A counterpoint to one of the most commonly used Salt Takes for Adrien.

This isn't really a salt fic idea, but since we are on the topic of salt on this blog, I'd like to take a moment to talk about a scene that has largely been used out of contex ever since Chameleon came out, and that is the infamous high road scene that has since been used to death for every Adrien salt story

For those who are unaware of this scene (or perhaps are unfamiliar with the canon version), in the episode Chameleon of Sesason 3, Marinette is about to go expose a plot hole in one of Lila's many fabrications, only for Adrien to stop her by stating that it won't change Lila for the better (Full Transcript Below). Keep this transcript in mind because I'll be referencing it a lot.

Now, this scene doesn't seem like something to be mad over, but the the whole episode of Chameleon has twisted a lot of people's perceptions of certain characters for the worse. This particular scene just happens to be one that changed people's pereceptions of Adrien.

However, I think its actually somewhat unjustified. I feel that in many ways, Chameleon as a whole has been misrepresented for what changes it has actually brought into the show, and I feel that it's easy to take a lot of moments in the episode out of context, especially when emotions come into play. The episode transcript actually happened to be leaked before it was supposed to be relased, so a lot of people already made up their minds about what this episode was about before it was released. It's easy to hate on this episode when you're friends in discord have watched it before you and have started to shout buzzwords such as "The class betrayed Marinette!" or "Adrien is a monster!", etc etc. I would know, since that was how I found out about the episode in the first place, and watching it for the first time didn't change my initial perceptions.

Today, I would like to take a moment to take the infamous high road scene and talk about what it meant for the salty portion of the fandom, before taking a metaphoically sledgehammer and slamming some misconceptions about Adrien from the perspective of salty people. Sure, they're other scenes that could be looked at, but since every salt fic tends to reuse this plot point, I feel it deserves its own deconstruction.

1. The High-Road scene is proof that Adrien is an asshole!

Now this statement is a bit of a buzzword since the actual reasons for people disliking this scene can vary, but to be fair, the reaction to this scene is also more nuanced as well.

In truth, a lot of people already had issues with Adrien/Chat Noir as a whole (for reasons that I won't elaborate here since it would be worth its own post), but this scene seemed to open the floodgates with hatred for our secondary protagonist out of his percieved inaction, since many people now had dislike for Adrien, while those who hated him prior were more than happy to provide fuel for the fire. After the episode was released, these ideas began to merge together, resulting in this belief that Adrien has always been an asshole, and that the Chameleon scene was simply the final straw, and that if the show was written by a good writer (read: anyone who hated the episode), Marinette would actually ditch his ass!

Now, its debatable on whether Adrien had writing issues prior to this point, but I feel that using this scene to justify hatred for him is outright slander for several reasons:

First of all, Adrien never suggested for Marinette to take the high road if we are being logistical about it. He only complimented her on that regard, telling her she did a good job for "taking the high road", and that was after he sat next to her to show he was by her side.

His actual message to Marinette was that it wasn't worth it to try expose Lila at that moment (and to be fair, it wouldn't have worked, more on that later though) because all it would do is make her double down on her behavior. Plus, trying to expose her in front of everyone would just hurt Lila more than help everyone else, which is, if anything, not untrue.

Overall, the advice Adrien gave to Marinette was not meant out of a desire to hurt anyone (least of all Marinette), but was out of a genuine desire to help resolve a situation and prevent Marinette from doing something that would not have helped the situation. Even if he does have other character flaws, this situation was by no means a reason to villainize him for it.

2. Adrien prefers Lila over Marinette, thats why he told the latter to take the high road!

Again, another idea that is found in fanfics, but is ultimately untrue in canon.

While Adrien doesn't believe Lila at all from the beginning of the episode, he isn't exactly just letting Lila's actions slide either; his stance comes from that of believing that Lila being decietful will do nothing to actually help her make friends. However, rather than confronting her angrily like Marinette does, Adrien instead tries to be friendly with her and try offer Lila some advice to try and change, albiet to no avail.

Now, some people might argue that Lila doesn't deserve kindness considering her threat to Marinette just moments ago, but it should be also stated that Adrien knows NOTHING about this: as far as he's aware, Lila is a transfer student looking to make friends, but has a wrong way of doing so (so in a way, she's not unlike him, from his POV at least), so he's just trying to help her, rather than attempt to force her out in the open.

(Quick tibit though, if Adrien knew what Lila did to Marinette, he would probably be more inclined to help her and protect his friends, given that he was willing to 'sacrifice' himself to get Marinette un-expelled in the Ladybug episode)

By the end of the episode Adrien is obviously dissapointed in Lila continuing to act the way that she is, but ultimately refuses to sink to Lila's level in order to teach her a lesson. As childish as it is (and it should be considering Adrien is a TEEN) Adrien believes that Lila's deceptions will ultimately come back to bite her (Adrien even tells her this himself, see below.), but trying to expose her in front of everyone else will do more harm to Lila than it will help others, hence his methods of speaking to her privately about it.

3. Adrien's reasoning is horrible and stupid! He deserves to pay for it!

This reasoning is the one I find the most dissapointing, partly because it inspired The Karma of Lies story (Written by CartoonAddict564), and also because while Adrien's reasoning can come off as naive, it is by no means stupid, nor should he have to suffer for having a different viewpoint for Marinette. But to understand, you need to think of Adrien in terms of his character.

Adrien is not just a celebrity, but also a child with a very controlling father, who pretty much controls and manages his day to day life with the help of his secretary. As a result of his popularity, Adrien has to be very careful with what he says or does, not only because it would reflect poorly onto his father's company, but it would also force his father to step in. As the Collector has shown, Adrien being able to even LEAVE the home is something that could easily be revoked at any time, and being Cat Noir has only loosened the bars on his cell, not remove them completely. Adrien has very little to gain by confronting Lila, but everything to lose, which is in direct contrast to Marinette having everything to lose by letting Lila walk by.

So in the face of all that, plus the situation he is in now, why would he not act passive and provide advice to try mitigate conflict rather than escalate it?

Now whether or not that should be seen as selfish is debatable, it's ultimately not out of character for Adrien to try and provide more passive options to deal with Lila rather than go for the most violent option. You could even argue that Adrien's actions are also out kindness to Marinette, since (in his eyes at least) it could get her in trouble with her own parents if they try and confront Lila violently.

At worst, Adrien's passiveness is a result of his controlled upbringing. At best? He was just trying to help without causing conflict.

4. Adrien shouldn't have stopped Marinette from confronting Lila!

.... im sorry to say this, but yes he absolutely should have.

Marinette was about to confront Lila over which ear her supposed tinnitus was in. Aside from the fact trying to expose her on this alone would not have worked, this would have just resulted in Marinette becoming more estranged from her classmates in this situation. If Marinette should have confronted Lila about her lying, this was DEFINTELY NOT the way to do it.

This isn't to say that Marinette could not have confronted Lila, but this moment simply was not it. There were better alternatives to Marinette that she could employ in the future had she thought of doing so (such as coming to Alya as Ladybug and revealing that her frienship with Lila is a lie), or carrying a voice recorder to record any threats made by Lila.

As uncathartic as the situation was, from a writing standpoint Adrien's inteference ultimately helped Marinette keep her friendships in the long run, while avoiding making a fool of herself with a battle she simply could not win.

5. It's Adrien's fault that Marinette didn't go after Lila! Marinette would have been better if she brushed him off!

This sounds crazy, but this is a genuine point that people seem to mention when it comes to their reasons for writing salt fics. Even if Adrien's attempts to dissaude Marinette were out of concern rather than malice, people still condemn Adrien for pushing Marinette off that path of going after Lila. In their eyes, Marinette didn't get her immediate revenge for what Lila did, and Lila herself was allowed to continue manipulating the class. All of this becomes Adrien's fault by virtue of being the one to deny this from happening, denying the fans their catharsis.

However, the question I ask it that for all the blame they give to Adrien in this situation ... how come nobody blames Marinette at all for the same thing?

See, despite people argue that Adrien manipulated Marinette into not going after Lila, Marinette isn't necassarily gullible or stupid. If Marinette really thought that Lila was a threat worth going after, she could and would have easily found a way to take Lila down and get her removed, with or without Adrien's support (given she made a similar plan in season 5 for when Gabriel tried to get the Kwamis to lead him to Marinette). She wouldn't even need a miraculous to do so given she can make plans without transforming, and most of Lila's lies aren't particularly smart, they just can't be immediately discredited without proof.

And it can't even be argued that Adrien took advantage of Marinette's love for him (whether intentionally or not). Marinette has shown that even though she does value her friends, she doesn't need to rely on the validation of others to do whatever she feels is right (given that she argued against Alya and others in Risk when it came to their belief that Adrien was fine, even though she was partly amped by an akuma at the time). And if Marinette did think that Adrien was wrong, she probably wouldn't have continued to crush on him anymore.

Also its kind of lowkey sexist? Like, Marinette can probably make her own decisions, she doesn't need someone to dictate her own actions given she's the leader of a superhero team?

Ultimately, Marinette made the choice not to go after Lila. Perhaps she thought that Lila wasn't worth it. Maybe she thought that taking down Lila wasn't worth the time and stress. Maybe she ended up agreeing with Adrien and thought that Lila would expose herself sooner rather than later with her own deceptions. Either way, Marinette can make her own decisions, and she ultimately thought that going after Lila was not a good idea, for whatever reason.

Now, some people might be upset about this idea that Marinette is to blame, but people can't just play the blame game and expect their target to lose. It would honestly be preferrable to say that both Adrien and Marinette made a decision that (for better or worse) thought was good at the time and that neither should be judged for it, but the fandom doesn't seem to care for that because that means their salt fics would be invalid.

Thus, since people want to blame Adrien for apparently "manipulating" Marinette, Marinette should get equal blame for allowing herself to be manipulated by Adrien. Sucks to hear it, but since nobody calls out Marinette on her shit, I might as well be the first. Sorry if it triggers you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

So ... what does this all mean?

It means that my boy Adrien is innocent.

He meant no harm by suggesting that Marinette not go after Lila, nor did he do it because he took Lila's side over Marinette's. At best, he was unaware of how evil Lila was and thought she was misunderstood, and at worse he defaulted to using the same ideas that he uses to protect what limited freedoms he had, and offered it to Marinette as geunine advice. Marinette isn't a pushover either, meaning that not only did she also think what Adrien said was a good idea, but the fandom is inadvertently being sexist by implying she can't be independent and can't make her own decisions, given that she's shown her own independence multiple times. At best, both characters made a dumb decision that they thought was good, but neither can be soley responsible.

Ultimately, Chameleon was an episode that gave Adrien (and whoever else was targeted) a bad rep due to the kneejerk reaction everyone had to the episode due to Lila's lies, myself included. In truth, nothing of what happened in the episode had any actual long term effects, since Marinette still kept her friends and Lila didn't end up playing any major role for nearly 2 seasons, at least until season 5 finally got rid of 'Lila' and set up 'Cerise' to be the new Butterfly villain.

It took me a long while to put this belief into words, and it may be 2 seasons too late, but at least I can upload it now knowing that this truth could possible be shared with the world. Maybe it will stop the excess of salt fics in the world, and allow for new salt free works to be made. Who knows?

Anyways, I hope you found this to be an interesting read as I had writing it!

[krispycreamcake]

Diabolik lovers x reader (various)

Guys don't bully me this is my first post istg i'll bomb your family

A symphony of explosions ruptured through the sky as the angels above blew their mighty vessels of war. Forks of lightning licked through the heavens, warning those near and far of the impending eruption soon to blast their ear drums. The cascading shower hydrated the manor's old stone walls, grasping at whatever cracks they could get into, only to slip away from the house's embrace at the last second. The moon nor its many luminous companions could be seen as their everlasting beauty was hidden behind storm clouds. A whirlwind soon picked up, shaking the trees like a damned mad woman, soon to be lobotomized. Amidst all this eternal chaos however, was a girl simply trying to survive. She was just dropped off at a glorious mansion that ironically, seemed to hold a sort of deathly allure to it, despite it being right out of a romance novel. She was currently sitting on a royal blue sofa of the finest quality, a strange and perplexed looking man with spectacles adorned the couch opposite her. He had raven black and white ombre hair. Regardless of their contrasting colours, it seemed to take well on him. He gave off a sophisticated but yet also suffocating aura that seemed to envelop the entire room. He looked at you in a bit of a shock after hearing your story, no matter how hard he tried to remain stoic, the words you spoke completely baffled him.

"Would you please further elaborate on what you mean by 'caretaker'?" The man asked, the words barely leaving his tongue.

"Well uhm, like I said, I'll be staying here until an heir to the Sakamaki name is made and then I'll be their caretaker. Mr. Karlheinz specified that he'd prefer I raise the child because well.... He didn't technically state WHY I'm supposed to basically mother your child, besides I-I mean you seem perfectly capable! It's just that, well that's what I was sent here to do". You said, trying to explain your task as quickly as possible. You couldn't pinpoint why, but an urge to leave planted itself in your gut and you felt the need to end this interaction as soon as possible.

The man stayed silent for a second before humming out an acknowledgement to your statement. The air was tense as he stood up and spoke.

"Well then, I'm not sure why we weren't aware of something like this, however, let me be the first to greet you to the Sakamaki manor y/n." Just as he said that, a young man with a head of scorching flames entered. His appearance was tattered and unruly. A pant leg was up, while the other remained down, his shirt wasn't fully buttoned and his tie was worn tied around his neck like some sort of odd fashion statement. As soon as his emerald eyes locked onto yours, a smirk creeped its way onto his face.

"Oi Reiji, you didn't say nothin about us having a guest over." The boy spoke, his voice gnarled and sharp.

"I was unaware of her arrival, that man apparently sent us a.....babysitter." Reiji sighed at the end, his imminent frustration growing.

"Uh no no- it's not like that! I'm just here to take care of your child..well future child. I didn't know you had a brother though, Reiji.." You piped in, your brows knitting in a slight confusion as you weren't informed of Karl having more than one son. You originally thought that his son and daughter-in-law were too busy to take care of a child, so that's why you agreed to this whole thing. But now that you were thinking about it, where exactly was the girl? Your thoughts were interrupted as the ruby haired boy let out a mocking snort.

"You mean to tell me that the old man didn't mention there being six of us? pfft- hah!" The boy spoke. Your heart almost plummeted into your ass as your mind slowly processed his words. Six??? There were six of them?

"Yes I'll have to agree with Ayato. It's odd that man didn't mention there's six of us." Reiji said as he fixed his glasses. "Well in that case, it seems an introduction should be made as soon as possible." As he finished speaking, a slight gush of wind hit you from all different angles. Suddenly four more men appeared out of what seemed to be thin air. They watched you coldly despite them all seeming to have different personalities. Silently judging you...no- not judging, but instead sizing you up. You've been in this situation enough times to know what men's stares mean, and these men wanted nothing good. The boy with purple hair spoke first.

"Teddy- what do you think of our new plaything? Doesn't she look lovely? I wonder what she tastes like, certainly not as good as Yui, but I'd still like to try." For the third time tonight you felt like you could scream. He wasn't being serious was he? This has to be some sort of persona, why would he even say that?? You inched behind Reiji, hoping the man could provide some form of shelter.

"Tsk. Go on and introduce yourself, or do I need to do that for you as well? Hiding behind me like a coward, slinking away the minute things seem to get too troublesome for you....honestly I have no idea why you were selected to come here in the first place. What does that man even see in you?" Reiji said with a scoff, his cold words leaving a shiver down your spine and a dent in your self esteem. You felt embarrassed as you sheepishly crawled away from Reiji to introduce yourself.

Once formalities were finally over with a few weird remark here and there, you were shown to your room. It was quite large, but you expected nothing less after seeing the size of the mansion. Truthfully, you were hoping to have a nice room this entire time. A dome glass ceiling sat right in the middle of the room, illuminating it with a blueish hue. The positioning of the bed was a bit odd, yet it captivated those who were to occupy in the residence. It was a circular bed that was laid with golden satin sheets and a marble platform which held up the delicate mattress. It stood right under the dome which would serve for lovely stargazing. There were many fine intricacies and details done to the bed's platform which made it seem much more compelling than a regular bed. The room was oddly laden with bookshelves and hanging plants. This seemed to soften up the room's regality and tone it down for someone of a more modern time. But you admitted that you wouldn't of mind sleeping in a princess like bedroom. Once you were done unpacking, you made your way downstairs since no one would be up at this hour. Instead, you were met with all brothers and a young blonde. She was delicately beautiful like a rose garden after a storm. You could feel her personality seep through from her meek behaviour. You did wonder though, who'd be the father if there were six of them? But before you could ponder the situation anymore, you noticed they were all in uniform despite it being night. You do recall that Karl mentioned they kept a bit of a peculiar schedule, but even so, is this really what he meant? School at night? You supposed it wasn't too weird for people of such high status to be so busy during the day that they'd have to go to school at night. But even so, how could a human possibly function like this? They'd all be braindead zombies by now, strange was definitely one of the many words to describe this lot.

"As we were late to know of your arrival, we hadn't planned for you to be joining us. Since you lack proper attire, you'll be staying back tonight." Reiji spoke almost exasperatedly. You almost felt a bit scared to stay in such an usual place by yourself. Reiji caught the look on your face and clicked his tongue.

"You truly think we'd let you stay here by yourself? One of us is going to remain here with you until the others are back." Reiji said bluntly. Who was it that was going to babysit you while they were away? Maybe this was your chance to learn more about your new housemates. Your eyes scanned the room, looking for your possible sitter. Then, in an instant you both made eye contact. Both orbs absorbed in each other as the others in the room seemed to be nothing more than an afterthought.

Ok so this is just part one of the series I'm planning. I'll let you guys vote on who it was that caught the reader's attention. TY for reading this btw :( I've been obsessed with this franchise since I was 11 so I'm insane currently.

[vi-trying-to-survive]

Public Displays

Anthony Lockwood x f!Reader

Warnings: None, this is pretty much fluff and only fluff :) 💖💖💖

Summary: Lockwood and Y/N have to pretend to be a couple for a case, which is hard for her, but things are more complicated than they seem, as usual 💖💖💖

A/N: I hope you guys like this one :) 💖💖💖 It's a little longer, but also I love the fake dating trope a little too much :') 💖💖💖 Also so sorry if updates are unpredictable and slow :’) 💖💖💖 Hope you have a great day 💖💖💖

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"Lockwood are you really sure this is necessary ?", she frowned, sinking deeper into her seat.

