#I mean I understand my logic. it was my sisters birthday and I didn’t want to make a giant fuss

[skyward-floored]

You ever think about dumb things you’ve done and you’re like “okay I see why I did that but also why did I do that”

[meraki-yao]

TN Candies Part 2

HI! I’m back with more candies to share :D

Part 1

Again, preface for precaution, but it’s the exact same stuff as last time, so if you know it and you’re okay with it, feel free to cut the chase and go straight to the main event under the cut.  

1, This post contains content regarding real-person shipping. If you’re uncomfortable with the subject, again, please don’t read under the post

2, I don’t have all the candies because I really just view them in passing, so I’m just gonna write/translate the ones I’ve seen, remember and find at least a logical speculation

3, I need to reiterate this in case my position in this gets misunderstood: Me writing about “candies” isn’t because these are MY opinion or things *I* found or *I* believe in them being evidence. I am just a translator and messenger.

4, Chinese people have a very difference understanding of platonic/romantic affection/relationships compared to the Western world, and that they look at the candies with rose-tinted glass. Chinese/Asian people are generally a lot less affectionate with their personal relationships, for example friends wouldn’t say “love you” to each other if they’re just friends, nor would they expand their friend group to the others easily or other stuff. And these people who look for candy go into their “investigation” already with the belief that “they are together”, everything remotely resembling a close relationship will automatically be interpreted as romantic. I thought about it a lot, and honestly among the “candies” I’ve seen, most of them are a matter of interpretation: yes those are things couples will do, but it wouldn’t be weird if friends did it too. So they’re not that seriously or up for further speculation. There is I think only one “candy” that I can’t quite say the same, which I will explain and elaborate on in this post. 

5, Please remember that the people who do this do it in good nature: something I didn’t make clear in my post yesterday, which is on me, is that the fans do want them to be together, but they’re not like… yandere level or something. If they’re just friends the fans won’t be upset or betrayed or anything, they just prefer to see them as romantic. They don’t mean any harm, and they don’t cause any harm because China is physically and digitally too far away for them to actually fuck shit up, and they understand the lines of parasocial relationships: those who met with Taylor during his China trip in December know to, and didn’t bring up this in front of him. They know where to draw the line, and whoever doesn’t and starts becoming a problem gets kicked out of the community. This is meant for fun.

Ok with that being say, main event under the cut:

Lexi Galitzine

Preface for this one, and I cannot emphasise this enough: I did not fact check this one, I don’t follow Lexi on any social media. These are discoveries of the original posters. Please do not disturb Lexi and respect her privacy, especially since she is not a public figure. This is observation and speculation all done in casual, good fun, please respect her and leave her alone.

Starting from 20th December, Lexi Galitzine, Nick’s older and only sister, starting following Taylor on Instagram, which is quite odd since it was past rwrb’s promo period. Even during the promo period, Lexi only liked the rwrb official account’s post on twitter. And it’s her personal account, not her work account, so this is a personal thing.

She then proceeded to like Taylor’s post from the 20th, 23rd , and 29th. All of which are pictures from his China trip, and therefore has nothing to do with Nick.

Lexi is a graphic designer, so she mostly follows artist and designers. For Nick’s co-workers, Lexi only follows two female co-star who are very close to Nick. Taylor’s the first male friend of Nick’s that Lexi followers.

Your Man

As we all know, on Taylor’s birthday, Aneesh posted her (so far) last rwrb photo dump, and among those ones was Taylor and Nick singing together (which was adorable)

They sang “Your Man” together, which is quite a romantic and sweet song if you look at the lyrics

Taylor then commented under the post, and I quote “You recorded Ahahaahhaa”, implying he didn’t know that this was recorded at the time of the video. But… from the video, Aneesh isn’t that far away from the boys, and Taylor’s facing Aneesh, unlike Nick, who was facing Taylor.

(This is fully up to interpretation) There’s such a… vibe between them in that video.  

(To me this is a stretch but) Taylor’s at Nick’s trailer. And if we recall the “OHHH THERE’S THE MOVIE STAR” little video where Nick got all adorably flustered since Taylor filmed Nick getting out of the lift, it means that Taylor was waiting for Nick, and Nick wasn’t surprised to see Taylor, so this has been going on for a while. If there is more than one lift, then Taylor also somehow knows which one Nick’s coming out from. They know each other’s route/place and meet up a lot.

Aneesh posted a video of both of them singing on Taylor’s birthday, and when wishing Taylor happy birthday, she posted that video on her story. It’s Taylor’s birthday, it would have made more sense to post either photos of just Taylor, or Taylor with her, which is what she did for his last birthday.

Nick’s Tiktok

Mentioned this yesterday but I’ll translate it here too: Nick originally followed 83 accounts on Tik Tok. On 11th January 2024, Nick cleared out his following, and only 7 remained: Camila Cabello (Cinderella 2021, Cinderella), Ayo Oedebiri (Bottoms, Josie), Rachel Sennott (Bottoms, PJ), Sio Torley (M&G, Crew), Inez Ella Clark (M&G, Makeup), Cameron Valetina (Model), and Taylor. Taylor is somehow, the only guy remaining.

Among these seven people, Nick mostly likely only introduced Taylor and Camila to Lexi, because Lexi only follows those two on social media

Later Nick followed a 4 generally accounts, but then three days he unfollowed two of those. So he has 9 followings now: 2 content accounts, 6 girl, and Taylor.

Please note that I did not fact check this, and I literally cannot fact check it because Tik Tok is completely unavailable here. Everything I translated is from OP and the screenshots she provided.

I think I’ll leave it there for part 2! Again there is still more, so lemme know if you want a part 3!

Again, this is all in good fun. But after the shit storm yesterday, I kind of wanted to use this to remind people in the rwrb who love them both and are understandably bothered and upset by the haters that the boys are proven to have a good relationship, and this is evidence. Whether these acts are platonic or romantic is none of our business and up to interpretation, but these show that they have a good relationship regardless. Don't let the assholes get to you, and have fun with these :D

Tagging a couple of folks:

@lfg1986-2 @tal-vez-o-quizas @na-18dia @mylucayathoughts @androgynoustriumphclown @hopefulblizzardsublime

[withacapitalp]

“So….let me get this straight. It’s your little sister’s birthday, she gets home from tumbling in a half hour, and you both forgot that you promised you had the quote unquote perfect present for her,” 

Mike shot Robin a low level glare, crossing his arms and hunching his shoulders in tight. 

“We didn’t mean to forget! We’re busy, you know?” 

“Yes, so busy you forgot your sister even existed,” Robin shot back, having too much fun with their misery. 

Nancy had an excuse. She didn’t know what Mike was wasting his time on but she had been busy. Holly’s birthday was January 29th, which was right after Winter Break, and college letters would be coming soon. Nancy had to keep her GPA perfect, she had the newspaper to run, and she also was working on a potential internship for the summer in Indianapolis. It was logical she would forget about Holly’s birthday in all of that. Understandable. 

Wasn’t it? 

She was making up for it now at least. Holly would never know the difference. She was six, she would be happy with just about anything. 

Seven. She’s turning seven today. 

“We’re gonna watch her favorite movie with her and tell her that her present is a shopping day on Saturday. That’s a good gift, right?” Nancy said, a hint of desperation in her tone. Judging by the look Robin gave her, it wasn’t, but they were running out of options.

“Fine,” Robin sighed, rolling her eyes and pulling up to the computer, “What’s the movie?”

Silence. Awkward, terrible, uncomfortable, silence. 

“Seriously? Nothing?” Robin asked with an incredulous laugh. 

“It’s some stupid kid flick! She makes us watch it all the time. It has an -ie at the end right?” Mike asked, turning to Nancy who threw her hands up. She had absolutely zero clue and they had at most ten minutes to come home before their mother grounded them for the rest of their lives. 

Not to mention Holly was probably going to cry for at least two weeks straight. 

“ The Goonies . It has to be The Goonies. It has an -ie at the end, and she likes to rent that one, right?” Nancy said on an impulse, giving Robin a hopeful look. 

“Nancy, she’s not my sister. How could I possibly know what she likes?” 

“Gee thanks Robin, that’s so helpful,” Mike snarked, and Robin’s face twisted into a look that spelled all kinds of trouble. Things really couldn’t get worse. 

“What are you all doing?” 

It could get worse. Steve was coming out from the back, and now he was going to get to witness her complete and utter humiliation. 

“Oh you know, the usual,” Nancy groaned, covering her face with her hands. She was officially giving up, “We’re busy being the worst siblings in the world.”

“They forgot Holly’s birthday and now they don’t have a gift for her,” Robin said, sounding far too smug. Nancy wanted to curse her out, just a little bit. Stupid only children with their stupid self satisfaction. They never had to deal with bratty six year olds who cried at the drop of a hat and made everything about them. 

Seven. Seven years old. Holly was seven today.

“Oh,” Steve said, kneeling down and bringing up a rectangular box wrapped up in the Sunday morning funnies. He held it out to Nancy with a tiny smile,  “Here, you guys can just take this one. I was going to drop it off after work,” 

“You have a gift for Holly? You?” Mike asked dubiously, Nancy staring at the present like it was radioactive. 

“It’s her birthday,” Steve said simply, like that explained everything, “It’s nothing big, just a doll she had mentioned wanting a couple weeks back. She was in here with your mom renting Annie , and she said that the doll looked just like the little girl in her favorite movie.”

Robin smirked, slowly deleting The Goonies off of the computer and walking around to go look for Annie, leaving the Wheelers to try and put themselves together

“Steve- I-we-” Nancy sputtered, uncharacteristically lost for words. Her ex huffed out a laugh and began to punch something into the computer, taking the VHS holder from Robin when she skipped over, movie in hand. 

“Tell Holly I said Happy Birthday,” Steve said, putting the movie and the present in a paper bag and putting it on the counter, “Robs, I’m taking the last two minutes of my break to smoke,” 

He was walking out the back door before Nancy could wrap her mind around the words ‘Thank you’. 

[confuzzled-crow77]

Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus/Trials of Apollo (+ TV show + musical - movies):

We all call the author “uncle Rick,” which just makes it feel like a big family. We all mutually hate the movies, which I fall back on when my one friend says they’re good (I freaking-). There’s this one piece of crap character we all cheered when he died and are vengeful because he stabbed Percy’s stuffed animal.

This applies to Apollo kids because I consider myself one: healing manifests in all of us in one way or another. Because I don’t look or act like a stereotypical Apollo kid, I was iffy on this, but then I got in my brain that healing doesn’t just have to be physical.

Zoe Nightshade. Truth be told, I wasn’t overly attached to her because she was here for one book, but the sheer amount of heartbreaking fanarts I’ve seen and little fanfics of Calypso learning her sister died just before she got off of her island makes me just… die.

I do think it’s poetic how Leo (the seventh wheel) found love in someone who had been rejected by the greatest heroes of mythology. I don’t personally ship it because I wanted Leo’s arc to end with him coming back to CHB single and seeing how everyone truly cared for him even if it wasn’t romantically.

I will be honest, I don’t read fanfiction a ton, but I always like how Sally is an absolute angel in every single one. We Stan Sally Jackson.

This doesn’t just apply to PJO but the diversity and changes in the characters. I love Hispanic Percy and obviously with the show black Annabeth, but also little things like Apollo with brown hair and “stay hot!” Shades, and Nico with crutches.

Gosh, probably exploring the aspects of demigods that weren’t explored in the books. I don’t mean philosophical stuff, I mean a daughter of Poseidon that can cause earthquakes instead of control water, a child of Apollo who causes disease and attracts crows instead of healing. Thats always fun.

The Trials of Apollo series. Yup, all of it. I’ve seen so many people shun the series because they’re afraid of a certain character dying, or because it’s about Apollo himself. They’re missing out on the best character arc I’ve ever read because they’re scared.

Jason x Brick. True love. Piper can go to the sidelines.

@uni-amaly And my other nerd friends who aren’t on Tumblr.

HAH! So my friend made a demigod-writing template that was just for making little personas and now I’ve written 40 characters and the doc is over 100 pages long with plans for stories, oneshots, an overarching plot of overthrowing Olympus, and more.

Okay, thank you to EVERYBODY who watched the show and gave their opinion with LOGICAL REASONINGS. I’ve seen paragraphs of all different point of views on them and I have to say, while the fandom may be divided, I’m thrilled to see it instead of senseless yelling. The negative and positive views each have valid points and I love them.

Ooh… maybe Percy’s birthday? I’m honestly just pumped for summer itself. With the show… the show dates, I guess. Always nice to see the Empire State Building blue for our boy, though!

Percabeth. Yeah, I could’ve said Solangelo but it’s tainted by TSATS now. Legendary slow burn, honestly perfect. I adore it.

Apollo/Lester. My favorite overall is Nico but Apollo always brings a smile to my face. Whether imagining him singing or chilling in his chariot and waving at his kids, he’s a sunny guy who loves his ukuleles.

Nico went through Tartarus alone and survived. Yeah, I understand they didn’t show it but he DID IT. There was no Percy and Annabeth, there was one, 14-15 year old kid who went through the definition of psychotic insanity and made it through as a good person.

Blue food!

#Percyjackonandtheolympians or whatever the typo one was.

PJO/HOO/TOA, Heathers: the musical, Arcane, and Gravity Falls (plenty more but off the top of my head).

Gosh. I GUESS How to train your dragon but that was my childhood obsession. My real first nerd one was Star Wars. Very basic, I know.

Ninjago. Listen, the fanarts are top tier, alright? I like the fandom and the show too, even if I’m a bit farther away from it now. I have a lot to thank it for.

Jeez. Can’t say their name but I guess @uni-amaly I mean, they half forced me to read HOO at Godspeed to get to TOA so thanks… I guess.

Jeez, all the Minecraft SMPs, I suppose. Especially pirates.

back to PJO etc I guess: I mean, tons of writing, so many awesome convos with friends, happiness (literally pure happiness), an interest in mythology, gift ideas for friends, and of course feeling connected with the fandom because of the recent hype. Everything else I don’t have the words for too.

You don’t have to have an opinion! You can throw up your hands and say, “F it, we ball” and just love it without thinking analytically. And if you do have opinions, you can say them and people can be jerks and agree and debate politely and ignore you, but if that’s your opinion, then it’s yours. Just be nice and have common sense.

✨ love your fandom asks ✨ 

Saw the opposite of this floating around and thought the reverse might be fun.

list 3 positive things about your current fandom(s)

a headcanon you weren't sure about at first but have come to like!

a character that fandom has helped you appreciate

say something nice about a ship you don't ship (it can be another ship in your fandom, a mutual's OTP, etc)

something you see in fics a lot and love

something you see in art a lot and love

your favorite tropes to read/write/draw

you hope more people will come to appreciate ___ (a ship, a trope, an episode, etc)

a ship that isn't your OTP but that you enjoy

a blog (mutual or one you follow) that has made your fandom experience brighter

if you're a writer or artist, what fic or piece of art are you proud of making?

compliment someone else in your fandom

your favorite type of fandom event (gift exchange, ship week, secret santa, prompt meme, etc)

the ship that always makes you smile

the character that always makes you smile

a tiny detail in canon that you want more people to appreciate

the thing in canon that everyone loves and that you also love

a fandom tag that you track

your current fandom(s)

your very first fandom!

a fandom you're not active in anymore but that you still really like

the fandom friend you've known the longest

the fandom you're curious about because of a mutual

how has fandom positively impacted your life?

a piece of advice for taking care of yourself in fandom spaces

[stahlop]

Why Neal Cassidy is a bad person

My dissertation on the horrible person Neal Cassidy is and why he was never meant to be a romantic interest for Emma Swan.

There was a recent TV Line list that talked about Love Triangles that didn’t really work. The Neal/Emma/Hook triangle was one of those on that list. It was obvious from the short blurb that was written that the writer was a Neal fan. I’ve also heard and seen SwanFire (Emma and Neal shippers) fans plead passionately about how they were meant to be, and honestly, I’ve always scratched my head about this, because I’ve always seen Neal as a horrible person. Even before it was obvious to me that they were going the Captain Swan (Hook and Emma) route, I’ve never understood how anyone could be on Team Neal. So I’ve decided to look at it logically. 

Look, I understand that Neal is the father of Henry, Emma’s son. I understand that a lot of people feel they should be together because then they would be a family. But just because you have a child with someone does not mean that person is the one for you. So let’s look at the facts surrounding Henry’s birth. Henry was 10 when he found Emma on her 28th birthday, which means she was 17 when she had him (despite Emma saying she was 18 in The Price of Gold). She went to juvie, not jail, which we know from Desperate Souls, because she tells Regina that the records needed for the article printed about her in the paper about having Henry in jail were obtained illegally, because her records were sealed, something that could only happen if she were underage. We know that Emma ran away from Ingrid’s foster home at 16 and made her way to Portland where she stole the bug with Neal inside. At this point, Emma is either still 16 or just about to turn 17, depending on how long it took her to get to Oregon from Minnesota. Either way, she is still underage, and Neal, if we want to go off the age he is now since leaving Neverland, is around 22-23 (his wanted poster in Tallahassee has his birthday as 3/23/77), which is still skeezy in my book. I’m not even going to get into his years in Neverland, because he was the same age for that whole time. Now, Henry’s birthday is 8/15. Regina put this in as a code in the hospital in A Tale of Two Sisters, and in The Dark Swan Henry tells Killian that Regina uses his birthday for all her codes. Whether the writers intended this to be true when they used the code originally I have no idea, but this has been what most of the fandom considers Henry’s birthday. With that date in mind, Emma would have conceived Henry in November of 2000. Since we know Emma’s birthday is October 22nd or 23rd, that means she was only a few weeks past her birthday in conceiving Henry. Barely past the age of 16. In Oregon, the age of consent is (and was in 2000) 18, so Neal was breaking the law by having sex with Emma regardless of her consent.

Moving on to what I consider the biggest reason that Emma could never love Neal (again), is HE FUCKING PINNED HIS CRIME ON HER AND LET HER GO TO JAIL!!!!! I cannot express enough how if Neal truly loved Emma he would have figured out some other way to let her go to get to her destiny once August informed him of who Emma was. He simply could have left. He could have broken up with her. He could have faked his own death. But setting her up to go to prison? That’s just cold-blooded. That’s not something you do to someone you love. And for what? Because he was afraid that Emma would eventually lead him to his father? It’s real simple, Neal, once the curse is broken, you just don’t go to Storybrooke. Simple as that. Or you man up and confront your father. Either way, you don’t set up the girl you purport to love at the risk of seeing your father again! And then, when the curse does break and August sends him a pigeon letting him know, Neal still doesn’t do anything about going to find Emma. This just shows that he didn’t care for her at all. I don’t care how scared of your father you are; if you claim to love someone the way Neal claims to love Emma, you go after them.

Which leads me to the episode Manhattan, in which Neal and Emma reunite and Neal is a complete asshole to Emma. He treats her like she’s still 16, which is just gross. He acts like he knows better than her and tries to convince her he did everything for her own good, while also telling her if he’d known she was from the Enchanted Forest, he never would have gone near her. Then, when he finds out about Henry, he acts as though Emma purposefully kept this from him. She didn’t find out until after he sent her to jail. Get off your moral high horse, Neal. Emma doesn’t owe you a fucking thing. Not to mention that Emma went looking for him after she got out of jail (Regina told us she spent two years in Tallahassee in The Price of Gold). If she could have found him I’m sure she would have told him about having his baby in jail, but Neal wanted nothing to do with Emma, so she couldn’t. The fact that Neal gets upset and hurt over the fact that Emma didn’t tell him about Henry at the bar when he told her he couldn’t and wouldn’t have risked being with her if it meant seeing his father again completely blows my mind. He has absolutely no right to be angry at Emma about Henry. None. Not after what he did to her.

