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rootspiral · 1 month ago

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Agatha All Along deep dive: episode 8 part 7

(Wandavision entries: [1][2][3])

(AAA entries: ep1 [1][2][3][4] ep2 [1][2][3][4] ep3 [1][2][3] ep4 [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][+1] ep5 [1][2][3][4][5] ep6 [1][2][3] ep7 [1][2][3][4][5][6] ep8 [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] ep9 [1][2][3][4][5][6])

more Oz references! fury of the elements, one very pissed ex, same thing.

god but how much I love rio going feral?! it's so stupid I'm giggling and kicking my feet about it. you'd think a very old, very wise being would react like a grown ass adult after a breakup, especially because it was such a long time coming. but does rio go home to process things quietly? noooooooo she summons a whole storm and sits on a roof waiting for agatha to come out of her basement, so she can be an ass about it. if they were humans rio would be slashing agatha's tires and smashing windows and throwing rotten eggs at her house drunk at three in the morning, and you know what? good for her!!! she's been fucking trying to work things out in a mature responsible way, and it was never going to work, agatha was never going to grow up. so fuck it. agatha wants to be immature? we'll show her immature! I support my girl going full petty and unhinged, let her cry and scream and eat a whole ice cream tub and then throw it all up, let her piss all over agathas' rhododendrons, my girl has earned it.

AND she's brought her favorite soul-reaping orchid with her! she's like, I'm gonna do it! this time I'm gonna getcha! I will drag your ungrateful ass to our son kicking and screaming if I have to!!!!

...girl. we both know you ain't. like agatha is literally about to die and you still won't reap that soul without her consent. absolute loser behavior.

and agatha... well, agatha never backed off from an immaturity showdown. oooh she's gonna out-toddler you for sure.

but it's so interesting that the Road didn't give her her powers back. tbh I don't think she ever lost her powers at all, seeing as she's first and foremost a succubus and that power works just fine, if alice's fate is any indication. it's more like, three years under the spell completely drained her battery and she desperately needs to feed.

and agatha wasn't planning on joining the Road at all, as far as she was concerned it didn't even exist. like with lilia, jen and alice the Road gave her not what she asked, but what she needed all along: her prize was that moment of closure with nicky

so rio cannot kill people, she can only make them wish they were dead, and I just realized, her special talent is also being fucking annoying, just like agatha

by the way, rewatching wandavision I realized that his name is JOHN, not herb! I'm so sorry I've been calling you the wrong name this whole time, my guy. ALSO MOVE OUT OF THAT NEIGHBORHOOD DEAR LORD

same goes for you two. harold you have a daughter!

(omg a literal harold, they're lesbians.)

agatha sees the fire moon and it reminds her of alice. she draws a circle for the expelle hoc malum protection spell she's learned from her. she had a coven only for a day and look how much they've gotten under her skin.

rio gives an incredulous sigh. are you calling me "evil"? it's like, we've been over this!

I know that baby and I love you, but also you're very much sitting on a rooftop cackling like a maniac. how can these two be both so tragic and so so fucking ridiculous at the same time.

it's like, she's absolutely right, she's no villain and she's no demon, agatha should stop treating her like one and punishing her for it. but also... stop begging her to, for fuck's sake. rio, my love, have some dignity. stop chasing. you did a dramatic exit half an hour ago, WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE

agatha trying to exorcise her ex wife with a spell: clownass behavior.

rio blowing the circle away with a kiss: also clownass behavior.

but is she wrong????

lilia's turn to come in handy!

I'm sorry but... a whole sink? she threw a whole sink at her head?? this scene is so fucking hilarious, like I know some people found rio ooc but to me it makes perfect sense. I'm just sorry she didn't throw a toilet.

GO HOME, RIO. it's okay, we're gonna put up a picture of agatha in your living room and throw poop at it until you feel better or smth, it's gonna be okay, you let it all out.

^^literally rio

jen's moment: vulnus ab aqua curare.

I don't think it's going to help you much though, babe. remember when agatha kept poking wanda with a stick and got her ass kicked to oblivion in return? she's been poking DEATH for two hundred years. what did she expect???!?!

THAT IS THE HOTTEST SOMEONE HAS EVER LOOKED, DEAR LORD

and considering that rio chooses an outfit for each soul she reaps: this is what she chose for agatha??? girl, be for real!!!

aaaand she gets kicked into a wall a moment later. after her devastating sexy ass walk with the high slit dress and all. complete loser behavior.

(also hilarious: agatha's laundry hanging there the whole time)

billy came back to save agatha (awww) but not before conjuring a cool wiccan costume and doing a very dramatic entrance (awwwwwwww). literally her son.

I agree tbh

agatha's face when she realizes billy is choosing to give her magic: this is the first time someone does it willingly. and sure he is super powerful (she drained poor alice in a second), but I keep imagining a world were agatha is an important, cherished member of a community, maybe playing the vital role of teacher and knowledge keeper, and the community willingly donates magic in return, all together and on a regular basis, like people donate blood, so that no one dies and she doesn't starve.

look at how the beam changes color, and just how happy she is to finally eat. it's just the way she was born, you know? I hate that evanora turned it into something horrible when it didn't need to.

oh god, that stupid outfit again. that is agatha's "I'm such a scary merciless bitch and I don't care about your feelings" outfit. as if.

and then she realizes she's killing billy. look at her face, a moment ago she even said how good all this power feels. she could easily take it all. but of course for billy she has to stop.

so, can agatha actually control her powers? well, it's complicated, isn't it? she definitely couldn't when she was very young. possibly she never sought to learn how to as time went on.

(thank you for your patience, everyone, I'll update more regularly from now on. and you all know what happens next entry.)

go to episode 8 part 8

#agatha all along #agatha deep dive #agatha harkness #rio vidal #agathario #billy maximoff #character analysis

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manfuckthisimout · 1 month ago

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You can be Alice, I’ll be the Mad Hatter

Mad Hatter! Yoongi x f!reader

Warnings: none, all characters are of consensual age Genre: Fluff, Oneshot Word Count: 2,688 words (yikes!)

A/N: this is an expirement, I wanted reader to not quite be alice, but someone who came before and stayed in wonderland. Reader is also around 19-22. March hare is supposed to be Kookie, mouse is supposed to be Jimin. Inspired by lots of renditions of the Mad Hatter, AIWL 2010 by Tim Burton, the AIWL ballet where the Mad Hatter tap dances (I thought he was hot when I was a kid), a frankenstein's monster of Mad Hatters! It may be a little out of character for Mouse and Hare but I wanted to write in some members and I chose who I thought fit best. ANYWAY, My requests are open, hope you enjoy!

It had been a while since you first fell into wonderland. You were about 17 at the time, but you can't remember for sure, as time is unpredictable here. You had been found by the red and white queen after you fell, and the two monarchs briefly fought for your place in their court.

The white queen had won the argument, and you were swiftly placed in her court as a lady, enjoying grand balls and living a life of luxury. Through all this still, you couldn't help but feel something in your life was missing. Something thrilling, exciting.

It was when you felt this feeling that you started taking walks around the grounds of the castle, slowly evolving from just the castle grounds to the area surrounding those grounds, and then the woods around that area. One day you got lost, wandering to find your way back to where you started.

“Damn,” You mutter. It appears you’ve gotten even more lost than you were initially. You're in thick woods, no houses, paths or markers to indicate where you could possibly be. “I shouldn’t have walked this far, damn it all.” Stumbling through the woods a little more, you see the beginning of some hedges. “What’s this?” You wonder. “I’ve never seen this before. Is this the beginning of the red queen’s maze?” You press on further, the sound of faint singing getting louder as you do.

“It’s one minute until tea time Hare, take your seat so we can start!”

What in the hells? Tea time? In the middle of the woods? How peculiar.

After walking a few more hedges, there's a small opening to peek through. There’s a little gate between two hedges, a kind of window opening acting as a door as well. You take your skirts, bunching them up and crouching to get a peek over the gate.

Before you is a long table dressed with mismatched teapots and cups. The tablecloth is stained, once a brilliant white with flowers adorning it, now a more cream brown, donning lots of tea stains. Sitting at this table are three men—well, a man and two human-like creatures? One has a brown mop of hair atop his head, a pair of coke bottle glasses on his face, and two little mouse ears with a tail. He’s dressed quite meekly, a tweed brown suit vest and deeper brown slacks. The second of the three is more eccentric than the former. Two bunny ears sticking straight up from his blonde hair. He is wearing a green corduroy suit jacket, his vest a canary yellow, and he has a little pocket watch in his hands, tossing it between left and right.

The third and final gentleman is the most eccentric of them all. His hair is a bright, firey orange--a mauve hat sitting crookedly atop his head to match his equally mauve suit. His vest is an olive green, yellow striped sleeved peeking from his just-to-small suit jacket, barely held in place by his rubbed shiny copper cufflinks. He has some whimsical, informal handsomeness you think.

Oh, he's looking at you! While you were far in your thoughts observing the three men, they noticed your poorly concealed presence. "Why, Hello Madam! Fancy a spot of tea on this merry un-birthday?" The man in the hat speaks to you, looking almost through your soul with his hazel-green eyes. The other two soon follow in their staring.

"Oh! I-I..." You start to stumble over your words, "There's no need to hide behind the gate, any and all are welcome to tea with the Mad Hatter!" He stands from his spot at the table and approaches the gate, leaning over it—and your crouching form, to offer you a gloved hand and quizzical head-tilt. You take his hand, muttering a shy "Thank you.."

Ever since then, weekly walks turned to weekly teas, the hatter learning your identity and how you came to wonderland quickly into the affair. You go back to the hedge garden every week, enjoying exciting antics and ridiculous conversation. In fact, that's exactly where you're heading now.

In your hands is a picnic basket; full to bursting with jams, cookies, and cheeses—all from the finery of the white queen's castle—and your lace parasol. You take the same route you do every time—through the forest and directly to the hedges. You're always early to tea time nowadays, more eager to see only one of your three companions.

The Hatter—with his witty conversation, cooky nature, and seeming gentleness with you—hasn't failed to take a piece of you. A crush started to develop, its long spindly fingers grabbing a hold of your heart and grasping for dear life. But that's not important now, there's a very jolly tea to attend.

"You're here quite early, don't you think?" A voice from behind you says. You startle. "Oh Hatter, you scared me!" You say, swatting at him playfully as he dodges only to grap both of your wrists and hold them out in front of you both. "My apologies, dear Y/N. It was not my intention to startle you." He holds your wrists there, gazing into your eyes as you both seem to breathe in unison. "I have never noticed," He leans in, "Just how beautiful you are." You breathe a sigh, belly suddenly filled with butterflies. Your eyes flit around his face, noticing the subtle twitch of his button nose, the way his eyes shine when they look at you. He's studying you heavily, eyes dropping from you brows, to your nose, to your mouth, chin, neck, clavicle...

"What do we have here?" The Hatter's eyes shoot up, just a few inches from your now heaving busom. You snatch yourself away from him, bringing your basket protectively to your abdomen. "Hello hare," The Hatter starts, "You're just in time for tea." Hatter goes to sit in his place a the table. "Hatter-" You start. "Well, how marvelous a day it is! Mouse brought cards to play after tea!" Hare seems excited, proudly whipping back to snatch cards out of Mouse's timid hands. Mouse lets out a squeak, but quickly protests at the taking of his cards. "Hey, give those back! I found those fair and square, they're mine!"

Hare sticks out his tounge, skipping to his chair while mouse fidgets after his cards. You shake your head amused at the display, and with a chuckle, take your seat at the table. Right next to Hatter. Your eyes flick over to him, but you find he's already staring at you. His gaze is intense, and you have to look away to save your sanity.

This will be a hard afternoon tea.

"So Lady Y/N, how is court at the castle?" Mouse asks. You turn to him, smirking at the question. "Oh, boring as usual. Many less cat fights to report than last week." "A shame inedeed, I was quite looking forward to hearing if Lady Juliet tore off Madam Cathrine's face." Hare remarks, reaching for jam and a cookie to spread it on. You bring your cup to you lips, snickering into it. "Yes, that would be quite the story to hear." It's Hatter's turn to remark, still staring holes into the side of your face.

"Oh Lady Y/N, these cookies and jam are exquisite! You truly spoil us with such things." "Oh, it's nothing Hare. The queen is quite fond of me, so I get extra food easily. It's the least I could do for all of you, after letting me join your parties." "Nonsense! You're by far the best addition to our humble troupe, Lady Y/N!" Mouse seems especially determined as he says this, standing up suddenly and rushing to your side to take your hands. "Thank you Mouse, that's very sweet of you." You beam. "I've had quite enough of this sweetness, of with you mouse. Go hide away into your teapot or something." The Hatter has an icy glare and even icier words for Mouse. It seems he's somewhat bothered by the other man's display.

"Oh- I shall not hide away! I'm only telling her the truth!" Mouse argues back. Hatter stands suddenly, a teapot in his hands. "Begone you absolute creature you! I won't say it again!" He races after poor mouse in a fury, chasing him into the safety of his giant teapot at the other end of the table. He sneers at the teapot, stomping back over to his seat and plopping down into it.

"Well..." You start, eyes nervously flitting between the teapot and the Hatter. "Why don't we play some cards, yes?" Hare suggests. "It might lighten your mood Hatter!" You turn to him, eyes pleading for a yes. He looks back. "...fine. But only if I get to pick the game." "Alright!" Hare hands you the cards, and you pass them to Hatter, fingers brushing—sending a tingle up your arm.

"I choose go fish. First player with four books wins." Hatter starts to shuffle the cards, dealing the three of you six cards each. "Let's make this more interesting, hm? The player who wins gets a kiss from Lady Y/N." Hare offers. Your head whips up, face a dark flush. "Wait a minute, what do you mean a kiss?!-" "I'm up to that, how about you Y/N?" You turn to Hatter incredulously. "I say no kiss! Why me?" "Oh come now Y/N, it would only be a peck on the cheek, nothing more!"

You hesitate for a second, mulling over the suggestion. "...alright then. But only a peck on the cheek, nothing else!" "Alright then, let's play!"

You three go through 4 rounds, asking eachother if they have a card you're looking and pulling from the pool. By the end of the second round, Hare is losing. By the middle of the third, he's out of the game. "Well, I guess this is the end for me. Ill go check on mouse—poor thing must still be terrified after to antagonized him so severly. Win that kiss for me, hm?" Hare darts off to the other end of the table, opening the lid to the teapot and peering in.

