#also they really hate mary because it looked like she abandoned them when she didn’t even see them

[camlyee]

an event that changed several lives forever.

↓ lore dump below ↓

Note: transcript for the images will be at the bottom of the post (sorry for the messy handwriting!)

Gitriea-II — the planet of isolation.

I wanted this piece to highlight the cataclysmic event that took place at Gitriea-II’s church that altered the lives of hundreds, though most didn’t know that that night would be their last. Only few survived to recall the tragedy.

TW for vague mentions of abuse, death, and religious trauma.

(so please read with caution)

I won’t go into extreme detail about every character, I’ll probably make separate posts deep diving into each character more and give them the attention they deserve. I’ll briefly mention each character in order (top to bottom) and their present faction.

- Gabriel — Genius Society as an assistant, but pursues architectural studies through the Intelligentsia Guild

- Eve (left) — Intelligentsia Guild (cousins with Gabriel and Shiloh)

- Shiloh — Astral Express member (Gabriel’s little sibling)

- Mary (red hair) — Astral Express member

- Elijah (in Mary’s arms) — Stellaron Hunter

Gabriel and Mary had been planning on wedding, as throughout their youth they were hopelessly in love with each other (it was a kind of puppy love, one slipping the other gifts or gentle hand touches). They hadn’t done anything out of line for two teenagers planning on marrying one another, until they shared a kiss. It was sweet, but it was forbidden. You were expected to reserve your chastity until you were wed, as that was how the Church functioned. Any kind of forbidden acts would lead to punishment, and Gabriel was more than aware of that. As every time he would answer a question wrong or was out of line, the Mothers would ‘redirect’ him with force. He always kept his sleeves rolled down because of it. Mary was already known to be a ‘defective’ child, as her parents went against the church and were ostracized. Mary’s bright red hair and vibrant yellow eyes matched her mother’s and father’s respectively, so there was no hiding her roots. She was a slightly rebellious teenager, though. She knew little about her parents, but remember how much they loved each other, and how she wanted to share that love with Gabriel. Gabriel was scared, though. The paranoia took over him and clawed at his throat, and he was truly afraid of the consequences of loving too much before marriage.

Gabriel would’ve never expected what would’ve happened to Mary when he told the Mothers about what they did. Searing wax poured on her gentle and soft hands, scorching the skin and forever altering both her mind and her flesh. She would never be able to love with her hands again, that’s what the mothers said. After days of her recovery, Mary had approached Gabriel, a smile on her face with hope that things between them wouldn’t be ruined. She didn’t know he was the one that told the mothers. As she asked about how he was, she was met with a cold and unforgiving gaze, a scowl curled on his lips with venom. He told her to never speak to him again, and the whiplash of cruelty brought tears to her eyes. He was never like this before, why was he being so cruel now? Was she truly never meant to love anyone?

With a broken heart, she respected his wishes and left him alone, and not long after, he left to do his missionary work. Maybe he’ll find a woman that can love him, she thought. It took a while for Mary to navigate her tasks with the state of her hands now. But, eventually she was able to do her work with minimal accidents. She worked hard, though being told plenty of times that she was ‘defective’, she wanted the approval from the mothers. She wanted to become a mother and make people proud of her. So she worked. She worked so hard.

One night, she had been cleaning around one of the prayer rooms. She often worked at night so she wouldn’t have the urge to talk to anyone, as it often resulted into an uncomfortable end. She did still experience issues with fine motor skills, especially with her fingers and wrists. The prayer rooms often had plenty of lit candles, as it was one of the primary ways the Church remained lit during the night. Mary reached over with her rag to gently dust an area near the candles and consequently knocked one over. The embers didn’t take long to travel up the cloth hanging over the alter and up the walls. There were dozens of lit candles, and they all began to fester into a large flame. She hurriedly ran out to get help, but it was too late by the time she had gotten to one of the boys in the church, Isaac. The embers quickly engulfed the church, and Mary was only able to pull one other person out, a small child, Elijah. She had no idea there were other survivors.

By the time Gabriel returned home from his missionary duties, it was far too late. The church was nothing but ashes. He couldn’t believe it. Everything he had cared about was gone, and he was sure this was his God’s plan for divine punishment. It has to be. He let out a distraught cry and fell to his knees, the bitter cold snow engulfing him in an icy hug. He sobbed and sobbed until all his senses went numb and everything went dark.

holy shit yapfest over, i hope y’all enjoy some of this writing stuff.. i didn’t even talk about Rory and Isaac, but they’re not in this piece sooo..

Elijah, Shiloh, Isaac, and Rory all belong to @sawnday and he also was a writer for a lot of this lore so.. credit :)

Transcript for the image: (left to right)

> Home to a large church orphanage that follows the Abundance (Yaoshi)

Notes:

- Two Moons

- Below Freezing most of their calendar year

- Minimal daylight

Gitriea-II

- An isolated planet that suffers from a near-frozen climate due to distance from any sun/star.

- Very minimal life, but a few human civilizations call it home.

- Minimal outside influence, but ships can be seen occasionally departing this planet.

- Not much is known about the origins of the planet.

[f2e5b1]

bitter orange — okkotsu yūta [1/3]

pairings. okkotsu yūta + f! reader/original character (main); past!orimito rika + f!reader; past!okkotsu yūta + orimito rika warnings/themes. mentions of death, jealousy, hints of obsession and possession. just a lil dark romance practice (which is barely any dark romance tbh who am i kidding) sprinkled with food motifs but i dont know what im doing im just here for the vibes :P mostly sfw with nsfw themes but nothing sexual bc im too scared to go down that dark path (also no use of y/n bc i started writing with an original name and it unfortunately stuck lawl... can be treated as either or it doesnt matter tbh i cant write anything outside of 2nd person anwyay) word count. 2.8k words nothing too crazy xd playlist. knuckle velvet by ethel cain; velvet ring by big thief; pure by cigarettes after sex; only in the dreams by the marias; be my mistake by the 1975; mary by alex g

it’s been a long time since i have seen my beloved. the moss has grown on that abetachibana tree

PART ONE: ichigo daifuku

Gojō Satoru tells you that love is the most twisted curse of them all.

He had said it in passing after your first solo mission, right as you were entering the car back to Jujutsu Tech before talking your ear off with his lame jokes. The mission had consisted of exorcizing a curse that had persistently haunted an abandoned apartment complex in Omotesandō, assigned to you by the higher-ups in accordance with your newly promoted rank as a Grade 2 sorcerer, having decided that a Grade 1 was doable enough for someone of your caliber. The curse itself wasn’t anything special, though, only repeating gargled confessions of its love to some ‘Chiyo-chan’—whoever she was—the whole time you were dodging its attacks, which was incredibly annoying. You liked your battles in silence, quick and succinct, but curses make that difficult to achieve.

Gojō muses it could have been a past lover, this Chiyo-chan—its love for her having cursed itself. You didn’t really care. If you keep up the good work, complete your required missions and get another recommendation, you could be ranked a Semi-Grade 1 by your second year, then a Grade 1 by your third and nothing else after that because unless you were someone like Gojō Satoru, then you are capped forever at Grade 1.

“So anyway—snacks you like?” said sorcerer asks, finally done with his previous tale. Something about an old coworker. “Mochi, senbei, or taiyaki? Personally, I'm a mochi ice cream type of guy!”

You look at him.

“Why are you here again?”

“... Is your memory that small, Ume? I was proctoring you,” he tuts, mouth turned downwards. “Congrats on the promotion, by the way.”

You shrug. “Ichigo daifuku is good, I guess.”

He smiles, wryly.

“You’re joking, right?”

+

The building facing your childhood home had been home to Orimito Rika, an unsuspecting property with a decent front yard and the occasional street cat or two often shooed away by her irate grandmother. “Mean granny,” you’d often call her, the insult drowned out by your hushed giggles as you played with your dolls. Rika wouldn’t say anything about it, wouldn’t dare verbally agree with you, but she would always nod her head down, the corners of her lips turned up too high.

You didn’t particularly hate the old woman, but there was a certain kind of satisfaction to saying it behind her back after all the times you’ve caught her looking at her granddaughter in unbridled scorn, your own little form of revenge. You could never understand how her only remaining family could look at her like that, not when Rika was so beautiful and kind; like the cherry blossoms during spring, falling gently along with the wind. Sure, she could be a little cunning at times, and none of the other kids at school liked her because “something’s odd about her, can’t you just hang out with us instead?”—but that’s what makes her interesting, right?

Rika isn’t weird, she’s pretty, and you’re the bee drawn to her. She’s only older than you by a year, ten instead of nine, but she always played with you, taught you how to make flower crowns at the park, and when you walked home from school she’d always hold your hand. Her smile is blindingly bright, the sound of her voice a song you couldn’t stop listening to. Selfishly, you wish it would always be the two of you together; playing with your dolls, walking home with your hands intertwined.

But when she came back from the hospital, so did Okkotsu Yūta.

You could never see what she saw in him; he was short and just a little bit pathetic, always trailing after her like a lost puppy at first. You could push him off the swing and he'd move on with a sniffle, the kind to give up the plastic shovel even though he desperately needed it to finish his sand castle because he didn’t want to fight a girl. He smiled shyly and hid his hands behind his back, looking at you like he was looking for your approval. Of course, you never gave him the time of day, because it felt like he had stolen Rika—your Rika. It was supposed to be just you and her, but that wasn’t the case anymore. Now there was Okkotsu Yūta, who held Rika’s other hand after school, who took away her attention from you so easily.

“He’s so cute, isn’t he?” she asks often, a light blush dusting her face.

“I guess,” is your reply.

“Ne,” she calls, presenting to you a small, black box. You look at it in apprehension, wincing when she eventually opens it. “What do you think of this ring? It was my mom’s. I’m gonna give this to Yūta-kun, do you think he’ll like it?”

The ring was immensely simple, a silver-colored band with a small diamond in front, glinting under the light. Nevermind the fact that it was too big for a child’s fingers to fit in, Rika presented it to you as if it held all the answers to the world. Although her parents were dead, and she had definitely stolen it from her grandmother’s dresser, the ring spoke full of promise. When she takes it out of the box and lets you inspect it, it feels heavy.

“... You really like him, don’t you, Rika-chan?” you ask, quietly.

Rika looks at the stupid piece of jewelry, painfully smitten.

“Mhm,” she affirms. “I really like Yūta-kun. I want to be with him forever! Of course, I like you too, Ume-chan. You and Yūta-kun are my favorite people in the world!”

You close the box, handing it back to her. When Rika looks at you expectantly, you realize then that you could never bring yourself to take that happiness away from her.

+

The koinobori flies.

“It’s so pretty!” Rika exclaims, eyes wide and staring up at the sky where the huge, windsock carp moves around. It’s bathed in all sorts of colors—from red to blue to white to green—dancing along the azure expanse in commemoration of Children’s Day. The weather is just right, not too hot nor too cold, and the wind caresses your skin gently, the sun not too harsh. It makes the color of Rika’s hair shine in all the right ways, adds more sparkle in her already bright eyes. She’s wearing a yellow sundress, a nice change from her usual blue one. The cream-colored hat you let her borrow covers her face with the shade, but her smile remains bright and blinding. She looks pretty.

She gives you all of her ichigo daifuku, and shares Yūta’s snacks. She doesn’t even like chimaki.

“Are you sure, Rika-chan?” you ask, looking at the two sweets in your hands.

She beams. “You like them, don’t you?”

You keep them with you until the end of the event.

The day passes by incredibly fast, your little trio having exhausted yourselves from running around the park alongside the other children. Yūta chases Rika around the park, and you watch them squeal and laugh at each other and hold hands. You watch them take a nap under the shade, their pinkies intertwined, and you watch as the ugly color of green blinds your eyesight. You leave them be.

Sometimes, you wish you’re the colorful koinobori flying in the sky. You’d let Rika hold on to you, let her fly and hear her amused laugh as the wind tickles her skin. Sometimes, you wish Yūta slapped the ring away from her hands when she handed it to him. Wish he stomped it on the ground and at the same time stomped on her heart. Wish he didn’t take it with a huge smile and agree that he’d marry her when they get older; he’s not the one who’d wait long lines just to get her the best ichigo daifuku, not the one who’d jump at the other kids when they so much as think of insulting her, and he won’t be the one who’d choose to stay with her when she’s all gray and old cause he’s a boy, and boys would never do that.

Sometimes, you wish he never liked her at all—because he never deserved her in the first place.

Okkotsu Yūta could never love Orimito Rika like you.

+

He sits beside you at lunch.

Rika’s been bedridden for the whole week, which subsequently ruins your week. Yūta doesn’t seem to mind her absence all that much since he doesn’t see her a lot during classes anyway, but they’re supposed to be engaged. He should always be thinking of her, should be acting as miserable as you even at the unripe age of nine. He looks too okay with her absence when he shouldn’t be.

“What’s this?” you ask, pointing at the small bag of snacks he had placed on the cover of your bento.

“Hm?” he looks up. “Oh, it’s norimaki senbei.”

“... And?” you prod.

He tilts his head. “You don’t want it?”

“... I don’t want it.”

He looks at you thoughtfully.

“But you like them, don’t you?” he asks though he’s acting like he already knows, like you’ll take it regardless of what you say. It’s annoying.

You look at the seaweed-wrapped rice crackers—the stupid norimaki senbei—in mild contempt. “Why are you giving it to me?”

Yūta’s smile is small, knowing. “Because you don’t like sweets.”

You frown.

+

She’s a sweet girl.

You think of Orimoto Rika like that because it’s true—she smiles sweetly, she speaks sweetly, and she likes sweet things. She tells you that her favorite snack is ichigo daifuku, the very same confection you always begged your parents to buy for you just so you could share them with her. It pays off all the time because then she’d look as sweet as the daifuku itself, her cheeks as red as the fruit within it. She also likes hanami dango, but she doesn’t like the green part because she doesn’t really like the subtle taste of yomogi, so you eat the rest for her because she doesn’t want to waste it. She likes cold tea instead of hot, sweet instead of savory, like yuzu iced tea or bubbly ramune in comparison to the nutty taste of hōjicha. When you go to the store, she always gets the kompeitō with some random anime character on the packaging because those were the “cutest kind of kompeitō,” and Rika likes cute things.

She also likes the color pink, but when you ask her what her favorite color is she’d say it’s blue. It’s blue not because she wears that blue dress all the time, but blue because it’s the color of Okkotsu Yūta’s eyes, bright and round and always looking at her. Rika likes it that way—she likes how Okkotsu Yūta is always looking at her with his blue eyes, unwavering and full of adoration for her and her only.

You think Orimito Rika is a sweet girl, but sometimes she’s more than that. Sometimes, when the other kids get brave enough to drag you away from her, tell you to stop hanging out with her, they say it’s because Rika doesn’t like anyone else but Okkotsu Yūta.

Sometimes, when they tell you that, you wonder if Rika liked you at all, way before Okkotsu Yūta came into the picture.

But most of the time, you don’t really care. Even if Rika didn’t like you, you’d still like her. Even if she’d only have her eyes set on Okkotsu Yūta with his stupid blue eyes and his stupid norimaki senbei and stupid chimaki that he shared with her on the fifth of May, you’d still like her because she’s Rika—beautiful, kind, and wonderful Rika.

She has things she doesn’t like, too, such as other people but never Yūta-kun or Ume-chan! She likes it when people compliment her and praise her looks and give her free stuff like ramune or ichigo daifuku or Sailor Moon-themed kompeitō from the store, but sometimes she tells you that she dislikes this certain group of girls from Yūta’s class, dislikes the boy assigned as your seatmate, her homeroom teacher, the “weird” guy who works at the konbini a street over, and dislikes it even more when her grandmother looks at her and tells her she killed her own father without even saying anything at all.

You know all those things because you know Orimito Rika. You like her even if she holds intense dislike for the people outside her circle, people who tick her off just a little for you to see her smile crack at the edges and go stiff, the little twitch of her brown eyes, and most importantly, you still like her when all she wants in the world is the attention of the boy who wears her deceased mother’s ring.

You’ll always want sweet girls like her.

+

“Where’s Rika-chan?”

“Her grandma won’t let her go out today,” Yūta says, sitting next to you on the bench. “So it’s just you and me.”

He says it dejectedly, but it’s not enough for you. If he was really sad, then he’d be as sad as you are, so you start packing your belongings. “I’m leaving, then.”

He startles, standing up. “Huh? W–wait! Don’t leave just yet!”

“But Rika-chan’s not here,” you frown. “There’s no point in hanging out today.”

He falters, looking down at the ground.

“Even if she isn’t here, we can still play together…” he offers, looking up at you timidly. “We’re friends, too, aren’t we?”

The green-eyed monster stares at the silver chain wrapped around his neck, the ring acting as its pendant tucked underneath his shirt—like an unattainable treasure trapped inside a chest with the key thrown away somewhere you cannot find it. We’re not friends, the monster says with a snarl, stay away from me.

