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squishneedsahero · 3 years ago

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The Comfort of A Mother

Awesomest of Them All 2.0

Part 11 of 13

Word Count: 1558

Batman x Batmom!Reader

You know what the bat family needs? Someone to pull them together and give them all the love they deserve. Who better to do that than you? An author rising to stardom in Gotham who catches the eye of a billionaire with your standoffish attitude at a huge social gathering. You are yourself and never pretend to be more or less than that. Plus you're the most stubborn person in the world, refusing to let good things go without reason.

This is a rewrite of my story Awesomest of Them All, I wanted to see how much I've improved over 3 years.

As soon as you and your family arrived back home Bruce dove head first into this case, sometimes going for a few days without talking to you more than once or twice. This was usually how things went when there was something big going on, and normally you'd make him pay attention to you at least one every few days. But this case felt different, you felt like he needed this time to work on this one. On top of that you were in the middle of editing another book you'd written so you were able to do something to keep yourself from feeling completely ignored.

It was for weeks on end that life went on like this, and you let it go on for a while, until you had almost finished with editing and noticed that it had been more than a few nights in a row that you had fallen asleep and woken up in bed alone. So tonight after three nights of sleeping alone, it reaches midnight and you make your way down to the cave, knowing your husband had been coming back for Damian to be able to get a reasonable amount of sleep because he had school on the morning, and you wait for him. When they finally arrive back home you're waiting for them, in your pajamas, leaning against the desk of the computer. You had already sent Tim up to bed and volunteered to take over while he got some sleep.

When they get home you give Damian a soft smile as you say, "Sleep well."

He nods in reply and makes his way to change before heading upstairs.

After he's gone you turn to face Bruce, "So, are you going to come to bed dressed like that, or would you like to change?" You cross your arms and give him a look to let him know you're serious about this. "Because as your wife I demand at least 16 hours of your full undivided attention, because it's been weeks."

"Alright, dear," with that he scoops you up in his arms and carries you to your bedroom, still fully dressed as Batman. Once you both make it upstairs he goes and changes into sweatpants and no shirt before coming and lying next to you where he sat you on the bed.

You can tell that he's tired since after he lies down he pulls you against his chest, wrapping his arms and legs around you protectively and doesn't even say anything to you. "I love you," you state and give him a kiss before snuggling fully into him.

--^--^--

You wake up to Bruce running his hand through your hair, and you open your eyes to see his face in front of yours. "Hi, handsome," you say tiredly.

He smiles softly and gives you a kiss, "good morning beautiful."

You smile and roll over so you're lying on top of him, and glance at the clock. "Well, it looks like I still get another four hours of your attention." With that you look back at him and kiss him deeply, and her slides his hands up your shirt against your back, holding you as close as possible, just wanting to feel your body.

--^--^--

A few hours later as you're lying against his side and tracing your fingers on his chest, he says, "Honey, there's something I need to tell you."

You tilt your head just enough to look at his face, "yeah?"

"The first night I didn't come to bed. It was because we were finally able to track down the Redhood. And, well, I'm not sure how to say this any better, The Redhood is Jason. Jason is alive."

You can hardly believe what it is he's telling you, you're just frozen there staring at him until finally you get yourself to ask, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, thats why I've waited this long to tell you. I needed to be sure for you."

Tears form in your eyes, as you look at your husband. He was serious very often but you had rarely ever seen him this serious, the last time you'd seen this look on his face was as he said 'I do'. He kisses you gently, and you can hardly believe it, your baby who you thought you had lost for these few long years was alive. "Why, do I feel like there is something to this you haven't told me? There has to be a reason he hasn't come here."

"There is... I don't know yet how he came back but he did. He's still recovering his memory. And, he's not the same as he was when we lost him, he's killing people... and I confronted him about it," he looks almost ashamed as he says the last part.

"So, now he's mad at you?" you guess, and his slight nod is enough of an answer for you. "Thats alright, we just need patience. You saw what it took for Damian to even come this far, for Dick to finally come back to us. We'll figure it out, him being alive just means we have that chance again," with that you kiss him to let him know you're serious.

--^--^--

You and Bruce had been invited to the policeman's ball for the GCPD and Bruce wasn't able to come so you had gone for the both of you, ugh. The ball was over so you were heading out to your car that was in the parking garage. As you're walking you keep thinking you hear another set of footsteps. They're subtle and anyone who wasn't married to the most paranoid man in the world wouldn't think it was anything, but you did. You kept walking confidently, trying to figure out where it was they were coming from, since there was no one else out here right now since you were leaving early.

As you get to your car the lights in that part of the garage go out. You freeze not moving to unlock your car, just waiting for whoever it was that had been following you to make the first move. You might be wearing a fancy dress and be in heels but that doesn't mean you can't kick ass if you need too. The first move you make is pulling your heels off, giving yourself a weapon, and making it easier in case you needed to run.

Theres a shuffle behind you and you spin around, only to be facing who you could only assume was Redhood, judging by his choice of headgear. You stay still, waiting for him to make the first move, praying that if it really was Jason he'd say something. Slowly he raises his hands, showing they're empty, and removes his helmet, and a mask from under that. Your breath hitches when you see him, he was older, he looked tired, but there was no mistaking him, "Jason," it comes out barely audible.

"Hi, Mama," thats it. That's all he says.

You pause for a split second before dropping your shoes, and taking a step towards him, holding your arms open, asking if it's alright for you to hug him. He closes the rest of the gap as soon as he sees that. And as soon as he's in your arms thats when you break, thats when you start to sob. You both stand there hugging each other tightly, and as you do you can feel him shaking slightly, but you don't say anything, knowing he just needs to let it out.

Eventually both of you pull away slightly, and you look up at him, he'd gotten so tall, but that doesn't stop you from giving him a motherly kiss on the forehead and holding his cheeks so you can look in his eyes. "Can I ask what happened, or not right now?" You ask this quietly as you look at his eyes, they aren't blue anymore they're an eerie shade of green, and they look hurt, he has this deep pain behind them that isn't just going to go away over night.

"Not right now, please, I just wanted to see you."

"Thats alright, my Jay-bear."

He seems a little startled by the nickname, it had been years since you'd called him that, since anyone had.

"What?" You say raising an eyebrow, "you know you'll always be my little Jay-bear even if you are taller than me now. Is it alright if I tell Bruce I saw you, or would you rather I didn't?" You ask this without explaining why you'd even wonder this.

A small smile comes to his face and he hugs you tightly once again. "You can, it'll be better than him figuring it out himself," a pause before letting go, "I should probably get going... I'll see you around though right ma?"

"Of course you will, my phone number hasn't changed it you need anything. And I can keep a secret at least for a while, so don't go sending me your address, but if you tell me when and where we can meet up." With that you hug him one last time and watch as he puts his mask and helmet back on and he makes sure you get into your car safely and as you head home he heads off into the night.

#Batman #batman x you #batmom #batmom reader #batfam x batmom #batman x batmom #batman x batmom!reader #batfam #batfam x you #batfam x y/n #batfam x reader #bruce wayne #bruce wayne x you #bruce wayne x reader #bruce wayne x y/n

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steve0discusses · 3 years ago

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Yugioh S5 Ep 20: Pharaoh’s Cool New Trick

Digging my way through quite a pile of commission work (funny how these things only come all at once or not at all), nearing the light at the end of the tunnel, was looking forward to some free time to catch up on my many little side projects when I was asked to take off for a weekend to do some cat-sitting to which I would NEVER say no to a cat, so like...Rip this blog I guess, we only update like once a week nowadays, but what do you do?

That’s right, play Puzzles and Dragons! The only phone game worth paying any attention to! Where they just released Pegasus on their Yugioh Collab and he looks pretty great!

So I’m just gonna take a second for some art appreciation, because the Puzzles and Dragons art team is just A++++ honestly, and yes, I did pull 13 times to get a Pegasus in my monster box, and yes, he is a completely insane team leader that is absolutely broken when paired with Yugi (the numbers are so satisfying) but...look at him. He looks so good!

(also I finally got Joey Wheeler, and so now my gatcha cravings are settled. And, don’t worry, I play this game so much that I was there during Christmas when they offered like a bajillion stones for free so I didn’t actually use real money on this.)

Now PAD also released a Weevil and Rex, and I don’t know why, and neither does the art team because they still look pretty good but in comparison to all the mains, they sure do looks like just some shorty guys in some casuals.

though I gotta admit, I want to learn how the hell this art team does swooshy effects, because man, that would make my art so much better to just have flames violently exploding out of all my art. Why am I not doing that more often? I have the technology.

anyway, I didn’t bother trying to pull them. Maybe I’ll accidentally pull them when they eventually release a Duke Devlin. (also, RIP to the fact that Roland will probably never be in Puzzles and Dragons but like...I can only send them so many polite letters covered in stickers pretending I’m some 10 year old child and writing in my broken Hiragana “Roland in PAD?”. Thems the breaks. (They also might not remember who Roland is.))

Shoutouts to the card that Weevil is holding that is censoring this nipple on the booby spider, PS.

So because this is not actually a Puzzles and Dragons blog, and it’s been ten eons since I regularly updated so I could remember episode to episode...where the hell were we?

That’s right, we’re on an island now. This show’s wonderful obsession with evil islands (and spoiler, this is one of the few Yugioh Islands that doesn’t explode at the end. Mostly because Kaiba isn’t here to do it or this place would be cinder)

(read more island stuff under the cut)

Anyway, after announcing “hey guys! Screw islands!” Yugi immediately collapses and without any warning.

Apparently the armor is a big ol parasite, which is something that Yugi is so used to at this point that he refuses to admit that this is a problem. Just normal Muto stuff, refusing to tell anyone that he has a serious illness going on underneath that giant mass of hair.

(the sailor moon vibes coming off this weird orb energy)

Sort of feels like a call back to S1 when Yugi was clearly possessed and everyone else was like “He acting weird to you?” except it’s S5 and everyone has learned to never trust Yugi when he says he’s fine and they are responding like he is about to die. Which is correct.

Outside of the cave falls this scroll that is...glowing, I guess. So they open it up and get a bunch of hieroglyphs that give them the “riddle of light” and like youknow...it’s riddle stuff.

They’re doing this riddle for “wings.” And it’s like...everyone’s monster here has a set of wings or an ability to fly. Every single monster except for I dunno, flaming swordsman? Hell, Yugi himself had two sets of wings when he fused with Dark Magician (which was weird, and I still don’t like to think about what technically was going on there.) But we have to go and get ourselves even more wings.

Weirdly, Joey turns to Tea and does something that in any other show would be completely normal. He was like “you want to stay here with Yugi, don’t you?” and it was the first time Joey has ever actually addressed the fact that Tea and Yugi are close. Uncharted territory. I was amazed at the amount of casual shipping that is happening here. It’s almost like a normal ass relationship.

So the boys decide to go off, and be boys and tackle this themselves. And they shouldn’t have, because Tea is smart for this group, and also has the only healing spell.

Like if you’re playing D+D you wouldn’t typically leave your only healer behind. Just saying.

Also like...Grandpa Muto went with them? I guess he’d have to since he’s the translator but also...kind of weird to leave your grandson dying in a cave, but maybe that’s just the Muto lifestyle.

Do not be fooled by my caps, no one has addressed the Bakura in the puzzle for 3 seasons. I’m starting to think this show will never address the Bakura in the puzzle. Which honestly, that would be hilarious if they made a big deal out of that plot point and then couldn’t use it in the end.

And speaking of plot points that kind of come out of nowhere and don’t make full sense with the continuity of the show--Joey has regressed back to the 4th grade.

Hey show? What?

So like if you love Joey, this is not the arc for you, because this arc he is reduced to a Himbo and nothing else. Straight up didn’t know what an echo is, but is very strong and pretty, I guess.

This inevitably happens with any TV show becuase different people make different parts, and I’ve brought up before that sometimes it feels like some teams only have loose post-it notes of what any character should be like at any given point (ESPECIALLY with Seto Kaiba’s timeline) but like...

...Personally I’m mot so fond of this interpretation of Joey, kind of ignores Joey’s best traits, and makes Tristan look way too smart in comparison (and like I always pinned Tristan to be the Himbo of the group, but maybe it’s because they give Tristan so little else to do?)

And like don’t get me wrong, Joey’s a dumbass a lot of the time and needs to get corrected by his pals...but...to the point he doesn’t know what an echo is? He’s a dumbass in a High School student sort of way, youknow?

Anyway, they get down to this big ravine, and they have to destroy this stone while the light passes over it. Kind of feels like a Breath of the Wild shrine quest, actually. In fact, I think Breath of the Wild recycled the shadow/sunlight pathing quest like 4 or 5 times. (I love Breath of the Wild to death but boy did they run out of ideas at the end there.)

They have to fight a glass monster and it’s kind of like...do you know the game Balls 3D? probably not, but it looked like a bunch of random shapes stuck together like a 90′s animation. They basically went to war with shapes.

Pure Himbo energy, has several pokemon, but punches for his pokemon instead of using them. A power move if I ever saw one.

Youknow that would make pokemon a lot more interesting if you could like throw out your pikachu, and then choose to just physically run up to your opponents Eevee and sock it in the jaw. Raise of hands--I know you all would love a version of pokemon like that. Let Ash Ketchum punch a Ratata.

Bro has informed me that Ash does do something like this in the anime. But I’m not talking about the anime, I’m talking about the video game. Give me the option to physically combat my rival. This is what I want, Pokemon.

They discover a way to break the monolith, and the show thinks we’re like actually 7 years old (because the show is Y7, although I forget because it deals with so many dark themes) so the show is going to hold on to this puzzle for a while...just to fill time. And it’s fine because we gotta switch over to Pharaoh anyway.

Yami has this dream again. He attempts to fuse with Dark magician to overcome the dream, but alas, he is still not strong enough.

