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deanwinchestermydaddy · 1 year ago

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We All Go A Little Mad Sometimes

Billy Loomis x ???

Word count: ~ 2699

Warnings: (18+) MINORS DNI! cursing, violence, murder, mention of suicide, blood, stabbing, fluff (if you squint but its Scream so idk), knife and weapons, parental deaths mentioned, mentions kidnapping, mentions sexual activities, dirty talk, daddy kink, childhood trauma, unhealthy relationship, bad ending for some (rip the people that died), slut-shamming, dark themes touched, Billy Loomis (always kills me with that finger licking) sweet! Billy, unexpected ending (I guess) LET ME NOW IF I MISSED ANY WARNINGS DON’T READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU GET UPSET OR TRIGGERED EASILY BY ANY OF THE WARNINGS.

SUMMARY: it takes place right when Billy is cornering Sidney. Follows the movie and some stuff is added to make sense ( for me lol). Hope you guys enjoy it!

A/N: this is the first really dark fic that I wrote wish surprises me a lot. Might make this one into a series still thinking about it tho. Let me know what you think or if I should do a series based on this! thank you loves!!

Billy turns to Sidney who is not standing that far away from him and the look that he is giving her is unrecognizable. They hear screams and more panic sets in Sidney. Billy's eyes are on her and he sticks his tongue out and slowly licks the dried blood tasting it, "corn syrup. Same stuff they used for pig's blood in CARRIE" Billy says as she slowly takes a step back moving into the kitchen; he lurches as she takes another step back in horror. She continues to back up until she goes into the arms of Stu, "Stu... please... help me..." she says as he just stares at her with a subtle smile and holds a voice changer to his mouth, "surprise Sidney" he whispers into the thing making her realized both of them were the killers.

Since they were busy focused on Sidney you ran to where they were, "HEY! LEAVE HER ALONE!" you yell catching their attention and allowing Sidney to run to you letting her get behind you, "thought I killed you" Stu says as Sidney's mind was racing while your body fills with adrenaline and you felt your clothes soak and drip blood into the floor. Squeezing Sydney's hand you pulled her as you bolt into the living room to create some distance between them, but they stand in the entryway trapping both in. "where y'all going? It's not over yet. We've got one more surprise... Stu I believe it's your turn" Billy says as if it was something to be proud of, "Oh yeah" Stu answers as he disappears into the kitchen, "what's wrong? Both look like you've seen a ghost" Billy says as the noise comes from the kitchen with a dragging sound. Stu comes along dragging two bodies and rolls them into your's and Sidney's feet, "Daddy!" both yell for both of your dad's at the same time, "close enough" Billy says as Stu places a cellular in Mr. Prescott's shirt pocket.

"Guess won't be needing this anymore," Stu says as he and Billy lurch to scare both and in a quick movement you turned and hugged Sidney to shield her from their attacks, " you should've died with your mom" You whispered on her ear and you stabbed her around 6 times in the back. She started screaming and trashing in pain; you let her go but not before taking the knife out and she drops to the floor bleeding, "why are you doing this?" she asked looking at you as you backed up towards the guys. "It's all part of the game" Stu answers, "it's called GUESS HOW I'M GOING TO DIE!" Billy says looking straight at her, "FUCK YOU!" Sidney says to Billy as she was slowly and painfully bleeding out, "Oh Sid, that's my job. Isn't that right baby?" you said as Billy grabbed you by the hips pulling you closer to him and started kissing your neck without stopping the eye contact with Sidney, "right" he answers, "you're crazy... all of you" she said as her eyes move back and forth between the three, "the official term is 'psychotic' " Stu said matter of factly as she is trying to hold her posture but there was so much blood.

"You'll never get away with this," she said as she was struggling even more, " tell that to Cotton Weary. You wouldn't believe how easy it was to frame him" Billy said as Stu continue, "Yeah, we just watched a few movies. Took a few notes. It was fun". The three relish the madness as Sidney looks at yours and her dad to see them cry, "why did you kill my mother?" she asked with a determined look making you laugh, "Why? WHY? Did you guys hear that...Hmm... you don't really remember me do you?" you said kneeling in front of her taking the knife into your hand as she shook her head, "I don't understand..." she said fighting the tears that still were running down her face, "we did your mom a favor, Sid. The woman was a slut bag whore who flashed her shit all over town like she was Sharon Stone or something" Billy explained, "so we put her out of her misery, I mean let's face it, your mom was no Sharon Stone" Stu says cracking up over, while Billy turns very serious, " is that motive enough for you? or how about this. Did yoy know you slut mother was sleeping with my dad and she's the reason my mom moved out and deserted me" Billy said as Sidney stares, "or even better? The whore of your mother started sleeping with my dad as well making this asshole abandon us, causing her to feel that she had to kill herself to get out of the misery your fucking mother put her through. And you know what's the funniest part, Sid?... Is that I saw her do it when I was a 6 fucking year old" you said slicing her cheek as she is rigid with shock, both testimonies resonating the truth of her mother.

"What?" she said, " think about it, Sid. On the off chance that we get caught, motives like that could divide the jury for years," you said standing up and kicking her in the process, "you took our mothers, so we took yours. Big sympathy factor. Maternal abandonment, mother loss, childhood trauma, and paternal abandonment cause serious deviant behavior" Billy said as he grabbed your hand to guide you to where yours and Sidney's dad were, "NO DON'T" she yells with the little strength she has left, "I wouldn't waste any more breaths, Sid. Cause if my grandpa taught me well you are about to die in a few minutes" you said laughing, "YOU ARE INSANE" she said spitting blood, "yet I'm not the one bleeding out on the floor" you said moving your sight back to your dad, "please let them go" she begged, "come on, Sid. Think about it. Your father is the chief's suspect. We cloned his cellular. The evidence is there, there is no point in begging" Stu says as he gets closer, " what if your father snapped? your mom's anniversary set him off and he went on a murder spree killing everyone" Billy continues, "except for me, Y/n, and Billy... we were left for dead" Stu says holding another knife in his hands, "and then he saw the poor bastard that his wife cheated with, kidnapped him, kill him and you. Then shoots himself in the head. The perfect ending" you said as Billy places the gun on your hands and gets behind you, "see you in hell bastard" you said as you shoot your dad dead, "you looked so hot baby, it's making me really hard" Billy said spinning you around so he could face you, "if we didn't have matters to attend I would let you fuck me right now daddy" you said and he lowered his hands to grope your ass as both started to make out heavily, "don't want to be a cockblock 'cause I would love to watch that, but I think we have other things to do" Stu said making both stop and Billy looked really pissed clenching his fist and jaw making Stu raise his hands in defense.

You let go of Billy and he takes the gun setting it down on the table near the foyer. While you decided to look for the landline to make the desperate call for help as Billy moves to Sidney's dad, "grab the gun, I'll untie pops" he said to Stu, "where'd you put it?" Stu said searching the foyer for the gun, "it's on the table" Billy says, "no it's not" Stu answered as Billy hobbles over. The gun is gone. "Where the fuck is it?" Billy says, "Right here asshole" Gale Weather said and Billy and Stu look up at the same time to find her standing at the front doorway, gun in hand and she looked a mess, "I thought she was dead," Billy said to Stu, "she looked dead. Still does" Stu answered while Gale holds the gun firm in total control, "I've got an ending for you. The reporter left for dead in the news van comes to, stumble upon two dipshits, finds the gun, fumbles your plan, and saves the day" Gale says not paying attention, but Billy notices a familiar figure stepping behind Gale, " I don't like that ending tho" you said stabbing her twice on her side making her drop the gun to hold her side as her knees gave out, "you?" she said as she drops completely to the floor and tries to reach for the gun but you ste on her hand allowing Billy to grab the gun, "cool move" Stu said making you smile, "let's finish it all" you said stepping away from Gale and holding your hand out for the gun and then shooting Gale in the head, "this time I'm making sure she's dead" you said turning to Stu and then moving to Sidney's dad who looks like he has given up.

Taking out the gag from Sidney's dad allowed him to talk, "Why are you doing this?" he asked as he hadn't heard the whole speech given previously, " I'm getting tired of people asking the same stupid question, but I'll indulge you since is your last request. Everything happened since you couldn't keep the bitch of your wife off others man's dicks" you said handing the gun to Billy as Stu left the room, "good night pops" Billy said and shot him in the head and then placed the gun on her dads after cleaning it.

You pressed the phone to your ear, "911, What's your emergency?" they asked and you started to act, "PLEASE! HELP! HELP! THE KILLER IS HERE I SAW HIM STAB MY FRIENDS, PLEASE SEND SOMEONE I'M BEGGING YOU!" you said both Billy and Stu chuckling at your acting, "we are sending help right now sweety, everything is going to be okay. Just calm down" the operator said as she heard you cry, "can you find a safe spot?" she asked, "I'm...I'm gonna try," you said sounding scared, "can you take the phone with you?" she asked, "yes. I'm trying to go to a safe spot....OH GOD NO! THERE IS SO MUCH BLOOD!" you said sounding scared and fake sobbing, " listen to my voice sweety and continue walking alright. You are going to be okay" she said trying to calm you but she didn't know that you were acting. You started screaming for help as Billy got behind you grabbing the phone and dropping it, "NO PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! " you said with terror as Billy couldn't keep his hands to himself and pulled the voice changer, "SO TELL ME WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE SCARY MOVIE?" he said and you started to scream and then he stepped on the phone disconnecting the call. "and the Oscar goes to... Y/n" Stu said clapping his hands as you rolled your eyes.

"okay let's figure out who stabs who?" you said walking near the guys, "wait! you should do it! no offense Billy but she knows where to" Stu said as he handed you the knife, "I'll guide him Stu, and either way they are on their way" You said causing Billy and Stu to both eyed each other as you stood behind Billy putting the knife on his hands, "ready?" Billy said looking at Stu, "Yeah..." Billy pulls the knife back and brings it forward quickly with your hand guiding his movements slicing into Stu. He stumbles to his knees, wincing in pain. "Jesus..." Stu says as blood gushes, real blood, a dark, deep red. Stu inspects the wound to his side then he smiles, "good one" he said as Billy slashes at Stu's arm, two quick cuts making him double over, when Billy was going to slice him again Stu stopped him, "That's it, Billy. I can't take it anymore. I'm feeling woozy". You took the knife from him and looked at Stu who looked in major pain as he staggers a bit to get away, a couple of seconds later you hear him drop to the floor. "come on baby just do it. I trust you" Billy said standing in front of you, " I love you baby" he said placing his hand on your right cheek making you looked at him with surprise. It was the first time he told you that he loved you and it was the worst moment, " I love you too" you said as you pushed the knife into him and pull it quickly puncturing him and he doubles over, "Jesus... fuck that hurt" He said and you looked at him worried, "I'm fine don't worry" he said squelching the pain, " I'm ready" you said ready for him to stab you just like he did to Stu. Billy with the knife now in his hands placed it directly where you told him, he leaned down to kiss you as the knife pierced your skin and took it out quickly. "I think you went a little too deep Billy," you said as your blood gushed out faster than theirs, "Fuck! I'm sorry," he said and you saw the panic in his eyes as your knees started to give out. "is fine I can hear the ambulance I'll be okay, baby," you said as he slowly put you down and then he lay on the floor a few steps away from you as everything went black.

~TIME LATER~

Beep, beep, beep was all you heard, slowly you opened your eyes and saw someone with their head resting on their crossed arms that were placed on your bed, “Billy?” you said with a raspy voice making him look up and smile, “hey sleepy head” he said as he got closer to you and kissed your forehead. As he got back into place he winced, “I'm okay” he said as he saw the look of worry in your eyes, “how long was I out?” you asked and he grabbed your hand, “for a week, they said that you lost a lot of blood” he said feeling guilty since he was the one that stabbed you and went too deep.

Before you could say anything else a Doctor walk in, “I see you woke up Ms.Y/L/N. And Loomis you are here again still” the doctor said making you look at Billy, “I couldn’t leave my girl alone Doc” he answer making you smile, “Well that’s sweet of you, but right now I have to talk with Ms.Y/L/N about her condition” the Doctor said and Billy started to get up to leave but you held his hand tighter, “he can hear” you said and the Doctor nodded, “okay, that’s good with me... So the stabbing didn’t hit any vital organs by just an inch, you lost a significant amount of blood but we were able to stabilize you and save both your’s and the fetus's life” he said and you had to do a double take just as Billy, “what?” you said as you felt Billy’s hand turned into a fist, “yes, you are pregnant about 8 weeks pregnant” he said you just starred at him in shock, “I'll let you process everything” the Doctor said as he walked away and tears started to run down your cheek, Billy raised up and walked away and started to throw stuff to the floor making you cry harder, “I’m sorry Billy, I’m sorry” you said sobbing and he turned and rushed to your side grabbing your face kissing it, “no, no, no I should be the one saying that baby. I could’ve lost both of you that day” he said as actual tears rolled down his cheek, “The Billy Loomis is crying” you said and he gave you a look that made you shiver, “move to the side so I can cuddle my baby mama” he said making you smile.

There laying in the hands of Billy you felt that everything was gonna be alright and that the madness of both was completely gone or was it?

#billy loomis x reader #billy #billy loomis #loomis #ghostface #billy loomis imagine #billy loomis x y/n #stu macher #billy loomis x you #billy loomis x female reader #scream

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fountainpenguin · 3 months ago

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130 Reasons Why I'm Fairy Trash

🧡 Orange Train Collection - AKA, High Fantasy

(July 2016 - Ongoing)

"What? Everyone in my family? Including me? No, I'm not a witch." "Oh, but you must be. You see, I only talk to witches, and only when I want to. Ask your grandmother." Kevin bit his lip. "But–but magic isn't real. I'm going to be a scientist who builds robot friends and babysitters. And before I do that, I'm going to be a dentist until I can support myself on robots alone. I can't be a witch!" The cat winked. "Sure, hon. And I can't be a korrigan who broke Da Rules by falling in love with a crazy Fairy-hunting human. Guess we're both a bit insane."

- FOP works with a heavy focus on high fantasy worldbuilding, regardless of character or genre.

- Also, deep dives into bits of lore that I think are acquired tastes.

- I've moved all 'fics that qualify here, even if they're not 130 Prompts, so browse or avoid at your preference.

⭐ Any Rating - Everything in the 130 Prompts is G or T. However, Orange Train is a catch-all that can include M or E

Read on FFN | Read these works on AO3

130 Sums | Full 130 Prompt Series (AO3) | Other Arcs

Cloudlands AU - Detailed warnings & other AU info

#130 arc guides - More posts like this

More Fairly OddParents 'fics

What goes in Orange Train?

- Cloudlands AU Worldbuilding: Condensed Version ⭐ If you're easily squicked, consider reading either the above link and/or the Cloudlands AU warnings above before proceeding. If those are too much for you, you won't want to see what's under the cut. Orange Train details below. This post contains simple explanations of Cloudlands AU worldbuilding, like anatomy and culture. -> Ex: There's an explanation of how to rescue a baby from a pouch, which is the same way joeys are rescued from dead mother kangaroos IRL, because that does happen in a 'fic in the Orange Train series. This and other descriptions below may be upsetting to read unless you're mentally prepared. #Long post [7,800 words]

Author writes about complex non-human societies and does not inherently condone any viewpoints presented by characters or the societies they live in.

⭐ Reminder: Any rating. #ScarletPenguin

Works marked as 🧡 Orange Train contain deep explorations of high fantasy worldbuilding.

The purpose of the info below is to give a heads up for many deep worldbuilding details in case you find something here that squicks you out (so you can decide to avoid Orange Train works when reading actual 'fics).

- C-C-C-Combo! - Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom, T.U.F.F. Puppy, and Bunsen Is a Beast all co-exist in the Cloudlands AU timeline.

-> A T.U.F.F. Timeline

-> How the Four Hartman Shows Co-Exist

- War Scenes - Bickering, politics, action, setting damage, manipulative schemes, and main character injury

Ex: The war from Season 7's "Balance of Flour" confirms Anti-Cosmo was an adult with a position of power during the war (He played Tiddlywinks against Jorgen in the original attempt at a truce before they switched to the annual bake-off). Thus, it's heavily implied all our main cast fae were old enough to fight. The May Blossom War messes up the Earth to the point "T.U.F.F. Puppy's" animal races become the dominant species (See above)

-> Wars of the Fae

Timmy's Secret Wish - Timmy freezing time for 50 years is canon in Cloudlands AU. Every 'fic accounts for it as appropriate

-> Ex: People get confused when trying to remember how long ago an event happened

-> The Burger World employee (Kenny) wasn't affected because he wasn't on Earth until Season 7 (See also, "Shouldn't Have Survived"). He appears again in Season 10 and my 'fics depict a slide towards him getting more and more confused. Don't worry about it.

-> Poof aged only when he wasn't on Earth (with Foop tied to his life and aging alongside him).

Jimmy-Timmy Power Hour - The crossover is also canon, but Jimmy Neutron and friends continued aging since they're from a separate dimension. Timmy and his friends call it The Bulgyverse.

Technically, the canon is that there is a Jimmy (and a Carl and a Sheen, etc.) who exist in Timmy's version of the world, but he's not doing high tech stuff on a planet-affecting scale (His chaos is localized to Retroville).

-> The Timmy that does exist in the Bulgyverse doesn't have Fairies, but genuinely does have fairy-like computer programs.

That said, Shirley's pizzeria is canon and it has an entrance in both dimensions. It appeared in Come What May Chapter 4 ("The Pizza Place Where Worlds Collide"), where we saw it had portals to... Well, any Nickelodeon or Nick Jr. show you could think of.

-> No one really uses them, so it's just a giant thing we lampshade. Kevin Crocker finds it baffling, but the popular kids think it's a cool place to hang out.

It's worth noting that Evil Jimmy Neutron jumped from the Bulgyverse to Timmy's universe to escape his dying planet (J.N. episode "The Trouble with Clones").

-> In "Swim," he's seen hanging out with people on Unwish Island. He goes by James and gets a kick out of bothering Nega-Timmy.

24 Fae Planes - Fairy World and Anti-Fairy World have many layers. For example, Pixie World is very close to Earth, and Fairy World hovers above Giant Bucket of Acid World (in line with Season 7's "Crocker Shocker").

My 'fics depict characters traveling up and down. Notably, you need a Bridge (like the Rainbow Bridge) to go up a level, but you can drop down just by jumping.

The lower planes (where the show and most of my 'fic content takes place) are pretty stable, but the higher up the levels you go, the more wild the magic becomes. Nature spirits (such as Mother Nature, Father Time, and the Grim Reaper) live on Plane 23, which is sometimes considered to be Fairy Heaven.

Plane 24 has a magical life-giving fountain and is occupied solely by the nature spirit who embodies Reality. His ex-wife is the Hocus Poconos, who embodies Unreality. He never got over that break-up.

-> In Cloudlands AU, Foop was sent to Plane 24 after "Playdate of Doom" and had to make his way back down. Along the way, he got tangled up with alt versions of his parents from another reality who were very abusive towards him. That's known as his Pivotverse experience and it severely messed him up. He still flinches around his real parents even though he knows they're not the same people.

-> The 'fic about this is called Identity Theft, which has been planned for years but never posted because I'm indecisive :') ... Maybe I should make a separate AU for Pivotverse. I was just gonna keep it in this one 'fic, but it might be fun to do more.

-> Fae Cosmology

-> Overview of the 24 Fae Planes

Foop's alternate personality - Foop's alt personality is canon from Season 7 on (Most obvious in "Playdate of Doom" and "Spellementary School," but if you're familiar with details like their body language, traits like cheeks and eye highlights, and music cues, you can tell when they switch in many other episodes).

-> Ex: "Man's Worst Friend" is a pretty obvious one, and those elements are consistent in "Terrible Twosome" even though Foop was going through the Terrific Twos at the time.

-> In Cloudlands AU, the alter is named Hiccup. He's mostly nice, but very overprotective, VERY jealous, and increasingly bitter over time. He also has a sassy, savage streak and will just dunk on you for no reason.

-> Hiccup has a massive crush on Sammy Sweetsparkle and many other people, especially "bad boys." This includes Cavatina Sanderson (despite Cavatina's deep-seeded desire to kill Foop), so... y'know. It's fine.

The Refracted - Gold and white bird people exist in this universe. They tend to be holier-than-thou and see Fairies and Anti-Fairies as impure. They keep to themselves in the upper planes. They're a hunting and gathering people due to their bird biology; they don't have cities.

They're allowed 3 Robes who sit on the Fairy Council (the Peach, the Rose, and the Lilac), but they never show up as a protest for being "above" this.

Artemis Cairo (Chief Sunchosen) is the de facto leader, but only if you take her seriously. She founded a town called Town. It's going great. Artemis appears as a child in Frayed Knots and an adult in "Think Positive." Jorgen, H.P., Anti-Cosmo, and Anti-Sanderson are all a bit intimidated by her.

Pixie refracts are based on the purple-crowned fairywren, so they're purple and brown (paralleling the canon from "Clash With the Anti-World" where anti-pixies are green with yellow hair).

-> Class Overview: The Refracted

-> #Pious gold and white bird people yep

-> Old art of Chief Sunchosen & Dame Sanderson

Courts - Fairies and Pixies belong to the Seelie Court. Anti-Fairies and Refracts belong to the Unseelie Court.

-> In Cloudlands AU, this doesn't mean much beyond giving us a nice collective term for Fairies and Pixies when discussing their insect biology. Very common terms in 'fic.

Drakes & Damsels - Terms for male and female Fae, respectively. Mentioning because I'll use those terms in this post.

Non-Human Biology - The Fae have insect, bat, and bird biology. This includes reproductive parts. They're technically marsupials and have pouches like sugar gliders.

-> Poof and Foop shed their exoskeletons and took more humanoid bodies in "Evolution Hopeful".

-> My Fae have a very detailed breathing system intertwined with their magic. See also, Fae Magic.

-> Fairies are elastic and heal very quickly. Some of their play can seem very violent to humans (Ex: Wanda playing "Wandaball" in the last 10 seconds of Season 1's "The Same Game," which is a game where she bashes Cosmo's head with a cinderblock and laughs about it). Cosmo demonstrates quick healing in Season 5's "Fairy Idol" by jabbing himself in the eye several times.

-> Fairies can only be killed by non-magical means (Inspired by episodes like "Abracatastrophe" where magic doesn't affect magic along with "Poltergeeks" and "Scary Godcouple" where Cosmo and Wanda nearly die to sharp blades and the Crocker Pot, respectively).

-> Fairies turn to dust when they die (Inspired by "Fairy Idol," where Jorgen thinks Cosmo and Wanda are dead when he finds dust on their beds, his exact line being "No! They've turned to fairy dust!").

--- Anti-Fairies turn to smoke (a nod towards Foop being born from a smoke cloud). Refracts turn to mist.