If there is one thing you know, then it’s that you have never wanted to be friends with Okkotsu Yūta, not after he took everything from you. He can butter you up by sticking to you during class and sitting next to you at lunch and even offering you some of his not-ichigo daifuku, not-yuzu iced tea, and not-colorful anime-themed kompeitō but you will and have never liked him for the green-eyed monster will always sit on your shoulder so long as he wears that ring on his person, a physical manifestation of his promise with Rika. Your Rika, even if that’s not really the case.

You will never like Okkotsu Yūta, because—because he—

“... What’re we even gonna do?” you ask, slowly.

He immediately brightens up.

“… Wanna get ice cream?” he offers. “There’s a new flavor I wanna try!”

His suggestion does not entice you at all, but when he stands there with an outstretched hand waiting for you to take it, like it’ll matter if you reject him, you find yourself at a crossroads. But you make your decision soon enough. Like it’ll matter, like the green-eyed monster isn’t there, staring.

“Okay,” you say, moving past him to start walking. He blinks incredulously at the blatant rejection before gathering himself and following after you, a prep to his step regardless of your actions.

You try to ignore the warmth of his body next to yours.

He’s too close.

+

“Yūta-kun’s birthday is in a few days,” Rika announces, lying on your spare futon. “Did you get him anything?”

You didn’t. “... Yeah.”

“Really? What is it?” she cranes her neck to face you. “What’d you get him?”

She doesn’t want your gift being better than hers, it checks out. “Um… just a toy. A garbage truck.”

“Oh, okay,” she turns back to face the ceiling. “I made him a scrapbook with photos of us. I worked really hard on it… do you think he’ll like it?”

“He’ll like anything you give him.”

She’s already given him a ring—what else could compare to that?

Rika smiles. “I guess… you’re right.”

Soon enough, she goes to sleep, breathing softly beside you as your fan fills the silence of the night. You continue staring at the ceiling, making out the little dents despite the lack of light. You squeeze the hand that holds your under the cover, before closing your eyes.

You hear her softly breathe on a steady beat alongside the fan whirring in the corner, and you close your eyes, squeezing her hand tighter underneath the covers of your too-close futon.

You’ll have to ask your parents for some money tomorrow.

+

“Rika-chan isn’t here again,” Yūta says dejectedly. “Her granny’s too strict.”

“She hates her,” you say quietly.

Yūta looks at you, confused. “What’d you say?”

“Nothing. Your birthday’s coming up soon, what are you doing that day?”

“Uwah—you remember?”

“Rika-chan told me.”

“Oh, well,” he smiles sheepishly, “we have school that day, but after that I’ll be celebrating at my house. I’m thinking of just inviting Rika-chan and you over… um, so, will you come?”

“I’ll go if Rika-chan is going.”

He blinks, before a smile blooms on his face. “Okay! I’ll see you, then.”

+

It happens when you aren't there.

It never should have happened at all.

Orimito Rika is pronounced dead at the age of eleven, her body unrecognizable under the heavy weight of a blue truck.

next

[acaciapines]

If you’re still doing songs - song 69 and 138?

im always up to do em lets GO! i'll put both above the cut n then talk below :)

69. It’s Called: Freefall – Rainbow Kitten Surprise

king misses his mom. he misses his sister. he misses his aunt and his grandparents and mari trying to pin him down and luz letting him crawl under her covers and eda hugging him when he grabbed for her and firefly chirping good morning and good night and throwing out her wings to keep him safe.

“kiiiiiiiiing,” the collector whines, flipping upside-down through the air. “you’re so boring, what is your problem?”

“just tired,” king says. it’s hard to look at the collector straight-on. the thoughts that surround him are a messy array, and barely any of them are his, the way they are for anybody else: it’s a weird conglomerate of old thoughts like those that drift through the sky, but so packed together he can’t make anything out. it’s a beach of golden sand the collector runs through, leaving kicked-up grit in his awake.

“naw, c’mon,” they needle, landing right in front of him. “you’ve been tired forever. be fun!”

he misses his family so bad he’s sure it’s a wound spilling out of him. how can’t the collector see that?

“okay,” king says, “fine. let’s play.”

138. Habits – Genevieve Stokes

ask anybody: edalyn-owlbert clawthorne was never planning to have kids.

never really interested her. not the settling-down part, not the needing to keep another living creature alive part, not the having to be a good influence, gag. nah. kids were never going to be her thing, and so she never sought them out.

and then the little buggers found her.

well. she’s technically the one who stumbled across king, the owl beast’s faltering flight into that abandoned ruin he was living in, but king was the one who followed them both and refused to be left behind. plus, that stone-monster was going to kill him. eda wasn’t a fan of kids, but she didn’t want to leave them for dead, either.

looking back she’s pretty sure the owl beast was laughing at her.

laughed even harder when she took in luz. you’re an apprentice, kid, eda had told her, and the girl had squealed, and her daemon had sat there on her shoulder with her tiny chest puffed out, and something in eda knew this was going to be a permanent thing.

oh well. at least she skipped the changing diapers phase of things.

Discussion

for the first one: oh! hey! this one is relevant to for the future which im writing right NOW! ive been thinking a lot recently about how kings gonna be Doing in that entire like, 2-3 months he's basically on his own with the collector, because i'll be expanding out from what was shown in the show, and just...god. poor kid.

its terrifying! im a collector lover but even i'll admit he is Not great with king, especilly towards the start, and thats not going anywhere--king misses his family and the collector has been on his own for so LONG, and has this sense of entitlement to kings time + space. why does everyone else get a lifelong friend with them since birth? the collector wants that! and if they werent born with it they'll find a friend then! like KING!

its just a LOT. it makes for fun writing though kdnfkgdfg king doesnt hate the collector but oh boy is he not actually friends with them.

this one also makes it pretty obvious what im doing in regards to king being a titan lol but ive decided not to talk so explicitly about that unless im asked a question in which i cant speak around it. i gotta keep some of my secrets!

for the second one: MOM EDA MY BELOVED sorry i literally love that trope so much okay. its so so fun to write. eda really tripped and fell into parenthood like ah shit now ive got to be responsible for HOW MANY of these guys now? two? three? am i supposed to count mari and luz as one or two because based on the day that is a WILDLY different answer.

but yeah <3 its also made even more funny that firefly knew 100% what she was getting into. this was a massive shock to eda, but firefly's been a mom from the start!

also ooooh got that owlbert mention huh wonder what that is about...wonder what my owlbert secrets might be....if he shows up at all....hmmmm...

[mahvaladara]

Your hair is white

A Lore of Astreia short drabble

Canities subita, also called Marie Antoinette syndrome or Thomas More syndrome, is an alleged condition of hair turning white overnight due to stress or trauma.

“Your hair is white...”

Gamall stopped what he was doing, as Kadra’s voice caught his attention. He looked over his shoulder to look at the knight commander, who stood at the entrance of his tent. She, once again, held papers in her hands she planned to discuss with him and he scoffed, of course.

“What?” He asked confused at her words.

“Your hair, it’s white? Did you bleach it?” She walked in carrying papers.

Work, always work, long lost were the nights where she held him in comfort, she and Tudor. He was silly to hope for a second that she was here for anything else. Those days, those nights, were long gone.

He ran his fingers through his long hair, holding a lock of silky ghost white hair between his fingers and scoffed as he tried to realized what could have caused it.

“Oh... the purification spell,” he mumbled. “It washed off my hair dying spell... I’ll have to dye it again.”

He shook his head and walked past her to look for a potion of tar to temporarily fix that. The Imperial healer had promise him they’d look for some medecine to help restore pigmentation to his hair. Not that he desliked white hair. Not at all. No, he hated the reason associated with his hair growing white.

“Again? I thought you were naturally black haired! Since when your hair been white?”

Gamall stopped once more turning to face her with disbelief. Had she truly not noticed? It was the first thing everyone did. Yet again, when his mind returned to that fateful day, she was barely paying him any mind.

“You’re kidding, right?” He asked. “When I returned, after Jullian and his merry party kept me their prisoner for almost a year of torture and... and...”

“Really?” She looked honestly surprise.

“You didn’t notice?!”

“No, when you returned your hair was a matted mess of dirt, blood and gore! How did you expect me to notice?” She tried to defend herself.

“I don’t know! Maybe if you had spared a glance at me when I was finally washed and stitched up you would have noticed!” Gamall yelled throwing the potion at the wall.

As the potion pooled, the tent’s fabric was slowly tainted black.

“Sorry, I didn’t! I had more pressing things on my mind.”

“You didn’t! Joseph fucking Hughes noticed! The dwarf who say’s your place is in the kitchen, not the battlefied, and calls his son and inferior being due to his skin colour noticed, but you, my friend, my lover, my ally, didn’t even spare a glance!”

“No! I didn’t!” She yelled. “We are in a war! I have more pressing things to worry about than the hair color of one of my soldiers.”

Gamall stopped, straightening his back.

“That’s all I am to you? Your soldier,” he shook his head. “You’re right. So my hair is white. It’s not like it’s going to kill me, right? Isn’t that what you said when I cried why didn’t you send anyone to save me? Why did you abandon me to be tortured, humiliated, violated, by Jullian and his men?”

Kadra fell quiet, looking away as she felt her heart in her throat. He was alive, he was safe, he was with them. She had to worry about people who would actually come out of that harmed, he’d live, he’d heal through anything, and he did. She had made the right choice.

Have you?

At her silence Gamall sat down, he didn’t look at her, only keeping his hands over his mouth and nose as he looked into space.

“Can you get me Tar?”

She looked at him confused.

“Tar?”

“Yes, so I can dye my hair...”

She blinked, looking at the papers in her hands. She had come there to discuss work, she had hoped to come to a course of action where they could use his unique skills. She realized her intent to send him in a suicide mission, how dehumanizing it was, how she was specifically sending him, because he could not die. His only value, had suddenly, in her mind become, the fact he was a powerful warlock, who could not die. 

“I... I think we have more important matters to discuss, Mal, we’re in the middle of a war-” she started, looking away.

Gamall looked at her in utter disbelief.

“Either get me tar so I can dye my hair, or get the fuck out before I strangle you with the 15 or so feet of intestine I still have left!”

With that threat, she left, crumbling the papers in her hands. Alright, if he did not wish to discuss it, he’d have no choice but to do what she ordered, she was still his commander and she was still more skilled than him. With so many skilled soilders and warlocks willing to give their lives for the crown, she placed them all first before him, because he could not die and he’d return. Broken, tortured, but he’d return, they would not. And she would not sacrifice her soldiers when she had him.

Watching her leave, Gamall laid back down, twirling a lock of white hair around his finger. Long gone were the days where she’d shield him, where she’d comfort, where she’d love him. To her, he was nothing but a weapon with legs. No one could destroy its casing, but his insides? They were mangled. He closed his eyes and rolled to the side in fetal position, starting to cry.

“Hey... You pissed of Kadra... “

In answer, hearing his cries, Tudor came in. When he saw Gamall he stopped.

“Hey... your hair. I’ll go get tar.”

"She didn’t notice...”

“That your hair was white?” Tudor asked, sitting by his side.

“No, back then... she didn’t notice. I’m nothing to her.”

“Hey, come on, Gamall,” Tudor pulled the man to his lap. “She’s just preocupied, this war is taking it’s toll on her. She loves us, once this is over, she’ll remember how important you are to her, how much she loves you-”

“I’m growing to resent her greatly... with every word she utters... I’m afraid when this war is over, it won’t be her who sees me as nothing, it’s me.”

“Hey, come on, Gamall, we love you, right?” And Tudor gently brushed his hair. “I love you, white hair, scars, extra eyes, five feet less of intestine and all!”

“Seven feet.”

“You counted?”

“No. Seven sounds important...” he laughed.

“I love your white hair and your scars.”

“I’d still rather have it black than have to explain why it went white overnight.”

[buffporcupine]

tell me abt kiyomi fellow Canada loather

why hello there 😋 it’s infodumping o’ clock ig ‼️

tws for death, abuse, descriptions of gore, all that

Kiyomi is an OC I’ve had for at least two years. She’s taken on several different forms and her design has changed a whole lot but she’s one of my favorite OCs!!

Her full name is Kiyomi Itō, and she’s this seventeen year old girl from Kyoto, Japan. Her mother was French-Canadian and her father was Japanese. She can speak Japanese, French, and English, and she learned them in the order they are listed.

Okay, the backstory stuff might be a bit confusing because I’m not good with the wording and this is actually the first time I’ve ever written out everything.

Kiyomi has a younger sister named Shoko who was five years younger than her. Kiyomi also had an older half-brother named Akira who is six years older than her. Kiyomi’s mother was named Sakura, and Kiyomi’s father was named Jin.

When she was a kid, her father was both abusive to her, her younger sister, and her mother. He had had an affair that resulted in the birth of Kiyomi’s half-brother, Akira. Akira’s mother’s identity is unknown. Jin, had a deep-seated hatred for his wife and his daughters, and he tried to teach Akira to hate them as well. This didn’t work though, and after deceiving his father, Akira was able to help his sisters run away. Their mother, though, died at Jin’s hand, and Jin was arrested and incarcerated. After running away, Akira, Kiyomi, and Shoko fled across the world to Canada to go live with their maternal aunt and uncle. By that time, Akira was an adult and he could have been able to keep living at the Ito residence, but taking care of Shoko and Kiyomi would be too difficult without assistance.

The move to Canada was when Kiyomi was fourteen. Now, she has graduated from high school and she’s studying for a degree in psychology. She also spends a lot of time with Akira and his wife, Aurelia.

Kiyomi’s interests include, but are not limited to, psychology, toxicology, entomology, and other things. She really enjoys watching children’s television shows, or reading books about bugs, or watching the night sky. She’s fascinated by activity most consider ‘childish’, and she’s very open and curious about new things. She isn’f very informed though, and she doesn’t get social cues very easy.

She’s fascinated by cute things, and she really likes to look nice. She puts a lot of effort into her appearance, and she prefers scene and grunge dress styles. She’s very naturally attractive as well, but she does wear lots of makeup.

Below are some drawings I’ve made of her. She’s really fun to draw. The first drawing is in my style, the second is in the DRV3 style.

She’s also a bit like a punching bag OC, a bit of a Mary-Sue, but I don’t like to think of her as those.

She’s also schizophrenic, and she’s largely ashamed of that fact. She likes to hide it as much as she can, and she never mentions it to anyone that isn’t EXTREMELY close to her. She’s also got a bit of a fear of abandonment, and she fears that it was her fault what happened to her when she was a child.

She started out as a Danganronpa OC, for a Fangan I had been working on, but now she’s her own sort of character for now. I have the information necessary to insert her into any universe, like Death Note, Stranger Things, etc.. Now she’s just fandomless, and I have enough lore about her to give her her own category.

Below is some useless trivia about her.

She’s allergic to a lot of things, she loves strawberries, she has an obsession with MCR, and she hates it when people try to look smart when they really don’t know what they’re talking about.

She’s actually really short, like five feet and four inches tall. It’s mostly because of stunted growth due to childhood malnutrition.

She’s also a hopeless romantic!! She loves romance novels and movies. She’s very open-minded about who she wants to date, though, and she just hopes it’ll be someone nice and sweet.

There’s the end of the useless trivia.

Now, she spends most of her time studying, helping Shoko study, or spending time taking care of Aurelia. Aurelia is a former secretary turned housewife, well, she was, and then she got diagnosed with this really nasty degenerative neurological condition, and sort of just became a shell of who she used to be.. Yk? So Kiyomi also has to help Akira take care of his kids as a result of Aurelia’s absence.

Kiyomi is honestly living her best life, actually. And at a different, later point in her story, she meets her perfect partner!! I just packed her with trauma so bad I had to make up for it by giving her a happy adult life. Her and Aurelia also have like.. a super cute relationship, so there.

Kiyomi is my CHILD, definitely one of my favorite OCs. I have at least 100 OCs, though, so.. I have a lot of favorites, too.

Maybe I should make more posts about Shoko, Akira, or Aurelia sometime?? I dunno.

Thank you if you read this.

[young-dumb-and-vaccinated]

Omg can I please get a hannibal x a shy girl reader ? Like he’s really possessive of her and she doesn’t know how to handle it but she likes him so they date??

Sorry this took so long, anon. I’ve been bouncing ideas around and this one in particular, I believe, fits your request. Y/n feels out of place among Hannibal’s fancy friends and it becomes even more obvious when he abandons her at a party. 

Trigger warnings: social anxiety, sexual harassment, overstimulation

You and Hannibal had an agreement about large gatherings. He could only bring you to a party if you had a week's notice and at least three uninterrupted hours of gaming time prior to the event.

For this event, you needed a solid six.

One of the major Maryland universities was awarding a lucrative research grant to a student of clinical psychology, and every influential name in the industry was expected to be there. As a recent college grad with a bachelor's in business you didn't know what to do with, you couldn't imagine a less welcoming environment if you tried. You couldn't fit into their world and more importantly, you didn't want to. But the thought of being noticeably different in any situation was twice as terrifying. So you spent the whole week repeating your mantra; blend in, be quiet and make it through the night.

But Hannibal had different plans for you.

Halfway through the week, just when you'd pushed the party out of your mind, Hannibal presented you with a gift.