"What makes him so sure you're going to win?" You remark, side-eyeing Hatter. "Says the one with only two books while I'm working on my fourth." "Hey! It's not my fault Hare had none of the cards I needed—you don't have any threes do you?" "Oh yes, blame it on the game and not your skill—no, I don't have any threes, go fish." You reach into the pile of cards between the two of you, pulling out a five instead of a three. You sigh. "I assume that's a five?" He grins. "How did you know, are you, cheating perhaps?" "Of course not, and I will take no such accusations against myself." He reaches his hand out, palm flat and eyes on yours. "Now hand me that five, and let me claim my prize."

His wording sends another tingle down your spine, as if his firey stare wasn't enough on its own. "And why should I? You didnt even ask properly." You raise your brow at him, feigning indifference. "Oh, my apologies, my Lady. Do you have any fives in that hand?" "As a matter of fact I don't. Go fish." You grin at him as he grimaces. "I may remind you that it's not a'tall lady-like to lie." You stick your tounge out at him "That isn't lady-like either. Are they teaching you any manners at that castle?" Hatter reaches for the pool, and the bastard has the nerve to pull out a five. "Well, would you look at that?" He places the five into his last book, cards askew and all over the place—if it were anyone else playing they wouldn't be able to tell who's books were who's.

Hatter turns to you, grin as big as the cheshire cat's. "It appears that I've won." You grimace. "Yes, it does seem that way, unfortunately." "Unfortunate for whom? I see this as a pure and fair win." "Yes, much like the raven and the writing desk." While you suddenly find the table and the cards quite interesting, Hatter is staring into your face. "Don't I get my prize?" "When you stop being such an arse, maybe." You glare at him. He turns to the direction of Hare and Mouse, ready to boast about his 'miraculous' win.

It's also at this time you decide to get the kiss over with, leaning into his cheek, ready to peck. "Do you hear that Hare?! I won, fair and-"

Hatter suddenly turns his head back to you as your planting your kiss onto his cheek.

Your lips touch.

His are surprisingly soft, for a madman who you've never seen take any care into his appearance.

You yank your head back just as quickly as you planted the kiss. It was only a little peck, but it was on his lips—not his cheek like you agreed.

Your eyes widen, positively mortified by what you've just done.

Hatter just sits there, star-struck.

"Oh." Hare says, he and Mouse now staring at you two. "Should we leave?" Mouse whispers. "I think we should. Um, tea was wonderful as always! So was go fish. See you two lovebirds next week!" Hare takes Mouse and scurries to the gate, disappearing behind the hedges.

You can't process much, everything besides your heartbeat fading into the background of static that's now consuming all of your senses. You've just kissed The Mad Hatter--your giant, fat crush for a month or so. You haven't even told the queen, haven't had to, she already has a way of knowing these things--let alone the man himself. And now you've gone and kissed him on the lips. Great!

You slowly come to your senses, shyly turning your head while your fingers cover your mouth. The Hatter is still staring at you, wide-eyed. He hasn't said a word since your lips touched.

"I'm so sorry Hatter, I was only trying to-" Your turn to him, starting to come up with some excuse--any excuse--anything to get you out of this mortifying situation--of course he doesn't like you, why would he, stupid girl-

"No. Don't do that. Don't pull away."

His hands suddenly hold you face, either hand holding either cheek.

"I...I want this Y/N. I know you've had a crush on me--I was going to do something about it today if it weren't for those two gits-" His eyes close, and he shakes the frustration out of his head. This man...what is he saying? He knew you were crushing on him? Do something about it? Do what? "What do you mean, Hatter?"

After a long pause, he answers. "I've had a crush on you too. I was too scared to do anything about it until now--i thought you were untouchable--that I wasn't nearly good enough for you." How silly. Two fools in love, worried that the other didn't feel the same.

The Hatter--someone you though could only see you as a friend--was standing here in a new light, gentle, caring, soft. He was baring his soul to you--and he reciprocated your crush. You, the White Queen's lady-in-waiting--the forbidden fruit he could never taste.

"Do you mean that, Hatter?" "Of course I do my lady." "Then kiss me again. I feel the same. I have for a long while." He does just that—tenderly cupping your face with one hand, your bicep in his other. This time the kiss was sweet, full of promises and whispers of love to come—how wonderful and fuflilling it would be for the both of you.

It felt right, even after you both pulled away from eachother, resting your foreheads on the other's.

"I love you, Y/N." He whispers to you, smiling. "I love you too, Hatter." You whisper back, smiling too.

"You owe me a tart from the Red Queen Hare!" You both hear off in the distance. You both chuckle. "Those two...whatever shall we do about them?" "We can worry about that later. I want to stay in this moment for as long as possible." "Sounds good to me."

A/N: That’s all folks! How cute are these two huh? This ended up wayyyyyy longer than i thought it would be lol. Hope you enjoy always! Like and reblog if you did, I would really help out my blog! Also let me know if y’all want a tag list or anything! He’s the Boss pt. 2 is on the way!

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katuschka · 2 months ago

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Olalla Chapter Ten

Josh Kiszka x f!OC x Jake Kiszka 5.330 words This chapter is mostly Jake's POV. I neglected it so far and he deserves it.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, intended for adult readers. Any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental. Also, if you're under 18, go find some other entertainment elsewhere.

Warnings (are spoilers): mentions of sex (nothing expressive), alcohol consumtion, allusions to infidelity, internal turmoil, emotional infidelity, betrayal&trust issues, violence, secrets and a healthy dose of emotional shit again

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Dreaming about my love You bring me joy and happiness More or less I dream my life away I don't care if I get nowhere I can just dream, and you'll be there What else is there to do?

December 22nd (and reminiscing the past); Jake

In December, evenings in Krakow start early; more than two hours before the people in Madrid can see the last sun rays. The time is the same in both cities; it is the experience that differs. Just like the souls who experience it. This was the land of beautiful churches and dreadful past terrors; the land of sorrows drowned in vodka and joys found in the sounds of violins and flutes. Even here at the airport, surrounded with steel and glass and fluorescent lights, Jake could feel it too. He found a brand new, strange kind of comfort in this.

Just a few months ago, he had spent many evenings getting drunk alone while listening to local musicians. That’s how he tried to escape the sounds of the two of them fucking…

Tonight, he would see her again. And then he would wash the aftertaste down with spirit and fuck the one he’s with.

This whole Christmas trip was a comical arrangement. A road straight to misery. Four people playing their selfish card games with one another, and Jake felt like he was the worst of them all. If not for anything else, then for thinking that Veela was selfish too. Deep down he knew too well that it was far from the truth. It just seemed way easier to perceive her as a fellow villain, just like when you know that booze is bad for you, even though you keep drinking.

Fucking hell, she even insisted on cooking dinner for them at first! Thankfully, Josh eventually persuaded her not to do that. She had a lot on her plate already, so just let their empty stomachs be other people’s problem this evening.

As soon as they landed, he sent her a brief message to confirm the time of their expected arrival with wicked satisfaction. This was supposed to be Josh’s fucking job, but Jake wasn’t really complaining. It had been like that for a while now, and it made the little gargoyle on his shoulder clap his hands with malicious glee.

It was already pitch dark when they left the airport in their rental car and, without any further ado, turned left towards the south on the first intersection. All three of them awfully tired, and all of them craving a hot shower. He and Josh were quite used to long and exhausting travels, but Lisa had never left the States before, and as time went by, she gradually morphed from the initial (and rather cute) ‘Alice in Wonderland mode’ to the nervous wreck that she was now.

Half an hour later, and halfway through the ride, Lisa was still clutching at the half empty cup of her now lukewarm coffee in both hands while looking resigned, Josh – curled up in the backseat – kept peering out of the window into the dark nothingness outside, and Jake was getting more and more drowsy with every passing minute, lulled by the monotonous sound of the engine. They tried to turn on the radio, but quickly abandoned the idea when a very peculiar disco version of White Christmas made them all groan in unison.

Jake hated driving in the dark. Low visibility and blurring lights always made his mind wander, eventually getting lost in dangerous daydreaming. Melodies appeared in his mind out of nowhere and sometimes they threatened to narcotize him. He was beginning to think that he would have to pull over at the nearest gas station to get another generous dosage of caffeine, when the sudden appearance of fat and wet snowflakes on the windowsill allerted him in a way no artificial energy booster possibly could. Finally something to focus on…

They just drove into a snowstorm, which gave Jake a much needed adrenaline rush, although the circumstances could have been different. What a nice, fitting parallel to all the other shit that’s been happening to him lately.

He could already feel the tires slipping on the snowy road, forcing him to slow down. Soon the whole long string of cars ahead of, as well as behind their own vehicle, was moving at snail's pace.

“Meeerry Christmas,” Josh mumbled, watching the falling snow as if hypnotized. If that was supposed to sound cheerful, he failed miserably. It only encouraged Lisa to let out another anguished sigh. Jake tried to keep his calm, but the two of them were really testing his limits ever since they left Nashville the previous day.

“What now, baby?” he asked in a falsely soothing tone.

“I’m just still wondering… is this really safe?”

“And what the fuck does that mean?’ It was Josh this time, still being moody in the back seat.

“I mean…shouldn’t they clear the snow from the road or something? This is definitely not safe. Anyway, I'm still not convinced that…”

“Lisa, how could they possibly clear the snow now? We’re on a highway in the middle of a heavy snowfall,” Jake interrupted her, while patiently ignoring Josh’s scoff. She kept on voicing her concerns ever since they landed in Heathrow, and even before that, making it REALLY hard for him to justify their presence here by claiming that she wanted to go. Although, to be honest, that ship had already sailed.

At least Josh seemingly bought his reasoning that he was here to keep an eye on his idiot of a brother, while also having been invited to do so (an important detail that shouldn’t get overlooked). That made Lisa essentially his hostage, but at least he didn’t have to feel like a third wheel. “And for the millionth time, it’s completely safe. And you’ll love it there, believe me. I’m sure it’s even more beautiful with snow.”

“I’m just reading the news Jake.”

“Yeah Jake, you should have just taken her to Aspen. This place is absolutely not safe. You should have sent a bodyguard to babysit me instead of putting your girl in danger.” The scorn in Josh’s voice made the temperature in the car drop significantly in spite of the heating. Jake checked the rear view mirror only to see Josh staring back at him daringly. Next to him, Lisa was doing the same, waiting for him to say something. He felt like having been trapped in his own lies and pretenses once again. Tread lightly, you prick! Choose your words carefully now.

His own death stare now mirrored Josh’s. Quite literally. “You know, I think we should skip that dinner tonight. You look like you desperately need to get laid, brother. Which is something you haven’t done in a while… right?” The idea made him sick, but at least it effectively silenced Josh and Lisa seemed satisfied with the retort. For now.

Lisa had her flaws, but she wasn’t stupid. It took her exactly three minutes before she disrupted the fragile peace once again. “You still didn’t tell me what happened between the two of you…”

“And we won’t, because it’s between the two of us.”

“Josh!” Jake tried to sound resolute, while keeping his voice calm. His jaw muscles clenched involuntarily and his literal clone knew all too well what that meant, so it only added fuel to the fire.

“I’m sorry dad! By all means go on and explain to your girlfriend why you almost broke my jaw and then insisted on making her feel so… unsafe,” Josh mocked her whiny voice before he added in a much lower tone: “I’m just as curious.”

“Fuck off, sheephead!” The remark belonged to Josh, but her piercing look was fixed on Jake’s profile, as he could very well see in his peripheral vision. The inside of the car cabin was aflame, metaphorically speaking. Their constant bickering – annoying but otherwise quite harmless most of the time – now reached a new, dangerous level.

It wasn’t that Josh didn’t like Lisa, or vice versa. He just knew very well that she was yet another casual hookup, good enough to keep Jake’s bed warm, but essentially not someone who would be enough. And that was ok; it was mutual. Jake knew Lisa didn’t love him, she was simply infatuated with the idea of him. Quite convenient for multiple reasons.

The problem was that Josh knew all this too, and he wasn’t entirely happy with it… for multiple reasons.

Not really his business…

Yeah, sure, you hypocrite… Jake was really in no position to criticize…

All he could do was to try to repel Josh’s totally justified suspicions and to soothe Lisa’s multiple growing concerns. He sighed, feigning exasperation. “It’s settled then. No dinner tonight. I’m going to make my girlfriend feel better and you do whatever you need to satisfy your own dick so that you could stop being one.” That earned him a middle finger from one, a satisfied smile from the other… and a hollow feeling in his stomach. So he wouldn’t see her tonight, after all. Yet another pyrrhic victory. Yay!

Returning back to the safety of the inside of his own head, he took his time to ponder over the words that were said. Why indeed… Jake couldn’t really tell. He didn’t really know. What did he expect would happen? What outcome could he possibly hope for? Well, other than spending the holidays being hungover, both literally and figuratively.

Unsafe… he scoffed internally. There was no other place where he felt more safe since they left home almost ten years ago. When the two of them spent half of the summer lamenting over losing a part of themselves on the road, this was what they both craved. Leaving their childhood home and seeking new opportunities, they thought love was just a different kind of adventure. And then, as the years went by, this outlook punched them in the face. Once they got what they wanted, they went on losing what they needed, only to realize how much they really longed for it.

The sense of home, but with fragrant skin, silky hair and lips coated with honey.

She was a true master caretaker, selflessly taking them in like two stray gypsies in need of a shelter, even after all the things Jake had said and done to her. And after…well… Josh just being Josh.

A wild soul, passionately loving and cherishing her own freedom, while always willing to be there for others when needed.

… and beautiful. So naturally beautiful… She was very well aware, but at the same time quite humble about it, driving men insane with her nonchalant appeal. When he first saw her, he labeled her as “dangerous”; and he wasn’t entirely wrong, in a way. He couldn’t believe all the crazy things Josh was telling him about her after just a mere week he had spent with her. He had a chance to start anew with Taffy, and he threw it out of the window.

And then Jake understood. She had him wrapped around her finger in no time, without even consciously trying. Strong, tireless and fragile at the same time. A true Veela, fighting like a lioness, and just when you start to think she’ll bite your head off the next second, she crumbles under the weight of her own burden, making you want to cradle her in your palms. If anyone ever rode through the night on a silver storm, it was her. It seemed only logical that she chose to be with Josh, considering she turned out to be everything Jake ever wanted…

Ungrateful bastard! Playing games with the hearts of the people who were willing to climb mountains for him, or to fly across the world for him! Yeah, Jake had every right to be here…

“Hey Jake, you’re supposed to take the right exit!” Lisa’s voice brought him out of his thoughts momentarily. He completely missed the sign and exited the highway at the very last moment, making the car drift dangerously. Someone behind them honked aggressively, Lisa squeaked and Josh let out an alarmed “whoa”.

“Well, at least it’s not far.” Jake breathed a sigh of relief when he once again regained full control over the car. “Sorry.”

