#and he doesn’t want to unpack some of the damage that she caused

[my-mt-heart]

Wanted to add on to the JDM discussion, but need to do so anonymously, for a few reasons. First off, much thanks to anon and yourself for being open to healthy debate on this. Maybe I won’t be accused of forcing opinions on people this time, lol.

It took me months to properly unpack the ramifications of his choice. When this all started, I first found those tweets kind of relieving of the emotional turmoil and confusion we were all being bombarded with. And AMC’s statement felt condescending. So in the moment I appreciated that a key voice was just talking to us like people, and was willing to address the elephant in the room. I made a post about it sharing my personal feelings, and was heckled a lot for it. I think there are people in the fandom who still dislike me on that basis, which is funny because after 11 months my opinion has evolved from there.

Evidently, he was not aware of what really happened. I don’t think his intent was to spread falsehoods or cause harm, but unfortunately those tweets did a tremendous amount of irreparable damage. People are too willing to look at a woman in her 50s in this industry and believe that she really fought her way out of a contract and jeopardized all her future work opportunities, because she was tired. (Sidenote: I don’t think the selfish ‘fans’ who want Melissa far away from RTD for their own personal reasons, realize how difficult it will be for her to find other work at her age. Or that potential employers will take into account what kind of SM PR an actor will bring to their project). Anyway there are countless people who believe she really needed a break and there is no changing that in their minds because of where it came from. We’ll never know what Norman would have said on Fallon if the script hadn’t been changed.

Jeffrey sadly created a huge PR mess, which I can undoubtedly say was met with consequences. An old set photo of Melissa and Jeffrey doesn’t depict what their relationship might be like currently. AMC neglected to send him (and by proxy LC) to SDCC (filming was just a convenient excuse)—possibly a punishment for going off script, but more likely, to entice Melissa to be there.

I was at the finale event, and the interactions I personally witnessed when the cameras weren’t rolling were very telling, to say the least. They painted a clearer picture of how Mel really feels about Jeffrey, about Norman, and about Gimple. And I’m really content to leave it at that. It’s really everything that’s already been said multiple times on this account.

Thank you for sharing your perspective and you're right that your opinion should be allowed to evolve. I don't think anyone was sure what to make of the situation a year ago, and I include myself in that as well. Whether through a fans' POV or someone with industry experience, it was all so weird. It's sad that we're still seeing the collateral damage and maybe some of that can never be fixed, though I would hope AMC are well on their way to fixing what's in their power for Melissa's sake and for her fans. I was going to get into the challenges of Melissa finding other work a little later, but since you brought it up, I should probably just do it now. I can already visualize people foaming at the mouth lol

We know Melissa has plenty of talent and a stellar reputation. That's beside the point. In an industry where sexism and ageism are still running rampant, there's going to be less leading roles available for women over 35, let alone 50. Even less for women who don't dye their hair and therefore won't appeal to men 18-49. Other considerations include an actress' social media footprint and where they're based. Melissa isn't active on SM and she's not on either coast. None of these are "faults" of hers. This is all just to say, I can understand if she chose not to go down that path and judging by all the buzz about her joining the Caryl spinoff, it seems like maybe she did not. That doesn't mean she's settling for anything less than she deserves. She'll get to be the leading lady, playing a character we know she loves, and she'll likely have the leverage to create a better work environment for herself, where she'll be respected and valued.

[wolf-queer-discourse]

Adventures in Aphobia #1

So I was scrolling through Tumblr the other day (a regrettable mistake as always), and I had the great pleasure of seeing this joyous post.

*deep breath*

Not gonna lie, posts like this make me real pissed. Pissed because the person who posted this exists in a space where they feel comfortable enough to post this online. Pissed because these posts are so common and often face little backlash. And pissed because there’s nothing better than allosexuals condescendingly explaining to asexual people why they’re dirty attention whores who invent their own oppression. Ace people deserve to be defended against this horseshit. Young people see these posts, and it’s extremely damaging to have your identity be nothing more than fuel for people in discourse to mock you and demand you bled in order for them to notice your pain.

Anger aside, many people do not see why this post is wrong, so why is it? Let’s unpack this clusterfuck of bigotry:

“would love to see substantive evidence of systematic “aphobia” that isn’t actually just misogyny, toxic masculinity, or rpe culture.”

God damn, we are not mincing our words here XD. A few things: systematic in bold, which tells you if you do not make a blood sacrifice on the altar of queer pain you will not be taken seriously. Potential nitpick, but systemic and systematic are not the same thing. I believe systemic is the word they’re looking for. Systematic implies a lot more intentionality that can be hard to prove. Systemic merely means that systems, in their current state, do aphobic things, which they absolutely do.

“Aphobia” in quotes is absolutely rich. Not only will this person refuse to acknowledge systemic aphobia, which is only one type, but this poster casts clear doubt upon the mere concept of aphobia in and of itself. We love to see it.

There’s a lot to unpack here. The statement, as clearly condescending as intended, is sort of correct, though it doesn’t mean a whole lot. Systemic oppression is about the systems in a society (government, healthcare, etc) discriminating against people. Systemic oppression is not bigotry faced on a person-to-person level. In short, systematic oppression is something a person experiences in their overall life, while personal discrimination is experienced on a personal level by people who are not singularly in control of the systems. This post boils down the negative comments ace people face into being called “weird”, which is an understatement for sure, but calling a gay person weird isn’t systemic oppression either.

It’s still bad and discriminatory.

This is such a snotty way to dismiss aphobia as some mere, insignificant comment with no meaning as if it doesn’t reinforce society’s painful aphobic views in the same way casual homophobic comments reinforce heteronormativity and society’s hostility toward gay people.

Ace people face discrimination in healthcare, most notably, which is systemic discrimination, but the systemic discrimination of asexuals really ought to be its own post if I’m to nosedive into it. Even if ace people faced no systemic discrimination, it wouldn’t make this point anymore correct. Discrimination is a perfectly valid reason to feel disregarded by society, and often only ace people are denied the right to feel this way and are instead gaslit into admitting what they face is no big deal and they’re just making it up for attention.

The experience of being pressured to have sex when you’re allo vs ace is very different. The vast majority of allo people do not plan to be celibate their whole lives. Many ace people do not want to have sex, ever. “Waiting for sex” in much of western society and in Christianity is seen as pure and honorable. Yet being asexual and never wanting sex is seen as a deviant disorder and people are accused of robbing their partner of sex forever.

There’s really a specific flavor of sexual pressure that is unique to ace people. Sex being to “fix” someone or because they “just need to try it”.

In this respect, aphobic sexual pressure is better compared to that faced by gay people and lesbians. Lesbians especially often can face this same struggle, men pressuring them to have sex because they think lesbians just need to “try it” or to “fix them”. I can imagine this poster would have no issue acknowledging lesbophobia being the root of lesbians coerced into sex with men, yet she does not give ace people the same.

Imagine if someone said (and knowing our fucked world, someone probably has): “Lesbophobia doesn’t exist. It’s just misogyny. Straight women are coerced into sex too!”

It’d be pathetic bullshit. Toxic masculinity, misogyny and many other issues can all tangle into combined messes with other forms of bigotry. Lesbophobia is an experience that deserves to be recognized apart from misogyny, even if the two are linked. Please stop erasing ace people’s experiences with this when it’s not the same thing.

Honestly, though, this post, as trashy as it is, if anything, is perhaps, really asking: Is there any type of aphobic experience that’s inherently exclusive to ace people?

I still wager to go say, yes, yes there is, but I must make an important point first:

Most experiences of queer discrimination are not limited to queer people.

Homophobia and transphobia are both experienced by cishets in certain instances. Feminine straight men can be victims of homophobic harassment. This does not disprove the fact that it’s homophobia just because a straight man is the victim of it. A tall cis woman with broad shoulders and a lower voice may be the victim of transphobic remarks or comments. The basis of these comments is rooted in transphobia, however, so the fact that the victim is cis does not erase the transphobia.

People who argue that experiences ace people complain about can be experienced by allosexuals are not poking a legitimate hole in doing this. Certain experiences related to aphobia can and are experienced by allosexuals. If you do not acknowledge this, then homophobia and transphobia aren’t real because cishet people have sometimes experienced them.

Despite cishets sometimes experiencing queerphobia, most of us acknowledge that their experience of that bigotry, however unfortunate, is not the same as that experienced by actual queer people. It’d be quite homophobic for a feminine straight man to claim he knew just as much about the gay experience as an actual gay man. Similarly, when allosexual people relate experiences that were rooted in aphobia, it’s overstepping a line when they claim asexual discrimination isn’t real because they experienced elements of it too.

Cishet (cishet including allosexuals) people do not experience their doctors telling them their sexuality might be a disorder or caused by trauma. Allo queer people can experience this with their sexualities too.

“using sex appeal to sell products is misogyny, it is not engineered to gross sex-repulsed people, it is meant to objectify women.”

This is a strawman thinner than my last nerve. Uh, what? What ace people are you seeing that literally think sex appeal was engineered to gross-out sex-repulsed people?? I don’t think this is a core argument??

Yes, sex-repulsed ace people sometimes complain about sex appeal in media being uncomfortable. But that’s it. Every time an ace person shares a discomfort of theirs doesn’t mean it’s the entire basis of their oppression. For the love of God, let ace people discuss their experiences without being blow-torched over not being oppressed enough with an individual discomfort. 

BONUS ROUND

(This was in the tags)

“Completely vilifies celibate individuals” 

...no…? What…? Huh…? 

The most charitable interpretation of this vague accusation is that the poster means celibate people face aphobia as well, due to not wanting to have sex. I have no idea how this “vilifies” anyone, but that aside, as said before: people who are not queer can face aphobia. Also worth noting that society treats celibate people way better than ace people, which is really another example of aphobia. Celibate people can be told they’re missing out (which could be at very least related to aphobic ideals), but they’re rarely called broken. Celibacy is seen more as a respected, controlled ideal in allo people, but when ace people want to do it, they’re just mentally ill.

Anyway, the post was aphobic trash, and it needs to be debunked more often. Mocking ace people online is not a good look anymore, guys. Don't be ugly.

[furornocturna]

Okay, a LOT to unpack here, but I’ll try my best to give you some advice you desperately need.

Overall consensus? ESH.

Let me elaborate before you dismiss me outright.

Venom clearly sucks the worst here for cheating and stringing you and Six along.

You weren’t wrong for wanting revenge (I would too) and you weren’t wrong to tell Six about the situation (probably should have done it sober tho), but the two of you cheating on her back with each other… while admittedly a little hilarious as an outsider hearing this story secondhand, that doesn’t do either of you favors here. Not only did you sink to her level, but now the situation is messier than before that you now have to deal with when she finds out (which she will). You are going to have to confront Venom to end things with her, OP. Because that’s what you need to do.

From the looks of it, she checked out of the relationship three months ago, and the love there on your end was gone after you found out she was cheating, plus was likely already heading in that direction with the other background you gave on how things have been. And Six doesn’t deserve to be the side piece to her either.

First and foremost, you and Six both need to break things off with Venom (and deal with the fallout that comes with, as I have little doubt she’ll take the news well) before you proceed with anything else with whatever it is you want to do with each other. Which, despite the rather unorthodox circumstances, it appears that you two really hit it off.

But if this is something you want to pursue, platonically, romantically, or whatever else, you need to sort out yourself. You mentioned questioning your sexuality at the end of your post, so you’ll want to figure things out there before jumping headlong into another relationship. More than that, if you really like Six in any form, the last thing you want to do here is make him think he’s just a rebound. He was also hurt by Venom too. And make sure Six isn’t just rebounding on you either. You both really need to communicate on your wants, needs, feelings, etc, and how you want to proceed.

I hope things work out for you and Six. It really sucked that this happened (Venom cheating on you two, not you two finding each other), and I hope you both can recover from this and come out happier.

ALSO

Since you mentioned Venom causing city-wide damage in the past and how she’s caused issues with your successor, I worry both Bud and the city might also become casualties if Venom decides to retaliate against you and Six for breaking up with her/finding out her cheating. Don’t let them get caught up in the crossfire of this.

Make your next moves carefully, and you’ll get through this with the least amount of hassle.

Hope this helps!

AITA for sleeping with the guy my girlfriend is cheating on me with?

Idk what happened but I just had the funniest idea ever and I just had to write it. So basically it's a reddit post style short story with Wukong's pov. It's an interactive story so the comments will be used as the answers. There will probably be a part two (maybe even a part three) but I don't think I'll write more than that.

Shadowpeach is the end goal and we don't forgive cheaters in this household.

Also sorry Spider Queen, love ya.

AITA for sleeping with the guy my girlfriend is cheating on me with?

Okay, so I'm not used to this internet madness but my successor once said it could help sometimes so here I am sharing drama.

So I (5000, He/him monkey immortal) have been dating this other person we'll call Venom (??, She/her, spider demon) for quite some time. And I've been quite happy with her. I know I'm not the most… upfront with things and I have issues (like a lot) but she liked me and we worked well together.

But then we got into more arguments when I began to train my successor (21, he/him, human???), we'll call him… Bud, just because.

The thing is, Venom got this whole world domination plan, which is kinda normal for demons. A lot of demons do that. And it never really bothered me because I was retired (for context I'm a retired hero who used to battle demons a lot). Besides, I had some kind of the same phase in my youth so I just thought it would pass when she'd realize it's kind of a stupid plan, and anyway she never did anything to achieve it.

But then I found a successor, Bud, and I began to train him to protect the city and fight demons, all that heroing stuff. Venom, of course, wasn't happy with that and we began to get into arguments. She accused me of betraying her and I just told her I was a hero from the start so she shouldn't have expected me to agree with her view and all.

Things got really bad when Venom decided to pull a end-of-the-world shit show on New Year when we agreed beforehand to go on a date that day. It felt like she was spiting me. Plus, she destroyed more than half of the city and gave Bud a really awful time so I was, understably I think, very angry with her.

We got on our biggest argument and took some time apart to cool off. But then Venom got back all sweet and said to leave that behind us, so I was very happy and just decided to forget our arguments entirely. I thought she just decided to stop her world domination thing. It wasn't weird for us to do that. Not the first time we got into an argument about heroing and usually we just get back together after a little bit and decide to move on.

But then I started to notice some weird stuff about Venom. Like, she was on her phone a lot more (when she always thought those mortal things were lame before) and she was kinda dismissive and distant. She forgot some of our dates and had some lame excuses, like taking weeks of vacation or something??? When she never did that before.

In hindsight maybe I shouldn't have done that but I'm a monkey you know, so I'm naturally curious. So I took her phone and snooped around a bit.

Turns out Venom was cheating on me with another guy (??, he/him, monkey demon) we'll call him Six. She was seeing him behind my back and all, planning date and calling him “darling”, 🤢. I saw red. Like cheating ???? I know we have our ups and downs but to the point of cheating on me? I was really hurt by this.

So, I don't know, to try to calm down I started to investigate on Six. Like what kind of guy he is? Is he better than me? I was kinda surprised to discover he's another celestial monkey, like I always thought I was the only one?? But also it kinda hurt because Venom was cheating with a cheap dark version of me.

So I got petty.

I wanted revenge. And info. I decided I was gonna confront this Six guy first and pull a Monkey Cop, sussing him out to see if he was aware of my existence and to clarify this situation. Maybe I should have just talked to Venom but, idk, I guess some part of me was dreading the confrontation with her.

So I got to Six workplace with a disguise and all (sunglasses and hoodie). He works in the local theater and, okay, he was kind of good on stage. I'm not gonna lie, he's also kinda cute. Just a little bit. So I approached him at the end of the show, praising him for the performance.