-> Anatomy is played more realistically than in the show. For example, wings flap. Also, Anti-Fairies have claws and opposable toes. The common anti-fairy subspecies (who are based on Mexican free-tailed bats) have white toes and longer tails than the usual puffs of their species.

--- Fun Fact: My Anti-Fairies are based not only on bats, but also pink fairy armadillos! They have scutes protecting them from Fairy magic (which isn't supposed to affect them in canon) and Cosmo and Wanda's magic bounced off armadillo scutes in Season 7's "Teacher's Pet". However, Anti-Fairy bellies have soft hair and that's where they CAN be affected by magic. That said, I tend to draw them fluffy because I like to.

-> Fairies sweat their excess magic constantly. It secretes from their skin, creating a light magical veil preventing people from immediately recognizing magic unless they look closer. This is called the Principle of Observation and plays into episodes like "Nectar of the Odds" and "Crocker Shocker," where Cosmo released sweat and sparkles that could be used for magic.

--- Baby, You're a Rich Man and Pink and Gray are both good examples of this in practice.

--- Pixies are based on eusocial insects and swarm when they smell one of their own is injured. In Rich Man, Sanderson gets separated from H.P. and cuts his skin on purpose in the hopes his boss will find him. (It IS self-harm, but he's also elastic and heals quickly). Chloe accidentally triggers the swarming instinct in "This Is a Box" when she kicks H.P. in the face.

-> Forehead domes swing open and some sensitive parts are kept in there. Fae have cores, which are bits of magical enamel (like their crowns) that develop to reflect their personality. In canon, we saw that Wanda's is a radar [Multiple episodes], Cosmo's an empty storage chamber ["Mind Over Magic"], and H.P.'s is a laser cannon ["Fairy Oddlympics"].

--- Anti-Fairies' cores match their counterparts'. Also, it's worth noting Sanderson's is a pencil sharpener until he gets a core transplant late in Origin of the Pixies. If you know where this is going then you know where this is going.

-> In Chapter 2 of Frayed Knots, Anti-Cosmo rescues his "unborn joey" of a cousin from his dying aunt by cutting off the teat in her pouch (This is how you rescue baby joeys from dead kangaroos because their mouths are fused to the nipple in this early state).

-> Anti-Fairies have a type of embryonic diapause like actual bats. In other words, Anti-Fairy babies must reach 3 months of gestation, after which they will be born the following Friday the 13th. It's possible for an Anti-Fairy to be pregnant for over a year depending on how far apart Friday the 13ths are.

-> All Refracts are born exactly 3 months after the host counterpart; my lore for Season 7's "Anti-Poof" is that Foop and their Refract counterpart (Poppy) were born the exact same day, so the smoke cloud that absorbed personality traits from Poof was much larger than expected.

Fairy Reproduction - In the old days, damsels would die after mating. Cupid's family prevents this by using arrows to deliver a burst of magic. Fairies don't mate often as it's painful for them (and they have heat cycles anyway, so they're only interested occasionally).

-> There's one scene in Origin of the Pixies where H.P.'s sister begs to know why he's so stressed about intimacy; he finally snaps "My pleasure isn't worth her suffering." Yeah, he's got issues with it...

-> Cupid's arrows force a mating couple's magic to turn yellow when they fertilize eggs. This is the only color of magic that lasts after death (See also, Colors of Magic).

-> One of the plot points in Origin of the Pixies is H.P. having extreme anxiety that his offspring were fertilized with purple magic - which fades after death - because he was unable to hit yellow's joy requirement and Cupid's family never saw him because he reproduces asexually (and thus didn't show up in their records).

Fairy culture leans towards having separate beds for sleeping and mating. In fact, bedrooms have a special connected room for mating (the yidreamu) due to how important and precious it is for them, especially back in the day when a damsel knew she'd die (so mating was reserved for the end of the life as it was).

-> Damsels spend time recovering afterwards and cannot reproduce again during that cycle (though a drake can). Cosmo and Wanda used their yidreamu in "Repeat." In one Frayed Knots chapter, Anti-Cosmo hesitates to barge into a yidreamu even while searching rooms to check everyone had evacuated in a fire; it's so deep-seeded in their culture that he was embarrassed to even look at it.

The Fae have heat cycles; the common fairy subspecies (and the pixies since they're mutated common fairies) come into heat for 18 months just once every 500 years. Most of the time, everyday intimacy is snuggles and some kisses.

-> Fun Fact: Wanda and Cosmo hit their cycle in Season 5 (The season they both express interest in other people multiple times & leading up to "Fairly Odd Baby" as Season 6's debut episode). They're happily monogamous, but hormones are messy...

-> There are 35 Fae subspecies (if you include Pixies who were later separated into their own Class). Back in the day, Cupid's family organized all species in a list according to their heat cycles to make it easier for individuals to determine who was adjacent to them in schedule.

--- Unfortunately, this led to a deeply rooted caste system that still guides their culture today. (See Fairy Social Ladder).

Fairy damsels leave mating plugs (i.e. the part that breaks off and once upon a time would've led to their deaths, in line with their insect anatomy). This gets mentioned on very rare occasion, such as late Origin of the Pixies and Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Pixies.

-> Poof has a small crisis when he realizes he's spent his whole life writing fanfics with Fairies who mate like humans. Also, his roommate teases him by saying some people like to keep the plug as a memento (They do not... I think).

Will o' the Wisps - Wisps are one of the Fairy subspecies. They're a mutation of common fairies whose damsels recover quickly and can mate multiple times a cycle. Their genetics are horribly unstable and a lot of their offspring die, so... /double thumbs up.

-> Long ago, Cupid's family took the wisp holotype (Ilisa Maddington) captive and forced her to reproduce a bunch to preserve her species. Apparently, Ilisa mentally broke and would kill any of her offspring who didn't show the butterfly wing gene (believing they weren't hers), so... she had a rough life. We talk about her life a lot.

Wisp damsels keep harems and that leads to fanfic drama. H.P. was forced into one when seeking milk for baby Sanderson (Origin of the Pixies). He doesn't necessarily resolve the issues that come with this or have a healthy ending to that plot arc, but... it sure did happen.

-> Goldie is in training to be her species' ambassador (and required to uphold expectations regarding her own harem). She struggles with Harm OCD in "Watch and Learn."

-> Poof stresses out in some works (especially Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Pixies & "All I Ever Wanted") due to fears that Goldie doesn't respect his consent. Which he's afraid to bring up with her because of the aforementioned harm OCD she has in regards to her people being stereotyped as aggressive and forceful with their partners (and because his memory is pretty bad anyway since he's on peppermint so often).

--- Yeah, there's a lot going on. Read my Poof/Goldie works with caution 😬

Pixie Reproduction - Pixies have obligate asexual reproduction that kicks in when they're adults due to their Wolbachia pipientis infection (i.e. the real-world bacteria that causes many insects to reproduce asexually). All pixies are genetically identical to H.P. (with one exception).

-> The main plot point in Origin of the Pixies is H.P. trying to figure out what is happening to him and how to take care of all the pixies he produces (1 every 500 years in line with his heat cycle, seeing as he's a common fairy with a mutation).

-> H.P. has one non-identical biological daughter named Commelina. If you can guess how that happened before we get there (considering Wolbachia destroyed his ability to reproduce the standard way)... congrats! It's pretty awful and he's extremely messed up about it :D

-> Sanderson has his eldest (Cavatina) during the Gray Train arc of the 130 Prompts series.

Anti-Fairy Reproduction - Anti-Fairies cannot reproduce on their own, as they're reflections of their Fairy counterparts. 3 months after their counterparts mate, Anti-Fairies are flooded with an incredible amount of hormones and magic (the honey-lock instinct) that immediately sends them out to find their partner and mate.

-> "But doesn't that cause a lot of trauma-" yes. They don't have a choice /fingerguns.

-> One of the main plot threads in Frayed Knots is Anti-Cosmo trying to outfox the honey-lock, with his grand plan being to find someone else to mate with when his instinct kicks in. Thus, he'll sire an offspring born outside these universal rules, who'll go on to be the host counterpart of a new Fairy-Anti-Fairy-Refract trio.

--- Frayed Knots has a lot of theming around this type of thing. For instance, when Anti-Cosmo explains this plan to Anti-Wanda, the first thing she does is point out that he lacks a piece of anatomy he needs to make that plan work (because Cosmo has it). We get nitty-gritty about that sort of thing.

-> Oh yeah, Anti-Cosmo also stole sperm and eggs from the Eros Nest while he was interning and fertilized them with his own magic. Things got pretty messed up. Don't worry about it.

Like bats, Anti-Fairy drakes have barbs on their reproductive organ, and Anti-Cosmo has no shame in narrating that. It's glossed over in Frayed Knots, but blatant in the E-rated versions of "Cageflight" and whatever else gets an E chapter. (Can be found in Red Train or under my ScarletPenguin pseud, but I'm not linking directly in this post).

Anti-Fairy drakes carry their baby for 13 days before passing it to their partner by pressing their bellies together. In "Think Positive," Anti-Cosmo mourns the death of his unborn son because he dropped little joey Foop while transferring him to Anti-Wanda's pouch

Anti-Marigold (Goldie Goldenglow's counterpart) is an anti-wisp. While will o' the wisps are famed for being temptresses who keep harems, anti-wisps often get taken advantage of due to their four pouches to hold four babies.

-> To clarify: Anti-Fairies are forced to mirror their counterparts and some Anti-Fairy drakes forcibly dump their babies on random damsels. This happens a lot with anti-wisps, who are looked down on for being moth-like instead of bat-like; it's also a nod to moths being prey for bats.

-> Anti-Marigold's crop top rides high enough to slightly show her four pouches when I draw her. Poof jumped a bit when he brushed his hand over them while putting a painkiller charm on her stomach in "All I Ever Wanted."

⭐ Fae Culture - #RD species ref - Long, detailed posts for each magical culture. /slaps each one- These babies can fit a good 20k words in each of 'em and they're perfect if you're interested in the nitty-gritty.

Fairy World's population consists of roughly 75% damsels and 25% drakes. Damsels are born more often because back in the old days, they would die after mating (like many male insects, though it's male Fairies who give birth in FOP canon).

-> In modern times, Cupid's family now shoots every couple with a burst of magic to ensure damsels don't die. On very rare occasion, someone slips through the cracks, but his family are extremely devoted to their job.

-> Cupid's family were blessed by the nature spirits and have incredibly intense magic. They split it between triplets and kill any of their own offspring who aren't born triplets (and forbid anyone other than the Triplet of the Morning from reproducing- See also, Cupid's family tree).

-> His family also run the Eros Nest: a zoo containing every fauna species in the universe, which appears in Origin of the Pixies and Frayed Knots when they kidnap H.P. and when Anti-Cosmo interns there.

-> It's worth noting that in Cloudlands AU canon, Cupid's married to a beautiful will o' the wisp named Psyche and his mom is not happy.

> 2020 post about ZZ & ZW sex chromosomes for Fairies & the masculinization effect of Wolbachia pipientis on Pixies [Parallel of IRL Wolbachia's feminization phenotype for infected insects]

-> 2018 post about Fairy, Anti-Fairy, and Refract views of trans members in their culture & types of body adjustment magic

--- tl;dr - The Fae envision several different sexes. Fairies see gynes and drones as sexes alongside kabouter drakes and kabouter damsels. Anti-Fairies have a special designation for neurodivergent individuals [Ex: Anti-Cosmo's divus displacement disorder, which is an Anti-Fairy parallel of bipolar disorder that he treats with pheromones; Anti-Fairy culture believes he has a nature spirit tangled with his soul and sharing his body]... Lots of little nitty-gritty going on there, always traced back to Anti-Fairy zodiac culture].

That said, Fairies are supportive of gender transitions because they believe suppressing yourself weakens your magic and/or causes harm to your health [Magical back-up is part of their culture; they get nervous]. They're very big on being yourself.

--- Anti-Fairies believe in reincarnation and take body dysphoria as proof of their beliefs. They believe souls have no gender, but it's your role as someone experiencing many incarnations to take each one seriously and love the body and role given to you. Some people criticize this belief due to the possibility that this is just a way for the extremely patriarchal Anti-Fairy culture to keep damsels submissive because "it's their fate right now; they'll have their chance when it's their turn to be drakes; we all take our turn."

Generally, Anti-Fairies [who follow Zodii beliefs] consider it an insult to the nature spirits to change your body. This doesn't just mean gender presentation, but everything- Their culture has strict rules about bodies, including only being allowed to shapeshift into one form your entire life (predetermined by lineage), they're only allowed to wear clothes in specific colors, their underwear needs to match the color of their year of birth on the zodiac, stuff like that.

--- Anti-Cosmo has a whole crossdressing arc in Frayed Knots where he convinces himself that changing his clothes is okay as long as he doesn't change his body. The nature spirits are incredibly fluid in their bodies and gender, so idk where the Anti-Fairies got the idea that it would be an insult. Lots of different cultures and beliefs!

--- The Refracted are not very supportive of trans individuals, but I don't know what you expected because they think everything in life is sinful except breathing, praying, and eating. Owning possessions? Learning to read? Practicing magic? It's all bad.

--- Pixies don't really know what's going on in their bodies. They're designated drakes at birth due to having reproductive parts historically associated with ZZ chromosomes, but some pixies have ZW chromosomes and don't know it. That's just the way of Wolbachia! Wilcox and Smith are two notable ZW pixies, Wilcox being the first one Wolbachia pipientis's masculinization property was discovered in (Frayed Knots) & Smith's pheromones giving him an attraction boost both for being a gyne and for having ZW chromosomes. Smith is the only ZW Gen 2 pixie gyne, so his 'double attractive' status is unique and everyone thinks he's sexy.

-> Cloudlands AU only rarely plays with transformation magic and gender (We do have some interesting cases like Foop using a pendant in "Blue Angel," which is a special type of indirect magic that flies under the radar in his culture; I write Foop as genderfluid as he gets older, and one of the most important Anti-Fairies in history [the first High Count] used they/them pronouns, so... It's an interesting culture to explore, but may not be for everyone).

--- If you're interested in gender magic, you might like Reedfilter Rules AU, where Anti-Cosmo flips between gender presentations using magic for comfort and enjoyment (As in, not for a scheme or joke); there are neat details about his culture's naming traditions and how they're fluid with his presentation. H.P.'s spouse in RR AU does a hard reset of identity every 500 years. A very different but equally interesting society to explore in 'fic.

Seelie Courters have pheromone-based cultures while Anti-Fairies have sound-based culture and Refracts have sight-based culture.

-> In "Minion," both H.P. and Sanderson were affected by the Fairy Elder's pheromones, as she is the most powerful individual in Fairy World. Just being in the hallway nearby flipped Sanderson into a calm, authoritative state and H.P. into a flirty one (with Sanderson unable to maintain his gray suit - instead changing it to yellow - and using hand gestures that H.P.'s "no fun" pheromones usually suppress).

-> Anti-Cosmo asked H.P. if he could translate the scents of candles in "Yellow Flower Number 9," to which H.P. replied that he was "trying not to" because "It's gross this close to Valentine's Day."

-> Anti-Fairies who kiff-tie with nature spirits (discussed below) smell strong to Fairies. In late Origin of the Pixies and Frayed Knots, Sanderson waffles on his loyalty to H.P. because Anti-Cosmo's scent is overpowering to him (since Anti-Cosmo is bonded with the Water spirit and Sanderson was born in a Water year).

-> Fairies can smell when a fellow Fairy is no longer a virgin, because it upgrades their pheromones.

Drake Fairies who eat a significant amount of jelly during their first 3 months of life develop into gynes, whose behavior somewhat mirrors queen bees IRL. They have freckles, attract drones to serve them, and fight each other to the death. Drones are attracted to pheromones; gynes and drones engage in preening behaviors (insect-like licking behaviors) that satisfy them both (Ex: It helps them breathe better because it straightens out their magic).

-> By "serve," I do mean things like errands and chores. In Cloudlands AU, gyne/drone dynamics are completely non-sexual (with very rare exceptions such as H.P.'s rival (Jean Reddinski) taking advantage of his drones in Origin of the Pixies, which is considered sexual abuse in-universe and he faces consequences).

-> There is a lot of face-licking and neck-licking in these 'fics; it's a whole thing, baby... They are bugs, your honor...

-> H.P., Big Daddy, Poof, and Finley (see the tomte section below) are all gynes. Most pixies (including Sanderson) are drones. Only one gyne in the immediate area can be dominant; others are submissive. One of the side effects is that they become more pliant to orders. Due to pheromone suppression, gynes are sterile unless they're the dominant gyne.

-> Gynes don't kill on sight, but their instincts flare up when a fellow gyne challenges them. In Origin of the Pixies, H.P. struggles not to kill his vice president and heir (Longwood) many times. Multiple characters die in my 'fics, especially during gyne fights.

-> Finley gets his aggressive urges out by playing video games. Finley is the dominant gyne over Poof and yes, it is incredibly dangerous that they're living together. Poof never refuses when Finley wants something from him because he lives in fear that Finley will see it as a challenge and decide to kill him. Poof would probably win because he's captain of the saucerbee team and Finley plays video games all day. But it's complicated...

-> Gynes tend to have strong-scented pheromones and are usually considered attractive. Insects tend to find non-virgin insects more attractive than virgin ones (If I'm recalling my research from many years ago correctly; I believe it was the pheromone change). It gets a lot harder for gynes not to kill each other if both have the upgraded pheromones; they're way more aggressive.

--- This is mentioned now and then, such as H.P.'s insistence that his vice president must stay a virgin until he's gone, or the huge spike in tension between Poof and Finley when Poof's pheromones flip to their non-virgin state (Finley has a disability preventing him from doing the same; see the tomte section below). It's... never a secret (especially among gossipy high schoolers) who is and isn't a virgin.

-> Reddinski was significantly more dominant than H.P. back in the day, and H.P. was unable to be near him without flipping to a completely different personality (influenced by Reddinski's pheromones) where he was more nervous and submissive (See the Origin of the Pixies chapters "Almost" & "Senseless").

-> The Anti-Fairy parallel of a gyne is a pilot. They don't have pheromones or special behaviors, but they have purple freckles and are born with black stripes on their face (two things Foop has in canon- his stripes of course being his mustache and goatee).

-> The Refract version of a gyne is a plume. They're born with blue "ribbons" above their brows that usually go down to their hips or even past their feet (think bird-of-paradise courtship decorations). No pheromones or behaviors here either, though pilots and plumes are generally considered flashy and attractive.

-> Frayed Knots Chapter 7 - "Full House" - Spellementary-aged Anti-Cosmo visits a hive estate after accusing his gyne principal of being abusive to his drones.

-> Preening Signals

-> Freckle Distribution in Gyne Fairies

Wishbirthed individuals are uncommon, but not unheard of. Their official designation is luz mala, or "bad light." Their magic is highly unstable and strong emotions affect their surroundings (as in "Fairly Odd Baby" or "Anti-Poof").

-> If I'm remembering canon correctly, Juandissimo and Poof are the only Fairies who've been shown to do magic without a wand (Poof in both "Terrible Twosome" and "School of Crock," Juandissimo when he snaps his fingers and sends a blast of magic from his fingertip to Cosmo in the latter half of "Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary."

-> Canonically, Juandissimo was unable to hold a job for long after he and Remy separated because he was constantly crying ("Remy Rides Again"); dialogue heavily implies Juandissimo's tears ruined the food he cooked even though such a thing presumably would've been subtle if he had human tears.

-> In Frayed Knots, Juandissimo interns at the Eros Nest and babysits Cupid (and his siblings). In both Knots and Origin, Juandissimo's arc is about his journey to becoming more confident after a lifetime of being shamed and looked down on for his status as a luz mala. In "Whatever," he has a breakdown and wails that he's good, not bad.

- Some Fae are born tomtes, meaning they can't use magic. In their society, this is considered a disability. Finley - the pixie who rooms with Poof, Foop, and Sammy Sweetsparkle at boarding school - is the most notable tomte character. His hat doesn't float and he can't fly because his wings can't sustain his weight.

-> Finley will die if he engages in intercourse because his body would not have enough magic to sustain his life. This comes up now and then, such as when his roommates chat about their love lives.

-> He will also die if he gives birth, which is bad news for a member of a race that reproduces parthenogenetically when they come of age :')

-> Finley can only use magic on Gray Tuesday, when the Head Pixie takes Santa's powers and splits them between all the pixies. Finley looks forward to this every year in his youth (Ex: "This Is a Box"), but grows sour as he ages since it reminds him of what he can't have.

-> As mentioned, Fairies (who have insect biology) must adhere to specific reproduction practices (i.e. Cupid shooting them) or they risk dying after intercourse. Finley's disability means Cupid's arrows won't save him (His body can't process that magic).

When they become godparents, Fairies link their magic with the appendixes of their godchildren. This helps them locate their godchild, get a better understanding of what they're wishing for, and allows them to draw energy- Wishes made by children are drastically more powerful than random spells Fairies can do otherwise.

-> Juandissimo screeched in pain in "Whatever" when his godchild was injured. In the opening flashback in "Looking Back," Juandissimo passed out when Remy went into shock from extreme pain.

-> Fairy Court removed Gary and Betty's appendixes at age 8 after the Pixies won the right to adopt them (Pink and Gray).

Anti-Fairy culture revolves around fate and the Fae zodiac. The zodiac plays a big role, so it's a good idea to become at least a bit familiar with this part of the lore. (See #RD nature spirits)

There are many nature spirits (Father Time and Mother Nature are good examples), but the zodiac spirits - 7 brothers who were imprisoned in their cloudland temples during war - are a very big deal.

The zodiac culture influences everything from what colors an Anti-Fairy is allowed to wear to whether they're allowed to be more dominant or submissive in intimate relationships. Childhood betrothals are very common, and seemingly random due to Anti-Fairies trusting in fate.

-> Anti-Cosmo (born in the Water year) has a crisis in Frayed Knots when he realizes he prefers being the submissive partner and is stuck in a culture where he's forbidden to do that except with Anti-Fairies born in either the Love or Fire years.

-> Foop wasn't betrothed as a child since he was in Abracatraz, but Anti-Cosmo discusses this in Frayed Knots (and is paired with a woman who isn't Anti-Wanda). Fairies find child betrothals especially strange, but it's important to the Anti-Fairies.

-> Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda really want Foop (a scientist born in the Breath year) to marry Anti-Coriander (a doctor-in-training born in the Leaves year). Healthcare falls under the Breath spirit's domain and science under the Leaves spirit's domain, so in Anti-Fairy eyes, Foop and Anti-Coriander are in perfect balance and thus... their society's OTP.

In Frayed Knots, Anti-Cosmo turns his body over to the Water spirit once he becomes High Count (as is custom; this is called a kiff-tie). They struggle a lot to make that work.

