#You could maybe make a morally informed compromise? But it would start with

[flaskoflethe]

so, morality's a really fun subject! It is, also, one of those things that gets invoked to try and rationalize the dissonance that comes with saying things like "support a genocidal bigot". It's right to invoke morality in conversations like this - although not in the way it's used here - and I wanted to take a few minutes to go into this genuinely disastrous opinion. Because this isn't an uncommon perspective, especially for centerist Dems, to a concerning degree.

For starters, ACAB means ALL cops - this includes her. Not just was she the former Attorney General of California, she was the one who submitted a request to stay a higher court decision to ensure a transwoman was housed in a male prison. While from what I can see she claims to have had a change of opinion since then, her support for the Biden administion's deplorable efforts in this area gives me no faith in her. This critique extends broadly - even if she isn't able to personally say, reimplements masking mandates as the vice-president her continual stance aligned with Biden's leaves her an unacceptable choice. Finally while she may not be as lifelong a supporter of Israel, whatever her personal stance has refused to condemn the atrocity that is Israel's ongoing occupation, annexation, and genocide. In light of Friday's ICJ ruling any position except full and vocal opposition to apartheid is unexcusable. Ok a policy level, Harris has yet to demonstrate anything that would lend credence to her being better than Biden. Plus, the convention hasn't happened yet. Is the party platform even finalized? Politically speaking, this position destroys the ability of those with more integrity to attempt to negotiate agreements that would allow the democratic party to have policies that are actually viable!

But all of that's practical. Morally speaking, please go educate yourself further? That's the best response I can give to this in good faith - it goes steadily down from there. The "moral" decision when asked to pick between two people, one .9 the other 1.0 on the Hitler scale, is to dedicate your existence to uprooting the structures that would allow 1.9 hitlers into political power to begin with! Asking someone to vote for a "slightly less bad" Hitler is saying there's some bright line that would be able to be crossed. Were that threshold exceeded you would oppose that group, but since they're just shy of the line it's ok this time. If you cannot see that as an appeal to stability, the culmination of assimalative forces attempting to uproot any threat to the systems they have bound themselves to the support of, I distrust your moral judgement categorically.

And finally, as a disabled transwoman how fucking dare you use my vulnerability (itself a product of your candidate and party's absolute refusal to abandon it's fascist policies) as an attempted cudgel against people with more moral clarity than yourself. I am in a position of relative privilege as far as they are available to transwomen at scale, and the implication that my personal safety may be threatened is beyond reprehensible. If the threat truly is that dire, then your own party's policies show their inability to reliably repair much less prevent harms. And finally, voting for a candidate who doesn't resoundingly and categorically reject apartheid is an endorsement of it. Full stop.

My morality has worth, more than my own safety because the choice is reprehensible. Your morality focusing on those who choose to try and live their morals rather than pressure the political establishment to take steps to make the world better is far more telling

You motherfuckers yes I hate Kamala too but when she is announced to be the Democratic candidate we are all going to shoot fireworks and go to the goddamn polls

[tf2fansderogatory]

scout day

okay we know hes got rabbit theming with the domination voicelines but in my head i take it one step further

"mon lapin" (my rabbit) is a thing to call your son i think and so whenever i daydream i have one universe where scout just cries every time he hears anything rabbit related because he tried learning french and he found out what it means

in other words: hes a blorbo so i make him suffer

it turns out, to some degree, that Spy's eternal smugness is his downfall, something predicted by everyone ever. at the beginning his coworkers were greeted with usual wariness, caution, dodging questions and obscuring answers with well-placed bribes and cryptic threats and careful strategy; it only took him a few days to lower his guard just a tiny bit, and realize his coworkers were mostly obnoxious lunatics with very few coherent thoughts to any of their names, and once he knew who to be careful around he let his guard drop most of the rest of the way. it turns out, if you say something enough you begin to believe it on some deeper unconscious level, and you are an idiot isn't really an exception. It becomes a mantra. Eventually, he decides his teammates are incapable of even normal English and, therefore, absolutely would not know or be able to learn to speak French, so he lets himself be a little less careful. His constant little French phrases are sort of a compromise between secrecy and some other need he doesn't want to put a name to; in some way, it allows him to say anything he wants right to his disgusting coworker's faces without facing any repercussions whatsoever. To Spy it seems like a flawless solution.

But, well… maybe he lets it spiral a little too far. Scout gets the worst of it, and he knows it--everybody's already figured out he's probably insulting them to their faces and have accepted it as a normal fact of life, but Scout's watched him do it to other people and Spy does not do it to other people like he does it to him. It never fucking stops, for one, a constant train of syllables running in-between actual English sentences--and especially when Spy's scolding him, or complaining about his clothes or his voice or the gap in his teeth or the black eye that could've been very easily avoided if he didn't just go in swinging like a fucking idiot--or, the worst of it, when it's dark in the rec room and Scout's reading comics and Spy's in the other corner reading whatever he reads and everybody else is gone and you could cut the air with a knife, and Spy gets this weird little light in his eyes as he mutters and doesn't really hide the fact that he's watching Scout out of the corner of his eye. Drives him up the fucking wall. So he mail-orders one of those stupid little French-to-English books, starts keepin' a little journal of all the stupid shit he says, and asks Engie to help him out when he realizes he doesn't know how to spell French at all (and when the letters on the page are swimming too hard for him to keep his head straight).

Engie disappears for a few hours and when he gets back it's with a big fucking pile of books all about French, plus another big handful of notepads and recording devices. Scout says he doesn't care about it that much, but he does, and as Engie sees it if this is a way to get Spy to stop going through his goddamn things he'll take whatever path he can go. Over the next few days they collect information, spell the best they can, start organizing and translating bits and pieces of it; what they find is mostly insults, as expected, a few pleas for mercy, though Engie comes across a few lines spoken to him that he has to read back a few times to make sure Spy's actually calling him handsome.

Scout's asleep for most of it, to be completely frank. Letters were never his strong suit, but Engie's perfectly happy to truck along on his own. One night, one of the longer ones where he's mostly just there for moral support, Engie nudges him awake; he looks worried, almost, and Scout rubs his eyes as he shoves a torn-out page of a notebook into his face.

It says, highlighted among dozens of nondescript sentences, in Engie's barely legible chicken-scratch: My rabbit, you make my life so difficult. I wish you took more care of yourself. You don't deserve to live like this.

He sees it smeared all over the rest of the page, in the French Engie's still working through--mon lapin, mon lapin. My rabbit. And Engie gets another grave look, and points to a sentence near the bottom, in a considerably neater font.

He says: "This one's 'my rabbit, you look just like your mother'."

Medic runs a DNA test, for a good portion of both Engie and Scout's paychecks. Scout sees a little rabbit plushie in the window of a stupid little chachki store as they make their rounds around Teufort and Demo, who's a little too tipsy to be driving, is surprised when Scout starts sobbing, curled up on the shitty vomit-dusted leather.

Spy gets a visit, after most of everybody else has gone to bed. The broken nose he has when he shamefully stalks into the kitchen for breakfast and promptly leaves doesn't really surprise anyone, and neither does Scout's sullen silence for most of the morning into the afternoon. Spy stops going through Engie's things. French, formerly ever-present, vanishes from his general speaking patterns. There would be a celebration among the team, were it more appropriate. Everyone mostly just watches Scout stare at the rabbits running around outside, scowling, and feels bad for him.

[thepringlesofblood]

its time to play i need to get this essay out of my head so i can fill my head with more relevant, school-related essays

*spoilers for All Systems Red by Martha Wells*

murderbot was entirely justified in leaving mensah at the end of all systems red.

FAQ

was it kind of rude/hurtful to not say goodbye? yes.

was it morally incorrect? no.

was it kinda dumb? yes.

did mb owe mensah anything for purchasing it? no

was purchasing mb a 100% good or 100% bad thing to do? no

did mb have a full picture of what was going on? hell no!

have mensah and the gang done their very best to protect and help mb post-survey? yes! none of this is necessarily blaming anyone.

thesis: mensah and the whole presaux team got so swept up in caring for and protecting murderbot that they forgot to listen to it about what it wanted. also, sci-fi slavery is complicated.

essay under the cut

I keep seeing all these fix-it fics where mb just doesn’t leave and they all go back to Preservation and live happily ever after and most of them miss the point completely.

we have to remember, that throughout the entire book, and throughout mb’s entire life, it has been and is enslaved. The governor module does nothing to refute that statement. It is still under the threat of death/dismemberment at all times, even if the threat is less direct. It is still considered ‘property,’ even after the end of the book. 

Remember, at the very beginning, mensah and the rest of them did not want a secunit, for the very good reason that paying for a secunit is participating in an economy of enslavement.

The book starts with a moral compromise by mensah and by preservation as an entity - pay for a secunit and participate in the slave economy in order to survey the planet. they weighed the moral good of potentially buying this planet over the moral evil of working with the Company. we don’t know why they need to buy this planet (i haven’t read past artificial condition maybe its a really good reason*) but they do make a moral compromise to do it, and that’s important. we have the information from the get-go that Preservation is willing to compromise its morals under certain circumstances. and so does murderbot

whether consciously or subconsciously, mb knows that anyone who “buys its contract” can’t be trusted because they have already proven themselves untrustworthy/morally grey in some capacity by purchasing it in the first place. other clients have just been more obvious about it.

ok, let’s say we look past all that. let’s say we start on the assumption that renting a secunit was forced on presaux in a way they couldn’t refuse. let’s make that leap.

Think about the act of purchasing mb at the end of the book.

At this point in time, mb has no way of communicating with any of them. it’s in its cubicle, recuperating, and can’t speak for itself.

mensah makes the decision to purchase it permanently, in order to ensure its safety. again, this isn’t 100% good or bad. it’s mostly very good because it’s ensuring that mb won’t go back to the actively harmful Company, and that it will have a lot more agency over its life and decisions. but not complete agency.

it’s the “good master” argument. even if mensah gives mb every freedom it could possible want, the freedom itself is given and that means it can be taken away. even if she never does, even if she never restricts mb’s agency in the slightest, the fact that it is possible for her to do so is still bad.

and I would argue, she does do a little restricting. not consciously, perhaps, or not intentionally but she does. they all do**

look at the language from the last few scenes.

“Good news! Dr. Mensah has permanently bought your contract! You’re coming home with us!” (Ratthi)

“I’ve purchased your contract. You’re coming back to Preservation with us.” (Mensah)

not, ‘you can come home with us’ or ‘you can come back to preservation with us’  you are coming home with us.

“We’re so glad you’re with us,” (Arada)

similar to above - i’ll give arada a bit of a pass bc she honestly just seems to be expressing an emotion, and all her verbs are present tense.

there’s an implication that mb will continue to be “with us” and that does sort of contribute to the group assumption of what mb will be doing though.

“I think you can learn to do anything you want.” (Mensah)

“There are so many education opportunities. You can do anything you want.” (Mensah)

there’s this emphasis on learning. it skeeved me out for a while, and I didn’t know why. but I figured it out.

“learn” implies that mb is unskilled, or a blank slate of a person. it dismisses mb’s extensive history of security work, hacking, systems management, etc.

and we’ve just had a whole book of proof that mb is incredibly skilled at these things!

it makes it sound like mb won’t be able to do any of the things it knows how to do. and if you know murderbot, you know that that’s a big red flag. (mb is autistic and i will die on this hill but that’s another essay)

“We can arrange that, as long as you think you need it.” (Mensah)

this is about the armor. mb asks if it can still have armor. and mensah gives this baffling reply.

we know by this point that having the armor is not about getting +2 to AC. it’s so that mb can opaque the faceplate and interact with people without worrying about its expressions. it’s one of the things that helps it interact with humans without feeling self-conscious.

honestly, she could have stopped at “we can arrange that” or even “we can arrange that as long as you need it” and it would have made sense.

even if what I suspect is true, and she wanted to convey that there would be adverse reactions from the people living in preservation to a fully armored secunit, she could’ve stopped at “as long as you need it” and conveyed that it probably wouldn’t be a permanent thing.

but she goes the extra step to say “you think”

this might seem small, but it implies “I think I know what you need better than you do.” which undermines mb’s agency, even if it’s in a small, probably unintentional way.

it also shows us that to a small degree, mensah has become habituated to the horror of the system mb is product of. she and the team have gotten too used to the idea of a secunit as property, and as a result, the way they treat mb is subtly different.

this leads to making decisions on mb’s part that they don’t have the right to make.

“We’ll talk about that when we get you home.” (Mensah)

“we get you” - you is passive, we is active. they’ve been making decisions on mb’s behalf for a while now, presumably, and they assume that now mb’s awake, it will just go along with them.

“home” is also here again. all of them refer to it as if it’s mb’s home too.

less of an issue bc i know people irl who still do this when there’s no sci-fi slavery to be had (it’s still annoying)

and the biggest one, the most obvious.

“You’d be my guardian,” I said.

“Yes.” She was glad I understood. “There are so many education opportunities. You can do anything you want.”

Guardian was a nicer word than owner.

I will say before all else, mb is, as always, as an unreliable narrator. its POV and understanding of others’ social cues are skewed. still tho.

I interpret this as them having two different conversations.

mensah is hearing mb say

“ok, so you’re my guardian, so i’m good to go to do whatever i want, yeah?”

and is responding

“yes, i’m your guardian, so the system will leave us alone because it recognizes that as valid, don’t worry, you don’t have to be a part of it anymore, you can come do whatever you want to do on preservation bc that’s my home and i want to share my home with you and have you as part of my life and have you do something you find fulfilling not just whatever secunit stuff is”

mb is saying

“so....the whole "contract purchase” thing. are you buying into the “guardian” crap or do you know that you literally own my life now?”

and is hearing mensah say

“I know I’m your new owner now, I’m glad I bought you and that you know that, you’re going to come back home with me because I want that, and while you’ll be able to do “whatever you want,” that will always have limits.”

key misunderstandings

mensah

doesn’t get that mb does like security work, just not the forced part of it, and that it already has a well-honed set of skills that aren’t really useful in the setting of preservation.

doesn’t get how her and her team’s enthusiasm could come across to this shy, traumatized lil guy

can’t make the leap of “preservation is my home, but it’s not murderbot’s home, so it’s rightfully apprehensive and might not feel comfortable there”

she and the team have a strong protective instinct towards mb, but it can’t necessarily sense that that’s because they care about it as a person, and not because they expect something in return. she doesn’t see that, and just thinks mb needs to get used to attention/being liked (which is true but beside the point)

murderbot

doesn’t get that mensah likely considers the whole guardian thing a formality, and isn’t going to try and tie it down or put limits on what it can do,

can’t see that mensah will listen to, consider, and understand its needs and wants, and try to help with them, because she cares about it.

thinks that any “no” it might say to this either won’t be listened to or will be actively rejected

isn’t used to being thought of as a person, and so can’t see that mensah and the gang care about it as a person.

“well, ok, thepringlesofblood, what do you think mensah should’ve done?”

tbh she did the best she could and i respect that, but once they were alone, I feel like she could’ve cleared up somehow that the guardian/owner thing didn’t matter to her as much as mb’s safety and happiness, and that she would support it whatever it did. if emancipation of bots/constructs is a thing on preservation, she could’ve mentioned it as a goal.

that is, assuming that she saw guardianship that way. its very possible that mensah and the rest of the team do actually buy into the whole free bot/guardian thing as somehow different than the more overt corporate slavery of the Company. I don’t think they do, at least not all the way, but we know that it is normalized in preservation culture to have free bots/constructs, and mb mentions that it’d “seen on the news” that that sort of thing always came with guardians.

it’s fuckin messy!

ok, rant over, the essay’s out of my head now

*update: i have read the whole series now and i cant believe we never find out what tf preservation is doing w that planet

**except pin lee pin lee is golden i love her she just comes in gets rid of the reporters and makes sure mb is ok and then goes off to do more cool coporate ass-kicking. also volescu isn’t in this scene so i can’t really blame him.

[sundayswiththeilluminati]

I LOVE your meta on how essek was the perfect asset and want to ask the follow-up question in your tags: how do you think it went down? The agreement between Essek and the Assembly? And I think the fandom was convinced Essek would be disposed of after the peace talks — how do you see his future if there was no intervention by the Mighty Nein in 97?

ruvi-muffin asked:

What are your specific thoughts abt how ludinus recruited essek??👀👀 oh Person who knows a surprising amount of spy stuff 🙏🙏🙏👀👀👀

Anonymous asked:

PLEASE share your specific thoughts about how Essek was recruited, I'm so intrigued!

Anonymous asked:

Hello yes i am very interested in these very specific thoughts about how Essek got recruited? All these things about how actual intelligence works/uses their assets/how that ties to Essek and the M9 is really interesting :D

Thank you all so much for asking me the specific question I wanted someone to ask. I had to write and rewrite this post a half-dozen times because I kept going off on tangents about other Cold War spy stories so trust me there’s plenty more where this came from.

For reference, my original post on what made Essek an ideal recruitment target and why the M9 were the ideal counter to it.

First off, this is all based on real-world intelligence ops and is only as relevant to the campaign as Matt Mercer cares to make it. Having said that *slams notebook on table* BUCKLE UP, KIDDOS.

There are two ways Essek may have been recruited: he approached the Assembly or the Assembly approached him. I think the Assembly approached him. Not to be too hard on the guy, but Essek said it himself: he’s kind of a coward. I can’t see him mustering up the nerve to take that first step. Plus his espionage seems to have focused specifically on the beacons rather than dunamancy as a whole; that sounds like the Assembly to me. The beacons specifically offer the prospect of immortality and the Cerberus mages are arrogant enough to assume they can figure out dunamancy themselves if they have a beacon in hand. There’s no way the Assembly haven’t been trying to beg, borrow, or steal those beacons for centuries. Essek may not have even been their first try - just the first that worked. 

Chronologically, Essek would have popped up on either the Assembly or the Augen Trust’s radar quite early as I assume they keep tabs on all powerful Dynasty mages. As they followed his career, the Assembly would have ID’d Essek as a perfect target for recruitment as a spy, and then further for ego-based recruitment. Recruitment for espionage is a slow process - even slower in a fantasy world where some races reasonably expect to live 500+ years. Many intelligence agencies will do a sort of light meet-and-greet just to start a file on various people who might years later be of interest. The Assembly would have cultivated Essek as an intelligence asset with the same degree of time and care - and using some of the same methods - that Trent used to turn the Blumenthal trio into assassins. 

If they followed a modern playbook, they would have made contact with Essek anywhere from 2 to 10 years before the theft - nothing underhanded. A Cerberus mage approaches him at a negotiation or conference and strikes up a conversation. Then it’s increasing “chance” encounters to get Essek familiar with the handler, play the “we’re both mages, really we’re on the same side” angle to earn enough sympathy & trust to start talking regularly. Once the channel’s open, the handler and asset meet and/or talk routinely while the handler assesses the target’s motives, weaknesses, and the possibility that they’re a double agent. 

