#Both have a fucked up parasitic relationship with their father

[morallygreykoifsh]

(Mightget some hate for this but...)

What if I compared Rhaenyra to Cersei hmm?

Even better what if I compared Alicent to Jamie

What if I did

What if I did

[pandora-writes-one-piece]

The Meet Cute - Ace's Story - 4

Source for pic

Firestarter 4

Word Count: 6856

Tags For The Whole Story: Fem!Reader, slight NSFW (It's mature, not explicit), slightly sugestive behaviour, flirting, jealousy, frenemies, sexual tension, miscommunication, unresolved tension, slight angst, slow-burn, romantic comedy vibes, alternate universe modern setting, swearing, drinking, fluff, feelings realisation, denial of feelings.

Special Warning: English is not my first language, I apologise for any possible spelling or grammar mistakes.

Summary: After moving away from the hustle and bustle of Grand Line City to help your father around the property following a horse-riding accident - and in the hopes of healing your broken heart after your asshole ex-fiancé cheated - you settle into the country calmness of the Calm Belt. You intended to have some alone time, to reflect and heal, but your childhood friend's older brother, Ace, seems to be there just to upset that fragile peace you're striving for. He's a flirt and a womaniser. But why does he also have to be so handsome and perfect? And how long can you resist his charms?

Notes: And so the angst begins! If you wish to be added to a tag list, say so! Thank you!

Tag List: @rosidaze

Masterlist for previous introductory chapters.

|Previous Chapter| | |Next Chapter|

Saturday comes and it’s very uneventful. Your father says he's got some plans with his friend Mihawk and you use the free time to clean up the rest of your room - there were still a lot of trophies and books from when you were a child, but now it finally resembles a grown-up room. 

Your initial plans for the afternoon included a marathon of trash TV and plopping down on the couch like a parasite, maybe even gobbling up some junk food. But it's such a nice day outside that you decide to do some sunbathing. 

And you do. You dress in a simple red two-piece bikini and lather sunscreen on your body before heading outside armed with your headphones, a book and a towel. The backyard has a little wooden deck with two sun chairs and a small pool. The pool is closed but you're not really interested in it. So you get your little setup and sigh in relaxation. You never had moments like these in the city. Ichiji liked the fancy parties and clubs, there was barely any time the both of you spent together like this. 

In retrospect, you should've seen the end of the relationship coming. You barely had anything else to give each other. It was only a matter of time. 

You cosy up on the chair and stretch. It feels really nice. 

The view of the property is relaxing and the only house you can see in the proximity is Mr. Garp’s. The houses are only separated by a small path and you can see the windows perfectly well. You know which one was Luffy’s old room, you have been there a bunch of times, but you don't quite know which one is Ace's. 

You try to guess based on the knowledge you have of the inside of the house. It's either the one to the right of Luffy’s, or it's the one that faces the side of the house. 

A small smile creeps its way to your lips as you remember your time together at the firestation. Being with Ace felt really natural. You didn't have to force any conversation, he made you laugh and, damn, the chemistry. The sexual tension was crazy. 

But there is only a slight problem. You aren't looking to be just another one. You are no longer in that phase of your life when you're just looking for fun. You want something actually meaningful. And Ace is not meant for meaningful relationships. He isn't capable of it. 

You exchanged some texts with Nami last night saying that you had fun and she had probed you so hard that you caved and admitted you feel very attracted to Ace. But then you probed her, and every assumption you had about him was correct. He is a player and leaves behind him a long trail of broken hearts. He's all about the chase and the conquest. Once he gets the kiss, the girl, the fuck… It's over. 

And you refuse to be just that. 

The afternoon rolls by lazily and you have already rolled over on your back and on your front, just like a happy kitten. Until you see a movement in Ace's house. 

It’s him. 

You were right, his room is next to Luffy’s. He stands in front of the window - shirtless - and unaware that you are there, apparently, since he’s staring somewhere else, his signature cheeky grin in place, and you smile. Damn, he’s cute. 

Off-limits, player, just a crush! 

Can he see you? Could he be tempted to join you in the sun? 

Immediately your head starts to create interesting scenarios for both of you to play out. 

Ace arriving with his cocky smirk and telling you that you look gorgeous. 

Ace setting a knee in the middle of your legs to pry them open as his hand cradles your neck to pull your face up. 

His other hand clutching your hip for dear life. His tongue licking the sweat from your body, from your belly to your chest. 

The hottest kiss you could ever dream of, eliciting all kinds of choked noises and mewls from your mouth. 

You take a deep breath and fan your hat over your face. Maybe it's time to get out of the sun? You're getting pretty hot! 

You gather your book and start to get up when you take another look at Ace's window. And then instantly freeze and regret having looked at all. 

There is a young brunette girl in front of the window, grinning while she closes the curtains. 

Your breath catches for an instant. And then the dread in your stomach spreads its icy tendrils up to your heart. 

It's nothing short of a surprise. It's what he does. His modus operandi. But the realisation still stings. Just last night he told you that he's always thinking about you. Your mind told you, at that moment, that it was a line he used on every girl, yet, your heart thought differently. 

But today, not even 24 hours later, he has a girl in his room. 

You refuse to cry. Even if the tears are more of frustration and about how gullible you are, more than anything else. 

Yet, you should've known. You were warned. 

-*-

Ace keeps sending you texts asking how you are and if you want to hang out. You keep leaving him unread. You're still pretty pissed at him, even though you know you have no right to be. He's not your anything. 

Then you get another text. It's Nami this time, so you open it.  

You miss Luffy! Ace told you he also works at the firestation, but since he no longer lives with his grandfather, you still haven’t gotten the chance to hang out with him. You’ll definitely go to this party. Even if you’re sure to run into Ace and whatever girl he’s with right now…

This triggers Nami, so she instantly calls you. 

“What are you talking about?”

“Forget it, Nami. It's nothing new. I just saw him through the window of his room with some girl.” You force out a laugh. “Nami, it's just a silly attraction. Nothing else. I just think he's really hot!”

“Babe, if you keep thinking about him I think you should just ride that cowboy… Scratch that itch… You get my drift? Take it out of your head and then that's it!”

“You sound ridiculous.”

“Yet no wiser words have ever been spoken.”

“Maybe, but I'm not interested in being just another notch under his belt. I'd much rather be just a friend.” You reiterate. 

“From what I hear, I’d say it's your loss!” She chuckles. “But you're still coming to the party, right?”

“Yes, obviously.” You agree with a chuckle. 

“And if Ace's there with his bimbo?”

“Good riddance to both. I just want to be friends with him, anyway.”

You can almost hear the eye roll on the other end. But to her credit, she doesn't say anything. 

“Deal. We'll meet at your house to get ready. It's closer. I'll tell Robin.”

You agree and after hanging up, there's still a small smile pressed upon your lips. Nami is a friend and she makes you happy. Ace is also a friend. You shouldn't be mad at him. 

Therefore, you open his texts and finally answer him, claiming to have been busy. Forgetting all about the brunette bimbo and simply focusing on your friendship. 

Just like Nami, he gets tired of texting and calls you. 

“Hey gorgeous. I thought you were ghosting me.”

You lie back on the bed and roll your eyes. “Don't call me gorgeous. And I could never ghost you. I've just been busy.”

“Yeah, I get it. I've had a busy day as well.” He chuckles and the cold in your stomach spreads. 

“I bet…” You mumble. 

Friends! Friends! Friends! 

“I can't call you princess and I can't call you gorgeous, what do you want me to call you then?”

Why is his chuckle so damn sexy over the phone? 

“My name, genius! What else?”

“I'll get back to you about that.” Another chuckle. “Have you heard about my little brother’s party?”

“Nami is my friend, how could I not?” You chuckle. 

“Right, right. Are you going?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Me too, obviously.”

Then he proceeds to tell you about the busy day he had helping his grandfather with some affairs at the house and about some paperwork he still had to do from this week's occurrences at the firestation and you tell him about your day. 

He doesn't mention the brunette. And neither do you. 

Somehow, the time goes by and you end up talking with Ace for almost two hours straight. Just like you were musing earlier, he's so easy to talk with. So natural, so fun. 

Shanks knocks lightly on the door and pokes his head inside. “Bug? Dinner's ready.”

You rise immediately, sitting on the bed with wide eyes. Dinner already? You didn't even realise it was already dinner time, and you had meant to cook it. Shanks must have realised that you were taking too long on the phone and did it himself. 

“Oh! Right. I'll be right down, dad. Ace I've got to go. Talk to you tomorrow, bye.”

Shanks bites his cheek, his brows scrunched. It looks as if he wants to say something, but he's considering that it's not his place to do so. So he smiles at you and begins to walk downstairs to the kitchen and you follow. 

The first minutes of the meal are spent in silence until you start telling him about your day. Then, abruptly he talks. 

“Bug… Is your relationship with Ace advancing?”

The fork stops midway to your mouth and you feel your cheeks burn. 

“I know it's not really my place. You are an adult and I was not a present father in your life. Believe me, I regret it most days. Maybe if I had tried a little harder, you and your mother could still be together and you'd have grown up with me. Maybe I had more right to butt into your business. But I worry… and… well…”

“Dad, Ace and I are just friends. Nothing else. He's really easy to talk with and we have a lot of the same interests. He's fun. But that's it. Don't worry.”

You can almost see the relief in Shanks’ face. And you almost feel bad about the way Ace really makes you feel. Because your father's worry is not at all misplaced. Ace is dangerous for impressionable hearts. 

“Friends? Okay, okay. That's good.”

You just have to make sure your heart is not impressionable and that friends are all you and he will ever be. That's all you want to be. 

-*-

The next morning passes by pretty fast as you help your dad with the chores and get the horses and the ponies ready for the Summer Jubilee. Shanks is going to have a horse riding station, mostly for the kids, but sometimes adults like to join too. 

“How's your back, dad?”

“I'm managing. I'm still taking the pills.” 

“Don't overdo it, alright? Are you sure you don't need me there to help you?” 

“No, baby, Beckman will be there to help me. You know he loves these horses. You go and have fun at your party.” 

Benn Beckman is one of your dad’s oldest friends. They used to play some sport together in school and they both never left town, so it’s a natural friendship, like yours with Nami and Robin. The festival only starts on Monday, but the vendors and concessionaires that will have their businesses at the fair are going to use Sunday to set up and you feel as if you should be helping your dad instead of going to a party. 

Shanks winks, and you laugh. “I will, dad.”

“Just not too much fun…” He grumbles, beneath his breath and you roll your eyes as you climb the stairs to take a bath and wait for the girls. 

-*-

“Ohhh, I've got the perfect dress for you!” Nami claps excitedly and you roll your eyes to the back of your head. 

“I have my own clothes, Nami! What is it with you and trying to get me into your clothes?”

“Funny, she always tries to get me out of them…” Vivi muses and you laugh out loud. 

“Honey, don't take this the wrong way. You're beautiful, but your clothes are a bit… plain… don't you want to dress to impress?” She winks. 

“Not really, no.”

“Too bad. This dress is perfect. Vivi and Robin already agreed and I won't take no for an answer. Ace will be blown away!”

You sigh and let Nami dress you up as if you were a barbie doll. There’s no use in fighting her, really. And you hate to admit it, but she does own some sexy clothes. And you do want to blow Ace away.

Though you’re having a hard time admitting it.

-*-

As you cross the tiny pathway to Mr. Garp’s house - turns out ‘at Luffy’s’ means there because Luffy’s flat is too small to fit his many, many friends - your heart starts to beat faster. You know Ace will be there. And you know there will be girls all over him. But you should also know that you can't be jealous, because you're nothing but a friend to him. 

And that's all you'll ever be. 

Still, you feel as if an army of tiny ants are crawling on your insides because everything is moving and squirming in there and you are actually quite nervous to meet him. You guys had a wonderful chat yesterday, but you also knew he had been with another girl before speaking with you. 

And Nami has already told you: Ace is a chaser. He likes the difficulty in seducing women - not that it's difficult for him, you bet. You need to keep repeating in your head: you don't want to be just another girl! 

Are you obsessing? 

Shaking your head, you try to steady your heels on the uneven path. Why did you listen to Nami? You tried to put on sneakers, but after she dressed you in the most shockingly slinky, short red dress with a draped cowl neckline and thin gold chain straps, she almost had a heart attack when she saw your feet. 

She screamed sacrilege and almost hit you in the head with the gold heels. You kept repeating that it was too much, but none of the girls listened to you. To be fair all of them look equally stunning and sexy, so you don't really feel that out of place. 

Still, it's hard to walk in these things and you're pretty sure you’ll be taking them off at one point or another as the party progresses.

As you pass the threshold of the front door, you get immediately overwhelmed by the sheer number of people. It smells like sweat, pot and booze, and the mixture makes you wrinkle your nose. 

“Who are all these people?” You ask Nami, screaming over the loud music. 

“Luffy has many friends!” She answers with a laugh. 

Right. He has many friends but they're definitely from out of town because you're pretty sure that he has more people inside this house than the entire population of your hometown. 