Why did they need to pretend to be couple for this ? He was known to love elaborate plans, but this seemed a little much and slightly unnecessary. Alright, maybe the problem was partly because she really liked him, but how could she not. He always had her tea ready, just the way she liked it. He made her laugh, not cute little giggles, the ugly one that had her in tears on the ground, snorting. He cared about everyone in the team, more than he cared about himself sometimes, and definitely more than he let on. So, it was hard to not like him. She did hide it though, buried so deep, as to be sure that no one would ever know. Someone smarter and braver than her would have told her to just tell him how she felt, but it was easier this way, the pain of rejection would be agonising. Not just because she'd lose him, it may as well be like losing Lucy and George as well. She would rather live in denial all her life, than give up her only actual family. What could she say, she was a pessimist.

"I'm positive", he grinned.

George put down his book, nodding his head, "Public displays of affection do make people uncomfortable"

"Not helping", she groaned, letting her head drop into her hands.

"What ?! I'm just stating the obvious", he frowned, looking around the room for an air of support. The room was silent except for Lucy, giggling in her seat. Clearly this was amusing to her. She shot her a wary look, a silent plea for help. She only shrugged her shoulder, popping another biscuit into her mouth. She cursed under her breath.

He took a seat next to her, a hand on her shoulder, "Don't you trust me Y/N". She did trust him, that wasn't the problem. She didn't trust herself.

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"Lockwood, slow down", she gasped, unable to keep up with him. He was practically dragging her behind him. Their hands were interlocked, and she was only too aware of how her hand slotted into his, like pieces of a jigsaw. She was terrified. Her palms were sweaty. What if he could notice how sweaty her palms were. She muttered an apology as she bumped into another passerby, looking down on the ground.

He didn't slow down, only shook his head with a smile, "Sorry sweetheart, you are just going to have to walk faster".

She was taken aback, but kept walking. "I- Don't call me that", she sighed.

He squeezed her hand little, "What? It's part of the act, we are playing a couple".

"You are so annoying", she rolled her eyes. She hoped that he wouldn't look back and see the blush that coloured her face.

"But you love it sweetheart", he laughed and she couldn't help but laugh too.

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"You know we need this to be believable right ?", he sent her a pointed look.

"This is completely believable", she raised a brow, gesturing to the couch that they were both seated on. She was playing dumb, well aware of the distance between them. It was supposed to be a reality check of sorts, that she was hoping he wouldn't notice, but he was being sharper about this than she thought.

He chuckled, bringing a hand to her waist, pulling her towards him, "You could come a little closer ?". She pressed her lips together, as her contingency plan fell to pieces. Well shit. "You're so stiff", he repositioned her arms around him, allowing her head to rest on his shoulder, before replacing his arm around her.

"There this isn't so bad is it", he sighed, sounding a little too pleased with himself. He was warm and comfortable, with the faintest scent of lavender and bergamot. She let herself relax, as much as she could at least, settling in next to him. He was all to aware, a smug smirk plastered on his face. This was bad.

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She found herself in a predicament. She had to create a distraction. The best way would be to act like a couple, but that would only make it worse for her at the end of the night. Chancing a glimpse at the shadowy figure in the corner of her eye, she groaned internally. She knew what she had to do.

"Hey", she turned towards him,

His eyes met hers, "Yes ?'.

"How is that you always manage to look so good ?", she giggled, pulling him closer by his tie. She brought her palm to his cheek, he leaned into her touch. That was weird, but she kept going. She wasn't risking her sanity the whole day just for the case to end up in failure. She moved in closer, their lips only meeting, separated by a few millimetres. She could feel his hot breath on hers. Her heart pounded faster. How had this become a part of her job ?

His face turned red, "I um- I-".

The figure moved past them, and she thanked every higher power in existence. She pushed away from him, taking a step back. His tie dropped from her hold, "Okay they're gone".

Only then could she truly appreciate how flustered he had actually gotten. He looked like he had run a kilometre. She laughed, "Are you blushing ?". It was rare, which is why it was such a treat. At least if anything, at the end of this day she could say that she made the Anthony Lockwood speechless.

He fixed his gaze on the ground, running a hand through his hair, "I- I um- No".

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"They're coming out, we gotta go", she hissed, tugging at his arm. How had she not come to the realisation that this would end up with them in a sketchy alley, that was lit up by a sinister glow and wet with something she hoped was just rain water. This was disgusting, but the stakes of their lives was a bigger priority than hygiene, and still everything she endured today would all be for nothing if they were dead at the end of this.

He ran a palm across his face, "No there's not enough time".

"They're gonna know we were eavesdropping", she chewed her bottom lip. Her eyes flitted back and forth, searching for an escape, but all she could see were walls, nothing to climb, no hole to squeeze threw. Nothing. How could there be nothing ? They always made it out ? He always had a plan.

She looked at him, a sinking feeling burning a hole in the bottom of her stomach. "I- I know what to do", he sounded unsure.

At least he had a plan, and a plan was better than nothing. She winced, shrugging her shoulders, "Well whatever it is you're gonna have to do it quick".

In one swift movement, he had shoved her against the wall, his body pressed up against hers. She was breathing heavily, trying and failing to look anywhere else. It was probably not a great look, but when he put his lips on hers, her mind went blank. He tasted sweet, like honey. He was gentle, not like that she had imagined. It was soft and hesitant, messy and awkward. Still through all that it felt different, less like a daydream, more real.

He pulled away, she gasped, "That was-".

"I'm sorry, they’re gone now- I didn't mean to-", he began, hands up in surrender. Cutting him off she grabbed the collar of his shirt, connecting their lips again. He was taken aback, but he caught on soon enough, his hands moving to her waist, tugging her closer against him, almost suffocating her. It would be a lie to say she didn’t enjoy it though. Her fingers were tangled in his hair, leaving it sticking out in different ends. She felt warm all over and desperate, clinging onto him, but in the moment she didn’t care.

She pulled away breathless. He looked out-of-breath, yet he still seemed to be watching her closely. She turned her gaze to his, searching his eyes for a sign, something to tell her that he felt the same. He gave her a soft smile, “Can- Can we do that again ?”. She laughed.

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The door swung open. Her eyes travelled to their interlocked hands. He scratched the back if his head sheepishly and she looked to the ground.

"So, how was your date ?", she took a step back, letting them in, with a teasing grin.

Her eyes were still trailed on the floor, letting him lead her in, "We um-". How would she be able to describe it ? Where would she even begin ?

"I knew it", she shook her head knowingly, arms crossed.

She was confused. "What ?", he wondered, tracing patterns on the back of her palm.

“You two kissed”, she pointed out, but before he could respond she was already marching up that stairs, “George you owe me 10 quid”.

Maybe she wasn’t as great at hiding her feelings as she thought ? She tilted her head to look at him. His hairs was ruffled with a tired smile on his face, her hand still secured in his. Turning to her, he raised a brow, probably feeling her stare. She just smiled back.

"You two kissed", she pointed out, like it was written on their foreheads, but before he could think of a response, she was already marching up the stairs, “George you owe me 10 quid”.

They were silent. Maybe she wasn’t as good as hiding her feelings as she though she was. She tilted her head to look at him, a ruffled with a tired smile on his face, she felt a sense of comfort. He turned over to her, probably sending her stare, she just smiled, content.

They were silent. She felt her face heat up. Was it that obvious to everyone else ? Maybe she wasn’t as incognito as she had thought ? And maybe that wasn’t so bad she thought, as she looked at him, ruffled with a tired smile on his face. She felt a a strange sense of comfort and couldn’t help but smile too.

[yetanothergreyjedi]

Left and Returned: Definitely Nothing Wrong

Danny Phantom x Supernatural Crossover

Part 2 Part 3

Ao3 (includes additional notes)

Chapter 4

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you guys about time travel." Dean announces at breakfast. 

"Almost wrote yourself out of existence, didn't you?" Danny guesses. 

"Not exactly… but how? How could you possibly guess that ?"

"You have the look. It's awful. Arguably worse than fighting a potential future evil version of yourself."

Dean thinks about that. He compares this experience to the demon him from the dreamroot thing. "...yeah this was definitely weirder."

Danny shrugs.

"So... how did you end up in a time travel adventure last night? I think if the Trickster came back we'd see some more signs." Sam asks.

"Castiel dropped in, confirmed the apocalypse stuff."

"Then dropped you back in time?"

"Yeah... apparently Mom made a demon deal for Dad's life. It's why..." Dean stopped himself, he barely knew Danny, what was he thinking! 

"I know?" Danny offers, looking between Sam and him.

"Right..." Dean continues. He doesn't think Danny will go all Gordon Walker on them, but if he had all the details... Dean isn't giving all the details. "Castiel also said it was Lillith who broke the seal." 

"He's sure?" Sam asks at the same time Danny asks,

"Lilith is a demon right?"

"Yeah, she's a demon, and I don't think Castiel would tell us if he wasn't sure."

"Any problem if I kill her?" Danny asks. And the quick reaction makes Dean glad he didn't elaborate on Sammy's thing.

"We've been trying." Sam tells him. "If you get the chance, please."

Danny gives a thumbs up. And Dean feels sorry that he has to drop the mood even further. "They're trying to release Lucifer."

"What's a Lucifer?"

"Ha ha." Dean says, it would probably be funny if they had any plan for beating 'a Lucifer'. But Danny... he doesn't look like he's joking. Then Sammy's phone goes off and he leaves Dean to deal with this conversation himself. Traitor.

"Lucifer like, The Devil, Lucifer."

"Oh, a name, got it! You have beef with this guy or something? "

"He's going to try to end the world."

"Think he'll be better, or worse at it than The Pariah?"

"Who's the Pariah?"

"... guy who yoinked a small town off the face of the earth for a week? Has a skeleton army?"

"What?! Kid, are you sure you're not talking about a cartoon or something?!"

"It'd be hard to forget, was around the time Vortex did his thing. Actually a lot of stuff happened then, that year was wild."

"Lucifer will have an army of Demons." Dean said, because if he didn't stay focused he was going to end up following Danny’s rabbit trails till the world ended.

"Yeah, that's not ideal. Freeing a lot of possessed people is a lot harder than wack-a-mole skeleton edition."

"I'm not going to ask." Sam returns to the table. He probably came to the same conclusion about Danny's stories a few months ago. "That was Travis, he wants us to look into something."

"Now?" Danny asks.

"Yeah, there's this guy, Jack Montgomery, has something going on with him."

"Okay, 1 problem." Danny continues.

"What kind of problem?"

"Oh, not a problem for you, Dean. But I have a sister, who has this friend, see. And she spent all of yesterday warding off marked spirits, and he hasn't called her back after playing phone tag all day.

Sam swore. Fumbling to get his phone back out of his pocket. His brother had been a mess yesterday. He'd leave a voicemail, but be in a situation while she called back. He'd gotten a voicemail after the witnesses were released, he'd left a voice-mail then too. Apparently, the loverbirds hadn't actually spoken yet.

"Oooh, Sammy's in the doghouse, huh?"

"Not yet, I'm supposed to drag him home first."

Dean grinned, "Do I get to meet the lovely Lady?" 

"I think you'll have too, though seriously, she'll understand it if this is time sensitive. Mind if I tag along?"

"Not at all, Sammy's a trouble magnet. He could use all the help he could get."

---

"Don't you love when this stuff mean spying on a man in his own home." Danny deadpans. He's not using the binoculars, holding them like they're personally offensive. 

"There are worse parts of the job." Dean reminds him, Jack Montgomery is rummaging through his fridge. "This guy? I mean this guy's boring"

"I don't know, Dean. Travis seemed pretty sure."

"Did he give any indication of what we're supposed to be— oh."

Oh was correct. Dean watched Montgomery  just abandon the leftovers and start in on a pack of ground beef. Raw ground beef.

"I'd say that qualifies as weird." Sam notes. Like that needed to be said.

---

"Thanks for helping out an old man. I'm a little, uh, shorthanded." Travis lifts his cast covered atm and They laugh politely at the bad joke. Then he gets straight to the point, and Dean's glad they're done pretending to catch up. It's awkward with Danny lurking behind them. "You track down Montgomery?"

"Yeah, we found him at his home." Sam tells him.

"And?"

"Well, he had a hell of a case of the munchies, topped off with a burger he forgot to cook."

"That's him alright."

"What's him?"

"Boys, we got a rougarou on our hands."

"A rougarou?" Dean looks to Sam for a convenient monster summary(or movie title, that would work too.). Sam gives him nothing. "Is that made up? That sounds made up."

"They're mean, nasty little suckers. Rotted teeth, wormy skin, the works." Travis tells them.

"Well, that ain't this guy. I mean, he was wearing a cellphone on his belt."

"He'll turn ugly soon enough. They start out human, for all intents and purposes."

"So, what?" Sam asks, "They go through some kind of metamorphosis?"

"Yep, like a maggot turning into a bull fly."

"No need to be cruel." Danny chides. Travis pauses, looks at Danny with an expression thats not quite a sneer. Dean really hopes that's not gonna become a problem.

"They're hungry things.” Trevor continues, ignoring the kid's glare. “First for everything, until they get a taste for human flesh. Once they get a taste they transform. One bite's all it takes. Eyes, teeth, skin; all turns. No going back either. They feed once, they're a monster forever. And our man Jack's headed there on a bullet train."

"Well, how'd you find this guy if he's a walking, talking human?" Dean demands.

"Lets just say it runs in his family."

"You mean, uh..." Sam trails off.

"Killed his daddy back in '78. Son of a bitch mangled 8 bodies before I put him down. Guy used to be a dentist. Cadillac, trophy wife... Little did I know, pregnant trophy wife. She put the boy up for adoption. By the time I found out, he was long gone, lost in the system."

The air in the room changes, this time in a way that's familiar. The unspoken threat looms... 

"You mean to tell me you couldn't find someone?" Sam asks, undeterred. Sam doesn't feel it.

Travis sighs. "I'm not sure I wanted to. The idea of hunting down some poor kid... I don't think I'd have the heart. No. I wanted to wait, make damn sure I had the right man. Apparently, I do."

The air itself has teeth, and breathing takes effort. Travis doesn't notice either. He takes a swig of his beer.

---

Travis might not notice that Danny is friggen weird, but after the comment earlier he does notice that the kid is incredibly uncomfortable. He singles the kid out to prep the flame throwers, not letting him escape with Sam. 

Dean took a chance and elbowed the kid in his side, hard enough to hurt but not hard enough to bruise. Made a face at him and the kid had quit messing with the room's... well, the room's vibes . 

Travis seemed under the impression that Danny was just new to this life, and Dean would prefer to keep it that way.

"So fire, huh?" They'd been subjected to a few stories of past hunts, and the kid had withdrawn more with each of them. Dean wants to change the subject but can't find a natural way to do so.  Better they stay focused on this.

"The only way I found to kill these bastards; deep-fry 'em."

"Well, that's gonna be..." He glanced at the kid. "horrible. Is that what you did to Jack's dad?"

"Uh-huh," Travis starts, and Dean realizes he's  being an idiot. That's just gonna get a more on topic gruesome story, but Sam, best baby brother in the world, saves them. 

He walks through the door with an accusation. "Not wasting any time, are you?" 

"None to waste." Travis informs them. "The guy hulks out, we won't be finding bodies, just remains."

Sam sits down next to the table in a controlled movement. He's forcing himself to act calm. "What if he doesn't hulk out? I did a little homework. Uh, I've been checking out the lore on rougarous."

Danny's head shoots up. It reminds Dean of caged animal seeing possible freedom.

"What? My 30 years of experience not good enough for you?" Travis demands.

"What? No. No, I-I- I just wanted to be prepared. I mean, not that you didn't..."

"Sam loves research. He does. He keeps it under his mattress right next to his KY. It's a sickness." He looks over at Sam, hiding the rescue with some teasing. "It is."

"Look, everything you said checked out, of course, but uh. I found a couple of interesting stories about people who have this rougarou gene or whatever. See, they start to turn, but they never take the final step."

"Really?"

"See, if they never eat human flesh, they don't fully transform." Well, no wonder their monster-adjacent friend is freaked. Maybe he's something similar,  hanging onto his humanity with everything he can? 

"So what? Go vegan, stay human?"

"Basically. Or in this case, eat a lot of raw meat, just not..."

"Right."

"Good on you for the due diligence, Sam." Travis gets up to pace the room. Its unnecessarily dramatic. "But those are fairy tales. Fact is, every rougarou I ever saw or heard of... took that bite."

"Okay, well, that doesn't mean that Jack will." Sam stands too. 

"So what do we do? Sit and hope and wait for a body count?"

"No, we talk to him. Explain what's happening. That way he can fight it."

"Fight it?" Travis laughs. "Are you kidding me? You ever been really hungry? I mean, haven't-eaten-in-days hungry?"

"Yeah." Dean answers, Danny nods too. 

"Yeah. Right then. So somebody slaps a big, juicy sirloin in front of you, you walking away?"

"No," Dean mutters, because he wouldn't.

"Depends.” Danny challenges.” You know what happens if you eat that big hearty meal? If you haven't eaten in days ?"

"Uh, no." Dean was never been allowed to eat what he wants after the few times he'd been starving. 

"You get sick." Sam answers. Ok, that was probably explained to him, he just remembers being hungry and grouchy about it. 

Danny nods, "If you haven't eaten in days, and you have the right information, you eat something small and light that seems unsatisfying until you've gotten it all down.  You don't risk tearing open your stomach lining. And besides! How would you know about rougarou's who don't turn?! People aren't going to announce their fantasies of eating people! They're could be generations who resist and they'd look just like everyone else!"

"And you don't know that they're are." He looks between the two of them. "I'm sorry. I'm sure he's a stand-up guy, but it's pure, base instinct. Everything in nature's gotta eat. You think he can stop himself 'cause he's nice?"

"Coconut milk." Danny declares, and Dean almost laughs. He lets the absurd statement sink in for a moment before he continues. "Coconut milk can be used as a substitute for blood. There are vampires who live off it. They get night jobs, and exist exactly like everyone else. You've had what, twenty years? You've just been waiting for this guy to crack, did you bother to look? Did you ask why a rougarou might crave human flesh? 

“Because when we crave salt, or red meat or whatever, it's usually because the body is lacking in the nutrients it needs! This all might get solved by giving him a vitamin supplement!"

"We try to help him." Sam declares. "And we're not gonna kill him unless he does something to get killed for." 

---

Danny didn't make jokes when talking to Jack Montgomery. The seriousness was almost as jarring as the conversation.

See Dean's plan had gone something like this: 

1.)Tell the guy what he is. 

2.)Convince him they aren't insane.

3.)Tell him not to eat people or they'd be back.

Repeat step 2 as needed.

Danny started similarly, steps 1 and 2 are the same, but step 3...

"You're not alone. There are people I can put you in contact if you want. They might not be the same species, but they'll have similar experiences. They might have other suggestions that will help."

Danny has a list of substitutes, advice, a food journal to track what works better or worse. That conversation leads into another and another of things that might alleviate that hunger. Then how they leave…

"I don't need to tell you why you shouldn't eat human flesh. You obviously already know. But I will warn you about the change. 'A taste' is what the stories say, and I don't know if that means a bite, or mearly a drop of blood, But if the change happens, it cannot be undone."