"What's the occasion?" You asked. You hoped that if you pretended not to know, it would just magically go away.

"I brought you something to wear on Friday." Hannibal answered, hanging the garment bag up on the bureau. "You know I'll take any excuse to dress you up."

He unzipped the bag and placed a black silk dress into your arms. "Try it on so I have time to get it altered if it needs it."

The material was cool to the touch and outlined your figure so perfectly, you felt even a little naked. Hannibal, of course, loved this. You were his own personal Venus de Milo. His goddess and his muse. 

“Yes, that will do nicely.” He observed, looking at you hungrily. 

“Seems a little short for a such a sophisticated event, doesn’t it?” You raised an eyebrow. The answer was yes and he knew it. He was very deliberate in everything he did. “I don’t want to come off the wrong way.” 

“And what way would that be, darling?” He asked, not taking his eyes off your figure. 

“I mean--” You searched for the right words. “It’s a gathering of the Mid-Atlantic’s most esteemed academics, I feel like, in a dress like this, I might be seen as, well, a...” 

“A prostitute?” Hannibal finished, choosing a much nicer word than you would have.

You looked down. “Yeah. It just doesn’t seem all that appropriate.” 

Hannibal approached you and lifted your chin slightly to look into his eyes. “Many Christian denominations believe that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, yet she was Christ’s right-hand woman. She was first to see him crucified and first to witness his resurrection.” 

“Dr. Lecter,” You smirked. “I never would have taken you for a religious man.” 

“Goodness, no.” He shook his head. “But any reputable academic is expected to be familiar with biblical literature and its many contradictions and impossibilities.” 

“What does that have to do with me?”

“You are my divine feminine, Miss [L/N].” Hannibal said in a low whisper. “And I want everyone to see it. If they see a common whore, it would only be a reflection of their own jealousy.” 

Hannibal's rationalization almost made you forget about your fear of being noticed. Almost. It all came rushing back when you arrived at the event. Not one person your age was in attendance. The women wore long, flowing evening gowns that reached the floor. The length of your skirt alone guaranteed that all eyes were on you. In a simple black silk dress, you looked the very model of high society. Silk was a sign of luxury, and Hannibal wanted everyone to know that you were a woman of means. His woman, to be precise. That was why he brought you to these functions in the first place. To put you in a dress short enough for any wandering eyes so see the smattering of love bites running up your inner thighs. He wanted everyone in his field to know that you were completely and entirely his.

You realized too late that this was all his little exercise in showing you off.

Everyone seemed to know him. He only knew a handful of people by name, and you didn't know anyone.

"And who is this delightful young woman?" A woman with a light southern twang in her voice asked, looking at you as if you were a caged animal on display.

"I wasn't aware you had a daughter, Dr. Lecter." The young man beside her laughed. "Or is she your side piece?"

Your eyes scanned the room for the nearest exit. It would be unbecoming to make a scene, so you plotted a way to slip out quietly.

“Darling, meet Dr. Charlotte Ramset and her TA, David.” Hannibal introduced, notably ignoring the young man. “Dr. Ramset, this is my intended, [F/N] [L/N].”

"I didn't realize she was also a ventriloquist!" The lady, presumably Dr. Ramset, joked. You'd heard that one a million times. She looked at you. "Tell me about yourself, sweetie. What are you studying?"

The lady was old enough to be your grandmother and reeked of too much perfume.

"I graduated last year." You said, quietly. "With a BA in business."

"See, there's a good woman." David added. "Only speaks when spoken to. They don't make ’em like you anymore, baby."

Hannibal tightened his grip on your hand. "On the contrary, David. See, Miss [L/N] is quite a bit like myself. She only dignifies those she deems worthy with a response. There's nothing wrong with being selective."

The lady laughed at David's expense and smiled at you. "Good for you."

You smiled back just a little, not ready to bring your guard down yet. "I've had to deal with more than enough. It's best not to engage."

"Oh, I know, I know." The lady said, shaking her head. "That's how it is for us educated gals. Always having to put up with pigs. See, I went to college in the sixties, so I can tell you some real stories."

This was a new experience. Talking to Hannibal's friends and having them listen to you was something you never considered possible. Now, you were one of the educated gals. You were just about to strike up a conversation with this woman, when the man next to her decided someone desperately needed to play devil’s advocate.

“I find that sexist, actually.” He cut in. “Not all men are pigs.” 

The silence following his comment was deafening and you wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Whatever progress Hannibal and Dr. Ramset made breaking down your defenses was completely reversed and you were ready to retreat.

Dr. Ramset took a long sip of wine and adjusted her shawl. “David, none of us said anything about men, you drew that conclusion yourself.”

“I mean, look at you.” David gestured to your dress. You knew exactly where this was going and you wished you could just disappear. “You’re basically asking for it.” 

Dr. Ramset glared at him. “David, that’s enough.” 

“I’m just stating facts.” David crossed his arms. “If you dress like a slut, what do you expect?”

Dr. Ramset and Hannibal seemed to have an entire conversation through prolonged eye contact before one of them broke the silence. 

"Charlotte, I hate to have to excuse myself so soon, but the president of the university is expecting me." Hannibal said, dropping your hand. Your heart hit the floor when you realized that he would be throwing you to the wolves.

"Of course, Dr. Lecter." She nodded. "Duty calls."

"I trust you'll keep an eye on my beloved [F/N] in my absence?" His voice hardened. The severity in his tone frightened you.

Dr. Ramset didn't seem disturbed or even surprised in the slightest by his gently threatening demand. "Of course."

"Thank you. And [F/N]?" He said, pressing his lips to the back of your hand. "I won't be going far. Please, try to have fun."

You tried not to look affronted, but you were going to have a long talk with Hannibal when you got home. 

"I'm just saying what everyone is thinking." David continued, his inability to take a hint positively astounding. "Why don't you respect yourself enough to cover up, [F/N]? You have a boyfriend!"

Your eyes scrolled across the room looking for any sign of Hannibal, but he was gone. Dr. Ramset finished her wine and stared at her TA with the resigned disgust of a death row jailer.

"Any other thoughts?" She said, snatching a fresh glass of wine. You looked at her with a clear expression of discomfort.

"Come on, do you see any other woman in the room dressed so provocatively?" David's voice broke mid-sentence. "No. Because they're educated enough to know that real men don't care about their bodies."

The hotel clerk approached the group. "Mr. Hosmer, there's a call for you."

David narrowed his eyes. "Uh, what?"

"Someone is on the phone asking for you." The clerk repeated. "Says it's an emergency."

David shrugged. "Fine."

Just when you thought you would be rid of him, at least for a moment, he planted his hands on your hips in attempt to "get by" you. His touch was like that of an insect crawling across your skin; unexpected, filthy and leaving you squeamish.

"I'm so sorry about that." Dr. Ramset's words echoed in your ears, but you didn't really hear them. You were too focused on grounding yourself to process what she was saying. 

“Dr. Ramset?” You said, quietly. “Which one is the president of the university?” 

She glanced at a tall woman in a dark blue suit, surrounded by equally important looking businesspeople. You followed her eyes. “That’s Dr. Mary Hosmer.”

Your ounce of righteous fury was squelched in two seconds when the reality of having to talk to someone, especially someone of stature, set in. You looked sheepishly back at Dr. Ramset. 

“Could you please ask her where Hannibal went?” You whispered. “I’d really like him to take me home now.” 

Her face turned sympathetic. “Of course, [F/N]. Stay right there.” 

You nodded. “Thank you.” 

Dr. Ramset crossed the floor and politely greeted the president. You took a few slow, calculated steps closer, just to get in earshot.

“Pardon me, but, have you seen Dr. Hannibal Lecter?” Dr. Ramset said, casually. 

“I wasn’t aware Hannibal had even arrived yet.” The president answered. “I haven’t seen him.” 

Your eyes widened. You fought the urge to freeze, but you had to move back before Dr. Ramset knew you’d been eavesdropping. You heard everything you needed and rushed back to where she’d left you.

“Dr. Hosmer said he stepped out.” She told you upon her return. “He should be back soon.” 

You tried not to show that you knew she was lying. “...oh.” 

“Would you like me to stay with you until he comes back?” 

You knew you were completely on your own. You didn’t know what was going on, but you had an inkling that it had to do with the president and David sharing a last name. All you knew for certain was that you couldn’t trust anybody. 

“Don’t bother.” You shook your head. You took off for the door, but Dr. Ramset grabbed your wrist. 

“I’m sorry, [F/N].” Her voice dropped to a low whisper. She didn’t look mad, but afraid. “But Dr. Lecter told me to stay with you. Please. Don’t make this harder for me.”

You recalled how seriously threatening Hannibal’s request was. She wasn’t answering to the president of the university. She was answering to Hannibal. You didn’t know whether to be scared or relieved. 

“Right.” You conceded, stepping back in. “I’m sorry.” 

The actual award ceremony was much longer than it needed to be, and it dragged on even longer knowing there was no reason for you to be there. Other than that, you awkwardly followed Dr. Ramset around the party like a lost puppy the whole time. You were back to your original plan: blend in, be quiet and make it through the night. 

Just when you thought the party would never end, someone tapped you on the arm. You turned around, hoping with every fiber of your being that it was Hannibal, but it wasn’t. A tall woman in a dark blue suit stared back at you. 

“I’m sorry to bother you, miss.” She said, apologetically. “But have you seen my son? I saw him talking to you and Dr. Charlotte earlier, perhaps he told you where he was going?” 

You’d pushed that man completely out of your mind. You shook your head. “He left to take a phone call and I haven’t seen him since.” 

A hand found your shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Dr. Hosmer, but I believe I saw the boy on his phone out in the lobby.” 

“Dr. Lecter!” The president’s eyes widened. “How nice of you to finally join us.” 

“...Yes, I believe he left right after making unwarranted comments towards my intended here.” Hannibal ran his hand down your arm lovingly. 

“Well, boys will be boys.” The president chuckled. “Maybe you should teach your girlfriend not to wear such revealing clothes.” 

Hannibal smiled and pulled you in protectively. “Whatever the case, I hope you find him very soon.” 

Her phone chimed in her back pocket. “Oh, that’s him right now.” 

“Wonderful.” Hannibal said. “[F/N] and I will be taking our leave.” 

He hurried you towards the door, his hand tight around yours. A blood-curdling scream came from behind you. You looked back for just a moment and found the president hollering in pain and falling to her knees. 

“Let’s go, darling.” Hannibal tugged at your arm. “They don’t deserve your presence.” 

“Hannibal, I swear.” You said, once you were in the safety of the car. “If you killed every man who looked at me like a piece of meat, sooner or later, there won’t be any men left.” 

Hannibal smirked and reached for his seatbelt. “Wonderful.” 

[nicki-flemings-curls]

You know what. Random rant time. I’m salty we don’t get AG movies anymore. There are some Goty dolls I so wish we could’ve gotten movies for (including ones that predate the Goty movies we did get. Actually a lot of them), and some of the historicals (cough Rebecca cough) really deserved a movie.

So here are my thoughts on who didn’t get a movie that I think deserves one, in no particular order:

1. Rebecca: look we deserve it. Especially with the emphasis most of the historical movies have on Christmas, I would have loved to see Rebecca getting to go to the movie studio, Rebecca up on a crate at the protest reading out the letter, ending it on Hanukkah the way that most of the movies end on Christmas. We could’ve had it all. I would have loved a Rebecca movie.

2. Addy. Look I’m partially glad they didn’t because I straight up don’t wanna think about how badly they could’ve messed up addys story without a lot of extra effort put into making it translate well. But on the other hand, the scene when Addy leaves the church puppet show on Christmas Eve makes me tear up just thinking about it, so like I would’ve loved to see it in a movie.

3. Jess. Need I say more? She was the original going on a big trip girl, but it was cool and fun when she got to go on a work trip with her parents.

4. Cecile and Marie-Grace. The masquerade, the high stakes of the people they care about being sick, New Orleans, it would’ve been great in my opinion. They deserved better than they got and this is a part of it too. Also I hate the art style in their books and wish I had another mental image for them. Don’t get me wrong if they were to immediately bring them back right this second, I would not want a movie about their story for a while Bc I like everyone else am very sick of hearing about epidemics.

5. Caroline. Everyone who complains about her story being boring without ever reading it would realize how wrong they are. Caroline has such a cool story and I would’ve loved to see any of the scenes on a boat, watch her help her father escape, or watch her and her mom run the shipyard in her fathers absence. I would’ve loved her movie.

6. Lanie. Poor Lanie got the short end of the stick. Right inbetween 2 girls who got movies. I know her story was a lot lower stakes than some of the other Goty dolls but her storyline is so sweet and I would’ve loved to see it play out.

7. Gabriela. She also got the short end of the stick on not getting a movie when everyone before her did for like 5 years, but that’s what happens when AG decided last minute to change story like they did. But a story with a girl with a stutter on screen, and the emphasis on saving the arts? Could’ve been amazing.

8. Mia. I love ice skating movies ok. Plus her family was so fun and colorful. And the scene where she’s skating in the mascot costume is hilarious.

9. Marisol. Her story was also lower stakes, but moving is hard. Also her story had a lot of really fun characters that I could see translating to the screen well. Maybe if we got a movie we also would’ve gotten a Ballet Folklorico outfit too.

10. Joss. ON SCREEN ASL. Joss helping out the other cheer team at the competition. All the surfing. Again. I wish we had gotten that.

Honorable mentions:

Kirsten. I like little house on the prairie but since they’ve decided to ignore Kirsten I guess it could never be in the cards.

Tenney. Homegirl (allegedly) had a movie started and then AG abandoned it when they decided to switch to Gabriela. I’m glad they didn’t finish it and overshadow Gabriela more. But like it’s still a shame.

Lindsey. Considering Lindsey just makes problems all the time it would’ve been a hilarious movie. A Bar Mitzvah food fight would be incredible.

Nicki. Again a lower stakes movie, but it would’ve been so pretty and I love how her story really does focus on a lot of everyday struggles.

[soulmate-game]

Useful Part 2

fluff with a little hurt and comfort. If you want answers as to the lack of angst, look through my recent posts for an explanation. 

—* — * — * —* —* 

“Wait, you have a WHAT?” were the first words that the rest of the Gotham-based vigilantes heard when they finally were able to track down where Damian had gone. Dick looked over at Bruce, who was noticeably tense. No surprise there, the man had just found out that he had a second biological child. One who was apparently a superhero already, without his intervention, and also apparently had a tragic background in the League of fucking Assassin Assholes. Not to mention that Damian’s track record with meeting siblings wasn’t great, even if this one wasn’t actually new to him. Nobody had any real fear of Damian relapsing on his no-kill rule, they knew he had matured far too much to be at risk of killing for something as immature as sibling rivalry anymore. 

But there was still fear. Because this new Wayne was an Unknown Factor, and as a rule the Bats hated Unknown Factors. And they had no idea what the relationship between the two had been before they had been separated, or what it would become now. 

“That wasn’t Damian’s voice,” Dick helpfully pointed out the obvious. Bruce only frowned, doing his best (and failing) to hide his anxiety about what they would find. Silently, the group inched forward to the edge of the abandoned building they were on top of so that they could look over at what was happening. What they saw was a girl, presumably the same one who had been in a ladybug onesie and had fearlessly begun to ask them to leave Paris— until she had laid proper eyes on Robin and fled, that was. That girl was sitting down next to an unmasked Damian, who had his arm around her shoulders and let her lean into his side. He even smirked cheerfully at her question before continuing to speak to her. 

“A dragon-bat. I knew you’d love hearing about him, I’ll introduce you when you come visit the Batcave. His name is Goliath,” Damian admitted smugly. Despite the familiar attitude and pride behind his words though, his spying family couldn’t help but notice that he kept periodically rubbing the girl’s (they really needed to find out her name) shoulder in reassurance. None of them missed the tear tracks on both of their faces, or how red the girl’s eyes were. Clearly they had missed something big. 

But nobody wanted to try to figure that out yet. This scene was too precious, too breathtaking for them to interrupt just yet. They had never seen Damian this vulnerable around someone outside of their little circle before, someone from the Time Before Bruce, no less. Most of the time, only Nightwing was able to see this side to Damian. And usually the roles were reversed, with Damian being the one consoled. They had never seen him in the position of the comforter before. The pillar of support. 

It really cemented just how far he had come. 

So they watched silently as the girl flinched, pulling away a bit and hunching in on herself. The laugh she let out was small and overflowing with self-degradation. 

“You make it sound as if the rest of your family actually wants me to visit,” she replied sourly. Damian gently cuffed her over the head, frowning. 

“Two things,” he held up two fingers from his free hand. “One: They will. They accepted me, and I was— well, you remember how I used to be. Once they actually meet you, and process the fact that there’s another Wayne now, they will bombard you with more welcoming than you will know what to do with. Two: It’s Our family, Marinette. Not mine, ours.”

Well, at least they had a name now. But it seems like they had bigger issues now, like Marinette’s clearly damaged sense of self. Jason and Tim traded knowing glances; it wasn’t hard for them to guess where, or how, she might have been damaged enough to think so lowly of herself. 