-> Throughout the 130 Prompts (and other works about Foop), he grumbles about being raised with the expectation that he'll turn his body over to the nature spirit of Breath. He'll almost certainly be shunned if he refuses.

The Anti-Fairies who were dining with Anti-Cosmo in "Fairly Odd Baby" are called the camarilla court. There are 14 members if you include Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda, so each of the 7 zodiacs are represented twice. The camarilla court advises the High Count and Countess; they play special roles like planning events and watching the border.

-> If the camarilla is gridlocked, ties are broken by another party: the First General (who wears a red cloak to represent Tarrow, the father of the zodiac spirits).

Karmic Weaves

Anti-Fairies care a lot about karma and the influence you have on others. A karmic weave is an ethereal manifestation of your influence on other people and when it shimmers into view, it takes the form of glowing rainbow clothing.

-> H.P. is known for having an especially dramatic one since he runs a shipping company (and because he's a head of state, and because all pixies can trace their ancestry to him, and because he influenced Flappy Bob who made the wish to change the planet, etc.)

-> See also, Karmic Weaves

-> Frayed Knots is named for Anti-Cosmo's karmic weave, which becomes tangled, frayed, and knotted as he spends his life lying about things that grow increasingly complicated. Anti-Cosmo is notable for deliberately "acting against his fate" (in his case, he lied about who he was betrothed to and it spiraled from there): something Anti-Fairies generally don't do, as trying to "dodge fate" is extremely taboo in their culture... which means he can never admit to his growing web of lies.

-> Foop and Anti-Marigold tangled their weaves during their Tarrow dance in "Watch and Learn." When their solid bodies reformed, Foop's hand was stuck inside Anti-Marigold's skin. They fixed it, but it was uncomfortable for all involved.

-> Anti-Cosmo took some of the Head Pixie's karma in Frayed Knots Chapter 27, "Tangled Threads", and used it to boost his own magic... which went poorly, since Anti-Cosmo's meddling tangled their weaves (and thus bodies) together, so they both fell off a building when A.C. tried to fly.

Anti-Fairies and bad luck - Anti-Fairies' role in the universe is to bring balance. They're genuinely cleaning up Fairy messes, but they're portrayed as the ones causing messes. Sometimes they do cause messes, but a lot of the time, they're the cleaning crew.

-> Anti-Fairies disperse stinky magic. If left to fester, it will become violent and attack; in Frayed Knots, we see this presented as if evil spirits or demons are leaping from another dimension to hunt people, especially Anti-Fairies (their favorite food). Fairies can't see these spirits (umbrae), so they don't really get it.

-> In other words, Anti-Fairies take something that could cause devastating harm to a person and disperse it into much smaller pieces of bad luck. They ARE sending you bad luck, but they're preventing things that could kill you.

-> They still do evil things, but I often portray Anti-Fairies as jealous, bitter, and lonely more than truly evil. The vibe I'm going for is people hating bugs or scavengers for being "gross and creepy" when in reality, they're important in the ecosystem. Sometimes they get angry and lash out... especially at Fairies (who've hurt, imprisoned, and shunned them for a long time) and humans (who can't really fight back).

-> In Frayed Knots, Anti-Cosmo trains as a demon summoner. He doesn't show much of this onscreen because... honestly, it's not as interesting as it sounds, but it basically means he's the emergency cavalry for his friend group to call in if things go wrong. He gets to call the shots and (against all odds) he's good at it.

Anti-Fairy culture is sociosexual (mostly themed around IRL bonobos). Physical touch is a very big deal for them, and they tend to be more open about sexual things since they can't reproduce unless their counterparts do.

-> "Physical touch" covers things like pressing bodies together, nipping at each other, roosting together, snuggling, bundling (i.e. wrapping wings around each other), and sexual things.

-> Fairies are stereotyped as "brawn over brains," especially since gynes fight to the death sometimes. Anti-Fairies are stereotyped as "brains over brawn"- Their culture isn't big on fighting. In "You'll Never Know," Foop challenged Anti-Cosmo to a duel and Anti-Cosmo remarked that he'd "raised a fairy."

-> There are 13 levels of intimacy important in their culture, ranging from friendly to letting nature spirits possess your body.

-> The iris virus is a sexually transmitted disease with a side effect of adding color to Anti-Fairy eyes. It's passed ceremonially between noble families, although Anti-Cosmo and Foop were born with theirs. Anti-Wanda got hers when she gained higher status.

--- In Frayed Knots, Anti-Cosmo has a meltdown over Anti-Wanda passing the virus to important figureheads in ceremony despite this being extremely ingrained in his culture for many generations... He's very jealous. "But doesn't he chronically cheat on her-?" Yes.

--- Anti-Cosmo's first heir (Talon) was born with red eyes. Foop displaced him by being born with colored eyes, as it's considered a blessing from the nature spirits (despite it being an STD he inherited).

--- Refracts also have red eyes unless they get the iris virus. In their culture, it's shameful to have the virus (even though they're also bound to the whims of the honey-lock and can't always choose their partner). Yay, victim-blaming! (We do not yay for that).

-> Anti-Fairies have a tongue-piercing culture... It's a nod to bats being one of the only animal species to practice oral, so you can probably guess how their barbs play into this.

-> Frayed Knots discusses sociosexual things, but glosses over some details (Ex: Anti-Cosmo tells us when he does ceremonial things with his friends, but doesn't give the nitty-gritty).

--- You can find alt versions of some chapters (Ex: versions rated E) in Red Train or under my ScarletPenguin pseud on AO3. It's not something I've posted much of historically because I think it's funny to write something as extreme as a sociosexual culture while censoring it, but maybe in the future.

-> We gloss over this culture pretty hard in the 130 Prompts, which is strictly G and T works. The in-universe explanation is that after the War of the Angels (Season 7's "Balance of Flour"), touch culture tapered a bit and during Foop's youth; it's currently in a numb "socioromantic" era and picking up its broken pieces.

Anti-Fairy culture is very patriarchal and much more sexist than Fairy culture (while Fairy culture tends to be more racist than Anti-Fairy culture).

-> They also have the 75% - 25% gender split, but interpret this as "Nature says drakes should have multiple damsels..." which is pretty in-line with their bat biology.

-> Colonies are led by creche fathers. In modern day, Anti-Cosmo heads the Blue Castle Colony and one of his responsibilities is looking after all the pups, even if they're not related to him. In his youth, that colony was led by High Count Anti-Bryndin, whom Anti-Cosmo considers his step-father (despite them not having a very close relationship... the feelings are not necessarily reciprocated).

-> When drake Anti-Fairies come of age, it's expected they leave their birth colony and join a bachelor colony. Anti-Cosmo depicts this in Frayed Knots. Damsels stay with the birth colony and technically become "one of the creche father's damsels" at that point until they're legally married to someone else.

-> In Frayed Knots, one of the reasons Anti-Cosmo chooses to overthrow Anti-Bryndin is A.C.'s discomfort with his leader coming on to people who don't want him to.

-> "Was it Anti-Wanda-" Yes (More or less). And his mom. And obligatory jealousy regarding his fiancée.

More Anti-Fairy details - They roost upside-down, their native language is Vatajasa (a language themed around clicks and squeaks), and they're forbidden to shapeshift into any form other than the single animal associated with their family line.

-> Changing yourself away from "your fate" is very frowned upon in Anti-Fairy society (and Fairy culture is all about embracing yourself).

Names are very important in Anti-Fairy culture; I believe Foop has 6 different names. Technically he's in the records as Nebula; Foop is a nickname, plus he has names like Anti-Poof and so on.

-> Anti-Fairies use names given by their parents when they're young (which is also given to the Fairy counterpart as their middle name, thus allowing Anti-Fairy parents to name their kids). They switch to their anti-names when they become adults. Those given names then become their "private names" and are to be spoken aloud only with intimate partners.

-> It's a running gag that Foop doesn't know his betrothed's private name because they were only introduced to each other as adults and she can't tell him until they're married. He has a very bad habit of calling her his mistress's name instead (i.e. Anti-Marigold's private name is Kelsia) because he grew up with Anti-Marigold since he was a baby and called her Kelsia for 150,000 years. (RIP...)

-> Foop is very defensive of Anti-Fairy name culture even though he sometimes thinks it's stupid. Poof has a hard time remembering Goldie's counterpart uses the name Anti-Marigold; he always calls her Anti-Goldie. Funnily enough, he also did that when they were young, so Foop would always correct him with "Kelsia." One of these days, he'll probably call her Kelsia when he's trying to switch to using Anti-Marigold and Foop will throw his arms up in frustration.

It's worth clarifying that Anti-Cosmo runs the executive branch of Anti-Fairy government (He runs things like search and rescue, military, and infrastructure) while the Anti-Fairy Council handle judicial things (like crime) and many interracial politics (like scoring Foop the right to have a "scary godchild," which is one of the truce-related things they have to negotiate with the Fairies).

-> Fairies have Da Rules, but Anti-Fairies have their Traditions and Customs book, which their Council manages.

-> Fun Fact: All members of the Anti-Fairy Council seen in the show are pilots.

Yugopotamian Culture - Not much to mention here beyond "Hey, things that are unpleasant to humans are often desirable to Yugopotamians," in line with show canon.

-> It's worth a reminder that Mark comes from a violent culture. He likes when Vicky hurts him and states in the show that what she does to him is in line with his planet's courtship customs (except the kissing).

Potentially, we could delve into this in 'fic and it might be violent or upsetting, but I don't have specific plans. If we see specifics, I expect canon-typical Vicky things like blades (since it's canon that she gave Mark a ton of scars somehow), so heads up.

Witches - First generation witches are individuals with one magical parent and one non-magical parent. Their descendants are also classified as witches. Season 3's "Which Witch Is Which?" canonized an old relative of Crocker's (Alden Bitterroot) as a witch.

-> The Fae can't reproduce outside their own species (special rules about magic and breathing don't allow them to shapeshift while they're that aroused), so no witches have Fae parents.

-> Notable witches include Denzel Crocker, Kevin Crocker, Elmer, and Happy Peppy Gary. Being male witches, they have XYZ chromosomes; they pass as having Klinefelter syndrome on human scans, but there's a lot going on under the surface.

-> In my lore, male witches are sterile and witch heritage only passes through the mother's line, so technically Alden is a great-something uncle of Crocker's and not a direct ancestor. Elmer's mom, Crocker's mom, and Crocker's half-sister (Kevin's mom) are also witches.

-> Ed Leadly's motivation for hunting magical creatures is the reproduction ("Opportunity" & "Trying Too Hard") and/or just because he thinks random magical creatures are neat (hence offering to pay 17 million dollars for Sparky in Season 9's "Dog Gone"). This terrible man has been divorced multiple times and at this point he just wants a partner who's interesting and fun, and I respect it.

-> Witches of the Fire Tribe (i.e. those who are genie-descended) can pass their magic to others through body fluids like kisses. In Pink and Gray, Gary is pressured to kiss Betty throughout his life even though in his own words, it makes him "feel like rental equipment." This plays a lot into their messy relationship as they get older, especially after Betty loses her magical memories and forgets WHY Gary was so reluctant about kissing her.

-> While not discussed in detail, it's heavily implied Gary was born with an STD (considering that H.P. and Anti-Cosmo took one look at his DNA and immediately switched their plan from "let's transfer blood to Betty so the magic transfer is permanent" to "Uh... We're gonna stick with kisses."

-> Witch magic is so powerful, it can't really be destroyed. Come What May is a Kevin-centric 'fic about life in the Crocker house, where generations of stinky magic buildup (See Season 5's "Talkin' Trash") have caused it to essentially become alive.

-> Witches are very long-lived (hence Alden still living at the bottom of his well at the end of "Which Witch Is Which?" - Living hundreds of years is expected. Because witch magic can't be destroyed, they're reborn as animals when they die... familiars, in fact!

-> Denzel and Kevin Crocker are Foop's familiars in future 'fics like "You'll Never Know" and "Approval."

-> Witches

The Fae also have magical kisses; each race has their own.

-> We know from canon that Anti-Fairies have acidic tears ("Timmy's Secret Wish"), so I gave them acidic saliva as well.

-> Fairy kisses spike your joy/pleasure and Pixie kisses clear the head.

"Power Pals" confirmed candy and soda get Fairies drunk; soda is sometimes seen during celebration scenes (such as H.P. and Sanderson kicking back after they took over Fairy World and Earth in "School's Out! The Musical").

-> It's impossible for Pixies to get blackout drunk because they rebound to the sober state when they start to tip. They tend to be sugar addicts because of this (paralleling how the wasps I based them on are also social addicts).

-> In Cloudlands AU, I play with the idea of sugar as substance use. As he gets older, Poof develops a peppermint addiction because it gets him high, which allows him moments of respite from his incredible amounts of trauma. In "Repeat" (before he really started), he pleaded with his dad not to think he was "taking mint" because "he's a good kid."

-> He's tried to quit multiple times. Anti-Marigold was surprised when she found Poof peppering up in "Temptation." He had a breakdown in "All I Ever Wanted" when explaining why he struggles to quit.

... That's everything I can think of that falls in my mental category of "deep worldbuilding people might not want to be surprised by because it might squick them out." My apologies if there's anything I missed.

-> That said, don't forget to check the AU warnings linked at the top- There are things I warned for in that post that aren't deep worldbuilding and thus aren't stated here.

Orange Train's works delve deeper into this type of content than 'fics without this series label, so keep an eye out and and browse or avoid as preferred.

You may also like the Riddledeep Masterpost, which contains links to all my worldbuilding posts (More polished on that sideblog than my initial musings on the main blog). -> Before I used the name Cloudlands AU, I called this FOP worldbuilding Riddleverse Classic, so you may see that term in some posts. -> I'm in the process of copying Riddledeep posts to the AO3 work So, You're Studying the Cloudlands... - You can subscribe to it on AO3 if you would like to read there instead.

Read on FFN | Read these works on AO3

#Fairly OddParents #FOP #Cloudlands AU #Kevin Crocker #ridwriting #130 arc guides #130 Prompts #Little Crock #apparently art #FAIRIES!#Origin of the Pixies #Frayed Knots #ScarletPenguin #Long post #ridwork guides

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mazojo · 2 years ago

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Winter 2022 Anime Opinions

As always my thoughts because no one asked

From least to fav here are my overall thoughts:

Urusei Yatsura (2022)

I am just not the target audience for this. This is probably a nostalgia ridden show that people who watched the original will love and enjoy but I am not that person and with the two eps I watched I had enough. The jokes were not funny to me all characters were annoying and yeah the animation is nice but I will not put myself through something I will not enjoy for it tbh. Watch it if you liked the original ig

Tonikaku Kawaii: SeifukU

I dislike tonikaku with a passion it gives go girl give us nothing to the negative 20 no flavor no taste still the same shiz as the show so yeah. Watch it if you liked the series lmao its more of the same

Shinobi no Ittoki

I guess…… Its really kinda bland and I can’t pinpoint why. The concept is interesting but it just doesn’t hold up in its execution and I dont care for it run sorry do better I guess

Fumetsu no Anata e 2nd Season

I try so hard to care, SO hard. Since season 1 I have found this show to be kinda…. All over. Like the only storyline I cared about was the one with the kid with the mask last season and since that its just been meh to me. Like, we already kinda know how everything is going to go and all the arcs are kinda the same, they show us someone, we care for them for like half an episode, they die, repeat.

Bocchi the Rock!

I TRIES SO HARD TO CARE TOO I AM SO SORRY. This has been like the number 1 show this year but I… I dont know I just dont like it ASDFGHJ I am not a big fan of cute girls doing nothing specially mixed with the uwu social anxiety quirky. Like they dont paint it in a bad light like most shows do and the art style is very unique but I just dont… Give a shit adfgdhjf I tried I promise but hey if you are into this shows probs the one for you.

Mushikaburi-hime

This one is boring I am ngl. Its not bad but like… Its not good either. Ive seen this trope done SO many times its just boring. It hasn’t done anything bad per se but I just dont really care for it much. I like my romance with spicier ships so yeah I mean if you like cute royal same old same old couples then watch it.

Fuufu Ijou, Koibito Miman.

Do you like boobs????? Do you like boobs ON your screen for 23 minutes??????? Then you will for sure enjoy this one fellas! ASDFGHJ I… I am not the biggest fan of ecchi so this is a lot for me but hey if you like this fan service trash then you go bestie. Character design is cute I dont care for any characters as of the moment so yeah I guess its something

Chainsaw Man

This is the one that gets me cancelled ASDFGH. I am not going to say much other than I've never been a fan of chainsaw man since the manga and you can write me all the essays y'all want but I just.... Dont care sorry lol ADFSJAK Its just not for me; I am not saying its bad per se, I am just not the person that enjoys this type of shows. Akiangel as the only thing that matters of chainsaw man fr fr

Aru Asa Dummy Head Mic ni Natteita Ore-kun no Jinsei

This is trash but it goes higher just because Its what it is and delivers just what I expected. The reincarnated person is annoying as fuck but the girls have cute dynamics so that's why it goes higher. Its just 3 minutes skits of the girls being cute so yeah its okay

Koukyuu no Karasu

I feel like this is a good show but I am just not the target for this adsfgh its a show you gotta pay attention to understand and a lot of history goes behind it and it just kinda bored me but I know its not bad. I just dont think its for me but that's okay I might keep watching it.

Eternal Boys

Its okay. Its a nice concept and I have only watched like 3 eps but its a nice message I guess. Its short and whatever so it doesn't take much time to watch but its not something revolutionary. I like idol shows so maybe I am giving it more than what it is.

Mob Psycho

This is the one that gets me cancelled part 2 SKSKSK. I am not going to lie besties, I am not the biggest mob psyhco fan. Its okay, I just never got into the hyper around it sorry :(( I really wish I could because I know its a good story and I ddi like that last episode a lot but like,,,,, I feel like the story was over last season ASDFGH But hey I am glad y'all enjoyed it a lot!

Boku no Hero Academia 6th Season

I am ngl, I am like on ep 2 of bnha season 6 but have seen the Dabi scene like 20 times thanks to social media and I got no choice but to Stan. I dont like this arc of bnha as y'all know but it seems more interesting than last season and I like the way the animation direction is going so I will give them points for it.

Do It Yourself!!

Lesbians your honor!!!! I like this one! Its cute girls doing silly lil stuff and I am not a big fan of the genre like I said but this one is more entertaining for me, maybe because I am more into DIY shit but its cute!! Nothing big happens tbh but its a soft watch to put in the background if y'all enjoy this

Romantic Killer

This was cute! A refreshing romcom from the ones weve gotten recently tbh. I liked it even though I have a different interpretation of the road they took it in the end but it was a fun show to watch with some nice gags and cute characters, defo give it a go!

Renai Flops

Okay hear me out. This one is in a weird place but hear me out. I hate everything this anime stands for because it was such a cliche weird and ecchi but it was such an interesting train wreck I HAD to keep on watching every episode and when I least expected it I was suddenly on ep 6 and the twist left me screAmiNG. It kinda goes downhill again after ep 7 but just because it took me so off guard (dont wanna spoil it but aloO) it goes high up, gg 1 for the ecchi trash 0 for Maria this round.

Yowamushi Pedal: Limit Break

Ngl this season of yowapeda hasn't been as hyped as I hoped for me but I care so much about the characters I will place it high up SKSKSKSK its basically more of the same; I honestly miss the upperclassman a lot but its okay my babies appear like for .2 frames and I start sobbing

Akuyaku Reijou nano de Last Boss wo Kattemimashita

okaY is this trash??? yes. Do I care??? nO. I LOVE MY SILLY LIL TROPES OKAY ITS FUNNY AND SILLY AND DUMB AND THEY ARE CUTE SO IT GOES UP OKAY I LIKE HAMEFURA WHAT DO YALL EXPECT FROM ME. still kinda trash but like, guilty pleasure trash.

4-nin wa Sorezore Uso wo Tsuku

THIS IS HOW YOU DO CUTE GIRLS (AND TSUKASA LY BESTIE) DOING CUTE STUFF IN A GOOD WAY. If you like Saiki K you'll like this show. I dont know how to explain it but it gives the energy from Saiki K and I loved it they are very important and relevant.

Spy x Family Part 2

Its more of the same of part 1 y'all know spy x family its a good show I love them all I love when my families are found go stream it look at Bond and Anya being best family

Tiger & Bunny

The gays are back for more and better! Not my favorite season buT I still care about them all so much that I dont care SKSKSK go stream tiger & bunny I dont have much more to say

Cool Doji Danshi

Do you love dumb people??? Me too! then this anime is for you ! Its silly short and goes to the point. It doesnt try to be something its not and I like my anime silly and dumb. If you are looking for something easy and silly watch this.

Blue Lock

Guys guys my favorite comfort soccer players are finally animated!!! Watch it. If y'all follow me y'all know I am annoying about blue lock. Its the only anime that has Bachira AND Reo imagine the odds!!! Its a great sports anime and the characters are great and I love it and its my comfort okay

Mairimashita! Iruma-kun 3rd Season

Lets all pretend for a second we are all surprised M!ik is number one woah Maria that is so weird your favorite manga animated as number one????? did not expect it that's wild. Anyways M!ik supremacy today tomorrow its the Lied arc and Iruma and that one episode were Iruma cries made me emo and I love it and I think you should all be super cool and interesting and go watch m!ik it would make us all a better society.

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luxshine · 2 years ago

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Ok. So we start Stranger Things season 3

I write this as I watch, so basically, it's real time watching with me only in just one post.

And we start of course with the most idiotic team of scientists that has ever lived on a tv series. Because SERIOUSLY, what were they expecting, opening the door again? Carebears? Rainbow Brite? No, of course not. Death and destruction, that's it.

Also, I hope the general dies painfully. He has that look of a main villain that I usually hate so yeah, death. Pleas. Soon.

And OH! They're russians. So they're ANOTHER team of very stupid scientists, not OUR stupid scientists. Of course. The Eighties and the cold war and the Red Scare. So... HOW did they get a gate?

(And no, seriously, Scientists in fiction are always the stupidest smartest people around. I'd be more annoyed by it if it wasn't because in RL we have Scientists making cloned mammoth meatballs so... yeah)

Mike is still an idiot I see. But those kids are not JUST one year older. No way.

Also, someone get Hooper a parenting manual and a hobby. And get El some standarts. Mike is way below her level.

Good to see Lucas and Max are still going strong. And that Max is now part of the party.

AWWW... Steve's coworker knows the kids as "His Children". And he lets them in to Rated B movies that they SHOULD NOT be watching. SO sweet. And Will is SO in love with Mike it's painful. Really, Mike, Eleven, GET some standarts. There are much, much better boys than Mike out there.

Also, I had seen Steve in the Scoops Ahoy's outfit before (hard not to in Tumblr) but NOTHING prepared me to the actual thing in action. He looks SO ADORABLE.

I see the series is now cribbing Resident Evil 2's homework.