Robin wanders away saying she saw Sabo and she wants to say hi. Nami winks suspiciously at her and the raven-haired girl blushes and giggles. Then, Nami does a little crowd check and smiles. 

“Oh, I see my friend Lola. Will you be alright by yourself or do you wanna come?” She asks with concern and you nod vigorously. You are already seeing some familiar faces, and you won't mind mingling for a while. She smiles and saunters over with her girlfriend, also ready to mingle. 

Sighing, you set out to find a drink, first. You're in the right mood to get wasted after thinking about Ace sucking face with half of the pretty girls at this party! And free booze is just the right way to do it. Sanji is there and you take the cocktail he effortlessly makes for you with a big smile but you don't get to chat much as his drinks are in high demand and he excuses himself to go cater to another beautiful lady. 

You chuckle at his ways and take a sip of the drink he made for you. Perfect. 

You hear your name being shouted and turn around with wide eyes. It's Luffy. You hug him and he hugs back, introduces you to some of his many friends and both of you speak as if you never stopped talking at all. 

“I'm so glad you're back in town again! Ace can't stop talking about you!” He grins and you blush. 

“Right. I bet.”

But, even though you wouldn't mind knowing what Ace has to say about you, Luffy is also in high demand and gets summoned by a man with a long nose and curly black hair, who's smiling at him. Excusing himself, Luffy promises to find you again and you promise to hold him to that. 

You take another look around the room, trying to find old friends amidst the sea of new faces, but your eyes are immediately drawn to him. In all his shirtless glory, obviously. And, even more obvious is the way there's a brunette sticking to his side. An arm draped around his waist and dreamy eyes on her face. 

It figures. The party has just started and already Ace has chosen his catch of the day. Or maybe it's the catch from yesterday?

It irks you so much! Why does he have to be such a player? No, screw that! He can be a player all he wants, he just needs to stop giving you attention and making you feel special! He needs to back off! So you can move on! Geez, you look like a teenager with her first serious crush. 

Chugging the cocktail in one go, you cringe at the aftertaste and quickly ask Sanji to make you another one. You've made up your mind. You just need to avoid Ace all night. If he doesn't speak with you, there's no chance for him to enchant you with his deceiving words. There. You're a genius. 

With this happy resolution in mind and a new tasty cocktail in hand, you decide to leave this room. First step to avoiding Ace, don't be where he is. 

Swaying your hips to the beat of the song, you make your way to the backyard so you can breathe some fresh air and though there are many people outside, the open makes everything better and you inhale deeply. 

“Heeey beautiful.” A slurred voice echoes near your ear as a grimy hand moves your hair away from your shoulder, from behind. “Is that dress on sale? Because it's 100% off at my place!”

You cringe as you turn and slap the hand away from you. “First of all: eughhh! Secondly, don't touch me, creep.” The man looming near you smirks and licks his lips as his eyes rake your body from head to toe, drinking you in, and he further invades your space. 

“Come on,” he snorts and you realise he's clearly inebriated or high, or maybe both. “Dressing like that, what were you expecting?” He reaches and tries to touch you, but a large hand, coming from a presence behind you, wraps around his wrist and stops him. 

“Respect, obviously.” A low voice rumbles over your head as you turn your head around and meet the cold gaze of Ace, boring his dark eyes straight into the boy in front of you. Because in the face of Ace, he's nothing but a scared little boy. He steps in front of you and smirks. “Now apologise and beat it, before I kick you out of my house.” You're impressed with how he managed to speak such menacing words with a smile and still sound threatening. 

The boy mutters a hastened apology and escapes, tail between his legs. 

You face Ace with a frown still upon your lips. So much for avoiding him. Your plan failed and you're not a genius. You're actually an idiot. “Why do you insist on being my knight in shining armour? Especially since you're never wearing anything other than shorts!” You reply deadpan as you point at his naked torso. 

He's checking you out. His eyes linger suggestively on your exposed legs - Nami, once again, knew who she was dealing with when dressing you - and a cheeky smirk curves his cheeks upwards and makes his freckles dance just for you. “I know you like seeing my muscles.” He flexes and guffaws as you roll your eyes. 

“Yeah, me and all these young, impressionable college girls. Smooth, Ace.” You muffle a snort by taking another sip of the amazing cocktail and close your eyes in bliss. “Thank you, but I know how to defend myself from creeps. You can go now. I see a lot of lonely girls ogling you. I'm sure you have better things to do.” You mention suggestively. 

It still stings to know Ace is a player. And that you almost fell for his act. Because how can you not fall for the hot, freckled, funny and helpful fireman who compliments you and pays attention to you? Until you realise you're just another one. And you're not special nor ever were. Not to him, not to anyone. You're just… just… 

You. 

Sighing, you finish your drink in one gulp and turn inside to get another. Maybe this time you'll bring a bottle with you. 

“Woah, easy there, tiger. Don't chug your drinks like that. They taste sweet but they pack a mean punch! Sanji doesn't go light on the alcohol unless you specifically tell him to.”

You eye his drink and, honestly, don't even care what's in it. Locking eyes with him and burning him with your gaze, you snatch the red cup from his hand, ignoring his protests and warning words. “Well, boo-freaking-hoo!” With a mock toast gesture, you chug the whole thing in one gulp.

And regret it immediately.

You cough and wheeze, eyes brimming with tears as you try to breathe through your nose to calm the burn in your throat. Ace just stares at you and crosses his arms over his bare chest. The drink was nasty! It was like pure alcohol. 

“What the hell?” You sputter. 

“I told you, you couldn't handle it.”

“Shove off, Ace!” You drawl as you turn back inside in search of a bottle. God, this man infuriates you. He doesn't follow you inside and you don't care for the empty feeling that leaves in your stomach. You'll soon fill up that spot with some booze. 

Securing a bottle, you make your way back outside, expertly avoiding the place where Ace was, and start mingling with some old school friends. Time flies in an instant. Either that, or the vodka you snatched is really good, because suddenly everything seems to be spinning around you. 

You make up an excuse and try to find your way back inside, ready to find Nami and tell her this was a terrible idea and you are going to go home. But, instead, you take another chug of the bottle and wince. The numbness of the alcohol is quite refreshing, maybe a bit more won't hurt. 

But your steps are uneven and you keep bumping into people and apologising. Someone grabs you and pulls you into a dance and you can't quite tell if you know the person or not. It looks like he has spiky green hair and a loop for a nose ring. His teeth seem really sharp but that might be just the alcohol talking. He starts to get handsy because you're losing your balance, but soon, his hands go from your waist to your hips and try to get lower. 

Your brain clicks and you shove the man away but you are even dizzier from the dance and ready to fall or pass out until a strong pair of hands grabs your waist and sets you over his shoulder unceremoniously. 

Before you protest, you realise it's Ace just by the smell of him. That darn smokey wood and fresh pine! A freaking punch in the gut just as you were having fun. “Let go!” You slur into his back as you start to kick your feet in the air. 

“Stop it! Your dress is riding up! This thing is freaking short.” He hisses. 

“I don't care! Let go of me, Ace, I mean it!” You keep kicking and sure enough, your dress is almost exposing your butt, so you feel him pull the fabric down and settle his warm, big hand over the gap of your thighs and your butt so it doesn't ride up again. 

That action stops your squirming immediately. 

You start to take notice of your position: breasts are squished against his back and bare legs feeling all of the heat emanating from his chest. And his smell… God, his intoxicating smell is making your head spin. Or perhaps that’s from all the alcohol. 

Why is he with you? Shouldn't he be sucking face with some bimbo? 

You realise you still have the bottle in your hand, so you take another sip as Ace carries you up the stairs. You've been upstairs at Luffy’s house before. In his room, never in Ace's. Because that's definitely where he's taking you. So in with another sip. 

“Stop drinking!” He hisses again and sets you down at the top of the stairs. You stumble and hit your back against the wall with a low whine. At least you're steady now. 

Grinning, you raise the bottle, your eyes never leaving his harsh stare. “Make me.” You taunt and take another sip. Ace grunts as his hands tousle his dark hair. 

“You're infuriating.” 

“Hmm, hmm.” You chuckle. “As I thought. You're all bark and no bite.” You take a step to the side to descend the steps, aiming to get another bottle, or to find Nami, or leave. Whatever. Anything to get away from Ace's intoxicating presence. 

But the stairs move! Or the floor does. You're not certain. What you do know is that you're about to fall. 

But, obviously, you don't get to fall, because your knight is right there for you, holding your waist and pulling your body against his. Ace’s head nuzzles against the crook of your neck while his arm circles your waist, protectively. You feel pressure on your hips just as he digs his digits firmly against your flesh, his hip fixation driving you crazy once more as your toes curl. 

A gasp leaves your parted lips as he inhales your scent and then you moan softly as he exhales hot breath against your neck, trailing goosebumps with his lips and grunting near your ear. 

He lets go abruptly and wraps a hand around your wrist, tugging and pulling you towards his bedroom. Is this going to happen? Are you going to fall into his trap? 

Because you're drunk? 

Opening the door he throws you onto his bed with a growl and turns. You hear him breathing heavily but you can't do anything as everything is spinning around you and, even if you wanted to, you couldn't quite get up yet. 

After a moment you hear his feet shuffle as he turns back to you. “Sleep.” He approaches and snatches the bottle from your hand. “And enough of this.”

He turns to leave the room but you grab his wrist. Were you going for the bottle? Or was it really his wrist you meant to grab? 

“Stay.” You whisper against your will. 

You can almost hear his internal battle raging outside. You're drunk, and you know he doesn't want to take advantage. But you do. 

Do you? 

His jaw clenches and he sits by the foot of the bed, away from you, his face turned as he's assaulted by a grim look. 

You can't think too much about this or it will never happen. You're drunk. So you should just go with it. You're sure it'll feel good. It will help you process whatever it is you think you feel for him and then, finally, forget him. What did Nami say? 

Ride that cowboy, scratch that itch. 

Damn, riding him does sound good. Who cares about the dumb bimbos he has downstairs waiting for him? Who cares if he'll just find another girl to chase after you?

Sex sounds pretty damn appealing now. 

“So how does this work, exactly?” You start, getting on your knees and approaching his body, one hand caressing his naked shoulders and now he can't help but stare back at you. “You seduce the girl, or barely do anything because you have all that!” You point at his body with a snort. “And then after you've fucked her, you move on? It's like she never existed, nothing happened, just another notch under your belt?”

You ask while he keeps staring at you. You can't read anything in his dark eyes. His freckles seem lifeless, his smirk is gone and he doesn't seem amused at all. 

“Because if that's how it works, maybe we should have a go at it. You just fuck me and we both move on. Because I can't take this anymore, Ace.” Your voice is barely a whisper. You move closer and straddle his lap. Your dress rides up and you buckle your hips against him, feeling his hardness against your achy, needy core as he muffles a grunt against his pressed lips. His hands twitch as if he wants to grab you but they remain planted firmly against the bed. His eyes never leave yours, yet he remains silent. “I can't be this hung up on you anymore, Ace. So just get this over and done with, will you? So we can both move on.”

Tilting your head to the side and digging your nails into his scalp, you lean in for the kiss, ready to take his lips, his tongue, his hands and his dick. And then his rejection, his aloofness and the hurt of seeing him with someone else. 

That is the whole Ace package. 

But maybe that's what it takes to stop obsessing over him. 

Except you don't take anything because he stops you. Two strong hands on your shoulders push you back as his gaze falls down, facing your bodies where they are close. Would be connected, even, if not for the clothing between you. Ace is breathing heavily and you can feel the tension oozing out of him in hot waves. 

“Stop.” He says your name firmly. And you know a ‘no’ when you hear one. Even though this one hurts like hell. 

Nodding, it takes you a few turns to swallow the hard lump that formed in your throat. As you get off his lap and fix your dress, you notice that the world is spinning once again and this time it's almost unbearable. 

“It's not that I don't want you. Trust me.” He groans. “It's just… you're not even going to remember this conversation tomorrow, let alone be of sane mind to consent to sex.” He snorts and shakes his head. “When-... if we do this, I want you to remember all of it.”

You roll your eyes at him and scoff loudly. “I would rather forget.” You mumble and lie back, curling to the side and closing yourself off. As if you would like to remember the time when Ace used you and dumped you - if it happened. Forgetting is much easier than getting all of his attention. 

He sighs and gets up. Then he takes off your shoes and tells you to close your eyes and sleep. You close them, with a heavy heart and a heavier conscience. You do hope you don't remember this tomorrow. The way you threw yourself at him and the way he swiftly rejected you. 

Which one is worse, really? 

Covering your body with a blanket, he puts the trash can near the bed in case you need it later - you’ll probably need it. There’s a heaviness on top of your eyes, the beginnings of a throbbing headache, and a moment passes but Ace doesn't leave. His presence still fills the room, still fills you and makes your heart ache. But you don't open your eyes to acknowledge him - or your pain - and your breath starts to even out. 

You hear him sigh and sense him leaning above you, his head hovering near yours. “You would never be just another notch under my belt…” He murmurs and kisses your forehead gently before leaving you alone in his room.