And Jack nods, solemn. He makes his promise, and he thanks them.

---

It's Mrs. Montgomery who finds them hours later. She finds them by asking the diner's patrons "Who owns that awful van?!"

And Danny, the only one in town with a van that awful, raises his hand. 

She's confused and frantic, but she knows her husband thought they could help with... it's unclear what Jack told her, whether half truth or blatant lie, but now everything has fallen apart. 

---

Travis' car is in the driveway.

They don't have to break into the house. Even if they hadn't had the keys, the back door is already broken in.  

It's not a surprise when they find a body.  It's a carved up corpse not a charcoaled one. 

"What happened?" Danny isn't asking them. 

---

"He's not a hunter, is he?" Dean asks his brother. They watch from a room away as Jack Montgomery and Danny Fenton speak in hushed urgent tones. When Jack had turned into the livingroom, Sam had flinched and Dean had curled his lip in disgust. Danny hadn't reactioned and Jack had noticed. So, now Danny was the only one worthy of whatever this conversation was.

"He calls himself an electrician that knows too much." Sam answers. 

"How much do you know about how he works?"

"...enough.”

"Sam... I don’t think he's human."

Sam looks at him, watches his face as he asks, "and if he's not?"

"I don't know, Sammy. I wouldn't say he's hurting anybody."

"Dean, I think there's some things we need to talk about..."

"What?"

"Not here, not now. " Sam gestured to the bloody mess on the ground and the still blood covered man in the kitchen. "When this is sorted, we need to talk about what happened while you were dead."

---

"He's going to clean himself up and pack." Danny tells them. "Then we're going to pick up his wife, see what she wants to do, then we’re going. I'll meet you at Jazz's."

"You're taking him to the Coconut Vampires." Dean predicted. 

"Yeah." Danny didn't elaborate further. 

"How does that work? What if one of 'em falls off the rails or something?"

"They deal with their own."

"Right... Sam, you still have Lenore's number?"

"Yeah,"

Dean nods to him, and steps back out of earshot. Lenore, the leader of the Cattle-Blood-Instead-of-Human-Blood Vampires, probably needed to be in touch with the Coconut Vampires. Dean never asked Sam where they went, didn't need to know. Dean knew then if he'd known where, he'd be compelled to check in person, and they didn't need him poking through all their business. Sam kept track of the missing persons numbers where they stayed, and they hadn't needed to follow up.

He doesn't have high hopes for Jack, not really, but those two do, and others do. Castiel was right, he doesn't have much faith, and the least he can do to avoid spreading his doubt all over the place. Maybe they'll prove him wrong.

He hopes they prove him wrong.

[theguardianace]

Can I politely ask you to elaborate on the Aroace Nene fic you talked about some time ago? Or just simply how you see her in your brain after finding out she's aroace? If it's not much to ask, of course

OMG YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! absolutely. i will ramble about aroace literally anybody on the drop of a dime this is one of the best anons to get actually

nene's story is actually the one i have the least about, to be perfectly honest. i have a plot for both emu and tsukasa's stories, but haven't quite figured out one for nene. honestly, i think nene's the type of aroace to not really... care about it that much. she'd never cared about love or romance to begin with, so when she realized it was because she was aroace, it was mostly like "hm. cool. im gonna go play animal crossing now".

as for finding out... i think it would have happened in middle school, back when she was Online Gamer Nene TM full time. with how much she loves games and storytelling, it really only makes sense she'd want to engage with fandom content like fics. however, just... seeing the way people sexualize her favorite characters, or only write/draw shipping content... she didn't care for it. she didn't want to engage with that. not that there was anything wrong with it! people can do whatever they want with fictional game characters. she just. didnt care about it herself. which led to her feeling even more isolated even within her favorite hobbies. i think this would sort of lead her to playing a variety of games so she doesn't have to worry about getting absorbed in fandoms she doesn't care to be a part of. she still checks, every once in a while. for games that she really likes. i think its through this that she eventually stumbles across a popular aroace headcannon, goes "what", googles it, and is like "wow. thats me. sick". and then moves on

but like. even when she's moved on. it's still really nice to know, yknow? it explains why she felt like the odd one out not wanting to ship stuff, or even care to entertain it. there's people out there just like her. it makes her less anxious, a little more sure of herself.

she doesn't ever tell anyone. not even rui. (i mean, they hadn't talked in ages. how is she supposed to? "hi, we havent had a genuine conversation in years, how are you? by the way i discovered im aroace and you probably don't know what that means and honestly i dont really care about it myself. have a good day".) (and once they do start talking again, it just... never came up. she never felt the need to, and he never felt the need to ask.) until my epilouge chapter where they all end up coming out like WHAT WERE ALL AROACE THATS SO SILLY anyways

in casual life, i think nene would have been the type for adults to go "oooh, you have a crush on him, don't you? look at you, all red and shy just thinking about him" when shes simply Just Like That. it was really annoying. she knew she didn't like them like that and that was that. but shes too scared to say that so she just took it. definitely didn't help the "nene needs to learn how to make friends" department. honestly, her only relief from it was with rui- both her parents and the kamishiro parents recognized that the two really did care about each other, but it wasn't like that. also no way in hell they're ruining the one friendship their kids have.

later with emu, i don't think there was any point where people even considered a romance, at least not at first glance. it wasn't like people at school even knew about emu (minus when she snuck in, but why would this hyperactive pink thing be looking for that shy second year?). and people walking the streets didn't really assume they liked each other like that since they were two girls. nene's mom was a little curious if they were dating since emu comes over so often and is so physically affectionate, but she never really pressed. she was mostly just happy nene has friends over that aren't just rui. (also, emu's aroace too, so nothing in her demeanor even made nene consider it could have been romantic. shes just Emu.)

for tsukasa, it's a similar thing. by the time people have realized the two are friends, nene's confident in herself and her feelings enough to shut down the people who would even dare assume she likes a buffoon like that star in that way. there's those people that go "oh but you're mean to him and girls are mean to boys when they have a crush on them" but she's tough enough to go "ew" and move on. (she did complain about it a little to rui on a walk home once. if he ended up in her classroom the next day to "grab her for lunch" and weaponize his dangerous reputation to intimidate them when she wasn't looking, it was sheer coincidence.)

also, i think out of the four, nene falls most on the loveless scale. tsukasa, emu, and rui are all beings made of love despite the fact they don't fall in it. nene's a bit different. she cares about her friends, and she's super good at making them (despite what she thinks), but she doesn't really... love them. not in the ways people usually want to describe love. she would kill a man for them in a heartbeat, don't get me wrong. she just experiences those sorts of feelings differently. it's care, and determination, and hope, and happiness, but not... love. not completely.

anyways aroace gamer nene so real fic will happen once i figure out how to tie these ideas to a plot 👍

[felixravinstills]

the ravinstill family is actually normal, well adjusted, and loving (i’m genuinely curious what they would look like without all that….ravinstillness)

ask game

Lily, I'm gonna be so real. I think I chose the most not fulfilling your request way to fulfill your request.

I think to try and keep them the same people while also trying to get them anywhere near normal, well-adjusted, and loving (outwardly. inwardly, I think they all genuinely care for each other. they're just bad at it), I introduced Time Traveling! Max... A character who is actively talking to his brother (wow!)

Unfortunately, we have only moved from no communication basically to... uh selective communication. And also today, we can momentarily glance over at Max's brother who I do think about a lot. He's weird too. Like in my mind... all the Ravinstills are weird.

Anyway, thanks for the ask!

Snippet below:

Felix was a loud and fussy baby.

“He’s not like that when he’s older,” Max had told him when Albanus had remarked upon it.

Albanus had nodded. He was the one who is only half-listening now as he rocked his newest grandson in his arms.

That other time— that other world, it hardly matters to him. Half the time, he’s not convinced it’s anything more than his brother’s imagination.

Besides, time proves Max wrong. Sure, Felix doesn’t cry as much, but he’s chattering away like Albanus did when he'd been that age. At the age of five, He’s all smiles and his favorite thing to do is have his parents swing him up into the air as they walk down the Corso.

Leaning his arms on the railing beside the stairway of the Presidential Palace, Albanus asks if his brother if prefers this version of Felix to the quiet one he remembers in his head. He stand in the ensuing silence, watching Max's jaw work and brow furrow.

After a moment, he shrugs.

“I should care, I think, that he’s different,” Maximinius says after another beat. He opens his mouth to speak again, and then closes it.

Albanus smiles. Both are his grandson, so to Max, it doesn't really matter if he's changed.

"Some of him is the same," Max offers, and Albanus doesn't ask him to elaborate.

He doesn’t ask why Maximinius only really talks about Marius, Gnaeus, and Felix from that other world. He only likes listening to the topic, because he knows that Max hasn't shared his supposed memories with Volumnia. It's nice having one over on her.

He watches Max watch the rest of their family— Albanus' brood of children and grandchildren. The two youngest of Albanus' grandchildren get along today which is a relief. Kassandra loves to be a little instigator, and Felix gets uncomfortable when she speaks ill of their great-uncle.

Today, she's braided his hair, and now, she's painting his nails. She's got a shade of blue for each finger, or so she says. Felix is quite excited about it.

“He’s happy now, because of what you’ve done here," Albanus tells his brother, because he needs to know that he forgives him for all the things that didn't happen.

Max looks at him. It’s a familiar expression. It’s the one he wears looking at , observing the changes.

Albanus raises a finger before he can open his mouth again.

"I don't want to know."

Maybe Albanus has changed from that imagined time in Maximinius' mind. he can’t say for sure if he has. It might be for the best that he never knows for sure.

He remembers when they were children, and his words went in one of Max's ears and out the other. His brother had always seen him as an idiot, and you don't confide in an idiot unless you're crazy enough to believe you've got some second chance at life after fucking it up the first time.

Albanus thinks he should care about that, but Max was his brother and that old world wasn't this one.

His eyes return to the scene below him.

Perhaps, that is their family's problem. They can't bring themselves to care for much of anything except each other.

The children have not yet noticed the president and their grandfather peering down at them.

Albanus shakes his head as he watches three bottles of open nail polish tip over onto the beautiful red rug.

Four teenagers and one young adult scramble to minimize the damage while Felix and Kass start pointing fingers— badly painted ones at one another. It's neither of their faults, they say.

Beside him, Max clears his throat, and all heads turn towards them.

It's not good for the children to know the extent of what they can get away with, so Albanus prepares to care about the rug.

[final-girl96]

STOLEN HEARTS CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Billy nodded, “I know it's not,” he said, taking a bite of his food. My eyebrows raised in question, “You know? How do you know?” I asked. He finished chewing his food, opened his beer, and took a long sip. “He told me.” That was his answer before going back to eating. “Care to elaborate?” He shrugged, swallowing what was in his mouth. “He kind of sobered up a little after you left. I decided to give his drunk ass a ride home instead of kicking his ass and catching a lawsuit. He mumbled the whole way there in between telling me where to go. Sobered up more and broke down when we got there and saw you actually left.”

I threw my hands up in the air. “What the fuck did he think I would do?! Stay there and take his shit?! Did he send you over here to talk to me and get me to go back to him?! What happened to the Billy Hargrove that didn't give a fuck about anyone else but himself? Hm? Where did he go? Since when you fucking care, Billy? Not like you to do bitch work!” I yelled. Billy put his chopsticks down, placed his hands on the counter, and leant forward. “Watch your fucking tone with me. I didn't come here because of him or for him. I came here…because…”

“Because why, Billy? Because you felt bad for me?” He rolled his eyes “No, I don't feel bad for you. If you want the truth…the truth is, I know what it's like. I know I'm not some Saint and I was a jackass in school. I took advantage of girls and used them for my own pleasure because I know I could. Stacy is the same way. She uses men to her advantage. She finds you threatening because you have something she never will…Eddie and the fame. That’s what she wants, she wants fame. She gets Eddie then she can have fame.”

Billy stepped closer to me and leaned his hip and arm on the counter. “Look, at one point I was jealous of Munson. Not only was he able to get out of this shitty town, but he always had a very pretty girl on his arm. I'd be lying if I said that I haven't thought about stealing you away from him. Hell, back in school I had that thought all the time. But I knew you would never give me the time of day or a chance. You're not the kind of girl I wanted to just sleep with and more onto the next. I also saw the way you looked at Munson. It only provided that to me more when I was you guys together on MTV and shit. You're in love with the dickhead…”

There was a knock on the door stopping anything more Billy wanted to say. I froze and looked towards the front door. Who could that be? Maybe It's Robin…I did run into her a few times since we've been back and this is a small town, I'm sure everyone heard about what happened. “You going to get that?” I looked at Billy and raised an eyebrow. “What?” I asked. “The door. Are you going to get the door?” I was caught in my head that I didn't realize the person had gone from knocking to ringing the doorbell non-stop. “Yeah. Yeah, I'm getting there,” I said. When I didn't move Billy let out a loud annoyed sigh and walked to the door. “Wait! What're you doing?”

I chased after him but wasn't fast enough. Billy pulled the door open to reveal a very drunk or high? Maybe both…Eddie. Eddie looked up as I pushed Billy to the side. “I'll be in the kitchen if you need me.” I looked over at him and watched him walk away. Eddie scoffed and my head snapped back to him. The shock of him here turned into slight anger. “What do you want?” I asked, blocking him from coming inside. He was swaying back and forth and I could smell the alcohol on him. He had deep dark circles under his eyes, which told me he hadn't been sleeping.

“What the fuck is he doing here?” He slurred out, pointing a finger into the house. “What do you want, Edward?” His eyes snap down to look at me. “Well…I came over to apolo…apologize,” he hiccup. “But it looks like you have already moved on. Already fucking Hargrove! Can't say…say I didn't se–see that comin’!” I looked at him 8n disbelief. “Excuse me?! What the fuck is that supposed mean? You're the one going around fuck anything on two legs! You're the one that ruined this relationship. Not me! God, you're even drunk right now. I wouldn't even be surprised if you were also high, and with the way your eyes look I would say you are.”

Eddie scoffed, “You don't know shit! I ain't drunk or high!” I laughed at that. I mean I actually laughed out loud at that. ��Have you looked in a fucking mirror?! You really thought you could come here and what? Apologize while your shit faced drunk?! You can't even stand up straight, Eddie! Besides, you made it very clear that you don't want me. I'm just a burden for you. I'm getting in your way of being famous! Now, get the fuck off my property!”

I pushed him, making him stumble back. I looked over to his van and froze. My heart was beating a mile a minute. I felt like I couldn't get a breath. Eddie followed my line of sight and cleared his throat. “That's not what it looks like.” I looked back at him and shook my head. “Leave. Now. I never want to talk to or see you ever again,” I whispered. I felt the tears burning the back of my eyes. “Babe…” I held my hand up to stop him. “Don't. You have no right to call me that. You've chosen who you want to be with. I cant–I can't fucking believe you.”

“What the fuck, man!” I felt Billy's hand on my shoulder. “Go back inside. I'll make sure they leave,” he said. “Fuck you! Get your hands off my girlfriend!” Eddie went to lunge forward but Billy put his hand out, pushing it against his chest. “You need to fucking leave me! What part of your fucked up brain told you it was a good idea to show up here with that fucking bitch? Huh?! Great job, man.”

I looked over at the van to see Stacy smirking at me. She crawled across ro the driver's side and yelled out the window. “Eddie, baby, come on!” We all looked over at her. She had a pouty smirk on her stupid ugly face. I saw nothing but red. I hadn't even realized that I was heading towards her or that I had ripped the door open until I was pulling her out of the van by her hair. “You fucking cunt! Let go of me!” I felt arms wrap around my waist and lift me off the ground, pulling me away from Stacy.

“That's enough! Stop! Damnit, yn, stop!” Billy yelled and threw me over his shoulder. “You might want to get you're little fuck toy out of her, Munson. Get your shit together while you're at it.” Billy didn't let go of me until we were back inside and he knew Eddie had left. I had lost all the fight at this point and just fell to the ground and cried.

[neopuff]

title: elaborate plans word count: ~5200 ship: six/holiday summary: Holiday wants Rex to go to a museum. Six sees an opportunity. ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48731992 references to: "there's always next time" and "only you"

"You're going to New York City?" Holiday asked, not sure if she'd heard correctly.

Six nodded, pointing a thumb behind him. "Knight heard some rumors going around - something that sounds a lot like one of Breach's portals was seen in Central Park yesterday."

She nodded, but was pouting slightly, and Six couldn't deny that he was curious about what was on her mind.

"...do you want to come along?"

"No, no," she answered quickly. "I just…well, I was thinking."

Six didn't respond, knowing she needed time to finish her thoughts.

"Rex is almost eighteen now and…he's never been to a museum. Not that I know of, anyway."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "And?"

"And-?!" Holiday glared at him. "I've been giving him a basic education from here, but he's not getting a lot of formative experiences that a boy his age should be getting!"

Six stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "Doctor, he's been all over the world. He fought a living mummy. I don't think he's missing out on much by not seeing collections of paintings and sculptures."

"I just think it'd be good for him," she added as a final point. "You don't have to take him, but I'd appreciate it if you did. The Met is right there."

With that, she turned back to her computer and continued typing whatever she'd been working on before they started their conversation. 

And Six was left with a quandary.

He didn't want to go to a museum. Not particularly, anyway. And he didn't think Rex would want to go to one, either. But that was Holiday's point, he supposed. Rex should try it because everyone should try it at least once and have the experience of being in one. Maybe Rex would really enjoy it and if they didn't try, he'd never find out.

It would also be nice to make Holiday happy, of course. She seemed like the type of person who really enjoyed going to museums and thought they were a good way to spend an afternoon. Maybe she’d go by herself, or maybe she liked to go on…dates.

Dates.

Six stood there for another few moments, considering. There were a lot of moves he could make at that moment and he wanted to make the right one.

"You should come with us."

She looked up at him. "Six, I didn't mean to-"

"I've never been to the Met, Doctor. I wouldn't be a good guide on my own."

Holiday looked suspicious for a brief moment, then gave him one of those rare, brilliant smiles that she seemed to save only for the closest people in her life. Six felt honored to be among the few to see them.

"When are we leaving?"

"Take off in ten minutes."

"Make it fifteen - I need to get changed."

x

"What? Why would we go to some dusty old museum?" Rex whined, leaning against the inner wall of the small scout ship they’d borrowed from the hangar.

"Dr. Holiday wants you to try something new," Six answered, arms crossed over his chest. "You've been stagnating over the last two months. I can tell you're getting bored with fighting humans in badly-made robot suits."

"Well, yeah, sure." Rex waved his hands around. "But I can't exactly fight anything at an art museum. How's that supposed to help?"