Espionage proper then starts with small favors, acts Essek can rationalize as victimless or even helpful to the Dynasty. In this stage the handler is getting the asset comfortable with engaging in espionage. They reward the asset for what feels like minimal moral trespass. For Essek that would have been praising his research, encouraging avenues of investigation they knew the Dynasty had shut down. Having meetings with Ludinus plays right into the ego trip - the Head of the Assembly himself is taking the time to meet with him! The Assembly gets how important this work is! That keeps Essek isolated from Dynasty members who might convince him to take a step back and builds loyalty to the Assembly over the Dynasty.

Once an asset settles in, espionage becomes easier. Routines get established. Moral hurdles have been overcome. Now the asks get bigger and the rewards get sparser. The handler will suggest larger acts just to get the asset thinking about them, since the more they consider “just hypothetically” how to pull it off, the more likely it is they’ll do it. This is where the idea of stealing the beacons would get introduced (though of course it’s been the goal all along.) I’ll bet the Assembly hinted at all the study that could be done if they could just get to the beacons in person, constantly bemoaning the lack of access. By now Essek sees the Assembly as colleagues in arcane pursuits, kindred minds, unlike the boring, stuffy old mages of the Dynasty. Of course he could outwit the Dynasty’s security and get the beacons to the Assembly - he’s a prodigy, a genius, everyone says so. And it’s not like he was stealing all of them. The consecuted would be fine. Everyone would be fine.

None of this is intended to absolve Essek of personal responsibility. But it provides a context for his actions, and for why he might regret them so much even though he apparently did them willingly. Asset handlers are very, very good at drawing someone willing to commit minor transgressions into far greater crimes. Look at how Trent shaped Caleb, Astrid, and Eadwulf. He didn’t order them to execute their own parents on day one. He spent years coaxing, tempting, and coercing them into darker and darker crimes, letting them rationalize their own actions at each step, preying on the same vulnerabilities as Essek: isolation (separating the three from other students, telling them their work was secret), ambition (the promise of great arcane power, of shaping the Empire’s destiny), and ego (”we were going to keep the empire safe,” telling them they were gifted, they were chosen).

So how do IRL spies rationalize their actions? Those who spy for reasons of conscience or ideology have done the rationalizing ahead of time, but everyone else has to get there somehow. Some who spy for revenge tell themselves it’s what their superiors deserve, while others tell themselves everyone’s doing it. Some just need a lie to get started (most commonly about who they’re spying for), while others have to keep up the charade all along. Let’s look at a few cases similar to Essek’s that demonstrate just how slippery the slope can be.

Aldrich Ames, a long-term CIA officer slash double agent for the KGB, got suckered in by thinking he could control the situation and wasn’t really hurting anyone. Ames had chronic financial trouble related to excessive drinking & his wife’s lavish lifestyle and in 1985 came up with a plan: he would essentially con the KGB by selling them a minor amount of classified info that he deemed “virtually worthless.” In April he set up the exchange and the KGB paid him $50,000, enough to satisfy his immediate debts. But after actually doing it Ames said he felt he’d now crossed a line he couldn’t step back from, and continued to sell information to the Soviets. By the time he was caught he had, by his own admission, compromised “virtually all Soviet agents of the CIA.”

While some assets just need a lie to get started, others require a delicate dance of self-delusion. Col. George Trofimoff was an Army officer who ran the center where would-be Soviet defectors were assessed & questioned. Trofimoff, a Russian émigré at a young age, was chronically in debt. In 1969 he renewed his acquaintance with his stepbrother back in Russia, now a bishop in the Russian Orthodox Church, and began to pass secrets in return for money - but he and his stepbrother never framed the transactions as such. Trofimoff described their meetings as, “very informal. ... First, it was just a conversation between the two of us. He would ask my opinion on this and that--then, he would maybe ask me, 'Well, what does your unit think about it?' Or, 'What does the American government think about it?’” His compensation was similarly informal: “I said I needed money. ... And he says, 'I tell you what, I'll loan it to you.' So he gave me, I think, 5,000 marks and then, it wasn't enough, because I needed more. ... Then he says, 'Well, you know, I'll tell you what. You don't owe me any money. And if you need some more, I can give you some more. Don't worry about it. You're going to have to have a few things, this and that.' And this is how it started.” Trofimoff could pretend to himself that he wasn’t really spying - just having a chat with his stepbrother - and wasn’t really getting paid for it - just borrowing a little money.

This got longer than I intended it to be and there’s still plenty to talk about, so I’ll save the rest for a second post. Next time: what happens long-term to espionage assets? And what happens if an asset regrets their actions and/or attempts to cut off contact with their handlers?

(This accidentally turned into a series on Essek & IRL espionage: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4)

[venusgirltarot]

Pile 2 — [♡] ;

This is a general PAC reading. If you’ve stumbled across this post and don’t feel this particular group is for you, you can pick a different group, here

Disclaimer: This reading is for entertainment purposes only. Tarot readings are about possibilities based on your current energy. Energy is forever changing and nothing is set in stone. Always remember, you have your own free will to make whatever decision you feel is best.

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈•ﾟ｡

Hello, Pile 2 ♡ This fall you’ll be meeting someone. For some of you this is someone completely new but for a lot of you I believe this is someone you knew in the past but you didn’t know very well. You two could have worked together and then they moved up in your work, transferred, or found another job. You could have had occasional conversations and maybe you had a little crush on them but that was all. You could run into them at a park or library and I just got this weird message of running into them while you’re waiting on your food. Like maybe your at a restaurant picking up some breakfast before work and while you’re in line, this person comes in because their order was messed up or they were given someone else’s order and the two of you end up standing in line and catching up. No matter how you meet them, it’s very unexpected and out of the blue. For some of you, you exchange contact info and maybe even plan a day for lunch when you run into each other but for others you may go your separate ways and then run into each other again. I’m seeing you could run into each other again when you’re out for a morning run or walk and it’s a very “what are the odds” kind of situation and you exchange information then or maybe even go to a cafe or something nearby right then and get breakfast together. You may realize you live closer to this person than you thought like you could have been living a block from each other this whole time and not have known it. This person has a very stable and mature energy and they’re probably older than you. There may be an age difference between the two of you (anywhere from 2-8 years) This person probably works a lot and is very good at what they do. They may be a lawyer or something. They could have been going to college for something when you two last saw each other (for those of you that already knew them previously) and you didn’t know about it. You find this person very interesting and really like listening to them talk. They really like your voice and your cheeks. Maybe your cheeks are kind of pink or flushed when they see you. They think you’re very pretty and I’m also getting that they like your jewelry. You may be wearing a pearl necklace when you first meet them or when you’re out to eat/on a date with them. They do have some 18+ thoughts about you. I think they wonder a lot about what you look like in the nude or in lingerie. I’m also getting that they like when you wear lipstick. You two balance each other out very well. Your personalities match really well together. When you first start seeing this person romantically, you may get frustrated because they take things slow and they tend to be very busy. You may want to rush into something but they like to take their time getting to know you. I get very Christian Grey vibes from them tbh. Very powerful and well respected in their work. They want to know everything about you before they commit and they’re very set in their goals and morals. They feel strongly about their morals and beliefs and stand by them. They also like to spend a lot of time with their friends and this may frustrate you, as well. They’re very structured. They stick to a strict routine and probably have a good diet. They’re probably the type to have a very strict diet and then really big cheat days where they take down a whole pizza, a pint of ice cream, donuts, 10 bags of chips, and a few milkshakes in one day. They work hard but when they want to relax, they really want to relax. They’re really into hiking, running, and walking. Overall, it will take adjustments and compromise on both parts but once it’s official, this person is very committed. They give me very Scorpio Venus vibes (coming from a Scorpio Venus) once you’re in, your in. Like soulmate, life partner, together forever type. That’s why it takes them so long to commit. They’re aware of how committed they get in relationships and they don’t take love lightly. They won’t take things to the next level unless they’re sure about you and the relationship.

Box messages: 888, A, X, Aquarius Venus, Mercury, I’m jealous, you’re too much for me, what reminds you of me, this is meant for you, you’ve changed since I left, you are supported in this, how would you feel if I contacted you, why don’t you ever call me, you are worthy, you need time, I’ll be back, don’t hold yourself back, I know your friends don’t like me

Song: Invisible String - Taylor Swift

[i-want-my-iwtv]

I hope the rumours of Louis being a brothel owner aren't true, but if they are I can sort of see why they're going for this route? I mean, with a black Louis they can't have him being a slaver anymore, so maybe they're trying to find something that is also morally reprehensible for him to be.

TL;DR: My kneejerk reaction was to be saddened, and I don’t like that this is starting up, and will continue to fuel, fandom drama. Ultimately, if we want peace, we’ll embrace the fact that the existence of this adaptation doesn’t take away from the existence of the books, and it also doesn't mean we have to acknowledge it.

It makes me wonder whether AMC wants us to make a storm about this. We’ll see...

After all, what makes this adaptation any more important than the graphic novels of the ’90s, the graphic novel Claudia’s Story, movie!IWTV, or movie!QOTD? In fact, many fans here on tumblr consider VC to be a trilogy only!!! and don’t accept the majority of the PUBLISHED CANON so what makes anyone think we have any obligation to swallow this AMC adaptation as some kind of gospel?

I see movie!QOTD as a buffet of ideas carried in an official fanfiction work, and I don’t accept as my headcanon the various things it changed about the books that I didn’t particularly like, such as merging Magnus and Marius (which, IMO, effectively made both characters more morally reprehensible). I accepted the things I did enjoy, like casting a Black/POC actress to play Akasha. I see this AMC adaptation as a buffet of ideas, some can be taken, and some not, it’s just another official fanfiction work.

[Anon, I need to catch other ppl up on the information, too.]

Deadline.com informs us that in the AMC adaptation for Interview with the Vampire, Jacob Anderson has been cast as Louis. I'm not familiar with him, but it looks like he’s a successful actor, from Game of Thrones and other things, he’s also joining Series 13 of Doctor Who. I’ll have to check him out from an acting standpoint!

Aside from his talent as an actor, this is by far the most controversial thing that's happened in VC fandom recently. I've been thinking about this for a few months now, talking about it privately online and offline, still gathering my thoughts. So this post is not engraved in stone, it’s initial thoughts on this.

I’m glad to see ppl talking about it and I’m sure we’ll have more public discussions. I’m trying to discuss it very carefully, but also, this is an entertainment blog, my opinions are mine alone, and I’m not looking for dogpiling on anyone, I have no obligation to respond publicly or privately to anything. Plenty of other ppl have differing opinions on this. So take all of the following with more than a grain of salt, I’m not being salty, I’m providing the links to the little info we’ve seen pulicly, I’m giving my initial thoughts, and I’m also trying to add a little levity because ultimately, again, this is an entertainment blog, and I try to add a little humor to help with such serious topics, humor can help ppl talk about controversial things.

-----

The casting of a POC/Black actor (I’m sorry I don't know the preferred terminology, let me know if you know what Anderson prefers) confirms at least one part of theilluminerdi articles that stated that Louis’ race will be different from the books. I didn’t post about these before bc I wasn’t sure how reliable theilluminerdi’s sources are (and I'm still not sure), but this was one major aspect that theilluminerdi announced before Deadline did, so now seems to be the right time to share those articles. For now, you can go check them out yourselves rather than have my reposting of the information, trigger warning: mentions of sex workers and race in the changes to the canon story of Interview with the Vampire.

>>>theilluminerdi articles from May 21, 2021 and July 15, 2021:

www.theilluminerdi.com/2021/05/21/interview-with-the-vampire-amc

www.theilluminerdi.com/2021/07/15/interview-with-the-vampire-amc-2

^Meme of Dr. Ian Malcom from Jurassic Park reads: “Your writers were so preoccupied with whether they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

I’m using that meme with a little levity here, clearly an AMC adaptation of vampires in which the producers/writers have chosen to change the race of a main character (arguably the original protagonist of the series) isn’t in the same VICINITY as the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park that broke out of containment and killed visitors to the park, but John Hammond’s intention for the creation of that park was very good, as I assume this race change was intended. Time will tell.

“But with this place, I wanted to show them something that wasn't an illusion. Something that was real, something that they could see and touch. An aim not devoid of merit.”

“Creation is an act of sheer will.” 

- John Hammond, Jurassic Park

Race is a more complicated subject than ever, so for AMC to make this bold change, I hope they have POC and Black writers on staff and are handling this very carefully. Even then, no racial group, including POC and Black people, are a hivemind, disagreements are bound to happen in the writing room, whether in good faith or bad. People have different intentions and motives, compromises will probably be made with the story in many ways, we all know how it goes with collaborations; the end product is a shared vision among multiple creators. This could be a potentially controversial adaptation, I don’t know whether they’re aiming for that or not, but with the elements it has so far, it seems to be headed that way.

Here's a comment by "Angellus" on the 5/21 article. It's undeniable that there's going to be the accusation of racism thrown at anyone who has any negative view of this change, regardless of their reasons. I find it unfair and narrow-minded that any negative response is automatically assumed to be coming from a racist point of view. To say that changing Louis' race is unequivocally an improvement fails to take into account how that change has a Domino effect on all of the other parts of the story. Not the least of which is that, if he is still a slaver/slave holder/plantation owner/(insert your preferred term) that adds a whole new racist element to his owning Black/POC people, even though, apparently there were Black/POC plantation owners. 

Not the least of which: How will this change impact his relationship with Lestat? Particularly when Lestat has the added issue of being described in those articles as having “mind control abilities” and “insistent that he gets what he wants and when facing rejection,” a terrible combination in terms of consent, even in a relationship of the same race, let alone invoking Caucasian/white dominance over Black/POC people, AND Lestat being the catalyst to Louis’ questioning his sexuality:

Lestat is insistent that he gets what he wants and when facing rejection, petulance can quickly turn to ruthless rage which causes frenzied acts of horrifically brutal violence. Lestat also has mind control abilities. Lestat initially infuriates Louis, but this soon turns to fascination which leads Louis to question his religion and sexuality. 

^Screencap reads: "I love how racist everyone is in the damn comments, this doesn’t pervert the story you’re all racist and it’s disgusting. I’m looking forward to it, I hope you keep crying your salty racist tears asswipes."

It makes me question whether Angellus truly believes what they wrote, if this is an ideology, or a troll. I would suggest their use of the term “pervert” is correct though, pervert means: “alter (something) from its original course, meaning, or state to a distortion or corruption of what was first intended.” That’s what this race change does, factually. Although, in this context, “distortion or corruption” carries a negative connotation. It would take a lot to show how this change does not meet the definition or “to pervert,” though.

I hope the rumours of Louis being a brothel owner aren't true

I agree 1,000%, I was hoping that these were just rumors. But, aside from the race change, if this were the only change, I find Louis being a brothel owner to be equivalently morally reprehensible to being a slaver/slave holder/plantation owner/(insert your preferred term). Ideally, they’d change his career to something that doesn’t involve benefiting from the bodies/labor of others in any morally reprehensible manner.

I mean, with a black Louis they can't have him being a slaver anymore, so maybe they're trying to find something that is also morally reprehensible for him to be.

He might still be a slaver. Who knows. Being morally reprehensible as a mortal man didn’t seem to me to be crucial to the story, but they still could have chosen something better. It seems to me like they want a brothel so they can have eye candy for an audience who want to see sex workers, maybe full frontal nudity. 

-----

What also gets my attention is that Anne and Christopher Rice have not yet posted publicly about it, which leads me to believe that this change wasn’t their choice. They take every chance to brag when they’re proud of something, every chance to crowdsource about casting ideas or which VC books Anne’s fans liked best, etc., and in this case, as of Aug. 31, 2021, (and to be fair, maybe I missed it), I haven’t seen either of them post about this on the official VC FB, Anne Rice’s FB, Annerice.com, Christopher Rice’s FB, or christopherricebooks.com. If it had been their choice, I think they would have gladly trumpeted their credit by now, but maybe they’re waiting to do it in a specific venue. Time will tell.

[billionairesitgirl]

Do you have any tips to help someone who keeps failing? I have been trying for several years now to get started and feeling more and more hopeless every year. I have attended $$$ events, lost weight, moved closer to major cities. Then of course COVID struck and made things worse. Is there something I can do that can help me gain an "in" or are certain things just not meant for some girls.

KEEP TRYING !!!

Yes i screamed it...  but that’s because thats the most important thing in succeeding.

Secondly Congrats on taking the steps and trying..... 

(THIS MIGHT MAKE MAKE YOU NEUROTIC.... If you already are then DO NOT DO THIS)

The following is also important 

1.) Have you asked your self why you keep failing?

Take a pen and paper and spend an entire day by yourself. Think, play things over in your head and Analyze.... This is probably the only time i truly suggested, over analyzing the crap out of your life, decisions, faliures and successes. 

(a) What mistakes, do you keep making? or What mistakes do you think you keep making. 

(b) what makes them mistakes 

(c) Would those actions have worked out better in something else or displayed to someone else 

(d) who and/or what would this action work on

2.) List your obstacles ... Every single one you could think of... 

Make 3 categories

 .....Obstacles you have gone through - What caused it? who caused it? (Regardless of who caused it... You owe some responsibility... so still own up to it... But remember BE KIND to yourself...) 

There is a fine line between being kind to yourself  and completely absolving yourself of any responsibility when owning up to the responsibility of things gone wrong

......Obstacles repeated - How do you NOT repeat this Again?

.......Obstacles Imagined and Obstacles that could still happen (based on different things, character flaws, finances, men’s personalities, race, looks, nature) Get as detailed as needed.  

Man plans and God unplans ... 

However, as humans we have ability to at least create contingencies... try to come up with possible contingency plan and POSSIBLE action on how to still not stand still when one of those obstacles appear... Basically figure out another way to scale through, wiggle through, swim through... whatever way (As long as there is life, health and will... there is a way.... After all people have clawed out of dungeous using only a stick or even their finger nails)

3.)  What have you tried that didnt work? or keeps failing... List it

4.) What ever #3 is that didnt work... What is the alternative that you haven’t tried. 

5.) Clearly you see this as an investment if you have lost weight, moved etc... What is missing in the picture? (I don’t know you, nor have I spent time with you or know your thinking process or views... So this is something even if you dont know what is missing... You have to sit and think... Sleep on it, give it time but remain introspective but be mindful to know when clarity presents itself. 

Being brutally Honest with yourself is the only way to know what is missing and where you are missing. 

Example: I met a gorgeous black girl A few months ago. From the get go, I knew she was hypergamous... The men also knew. But there was something missing and i couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Until we were all talking with the men present. 

She carried herself as a pretty girl, sweet and bubbly... But she made the mistake of trying to emulate the white woman’s countenance... So she could be doted on same as a white woman... I can’t explain this in detail.

But while it is good to emulate things noteworthy in other people... She lost her self and her own personal spark.  As a black woman... She avoided the pitfalls of a stereotypical black woman (quote on quote)... in the process, she mistakenly lost her goddess quality and blended in with the rest.  The men moved on from her. 