They watched as Marinette shook her head. 

“I don’t know. It’s one thing to try to… to get to know you again. We used to be close before… everything,” she haltingly argued, voice small and frail and uncertain. But she never once looked away from Damian’s eyes, trying to convey as best as she could what she was feeling. “But they’re different. They don’t have any reason to trust or like me, Dami. And I’m bad at, well everything, but especially,” she waved her hands frantically as if indicating the whole situation they were in. “I mean, listen to me! I can barely articulate right now, and I’m talking to someone I’ve known my whole life! I’m a mess. Nobody wants a mess.” 

It was Damian’s turn to snort, and he pulled her right back into his side. “Please. If anything, that’s exactly the type of child Father goes looking for. We’re all a mess. Especially Father, trust me.” 

“You’re just trying to make me feel better,” she accused suspiciously, but sank into his sideways embrace anyway. Damian chuckled. 

“No, I’m being honest. He’s terrible at emotions, not that I really have much room to talk. We all are pretty bad with them. But he’s the most obvious when it comes to that issue,” Damian smirked over at his sister conspiratorially. “For example. He still tries to tell people that he works alone, and pushes people away because he has this intense desire to protect, but doesn’t know how to say “I don’t want you to get hurt, stop worrying me,” so instead he says “Go away, I don’t need you,” only for us to see through that nonsense and remind him that the amount of people in his team is in the double digits already. He doesn’t want to admit he cares about us and is vulnerable—”

“Sounds familiar,” Marinette teased with a watery grin, startling a short laugh from her twin. He nudged her a little roughly (but not to roughly) and playfully glared at her. Marinette just giggled.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he lied with a grin before waving his free hand in dismissal. “Anyway. Another example. He has no idea how to tell a stranger, “hey, I’m your father and I will not reject you. In fact, I’m completely willing to adopt you right this moment and whisk you away to Gotham and relative safety and hire an entire team of therapists to help you and buy you half the world if you asked for it,” so instead he and the rest of our emotionally constipated family just lurks on the edge of a building in broad daylight eavesdropping on us and expects us not to notice.” 

“Wait what,” Marinette’s gaze instantly whipped up towards the sky, taking only half a second to locate the aforementioned eavesdroppers. Everyone except Bruce at least had the courtesy to duck down and pretend not to be there when they noticed she had seen them, leaving Batman standing seemingly alone on the concrete roof. Marinette blinked once. Twice. Then turned to Damian. “I’m gonna blame the fact that I didn’t notice them on emotional turmoil, because there is no way I’ve gotten THAT rusty.” 

Damian smiled, but didn’t laugh. He knew that was a deflection to try and distract from Marinette’s quickly resurging self-consciousness. Her hands were already trembling again, and the fear from only minutes ago had resurfaced. The insecurity. He could practically see the words “I’m not good enough,” written in her irises. 

“You’ll be fine,” he whispered, standing up and pulling her with him. “If anyone has to worry here, it’s me.” 

“What the hell are you talking about?” Marinette whisper-hissed right back, eyes wide in disbelief and confusion. “You’re— You! Mister Perfect!” 

Damian rolled his eyes, and his self-deprecating smirk matched the laugh Marinette had given just a few minutes earlier. “For the League, maybe,” he shrugged. “Never the Wayne family. Which is why I know you’ll be fine. If they put up with everything I’ve done and still call me one of them, they’ll accept you with barely a second thought.” 

Marinette’s next argument was cut off by the sound of a dozen soft footfalls stirring up dirt not far ahead of them. The BatClan had landed from the rooftop. 

Marinette gulped. 

But if there was one thing— one thing she still remembered from her days as Marie Al-Ghul, it was how to fake pride and confidence. She straightened her shoulders automatically, lifted her chin, and pulled away from Damian’s supporting arm around her shoulder. Damian let her. 

A little bit of old resentment flared up in him as he saw Batman walk up close enough to comfortably talk with them. Resentment that he no longer held onto, but that had haunted him nearly every night of the first two years he spent with his dad. The realization that maybe his twin was the one that was meant to be a Wayne. Marie had the blue eyes, the compassion, the more specifically detective-oriented mind. The calm head. Sometimes. Marie was exactly who he imagined when he thought of a naturally born member of the BatClan. Stubborn, clever, morally just. She had risked immediate death just because she refused to fight him, for crying out loud. Because she didn’t want to hurt the boy who used to be her best friend. The only ally she had ever had, growing up. 

Meanwhile, he still had issues reigning in his anger sometimes. He had too much blood on his hands, he was more of a battlefield tactician than a long-term strategist. Still stubborn, but also completely unaware of the pain he brought others with his words or actions a lot of the time. He used to be such a rage fueled little demon, and thinking about how his sister fit the classic Wayne outline more thoroughly than he did had made him destroy more than a few practice dummies in frustration. 

But now, looking at Marinette trying so hard to appear strong and proud when he knew she was still so shattered inside, relief overpowered the old and dull resentment. This was what she needed, he could sense that easily. She, just like him all those years ago, needed Bruce and the others to start to heal her and reforge what the League had badly molded. 

“... Marinette, I suppose?” Damian nearly facepalmed at his father’s awkward attempt at a conversation starter. Marinette herself was clearly too keyed up and overthinking things to even register any amusement at the lame attempt, merely nodding with an overly serious expression on her face. 

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Monsieur Wayne. Or that’s my name nowadays, that is,” She stumbled a little in her response before clenching her fists and forcing herself to continue as calmly as she could muster up. “My birth name was Marie Al-Ghul.” 

Bruce’s eyebrows visibly furrowed underneath his cowl. “Was?” 

“I…” Marinette finally looked away, shame creeping back onto her face. “I was explicitly told that I was stripped of the Al-Ghul name and would be killed if I ever dared lay claim to it again. So I not-so-legally changed it. And I was later adopted.” 

Several sharp gasps or the hiss of breath through teeth bit through the quiet breeze. Nobody was necessarily surprised, Marinette could see it when she looked through her eyelashes and examined the winces and sympathy on the faces of the vigilantes before her. Batman’s shoulders were stiff, as if someone had paralyzed only his shoulder blades. 

“And the people who adopted you?” Batman pursued. Marinette couldn’t read his tone very well, but it sounded vaguely angry so she quickly raised her hands in a placating gesture and her eyes widened significantly. 

“They’ve been amazing! They don’t know anything about my past, or who raised me, but they are endlessly patient with me. I mean, honestly! Sabine caught me when I was trying to steal one of her gold bracelets in Hong Kong— and I know I’ve never been as good of a combatant as Dami, but I’ve always been better at sleight of hand and stealth so honestly that’s impressive— and she saw my dirty eight-year-old face and for some reason decided, ‘yeah I want this one as my daughter’ and roped Tom right into it and next thing I know they somehow tailed me to my hideout? I still don’t know how the hell they managed that, but Tom had a huge plate of steaming buns and I was so hungry and suddenly it’s two years later and I’m adopted and we’re on a plane to Paris—” Marinette threw up her hands. “I still don’t fully grasp what happened sometimes.” 

She belatedly seemed to realize that she had just gone on an entire breathless rant at the speed of sound, and slapped her hands over her mouth before lunging into a deep bow. “I apologize! I spoke horridly out of turn!” 

To her surprise though, she was met with a soft laugh instead of a scolding. She jerked in surprise, whipping her head up only to see Batman holding a hand over his chin to hide his large grin. It only took another second for the boys behind him to laugh a lot LESS softly. Nightwing strolled over casually and swung an arm around both her and Damian’s shoulders, playfully nudging her brother with his knee. 

“I think she fits right in, don’t you little D?” 

“Of course,” Damian scoffed, though his eyes were playful. “She is a Wayne by blood. She ‘fits in’ more than you strays.” 

“Dami!” Marinette whipped back to him and puffed out her cheeks. “That was uncalled for!” she barked. Damian held his hands up in surrender. 

“Relax,” he said as soothingly as he could manage. “They know I’m joking,” he dropped his hands and a knowing smirk took over his face. “And besides, now you’re relaxed so my plan worked,” Marinette could only blink at that. She… did feel more relaxed, actually. “Also. I told you you’d be accepted easily. They already consider you one of us.” 

“Wha— there’s no way—” she frantically looked at each of the older men around her, but each of them just shot her a smile or grin and a short nod. Her shoulders and jaw both fell, and it broke a little of everyone’s heart. 

Marinette looked so utterly shocked, bewildered to be accepted as if it was still something profoundly foreign to her. And there was that disbelief in her eyes, that distrust that screamed that she expected some sort of lie here. That told that she thought this would all crumble away at any second. If anyone had any reservations about bringing her into their inner circles, it vanished right that moment. She needed support, or she’d crumble away and they all knew it. 

“How about we start by talking about the situation with Hawkmoth?” Red Robin spoke up, walking forward to stand beside Batman. “I assume that’s a little more in your element?” 

Damian silently vowed to thank Tim later for that. In a silent, completely anonymous way of course. Couldn’t have Tim thinking they were friends or something now, could he? Marinette instantly straightened up and nodded, her confidence returning with a little more sincerity this time. 

“Yeah. Yeah, let me transform again. It’ll be easier to explain.” 

—*—*—*—*—*

It was three weeks later, on Marinette’s third now-weekly visit to the Batcave, when the question finally came up. Jason had asked to spar with Marinette for the first time, having seen her in action as Ladybug and wanting to test the girl when she didn’t have superpowers to rely on. Damian hadn’t been down in the cave to warn him, and the result was Jason’s gut sinking as Marinette scrambled as far away from him as she could, eyes wide and chest heaving in the beginnings of a panic attack. 

“Shit,” Jason muttered before he quickly knelt down and did his best to talk her down, to calm her until her breathing slowed and her pupils were back to normal. It wasn’t long afterwards that Marinette started hugging herself, refusing to look at him. But he wasn’t going to just back down, he wanted to solve this issue. If even the mere suggestion of a spar was enough to set her off, he needed to figure out why and fix it. 

So he carefully lowered himself so he was sitting only a foot away from her, resting his arms across his knees casually. 

“Sorry,” he apologized. “Didn’t think it would be a sore subject. That’s on me.” 

Marinette just shrugged, but didn’t answer him. She just buried her face in her arms and took a shaky breath. 

Jason let the silence linger for a while before trying again. “Does this have to do with certain Asshole Assassins?” 

That startled a slightly hysterical bark of laughter from her, and she had to wipe away a few tears when she raised her head and finally turned it in his direction slightly. Not enough for her to be looking at him,  but just a subtle turn to show that she was listening and speaking to him. “Yeah.” 

“You know, you never told us why you got disowned,” Jason tried to make his words as casual as possible, but wasn’t surprised when Marinette still stiffened and took a sharp breath. He didn’t push. The stage was set, and he’d wait until either she took the opportunity to open up or told him to leave well enough alone. Her tongue flicked out to wet her lips, and her foot tapped on the ground a bit. Clear signs of her anxiety around the subject, and Jason’s hopes vanished a little. He would probably have to wait longer for her to be ready to share.

But, to his pleasant surprise, he was wrong. She took another few minutes to gather her thoughts, but she did eventually open up to him. 

“I refused to fight Damian,” she admitted. “It was… We were seven. It wasn’t supposed to be a fight to the death, but it was a very important spar. We were using live weaponry, and we were told to fight until we couldn’t anymore. Whoever fell first would be relegated as a mere soldier, and have to fight for status like any other assassin in the League. The winner would officially be named as G— as Ra’s Heir. I didn’t want to fight, because I knew Damian would win but I also knew that it wouldn’t be as easy as Ra’s probably expected if I gave it my all like he wanted. I knew both Damian and I would be heavily injured if I did as he asked, and it wouldn’t be worth it. If I misjudged anything, any single hit, I could have accidentally injured Damian permanently and ruined his worth in Ra’s eyes, and that wasn’t an option. I didn’t care that throwing the fight was as good as giving up my life, because at least I could be sure that Damian kept his. I could make sure that he was treated well, or as well as anyone could hope for in the League anyway. I could, with only a few words, make sure he became indispensable. Ra’s and Talia never liked me as much as Damian anyway, I figured… I figured it was nobody’s loss,” She swallowed heavily, clenching her eyes shut. “I was always just the spare. The extra. Damian was their crown prince, the one with actual value. Even to me. I saw him, and I saw everything I wanted to be. I… I tossed down my weapons and let him stab me, because I figured I owed it to him for being such a failure in comparison to him. That I owed it to him to do everything I could to make things easier for him, since I was just an unnecessary obstacle—” strong arms wrapped around her, and she turned to sob into Jason’s chest as he just silently held her. 

“Idiot,” Damian whispered, making Marinette jump. Her twin sat only a few feet away, though only Jason would have known when exactly he had gotten there with them. He shook his head at her. “I never would have gotten as far as I did without you,” he whispered, looking up at the cave ceiling. “You were the only real rival I had. When you left, everything was either too easy or nearly impossible, nothing was the same as trying my best against someone who was just as good as me. And when I got here and met the others, I didn’t think any of them were worthy of taking your position, you know,” he scoffed a bit as he got lost in his memories. “That’s why I hated Tim for so long, I think. He reminded me of you so much that I wanted nothing more than to punch him for daring to replace you—”

“Heh, the Replacement twice over, huh?” Jason joked. Damian chuckled with a small eye roll. 

“Plus, he just has a really punchable face,” Damian added, trying to distract from the emotion behind everything he had just admitted. “Part of me thought you were dead. The other part refused to believe that. And seeing Tim and how some of his mannerisms were the same as yours,” Damian shrugged a little. “It stung. Especially that second year, when I started to regret that you never had the chance to come here and join them with me. Meet them with me.” 

Marinette sniffled. “... Who are you and what have you done with Dami? He’s never this sappy.” 

Damian flicked a pebble at her head with a good natured glare, successfully diffusing the serious air a little. Marinette wouldn’t ever be normal, and it would take a while before she was no longer fragile, but she could get there. Especially now that her bridges with her brother had been mended, and and a whole new family had cropped up to help support her. 

She was glad Damian had convinced her to try, again.  

[marauderundercover]

This Side of Normal Chapter Four

Previous

AO3

Technically, it was an accident. Well, more than technically. It was definitely a legitimate accident that Jason figured out their secret identities only a month after meeting them. Chat Noir’s should’ve been the easiest, given the fact that he saw the boy on nearly every billboard in Paris. However, it wasn’t the billboards that gave it away. It wasn’t even the ungodly number of times the kid’s perfume ad came on the tv. No, it was the shocked “Jason” that the boy spluttered out when he bumped into him in front of the school. Without a mask. Yeah. Not subtle at all. Ladybug’s just fell into place after that. What with the tiny dark-haired girl shooting him worried glances as she patted Chat’s back. Chat Noir. Adrien Agreste. Agreste. Gabriel Agreste. Hawkmoth- fuck. That’s why the kid seemed so down every time they worked on a plan to prove Gabriel was Hawkmoth. Shit. Well that settles it. Hawkmoth was going down, and he was going down soon. The kids could handle themselves, and with Jason willing to fight with them...Gabriel won’t know what hit him. 

----

“Oh god. Oh god. I messed up. He’s not gonna help us anymore and I messed up and-” Adrien rambles, a panicked expression taking over his face. 

“Adrien, it’s okay. Please breathe, it’s okay.” Marinette says lowly, gently rubbing his back. 

“He knows who Hawkmoth is, Mari. He’s gonna think I’m a bad guy too.” Adrien whispers, his eyes filling with tears. Marinette’s heart breaks as she looks at her best friend and the crushed look on his face. 

“Jason’s a good guy. He’s always making sure we eat enough and take care of our injuries, and he always asks if we’re getting enough sleep. He’s like….he’s like our big brother. He’s not going to abandon us just because he knows your dad is a major jerk.” Marinette says matter-of-factly. Adrien frowns, but nods. 

“What do we do?” He asks. Marinette scrunches her eyebrows, not understanding the question. “I mean, what do we do about him knowing? Do we ask him to leave Paris? Or do we just act like we don’t know that he knows who we are?” 

“I think we wait, see if he brings it up. I trust him, Adrien. I know that we haven’t known him for long, but he’s always had our best interest in mind. He cares about us, and as much as it hurts to say, I think he cares more than Master Fu did.” 

“Why do I feel like everything’s gonna change?” Adrien asks, his voice small as he curls in on himself. 

“Because it is. But it’s not necessarily a bad change.” Marinette says, hoping her voice sounds cheerier than she feels. She’s also felt the shift coming for awhile, felt the way the air seemed to spark with energy. Adrien frowns again and Marinette wraps him in a hug, knowing that no matter how good the change would be for the majority of Paris, her best friend would be hurt. He would suffer, and there was nothing that she could do to take away all of the hurt that is sure to come. No matter how badly she wanted to. 