Moving on to Storybrooke, when Tamara comes to town, Emma is suspicious of her (and with good reason), but Neal just thinks she’s jealous. WHAT? Even after repeatedly telling Neal she’s not jealous, he continues to believe it (because he’s apparently a real catch). When Emma reminds him about her superpower is knowing when people lie, Neal says he never believed in that. So not only does he accuse her of being jealous, then he tells her the superpower that we know is real (albeit a little wonky) doesn’t exist and that he never believed in it. Way to be supportive. I can see why he’s such a catch. Now, I do have to give him credit for actually apologizing to Emma for framing her, but I still see it as too little too late. He messed up Emma’s whole view on love and men in general because he was a scared little boy. Emma, of course, turns out to be right about Tamara, which Neal doesn’t figure out about until she clobbers Emma and shoots Neal into a portal. Right before he falls he tells Emma he loves her. Okay, let's back up five minutes ago before we found out Tamara was a traitorous bitch to when Neal was in love with her. FIVE MINUTES AGO! And now he’s telling Emma he loves her like he was never involved with Tamara? Not to mention, he doesn’t even know Emma. He knew her 11 years ago. Emma is not the same, naive little girl she was back then. And yes, Emma tells Neal she loves him too, but again, neither of them are the same people they were back then. So yes, they may both have intense feelings, but if they got to know who they were now, I doubt they’d be in love. And I also believe Emma only said she loved him because he was about to die.

When Neal is in the Enchanted Forest trying to get to Emma and Henry in Neverland, he thinks of no one but himself when it comes to getting there. He uses poor Roland as bait not even caring about the consequences. He also makes himself seem much more involved in Emma and Henry’s life when talking to Mulan. He doesn’t even explain any of the backstory to her, just tells Mulan he messed up and he’s trying to fix it. He can’t even admit out loud the most crucial parts of his and Emma’s story because he knows he is wrong.

Which brings us to Neverland. Neal acts like a possessive jerk the entire time. Emma straight up tells him she wished he was dead, and he apparently takes that as an invitation to ‘never stop fighting for her’. Let’s get one thing straight, for all men, when a woman tells you she wishes you were dead because of all the pain you previously put her through, that does not mean she wants you to fight for her. It means she doesn’t want you in her life. And also, what? When did Neal ever fight for Emma? He’s always run away from Emma! He’d never have even thought to fight for her if she hadn’t come across him in New York and discovered Henry was his son. He was engaged to Tamara only 3-4 days prior once Emma and the crew rescued him from the Echo Caves. So all this ‘never stop fighting for you’ crap that he’s spewing is just pure bullshit, because the one thing Neal is good at is running, not fighting. 

Once he finds out that Emma and Hook kissed, well, then Emma doesn’t even seem to be a person anymore, just an object that Neal wants to possess. When Hook tells Neal about his and Emma’s kiss, he just tells Hook, Emma has him now. No, ‘well she might choose me’ or ‘it’s her decision’; Neal’s already decided that Emma is his. And yes, both he and Hook act like children in Dark Hollow when they fight over the lighter, but no one said men are rational when it comes to women. Also, it seems that Neal wants to one up Hook more than he wants Emma once he figures out Hook is his rival.

Once they get back to Storybrooke, it is clear that Emma is uncomfortable when Neal asks her to lunch. The fact that Neal has to beg her to give him a chance, then tells Emma that if she doesn’t show up he’ll leave her alone speaks volumes. It’s obvious to Neal that Emma doesn’t want to give him a chance, yet he insists on it. 

Then everyone is cursed back to the Enchanted Forest. And Neal, for all the running away that he’s done, decides that the only way he can get back to Emma and Henry is to resurrect his father, The Dark One. I get that he’s not thinking rationally, but the only way Rumplestiltskin was able to get to the Land Without Magic was getting Regina to enact the Dark Curse. What exactly did he think resurrecting Rumplestiltskin was going to get him? Then when he and Belle find out that the whole resurrection spell was not only a ploy by the Wicked Witch, but would also kill Neal in the process, he decides to go through with it anyway? What is the point of resurrecting his father to get back to Emma and Henry, if he would be dead? All he did was deliver his father into Zelena’s hands and kill himself in the process. As much as the writer’s tried to make it look like Zelena manipulated Neal into doing the spell, Belle tried to warn Neal off and he did it anyway.

I get that he believed he and Emma to be True Love at that point because he was somehow able to bring over the swan keychain necklace. But honestly, I think the curse may have worked a little differently for him (and Hook) since they weren’t part of the original curse. Or maybe it was just sent to be a reminder of all the bad things he did to Emma so he wouldn’t try to go after her. Whatever it was, it did not confirm they were True Love in any way.

And finally we come to his death. I honestly do not understand the hero arc. Neal condemned himself to death to resurrect his father. Rumplestiltskin absorbed Neal so that he wouldn’t lose him (despite the fact that they were barely speaking before Rumplestiltskin’s death), and then Neal asked Emma to free him from his father so he could tell her Zelena was behind everything. How exactly does that make him a hero? He made a stupid choice to resurrect his father, that put him right into Zelena’s hands, and none of that helped him get back to Emma or Henry. The only heroic thing he did was sending the bird to Hook to have him get Emma back her memories, and no one knows that was him.

So let’s review: 

Neal took advantage of an underage girl.

Neal sent the girl he loved to juvie by framing her for his crime.

Emma had to have her baby in juvie and give him up for adoption because of Neal.

After Emma broke the curse, Neal still wanted nothing to do with her.

Neal still wanted nothing to do with Emma when he found out she was in NYC to bring him to his father.

Neal gets mad at Emma for never mentioning Henry, despite the fact that he wanted nothing to do with her.

Neal starts treating Emma like she’s still a lovesick teenager when his fiance (whom he also never mentioned) comes into the picture.

Neal immediately tells Emma he loves her five minutes after his fiance tries to kill Emma and shoots him.

Neal uses a 4-year-old to summon the Shadow so he can get to Neverland to be with Emma and Henry.

Neal acts like Emma is a possession and not able to make up her own mind when he realizes he has a rival for affection.

Neal decides resurrecting his father, after making a true sacrifice, is the only way to see Emma and Henry again, despite his father never being able to get to the Land Without Magic before.

Neal basically commits suicide and plays right into Zelena’s plan in order to resurrect his father.

Neal dies because he wouldn’t listen to Belle and resurrects Rumplestiltskin.

I know people have a lot of opinions regarding Neal. Again, I never saw him as a potential love interest for Emma. I got creeper vibes from him from the start. I never saw him as a hero or a potential hero. Was I happy that he died, no. I saw that as a cop out from the writers so they could immediately put Emma and Hook together and not let Emma make up her own mind (which I was confident would be Hook even if Neal was still alive). I would have rather seen Emma and Neal become friends and co-parent Henry together than have a completely useless and avoidable death. Instead, the writers felt the need to glorify his stupidity and then name Snow and Charming’s baby after him (don’t even get me started on how wrong and idiotic that was). But I will always see Neal as a bad guy because he could never think of anyone but himself.

Please do not post anti-Captain Swan comments on this. If you want to defend Neal, please feel free. I’m really curious as to what Neal fans see in him. But I did not mention Hook because this is not about the love triangle, it is about why Neal specifically was not good for Emma.

[scott-mccall-the-hot-girl]

theodore raeken: missing persons

( okay so i kinda had an idea ,, and then went through the whole teen wolf timeline to see if it would work ,, so here it is !!

theo’s backstory !! it started off way more messy headcannon format & then it got kinda a real story vibe ,, def thinking about making it an ao3 one shot eventually )

-

TW: very sad & hurt my feelings

don't imagine:

eight year old theo raeken...

who sleeps at his best friend scott mccall's house almost every single night, stiles is almost always there too.

theo and his friends where they all watch movies together until ungodly hours of the morning. stiles loved star wars, theo will never forget that. they had gone as luke, han and chewy for halloween that previous year. melissa went as leia. scott has always been more of a indiana jones fan himself. theo would watch either, anywhere where harrison ford was theo didn't mind being.

in this little trio, who were all raised in the mccall house, where they were given eveything they needed. sometimes when theo thought about her, when he needed to remember the good things in life. he never quite knew how she managed. expecially with scott's dad who floated in and out of the picture.

yet, it always was melissa who gave scott extra lunches to take to school because theo and his sister, who were often forgotten by their parents usually were left to fend for themselves and a fourteen year old girl rarely had the funds or mind to give a growing boy a nutritious lunch. these packed lunches always with the crust off because that's the way theo liked it. melissa always remembered.

theo had three favorite places: scott's bedroom, the corner next to his bed where theo's blow up mattress was. the bridge in which tara and he crossed everyday on their way back to raekens from school. his final place was actually beacon hills elementary.

theo always liked school. theo was good at school. he didn't realize this until mellisa had pointed out an exceptional report card. he didn't think it was much of anything to be proud of.

he liked recognizing big words from english class and novels that would help him when his mom watched jeopardy. she would watch the show every night. sitting in a daze in the raekens dark living room. not paying much mine to the eight year old, until he started blurting out the answers to her favorite show. she beamed at him. he loved his mother's smile, she had the same dimples as tara.

so yeah, when a seventeen year old theo raeken spent months filing the names of anyone ever involved in the mccall pack, current members, deceased and ones that just fell out of beacon hills. he remebered some names.

theo raeken grew up in beacon hills, and beacon hill wasn't to big of a town.

theo rembered issac lahey a quiet boy who had been in his thrid grade class, jackson whittemore who was a grade older than them and everyone knew him because he was was offered a spot on the middle school lacross team, he knew erica reyes who he rembered for her epilepsy and it made him hate himself a little less for being the king of the heart condition, he even remebered names like derek hale- who was in the same grade as tara. theo even rembered the name malia tate as she was small girl who did go to beacon hills elementary, who was always startled and always walked a bit faster than everyone else through the halls. or even lydia martin, a girl stiles had a crush on. she talked to theo a lot, lydia used to call him teddy, he didn't know when it started but he let her do it purely to spite the fact that lydia gave theo a nickname and never bothered to acknowledge stiles.

theo rembered all of them, i mean for years of his life all he had to rely on was his memory to make sure it was real.

though during the line memories turned bitter and he was left with the sour taste of resentment.

so it was weird to think despite it all, that year was one of theo's best. he never felt like he belonged. sure he had scott and stiles before but gaining friendship & being labeled as an "inseparable trio" by the sheriff station deputies, whenever they rang havoc through their office made theo's mouth crack a toothy grin. he felt like he had a family.

that was until the air started getting colder in beacon hills. theo started hearing the voices. though, even so much later in life he never could quite pin point how it started, like his brain couldn't truly decipher what was going on. some of it felt like dream, though the dreams and the thoughts. sometimes they didn't feel like his own and made him so scared he would leave the day feeling nauseous.

though this all came in spurts. his birthday was that november, and that was magical. he spent the weekend with stiles and scott, theo's mom actually made the point to bring the three of them bowling. the boys pitched in on buying theo a big millennium falcon lego set because he was always doing things with his hands, something he picked up not being so most athletic of the bunch. they also got him big poster of han solo just to spite him. he blushed and yelled at them for stupid gifts but they knew by the smile on his face he loved them.

he loved so much because despite the fact that they were poking fun at him ever so lightly, they were good natured and they held thought. they really thought about theo enough to know what he liked. he never had that before.

so the voices started getting louder again around christmas time. it was weird for theo, the happiest time of the year filled him with such excessive dread. it didn't feel right. theo's life changed that month.

then one day scott and stiles get sit down because something tragic happened. tara raeken is dead. the details are fuzzy and they don't really understand how, seeing as these boys are just in fourth grade. they are horrified, it's one of the only other times they've experienced death besides with stiles mom. though claudia stilinksi was sick, sometimes sick people die. learning about tara left a bad taste in their mouth. she was young.

they try and call, bike past is his house. they don't hear from him. they go to her funeral, scott and stiles, high on anxiety attached to their parents just trying to sneak a peak of where their best friends may be. he's gone, that's the conclusion they come to, he's gone. they don't know how it could have happened, they just know that he isn't there. why wouldn't he be there?

they try and talk to the raekens but haunted by their daughters death, they paid less attention to theo than before. they barley give them a straight answer, melissa explains what grief can do to a family and not to blame them but is equally suspicious.

just take a minute to think, while scott and stiles are scared and searching for their best friend, theo raeken, barley nine years old is given a heart transplant. alone in a dark and cold sewer hidden deep under beacon hills, horrified and a failure, that's what the dread doctors tell him. a boy who keeps quiet, does what needs to be done and has to survive. doing absolutely everything he can to be kept around, the second he heals (which theo recognizes is abnormally fast) the doctors are straight out of beacon hills.

the doctors eventually find his parents too, who leave beacon hills, he doesn't exactly know what happened to them. he doesn't everything he can not to think about the possibilities. he hopes he has a chance, survival instincts flourish but the ideal of living isn't quite the same as surviving.

one day, the doctors inform him he has absolutely nothing to go back to, he figured this he just be didn't think they would actually tell him. they never told him much.

they are far away from beacon hills- much farther than he assumed. he has no sister, and his parents are gone.

he is alone, and he is finding out that now, he has one more secret to hide. the poor boy has claw and fangs and often thinks about using them to rip himself apart, i mean he deserves it right? he just watched his sister die, to go down with the last living part of her, his own heart.

while theo is expecting his fate, stiles and scott and stuck in months of confusion. missing posters of the boys face are strung up everywhere they can reach, once his parents are gone. they know they need to do everything they can.

mellisa feels like she's been punched in the gut, so she helps her boys. she calls every hospital in the county, and then she starts reaching out to some of the bigger hospitals in the state. spreading word of a missing nine year old like wildfire. she spends nights after her shift arguing with noah stilinksi, he has been looking to. he tries to bargain logic with her.

"yeah it's strange he never said goodbye, he wasnt at the funeral- it's weird, yes, but his parents left too. their daughter just died melissa. maybe they didn't want to stay."

melissa knows, yeah that makes sense. theo had to of just moved with the raekens but something about it doesn't feel like it makes sense.

he would have said goodbye to her. she knows it.

other people in beacon hills were actually thinking the same thing, something wasn’t quite making sense.

those other people being some who can sense unrest in supernatural frequencies. a family who makes it their business to monitor the supernatural. the hales.

though, talia hales supernatural concerns didn't often revolve around fourteen year old girls who drown, shes curious. the girl, was in dereks grade. the mother in her falters but it doesn't get strange until the police reports reveal the fact that the girls heart was gone, she was found. gaping chest wound, lying in the river.

so she starts to suspect somethings wrong. she's seen the raekens case, something about it doesn't make sense. sure, the death of a teenage girl is overwhelmingly tragic but there isn't much to investigate. though talk of the raekens is getting loud, she comes to find out this is because of the raekens youngest, who was nowhere to be seen days before the funeral.

she knows the hunters are back in beacon hills. so wonders if the two correlate. so she starts asking questions.

talia, with her daughter in tow see two boys standing outside the sheriffs station, stopping people when they walk in to show they a poster. it's theo raekens missing poster, though there isn't much official about it. it seems like the sheriffs department couldn't issue anything official, so as she walks up to the boys seemed to have made dozens of copies themselves. there information seems formal enough.

she catches their anxiety heighten as talia hands the poster over to laura who stands behind her.

the taller one raises a brow, "have you seen him anywhere miss?"

she smiles, "miss hale- you can call me talia though. this is my daughter laura. we haven't seen your friend but we'd like to help..."

the taller boy nods, "well, i'm scott. that's stiles. how could you help?"

talia hale lies easily, "i've heard about what happened to the raekens and it sparked my concern. i have a friend, local sheriffs station who is awfully good with the police dogs. if you have anything that your friend owned i might be able to call i'm a favor."

a few days later, stiles had found her in the same spot as last time with a small black sweater. she smiled and told him she would do her best to help these two boys. not sure if her intrest in the case was supernatural based or because she didn't want these boys, who smelled like anxiety and exhaustion to fall down the hole of loss themselves. she wasn't sure where investigating theo’s disappearance themselves would leave them, she didn't want them getting caught up in the supernatural spiderweb of beacon hills.

though, talia hale looses scent and momentum on the case. literally and metaphorically. she finds herself near some suspicious tunnels, leading right under beacon hills but scent falls short. she's frustrated, and the time since his disappearance is lengthening but her families needs become increasingly concerning.

she's listens, she likes to know what's going on. so when she hears her sixteen year old whispering a bit more with her kid brother she raises suspicion. she doesn't trust peter like she used to, not after getting involved with the desert wolf.

paige dies months after that, dereks heartbroken and talia is trying to put together pieces of a story that turned her babies eyes blue. to young. beacon hills doesn't quite understand how another student is dead, with no previous medical history. this, the death of paige she knows is supernatural.

kate argent moves to town and in months, the hale house is burned to the ground. inside, theo raekens black sweater. tucked away in a room, where news clippings and missing posters caught fire the fastest.

so with no surprise, another tragedy is unleashed and it's the talk of the town. memory of theo starts to fade, like most things do in beacon hills. it's not anybodies fault but it still stings. though, theo million miles away hasn't felt much of anything latley.

it's been a little over a year. he hasn't cried in the past three months. he won't let himself. nobody is going to find him. he isn't going to het out. so he puts up his walls, as many as he can. he just has to stay alive a little bit longer. make something worth taras sacrifice. they had started to kill off more of the chimeras, more of their science experiments. he can't get killed, he can't do that to tara.

theo was always a fast learner. theo always liked school. theo was good at school. this wasnt exactly the same as math class at beacon hills elementary but he was picking up skills quickly. theo didn't quite recognize himself after that year. he wasn't that same boy, and that had to suite him just fine. he never had much of a choice in this. he just chose to try and keep her heart beating for as long as he could.

so theo raeken adjusted, he had to.

[recurring-polynya]

For Stuff For Renji's Birthday Prompts: 1) time travel turn back the clock nonsense, bc I'm an enabler and Karakura teens plus shithead Renruki teens has *Byakuya voice* strong comedic potential OR 2) Hisana lives but due to wacky circumstances, nobody notices Rukia's existence at the Academy... until they've graduated and Renruki have joined Squad 11. Dealer's choice! (Honestly whichever you pick, I might try writing the one you don't. I am not a writer these 2 just live in my head rent free)

Why would you make me choose between these, whyyyyyyyyyy?

To be honest, I almost did them both, but this was the second one I did, and I figured that I should probably do some other people’s prompts, and then I ran out of time. I might do you some time travel shenanigans later. (This should in no way stop you from writing these, I would flip my chips if you wrote something, let alone something based on my horrible ideas)

In any case, I couldn’t resist the second options and I have spun it out into a delightful bit of Byakuya-torture. Please enjoy!!!

Special thanks to @kaicko for helping me come up with the clerical error, because you all know me, I can’t just say “a clerical error.” 😂

Read on ao3 or ff.net

💀   💀   💀  

“How is the tea?” Aizen Sousuke asked smoothly.

The tea was excellent, but Byakuya wasn’t in the mood for Aizen’s needy attempts to ingratiate himself. “Adequate,” he replied dryly. “You said you had something to discuss with me.”

“Ah, diligent as always, Byakuya,” Aizen sighed, “always eager to get back to work. I’ll get to the point: I happened to speak with your wife recently at a fundraising event. She’s very interested in the people of the deep Rukon, and said she travels to South Rukongai frequently.”

Byakuya narrowed his eyes. “What is your point?”

“Well, I thought it was a bit of a strange occupation for a woman of your wife’s noble standing, but then Gin reminded me that she was actually from there herself, that there had been a bit of a to-do when you two married. I don’t tend to follow gossip myself--”

“I repeat, what is your point?” Byakuya gritted your teeth.

Aizen made a pissy little throat clearing noise and fiddled with a folder on his desk. “The fact is, Byakuya, your wife reminds me a great deal of a young woman who served in my squad a few years ago, whom I recalled also hailing from the Rukon. I wondered if there might be a.... connection.”

Byakuya’s shoulders stiffened. Impossible. He had put watches on all immigrants to the Seireitei. He would have reviewed anyone who came from the South 78th.

“Inuzuri Rukia,” Aizen read from his file, and Byakuya’s blood ran cold. “Shin’ou class of 2066. Unseated. Petite, like your wife. Dark hair. Very striking eyes. Unfortunately, an unremarkable shinigami. Potential for a good kidou user, but didn’t take direction well. More interested in sword combat, although she had little aptitude for it. Ah, here it is. Hometown: District 48, South Rukongai.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Byakuya said flatly. “Inuzuri is the 78th district of South Rukongai. Why would she carry a surname from a different district?”

Aizen made an exaggerated frown. “Very strange! A clerical error perhaps? Hold on a moment.” He stuck his head out of his office door and said something to the shinigami on reception duty. “Fortunately, there’s an easy way to clear this up. It’ll just be a minute.”