"Try to have an open mind."

Rex stuck out his tongue childishly. "I bet you don't wanna go, either. Did Holiday bat her eyelashes at you or something?"

Six glared at the kid and stuck his hands into his pockets. He was about to respond, but then Holiday walked up to the ship and distracted him. She wasn't wearing anything particularly notable, but something about seeing her in casual clothes with her hair down always caught him off-guard.

She was wearing a long blue skirt, white top, and light blue cardigan. It looked very pretty on her - pretty enough that Rex elbowed Six in the arm and whispered something about eyelashes again.

"Sorry I took so long. Are we ready to go?" Holiday asked with a guilty smile.

The boys nodded and Holiday walked past them to take a seat - Rex gave his mentor two thumbs up as she passed and Six wondered if this was a huge mistake.

x

"Okay, sure, I didn't get that spine-tingly feeling that I always get when Breach is nearby. And sure, Holiday didn't read any nanite activity with her little monitor thingy. But I still don't think that means we can give up and waste the rest of the afternoon here."

Rex spread out his arms and motioned around himself. He and Six were surrounded by civilians, which was a strange situation for the both of them. Exhibit entrances were to their left and right, up the stairs, around the corners…it was an endless maze of art and history.

Six sighed, hands twitching in his pockets. He did not enjoy being surrounded by so many people. Even if he and Rex used their Providence clearances to come in without going through the metal detector, he still felt like they were vulnerable. "Think of this like a…field trip."

"Kids go on field trips with their friends, not their parents."

Rex slammed his mouth shut after that and looked away from Six, feeling awkward. Everyone knew there was a sort of weird, parental relationship between him and Six and Holiday, but calling them his parents felt like too much. They were his family, sure, but they weren't his mom and dad. They were his…something else. Something just as important.

"...I suppose that's true," was Six's short response. He had some of the same thoughts as Rex, and he wasn't sure how he felt about all of it, either. Sometimes he looked at Rex like a son, and he knew Holiday did the same. But it was complicated. Rex was still learning more about his real parents every day and they didn’t want to confuse him or get in the way of that.

Holiday was buying their tickets and they were supposed to patiently wait for her to get back, but Six was itching to start his master plan of the day. He looked over to the ticket area to make sure Holiday wasn't in hearing range and then looked back down at Rex.

"If I give you twenty bucks, will you run off as soon as Holiday hands you your ticket?" he asked quietly.

"Huh?" Rex glared up at him. "Why?"

Six just stared as a response - his mouth a thin, straight line.

The realization hit Rex like a bag of bricks. "Oooohhhh, you don't care about me getting cultured - you just want an excuse to do something romantic with Doc Holiday!"

"Rex."

"Who knew you had it in you, Six?" Rex said cheekily, a bright smile on his face. "You could've said something earlier! I would've been way more on-board with this plan if I knew I could just leave-"

"No leaving. You're still going to look at art and learn to appreciate it."

"Aw, come on, Six! Is this any way to ask a guy a favor?" Rex whined again, though his eyes were drawn away from his mentor by a small group of girls wearing t-shirts that said 'Glendale High Seniors'. "Maybe I could be convinced to stay, actually…"

Six followed Rex's line of sight and frowned. "What happened to Circe?"

Rex pouted and quickly shook the blush off his cheeks. "Um…Circe and I are kind of keeping it casual while she works out some family stuff. It's complicated."

"Sounds like it," Six said, not really caring. "Do we have a deal?"

"Make it thirty!"

Six exhaled loudly through his nose and quickly grabbed two twenties from his wallet, handing them to Rex reluctantly. "Bring me ten back."

Rex laughed and stuffed the bills into his pocket. "We'll see!"

At that moment, Holiday returned with their tickets and handed one to each of her boys. She looked extremely happy and they both knew she was ready to infodump about her favorite things in the museum if they gave her the opportunity. "Are you guys ready?"

"Aaaactually, Doc - Six gave me a great idea!" Rex said with a devious smile that made their resident ninja very nervous. "I'm gonna follow around that high school group and try to get a normal teen field trip experience with them, okay?"

"O-oh." Holiday looked disappointed for a second, but she followed that up with a smile. "That's a great idea, actually. Just text one of us when you're done, okay?"

Rex gave her a two-finger salute and quickly ran off, easily falling in line with the group of students who seemed extremely excited to hang out with a famous person.

Holiday sighed and glared at Six, hand on her hip. "You could've suggested that before I wasted money on our tickets."

Six held the ticket she'd given him and looked over both sides. "Is there a particular exhibit you want to see?"

"Huh?"

He shrugged, trying to seem cool and casual. "I wouldn't mind looking around. If you want to."

There was an excited sparkle in her eyes that made Six's heart race, and she glanced around the room. "I haven't been here in almost twenty years, I don’t remember all the…well, I’ll go grab a map!"

While she did that, he looked at some of the text above the large, looming entranceways. European Art, European Art, more European Art…hm. Oh. He noticed her walking back and pointed to a room upstairs and off to their left. "Let's start there."

Holiday followed his finger to the Asian Art exhibit and smiled at him again. "Sounds great, let's go!"

x

Six wasn't much of an art guy.

In the past, he'd stolen some artwork for clients - rarely, very rarely, since his specialty was more in the life-ending department - but otherwise he didn't really partake in museums or art galleries or anything like that. He liked to stay informed and always paid attention to valuable pieces traveling through the black market, but he didn't have any interest in taking them for himself.

That being said, he had a particular lack of interest in portraits of old American and European politicians. He wasn't born in America, nor did he have American citizenship, nor did he have European ancestry, and he didn't have much interest in those countries outside of studying their fighting styles and war practices and much more modern politics and policies. It was important to know the history, of course, but the portraits weren't interesting to him at all.

He didn't have a lot of exposure to Asian art, having been raised extremely poor in Mexico City and then extremely isolated on a small island off the coast of Japan. One didn't prioritize that sort of thing in his training, understandably, but Six still found himself drawn to it. His family came from China and his master came from Japan, not to mention he'd spent decades studying and mastering Japanese fighting styles.

Holiday seemed interested in pretty much everything they saw, which Six thought was very cute. She would stand at each piece and read the blurb of information, then stare at it for a minute to really take it in, and if she had any feelings about it, she'd turn to him and ask for his thoughts. It continued like that through three rooms of artwork before Six realized that she wasn't going to stop. Which was fine. He was just glad that she was enjoying herself.

His interest in the art and his interest in Holiday couldn't distract him from his paranoia, however. Security guards in each room watched them carefully - especially him, because Six was a very recognizable figure and they probably knew he was dangerous. Then there were so many civilians around them - occasionally someone would bump into Holiday and Six would have to resist the urge to attack them. A crowded museum was not a great place for someone like him to be.

Still…it was making Holiday very happy. He liked that a lot.

As they reached the fifth room, Six started to take note of something else. All of the couples - well, almost all of them - were holding hands as they walked and chatted about what they saw. Some of them would even sit on the benches and cuddle while looking at certain pieces.

He stared at Holiday and wondered if she’d want that. Their relationship was very confusing - for both of them, he was sure - and he wanted to start trying to make it…less confusing. It was difficult to allow himself to get to that level of vulnerability, but he was willing to try if it meant he could be with her more completely.

It'd been clear for months - almost a year, at that point - that they had feelings for each other. And in that time, neither had really made a move to take things further. Six didn't think it was because her feelings faded, just that she didn't want to rush him. And there was also a slight hesitation that he imagined stemmed from whatever they'd had before he lost his memories.

Still, he felt like they were getting to the point where it was ridiculous. He was nearing 40, after all. He couldn't just watch her from a distance forever.

As he stared at Holiday while she stared at some art, Six finally followed her gaze to the painting and gave it a good look. He hadn't been offering her much interesting discussion about any of the paintings or sculptures so far, mostly because he was too focused on the dangers of so many people being around them. But he figured he could give her something. If he couldn't hold her hand, he could absolutely pay attention to what pieces she liked.

At that moment, she was staring at a painting of a Japanese woman, daydreaming sadly. Called Surgical Ward. He looked from the painting to Holiday's face, and back again.

Holiday caught him paying attention and brightened significantly. "This one is really interesting, don't you think?"

"...yes," Six answered, being somewhat genuine. "She reminds me of you."

Holiday curled her lips and stared at him as if he'd said something very strange. It made Six feel self-conscious, which she must've noticed because she immediately changed her expression to one that was more sympathetic. "Why's that?"

"I…" He suddenly forgot how to speak. Why did he say it made him think of her? That was stupid. It was because she's a woman and a brunette and it had the word surgery in the title which made him think of her being a doctor even though she wasn’t that kind of doctor. But that wasn't a good answer - it wasn't smart or charming or interesting. "I don't know. It just does."

She didn't seem put off by that response, giving him a smile in return. "It's based off of a book, according to the blurb here. The woman falls in love with her doctor and dies during surgery."

"Oh." 

Not smart. Not charming. Not a good date. He hadn't even established their outing as a date yet. Maybe Six could save face by backflipping out the window into traffic instead of stuffing his foot into his mouth so badly. "Not quite what I was imagining."

"It's all about interpretation, right?" she said with a chuckle. She lightly bit her lip, having noticed his lack of interest in the pieces so far. "We can go to another exhibit if you'd like."

"I'm fine to stay if you're enjoying yourself."

"I'd enjoy myself anywhere, Six." She pulled out the map and looked around for a few seconds. Then, suddenly, Holiday smiled and pointed to something that Six couldn’t see. "Oh I know exactly where we should go."

Six raised a curious eyebrow at her, but didn't say anything. He just assumed she was going to tell him.

Instead, Holiday reached out and grabbed his hand, tugging him through the rest of the Asian Art exhibit and back into the main hall. He didn't pay much attention to where they were going, focused instead on the soft warmth of her hand nestled in his. He was supposed to grab her hand, not the other way around! Though he supposed either way was fine so long as they got there.

He wondered if grabbing his hand to guide him somewhere counted as a romantic hand-hold or if it was different somehow. Where was the manual for that sort of thing when he needed it?

"Here!" Holiday said with a smile, using her other hand to point to the exhibit entrance name.

Six followed her pointer finger and saw the words Arms and Armor over the door, then looked inside to see a room filled with swords, armor, and other types of weapons or related instruments. He couldn't hold back his smile at the sight and squeezed her hand a little tighter in appreciation.

"Excellent choice, Doctor."

Holiday smiled and attempted to move away from him - including moving her hand out of his grasp - but Six held on and gently pulled her with him towards the first case filled with swords.

She didn't say anything in response to his actions, instead just staring at their conjoined hands like it was something she'd never seen before. In her defense, she hadn't seen such a thing in a very long time, and certainly didn't expect Six to keep holding onto her like that.

Her heart started to race embarrassingly fast as Holiday's analytical brain deduced what was happening. She'd seen Six hand Rex some money earlier and just assumed it was so he could buy himself something at the gift shop. But…maybe it was a bribe. Maybe this was all some sort of strangely elaborate plan to get the two of them on a date without actually asking her out or using the word date at any point.

Those thoughts made her feel a little paranoid. Maybe Six was just suddenly feeling romantic and wanted to hold her hand. That wasn't the craziest thought in the world (yes it was, yes it absolutely was) (the elaborate plan idea made way more sense). Or maybe Six's hand was just cold. (That was definitely not it either - she could feel how warm his hand was and it made her cheeks turn slightly pink.)

She followed Six's line of sight to a beautiful scimitar sitting in a case - embarrassed that she hadn't been paying attention to the artifacts around them. She was just thinking too hard about whatever was happening with their hands.

"Is this alright?" Six suddenly asked as he turned to look at her. He tightened his grip on her hand for emphasis, and Holiday blushed.

"...yes." She wanted to say it was more than alright, it was perfect, but she didn't want to humiliate herself further. Six was holding her hand in an art museum and she was overthinking it instead of just enjoying it? That was ridiculous. So she took a deep breath and smiled and moved her hand around so their fingers were interlocking. "It's definitely alright."

Six responded with one of his teeny tiny smiles that he saved just for the three closest people in his life and they continued through the exhibit, holding hands the entire way. There were hundreds of pieces to look at and plenty of time to look at them - both Six and Holiday were happy to take their time and enjoy themselves.

It'd been well over an hour by the time they reached the end. Several lively discussions about the effectiveness and artistry of certain weapons later, the two of them were still connected as they walked back into the main hallway. When Rex reappeared with a Statue of Liberty stuffed toy in his hands, he was smiling very brightly at the sight in front of him.

"I guess I don't need to text you, after all," he said with a smirk, staring blatantly down at their hands. "Have a good time without me?"

The two adults quickly separated their hands - Six's went right to his pocket, and Holiday clasped her hands awkwardly behind her back.

"Rex!" Holiday said, embarrassed that he'd caught them and also…embarrassed that she was embarrassed. Couldn't a 36-year-old woman hold hands with the man she loved without blushing over it? Maybe not. "Did you like the museum?"

"Actually…yeah, it was pretty fun!" Rex smiled and held up his new toy. "I made some friends, saw some funny naked sculptures, looked at some of the art of my people…"

Holiday smiled as he spoke, completely over the moon that he'd had a good time.

"...aaaaand I got this amazing little plush! She was only $38.99! What a steal, right?'

Six frowned deeply as Rex shoved the toy in his face, and Holiday just watched them thinking it was related to some inside joke she wasn't privy to. She didn't really care at that moment, she was just happy it'd been such a good afternoon.

An amazing afternoon, really. She was pretty sure that Six had planned all of this, and she wanted to thank him somehow. She had absolutely no idea how best to do that.

Well, she had one idea of how to do that. She just didn't want to rush anything. Even if she knew Six wouldn't object, she still didn't want to make a mistake. He was one of the most important people in her life, after all.

But he'd made a move, so she needed to make one, too.

x

Rex pretended to fall asleep as soon as they got back on the ship. 

He'd made it clear on more than one occasion that he thought his two guardians should be together and had been vocally frustrated by their lack of communication about the subject. Multiple times, he'd threatened to lock them in a room together or set them up in an elaborate Parent Trap-type scenario where they'd end up on a date without realizing it.

Six didn't want to deal with either of those options. He was an adult. He was the sixth most dangerous man in the world. He didn't need some nosy teenager to push him into going out with a beautiful woman. He was perfectly capable of telling her how he felt and holding her and kissing her and doing whatever else she wanted him to do to her.

Six kept those thoughts running through his head as he stared at Holiday through the mirror near the pilot's seat. He could see that she had her arms around herself and was staring awkwardly at the floor, looking like she had a million thoughts running through her head.

She glanced up and he looked away, despite the sunglasses hiding the fact that they'd made eye contact. He couldn't help but feel intimidated under her gaze at that moment.

"Mmm…talk to each other…" Rex mumbled loudly, still pretending to be asleep. "...stop being awkward…"

Holiday glared at him, blushing, and Six just tried to ignore him. He didn't need a push. He was doing just fine.

But then suddenly Holiday was standing up and walking towards him and Six felt his mouth go dry.

"Hey," she said quietly, taking a seat in the chair next to him.

"Doctor."

She looked out the window and watched the sky for a minute, enjoying the view of the clouds rolling by. There was nothing quite like flying at such an incredible speed. "Today was really nice. Thank you for that."

He squeezed the control wheel and felt his heart beat a little faster. "Anytime," he answered, trying to be cool and casual and charming.

Holiday smiled at that response and tugged some hair behind her ear. "I was wondering if you, um…if you wanted to get some dinner when we get back."

Six's face remained expressionless as she spoke and his grip on the control wheel loosened. So he hadn't fucked it up - she didn't just enjoy herself, she wanted to continue their date even further and maybe even further after that. He was very satisfied knowing he'd done the right thing.

When he didn't immediately answer, Holiday continued to talk, rambling a bit. "We don't have to go anywhere fancy, I just thought it'd be nice to eat together-"

"Dinner sounds great," he said finally, cutting her off. "Anywhere you want."

She smiled again and stared out the window, feeling very good about herself and the day she was having. "Okay. Okay, perfect. Good."

x

Dinner was nice. Dinner was nice last time they’d had it - Holiday remembered it all too well, almost like she’d dreamt about the missed opportunities for weeks after it happened. But Six didn’t remember it at all, obviously.

Ever since losing his memories, Holiday observed him occasionally do little things that reminded her of his old self. He’d pour his coffee the same way, he’d lean against a doorframe the same way, he’d say her name (her first name, it was rare but it was always something that made her heart leap) in the same way. Some days it almost felt like he never lost his memories at all.

But the dinner was a continuous reminder that he had. Because she couldn't help but think back to that previous date - where they drove out into town, had some Mexican food, and he kissed her on the cheek after the alarm interrupted their evening - which happened almost two years earlier.

Two years was a long time to wait for a second date. But she'd waited two years for the first one, so Holiday didn't mind. Besides, she'd had plenty of other things going on during most of that time.

She was not going to let the second date end like the first one, though. There wasn't an EVO alarm anymore, thanks to Rex, but there was an alarm for certain types of threats that couldn't be handled by the police or military. And Holiday was completely prepared to ignore it if need be. She was tired of waiting. She wanted to be with Six and he had made it perfectly clear on multiple occasions that he wanted to be with her, too. They'd waited long enough.

There was no rushing, no pushing, no pressure from an outside force. Just a simple desire to be together.

Holiday kept that thought running through her mind as Six walked her back to her room at Providence HQ - the same room she'd lived in last time they did this. The same hallway, the same footsteps, the same everything.

His hands were in his pockets and he looked like he didn't know what to do with himself.

She smiled softly at him, hands clasped behind her back. "This was nice."

"It was," he answered, just as soft.

There was a brief hesitation between the two of them where they both knew exactly what question was in the air. It was a very big step and though both parties were completely ready and willing, it still felt like dangerous ground.

Holiday took a deep breath and, instead of saying anything, reached out and grabbed Six by the wrist. With her other hand, she opened her door - and then silently pulled him inside and let the door close behind them.

The lights came on automatically and she awkwardly removed her hand from his arm, bringing her hands together to fidget with her fingers. She'd taken one very big step, but she didn't want to mess things up by taking the next one too quickly.

"I, um…so, obviously this has been a long time coming, sure, but I don't want you to think I've got any expectations or anything - I'm just trying to, uh…you know, see where this goes and-"

She was suddenly cut off by Six's lips pressed gently against her own.

Six had been listening patiently as she rambled, just as he'd silently obeyed her when she pulled him into her room. He wanted her, she knew that, and she was making it pretty clear that she felt the same. But he did enjoy watching her blush, so he let her struggle for a minute before responding.

He kept his hands in his pockets initially as he leaned down to kiss her, but after a moment he couldn't fight the urge to feel her skin against his hands. He removed his hands from his pockets and laid them against the sides of her face, holding her gently to him.

