#Everyone's trying to love and support Julian

[lady-sci-fi]

Found some good analysis for "Distant Voices" Garashir stuff on the episode's Memory-Alpha page.

"Linking this episode with "The Search, Part II", we can see resemblances in Garak's behavior. The common point between those two mental experiences being Bashir, it can be assumed that Garak's bravery and helpfulness in "The Search, Part II" is probably a projection of Bashir's perception of him. "Distant Voices" keeps in tune with "The Search, Part II", as we get to see a projection of caring, protective Garak again. Additionally, beyond his facade of kind tailor, Garak is a home-longing exiled Cardassian – just as Bashir longs to recover his body and life in "Distant Voices" – and, since "The Wire", Bashir knows just how much pain Garak endures from being stuck on DS9. The close relationship between the tailor and the doctor sets Garak as a target for the Lethean to try and manipulate Bashir by corrupting the projection of Garak. For all those reasons, Garak could be Bashir's determination and endurance – another reason why the Lethean would target this aspect in particular, as his goal was to trick Bashir into giving up."

I agree with it. It's also my interpretation, like this analysis also implies, that Garak was legit, until the Lethean took him over when they get to Ops near the end.

I love Garak being Julian's determination and endurance. As further evidence, Garak is the most helpful and supportive out of everyone. Like Julian knows he can count on Garak to get him through it no matter what. Everyone else might leave him or die, but Garak? Garak is with him to the end.

And what does Garak say to Julian in the final scene after he wakes up? "Cardassians don't believe in luck, Doctor. You survived because you're strong." Expressing determination and endurance.

[walkingstackofbooks]

5 times Julian watched Miles die (and one time he didn't)

When a bar fight goes horribly wrong, Julian does everything he can to save Miles. It's not enough. Miles dies, and Julian is left bereft and distraught. But this is a time loop fic, so when he wakes up the next day, Julian finds the universe has given him another chance to save his friend... And another... And another. There are many ways for Miles to die on a space station, and however much Julian tries -- furiously repressing his ever-increasing grief and dread to focus on this so-important task -- he just can't seem to stop the endless cycle. It doesn't help that, although his feelings are really too much to deal with, his friends keep pressing him to open up to them. He's fine, he insists, until he really isn't, and discovers that he does need a shoulder to cry on after all. Grief, hope, rage, hurt, comfort, despair, joy... A roller-coaster of emotions accompanies Julian through the most challenging six days of his life, and he is so, so tired.

Sound like your kind of story? Within the next few weeks, my fic 'Vision Awry' - a remix of the DS9 episode 'Visionary' - is going to start updating again, so now's the perfect time to go and read the first half! 😉 (while it's still a manageable 50k... :P )

From the end of September, I'll be resuming my regular posting schedule every week until the story reaches its conclusion - so if you're looking for a feels-y Julian WIP to subscribe to that will have both •definite updates, and •a definite end, may I shamelessly recommend that you give my fic a whirl? I am incredibly proud of it, and am so excited to be on the verge of sharing the rest of it with you all ���

[w0rrcestershire-sauce]

had a dream about an episode where robin was confirmed canon trans got mad when i woke up

[serialkillerbettycooper]

Top 6 Penelope Blossom moments

6. Lesbian Nun Era Every time we haven't seen a television character in a while it should be revealed that they became a nun and realized they're gay. No exceptions.

5. Husband Poisoning Love to see her pulling a Clytemnestra and killing her husband as revenge for her child, especially given the fact that she was groomed from childhood to be his sisterwife. He had it coming <3

4. You're Killing People. Not People, Men. Her Jennifer Check slay. Also her turn as a serial killer is so funny to me she faces zero consequences for any of it until she decides she feels like it and turns herself in.

3. That Time She Put The Core Four Through A Death Gauntlet I'm going to be real with you. I barely even remember why she did all that but I fully support her. Putting everyone in dramatic outfits? Slay. Making Archie fight some guy dressed as a bear? Queen shit. Making Beronica drink poison for each other? Lesbian rights. Shooting Hal Cooper? Iconic.

2. Popping Out Of The Walls to Tell Cheryl She Murdered Their Entire Extended Family The fact that this is probably the nicest thing she ever did for Cheryl speaks volumes. Also addressing her affectionately as Nightmare Child.

1. Living In The Walls To Try Gaslight Cheryl Into Thinking She Was Being Haunted By Her Secret Triplet Julian Incredibly unnecessary. Extremely dramatic and for literally no reason except to fuck with Cheryl's head. Mother of the year.

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

The Arcana HCs: M6 when MC calls them their husband/wife/spouse

My silly little sequel is here:

M6 planning their wedding with MC

You know, because there was that trend for a bit and they're all down bad for MC/you

Julian

It took you a while to work up to doing it

Not because you were nervous about him having a bad reaction, everybody who has met him knows how much he loves you

No it's because you know his reaction will be so dramatic and you need time to mentally prepare

You know he loves when you take the lead on things, so you let it slip at the Rowdy Raven while you're ordering drinks at the bar

"Yes I'd like that please, and my husband will have a salty bitters. Put it on my tab."

His shrieking puts Malak to shame

"Husband? I'm your HUSBAND?? Did you mean it??? YES!!!"

He's expressing himself in every way at once: laughing, shouting, dancing, "singing", punching the air, spinning you around

All the regular patrons are wondering what secret concoction he ordered, he walked in the door ten minutes ago and he's already on the tables

When did he find the guitar

Give the guitar back to the nice musician, Julian

You're able to herd him back to your regular table and calm him down a bit but you've never seen him giggle constantly like this

After you've had your drinks and left the tavern the walk back home takes twice as long as usual because he needs to tell everyone that he's properly taken now

*bumps into neighborhood acquaintance* "Hey, how are you, I'm their husband!"

Rumors of the beloved Dr Devorak's clandestine wedding are circulating now and he is living for it

He did sit you down and talk about getting married in the future after this

If it's something you were interested in, there are only two reasons he hasn't proposed already:

One, he keeps overthinking and self sabotaging

Two, he's waffling between letting you sweep him off his feet with a proposal or him proposing and getting to make it as grand as he wants to

Asra

Let's be honest here, if any mortal person ever embodied unconditional love, it's him

They gave up half their heart just to have you back in the land of the living, no strings attached, and if you ended up choosing someone else over them, they would support you as long as you were happy

If you're with him though that means you chose him, and he is so so happy

They also love mischief of any kind

You didn't hesitate to try it out once it occurred to you

He walked in from his busy day out as you were closing up the shop, taking off his coat and scarf

"How's your day been, MC?"

"Better now that my spouse is home!"

They stumbled on their way to the tea pot and you could see the blush spreading across the back of their neck

"O-oh, you don't say?"

The dimples are out in full force when he returns with your tea

"Tell me then, MC, how exactly does this spouse of yours make your day better?"

They are going to act on every response they tease out of you

"Is it the way he brings you things to make you smile?" *lays out trinkets he picked up for you while he was out*

"How about the way your spouse kisses you good evening?" *slides an arm around you with a flirtatious smirk*

He's playing it off so smoothly but the blush takes several hours to fade

It'll stay on their mind for a while though, until they circle back and ask you if marriage is something you'd want in the future

If the answer is yes he's getting things in place so he can propose as soon as you're ready to be asked

Nadia

She already introduced you to her family as the person she wanted to marry someday, it's in her plans

She's letting you set the pace for that though, and she's not in a big rush as long as you two belong to each other

Which is why it falls off your lips so casually while you're having afternoon tea on the veranda before she has to host a reception that evening

"I don't know Nadia, if what you say about my reputation is true then those nobles should know better than to give my wife a difficult time tonight."

At least you think you sound pretty casual, you had to rehearse that sentence a few times in your head and your palms are sweating under the tablecloth

She freezes and her eyebrows shoot straight up

"Oh my, MC, how bold of you."

Then she's blushing and laughing and pulling you closer

"Pray tell, when did you begin thinking of me as your wife?"

She's flirting with you but she's also trying to figure out if this is a sign that you're ready to get married yet without putting you under too much pressure

If the answer is no, you're not ready yet, she'll tell you to take all the time you need

But she'll also ask you to call her your wife just one more time, to help her wait

If the answer is yes, you feel ready to marry her, she is gearing up to announce your engagement that evening and reaching for the ring she's been carrying around just in case

This Countess knows a good thing when she has it and she's not wasting any time to make you hers in every way possible

Muriel

Have mercy on his poor heart, he's still getting used to being in love in general

Once you've been in an established relationship for a while though, you start to notice what a wonderful partner he is

He's always happy to help with any heavy lifting or out of reach objects, he makes breakfast for the two of you most mornings, and his favorite moments are when you're curled up next to him

Once your brain assigns the words "husband material" to him you can't unsee it

So when he sees you getting ready to scale the shelves for a bigger wooden bowl and he lifts it down for you, you just can't help yourself

You kiss him on the cheek and thank him kindly

"You're such a wonderful husband, Muriel."

He walks right outside and faceplants into the nearest patch of moss he can find to cool off the blush

The chickens are a little startled

Inanna is laughing at both of you in wolf

You'll have to go after him to make sure he didn't short circuit and apologize for catching him off guard like that

He will want you to explain what you meant right away

If your answer is just that you noticed what a good partner he is and that it just slipped out he'll be bright red and very happy to know that he's successfully treating you well

If you end up admitting that getting married has crossed your mind a few times and you could see that happening with him he's going to need a minute (read: 24 hours minimum)

He's going to ask Asra about it

Somehow he's surprised when Asra's response is an offer to officiate the wedding

Muriel will come back after a bit and quietly let you know that yeah, he's thinking about it too, and it doesn't sound like the worst idea

Portia

In her mind you two are basically married, I mean, you have her back, she has yours, you saved the world together and confessed your undying love to each other, there's not much more to do

You even travel the world and negotiate alliances with other nations together

So you don't think it'll be a big deal if you try it out

You love her "out and about" pirate-esque outfit, and she loves it too

But ever since she wore it to that banquet with Aunt Tasya and Vesuvia's ex-council, the belittling comments she got about it come back to bother her every now and then

You notice she's fidgeting a little before you head out the door for an evening on the town and decide to hype her up

"Damn, you look good! Give me a spin! Look at her Pepi, is my wife the best-looking woman in Vesuvia or what?"

Neither of you expected for it to affect her as much as it did

Her eyes and mouth are wide open in shock, because to be honest?

Getting married hadn't even crossed her mind

But it was starting to sound really appealing, really fast because it meant you got to call her your wife every day

She's giggling and squealing and confused at her own new obsession but very very happy

She won't bring it up right away because you two are about to have the best date EVER and she's about to burst with pride

But she'll bring it up eventually

If your response is that you just felt like calling her that, she's happy. She will request it be a new nickname for her though

If you say that it had crossed your mind a few times, she'll be nervous and excited and very open to heading in that direction

Lucio

He's been married before, it was meh

(A/N: forgive me please, Nadia is not meh, Nadia is a goddess amongst us mere mortals, Lucio recalls their marriage as being meh because there wasn't any love between them)

ANYWAYS (pls don't kill me for real, Nadia fans are top tier and I am but a poor panicking pansexual)

He prefers to leave things in the past, and you're still helping him take the future into consideration, so long-term commitments like marriage aren't even on his radar

Really you just decided to call him that to mess with him a little

You chose the wrong moment for it though, you really did

You were stopping by the palace between gigs to check in on everyone and Nadia invited you to stay for luncheon

Lucio can't say no to a potentially fancy meal and you're happy to chill with a dear friend for a bit

Nadia forgot to mention that she invited Asra over as well, since they're in town and she knows they'll want to see how you're doing

Lucio is reminiscing about some fantastic party trick he pulled in the banquet hall you passed by on your way in and you decide to mess with him a bit

"Yeah, that sounds like something my husband would come up with."

Just as Asra is walking into the room

They're okay with your relationship, they really are, but it's going to take quite a while for Lucio to prove himself worthy of your full commitment

They still worry that he'll regress and it's important to them that you have a way out in case that happens

"WHAT-"

They're not angry, they're freaked, and to be fair Nadia is too

You hurriedly explain to everyone present that you were just messing with them, you didn't know Asra was there, you're sorry, etc

Lucio's not helping. He hadn't thought of marrying you before, but think of the party! Think of the bragging rights! Now everybody knows you chose him!

"Yeah, you heard MC! I'm gonna be the best husband EVER!"

The palace staff collectively refers to the fallout as The Incident

[miss-may-i]

Miss May I: Season 5 Part 41

Richie: Bella! Bella, come back here!

Richie: Bella, what's going on with you lately? You're not acting like yourself. You've always been emotional, but not like this.

Isabella: Is it so wrong that I love so deeply?

Richie: If it's causing you this much pain, then yeah. Is this about your parents?

Isabella: It's not even just them, it's everybody. Everyone is moving on with their lives and there's no place for me.

Richie: Well then--

Isabella: I know what you're going to say. That I need to move on with my life too, but how?

Richie: How about we talk about this inside? Believe it or not, but I really do love you and don't want you catching a cold.

Isabella: *Sniff*

Isabella: Okay.

Isabella: I guess I just never saw things turning out like this. I always thought I'd live with my parents until it was time for us to live together. Then we'd all be one big happy family. But now... Now I don't even know if I believe in marriage. What's the point if everything can just ... end?

Richie: It's true a lot of marriages end in divorce, but a lot don't either. I admit, I'm not ready to get married right now. But that's also why I'm here. It's so that I can get a good job and give you the life you deserve. Marriage, a big house, cute clothes, kids. I want these things as much as you do, but to do it right takes a lot of work. And I'm not going to go through all of this work just to throw it all away and get a divorce however many years from now.