Byakuya gripped his teacup, unsure of how to feel. A clerical error. Class of 2066… she would have enrolled in 2060, in the middle of Hisana’s worst turn, when she had been bedridden for nearly four years. Their attention would have lapsed. It made sense.

“She does not sound like your usual recruit,” Byakuya accused. Aizen was constantly finding ways to skim the highest performers from the Academy, all the gifted children.

Aizen looked sheepish. “Ah, well, you see, there was a young man of some talent that I was eager to recruit who was… attached to her. I thought she might have some potential if properly guided, but it never panned out.”

Aizen’s good deed was suddenly beginning to make sense. The girl had transferred out and taken Aizen’s prize with her. He wanted Byakuya to go fetch her away in hopes that the talented one would come home. Byakuya actually felt much better now that he’d identified Aizen’s ulterior motive, and further, that it had more to do with his own petty recruiting schemes than Byakuya’s family (specifically, Byakuya’s wife).

There was a knock at the office door, and upon being bid entry, a young woman walked in. Although indeed petite and dark-haired, she looked nothing like Hisana, and Byakuya remarked as much.

“Oh, no, this is my Seventh Seat!” Aizen chuckled. “Miss Hinamori, you were friends with Inuzuri Rukia, isn’t that correct?”

The young woman’s eyes had gone wide when she recognized Byakuya. “Er, yes, sir,” she said, her eyes darting between the two captains. “We shared a room while she served here.”

“Do you happen to remember what district she was from?” Aizen asked in an overly friendly manner.

“Oh, sure, it was South 78,” Hinamori replied. “Inuzuri, of course.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know all the outermost ones,” Aizen said in his goofy voice again. “Her paperwork says 48.”

Hinamori’s brow furrowed for a moment and then her face brightened. “She and Abarai had very heavy accents when they first came to the Academy, and used a lot of deep Rukongai language quirks. I don’t remember all of it, but they both used to use ‘shichi’ instead of ‘nana’ for seven, especially when referring to their district. They weren’t very fond of their home district. I wonder if the registrar misheard.”

“Well, there you go!” Aizen said, slapping his hands on his desk. “A very logical explanation!”

Hinamori beamed.

Byakuya found Aizen’s need to be liked by his subordinates very unprofessional and off-putting, but he tried to push it aside. He was trying not to be too eager, but this was probably the best lead he’d had on Hisana’s sister in all the years they had been searching. “Where is she now?” he grumbled.

Aizen turned his doe eyes on his fawning subordinate once more. “I don’t suppose you still keep in touch? She couldn’t have lasted very long there, they must have transferred again?”

Hinamori made a face like she didn’t want to say the answer. “I’m afraid that Kira and I had a bit of a falling out with Abarai and Inuzuri when they left. I haven’t talked to them in a few years, although we still have some mutual friends. As far as I know, though, they’re both still at Squad Eleven. I heard they were doing fairly well there, actually.”

The room seemed to retreat around Byakuya. All he could hear was the blood pounding in his ears and the reverberations of the most horrible words he could possibly think of: Squad Eleven.

---

Byakuya knew it was poor etiquette to visit another captain’s squad when the man was out, but he absolutely could not stomach the idea of discussing the matter of his wife’s sister with the Kenpachi, so he waited until Zaraki and his miniature lieutenant were sent out to go trample half of East Rukongai before visiting.

He also knew that he probably should have said something to Hisana, but he couldn’t bring himself to get his wife’s hopes up, only to dash them, should this turn out to be nothing, like so many leads before it. So, the secret sat in his stomach, heavy and acidic, jostling with the guilt of his breach of etiquette.

“Is there someone here,” he gingerly asked one of the gentlemen on gate duty, “who takes care of administrative matters for the squad?”

The man swiveled his head, which appeared to grow directly from his torso with no need for an intervening neck, to his fellow guardsman. “What?”

The other fellow had been busy trying to remove wax from his ear with a pinky. “WHAT?” he shouted back.

“Paperwork!” Byakuya said a little louder. “Is there an office of some sort? A person who knows what’s going on?”

He supposed he could have asked for the girl, Inuzuri, directly, but he didn’t feel… ready.

“I think he wants Ayasegawa,” the neckless guard hazarded.

“WHAT?”

“I’ll be right back.”

Eventually, the burly gentleman returned. With him was a strangely elegant person with a silky curtain of hair cut severely to chin length and piercing violet eyes. “It really is you,” the lovely man said with a level of disdain that Byakuya almost had to admire. Before he had a chance to get offended, the man dipped into a respectful bow. “Welcome to the Eleventh, Captain Kuchiki. Fifth Seat Ayasegawa at your service. What in Soul Society can I possibly do for you?”

���Apologies for visiting while your captain is abroad,” Byakuya replied, not meaning a word of it.

“Oh, he’ll be very sorry to have missed you,” Ayasegawa frowned. “But I’m sure you could make it up to him later.”

Byakuya’s eye twitched. “Perhaps. I have come to enquire about a young woman whom I am told transferred to your squad three years ago.”

“Does she have a name? That might make it a little easier.”

“Inuzuri Rukia.”

Both of Ayasegawa’s eyebrows shot up, and his mouth curved into a feline grin. “Ninth Seat Inuzuri, of course!”

Byakuya blinked. “Ninth Seat? Captain Aizen told me she was middling at best.”

Ayasegawa's face suddenly went stiff. “She was not well-served at the Fifth, but she has bloomed here most beautifully. Inuzuri is my personal protege, you know.” He stared at Byakuya under hooded eyes. “What is your interest in her? Captain?”

Byakuya took a deep breath through his nose. “My wife is also from Inuzuri. She is trying to locate someone she knew there. It is possible this Rukia is that someone.”

Ayasegawa frowned. “Well, I can introduce you, if you like. I should warn you, though, Rukia doesn’t have a lot of lost love for her hometown.”

“My understanding is that there isn’t much to love about it.”

“Mmm,” Ayasegawa agreed. “Well, come along, let’s go find her.” He concentrated for a moment, clearly trying to find her reiatsu. She must be a woman of some power, after all. “Ugh! She and Abarai are at it again! Every day!”

Byakuya swallowed stiffly.

“Well come on! She’s out at the training fields, clobbering our Tenth Seat, yet again.”

Oh. That kind of “going at it.”

Ayasegawa was shaking his head. “The two of them are literally an unstoppable force and an immovable object.”

“Abarai was also at the Fifth?,” Byakuya probed cautiously. “I was told they were close.”

“Of course they’re close!” Ayasegawa scoffed. “They’re partners!” He thought for a moment. “Abarai is from the 78th as well, you know. If Rukia turns out to not be your girl, perhaps one or the other of them knew the person you’re looking for. Abarai is one of those people who just… knows everyone. He’s the personable half of the pair.”

“‘Partners’?” Byakuya echoed. “What… kind of partners?”

Ayasegawa stared back at him like he was insane. “Partners.”

This path of inquiry clearly wasn’t going to get him anywhere, but wasn’t particularly relevant, either. “I did not think kidou-type zanpakutou were permitted in the Eleventh,” Byakuya sniffed. “Aizen’s records indicated Inuzuri wields an ice-and-snow type.”

Ayasegawa gave a little shrug. “Zanpakutou classifications are arbitrary. Obviously, if she had a bunch of showy blizzard attacks like Matsumoto’s little prodigy friend, it would be a no-go. Rukia can take the blade of her sword down to sub-zero temperatures. She has a weapon-shattering attack and she doesn’t feel pain when she’s fighting. It’s fundamentally no different than a zanpakutou so massive that only the wielder can lift it, or a whip sword that’s controlled with one’s reiatsu.”

This sounded like a quibble to Byakuya, but it’s not like he had come to the Eleventh looking for sound logic.

“She’s incredibly fast, probably the fastest person in the Eleventh, although no one’s really sure what Yachiru’s top speed is,” Ayasegawa continued on. He glanced at Byakuya slyly. “I hear you are very fast.”

“You have heard correctly.”

“That’s why Abarai can’t beat her. If he could land one really hard hit on her, she’d go down, but he’s not fast enough and she’s just too agile. He’s my partner’s protege, you see, so I have to take their little scraps very personally.”

How did this man talk so much?

“What did you say your wife’s relationship was to her again?”

“I did not.”

“Ah, right. Oops, look out!” Ayasegawa abruptly dove to one side as a giant mass of shihakushou and pink hair and what might be a sword came crashing through the split rail fence surrounding the training field.

Byakuya was not in the habit of ducking, so he merely plunged the force of his reiatsu down into the earth like a piton. It was almost, but not entirely sufficient. Byakuya gritted his teeth as he was driven back, dirt piling up behind his heels as he skidded backwards.

When they finally came to a halt, Byakuya looked down at the meaty youth lying at his feet. This must be the infamous Abarai, although he certainly didn’t look like one of Aizen’s usual simpering overachievers. The first thing Byakuya observed was the eye makeup. Most shinigami applied at least a little eyeliner, on grounds of tradition, but few bothered to blacken the entire eye socket, as in the skeletal facepaint of old. The second thing Byakuya noticed were the tattoos painted across his forehead and neck. They were black and spikey and horrible. The third thing was the hair, which was bright pink and spikey, and utterly at odds with the makeup and tattoos. The fourth thing was the big, sheepish grin, which honestly just tied the whole hideous tableau together.

Byakuya glared down at the lout, and in a moment of pettiness, flared his reiatsu to a level that should have sent blood spurting out of his ears.

“I’m afraid that’s not going to do much to someone who has a weekly sparring slot with the Kenpachi,” Ayasegawa commented dryly.

“Sorry ‘bout that!” the lummox cheerfully apologized as he sat up and brushed himself off. He had an Inuzuri accent so thick you could spread it on toast, an accent that Hisana tended to slip into only when she was extremely bent out of shape. Abarai snapped the sword hilt in his hand, and the tangled pile of steel on the ground neatly retracted into something that looked a little more like a weapon, if a weapon were designed by a creative and overly violent child.

“That’s a captain, you buffoon!” another voice rang out, and every muscle in Byakuya’s body locked. “Show your respects!”

The voice clearly affected Abarai as well, because he leapt to his feet, spun, and slammed into a bow. “My apologies, Captain…” his eyes glanced up and abruptly widened, “Kuchiki.”

“Greetings, Captain Kuchiki! Welcome to the Eleventh Division! I apologize very profusely for throwing Tenth Seat Abarai at you!” A second young person had come to join Abarai in his bow, and they both rose in unison, Abarai looking suddenly pale and nervous, his companion looking calm and confident.

So this was Inuzuri Rukia. She had Hisana’s voice. She had Hisana’s stature, and standing next to Abarai made her look positively childlike. She wore the same dreadful eyeblack, but the eyes that shone out of it were a variation on Hisana’s, harder and three shades more purple. The rest of the face was Hisana’s. Her hair was dark, shaved on the sides, arranged into porcupine spikes on top, although one lock hung down stubbornly between her eyes. Her ears glittered with silver piercings. At least she was free of awful tatt-- wait, no. Byakuya had missed them at first, because they were white. Abarai’s tattoos were spiky and sharp, but Inuzuri’s were graceful swirls, like ribbons wrapping lazily down her forearms. Even her reiatsu was like Hisana’s-- but instead of a cool, refreshing wintergreen, Inuzuri’s was the bone-deep cold of winter, a cold so harsh it burnt in the lungs.

There was no doubt.

This atrocious delinquent was his long-lost sister-in-law.

“Can we help you with something, sir?” Inuzuri prompted. “Abarai here’s a big fan of yours.”

“Shut up, Rukia,” Abarai managed through gritted molars.

“Inuzuri Rukia, you died as an infant thirty-six years ago and were sent to the 78th District of South Rukongai, is that correct?” Byakuya said stiffly.

Inuzuri and Abarai both bristled, a pair of mongrels raising their haunches. “That seems about right,” Inuzuri replied slowly. “My early years are a little hazy.”

“My wife, Hisana also died thirty-six years ago and was sent to Inuzuri with her infant sister,” Byakuya went on. “They were separated. My wife has been looking for her sister ever since. You… resemble her greatly.” Byakuya let the implication hang in the air. He couldn’t bring himself to say it.

There was silence for a moment. Then there was the distinct noise of a laugh that, having been held in, had escaped through someone’s nose. “Sorry! Pardon me!” Ayasegawa wheezed, clapping one hand over his mouth and looking away. “Bit of. Dust. In my throat.”

“I told you! I told you, you looked like that picture of her in the Bulletin!” Abarai was hissing.

“I thought you were lying because you thought she was pretty!” Inuzuri hissed back.

“I thought she was pretty because she looks just like you!”

“Now is really not the time, Abarai!” She cleared her throat and tried to stand up a bit taller, a futile effort. “So, uh, so what? What does that mean, if I am her sister? Does that… does that make me noble?”

A higher pitched wheezing came out of Ayasegawa. The level of impudence was extraordinary.

“I would like you to come to my home to meet her, first,” Byakuya put off making any promises. “We can discuss what comes next. As a family.”

“I’m at work right now,” Inuzuri excused.

“Inuzuri, I need to know how this pans out, you can have the afternoon off,” Ayasegawa informed her.

Inuzuri’s confidence seemed to be draining out of her. She took a tiny step closer to Abarai and groped for his hand. “I’m bringing Renji,” she declared.

“Is he compulsory?” Byakuya asked. Inuzuri was absurd looking too, but at least she was small.

“He’s my family,” Inuzuri insisted.

Byakuya’s brows furrowed. This could prove problematic. “In any sort of legally binding sense?”

“We’re engaged!” Inuzuri announced.

“We are?” Abarai goggled.

“I told you I’d marry you if you could ever manage to beat me in a fight! What else would you call that?” Rukia hissed at him in a voice that was still, unfortunately, perfectly audible.

“I’ve been trying every day, and honestly, Rukia, it’s not looking good for me!”

“Can you just go with it for once, instead of arguing with me every time?”

“If you want to leave and never tell anyone you found her,” Ayasegawa put in, “I am very bribable.”

Byakuya was sorely tempted.

---

End note: To further explain the number mix-up, as I understand it “seven” in Japanese can either be said as “nana” or “shichi”. People usually say “nana” for two reasons-- 1) to avoid confusion with 4 (”shi”, although you can also say “yon”) and because “shi” is a homophone for death. Given how shitty the districts in the 70s are, I rather liked the idea that they residents use the “shichi” pronunciation as a bit of gallows humor. (And if you don’t have a rude nickname for the town you grew up in, well, congrats for not growing up somewhere shitty)

I don’t actually speak Japanese, tho, so forgive me if this is all nonsense. 😁

[alloftheimaginess]

Forever

Requested on wattpad

Warnings: mentions of cancer, death and shitty writing

Also excuse the sad imagines I’ll be posting. They are helping me with my grieving process

"Mommy I need you to record me" Phoebe says as soon as I walk off set.

"What's happening?" I ask going over to her and she smiles at my costume.

“I like your costume” she says and I smile at her.

"But I want you to record me doing something" she says and I nod pulling my phone out.

"Okay I'm recording. What are you going to do?" I ask recording her as we move to outside where the filming isn’t taking place.

"Tom taught me how to cartwheel and it was super cool because he was in his Spider-Man costume" she says grinning at the camera.

"Show me, I want to see it" I say and she nods and she runs back a little and she does it halfway and I cheer.

"That was amazing bee" I say cheering her on and she bows.

"Thank you, thank you" she says blowing kisses and she runs up to the camera smiling a big toothless smile and she makes a face before covering the camera.

"We got you something bee" I say and she looks up from her homework.

"What is it?" She asks.

"A gift" I say and Chris hands her the box.

"What is this?" She asks shaking it.

"It's a surprise for you" he says.

"But it's not my birthday, that was last month and Christmas isn't for another month" she says.

"We know but we wanted to surprise you" I say and she nods.

"Okay" she says unwrapping it and she takes the top off and she starts screaming as she climbs on her knees in the seat to get a better look inside the box and she pulls out the ultrasound.

"You have a baby?" She asks.

"Yeah we do" I say and she jumps up and down with excitement on her knees as she pulls the other stuff out the box.

"It's so tiny and cute" she says cuddling the onesie.

"Do you know what it is?" She asks.

"Not yet, we are going to figure that out soon. Uncle Scott and auntie Sn are throwing a reveal party" I say and she holds the ultrasound up squealing.

"I can't wait to give this baby all my love" she says.

"What about us?" Chris asks and she looks up from looking closely at the ultrasound.

"I don't have enough to love all three of you so I'll love you both until the baby gets here. It's not that hard to understand daddy" she says with a duh tone and he laughs.

"I guess it's the only logical thing to do, foolish me" he says and I laugh as she kisses the ultrasound.

"Last session" I say and she grins at my phone as I record her.

"I'm going to beat cancers booty" she says and I laugh.

"Yes you are, you're my little superhero" I say.

"I want to be the Hulk" she says.

"The Hulk?" I ask and she grins even wider nodding.

"Yes. He doesn't have to wear clothes and no one complains when he doesn't, nothing scares him and he can't die. Also uncle Mark is cute" she says giggling and I laugh.

"Totally agree with you there" I say.

"Plus who wouldn't want to be green?" She asks.

"I wouldn't want to be green" I say.

"Yeah because you're boring" she says and I gasp holding my chest.

"You wound me" I say.

"I'm just kidding mommy you're not boring. You just don't understand the Hulk" she says laughing and Chris walks in looking down at his phone.

"Daddy!" She yells and he jumps causing her to laugh even harder.

"What's up bug?" He asks turning to face her as he puts his phone away.

"If you had to be any other superhero that's not Captain America who would you be?" She asks.

"Ooh maybe Iron man" he says and she nods.

"Who did mommy pick?" He asks.

"She didn't. I did though" she says.

"You'd be the Hulk because he doesn't have to wear clothes, huh?" He asks and I laugh shaking my head.

"That was her exact answer" I say and he laughs unpacking her lunch.

"Let me in or else I'll beat down your door, then two strangers who had been two silhouettes on the shade said to my shock you're on the wrong block" she sings.

"Silhouette" I sing.

"Silhouette" she sings super high and she instantly starts cracking up.

"Silhouette" I sing and she doubles over from laughter.

"Silhouette" she sings through her giggles, gasping for air and I start laughing with her.

"I appreciate your dedication to this performance" I say and she leans on me trying to calm down.

"The show must go on" she says in giggles and I smile at her and she leans on my arm trying to completely calm down.

"Merry Christmas, merry Christmas, merry Christmas" she sings over and over as she dances through the house and she drops a gift in my lap and I look up and she drops one on Chris.

"What's this?" He asks.

"A gift for you" she says.

"Uncle Scotty helped me get them so open them" she says and I rip the paper off and it's a jewelry box and I open it and it's a heart necklace.

"It has all of our initials including the baby’s. Right there" she says and I smile at it.

"It's beautiful" I say and I hug her and she hugs me back kissing my head.

"I love it" I say.

"Okay it's my turn" Chris says and she pulls away from me and he opens his and it's a watch.

"It's us" she says tapping the watch.

"I'm going to wear this everywhere" he says.

"Good. Never take it off" she says.

"Never" he says and they pinkie promise.

"What is it? What is it?" She asks and I laugh as Chris and I stand beside her and he starts to hand her the string.

"As soon as you pull this string we'll fi-" she snatches the string from him and pulls it before he can finish telling her and everyone's laughs turn to cheers as pink confetti and powder falls over us and she starts squealing as she jumps around.

"It's a girl!" She screams running around us and he kisses me and I kiss him back.

"We're having another girl, you're officially outnumbered" I say and he laughs as Phoebe continues to scream.

"I think we both are" he says kissing me again and Phoebe jumps and he picks her up and she wraps her arms around my head pulling me close.

"I'm so excited" she says out of breath and I laugh.

"I couldn't tell" I say and she leans her cheek on Chris’ cheek.

"I'm getting a baby sister. I can't wait to meet her" she says trying to catch her breath.

"Hey bee how about we go get some of the powder on auntie Cobie and uncle Taran" I say and she quickly nods and Chris sets her down and she bends down picking some up off the ground and she runs off over to where they are standing.

"I wanna be where the people are. I wanna see, wanna see em dancing" Phoebe sings laid back as she's cuddled up with Chris and the baby as we watch the little mermaid after coming home from bringing the baby home from the hospital.