One thing led to another and we kinda took dinner together??? I learned he moved in recently and that he got in a relationship with Venom three months ago (which hurt). But he seemed to genuinely like her and had no idea he was the side piece here. Sooo, maybe I took pity on him, like the guy didn't deserve that? I offered him a bottle and we got waisted. In hindsight, a really bad idea, especially since I have a loose mouth when I'm drunk.

We had a fun night, doing stuff together. He admitted my disguise was shit (which, rude 🙄) and was excited to meet another celestial monkey. We talked about our experiences and we really bonded. Annnd, I got to ruin it and spill the beans, saying the truth about how Venom is in fact my girlfriend.

At first he didn't believe me, but then I pulled pictures and, yeah, he was understandably upset. He kinda looks hot when mad. We got even more waisted and cried and cursed Venom and ate ice cream then we got on my mountain, drank some more of my personal celestial wine collection, and watched Monkey Cop… Then I say “You're kinda cute.” and he says “You too”.... One thing led to another and, yeah, we slept together.

And so now I'm in my bed typing this with the worst headache on earth and with very obvious marks of what happened last night on me. Six is sleeping next to me and I'm questioning my life (and my sexuality???)

WHAT DO I DO????

AITA ??

[occult-roommates]

Congratulation, it’s a girl

After putting it off for months, Akva had to cave in, she had to get pre-natal care. Whether she likes it or not, a baby is going to be there in a few months, so better not neglect its health on purpose...And like, pregnancy is also really hard on the mother too, so better make sure everything is ok for her too. Jay was also with her, as he was spending the rest of the summer in San Myshuno in his family, mostly cause his 20th birthday was approaching in late July and he wanted to be with his folks. He would only return to Oregon around a month after that.

Ultrasound tech: Do you want to know the sex? Akva: No, not reall- Jay: Yes! Ultrasound tech: It’s a girl. Akva: I said I didn’t...Why do you even care Jay? That child is not for us, it’s for Paisley and Damian. Jay: I’m a curious bitch! Ultrasound tech: Could you please resolve your relationship issues elsewhere? Anyway, congratulation, your little girl is a perfectly healthy mermaid.

While it’s impossible to tell what another occults a child might be with an ultrasound, mermaids are pretty easy. A mermaid’s fish tail grows when they come into contact with water, and being in contact with water is pretty much all a fetus in the womb does all day. 

A little bit later, Akva needed to get some fresh air, so Jay brought her for a walk in a park near his childhood home, where the two had spent countless hours as teenagers.

Jay: You know Akva, I’m worried about you. I knew you were a mess before, but it’s gotten worse. Like, you used to be a track star and wanted to go to college and to do stuff with your life. Now you work a shitty minimum wage retail job and live with a bunch of losers in one of the worst district in the entire city! What happened to you? Akva: Losers?! You mean my friends?! And you fucking know what happened to me, you were there.  Jay: You’re just making me sad now. Like, just look at you. You didn’t want to be a lesbian, so you lied to yourself and tried dating guys and it backfired twice. Like one time left you pregnant and the other left you disabled while Khaled fucking died. And now you don’t want to be either of those things so you just do whatever that’s not recommended during your pregnancy while you just let yourself rot as if you died too. Akva: I can no longer run and I can barely swim. My entire life before that night were centered around those two things. If I can’t do either, what’s the point. Jay: Unlike Khaled you have the privilege to still be alive, so use it! Yes, sometime life doesn’t go your way ok! Maybe I didn’t want for my parents to get divorced when I was a kid, maybe I wanted to have clear skin, maybe I wanted to be born a gi-...greater...son...a greater son! Life doesn’t always go your way!!

And Akva started crying, as if she didn’t felt enough guilt already regarding the death of Khaled. She had literally bribed June during her vacation so she wouldn’t bring him up. This caused Jay to go into damage control, especially considering another thing he almost said. Which ironically is also something about himself he can’t accept.

Jay: You know, since you complained earlier that this tank top is the only shirt you have left that fit you, but can’t bring yourself to buy actual pregnancy clothes. Like, my sister had a baby two years ago and you seem to be the same size I think. I could ask her if she doesn’t mind borrowing them to you, which I don’t think she will considering she said my nephew is going to be her only baby. Akva: Are you crazy? I said I don’t want either of our family to find out! Jay: Ok then, I can tell her it’s for me. She caught me trying on her jeans once...In my defense I was just curious how women jeans feel like ok, don’t judge me. I thought she wasn’t home that day. Akva: There is so much things to unpack here I don’t even know where to start. Jay: You know, I think it’s ironic I’m the last person you dated before realizing you like women instead. Akva: Why? Jay: I-I don’t know.

Since the mood was starting to improve again, Akva decided to be a little bit nice and offer Jay to feel the baby. As he did, he started thinking about when the ultrasound technician revealed the gender of the future kid. “It’s a girl”. Why couldn’t it have been what Mister and Misses Ramdeen heard twenty or so years ago.

...Why couldn’t it have been her...

Prev - Next

[raeynbowboi]

How Kipo Makes Great Villains

I stayed up all night binging the second season of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, and I’ll admit. Going into it, my expectations were a bit low. Season One had such a self-contained objective, I didn’t know what the show was going to do with itself with a second season. But the second season of Kipo blew me out of the water. So, now I’m going to rant about why Scarlemagne and Jamack are fantastic villains for Kipo to confront, and what Kipo teaches us about writing antagonists. Obviously, spoilers ahead, but if you’re caught up, prepare to gush over great villains. If you’re not, do yourself a favor and go away, experience the second season for yourself, and then come back and fangasm over how great it was.

JAMACK

Kipo’s first antagonist is a perfect character foil. That is to say, Jamack is the exact opposite of Kipo. When Jamack meets Kipo, they are in exact opposite situations. He’s in a group while she’s alone. Later, when Kipo finds friends and is no longer alone, Jamack is kicked out of his group, forcing him to survive on his own. Jamack is very focused on self-interest and self-preservation, belittling his underlings for minor mistakes. His outlook is cold, cynical, and jaded. On top of that, Jamack grew up in this crazy world where only the strong survive. He’s also a part of the Mob Frogs, which seem to be the only mute culture with internal hierarchy. Other groups have a leader, but only the Mob Frogs seem to have levels of rank within the organization, causing the Mob Frogs to be competitive, even among themselves. So it makes perfect sense why Jamack will stoop to pretty much anything to get what he wants. Because that’s the mentality that allows for upward mobility in Las Vista. Thus, when Kipo arrives and upends the status quo and proves Jamack’s way of living wrong, he lashes out. Initially seeing it as her stealing his life from him, Jamack begins to gradually change. Jamack is on a similar and reflected hero’s journey to Kipo, and as she grows, so too will he. It’s no surprise that Jamack will eventually become a genuine ally of Kipo, even if he’s still hiding behind a Tsundere mask.

SCARLEMAGNE

My god is this a fantastic villain. In the first season, he was genuinely creepy and intimidating, but in season 2, Hugo became incredibly sympathetic. As season 2 went on, I kept debating to myself who is more of the Zuko of this show: Jamack or Hugo. Scarlemagne serves the same narrative purpose as the Diamonds in Steven Universe, about how words and kindness can work through problems. But I think it’s done a little better here, since Hugo isn’t a world-destroying dictator. He’s done some damage, but nothing that was really lasting. His pheremones can wear off. The humans he’s enslaved can regain their freedom. So, Hugo’s actual damage as a villain is much smaller and thus much more forgivable than immortal galactic conquerors. Hugo shows this deeply in that he genuinely seems like he wants to make Kipo happy, but he’s been hurt for so long that he doesn’t understand how to. And this genuine care seems to come a lot more from his core personality, and not just Kipo making friendship speeches. Even Steven didn’t really change the minds of the Diamonds. He just kind of proved he was their sister/nephew, and they suddenly cared about what he had to say. With Hugo, it’s much easier to see that he’s not a monster, just a scared and confused man lashing out to maintain control in a barbaric world. It makes him a character who you don’t want to see succeed in his evil plans, but you don’t want to watch him fail and lose everything he's worked for. You simultaneously want to hug him, and also punch him. It’s that perfect balance that makes Scarlemagne so well-written. He’s officially on my list of top 10 tv cartoon villains. Also, it’s hysterical that Hugo is voiced by the live action Beast, and the second half of this season was honestly a better Beauty and the Beast story than the live action movie. Am I the only one who hears Dr. Animo from Ben 10 when Scarlemagne speaks though?

DR. EMILIA

Talk about bait and switch. I don’t know if it was their intention, but I assumed the woman in the bird mask was Song, Kipo’s mother. It was clear that she and her goons were wearing burrow jumpsuits, and as it seemed more and more like her mother wasn’t dead, so I assumed this had to be her. This was such a great misdirection. Assuming she’s the hero because of our opinions of Scarlemagne, it’s what gives this show such amazing rewatch potential as now you can go back and pay attention to her words and actions and realize what she’s genuinely like. But even on a character level, she’s a fantastic villain. Kipo is a master of Talk no Jutsu, a fan term from the Naruto fandom, as he had a knack for talking literally anyone into becoming his friend, even the ones actively trying to kill him. Steven Universe and Kipo seem to be the other two masters of this technique. But Dr. Emilia will likely be immune to this. She doesn’t strike me as the sit and talk things out type. Because there are times when words won’t stop people, but action will. Dr. Emilia is a villain Kipo can’t reason with, someone she can’t befriend with a good speech. But even on a philosophical level, Dr. Emilia is fantastic because while she’s clearly a villain, her goal isn’t inherently evil. She sees mutation as a bad thing and wants to restore mute DNA to their normal animal forms. Which is a large part of why humans need to live in burrows. She wants humans to not live in fear, and to restore animals to their genetic origins. At least in theory, it’s a benign enough goal. The problem comes when you consider that animal mutes have sentience. they can speak and express desires. Robbing them of that is akin to purposefully mentally disabling a group in order to be dominant over them, which adds to the great themes here because there’s a loose veil of animals as an enslaved species. Kept in cages or as pets, ruled over or hunted by man who views itself as the superior race, the same sort of thinking that white slave-owners used to rationalize their prejudice. Thus it’s also a loose allegory for Dr. Emilia wanting to return emancipated slaves back to their chains. This is why she’s such a good villain. At face value, her goal sounds sort of reasonable, but when you examine what she’s really doing, it’s incredibly dark and cruel. That level of detail and writing is amazing. Talk about a well-written villain. I’m sorry, I can’t stop gushing.

Kipo demonstrates three equally compelling types of villains, and handles all of them amazingly. Jamack is the hero’s villainous foil, on his own mirrored hero’s journey as hers. His situation is always an exact opposite of hers, as was his life experiences, which led to such a stark difference of ideas. Thus, why it takes her utterly alien character traits to kick start his character arc. Hugo is a beautifully flawed and tragic villain whose goal of bringing the mutes together under a single ruler is genuinely compelling, but you still don’t want him to succeed the wrong way. Yet, if he could achieve his goal in a less hostile and evil way, I doubt fans would be upset with him achieving this goal otherwise. It’s just his approach that’s problematic. Dr. Emilia seems reasonable enough on paper, but once you unpack what she’s really doing, you can read a really deep allegory for slavery and racial superiority into her character that really complicates the otherwise black-and-white opinion of her character. Each of these villains shows ways you can make a compelling antagonist, and if you read this without watching Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeats despite my spoiler warnings, do yourself a favor and watch it. You will not be disappointed.

[mamabearcatfanfics]

Battle Couple

I've had this little idea for a while, and then decided I could bend it slightly to fit this year's @inukag-week's first battle couple prompt. Because not all battles we face have to be huge ones against a deadly foe. Sometimes the battles can simply be standing up for what's right.

Inuyasha dragged the beanie down tighter over his head, stomping towards the exit of the store. He hated this. This is why he bought things online and had them delivered. Because then he could avoid interactions like he’d just had with that racist arsehole. He glanced down at the text from Sesshoumaru again, wondering if there was some other way he could get this gift for Rin. It was the first time his half-brother had thrown a birthday party for his adopted daughter, and no doubt it would be a big deal.

Rin has expressed an interest in this item. Her birthday party is on Saturday at 10am. Do not be late.

And of course the toy Rin had asked for was sold out everywhere online. The tiny dolls with light up dresses and a matching crystal necklace were apparently ‘the’ toy at the moment. She specifically wanted the purple one, the ‘hope’ doll, because it was her favourite colour, and she already had the other dolls in the set. This was the last one she needed. And he hadn’t been able to find it anywhere. He was failing as an Uncle. The last store he’d been to, he’d practically seen a pair of mothers come to blows arguing over the last CrystalShines doll on the shelf.

He was close to the exit of the store when an intriguing scent wafted past his nose. It was another store employee, dressed in the dark polo shirt and black jeans, with one of those ear walkie talkies they all seemed to wear. She was giggling, talking to someone using the button on her mike, her other arm full of a variety of women’s clothing that she was putting back on the racks. Her arms were a blur as she began sorting them into different sizes, working quickly to make each rack neat and tidy.

He watched as she flitted about the store, talking to a customer, smiling and waving at a baby in a pram, folding jumpers and t-shirts. His eyes were drawn to her dark ponytail; the way it swung as she moved was almost hypnotic. Her glossy hair was black, but had a blue sheen to it under the harsh fluorescent lighting, and he had a sudden urge to reach out and touch it, stroke down the length of the swinging tail to see if it was as soft and silken as it looked.

Without even realising it, he followed her, almost bumping into her as she suddenly spun around to go in a different direction.

“Oh! Good evening sir, can I help you with anything?”

There was a pleasant smile on her face, and she was looking at him expectantly. His voice didn’t seem to want to work now he was actually standing close to her, so he turned around his phone, showing her the picture of the doll.

“This is what you’re looking for?”

“Yeah”, he said softly, his eyes focused on hers as she glanced up at him again. He’d never seen anyone with grey eyes before. It seemed they were lit from within like starlight, and now that he was closer to her, she smelt even better. He cleared his throat, trying to get a hold of himself. “My niece wants one of these for her birthday, and I’m having trouble finding one.”

“Okay”, she said, reaching for the button on her headset to talk to the other employees on the shop floor. “Let me just talk to my colleague in the toy department, and I’ll see if we’ve got that item in stock.”

❤

Kagome watched as the man in front of her visibly deflated.

“Don’worry about it then. Already talked to ‘im.”

And then she got it. Ryan was working the toy department tonight. Ryan the racist bigot who didn’t like interacting with any customers who weren’t white, male, good ol’ boys, exactly like him. Usually he worked out the back in the store room, unpacking shipments, but due to the flu going around and the shortage of staff, the evening shift manager had put him on the floor tonight. And he’d no doubt said something innaproppriate to this gorgeous man in front of her, who obviously had some sort of youkai heritage.

She’d had her own run-ins with Ryan. He’d said many cruel things to her over the past six months, since he’d found out what happened a few years ago, cruel enough to make her run to the safety of the women’s toilets to shed a few silent tears in private. He never bullied her in a place where others could overhear, he always cornered her in dark places where there was no one else around. He frightened her. Jak knew she was uncomfortable around him, and did his best to make sure they were never rostered on at the same time, so it had been a while since she’d had to deal with him.

She took in the golden eyes, fangs and the beanie yanked down hard over his long silver hair, but it was the resigned bitter look on his face that caught at her heart. She knew that feeling. Internally Kagome fumed, but outwardly she hoisted her brightest smile onto her face, wanting to make it up to him. She could fix this!

“Wait. I don’t know the toy department that well, but I’m sure I could help. Just give me a moment to put these things down.”