Isabella: I know and I really appreciate how hard you're working. I do, I really do. This is just hard for me. You're here at college, and Damian and Julian are always working.

Richie: I know you have your heart set on being a stay at home mom, but getting a job, even if it's part-time, or some hobbies really wouldn't hurt. You're a great friend, daughter, girlfriend, and I know you'll be a great wife and mother, but who is Isabella the individual?

Isabella: I guess that's what I'm having a hard time figuring out...

Isabella: How did you figure out you want to get into business?

Richie: Well, it was a few things. I wouldn't say I'm passionate about business, but I knew I'd need a good job to support you. Plus, I'm smart and know I can do it. I like the challenge.

Isabella: Wow, it all sounds so cool when you put it like that. What about for someone who's not very smart?

Richie: You're smart ... in your own way. You'll find something. You just won't know what it is until you try it.

Richie: How about this: you stay the night here then I'll drop you off at the bus station tomorrow before my first class?

Isabella: I do.

______________________________________________________________

Previous | Beginning | Next

Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4

Family Tree

*Last few poses by @bmit04*

[thefishermansharbor]

The arcana as parents!

The arcana x GN!Reader ( Asra, Lucio, and Julian will be in part 2 )        TW: Mentions of pregnancy. 

Portia Devorak:

She wouldn’t care whether you adopted or had biological children. 

If you had the child yourselves, she’d be really supportive and gentle with you but still try to keep you entertained during your pregnancy. If she got pregnant instead, she’d want to keep working and keep exploring - only really stopping when she’s physically unable to keep up with her tasks.

If you adopted a child, she’d want to adopt a baby, since she has an attitude of ‘ try everything at least once! ‘ and she’d want to try taking care of an infant, just to see if it was as magical as people say it is.

Portia wants to name her children something meaningful. She’d definitely try and convince you to let her name the child after Mazelinka if it was a girl, and Julian if it was a boy. 

She’s definitely the fun parent. She’s willing to try anything that her child suggests - even if she knows it’s stupid. She loves getting wild with her kids, and making sure their childhood is packed with fun, albeit chaotic, memories.

However, under this, she’s a deeply kind and caring mom. She really loves her child, and is behind them in anything they do undoubtedly. She really wants them to know that she’ll support them no matter what happens and why. She wants them to follow their dreams, and live their lives to the fullest.

You’re at a festival. Specifically – a music festival. Your youngest daughter, Mariam ( named loosely after Mazelinka ) is performing for the first time. Your wife, Portia, squeezes your hand excitedly as you watch your little girl go onto the stage with her piano. 

“ THERE’S MAMA’S SUPER STAR!” She shouts from the audience, before the show can even begin. Mariam notices this, and waves excitedly before she’s ushered over to the center of the stage.

“ oh, look! She’s doing so good, she gets her talent from you. Can you believe that’s our seven year old? I was eating dirt at her age!” Portia jokes, whispering.

“ mhm.” You whisper back, watching carefully.

“ I’m so proud! She’s absolutely amazing at this. I’m so glad that milady gave me the day off for this.” She says quietly to you. She wouldn’t ever want to ruin this moment - but she can’t contain herself. She’s just overjoyed at your daughter’s performance. 

Once the performance is finished, Portia claps longest and loudest out of everyone in the audience. She practically zips through the crowd to get her daughter, giving her a tight bear hug. 

“ You’re wonderful! You’ve got such a talent, honey. Mama’s so very proud of you, and ____ is too!”

Your little girl hugs her back. “ mommy, you’re hugging me a little too tight.” Mariam admits, beaming back at Portia. After a while, Portia lets go. 

“ We should do something to celebrate your awesome skills. How about we go out for a fancy dinner now?” Portia grins. 

“Okay!”, Mariam takes her hand, grinning back. You follow behind the two of them, wondering how you got so lucky.

Muriel the outsider:

I’m sorry, but he would only have biological children if they were an accident. He’s just too anxious to deal with the fears and possible dangers that happen with pregnancy. Plus, he also doesn’t want other children to ever go through what he went through living on the streets as an orphan.

If you do get pregnant by accident, that’s fine. He’d never leave you to deal with a child by yourself, He’ll be there for you and care for you to the best of his ability ( which isn’t a lot because he’s insanely nervous. )

But if things go to plan, and you adopt a child - he doesn’t give a single damn what age or background they are. For him, it’s about making sure that no child has to go through the loneliness that he suffered from.

Doesn’t mind what they’re named. You can take the reigns with that if you’d like, but if he has to make the decision he’ll ultimately name them after something in nature. 

Due to his dangerous childhood, he is a tad overprotective and over affectionate. It’s all good intentions though, he just doesn’t ever want to see his child unhappy or suffering. That’s why he tries to prevent them from getting into any situation that could potentially be dangerous to them. 

Even if Mars would have to crash into the earth for the situation to even possibly be dangerous. He’s just taking that extra precaution! 

“ No, Ivy, don’t touch that.” He says softly, watching his toddler try grab a rose. She doesn’t register this at all, and continues to try and rip the flower out of the soil. 

He walks over, and carefully picks her up. She’s tiny compared to him - he can hold her with one arm. She squirms around, babbling and trying to get back to the plant. 

“ I know, Ivy. But roses have thorns, and they might prick your fingers.” Muriel murmurs. You come up next to him, and kiss him on the cheek, carefully taking your daughter into your arms. 

“ Have you been causing trouble today, baby?” You ask, she simply babbles and grabs onto your shirt in response. 

You then look over to Muriel, he’s silently admiring the two of you. He loves you both so very much, and there couldn’t possibly be a more comforting sight than this to him. 

“ Hi, dear.” He whispers, “How’s your day been?” 

“Not too interesting. Working as the castle Magician has been awfully boring.. I’m glad to see you guys.” 

He nods, and brings you into a hug, kissing your forehead. You would hug him back - but you’re still carefully holding onto your daughter. She’s holding loosely onto your sleeve, staring up at you with big curious eyes.

“ Isn’t she lovely?” Muriel asks, he couldn’t have possibly found a more genuine happiness. He can’t even register your response, he’s just so in awe of how content he is with his life and how there are so many wonderful people in it. He truly wouldn’t trade what he has now for the world. 

Nadia Satrinava:

Would much rather adopt as well. She finds it invigorating to know that she’s providing a home for those who need it and living up to her goal of being a selfless leader and person. 

If you were to have biological children, she’ll spoil you during your pregnancy. She’ll spoil you as if there’s no tomorrow - getting you anything and everything you might need or want. If she’s the one who gets pregnant, she’ll have Portia take over some of her duties as countess while she works towards term. She doesn’t want to overwork herself and hurt her child, but she still has lingering guilt that she isn’t working.

If you are to adopt, she would rather adopt a slightly older child. One who could walk and talk already, merely because she’s afraid that her duties as countess would prevent her from teaching her child those immaculately. 

Would want her child to have an important name that displays their personality and suits them. She’d have to meet her child first before deciding on a name, and choose one accordingly.

Is a calm parent but also a voice of authority. She’s the one who gives your child a scolding if they step too far out of line, but it’s always level headed and reasonable. She’ll be mature and never make your child upset. 

What’s the one thing she wishes to instill in your child? She wants them to have a good education. She wants them to be educated, and have good self - advocacy skills. 

“ Noam, have you been studying?” Nadia asks him quietly, sat across from him at the table. You’re sitting left of your lover, and right of your son. She skims through important documents and he doodles on his notebook, smiling.

“ Yes, mama. I got a 90% on my math quiz today.” He says proudly, smiling.

She looks up, grinning back at him. You notice how he inherited her smile, and it makes you let out a soft chuckle. 

“ Wow! I’m so proud of you, Noam. You’re an excellent boy.” She gushes, putting down what she was working on. You nod, backing up her words 100%. “ You’ve never done as well as that before, good job!” 

He beams at the both of you, “ do you really think so?” He asks timidly.

“Of course.” Nadia says, “ you’re my precious boy, and I’m so proud of you.” She walks over, and kisses him on the top of the head. 

“ – I tried my best.” He said proudly. 

“ That’s all I ever ask of you, hunny.” She says, running her hand through his hair and messing with it. He laughs. You smile at the two of them.

[ramblingandpie]

HOKAY SO On the "Pie watches DS9 for the first time" tour, tonight I'm going to ramble about something that's been in my head since I watched it, just, stuff percolating.

Major spoilers for season 3 episode 13, "Life Support," under the cut.

So part of the reason I am loving DS9 is Julian Bashir. They really did say like "Ok take some of Pie's favorite tropes and also favorite areas of academia and roll them up into one (1) repressed twink." And I love that for me.

So for those who don't know me IRL or, like, well over the internet, I fucking love bioethics. It is my jam. One of my biggest regrets in life is that I didn't even know that "clinical bioethicist" is a job that some people can do until I was in my mid-30's and I don't have enough formal philosophy training to get into a good bioethics grad program. I am an attorney and I work in healthcare regulation, which is close enough, I guess. I've written huge research projects about the history of the eugenics movement on aspects of modern health law. I'm also an MPH student. If I win the lottery and can then not worry about money but just do what I love, that's probably what I'd go back to school for. So, like, when I say that bioethics is my jam, I also am not just being an armchair philosopher. Am I the level of a clinical bioethicist? No. Have I done full bioethics consult simulations? Yes.

And, yes, I do have some spoilers for Dr. Bashir And Bioethics And Maybe Why He Cares So Much About Patient Autonomy and hot damn they really did take my favorite tropes.

AND HO BOY did this episode give me a lot to chew on.

Basically, there are 4 "pillars" of clicial bioethics. Patient autonomy, beneficience (the benefits of treatment), nonmaleficience (do no harm), and justice (what's right for everyone involved [not just, like, patient family, but also things like medical supply rationing]). Patient autonomy is HUGE and IMPORTANT and the biggest thing is like... allowing patients to make their own choices with as much information as the patient can have, even if that choice is "I don't want to know." Which presents difficulties. BUT here, Bareil was like ok yes doc tell me everything ok yep I'm choosing to take this course of action that means I'll probably die. Because it's important to me and my values. Which. LEGIT.

AND THEN I got worried because my man Bashir was like I have concerns but it's your call, dude. AND THEN HE WAS LIKE HEY WINN I NEED YOU TO LIE TO THE PATIENT????

NO??? Don't lie to the patient, Bashir! I'm so disappointed!

... UNTIL he was like "Because you benefit politically if he dies you're not a neutral informant so fuck you." And then I was like OH SNAP!!!! Because! One of the ultimate goals is to try to distill what the PATIENT wants, not what the folks around them (who might have ulterior motives) want!!!! So ok yes in that case you might be like "Hey I need you to balance what you did by doing this other thing so that the patient can look at the situation as a whole without a third party trying to get something out of THE PATIENT'S DEATH."

So basically that episode was like crack to me THE END.

[ghostieeeee]

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟗: 𝟓𝟎 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐎𝐒

ᶜᵘᵗ ʰᵉʳᵉ ✄-----------------------------------------

ᶜᵘᵗ ʰᵉʳᵉ ✄-----------------------------------------

Word count: 352

Warnings: none

ᶜᵘᵗ ʰᵉʳᵉ ✄-----------------------------------------

The library was a sanctuary of your own mind. So crowded and yet so empty. Books pile against one another for support, carpeted floor stained from those who sneak food into these private walls. This was your safe haven during every break - and occasionally - after school for essay catch-ups. You rarely come here alone since being by yourself in this area felt off without at least Kazuha. However, as it appears, being here with someone new felt even weirder than being alone.

“So how far did you get with your part last night?”

You hum, looking up to the girl sitting beside you. “I only got a few more paragraphs done before my sister had to ruin my focus. Sorry” you offer Haerin a shy smile, so which she faintly reciprocates.

“It's fine. We still have plenty of time to complete this. I'm basically always free so please use my number when you feel like you need my help on anything or if you want to meet up to discuss anything”

“Thank you, Haerin. I honestly don't know how well I'd be coping if I had anyone else as my partner”

Haerin takes a moment to hum, nodding “honestly, me too. Getting someone - anyone else from that class just seems like such a nightmare waiting to happen”

“Especially the louder ones”

“Everyone in that class is loud” she grins, knowing she was in a place of being purely correct. “I probably would've just done all the work myself to prevent the migraine of having anyone else in that class run my head along the walls about being confused”

You laugh lightly, trying to remain quiet for those who came to focus, much like you and Haerin. Although, it's quite apparent there wasn't a whole lot of focusing going on between you two, but that hadn't stopped you from slowly progressing through paragraph after paragraph of carefully constructed sentence after sentence.

Somehow, time passed faster than you could've ever anticipated, and with it, came a time for Haerin to leave. Your farewells fell short, and soon enough, you were alone in the library.

ᶜᵘᵗ ʰᵉʳᵉ ✄-----------------------------------------

: Dating in a high school full of love thirsty teenagers was never really something you wanted. But of course, things change- and you learnt that in more ways than one. Kim Minji, one of the more popular students. Hong y/n, probably the most invisible person alive. They couldn't possibly be dating… or maybe they could be? You never know what goes on behind closed doors.

ᶜᵘᵗ ʰᵉʳᵉ ✄-----------------------------------------

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 | 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 | 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓

ᶜᵘᵗ ʰᵉʳᵉ✄-----------------------------------------

𝐓𝐀𝐆 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: [𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍]

@jeindall777 @kazuhatheloml @thefckghost @everydayiloveyves @nasyu-kookies @justdelulumeh @ehcyps @iloevroacksand @winteresss @haechansbbg @minjiluv3r @idkwhatim-doinghere101 @imahallucination11 @sserajeans @lesleepyyy @jennasluma @kaypanaq @kingfellshort @pandafuriosa60 @haexrin07 @awkwardtoafault @huhyunjinwifey @haerinkisser @ivers01 @julian-han @honestlysana @impossiblesharkcashrebel @nnewjeansstuff

[themushroomgoesyeet]

For the first installment of this series, let's start with something easy!