Yugi wakes up in this murky cave while Tea is out washing out like...some rag? (he’s also still got a rag, so I guess multiple rags were required for how sweaty Yugi is.)

Yugi says “I feel like I’m a new man!” a lot in this episode, and every time he calls himself a man like he’s some sort of adult it’s very funny to me.

And then this plot lore dropped.

I mean I guess inevitably it had to happen...

But man, end of an era. It was freakin hilarious while it lasted: that Pharaoh refused to read ancient Egyptian because it’s like 2002 and he is a High Schooler living in Japan and he actually doesn’t WANT to resolve the mystery of the puzzle. Maybe the people who made this arc don’t know about how in S2 and S3, the fact Pharaoh couldn’t read Marik’s back tatt was like...a really big issue. He couldn’t read the God card, he couldn’t even read that massive tablet that read “HEY PHARAOH THIS IS LITERALLY YOU”. KAIBA had to tell him how to read the God card for him. Freakin Seto “Magic is a lie” Kaiba had to tell him how to use the God Card because Pharaoh couldn’t read it.

But like...Pharaoh finally gave in at some point after the world was devoured by the Leviathan, and before Kaiba finished building Kaibaland (which was already built in S1 but wtv)

The timelines on this show have always been a mishmash...but this one is just like...

...show are you trying to convince me that at any point in this show after season Zero, Pharaoh had any idea what he was doing? Did he sap that brain energy straight out of Joey Wheeler so he could do this?

Wow.

(secretly hoping he forgets how to read Egyptian after this arc is over and the show goes back to the other development team)

Pharaohs reasoning is that, if this is the riddle of the light.....

....then where is the riddle of darkness????????????

and when Tea was like “Pharaoh that is not even remotely logic. Omg it’s so bright outside, lets go back to gross cave.” and Pharaoh was like “Tea! You got it!” and she was like “What the hell are you talking about?”

Not gonna lie, I saw the Orichalcos green, and I got concerned.

Anyway, Yugi gets very frustrated and was like “ugh, lets go save em. They’re gonna die (again.)” and marches down there as if he didn’t pass out an hour ago.

And he fuses with Dark Magician again while everyone else (including his grandpa) was like “Yugi are you freakin kidding me? The suit freakin kills you omg! Tea you had one freakin job!”

And then we get the plot twist that...I mean it makes sense but it was choreographed in a confusing way.

And out of no where this guy shows up again:

So this mysterious man shows up and says “If you don’t succeed you have to live here forever” which...nice...that would probably save the world a lot of problems if Yami got locked away and took his OP puzzle with him. And then this man also says “if you do succeed you become VERY POWERFUL” and Yami was like. “...”

This whole episode had a theme to it, where Tristan and Joey were trying to prove that they could do things on their own and without Yugi’s help. And honestly...felt a little bit misplaced. Yami’s the same guy who murdered Yugi last season with the Orichalcos so like...

...I mean he is probably more reliable than Tristan who once died and turned into a robot monkey for 10ish episodes.

and then they flew into a glowing door.

Folks, this was wild to look at.

This is wild.

And at this point I closed Photoshop and thought I was done. But then I looked at my timeline on the video and was like...wait...there’s more?

and I’m really glad I kept watching because it went back to Alex, who...is apparently just still at those steps in this haunted ass Pyramid.

Now we’re watching Yugioh.

I forgot for a second when they turned Joey into a Himbo and made Pharaoh literate, but we’re back. I mean...

...look at the liner art on this adult man.

So...I posit the question...has Alex spent the last 2-3 episodes doing nothing but applying eyeliner to his face in the dark? Because he absolutely has. And honestly, the vibe of being in a spooky haunted pyramid with barely any light, just applying eyeliner down the edge of your face...that’s a Yugioh vibe, if I ever saw one.

This arc is wild. Anyway, next episode we do even more fetch quests and riddles? Just going to guess now that we probably will.

(and for those new here, this is a link so you can read them from the top. Which, since we’re in S5, means you got like...hours of Yugioh content to read through. Enjoy the rewards of my weird hobby.)

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

#Yugioh #Yu-Gi-Oh #yami yugi #S5 #Ep20 #It's actually Ep 20 now I was wrong last time #Yugi muto #Grandpa Muto #Alexander the Great #Joey Wheeler #Tristan Taylor #Tea Gardner #TeaxYugi #never thought I would ever use that tag #in this show where they are canonically dating but sometimes it happens #Puzzles and Dragons #Because yes I had to talk about it. This collab is great

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itsclydebitches · 3 years ago

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Its Own Reward

Fandom: The Bad Batch

Words: 2,098

Summary: If, at times of unseemly emotional vulnerability, Tech found himself longing for the one thing The Bad Batch didn’t have... well, that was between him and his overactive mind, thank you very much.

Warnings: Mentions of blood/injury later on, but very minor

A clone's favorite game, in the whole wide galaxy, was Picture Your General.

Picture your general in the heat of battle, lightsaber flashing, tearing through Separatist forces with the intensity of a Kaminoan storm.

Picture you general in the aftermath, entering a meditative state, calming the battalion with their mind alone.

Picture your general giving an order and you, standing tall, accept it with pride. Picture yourself as their right-hand man. Their greatest asset. The tool that will win this war.

Of course, at this stage one brother or another would point out the flaws in the fantasy. "Only a few of us will ever speak to them," they'd say. "You're not making Captain. Commander? Dream on. And watch the arrogance, vod. We're important, sure, but we're disposable too. No one is going to mourn us when we fall, certainly not a Jedi."

From there they would either grow quiet in discomfort, or pummel the offender with whatever was in reach, depending on the makeup of the group. No matter the outcome though, the game would inevitably repeat just a few hours later, picked up by everyone from the youngest cadet, to soldiers a day from their first assignment. Every clone in existence wanted to picture their general; imagine up a person worthy of the Kaminoans' stories and, though shared with more reservations, imagine the place they'd find at their side.

Every clone, that is, but Tech.

Well, he supposed Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair might be the same, but that was a hypothesis he hadn't tested yet. Out of everything Tech still needed to learn, that was rather low on his priority list. Meanwhile, spending time on a useless game was downright foolish. Oh, he had nothing against games on their own — they fostered a number of desirable outcomes, including, but far from limited to, a social comradery that would serve them well in battle — but this game, Picture Your General, had nothing to offer him. For the simple reason that Tech would never have one.

It was a fact the Regs took great pleasure in pointing out. Frequently.

"Ignore them," Crosshair said, stealing an extra ration off Tech's tray. History implied that he wasn't actually that hungry, merely interested in teasing Wrecker with the extra food. He'd pretend to save it for most of the night until, inevitably, handing it off as a grudging, midnight snack. Crosshair played with the food, but Tech knew his attention was on the rowdy group to their left. "They're not worth it."

Given that it was just the two of them, Tech allowed himself a scowl, snatching the ration back. He had nothing against Wrecker receiving additional food, especially given his fast metabolism, but it was the principal of the thing. This was his. "Says the man who instigated four altercations this week."

"I like riling them up." The food moved back to Crosshair's side of the table. "You don't."

"You're mistaken. I take great pleasure in correcting our less cordial brothers. Though their initial claim is sound, the reasons for why we will not be assigned a Jedi are erroneous in the extreme."

"You mean that we're useless, unwanted defects who don't deserve to lick a Jedi's boots?"

"While I wouldn't have phrased it quite like that... yes. It's factually incorrect."

"Hmm. Your face doesn't say 'factually incorrect.'"

"That's because you're stealing my food!"

"You're mistaken," Crosshair mimicked, this time stuffing the ration deep into his pocket where Tech didn't have a hope of reclaiming it. "Ignore them."

Tech rarely denied himself the chance to speak at length on any topic he pleased, but this time he bit down on the retort that he literally could not. The Kaminoans had ensured that he picked up and payed attention to everything around him, even what he didn't want to hear.

Still, clones were nothing if not adaptable and very little in this galaxy was black and white. The very thing Tech craved was also evidence of his greatest joy: the rest of his squad. They weren't made for a Jedi, they were made for each other. The Regs might have seen that as another defect, but Tech understood the inevitability of balance. If he wanted something as remarkable as his team, he had to give up something else in turn.

Like the knowledge that someone else, anyone else, was fighting for them. To the Kaminoans they were property. Expensive and prized property, no doubt, but even the most beautiful tool would be discarded in time. To the other clones they were outsiders, a blight on everything else they took pride in. And to the Jedi they were... non-existent. Or near enough, Tech supposed. When called to assist a battalion they usually did so on the outskirts, getting into the enemy territory their brothers couldn't negotiate, leaving for the next suicide mission by the time they'd caught up. It resulted in a reputation that was, ironically, quite uniform, given their otherwise individualistic looks and personalities. The Bad Batch was a team of four who did what other clones couldn't. That's all the Jedi needed to know; presumably wanted to know. And Tech could hardly fault them for that when in the midst of a war. Like him, they had much more important matters to occupy their thoughts.

That naïve indifference — an inability to be seen — might have been bearable if Tech hadn't accumulated such a clear picture of them. Oh yes, much of it came down to his academic nature, scrolling through datapads in the dead of night, soaking up information about anything, but especially that which was so crucial to the war... but there were stories too. The GAR was full of them. Whereas cadets played Picture Your General, soldiers spoke of the real thing, at times even more fantastical than their imaginings. Whispers spread through the ranks of Master Obi-Wan's compassion, claims that he fought for clones on and off the battlefield, giving as much respect as he demanded in turn. His former Padawan was, they said, as much a vod as any of them, prone to establishing an equality based on practical jokes and near-death situations — the kind of insanity clones were genetically predisposed to enjoy. There was talk that Unduli welcomed every soldier into her ranks with a Mirialan ritual, that Windu was fighting for clone rights in the Senate, even jokes that Plo Kloon had millions of adoption papers ready and waiting for the war's end... utter nonsense that last bit, of course. Yet every time Tech scoffed at a Reg's unseemly devotion, an awful little voice in the back of his head pointed out that the jokes had to stem from something. One did not craft rumors about a Jedi's kindness unless they had done quite a bit to establish it in the first place.

Tech didn't need kindness, only assurances. Bonds with the Jedi provided his brothers with a connection outside of the Kaminoans. They were building a network, however small, for the day this war ended. The Jedi Council would fight for the clones, Tech was sure of that... but would they fight for a shadowy, defective squad they knew little about? Their place in this galaxy began with each other and ended with the occasional, dubious acquaintance of Hunter’s. That was not enough to survive on and Tech cared only about such practical matters.

At least, that’s what he told himself for a time, but it wasn’t in Tech’s nature to dismiss facts. Like how once Master Shaak Ti had laid a hand on his arm after training, bestowing a smile and words of praise that Tech later kicked himself for missing, too busy being disgustingly flummoxed by the attention. That warmth, gifted three different ways, stayed with him long after they'd left their simulations behind, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't rationalize it away as planning for the future.

Tech wanted a Jedi of his own. He simply... wanted.

In time those feelings didn't abate, but they were buried under an avalanche of new ones which, from a technical standpoint, he supposed amounted to much the same. After Kaller, Tech had lost his purpose in serving the Republic. Worse, he'd lost a member of his squad, even if he eventually got him back. Crosshair's presence now could no more lessen his past absence than food in one's hand could feed a starving man from yesterday. Tech's home was gone. The familiarity of his brothers' faces, even those twisted with cruelty, was something he craved. Everything from the rooms they'd once slept in to the smell of sterilized halls— all absent. So if Tech sometimes stared out at the stars and felt horrifyingly incomplete, who was he to say what that stemmed from? There were too many possibilities. The data was corrupted beyond repair and trying to divide what he'd lost from what the Kaminoans had denied him was an entirely useless endeavor. An experiment not worth his time.

Still, Tech was made of curiosity. His mind was always on the lookout for patterns and new information, whether he wanted it to be or not. In truth though, he figured that Omega's near death was an experience that would have stood out to anyone, genius not required.

Her screams were quite the conductor for one's focus.

"Shoot it! Shoot it!"

The order was for Crosshair, but Hunter couldn't see that he'd been knocked out by the krykna's last attack, one spindly leg the size of a cruiser slamming into his side. Hunter himself was trapped, hands scrambling to free his leg from the cave's crevice even as he yelled. Tech noted, in the dim way his mind noticed most things during a crisis, that he was now using his knife for leverage, cutting into his calf in the process, uncaring. Meanwhile, Wrecker was overwhelmed by the krykna's cluster, something about his size and boisterous nature attracting them like... well. Like kryknas to a clone. Echo was trying to help, but the planet's magnetic field had been messing with his prosthetics ever since they'd landed. Tech saw them both disappear under a small mountain of the creatures, yelling Omega's name all the while.

And Tech... he was running. Yes. He realized that now, legs pounding across the ground, heedless of the numerous arachnid bodies that crunched beneath his boots. He couldn't say that his attention was solely on Omega, her face now just inches from the krykna's pincers. It never was. Tech couldn't help but catalogue a hundred other observations as she neared death's door, most of them quite distressing. Like the difference in height between him and his brothers. Or his abysmal scores in sprinting back on Kamino. Omega was at least five meters away whereas the krykna, most assuredly, was not.

I'm going to lose another one, Tech thought as his next laborious pant turned into a sob. Probability proves it.

Thank the Maker his calculations were incomplete.

Later, the five of them would describe the sensation as akin to static electricity. Even Crosshair, unconscious, would say that he'd felt something passing along his skin, heedless of armor and all the more disconcerting for being... impossible. An impossible memory. Only Tech and Hunter saw it though, the moment when the krykna rose off the ground and flew, all five tons of it, slamming into the opposite wall where its skull caved in like an over-ripe fruit.