"Walking around on those what do you call 'em? Oh, feet" she sings.

"Flipping your fins you don't get too far, legs are required for jumping, dancing, strolling along down a- what's that word again?" Chris sings.

"Street" Phoebe sings loudly and I smile at them.

"Up where they walk, up where they run up where they stay all day in the sun, wondering free. Wish I could be part of that world" she sings quietly grabbing the baby's hand.

"What would I give if I could live out of these waters? What would I pay to spend a day warm on the sand?" She sings laying her cheek against Chris' as she watches the movie with tears in her eyes.

"You can try. Oh but I-I love you means you're never ever ever getting rid of me" she sings dancing in place.

"Ready for your check?" I ask.

"Not quite. Pie for everybody. I grew up an only child in the suburb of the city. I spent my days alone, my only friend was a stray kit-"

"Are we going to sing show tunes all day or are we going to get dressed so we can leave?" Chris asks cutting her off and she turns around.

"Daddy you're ruining the video so if you aren't going to sing get out the way" she says trying to push him out the shot and he plants his feet and she starts groaning.

"But I love you means you're never ever ever getting rid of me" he says and she starts giggling.

"Daddy stoppp" she says using her back to add pressure to his leg to move him and she starts to slip and he catches her by her arms and she laughs.

"Okay, I'll move. I wanted to see your mom anyway" he says walking over and kissing me.

"Where's my kiss?" She asks.

"You didn’t want one. All you wanted was for me to get out the way and leave you alone" he says.

"You don't have to leave" she says and he picks her up and she kisses him.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Bee, happy birthday to you” everyone sings as Chris walks the cake into the living room where everyone is and she holds Ainsley at the table.

“Come on chunky monkey we have to make a wish and blow out the candles” she says keeping Ainsley from touching the flames as she quickly makes a wish and blows out the candles.

“What did you wish for?” I ask and she looks up at me.

“A million more birthdays like this” she says smiling and I rub her cheek with my thumb and her smile grows.

“Can I cut the cake?” She asks.

“Yeah, the first piece. Daddy will help” I say.

“Yay” she says and I grab Ainsley.

“Bye chunky monkey, I’ll cut you a slice first” she says rubbing her hands together excitedly causing everyone to laugh.

“Chunky monkey can’t have cake yet” Chris says.

“But daddy today is chunky monkeys sixth month birthday and my seventh birthday so she should be able to have cake” she says pulling on her best puppy dog eyes.

“She got you there. Try to say no to that little face” I say and he groans.

“Fine, a little piece” he says.

“Do you hear that chunky monkey, daddy is going to let us eat all the cake” she says playing with leg and he helps her cut the first slice.

Yn and Chris Evan share videos of their seven year old just days after she passes away from cancer letting everyone know that Phoebe’s or Bee’s (as everyone in her life called her) spirit will live on forever.

[julemmaes]

The Seven Of Us

Cassian and Nesta Archeron modern au - morning cuddles

A/N: THIS. WAS. HAARD. AS FUCK TO WRITE. BUT IT IS FLUFF. A LOT OF IT. AND IT’S FOR MY ONE AND ONLY GIRL, NINA. I LOVE YOU HONEY AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN, I HOPE THIS DOES SOMETHING TO SHOW YOU HOW MUCH I APPRECCIATE YOU AND GUYS SEND PROMPTS FOR THIS AU CAUSE I’M ALREADY IMAGINING EVERYTHING POSSIBLE IN THIS UNIVERSE SO YEAH, ENJOY!!

Word count: 3,584

Nesta liked to sleep in late on the weekends. Especially on Sundays, when she was sure they wouldn't be busy and she could lounge in bed, under the comforter, without the dread of hearing her phone ring at any moment.

What Nesta didn't like was her insistent husband of no less than sixteen years caressing her bare side at an hour far too close to dawn after he'd had the audacity to keep her up all night for a good time.

"Cass." Nesta gave a first warning. She heard him chuckle behind her, but kept her eyes closed.

When the feather-light touch didn't stop tracing its path across her skin, tickling her side, she sighed, "Cass, stop."

She felt him move closer and the warmth radiating from his body was already starting to wrap around her. She could have fallen back asleep in half a second, but he had other plans. Her hand snapped to grasp his wrist and Cassian chuckled again, saying in a sleep-filled voice, "Sweetheart, you're squeezing too hard." with that he moved his fingers over her skin applying more pressure and up to her armpit, where she was particularly ticklish and Nesta jerked, accidentally making the back of her head collide with her husband's nose.

The reaction from both of them was instantaneous. Cassian grunted, turning away from her, bringing his hands to his nose, while Nesta whimpered, raising herself up on one elbow so she could glare at him.

He burst out laughing, trying not to make too much noise, but when he turned back around, his eyes were glazed with tears and he was rubbing the bridge of his nose, squeezing it between his thumb and forefinger.

Nesta felt a little guilty. But only a little.

"I get that you like pain, but I thought you'd be a little more forgiving after tonight," he joked in a muffled voice from his hand, with an amused glint in his eyes. Nesta knew there would be an arrogant grin under that hand, showing the purely male satisfaction for what they had done.

The frown on her face deepened, but her cheeks flushed nonetheless at the memory of him blocking her airways to prevent everyone from hearing her come for the umpteenth time even down the street.

After all, as he had reminded her several times during their little game that lasted hours and hours, they weren't alone in that house either. She still insisted after so many years on receiving those lonely and sacred hours together with her husband, and Cassian always told her that they both deserved it, that with all the work they did during the week, they needed to feel the hands of the other on their bodies without anything or anyone disturbing them. The fact that they had to take advantage of the nighttime hours between Saturdays and Sundays didn't mean they would ever give up sex.

Nesta pressed her lips together in a thin line, "I would have been more forgiving if you hadn't decided to wake me up by torturing me," she whispered.

Cassian made a bewildered face, chuckling softly, "I was giving you an under arm massage, no torture." he pretended not to understand. Then he moved his hand to her side once more, pulling her flush against him, and that cocky smirk appeared on his lips, "Although you didn't seem to mind the torture so much last night either. I don't see what the big deal is about doing it now."

He was teasing her and she knew it.

Nesta let her head fall forward, pushing her forehead against his chest now resigned that she would never sleep through that morning, "Please stop."

His other arm wrapped around her waist as well, pulling her even more until she was completely lying on top of him. Nesta pouted upon feeling that he'd put on his pajama pants and, casting a quick glance at her body from over her shoulder, she noticed she was wearing a tank top and underwear.

She turned around smiling shyly at Cassian, "Thank you for putting clothes on me."

It often happened that their recreational activities would end up exhausting her and she would fall asleep soon after, too tired to even slip into a pair of panties and t-shirt for the night.

He smiled back at her, "I would never want anyone to walk into the room and be traumatized for life by seeing us naked and tangled under the covers."

She looked away, beginning to trace the lines of his tattoos, "Although," she brushed one of his pecs with her lips, "right now I would love for you to be naked."

Her mouth left faint kisses and bites in the places she knew were sensitive, and as she began to slide lower, with a clear goal in mind, she felt Cassian catch his breath before releasing the air through his nostrils.

His hands began to caress her back, in a very different way from what he was doing a few minutes before, "We can't." he murmured with a longing voice, taking her hips and blocking her thrusting movements.

Nesta lifted her head, breathing irregularly despite the fact that they hadn't even come close to her goal, and when she met his gaze, she knew what he was thinking. She sulked again, groaning, "I just want to be able to have sex whenever I want, how long until all this shit is over?"

Cassian's chest jerked repeatedly beneath her as he laughed, "Legally speaking, in fourteen years, my love." he pulled her up until their noses were touching. He caressed her cheek, brushing her mouth with his, "Realistically, it'll never end."

Nesta shook her head, "I hate you when you use logic." she whispered, kissing him properly. His lips parted and he moaned against her when Nesta made their tongues collide.

They broke away suddenly when they heard a laugh coming from down the hall. Cassian cackled as he saw Nesta's terrified expression, "If you hadn't been so sure of yourself eleven years ago, the sex would only be three years away now," he murmured, hurrying to speak when the sound of three pairs of rushing feet began to echo throughout the house, getting closer and closer.

Huffing annoyed that Cassian was right again, she pulled herself up on his lap, pressing her hips against his just out of spite and he groaned, biting down on a fist and closing his eyes. She smiled in satisfaction, shifting from on top of him.

The second Nesta settled back into her side with her back against the headboard, the door swung open and three little girls came screaming in excitedly. A beaming smile spread across the woman's face as she opened her arms wide, ready to welcome her daughters.

"Mommy!"

"Dada!"

Andra, oddly enough, was the first of the group and was the first to reach the bed, but with her only four years of age, she was still too short to make it onto the bed and Cassian, who was smiling mischievously at her and was ready to get up and help her, thanked every saint in heaven for his third-born, Nora, when she pushed her onto the mattress.

Celia, the second of the girls, was already at Nesta's feet and was now climbing through all the blankets to reach her mom.

"Come here, Lia," Nesta said to her, extending a hand. The little girl's tiny fingers tightened around hers and then the two were hugging each other in a bone-crashing hug, "Good morning mommy." murmured the little girl. Nesta kissed her forehead over and over again.

Nora was still helping Andra to walk on that unstable ground when Cassian pulled himself up to sit down - too impatient to wait until they would get to him on their own - and grabbed them both by the waist, pulling them onto him. The two little girls burst out laughing immediately when their daddy started giving them the same attention their mother was giving Celia.

"I had the strangest dream daddy!" cried the oldest one.

Cassian's eyes lit up at those words and as Celia settled herself astride Nesta's legs and laid her head between her breasts, wrapping her hips with her short arms, Andra had managed to escape her father's grasp and was smiling at her mom. She extended her little hands toward her and Nesta reached out to take the latest addition to the Navarro-Archeron family as well and settle her behind her older sister on her lap, but not before showering her with kisses.

"Oh yeah?" asked Cassian, turning Nora around so that she was looking at the other three as well, "Nothing bad I hope." he joked, looking at them all quickly with a funny grimace on his face.

Celia giggled and Cassian's head snapped in her direction. His smile grew even bigger and Nesta suddenly remembered why she had asked her husband for a second child almost eleven years ago. And then another. And another. And another.

Because of that look the man of her life reserved for each and every one of their children.

"You didn't give me any kisses, cutie," he pointed out to her. Celia pulled away from Nesta's chest and leaned in just enough for Cassian to leave a kiss on her nose. When everyone was back in their seats, Nora nodded excitedly.

"We were supposed to have a competition," she began, "and I was in the group with Ezra, Lia, and Dad, while Andra, Mom, and Cal were on the other team."

Now that the commotion was over and no one was moving on the bed, Nesta could get a good look at them. All three of them had what they called the barely-awake-wig on and she felt like laughing, but she restrained herself because she knew full well that if she even made a sound, Nora would start over to tell the dream.

In the common language it could be translated into "my hair is so tangled and knotted that it looks like a bird's nest" and the sight of their three daughters entering their room every Sunday looking like a bunch of strays never ceased to put a smile on Nesta's face.

"...And then Ezra called these huge animals that flew though they had butterfly wings and of course we got there first." she said proudly, high-fiving Cassian who had just raised his hand.

Nesta shook her head, "I'm sorry honey I didn't get where we were going?"

Nora huffed annoyed, crossing her arms over her chest and wearing a twin expression to her own, "To Terrasen, Mom."

Cassian nodded beside her, giving her a faux-offended look, "Yes, Nes, to Terrasen of course."

"Sorry potato, mom's just really tired," she brushed a hand across her face, "because dad kept her up all night," Nesta reminded, widening her eyes slightly at her husband.

Celia pulled herself up sharply, knocking Andra off balance who was leaning over her and fell over Nesta's legs, "Did you have a sleepover?" squealed Celia.

Cassian chuckled, reaching out to grab Andra and the little girl smiled at him in amusement. She started crawling towards him and Nora, "I don't have a dream." stammered the littlest one.

"Me neither baby." said Cassian to reassure her as he sat her down between him and Nesta.

Celia waved her little hands in midair, risking hitting her mom in the face and getting everyone's attention, "Why do you guys always have sleepovers and we never get to?"

Nesta frowned, "What do you mean you never have them?" she asked in amazement, "You're always at Aunt Gwyn's and Uncle Azriel's house." he pointed out to her.

Celia shook her head, snapping her tongue against her palate, "Yes but we never have them with you." she pouted, "Can we have one tonight?" she asked hopefully. Nora and Andra began to nod frantically as well. "And let's watch the princess and the frog!"

"I don't think so," said a voice from the door, "We own the television tonight and we have to watch that new movie on Prime."

"Good morning guys." Nesta smiled affectionately at her two sons, both obviously just waking up with their eyes half closed, as they leaned on each other for support.

Cassian burst out laughing at his daughters' shocked expressions.

Celia was shaking her head indignantly and stood up on the mattress to retort to her brother.

Nesta already knew how this was going to end and casting a quick glance towards her husband, she knew Cassian was thinking the same thing.

"Noooo!" shouted Celia. Andra stood up in turn, keeping a small hand on Cassian's shoulder so she wouldn't risk falling. "The TV is ours."

Ezra yawned as he stepped forward into the room and sat down at the bottom of Nesta's feet, before falling face forward onto the mattress and muttering something incomprehensible.

Cal had remained standing next to the bed on his father's side and was looking at his sister with an equally combative expression, ready to defend his and his brother's TV night, "No, Celia," Cassian grimaced at the use of his full name, "It's Sunday and TV is ours to have. You girls got it last night."

"I want to have a sleepover!"

Cassian loved all of his children equally, but Celia's tone of voice was too high for her to be allowed to speak on Sunday mornings before ten o'clock and if he didn't intervene, that high-pitched squeal would turn into a cry and he knew it wouldn't take them even half a second to throw themselves at each other's throats.

Casting a quick glance at all the children, he saw that Andra seemed just as convinced as her older sister and Nora was sighing so frequently that it didn't take a genius to figure out that she, too, didn't want to hear them fight so early. Ezra seemed to have fallen back asleep with his head in his mother's lap and Cassian felt a surge of affection for his son.

They were the perfect family picture.

When Nesta had told him she'd gotten pregnant almost sixteen years ago, he hadn't believed it. They had only been married a few months and weren't exactly trying to have children. Not that they were taking precautions to avoid it, but it had been unexpected. He had cried at the prospect that in only nine months he would be a father.

Then Ezra had been born, his hair the same shade as his mother's and his gray eyes the exact copy of those of the woman he loved, and Cassian had fallen completely in love all over again. In love with that tiny little creature who already had so much power over him and who he would have died for without a blink. And he hadn't been able to stop himself from thinking that he wished he had more. That if Nesta wanted, they would give Ezra a brother or sister as soon as possible.

As he had held him for the first time, crying as if his life had just begun, Cassian had thought that the love he felt for his son was too much, that the feeling would overwhelm him one day if he didn't find a way to share it and give it to others. For that reason, when Nesta had announced her second pregnancy to him three years later, he had been relieved that he would finally be able to share his love for Ezra with a second child.

He'd been wrong.

Cal was born when Ezra was four and was the exact physical copy of his father. Dark eyes and hair the exact color of Cassian's and the love had only doubled and totally crushed him. He had become as much a slave to the feeling as an addict to the next fix.

Nesta had joked that they were finally even, one child each, a genetic copy of both of them, and for two years all had been calm. Cal and Erza were growing up as fast as any other child and to Cassian it seemed like life was perfect, complete.

He'd been wrong again.

Nora had arrived three years after Cal and Celia only the year after Nora and Cassian had cried for days. Crying in front of those beauties so pure. And they were his and Nesta's. It was he and Nesta who had given life to those little balls of black hair and dark eyes that jumped on their bed every morning, welcoming them into the world every day with love and affection.

However, Nesta had never seen Cassian cry as much as he did the day Andra was born.

Andra, the last of the girls in the entire family, even smaller than the children of their brothers and sisters, had been born only four years earlier, three years apart from Celia.

Nesta had been shocked to see Cassian's reaction when he had first held the baby girl in his arms. She had been seriously worried when his body had started to shake with sobs and she had had to beg him to tell her it was okay, to give her a sign that he wasn't about to die choking on his own tears.

Cassian had looked at her amidst the crying and smiled, sniffling, "She looks just like you."

At that point, even Nesta hadn't been able to hold back her tears and had joined him in the land of the hyper sensitive parents.

It was true. Up to that point, for ten years, only Ezra had acquired physical features from his mother. The other three, though from a character standpoint they were the farthest thing from their father there could be, were the exact physical copy of him. Cal, Nora, and Celia had been mistaken for twins more times than Nesta could remember.

And although Cassian saw his wife every time he looked at his children, especially their first child, when Andra had arrived, the resemblance had been such that he'd simply burst.

Now they were complete.

A frustrated scream interrupted his train of memories and he felt Andra's tiny hand squeeze his shoulder.

He focused all his attention on Celia, who was trying to climb over him to reach Cal with her arms stretched forward - surely intending to rip her brother's face off.

The son had a grin identical to the one Nesta had when she teased him, and he took a deep breath, thinking that no one would really blame him if he accidentally knocked all his kids off the bed.

A smack on the arm made him turn to Nesta, who was looking at him hard, "Either you stop dreaming about throwing your kids out of bed and make yourself useful by stopping the upcoming fight or next Saturday no sleepover for you." then, before he could retort by saying she could stop them just as easily, she pointed to her legs pinned down by the growing body of their fourteen-year-old son, who seemed completely undisturbed by the sisters' high-pitched screams as they circled Cal, "I'd do it, but I'm stuck."

Cassian sighed as he stood up, making his way through the three little girls who seemed to be chanting some satanic ritual and picked up his son, saving him from what would have been certain death. The boy wrapped his arms around his neck and smiled down smugly at his sisters.

"That's enough." he instructed in the authoritative tone that only a father could have, "We have three TVs in this house." then he turned to the three pink and white girls, each with an adorable pout on their faces, "Tonight it's Cal and Ezra's turn to use the one in the living room and I'm sure you can all watch whatever they choose together." he took a deep breath, "But just in case not, you can come over to mom and dad's big bed and watch the princess and the frog here, okay?"

Celia looked on the verge of tears, always the most temperamental of the five, but she nodded once.

Nora took her hand and told her to follow her to their room and Cal wriggled out of Cassian's grasp, following them silently. Surely in five minutes he would have to get up and split them up again, but he cared little as he scooped Andra up off the floor and lay down on the bed holding the little one in his arms.

Nesta was stroking Ezra's hair absentmindedly and looking at him with such feeling in her eyes that Cassian only realized an in later that he had spoken.

"I love you, too," she replied, looking up at him from under her lashes.

Andra flapped her small hands laughing, "Me too."

Cassian looked at her smiling widely, "Come here baby."

The little girl burst out laughing, begging her daddy to let her go and Ezra stretched, extending one arm towards his mom and the other towards his dad.

He looked confused when he opened his eyes, but grunted something gibberish and closed them again soon after.

Nesta's hand stopped in his hair, "What did you say love?"

Ezra pulled himself up on his elbows, looking at her with eyes bright with amusement and Cassian knew immediately that whatever was going to come out of his mouth, he wasn't going to like it.

"Next time you have a sleepover, remember to close the window as well."  

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[katnissmellarkkk]

“Why are you wearing my sweater?” “Because it smells like you.”

Hi! So thank you for sending a prompt! I hope this is good enough? I’m so bad at writing fluff that isn’t kind of angsty, so I tried. In my defense, the angst isn’t at all between Everlark. But anyways, I enjoyed writing this so thanks for sending!!! 

Oh, also it’s important to know ahead of time before reading that a). this is set post-mockingjay and b). in my version of post-canon, Panem took on some semblance of our modern day winter holidays. So they have a celebration that’s kind of a variation of Christmas.

My feet trudge down the stairs, still somewhat unwillingly, although no one is forcing me. I could stay upstairs in my room all day if I so wished, I could hide under the blankets and just pretend. I could just pretend today was an ordinary, boring day and that most of the people I know won’t be convening in my house for the vast majority of the afternoon and evening.

But I don’t. Because that wouldn’t be fair to do to Peeta.

