#and has told us that we're her only reason for living

[siriuslyobsessedwithfiction]

Zoya Nazyalensky: how to ruin a character

Zoya Nazyalensky was a mean-spirited, vain and ambitious character in Shadow and Bone trilogy. And while I didn't necessarily commend her bullying attitude, she seemed to hold some care for her people, so I was excited for her to get her own duology. To see her grow from a popular girl in school to an actual position of power and overcome hardships that come with it. Except we didn't get to see any of that. Why couldn't Zoya just be her own character instead of making her "the right version" of the Darkling?

Tell, not show

We never get to see actual growth or an actual struggle. We're constantly told she is a good leader, but we don't see it. What we see is Nina developing anxiety because instead of mentoring, Zoya constantly criticized her even at the things she was good at. We see Zoya lose her temper in delicate political situations. We see Adrik and Nina discussing how everyone in the second army was scared of her but also had a crush on her. That's your good leadership? Imagine if the Darkling did that, the fandom would bury him even further. What we see is Zoya abandoning the plan in RoW and going off on her own to fight. That's the general of the army right there. But of course, everything magically works out for her, which brings me to my next point.

Men and the narrative handing her everything on a platter

The crown? Handed to her by her simpering boytoy boyfriend.

The title of a saint? The Darkling shouts "Sankta", which makes people follow up.

Handling the Apparat? The Darkling is the one who shuts him up by making shadows come out of his mouth. It is only after that when Zoya does an unnecessary thunderclap (which used to be the Darkling's thing - "a sound like thunderclap" before the place would plunge into darkness) and orders to seize the Apparat.

Her powers? Given to her by a man after two days of training because he wanted to escape the limbo he was trapped in and she was the only Grisha there. Some chosen one she is. And for some reason, the famously ill-tempered Zoya has no problem with adjusting to immortality, her DNA being rewritten, and two ancient beings constantly living in her head.

Zoya saying "Will you have a Suli Queen?" only to be met with dead silence. There's the moment for her to speak up and put people in their places! And what happens? Some count jumps in to protect her because he has a crush on her. Why? Why is Count Karigan speaking for her?

Yes, it's YA, but the author is not acting or writing like it's not supposed to be taken seriously. And once you've established a universe with certain laws, you can't throw it all to the wind, give the readers a half-baked explanation and say it makes perfect sense. The SoB trilogy showed us how Grisha were not accepted even when they fought the Kings' wars for centuries and a Grisha saint destroyed the Fold. The SoC duology told us that the civil war destroyed the second army and Ravka was bankrupt and collapsing. Since the draft wasn't mandatory, no one wanted to go fight and die for a country that has given them nothing. But suddenly, the nation of Fjerda, who has hated and hunted the Grisha for centuries, is swayed by cheap tricks to worship them as saints and Ravka will be fine because because Zoya becoming a dragon magically solves every problem centuries of diplomacy, servitude and assimilation couldn't solve? Or what, Zoya can flap her wings and burn whoever opposes her? Yeah, 'cause that went so well for the Targaryen dynasty. Speaking of which, LB ripped off Daenerys Targaryen's story: both were child brides, Stormborn - Stormwitch, "If I look back I'm lost" - "Don't look back", the dragon Queen with flocking suitors, etc.

Weird sexualization

Why is being hot an excuse for everything when it comes to her? She constantly tears down everyone, is not a good commander, doesn't inspire or properly guide her subordinates, and yet everyone literally worships her because they had a crush on her. What the actual Sarah J. Maas hell is this? Not one character is constantly described as "perfect" and "elegant", except Zoya. Even when she's just standing, we are told about her "perfect profile in the moonlight". The otkazatsya nobles, who are supposed to see the Grisha as the lesser, who Zoya assures us would never accept "a raven-haired witch", constantly praise her. It's like all the problems, that would actually be problems, only exist in her head, because when it comes down to it, it's solved in half a minute. Not sure what happened, did LB realize she dug herself into too deep of a hole in KoS and quickly solved everything in RoW?

Her being "manipulated" by the Darkling

It's the typical "I thought my crush liked me back but since he doesn't, I now hate him". The Darkling didn't owe her anything. He was a general who travelled all year all across Ravka to protect the borders. Zoya was the one who thought she was the best and wanted to prove herself to him. Nothing wrong with ambition, but how was he supposed to know some young squaller considered him her father figure because of her daddy issues? All he did was not punish her when she screwed up: she took away an opportunity to claim an amplifier from a Grisha who actually deserved it, and marked the cubs she "freed" for death because she got her scent on them and they'd be killed by another tiger. And years later, she still refuses to accept the basic zoology fact and Nikolai supports her delusion. Childish naivety to just point fingers to blame we often see from her.

"When the children misbehaved, he slaughtered them". Majority of the second army was on Darkling's side. He killed like ten Grisha that were on Alina's side. And what otkazat’sya did he kill? Do you mean the soldiers Nikolai used to fight the darkling because for some reason he decided he was the best fit for the throne even though legally he had no right to it? Well neither did the darkling, why couldn't he be the King? Y'know, someone who actually had done things to make Ravka better? Or do you mean the brainwashed actual twelve year olds in Alina's cult she decided to use to fight the Darkling? They declared war on him and he still told her to stop and avoid bloodshed.

"When my aunt was killed by the Darkling" - her aunt wasn't killed by the Darkling, as she often claims. Zoya's aunt was a moron who saw the Fold, a giant wall of shadow moving in her direction, ran towards it and started pushing random people out of the way instead of grabbing her daughter and running in the opposite direction like everyone else was doing. When there's a catastrophe, people evacuate in an as orderly manner as possible. Since when is running into a tsunami considered bravery when you're not even a trained individual? This isn't a matter of bravery or cowardice, it's suicide. And the Darkling moving the Fold to destroy only the area near the docks wasn't a mad power-obsessed move, it was a military action to warn off the enemy countries from attacking Ravka, which they were planning to do and basically already doing with creeping occupation and clashes at the border.

Do the fans even realize that Zoya literally said "He could've told me what he had planned, if I could've warned them..." - I don't know Zoya, your aunt might've still ran towards the Fold. And why would he warn you? Even if you had been his favorite, which you weren't, you literally cracked the most precious Grisha's ribs out of petty jealousy, proving you weren't dependable. If the Darkling had told Zoya about his plan to destroy the docks near Novokribirsk, Zoya would've gladly stayed on his side and would've bragged about how she was his favorite (she wasn't. The Darkling was only close to his otkazatsya guards Oprichniki, and a few heartrenders. He had more important things to do than go around manipulating random young women).

“Where is the shrine to my aunt? To Saint Harshaw? To Sergei or Marie or Fedyor? Who will worship them and light candles in their names?” - All she cares about the Grisha she knew personally. Where are shrines for countless soldiers who died in King's wars? Where are shrines for Grisha who were executed in sham trials after Alina ran from Ravka? Where are shrines for Grisha who had to run from Ravka after the second army collapsed and got snatched up by enemies, like Retvenko, Anya and the Grisha working in the White Rose? Where are shrines for Grisha who were forcefully taken from Ravka because she couldn't do her job as the general? Zoya insulted Sergei, a double traitor, even after his death, but she brings him up when she needs to add names to her hate-list against the Darkling. She treats everyone like dirt when they're alive, but she will plant flowers in her garden after their deaths! Absolutely useless for them, but it makes Zoya look like this deeply compassionate, benevolent commander who grieves every soldier they lose on a personal level. That kind of pointless grand posturing is exactly what a self-absorbed narcissist like Zoya would do. They don't feel empathy, they perform it. (quote from @taragreenfield).

Giving Zoya's flaws to the Darkling and his virtues to her + never acknowledging Zoya's very much remaining flaws

I was flabbergasted when the Darkling being vain suddenly became a thing in KoS duology. Where did that even come from? But no, in SoB trilogy, Zoya was called vain by Alina (because she was), so obviously somehow it had to become his flaw.

The Darkling's good looks were mentioned by Alina and Genya, yes, but we are shown it had no part in making people respect him, and it was established that when he was a boy, he often had to change his appearance in a rough manner to look different in order to survive the witch hunters and amplifier hunters. Poorly dyed hair, shaved head, etc. But in KoS duology, Sankta Elizaveta tells Zoya that he always picked a handsome face when tailored because he was vain. Utter shite. Tailors were extremely rare and he couldn't have been tailored often. He couldn't even been tailored well because Grisha back then couldn't carry around a kit with materials like cells inside. The goal would've been to just become unrecognizable, like Nikolai/Sturmhond. And when he was, how is picking a handsome face when his real face was also handsome a bad thing? What, he had to be ugly and make himself an even more of an outcast during the time when he had nothing?

On the other hand, it was established that Zoya looked down on everyone and used her good looks in her advantage, turned her nose up and called people commoners, peasants and insulted their lack of fine taste, no matter if they were actually peasants or not. Examples: Mal, Adrik, Genya, Alina, Kaz, Jesper, etc. Typical bully rich girl behavior in order to contradict "I'm not like other girls" mindset Alina had because that was trendy when Shadow and Bone came out. However, when LB needed a sad backstory for Zoya, she made her a peasant who couldn't even afford food. So, she was just faking and shaming her own social class for years.

And Zoya never stops being vain. She didn't just destroy the Darkling's rooms, she swung the first hammer, then stopped because she didn't want to break a nail or get callouses. Does that seem like actual self-righteous rage to you? But she did pull away a bunch of Fabrikators from their work in a disbanded army to destroy the rooms entirely and remake it in her taste. In a bankrupt country when they couldn't even afford to buy metal to build weapons to defend themselves against two very well-armed enemy countries! In a bankrupt country where Grisha were being kidnapped off the streets and the people starved, the first thing to do is renovate perfectly intact rooms! What an empowering move! I cannot fucking believe this is canon.

LB hastily making her Suli for diversity points, not for Zoya herself

Zoya was considered white before KoS. Her features: blue eyes, black hair and I quote - "a perfect nose" (did you mean a small straight nose, Leigh? I sure hope not) were mentioned a lot while her skin tone was not. But, every time a character was Suli in the Grisha trilogy, no matter how minor, the text would explicitly state that. Before KoS came out, people were complaining that all three main characters in KoS would be white and upper-class, then LB commissioned Zoya's official fanart to look Suli, and everyone was happy that Zoya was a brown girl. THEN, we find out in Rule of Wolves that Zoya actually looks white and never bothered to say she's Suli, or to learn Suli language or one of its dialects taught in the Little Palace. It's framed as though the Little Palace, where Zoya grew up, was discriminatory towards Suli, when in reality, we only see Alina who was racist and was making fun of Suli accent. It was actually encouraged to learn Suli for missions and we see Marie and Nadia do it. The Little Palace had Grisha from all over the world, including the Suli, so if it was anywhere to feel safe and accepted, it was there. I guess Zoya's mother and some Ravkans being racist really stuck with Zoya and she chose to hide her Suli heritage in order to seem "perfect". But then that's on Zoya too, she had internal prejudices and it should be acknowledged.

Zoya admitting to be Suli could've been done in so many ways. I was so invested when it was revealed she was passing as not Suli. What would her feelings and relationship be to her heritage? Zoya was a proud woman, why didn't she reveal she was half-Suli when she came into the position of power as the general of the second army? Remember when Inej felt uncomfortable with the triumvirate in CK and didn't want to meet them because Ravka hadn't been good to Suli in recent years? Why wasn't that explored? It might be possible that during Nikolai's father's rule, while the Suli were on the Ravkan soil, they were tested for powers and taken to the second army since the draft was mandatory and that's why Inej didn't like them. Because there weren't a lot of Suli left anyway, especially ones who still led the nomad lifestyle. When the mandatory law for Grisha testing and drafting was abolished, what happened to Suli Grisha children? Suli also travel to Shu-Han, where they kidnap Grisha and experiment on them, so they wouldn't have been safe there. Why isn't that acknowledged? Instead, all we get is a promise that Zoya will include the Suli in her version of new Ravka (they were already included), the typical promise every politician makes? It feels like shallow performative progressiveness because it is.