Omega sat with her little hand outstretched, looking just as dumbfounded as her brothers. When he finally reached her, Tech found evidence of the krykna's teeth on either side of her neck. They'd only just punctured the skin.

A moment of certain death, averted through instinct. Destiny? Perhaps some combination of the two.

"It's okay. You're okay. Omega, please breathe for me."

Tech was blessed — sometimes cursed — with an extraordinary memory, the ability to recall not just books' worth of information, but images in perfect clarity too. Superimposed over a sobbing Omega was a cadet from his youth. No one important. No one whose name Tech had bothered to learn, uninterested in remembering it against his will. But the boy's words had already been spoken.

"Kriff, maybe we're wrong, vod! Maybe the defect will get a Jedi. After all, don't they say the Force works in mysterious ways?"

An insult, a taunt, and now perhaps a speck of wisdom that Tech should have heeded. He pulled Omega into his arms, one gloved hand sinking into her curls, the other wrapping tight around her waist. He'd performed this gesture a hundred times before, but this time it felt like something slotted into place.

"There you are," Tech whispered and for now, he'd pretend that this was nothing more than a reassurance.

#TBB #The Bad Batch #TBB Fic #Tech #Omega #Crosshair #TBBfic #Star Trek #SW

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friggsdc · 4 years ago

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Title: little delinquent pt ii

part i | part ii | part iii

Warnings: Female!reader (bat!sis), mostly family fluff, AU, hurt/comfort, language

word count: 4000~

It had Bruce and Dick sharing a look for a moment before the latter spoke up, “It’s not like I’m against continuing to expand the family, but…” he eyed the child you held nervously, “please don’t start bringing home every child you find…” he tilted his head, “he’s bad enough.” Bruce settled a light glare at his first son (that definitely wasn’t what Bruce was thinking), though Dick was stilled by the way your eyes narrowed at him instead.

“His name is Terrence,” that was all you said, brushing past as they were suddenly on guard at the inherited Wayne-scowl on your face.

a/n: still no jaybird lmao I’m sorry, but I brought in mamabat duke, because he’s the best at being a mamabat without smothering you like your other siblings. Steph too because she’s your sweet bean partner in crime u v u)9 For my sanity, Metropolis is in Deleware across the bay from Jersey (tho Gotham is still north of Atlantic City).

He wasn’t certain if he should be proud or upset at how quickly you’d turned Tim against him, the two of you now working in unison, playing ‘keep away from big papa Bruce.’ No matter when he tried to approach you, something always seemed to happen or come up, and it was actually starting to get on his nerves. Worse was Damian seemed to be joining in, his rebellious nature being nurtured by the influence of both Tim and yourself.

He knew it would be difficult to deal with you and your ability to hide anything, just like you could hide yourself, but… Now he had to deal with more than just you, and Tim wasn’t going to make it any easier for him. Oh no, this was going to be a headache with you two. And Damian… He couldn’t trust that his son wouldn’t give away anything he did to you, his loyalties giving out to the growing childish nature he was developing. Bruce was again at a loss, should he be happy Damian was acting his age, or upset that he was more interested in working with the ‘opposition?.’

“It’s not a mission,” Damian had commented, so it was “fair game.”

He rested his head in his hands, fingers lightly massaging his temples as his elbows supported him, propping him up on the ornate desk in his study. Fucking hell, he had to outsmart both the tech sleuth and the stealth agent of the family. Information was literally their game. Rather than giving into the growing frustration in his stomach, he stood up, now a bat on a mission as he quickly headed down to the cave. He thanked his moody bat heart that it was just two of his kids (he wasn’t certain of Damian yet, the wild card), and not… more…

The League computers would definitely come in handy right about now.

He was gonna go full fucking vigilante detective bat mode on his kids.

Again.

He groaned.

[bigR] Dad took off for the League, bet you can guess why.

Flipping your personal phone closed with a light snort, you refocused your attention on buckling the toddler into the hand-me-down car seat. You’d definitely have to get him a new one on your shopping trip, you just hoped Duke’s car could fit everything…

Damian was securing his sword between him and the kid before he crawled in, closing the door and putting on his safety belt. You grinned at him as he avoided your smile, looking away instead, “hurry up.” Shaking your head, you leaned in to rub your nose against Terrence’s own, his chubby fingers coming up to grab at your face, hair, clothes, ears, and earrings ohgodstop. Having cooed at him enough, and having been assaulted by his little nails, scratches now on your chin, you leaned back and out of his reach, closing the door softly.

“Are you sure it’s okay to shirk off for the day? You’re the one usually patrolling at this time…” you headed to the passenger side, “Big guy said it was fine, besides…” Duke smiled and nodded his head towards the car with a wink, “wouldn’t want to leave you alone with a bunch of kids.” It’s not like he was wrong, but you were skilled enough to handle your brother and… son… ah… that was going to get some getting used to. A smile and spread on your face with a light laugh as you climbed in, settling, and closed the door behind you, “ready to get going?” Damian glared at you before refocusing his attention on Terrence, ignoring your obviously dumb question, “Pennyworth mentioned Todd having finally gotten back before I left.”

Duke had started up the car and checked over everything before heading down the manor drive, now officially on the road. Meanwhile, you hummed happily, “guess I’ll have to go see him when we get back.” Damian made a face, “gross.” You rolled your eyes in amusement, “you knew what my reaction was gonna be.”

The two were ridiculous in how they treated each other, honestly.

“It’s still gross.”

The ride down the ocean side drive was calming, the windows lowered to let the cool ocean breeze in. Damian was back to his “poking the toddler’s nose” game, having gotten used to the sound of a baby, and no longer acting like it wasn’t his fault when he made the toddler laugh.

Meanwhile,

“So, who made you the baby-sitter?” Duke kept his eyes on the road, the ever-responsible budding adult that he was, “Bruce, actually.” He grinned at the way you looked at him, catching sight from the corner of his eye, “surprising, I know. Woulda thunk Tim’d have asked, huh?”

Nodding, you leaned back, “well, I mean, yeah. He’s been pretty upset since the other day, he won’t leave Terrence and I alone at the manor. He’s been staying over...” You might have felt bad for lying to Duke, but the truth was that you were lying to everyone but Tim at this point. Not that it was the first time you’d lied to them. You told the truth so often that they took you at your word, never catching on when you did fib, but you were pretty certain this would blow up in your face.

They’d catch you eventually.

This wasn’t one of those easy to digest lies either, that was the complicated part. It terrified you how they’d react once they learned the truth.

Then…

Before that happened, you made the silent determination that you’d make your… son a part of the family. They won’t be able to decide anything for him then, they’d be in too deep, you’d make certain.

Yeah, you could be a little… manipulative sometimes.

Probably something you got from your father.

“What’s up?”

“Oh, sorry, nothing. My mind was just wandering,” Duke frowned a little, flipping on his blinker while coming to a slow crawl, “not believing you.”

Turning your head to him, your grin was a bit scary, “okay, so, I was just thinking about if your car can fit everything I’m going to want to buy.” It was enough to distract him, a groan finding its way out as he pulled into the ticketing line for the ferry.

“If..??”

Now, to really drive it home, you pulled something from your purse and waved it at him, “Is… is that…” he eyed it nervously. “Yes, yes it is, dear brother.” His ears burned as he turned his eyes from you, hand now outstretched in your direction.

“You’re paying the ferry, then…” he muttered.

You put your dad’s credit card on his palm,

“Rich little daddy’s girl.”

This time the snort came from the back seat, “I have one as well, Thomas. You need only ask father.”

Duke sputtered and refused to acknowledge either of you till after having crossed the Deleware Bay.

Rich kids. Honestly.

Metropolis always amazed you, honestly, the bright skies overhead and the amount of people without a care in the world was enviable. Still, it just wasn’t… home. By now you’d developed some serious Stockholm for the cesspit that is Gotham. Even so, you preferred to go shopping here, their selection of high-quality stores mixed with less people recognizing you, and your family, were boons.

As you stared up at the towering high rise in front of you, Damian having disappeared inside minutes before, there was one other reason for coming to Metropolis…

“You’re always so slow! I told you to hurry up!!”

“Who’s slow?! You’re the slow one!!”

“Boys, please—”

The loud sound of twin crashes echo’d out the opened lobby door, the two boys in question bounding out with plenty of energy and two very red chins. “That… looks painful…” you smiled, walking over to check Damian’s face for actual injury.

“Tt, I’m fine.” He smacked your hand away, glaring at the super next to him, rubbing his own, already healing chin. “Hey Jon, enjoying Metropolis?” The bright-eyed boy, sans cape, grinned at you from ear to ear, “There’s so much to do here!” he almost lifted off the ground in his excitement, “but I miss the farm.” A chuckle came from the entrance to the building, deep and warm and just as kind as the child now sticking his tongue out at your youngest brother. On the man’s broad shoulder was an overnight bag, and a sheepish smile on his face as if he felt guilty.

He probably did, the two boys were a handful.

Duke was leaning against the roof of the car with a huge dopey smile on his face, waving at the man approaching, “Hello, you must be the chaperone, Duke Thomas?” your newest brother nodded enthusiastically, almost at a loss for words, “Yup! I-I mean y-yes, it’s nice to meet you, sir!” Clark only chuckled, far too used to such formalities, “Clark is fine, our families are… close, after all.” He watched the boys pull at each other’s faces in mock battle.

“Ah, Clark! It’s been a while!” the older male smiled as he stopped a few feet from you and the car, hands resting on his hips, “Miss Wayne.” Near immediately, his eyes shifted to the backseat of the car and he leaned against the door, looking in.

“Bruce has another kid? He looks like how I always imagined him to look as a kid, suspiciously innocent,” you froze, and he would have laughed at the thought of Bruce with more secret kids, but he straightened. Looking at you in concern instead, he started, “I know he’s not… the most affectionate father, but…” you quickly shook your head, attempting damage control. “It… no, he’s not dad’s…” You laughed nervously at the look on his face, his hand raising to point at you as his mouth opened and closed a few times, trying to process.

“Yup. He’s… His name is Terrence, and he’s… my… son…” your tone turned warm and kind, and your eyes settled on the babe in the car with all the grace of a mother, just like Lois when Jon had been born, the older super nodded thoughtfully. “I’m glad it’s you, then. If anyone in that family can raise a good kid, it’ll be you.” The two of you shared an understanding smile, though yours was accompanied by a twitch or two, swearing he enjoyed his little joke, before he turned his head painfully in surprise, as if an enemy had suddenly appeared.

Following his sight, you had to laugh at the dark glare on Damian’s face directed at Clark, “well, I think it’s time I take my leave, then.” He scratched the back of his head, avoiding the kid’s gaze. He wanted to inquire more about the new addition to the family, but it would have to wait. Jon gave his dad a huge hug, getting his hair ruffled in the process as Clark waved at Duke, chucking the overnight bag into the car.

With a last good-bye to you, he turned high-tail and ran, as if he were almost eager to get away. Watching him jog slowly inside the building, you almost swore his steps were far lighter than his build, “probably prefers to float…” looking away, you missed him trip.

“Alright, c’mon you two. Get in.” when you’d opened the door, the two boys stared in horror, “I’m not sitting in the middle.” Damian ground out before Jon pushed him with more force than Damian could resist, “HE’S YOUR BROTHER!!! YOU SIT IN THE MIDDLE!”

“STUPID! HE’S MY NEPHEW!”

“Still, you sit next to him…” Jon pouted, and combined with your stare, Damian crawled in with a grumble, “Stupid super.” Jon ignored him without issue, and you’d have to ask Damian about it later, curious as to why his best friend was so used to his insults like it was a common occurrence? Then he climbed in after, shutting the door behind him.

“Nerves of steel, that one,” you mumbled, getting back in the car as Duke laughed lightly, starting the car up before heading a bit further into the city. After a few minutes and a few stop lights, Duke gave in to the side-glances you kept giving him, having caught them from the corner of his own eyes, “what now?” The growing devious grin on your face had him on edge, “speaking of nerves of steel…” a shiver hit the back of his neck, “please don’t.” His begging stopped nothing, “fanboy,” but of course you would, and he did his best to pay attention to the road, “don’t make me ignore you all day.”

“I thought it was cute though? Haha, Izzy would be jealous.”

“It’s… I mean, he was…” his ears were burning, especially at the mention of Isabella’s name, and he pouted worse than Jon had.

“I know, but still. You know you’ve met him before, right?” Duke looked like he wanted to disappear in his seat, “just… in costume…” you hummed in amusement.

It didn’t take long for Duke to pull into the parking lot at one of the high-end furniture stores, resting his head on the steering wheel for a moment after parking. The two boys were already out of the car, bickering and racing into the store, “you have no taste! It’s all dark! You can’t put a baby in a depressing room!”

“YOU WANT TO BLIND HIM WITH BRIGHT COLORS!”

“YOU WANT TO SCARE HIM WITH DOOM AND GLOOM!”

The two were practically racing at this point, shoving each other back and forth, though Jon often made Damian stumble through raw strength, and Damian often made Jon trip through dirty tricks.

“Aaaaand there they go.” You were already out of the car as you said it, heading to the driver’s backside door. Duke stepped out before stilling, his face falling at the straps in your hand, outstretched towards him, “you have got to be kidding.”

“Nope, you’re the babysitter today, Papa Duke.”

He took the child carrier from you, strapping the pack on with a depressed aura of resignation, “this so doesn’t look cool.” You snickered as you transferred Terrence over to the pack on Duke’s front, “yeah, but people won’t mess with a big guy like you. Besides, I can handle Damian better than you, can you take care of our son?” you teased him.

“Yeah, I can take care of… him…” Duke eyed the child looking around at everything he could, taking in every sight with silent baby contemplation skills, thumb in his mouth.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell Izzy about us,” you thought for a moment as he ignored your comments, switching tactics. Eyeing him before patting him on the shoulder, you began heading after the two boys, “when you get back, tell Izzy you think she looks like a piece of candy.”