----

Jason paced the length of the roof, trying to figure out a way to broach the subject of identities with the kids. He didn’t want them to stop trusting him, but he also didn’t want them to feel like they <i>had<i> to confirm it. He also really didn’t want them to ask him to leave. How was he supposed to be there for them if he wasn’t allowed to <i>be<i> there? Thinking back to earlier this afternoon, Jason huffs in annoyance when he remembers how young both of them looked. Three years. For three goddamned years these kids had fought something bigger than themselves, and they had done so alone. Alone, with no one but other kids to help until even that was taken away from them. Taking a few shaky breaths, Jason tries to calm himself. There’s no way in hell he’s gonna let himself be controlled by some asshole in a butterfly costume. No way he’ll let that asshole use him against those kids. Someone clearing their throat makes Jason’s eyes shoot open as he looks over where he heard the noise. He grins, hoping the kid isn’t overthinking too much.

“Chat may be a little late tonight. He got caught up with something in his civilian life.” Ladybug says, dressed in her usual training clothes and domino mask, her arms wrapped around herself like she’s trying to hold herself together. 

“You okay Pixie Pop?” Jason asks, frowning. She purses her lips and Jason can tell she’s weighing how much she should say. Taking a chance, Jason says “I saw you guys today.” The girl sucks in a deep breath and nods. 

“Yeah, yeah I know.” She says, and Jason gives her a minute to collect herself and decide if she wants to say anything else about it. “How much do you know? I know you saw us, but…”

“I know his name. And I know what you look like behind a mask.” Jason says, and the girl nods before she starts pacing. 

“I trust you, Jason. I really do. And I told Chat that it would be okay and that you care about us, but if there’s even a small chance of you being akumatized you’ve gotta go because even though I trust you, I can’t risk my identity and his identity and I’m sure you understand that. Especially with who we think Hawkmoth is because it’s already bad but if he found out it would be even more bad and now Chat is worried that you’ll hate him because of you know, everything, and that’s why he’s not here yet because he’s scared that you’ll look at him differently and-” Ladybug rants, stopping as Jason kneels down to be eye level with her. 

“Hey Pix, I’m gonna need you to breathe okay. I told you that I would help you guys, and I’m not gonna leave just because Chat Noir got the short end of the stick. I don’t hate him, and I’m sure as hell not gonna let myself be akumatized. I’m here for you, both of you. And I’m not gonna let some jackass in a butterfly costume chase me off from helping you guys.” He says, talking in the voice he used when he was talking to street kids as Red Hood. The voice that was meant to be calming, but not patronizing. The voice that was laced with concern, and the reassurance that whoever he was talking to didn’t have to run away. That they were safe. 

“You’re really not gonna leave?” She asks in a small voice. Jason shakes his head. 

“No, I’m here. And I’m not just gonna ditch you guys. If anything, finding out who he is just made me wanna get this done quicker. Get him outta that house.” Jason says, and Ladybug nods. 

“Did you- did you want to know my name?” She asks, and Jason instantly sees the worry in her posture. She’ll tell him, but he can tell that she doesn’t want to. At all. Not that he blames her. A lot sits on her shoulders. Jason shakes his head. 

“You can tell me after, if you want. But you don’t have to say anything now, okay Pixie?” Jason smiles softly as Ladybug’s shoulders instantly relax. She grins and pulls out her phone, probably to tell Chat Noir that it’s safe for him to come. The two wait in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before a soft thud announces the kid’s arrival. 

“Hi Jay.” The boy says quietly, curled in on himself as he obviously prepares to be yelled at. 

“Hey kiddo. I’m not mad at you, you know that, right?” Jason asks, making sure to keep his body language relaxed despite how much he wants to go and beat the shit out of Gabriel Agreste. 

“You don’t think I’m a monster?” Chat asks, and Jason shakes his head. 

“I’ve met monsters, kid. And you’re sure as hell not one.” He says. 

“But my father-”

“I don’t give a damn about that piece of shit. You’re not him. You’re the kid who thought he could fit twelve marshmallows in his mouth. You’re the kid who cheers on LB no matter what. You’re the kid who makes god awful jokes, seriously the only one with worse jokes is my brother. You’re the kid who stepped up and helped to protect Paris when no one else would. You’re a lot of things, but you’re not your father and you’re definitely not a monster.” Jason says. Chat- no, Adrien lets out a choked sob and rushes forward, wrapping his arms around him. Jason freezes for a minute, before wrapping his arms around the kid, watching for butterflies. It’d be just their luck for Gabriel to akumatize Adrien when he was finally letting himself cry. Jason glanced over at LB, noting that she was also watching the skies. After a few minutes, Adrien’s cries slow down to sniffles before he takes a step back, his cheeks bright red under his mask. 

“Uh, I- um, sorry about that.” He apologizes, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. 

“Don’t worry about it kid. What’re big brothers for?” Jason asks with a cheeky smirk. He snorts when he sees the kids’ eyebrows shoot up in surprise. 

“Did Buginette tell you about that?” Adrien asks, and this time it’s Jason’s turn for his eyebrows to shoot up. He glanced over at Ladybug, surprised to see her entire face bright red. 

“I er, um, no I didn’t.” She stammers out, looking everywhere but at Jason. 

“Tell me what?” Jason asks, still confused why the two were acting so weird. 

“Well, I, um, you see-” Adrien cuts off Ladybug. 

“She says you're our big brother.” Adrien says with a grin. Jason’s confused face is instantly replaced with a wide grin. 

“Well of course I am.” Jason says, unable to wipe the grin off his face. Jason snorted at the thought that Bruce was gonna have to get two more rooms ready at the manor (it was safer than Jason’s apartment and he was not about to put these two in any more danger than they’ve already been in for three years). 

“So big bro,” Adrien starts, his wide grin still stretched across his face. “What’s the plan?”

“We’re gonna get Hawkmoth’s miraculous. Tonight.”

Next

Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist. 

Taglist: @laurcad123

[booksarelife-stuff]

Handprints on my Soul

When Lily sees that mark that shows her soulmate has touched her; Lily, her best friend, and an unlikely ally go on the hunt to find her soulmate.

My entry for the Idiots to Lovers July Jily Challenge! @jilychallenge

My partner is @quietlycharmed

Prompt:  we never touch each other so when you patted my arm lightheartedly, i literally think my heart leapt out of my chest and danced. please do that again.

I didn’t quite follow the prompt, but I really loved the idea of touch being the thing that makes them admit their feelings. I thought this Soulmate AU would be perfect!

Word Count: 2,946

Read on AO3        Masterlist

Lily trudged up the stairs to the girl’s dormitory. Patrols had been long tonight and she and James still had about fifty detention slips to fill out from the Hufflepuff party they busted. Lily had been willing to go to their office and fill them out, but James insisted she go back to the tower to get some rest.

She put up a fight, but she knew that when James got into his motherhen mode, there was no hope for winning. Lily found that hopelessly enduring and a little attractive but she refused to admit that.

The 7th year Gryffindor girls’ dormitory was quiet as Lily stepped in. She waved at Mary, who was reading one of her Muggle bodice ripper romances by the light of her little bedside lamp, with her curls tied up with a silk scarf. She waved absentmindedly back at Lily, only sparing a quick glance. Lily could hear Marlene’s soft snores from Dorcas’s bed.

Lily went to her bed across from Mary, pulling out her night things and quickly pulling her heavy uniform jumper off. She unbuttoned her white button-up and took it off quickly. Just as she went to undo her bra, she caught a flash of something on her arm.

On her arm was a handprint. Inky black against her pale skin. Bigger than her own hand by a lot.

Her soulmate had touched her today.

She had no idea who her soulmate was.

Lily stood frozen beside her bed as she stared at her right arm, eyes wide in shock.

“Everything okay, Lily?” Mary whispered loudly from her bed. Lily said nothing, she didn’t think she could even find the right words to say.

She heard Mary’s sigh, her getting out of bed, and then her quiet footsteps across the room. Then the gasp.

Mary clapped her hand over the mouth, stifling a scream.

“You found your soulmate!” Mary whispered, excitedly. “Who is it?”

Lily looked up at her best friend in alarm. “I have no idea.”

Mary made a face, her mouth twisting into a frown.

“Well, who touched your right arm today?” Mary prodded.

Lily thought hard, trying to remember. It was hard not to get jostled in the corridors, but she didn’t think anyone would have touched her enough for a full-on handprint to appear on her arm.

Mary gasped.

“Remus! He patted your arm at breakfast!” Mary whispered. Lily cringed. She had nothing against the lanky werewolf, but besides a small crush in third year that quickly got stomped out, she had no romantic feelings for him.  

“But he’s already paired with Sirius!” Lily pointed out. “And Remus is like a brother.”

“It’s a place to start,” Mary said. “Put on a shirt. We’re storming up to the boy’s dormitory.”

Mary’s deep brown eyes had their determined look to them. Lily wanted to argue, but she knew she could rest better if she found out about Remus right now. Lily forwent her uniform and changed into her sleep shorts and one of her dad’s old jumpers.

She followed Mary out of the dorm, pulling her hair out from where it was caught underneath the jumper. Just as they hit the bottom of the stairs, they heard muffled laughter. Then a bark that was absolutely Sirius Black.

They wordlessly abandoned their course for the boys' dormitory and stepped into the common room, just to see Remus and Sirius start-up their snogging again.

Lily’s stomach filled with dread. She really did not want Remus as a soulmate, especially with how happy Sirius and Remus were.

“Oi! Boys!” Mary yelled, making the snogging couple jump a few feet in the air.

“Merlin MacDonald!” Sirius said, getting off the couch. He glared at the girls. “We aren’t breaking curfew!”

“We don’t care about that,” Mary said, putting her hands on her hips. “We have a… situation that needs to be taken care of.”

Sirius’s dark eyebrows shot up and he exchanged a wordless glance with Remus, who shrugged in return.

“What is it?” Sirius asked, crossing his arms. Mary turned to Lily, who took a deep breath.

She rolled up her sleeve and showed off the large handprint on her right arm.

“This happened, and uh… I need to find out who it is,” she said.

“And you need our help?” Sirius asked, eyeing the large handprint with interest.

Remus gasped.

“I grabbed your arm at breakfast,” Remus whispered, staring wide-eyed at Lily’s arm.

Sirius stilled instantly.

“But Remus is already paired with me,” he said quietly. Dangerously.

“Well, it wouldn’t be reciprocated then, would it?” Lily said, trying to pacify Black.

“We just need to see if it’s him,” Mary said diplomatically.

“And I don’t want Remus as a soulmate,” Lily said. She then grimaced. “No offense.”

Remus gave a small smile. “No, I know.”

“Well, let’s see then—” Sirius gestured between Remus and Lily. “—compare them.”

Lily stepped towards Remus as he turned on the couch. Lily gave a sad smile towards Remus, who looked more anxious than she felt.

He placed his hand on Lily’s arm. His slender fingers were too long and too skinny to match the handprint. It was definitely not Remus’s handprint.

All four breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank Merlin,” Sirius said, back to his normal self. “I never learned how to share. It would have been a trying experience for all involved.”

Lily laughed, the idea of having Remus as a soulmate seemed so absurd now that it was proven he was not.

“There would be more problems than that,” Remus added, turning back towards Lily. “As lovely as you are, I still much prefer men.”

Lily waved him off with a laugh.

Mary, who had been quiet, crossed her arms and strode next to Sirius.

“We still don’t know who it is though!” she pointed out. “We have to find them!”

“We can do that tomorrow,” Lily said, looking at her best friend's pleading stare. “It’s past curfew.”

“I agree with MacDonald,” Sirius said, bumping the girl with his shoulders lightly. “I won’t be able to sleep until we find out who has laid a hand on our dear Evans.”

“Did anyone else touch you today?” Remus asked.

She remembers Marlene grabbing her arm, but the handprint would have been in the other direction. It also didn’t matter who had touched her before. The mark only comes when both people are ready for their soulmates.

Like Marlene and Dorcas didn’t have it happen until Marlene kissed Dorcas after months of ignoring her feelings. Their lips were stained forever because of it. Remus and Sirius didn’t seem to appear until Sirius stood on top of one of the tables in the common room at a party and announced that he was gay. Remus had pulled him off the table and when he let go, his palm was stained and so was Sirius’s wrist.

Sirius gasped, loudly, and made Mary jump.

“Snape! You were his partner in potions today!” Sirius said, pointing a finger at Lily. Mary’s eyes turned wide as Lily felt the air get knocked out of her lungs.

“He grabbed my arm when I was shredding the mandrake leaves,” Lily mumbled. “He told me I was doing it wrong.”

Lily suddenly did not like the idea of soulmates anymore.

Mary crossed the room towards Lily, wrapping an arm around her. Lily leaned into her touch.

The girls in the dormitory were the only ones who really knew why she and Snape’s friendship had come to an end in their fifth year.

It had been a long time coming, Lily realized in the last two years. Before Hogwarts, Snape was her best friend, a brother to her. But when he realized Lily could have other friends, he got jealous, possessive almost. He hated all the friends she made on her own.

She hadn’t actually been friendly until Remus until fifth year when they patrolled together as prefects. She had always hated him and the rest of the boys because Snape told her how much they bullied him. Snape had told her about his suspicions about being a werewolf, but she brushed him away.

It wasn’t until Remus confided in her and saw the scars that she realized Snape hadn’t been the victim all along.

What was the final straw is when Lily started to really pull away, Snape had confessed his feelings for her and truly thought she felt the same. That conversation had ended with a swift kick to the crotch.

He had slept outside the Gryffindor common room for two weeks after that, begging for Lily. That killed all the regret Lily could have about their friendship ending.

“No,” Lily said, shaking her head. “It can’t be.”

“We need to eliminate him,” Mary spoke quietly to her. “We need to make sure it isn’t him.”

“We can’t do it now,” Lily whispered back. “We can’t break into the Slytherin common room.”

“Oh, but we can,” Sirius said, with a devious smile.

                                                                                        ~~~

Lily and Mary followed closely behind Sirius. Remus had opted to go to bed but wanted a full report when they got back.

Lily’s wand was lit and she held it over his shoulder as he squinted at the most marvelous map Lily had ever seen. Sirius had pulled them through a mirror on the sixth floor that somehow had spat them back out near the Great Hall. They silently and quickly walked to the dungeons until they were standing at the door of the Slytherin Common room.

Sirius looked down at the map again.

“He’s in the common room by himself,” Sirius said. “Odd, but works perfectly.”

“Do we have a plan?” Mary asked. Sirius nodded.

“I’m going to go in first,” he said. “Give me thirty seconds and then you guys come in.”

“Why can’t we all go in at the same time?” Lily asked. “He’s a good dueler.”

“Don’t worry, flower,” Sirius said, waving his hand. “I have the element of surprise. Plus, I would expect you wouldn’t want him to see you, in case he remembers?”

Lily hadn’t thought about that, but once he said it, she was thankful for his forethought. They thought of Snape knowing that there was a little, bitter part of her that thought they could be soulmates made her stomach twist painfully.

“I’m not a coward,” she said, sticking her chin out.

“It isn’t cowardice,” Mary said, matching Lily’s pose. “He just doesn’t need to know. He doesn’t need this fodder.”

Lily sighed through her nose.

“Now that that is settled, who has the password?” Sirius asked, turning back to the black door.

“Black! I thought you had it!” Mary scolded.

“Why would I?” he asked, looking confused.

“All the passwords are in the Head Office,” Lily pointed out. “But we have to go to the fifth floor.”

Sirius grinned and reached into his pocket, which had to be magically expanded as he pulled a whole hand mirror out of it.

“James Potter,” Sirius said. Sirius’s reflection melted away and the mirror turned dark. “James! Prongs! Jamie! Emergency!”

“One moment!” James’s voice came out of the mirror.

The Marauders were constantly full of surprises. Lily wished she wasn’t so impressed.

The mirror showed light and suddenly they were getting pulled up and James’s face appeared. He looked tired but handsome. His hazel eyes were twinkling in the dull yellow light of his desk lamp in the head office. Lily’s stomach rolled.

“What’s the emergency?” he asked. “Please don’t tell me I need to find another closet you locked yourself into.”

Sirius scoffed.

“I’m doing some head girl sanctioned mischief. I need the Slytherin password.”

James’s bushy eyebrows shot up, disappearing under his curly fringe.

“Lily sanctioned this?” he asked.

Sirius moved the mirror, displaying Lily. Her cheeks heated up as James’s eyes narrowed.

“Hey James,” she said. She sounded pathetic, even to herself. “We need the password.”

James sighed deeply and his attention focused on something away from the mirror. He chuckled softly against the sounds of parchment crinkling.

“It’s Cobra,” James said, a warm smile on his face.

Lily went to say something else, but Sirius took the mirror away from Lily’s face. His smile felt seared into her mind as Sirius pulled away.

“Prongs, I love you. You’re amazing. Bye,” Sirius said, waving his hand over the mirror making James disappear.

He stuffed the mirror back into his pocket. He checked the map to make sure Snape was still there, alone.

“Thirty seconds,” Sirius said, giving them a look, pulling out his wand. “Cobra.”

Sirius stepped through, wand out. The door closed behind him silently.

Lily and Mary looked at each other as they counted, James’s smile fighting for dominance in her mind as she counted. As thirty passed Mary’s lips, Lily turned towards the door and said the password.