I like Robin. She takes none of Steve's crap.

SIgh... Will should NOT be seeing a zombie movie. And hey, the Mind Flayer is back. This is not going to be a good summer for poor Will.

Will, get some taste. Seriously, Mike is trash.

Oh, I see Nancy fixed her polycule issue with the DUMB solution of just having one boyfriend. Well, that leaves Steve free to be a good Single DAd. And good to see that Super Bob is still remembered.

Nancy is still the most selfish girlfriend in the universe I see. Jonathan should also get some taste. I can see that in general the Wheelers are trash people.

AWW, Dustin was away. I really hope his friends didn't forget him because if they did? I am writing the whole group off. YEs, even Max. You don't diss my fave boy.

WHO THE FUCK gave Dustin THAT Monkey Cymball toy? Like, seriously... WHO?! Because you know what toy is? That toy is the cover to Stephen King's Skeleton Crew's short story collection first edition and frigging scary as hell. I can't see monkeys with cymbals thanks to that short story and THAT one is... like the worst of them all.

And AWWW, they just wanted to surprise him. I love them and their friendship so much, even if Mike's an idiot.

WHO THE HELL gave Billy a job as a lifesaver? That man is NOT equipped to care for anyone except maybe his mullet. And he needs to die. Like now.

And it is REALLY creepy to see all the moms lusting after him. ESPECIALLY mrs. Wheeler. She like totally needs to get a life. I want all the Wheelers to move. The only one I don't hate is Mr. Wheeler and that's because he's a non entity.

Hooper's actor was getting ready for Red Guardian, right? His weight is fluctuating weirdly. Also, seriously, get Hopper a parenting manual, and while I agree that Mike is a terrible boyfriend, but he was a lot more sensible in seasons 1 and 2 than in this episode. Sure, he is now a single parent of a teenager, but he didn't use to be this... Alpha male toxic.

Ok, If Nancy goes postal on her coworkers, I won't blame her.

Mike is an idiot. I think we have established that.

DUSTIN HAS A GIRLFRIEND!!!! OMG, Someone tell Steve that his child is growing up.

I agree with Steve. The hat ruins the hair.

And I love Robin.

Ok. Joyce giving parenting lessons to Hooper should be sweet but... it is a bit cringy. Since... uhm. yeah. HARD second hand embarrassment for me here. Also, she has no daughters so... it's weird.

Plus... he TALKED to Eleven last season. Heart to heart talks. Sure, sometimes they ended up in screaming bouts, but they talked. HE knew how to do that!

Like, seriously, how hard would it be to say "I don't want you kissing with tongue under my roof, El, you still need to get a bit more socialized before jumping on a relationship!"? Hopper could do that.

And I see that the Joyce/Hopper ship is sailing.

Mike is an idiot. Will needs a better crush, and Dustin needs better friends. I mean, Lucas and Max ALSO are in a relationship, but they are not just dumping everyone just to go and suck face.

And we're still cribbing Resident Evil's notes. Oh, and Vermin, from Marvel. Anyone remembers Vermin? VERY gross villain. Also Parasite Eve. Cool.

Someone kill Bill, PLEASE.

Seriously, we lost BOB so we could see one of the GROSSEST examples of male gaze and bad flirting with a woman who could be his own mother?! And Is MARRIED! And said NO.

Oooh, trouble in paradise for Max and Lucas.

No, seriously... Dustin needs better friends. He just came back from a month away, is VERY excited about his new girlfriend and how many things he learned over said month. And none of them believe him or want to hear about that and... it's sad. Really sad.

He should've gone to Steve. Steve would've listened, be happy about him and give him a ride to the hill so he wouldn't have needed to take five hours to get there.

BOB!

I miss Bob.

Ok, seriously, the way the situation of Eleven with Mike around Hooper is being presented really doesn't work for me. He is a father, an adult, and he KNOWS what Mike is thinking because he WAS an hormonal teenager too. And he was the one who let El go to the dance last year. So this whole... I sleep listening to their radio romantic songs is... WEIRD.

ANY parent would go "hey, you can't have your door closed when your boyfriend is here" and it would be OK. Yes, Kiss and all, but open door because you guys are not ready for being parents yourself, you idiots.

Sigh. Hooper. I like your plan of killing Mike. But you are the adult, and the responsible one. So don't kill him. But yes. Mike SHOULD remember that he is dating the Sheriff's DAUGHTER.

Poor Dustin.

At least Will DOES want to hang around. But then, Will is the other single kid in the group and the one who will NOT get a girlfriend.

And of course now Dustin gets RUSSIAN radio. Kid, you need to stay with Steve. When you're with Steve you don't get in that much trouble. Or at least you have someone with a bat ready to defend you.

I NEED a reunion of Steve and Dustin. I mean, yes, the Russians opening the gate again is important and creepy and they shouldn't be doing it, but I REALLY need more Steve and LESS Bill and his creepy relationship with a married woman.

MRs. Wheeler... I don't like you. But seriously, going out with Billy is a mistake. BIG ONE. Don't do it.

Oh, hey. He FINALLY is going to Die. So happy about that. Pity that takes out the chance for Mrs. Wheeler to do the right thing, but I've wanting to see Billy die since, well, since he was mean to Steve. And his kids. So yeah, bye bye billy, you survived like 5 chapters too long for me.

Also, great horror reference at the end.

Strong beginning season 3. Even if you are mistreating my Dustin. Do better, or I will be sending Steve with a bat to your offices.

#Stranger Things #Stranger Things 3 #Dustin Henderson #Steve Harrington #Scoops Ahoy #Will Bryce #Joyce Bryce #Sheriff Hooper #Mike Wheeler #Lucas #Max #Eleven

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buckee · 1 year ago

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yuletide 2023 letter

Dear Yuletide writer,

Happy Yuletide! This is my very first Yuletide, so I'm excited to be here--thanks for being my writer this year! <3 More under the cut:

GENERAL INFO

Likes:

Dead dove/darkfic/"Hydra Trash Party": Pretty much anything goes! Torture, horror, incest, kidnapping--you name it. I'm a particular fan of dubcon. Non-con is fine--but, tasteful, please.

Unhealthy (romantic) relationships: Anything that would be criminal in the real world, I'm game. Terrible, awful, unhealthy codependency. The dissolution of a marriage. Age gaps. Power imbalance. "It's not love, but it's all we have." Shared trauma. Divorce. Domestic abuse--I prefer verbal and emotional over physical, but I'm open to anything if it fits the characters. Overall, relationships between the story's villain and the story's protagonist--but there isn't a happy end, necessarily.

Miscellaneous: Being isolated in each other. Character studies. AUs where the villain wins. AUs where everyone in the world is gone but them. Hostage situations. Childhood best friends. Best friends breaking up. Ambiguous endings. "The love was there. It didn't save us. But it was there." Dating horror stories a la Fresh. Isolated settings (e.g. being stranded on a mountain, or trapped in a house with no one around for miles). Canon divergence. Enemies to lovers who are still enemies, but, more accurately, generalized relationships with someone you both love and despise. Stories set after canon. Stories set before canon. Stories that fill in the cracks of what happened in the narrative.

DNWs: Underage under 7. A/B/O dynamics. Gratuitously happy endings. Coffee shop AUs. FWB AU's. Stories about weddings (per the above, marriage is fine). Any focus on happy mother/daughter stories in general is a HARD DNW; unhappy ones are fine. Cutting as self-harm (any other self-harm is fine). Stories focused on family or friendship and not about intimate, romantic, or adversarial relationships. BDSM as a focus &/or practice of whatever sexual --I think it's boring.

...

THE HUNTSMAN FILMS

Characters: Ravenna, Snow White

I'd really like to see them in a psychosexual, if not fully sexual, relationship. I think Ravenna hates Snow too much for it to ever be normal (and I wouldn't want it to be!), but Ravenna is fixated on Snow White per the original fairy tale, and that kiss where she's disguised as Sam Clafflin is so intriguing. I wouldn't mind a character study; I wouldn't mind canon divergence. I don't mind sex in fic--I think the only thing I wouldn't want to see in this particular story is their relationship presented as healthy in any way. They're two women in competition, in beauty, etc. I also like the character of the Huntsman and the mirror (the first movie is my favorite) so seeing them would be great too!

Potential prompts:

Character study of Ravenna's (queer) sexuality, it's complications as someone whose power depends on the male gaze, and how she transmutes these feelings onto her stepdaughter.

AU where Ravenna takes care of Snow as she grows up, pretending to care for her. Perhaps some real feelings fall into the mix.

THE FORBIDDEN GAME

Characters: Jenny, Julian

I read these books at a crucial age and it remains one of my favorite series of the YA paranormal romance era. I'm forever sad we won't get to see Julian come back to Jenny in college, but I do love their story a ton as is. I think a lot of what I enjoy about their dynamic is spelled out in canon, so any approximation of that would be so lovely.

Potential prompts:

The "Julian comes back during Jenny's college years" story we never got!

Pre-canon divergence: Julian interacts with Jenny as a child, and has a relationship with her as she grows older.

An AU where Jenny surrendered to Julian in the first book--what would eternity look like with him? How would his appearance change over time? What does living in that horror-world do to Jenny?

POSSESSION

Characters: Jess, Roman

I adore the alternative ending where Jess and Roman have a sort of...understanding? I also love the one we get in canon! I love this relationship that's built on this weird, obsessive lie. Hence, I'm open to pretty much anything!

Potential prompts:

Roman survives, Jess has the baby, and they're a family. And it is tense, and it's terrible, and they're married for the rest of their lives.

I think the biggest thing I appreciate in a dark story is that the elements involved are not gratuitous--there's a sliding scale of horrific things, and I prefer to read things where these elements are present as features of a story, not the domineering force. That being said--I completely trust you, Yuletide writer! <3

I'm on twitter at @/villainkiss , if for whatever reason you'd like to take a peek into whatever I'm saying on socials (more dead dove stuff, typically). And treats are welcome as well!

Thanks again! Happy Yuletide. I'm really excited. :)

**NOTE: Updated on 10/22/23, as some text did not save in my post the first time.

#yuletide letter #nina speaks #yuletide 2023

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shazzeaslightnovels · 2 years ago

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April 2023

(Series: Danmachi Sword Oratoria | Aritist: Kiyotaka Haimura)

No. of Reviews: 3

List of Reviews:

Sword Oratoria 13

Sword Oratoria 14

Madousho Gakuen no Kinsho Shoujo 2

The Spring anime season is underway and I’ve picked up a lot more new anime than I usually do and I’m mostly happy with what I’ve chosen to watch. There are a couple of shows that I suspect that I’ll put on hold until they finished airing but otherwise it’s been a great season so far.

Pokemon Horizons - I’m a bit disappointed that this season seems like it’s taking place in Kanto rather than in Paldea but otherwise, this is entertaining so far. I’ve been watching it through the official uploads on YouTube using a VPN. Because it’s a kids show, it’s really easy to understand and I recommend it if you’re looking for a show to watch in Japanese to boost your language skills. The only thing that might be a bit tricky is that the names for the Pokemon and the attacks are different in Japanese but it’s still easy to follow. I don’t know how long I’m going to continue with this one for but I am enjoying it. Sprigatito/Nyaoha and Fuecoco/Hogator are so cute.

A Galaxy Next Door - I ended up putting this one on hold after episode 3. It’s fine. It’s sweet. But I ended up feeling more bored than relaxed when watching it. I’ll probably pick it up again at some point but I don’t want to watch it weekly.

Gwitch Part 2 - Amazing. That is all. Oh, actually, there is one more thing: the ED is breathtaking and you should watch it even if you haven’t seen the anime.

Dead Mount Death Play - This one was barely on my radar before the start of the season. I’d seen the key visual and thought ‘that looks like hot trash. Could be fun.’ But then I learned that Narita Ryohgo was involved and I knew I had to watch it. I have such a soft spot for Narita. And the anime’s pretty good so far. The story and characters are interesting and I’m curious to see where it goes. It does have it’s trashy elements like a lot of Boobs. But it’s entertaining and that’s all I want from a Narita work. Also, Inori Minase is in it which is always a plus.

Skip & Loafer - I’d heard good things about the manga but had no desire to pick it up as it seemed too romancey for my tastes. But I saw the OP for the anime and was in a mood where I needed to watch something cheerful so I gave the anime a shot and I’m really glad I did. It’s been such a delight and I love the characters. It just makes me happy and I’m always looking forward to watching a new episode.

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts - I’ve read some of the manga for this but it was a long time ago and I don’t remember much of it. I do remember that there’s some conflict with Sarifi’s childhood friend but I don’t know if I ever saw the situation resolved. I do remember liking it well enough though so I was interested in the anime and it’s pretty good so far. The production is a bit lacking and the tone of some of the scenes just feel off in a way that I can’t quite explain. But Kana Hanazawa does an amazing job as the lead and the story is interesting. I don’t know if I’ll continue watching this weekly due to that weak production but I’m definitely interested in seeing more.

Yuri is my Job - I’ve read 4 volumes of the manga and it’s an entertaining melodrama that always leaves me wanting more so I was pretty excited for the anime. It took me a few volumes to get invested in the melodrama of the manga and that’s how I’m finding the anime so far. It’s doing a good job of conveying the soap opera tone of the manga but I’m not quite invested just yet and I’m more excited for stuff that’s coming up. I really like the voice acting and I’m particularly happy that Yui Ogura is playing Hime because I was reminded of Henneko while I was reading the manga with the focus on facades. The anime is doing a good job at adapting the source material and I’m looking forward to watching more of the drama unfold.

I do really want to watch Oshi no Ko and Otaku Elf but I still don’t want to pay for HiDive so they’re going on the list of things to watch if I ever subscribe to HiDive.

#Reading Log #april 2023

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tuiccim · 4 years ago

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Almost Had Me Believing It - Part 4

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count: 1569

Warnings: Mutual pining, smut

Summary: An undercover operation playing Bucky Barnes’ wife is a dream come true. Playing house in the suburbs while trying to take down a drug ring brings you and Bucky closer but a nosy neighbor causes trouble in paradise.

A/N: Divider by @whimsicalrogers

Almost Had Me Believing It Series Masterlist

A few days later you and Bucky sit at breakfast discussing how to get more information about Frank.

“Well, we know one way I could get in his house but I’d rather chew glass.” You grouse.

“You, uh, you don’t find him attractive?” Bucky stutters.

“No. I mean, Frank’s a good looking guy, but he’s not a good person. He gives me the creeps, honestly.” You shudder.

Bucky reins in his smile at hearing that. He hated the idea of you liking any other man. At some point while running through the meadow yesterday, he realized you weren’t afraid of him. He was chasing you and you had this glorious smile on your face. There was no fear or anxiety about you as he tackled you to the ground. You had laughed as he did it and held onto him during the ride as if you felt safe with him. It was nothing short of a miracle in Bucky’s eyes. Very few people in his life watched him approach them without some apprehension in their eyes or tension in their body and nobody looked to him as a refuge of safety but you had. He still didn’t think he deserved it but he was determined to be a safe place and friend to you.

“He’s not like you.” You say the sentence, pulling Bucky out of his thoughts, while causing butterflies to erupt in your stomach.

“Like me?” Bucky says in surprise.

“You’re a good looking guy but you’re also good and sweet and kind. You want to help people, not destroy them, not hurt them. And you don’t give me the creeps.” You laugh lightly hoping to cover the emotions you feel towards the man in front of you.

Bucky chuckles, “I’m glad I don’t give you the creeps.”

“Not at all.” You smile at him.

“You’re a peach.”

You smile at him and then the light bulb goes on over your head, “I have an idea.” You grab a large cup from the cabinet.

“What are you doing?” Bucky asks.

“Well, we are out of sugar.”

“No, we’re not. It’s right there on the counter.”

You take the container and dump it out in the trash, “Oops. As I was saying, we’re out of sugar. I’m gonna go borrow a cup from our neighbor.”

“How does that get us more information about him?”

“He’ll invite me in and I’ll plant a bug.” You say as you pull one of the devices out of your pocket.

“I’ll go with you.” Bucky says.

“That’d look a little strange. Maybe he’ll let his guard down if I’m alone.”

“I don’t like you being alone with him.”

“I’ll be fine, Bucky. If I can take you to the mat I don't think I’ll have a problem with Frank.” You smirk at the supersoldier. Bucky gives you a nod and crosses his arms looking unhappy. “I’ll be back.” You say as you head for the door.

Frank answers his front door within a couple of minutes and smiles, “Hey. What’s up?”

“I’ve come to beg a favor of a benevolent neighbor.” You repeat the phrase Frank had used a few days ago.

Frank laughs, “Are you in need of coffee?”

“Sugar. I knocked the container over and lost it all on the floor. Do you have some to spare?” You keep your expression self-deprecating and sweet.

“Of course. Come on in. I have all kinds of sugar you can have, gorgeous.”

“I just need the white granulated kind,” you giggle as you slip past him into the house.

You follow Frank to the kitchen. He takes the cup from your hand and goes to the pantry to retrieve the sugar for you. Taking a quick assessment of the available real estate for a bug, you attach it to a space where you hope it can pick up sound in both the kitchen and living room.

“So, I’ve actually been meaning to talk to you.” Frank says as he emerges.

“Yeah?”

“About a job.”

“Oh! Great. Where?” You ask.

“Do you have any bookkeeping experience?” Frank asks.

“Yes. I worked for a couple of small offices where I doubled as the office manager as well as nurse. I’m pretty decent at that kind of thing. Where’s the job?”

“Here.”

“What?” You look at him utterly confused.

“You know I’m a landlord and I have several properties. I need someone to do billing, take the payments, handle utilities, deal with the tenant requests. The accounting side has never been my strong suit and I added three more properties in the past year. It would just be part-time. If you're interested…”

“Part-time is exactly what I’m looking for right now. Do you want me to bring you a resume?”

“I’ll take you at your word.” Frank winks. “Why don’t you come back after lunch and I’ll have everything together for us to look at?”

“Are you sure about this? I don’t want to take advantage of our friendship, Frank.”

“I’m sure, gorgeous.” Frank puts an arm around your shoulders as he walks you to the door. “I’ll see you this afternoon, right?”

“Okay. Thanks, Frank.” You smile as you head back to your house. You find Bucky in the office messing with the receiver. “Is it working?”

“As soon as you attached it, I could hear everything. A job offer, huh?” Bucky raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah. A lot of access that way.” You smile.

“A lot of time alone with you.” Bucky grouses.

“I’ll be okay, Bucky. This is good.”

You had spent the afternoon with Frank going over everything with him touching you nearly constantly. Your skin crawled but you managed to play him off. His books really were a mess and you arranged to work with him for the next few afternoons to get things in order. This would afford you the opportunity to plant more bugs. Hopefully, this would also help you gain Frank’s trust and get him to eventually reveal his not so legal dealings. Bucky was unhappy with your report of the afternoon. He did not like you spending so much time alone with Frank.

“Come here, Doll.” Bucky beckons to you from the living room.

“What’s up?” You ask.

Bucky puts his arms around you and his hands grab your ass, “Jump.”

You wrap your arms around Bucky’s neck and jump wrapping your legs around him. Bucky presses you against the wall and you whisper, “Frank watching us?”

“Yup.” Bucky says as he presses his lips to the side of your neck. You arch your neck to give him better access. “Thought he might need another show. Don’t want him getting any ideas that you working for him is gonna get him anywhere.”

“I appreciate that.” You are desperately trying to hold in your moans as Bucky kisses your neck and your hands grasp his hair. Giving in to your own impulse, you pull his head back and meet his lips with your own. Bucky melds his mouth to yours and you feel his hands flex their grasp on your ass. His tongue slides into your mouth and the moan you had been holding in slips out. Your hips shift of their own accord and you can feel Bucky’s erection pressed against you. Bucky pushes away from the wall and carries you down the hallway. He pulls his lips away from yours and gently lowers you to the floor outside your room.

“You okay?” He asks.

“Yeah, you?”

“Yeah.” He looks at you for a moment. “I hope you didn’t mind. I know I was touching-”

“Bucky. It’s fine. You’re just trying to keep Frank off me. I appreciate that. Plus, you're my husband, right?” You smile.

“Yeah. I just, I don’t want to take advantage of the situation.” Bucky says.

“I know you wouldn’t do that, Bucky. Don’t worry, okay? Good night.” You hug him around his torso and scurry into your room.

Bucky retreats to his room and flops down on the bed. You had reassured him that you knew he wouldn’t take advantage, but that’s exactly what he was doing. He saw an opportunity to touch you again and he couldn’t pass it up. You had felt and tasted just as sweet as the first time he’d touched you a few nights ago. You were the one who’d kissed him though. For a minute, he allowed himself to indulge in the thought that you had wanted it, that you had enjoyed it. That your moan had been real. The kiss had been real. The way you rolled your hips against him was because you wanted him, too.

Bucky’s hand moved of their own volition and pushed down his sweats. His cock was painfully hard and he had to relieve the pressure. Fisting himself he remembers your sweet whimpers when he had rutted against you the other night, the moans you released as the two of you kissed tonight, and he imagines his hand is you wrapped around him. He thinks of how wet you would be as he presses into you and the breathy little sounds you’d make as he bottomed out inside you. “Fuck.” Bucky whispers as he imagined your face scrunched up in ecstasy. His hand speeds up as he pictures you riding him and he bucks up into his hand. “Fuck.” he whispers one more time as he comes all over his stomach.

Part 5

Masterlist

Permanent: @bubbabarnes @badassbaker @thefridgeismybestie @strangersstranger @cherthegoddess @buckyluvrs @sherlocksmanwatson @cap-n-stuff @finleyjayne @caplanreads @connie326 @daydreamerinadazedworld @bugsbucky @chrisevanscardigan @harrysthiccthighss @palaiasaurus64 @rebekahdawkins @maaaaarveeeeel @tllynn15 @learisa @jelly-fishy-babie @fistmebuckyskywalker @nerdy-bookworm-1998 @liebs82 @honestly-dontknow @a-really-bi-girl @saiyanprincessswanie @baddie-barnes @aikeia @paleo-runaway @marvelgirl7 @starlightcrystalline @xxloki81xx @kcd15 @slytherinambitious @sallycanwait68 @slytherdorxmd @fangirlforever2412 @rainbowkisses31 @whisperlullaby @thejemersoninferno @thehumanistsdiary @supraveng @dispatchvampire @juenenfeu @sxbby-barnes @allonszassbutt @y-napotat @reallymagnificentinfluencer @is-it-madness @harold231 @buckysbaby32 @purselover23 @ene-rene @chrisevansbaby @rosesanchez12298806 @xxpapasfritasxx

Almost had me believing it: @farfromjustordinary @iheartsebastianstan @7minutes-tomidnight @thechaoticargonaut @marylimlp @buckybarnesdevotee @janaienaae @its-a-simply-me-thing @rosalynshields @oliviastan17 @onlyjamesbuchananbarnes @fangirl-swagg @wrdro @vicmc624 @lokilokilokilokilokiloki @fangirl-swagg @jonhsrevelation @ivettt @detroitobsessed @mypoisonedvine @thebuckysoldier @teenagedreams-bucky @chipilerendi @bloodyproudpotterhead @jaywolf840 @mysfitdragony564 @disasterbii @daddys-minty-princess @whatrambles @emmabarnes @pitypartycityy @srrymydood @legendarysuitstudentfan @wittyrosebushb @stuckysavedmylive @perfectlymaximumphilosopher @potatopineappleposts1 @yolandamontezistherealwildcat @irishflutiegirl @itsaliceheree @fictionalhoomanofnowhere @thatchickwiththecamera @wendyswildwonders @empath-bunny @the-lake-is-calling @thebadassbitchqueen

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red-jaebyrd · 3 years ago

Text

She Made Everything Better

Summary: Dick has his first cold since moving into the Manor with Bruce. All he wants is the one person he can’t have – his mom. Bruce does his best to fill the void as well as helping an ill and still grieving boy find safety and security in his new guardian.