-*-

You’re woken up either by the bright sun shining directly on your eyelids, or by the throbbing headache in your temples, you’re not quite sure.

Either way, your body says that it’s too early for this, and it’s too freaking hot. When it gets this hot, you usually lean against the wall on the side of your bed to absorb the coolness from the bricks. So you turn to the side and scoot over to mould yourself against the cool wall.

Except there’s no wall. 

And there’s no more bed.

So you fall with a soft yelp, dragging the blanket - which is rolled around your torso, arms and face, for some reason - and fall onto the hard floor.

Wait.

You fall, alright, but not onto the hard floor. It’s firm. And it’s a body. It’s grunting.

Huffing, you try to stand up but the blanket makes the job difficult and the room is still spinning from all the alcohol you ingested yesterday, so you sit, on top of the body, stradling the man below you, and trying - in vain! - to either get up or to get rid of the blanket, all the while muffling apologies for the minor ‘inconvenience’. 

In the middle of your desperate plight to escape your situation, you hear another low grunt and feel two strong hands grab your hips and pin you against his body, making it impossible to move.

“Stop. Squirming. Please.” 

It’s Ace. You stop immediately, your free hand grasping at the surface in front of you - his abs. Feeling your face burn up at the touch you realise the reality of your situation: You’re both on the floor, with you straddling him and fondling his perfect six-pack - maybe stop touching him! - and he’s very hard between your legs. 

“I-I’m sorry. It’s… the blanket…” You start, your face hidden by the thrice-damned blanket. Ace grunts again and you wince at the loss of contact when he removes one of his hands and rips the blanket off you with one swift motion. 

The pull disrupts your balance, and you dig your nails into his stomach - that’s sure to leave a mark - and tighten your legs around him to try and steady yourself. You know he doesn’t mean to, but Ace bucks his hips up with your squirming and you barely bite back a whine at the friction that creates in your core. 

“Fuck.” He mutters with a desperate exhale, lifting his torso up and facing you.

This is dangerous territory. And now you’re free, so you should get up. Why don’t you? 

Ace’s fingers grip your hips tighter. When did his hand return to your hip? You didn’t notice it, it’s like it belongs there. And why are you now grabbing his shoulders? His eyes are all pupil and he doesn’t blink while he drinks you in. You know you must be a mess. Hair all over the place, smudged makeup, dress straps off your shoulders… yet the look he’s giving you makes you feel like you’re the only girl that matters in the world. 

“Don’t do that…” You whisper. You want him to stop looking at you like that, to stop making you feel special and wanted, because you can’t take another heartbreak, and there’s no way that something you start with Ace won’t end in heartbreak. So you need to nip this in the bud even before it blooms. 

“Right.” His voice is hoarse and ragged as his hold tightens around your waist, lifting you with ease and setting you aside, removing himself from the situation. He grabs a discarded shirt from the back of his chair and leaves the room cursing and tousling his hair. 

You only meant for him to stop looking at you like that. You didn’t want him to leave completely. Right? Because now there’s a sudden emptiness inside and around you and you’re not quite sure how to be complete again. 

Sighing, you massage your temples with both hands. The tension between the two of you is becoming unbearable. Should he just fuck you and get it over with so you could each go your own way?

Why does this line of thought feel so familiar?

Lowering your head, you inhale and almost gag at the smell of your dress. At some point yesterday you must’ve spilled an entire drink on yourself, because it smells like the back alley of the town's dingiest tavern. 

You test your stability by slowly lifting yourself with the help of the bed, and it works. Then you look around and, sure enough, there’s a half-crumpled t-shirt lying on the chair, the same place he took the other one from. Grabbing it, you take a tentative sniff. It doesn’t smell bad. If anything, it smells like him.

It smells amazing.

Even though Ace closed the door when he left, you turn your back and quickly discard your dress. You curse when you realise you’re not wearing a bra because the dress didn’t allow for one, but you still pull the shirt over you. It falls to your thighs, almost at the same height as the dress.

“Hmm, hmm.” Ace’s grunt startles you and you turn swiftly to the door. Did he see you change? “Here.” He extends a glass of water and two pills. His eyes are locked on the ceiling and there’s a slight blush on his cheeks. He saw you.

You choose not to acknowledge the fact.

“Thanks.” You take the pills and almost inhale the glass of water because you’re so thirsty. Then you sigh in satisfaction and set the glass on his desk. “I took your shirt, I thought you wouldn’t mind… seeing as you barely wear them.”

That elicited a very small chuckle from him, but the curl of his lips didn’t even reach his freckles. 

“Do you remember anything from last night?” He asks, scratching the back of his neck.

“No. Not much. I think I remember you bringing me here, but then, nothing. I must’ve blacked out immediately, right?” You chuckle and miss the pained grimace on his face.

“Yeah, that was it.”

“Sorry for taking your bed and making you sleep on the floor.” He shrugs. “Sorry for falling on top of you… I thought I was in my room, you see, there’s usually a wall there and-...” You stop your wild gestures and chuckle. 

Why does this feel weird all of a sudden?

“I guess I should get going. Shanks might be worried.” You know your father will never say anything about you spending the night away or drinking, you’re no longer a kid, but he will still worry.

“I texted him last night to tell him you were alright and spending the night.”

You flush as your eyes meet his. “You told him just like that?” He nods and you groan. “Great, he’s going to think we have something.”

“Who would want that, right?” He sounds sarcastic.

“What’s your problem?”

“I don’t have a problem!” He grunts again and you somehow pick up on the fact that he’s angry at you, or frustrated at least. 

“Clearly you do!” Taking a step forward, you try to approach him with your hand extended, but he turns his face away from you with a ‘tsk’ and steps back. For some reason your heart sinks and you feel cold. 

“Got it. I’m the problem. I’ll get out of here, no worries.” Maybe he wanted to spend the night with some girl and you being in his bed got in the way of that? That had to be it. Why else would he be so upset?

Grabbing your shoes from the floor and your crumpled, smelly dress, you make your way to the door, brows knitted together and lips pursed. 

“I’m so sorry for getting in the way of your lay. Maybe you should’ve just dumped me in Luffy’s old room instead of your own. Then you would’ve been able to fuck whomever you wanted.”

You stomp past him and you don’t know why you have tears stinging in the back of your eyes. Might be because of the hangover? It has to be.

“So sorry for the inconvenience.” You shout before running down the hall, down the stairs and to your home.

[thewatcher-ofmedia]

🔥CHARACTER REVIEW TIME🔥

(Can you tell that my portuguese teacher didn't come so I have 100 minutes without shit to do)

ANYWAYS, since I'm in the 4th episode I think it's a good time to see first impressions

MAIN CHARACTERS

CHARLES

I love him so much, like I was 10 minutes in and saying "I would die for you, I would kill for you, just ask and I'll do it"

Favourite character obviously

Wanna put him in a jar and protect him from everything bad in the world

He's brunette, has curls, is the sunshine character, has daddy issues and uses humour to cope so obviously he's also on the list of fictional crushes

Also something that I absolutely love about this show is that they pick this "stereotypical characters" and make them better.

Like, in this case the always happy character would have a ton of trauma but the show (or the characters, but that's a talk for another post) would not acknowledge this, they would show real depressed shit and then completely ignore it for the rest of the show.

Or just show it in the end of the series then kill him off.

But here they're letting people know from the beginning AND it's visible that the fact that he hides it is gonna be a major plot point in the show which makes me SO HAPPY

And in the loop scenes they made sure to focus on Charles face and reaction every. single. time.

Anways, I'm soo curious to learn more about his trauma and death and to see his character development

And he's so cute and trying so hard to make sure everyone likes him and lighten the mood and to not be a bother and to make everyone happy and I'm gonna cry

EDWIN

I also love him so goddamn much

He's also going in the jar, don't worry I'll protect you from everything

He's my baby (he was born more two hundred years before me and is my age BUT HE'S MY BABY)

Seriously someone needs to sit him down and say that everything is going to be ok (and get death the fuck away from him, my boy does not deserve hell, he deserves to be with his boyfriend best friend)

Also love this concept that everyone around him knows he's not straight, he knows that he's not straight but somehow he's still in the closet. Like, he never says he's straight, but he says to Niko that Mounty and him both boys, so one cannot be into the other and when Niko says that boys can like like each other he just turns the conversation around

I think they're writing that so well. It's subtle yet obvious, it's so good

Also, he's autistic, definitely in the spectrum. He obviously doesn't know because the first diagnosed case of autism was in 1943

And the dynamics that he has with everyone is SO GODDAMN GOOD

CRYSTAL

Someone give this girl an aspirin, a therapist and a bed

My girl cannot catch a break

One more in the protection jar, don't worry, I'll find your family for you, you need to rest

Overall great character, she's sassy, she's funny and she's the only emotional intelligent one

She's definitely gonna be the bridge for Edwin and Charles' romantically relationship

Like she's Miss "Edwin is acting weird because he's jeaulous of the sexual tension that we have, Charles" and Miss "Charles got stuck in the loop because he has strong feelings towards abusive fathers because he had one, Edwin"

Really love that we have someone to smack this idiots and say "You're in love with each other" because they are not gonna realise that by themselves

Also, DAVID GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER, SHE DOES NOT DESERVE YOU. I'LL GET THE CROSS, I SWEAR I'LL DO IT.

NIKO

She's so cute, I wanna protect her from this cruel, cruel world

This means that I already have her in the jar, no one else is gonna get to her

At first I thought she was gonna be this really closed and introvert character that was gonna talk when absolutely necessary and was a bit emo. But like her hair her personality lightened up as soon as the parasites got out (she was sick it's normal that she was wuth a really depressed attutude but Bea's too focused on the story to remember how people act socially)

I really wanna hug her, I need to

Also love how eager she is to help and how she has nothing to do with the boys , she's a "cas closed" but even Edwin can't say no to her

I feel like her "almost dying" trauma is gonna be a bit underrated (although I see that they are not completely ignoring because of the 3rd episode where she felt like she couldn't deal with death since she almost met her the week before) but I want to believe the opposite because until now the show has not disappointed me in terms of traumas (or in other terms really)

SIDE CHARACTERS

ESTHER

I don't have much to say, I like her in the twisted "this is a fun villain" way

I'm really curious to know more about this Lilith and immortality thing

She did loose some points in my book with the whole torturing the crow thing

I am ✨️traumatised✨️

CAT KING

I'm so confused about his character

Like, he's a really fun character

And his outfits are great

But at the same time, get the fuck away from Edwin, in both the scenes with both of them I was so scared that he was going to the "no consent" zone

I do love that both the scenes where he's in he slays the outfit, tries to drag Edwin out the glass closet, fails, keeps him trapped so he can try to do this one more time and goes away

Like, he has one objective and one objective only and honestly, respect

JENNY

My patient queen

I have not much more to say

She accidentally adopted two really weird teenagers and regrets that so much

I respect her so much

As an older sister, if she snaps, grabs a knife and kills them both out of annoyance I would support it

That's it 🫶

If you haven't understood yet I have way too many thoughts about this series

[the-path-to-redemption]

Long Post Ahead

So, I just rewatched the first episode of Ice Queendom, and MY GOD, did it just pisses me off even more when I looked at the entire series as a whole.

It set up the characters, the dynamic, the pacing, and the motivation so fucking well that I'm more than just disappointed that the entire series derailed at the end. The first episode was amazing, and I think that's why many of us wanted to give the franchise another chance.

Already in the first 5 minutes of the episode, we were shown what we always wanted from canon RWBY: Yang's interaction with Summer's grave and how she felt about her mother. Hell, she even calls Summer "Mama", and gives her a wink as she embraces Ruby who just told Summer about her sister's admission to Beacon. It establishes their family dynamic, which only furthers when we see Tai interacting with his daughters.

He jokes with Yang and talks to her about their family having an outing, he goes with her to Vale to check on Ruby when she's late with the present, and they both wait for Ruby at the police station. He even sent them off on the airship. Where the fuck was this guy in the canon?? Ice Queendom actually managed to make him believable as a single father who's trying his best to support his girls, instead of someone sitting around in his house doing nothing.

The first episode also established the Schnee family so fucking well as a contrast to the Xiao Long-Roses, with Weiss already too familiar with her mother's day drinking habit and her tense relationship with Whitley, who was given a moment of complexity! What the fuck, they actually feel like siblings who never connected because their parents are never there for them without villainizing neither kids for feeling the way they do.

It even shows, in the end, how Weiss felt about her grandfather. Which had it been written by capable writers, we could've seen Nikolas Schnee from various perspectives. He could've simultaneously been a good family man, a great man whom Weiss idolizes, and a colonizing monster that he is to everyone else, especially to Vacuans whom he spearheaded their decline. There was something here, people, fucking do something about it.

And Blake... oh, baby girl I am fucking mad for you at the end of Ice Queendom. It sets her and Adam up so well, even with him clearly letting her go so that she, in his mind, can truly understand the cruelty of the world and how it treats Faunus. None of that bullshit "abusive relationship" shtick was shown, but rather what we expected of them: they have a fallout due to differing opinions but still aim for the same goal which is Faunus liberation.