His heart continued to pound like crazy, but it had no longer anything to do with what just happened. He had driven down this road a few times already, feeling upset or agitated every single time, for one reason or another. No wonder it triggered something within. The last time was the hardest, and now he relived the emotions almost involuntarily. It was all coming back to him now. The unease.

What a strange kind of feeling… a resigned sadness or something like that; when you know there’s nothing to be done other than just to live through it. He felt that was exactly twice in his life, and he just accepted it both times. But just accepting it couldn’t make the weight on his chest go away.

Late September onwards, Jake’s reminiscences

He had spent the last days of their stay at Eulalia trying to dissolve his feelings at the bottom of a glass or to ignore them by playing until his fingers bled, but no matter how he tried, there seemed to be no going back. He was simply and thoroughly fucked.

There was no escaping those feelings behind the steering wheel, with his brain painfully sober and his newest guitar lying on the back seat. Maybe that’s why leaving the town was the hardest part, with that constant urge to look back, or to turn back… He had thought that saying goodbye would hurt the most, but it was seeing her disappear out of sight in the side view mirror that caused the most painful pang. That’s probably why people in movies try so hard to not look back. It’s just the worst.

So he focused fully on the road ahead, hoping it would help, while Josh kept looking dreamily out of the side window at the lines of yellow trees, lost in his own thoughts.

Finally, they got through the winding streets and left the town behind. Jake drove in silence through Poronin and then another village, and then another one. The scenery gradually changed from fairytale to mundane, making him feel more and more empty. It became unbearable after a while. The silence was unbearable too. “Are you ok?” he asked Josh eventually.

“No…” Josh turned around and Jake could see for the first time that his eyes were red and teary.

Jake wanted to say something to comfort his brother, but he suddenly couldn’t. And that was the moment when he realized that they could no longer share their feelings and deepest secrets to make each other feel better. He hated to see Josh like that, but at the same time it made him feel terribly and nauseatingly bitter. At least Josh had the luxury to let it out.

So they both watched the road, each one falling down his own personal, customized pit. It was Josh who broke the silence after a while. “I feel cursed, you know. It’s just happening again. Nothing’s changed. I’ve made an ugly mess, and now I’m leaving again… it’s making me feel like a piece of shit, but it’s probably nothing compared to how the one I leave behind feels.”

Yeah, don’t forget to add that it’s because of me. Jake hated all those thoughts as soon as they formed inside his head, but he couldn’t prevent it. And he couldn’t stop it. He would never say them aloud, so they started poisoning him from the inside. The one thing that was really hard to stomach was that Josh was coming back eventually, because he chose to do that. His greatest life dilemmas were always about making the right (or the wrong) choices. Meanwhile, Jake felt like he no longer had a say in what had been happening to him.

Emilia gave him no choice. She didn’t even tell him there was something to choose from until it was too late, only to blame him afterwards for the decisions she had made without him. She accused him of not having been around, and it took him a while to understand that she didn’t really want him to. But that didn’t make the pain go away. It actually made it worse. Laying blame on him was supposed to make her feel a bit better, and his own feelings be damned. She didn’t care. She probably never had.

And now this. It wasn’t his choice. It was hers.

Choosing versus losing. No, these two things were not comparable.

But the thing that hurt the most was that there was no one to comfort him. Hell, he couldn’t even take his time to mourn the loss of Lulubean in peace, because it was soon overshadowed by Josh’s moronic choices! And now? He just couldn’t tell anyone. And least of all, Josh. Fuck! He felt so fucking lonely all of the sudden. Maybe mom would understand… and then she’d tell him to keep doing the right thing…

If only Josh would shut up, but that was like hoping there would be floods in the Sahara. He kept on talking, making Jake regret asking the question. No, the silence had been better.

Eventually, Josh stopped, but it was short lived. He cleared his throat, just like he always did when he decided to say some line from Captain Obvious’s catch phrase textbook. “She’s a wonderful woman...”

“Yeah.” Yeah, no shit. How many times had he heard that during this past month… but admitting it won’t hurt anyone, despite the risk that the conversation might continue. And of course it did.

“Jake…?”

“Yeah?!” It came out sounding much more aggressive than he wanted to.

“Are you ok?”

“Totally fine.” He could feel rather than see Josh’s fixed gaze. “Why?”

“Just makin’s sure…”

Jake was certain that it would get better once he got home. He decided that it was just a foolish infatuation. Something he was momentarily susceptible to. Back home, he would just resume living his life and all would be well. Or at least bearable.

But it was the same empty house as it was that one early morning a month ago when he picked up the phone and heard her lovely lisp for the first time.

Empty… empty, empty, empty…

Involuntarily, his thoughts kept circling back to her. He consciously tried to fight it. He cooked, he mowed the lawn, he went to the movies, he revisited his favorite books. However, when he pushed her out of his mind during the day, she just started visiting him in his dreams. She was like a fucking boomerang. And she was also downright cruel in those dreams, sounding like a titmouse, just as that motherfucker described it and just like Jake once inadvertently heard. In his dreams, it was him causing it. In his dreams, she never stopped him, never chose the other door.

He tried to chase those dreams away with booze, because he hardly ever dreamed after he fell asleep drunk. But she never went away; the visions of her only got more twisted. She stopped moaning and started screaming. He always woke up drenched in sweat, thinking he was slowly going crazy.

Thankfully, they dived headfirst into work as soon as they got back home and Josh doctor confirmed it was fine to do so. They had to, as it was more than necessary to start rehearsing as soon as possible, but Jake also desperately wanted to. It kept his mind occupied.

It didn’t prevent him from showing up with dark circles under his eyes, hungover and tired. Josh’s worried glances soon turned to watchful gaze. He cornered him eventually, demanding that Jake tell him what the fuck was going on. Jake brushed it off and told him to mind his own fucking business.

Then the photo appeared. Jake didn’t care what people were saying. There had been a few moments in the past when he let them get under his skin, but not anymore. Over the years, he learned how to ignore it, because they were almost always wrong.

The photo resonates deep within him though. And not only because he saw her for the first time since they left.

Despite their fans’ wild theories, he saw it too. The picture showed basically just their backs, but the dynamics were undeniable. Yeah, no wonder it sparked people’s imagination.

Josh’s head was bent down, his shoulders stooping. With one hand in his pocket, the fingers of his right hand brushed against Agnieszka’s shoulder lightly in one of his hesitant and feeble attempts to get back to her. And yes, there was no denying he looked somewhat crestfallen, even from the back.

The picture showed just a fraction of her profile, but it was enough to make Jake’s stomach sink. She was looking at him, clearly amused by something he just said; her smile – half hidden behind dishevelled locks flying in the wind – radiant and lovely. And Jake returned that smile. Even with his sunglasses on, his expression was definitely compromising. He didn’t realize it had been that obvious. Jake had tried to deny and ignore those growing feelings even within himself back then. Had Josh noticed? He always did…

The fact that one could also see the outlines of the mountains in the distance was probably the worst part. People identified it immediately.

Jake felt a sudden urge to protect her. Some of the stans immediately tried to sniff out her identity, but her Instagram account had been inactive for years so - not knowing her name - they failed.

He didn’t.

He found it, and his curiosity got the best of him.

She was an adventurous kind, this girl he somehow knew. The whole profile was dedicated to the mountains and her climbing them, with a more candid selfie here and there. Her younger version used to have much shorter hair, barely shoulder length, often bound in a messy ponytail.

The greatest difference was her smile though. Carefree and radiant, her eyes sparkling and full of life. A lot of the pictures featured a fair haired, slender guy with kind eyes and a cheeky grin. The last entry was from February 2019, with the two of them on top of some hill, with crampons attached to their boots and ice axes in their hands. After that, she went silent.

He had already known what happened, but this contrast between the cheerful girl in those pictures and the pensive woman he knew made him realize the full extent of it: She was really hurting, and the two of them only kept dragging her down, whether it was intentional or not. He couldn’t just sit back and let it happen.

Against his better judgement, he texted her that night and apologizes for having been such a jerk after that unfortunate kiss and… well… just in general. She responded almost immediately, grateful he finally reached out and hopeful things would be ok between the two of them again.

So they started texting. Just like two friends. Just like they used to be. Almost.

Things got a bit easier after that, honestly. Once she lived inside his phone, she finally let him get some sleep again. Actually, it was her who told him that he needed to get out of that house after he confided in her how things were lately. Not the whole truth, just how he felt when he was home alone.

He met Lisa through a mutual friend that he started spending more time with. Although completely different, they clicked immediately. Especially behind closed doors. He was already so pussy-starved that he almost embarrassed himself the first time.

Lisa could give him exactly what he needed (well, almost) and all she really wanted from him in return was to reciprocate it. Working as a freelance e-commerce manager, she was independent, quite outspoken and able to meet him halfway in his otherwise busy schedule. And when the tour started, she packed her bags to keep him company.

December came, the first leg of the tour ended and once they came back home, things started to change gradually. They no longer ate in restaurants; Jake started cooking for her instead. Consequently, and simply because they got used to waking up next to each other, Lisa sometimes spent the whole night. Not often, just enough to have an emergency toothbrush at Jake’s place.

It would have been nice, but just a week before Christmas, Jake was starting to get restless again.

It was a date night like many before. They fucked first, then they watched a horror movie during which they fucked again and then they ended up in bed, ready to call it a night just like a regular couple. Lisa loved cuddling, it helped her fall asleep. She hoped that her presence could have the same effect on him, but just like many times before, he ended up staring at the ceiling with his mind racing because of some innocent shit she wrote earlier. And with the knowledge that he would see her again in a couple days, things only got worse.

He sneaked out of bed and went to his music room instead, hopeful that a few hours of strumming would calm his mind enough to be able to go back to bed. But instead, he ended up on a couch there with a full bottle in his hand...

He woke up early in the morning, painfully hungover and confused, with Lisa’s face hovering above him, hurt and concern clearly visible in her eyes. She tried to keep it cool, but he could hear it in her voice too when she asked if he wanted her to leave.

No, he didn’t want that. He couldn’t live like that, always asking what the fuck am I doing, and not having an answer.

So, he made up his mind. Ater he assured her that he indeed wanted her to stay and this was just about his having trouble sleeping, he drove to Josh’s place to tell him that they weren’t coming with him, ready to finally explain why if necessary.

He just parked the car and lit up a smoke he so desperately needed since the moment he woke up, when the front door opened. They didn’t notice him. Christopher stepped out first, fully clothed, followed by Josh just in his bathroom gown. The former turned around to say something that Jake couldn’t hear, before he gently cupped Josh’s cheeks with both hands and planted a light kiss on his lips. That was when they finally spotted him glaring back.

Jake put out the cigarette and stepped forward towards them. Josh’s eyes widened with shock, while Christopher remained completely calm. “Jake,” he greeted him with a level voice.

“Taffy… What a surprise.” Christopher just nodded, simply acknowledging the fact that the encounter was perhaps somewhat unexpected. Josh remained frozen in the spot, eyeing them both warily, which made Jake’s blood boil. “I need to speak with my brother, if you don’t mind.”

“No, I’m already on my way.” He squeezed Josh’s shoulder lightly and motioned towards an Uber that just arrived at the front gate. Once he was gone, Josh stepped back inside the house without a single word, closely followed by Jake. Once in the main lobby – and hearing Jake close the main door – he finally turned back towards him. “What are you do…”

The blow came before he could even finish the sentence, sending him stumbling backwards until he collided with the opposite wall. Stunned, he slid down on his ass with a thud, casting a startled gaze upon his brother, while examining his throbbing lip with his trembling fingers.

“You piece of shit,” Jake hissed through his teeth.

“Jake…” It was barely a whisper, contrasting greatly with the roar that followed.

“YOU PRICK! You asshole! You… you fucking piece of shit!”

“NOTHING HAPPENED!” Josh yelled back, and yelped immediately as the raw cut in his lip deepened. He tried to get back to his feet, his whole body shaking.

“Oh yeah?!? Do you think I’m an idiot?” Still livid, Jake grabbed the collar of Josh’s bathrobe and threatened to hurl him against the wall again, but Josh regained enough strength to push him away. “Nothing… happened,” he breathed out again, while Jake started pacing the room like a wolf about to strike again.

“Yeah? Explain then.”

Before he did, Josh rushed to the kitchen to get some ice and towels as he could feel blood trickle down his chin; with Jake still dogging him around the house.

They were now separated by the kitchen counter and Josh felt safe and self-composed enough to continue, while holding a bag of ice pressed against his chin and lip. “We went for a drink yesterday,” he mumbled. “I just owed him an explanation, Jake!” Jake was just glaring back at him silently, so Josh continued. “We had a bit too many, and so we took an Uber here. That’s just it. We just kept on talking until we both fell asleep on the couch. This was his home, too. It just felt… normal.”

Jake just scoffed.

“You don’t believe me…”

“No. And I’m sick of taking care of your mess.”

“Nobody ever asked you,” Josh screeched, which slowly faded into a whimper as sharp pain shot through his split lip again. It wasn’t fair, and he knew it. He would be fucked without Jake. But sometimes, Jake took it too far, and it was all coming back to him now. And judging by Jake’s expression, he wasn’t going to stop.

“You keep hurting people… and I won’t let you. Neszka doesn’t deserve this.”

This time, Josh glared back at him, the fire in his eyes mirroring Jake’s anger. “Oh, it’s Neszka now?!? If I remember correctly, it was you hurting her the last time, while ‘taking care of my mess’. Why are you here, anyway?”

“I was about to tell you that I’m not going, but you just made me change my mind. You still do need adult supervision.”

December 22nd, 5:26 pm

So, that’s how things were now. They eventually sorted it out just enough to be civil with each other, but the underlying tension was still there, as well as things that were left untold. Josh was too afraid to ask, and Jake was too much of a coward to tell. And now, watching Josh taking his suitcase from the trunk, Jake found himself on the verge of panicking, wondering where things would go from here. He stepped out of the car briefly just to ask if they’d really skip the dinner tonight.

“You’re asking me?” Josh replied wearily. “That was your choice and your suggestion. But it’s for the best. I’m fucking tired. See you tomorrow, Jake.”

As Josh disappeared inside Eulalia, Jake got back in the car and drove away. It was just the two of them now, on their way to their own private chalet in the neighboring village up the hill. Christmas lights and snow turned the whole town into a gingerbread house village. It was quite enchanting. Maybe they could have a nice evening after all. Just the two of them.

“So tell me,” Lisa spoke all of the sudden. “There’s some truth to those fan theories, am I right?”

“What do you mean?” he countered sharply.

“I’m a big girl, Jake. Stop insulting my intelligence, don’t be an asshole and just speak openly for a change. You love her too, don’t you.”

