#OBVIOUSLY something must go awry between them in order for a story to happen

[firstelevens]

14 for sambucky from the intimacy prompts, please ?

14. sharing drinks

did I hear someone order a nebulous early 1930s-flavored romance novel AU that was definitely not informed by the fact that I've read nine Sarah MacLean books in the past two weeks?

The thing about your very best friend choosing to marry a British heiress, Bucky decides, is that there are so many goddamned parties involved. There isn't a lot that he wouldn't do for Steve, but the sixth in a series of evenings flanked by titled young women looking for the quickest way to upset their aristocratic parents is pushing it.

It's not that he minds a dance or two, or sparkling conversation when he can get it. He sometimes even remembers how to be a sparkling conversationalist himself, but there's a reason why Bucky is mostly a silent partner in the club that the other Howlies talked him into investing in. Jones and Dum Dum and and Monty all seem to enjoy swanning around the floor like they own the place--which they do, to be fair--but being a curiosity gets tiring after a while, and even having a beautiful woman on each arm doesn't do much to dispel the sense of being a display piece when it happens.

Bucky waits for the crowd to raise their glasses in a toast to the happy couple before he makes for the conservatory, champagne coupe still in hand. He manages to time it just right, no guests to waylay him and no household staff to look at him in that way that makes him feel like he's still a grubby little kid running around Coney Island. He slips through the door, pressing it shut behind him and blowing out a long, slow breath, and then suddenly realizes that he's not alone.

Moonlight spills in through the glass wall of the conservatory, and the silhouette standing at the French doors is instantly familiar. Bucky has spent more time than he'd care to admit admiring those shoulders, that profile, the line of that neck. He watches for a long moment as Sam Wilson tips his head back and slowly exhales the smoke from his cigarette, and then Bucky's feet are carrying him forward before he can tell them otherwise.

"Giving up so soon?" asks Sam, as Bucky comes to stand beside him. When there's only a noncommittal grunt in response, he adds, "And you were so close to becoming a duke's son-in-law. All of--what's that place called? Chumbleyheath-Upon-Coxhead? something like that--at your disposal."

Bucky snorts. "Don't write me off just yet; Peggy said this house party's supposed to last another three days. I have time."

"The way Steve always talked about you, I'm surprised you'd need that long," teases Sam. "From what I heard, you were Brooklyn's very own Casanova."

"Steve had kissed all of two girls before he came over here and met Peggy, so I'd take what he has to say with a grain of salt," says Bucky. "But people didn't tend to say no to a spin around the floor with me."

Sam hums in acknowledgment. Bucky is slightly wary of what he might say, but he just shrugs a shoulder and says, "Not exactly a dance hall in there, though, huh?"

"Not exactly," says Bucky, with a little laugh. "So how come you're not in there charming everyone in the room? I've seen how much the Brits love trains, and you're half the reason they work as well as they do. They should be obsessed with you."

"One of them asked if I was part of the band for the evening," says Sam, his voice dry. "Does that count?"

"Christ," mumbles Bucky. "So you what, ducked in here to escape dealing with them?"

"I would've gotten away with it, too, if some Yankee Casanova hadn't come sniffing around."

"If I'd known you were here, I'd have brought snacks," says Bucky, before holding out his champagne glass. "Here, have this as a peace offering."

Sam has a free hand to take the champagne, so he doesn't have to hand off his cigarette in exchange for the coupe, and when he does, it sends a thrum through Bucky's entire body. When he raises the cigarette to his lips and takes a drag, he tries and fails not to think about the fact that Sam's mouth had been on it just a second ago, and when Sam watches him through those lovely eyelashes, Bucky's pretty sure it isn't the smoke that has him lightheaded.

"Not a bad peace offering," says Sam, which is a very funny thing to say about a champagne that definitely cost more per case than the monthly rent on the apartment Bucky grew up in. "I'm considering clemency for your crimes."

Bucky grins. "Anything I can do to tip the scales my way?"

Sam pretends to think for a moment. "Well, we know you don't have any food on you."

"Prioritized escape over rations," drawls Bucky. "What would my commanding officers think of me now?"

"Probably that you did damn good for an American soldier setting up in London, and that you should get them into the club for one of your famous Friday night parties."

"I'd offer you a standing invitation to secure your forgiveness, but Gabe's already given you one," Bucky says, pretending his face didn't go hot with Sam's praise. "I could ply a trade. Nothing technical, you'd run circles around me. But I could sketch you, if you wanted."

Sam raises his eyebrows. "And here I thought Steve was the artist."

"He is. I didn't say the sketch would be good."

"I might take you up on that one day," says Sam. He passes the champagne back to Bucky, exchanges it for his cigarette and takes one last drag before grinding it out.

Something about how his face looks in profile, lit up by moonlight and framed by smoke, makes Bucky hot around the collar. He downs the rest of the champagne in a single swig and finds that it didn't help. He's not sure anything will.

"Will we see you at the club on Friday?" asks Bucky, in the hopes that a conversation will delay their return, now that they're out of champagne to drink and cigarettes to smoke. "There's a singer from Paris coming down; folks are already beating down the doors to make sure they get a table."

"Monica Rambeau might live in Paris, but she's from New Orleans, born and raised," says Sam. "And I'd never miss seeing her perform, but I'm not sure I've seen you at the club a single night that I've stopped by."

Bucky tries not to let it mean anything that Sam noticed his absence. "I'm there," he says. "Just not on the floor. Someone has to keep an eye on things up in the office."

"Maybe the office will find a way to spare you sometime," says Sam. "Be a pity if you missed out on some real jazz because you were busy working on the books."

"I'll see what I can do," says Bucky.

"Good," says Sam, and Bucky tries not to let that mean anything, either.

[megalovaniamania]

Ok lemme know if this has been done already (there’s no way it hasn’t but I’ve never seen it sooo). I’ve come up with an AU. The premise is that instead of monsters being trapped underground, it’s the humans who were put underground by the monsters. Pretty much everything else is the same other than that and the implications it has on the characters and story.

More details under the cut if ya wanna read

BACKSTORY

So a long time ago humans and monsters used to live in peace, but then for one reason or another war broke out between them. The monsters were victorious (owing to their extreme discrepancy in magic), and forced all the humans under Mount Ebott, after which a boss monster (Asgore, I think it’s gonna be) sealed them away in there. The humans have been stuck there for a long time. The only way to destroy the barrier is by using the power of seven human SOULs, plus a boss monster SOUL. No one can enter the mountain, unless they posses both a boss monster SOUL and at least one human SOUL. No one can leave the mountain, save for a human with an incredibly powerful SOUL. Because of this, eight children have successfully escaped Mount Ebott. To have a SOUL powerful enough to escape, one must posses a strong personality trait (bravery, kindness, perseverance, patience, justice, integrity, determination), and one must also have a potent life essence, which is why only children are possibly able to escape.

This is how Chara, the first human, was able to leave and enter the surface world. It had been a long time since the war, which is probably why Asgore and Toriel took pity on Chara and raised them as their own. Even though they were well cared-for, Chara still deeply resented all monsters for trapping the humans underground (except possibly Asriel, whom Chara had grown somewhat attached to). After living there fore awhile, Chara devised a plan to free all the humans. They were going to kill themselves by eating poisonous buttercup flowers, and Asriel would absorb their SOUL, allowing him to enter the underground. Then, under Chara’s guidance, Asriel would obtain six more human SOULS (Chara never explicitly explains how they would get the SOULs. It’s possible that Chara hadn’t really thought that far ahead). However, the plan went awry when Asriel got cold feet, and couldn’t bring himself to harm any humans, because he had also grown attached to Chara. The humans, however, were angry at monsters and bitter about their imprisonment, and attacked Asriel, hoping to possibly get his SOUL and shatter the barrier. Asriel most likely would have willingly let the humans kill him, offering himself as a sacrifice, but Chara wouldn’t let that happen, and they went back to the surface world. Asriel was badly injured at this point, and ended up dying anyway, much in the same way it happens in classic UT.

Asgore and Toriel were utterly wracked with grief. Furious and heartbroken, Asgore once again declared war on all humans, and wanted to enter the underground and avenge his children. Toriel, however, talked him out of this (he wouldn’t have been able to do it anyway, as Chara’s SOUL had disappeared). Still, Asgore vowed to never again let a human walk free. Any time a human child managed to escape the mountain, they would be killed, under Asgore’s orders. The human SOULs were kept somewhere secret in the Capitol. This is because there is a way to make the barrier stronger. When one has possession of seven human SOULs, and a boss monster SOUL, they have the option to, instead of destroying the barrier, reinforce it. This would make it impossible for anyone to escape, no matter how strong a SOUL. It also prevents anyone from entering, even if they have the SOUL of both a human and boss monster. This becomes the motivation for the monsters to obtain seven human SOULs, like in classic UT. So far, Asgore has six. Obviously Toriel is disgusted with this new policy, and leaves Asgore to go live in the ruins away from the barrier and the Capitol.

FRISK

Frisk is the eighth human to escape the underground. Their goal, like in classic UT, is to get back home. They only consider destroying the barrier in the True Pacifist route (I think because they don’t know how, and maybe in the true lab they figure out?). They want to get home because they didn’t escape on purpose. None of the human children do. There’s a certain magic that happens for unknown reasons that transports the humans to the surface. It always has something to do with their personality traits (haven’t completely fleshed this part out yet idk). Other than all this their story is pretty much the same as in classic UT: they befriend or kill monsters, travel to the Capitol, fight Asgore. In the neutral routes they just kill him (or Flowey kills him), and use Asgore’s SOUL to re-enter the underground. Don’t yet know what happens in Genocide.

Sooo yeah that’s the basics of my AU. Don’t have a name for it yet, and there’s a lot of other stuff that I’ve gotta figure out as well. Maybe I’ll make another post with characters and art and stuff. Feel free to ask questions about this !!

[nadziejastar]

Saïx’s Jealousy

“Something you find amusing?”

“Oh, the things you hear from a guy with no heart,” Xigbar said through his hilarity.

None of us have hearts, Saïx was about to remind him, when Xemnas spoke again.

Totally 100% agree. KH3′s “resolution” to Axel and Saïx’s broken down friendship totally baffled me, since it didn’t even try to build off of everything we saw in all the previous games. It just tried to deflect your attention to a new mystery girl. Someone I talked to online wondered why Saïx was never truly humanized the way Axel was in Days. They said he should have been, if he and Axel were supposed to be such close and important friends, and if Isa was going to be there in the epilogue, totally welcomed by everyone. 