For @ckbookish

There are many things that Bruce wasn’t prepared for when he took in 8 year old Dick Grayson. Little things like enforcing bedtimes and daily baths; to big things like no swimming in the pool alone and making sure Dick stayed off the front foyer chandelier…or any chandelier in the Manor. The other was taking care of a sick child.

Dick had only been living in the Manor for six months and had yet to come down with any kind of illness. Considering all the stories Bruce had been told by well-meaning co-workers of their kids coming home frequently with colds; he considered himself fortunate that Dick had remained cold-free.

Until one morning when he could hear faint coughing coming from the bedroom down the hall.

“Bruce,” Dick cried, dragging out his name followed by a series of more wet coughs.

Oh no, Bruce thought to himself. Those coughs didn’t sound good at all. He followed the cry and coughs to Dick’s room and saw the boy laying down on his bed bundled in blankets and surrounded by discarded tissues. His cheeks were flushed, his nose was red, and eyes were glassy.

“Hey buddy, what’s wrong?” Bruce asked, sitting on the edge of Dick’s bed.

“My head hurts, my nose won’t stop running, and I’m coughing,” Dick answered, pulling his blankets up to his chin.

Bruce quickly went through a mental checklist of what the boy might need while dealing with a cold. By the looks of the boy’s flushed cheeks, he likely had a fever. What was that saying, ‘feed a cold, starve a fever’; that didn’t sound right to Bruce.

Dick coughed and then groaned, snapping Bruce out of his thoughts.

“Why don’t you drink some water. It’s important to stay hydrated,” Bruce suggested, walking over to Dick’s nightstand and handing him his water bottle.

“No,” Dick whined with a pout pushing the water bottle away. “Water tastes gross, and it hurts when I swallow.”

“Understood,” Bruce said, a bit bewildered by Dick’s whining. Set the water bottle back onto the nightstand. He sat on the bed in front of Dick reaching to feel Dick’s forehead with the front of his wrist. Dick shivered at the contact. “You feel warmer than usual. I’ll be right back with a thermometer.”

“No,” Dick moaned, reaching his hand out for Bruce from under his blankets. “Don’t leave me.”

“I know you’re feeling bad, Chum, but I need to get a thermometer to see if you have a fever,” Bruce soothed, sweeping Dick’s sweaty bangs from his forehead. He smiled, taking Dick’s hand in his and squeezed it gently. “I’m not leaving I’m just going to your bathroom to get the thermometer.

Bruce walked toward the en-suite bathroom in search of the thermometer but came up empty. He searched all the cabinets, and they didn’t even have any children’s medicine, just polysporin, hospital grade antiseptic and, tons of band-aids. Bruce could have sworn they had children’s Motrin, but sadly there was none.

“Hang on, I’ll be right back,” Bruce said, closing the bathroom door and making his way toward the bedroom door.

“No, don’t leave,” Dick pleaded, reaching out frantically to Bruce this time with both hands. His eyes welled up with unshed tears. Bruce shoulders slumped and he sat down one the bed again, taking Dick’s cold hand in his and rubbing soft circles with his thumb.

Bruce furrowed his brow in concern at Dick’s behavior. It was extremely unusual for Dick to be this clingy and demanding when it came to Bruce. The two did spend more time together now that Bruce had changed his schedule a few months ago. Dick did like to seek attention from his guardian in the most heart stopping ways imaginable. Bruce quickly recalled the first and last time Dick backflipped off the second landing stairs nearly giving Bruce and Alfred a heart attack.

As Bruce had gotten to know Dick, he had learned that the boy liked being with people; liked spending time with Bruce and once Dick had got his fill of ‘peopling’, he’d be off outside or in his room playing alone. The boy liked attention, but he was far from clingy.

“Dick, I’m not leaving. I’m just heading to the intercom near the door to speak to Alfred,” Bruce explained, using his free hand to gently card his fingers through Dick’s hair and resting his hand on the boy’s cheek. “I’m not leaving.”

“Okay,” Dick sniffed, letting go of Bruce’s hand to rub his face with his blanket.

Bruce wrinkled his nose and handed Dick a fresh tissue from the discarded box on his bed. He then headed to the intercom near Dick’s bedroom door and pressed the button hoping Alfred was still in the kitchen.

“Alfred, I need a thermometer. Can you bring one to Dick’s bedroom, please.”

“Right away, Sir,” Alfred answered promptly.

Bruce turned and gave Dick a small smile, but the gesture wasn’t returned. He expected as much considering how poorly the boy felt. It warmed Bruce’s heart to know that Dick found security and safety in his presence. A little hand reached out to him from under the blankets. It made Bruce chuckle, so he made his way back to the bed and sat down taking Dick’s hand. Dick slouched low against his pillows blinking tiredly at Bruce.

“I wasn’t going to leave you. I told you I wasn’t,” Bruce reassured, trying to tuck Dick’s duvet around him with one hand and failing. Dick let go so Bruce could finish with both hands. “Do you want anything to eat?”

Just as Dick was going to answer Alfred arrived with a thermometer and a fresh box of tissues. He handed the thermometer to Bruce and set the tissue box on Dick’s nightstand. He then proceeded to collect the dirty tissues and deposit them in the trash bin.

“Will that be all, Sirs?” Alfred asked, moving the bin closer to the bed so it stayed within Dick’s reach near the nightstand.

Bruce stayed sitting on the bed and gave Alfred a rundown of all the supplies that they would need while Dick blew his nose. As usual Alfred had a pen and notepad on hand and wrote down everything.

“Anything else? Master Dick, would you like something to eat before I go?” Alfred asked, tucking the notepad and pen into his front jacket pocket.

Dick didn’t answer Alfred right away. The boy looked lost in his own thoughts, but mostly he looked tired. Poor guy, Bruce thought to himself, he must be feeling so out of it.

“Dick,” Bruce whispered, gently squeezing Dick’s hand to get his attention. Once the boy’s glassy eyes met his, Bruce took that as a sign to continue, “Are you hungry?

“Oh um –“ Dick stammered, and started playing with the hem of the duvet. “Would – would it be okay to have toast with cinnamon on top, please?”

“Certainly, young sir. I’ll get to it straight away.” Alfred replied and left the room closing the door behind him.

Bruce proceeded to take Dick’s temperature and just as he suspected after the thermometer beeped; he frowned looking at the number on the screen. Dick had a fever. Bruce was trying to remember if he should call a doctor right away or if he was supposed to wait two or three days if nothing improved. He’d likely call Leslie today just to be sure.

“Is it bad?” Dick asked, bringing the blanket up to his eyes.

“Well, it’s not good, 102.2, buddy. We’ll keep an eye on it. Make sure it goes down with meds. If not, I’ll have to call Dr Thompkins,” Bruce clarified, turning the thermometer off and setting it on the nightstand. “So cinnamon toast?”

“Mom would always give it to me whenever I got sick,” Dick swallowed thickly, looking down at his blankets. “She – she said the cinnamon had healing properties that would help make me feel better.”

“I’m sure it did,” Bruce said, brushing Dick’s bangs away from his face. “Moms are good like that aren’t they?”

Bruce tried to give Dick a smile, but it felt stiff on his face as he fought against the lump forming in his throat at the memory of his mom making him chicken noodle soup whenever he got a cold. He remembered loving the noodles and the broth but like all kids his age, Bruce hated the chicken and veggies. Over the years the soup was something that Alfred had tried to replicate, but to no avail. It just wasn’t the same. It wasn’t his mom’s soup.

“My mom would –,” Bruce sniffed and then cleared his throat, but before he could finish his sentence; Dick’s face crumpled, and he started sobbing.

In the short time that Dick had been staying at the Manor, he had only cried a handful of times. Even after a nightmare, tears spilled down silently. Dick was always quick to wipe the tears away before Bruce could fully envelop him in a hug. Always pulling away from the embrace claiming he was fine as the tears continued to fall down his cheeks. Bruce had never pressed as he never felt he had the right words to say. Because ‘I know how you feel’ and ‘I’ve been there too’ didn’t really seem like great words of comfort.

But maybe they were the exact words that Dick needed to hear.

“Oh Dickie, come here,” Bruce offered, his arms outstretched and his own eyes filling with unshed tears. He gathered Dick in his arms and settled him on his lap. The boy practically melted into his embrace.

“I don’t feel good, Bruce,” Dick bawled, his breaths hitching from crying so hard. “I want – I want my mom.

The last sentence was said in a whisper in between sobs. Dick’s fingers tightened as he clung onto Bruce in a desperate hug.

“I m-miss her,” Dick mumbled, trying to catch his breath and failing. “I miss how – how she made everything better.”

Bruce’s heart sank; his own tears finally falling down his cheeks. She made everything better. It echoed in brain and he couldn’t deny that the boy was right. Of course, Dick missed his mom; it made sense that he missed her. Every child who felt ill wanted their mom to be the one holding them, taking care of them, and making their favorite comfort foods; not some stranger they’ve barely known for six months.

He hugged Dick a little tighter and sighed. They had come a long way these past six months, dealing with Dick’s anger and trust issues that had only been fueled by Bruce’s incompetence and neglect in the guise of protection. While necessary changes to his schedule were made to fit Dick into his busy life and it had changed the dynamic in how they interacted with each other; the change still didn’t do much to help Dick feel safe enough to talk to Bruce about the loss of his parents. Until now, so naturally Bruce took advantage of a missed opportunity.

“I know you do. I know you miss her so much and I’m so sorry,” Bruce empathized, resting his cheek on the Dick’s head and rubbing small circles on his back. “I know – I know how you feel, chum. I really do. I’ve been where you are and it – well it sucks.”

Dick nodded in silent agreement and continued to cry.

“I know it feels like – it feels like the pain is so much bigger than you, but one day it won’t feel so big and overwhelming,” Bruce comforted, wiping away his own tears with his free hand. “And – and while the hurt won’t go away completely. It will get better in time. For you, that I promise.”

Bruce continued to hold Dick as his body calmed from his crying jag. The boy’s breaths slowly regulating from shuddering gasps to hiccups. Bruce was happy to finally be able to provide such comfort to Dick after so many months of him pushing him away. His feelings were never hurt from the boy’s rejection, Bruce understood firsthand that type of vulnerability and transparency in grief can be scary, especially in an unknown environment.

He had hoped that their conversation today would help pave the way to more talks and further healing for Dick. Bruce was confident the boy would be alright, but these difficult conversations had to be something that Bruce initiated and participated in as well.

“Any time you want to talk ab out your mom or your dad; come find me, okay?” Bruce offered, giving Dick a reassuring smile. He wiped away Dick’s remaining tears with his thumb. “Even if it’s in the middle of night. Understand?”

Dick nodded, his breaths finally evening out.

They sat on the bed in companionable silence. Bruce hummed a tune he remembered his mom singing whenever she was knitting or just needed to fill the silence. He could slowly start to feel Dick’s body going boneless against his chest with exhaustion; his breaths gradually getting deeper with sleep.

Just as Bruce was about to close his eyes a knock on the door startled him and woke up Dick.

“Here is your toast, Master Dick,” Alfred announced, setting a tray on the other side of the bed. “I also added a few digestives and the last juice box until I can get the apple juice you requested.”

“Thank you, Alfred,” Dick sniffed, still clinging onto Bruce.

Bruce brought the tray closer to Dick so the boy wouldn’t have to move from his place of comfort.

“You are very welcome, young sir. If there is nothing else you require of me, I shall leave to retrieve the necessary items.”

An hour later, once Alfred returned with the medicine, Bruce was pleased to finally be able to give the boy some much needed relief from the headache and congestion. Dick still wouldn’t let Bruce leave, so Bruce suggested they move to the media room to watch a movie.

Bruce covered them with a blanket thin enough to make Dick comfortable, but not too thick to spike his fever. Dick settled himself right up against Bruce’s side, draping a thin arm around him and using Bruce’s chest as a pillow. Dick fell asleep ten minutes into the movie. Bruce stayed watching the rest of the movie, carding his fingers gently though Dick’s hair relishing the closeness and comfort he was finally able to provide his hurting foster son.

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girlwhorpsalot · 2 years ago

Note

Your character(s) have to get a series of gifts for their loved ones for Starlight! How do they go about it? Are they the kind to meticulously craft/buy items tailored to their loved ones or are they haphazardly throwing things together at the last second? Do they like gag gifts? How's their wrapping?

I will answer this for my top four.

Rhaya

Rhaya is a crafter. She’s will start making things early and put them away to make sure that everyone has something under the Starlight tree. It is usually something with gemstones within it or even something she knows that someone would find useful. Perfumes, jewelry, blankets, clothing, that sort of thing. She makes sure that everything is wrapped nicely but usually has some sort of charm or trinket on it that they can keep. As for gag gifts? She doesn’t understand them but does have a sense of humor.

Mayu

Mayu is one to make sure that her loved ones get something. She is more likely to buy for close friends and family and then make sure that all the children she knows have something to open. Gifts from Mayu are often something of value or expensive because she doesn’t think about how much she spends when she gets something for someone. Now her children might be a bit spoiled in the fact that there is usually too much under the tree. All of her gifts are wrapped meticulously and sometimes one may not want to unwrap them. As for gag gifts? She finds them to be poor taste.

Rinnal

Rinnal tends to get gifts last minute because he forgets that Starlight is a thing. Then his mother gets on his case about him not being home for the holidays and it just sort of clicks that he should have done something. For someone meticulous he does his best to wrap things but it seems to be overdone. Too much tape and you often need a knife to open it. Gag gifts he is used to and is often unphased by them because his brother is a trickster.

Velvet

Velvet tends to forget gifts. If it ends up being Starlight and there is nothing from her don’t be surprised. She is a late gifter especially if you have given her something. Usually she goes to buy something she thinks you might like but because of how oblivious she is then it may be a little off mark. She tries her best though. Her wrapping is often very messy and you wonder if you were handed a bundle of trash.

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yinses · 4 years ago

Text

B R A N D E D

| he would make sure that everyone knew who you belonged to |

tattoo artist! sukuna ryomen

rating: t

a/n: this is going to be a three part series. it got too long because i couldn’t shut up. thank you to @teoran for beta reading !!

you should have never informed yuuji that you were thinking about getting a tattoo, because of course his first response would be hey, sukuna owns a shop. why don’t you stop there. as if you didn’t already known that. your other friend, unfortunately had not known how to be subtle about it.

its when you go to hand off your card that they gasp audibly, drawing the attention of both yourself and the woman behind the counter.

“you’re not going to ask for a discount? i mean you know the owner, right?”

she jumps back quick enough to dodge the errant elbow you throw her way.

you knew you would regret telling her.

the woman is undeterred as she take your card, looking bored with the news. “so you know sukuna, huh?” the way she said it implied that it wasn’t the first time it had been made known to her.

you had known the man long enough to know where her thoughts were going with that assumption. sukuna wasn’t only popular for his art. a shudder rolled through your body at the idea of being categorized as one of his flings.

it wasn’t as though you were intentionally shaming the women. but it was sukuna. the same guy who locked you and his younger brother out on the patio whenever he was meant to keep an eye on you. and then blamed you for hiding from him when the responsible adults got home.

in hindsight, maybe you should have chosen another location. but now your card has been charged.

you scribbled your signature on the receipt, “uh yeah, awhile now. im not requesting him or anything.”

“his appointment book is full anyway. he doesn’t take walk ins.” its not said snidely, just matter of fact. as if she was seasoned with dealing with these kind of customers.

the man of topic strides in then, carrying a few bags of take-out that he drops carelessly onto the counter. he doesn’t m look unlike any other day, a loose white sleeveless shirt with a low hanging v-neck that just invited attention to his skin. the swirls of black ink made permanent by his hand only. though that was the advantage of this field and owning your own business on top of it.

sukuna was prepared to ignore the clientele planted at front desk, until he did a double take. those vermilion eyes took you in, morphing from speculation, to shock, a pinch of awe, then back to postulation.

“what are you doing here?”

a small frown mars you face. you didn’t actually consider that perhaps sukuna wouldn’t want you here. it was one thing to know the guy, but whether you wanted to accept it or not, you weren’t just another customer. so you unsurely respond with, “getting a tattoo?”

the snort he gives isn't one of annoyance. in fact its almost comforting to see the minuscule curl of his lips until they start to part, “yeah, missing something aren’t you?”

you realize with a frown that he’s referring to his brother.

“i have other friends.”

that slow smile wides as he gives your friend a brief look of appreciation. suddenly all those years of witnessing him cart his flings around rise to the forefront of your mind. really nothing rarely changed. “ i can see that.”

his gaze cuts back to you, “what are you getting? your boyfriends name?”

you cant tell if he’s teasing, fishing or a combination of them both.

he turns to lean over the counter, arms flexing at the action and pinches the fresh design still hot from the printer. you resist the urge to shuffle in place as he inspects the image with more interest than there were lines. it was hardly all that complex, just as you intended.

sukuna finally voices his opinion, to no surprise of your own. “yeah? kind of small isn’t it?”

“its my first sukuna,” you drawl.

you realize too late that the wording isnt best around him.

“no kidding.”

he tugs a styrofoam box free from the plastic bag before gesturing to you with a tilt of his head.

“alright, lets knock it out.”

you look to the woman expecting her to complain about his pending appointments but she only returns it with a pointed look. when it came down to it, what the boss wanted goes.

right then.

turning, you address your friend who seemed more invested in watching sukuna’s departure. “are you coming?”

her gaze snaps to you and she doesn’t even bother to pretend. she shrugs, “you may not be squeamish about needles but i am.” her hand waves vaguely towards the lounge area near the coffee station and stack of assorted snacks. “i’ll come running if you scream though,” she teases as you turn down the hall.

sukuna’s voice carries from the right in guidance where you find him setting his food off to the side. the room is neat. though you don’t know what you were expecting given the health expectations lining his work. then again, you’d spent the better part of the decade watching him cart week old pizza boxes out of his room so it was hardly a baseless assumption.

aside from the desk of tools and variety of inks the only other defining feature was the wall at the back. there was no rhyme or direction to the madness. the once white wall was littered with varying penmanships and messages. almost like an autograph book. some derogatory, others genuinely thankful for his work - you think you see a few numbers too.

the cushion of the seat protests under his weight as he rolls to the center of the room. he has the stencil of your chosen art held up in expectation.

“where is this pretty little thing going?”

“oh my rib- here on the right.” you think nothing of bringing up the hem of your shirt to expose the skin just under the curve of your breast.

he almost looks impressed, though there is some doubt. he wheels closer and gives no warning as his hand palpates the area. “over the bone? that’s daring for your first tattoo, princess.”

the name was nothing new, an accompaniment to yuuji’s ‘brat’.

part of you actually grateful that its sukuna. the entire shop had good reviews but it was best known for his talent. besides, the charge was already sitting on your card.

“i can handle it.”

he’s still squinting at your side, fingers tickling at your skin.

“yeah?” he answers absently. nimble digits you didn't think had any taste for delicacy carefully peel the plastic from the stencil. he doesn’t second guess himself in the slightest before pressing it to your skin.

when he pulls away, the chair follows him as he collects a hand mirror from his desk to reflect the design back to you.

“double sure?” he’s still rallying your resolve, but there is a hint of warning to his voice as professionalism seeps in.

with a firm nod you seal the deal,” yeah.”

“aright, pin up your shirt out of the way. tuck it into your bra if you want.”

you were expecting this already, given the location you’d decided on. with sukuna that action comes effortlessly without thought. it was no different than the times he’d seen you in your bathing suit, your brain reasoned. at least you still had your pants this time.

sukuna rests back into a lean against his small desk. absently you note that his eyes haven't left you once since you’d entered the room.

“eager little thing aren't you?”

but its sukuna.

you shrug.“ i guess. kind of been saving up for this one.”

the noise he makes is non-committal as he nods to the angled chair.

without your shirt there was no barrier between yourself and the leather. you expected the cold chill but the lack of stickiness kind of surprised you. once again you were reminded of the indisputable list of reviews at your fingertips.

sukuna goes about collecting the materials to disinfect your skin, angling the bottle and cotton over the trash can to catch the excess drops. satisfied with the saturation, he slides back.

you try to absorb the brief shock you feel when he applies the alcohol to your skin. it was hardly a substitute for actual bracing to come but it was good practice. when you look up, you catch his gaze again.

he’d been more observant in these last few minutes than you could ever recall sukuna caring before. maybe it was the job. though the thought of him excelling at customer service has you fighting a snort.

“cold,” you supply and he gives another grunt.

he chucks the cotton ball into the trash with all the efficiency of a man who has made a sport out of it and probably keeps score.

deciding on a solid color eliminated the need for him to break away to change shades, eliminating any surplus time keeping you in this chair.

a gloved hand braces your side, pinching the skin, while the other holding the gun rests against your sternum. when the motor starts you take a careful breath in. sukuna’s eyes raise at the sound.

“not nervous?”

you blink, expecting him to just get to it.

“uh, not really? i’ve never really been afraid of needles.”

he pauses. just when you part your lips to ask what wrong the buzzing starts.

its impossible not to tense at the first bite of the needle. but you fight the urge to jerk. it stings. the vibration of the motor is uncomfortable against your ribcage but it's not unbearable. you certainly wouldn't cry.

sukuna seems to notice it as well.

“not going to lie thought you’d be more of a cry baby? weren't you the one sobbing after you stubbed your toe.”

you latch onto the idle chatter even if it's a jibe.

“i was eleven and i sprained that toe.”

he gives you a quick glance. “sure, princess. completely called for the waterworks.”

you snort. “yeah well it made me stronger. im barely affected today.”

your words are followed by a shift of his hand as it turns to follow a line, the movement pressing firmly against the underside of your breast. you're too attentive to the needle pinching at your skin to take notice.

but sukuna does, eyes narrowing without your awareness.