My Point is: WHAT IS MISSING... Are your run of the Mill? What is your core

6.) Standard - 

Do you have set standards? expectations of yourself and of the Men and of your surroundings?

Do you keep it? Do you up hold it or do you switch or lower it under pressure? 

Not to give too much information... I refused to live in the poor neighborhood when i moved off college campus. I lived in a condo and lived Smack in the center of the wealthy part of the city. I was not in this lifestyle then... But it was simply my standards... And even though it meant staying on campus longer till i got it... I did that.

Example 2: I have friends who do not care what hole they enter to get entertained (granted you can meet people anywhere)... But I am not the type that goes out very often... So why will i waste my few outings in some frat boys bar or club. So I go to high end places.

Example 3: I met a man who recently sold his company with upwards of $80 Million... I wasn’t told... I was aware of the process and listened to him through the proceess complain about delay in the closing and trying to avoid tax etc

He was deperate to meet me in person. As a matter of fact the day he closed. He flew me to his city (I went cause i was bored).  Long story Short... He is the type of man that got lucky... There isn’t much in terms of comparison... Thinks he knows everything, thinks himself black people’s savior and makes comments such as “If there were black women like you”...  Has some racists views he doesn’t think is racists... I met his friends... I liked one (But he just recently got remarried and was the smartest of the bunch). They had pissing games who had thr most rolex collection etc... He was crazy about me... Still is even without so much as a kiss and i spent a weekend there. (Had my own hotel room)

But, I knew while the money was there, he was generous and was crazy about me... It would drive me nuts being with him and interacting with his friends... My standard here is that I won’t deal with any man who so much as stresses me mentally especially as I am a black woman... I won’t take nonsense.

My Point is : What do you compromise on that you do? It is a long road being steadfast to your standard... But it has been worth it for me.

Do not use anyone’s standard... Create your own and work on keeping it... Men will despise you for it... But respect you all the same.... It is a weird placed to be.

7.) What type of events do you attend. When you attend events, go out etc... What do you do? How do you approach these events? Do you wing it? Do you plan it?  Are you fearless and confident or shy or just pleasant enough to exchange pleasantries alone? What vibe do you give off? 

How do you dress? Different styles can come across different ways... Some ooze Sexy, some ooze elegance with a hint of sexy, some basic, some regular, some say just another event person

8.) Closer to Major cities : what part of that do you live? Even if you are not in the center of things... Where do you go when you go out? How often to do go to wealthy areas, who do you interact with there? 

There is a plethora of questions who have to ask yourself.

With Covid I have met people (but then, I work for myself and have more freedom to move around and also take mini vacation in other cities) And I already have a network... So, I have a  leg up -  

But, I know girls here and people are also still meeting people.

What is stopping you? What avenues and methods have you tried? Have you thought outside the box? 

Hopeless? No... Wrong direction... As you fail you learn things that dont work so that should make you hopeful. 

Also, I am a big beliver in manifestation and law of attraction. Feeling hopless will only make things more hopless...It will attract more faliure...

Find ways to think more positively, ways to turn negative things into potentially positive things... In this case you do not have to be rational... Imagine everything negative happening has a positive... 

e.g  : A man cancelled on you = It wasn’t meant to be... It might have turned into a terrible situation for you... Thank God or the universe for saving you from whatever it is you arent aware of. 

eg : Covid happening : Time to make more money, invest. Brush yourself up, level up some more, learn new ways to meet this men and become more resilient so you come out fire when, the world isnt tupsy turvy

e.g : Getting older: Perfect, the more sure and certain you become in yourself, the more you actually find out what makes you stand apart, the more you find out who you are and realize that whatever amount a man was going to give you last year, you’ve outgrown it with age, maturity, acheivements etc.

You get the gist.... NEVER FEEL HOPELESS

You can feel sad... But not hopeless... Dust yourself up and try again...

Maybe one day i will take time out to share some of my own short comings and faliures... Cause i think we share the successes much more;  that people think there aren’t mistakes and faliures and short comings... I have had them, and I continue to work and fix them. 

The only thing is after my introspection... and brow beating myself and figuring it out...i don’t like to dwell on the faliures... I put my self to work updating myself. Besides I think sharing more good news brings more good news and vibes... But, there isn’t anyone that can claim to not have had obstacles and faliures.

Finally: My sister beleives everyone has a destiny... But everyone is also capable of changing theirs... 

With regards to your question...  About certain type of girls ...

The Answer is NO...

Some people might find it harder, or lack the resources and know how

But trying, pushing ones self, acquiring knowlegde and doing whatever it takes (of course within reason and comfines of morality ) Is what makes the difference.

As i write... I know women who took their entire savings to go to ST Barts for New Year...  (Would I? NO) But some would... My point is. 

You will go as far as you are capable of seeing yourself go.

So if you want a change in your pattern... You have to break the wheel... Try something new you haven’t tried yet... And a new approach. 

Question for you: “Gain an in?” Into what circle do you want an in? What type of man

#hypergamy, #datingtips #sugardatingtips #sugardatingadvice #levelup #levelupadvice #sugardatingtip #sugardating

[trisshawkeye]

I'm a little hesitant to weigh in on the discourse going around, since I can't speak to the Chinese LGBTQ+ experience, but what I can speak to is one of the reasons why a queer person might find the nature of the sex scenes in MDZS, and in particular the extras, interesting and relatable to their experience as a queer person.

First off I want to stress that YOU DO NOT NEED TO READ THE MDZS EXTRAS. In fact, if you think they might be triggering or upsetting to you, or just not your cup of tea, then just don't read them. You don't need to read them to enjoy everything else MDZS has to offer. Indeed, if any of the following would wig you out—slightly dub-con kissing, misunderstandings around a sexual encounter due to each party thinking the other didn't want it in the same way they did, an inexperienced couple figuring out what they like and finding out that includes mild consent-play—then maybe you might want to skip the scenes in the main novel too. It's okay to have preferences and for those preferences to not include that. If you don't want to read those sections, then I'm not gonna judge you, don't read them. There is plenty else to enjoy. Look after yourself first!

Okay, with that out the way, I'd like to talk to you a little bit about shame and sexual fantasy.

While not written to this particular audience at all, Lan Wangji is a painfully relatable character for a certain type of gifted queer kid growing up in conservative Evangelical Christian spaces. The combination of having a strict, rule-based moral code one is expected to follow, and being held up as a well-behaved, good example to others from a young age, both in terms of pseudo-academic achievement and in terms of following of said moral code, and then finding yourself and your worldview becoming increasingly incompatible with the code you are trying to live by, is one that really fucks you up. Lan Wangji is a character laser-targeted at my own set up of hang-ups and neuroses, oh boy. I love him so much and want him to be happy.

And to be fair, that's not to say the Gusu Lan sect rules are bad per se, and characters such as Lan Xichen show that it is possible to have a different relationship with them such that they inform your behaviour but still allow for flexibility and compromise. But Lan Wangji definitely strikes me as someone who took rule-following deep into his own sense of identity, and that gets very messy for him when he starts questioning how to handle moral quandaries that the rules can't easily address by themselves, or finds himself trying to follow them in a way that conflicts with how the rest of his sect are doing so.

So when this kind of strict moral purity forms a big part of your identity, and then you suddenly get attracted to someone 'inappropriate' (or indeed, anyone at all as a horny teenager who’s supposed to behave themselves), your new and growing sense of desire runs smack bang into your existential need to be someone who is Good(TM), who follows the rules, who wouldn't in their right mind to anything that contradicts them. You can't just dream soft dreams about sneaking away to kiss your crush and you both enjoying it, because even that is shameful, it's wrong, it flies in the face of everything you're supposed to be and you'd never do that. And so one way for your mind to get around this is for your fantasies to take a darker turn, to imagine that you were pushed beyond all reasonable human limits, that you lost all control, that you were drugged or manipulated, that the other person took advantage of you or somehow provoked you into assaulting them, and that way you can sort of excuse yourself, you can imagine yourself in that situation because at least then it wasn't really your fault, you can kind of keep your internal sense of identity consistent. But now you've imagined you're in that situation and you have that 'excuse', you have a kind of free rein to act out the things you want to do and it doesn't really 'count'. And all the while you're entirely aware that this is a fucked up fantasy, that it would be unforgivable if you did such a thing or such a thing was done to you in real life, and now you're worried that even imagining such a thing is a failure of your moral character, and it builds into a destructive cycle of shame and self-loathing, and it's just a real mess all round. 

Now, I think this is something that Lan Wangji worked through and came out the other side of, and he was no longer ashamed of his desire for Wei Wuxian by the time he came back in the body of Mo Xuanyu (and probably even by the time of the first siege of the Burial Mounds, though it was far too late at that point). But for a sixteen-year-old Lan Wangji to have these violent fantasies about being provoked into raping Wei Wuxian because that was the only way he could imagine himself in a situation in which he could express that desire? And then later in life finding out that consent-play holds some appeal? Yeah, I can see that, I can relate to it.

And so in the incense burner chapter? When it becomes clear they're visiting one of Lan Wangji's teenage fantasies, especially right after the adorably domestic scene that is Wei Wuxian's dream, he is absolutely embarrassed by it, he's mortified—it's obvious he still considers it to be shameful and would honestly rather Wei Wuxian didn't see this side of himself so clearly, although he loves and trusts Wei Wuxian enough not to hide it from him when he says wants to stay. And then, when Wei Wuxian sees where it's going, and finds it hilarious and honestly kinda hot, knowing that it is just a fantasy, and one that meshes well with his own consensual-non-consent kinks to boot, you know what? It's a relief! It's an honest-to-goodness relief and entirely delightful to me that he turns around and basically says, hey, it's okay, this doesn't make you a bad person, you don't have to be ashamed of this, I love you, I'm enjoying this too, I want to see where this goes, let's have sex! 

Because none of this does make Lan Wangji a bad person—none of these fantasies were acted upon except for one intensely-regretted kiss (and then only really regretted on his own part), and then later in the context of entirely consensual, mutually enjoyable sex as adults between him and Wei Wuxian. And being able to revisit those fantasies and take away the shame he's associated with them all this time is probably pretty healing for him! 

Like I said at the start, you don't have to read these chapters. They were not written for you personally, and you are not the target audience for them. If you're going to be at all distressed by the content then I actively encourage you not to read them, it would be a form of emotional self-harm to do so. It's not like you're missing out on anything important (or even very well-written, if I'm being honest, particularly once it's gone through the mangle of a translation that I don't personally think handles the nuances of the smut scenes very well, from what I can gather from various pieces of discussion about it). It's totally fine if you find these kinks unpleasant and don't want to touch them with a barge pole! But that doesn't make having or writing or enjoying these kinks or fantasies somehow morally wrong—it's not shameful, it's not homophobic, and please, please stop accusing the author or fans of being so just because you don't personally like it. Because you’re just reinforcing the shame-based, purity-based thinking that screws so many of us up in the first place.

(Aside: I’m not saying this is necessarily the correct way to interpret Lan Wangji’s character and motivations with respect to these scenes, since I too am a Westerner coming at all this material through the veil of translation and with very little understanding of its surrounding literary context—I’m more describing how, from my own experience as a young repressed religious queer, I found myself vibing a lot with this character and his relationship with sexual desire.)

[drariellevalentine]

A prompt where mc is unconscious in Ethan's arms.

Oof. This one really broke my heart.

This Is Me Trying

Pairing:- Ethan Ramsey x Arielle Valentine

Warnings:- angst. Major heart wrenching angst.

Takes place during the events of OHSY’s Chapter 5.

Song inspiration:- Folklore by Taylor Swift (I was listening to it on repeat the whole time)

Arielle’s PoV:-

Just when you’re about to take a break, you get paged by Eth- Dr. Ramsey. With a sigh, you turn around and walk towards the diagnostics office.

You step inside the diagnostics office as the glass doors open with a hiss to see Dr. Ramsey pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Yes?”

He looks up, anger and irritation clear in his face. “I thought you had at least a bit of maturity but I can see that I was wrong.” You stifle the urge to roll your eyes.

“What did I do?”, you ask trying to keep your voice as level as possible noticing that June and Baz are in the room.

As soon as he hears your words, he gets up and slams a stack of papers in front of you. You pick them up to see the name “Gwyneth Monroe” on the top. You wince slightly.

“I thought I had specifically told you that the diagnostics team does not seek patients and that they come to us! I come in and receive the news that Gwyneth Monroe had been approached by a ‘Dr. Valentine’. The same person I said no to as for reaching out.”

“Well excuse me for trying to keep this team afloat! I was only doing what’s best for the team! And besides, by doing this we’ll still be able to treat patients who can’t afford treatment!”

“That’s what you think! The board is thrilled about this and Naveen has told me that the board wants us to ‘move our focus towards high-profile patients’.” His eyes are filled with fury.

“Well I’m sorry but you can’t expect me to just stand there doing absolutely nothing while this team sinks to the bottom.”, you shrug.

“Guys, you should calm down for a moment. The patient’s probably waiting for us and we don’t want to keep them waiting.”, Baz says tentatively.

“Oh yes, from now on just like Dr. Valentine wanted we need to provide all our special patients with VIP treatment!” Your anger flares as he pokes accusations at you.

“I never said that! I’m sorry but the only way that we can still keep running this team just like Naveen wanted is by changing and adjusting a little!”

“And what do you know about Naveen’s vision? Just because you are his goddaughter doesn’t give you more authority then the rest of us, nor does it to make decisions without my approval.” Your mouth drops open as you gape at him. Baz’s eyes widen as June speaks up. “Ethan, that’s extremely low.” Ethan scoffs.

“Seriously?! I thought you knew how hard I worked for this position! Turns out you think that I got into this fellowship because of Naveen and not because of my own damn effort.”

“Stop twisting my words, Arielle.”, he says giving you a death stare.

“I never twisted your damn words.”, you clap back.

“Well, maybe you’re still not ready for a position like this. Seeming that you can’t follow a simple set of instructions.”

“How many times do I have to say it?! I was doing what we needed to do in order to keep our team afloat!!”

“And I told you not to do something which is exactly what you’ve done! I thought you had learned your lesson from last year, but clearly I’ve misjudged you.”

“Don’t you dare bring last year’s events into this! That has nothing to do with this!”, you shout.

“It has the utmost important and impact. Clearly representing your lack of being able to follow a set of instructions!”

“I can’t believe you!”

“We’ll get used to it then. If you pull one more stunt like this, I won’t hesitate to terminate your fellowship.” That sentence triggers something inside of you, a last straw.

“Well in that case, consider my whole damn job ’terminated’!” You slam your ID badge on his desk and rush out of that office as fast as your heels can take you, ignoring Baz and June’s shouts.

Ethan’s PoV:-

You slump back into your chair, and pinch the bridge of your nose.

“Ethan, I know you’re our boss and all that but what in the world did you do that for?! That poor girl just quit her job!” You turn to Baz.

“And she won’t be the only one if this conversation continues.”, you say. They both exit the room.

“Lord, one day she’ll be the death of me!” You decide to go to the ER to help with any patients. After attending to a few casualties, you go back to your office when you see Harper standing at the entrance, arms crossed. You raise your eyebrows.

“Was that Dr. Valentine I saw rushing out of here?”

“Yes.”

“What the hell were you thinking, Ethan?! You can’t just shout at her like that.”

“Well, I can if I need to.”

“Well maybe when she deserves it. You damn very well know that what she did didn’t make you angry. You’re angry that what she says is right, and worried that Naveen’s vision will be compromised.”

You sigh. “...maybe I was a bit too hard on her.”

“A bit?”, she looks at you incredulously.

“Fine! I was hard on her, so what?! It’s not like she’s actually going to resign her job, it was a hot-headed decision.”

“Oh really? Then what’s this?” She waves a minute stack of papers. You take it from her and read it. It’s a resignation letter, signed. Your eyes widen in disbelief.

“She came to me, with a resignation letter and said that she wanted me to sign these papers. She’s very clear-headed and informed me that it isn’t a rash decision, but one that she’s been mulling over for sometime. She’s gotten an offer to transfer her residency back to New York, offering her a part in researching preeclampsia treatments.”

“She wouldn’t…”, your mind says.

“Naveen’s signed them too.”

“What?!” You scan the papers and notice your mentor’s signature at the bottom. “Damn it… I should go talk to her.”

“You should, And do it now. She’s leaving in a few hours to New York. The young doctor’s got quite a few connections.”

“Just tell me where she is!”

She shrugs. “She’s handing over all her patients to other residents so she could be anywhere. Dr. Hirata, Dr. Delarosa and both Dr. Mirani’s have tried talking her out of it but she wouldn’t budge. So did her friends and Dr. Lahela. Naveen tried his best but couldn’t either.”

“Well why didn’t you?!”, you ask.

“You really thought I didn’t? She’s quite the woman, didn’t waver a second. And you know how intimidating I can be.”

“Well, of course she is.”, your mind reminds you as you rush out of the office.

Arielle’s PoV:-

You’re walking through the halls of Edenbrook, handing out your charts to everyone just like you did when you were suspended. Except this time, it’ll be the last. You try to ignore your friends’ voices as you hand out the last of your charts. You quickly change into a white cropped top and a pair of jeans and gather all your things from the locker, slowly loading everything into your locker. You would have asked your friends, but you don’t have the heart to face them.

You quickly check everything off, ignoring the multiple pages you receive from your friends and him. You turn off your pager and take off your white coat, Edenbrook’s logo etched on it and hand it over to Zaid.

“I thought I’d never say this but, I’m going to miss you Valentine.”

“You know what Zaid? Me too, after all who else is going to annoy me in the mornings!”

“God, I’m going to miss you so much!”, Ines wraps you up in a hug. “Have you told your friends anything?”

You shake your head. “I can’t right now. I might fly back and visit in a week or two Probably with lots of presents cause they’ll all hate me.”

She gives you a knowing look. “You know that he didn’t really mean it.”

“I know. But I can’t go on like this.” She nods. You wave one last time before you head out back to your car. You put on your sunglasses as you unlock your car. You’re about to start the engine when you realise your backpack’s still in the office.

“Crap!” You know you’ll have to get it yourself. You head back in, and take the back way to the elevator. Luckily, it’s empty. You get in and press the button for the 9th floor. The elevator slowly descends up, 3rd…...4th…...5th..”-

The elevator dings, it’s doors opening to reveal…

“Dr. Valentine.” You can see the relief in his eyes, his chest lightly heaving.

“He’s been looking for you.” The realisation dawns on you as he enters the elevator.

Suddenly, the elevator jerks slightly. You lightly stumble as there’s no bar to hold for support. You spot the bar near him and decide to stay as far as possible.

Suddenly he presses the emergency button, the elevator stops in its tracks.

“What did you do that for?!” He ignores you. You ask again.

“One argument. One argument and you quit.”