Jake didn’t say anything. He felt a sudden rush of adrenaline run through his veins and did his best to stay outwardly calm. He knew it only made his face turn to marble and he also knew she knew what it meant.

“You were right, this place is beautiful. Like a Hallmark movie. We’re going to have so much fun,” she spoke again, the tone of her voice a mix of artificial honey and undiluted scorn.

@thewritingbeforesunrise @fleet-of-fiction @writingcold @lvnterninthenight @its-interesting-van-kleep @takenbythemadness @edgingthedarkness @myownparadise96 @gvfstuddedmajesty @josh-iamyour-mama @jazzyfigz @tripthelightfantastix @sanguinebats @wetkleenex-gvf @peaceloveunitygvf @kiszkas-canvas @fleetingjake @lizzys-sunflower @hollyco @emojakekiszka @gvfmarge @dayumclarizzel @lipstickitty @clownstarr @musicislove3389 @i-love-gvf @blankvz @psychedelectable

#greta van fleet #gvf #jake kiszka #josh kiszka #josh gvf #jake gvf #greta van fleet fanfic #greta van fic #jake kiszka fanfic #gvf fanfiction #greta van fleet fanfiction #greta van fleet fan fiction #jake kiszka fanfiction #greta van fleet fic #jake kiszka smut #Spotify

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cosmicoatlatte · 4 months ago

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────── ☆ kinktober 2024

John 'Bucky' Egan - hands

content: mentions of past trauma and resulting behavioral changes, handjob, come eating (his own)... 1.7k

Before you met John, autumn used to be your favorite season. Colorful leaves and stormy weather held a special place in your heart. Ever since you gave your heart to your husband though, that didn’t hold true anymore.

The change of seasons affected him more than he wanted you to know, the sinking temperatures and the prospect of winter making him retreat into himself. Spring (your new favorite season) would thaw him out again but until then you would love him. Like you promised. Like he deserved.

The first frost of the season hit earlier than expected but your rose bushes were covered and your firewood stacked so you could rest somewhat easily, knowing that your only worry would be your husband. John had retreated to your bedroom soon after dinner, something you didn’t fault him for. It always took him longer to fall asleep these days.

When you entered your bedroom later it was to a husband-shaped lump under a thick comforter. He was still awake, turning over until you could see his face from eyebrows to mustache instead of the dark curls at the back of his head.

“Is there some space for me under that?”

He tugged the blanket down enough to free his mouth before responding with a grin on his lips. “Always, Mrs. Egan.”

As you slipped under the blanket on your side of the bed one of his hands immediately sneaked over to play with the hem of your nightgown and you smiled to yourself. Husbands. So predictable.

“I’ll lay with you in a second, love. Let me just try that fancy hand cream you got me.”

Last winter our hands had gotten so rough in the cold and you had complained to your John plenty. Yet it still surprised you when your husband had brought you home a tub of hand cream from a work trip. Something French that smelled strongly of flowers.

He watched as you gently slid off your wedding band, giving it a small kiss before putting it on your nightstand for a moment.

“I’ll put it on again right after.” You promised him. It pained your soul that John still doubted your love, your vows, fearing that you would leave him because he wasn’t good enough. You would never stop reminding him about how much you loved him. The only times you took off your ring were to protect the symbol of your love.

“New polish?” He asked and you knew it was meant as a distraction, to avoid talking about the feelings he tried so hard to hide, but you gave him the out he asked for.

“Yeah.” Holding out a hand until it was right in front of his face you wiggled your fingers. “Went round to Mary-Alice’s to borrow some eggs and Virginia was over for tea so we got to chatting. You know how Ginny is, bit braggadocious but so kind. Did them right on the kitchen table with her new bottle while Mary-Alice fed us cookies.”

The three of you had made plans to get together again on Thursday while your men were at work but John didn’t need to know that. First rule of knit club was not to talk about knit club and you wanted him to be surprised by the sweater you were making him.

He leaned forward to brush his lips against your fingers, nipping just the tiniest bit, before letting his head fall back into his pillow “That’s nice. Ask her where she got it and I’ll pick you up a bottle.”

“You’re so sweet.” After applying the lotion, you put your ring back in its rightful place before lowering yourself until you were eyelevel with your husband.

“Should I get the lights?”

John blinked once, slowly, before avoiding your eyes. “Can we leave it?”

You nodded, knowing that John would see it even if his gaze wasn’t focused on you. When you laid down fully it was with a good amount of space between the two of you.

He looked at you.

You looked at him.

Finally, after what felt like a small eternity, he spoke. “Could you- uhm… could you hold me?”

It was easy to fit yourself against his side before letting him twist himself until you were snug against his back instead. Your husband was a large man but in your arms he almost felt fragile. You didn’t comment on the fact that the night before he had gone to bed in only his skivvies (the night before that, completely bare) but as you cuddled up to him you could feel more than just long sleep pants brushing against your bare legs. He was also wearing a long sleeved shirt, soft and on the thinner side.

John hated talking about the war, about the things that happened and how they affected him. You never pushed him to talk and you wouldn’t now, so you simply held him like he asked.

Time passed, the ticking of the clock filling the quiet room as you laid there, with your arms wrapped around your husband, his own arm keeping your smaller one trapped against his chest. His heart had stopped racing a good while ago but you knew he was far from asleep.

John flinched when you moved, only slightly, but it was enough to make your heart hurt. You ran your hand over his chest softly in an attempt to calm him a little. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay.” He mumbled. “I didn’t realize you were awake.”

You hummed, face against his broad back in an attempt to hide. “Couldn’t sleep.”

It wasn’t a complete lie. Your hand had drifted lower without you realizing, petting your husband’s stomach as if he was an overgrown puppy, not that he seemed to mind.

“Me neither.”

The two of you laid there in silence. The acknowledgement being the only words shared between you. The motion of stroking his stomach became repetitive. Everything was warm and soft, the blanket, his shirt, the small space between them that got created by your arm. It was cozy. Yet neither of you could sleep. For different reasons.

John broke the silence with a hiss when one of your passes accidentally caught on the hem of his shirt and your hand slipped beneath, caressing his stomach instead. You immediately pulled your hand back, about to apologize, when he grabbed it and held it in his larger hand instead. Your breath caught as he brought your linked hands up to his face and pressed a few butterfly kisses along your fingers and against your ring where you had done so earlier.

When he wordlessly brought your linked hands down again it wasn’t to the top of his shirt like you had imagined but instead he put your hand back onto his skin. You giggled, just a little bit, before going back to your slow movement. John always loved to have you touch him but he also struggled to ask for comfort when he needed you to give him some love so the moment just made you feel happy.

Goosebumps rose over his skin as you ran your fingertips over his soft flesh, following the little trail of dark hair up and down. It didn’t take you long to notice the effect you were having on your husband, the change in his breathing and soft noises he made letting you know exactly how much he liked your touch. Silly man.

The noise he made as you turned away was somewhere between a whine and a whimper but you only needed a few seconds to grab the cream he had given you. John might not have cared but you wanted to make it nice for him. Nice enough to put him to sleep.

The noise he made when you put your hand down his pants was so much sweeter. John was already hard, not fully but he still filled your hand so well. Heavy and hot. You didn’t want to tease him, focused on his pleasure, but you couldn’t help but thumb at his tip, spreading his excitement down his shaft just a little before reaching for the cream with your other hand.

He tried to turn around in your arms but you wouldn’t let him. Your front pressed to his back so closely you swore he must have been able to feel your hard nipples bumping against the middle of his back. You worked him slowly, building up an easy rhythm. John wasn’t holding back, allowing himself to be vocal in his own bedroom. And how sweet he sounded when he figured out you wouldn’t prevent him from moving his hips and fucking into your hand and he could just take what he needed.

He came soon after, a choked off moan leaving his lips as you tried your best to catch most of the mess, knowing full well that John wouldn’t leave the comfort of your warm bed to change.

He was breathing heavy, cock softening in your hand as you gave him a few last strokes. Oh how badly you wanted to be able to look at him at that moment. He was always so pretty when he came.

You were careful when you removed your hand, holding it in a way that wouldn’t dirty the bedding, but before you could turn away to look for a tissue or even leave the bed to wash away the remnants of him John took your hand and brought it up to his face. Lapping at the mess to clean you up. Sucking your fingers between his lips and running his tongue between them.

“You’re a dog.” You told him before you wiped your mostly clean hand across his shirt.

“Yours.” He answered, trying to turn around again but you didn’t let him.

“Sleep. I’ll hold you.”

The two of you laid there, your arm wrapped around his middle, his hand holding yours against his chest and thumbing at your ring. It was only after he finally fell asleep that you allowed yourself to rest too.

#masters of the air imagine #mota imagine #john egan imagine #john egan x reader #masters of the air x reader #mota x reader #john 'bucky' egan #mota #kinktober 2024

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bestblacksister · 10 months ago

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Introduction Post

I saw Cissy do this and anything she can do, I can do better 🖤

About ✨me✨

26 (I'm NOT old), proud Slytherin 🐍, eldest (prettiest, most talented, and best) daughter of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, avid follower of You-Know-Who 🙌 (but for legal purposes, it's just hypothetically, all in my head), unhinged, feminist, goddess in flesh and bone (I'm literally named after a star ⭐ and Bella means beautiful 💅🏻), I like beatles 🪲 (the insect, not a muggle band)

Fellow witches and wizards on this thing:

@narcissasupremacy - Narcissa Black, my beloved sister Cissy (we have another one but she's problematic), only one named after a flower rather than a star/constellation 💫

@are-you-siriius - Sirius Black, our ex-cousin (he was disinherited... embarrassing 🥱), Gryffindor blood traitor (ofc this wouldn't have happened had he been sorted into Slytherin)

@reallyregulus - Regulus Black, the better cousin (Slytherin) and new Black heir (I'd be a best fit, as I'm the oldest and wisest. Sadly, only men get to hold that title 😒)

@severely-severus-snape - Severus Snape, a fellow Slytherin, friends with my sister (in love with a mudblood 💀)

@justtjames - James Potter, Gryffindor blood traitor (corrupted my cousin, the bastard 😡 Corrupt Reggie and I swear to Merlin Potter-)

@actuallylupin - Remus Lupin, Gryffindor half-blood dating my ex-cousin (why?), according to Severus - a werewolf 🐺 (?)

@peterpeterpumpkinpeter - Peter Pettigrew, the less loud Gryffindor (who apparently likes pumpkins? What's with that name? 🤨Moving on...)

@ritaskeeteroffical - The gorgeous and talented, one and only, Rita Skeeter 👑 (I'm a big fan of yours, let's have a chat? 😘)

@evan-at-deaths-doorstep - Evan Rosier, Slytherin, I'm pretty sure we're related... 🤔

@italianbartycrouchjr - Bartemius Crouch Junior, Slytherin, better than his father (is he dating Evan? I'll have to ask Rita for the gossip), somewhat psychotic but that's part of his charm

@pandorahaspropheticvisions - Pandora Rosier, also considered crazy - we're likely related (Why don't you join my... club? Those visions would surely come in handy 👀)

@dorcas-in-a-meadow - Dorcas Meadowes, girlboss energy, has potential (let's chat)

@marlesbiane-mckinnon - Marlene Mckinnon, feisty Gryffindor, possibly a mudblood (?), dating Meadowes

@lily-evans-loves-nature - Lily Evans, Gryffindor mudblood 🤢

@marymaccies - Mary MacDonald, another Gryffindor mudblood 🤢 (and dating the previous one)

@alice-loves-herbology - Alice Fortescue, stole my sister (break her heart, I'll break your legs, arms, skull, soul...), but at least her family has great ice cream 🍦 (I scream, you scream, we all scream for the Dark Lord 🙏)

@totallyteddytonks - Theodore Tonks, the mudblood that my sister Andromeda seems to like 🤢

Disclaimer: this is for roleplay purposes only, the user does not agree with the character's views and morals. Don't take anything at face value. If you want to join the roleplay, DM @jaylienpotter

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goodeapple · 1 year ago

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goode, PLEASE can i have a crumb of SOMETHING about modernday!Aemond 🧎🧎

this was yummy, i love it

“did he ever fuck you like this? your little lap dog you left behind in the snow?”

aemond is lucky that he has fast reflexes- he dodges ysilla’s head from connecting with his mouth as she rears back. the growl of frustration she lets out makes him grin.

“shut the fuck up about him, aemond.”

his name on her lips makes him tremble, and he hides the shaking of his fingers as he squeezes her hip. and then he’s inside her and ysilla forgets how to breathe.

“fuckkkkk, I missed this.” aemond moans into her neck, burying his nose in her hair as he fucks her like a man possessed. ysilla’s whole body is his to control, his to manipulate, his to fuck. how can she think she’s allowed to see other men?

when it was him that popped her cherry? split her open on his monster of a cock and made her squirt all over his year ten bed? aemond still rubs one out to the memory of that night, how absolutely unhinged they were together, finally away from their families, friends, any soul that knew them. how he had fucked silli so many times that she cried the morning after in the shower, and she had to ice her battered cunt with a bag of frozen peas. that the moment she felt better, he had her warm his cock as he gamed, thrusting every few minutes or hours, whenever he deemed fit, before finally giving in and absolutely plowing her over his coffee table.

“noooo, don’t stop, don’t stop.” ysilla begs, reaching blindly behind her until she grasps the back of aemond’s neck and pulls him down to her level.

he’s a whole head taller than her. not that it’s her fault- aemond is a string bean, has been since thirteen and she’s a very graceful 5”6 and a half. the freakishly tall gene must come from the hightower in him, even though alicent is shorter than even herself.

his chuckle is low and hoarse as he buries the vibration of it into her temple.

“nmmmm, that’s good. tight as hell, baby, like a fucking virgin.”

it brings back good memories. how many times had he laid her out in the backseat of his audi, and pushed her in half until her feet dangled over his shoulders? moved whatever scrap of lace/cotton/silk she picked out that morning until he could palm the puffy slick folds of her pussy. there's a reason he keeps his detailer’s number in his favorites. ysilla fucking creams when he gets her going. she soaked his headliner once when he finger fucked her with his middle and ring, and spread her open with a pressing hand at the back of her thigh. tt was like he was unwrapping a present. plus, he had to present her nicely- otherwise the video wouldn’t be as good.

he hasn’t seen it in over seven months- it's buried somewhere in his snap memories. he won’t watch the shit he shot of her if they aren’t together.

but if he were to watch it, he would barely even have to jack off before he busted all over his chest.

#aemond is such a good uncle omg guys <33 #my poor ysilla can't do shit ever #aemond targaryen x oc #aemond targaryen smut #modern aemond #hotd #nonnie mail

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patheticbatman · 4 months ago

Text

Answeringmysister got this one!!!