Of course, it’s obvious if you think about it. They had to make Saïx as ruthless and irredeemable as possible to explain why Axel would betray the organization in KH2, leave his best friend behind, and spend the whole game chasing after Roxas, constantly calling him his best friend. Axel needed to experience betrayal and heartbreak from Saïx on a such massive level in order for him to side with Sora, and for him to say that Roxas was the only organization member he liked and wanted to see again, when he was dying. Without Saïx being that awful, Axel doesn’t seem like a very good friend, let alone best friend.

“Understood.”

Xemnas disappeared nearly before he heard his order acknowledged.

“Don’t let us down now, kiddo. Shouldn’t be too much trouble without a heart,” Xigbar told Saïx.

KH3 made it seem like Saïx wasn’t even Norted and that he wasn’t constantly being monitored by the Recusant’s Sigil. If his possession had no influence on his personality or behavior, how could their friendship even be repaired? How do you repair the relationship between two best friends, where one tries to kill the other, with a smile on his face...all because he was jealous that he started spending more time with two kids? Saïx even said Axel deserved what he got when he died. He said Axel got nothing and was nothing. That’s a pretty damn cold thing to say about your best friend. You need a very good excuse for that.

And Saïx did have a good excuse, in my opinion. Being possessed, the solution is very simple. Once Isa’s heart is freed from Xehanort’s clutches, Lea can instantly forgive him, since he was not in control of himself. But in KH3, Saïx and Isa are the same person. And even worse, Saïx was the same as any other Nobody and had the ability to nurture a heart the whole time---that was the biggest problem, IMO. That is reeeeeally hard to fix. KH3 had absolutely no way of doing that. They were in waaaaay over their heads and they knew it. Nothing they could have written would ever have been enough to realistically patch things up by the end of KH3. So, they didn’t even bother trying. Not even with an actual apology. They just instantly made Saïx act “normal” and he and Lea were automatically cool again because...he brought Roxas back, I guess. Ugh.

Saïx heaved an exaggerated sigh. In a way, Saïx put more effort than any of them into pretending he had a heart, Axel thought. And yet, he was more lacking than any of them. 

You’re right that they both had good reasons to be hurt and upset. Axel’s is obvious. He didn’t choose to spend all of his time with Roxas and Xion because he lost interest in his relationship with Saïx. Not at all. He chose to spend so much time with them because Saïx emotionally rejected HIM. Axel desperately longed to get back the closeness they had as humans. He tried over and over to connect with Saïx, but he just never had the same capacity for human emotion that Axel did. 

It was unfathomable to me that Saïx’s twisted personality was entirely attributed to simple jealousy in KH3. Was Saïx jealous? Oh yes, absolutely. I have no doubt that he was. But...it still was not really that simple. He was messed up long before he became jealous of Roxas and Xion. There was a LOT more wrong with him than just that. They never explained why he was so jealous, either. He was free to rekindle his friendship with Axel any time he wanted to, right?

Well, no. Saïx wasn’t just jealous that Axel was spending time with Roxas and Xion more than him. He didn’t seem to care that Axel befriended them or was close with either of them in the beginning. If anything, he thought it might make it easier for him to spy on Xion. It was convenient for Axel to be close to Roxas, too. Saïx wasn’t jealous...at first. But that all changed at a certain point. This was the huge secret that was supposed to make Isa redeemable. Not Subject X.

He’d never deluded himself that tracking down Riku would be easy, and neither had Saïx. It was just that if he went back and reported that he couldn’t find anything, he would have to deal with those attempts at “personality”—the sneers, the snide remarks, the only trappings of human emotion that Saïx ever showed. Not that Saïx was even capable of annoyance or disappointment, of course, what with the lack of a heart and all.

Saïx was a very complicated character and KH3 did him no justice at all. He had his own reasons for how he acted, even if his behavior was obviously not justified. This is what Axel was thinking just before he showed up on the clock tower and told Roxas about pushing the wrong buttons. Axel was always thinking about how human Roxas and Xion seemed and how inhuman Saïx always seemed compared to other Nobodies. 

“You’re calling her defective just because she couldn’t beat Riku? Seems a little harsh.”

“…Is it?” Saïx retorted.

“Well, why are you—?”

Saïx promptly cut off Axel’s question. “Go to whichever world you want to try first. Just track him down, find out what he’s doing. That may give us some clues leading to the hero of light.”

Guess I won’t get any more answers today, Axel thought. But seriously, what is your problem with Xion?

Xion was hurt by Saïx calling her a failure, and wondered why it upset her so much, when she supposedly had no heart. She ran away when Roxas said they were both “special”. Xion did have a heart, which is why she got so upset. Roxas got so upset because he had a heart, too. And right around this time, Saïx also started showing more human emotion. Axel seemed confused that he was not just cold and indifferent towards Xion. No, he truly hated her. 

“So, Saïx, what am I doing to—? Oh, boy. Awfully early for such a bad mood, don’t you think?” Saïx had whirled to face him with a rather pronounced scowl.

“…Nobodies do not have ‘moods’ to be ruined,” he said at length.

“Well, sure, technically…”

Of course, with no hearts, they couldn’t have moods or fits of temper. If something went frustratingly awry, their faces might reveal shadows of remembered emotion, no more. Still, for a remembered shadow, that was a mean glower on Saïx’s face.

Saïx wasn’t capable of feeling things like hatred or jealousy until that time. He was in a really bad mood when Xion failed her mission. The whole point of “The Wrong Button” was to show how special Roxas and Xion were. 

Day 152: Like a Real Person

Author: Axel

Roxas and Xion must have had it out over something. Knowing them, it's something dumb, but still. Watching them, it's like they're human. It's messing with my head. I kind of wonder if Roxas understood all that about the wrong buttons. I get the sense a lot of it went right over his head.

Roxas was just like a human, worrying over hurting a girl’s feelings and getting his own feelings hurt. Axel thought they were having a typical lovers’ spat and laughed it off.

Something must have happened that Roxas didn’t understand the reason for either, thought Axel. An emotion somewhere in my memories.

“Girls are complicated, aren’t they,” muttered Axel, and Roxas looked up at him, surprised.

“How did you know I was thinking about Xion?”

“Cause you’re simple, Roxas…Well, all us Nobodies are simple, though.”

“Are humans complicated?”

He’s just like a human. Axel found this funny, and he laughed out loud.

And around this exact time, Saïx started acting jealous of Axel spending so much time with Roxas and Xion, but not him. But he still rejected all Axel’s attempts to connect with him. If Saïx had shown the tiniest bit of openness to friendship, Axel would have come running back to him with open arms. 

“Well, this is a rare occasion.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you hardly ever come looking for me these days.”

“So? I’ve got something to discuss with you, for a change.”

“Is it about the failure?”

Axel shrugged. “Mind reader, are we?”

“It’s because you’re simple, see… That hasn’t changed.”

“Simple—you’re a rude bugger,” Axel replied, sitting down on a shelf right opposite Saïx.

The way the story is written in canon makes no sense. Why didn’t Saïx just spend more time with Axel? It’s not like it wasn’t obvious that Axel wanted nothing more than that. Axel was always totally open to Saïx, even when he behaved deplorably. If Saïx was so hungry for Axel’s affections, he should have been the easiest Nobody to awaken a new heart. But instead, he was the most difficult. In canon, there was no good explanation for this, so they created the stupid Subject X obsession as his motivation. The original Saïx was so much more interesting, though.

“You’re ready now—ready to take on Castle Oblivion. You will need to follow your memories. Trust what you remember and seek what you forget. Then you’ll find someone very special.”

I think he knew full well that Axel was using Roxas and Xion as a replacement for him. Saïx always wanted to feel friendship, but he rejected it because he truly was incapable of feeling it. He didn’t actually believe that Axel was capable of feeling it, either, and didn’t want to even bother pretending. Axel didn’t seem particularly bothered by this in the beginning. They were Nobodies, after all.

“But be forewarned… When your sleeping memories awaken, you may no longer be who you are now.”

He started thinking about friendship after he met Roxas and he started growing a heart after coming back from Castle Oblivion, around Day 72, appropriately named “Change”. 

Those two had lobbed so many questions at him as they grew as Nobodies. Was it just their curiosity that had him thinking so much? But it hadn’t started when they joined the Organization. It was after he’d gotten to know Xion, after Castle Oblivion.

Whatever the catalyst, he had to acknowledge that something in him was different. The old Axel wouldn’t have wondered about all that. He was changing. But why? His train of thought rambled on until suddenly he felt someone else with him. Irritated, he sat up. “Ever heard of knocking? You should try it sometime.”

Saïx was standing there beside his bed. Axel decided not to look at him and focused on a random point on the wall. But Saïx made no sign of caring one way or the other. His voice was as dispassionate as ever. “Tell me what Xion has been doing.”

He encountered someone very special there: Sora, and even more importantly, the Isa from his memories. He started remembering things from his childhood and began feeling things he hadn’t felt since becoming a Nobody. From then on, he began to change and he found it a lot more difficult to be around Saïx. When he got back the second time, he had a totally new perspective on his memories of the past. Before, he said they were baggage. Then, he said they were too precious to lose.

The heart probably had secrets unknown even to DiZ. The Heartless were an embodiment of the darkness in the heart. When a Heartless was born, it created a Nobody, too—an empty physical form.

Then…a Nobody is……

Sora had to be the one who held the key. By coming into contact with him, the heart would awaken.

The fact that Nobodies like Axel were able to awaken a heart was a very big deal. The secret of the heart was absolutely crucial to the Xehanort Saga. Nobodies did have hearts.

“I think DiZ—I mean, Ansem the Wise—has some kind of plan.”

“Hey, Naminé… Is there something you haven’t told me—well, haven’t told us?” She looked at the floor. 

“…I’m not sure of it yet. The secrets of the heart…aren’t something I can talk about, not yet,” she told him in a tiny voice and took another bite of ice cream.

Naminé constantly mentioned the secrets of the heart.  

“This is the only time we have to talk,” she argued. “Do you think Nobodies really don’t have hearts? Who told Axel he doesn’t have one? The heart—there are secrets that—”

“Naminé!” Riku had to interrupt. Nobodies were crawling out of the corners, and one sprang straight at her.