The Slytherin common room was cold and slimy. Everything seemed to be damp or have the appearance of being damp.

Sirius was sitting on the top of one of the black leather couches, pretending to check his nails as the form of an unconscious Snape laid on the floor to his left.

“I only needed five,” Sirius said, smirking at the girls.

Mary got on her knees next to Snape and lifted his arm. His arm went limp at the wrist.

Lily joined Mary on the ground, turning her back to her so they could get the right angle. Lily sighed, trying not to recoil as Mary guided Snape’s hand to Lily’s arm. Sirius joined them and made sure Snape’s hand lined up perfectly with Lily’s mark.

It was too small, the black mark stretching a few inches above where Snapes’s fingers ended.

“Thank fucking God,” Lily said, pulling her arm away and walking out of the Slytherin common room.

She fought the urge to run to the restroom and scrub her arm as Mary and Sirius stepped out of the common room.

“So, that’s great,” Sirius said, looking at Lily.

“Any other contenders?” Mary asked.

“I’m tired and I don’t want to do this anymore,” Lily said, shaking her head.

Mary nodded in agreement.

“We’ll worry more about it when you’re ready,” Mary said. Lily could see she wanted this mystery resolved now, but she didn’t want to push Lily.

Sirius pulled out the map and they started back up to the Tower.

By the time they got to the 4th floor, Lily thought of James in the head’s office, probably stumped as to why they needed the password. Lily thought of his smile and the way his eyes glinted in the dim light.

She wanted to see him. Maybe he would let her finish the detention slips or distract her. Maybe offer him an explanation.

“I’m going to stop by the head office,” Lily whispered. Mary raised an eyebrow in her direction and Sirius turned around to face her.

“James needs an explanation,” Lily said, simply.

Mary went to say something, but Sirius elbowed her.

“Okay,” he said with a shrug. “Fifth floor is clear to the head office.”

Lily parted ways with them at the fifth-floor landing. She walked quickly to the head office, murmuring the password so the door swung open for her.

James looked up from the paperwork in surprise. He was hunched over, his left hand cradling the back of his neck like it was aching.

“Come to tell me about the head girl sanctioned mischief?” he asked, his surprise turning to a smile. He sat straight up and dropped his quill.

Whatever response Lily had on her lips died as his left hand left his neck. The whole palm of his hand was a bright white against his dark brown skin.

Lily stared at him as she remembered saying goodnight to him, not even an hour ago.

“Fine, I guess I’ll leave all the boring paperwork to you,” she said. James laughed from her right side. They were on the fifth-floor landing.

“How kind,” he said. “Next one is on you though.”

“Deal,” she said, smiling.

He reached over and gave her arm a slight squeeze. “Have a goodnight Lils.”

She rolled her eyes at the nickname but smiled.

“You too, Jamie.”

“Lily? Are you okay?” James said, standing up from his desk and strode over towards her.

“Your hand,” is what she forced out when he stood in front of her.

James looked confused as he looked down at his hands, back of them first. He turned them over and froze as he looked at his left hand.

She didn’t feel the anxiety she had when Remus had stuck his hand out, nor the dread at the thought of Snape being her soulmate. Standing in front of James, she felt happy. Excited. She felt right.

James looked up at her in alarm but the words died on his lips as Lily pulled her sleeve up. He stared at her arm for a moment before he looked back at her.

“Can I borrow your hand for a moment?” she asked, smiling.

James gave her a guarded smile but nodded. Lily turned herself so she was in the same position by his side like when they said goodnight.

She didn’t have to grab his arm. Instead, he reached out, every inch of his hand covering her black mark perfectly.

Their eyes met. Both happy and hopeful.

Lily launched herself at James, pressing her lips to his.

[dawnsrose]

↪  inspired  by  :  princess  aurora  /  briar  rose  ( sleeping beauty ) ,  odette  ( barbie of swan lake ) ,  audrey  hepburn  ( actress ) ,  juliet  capulet  ( romeo & juliet ) ,  sibyl  vane  ( the picture of dorian gray ) ,  psyche  ( greek deity ) ,  the  star  ( major arcana )

aurora josephine antoinette capulet.  phoebe dynevor.  february  26th. pisces. n/a. ylisse. heterosexual/romantic. earth  angel  by  the  penguins.  marie  antoinette. homeschooled. phlegmatic. isfp. neutral good. n/a. hufflepuff.  (✨🥀)

present !!

aurora came to elias under her parents’ orders, which her fairy - aunts followed without questioning. on her way to town, she was told that this would be a sort of safe haven for her, safer than the little cottage she grew up in. for many years, she simply lived her life one day at a time, waiting and hoping that eventually the time would come for her to return home and meet the parents she’d grew up not knowing existed, and that she still knows so little about. nevertheless, reuniting with philip, meeting people and making meaningful connections made her grow more and more enthusiastic about her life in elias, which she is quite happy about  ─  except for the fact that she knows maleficent is lurking nearby.

past !!

aurora grew up in a cottage in the woods, unfamiliar with the world beyond the surroundings of her little home.  in fact,  she was unfamiliar with a lot of things: who her parents were, her title as princess and of course, the curse that’d been cast upon her by maleficent on the day of her christening. 

all those details were kept secret from her until the day of her sixteenth birthday, which also turned out to be the day where she met the handsome stranger of her dreams, whose identity she was completely unaware of. naturally, hearing from her aunts that she’d been bethroted to a prince from birth and would never be able to see the stranger again was devastating to aurora, not to mention surprising. 

nevertheless, she eventually came to understand that everything her parents had done for her, everything the good fairies did was out of love and in her eyes, that was the most important part. so when the news came that she would have to leave her cottage life and move to the town of elias for her own safety and protection, albeit a bit confused and hesitant at first, the princess understood and chose to keep her spirits high, knowing that one day she’ll be able to go home at last.

future !!

i would love to see aurora continue to grow confident in her own self, as well as form her own little version of a family. because she didn’t grow up with her parents, she has very little idea of what familial bonds should look like, aside from her experience with the fairies (which i honestly think still confuses her a bit, considering she sees them as family members and not just people who had a duty to fulfill when raising her). i love that the connections she’s made with people like sally and daisy are slowly helping her reach that ‘found family’ aspect, and her marriage to philip obviously plays a big part in that as well. i would also love to see her eventually finding a little job somewhere, i think it would do her good and i can definitely see her working with animals or flowers! very on brand for miss thing. i also can’t wait to see her dynamic with kit and florian develop more because i do imagine aurora always felt very lonely, so the whole concept of siblinghood and watching the dynamics between the charmont boys is so new and different to her and there’s a part of her who’s eager to belong. i’m also v v v excited to see what her first direct interaction with maleficent will be like bc aurora doesn’t really hate her but like ... she will create problems on purpose if any of her loved ones are messed with :/  in that same vein i really want rora to learn more about her dad at some point because he is Not a good person and i’d love for her to be more conflicted about the whole ‘um if u love me why did u abandon me’ situation she was put through and just riot a little lmao

taken connections

philip charmont:  husband love of her life everything to her 

florian charmont:  brother in law

kit charmont:  brother in law on weird terms but its getting better 

reagan cymbeline:  close friend

sorrel white:  close friend

sally carrera:  friend  /  older sister figure

daisy duck:  friend  /  older sister figure

ella  kaur:  chaotic friend duo

nala omita:  friend / rora looks up to her

maleficent fayre:  sworn enemy cries

wanted connections

i really really really would love for rora to have more people who share of her interests? especially her love of animals and plants and flowers and nature as a whole? ngl if witch didn’t have a bad connotation in elias i would 100% say aurora is a witch i mean look at her she legit manifested her dream man AND she has animal friends AND she lived in the woods cmon

in that same vein, people who also love music and dancing and stuff! please please give her a karaoke buddy or something along those lines.

it has literally just occurred to me that aurora doesn’t really have a bad influence in her life so ... give her that. make her question everything. make her question herself. Do It.

i’ll think of more stuff i am simply a fool !

playlist  🥀  musings 

[ct-multifandom]

More s4 predictions? More s4 predictions.

Luka closure, duh. He will start moving on from his breakup and start existing outside the scope of Marinette’s love life

I really hope we see Adrien hanging out with him to parallel Mari hanging with Kagami but I’m afraid the parallel might just be Mari hanging with Luka as friends

Marinette will try to give Adrien a miraculous again. Near the end of the season, she’ll realize that there are only a couple if not one miraculous left without a holder, and she’ll get overtaken by the desire to work Adrien into her team. If I had to guess which one, I’d say the dog because it juxtaposes the cat and I think Sabrina, as an outsider to the group and former mean girl lackey, might be the last to go.

We’ll meet someone’s mom for the first time and she’ll get akumatized along with a mode of transportation. Maybe a motorcycle or airplane this time? Edit: I guess Gina/Befana was motorcycle mom already so we’re just missing airplane mom

Alec Cataldi will be Psychomedian. Since they rewrote Gagotor for this I’m guessing the new character was probably replaced with one we know, and Alec is a recurring, humorous TV personality who hasn’t been akumatized yet. I came across his English VA’s insta by chance on explore and he made a post about recording more Alec lines after Optigami’s release

Rocketear will be/have to do with Max who misses his mom after she leaves for a space mission. It’d be nice to see the continuation of this subplot, which was shown for a moment in Miracle Queen after Startrain. Plus, Ladybug needs to give Max a charm sooner rather than later and Gamer, a very specific akuma, already had a 2.0. Edit: I’m Stan and I was wrong.

When Megaleech was first announced I thought it might be Bob Roth(’s sentimonster?) based solely off the name, but assuming that’s the thing in the Polymouse episode, it’s hard to tell. It’s so non-human. I wasn’t expecting Mylene to get her miraculous here based off the name either. My new theory, which I’m admittedly not super confident in, is that Megaleech is the fusion of the entire Kitty Section who got screwed over by Bob and/or XY again. That would explain the French pun and also Mylene’s personal connection to the case at hand. It might also explain why this group of heroes was hanging out outside of school. I wonder how Ladybug’s new charm animation would work with more than one charm at a time. Would they skip it altogether and just show her passing them out? Would they all match with Megaleech’s colors or would they be different for the individuals?

Edit: I am editing this post because I just saw a theory that the villain of this episode will be Andre Bourgeois again. Megaleech’s color scheme and medallions match Malediktator perfectly, and the tiny thing Chat kicks in the trailer looks like a shrunken version of him if you look closely. This is a lot more believable, but it makes me wonder what leads to Mylene being the hero of the day.

I hope Polymouse doesn’t get overshadowed by the large team, but I also hope she doesn’t get overshadowed by Multimouse. Unfortunately, there are a lot of immature kids who hate Mylene for no reason, so I hope Polymouse will be the one to come up with the winning plan, use her powers cleverly, and be heroic in general so that she can prove how well the mouse fits her instead of unknowingly competing with Marinette.

Teenage Alix will make her entrance as Bunnix when her dad gets akumatized. Both Timebreaker and The Pharaoh had time-y powers, and Alim is a historian, so if he were to get akumatized, he’d probably turn into a villain who controls time as well, leaving his daughter as the only one who can take him.

Sandboy 2.0 will happen as everyone predicted based on the voice director’s story post with Sandboy’s VA. Ladybug will probably see Chat Blanc in place of zombie Adrien, raising a lot of questions and tension. Maybe Chat will see Ladybug abandon him, or something else related to solitude rather than being trapped? We will also finally find out who the akumatized kid is.

Speaking of, I think Sandboy 2.0 might be Caprikid’s entry episode. (What?) Let me explain. I think the Sandboy kid and Marc look pretty similar, and correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure they’re the only male characters with defined eyelashes in the whole show. Both of them also have celestial thematics which would fit with Marc’s last name, Anciel (en ciel, in the sky). Sandboy looks like the night sky while Marc has a rainbow theme. It’s possible that they’re related, so Ladybug will enlist Marc to help defeat Sandboy. Here are pictures:

I’ve also seen other people theorize that Caprikid’s power is related to dreams, I guess because of something like “counting sheep”. This isn’t my theory for his powers, but I see where it’s coming from. His kwami has the most interesting name. While most of the kwamis are related directly to their animal, Ziggy, the goat kwami, is named after David Bowie’s stage persona, Ziggy Stardust, who is an alien from space. David Bowie had other famous personas like the astronaut, Major Tom, and Aladdin Sane who had the iconic lightning bolt, all themes associated with the sky. I wouldn’t be surprised if these themes show up in Caprikid’s design, like if he has face paint instead of a mask or a similar hairstyle to Bowie.

We can already kind of tell that Caprikid and Coq Courage are matching just like their civilian selves do from their opening silhouettes with the chest fur and feathers. I predict it goes further than that with daytime/nighttime thematics. Roosters are associated with the sun, and my theory for Orikko’s power is illumination. Evillustrator’s biggest weakness, which ended up defeating him, was darkness, and I read a post today that pointed out that he can draw without even looking at his tablet so it’s more likely that he’s just scared of the dark. If he has day themes I think Caprikid will compliment that with night sky themes based on the stuff above.

I expect Evillustrator will have a 2.0 episode or any sort of comeback at some point. He’s probably one of the most iconic akumas, yet he’s only been truly akumatized once, at least on-screen. Plus, ladybug needs to get protective charms to all her hero pals asap.

We will probably meet the family of a couple more major characters who don’t have canon family members yet.

I hope we see more more-than-one-person and/or fusion akumas among the major cast. The protective charms are helpful but it sucks that they limit our possibilities for this type of stuff.

Sabrina will leave Chloe once and for all, which will trigger a big change in both of their characters. Sabrina will become more independent and leader-like, but Chloe will hit her lowest point. If not for... a certain person’s writing... I’d say this will be the true catalyst for her development as she faces cold hard reality for the first time... but I’m not so sure. Maybe she’ll just mellow down and become less bad and less relevant. Maybe she’ll snap and join evil Lila. Only time can tell.

I want to see my boy King Monkey again this season before the big finale, which will probably have everyone, and I’m pretty sure I will. I feel like they’ll all show up before that. I want him to move across the city by swinging across stuff like a monkey on vines.

We will finally see Ryuko’s full transformation and lightning dragon. I saw that the Roblox server thing featured the (oversimplified and blocky) coreo for her full transformation before the actual show did? A bit embarrassing.

I want to predict something for my boy Ivan, but he gets so little screen time that I just can’t think of anything :( I’m very excited for Minotaurox, though, and it’s possible that he’ll be involved with his family rather than Mylene or his friends.

The whole gang takes down Shadowmoth. Booyah, 17 teenage furries, bet he didn’t see that coming. And everyone has a big “pointing and laughing” moment until the obligatory Adrien angst commences

[bruh--wtf]

Butterflies

Remus Lupin x Reader

Main Masterlist

Part 6

Previous Next

Summary: You're Lily Evans' little sister. She isn't the only witch in the family.

Remus Lupin Masterlist

You walked back into the common room after lights out that night. Purposefully. You hoped that your friends wouldn't be there. But of course, nothing was in your favor.

Remus sat on the couch, his leg was shaking, and he watched the fire intensely. You tried to sneak past him but he looked up as the portrait closed. He quickly stood up, walking over to you, letting out a breath.

"Thank Merlin, you're back. I was getting worried. And-" you just walked around him. It was physically painful to do so. A part of you knew Lily and the boys were only looking out for you. But a much bigger part was mad at them. "Wait, Y/N, please talk to me."

"There's nothing to talk about, Remus," you say, still not turning back to him. He stops infront of you, causing you to stop. He puts gentle hands on your arms. A big contrast to how Seb touches you. You look down at his hand on your arm for a second. That feeling in your stomach coming. You were still confused for a second. A split second. Butterflies. No. No, wrong! Wrong person!

"Please, you're my bestfriend," he says. "I just don't want to see you feeling like that. It's painful, Y/N." You finally meet his eyes again, your eyes still wide from your realization. That good feeling in the pit of your stomach. The one that started causing nervous, yet comforting waves through you in third year. You felt them around Remus. Only Remus. And you barely registered his words.

"I'm with Seb," you say, more so to yourself. But he doesn't see that. He rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, I know. But he's not good for you, Y/N," he says. You meet his eyes. Now, that registered.

"And who would be good for me, huh? Nobody else has shown any interest in me, ever! I'm happy with Seb," you say. You were partially trying to convince yourself of the last bit.

You walked past him, not noticing the sad, hurt look on his face as you did so.

And the next day when you were in the hallway with Seb, his arm was slung over your shoulder. He was talking mindlessly to his friends while you were lost in your thoughts. Your gaze went to the side while you thought about what Dumbledore told you last night. And what you felt around Remus. Dumbledore couldn't have been talking about Remus, could he? You mindlessly chewed on your lip while you were thinking. Seb leaned down to whisper in your ear.

"Keep your eyes off other guys if you know what's good for you," he says. Was that a threat? You snapped your gaze to Seb. You glanced over, realizing your eyes had landed on where the Mauraders were talking across the field.

"They're my friends, Seb," you say. His gaze hardens.