My 54th Win a Commission story was an adaption of the Juniper Tree, also known as the Almond Tree, The Millstone, and now the Acacia Tree! It’s a dark, Grimm tale of abuse, transphobia, neglect intersexism, colorism, revenge and cannibalism - definitely an October tale! Read on … if you dare!

Once upon a time, in a town called Kintore by the rest of the world, but Waļungurru by its citizens, there lived a Pintupi woman and man named Amelia and Jack. They were happy in all ways except one, for they wished for a child.

Just as they were beginning to let go of that dream, Amelia found out she was pregnant. They were over the moon with happiness.

They were still happy when the child was born. They gave him the government name, ‘William’. But everyone called him Billi.

Billi was a little different than other boys. He was born with PAIS. That means he looked and sounded more like a girl. But nobody bothered him about it, and he was happy too.

But Billi‘s mother grew ill. The little family moved to Alice Springs for better medical care. Despite moving further away, Billi‘s father found a job as a trip advisor for Uluru, the sacred mountain of all the peoples who originally came from that part of Australia. This did not make much sense to Billi, as the Alice was further from the mountain, but he was happy as long as his mother healed.

The cancer went into remission, but his parents liked the increased pay and wanted to stay nearby, just in case the cancer came back. So they stayed, and Billi’s mother won the lottery. It was not the grand prize, but it was enough to buy a nice house for cash. They moved to a good neighborhood, where Billi could walk to his singing instructor’s house twice a week - for his voice was as clear as crystal - and Jack did not have to dive far to work, nor did Amelia to drive far to get to the hospital. In their new backyard, the little family planted an acacia seed from Kintore.

But Amelia did not stay in remission for long. A year later, the cancer came back, and Billi’s mother died. It was his sixth birthday.

He and his father mourned for quite some time, and grew distant. Sometimes Billi would wake up in the middle of the night, and Jack would only then be getting back.

One day, Billi’s father brought home a pregnant woman. “This is your new stepmother, Charlotte,” he said. “You will have a sister soon.”

Billi and his stepmother did not get along. But both loved his little sister, Kylie, and doted on her often. Billi loved to walk her to and from school, and would take her out for ice cream when he had enough pocket money. Which was not often, as Charlotte had convinced the father that Billi had to pay for his singing lessons himself when he turned 12. Thankfully, his testosterone was still covered.

Billi was a kind soul, and never let his frustrations over Charlotte affect how he treated his sister. The stepmother did not see that as a point in his favor. He considered the days where she shunned him to be better than the days she yelled, so he avoided her whenever possible.

He and Kylie would sit under the acacia tree when things were especially bad – for Charlotte did not hold her ire back from anyone, not even her own daughter.

When Billi turned eighteen, his stepmother wanted to throw him out. His father, who was the only one who owned the house, argued for once, saying that Billi would stay until he finished university and got a job. Grateful for his father standing up for him for once, Billi doubled down on his studies to become a doctor, and gave up singing.

But Charlotte was still angry. For a year she seethed, and Billi avoided her best he could. He did not know what she was thinking, but he did not want to find out.

The day after Kylie’s twelfth birthday, Kylie came out as non-binary, and said that their name was Sinai.

Jack was supportive, and Charlotte cooed over how the name Sinai was from the Bible. But when Sinai and their father went to bed, Charlotte grabbed Billi by the arm, digging her nails into his flesh.

“This is your fault,” she hissed. “You took my little girl away and turned her into some kind of freak!”

Billi shook her off his arm and gave her a dirty look. “I did jack,” he said. “Sinai is a sweetheart who knows themself. You better treat them right.” And he went off to bed.

But Charlotte was not done.

The next day, when Billi was running late to class, he tried getting in the house. The front door was locked. Billi did not have his keys.

He tried the back door. Also locked.

He tried the side door.

Charlotte was standing there, hand on the knob, and would not let him in. He begged and pleaded – he just needed his keys, but she would not let him in. So he clung to the other side of the handle, and pulled with all his might. It was his house too, after all.

With a smirk, Charlotte let go.

And Billi felt his head crack onto the cement steps.

Working quickly, she set up his corpse so that it would lean into the back door, and unlocked the front door. Then she started cooking, and when Sinai came in from school, asking them to get some vegetables from the side garden.

Being twelve and strong, when the side door did not immediately open, Sinai threw their whole body into pushing the door open.

They screamed when they saw their brother land at the foot of the steps, dead.

Charlotte acted surprised, and quickly guilt tripped her child. “I don’t want anyone to hurt you,” she said, with a devil dancing in her heart. “We can bury him, and say he ran away because he was offended about your gender. That way, your Dad will not be angry.”

Again, because they were twelve, tricked, and overwhelmed, Sinai agreed. And when their mother went back to calling them Kylie, they did not argue.

Unfortunately for Charlotte, nowhere in the yard had spots big enough to hide the entire body without having to cut through thick tree roots. The acacia tree had just spread too far. So she cut Billi up, and she and Sinai buried bits of him around the yard, in the few spots where the acacia tree roots had not reached.

When it was an hour away from dinner, and there was still a whole thigh to bury, Charlotte panicked. “Give it here,” and snatched the thigh from the shellshocked Sinai, cut off the meat, and handed the bloody, still pink bone to her child. “Bury that where you can.” She said. “I’ll go wash up and make dinner. When you’re done, wash up too.”

Try as they might, dirt caked under their nails and tear trucks cutting through the dust on their cheeks, Sinai could not find another spot. Eventually, they apologized to their brother and laid the bone in the cradle of the tree branches. “I love you. I’m sorry,” they sobbed, and ran back to the house.

That night, the family dined quietly on what appeared to be pork chops. The father mourned his son’s leaving. Sinai mourned what she had thought she had done. Being quiet was the only way Charlotte could keep from smirking and showing that she was not mourning at all.

“Dinner tastes good tonight. Fresh and tender.” The father patted Charlotte‘s hand.

“Thank you,” she smiled. “Someone I know was cutting down on her herd size. You know, getting rid of all the freeloaders and useless pigs.”

Sinai had to leave the table after that.

Three days later, as the sun came up, a red-tailed black cockatoo emerged from the cradle of branches where Billi’s bone laid.

The cockatoo flew around the Alice, until he spotted a man painting a landscape outside. He alighted upon a branch, and sang like a normal cockatoo. But once the man’s eyes landed upon him, the cockatoo began to sing in a human voice.

She died, oh my mother.

Barely passed just one year,

Father found a new dear,

And married that other.

Charlotte, my stepmother,

Had my sibling soon here.

And we lived in fear,

Wishing not to bother.

But Charlotte, she slayed me,

And blamed my sweet Sinai.

My father, he savoured me,

To him, they both did lie.

My sibling, they laid me,

On branches in the sky.

Then the he trilled, and in a much more normal cockatoo voice, said, “Oh what a pretty bird am I!”

The man pulled out his phone to video. “Oh, do that again, please!”

“I do not repeat my performance for free,” said the cockatoo.

The man pulled out a beautifully embroidered handkerchief. “It’s new!” He called. “Will this do?”

The cockatoo swooped down, grabbed the handkerchief, and repeated his song. Then he sat still, and let the man paint him.

A day later, the cockatoo flew to a builder site. Their radio had just crapped out, and the crew was complaining.

The cockatoo landed and sang,

She died, oh my mother.

Barely passed just one year,

Father found a new dear,

And married that other.

Charlotte, my stepmother,

Had my sibling soon here.

And we lived in fear,

Wishing not to bother.

But Charlotte, she slayed me,

And blamed my sweet Sinai.

My father, he savoured me,

To him, they both did lie.

My sibling, they laid me,

On branches in the sky.

Then the he trilled, and in a much more normal cockatoo voice, said, “Oh what a pretty bird am I!”

The builders pulled out their phones. “Sing again, why don’t you?” said one lady.

“I do not repeat my performance for free,” the cockatoo replied.

The lady took off a great pair of barely used and well-made work gloves. “How about these, you cheeky bugger?” She was smiling.

The cockatoo swooped down, took the gloves and sang once again.

“Charlotte?” The lady scratched her head. “I think I knew Charlotte, who married a widower. She has a kid of her own now. I wonder if -”

But the cockatoo landed on the radio, and it started playing, and so she stopped wondering.

A day later, he landed outside of a jeweler’s window, and sang,

She died, oh my mother.

Barely passed just one year,

Father found a new dear,

And married that other.

Charlotte, my stepmother,

Had my sibling soon here.

And we lived in fear,

Wishing not to bother.

But Charlotte, she slayed me,

And blamed my sweet Sinai.

My father, he savoured me,

To him, they both did lie.

My sibling, they laid me,

On branches in the sky.

Then the he trilled, and in a much more normal cockatoo voice, said, “Oh what a pretty bird am I!”

The jeweler pulled out xes phone. “Hey, mate,” xe cried, “sing for me again? I’d like to video you.”

The cockatoo replied, “I do not repeat my performance for free.”

The jeweler held out a beautiful opal ring. “How about this?”

The cockatoo swooped down, took the ring, and sang again. Then he sat still for many pictures, and the jeweler went on to make a new ring based on the bird.

At sunset, the cockatoo flew away to the acacia tree, where all his treasures laid next to the thigh bone.

That evening, the cockatoo flew out and saw his father and Sinai sitting in the garden. Sinai looked sick, and the father looked upset, but was trying to comfort his child. “Don’t worry Sinai. He probably just had a tiff with your mother. I’m sure he’ll be back soon. I doubt he’ll still deadname you.”

The cockatoo alighted on a branch within view. He sang,

She died, oh my mother.

Barely passed just one year,

Father found a new dear,

And married that other.

“Charlotte!” The father cried, “Come quick! That singing bird everyone’s been talking about is here!” He pulled out his phone.

Charlotte was in the bathroom, having been incontinent all week. She saw the scene in the reflection of the window in her sink mirror.

The cockatoo sang some more.

Charlotte, my stepmother,

Had my sibling soon here.

And we lived in fear,

Wishing not to bother.

The father stopped smiling.

Sinai started sniffling again.

The cockatoo went and grabbed the handkerchief.

But Charlotte, she slayed me,

And blamed my sweet Sinai.

The cockatoo dropped the handkerchief to the crying Sinai, and turned back to the tree, singing,

My father, he savoured me,

To him, they both did lie.

He dropped the work gloves to his father, whose mouth was agape in horror.

Once again, the cockatoo flew back into the tree. He came out and sang,

My sibling, they laid me,

On branches in the sky.

Charlotte, who had only heard the last bit as she came outside, but had heard about the gifts, and saw what had already been given, knew what was left. “Well, all right, then,” she called, irritable. She held a hand out and opened her mouth wide to the sky to say, “Give it h-“

The cockatoo dropped the ring down her throat.

Charlotte grabbed her throat and started stumbling. Her back hit the acacia tree.

It began burning.

The ground shook.

Bones and flesh came trembling out of the ground, and rolled to the tree, which had closed around the choking, murderous woman.

The father and child shrieked.

The cockatoo flew into the blaze.

And Billi, clad in a cloak of feathers of black, gold and red, with the ring as a clasp at his throat, walked out. “So here it ends, and here am I.”

The little family fell to the ground and held each other.

Art Explanation

This story is based on the European fairy tale, ‘The Juniper Tree’, or occasionally, ‘The Almond Tree’. I moved it to be set in the Northern Territory (NT) of modern Australia because I really wanted to draw this one guy whom I found a picture on the internet. Titled, ‘Face of an Aboriginal Man, Alice Springs Area’* c. 1970s by the photographer Alan Scott. I thought the focus of the piece had a neat face, so I reconstructed the story so I could draw him as Billi.

* Note: The indigenous people of the continent we now call Australia are generally grouped together under the demonym (people name) ‘Aboriginal Australian people’. While some sources, such as the photo serving as Billi’s inspiration, refer to this group of people as ‘Aboriginals’ or ‘Aborigines’, it is now considered an inaccurate and disrespectful practice. If you must refer to these people, say ‘Aboriginal Australian people/person/children etc’. However, the best choice is to either include more specific demonyms, such as the specific people they come from, like Pintupi or Noongar, or to not bring it up at all. Too often, nonwhite people are seen as their heritage, and not as individuals. While the two are often inextricable, the imbalance is real, and an outsider should be wary and considerate.

It took me a lot of research, but eventually I changed the details of the story to fit in NT. The cannibalism is from the original, for the record. Juniper trees are not meant for high heat areas - while they can stand little rainfall, they are more fit for cold or windy areas. And as domesticated nut-bearing trees, Almonds would not do well without a lot of access to water. So the tree was changed to an acacia! They are endemic to the area, and grow fast, perfect for the timeline within the story. As for the bird type, in most versions, Billi’s character is transformed into a songbird. But while researching birds endemic to the area stretching from Waļungurru (Kintore) to Alice Springs, I came across the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo. They are not songbirds, though some can speak human languages, but I liked that they were larger birds. In the original tale, a little songbird carries a (probably heavy, considering materials back then) pair of red shoes, a bag of gold and a millstone all by himself. Sure, it is a fairy tale, but that always bugged me. As such, Billi in bird form gets cockatoo appropriate gifts.

My favorite part about changing his bird form was that the (female and some intersex) red-tailed black cockatoos have the same color feathers as the Aboriginal Australian flag! If you consider the goldish spotting on the feathers and the yellow sun on the flag as similar enough, which I do. I love flags.

I expanded the introduction of the story. It probably was not necessary - it hit the standard ‘a couple wants a kid, the mother dies, evil stepmom arrives on the scene’ but I wanted to make it assuredly modern, and explain why all the characters are there and do what they do. Waļungurru is a community located in southwest NT largely comprised of Pintupi people. It is located near Uluru*, a spectacularly cool solitary mountain sacred to many of the Aboriginal Australian peoples in the area. It is also a huge tourist destination, and a lot of the local people depend on it for jobs, even if they live hundreds of kilometers away. The high amounts of visitors, litter and waste did erode Uluru away somewhat over the last century, but thankfully control of the mountain has returned to the control of the local Aboriginal Australian peoples, who have regulated visitors in a much better fashion. Regardless, many Uluru tourists pass through Alice Springs, nicknamed ‘The Alice’, before reaching the mountain. It has the closest large(ish) airport and accommodations, so many take the train from Alice Springs to the station near Uluru. As an ‘immigrant’ from Waļungurru, who did not have to move there as a young man for job opportunities (they have a mining industry), it made sense to me that Jack could get a job as a trip advisor.