Saïx was a special Nobody. And he also nurtured a heart, but it happened later and it was different than what happened to Axel, no doubt because Isa’s heart was captured at the time.

“I feel bad for you, too,” she told him.

“What are you talking about?” Saïx towered over Naminé.

“You haven’t even noticed yet…that you have a heart.” Several Nobodies emerged from a rift out of the corridors.

“A heart? I have a heart? No one wants your nonsense!” Saïx raised his sword over Naminé—but Riku was there with Soul Eater to intercept the blow.

“Hmph. I don’t have time for these games.” Darkness welled from a rift behind Saïx. “Run along and help your dear hero.” With that, he disappeared.

“Are you all right?” Riku helped Naminé to her feet.

“Now I understand…,” she murmured.

“Naminé…? You understand what?”

She was silent for a moment and quietly shook her head as she stood. “It’s nothing. We have to find Kairi.”

Naminé also sensed that something was unusual about Saïx’s heart. 

The shards of what stays with us, those fragments of memory—they won’t disappear. Even if the chains linking them together are broken, the memories don’t die.

I knew that I had the power to line them back up, the pieces of memories scattered in the depths of the heart, so how… How could I have forgotten something so important?

I understood that. I just couldn’t remember. It’s because I didn’t want to remember. I didn’t want to discover the secrets of the heart. I didn’t want…to unravel the mysteries of what a Nobody is.

“I always thought…that Nobodies were doomed to fade back into darkness,” Naminé murmured as her gaze dropped.

The secret of the heart was connected to Ansem the Wise’s research results that he put inside of Sora and also the heart’s connection to memory. Key memories never disappear, and they are able to awaken one’s heart.

“Naminé, Roxas, and Xemnas… The Nobodies of those with strong hearts are peculiar beings. My—that is, our theories proved fruitless. Coming into contact with a strong heart transforms a world. And not just worlds, but people themselves—and even Nobodies.”

Naminé, head lowered and hand extended with the ice cream for Riku, perked up upon hearing those words.

That’s it… Yes. The mystery of the heart. When we encounter someone special…the world changes. Our hearts change. Everything changes.

As a memory witch, Naminé was able to understand this secret better than anyone else. Saïx’s heart began to stir starting around Day 117, appropriately named “Secrets”. It was all about special Nobodies, who remember their past. They were born of people with strong hearts, just like Ansem said.

The way she moves, you wouldn’t even think she’d ever forgotten how to use that thing for even a moment. She’s almost as—no, she’d probably be even stronger than Roxas.

In any case, I don’t really get why I had to go on a mission with her right at this time. There are certainly a fair few Heartless, but with the force Xion has now, I think she could fight just fine without my help.

“These Heartless here are the last, I think.”

“Xion, fight fight fight~” Axel clapped, as she turned around.

“What are you doing?”

“What am I doing… I’m praising you, you know.”

“You’re weird,” said Xion, laughing. Just then, Axel suddenly felt like Xion’s face had blurred, and he rubbed his eyes.

“Is something wrong, Axel?”

“Nah…” For a second, the Xion I saw there had the face of… Naminé.

During the mission that day, Axel was praising Xion playfully, then suddenly he saw her as Naminé. I think the organization could monitor the memories that Xion absorbed. And they knew Naminé was involved with Xion. When Xion ran away, Xemnas asked Saïx where Naminé was and he was confused. That’s when Xigbar realized he couldn’t see Xion. She probably looked like Naminé to Xigbar and Xemnas at one point.

The Replica’s memories were being rewritten, just like Sora’s. Watching the puppet asleep in the flower-bud pod, Axel murmured to the girl beside him. “That’s an incredible power you have, Naminé.”

“But…the only thing I can really do is string together bits of memory in different ways,” she said. “I can’t put in pieces that were never there to start with.”

“Doesn’t that mean that as long as you’ve got the data, you can pull it off?” Axel wondered. The Organization already had the technology to convert memories to data.

“But I need something to hold it,” said Naminé. “Like a container.”

“A container, huh…?” So in this case, Axel thought, the Replica was the container.

“And besides,” she went on, “Nobodies like you are at the mercy of their memories. It might awaken something similar in the Replica.”

“What do you mean?”

“A heart—” Naminé began to say something more, but at that moment, Vexen burst into the room.

Naminé almost told Axel the secret of the heart in Castle Oblivion. That might be why he saw Naminé when he looked at Xion that day.

Xigbar, standing and watching their exchange with his arms folded, opened his mouth. “You’ve been working really well lately haven’t you, Poppet.”

“…Thank you,” Xion replied in a small voice.

“Thank you? Why do you have to say thanks?

“Well, you were praising me, weren’t you? Was I wrong?”

“Haha… Yeah, I guess you could see it like that.” He pressed his hand to his mouth and snickered.

“Did I say something funny?”

“No, no. You’re fine.”

Xion looked up at Xigbar, anxiously. Beside them, Saïx didn’t show any notable reaction. He just watched.

In the game, Saïx started hating Xion after she failed her mission to capture Riku on Day 149. But in the novel, we see it actually started earlier than that. He started hating her after Xigbar started teasing him on Day 119. This scene implies that Xigbar was able to observe the memory that Xion absorbed from Axel while fighting alongside him. 

“Did I miss something?” Axel wondered.

“Xion has collapsed again.”

Now Axel frowned. He sure had missed something. “Did she get hurt or what?”

“No,” Saïx replied, any hint of expression vanishing from his face. “It’s just that the failure was functioning better than expected until recently.”

“‘The failure’? Is that what we’re calling her now?”

It was apparently a very special memory to Axel and it started to have an effect on Isa’s heart as well. This is probably why Saïx seemed to hate Xion way more than Roxas. Of course, he hated Roxas later, in KH2. But in Days, he hated Xion more because Axel remembered a special moment between Lea and Isa while fighting with her. In the past, Lea must have praised Isa, who was fighting better than expected. I think it was before Isa tried to give Lea a day off to relax and sleep. Isa was confident, but he failed. Saïx rubbed Xion’s failure in her face so badly because he was jealous of Axel praising her. That was something special between him and Lea. He hated Xion being included.

Roxas: But I've heard him say he wasn't cut out for combat. I guess everybody in the Organization is good at different things.

Axel: That's right. Everybody's unique.

Xion: Even Nobodies? Don't you need a heart to be unique?

Axel: Oh, I think we have other things that set us apart. Like our pasts.

Xion: What past?

Roxas: You remember stuff from before?

Axel: That's one of the things that makes the Organization members special. Unlike lesser Nobodies, we remember who we were.

He might have also been upset that Xion was “working really well” lately and being specifically praised for her ability to fight. Maybe he thought Axel valued her more as a friend because she was more “useful” than Isa was. That was probably a huge insecurity Isa had. So, Saïx took extra special pleasure in berating her for her failure. It wasn’t right for him to act like this, but I can totally understand why he did. Especially since he knew Xion wasn’t human.

Xaldin: Trust no one. Feed your anger! Only anger will keep you strong.

Beast: I've had enough of strength. There's only one thing I want---

Xaldin: What? To love, and be loved in return? Who could ever love a beast?

Day 119 was also the day Xaldin went with Roxas to find the Beast’s weakness, which would make his heart a captive. Eventually Xaldin used the Beast’s love for Belle as his weakness. He convinced the Beast that he couldn’t trust her and that no one would ever love him. He’d isolate himself and fall to darkness. And I think he and Xigbar did the same thing to Saïx. They exploited his insecurities and probably convinced him that Axel was trying to replace him, since he did the “fight fight fight” thing with Xion. So, he felt very jealous and it caused him to push Axel away.

Roxas: I found out about love on today's mission--that it's something powerful.

Axel: That's true. It is. But I'll never get to experience it.

Roxas: Nobodies can't love?

Axel: You need a heart, man.

It wasn’t true or anything. Axel still did care a lot about Isa and had no idea what was going on. He did similar things with Roxas and Xion that he did with Isa because he was so lonely. He felt like Saïx didn’t care about him. But he always had Isa in the back of his mind. That’s why he started to nurture a heart in the first place.

“Axel this, Axel that… Sounds like you’re thick as thieves.” Xigbar restlessly jiggled his crossed legs. “Makes me wonder what you two are up to.”

“I might wonder the same about you,” Saïx retorted, and the tension was so thick it was hard to breathe.

“We have but one objective,” said Xemnas. “Be sure to keep that in mind.”

Saïx looked up at him.

There’s also the fact that Xigbar and Xaldin appeared to be manipulating Saïx to think that Axel was plotting behind his back. That’s a big reason their friendship fell apart so badly. Saïx was cold and dispassionate, but he still felt very loyal to Axel and trusted him. Xigbar and Xaldin tried to destroy that trust.

“Did you take care of Axel?” Xigbar asked.

“Most likely,” Saïx replied. Technically, he hadn’t seen Axel’s end. But it was hard to imagine that he had survived.

“Are you certain he’s gone?” Xaldin demanded. “He’ll be back to cause more trouble if you didn’t eliminate him.”

Xemnas put a stop to the interrogation. “Leave Axel for the time being.”

Saïx was reluctant to eliminate Axel. He really didn’t want to do it. But he was convinced that Axel betrayed him, and he was furious and jealous and hurt.

Xigbar turned to the other remaining member. “What’s happening with Axel?”

“I can’t find him,” Saïx replied, his scarred brow darkening with a frown.

“Were you looking?”

Once Axel started nurturing a new heart into existence, I think Xigbar was afraid that the same thing might happen to Saïx. He was probably jealous himself, too. He was uncomfortable with how close Saïx and Axel were and concocted a scheme with Xaldin to drive them apart. This is also a reason why I think Xemnas finally decided it was best to eliminate Axel in KH2. Now that he had a heart---a very strong one, at that---he had the potential to awaken Isa’s heart. That’s not good for a vessel. He was no longer working in the organization’s best interests.

Roxas closed his eyes for a moment, as if he had to say something terribly important, and took a breath that he let out in a sigh. “Saïx called her ‘defective.’”

Axel sighed, too. He had his doubts that Saïx realized just how special Roxas and Xion were. How they seemed to process things with an emotional quality that none of the other Nobodies had. Speak in those cold, dispassionate terms to one of them, and it would provoke the opposite reaction—just as if they had hearts.