Arcana characters as Disney princesses/princes

Julian - Flynn Rider/Eugene

These two are so similar istg

Dashing, dramatic, swashbuckling rogues with dry humor and a secret, insecure soft side?

The only difference between them is one is ginger with an eye patch and the other isn't

Honestly Eugene would probably be a good pick for a voice hc tbh

Oh hey they're both orphans with big brother vibes too look at that

Asra - Elsa

White hair? Check. Water-related magic? Check. orphans? Check. Unconditional fashion style that doesn't really match everyone else but still looks drop-dead gorgeous regardless? Check

Both of them also have familial abandonment issues and feel the need to isolate themselves from the people they love instead of confronting the problem smh

I will admit their romantic interests are a bit different, with Asra being bisexual and Elsa either being a lesbian or aro/ace at best

Both of them have also been described to have seductive singing voices 👀

Nadia - Princess Jasmine

We👏stan👏 headstrong 👏 independent 👏 middle eastern- inspired👏queens👏here👏

Ngl Jasmine is one of my favorite Disney princesses & she & Nadia would definitely hit it off

Both feel stuck in their respective lives while also wanting to rule, and try to take action for themselves whenever they can

Also both of them would look absolutely stunning in an outfit swap

Muriel - Hercules

Honey you mean HUNK-ules

I know Hercules isn't technically a Disney prince but he fits Muriel too well

Big and strong but shy and genuine at heart? Hell yeah

Their reactions to fame are a little bit different but they are the same when it comes to falling in love; both are so gentle and genuinely caring, and can't stop gushing about their partner

Also amazing idols for how men are supposed to treat women - a.k.a with respect

Both have a heathy amount of respect for their partners modesty (even when said partner is trying to seduce them on purpose), as well as their partners autonomy to make their own decisions

Not to mention they both have estranged families that they didn't know about, and a supportive animal companion

Portia - Rapunzel

I know some of you might be thinking "why not Merida? They look so alike with their frizzy mop of ginger hair!" Well, dear chat, let me explain

While they may look similar, Portia and Merida do not act similar. Merida is rebellious, headstrong, and airheaded, fighting her loved ones on everything and doing what she wants regardless of the consequences until said consequences come back to bite her in the butt. Portia on the other hand, while also headstrong, is spunky, kind, and takes others feelings and opinions into account instead of doing the first daring thing that comes into her head

Which brings me to Rapunzel. Admittedly, Rapunzel is a lot more sheltered and inexperienced about the world than Portia was but they are still kindred spirits. Curious, spunky, headstrong, kind, compassionate, and unafraid to fight for themselves.

They're ready to take on the world even if they don't know enough about it

Both also have evil and manipulative family members (ik Mother Gothel isn't Rapunzel's family; she was still the one who raised Rapunzel & Rapunzel considered her family long enough for it to count in this situation)

Both also meet love interests who guide them through the part of the world that's unknown to them, be it magic for Portia or the world as a whole for Rapunzel

Lucio - Merida

remember all those traits I listed for Merida? Yeah Lucio fits those

Merida and Lucio may be hella good warriors, but boy are they stupid sometimes

Both also have mommy issues™

Both are also wildly inexperienced with magic and should really be more cautious about it

Both just go "oopsies" and expect everything to be fine because of their status when it's never fine

Can you tell yet that these two bother me lol

Both were brought up in a Scottish-sounding culture and you can't change my mind

[oakwolves]

And Then I Go and Spoil it All By Saying Something Stupid Like I Love You, Part 3

Part 1

Part 2

Warning, this chapter is really long!

Rosalyn slumped back in her seat, far behind everyone else in the auditorium as she watched Ace take the stage. As the crowd of students roared with applause, she flinched and pulled her braids against her ears.

“I gotta say, this last month at your school? Magic,” Ace said once the applause had died down. “You welcomed me with open arms, elected me as your Council representative, supported my initiatives…”

Rosalyn felt herself zoning out a little as Ace continued to butter up the student body.

“Psst, Rose! You alright?” Autumn asked, bringing her back to attention.

“But we've got work to do. You've all heard. There have been... problems,” Ace continued with a serious expression.  “Just to name a few? Cafeteria food safety issues. The locker rooms found in violation of the fire code. Fights breaking out downtown, started by students from our school.”

“Our school,” Rosalyn sneered mockingly under her breath. Autumn leaned in close to her.

“Our classmates wouldn't start fights! That can't be true!” she whispered.

“He’s just trying to make us look bad again,” Rosalyn grumbled.

“After that recording leaked, no one really believed Rosalyn about Ace... and he cashed in on that to win the replacement election by a landslide,” Sakura added to the right of Rosalyn.

“Tale as old as time,” Rosalyn sighed.

“The fact that everyone thinks Ace rescued the Hearst trophy sure didn't hurt his cred,” Julian said.

“I still think we should’ve left the trophy at Kepler just to stick it to him,” Sakura huffed. “Now he can make us look bad enough to convince the council to propose to the board that we get shut down.”

Ace continued on, pacing the stage with a restless energy. Rosalyn would’ve found the act endearing if she weren’t so consumed with disdain.

“We have to clean up this school, set things right,” he went on. “We just need the courage to trust and believe in each other... together, we can restore this school to its full potential.”

At this, the auditorium erupted into loud applause. Rosalyn flinched and kept her head down until the noise finally died out. Her classmates started to file out of the auditorium, a few lingering to speak to Ace at the stage.

“I’m gonna go see my boyfriend,” she said, moving away from her group of friends.

“You don’t have to call him that when he’s not here, y’know,” Sakura called after her.

“It’s still so weird seeing them together like this,” she heard Autumn say before she went out of earshot. She fell into step with Ace as they walked out of the auditorium. He broke into a grin upon spotting her.

“Rosalyn, glad you made it to my little press conference after all. I was a little worried when I couldn’t see you in the crowd,” he said, holding her hand in his.

“I left my ear plugs at home and you know I can’t stand loud noises,” she said, fixing him with a blank stare. Ace chuckled before gently rubbing her shoulder with his free hand.

“You should’ve told me. I would’ve gotten you the finest ear plugs money can buy, Rosie.”

Rosalyn rolled her eyes, leaning towards Ace as a few students passed by.

“Stop coddling me. You’ll have me believing you actually care about me.” The last of the student body had finally gone out of the auditorium, but Rosalyn remained by his side. He pulled her closer and slid his hand from her shoulder to the small of her back. Rosalyn allowed the gesture.

Ace took a glance at his watch, a smirk starting to form on his lips.

"You know, I have a couple minutes before I have to get back to Kepler. How about I walk you to your class?"

Rosalyn nodded, and the couple walked together down the hall like any ordinary pair of high school sweethearts. Ace kept her beside him, their arms bumping with a familiarity that she could only pretend not to notice.

They stopped in front of Rosalyn’s classroom, pausing before stepping inside.

"I guess this is a parting of the ways, then." Ace gave her a sly grin.

“Guess so,” she said, heading inside without another word.

At lunch, Rosalyn took her own meal from her locker and made her way to one of the colloquially named “Nerd Hangouts”. When she got there, her friends were already hanging around.

“And the Black Widow has returned from the dark side,” Nishan commented.

Autumn giggled as Rosalyn rolled her eyes at the nickname.

“It’s not like I’m in cahoots with The Devil Himself,” Rosalyn defended.

“You kind of are, Rose,” Nishan said with a shrug.

“Still doesn’t change the fact that you’re dating the enemy, Rosalyn,” Julian pointed out.

Sakura gave Rosalyn a worried look as Rosalyn settled on the couch next to her.

“How did you feel sitting in that audience, watching him give that speech?” she asked.

Rosalyn shrugged as she opened up her food container.

“If I’m being honest, it was kind of nauseating watching him talk about all the ‘good’ stuff he’s done for this school. He’s good at it, though, so I'll give him that.”

“How can you even stand being around him?” Autumn asked.

Rosalyn took a spoonful of some gumbo into her mouth, chewing for a few moments before swallowing.

“It’s kind of amazing what I can put up with when I have an endgame in mind.”

“Well, you keeping Ace occupied came in handy,” Wes said, pulling several papers out of his bag and slapping them on the table.

“Isn't that the city's official letterhead?” Autumn asked as the group peered closer.

“Copied them from the archives. These records show that our school passed health and fire code regulations as recently as a month ago.”

Rosalyn set her spoon down on the table, looking at Wes. “How’d you get a hold of all this?”

Wes smirked, ruffling the girl’s hair. “That is of no importance. The important part is what we’re gonna do with this evidence .There's no way our school went from being just fine to a safety hazard in the span of three weeks. From what I can tell, Ace has been making a lot of interesting phone calls. I'll bet he pulled some strings to get the inspection results changed to his liking.”

“So,” Mia piped up. “What’s the game plan, Rosalyn?”

Rosalyn picked up the papers, looking through them with a smirk.

“We show it to the people.” She sat back down and continued eating her gumbo. “After lunch, though.”

“Everyone's been too charmed by Ace to believe you, but maybe now…” Julian mused.

“Yeah, these records show that all our problems only cropped up after Ace took office. It's the proof we need!” she said excitedly as she finished up her food. She looked out the window of the hangout, seeing some students eating lunch on the quad.

“No time like the present,” Mia said, nudging Rosalyn towards the door. “Let’s get the truth out there.”

Wes stood in front of the door, crossing his arms.

“Hold on, Rosalyn. Be careful about going after Ace. Everyone loves him. He's the new... well, you.”

Rosalyn scowled at the comment.

“What do you mean by that?”

Wes shrugged. "He's this school's biggest hero. He rescued the Hearst Trophy, he saved your reputation when that audio leaked, he won the Council election. He's got a lot of fans, and there's no telling what they'll do if they think you're trying to frame him. It especially doesn’t look good since you’re ‘allegedly’ dating him."

“Fine… no dissing Ace…for now.” she relented as she moved past him and exited the hangout space.

With her papers in hand, she made her way to three students sharing a pizza on the bench. 

“Rosalyn, what’s happening?” a girl said. She pulled off a slice of pizza from the pie and held it out to Rosalyn. “You want a slice? It’s vegetarian!”

“Ah, no thanks, I’m pretty filled up on gumbo actually,” she said with an awkward laugh. “I was just thinking about all the stuff that's been going on at our school. The fire code violations, the cafeteria shutting down, the fights…”

Another classmate  frowned, shaking their head. “Yeah, I can't believe anyone from our school would go around starting fights! What happened to peace and love?”

“I'm sure Ace has a plan to fix things. I mean, he worked out the yearbook budget problems with one phone call!” a guy said with confidence.

“Sounds like him. He secured a venue for our annual jazz showcase the same way. Ace is a real stand-up guy…” the first girl agreed.

Rosalyn’s heart ached to hear her classmates speak so highly of him. 

“Right, I know Ace can work miracles, but...” she began, pausing before continuing to speak. “I think you should look at this...”

She pulled out the health and fire code records and spread them on the table.

"What's all this?" the first girl asked.

"Our school passed these inspection tests just a month ago... But suddenly, our cafeteria gets shut down and our locker rooms are fire hazards? Don't you think that's a little weird? Especially since they came right AFTER Ace became our student rep?"

The classmates stared at the records for several moments. The three students exchanged a nervous look, like they didn't want to believe Rosalyn's claims.

"You don't really think..." the second girl began.

"Ace wouldn't do something like that," the guy said.

Before Rosalyn could respond, someone brushed past her and got in between the small crowd of students.

"Is there a problem?" Ace asked.

Rosalyn's eyes widened as Ace approached them, his charismatic demeanor only growing in presence and intensity. The group of students turned to him, their eyes flickering between him and Rosalyn. Rosalyn gave him a saccharine grin.

“Oh, we were just talking about some stuff I was looking into. I think you might know more about it,” she said.

Ace’s smile only grew as he glanced over the papers on the table. He smirked, taking them into his hands and skimming over the information laid out in front of him.

"Looking into these inspection records, huh? What a wonderful coincidence. Did you happen to uncover anything unusual...?”

“Apparently, our school passed the fire and health code inspections just a month ago,” the guy piped up.

“But now we have all these problems... how did things go bad so quickly?” their other classmate asked, casting a worried glance at Ace.

“Yeah, Ace, how did things get so bad?” Rosalyn said, struggling to hide the taunting tone in her voice.

Ace’s smile flickered as he met Rosalyn’s gaze, holding it for several moments. She could see a flicker of annoyance in his eyes, and he looked away, holding up the papers.

"Well, it's simply put. It's because of me.”

The group gasped, stunned by Ace’s sudden admission. Even Rosalyn was caught off guard by his words.

“I… What?” Rosalyn looked dumbfounded.

“You heard me.” Ace said, putting on his charming smile once again. “ When I assumed office, I did a thorough audit and uncovered a host of issues. Someone was very invested in covering them up.”

He didn't outright accuse her, but the look he gave her was damning.

“Ace, what are you saying?” she demanded.

“Rosie, everything’s gonna be fine,” he assured her, placing his hand on her shoulder. “You’re the heart of this whole place, you were the driving force behind this school's growth! Of course you didn't want anybody to find out about all the problems that come with expanding too fast. No one blames you for letting them fester, right?”

“Rosalyn, is this true?” the girl asked sadly.