He followed her to a wheeled rack in the aisle where she hung all the clothing in her arms back up, and then turned to him, smiling brightly again.

“Let’s go to the toy department and see if we can’t find this doll for your niece. When’s her birthday?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Oh dear, that doesn’t give you much time to find one!”

“I’ve been lookin’ all week. Online stores have sold out.”

“Well, hopefully we’ll have one in stock. Let’s see, the doll aisle is around here somewhere.”

They walked together down the aisle, both scanning the shelves for the tiny dolls.

“They should be around here”, said Kagome, her finger running along the price labelling on the edge of the shelf, her eyes lighting up as she found the right tag, but sighing in disappointment as she found the shelf empty.

“Yeah”, sighed Inuyasha. “I asked the guy around here if he could find out if there were any more out the back or somethin’ and he, ah…”

“Don’t worry”, said Kagome, a determined look on her face, “I will personally go take a look in the store room for you. Just wait here for me sir.”

“Inuyasha.”

“Huh?”

He coughed a little, his head turning to the side to avoid her direct gaze. “My name, it’s Inuyasha.”

“Oh. Right. Just wait here for me Inuyasha, and I’ll be right back.”

“Thanks Kagome.”

She blinked in confusion as he said her name, wondering how he’d known it, then realised he had read her name tag.

For some reason him saying her name out loud made her stomach swoop, like she was on a roller coaster, even though her feet were firmly planted on the ground. As he gave her a shy smile, she felt her cheeks begin to heat, and she whirled around, making a beeline for the storage room, talking into the mike on her headset as she left.

“Hey Jak, it’s Kagome – just going out to the store room for a moment for a customer. I’ll get right back on those returns as soon as I’m done, okay?”

“Oooh, tell me it’s the hottie with the white hair that I pointed out to you!”

“Jak!”

“Oh it is! Take your time honey!”

“You’re incorrigible, you know that?”

“And you love me for it. Make sure you get his name and number before he goes!”

“Jak!”

“For the customer form darlin’, what else did you think I meant?”

She could hear him still sniggering as she released the talk button on her mike, and she shook her head, grinning despite herself. He was her in-line manager and they got on really well, but rarely got to spend time together, as he was usually rostered on during the day, and her in the evenings so her day was free for lectures and study.

Kagome squeezed her way into the storeroom, scanning the aisles of stock yet to be placed out on the shelves. And then she saw it, the edge of a box with a picture of a tiny doll up on the highest shelf.

Dragging over the step ladder, she placed it under the shelf and climbed up, her petite size meaning she had to stand on the very top to have any chance of reaching the box. She just managed to reach the doll with the tips of her fingers, and nudged it. It tipped forward and fell, and with a gasp she managed to catch it with her outstretched hand, teetering on the top of the ladder, her other arm windmilling frantically to keep her balance.

She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her frantically beating heart after her almost fall, the box containing the doll clutched tightly against her. But she’d found one for him, a purple one, just like he’d wanted. She had no idea why that made her feel so incredibly happy, but it did.

Grinning widely as she emerged from the storeroom, she began walking directly to the toy department. She could see Inuyasha there, waiting for her. But she could also see Ryan, his arms crossed as he spoke to him, a sneer on his face. She quickened her pace. Previous experience had taught her that expression couldn’t mean anything good.

❤

Inuyasha stood his ground, hands clenched in tight fists by his sides. He had every right to be here – he was a customer, he hadn’t caused any commotion or damage. Kagome had asked him to wait here. But apparently that wasn’t good enough for this guy.

“I told you already, we’ve got none of what your looking for. Nothing for you. Are you deaf, or just stupid?” The volume of his voice wasn’t loud enough to draw anyone’s attention to them, but definitely loud enough to get on Inuyasha’s nerves.

Inuyasha closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his hands shaking slightly as he held back. He would not punch out this idiot – this was a department store, not a battle ground. Even though he deserved it because he was a racist bigoted shit.

“I already told you to leave youkai! Do I have to call security?”

Inuyasha breathed out slowly, trying to keep any trace of anger out of his voice, even though he wanted to let rip. He’d found out the hard way that security tended to not ask questions, just see his youkai traits and assume the worst.

“And I already told you, another employee was taking a look out the back for me. She told me to wait here for her.”

“Yeah, like I’d believe anything one of you would have to say. You’re all the same. What are hidin’ under that hat huh? Some kinda weird freakish thing I’d bet. ”

“Inuyasha!”

Inuyasha turned, his eyes lighting up as Kagome appeared. But she wasn’t wearing the wide smile she had when she left. She was stomping towards them, a box tucked tightly under her arm, the scowl on her face impressive. Thankfully that scowl was not directed at him.

He could smell the nervousness pouring off of her, but you never would have thought it looking at the way she faced off with her work colleague, stepping in front of him like she wanted to shield him from this man's ire with her much smaller body.

“Ryan, I’m handling this customer. And I’ve already found what he needed, so there’s no reason for you to be here. I think you’ve probably said enough.”

There was the barest trace of a tremble in her voice, and Inuyasha moved in closer behind her, wanting her to feel like he was there to support her. He wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but he didn’t like it.

Ryan rolled his eyes and then sneered at her, his voice low and vicious.

“Ha. Shoulda known it would be you Kagome. Such a helpful little kiss ass. Why don’t you turn that cute little tush of yours around and head back to the ladies department where you belong, unless you’re still that desperate for some demon tail.”

“What?”

Ryan grinned at the shocked expression on Kagome’s face, posturing like he’d somehow scored a point. “Bit ironic really, you working in the ladies department when you’re anything but. A human ain't good enough for Kagome, huh? Wasn’t it bad enough that the last guy you had got fired, now you’re after customers too? You really are a-“

“Don’t. Say. Another. Word.”

Both Kagome and Ryan flinched at the snarled words behind them.

“Kagome, call your manager”, said Inuyasha gruffly. “I wanna report this guy.”

“It’s my word against yours demon, and little Kagome’s not gonna say anything, are you Kagome, because you’re fuckin’ pathetic. There’s nothin’ you can report me for”, snorted Ryan.

“Oh, I don’t know. I’d probably pick being a racist arsehole, for starters”, said another voice cheerfully. "Then maybe we could add workplace harassment."

A tall man in a tailored suit stepped into view, his dark hair slicked back into a short ponytail. He was holding his phone up, obviously still recording the whole thing.

“Here I was, minding my own business in the Lego aisle while I looked for the perfect birthday gift for my little girls, and what should I hear? An employee bad mouthing a customer, when the customer had been nothing but polite and civil. Don’t worry about proof, I’m happy to be a witness. I was recording the whole thing. From the very first racist slur that left your lips.”

Kagome’s eyes were wide as she glanced from the ponytailed man back to Ryan, and Inuyasha could hear her heart beating frantically. He nodded at her approvingly as she took a deep breath, her hand steady on the button on her headset.

“Jak, it’s Kagome”, she said, her voice a little breathless, but firm. “Can you-“

Ryan lunged towards her.

“Don’t you dare, you fuckin’ bitch!”

Inuyasha ducked out from behind Kagome, his fist grabbing the back of Ryan’s shirt and lifting him into the air, Ryan’s legs kicking frantically as he tried to escape. Before Kagome could move out of the way, his steel capped boot caught her on the chin. She dropped like a stone, crumpling to the floor in a heap.

“Fuck, Kagome!”

Inuyasha swung Ryan out of the way and dropped him none too gently, all his focus on the small woman laying prone on the slightly grubby linoleum floor, still out for the count. He could hear a scuffle behind him as the man in the suit and a few other observers struggled to keep Ryan contained, but he no longer cared about him. He knelt down close to her, gently stroking the glossy dark hair back from her face.

“Kagome, can you hear me?”

Inuyasha shook Kagome’s shoulder gently, trying to rouse her, and her eyes fluttered open.

“Inuyasha?” she said groggily, her arm tightening around the box, a wobbly smile on her face. “I got your doll.”

❤

It took a while to sort everything out. An ambulance was called, and the police. The police took statements from Inuyasha, Kagome and the man in the suit, Miroku. Ryan was fired on the spot, and Jak was positively gleeful, despite the mountain of paperwork he’d have to fill out before he went home that evening. When the paramedic suggested that Kagome should go to the hospital to be checked for possible concussion, Inuyasha had immediately said he’d like to go with her, if that was alright with Kagome, and after a few polite remarks about it not being necessary, she’d gratefully accepted. Jak had positively pushed them into the ambulance together, waving them off with a bright smile. It was the most exciting evening shift he’d had in years.

❤

“You don’t have to stay you know. I’ll be fine, I’ll just get an Uber home.”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, leaning back against the wall, his arm resting on the edge of Kagome's hospital bed.

“For the tenth time woman, I don’t mind. I want to be here when the doctor examines you to make sure you’re okay. And then I wanna make sure you get home safe.” He sighed as he looked at the dark purpling bruise on Kagome’s chin. “I’m just sorry I didn’t throw that fucker down to the end of the aisle when I had the chance.”

“But it’s so late! It’s almost 2am, and you have the party to go to tomorrow. Today I mean.”

“Eh, that’s hours away. She won’t mind if I’m a little late, Rin’s a nice kid. And now I have the perfect present, thanks to you.”

Kagome was quiet for a while. The silence grew to feel uncomfortable, because Inuyasha could sense how tense Kagome suddenly was.

“Inuyasha… I want to explain. About what Ryan said to me.”

“Hmm?” He could smell nervousness again, billowing around her like a cloud, and he didn’t like it. “Doesn’t matter, none of my business.”

“But I want to”, she said, her voice taking on a stubborn edge.

“Fine, I’ll listen. But nothin’ you can say will change my good opinion of you. You stepped up for me back there Kagome, and that don’t happen for me much. I will always remember that.”

Kagome reached out her hand to lightly grasp the clawed one sitting next to her on the bed, and squeezed it.

“Thank you.”

He squeezed back.

“You’re welcome.”

“Anyway”, she sighed. “About what Ryan said. I started working at that department store when I was still in high school, as a weekend job. And there was this training manager, a kitsune. He’d come around every so often, and all the girls thought he was really good looking. He had a little green sports car; a lot of the other girls thought was really important. They all were flirting with him, and then he asked me out. I was so surprised. I mean, me! I’m nothing special! He was so stylish, and so charming. I really thought…” Kagome laughed but it had no humour in it, and Inuyasha squeezed her hand again. She shrugged, her shoulders coming up around her ears as her face turned away from him.

“I was so stupid! It turned out I was right about being nothing special, because he was going out with a couple of girls at every store that he visited.” She flinched a little at Inuyasha’s low growl of disapproval. “There were around ten of us. And because a couple of us were under aged, he was charged. Lost his job. Ryan found out about it a few months ago and thought-“

“Don’t say it”, said Inuyasha gruffly, squeezing her hand again. “Don’t matter what he thought. It’s in the past. And the Kagome I saw tonight was amazing.”

“No I wasn’t!” Kagome shook her head, then winced as her head throbbed, realising that was a bad idea. “I was so scared Inuyasha! I’ve never been able to stand up to him before. But I couldn’t stand the thought of him being mean to you!”

“Then you’re even braver than I thought.” Inuyasha entwined his fingers with hers, and cleared his throat. “Kagome, I know you don’t know me. But I think I’d like to get to know you. Could I call you? Maybe we could go out for coffee or somethin’? I mean you don’t gotta answer, and if you don’t wanna, I totally understand, I mean-“

“Yes.” Kagome giggled at the wide toothy grin on Inuyasha’s face. “Give me your phone and I’ll put my number in.”

“Wait. Maybe you should see what all’a me looks like before you say yes.”

Inuyasha tugged off his beanie, revealing the pointed white dog ears on top of his head. “If you wanna change your mind, I-“

“They’re so cute!” squeaked Kagome. “Please give me your phone!”

❤

Kagome woke up the next morning very late, so late that it was no longer morning at all.

It had been 3am by the time Inuyasha had dropped her home with a bag of painkillers and the Doctor’s instructions for treating her mild concussion. He’d helped her into bed, placed her medicine and a glass of water next to the bed for her, kissed her softly on the cheek and whispered goodnight, closing the door behind him.

She rubbed her cheek gently at the memory of that small kiss, a smile on her face. She still had a headache, so she took two of the tablets, then reached for her phone on the bedside table where it had been charging.

There were two messages.

The birthday girl loves her present! Attached was a picture of a smiling Inuyasha kneeling with his arm around a little girl in a checked orange party dress and sparkly sandals, her dark hair up in pig tails. A wide excited grin split her face, revealing the gap of a missing front tooth. The doll was clutched tightly in her hand, and she was wearing the necklace that came with it.

I told Rin how brave you were, and she wanted you to have some birthday cake. Can I bring some over when you wake up? 🍰

Kagome smiled almost as wide as Rin, despite her headache.

I’d love you to ❤

[openpassionates]

prcttylittlebirds·:

rafael stays seated and quiet for several moments as he continues to physically feel the negative impact that the conversation they’re having has on him. he knows that he wouldn’t be trying to talk things out if he didn’t take any of this seriously. he’s starting to think he should’ve just let her go up to her suite alone. still he is persistent. right now he isn’t too sure that his strong will is a good thing, and the door is looking pretty good to him. i should just go, this is pointless mess. we barely know each other and we’re arguing like a married couple. he chuckles to himself at the thought and sighs heavily, this time. “do you have an aspirin?” he says not even worried about the things they need to discuss. they’ll definitely circle back to it, he’s sure. there’s too much to unpack for either of them to call this talk over. he wasn’t finished with it, but he knows his limit. “i wasn’t being hypothetical… the chances of me moving are very real and when i said i haven’t fully chosen to stay here i meant that i have been thinking about moving to la since our third day out together. while i agree that i handled things very poorly… i wasn’t ready to disclose the idea of me moving until i was sure i really wanted to.” he stands to make his way over to the table where the champagne bottle was. he never would’ve imagined flying home would cause this much damage, but of course that was another mistake. “this place, this is my home. things have happened here… things i won’t get into tonight— but uh, leaving here is tough. regardless, i’ve been more open to leaving since we met, this isn’t a game. you aren’t some play thing. i’ve had those kind of relationships. this isn’t that. i’m not looking to hurt you. this is serious to me.”