After the initial shock wore off, Holiday smiled. Her lips curled up right against his lips and he could feel each and every movement as she reached her hands up to grab his lapels. She bounced once in excitement and pulled him closer, releasing a small giggle as she pressed their lips harder together.

Six smiled back into the kiss, having never been kissed so enthusiastically before. He liked it. He liked it a lot. He was already feeling very drunk on the sensations of Rebecca's lips and hands and smell and she was so soft and -

He moved his hands down to her waist and squeezed, hoping she could understand that though he didn't express himself in the same ways as her, he was just as excited about what was happening as she was.

At his squeeze, she smiled again - and as her tongue passed his lips and entered his mouth, Holiday felt her back hit the wall and Six's body push against hers. There was no question about it anymore - it was happening. They were finally - finally doing it.

They made out for a minute against the wall, both feeling much younger than they usually did - until Six pulled his lips away from hers for a few seconds to catch his breath.

He smiled at the small whiny moan that escaped her throat and he wondered how fast his heart was racing. "I should take you to museums more often," he said quietly.

Holiday opened her eyes and stared into his sunglasses, giving him a small laugh before leaning up to peck his lips again. "Absolutely. I hear the MoMa is lovely this time of year," she answered cheekily, gripping his lapels tighter. "But let's focus on this for now, alright?"

He nodded, still smirking, and kissed her again. With an intense grip on his jacket, she guided him towards her bed, and Six let his fingers dig into the soft skin of her hips as he tried not to lose control of himself.

It was very difficult with Rebecca's arms circling his neck and her legs finding their way around his waist, but Six was a master of self-control.

Or at least he used to be.

Holiday's attention moved to his jaw and then the side of his neck, and Six squeezed her so hard he wondered if he might leave bruises. He also wondered if she wouldn't mind. At that moment, she was his and he was hers and he wanted to mark her up and make that very clear to anyone who saw her.

She started undoing his tie and he moved his hands under the bottom edge of her shirt.

He could ask her about it later. At the moment, he wanted to focus.

[haljathefangirlcat]

Sigfrido, 1958

Also know as Sigfrido, La leggenda dei Nibelunghi... or, that time we went a little Fritz Lang.

Like Lang's Siegfried and Kriemhilds Rache, this Italian movie by Giacomo Gentilomo (starring Sebastian Fischer as Siegfried, Ilaria Occhini as Kriemhild, Rolf Tasna as Hagen, Giorgio Costantini as Gunther, and Katharina Mayberg as Brunhild) tells the story of Siegfried and the Nibelungs. It draws its main inspiration from the Nibelungenlied, but also includes elements from Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung, as well as musical pieces and themes "freely adapted and elaborated" (as the credit sequence says) from the operas Siegfried and Götterdämmerung specifically. And, since it has been adapted into English under the title The Dragon's Blood but I really doubt you'd find that version as easily online and/or free, I've decided to translate its dialogues from Italian into English.

Only its dialogues, though. Writing down each scene with all of its dialogue, action, and setting would have taken a lot more time and effort, and this was already difficult enough without a script on hand. This translation is meant less as a substitute for watching the movie and more as something to keep around to understand what exactly is going on while watching it. Kinda like subtitles... except I don't actually know how to upload a movie with subtitles, lol. (Jokes aside, do watch the entire movie: the last scene doesn't have any dialogue so it didn't even make it into this post, and the one right before doesn't spend much time explaining what's happening on screen, either.)

Also, please note: the audio in the video I linked kind of... hiccups, sometimes. Mostly I had no trouble reconstructing the incomplete lines or the ones that were just difficult to hear, but sometimes I did have to guess. There's also a few places where I had to just give up and say "okay, I honestly have no idea who this character is supposed to be", because their name just wasn't said on-screen even once. Hell, even with Giselher and Gernot, I only figured out who was who when their names were finally spoken around... say, almost an hour into the movie?

I also want to point out that Gernot's name is rendered in the movie as Gerenot, but I stuck to the form I'm more familiar with because... well, I am pretty sure it's only said out loud once, anyway. A Danwarth is also mentioned in the opening credits, but as I have literally no idea who he was supposed to be, there's was even less of a question if I should keep his name like that or render it as Dankwart.

Anyway, here goes the actual translation!

OPENING QUOTE: Human life, in the exaltation of myth, becomes almost divine.

SIEGLINDE: Help! Help! SIEGLINDE: Please… take care of my baby. Siegfried. Please… SIEGLINDE: His father, Siegmund, died as a valiant man. This was his sword.

SIEGFRIED: Hoioh!

SIEGFRIED: Hoioh! MIME: No! No, no, no, no! No! Send that ugly beast away! Send it away! SIEGFRIED: Eat him! Eat this ugly smith who can't even make me a sword! Eat him! MIME: Away! Send it away, send it away… I made you the most beautiful sword in the world! Look! SIEGFRIED: Shoo, Brownie! Out! [He calls the bear "Bruno", which is a name but literally means brown/dark/tan and can be used to talk about hair, complexion, fur, etc…. also, "orso bruno" literally means brown bear] SIEGFRIED: And this, according to you, was the most beautiful sword in the world!? Lying braggart! MIME: Why do you treat me this way? Is this the gratitude a father is owed? SIEGFRIED: You, my father? Have you ever tried looking at yourself in the water of the stream? Could the sheep ever beget the bear? The serpent, the boar? Why do you keep hiding the truth from me!? You must tell me who is my father! MIME: Let me go! You're hurting me! If you grab me like that, how can I speak? SIEGFRIED: And don't tell me again that I am your son… MIME: No! It's true, you're not my son. Your mother entrusted you to me when she was on the brink of death. She was wounded, she passed away on the snow. SIEGFRIED: And my father? MIME: I don't know. But he was a valiant warrior… Siegmund was his name. SIEGFRIED: Can you give me any proof of this? MIME: Yes! MIME: I got this from your mother, and it was my only reward. SIEGFRIED: My father's sword… The sword of Siegmund. This will be my sword! Quick, stoke the fire! MIME: Yes, yes… SIEGFRIED: I will melt the two pieces and make a new blade out of them!

MIME: Go away, you spy! You're always buzzing around my smithy. ALBERICH: Is this how you treat your little brother? My advice is always precious… gold! MIME: I don't need it! ALBERICH: Don't you like gold, Mime? Not even that of the Nibelungs? MIME: I'm not interested! ALBERICH: You think me as naive as Siegfried!? But I can read your thoughts through the bones of your skull! MIME: What do you mean? ALBERICH: You made of the little lamb a nice lion, strong and sturdy, so that it may prevail on the dragon that guards the treasure. Mime, the Nibelungs' gold is so, so much! There's enough for both of us. I can help you carry it… MIME: Carry it away from me! Glutton! Traitor! Go away! ALBERICH: And you believe Siegfried won't betray you? MIME: He knows nothing, and nothing will he dare! ALBERICH: But when he knows… listen to me, there is a poison… SIEGFRIED: Mime! MIME: Go away! Go away, we'll talk about it another time! Go away! Go away!

SIEGFRIED: Mime! Look! Look. Here is my sword, finally. SIEGFRIED: Did you see that? It's with this sword that I'll conquer the world and face the dragon you've been telling me about ever since I was a child! MIME: Don't you feel fear? SIEGFRIED: Fear? Why don't you teach it to me? MIME: I can't, but the dragon… the dragon will teach it to you. Kill it and you'll know. SIEGFRIED: It will really be child's play. MIME: The dragon is horrible, enormous, stronger than a hundred bears… SIEGFRIED: And I wish they were a hundred thousand. Teach me the way. MIME: It's two days and nights beyond the forest, till the wood of the green stones…

SIEGFRIED: Are you trying to tell me something? SIEGFRIED: Come on. SIEGFRIED: Whoever bathes in the dragon's blood becomes invulnerable.

MIME: I didn't think you capable of doing something like this! Refresh yourself now, you're tired. Drink! MIME: Stop, you thief! MIME: Stop! Stop! Stop! The treasure belongs to me! ALBERICH: The poison was my idea! MIME: And who brought it? Me! MIME: No! No! Noo! ALBERICH: No! No! Mercy! Mercy, Siegfried! I didn't know anything, don't hurt me… let me live! I will turn you into the richest man in the world. In the cave there is the treasure of the Nibelungs, the most fabulous treasure on Earth… stop! I'm your friend! With the treasure, you'll be able to win the heart of Kriemhild, the woman anyone would want to be his. Come. Come! ALBERICH: Come…

SIEGFRIED: You damned monster. Where is the treasure you were talking about!? ALBERICH: Wait. ALBERICH: Put this ring on your finger and you'll see. ALBERICH: Only he who possesses the ring is the master of the treasure.

SIEGFRIED: You, too, are made of the same putrid flesh as your brother. ALBERICH: No! Don't kill me. I will be your slave. SIEGFRIED: If you want me to spare your life, you must tell me who is Kriemhild. ALBERICH: She's king Gunther's sister. SIEGFRIED: A king's sister. ALBERICH: But she'll be yours, because you're more than a king! SIEGFRIED: Not yet, but I will be! The road that separates me from her will be littered with my victories, and the sovereign of every kingdom I'll pass through will be my vassal! Tell me, where is Kriemhild? ALBERICH: In the castle of Worms, on the Rhine, in the land of the Burgundians.

ALBERICH: Go… do go! The enchanted gold thirsts for blood!

GERNOT: Did you see? This time, too, Hagen is the winner. HAGEN: To you, Kriemhild. May I be permitted to give you another token of my devotion. KRIEMHILD: Hagen is truly invincible. I understand why my brother, the king, holds him in such esteem. UTE: And you don't? KRIEMHILD: So do I. UTE: But you wouldn't marry him. KRIEMHILD: Please, mother mine! I've often heard it said that love gives brief joy and long suffering. And from you I learned that when you lose it, the pain is endless. UTE: What are you saying, daughter? All the tears I shed were compensated for in advance by the first kiss I had from your father. KRIEMHILD: I will never marry. It is much better to not have than to lose.

RUMOLD: No one else among these noble knights wants to measure himself against Hagen of Tronje?

SIEGFRIED: I salute you, Gunther, king of the Burgundians! GUNTHER: Who are you, who come all of a sudden to my royal keep? SIEGFRIED: My name is Siegfried, son of Siegmund. I bring with me twelve kings I defeated and made my vassals. GUNTHER: What do you ask for? SIEGFRIED: To fight against the most valiant of the Burgundians and offer you my sword. HAGEN: Go back from whence you came from, stranger, if you don't want to lose what you've conquered. SIEGFRIED: I'll put up as a prize my twelve kingdoms for the privilege of your hospitality, king Gunther. GUNTHER: Be then welcome at my court. You will find in Hagen of Tronje a worthy opponent. HAGEN: Have you already had your fill of your days, you intrepid knight, who put your life in peril? SIEGFRIED: Life? So be it.

UTE: Why do you draw away and blush? KRIEMHILD: Since when is it a custom at our court to welcome strangers? UTE: Why do you get angry? KRIEMHILD: In the yard there is an insolent, arrogant one who stares at me with his indiscreet gaze. UTE: He really is insolent. He's still looking. UTE: And he sure isn't looking at me.

KRIEMHILD: What's happening down there? Why do you laugh? UTE: The stranger did wrong in measuring himself against Hagen. Old as I am, I'd be stronger than him. KRIEMHILD: Yet when he came in on his horse… UTE: Eeh, the horse can hold its own, yes, but the knight will only see victory in his dreams.

UTE: Now Hagen will give him the final blow! UTE: Oh! UTE: I can't believe my eyes, it's the first time Hagen gets disarmed. KRIEMHILD: Wait till the end.

GUNTHER: Stop, Siegfried! GUNTHER: I proclaim you the winner. SIEGFRIED: I would have never wet my sword in the blood of a Burgundian. I only ask for your friendship.

UTE: Insolent, perhaps, but not arrogant. He's a valiant one. KRIEMHILD: What do I care for my brother's guests? It's enough that I can avoid them. UTE: And you better! That one has a wife and children. KRIEMHILD: You know him!? UTE: Of course. KRIEMHILD: Who is he, then? UTE: I don't know. But now, I know you.

GERNOT: Our hero seems tired. Or maybe he gets bored at the court of the Burgundians? GISELHER: He sure is more charismatic when he fights. GERNOT: Or is it Volker's music that bores him? GISELHER: Do you prefer more cheerful music? SIEGFRIED: Oh, no. GUNTHER: And what says our Hagen? GERNOT: Oh, Hagen would like music from instruments made of the enemy's guts. GUNTHER: Volker! Don't you have any music that may cheer up our guest? GISELHER: It's not this, brother, that may cheer up Siegfried. Something else is needed. GUNTHER: Am I perhaps guilty of forgetting something? GISELHER: An old habit. Remember the saying… ?: A feast without women is like a sky without stars. GUNTHER: Forgive me, Siegfried. This used to be a good habit of our court. But I don't have a queen. ?: That depends only on you, king Gunther. What are you waiting for? ?: You only need to choose. Every woman would aspire to be at your side. GUNTHER: But not the one I'd like. SIEGFRIED: So there is one. Who wounded your heart, king Gunther? GUNTHER: Brunhild. SIEGFRIED: The queen of Iceland. What name came out of your lips! Forget her. GUNTHER: Is she not worthy? SIEGFRIED: Oh, yes. Her fame has already crossed the borders of every kingdom, but in her veins runs liquid iron, not blood. GERNOT: She will only belong to one who will be capable of taming her. ?: And you would not be able to resist her in the field. GISELHER: If you lose, she'll kill you, brother! She's strong and fierce in the fight. ?: Many kings tried, and now the ground of Iceland covers them. ?: Her heart is made of bronze. GUNTHER: But her face is peerless in beauty. SIEGFRIED: She is as ruthless as lightning. GUNTHER: A thousand times, death by her hands, rather than live a hundred years with this feeling of impotence and shame. SIEGFRIED: Is it shame, if the embers burn you and the blade cuts you? Give up, Gunther! HAGEN: And this is your advice, intrepid hero? You, too, feel fear, then. SIEGFRIED: I don't know that word. I didn't tremble with you. HAGEN: And with Brunhild, would you be able to prove your valor? SIEGFRIED: I care nothing for the queen of Iceland. My heart… belongs to another woman.

UTE: Come, Kriemhild. It's now time for us to retire. It's late. KRIEMHILD: No! Not yet, mother. Please. The night with its dreams scares me. UTE: Yours is not the age of scary dreams. KRIEMHILD: Yet every night I see a vicious eagle tear to pieces a falcon of mine, strong and beautiful. What is that dream trying to tell me? HANDMAIDEN: The falcon means a groom. God protect him from the ravening eagle.

GISELHER: Queen, the king orders and begs that you, with your most beautiful dames, would honor him, and soon. There is a noble knight with us. UTE: Your mother is not queen anymore, and she has wilted. GISELHER: To my heart, there is no more beautiful woman. UTE: Boy… tell my son to forgive me, but I'm old and tired. Kriemhild will come in my place to honor the guest. GISELHER: As you wish, mother. KRIEMHILD: I? I, alone? UTE: You, with your handmaidens. KRIEMHILD: Now, and dressed like this? GISELHER: Now, and dressed like this! KRIEMHILD: Oh, no! Gutruna, the emerald brooch, the perfume, and a handkerchief! Rosmunda, the comb, the mirror, and the diadem! GISELHER: Aah, so many things! I'm starting to suspect that… KRIEMHILD: What? … Ah! I pricked my finger. GISELHER: There! That someone pricked you. KRIEMHILD: Oh, there's some blood… GISELHER: Quick, little sister, let's go! The guest wants to see you before you've completely bled out. KRIEMHILD: Ah, yes, let's go! I'm ready.

SIEGFRIED: I confess that, when I came to the castle, I felt a disorientation I couldn't explain. But now… I would never want to climb back on the saddle and leave your court. GISELHER: Here is Kriemhild, Gunther. This is the noble Siegfried. KRIEMHILD: Be welcome. SIEGFRIED: Thank you. GISELHER: This, and nothing else!? Did you lose the ability to talk? GISELHER: And you? Why do you blush? KRIEMHILD: Oh… we have to forgive him. He's a crafty scoundrel, free as a colt that knows not bridles nor whip. GUNTHER: It's up to you, Kriemhild, to offer the prize to the winner of the tournament. SIEGFRIED: Let this be the prize. KRIEMHILD: You don't like my jewel? SIEGFRIED: Jewels are hard, cold stones. But this… KRIEMHILD: But it's stained with blood. SIEGFRIED: Your blood. It makes it more valuable. KRIEMHILD: The embroidery's mine, too.

HAGEN: What do you want? ALBERICH: Your help. We have to get our hands on the Nibelungs' treasure. HAGEN: You're either mad or plotting a betrayal. The treasure is guarded by the dragon. ALBERICH: It was killed. HAGEN: Impossible. Who dared? ALBERICH: Siegfried! HAGEN: Him!? And the treasure!? ALBERICH: It's his. Now he owns the ring. HAGEN: Siegfried… that demon is at Gunther's court. ALBERICH: I know! And that's why I came. HAGEN: The treasure is in his hands… but he is in mine! The Nibelungs' gold will be ours. ALBERICH: It's no easy deed. Siegfried is strong and owns the magical net that turns him invisible. HAGEN: I will kill him! ALBERICH: He's invulnerable! He bathed in the dragon's blood. HAGEN: I was the strongest of the Burgundians… now Siegfried is. I had Kriemhild and he took her from me. Nothing, then, will my hatred be capable of against him!? ALBERICH: If iron can't kill him, other means will be able to. May the fierce beast change its look and, on par with a fox, sharpen its wits.

SIEGFRIED: If I look into your face, every word seems inadequate. Such sweetness, such light in your blue eyes… KRIEMHILD: My mother, perhaps, chose them for me with a wish before I was born, so that they may bring joy to those who came near me. SIEGFRIED: Two limpid dewdrops, clasped in a radiant Spring morning. KRIEMHILD: My mother cried for the eyes you're praising, when as a child I took a bad fall. Only the zeal of her prayers prevented me from becoming blind. See the scar here on my temple? SIEGFRIED: Let me kiss it. KRIEMHILD: You're an ardent doctor. Don't waste your medicine like this. The wound has already been healed for a while. SIEGFRIED: Now the flames of your face rekindle it, like the first day, when I saw you… KRIEMHILD: It's foolish, my blood rising up so rapidly. My mother compares me to a rose garden that alternates white roses to the red ones. SIEGFRIED: A rose garden that speaks without saying anything, like love, which needs no words.