"Not anymore." You roll your eyes.

"You can't tell me who I can and can't be friends with," you say. He raises an eyebrow, his arm leaving your shoulders. He grabbed your arm. This time was tighter than usual. Visually so, according to his friends reactions. The girls who you were friends with seemed a little surprised, staring at Seb as if he were going mad.

You just met Seb's eyes, not flinching. Not wavering. He pulls you away from his friends, towards the castle. You followed, him going faster than you would have liked.

He pushed you against the wall, your eyes never leave his. And you don't show a single sign of weakness.

"Gryffindors," he says, rolling his eyes. He lowers his lips to your ear. "So brave." His grip on your arm felt like it'll bruise. He pressed a kiss to your neck. You rolled your eyes, trying to push him off of you. But he didn't budge. You kept hitting his chest.

"Get off me, Seb!" You say. He grips both your arms now, glaring at you.

"You're my girlfriend. You'll behave like it." You showed weakness now. You were scared. Your eyes widened, and he seemed satisfied with your visible fear. You hated that. You glared right back at him.

"Then find yourself a new girlfriend. Because I don't want anything to do with you," you hiss. His grip somehow tightens.

"You're not breaking up with me," he says. You winced slightly.

"Except she is," you hear from down the corridor. You and Seb both look over. Mauraders. You couldn't help but smile slightly. But you didn't see Remus. Where was he?

"You guys stay out of this," Seb says, rolling his eyes.

"I don't think so," Sirius says, walking closer to Seb. Taking hurried steps.

"Just stay away from my girlfriend," Seb says. Sirius chuckles.

"I don't think you heard her correctly," he says. He glances over Seb's shoulder. You looked just as Remus tapped Seb's shoulder. Seb turned around, and was immediately met with Remus punching him.

"She's not your girlfriend," he says, looking down at him. He was taller than Seb. You'd never seen Remus look that mad. You were shocked. When did they have time to plan this? Did they plan it? Seb looks back at Remus, glaring back at him. He goes to punch him, but Sirius grabs his arms. Remus barely glances at him again, looking at you.

"Are you alright?" He asks. You were still in shock. You simply nodded. He grabbed your wrist gently, lifting your sleeve to look at your arms. You could see hand shaped bruises forming. His jaw tightened again. James noticed and looked at Seb.

"Well, we already abandoned the 'avoid the face' plan," he says, punching Seb. Sirius lets go of Seb, smirking. Probably thinking it'll be more fun. The boy was a year younger than them after all. A small group had formed at this point.

Sirius kicked Seb's legs from behind him. Remus put a hand on your elbow, going to make you turn away. Then Seb pulls his wand out. You could tell by their expressions they didn't want to pull their wands out. The didn't want to go expelled, after all. Peter goes to grab the boy's wand, and gets throw against the stone wall. Not by strength, by magic. Your eyes widened.

"Seb!" You exclaimed. He turned to you, still glaring. The mauraders that weren't on the floor were fuming at this point. James punched Seb again, and Sirius went for the gut. Remus was holding himself back, and you could see it. It didn't help that he had to physically hold you back from the boys. Finally, Seb blasted James into the crowd. He slid on the floor, landing infront of Lily. She quickly got down to make sure he was okay. Mary and Alice were with Peter. They were both holding their ribs. He sent Sirius by turning quickly, and Marlene ran over to him. Remus had clearly had enough. Finally letting you go. He went to go at the boy, but he pointed his wand. Not at Remus, but at you. The next word from his mouth caused you the worst pain imaginable. And beyond that, too.

"Crucio!" He exclaims. You instantly fell to the floor, crying and screaming. It felt like a thousand years. It was probably only a few seconds, though.

"Expelliarmus!" Remus shouts. But you don't really hear it.

"Stupify!" You hear Lily yell. Again, you couldn't quite hear it. Your breathing was labored and your knees had given out. You were on your back, your legs uncomfortably folded beneath you. You whimpered slightly when the torturing spell stopped. You felt tears leave your cheeks, and pressed your lips together. That definitely wasn't what he did to the boys. Because that wasn't send you flying and curl up that was torture.

You heard footsteps running into the circle, but didn't open your eyes. You heard Dumbledore shout something, but still couldn't focus clearly. Your breathing was still labored. You felt someone lift you up slightly.

You whimpered again, curling in on yourself. You felt someone gingerly move the hair out of your face. "Y/N, c'mon look at me," you hear. Remus. You knew it was Remus. You managed to pry your eyes open slightly. He was holding you like a fragile piece of glass.

You turned your face into his chest, letting your small sob escape you. Not only was the magic still radiating through you, and you had to wait until the waves deminished, but you realized you had dated that boy for almost a year. A boy so willing to hurt your friends. And you.

"It's okay, love, it's okay," Remus says. Your hand found his shirt, gripping onto it. You closed your eyes again, but held your grip to show him you were still there. You heard the voices fading around you though. You were going to pass out.

Y/N's grip started to loosen on Remus's shirt as Mcgonagall told him to get her to the infirmary. He quickly stood up with her in his arms. His friends were getting up now. Still clearly in pain. Lily helped James walk, but they all made their way towards the infirmary.

When he placed you on the bed, he was told to walk away for a minute. But neither he or Lily would do that. So, they waited. When the boys had been checked up on, they sat around the bed too.

Dumbledore came in that night with Mcgonagall. "You all need to get to the dormitory," Mcgonagall says.

"Professor, she's just been cursed," James says. She nods.

"I know. And she needs rest. She's young. The effect will be worsened on her. And that also means, the chances are she'll still be asleep when you come back in the morning." Dumbledore looked at Remus who still gripped Y/N's hand. Looking very unwilling to leave her side.

"The girl should have her friends here when she wakes up," he says. He still made eye contact with Remus. Not even glancing at the others.

"Albus-" Mcgonagall starts.

"I'm quite tired, Minerva. I think I'll go to bed," he says. She glances at the group again then she sighs, following Dumbledore out of the room.

"Minnie's mad," Sirius says. The boys all smile slightly, looking back down at Y/N. They each found their way to one of the beds in the infirmary at some point during the night. But Remus stayed by her side. He layed his head down next to her, on her bed.

At some point in the night, you started shaking. Not from something medical. But the cold. You looked colder than anyone else. Your teeth were chattering in your sleep. And Remus noticed. He woke up, feeling your body shivering. He looked up at you, seeing if you were awake. You looked paler than normal. His eyes widened and he grabbed blankets off other beds, quickly putting them over you. That only seemed to help a little.he looked over at his friends. James had woken up to his frantic movements. He got up, rubbing his eyes under his glasses. He looked at Y/N.

"Give her your jumper or something," he says, gesturing to her. Remus looks down at the jumper he was wearing. James rolls his eyes.

"Come on, Moony. It'll warm her up. She's freezing. If she keeps shivering like that we'll have to get Pomfrey. Besides, we've all seen it before," he says, winking at his friend. Remus glares at James, then sighs, taking off his jumper. He walks over to Y/N, carefully putting her into the jumper. She made a small noise that made him stop for a second, scared he'd either hurt her or wake her up. Or both.

Once she was in it, James and Remus both watched her teeth chattering stop slowly. But she was still shivering.

"Body heat?" James suggests. Remus glares at him. He gestures to Remus and then Y/N. "I didn't mean me, I meant you!" Remus looks down at her. He pressed his lips together for a second before finally peeling the blankets away and climbing into the bed beside her. Y/N instantly turned and curled up into his chest. He looked at her, then over at James who yawns.

"Goodnight, mate," he says, walking back over to the bed between Lily and Sirius. Remus looked back down at her. She was perfect. And he was glad thinking about the crack he heard when he punched Seb.

Both times. He'd punched him after he had disarmed him and right before Lily got her wand out. The second punch was much, much harder.

[miraculouscontent]

Didn’t Need Burrow (May 23rd-25th)

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: Astruc admitted Sabine was based on an ex and Marinette is what he imagined their daughter to be like. He later admits Audrey was based on an ex and Chloe is what he imagined their daughter would be like. Despite moving on, he still bitter and created two teen girls as "payback" against his exes.

The whole “virtual daughter” thing still squicks me out.

Also, I don’t actually take “Didn’t Need Burrows” referring specifically to the staff/fandom since that’s outside of the show, but I also definitely think about them all the time and like sticking them in here.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: Building off of the "Adrien knows about Marinette's crush on him and tells Plagg about it" Burrow, Plagg will point out to Adrien that this is a bad idea and what he is doing is wrong and that Adrien is leading Marinette on so as to stroke his own ego. He will not be listened to, and the show portray him as in the wrong, despite him being right, because anybody who stands up for Marinette's agency deserves to be shut down. In the meantime, Adrien will be allowed to continue

Bonus if Plagg will be considered “wrong” because Adrien not leading Marinette on would lead to him being sAd because Marinette isn’t fawning over him anymore (as if he doesn’t have a million fans).

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe will be presented not only as "Chloe if she was good person", but also as "Marinette if she wasn't constantly making mistakes"

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe will be basically  Marinette if "Marinette's Mistake of the Week" formula never existed.

Sounds about right.

Amazing what can happen when the show doesn’t have a gun to your head telling you to make mistakes in every episode.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: The show delves into a shitty harem as the writers forget that Adrien is not the main character. Who knows, maybe Zoe will join the harem.

The only reason I feel like Zoe wouldn’t be a part of Adrien’s harem is so she can ship the love square.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: There will be Animaestro-type episode where Marinette "makes alliance" with (read: is manipulated by) Chloe or Lila against Zoe. In the end she is only one punished, while her "partner in crime"  (or rather person who manipulated her) walks away completely scot-free.

To the surprise of no one. Can’t have the antagonists be punished, because that would make sense.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: (narrative-wise) Agreste's family drama and Bourgeois's sisters drama will overshadow whatever Marinette character arc will be in season 4.

I’m taking this a step further and saying that Marinette in generall will keep having her plots/”arcs” overshadowed by everyone else.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Marinette will be akumatized. She will be easily defeated due to "bond" between Chat Noir and Temporary Ladybug Zoe. This will be presented like Ladybug's constant refuse to "bond" with Chat Noir was reason why their fights with Akumatized Villains are so hard. (bonus: This episode will be followed by a group of fans that would state that Zoe should replace Marinette as Ladybug Miraculous Holder and not Chloe as Bee Miraculous Holder.)

Uggggh, I’m always waiting for the “love square magical bond” garbage.

Also, the bonus reminds me of the fact that I don’t understand people who hate on both Marinette and Luka but continue to ship the love square. Like, wouldn’t they want to ship Adrien with someone “””worthy””” of him??

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: If Marinette akumatization has Miracle Queen-type set-up, Chat Noir will quickly defeat her and whatever all other Miraculous Holders alone (or optionally supported by Temporary Ladybug Zoe). This will be presented by narrattive as proof of why Chat Noir is Brawn in Ladybug-Chat Noir duo. (Bonus: After that episode Adrien stans will make mass of "I hope this will shut up everyone who think that Chat Noir is useless/weaker than Ladybug/etc." type posts)

At this point, I’ve just grown numb to Chat suddenly being able to do things that don’t make sense for him.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Temporary Ladybug Zoe

Okay but is she keeping the black highlights or do they turn red. These are important questions.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Kagami will be changed (ret-conned) into  Adrienette (or other Love Square's part) shipper after "Lies"

Something similar is already on the card so that’s fun. :’3

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe, not Marinette, will be wearing that dress from the Season 4 Concept Art.

*eye twitch*

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Rena Rogue will be appearing even when she isn't needed to defeat Akuma of the Week. This will be probably used to justify Chat Noir's increasing resent up towards Ladybug and (probably) consequent reversal of Love Square.

anything: *happens*

Chat Noir: bad Ladybug

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Ending: Marinette will willingly sacrifice herself to wake up from coma/ressurect Emilie. Both Adrien and Gabriel will be happy that Emilie is back. Adrien will have his happy relationship/ending with Zoe whom personality is (or was ret-conned into) "Marinette in anything but name". (Bonus points: if everyone behave like Marinette never existed after Emilie revival)

I’m sad.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: If Akuma of the Week isn't Reflekta/Mr Pigeon/Gigantitan/etc,.Pig Miraculous"s "Gift" power will basically fail and only make current Akumatized Villain angrier and more determined to achieve his goal, basically restarting whole fight against Akuma.

PIGELLA NO

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Lila will never react to Zoe becoming more popular than her

I imagine Zoe isn’t the same age as Chloe since they’re not twins, so Zoe at least won’t be in Bustier’s class.

Now, if they make her a Lila slave, then we’ll see.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow to know that Marinette is going to hate Zoe for being related to Chloe and this will be limited to her or she'll be the only one scolded for it (likely by Adrien), because you can't hate someone for who they're related to (which actually is a good lesson but ml will probably f it up somehow).

I feel like the writers just look at a character and go, “okay, how can we engineer them in a way for Marinette to mess up around them?

Anonymous asked:

Didn't need Burrow - Chat will find out Rena Rouge knows her identity and becomes angry bc "You and me against the world, m'lady." This will cause one episode of Adrienette becoming closer and Ladynoir drifting apart before Chat magically forgives her like it was no big deal after she makes a huge gesture to get him back.

You’d think they’d have worn out the reset button by now...

Anonymous asked:

Didn't need burrow: one of two things will happen, either Adrien will try to help Luka get back together with Marinette (basically the same plot as Mr. pigeon 72) or the relationship will not be brought up ever again and Mari and Luka don't really directly interact with each other anymore

“Bonus” if Adrien is “taught a lesson” that he shouldn’t meddle, and it’s only because he chose to meddle in Lukanette. “Double bonus” if his attempts actually get Lukanette back together but this is presented as a bad thing (for some reason)..

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe will be(e)come pernament Bee Miraculous Holder.

This won’t be added because I think we already got official confirmation on this?

Oh, or do you mean “permanent” as in her keeping the miraculous eventually?

edit: yes, that’s what they meant (also, A+ pun)

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Every Miraculous Holder introduced in Season 4 will be will lose right to their Miraculous, except Zoe/Vesperia.

lol me just imagining them struggling over either making models or trying to not use those miraculouses anymore.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: Luka will be forced to say Adrien and Marinette are perfect for each other in "Optigami".

Wow, show, why don’t you just prove more that you’re purposefully pointing out that you’re giving Marinette a grand total of One “Obvious” Option.

Anonymous asked:

Unsure if this one has been sent yet but | Didn't Need Burrow: Alya is going to continue Marinette to pursue Adrien even after Marinette broke down and said she doesn't have time for love right now.

We have some similar ones I think.

“Marinette’s feelings towards moving on are invalidated/ignored by one of her “friends” to push for the Love Square“

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Sandboy 2.0: Ladybug's nightmare will be about Chat Noir abandoning/hating her

I was dumb enough to raise an eyebrow at this like, “Would they really reuse akum--oh wait.”

Anonymous asked:

I'm gonna try and go for a good Didn't Need Burrow: WHen Sole Crusher gets Marinette we'll either get a lovely King Kong moment between them, or Chat Noir will come in and save her (and it'll possibly be a moment of reverse love square).

If they have Marinette doing the cliche “crushing because they got saved” I’m gonna throw hands.

Anonymous asked:

Don't need to burrow:

Marinette will never have a heart to heart with Luka revealing she's Ladybug or even explain the reason for their breakup.

Just gonna slap a big asterisk on this because it’s like:

*despite Luka being an obvious choice and they could’ve worked out the issue but the show is afraid of the side ship they’ve created working out better than the love square itself

Anonymous asked:

Don't need to Burrow: For Optigami, the episode will barely or never acknowledge Luka's and Marinette's relationship/breakup. It will be ignored and we won't have any cute Lukanette moments. As long as Adrien is in the picture, Luka will be always sidelined.

Honestly that last one is basically one of the commandments of this show.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Lila will now only appear in cameos (probably without even any voice lines).

show writers, shoving Lila under a rug: Leela Ransai?? Never heard of him.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Since Lukanette is over, Luka can be ret-conned from show. Everyone will behave like he never existed at all (and Lukanette never hapenned).

We at least know that Luka now appears in a later episode, but this could easily be worded as “Luka can be retconned away from being Marinette’s love interest and everyone will act like he and Marinette aren’t that close or never made soft eyes at each other.”

Except I wouldn’t count on Lukanette being retconned because that would stop the show from being allowed to make Marinette feel bad and guilty and possibly cause another akuma over it, plus possibly Luka “rejecting” his feelings for her and thus making her feel worse that he sees her in a lesser light.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: There will be an episode that will break "Mr Pigeon" episode record of  "Don't Need a Burrow" and close calls.

Not gonna lie, I would be legitimately impressed if that happened. I’m just wondering what predictions would be mashed together to make it as such.

Anonymous asked:

Didn’t Need Burrow to know that Zoey (I heard somewhere that that’s how her name is going to be in America, it might be wrong), is going to get involved in the love square somehow.