And don't say "it's just YA, we can't expect more complexity", yes we can. If the author brings up an issue and uses it as a plot device, especially an issue that exists in the real world and has affected people, the readers are owed more than that. Naomi Novik's YA fantasy book The Spinning Silver executes the prejudices and marginalization a Jewish main character faces in a country based on Slavic countries masterfully. Even LB did better than herself in SoC duology with Inej. So we know she can do it, she just didn't bother.

And the grand reveal of Zoya admitting she's Suli was so awful. That scene where Zoya apologizes in Suli to the Suli in Kerch? Everyone acts so surprised when she struggles through a few words. Nikolai's jaw drops "How do you know these words?" as if he himself isn't currently learning Zemeni and doesn't know that every language was taught very well in the Little Palace to the point where you can speak like a native. But Zoya saying a sentence is sensational how, exactly? And why would the Suli believe Zoya? A man literally tells her she speaks Suli like a tax collector. These are the people who had to travel and stay extra careful because Kerch exploits Suli. They should know that even if someone speaks perfect Suli, they could be a Ravkan spy or someone indentured by Kerch. It could be a trap, a scam, a human trafficking attempt, etc. But no, they accept her with open arms because Kaz somehow knew they would because Kaz is all-knowing. It's an incredibly cheap execution. Yes, Suli don't forget one of their own but they also forsake one of their own if they plan to have a part in harming them. We learnt that from Inej. There are a thousand ways the reveal could've been done better.

But guess what was erased? The Darkling's Suli and Shu heritage. He is canonically Shu-passing and can speak the language fluently. His half-sister Ulla looks Suli in her human form (her skin is greenish grey in mermaid form). The mermaids/the sildroher in Grishaverse all have white skin and the ones Ulla is surrounded by, including her sildroher father, have white skin in human form too. Ulla's mother, Baghra, is described to have dark hair and dark eyes. Since the Darkling has pale skin and grey eyes, it must've come from his father while the dark hair came from his mother - Baghra. And since Ulla looks Suli with dark hair, dark eyes and "burnished bronze" skin, it must've come from her mother. So, the Darkling's mother Baghra clearly has Suli heritage, and we know that she often travelled with them in the past.

In conclusion, Zoya's character is one big wasted potential, and a lesson to discard responsibility and taking accountability in life, which sends the wrong message.

[johanna-swann]

A few words about Eddie (bold lie, it's many words)

I used to really enjoy Eddie. I was never a huge fan of him as an individual character, but I always thought he had incredibly interesting relationships. With his parents, his son, his wife, his best friend, his aunt, ... and since a lot of his story lines are centred around his family I obviously enjoyed those. But all of that aside: Even when I actually dislike a character I get upset when their plots are bullshit.

Like, I absolutely cannot stand Captain America in the mcu (Steve Rogers, not Sam. Sam is cool, I love him. I also respect comic book Steve.), but he deserved so much better than whatever the fuck Avengers Endgame did with him. And just like I got upset over the ending they gave Steve in the mcu I'm upset over what 911 did with Eddie in season 8.

I was not enthusiastic about the Kim plot to begin with because I'd hoped we were finally ready to let Eddie move on from Shannon. But at least it was still fun right, in a ridiculous telenovela way. Sure, the dead (sorta ex) wife's doppelgänger shows up and he has a platonic affair with her. Why not.

Then before going into season 8 they escalated that situation, got rid of Marisol and split Eddie and Christopher up. I know there were behind the scenes reasons, Marisol's actress was transphobic, Christopher's actor was not available for a bit there if I remember correctly and since Eddie has in large parts always defined himself over his role as a father I thought: "Hey, maybe they can make this work in Eddie's favour. Do something interesting with him by isolating him a little." I would've thought it more logical if Christopher had stayed with a relative in LA like Tía Pepa or if he had come back sooner, but if the actor isn't available for a big plot, what can you do?

So yeah, I was okay with Christopher not coming back until 8b and with him living in Texas. Because it gave the show an opportunity to look at Eddie and figure out who he is outside of a father and a widower. What does he do with himself and with his free time when he suddenly has no distractions and has to confront parts of himself he hasn't looked at in years, maybe ever.

I thought we might get a deep dive into Eddie's early adulthood. Maybe we'd see him go to therapy again. They were so happy to have Shannon's actress back on board in season 7, how about some flashbacks? Because I always thought that this great romance, love of Eddie's life, magical soulmates thing was a lie he told himself. Eddie was a high schooler who fell in love with the girl he knew from middle school and then suddenly they had to make it work in the real, grown-up world because she was pregnant. They got pregnant on accident, they married because they had to, Eddie immediately joined the army and was gone for the next 4 years, then they switched and Shannon left without a warning. In between they argued constantly, barely lived under the same roof at the same time, struggled with money and got additional pressure from Eddie's family. Which part of that was so magical that Eddie is still yearning for it?

I would've loved for Eddie to finally take off the rose-coloured glasses and realise that while he loved Shannon their relationship was anything but perfect and if he ever wants to have a healthy dating life ever again he can't keep putting their marriage on this pedestal. He needs to make his peace with Shannon, accept the ugly parts of their shared history, forgive her, forgive himself and truly move on. We could've had all of that.

What did the show do with Eddie in 8a instead? Glad you asked. You see, they had him grow a mustache, act out a hilariously contrived juice metaphor (that scene was written so so badly), come out as straight to a priest, shave the 'stache and dance in his underwear in that one scene. Yeah, powerful interesting stuff.

But okay, 8a was a dumpster fire for all characters start to finish, surely 8b can only be better and we're finally getting to the part where Eddie actually does something to work on his relationship with Christopher. It can only go uphill from here, right?

Right. So Eddie BUYS a house in El Paso. Never mind that he rented in LA for 7 years, he buys a house in El Paso immediately. He arrives in Texas to work on his relationship with his son. The last two times we saw Chris he barely wanted to speak with Eddie, so this will probably be difficult. But wait, what do you say? Christopher isn't actually upset with Eddie anymore? They don't even need to talk about what happened with Kim? The real problem was actually Eddie's evil mother all along even though she had nothing to do with the fight between Eddie and Chris? Sure, that makes sense! Glad we cleared that up!

Like. Right when it seemed like they were FINALLY getting to the part where they process the season 7 finale they skip over that whole mess and also leave Eddie out of 3 entire episodes. And I'll be honest, those were 3 very good episodes, I didn't exactly miss him. Especially with the lab two parter it would've been difficult to involve him in a meaningful way. But I hoped we'd get a GOOD Eddie story line in 8b. Instead we got. That.

Now Eddie's back, but instead of getting a scene where they show (don't tell) us how Eddie feels about losing Bobby they just give him one line where he flat out states that he "should've been there" and that's it. That's his only scene this episode other than the funeral montage.

Again, I'm not a huge Eddie fan, I didn't miss him per se, but even I very much noticed his absence (it was not sublte) and as far as I know he's still a main character, yes? Like, I'm upset on behalf of the Eddie fans. They've done some interesting stuff with all the other characters in 8b or at least they're about to.

Maddie got serial killer plot plus aftermath and is about to have a second child. Buck reconnected with Tommy, that relationship is still going back and forth a bit and I think he might have a breakdown before the season is over. Chimney has survivor's guilt and has to figure out how to live with that while he's also becoming a father again. Hen had an admittedly shitty B-plot about people forgetting her birthday, but now she might become Captain. Bobby literally died. Athena has to cope with that and there was something about keeping her tethered to the 118 coming up?

What did Eddie get? He got sidelined. And a repeat of the fight he already had with his mother in season 2/Eddie begins. We have no idea what's next for Eddie, he had nothing important to do in season 8 and they completely retconned what the Texas arc was supposed to be about.

[piracytheorist]

Idk I just really like that Twilight's reaction to being told "Your wife used to be a prostitute!" is to go like

and proceed to say how honourable and worthy of respect her dedication, self-sacrifice and mental fortitude are, and how we're shown he actually means that.

And then my girl Yor sees his reaction and hears his words and for the first time in her life she goes like "This is a man who literally just met me and has no connection to me yet he not only understands my position, he's also willing to bring himself out there and have my back when other people have free bait to judge me" and like damn how important that was to her, to have someone (who doesn't owe his survival to her like Yuri does) actually see her and respect her choices and have the absolute BEST of faiths in her. Like, what Camilla says there has the societal power to make her look like a pariah. Yet this dude comes over and without knowing anything about her, he vouches for her and immediately assumes her reasons were noble and altruistic. And though he doesn't know what profession he's actually vouching for, he's completely right in his assumption about her intentions, and considering how easily the general public judges sex workers, it's no surprise this support gives Yor the courage to believe Loid will understand her and won't think bad of her if she ever disappears on them due to her work, because he's open-minded enough for his first and immediate assumption about her is that she has good intentions.

And I just wanna SCREAM because she has absolutely no idea how little he will judge her about her assassin gig. She already considers herself lucky she's come across someone who is compassionate enough to think the best out of someone who works in a profession that is not considered "morally acceptable" by the public. But she has no idea the actual jackpot she's hit, because his own profession is far more dark and sinister yet he still has the kindness and empathy in his heart to understand people who do the same as he does.

Like, that's it with her character, isn't it? She sacrificed her own youth and morality to help Yuri grow up and be educated, and that caused him to idolize her, and because he was the only family she had left, she has been desperate to not cause any of her ties with him to break. But it also caused her impostor syndrome, and she had no confidence in any of her abilities aside from killing and cleaning up after her work, because she lives in a misogynistic society that is suspicious of unmarried women (like, that judgment alone, considering unmarried men don't experience such scrutiny, can be enough to damage a woman's psyche) and because she has been working under a man cruel enough to hire orphaned teenagers as assassins and nearly kill them in tests of their abilities ever since she was a teenager. For her it was either "I'm either perfect in something or I'm completely useless and I deserve people's judgment". Because if Yuri sees she doesn't have the perfect record, she thinks he will be horrified and she'll lose the ties to her last remaining family. And she will think she deserved that. If her killing skills waver in the slightest, she will be killed, either by enemies or by the Shopkeeper doing his little "tests". And she will think she deserved that. And if she doesn't abide by the society's expectations, she will at best be judged and mocked (for not cooking at home) and at worst get arrested (for being suspected as a spy). And she will think she deserved that.

Yet again, this stranger comes along, is told she's worked a socially shameful profession, knows she's shy and with so few connections that she can't even find someone to act as her pretend boyfriend for a party, and he supports her. And then he finds out how socially unskilled she is, how terrible she is at cooking, how she can't even pretend to kiss him for their mutual benefit, how she has the tendency to get so drunk she accidentally kicks him unconscious... And those things that she considers fatal flaws of her, he says are parts of her that she doesn't need to pretend don't exist. That's who she is, and there's nothing to fix, and she can just accept them without feeling bad or ashamed of it, that pretending she's someone else, someone perfect, will only make her miserable and exhausted.

And like... fuck. How can she not feel glad she got to marry that guy?

And how much will her heart break when she finds out he's a spy and will immediately doubt all the supportive words he's told her? And how astonishing will it be when she finds out that he actually meant pretty much everything he's told her, and that he really resonates with her and believes in her?

(anime only here, don't spoil me for the manga)

[awriterinthenight]

"And How Would You Like to Kiss a Smart Guy?"-Fred Weasley

requested: no

words: 1840

warnings: Molly complaining about the twins, reader is a Gryffindor and Sirius' daughter, also implied that reader is shorter to Fred

summary: When Molly complains about the twins, you defend then, especially Fred, leading to Sirius having old memories of Lily and James.