Peeta, who loves the celebrating and the family gatherings and the newfound holidays this country has adapted since the end of the war, since the end of Snow and Coin and the hunger games.

And it’s not that I don’t want to see my family. It’s not that I necessarily want to be a hermit in my own home, like Haymitch.

I just really don’t like this new holiday. For whatever reason, it has made my skin crawl every year, for the last six years that it’s been slowly making it’s way across the districts. Every year, people in every district alike put out decorations, purchase candy and trees, cook meat and pastries and, though every district calls the holiday a differing variety of names, everyone all celebrates alike. With their family, traveling to see loved ones, thankful for the safety not one of us can take for granted now since the war.

Maybe it’s that seeing the whole country uniformly celebrating anything still makes my skin crawl, as I still see loud, boisterous crowds in my dreams at night, and though the people celebrating this holiday are probably nothing like the faces I see in my sleep, I still can’t shake the connection.

Or maybe it’s that not all my family survived the war. Maybe it’s the fact that I don’t want to celebrate anything if I can’t celebrate with everyone I love.

Either way I still make my way down the stairs and through the living room, just the same. I walk past Haymitch, drunk and passed out on the floor and the embers burning in the hearth next to him. I walk into the kitchen and meet the eyes of my husband, currently stirring batter of some kind in the bowl I did my best to handcraft for his birthday two years ago.

“Hi,” Peeta greets, his eyes visibly surprised to see me. “What’re you doing up?”

I give him a look as I slide into a tall chair by the counter. “It’s nine-thirty,” I deadpan. “I’m usually up at six.”

“I just figured,” he starts before hesitating, measuring me carefully before second-guessing his words. “I know you don’t like the new holiday traditions,” he finally amends.

I shrug my shoulders, non-committal. “It’s not like I can hide away while everyone’s here,” I state, as if I wasn’t contemplating doing that exact thing on the way down the stairs.

Peeta though touches my hand and gives it a squeeze, sympathetically. “I could tell them you’re sick?” He offers softly.

A part of me wishes to take him up on that offer but I shake my head plainly. “It wouldn’t be right.”

“I can tell everyone to head over to Delly’s and Kanon’s. Delly doesn’t mind changing her plans and hosting. We can just spend the day you and me.”

“And Haymitch makes three?” I tease, but give a half smile as I turn down this idea too. “I’m fine, Peeta. Really. I can even help you finish up...” I look at the bowl of mixed ingredients, attempting to decipher what he’s concocting. I’ve been married to him long enough to put together the smell of vanilla, cinnamon and chocolate, but still manage to come up empty to what his final product will be.

He just laughs at my confusion. “No, actually, I was planning on taking a break anyway,” he says, putting the bowl and spoon down, but I easily know he’s lying. He never stops halfway through making anything for a break, no matter how sore his arm can get from stirring.

“Really?” I raise one thick eyebrow at him, knowingly, as he walks around the counter and pulls at my hand to follow him.

As I stand, Peeta evidently takes in my attire for the first time since I came downstairs.

“Why are you wearing my sweater?” He asks, his own blonde brows furrowing now.

“Because it smells like you,” I say defensively, hugging it to me like I’m afraid he’s going to steal it away.

But his eyes soften almost imperceptibly and he gives me a look that is so loving and so sweet, it would disgust me if it were from anyone else.

“Come here,” he directs evenly, tugging me by hand. I let him guide me to the living room, taking a seat on the coffee table while he finds residence across from me, on the couch. We both, probably unwisely, ignore the drunk sleeping off his stupor by the flames.

Peeta takes my hands in his and leans down to press his mouth to my knuckles. “Talk to me, Katniss.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” I insist, but my voice is too quiet and he’s been married to me for over six years and he knows me too well at this point. He knew me too well at sixteen, let alone now, after all these years.

Proving just that, he shakes his head. “Something’s bothering you. And I don’t like it when you’re not happy.”

I shrug then, because I have no defense to really give. “I just... dislike Yuleday,” I admit simply, using the most common term for the holiday.

I feel his large hand cover my cheek tenderly. “Is this because your mom is bringing Rod this year?”

My jaw clenches at the mention of my mother’s new husband. I open my mouth to deny it but then I look into Peeta’s kind, understanding blue eyes, that have never judged me, that have sought so hard for so long to never let his demons cast shadows over them again, and I just can’t. His baby blue eyes stop me in my tracks, stop me from telling him a blatant lie. “It’s a part of it,” I admit begrudgingly.

I feel his hand move to rub one of my shoulders. “I know. I know it’s hard,” he validates. I lean over and kiss his fingers as they try to massage the tension away. “But it has been almost fourteen years since your dad died, Katniss. Your mom... it’s okay for her to move on. I think it’s a good thing, that she was able to open her heart again to someone new.”

I nod mechanically, knowing all this is true, logically. “Yeah,” I try to agree, but it comes out unevenly and I can’t quite make myself look at him now.

“It’s easier to accept from an outside position,” he notes kindly.

But I shake my head. “It’s not just that, Peeta. It’s... it’s not just that she remarried or that she didn’t tell me about him until they were engaged. It’s... it’s everything that came with her getting remarried.”

Already knowing what I meant without asking me to verbalize, he adds, “It’s the step-children that make it more difficult to swallow.” His words are a clear statement, not a question.

I shrug at that, knowing it’s true. “It just feels odd that she has this whole other family now,” I explain, feeling immature and ridiculous and petty.

Practically reading my mind again, Peeta tries to comfort me. “That’s natural, Katniss. For you to feel that way, I mean. I would.” He lifts my chin so I have to look at him now. “I would feel the exact same way. Especially...” he cuts himself off now, once again second-guessing what he wants to say.

“Especially what?” I prompt.

“Especially if I lost my sister like you did. I would be sensitive about my mother gaining step-kids too. Younger step-kids, at that.” He gives me a long measuring look in which makes me feel naked. And not in a good way, like usual. “That’s what really bothering you, after all.”

My eyes widen, startled by his call out. “What?”

“That’s why you’re really upset. About the holiday, about everyone coming over, about your mom’s new family. Because it just reminds you that Prim is missing.”

I stare straight ahead blankly, unable to respond. Nothing hurts more than that simple truth, that glaring fact, that cuts me right down to the bone. That the real reason I hate this new celebration is because my sister would absolutely love it and she’s not here to experience it. She’s not here to see it and I don’t know how to enjoy it properly, even for Peeta’s sake, without her here too.

“Come here,” Peeta says now, and he tugs me by hand from the coffee table and into his lap. His fingers sift through my hair tenderly and his lips find resistance against my forehead. After a long beat, he whispers against my temple, “She would want you to make new memories. Prim would love Yuleday. And she would want you to love it.”

“I know she would love it,” I say and we both pretend not to hear the way my voice cracks. “But she isn’t here to love it and... I feel wrong celebrating without her. I know it’s been eight years-“

“Katniss, there’s no time limit on grief. Trust me, I know.” Of course he did. He lost his entire family in one fell swoop and I’m over here whining about my loss. I feel his hand slip up my sweater—well, technically his sweater—and rub my back. “Do you remember what I said at our toasting?”

I crane my neck back from it’s place against his throat, giving him a puzzled look. “Off topic but yes. I remember everything from that day.” And I do. I remember how perfect his outfit was, how it wasn’t too casual or too formal, just the right simplicity. I remember what he said and how the warmth of the fire reflected the warmth inside my heart. I remember the bread he made and how it was the exact the bread he tossed to me in the rain all those years ago, the exact bread that had saved my life. I remember the look in his eyes as he stared at me, the tears he shed of utter happiness, because we were finally able to love each other safely and wholly and without pressure or reservations.

“Do you remember what I said about Prim?” He inquiries softly.

And then I understand why he brought up our toasting. “Yes,” I affirm, my voice quiet again.

“She’s always here, for all the big events and the small ones. She lives inside you, Katniss. Your sister is a part of you, no matter what.”

I blink back the moisture in my eyes, trying my hardest not to let any of it fall. “I know.”

“Prim would want you to be happy,” he says again, kissing my hair, his fingers dancing over my braids. I put my hair in two today, knowing he liked it when I did. “Happy with and for your mother.”

I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. “I do hope she’s happy,” I murmur finally, my grey eyes boring into his. “I hope Rod makes her as happy as you make me.”

I feel his lips before I realize he’s leaning in, our mouths connecting instantaneously. His lips are softer than ever, but still firm, still able to create an electric spark inside of me. I thought the kiss on the beach was good when I was seventeen, but in reality, it was nothing compared to how he makes me feel eight years later. It was nothing compared to the fireworks he erupts now, without even so much as trying.

But he can’t go without teasing me for long and as soon as we pull apart, as I trail my lips downwards to begin hungrily kissing his throat, he doesn’t even miss a beat, saying, “I hope Rod makes your mom as happy as my sweaters make you.”

I immediately pull my mouth away, my eyes narrowing. “I’m leaving.”

“No,” he pleads, grabbing me by the waist as I try to stand and tugging me back into his arms again. His lips find where my neck meets my shoulder and he sucks, putting a vast amount of pressure there, knowing it’s my utter weakness. “Don’t leave me. I love you,” he mumbles gently against my skin.

I can’t help my smile then as I reach my hand up and touch his cheek, making sure not to interfere with him continuing his task. “I love you too, Peeta.”

But another voice joins us, effectively ending the moment. “Can you two get a room?” Haymitch barks, his eyes bleary as he leans his head up off the floor now, still waking up.

“Actually, we got a whole house, Haymitch,” Peeta assures smoothly. “But thanks for making yourself at home in it.”

Haymitch only offers a thumbs up in response before flopping back on the hardwood, groaning in response to the dying fire’s last sizzling flames.

“If only we could use our house to our... liking. In peace.” I don’t even bother keeping my voice down or hiding my meaning from Haymitch.

“Girl, if you want to talk like that, save it for after company leaves.”

“You’re not company, Haymitch,” I shoot back.

“I’m talking about everyone else coming today, sweetheart.”

Oh. It had momentarily slipped my mind that we were expecting people any moment now. “We’re really grateful you could grace us with your presence early,” Peeta says to the hungover man, who’s now reaching his hand closer to the fire, attempting to absorb any heat he can.

“Shut it, boy. It’s Yuleday. Have some kindness for an old man who saved your life.”

“By kindness he means alcohol,” I murmur, eliciting Peeta’s chuckle.

“She’s not wrong,” Haymitch adds under his breath.

“Let me up,” Peeta pats my butt, signaling for me to get off his lap. “I have to go finish the chocolate cinnamon rolls before our family gets here.”

But as he starts to make his way back towards the kitchen, I follow behind him, grabbing his hand to catch up. “What’re you doing?” He asks, his voice confused.

“I’m going to help you finish baking.”

His brow push together. “What suddenly got you in the spirit?”

I shrug, making my way ahead of him and grabbing the bowl he was using before to stir the batter around. “Like Haymitch said. It’s Yuleday.”

Peeta’s eyes relax and then soften as he looks at me, no doubt taking in the image of me in his sweater, mixing batter around in the bowl I handmade him. Just as I finish stirring all the ingredients together, he wraps his arms around my waist and starts planting kisses on my neck greedily.

And I decide in that moment, as I twist around to capture my husband’s lips again with my own, to do everything I can to be happy for my mom.

To be as happy for her as I know somewhere Prim is for me.

[nblesbianbenhanscom]

you can read it on ao3 too. link is in the notes.

***

When Billy wakes up in the hospital, all he can hear is the sound of some dumbass machine beeping. He wants to make it stop, but when he goes to pull the blanket away, he’s stopped by the tubes and bandages.

He looks down at himself, frowning. He tries to think back, but all he remembers is getting in his car-- Steve Harrington slamming into his Camaro with an unknown car-- to go to Karen’s.

Had there been an accident? Had Harrington been involved somehow? He’s not sure and his head is beginning to throb so he decides to go back to sleep.

When he wakes up again, Max is sitting next to him in a guest chair, tears streaming down her cheeks as she holds his hand. They are alone. He wants to ask her what’s wrong, but then she begins to talk.

“Billy, you fucking asshole, you better stop this shit. Just wake up, please.”

Billy clears his throat and Max jumps as she looks up his face. Her eyes are wide, her hair a mess.

“Billy?” She whispers.

His mouth and throat are dry as he says, “Who were you expecting? Santa Claus?” It barely comes out as a whisper.

Letting out a strangled half sob, Max gets up and hesitates. He watches her blink several times.

“Billy, oh my god, you’re okay!” She leans forward and gives him an awkward hug. He pats her back, totally confused.

“Yeah, shitbird, why wouldn’t I be?” He asks.

Slowly she pulls back and looks at him. “You don’t remember?”

He opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out. He remembers a room, hot and humid, the sauna? At the pool? He’s locked in. Max is at the window.

I’ve done things, Max. Really… bad things. I didn’t mean to. He made me do it.

Billy shakes his head, no.

He made me do it?  Billy thinks to himself. He who? Neil? No, not Neil. A shadow?

“I’m gonna go get a doctor,” Max says. She gets up and leaves quickly.

He’s not alone for long before a team of nurses and doctors come in and begin poking, prodding, and asking him questions.

At one point he looks over at the door and sees Max looking at him from the hall. There’s a girl next to her. A girl that shouldn’t be there. Billy’s not sure why, but she really shouldn’t.

Had he dreamt her? Had she died?

He can’t remember, and then someone asks him a question that he doesn’t know the answer to. He closes his eyes to try to answer but when he opens them again, both girls are gone.

Over the next few days, Billy drifts in and out of consciousness. Sometimes he wakes up alone, but more often Max is there. The impossible girl is there with her the most, but sometimes it’s Harrington or one of the kids. Sometimes he opens his eyes and it’s like his room has been invaded by quiet and subdued teeanagers. Sometimes he talks to whoever is in his room, but often he says nothing.

The weirdest times are when he wakes up alone with Steve, although this is probably in part because Steve is almost always asleep. Billy can’t understand why Steve of all people would want to be here alone with Billy.

***

It takes Billy several days to piece together what happened in the span of just a few days, all the death and destruction. Billy remembers bits and pieces, and he is flooded with guilt every time he sees the impossible girl, El. She was Chief Hopper’s daughter, but that didn’t make sense either. More people would know that Hopper had a daughter, right?

The one thing no one wants to answer is what happened to his car. Sometimes he thinks he remembers a crash, but he isn’t sure why.

One day he wakes up to find Steve staring at him from the guest chair. He’s sitting with his fist under his chin and Billy’s sure he’s not really seeing Billy.

Steve jumps when Billy clears his throat.

“Hey,” Steve says.

“Hey.” Billy keeps studying him. “Are you ok?”

Steve shakes his head a little. “I have some bad news.”

Scowling, Billy shakes his head. He cannot even begin to guess what Steve is going to tell him, how things could possibly get worse.

“Your dad sold your car to the junkyard this morning,” Steve says.

Throat tightening, Billy shakes his head a little. “Why?”

Steve chews on his lip. “Because I rammed the mayor’s car into it and totaled it that night.”

“The mayor’s car?” Bill asks.

He’s sitting behind the wheel of the Camaro, looking right at the kids, at his sister. His body is flooded with hate and anger and fear.

There is a loud crash as another car hits his, and he’s knocked around.

“Yeah, we kind of stole it,” Steve says.

Rubbing his cheek a little, Billy lets the news wash over him and then something clicks. He begins to shake so he pulls his blanket closer.

“I’m really sorry, Billy,” Steve says. “We tried to stop him, I tried to buy it off of him, but he wouldn’t listen.”

Billy shifts as he tries to figure out what to say as he bites back bitter tears. Everything hurts in a whole new way. He wants to go to sleep; he wants to go back in time to that night he’d left to meet Karen; he wants to go home to California.

He wants his mom.

“Billy?”

“Shut up,” Billy snaps. “Just shut up and leave me alone.” He doesn’t want Steve to see him like this. He covers his face with his arm as he lets out a small sob. He feels stupid. He’s alive and healing, he shouldn’t be fucking crying about something as stupid as this.

“I cleaned out your car before your dad sold it,” Steve murmurs. He sets a plastic grocery sack on the bed.

Billy lowers his arm and he chokes back a sob as he sits up and opens the bag. There’s some lighters, a bunch of cassettes, and an old battered shoe box. He wants to ask if Steve went through the box, but he’s so flooded with relief all he can do is pull the box close. With shaking fingers, he opens it and swallows hard.

The box is full of things from his mom that he wanted to keep hidden from Neil. Letters, notes, birthday cards, and several pictures. There are a few cassette tapes that shed’ forgotten when she left. When he was younger, he’d listened to them on low volume in the front room, and then later he’d made mixed tapes from them so he could hide the originals. He knew if his dad found any of these things, they’d get destroyed and then he’d probably beat the shit out of Billy. Billy had carried the box in his backpack as a kid until he finally got his car and he’d shoved the box away so Neil wouldn’t find it.

The most important thing though, was a small stuffed dog that had lost most of its stuffing over the years. He takes it out and holds it so, so gently with one hand and begins to stroke its ear.

Pulling it close, he covers his face again and begins to sob, his whole body shaking.

“Thank you,” Billy mumbles when he’s finally calmed down enough to talk. “Thank you.”

“It was nothing,” Steve says.

Billy drops his arm and looks up at the other man.

“No, Steve. It isn’t nothing. It’s everything.” Still clutching the dog, Billy reaches out and grabs Steve’s sleeve tugging him down. He knows he’s not gripping hard, but Steve comes easily. Billy wraps an arm awkwardly around Steve’s shoulders. It’s hard. The tubes get in the way, tugging a little painfully, and his whole body protests at the movement, at the touch, but he doesn't care. Steve is unsure at first, but eventually he wraps his arms gently around Billy.

“Thank you,” Billy whispers into Steve’s neck.

When they pull apart, Billy clears his throat and glances in the box again. With a heavy sigh, he closes it but keeps the dog under his arm. The dog had helped him through some of the worst nights of his childhood, and it has a comforting familiarity. He’s not even worried that Neil will see it because Neil hasn’t once visited him in the hospital.

Sighing, Billy lays back on his pillows. He watches Steve sit back down. He curls in on himself a little and turns to stare out the window. Billy falls asleep staring at him.

When he wakes up again, he’s still clutching the dog. Steve is gone and in his place Billy finds El and Max curled up in the chair reading comic books together.

***

The following weeks are hard. The dog never leaves Billy’s side and no one says shit. Steve comes alone every couple of days, and is often the one to bring Max.

No one brings up Neil, and Billy is too scared to think about what might be waiting for him there. He tries to not think about  home  , but when his dreams aren’t about him being flayed, they are him cold and alone on the street. Logically he knows this probably won't happen. There have been enough lawyers sniffing around, talking about getting him a settlement, but Billy doesn’t really want to be alone just yet, which is really frightening for him. He’s not used to needing anyone for anything, but considering he has a hard time walking on his own many days, he feels justified in not wanting to live alone.

One morning, close to when he’s supposed to get released, Billy wakes up in a cold sweat clutching his small dog. His throat hurts and he thinks he’s been screaming again. He stares up at the ceiling as he tries to catch his breath.

“That happen often?” Steve asks from the doorway.

“Wuh?” Billy jumps and looks at the door. “Jesus, Harrington, we need to put a bell on you or something.” He laughs, but it’s hollow.

“Sorry.” Steve folds himself in the chair. He leans on the arm and looks up at him. “So does it?”

“Does what?”

“The screaming nightmares. I could hear you from the goddamn elevator. Surprised nurses didn’t come running in.”

Shrugging, Billy asks, “What’s it to you, pretty boy?”

Steve smiles a little and shrugs. “Figure I have a right to know what my roommate gets up to in the middle of the night.”

Frowning, Billy asks, “Roommate?”

“Yeah… I mean if you want. I talked to Max and Susan and they think you would probably rather not live with Neil any more.” Steve sighs a little. “Robin’s been itching to move out, and like, this is the perfect excuse, honestly.” Steve chews on his lip and Billy just kind of stares at him numbly.

“No bullshit?” Billy asks finally.

“No bullshit.”

Pressing his lips together, Billy shakes his head, no, and sinks lower into the bed. “I can’t.”

“Why not?” Steve says softly, genuinely confused, although that’s not hard for Steve.

“Because I don’t have any money, fuck face!” Billy snaps. Steve blinks once and busts up laughing. “Are you serious right now?” Billy growls.