GUNTHER: Don't even think that, it's not easy to bridle a wild colt. GISELHER: You, my king and brother, watch without seeing. Those two have already bridled each other. SIEGFRIED: King Gunther, in exchange for my sword, which I consecrated to you, you gave me a regal hospitality that makes me happier by the day. Now I dare ask you for an even greater payment: your sister, Kriemhild, for my bride. GISELHER: What did I tell you? As you can see, the bridles are sturdy. GUNTHER: Where are you going? GISELHER: I'm running to Kriemhild, to read the happiness on her face! GUNTHER: I have no doubt, Kriemhild will be happy to become your bride. But don't deprive us of her presence too soon. What would this court be without her smile? HAGEN: Wait a moment, Gunther! Before you commit definitely, I advise you to set one condition: ask Siegfried, in exchange, for his help in conquering Brunhild. SIEGFRIED: Why, Hagen, do you still push your king to a deadly deed? GUNTHER: I will have to fight alone against the queen of Iceland, no one will be able to give me his help. HAGEN: He can, and he's the only one. GUNTHER: I don't understand how. HAGEN: He owns the Nibelungs' treasure. He killed the dragon and bathed in its blood. His is the net that turns one invisible. You'd be afraid to fight a woman? You know well that the sword finds no easy prey in you. SIEGFRIED: You deceive yourself, Hagen. Iron can strike me and bring me death, and for that I thank the linden leaf that fell on my body while I was bathing in the dragon's blood. I have a vulnerable spot where death can find its opening… but that's not why I withdraw. It's just that deceit is not convenient to us and all of this tastes like betrayal. HAGEN: Does it seem to you that you're betraying someone, if you use your sword where your fist is not enough? What strength does your love for Kriemhild have? I thought that for her, you would have dared anything. GUNTHER: If you can, help me, Siegfried. We'll celebrate our weddings together: for Brunhild, I will give you Kriemhild. SIEGFRIED: Ah, Kriemhild… for you, for your love… GUNTHER: Help me, Siegfried! SIEGFRIED: So be it. I will help you. HAGEN: But for eternity, not a word. The three of us, with no other witnesses: may the fourth one be death.

BRUNHILD: Welcome to the court of Iceland. SIEGFRIED: Your first greeting is not for me, queen, but for king Gunther, to whom I am a vassal. BRUNHILD: A vassal, you are? SIEGFRIED: Yes, queen. BRUNHILD: What brings you to my court, king Gunther? GUNTHER: The fame of your valor, queen, and the desire to have you in Worms as a bride. BRUNHILD: I will be your bride if you win me in the three trials I will propose to you. But if you lose… HAGEN: Never was king Gunther defeated. GUNTHER: And now that I see you, nothing will make me desist. I'm impatient to measure myself against you for the conquest of your beauty. BRUNHILD: Fearless you are, stranger! Your head will fall like that of many other haughty kings. Look at their weapons! GUNTHER: Death I fear not, if it comes from you. I am ready. BRUNHILD: Bring the weapons!

BRUNHILD: To you, Gunther! SIEGFRIED: I am at your side, Gunther. BRUNHILD: Spear and shield! BRUNHILD: Don't be happy. You haven't won yet!

GUNTHER: Why are you so sad, oh my queen? Yours wasn't a defeat, you won my heart. And at your feet, now I am no king but a slave. Happy you will be in my green land, far from your lonely rocks. BRUNHILD: Don't delude yourself, Gunther. You only bring a prisoner there. GUNTHER: No, I bring you, the worthy queen of the Burgundians. BRUNHILD: You keep me by force. GUNTHER: You deceive yourself. You'll be mine by love. BRUNHILD: Don't speak to me of love! HAGEN: It's only a few hours longer, now. Land is almost in sight. BRUNHILD: Teach your jackals not to enter without my permission!

HAGEN: Forgive me, Gunther. GUNTHER: Hagen… I think yours wasn't good advice. HAGEN: Why? She was won. GUNTHER: But not by me. And perhaps, obscurely, Brunhild suspects it. HAGEN: Give her time. She still hears the gloomy screams of ravens and carrion crows, but when she listens to the lark and the nightingale sing, her heart will change, I'm sure of it.

BRUNHILD: You seem proud of steering the ship that brings me, as a prisoner, to Burgundy. SIEGFRIED: You deceive yourself, milady. You are a queen. BRUNHILD: A queen won by force. SIEGFRIED: Don't be upset, it was you who proposed the fight. BRUNHILD: And where were you? While the king was fighting. SIEGFRIED: On the ship, so that the beautiful bride wouldn't lack a worthy welcome. BRUNHILD: Were you that sure of his victory, then? SIEGFRIED: Yes. BRUNHILD: You hold him in high esteem. Has he ever deigned to fight you? SIEGFRIED: Oh, yes. BRUNHILD: Did he win against you!? SIEGFRIED: Of course. BRUNHILD: And yet… when I saw you… BRUNHILD: I believed you were the king… and that I should fight against you… and a trembling came over me… a trembling mixed with dejection. Fear… yes, fear… I don't know if it was for your life… or mine… and I thought, he will win me. BRUNHILD: Come on, talk to me! Please. Tell me of your land. SIEGFRIED: A wonderful land, where the Sun brightens up every color. BRUNHILD: But the gemstones of Iceland… their brilliance has no equal in the whole world. SIEGFRIED: But it's cold and frigid as rock. While the colors of the flowers that grow in Burgundy make the air smell sweet, they seem to speak of love… look! Look how lively is the blue of this endless sky. BRUNHILD: Oh, yes… it's beautiful. I've never seen such a color in my land, except in your eyes, Siegfried. Ah, this journey…! I wish it would never end! ?: Land in sight! SIEGFRIED: Furl the sail! [I'm NOT a sailing expert, but "to furl" is what WordReference gives me for "ammainare"… that is, the tecnical term for lowering the sail] SIEGFRIED: Take the oars in hand! HAGEN: Hoist up the king's banner!

HANDMAIDEN: Hear that, milady? It's the victory signal! KRIEMHILD: He comes back! It's him, Gutruna! It's him! My soul and life… come, let's go back in, quick. KRIEMHILD: Oh! Giselher! GISELHER: Take heart, little sister, your brother has run to your aid! Let's go, our mother is waiting for us. GERNOT: Welcome back, Gunther! Hail to you, Brunhild! UTE: You couldn't give my heart a greater joy. Be you welcome in Burgundy, you are truly beautiful and worthy of being our queen. KRIEMHILD: We'll become sisters. BRUNHILD: You sooth my shame over having been won. UTE: You speak of shame… BRUNHILD: With the sincerity of my land. KRIEMHILD: My brother won you for love. HAGEN: She is his by right of arms. KRIEMHILD: Shut up, Hagen. She is the king's bride. Only love moved my brother, and may God grant the both of them a long happiness. GUNTHER: Thank you, Kriemhild. I invoke for you the same joy I feel. If I am allowed to choose a groom for you… KRIEMHILD: Milord, arrange it as you wish. GUNTHER: What do you say, mother? UTE: You are the king. GUNTHER: Then, please, release me from a promise and oath of mine and offer your hand to Siegfried. SIEGFRIED: No word could I tell you, oh king, to express my gratitude and my infinite joy to you. And to you, Kriemhild, I swear to love you faithfully for life and beyond life.

UTE: Don't fidget, daughter! How can Gutruna tie your gown? KRIEMHILD: I can't, mother! I can't! HANDMAIDEN: Happiness makes her impatient. KRIEMHILD: My heart is beating so hard… UTE: That you don't know anymore if the necklace goes in the bracelet's place or vice versa. KRIEMHILD: It's true, mother. But I'm so happy! UTE: Shut up! You must not say that. Don't listen to her, elves and Norns, and ugly she-mice with only one eye! [I… don't think the last one is correct. Obviously, she must be referring to some other kind of magical being that may be mischievous or malevolent, but the more I listen to that bit, the less I understand it… my best guess would be either "bruttatope" or "bruttatore", but I've never heard of any creature with a similar name, which is why I went with "brutte tope", "ugly she-mice", and called it a day.] KRIEMHILD: But I'm happy anyway. And not just for me, but also for Gunther. HANDMAIDEN: The whole kingdom will be celebrating. OTHER HANDMAIDEN: We'll finally have a queen.

GUNTHER: I've been looking everywhere for you. Kriemhild is almost ready, she's eager to go to the temple. BRUNHILD: How can you allow a vassal to marry your sister? GUNTHER: Siegfried is richer than a king! BRUNHILD: Then sit him on the stall nearest to your throne, if wealth is all that's needed not to be servants, here. GUNTHER: He's the first among my warriors! He conquered twelve kingdoms. BRUNHILD: And do you, who were able to win Brunhild, owe him anything, if he did something that would have been a thousand times easier for you!? BRUNHILD: This wedding offends me, and your house. And I don't want such dishonor. GUNTHER: I'm begging you, Brunhild, ask me for anything else, I'll be glad to satisfy your every will. But think on it: about Siegfried… BRUNHILD: You can't impose his presence on me as a relative. GUNTHER: He's a king, as I am myself! BRUNHILD: He introduced himself to me as a vassal! GUNTHER: It's a secret, this one, that I'll never be able to reveal to you. BRUNHILD: A secret!? A deal with the servants that the queen must not know about! Then listen to me: until you talk, Gunther, I'll be your bride… but not your woman.

GUNTHER: Oh, Hagen… did you hear? GUNTHER: What does your wisdom advise me to do? HAGEN: Be at peace. Don't fret. She can still be tamed, as she was in Iceland… GUNTHER: Like in Iceland? HAGEN: We began with magical arts, and with magical arts we'll have to end. Listen…

HAGEN: Yet a little longer and the gold will be ours. I have a weapon that, in my hand, will be subtler than a blade. ALBERICH: Which one? HAGEN: Gunther's love for Brunhild, who denies herself to him. HAGEN: My cunning will guide him where he aims. But then… I will pour in his ear a poisonous insinuation that, little by little, will carry out my game. HAGEN: Who could consider me a bad courtier, if my advice to the king will be to his advantage and apparently honest? ALBERICH: You speak through riddles. HAGEN: I have led Gunther to once again ask Siegfried for his help. Brunhild will be tamed and given to the king by the very man she so loves. ALBERICH: So, you tie them all up in one net. HAGEN: The queen can do anything. And her every will shall be satisfied. ALBERICH: And when she discovers the trick… HAGEN: May not even the air suspect anything.

SIEGFRIED: Brunhild.

KRIEMHILD: Where did you find this magnificent jewel? HANDMAIDEN: It fell from your husband's clothes. KRIEMHILD: Oh, it's certainly a wedding gift. But then he must have forgotten about it. KRIEMHILD: Strange, though… GISELHER: I challenge you to a run, Siegfried! Gernot will be the judge! GERNOT: Go! GISELHER: Don't laugh, Siegfried! Who can assure me that you didn't stop for fear of being defeated? GISELHER: Little sister! I beat your husband!

GERNOT: Let's go, Giselher. We're just in the way here. GISELHER: I think so, too.

KRIEMHILD: Don't you see anything in me that makes me beautiful? SIEGFRIED: Everything. Everything is beautiful and perfect in you. KRIEMHILD: But… there is one thing that adorns my dress. SIEGFRIED: It's wonderful. But around your body, I'd like to put the rainbow, for it suits you better. KRIEMHILD: And I would accept it. But then, you shouldn't forget it as you did with this… I didn't even notice your gift. SIEGFRIED: What gift? KRIEMHILD: It was Gutruna who found it in the room. SIEGFRIED: It must have been your mother who lost it. KRIEMHILD: No, I know her jewels. SIEGFRIED: Did you say it was in the room? KRIEMHILD: It fell from your clothes. SIEGFRIED: From my clothes? Now I understand… give it to me, let's throw it into the Rhine! KRIEMHILD: Does it hold an evil spell, to scare you that much? SIEGFRIED: A terrible secret. I can't tell you anything else! KRIEMHILD: To me!? Yet you confided to me a graver secret: the vulnerable spot where death can strike you. SIEGFRIED: It was only my secret. KRIEMHILD: And this one? SIEGFRIED: Not entirely. KRIEMHILD: And so it belongs to you and to another man? Or to another woman!? SIEGFRIED: Quick, Kriemhild, hide that jewel! Hide it! KRIEMHILD: No, if you won't talk! SIEGFRIED: I'll tell you everything, I swear it to you. SIEGFRIED: I obeyed an order from the king. Maybe the jewel got caught on my clothes, and I didn't realize it…

BRUNHILD: Stop, Kriemhild! The queen is entitled to go first here. KRIEMHILD: I'll wait for you, so we can bathe together. BRUNHILD: I'll be glad to turn you down. Remember that you are wife to a vassal! KRIEMHILD: What are you saying, sister? I don't understand you. BRUNHILD: Don't call me sister! Royal blood courses through my veins! KRIEMHILD: Don't I have the same blood as the king, your husband? BRUNHILD: Not anymore, ever since a servant contaminated it! KRIEMHILD: Enough, Brunhild! I won't tollerate such insolence even from the queen! BRUNHILD: How dare you asnwer me like this!? I despise you. KRIEMHILD: My husband, whom you call a vassal, could make you bite the dust! BRUNHILD: You're talking nonsense, insolent one! He is a servant and I am the queen. KRIEMHILD: A queen won by force! BRUNHILD: By a king! KRIEMHILD: By a king, yes, that you call a vassal. And twice already. BRUNHILD: You lie! You can't prove that! KRIEMHILD: Do you know this jewel? BRUNHILD: Of course. It belongs to me. And because I see it in a stranger's hands, it must have been stolen from me. KRIEMHILD: And yet this wasn't given to me by a thief. BRUNHILD: And by whom, then!? KRIEMHILD: The man who tamed you, but not my brother, not Gunther! BRUNHILD: You are crazy! Yours is slander! KRIEMHILD: Siegfried gave it to me, as it got caught in his clothes on your wedding night, when you were won for the second time! KRIEMHILD: And now, humiliate him again. BRUNHILD: Careful, Kriemhild! If what you say is true, my revenge will be ruthless.

GUNTHER: Only I am guilty. I wanted this deceit, justified by my endless love. I was and I am a slave to this feeling, that doesn't want me to live anywhere where you aren't. GUNTHER: I could give up everything: life, kingdom, honors. But not you. Please, Brunhild, I am awaiting a gesture of forgiveness from you that will calm my torment. Just one. GUNTHER: A wish of yours is law, here in Burgundy, and I will grant it with no hesitation. What can I do to make up for the offense? Tell me. Tell me what you want. HAGEN: A life-or-death ruling. GUNTHER: Hagen! HAGEN: He told. He broke the oath. GUNTHER: He'll be banished from the land of Burgundy! HAGEN: The man who did this must die! BRUNHILD: Yes! He must die! That is what I want! HAGEN: You demand it, and I approve it. Oh, king Gunther, forgive me if I spoke first. The decision is up to you. Choose, then, between Siegfried… and the queen. GUNTHER: I can't! I can't want the death of a brother! I pushed him to that deed, he obeyed me. It would be worse than a murder. HAGEN: The offense to the queen is such. As long as Siegfried lives, the shadow of deceit will weigh on Brunhild. GUNTHER: I can't. And you, too, Brunhild, you can't, you must not want this disgrace! BRUNHILD: He must die! GUNTHER: No, never. I will never consent to this.

HAGEN: But he will die. HAGEN: If you… BRUNHILD: If I… HAGEN: If you won't put yourself between him and your avenger. BRUNHILD: I was shamed, given away as a gift, bargained… HAGEN: Yes. You were the currency that allowed him to obtain Kriemhild. BRUNHILD: Let him die, then! I want revenge!

GUNTHER: It's frightening. It's horrible. I don't want it! How is it Siegfried's fault if the jewel got caught on his clothes!? HAGEN: He betrayed your secret. GUNTHER: And what would they say, Kriemhild… and my brothers? HAGEN: They won't know about it. They're too soft to understand that it was necessary. HAGEN: But don't worry. I will handle setting up the farce. HAGEN: A false declaration of war will induce Kriemhild to reveal his secret to me. As long as I know where he's vulnerable, it will take only me to carry out the deed. HAGEN: You're not saying anything. Good. The rest is my work.

SWORD INSTRUCTOR: Strike to the side. Head. No… you try, Giselher, start with the side. Head. Strike to the side. Head. Strike to the side. Head… HAGEN: Why so sad, Kriemhild? You still haven't made peace with your husband? KRIEMHILD: Siegfried is good, he spared me any reproach. KRIEMHILD: But now a greater anxiety torments me. HAGEN: Anxiety? KRIEMHILD: The war. HAGEN: And what do you fear? Spears and arrows bounce off your husband's body like off hard steel. KRIEMHILD: Spears and arrows? Those are what scares me. Their point only needs the width of my thumbnail to penetrate. HAGEN: And what does that mean? KRIEMHILD: Siegfried is vulnerable in one spot. And that's what frightens me. HAGEN: Yeah, I remember… he himself told me of a certain… linden leaf, I think, that fell… KRIEMHILD: Between his shoulders. HAGEN: I remember. So he said. HAGEN: Don't worry, Kriemhild, a leaf is so small! KRIEMHILD: But his temerity is so very great. HAGEN: There will be many of us protecting his shoulders. He's your husband, and everyone will want to be his shield. KRIEMHILD: Thank you, Hagen, you speak nobly. HAGEN: Don't fear. I will always ride by his side. KRIEMHILD: This comforts me. You have a keen eye and a strong, swift arm! HAGEN: Don't worry, I will protect him. I promise. KRIEMHILD: You are generous. HAGEN: Just… you should point out to me the exact spot. Embroider on his war clothes a tiny cross to mark that spot. KRIEMHILD: A tiny cross? HAGEN: It's almost madness. He would laugh at you if you told him. But since I'll be his keeper, I'd rather… nothing be overlooked. KRIEMHILD: It's here.

KRIEMHILD: Too soon have the happy days flown by. And who knows how long you'll be away from me? I will pray for you, the whole time. SIEGFRIED: It won't be long, I promise. It won't be long before the Saxons regret their haughtiness. SIEGFRIED: What does that mean? KRIEMHILD: Strange… SIEGFRIED: I'll go and see.

HANDMAIDEN: Milady! The ambassadors of Saxony and Denmark bring good news. KRIEMHILD: Speak! Quick! HANDMAIDEN: They came to ask Gunther for peace. Peace, milady! KRIEMHILD: Oh, Gutruna! May you be blessed! You couldn't have brought me a greater joy!

SIEGFRIED: I don't like it. I was already looking forward to teaching those dogs how to make war. HAGEN: I had them driven out of the castle before they could even speak. SIEGFRIED: You did well, Hagen. GISELHER: It must have been your fame that scared the Saxons and Danes! SIEGFRIED: I would have liked for them to know the strength of my steel. [He actually says "la tempra", which can refer to tempering metal but also to someone's fortitude or courage… the pun doesn't work quite as well in English, I think] HAGEN: Don't get upset. Today you'll still get to use your weapons. King Gunther summoned his knights for a hunt in the forest of Oden. GISELHER: It will surely be a gayer diversion than war. [… yeah, no, I'm keeping this] HAGEN: Are you coming with us? SIEGFRIED: Do you even need to ask? Even if you managed to tie me up, I'd gnaw at the rope to reach you.