But nope, her shadow self was villainized at the end for speaking the TRUTH. Weiss and her family did exploit the Faunus. Hell, Weiss herself in the nightmare clearly groups the exploitative, parasitic board members of her company in the same hostile environment as the people they abuse, the Faunus, who she portrays as monsters. In Weiss' mind, these two groups are the same, and that's fucking horrid. Weiss don't give a fuck about the truth at the end, she's just embarrassed that now everyone she knows sees how much of a fucking racist she is.

Ice Queendom disappointed me, and I hate it.

[oswinsdolma]

not a day goes by when i don't think about the parallels between the scene where arthur gives merlin his mother's sigil and the ending when he gives gwen the royal seal, because it's just so representative of their different roles in the narrative, and who they are to arthur; he loved both merlin and gwen dearly, but in different ways.

arthur's relationship with gwen is an interesting one, and i think is probably more demonstrative of character growth within the show than any other. when arthur and gwen first fell in love, they were children, but as all children do, they grew up, going from boy and girl to king and queen. their character arcs are intrinsically intertwined, arthur realising the need for kindness whereas gwen became more confident in herself and came out of her shell, and as they grew, so did the kingdom, fruit pollinated by the best in both of them. as a result, gwen was arthur's love, but she was also his wife and queen, as he was her husband and king, their love becoming synonymous with the prosperity of the state, on both a literal and figurative level. when arthur gave gwen the seal, therefore, he passed on a legacy kept very much alive by the love that existed within them both, and it is stronger for it. in essence, gwen comes to represent arthur's tangible legacy; the people, the castle walls and the good he did for the people, and in his death, she keeps alive the parts of him that were most worth saving under the seal that once belonged to him. this is made particularly pongiant in light of the fact that arthur's trust in gwen was something condemned by uther, and there is a sort of triumphant irony in the fact that their love was not what destroyed the kingdom, but kept it alive. when uther passed on the throne, he did so out of reluctant obligation, clinging onto power as a parasite in arthur's memory that is slowly gnawed away. in inheriting the sigil, gwen provides resolution to this discordant, unfinished cadence, completing the circle and bringing the kingdom to where it was always meant to be.

yet with merlin... while gwen embodies the arthur that is remembered, merlin represents the arthur that never was; while she received the key to a kingdom to finish building, merlin was given proof of a memory that never really existed. furthermore, if gwen and arthur's love resolves the cadence of uther's selfish isolation, we can start to see the patterns of how merlin's translates from ygraine's. because if you think about it, arthur almost loved merlin in the same way he loved his mother. merlin was his friend, his confidant and the person who knew him best in the world, but ultimately, he only ever saw a version of him, a half truth, veiled by secrecy and aborted confessions, which were ironically borne from the actions and prejudices of his father. arthur loved his mother unequivocally, but the tragedy of their relationship is that it existed only as borrowed memories from those who loved her before him, his idea of her founded only on dreams and the space in his soul he left behind. but then you take this and apply it to merlin: when arthur died, it was in the anticipation of a future that could have been built, but was cut down before its time, forced to take root in intangible hopes for a future that might never come. as the centuries passed, arthur became not a king, but a legend, more metaphor than person for anyone but merlin, the sole survivor of an almost entirely fabricated past. in a slightly fucked up way, i suppose arthur giving merlin ygraine's sigil almost foreshadows the ending, with arthur passing on the legacy of a love borne of absence to the only one who will survive long enough to carry it. yes amongst this tragedy, there is that eternal motif of hope, because unlike arthur, merlin does remember, and not only that, but he waits. as gwen resolved the legacy of uther, merlin did the same of ygraine, turning the tragedy of what never was into something that still could be.

and the most beautiful thing about this is that it's all symbiotic: gwen could not have built camelot were it not for the love shared between merlin and arthur, and merlin could not have founded a legend were it not for the foundation laid by the marriage of his best friends. they are all elements of a web of stories, suspended in fragile dreams that need each other to be kept alive, but they endure nonetheless, propelled by an insatiable love of one another kept in perfect balance, because there was no other way for the story to go, and no other version of the world that could ever have been.

[awkward-tension-art]

Little Parasite Chp. 3

Your father, Leon's boss and the president of the united states, had called the agent to the White House for a meeting.

Extra warnings: pregnancy mentions, Reader isn't in this chapter but she's mentioned, I try my best at subtle threats, Leon being Leon, brief VERY BRIEF mention of Leon killing himself if he harmed you, petty shots at Leon’s past by the president

Leon’s steps through the hallway were steady and focused. He kept his eyes ahead, trying not to pay attention to the White House staff around him.

He had been called to the Oval Office personally. The president, your father, wanted to speak with him.

He heard the whispers. He’d be deaf not to.

Sleeping with the president's daughter.

Knocked her up.

How long have they been together?

So agent Kennedy is going to be the dad to the big man's grandkid?

Leon nodded to the secret service guarding the door. He waited for one of them to knock and announce his arrival.

“Wait a few minutes.” was his command.

It was a power play. Most likely your fathers way of saying ‘my time is more important.’ The agent knew that the president wasn't doing anything behind those double doors. Probably on his phone. Or reading a useless email.

It was his way of establishing power. Let Leon know that despite his connection to you, he was always on top.

So the agent had to wait. Bide his time. Presidencies only last 4 years. And hopefully, your relationship will last much longer.

Leon wouldn't entertain the possibility of a reelection. He was, in fact, working on being more optimistic.

After a few minutes of staring straight ahead, he was allowed inside the Oval Office.

The sun was hidden by thick curtains. The patterned cream walls were decorated with historic paintings. Several marble busts of leaders past stared straight, lifeless eyes piercing the air. At the very end of the office was the massive wooden desk.

And sitting behind it was your father. The president of the USA. His cold, stern eyes were on him.

His fucking boss.

“Mr.President, sir.” Leon saluted. He had to be an agent. This was the man he worked for. Not his future father-in-law.

“Agent Kennedy.” The president stood, “It’s been a while. After your report, you’ve been on medical leave haven't you?”

Another power play. He’s pretending not to know. Lure Leon into a false sense of security, and make the agent think he wasn’t in the leader's crosshairs. That maybe he had some fucking privacy in this job.

“Yes sir.” He nodded, keeping his answers short. The agent had to give only the required information. Nothing more. Nothing less.

“And how is that?” Your father leaned against the front of the desk, looking to his left. His eyes were down, roaming over some papers, “Going back to the field soon?”

This was another way for him to let Leon know that he didn't care about the man he called to the office.

“Recovery is fine.” Leon answered calmly, “The BSAA medical personnel have informed me I can return to field missions in about 2 weeks.”

He probably knew this already.

“Hm, good.” His future father-in-law nodded, “And my daughter?”

There it is.

“I’m sorry sir, what do you mean?” Leon asked, hoping to grab even a little bit of control. He could perhaps get his boss to say his intentions with this meeting.

“Well, you got her pregnant.” His boss responded rather coldly, “She hasn’t called me to talk about it. She’s spoken to her mother though.”

The agent’s guard was raised. Got you pregnant. The president made it seem like you were an unwilling participant. That Leon forced the baby on you.

He’d rather kill himself than do such a thing.

Leon swallowed, he took a shot, one that could frankly get him in trouble, “My fiancé is fine. So is the baby we both wanted.” His tone was less than respectful. At this point, he didn’t care that this was the president. The man signing his paychecks could be a fucking god, and he wouldn’t care.

It was a subtle ‘fuck you’. It told your father that yes, his favorite attack dog was having sex with his sweet, innocent daughter.

Oh if only he knew how ‘innocent’ you really were.

The president narrowed his stern eyes ever so lightly. He was irritated, but didn’t want Leon to know, “Good. That's good. This will be my first grandchild, you know.” His hand roamed over the file, “It's exciting, though, it's rather unfortunate that the child will have only one set of grandparents.”

Oh fuck you!

Leon swallowed. What was this? Shoving his dead parents in his face? Was this a joke?

Am I being punked? He thought, The president of the United states resorting to middle school insults?

Leon’s life was a fucking joke.

“I’m sure you and your wife will be wonderful grandparents.” The agent had to keep his tone calm and collected. He couldn’t break under his boss’ critical gaze.

The country’s leader nodded slowly, closing the file, “Agent Kennedy, I’m going to be frank and honest with you.”

What? Leon’s eyes widened, honesty? Here? In the White House?

Oh the world must be ending now.

“Sir?” The agent knew he sounded confused. Probably like an idiot. But he wasn’t expecting any form of honesty from the country’s leader.

“You are going to change the second you hold your child,” His future father-in-law said, putting a hand on Leons shoulder, “If you have a son, you would die for him. But if you have a daughter…” He tightened his grip, squeezing the agent's shoulder, “You’ll kill for her.”

Harm my daughter and I will destroy you.

Leon swallowed and nodded, “I understand.”

“You never will. Not until you do.” The president let go and stepped back, returning to his desk, “Now, your health reports have come back all clear, however, my daughter will need to continue with weekly visits to the lab until the baby is born.”

“Yes sir.” The agent nodded again, “is there anything else?”

“No, you’re dismissed.” The president waved him away without even looking up. Still Leon knew he was forced to salute before leaving.

One final show of power. Making him leave without even so much as a ‘bye.’

Once in the hallway, he took a deep breath.

God…despite the man in the Oval Office being your father, your fiance fucking hated him. He despised politics. He despised the government. He wasn’t a patriot by any means, and he wasn’t going to raise his child to fucking worship the USA.

Leon took another breath and began to walk through the halls of the White House again.

He couldn’t get to the exit and into your arms fast enough.

[barbwillbrb]

what’s mortimer’s backstory i think i missed the post about that

To be honest I am still hammering out some of the details for him/his daughter for BG3 (straight up, this game has been my first foray into DnD stuffs, so I'm still picking up the lore/trying to make sure my character ideas can work for this world, so everything is still a bit under construction). I've been tagging my thoughts with him as tav: mortimer on my blog.

Mortimer/Lucille reference sketches and headcanons

Mortimer scar/casual wear reference and more headcanons

Possible end-game ideas for Mortimer/Lucille

Some Mortimer history and how he and Lucille would handle specific scenarios in game.

Basic facts/timeline for him is as follows:

Mortimer's human, age 42 currently, and is the only child of a messy affair/sham marriage between his father (a nobleman) and mother (his father's bodyguard/assassin). The two fought tooth and nail, and separated while he was young; he was primarily raised by servants, namely his dad's primary butler, and spent a lot of time by himself when not in their company.

He showed magical talent at a fairly young age, and from his late teens/mid twenties was formally studying magic under an apprenticeship. He was considered extremely quiet/aloof, and likely came off a bit of an obnoxious snob/know it all if you did speak to him back then (he was less interested in socializing/people and more interested in examining practical uses of magic for everyday, more layman applications. He was namely interested in maximizing the potentials of cantrips and playing around with rules/constraints for smaller level spells).

At age 25, Mortimer left his apprenticeship (for what he thought was a brief time, maybe three weeks) to accept an arranged marriage set by up his father. It was not a surprise, but something he knew was coming/proposed for a few year. Unfortunately, he was left unaware of the fact the family he was marrying into was tied to the cult of Bhaal. After leaving his apprenticeship, he disappears from public view and spends the next few years imprisoned/affiliated with the cult.

Mortimer just exists/does what he needs to do to survive, accepting his place in the cult. At 26, Lucille is born (she is a traditional Bhaalspawn, not Durge). She is a particularly violent child who starts showing signs of Wild Magic sorcery while she's a toddler, so she quite literally burns through her caretakers. She is markedly calm/soothed in Mortimer's presence, however.

At 30, Mortimer gets a chance to flee from the cult and escapes with Lucille. The following two years are fraught, spent on the run-- while he knows how to fight/kill/maim/poison from his time at the cult, he can't call on his magic successfully/spells just don't come when called and he can't cast anything beyond a fucking cantrip. So he does something very desperate and very stupid (but when you feel you've already damned your soul already, what's a little more sin?). Mortimer seeks out a creature he met during his time with the cult (and this mind you is where I am really muddling my way through shit): an alhoon (mindflayer seeking lichdom). The relationship with his patron is both parasitic and symbiotic-- he regularly kills/kidnaps people to assist in extending his patron's life, seeks out/steals information dealing in necromancy, and allows his patron to use him essentially as a test subject. Calling on higher level spells/magics physically alters him; parts of his body have become swallowed in swirling, thick shadows beneath his skin.

He was in Baldur's Gate trying to get information on the Necromancy of Thay and investigate his patron's concerns revolving renewed cult involvement when he was captured on the Nautiloid.

[peachymilkandcream]

In the other half, that wants you to give into your temptation and make the ppd oneshot!!! 😅😅😅😅💙💙💙

The Hell Is Your Problem?