You could hear Molly Weasley yelling about something in the kitchen as you approached the door. Recently you, Harry, Hermione, and all the Weasley kids had been living in 12 Grimmauld Place, which is technically your family's house. Your dad had been hiding out there, and you had started living with him to make up for all the time lost while he was in Azkaban.

Grimmauld Place was starting to become your home and even feel like it. Ever since your Hogwarts letter came, the school has only ever felt like your real home. Many of your friendships were made there, your relationships all started there, and almost every happy memory was made at Hogwarts.

It was the place where you met Ron and Hermione on the train to Hogwarts. Then when you got sorted into Gryffindor you met Oliver Wood who was the Quidditch captain, and you became quick friends with him, due to you and Harry being on the team so young. It was also the place where you met the Weasley twins.

Ron had told you all about his oldest brother Bill, who now worked all the way in Egypt, and his other older brother Charlie who was a dragon tamer in Romania. Then he complained about how uptight Percy was. When he got to the twins it was a mix of funny stories and some humiliating ones for Ron.

"Oy, you're going to talk her ear off if you keep telling her about us," a voice yelled out. It was Fred Weasley. He was making his way over to where you and Ron were talking in the common room.

"Yeah, you're also not even telling her the truth," the other twin said, following behind Fred.

Fred came up behind you in the chair you were sitting in, wrapping his arm around your shoulders, bending down a bit so that he could whisper something to you, "We're a lot funnier than that, and way better at pranks than he's making it out to be."

"Uh huh," you said, acting skeptical, "If you say so."

Him and George looked hurt at your words.

"If you say so," George yelled loudly, clutching his chest, "Do you hear this blasphemy?" he said to Fred.

Fred removed his arm from around your shoulders, "Oh, I do, and believe me I cannot stand for this. We didn't get detention for a month to be insulted like this. Now did we?"

You rolled your eyes, as Ron looked bored from having seen this act before, "Don't you two have anything better to do than bother some first years?"

"Well when you insult a man's pranks, one feels rather hurt," Fred said, continuing his dramatic act.

You looked him up and down before you said, "What man? All I see are two cocky gits."

They looked even more insulted, but once again Fred spoke first, "And she's got a sharp tongue. It seems we have our work cut out for us."

"That we do, dear brother," George said to his twin.

"You know what I think we need to do?"

"Of course I do, now off we go," George said before walking away with his twin in tow. That moment was the reason for the twins' further actions towards you. Wherever you went the twins would always do some prank near you to make you laugh. Fred started to take pride in knowing one of his jokes made you laugh, even if it was barely a chuckle or a smile.

The boys did everything they could to get you to crack. Slowly it became their favorite past time, especially for one twin. During 4th year something started to shift in how Fred saw you. You were no longer just his little brother's friend, but you were his too. Except he started to wish you were more.

He watched you get prettier over the years, to the point he caught himself staring a couple of times. Fred loved the banter between the two of you, you always had some sort of retort to everything. You still called his pranks "silly" or sometimes "immature" but that was only when it went wrong. He still did his dramatic act everything you said that, but now it was because he just liked having your attention all on him.

Fred's crush on you wasn't entirely unrequited though. You started to fall for him too. You didn't know if it was because of his charm, or the banter that was the closest you would get to flirting, or even just the way he looked. He was always looking down at you, having to lean in a little closer to hear you since he was so tall.

Being at Grimmauld Place was no different to being at Hogwarts with the way the twins, especially Fred, acted. They still pulled pranks and Fred still had his banter with you. Which was exactly what Mrs. Weasley was yelling and complaining about.

You'd walk in to make tea and grab a biscuit when you heard, "And they're always up to something. I can't with those two, one of these days they are going to have to grow out of these pranks and jokes," Molly complained, while cleaning the table.

"Hey, me and James were the same way, and look how we turned out," Sirius said, but Molly just gave him a look, "Alright, maybe not the best example, but look at Remus. He was part of our pranks, and he ended up teaching at Hogwarts."

Remus had now butted into the conversation, "I did end up having to leave due to my furry little problem, though I did enjoy some of their mischief, Molly," he defended, taking a sip of his tea.

"They don't even study. How will they get anywhere if they don't focus on school. For once I wish they would focus on their classes instead of some dumb prank or useless product," Molly continued on.

You'd been at the counter, letting your tea bag sit in your tea, as you listened to Molly rant. At some point you let out an eye roll and huff that did not go unnoticed. Your dad and uncle seemed to pick up on your small gestures.

"You seem to have some thoughts on this matter, why don't you share them with us," Sirius teased, sitting at the dinner table, leaning back in his chair.

You shrugged, annoyed you were being put on the spot, "I have nothing to say really."

"Oh come on, you go to school with them, you must have something to say," Remus interjected, picking up on what Sirius was doing.

Before you could respond, Molly spoke up before you, "It's alright dear, I know everyone is probably annoyed by their childish pranks."

You rolled your eyes again, this time deciding to defend the twins, "They're actually not that childish. They're pretty impressive if anything."

"Oh really? And what makes you say that?" Remus questioned, leaning against the counter.

"They've pulled off really complicated charms before actually," you started, "And they're both really smart, especially Fred. I once watched him pull off a charm during my first year, that not even seventh years could pull off. Whenever they come up with some new product Fred always shows it to me and explains it, and its always bloody genius. I don't think I've seen him come up with an idea that hasn't worked. I think if he did try to study he could be top of his class, especially in charms. He could probably give Hermione a run for her money if he cared enough. I don't see why everyone demeans his pranks so often. He's a bit of a genius when it comes to them," you explained, not realizing when your defense for the twins turned into you rambling on about how smart Fred was.

You turned around to face the three adults who all had a smile on their face, yet also seemed a bit shocked. Sirius started to massage his temples, quietly repeating "not again, not again," which you didn't understand why. While Mrs. Weasley had a knowing smile as she continued cleaning, not saying a word. Finally you turned to Remus, who was shaking his head at Sirius.

"What?" you exclaimed, confused as to why they were acting like this, "What's wrong with him? Why does he keep repeating that?" you asked Remus.

Remus took in a long deep breath before saying, "Because, about 17, maybe 18 years ago, Lily Potter said the same words, unknowingly might I add, about Harry's father all those years ago," he explained.

It took you a moment to connect the dots, but once you did you were quick to react, "Shut it."

"She said the same thing too," Remus teased, as you walked out of the kitchen.

***

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, Fred had heard everything you said. He thought they were talking about something for The Order, but he ended up catching your conversation. He was over the moon to find out you thought of him like that, and he knew the next time he talked to you he would tease you about it for forever.

***

The next time Fred saw you, you were walking back to your room upstairs when he stopped you.

"What do you want, Weasley?" you asked, knowing he probably had some prank to show you, or a new product.

"I think you mean genius actually," he teased.

It took you a moment to understand what he meant, but once you did you felt a bit embarrassed, "So you heard all of that?"

He nodded his head, "Oh, I heard all of it. How I'm a genius, and my "silly" pranks are actually really impressive, and how you think I'm super smart," he teased, while having the biggest smile on his face.

You shrugged, "And so what if I do?"

Your confidence threw him off a bit, but he went with it. He was silent for a moment before he spoke, "Well, do you like smart guys," he asked, trying to shoot his shot.

"Maybe," you replied, inching closer to him without realizing it.

"That's not an answer, love," he said, the name rolling off his tongue as if it was completely normal.

"Yes, I do," you admitted.

Fred's smile got even wider at your confession, "Good" he said, "And how would you like to kiss a smart guy?"

You shrugged, "I don't know, who is this supposed smart guy?"

"I heard he's quite the genius," Fred said, closer to you now than he was before.

You considered it for a moment, "Then yes, yes I do."

"Even better," Fred said, before connecting his lips with yours. Your hands went around his neck, one of them tangling in his hair. Fred's hands wrapped around your waist, pulling you close. You both had waited so long for this moment, that it was unbelievable that it finally happened. You didn't know what was next, but you enjoyed the moment between you.

Current Taglist (ask to be added or removed

@almost-gabrielle @scarlett-8 @sarahskywalker-amidala @atashiboba @that1deerpersondownstairs @herondale-lightworm @purplerose291 @mitskiswift99 @crumby-child @rafslytherin @shanksvskidd @yerrmar @oceangirl15

[eclipse-msoul]

FAMILY, FAMILY DEAR BATS! 🦇

Synopsis : What happens when a normal reader enters Batfamily. Not by getting orphaned or saved but rather just visiting her uncle for the first time ( it's Bruce ). Now somehow she's become the unofficial therapist of this family and for unknown reasons the only one with enough common sense.Also why is everyone so Overprotective?

Or

Normal reader X Platonic Batfamily

Chapter 1 :-

Your life was pretty uneventful and even, except for a few ups and downs here and there. But still it was as ordinary as it could get, living with a mother that had nursing as a profession and your father being an office worker made it normal but nice.

That was until one day when your mother told you about your uncle’s existence. Her cousin to be exact.Well excuse you for being surprised- YOU didn't even know you had another living relative ??? And they just dropped the bomb so casually ��� that too at dinner time !!

“ I haven't actually met him yet but the media has framed him to be… quite unique.” Your mother quotes. “ I talked to him, he's a kind man and I think meeting him would do us some good.” Your father sees the way your one way from questioning reality so he gently pats your back and smiles.

“ Don't worry little star, if it makes you feel better she told me two days ago.” He says as your mother lightly giggles and the two make a couple of jokes here and there. “ You two…really..” you groan.

 As the dinner slowly comes to an end and your father and mother pick up the dishes and drop them at the sink, your mother glances at your father telling him to speak. “ Ahem-” he fake coughs to get your attention, “ This summer we're planning to send you to live with him.” 

You look at him , your eyes wide. “ I beg your finest pardon-WHaT!?” they both nod and you violently shake your head. “ What happened to you two going with me ?”

They share a glance , “ We'll be going together but you'll stay a bit longer and get to know him better. He's family after all."

“ Mom, dad ! You've got to be kidding me.” You try to reason, “ I don't even know him, Heck I didn't even know he existed until a few moments ago and you're telling me to just go and live with him out of nowhere !!”

Your mother puts a hand on your shoulder and you just know you're going to lose. “ Sweetie, my cousin isn't a bad man. Just think of it as meeting a new friend and also I heard Gotham has one of the best medical units in the world~"

You think for a moment before a sigh escapes your lips. You can't defeat them anyway, might as well try. ( Which is totally not because you're excited about checking out the hospitals in Gotham and their advancement. Nope sir, No way)

“ Fine, I'll go. When are we leaving ?” You ask to get up from the table. “ Tomorrow.” 

“ WhAt-”

…

Moving forward you are currently standing in front of the totally not terrifying and scary Mansion inside the most amazing and sunny Gotham. Get the sarcasm here ? Yeah, me too.

Your mother dials the number and the bell rings and runs until it's finally picked up. “ Bruce Wanye here.” his voice sounds horse, he was probably asleep you think. It's only 11am right now. You've slept far later.

“ Hello…yeah…it's me...” 

The Giant Gate automatically opens and the three of us enter. You take in the scenery and like you thought this place is really nice. It's a billionaire’s garden afterall. Just then a voice comes from inside the Mansion and a butler comes out.

He’s an old British looking man, the way he moves is elegant like those movies you've seen and the way he greets your parents and you is so nerve cracking. “ A pleasure to meet you Miss Rachel and Sir Lucas.” He greets them and then his eyes turn to you.

“ And this is?”

“ Y/n but please..call me Julia.” You reply.

“ Miss Julia then.” He states , “ please come in. Master Bruce has been waiting for your arrival.” He brings you all to the meeting area. As you all take a seat the butler bows yet again and walks away.