Laughing so hard he’s actually crying, Steve wipes his cheek. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I forgot the lawyers haven’t been up yet, but Joyce and Hopper helped get a huge settlement for you. All your medical bills are going to be taken care of, of course, but you’ll also be getting a monthly allowance for the rest of your life. Dude, you never have to work if you don’t want to.”

It’s Billy’s turn laugh, but laughing hurts and his tears are more from pain but he ignores them.

“No shit?” Billy asks.

“No shit.”

Billy opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. He never has to go back to his dad’s house again. He can hardly believe it. He pulls the dog closer and takes a deep breath.

“Yeah, ok,” Billy says eventually.

Steve smiles at him. “It’s gonna be great, you’ll see.”

“Mhmm,” Billy says and begins to idly fiddle with his hospital bracelet while Steve starts telling him about the apartment. It’s not great, but it’s pretty nice, and big, and Steve just goes on and on about plans for cooking and parties and just everything sounds so nice.

And for the first time in a really long time, Billy can feel himself to start getting excited for the future.

[darkdevasofdestruction]

Flowers - Nicolas Brown x Reader

(( Special thanks to my fren, @ittokan​ , for fangirling with me over Gangsta, and I truly hope you start writing for this fandom and all the others that you love, without feeling pressured or anything! <3 ))

“Worick?” Alex’s soft voice asked in curiosity as she noticed there were many vases around the house, filled with lots of colourful flowers.  “Yes, Ally?” the platinum haired man lit up a cigarette, looking at the girl with a mischievous smile - He knew what she wanted to ask. “What’s with...All the flowers? Every day they keep adding up...What’s the occasion? I-I’m not saying they’re not beautiful, they are! And they smell gorgeous, it’s a really nice change to this place...But what’s with the sudden change?” she perked up, sniffing a blue flower. “Well, Ally, do you know who bought them?” Worick asked, exhaling, letting smoke come out of his mouth. “You bought them, right? Or are they from Nina?” Alex blinked in confusion, not understanding where the man was going to. “Nope. You’re wrong to the core. Care to try again?” the man chuckled, incredibly amused as he saw her eyes widen in shock “Don’t tell me...Nic bought them?!” she gasped, not comprehending the logic behind it. “You’ve got it right! Nic got them! All 7 vases, and all the different 5 coloured flowers.” he flicked the cigarette softly to get the burnt area out of the window. “But...Why? I didn’t see him as a guy who’d like flowers that much as to waste his money on them?” the girl tilted her head to the side, looking like a confused puppy. “You and me both, Alex! But I assure you, he doesn’t know that either. Buuuuut he knows something that you don’t~! Wanna know what it is?” Worick put out the cig, putting his arm around her shoulders, getting closer to her face. “What is it? Why is Nic buying flowers?!” she asked impatiently, not even caring that she’s so close to the man. “Nicolas is in loooooove~!” the blue eyed man cheered loudly, making the girl squeal in shock at the sudden loud noise, before realising what he just said. “WHAT?!” she gasped, not believing what she just heard. “Yeeees, you heard that right! Nic has a crush on the flower girl! She’s a reaaal cutie, I’m telling you...But not really my style. I’ve talked to her once, she’s perfect for him.” he grinned widely, seeing the girl’s curiosity. “I had no idea there was a flower shop around!” she scratched the back of her head sheepishly. “Well, I wouldn’t be surprised. There’s only one, but thankfully, she sells for both Twilights and Non-Twilights alike. What a sweet girl. Nic mentioned she started learning sign language for him, and she got a little white table with colourful markers. I’m sure you’d like her.” he winked at her, making her smile softly. “It would be nice to see them together one day. Think he’d ever bring her around?” she asked excitedly. “Nahhh, no way. This place is a dump. She’s sunshine incarnated, she deserves better. Oh, and, she’s a doctor working here because this was her mother’s shop or something like that.” he spoke as a matter of fact. “Woaw, a doctor...She must be so smart. Is she like Dr. Theo?” Alex was full of questions of this young woman that managed to capture the rough man’s heart. “Who knows? We’ll see, I guess. Unless...You want to spy on them one day.” Worick winked at her, nodding towards her to follow. “Come on, I have something to get from her since Nic can’t make it today.”

The h/c girl made a little braid on the side of her long hair as she read a new medical book she received yesterday, a soft smile evident on her face as the sunlight gently illuminated her face. Soft jazz music was heard throughout the little parlor and the mesmerising perfume of the infinite flowers was almost drunkening.

She didn’t even realise someone came in the shop, until the man greeted her with a friendly “Yoooo!” as if they’ve been friends since childhood.

“Oh, hello! Sorry I didn’t notice you, I got a bit too absorbed in this book. I’m Y/N, it’s very nice to see new faces around!”  her grin was so dazzling that it almost made Alex blush. “It’s great to meet you too. I’m Worick and this is Alex. We’ve come here to pick something up, since my friend couldn’t come today. Know what I’m talking about?” he leaned on the counter, and just as he mentioned that friend, he saw a beautiful spark glow in her e/c eyes. “Oh, you’re Nic’s friends! I’m so happy to meet his friends, he spoke so fondly of you! I’ll give you the flowers in a sec, please wait!” she spoke enthusiastically, rushing in the back of the parlor to pic them up. “Told ya she’s a beauty.” Worick nudged the flustered woman as the owner of the shop came with a beautiful bouquet of blue hibiscus. “Here you go! I hope he likes them. Tell Nic I said hi, okay?” she handed the man the bouquet of blue flowers. “Red, orange, yellow, green, blue...Now indigo...These are the colours of the rainbow!” Alex gasped in realisation, making Y/N grin even wider. “Oh, yes, that’s exactly it! I promised Nic I would help him find out what’s his favourite colour and flower, so every day, I’d give him a bouquet of flowers, each day, a different colour of the rainbow. I’m so happy that someone realised that!” she clapped her hands enthusiastically. “He has 7 different vases at home, and in all of them, there are flowers of different colours, that’s how I realised. They are so beautiful!” Alex took a sniff of them, a smile forming on her face. “Aww, I’m so happy you like them! Hmm...Ah, I’ve got this! Wait a second...Wait a second...And this...A little bow...And here! This is for you! Blue orchids. They represent  delicate beauty, power and stability. I think that suits you a lot, especially since they are the same colour as your eyes!” the girl’s eyes smiled with genuine emotion, as Alex could only stare at her with genuine shock. “N-No, I-I-I couldn’t possibly-...I have no money and-...” she kept ranting on, but the h/c girl only shook her head. “Don’t worry, it’s a gift. Any friend of Nic is definitely a nice person, so I don’t mind! Besides, I keep this place more as an emotional thing, since this was mum’s. All my money actually come from my other profession, so I’m not going to get broke by gifting flowers, you know?” she giggled softly, making the other girl blush even more. “Th-Thank you...Y/N. They are gorgeous. Thank you.” was the only think she could say, holding the flowers close to her. “Well, Ally, we have to go. Thanks for today, Y/N, see you around. Oh, and...Take care of Nic for me, will ya?” Worick winked at the girl, who only nodded and waved.

As the pair walked out of the place, Worick lit up his cigarette, looking up at the sky with a soft smile.

“So, Ally, what do you think of our new friend?” he asked with a tint of amusement in his voice. “I can see why Nic likes her. She’s so beautiful and bright...She is someone that this city needs. Do you think her smile is contagious? I think it is...I hope Nic gets to smile genuinely too.” the girl looked down with a soft smile at the flowers.

The end of the day soon arrived, and along with it, the end of the book that the girl was reading so attentively. When making gifts for people she cared about, she wanted to be 100% informed so as to not make any mistakes, but with this, there was no way she could possibly fail.

She wasn’t sure why she was willing to invest so much time and money on a gift for a person she just met barely a few day prior, but there was something in her heart that burned, screaming at her to do just that and not hesitate.

Y/N has always been a highly rational person, preferring to choose her brain over her feelings, which is possibly why she has always been alone. She never saw herself as an overly sociable person, but she didn’t think she was that disagreeable or intimidating, so the reason why people would treat her like a ghost unless they needed something truly irritated her endlessly, so she decided not to bother with people again.

It was bad enough that her mother, her only true friend, died, and her only family alive was her sister, who was a mean girl with some kind of personal vendetta against the Tags, only for the sake of being discriminatory.

Her trust in people went down the drain further when she experienced how even the people she would call “boyfriends” were nothing more than selfish nuisances that had to be completely cut off.

She completely dedicated herself to her work and to the little flower shop, re-naming it after her mother, so as long as she was surrounded by all the loving animals at the clinic and could be surrounded by flowers, as long as her pets would greet her every day in her gorgeously furnished house with the money that she worked so hard for, and as long as she could travel the world and see all the beauty that life has to offer...

Then she could live without others.

Well, that was quickly shattered when she met the man called Nicolas Brown, a deaf man that came by to buy flowers to gift Nina, the little nurse who helps Dr. Theo, since it was her birthday and he had no idea what to give her that she would actually like.

She didn’t know sign language, so she proposed to write on paper to understand everything, despite the man insisting that he can read her lips perfectly well. Y/N, as soon as she heard about Nina, knew exactly what to give the man, and even thanked him for taking care of the little ball of sunshine, which made him blink at her in surprise, then leave.

She thought that was the end of it, that she’d never see him again, and that was it.

Boy, was she wrong.

The next day, he came by her parlor again, but this time, with no actual reason.  He just stared at her awkwardly, looking left and right, scratching at his cheek with his finger, trying to come up with some conversation idea, but he wasn’t used to conversing with anyone, so he just stood there.

Luckily for him, the girl started asking about his favourite colours and flowers, which made them both realise he never even thought of such trivial things...But it was nice to not have to think about fights, death and problems, and just stay calmly to look at flowers...And just...Be mundane.

Much to the girl’s glee, Nicolas’s visits became frequent, so the girl offered to help him find out his favourite flowers and colours, but really, all she wanted was to spend more time with him, because, for the first time in ages, she could feel her heart moving like never before.

She felt alive around Nicolas.

She even bought a little whiteboard with lots of colourful markers so they could write as creatively and colourful as they wanted, encouraging him to try out anything he wanted.

Seeing that he was pretty interested in these little things, she bought him those adult anti-stress and anxiety colouring books with flowers and got him tons of crayolas and markers in all shades existent, letting him hang around and colour whatever he wanted.

Much was her surprise when he asked her to draw one page while he drew the other, which made her cheeks get a tint rosier from happiness.

On the free time between colouring, she would learn sign language and would get help from him to perfect it, because she was so sloppy and messy at the beginning that she somehow managed to tell Nic to kiss his own face with a chair, which made him laugh quite a lot.

Very soon, the end of the 7 days came by, and she had to choose the last flower, a violet one, but what could she give him to make it have a lasting impression...

Oh, of course, easy question!

She waited anxiously for the man to arrive as she made the bouquet be more beautiful than ever before, then went to the counter to look through a fashion magazine she had laying around, and when evening came and the Sun started to set, the man arrived, looking a bit tired, but his expression softened as soon he laid his eyes upon her peaceful visage.

She raised her face, looking at him with big, sparkly doe eyes, only to realise it was him, which made her quickly jump to her feet and get in front of him, and to him, she looked so bright that he thought he was staring at the Sun.

Nicolas signed slow enough for her to understand that he couldn’t stay for too long, so she nodded and got the bouquet, handing it to him gently, with a sad smile.

“Do you like them?” Y/N asked, also signing to make sure he understands what she was saying. “Yes. What are they called?” he signed slowly, gazing at the small flowers. “They are called Forget-Me-Not flowers. They are most usually given to people that you don’t want to get forgotten by.” the girl blushed faintly, as she noticed his eyes grow bigger, than looking away, scratching the back of his head. “I...Could never forget you.” he spoke out loud for the first time, making the girl’s heart beat faster than ever before. “You have a beautiful voice. I wish you’d speak more.” she smiled tenderly at him, which only made his cheeks flare up. “Wanna go for a walk?” he asked again, extending his hand towards the girl. “I’d love that.” she quickly closed the shop, taking her purse and intertwining her fingers with his, they started walking around the town aimlessly.

This supposed ‘Aimless’ wasn’t, however, as random as she thought, as Nic guided her to one of the tallest buildings in town, and without too much warnings, expect telling her to hold tightly to him, he started jumping from wall to wall until they got on top, where they could see the Sun setting down, and the sky being painted in a myriad of colours.

They sat down on the edge of the roof, dangling their feet, still holding hands, enjoying the peaceful silence that engulfed them, until he started speaking again.

“I don’t know what my favourite colour is. The rainbow is nice. But this is nice too.” Nic slurred slowly, making the girl look at him with a gentle look in her eyes. “Nature paints everything with the most beautiful colours. Don’t you want to see the world? See all the beauty that it has to offer?” she asked with a smile on her face. “I’m a Tag, I can’t leave this place.” he signed, his eyes looking at her with a certain kind of hurt that broke her heart. “Actually, there are exceptions. I read the law, they say that a single Twilight can leave this place if a Non-Twilight vouches for them and stays with them at all times.” she smiled even brighter as she saw his eyes widen in shock. “Really?” he signed, as she nodded vigurously. “Then...Where do you want to go first?” Nic offered her a mischievous smirk, making her throw her arms around him. “You’re gonna love it!” she exclaimed, as she felt his arms slowly engulf her in a warm embrace. “Your voice...Is beautiful.” he murmured, barely comprehensible. “What do you mean?” Y/N asked, looking at him with curious eyes. “Your voice’s vibrations are...Warm and soothing.” he explained, burying his face in her hair, drawing her closer to his chest.

Her chest was glued to his, and she could feel his heart beating so fast, so loud, mimicking hers, almost as if they were beating in sync, as one. The emotions they felt were explosive, so powerful, something so pure and warm that was meant to put an end to all of their previous suffering and distress, all the betrayal, the disappointment, the anger and sorrow they’ve ever experienced.

The embrace lasted for them like a whole timeline ending, and after they pulled apart, timidly looking at each other’s eyes, they leaned in, her hands on his shoulders, while one of his was on the back of her head, while the other was cupping one of her cheeks, their lips met in a soft kiss, almost as if afraid that the other would disappear.

But soon, all the emotions their hearts harboured were unleashed, pulling each other closer, the kiss deepening, warmth and love emanating from both of them like never before.

Love

A feeling that neither of them ever hoped to genuinely feel again, and yet, here they were, fate having brought them together to fulfill destiny and mend each other’s wounds.

They stood on the edge of the roof for a few more hours, watching as the Sun went completely down and stars embellished the dark sky with beautiful diamonds sparkling and twinkling endlessly, while the silver light of the Mother Moon was guarding them with her healing light.

----

Nicolas’s birthday came sooner than expected, but for some reason, he forgot about it. Well, it’s not a surprise, that boy had no sense of self-worth, the girl quickly realised, so she naturally took the role of a nurturing and always-attentive girlfriend for him, wanting to make sure he takes care of himself properly.

But today was the day...

Today was Nicolas’s birthday.

Well, not yet, really, as it was not yet midnight, but the way he lay on the girl’s bed while watching TV absent-minded made it easy for Y/N to sneak to the other room and bring the man’s gift without him realising.

When the clock was 12 sharp, she turned on the light and putting the box on the table, making sure he wouldn’t get what it was, he dragged him into a sitting position on the edge of the bed, and she could barely resist his confused puppy face.

“Can you close your eyes and only open them when I kiss you?” she signed fast, excitement obvious on her face. “Why?” he asked in a low, confused voice. “It’s a surprise!” the girl booped her nose, only for him to stick out his tongue at her, like a puppy would blep, making her giggle at how cute he looked, kissing him to close his eyes.

She then took the box and took out the hearing devices, gently sitting on his lap and adjusting them to his ears, before caressing his face and giving him a passionate kiss like never before.

“What did you do?” he signed, still smiling from the kiss.

Instead of answering right away, the girl showed him the box that had “HEARING AIDS” written with huge letters, which only made his eyes widen in shock.

“Say something. I want to hear you.” he signed fast, not wanting his voice to be the first thing he hears. “I love you, Nic.” she said, her soft hands resting on his rough visage, and the love she saw in his eyes, hearing her velvety voice that soothed his heart and soul, for the first time... “I love you too, Y/N.” he spoke, cringing a bit at his own voice, but...He missed on so much not hearing her voice. “How...Why...?” his voice was trembling from all the emotions he felt, all at once, flooding him. “It’s your birthday. You are a good person, Nic. You deserve to have your hearing back. So...Happy birthday, sweetheart. I love you.” she kissed his forehead softly, as he quickly threw his arms around her, rolling on the bed, to be able to hold her tighter to him. “I don’t deserve you, Y/N. I really don’t. But thank you...And don’t ever leave me. I love you, Y/N.” he forced himself to speak more, knowing very well that he’ll have to work on his speaking to make it normal, at least to some degree. “You deserve the world, darling, and don’t worry, I’ll never leave you. I promise.” she cooed gently at him, playing with his hair soothingly. “I was right...You truly have the most beautiful voice in the world.” he muttered, closing his eyes to prevent any tear to escape his eyes.

He knew he didn’t deserve such a wonderful woman in his life, but he wasn’t going to deny anything, especially not her pure and genuine love for him. He was going to treasure her and make sure she knows she is the most special person in the world for him.

Because...

Nicolas Brown loves Y/N L/N with all his heart.

[makaias-trash-heap]

Soooooo lately ya girl here has been running into a lot of writing issues so I gave something a try...BACK TO BASICS FOR WHAT I ORIGINALLY MADE THIS BLOG FOR!!! First time I’ve written anything for my favorite Tsundere in a while. Enjoy!! Just more of my own self indulgent writing while I have no requests.

“Sooooo, guess who I just heard from.” 

Shin glanced up from his book with his usual blank expression, “Why not just tell me?”

Mira smiled and rolled her eyes slightly, “My parents. They called and asked me to come over for dinner for my sister's birthday this weekend.” She stated, plopping on the couch next to him.

Mirdorima raised an eyebrow giving her an intrigued look, “This is the first time they've wanted you over since we've been together nanodayo.” 

Mira hummed in agreement leaning into his side, naturally causing him to blush like always. 

“Are you going?” 

Mira shook her head, “Probably not.”

“Why not?”

“Shin, my family and I haven't gotten along in years. I've tried going over a few times and it always ends in a fight.”

She ignored the look he gave her in favor of playing with his fingers, a habit she picked up on when he still tapped them.

“Mira, they're still your family nanodayo. We've been together for nearly 3 years and I don't recall you seeing them at all.”

“Not true, I've seen my brother.”

“Mira.”

“Look, I don't want to go because I don't want to fight and that's exactly what will happen. Especially going now.”

He gave Mira a slight confused look, “What does that mean?”

She sighs turning to face him, “We've been together for about 3 years and aren’t engaged, I'm perfectly with how things have been going but my parents are incredibly judgmental and will nag and question why. There's also the fact that I’m 2 years older than you. And even though it’s incredibly stupid, my parents will not agree with the fact that I'm with someone younger than me. And to top all of that off I'm pregnant out of wedlock, big no no to my parents. We also fight about my brother everytime I'm there. I guess they invited him too so this is going to be twice the chaos.” 

Midorima adjusted his glasses looking down at her, “I understand these situations can be uncomfortable, but they're still your family and you haven't seen them in years. For all you know they may have changed from the last time you saw them.” 

Mira halfheartedly glared at him and sighed realizing this wasn't going anywhere, “You aren't letting this go until I agree to go are you?”

“I don't intend to.”

“Fine. But if I have to deal with them you're coming with me.”

He turned his full attention to her, “What! Why am I involved in this?”

“You got involved when you bugged me into going. And besides, as you've said, we've been together for 3 years, and you've yet to meet my family.”

If looks could kill Mira would be dead right now, multiple times over. 

“You'll see why I don't get along with them and I promise you'll never end up going with them again and you won't bug me into it.”

Midorima lets out a sigh leaning back into his seat, “I suppose. When are we supposed to be there?”

“Saturday at 5.” 

(Skip to weekend)

“Remind me again why we're here?” Mira groaned as they pulled up in front of her parents house. She ignored the slightly surprised look that snuck his way to his face. She’d given him warning that her family was pretty well off. 

He recovered quickly enough, “Because they're your family nanodayo.”