He had a confused look as he followed after you, catching up in a speed walk, “what’s that supposed to mean?”

Not only did his ears turn red, but his entire face and neck burned hot at the suggestive smile on your face, “Oh… wait, w-why out of nowhere though?!”

“You forget, I live with nothing but men. Harper’s not around often and Steph is the only female I see on a regular basis.”

“Get some friends,” he groaned.

“That’s what family is for.”

Ugh.

Shopping actually went a lot better than expected, and you were able to get a new car seat at the behest of Damian, “no way you’re using a hand-me-down,” he all but threatened. There were some smaller things you could easily fit into the car, a few boxes, one for a mobile, one for a few bed sets, a giant pregnancy pillow -- regardless that you weren’t pregnant, you wanted the giant horseshoe pillow. Jon was jealous of it, now wanting one of his own, as you picked up some non-essentials.

The bigger things would have to be shipped, a crib for a few months till he was big enough, small bed with side bars so he wouldn’t fall out when ready to swap out the crib. They even had a huge rocking chair! It was probably one of the most comfortable things you had ever sat in, its ability to “rock” you back and forth on its slides without losing much momentum was heaven.

And you could curl up in it.

Somewhere in all the chaos, just as expected, you’d gone and lost both the boys. Or, well, more like they lost you. Duke was still dutiful with Terrence, and he was also really amazing at looking at details and knowing what item was better than the next. Sure, you’d been taught the same skills, but you were preoccupied with Damian and Jon (until you weren’t).

“Hum… hey, I’m gonna go check out next door, okay?” Duke turned to you from the different curtains in his hand, having taken to looking at a few general things for the room; curtains, bookshelves, a desk or two.

Unlike your father and most of your family, you had far more free time to do these small things yourself, never needing to hire an assistant to do all the work. You only needed some help with moving things, of course. It was something you’d picked up from both Alfred and the Kents, the equally uneasy and comforting feeling of being humble.

“Sure, which one?”

“The clothing store, I think there’s a dedicated kid store a bit further down the mall strip, I’ll probably make my way towards that.” Duke pouted, “leaving me alone with the kids?”

“Just one.” To emphasis your point, Terrence decided to start pulling on the same curtain as Duke, though Duke swatted his hands away quickly. A one-sided glaring contest began as the kid kept his frown on Duke, not looking away.

Duke looked around ignoring him, “that’s… true…”

“Thanks Papa Duke!” you gave him a hug, burying your face in Terrence’s and pelting him with kisses, pulling back only when his laughter echoed around the three of you. Duke refused to look at you as you cooed at the child strapped to his chest, awkward, “I hate you.”

“You love me.”

He snorted and went back to picking out curtains, “and don’t you forget it.”

“You have my card still, right?” He nodded, not even bothering to ask if you needed it. He knew you didn’t carry paper notes around, having seen you use your phone to pay for things physically too often.

Taking that as your cue, you turned to leave, “text if you need anything, and keep an eye out for the boys, I’ll… look, too,” and a moment later you were outside the store, stretching in the sun with a big breath of fresh air. Dang you loved Gotham, but also? Dang you loved Metropolis, too.

[steph] hey, herd u like

[steph] have a baby now???!

[steph] ;)))))

The buzzing of your personal phone caught your attention,

[you] tim? also, switching over for a bit.

You switched recipients,

[you] ready.

Turning the phone off and flipping it closed, you began walking in the opposite direction that Duke had been told, popping the back of the case off and pulling out the battery.

You’d asked Tim to redirect a dummy signal for your phone, keeping it within a five-foot radius of Duke for the next forty minutes or so. He’d given you the thumbs up, your telling him everything when you got back being his payment for helping.

He was very curious as to why you were breaking in to the LexCorp building.

The rather fast-paced walk (almost a light jog) to the building wasn’t that long, you’d made certain the stores you chose were close on purpose. Taking out your business phone, you opened it to another text as you started up a rather… illegal app. Your phone’d been rooted from the moment you had it, and it was hooked up to a very specific closed network.

This outing was one of the only chances you’d get, having lucked out with the more lenient Duke, as your other siblings were far more vigilant. Damian meanwhile was distracted by Jon, the two acting more like brawling siblings than best friends. Though Damian preferred the term rivals, but Jon was just happy to have a close friend he could be himself with.

[splr] he couldn’t contain himself

[splr] was vibin’ like flash lol

There were very few people who had access to this phone, and unfortunately for Tim, it was a hazard for both of you to have any kind of connection to him on your work phone. Stephanie however was one of the very few people who got to have that privilege.

[you] remind me to thank him for stealing my thundr

The family had the Bat-computer, Batman had the League’s Womb mainframe, the Robins had their Nest, and you? You had access to something older, reborn too many times, and set up and now maintained by some genius mastermind you’d never heard of.

It was a mostly defunct information network by this point.

You’d met some really interesting people when you used to tail your father, and through repeated encounters, you’d met even more interesting uh... “friends.” Eventually you weren’t stalking your dad, instead, you were learning to do what you did best: Spy-games and recon.

And you’d impressed the wrong people.

But you didn’t mind, you liked the constant link to “their” information hubs.

[splr] lol

[splr] coffee tmrrw?

The Society’s Networks.

You knew your dad suspected some of your activities, but he never approached you about them. Probably because Batman enjoyed your access to these networks often when they were online, having come to you on multiple occasions to see if you could help with his detective work.

You were playing double agent, compiling what you could from the chatter picked up from specific phones hooked into the closed channels. Sure, they weren’t always active and so sometimes you had to go with information from recon, but you did what you could, your bias for your bats, and birds, too strong. For your family.

[you] the same-same

[splr] c u tmrw then ;)

[splr] don’t forget the kid lol

Not that you’d ever shown him, if Batman knew what kind of information the Society had in their databases, well… you were pretty certain the world would burn.

He once said it was best he didn’t know, something about helping to keep a balance between the good and the bad, causing both sides to stay in check.

The database’s app held all kinds of information, and as you downloaded the LexCorp building plans (sans recent modifications), you stared at the towering complex in front of you. Before you went further, you made certain the matrix encryption program was running, after all, “no reason to let anyone know I’m here.”

“Done this tons of times, can totally do this again,” but LexCorp was terrifying, Lex Luthor was terrifying, almost as much as Wayne Enterprises. Here’s to hoping your dad’s technology and Tim’s brain were smarter than anything Lex could cook up.

Besides, wasn’t he under house arrest right now?

It did nothing to calm your nerves.

“Nerves of steel, totally.”

You had to be fast.

#tim drake x reader #dick grayson x reader #jason todd x reader #stephanie brown x reader #duke thomas x reader #bat!sis

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sirenprincess15 · 3 years ago

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Please Don't Leave Me Chapter 14

Title: Please Don’t Leave Me

Author: SirenPrincess

Description: What if Aleksander hadn’t answered the door when Ivan interrupted the war room kissing? What if Aleksander and Alina had a bit more time to get to know each other before Baghra told her his true identity? Alina is the only one who can comfort Aleksander through his nightmares. Will she leave once she knows who he is?

This story is based on the show version and features a soft on the inside, hard on the outside Aleksander with an emphasis on emotional hurt/comfort and angst. If you are looking for lots of hurt!Aleksander thoughts, then this story is for you. Mal exists but pretty much solely to cause Aleksander some angst. Don’t worry. It will be a Darklina ending.

Chapter 1 is a missing scene at the end of Ep 4, and Chapter 2 takes place alongside Ep 5 and then diverges from canon there.

Pairings: Aleksander Morozova/Alina Starkov, bits of Ivan/Fedyor

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Grisha are oppressed in this universe, and I don’t shy away from showing the horrors of that. There may eventually be mentions of canon-typical torture (Fjerdan pyres), death of family members, and cruelty to Grisha children. It’s not the focus, but that backdrop is definitely there and comes up as characters discuss their past.

In this chapter: Tension continues between Aleksander and Alina as she tries to figure out who he truly is and what's real.

Chapter 14

“Where’s the girl?”

Aleksander cringed at Baghra’s voice. He didn’t want to remember this.

“Your sun summoner?”

He whimpered. He couldn’t say the word. Tears flooded his eyes. “Please …”

“Dead?

A guttural cry escaped him. “She died because I couldn’t protect her. I tried. I tried, but she wouldn’t let …”

“She died because she rejected who you are. If you weren’t so awful, maybe she could have trusted you, maybe she would have stayed.”

Aleksander awoke with a gasp. He struggled to catch his breath as he realized he was still lying on Alina’s chest. Safe. Her heart was still beating.

She said nothing as she soothingly ran her fingers through his hair to give him time to calm back down from his nightmare. He appreciated it because he needed it. He reminded himself to focus on her breathing. His head throbbed from drinking too much kvas with Fedyor the night before. He couldn’t think. How did he find the words to make her trust him again so that his worst nightmares wouldn’t come true?

At some point, the quiet just gave him more time to worry, though. Could Alina ever possibly forgive him? Would she turn on him now that she knew the truth? Could she find it in her to love him again? Would she choose the tracker? Would she still help him protect Grisha if she turned on him? How long did he have to still have her in his life? It was almost like wondering how long he would have air, but really, it was sunshine.

He wanted to stay in her arms forever, but he could not remain trapped in his thoughts anymore. “Do you want to go to breakfast together?” His voice was hoarse from sleepiness, at least that’s what he told himself. “Or we could have it brought here?”

“Thank you, but I will be spending the day with Mal.” Her chin jutted out as if she were daring him to fight that pronouncement.

“I see.” He sighed. Was this all he would get? A few hours of sleep with her? He would certainly take it over nothing, but why did she want to go be with the tracker? That idiot had always taken her for granted, done nothing to help with her self-esteem … Aleksander ground his teeth to stop himself from pointing out all of the tracker’s flaws.

“Are you good now?” she asked as she rose from the bed and went over to their shared closet.

“Thank you for letting me sleep.”

She started to dress and did nothing to hide her beautiful body from his gaze. Perhaps this was payback for his stripping in front of her the night before. Perhaps she wanted him to stare with longing as maybe she had? Or maybe she found the idea of covering up in front of each other just as awkward as he had. Then he saw what she was putting on.

Blue.

It was an arrow straight through his heart, and it hurt every bit as much as one. He knew that pain all too well from experience. “You will not be wearing that today,” he commanded.

“I will be wearing whatever I choose.” Her eyes stared right into his for a long moment, almost like a staring content, and then she went back to buttoning the blue kefta.

“Why?” He was desperate to understand her reasoning as he tried to hold together his composure.

“I like blue, very me, don’t you think?”

“Are you trying to torture me?” He gave up on trying to appear commanding and just let the pain show in his voice. “That outfit has hurt me every time you put it on since I offered you my colors.” Rejection, over and over again. It took on a new meaning now that she had already aligned herself with him. Now, it meant she disavowed their bond and that she wanted everyone to know she was no longer his.

She tilted her head and stared at him for a long moment. “Are you going to stop me?”

Finally, he caved and shook his head. “Wear what you want.” In the end, it was an outfit, one that hurt him, but an outfit nonetheless. They had more important things to agree on like protecting Grisha and the Fold. If letting her wear blue was what made her more willing to negotiate, he could endure the pain and humiliation as everyone gossiped about her leaving him.

“Has it occurred to you that maybe I’m testing you?”

He glanced up, his eyes wide. He was an expert at analyzing people and situations and reading any room. How did she always manage to surprise him? Why could he not think clearly when it came to her? “Testing me?”

“Baghra said you wanted to make me your slave, to take away my free will. I wanted to see what you would do if I insisted on my way with something I knew you disagreed with.”

“Alina …” His mother’s words again, tearing them apart. Is that what Alina thought? That he had done things against her will? That he was willing to? “I know you are upset with me for keeping you from your old life and forcing you to focus on your new one, but besides that … did I ever do anything against your will to make you believe her? Did I … not understand your consent? Did I make you think you had to? Did I touch you when you didn’t want to or …? ” He could not live with himself if any of that was true.

She was quiet for a moment. Her eyes flicked as she seemed to sort through memories or assess their previous interactions. “Never.”

“Then, why are you even considering believing her?”

“Because you didn’t give me a chance to make those decisions with full knowledge of who you are or the situation with Mal.”

The criticism hurt. Was it fair? He was so lost in his head that he wasn’t sure anymore. “It started with needing you to trust me, but then I got to know you. Would you understand if I said I was just so excited for someone to actually care about me … even if that required hiding who I was from you so you could.” Tears filled his eyes, but he would not let them fall. “Your love was so … addictive. I guess I just wanted to pretend that you could love me. It felt good.”

“You assume you had to hide who you were from me, that I couldn’t love who you actually are. You don’t know that. You didn’t give me a chance to even figure that out.”

“I’m trying to give you that chance now.”

“I know.”

“So?”

“So I’m giving you some tests.” She shrugged. “I’m trying to figure out what’s real. I’m paying attention to if you still lie to me, hide things from me, or if you try to manipulate me.”

“If it was a test, then did I pass?”

“You’re working on it.” She walked over to him and squeezed his arm. “Try not to spend the entire day stressing. Mal and I have a lot to catch up on. I’ll see you tonight.”

“Wait,” he said, rising from the bed and grabbing her arm before she could leave. She paused and looked up at him with curiosity but a bit of apprehension. He hated that she had been convinced to fear him, even a little, again. “I can’t let you go without a guard. Don’t give me grief about that. The tracker cannot protect you from Fjerdan assassins. Fedyor will still be sleeping off the extreme amount of alcohol we consumed last night. Let’s leave Ivan to tend to him. Plus, I’m more comfortable with Ivan guarding you at night.” He didn’t want to admit out loud that it was so he could know if she slept with the tracker. “Let me take you to Inessa,” he started to suggest just as the woman stepped into the doorway of the war room.