“No, I–”

“It’s water under the bridge. All that matters is that we’ve caught these problems in time and can nip them in the bud. We’re going to get this school right on track.”

Their classmates murmured in agreement around them.

“Word. A few hiccups won't stop us!”

“It's gotta be tough work, playing the whistleblower... but I appreciate it, Ace.”

“Yeah, we can't just ignore our problems! We have to fix them, and move forward!”

The three of them cleaned up their table and headed to the nearest trash can, leaving Rosalyn with Ace at the table.

“Rosie, why the underhanded tactics? I’m your boyfriend, we can just chat. You know I always have time for you.”

“You can stop now. We both know who you really are,” she snapped. His grin dimmed, and he gave her a hard stare.

"Watch your step," he said.

“You don’t scare me,” she said, matching his steely gaze.

Ace chuckled, his smirk growing smug.

“You don't scare me either, Rosalyn.” They stood there in an extended silence, eyes narrowed and jaws set.

Their little staring match was interrupted by a voice calling to them from across the quad:

"Hey, lovebirds!"

Ace turned to see Wes approaching.

“Wes,” he said with a tight smile. “It’s been a while.

"Mind if I cut in and steal Rosalyn for a bit?” Wes asked.

“Not at all,” Ace said. “We were just finishing up anyway. She’s all yours.”

Wes pulled Rosalyn back to the hangout , looking concerned as he spoke in a low voice.

“What was all that about?  Did you tell people about the papers?”

"I tried," she said, shaking her head. "As soon as I spoke to the group about them, Ace barged in and fed them all that crap about me."

“Alright,” Wes sighed. “We’ll figure something else out. What’s going on with this ‘relationship’ you’ve got going on with him?”

Rosalyn frowned, looking anywhere but Wes.

“Same as usual, obviously. I’m playing him like he’s playing me,” she muttered.

“Does it really feel that way?” he asked.

“Yes, okay?” Rosalyn snapped, avoiding his gaze. “I’m handling it, alright? Everything’s fine…I just need to hold out until we can put a stop to him. And then it will be all over.”

Wes let out another sigh, resting a hand on her shoulder.

“I don’t buy it. And I don’t think you do either. This thing you’ve got going on with him… I don’t like it, Rosalyn.”

Rosalyn scowled, pulling away from his grasp.

“Well, you can drop it. I’m a big girl, I can handle myself.”

“No, I know you don’t. Why don’t you just call the whole thing off?” he asked, his voice laced with concern. “We could make it work in our favor. You dump him, it splits our friend group up because we ‘liked’ him, we have a public fight, and I take the opportunity to get close to Ace?”

Rosalyn scoffed, shaking her head vehemently.

“No! I can handle this. I am handling this,” she asserted. “Stop treating me like I’m all helpless.”

Wes held up his hands in a placating gesture.

”I’m not, I’m just worried about you. This isn’t like you, this charade. You’re just digging yourself deeper.”

A pause.

“You don’t have to do everything on your own, here. You’ve got me. Let me help. It’s my fault you’re in this mess to begin with.”

Rosalyn let out a bitter huff, staring off at the distance.

“No, this is my mess. It's my school. And I am going to be the one to stop Ace.”

She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, her expression softening. “But… I appreciate it.”

Wes studied her for a moment, still unconvinced. After a beat, he sighed once again and let go of her shoulders.

“Just be careful, okay?”

Rosalyn mustered a small smile, patting his arm.

“I will. Thanks, Wes.”

After school, Rosalyn was in the library studying with Mia and Payton, but between her near-altercation with Ace and her conversation with Wes, she found herself unable to concentrate on her books.

Mia, who noticed Rosalyn's distracted state, leaned over and gave her a nudge.

"Hey, Rosalyn? You okay?"

Rosalyn snapped her head up, startled. She forced a smile to her face, pasting on a false air of nonchalance.

"Yeah, totally fine. Just feeling a little distracted today."

“I still can't believe he has the nerve to act like that!” Mia grumbled.

“Ugh. Ace is like a knock-off Gucci bag. One close look, and you know he's mega fake! Why can't people see the truth?” Payton agreed.

“We need stronger, more concrete proof,” Rosalyn said, gripping her pen rather tightly. “I just need more time to figure it out-”

Just then, Julian and Nishan burst in.  Nishan collapsed to the floor, wheezing. The librarian looked up from his magazine to shush him.

Nishan quickly switches on the TV, turning up the volume on the local news channel. Julian paces around the library study room, agitated.

“This is really bad, Rose,” he said. “He’s escalated.”

As Rosalyn turned her attention to the TV, a chill ran up her spine as she saw a reporter hold out a microphone to Ace.

“Yikes, you guys need to warn a gal before you expose me to his face,” Payton said with a grimace.

Ace looked straight at the camera as he discussed the latest scandal to plague Lakeside.

“Evidence suggests these acts of academic dishonesty have been going on for months. But rest assured…I will do everything in my power to disband this cheating ring!” Ace declared.

Rosalyn clenched her jaw, her frustration growing with each word out of Ace's mouth.

"Looks like he's really enjoying his newfound sense of power, huh?" Payton sneered.

“We hold a zero tolerance policy towards academic dishonesty. I won't let this incident tarnish the good reputation of our school,” Ace continued on screen.

“Bullshit!” Rosalyn snapped, slamming her hands onto the table. The librarian shushed the group once more.

Nishan put a comforting arm around Rosalyn's shoulder.

"Hey, keep it down, alright?" Julian said, shooting a nervous glance at the librarian.

"Easy… I know he's full of it, but you don't want to get kicked out!" Nishan warned.

On the TV, Ace continued to speak with a grave look on his face.

"I have no doubt this problem is isolated and won't expand. We're going to address all concerns and investigate any and all leads."

The news switched to a shot of the adult school board members sitting outside the principal’s office. Rosalyn noticed her father was not among them.

As the reporter droned on in the background, Julian sat down at the table next to Rosalyn, his brow furrowed.

"What’s your dad got to say about all this?” he asked quietly. “I don’t see him in that crowd.”

"I... I haven't even begun to explain everything to him. And now he's finding out at the same time everyone else is." Rosalyn said. “Even if it’s all lies, how could I tell him that things have gotten so bad?”

Nishan patted Rosalyn’s back, an understanding look on his face. “Hey, don’t blame yourself for not telling him everything. Ace has been running rings around all of us.”

The news switched back to focus on Ace.

“As a Council representative, I can confidently say that this school is a treasure. A diamond in the rough…” Ace said, his voice breaking a little. “And I will fight any proposed measure to shut it down!”

“What? Who said anything about shutting us down?” Payton spluttered.

“He’s planting the idea in the board’s minds. He’s pulling an Inception on them!” Nishan exclaimed.

“I can understand our classmates being this gullible… but the board won’t fall for this… right?” Julian asked, sounding a bit less confident than Rosalyn felt comfortable with.

As her friends continued to talk, their voices faded away as Rosalyn focused on Ace on the screen. He seemed to be looking right at her.

“Some say that this school can't be fixed. That its students would be better served at other schools in the district…” he continued. “But I don't think so. This school is meant for greatness!”

Ace flashed a grin and a confident wink at the camera right before Mia turned off the TV.

“That’s enough of that,” Mia huffed.

“He’s putting his final play into motion,” Rosalyn said without looking away from the screen. “I need to stop him.”

“I looked it up, and the Council needs a unanimous vote to pass any measure petitioning the district board,” Nishan pointed out.

“Then we've still got a chance. We just have to get the other Council members on our side,” Rosalyn said. “Ace has Remi under his thumb, and Asher would love to see our school shut down... but I can talk to the others!”

Rosalyn took off the moment school let out the following day. She weaved in and out of traffic as she made her way to the all-boys school of Apollo Academy. There, she found two district council members Zero and Owen shooting hoops on the court.

"Hey, Zero! Owen!" Rosalyn yelled out. “Wait up!”

Both boys looked back at her, sweat trickling down their faces as they jogged over.

“What's up? You wanted to talk, Rosalyn?” Owen asked.

“Sorry to hear about your school. Tough times, huh?” Zero added sympathetically.

“About that... Ace mentioned a proposal to shut down my school. Would the Council really consider that?” Rosalyn asked.

Owen frowned as he said, “I hate to say it, but... because of your school's problems, our district's been getting a lot of bad press. We've been rejected for several programs and grants already.”

“Everything that our district has achieved is being undermined,” Zero continued, shaking his head. Rosayln scowled at the two of them.

“So if my school gets thrown to the wolves it’s alright?” she demanded.

Zero held up a hand. "Woah, woah, woah. No one said anything about throwing you under the bus."

Owen nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we're all on the same team here.”

Zero shrugged, looking back and forth between Rosalyn and the basketball waiting to be dribbled again. 

“Look, we're sorry to hear about your school, but we have our own schools to think about. This is for your classmates' benefit as much as it's for ours,” Zero explained.

"It won't be so bad. Schools close all the time... and yours hasn't even been around that long. You guys would just transfer to other schools! You're always welcome at Twin Branches, Rosalyn! We're cool, I promise," Owen said.

“We'll make sure to really think this through. It'll all work out,” Zero said with a sympathetic smile.

Rosalyn bit back her anger and forced a strained smile. "I... appreciate the offer. But we'll survive. And thanks for the time, I guess..."

Ignoring Owen’s farewell wave, Rosalyn spun on her heel and walked out of the school. She clenched her jaw tightly, silently fuming. She needed to talk to Kara immediately.

Rosalyn tracked down Kara at cheerleading practice on the Hearst football field. When she caught sight of her, she turned away, hiding her face.

"What do you want,  Rosalyn? Don't you have anything better to do than follow me around?" she demanded.

“That’s not– fuck, never mind. I need to know... can I count on you to vote against any proposal to shut my school down?”

Kara gave her a haughty smirk. “Sorry, Rosalyn. But Lakeside isn't exactly BFFs with Hearst. I'm happy to see your school drop off the face of the earth.”

“Christ,” Rosalyn mumbled, before switching her strategy. “Kara, I know we've had our differences. But there's a school full of people I care about that's going to close its doors forever. There's nothing I can do to stop it now, but you can–”

Kara rolled her eyes. "Stop your sobbing and have some self-respect, Rosalyn. I’ve had enough of your pity parties. When are you going to get it through that thick head of yours? Your days are numbered. Your school is finished. And good riddance to it. We’re better off without that stain on our district."

Her eyes were piercing, but Rosalyn could see her slightly tremble as she spoke.

“Kara… does… does Ace have some dirt on you?” Rosalyn asked suddenly.

“I... I don't know what you're talking about. Now get out of here. I have to practice,” she said dismissively.

“Kara, come on,” Rosalyn pressed, but Kara held a hand to Rosalyn’s face.

“I enjoyed our little rivalry, Rose. It was fun while it lasted.”

Her next stop was Bridgette, the rep for Athena Academy. After texting Bridgette,  she met her  at the tennis courts. Bridgette easily won a match before walking up to Rosalyn for a break.

“I saw the news about that terrible cheating scandal... Am I correct in thinking that this was orchestrated by Ace?” she asked.

Rosalyn nodded grimly. "Yeah, you’re absolutely right. He’s using this situation to try and shut my school down. And it looks like the rest of the Council is falling for his crap."

“Have no fear. So long as I sit on the Council, I will never allow your school to be shut down,” Bridgette declared.

A little lightheaded with relief, Rosalyn pulled Bridgette into a hug. 

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she gasped.

Feeling a lot better, Rosalyn drove home. But before she could take her helmet off, she got a text from Mia, asking her to get to her house as soon as possible.

When Mia opened the door to her, Rosalyn could hear the sound of sobbing. After Mia let her inside, she could find Bridgette on the couch crying into a handkerchief.

“I called as soon as I heard,” Mia said with a frown.

“Bridgette, what happened?” Rosalyn asked.

“She got kicked off the Council. One of the Athena admins dug up some rule that forbids being on both the student council and the district council,” Mia explained for her crying cousin.

“I... I was certainly not expecting this. It has been quite a shock..” Bridgette sniffled. “I’m really sorry, Rosalyn.”

Rosalyn’s heart sank. “It’s…. It’s okay,” she said, trying to give Bridgette a reassuring smile, but all Rosalyn could feel was disappointment. The only Council member she could count on was gone.

“This has Ace's fingerprints all over it. With Brigette gone, no one's going to block that proposal of his. Now what?” Mia asked.

“I’m gonna get Ace out of power,” Rosalyn declared. “This begins and ends with Ace...Even if you got your seat on the Council back, Ace would find some other way to get rid of you. He won't stop at anything until he’s stopped.”

“It certainly does seem that Ace is adept at pulling the strings,” Bridgette mused, wiping her eyes.

“I'm sorry you got caught in the crossfire of my war with Ace... but I promise to put an end to this. He's played puppeteer for the last time,” Rosalyn.

She suddenly got a text from Wes.

"How are you holding up?" he asked.

"Not great. Bridgette, who I thought was going to be our deciding vote on the Council, just got booted off with some stupid rule." Rosalyn replied.

“Meet me at Wings Atomica in 15 minutes,” he said.

Rosalyn nodded and headed out. When she arrived at the Wing Wing, she found Wes already at a table for two, waving to her. She took a seat opposite him, a bowl of wings in between them. "Well, I’m here," she said. “Will the board really shut us down if the Council asks them to?”

“I don't know. The district isn't happy with us, but shutting down an entire school... that's a last resort. Right now, the board could go either way,” he answered, taking a wing from the bowl.

“I'm not leaving this to chance. We have to stop Ace from even passing the proposal! We'll have to discredit him to break his hold on the Council.”

“All we have to do is prove that Ace is the kind of guy who would frame our school…” Wes said.