“ I'll get Mister Bruce here.” He says walking away.

Your gaze that was previously fidgeting back and forth now has time to look around. This house was so splendid and beautiful and everything was exceptional and well cared for.

Few minutes pass before the door chimes open and walks in on the Man you searched about last night. His posture is elegant like a noble, similar to the butler, yet his eyes are filled with dark circles.Youve got a very good feeling he hardly sleeps.

“ A pleasure to meet you.” He says while shaking hands with your parents and then taking a seat. “ I'm sorry it took me a while. I was busy and hardly had time to rest due to the WE business and projects coming up.” 

Your mother nodes. “ It's understandable Bruce. You've got a great burden on you and it can get hard.” You sit next to your father and mother, right in the middle of the giant sofa as they chat.

Bruce while talking turns his attention to you and you see how his eyes briefly soften and there's some sadness in them. But it vanished too quickly for you to think it was there.

“ This is your daughter ?” He asks.

“ Told you long enough to notice.” Your mother dabs a small sarcastic smile. She loves chaos far too much. “ I apologize-”

“ I'm kidding Bruce !” Your mother retorts back. “ This is my little baby girl , Julia Y/n.”

You smile at him awkwardly and he returns the gesture. “ How old are you, Julia ?”

“ I'm sixteen, Mr Wanye.”

“ Oh, you're close to Damien's age-” he remarks , “Please call me Bruce. I'm your uncle, Julia.” He smiles. 

“ Alright, uncle Bruce... and uh, who's Damien ?” you ask curious. Your parents definitely haven't mentioned a Damien.

" He's my son. So he'd be your cousin, Julia."

" Oh !" You glare at your parents for not telling you this and they just nervously turn away. They live messing with you far too much. Sigh

" How old is he, uncle Bruce ?"

" He's eighteen." Noticing your curiosity he deemed to telling you more.

" He's currently on a little trip to his elder brother's place. They'll be coming here by tomorrow" he smiled.

Okay that's it. How many cousins did you have ? You were told about one uncle and that's it.

" I see."

And you parents and uncle get back to their conversation. Soon enough the butler returns with some refreshments and introduces himself as Alfred Pennyworth.

Once you've eaten, you excuse yourself to look around the place and the butler whom you now know as Alfred guides you.

The Mansion is bigger than you initially thought and Mr. Alfred is a nice companion to talk to. He tells you about your cousins (surprise suprise, THERE'S MORE THAN SIX) and about how most of them are adopted except Damien who used to call himself the “ blood son” and all their shenanigans.

It's fun to learn about your soon-to-be-new family. All of them seem to sound like interesting individuals and you could use some cousins to play with. Alfred even mentions their hobbies and how they like to prank each other.

Also did you mention how the way to Gotham was the most nerve cracking thing ever. Like this is the city that batman-THE BATMAN couldn't cleanse after almost two and half decades of work. So it's an amazing day nevertheless.

While exploring the Mansion with Alfred your steps stop when a specific picture catches your eyes. You stop and observe it.

Two adults stood along with a small kid that you deemed to be eight to ten years old. The picture drew you in like nothing ever did. It had this air around it that just couldn't explain.

“ Lovely picture, No ?” Alfred’s voice broke your concentration. Your eyes slid to his and you smiled slightly. “ It is. Who are they ? The woman seems to resemble my mom.”

“ That's Miss Martha and Mr Thomas along with young master Bruce. It's a family photo before their death.” Alfred reminisced. “ It's been a tradition for generations and master Bruce has continued it.” He guided you to the latest picture of the family.

It felt forced.

They all felt too far away in this ( like they didn't want to be there ). Even Bruce felt off. Different from the smiling man you had just met. He seemed tired and sad.

“ Those are my cousins ?” You asked, hoping Alfred didn't see the look in your eyes

“ Yes miss Julia.” He told you which was who by pointing and explaining their descriptions. Being a sixteen year old girl with an intense love for history and lore and yaoi, you tried your best to listen.

…

“ It was really nice to meet family. Thanks for having us Bruce.” Your mother hugged Bruce which he returned and then he shaked hands with your father. “ No thank you for coming. I'm kind of ashamed to admit, it gets lonely without my children here..” He chuckled.

" Well you won't get lonely not with our dear Julia here ! She had a tendency to make people break their shell and fit in." You father added.

" She sounds like a lovely child. Does she perhaps have an interest in medicine ? She kept asking about it during our conversations." 

Your father and mother shared a small grin. " She does. It's all she can ever dream about."

" That's...good." his eyes flickered to you.

You had fallen asleep an hour ago during dinner and was currently laying on the sofa. Your snores echoed throughout the Mansion. Your parents chuckled and Bruce couldn't help but think it was a pleasant change.

A child that didn't have to fight crime.

One that didn't have to take the burden of the world.

He had already investigated your and your parents backgrounds and confirmed that your mother was indeed his blood cousin. The blood part was maybe due to Damien kind of rubbing off on him.

It was a shock to find out about her existence. Even more to know his mother had a elder sister that passed away few years back and her only child had disappeared as a toddler. That was your mom.

He would never even know of her existence if not for her searching for her parents and finding him. He almost cried when he saw her picture, she resembled his mother in looks except her hair was black.

But you, your looked like the exact replica of his mother. Like a younger version.

He knew your personality was meek yet it had kindness and a spirit all his children had. It was nice chatting with you during dinner. You expressed your interest so well and he knew that his kids would love you. Maybe even Damien. 

Talking to a kid like this , carefree and smiling reminded him of what he had lost.It almost felt like his children hadn't left.

That part really hurt.

“ Alfred will take you to the rooms. You can have any you like. Have a pleasant sleep, I'll see you all in the morning.” He said leaving you and your parents in Alfred's care (not before glancing at you one final time.)

Time for his duty.

TBC…

[promiscuousg1rl]

how not to — rafe cameron

rafe cameron x pogue!reader

summary: you and rafe are over, you've been over. and although he was the one who chose to end your relationship, he's also the one who can't seem to leave you alone and let the relationship go.

note: this is based off the song how not to by dan & shay!

You should be used to seeing him by now. Wheezie has been taking ballet classes at this studio for almost a year now and you are one of her instructors after all.

But for the last two months she was always coming in with her older brother in tow instead of her parents, claiming that Rafe had gotten stuck standing in as "dance brother" because they couldn't make it.

You believed it at first. You knew Mr. and Mrs. Cameron were busy people and work related responsibilities came up a lot. However when Wheezie got into her talkative moods and expressed how glad she was that Rafe offered to be her permanent chauffeur, you became skeptical.

Now you knew Rafe loved his little sister to pieces but if there was one thing he was never willing to do? It was sitting up at a dance studio surrounded by a bunch of middle-aged women bragging about theirs daughter's grand jeté being better than everyone else's.

And yet here he is, walking Wheezie in with a smile so big it made the skin around his eyes crinkle.

"Hey y/n!" Wheezie wears an identical smile to Rafe's, fully prepared for class in her light pink leotard and tights.

You stand up from the receptionist desk. "Hi wheezie," you reply. "Today we're going to be in studio B, go ahead and put your things in your locker."

She gives you an eager nod before skipping past you and to the back.

As soon as she's out of your line of sight you sit back down and do your best to make yourself look busy. A part of you hopes he'll choose to leave but as he continues to stare down at you from the other side of the desk, you know its wishful thinking.

"So," he says with that usual drawl to his voice. "How've you been?"

You still before slowly glancing up at him. You despise how good he looks in his backwards-facing baseball hat and Carolina blue UNC t-shirt. Did he somehow get beefier in the last few weeks?

"Uh, I've been good Rafe," you mutter. "How about you?"

Propping his arms atop of the counter, large biceps bulging beneath the hem of his short sleeves, he shrugs. " 'Been hanging in there."

You nod.

It was bizarre to think about how much a break up can change things. This was someone whose ear you used to talk off 24/7. He was a best friend to you before a lover and the one person you told everything to. That was all over now; you're nothing more than two strangers engaging in a boring conversation.

As much is it hurt you, you had to remember that it was his doing. It was his decision to end things with you after two years together.

"I must've missed you at Sarah's party the other night."

You wonder if he actually thinks this whole naive facade will work on you. Especially since you're more than sure that he was fully aware that you declined Sarah's invitation and why you declined it in the first place.

It was him; the reason why you refuse to step foot on Tannyhill. Even when Rose begged you to give Wheezie private lessons on the estate, you politely said no. You just couldn't do it. It was hard enough living in the same town and trying to avoid him; and the only reason you were able to was because of your differing tax brackets.

You were a pogue and after the break up you couldn't help but thank your lucky stars that you resided on the Cut.

Work was also something you looked forward to because him dropping off and picking up Wheezie was rare.

Or at least, it used to be.

"No you didn't," you give him a blank stare. "I didn't go."

"Because of me?"

You sigh. "Rafe..."

You rise from your seat and go to make your way towards the studios. The sight of you leaving practically sends him into a panic, he rounds the desk and softly grabs your sweater-covered wrist in his hand.

"Look you don't have to do that okay?" His face is pinched with guilt. "You don't have to avoid me o-or stop hanging out with my sister because—"

Your scoffs cuts him off and he furrows his brows in confusion.

That expression alone has your skin getting hot. Is he serious?

"Did you not tell me, verbatim, to "get the hell out of your life" and that you were tired of being smothered by me? Are those not the words that came out of your mouth?"

Rafe combs a hand through his hair. "I...yes okay I said some shitty things but it was just that, bullshit. I didn't mean any of it, alright?"

You glare up at him, yanking your arm from his grasp. "And here we go with the excuses."

"It's not an excuse, y/n. I was fucked up because of all that shit going on with the guys, I took it out on you—"

"Like always," You shake your head. "You let them get into your head, and like always, I became collateral damage. It was fuck my feelings as long as," you take a quick glance around, bringing your voice down to a whisper. "Topper and Kelce gave you the validation you were looking for."

Rafe looks down in shame, swallowing hard.

You thought he was past that stage in his life, caring what people thought of him and your relationship. Apparently you were wrong.

"I just don't get it," you feel stupid as tears well up in your eyes. "If I wasn't good enough for you to choose me, then why can't you just leave me alone?"

“I made a mistake yn,” Rafe shuffles in place, working up the courage to meet your eyes again. He regrets it as soon as he takes in the tears in yours eyes. He hates himself for making you cry, it makes him think of the promise he broke. The one where he said he’d never hurt you and couldn’t imagine ever doing so. But he was a destructive bastard who was only capable of breaking things; hurting those closest to him. It was in his nature.

And yet, despite being fully aware of who he was and everything he was capable of, he couldn’t find it in himself to let you go. Not when he still thinks about every minute of everyday. Yeah it was contradicting; he made his choice and he should be the one who’s strong enough to walk away and move on. However the thought of you no longer being in his life terrifies him more than anything else.

 “I just wanna fix it.”

“You can’t,” You say, turning away from him. “So please, let this go. Let me go.”

[woso-dreamzzz]

Shoulder II

Hardersson x Daughter!Reader

Natalia Guijarro (OC) x Hardersson!Reader

Part of The Big Adventures Universe

Summary: They're all hoverers

Sometimes, you think that your family can do no wrong.

Your mothers are loving. Your girlfriend adores you. Everyone gets on with each other, even though Magda and Talia pretend they don't.

Other times, you just want to live alone somewhere on an island with no other people around to fuss over you.

"Are you sure you don't want me to adjust your sling?" Talia asks, lips pursed in thought," I saw you wincing a second ago."

"I was wincing because my painkillers are wearing off."

After your win with Lyon, you had decided to travel back to Sweden with your mothers to finish off your recovery there. You'd told Talia to just return to Spain, to make the most of her days off from football before joining up with the Spanish team.