“It wasn’t one argument! You literally blamed everything on me when I was trying to help!”

“So you sign these?!” He waves your resignation papers in front of you.

“You can’t expect me to keep doing this!”

“Doing what?! I never asked you to do anything!” You take a deep breath.

“I can’t do this anymore. Seeing you every day, us acting like nothing more than colleagues, maybe friends. Acting like absolutely nothing happened between us, it hurts, Ethan. It hurts every day, every hour every minute of my damn life!.”, you blurt out. His eyes soften as he hears your words.

“Arielle, I know and I’ve told”-

“Screw my job, screw your damn ethics and morals, screw everything damn it! I’m head over heels in love with you, Ethan Jonah Ramsey, and you can’t expect me to keep quiet!” His eyes widen as he realise the extent of your words. Tears start to roll down your cheeks.

“Do you know how hard it was for me, when you left? I found out from one of the nurses, for God’s sake!”

“I couldn’t bring myself to tell you”-

“And when you came back, after two whole months you address us as something that was in the past, something that already was finished. Was it all that meant to you?”

“I- you know that’s not true”-

“I just can’t do it anymore, Ethan. I don’t know what you’ve heard but I’m leaving Boston in a few hours. I only came back for my bag, nothing else.”

“Wait, we can”-

“I can’t, Ethan, I can’t. I feel like I’m a rope in a game of tug-of-war. You acting hot then cold.You being there right beside me, but not being able to kiss you...I can’t stand it.” You can see his eyes slowly tearing up.

Not being able to look at him, you turn around and press the emergency button, the elevator descends up again. He slams the button again, the elevator stops in its tracks. “Well you can’t expect me to let you leave just like that!”

“I don’t. Which is why I’ve told everyone I’m going to New York.”, you respond as you punch the button again, the lift slowly going up.

“I don’t care where you go, Arielle Cerise Valentine. I will find you, even if it means travelling to the ends of the damn earth.”, he responds as he presses the button again, the lift halts to a stop. His sentence tugs right at your heartstrings, breaking your heart even more.

“Ethan, please don’t. I’m begging you, it hurts. Let me go, you have to let me go.”

“I can’t. How could I?”

“...then I’ll do it for you.” You press the button for the last time, the elevator finally arriving at the ninth floor. You slowly take a step towards the office.

Ethan pulls you back to his arms, his lips meeting yours in a heady kiss. You don’t have the strength to pull away, but you know you have to. You break the kiss as the elevator door starts to open.

“I’m sorry…”

Ethan’s PoV:-

You don’t know what to do, your heart beating irrationally. “Arielle, wait!” She doesn’t look back. In a last attempt, you press the button to close the doors. They close as you sigh in relief. She looks at you, this time really looks at you. Her beautiful violet irises meeting yours. You press the emergency button one last time, never taking your eyes off of her.

“You can’t leave me, I know I’m being selfish but please don’t.” She takes one last look at you, then turns away.

In crushing defeat, you take your hand off the button, the doors start to open as she slowly walks to them. You try to memorise every inch of her, who knows when he’ll see her again. She’s about to step out when suddenly the elevator jerks quite violently.

She’s thrown back into the right wall as your shoulder forcefully collides with another wall. You’re about to help her when a second later, the elevator drops. You hold on to the metal bar for dear life as the elevator rapidly descends down several feet.

Remembering you’re not alone in the midst of the chaos as you hear screams, you see Arielle’s petite body hit the top of the elevator and drop down with a terrifying thud. You watch in horror, cursing as you’re not able to do anything.

“No!!!”

The elevator finally stops after what seems like an eternity. We rush towards Arielle, trying not to focus on the bright blood stains on her white top and hair.

“Arielle? Arielle?! Can you hear me?! Please, wake up damn it!”

Her eyelashes lightly flutter. You quickly take her in your arms.

“Mmm… i-it hu-hurts E-Ethan.” Your eyes well up once again as she struggles to speak, pain completely unbearable, for you mentally and for her physically.

“Shhhh….I know. Can you tell me where it hurts?” She tries to speak but winces in pain.

“Okay, I’m going to examine you slowly and I want you to blink once if it hurts.” She nods very slowly. Suddenly, you hear a tune. You realise it’s your phone.

“Just one second, Rookie. It’s probably Naveen or Harper.” You slowly prop her up against the wall and answer the call.

“Hello?”

“Oh thank god, Ethan! We were so worried. How many people are inside? Is anyone hurt?”, Harper asks.

“No, it was just me and Ari”- You’re interrupted by a soft thud. You whip around to see Arielle lying unconscious on the floor. You drop to your knees.

“Rookie!”

“Ethan?! What happened?!” You can hear Harper yelling but you ignore it, all your attention on her.

“Rookie! Arielle, wake up!!”

This time her eyes stayed shut.

************************************************

Author’s Note:- Okay, first of all I commend you if there isn’t even a single tear rolling across your face. I know I cried while writing this which is why if you see any mistakes, ignore them cause this wasn’t even edited once. But on a bit of a more of a happier note, I’m writing/brainstorming a part 2 to this so...

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[ask-purpled-and-blued]

Vigilante

Not once has Purpled ever called himself a hero.

He wants that on record, wants to say it up front. He’s never had any delusions about what he is and what he’s doing.

He doesn’t have the license for it, doesn’t have the morals for it. He’s not even saving that many people.

He’s just some kid running around in pro hero cosplay with his shoddy homemade support gear.

So riddle him this: why the fuck is his vigilante name trending on Twitter under #Swag_forHeroCon?

(—This one’s got a high-stress moment and the briefest panic attack known to man somewhere in the middle. Mind the post’s tags and reply if it needs more.—)

—

It started about a year ago. It’s sophomore year and he’s looking at his options for next year’s classes.

Of course he’s taking AP Calc and everything he thinks colleges wanna see. That’s a given and a no-brainer and he’s not gonna go into detail about that.

No, what matters is that his junior and senior year let him take career classes.

Hero-related career classes.

Because not only is this a private nerd school that he needs his scholarship to afford. It’s a private nerd school that has a dual-enrollment type thing with a nearby heroics school.

And one with a pretty good support course that is now available to him.

He’s always been interested in math and engineering. Support courses are just using both of those to make cool shit for heroes and make hella money while doing so.

He’s done his research. Support gear can cost anywhere from a couple thousand dollars to an arm and a leg and both your kidneys.

And it’s his dream to make that kinda money.

So he talks to his counselor about it, fills out the applications and waivers, takes the program’s entrance exam. And within a week he’s got his new schedule that’s got an extra two hours slapped onto the end of the day.

It’s gonna be so worth it.

—

And it really was.

The beginning of the year was covering what they should make support gear for, how to take the quirks and ideas of the heroes they’re working for and make them actually work.

But also the design process, how to research stuff, lab safety. How to make something look nice while not compromising its utility, costume design, branding. Different materials and their uses, different materials and how to work with them. How to deal with mistakes and set-backs. Avoiding burnout and getting literally burn.

The class was amazing. But his favorite part came later in the year.

The final project.

They were given a made up hero student’s profile and were told to create a support item for them. The file came with their name, measurements, hero name, quirk description, and several sketches of what the fake person looked like and of them using their quirk.

They were given a few deadlines and some profiles came with design requests, but for the most part they were allowed to go ham.

And go ham he did.

His assignment was a kid whose quirk was being able to float just himself. He got a couple sketches of what the kid’s costume already had and it looked like there was a bee theme going on.

So, naturally, he decided to give this kid a pneumatic nail gun.

...

Alright so maybe that wasn’t as intuitive as he thought it was. But the kid didn’t have any sort of weapon on him in any of the sketches!

And there wasn’t any sort of close combat abilities listed in the biography like some of his classmates’s people had, so the further this kid could be from the action while still packing a punch the better.

Hence the nail gun he was designing to look like a stinger.

He did his research. Looked up where the body’s vital organs are and read up on acupuncture. Looked up the damage that stab wounds can do and how fast a thing had to be going to go right through you.

Printed out some human outlines and wrote up a couple sheets that pointed out the “no-no spots.” And basically wrote a manual on how to use the thing and half an essay on why certain safety features were implemented to keep him and the fake kid from being sued.

And then halfway through actually building the thing he got the idea to add a paralytic substance.

And then he hated himself a little bit because he had to find a substance that would be non-lethal and would have the desired affect. And then he had to go to his teacher during his office hours to sit down and explain that yes he had this idea but he’s not entirely sure if it’s a good one.

And he wrote another almost-essay about what he chose as the paralytic substance and why he chose it and what the max amount the average person could take was so that he wouldn’t be liable if it was used improperly.

And then he recorded himself reading all of his paperwork both for extra credit and because apparently the kid’s bio said he was dyslexic and the teacher wanted them to do this as realistically as possible.

Probably would’ve been easier to just change the font but he’s come this far, might as well go the extra mile.

He paints the thing. Gathers up all his research and his concept sketches and his blueprints and his explanations and his recordings.

And he dumps them on the teacher’s desk and enjoys the lull in the class as the final projects get reviewed and graded.

They get to watch movies and Netflix with the TA while the teacher sits in the other room grading them.

He loved this class.

—

He still loves the class but it loses points for the fucking heart attack it just gave him.

Apparently the hero students they made shit for we’re real hero students. Actual, physical people who applied to the heroics department and got in. And may possibly one day be heroes if they didn’t fail.

And were going to come in and see the shit they made that passed inspections. And would be given said shit to use as part of their hero costumes.

In hindsight it should’ve been obvious, but Purpled cut himself some slack there.

At least his guy was nice. A little too excited at 4pm on a Thursday, but given the fact that Purpled just handed him a gun and said he could shoot people, it was understandable.

Purpled felt really good as he walked this Tubbo guy through the instructions again. Apparently he’d already been sent the paperwork and the audio before this. So all that was left to do was remind him about it the important stuff and then taking five wide steps back and letting him shoot at a practice dummy.

...

Well, Tubbo’s aim wasn’t his problem.

F to any villains and civilians in his way.

—

At this point, there’s probably some confusion.

“Purpled, why did you become a vigilante if your support gear inventing future looked bright?”

He’s getting to that!

He needs to talk about his junior year to give context for his senior year.

Which sucked absolute ass.

—

For one, Purpled’s quirk came in.

Now, normally that would be a pretty good thing. Somewhere around 80% of America’s population had quirks.

Four out of every five people had some sort of ability or abnormality that ranged from being able to detach your ear to having super strength. Getting one that wasn’t detrimental to your health, even at his age, was generally a positive thing.

Except Purpled’s actually sucked. Sucked so fucking bad.

Yeah, he was lucky in that he didn’t suddenly grow gills and need to live underwater for the rest of his life or something. But he honestly wished he could go back to a week ago when he didn’t have this quirk.

When he wasn’t constantly being forgotten by the people in his life because of a quirk he couldn’t turn off.

If it wasn’t for the fact that the quirk counselor’s quirk let them detect the use of quirks, he would’ve thought he’d lost it.

People forgetting his face, his name, his existence over the span of a week was hell. He had to show his mother his birth certificate and social security card and his baby pictures so that she’s remember she had another son. Let alone everyone else in his life that he only saw at school.

Oh god his fucking school.

The lengths he had to go to to keep his fucking scholarship was fucking nuts.

Classes were a nightmare with the teachers forgetting about him by the end of the period.

Things eventually got easier when he realized it was an area of effect thing and that he could shorten it to affect people within a few feet of him.

From that point on he just had to social distance from people like his life depended on it. Because his social and academic lives did depend on it.

He didn’t experiment with his quirk beyond that though. He hated it. He did everything in his power to keep it as tightly controlled as he could.

Until the one time he didn’t.

—

He was out to get another notebook because he’d severely underestimated how many notes he’d need to take for one of his classes. It was just supposed to be a quick stop on his way home.

He’d sat on the bus home with his quirk pulled in tightly around him, the force of it a buzzing weight on his skin that he refused to let go of.

He got off at a stop that wasn’t his but was closer to the dollar store he had in mind. He honestly didn’t expect to take more than ten minutes.

Then a guy walked in and loudly told the cashiers to hand over the money.

Purpled wasn’t that close to the front, but he peeked around the aisle and watched the robbery unfold.

The dude had what looked like leaves for hair and was holding the cashiers at gunpoint. There were two of them at adjacent checkouts, neither of them with any visible mutations. They actually might not have quirks.

Purpled has no idea what to do with this information.

His best bet was to wait for the heroes to arrive and stay quiet-

One of the cashiers was looking right at him. Robber guy noticed.

Turned around and pointed his gun at Purpled. Told him to get out from where he was hiding and to kneel on the ground in the open.

And Purpled was scared. He couldn’t move, he’d frozen.

The guy got loud and mad and he still had the gun pointed at him.

Purpled was panicking. His chest felt too tight and his quirk was freaking out. Buzzing harder than it ever has.

He couldn’t hold it. He let go.

...

For a moment, everything was still and everything was quiet.

Purpled felt light, he felt more at ease than he had in months.

Because his quirk was free and loose and everyone else in the room looked so fucking confused. Like they had no idea what was going on.

Like they just forgot what was going on.

And then the heroes arrived. How they knew to be here was anyone’s guess.

Purpled should probably give his statement.

Purpled was probably in shock though. So he forgave himself for shoplifting and not pulling his quirk back in. For just walking right out of the store and down the street.

Nobody shouted at him or called him back, so he assumed they forgot he was there.

He wished he could forget he was in the store for that moment too.

—

There’s a lot of other little things that lead up to Purpled being a vigilante, but those things don’t matter as much.

He drops out. It’s not hard to make people forget he even went to school.

He regularly breaks back into school to steal tools and materials for his projects and just wipes the people who walk in on him doing that shit.

Makes a costume but scraps it and decides to make several replicas of the top twenty’s costumes.

Because he’s realized that the wider he makes his range the less of an effect his quirk has on all those in range. Vice versa.

So the pro gamer move here is to make people forget what they saw the person in the pro hero costume doing instead of trying to make them forget they saw an unfamiliar figure doing shit.

Memory is reconstructive after all. Easily manipulated even without a quirk like his.

And he’s good at making his costumes and altering his appearance.

He probably won’t always do a good job wiping people’s memories though, so he lets it stick that there’s a vigilante that impersonates pro heroes. One that constantly shifts their appearance.

He even gets bold and makes a name for himself.

Swag_.

...

Listen he didn’t say it was a good name-

—

He doesn’t stop a lot of crime. And the people he does save often think they were saved by someone else.

But there’s always that one moment after he managed to save someone where they look at him. And they see him.

And that’s worth everything.

It’s not a selfless motive. It’s not a heroic motive.

But it’s enough of a motive for Purpled.

—

He doesn’t know how he got a following. Doesn’t know how he never noticed.

But he likes it. After the initial shock of seeing himself trending fades, he lets himself soak up all the positive attention.

And then he gets back to work.

[darylandbethfanforever9]

Devil’s Backbone

Devil’s Backbone

Chapter 3

AN: I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far, and thank you everyone who has commented, reblogged or liked the story :)

Story Rating: Explicit, 18+

Warnings: Smut, violence, flashbacks of past sexual assault, descriptions of torture and racial hate. Not Tony Stark friendly.

Relationships: Bucky/OC, Steve/Natasha, Billy/Wanda/Grant, Sam/Sharon, Clint/Laura, eventual Clint/Yelena and Frank/Karen Page.

Summary: In the aftermath of the Blip, Bucky struggled to find his place among the world and the Avengers. However, when he is sent on a mission to Madripoor to investigate a mysterious woman, he starts to realize maybe his past isn’t too far behind him. Co-Written with WalkingPotterGirl14.

The girls at the Red Room would whisper about the Winter Soldier. He was a ghost story, a tale whispered to keep them in line by warning them if they didn't succeed in the classes or missions, that the soldat would creep into their room and kill them.

She remembered seeing those cold eyes watching her and over girls when he had come to the academy to train one of their classes. He had thrown a young girl called Polina Paseka across the room after she failed four times to do a pirouette in ballet class.

She frowned as she tried to make sense of how the Winter Soldier had escaped the Red Room. It was rare when someone was able to make it out, almost impossible. She decided to call Carter and inquire about the soldier. Her interest was piqued by the man. Maybe she would know something.

Bucky and the others returned to the compound to inform Fury about the black ops team that the Power Broker had sent to kidnap Isaiah and Eli Bradley. The man must have been hellbent on creating the serum after Zemo destroyed the ones that Dr. Nadler had created. "Hill is identifying the people who were sent to kidnap Isaiah and his grandson. Two of them have already been identified," Fury announced grimly. He pulled up two images of two men, one of whom that Bucky recognized instantly. Jack Rollins. He knew him from being there at the Ideal Federal Savings bank when he had his mind wiped by Pierce after trying to kill Steve, Sam and Natasha in Washington D.C. "You might remember the guy on the left, Barnes and Rogers. That is Jack Rollins, former member of the STRIKE Team. After fleeing the U.S., he settled in Madripoor and began working as a mercenary for the highest bidder. Tomas Calderon is a former S.H.I.E.L.D agent, who was fired after killing a group of Inhuman refugees in Nairobi, Kenya," Fury explained gravely. He paused for a moment before glancing their way. "Rogers, Wilson, I want you to ask Carter if she knows how long this mystery young woman has been living in Madripoor. See if there's a gang war brewing over a power struggle. Barnes, Barton and Maximoff, I want you three to talk to Russo, Karen Page, Murdock, and Curtis Hoyle. See what they know about the Power Broker," the director instructed. They nodded and all left.