UPON REQUEST, VENUS reaches over for her purse to retrieve her travel sized medicine. she points to the mini fridge and mutters that there is complementary water inside of it if he needed some since she wouldn’t want him to take it with any alcohol. she’s okay with the small shift because she felt like they needed it. things were getting rather intense quickly, today and generally speaking when it comes to the nature of their relationship. “you love saying moving to la like you don’t already live there and own a house there. that’s nice to hear but that only means you’ve been thinking about it since that third day and still decided on london.” it was times like this where she wishes she had some weed to smoke to ease any negative emotions she may hold. a good strain would’ve made things more bearable. one thing’s for sure is that she’s satisfied with the fact that she was able to get her emotions out. “you’re almost in your mid 30s and you’re clutching onto your hometown? the choice is yours and i don’t mean any hard feelings but the homesickness is concerning. sometimes, i miss arizona. when i went to florida and new york, i missed la but i like making memories in new places and meeting new people. that doesn’t mean the old memories will be gone or that i won’t have my loved ones anymore. it just means i get to experience new parts of life. sometimes, i get to show people from one place the newer place and i can attach memories of those same people in different places.” she explains. one thing that she’s learned rather quickly about rafael is that he liked to go on adventures; however, she thinks his reluctance to change environments outside of reasons for a vacation or his career is holding him back. “i hear you but no one is ever looking to hurt me. yet, they still do. i’d just rather avoid that because i wasn’t even looking for a relationship or a hook-up person. you just came along. everything just happened.” 

openpassionates​:

RESISTING THE URGE to roll her eyes, venus glances over at him with a side eye due to the inference that she wasn’t satisfied with what he had to say. she could commend him on his accountability now that he was actually aware of his faults but she’d rather not applaud him for being decent after screwing her over. “do you even hear yourself? telling me that i’m finding something as if i’m fishing for something. you clearly don’t take shit seriously. excuse me for breaking down the problem but i suppose i’m still finding something to you by pointing out how you sound.” even when rafael tries to make things right, he ends up with his foot in his own mouth. sadly, it reminds her a lot of her ex-husband. venus takes another sip of her drink once she feels herself becoming enraged again. why she ever went to that dinner? she isn’t sure. she could say that she was hopeful and didn’t expect things to turn out the way they did although they apparently had a lot of things to uncover. she listens to him speak while she fumbles around with her phone to give her hands something to do. “first of all, let’s say? you made a choice. i just explained that i’m not listening to your technicalities that you’re trying to say to make yourself sound good. but no, it doesn’t erase anything but time and distance could erase how we feel about each other. the if’s and everything being hypothetical is our problem. everything is an if and it didn’t have to be that way. i wouldn’t know how to feel about the principle of you having no consideration and going back to london even if you were to come back to la. i respect you coming back here as someone who wants you to choose your family and your comfort but i can’t respect it as someone that was toyed with in the beginning.” venus elaborates. the conversation is exhausting her solely because it feels like he isn’t listening in the first place. instead, she feels like he’s trying to push the importance that he’s sorry and that he likes her a lot as if that’s supposed to make her feel any better. “i take relationships and signs really seriously. so even though you said you’re sorry and all of that other stuff, i can already see what problems will probably show up if we were to take things further. like you not listening to me or you not considering my feelings or you manipulating things so that they don’t sound as bad as they are. these are already things that have happened and we’re not even together.” she puts her glass down so that she’s not drinking too much. “i like you a lot but i was never looking for a relationship so if i have to put up with the same problems i was going through two years ago then i’m not doing it. especially not with another guy in his 30s. i expect better. my guard is up because i’ve been fucked over plenty of times but i’m never just looking for more stuff to be mad at or to complain about. i don’t need to look for reasons that are in front of me. i’m not gonna get hurt again by making the same mistakes.”

rafael stays seated and quiet for several moments as he continues to physically feel the negative impact that the conversation they’re having has on him. he knows that he wouldn’t be trying to talk things out if he didn’t take any of this seriously. he’s starting to think he should’ve just let her go up to her suite alone. still he is persistent. right now he isn’t too sure that his strong will is a good thing, and the door is looking pretty good to him. i should just go, this is pointless mess. we barely know each other and we’re arguing like a married couple. he chuckles to himself at the thought and sighs heavily, this time. “do you have an aspirin?” he says not even worried about the things they need to discuss. they’ll definitely circle back to it, he’s sure. there’s too much to unpack for either of them to call this talk over. he wasn’t finished with it, but he knows his limit. “i wasn’t being hypothetical… the chances of me moving are very real and when i said i haven’t fully chosen to stay here i meant that i have been thinking about moving to la since our third day out together. while i agree that i handled things very poorly… i wasn’t ready to disclose the idea of me moving until i was sure i really wanted to.” he stands to make his way over to the table where the champagne bottle was. he never would’ve imagined flying home would cause this much damage, but of course that was another mistake. “this place, this is my home. things have happened here… things i won’t get into tonight— but uh, leaving here is tough. regardless, i’ve been more open to leaving since we met, this isn’t a game. you aren’t some play thing. i’ve had those kind of relationships. this isn’t that. i’m not looking to hurt you. this is serious to me.”

[mattholicguilt]

cats in the cradle by Duck_Life

Fandoms: Supernatural [Gen, No Archive Warnings Apply] Words: 1,745

Tags: Claire Novak & Patience Turner, Cats, Psychic Abilities, Grandparents & Grandchildren, Friendship, Found Family, claire novak will see a stray animal and be like, is anyone gonna project onto this, and not wait for an answer

Summary: Claire helps Patience hone her abilities. Patience helps Claire track down a cat.

Written for SPN Women Week Day 1. Prompt: "skills"

Bub is missing again.

“Bub” is the name of a mean stray cat missing a chunk from his ear. Claire’s been leaving cat food out for the ugly old thing for weeks now, and whenever he doesn’t come running she panics.

So, for the third time, Patience finds herself enlisted in the search for a cat that Claire doesn’t even technically own. “If it’s gonna bother you this much every time,” Patience says, “why don’t you just take it in? You know, get him his shots, a collar, a microchip.”

Claire makes a face at her before turning back to look at the road. She’s been driving around the neighborhood slowly, scoping out every shrub and checking under every parked car. “Bub doesn’t want to be chained down,” she explains. “He’s a free spirit.”

Alright, well, Patience is too tired to unpack that right now. She lets it lie and looks out the passenger’s side window, alert for any signs of movement. “Maybe he was never a stray at all,” she tries, “and his owner finally tracked him down and brought him home.”

“Do you know that?” Claire asks.

Claire’s always asking if Patience knows things— what happened on Jody’s date last weekend, what Dean’s middle name is, whether or not Alex is the one who ate the last ice cream sandwich in the freezer. Patience keeps trying to explain that she can only see the future. “Psychic” might be a misnomer— her abilities are precognitive, not telepathic.

She basically gets previews, little spoilers about what’s to come. And though she’s been working at it, she can’t seem to get her psychic abilities to do the kind of reading and divination her grandma could do. She gets glimpses with no context, no backstory.

Missouri Moseley could walk into a room and feel every ounce of heartbreak, grief, hope and faith in the people standing there. Patience can barely pick up on it when Alex and Claire are pissed at each other.

Still, Claire brings her along whenever the cat goes missing. Seems to think her ESP can home in on missing animals. Patience keeps telling her otherwise, and yet here she is, once again. That’s the trouble with having no social life and no better plans.

Maybe she should join a book club.

Claire rounds the corner, eyes darting around for any sight of the mangy cat. The first time Bub vanished from Claire’s sight, all the neighbors seemed intent to help. They explained they hadn’t seen the cat, but hoped Claire would find him soon and offered baked goods and platitudes in the meantime.

But these things have an expiration date. You can only lose the cat so many times before the routine gets old and the neighbors lose interest.

“My educated guess ?” Patience sighs. “The cat’ll come back when it gets hungry. Just like before.”

Claire makes a tch sound and mouths “educated guess” under her breath. Apparently, because Patience is psychic she’s supposed to be omniscient. “So which is it?” Claire says. “Is he back with his ‘real’ owners or is he going to come home when he gets hungry?”

“Don’t be a jerk,” Patience says. “I’m here, aren’t I? I’m helping you.”

“... Yeah. You are,” Claire says, ducking her head. “Sorry.” Her eyes scan the road ahead, looking for the telltale streak of a cat darting out from under a parked car or vanishing around a tree trunk. Still nothing. “Hey, Patience the Pet Psychic,” Claire says. “You should write that down, that’d be a great children’s book.”

“Very funny,” Patience says, rolling her eyes. She’s silent for a few moments and then says, “Cla-aire the Monster Slayer.”

“That doesn’t really rhyme.”

“Sure it does.”

When the sky darkens and the streetlights flick on, Claire drives them back to the house, Bub-less and dejected. “I’m sure he’s fine,” Patience tries.

Claire bunches her shoulders, the collar of her leather jacket looking like a cat’s raised hackles. Maybe, Patience thinks, that’s the connection— Claire in many ways resembles an angry cat. She and Bub might be kindred spirits.

“I’m just tired,” Claire says, yanking the keys out of the ignition. “We’ll try again tomorrow.”

Patience considers pointing out that Claire could at least ask instead of just assuming , considers reminding Claire that she has her own life outside of playing “pet psychic.”

But she doesn’t actually have anything to do tomorrow. Or the rest of the week. And as futile as it feels riding around looking for a runaway cat, it is something to do. And it makes Claire feel better.

And… straining her psychic muscles to pick up on any trace of the old tomcat is at least better than doing nothing and letting her abilities degrade. Over the last year, she’s been trying to find ways to train her brain, shape her psychic visions into something useful.

Jody’s supportive, but she, like most people, doesn’t know anything about being psychic. Kaia’s got a fraught relationship with her own special skills and usually chooses not to talk to Patience about seeing the future, and Alex is so entrenched in nursing and hunting that the few “normal” moments she gets at home are devoted to unwinding and relaxing.

Which makes Claire Patience’s most ardent supporter in developing her psychic abilities. A very grouchy, blonde and mostly clueless Yoda. What she lacks in background knowledge she makes up for in persistence.

“Hey, Patience, guess which hand?” Claire will ask, holding the last fortune cookie behind her back. “Hey, Patience, what number am I thinking of?” Claire will ask, perched on the arm of the couch. “Hey, Patience, heads or tails?” Claire will ask, flipping a coin to catch it in midair.

That’s not how it works. That’s not how any of it works— Patience can’t predict things at will. Her psychic visions operate on a schedule of their own, with no concern for Patience’s own convenience or comfort. One minute, she’s watching shitty reality TV while Alex nods off on her shoulder. The next, she’s watching Jody narrowly avoid being bitten by a vampire.

It’s a lot different from just guessing a coin toss. Still. Patience can’t help but think that her grandma would’ve passed all of Claire’s little tests with flying colors.

That night, Patience doesn’t dream about anything— at least, not anything useful. She has an anxiety dream about being lost in Aldi, roaming the aisles with increasing frustration. But nothing about the future. Nothing about Bub the cat.

She’s pouring herself a bowl of cereal when Claire stomps inside, the porch door swinging shut behind her. “Still gone,” she says darkly, grabbing the cereal box and her own bowl. “Food hasn’t been touched.”

“Claire,” Patience says, “why don’t we just go to the SPCA? You can get yourself a cat that’s not, you know—”

“What? Not damaged? Not a lost cause? Not hard to love?”

Whoa, Patience wants to say. “A cat that’s not missing ,” she finishes. “We can get him his shots and a collar and everything.”

“I don’t— I don’t just want some random cat,” Claire says. “I want to find Bub. I want… I want to find him and bring him home. I have to bring him home.”

“I know,” Patience says, and just like that she does . She does know.

She knows everything, feels everything, the aching loss in Claire’s bones that’s both recent and so, so old. Memories of Claire hitchhiking and stealing and conning her way through the country, desperately chasing a mother who was desperately chasing a dead man. Jimmy Novak’s voice in her head, his face seen through Claire’s eyes, Please, Castiel, take me. Just take me. Again, his forehead pressed to hers, Take care of your mom, okay, bub?

Bub.

Patience looks at Claire. Sees her, in a way she hasn’t been able to see anyone before. “Bub… ‘bub’ is what your dad used to call you.”

Claire squints at her. “Uh. Yeah,” she says. “Wait, I didn’t… I didn’t tell you that.”

“No,” Patience breathes, meeting her eyes across the kitchen, “you didn’t.”

Slowly, a grin spreads across Claire’s face. “Holy shit , Patience, you just… ? You just did that. You, like, read me.”

“I, uh, I didn’t know. That I could do that,” Patience says, caught between marveling at this new development and feeling self-conscious at intruding on Claire’s emotions and her past.

Claire doesn’t seem put off at all. She’s actually bouncing with excitement. “We gotta test this out. Oh my God. It’s like a whole new Pokemon evolution for you.”

“It’s not really. Like that. In any way.”

But Claire is already humming the Pokemon theme song. She grabs her car keys. “Alright, well, let’s go look for that cat. I’ve got a good feeling about today.”

“I read you, Claire, that doesn’t mean I can read the cat,” Patience reminds her.

“Yeah, yeah, but you can still help me look,” Claire says. “I don’t need your third eye, just the two on your face.”

“That’s… yeah, fine,” Patience acquiesces. To be honest, she’s buzzing with the knowledge of what she can do with her powers. If Claire’s happy to be her test subject, she’ll spend all day with the girl. “Just let me grab a coffee.”

“Ooh, me too. Wait!” She wiggles her fingers toward Patience. “Do you Know how I like my coffee?”

“Half-and-half. And enough sugar to kill you,” Patience reels off. “But that’s not because I’m psychic. I’ve just seen you fix yourself coffee before.”

“Y’know, I think the line between ‘psychic’ and ‘observant’ is thinner than you might think.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Patience says, and then pretends to stumble backward toward the table, overacting the part. “Oh, oh, I’m having a vision… I see you … making coffee for us…”

Claire rolls her eyes, but she dutifully sets her keys down and busies herself with getting the travel mugs out. “That’s not gonna work for everything, you know.”

“Aaah I see you bringing Jody’s suit to the dry cleaners next week. I also see you driving me to the science museum.”

“Hilarious.”

Patience smiles at her. It’s nice to have someone else get excited about her powers. It’s nice to be allowed to be excited about this, to learn a new skill and have it mean something good to someone besides herself. She doesn’t feel like a freak or a failure. She just feels… like a psychic.

She feels like her grandma would be proud.

[phis-corner]

Can I get a 3 and a 10 with Marinette parents being some what salty and believing Lila and when the learn the truth they try to get her back from the kents and Bruce is like 10 to them cause he is her godfather now

3-  “Please don’t walk out that door.” 10- “I won’t let you.”

Disclaimer: I have no idea how transfer of guardianship works. Please bear with me here- half of what I wrote doesn’t make sense to myself, but I wasn’t really sure how else to fulfill the prompt.

TW: Mentions of emotional abuse.

They gave her up.

They willingly signed the papers that would temporarily transfer guardianship of her over to Clark and Lois.

Marinette expected them to, of course, but experiencing it for real was still a stinging slap to the face, no matter how horrible her parents were to her.

“Come on, Mari.” Jon’s hand is gentle on her shoulder, and his big blue eyes are looking down at her, even though she’s two years older. “Let’s go home.”

The flight back to the Kents’ apartment in the Metropolis couldn’t have been shorter. Clark and Lois give her time to unpack, but if she was being honest, there wasn’t really anything to unpack that wasn’t already present in the guest room that had slowly become hers over the last few months.

As the situation with her biological parents got worse (helped along by a certain liar), Marinette had simply stopped spending time in Paris, instead teleporting more and more to Titans Tower to hang out or train. 

Jon, who had declared himself her brother a year prior, noticed, of course. He was the first, but everyone did after the first month. Damian got his father to jumpstart the process of removing her from her parents’ care, and in the meantime, Clark and Lois offered her the guest room.

Marinette takes the last item out of her pink backpack- a photo of her, Tom, and Sabine at the kitchen counter, taken by Nonna Gina. She's young in this picture, maybe seven or eight, and her face is frozen mid-laugh, entire body coated in flour from a bout of clumsiness. Tom and Sabine are laughing with her.

She stares at it until she feels like she’s on the verge of developing heat vision, then tears the photo in half, separating Tom and Sabine from her.

The part with two people goes into the garbage, and the laughing girl is pinned to her bulletin board.

Healing takes time, and sometimes, it feels as if she has all the time in the world.

She has a support system now- a brother, people that are more like parents than her real ones, a team at her back, and her godfather is the freaking Batman.

Yep. Bruce Wayne, the richest man in the world, who dresses up as a giant bat at night to terrify Gotham’s worst into wetting themselves, declared himself her godfather, and really, who’s going to say no to Batman?

Damian and Jon suspect that he’s just irritated that Clark claimed the newest black haired, blue eyed child with a tragic backstory before he could.

Healing takes time, and she has so much time.

Slowly but surely, she heals, and moves on, with a new family and newly forged bonds that are already so much stronger than the ones she had with her blood relatives ever were.