(A/N: GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUTTTT!! Jk jk, I need an excuse to do this. We’ve had too much fluff for these guys time to go back to angst 😂 Hope you enjoy and thank you for the request! Also I wrote a portion of this while getting my hair done and IT DELETED! So I'm running through it again)

WARNINGS: implied noncon, dubcon, manipulation, domestic abuse, yandere themes, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, stockholm syndrome, graphic depictions of violence, mind breaking, misogyny, etc.

===============================================

Ever since Evelyn had given birth she felt relief mixed with numbness. The relief was that her child was finally out of her but the numbness came when the gravity of the situation began to set in.

She had held out hope that the child would either be a girl or at least look like her. But no, a son who was the spitting image of his father. And that was the problem. When she was pregnant the baby was an unknown entity that was attached to her, now it was a living breathing thing, something that took from her both in childbirth and now after like a parasite. Conflicting her thoughts between disgust and love. This was her baby, but what would he become?

Evelyn was not fit to be a mother, she was too unstable, left to raise the child and he would come out weak and afraid of the world like her. A coward who allowed comfort and stability to allow madness into her life.

But Levi on the other hand would teach him to become a monster like his father. A violent man who believed women were tools and objects, a means to an end. To be controlled and manipulated.

How could she stop that? How could she live with herself if she messed up and doomed another woman to the fate she had? She could never live with herself.

She couldn't do this. Each time she fed Furlan she felt such a strong love and hate relationship that it took the air out of her lungs. She hated that he trapped her here, loved him because it wasn't his fault, hated that he looked like his father, loved him because he might become what he father wasn't. A kind man.

She just couldn't fucking do this.

===============================================

Levi had been adjusting to the birth of his son nicely. With the government and the world gone to hell and rebuilding, he was served with a long paternity leave. His injury prolonged it, but with the progress he was making with physical therapy he figured when Furlan was old enough he could never tell that his dear Papa was a wounded soldier once. Levi would get to tell him and watch his little eyes go wide with wonder knowing that his father was so strong that he had walked off a serious injury like that.

But something was wrong. Evelyn was different. She wasn't happy, joyful, or fiery. Just a lump of nothingness. Rigorous checking of her temperature showed she had no fever but still he worried. Going so far as to send the midwife incase secretly his wife was bleeding to death internally.

He waited outside of the room patiently, making sure his useless questions didn't hinder her from ensuring Evelyn's wellness.

Finally the midwife comes out, quickly pacifying the nervous Captain.

"She's perfectly fine."

"What the hell do you mean she's fine!? Have you seen her behavior!? It's unnatural!"

"I'm afraid it's not Captain Ackerman, many women go through what we call post-partum depression. But it seems especially for your wife she's having a tough time of it, rejecting Furlan completely."

He takes a moment to process the words. "So what do I do about it?"

She shrugs. "Simply wait and be supportive. Eventually she'll come around and accept the boy, and she should return to herself in time."

Yeah, like he was going to allow her to throw this temper tantrum for that long. "Thank you. I'll figure out how to handle it."

===============================================

Levi bursts into the room once the midwife leaves. "What the hell does she mean depressed?! You're that stubborn you reject your own son!? How dare you take the child that I so painstakingly gave you and treat it with such indifference!"

"Levi-"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear one of your damn excuses. Not again. Your job is to be that boy's mother! And you can't even do that right! What is wrong with you!? The hell is your problem!? Do I need to take him away until you are fit to raise him!?"

"Please Levi don't- I'm begging you-" She starts to cry.

"Then act like a good mother."

"I don't know how-"

"You don't do you? Fine. I'll teach you."

==================================

Levi taught Evelyn how to be attentive to Furlan. Whenever she didn’t show enough attention she was met with a slap to the face until she learned to be better. He wouldn’t put up with this made up bullshit of depression. It wouldn’t come between his wife and son. She would be a good mother or die trying, there was no alternative.

He would have his perfect family.

[gwopijon]

This dude who I'll call Big Papa is almost 80 years old.

He's been married and divorced twice. Both wives left him because he was so fucking problematic as a husband and father.

You have 3 children. You were a literal absentee "father" to the white oldest ones and you were a doting yet obsessed father to the youngest biracial one. You were such a bad father to the oldest ones, you contributed to them hating the youngest one for being hard-working, smarter, graduating college; working and making a great life for herself.

You didn't have a relationship with your oldest kids for years. You have 5 older white grandchildren; 3 of which you never bothered to even meet in real life.

In the meantime, Big Papa's oldest white children are getting married; having kids and divorcing when they weren't getting into bankruptcy; grifting and getting in trouble with the law while his youngest biracial one is thriving in life; marrying (for the 2nd time and neither were invited to the first wedding and didn't make a stink about it because the younger sibling married a broke nobody) and getting rich. The oldest children; especially his oldest daughter always had contempt for her youngest biracial sibling and hatred for her Mom who is black and allegedly called her the "Maid". The oldest sister has those 3 kids she gave up for adoption because she allegedly said and I shit you not; that she "could not find a babysitter for them." The criminal brother has those 2 sons who don't even go by their father's name by choice.

As soon as your youngest biracial daughter makes it then all of a sudden; her white older step-sibling are talking about a "reunion". They didn't bother seeing her or speaking to her for years until she made it.

Big Papa doesn't show up for his youngest daughter's wedding for god knows what reason but reunites with his oldest white children. In the meantime, the oldest white ones continually insult their biracial younger sister (when they thought and were hoping they'd get paid to keep quiet) and Big Papa joins in the insult party as well while whining that he's been cut out and ghosted out of their lives.

The racist, entitled oldest white siblings said they expected their successful younger sibling to finance their lifestyles and take them to the land of milk and honey but they are still in their trailers broke. They are mad as fuck.

We found out that Big Papa was hoping his youngest daughter would continue to financially support him and even take him in in her house while he gave his criminal older children a cut of that $ on the down low. It hasn't happened for them and they are mad as hell.

Big Papa called his youngest biracial daughter "controlling" and said she had a "sense of superiority" aka uppity for having the audacity to control her own fucking life and not wanting to reunite with her bitter, racist, envious, grifting, violent, alcoholic, manipulating, self-absorbed, noxious, reckless, loathsome, calculated, cunning, self-destructive, entitled, opportunist, rancid, vindictive, self-involved bitter, crass, pernicious, unrepentant miscreants, vitriolic and angry coattail ridding moochers and malevolent parasites, bottom-feeders older siblings.

The 2 oldest white children have even stalked their younger sibling in the past and Big Papa has someone stalk his black ex-wife and spy on the biracial grandchildren.

What kind of person demands (Big Papa has threatened to sue for visitation rights 3x because he claims to have the "right" to see them and force himself in their lives) to see those particular grandchildren when he barely knows his other older grandchildren? Big Papa has made his dislike for his son-in-law known to everyone who will listen despite the son-in-law being a great man and great husband/father and Big Papa has take pleasure in tormenting his youngest daughter. To force young kids to spend with someone who sees dollar signs when they see you and doesn't like your parents is not a good thing.

Big Papa has called his son-in-law "whipped" and "candyass" and called his daughter "rude" all because they never engaged with your problematic children and your toxicity out of their lives and their children's lives no matter how much they claim to have a family "reunion". We know all they see are dollar signs and proximity-seeking because they want some stature out of this and since they've been denied that; all they've done is insult lmao.

Big Papa and his 2 oldest white loser children have been losing their shit since his black 2nd ex-wife has been enjoying the good life being a Mother-in-law and grandmother and has access to her daughter and husband.

The older children are claiming the black Mom was a drug user and was an absentee parent and that Big Papa was the one parent who made the younger sister happen and he and he alone deserves all the praise and should reap the benefit$ (which would also go to them). My question to ya'll is IF Big Papa was the only one who made the now successful younger sister happen then why are ya'll such failures in life? IF it takes Big Papa to make some successful while are you the way you are in life?

The 2 oldest children have called their youngest successful sibling every name but the child of God and Big Papa has not rebuked them despite knowing the racist poison they spew at the youngest sibling on a daily basis and now they are acting surprised that they aren't in her life and never will belmao.

[prttydolls]

Herbology help. — draco malfoy

ೃ⁀➷ 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠[𝐬] : enemies to lovers trope, kissing.

ೃ⁀➷ 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨 : herbologist!draco and reader, voldussy never came back, college au + muggle plants added :3

ೃ⁀➷ 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : draco malfoy x fem!reader

ೃ⁀➷ 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭���� : cry. I don't know anything abt plants so pls correct me if I'm wrong. + edit : the bitch misread the fic bcs I was writing offline now here's a complete different fic ☹️

[ 𝐦.𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 • 𝐧𝐚𝐯 • 𝐭.𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 ]

“package delivery for, Ms (yln)?” the delivery man asked, a girl who looked about 20 years old ran to the man. “hi! Yes that's me!” she took the box carefully and payed the delivery man.

She excitedly dashed to her area outside the garden and carefully unboxed the box. When she opened the box she was in amazement , right now she was holding one of the most rarest, and hard to grow flowers. The Rothschild's Slipper Orchid. It takes 15 years for it to bloom, and not to mention a very expensive flower it was.

“This is the last thing I need to complete my search!” she squealed as she placed the plant onto the pot, and grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill to write things down.

“Paphiopedilum rothschildianum (also called 'Rothschild's slipper orchid', after its discoverer) is found in the rainforests around Mount Kinabalu in northern Borneo, at elevations from 500 to 1200 meters above the sea. It commonly grows as a terrestrial in ultramafic soil but is also found growing as a lithophyte in leaf-litter on ultramafic cliffs, usually near a river.

The flower has a green and red spotted petal, which attracts any parasitic flies that think it is a crowd of the aphids they lay eggs on. As they try to do so, the flies brush against the stigma, releasing any previously collected pollen, and then getting some more from the anther.” she said, while writing down the words onto the parchment.

“this... Is perfect!” she hugged the paper and the pot, looking like a happy idiot. she was so happy, this would definitely let her go to a big herbology lab one day, but a russle was ruined her happy bubble, she quickly turned around and protected the piece of parchment and plant she wrote. Just to see draco malfoy come out of the bush.

“Malfoy?! What are you doing, why are you spying at me?!” she hissed at the blonde, (yn) never liked him during hogwarts when she graduated hogwarts she was so happy that she would get out of malfoy ʼs grip. But alast, he signed up for the same collage as hers.

“oh (yln),i wasn't spying I-I was just studying this leaf! I-it's shape is soo.... natural.” he lied, he hoped that she bought his stupid lie. She could see him sweating.

“nice lie malfoy..” She smirked as she crossed her arms, “fine.. I wanna talk to you about something.” he confessed, she nodded at him to go on. “so, yknow kinda need some help Azalea, I can't find it anywhere.. could you help me research it?” draco asked, “hm.. what do I get in return?” she replied.

“Since my father funds this collage, maybe get you a good grade?” he shrugged. “Fine deal.”

Weeks pass by, draco and (yn) relationship gets closer and closer. Their feelings for eachother grew stronger each second they spent time together. “thanks (yn) for teaching me these muggle plants, your such a life saver.” draco thanked (yn) for the thousandth time. “and thank YOU for helping me get a good grade.” she smiled, and leaned in. Draco couldn't help but lean closer and admire her lips.

Draco, kiss her lips they look lonely.

He just couldn't stop himself and kissed (yn)ʼs lips, he quickly pulled himself away. “i-I'm sorry I shouldn't have done tha—” (yn) just stared at him, rambling and saying sorry.

“draco, shut up. Kiss me.”

As the two couple made out, both not wanting to pull away from one another. But they were gasping in need of air. “fuck-that was.”

“yeah...”

Draco stared at her in awe and (yn) stared back. “would you like to go on a date with me?” he said to stop the silence.

“I'd love too..”

taglist :: @dracoslittleangel @imabee-oralizard @f4iryluvy @lilytoyourjames @siriusblackstwin @thehalfbloodedwitch @blackthunder137

[dearest-painter]

I have no father(PT.1) male reader

TW/CW:Yandere behavior, unhealthy behavior,unhealthy relationship, abusive relationship,abusive behavior,Age gap??? I’m not sure who’s yandere yet except for some people so please request some,neglect,reader is dating Venom and posses Venom you know how Eddie posses venom? That type of posses,hate to Tony stark aka Reader’s dad,mentions of hickeys,mentions of scars not specified but they are from battles,BAD SPELLING!!,cussing. If I forgot any please inform me

Authors note:Peter and Reader are 18 just because I believe that’s how old you need to be to have your own apartment and for no other purposes,I do not do smut/lemons. Plus He/Him pronouns are being used for reader

Part 2

Keys:H/t = hair type,h/c = hair color,h/l = hair length,e/c = eye color,s/c = skin color I swear I’m not trying to be rude it just so that you have free range of your looks!!!