But whether they were unknowingly reliving emotions from when they were human, or whether it was something unique to them, Axel couldn’t have said. Roxas was the Nobody of the hero of light, while Xion (he suspected) had something to do with the same person. Maybe that made them more special than even he knew.

Saïx didn’t understand that. Despite the lack of a heart, he could imagine what it was like to have emotional responses based on what he remembered from his human life. And he must be able to remember how much trouble it was.

Lea made the promise to Isa to always bring him back. That’s why it was always so important to Axel that Saïx trusted him. That promise meant a lot to Lea.  Saïx was genuinely hurt when he thought Axel chose Roxas over him and abandoned him in the organization. Axel really did try his hardest to eliminate Roxas for Saïx’s sake, but he just couldn’t do it. 

It was wrong and not what the real Isa would have wanted. Saïx thought Axel simply ditched him in favor of his new best friend. It confirmed what he already believed. That he’d never be able to experience genuine friendship or love ever again. He hated Axel and wanted him dead for that. It wasn’t for betraying the organization or Subject X. It was for leaving him after promising him that he’d always be there to bring him back.

All of it disgusted him. Saïx looked up at the skyscrapers, tracking Axel’s presence. He wanted a heart more than anything. But what could he do to get one? Here he was, yearning for a heart so badly, while Axel had managed to gain one without doing anything at all.

The blue-haired man had been the very first to join the organization after the founding members. He should have been special. The way number 13—Roxas, wielder of the Keyblade—was special. Axel was not. And yet…

He remembered what the witch Naminé had said. Axel seemed lonely. The man himself had denied it, but she was absolutely right. Axel was lonely. He’d lost Roxas. Lonely. Didn’t that mean he had a heart?

How had he gained one? Why only him? Was it an effect of his contact with the boy, or was there something else at work? He had no idea…

What made Saïx truly enraged was when he overheard Naminé say that Axel was lonely. He grew a heart, then discarded him for Roxas. He thought that he was unworthy of Axel’s friendship since Roxas had a heart and he didn’t. Roxas was more special than he was. And that was the root of his jealousy. He wanted to be special to Axel, but thought that he wasn’t anymore and never could be again.

“Love is what happens when there’s something really special between people.”

“More special than friends? Like…if they’re best friends? Inseparable?”

“Well, you can care about your friends, but that’s not exactly it…” Axel paused, groping for words that might make sense to Roxas.

When Axel left, it devastated him and that’s why hated Roxas and wanted to kill Axel. But unlike characters like Xigbar or Xaldin, Saïx always wanted to feel friendship and love, and Axel knew that. Saïx was definitely not in his right mind at any point in KH2. Axel wasn’t, either. He kidnapped Kairi because he was so unstable. Both of them wanted nothing more than to be loved by the other. This is no doubt why Lea had such an easy time going after Isa in KH3D and forgiving him. I was very put off by how KH3 made Saïx seem so casual and “normal”. IMO, it was easier to forgive him when he was acting deranged.

Vanitas: The X-blade is made of your heart, too, idiot. If you destroy it, your heart will vanish forever.

Ven: Whatever it takes. Anything to save Terra and Aqua.

Vanitas: Hmph, it's always about your friends, isn't it?

Ven: At least I have some! I've become a part of their heart, just as they've become a part of mine. My friends are my power...and I'm theirs!

Sora did feel sadness when he was saying goodbye to Hayner, Pence, and Olette. He was sad when Axel died, too. But Ventus’s heart still did not awaken at either of those times. He needed to relive the moment Aqua was about to be killed in the Keyblade Graveyard by Vanitas. That was when he was willing to sacrifice himself. He said his friends were his power. This was the event that led Ven to willingly shatter his own heart in BBS. It was his most selfless act, when his heart was at its most powerful, filled with love for his friends. That was the only event to cause powerful enough tremors to wake Ventus up.

Luxord: Perhaps he was ready for it. Perhaps he put his existence on the line and won what he'd been longing for.

Saïx: That's absurd. He won nothing and is nothing. He couldn't stand the emptiness of being without a heart, and that led to his demise. He was foolish and weak.

Xemnas: But...Weakness has the power to awaken that which is dormant. It is clear that through his actions, however foolish they may have been, Axel has touched Sora's heart. Perhaps HE will soon awaken.

Isa’s heart was asleep just as much as Ventus’s was. Because of that, Saïx felt stirrings of emotion like rage and jealousy. But his heart still was not truly awake, either. I think Isa’s heart would have been stirred into action to rescue Lea from Xemnas during his final battle. But I don’t think his heart would be fully awakened until Lea used the power of waking on him. I didn’t like how KH3 made it seem like Saïx was a typical Nobody who made a choice to reject his friendship with Axel. No, it was much more complicated than that.

[dfcfanfics]

Looking Back At 2019

Greetings!  Your sixth-favorite old man who churns out Miraculous fanfics is back again, casting his eyes on the year-about-to-end and what came of it.

Throwing my ramblings behind a cut, for the benefit of those who are less than fanatical about them.

Okay!  Still here?  Great.  

Stories that I wrote in 2019 included:

Longfics:

Let’s Take It From The Top:  The conclusion to this one arrived in January. This was a long-running alternate universe story, the longest I had written at that time, rebooting the Miracuverse with two alterations:

1) Gabriel brought the Cat and Moth, not the Peacock and Moth home from Tibet.

2) Gabriel was willing to listen to Nooroo’s pleas to not use his powers selfishly.

That simple starting point cascaded into a very long chain of surprises and reinventions of familiar Miraculous events.  Old faces with new Akuma identities, including a new one (Firefly) for Marinette before she ever becomes Ladybug!  A Wish gone awry that eventually threatens all of France -- and perhaps more.  Good Gabriel exploring the possibilities of Nooroo’s powers while attempting to save his son.  The eventual emptying of the Miracle Box in an all-out showdown.  Adrien in pink sweatpants.  The answer to what happened to Atlantis.  And my very first piece of fanart received ever, from the incomparable @yunyin.

It’s a lesser-loved piece of mine, but I think there’s some very solid writing in it, so if you skipped over it I’d encourage you to check it out.

Someone To Watch Over Me:  My labor of love.  This was inspired by absolutely perfect Ladrien concept art from @buggachat, which I will never hesitate to link.  I fell in love with it, considered how I would work it into a longer Ladrien idea that was bubbling in my brain, and reached out to @buggachat with a first-chapter draft.  She gave me the go-ahead to continue with it, and I hope she likes what I did to her poor characters along the way.  ;)

Adrien’s attempted Akumatization and Ladybug’s last-second rescue leads to far more than either of them bargained for.  Marinette reaches out to Adrien with comfort and affection in both of her identities -- and finds Adrien responding to both in kind, as much as he is capable of in his somewhat emotionally numb state.  Slowly, she cracks his shell and a Ladrienette triangle forms.  Though obviously Marinette would be fine with being Adrien’s girl in either identity... he doesn’t know that, and the slow burn to full-on romance is quite the ride.

All the while, Gabriel is watching his son closely, as his master plan requires someone with emotional ties to Emilie to be Akumatized and Adrien is his last-hope selection.  He watches the evolving relationships, ready to pick off whichever one ends up broken-hearted when Adrien makes a choice and the triangle collapses... and is curious when that doesn’t seem to happen.  A dinner party at Marinette’s proves memorable, followed by one at Adrien’s that proves... life-changing for all.

24 chapters, 230k words, my longest chapter ever, an Adrien moment that startled many readers in a very good way, and many other delights.  

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time...:  This one wasn’t supposed to be a longfic.  It started out in my mind as a wacky farce, responding to how Heart Hunter / Miracle Queen ended and examining where the Adrigaminette triangle might go.  But the more I wrote at the beginning, the more I started digging into the emotional possibilities and felt like, well, this could actually go places.

This picks up with Marinette overwhelmed, hiding out in her room.  The blossoming relationship between Kagami and Adrien, the new responsibilities of Guardianhood, knowing what happened to Master Fu, and many other questions are screaming inside her skull and she is out of answers.  A ring of her doorbell shatters everything, though, as it reveals a sobbing Kagami; in this version, he tries being her boyfriend but abruptly cuts it off, admitting that he loves someone else.  And we all know who that someone else is... and now Ladybug knows that, too.

And our heroine... snaps.

12 chapters so far, a deliberate experiment in writing shorter chapters (each one is under 5k) that has been... well, challenging to both myself and my readers.  The response has been good and it is nearly complete; I’m thinking maybe four more chapters unless something changes.

Not-so-longfics:

Two Hearts That Wax And Wane:  The first of a small handful of response fics to Puppeteer 2, specifically the car scene near the end, which I found to be one of the definitive moments of the entire Season 3.  It certainly created veritable oceans of salt on Tumblr, so I decided to try to make something sweeter out of it.

Marinette has heard “the girl that I love” from Adrien’s lips... and it certainly wasn’t referring to her, at least as far as she knows.  So... now what?  Adrien isn’t sure what Marinette’s reaction meant, but he knows that he screwed up somehow, and that he needs to make things right with her or potentially lose a very precious friend.  And so four chapters follow, one from each Love Square side’s perspective (Adrienette, Marichat, Ladrien, Ladynoir in order).  

Angst segueing into fluff, as is my usual formula.  

Full Stamen Ahead:  A five-parter that makes an utter shambles of the French education system.  (If you’re sensitive to Americanizations, this is not the fic for you, unless acres of fluff serve as a sufficient antidote.)

The school is promoting a Carnation Day, in which white, pink or red carnations are delivered to students for a nominal fee.  Marinette decides that she’s finally going to confess her feelings, but an interruption by Chloe disrupts her red-carnation attempt.  Seeing an opportunity, Chloe responds with a nasty plan of her own... and chaos soon reigns.

Five short chapters of high school antics, detective work and flower petals.

Just One More Minute...: Another fic inspired by Tumblr art, this one by Ladybeug.  After five hours of fighting an Akuma, our heroes tumble together to a rooftop, unable to move another inch.  They’re about to detransform, and they know it.  But... surely... they could rest for just a moment before they act, couldn’t they?

One-shot.

Playing A Familiar Chord: Puppeteer 2 response fic number two, this one from a Lukanette perspective.  After hearing what she did in the car, Marinette returned home feeling completely disheartened.  Who might be out there that she could turn to, talk to, call on the phone and get a male perspective on about what just happened?  Who could be her Big Brother today, even though they both know that he’d like to be more than that?