The mom, Amelia, wins the lottery because I needed someone to elevate the family to an economic status that would be desirable to golddiggers. I did consider switching the genders of the dad and mom, so Jack would be the one who died, but I wanted to create a situation where the stepparent could use the pregnancy as an excuse to get into Billi’s house. While such a phenomenon is possible for a mom and stepdad combination, it is more rare, and I already had a set idea in my mind. I did not necessarily like using Amelia as a prop for the dad’s emotional stagnation and mistakes, but there is a reason why it is such a common trope - it is realistic. I am not saying a single father cannot be attentive and compassionate, nor am I saying a woman cannot be emotionally distant and neglectful. But in our society, ‘single’ fathers (regardless if they remarry) are given a lot more grace and time regarding their emotional responsibilities to get over the deaths of their wives than single mothers are given for the deaths of their husbands. I gave her the name Amelia because I think it is a beautiful name. Like many dead mothers in fairy tales, she protects her child when she passes through her tree. In this story, she also gets to kill her child’s murderer :).

All that to say, the dad, Jack, was not perfect. This is not said in the story, but he sought out a woman who was the exact opposite to his first wife. This woman happened to be a golddigger who saw his emotional vulnerability, paid-off house and decent salary as a good reason to baby-trap him. He then introduced this hostile woman to his son’s life, he allowed her to terrorize both of his children, and her entitlement eventually killed Billi. It takes purposeful ignorance and passivity to let such things happen. While Jack was definitely not trying to be terrible, and often did what he thought was best, I firmly believe that counts as emotional neglect. Like so many fairy tale fathers, he let his children down, even if he made sure they were fed and housed. If I was married to a person who wanted to kick my child out because it turned 18, I would kick my spouse out before my child. That’s why Billi gets his father a pair of work gloves - that man has a lot of work to do. I gave him a cool denim and wool jacket and a receding hairline just because I thought they made for a nice combination. He is named Jack because it is popular in Australia and I like it. Yes I know it is also the name of Nanny’s father - that fact was unrelated to my decision.

Charlotte, the stepmother, is a racist white lady with a common Australian white lady name. I wanted to make sure it was clear she was not cool or special. Like many parents who are of the dominant ethnic group of their area and have children who are mixed, she was attracted to people who look different from her but discomfited that her child did not visually align with the dominant culture’s beauty values. Charlotte is skinny, dressed well, wears contacts, and wears her hair and nails in such a way to indicate she does not expect to do much work. While some mixed race white and Aboriginal Australian people do have naturally straight hair, Sinai does not. The only reason her hair is straight in the story is because Charlotte makes them straighten it regularly - a practice that often permanently damages very curly hair, sometimes causing hair loss. She is not a good mother. Sinai wears unflattering clothes in the story because Charlotte only buys her those kinds of clothes - she does not feel like finding nice things for her fat child, especially when Sinai displeases her by coming out as non-binary.

And she is far, far away from being a good stepmother to Billi. She definitely believes in out-dated gender social norms and is not a queer or intersex ally. I think she would definitely be hateful towards the child that reminds her that there was another woman in the house before her. While many stepmothers are lovely people (like Nanny!), I wanted to make Charlotte especially nasty and bitter. She believed herself more entitled to her spot as queen of the house than Billi was to his life.

Charlotte receives a ring because that’s all she really wanted - a wealthy marriage. And it kills her in the end.

Billi’s sibling Sinai was inspired by a post I saw about how non-binary people and intersex people are often compared, but are different. Non-binary people are people whose gender - internal perception of their personal traits in line with socio-cultural values and roles - is not female or male. This could mean that they feel like a mix between the two, or something outside of that binary entirely. Intersex people are people whose genitalia or hormones do not align with standard levels, shapes or sizes of their sex, sex meaning whether or not one has two X chromosomes or on X and one Y. Some intersex people may even have more than two sex chromosomes! But regardless, the two concepts are not the same. Many intersex people’s genders align with the binary genders. While some do consider themselves non-binary, that group is by no means the entirety of the intersex population. If one is not intersex, one is perisex.

But seeing as Charlotte, Sinai’s mom, probably would not care, she ends up blaming Billi and his PAIS for Sinai’s gender. When in reality, the two are entirely unrelated, and only Charlotte is responsible for her murderous actions. Visually, Sinai is based on four ideas. One, the pictures of mixed race white and Aboriginal Australian children I saw while reading online about Australian youth culture and how that interacts with racial identity. Two, a friend who wishes there were more representation of fat and nonwhite non-binary people. Three, their headband is meant to look like the Aboriginal Australian flag. And four, a post I came across pointing out that despite over sixty percent of the world’s population needing eye correction by adulthood, and how over fifty percent of people wear contacts and glasses (when they can access such medical care), yet most visual media does not depict an accurate amount of characters with glasses. Sinai also has a front tooth gap because I think it is cute.

Sinai is the name of a desert mountain in the Bible, a sort of homage to both of her parents, which seems like something a twelve year old would consider when picking out a name in the hopes that their parents would support their social transition. Their deadname is a reference to an Aboriginal Australian character named Kylie from a great book series, ‘Curse Words’ by Derin Edala.

Sinai gets a handkerchief from Billi because they are a victim too. While they were complicit in the murder, they were also twelve, and he understands that. It is very hard to stand up to someone you love when you are that age.

Onto Billi! Before I even decided to make Sinai non-binary, I knew I wanted Billi to be intersex. The Acacia Tree is the last drawn (but not posted, I have two more to go!) of my planned 56 stories for the coloring book project. I started in August 2017 - I wish I knew the day but I do not - which means as of writing this it has been nearly exactly seven years. Jesus Christ. I am excited to be done. But regardless, I have created many cisgender (people whose gender matches with the sex assigned at birth), transgender (people whose gender does not match with the sex assigned at birth - this includes non-binary people) main characters. I have created men, non-binary and women characters. But all of them have been perisex! Which is crazy, when considering the numbers, because nearly 1 in 50 people are noticeably intersex when born, and many discover their hormonal differences later in life. As such, I wanted to include at least one character who was canonically intersex. If you choose to headcanon more as intersex, go right ahead! But I did not consider it when creating the other characters.

PAIS stands for Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. Passed via the X chromosome, it does not usually noticeably affect people who have two X chromosomes. But for those with at least one Y Chromosome, it means the development of typically-male genitalia is stunted, and secondary sex characteristics at puberty, such as body hair growth and Adam’s apples, is often slowed, stagnant at certain points or does not occur at all. As Billi is a cisgender intersex man, he chose to take testosterone to counteract his PAIS, so he could feel gender euphoria and combat any dysmorphia (discomfort in one’s body and image). PAIS is found in roughly one person in 99,000 people, so it is not the most common condition, but it works!

Billi is named such because I like the name, and once again, it is common in Australia. I doubt Grandad will read this, so I am sticking with it. I spelled Billi with an ‘i’ at the end in the feminine fashion, as opposed to the apparently more masculine ‘y’, because while Billi the character is a man, I like to think that is how he pays homage to being intersex. In his first picture while human*, he wears his hair loose, an open poet’s shirt and arguably bell bottom pants with boots. In terms of hair, I did consider giving him a hat just like that of his inspiration. But he was supposed to be going to class. No one except posers wear cowboy hats to class, in my experience. As for his fashion, I dressed him up in clothes I like on men. No other consideration was made. I decided to enjoy myself and draw who I liked. And I did!

* I made sure to draw and write him as a human more than as bird, because many Characters of Color spend more screen time in a disciplinary transformed state, which sucks. People of Color do not get a proportionate amount of representation and roles anyway, and I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. I just really like themes of transformation, magical or not.

His cloak of feathers in the last picture was just supposed to be cool. I like it when people are transformed back to human and get a souvenir to keep. Perhaps … he could even turn back if he so wished. I know I would miss flying.

Regarding Billi’s resurrection: many fairy tales feature magic trees from dead mothers. Before Cinderella had a fairy, she had a tree. And so on. So after three days (a slight reference to the Bible) Billi is resurrected, cradled in the ‘arms’ of his ‘mother’. It would have been a lot harder for Amelia to help her son if Sinai had not placed his bone in the tree. Then Amelia’s tree was able to catch on fire and fully reform her son.

Last thing before I finally talk about the art: Billi’s song. I wrote it in Petrarchan sonnet form. The original song is shorter but I like sonnets.

I originally drew the title picture for ‘The Juniper Tree’, way back in 2023, when I finally let go of adapting Thumbelina. As a callback to my original title style, I made it cursive, with a related element (in this case, a tree) connected to the words. I had to redraw it when I realized that a juniper would not work, and switched it to an acacia. I did trace my ‘The’ off my phone and onto paper though - I liked it and felt it would still work. It took me several tries to write acacia to my satisfaction. Tree was surprisingly hard too. I finished the title earlier this month, shortly after seeing the EXCELLENT Deadpool & Wolverine movie for the third time (as of right now I have seen it four times, I would not be opposed to seeing it a fifth). (Edit from later: I saw it a fifth time dressed as Deadpool, with my friend dressed as Wolverine!)

The second picture, both textually and chronologically, is either my favorite or my second favorite, I cannot decide. I tried to draw that scene earlier this summer, but could not get the angles right. I am very thankful that I felt confident about this one this time. And like I said before, I enjoyed drawing that outfit on Billi.

The third illustration was the fourth I drew. I was not very inspired for this one, and I feel like my acacia tree does not lean dramatically enough. Either way, I am glad it is done. I drew the tree, liked the sketch version well enough, and realized I would get irritated trying to erase just enough to fit a cockatoo, and not enough to ruin the piece. So I drew the cockatoo and the handkerchief on a separate piece of paper, cut them out, and pasted them together. I think you can sort of tell that they were not drawn on the same paper, but I like the effect. The initials on the handkerchief are DSC - short for Deathsmallcaps, a reference to the font which Terry Pratchett writes the dialogue of his character, Death, and my tumblr handle. Though, if you ever want to see a more condensed blog of my art, you should probably go to Patheticbatman on Tumblr. It does not have everything, because I cannot find every one of my art posts on tumblr, unfortunately, but all my recent works get posted there first.

The fourth picture was the third I drew. I had fun trying to figure out the angles for that bathroom - I hope I got them right! It is also a reference to how the stepmother in my adaption of Snow White was introduced - she was looking into a mirror. So one begins, and another ends. This is the last we see of Charlotte - unless you count the blaze behind the family in the next picture as Charlotte, lol.

And yeah! The fifth and very last illustration is my other favorite! I think everyone’s faces came out great, the hands were grasping (hard and something I often avoid) cloth in a convincing fashion, and the hug felt genuine. I have Jack kissing Billi’s cheek because fathers should show affection to their sons. Everybody is crying - I hate drawing tears in my style but I have yet to do anything about it lol. Billi is looking down at Sinai in love, to tell her that there is nothing to forgive, and they are looking up at him in awe and absolution and sheer happiness. I am not saying Sinai will not feel complicated about their mother’s death, but I think they much rather have their brother around. Billi is holding both his father and sibling tight because they make him feel secure - you know for darn sure he will never let himself or them be taken away again.

Anyways, this explanation ended up being about 50% longer than the actual story, so I will be done now. Hope you enjoyed!

I forgot the dad’s glasses whoops

#win a commission #wac #the acacia tree #the juniper tree #the almond tree #intersex character #cannibalism #abuse #murder #revenge #red-tailed black cockatoo #Alice springs #Pintupi character #I guess characters

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rainyyy-dayysss · 17 days ago

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1, 3, 15 & 25 for the ask game!

1. It depends on how I am feeling at that moment, but most of the times a romantic song can lift my mood ( my current favs are: real man ,from the start , paper ring ,summer times ,army dreamers ,alice....)

3. Writing. For me writing is like presenting my pov. I write about the things I will never say it's calming its kinda like a therapy for me

15. Ice cream is my all time favorite

25. I think describing my soul by one color will be injustice. I think it will be multicolored.

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minhosimthings · 1 year ago

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Hold Me Without Hurting Me

Chapter 1: Crocuses and Kindred Meetings

A/N: In which an old friend fills your life with flowers again, along a bumpy sided road.

Pairings: Ceo!Jay × Ceo!fem!reader, includes rest of Enhypen and certain other groups

Warnings: angst-fluff, hurt/comfort, friends to enemies to fake dating to enemies to lovers, Mentions of food and alcohol, swearing, nothing much but it's a bumpy story.

Story prompt: If I had a flower for every time I fell in love with you, I would walk in my garden forever. (This story is based on the language of flowers.)

A/N: whadup y'all it's yo girl Mona back in town with a new fic because all her drabbles have been ignored. So I'll most likely update the fic whenever I finish the next chapters so there won't be a specific time as to when I'll update. Also I got inspiration for this from The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, so please excuse the many flower references.

SERIES MASTERLIST

They say that when you meet your soulmate, you don't really know how to love them. The mysterious people who said this were also (not) surprisingly the same people who said that when atoms split to form the universe, they found home in different people. And now these people are soulmates because the atoms connect and blah blah blah all that fairy nonsense. But it is a nice thought which pops up in your brain whenever you see your best friend of 17 years run his hands through his hair and play yet another one of your favourite songs on his blue guitar, which you gifted him two years ago.

Park Jay was, in a word, the epitome of perfection. Well atleast to you he was. Beautiful curls of hair, the universe stuck in his eyes and all of Icarus's melted wings in his smile.

Jay Park had been your best friend ever since you were seven, since that unfortunate incident when you had stepped on his sandcastle at the beach. In return, he stomped on your sandcastle too, making you angry and storming off to your mother. However, luck was against you and you found out that he was your new neighbour. The friendship blossomed when he walked up to you shyly and handed you a painted rock and played you a song on his untuned guitar. It was sweet and you were kids, bonding with you over music, plays, books, flowers and the giant walnut tree in the park near your houses. Now as you sat against the walnut tree along with Jay and his guitar, you couldn't help but reminisce about those times of the past. Lost memories of helping each other get ready for prom, crying on each other's shoulders when your dates dumped you, and going out for pizza and ice cream, which ended up with collapsing on his bed together, with bloated stomachs, and filled souls.

"Jay that was beautiful." You clapped your hands together In excitement as Jay finished playing the song on the guitar.

"Teach me please! I wanna learn too!" Jay chuckled at your excitement and ruffled your hair, making you pout and slap his hand.

"Yah you messed up the hair I've worked on for an hour! Asshole." You grumbled as he wrapped his arms around you and tickled you, making you laugh out, scaring the birds sitting on the walnut tree nearby.

"Be honest-" Jay smirked at you. "You did that pretty hair all good for me, right? And you even put a gardenia in it!" You scoffed at his words and flicked a leaf at him, making his dramatically gasp.

"I did it for myself, you idiot. Why would I do it for you?"