She'd refused and insisted on coming with you to make sure you're okay.

Nearly a week in now and all three of them were driving you up the wall.

"Should I get you more?" Her girlfriend asks and you roll your eyes, leaning forward to peck her cheek.

"You're sweet, Talia," You say," But I can't take anymore for at least another hour."

She pouts. "Is there nothing I can do to help? Do you want some food or something?"

"No food!" You hear Pernille shout from the kitchen," This is almost done!"

You rolls your eyes.

She's been slaving away on the stove since you woke up.

She'd already had breakfast prepared and lunch already prepped and ready to be cooked. She's making it now but she's also been making it for the past hour now.

You're pretty sure she's cooking dinner simultaneously but you're not too sure. That's the only reason it could be taking this long.

"Are you sure?" You ask," Not even a little snack?"

"No," Pernille says," Just a few more minutes."

You're a little worried, truthfully.

As a child, Magda had always been the one cooking the big meals and Pernille helped by doing little things like putting broccoli in the oven or taking the meat out when asked.

So, you're a little apprehensive at what Pernille's cooking now.

You hope someone gave her a recipe to follow rather than letting her make something that appeared in her head.

"Here," Magda says, appearing at your other side," To tide you over."

A handful of magic stars are placed in your hands.

You used to love these as a kid but they were only ever really bought when you went to the cinema because you never liked popcorn.

You don't know where Magda bought them in Sweden but you're grateful as you throw them into your mouth.

You think Pernille thinks you're going to ruin your lunch, like you're a little kid again that has eyes bigger than her stomach.

It's sweet, you think but a little annoying.

"Have some more," Magda says, shaking more from the bag straight into your hands," You need to keep your strength up."

"I hurt my arm-"

"Dislocated it," Talia corrects.

"-I'm not sick."

"Having chocolate doesn't have anything to do with sickness," Magda says," It's just making sure you have energy."

"You're hovering," You tease and Magda makes an offended noise.

"If I'm hovering then what's Talia doing?!"

"Hovering," You deadpan," You're both hovering."

"We're making sure you're okay," Talia says," You'd fault us for that?"

"No," You say," I fault you for being so overbearing about it. If I feel bad or if I ache or if I need some comfort, I can tell you. Don't you trust me?"

Talia's expression softens a little and she smiles.

"Yeah. I trust you."

"And Morsa?" You say, turning to Magda," Do you trust me too?"

Magda purses her lips, not responding for a few seconds. "I..." She sighs. "Yeah but you have to tell us, alright? No trying to deal with it on your own."

You roll your eyes. "Fine."

"Good girl," Magda says, a sot kiss pressed to your temple.

"Alright." Pernille appears out of nowhere. "Lunch is served!"

It smells alright, the soup that has taken her an hour to make.

You force down a spoonful.

It's horrifically salty.

"How is it?" Pernille asks.

You force a smile onto your face.

"It's amazing."

[bluemirrorangel]

outsiders headcanons

Darry and Dally are secretly terrified of each other.

Johnny has really bad nightmares.

Dallas met Ponyboy and Sodapop first and then two-bit so when he goes to a drag race with the gang, meets Johnny Cade, and mishears his name as Johnnycake he doesn't even question it.

although he spends all day at the Curtis household Dallas actually never really stays the night. the gang just assumes that he's with Buck or sofa surfing but in reality, Dallas has spent so many nights at the shepherds that he basically lives there.

Dallas wants tattoos.

curly, Johnny, and Dally all have their ears pierced. They got them at the same time it was at the shepherd's house on a Friday night, both Curly and Dallas were drunk Johnny was just sober and easily persuaded. Dallas and Sylvia had broken up for the tenth time that month and Dallas was complaining about how he'd lifted some earrings for her and everything, real nice ones too from real jewellers and everything. Curly told him to just wear them himself and stop complaining so long story short Dally and Johnny pierced their ears with the earrings and Curly used a safety pin he still wears.

the reason dally spiralled so fast after Johnny's death is because Johnny was the only good thing in his life, like a symbol of hope because if someone that's been through so much but is still able to have some semblance of hope in the world to still trust people and have morals then maybe there was a chance for him too but shit went south and now we're here sooo.

Dallas has an obvious soft spot for Johnny. he also has one for Ponyboy but it's barely noticeable.

if not for Two-bit they'd all be hopelessly touch starved.

Curly and Ponyboy are forbidden from seeing each other because of how much chaos they cause and everyone knows it, they still hang out tho they're not even secretive about it.

Two-bit's banned from every library in Tulsa.

Soda can't do math.

the only reason Steve still goes to school is because Sodapop made him promise to keep an eye on Ponyboy.

The third time Curly goes to reformatory it's for stealing a couple of classic books. he didn't do it. Ponyboy did, they were for Darry's birthday. He felt terrible about it and almost turned himself in but Curly wouldn’t let him. they didn't even get caught not really it's just that the cashier saw them come in and knew who Curly was, so she was immediately on edge, and Ponyboy looked nervous, so she called the police. they didn't check them just arrested Curly on the spot.   

[outsideratheart]

It started as a lie (Leah Williamson x F1!Reader) - SNIPPET

A/N: Sorry, Sorry, Sorry. I know it’s later than I said but here’s the a snippet of my upcoming Leah fic.

It wasn’t often that you found yourself in London if not for work but tonight was different. You had been invited to The Emirates as a guest of the club to watch Arsenal play Manchester United. It wasn’t something that was at the top of the list especially when you were preparing for the final races of the season. Still, here you were cheering on the Arsenal.

After the game finished your manager tells you that there’s someone that wants to meet you before escorting you into a conference room.

There at the longer than normal table sits Leah Williamson who you found out minutes before the game had suffered a shoulder injury which would sideline her for the rest of the year.

“Y/N, I believe you know Leah Williamson” your manager turns your attention to the blonde.

“We’ve met briefly at Silverstone this year. She was in Aston’s garage” you said a bit sourly.

“I was a guest" she says which earns a nod of the head from you.

The two of you sit in silence as your managers seemingly discuss something mentally. You can see them looking at each other then their eyes go to you and Leah.

Subtly you steal a glance at the woman beside you and it takes everything in you not to stare. Leah was at the forefront of women's football and it seemed that her face was all over your socials not that you were complaining. Leah on the otherhand felt very nervous in your presence. The energy that radiated from you was unlike anything she had felt before. 

"You are two of the most popular and influencial women in sport right now" Leah's manager tells you.

"Multiple brands want to work with you but all of the big ones say the same thing" your manager looks at you when she says this because she knows you know what is about to say.

"They cannot invest or have someone be the face of their brand if they do not know who that person is" you finish her sentance with an evident annoyance in your tone.

You push your chair back and begin pacing the room. This is not new information but you still cannot figure our why you are once again being told this only tonight it's at The Emirates.

"Y/N" Leah has a gentle look on her face "come sit down and they can tell us why we're here" 

"Sorry Leah, I don't like-"

"Not knowing? Me too"

The two of you find a small level of comfort know that the other also has no idea why they were here nor did they like not knowing.

Your managers a share a look thats says 'this is a good sign'.

"As I was saying before you interupted" you mumble an apology which earns a chuckle from Leah "Brands what to know the people who are representing them and you two are very secretive with your personal lives"

This didn't come without reason. You and leah were under a huge spotlight and it lead people to believe that had a right to know everything about you. This is something both of you disagreed with. If it is related to the track or the pitchen then yes they can know but everything else is off topic.

"You are also two of the most marketable athletes in the world right now. We wouldn't be doing a good job as your managers if we didn't want to act on this" Leah's manager, who's name you still don't know, says.

You didn't know this woman but you didn't like what she was saying. If Leah's sharp intake of breathe is anything to go by then she wasn't happy about it either.

"I have a feeling neither of us are going are going to like what you're going to say next so why don't you get to the point" this had already pissed you off and you didn't even know what this was.

"I'm with Y/N. You are both dancing around which means you know we won't like it"

The managers once again remained silent which was a mistake on their point. The longer they leave you and Leah waiting they know the worse the reaction will be.

"We think you would both benefit if you were to be seen more together in public"

You didn't understand what the blonde's manager was getting at. 

"Is this your way of asking for garage passses? Being in Mercedes' garage would be much more fun that Aston's" you laughed. If this is all they wanted they could have asked. This meeting really wasn't neccessery.

"Leah will be in the garage much more often but not as your guest, as your girlfriend"

"What the fuck?" Leah was shocked at what she was hearing and she wasn't the only one.

"Leah's right. What the fuck. She isn't my girlfriend, tonight is the first time we have met"

The two of you were beyond confused and growing more agitated.

"We have been talking about this for a while now and the two of you will start a relationship or you will as far as the public is aware. The fans will eat this up and sponsors will love the two of you together"

"Don't get me wrong, Leah you are beautiful but my focus is on my career. I am near the end of the season and am battling Lewis for the championship"

"Thank you" Leah wanted to blush at the compliment but there were bigger things to adress "You know I'm focusing on this season and the Euros are next summer"

Your manager's knew that you two would fight the decision and that is why they aren't asking for your permission. 

"We both know you are focused on your career but that is why this makes sense. You are both very similar. Please try this"

"What happens?" You ask. You weren't happy with this but you always made sure to find out all the information before making a decision.

"Do we go on a date, see if this is a good match and go from there?" Leah also wanted to know the logistics of this stunt.

"Not exactly. The contract would be for just over one year" Leah's manager explains.

"The two of you will be, as far as the public knows, exclusive until the end of next year's Formula 1 season"

There were too many things in the two sentences that didn't sit well with you. Contract and one year were the two big ones.

"I'm am focusing on winning the championship and you don't think I can do that without being in a relationship?" you looked your manager dead in the eye as this question was aimed directly at her.

"and as for you, sorry I never got your name" you turned your attention to Leah's manager "Leah is going to captain England next year and you think now is the best time to start a relationship, a fake relationship?"

The woman beside you liked that you were thinking of her and truth be told you were much better at voicing your opion that she was. Leah was at a complete loss for words.

"We suggest you tell a couple of friends, ones that you trust, so that they can help sell the relationship. The strategy is to do this on social media"

Strategy. Clearly the two of them have thought long and hard about this arrangement,

"I won't tell my parents. They would expect better of me and I cannot lie to them" Leah explains.

"but if you—"

"You heard Leah, no parents. You have brought this to us and make it clear that is isn’t a choice. What is a choice is who we lie to because that is what you are asking us to do. Also, no contract”

All of you agree the terms and what the next year will look like. Leah will come to as many races as she can, including the next two seen as though she cannot play and the physio’s instructions right now are no physical activity. You will try to make it to as many Arsenal or England games which will be little due to the race schedules. 

Tonight has been a lot for both you and Leah so when the evening comes to a close you are both glad to be going home. 

“Leah, maybe Y/N could take you home tonight?” Her manager suggested.

“So that’s why you were insistent on picking me up. For the record I don’t like being tricked” Leah was clearly just as mad with her manager as you were yours.

“We have just met, don’t you think this is a bit much?” You understand that in the future this might be regular occurrence but right now it all seemed like a lot.

The two of you are met with silence once again so the two of you just nod. An awkward silence fills the halls of the emirates as you walk to the small and exclusive car park within the stadium. Truth is neither of you knew what to say to the other. You were strangers but somehow you were suppose to be a couple when out in public. 

“I’m sorry you have to do this” Those are the words that you say.

“Don’t be. I get why this is happening and whilst I wish it wasn’t, there are worse people to be fake in a relationship with”

“Wow, that’s quite the compliment. Thank you so very much”

Leah playfully shoved you.

“What I’m saying is that I think we could get along well. As for the faking it, well I’m sure we have both wore a mask in front of the public before. This is like that only different”

What she said wasn’t a lie but this felt so much more than having a smile on your face when you are anything but happy on the inside. 