HAGEN: Rumold! HAGEN: You'll give the signal to end the hunt from the great clearing, and not before sunset. RUMOLD: Good, sir.

KRIEMHILD: Don't leave! I have had a sad omen. SIEGFRIED: What dream frightenend you? KRIEMHILD: A boar wounding you to death. SIEGFRIED: Should the dragon's slayer be afraid of a boar? Give me a goodbye kiss. KRIEMHILD: Come back. SIEGFRIED: What a strange good wish is yours. What's gotten into you? I'm going out with some good friends, and unless the mountains crumble, nothing will happen to me. What do you fear, then? KRIEMHILD: Siegfried! KRIEMHILD: I wanted to tell you… SIEGFRIED: Another dream!? KRIEMHILD: I just wanted to see you one more time…

BRUNHILD: Stop!

GERNOT: We have enough game to satiate to the whole of Burgundy! GISELHER: And I have enough of an appetite to devour all of it! GISELHER: But, isn't Siegfried with you? ?: He disappeared into the woods, following the tracks of a boar as big as a bear! GISELHER: Then we won't see him until the prey's been taken down!

HAGEN: This is the place. He has to pass through here. Like any hunter, he'll be dying of thirst and happy to quench it in that spring. HAGEN: Think on it! We won't get get another occasion like this! GUNTHER: Are your guts made of bronze, that you don't feel shaken by this? HAGEN: As long as he lives, you'll be unhappy. Brunhild's hatred towards him has its roots in love. GUNTHER: No, Hagen. Don't confirm this thought that's always tormenting me. HAGEN: Not anymore, if you listen to me.

SIEGFRIED: What are you doing here? I didn't see the signal for a gathering. HAGEN: It's sweet to rest after a hunting trip. SIEGFRIED: It's even sweeter to spend the night in the woods between dream and wakefulness. In the morning you hear the singing of birds, you see the sun peek through the leaves… but what's the matter, Gunther? You don't look glad to me. HAGEN: The king is tired. You, too, rest! Put down your weapons and tell us what you hunted! SIEGFRIED: See, Gunther, that magnicent boar? I ran after him for over an hour. But let's leave the tale for later. I'm dying of thirst and, talkative as I am, I'll go mute, if I don't drink first. HAGEN: There's a spring nearby, with waters more sparkling than the blond wine of the Rhine. SIEGFRIED: I'll go quench my thirst and come back!

HAGEN: We'll say that the bandits lying in ambush in the woods killed him in his sleep.

SIEGFRIED: Kriemhild… Kriemhild… Kriemhild…

KRIEMHILD: No! KRIEMHILD: Siegfried… oh! KRIEMHILD: I kiss your mouth… that has no more breath. I kiss your lips, and they're bloodless and cold! UTE: Come, child… KRIEMHILD: No! I want to keep him like this for me! Always! Bury me with him… bring his clothes, clothes of silk and gold, and the flowers he so loved, pick them all! Oh, yes… who would they still bloom for? And place everything into the coffin, even my wedding gown, and me with him, so that I may cover his body myself. GISELHER: A terrible disgrace… KRIEMHILD: No! An murder! A betrayal! GERNOT: It was a thief's spear that struck him. KRIEMHILD: I know who the thief is. Oh, mother! KRIEMHILD: Stop! How dare you. ?: We're taking him into the cathedral. GISELHER: He belongs to God now. GERNOT: Come, sister. My heart is as torn as yours. KRIEMHILD: No! No, I want to follow him. Be near him! If I don't, they'll steal him from me. To take him where I could never find him! KRIEMHILD: You claim that he was killed by thieves? KRIEMHILD: I want proof. I demand the trial of the dead! KRIEMHILD: And everyone be there for it. Even he who I do not see here.

KRIEMHILD: A man was killed. I ask for truth and justice. Are you ready to testify for yourselves? ALL: We are ready. KRIEMHILD: You! Murderer! Justice! I want justice! HAGEN: Answer, Gunther! ?: The queen!

[dragonmasterhiccup]

Danny, in response to Valka’s gesture, scooted closer to the older woman, leaning herself against her. There was an evident frown on her face. “But… it’s probably him,” she said again, her voice not hopeful in the slightest.

The girl nodded, looking up at Valka. “Yeah… I wanna do that, Cloudjumper’s nice…”

———

“Ah, but you’re the Chief of Berk, so you must know far more than all of the council members combined. Besides, you’ve proven— at least to me— that Berk cannot put their trust in you, so why should I believe that you wouldn’t be hiding anything, hm?”

He raised an eyebrow. “‘Hard to believe?’ Oh please elaborate.”

“And how am I supposed to believe that?” He was just getting more suspicious at this point. “A young girl mysteriously wakes up on the island— did she even show signs of washing up?— No parents, and she just has a gut feeling to come and find you?”

Spitelout’s eyes shot wide at the revelation, disbelief painted across his features. He was right, Hiccup was crazy, and he was most definitely unfit for the role of Chief. Could this be his opportunity to take over once and for all?

“Now hold on, she’s seven? You… you’ve officially lost it, haven’t you? No, Danielle is bordering on fifteen, that much I know.” He shook his head. “No, this cannot be kept secret, the tribe must know of this… condition you’ve developed, because this; housing a seven year old child, and claiming that she is your so-called ‘sister?’ This is a new level of delusion, and once the people see this, they will not want you in the throne.”

He hummed, grinning maliciously. He didn’t even care about who the child was, all he knew was that he could use this to take over. “Well, with time being as limited as you say, I might as well act on this now, no?”

The older Viking made his way back towards the door, hand grasping the handle. “Well, I’ll start with Eret, see what he says about this; after all, him and Danny have had past associations with each other, am I right?” He waved his hand dismissively. “Ah, good talk, Chief,” he said, walking out of Hiccup’s hut and closing the door loudly behind him.

"Spitelout, we've been over this! I've been doing everything a chief does, is supposed to do, and more!" To say he couldn't be trusted felt like a stab in the back.

Of course, he shouldn't expect anything different from Spitelout.

"She had some various cuts, bruises, and some intense burns. She was also severely malnourished. Gothi tended to her shortly after she showed up." Pausing , he added, "Uh, right, Gothi, she knows as well. But regardless of who she is, the right thing was to get her to a healer, and house her until she can get home. And that's what I did."

"Look, I didn't believe it at first, either! Just like you, I thought she might've been Danny's sister, but..." It was useless, wasn't it? "She, she said she woke up in the woods, with a note, telling her to find me."

Given the sensitive information on the note, he knew he wasn't going to share that with Spitelout.

"This girl, yes, she's seven. I know it sounds crazy, but, I swear it, it's true!"

His eyes widened, a feeling of panic and anger rising up. "Spitelout, no! Think about this for a minute! Given our history, you know I wouldn't make this up, couldn't make this up!"

Hiccup eyes were still wide as he blinked in disbelief at Spitelout's words.

The tribe? No, no, not again...he couldn't bring the tribe into this. No, he--he just got them to be on his side again, after everything with Grimmel...

And Danny, she was so young, she shouldn't have so many people watching her... seeing if she was who she said she was...

Start with Eret? Maybe that was the key...Eret knew Danny, though he wasn't sure how long ago they met.

"Spitelout!"

But the door was shut, and Hiccup was left inside, running his hand through his hair and starting to pace.

Before he could change his mind, he scooped up Zephyr, and followed Spitelout out, hoping that he could find Eret before the older Berkian did.

This was getting out of hand. Hiccup was a horrible liar, and Spitelout knew that, so he knew the same thing would have happened, had he chosen to lie.

But he was regretting telling Spitelout what he had, and wished Astrid was there to back him up, at least.

[stevn93]

Not as soon as I anticipated, but we meet yet again old friend. How have you been?? Yeah it's hard to keep up and it's hard to adjust. I saw you are trying to improve though. Me? Let's not talk about that. Fine I can be honest, truth is I still tell people I'm fantastic or it's another day in paradise when the reality is I don't know if I'm OK. So much in my head... I...my wife I'm pretty sure she's joking when she calls me gay, but sometimes I'm not sure, I know I'm not totally straight. I spent 2 years on the down low with a guy and only 2 people that weren't me or him know and one is my wife and that telling was far from great, anyway we were both from religious homes and had to keep everything hidden. And on the note of religion I think it has led to some of my issues. I don't know what I believe, I know what I have been told to believe my whole life, but I don't know what I believe. I was raised in a Seventh Day Adventist home, as was my mother, and her parents and I know my great grandparents were so it's a long standing thing in my family. My friend was from a equally long line of deep south Baptist beliefs. The SDA beliefs are much more strict and holds to the old mosaic law. I was 30 at my first sampling of bacon. Now crazy as it sounds I work for a Christian based non-profit and have been there 4 years now. I am a maintenance technician and also do grounds care. I am on call and we rotate weekends so I work some Saturdays and Fridays after sunset which is a ticket to the bad place. Not that having had relationships with another guy wouldn't also be a reason for that,but sometimes I still have a desire for it. I still have to keep things hidden because it could be grounds for dismissal from my job. My job is super flexible with days off and hours so I can raise my kids and I know nowhere else would be so forgiving to me. I wasn't careful one day and was sighted in the building with my Proud Furry hoodie on(I had gotten diesel fuel on my other it was the one I had in my truck)so that combined with the nail polish has left people suspect. I have to wonder sometimes if my wife believes I'm more gay than straight or if I want something else. She would be the one to know as she knows more about me and my past than my parents, a therapist would have a field day but until then I will have to settle with emptying my mind here. Have spent the last several nights after she goes to sleep sitting on the shower floor for an hour or two and just letting the water rain down. I don't know if it helps but the rain is still too cold for such things. There is so much I don't understand like pronouns and transjender, I was never exposed to things largely due to religious sheltered life. I have finally encountered a person who is non-binary and it's hard to remember to use they/them and people call you out for you and tell you you don't care about others or you would just change, but I was programed to think, act and talk this way for 30 years! Ask a smoker who has smoked 5 years to quit cold turkey. My grandfather on my Dad's side used the N word and did so openly, but his best friend was an old colored gentleman Mr.Milton and every day before he ate his dinner rain shine or hurricane he would take him a hot plate of food. If you didn't know and didn't see you'd thought him a racist white supremacist, but it wasn't the case. People talk about care but are so quick to judge or tell you how you should feel... That's part of why my wife knows things my parents don't. I won't elaborate much but I took a problem to people you were supposed to trust and it went just as I was told it would. So I made changes and because I was young and of such a light build I likely stunted my growth a smidgen and damaged my joints. I don't know why my wife stays when I'm so damaged. I wish I could see what she does or did see. She still spends a lot of time on her phone and I asked her to talk to me yesterday and she didn't put down her phone. Some days are so much more a struggle than others. I'll see you later old friend. Thanks for being here.

[wonyoungandbeautiful]

Wonyoung knew she was too much to handle for any regular people. She could be sweet and caring but then could quickly turn into a nightmare to those who deserved it. Most of her family members had told her that it wasn't wise to behave that way, that she needed to be more tamed if she wanted to have an easier life and please more people. Though she once tried, she couldn't help but go back to her old natural self. Mingi seemed to be handling her just fine, even though she knew how much she was tormenting him on a daily basis. But she particularly enjoyed the way he would retaliate, play her twisted games or flirt back just as quickly as her. That was what she wanted in a partner — someone who could deal with her negative traits and keep her on her toes. He wasn't wrong. She did enjoy the punishments he would inflict on her much more than she would like to admit. But she also knew she somewhat deserved it considering how chaotic and hysterical she could be outside of the bedroom. Her hand swiftly covered his mouth as she stood on her tiptoes to try and match his height. "Don't say that in public!" she whispered, her cheeks adopting a much pinker tone. "I don't want..." she started before taking a look around them to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. "I don't want people to know we do that," she continued in a shy tone as though she hadn't been the one to initiate this topic. Standing back on her heels, she let her hand on his mouth fall back to her sides, unable to contain her laugh at his comment. "Shut up!" she playfully slapped his chest.

The way to his dorms was a path she knew all too well. She had gone there way too many times within the five months of their relationship — remembering every corner like it was her own place. What she didn't know was how she ended up with him by her side on their way to his so quickly. It felt like everything that led up to this situation was a blur. How could insults and teasing sessions end like this so easily? Wasn't she supposed to hate him still for cheating on her? None of it made any sense to her. And though she desperately tried to get answers to the questions running through her mind, she still decided to follow her guts instead of her head as she intentionally avoided the warnings her brain was sending her. At the mention of the alley, Wonyoung couldn't help but let out a giggle. And though what she was planning on telling him was a bit scandalous, it was not untrue either. "Dark alleys are so fucking hot," she murmured so only he could hear. It was also very risky which was one of the many reasons why the option seemed tempting in her eyes though she knew how stupid it was of her to like such a public spot considering her career choice. "Yeah they were thrown out the window because you dragged me to your food market without asking me if i wanted to go. I didn't even get to text my friends and tell them i can't join them anymore," the brunette explained with a roll of her eyes. But despite the irritation she portrayed, she was in fact more interested in spending time with him instead. Drinks with friends suddenly sounded less entertaining and more monotone. It was only then that she pulled her phone out of her purse, her manicured fingers quickly typing an apology text to her group of friends. Her excuse? She was suddenly sick. But it was until they stood in front of his building elevator that she moved closer to him, her eyes trailing down to his lips as she leaned into his touch almost instantly. A sigh of relief emitted from her mouth once the doors opened to an empty room as she pushed her phone back into her purse. She could still decide not to walk in, go back home and ignore any of this had ever happened. But everyone knew how much Wonyoung enjoyed compliments. It could be anything, it would always lighten her mood in a heartbeat. Though Mingi's wasn't very elaborated, it drew her back in like a secret weapon of his. "Yeah? you think so?" she rhetorically inquired before she pinned him against the large elevator mirror. Her arms instantly wrapping around his neck as her lips moved over his in a much more passionate kiss — different than what they had shared in public.

The idol community wasn’t as huge like the outside world perceived it as. Staff gossiped and that information usually got to the hands of the wrong person. Mingi was positive that was how his fan rumor began. It had been a long night of Mingi drinking but he was just hitting his tipsy state when he ran into the fan. There had been some flirting bouncing between the pair until the rapper decided to call it quits and head back into his hotel room. The fan, ensuring that he reached his destination, had walked him towards the elevators where they both went their own way. Nothing happened other than a thank you and Mingi waving at the lovely woman when the doors shut. And instead, the innocent night had been smeared, destroying his relationship in a heartbeat. It was a known thing in their world. Staff members spilling or selling secrets to whoever paid the most Mingi did his best not to listen to any stories that were about Wonyoung. Mostly because he knew the effect it would cause him, and also because he wanted to respect her privacy. Kind of ironic when he was just questioning who she was with just a few minutes ago. Some heat rose to his face that he couldn’t help but let a soft chuckle escape his lips. “That’s what you want? Me to punish you? You like getting spanked just as much as I like punishing you” The whiplash the two gave was impeccable and the reason why he couldn’t move on from her. Nobody else could sway his temper this way. “The food vendor? I know you’re into older guys but c’mon… that’s a bit much, babe.” 

What were they arguing about again? Mingi tried to remember but now all he focused on was the playful tone she carried with her voice. The way her lips formed into a smile made his jaw ease. The rhythm of his heart increased yet again at her words causing him to take a moment to gather his thoughts. “You like pushing my buttons.” The grip of his hand planted firmly on her bottom now turned into a gentle squeeze. He did his best to refrain from spanking her right now had it not been for the sound that would echo from the movement. A smirk planted across his face while his mind run every type of scenario that would happen once he had her all alone. “You know I’m more of a show and tell type of guy. Wait until I have you alone.” He whispered before he whisked her away. The map on how to arrive to his dorm quickly crossing his mind of what streets would take the less amount of walking. A small debate came into play of what other places were in between before reaching their destination. Worried that anything or anyone could interrupt them during their small journey to his dorm that was just shy of five minutes from where they were. “I’m about to take you into this alley if you don’t quit asking questions.” How romantic was the first thought he had. “You had plans? I thought those got thrown out the window when you saw me.” It wasn’t a complete stretch to say. They had been down this road long enough that this could go two ways. Option one would be to storm off in opposite directions, throwing insults while they did. Option two would be to spend the afternoon and night behind closed doors. And right now… Mingi was a huge fan of the second option. His fingers laced with hers, tightening his grip to keep her from slipping away. The streets in Seoul should terrify him when cameras could be lurking around different corners. One snap of a picture would land both of them in deep trouble along with a week long of lecturing from his team including most of his members. That, once again, how careless he was when it came to Wonyoung. His eyes trailed to the buildings as they passed, almost tempted to pull her into one of those even if it was for a few minutes. Shaking his head, he decided against it until they, by some miracle, arrived to his apartment building. “Finally.” He sighed, pressing the elevator button and reeled her without another word. His hand slipping from hers to fall back into her curves then further down until he cupped her bottom again. The elevator beeped when it opened, and he stepped inside, pulling her with him. “You look so good today, baby” He pressed his floor number and leaned in to kiss her lips as if the last few minutes of dragging the other never happened. 

[queenofthegalaxxy]

🔑 (inncrbcast)

Send me 🔑 to interrogate my muse with the threat of torture

[[ Thanks for sending one! @inncrbcast ]]

How did she even end up in this? Blackfire growled as she pulled on her restraints once more. She hadn’t quite decided yet if this was worse, or better, than being caught by the Titans, but she knew that she was going to keep doing what she could to get out of this situation - and best maybe also hurt that grey changeling a little so that he’d learn to not even try to treat her like that again.

To his threat, she chuckled, pretending to take it all without a single care.

“Oh yeah? Good luck with doing anything to me. One, I’ve seen and experienced a lot, and I very much doubt that any of your little games will come even close to worrying me, much less being enough for me to call it torture. Two, I doubt you have experience with such ‘treatments’. And three, which is maybe the biggest, if you’d want to do anything you’d have to get my armor removed first, and I very much doubt my dear sister is helping you - and even with the knowledge how to, it still isn’t easy to remove it.”

Shrugging as if that was all that needed to be said, she gestured at her restraints. “Alright, so, if you take those off now I might leave without hurting you. This is the last chance I’m gonna give you, though.”

[your-fave-adopted-you]

Hello!