“Ivan sent for me. He thought you might need me this morning.” Aleksander smiled. That was exactly why Ivan was second-in-command. He always thought things through.

#aleksander x alina #alina x aleksander #aleksander morovoza #kirigan x alina #alina x kirigan #general kirigan #the darkling #alina x darkling #darklina

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itmightbeneb · 4 years ago

Text

Small post-prison Dream drabble

CW: (almost) panic attacks

If this gets a good enough reception, I may do more :)

It was raining, but Dream couldn't stop to appreciate it. Appreciating rain? Dream almost laughed at the idea, but after months of nothing but lava and obsidian, the cold and wet was a nice change of pace. There had been water in the prison, he supposed, but it was warm, heated by the lava all around him, warm and dirty after months of use. The cold was a nice change of pace. And this rain, this clean water, might actually do something to clean the blood of his skin. It was certainly soothing his burns and scars, burns and scars Quackity and Sam would have to pay for.

Dream needed more stuff, he needed diamonds then netherite, he needed enchantments and potions and farms, better food as well, he doubted he could handle another potato, he doubted he could handle much at all for the moment but that was a problem for later him. Bread would sustain him for now, although he did keep a few extra potatoes in his inventory just in case.

The problem was, he had nothing. Well that wasn't entirely true, he had some bread, a handful of potatoes and a freedom he hadn't had in months, but other than that, nothing. Not even a wooden pickaxe to his name and the entire server wanting him dead. Well then, better a wooden pickaxe than nothing, he thought. He had to start somewhere.

Breaking down a tree was more difficult than he remembered, or maybe he was just remembering what it was like with an efficiency V netherite axe. He might be weaker now, he might be more vulnerable, did the prison affect his muscles that much? He'd still managed to kill Tommy so he can't have wasted away too much, but then why was this stone taking so long to mine? He didn't have the weakness effect from the elder guardians anymore, but he wondered if the months of constant weakness had affected his muscles. Well that was just another thing on the to-do list, get stronger again. Maybe strength potions would work, but for that he'd have to go to the nether. He was a long way off being prepared for that.

After getting a stone pickaxe and axe, Dream wondered if caving or strip mining would be better. He didn't want to be in any cramped space if he could avoid it, but in order to get armour and weapons, in order to protect himself, he'd have to go in. Both had their benefits and downsides. Strip mining was more cramped, darker, closer to being like the prison he had only just escaped. But, if he was weaker after his stay there, it offered fewer mobs to deal with. Less chance to die right after he made it out. He couldn't die now, not after everything that had happened, not after he finally made it out. He had to get his revenge on Sam and Quackity, and that meant staying alive, getting gear, getting stronger. Punz as well, Punz had betrayed him. Went to Tommy and Tubbo and Sam to put him away. He'd cut ties with Punz though, he was on the list, just further down. No, it was Sam and Quackity that needed to pay the most. That meant going underground where there was no daylight and lava around any corner. So, strip mining it was then, less chance of dying was always a good decision. Plus, Dream thought, he couldn't let a stupid fear stop him from going where he pleased. He wasn't Tommy, getting scared whenever he was near a plains biome, he was Dream, a god, someone who had survived worse that a stupid obsidian box. And he was going to make them pay for putting him there.

He dug down to Y=11, finding some coal and iron on the way down. This was good, this was normal, he ignored the tightness in his chest. Although, it was eased by the chill air. He didn't know he could miss the cold, but here he was, feeling nostalgia over a temperature. A temperature, he quickly realised that he couldn't handle as well as he used to. Spending so much time next to a sea of lava, in the sweltering heat, had changed the way his body handled temperature, it seemed. He quickly made a torch and held it in his off hand. Fire would warm him up, enough that he didn't die at least. The furnaces smelting iron also helped warm him up. He made sure to note that wherever he ended up staying better be well insulated. He couldn't go for a desert though, the heat would be welcome but he wanted rain. Maybe a jungle? They were tricky to navigate which would help deter people from finding him. Warm, but not the heat of lava, wet, tricky to find. Perfect.

Enough iron had been smelted to make a pickaxe and a bucket. A good start. Strip mining had never been Dreams favourite, he got bored easily and, unless he managed to hyperfocus on the task, could never pay attention long enough to find anything. However today was different, while he did find himself getting bored and wanting to change tasks, he managed to force himself to continue mining, placing torches periodically to prevent spawns. The tightness in his chest eased a little at the moment.

Eventually he had enough iron for armour. It wouldn't be as strong as the netherite he was used to, the netherite he needed if he were to survive an encounter with another player, but it was better than nothing. Hadn't Technoblade beaten Quackity while only wearing iron armour? Although that was Quackity, Dream would need better armour to survive an encounter with a competent player.

Dream spotted diamonds, the last few he'd need for a full set of armour and tools. There was a problem though, they were across a large lava lake. He could already feel the heat, humid and heavy just like in the cell. The cell he'd only just escaped from. He could do this though, just bridge across the lava, grab the diamonds and head out. He'd need to deal with more lava in the nether anyway, this was nothing. This couldn't harm him. It just simply couldn't.

Dream shifted, edging across the lake. Slowly. He was usually so fast, it must have been the effects of the elder guardians, he told himself, his weakened muscles from the elder guardians, that must be it. Heat rose up to meet him, making him sweat under his heavy armour. His armour was so heavy, his muscles were weaker but were his bones as well? How long had it been since he had seen sunlight? There had been a small amount of time today, before he went mining, and it had been blinding. Too bright and yet not enough at the same time. He wanted to just lay in the sunshine with grass beneath his fingers forever. He had to bring his vitamin D levels up again. He wondered how many vitamins he was deficient in now, thanks to Sam. His body was wrecked and it was all Sam's fault, and Tommy's and Tubbo's as well.

The sound of the lava though, was what almost got him. It bubbled and popped rhythmically, always the same. In the cell there had been exactly three sounds: the elder guardians coming to weaken him, the constant ticking of the clock striking its way into his brain, and the bubble and pop of the lava preventing him from getting out. He knew every small sound lava could make, down to the smallest detail, and it was here again now. Except this time he had blocks and air above the lava. And, he realised while quickly unshifting and looking through his inventory, a water bucket. The hissing of obsidian being made was music to his ears, gone was the sound, almost. There was still a layer under the obsidian that was still quietly bubbling away, but the sound was obscured. Dream looked at the obsidian, that tightness in his chest was back. He ignored it, he had exclusively walked on obsidian for the last few months, he could do this again. He did. He walked, slowly, almost too slowly, over to the diamonds and mined them up. It was an eight vein, more than enough to complete everything. A couple diamonds to spare would always help anyway.

Next came enchantments, or the nether. He should probably check what he had in his ender chest, it had been so long he had almost forgotten anything that was in there, but the only ones he knew of were by where people lived (for obvious reasons) and he didn't exactly want to go there. So, he figured, off to the nether it was. Blaze powder and pearls were what he needed. Unenchanted diamond armour, he was prepared enough, he was over prepared if anything. Unless he found a player.Dream quickly found another lava pool, better to make a new portal than risk being found in a known one. The lava raised the same reaction as last time, but he needed it this time, he couldn't get rid of it. Well he could, he had a diamond pickaxe, but that was slow. Dream wasn't exactly known for being slow. He placed a block in the lava and the water next to it, steam came up to meet him as obsidian was formed. Breaking the block he placed caused more steam and more obsidian, but the base of the portal was complete. He made an upside down L shape with some cobble, placing water at the top. Now it was time to pick up the lava. Why couldn't he pick up the lava? He used to throw himself into lava for fun and how his stupid brain was saying he couldn't handle it through a bucket? Dream's breathing quickened, this was bad. He picked the water back up and made the rest of the lake into obsidian. The diamond pick would be useful after all. He told himself it was because he needed extra obsidian for an ender chest.

The purple spirals of the portal stared at Dream. He needed to go through. He needed to go through and find a fortress, not die, not have a panic attack, and get out. The first three points would be easy, the last? He had held it off so far, he could continue to do so. Until he was the most powerful person on the server again, he would not allow himself to rest enough for his brain to catch up on what happened. When he was safe, when he was feared, he could allow himself to examine his mental health, make it stronger again. He couldn't be seen as weak, they'd kill him, or put him back in the prison. He couldn't be weak. Dream stepped through the portal.

There were a few signs of life, but it didn't seem like he was in a well trafficked area. Not the best spawn, but he could work with it for now. He sneaked constantly, on the off chance someone else was around. The heat if the nether reminded him of the cell. At least there wasn't much obsidian around. He had spawned in a warped forest, so he quickly dug into the wall a little and stared at an enderman. He was too far for it to reach him, but he could reach it. It dropped a pearl. One half down, now he just needed to find a fortress. He added angry endermen to the list of sounds he wasn't sure why he missed, but did nonetheless.

The endermen reminded him of a certain hybrid waiting back in the overworld. He'd have to get into contact with Ranboo again.

He had never minded the heat of the nether before, but now it suffocated him. He longed for the wind, even the stale but cold air from caves, but he had to press on. He told himself the humidity, or the heat, was the reason he had difficulty breathing.

Eventually, Dream found a fortress. The blaze spawner was pretty easy to find as well. Finally, luck had decided to give him a break. The first blaze he killed didn't drop a rod, but the second one did. Blocking himself away, he pulled out a crafting table. The blaze rod got turned into power, then combined with the pearl to make an eye of ender. Finally, Dream surrounded the eye in obsidian, creating an ender chest.They have off a faint glow. Being boxed into the wall with netherack all around, the ender chest was Dream's only source of light. He had missed the darkness, the lava had always illuminated his cell, giving off a bright orange light that he couldn't escape. The chest was different though, softer, easier on the eyes.

Dream opened his ender chest. He found his spare set of netherite armour, not fully enchanted but he could make it work for now, he'd get books in a bit to make it stronger. He'd have to be stronger this time. This could never happen again. There was also a bunch of netherite, he'd upgrade his tools in a bit, once he was out of the nether. And, of course, there was his trident, his riptide III trident. Some small voice inside him hoped it was still raining when he got back to the surface.

He had God apples now. How appropriate, he thought, that the man who can bring back the dead, a walking god, get access again to his God apples.Dream ditched the diamond armour and tools, and pulled on the netherite. Nightmare. He still needed to train, get his strength back, brew potions. But he was back, and the people who threw him into the obsidian prison were going to pay.

He made his way back to the portal, back to the overworld. He had to admit to himself, however much he hated to do so, that he now hated the nether. It was too hot, too much lava, the bubble and pop sounding over and over and over just like in the prison, the stupid obsidian box. He'd use the overworld for travel when he could. But, he thought to himself, he couldn't show weakness to others, they couldn't know how they'd managed to infect his mind, he would travel via the nether when with others. If he ever was with others. Was there anyone left that didn't hate him? That hadn't left him? Dream pushed those thoughts aside, forced himself to climb back to the surface. The cold air of the caves was a relief from the nether, but it was the rain he was seeking.

Dream hopped onto the grass and just stood there for a few seconds, letting the cold soothing rain hit his face. He'd get too cold soon, he knew that his body's ability to regulate temperature was ruined by living next to lava for- how long was it? Dream didn't know, doubted he ever would for certain.He had a riptide trident, a water bucket, and feather falling netherite boots. Dream smiled, genuinely smiled for the first time in a long long while. Pulling out his trident, he pushed himself into the air. Wind and rain whipped his face, he didn't know he could miss this. Dream flew through the air, he was finally free.

Now time to grind, then hunt down Sam.

#dreamwastaken #dsmp #dream smp #mcytblr #mcyt #dream #NebWrites #dreblr

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nightingalejune · 4 years ago

Text

Ok, so here we go.

As always, this is post-canon-own-body Atem. (And Bakura, he's just less important here.)

Setup: The Yugi squad, Ryou and Bakura, the Kaiba brothers, possibly Mai, possibly the Ishtars and Rex and Weevil have been transported into a magical game board by the current evil entity whom I have decided is a woman in this scenario because YGO is sorely lacking in female villains.

Blah blah everyone gets separated, blah blah have to win card games to escape, blah blah horrible consequences for losing, you all know the drill.

Atem and Haga (I know I called him Weevil earlier, just roll with it) find each other. Haga tries to act like... himself, but Atem really has no interest in engaging in his typical slime covered snark.* He just keeps saying "We don't have time for this, we need to find the others and escape."

(* I'm trying to decide whether I want DOMA to have actually happened in the canon of this scenario or if I want to ignore the fact that it exists. If yes, then Atem's interactions are heavily tinged with guilt and self hatred. If no, it's all annoyance bordering on anger.)

(No, actually I just came to a decision. DOMA never happened because I am not fond of it.)

Haga eventually gives up antagonizing Atem when he doesn't get the reactions he's wanting. For some reason they enter a cave. They walk together for a bit, before Haga starts asking things like "So you're that 'Other Yugi' I've heard the dorks talking about right? Are you magic?"

Atem, caught completely off guard by this incredibly accurate observation, blurts out "How did you know?!"

Unfortunately this conversation gets cut short due to Atem falling through a trap door.

Haga freaks out and goes running through the cave, only to find a spot for a duel against one of the villains' minions. Off to the side is Atem, strapped to a chair and hooked to two different IV bags.

The minion says that they and Haga are going to duel. For every 500 life points Haga loses, Atem will receive a dose of poison that if left untreated will kill him. For every 500 life points the minion loses, Atem will receive a dose of the antidote to the poison. If Haga loses, Atem will immediately be dosed with all of the poison left in the IV bag, vice versa if Haga wins.

Both Atem and Haga point out that that's crazy, and unfair because the minion doesn't have anything on the line like they do. Minion basically says "Tough cookies, let's duel."