“What do you mean?” Rosalyn asked. Wes placed the now meatless chicken wing on a napkin and sighed. She could see an almost wistful look in his eyes.

“Look, Ace didn't just start being Ace when he met you... he wasn't always this good at playing puppet master. He was sloppy. If we can't prove what he's doing now, then we just go back and find a time when he wasn't quite so perfect.”

“Got it,” Rosalyn said, determination in her features. “Leave it to me.”

The next day, she found herself in front of Ace’s office.  Once again, Ace was buried under a mound of paperwork on his desk.

“Hey,” she said softly. “You got a few minutes for your girlfriend?”

"I thought you didn't like the whole girlfriend act when we were alone?" he teased. "What changed your mind?"

She shrugged. “I've been thinking... Maybe things are better this way. Pretending we’re a thing and all...”

Ace raised an eyebrow. “Really now. Why’s that, Rosalyn?” he asked, leaning back into his chair.

“It’s... easier, when you’re with me,” Rosalyn said. “I got used to it. The... affection and support and stuff. I don’t think I can go without it anymore. And when we fought in the quad over those stupid papers, a part of me was afraid of losing that.”

Ace smirked, letting out a chuckle. "If you're trying to butter me up into not getting rid of your school, you're doing a poor job at it. I thought you were better than this."

Rosalyn feigned shock. "Ace, how could you think that? I just wanted to... spend some time together. We can talk about business later. I just wanted to be... a normal couple."

"And we are...?"

“You’re the one who wanted to ham up this romance to begin with,” she said, an eyebrow raised.

Ace closed his notebook and looked directly at Rosalyn. "Rosalyn, why are you really here? The last time we spoke, we almost fought in public. But now, out of nowhere... you decide you can't live without me?”

"It wasn't out of nowhere," Rosalyn protested. "I just... had some time to think about it. And I realized how much I've been missing, being mad with you. The... the little things. Being able to hug you whenever I want... I just-" She let out a breath. “I missed being with you. Like how we used to before this whole internship nonsense got between us.”

Ace let out a scoff... before letting out a sigh. "Alright... I can see you're not in the mood for games. And I suppose I haven't exactly been Mr. Perfect Boyfriend lately either."

"You haven't," Rosalyn muttered. "That's the understatement of the century. But... I don't want to fight. I'm tired... I've been tired for a long time. Can we just... I don't know, relax for a bit? Just... be normal."

Ace regarded her with a contemplative look. "Okay," he said after a while. "I'll bite. What do you have in mind? What is Miss Rosalyn Brinkwater’s definition of normal?"

Rosalyn sat down on his couch. "Normal... normal is us watching trashy movies, eating pizza, and falling asleep together. Normal is waking up in your arms..."

At this admission, Ace looked almost... nostalgic. "And when was the last time the two of us did anything like that...?" he said quietly.

"The night before we fought. Before you decided to ruin everything," Rosalyn pointed out. "I was so happy to be with you... it hurt so much that afternoon when you..." she trailed off.

Ace's face darkened for a brief moment.  But then, he let out a scoff and stood up, walking over to Rosalyn and sitting down beside her. 

"You really want to keep this up, huh, Rosalyn? All right, I’ll play along. But let me tell you this..."

“What?”

He looked her straight in the eyes. "... this changes nothing. My priorities remain the same. This is nothing more than pretend play. I still have a job to do, Rosalyn, and it won’t stop for anyone, even you. Understood?"

"Noted..." she said quietly.

Ace wrapped an arm around Rosalyn and pulled her into his side. He leaned back onto the couch, letting out a sigh, and Rosalyn leaned her head against his chest. It was all so familiar... the scent of his fancy cologne, the warmth of his skin. It brought back all the memories of their time together. The nights they shared in each other's arms, talking for hours on end, the countless stupid comedies they'd get pizza and watch while they discussed school proposals. The soft thumping of his heart as she fell asleep.

"Now... what movie are we watching tonight?" Ace asked, breaking her out of her trance.

"Anything you want," Rosalyn said, snuggling deeper into his embrace. A pang of guilt hit her. She had to focus on the mission, why she came here to begin with. But it was so hard to think when she was nestled in his arms like this... her head against his chest, his arm around her... she wanted nothing more than to stay like this, just the two of them.

Ace scrolled through his Netflix, and eventually picked out a stupid, goofy-looking horror movie. He leaned back into the couch, pulling Rosalyn's closer to his side as the movie started playing.

As the movie progressed, Ace and Rosalyn spent more time talking than actually watching it. They got pizza and made jokes and commented on everything that happened in the movie... and as the night wore on, it almost felt like time had never stopped. That they were still the same as they were all those months ago...

Eventually, the credits of the movie rolled on the screen and the pizza was finished. The two remained, sitting together on the couch. But Rosalyn didn't want to get up. She wanted to stay just like this... her head on Ace's chest, wrapped up in his strong arms. She knew this was a lie... this love they were playing at was an act... but she found herself not caring. Maybe later.

She didn’t realize Ace had fallen asleep until she became aware of the gentle air blowing in and out through his nose. Rosalyn took a moment to study his face. Even in sleep, he looked calm, relaxed. Gone was the arrogant, manipulative persona he usually wore, and in its place was the face of the boy she'd fallen for a lifetime ago. 

She considered getting up to look for dirt on Ace like she’d come here to do. But the feeling of his soft, slow breath against her cheek was enough to stop her. And without thinking, she closed her eyes and snuggled deeper into his arms, drifting quickly off to sleep.

When she woke up with a start hours later, Ace was gone, and she was left lying alone on the couch with a blanket covering her. She suddenly remembered her mission and shot up from the couch. Silently thanking Wes for teaching her how to pick locks, she went around Ace’s office.

Rosalyn quickly went through Ace’s drawers and computer files, looking for anything that could be even remotely suspicious. But everything seemed completely clean so far. Then, a memo caught her eye…

She quickly shoved the memo into her bag after covering her tracks and headed for the exit, where she ran onto Ace taking a phone call.

Ace was too busy talking on the phone to notice her at first, but the moment he hung up, his eyes flicked to Rosalyn and he raised an eyebrow.

"Rosalyn? Weren't you sleeping on the couch?"

“I realized my dad must be worried sick, wondering where I am,” she said. “I gotta go.”

Ace let out a huff of a sigh, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Fine, you go on ahead. I still got some work to do," he said nonchalantly.

“At 5 am?” Rosalyn asked. “How do you function?”

Ace smirked. “I don’t need sleep, unlike some people,” he joked, before letting out a sigh and running a hand through his hair. "Seriously though, I've just got some stuff that needs to be dealt with. Can’t be helped. Get home safe."

And with that, Rosalyn turned and walked to the door. A part of her screamed to run back and hug him close, to rush back into that illusion they were under hours ago.

She pushed the thought down and exited the building, feeling as if she’d left a piece of her heart behind.

She came home and immediately crashed on the couch without changing into her pajamas. She fell back asleep, thoughts of Ace and what she’d just done filling her head. But by the time she woke up, the guilt was replaced with a sense of determination.

“So where were you, Rosalyn?” her father asked when she staggered into the kitchen.

Rosalyn let out a yawn, fiddling with a braid on her head. “I got busy studying with friends and lost track of time,” she lied.

“You usually text me when that happens,” Dr.Brinkwater said.

Rosalyn bit back a sigh. “Yes, well, I got too absorbed in my notes to remember, I guess. Sorry for worrying you, Dad…”

“As long as you’re focused on your studies, I suppose it’s alright,” he said with a sigh. “By the way, your friend Ace stopped by an hour ago.”

“He… he did?” Rosalyn tensed. “What did he want?”

"He came over with something for you," he said, pushing a box of donuts and a cup of coffee towards her. "I heated up the coffee a little."

Rosalyn stared at the coffee in front of her, a mix of emotions and memories rushing through her.

"That was... thoughtful of him," she said in a neutral tone. Inside, her head was racing with thoughts, trying to decipher the move Ace was making.

“Did he say anything before he left?” she asked.

“He just wanted to be sure you got breakfast,” Dr.Brinkwater said. “You should eat more and drink that coffee, by the way. You’re already too small as it is, and if you stay up all night studying you’ll waste away entirely.”

Rosalyn nodded, still in mild shock from Ace’s actions. He said it himself. That night changed nothing. He was still gunning to shut down Lakeside and she had to stop him. She took a seat, sipping at the coffee and eating the donuts as she mused.

The fact that he stopped by and got her breakfast…  It was something Ace used to do all the time, back when they were actually together. On days when she got too absorbed in her council work he would bring her coffee and treats… she tried to stamp down the feeling it gave her…

"He’s just trying to fool me…” she thought to herself.

But Rosalyn couldn’t shake the feeling that it was genuine. It was such a natural thing, something he used to do all the time… And even worse, a part of her wanted it to be genuinely sweet, like before…

She shook her head. No. She wouldn’t fall for it and lose sight of her mission.

Shooting off a text to Autumn and Wes, she made her way to school and made a beeline for the journalism classroom.

“You said you had good news?” Autumn asked.

“Very good news,” Rosalyn said with a smirk as she pulled out the memo from her bag and slammed it on a desk. “I may have spent the night at Ace’s office.” 

Wes raised an eyebrow at this.

"And what happened next?" He teased, causing Rosalyn to roll her eyes.

"We may have gotten carried away watching a movie and eating pizza... b-but I got what I came for." she stammered, ignoring the heat rising to her face. “Look at this.”

Autumn and Wes peered at the memo.

“Compulsory transfer to Kepler Magnet School for the Gifted?” Autumn read aloud.

“That's the polite way of saying that our buddy Ace got expelled from his old high school,” Wes explained as he read the memo. “Apparently, when his classmate beat him in a science fair competition, Ace took it personally. He forged documents showing that his classmate paid a professional chemist to do his project.”

“Who’s surprised?” Autumn scoffed.

“Pro-tip, you shouldn't try to frame a guy who can bioengineer beetles. He caught Ace in the act. Ace was immediately 'encouraged to transfer',” Wes continued with a smirk. “His expulsion was off the books. This memo is the only proof that Ace has a history of lies, forgery, and vengefulness.”

“That ends now. We have to get him impeached before the Council can vote. Autumn, can you get this into tomorrow's paper?” Rosalyn asked.

“Already working on it,” Autumn reported, taking the memo and heading to her computer. Wes looked back at Rosalyn. 

“What?” she squawked.

Wes raised his hands in surrender. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that you've got what we need… but how are you feeling about all this?" he asked, his tone now genuinely concerned.

Rosalyn paused, caught off guard by his question.

“What do you mean? I got the information we need, didn’t I?” she said, slightly defensively.

Wes gave her a skeptical look. "That's not what I asked. I'm just saying, it's got to be tough to be spending time with Ace, finding dirt on him… seeing the guy you fell in love with and falling into old habits."

Rosalyn felt her heart flutter as Wes said the words. It was hard. Seeing Ace, spending time with him like they used to… remembering exactly why she'd fallen for him, but trying to fight it…

But she pushed the feelings down, masking it with a huff and a roll of her eyes.

"I'm fine," she insisted once again.

"I'm just looking out for you, Rosalyn," Wes said in a firm, but gentle tone. "I know Ace, remember? I don't want to see him pull you back in. Don't let his good looks and charm make you forget what he's done."

Rosalyn felt a pang of indignation at his words, as if he didn’t think she was strong enough to resist.

"I know what he’s done, okay? I’m not a child, I don’t need you to look out for me," she retorted.”We talked about this, Wes.”

Wes held up his hands in surrender. "Fine. Forget I said anything,” he said.

The following day couldn’t come soon enough. Autumn’s paper was out and the entire school was a flurry of confused whispers and murmurs.

“I’d like to see Ace try to spin this,” Julian gloated. Outside, Ace was being hounded by student reporters. A few of their classmates shot him dirty looks. 

Descending the school steps with her friends, Rosalyn meets Ace’s gaze. For the first time, she could see genuine panic in his eyes.

Seeing the fear in his eyes was almost jarring. Ace had always been the one in control, the one who navigated high school politics with ease. Now he looked on the verge of losing his cool.

She felt a pang of… what? Guilt? Concern? She wasn’t sure.

“I almost pity him…” Mia said with a pout. Then she straightened up and laughed. “Ha! Just kidding. He's had it coming since forever.”

“Not that there’s anything to be sorry about a lying cheater,” Julian said in agreement. 

Wes eyed Rosalyn, but she avoided his gaze, keeping her focus firmly on Ace, who was now continuing to fend off the reporters.

“Ha, yeah, he deserves it,” she spoke up. “That’s what he gets for messing with me.He manipulates my own friends and classmates to turn against me, and then tries to get my school shut down? It's high time we got some payback.”

“With Ace’s rep wrecked, they’ll impeach him for sure,” Julian said. “I don’t know how you got your hands on that hit piece on him, but I’m glad you did.”

“Yeah, I’m glad too…” she echoed, her voice losing a bit of its conviction. Her mind was racing. 

Ace was now walking into the school building, followed closely by the reporters. With that he was out of sight.

Several days later, Dr.Brinkwater entered his daughter’s room with a letter.

“Rosebud, it says you’ve been summoned by the student district council,” he said. “Any idea what that’s about?”

Rosalyn felt her heart drop. She had a feeling she knew exactly what it was about. Putting on a mask of indifference, she took the letter from his hands.

“I might have a clue…” she said in feigned obliviousness.

"Mmm, I heard about that Ace boy. A shame, I thought he was a decent young man." Dr.Brinkwater commented.

Rosalyn tensed, feeling a pang of guilt at her father’s words. She wanted to come clean and tell him the truth, but knew she couldn’t. She couldn’t break her father’s heart.