The two of you exit the stadium and can see fans standing by the doors. you weren’t in the best mood so the last thing you want to do is stop but Leah grabs you hand. Something you don’t expect so you pull away.

“Physical touch is not your thing, look at us getting to know each other. It would be good if the fans got photos of us leaving together, don’t you think?” She said quietly as not to be overheard.

You shake off the comment about physical touch and reply to the second part of her sentence.

“Ok, let’s go over” 

Given that you were at The Emirates with one of the faces of the team you choose to give Leah space as she spoke to the fans. For a brief moment you watched her as she gave the fans her full attention. You knew this before but she really was one of her good ones, one that was way too good for you.

“Yes, that’s her. She’s a little bit shy” This got your attention and caused you to blush ever so slightly  “Y/N, come here. This girl, Sophie, is a big fans of yours” 

You never were the best with fans. Surely you gave them your time, took as many photos as they wanted and signed whatever they put in your hands but the social aspect of it is something you struggled. Leah on the other hand took to it with ease. You knew that people picked up on your shyness but they often saw it as you being rude. Maybe your manager hoped Leah could bring you out of your shell a bit and make you more approachable. This thought caused you to shake your head because it was already working.

The two of you talked to the fans for a couple of minutes before walking towards your car, a Mercedes-Benz SL Pagoda. You didn’t have many cars in London but this is one of the very first you bought when you joined the team 5 years ago.

“Any chance I can drive?” Leah ask even though she knew the answer.

“No, no you cannot. Let’s me see how you drive your car before I let you drive one of mine”

“One of? Just how many cars to do have?” 

“In London or in total?”

That gave Leah all the information she needed to know. 

The two of you found yourself in silence only this one wad slightly more comfortable than the other. you gave Leah the AUX lead as you got in the car. She spent the entire drive on her phone whilst you focused on the road. When you pulled up to her house you didn’t know what to do. Do you do the chivalrous thing and open her door or is that too much? By the time you finished overthinking that act wasn’t an option as Leah had already gotten out.

Before she closed the door she leaned back down.

“I know this isn’t what neither of us want but we can do a year. FYI I am going to tell Georgia Stanway, Keira Walsh and Lia Walti”

Leah was much more prepared than you. Perhaps that is what she was doing on her phone.

“Ermmm… I haven’t really thought about it but I’ll probably tell Lewis and Charles, maybe Lando if I decide I can trust him with this”

The blonde nodded.

“I guess I’ll see you at the weekend” 

“You will. I’ll be the one driving the really fast car” Why you said that, you have no idea. Was it your way of sounding confident or funny? If Leah’s chuckle is anything to go by then it was the latter.

[pinkyqily]

ONLY YOURS - JUJU WATKINS X READER

Summary: Because of recent speculation, online, it makes you rethink your relationship with juju.

Warning: cursing, angst to fluff, reader bluffing, miscommunication from r

Author's note: this fic was requested by @atditsitzjt and I hope you enjoy reading this, we love Otto in this house, I just needed someone who juju is close to build up fic tension.

feedbacks are always welcome and happy readings readers 💐

To be honest, you had no reason to think that juju would cheat on you.

But overthinking is a bitch and that how you and juju found yourself in this messy position in you're relationship.

It all started with when you saw a comment about how juju is always with Otto and doesn't she have a girlfriend to go to.

That comment didn't bother you at all until the sudden change of your algorithm.

You started seeing post of people shipping them together, pictures that looked way too intimate.

how they are always together from practice to hanging outside of campus together.

You felt like your heart got twisted and toyed with. You waited until she would come over to your place to try and bring it up, not wanting to jump into conclusion yet wanting to give her the benefit of doubt.

Juju came around, and she could tell something was wrong, but she didn't want to push your buttons after the long day she had.

You both enjoyed each other company, but the sense of lingering tension was obviously in the air and if anyone was to enter the room they would most likely feel suffocated.

You were laying on your girlfriend as she scrolled through her phone on Instagram.

But you couldn't keep quite anymore and got off her, she looked at you a confused.

you cleared your throat to speak.

"So you and Otto hang out with each other a lot." You started with.

"Yeah, she's my best friend, you know that." She said.

"You guys are really close for best friend".

"What point are you trying to make?". She said, looking irritated.

"I'm gonna be straight with you, Juju are you cheatin-. Before you could finish you heard her cut you off. "Don't you finish that sentence, what made you come to this." The way she reacted caught you off guard.

"Oh, I'm sorry that my supposed girlfriend loves hanging out with her best friend more than her actual gf, that it has the internet speculating if you guys are dating".

"You have to be serious, you're getting your claims from delusional people on the internet?". She said looking really hurt by the not so accusation you put against her.

"Yeah because they make more sense than whatever your fucking saying juju".

"What can't you understand she's my best friend just because we're always together, means nothing to me." You heard her say, she tired grabbing your hands but you simply moved back creating more space between the two of you.

"But it does to me do you ever think about how I would feel huh, you don't see me always hanging out with my best friend like that". You told her getting upset that she couldn't understand your point of view.

"One she's been with me since day one, she works with the team too, so of course we're always gonna be at the same place two just because we're always together means nothing to me". She explained to you. Grabbing both your hands as she continued speaking

"You're my girlfriend, not her, the person I love and adore you make me feel all sorts of things when we're together."

You felt a little shakend, she was someone who was always straight foward but doesn't to pushy with it. You had nothing to say to her they only thing you could do was leave the living room.

where you both we're staying so you could get some air.

You felt like a huge asshole for doubting her. What type of partner accuses there significant other, onto of that you use the internet as some type of excuses just because of your insecurities instead of communicating with her.

Oh you felt bad, after what felt likes hours but was only a few minutes you went back inside after staying outside. Juju was just how you left her, she was sitting on the arm of the couch fidgeting with her fingers.

You stood in front of her, but there was still the lack of distance between two of you.

You started by saying

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have accused you like that I don't know what wrong with me everything people were saying just got to me". You told her.

"I'm not gonna lie, your accusations hurt me, especially when you know I would never do you like that." She said, pulling you closer as she laid her head on your shoulder.

After your conversation with her that night, you expected her not to stay over like she normally does but she did.

You're both laying down in bed you couldn't fall asleep yet.

"Baby, I just wanted you to know I'm really sorry, and I feel so stupid thinking about it." You said, thinking she fell asleep.

"It okay, just go back to bed mhm". You heard her say as she pulled you closer by your waist.

"Goodnight, I love you." You said to her as you slowly able to fall asleep and be at peace without your mind playing tricks on you.

"I love you too." She said her arms stil wrapped around your body.

[karuuhnia]

TF2 Chapter 7 - Karuuhnia's analysis

Christmas came early for the TF2 fandom this year, didn't it? (Well, it really came 7 years LATE if we're completely honest lol)

It was an emotional rollercoaster and had a happy, wholesome ending and conclusion for both the mercs and for us. Several mysteries from the past comics were resolved.

And you know me: I love to overthink and overanalyze every bit of lore and story that I can get my fingers on lmao

So here's my essay:

A) Solved mysteries

1. What the Administrator was planning

It turns out: There WAS no evil plan of world domination or whatever. Just pure hatred for a man who ruined her life - apparently. It's been so long she doesn't even remember the reason. But the thought of revenge was enough to fuel her every life choice.

And to think, it all could have ended in the 1850s already - if it weren't for smart-ass Gray Mann and his narcissistic tendencies to brag about his knowledge and plans. (How he himself figured this out is never explained.)

He was the one who introduced the Administrator to Australium in the first place, around 1850ish. If he hadn't told her that it could bring people back from the dead and prolong life, the senseless Gravel War would have ended with Blutarch's and Redmond's natural deaths.

Well, on the other hand we must be glad that the conflict didn't go on even longer.

Since Dell stated that none of his family members ever went into the room where Zepheniah was kept, the Administrator must have build all of that herself, right? That would certainly explain why it looks so crude and consumes so much Australium. I mean, look at this construction and then compare it to the one Dell built:

The Mark 5 machine gave her ~6 months of life for just a tiny flask of Australium. Imagine what would have happened if one of the Conaghers had improved Zeph's machine as well! She could have kept the zombiefied corpse in a living nightmare for many centuries more instead of burning through tons and tons of Australium so quickly. Good thing it didn't come to that.

2. Who helped the Administrator

Well, we didn't get a clear answer, but I think it's safe to conclude now that it was the Administrator's elite merc teams A-E that obtained all the Australium during the 6 months Miss Pauling and the TF2 team went off the grid. Which only further proves that the Administrator did not really care for Pauling at all and only came to her and her "team of rejects" as a last resort, after everything else had failed.

It's really heartbreaking how much Pauling admired her and wanted to be her trusted second-in-command while the Admin apparently never even invited her to the secret HQ. Nobody there even KNEW of Team Fortress after all. It was such a relief to see Pauling let go in the end and choose a free life instead.

3. Scout's second chance

Well, not really a mystery here, but I really like how Scout had an epiphany that there were other girls out there that would like him as he was and moved on from Miss Pauling. There was no heartbreak, no animosity, no rejection. They are still friends and support each other! I love it!

And then Scout even saved all of humanity by having sex with several women so that God wouldn't have to destroy the world! What a great, selfless guy he is!

I really love Spy and Scout after the time skip. No more bickering, no more annoyance, no more mean comments, just kindness. Spy is also so sweet to his grandchildren! ADSGFSDAF

I hope they all remain in contact and on good terms. Because let's not forget: Scout's health isn't good and he even has a confirmed death date. Which is only 8 years into the future of 1979.

All of his orphaned children would still be minors at that point. When it comes to that I hope Spy and Scout's Ma can take care of their grandchildren.

4. What Charles Darling and Maggie were planning

Darling stated he wanted to obtain Australium in order to make his rare animals immortal and in return he would get Saxton's company back.

The way Maggie always reacted to Saxton led me to believe she knew Darling was planning something ELSE and she felt bad for not telling Saxton and having to betray him in the end:

But turns out, I probably just misinterpreted Maggie's facial expressions. She looked so sad because she loved going on adventures with Saxton again and just hated the thought that he'd go back to Mann Co. afterwards.

I'm very happy that in the end Saxton let go of the company and spent the rest of his days punching wild animals with his true love! (Although he might have started a war again, now between Reddy and Bidwell lol)

B) Unsolved and new mysteries

However, as much as I loved the last chapter, I feel there are still a lot of things that were never cleared up or adequately explained.

So after re-reading every single comic and update page these are some other things I still find inconclusive:

1. Olivia Mann's mother

Not really that important to be fair, but still: Is she really the biological daughter of the 150 old mummy Gray Mann? If so, who is the poor woman who… mated with him and where is she now?

Or was Olivia adopted, abducted or grown in a lab? Well, at least she gets to live a happy and free life now and is provided for by the dad who stepped up. Good on you, Saxton!

2. Darling's knowledge

Back to Darling real quick: Why DID Maggie start working for her nemesis?

HOW did Charles Darling learn about Australium's properties and the Administrator's history?

There is also the fact that the Mann triplets' mother was a Darling!

These things were never brought up again! Whyyyyyyyy?????

3. What was all the set-up with the TFC mercs about?

The TFC mercs made several ominous remarks that made us believe there was more to them:

Both Virgil and Greg were trying to say something interesting, but then got cut off before the revelation. And especially TFC Heavy talked about dying as if it was an immediate danger to all of them. Sure, they were old, but they were still going strong, being able to kill all of the Admin's elite teams after all.

4. Fred's destiny (and identity?)

In Chapter 6 Spy disguised as Fred, trying to trick Virgil. After being found out, the two had this conversation:

Spy managed to impersonate Fred really well apparently. That means he must have studied Fred's personality, mannerisms and way of speaking before he went to Virgil. That also means he must have spent quite a while talking to and studying Fred. Did he and Sniper capture and interrogate him? But more importantly: What happened afterwards? Tbh, they probably just killed him off-screen after learning what they needed.