Bonus:

Or she will replace Kagami’s role as Marinette’s friendly rival, and when her heart gets broken Marinette will be the one to blame, for no reason, like always. Or she will have an interest in Marinette, since it seems they are going to be close friends, only for Marinette to put her in the friend zone, and she gets akumatized. People will blame Marinette for giving false hopes to the girl, even though, she never acted different than how a friend would act.

All girls exist to comment/have an opinion on the love square, obviously, and they’re antagonists/villains if they have a negative opinion on it.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Writers will use Alya bashing concept of Alya proposing Lila as potential new Miraculous Holder. Marinette will obviously refuse, but due to fact that Lila is suddenly ret-conned into being good person this is Marinette's Mistake of the Week. She will repair it by making Lila pernament Miraulous Holder

Waiting for the one episode long Lila redemption...

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Sabrina will be redeemed. She will change from Chloe's servant... to Zoe's servant.

and it’s fine of course because Zoe and Sabrina are best friends and Sabrina is doing this all happily and willingly.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Alya will be changed into basically Marinette's Guardianship mentor

Somehow, this is one of the ones I hate the most because it seems accurate so far.

[sturchling]

Turn the Page - Part 1

Thought I would try my first multi-part fic. 

Next Part

After Lila takes control of the class, Marinette finds she has a lot more free time. What will she decide to do with that spare time?

Hope you guys like it! Let me know what you think!

Marinette felt lost lately. The tension in the class was at an all time high, ever since Lila followed through on her promise. Almost her entire class had grown to hate her because of the lies. It had taken a while for Lila to accomplish her goal. The class had been hesitant to doubt their Everyday Ladybug. But when Lila started to show them ‘proof’ of Marinette bullying her, the class started to doubt Marinette. Lila had shown them texts and emails that were supposedly from Marinette. Unfortunately for Marinette, the class didn’t confirm where these messages came from. They trusted Lila, and Lila had apparent proof. At first, they just ignored her. But Lila kept making bigger claims about Marinette’s behavior. Eventually the class believed that she was a cruel person and they had started being cruel to her as well. The only people that hadn’t fallen for it were Nino, Chloe, and Nathaniel. They all knew that Lila was lying, not just about Marinette but about everything.

 --------------------

Nino had found out by trying to help Alya. He was fact checking Alya’s most recent blog post about Lila, because Alya had been attacked online for her lack of sources. Despite that, Alya kept posting without sources. Nino thought that if he gathered some sources, he could post them in the comments to help his girlfriend. But the more he looked for evidence of Lila’s stories, he couldn’t find anything. The only time Lila was mentioned online was by other posts on the Ladyblog. He decided to research her other stories, and quickly discovered that she had been lying since the beginning.

  --------------------

Nathaniel had found out when Lila had lied about the wrong thing. She had seen him doodling some drawings of Ladybug for the next issue of his comic. Lila had decided to try and win Nathaniel over with a new lie. She sauntered up to his desk and said, “You really like drawing Ladybug huh? You know, I know the author of that new Ladybug comic, The Adventures of Ladybug. She is so sweet. I could introduce you to her!” Nathaniel was shocked. That was his comic. What did Lila mean that she knew the author? And she was calling the author a she! Nathaniel realized that if Lila was lying about this, Marinette may have been right. Lila may have been lying about everything. After a little research into her lies, it became clear that was the case.

  --------------------

Chloe had known that Lila was a liar since the Miraculer incident. Chloe wasn’t an idiot, and new that the dance Lila showed her was bogus. The only reason Ladybug had been there was because of the akuma. At that time, Ladybug had told Chloe that she probably wouldn’t be able to be Queen Bee again, because it wasn’t safe. Chloe had decided that while she may not be able to be a superhero, she could still be heroic in her personal life. She decided it was time to try and make amends with Marinette. She apologized to Marinette about the bullying and vowed not to bully her anymore. Their relationship was still rocky, but they weren’t at each other’s throats anymore. When Chloe and Marinette became closer, Lila began to view Chloe as a threat as well. Soon, Chloe was just as isolated as Marinette.

  --------------------

It hurt at first that the class had abandoned Marinette. She had thought they were close enough that Lila wouldn’t be able to pull them apart. Then one day, Lila stepped up her game even more. She started telling the class that Marinette had been threatening her before class. “She is so mad at me for showing you guys the mean texts! She told me I better stop talking about it or she would ruin my life.” The class was furious and began texting and emailing the young designer very cruel messages. They thought if they were mean to her, she might back off of Lila. At this point, Marinette’s parents found out what had been happening. They found out because they came up to her room to tell her dinner was ready. But instead they found her sitting at her desk crying. After some coaxing Marinette told them everything. They had wanted to go to the school and raise hell and get Marinette out of that horrible class. Marinette talked them out of it though. “I still have some friends in class. I don’t want to leave Nino, Chloe, and Nathaniel.” Tom and Sabine reluctantly agreed and decided to just change Marinette’s phone number and email address.

  --------------------

Unfortunately, this didn’t solve the problem or even help it a little. Lila was able to use this to her advantage. No one in the class besides Marinette’s friends knew that she had changed numbers and emails. The class just thought that Marinette was ignoring them. This just caused them to get angrier, and it was easy for Lila to convince them to take revenge. She got the class to start destroying Marinette’s stuff. They ripped up her homework, her sketchbooks, and anything else they could get their hands on. They were hoping that maybe doing this would make Marinette change back to their old friend. They were expecting apologies, and tears, and promises to be better. They didn’t get those reactions however. Instead, Marinette would just calmly gather the tattered remains of her stuff and leave the room. The class didn’t know what else they could do to try and fix Marinette.

  --------------------

The final straw was a few weeks later. Lila was furious that Marinette wasn’t more upset. She had hoped that by causing the class destroy her stuff, Marinette would be completely destroyed. She thought doing that, would upset the designer more than it actually had. Lila decided to take another thing from Marinette. This time, she set her sights on the class rep position. She starts telling the class that Marinette had started physically attacking her. She came in with fake bruises to sell the lies. She had told the class that Marinette was attacking her because Lila had asked questions about the next fundraiser. She then got the class to start doubting her. “I just wonder why Marinette was so defensive when I brought up the fundraiser. I have to wonder if something is wrong.” The class started to wonder as well. Marinette hadn’t answered any of their questions about fundraisers either. Of course, this was because they were asking these questions over email, and still sending the emails to the old email address. Eventually, Lila had chipped away at their confidence in their class rep enough that the class called for another election. The class elected Lila to be the new class rep.

  --------------------

Marinette wasn’t as shocked as she thought she would be. Marinette had known for a while that the class was losing faith in her. It still hurt her deeply that her class did not trust her enough to even let her stay as the class rep. After school, the day of the election, Nino, Chloe, and Nathaniel came over to the bakery after school. They were comforting Marinette, who was still very sad over what had happened at school. “It is ok Mari. If they don’t want you as the rep, then they don’t deserve you.” Marinette wiped her eyes and said, “Its not that. Its just that Lila has finally done it. She has taken everything from me.” Nino pipes up, “That isn’t true dudette! You still have us. And your parents. And she could never take away your success with fashion either. That is three things right there that she could never take.” Chloe looked pensive for a moment. “Speaking of your fashion, I had a thought. You have a lot more free time now that you aren’t class rep. Why not take this chance to expand your business? Maybe start a website and take commissions?” Marinette thought about it, she had wanted to work on her fashion more. Chloe was right, she would have a lot more free time now. Maybe it is time for Marinette to think about furthering her future career. “I love that you have that confidence in me Chloe, but that is a lot of work. I don’t know if I can do that.” Chloe just stared at her with a blank expression. “You are being ridiculous Dupain-Cheng. Utterly ridiculous. Even if you were going to do this on your own, you would be able to do it. But you won’t be on your own. I don’t know about these two, but I am going to help you.” Marinette was stunned. “You? You want to help me Chloe?” “Of course, I will help you Dupain-Cheng. Who better to help you start your fashion career than the daughter of the Style Queen herself?” Nino and Nathaniel also quickly volunteered to help. “I’m not sure how much help we will be, but we both have experience running a website. I set one up for my DJing and Nathaniel has one for his comic. We can at least help you with your website.” Marinette was still hesitant. “Oh, come on Dupain-Cheng. What better time to start?” Marinette slowly began to smile. She looked up at her friends with a smile on her face for the first time in hours. “Let’s do it.”

[hadesisqueer]

How do you feel about Yang and how she’s summarized in Vol. 8 as suspicious and emotional?

Late, but better late than ever. I've been waiting for this one. It's probably the longest because as I said, I make either two lines or just an entire character analysis lol. And I'm going to do it properly this time.

Okay, I straight (gay) up don't know where to start. I love Yang. I truly love Yang. She's not perfect, she has many flaws, but that's what I like the most about her. I can't help but laugh when some people say she's a Mary Sue.

Childhood, first volumes.

Yang starts the series as the funny blonde hot girl that goes around punching people. And I liked that, but I also like how she wasn't just that, as I said with Nora being the comic relief. Like, there's so much more in Yang than that, just like Weiss turned up to be much more than just the bratty tsundere.

Yang's mother abandoned her. Her other mother disappeared. Her sister was a toddler that didn't really get what was going on except her mother being gone, and her father was so depressed that for a good while, he wasn't even able to raise her daughters. Can you imagine being in that situation? I imagine she was, at most, six when that happened. She was forced to become Ruby's mother figure at six. She was forced to become the fucking adult in the house at six.

Damn, you can even see the difference between how Qrow talks to Ruby and how he talks to Yang, at least at the begining. He talks to Ruby as her uncle, as her mentor. He may tease Yang a little because she's still his niece, but when he talks to her, he always talks like she's an equal. Like, Tai still considered Yang a kid, but Qrow treats her like an adult, and knows and expects her to be the mature one. Because he saw her all those years, being forced grow up so fast. He trusts her to protect and take care of Ruby, and she trust him to protect her as well.

And damn, all of this really explains her behaviour when the series began. As Ruby got older and started to be able to take care of herself, and Tai eventually started to be functional again, Yang had more freedom. Her personality and eagerness for adventure and parties and all of that - is just her trying to make up for her sacrificed childhood. But even then she still was, out of all the girls, the most mature and nurturing of team RWBY. She is the party girl, yes. The hot headed one that will break legs. But she's still the adult of the group.

And then volume 3 happens. She gets framed in front of the entire world, two of her friends die, Beacon falls, she loses her arm in the most traumatic way possible; Weiss, her friend, is basically taken away from her and Blake -her partner, the girl she probably already had feelings for at that point- left, triggering her abandonment issues. And of course, PTSD, because she isn't fucked up enough already. She's so fucking destroyed that she can't even talk about Weiss, about Blake, about what happened. She doesn't even want talk to Ruby, because she can't stand the thought of her little sister seeing her at that state. She is not used to be the one people have to take care of, and it becomes more and more obvious in the next volumes.

Disability, recovery, abandonment issues

I like how volume 4 treats her recovery. I mean, I wish her storyline was longer, but I also like the DC comics. Now, the thing is, she isn't really recovered. In vol 4, she learns to live with her disability, she learns how to use her new arm, she learns how to fight better than she ever did before. It's about physical recovery. But is she okay? No. She hates being taken care of. She forced herself to be okay, or at least pretend she was, so Tai would let her go with Ruby. And in vol 5, she's anything but alright. She is pretending to be for Ruby's sake, because she is her mother figure and Ruby can't see her like that. She has to face her abandonment issues, she still has PTSD, and she is just not okay. Weiss notices right away, and tells her that it's okay if she is not okay. She noticed how hurt she was about Blake leaving. She just could see through the façade because if Weiss knows about anything, is about loneliness and pretending.

Her conversation with Raven at the end of the volume is just one of the best scenes, because you can just see how much Yang has grown. That scene deserves a post of its own because it's just amazing. But she finally faces one of her fears -her own abandonment issues, though they probably will always be there- and sees right through Raven. Because just like her, Raven just puts a façade to hide her own fears and insecurities, and the moment her own daughter isn't just taking any of that shit, she just starts crying. Because Yang is right. And deep down, she doesn't want to let Yang take the lamp, but she isn't just strong enough. Deep down, she wants to be in Yang's life, wants to protect her, and I think Yang knew that. But it was just too late.

More abandonment issues and relationship with Blake.

Now, to Yang, Blake coming back was huge. Not only in the terms of shipping, but as a whole. In her mind, Blake left her, just like Raven, just like Summer (though Summer didn't do it in purpose), and technically, just like Ruby, though she knew why Ruby did it and understood. But she's probably wondering “what is wrong with me that everyone always leaves me”. And she always has to be the one looking for the person who left her.

Not with Blake. After that talk with Weiss (bless the wingwoman), Yang was able to understand Blake's perspective better. But she didn't think Blake would actually ever come back, because no one ever does. But she did. Not only did she come back; literally, all Blake cared about once she entered the room and saw Yang was her (for once, someone is prioritizing her). And later, she was the one to walk and talk to the team, and tell them she didn't plan to leave again if they accepted her back. She didn't have to look for Blake because she was already looking for Yang. She was the one who made the effort, not the other way around. And to Yang, even though they still had issues to work through, even though she was still afraid at that moment that Blake would leave and break her heart again (All That Matters), that was enough to forgive her. Or at least give her another chance.

Now in volume 6 they clearly have issues. Like, Blake is very nurturing to the entire team because she feels like she has to make up. But mostly, she is trying to make up to Yang. She still feels guilty because of Adam, and she knew that Yang had already abandonment issues before she left and she probably made them worse. She was just trying so hard to be there for Yang so she could understand that she would never leave her again that she made things awkward. Yang is used to be the one who takes care of people, not the other way around. She thought that Blake “protecting her” was her seeing her a weak when actually, it was just Blake just genuinely caring about her but with the wrong words. Blake understood after that, and she changed the phrasing in the fight against Adam. Protecting each other. Equals. It really applies to the Bees relationship as a whole. “You're taking care of me, yeah, but I'm going to take care of you as well, no matter what”. For once, Yang is allowing someone to take care of her (well, except Tai, but again, she wasn't completely sincere with him, so technically she wasn't really allowing him to fully help her). And that's what I love the most about their dynamic, and why I ship it.

PTSD

Now (I'm sorry I'm taking so long), I've seen many, many people saying that Yang's PTSD is poorly written, or that the writers messed it up in the fight against Adam. Now, I have to ask those people: what the fuck do you think PTSD is?

If a Great WriterTM reads this and tries to tell me I'm wrong, or that I don't know what I'm talking about and I don't know anything about good writing and blah blah blah: I have PTSD myself. Diagnosed. So yes, I acknowledge there are many things I'm ignorant about, but I'm quite familiar about this topic. Yang's PTSD is, at least by my point of view, very well-written. It isn't perfect, but it's still far so much better than most PTSD portrayals I've seen in TV, along with Korra's. And I've seen people saying that Korra's portrayal was so much better. Well, let me tell you, it isn't, or at least I don't think it is. It's just different, because the worst thing about PTSD (and what makes it harder to treat) is that it's different for every person; sometimes it can be really severe and obvious, sometimes it seems “light”. Damn, sometimes it doesn't appear until years after the event; mine didn't trigger til I was like sixteen, and the event took place when I was around five or six. And yes, sometimes I have nightmares or flashbacks about it if something triggers me, but it isn't the whole time like some of you apparently think it is. I'm not scared 100% of the time, what the fuck.

When it comes to the fight with Adam, saying it didn't affect her: did you watch the fight? First of all, at that precise moment, Yang was so full of adredaline and too busy keeping Adam from killing Blake that I don't think her brain even realised he was the cause of her PTSD. Second of all, when he triggers it, it does affect her; she starts shaking, he's able to land hits on her that he couldn't before. But PTSD is different in every person, and is a defense mechanism, not a freezing mechanism as some people think. If I see the cause of my PTSD in front of me trying to hurt me again, I'm not gonna freeze; I'm gonna do whatever it takes so they don't ever hurt me again. Same goes with Yang: some people think she should have completely freezed during the fight, like “oh my god this guy fucked me up really bad and now he's gonna do it again and there's nothing I can do oh my god”. No. As I said, PTSD doesn't work like that, at least not always. She's not thinking that, she's thinking “alright this guy really fucked me up once but there's no way I'm letting him do that again”. Again, PTSD is a defense mechanism. A fucked up one, but it's what it is. And the writers handled very well.

Yang being suspicious and not completely trusting someone.

Now, I'm not lying when I tell you that I have no idea about what this could mean. Well, it could be her disagreeing with Ruby and having a bad argument, and that would really break my heart because I just love those two sisters so much. It could also be about Ozpin; she's teaming up with Oscar and hearing Ozpin is back could bring some problems. Or maybe Raven just appears there and she's like Hell Naw. I have no idea.

Conclussion.

I love Yang. She's not perfect at all. She's a bit of a hypocrite with the whole Ozpin thing because she's keeping Raven's identity as the Spring Maiden a secret as well (or maybe she did tell them off-screen? Honestly clear that up already). But she's over all a really good friend and person, an amazing older sister and just one of the most inspiring characters in the show. I see part of myself in her, and I don't see that often in a character. I just love her.

Damn, sorry I wrote the Bible but my girl deserved that.