Mira rolled her eyes trying to mentally prepare herself for the interaction tonight. They climbed out of the car and started making their way up to the house. Mira spotted her brother coming up the sidewalk and waved.

“So you decided to come too huh.” Kenjuro said, returning the gesture.

“Not really, Shin forced me into it. I'm kinda surprised you came though.” 

He shrugged, “Boyfriend forced me to. He offered to come for moral support but you and I both know that that would have been a really bad idea.”

“How’s Reo-chan doing?” Mira asked as they started walking up the sidewalk to the house.

“Good. I watched him play basketball with his old team from high school. So that was kinda exciting .”

They finally reached the door and stood awkwardly glancing at each other until Midorima gently nudged her forward.

“Ok ok sheesh.”

Mira knocked on the door secretly hoping that her parents would ignore them and not answer….sadly that did not happen. Much to her dismay her sister Aika answered the door. 

“Hey Kenjuro, Mira.” Aika greeted them with a fake sweet smile.

“Hey Aika, happy birthday.”

Mira slipped past her with Kenjuro and toed her my shoes off pulling Midorima in behind her. 

“Hello Mira, Kenjuro. We're glad you could make it.” Her parents appeared at the door to greet them

“Hey mom, hey dad.” Mira forced a smile. 

“Who is your guest Mira?”

“Oh, right, Um, mom dad, this is Midorima Shintarou, my boyfriend. Shin, these are my parents.” 

“It's nice to meet you Hashigawa-San.” Midorima politely greeted her parents. 

“The pleasure is ours. Please right this way. Dinner is almost ready.”

Everyone started filing into the dining room, Mira and Midorima following behind last. 

“I don't understand your concern. Your parents seem rather pleasant.” He mumbled quietly so only Mira could hear it. 

“Oh, just wait for dinner. That's usually when the show starts.”

They all took a seat at the table, Kenjuro sitting as far as possible from their parents. Which left Mira and her sister to sit by them. Midorima sat next to Mira starting to notice the awkward atmosphere.

“So Mira. It's been a while since we've last spoken. What have you been up to?” Her father asked after a few moments of silence.

Mira hesitated a second before preparing to answer, this most likely this wasn’t going to go well.

“Working mostly, I just finished up art school not that long ago so I've been working freelance for a while. Making films for tourist companies, helping design Billboards, things like that.” 

Her parents stayed quiet before turning their attention to Midorima.

“Midorima-San, may I ask what you do for a living?”

“I am going into the medical field. I'm currently working on my internship at the hospital.” Midorima straightened up answering.

Mira’s father nodded, “Then a man as logical as you, you can't support this crazy dream of hers.”

Midorima froze and glanced at Mira before answering, “It's her decision to make and if it's something that she feels strongly about then naturally she has my support.” 

Her father was about to say something when he was cut off, “Now now dear, we're trying to have a nice civilized dinner tonight. Ok, this is a discussion we can have another time.”

Mira quickly turned her attention back to her food to avoid more questions. It worked for a while. Although this point Midorima was very uncomfortable. Kenjuro followed Mira’s lead but he's usually safe from questions. Their parents hate the fact that he's gay so they usually don't even acknowledge that part of his life. 

“Mira.” 

Mira looked up from her plate to see her mom holding the wine bottle out to her.

“Oh no thank you mom. I'm good.”

Aika snorted across the table, “wow, you of all people are turning down alcohol?”

Mira rolled her eyes, “do you really want to go there Aika?”

She shrugged, “I'm just saying for a while here sobriety was not your strong suit,” Mira shot a glare at her across the table, “oops sorry, did your boyfriend not know about that?”

“Do mom and dad know you've been sneaking into the liquor cabinet since you were like 14?” Mira shot right back at her.

Of course he knows, he helped her get her act cleaned up. Still a rather sensitive topic right now.

“Ok that's enough you two.” 

Mira rolled her eyes at her dads warning, ready to leave. On top of the unpleasant conversation, the constant nausea from the morning sickness was rough on her today.

“Mira, you ok?” Kenjuro asked, starting to notice her discomfort.

She just nodded waiting for the nausea to subside, “Yeah, stomach is just a little upset.”

Naturally Aika didn't seem to miss a thing.

“Oh my god you're pregnant aren't you?”

Mira immediately tensed up, hoping to completely avoid this topic, “What are you talking about?”

“You aren’t drinking which is pretty out of the ordinary for you, you’re randomly sick and I’ve noticed the weight gain.” Aika quickly insinuated.

Mira didn't answer, deciding instead just to get up and get ready to leave. Midorima grabbed her hand to stop her, it seems like he has other plans.

“They were going to eventually find out Mira.” He said, looking up at her.

“Is that a confirmation?” Her father looked back and forth between them waiting for an answer.

Mira sighs, “Yeah dad, it is. I'm pregnant.” 

Neither of the parents said anything right away. The tension gathering in the air was enough to show that this news was about to be either very well accepted or very poorly.

“We had the perfect life laid out for you. All you had to do was do as you were told and follow it.” Her father started to lecture, “First you turn down one of the best universities in Japan, and then rather than going to any university at all for a real career, you start to follow this ridiculous idea at some art school, and now you're 23 and pregnant. You couldn't have at least been decent enough to get married before spreading your legs for the first guy to take interest in you?!” 

For the first time in an argument with them, Mira was speechless. Her father certainly had a tendency to be cruel, but that was low even for him. He continued yelling, Kenjuro and Aika eventually getting involved in the argument. Mira started to tune out the yelling. This whole night has done nothing but stress her out, and stress is not good for her right now. She felt a sharp pain rip through her abdomen and lower back which snapped her back to reality and the current argument at hand.

“I don't understand where I went wrong with the two of you. My son is a faggot and my daughter is a who-”

“That's enough,” Mirodrima said sternly, “I understand you don't agree with Mira’s life choices. But you cannot control her. She is an adult and it's still her decision to make. As for her being pregnant. No it's not ideal timing right now. My parents were rather disappointed as well. 

We’re not married, and I’m only 21 years old and in medical school while starting this family, but we’re doing it. And my parents have never once referred to myself or Mira in such a derogatory manner.”

“Shintarou.” Mira grabbed his hand and squeezed to get his attention. 

He crouched by her side, “What's wrong?”

“Can we go? I'm starting to cramp badly and I'm just ready to go home.” She whined starting to stand up.

“Yeah let's go, but I'm going to call your doctor to make sure that things are ok before we go home.” 

He helped her stand up and started walking with her to the front door. He occasionally glared back behind them to make sure their family got the hint to leave them alone. Kenjro followed behind them to the car. Midorima helped her into the passenger seat taking her keys to drive.

“Feel better sis, call me later so I know things are ok.” 

Kenjuro closed the door and then went around to talk to Midorima who was on the phone. Once he hung up he turned his attention to Kenjuro to talk to him before climbing into the car.

“How are you feeling? Are you still in pain?” 

She shook her head, “No, it stopped for now. I just feel really sick now.”

He nodded and started the car. The ride home was fairly silent as he focused on the road and Mira focused on not throwing up. He pulled up to their apartment and he quickly came around to her side in case she needed help getting inside. 

“Your doctor said that as long as you aren't bleeding and you don't continue to be in pain that you should be ok. Sometimes some cramping isn’t uncommon, especially in stressful situations. But if they start again she wants us to come immediately,” He explained while they were settling in the bedroom, “so if you're in pain like that again I don't care what time it is wake me up and we’ll go ok.” 

Mira nodded changing into one of his shirts to sleep.

“Why do you insist on stealing my clothes all the time, you have your own dresser full of them.” He grumbled and changed as well.

“Oh stop whining,” She teased looking back at him, “I only steal your shirts and it's only for bed. Besides you never wear these.” 

He grumbled under his breath again while he settled in bed. Mira crawled in next to him and curled up into his side. He's finally used to cuddling with her...it only took him forever to do so. He turned on the lamp on his side of the bed signaling that he planned on reading for a bit before bed.

“Don't fall asleep with your glasses on again.” Mira said rolling over to turn off the light.

He scoffed, “that was once.”

She chuckled, situating herself into a comfortable position to drift off. Mira was nearly asleep when Midorima poked her in her back to get her attention.

“Hmm? What's up?” She rolled over and looked at him. 

“What your parents said earlier, it's bothering me.”

She sighed and sat up, “Just ignore it. Don't ever let anything they say bother you. Like you saw they're a bunch of judgmental assholes.”

He shook his head, “Nothing like that. They aren't bothering me. It just has me thinking. Are you really ok with how things are going?”

She cocked an eyebrow at his question, “I told you earlier I was. I mean, so long as you aren't planning on taking off on me anytime soon I'm perfectly fine with how we're doing ok.” 

He nodded, setting his book aside, “we should go to sleep.”

Mira leaned over and kissed Midorima before laying back down, “Goodnight Shin.”

Midorima returned the kiss and put his book away before laying down and wrapping his arm around her, “Goodnight Mira.”

[fellowstrangetownappreciator]

Well, that was cold

I have mod that makes diseases actually dangerous. (actually several of them and they’re all listed here on Pleasant Sims’ modlist)

The first rotation? Everything’s fine. The only one who fell ill was John Burb and he, as a family Sim, was able to soup himself to health in no time.

The second rotation... Ajaj Loner got sick.

With cold.

I was like, “I know flu is pretty dangerous with this mod but cold should be fine, right? I mean, I used to have it four times a year. So glad it’s not flu!”

I thought I was lucky.

I wasn’t.

After Ajaj’s turn ended, he was free to wander around and spread the cold everywhere.

Because they have chemistry and she was on a prowl, I even had Nina Caliente seduce Ajaj. She got the cold but I was like whatever, she’s a strong quasi-alien, running nose for a few days won’t kill her!

How fatally wrong I was I realized during a vacation that Nina went on with her sister and Ajaj. She was just chilling, sleeping in her hotel room, when all of the sudden, Grim Reaper!

You sure, Dina?

Nina was dead. Dead from the cold. And she was pregnant, no less!

I reloaded because it was on a vacation and Nina was the only playable Sim, so I was quite worried what would become of the grave. I managed to get her home and moved Chloe Curious in, so that someone can eventually plead for her. She was lucky the second time around and survived. Chloe got infected but survived as well.

But we had an epidemic on our hands now. Ajaj and Nina have been quite successful generously sharing their cold all across the hood and I failed to keep track of who has it.

Still, I thought it wasn’t so bad. I didn’t understand the scale, I was still thinking that it was just Ajaj, Consort Capp and the Pleasants.

Again, I was wrong.

When I got in the rotation to the Capps (the Capps 1), everyone was infected. I was still optimistic, though, because we were talking about a household where 2/4 Sims are Family and one is a Family Secondary, they can bathe in the soup!

The teens ate their soup and survived.

Consort died that night. He was due to die at the end of their round anyway but because he didn’t do so of old age, his grandchildren received no bonus inheritance.

The only one who gained something from that was Olive Specter who was delighted to see Consort, her crush, perish, so she could finally raise him as a zombie.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find a screenshot of her actually raising him, so here’s at the very least Olive walking menacingly to work.

Anyway, moving onto the Capps again (the Capps 2, Goneril edition), things looked bleak. Goneril was pregnant and she and all the kids were infected. Albany was immediately called to action to generate enough soup but the house devolved into utter chaos. Everybody had their soup but just as they recovered, they got infected again!

Ok, I was thinking, Consort was quite old and fragile. Nina must’ve had the cold for a long time, given she was on a vacation. There’s no way the kids are gonna die on the first day they got infected. They had the soup, so I’ll send them to beds, so they can get a good-night sleep and enough rest.

Nope.

Ariel, a child, died in her sleep.

Nobody was able to get to her in time to plead for her.

While I was contemplating an in-character way of resurrection, Desdemona, a young teen, died in her sleep just about two hours after her sister.

Again, nobody was fast enough.

Luckily, Miranda was already in college and she was roommates with Ophelia Nigmos, who was in possession of a genie lamp she was safeguarding from Olive. Hearing about the tragedy that befell her friend’s family, moved by the death of a little girl and her not much older sister, Ophelia the Family Sim offered Miranda the lamp on the spot.

Miranda rushed home to drop off the lamp and then ran off so she doesn’t get infected. Well, she did anyway but since I haven’t played the college Sims yet, I don’t know of her fate.

Hal made a good use of the lamp. He rolled the wants to resurrect both his sisters and that’s exactly what he did.

He triumphantly finished making the wishes...

And dropped dead.

Another young soul succumbed to cold.

But! Since there was still a wish left and his sisters were back alive, Desdemona swiftly brought him back.

Ariel’s and Hal’s resurrections were perfect.

Desdemona’s was faulty, so her personality got reversed.

But as long as they’re alive and preferably not zombies, everything will do.

The Capps were all cured! Hooray!

Wait. Not all Capps. There was still Regan’s branch and, predictably, they were all infected. And this time, there was no Family Sim in sight.

The only non-infected Sim in the family was a little toddler. The poor, poor child was in for a life-long trauma.

Kent went quick and quiet the first night of their round. Regan fortunately recovered. Cornwall did too. They had a very lucky start of the round all together, I may add. Kent’s tragic death was followed by Regan’s demotion that lead to her subsequent want to quit her job (...and she was the only one who was making any significant money), then Cornwall set the house on fire while cooking breakfast, then he got fired.

Poor thing. First got house-fired, then job-fired.

Regan’s LTW was to reach the top of the Law career, so she got herself a new job there. On her first day, she got promoted!

And she brought home a friend! Sweet!

No... nooooo...

It was Ajaj F*ckin’ Loner.

Both Regan and Cornwall got infected before you could say “act your surname and social-distance, you jerk!”

Cornwall died almost immediately. Unfortunately, Regan was asleep and failed to get up and ambush the Grim Reaper in time.

On the bright side, she recovered!

So I watch her go to work, the nanny arrives to baby-sit the toddler, everything seems to finally have settled down.

But then I spot an unexpected movement in the house.

It’s Titania Summerdream. Who let her in? I have no idea.

It would be quite sweet of her to check on her friend Regan after she lost two family members and to help with her young daughter.

If... if she didn’t have the fricking cold!

Regan returned from work and I rushed to have her send Titania away.

Of damn course she didn’t go before giving the cold to Regan.

Now it was the third time Regan got infected and there were no other family members to take care of the toddler if she dies. It was very suspenseful. I decided to use extreme measures and I teleported Albany in, made him selectable and had him cook the soup.

Instead of that, he proceeded to bicker with Regan.

If he got re-infected, I swear...

Anyway, after a three tries or so, Regan got her soup and Albany was on his merry way away.

What a relief! I sent Regan to sleep, trusting the soup to do its magic. The next morning her needs all looked great! No notification yet but I was sure it’s gonna arrive any second. When suddenly...

Yeap, she died.

Regan Capp died the way she lived. Paying her family’s bills.

I used Simblender again to quickly move in Hal. He was there in time to plead for Regan!

And for the first time in the Capp household, he actually made it! He pleaded!

And... and... lost.

So I had him stay to take care of the toddler until their round was over. Then I moved them both back with Goneril’s branch.

At the very least young Ione, the genius toddler with maxed Logic skill, got something resembling a birthday party with her cousin and his boyfriend Alexander Goth.

Given that Montys had their losses as well, the cold has already taken out much of the adult population of Veronaville.

The only two adults left (not counting fresh elders Albany and Goneril) in Veronaville were in fact the Summerdreams who were extremely lucky and with an abundance of soup, they survived.

To be completely honest, I’m very happy with the mod. I tend to play large hoods and although it tends to be rather tragic, the occasional epidemic of cold trims the population down a bit without me killing anybody off and it gives the game an additional bit of challenge and randomness.

...or maybe I’m just a sh*tty person to my Sims.

Bonus screenshots of the Strangetown cold outbreak:

Vidcund Curious spent two nights sleeping in a chair in his children’s bedroom because he was afraid they’re going to die from the cold in their sleep and wanted to be there to plead for them. In the end it actually happened, he pleaded and managed to save his daughter.

The Smiths had to be unfortunately visited by the Therapist. PT9 died on the day he was supposed to die of old age but hours prior, he became yet another victim of the cold. And it was very unlucky, since it meant no inheritance and by the Watcher, Jenny and their 5 kids could definitely use it. They were completely broke.

But not everything was morbid and tragic!

Lazlo rolled quite the unexpected want to get married to his girlfriend, Cassandra Goth. They weren’t engaged, she wasn’t pregnant, he’s not a Family secondary, and the date they were on wasn’t even in the stage Sims usually roll engagement wants, he simply rolled it out of the blue. And of course I went with it! (Cassandra had recently divorced Don, rolling the wish to remarry almost immediately.)

The only family in the hood that could technically mass-produce medicine so that not everyone is dependent on the soup, the Beakers, of course didn’t. Why would they risk their hides, toying with the Mysterious Disease, when they didn’t have to? Instead, they social-distanced and spent the rotation raking in promotions and taking care of their army of children. (Loki kept rolling wants to get abducted and ARC wasn’t kind to them either. But with Loki being Family secondary and Circe leaving most of the parenting on him anyway, I don’t think they mind.)

Note the alien toddler, the second youngest child. He has 10 Nice points. That’s 4 points more than all 5 of his siblings and his parents combined. He’s gonna have a rough childhood, the poor thing.

Jill Smith managed to get nibbled on by the pack leader just in time, a few days before going to college. She’s thrilled by her new wolf-y powers! And regardless of what her mother says, she knows the fur goes with her school uniform just perfectly!

Rachel Pleasant, the youngest offspring of Daniel that he knows about (the second youngest overall), aged up into a child! And judging by the look on her face, she already knows how much of a mess her family is.

Not even being brought back from the dead made Desdemona Capp immune to the Summerdream charm. Bottom, the young Romance Sim, invited her girlfriend to hang out in their hot tub. It was an afternoon to remember for both of them.

Local ageing general married a successful young athlete, Kristen Loste. Unfortunately for everyone attending the wedding, the bride’s former roommate Chloe Curious decided that flirting with her literally the next interaction after Kristen said, “I do.” was a smart idea. No need to add that the wedding cake was left to rot forgotten, never cut. It was a sad wedding cake but even though it started to stink around two hours after the wedding, it still lasted longer than the marriage.

And far away in La Fiesta Tech, two estranged siblings were talking things out and healing their relationship.

Now I lost this hood (again) and started a new one, so the next gameplay post will probably feature the same characters in completely different circumstances and nothing is going to make sense but... what does anyway?

[vidalinav]

Character Analysis: Elain in light of Nesta’s POV

You know, I really hope Elain doesn’t stay “good” and not that I mean that I want her to be evil, but I guess I just want her to be “normalized.” If there’s anything I know for sure is that Elain and Nesta are on two opposite sides of a spectrum when it comes to dealing with emotion. One hides herself by being bright and gentle and one hides herself by being angry and spiteful. I argue that if ACOSF showed us anything, it’s that Nesta needed to be a little more like Elain, where she saw the good in the world, the hope and chose hope over the hatred. But I argue now that Elain needs to be more like Nesta too, where she sees how bad the world is and she gets angry about it, so angry that she explodes and takes action against it. Both of those aspects of being hopeful and being angry are very healthy emotions, just not in extreme amounts. Nesta was so spiteful that she became bitter and was ruining relationships, but Elain is so “bright and easily lovable” that she’s underestimated, viewed by others as being boring, naïve, and in need of coddling, which also doesn’t help her build close relationships or have her gain more autonomy and independence. 

So, quite honestly, I do hope we get to see Elain doing something bad. Not something super bad, personally I’m partial to this dark!Elain scenario, but something that knocks the pedestal away from her, where she can no longer be this “good” girl who’s always polite, always nice, always happy, always in her garden. There’s not a problem being this type of person, but it’s only a facet of a character, and I think we also have to question whether that hopefulness is genuine or how genuine her personality is. Because to me, I read Elain’s happiness the same way I read Nesta’s anger, where she’s probably not that hopeful or kind or happy or easily lovable, and that that in itself is a way that she copes with the world around her. 