Y/N stark,the forgettable son that the world pitted. He hated the pity the world gave him they should pity him just because of what his ‘father’ decided to do. Luckily he has started living on his own..well kinda. Let’s travel with Y/N threw his day. Waking up,that hated action of Y/N but he knew it was apart of life so he dealt with the action and went on his day. Stretching his body he let out a yawn. “Morning sleeping beauty” “morning venom”

Y/N got out of bed and went to brush his teeth and take a shower which now seeing him in the mirror he didn’t look like his father,Tony stark that man he hated the most. He had h/t h/c which was h/l. His e/c eyes were still half open from not waking up fully,his s/c body covered with either scars or hickeys. Y/N was brushing his hair since he had just gotten out the shower and got dressed and saw venom. “Alright what’s wrong? You’ve been so quiet I thought you left me” “just thinking” “Mhm,believable story” “fine! Do we have to see your dad!?” “Sadly yes,we are anti hero’s who are some how with the avengers but we need meeting with them,it’s stupid” “your/you’re telling me sweetchecks” “NOT THAT NICKNAME!!” “IM BACK TO NORMAL BABY!!” “AHHHH!!!” The neighbors have gotten use to hearing the anti hero couple yell so it’s no use to do anything about it. The anti hero couple made their way to stark tower enjoying the quietness of New York City morning before it becomes active once again.

“Good morning Mr.Y/N and Mr.Venom” “morning” venom just glared while Y/N rolled his eyes at his supernatural husbands actions. “Sorry about him,he’s a grumpy parasite” “I’M NOT A PARASITE Y/N! WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT THIS!” “AND WE TALKED ABOUT YOUR MANNERS!!” Soon they both shut up as soon as they got into the elevator. Venom made his hand hold Y/N which Y/N just smiled at the action,venom wasn’t known for being kind but that side was only saved for Y/N and just him. Venom will be damed if anyone tried to take HIS husband! Venom will kill anyone he needs to just to keep Y/N to himself forever and forever more.

Soon the elevator stopped and they walked out to see the rest of the avengers and sadly,Tony. “Morning Y/N” “morn’ Pet” Y/N yawned again. “Still sleepy?” “You bet” Y/N started to drink coffee and after he drank some he got chocolate out and left it open. Everyone expected Peter Parker or Spider-Man was confused until venom appeared and started to eat it. “Y/N STARK WHAT IS THAT!?” “Hm? This? It’s coffee from Starbucks” “no not that! The other thing’ that’s eating the chocolate!” “Oh! My husband Venom? Yeah that’s him,apparently he’s not a parasite he’s a symbiote whatever the fuck that is” “YOUR MARRIED TO IT!?” “YOU MEAN HIM AND YES THE FUCK I AM!” Tony and Y/N argued. “YOU CAN’T BE MARRYED TO HIM!!” “WHY THE FUCK NOT!?” “BECAUSE I’M YOUR FATHER AND I SAID SO AND PLUS I NEVER GAVE HIM BLESSINGS AND ALSO HE EATS PEOPLE!” “NOT ANYMORE!! I TAUGHT HIM NOT TO! AND ALSO I HAVE NO FATHER! YOU NEGLECTED ME ALL MY LIFE TO THE POINT THE WORLD PITTED ME AND I HATE IT SO MUCH SO GO SUCK A DICK AND FUCK YOURSELF!!” Y/N left the room leaving all of the avengers in silent other then the cussing from Y/N getting quieter and quieter by the step. “You fucked up stark”

[willowisbunger]

God Im Sorry (A tapeworm clef fanfic)

Before we begin. This is all for jokes. I am so sorry for anyone who has to read this. Its also just a draft and will be complete at some point. For now enjoy what little I give you.

You find yourself resting on the couch of your dearly beloveds bed quarters. You scroll through your phone looking fondly at old text messages of when you and your husband to be's first text messages. All the ridiculous nicknames you two exchanged, all the flirting, photos, and various other things you two have sent to each other over the years. You couldn't help but giggle. You find it hard to believe this all started cause you decided to help some weird blonde guy with a ukulele out with his broken leg.

You two have been dating for almost 8 years and two months ago, the man, Dr. Alto Clef. He took you on a date. Just a nice simple stroll around the woods, which ended in a nice picnic by a river. In which you saw the man you have fallen head over heels for, get down on one knee and began plucking at the strings of his ukulele. Singing a sweet melody like a song bird in the spring, before pulling out a wedding ring and asking those simple words of "will you marry me". Your heart flutters with glee as you chuckle. You feel giddy and so over joyed with happiness. Right as your giggle fit calmed down you heard the front door open, and there stood your beloved. With a wide grin on his face as he held some folders in his hands. He had a doctors appointment that day since he had been feeling strange. With his face showing his usual bright beaming smile and his three beautiful eyes showing their usual mischievous gleam, it was clear that he was in more than perfect shape.

"Heya there pumpkin. I'm home. And I've got some great news." He spoke in a raspy slightly southern voice. At first it was grating on ya, but now its like all your favorite songs combine into one incredible tune. "Welcome home sweetheart!" You chirped as you ran up to your beloved teddy bear to give him a quick peck to the lips as you hugged him close, "What's the good news teddy? I can tell from that big dumb grin of yours ya got somethin real good to tell me. What did the doctor say?" You said as you affectionately pinched his cheeks causing him to laugh as he took both your hands to hold. "Well besides me being fit as a bull. Looks like I'm gonna be eating for two from now on."

You blinked and tilted your head in confusion, slowly processing the information as you stepped back a lil. "How? Babe I never top and we always use protection. Who-" "Oh no pumpkin. I ain't pregnant" He interrupted, chuckling as he ruffled your hair. "I got a tape worm. The doc took some sonograms of my stomach to see if there were any issues and yeah, there's a lil fella in there. Look." The blonde handed you the folder, which you opened and began reading through and your face turned pale at the sight of the tape worm in the photo of an ultra sound. You gagged a lil as you shoved the folder back into clefs arm. "Babe that's not okay!!!! That's a parasite!!!! Its gonna just keep reproducing and shit and its gonna fuck up your insides." You said quite loudly, usually you were quiet but this, this was making you quite distressed. Your fiancés face turned from a smile to a disappointed frown "I thought you would've liked clef junior....".

You stood baffled at the situation before you. Your dearly beloved, just, accepting and seeming to be happy about the fact he has a god damn TAPE WORM living inside of him. You've seen some shit in your days working for the foundation. A sheet of music that makes people go bonkers and try to bleed, Kondraki -clefs ex- ridding on god damn 682, and other shit that would boggle anyone's mind. But this. THIS RIGHT HERE. Just.... Leaves you speechless. "Pumpkin?" the third eyed man spoke in a concerned tone, which rarely came from him. "Are you okay?" You held your head in your hands as you sat back down on the plush couch and just took a deep breathe, and just as quickly as you sat down you sprung back up, grabbing your jacket and zipping it up. "Babe.... I just.... I need a moment.... I'll be out for awhile.... This is just, strange even for you and I need a moment to think about this." You sped walk past your -potentially ex- husband to be to the door. You shut the door, seeing Clef's face look uncharacteristically sad at you. It hurt you a little to leave your teddy bear like that, but you still needed time to just, think and process this whole situation.

You leave the housing area for researchers and quickly the site as well. You hail a cab and as soon as you enter the bright yellow vehicle you tell the faceless driver to "Take me to the nearest motel." Which he happily complied especially with the hefty tip you gave him. You just, Needed awhile to think and god knows how long that could be so you may as well rent out a room away from that hell site foundation to have a clear mind. After all who knows what might happen. Fucking Dr. Bright could tell you to give it a chance and raise the worm together with your teddy bear or some shit. You never know with this job and the people you worked with. While in your thoughts you rented out a room, room 105. Great another reminder of your hell job, even though it was just the simple numbers of 0 and 5 you can't help but be reminded of your faceless higher ups and the fact you work for them.

You found your room and quickly made your way inside to flop down on the bed, beforehand making sure to put up the "Do not disturb" sign and locking it. You burried your face into the hard cheap pillows of this motel, missing the one you had back at your place with its soft textures and the scent of your beloved.... Which once again brought you back to the worm. That fucking worm. Why the hell was your husband so keen on keeping it? He's at least some form of scientist he should know that tape worms are a dangerous parasite that affect your health. You stare up at the popcorn ceiling just, trying to wrap your head around WHY. Why would your partner; your future husband; the one who knows everything about you and you know everything about them.... just why are they keeping the tape worm?

You of course knew the stuff your teddy was known for, sleeping with that statue after a date, killing a dangerous reality bending child, father to 166 (who you were honestly happy to take in as your new step daughter). Out of everything. The tape worm makes you break. Makes you rethink your relationship with the man you've been dating for years at this point. All you can do at this moment is sigh, hearing the phone in your coat pocket buzz. You pull it out and set it to "do not disturb" as you set the device aside on a night stand. "Maybe I should sleep it off. Maybe I'll have a clearer mind then...." You say to yourself as you threw your coat off and roll onto your side. Feeling uncomfortable in your current clothes but you didn't pack a bag so, you just ignore the discomfort until eventually.... You drift off to sleep. The shallow hum of power surging through the building and the busy city outside envelop you as you feel unconsciousness take over.

While in your state of unconsciousness you hear a silky smooth, deep yet gentle voice speak to  you. "Y/N... Y/N its time to wake up Y/N". You slowly awoke, opening your groggy eyes, what laid before you, you didn't know. They had a handsome chiseled face, comparable to the statues found in ancient Greece with even a similar tone of white marble. They had thick luxurious hair that went down to their waste, rippling muscles that went down both torso and back.... They were ungodly white though. And didn't have legs. You stared at the bottom half and slowly processed what you were looking at..... A fucking tapeworm man. A fucking humanoid tape worm what the fuck. "Im going back to bed" You said as you laid on your side, and tried to ignore the hallucination.

The tapeworm creature, slid over you just to get to the side you were facing. You shivered feeling it’s disgusting body wiggle about. You close your eyes tightly as you did your best to ignore it. You could feel yourself holding back even more shivers as you felt their cold hands touch your face. “Y/n…. Look at me…. I just want to talk.” “And I just want to be left alone and not think about tapeworm men trying to seduce me while I’m contemplating breaking up my engagement.”

[oswald-privileges]

ALL RIGHT BUT YOU ASKED FOR IT

Power of Three as a series is just. full of weaknesses, most of which come down to poor continuity and structure. I'm not gonna try and fix ALL of those, bc that'd be laborious as hell, but I will pick out things that I feel are the most egregious as case studies.

What Po3 does have, tho, is an absolutely shining strength in the concept of its three main characters. After twelve books of Blandly Heroic Protagonist Syndrome, Jayfeather is an absolute godsend. He's angry! He's rude! He's unhappy! He's not nice. I Love Him And He's My Son. Lionblaze has his invincible pride (hah) and emergent bloodlust, and Hollyleaf has her moral absolutism and certainty. These are good starting points for characters. Sadly, the lack of continuity undermines what could have been three really good character arcs.

So! I present to you:

HOW TO MAKE "WARRIORS: THE POWER OF THREE" NOT COMPLETELY SUCK ACCORDING TO MY PERSONAL TASTE; A NON-EXHAUSTIVE, NON-CONSECUTIVE LIST BY ME

ONE

- Have there be a persistant, overarching series threat. Sol is a character with amazing villain potential who does literally nothing except hang around, and do exactly 2 Bad Things completely off-screen. This Is Not Good.

- Instead, have him be present from the second book onwards- initially introduced as a friendly but enigmatic outsider who is slowly revealed across the series to be a complete black hole of a personality, a social parasite quietly rearranging whatever community he's a part of to just-so-happen to benefit him as much as humanly possible. His "preach individualism not starclan" methods are not so much values as one strategy out of many. (to those who know me- yes i have a type. no i will not apologise.)

- Maybe his ultimate goal is to dissolve and centralise the clans or something so that he can live out his life as a political puppetmaster in all the cat-luxury he likes. idk it's hard to imagine overall stakes for this rewrite BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL DOESN'T HAVE ANY

TWO

- For gods sake you don't have a series based on the premise of "the main characters develop super powers" and then only have the second power confirmed by the end of the fourth book. I understand the first book mostly focusing on Jayfeather- his powers are obvious from the start, he's got the strongest personality of the three, he gets access to most of the prophecy plot stuff because of them. But you NEED to have the other two show an interest in something concrete happening to them beyond that, and you need to at least hint towards the other two having something unique to them even if nobody clocks it yet.

- Have Jayfeather tell his siblings about the prophecy by the end of book two at the latest. The amount of time he spends noodling around not sharing it with them is inexcusable. It's not that it's out of character for him to hang onto a secret for a bit, it's just that there's no point and it slows everything down. It would be equally in character for him to go to his siblings and be like "look, i'm SPECIAL. well you as well but ALSO ME". Boy starts off as desperate for recognition, what can I say

THREE

- Have Jayfeather discover that StarClan don't withhold signs or information on purpose for the sake of "building courage and faith" or whatever nonsense. Seeing and communicating the future is metaphysically very difficult, so interpreting signs and messages is a genuine skill, or even an art. The cats of StarClan, however, really are just ghosts, much more similar to living cats than the currently living believe. This is the impotus for Jayfeather's discarding of his reverence for StarClan, which remains consistent throughout the series.