Then, everything goes to shit again.

Tom and Sabine finally learn that Lila was lying, that everything she was accused of doing were just that- mere accusations. They come to Metropolis, knocking on their apartment door while Bruce and Damian are over for lunch.

“I’ll get it.” Marinette offers, then freezes when she opens the door and sees who’s on the other side.

She doesn’t react, rooted in place by Tom and Sabine’s stares, until she hears Jon from the dining room. “Mari? Is everything alright?”

Instead of a verbal response, she taps her finger against her thigh frantically in Morse Code. T-O-M A-N-D S-A-B-I-N-E. H-E-L-P.

The message must be relayed pretty fast, because everyone is crowding behind her back in an instant.

She doesn’t remember much of the actual argument between her biological parents and her chosen ones, only that she snaps to attention when Sabine speaks her name.

“Marinette.” She says coldly, with a sense of finality. “Come with us. You are going home now.”

Her brain screams no, that Metropolis, the Kents, are her home, and that Paris was nothing more than a cage, but her body, still terrified of the consequences (they never laid a hand on her, but your own parents believing you over a liar and the subsequent emotional and verbal abuse leaves its mark), starts to follow, feet stepping forward until another voice, one that isn’t Clark or Lois, rings out.

“Please don’t walk out that door, Marinette.” The voice is so different, yet the exact same as Batman’s low growl as Bruce Wayne’s blue eyes bore into her soul.

“Nonsense.” Tom snaps. “She is our daughter. We have every right to take her back.”

“I won’t let you.” 

Despite it obviously being a response to Tom’s statement, Marinette gets the feeling that those words were directed at her instead.

The billionaire pulls out a cell phone, dialing a number. “Hey, Tim? Yeah, do me a favor. Are Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng currently in the clear to take back their daughter?” A pause. “Okay then. I see. Mhm. Thanks, Timmy.”

He hangs up and glares at the couple. “You’re not legally authorized to remove Marinette from Clark and Lois’ care.”

A strong but loose hand comes to rest on her shoulder. “Lois and I see Marinette as our own daughter.” Clark says calmly, his words filling her with warmth. “If you want to take back guardianship, we will fight for her.”

“And they’ll have Wayne Enterprises’ legal team at their back.” Bruce chimes in, and she can’t help the smile that splits her face there.

“We’d actually like to make that guardianship permanent.” A smirk curls across Lois’ lips, and Marinette is reminded of why this woman has gone toe-to-toe with death so many times and made it out alive. “It doesn’t have to be settled in court, but if you wanted to test that, I’m sure we could arrange for it to happen.”

Marinette decides that she’d like to add her own piece. “Oh, yes, please do. I’d love to testify against Tom and Sabine in court.” She smiles, the damage done to her just by their presence already being fixed by the steady support behind her.

They visibly flinch when Marinette addresses them by their names and not ‘Maman’ and ‘Papa’ like she used to. Good. That’s nothing compared to how she felt in those last few months.

Sabine smiles, though it doesn’t reach her eyes. “That will not be necessary. Have a nice day.”

And with that, she and her husband turn around and walk away. Damian takes the opportunity to slam the door and make sure all of the locks are secured before sniffing, scrunching his nose up in disgust.

“The nerve of them!” He seethes. “How dare they come here and pretend nothing is wrong to try and take her back!”

“Thank you.” Marinette says to Clark and Lois. “You didn’t have to pretend that you wanted to adopt me though.”

“Who said anything about pretending?” Lois replies easily, and the beam that splits Marinette’s face is like a blinding ray of sunshine as she flings herself forward into her family’s arms.

permanent tags

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[songbirdsingingthings]

Beachy Keen - Katsuki Bakugou x Reader

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS, THEY BELONG TO KOHEI HORIKOSHI

When you first met the blonde-haired boy, you never thought that he knew what being relaxed and carefree felt like. He exuded self-confidence and was always fired-up, but you could tell that it came from a deep place of longingness, anger, and insecurity. You knew enough of Midoriya and Bakugou’s past to know that their once friendly childhood became a toxic relationship pretty quickly. You understand where both boys were coming from. Izuku, who hadn’t developed his quirk for the most part of his childhood, was always there to lend a helping hand - especially to Bakugou. Then, years later, all of a sudden Bakugou wasn’t the star of his middle school. And the explosive boy, the pride and joy of all of those around him, all of a sudden did not meet the criteria of “future number one hero”. The years of showered affections, constant praise, and “can I have your autograph for the future?”s all ceased to exist now. However, both boys, at least to you, were nice. Well, Midoriya was nice, Bakugou was just kind of civil - which was a lot to ask for from the hero-in-training.

It was currently your second year at UA and all of the students had a long weekend off due to most of the teachers attending a hero banquet. Momo, being the sweet girl she is, wanted to splurge a bit on her friends and take them all to their family’s beach house on the coast of Okinawa. Everyone was so excited, especially you. You hadn’t had the opportunity to go to the beach in ages and you couldn’t wait to feel the soft sand in between your toes, feel the salty wind on your face, and relish in the yummy seafood. The school graciously allowed your class to take one of the buses and provided you with a cleared driver.

“Alright everyone! Make sure you have your luggage and double check for sunscreen! We do not want any sunburns and make sure to bring sunglasses if you have light eyes - the sun’s rays can be very damaging!” Iida said, listing his final instructions before the students boarded the bus.

“So Y/N, who are you rooming with now that Hagakure’s sick?” Ochaco asked you sweetly, stuffing her big trunk into the bottom of the bus.

“No one, I guess. I think I still get to keep the room,” you say, sticking your suitcase neatly next to hers. You step onto the bus and find a seat that was next to Mina and across from Kirishima and Bakugou.

“Oh, Y/N! Hey!” Mina said cheerily, giving you a smile.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” You ask, setting your carry-on backpack at your feet.

“Oh nothing, just Bakugou sulking as usual!” Mina responds, nudging your elbow and motioning over to the boy across from you. You were kind of confused. No one had done anything recently to get him into this pissed off state.

“Well… what poked the beast?” You said quietly to the pink-haired girl next to you. 

“Kirishima had to pull out of rooming with him because he had forgotten that he promised he would room with Sero, and now he doesn’t have a room.” Mina said, rustling around in her own bag to fish out her phone.

“Huh,” you say. “Have you asked Momo if there’s another room?” You ask, now facing the boys across from you.

“Tch, what do you think? I’m not an idiot,” he says, kind of glaring at you. You knew that there was only one solution to this predicament since you didn’t want Bakugou sleeping on the couch in one of the many living rooms. That would give anyone a bad back, and for Bakugou, an even worse temper.

“U-um, you can room with me since Hagakure can’t make it.” Bakugou looked at you incredulously and Kirishima gave him a wild grin.

“That’s a GREAT idea Y/N! Quick thinking!” Kirishima applauded.

“Have you dumbasses lost your minds?! There’s no way I’m rooming with her!” He exclaims. It kind of hurt you that you could basically see steam coming from his ears due to how mad and opposed to the proposition of the two of you sharing a room. You were about to respond but Mina beat you to the chase.

“Well Bakugou, what other option do you have? Breaking your back and not being able to enjoy anything on this vacation?” The pink-haired girl retorted, sticking up for you. You shoot her a grateful smile and turn back to Bakugou.

“I’m sure that there’ll be two separate beds and we can stagger times in the room if you want.” You assure him, trying to convince him. Bakugou leans his head back, closes his eyes, and sighs.

“Fine. But I swear to god, if there aren’t two beds I’m going to lose my mind.”

Spoiler alert, there weren’t two beds, but a single queen size bed in the newly cleaned room. You drop your bags in shock and slowly turn your head to see Bakugou’s, who was right next to yours. If Bakugou was mad then he was doing a fine job hiding it because all you could see was a blank expression.

“I-I can see if Momo has a blow-up mattress and I can sleep on that.” You say quickly, trying not to make him uncomfortable. Bakugou simply shakes his head as he rolls his suitcase onto the left side of the bed.

“Don’t be stupid. There’s enough space for each of us, and if you think I’m gonna let you suffer after… doing this then you're wrong.” He says bluntly, already starting to unpack his clothes. You should’ve made yourself look away and not be so nosy, because when you caught a glimpse of a pair of grey boxers, you could’ve sworn that your face lit up like a Christmas tree. You tugged your suitcase along with you to the right side and put away all of your clothes into the side dresser but kept out a simple orange bikini set for later that day. After the two of you finished unpacking, you made your way to the main living room to see the rest of the class lounging on the plush sofas. 

“So, who’s ready to hit the beach?” Momo asked, earning cheers from the class.

Their day on the sand covered shore was nothing short of divine. You all played beach volleyball, went swimming, and even tanned for a bit until the sun started to set, and then you all headed back to the beach house. For the first night, you, Sero, Jirou, Koda, and Todoroki were in charge of dinner. You decided to do an easy pasta bar so that everyone got to pick out what they wanted. After promising to be careful, Momo allowed the class to eat while sitting on the couches and watching a movie, which ended up being Clueless, much to Kaminari and Mineta’s protests to instead watch a more mature rated film. You ended up sitting next to Bakugou, but the two of you didn’t talk much - you were much more invested in the movie playing on the flatscreen. The class decided to pause halfway through to get some dessert which were pre-packaged ice cream cones. Out of nowhere, Bakugou called your name and tossed you one. You looked up at him with a raised brow which just caused Bakugou to scoff in response.

“You like (favorite flavor) the best, so I thought you’d want it.” He says plainly, grabbing a vanilla cone for himself. You gave him a smile.

“Thank you Bakugou, that was really kind of you,” you say sweetly as the two of you head back to your spots on the couch.

“Yeah, whatever.”

“YES! FINALLY!” Mina cheered as Cher and Josh kissed on the staircase. The scene even warranted cheers from some of the boys. Josh’s gesture made you melt as you gently sank into the couch. That is, until your shoulders were met with something hard. You turned your head to see Bakugou’s arm which was there, but he retreated it immediately. 

“Sorry,” he murmurs, eyes still facing the screen.

Okay, he is acting weird. First the ice cream and now this? He wouldn’t normally apologize for something like this. You shake the thought from your mind as you help the rest of the class clean up after the movie finished and turn off the lights. You made your way back to your room, only to see Bakugou in nothing but his boxers. The grey boxers. Flustered, you turn around and cover your face with your hands.

“Sorry sorry sorry!” You squeal, voice muffled by your palms. “I’ll wait til you’re changed.”

“I am. This is what I sleep in.” He responds as you hear him lift the covers and let them fall back on his bare chest. Your body temperature must’ve risen by at least 10 degrees because you felt like you were about to faint.

“O-oh.” You force yourself to turn around and grab your pajamas, booking it to the bathroom to change in privacy. You were horrified by what was in your hands. Your pajamas were the only somewhat skimpy set you owned - tiny little shorts with lacy on the bottom and a tank top with lace for the straps. Swallowing the large lump in your throat, you forced yourself into the set and then looked at yourself in the mirror.

If Bakugou can be fine wearing just boxers around me, then I can certainly be fine with wearing a tank top and shorts around him. After giving yourself a reassuring nod, you march yourself back into your room, stuff your clothes from the day in a hamper, and get into bed next to the blonde. You weren’t facing him so you couldn’t see, but his cheeks danced with an ever so slight shade of red. 

“Okay so how is this gonna work,” You ask, looking between him and the space in between the two of you.

“You stay on your side, I’ll stay on mine.” He states, looking into your eyes for approval. Giving a nod, you turn so your back is facing him and turn off your light. You try to make yourself feel comfortable in the silky sheets, but your entire body is freezing. You really should’ve packed better pajamas. A few minutes pass as your body is shaking until Bakugou speaks up.

“Oi, dumbass, what’s wrong with you?” He asks. As rude as his words could’ve been interpreted, you knew they came from a place of caring, so you turned around to face him, only for your noses to be just mere inches away from the other.

“I-I’m just cold I’ll be fine.” You say meekly, trying to avert your eyes and look at anything else in the room.

“Tch, sure.” He says simply, turning away from you this time. An uncomfortable silence graces the two of you until the boy decides to break it again.

“You looked better than usual today. In the orange.” You hear him say softly. Your breath hitched as your brain comprehended the words, making your cheeks turn red. “And your taste in ice cream flavors is at least respectable.” You couldn't help it - you giggled at his words. This made Bakugou whip around to face you as your hand went up to cover your mouth. “What the hell? I’m trying to give you a compliment and be nice and shit dumbass!” He growls, giving you a glare. You manage to calm yourself down but keep a huge grin on your face.

“I know, and it’s really, really sweet but seriously? Ice cream? That’s what makes you say ‘oh yes, that’s the girl I wanna date.’”. You were giggling again, but you were shocked when Bakugou let a little smile grace his face.

“Shut up, I’m new to this whole thing.” He says, smoothly wrapping his arm around your shoulders. You don’t flinch when his hand makes contact with your skin - it’s like it was natural to you.

“Katsuki Bakugou,” you say, a twinkle in your eyes, “I like you too.” 

“I-I didn’t say that!” He protests, slight panic in his eyes.

“You didn’t have to.” You finish, tucking a stray piece of hair away from his face. His response was to pull you close to him which made you panic a little this time.

“Relax,” he says, “you were cold and now you won’t be.” He says matter-of-factly. Your face settles into a dreamy smile as you lay your head against his broad chest. The beat of his heart lulled you into a peaceful sleep and Bakugou followed you shortl with  a stupid smile on his face. Lets just say, that for the rest of the trip, you two didn’t stray too far from each other. And Bakugou made sure to grab you a (favorite flavor) ice cream cone before anyone else could get to it first.

[myfairkatiecat]

Hm. Okay. Lots of stuff going on in this post. By now, everybody already knows that I am well aware that Keefe is manipulative and it’s part of my enjoyment of his character, but there’s a whole lot else to unpack here too, and I’m not about to comb through all of it. But here’s some thoughts.

The only thing I have a strong, visceral reaction to in this post—the only thing I disagree with so badly I might actually throw something—is the idea that Keefe “doesn’t deserve all the sympathy he gets” excuse you. Yes we should ask how the other characters are doing more often. Yes the books should have more focus on the other character’s issues. You don’t have to diminish Keefe’s to do that. The fact that the books spend way more time fleshing out his trauma and sympathizing with him for it than anyone else doesn’t give anyone the right to say that trauma is less valid. It’s not the trauma Olympics. We don’t have to take away our sympathy for keefe’s situation in order to gain sympathy for other characters.

The best sentence by anyone on this post in my opinion: “i've noticed that chronically low self-esteem comes hand-in-hand with a strange sort of narcissism- people like keefe believe that they are too damaged or “bad" to be helped and that they will be putting their loved ones in danger by letting them help. unfortunately, this results in them causing more damage, but they can't necessarily see it because they think they're doing the right thing.”

^that right there is part of why I love Keefe. It’s not cause he’s an awesome guy with great character who’s always being great. It’s because he’s flipping complex. Yeah, Shannon could stand to flesh out the other characters a little more, but I don’t have to stop enjoying a character she has made quite complex in order to acknowledge that. And the reality is, he actually does have his good moments. He has those times where he really proves how much he cares. But boy oh boy is that kid messed up (using the word kid on purpose—I’d like to once again remind everyone that this is a CHILD who is a PRODUCT OF HIS CIRCUMSTANCES) and everything backfires consistently.