“yeah, i can see that.”

rather than closing your eyes to block out the pain, you find a more comforting distraction in tracing the lines of his tattoos with your gaze. you can hardly make out the first tattoo he’d gotten at the age of seventeen after forging his parents signature.

the abstract design had now branched out, interlocking with new styles to map out the formation of a sleeve. it was almost like his own branded language. a dialect of bold shapes and bands. you’d never thought to actually ask what his tattoos meant. nor did you expect an honest answer.

sukuna works rather quickly and efficiently while your mind wandered. even if he hadn’t squeezed you in during his lunch break this felt like the usual pace for him. he looked so in the zone as he followed the pre-made lines to perfection.

you weren’t the model customer, still having your brief moments of weakness but he rolled with the interruptions better than you expected. sukuna was brash growing up and didn’t tolerate nonsensical people. you’d had your fair share of opportunities to be chewed out by him.

and earned a reasonable amount of them, though your returning attitude said otherwise.

but this sukuna was softer, if you could put it like that. he knew the right time to give you breaks but didn’t let your nerves settle too much. when he wasn’t adding a layer to permanency to your skin, an errant finger would smooth over the swelling flesh.

more than once you heard him throw out a quiet good girl. that you knew was meant to be encouraging but it came with additional implications that tickled your skin.

he tells you that you should be grateful that the artwork doesn’t need any shading. that it was never a good fit for beginners.

your chest expands the furthest it had in the last half hour when he finally rolls back.

“alright, princess, go ahead and take a look.”

you take the offered mirror again and angle it to take in the fresh piece. the reflection you get back is- amazing. you’d been so concentrated?? on micromanaging the pain that you failed to take in the little details he’d added along with the original design.

as if reading your thoughts, he snorts. “it's not my art if i don't leave my mark. you can tell me it looks good you know.”

if you didn't know any better, you’d say he was authentic in his attempt to bait your approval.

and you had no reason not to provide.

your legs are a little shaky but you manage to balance yourself before brining the eldest itadori into a hug. sukuna goes stiff for a moment before returning the embrace and doesn’t resist when you press your face into his shoulder. there’s an awkward pat before they release each other from the hold.

sukuna .. before he’s shrugging you off.

“god, what a noob. at least let me cover it up. you’re going to irritate the skin.”

when he turns back to rummage through his desk you note the hint of a flush creeping up his nape. you know better than to mention it, instead just smiling at his back.

there is a scowl on his face as he applies the cotton square to your skin and tapes it in place.

“please do not itch this shit. i don’t care if you feel like your skin is going to fall off.”

he presses a small tube of antibiotic into your hand.

“and apply this daily. you don't need it drying out. “

you’re grateful for the little slip of printed instructions that follow. you were able to remember the sensible directions but it couldn't hurt to have additional guidance when you started to question the progress.

“oh and no sex.”

that was definitely not on the list.

sukuna raises a brow in all seriousness. “what? if you get your blood pumping too much.”

you call him on his bullshit,” this small? hardly. “

he raises his hands in mock surrender. “alright, try it yourself if you want. i charge for touch ups though.”

the two of you size each other up. just like old times.

with a sigh you relent, “fine, no sex.”

“good, see me in two weeks.”

his words stop you short. it wasn’t as if you needed anything added and he wasn’t a physician checking on your progress. if anything, you would only revisit your artist if there was a problem.

“what for?”

the dawning grin would follow you for the next fourteen days.

“to make sure you didn’t have sex.”

#sukuna x reader #sukuna ryomen x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen #sukuna blessings #sukuna ryomen

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forthechubbies · 4 years ago

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What's Wrong With Secretary Park?!

Synopsis• If balancing work and a stubborn ex-husband isn't hard enough, Let's add the boss’s seven sons falling head over heels for her to mix.

Category's• Romcon, Comedy, Office Au.

Duos• BTS X Reader

A spin-off of the original series ‘ What's Wrong With Secretary Kim’ Bangtan Edition! Starring the Handsome, Seo-Joon Park as the Ex husband.

There will be more parts but I didn’t want the title to be to long.

EP. One Two

“ Mrs. Park, Good Morning!”

“Mrs. Park, What does my schedule look like today?”

“Mrs. Park, Your coffee keeps me alive.”

In case you haven’t noticed, Park Yn, I’m the secretary to Jeon Sung-ho, the CEO of Dnd Parmatech, 85 percent of the time, newly build hospitals or centers use our funds as kickstarts. Daily I make schedules, appointments, filing documents, answering calls, and blah blah blah.

Is it boring? Yes, I know. However, quite refreshing coming from my hectic marriage. Once upon a time, I was wedded to the marvelous actor Park Seo-Joon for three years. I sat in the limelight and even had the privilege to play the part of his wife in movies. Sigh. Although the attention and riches were grand, no amount of expensive counseling could save our marriage. We never saw eye to eye on anything, and his short temper wasn’t helping.

Knowing my worth, I packed up and left without a doubt in my head. However, The documentation of our separation wasn’t finalized due to a certain one refusing to sign off on the divorce agreement. So physically, I’m still Mrs. Park but ain’t no piece of paper telling who I belong too.

Whatever! I have too much to focus on already! Game on, Game on! First, I got to get these papers approved and signed by Mr. Jeon then-

Buzz Buzz Buzz!

Who’s calling-

Speak of the devil. I could have sworn I deleted his contact a long time ago! “ What Seo-Joon? I’m busy-“

“ When is this little temper tantrum going to end? Darling, I think you made your point.”

“My point?! Listen here, You slimy son of-” Now, Now Yn calm down calm down don’t let him get a rise out you that just what he wants. A quick exhale should do the trick. “ Seo-Joon, I believe we reached an agreed on no type of communication unless it revolves around the settlement for the divorce.”

How is it possible I can physically see his snarky face?

Seo-Joon stretched out his list of complaints.” It’s been over a year. I miss your kisses, soft skin, that cute birthmark on your-“

“ You will not talk about such embarrassing things over the phone!” Thank goodness, Nobody was around to hear me shot like that.

“Why is this divorce still an issue?!” There goes that temper again-How whinny can one man be? “ If you don’t stop this, I will take matters into my own hands.”

I laughed. “ Ha, Seo-jerk, I’m not scared of you! Do your worst because It doesn’t matter if you drag me back home; it doesn’t subside the problem being over our marriage.” I feel like a broken record at this point. “ If this isn’t about the papers, this conversation is over, Mr. Park; please refrain from calling me again, goodbye.”

He chuckled and mumbled something along the lines of, “ Your cute acting cheeky like this.” The rest he continued louder “ Those delicate hands of yours were made to indulge in the finest silk and satin I can obtain, not working nine to five at whatever job hired a housewife with zero work ethic. I just know I haven’t touched your side of the room since that night- I love you, Mrs.Park, I always will.”

He hung up. You know, after he finished insulting my new lifestyle and calling me a useless housewife, the ‘ I love you’ bit at the end sounds sincere, but he is an actor! Of course.

Hmph! Just because I’m working for myself for one doesn’t mean I’m miserable. I’m actually in love with my job, It pays well with benefits, and I sat on my butt all day. If that pompous little bedazzled turd thinks making me the butt of his jokes will get me back in his arms, he has another thing coming!

“Um, Mrs. Park?”

“ What!” I snapped. “ Oh, Hoseok, I’m sorry!” I bowed my head; the poor thing nearly jumped out of his shoes.

Hoseok beamed his warm heart-shaped smile at me. “ Oppa is having a family meeting today; I guess I’m the first to show.”

I wasn’t informed about a meeting today from Mr.Jeon, maybe because it’s a family affair.

“Tada!” He cutely squeaks. A tasteful package breakfast alongside a tall cup of what I presume is a coffee from..’ Thanks Nature’!

“Oh my- Hobi, this cafe is across town-”

“I overhead Oppa scolding you for skipping meals one day and I’m here to do the same, don’t skip meals or else We will be hurt if something happens to you.” Hoseok pointed at the pack. “ Eat every bit.”

Hoseok displayed a small heart using his index finger and thumb, hopping off to his father’s double doors.

Mr. Jeon has seven sons in all. The man is a true saint; men like him and his sons are why I still believe not all men are dogs. After losing his wife to heart cancer, He just about went bankrupt, donating all he had to have found cures to multiple diseases hoping nobody else had to suffer his same heartbreak.

Love found him again in an orphanage just north of here, ‘Seoul Children Home.’ His first son, Kim Seokjin, at the time Jin was already in his teenage years, making it difficult for him to find a family due to the high demand of couples wanting a single-digit child. His birth family mistreated him, but he was beaten everywhere except his face to keep his handsome appearance. The family decided to put his money-maker to fair use and attempted to sell him. Seokjin saw his opportunity and high-tailed, landing himself in the orphanage where he happily lends a helping hand every chance he got. He learned how to read, write, cook, clean, and even tend to the tots when the nuns were busy.

This is how he met his slightly younger brothers, Min Yoongi, Jung Hoseok, and Kim Namjoon; when being chosen for adoption, Seokjin refused to live without his baby brothers by his side.

“ Hello, Noona!”

Oh, Look just in time, “ Hello, You’re father is in his office.”

Namjoon eyed my edible gift from Hobi and raised his eyebrow as well as a question. “ So this is why Hyung left so early in the morning for-and I hope you’re having a good morning, Noona.”

I’m not older than them. Why do they call me Noona? Do I look old!?

“ Yn, Good morning! How are you!” Jin greeted me with English this morning. He must have been practicing with Namjoon lately.

“ I’m Fine. Seokjin.”

“Chu.” He blew a kiss my way. “ You’re not fine. You’re amazeing.”

“Amazing.” Namjoon corrected for the sidelines.

“Same thing.”

“Pronunciation is everything, Hyung.”

They stopped halfway from their dad’s office. Jin grinned. Wait, I know that smile; oh no, here comes a dad joke.

“ Hey, Namjoon-You know the reason I took the elevator instead of the stairs?”

Namjoon sighed. “ No, why?”

"I don't trust stairs. They're always up to something." Jin burst out laughing and clapped his hands.

I giggled not from the joke, but Jin has a contagious laugh.

“See, Yn has good taste.”

A slow deep groan entered the office belonging to Yoongi, lagging. “ I heard that terrible joke from the elevator.” Yoongi waved and leaned against my desk. “ Good Morning.”

“Good Morning.”

There was an awkward pause before Yoongi tapped my desk and pointed to his dad’s office from walking that way.

“Yoon-Yoongi!?”

He turned back towards me.

“ I have something for you. I packed it up on the way here.” Getting off my butt, I walked up and gave him a bottle of his favorite black ice coffee. Ew. I don’t know how he drinks it with no cream or sugar.

Yoongi smiled his gummy smile. “ Thank you for thinking of me.”

“You’re welcome.” And off he goes into the office as well.

Yoongi isn’t the biggest fan of human interaction, but he put forth an endeavor towards me, whether it’s a light ‘ Hi or Hello” or the simplicity of a wave. I admire his gusto. Sidenote, He’s so adorable-I know I know I shouldn’t be gushing over my boss’s son, but his chubby cheeks and almond eyes melt my heart like butter on toast!

Ahem-I better get back to answering those emails and drink this beautiful cup of expensive mud before it gets lukewarm. Yummy, The delectable taste is a boost of serotonin! I really should get to work buuut Hobi did command me to get every last bit and technically he is my boss through some type of weird relative aspect. He is the boss.

Just in a moment of seconds, The breakfast and drink was trash. Something that good should be sinful. I feel terrible I should have saved some for the babies; they would have some, especially Jungkook.

The babies should be here any minute.

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retrocontinuity · 3 years ago

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Eat, for this is Her Body: Chainsaw Man and the Doxology of Cannibalism

"One day," Anthony Oliveira writes in "The Year in Apocalypses," [Jesus'] disciples approached their master while he was silent in prayer and made a request: 'Lord, teach us how to pray.'" From here, Jesus teaches them the Lord's Prayer, what the Catholic Church once called "the summary of the whole gospel":

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Denji is no one's disciple. When we first meet him, he is closer to how Oliveira describes Jesus himself, "homeless, gleaning for food in the field like a sparrow and relying on the kindness of strangers to put him up, . . . a man cheerfully resigned to powerlessness." And so, Denji doesn't need to be taught how to pray. He has always known. Every bone in his body at the opening of Chainsaw Man sings out the Lord's Prayer: "forgive me my debts", "deliver me from evil." And, of course, Denji is intimately familiar with the prayer's most pitiable, most powerful line. It's this line that he cries out to Makima when he rests, Pieta-like, in her arms at the end of the first chapter. It can only be this line, one that Denji might have written himself:

Give me, from this day forward, and for all the rest of my days, daily bread.

Bread runs throughout CSM like a mocking scent that you only fully identify in the last two chapters. It should have been a sign to all of us when the first meal Makima buys for Denji is not bread (but rather a hot dog and udon noodles). It isn't until Denji meets and enters Aki's home that he is seen making a hideously overladen slice of toast for himself, luxuriating in having all the toppings he was denied. The morning after she forces Denji to open the door to Power's death, Makima makes the very breakfast she once promised to serve Denji: eggs, coffee, salad, and sliced bread. But this is a meal that Denji never eats—maybe the only meal in the entire series that he, a survivor of the meanest starvation and poverty, ignores. There is only one other time we see this meal in CSM, and it is subtle, almost off camera, though no less meaningful: in Chapter 53, after Reze's death, as Denji sits down to breakfast once more with Power and Aki.

To revisit CSM's public safety arc is to see all the ways the plot connects itself to food and the act of eating, both appetizing and revolting, both profound and profane. Denji, eating gyoza at a bar for the first time. Denji being forced to swallow barf as he is kissed for the first time. The Fox Devil, who eats indiscriminately and on command, who refuses to return to Aki after being fed something disgusting. A fox that is hunted and transformed into stew. Denji eating sandwiches at Reze's cafe. Aki and Angel eating noodles. A woman sitting down to eat a hamburger for the first time, before she commits mass murder. She is worried she has lost her taste buds, yet she exclaims, "So delicious!" We know, later, that this woman is a liar, that no part of her is what she presents herself to be. Should we take this moment at its face value then? Was Santa Claus simply lucky enough to have preserved her sense of taste? Or was it her one last act of humanity, to recognize that it is not enough just to eat, that man does not live on bread alone, that there must be at least food that is also delicious, that inspires people to get up and dance—even if it means she has to lie about what she can experience?

Food is necessary for survival, and CSM is a story about survival. But CSM is also a story about glimpsing the after. After you know you can keep living, what next? After you are no longer starving, after you have been forced to kill a friend, after you have touched your first boob, after you have been betrayed, what next? After you are tired of eating toast with jam for breakfast, what do you eat next?

The version of the Lord's Prayer we tend to recite asks for "our daily bread." But this, most modern scholars believe, is a mistranslation. The Greek adjective as it appears in the Gospel of Matthew and Luke is "epiousios," which doesn't mean "daily" at all, but rather something too complicated etymologically for me to even begin to parse. The point is that what we ask for in the Lord's Prayer is not just bread for today, but bread for tomorrow. Both the physical bread and the spiritual bread. Bread on this kingdom of earth, and bread that is the kingdom of heaven. Bread to feed our bodies, and bread to feed our souls. The realm of the divine is full of these moments, isn't it? Of two things existing at once, in one.

Denji starts the series asking for daily bread, and ends the public safety arc with Nayuta, Makima's reincarnation, asking him for daily bread. Trash heap Denji, living with his not!dog Pochita, really was just asking for daily bread. A slice to eat for breakfast, maybe even with butter and jam. But he too learns that bread, physical bread, is not enough. Merely to subsist, to eat good food, is an empty life. And what he must give Nayuta is not just bread, as was given to him. Otherwise, he will be trapped in a cycle of creating more Makimas. Instead, he must give her a relationship, a family, a world that Makima was unable to create. He must give her, in Pochita's words, lots of hugs. He must give her, in the words of the Lord's Prayer, epiousios.

To be clear, I am not arguing that CSM is meant to be read through a Catholic lens, and I doubt Fujimoto had all of this in mind when he wrote it (though he must have thought something, given that he drew a very large print of Gustave Dore's "Satan descends upon Earth" in Makima's entranceway!). But there is something primal (primordial?) about the Lord's Prayer. If every reader can understand the horror that the Darkness Devil represents, so too we can understand the intimacy and comfort of the Lord's Prayer. It is, as Oliveira writes, "a simple peasant's mantra for detoxing anxiety." Jesus opens by addressing God as father—not king, not an all-mighty spiritual being, but rather "abba, which is rather closer to 'dad,' and not in the intercultural Greek of his adulthood, but the Aramaic of home and childhood." The Lord's Prayer asks for what we always want, the only thing any of us have ever wanted since leaving the womb as infants: for no bad things to happen, for there to be enough to eat.

Even if what we have to eat is another person.

At the center of the Christian liturgy is the Last Supper, and at the center of the Last Supper is a meal that functions as ritual, abomination, accusation, transubstantiation, paranoia, and an early example of cracking open a cold one with the bros. Here, Jesus shares bread and wine with his disciples and then, as if trying to invent r/creepypasta years before its time, informs them they are actually eating his flesh and blood. This image is so powerful and heretical that the Romans accused early Christians of being cannibals. And why shouldn't they? It's there in the text. "Take, eat. This is my body. This is my blood." Stripped of the grandeur of tradition and ritual, this is downright vampiric. And yet it goes on to become the cornerstone of the Christian faith.

Oliveira begs us to see the Last Supper as a family meal, one shared by Jesus and his found family. "All he is really saying is, 'I hope when you eat together, you remember me.'" It's a good reading, one that moves me to tears, and is the framework through which I see the events of chapter 80. Because Makima is not the first time that Denji "consumes" a friend, and I don't just mean him sucking Power's blood or taking Pochita into himself. When Aki died, he left half his fortune to Denji, who uses it to support himself and Power. They "pigged out on good food," he tells us. This is Aki's symbolic body, through which he provides Denji his daily bread. Eat ice cream and onigiri in remembrance of me.

But it is not how I see the events of chapter 96. Denji does not eat Makima in the context of a feast. He does not partake of her in a communal meal, as Jesus did, among his found family. He eats every bite of Makima alone. Jesus said before his death, "this is my blood, which is shed for many." Yet Denji says to Makima, I alone will absolve you alone of your sins. I alone will bear you alone.

Denji's Last Supper is a lonely remembrance. He is hoping that no one but him will remember her. He is hoping to wholly consume her, because he loves her. "We love as cannibals," French philosopher and activist Simone Weil wrote. "Beloved beings . . . provide us with comfort, energy, a simulant. They have the same effect on us as a good meal. . . . We love them, then, as food." In fact, Weil believed we cannot love any other way. As humans, we are forever doomed to want to eat the ones we love. In order to escape, we must both be devoured by God and then become food for our fellow human beings. As Alec Irwin writes of Weil's philosophy, "the devouring violence of God must be positively harnessed in order to dismantle the machinery of human cruelty."

If Weil is right and being devoured is transformation, a crucial part of salvation, then in eating Makima, Denji redeems her. He turns her into food to break the cycle of her cruelty. For Makima's power itself is consuming, cannibalistic. She "eats" humans in order to use her power, which remains mysterious like God moving across the face of the earth, leaving only broken corpses as a sign of its presence. So it must be Denji, not Chainsaw Man, who does the consuming. If Pochita had consumed her, as she had always prayed for, then it would simply be another act of violence being enacted. Instead, Denji gives her salvation by turning her into human food—his food.

To Denji, Aki was human, his family, his brother, his friend. It is Makima he loves as a God and a woman. To him, she is Satan and God, his betrayer and his creator, his salvation and his friends' damnation. So he must take her, consume her, digest her, excrete her, reduce her to nothing, as she once consumed and excreted and reduced him. "I ate her to become one with her." He ate her to become her. There is no truer form of his love than for Denji to take Makima into himself. I use those words purposefully, because this is the rejection of classic cishet PIV penetration, that old hoary chestnut of men inside women. As Don Delillo famously outlines in White Noise, we talk about sex as if women are containers, rooms, elevator lobbies: "He entered me," "I want him inside me," "I took him into myself." Denji and Makima never have physical sex, but this is a consummation, a reversal of roles. We are given the only sex that Shounen Jump will allow us, with Denji taking Makima into himself. She enters him. She is inside him. He is—physically, emotionally, willingly—penetrated by her flesh. She is released inside of him, becoming part of him.

Because the divine is full of moments like this, isn't it? Of two things existing at once, in one. That is the kingdom and the power and the glory. For Makima now lives in that country inhabited by God, where loving and eating are one and the same. For that country is none other than Denji's body.

In conclusion:

Substitute Makima for "God", and the preceding statements are still rigorously accurate.

Further Reading:

Anthony Oliveira's ongoing podcast reading the Gospel of Mark (Patreon exclusive, but I highly recommend, even/especially if you are a heathen like me)

Hannibal (NBC)

Daniel Birnbaum and Anders Olsson, An Interview with Jacques Derrida on the Limits of Digestion

David Farrell Krell, "All You Can't Eat: Derrida's Course, "Rhetorique du Cannibalisme (1990-1991)." Research in Phenomenology, vol. 36, 2006, pp. 130–180. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24660636.

Alec Irwin, “Devoured by God: Cannibalism, Mysticism, and Ethics in Simone Weil.” CrossCurrents, vol. 51, no. 2, 2001, pp. 257–272. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24460795.

#chainsaw man #cannibalism as love #love as cannibalism

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battybatzgirl · 3 years ago

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Hey Mr. Sandman, You Missed a Spot

AO3

Summary:

It's not that Hunter doesn't ever sleep, Eda's come to realize. It was that he falls asleep sporadically, most of the time in really weird places.

Or: 5 times Eda catches Hunter taking a nap

Part 1 of the Finders Keepers Series

---

Here’s the thing about Eda: she loves naps. Eda likes to be cozy, so usually, that equated to curling up under a blanket, lazing around, and falling asleep. The Owl Beast shared that sentiment, the creature that lived within her constantly wanting to nest. Those animalistic instincts were weird, but when you lived in a house with a demon who also liked to bury himself under a pile of stuffed animals, you kind of got used to it.

Here’s the thing about Hunter: he doesn’t sleep.

The kid has been living with them for only about two weeks, officially replacing Eda as Public Enemy Numero Uno in the eyes of the Emperor. When he’d showed up on Hooty’s doorstep, all bloody and barely conscious, Eda thought it was some kind of cosmic trick. The Powers That Be had to be pulling her leg because this was the second time the leader of the Emperor’s Coven had shown up to the Owl House with nowhere else to go.

Luz had been ecstatic to welcome him in, apparently excited to finally fulfill her dreams of becoming a middle child in their weird little found family. King was less thrilled, but eventually warmed up to the idea of Hunter staying with them as long as he taught King his secrets on how to command an army.