“Yeah, I guess he was…” she said with a shrug.

Her father eyed her for a moment, looking like he was debating whether or not to say something else.

“Want me to drive you there? I have a meeting coming up anyways,” her father offered.

Rosalyn paused for a moment, then shook her head. “I think I’ll walk. Take the time to clear my head…”

Truth be told, she didn’t want her father to be anymore involved in this mess than he already was.

“Alright, pumpkin. But do give me a call if you want a ride home.” He gave Rosalyn a kiss on the cheek before leaving her room.

Heading to City Hall, she couldn’t help but smile a little. It was almost all over, and her school would be safe.

But when she opened the doors of the council room, she was met with wary glances.

“Uh, what’s wrong?” she asked.

“Ace, say again what you just said to the Council,” Asher said, barely trying to hide the smirk on his face.

“That memo, I've never seen it before, I swear. I-- I know there's no way to prove it, but you have to believe me. What that memo says... it never happened!” Ace said.

“Are you saying that it's a forgery? Intended to disgrace you?” Zero asked.

“No, of course not! I would never accuse my own girlfriend or anyone at our school of something so awful!” he said, shaking his head.

“This is a very serious matter. We're going to get to the bottom of it,” Zero said. Rosalyn couldn't help but feel a little miffed that Zero seemed to be so much more nonchalant when it came to shutting down her school.

“Oh, come on! Of course he says it's fake! You're really gonna believe him?!” she demanded.

“No, Rosalyn, we aren’t going to believe him,” Zero continued. “We're going to believe the expert we've called in to verify its authenticity.”

Kara and Owen marched in with Nishan in their ranks.

“Uh, hi Rose,” he said awkwardly. He sat down as Owen handed him Ace’s memo.

“This right here is a serious accusation, Nishan. If this is Ace's real history, then it throws into doubt everything Ace has done,” Owen explained.

We brought you in to find the truth. So we need you to tell us nothing but the truth. Your friendship with Rosalyn cannot sway you,” Zero said sternly.

“I let nothing get in the way of my quest for scientific fact! Rosalyn knows that better than anyone,” Nishan said with a smile. Ace leaned across the table, his eyes pleading.

“This isn’t what it looks like, Nishan. You know I would never do this,” Ace spoke up.

"That's enough, Ace. Let him work," Zero commanded.

Ace clenched his teeth, but he sat down and kept his mouth shut. Zero and the others watched as Nishan looked over the document.

Rosalyn stood with her arms crossed, feeling her heart pound. Every now and then, she shot a quick glance at Ace as Nishan studied it. He had a calm, unreadable look on his face as he inspected the memo. 

Nishan's brow creases more with each passing moment.

“Hmm…” he murmured.

“What are you doing now, Nishan? Didn't you already run those tests?” Zero asked.

“What? I mean, yes, but... there's always a margin of error with these things,” he started to stammer.

“Nishan. Just tell us. Is the memo real?” Zero pressed, leaning in.

“Well, you see, ha ha... can, uh... can anyone really determine whether…” Nishan trailed off, casting a panicked glance at Rosalyn.

As Nishan stumbled with his words, Rosalyn’s heart was racing. He was hesitating. Why? Had he found something?

“Come on, Nishan… just be honest with us,” she urged. Her heartbeat raced faster as Nishan continued to fidget nervously.

“The memo... it's a forgery,” he finally admitted. Nishan presented his findings to the Council. With each word, they grew angrier and angrier. “In conclusion, the chemical profile of the card stock, along with the ink brand, all point to this sample being printed as recently as last week.”

“Rosalyn, are you serious right now? How could you sink this low?” Owen said with a scowl.

“You produced a forgery to discredit your school's elected representative,” Zero chided.

“I… I thought it was real!” she stammered.

Ace stared at her with that same dumbfounded expression, but Rosalyn could swear she saw one corner of his mouth turn up ever so slightly. 

“You thought it was real, huh?” Zero asked. “Then where did you get it?”

Before she could respond, Ace cut in. "Whoa, whoa. It's okay. No harm done. Rosalyn was just trying to do what was right for her school. Isn't that right, Rosie?"

Rosalyn’s head whipped around to glare at Ace, her rage bubbling up. 

In a surprisingly calm, steely tone, she said, “Ace, you don’t need to speak for me.”

“I don't know what I did to hurt you, Rosalyn, but I'm sorry you feel the need to lash out at me like this,” he said.

Rosalyn gripped the back of her chair, fighting to keep her cool. He's infuriating... acting like he's done nothing wrong...

“Save the charm for somebody who cares,” she bit out before turning to the rest of the Council members. “Ace has been manipulating the Council since the very beginning! He's trying to get back at my school for winning the Hamilton Internship, and he won't stop until my school gets shut down.”

“By serving as your rep? Sorry, but that's kinda hard to believe,” Owen said, crossing his arms.

“Ha! I knew Rosalyn couldn’t be trusted. This looks more like personal vengeance,” Asher pointed out with a smirk. “It’s not very becoming of you to be so vindictive, Rosalyn.”

Rosalyn turned her attention back to Ace, “You know, Ace, when you're done stabbing everyone in the back, when there's no one left to betray... you're going to be alone. You know that, right?”

“That’s enough, Rosalyn,” Zero warned.

“Now get out before we kick you out,” Asher added.

Rosalyn clenched her hands into fists, but she knew this was a losing battle. She was backed into a corner, and there was nothing else she could do without making a bigger fool of herself.

She gave one last look of fury to Ace, then spun on her heel and stomped out of the room. Ace called after her in the hallway.

“Rosalyn! Rosie, wait up. Listen. I figure you're pretty confused right now,” he yelled out. She stopped but didn't turn around.

“What do you want?”

“Gotta say, last night was… something. A weaker man would’ve probably fallen for your little plot,” he said. “The pizza, the movie, us falling asleep into each other’s arms, just like old times. Then you waited until I was out of the picture to snoop. A bit underhanded, but I probably would’ve done something similar.”

“I almost had you, and you know it,” she snapped. Ace merely chuckled.

“The memo was bait, and you swallowed it whole. You played smart, but you just can't stake your entire reputation on a single piece of evidence,” he said. He put a hand on her shoulder. “Looks like through it all, I’m still teaching you things.”

She glared at him, fuming beyond words. Rosalyn felt a rush of anger at the smug look on Ace's face, at him placing a hand on her shoulder.

She jerked back. "Don’t touch me."

“You understand, don't you? You make friends everywhere you go, loyal ones still on the Council. I wasn't sure I could turn them against you. I had to make you turn them against you yourself. And I just did,” he continued. 

“Well played,” she said bitterly.

“Come now, Rosie. There’s still a bright side in all this. After Lakeside closes down, I’m sure you’d be a shoo-in at Kepler. We could be unstoppable together. Like we should have from the beginning. Maybe this little charade of ours could be real again.”

The feelings Rosalyn had been struggling to keep from boiling over finally erupted.

“You are unbelievable,” she hissed, shaking with anger. “You can’t honestly expect me to— is this a joke?”

“Why would I joke about something like this, Rosie,” he said.

“Enough with the ‘Rosie’! You don’t get to call me Rosie, not anymore,” she growled. “And what, I’m just supposed to let your little plan pan out, join Kepler, and we take over the universe, or whatever grand scheme you dream up?”

“We’d change the world,” he said, as though it was the most obvious conclusion. “You and me. Like it was always meant to be. When everything is right again and we'll never have anyone taking things they don't deserve. Never again.”

She wanted to continue to be angry, but all she could do was laugh. All the stress of the past days was finally taking its toll. “You honestly think I'm just going to turn my back on my school that easily? You think I’m just going to leave Lakeside behind?!”

“Of course not. You love your school, and you’d fight me to the end before you’d give it up,” he said. Rosalyn was shocked by his answer. It was exactly right, which was the most infuriating thing of all.

“Then how can you possibly even suggest I join you, after everything?” she whispered.

“Even if it was just a trick to get one over on me, you wouldn’t have spent the night with me if you didn’t still have feelings,” he continued. "Surely you had other methods of snooping around?"

“I was exhausted,” she lied. “I had to try anything.”

“And your only option was to fall asleep into my arms?” he pressed, clearly not believing her.

"You left a blanket on me!" she retorted. “Maybe you care too much yourself and you’re projecting on me.”

“That night was not one-sided, and you know it,” Ace said . “We both knew it was a farce, and yet…There was a moment between us… a connection.”

Rosalyn knew exactly what he was talking about, and there was nothing she wanted more than to tell him to stop, that it was all in his head. But her heart, as much as she wanted to deny it, longed for the comfort of being with him again.

Her heart was weak where he was involved. But her pride was stronger.

She clenched her fists to keep from screaming, even though some small part of her wanted to. "I wish you had never walked through the doors of Lakeside. I wish I’d never stepped foot on Kepler.  I wish I'd never met you. Whatever this–" she gestured between herself and Ace. “--is, I want no part of it. We’re done.”

She stormed out, blocking out whatever else Ace had to say to her.

Back on campus, she paced nervously in the journalism classroom, a painful lump in her throat.

“So what you're saying is... Ace manipulated us into having our school paper run a libelous hit piece on the one student trying to clean up our scandals,” Wes said, running his hands over his face. “This is so much worse than the cheating ring…”

“He played me,” Rosalyn said shakily. “I thought we had him on the ropes, but he wasn't even in the ring. I got too eager, I jumped the gun. This is all my fault.”

Wes shook his head. “No way. This isn’t your fault. You had no way of knowing… None of us did. This is on him. All of this.”

“No, I should have listened to you. I-I thought I could handle Ace on my own, a-and now…”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “Hey, hey, hey… Don’t do that to yourself. This is not your fault at all. I fell for it too.”

Rosalyn buried her head against his chest, tears stinging her eyes. “What do we do… What are we gonna do now?”

Wes was uncomfortably quiet for a moment, rubbing her back.

“You said you didn't want to leave the board's vote to chance. Well, it's not up to chance anymore…” Wes murmured.

“The Council's next open session is tomorrow. If they vote in the proposal, it's over,” Rosalyn murmured.

That evening, Rosalyn sat alone in the gallery of the auditorium as the Council convened an open session. Wes offered to come inside with her, but she told him she didn’t want him to see her like this. He hung around on the steps, waiting for it all to end. Ace, looking unphased from Rosalyn’s outburst yesterday, brought up the proposal to close Lakeside.

“Now that Asher's put forth this motion, it is with a heavy heart that I forward it for a vote,” Ace said. “I still firmly believe that this school is a great place, a welcoming community with untapped potential. But with the recent cheating ring and the corruption of the student paper, it's clear that the school I represent has lost its way. It must be closed, for the sake of our district.”

“Amen to that!” Asher called out, only quieting down when a council member gave him a glare.

“This proposal requires a unanimous vote to pass. When your school is called, please state your vote, aye or nay. Hearst High…” Ace continued.

“Aye…” Kara seemed…disappointed, almost, as she cast her vote.

As each school was called, Rosayln felt the lump in her throat grow tighter and tighter.

“And finally, representing the school in question, my vote is…” Ace looked into the darkness of the auditorium, finding Rosalyn’s eyes. The corners of his lips formed the flicker of a smirk. “Aye…”

“A unanimous vote. The proposal will go on to the district board for consideration in one week,” Zero said. 

“Now, onto the next order of business..” Ace said casually. Rosalyn got up, storming out of City Hall as tears began to flood her eyes.

“Rosalyn!” Wes ran outside, jogging to catch up with her. “Hey! Don’t go...”

Rosalyn ignored his attempts to get her to slow down and kept running. Her body shook as she struggled to hold herself together. As she ran home, she tried to come with any plan, anything to stop what was already set in motion. Her rage and heartbreak burned through her thoughts.

Her father opened the door before she could unlock it.

"I thought you’d still be at that Council meeting– Rosalyn, are you alright?" Dr. Brinkwater asked. He took one look at her face and immediately wrapped her up in his arms. 

Rosalyn couldn't keep herself together anymore. The moment her father's arms encircled her, her heart shattered, and the tears poured out of her with heaving sobs. Dr.Brinkwater led her inside, helping her onto the couch as she cried.

It felt like an eternity. Every time she thought she was done, a fresh round of tears would erupt from the bottomless ocean of despair inside her. But eventually, the sobs finally faded, leaving behind only hiccups and sniffles. Her father handed her a tissue, and she wiped away the tear-streaked mess that was her face.

“I messed up,” she finally said.

“What do you mean, you messed up?” her father asked. He took her hands into his own, giving them a small squeeze.

Rosalyn took a shaky breath, not lifting her eyes to look at her dad. “I failed everyone. My friends, my classmates, the school… Lakeside is going to close, and it’s my fault. I was supposed to stop Ace… but he got one over on me like he always does!”

“Ace was behind all this?” Dr.Brinkwater asked.

She nodded. “The cheating ring, the scandal, the proposal to shut us down… It was all part of his plan. And he won.”

“Well, there has to be a way to stop this. The board hasn’t made their decision yet, so there must be something we can do.” Her dad said. "That boy forgets I run the board. I'll talk to my colleagues to see if we can shoot the proposal down.”

Rosalyn shook her head. "Ace might try to get you out of the way too," she sniffled. “He’s done it before.

Her dad gave her a small smile. “Don’t worry about me, Rosalyn. I’m the grownup here, remember. I can handle myself fine, I promise. Let me take care of this. In the meantime, you should go get some rest. I’ll bring your dinner up in a few minutes.”