One-shot.  Fluff, comfort, and a Luka who’s smitten but remains assertive as well.

After the Storm Breaks:  Heart Hunter/Miracle Queen response fic, examining what might come next.  A short time after the finales, Adrigami is fully enabled... as is Lukanette.  A party that Adrien, Kagami and Marinette all attend becomes awkward, so Adrien calls Marinette to make sure that they’re still on good terms... and a lot of unexpected truth comes out.

One-shot.  Fluff, comfort and friendship.  Exploring a far stronger Adrienette forming even while they’re each dating other people.

A Little Promise I’d Made Myself:  A super-fluffy one-shot.  It’s a New Year’s Eve party at Rose’s house, and while Adrien is having a good time, he notices that Marinette is sitting off by herself.  So he joins her, and as the countdown to midnight approaches, Marinette wonders if she has it in her to give him a real New Year’s kiss...

Crack and Silliness:

Assorted bits of insanity, response fics and stuff that popped into my head.

The Logical Conclusion:  Ladybug examines why all the Akumas center around one particular classroom... and presents Chat Noir with her theory as to whom Hawkmoth must be.

Reservoir Kwamis: Quentin Tarantino’s film Reservoir Dogs from a Miracuverse perspective.  Maybe three people will enjoy this.

Getting Things Backwards: Backwarder response crackfic.  Adrien opens Marinette’s “love letter”... which is actually Fu’s constipation medicine prescription... and interprets it in a very different way.

First Times Are Always Awkward: On Ladybug and Chat Noir’s first outing against Stoneheart, Tikki is not fully aware of modern technology... like cell phone cameras.  So that “Kwamis cannot be photographed or recorded” extends to their magic as well -- like certain costumes.  Alya ends up with quite an eyeful when she watches the footage she captured...

Communication Breakdown:  In an emergency, Plagg needs someone else to accept his power, don the ring and be a hero.  He’s in a room with someone who is able and willing.  But when it comes to saying “Claws out” aloud, there’s one little problem...

Busted, Said The Kwami: Kwami Buster response crackfic.  Adrien finds himself dreaming of a midnight visit by Ladybug, who becomes Multimouse, who acts... unusually.  This is not Plagg’s first rodeo with size-changing heroine fantasies, though.

Nooroo Uses A Swear Word: He sure does.

Options Include...:  A response to an Instagram post by Adrien.  Marinette sees Adrien admiring Nino and Alya’s relationship, and pining for one of his own, and reacts...

Leave Some Stones Unturned: Wayzz and Marinette investigate Master Fu’s studio, as Wayzz is aware of many secrets hidden away there in Fu’s absence.  They find a pair of Kwamis who are not from the Chinese set, and whose concepts and personalities startle Marinette greatly... (Little Feat fans will appreciate this one.)

If you’ve reached this note, I thank you regardless of whether you’ve actually read my stuff or not.  :)  

I thought Season 3 had a lot of interesting components and a lot of very flawed execution, both in where it chose to take the characters and the usual nightmares involving episode ordering and character consistency.  I sincerely hope that the hiatus before S4 will allow Team Astruc to present a more coherent and consistent approach in 2020. 

Tumblr salt of You’re Not Writing The Story How I Want You To! and My Ship Must Sail NOW! will continue, obviously.  That’s life.  But Tumblr salt picking apart writing choices and characterization in what they actually put out there... that I can get behind.  The Marinette Defense Squad remains vigilant.  My hat is tipped to the many Tumblr folk who approach these episodes with a critical but supportive eye; recognizing what’s good, pointing out what’s not and wanting what emerges to be great.

Best wishes to all in the new year, particularly @brittsarts, my tireless artist friend still plugging away at the comic-ization of Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright and doing fantastic work at that as time and energy allow.  

[blouisparadise]

Upon request, here is a rec list of bottom Louis fics with strong humor and banter in them. Happy reading!

1) Like An Animal (I Want To Feel You From The Inside) | Explicit | 4466 words

Harry and Louis get a little stuck. Literally.

2) Spice Up Your Life | Explicit | 9501 words

After a conversation with his Uni friends, Harry worries that his relationship with Louis has lost it's spark.

3) Maid In The A.M. | Explicit | 9118 words

“You’re not supposed to be here.” The lad frowned at him.

“Sorry,” Harry said automatically. Which, wait. No, that wasn’t right. “Um, actually, I sort of live here?”

Okay, that came out less firm than Harry would like, but it was still true.

The guy rolled his eyes. “Obviously.”

Harry had absolutely no idea what was happening.

4) Keep Holding Me This Way | Explicit | 13747 words

An English grad student, a frat jock, and an unimpressed rich boy walk into a bar. No one walks out.

5) Sweeter Than Wine | Explicit | 15339 words

When Wizard!Louis goes to a muggle club for a change of pace, his one night stand ends up being much more than he bargained for.

6) Friendly Neighborhood Spideypool | Explicit | 18705 words

“Don’t fuck with me, I’m not in the mood.” Louis’ got the urge to punch him in the face, but he knows deep down that if anything it’ll just add fuel to Harry’s innuendo fire.

“You know I only fuck you, not with you. There’s a difference. It’s slight but still there.” He’s joking, but it’s sincere in a way that only Deadpool could make it. It gives Louis a strange mix of emotions, his body doesn’t know whether to fill with butterflies or to knee Deadpool in the balls again for insinuating them fucking.

7) Let Me Make a Thing of Cream and Stars | Explicit | 24914 words

It doesn't explain why he's lying on the floor, with Harry Styles, of all people, planking on top of him.

As in, seventeenth most influential person in London, pop-star-turned-rock-star Harry Styles. The same Harry Styles who has had countless model girlfriends, left, right and centre. Also  the same Harry Styles who has been the subject of Louis' wet dreams since he was about eighteen.

8) A Whole New World | Not Rated | 24967 words

Louis has moved into his new apartment to start his new job as a teacher. Things would be great. If only his arsehole neighbour didn’t wake him up every morning by playing piano.

Shenanigans ensue. Like a very inadvisable kissing bet.  

9) Up To No Good | Explicit | 26525 words | Sequel #1 | Sequel #2

Harry doesn’t think of himself as a womanizer, not at all. Sure, he enjoys sex, enjoys how women feel underneath him, and by some people’s standards he has sex with quite a lot of people, but that’s no reason to tell him that he can’t have a female PA anymore.

It’s especially no excuse for giving him a male PA who’s possibly the most gorgeous boy in the world who won’t even let Harry look at him for too long.

Sometimes Harry hates his life.

10) The Forest For The Trees | Explicit | 28250 words

Louis and Harry had the ultimate roommates and best friends with benefits relationship until Harry suddenly ends the benefits part, shocking and hurting Louis in the process. He’s fallen in love with Harry, but is too scared to tell him the truth because he just does not do first moves. In the spirit of unrequited love and with a little help from Harry’s mother Louis decides to set Harry up with a series of horrible blind dates hoping his roommate will see dating is too much trouble and come back to him. In the end things don’t go as planned and Louis ends up sabotaging the one date he shouldn’t have, and it turns out Harry’s a bit of a sneak too.

11) Always Come Back To You | Explicit | 28862 words

“I’ll do it,” Harry offers brightly. No one even blinks. “I’ll do it?”

Louis sighs irritably. “Shut up,” he orders, tossing a pillow in the general direction of Harry’s face. This is a terrible time for jokes, especially Harry’s lame, old people ones.

Not that it was an old people joke. Just that most of the time Harry’s jokes consist of knock-knocks or terrible puns. The type of jokes old people like, Louis’ pretty sure. His nan always finds them hilarious when Harry tells her one.

Harry bats the pillow out of the air without even blinking. “Be reasonable, Lou,” he says in his most reasonable voice.

Louis is perfectly reasonable, thank you very much, and he’s also frustrated and upset and tired and he really wants to punch something. Maybe he should have held on to that pillow a little longer.

“You’re not gonna fucking do it,” he snaps. “That’s the last thing I need.”

12) Have You Coming Back Again | Explicit | 31086 words | Sequel

It’s five o’clock in the morning. Louis has a lecture at half eight. He could be using this time to study or to do his readings or to go to the gym, but - well. He doesn’t have any exams coming up, he’s not going to his seminar today anyway and he hates the gym.

Instead he’s using this time to fuck with Harry Styles’ poor little brain.

Louis jogs across the street and jabs the key into the car door. It opens easily, not that he was expecting anything else. He copied the key for a reason, after all.

He’s got Harry’s schedule memorized, more because the guy keeps following him around than anything, so he doesn’t bother looking around before climbing behind the wheel and setting his bag on the passenger seat. It’s a Monday, which means that Harry doesn’t even get out of bed before noon unless he’s planning on harassing Louis.

13) Blind From This Sweet, Sweet Craving | Explicit | 31170 words

“So, I guess we’ll go?” Louis asks later, when Harry has calmed down and eaten his weight in Chinese food. He plays with this chopsticks, spearing another piece of chicken and pops it in his mouth. “I mean, I wouldn’t mind. We could make it an adventure.”

Harry observes him, watches him seated across from him on their old living room carpet, with a container of food on his lap. He’s fidgeting, avoiding meeting Harry’s gaze–he probably knows that Harry’s mad at him for ruining the one chance they had to get out of this situation. And he’s not wrong, Harry is definitely very mad. Harry wants to strangle him and castrate him and smack him upside the head.

But he’s also Harry’s best friend, and despite everything, despite all the fuck-ups and the plot twists and everything just not playing out the way it should, he’d still rather be stuck in this situation with Louis than any of the other boys. He’s got Harry’s back, and in a weird, abstract way, he knows they’ll be able to get out of this situation, together.

Harry sighs. “We’re going,” he says resignedly, his shoulders slumping.

Oh well. There are definitely worse ways to spend the weekend than pretending to be engaged to his best friend.

14) Mine Now | Explicit | 32254 words

This is the story of how Harry finds himself pouting in Louis’ passenger seat with a raging boner on the way to seduce his ex boyfriend.

15) Cupid’s Chokehold | Explicit | 35326 words

Louis is a Cupid who tries to match up Niall and Harry. It doesn't work out as planned.