Hunter himself even seemed unnerved at the thought of living with them. He tried to leave a few times when he was still wounded, but his little bird palisman (Rascal, she’s heard him say) effectively herded him back into the house by continuously dive-bombing him and nipping at his ears. And after Belos put out a wanted poster for the kid, making him the Isles’ number one most wanted traitor, leaving wasn’t really an option. Not if he wanted to stay alive.

So eventually, Hunter begrudgingly accepted that yeah, he lived in the Owl House now.

And alright, Eda isn’t heartless. The kid was lost, wounded, and an enemy of the Emperor. She can work with that.

Getting to know him has been a challenge, though. Hunter has a lot of weird quirks. He holds himself so seriously that Eda has a hard time remembering that he’s a teenager and not a fully grown middle-aged man. He hardly ever smiles. He’s jumpy, practically jolting out of his skin every time you walk into the same room. He’s clearly Going Through Some Shit, as Eda so eloquently calls it, remembering how Lily went through the same thing when she slowly broke free of Belos’s freaky subjugation.

But still. The kid doesn’t sleep.

Eda first notices it around day four of his residence. She’s up early to go to the market, stepping into the living room and nearly transforming into her Harpy Form out of pure shock when she sees a figure messing with her bookshelf in the back of the room. Wide maroon eyes lock on hers from across the room and she feels the feathers that sprung to her skin recede.

“Titan, kid,” she breaths, “You nearly killed me. What are you doing up? It’s Saturday, you should be sleeping in.”

“Um…I did sleep in,” Hunter responds, as if it’s obvious.

Eda feels a frown tug at her lips, “The sun isn’t even up yet.”

The kid just shrugs a little lamely, and Eda feels a twinge of concern in her chest. (And ugh, feeling concerned for a guy who dangled you over the Boiling Sea is certainly weird.) If this was sleeping in for him, he couldn’t have rested more than five hours.

She steps closer, taking a second look at what he’s doing. Half the books are spread out on the floor, the other half stacked neatly back on the shelves in some kind of order.

He notices her looking, “I, uh, took the liberty of reorganizing your bookshelf. Or organizing it, since it didn’t really seem to have a system.” The kid ducks his head, the tips of his ears flushing pink. “I- I can put it back the way it was if you want, or organize them in a different way.”

That’s another thing about Hunter: he always has to be doing something. Being useful. Without direction, he crumples. It was always, What do you want me to do now, Miss Clawthorne this and I completed this task, Miss Clawthorne, what’s next that. His brain operated on a transactional level—I do this thing for you, you do this thing for me. And since Eda was housing him, he felt like he had to constantly be doing things for her. Constantly proving himself worthy to be here, repaying her. Hunter couldn’t seem to wrap his head around that she didn’t want him to do anything except stay comfortable.

Eda has thought up a hundred different little tasks for him to do in just his first four days. She’s running out of odd jobs to give him, and if she has to keep telling him what to do she’s going to start pulling out her hair.

“You’re fine, kid,” she says. “Keep doin’ what you’re doin’ if it makes ya happy. But you shouldn’t be up this early. You should at least take a nap later.”

Hunter tilts his head. “But that wouldn’t be accomplishing anything.”

“You don’t hafta be working all the time,” Eda stresses. “It’s okay to sit around and just exist once and a while. Actually, I think that should be your priority. Take a nap, relax, go cloud watching, take a walk—any or all of the above.”

“That sounds like doing nothing.”

“That’s because it is doing nothing.”

His face hardens, taking on that soldier-like seriousness that encompasses his entire demeanor. “Being lazy can’t be a priority.”

“Don’t think of it like that, then,” Eda almost snaps, wishing for a nice hot mug of apple blood. It was too damn early to deal with the repercussions of Belos’s all-work-no-play mindset. “Think of it as acting your age. Did you ever get to take naps as a kid in the Emperor’s Coven? Is relaxing just a foreign concept to you?”

He doesn’t answer, staring at her with those bagged eyes and guarded expression, and Eda throws up her hands in defeat.

She leaves then, her patience running too thin to continue arguing with him. She doubts he’ll actually go back to sleep. He probably goes back to doing whatever he was doing with that bookshelf. Eda makes a mental note to tell King to knock all the books off, just so Hunter can reorganize it later. Just for something for him to keep him occupied.

Eda doesn’t even notice the first time it happens. It was one of Luz’s friends, Gus, who pointed it out.

The kids were gathered at her home after school, spread out on the floor of the living room along with various pillows and blankets. Luz found some card game she knew buried somewhere in the piles of human trash Eda has laying around, and the girl has been spending the better part of an hour trying to explain how it works.

“So the Wild Card doesn’t make you turn into a wild animal?” Willow questions, holding up a black card with looks like a colorful pie chart on it.

“Nope!” Luz says cheerfully. “It just becomes any color you want it to be to go with the rest of your hand.”

“But the card doesn’t actually change color?” Amity asks.

“No, it only represents the color,” Luz clarifies, and Eda has to admit, her girl has a ton of patience. She’s been quietly watching from her place on the couch, half-listening to their conversation, half-reading the Isles’ latest edition of You Gossipy Witch, a tabloid where a writer is speculating about her true form. Apparently, some people think she was raised by feral, wild owls on some far away barrier island, and has come to reside in Bonesborough just because she ran out of mutant rats to eat.

Weird.

But entertaining!

Gus holds up one of his cards, “So are blank cards bad, or—"

King jumps over his shoulder, landing on the deck of cards in the middle of their little circle and making them fly everywhere. “I have taken dominion over ALL YOUR CARDS. All of you must grovel for a taste of my wealth!”

“Actually, the point of the game is to get rid of all your cards,” Luz reminds him gently. “That way, when you get down to one card, you shout Uno! And you win! If no one else makes you draw anymore, that is.”

King deflates a little, apparently put off by the idea of less is more. “Oh.” Luz smiles and pats him on the head, and he brightens up. “Okay, let’s play, because I wanna make all of you draw as many cards as possible! You'll drown in your cards! Choke on them, even!”

As they start gathering up the cards that King threw everywhere, Gus lets out a little gasp. “You guys—is Hunter asleep?”

That immediately draws Eda’s attention away from the magazine. Her eyes flicker to the blond witch, laying on his stomach just on the edge of their group. He was still having a hard time socializing, especially with Amity, but Luz was determined to include him in all friendship activities. She said wanted to teach him how to be a kid, and hell, if anyone could knock some seriousness out of that boy it would be Luz.

Hunter is indeed asleep—his face is mushed into the forearms pillowed under his head, and his red palisman has weaseled its way to nestle in between the crook of his elbow. His breath comes out in soft little sighs, and Eda feels something in her melt.

“Awwww, he looks so peaceful,” Luz croons, mushing her palms against her cheeks. Amity’s already scooched past her, snapping photos on her scroll. Eda can’t blame her. She knows a good blackmail opportunity when she sees one.

Eda’s off the couch and catches King mid-pounce. “Whoa there, none of that buddy.”

“But Edaaaa,” the demon whines, his little arms and legs flailing in mid-air. “I have to conquer him when he least expects it!”

“Ehhh, let the kid sleep. Save your conquests for when he’s awake and can put up a fight.” Eda sets him down in his place in the circle, and the kids all glance at each other before turning back to the cards.

She notices that they’re more mindful to keep their tones softer, probably to not disturb the sleeping boy. And when Hunter wakes himself up about half an hour later, they don’t mention it, seamlessly integrating him back into their game.

The second time it happens, Raine is walking Eda home. It’s early in the evening, and the pair just got done with a fabulous date—a picnic with apple blood and sweet (and stolen) baked goods? Titan, take Eda now, she’s found her perfect match.

She’s still riding that high, not noticing Raine stopping until they tug on their clasped hands. “Hey, who’s that? Is he okay?”

Eda follows where they’re pointing their finger. It’s Hunter, slumped against the base of an oak tree, fast asleep. His chin is tipped forward and a book open on his chest, and even more strangely, there’s a small pile of leaves on his lap.

“Oh, that’s just my—” Eda stops herself, the word catching in her throat. Hunter was a child in her care, yes, but he wasn’t quite her kid. Not like Luz or King. The blond witch was still too jumpy, baring his teeth and snarling at anything that tried to get close to him.

He calls her Miss Clawthorne, for Titan’s sake.

“—Hunter,” Eda finishes lamely.

Raine raises an eyebrow. “Your Hunter?”

“He’s uhhh, one of Luz’s friends who just so happens to be living with us. Not a big thing.”

Raine shoots her a deadpan look but strides forward anyway, kneeling next to the sleeping blond. They keep their voice to a low murmur, “Should we wake him? That can’t be comfortable for his neck. He’ll probably be sore later.”

“Eh, let him rest. This is more sleep than he usually gets.” Eda steps closer, kneeling down on his other side. It’s the side that has his scar, the slightly raised red tissue standing out even more so than usual now that he wasn’t constantly moving. She’s almost asked him how he got it, but he’s clearly sensitive about the subject. She’s seen the similar marks on his arms, and something tells her there are a whole lot more scars that he’s hiding.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who gave them to him.

Still, it’s hard to ignore just how young he looks. When he’s stripped of all of his snappy comebacks, quick defenses, and that guarded demeanor Belos forced onto him, he’s reduced to exactly what he should be:

A kid.

“Oh!” Raine startles in surprise. Eda looks up to see the cardinal palisman fluttering down from above them, carrying a few leaves in its beak. It hops down onto Hunter’s lap and deposits the leaves in the little growing pile on his leg.

A smile worms its way onto Eda’s face. She runs a finger across the little bird’s head, “Trying to keep him warm, huh?” The bird lets out a trilling note of confirmation. She lets the bird be, turning back to Raine, “I think Rascal’s got this covered. If he hasn’t come in before nightfall I’ll come out and get ‘em.”

The bard casts one last glance down at the sleeping boy before they stand. “Y’know, he kind of reminds me of someone.”

“Oh yeah?” Eda weaves her arm through Raine’s as the pair reassumes their walk.

“Yeah,” Raine hums. “He kind of has the same build as someone I met when I was held hostage in the Emperor’s palace. The Golden Guard. Did you hear that he ran away from the palace? There've been rumors that the Emperor himself is tearing apart the Right Arm looking for him.”

“Uh, about that...”

Raine stops, turning to look at her square in the face. Eda gives them a sheepish, toothy grin.

“Oh my god,” Raine says. “You adopted the Golden Guard?”

“Hey now, adopted is a very strong word—”

The bard cuts her off with a delighted laugh. “How am I not surprised?” Eda feels heat rise to her face, but can’t help but return Raine’s infectious smile. “Only you, Eda. Only you.”

The third time it happens, Eda’s passing through the upstairs hallway, intent on curling up into her nest for an afternoon nap of her own. She hears a shuffling noise as she passes by the glorified storage closet that they gave Hunter as a room, and can’t resist a peek inside.

What she finds is definitely…not what she was expecting. Hunter is laying flat on his back on the floor, his feet elevated on the little cot they’d given him. Yeesh, that couldn’t be comfortable. Soft snores woosh past his open lips, his face turned toward a crystal ball that’s playing some cartoon he must have been watching before he fell asleep.

His body is nearly covered in stuffed animals.

“King,” Eda hisses. The horned perpetrator is in the middle of dumping his entire army onto the blond witch’s chest, pinning down his arms with plushies. “What did I tell you about burying people alive?”

The demon pauses from where he’s been slowly arranging his army over Hunter’s sleeping form. “He’s got plenty of room to breathe! I didn’t cover his face,” King protests. “Can’t subjugate someone who’s dead.”

“No subjugating—” your brother, she almost says, “—Hunter.”

King squints at her, but then grumbles and starts slowly taking the stuffed animals off the boy’s body. Crisis averted, Eda slips back out into the hall, mind swirling. That was the second time she’d almost referred to Hunter as hers in passing. The feeling is too raw to speak out loud yet, but there’s a growing warmth in her as she watches Hunter acclimate to his surroundings in the Owl House. With every day that goes by, he’s more comfortable around her, around Luz and King and Hooty, and he’s starting to come out of his shell. He’s growing softer, less quick to snarl, becoming more Hunter and less Golden Guard.

Unconsciously, Eda’s started viewing him as part of their little family. Two weeks ago, that thought would have made her uncomfortable. Now, she welcomes it with open arms.

Ugh, she’s getting so soft.

The fourth time it happens is when Eda’s flying home from visiting Lilith. She’s only been gone for the day, and is hoping that leaving Luz in charge hasn’t led to any freak fires, the resurrection of the dead, or other various natural disasters. Unfortunately, even her most responsible kid is pretty reckless, so Eda’s expectations are set pretty low.

It’s probably sometime around 2 a.m. when she makes it home sweet home. She swoops in close, intent on landing on the front door but stilling mid-air when she sees something on the roof of the tower. Even from up here, it’s not hard to distinguish the form of a looming body.

Eda’s heart leaps into her throat and she takes Owlbert down into a dive. Her body is tense when she lands, her staff already aimed toward the person lurking by the edge of the roof. “Alright listen bucko, you better step back or—wait.” She sees what looks like a lump of feathers sitting on top of the person’s head, and Eda squints in the darkness. She quickly pulls out a light glyph, sending the tiny ball of sun forward.

“Hunter?!” Eda’s tense posture relaxes. The kid doesn’t answer, and it takes her a beat to figure out why. He’s dead asleep, slumped precariously over the telescope they use for stargazing. Eda has no idea how he’s even standing at all. Kid probably had a ton of practice of falling asleep on his feet during long, boring meetings with the Emperor.

“Wakey, wakey.” She places her hand on his shoulder, gently, but he wakes up with a full-body jerk, startling the palisman on top of his head. The cardinal chirps once in irritation, fluttering to rest on Eda’s shoulder instead.

Hunter’s eyes are wild for a moment until he seems to register where he is and who he’s with. He relaxes then, letting out a yawn so huge it would put any lion to shame. “…Eda?”

“The one and only,” Eda says, ignoring how her heart squeezes at the kid finally calling her by her name. “Wanna tell me why you’re up here in the middle of the night?”

“Waitin’ for you,” he mumbles, voice rough with sleep. His eyelids drop and he sways dangerously on his feet. “Wanted to… t’make sure y’got home safe.”

The warmth in her chest expands and eclipses her entire body in that fuzzy feeling she gets whenever one of her kids does something particularly adorable. Thank Titan it’s dark and Hunter is too out of it to notice the smile that spreads across her face. If he was fully awake, Eda gets the feeling that A) he probably never would have admitted that he was worried about her, and B) would have snapped at her for smiling at him like that. “Well, I’m home now, so let’s get you to bed before you topple over.”

Eda wraps her arm around his waist and nudges him along, practically carrying him back downstairs, their palismen following close behind. She doesn’t mind. Someone had to make sure he didn’t fall off the roof.

“Night, kid,” she says, tucking him under the blankets on his cot. Hunter doesn’t respond, already having slipped back into unconsciousness. And if she brushes his bangs tenderly out of his face, no one ever has to be the wiser.

The fifth time it happens, Eda’s gotten used to it. It's not that Hunter doesn’t sleep, she’s come to realize. He just falls asleep in weird places. Why, she has no idea, but honestly, the kid looked so tired all the time, she wasn’t going to question it. They had bigger things to worry about.

The Day of Unity is just around the corner, and Belos has become more irritating than ever.

Eda hadn’t even thought that was possible for him, but apparently, it was. The scouts around Bonesborough have tripled, their captains leading more and more raids, butting into shops to check everyone’s papers, and invading random districts.

Oddly, Belos’s priorities seem to have shifted. He’s still sending out grunts to round up any wild witches, but the guards have been playing a weird sort of hide-and-seek, going beyond just patrolling the marketplaces to actually tearing into people’s homes. From what she’s heard, the guards never take anything, just searching the place top-to-bottom before leaving empty-handed and moving on to the next house.

Belos was looking for something.

And unfortunately, Eda’s got a pretty good idea of what he’s after.

Said thing just so happens to be slumped across from her at the kitchen table, dead to the world. It’s late into the night, and most of the kids have already gone to sleep. Too on edge to lie down, Eda’s been keeping herself busy by concocting more potions while the late-night news plays on her crystal ball in the background.

Hunter, striving to be helpful, volunteered to stay up and help.

It wasn’t long before the kid slowly started to nod off, face supported by his palm as his eyelids started to droop. He’d been in the middle of mixing two ingredients—highly flammable ingredients, mind you—and Eda plucked the vials out of his lax grip just in time. Honestly, it was a miracle the kid never killed himself in the Emperor’s Coven with how randomly he falls asleep.

He probably never got the chance to sleep at all, a voice reminds her. She remembers how dead-exhausted Lily was during her first few days at the Owl House. It was probably safe to assume that the Emperor had a habit of running the head of his Coven into the ground.

Hunter has been picking up on Belos’s tightening grip, too. He’s been getting quieter, more reserved. He’s come to the same conclusion that Eda has: the Emperor was tearing apart the whole of the Isles to get him back.

Why, though, is anyone’s guess. Hunter has long since explained that his uncle always said that the Titan had big plans for him, and it probably has something to do with the Day of Unity, but beyond that, the Emperor had always kept him in the dark. Luz has a crazy theory involving clones and blood magic, but that sounds like it’s a plot point straight out of one of her Azura books. King thinks Belos wants his artificial staff back, and Hooty predicts the Emperor is just sad because all his Coven leaders are leaving him to join Hooty’s superior best friends club.

Whatever the reason, Eda’s made it pretty clear that she’s not gonna bend to Belos’s intimidation tactics and turn him over. That smarmy gold jerk could set the whole Isles on fire and Eda still wouldn’t hand him over. Hunter’s part of the Bad Girl’s Coven now, and Belos can just suck it. And she’s not afraid to say that to his stupid face, either.

So when the cauldron at the end of the table that holds the scrying potion suddenly begins bubbling on its own, Eda may very well get her chance.

She’s up on her feet in an instant, dashing to the other end of the table just as the steam rising off the potion begins to warp into a familiar figure.

“Edalyn,” Belos greets, his voice sharp like a dagger. “I do hope I’m not interrupting your evening, but I needed a word with you.”

Ugh, scrying potions weren’t supposed to work both ways! Belos was too damn powerful. He could probably peer into their lives as much as they could peer into his.

“Sorry, but now’s a bad time,” Eda shoots back. “Why don’t you hang up and call back literally never?”

“It’s come to my attention that you have something of mine,” the masked man continues smoothly as if she hadn’t spoken. “I’d ever so appreciate it if you gave it back.”

Eda’s lip curls back, feeling the itch of feathers poking out of her joints. She wants to shift into her harpy form and leap through the potion to claw out his eyes. “Sorry, Belos,” she says, dripping smug bravado, “We wild witches operate solely under the laws of finders keepers. Your kid? Mine now.”

Eda expects that the Emperor would very much like to vaporize her. “Make your threats wisely, Owl Lady. You have no idea what you’re up against. Everything will be easier for you and your little friends if you just hand the boy back over to me.”

“Fat chance.” Eda throws back her shoulders and shoots him a sharp grin. “Sounds to me like you’re threatening one of my kids, and we weirdos stick together. Going after one of us is basically asking for all of us to bring you down. Remember how well that went last time? How my human cracked your mask and publicly humiliated you during your big let’s-turn-Eda-to-stone ceremony?”

The Emperor looks as though he has some choice words to say, but Eda doesn’t care. Hunter is her kid now. She glowers at him through that mist, voice lowering in with deadly promise. “You’ll have to drag him back to your Coven over my dead body.”

“That can be arranged,” sneers Belos.

“Try me, antler boy.” Then Eda whacks the cauldron and sends it tipping over the edge of the table. The connection is immediately severed as the potion goes splattering over the hardwood, and the resounding CLANG of the bowl makes Hunter shoot violently out of sleep.

“Huh?! Whassit—Eda? What happened? Are you alright?”

“Fine, kid,” she says, swallowing down the rage that’s still bubbling hot in her throat. “’S alright, just got a little clumsy and knocked over a cauldron. Sorry for waking you.”

“Sorry for falling asleep,” Hunter responds. He grabs a towel and hurries to clean up the oozing purple goo.

Eda waves him off, “Eh, I don’t mind. You kids need your rest. Growing bodies and all that.”

Hunter still hesitates, looking at her for a beat too long as if double-checking to make sure she wasn’t really upset. Eda holds back a sigh, a twinge of pity flickering through her that he’d even have to look at her like that in the first place. All the damage from Belos couldn’t be wrapped up in a month, she supposed.

She snatches up the cauldron, still dripping with the ruined potion. Peachy. She’ll have to call Lilith to get her scrying potion recipe. Though maybe not having this in the house was a good idea. Eda doesn’t want to risk His Royal Highness dropping in on any more unexpected house calls.

“Eda?”

She looks up at Hunter. The kid chewing on his bottom lip, wringing the half-soiled towel between scarred hands.

“I just…I wanted to say thank you,” Hunter says shyly. “I know having me here hasn’t exactly been easy—not only because of the fugitive thing, but because I’m…” He flounders for a moment, and Eda can only pretend to know what’s going through his mind right now. “…me,” he finishes finally. “You’ve been so kind and patient with me, it’s so much more than I deserve, and no matter what happens next—”

“Hey, no.” Eda cuts him off with a swift and gentle beratement. She sets the cauldron on the table and crowds closer to him, curling one hand around his cheek. The kid automatically leans into the touch, and Eda can’t help but wonder how Belos could have ever hurt a child who was as sweet as this one.

“You may be one bratty little shit, but you’re my bratty little shit. And Mama says you deserve all the smothering that comes with being a child of the Owl Lady.”

Then, to prove her point, she swoops down and quickly places feather-light kisses on the tip of his nose, forehead, and his scar, until Hunter squawks and shoves her away. He’s practically glowing, flushed all the way to the tips of his ears.

“Gross,” he snaps, rubbing furiously at his face. “I’m never helping you with your potions ever again.”

“I’ll accept your terms. Now get upstairs, it’s way past your bedtime.”

“I don’t have a bedtime, I’m not a baby.” Hunter sticks out his tongue but obeys, slipping out of the kitchen and disappearing into the rest of the house. Eda shakes her head as she watches him go.

Kids. What could ya do with ‘em?

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aeempress · 3 years ago

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Apritello Express Evidences, part 3

Apritello, my dear friends, is really all hints, devil in details, little pieces that, in the end, become a huge picture.

I can't say that there are a lot of episodes with April and Donnie spending quality time together, no. But all episodes are important to understand how their relationship are involving, growing. If you have sharp eyes and think about all of this even a little bit, you will be surprised how gracefully their relationship changes and grows, how characters evolve.

Dear passengers, we're about to start. Mind the gap!

Episodes “The Gumbus” and “Mrs. Cuddles”.