[stackofpossums]

Could I get a Hc for how the M6 would react to finding out Mc's past is worse than they thought? Like finding the shop is the point their life goes from awful to okay to eventually great. Before then? You can leave it as vague as you'd like.

(I have an Mc who was an executioner/pet similar but different from Muriels executioner/gladiator role being Their scars are from the person in charge and all their opponents were never given a chance. Another Mc who tried to live up to others expectations for him. Eventually forced to leave his home or die at 10 because his sister tried to murder him for a power he didn't even want. My third Mc who had abusive parents and learned from a passing by sparrow that they need to run away to save themselves.

What if before the shop Mc's life was actually horrible? So like to the point they never told anyone, not even Asra. Only telling stories about after they had moved to the shop to live with their aunt.)

I just finished a big assignment so Mc who has a dark past let's go:

Asra: He already knew MC past was dark and was kind of glad they didn't have to remember that when they lost their memories. Then they got their memory back. And oh. OH. He never knew it was this bad. At first, he's a little upset that MC never felt safe enough to confide in him. He quickly realizes, "No, it wasn't him." He's grateful MC chose to confide in him now, and he's going to do everything in his power to support them. He'll hold them and comfort them while they talk if MC is comfortable with that. The salamander has already lit the stove so he can brew some calming tea. Therapy has been scheduled. He is fully committed to helping MC heal as much as possible, mostly out of love, but there's a tiny part of him that feels guilty for not knowing sooner.

Julian: He thought he had it bad. He didn't know it could be this bad. He may be a doctor, but... for quite possibly the first time in his life, he knows he isn't qualified to fix this. He's gonna set MC up with the best mental health care. Until then, he's going to attempt to theraptize them himself. He encourages MC to talk not only about their past but also about how it made them feel, how they're feeling now, what challenges they are having, and anything and everything else they want to share. He's going to respond with hella words of affirmation, making sure MC knows how much he cares about them and that their safe now.

Nadia: Patiently listens to MC's story, no matter how gruesome the details are. She'll hold them tightly when it becomes too much for them to bear. There are no words to describe the hurt she feels for them to her very core. Afterward, she is setting them up with the best mental health support money can buy. Only the best therapists, medications, if MC wants to try them, or anything else. Anything MC thinks will help them is theirs. No expense is too great for her beloved MC. She's pretty venengeful, though. It'll be tough to convince her not to make the lives of anyone who's made MC suffer hell. She'll relent eventually, though, because she's knows if MC doesn't want that, it won't be helpful.

Muriel: Out everyone here, he understands it the most. It's a little hard for him to listen sometimes because he remembers times in his life where he felt just as hopeless as MC. He's here for MC, though, and makes it his mission to make sure MC NEVER feels that way again. He shares the techniques he's found for dealing with trauma, as well as helps MC find what works for them. He pushes them to keep going when he notices they are struggling. He comforts them when it's too much. He celebrates with them for every challenge they overcome, no matter how "small." It's the least he can do for them after everything they've done for him.

Portia: When MC first opens up about their past, their a bit afraid they're going to get squeezed to death by Portia's hugs. She's the other LI mostly likey to try to go after the people's who hurt her precious MC, she solves problems with fists flying. But that's okay. She's sneaky. She's going to make sure anyone who hurt MC wakes up to a fun surprise. Other than that, MC can always count on Portia for a listening ear. She will comfort MC through any story they need to tell and wants to help them find closure however she can.

Lucio: Oh. Oh no. No one gets to hurt his MC. No one. Who shall he defeat in battle for you? That won't help? Oh... well... what can he do? Lucio would do ANYTHING to make things better for MC. Just say the word. Hugs, he's here. No hugs? That's fine, too. He's here to listen. He knows a thing or two about unpleasant pasts. But you have each other now. MC has had his back despite everything he's done. It would be criminal not to do the same.

[acourtofinkandpapyrus]

A flower with Petals of Flame: Part thirteen (Eris x Reader)

Warnings: Angst, betrayal, secrets, and trauma! Allll the fun stuff-

Part twelve Part fourteen

Tag list: open

Y/n's chat with Azriel does not go well, but at least she has her two friends to support her.

We all sat at the table, and I was probably the happiest one there.

And that was saying a lot.

“How long have you been working with Eris?”  Azriel asked me, as if that was why I was acting like this.

I rolled my eyes.  “It’s not like that, he’s a friend.  We’ve been for a long time.”

Azriel’s eyes bored into me.  “Even after what he did to Morrigan?”

Eris stiffened, and even Sam’s eyes slid over to me.

I hadn’t told Sam.  Not because he would judge me, but because it just… I didn’t like talking about it.

I take a deep breath before saying, “Eris didn’t do anything.  He was trying to help.”

Azriel’s wings flared as he shot to his feet, the rest of us following.  “He left her nailed to a tree.”  He growled.

I can feel Eris about to speak, but I cut him off, telling Azriel the thing I thought I would never tell anyone.

“I was the one who told him to leave her there.”  I snarl, and I feel tears starting to prick my eyes.

He stops, overloaded.

“I told him to because if Beron knew Eris had helped her, he would have killed both of them.  So I told him what to do and I led you there.”

Azriel just stood there.  “You left her there.  For him.”

“I left her there so that she didn’t have to be forced to marry someone she didn’t love after all she had went through.”  I snarl.

“If you want to blame someone, blame me.  But Eris?  Eris had-”

A warm hand landed on my arm comfortingly, and I looked over to see Eris’s eyes burning softly.  “You’re okay.”

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly.

I turn back to Azriel, who is looking at me with disgust.

“You don’t know the life I’ve had Azriel.  So even if you think I’m evil, if you think I’m a monster, I am just doing what I can to help everyone.”  I say, even though my heart hurts just from the way he’s looking at me.

“I don’t think you're evil.”  Azriel says, but stops there.

“That’s because she’s not.”  Sam says, stepping in.  “I don’t know what she’s told you, but the things she’s told me about her father are nightmarish.”

I wince as I see Azriel’s eyes sharpen.  “Sam-”

“No.  Do you know what he did to her?”  Sam asked, slamming his hand on the table.  “Because if you do and you’re still acting as if her life was easy, as if she didn’t do what she had to, then you are one fucking-”

“SAM.”  I shout, staring him down.

I knew he was angry on my behalf, but Azriel wasn’t the enemy.  He had no idea what my life was like before.

Even if he did, I couldn’t blame him for being this angry, this hurt.

I still hate myself for what happened.

Why did I expect him to feel any differently?

“Listen Azriel, Rhysand can’t know about this.  Not yet anyway.”  I shift uncomfortably.

His face twitched, and I could tell he was absolutely furious.  “And why not?”

I take a deep breath, glancing at Sam.  He was going to hate this.

“What if I showed you why?”  I say, my heart beating fast in my chest.

This was a secret, possibly bigger than the secret Velaris had been.

Sam gaped at me.  “Y/N, we’ve never-”

I shifted into a role I had become more comfortable with is the past few centuries.

Leader.

“Maybe we haven’t, but before this there was never a mass breach in the universe.”  I retort, and Sam nods, understanding I needed the floor.

Azriel wasn’t just anyone, he was family.

And I needed him to see me as more right now.  To see who I had become.  Funny, since I had always been trying to do the opposite.

His curiosity got the better of him and Azriel asked, “So there were smaller ones?”

I dipped my head in a nod.  “I’m sure you’re aware, as they were caused by the cauldron.  I’m guessing Julian has kept our secrets by your complete unawareness of this situation.”  I say, and I know that it irritates Az that he hadn’t realized that Julian had spun the same lie I had.

The easiest lie, and the most believable one was that we had no idea of what had happened after we died.  That’s why we had it set as the mandatory explanation in case of situations like these.

“So, I don’t tell Rhysand about any of this, and you… What, tell me more secrets I can’t tell my Highlord, your brother?”  He asks, his voice low.

I smile, leaning forward and resting my chin on my interlaced hands.  “Come on Az.  I know you well enough to know that you hoard secrets like a dragon hoards gold.”  I let my smile spread, looking him in the eyes.  “I’m offering you the biggest secret of all time.  What lies after death.”

He froze, and I knew I had him.

Eris was so close I could scent the surprise on him, but I could tell by the way his hand squeezed my leg under the table reassuringly, that it wasn’t a bad thing.

“I would be betraying my Highlord.  He-”  Azriel started to say, grinding his teeth.

I cut him off smoothly, “It would not be a betrayal.  What I am asking you to do is… It’s asking you to not tell Rhys that I’m acting on my own.  He won’t understand, and I don’t want to add my brother to the list of people I have to boss around.”  I say, losing the attitude and sitting up straight once again.

Az scoffed, and Sam stiffened as Azriel said snarkily, “You would ‘boss around’ the most powerful highlord in history?”

Back in the afterlife, I would have done some showy display of my power, a threat. 

This wasn’t the afterlife though, and as I have to keep reminding myself, Azriel is not the enemy.

I shrug, keeping my face neutral as I say, “Well, I guess we’ll see depending on what you choose.”

Azriel shoved to his feet.  “We are going home, and you are telling us everything.”  He snarled, and Sam went to draw his dagger again.

I give him a subtle shake of my head, and he smirks, resheathing his blade.

We both knew I could take care of myself.

“I am not going anywhere with you.”  I say, raising my chin in defiance.  “If you want to go, you can, but I cannot guarantee I will be here when, or if you return.” I speak, raising my voice and letting myself exude an aura of power.

He didn’t notice, and I felt more than I saw him winnow with his shadows.

In a blink I have him pinned against the wall with darkness, his mouth agape as I let starry night surround me, baring my teeth in a snarl.

“Do not touch me.”  I breathe, rage flowing freely.  “You’re no fucking different than all the other males.  You don’t fucking listen.”  I say, hoping the hurt in my voice isn’t too obvious as I let him go.

“Leave.”

I can feel him staring at me, but I choose instead to look out the window.  Not moving until he left.

I let my shoulders slump slightly.

“Are you okay?”  Eris asked me, his voice worried, Sam behind him, obviously sharing the sentiment.

Hey, all it took to get these two to get along was the destruction of a childhood friendship.

I nod, taking a deep breath before turning to Eris, forcing myself to smile.  “Well, I don’t think we want to be here when he comes back with my brother, who is sure to be pissed.”

[footy-fictionist]

Championship loss - Julian Brandt

Pairing: Julian Brandt x female reader

Warnings: I'm gonna break your hearts again with the Championship loss, but also a lot of fluff, soft moments, teeny tiny bit of teasing, badly translated German, mentions of Jannis and Jascha

Word Count: 1653

Note: As always, English is not my first language. This one has been on my mind since we lost. Next one should be a Jude one and then I can get to the requests in my inbox. This one just had to come out now. Remember it's fictional, some parts may be alike with real life and some I just came up with. Please do not copy and/or publish my work, reblogging is perfectly fine!

Dortmund vs Mainz. The last game of the season and all we needed to do was win. Win so we could win the league. Win so we could lift the Meisterschale. That was the dream, everything Dortmund had worked so hard for and we didn’t win it. The equalizer from Niklas wasn’t enough because Bayern won their game. And now everything has become a nightmare. She’s watching speechless as she sees the defeat and utter disbelief on everyone’s faces. 

But the one she is worried about most hasn’t come back onto the field again. Julian was subbed out in the 62nd minute and she knows he’s beating himself up. She may not be able to see him from where she’s stood, but she can feel his pain. Pain she also feels because she loves Dortmund, but it’s probably nothing compared to Julian’s pain and the other players. She’s not even surprised that not a single fan has left the stadium, the fans loyal to a fault. She’s still trying to find him when the stadium camera’s zoom in on the bench and there he is. Eyes red and teary, a few wet streaks and Julian just staring into the distance. That’s the moment she started crying too.

She watched as Terzic went to Julian and patted him on the face. The camera’s stopped showing the bench after that and a few moments later Julian stepped back out on the pitch. She watched as he slowly made his way to his teammates in front of the yellow wall. He didn’t really approach anyone, just standing between everyone and she knows he is already closing himself off. The disappointment is clear everywhere and yet the yellow wall sings and they support their players. They clap for the yellow wall, apologizing to the fans and thanking them for their support. 

She watches as Julian crouches down, hand going over his face. She grabs onto Jascha’s arm, who has been standing next to her the whole game. He looks down at her, eyes leaving his brother. He sees the pain on her face, the tears still streaming even if she wipes them every few minutes. He pulls his arm out of her grip and she looks up at him a little panicked. She’s scared that she had upset her younger brother-in-law, only to have him wrap his arm around her shoulders to help comfort her. In return she wraps an arm around his waist. She looks back to where she last saw Julian only to see his deflated form sitting near Nico. 

All she wants to do is go to him, but she can’t. She’ll have to wait till he comes to her. She watches as the team gets up and goes to walk past the fans. The fans comfort the players as they walk by, a few of them giving away their jerseys, Julian included. And even though it really isn’t the time, she can’t help but admire Julian and his physique. She sees him shirtless all the time, but after a game it always hits differently. But it’s not just his physique, it’s the way he takes the time with fans, talks with them and shows them he is as disappointed as they are. And yet he appreciates every single fan. His introverted side is not in sight with the fans. But she knows that’ll change once they’re alone.

She notices that Jascha stopped rubbing her arm and that’s when she notices her tears have stopped as well. She turns to him and thanks him for being a brilliant brother-in-law. She spots Jannis still near the other photographers, he turns that exact moment and they lock eyes. He waves at her and she manages to wave back with a bittersweet smile before he turns back to take more pictures. That’s when Jascha softly squeezes her arm and she follows his gaze to the pitch. And she sees her favourite sweaty blonde walk towards them. 

His head is down, but he walks with purpose.