16) Is This Seat Taken? | Explicit | 35507 words

Louis makes a bet with Zayn that he can sneak into a music awards event without getting caught, and when he ends up posing as a seat-filling member of staff he runs into superstar Harry Styles and sparks fly.  Que the music.

17) The New Romantics | Explicit | 36100 words

After being blindsided and dumped by his boyfriend Isaac, Louis does the only thing he can do: wallow and mope. But when Harry tells Louis that karma’s going to get Isaac eventually, Louis decides karma isn’t moving fast enough. He takes matters into his own hands, and if he has to drag Harry into his schemes and seduction plans, then so be it.

18) Tangled Up In You | Explicit | 45152 words

Harry blinks once. And blinks again. And says, his voice dangerous: “Niall, did you get me a mail-order bride?”

Because what the actual fuck. It kind of looks like Niall’s just purchased a person. For Harry.

Niall blinks back at him for a few moments, before throwing his head back and howling with laughter. Harry throws a pillow at him. Hard. “No, what the fuck, Harry.”

“A prostitute then?” Harry also doesn’t want a prostitute.

“Of course not!”

“A stripper?”

“No!”

Damn, he’s running out of ideas. He settles for launching another pillow at Niall’s head. Niall bats it away easily, still laughing. “Stop!”

“What did you get me, then?!” Niall must hear the tinge of hysteria in his voice, because he’s pulling himself together, trying to stop himself from laughing.

There’s still a big grin on his face, though, when he says, “I got you a professional cuddler.”

A professional…what. “What?”

19) Don’t Tell the Gods (We Left a Mess) | Explicit | 71556 words

Note: Mention of BH.

After a misunderstanding with Liam’s mother, Louis agrees to accompany his best friend to a family wedding and pretend to be the world’s best boyfriend. But their simple plan goes awry when he learns that Harry, ex-boyfriend/ex-love of Louis’ life, will also be in attendance. (aka: fake!boyfriends with a twist ft. bromance, romance and cake.)

20) Waiting On You | Explicit | 76575 words

“Vampires,” Louis says with disgust, glaring over at the vampire who is noisily slurping from the woman’s neck nearby.

 Zayn gives the neat fang marks on Louis’ neck a meaningful look.

 “Can’t live with them, can’t live without them,” Louis finishes, ignoring Zayn when he rolls his eyes.

Louis takes a long sip of his milkshake, presses his fingers against the marks on his neck, and definitely doesn’t think about the vampire who left them there.

21) You Drive Me Crazy (But It Feels Alright) | Explicit | 102036 words

“Harry is not short for Harold,” he corrects, his voice as thick as molasses. He lowers his eyes to Louis’ sequined lapels, rubbing one between two fingers. “Is this small or extra small? It looks lovely.”

Louis breaks away from his grip with a petulant huff and pushes him back with two fingers.

“You’re mocking me. Again.”

Harry smiles and it's a real honest swoop of his lips this time. Louis’ stomach swoops with them.

Check out our other fic rec lists by category here and by title here.

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 6 “Stealing from the Elderly”

Here’s the dilemma:

I adore a lighthearted RWBY.

I don’t adore RWBY when the parts RT chooses to frame as jokes are the legitimate flaws the group needs to work through, thereby sending the message that they aren’t flaws at all. No need to take dangerous mindsets seriously!

And that’s this entire episode. Let’s dive in.

We open on a shot of the Atlesian airships stationed in the Argus bay, cuing the viewer into the one thing I really hoped wouldn’t happen in this episode: the gang going through with this ridiculous plan. Because as we quickly see logic needs to do exactly what I said it would, getting the hell out of the characters’ way in order to justify them making it this far. Every choice they make over the next 13 minutes only works because of the Power of Plot and yep, I’m just salty enough to point out as many inconstancies as I can.

Let’s start with Weiss pretending that she’s “come to [her] senses” and is willing to go home. (Oh look! The kids are telling more lies.) This part is, in my opinion, the most solid portion of the plan. As a Schnee, Weiss does have a guaranteed way of getting access to an airship and the biggest risk is that she’ll actually end up going to Atlas by herself, ending up in the hands of her family. In which case Weiss is strong enough and done enough to just leave again. They physically can’t stop her. I would have actually given her the relic with the hope that, worst case scenario, they still complete their task: getting the relic behind safer walls. Right now emotion is warring with pragmatism. Emotionally Ruby isn’t willing to separate from Weiss and have her brave Atlas alone, but logically the best option is to let Weiss complete their mission—just have her run/sneak away once the airship lands?—and leave the rest of the group to figure out how to get to Atlas at their leisure. As in so many other ways, they’re not thinking as huntsmen right now. They’re not putting their jobs above their personal desires.

Still, that tiny portion of the plan is pretty solid. The problem is… everything else.

Cordovin makes Weiss uncomfortable by saying that she hopes she follows in Winter’s footsteps and she’ll be sending two of her best guards on the journey with her—so be sure to tell General Ironwood that! Cordovin is clearly concerned only with making herself look good. She leaves Weiss in the ‘capable’ hands of Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

As she’s walking away though things start getting ridiculous. The twins try to take Weiss’ luggage, commenting on how heavy it is, but Weiss insists strongly that she can take care of it herself. First off, this just shows how ill-equipped the gang is to pull this off. The easy answer here is to just let them carry your luggage. So what if it’s heavy? The first time we’re introduced to Weiss, Ruby is crashing into a small mountain of her suitcases. If anyone can pull off the snobbish, can’t-go-anywhere-without-my-whole-wardrobe heiress shtick, it’s the actual heiress. But no, Weiss makes a big thing of it so that Cordovin gets suspicious, partly because these kids have no idea how to pull off a complex ruse, partly because, as said, the writing wants to treat all this in a lighthearted manner. So Cordovin pauses.

The answer to this problem? Have Adrian cry. Okay wait, how old is this kid? Because he looks to be about two. Maybe three. Regardless he is not old enough to cry on command, especially when his mom doesn’t, say, do something that she knows will upset him, but straight up goes, “Just like we practiced.” Oh yes. Over the last few hours you practiced with your toddler until he’s now an expert at crying at the drop of a hat. There’s a hint that this is his semblance—those rings of sound we see emanating outward—but that’s not confirmed (it could just be a stylistic choice to show he’s crying very loudly) and even if it was, that doesn’t change a kid’s ability to comprehend his mother’s vague statement and execute an order. RWBY is a show with fantasy qualities, but they’ve never extended that to human development before.

My point is this is stupid. And stupid is okay! On its own this scene is absolutely hilarious and if we’d gotten it a few episodes ago I would have been thrilled. The RWBY gang meets Jaune’s sister, her wife, and the proud parents show off their kid’s semblance by asking him to cry. Adorable! No one cares if the logic there is iffy because it’s just a fun, character driven moment. There’s nothing relying on that logic. Here though? It’s precisely what I’m trying to point out. In order for the plan to work the logic of the world has to suddenly bend itself to the kids’ whims—up until the plot wants them to fail.

That’s just annoying.

So Adrian cries and the guards are immediately distracted. “A crying child!” “We must console it!” Kudos to them for being kind people. They’re weird and way too wrapped up in the supposed superiority of Atlas, but there’s something to be said for seeing a kid crying and dropping everything to try and make him smile.

Weiss takes her own luggage onto the airship… where we hear Maria’s voice inside.

Look. Maria is small. She’s not that small. Is it possible to fit someone into a suitcase? Yeah. Pretty sure I’ve seen Youtube videos of stuff like that. Is it a good solution when applied to a problem that’s been plaguing your team for half a volume now? Not really. You’ll notice throughout this recap that all of the things I point out do have potential explanations—maybe Adrian is that smart, maybe Maria is that small—so it’s less an issue of each thing individually and more that they’re all slammed together in one episode, piling on each other to ensure that the plan works as much as it does. All writing requires a suspension of disbelief, but RWBY is really stretching theirs today. 

Everyone else is standing by at various locations. Where did they get these comms to stay in contact? Who knows. Maybe Terra? We’re not told. Because there’s very little in this episode that’s meant to be taken seriously, despite the fact that it should be. RWBY is trying to work in a lot of humor before the finale’s inevitable angst, but this really wasn’t the time to do it. 

We do see then that Terra is helping them by giving Blake and Yang info about the relay tower. I said before that they should use her as a resource, absolutely, but here we see them using her flippantly. Terra says seriously that this conversation “never happened” and Blake rolls her eyes at her. “Don’t worry. This isn’t the first time I’ve disabled Atlas security.” That’s not the point, Blake? The point is this woman—who you met two days ago, I might add—is risking her job in order to help you steal a freaking airship. Hell, she’s probably risking her freedom too. Cordovin is absolutely the type to chuck them all in jail in the name of “order.” Moments like these just re-emphasize to me how childish the group can be and once again the problem isn’t that childish view in and of itself, but that they’re not learning from it. That no one is calling them out on it. The story doesn’t challenge Blake on her insensitivity here, that she’s shrugging off this woman’s sacrifice like it’s her due. Of course you’d risk all this in the name of our idiotic plan. We’re the heroes. My leader just announced last night that we know what we’re doing and you all should follow along. Your worry is hilarious.

Terra reiterates that this conversation “never happened,” but we’re supposed to laugh at her fear. It’s not meant to read as legitimate because Blake isn’t worried and Blake is one of the protagonists. Now I want Terra to lose everything, just so the gang can look back on their choices and go, “Huh. Maybe we were hasty and kinda arrogant. People got hurt because of that.”

…Except we’ve already seen this. That’s the exact setup involving the relic and we still haven’t had anyone acknowledging how bad those choices were. At this point it’s not even a matter of whether you think the kids should or should not have found out about Salem, or challenged Ozpin’s authority. That ship has passed. It’s the way they went about getting the information that’s a problem. Entitlement, lack of empathy, thinking that it’s your way or the highway. We’re seeing more of that with this plan. 

Then we get a legit wonderful moment though. God bless. Yang drops Blake off a little ways from the tower and asks if she’s sure she doesn’t want any help. Blake rightly points out that it’s a lot easier to sneak in with one person than two… and also, uh, sorry Yang. But you’re not exactly the stealth type.

This is a natural, well-written moment between two people who know each other intimately. My friends and I do this all the time: kinda insulting each other, we’re kinda annoyed by it, but we also realize the other has a point, so there’s no hard feelings. But I’m still gonna act a little like there is because it’s my right to fake-sulk in this moment. The expressions and dialogue are on point here. “I mean… you’re great! And I’ll hurry back!”