But it’s interesting because I find that Elain’s character is one of the hardest to analyze, because 1. There’s not too much about her yet and 2. Because I know so many people who were “supposedly” the nicest people around who ended up being the worst people I knew, which made it worse because they played into this role of being sweet and precious and the ended up really just being two-faced and hypocritical. It wasn’t bad that they had these flaws, it was the fact that they were hiding these flaws under the guise that they were this perfect person, and actively tried to be this perfect person. This is something that I think a lot about with Elain, because she can certainly be this person at the end of the day. SJM butchers characters all the time, not that she ruins them, but that she ruins them in the way that you can’t see them in either extremely good or extremely bad cases. It really just depends on the circumstance and the POV. Mostly they’re morally grey with a lot of flaws. 

I think the way we have seen Elain is fascinating, because in Nesta’s POV she does have flaws and she should have flaws. I even argue that Nesta does treat her normally for the most part, because she treats her like everyone else with the same disdain from ACOSAF to ACOSF. But the thing that I can’t help but point out is that Elain didn’t like being treated like everyone else, she didn’t want Nesta’s disdain, she wanted Nesta’s love. So when she says “you can’t have it both ways...” resenting the small quiet life but also stopping her from doing something greater, I also argue that she can’t have it both ways either. She can’t dismiss Nesta’s worry about her when that is her form of love, Nesta is a protector, and then also expect her love to be freely given without restraint. I want to know exactly what Elain means by that line when she said “And yet somehow all you can think of is what my trauma did to you.” Because Nesta is worried about her, because she was stolen by the cauldron when she tried to scry the first time. Not only that when she first turned fae Elain literally became lifeless, and fell into a depressive state. Elain has always been shielded by Nesta, and she certainly wasn’t complaining about it before in any of the books or arguing against it though she had ample opportunity. This change of attitude only occurs after Nesta became also mean to her. 

But you would think that these two sisters would understand each other the most, because they literally have gone through everything the same. They were both dipped in the cauldron, they both gained extra cauldron power, they both were in the war, directly with Hybern, they both suffer with dealing with the aftermath. But neither Nesta nor Elain understand each other. Nesta doesn’t understand that Elain really couldn’t help her because she’s going through a lot of pain that she hasn’t dealt with herself and Nesta is a hard person to deal with. Even if Nesta could help her when Elain was in the same situation, Elain is not Nesta. But Elain doesn’t understand that Nesta is going through what she went through and doesn’t seem to put more effort in helping her nor cut her some slack nor share more empathy, even sympathy.  She enters the library in the beginning in ACOSF like it’s not a big deal, and then is unexpectedly hurt because Nesta isn’t nice about it, like what did you expect? And then she’s like with this scene, you can only think of what my pain did to you, and then at Feyre’s birthday, with Did Feyre pay you this time to come here? And then you know she’s in her room every time Nesta comes around. Like Elain cuts her no slack, even though, logically it makes more sense for her to be nicer to Nesta than even Feyre being nice to Nesta, because we have this preconceived notion that Elain is the kind and understanding and hopeful one, and we also know that Nesta’s love made a difference. We can’t dismiss that Nesta did support Elain when Elain was in a bad way and as a human her whole life, in the pursuit of claiming Elain is being coddled. Because both of those statements can be true and are true at the same time.  

Nesta and Elain did not get a resolution in this book. So it will certainly be interesting to see what that means for Elain’s POV. Because Elain has something to prove. To the others she needs to prove that she is capable, but I also think that she has to prove to herself that she’s capable. Because most of what we know she has done, is very little. She didn't help Feyre as much as Nesta didn’t help Feyre. She now hasn’t helped Nesta like Feyre has helped Nesta. And she’s certainly of course not responsible for taking care of others, but we can’t dismiss that she has certainly lived better and well, because others have taken care of her, so she can’t resent that now and then call out someone else for their hypocrisy. I said in another post a long back, that Nesta in her own narrative had to be self-critical or no growth would happen, she’d have to acknowledge that she had done wrong, because that’s how healing works. It’s an internal thing. No one is at fault for your own actions and feelings except for yourself, like there was certain level of accountability that Nesta would need to take back control of her life, even with her relationships, because relationships require a collaboration of entities, you’d have to acknowledge how the other person feels. So Elain in her own POV, has to acknowledge that she has done wrong, even if the wrong that she’s done is because she’s done nothing. Because one can’t expect meaningful relationships without acknowledging the other’s feelings, understanding where they are coming from, understanding that relationships are two ways and that Nesta “technically” doesn’t have to be close with her, no one has to be close with her, if she doesn’t actively try to be close to them, and also no one is stopping her from helping or living something greater, Elain does not put her foot down and then follow through. She does not take initiative to control her life and it’s not any of the character’s fault if they don’t think too much about her or don’t give her a chance, because she has not shown action. She needs to show action. Whether that be getting angry, yelling, telling people how she feels truly, demanding to go on trips with them or help with the cauldron, demanding and then placing herself where the action happens. She says “Find me when you wish to begin.” Well Elain, no one can find you, you need to be there when they need you. Which is the entire problem. 

Anyways, hopefully this made sense. At a certain point these analyses start sounding like rocket science, arrows leading into a thousand different directions.  Truthfully, I do just want Elain to be an interesting, complex character. But I don’t want her to be extremely good. Because she’s not. No one is. Perfect characters are boring and not what SJM writes. People just don’t hold her accountable like they do Nesta, because she’s more pleasant and happy. But damn, I’d hate this girl if she started being like y’all don’t give me a chance or acknowledge my trauma, but then doesn’t acknowledge that she benefits from the situation, in a way that no character does, and she doesn’t actively stand against it, so what is she really complaining about? 

Sigh. These characters. SJM is too good at writing imperfect people. 

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Rapunzel and the Great Tree Part 1

We’re now finally at the mid-season finale of season two, and it’s easily the best episode of this season. That however doesn’t mean that it’s not flawed, so here we go... 

Summary: The group makes it to the Great Tree, only to be confronted by a new adversary: Hector, the brother of Adira, the most dangerous member of the Brotherhood; sworn to keep all from reaching the Dark Kingdom. Despite all that has happened, Rapunzel is determined to continue on toward the Dark Kingdom to uncover the truth behind her destiny. As they navigate through the Great Tree, Rapunzel discovers the Moonstone incantation which overwhelms the magical powers of the Sundrop in her blonde hair and causes injury and weakness to those around her. 

The Brotherhood Is Such a Wasted Concept 

We have a group of highly trained warriors, directly connected to the series main macguffin, who consider each other siblings, who all have conflicting goals, and they’re all severely underdeveloped to the point of ridiculousness. 

For starters, in a show all about pushing sibling rivalries as parallels to the two main characters, it utterly fails to show the only other siblings who are actually connected to the plot acting like actual siblings. 

Adira and Hector should be a parallel to Cass and Rapunzel in this very episode. One that actually ties into the narrative, yet outside of calling each other brother/sister/brethren they don’t act like family; even feuding family. Adira also fails to treat Quirin, Varian, Edmund, and Eugene as family. She shows no real concern for any of them despite saving her home (which would included her family) from the rocks being her main goal. She should be just as every bit as invested in saving Quirin as Varian. Which is yet another reason why Varian should have been S2 and another entry point for him in the show’s plot. 

As for the rest of the Brotherhood, they never even interact at all. I don’t think anyone tells either Edmund or Hector what has happened to Quirin or Varian. And Edmund clearly didn’t inform Hector of Eugene, even though he logically should have. And did any of them know if Edmund was alive, despite Edmund having the means to communicate with the outside world with the crows? 

What we’re left with is a bunch of holes in the story, because there’s now a bunch of holes in everyone’s motivations and their actions never quite line up. 

And before you say, ‘well they’re not that important’, or ‘they’re aren’t meant to be a real family’; then that is in of itself a flaw because they should be. Not making them found family undermines Raps and Cass being found family, as it undermines every other sibling parallel in the show, and those parallels are the only build up we have to the sister reveal in S3.  

It also undermines the moonstone plot and the whole reason why season two exists. Don't introduce things that connect back to your story and not make them important. In fact don't introduce unimportant elements in a plot driven show like this period. 

Another Indication of the Timeline

As stated before, Tangled is really bad at indicating the passage of time, despite the passage of time being a big plot point. We’re now a ‘few months’ past the island, which itself was 6 weeks, and before that it was several weeks to maybe even a few months before getting to the island... 

So when does this take place? Well we were told that season two takes place over the course of a year by the creator, and that this is the mid-season finale so 6 months since SotSD sounds the most plausible. We also see fall trees dotted around like we did during the first half of season one. Which is the only visual indicator we get of changing seasons in the show, but it’s too understated to be properly noticeable most of the time. 

However, the crew themselves can’t even seem to agree if Rapunzel’s Return is her birthday or not, so if you’ve heard conflicting sources, it’s because this shit wasn’t planned properly first. But all dialogue and visual cues point to the first half of season two being at least 4 to 6 months. With 6 being the most logical placement.  

Just a Reminder, that Hook Foot Is Still Useless 

If all you were going to have him do is whine like a child during the only plot important episode that he is in, then why not just replace him with an actual child? 

It takes more work to leave Varian out of season two and force Hook Foot in his place, than it does just to write Varian in. There were so many potential entry points for his character, that the one they would up going with was the least natural to the characters and the story they were trying to tell. And even then, the Saporian take over they went with could still have worked had they handled things properly and pre-planned that stuff out. 

But they didn’t. By all accounts S2 was a hasty re-write to get rid of Varian and Hook Foot was shoehorned in as his replacement at the last minute. And it’s the most utterly baffling creative decision I have ever witnessed in my life. There was zero logical reason for it. 

This Plot Point Wasn’t Built Up Enough and It Goes Nowhere

Look, had they actually pointed out that Cass is a bodyguard now, and that this line from Raps threatens her career goals, that would make sense; or they could have explored the idea that Cass’s identity revolves around her job, and so feeling like her job is pointless makes her feel pointless therefore making her feel insecure about her future. Either of those would have been interesting jumping off points for her character arc and later conflicts. 

But that’s not what they did. 

I think that’s what they were initially trying to go for here, but it got muddled in the mess that was last minute rewrites. 

Cass obtaining her goals in season one is ignored in favor of a bland and vague validation goal from this point onwards. Her issues with Rapunzel are then boiled down to be about; not identity, agency, class, or wanting a future, but into fighting over a dead mom and how one wasn’t ‘loved enough’ apparently. Which makes no sense given what we know of Cass from previous seasons. 

Cassandra isn’t deep or complex; she is convoluted. The writing team couldn’t agree on what her goals and motivations should be, and so she performs conflicting actions throughout the story that actively undermines what was previously established and what she supposedly wants. 

Most people who try to defend the writing for Cassandra do so with this idea that because they had to work hard to ‘connect the dots’ for all these seemingly disconnected plot ideas, means that of course the writing is ‘deep’ but that’s ignoring one of the basic fundamentals of writing.   

The audience shouldn’t have to do the writer’s job! 

Having to think about a story doesn’t mean that you need to go digging around for basic information like the character’s goals or what happened when. A writer’s job is to first and foremost clearly communicate ideas to their audience. Plot and character analysis is about finding extras like, metaphors, moral messages, and coming up with fun headcanons that don't impact the wider story. Because all of the bare bones information needed to understand the story should already be there for everyone to see. 

If you gotta go into ‘analysis’ just explain the damn plot and why things are unfolding the way they do, then the story is badly written. Full stop. 

Cinderella wanting to go to the ball is a simple goal, but it’s an understandable one that anyone watching can grasp. You could go into a deeper analysis about abuse and what the ball symbolises for Cinderella’s character or how the story is an analogy for wider social issues at large, but at the end of the day everyone needs to be in agreement that, yes, Cinderella wants to go to the ball and we know why she wants to go, so that her actions in trying to get there make sense.

No one knows what Cassandra wants. Cassandra herself doesn’t know what she wants. So the ‘why’ part for what she does is never answered. 

Hector Is Wasted

As already stated, all of the Brotherhood is wasted, but Hector more so than most. Season two desperately needed an ongoing threat, a main antagonist to push the story forward. Hector should have been that antagonist. Instead he shows up for this one episode, and then in a few non-speaking cameos in S3. 

Then Why Not Just Stay With Them Adira?

We’re never given an actual reason for why Adira keeps leaving the group, and indeed doing so conflicts with her stated goal of getting Rapunzel safely to the moonstone. It’s just shoehorned in here to create ‘mystery’, but mysteries have to be answered at some point. You can’t throw something in for drama’s sake and not explain why it’s there. 

Lance’s Crush on Adira Isn’t Handled Well 

Look, this isn’t a judgment upon those who ship the characters. When I talk about relationships in the show I’m only talking about how well they are written on screen. I couldn’t care less what the fans do with them. 

Even when I discuss my personal preferences for ships, that is all that is, my personal preference. I don't give a shit if you ship something that I may dislike, or if you hate something that I do enjoy. I’m a grown up with more important things to do than worry over what a bunch strangers may write on A03 about a bunch of fictional characters, and as someone who hates bullies above all else, I’ll defend your right to make whatever content to want to because censorship is just a form of bullying and nothing else. 

No matter how gross or reprehensible I may personally find it. Different stories resonate with different people and for different reasons. I may debate your reasons, if the subject comes up, or critique professional media for the messages it puts out to the wider public, but I’ll never say you can’t like it or that you can’t make it.    

So with that stated, I don’t like Lance’s dynamic with Adira in the show and here’s my reasons for that. 

She doesn’t ever return the feelings. 

At best she tolerates him, at worse she actively kicks his butt when he gets too close, and most of the time she ignores him. Which is for good reason; she’s old enough to be his mom. Why would she be attracted to him? 

Like I’m not saying that age gaps between adults are inherently wrong; I’m saying that if there is a significant age gap then you really have to work hard to build up a reason for why the two characters would go for each other when naturally they wouldn’t be in each other’s usual sphere of dating options. Which the series never does because once again Adira is clearly not interested in him. 

This leads to Lance basically being an annoying ‘nice guy’ who can’t take a hint. Like constantly badgering someone who doesn’t want you to isn’t charming or endearing, and Lance is old enough to know this by now. 

Basically the writers just took the Varian and Cassandra dynamic from Great Expotations and slapped it onto Lance and Adira despite the fact that it made zero sense for their characters. Lance isn’t a lonely teen who desperately wants to fit in and make a connection with someone. He’s not out to prove that he is mature, nor mistakenly believes himself to be an equal to the only other girl in the kingdom that has ever talked to him that isn’t already married/seriously dating and still living at home. Adira never comes around to considering Lance a trusted friend and confidante after shoving nearly everyone else away. She doesn’t seek out his help or approval, nor tries to build him up with compliments, ect, and so forth. 

Now, I dislike the Cass and Varian ship for many, many reasons, but as they are presented on screen in the Great Expo it makes sense for why Varian would at first have an unrequited crush on her. Now after that QfaD he logically shouldn’t ever want anything to do with her but we’ll get to that later. That’s not the case with Lance and Adira; they’re both too old for such a dynamic. 

To add on to the weird factor, they’re both related to Eugene. Adira is technically Eugene’s aunt, even if she never acts like it. Lance is also the closest thing to a brother Eugene has. They don’t recognize each other as such, so if you want to say their just friends or ship them or whatever, there’s wiggle room. But the end effect is like Maya in Girl Meets World crushing on her best friend’s, Riley’s, Uncle Josh. Only even with less basis, and it wasn’t that great there either. 

Why Do you Suddenly Not Trust Adira Cass?

Forest of No Return was all about establishing trust in Adira, including with Cass at the end, so why the sudden back track? Especially since Adira hasn’t done anything but been honest with them, and has saved their butts several times now. All this does is make Cassandra look like an ass, which you don't need to be doing if you want the audience to side with her later on in the story. 

Everyone Now Knows Quirin is a Part of the Brotherhood, So There’s No Excuse For Later

It’s an odd way to state that fact, but yeah, both Cass and Raps are told directly that Quirin is in the Brotherhood, and Lance, Eugene, and Hookfoot are also present and presumably listing to this exchange. So no one in S3 has an excuse to ignore this plot point until the finale. 

This Backstory Goes Nowhere

Adira launches into this story about Zhan Tiri, Demanitus, and the Great Tree and literally none of it actually matters. It’s never brought up again after this episode. We never get any insight into why they were fighting, how Zhan Tiri corrupted a tree, what significance the tree has outside of being really big and holding some scrolls, nor how the scrolls got there, why the tree is still connect to Zhan Tiri hundreds of years later, nor how Demanitus magic spear works or what it even does exactly. 

Don’t introduce lore and then don't have it mean anything. 

Why Do you Care, Cass? 

Cassandra isn’t a lady-in-waiting anymore. We’ve already established that back in Secret of the Sun Drop and in Beyond the Corona Walls. So why should she care if Adira calls her one? Adira isn’t from Corona. Adira isn’t in charge of anything. Cassandra doesn’t even like her, so Adira’s opinion shouldn’t matter. 

This whole season we’ve seen Cass treat Adira like shit, but apparently we’re supposed to feel sorry for her when she can’t take clap back for all the grief she’s given. Is she really so immature that she can’t just ignore a petty insult for what it is? Why does she have to behave so insecure that she will jeopardize the mission or someone’s life over it? This is the deuteragonist I’m suppose to root for and relate to? I mean she’s twenty three for goodness sake! Grow the hell up woman! 

Also while we on the subject, a royal guard and a lady-in-waiting are both servants. There’s no distinction between the two beyond what duties they perform, and that would be the case regardless of what job Cass had. Rapunzel’s a princess, everyone is her servant. That’s how the class system works, and by all means Cassandra enjoys more privilege than most people in Corona. She’s the Captain’s daughter, was granted next in line for that position in SotSD, and lady-in-waiting means to the princess means she’s above all the other maids except for Crowley and Friedberg. Cass may hate her job, but she hasn’t room to complain when Faith is right there and has things much worse. 

In short making Cass suddenly indignant over being treated as lower class when she didn’t give a crap about the likes of Attila, Caine, Varian, Eugene, Lance, ect... just makes her look like a hypocrite. 

The Other Reason to Dislike Lance’s Crush is That It Hinders His Development

Lance’s arc is that he’s suppose to learn to be more responsible. This episode in particular is suppose address his habit of lying... only it doesn’t. We get no real resolvement on this point. We also never see Lance progress enough to give up on Adira and stop pursuing her even when it’s directly pointed out to him that she doesn’t reciprocate his feelings. So in the end he still remains immature and irresponsible. 

Though this conversation just proves that Eugene and Lance still have the healthiest relationship in the show. They’re about to disagree or call each other’s bullshit without resorting to insults or getting violent, which is more than what any relationship involving Cass does. 

Questions With No Answers

We never learn why these scrolls are here, why they have the incantations on them and upon the wall, we don’t know who translated them, nor who came up with the incantations in the first place.

This is all important info that he series glosses over, because unlike the moonstone and sundrop, the incantations are things that someone had to have made at some point, and they could only have made them by studying what our plot macguffins are and how they work. Since the incantations are things that are also sought after by the big bad along with the magical objects, then we need to know how the big bad knows about them when no one else does. How they came about. 

Which is yet another reason why we needed a magic system in place. 

This Song is Catchy, But It Doesn’t Need To Exist

In a musical a song needs to either establish the plot, build the world, or further the characters. This song does none of those things, it’s not needed for Lance and Eugene’s relationship, it doesn’t actually resolve Lance’s plot as he is high when he apologizes for lying, and it wasn’t needed to established the man eating plant. I honestly think this song only exists so that the animators could just reuse assets they built to save on money. 

The Hurt Incantation Is the Coolest Thing In the Show! Shame It’s Not Utilized Well

People are suckered into this show by one of three things usually, ‘Let Me Make You Proud Reprise’, ‘Ready As I’ll Ever Be’, or this scene. 

It’s shocking, powerfull, and a really, really awesome concept. It’s one of the best scenes in the show, and an interesting idea that offers up a lot of story possibilities. 

Possibilities that’ll never actually be explored on screen. The hurt incantation isn’t useless, it does affect the plot, but it’s not used effectively. There was so much you could have done with this but it’s then never explored. Characters outright forget its existence even when they have no reason to, or it’s used to do things that should have been accomplished in other ways. It’s also never fully explained or expanded upon. They couldn’t even bother to give it more than one verse. 

All of the incantations are mishandled in this show, but the hurt incantation is the one that has the biggest let down. 

Conclusion 

So that ends part 1, join me tomorrow for part 2.