The first thing Ana decided to do was renovate the whole damn penthouse that the Power Broker owned. She ordered new bedding, a new mattress, and a nice bed frame. There was no way in hell she was sleeping in his bed. She followed suit with the rest of the apartment, glad to have all this control now. The next thing she did was arrange a meeting with all the criminals who lived in Madripoor. She was putting down some rules. She was no saint - far from it - but no way in hell was she tolerating slavery, sex trafficking, and fucking child molesters and pedophiles. She knew Madripoor thrived on crime, but she was going to be instilling some rules for everyone. She personally called off the bounties on the Winter Soldier, the Falcon and Baron Zemo, from what she had heard around. She had no quarrel with them at the minute. Her main focus was going to be ensuring the Red Room remained shut down. She didn't want anyone else to go through what she had gone through. No child deserved that horror. The buzzer rang then, and she answered the call immediately. She had a feeling that a few of them were going to be aggravating. But she had dealt with worse people. "Miss Liukin, this is Conrad Mack. You wish to speak with me about a beneficial arrangement between us?" The man asked politely. She smiled slightly. "Please come in, Mr. Mack," she said smoothly. The door was unlocked and locked behind him. She might have her bodyguards, but she wasn't defenseless by herself if Conrad decided to play dirty. Two could play at that game. Conrad Mack entered the living room. He was a handsome man in person. He had dark brown eyes, but there was a sharpness in them, like an eagle, always watching. He was wearing casual, but smart clothing. "Mr. Mack, it's a pleasure to meet with you. I've heard a lot of things about you," Ana said warmly. The man offered her a charming smile that showed perfect white teeth. "The pleasure is all mine, Miss Liukin. I have to say that I'm impressed by your bloodless takeover of Madripoor. If you don't mind me asking, what inspired you to take over Madripoor from the Power Broker?" She smiled at his question, as she sipped from her glass of red wine and Conrad drank from his glass of whisky. The man was a gangster, but he did have morals. She decided to give him some of the truth. "The Power Broker wished to recreate the Super Soldier serum after Baron Zemo destroyed the vials that Karli Morgenthau stole from him. But he wanted me to kidnap a man called Isaiah Bradley and his grandson…I presume you know who he is?" she asked meaningfully. Conrad nodded, his smile turning to a grimace. "Yeah, I know who he is. My grandaddy fought with him in World War II. The US government threw him in jail and took his blood. He escaped during the eighties and settled down in Baltimore," the man said bitterly, well aware of America's racial discrimination against African-Americans. Ana nodded at his answer as she looked at the Monet art that decorated the walls. She disliked racists fiercely. "Then you understand why the Power Broker had to go, Conrad?" He lets out a quiet nod at that. "As I've said before, I'm not a saint. I've done some horrible things. But I draw the line at people dragging innocents back into their dirty hands. For years I had no control of what I was able to do, and now that I do, you can bet I'm going to make sure that no one else gets hurt like that." Conrad smiles to that. "That's very noble of you." Ana snorts and shakes her head. "Not noble. It's called being a human. However,…I'm not a good person too. And the reason we're here is because of that." She comes over to him, leaning against her chair. "I know about your little business on the side here. You thrive from the drug community here, don't you?" "If we're being honest, it is one of, if not the most, profitable business you can have in Madripoor." "On the brink of a collapse the city would be if that whole system decided to go belly-up," Ana states, holding her glass in her hands. "Which is why I'm willing to offer a truce with you. An agreement, of sorts. If you keep a low profile and continue your business, I'll make sure it can still run with the people here and the cops won't be on your ass. I know how hard it can be to stay on the downlow but I'm willing to compromise on that as long as your guys don't interfere with what I'm trying to do." Conrad raises an eyebrow. "You're very interesting, you know that?" She raises an eyebrow back at him. "How so?" "You're like the opposite version of what you say you are. You're trying to be good but also trying to keep crime going…it's a strange contradiction, if you will." Ana shrugs her shoulders, walking over to where he sits. "We all have our contradictions. But the main part here is making sure your business can still run despite those contradictions. So…" She holds out her hand to him. "Do we have a deal?" Conrad looks at her hand for a split second before extending outwards, shaking it firmly. "We have a deal."

Talking with Karen, Frank, Matthew and Foggy had gone about as well as Bucky had been expecting. They didn't know that much about the Power Broker except for the fact that he just wanted to have as much power as possible, simple as that. They had stumbled into them when Fisk had gone away to jail, leaving his powerful empire in the city free for the taking. Due to the power vacuum, the Power Broker had tried to break in.

But luckily, they had come in at the right moment to stop him from taking over, before he had escaped off to Madripoor. Bucky truly wondered what went through this man's mind to make him think like that, that he could suddenly own everyone just because one man got arrested. But then again, the man was clearly unstable. If he wanted to still create more and more super-solder serums for the world to use…there was no way he would allow that. Secretly, Bucky really hoped this new mysterious woman had killed the Power Broker. Hell, maybe even taken over herself. If she was willing to help Sharon out and let them know about Isiah, she at least had some sort of morals compared to the original man. But he also had a feeling that Fury, if he did find out who this woman was, was most likely going to send them after her. So maybe he'd get the chance to meet her after all. A part of him still couldn't believe that he had seen Ana at a coffee shop…it was such a small world. A part of her still felt so familiar, and at the same time he couldn't remember where he had seen her before. He was thankful that the Wakandan's had gotten out all the trigger words in his mind but damn it, he wished he had his whole mind back. Something he would just have to live with for now.

Was this a stupid idea? Probably. Could Fury walk in at any moment? Most likely. But Natasha needed to know. She had to know if this woman was alive truly or not. Maybe she would get lucky, and they would be able to swing around this situation. Maybe the woman who had come into the facility wasn't even close to her. When Nat and Yelena had destroyed the Red Room area, they had been able to access their system remotely to be able to view who had died and who had lived from the program. She had never checked for her to see if she was still around. But this time was better than no time. She typed in the name quickly, searching through the files before she lands on the one, she had wanted. And her shoulders sink as soon as she reads through the file on the computer screen. 'Anastasia Liukin. Dead – complications of operation.' "Oh, thank God," Natasha breathes out, running her hand through her hair. This at least said that she was gone. Maybe she would be able to get out of this alive. But something still didn't sit right. A part of her didn't think that she was dead. If it wasn't her…then who? She bites her lip, glancing deeper into the file.

"Fuck it," she said finally, before delving further into the files. She found information on Anastasia about the year she was born. The young woman had been born on July 10, 1995 in Voronezh, Voronezh Oblast, Russia in the aftermath of the Soviet Union collapsing. Her mother had died when she was five years old, and she had no one else to raise her. She was then placed in an orphanage until the age of seven when the Red Room had approached her under the illusion of being taken to a ballet boarding school. There were no other records of her aside from the file about her dying from an operation. The reasons for the operation were redacted, but deep-down Natasha knew the reason. 'I had to do it. I had to protect Yelena. She was too soft for the Red Room despite all the training we put her through,' she thought rationally, ignoring the pang of guilt that pulsed through her.

Sharon was honestly trying to keep herself calm as she drove to the penthouse that was owned by the Power Broker. She hadn't seen the mysterious woman again, but she had told Sharon to call her Ana. Now, she was driving there and was stunned by the sight before her very eyes. The building itself was amazing and very spacious, but the apartment was even better. She was shown into the penthouse by a bodyguard and kept her face neutral as she was greeted by none other than Ana. "You wanted to see me?" She asked politely. Ana smiled at her calmly as Sharon sat down on the comfortable black velvet sofa. The living room was very spacious but had a homey-vibe around it. There were framed photographs on the mantelpiece. "Yes. I was wondering if I could buy some of the Art Deco paintings and sculptures in your art gallery?" Ana asked curiously. Sharon blinked in surprise but nodded and leaned forward. "I'll be happy to sell you them, Miss Liukin," she said reassuringly, stunned that the woman wasn't going to kill her for helping Bucky, Sam and Zemo escape from the Power Broker. Speaking of the man, she hadn't seen him around Madripoor for the last couple of days. She wondered if finally, someone had killed him for having too much control and power. Considering Ana was in his penthouse, she had quite the feeling it had something to do with her, since the man had been tied up by her not that long ago. "Then I'll see you tomorrow morning. I'll enjoy doing business with you, Sharon," Ana said kindly, her voice genuine. Sharon nodded as they both walked out, seeing that the whole penthouse was being renovated. At Sharon looking, Ana smiled as she put her bottle of water down on the coffee table. "This penthouse belonged to the Power Broker, and it didn't give a welcoming feel. So, I decided to have the whole house renovated, including an indoor ballet studio, along with an indoor swimming pool, a library, and many bedrooms," the woman explained amusedly. Sharon smiled before saying goodbye and Ana watched her leave. She had to admit, it seemed the women had the strength to stay around – and wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon.

Bucky was annoyed with himself. He felt like he had seen Ana before and not at the coffee shop. It was irritating to say the very least, as he walked to the conference room, where Fury was holding a team meeting. He entered the room, sitting next to Steve, Sam, Clint and Wanda as Billy and Grant joined them. He wasn't surprised to see Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne being in the room but was wary about seeing Bruce and Tony in the room. Both of them, along with Natasha and Yelena, despised him. He didn't blame Natasha for hating him - he had tried to kill her three times, and had attempted to apologize, but she had refused his apology. "Now that you're all here, I have news about the mystery woman who infiltrated the compound. We ran her through Interpol, MI6, FBI, and the S.H.I.E.L.D database and found nothing on her. She's unknown to us," Fury explained gravely, his face betraying nothing. "So, what you want us to do then? It's pretty obvious that she's dangerous if she escaped the HYDRA base, and they had her in cyrostasis," Tony questioned suspiciously. It was Steve spoke up. "That doesn't necessarily mean that she's dangerous, Tony. She's most like been forcibly placed in cyrostasis. We did uncover some possible information," Steve informed Fury, who looked interested as he looked at the man. "What did you and the team find out then?" The director inquired curiously. He was clearly wondering if the young woman was a threat to them. "We did some digging - plus Sharon called us this morning. The Power Broker might possibly be dead, as he's not been seen for at least three days. He was last seen Monday night, and had arranged to meet a young woman to discuss kidnapping Isaiah and Eli Bradley, so he could use their blood to recreate the Super-Soldier serum. According to Sharon, the young woman refused to comply, and a fight broke out," Steve explained quietly, his voice not quite disapproving at the young woman's actions and possibly murdering the Power Broker. "She was the person who told Sharon about the attack on Isiah." Fury looked thoughtful and looked around at everyone who was sitting at the table. Natasha and Yelena were silent, but they were clearly hiding something. "Is there something you'd like to add, Belova and Romanoff?" he asked calmly. Natasha nodded. "There is something I'd like to add, Fury." Natasha stands as she grabs the file of Ana, placing it on the table. "I did some digging on this girl with the file that we found in the HYDRA base in Siberia. As the ones who shut down the Red Room and the areas surrounding it, we are allowed remote access to the former directory of agents that we've had interactions with. It turns out that Ana has actually died from an operation due to unforeseen circumstances," Natasha states. "At least that was what her records state." "Hold on." Bucky stands from where he was, gesturing to the file. "That's impossible. We've been doing our own research and there has been some steady evidence that she's still alive." "Barnes, I remember her. She's gone." "That's impossible because I saw her literally days ago," Bucky says angrily, but he holds back his temper to a point. He didn't want to let go of his own morals because Nat's words contradicted his own. Her brow raises in shock. "You're-wait, what? How the hell did you-" "She was in a coffee shop," Bucky states, crossing his arms against his chest. "A couple days ago before heading off. I didn't learn the girl's name, but she looked exactly like Ana. There's no mistaking it." "You're insane, she's gone!" "No, she's not!" "ENOUGH!" Fury yells, his booming voice causing them to jump in surprise. They both turn their eyes to where Fury was breathing heavily, his head down, clearly trying to control his own temper. He takes a moment before looking at the two of them. "Sit both your asses down now!" The two Avengers do as he says, knowing that if they pissed him off even more there'd be more than just yelling coming their way. Fury starts to pace before he looks to them. "From what I see, we have several problems here. One is-" His phone suddenly pings, and he pulls it out quickly to glance at it before cursing under his breath. "Now we got even more problems," he mutters, putting his phone back in his pocket. "Just got word from H.Q. Apparently, the original Power Broker is officially dead." Silence rings throughout the room. Bucky knew it. He just knew it.

"Again, now we got even more problems," Fury continues, running a hand along his head before looking to them. "One, we have some mysterious woman that broke into our damn base and now is missing. Two, we have a power dynamic clearly underway in Madripoor, and another young woman there that we don't know about looking to take over. Third, we have two goddamn conflicting arguments about a girl that we don't even know about. There’re too many things here for us to even come to a proper conclusion. I'm over this fighting that we got going." "Then what do you suggest we do, sir?" Natasha asks, raising her brow. Fury sighs and then nods back at the team. "What we do best – undercover. But there ain't no way I'm sending a whole team after this girl. If the Power Broker is dead, that means she's a serious threat, regardless if she'll hurt us or not. She's got friends in high places. Only one of you are fit enough to do a proper undercover mission of this high of a status." His eyes turn directly to where Bucky was. "And that's you, Barnes." His brow raises in surprise. "Me?" "I can't think of someone better than the former Winter Soldier. It can't be Nat or Yelena with personal ties to this said mystery woman, but we don't know how much she knows about you possibly. It's the best option for us going forward. I'm not about to let any other goddamn intruder come in, so we need to find out who this woman is as soon as possible, and if she's taking over as the Power Broker." Bucky was quiet for a moment, letting his words mingle. He wasn't wrong. He most likely would be able to find her the quickest and see exactly who this woman was. "Plus, you've literally seen her before," Steve agrees lightly. "If anything, that'll only help you try and find her again." "I think he's got this," Sam states, agreeing. Bucky rolls his eyes and glances at his friends. "It's alright, guys. I'm fine." He always knew that the ones who were on his side tried their best to show their support for him, but something he just wanted to prove it himself. He turns back to Fury. "I can do that, sir." "Good, glad to hear it." Fury stands and grabs the file. "You leave as early as tomorrow. We want to make sure we handle this with care but as quickly as possible. Don't want to linger any longer. Pack your belongings – I'll inform Sharon that you're heading to Madripoor and you're undercover there." "Sounds good," Bucky responds, standing. "Meeting adjourned," Fury concludes, getting up and heading out, pulling his phone as he does so. Bucky hears Tony groan as he stands, sighing. "He's making a mistake sending you out." "Tony, we don't need this right now," Steve responds, trying to shut down the fight before it even began. "How can you even trust him to do a good job? He was literally part of HYDRA, the place that this mysterious woman is even coming from!" "So are Nat and Yelena and you trust them," Wanda points out from where she stands. "They at least had a head on their shoulders to sign the damn accords." Steve sighs and shakes his head. "I'll never be able to prove to you that Bucky is a good man, but that's your loss. It's not like I'm not surprised Nat is on your side after she did what she did." At Nat's confused expression, Steve snorts. "Don't show me that look, Nat. I know that you agreed with Tony to lock Bucky up is a psych unit even before he was pardoned. I know you don't want him here just as much as Tony doesn't. You don't need to say anything." Bucky runs a hand through his hair stressfully. Good god, this wasn't how he wanted his mission to start out.

[princessshikky]

In case there is another person here who for some reason wanted a TGCF/TUA fusion plotbunny... This is loosely inspired by the TGCF fanfic Nude Dinner by the incredible hoarder_of_stories (btw, I highly recommend to check out their other works: very sweet and comforting, also you can just feel that the author is enjoying their work, it's always cool when the text transfers that feeling).

So. Jun Wu is the eccentric billionaire who buys and adopts seven kids with superpowers and they grow up in a toxic environment.

Mu Qing and Feng Xin are number one and number two respectively. They are constantly arguing with each other and with everyone else around them except for Xie Lian. When Xie Lian left home to live on his own, fengqing left with him, but Mu Qing couldn't handle this life for long and wanted to come back home, which lead to his argument and subsequent breakup with Feng Xin and Xie Lian. Mu Qing also spent years trying to "make amends" for his "mistake" and win back Jun Wu's favor. He's the only one who stayed with Jun Wu until the end.

Feng Xin quickly started an affair with a girl his age (Jian Lang), she got pregnant, Jun Wu found out and tried to pay her to keep the baby, give it to Jun Wu and never see the child again (he wanted to see whether the second generation would inherit the special abilities). Jian Lang wanted nothing to do with it, had an abortion, confronted Feng Xin about the whole story and broke up with him. They never saw each other after that. In the present timeline Feng Xin works as a coach in a local gym, he also participates in fighting matches sometimes.

Yin Yu is number three. He constantly felt underappreciated and ignored, angry that Quan Yizhen was praised more than him. Eventually he got so angry he had a fight with Quan Yizhen and ran away. In the present he works for Hua Cheng (who wanted to be closer to Xie Lian and grabbed the chance to meet Xie Lian's sibling, that didn't go as planned).

Quan Yizhen is number four. He adored Yin Yu, so after Yin Yu left Quan Yizhen also didn't stay home for long. He became a successful and popular athlete with a ton of endorsements. He also doesn't hold any resentments against his siblings.

Shi Qingxuan is number five, he can speak with the souls of the deceased. His ability is pretty useless in combat, so he didn't go to the missions all that often. When Shi Qingxuan was still a teenager his biological older brother, Shi Wudu, started looking for him and demanded the right to see him (Shi Wudu could only do it once he was of legal age, which is why it took so long). Jun Wu refused, so Shi Wudu started a crusade, went to the papers, to the Committee for the Affairs of Minors and to court -- all to get Shi Qingxuan away from the abusive environment. He eventually succeeded. The rest of the siblings desperately envy Shi Qingxuan since they don't have loving biological family willing to go through hell for them. Nevertheless, Shi Qingxuan is such a likable person it's hard to resent him. He is another family members who doesn't hold any grudges against his siblings and loves them all equally (except for Shi Wudu, who is his absolute favorite).

He Xuan is number six (deceased). Shi Qingxuan is the only one able to see him and communicate with him. He Xuan absolutely despises Shi Wudu because of jealousy: he used to be closest to Shi Qingxuan and believes Shi Qingxuan doesn't pay him as much attention now.

Xie Lian is number seven and Jun Wu's favorite, which didn't win him any favors among the other siblings (actually Jun Wu made a conscious attempt to isolate Xie Lian from the rest of the family and make him dependent on Jun Wu's approval precisely because Xie Lian is really his favorite). Xie Lian didn't have super abilities but still wanted to be a superhero and save people like the rest of his siblings, which lead to him constatly arguing with Jun Wu. Eventually he was the first to leave the Academy. He lived with fengqing at first, then they broke up and went their own separate ways. The first year on his own was the most difficult, as Xie Lian couldn't find any job and barely had any food to eat. Officially it was because the whole family was homeschooled and Xie Lian lacked any certificate of education, but actually Jun Wu secretly did everything in his power to ensure no one would hire Xie Lian, hoping Xie Lian would "come to his senses" and come back home. However, Xie Lian was stubborn enough to survive and eventually get a stable job. He still doesn't have higher education because it's expensive and time-consuming, but his living conditions are better in the present.

At the start of the plot Jun Wu suddenly dies and the whole family (including Shi Wudu as Shi Qingxuan's moral support) comes to the funeral. Mu Qing tries to say that something about the death is suspicious (some of Jun Wu's documents are missing), but no one is willing to support him (to be fair, even if Jun Wu died from fifty knife wounds, the siblings would be like "eh, what a tragic accident, nothing suspicious here"). There are no timey-wimey shenanigans, just Mu Qing trying to investigate Jun Wu's death and the rest of the family reluctantly working with him or refusing to cooperate (i.e. Yin Yu doesn't tell where he spent the night of Jun Wu's death or where he works because he hasn't seen his siblings in years, they're practically strangers, and he doesn't want these strangers to come to his workplace or something, esp. since he works for a stalker obsessed with one of the aforementioned siblings). The family communicates, unearthes some old grudges and family secrets (fengqing spend two hours yelling at each other over a broken gameboy personally gifted by Jun Wu).