Honestly? I’m hoping in 9.5 he learns something major that he’s keeping from Sophie in stellarlune, and I hope it puts a strain on their relationships and his other friendships as well. I’m a huge sokeefe shipper for sure, but I need them to have a fight before they’re endgame, and also go to therapy but that won’t happen lol. I need Keefe to have that moment where he not only realizes how much he’s hurt his friends (he knows. He literally knows. Read his hecking 8.5 diary entries, that kid knows how much he’s hurt his friends, and he’s in a really, really bad pattern that he needs to break, and he just doesn’t know any other way to be. His survival instincts aren’t healthy.) but also in addition to realizing that finds a way to break from the cycle. I don’t want it to be a sudden switch—he’s struggling and the road to healing will be a struggle as well.

I think it’s not a matter of “excusing keefe’s actions” or “holding keefe accountable,” but rather “acknowledging the way keefe’s circumstances have made him into the person he is, and hoping for him to find healing and healthier coping mechanisms and instincts.” And I truly, truly mean that. Whether you’re like me and are just giddy at the way his character is written (all the delicious little layers. The trauma. The baggage. The way he’s always running. The way he’s subtly manipulative. The way he knows he’s hurting people he loves and doesn’t want to hurt people he loves but can’t stop. Won’t stop.) or are just flat out annoyed with his page time, I think we should all be able to agree that a character who is hurting others from a place of having been hurt is someone to be sympathized with, even without excusing their actions. Someone we should hope heals. Someone we definitely shouldn’t say “doesn’t deserve” the pity that he gets, just because his issues lead to him causing more issues (which is a realistic thing! That’s like! Often how trauma works! Especially in abuse victims!!)

Anyway that’s my take on all this. I’m not going to parade through here with a picket sign with a collage of Pinterest posts on it that say “Keefe is perfect!” “Keefe is the best boyfriend!” “Keefe is awesome, Fitz should die!” or even “Keefe is a good person!” If I have any signs, they say one thing: ���Keefe is a child. Keefe has gone through trauma. Keefe is a product of his circumstances. Hopefully Keefe is able to one day heal and become a better person for it, with the help of his friends and those who care about him.” And honestly? Love him or hate him, enjoy rotating it in your brain or totally sick of hearing about it, those things are true.

@ase-worm-on-a-fandom @the-way-astray <-wanted to see my response to this post

Why do you hate keefe so much??

Let’s see:

Keefe is a reckless, impulsive individual who endangers his friends on a regular basis. Couple this with his stubbornness and inability to be dissuaded from going through with his foolish plans, and he becomes a liability. Yes, he was dissuaded from going to Ravagog - but look at everything else he’s done that he wasn’t able to be dissuaded from doing. Sophie couldn’t stop him from joining the Neverseen, couldn’t stop him from going back to the Neverseen in Lodestar, couldn’t stop him from fighting King Dimitar, couldn’t stop him from going to Loamnore - and now he’s running off to the human world (his stupidest and most reckless decision yet, BTW).

Keefe has promised to change every time - and yet he doesn’t. He continues his reckless exploits, putting everyone in danger - and creating problems that they’re still cleaning up to this day.

Keefe is also extortive and manipulative - he uses his empathy very dubiously; he uses it to get Sophie to tell him things that she wouldn’t normally tell him; he uses his empathy to get into things he normally wouldn’t be let into. In Nightfall, he uses his empathy to get Sophie to tell him about her kissing Dex - something she doesn’t want to do. I haven’t read Exile in a while, but I’m mildly sure that he used his empathy to get his way onto that Alicorn ride. If not, ignore that. I would hate him anyway. He uses his ability as a lie detector to worm information out of both Sophie and Fitz - in Legacy, he uses it (without Fitz’s permission) to figure out why Fitz was working with Lord Cassius. That’s my number one reason for thinking that empathy needs to be regulated like Telepathy or Beguiling.

He suffers no consequences for his actions. All of his reckless actions don’t even earn him a slap on the wrist. He compromised Alluveterre, blew up an office in Foxfire, and went back to the Neverseen in Lodestar - all of which he isn’t disciplined for at all because he did it “for Sophie” and he has “daddy and mommy issues” and so is let off the hook with a promise to change (which he doesn’t). He also gave a gift to Sophie (no, that doesn’t make up for it) and mood candy for everyone else. Mood candy is something you give for finals and midterms, not apologizing for joining a terrorist organization. He shows little regret for these actions, partly because he’s never reprimanded for these actions. Compare this to Fitz, who’s still apologizing for Exile - despite Sophie already forgiving him for that.

He ultimately is just a pity and sympathy magnet, allowing him to get away with his terrible decisions and attract more pity and sympathy.

[i-put-the-yan-in-polyandry]

OKAY ONAY WHERE DO I BEGIN?!? Okay so I also have a grand librarian in my script like your Helios!! I call him Alder (Al-dear if you’re curious on how I pronounce it) except he is like a plant like being that has to wear this chocker to keep his humanoid shape and he lives in a invisible library above the seas, just watching and recording Teyvat’s history and has a copy of everything that’s ever been written (yes, includes fanfics) and he has became a recluse due to reasons in the past. No one knows where the library is and many believe it doesn’t exist, but it does! It just likes to move to different places

The biggest thing I can’t wait to experience is that in my DR I know Rhinedottir before I was murdered (there’s a LOT to unpack with that) and that she went by a different name back then when I knew her. In my DR she despises the archons with everything she got because they destroyed her home country that she helped build, desecrated her dead friends (me, the god of Teyvat) name by spewing nonsense scripture, and she sees them as nothing but cheap imitations of a real god

There’s so much lore in my script man, I have like 15 pages on google doc dedicated to my lore 😅 it’s so convoluted and complex that it confuses me 😅😅 but hey, I like it 😋

Sincerely, King truck-kun

Ps, PLEASE RAMBLE ABOUT YOUR DR, I love hearing about other people’s scripts and what they are hoping to accomplish!!

oki i'm finally answering this it took so long bc i didn't have the spoons to give you the response you deserve

i fcuking love all that your mind is too powerful save some for the rest of us (i say like i haven't created thousands of years of lore for fanfics before lmaooo)

honestly that's so much tho i'm impressed

as for my dr i need to make a new script (i've just kinda been winging it lately which has been causing conflicting affirmations bc i just say whatever comes to mind rippp)

uh but i'll ramble about my original dr and current ideas below the cut!!

ok so my original dr was in my hero academia bc i've seen a lot of content from it (i kin deku too hard to watch the show bc ~trauma~) and i liked the idea. but i kinda made it too much like a self indulgent story and not somewhere i'd actually like to be so good thing i didn't shift there in the end dodged a fucking bullet (oh? you created a dr where you experience heavy trauma? do you feel like your current trauma isn't enough to justify being cared for and so you want to break down in front of your comfort characters in a way that you can finally receive the love and care you want/need, but don't feel you deserve, in a way that you can stomach accepting it?)

i really loved working on my quirk tho! it's called interface and i'd gotten it bc my quirk factor was damaged and so i got misidentified as quirkless until i'd been taken for tests to try and make the ultimate quirk which i survived bc my broken factor basically acted like a vessel for the new ones, creating a semi-sentient quirk that can collect the genetic data responsible for quirks from others and recreate their quirks for my own. i can also fuse, upgrade, and mutate them from that point. i really love evolving power replication my beloved

most of the dr was about hanging out in japan and making friends tho, sometimes interrupted by my hero-in-training and vigilante lives. honestly real fun and i might write a story about it someday

as for the dr i'm gonna script

idk if i want it set in any fandom or just plain our world without or post covid (in case i slip up and mention it) but i'm thinking about being a rich streamer and cosplayer on parent's money, living or at least regularly visiting japan, or england bc nostalgia. gonna fucking c6 and r5 every character and weapon in genshin so help me god.

idk if i wanna add in modern sagau elements but i might? kinda leaning more away from it as time passes tho especially since i've been having trouble getting the energy to play. or obey me (i just started playing a few days ago and i'm HOOKED, seven timing the literal avatars of the seven deadly sins lmaooo mc is a mega chad and i want that energy) but y'know that's just a new obsession that might fizzle out too soon for me to really want it

gonna have two dogs, milky the samoyed & yuki the akita inu and they shall be my babies. maybe a ragdoll cat or maine coon? both. both is good.

i'm struggling on people in my life, but thinking about basing my father on the one in father i don't want this marriage bc the VIBES

might do modeling on the side too bc i'm beautiful and people deserve to see my beauty uwu especially since i'm leaning more toward vtuber

the most unrealistic part: a garden for the dogs somewhere in tokyo (shibuya or akihabara i think)

but i also like the idea of magic or powers being a thing but like they might disrupt life y'know? i've been playing with the idea of a marvel dr where they're like 'we want you' and i'm like 'i just wanna play video games damn' bc that sounds like a fun interaction

gonna have major main character vibes i don't even care, i'm past the point of being embarrassed about being self indulgent, cringe culture is dead

the hardest part is deciding on the people i know bc it's gonna help connect but i've literally never had a healthy irl friendship in my life and i have no basis for it jfksldjgksldhgdsklg help

fjksdlg uhhh that's all i can think about rn <3

[wellimaginethat]

Close Call

Pairing: Matt Casey x (female) Reader

Requested?: Yes

Word Count: 3355

Author’s Note: So I know this isn’t exactly what the request asked for, I did include how they met and started dating, but I did so in the form of flashbacks and I hope that’s okay.

Trigger Warning(s): Reader got shot, near death experience

Disclaimer: I don’t owe nor am I affiliated with any of the Chicago shows, I just like to play with the characters

Summary: Reader is a cop and gets shot while on the job, causing her longterm boyfriend, Matt, to worry about her and think back on when they first met.

Y/N = Your Name

This wasn’t how you expected your Tuesday to go, but did anything ever go as you planned?

What had seemed like it would be a simple arrest of a suspect turned out into a full blown shootout, resulting in you taking a bullet to the lower left abdomen. You were doing okay for a while, Jay managed to pull you out of the line of fire and get you behind a car, but you were bleeding a lot.

Jay was shooting at the shooters before leaning down to check on you, the look on his face said it all, he was panicking. “You’re gonna be okay, we’re gonna get you out of here, just stay awake.”

“Don’t lie to me.” You barely managed to get out, you were feeling dizzy from the blood loss and your vision was starting to blur.

The last thing you heard before slumping over was a string of curses coming from your partner.

When the call came in for ambo, something in Matt’s gut told him something wasn’t right, and he immediately began to worry about you. Usually he didn’t, but something just didn’t seem right today.

As soon as he got word of what happened to you, he raced over to the hospital.

The two of you met just after you had transferred to Intelligence, barely a year after you had moved to Chicago. You got roped into going out for drinks with your new teammates and that’s how you ended up in Molly’s on that fateful night.

It was nearing two years ago now that you had gone up to the bar, trying to find an empty spot to order another drink, but that was hard considering it was a pretty busy night.

So you decided to try to squeeze in between two complete strangers, one of which bumped into you and practically knocked you into Matt’s lap. He had been taken by surprise but had wrapped his arms around you to keep you from toppling to the floor.

“I’m so sorry!” You quickly told him as you stood up, you could see your teammates out of the corner of your eye, snickering at you. You shook your head some, cheeks heating up.

“It’s all good.” Matt assured you with a slight chuckle.

“I’m really sorry, I was just trying to get a drink and um, yeah.” You glanced away, rubbing the back of your neck. “Sorry.” You mumbled again as you began to walk away.

“You didn’t order your drink.” Matt had reminded you.

You stopped and looked at him, pausing for a bit longer than you should have before responding. “Oh, um, yeah.”

Matt raised a brow at you, trying not to let on how amused he was but you could see it in his eyes. He beckoned you over.

You walked over to resume your spot standing next to him.

“Matt Casey.” He offered out his hand.

You smiled a bit and shook his hand. “Y/N Y/LN.”

“Nice to meet you, Y/N.” Matt smiled at you.

“Likewise.” You told him and ordered your drink when the bartender came over.

“I got that, Herrmann.” Matt told him.

“Oh no, no, you don’t-” You were stopped when Matt looked at you, so you smiled. “Thank you, but you didn’t have to do that.”

“I know, I wanted to.” Matt told you with a smile, taking a drink of his beer.

The two of you ended up talking until the bar closed, at which point you bid him goodbye, but not before giving him your number.

Had you not had liquid courage running through your veins, you probably wouldn’t have given him your number, and the next day you were kicking yourself because you thought you made a fool of yourself. You honestly didn’t think he’d get ahold of you, but he ended up calling you later that day and asked you out on a date.

After that, dates became a regular thing for the two of you, and next thing you knew, you were spending almost all your free time together.

It didn’t take long for the two of you to become exclusive, not that either of you had been seeing anyone else, but the two of you made it official.

Matt and you had one of those easy relationships, it was just so easy to be yourselves with the other, not having to act a certain way or worry about the other judging you. You guys didn’t fight often, but when you did it was usually a small fight over something stupid and you would make up within a day, in the two years the two of you had been together you had only ever had two major fights, but you guys worked them out.

Matt paced back and forth in the waiting room, waiting for any word on your condition. As soon as they got you to the hospital, you were taken straight to the OR for surgery. It had already been an hour and he was insanely worried about you, and it just got worse and worse as time paced.

Jay was sitting in a chair in the same waiting room, elbows on his knees, hands clasped together, and head hung down. He blamed himself for what happened. You were his partner and he was supposed to have your back.

Hailey took a seat next to him. “Hey, what happened isn’t your fault.” She tried to assure him in a soft voice.

Jay shook his head to her, looking at her but not exactly focusing on her because his mind was replaying what happened. “I should’ve seen the shooter.”

“Neither of you had any idea that was gonna happen.” Hailey told him gently.

Jay shook his head. “Doesn’t matter, I should’ve been more aware of our surroundings, if I had then she’d be fine.”

“Stop.” Matt told him, stopping in his tracks to look at Jay. “You and I both know damn well that Y/N wouldn’t want you to blame yourself.” There was pain in his eyes, but his voice was firm.

Jay paused for a moment before nodding to him, although it didn’t really change anything and everyone knew that.

Everyone in that room was worried about losing you. They all loved you, both CPD and CFD alike. And everyone knew that if something were to happen to you, while it would hurt everyone, the two that would hurt the worst would be Matt and Jay.

Your relationship escalated quickly when Matt asked you to move in with him after only six months, but you were convinced this was the real deal, so you had said yes.

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” You had asked him for probably the millionth time.

Matt chuckled and nodded. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“But are you really sure?” You asked him.

“If you don’t wanna-” You were quick to cut him off.

“I want to. I just want to make sure you want me to.” You answered him.

Matt nodded. “I want you to.”

“But are you sure?” You asked again.

Matt huffed a laugh and pulled you into his arms. “I’m sure.” He said softly before pressing a tender kiss to the side of your head. “Now shut up before I change my mind.”

You scoffed in mock offense. “Rude.” You told him, causing him to laugh.

Slowly you began moving your stuff there, which ended up taking three months because of your schedules and the fact that you were still unsure.

“Alright. This is the final box.” You said, standing just outside the apartment door holding a cardboard box that had the last of your clothes in it.

“Should I do a drumroll?” Matt asked with a grin, turning to face you.

You smirked. “Well it would be nice.” You answer him, causing him to shrug and walk over to the wall and give you a makeshift drumroll as you stepped over the threshold. “There. I’m officially moved in completely.” You informed him.

Matt grinned as he walked over to you, taking the box and setting it to the side before turning to you again. He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you close before kissing you. “You’re not moved in until we unpack the boxes.” He spoke lowly after pulling back.

You groaned. “Well that’ll probably take another three months.” You joked.

Matt chuckled and shook his head. “Don’t count on it.”

You hummed and shrugged. “Maybe sooner.”

“Definitely sooner.” Matt replied, his arms still around you.