Because I no longer believe that Fred was Dell's father, as much as that sucks. It would have made for a great plot point and possible conflict within the team.

But Fred obviously had no idea about anything related to Australium or the immortality machines.

Since later on in Chapter 7 Dell says that neither his grandfather, his father nor he himself ever set foot in that basement, we can conclude that they all knew that the Administrator was hiding something nefarious down there. Which also means they WORKED for her and thus must have also worked on her immortality machine. So it makes no sense that Fred would not know anything about that if he really were Dell's father.

That still leaves us with the question: Why was young Fred in the photo with child Dell? Or WAS this guy even Fred?

I mean, a lot can happen in 40ish years between those two pictures:

But my new headcanon now is: These two are not the same person. TFC Medic had to replaced by our beloved Dr. Herbert Ludwig (still not over that name btw lmao), so who says the original TFC Engie wasn't replaced too at one point? TFC Heavy was very obviously worried about his friends dying one after the other.

Virgil said he knew Fred since before the war. So maybe after Dell's father died/left the team, Virgil told TFC Heavy about his old comrade Fred who also happened to be an Engineer. And only then Fred became part of TFC.

But as I said, that's just my headcanon. In reality it's probably just an inconsistency over the many years of convoluted lore. lol

5. Soldier's cave, covered in Australium

In A Cold Day in Hell Soldier and Zhanna have the following conversation:

First it's a stink-barn, then he claims to be homeless. But in Chapter 7 Heavy suddenly says that Soldier lives in a cave.

And it turns out there is tons of Australium in that cave! Now of course I wonder: When did Soldier move into that cave and where is it located? We were always told that Australium only exists in Australia. But I highly doubt this American patriot owns a cave in Australia. Also, how is it possible that the Admin and the elite mercs never managed to find this cave? Did they just not bother to look in America because all known Australium is in Australia?

So in return, does that mean that Australium is NOT exclusive to Australia after all? If so, there could still be hidden caches of the stuff anywhere on Earth. At least the Admin and Gray Mann are no longer around to collect it and Miss Pauling does not look for it anymore either. The only one who still has an interest in it is Charles Darling. Him again...

6. Soldier with the photo of the Mann family

Quick reminder: This is the only version of the family photo we'd seen up until this point:

But when Soldier and Merasmus are held by the mafia and the wizard asks him why he needed so much money, Soldier pulls out an intact, unteared photograph of the Mann family!!!

His thumb conveniently covers up the still unknown person standing in the middle. How did Soldier obtain this photo? How does he even know who everyone is, considering he's, well, Soldier?

Could he have any relations to the unknown person in the middle? And why DOES he need so much money (granted, it was only like 20 $ in the end, but still lol)?

Am I just overthinking this? Has anyone an explanation??? Is he and if yes, HOW is Soldier connected to the frigging Mann family??????

*cough* Anyway. This concludes my analysis of the TF2 lore. For now. If I come up with more things or if Valve ever decides to continue the story (That was a joke, haha, fat chance), I will come back to this. In the meantime, thank you for reading this and please feel free to share your own ideas and opinions! I'd love to read all of it! ❤️

[lilaccatholic]

Okay you need to explain the mafia thing without incriminating your family

Oh I so don't care about incriminating anyone lol everyone is either dead or the statute of limitations have passed. Family lore for a long time was that my great-grandfather came over from Italy just before World War I, met my great-grandmother, and raised a ton of kids on a farm.

Yeah, not what happened lol.

Turns out, he was *sent* over here by the mob (though the timeline was correct—it was still 1913 lol), got shoved into an arranged marriage (with a bride who was, oh, about 14 at the time and had her first child at 16), still had a ton of kids, and basically terrorized his little corner of the world so completely that the police force in the area where he lived was so in his pocket that they had to run new hires by him. His sons and cousins got involved in the, er, *family business*, and some of their sons did, too. My grandma's sister had an arranged marriage as well to the son of a mobster they were close to, and most of her brothers were involved in the mob, but God bless my firebrand of a grandmother who refused to marry someone she didn't know and snatched herself a former Coast Guardsman turned Ford plant manager and buzzed all the way off to Michigan. She put the literal fear of God in these people and demanded that they not only get rid of their more occult superstitions, but doggedly kept after her father until he repented of his past. She practically forced him to stay alive after he had a stroke until he got himself to confession. Somehow this woman survived being born premature in 1934 and decided to make it everyone else's problem until she got called home to glory in 2021. I miss her every day.

As for the rest of the family, there are probably some cousins still in Italy who are still "in", but everyone in the US has either died or left the business—in part because of said grandmother's crusading. As many of my fellow Italian-Americans know, there's nothing quite as terrifying as a tiny old woman with a rolling pin. She took after her mother in that way. Her mother, who had the unabashed temerity to tell her mafia boss husband that she had no intention of listening to him when he told her not to help nurse the sick during the Spanish Flu, and who used her husband’s ill-gotten gains to feed people during the Great Depression. She raised seven children to adulthood, lost a few others, and was basically such a force of nature that even 35 years after her death, she's still remembered with adoration as a great cook and helluva woman by all who knew her. I'm named for her and my grandmother—albeit the anglicized versions of their names—and somehow she managed to reach through time and give me her face. So, in a very special way, I carry these two incredible women with me at all times.

I'm highlighting these two women in particular instead of all the sordid mafia details for a reason. Oh, I could tell you about the wire taps and the FBI files, the people killed, the drugs and liquor they ran, how my grandmother's sister had terrors about a field where the bodies were buried when she was dying of Alzheimer's. We're mentioned on podcasts and in forums of crime junkies, and yeah, some of the people we knew were probably the inspiration for some of your favorite mafia films. But the truth of it at the end of the day is this: they destroyed people. They used crime and terror to ruin lives, and left behind a legacy of trauma and despair. But my grandmother who did everything she could to get the family out? Who prayed about the evil that had been done in her family's name until her death? My great-grandmother, who made the best of a horrible situation and tried to do good with the hand she'd been dealt? Who opened restaurants and fed the homeless? Man, they're stars to me. Not perfect in any way, but they took steps forward that helped end centuries of a bloody family legacy.

And, well, I'm pretty darn glad they did.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

aita for calling out someone for being manipulative towards a trans friend? Names have been changed for privacy reasons and TLDR at the end because this is long.

I (24f) am cis but have had a lot of trans friends (binary, nonbinary, and neopronoun) throughout the years and am very supportive so i take this very seriously. So I met this girl my first year in college (we were 18 at the time) and we became friends. We're polar opposites, she talks a lot and I don't, she parties a lot and I like to do more sophisticated things, she's a typical extrovert basically, and I'm more introverted. Anne (24f) was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. I don't know when, she just told me this years ago. I've seen tiktoks about bpd and researched Google about bpd a little so I know all about how they have fave persons and will "mimic" people in the friend group and become clingy, manipulate, etc. I've seen pics of her in high school, noticed that she was a theater kid, she said she was good at acting and even said she thinks her bpd helped with her acting although I'm not sure how, but she said she only joined the theater club because a boy she had a crush on was in theater. That should've been my first red flag but I was naive. She has a degree in something else (not theater) because our second year in college her favorite character in a TV show did a certain job, she got interested in that, and now she also does that as a living. She doesn't talk about her bpd, she's only mentioned it a handful of times. I can count on one hand how many times. And I get it because she said someone once told her people with bpd should be sterilized and not be allowed near children. Which is really messed up and I hate that someone said that.

However on with the situation. One of our friends Mike (25m) is a trans man. We met him four years ago. He's very handsome, broody, introverted, intelligent, great listener, very accepting and understanding, similar to me but opposite to her. Now we didn't know he was trans until two years ago, because I asked him on a date and he turned me down, and when I asked why he told me that he was mostly T4T and only viewed me as a friend. We were like woah you're trans, okay that's cool, etc. He explained that he was lucky enough to get on puberty blockers and transition young etc which is why he passes. I said okay I'm not trans and you're mostly T4T fair enough.

Well last year Anne suddenly tells us that she is trans too. She says she's bigender. She says she is okay with either she her or he him because she feels like a man and a woman at the same time. Some days she's a woman, some days she's a man, and some days she's both, according to her. She says she does not like they them pronouns. Suddenly her and Mike are spending all this extra time together. Last month he confided in me that he thinks he's in love with her, after years of him only seeing her as a friend, and then they started officially dating.

Here's the problem: she has not changed her outward appearance, her name, started any kind of medical stuff, joined any groups, bought a binder etc. We all continue to call her she and her because she fully presents as female and doesn't have a problem with it. Also she's very effeminate in body language, the way she talks, etc. I know technically I could call her a he or a him, too, but she never asks me to or corrects people when they call her she because well technically she is a she too. Mike is the only one who uses he and him pronouns with her as often as she and her, but she has never thanked him. It really feels like she's saying she's trans and then going about her life exactly as a cis woman simply to convince Mike to date her.

First off, Anne and Mike are NOT compatible. She likes to party, smoke weed, talks a lot, I'm not sure how she graduated with such good grades or why she does so well in her job because she is honestly a LOT to handle and I'm saying that as nice as possible. Mike would never touch weed or go to clubs and he says he would be fine staying home while she does those things but how could you trust someone to party while high and not hook up with others? I've seen her make out with five people in one night at a frat party. They also had wildly different childhoods, such as she grew up in a conservative community and doesn't speak to her family, and he grew up in a liberal area and is close with his family. But more importantly she has a history of joining theater because she had a crush on someone in theater (plus she admits she is good at acting, so maybe she is acting now?) and getting a degree and job in a field because a favorite fictional character did that and now this? It feels like she was attracted to him, found out he usually dates other trans people, and found a way to continue being cis but claim to be trans without having to do anything trans related, basically mimicing her favorite person. As soon as they met they hit it off, or should I say she clung to him and pretended to have the same likes and dislikes whenever they were alone I assume.

It sounds terrible I know, which is why I discussed this with a group chat first that neither of them are in, and the group chat not only agreed that she is far too "obnoxious" for him (those were NOT my words!) but that she is faking being trans in an attempt to make him fall in love with her (which seems to be working.) I would NEVER have gone further without making sure with them first. So then a few of the people in my group chat and I held an intervention with Anne alone. The six of us (the others don't live close enough to come) met up with Anne at her place and told her what she was doing was wrong and gross and that she needed to get help for her bpd and to stop catfishing Mike. She didn't take well to what was said, which I anticipated, but she went crazy. She was screaming at us, insulting us, sobbing while yelling etc, literally said if we ever contacted her again she would call the cops, so we left.

I immediately called Mike before she could and asked him to meet me at a restaurant nearby and that it was very important. Since Mike doesn't know anyone in the group chat I went alone and I explained EVERYTHING before she could gaslight and manipulate him even further. He left, did not finish or pay for his food. I messaged him several times, but a few hours later he texted me to never to speak to him again, and then blocked me on everything. I showed up to his house and Anne was there. Mike said if I ever contacted him again he would get a restraining order on me so I left. I've discussed this with the group chat and now suddenly half of them changed their mind and don't want to talk about it anymore. Several of them left the group chat. Not only that but several of my friends who know either Mike or Anne or both have blocked me on everything. When I've tried to contact these friends through other means and explain everything, they either didn't respond or said for me never to contact them again because I was being transphobic. Listen I know under NORMAL circumstances you shouldn't question when someone comes out but this is NOT a normal situation, and now I am concerned Anne is unsafe for Mike but also an unsafe person to know, as she literally is trying to destroy my life because I called her out on some seriously messed up and abusive behavior.