Xie Lian goes for a walk and accidentally meets a guy named San Lang (it was raining, Xie Lian didn't have an umbrella, so San Lang walked him to his apartment, Xie Lian invited him in and made him tea etc). They start dating. San Lang is very supportive of Xie Lian, spends a lot of time with him, makes him insanely personalised gifts. Fengqing are suspicious and try to convince Xie Lian that this guy is weird and his social network profiles seem fake. They even break into San Lang's appartment but find nothing out of the ordinary (they didn't have time to sneak into the attic and discover the Xie Lian Stalker Shrine).

Xie Lian starts seeing nightmares of a man in white clothes and white mask. He used to have these nightmares often in the past, when he was a child, then Jun Wu administered him some pills and the nightmares stopped. Xie Lian thinks this is his psyche's reaction to Jun Wu's death. When San Lang finds out, he offers to pay for the therapist sessions (Xie Lian refuses) and maybe adjust the dosage of the medicine (Xie Lian agrees to try). Soon Xie Lian runs out of the pills, forgets to get a new bottle, and San Lang convinces him to try to quit. Xie Lian feels better and also starts to suspect that he may have superpowers after all. San Lang and Xie Lian work together to try and develop Xie Lian's abilities. It doesn't really go anywhere until a tragic accident: Xie Lian and San Lang are attacked at the street, San Lang is injured (and looses his eye in the fight), Xie Lian uses his abilities to protect San Lang. San Lang now wears an eyepatch.

Fengqing still keep their investigation, find out that Yin Yu works for "San Lang" and that "San Lang"'s name is actually Hua Cheng. They come to Xie Lian with this information, but Xie Lian refuses to believe them. Fengqing and Xie Lian have a huge argument, remember every one of their old grudges, Xie Lian hotly says that San Lang is way better to him than his family and even helps him develop his abilities. Hua Cheng arrives in the middle of the argument, takes Xie Lian's side and throws fengqing out. In a conversation with Xie Lian he either denies the accusations or gives a rational explanation (i.e. "San Lang is my childhood nickname, I like it better than my name, that's why I never used my actual name with you").

The next day, once Mu Qing had a chance to calm down, he starts thinking: how come Xie Lian has abilities now? He decides Jun Wu must have known something and tries to look at Jun Wu's documents, finds evidence of Jun Wu knowing, but most of the information was in the documents that are missing. The other siblings deny having anything to do with it. Mu Qing turns to Ling Wen -- the AI developed by Jun Wu. Mu Qing, Ling Wen and Feng Xin manage to break into Jun Wu's computer, decode his files and access the security camera records.

Turns out, Jun Wu also had superpowers: he could get into other people's dreams and control their minds. He was the one who sent Xie Lian nightmares and made everyone forget Xie Lian had powers. He also documented everything and placed hidden cameras all over the house. Fengqing watch the records of the day Jun Wu died (there is only image but no sound) and see Hua Cheng break into Jun Wu's study room, find and read some of the documents. Jun Wu enters the room, it looks like he and Hua Cheng have an argument, Hua Cheng storms out taking the documents with him. After he leaves, Jun Wu clutches his chest and falls on the floor.

Fengqing go to speak to Xie Lian again, this time with the records. Xie Lian is shocked, but he believes them now. Together they search Hua Cheng's house, find Jun Wu's documents, which hold detailed descriptions of Xie Lian's abilities and how to access them. They also find the stalker shrine with paintings of Xie Lian, pictures of Xie Lian obviously taken without his knowledge, a couple of statues and some pornographic images of Xie Lian. Fengqing demand Xie Lian dumps "this creep" right this second, but Xie Lian still insists there must be a proper explanation. He even tries to call Hua Cheng. Eventually they reach a compromise: they need to go to Yin Yu and speak to him, since he works for Hua Cheng and must know something.

Yin Yu tells them the following: a long time ago, when Xie Lian was trying to be a superhero, he saved a young Hua Cheng. Ever since that time Hua Cheng became obsessed with Xie Lian, started gathering all available information about the Umbrella Academy, but there was nothing about Xie Lian there. After Shi Wudu's campain against Jun Wu the Academy's dirty laundry got into papers, Hua Cheng figured Xie Lian had been abused and it was Hua Cheng's turn to save him. However, by the time Hua Cheng finally had all the money and resources Xie Lian had long left the house and built himself a new life. Hua Cheng found him and started stalking him, taking pictures etc. He didn't try to meet Xie Lian in person because he was ashamed: he failed and didn't help Xie Lian when Xie Lian needed it most. Hua Cheng still employed Yin Yu and regularly questioned him about Xie Lian because he wanted to know every little detail. One of their conversations made him think of something he didn't share and start a secret project Yin Yu wasn't involved in. That's all he knows.

Fengqing are furious with Yin Yu for doing something like that to his sibling. Yin Yu yells at them, saying that even though Mu Qing, Feng Xin and Xie Lian had each other when they left they couldn't hold out long, and Yin Yu was completely on his own and Hua Cheng saved him. Fengqing don't know Hua Cheng, he's actually a good person, they shouldn't judge him by his hobbies. Xie Lian interferes saying they need to talk to Hua Cheng anyway, to question him about the circumstances of Jun Wu's death. Xie Lian calls Hua Cheng and invites him to the Academy mansion, fengqing gather the rest of their siblings. Together they interrogate Hua Cheng.

Hua Cheng doesn't deny the stalking but he denies being responsible for Jun Wu's death. According to him, his conversation with Yin Yu helped him guess Jun Wu was super shady, Hua Cheng managed to hack his computer, couldn't decypher the files but accessed the camera records and saw where Jun Wu kept his documents. He broke into Jun Wu's room, read his diaries, found out about Xie Lian's abilities and confronted Jun Wu about it, promising to disclose that information to Xie Lian. Hua Cheng "accidentally" ran into Xie Lian at the street, stole his medicine, hired some thugs to beat him in front of Xie Lian -- all to help Xie Lian unlock his powers.

Fengqing still believe Hua Cheng must be somehow responsible for Jun Wu's death. Yin Yu stands up for Hua Cheng and suggests Shi Qingxuan uses his ability to talk to Jun Wu's ghost and find out for certain. Shi Wudu is against that: he doesn't want Shi Qingxuan to talk to his abusive father, and it's hard for Shi Qingxuan to use his powers. However, Shi Qingxuan is willing to give it a try, mostly for Xie Lian's sake. He cannot summon Jun Wu's ghost, but he talks to the ghosts of Jun Wu's former friends, whom Jun Wu murdered and buried in the mansion's garden. The ghosts have haunted the mansion for a long time and have seen the confrontation with their own eyes. They confirm Hua Cheng's version of events.

Fengqing are still against Hua Cheng and don't want him anywhere near Xie Lian, but Xie Lian says he's not a child anymore, he won't let anyone else make decisions for him, and if fengqing want to stay in his life, they need to accept that. He's fine with having Hua Cheng as a partner, and his opinion is the only one that matters in this regard.

Hualian leave. A few days later Feng Xin comes to talk to Mu Qing: he believes Jun Wu died because he couldn't stand the thought of losing Xie Lian's love forever. Mu Qing has a different theory: Jun Wu deliberately stopped his own heart and killed himself, because he wanted Xie Lian to feel guilty for his death and to come back to the Academy because of that. Xie Lian personally thinks it doesn't matter: he has stopped looking for Jun Wu's approval a long time ago. Whatever Jun Wu's motives, he will not be able to ruin Xie Lian's life.

...

Cue the second season where the whole gang timetravels to 800 years ago, Xie Lian becomes an evil overlord with Hua Cheng being his right hand, Ling Wen tries to get a human body, Lang Qianqiu can copy other people's superabilities and Jun Wu turns out to be a literal alien.

Miscellaneous:

Mu Qing and Feng Xin are based on Luther and Diego, so their superpowers are superstrength and the ability to control projectiles respectively. Yin Yu can turn invisible, Quan Yizhen has superspeed, Shi Qingxuan speaks to the dead, He Xuan could summon tentacles, and Xie Lian is based on Vanya so he controls sound waves.

As a child, Xie Lian was closest to fengqing, Quan Yizhen adored Yin Yu (he still does), Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan were inseparable. In the present Shi Qingxuan is the only one in touch with all of the other siblings. Quan Yizhen is close to Xie Lian and constantly tries to give him money (he is also looking for Yin Yu). No one else is on speaking terms.

BTW, Xie Lian is trans, because a) why not, b) it was inspired by a fic with trans!Xie Lian and c) Xie Lian's plotline is based on Vanya's and Vanya is trans, fight me on this.

[whimsywispsblog]

Nothing More

A/N: Hello Wispies, how have y'all been? So, I finally completed my first Chrisandra (Chris x Cassandra) ficlet! It is quite short and really dramatic, but I hope you like it!

"So, how's our little Cassie doing?" Emily asked, taking a big bite off her sandwich. Chris raised an eyebrow as he took a sip of his awfully cold coffee, trying not to spit the bitter liquid.

"Who the hell is Cassie?"

"Cassandra Demitrescu, of course," Emily gave a deadpanned expression, her lips slowly curling into a smirk, making a few crumbs of bread fall off. "Your...uh...midnight tryst?"

"She's not a midnight tryst, Em. She is just an asset for the intel on the inner workings of the Village and Miranda." Chris rubbed his forehead, slightly irritated.

"Sure." Emily mused, wiping her mouth with a tissue, swallowing down a chuckle that (fortunately) did not go unnoticed by Chris.

Maybe he should have let someone younger from his squad handle the asset. Cassandra Demitrescu. Daughter of Alcina Demitrescu. A dangerous biological weapon walking freely, killing several "preys" who were just innocent ignorant people. And she dreadfully reminded him of Jessica Sherawat, a triple agent. Jessica could hardly keep her hands off him. She was really irritating and petty. She was either dumb enough not to see that he wasn't interested, or she purposefully ignored the signs. He never knew which. Of course, compared to Cassandra, Jessica was a little less annoying. And stupid. Or more like naive.

The two of them engaged in a fight just near the exit of the castle. She was strong and difficult to kill, especially with the mutated insects. But Chris was able to keep up with her games until she took him over with her insects and brute strength. And just as she was about to kill Chris, Cassandra immediately dropped her sickle and rushed to grab a packet of granola that must have fallen off during their duel. Instead of killing her, Chris decided to try and get her to give him more information for a chocolate or a granola bar (Not like he could have killed her anyway. She might be a little distracted, but she could definitely overpower him easily).

A part of him felt awful about manipulating and rattling with her naivete. Still, another part of him knew that she was an uncontrollable and vicious bioweapon. They would always meet up at the Fort, past midnight on days when her mother was at the meeting. To her, it was her moment of freedom (and a chance to initiate a...ahem...a hush-hush intimacy with the handsome outsider). But Chris always tried to dissuade her approaches, at most giving her a peck on the cheek or on her hand. To Cassandra, that was enough for her. After centuries, she was being courted by a handsome gentleman. But Chris- he was stuck in a moral dilemma. Yesterday, they got the information that Miranda has indeed set her eyes on young Rose. They were in their final stages of setting up the cameras to monitor the situation before jumping to conclusions. The fortress was the last place. The squad intentionally left that for the Captain. How kind!

Just as he was ready to step out into the harsh Northern winds, the notification ring of his phone buzzed. There were only 4 contacts (besides his squad) that were never muted: Jill, Claire, Barry and Ethan. And the message was from Jill, a voice message.

"Hey, Chris! So, a little update for you. It seems Ada Wong is liked Connections. We're not sure how. Right now, we're trying to track her down, and we're calling in her little puppy, Leon. Also, I will be leaving for Paris today, there's some intel that we'd like to investigate, and Claire is there too, so hopefully, we'll get to catch up." The voice message ended with her usual goodbyes and see you soon.

Ada Wong. That one name that infuriates him (after Albert Wesker, of course). Although he did know that it was Carla's game and not Ada, after the BSAA received a drive with all the proof from an 'Anonymous Wellwisher' (AW = Ada Wong! Get it?!), he still found it difficult to not blame Ada for it. His fists clenched as he started reminiscing about the Lanshiang incident...Piers...Finn.

-

The inner wall of the fortress echoed the soft sounds of metal clanking and Chris' grunts. There was something about the frosty air and the quietness. Chris enjoyed the languid atmosphere. It was something he craved since the BSAA was formed. Maybe before that. Even sleep was tormenting- somehow, he could hear the snarl of the BOWs, and sometimes he could even feel the icky touch of the creatures. The smell- good lord. That sickening smell haunted him to no end. It was there in everything- even in his favourite burger and fries. But this day, there was something different about it. Or maybe he needed this- some time away from BSAA, away from civilisation and his mission. Just rejuvenate with nature's kisses. The wintery smell and the icy air was just perfect IF...If the sounds of the gravel crunching as someone walked- no, not walked, instead hopped towards him wasn't there. He knew exactly who it was- Cassandra Demitrescu.

"Chris! What are you doing here?" The girl giggled as she buried her face in Chris's shoulder, enjoying the feeling of the harsh fabric on her skin and his scent, of course. Chris gave a soft smile, patting her head a few times. It was only then that Cassandra noticed his gear. "Why are you wearing that funny thing? Are you going on a killing spree?" She giggled once more.

"No. I was just out on a walk before leaving for home."

"Will you come back?" Cassandra asked with her puppy dog eyes.

"Probably. Soon." He smiled.

"Will you stay then? When you come back?"

Chris shook his head with a neutral expression while Cassandra looked down sadly. Her sad face increased Chris' guilt. Ever since he and Cassandra started talking, he learned many things about her. One of the most important: She just wanted a normal life. A human life. Not in the castle, not with her sisters and mother, not in the Village. She wanted to experience a normal human life, and she got it from her time with Chris. It was short, yes, but to her, it was an adventure of a lifetime. A wish fulfilled, but at a terrible cost of having her trust and heart broken eventually. In this situation, he was the heartless monster, and she was an innocent girl who knew nothing outside of her castle.

"So...this is where it all ends?" Cassandra asked, her voice soft and low. Chris placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently.

"Yes. But I am glad to have had spent some time with you, Cassandra." He meant it. He truly did. As much as he could feel his inner voice breaking and howling, there wasn't any other way. Or the only other way was killing her, which Chris did not want to do. She didn't deserve that kind of heartbreak. Not today.

"Then...If you did like it, why don't you stay? I can talk to Mother-"

"I have a job and family back home. I am sorry."

"Bring them here! Stay here!"

"I cannot, Cassandra. I have other commitments." Cassandra's eyes teared up as her lips quivered uncontrollably.

"More important than me?" She whispered, pulling her hood back on. Chris nodded softly, whispering, 'Yes'.

"Maybe I shouldn't have met you," Cassandra said, clutching her dress. "Bela was right. Look at me. I was a fool to believe that this would..." She looked up at Chris, the tears trailing down her cheeks. Chris tried to wipe off the tears, but the girl pushed his hand away, turning her face away. "Just go, Chris."

"I am sorry, Cassandra."

"I don't want your apology." She said finally, bursting into a swarm of flies, flying away from the place. Chris stayed alone in the empty corridor, replaying the moment in his head. Cassandra's tears.

"Damn, Captain, you just broke her heart!" Lobo chuckled, unaware of Chris' growing sorrow.

"Yeah." That was all he said, and that was enough for Lobo to get the hint that his Captain had been, unfortunately, emotionally compromised by their enemy.

Little did Cassandra know that not only was that her last time meeting Chris, but it was her last week alive. Chris knew that she needed to be killed, and she knew that whatever was said and done, Chris cannot stay here in the Village because, unlike for her, this wasn't his home. But that never stopped her sad tears from falling, her soft gasps turning into audible whimpers and mewls, as she held the chocolate wrappers that Chris had given her close to her chest.

Her sobs got louder and louder as she collapsed onto her bed, crying harder and harder. Cassandra could have killed him then and there. She was powerful, and she knew it. She could take down Chris without much trouble. Or maybe even force him to live with her and abandon his home. But Cassandra loved him. Or maybe cared for him too much. She really did. And that is why she chose to let him go.

In a way, Chris, too, let her go. He could have taken her and given her the 'human life' she craved for. But knowing the BSAA, they would first imprison her. Then run several tormenting experiments on her, as if she hadn't lived through enough already. She would have been used as a weapon, and they'd make her do all the dirty work. And lastly, she'd be killed off once her purpose is served. It wasn't worth it, and that would have made her more miserable. In this, atleast she is at home. She has a family. Her death is inevitable, but she wouldn't die alone or in some unknown lands. And she was his mission. Nothing more.

"Nothing more," He muttered, walking towards the safehouse.

[echo-three-one]

Whatever It Takes

Sequel to A Forgotted Memory

Somewhere out there

Beneath the pale moonlight

Someone's thinking of me

And loving me tonight…

Chapter 14 to another story made by Ray (echo-three-one) Comments and Reviews appreciated! I hope you enjoy! Love you all ❤️

Previous Chapter : Alex and Augustus

Meet Me Halfway

John "Soap" MacTavish

Task Force 141

Location Unknown

18 hours ago

He thought he was dead. He thought they were going to kill him. He wished they would, just to end the suffering. But he also wished they wouldn't. He had greater plans, he still wanted to enjoy his life. And it looked like Nero granted half his wish, while depriving him of the other half. He's going to live the rest of his years in hell.

He couldn't stop thinking about that song, he lay flat on the ground, feeling weak, powerless and defeated.

If I lay here… Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

He couldn't feel a thing but he knew he was being transported somewhere. Red flashes filled his eyes as he slowly slipped away from the conscious world.

~

2 Seconds.

A single drop of water plopped on the cold floor where he laid every 2 seconds. It was getting annoying, but he thanked it for actually waking him up.

Soap struggled to get up and forced himself to do so, grunting in pain as the muscles and bones of his body reacted to his sudden movements. Enduring all the pain, he gasped and got up, moving to the direction of the only ray of light from a crack in the ceiling.

He limped but he had hope, exhaling with excitement as the light got closer every step he took. Then clang! He hit his head on an iron bar. He's in a prison cell, deep underground.

"Shite." he cursed, dropping his knees on the ground, his energy already ran out and he felt thirsty.

"That's freshwater dripping down there." An unknown voice emerged from the darkness, Soap wanted to believe he's hallucinating, but an old figure emerged from the shadows. His hair mostly greyed out and it was long enough that Soap believed he'd been here for far too long.

"The name's Jack. And I suggest you rehydrate. I've been here long enough that you could trust that it's safe." he suggested. His tone was strict but helpful and Soap knew he's trustworthy. They're both prisoners and as the saying goes: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"

"So… uh Jake. What brings you to this dark and gloomy place?" Soap asked, his voice was barely audible but he was heading straight to the dripping freshwater.

"Turns out our friend Nero doesn't want me dead yet. He couldn't pry any information from me. I'm CIA, literally trained half my life to keep information away. He should've just killed me when he got the chance." He replied.

"So, that means he's going to get something out of you too…" he added, Soap looked worried, he didn't undergo some torture training and hes afraid of what Nero wants from him.