The duel... does not go well for Haga. He's had his confidence as a duelist shattered over and over again, and now he's in a situation with massive stress placed on his shoulders. He plays way too defensively, and pays the price for it.

Or rather, Atem pays the price.

The first few doses of poison aren't so bad, but soon enough Haga has lost over half his life points and Atem is in dizzying amounts of pain.

Seeing Atem get progressively worse only fuels Haga's anxiety further, causing him to make more mistakes. It doesn't help that the minion is just constantly trash talking him, bringing up past losses and reminding him that he only ever felt confident when he cheated.

It eventually gets to a point where it really looks like Haga is going to lose. A real "Darkest Hour" situation. Atem is barely conscious and Haga is about to succumb to despair.

He never wanted anyone to get hurt. And he especially didn't want anyone to die. And now this person, whom he grudgingly respects, is dying before his eyes. And it's all. His. Fault.

Hearing this, Atem briefly manages to pull himself back up to full consciousness. Just long enough to get Haga's attention.

"It's not... your fault... it's not... your... fault..."

With that declaration Atem passes out completely.

The minion starts laughing maniacally, thinking that this is going to be what breaks Haga completely.

But it doesn't.

Haga pulls himself up and declares that he will not lose, that he is going to save Atem and they are going to escape this game.

In true YGO protagonist fashion, Haga turns the duel around, finally getting his confidence as a duelist back.

As the minion's Life Points hit zero, Haga books over to Atem, doesn't even take the time to gloat.

"Wake up... Please wake up... please... please..."

As promised, Atem has received the rest of the antidote and his restraints have been released. However, having that much poison coursing through your veins is never good, so even with the antidote he's still very weak. He only barely manages to wake up again, and not all the way.

Haga has Atem lean on his shoulder while they walk out of the cave. They have time to talk.

"I'm glad... you won..."

"Well yeah, you would have died if I didn't."

"Not just... for that... your cards..."

"What? What about my cards?"

"Your cards... care about you... they want you to win..."

"What."

"They just wish... you'd give up on cheating."

"You are out of your mind!"

"Am not... not anymore..."

They get out of the cave and Haga sits Atem down under a tree.

"Wait here, I'm going to look around."

After that Haga sees Jounouchi and Honda on a lower ledge and shouts to get their attention.

They manage to meet up and Haga takes them back to Atem.

Jounouchi and Honda start to accuse Haga of being responsible for Atem's poor condition but Atem quickly corrects him, that Haga saved his life.

They both look surprised, but get over it relatively soon. They thank Haga for his help and congratulate him on his duel. Haga is basically in tears by the end of it.

Honda volunteers to carry Atem on his back until he recovers.

And with that they're off to find a way out of this game.

#insector haga #weevil underwood #yugioh #my writing #i hope it was worth the wait

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hercleverboy · 4 years ago

Note

I read 'Butterflies' and really enjoyed it. I was moved especially by the reader. I have a headcanon question, if you don't mind. Did the reader ever forgive Spencer? What did Spencer do after the conversation? Did he atone for his mistake? Did the team? Did this experience change Spencer forever? Thank you!

first of all, thank you so much! I’m very happy you enjoyed it, it’s one of my favourite pieces.

secondly, admittedly I’ve never given much thought into what occurred after the reader and Spencer’s conversation. however since you asked, I revisited the story and have come up with some thoughts/hc’s that will hopefully answer your questions:

(this accidentally got super long, sorry if this was more than you wanted!!)

((read ‘butterflies’ here!))

—

tw // mentions of death, slight suicidal thoughts.

- after their conversation, Spencer left with an unimaginable amount of guilt weighing on his shoulders. he also found himself selfishly disappointed.

- it was silly, he knew. he couldn’t have expected her to welcome him back into her life with open arms. Not after what he’d done. He had to be prepared to face the reality that the forgiveness he sought may never come.

- of course it was going to take time to earn back her trust, her friendship, her love. and If he loved her as much as he claimed he did, he’d be willing to wait.

- and wait he did.

- but the reader was struggling with an internal debate. she could see the sincerity in his words, the remorseful look in his eyes. She’d almost wanted to cave and accept him back into her arms immediately at the sight of the tears that had spilled from his eyes. but how does one even begin to process something like that? how should she forgive someone that had hurt her so deeply?

- Spencer threw himself back into his work, the best form of distraction for him. he worked tirelessly on cases and even acted recklessly in the field at times, a product of his own all-consuming guilt. after what he did to Y/N, his best friend, the woman he loved, wouldn’t it be better for him to die in the field? was death the price he’d have to pay to atone for his mistakes? would anything else feel good enough?

- anytime the team tried to call him out on his recklessness, he’d snap back at them, with snarky comments under his breath.

- really, it was just an attempt to alleviate the weight of his guilt by passing it onto his team. it was wrong, and Spencer knew it, but it was how he was coping.

- the fear of never receiving the absolution he craved kept him up at night. He knew very well that the reader didn’t owe him forgiveness, not at all. his apology didn’t mean everything was suddenly fixed, that things would go back to the way they once were.

- but it was a genuine mistake, one that wasn’t exactly avoidable. they had every reason to believe she was the culprit. the evidence was mounted up against her.

- he especially suffered with feeling as though he’d let her down.

- he let his profession cloud his judgment, trusted the profile more than his best friend.

- eventually, after taking the time to think over everything and consider her options, the reader approached him and they began to rebuild a friendship from there.

- at the end of the day, the reader still loved Spencer. despite what she’d said, that kind of feeling didn’t just disappear. and her love for him seemingly outweighed the bad enough that she would be willing to give their relationship another shot.

- though she secretly hated the part of herself that loved him. she hated how no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t seem to hate him.

- and it was that love for him that convinced her to stick around and attempt to revive whatever could possibly be rebuilt from the ashes of their relationship.

- as for the team; they overcompensated for months afterward.

- JJ easily felt the worst out of everyone. She’d seen first hand how much prison had impacted Spencer, and she wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone. She’d call reader frequently, and they’d talk about anything that either of them wanted to. JJ desperately wanted to relieve her own guilt, to take full accountability for her part in the readers conviction. after all, forgiveness is earned and JJ had certainly done just that.

- Penelope went into overdrive trying to compensate for her part in the readers wrongful conviction. She was definitely the most hands on. She brought gift baskets to the readers door, beaming as she spoke about how the nuts increased serotonin levels. the reader had to tell her eventually that her forgiveness could not be bought. however, Penelope needn’t worry. It didn’t take more than one look for Y/N to see how extremely apologetic the woman was. Her willingness to prove her sincerity was moving, and the reader was quick to reassure her that all was certainly forgiven.

- Morgan felt more liable that he cared to admit. However, he didn’t want to overstep or force her to forgive him by repeatedly turning up on her doorstep. and so, he wrote letters. though he only ever wrote three. the first was the longest, detailing an explanation for his actions that he felt she deserved. the second was slightly shorter, and asked her more generally how she was doing with rehabilitating back into society. he knew his guilty conscience wasn’t her problem, but he couldn’t help but feel even more awful every time he looked at how miserable Spencer had been ever since. the third letter was the shortest, just a few simple sentences ‘the kid is a mess. nearly got himself killed in the field last week. you don’t need to forgive him, that’s well within your right to decide. but if there’s anyone who deserves vindication it’s him.’ the reader eventually wrote back, confirming that she forgave Derek for his part, and that she would consider what he’d said about Spencer.

- and Spencer certainly was a changed man following the experience.

- for a long time aftward, he struggled internally with forgiving himself. something that he wasn’t sure he would ever fully come to terms with.

- because how could he expect Y/N to forgive him if he couldn’t even forgive himself?

- ultimately, I’ll leave the decision as to whether the reader ever really forgives Spencer up to you, the audience. you decide, is he worthy of her forgiveness? if not, would he become worthy of it in the future?

#I hope this was what you were looking for!#much love ❤️#butterflies #spencer reid

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birdwithavendetta · 4 years ago

Text

A New Creature Named Link

Hello! I am here to project onto Wild until it int Wild anymore! This is a self indulgent fic born from the fact that i feel like i can't share my interests with my friends without them making fun of me or getting bored, and my mother not really letting me stim...... this should be fun!

I'm changing wild’s age because I'm 15, and I want to, so he's 15 now.

expect some fluffy angst(eventually), cuz that's what I'm good at.

When he awoke, first awoke, he felt nothing, remembered nothing, heard nothing but the voice speaking to him, much too loud in his head. It was calling a name, a name he suspected was his name, repeating it over and over again.

"Link"

Feeling came to 'link' in a rush. He hated it. It was cold, and in a bad way. The room buzzed and hummed and echoed, despite the fact that he was under what felt almost like water. But it wasn't water, the strange water around him was too thick and too smooth at the same time. It felt wrong against his skin.

The voice that woke him was still too loud inside his head. He recognized it, but had no idea why. He could tell it was a woman, he felt like he should know her.

But he didn't.

She was begging him to open his eyes. Begging him to wake up.

No matter how much he wanted it to, his body refused to move. Even as the strange water slid against his skin, draining down tubes somewhere above his head, he couldn't grit his teeth like he wanted to, he couldn't throw himself away from it trying to wipe it off his arms.

Only once most of it was gone, and the rest of it was evaporating all too fast on his skin, making the horrid cold worse, could he open his eyes.

Link shot up, stumbling out of the black stone basin, trying to shake off the feeling of the not-water. An ache in his chest made itself known....... An ache that link realised was from not being able to breathe, but he was breathing, the echo of links panicked breaths hissed in his ears. Strange, and not at all how breathing should sound. He was breathing, why did it feel like he wasn't, why did it ache like that if there was air moving through his lungs, he shouldn't feel like he wasn't breathing at all.

Wrapping his arms around himself, in a vain attempt to keep the air in his lungs. Link closed his eyes tapping his fingers rhythmically against his ribcage. Till the quick hissed breting, evened out. He wasn't sure where he learned the tactic, or even why he knew it in the first place, but he was grateful.

The way the room echoed was not bad. Link decided that he honestly really liked the echo. The ambient hum in the room was nice too, it was very quiet, he could barley feel it rumbling under his bare feet.

Keeping his arms wrapped around himself, Link let his eyes roam around the room. The blue tint that everything had was...... eerie, but soothing, in its own way. The room was mostly empty, filled only with the now dry basin that held the not-water, glowing blue tubes attached to a flower shape above the basin, and a pedestal that sat in the corner of the room. The same blue emanated from carved lines on its surface.

Deciding the pedestal to be the more interesting artifact, Link unwrapped his arms and trotted over to it. reaching out to touch it. Link almost yelped when the clicking and whirring of machinery spilled into the stagnant air.

The voice was back again, calling the glowing orange thin box thing that had risen from the pedestal, a sheikah slate. The orange glow on it grew and reseeded with every breath, but the blue weeping eye kept on staring at him.

Reaching out a hesitant hand Link took it. jumping a little when it came to life. There was a belt on his hip with a convenient hold for the slate, reasoning that it was probably for this express purpose, a link attached to his hip.

More mechanical whirring and clicking as the pedestal righted itself, the humm of the room grew, energy moving from one place to the next. The scrape and grinding growl of stone sliding across stone filled the air, the segments of the wall sliding up to make a doorway. stepping out into the new room, Link found it to be rather a lot different from the one he just came from.

Same strange black stone walls, but different glowing orange constellations. Same rough gold stone wrapped around all the edges, but larger and almost completely empty, save some crates, and two cheats. He took the old worn clothes in the chests.

Warily he walked over to the opposite wall; it looked quite a bit like the stone door behind him. Another pedestal, and more words from the woman, telling him what to do. Hold the sheikah slate up to the pedestal. it wasn't the same as the pedestal in the other room, it was smooth excusing the same weeping eye carved on it.

Slowly, he held the slate up to it, not quite sure if that is what the girl meant. Blue light bursts from the carved lines, more energy hummed and rumbled under foot, moving toward the door.

The grumble of the stone was stronger with this door, Link had a feeling that this one led out. He was very quickly proven right when an unbelievable amount of light shone under the rising stone slabs. The cool green air from outside the cave rushed over him, filling his lungs.

The voice echoed in his mind as the light shone, too bright, in his eyes. She seemed to like speaking in her metaphors. Metaphors he did not understand.

Making his way through the tunnel, toward the bright daylight on the other side. The air full of green life, the bright sun warm on his skin, the grass whispered and murmured with the trees.

This was how it was supposed to be.

--<>-----<>-----<>--

Link knew he was strange.

Everyone thought so, they were usually kind about it, if someone saved you from a bokoblin you werent gonna be rude to em'. But it was evident that they thought him a strange sort.

He did a lot of things that he had never seen other people do. These were the things that people stared at him for. But he really didn't try to pay attention, if they had a problem, that was for them to decide. If anything, Link felt that most people were weirder than he was.

Other travelers and warriors understood.

Once he had been sitting with two other travelers at a fire for the night. Coming together as strangers, for safety as they slept, and parenting as friends with the sunrize. They had spoken about all the weird things they had come across in their travels.

Link was glad that most people knew sign language, because he couldn't force words out of his mouth. Every time he tried it felt like something was wrapping a hand around his throat and squeezing. All the stable masters knew sign, and so did most of the warriors he came in contact with. They would use it to talk to each other without alerting monsters to their presence.

When he spent too much time around people, everything would get too loud, he would flinch at the feeling of his clothes, people would get mad at him, and he'd find himself on the brink of tears. So he'd wrap his arms around himself, and find a quiet place to sit, away from any travelers or any monsters, and just be.

some people were rude about all of it,

But Kass was always happy when Link got excited for each of his songs, and every time link caught a beetle for....Beetle, the man would give an excited shout. The stable owners never complained when he opted to sleep outside, children liked Link, playing with or around him. Sidon would smile and talk with him despite the fact that link could only bring himself to sign.

so he didn't let the other peoples reaction bother him.