Can I make a request, please? Recently I was reviewing the finale of season 4 of Stranger Things and the thought came to me: what if fem!MC got an overblot and would be on the verge of death? And, like Max, would be very emotional at this moment, confusingly saying that she's scared and she doesn't want to die?

i really like this one, anon, because it implies that this time, MC is a magic user!

and i also live for the angst so prepare for long ass paragraphs :)

Guardian! School staff + Fem!MC who overblots

Characters : Crowley, Crewel, Trein.

Fem! Reader

TW : reader is on the verge of death, lots of emotional angst.

Context :

Why was this happening exactly? wasn't this supposed to be a dream come true?

You found yourself in a world full of wonders, you made amazing friends and even got an awesome adoptive father!

life back at home could be so boring, so exhausting, so... painful.

It's been a couple of years here, with no trace to verify that your home world is real and not just a long, elaborated dream. But, it's alright, see...

in this world? you could even do magic! sure, you were far behind all of your classmates, who even happened to be geniuses... but that didn't let you down! because you could conjure light in the dark! fire in the cold! wasn't it absolutely amazing?

So why can't you even close your eyes right now, fearing to awaken somewhere...else?

Dire Crowley

Oh man, the GUILT.

this man is actually serious for once in his life, because reality hit him like a truck.

along with your friends, he was facing you, but not quite. The girl that was in front of him was a scream turning into echo. Rage and frustration waved out of you with such ache that he could swear it could turn the air to poison.

You were so filled with fury and resentment, and still it wasn't like other overblots.

You wanted to hurt him. To make him take you seriously. You wanted to crush anyone that would even question you at this point.

You knew that you were out of control, out of your mind. But after all, this wasn't that much about you, right?

Taking care of every mess that Crowley was too "busy" to attend. Most of you were literal kids, saving each other from succumbing to the void. Agression, betrayal, kidnaping, attempted murder... You were supposed to solve all of this, being the absolute weakest link in this school full of prodigies?

Also maybe everyone already forgot but, you had a home back in your world, there were people that would be heartbroken after you were missing for long enough to be presumed dead.

No. you weren't crazy, you weren't just in pain nor out of your mind.

You were a consecuence.

and while it's true that everyone else was worried, and some felt responsible, they knew who was getting the worst out of this.

Because, it was his fault, after all.

He was supposed to protect you. It even seemed that he cared... but did he? did he care enough?

it was honestly pretty easy to beat you, because even when you seemed to be raging, for some reason there was this faint trace of... restraint?

actually no one was seriously injured,

except for you.

For some strange reason, all the damage that you should've done to the school, to everyone else...

It lied within you.

rotting. poisoning your sistem. You didn't want to look, but if you had to guess you would say that your blood would be black by now

no other overblot looked like this.

defeated, you seemed... small. All curled up laying on your side.

At least he was the first one to hold you, making sure that you could breathe well.

it seems that even in that state, there was no chance that you would hurt anyone but yourself.

and finally, as you conjure enough energy to speak, you manage to break his heart even more.

"could you lie to me? tell me that I'm fine, please..."

but he couldn't, petrified, it seemed like he couldn't even blink, watching over you like if he got his eyes off you for just a second you would disappear.

In contrast, your eyes remained tightly shut, as you kept weakly talking.

"what is going to happen now? am i expelled?"

as everyone else called for help and tried to ease the situation,

Your guardian remained silent. But, of course, what would he say? you already asked him to lie, he knew you, and what you wanted to hear... what would it be? what should he say? "it doesn't look that bad"? "at least no one else got badly injured"?

"..."

"it's okay, I'm so sorry, y/n"

"i know, dad."

You muttered as you finally fell unconscious.

Divus Crewel

He wanted to kill Crowley himself.

He knew that it was mainly Crowley's fault, he even told him about it once, but you know the principal, he just won't listen.

As he watched you in horror, he couldn't stop thinking about how he should have noticed earlier, how he should have prevented this from happening,

how he had failed to protect you.

it was such a messy chaos, loud and scattered. all over the place.

It was a desperate cry, calling for destruction.

how could someone who didn't even grow up learning magic cause so much damage?

And despite it all, it didn't take too long to defeat you, especially when Crewel was helping out your friends.

It really made no sense.

And oh, you seemed so small and fragile. A glass that had fallen, all in one piece, but the moment he held you, would you fall apart in his arms?

At least he held you tightly, as if he were trying to prevent that from happening.

"My puppy, my precious. You didn't end him, but i will."

he's pretty much driven by rage right now, but not enough to make him part from you.

"...How do i look?" was the first thing you could mutter.

"Beautiful, as always."

"Are the rest okay?— please tell me i didn't..."

"No, don't worry about that. No one is hurt, alright?" he said as he firmly held your hand.

He knew what had driven you to this state, he knew how you took yourself all the damage, as a part of you had realized how badly things could've turned out for your classmates who didn't even do anything wrong.

And he knew that one day you would go back home to never return.

he had thought for the longest time that the kind of pain he would feel that day just couldn't be compared to anything else.

Losing a daughter.

And is there something as dangerous and debilitating, as precious and tender, as the love for one's daughter?

he had never thought of losing you like this. It just couldn't have crossed his mind. Seeing you part not knowing if you would be okay? if you would be alone? no. there was no way.

"I... I'm scared i don't want to-"

"You won't." He said, worry turning to terror.

"..."

"I'm sorry, Crewel."

It was the most sincere and defeated tone he had ever heard you speak.

And in this exact moment. He got up still holding you in his arms.

he refuses to think about this any longer.

There's no time to waste, you will be okay.

Mozus Trein

Please let this man rest, this is too much.

he doesn't even have the time to get mad at Crowley,

he's just speechless.

The way you had turned into an echo, a shadow of yourself, projected to be so much bigger, scarier. It was honestly a horrifying view.

you had kinda given some signs that this would happen, as early as some months ago, even.

But since you were so inexperienced with your spells, believing them to be harmless, he kind of just expected you to get better on your own.

and you did.

... Right?

giving her space to grow, to solve her problems, to live her life.

That was supposed to be the best way. It had already worked just fine with his older kids.

Could it be that you needed him more than he believed?

But now none of this matter, your friends are trying to take you down, and he can only help to an extent.

And as you fall, defeated, everyone starts to form a crowd around you, and your poor old man has to yell at them to get away from you.

Poor thing, precious child. At the end of the day you wouldn't let yourself harm anyone, right?

Laying like that on the cold ground, you reminded him of the poor birds his cat gifts him regularly, their only crime being on the wrong place at the wrong time.

If only your case was like that, if only it was unavoidable... he thinks it wouldn't hurt as much.

He knows that he can't carry you, but at least he gets down to hold you the best he can

you both look like shit at this point tbh

Then to find out you're in a worse state that he thought you would be,

like if your rage was still eating you alive, consuming the las residue of energy you had inside.

And he was PANICKING. i mean, how would you not?

In the world there's only one rule between parents and their children that must be followed no matter what.

The parent shall never outlive the child.

And there you where, fighting for your breath in his arms.

It may be the first time ever that his students saw this man emulate an emotion other anger, or disappoint it was unnerving to see,

It's only natural, since seeing a pillar tremble would make anyone inside the building panic.

"Sorry...i fucked up." You finally managed to say.

There was fear in your eyes, an obvious fear that any human can recognize. You didn't want to go, not yet, but you couldn't even dare to say it, as if expressing your fear of dying would cast a spell to make you a mortal. At such a young age... no one is, no one is supposed to be.

"..."

"Watch your language, young lady."

When he told you that, he was actually smiling, appreciating that you would say something like that to ease the situation.

Only for that smile to fade away when you fell unconscious.

Help is on the way. Everything should be fine.

But until then, the hands that are holding you won't stop trembling.

[beevean]

What annoys you about the Netflix version of Castlevania? 👀

Mostly the fact that it has become the face of the series. I pointed out already that on AO3, 2/3rds of Castlevania fics are based on the cartoon - at best, some fics aren't even tagged.

Tumblr is even worse. Search for "Castlevania" and notice how many posts are about the cartoon.

For more specific things... I may have become a fan of the series relatively recently, but to me the whole show feels like the showrunners really wanted to make a Berserk anime, and slapped on it the Castlevania aesthetic. And I'm a big Berserk fan! But not when you mix concepts this way. Just because both series deal with monsters and are set in the middle ages doesn't mean that they have quite the same vibe.

Then there is the questionable treatment of characters. Grant was adapted out of what was supposed to be a C3 adaptation because Ellis decided that his name was stupid and that his pirate-like appearance didn't fit the setting, even though Grant isn't a pirate, he's a thief. Trevor is pigeonholed in the character archetype of "drunkard asshole", even though he already had a fairly interesting personality in Curse of Darkness that could have been elaborated on, honorable but arrogant and hotheaded. Carmilla hasn't appeared much in the series, but the few times she did, she sure wasn't a radfem girlboss who dismissed Dracula as yet another "stupid old man". And boy help you if you like Hector, Isaac and/or St. Germain, because they bothered to bring them back, but the former is... well, I don't know what other term to use but he was pretty much ukeified, with how his main trait seems to be naiveté and how he gets imprisoned, beaten up and enslaved (did we really need to see his dick flap around as Lenore is beating the shit out of him? Now you're just humiliating him); and the other two have nothing in common with their game counterparts other than their names and somewhat their powers. You know why I reblog Isaac fanart from 10 years ago? Because now the tag is full of posts about the Netflix character (even "Isaac Laforeze", even though by logic it makes no sense that Netflix!Isaac would be called that way, Julia Laforeze doesn't exist in the cartoon), with some fans even saying things like "sometimes wildly deviating from the source material is the best idea" :') also, how can you even write Death as not being the biggest Dracula simp? C'mon.

(yes I'm particularly bitter about Isaac. I would have accepted if they just replaced him with an OC, and I'm sure that Netflix!Isaac is a great character too so I understand why he's so popular. Replacing the original version with an OC but keeping the same name is just sleazy, like you want credit for "fixing" the "bad" character but not putting any thought in salvaging what could be salvageable, it's lazy)

Another thing that I find sus is the overabundance of OCs. I'm biased because I watched in real time IDW Sonic shift focus from the canon characters to the new characters to the point that the cover of #50 didn't even feature the titular character, but it says something that big bad Dracula dies halfway through, and then the series is about a council of 4 new villains. And yes, I'm biased because of scenes like this:

Tell me if it doesn't look like the show really wants to show how #girlboss Carmilla is compared to dumb Dracula. He can't even command a room.

Then there are... dubious writing moments. The series makes the common mistake of thinking that swearwords are witty, to the point that even Alucard says "fuck you" to Trevor and shows him the middle finger (because haha he's becoming like trevor). St. Germain is just embarassing, going from a refined yet quirky 19th century dandy man to someone who says "I am immortal and glorious, and all these other people smell of piss" or "God is now standing right in front of you. And soon, very, very, soon... he's going to have sex again". And Death... oh, Death, what happened to you...

I'm also baffled when they try to apply logic to vampire lore? It feels like the writers felt too smart for their own good. I can't find it on YT but at one point the character just stop in their tracks to argue the validity of the conception that vampires can't cross running water, just because. And the explanation to why every vampire hates crosses is just ridiculous, sorry.

And then there's the offensive stuff. Hector sticks his dick in Lenore, she tricks him into becoming her sex slave/pet, and yet in the next season they basically develop feelings for each other? And she's painted in a tragic light? She's basically Dahlia Hawthorne with a dom fetish (which I'm not even opposed to, she seems to be an interesting villain at first) and I'm supposed to feel sorry for her? In the same episode there's a random threesome between Alucard and two people he welcomed into the castle, but it was all a ruse to try to kill him, and he's traumatized for... a few episodes? Then he gets better? Just enough to show him pissing on their corpses. Thanks.

(and I'm not even getting into the fact that Ellis himself has been accused of sexual misconduct, which makes these scenes even more uncomfortable)

So yeah. I don't personally resent Netflixvania, and I know that there are some good moments in it ("Lisa, I'm killing our boy..."), but from what I've seen so far, the series simply doesn't deserve to massively overshadow the game series - not even because of quality issues, but because at the end of the day it doesn't have much to do with the games beyond some superficial references.

[whetstonefires]

Oh man!! That's really plausible, yeah, I hadn't considered that angle and I really should have.

Wei Wuxian's 'villain' arc centers heavily around the concept of decline and decay and corruption in a complicated way I am not about to try unpacking here, but like. There's every reason it would make sense if Jin Guangyao's process through his own villain arc does actually harm him.

Like, he's internally being damaged by all this stress and the need to maintain his facades and his internal narratives about how he's in the right. It would make sense! It's thematically coherent!

Related, I went and broke down that confrontation scene with Qin Su with some friends a bit ago, after someone argued on this post that they didn't think he did do or commission the Rusong killing, just capitalized on a murder done to hurt him. Because I, like Qin Su, had accepted without question that his argument about how A-Song's fucked bloodline meant they couldn't have let him grow up anyway as tantamount to a confession.

And it's played that way in cql for sure, but the text at least in my translation is strictly noncommittal about what's going on for him when he says that.

And it actually doesn't make that much sense that he'd say it, because he should have known how it sounded! He's the guy who's so good at 'how it sounds.' But he didn't have any motive in that moment to convince Qin Su of his own guilt, he was still trying to talk her down. So it must have been a slip of some kind. But if not a weird oblique confession, then what?

Because it sounds so bad and he said it anyway, there's a case to be made that he was being honest, in that moment, and telling his wife the same line he's been comforting himself with since it happened, and couldn't offer her because she was never supposed to know.

Without somehow realizing that she was not in a place to be comforted by that in the slightest.

Jin Guangyao's never been a perfect liar, or entirely false, which is one of the things that makes him interesting. Killing that one guy (it was a Jin captain in the book iirc because his timeline's quite different from cql) was actually a dumb fucking plan. It was 90% emotion. And a lot of stuff he does continues to be driven by sentiment, especially spite.

The middle stage plans, like the patricide--if he could get away with that, he could have gotten away with something so much less elaborate. He didn't need to bring in and murder those women. He definitely didn't need to include Sisi and then put her under house arrest for life to make sure she didn't talk.

We probably also shouldn't underestimate the impact on his character arc of the bit where he worked for Wen Ruohan in the torture department while passing information to the opposite side. I feel like that wasn't a fun part of his life, even if he does genuinely enjoy the actual torture.

Putting all that together with your point about his ability to relate to other people's emotions getting worse over time, it would make sense if over the past almost twenty years his lifestyle of constant deception and self-justification and repression has put him badly out of touch with his own sincere emotions. Which is bad for his ability to adapt to unexpected emotional situations.

Jin Guangyao's never been a perfect liar or entirely false, which is one of the things that makes him interesting. Killing that one guy (it was a Jin captain in the book iirc because his timeline's quite different from cql) was actually a dumb fucking plan. It was 90% emotion and the 10% of braining was markedly inadequate.

And a lot of stuff he does continues to be driven by sentiments, especially spite, but like you say he does get more elaborate and abstract in both goal and method.

Putting all that together with your point about his ability to relate to other people's emotions getting worse over time, it would make sense if over the past almost twenty years his lifestyle of constant deception and self-justification and repression and so on has put him badly out of touch with his own sincere emotions. (Not that I think he was ever great at any of them besides anger tbh.)

Which is bad for his ability to adapt to unexpected emotional situations, and comprehend where other people are at.

Something about how Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen took the same parental trauma and, due to their differing ages and characters and the somewhat different pressures they were under, came away with very distinct conclusions that mostly seemed pretty similar at first, since they were cast in the same mold, i.e. the Lan disciplines.

Both of them these under-parented kids trying to reconcile the message that the world is fundamentally just with the lived experience that it absolutely was not.

Lan Xichen comes away with this idea that justice is arrived at by keeping everyone happy--have I compared him to Jane Bennet yet, she's my reference archetype for this kind of eldest sibling--and working for the best possible final outcome. In which possibility he persistently has faith even when it fails to come to fruition; a disappointing compromise is just a lesson to do better next time.

This is a pretty resilient coping mechanism, since it can stand up to not only a lot of bad shit randomly falling out of the sky but to other people and even you fucking up supremely in a lot of different ways, and also to being harmed by enemies, because of course enemies will do that.

It cannot survive the sense of being totally helpless, or a loss without recoup or silver lining, because it relies on the conviction that you can bargain with the universe. That you are in a position to do so, and that the universe is disposed toward mercy.

(This I think is why he attached himself so intensely to Meng Yao--at his darkest moment, when everything was falling around him and he was alone, someone came and restored his faith in the world being, fundamentally, a good place, that will pick you up when you fall and offer second chances. Right up until it gets pulled out from under him, that's what that person means to him, every time he sees him again: that at its core life is kind, and you can be safe again after trauma.

The irony is imo less that this person is actually bad than that Meng Yao is the last person who believes that.)

Lan Wangji, on the other hand, younger and more rigid and somewhat more sheltered, comes away with the idea that bad things are the direct consequence of flawed actions. Punishment is natural law; on earth as it is in heaven; only perfection merits mercy.

(Mumble mumble Legalism I haven't read enough Chinese history to unpack that lol but.)

The advantage of believing this is that it frees you from the bulk of internal conflict. If bad things happen it's because they ought to. You can stop them from happening by doing everything right. There is no need therefore to be afraid, and relatively little need to be angry, and when you are angry it can happen in a contained, approved way, toward disruptions to the system.

This is not a worldview that can survive very many disruptions. It does not have a lot of shock absorption built in; to keep it mostly intact in the face of the universe glaringly failing to deliver requires, more or less, going systematically insane.

Plenty of people raised with these kinds of values do in fact choose to do that. If choose is the right word.

If our Lan Zhan hadn't already gotten his coping mechanism shaken up and expanded by Wei Wuxian and his charismatic undermining of the Lan Sect's system of making their laws appear to be the laws of the universe, I think he'd have been a lot more likely to break when the Wen took Cloud Recesses. Not in an obvious way, necessarily, not cracking up and screaming or berserking, and probably not even going into complete shutdown, but like. Retreating from reality a lot more.

Living way more completely in his own head, and lashing out more at people who threatened his elaborate, infinitely brittle mental architecture.

(In his worst moments, this is Lan Qiren.)

As it is, it takes Lan Wangji a long time and a pretty large amount of trauma to fully break out of this belief system, even once he's been confronted with its inadequacy to handle the actual complexities of the unstructured world.

(This is narratively important, I think, because Lan Zhan having gone through that growth is kind of the reward for the tragedy of the thirteen years; a cathartic grace note.)

And just when Lan Wangji's reached his success state on processing all that and been, essentially, rewarded by the universe with a Wei Wuxian, Lan Xichen's far more robust just-world coping mechanism is finally brought to its own shattering point. And how.

...also Jiang Yanli is a very similar person to Zewu-jun in a lot of ways, but not having been orphaned as a child or thrust into politics from a young age the scale of her ambition is more modest. But that's its own post probably!