I think it would be appropriate to analyze these episodes in bunch, because they have common situations of spooky supernatural stuff and reactions of characters to this.

When you watch these two eps in raw, it's easy to see how alike are reactions of Donnie and April in some scary, really odd situations.

Adrenaline ‘n’ reclessness

April is really into all spooky things in “The Gumbus”, she's not afraid of some creepy stuff and she's really brave girl who easily copes with stressful and life-threatening situations.

Donnie is incredibly calm and collected when alive doll talked to him.

But still, April was frightened about plush rabbit because it was really unexpected for girl, she wasn’t ready to realize that plush doll that she’d worked with is alive fear-eating monster who will hurt and intimidate to get their precious screams. But point remains: Donnie and April share crazy fearlessness, which turns into an adrenaline addiction.

And here I am, a science guy, who tell you: adrenaline is a big deal for our body. This hormone can even provoke an onset of romantic feelings. Chemistry and anatomy come to fill the gaps: when a person is afraid, their pulse quickens, a cocktail of hormones is releasing into the blood, which sharpen the senses and reflexes. It will create a strong emotional bound, that's important for maintaining romantic kind of feelings. The more impressions there are (even negative ones), the higher the chance that person will remember his|her partner, and want to see them again – the body gets hooked on adrenaline, like a drug.

That’s why D&A have so strong, unshakeable boundaries. They are so alike: their attitude to scary things, the way Donnie and April cope with them, the adrenaline addiction their share. They even express feelings the same way.

And one tiny detail: April and Donnie start the teasing Raph for his fear of mrs. Cuddles. So they become the first victims of plushie.

Friendly reminder: they were the 1st victims, and what’s happened with them we don’t know, because it wasn’t shown due to not ruin the atmosphere of suspense.

But we have a beautiful quote of mrs. Cuddles and this precious shot which explain everything

Raph: Where’s Donnie?

Cuddles: In a happy place where he’ll scream and I can grow forever and now you’re gonna join him!

In a happy place, huh? Tied up with April in Splinter’s bedroom, a really happy place. Hold a sec, are they -

And after that Donnie’s responding is killing me.

Donnie:[OS] I'm afraid of togetherness.

Yep. All normal here. We should continue.

"Operation Normal" even though doesn't show a lot of interactions between April and Donnie, however continues the general outline highlighting the topics that were mentioned earlier in the show.

Firstly, April's relationship with her classmates. We're able to see how poor her scholar life is in "Hypno Part Deux" and "The Purple Jacket". She has no "normal", human friends except some strange remora guy, more like acquaintance than friend, though. But still, having "be normal" kick she's fine with Donnie's weirdness ( Mikey is always beyond all normal comprehension, Raph goes weird while he's alone, without brothers, and his fear of miss Cuddles is no big deal to fam, Leo didn't show any weird stuff during the series, like, reeeeal weird, m'kay?).

Conversation between April and Donnie at pizza spot

Really interesting and smooth scene. We’ve got Donatello who stares at April while he’s waiting his favourite pizza, no big deal.

And his legs.

If a person is interested in you, during a conversation, they will put their right foot forward (a left-handed person is more likely to put their left foot forward) in order to close the distance between you. - Check.

being in company, peson will point the sock at the most pleasant interlocutor for them. - check.

April’s legs are ponted at Donnie. Checkmate.

Yeah, April is hanging out with Donatello and Leonardo, but the main focus of hers is on Donnie.

All these scene makes me think that Donnie, knowing about how badly sometimes April wants to be normal, is up to help her overcome this. Fight fire with fire: fill up her life with all of this weird, mystic stuff so it will be normal with time. Regular people go to pizza spot to spend some quality time together, so we have pizza restaraunt here, in Hidden City. Make all odd normal, and problem will solved.

Donnie really tries his best, look at his face. Dee’s fine with all this bizzare things what happens to April, he’s fine with her. But still he fails, because April’s concept of normalcy differs drom Donnie’s.

And again, for Donnie it’s not a problem at all. He’s always was at the opposite side of normalcy and it doesn’t matter for him if April is in the same boat with him. Cause, as I said, Don’s fine with that.

Second, how much Donnie knows about April.

- Scoff! Are you really still on this whole "I want things to be normal" kick?

- Yes, what big city girl doesn't have a kayak and has hazmat suit?

Interesting detail here: this line launches Donnie’s flashback (because the first scene is from “Purple Jacket”, it’s Dee’s episode, obviously). And Don, as far as I can tell, has in his flashback moments with April when she did something reaaally impressive. His face is way more louder than any words.

- Short answer: no. Long answer: nnooooooooo.

- Oh, no! You know how April freaks out around the cosplay wizards!

These tiny lines are containing a lot of background, stories, intimate conversations that April and Donnie share. This show always does the same trick: we never see a direct action, we are only able to see a result or statement of the result. But series do a great work telling us with such small and imperceptible gestures that their bonding at this point is mutual. Not only D tells April about his inventions, family and fam's issues he has and even his falls, mistakes and failures. April does the same thing, sharing with Donatello one of the most important things to her. Problem that really bothers her.

C'mon, he'd even memorized Sunita's name, though April messed up with this situation a bit. It seems Donnie memorizes facts about April - he remembered the wi-fi password from old April's work as we can see in "The Longest fight" (he could hack it easily, he's a genius, why he's been keeping in mind some piece information that useless for a year? It doesn't make any sense)

Oh, and that. Just a coincidence, I guess?

Just alike suits, no big deal. Plus, the whole family has it (and something tells me that guys have suits at the behest of Don, so probably April does). But Donnie and April has a lot in common like emotional expressions, reaction about some kind situations, fight style and even tastes in fashion.

Also, it seems like Donnie's been watching April for sometimes.

While Leo was hiding in trash can, to not catch anyone's eye rather than April. He definitely couldn't know who was passing by, but there was Donnie to observe from above. That's why he was hanging down the stairs when Leo spoke to April.

It’s not the first time Donnie dress up as old lady to monitor April’s day.

Leo: Why do you always make us dress up as old ladies? Donnie: №1: confort, №2: to blend in as we monitor April’s day for max normalcy.

3. Even when D took away this cosplay wizard, he's still keeping eye on her.

Oh no, you don’t. Grandmas here!

Donatello changes his foe to save April exactly. He fought all evening with Brutus, but when April slightly gets in danger, Donnie just attacked anyone who has intention to hurt her and ruin her evening.

Is that a flying turtle in an old purple dress?

April, who all evening was trying to look “normal”, hiding her real friends because they are mutant turtles and pretending that nothing unusual happens here, finally gives up when Sunita mentioned Donnie. Even though new April’s friend has asked her before about Leo.

His eyes.

Donnie is really impressed but what he saw, and the reason - April O'Neil.

The episode "Warren & Hypno, sitting in a Tree" is another incredible piece of whole picture.

Turtle tank is decorated for April birthday in purplish scheme, definetely Donatello's work.

Dee's nonverbal speech.

• He seems more interested and softer than usual looking at April. It's easy to say comparing him with brothers. Mikey is in anticipation of fun mode, Leo relaxed and show his "whatever it will be fun" attitude, Raph is listening carefully, but still, Donnie could just turn his head in April's vouce direction, not a whole body.

• Warren felt Don's gaze while talked with April, so worm made the remark. Pay attention to the construction of the frame of neighboring scenes. The second frame is April's perspective. And Don is looking namely at her.

Indignation. Disappointment. Spark, storm, madness (i love this russian meme, sorry not sorry)

• Donnie seems sincerely sorry for this situation with April's b-day. And again, this soft gaze and "Raph, shut the shell up, your nonsense is upsetting her"-eyes.

• Donatello is kind of person, who’s avoiding a proper confrontation, so he rarely stands up for someone. He were remaining silent, when Raphael tried to cheer April in the most radiculous way, but when Hypno tried to play with April’s feelings, Donnie blew it.

He’s obviously in wrath as D emote that expressively. Yeah, he had much on his plate at April’s birthday, but it’s her b-day on the line, not his pride.

Warren used April, playing with her fan feelings. Her idol betrayed her, she was locked up in a cage, and now we have Hypno who wants to use her again by pitting and pushing for her compassion, because, it’s obvious - boys would do everything she said.

And Donnie tries to keep Hypno away from her, protect her feelings from another betrayal.

As he’s already stated - “For you, anything”.

The show always tells us: if you wanna trigger Don, bring April in.

Hypno tried to turn this thing around, Leo did the same in “Al be back”.

If Hypno-tamus did that accidentally as he found out that April O’ Neil is a birthday girl, so her wishes that day were laws, Leo did it on purpuse.

Leo is good at manupulating and pulling some strings, plus he knows his twin as back of his hand. That’s why Leo mentioned April in the end as she was always the most powerful argument, the reason and motive for Donnie. At second he’s even panicked, but remained calm. He almost blew up his coolheaded image because of one certain girl in yellow.

• Donnie is really happy to present Warren's arm to April. He even holds it like a rare, priceless treasure. D is really proud of himself right now: he saved the day, after all. The emotional reaction of hers is exactly what Donnie wants to get. And then, his final pose, while April is on 9th cloud from happiness - that's really territorial gesture, D claims his supremacy and confidence, telling "See? That's my happy birthday girl".

Leapfrog with a composition

Donnie and April are more and more eager to be together in the frame. Composition’s boners, m’kay.

Special ride for April

Yeah, Donnie used to offer his battleshell to give April a special ride. It even has a seat and handlebars for her comfort. She can control the flight as well as Donatello, they are like co-pilots. But he never carried her on his back before.

Usually, April is carried by Raphael, on his neck/shoulder, and she’s fine with it. Raph is strong enough to carry her without any difficulties or slowing down.

It’s not Donnie’s weak to carry her - no, he strong enough to carry his battleshell with a lot stuff in it everyday, Don can carry Splints on his shoulder without any apparent difficulty. He strong enough to hold the weight of his battleshell+April. Oh, c’mon, D assembled the Turtle tank only by himself and this for sure requires a lot of physical strength in order to engage in auto mechanics. Try lifting the wheel with tyre, and you'll see what I mean. Of course, there is a jack, but it will not solve all the problems. Don could use hydraulics and Archimedes ' laws, but I'm sure he did most of it with his own hands. Lifting and carrying, all by himself.

Not the strengh what’s matter but another point.

The sequence where Donnie carries April on his back doesn’t last long, it’s pretty easy to miss, while Raph openly do that with April on him.

Plus April’s gaze: she’s staring right at us with her “ninja-eyes” as if they were caught in the middle of something. The duration and length of the sequence, the way it is made all of this arouse certain thoughts.

It’s like nobody should see this. Too personal. To be more specific - too close and intimate?

Donnie stated a few times that he’s not into togetherness, tactile interaction and phisical side of contacts. Although he's fine with his brothers, don't forget that April is a girl. Even if she feels like part of family, she’s not his relative. She’s not his sister.

Some people tend to avoid physical contact with the objects of their interest. And this behaviour fits in Don’s character. He’s anxious type with a lot of psychological and emotional issues. Yeah, he tries to cover it up, built a shell to protect himself, behave as confident extravert but he’s nothing like that. Sometimes D tends to distance himself from his family, to hide in his shell, and we've seen that throughout the show.

Don hangs by his phone quite often, he addicted to this as his comfort zone, his peaceful cave, where everything is much easier,

Don pretends he’s so busy with his science stuff to ward off his brothers (ep. Mind Meld),

Don went to the lab to work on his projects, while he could hang out with April and the brothers (ep. Mrs. Cuddles). And he left for what? To work on self-cleaning tooth pick, or the titan bust of himself? It’s seems like lame excuse to be alone. He’s definetely an intovert, who sometimes needs some space and time with himself.

All his cocky behaviour is showing off to hide insecure, diffident and vulnerable creature, softshell purple turtle. Yeah, Donnie has confidence in what he’s great in: tech, science stuff, where he’s only one is capable of. But if someone steps on his domain or doubts his authority, his true colours exposed.

And, once again, “Mind meld” is a great evidence of that. Would callous, unsumpathetic guy without heart have a wall with pictures of his fellows? I’m afraid not. Donnie has a soft, caring heart.

There’s an alley of his the dearest moments, because photos - are always memory, precious moments we want to keep.

1 - from “Minotaur Maze”. Don loves good pizza, loves his brothers, and they have a little adventure together. Yeah, this photo isn’t on champ wall, but still.

2 - from “Mascot melee”. Important day for bros as they show themselves to people at daylight to rescue Raph and their operation to buy a new robe for his father. It’s their joint brothers dance, and D is loving to dance, remember? Definetely special occasion.

3 - from “Mascot melee”. Splints was really glad to receive a gift from boys. And Donatello, as we know, is always eager to achive for pop’s approval. This for sure must be in his precious moments collection.

5, 7 - from “Donnie’s gifts”. He even keeps a dorky photo, which Raph uses as profile pic at Donnie’s number.

8, 9 - “Down with the sickness”. It was funny to survive all the 7 stages to achive what boys wanted. They failed, but still.

10 - from “Al be back”. Who knows that Splints is so good at singing?

4, 6 - from “The Fast and the Furriest”. Strange choice, cuz, you know, photos ten seconds before his collision with April bat?

And yeah, he HAS April’s photo here. And at this pic it’s April, and April alone,without his brothers.

Don’s a real softie, see?

And avoiding physical contact is a way to protect Donnie’s already shattered self-esteem. To not cause any doubts in front of girl which he’s interested in. That’s possible reason why we did not receive any heartwarming hugs in “The Purple Jacket”.

But Donnie carries April, because it’s her birthday. On the one hand, the girl claims that her b-day is cursed, and Donnie could, by any chance, do something nice for her, and on the other hand - any request of the bithday girl - is the law, as we could see earlier.

Gift for birthday girl

There is no Donnie in the scene after Draxum throw off Warren's arm. While Raph comfort April about her birthday, Donnie was looking for it to present it to April.

He knows the best what is the most precious gift for her. Warren Stone, her idol, goat of making news; she have been in Stoneheads fanclub for 9 years. Also, it seems that Donnie is the one of turtles, who collected info about this worm.

Also, he stopped immediately when April stepped between them and show no disappointing (remind you about Donnie's sadistic science guy nature). The reason is April.

And another cute detail: their glasses are the same form.

Another episode "Mystic library" has slightly touched D&A interaction. But were talking about Apritello, it's all hints but quality.

When Mayham trapped in the mirror and Raph, Leo and Mikey obviously are not coping, April decides to call Donnie to clear situation up.

Donnie, mister "I ruin everything", she's going to call for help. I repeat this. April calls for help Mr. Science to solve mystic problems with her pet. MYSTIC PET.

And he AGREES.

Turtles dissuade their friend from calling Donatello but after a while, April returns with Donnie, and sees the bathroom in ruins.

I'm gonna clear this moment.

1. April haven’t called Donnie.

2. Some time later she returns with Dee.

3. Our girl is pretty shocked to see her bathroom in ruins, argo she didn't see/hear Raph chose to solve problem with smashing.

It must mean only ine thing: April went for Donnie by herself. We don't know where was he, we don't know what the reason April brought Donnie with her by herself, 'cause we know that if she call Dee, he will definitely get to her immediately.

Something is definetely off.

By the way, April changed Don’s profile pic.Yeah, the first one is very informative since Donnie is a turtle and he’s purple and he has bandana. Seems like April have done it by herself, editing the photo of real turtle. She didn't put a lot of effort into this, this image doesn't show her real attitude towards Don. But second is more personality-tinged. Sleeping Donatello in all his gear - this detail can tell us about only one thing - he was photographed when he fell asleep after his sleepless night(s) working hard at something - is something she can catch or receive by boys (namely speaking, it’s Leo, according to Ben Schwartz stated in an interview, that if Leo had an Instagram account, that 60 to 70% of his photos would be his brothers caught sleeping or slipping on things). And still. April has a dorky and little embarrassing pic of Donatello and this is... Interesting and cute?

This profile pic remind me about ROTTMNT: Sound off! (2nd issue)

The next station is “The Purple Game”.

Another episode in which the interaction of the characters is small in timing, but great in content.

And once again: they have a lot in common. I’d never tired of repeating this thing ‘cause the series do the same trick, showing one thing from different points of view. April and April shares the same taste in games, the same attitude, the same mojo.

But the most important thing here is how D&A interacrions are shown in this episode. Unlike other episodes, the interaction here is indirect, is provided by gaming.

Their customized avatars reflects their personality. I mean, the colour schemes (though Donatello has never shown any interest in yellow, he used it for customization of his persona), the way their avatars looking. Game even refering to Sherlock_Corn as “she”, albeit it’s impossible to refer to her avatar in female pronoun. Because, you know, design and nickname?

And the in-game interaction of the avatars resembles D&A irl relationships. Bootyyyshaker 9000 don’t like togetherness, he’s looking like Donnie’s expectation of himself (cool and tough guy, as D sees himself in his own dreams)

Their dialogue

Actually. Actually, Donnie and April are not able to hear each other as game has no voice chat, but their lines make an perfect dialogue nevertheless.

April:Bootyshaker9000? Donnie?

Donnie:April? You’re the last person I need to destroy to achive rank №1!

April:Ditto!

Both:There can only be one!

Donnie said the cheat combination, so April would know for sure what he is supposed to do, but she has no idea.

So, once again: their sync is incredible.

And can we talk about that?

April’s attack

As it seems, attacks may be customized by players. Bootyyshaker has attack that refers at Donatello main feature - superior intellect.

And this attack isn’t effective, because REAL April O’Neil has a resist towards it. She has known D for years, she knows what he’s capable of, she’s aware of his nerd side. April’s immune to it, so Sherlock_Corn is.

Sherlock_corn has a default attack - kernel cannon. It’s nod to her nickname: kernel, corn, the same book. But her second atteck is something reflecting her personalitiy. Plus, April is aware of Donnie’s “fear” of togetherness. All’s fair in love and war, right?

April took a lot of BS9000 hp by her “friendly hugs”. And, by the way, his sweet reaction for hugs.

So:

The selection of the final opponent. It might be literally anyone, but we wouldn’t be able to see Dee’s obsession in that case. Yeah, he’s already had a demon possesion ™, but it was too easy to him to win. No challenge. No “kill or be killed”, “It’s me or you” mojo. He needed some tough gamer for challenging, to develop his character, push him too far. And April, actually, is an excellent choice to reveal the character of certain purple turtle.To expose his true colours. And April do a great job: they know each other, so battle will be spicy, they are both compepitors, they are so alike, so it would be intersting to watch Donatello vs April. And it will, ‘cause In-game April and In-game Don is somewhat different than them usual.

April is Don’s slayer for sure. She’s good at gaming, her last attack was almost fatal for him. So he had to to cheated on her.

Captain Cuddlecakes. Yes, she know about his afraid of togetherness. And there’s lovey-dovey attack animation with this cuddling and Donatello’s persona behaves like him. And it was SPECIAL RUN, so... I haven’t the foggiest why. Cute detail, I mean.

Just look at it. Isn’t it cute?(at least we got their hugs somewhere... kinda. kinda.)

“Snow Day“, albeit being family episode, shows a lot about D&A relationship through “family war”.

First of all, the same taste in films.

Donnie’s already shown the same attitude to fashion, scary things as Cap O'Neil, April shares the same gamer’s mojo as Donatello, but now? We have Donnie and April that are loving the same movie.

For love of purple supernovas, of all the Jupiter Jim’s movies (and there are more than 60 of them), that's a convinient coincidence, they like the same movie.

It stated in series several times that Dee is fond of Atomic Lass. He had crush on her when he was child, he admires her by all his heart, so it will make sense if films with this character he would be his favourite. It’s logical, isn’t it?

Atomic Lass, even if she is part of JJ-universe, however, isn't in every movie. Leo described "JJ: Pluto vacation IV" and there is no sights of Atomic Lass. Like, at all.

Nevertheless, April’s claimed that “PV-4” is the best movie of the time, and Don agrees.

April:What the whaaaat? Hold up, Skip. “Jupiter Jim Pluto Vacation 4″ is the best JJ movie of all time.

Donnie:Ranked, by us, just now. So it’s basically official, no arguing.

And they do this thing again. Reflecting each other. Facial expressions, intonations, poses and etc. Haven’t I mentiones that? Mirroring is natural way to build communication. People, who communicate enthusiastically, who have sympathy to each other, feelings of certain nature, unconsciously copy each other's poses.

Direct reflection and close contact have a strong effect. This is used between lovers, people with close relationships or interested in each other.

And you can see that during not only episode, but through the whole series.

Poses, gestures, facial expressions they share constantly. Even if they are apart, they are mirroring each other, showing their bound. Because Apritello is not always about sitting close, holding hands and blushing. Apritello is about staying together even if they are not. It’s about solid foundation, about synergy, about chemistry Donnie and April share. And all of these are not always so obvious and clear, evident. But so realistic nevertheless.

And that’s why they splitted off the fam - they are too close and alike.

I stated it before but DonniexApril team is way more effective than Donniexbrothers team. Donatello and April are equal, worth each other. They are comfortable with each other, their teamwork is amazing.

They are always near, close to each other for the entire episode. Stand up for each other, side by side. They have no need to do team-building, because their sincronization is incredible. April works well together with Donnie, their skills compliment each other.

I love that April in a first place look at Donnie to check is everything alright.

And a cherry on top?

This inviting gesture. Donnie just watched all along how his brothers and April try to throw some cold water on this situation (khem, it slipped). But when April call him with this inviting gesture, he’d like to help.

In other words, he was waitng when April requests for his help.

Composition’s boners

Sometimes it happens during the show, but this episode beat hte score at this point. I say only one word: physics. Or, more precisely, the force of attraction. Or, maybe Mayham.

... Anyway.

Fitting in the type

April can play not so nice against her enemies, she got steady hand and meanness, merciless and reclessness. She’s passionate and kinda badass, sassy - in a positive way, she’s baddest girl who can kick your butt if you mess with her, and she really good at this.

She has a fire, and Donnie likes that. Dee never stated that directly but miss O’Neil impressed him so many times and in different way so it’s kinda pretty obvious.

Just look how Donatello reacted the way April took Raph down a peg. Her actions are elegant, relaxed but really sly. She almost dare Raph to put his flag on top only to bring him down to Earth in really painful way. She destroyed Bros’ team so easily just by waiting a bit and by calling Mayham.

She’s definetely got some pepper.

Pretty cute but baddest, don’t you think?

And Donnie was impressed for sure, he admitted it - “That is fun for me”. He don’t even stand a chance, c’mon: she’s smarass and elegant, she can be mean and cute at the same time.

Even though that’s it for season 1 analysis (the last series is more appropriate to review as part of 2nd season, plus it was a reaally big post, I need some time)

You can refresh this whole situation in the car 1 and the car 2 or follow the hashtag #apritello express as you please. It’s a pleasure of mine, keep in touch :)

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