Then Link defeated Ganon, and rescued Zelda, he was ecstatic, she was almost hysterical with joy. they both were tired, dirty, and just so happy.

Zelda knew she had to rebuild hyrule. She had to connect the fragmented bits of the now broken land. explaining to them that she was zelda, and she had held back the calamity for 100 years. There were mixed reactions. But most people were glad that the kingdom was going to be put back together, some seemed to think that Zelda and Link had failed them, they were wrong about Zelda, she had fought so hard. But Link had failed them, failed them and gotten to take a one hundred year break, while Zelda held back the calamity, Alone.

Link hadn't really spoken before the calamity, had not spoken at all after he woke up in the shrine, so it was difficult at first because Zelda had never learned sign language, and Link's voice was so broken with disuse that he could barely choke out a single word. But slowly, Zelda helped Link speak. Now he could carry a short conversation, very short, and very quiet, but he could do it.

The calamities hold on Hyrule had left its mark, blood moons still happened, if irregularly, travel was dangerous, as monsters still plagued the land. Some of the monsters were even getting infected with something, their blood turned black, some of them got smarter, they all got more aggressive, they all were stronger.

They would seek out the smell of blood, so Link told all the warriors he spoke to, to cover the scent if they got hurt, so they had a better chance of getting back to safety. Tt was already common to stash and hide weapons so that monsters don't get their hands on them after blood moons, now you just had to hide the smell of blood on them too.

Bundles of flowers work, so do most spices, but spice hurts when you put it on an open wound, much more than a silent princess paste.

Link and Zelda traveled around finding capable warriors to help rebuild the army, the shika trained them, it wasn't much, but it was enough to keep those working on rebuilding the castle town safe.

It was fun at first, traveling across Hyrule, like he had before he had defeated Ganon, but not crushingly alone this time, connecting hyrule. But Zelda kept giving him rules. Like,

"Stop wrapping your knuckles against the sheikah slate"

"Don't rocking back and forth when talking to someone it's rude"

"You need to quiet down, your talking to loud,"

He kept getting comments on how he acted, so he started correcting himself, and started doing things he saw other people do. After the first week of doing this he ran into the woods next to the riverside stable, he stayed there, crying silently, until Zelda found him, several hours later.

"You need to stop fidgeting so much,"

"Look at people when your talking to them,"

"Quit humming like that,"

The words meant a lot more coming from Zelda, he had heard them before, from other people, more detached from him, less personal. And what's worse, now he had to listen to them, she was the queen after all.

"Stop snapping your fingers it's distracting"

"I know you like to run off but were busy now,"

"The inn is not too loud, your overreacting, come on,"

He was getting tired, Zelda had shika warriors to guard her, Link was just a sort of trophy, since he was the one who dealt the final blow to the calamity. He was just sort of there. Most people still had no idea that link was the chosen hero from all those years ago. They still thought of him as a boy playing hero, carrying the name of a man that died in battle.

Soon his voice was lost under anxiety, each time someone ignored, spoke over or got mad at him, his words he got quieter, no one really seemed to notice. Zelda did, she never remarked on it, but he caught her looking when he signed with sidon rather than speaking like the last time they were in Zora's domain together.

One night, while staying at the South Akkala Stable, Link decided to leave. unceremoniously, quite honestly not sure why he had decided to, he got up. It was the middle of the night,Link was tired, but he continued, completely silent.

he asked for a piece of paper and something to write with from the stable owner. making a simple note for Zelda. It may be a bit rude, especially to give to the queen of Hyrule, but Link had made his decision. Tucking a dried and pressed silent princess into the fold of the paper, Link stepped away from Zeldas sleeping form.

"If you don't mind me asking, what might you be doing?" Dmitri, the stable owner, asked. Quiet, carefully mindful of the other residents of the stable. Link smiled, only just visible under the shadow cast by his hood, lifting his hands to sign.

"Running away," that pulled a snort from Dmitri,

"From what boy, if it's your job, i think your too young to have one anyway" A playfully exasperated tone seeped into his words as he leaned forward, "Of course it must be tied to that slumbering princess over there"

Link only gave a hum in response,

"Right," Dmitri grinned as he stood up straight. "So let the other stables know that the hooligan is back on the loose, got it." he said, chucking. Link's smile grew, he liked it when other people laughed.

Link's eyes flicked over to the moonswept fields that he was about to find himself immersed in again. The whisper of the long grass was so close. He missed it all. Somehow even the crushing loneliness.

"Do you want to take a horse or are you leaving on foot?" Link faltered, it would be faster to ride but there was more of a chance of someone waking up and ruining his chances for today. he couldn't warp using the shrine, every time he did that Zelda could see where he went on her own slate.

"Walk" was safest, and the fastest way out, if he chose to ride he would have to wait for all the paperwork.....And he'd have to saddle up his horse, which could make way too much noise. Dmitri hummed in affirmation, putting away the papers he had started to get out.

"Well safe travels boy," he leaned back against the side of the counter. "Hope to see you soon," Link smiled in return, and silently trotted out into the field. immediately lost to the untrained eye.

This was how it was supposed to be.

( I got my own issues that I plan on projecting onto wild, but this ended up being a bit more like a sloppy prologue. writing a character for the first time is hard, especially when you imagine everything in move/animation format,)

#linked universe #wild #twilight #time #hyrule #four #warriors #legend #wind #sky #idontknowhowtotag #loz #legend of zelda #link #hero of wild #flora #botw

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imagine-organization-xiii · 4 years ago

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Ideal Halloween themed dates for each organization member? 🎃

This was amazingly done by Sam last night while I was suffering from the hurricane in a blackout. AND GUESS WHO WAS FORCED TO WORK WHEN SHE SHOULD BE AT HOME HELPING CLEAN UP THE YARD UGH

Xemnas - Go for a late-night walk in the cemetery - Is it totally creepy at night? Yes. Do you both love it? Absolutely! There’s something special in the air on halloween night, maybe it was wayward spirits or the sense of mischief in the air, but whatever it is, it’s positively enthralling. The two of you walk amongst the graves, basking in the brightness of the moonlight and talking of your plans for the future. Hearing Xemnas talk of his goals is one of the many reasons you fell in love with him in the first place, after all. And if that weren’t good enough, the superior even takes a little extra time to surprise you with a small picnic set up under an old willow tree. There, the two of you eat lit only by a single candle and the full moon, until you decide to lay down and look at the sky until your eyes grow heavy.

Xigbar - Watch a Scary Movie at the Drive-In! - Xigbar likes to think of himself as a cool guy, and what would be cooler than picking up his sweetheart and taking them to scary movies at the drive-in? Watching a scary flick on the big screen is fun, but what’s even better is you holding him close to you when you are scared!! Score!! And when the movie is over, Xigbar might drive you both up to “make-out point” and well.. You know.. Best not hope there aren’t any psycho killers in the woods that night!!! You don’t want to end up in the sequel!

Xaldin - Build a Fire and Tell Ghost Stories - Camping out in the woods on Halloween night? Most people would say that doing so would be a terrible idea. BUT NOT YOU AND XALDIN! Camping on a cool fall night like Halloween is an absolute dream, and the two of you have the entire night to yourselves with no one else to bother you. Curled up together in front of the warm fire, now the real fun begins. You start to pass around your flashlight, telling stories and doing your best to scare the other until the end of the night when you are too scared to sleep alone. You curl up in Xaldin’s sleeping bag, resting your head on his shoulder as you ask him to protect you. You can literally feel his pride swell as you curl into him, as he longs to to protect you from what bumps in the night.

Vexen - Set Up Your Own Haunted House - Well, At first, Vexen didn’t feel that Halloween was a good enough excuse to be leaving his lab, so in your stubbornness, you decided to bring Halloween to him. You proceeded to sneak into the lab during the few hours that Vexen was not around, covering the walls in countless halloween decorations. Needless to day, Vexen was not particularly pleased at first at your redecoration. In fact he was furious. But as the day went one and he watched all of his fellow organization members coming to see ‘the haunted lab’, he couldn't help but see how happy scaring your fellow members was making you. And by the end of the night, he may or may not have stolen some of your fake blood and scared Demyx so badly he nearly soiled his trousers. Maybe taking a day off for Halloween wasn’t so bad after all.

Lexaeus - Make Decorated Halloween Cookies - Ohhh!!!! Baking is one of your favorite shared activities, and making fun halloween shapes is an absolute blast! You started with a basic sugar, something fun and easy, making shapes like ghosts and pumpkins! Working with Royal icing for the first time was a bit of a challenge, but you were able to figure it out after a few less than perfect tests. More and more cookies go into the oven, the warm smells drawing in everyone in the castle at least once to see where the aromas came from. By the end of the night, you are both covered in flower and grinning ear to ear as everyone has a taste of your treats!

Zexion - Have a horror movie marathon - Curled up in the dark Room, Zexion waited for you. The table was covered with candles and snack foods of all sorts. Neither of you were huge movie buffs, but after weeks of being hounded by the other members to watch a series of movies you hadn’t even heard of before, you eventually caved into trying something new. At first, you started with a classic slasher fic, you know.. With the teenagers having sex and then WHAM serial killer. You didn’t need to know horror movies to know how it would go, but you still jumped and clung to Zexion as hard as you could. The more and more movies you played, you became comfortable and snuggled close under the blankets with Zexion. Eventually, his hands started to wander, either uninterested by the film or simply unable to resist you. Either way, you didn’t pay much to the movies after that.

Saix - Get Spooked at a Haunted House - At first you thought it would be a great idea to go to a haunted house with your sweetheart, though Saix didn’t seem to agree. At first it was smooth sailing, walking through the house and jumping at the occasional spider prop or ghost puppet, until the first performer came through. The man wielded a chainsaw and charged your way, earning a squeal from you. Saix immediately moved to defend you, and in doing so, looked so intense that the chainsaw wielding man stopped in his tracks. “Woah, dude! You’re terrifying dude! Who did your makeup? Hey, Charlie! Get in here!!” in a matter of minutes, half of the cast of this haunted house, zombies and spirits alike, were in the room with you, complimenting how absolutely terrifying your boyfriend looked. And While he seemed unamused at their gawking, you could swear you saw a little smirk on his lips. Definitely not what you expected, but this certainly was a fun night of surprises!

Axel - Do a Late-Night Corn Maze! - Because who doesn’t love getting lost in the dark! No for real though, you thought you wouldn’t like the maze, but with every step, you and Axel had lots of fun! He even brought some flashlights and snacks to enjoy along the walk! Though as you walk farther along the trail, Axel decides it’s the perfect moment to regale you with a story, one about a couple that got lost on this very trail. It’s a good story, and you know he is trying to scare you but it won’t work until-- What was that??? You turn around and look for the source of the sound, but as soon as you turn back-- GOTCHA!! You scream. Loud. And all you can hear is Axel’s piercing laughter. Oh he got you good. You give him a punch in the arm, perhaps a little too hard. This maze wasn’t over yet and you were determined to get him back.

Demyx - Carve Pumpkins! - Man, trusting Demyx with a knife worried you at first, but every step was a barrel of fun! Scooping out the pumpkin was really messy and watching Demyx scream as he stuck his arm inside his pumpkin was an absolute riot. Pumpkin guts got everywhere, and then you had to CARVE the thing! Demyx quickly grew tired of actually carving his pumpkin, and simply drew a smiley face on the outside with a sharpie, but upon seeing the pumpkin you carved, he is utterly FLOORED. Suddenly, he is lifting the gourd up and carrying it around the castle, so proud of your work and bragging it to everyone in the castle!

Luxord - Take a Haunted Ghost Tour - A lot of “haunted” cities have these, but they are essentially a night of visiting actual haunted sites like houses and graveyards accompanied by a guide! And while you might not see any paranormal activity on your tour, hearing the tales of each stop is absolutely fascinating! And while this isn’t a ‘traditional’ halloween date, you and Luxord have a terribly good time learning! Though Luxord having a canteen of hot cider and a hip flask of bourbon definitely helped.

Marluxia - Plan or make your own Halloween costumes! - If ANYONE loves a good dressing up, it’s Marluxia! After one very LONG trip to the costume store to buy accessories, the entire night became a movie style makeover montage! Each of you pulled clothes out from your closet and box of accessories to make as many original looks as possible, doing each other's makeup and playing some fun spooky songs in the background! It was a total blast!! And when you’re both tucked out from your costume adventure, you both curl up in your most comfortable looks and watch as many episodes of The X-Files as you can before falling asleep in bed.

Larxene - Go Apple Picking - At first, Larxene wasn’t extremely interested in apple picking, saying that it was a lot of hiking for some heavy apples, but something about dressing in matching flannels and seeing how much there was to do seemed to change her mind. After picking a good amount of apples, (And Larxene showing up any dude that was trying to pick apples by zapping them out of trees) the two of you decided to hit up the small festival outside of the orchard. Among the stalls there were different kinds of foods and drinks for sale which you tried and loved! You never were able to eat all of the apples you picked, but eventually shared them with the rest of the organization so that they didn’t go bad.

Roxas - Celebrate Mischief Night! - You didn’t know about mischief night until Axel and Roxas told you about it, but apparently it is the night when the youths of twilight town ran amuck with pranks of all sorts! And how could you say no to that! At first the two of you started in twilight town, joining with the other children as they draw on the streets and egg houses. The adrenalin filled you as you ran from angry store clerks and fled in the woods. There was no way they would find you now. But as you walked through the woods, it became painfully apparent that you were becoming lost, until you and Roxas came across a large mansion in the woods. You could stay there until morning to go home, but the mischievous glint in Roxas’s eye begged to differ. Suddenly your rolls of toilet paper were flying as you TP’d the mansion with sniper-like accuracy. It was so fun you nearly fell over in laughter before opening a portal back home, leaving the mysterious mansion behind. As you left, you wondered what it held, but knew that you would probably never know.