"Alright Miss Girlboss." Jay held up his hands in defeat, still staring at the gardenia in your hair. "Just don't whine when I don't take you out for your toothpaste icecream." The rest of the evening was drowned out by you chasing Jay around the park, threatening to smear mint choco ice cream on his precious guitars.

"Y/N." Jay snapped his fingers in front of your face. "Are you listening, you dumbass?" It was a cold evening that day, but as you sat there on the grass, with Jay in short sleeved t shirts and the baggiest pants, you didn't feel the cold outside, instead choosing to feel the cold within. A bouquet lay by your side, forget-me-nots, clematis' and geraniums, all wrapped up with a pick ribbon.

Promises were always the sweetest lies. People promise to live for you, and yet they let go, choosing to live beneath mud instead. And yet there's something about certain promises that make you want to stay. That make you want to love, live and cherish.

That's what Jay was. A sweet lie, a kind promise. Promising you that he would stay with for, for you, by you. And yet promises were apparently made to break, and as you watched him about to leave town, your heart broke in two, just like his promise. You knew this was bad, bad like you shouldn't feel like this for your best friend, who had gotten an opportunity abroad. You should have felt happy, elated even, that he had gotten into his dream University. But you didn't and you felt horrible.

"I'll miss you, but don't expect me to get accepted into the same college and come running to you like Harry and Sally." Jay stuck out his tongue at your words and ruffled his hair again. He had had that habit, you assumed since his birth. You often took note of the way whenever he walked into a room, the first thing he would do is run his hands through his fluffy hair.

"What, you idiot? Im trying to spot some butterflies." You grumbled as Jay chuckled and leant back against the walnut tree. The smell of honeycomb and beeswax hung in the air.

"You sure you won't miss me much?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. You really didn't have to think much about the answer for his question. Yes, of course yes you would miss the boy you've been smitten by for seventeen years. Yet, you knew that if you told him that answer, it would only make the heartbreak more painful. And you, of course, never really preferred pain.

8 Years Later

"You don't have to get accepted into the same University. Plus-" Jay bit his cheek. "You don't have the brains anyway."

"Park Joengsoeng!" You slapped his arm and pounced on him, tickling his stomach, making him burst into laughter and shout out 'sorry' over and over again, as both of you flopped back on the grass, not knowing what the days forward might bring. "Promise you'll still write me in our language?" You asked Jay holding out your pinky, which he intertwined with his. "I promise. And it's as big of a promise as Irises are." You sobered in the warmth of the grass, with the boy next to you, simply savouring his existence as the universe moved just like it always did.

"Miss Yang." Your assistant, Ji-ah tapped on your door. "Come in Ji-ah." You responded, not looking up from your papers. Your hands were all tangled in your hair, and the tip of your pencil, which lay on the clean porcelain table, was all chewed at the end. The atmosphere of your office held a heavy cloud. Perhaps it was the grey wall paint, and the paintings which hung on the wall, but it all felt heavy and downright bad.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Ma'am." Ji-ah bowed low to you, slightly adjusting her pressed maroon pencil skirt as she did that. "It's no issue Ji-ah. What is it?" You waved your hand nonchalantly and motioned for her to sit down in front of you. Ji-ah slightly gulped and sat down, pressing a folder infront of you.

"I checked your schedule and contacted all the people you've asked me to." Ji-ah said, her tone almost robotic. Her voice rang clear, however, even through the pitter-patter of the rain pouring outside. "And well-" Ji-ah paused and fiddled with her fingers. "I couldn't arrange a day for you to meet Mr Lee privately. You would have to meet him on the day of the joint session." You sighed heavily, as you noticed, for perhaps the first time, how suffocating the room actually was. Even the lilacs growing in the corner seemed to be sad.

"Are you sure I have to talk to that man, in a room full of men, who will keep staring at my hips instead of listening to me?" Ji-ah gave you a sympathetic smile, as you gave her the papers you had been working on, instructions her about what to do with them.

"Ma'am, if I may-"Ji-ah voiced. "All the men in that room, which you'll be stuck in for a hour or so, they're all below you. So if they do stare at your hips, why don't you just bring it up? Embarrass them? You have always taught me that humiliation is the key to breaking chauvinist pigs." You chuckled at Ji-ah's words, your chest swelling with pride as you listened to her words.

"Will do Ji-ah." You affirmed. "Oh and by the way, I've approved your leave for the month but have you found a replacement yet?" Ji-ah promptly nodded and clacked her heels together as she made to go out the door.

"He'll be here tomorrow Ma'am. I found the best, only for you."

"Thank you Ji-ah. Enjoy your stay at your grandma's. Bring me back something!"

•••••••••

"Ugh." You collapsed onto your bed as your alarm dinged with a notification. 'Dinner time', it read on the dimply illuminated screen. "No I don't want to have dinner." You glared at your phone, as if talking to a human. Your white ragdoll cat, Perry, jumped onto the bed next to you, and sat nonchalantly, licking his paw.

"Perry, I'm tired and I want to die." Perry purred lowly, and looked straight ahead at you with a blank stare, as if questioning why you were telling a cat about your emotions. "Oh well, might as well get you your food, Perry. You're hungry aren't you my baby? My scrumpious wittle-" you tried to pick up Perry, all the while baby-talking him, but unfortunately that went down the drain. Perry ran off from your bed and jumped onto your bed table, accidentally knocking off some pictures.

"Perry!" You grumbled. "You stupid cat." You mumbled the last part under your breath, as you made to pick the pictures up. There were four of them sitting peacefully in flower frames. They lit up the dire condition of your bedroom, painted in dark blues and blacks, illuminated with yellow lamps.

You picked up the flower lamps slowly but surely, only pausing once to stare at one of them, fit in the most beautiful frame which was embroidered with pink camellias. Against a clear sky and yarrow bushes, stood two teenagers, wearing shirts with cringy mottos on them, with converse in red and blue. You smiled softly at the picture. 17th birthday party for Jay, and right before the moment when you both secretly drank underage. It captured the beautiful moments you spent with each other, before he left your soul broken into pieces, making sure that zinnias grow in the cracks.

•••••••••

"Good morning Miss Yang." A short man with brown hair and cat eyes came up to you as you entered your office building. He was dressed in a clean pressed white shirt and black trousers, making him look like a waiter.

"Oh are you the new assistant? Jungwon?" The man promptly nodded and handed you a file.

"Miss Ji-ah a-appointed me two days ago, Ma'am. Um, this is my r-resume." You found the man adorable. He looked a bit like Perry, whom you assumed was probably sleeping in your cat sitter's bed.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Jungwon. And you didn't really need to wear office wear today." You gestured towards his bowtie. "You're coming with me on the trip aren't you?"

"Ah well-" Jungwon turned red, "I-I wanted to make a good first impression." You smiled gently at him, making the red in his face disappear a bit, and putting him at ease, all ready to go off to the land of freedom and eagles.

•••••••••••••

"Miss Yang." A stout man dressed in black overalls and possibly the most non-wrinkliest shirt you've ever seen bowed to you, gesturing to his two assistants to take your and Jungwon's suitcases and bags, to which Jungwon clutched his purple backpack tighter to his chest. "It is an honour to have you staying in our hotel Ma'am. Might I be the first to welcome you to Seattle?" The man bowed again. He reminded you of a snake, with a heavy receding hairline and slimy hands. Even the way he spoke reminded you of snake hisses

. "Thank you." You said, bowing a bit. "I suppose my suite is ready? And one for my assistant too?" The man shot a look at Jungwon and then back at you, bowing again.

"Of course Ma'am. The two best suites in the hotel. I would also like to tell you that some of the- ahem- people you are meeting are also staying here, so we would please like to ask you to not bring up any confrontations with them." You merely smiled at the man, as you heard Jungwon giggle silently behind you.

"Well of course, my good man." You kept your face cool and calm. "Perhaps you should also tell them not to undermine and ridicule me, like pathetic wet socks, just because they feel- what's the word? Oh yes-" You grinned up the man, "-they feel bitched on by a slut who fucked her way up to the top." The man's jaw dropped as you glided away, heels clacking on the floor, with Jungwon following behind you, a grin imprinted on his face.

"Ma'am, you really didn't have to book me a suite too. I could have just-"

"Jungwon, I assure you. It wasn't a problem. Plus-" you smiled gently at him, "I always treat my assistants well." The sheepish smile broke out on Jungwon's face again as he thanked you and rushed to keep the important files on the oak table.

"That was amazing by the way. What you said to that man." He complemented you, which you took gratefully. You took a moment to admire the beauty of the suite. The reviews on the hotel's website were right. This really was the best hotel in Seattle. The room was decorated with flowers everywhere of every kind. A vase which caught your eye, was filled with carnations of every colour. It was always interesting to you how the colours of the carnations matched up to make a beautifully sorrowful story. Red carnations for deep heartache, pink ones for a long-lasting memory, white carnations for sweet love and yellow striped ones for refusal of love. It was amazing to you how a single flower can exhibit so many emotions.

"Ma'am, can we perhaps take those flowers out of the room?" Jungwon interrupted your line of thought, pointing towards tiny violet flowers, with yellow pistils, "I'm allergic to them."

"You're allergic to crocuses?", You pointed at the flowers, "We can call the front desk to talk them out alright?" Jungwon nodded and continued with his work, not noticing you staring at the crocuses. "You know, they represent youth and cheerfulness? It's an interesting flower, the spring crocus."

Jungwon snapped his head to look at you, his eyes rapidly blinking. "Do you have an interest for the language of flowers Ma'am?" He asked you casually, while sniffing a magnolia sitting in a brown vase.

"I used to study them when I was fifteen. Along with my best friend." You answered gently caressing the magnolias, feeling their soft petals brush against your skin, while Jungwon sneezed, probably because of the crocuses. "fuck-" you swore under your breath, "Jungwon, go to your bedroom, I'll get the staff to take out the crocuses."

"A-ACHOO- alright- Ma'am." He cleared his throat, scratched his nose and quickly disappeared into the bedroom, still sneezing while you took all the crocuses in the suite and went down to the reception area, still in the clothes that you came in with. An olive green shirt dress with your everyday heels. All the way to the reception area, you were slightly distracted by a scent which was wafting into your nose. The scent of your favourite perfume. Infact it was the scent of your perfume, the one you wore everyday and the one you weren't wearing right now. Of course gifts from Italy need to be treasured right? And gifts from lost best friends need to be kept in a locked safe. You had gotten the perfume with you, but it was currently sitting safe in bubble wrap in the depths of your suitcase. So what was the scent that was trapping you in?

•••••••••••

"Oh I'm so sorry." Lost in your thoughts, you accidentally bumped into someone's shoulders causing them to drop the flowers they were carrying. "Oh that's all right." A familiar voice rang in your ear.

"Wait-", you gasped, "Kim Sunoo is that you?" The blonde boy looked up at you and gave you the widest smile ever.

"Y/N oh my god!" The dropped flowers on the ground were forgotten as both of you hugged each other tightly making sure not to let go until the other does. "wow-" Sunoo exclaimed, "we haven't seen each other since-" "since Yeji's party in our final year?" Sunoo laughed and nodded, picking up the flowers he was carrying in the process. "So what brings you to my amazing hotel?" Sunoo grinned.

"This is your hotel? So you actually achieved your dreams huh?" You giggled at him, winking. "Did you get your bet money from Niki?" Sunoo rolled his eyes and scoffed at your question. "The kid won't give me anything except for Sunday ice cream. Anyways-" he looked at you as you walked up to the front desk, "what brings you here?"

"Well what brings me to the front desk is that I would like the crocuses in my suite to be removed." You told the lady at the front desk, who promptly bowed and stalked away, probably to get the rest of the crocuses out of the room. "What brings me to Seattle-" you turned to Sunoo, who leaned forward excitedly, "-is a meeting with all the top Ceo's of America. I assume you'd already know about it, since it's gonna be sponsored by your hotel?" Sunoo's eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he clapped his hands excitedly.

"So you're the Miss Yang who was registered for the meeting without her first name!" Sunoo rolled his eyes, "Girl, why are you still chasing your mysterious girl fantasies of freshman year?" "Says the person who still has his dumb emo haircut of sophomore year." "Yah!"

•••••••••••••

"Miss Yang, this way." The man guided you towards a meeting hall. "You look very pretty Ma'am." Jungwon trodded shyly behind you. "You look handsome in that jacket too, Jungwon. I bet all the girls here will be swooning for you once I take you to the bar after the meeting." You said, making Jungwon turn a deep shade of red. You took a pause before entering the meeting room and adjusted your knee length plum pencil skirt and slightly rolled up the sleeves of your beige shirt.

"Jungwon? You good now?" You silently peeked your head around the bedroom door, to see Jungwon sitting on his bed and sorting through files. You giggled silently, seeing his face so concentrated on the files. Ji-ah was right. He really was a great assistant. The thought of making him your second assistant would have always escaped your mind if not for-

"Ma'am would you like to read the list of people who you will be meeting today?" He'd even looked up the people at the meeting. How sweet, you thought. Hollyhock, you thought, would be the flower to suit him. "Could you read them out to me Jungwon?" You said, as you collapsed onto the bed, noticing only now how tired you were. "Yes ma'am." Jungwon promptly said, pushing up his glasses.

"I'll read out the ones of importance. You shall be meeting Mr Lee Heeseung, Mr Choi Minho, Mr Park Sunghoon, Mr Jay Park, Mr Hwan-"

"What did you just say?" You sat up quickly in bed, scaring the shit out of Jungwon.

"I-uh. Um Mr Hwang Hyunjin will be meeting you?" You shook your head frantically and quickly took the paper from him, scanning your eyes through it. There it was. Your ears hadn't misheard. Jjoengsoeng 'Jay' Park, written right on top.

"Oh my god." You breathed out, making Jungwon leaned forward to take a peek at the paper. "Ma'am are you alright?" You looked up at Jungwon's concerned face, trying to hold in your tears.

"I am perfectly fine. Just-" you put the paper down, "-kind of shocked." "I assume you do not want to talk about it?" Jungwon's voice provided you a slither of comfort. You nodded slowly and scampered off to your room, saying hurried goodbyes to Jungwon and telling him to get ready by seven thirty. As you passed the carnations in the living room, you couldn't help but feel a pit in your stomach, sinking in like a whirlpool, making you feel like the entire world was about to collapse, if you met the person who used to be your everything, this evening.

••••••••••••

"Ah Miss Yang. It's a pleasure to see you again." A tall black haired man came up to you and shook your hand as you entered the room. He was certainly handsome with sharp features and the prettiest hair you've ever seen.