- Have Hollyleaf and Jayfeather both still change their cat careers in the first book, but put place more attention on the fact that they basically switched jobs. Have a scene where they end up yelling at each other, because can't the other see how lucky they have it? The tension breaks when they realise they've both lost something important to them- Jayfeather his chance to prove he's as capable as a sighted cat, and Hollyleaf her path to helping her clan in the way she thinks is best. They commiserate together, and reluctantly promise to do the best they can with their lots, so they don't waste the path the other wishes they'd taken. This closeness is eroded over the series as they disagree more and more on the subject of StarClan and its role in their moral choices and obligations.

FOUR

- Speaking of Hollyleaf! I nearly threw my phone across the room when the first Omen of the Stars book claimed that Hollyleaf "worked so hard to discover her power to help her clan". Where, Ms Erins??? I would have LOVED to have seen that!! Hollyleaf expresses absolutely no concern over the details of what power she has/will develop, and only has a couple of scenes even touching on her ambitions to help her clan. She has some vague ideas about becoming leader and like one scene where she gets to do some leadery things, but that never gets followed up on. What does happen is that the whole "warrior code" thing becomes more and more a part of her personality (for no clear reason) until she snaps.

- Hollyleaf going off the deep end is something I wanted so badly to get into and be moved by, because I could see where it comes from! Her moral certainty is fascinating, especially since it's based in something as abstract as the warrior code- which, when you think about it, isn't really... anything. There's no concrete set of rules that make it up, no traditional wording or cat philosophers, not even any fables. It's a handful of agreed-upon, common sense rules- don't cross boundaries, don't take prey that isn't yours, respect your ancestors, and don't murder. That's it!

- So, combining the above points, I think Hollyleaf not being one of the Three should stay, but both the audience and the characters are given good reason to believe she is. By around the third volume, make it so that Hollyleaf has found that her power is to get cats to "Do The Right Thing"- i.e. what she wants them to do. She sneaks off often to see Sol, who teachs her how to use this power. Her siblings are concerned about this new power, having already gotten a glimpse at what Sol can do, but she's confident that she can only use this power for good. Volume-specific plot happens, Sol manipulates her into causing him to win, she is shocked and horrified, and vows to stick ridgedly to what she knows is right i.e. The Warrior Code

- However, the more fervently she tries to stick to this abstract idea, the less it gives her results, the more her power seems to be failing. Believing that StarClan is taking her power away from her, she becomes caught up in a faith-guilt spiral that puts her in the position to snap at the end of the series. By that point it's clear to her siblings that Hollyleaf has no power- she was just very, very good at persuading people to do what she wanted.

FIVE

- Lionblaze is a girl now because I Said So. This Cat Is Trans And There's Nothing You Can Do About It.

- Her relationship with Heathertail stays the same- childhood sweethearts who are torn apart as they begin to understand the nature of the societal divides that exist between them.

- This can be used to contextualise the whole "half clan/outsider blood" thing as a cultural contradiction. In reality, inter- and outer- clan relationships aren't at all rare. They can't be, otherwise the whole society would be inbred out of existence in like five generations. But if at least one society of humans can spend a good 200 years pretending Sex Is Bad And Sinful Actually then cats can have persistant cat-racism in the face of all logic. Heathertail clocks this contradiction, Lionblaze doesn't.

- Her relationship-to-power arc doesn't need changing all that much either, other than starting much sooner and being more consistent. At first, she's completely overjoyed by her power, since unlike her siblings, it lines up so well with her ambition- become the finest warrior any of the clans have to offer. As the berserker rage aspect becomes more prevelent, she becomes more and more disturbed by the fact that she isn't disturbed by what she can do, and that she doesn't want the escalation of her power to stop.

- Tigerstar still does his thing, but Brambleclaw knows about it. He recognises the signs from when his father used to visit him, and tries to train Lionblaze in his own way. She ends up caught between wanting to be a good warrior, and testing the limits of her power.

SIX

- Jayfeather can stay basically the same because he's my perfect little angy boy and nothing needs to change. His arcs can be strengthened by having a more robust relationship with Yellowfang where they try to out-bitch each other, and coming to terms with his internalised ablism. Maybe he has a chat with Mothwing about faith a couple of times. Him furiously lashing out at being offered help transitions into an acceptence and understanding of his abilities more naturally. He never stops being A Grumpy Old Man.

- All fucking past-lives unexplained time travel goes in the BIN. Doesn't fucking happen. You can have that lore dump sprinkled across the books, or come from going deep into the tunnels and having a surreal meeting. Make it properly eldritch-level scary, shake Jayfeather's confidence in the idea of them being just a bunch of ghosts.

SEVEN

- Have the way Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight present very clearly as parents to the Three be explicitly, textually unusual. One of the things I liked so much about the first series was an almost total lack of emphasis on who was mated with who, and who was related or not. It felt very real to how feral cat colonies form, where raising kittens is a communal job. This gets completely dropped the moment series 2 starts and now the cats have monogamy.

- This emphasis on the family unit and fostering close relationships between parents and kittens is deliberate on the part of both Leafpool and Squirrelflight. Their aim is to cover for Leafpool so she doesn't lose her role as medicine cat- something she already gave up Crowfeather for before she was pregnant.

- In that little bit of backstory, have a robust reason for both Leafpool and Squirrelflight to leave the camp while Leafpool is pregnant and giving birth, possibly one that ties into the present day story in some minor way. I don't know how, it would just make that element of the story a lot more ground than "we left, the kits were born, then we came back and everyone was cool with it"

- When it comes to the "I am Not your mother" reveal, Jayfeather and Lionblaze are confused and hurt that they were lied to, but come to the reasonable conclusion that well, since they were raised mostly by Squirrelflight, saw Leafpool often, and are loved by both, they don't hate her. Lionblaze has something of a crisis over being half-clan, possibly initiating an attempted reunion with Heathertail. Jayfeather is more concerned with how other cats will think it makes him lesser, something he's still sensitive too.

- Hollyleaf, meanwhile, completely fucking snaps at the way her mother Violated Part Of The Code. It's a completely irrational reaction, but expected because she's been growing more and more reliant on The Code for the whole series, and less and less stable in her attempts to aid her clan and train to be its new leader.

- Squirrelflight is the one to murder Ashfur. This is easy to work out while reading- she's literally the only one of the four with a motive who isn't a perspective character. The mystery is less around finding out who did it, and more about why she did it (it's very ambiguous as to whether it was an accident or not). The main tension comes from who finds out when.

- Lionblaze is shocked, awed by how far she'd go to protect the three of them, and reassures her she did the right thing (as a way to salve her own uncertainty over her own longing for violence). Jayfeather makes it all about himself because he's Jayfeather- upset that he didn't know immediately, instead of, you know, figuring it out in a few hours because he can basically read minds. They try their best to hide it from Hollyleaf, who is already rattling around the final volume as a full-on antagonist, but are unsuccessful. This almost costs them something incredibly important- possibly Squirrelflight's life.

EIGHT

- the whole plot with the Tribe Of Rushing Water is a MASSIVE can of worms that could be removed from the series without issue. As it is:

- Characterize the Tribe as uncertain of how to fight other cats, because yes, they haven't had to do this before. DON'T characterise them as pathetic, doing whatever their leader says without thinking, and with ancestors who have Given Up

- Have some of the Tribe be really good at the violence. Worryingly good. Have others be sickened by what they're being asked to do.

- Have some of the clan cats reflect on what they've done. Hollyleaf would be all for introducing this society to jesus The Code, but even she might be horrified at being thanked by a tribe cat who can't wait to get out there and win themselves glory, only to be killed a few hours later

- The Tribe begin a new tradition of marking the walls in the mud they use as camoflage in order to commemorate their battles, and memorialise the fallen. One of the characters reflects on the fact that in a generation or two, the Tribe will feel like it's always been this way. How many of their own traditions- those that feel almost like natural law- started out the same way?

- Have Sol as the leader of the invaders, or maybe having insinuated himself into the tribe as a "mediator" and doing his charismatic cult leader thing.

NINE

- Cinderheart isn't a reincarnation of Cinderpelt. She's just named after her bc Cinderpelt saved her mother from a badger. this is because I think the reincanation thing is stupid and I can't think of a way to make it good.

TEN

- No more using tails as hand gestures like covering people's mouths. Never. None of it. It's expunged from existence.

Disclaimer: I haven't read Omen of the Stars yet, so I can't account for anything that might happen in that series that's grounded in Po3. I'm like... two thirds of the way through the first volume. I'm Not Impressed.

[4ragon]

do you have any thoughts on the dynamic between iris and dahlia??

Ooo that’s an interesting one.

There is a wide spectrum of sibling dynamics in this game. We’ve got the Mia & Maya dynamics, the Apollo & Trucy dynamics, the Miles & Franziska dynamics, but then on the other side of that spectrum we have the Gavins or, case in point, Iris and Dahlia.

Listen. Dahlia on her own is fascinating. Iris on her own is also pretty fascinating. But when viewed as a pair? Good lord. Horrible and awful and deeply interesting all at the same time.

I mean, right off the bat, Dahlia at the age of maybe eight?????? don’t fact check me on that one convinced her father to just Get Rid Of Her? Because they had too many children?? Like. That’s fucked up. That’s horrible. That’s wild. That’s gotta be traumatizing for any child. And it’s gotta at least affect both of them deeply, like. Iris is abandoned for being “An Extra Dahlia” which, you know, I think clearly fucks up her own values, self perception, and self worth for years to come. And then Dahlia knows that she can do this kind of shit and get away scot free, and learns that anyone, even family, can be used and tossed out, that’s not healthy for any child’s development either.

God. Like. Can you even imagine? Your father (a wealthy jeweler by the way, so he has the MEANS to take care of all the children) just deciding he only needed to keep around one twin and basically gives the other one to a convent? What the fuck is wrong with Mr. Hawthorne??? Then of course there’s the fact that Morgan’s constant 4D chess meant she didn’t give a shit about them either, so it’s clearly coming from all sides in this family.

Honestly, I think Iris being given up by the Hawthornes was probably the most formative moment of her life. Like, on the one hand, she gets Bikini, who is this kind, motherly woman who actually cares about her. On the other, I think it really cemented in Iris’s mind that she is the Extra Dahlia, the extraneous twin who doesn’t have any value in herself. Dahlia, too, I think internalized that. Iris is the extraneous twin, the less important twin. She’s the shier twin, the weaker twin. Of course, Dahlia also sees the rest of the world like a tool to be used, but I think that goes double for Iris because she’s where Dahlia learned to think that way.

Then, of course, there’s Iris’s various ‘betrayals’ of Dahlia. Like, Iris does some pretty heinous shit for Dahlia, so it’s interesting to see what she draws the line at. She agreed to help steal the diamond and frame a man for it, but chickened out at the last second. Dahlia almost died, and Iris felt horrible about it, even if Dahlia is the one who put herself in that situation. Iris later agrees to date Phoenix under a different name to get the necklace back, and comes to realize that she would be willing to betray Dahlia again to save Phoenix, I assume both out of guilt and love. Like, that’s a lot of extreme stuff she was doing for Dahlia, and a lot of people she was betraying for her.

And again, I feel like her becoming “Dollie” is just another part of her being unable to become her own person, her being the “extraneous twin”. She gives up her identity for Dahlia, to ‘protect’ Dahlia in her own way. She didn’t care about Phoenix initially, she only cared about Dahlia having to dirty her hands, having to stain her soul.

Really Iris is always perfectly willing to sacrifice herself in all her interactions. She goes with Godot’s plan, willing to sacrifice herself for Maya. She sacrifices her own autonomy and identity to date Phoenix for months. I don’t think she really knows how to live for herself after everything she’s been through with Dahlia.

On the flip side, it’s very interesting to pick apart “Iris’s” dialogue after the switch. The first time through it’s hard to catch it, but once you know where the switch takes place (namely when they put up more trick locks in the inner temple), you can really see a lot about how Dahlia views Iris. 

I already talked about Iris’s guilt toward her sister, but a lot of the dialogue about her guilt are actually Dahlia pretending to be Iris. (Not all, just most.) Iris was scared and ran away during the heist. She betrayed her sister, and that’s why she deserved any and all punishment she received. It’s a little hard to parse out which parts are Dahlia playing the role of Iris and which parts she truly believed, but at the end of the day, her focus on guilt and betrayal was what she went with when pressed about ‘her sister’ while in her disguise.

Like. There’s absolutely some anger there. Iris was the one who betrayed Dahlia, after all. Iris was at fault. Iris was weak. I really wonder which parts of her Iris imitation were accurate? If Iris had expressed any of that to Dahlia?

I do think it’s interesting how outwardly similar they present themselves. Dahlia takes so much, she even takes Iris’s personality and wears it like a mask. She knows how to play the victim, how to be sweet. Actually, how much of Dahlia’s presentation is her imitating Iris, and how much of Iris is her taking from her sister?

Anyway, there you have it. A rather parasitic relationship if you ask me. One sister who makes sacrifice after sacrifice, and one sister who does nothing but take and take. 

Man. What a fun game.

[yeahimaloser]

“You should probably go home.” “But I’m already home.” With Dabi 🥺?