She already has the boarding digging into her hips before he’s even close. But the second he’s close enough, her arms wrap around his shoulders. It’s as though a weight drops off his shoulders and he wraps his arms around her waist. They hide their faces against each other’s necks. She inhales his scent, a scent that’s pure Julian and she hears him do the same. She can’t help but tighten her grip on him a little and move one hand to his golden locks. He pulls her in a little closer and presses a few small, soft kisses to the nape of her neck. 

“Ich bin so stolz auf dich, Schatzie.” 

“Wofür? We drew the game and lost the title. We bottled it.” 

She immediately pulls away and he looks at her a little offended that she’s pulled away from him so quickly. She immediately makes sure to make it up to him by putting her hands on his jaw and drawing his face closer to hers. His arms tighten around her again as she does so and she presses a few butterfly kisses across his face. 

“I’m proud of you for the good times, the bad times and everything in between. You have given it your all, you all managed to get back from 9 points difference. You battled through an injury whilst being in your prime and you still managed to give Bayern the biggest challenge they’ve had in years. You, Julian Brandt, are one of the best players on this team and if you’d ask me alone, I’d tell everyone you are the best. For your spirit, your passion, your perseverance, your love for the club and the fans. You live and breathe football at this club Schatzie. And I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d end up being like Reus for the fans. You give everything and more Jule and you can’t imagine how proud I am that I get to call you mine.”

As she’s talking to him, she can see a few tears start to gather on his lashes again. He presses his forehead to hers and the smile he gives her is brighter than the sun. She returns the smile and presses a kiss to his lips. It’s sweet, loving and passionate all at once. 

“Ich liebe dich.” He whispers against her lips and she smiles, returning the phrase to him. 

It’s then that they realize where they are and that they’re not alone. Julian presses another quick kiss against her lips before going to hug Jascha, who is giving him a mischievous look. Both Julian and her give Jascha suspicious looks but he just waves them away. They share a look but let it go. Mats approaches them to tell Julian that they have to go inside. Julian nods and turns back to her one more time. He presses another kiss to her lips. 

“Will you wait for me here in the stadium?” She nods at him and presses another kiss to his lips.

As he makes his way to the dressing room, she and Jascha head inside to wait for Julian in the family area. She gets the chance to ask Jascha what his mischievous look was for. He just glances at her and tells her to look at her phone. She gives him a confused look but does as he says. She sees a few messages from him and the second she opens them, she knows why he was acting that way. He took some pictures of her interaction with Julian. And she can’t help but feel happy that he did. It’s clear in the pictures that they clearly love each other very much and she knows she’ll definitely use one as her background and that she’ll hang a few in their apartment. 

“Danke, Jascha.” 

Jascha just shrugs and gives her a wink. They talk for about 20 minutes and during that time Jannis has joined them. He’s showing her some of the pictures he made when some players finally enter the room. Julian makes an immediate beeline towards them, ignoring everyone else and she knows he’s in his own headspace now. He gives Jannis a slap on his back and then moves to wrap his arm around her. He stands close to her, now without the boarding between them. His forehead leans against her temple and she runs a hand through his still partially wet hair. 

They go home soon after that and once home they order some food and crash on the couch. He’s quiet as he hands her the remote for the tv. He makes sure she’s in the corner of the couch and then goes to lie down between her legs, his front pressed against hers, head on her chest. She chooses a series and runs her fingers through his hair as they wait for their food. They don’t talk and she knows Julian isn’t paying attention to the tv. He’s in his own head, thinking of today’s outcome.

They eat in silence once the food arrives and then move to their bed. She knows he needs his own headspace to get over it and she lets him approach her if he needs anything. She’s used to it and she knows it’s what he’s most comfortable with. He’s in bed before her, but the second she gets on the bed he immediately pulls her to him. He pulls her as close to him as he can, her head on his chest this time and the sound of his heartbeat calms her completely. His scent envelopes her again and she sighs in complete content, making Julian smile and press a kiss to her hairline. 

“Danke, meine Liebe. Ich liebe dich.”

"Natürlich, Schatzie. Ich liebe dich für immer.”

This time it’s Julian that sighs in content. He presses one more kiss to her hairline and then they both drift off. 

Ich bin so stolz auf dich, Schatzie: I am so proud of you darling Wofür?: For what? Ich liebe dich (für immer): I love you (always/forever) Danke: thank you Meine Liebe: my love Natürlich: of course

[lloydfrontera]

The only reason people say Lloyd was maltreated is because OG Lloyd suffers from “Draco in Leather Pants”, where a character with major negative flaws has those flaws massively downplayed. Along with any evil actions or rude behaviour they committed ignored or retroactively justified as them being the actions of a “victim” who is lashing out, despite all evidence to the contrary. This mostly done so that the fandom can have a new “Woobie”, a character who makes you feel extremely sorry for them, to write angst about

On the other hand, Arcos suffers from “Ron the Death Eater” syndrome. Where fandom decides to take a good character who committed a few mistakes in the past, exaggerating that characters’s small negative flaws or mistakes to massive proportions. Or even assigning evil acts to the character that the character never committed. This way people can have convenient antagonist who hurt the “Woobie” in the past or continues to do so, thus making the “Woobie” the victim in the scenario.

These are all symptoms of people wanting to make more “Whump” fanfic. Whump fanfic is fanfic where a character undergoes various different forms physical and mental suffering. These insubstantial takes on the characters in order to create “Whump” completely ignore other avenues rife with potential “Whump”, ones that are even supported by the source material.

Such as Kim Suho constant struggles with the fact that even though he now has the life he always wanted, being free from debt, in a safe financial positions, and being surrounded by a loving family, he has to contend with the fact they aren’t’t his. He has to handle the guilt he feels when interacting with Arcos and Marbella due to the belief that they don’t know that he not there son. That he effectively stolen another person’s life, though through no fault of his own, and has now undeservedly gained that person’s parents.

Then there is Julian, who suffered plenty of abuse from his brother over the years growing up, both vocal and physical. As evidenced by the scar on his forehead that was caused by glass from a beer bottle his brother threw at him. There is also the physical and vocal abuse he suffered from other nobles at the academy before Kim Suho showed up and set everyone straight. Yet not nearly as many people seem to be interested in delving to how being on the receiving end of that kind of abuse for years would affect him

In short,

Reader: “I want Whump”

Actual Story: “We have Whump at home”

love the use of tropes in this ask, you're speaking my language now

and yeah, you're right, i just,,, i find it confusing. ofc everyone is allowed to do whatever they want, canon is a suggestion and all of that but like,, i don't know. i find it weird.

it almost feels like they're trying to justify og lloyd's abuse of julian by accusing arcos of bad parenting. but 1) they do it by exaggerating some genuine mistakes he made, 2) ignoring the context surrounding the situation and 3) just fucking lying about it????

not to mention, that even if arcos had been a genuinely bad father (which he was not), that would still not justify what og lloyd did to julian! negligence doesn't justify abuse! even if the fronteras hadn't given lloyd enough positive attention (which there isn't any evidence to assume this), that would still not justify og lloyd lashing out and constantly hurting the people around him, including his younger brother.

if people want whump, just like you said, there's plenty in canon already. lloyd, julian, and javier all have their own trauma to work through, some of it caused by og lloyd himself. heck if you want that very specific 'negligent and distant father' flavor of whump, sheherazade is right there. bk moon does a great job at giving us plenty of character with a lot of baggage and trauma, there's enough to pick and choose without needing to resort to headcanons that go directly against canon lmao

but again, i'm not fond of the whole 'you're only allowed to like a character while acknowledging every bad thing they've ever done' thing, because it's bullshit and also i love me some war criminals here and there, so do whatever you want forever i'm no one to say you can't do something lol

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

M6 with an MC who comes out as trans?

The Arcana HCs: M6 when MC comes out as trans

~ a request near and dear to my heart, anon, let's hope I can do it justice. To all my trans brothers, sisters, and siblings, you are valid and loved and so incredibly beautiful! - brainrot ~

Julian

Worried at first that this was common knowledge and he'd missed all the cues and this is you running out of patience and correcting him

Very relieved when you explain otherwise

He'll do his best to curb his enthusiasm, but after all you've done to help him find purpose again he's throwing all the resources he has available at you with reckless abandon

Did you want surgery? A medical plan? He can do that! He's so happy to do that!

Will randomly ask questions or bring up new facts he learned about being trans in general at all hours of the day (and night)

If you know what name you want to go by, he's using it right away. He's used multiple names himself

If you don't he is absolutely the type to suggest trying on a different one a day

While you're at it, why not come up with a dramatic backstory for each one? Each one emphasizes a different trait of yours that he loves

One time a day or two after you came out, he was half-asleep and accidentally misgendered you (old habit) and he spent the next three days apologizing and trying to make it up to you

Unless you ask him not to, he will announce your preferred pronouns to every friend he has to make sure that all of your future conversations with them are comfortable

Asra

Hell yeah, let's question gender!

But first, they love you so much, and they want you to know that they'll be with you every step of the way, and however you want to express this is completely valid

There's no pressure, there's no rush, nobody knows what's best for you like you do and he's just here to watch the magic happen

That said, where do you want to start

They know some handy spells. Would you like to play with the pitch of your voice?

Sorry, he got distracted giggling at himself sounding like he inhaled too much helium

Loves hearing all the different voices you can call their name in. Lets you know that the one they find the most attractive is the one that makes your eyes light up

Will suggest all kinds of ridiculous names to make you smile and playfully reintroduce you to Faust when you decide on one

Checks in with you on how open you want to be about your gender before he uses your preferred name and pronouns in public. He wants to protect your privacy and process

Gives you full access to their wardrobe in case there's anything you want to try on (skirts? trousers? shirts? dresses? they've got it all, and a few other outlandish pieces)

He thinks everything about you is perfect, so you may have to be upfront about asking him to pay certain parts of your body attention in a different way or adjust certain compliments

Nadia

Deeply honored to be trusted with something so important to you, takes everything about it extremely seriously

Wavers between letting you talk about things at your own pace and asking questions. The more she understands, the better she can support you

Immediately clarifies your preferred pronouns and asks after a preferred name. If you've chosen one already, she'll adjust without a hitch

If you haven't, she's very happy to help you compile a list of illustrious names and their meanings

Wardrobe overhaul. She wants you to feel as comfortable in your skin as possible

Speaking of, were you hoping for any medical care? She knows of several good doctors to summon, and you know what -

- she may as well look over the current state of the healthcare system while she's at it. These are basic needs, everyone should have access to this, not just nobility

It's unnecessary but she will stare down every one of her sisters when she reintroduces you on their next visit. They're all very quick to affirm you regardless of her silent threat

Will plan a grand announcement as soon as you're okay with it, complete with the biggest celebration you're comfortable with

Is quick to figure out which traits of yours give you gender euphoria and will heap praise on them for hours

Muriel

Cool. Thanks for letting him know

Plenty of animals have different genders at different points in their lives, it makes perfect sense if you're the type of human that does that too

He can tell you're experiencing some really strong emotions right now, but being trans is so normal to him that he doesn't realize that's the reason why until a few seconds after his initial response

Panicking because now that he realizes it's a big deal to you there's a lot more he wants to say but he doesn't know where to start so here's an emotional support chicken while he thinks

Okay. He loves you. He's proud of you for taking the step to tell him. He's here for you and wants to support whatever decisions you make

Normally prefers not needing to talk a lot and letting your understanding of each other speak instead, but he'll make an exception for this

He grew up with Asra's nonchalant approach to gender, as soon as you make your pronoun and name preferences known he'll adjust with little effort

Though with how rare it is for him to refer to you in the third person, it's not a huge change

Will be present as emotional support if you wanted to tell anyone else, but you're doing the talking

Portia

Her first response? A really big, really tight hug

"I'd better be the first person to hear this news. What's the plan?"

She certainly didn't expect your announcement, but she's not surprised. You're a cool, attractive magician, this seems par for the course

Obstacles do not exist when Portia's beloved suggests a new adventure. Gender dysphoria quakes at her name

And yes, this is an adventure! Adventures are all about discovering yourself and taking hold of your future, this definitely falls under that category

Takes full advantage of her networking skills to find the best specialists to give you different options

Speaking of networking, she may or may not start a mental list of all the other trans and gender-nonconforming people she knows in the palace

She will also not-so-subtly try getting you to hang out with them. Communities are great places to find support systems for growth!

It's okay if you feel weird about initiating it, she has no such qualms and will happily invite 20+ people over for a big, queer barbeque

Like her brother, if you're still playing around with different names she'll introduce you as different ones on different ambassador trips. The sailors think it's awesome

Lucio

You're a super cool magic user, are you announcing this because you're about to shapeshift??

Completely chill once you explain that no, you're a trans person just like all the other trans people, you're just letting him know because you hadn't told him before

Does his best to listen to everything you have to say but he'll be side eyeing you for the rest of the day just in case you suddenly build a chrysalis and disappear into it for a couple of weeks

He switched his own name from Montag to Lucio because it suited him better, he will be aggressively supportive of your name and pronoun decisions

Doesn't tiptoe around the subject at all, asks so many questions about your identity and how it works for you and how you plan on expressing it

(extravagantly, he hopes, but whatever works for you is fine)

But are you sure you can't use magic? At all? Because while you're on the subject, he wouldn't mind a few extra pounds of muscle himself ... kidding, he's kidding!

You have to be careful when you pass back through places you've been to before because he will fight anyone who misgenders or deadnames you before you have the chance to update them

Thinks announcing pronouns after your name sounds really cool so he starts doing it too

(In case you'd enjoy HCs where MC is already out & in an established relationship with M6, might I suggest M6 with an MC with gender dysphoria?)