It ended up taking only two weeks to unpack, and settling in ended up going a lot smoother than you thought it would.

By the time Dr. Marcel walked into the waiting room, everyone was on edge and fearing the worst even if they weren’t saying it.

Matt had practically worn out the floor from where he was pacing, unable to remain calm as he waited for any news. He immediately stopped when he saw Dr. Marcel in the entryway.

Jay was out of his seat and standing beside Matt, waiting for the news.

Everyone’s eyes were on Dr. Marcel, everyone waiting for an update on your condition.

“She’s stable, the bullet hit an artery and she lost a lot of blood, but we were able to repair the damage and give her a transfusion.” Dr. Marcel informed them. “She’s in recovery right now, then she’ll be moved to ICU. She’s stable but not completely out of the woods, though I am optimistic.”

Matt nodded. “Thank you, Dr. Marcel.”

“You’ll be able to visit her after they get her settled.” Dr. Marcel added before leaving the waiting room.

Everyone was immensely relieved after hearing that you had made it out of surgery and that you were in a stable condition, but they were still worried that something could go wrong and that they would lose you.

After you were moved to ICU, your friends were informed that two people could visit you at a time.

Matt headed out of the waiting room before looking at Jay. “Are you coming?”

Jay hesitated before shaking his head. “Nah, you go.”

“They said two people could be in the room at a time.” Matt said, nodding towards the door. “And you know she’ll be crushed if you aren’t there when she wakes up.”

Jay again hesitated, but only for a second before nodding and following Matt. He hated hospitals, but he’d do anything for you, which included spending all damned day in that awful place.

When they walked into your room, the breath was knocked out of both of them.

Sure, they both were expecting you to look rougher than usual, but neither of them had quite prepared themselves to see you in the hospital bed, complexion paler than usual, and a bunch of tubes and monitors hooked up to you to provide you with meds and to monitor your heart and blood pressure.

The sight of you completely broke Matt’s heart, but he stepped in and took a seat in one of the two chairs in the room.

For Jay it nearly sent him running from the room, he hated seeing the people he cared about in the hospital, especially when they were in bad shape, and you were no different. He would’ve given anything to switch places with you. He was still blaming himself for your situation, he kept thinking about how he should have been more aware of what was going on and that he should have been able to prevent this. He slowly took a seat in the other chair.

“It’ll probably be hours before she wakes up.” Jay commented after a while of sitting in almost complete silence, if it hadn’t been for the beeping of the monitors.

Matt nodded some, his eyes fixated on you. “Probably.”

Neither of them talked for a long time after that. Jay had resumed his sitting position from the waiting room, back arched and looking down at the floor, elbows resting on his knees and hands clasped together.

“She’s going to kick your ass.” Matt told him suddenly.

This caused Jay to sit up some and looked over at Matt, his back and neck were starting to grow sore from how he was sitting. “What?”

“When Y/N finds out that you’re blaming yourself, she’s going to kick your ass.” Matt told him, tearing his eyes away from you to look at your partner. “You know damn well she will.”

Jay shrugged. “Or maybe she’ll agree with me.”

Matt frowned at him and shook his head. “Now you’re just being childish.”

Jay frowned now. “I am not being childish, I’m being realistic. If I had seen the gunman, I could’ve gotten us out of the line of fire and she wouldn’t be fighting for her life right now.” He was starting to get upset, and no matter how much he tried to remain calm, it was tough, especially given the situation.

Matt shook his head. “You know she’s not going to see it that way.”

“You don’t know that.” Jay practically spat at him, standing up out of the chair.

Matt remained calm as he looked at Jay. “Calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down when you’re the one that’s angering me.” Jay said pointedly, his voice raising a little and he pointed a finger at Matt.

“Guys please stop fighting.” You rasped out, your eyes shutting even tighter before you opened them. “My head hurts.”

The two of them immediately stopped and looked to you before they were both at your side, looking down at you.

“You’re awake.” Jay commented quietly.

“Mhm.” You tried clearing your throat which just sent a dull jolt of pain through your chest, causing you to wince.

“Are you okay?” Matt was quick to ask you. “I’ll get the doctor.”

“No, I’m fine.” You reached out to grab him but your movements were slowed due to your injury and the pain meds running through your system. “What the hell were you two fighting about?”

“Doesn’t matter right now.” Matt told you, Jay nodded in agreement. “What matters is that you’re alive and awake.”

You smiled weakly at the two of them. “And that my two favorite men are here with me, that matters too.” You told them.

They both smiled softly at you and nodded.

Jay took your hand in his and squeezed it gently. “I’m sorry.” He told you softly.

You shook your head some. “Don’t.” You told him, voice still hoarse. “It isn’t your fault.”

Matt glanced at him briefly in an ‘I told you so’ manner, before looking back at you. “I’m going to go get the doctor, I’ll be back in a second.” He told you softly, kissing your forehead before stepping out of the room.

“I should’ve seen him.” Jay said quietly, looking down at your hand in his. “It’s my fault you got shot.”

“Did you shoot me? No. So therefore, it’s not your fault.” You replied to him. “And if you say otherwise, I’m gonna kick your ass...as soon as I can, that is.”

That caused him to smile and nod. “Yeah, okay. You couldn’t kick my ass before, what makes you think you’ll be able to kick it now?”

“Well I figured you’d let me, given the fact that I got shot and all.” You replied, smirking.

“Nah, that’s not how it works.” Jay told you.

“No?” You asked.

Jay shook his head. “Nope, we don’t take it easy on rookies who get themselves shot.”

You stifled a laugh and huffed. “I am not a rookie anymore, Halstead.” You told him pointedly.

He smirked at you. “Oh you’re not a rookie anymore?”

“Nope.” You shook your head some. “I’m not.”

“Yeah okay, rookie.” Jay replied, still smirking.

“Shut up.” You rolled your eyes.

He moved back when the doctor came in to check you over.

Over the next few days, you were completely fussed over by practically everyone, especially Matt.

When you were finally able to leave the hospital a week later, he didn’t let you do anything.

“Matt, I’m fine.” You tried to tell him after he had scolded you for attempting to make lunch, you would have successfully made the frozen pizza if he hadn’t caught you taking it out of the freezer and forced you to sit down on the couch.

“The doctor said it would be a while before you were back to normal.” Matt reminded you, not that you needed reminding.

“Yeah, and he meant normal as in doing what I was doing instead of being stuck at a desk.” You huffed. “He didn’t mean that I wouldn’t be able to take care of myself.”

“I’m not taking any chances.” Matt replied simply, causing you to narrow your eyes at him. “Glare at me all you want, Y/N, but I’m not risking you hurting yourself worse than what you are.”

You huffed and crossed your arms.

He ended up being right though, about you needing to take it easy, because later that same day you were trying to do for yourself when you moved wrong and pulled at your stitches, causing you to yelp in pain and fall to your knees.

Matt was by your side in a flash, kneeling next to you with a worried look as his hands ghosted over you, not wanting to touch you in fear of causing you more pain but also wanting to help in any way he could. “What happened?” He asked, fear and panic in his voice.

You couldn’t even talk yet the pain was that bad, you just pointed over at the laundry basket while still clutching at your side.

Matt sighed in disappointment before looking back at you, his expression still worried. “Do I need to take you to the hospital?”

You shook your head quickly. “No…” You managed to get out. “No hospital…’m fine.” You mumbled.

“You don’t exactly seem fine.” Matt remarked but carefully helped you stand when you were ready.

You got over to the couch, still holding your side in pain but it wasn’t as bad.

Matt sighed softly and took a seat next to you, placing his hand on your knee. “Please stop pushing yourself.”

You didn’t respond to him, just stared at his hand on your knee.

“Please.” He repeated.

You sighed softly, still staring at his hand. “I just don’t wanna be a burden.” You admitted quietly.

Matt moved his hand before shifting so that he could look at you, gently cupping your face to get you to look at him. “You aren’t a burden, Y/N.”

“Yeah I am, if I can’t take care of myself and help out around here, that means you have to do it, so therefore I’m a burden.” You said sadly, your eyes not meeting his.

Matt shook his head. “Look at me.” He said softly and waited until you finally met his eyes. “You aren’t a burden. This is what people in loving, happy relationships do. They take care of each other, especially when one is hurt or sick. You’ve taken care of me plenty of times, remember when I got the flu and could barely get out of bed?”

“That was different.” You said, even though you weren’t exactly sure how.

Matt shook his head again. “No, it wasn’t. We take care of each other because we love each other. You’re not being a burden, you could never be a burden.”

You felt tears sting your eyes and had to look away, sniffling.

Matt carefully wrapped his arms around you while being mindful of your side.

You leaned into him and wrapped your arms around him. “I’m sorry.” You whispered.

“For what?”

“For all this. Getting shot, being a baby about it, not listening.”

Matt snorted a laugh. “Do you ever listen?”

You couldn’t help but smile. “No, but you know what I mean.”

Matt kissed the top of your head. “You don’t have to apologize for any of that.”

“Then what do I have to apologize for?” You asked softly.

“Nothing.” Matt replied softly.

[princessaurorasdiary]

Diary 3/12

It was my mom’s birthday today, she seemed like she wasn’t sad about her dad’s death too much this year, so I did my best to keep it that way. My sister started throwing a tantrum but I got her too stop before mom came back into the room which is good. I was just very blunt with her that this year mom didn’t have extreme sadness behind her eyes and sh needs to put the complaining off till tomorrow and after repeating it a few times she understood and stopped. Mom and grandma talked about him once when they thought he was saying hi but it was only a few minutes and she didn’t get super sad and kept it in a happy way rather than letting it get her sad.

I almost called my brothers long term gf/kinda fiance sissy when she came in, which is what me and my sisters call each other and what we all call the oldest sibling. I told her about it before they left and it seemed to make her really happy :)

We had a good get to gather, my grandma was kinda odd in how I started taking things out of the bags and boxes to get them ready to prepare and she didn’t love how I was doing it, stopped me at one point then asked a minute later why I wasn’t helping, I just started unpacking how me and mom do things and let her be confused at what I was doing for a few minutes lol. I spent a few hours yesterday cleaning the house so mom could have it clean for her birthday and I forgot about the microwave and grandma opened it and got grossed out cause it was a bit dirty, really not very dirty, but apparently she cleans her’s once a week so dirty for her and 2 other people I guess lol. I eventually got it into her thick head by the time we were done getting the food prepared 20 minutes later that no, it isn’t MY FAULT the microwave is this dirty, and I’m the main person who cleans in this house and I cleaned the whole house yesterday and simply looked over the microwave, which no, isn’t my fault and isn’t that bad cause I, again, cleaned most of the house yesterday and had other things to do then clean a microwave. I did it in that was where you have to be nice and joking about it though cause that’s the only way to get grandma to understand things haha.

She ended up cleaning the microwave while I stood there telling her I could, and you know it wasn’t that dirty cause it took like 2 minutes haha, then she let us continue making the freaking mashed potato’s she got, we literally just needed to warm up mashed potato’s grandma

aaaand I just deleted this paragraph and I’m exhausted, um, in short, we played my oldest brothers new favorite board game after the grandparents left, is was a long game, add on my autistic brother who took veeeeery long turns. I was the cat clan so I just randomly would call myself a new way to say cat clan and such and I found it funny to see my brothers reactions, plus my twins friend, he was there :p. The friend and my twin wan, cause my twin’s played before a few times :p

My grandpa is 85, so he has really bad hearing, and he’s a tired man so he mostly just sits in his chair and talks when talked to, I love him so much :) I usually try to sit next to him but reeeeealy wanted to sit at the table lol. I honestly forget how this happened but I think my grandpa brought up how he wants to join back up with the army when he turns 90, idk if it’s just some joke I didn’t understand? He said it 2 more times later, and he said maybe he’d join the war going on rn, and I said hopefully the Ukraine war doesn’t last 5 years and all I was say is, grandpa is a savage about Putin XD he called him a crazy man and we agreed he probably has brain damage XD it was a funny convo and my grandpa, who’s Mexican btw, hates Trump, we love a comrade grandpa :p one of us said something about him and Putin being besties and my twin butt in and yelled “NO THEY’RE NOT!!!” He didn’t actually illiterate on that, just fumbled on a few semi sentences with no real statements and I just changed subjects cause I didn’t actually wanna talk about politics, I was just chatting with grandpa.

also, everyone ended up trying my new weighted blanket XD My oldest brothers gf didn’t know how she felt about it, my oldest brother immediately LOVED it, and my autistic brother loved it as well haha. My brother who it originally was for didn’t like it, is was suffocating to him, and my mom hated it, it felt repressive to her, of my special needs sister also tried it today, she liked it a lot, but I really don’t think she should use it without supervision cause she’s a tiny thing (scoliosis and other major health problems) who lost all her muscle during qaurentine and she tried to get up when it was on her and she could barely move, um, no thanks, let’s not crush my sister haha

It was a good day :)

Add on, almost forget, I made my mom a sparkly purple beanie for her birthday, I had her choose the pattern and used the yan I found I knew she’d love :p

[bookandcranny]

Beatrice - Chapter One

“What’s that garden over there?” she asked the landlady.

“Oh, so you spotted it,” she replied. “It’s a funny thing to see around here, isn’t it? How’s the saying go? ‘Like a sore thumb.’”

“Or a green one,” Gianna agreed.

“It’s a bit small.”

The landlady nodded and gave Gianna a sympathetic smile. She was a stout, older woman with drooping features behind wide-framed glasses that dominated her face. Gianna’s more generous first impression of her was that she looked kind, and the way she spoke reminded her faintly of her mother, though the landlady’s accent was thicker and her voice crackled and dragged with age like a damaged film reel.

It was due in no small part to this assessment that she’d chosen this apartment in the first place. That and the low price of rent. Although it was a decent neighborhood the building was fairly run-down and the long winding staircase leading up to her floor was creaky and narrow.

The unit she was supposed to be living in when she’d first made to move in had suddenly had to undergo renovations after a pipe burst behind one of the walls. Gianna couldn’t wait for the repairs or for another cheap space to miraculously open up in New York City, so she agreed to move from the second floor to the only other available unit, which was on the sixth floor.

It was little more than a single room with a bathroom and kitchenette attached and-- she could not emphasize this enough-- it was on the sixth floor in a building with no elevator. Thankfully, the rent was also considerably cheaper, and the landlady had offered her a discount for the inconvenience as well. Even if she’d stuck her on a cot in the basement for twice the amount she would have had little choice but to take it. It was either that or take the long, shameful train ride back to her parents’ house, tail between her legs.

Living with her parents after college had been fine for a while, but only just fine, and she wasn’t willing to settle for fine any longer. She wanted a life, a career, maybe a girlfriend? No, no, probably not that. Not yet. Being trapped in a town where every eligible bachelorette was somebody she’d gone to highschool with-- no thanks-- had left Gianna touch-starved and sexless, but that wasn’t enough to make her lose track of her priorities. She’d start her new job on Monday, focus on saving up enough for a marginally nicer place, then she could think about getting laid.

“Be careful about the light in the kitchen,” the landlady warned. “The wiring is old so if you leave it on for too long at a time in the summer it’ll start to spark.”

“Oh great,” she deadpanned.

“Tsh. You won’t miss it. On a sunny day like today you don’t even need the extra light.”

That was one thing she did like about the apartment. There was indeed a lot of natural light that came in through the windows along the east wall. She walked over and opened one, hoping to air the place out before she finished bringing up what little she’d brought with her. Despite the recent heatwave, the breeze that afternoon was cool and sweet, only smelling very faintly of car exhaust and asphalt. She sorely missed the sea-salted winds that had blown in from the shore when she had been traveling abroad, and reminded herself again that this was a temporary arrangement.