Highlight of the episode for me. Everything else can scoot on out.

We cut to an enthusiastic Jaune. “YES! Everything is going to plan.” Yeah, only because your plan has Plot Armor right now. We get a shot of Qrow leaning against a tree in the background, obviously unhappy. We’re once again suppose to sneer at his pessimistic attitude, but he’s right. The show isn’t commenting on his actual issues (drinking, lack of faith in general) because it’s too busy focusing on the one time Qrow is 100% on track this volume (this is a horrible plan bound to go awry).

We return to Weiss on the airship where she watches her scroll until she’s finally out of range. We stay focused on her seat as the sounds of a fight happen off screen and then the twins are drifting down from the airship on a single parachute, held together by one of Weiss’ glyphs.

But then that breaks and one of the guys falls.

He catches hold of the other’s leg because—again—the writing wants this plan to have a strong comedic tone (no doubt to combat the coming drama of Yang and Blake fighting Adam) and is ensuring that nothing bad actually happens. But something bad could have happened. Quite easily. These guys don’t appear to be fighters. I doubt they have the aura to protect them from a fall like that. Weiss could have just killed a guy if the writing was willing to take this plan at all seriously.

All we get though is a slightly guilty look from Weiss. I honestly find this whole series of events to be absurd. It would have fit in well with the early volumes of RWBY before the show grew darker and started emphasizing the consequences attached to a huntsmen’s choices; before we had a whole volume trying to convince us (unsuccessfully imo) that our group is made up of mature adults who are on par with—or according to Ruby’s words—surpassing the likes of Ozpin and Qrow. And this is how they follow up the claim that they don’t need and have never needed adults? 

Ah yes. Stealing from allies, beating them up, and tossing them out of a plane. The epitome of being a huntsmen.

We then get the exact kind of line I figured was coming.

Maria: “Missy, I was the Grimm Reaper. What part of ‘best huntress of her generation’ don’t you understand?”

(In which that expression is me.) 

Of course she can fly an airship! Note that the dialogue dodges all the concerns Weiss brings up. Aren’t you blind? Maria just laughs. Okay, okay, we as the audience at least got a glimpse from Maria’s perspective and know she can see shapes, but aren’t the goggles that allow you to do that “in desperate need of repair”? Maria still doesn’t provide an answer. She takes a super convenient plugin that just happens to fit the glasses we’ve only ever seen her wearing and we get a SENSORY DATA readout on the screen… so she’s connected to the ship now? Who knows. Again, we’re given no explanation. “Why would you kids let me fly this thing?” Maria asks, but it’s once again just another joke to laugh at, not treated as a legitimate question that I’d like answered. There’s a big difference between not boring your audience with every detail of how something works and outright ignoring how it works because you can’t be bothered to come up with something convincing. 

Additionally, as said, the episode is riddled with more of that adults vs. kids mentality. Cordovin tells Weiss that, “Knowing you’re returning to Atlas just warms my old heart,” reminding us that the antagonist of this episode is old. She says, “It’s time you ask yourself, children: do you truly wish to defy me?” framing her, the adult, as the bad guy and the team, the “children,” as underdogs we’re meant to root for. Our episode title is “Stealing from the Elderly” because remember, we’re not just stealing from Atlas. We’re the young people stealing from old people because young people are good and old people are bad. Cordovin has been established as a delusional, nationalist, overly controlling racist. There are plenty of reasons to dislike her. Why does the show feel the need to emphasize age as one of the primary reasons we should distrust her? Oh yeah, because our protagonist just announced last week that kids rule and adults drool.

I bring this up again because it’s in direct contrast to what we’re seeing here with Maria. Her age is being used as a catch-all explanation. She’s ancient! She was a renowned huntress! That’s all you need to know. It’s because she’s been around so long and had so much experience that we supposedly buy into the fact that ‘fly an Atlesian airship’ is a part of that skill repertoire. We see the same thing happening when she conveniently knows the “jargon” to speak with the man down at the base. RWBY wants to have its cake and eat it too. Ozpin leads the team and keeps everyone going/alive. The kids turn on Ozpin because they don’t like how he runs things. Maria takes his place and does the exact same thing (giving orders, keeping them safe and their morale high), but the kids refuse to acknowledge this and the narrative encourages us to do the same. We never needed adults. Except now, once again, it’s an adult and an adult’s experience that’s coming to the rescue… but just forget about that by the time Ruby gives her speech to Qrow, okay?

You can’t have it both ways.

RWBY sure is trying though. While Maria perfectly flies her airship—and taunts Cordovin with cashews. That was admittedly great—things finally start going south. Blake was supposed to take out the tower but now isn’t responding to anyone’s calls. Cordovin hops into a giant fighter and demonstrates the ease with which she can knock Maria and Weiss out of the sky. Watch how fast the group goes from smug to panicked. Oscar yells, “What are we going to do?”—a familiar question at this point in the volume. Keep in mind that given Cordovin’s extreme personality, that first shot was (once again) only a warning shot because the show can’t actually have Weiss and Maria die a fiery death as their ship explodes in the sky. But that was always a possibility! Your actions have consequences. Often horrific ones, but like with the relic, no one is admitting that their ill thought choices are at the root of it all. 

Qrow finally speaks up, but it’s not to let the kids take responsibility for their horrible plan that’s now put three teammates in danger. He shoulders all of it, claiming that it’s because of his semblance.

Which… okay. There’s a lot to unpack in this conversation. That is actually a very in-character thing for Qrow to say, but I’m still waiting for someone to point out how irrational his guilt is. That needs to be a part of his healing process, acknowledging his actual mistakes (relying on drink to the point where he becomes a liability) rather than stuff he’s not at all responsible for (this mission). Qrow’s semblance has a range. We established this clearly in his fight against Tyrian, so how the hell did he mess things up for Blake who’s all the way at the tower and Weiss who’s all the way up in the air? In that moment I thought Ruby would point this out. Start the conversation we should have gotten last week: Your semblance isn’t the problem and neither is the fact that you’re obviously hurting from these revelations. Your coping mechanism is. We need you to take responsibility for the things you can actually control.

Instead we get:

Ruby: “We’re all in this together and we’re all going to do the best we can. That’s all anyone can do…we would have come whether or not you let us so stop talking like we’re your responsibility. We’re not.”  

Ruby, I hate to break it to you, but you are Qrow’s responsibility. Four times over.

Emotionally as the much younger niece of an adult uncle.

Legally considering that you are a minor in the company of an adult.

Legally again given that Qrow has his huntsmen license and you do not. Right now he is the only one with any authority in the real world (presuming that Maria can’t prove her status as former Grimm Reaper).

Justly since Qrow has been fighting this war for at least a decade and you’ve known about its existence for about three months.

Even if you believe Ruby is a fully autonomous adult at 16 with no formal standing in this world, the knee jerk reaction of “we would have come whether or not you let us” is precisely the problem. This isn’t a matter of rejecting what Ruby sees as unwarranted authority, it’s a rejection of valuable support. Qrow did tell them not to do this, but he said as much because the plan is stupid, not because he’s an adult who wants to…what? Curb kids’ actions just because he can? His objection had nothing to do with his authority and everything to do with the fact that this plan can only end badly—as we see happening right this moment. By planting herself on Team Kid, Ruby is choosing to automatically reject adult voices not because the advice itself is bad, but because it came from them. Boiled down the message is teenage rebellion. Don’t tell me what to do… even though you’re usually telling me what to do for a damn good reason.

Remember though, the writing is pro-protagonist here. So instead of having Qrow point out that these views need to be addressed, we get,

Qrow: “How did you grow up so fast?”

Ruby: “I had good role models.”

Ruby is not grown here. She’s doing a damn good job for a traumatized teen thrown into an impossible situation, but just because she believes she’s the bees knees now (ha) doesn’t mean we as the audience need to buy into that. Kudos for acknowledging those role models… but jeez. Rather than a heartwarming moment between uncle and niece, this now reads very much as, “I had good role models and now I don’t need them anymore.” Ruby says they could use “Qrow Branwen,” but she’s not showing it. The last time we saw her speak to Qrow she was announcing that they didn’t need Oz or other adults.  Based on what we’ve seen, rather than address the actual issue (alcoholism) Ruby is trying to put Qrow into a subordinate position. I want your help, but only if you follow our lead. I just reminded you that (I believe) you have no authority over me anymore and you can’t make us do anything. Your place here depends on you acknowledging that we don’t need you; we’ll just have you. 

Which would be something to consider if these kids had actually demonstrated an ability to survive without adults and make better decisions than adults, as they claim they have. If they could actually think and act and plan and enact as equals, on par with people who have finished their schooling, experienced far more, and fought this war for decades (if not millennia). But RWBY hasn’t shown us that. As I’ve laid out elsewhere, the show has in fact done the exact opposite. We’ve had 6 volumes demonstrating why they’re not ready to call all the shots yet, emphasizing how much kids still have to learn. Whether it’s a matter of thinking ahead, thinking strategically, controlling your emotions, or a straight up difference between you and an adult fighter’s power, the kids consistently need an adult’s assistance. Which is natural! But it’s also why having the show frame Ruby as justified in this attitude is quite frustrating to watch.

But whatever. I’m trying to enjoy this episode despite all the issues I see, but I really prefer writing that hangs together and volume 6 has been all over the place. Regardless, we see more of Cordovin piloting that robot (at least she’s reliably over the top in her characterization), but we also see how everyone else is reacting to it.

Civilians are scared. They’re all staring, some holding onto one another, others with hands up over their mouths. This is why the plan is stupid. Not just because we need to crank up our suspension of disbelief, but because they’re stealing an airship. And now they’ve gotten caught. Again, the plot kept treating it as a joke, but Atlas is actually going to see them as “traitors” for this. It is going to cause more tension between the kingdoms. It’s already freaking people out.

Hmm. What happens again when people get anxious and scared...?

And now Ruby wants to start a battle. They’ve committed to this theft, which means that once things go badly all they can do is escalate the situation. They’re not going to surrender. They’re going to make things worse by now attacking the special-operative in charge of this base. It doesn’t matter how much of an asshole Cordovin is, she’s not an enemy. She’s not a grimm, a bandit, or a subordinate of Salem’s. She’s an authority figure of a currently tenuous ally… and Ruby’s solution is to call Weiss back so they can “take this thing down.” This is what happens when kids are in charge. 