Hi! I’m sorry this took so long, I have a lot going on right now.

Warnings: reader gets hurt

Reader has no pronouns mentioned/ anyone can read :)

But still, I hope you like it :)

Requests: closed

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pressure.

Pain.

That's what you felt when the hero hit you, knocking you down.

You were in a fight against a few strong heroes, and you had to admit that their powerful skill set took you by surprise. 

You being in the league of villains had to say something about your skillset, but your quirk was a long-range type, not used for short-range.

Yet, this was not the first time this had ever happened to you. 

You seemed to always be the punching bag of some sorts when it came to fighting. But the league always had your back.

You expected this to be an easy fight though, not one where it was very likely you could get extremely injured. 

You felt yourself thud against the ground, hitting your back, making the air in your lungs deplete. 

Your chest hurt so much, you felt like your lungs were knocked out of your body.

The hero must have activated their quirk when they hit you square in the chest. 

“Y/N!” 

Dabi’s voice sounded so far, so far gone from you.

You just wanted to rest, to rest your eyes.

You just felt so much pain, it hurt. 

You just wanted to rest.

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

Dabi didn’t know what to do, should he stop and help you? Should he continue fighting?

He opted for the second choice, he seemed to be better equipped to handle fighting then helping the person he had feelings for.

But as he was about to burn the ignorant hero’s to ash, Shigaraki stopped him.

“Dabi,” Shigaraki said to him, “stop, we have to leave. Twice and Y/N are down, grab one of them and let’s go.”

Dabi growled, but he wanted to make sure you were ok.

Shigraki and the rest of the villains held the hero back, giving Toga and him the ability to take Twice and you back to the base. Dabi couldn’t tell if he was upset or relieved. Upset because he couldn’t burn that hero to a crisp, relieved because it seemed like you were ok.

A part of him hated the fact that he had feelings for you, the other half of him loved it.

You were like a drug to him, putting him into an ecstasy like state whenever he felt your presence.

Yet, just like a drug, when that ecstasy wore off he just felt pain. 

Pain from never being able to have you, the pain of one day maybe even losing you.

He could never have you because even if you did want him he would just screw everything up, he just knew it.

His best option was to just push you away, in his mind that made the most sense.

But still, he couldn’t deny how much he cared for you, and although he hated it, it felt like a need for him. The need to protect you. And he had failed that need.

“Fuck,” he said to himself, “I’m sorry sweetheart, I’m sorry about all this.”

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

When you opened your eyes, you were met with a dim light.

You tried your best to sit up, but pain pushed you back.

You brought a hand up to your chest and then laid back down on the bed that you were on.

You looked to your left side to see Twice laid on a different medical bed, he didn’t look very good either. Looking to your right, an empty seat was vacant next to you.

You felt an itch in your throat, but when you tried to cough you were just met with pain.

So you relented, deciding to just lay down in silence. Yet going to sleep was impossible.

So you let your mind drift, you let it drift to Dabi. 

Dabi

You wouldn’t say your feelings towards him were anything like a crush, more like a parasite you tried desperately to get rid of. And you were fairly sure he had some sort of feelings for you as well, but you two seemed to have a mutual, unspoken agreement to not talk about your feelings to each other. It just seemed so complicated, and you felt as though a relationship would just distract you from your missions. And… you didn’t want to get attached.

It was stupid, your fear of getting attached to him. But you had seen his kind before, as soon as he felt as though you were boring, or as though he could find someone more entertaining, he would leave. 

But part of your heartfelt differently, maybe deep down he was just a troubled soul. Maybe deep down he was a good man.

Dabi was a complex and mysterious man, both factors drew you in and made you wary of him.

And even if he did feel something towards you, what would he even do? He was a lot like you in that regard. Both of you just seemed to doge the whole situation.

And then you thought of how you first were introduced to the league, how you left your home to fix this ignorant and idiotic society. You felt as though stains ideology was something to uphold, which was another thing that made you have an interest in Dabi.

You heard someone enter, but you were so exhausted, so you just decided to pretend to sleep. You didn’t have the energy to greet the person that had entered the medical chamber.

But yet, you felt the person stand over you. And then you heard the mysterious perpetrator sigh.

You recognized that sigh, it was Dabi. 

He sat in the chair next to your bed, “Damn you, what the hell were you thinking? Running in like that,” he let out another sigh, “I hate this you know. Falling for you was the worst decision I’ve ever made.”

You felt your heart jump, you wanted to say something but your words seem to die in your throat.

“Do you know how hard it is? Having to pretend not to care? Because I’m so scared of how I could lose you? I thought,” he took a shaky breath, “I thought pushing you away at first was best.”

You recalled your first mission with Dabi, in all honesty, the whole night went perfectly.

Dabi had to be the best company you’ve probably ever had. He was down to earth, yet in a way, he seemed so far away like he had something to hide.

He had told you about his past, yet he was very vague about the whole thing.

“My father, he was a bastard. He hurt my family,” he let out a cold laugh, “I thought about killing ‘em. I plan to, he deserves it after what he did to me and my family. He used me, he used me for my quirk. I don’t even think he feels bad about it either.”

You put your hand on his arm, “I’m sorry, really I am. You shouldn’t have gone through all that, I mean it.”

Dabi looked at you shocked, as though no one had ever told him that he deserved more. That he deserved to have better.

In turn, you told him about your home. How you were planning to go back. How it was there, waiting for you to come home.

After that, it did seem like he tried to push you away like he was scared of you. You didn’t understand. Did you cross some sort of boundaries? Did you say something?

Dabi continued, pulling you back to reality. “But I couldn’t stay away. You were intoxicating, I was a moth to a flame. Jeez,” he chuckled lightly, “That’s so fuckin’ cheezy. I was annoyed with you, pulling me in, making me care. You fucked up my plans, doll.”

You heard the rustling of the chair, and before you could process what your hand was doing, you grabbed his arm.

“Wait,” your voice was itchy and raw, but you continued, “don’t leave.”

Dabi looked shocked, but only for a moment before putting on his cold exterior.

“You heard all of that,” he asked.

“Yeah, I did.”

You sat in silence for a few moments, before Dabi spoke.

“You should probably just go home.”

You looked at him, confused, “You told me once you have a home you can go back to,” he continued, “so why don’t you? You keep getting hurt, and,” Dabi’s hands threaded his hair, “I don’t know what to do about it. It would just be easier if you just went home. Forget all this, forget me. Go live a life you feel safe in, live a life that you're happy about. Just go home.”

You smiled at him, and brought your hand up to his cheek, “But I’m already home. You are my home. You’ve been glued to my mind, your all I think about, all I want. Damn me getting hurt, who the hell cares.”

Dabi put his hand over yours, leaning closer to you, “You’re very stupid.”

You leaned closer, “So are you.”

His lips felt rough, but his actions were soft. Like he wanted to show how much he cared, how much he felt. 

How much he loved you.

[sock-drawers]

does anyone follow the happy sugar life tags? if you do hello and have an info dump.

happy sugar life and love:

the central theme of happy sugar life is love and how people perceive love. all of the characters perceptions of love are what caused them all to be obsessed with shio. all of the characters perceptions of love are warped by their world view and their upbringing. this is just a simple breakdown of how all the characters perceive love and why it causes them to be obsessed with shio.

satou: (tw for mentions of abuse)

satou was raised with a emotionally manipulative aunt who had a warped perception of love herself. satou’s aunt taught satou that the abuse her aunt endured in the hands of her many lovers was just their way of showing love. satou was taught a different perception of love by society, causing satou to sleep around but was only left with a feeling of bitterness. this also ties into the sub-theme of purity (although that theme is definitely more present in taiyou)

when satou met shio a light went off into her head. finally satou found the love that she had been craving for so many years and this love was not bitter. shio herself was perfect, innocent, **pure**. shio was nothing like her aunt or her aunt’s lovers. shio was light itself to satou. satou finally felt the happy sugar life she dreamed of. and she will do anything to protect this happy sugar life.

satou has never felt the pure love for anyone except shio. satou finally saw something pure, something perfect. shio is the complete opposite of everything her aunt represented. shio was the only thing that could make satou feel pure. satou didn’t get that bitter taste she got from other relationship. this is why she latched onto shio and why she went so far out of her way to protect shio.

but in the end it was never about shio, the relationship was only meant to be beneficial to satou, another theme present throughout the show. shio wasn’t satou’s love, shio was the purity that satou wanted in her life.

taiyou: (tw for mentions of sexual assault)

taiyou was a fairly standard guy, he was handsome, charming, he had everything he wanted in life. that all ended once his manager (a woman who also had a warped perception of love) raped him. now taiyou wasn’t what he was before. now taiyou was not perfect. not pure.

to taiyou, shio represents the purity he so desperately wants back. shio is what taiyou wanted to be. pure, clean, innocent. shio was the only thing he felt that could “fix him” although deep down he knew nothin could.

same as it is for satou, shio is not the actual thing he wants. he wants the innocence and purity that leeches off of shio. taiyou doesn’t want shio, he wants to be shio. he wants to be in her position and be the innocent, pure one.

purity was the only thing that made taiyou feel loved. the moment taiyou didn’t feel pure, he felt unloveable. purity was love to taiyou.

asahi: (tw for mentions of abuse)

asahi also grew up around people with a warped perception of love. his father was abusive and his mom could very easily flip a switch. his mother could easily blow up at him or be the sweetest person on the face of the earth. this caused asahi to not feel loved. due to the intense physical abuse his father put him through he felt as if he was not pure.

the difference between satou and taiyou and asahi is asahi isn’t protecting shio out of his own selfish desires. asahi is protecting shio to keep shio from being what he is. asahi wants to protect that purity shio has, not take it for himself or leech off of shio like a parasite.

asahi is showing his love for shio by trying to give her the life he wish he could have. asahi slightly projects himself onto shio, giving shio what he wish he could’ve had.

another part of asahi feels guilty for not being there for shio in the first part of her life, causing him to almost spiral into obsession with finding her, allowing him to be manipulated by others.

but in the end none of this matters to asahi. asahi’s mother showed her love for asahi by enduring the abuse asahi’s dad put her through, giving up her own well being for her children.

all of the happy sugar life characters represent a different part of satou:

shio: her innocence and purity

asahi: her protectiveness over shio and her need to right the wrongs her aunt did to her

taiyou: her facade and how it comes crashing down

the manager and teacher: a more fucked up version of her

all the characters in happy sugar life represent satou in some way or another. a lot of the characters in the show mirror her and her personality traits. almost every character also holds a piece of satou’s personality. by mirroring the characters off of satou it makes her more likeable and justifies her actions in the viewers mind, even if her actions are explicitly not justified.

shio herself represents satou in her early life. they’re appearances even mirror each other and they look incredibly similar.

shio represents who young satou could’ve been without her aunt’s corruption. shio represents the purity and innocence that satou herself no longer has, so she uses shio to supplement that.

asahi represents satou’s protectiveness over satou and her regret in life. asahi holds a lot of regret for not being able to help his mom or stop his dad. he also holds guilt for not being there for shio.

asahi’s life goal is to get back to shio and help her. at the end of the series you see asahi snap and freak out over shio. asahi will do anything to get shio back with him at this point. just like satou does to protect her happy sugar life.

taiyou represents satou’s corruptness and her lost innocence. taiyou recognizes the purenees that comes from shio, and he wants that for himself. similar to how satou hoards shio’s innocence for herself.

taiyou values pureness, just like how satou does. they both value the innocence in shio. satou values that because it is a pure relationship with no ulterior motives, like the many relationships she had been in before. taiyou values it because he feels the need to take shio’s pureness for himself.

(tw for mentions of sexual assault)

the teacher and the manager represent the fucked up part of satou that most people know her as who have seen the series. a pedophile. the difference between the manager and teacher and satou is that satou is only interested in the romantic part of her relationship with shio. also that we are lead to hate the teacher and manager and love satou

the teacher attempts to lure satou into an alleyway and openly admits to cheating on his wife with multiple women. he represents the older part of satou.

the manager raped and kidnapped taiyou and she represents what satou’s aunt implanted in her brain. the toxicity of the manager represents her aunt. and again, they even look similar.

the manager even makes satou look better by comparison when satou tells her “you’re not supposed to go after underage kids.”

the way the writers make the other characters mirror the worst part of satou makes you want to root for satou. by making the teacher and manager worse than satou it’s very easy to say, “at least she’s not like them”.

like it or not shio is safest with satou in the series. with her mother she would be abused by her father, with asahi she would be homeless, taiyou openly admits he would rape her and she’s too young to be out there on her own.

all of this makes satou incredibly sympathetic to the viewer, by portraying her as a lesser evil it’s easier to see why she does what she does. not only that but satou also has the added plus of being a cute teenaged girl. even the manager says to her, “you can’t get everywhere in life by being cute.” but she can, and she does.

by making satou not good nor evil in the viewers eyes it makes her a much more interesting character and by mirroring the other characters off of satou it makes her more sympathetic because the people you’re rooting for have elements of satou in them.