As she admired the view-- one of the few true perks of her new living arrangement-- a splash of green amongst the brown and gray colored landscape caught her eye. She pulled up the mesh screen and leaned her head out, one hand braced on the windowsill, expecting to see maybe a stubborn curl of ivy that had climbed its way up the neighboring brownstone. Instead, she was surprised to see a lustrous garden growing out of a terrace a couple floors below. If she took a good running leap, she mused, she could jump right onto that ledge from here, providing she didn’t miss and end up splattered all over the alleyway.

The elevated garden was too high and too hidden to be seen from the street, but from above she could get close enough to count the leaves on the shrubbery. It was quite an impressive collection, particularly the many-colored array of flowers. Gianna wasn’t exactly a florist, but they looked exotic, unlike anything she’d seen before.

“What’s that garden over there?” she asked the landlady.

“Oh, so you spotted it,” she replied. “It’s a funny thing to see around here, isn’t it? How’s the saying go? ‘Like a sore thumb.’”

“Or a green one,” Gianna agreed.

“Honestly I almost forgot about it. You can’t see it so well from the other apartments. The man who lives there is a… what’s the word? A stay-inside man. You know, someone who doesn’t go out much-- a shut-in! He likes his privacy. I remember once he called the office phone one day in a terrible mood, saying if I got in the habit of housing peeping toms he’d have to inform the police. Horrible old man.”

She tutted disapprovingly.

“Geez, all that over someone looking at his plants?”

“Well, he didn’t say it outright, but I got the feeling it was more about the girl. His daughter, I think, or granddaughter maybe. I never met either of them in person, and for that I thank God.” She blew a kiss towards the ceiling and chuckled raspingly. “Now come this way, I need to show you what to do if the sink gives you trouble.”

With no small effort Gianna pulled her gaze away from the window. The richly colored blooms just across the way captured both her attention and imagination in a way that made her wish she hadn’t given up painting. When the last of the paperwork was settled and she was alone in her-- her!-- apartment, she returned to the spot and stared.

At the center of that mass of plantlife, that color swatch of eden, there was a big ceramic fountain with even more flowers filling up its basin, taking root who knows where. Delicate vines dotted with purple and yellow flowers spiralled up the center statue, a broken, half-eroded thing which must have once depicted a human figure, though now all that remained was an offwhite pair of naked legs and the beginning of a torso.

After a few minutes of languishing by the sunlit sill like some lazy housecat, a door slid open and Gianna saw a figure enter into the garden. She took one look and knew this must be the man that the landlady spoke of. He was wearing a dark dressing gown over his clothes, which hung loosely from his bony frame, and moved as though he were ankle-deep in quicksand, plodding through the mass of green at a snail’s pace. As he came more into view, Gianna began to glean why. The man’s face was sallow, sunken, with an unscrupulous smattering of pure white stubble on his chin. Even from a distance, he was unmistakably ill.

Just like the beauty of the terrace garden had caught and cradled her attention, so too did the ugliness of its master. She felt bad for spying, but it was like a car crash on the highway or a particularly inane online argument; she couldn’t look away.

The man pulled on a heavy pair of gardening gloves and a paper mask and began to prune and pluck at certain growths. He gathered and sorted the clippings into little plastic bags. If he had some sort of system driving his path, it was an inscrutable one. After a while of picking through the garden seemingly at random, he retreated back inside.

However, just as he was shuffling through the sliding door-- the phrase, “back from whence he came” came to mind-- he paused with his hand on the glass and raised his head. He turned and, as if guided by some preternatural intuition, stared directly into Gianna’s window.

Their eyes met and Gianna withdrew with a gasp. Of course after the moment had passed, she laughed at herself for her reaction. There was no way he’d been looking at her. Coincidence paired with a chronically overactive imagination had made her see something where there was nothing. He was a sick old man with a perfectly normal hobby, not some sinister ghoul.

Nevertheless, she lowered the blinds and kept them lowered for the rest of the day.

-----

By Monday, Gianna had more or less forgotten about the creepy old man and his garden. There was unpacking to do, furniture to acquire and then spray with bedbug killer, and most importantly, a fancy new job to buy some fancy second-hand clothes for.

That was maybe overstating things a bit. She was hired on to work with a small team restoring and preserving a local university’s art collection. The reality of the occupation wasn’t glamorous, but it was dignified. It was something Gianna could and did take pride in, undoing the damage wrought by the passing years one cotton swab at a time, revealing the beauty underneath.

Being back in the city, she nostalgically recalled a field trip to the Metropolitan back at the age when the nude sculptures made her classmates giggle, earning rolled eyes from the chaperone, and made young Gianna deeply uneasy in a way she didn’t yet have the words to explain. But it was the women with the flowing finery and piercing painted stares that caused her insides to flutter with something like hope. Billowing skirts caught in suspended animation mid-twirl, whether staged in the dramatic light-vs-shadow games of the baroque period or abstracted by a million tiny brushstrokes in a more impressionistic style. They had changed something in her.

But in spite of her love of the arts, she could never seem to sum up the same confidence when the brush was in her own hands. After long struggling on her own, she reluctantly accepted her dad’s offer to put a word in for her with connections at Fordham. Once upon a time the idea of returning to her dad’s alma mater would’ve warmed her with pride. Now she was just thankful the surname Alexander was common enough that the chances of anyone recognizing her was slim. The last thing she wanted was to start her first day with people already thinking she was only here by the grace of her family connections.

In spite of all her apprehensions, her first day went by without a hitch, save for the belated realization that she’d forgotten to tear the tag off her new blouse. She didn’t think anyone noticed. By the time she stepped on the subway that evening she was practically vibrating with a frantic, ecstatic energy that didn’t abate into exhaustion until she was home and sweating off her six-story hike. That, more than anything, was going to take some getting used to, she mused.

She shed her good-first-impression suit in favor of a cropped halter top and sweatpants. The setting sun cast beams of golden light through the slats in the blinds and over the back of her neck, the curve of one freckled shoulder. It wobbled iridescent through the glass and on a whim Gianna got up to open the window. There was that sweetish scent on the wind again, overpowering even the smoke that wafted up from the tenant below as he ground his cigarette butt against the masonry. Innocently, almost incidentally, she cast her gaze upon the little eden. There was someone new in the garden today.

The woman in the violet dress was opposite to the old man in every way. Dancing through the garden, touching every bloom and bud as if it were the hand of a treasured friend, Gianna had never seen anyone more alive. Short, dark curls like fiddleheads bobbed around her plum-flushed cheeks. In the pink twilight, she almost seemed to glow.

It wasn’t like Gianna to start waxing romantic over a stranger. She hadn’t felt that sort of blind infatuation since her first year of college, when she left home for the first time and a whole new world of opportunity suddenly opened to her the way it never could have with her passionately Catholic mother looking over her shoulder. This, she reasoned, must be something like that. She was just getting high on that feeling of possibility and freedom again.

Before she fully realized what she was doing, Gianna had opened the window and climbed out onto the fire escape. She climbed from platform to platform until the neighboring terrace was only a stone’s throw away, until she could hear the young woman’s voice as she murmured fawning nonsense to the flowers. In her distraction, Gianna’s foot slipped on the last rung of the ladder. She caught herself, though not gracefully and not before making a notable clamor on the way down.

The woman’s head shot up. Her eyes were the same color as her dress, and there was a leaf caught in her hair.

“Hey,” Gianna said, trying and failing to recover smoothly.

“...Hi.”

She swallowed. “I live up there.” She pointed. “I’m not, like, a burglar.”

“You wouldn’t be a very good one,” the woman said with a timid, uncertain smile.

She stepped away from the ledge and started to walk away. As Gianna’s heart sunk, she glanced back over her shoulder.

“I just need a refill.” She held up an empty plant mister. “I’m coming back.”

“Wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t,” she said under her breath, hands covering her face from the embarrassment. What is wrong with me?

“Are you the new tenant? My father said there was someone new. He hated the last person who lived in that apartment.” She clapped a hand over her mouth. “But, I mean, I’m sure he’ll like you.”

She huffed a laugh, taking some comfort from the knowledge that she wasn’t the only one so utterly awkward at introductions.

“I’m Gianna.” She put out her hand, although it was obvious she couldn’t reach to shake it.

The other mirrored the motion. “Beatrice. It’s a pleasure to meet you, new neighbor, and a relief.”

“Oh yeah, why’s that?”

Beatrice fiddled absently with her dress, twisting one thin strap around her finger. “None of the other neighbors ever come to say hey. It’s been boring.” She smiled. “You don’t seem boring.”

That fluttery feeling returned, the tender thrill of standing before a piece of artwork. Here like there, now like then, something just clicked.

Insects filled the silence with their buzzing hums of contentment. A butterfly alighted onto Beatrice’s shoulder as she settled on the garden wall and a faint woozy feeling overcame Gianna as its wings slowed, spasmed, then went rigid as it fell motionless to the ground.

--

next chapter

[mischiefandi]

Musical Monday - 15.02.21

-> @siriusly-harry​ asked: Harry styles fine line & Harry Potter :) <3

Tastes like strawberries On a summer evenin' And it sounds just like a song I want more berries And that summer feelin' It's so wonderful and warm

Some of Harry’s best memories are from summer afternoons spent at the Burrow. Part of the reason why is because he’s been welcomed in a loud but loving household, giving him a sense of family he’d never felt before those summer afternoons. The other reason is Ginny. She’s so cool, and thrilling. She’s the sun setting, leaving behind a trail of pink and orange. She’s the smell of fresh lemonade and grass. She emits a brilliant warmth and he can’t get enough of it. 

I don't wanna be alone When it ends Don't wanna let you know I don't wanna be alone But I, I can feel it take a hold 

Ron has always loved Hermione, just like she’s always loved him. However, it’s much easier to ignore the feeling rather than embrace it. Love is scary because when you care about something, it makes it that much harder to lose. It takes a lot of time and many battles, but Ron finally ends up understanding that that fear is precisely why he should go back to her. She’s a beacon of light guiding him, and he knows he can face anything if he’s by her side. 

Walk in your rainbow paradise  Strawberry lipstick state of mind  I get so lost inside your eyes Would you believe it?

Luna is a dreamer. Life is filled with tiny little delights and noticing them is in her nature. She falls in love with every wondrous thing that crosses her path. She has the very rare talent of seeing something special in anything and everything. Luna is essentially exactly like the pink sunglasses she wears; you slip them on and everything comes in bursts of colour. Anyone would be blind not to see rainbows when catching the gleam in her eye. 

Sunflowers Sometimes Keep it sweet in your memory I was just tongue-tied, I don't wanna make you feel bad But I've been trying hard not to talk to you Sunflower 

Bravery is one of Neville’s best qualities. He’s fundamentally good and more than willing to prove himself in times of turmoil. He’s a fierce friend and a loyal protector. Because he is human, he also has his weaknesses, the biggest one being himself. He has so much love to give, but the fear of being rejected makes him retreat slowly when that special someone approaches him. He trips over his words, and loses all control, but it all comes from a place of insecurity. He knows it is brave to stand up for his loved ones, but he has yet to learn that sometimes it takes even more courage to stand up for yourself. He’s getting there. 

Forget what I said It's not what I meant And I can't take it back I can't unpack the baggage you left. What am I now? What am I now? What if I'm someone I don't want around?

Love has made Cho suffer more than most, especially at such a young age. She’s in a constant state of inner conflict, like she’s at war with herself. She doesn’t know if her feelings are valid, or whether or not they make her a bad person. It’s not easy losing someone you love, but letting yourself move on is even harder. Cho has said things she regrets to the people she cares about, and she wonders if she’ll ever be able to take those words back. What she fails to realise is that she is strong enough to rebuild what’s been broken, and her grief doesn’t make her damaged or unworthy. She will find love again.

I was away And I'm just an arrogant son of a bitch Who can't admit when he's sorry. Don't call me baby again You got your reasons I know that you're tryna be friends

Fred is impulsive and his emotions often cloud his judgment. He’s passionate and cocky, he’s the definition of a playful smirk, but his pride gets in the way when he’s upset about something. It makes it very difficult for him to apologise to the people he cares about, even when he knows he’s in the wrong. However his qualities outweigh his flaws, and because he is a good person at heart, he knows when to give the other person space and time. Even though he's too proud to admit just yet, he’ll always be there.

Test of my patience There's things that we'll never know You sunshine, you temptress My hand's at risk, I fold. Crisp trepidation I'll try to shake this soon

George and Lee have always been mates, friends, companions, partners, but there’s always been something more, tucked away safely between bright red bed covers and tentative fingers. It’s a rare feeling, hiding in plain sight, but it makes the lines blur and spill into a pool of uncertainty. What these young lovers have yet to learn is that affection as pure as the one they share deserves to grow out in the open. It isn’t wrong, thus it shouldn’t have to be treated like a shameful little secret. Both boys deserve honesty and clarity, but more importantly, they both deserve happiness together. 

He takes a boat out Imagines just sailing away  And not telling his mates  He wouldn't know what to say. She  She lives in daydreams with me She's the first one that I see

Draco is searching for something. He’s always felt lost, drifting in his family’s direction because that seems like the easiest way to go. As he grows, he starts to realise that this way might seem easier, but it isn’t in the slightest. He dreams of something better, another path he could choose, where he would eventually meet someone who sees him for the man he wants to be. In order for that to happen, he needs to let go of his family’s expectations, and he needs to work on himself. He needs to repair the damage he has caused, and find it in within himself to become a better man. No one can do that for him.

A/N: this was a more Love oriented version of Musical Monday but hopefully you like it! <3 I probably will focus more on matching one specific character to one song next time, but because the theme was love, i couldn’t not mention ships haha. I know George x Lee may seem super random but i read it somewhere once and now they’re canon in my head! Hope u guys enjoyed this Musical Monday, I had a lot of fun working on this! thank you @siriusly-harry​ for your request, i've added your other one to the list ! 

tagging everyone in my taglist and mutuals for today but i won’t do it next time so pls make sure to add yourself to the taglist if u want to be tagged next time!!

@stiles-o-dylan24 @duskholland @mersuperwholocked-lowlife@r0s3mm @redstringlovers @captainbuckyyy12 @soincredible@behind-my-hazeleyes27 @cheesecakes-randomshitz@traveleraroundsworld@alwaysforever73 @thelittlestkitsune@glaimtruelovealways@texaskitten30 @abitofeverythinggg @alwaysforever73@hcomet28 @thegirlwhoimagined @cherriesanwine@decaffeinated--fangirl @shutupstyless @x-give-em-hell-kid-x@teen--marvel @soincredible @behind-my-hazeleyes27@bibliophilewednesday @jazminebrightxx @cheesecakes-randomshitz @traveleraroundsworld@perrytheplatypus11 @stixnstripesworld @masterofbluff@drakewalker04 @superapplepie @apatheticanvas67482@theamazingtomholland @earthlyholland @siriusly-harry @solstilla@mrscutiefandobhaz @mrs-mitch-rapp93 @all-alone-he-turns-to-stone @isaiahjesus -> 

you won’t be tagged anymore unless you’ve added yourself to the Musical Monday taglist here <3

if you any requests, please don’t hesitate to send them in through my askbox! anon is always on, and i’d love to hear your requests! if you have any questions about the concept, be sure to check out this post. if you still have a question, you can def send me a dm or shoot me an ask :)

See you on Monday 01.03.21 (Ron Weasley’s birthday btw haha) at 8 pm CET (= UTC+1)  /  7 pm GMT(= UTC)  /  2 pm EST (= UTC-5)  /  11 am PST (= UTC-8)