TLDR am I the asshole for trying to protect my trans friend from a potential stalker?

What are these acronyms?

[thewertsearch]

Resolution to the summoner's mutiny is foggy, as I only understand what has 8een rel8ed to me through the 8rief answers I thought to solicit. Ultim8ely, the ire of the Condesce would 8e such that in the settling dust of the conflict, she would 8anish all from the homeworld, except the young. […] I cannot imagine how she would come to enforce such an upheaval in our civiliz8tion. Though I suppose she will have on her side the advantage of an unparalleled lifespan, and the leverage extended 8y the hideous psychic prongs of her deep undul8ing monstrosity.

Attention is drawn to the prodigiously long lifespan of the Condesce - the empress of Mindfang's time, and Feferi's probable ancestor. I used to think that the modern Empress was a different troll, but now that we're aware of fuchsiablood longevity, I'm pretty sure the two are one and the same.

Based on a line from Feferi's introduction, I was assuming that she was the only fuchsiablood in the universe - but let's take another look at the way that line's phrased.

You are 'the only of your kind' known to possess this blood.

That doesn't necessarily mean she's the only fuchsia troll, does it? For example, it might just mean she's the only Alternian with fuchsia blood, because the Empress doesn't actually live on the planet.

I really want this to be Mama Peixes, because the existence of a living Ancestor has so much story potential. Just how much does she know, and what's her agenda?

Nevertheless, I take the prediction as truth, and find it amusing that a homeworld domin8ed 8y children will 8e the gr8 summoner's legacy. One of them, at least.

Anyway, the Summoner - the boy who could fly - is the reason Alternia is a planetary Neverland, making it clear that he was the original inspiration for Pupa Pan.

It's also notable that we've only just started delving into Alternian history, and we've already learned about two massive rebellions against the social order. Contrary to what Alternians have been led to believe, this oppressive culture clearly isn't natural to them, and they've been fighting it every step of the way.

They don't want to be a murderous empire - they're forced to be, again and again and again.

More importantly, and less amusingly, his legacy will 8e my demise. You see, I first learned his name when I asked who would 8e the one to kill me.

And here's yet another layer to the Quest Cocoon Incident. Vriska wasn't content with living like Mindfang - she wanted to die like her, too.

Given that Vriska knew about the Summoner, one can only imagine how weird she must have been around Tavros. Not only was she constantly berating him, she was also putting him on this bizarre pedestal, comparing him to someone I'm damn sure he never knew existed.

And she'd never tell Tavros about the Summoner, either, because that would allow him to derive confidence from something other than her tutelage. No - she just silently compared him to a legendary hero, and he constantly failed a test he didn't know he was taking.

Seems like something's going very wrong in the Veil.

This seems like a sign that the session is on its last legs, and we're running out of time before it completely turns to static. We're entering the endgame.

The oracle I will resolve to part with. I will conceal it in a crypt 8earing the sign of the expatr8, with a map to its loc8tion hidden in this journal.

The cueball was sequestered in an Expatriate chest, which makes me speculate about whether Equius ever got his hands on it.

He can't see inside it himself - but like Mindfang said, it shouldn't be too hard to find a technological workaround, and Equius is a roboticist. I wonder if either Zahhak ever used it for themselves?

To whomever finds it, 8e wary, for the truth it tells may leave its new keeper 8lind as I was. Though no more.

She warned you, Vriska.

She told you it would leave you as blind as she was.

And it did.

[genderqueerdykes]

I promise this is just coming from someone who wants to learn, and I apologize if it sounds hateful or rude for what I'm about to ask that is not what I want at all,

but when it comes to systems, DID, plurality, from what I have heard, it is something extremely extremely rare, and something that most people under the age of 25 the body isn't even supposed to like "reveal" until older. I'm just confused and I would really like to hear from someone who actually is plural and not just from like Google

is being a system, DID, and plurality even the same? And the only plural people I have met irl have like 25,000+ alters of dsmp characters (I ofc know not everyone who is plural isnt just fictive and it's all different)

just a very confused person who isn't plural and I would really like to learn and be educated !! I would really like to understand more and hate unreasonably for something I don't understand

hello there!

you can be plural without having DID. there's not really much else to it. DID is one form of plurality. it's not the end all be all of plurality. there are even other dissociative disorders like OSDD that get cast by the wayside when people adopt this kind of mentality. there's so much more to plurality than DID. also, there is no set age at which the symptoms at DID become apparent on the outside. i've been having dissociative symptoms since i was a kid. my alters were active and present even as a teenager!

relying on medical statistics alone for DID is a bad idea because most professionals who are capable of diagnosing someone with a mental health condition don't even know what dissociative disorders are or what they entail. my own therapist has known that I have DID the entire time i've known her, but she has told me that currently, she can't help me with it, because she has not received training for it. dissociative disorders are nowhere near as rare as we think they are, one has to consider that a number even as low as 1% - 2% of the global population is an absolutely massive number of people!

saying that DID is "extremely rare" in this case in order to discredit non dissociative plurals is an appeal to authority. it's appealing to the medical industry who refuses to take it seriously in the first place. the amount of professionals i've had who pointed out that i have dissociative disorders vs. the ones who never commented on it at all is pretty staggering. this is due to a lack of proper research due to lack of funding, not because DID is genuinely that rare. the reason there isn't more research into plurality in general is because of a lack of funding. medical studies and organizations require funding. if they don't see money in it, they won't do it.

DID is still a heavily stigmatized condition. things haven't gotten much better since it was renamed from Multiple Personality Disorder. people with dissociative disorders are still treated like shit in medical settings, so to me, it makes no sense at all whatsoever to pit dissociatives against other plurals because no one takes ANY of us seriously, it's not non-dissociative plurals' faults that we're not taken seriously. it's the medical industry. there are no medications to push for DID. DID does not respond to medication. this already makes a lot of doctors not want to interact with it at all, because there's no commissions for medications prescribed.

"And the only plural people I have met irl have like 25,000+ alters of dsmp characters."

i'm pointing this out gently, i don't think you're a bad person, but this is sooooo mean, please don't be that mean and judgmental about other people, plural or not. please consider how those people would feel if they heard you talking about them like that. even if you don't view them as plural, you shouldn't think it's okay to discredit their lived experience. what are you getting out of phrasing it like that? even if that person turns out to not be plural, please do not judge other people based off of things like this. you don't live inside of their head. you don't know what's going on in there.

i'm not entirely sure why people think this way about introjects and fictives, but they're an extremely normal part of the plural experience! one of the most well known DID systems of all time, Truddi Chase and The Troops, had not only fictional alters (Elvira) but also factual ones as well (Mean Joe Green). this is not new, nor is it isolated to non dissociative plurals. introjects and fictives are extremely normal. it doesn't mean someone is faking just because they've introjected someone, or someones.

hope that helps, in general, please understand that the only lived experience that you are the arbiter of is your own and you cannot tell someone else what they're experiencing, no matter what. plurality will look different for every person, system and so on that experiences it! the sooner you accept that the easier your own life will become. it's not hurting you for someone to have headmates that you don't like. that's their business, not yours, and that's actually a very freeing thing!

great addition from the tags:

[tatzelwyrm]

I need a moment to yell about what a tragic and interesting character Emma is.

Yes, she's been placed in a stereotypically female role as the healer and the guide for the male protagonist. She's a doctor, a caregiver, yes, but there is so much more to her. She is integral to so much of the heartbreak in this story and not because she isn't trying. She just can't escape it.

She's not a fighter, but she has a sword, and the reason she learned how to use it is specifically because she is waiting for a man who means the world to her to turn into a demon so she can kill him.

The Sculptor rescued her from a battlefield when she was a small child and starving. He helped raise her and eventually placed her in Dogen's care.

She visits him often, she asks for his advice on some really difficult, delicate matters.

This is her father in all the ways that matter (and he's actually a good father compared to some other fathers in this story). She clearly respects and loves him.

And she also knows that he is turning into a demon and the only thing she can do about it is make sure she is ready to kill him when the time comes.

Her relationship with Isshin is also tied up in this. Isshin is her lord. He is also her teacher, since he is the one who trained her in swordsmanship.

Isshin's skill with the sword is so fabled they call him the Sword Saint. This guy lives to swordfight. His greatest achievement (according to him) isn't killing a tyrant and freeing his country, it's developing his own fighting style that he never stopped trying to improve it (and he hands out pamphlets about it).

That's the guy Emma got to train her.

Isshin got a tutor to train his beloved grandson (as is proper), but he trained Emma himself and it doesn't come as a surprise once you learn that Isshin was the one who stopped the Sculptor from turning into Shura before.

Emma must have told him what she wanted to learn swordsmanship for.

Imagine Emma asking Isshin to train her in swordsmanship. Isshin, who fought Shura and lived, must have looked at this small, waifish woman and asked her why. And then he ended up teaching her anyway.

Specifically so she can kill a demon.

(And the beautiful thing about this, in terms of Sekiro being a video game, is that this is not just something we're informed of, but it's reflected in the actual gameplay. If you end up fighting her, Emma's moveset is a slimmed down, slightly less reactive version of Grandpa Isshin's. She has the same perilous attacks (including the same grab), she has Ashina cross, she does that little slash if you stick too close.

Conversely, Genichiro, despite being Isshin's heir, fights nothing like his grandfather. Because he was taught by Tomoe. Actually, the way fighting styles are used for characterisation is another thing that has me raving about this game. Like the fact that Owl is the only enemy in the entire game who can perform a Mikiri counter...).

However, Isshin isn't just her lord and her teacher. He also dresses up as a mythological figure to hunt down spies and those of his grandson's allies he doesn't approve of in his castle. Emma knows this. Isshin knows Emma knows this and she gets away with teasing her about it. They have a cute, friendly relationship.

But more importantly, Isshin is also her patient and they both know he's dying.

There's this inevitableness about all of Emma's relationships. See also Genichiro: Emma and he were childhood friends. They used to hang out with Takeru and Tomoe by the sakura tree. If you share enough sake with her she'll tell you about how she used to sneak out of the castle to watch Genichiro pratice Tomoe's Lightning (and did Genichiro taking his shirt off when he does that move have anything to do with that?)

But she's spending enough time with Isshin to know that Genichiro's days, too, are numbered. And there's that sad memory in which she tells Kuro about the sediment and how people who use it lose their humanity bit by bit.

Oh, and since I mentioned Tomoe ... if you pursue the Purification route, you find out that Emma saw Tomoe attempt Purification (which only failed because she didn't have the Mortal Blade). Emma saw Tomoe, presumably her friend, attempt suicide. To spare Takeru.

And then there's Wolf and Kuro. Who not only act as a catalyst for the Genichiro situation to finally turn to shit. She also soon realises that Wolf and Kuro find themselves in the same bind as Takeru and Tomoe.

And with the knowledge that at least one of them has to die, one of them a small child, she chooses to let the child die and save the man. Witholding the information on how to attempt Purification is one of very few choices Emma actually gets to make in this story. Everything else is ripped from her control (Sculptor's condition, Isshin's condition, Genichiro's condition, the situation the entire country is in). And it's such an interesting choice to make for her.

There's this child, who is convinced that the only way to end the curse of immortality is for him to have his head cut off with a magic sword. And her choice is whether or not to tell the depressed Shinobi looking after this boy that there's an option for the child to live but it requires the Shinobi to cut his own head off instead.

And she chooses to say nothing.

She's making her decision and in doing so, she's effectively taking the choice away from Wolf. And it eventually leads to even more heartbreak, because if you actually make Wolf kill Kuro, Wolf is miserable for the rest of his days, taking the place of the Sculptor and set to eventually turn into a demon himself.

And that's so interesting.

And every day I'm cursing the gaming gods because Fromsoft hasn't made more story games like this.

Break my heart again, I can take it.