"Mr Sunghoon." You bowed to him, to which he chuckled. "Should we drop the antics now? How you doing Y/N?" The man engulfed you in a hug, which you reciprocated, breathing in his smell of oak wood cologne. "I'm good Hoonie. What about you? How's Yeji?" Sunghoon smiled at you and led you over to your chair, which was next to his. "She's good. Pregnant actually. Spending some time with her mum so I could come to this stupid meeting." He flicked some dust from the table away as he picked up a bouquet from underneath the seat and handed it to you.

"For you m'lady." "Camellias Sunghoon really?" You raised an eyebrow at him. "Why do you still know the meaning of white camellias? I told you that five years ago in junior year."

"Miss Yang, it's good to see you." Lee Heeseung kissed your hand gently and bowed to you. You had always admired him, wanting to collaborate with him and this meeting was the perfect chance for you to talk to him. So what if you didn't have a chance to speak to him in private? Hell, you would have asked him to do buisness with you, right infront of every man in the room.

"Cause you told me it means a heartless person, and I really want to put up my act of an ice cold prince so that's why I got it for you." You tried to hold in your laughter as you looked at him fixing his hair. You didn't have the heart to tell him that white camellias actually meant adorableness, so you let him keep his ego. You willed away the time as the other people started coming into the room. You would be lying if you said that you didn't feel a little intimidated. The men weren't scary or anything, but so many of them in one room? A girl's gotta feel a bit scared doesn't she?

You threw glances to Jungwon from time to time, who seemed to be getting along well with the other assistants, which was good, considering that most of them were young women his age.

"Is Mr Park late yet again?" A handsome long haired man, with pretty pink lips and porcelain skin said, checking his watch. "Well shall we start without him then Mr Hwang? You know what he would do even if an ounce of disrespect reached him." A plum haired man, with a sharp carved nose said, glaring at the man called Mr Hwang.

"Who are they talking about?" You whispered in Sunghoon's ears. "Jay Park." Sunghoon whispered back, fiddling with his tie. "He's basically the unofficial mayor of Seattle. The most powerful buisness man in America." The pit in your stomach kept increasing as you wondered if the Jay Park they were talking about was the boy you knew for seventeen years of your life, the boy who would talk to you about the meaning of flowers while eating mint-chocolate ice cream.

You would have dwelled on that thought for a bit longer if the door didn't suddenly crack open as everyone fell silent. The sound of footsteps rang in your ear as a slightly built man, with hair as dark as outer space and eyes the colour of black coffee, entered the room. Your heart skipped a beat or two as you laid your eyes on the man. Your eyes couldn't believe it. A face from your past, eyes you had been hypnotized by and a voice you could recognise even in the dark. Jay Park stood in front of you, staring at all the people in the room, while your eyes bored into his.

"Good evening everyone. I am sorry for the delay. I merely got caught up picking out an appropriate suit for the evening." You could have laughed out right there and then. And you did.

"Anything funny, Miss Yang?" Jay's eyes turned to you. You could feel Sunghoon tensing up next to you as you stared straight into Jay's eyes. The audacity, you thought, for him to call you Miss Yang.

"I just didn't think that picking a neon suit straight from the 70's would take you a long time, Mr Park" you smiled sarcastically at him.

"How dare you insult Mr Park!" Mr Hwang spoke, glaring at you, to which Jay held up a hand, so as to stop a war from breaking out. He took a few steps forward and turned his chair, sitting onto it, with the grace of a swan.

"You need not defend me, Mr Hwang. After all Miss Yang is an old friend isn't she? She's allowed to make fun of me."

What. The . Fuck.

Those three words swirled again and again in your mind as you looked at Jay, all suave and calm, sitting in his chair, talking to you as if he hadn't abandoned you and didn't talk to you for eight god forbiddened years.

"Shall we start then Mr Park?" Heeseung spoke up, gesturing for his assistant to give him some papers and files.

'"Of course." Jay merely responded, staring at the Calla lilies in the vase set in the center of the table.

'Well' you thought, 'this evening was going to be a rollercoaster ride.'

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the-fallen-six · 5 months ago

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Okay, that's sweet as all get out. Lizzie, you're adorable. How about we go get cookies? What's your favorite kind?

--🍦

"Thank you! Yes please! You're very nice. Hm...that's a tricky one. There's all sorts of them, like there's gotta be like a hundred of them! But if I had to pick it'd beeeeee chocolate chip!"

#this child is going to be the death of me i swear #shes so precious #undertale #undertale ocs #undertale ask blog #ask blog #patience soul #elizabeth-alice thompson #thefallensix #ice cream anon

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aspoonofsugar · 2 years ago

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The Third Wolf

Jabberwalker: YES! READY! STARVING! TAKING!

So, this volume is just LRRH masked as Alice in Wonderland, as you can discover by reading this. Still, there is something missing from my previous post. Or at least, I came up with a theory, which imo complements it well.

In short, Ruby's story this volume centers around 3 Wolves:

Neo

She stalks Ruby around, tortures her and manipulates her into killing herself. She waits for her in a cottage (a pink palace) in the woods and hides behind her illusions, which exhibit mismatched eyes (the Wolf's eyes giving him away).

Even when it comes to her main allusion, Neo being a Wolf fits. Trivia is just the Roman name for Hecate and what's Hecate's sacred animal? The Dog:

Neo is associated to the Jabberwalkers (dark and wolf-like creatures) in the Ever After (the Underworld). In short, the Jabberwalkers are her dogs (wolfs) and she herself is a wolf (dog-like creature).

The Curious Cat

Do I need to explain? (I did in the previous meta anyway :P) They meet LRRH in the woods, trick her while she is wandering around with a basket full of flowers (WBY) and lead her around to make sure she gets completely lost.

Finally, when Ruby reaches the cottage in the woods, they surprise her and try to eat her. Only to end up swallowing up an older woman and the owner of the house. Even when it comes to them possessing Neo, the design calls back to the Big Bad Wolf of the story:

Both the eyes and the mouth are different than Neo's usual ones. Just like the Wolf in the fairy tale is described having peculiar eyes and a peculiar mouth. These 2 attributes are even tied to the Cat completely negating who Neo is. After all, Ice Cream girl is defined by:

her mismatched eyes, which her parents forced her to hide

her muteness, which her parents and teachers forced her to compensate with devices

Right now, Neo has lost both. Her mismatched eyes are hidden by the Cat's ones and her mouth speaks.

Ruby's inner Darkness

The Wolf in LRRH is symbolic of the Jungian Shadow aka everything a person represses. The thing with the Shadow is that the most you try to ignore it, the more dangerous and stronger it becomes. Ruby has been living as the embodyment of life, which means she has been neglecting to tend to her own shadows. To her own feelings. To her own pain.

The result is her spiraling and being engulfed by Darkness. Still, this Darkness has not yet a real representation within the story, which brings us to:

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand; Long time the manxome foe he sought— So rested he by the Tumtum tree And stood awhile in thought.

Interesting, the original poem mentions a fight between the hero and the monster by the Tumtum tree :P

What does the Jabberwalker represent, though? This creature is the only one, who can kill the Afterans. Why? I think because they thematically represent a loss of self:

The Tree is going to transform Afterans according to what they are and to what they want to become. This can lead to progression, like the Paper Pleasers or to regression, like the Red King, who turns into a Prince. Still, what happens if the creature just... can't figure themself out? What does happen if they choose to give up on any new possible identity?

In this case, they would choose to become nobody. They would decide to give in to anonimity, which is the opposite of self-individualization. Anonimity is a trait of Grimms, which are empty and try to fill themselves by praying on human negativity. In short, anonimity can be seen as a declination of Destruction. So, what if when Afterans can't figure themselves out... they end up becoming a Jabberwalker? Or what if the Jabberwalker is a body that collects all the souls who could not properly ascend, neither to regress nor to progress? A body with no proper identity, which can only jabber very basic and instinctive concepts, with no real meaning behind them?

After all, they very clearly allude to zombies, as RWBY even start calling them Walkers. And what are zombies if not people who lost their sense of self? And what do zombies do if not to spread an infection, which in this case is Destruction? Death?

The Tree is the path to self-actualization, so a person symbolically dies when they lose their sense of self completely. When they don't wanna become anything else. Only in this case, they really disappear and become nothing. Only in this case their existance is negated and amounts to nothing.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if this is what awaits Ruby as she is now. She doesn't wanna change. She wants to disappear. It is possible, then, she will risk to be swallowed by the Jabberwalker. It is possible she might become the Jabberwalker herself. A mindless Wolf. Still, obvious foreshadowing is obvious:

The moment Ruby is about to get killed by Neo's Jabberwalker, her whole team comes to her rescue. This is clearly what is going to happen here, as well.

At the same time, I think what should help Ruby conquers this is also something else:

Penny's death has been eating at Ruby throughout the whole volume. It is the news of her loss, which starts Ruby's spiral and her friend keeps appearing everywhere in the Ever After and Ruby's mind. So, obviously she needs to come to terms with this. Ruby needs catharsis and right now I think @hamliet theory is right: only Jaune can give it to Ruby.

Right now, Ruby thinks Penny died by negating herself, by choosing to be nothing out of a death wish. Still, this isn't true. Penny died as herself. It is tragic, but she still managed to affirm her own personhood. She chooses friendship and trust over duty and control. Penny dies, but she doesn't become a "Jabberwalker". She isn't undone into nothing, but on the contrary she "ascends" into gold. Ruby needs to realize this. She needs to realize the kind of person Penny was. And she needs to realize what she herself is doing now is the opposite of how Penny lived and died.

I think such a realization might give Ruby catharsis and inspire her to move on. In general, it would work very well thematically on multiple levels and for multiple characters:

It means Penny symbolically saves Ruby, which would be just a beautiful conclusion to their bond. Ruby is the one who recognizes Penny's personhood first, so it makes sense for Penny to indirectly do the same for Ruby. She inspires her into becoming an idealistic adult.

It means symbolically Ruby's child self saves her. It is that purest and most idealistic part of herself that comes through for Ruby when she needs it.

It gives catharsis to Jaune, as well. It turns out what he was hiding out of pain and shame is the key to save Ruby.

It foreshadows what Jaune will probably have to do in the finale aka conveying to Cinder Pyrrha's teaching about destiny. He can start practicing with Ruby.

It completes the parallel between Jaune/Pyrrha and Ruby/Penny nicely. In volume 5 Jaune's suicidal charge is interrupted when he realizes this is not what Pyrrha did. Here Ruby should realize what she is doing is not what Penny did.

In general, it just works very well with the theme of grief explored this volume. Right now, Ruby has been going through the 5 stages of grief twice, in a neverending spiral:

Episode 1 > negation > Penny's death is hidden and Ruby refuses to talk about it

Episode 2 > bargaining > Ruby needs to bargain for Penny's sword and eventually she bargains the sword to meet the Red King and talks about her feelings for Penny by doing so

Episode 3 > anger > Ruby gets angry at the Red Prince and shouts at him in frustration

Episode 4 > depression > Ruby is undone by Herb's hallucinations

Episode 5 > acceptance > Ruby meets the Blacksmith and is confronted by Penny and Summer's ghosts, but fails to reach true acceptance

So she starts the cycle again

Episode 5 > bargaining > Ruby bargains Summer's emblem to help her friends and mentions "a mother's promise"

Episode 6 > negation > Ruby doesn't even see Summer Rose's reflection in the gallery of mirrors

Episode 7 > anger > Ruby lashes out at others

Episode 8 > depression > Ruby is overwhelmed by her pain and attempts suicide

I think episode 9 and 10 should be acceptance, true acceptance this time. I also think it would be cool if we have a call back to volume 6.

When Ruby uses her silver eyes there, the last 2 people she sees are Penny and then Summer:

Penny leads Ruby to Summer. I think here should be the same one way or the other. Acceptance over Penny should help Ruby face her feelings for Summer. After all, the majority of the narration in the trailer is still missing, which means we should get it in these final 2 episodes. Basically, Summer is coming, one way or the other.

BAD WOLF, GOOD WOLF

Ruby risking to become/to be swallowed by the Jabberwalker would work also for another reason:

Turning Ruby into nothingness, forcing the light out of her to reduce her to a mindless puppet is probably what Salem wants to do. So, Ruby going through this same struggle now will give her the strength to face Salem and her Grimms Experiments when the time comes.

I think this whole volume has a meta-theme to it, which is how stories and fictions help people process trauma and grief. Both in healthy and unhealthy ways. I will write more about it when the season ends. As for now, let's say it is not by chance Ruby is going through her spiral in a fairy tale world, where she conveniently can't die. Imagine if Ruby had drunk poisoned tea on Remnant. She would have died for real. "Luckily" she only sips tree tea, which will be no fatal to her. The metaphorical meaning is clear, right? Ruby is symbolically rereading a fairy tale of he childhood. One her mom used to read ot her. She is rediscovering it from a more mature and darker perspective. She is processing through it all her pain, trauma and grief. Still, she will come out stronger from this. So stronger she will manage to face the challenges of the real world and to survive to them.

So, how is this transformation gonna manifest? Obviously Ruby is gonna come out as herself, once again. Still, if her inner transformation has to be shown, I would like for it to happen through Little:

Mouse Leader: And on this day, we were not the prey, but the hunters!

The Mice Hunters tried to warn us and RWBY since the beginning. Beware of CATS! Still, they also claimed the prey is gonna be the hunter ;)

Now, this can become true in many different ways without Little having to change. Still, I like the idea of Little changing to metaphorically show Ruby's evolution. But if this is gonna happen, then which kind of form should they take?

Little is Ruby's child self, but also an animal-shaped companion. Basically, they represent an inner beast. It is just that at the beginning of the volume Ruby's inner beast is too immature because she is refusing to integrate with her shadow.

So, a more refined version of Little should maintain Little and Ruby's idealism, but also be wiser and show that Ruby has started to integrated with her repressed self. What better form than a Little Wolf, then?

After all:

The Hunter > The Huntress

Little Red Riding Hood > Ruby Rose

The Wolf? > Little

Ruby is unbalanced because she has refused her inner wolf all this time, so what better use can she make of it if not to change it into strength that protects her child self. To use all that repressed energy to refine herself, instead than negating who she is?

And on a light-hearted note... what is better than a wolf to hunt a Curious Cat?

(By the way, this can work well even in the case Neo stays in the Ever After with Juniper and Little. Juniper could be the March Hare to her Mad Hatter and Little might be the Dog to her Hecate) > thanks to @lintuwaterfall for suggesting this

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 9 #ruby rose #little #neopolitan #curious cat #once upon an allusion #jabberwalker #rwby meta #rwby theory #penny polendina #jaune arc #tw: penny's death #tw: suicide #rwby headcanon

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