Qrow got in trouble for destroying two random Atlas robots. What do we think is going to happen after the gang destroys what looks like one of the best (and most expensive) defenses Argus has? Well, at this point presumably nothing since the writing is determined that the kids shouldn’t take responsibility for their actions, but logically it can’t end well.

Let me be clear here: they are in the wrong. It doesn’t matter that they’re our protagonists with a super secret mission. These kids stole the property of an ally in a time of peace, endangered lives, planned to disable their security, and now plan to destroy one of their primary defenses. Their actions are scaring people which means they’re more likely to attract grimm. The show can dress it up if they want, but the gang’s plan goes against everything they’re supposed to be striving for as huntsmen. 

Regardless, they’re going through with it. We end the episode with the surprise reveal of Adam, another ‘Okay how does this work?’ moment. So he really was there on the train and out by the farm? He just left Menagerie after getting there and managed to catch the same ride? Following them without anyone noticing? Waiting for this precise moment to get Blake alone? Fine. Sure. If I can ignore the gang getting to Argus in an afternoon I can ignore this too.

Especially because I am looking forward to Blake and Yang finally getting to confront him, if only so we can (hopefully) put Adam’s arc behind us. I’ve never been invested in him as a villain, primarily because he doesn’t do anything. His status as a Bad Guy is so tied up with Blake that unless they’re on screen together Adam is just a whiny, useless man-baby. RT does his abuse very well—his claim that Blake “ruined everything” and her calling him out on his “stalking” were great—but those interactions are rare for obvious reasons. So yeah, I’m hoping for a semi-accidental death in this fight. I don’t want the girls to go through the trauma of being murderers, but if Adam could do something stupid that results in him being killed? I think that’d be good. Let the girls find their closure and then be done with him. The cast is massive. We don’t need to keep around characters who only manage to be relevant once every two volumes.

Maybe he can hit a part of the tower and electrocute himself. Would that kill a fighter other than Nora? I don’t know… and now that I think about it, this theorizing is getting morbid lol. Let’s just wait and see.

Until next time!

Other Things of Note

Cordovin’s comment that everyone was devastated when Weiss chose Beacon over Atlas is a great contrast to the comment about Pyrrha. Both went to Beacon to escape the attention from their home towns, but one was a good attention that just proved limiting—are these people really my friends?—while the other was outright abuse.

Honestly, “Jargon was fine, but our pilots aren’t elderly women” is one of the few parts of this plan that’s logically on point. Yes. It is highly suspicious if the pilot checking in sounds like Maria. So it’s clear that RT can apply these basic rules when they choose to.  

“That’s the sound of me not caring!” Istg cute bees teasing and Maria living her messed up life to the fullest saved my sanity today. I’m staning those parts of this episode.

How does Adam see??

[masha-russia]

Please know that fans of elia or Brandon have no problem with rhaegar and lyanna being in love and getting a happy ending. Problem only arose when those 2 chose to pursue their happily ever after at the expanse of elia, his children by her, Brandon, Rickard and basically the whole realm. Lyanna is supposedly so moral a person that she can't see howland being bullied yet she doesn't bother coming back an telling everyone that she wasn't kidnapped but consented? This makes no sense.

Hi, thanks for asking,

Before talking about Rhaegar and Lyanna, I’d like to start with Brandon. Brandon Stark has fans? … In this case, I feel like these people don’t know that Brandon Stark was one of the creepiest men in the story. I realize that many may have forgotten, or not truly comprehended, the part of Dance with Dragons that showed us Brandon’s personality, since it was a small part in a Theon chapter. Brandon Stark was a sexual predator. Apart from killing people, which is already bad enough, his other favorite pass time was to sleep with virgins, specifically virgins, because he loved the sight of blood on “his sword” -> "a bloody sword is a beautiful thing”. I know the text is subtle here, but that’s the meaning. And no, Barbery Dustin wasn’t lying. Also, GRRM words: “It’d be an exaggeration to say that Brandon died before he could have children” which translates to “he had plenty of bastards”.

“Brandon loved his sword. He loved to hone it. ‘I want it sharp enough to shave the hair from a woman’s cunt,’ he used to say. And how he loved to use it. 'A bloody sword is a beautiful thing,’ he told me once.”

“Brandon was never shy about taking what he wanted. I am old now, a dried-up thing, too long a widow, but I still remember the look of my maiden’s blood on his cock the night he claimed me. I think Brandon liked the sight as well. A bloody sword is a beautiful thing, yes.”

Brandon Stark was gross. His caring for his sister and father makes him a three dimensional character, but not any less of a creep (edit: and not because of his relation with Barbery which was consensual) I am glad he died, and I have to say, House Stark was lucky he did, because if Brandon became Lord of Winterfell, the reputation of the House wouldn’t be at all as good as it was under Eddard’s rule.

Alright now, you say you have no problem with Rhaegar and Lyanna being in love, only that it happened “at the expanse of Elia and the children”. If you refer to the moral aspect and to the idea that Rhaegar “cheated” on her, I don’t understand what alternatives would satisfy you? Rhaegar was made to marry Elia, it was an arranged marriage, and Lyanna was being forced to marry a man she absolutely did not want. Divorce isn’t an option in Westeros (though judging by the outraged reactions among Elia fans following the news of show Rhaegar divorcing Elia, divorce doesn’t seem to be an option for you either), polygamy isn’t allowed, the only way for Rhaegar and Lyanna to be together is as a non-married couple, sadly. Again, I think Elia was in friendly terms with her husband and supported him. And Rhaegar’s children don’t have a say in his love life. As long as the children are cared and provided for, he did his duty as a parent. As you know, Rhaegar was greatly concerned about the War for the Dawn, and he believed Rhaenys and Aegon would have a role in it, so obviously he would have returned with Lyanna and their child to raise all of his three children together. 

If you refer to their deaths, I already explained several times that you cannot blame Rhaegar and Lyanna for the murders of Elia, Rhaenys and Aegon. They didn’t commit the murder. The responsibility lies with Gregor Clegane and Amory Lorch (the actual murderers), with Tywin Lannister (for giving the order), with Robert Baratheon (for wanting to kill all the “dragon’s pawn”) and to an extent with Aerys Targaryen (for refusing to send Elia and the children with Rhaella and Viserys to Dragonstone). Same for Brandon and Rickard. Rhaegar and Lyanna couldn’t have known what would happen, and they certainly didn’t wish for such horrors like the murder of Elia and the children.

Please do not believe that Kingdoms rise in rebellion over highborn girls who elope with noble Princes. “Such stories make for charming songs, but poor history”. Jon Arryn didn’t call his banners because of Lyanna, and not even because of Brandon’ and Rickard’ executions (Aerys was in the right by law to execute them, for threatening a Royal with murder, even though he did it cruelly). He rose in Rebellion when Aerys asked him to kill the innocent (by law) young men he was fostering. Thousands of people won’t go to fight and die in a war for the sake of a girl. Betrothals can be set aside.

“This makes no sense,” you say, not understanding why Lyanna and Rhaegar didn’t inform anyone of their eloping, and accusing them of idiocy and selfishness, or the story of being inconsistent. It is not the story or the characters being inconsistent though, it’s the text screaming at you that there is something wrong with the informations it gave you thus far, and that there are missing pieces of the puzzle. I think it’s evident from the novels themselves, but even GRRM is always elusive when answering any questions about Rhaegar and Lyanna and their actions. Just from one interview:

“Will we learn more about Rhaegar in the next book? Why did he take almost a year to join the fight against the rebels, or why did he kidnap Lyanna?”“You will learn more, but I can’t promise it’ll be in the next book. Keep reading.”

Rhaegar took a year to join the fight because he did not know there was War, and I believe someone was doing his best to keep him ignorant. This someone could very well be Varys - he is a Blackfyre supporter, his wisperings in Aerys’ ear was what made him even more paranoiac and cruel, he was the one responsible for Aerys’s coming to the Tourney at Harrenhal, where it is rumored Rhaegar planned to dispose him as King. If Varys really cared “for the Realm” (he does not), he would have helped Rhaegar, but instead he helped Aerys to keep the Throne while making sure his paranoia and madness grew.

Old Lord Whent had announced the tourney shortly after a visit from his brother, Ser Oswell Whent of the Kingsguard. With Varys whispering in his ear, King Aerys became convinced that his son was conspiring to depose him, that Whent’s tourney was but a ploy to give Rhaegar a pretext for meeting with as many great lords as could be brought together. Aerys had not set foot outside the Red Keep since Duskendale, yet suddenly he announced that he would accompany Prince Rhaegar to Harrenhal, and everything had gone awry from there.

As for not telling anyone of their eloping, again I believe they did tell someone. I strongly suspect Lyanna told Eddard that she fell in love with Rhaegar and that she would run away with him, but Eddard didn’t have the courage to let his father and Robert know. Other people must have been told as well, but again something went awry.

Once Rhaegar joined the war, it was too late to sue for peace. The leader of the Rebellion, Robert Baratheon, declared Rhaegar his number one enemy, so I can hardly see Rhaegar making peace with him. The Kingdoms were fighting, divided between Targaryen loyalists and Robert Baratheon supporters. It’s just not realistic at all to believe Rhaegar could have raised a white flag. Killing Robert would have put an end to the Rebellion, just as killing Rhaegar brought an end to the fighting at the Trident. Rhaegar and Robert were the faces of the War. 

I very much doubt Rhaegar wanted to kill Eddard. It is possible that he gave orders to spare Eddard, for Lyanna.

This is funny. Ok as I said already Rhaegar didn’t know of the war, but … Basically the whole Realm from Dorne to Casterly Rock passing by the North fangirls about Rhaegar, how noble and gifted he was, that he was a true dragon, that he would have been a great King. How exactly did you reach the conclusion that “Canon paints him more as a coward”?

Even Yandel (Yandel!!), who wrote a very biased book (The World of ice and Fire) as he was trying to please King Robert Baratheon, said:

 For despite his crimes, Prince Rhaegar was no coward.

Even he, not a lickspittle exactly but a man who wanted to be in Robert’s good graces, couldn’t bring himself to talk badly of Rhaegar.

I’d gladly come back to this conversation once we get the other two books.