"Look kid, I know you're worried. That's why we won't let that happen. Okay? I have a plan." Jake patted Soap's shoulder, it still hurts from all the stomping and the tossing around but he knew he didn't mean it.

"So… CIA. Guess you crossed paths with Alex." Soap asked, his low accent echoed across the dark cage.

"Yeah. Alex. He was like my son, trained him and assisted him all throughout his CIA Career."

"He kinda disobeyed orders by joining the good side which looked bad in the eyes of the higher ups." Soap reported.

"Hm… It's very unusual of him to not follow orders, unless he believes it's for a better cause." Jack supplied to which Soap nodded, agreeing Jack's assumption.

"It was a good cause. Sacrificed himself for the greater good. Miraculously made it out, but lost his leg in the process." Soap continued, updating the old man about his protege, he's actually glad he did as he could feel the man's mood rising from grumpy prisoner to someone a little less grumpy.

"He had good morals, that kid. He could go far with that attitude… I just hoped that falling in love would not be his downfall… just like what happened to me…" he muttered. Soap didn't make out the last sentence so he assumed it was his own thoughts leaking out of his head. He didn't bother asking again.

The iron doors opened and a new patch of light opened. Jack looked at Soap with determination and nodded.

"Looks like it's showtime, sharkbait." Soap nodded noting the Finding Nemo reference at these trying times.

Jack was right. They had a practice of how to handle prisoners for interrogation. A few stomps, handcuffs, sack on the head and push you if you don't cooperate. Soap had to go through the whole thing, and as far as he knows, Jack must have gotten the key.

He limped his way to the interrogation room, buying enough time for Jack to blindly find the keyhole from the cell. He tried fighting back but the taser sticks were already giving him a bad time.

Just as Jack described, the interrogation room consisted of a dentist chair and a television, his captors were beside him preparing orders from Nero on the screen.

Soap squirmed his way out of the chair, trying to be convincing that he had no idea what's going on.

"Stop squirming! Tell us where the girl is… or I'll take a wild guess and destroy your base instead." Nero yelled. His voice was low, like it ran through a voice changer.

"Sod off…" Soap spat and squirmed again, receiving a shock from the taser. He groaned as tendrils of electricity ran through his body shaking him almost unconscious.

"Lower the voltage or he won't respond! Dumbasses! We need something from him!" Nero yelled at his henchmen.

"So… MacTavish…22nd Parachute Regiment, S.A.S., Now Task Force 141… Skilled in combat, Sniper and Demolitions… You know a proper brainwash would help me get the code from you right?" he mused.

"FOUR!" Soap roared from the top of his lungs, panting after he yelled.

"Four? What the fuck are you talking about?" Nero asked, looking confused. Addition to that, the ground shook and made everyone else in the room wonder.

"What's going on?" Nero asked.

"What? we're under attack? By who? How?" Soap's ears could hear the distress from their leader and from the looks of it, 141 already found him making it easier for him and Jack to get out of this hell hole.

"Augustus is gone? They're going to pay! Okay boys kill this man now. We have to send them a message!" Nero yelled angrily and the tv turned to static.

Meet me Halfway

Francine "France" Winters

Task Force 141

Task Force 141 Base - Briefing Room

"We're being pressured to capture Nero. With our base compromised, the Board would now decide for our force's future. Simon Riley is now researching Augustus' burner phone, if we're lucky enough, it could lead us to our next clue." Shepherd calmly informed the force about the status. He looked in distress but he had to keep pushing forward, to end this warfare.

"Some of Nero's forces are already in New York. It turns out he could command the brainwashed civilians to deploy EMP blasts but recon noticed that he could only command a few at a time. This means without the IP address, he is still powerless and trying hard." Shepherd added.

"I want you all to always be ready for an all out attack on Nero. Let's prove to the board that we're the best one for the job." He muttered and dismissed everyone. France decided to stay in the briefing room and let the quiet consume her thoughts.

"You okay?" A reassuring hand held her shoulder. She knew it was Gary and tears started to fall from her eyes.

"I… I can't stop worrying about him, Roach." She croaked and gave Roach a very pained stare. She actually missed John's presence even after being together for a short while, she felt that they shared a lot of common things together, the strive to become better, the response to danger even off duty and the determination to achieve a goal. Those were her traits that he also had, these same traits that made him like her despite his cocky first impression.

"Let's help out Ghost track that son of a bitch Nero down. And maybe it'll lead us to him." Roach assured them as they both stood up and went to Research.

"How… how can you still be so sure that he's okay?" she sobbed.

"The dogtags." Ghost interjected while typing furiously on the computer.

"If Soap was dead, he should've shown us his tag. That would cripple some of our Force's focus and would lead to his success in invading and capturing Samantha." Ghost continued, he made sense and France almost smiled with the two's support. Instead, she just breathed out and helped Ghost.

"So, have you traced each source?" France asked Ghost as she also started furiously typing codes and strings of data input.

"Yes, they're really sneaky with the encryption, but I keep on getting pings at one location before it spreads in different places." he explained.

"The nearest signal tower. Every packet almost goes through there. You see that?" France pointed at the screen.

"Yeah I do. Let's start tracing that source." Ghost muttered and the map already pinged the tower's location.

"Bingo." they both whispered and cheered, hugging each other as a sign of success. France felt Ghost's tight hug and felt something off about the guy, then he actually removes half of his mask and pouts his cheek close to hers.

"I…. uh… I'm sorry" Ghost shyly said as France pushed him away and felt awkward at the situation. Gary just stood there in shock as Price entered the room.

"What's the news?" he asked, looking at the three.

"We found him, Sir." Ghost cleared his throat and put back his mask.

"Well, bloody hell. Let's go then!" he said as they all ran towards the exit and prepared themselves. France didn't have the time to think about the events earlier as she was still worried about Soap's safety. She hopes that whatever lies in that place would give her an answer.

~

"FIRE!" Captain Price yelled as snipers quickly shot the guards surrounding the icy fortress. The gulag housed people that the world didn't want but couldn't kill, and she hoped that John MacTavish was on that list.

Danger close explosions crippled both attacking and defending forces as Price roared at Shepherd to be careful. France gulped as she saw a very open field that they're dropping in on and knew for a fact that she's very open and weak at these positions.

Her mind raced, looking at every angle. Tangos were everywhere carrying different kinds of weapons. With minimal angles to hide on, the force, led by Roach aggressively advanced to the Gulag, dodging heavy fire, grenades and RPG Rockets. As soon as they found the tunnel leading deep into the Gulag, France already felt comfortable. This was her playing zone and no one's going to stop her from getting into Nero.

The way in was almost clear, no enemies were against them but instead they ran further into the Gulag. Something was off.

Gunfire was heard deep into the Gulag and as soon as the team reached the control room, Ghost already did his magic. Opening gates, looking at the cameras and defending their six. The masked man helped them further advance into the Gulag.

"Nero's not here…" Ghost said.

"How so?" Price angrily muttered.

"He never set foot in this place. He only uses a television to communicate."

"Bloody hell. Now what?"

" I see two heat signatures behind that wall."

Roach quickly planted a c4 breach and as soon as it exploded Francine pounced at the closest person, raising her fist and looking at its eyes to see the punch go through.

Blue eyes. Those shades of blue. France stopped his fist as tears started to well from her eyes, dropping some on his bare chest.

"John…" she whimpered and smiled.

"Fra.." she didn't let him finish, she kissed him. She didn't care what everyone else thought. The gunfire and explosions suddenly felt nothing to her. She didn't care how John's lips tasted, all she cared about was that he's alive and she's on his arms.

Extraction quickly followed as Shepherd's forces already did a lot of damage on the old fortress. They barely got out just in time for the building's inevitable collapse but they're safe.

Next Chapter : Secret Alliances

Notification Squad my beloved

@samatedeansbroccoli @enderio @smokeywhalee @beemybee @whimsywispsblog @ricinbach

[purplebass]

Alastair Carstairs and Charles Fairchild: Uneven Love

In this essay I will try to be as brief as I can about what it meant to be part of the LGBTQ+ community at the beginning of the XX century and a few points on why Charles and Alastair were an uneven/unbalanced couple. Have a nice read!

Being gay in Victorian/Edwardian London

Legality of Charlastair’s relationship

Uneven relationship

Before I start delving into this topic, I just wanted to tell you a few things about what it meant being part of the LGBTQ+ community at the beginning of the XX century. I will briefly tell you about Great Britain specifically because the story is set in London, but you have to understand each country has its movements of emancipation and its laws, so there are a few things which may differ. I will also just mention about homosexual relationships at this time.

Being a gay man in London at the beginning of XX century wasn’t easy, because if two men were caught together in compromising positions, they could be arrested and detained and accused of buggery or attempted buggery. There was a law passed in 1885 which condemned public indecency between males, and such law won’t be abolished until the 60’s of the XX century. The only places gay men were allowed to be themselves were the Molly Houses. Those places were like modern taverns, pubs, coffeehouses where they could meet and engage in sexual activities with other gay men. Speaking of Charles and Alastair, I do wonder if they met in such a place, although since the former is so obsessed with keeping the appearances, maybe not. Or maybe he went in secret, but let’s not forget that in 1902 Alastair was 17. 

Why is Charles so obsessed with his image?

For one, homosexuality was the opposite of the idea of “manliness” in Victorian/Edwardian age. During this period, what counted the most to British people was their image, how they appeared in public, and being gay was considered as a deviant act, an immortal act which was the evidence of a corrupt morality. A Victorian family had to be presentable, impeccable - the public sphere had to be pristine even if the private sphere was not. Charles Fairchild is a man of the public sphere because he’s sort of a politician’s figure who was born during the highest point Victorian mentality. It’s no wonder he is concerned with how others perceive him, and he sees his sexuality as a threat to his preferred career, which is all about “manliness”. Remember before Charlotte became Consul? Even there we saw the sexism of the Inquisitor and other members solely because Charlotte was not a man, hence, she couldn’t be “manly”. Charles would be regarded the same way, this is why he decided not to be openly gay. But mark my words, sooner or later he will because that is an inner conflict he has which is at war with his outer goal. 

I’ve seen people say that one of the first reasons why Alastair and Charles’ relationship was not appropriate is because Alastair was 16 and Charles was 22. Of course I agree. I wanted to check whether it was legal or not in the XX century, and I discovered that after the Criminal Law Amendment Act passed in 1885, the age of consent was 16, which meant that as much as I find it repulsing, Alastair and Charles could have a relationship and they wouldn’t be breaking the law except for the not so little detail that they were homosexual. Like I said above, homosexuals could risk a prison sentence. 

I want to tell you more about this topic but I don’t want to derail from the purpose of this essay.

First and foremost, from the interactions we had of them, you could tell Charles seemed to have promised things to Alastair, because when they speak in Chapter 11 of CoG, the latter is pained and all of his hopes are destroyed. “But you said - I thought” that is what Alastair says. That is the realization that he believed in Charles and what they shared in Paris. Charles says he doesn’t make “false promises”, which means that he may have already thought that their relationship could not be more than what it was - a secret affair. Secret because the act was illegal at the time, and affair because it’s clear Charles might have used Alastair’s affection to fuel his own ego.

I’m convinced that Charles may have an inferiority complex. His mother Charlotte is Consul, the first female Consul. I believe he admires her because despite being a woman, she could get this post because she is also very able with her job. Charlotte is someone Charles looks up to and wants to emulate, but as we see through CoG, Charles’ regent job is laughable. He slanders James, he seems to side with Tatiana whenever he is concerned without having evidence (you see, Tatiana may have manipulated Charles into doing what she wants). This is not what a promising Consul does, and Charles probably knows it. 

Then why Alastair?

Why, you say? For one, Alastair also likes politics. I hope he likes politics because he wasn’t influenced by Charles, but I’m convinced that is what Charles and Alastair bonded on; politics. I could see Alastair also getting into politics, by the way, but this is a chat for another time. 

Alastair, 17 year old Alastair, felt confident of baring his soul to Charles when they started getting acquainted. He was also very young, I think Charles was the first person that he recognized also loved men like he did. He lived in an age were homosexuality was punished, the majority of gay men tried to hide their sexuality not to be deemed immoral and deviant. I think Alastair was ecstatic that he had found someone he could like and who could like him back, and this is why he decided to be with Charles. We don’t know when this relationship started, but probably after 1899 and the Academy. Maybe Paris in 1902 was the first encounter they had because they couldn’t see each other all the time, maybe they had been together longer… I don’t know. I hate that we don’t know the exact timeline, but we may get it in the future.

I was saying. In Chapter 11 of CoG when Charles goes to Alastair’s house, he reveals that he loves him. “I have loved you since Paris,” Alastair says, which, like I said above, makes it impossible to define if they just had Paris and Alastair fell for him from that only moment of connection (because they might have had sexual interactions there, maybe Alastair lost his virginity to Charles - these are just my assumptions, I have no idea if I’m right).

The Paris affair also makes me think about: “We’ll always have Paris”, which is a famous line from Casablanca. What does it mean? The only thing the protagonists of that movie can hold onto is Paris, since WWII broke and they can only have the memory of what happened in Paris because they can’t be together/won’t be reunited. Rings a bell? 

Before I also add how prophetic it was for Alastair to find Thomas in Paris at the same moment he was waiting to spend time with Charles - because it was indeed a coincidence, but also how tricky fate is. Alastair was probably already attracted to Thomas in Paris, but he was loyal to Charles, otherwise… but this is also a chat for another essay.

Then Alastair and Charles kiss. The way Charles treats Alastair is very controlling: he doesn’t just reply “You know I do” when A tells him he loves him, he leads the moment and draws Alastair towards him for a kiss. Then they end up on the sofa, Charles on top and Alastair under him - which isn’t very casual, is also a way for Charles to control everything, because he knows fine well Alastair loves him and he’s indulging into the moment because he doesn’t dislike A, but he also doesn’t love him. Alastair gives Charles the validation he isn’t getting in his political sphere. (See a few paragraphs above).

Sex is also a way to exert power. We don’t know Alastair’s and Charles’s private lives in detail, but from the ways this scene is written, I can tell Alastair is the type who bares himself for the one he loves. Now that his heart was broken I don’t know what to expect. 

Then they stop. Alastair is in pain because he longed for Charles. Of all the things he could ask Charles, what does he ask?

“What is wrong, Charles?” he said, his voice husky and rough. “If this is not what you came for, then why are you here?”

I mean, what? Do you know the heaviness of this sentence? It means that most of Alastair and Charles’ interactions as a couple might have been lead by sex or by making out. Why do I think this? Because otherwise Alastair wouldn’t say that - he’s basically implying that most of the occurrences between them started because of something sexual…

 “IF THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU CAME FOR…” 

It makes me so mad. So mad. Because it is clear to me that after the Academy, Alastair was devastated and also regretful of his actions towards the other guys. He also had to take care of his family. He also points out how he managed his household when his father was “sick”, how Alastair has been a brother and a father and the head of the Carstairs family for longer than we can imagine. I understand why meeting Charles could have changed his life, but Alastair is a giver, he gives a lot to those he cares about, meanwhile Charles is a seeker, he also wants to feel loved but he can’t exchange the affection the same way. 

We can consider Charles and Alastair’s relationship dead and gone, anyway. Not only because Alastair said he was done and understood that Charles just wanted to matter (his words, not mine) and that he only cares about his career. In the scene I mentioned above, we also know that the reason why Charles came to Alastair’s was to inform him that Barbara Lightwood had died. Metaphorically speaking, her death could also signify the death of Charlastair and the moment in which Thomastair’s door was truly open to explore. 

Now to conclude my thoughts - which I hope weren’t too jumbled - I’ll just say that as much as he unnerves me, I do think Charles could have a nice arc if played well. But, my dears, without Alastair. This is for sure.

Footnote: If you want to know more this, especially concerning gender, you can read What is Gender History? By Sonya O. Rose which treats different topics.

[ladylynse]

Chapter 14 [FF | AO3] of Whirlwind (SQ fic): Jake should be used to ominous predictions by now. Randy should know better than to blindly follow McFist. Adrien should think twice before sneaking away. And Danny should’ve expected something like this when he got that phone call.

Previous | Timeline post

-|-

7:54 PM

Adrien raced for the rooftop door that would lead back into the hotel, knowing that’s where Hawk Moth would have gone. He should have risked taking Hawk Moth’s Miraculous while he’d been frozen, despite not knowing what that would have done to Danny or the imprisoned kwami. He should have known what Hawk Moth would do once free, attacking not him but the more vulnerable Susan to distract them. He should have realized that Hawk Moth would know of Randy’s smoke bombs from his earlier appearances and would use that to his advantage.

He should have anticipated all of that, and he hadn’t.

Of course, until Danny had reached up and pulled him out of Dracona’s talons and through the rooftop, he’d been contemplating the best use of his Cataclysm. Collapsing the roof below him wouldn’t have guaranteed escape, not when Dracona would fly, and he hadn’t been sure he wouldn’t accidentally touch something organic if he’d tried to strike anything else. Activating Cataclysm when Hawk Moth came to take his ring would have bought him five minutes, and his plan had come to rest on hoping for rescue within those five minutes (and subsequently asking Randy for a weapon he could safely destroy).

But even though his partners had come through for him, none of this had ended well.

When Hawk Moth had tackled Randy and slipped a smoke bomb from one of his pockets (and who knew what else; Randy hadn’t exactly gone through his pockets that Adrien had noticed), Adrien had still been moving towards Susan. He hadn’t acted fast enough to stop her from being attacked, even when he knew how quick Hawk Moth could be. It would be different if Ladybug were here, but she wasn’t, and he knew how important it was to get Susan medical attention when all the damage done couldn’t be reversed.

He hadn’t reached Susan before Jake. He hadn’t even made it to her side before Randy had been back on his feet, grabbing his arm and saying he’d take care of this, that Adrien—Nino, because he hadn’t trusted them with his name—should go after Hawk Moth. Danny had said he and Jake would find the akuma and bring it back to him, but Adrien had been willing to let the akuma go, let Hawk Moth go, to try to save Susan, even when he wasn’t the best equipped to do that.

First aid training would have gotten him only so far.

Hawk Moth was out of sight by the time Adrien flung open the door and bolted into the stairwell. He took the stairs two at a time, but the only footsteps he could hear was his own, and he didn’t catch any fleeting glimpses of anyone else.

That meant Hawk Moth would have transformed, and Adrien had no idea who he was beneath the mask. Adrien could hope to get lucky and catch someone with his build in one of the hallways, but he wouldn’t know for sure, and even if Hawk Moth had exited the stairwell on the top floor, he could easily have gone for the elevator or another staircase if not back to his room.

He’d hesitated, and now Hawk Moth was gone.

Adrien stopped, scanned for hidden cameras on the off chance that he’d be lucky and Hawk Moth hadn’t seen one, but of course there was nothing, at least not where he stood right now, and any blind spot would have been noted by Hawk Moth. He’d likely scouted out the entire building before using it. But if he’d deemed it safe to transform, then it was safe to Adrien to do the same, even if that meant he couldn’t take a look at security tapes to figure this out.

Adrien sat down on the stairs, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. “Claws in, Plagg.”

“Did you want me to stick close to the ceilings and zip through the rooms?”

Adrien’s lips twitched into a smile and he looked up. Plagg didn’t often to volunteer to help like that without saying he’d do it in exchange for camembert. “He won’t still be Hawk Moth.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“What I mentioned to Danny before he took me back up to the roof,” Adrien said quietly. “Get a copy of the hotel registry. It might not lead to anything—this still might not be his hotel—but I can’t think of anything else. Danny said he was happy to go to the surrounding hotels, too, and get copies of their registries, but I just don’t…. What if it doesn’t help? Is it worth stealing that information, compromising all those people’s privacy, if it doesn’t help us? He might not have used his real name.”

Plagg snorted. “Why would he be that careful right now? He didn’t know you were here.”

“But he had to know that others would be. He was trying to draw people out. I’m sure he was looking for something to use against us, maybe even another Miraculous.” Adrien groaned and buried his head again. “I was so close. I should have just risked it and taken his Miraculous. At least then I’d know his face. I don’t know how I’d find him from that, but it would’ve been better than nothing. I could’ve talked to Nathaniel and commissioned a drawing to give to Ladybug, and—”

“You and the others still stopped him from getting what he came for,” Plagg interrupted. “You know he’s here. You know he’s close. Do you really think he’s going try something a third time? No. That’s too risky for him. He’ll lay low. So, if you get a list of names and room numbers, I can look for Nooroo and report back.”

It was enough to coax a brief chuckle out of Adrien; trust Plagg to completely ignore legality and the questionable morality of this idea.

“It’s like knowing you can buy cheese somewhere on the block, or somewhere in the store, and not knowing precisely where to find it. You don’t need to unmask Hawk Moth right now to get closer to the truth.”

“What if Ladybug thinks I wasted this opportunity?”

“She’s not that sort of person.” When Adrien raised his head, Plagg continued, “You’re doing her a disservice if you think she’ll jump to blaming you for not doing on your own what you haven’t managed to do together.”

“But this is the closest we’ve ever been to getting his Miraculous.”

“And it’s the closest he’s been to getting yours. You’ve been close to Hawk Moth before. You’ll get close to him again. Ladybug will be happy that you made it out of this with your identity intact.”

Adrien smiled; it really was nice to hear that. “Thanks.” Plagg opened his mouth, maybe to demand his camembert, but Adrien added, “I’m not going to make it out of this with my identity intact, though. Not completely. I want to tell the others who I am. They deserve to know.”

Plagg, who hadn’t closed his mouth, just said, “Having allies isn’t a bad thing. If you and Ladybug ever work with more Miraculous users, at least one of you will know who they are.”

“So you don’t think telling these guys is a bad idea?”

Plagg shrugged, as best he could ever shrug, and flicked his tail. “They know about the magical world, are already keeping secret identities, and have done their best to help you. You could make a worse choice than them.” He paused, then added, “Besides, it’s not like they don’t know what you look like without a mask on. If they hang around here and look at any of the signs, they won’t need to be geniuses to figure out your real name.”

Adrien winced. “Good point.”

“Can I get some cheese before we go back up? Since I make such good points and all?”

Adrien glanced towards the roof. “Do you think Susan will, um, need help we can’t give her? Should I have called an ambulance the moment I realized I wasn’t going to catch Hawk Moth?”

“They would’ve done that already if they figured they needed to.”

“Randy doesn’t have a phone right now. Remember what he was saying to Jake before?”

“Remember when I told you the Ninja had magic? Or at least magical artefacts helping him to use magic? Some ninjas know the art of healing. It’s a handy thing to have in the field. Even if this one doesn’t, the others had phones they could’ve given him, and Susan might’ve had a phone with her, too.” Plagg zipped closer. “You’ve decided to trust them. You can trust them. The fact that Hawk Moth escaped doesn’t mean they can’t trust you, and Susan will recover even without Tikki’s—Ladybug’s—magic. We have enough time for you to give me some cheese.”

Adrien wasn’t about to argue that, so he pulled out some cheese for Plagg as his way of saying thank you and then got to his feet and started climbing the stairs. He’d transform again before going back out; he was sure Susan would keep his secret since she was Jake’s mother, but he hadn’t exactly scouted the area for cameras. Once he’d assured himself that Susan was all right and he helped her get oriented again, they could fill her in on in what had happened. It was kinder for someone to do that rather than to leave them to find out themselves on the news, though he and Ladybug usually passed the task off to friends or family or a helpful bystander because they didn’t have the time to stick around.

If Jake and Danny were successful in finding the akuma, he’d have to figure out a way to contain it until Ladybug could purify it. He’d never heard if the others had found anything suitable. There hadn’t been time to ask. If only Hawk Moth had recalled the akuma—

But he hadn’t, which meant this problem remained.

One thing at a time.

One step at a time.

“Plagg, claws out!”

7:58 PM

There were noticeably fewer people out on the streets as they got nearer to the gala, but Haley still hadn’t expected to run into a blockade when access hadn’t been restricted earlier. Rotwood split off—she saw him heading for a cluster of people, no doubt to start spreading rumours that were too close to the truth to be of any comfort—and McFist engaged the security officer in conversation. She dawdled nearby, and when he pulled out his wallet, she ducked into the forbidden area and sprinted for that initial patch of ice.

Just because she usually didn’t break the rules, didn’t mean she couldn’t.

Besides, this wasn’t nearly as bad as setting a building on fire.

Haley didn’t wait long before she started lobbing Ninja Cold Balls. Most of them were aimed behind her because she had been followed, but as the balls burst apart and spread ice, it grew into a meandering pathway that followed her zigzagging run. It didn’t make a particular pattern and certainly wasn’t the giant rink that McFist and Rotwood had been envisioning, but the result was a ribbon-like trail that stretched from one side of the cordoned-off area to the other. She hurled the last Ninja Cold Ball at someone who’d tried approaching her from the side and slipped away, running for cover.

The fact that the ice was incredibly slippery and that made following her more difficult was a bonus.

She kept running until she was far enough ahead to take a corner and lose everyone behind her. An alley wasn’t a dead end when you were a dragon, at least not when it was somewhere without cameras, so she was on the rooftops by the time someone ran by below.

Haley took a moment to catch her breath, dismissing her wings so she could lie flat on the roof and stare up at the sky. She had no idea if Rotwood and McFist would be able to do anything to hold up their end of this plan. She had no idea how Jake and the others were faring. She had no idea if Gramps and Fu and Sun—

Haley wrinkled her nose. Something smelled like stale gasoline and…. Ethanol? No, that wasn’t right. She wasn’t sure what it actually was, but whatever it was, it was foul. She sat up, scanning the streets below before she realized the thrumming she could hear wasn’t coming there. Haley looked to the skies.

The dragon that glided towards the site of the gala wasn’t terribly big. It was smaller than Jake, maybe half his size. It tilted, circled the building, and then settled on the roof with something that would more appropriately be called a crash.

One wing never folded, and after about ten seconds, the other wing creaked out to join the first. The dragon perched there like a gargoyle, although the image was completed when it spouted a brief flash of fire instead of water.

Haley barely took the time to make sure the coast was clear before she jumped off the roof, calling out her wings as she fell to soften her landing. They disappeared as her feet touched the ground, and she kept running. She wasn’t the only person heading back to the scene, even if the crowd was thinner than it had been earlier, so her haste didn’t make her stand out. Ahead of her, people were already starting to gather and point upwards….

This couldn’t be McFist; there was no way he’d be able to act this quickly, even with his resources, and this was beyond Rotwood. It had to be—

“There you are, kiddo!” McFist said, catching her arm and jerking her back painfully as she ran past him. He didn’t seem to notice her whimper, instead pointing up at the building and the dragon that loomed over them all. “Look what Viceroy made! A Robo-Dragon! I’ve already called him and informed him he’s getting a bonus. He was too startled for words. It was great. He’s never speechless. I had to reward it, though. This is quick work, even for him, and sending it here to test it out on the NYC Ninja was a stroke of genius—mine, of course, but I didn’t think he’d manage it.”

Viceroy.

The person who helped him with the Sorcerer.

“I can’t get him anything,” Haley said in case McFist decided to ask.

He glanced down, realized that he was still holding her, and let her go. She prodded at her arm and winced. She didn’t think he’d done this intentionally, but bruises were going to be the least of her worries for a while. She was lucky he hadn’t dislocated it.

“Sorry,” he said, and he sounded like he meant it. “I was just excited. Couldn’t find Rotwood, and you’re the only other one who knows the plan.”

This hadn’t been the plan, though. Had it? She didn’t really count this as false advertising, but—

“I’ve paid them all off if you’re worried,” he added, nodding at the security officers. “Money doesn’t just talk. Works great for this kind of thing, too.”

Haley nodded absently, scanning the crowd. “Rotwood’s over there,” she said, following a glint to his monocle and raising her hand to point him out to McFist. “He’s getting blustery. I guess a robotic dragon is an effective way to shut down his claims about a real one.”

“Nice work. Come on.”

Haley held her ground. “Can I borrow your phone? I need to call someone. I’ll give it back, I promise.”

She wasn’t sure if it was a sign of trust or the foolishness of the rich that McFist dug it out of his pocket and handed it to her without asking any questions—or without sticking around to listen in, as he started walking off to give her some privacy. She walked in the other direction, keeping an eye on the crowd and her surroundings while she waited for Fu to pick up.

When he did answer, he didn’t say hello or the usual Fu here. He didn’t say anything at all, and she realized it must be because he didn’t know the number. “It’s Haley,” she said, and then the rest of the story spilled out of her in a torrent. The bare bones of the plan Nino had sketched out before they’d split up. How she’d gone from distracting two people to making promises in return for their help. Gramps hadn’t been entirely happy to hear that (Fu’d put her on speakerphone once she’d started talking), since he still wasn’t thrilled Jake had taken Rotwood to the Magus Bazaar in the first place, but he agreed that taking Rotwood back was a fair price for his silence.

He was even less happy about what she’d promised McFist, him being even more of an outsider than Rotwood, but Fu assured her he had something that would do the trick in reserve—he had a stock in case things ever went south and they couldn’t wait three weeks for him to brew something—and they both agreed that it was better than what McFist had initially asked for.

In turn, they filled her in on what Sun had been up to. She hadn’t just been seeding her own rumours; she’d been trying to get people away from the scene, efforts that had been stymied repeatedly until an order came from up top that cleared everyone out more effectively than she could’ve hoped. The official reason given for leaving had absolutely nothing to do with the dragon sighting, which had worked in her favour, but it clearly pointed to someone at the top stalling earlier, and she’d sneaked back to try to find out what she could.

Fu’s poker contacts had come up dry in terms of a decent magical containment device, since they couldn’t afford to bet on rumours right now. He hadn’t had any luck with any of the strings he’d pulled through his contacts at the Magus Bazaar, either, but at least Marty reported the coast had been clear at the shop since Trixie and Spud had left. Whoever had gotten to Susan didn’t have friends in the city, or at least not friends that could be spared to find and hit up anywhere of magical value.

Gramps, while he hadn’t found Susan, had made a list of ways they could tell Jonathan.

Haley nearly dropped the phone upon hearing that. “Really?” she whispered. She’d been thinking they’d never be allowed to tell him everything, that she’d always have to keep secrets from him. To think that maybe she wouldn’t have to….

“I have not always approved of your mother’s choice,” Gramps said quietly, “but there is no mistaking Jonathan’s love for all of you. Jake’s position as the American Dragon makes his path increasingly dangerous, and today has shown me that yours is little better. If my little lotus flower is not safe from the perils of this life, then your father must have a chance to choose it for himself.”

“He will. I know he will. Jake told all of us about the time he fought the Strigoi and didn’t even realize it. And the Jersey Devil.” She couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “When do you think we can tell him?”

“Once we have Susan with us again.”

The words spread cold across her lungs. “Jake’s working on it,” she breathed. “He’ll do this, with his friends. Kara said he could.”

“I hate a wet blanket as much as the next person, but she said he’d have help, kid. Not that it would be enough.”

“It’ll be enough. He’ll make sure of it.” She finally caught sight of waving in the crowd, and she raised her own hand in recognition. “I have to go. Someone will call you soon. With good news.”

“Hope so. Good luck.”

“Yo, Haley,” Trixie said as she got closer. “Where’s Jake? I found that thermos of Spud’s he wanted, and he’s not answering his phone.”

“I’m not sure,” Haley admitted. She glanced over her shoulder to the dragon. “That was Spud, right?”

“Got it in one. He’d been working on something for the family restaurant and then decided to repurpose it.” Lowering her voice and leaning closer, she added, “Keep this on the down low, but we had to break into the school to steal some stuff to finish it up, so if anyone asks, that’s on Rotwood.”

“Rotwood might actually cover for you guys if you make a deal with him, you know.”

Trixie snorted. “Oh, I am not going there. If Jakey wants to take a trip to crazy town, he can go without me.”

“Rotwood’s helping me now.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “Girl, Spud and I caught him yelling about a dragon and a ninja when we got here. That is not helping in my book.”

“It’s, um, not as straightforward as it sounds.” Desperate to change the subject because she was feeling like a fool, Haley asked, “Where is Spud, anyway?”

Trixie pointed across the street to one of the buildings Haley had flown past earlier. “He needed the height for sight lines. Should be coming to join me now that the dragon’s grounded. We can take over Rotwood duty if you wanna get this to Jake?” She held out the thermos.

Haley took it. “Yeah, I’ll find him. Thanks.” She passed Trixie McFist’s cell phone and added, “This belongs to McFist. The rich white guy with the prosthetic arm. Loud. Probably accusing Rotwood of making everything up and claiming this is all a publicity stunt. You can’t miss him. I made a deal with him, too. Pass that back to him for me?”

Trixie whistled. “What exactly did we miss?”

Haley shrugged. “That’s what I want to know, too.”

7:59 PM

Susan used the damp scarf to wash away some of the blood (Randy had helpfully wet part of it for her with a well-placed Ninja Hydro Hand), but she didn’t dare try standing yet. The Ninja—Randy Cunningham, as he’d promptly introduced himself—had been kind enough to not only heal her wounds but to help her clean up, and she didn’t want to worry him by admitting that she wasn’t feeling quite as well as he seemed to think.

She was tired. Her head ached. Her memories were fuzzy, blending together like someone had given her a botched memory potion, and it was difficult to sort through them. She knew the important things, though. She knew she’d become a danger to everyone, flaunted the existence of the magical world, and been saved by her son and his new friends. She remembered the feeling of the wind beneath her wings, the heat of fire warming her from within, vividly enough that the memory warmed her now—or would, if the rest didn’t sicken her. She remembered anger and had a vague sense of struggling for control that left her with an impression of pride and foolishness—her own, not Jake’s.

“…shoob who totally owes me a new phone and magical air purifier. Since you’re his mom, can you nag him for me? I have a feeling that he’ll forget.”

Susan was saved from answering when the rooftop access door opened and Chat Noir emerged.

He was empty-handed. More to the point, he wasn’t smiling.

She didn’t need to remember the details to know he’d gone after the person who had done this to her. She’d suspected he wouldn’t be successful, not between what she recalled about Hawk Moth’s character and what she’d learned from Randy’s grumblings. From the way Randy’s shoulders suddenly slumped as he noticed Chat Noir’s expression, however, he’d held out hope. “Adrien, isn’t it?” she asked quietly as the boy reached them. “Thank you for your help.”

He froze. Apparently oblivious, Randy corrected her. “That’s Nino, actually. Well, we call him that. Didn’t I tell you? Anyway, the last guy is Danny.”

Nino. So he hadn’t wanted to tell them he was supposed to be one of the stars of the show? She could respect that, though she knew she wasn’t mistaken; he hardly looked different from his posters to her, though seeing through a subtly woven glamour was something she’d always been able to do. That was the reason she’d found most of her staff. “My apologies,” she said as he sat cross-legged on the roof, not looking at either of them.

“No,” he said. “No need to apologize.” He raised his head, meeting her eyes and then looking to Randy. “My name is Adrien. I was going to tell you all now anyway. I…. I’m sorry about not saying anything earlier.”

“What for?”

“For…for not trusting you. And—”

“No, I mean, you don’t need to apologize. There’s nothing to apologize for. And I dunno if I’d trust those guys either if they tried to drown me, so I don’t think they’re going to blame you.” Perhaps reading—or misreading—Adrien’s expression, Randy added, “I got the story earlier.”

Adrien opened his mouth, hesitated, and then said, “Thanks.” Turning to Susan, he asked, “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better, but I’ll be all right.”

“I know you must have a lot of questions,” Adrien said, “even if Randy’s already filled you in. The memory loss is normal, and you need to understand that everything you did was under Hawk Moth’s influence and that you weren’t thinking clearly. He knows how to twist people’s emotions to manipulate them into doing what he wants.”

“No. I’m still partially at fault. There were times when I could almost block him out of my head, and I was aware of what I was doing. If I had been thinking more clearly, I hope I would have known that using you as bait to draw him out of hiding carried too much risk, but I still made that decision.”

Adrien blinked. “What?”

“I thought there was a way to defeat him and keep what I’d gained, and I risked all of your lives because of that. Perhaps I wasn’t thinking clearly, but Jake was right; some part of me should have known better, and for that, I apologize. To all of you.” She raised her head to speak her last words louder as Jake and Danny came back. Jake transformed and ran to her immediately, wrapping her in a hug that made her wonder how she could have been so angry with him before when she’d known he’d acted out of worry and fear for her.

“If this was anyone’s fault, I vote we blame Hawk Moth,” Randy said.

“Randy’s got a point,” Danny said. “People make mistakes all the time, but he’s deliberately trying to hurt people. You guys need to stop blaming yourselves for everything.” Turning to Adrien and holding out his hands, which were cupped together, he said, “We’ve got the akuma. We just, uh, don’t have anywhere to put it.”

“You won’t need to put it anywhere,” Susan said, speaking before Adrien had a chance. She might not know how Adrien usually addressed the problem, but she knew the type. A corruption of magic was hardly anything new, and neither was pouring it into a vessel, even if that vessel wasn’t typically alive. “You should just need to purify it and release it.”

“That’s the problem,” Adrien said. “I don’t have that ability, or at least I don’t think I do. My partner in Paris looks after that.”

“Jake can do it.”

Jake pulled back from the hug to gape at her. “What?”

“If you stopped listening to music during your training sessions,” she chided gently, “or at least kept it low enough that you could still hear what you were being told, then you would know already. Dragon fire is purifying.”

“That’s why it changed colour!” Danny exclaimed. “I knew that had to mean something.” He opened his hands, releasing a white butterfly.

Adrien grinned, straightening as he shed the weight of worry, and raised his hand. “Bye, bye, little butterfly.”

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