Xion - Go Trick or Treating! - Are you two a little old for trick-or-treating? Maybe so, but it is so much fun to dress up in fun costumes and collect candy! Xion is so small and cute, no one would raise any questions as to if she were too old or not. And after a whole evening of running from house to house, collecting so much candy that your pillowcases are full, you both retire back home to curl up together, watch a spooky movie, and trade candy all night! (Or until she falls asleep next to you!)

#organization xiii headcanons #holiday headcanons #halloween headcanons #image headcanon #kingdom hearts headcanon

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comrade-meow · 3 years ago

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The market is said to control the price of rent. However, landlords own large chunks of property and will often withhold property in order to artificially inflate the market prices of rented accommodation.

The cost of rent is forecast to rise by 15% in Britain over the next five years and real wages are stagnating. Whilst this is the result of capitalism’s inherent contradictions, there are many ways in which people have fought and continue to fight to effect real change whilst we progress towards revolution. One of the strongest tactics people have employed against unfair rent, is through rent strikes.

The Communist Party played an integral part in the rent strikes. One popular tactic was for party members to go around all the houses in a street and ask the tenants to pay only the regular amount of rent, not the extra that had just been hiked up.

Women played a particularly prominent role in the rent strikes. The women of the Communist Party were lynchpins who helped organise resistance to landlords. Another popular tactic was where women would switch the nameplates on the doors, in order to confuse the bailiffs who were unfamiliar with the area.

Sometimes these tactics were not quite enough and when someone was facing eviction, the tactic of direct action was employed. Entire streets worth of tenants would flood the street to stop the bailiffs passing.

Another form of rent strike is the use of squatting. Squatting is where people occupy an empty piece of private property that has sat dormant and is not being used to house people. The squatters do not pay any rent to the landlord whilst they are squatting there.

The Connolly Youth Movement in Ireland have had great success at implementing squatting within a communist framework. The movement have implemented communism’s rejection of private property by taking over a former house that has been allowed to become derelict through the hoarding of accommodation under capitalist notions of private property.

The stereotypical view of squats is that they are unsanitary places, but the Connolly Youth Movement have implemented cleaning rotas and principles of democratic centralism, that make for an efficient way of occupying capitalist private property.

There is a proud real socialist history of rent strikes in Britain, although this could be the subject of a whole book, we have tried to cover what we found the most relevant and intriguing.

In the summer of 1939 some 45,000 council housed tenants in Birmingham stood up to Tory rent increases via a mass strike. The 30s’ in Brum was ripe with working class resistance, such as prominent trade unionist Jessie Eden leading 10,000 women out to the Joseph Lucas Motors picket line in 31’, in refusal to the new ‘Beaux’ system introduced in which pay depended on a dubiously measured level of productivity. This women’s strike amongst more industrial action defeated the Lucas bosses, heralding the headline of the 29th January 1932 Daily Worker to be ‘VICTORY! BEDAUX SYSTEM SMASHED!’.

Jessie Eden, Communist of Peaky Blinders fame, was a well known industrial and tenants leader in 1930’s Birmingham. You can read more about her as part of the YCL’s International Women’s Day Series in 2019.

In the advent of further successful industrial action and the slight restabilising of the economy, towards the late 30s’, small sections of Birmingham’s proletariat were receiving a few extra crumbs from the table of the bourgeois, this became an excuse for the Tory council to hugely increase rent on municipal homes, although the real reason was simply so they could lower council tax for their core voter base of middle class home owners.

The rent rises were questionably means tested, based on the size of one’s house, hitting hardest families who had bigger homes to facilitate their children. The Tories sent out forms to means test people in the communities. These did not get filled in. They attempted further coercion by offering temporarily rebated increases for lower income tenants. This did not change many perspectives.

Soon enough Birmingham’s Central Tenants Association got involved, headed by Communist party member Ted Smallbone, with previously mentioned Jesse Eden (now also in the CP) as vice secretary.

Close to when the increases were to be introduced, the CTA arranged a vote regarding a rent strike throughout Birmingham’s estates in the April of 39’. Around 92% were in favour. In a fierce battle, tenants withheld rent from the council for ten weeks. Whole communities were in a state of militancy, protecting their communities from the force of bailiffs and rent collectors. The CTAs own paper, ‘The Tenant’ was used to propagate and maintain the strike, with its circulation of 40,000, using this, signs stating ‘’No rent: On strike’’ were given to tenants and put onto thousands of windows.

The high level of organisation in the strike and the frequency of mass street protests struck fear in the hearts of Birmingham’s elite, showcasing the irrefutable power of an organised working class. The establishment paper The Birmingham Post desperately attempted to break the strike by claiming that most tenants were secretly paying their rent and merely pretended to be striking in fear of ostracization. There was little to no evidence to confirm this. The strike continued at full pace. The council was put into a corner they could not escape, and on the 3rd of July 1939, closing in on the outbreak of world war, the council caved in and abolished the rent increases, maintain the rebated rents and even ushered a promise of 50,000 new municipal homes. These huge compromises showed the power and potential of this rent strike movement, perhaps there would have been a lot of revolutionary potential had it not been just before WWII. Albeit, this brought the Communist Party to the forefront of the rent movement.

Despite the positive effect of post-war housing reform, Britain’s bourgeoisie inevitably still had the intention to squeeze as much as they could out of tenants, which was of course met with fierce resistance.

A notable event being the 1959-61 St Pancras rent strikes. Instigated because of the 1957 Rent Act, which stated that the level of rent would be based on rateable value and also because of the Tories taking control of the Borough in 59’, further increasing the rents. The United Tenants Association, comprised of 35 different labour organisations, suggested a strike, this was carried out by 8,000 tenants, all then threatened with eviction by the council.

It all kicked off on the 22nd of September 1960, when the council sent five bailiffs, accompanied by eight hundred police to evict two leaders of the strike; Arthur Rowe and Don Cook. The community was quickly alerted to what had happened and rushed out of bed to help on that climacteric early Thursday morning. Soon enough, there was a full-on battle between tenants and the police. Their batons were matched with whatever could be found; rocks, sticks, milk bottles…

There were dozens of injuries and arrests, all for the sake of working-class solidarity against the systemic exploitation imposed on them by these policies of Rachmanism. The strikes eventually came to nothing due to the brutal repression by the class traitors within the police, despite this, it reaffirmed the revolutionary potential of mass strikes and showed that there’s an alternative to the conventional politics of pleas, polls and petitions.

There were other significant rent strikes post WWII. One was the East London rent strike of 1968-70. The Tory ran Greater London Council (which was the biggest municipal housing authority in the country), proposed a policy to try and match the price of social housing to that of the private market, which would have increased rent by an average of 70% over the next three years, this resulted in thousands striking and 20,000 protesting on Trafalgar square in solidarity.

In July 1970 the GLC wrote to tenants that if they did not pay up in three weeks they would be evicted; this prompted the creation of an anti-eviction committee and further protests outside the city hall. Eventually the government were forced to step in, shook again by the fear of strong popular resistance, and forced the Greater London Council to retract the increases.

Albeit, my research began to dry up when looking for rent strikes in the 80s’ and beyond. This we have put down too many factors, particularly due to the ‘quieting down’ of real left-wing politics and the rise of Neo-Liberalism. This manifested itself with the elections of the likes of Reagan and Thatcher, the imperialistic destruction of Allende’s socialist project in Chile and the rise of reactionary nationalism in Britain, with the Falklands war and the breaking up of the Britain’s Communist party in 88’.

These are among a plethora of grim events. This period can be defined as an age of nihilism as far as the cause of building a better world is concerned. Nevertheless, to borrow from Engels, this period seems to be withering away. In Scotland, the grassroots tenant’s union, Living Rent, with many Party and YCL members involved, are building a strong network of resistance against exploitative private landlords and unifying local authority tenants who have been too long neglected by the council. This can be seen with their outreach programme in the Muirhouse estate of Edinburgh.

There is also ACORN, Living Rent’s sister union, operating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Their work has liberated thousands of tenants from unfair evictions and unjust money grabbing from previously unchallenged landlords. Only time will tell what the future brings, but the power of British communists and therefore the working class is inevitably on its way up.

#Anglo.txt

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eusjess · 4 years ago

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𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆:

⟨ SAMANTHA LOGAN. CIS FEMALE. SHE / HER. ⟩ though the mist might prevent some from seeing it, 𝐉𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀 ‘𝐉𝐄𝐒𝐒’ 𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐎 is actually a descendent of 𝐊𝐇𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐄. it’s still a question of whether or not the 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 year old 𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐌 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐔𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 from 𝐒𝐓 𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐈𝐒, 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐈, 𝐔𝐒𝐀 has taken after their godly parent completely, but the demigod is still known to be quite 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 & 𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐒𝐇.

𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒:

little sister, little spitefire always trying to fill her older brother’s shoes ( even when he’s off in the nhl ) ; a fiercely INDEPENDENT woman trying to cut her way through a sport with little future for her but she pays that no mind ; an agile winger with an insanely accurate shot, and a loyal teammate perhaps a little prone to anger ; extremely proficient in her aerokinesis and levitation, often using it to have a little fun with aerial acrobatics ; creator of snow but struggles with ice ; in tune with all aspects of herself, from her athleticism to her beauty to her sexuality ; she’ll leap before she looks and deal with the consequences herself, reluctant to ask for help even when she desperately needs it.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘:

— jess was born on a surprisingly mild winter’s day in st. louis three hours after her brother, jonathan, but not in the same place and definitely not to the same mother. let’s just say that arrival home from the hospital was a surprise and leave it at that, but khione has always gotten what she wanted and it was quickly that the samaroo’s were enamored with the little girl slumbering peacefully in the goddess’ arms. that would be the last time jess saw her birth mother for thirteen years but she did not lack a mother.

— raised as both samaroo’s own, she would proceed to pretend those three hours that separated her from her brother simply did not exist. anywhere her brother went, jess did too. anything her brother did, she wanted to do too. this went from endearing to annoying to concerning at some points, specifically when her brother picked up a hockey stick at seven and she sat in the stands at six. from the minute she walked into the arena she knew that this was a place where she belonged, for the chill in the air and the action on the ice ; it was something innate and much like her godly mother, jess often got what she wanted.

— she begged her parents to let her on the ice, and eventually they caved : but only to the world of sparkly dresses and pristine white figure skates. and for a while, that was alright. jess learned to skate ( exceedingly well ), surpassing her peers by leaps and bounds — sometimes, a bit literally.

— jess’ content nature lasted a little over a year, until her seventh birthday, when the badgering of her parents to allow her to join a HOCKEY team began to pick up full steam once again. this was much less jess’ love for the ice and very simply the desire to do everything her brother did. even at that young age she wasn’t a quitter, not one to SETTLE. they eventually caved, and come fall, the local team ( still co-ed ) had a new face.

— it was clear only after a short amount of time that jess’ talent on the ice was not confined to spins and jumps, picking up the sport shockingly quickly ; though she had definitely already gotten familiar with the game from all the times she’d watched from the stands and badgered her brother.

— her childhood in a suburb of st. louis was rather MUNDANE, not quite filled with opulence but comfortable and full of love. her summers were full of street hockey with her brother and his friends, skinned knees and roughing around no issue to her though his friends always seemed to pull their efforts a little bit. she always told them not to, for all the good that did.

— and it was that way for years. there were things she would see out of the corner of her eye sometimes : the way the ice clinked in her water when she was angry, how snow seemed to always fall softly on her as if REVERENT, and how she was so sure she saw her first grade teacher eat a soda can once. but these were all things she chalked up to her imagination until that fateful day of her thirteenth birthday.

— if not for the rule put into place about claiming, jess may not have been claimed at all given her affinity for blending into the moral world, but claimed she must be and so claimed she was. it was their birthday and they were out skating on a frozen pond. jonny and their friends had gone in already, the cold getting to them but it never seemed to get to jess for reasons she was about to learn.

— it’s a patch of rough ice that sends jess sprawling, twisting her ankle and springing tears to her eyes at the sudden burst of pain. there’s a soft whisper of wind and then she’s at the feet of a beautiful woman — beautiful but cold like the ice she’s seen form on tree branches. the truth is pressed like a cold stake between her eyes, blossoming beneath the cold, pale fingers of her godly mother along with the words, “don’t cry.” it is not an endearment but an order. to jess, unlike some of her siblings, this is her khione — their godly mother has never been anything but the epitome of winter : tough love, only the strong survive, the only thing tears are good for in winter is freezing.

— life doesn’t change much for jess in the wake of that, save for the truth seems to awaken something within her. the small things she saw out of the corner of her eye turns into TRUTH : wind streaming from her fingertips, snow falling into her palms in the middle of winter, the things that lurk around the corner. eventually her parents take notice, and more of the truth is aired out between daughter and parents — her brother busy at hockey practice. jess had to skip. of anything, that’s what she’s most upset about.

— jess goes to a camp for two summers : learns a bit more about the side of her life she didn’t know. fighting skills are fun to learn, but she feels listless within the boundaries of the camp, not allowed to go on quests. the only daughter of khione she feels a bit of an outcast, the whispers and looks likely not helped either by the SIDE her godly mother takes in the giant war. and so she doesn’t go back after that, returning instead to the one place she always did feel like she belonged : on the rink and with her hockey team. her training continues on an individual basis, stolen hours on the rink and in the cover of darkness. learning to spot monsters that lurk in the halls and dispatching them.

— and so, her life returns to a version of normal. she goes to school, she plays hockey, she practices her powers and swordplay in secret, she gets plenty of colleges that want her to commit to them come the end of her junior year. this is the life she’s chosen and she can definitely live with that.

— her brother jonny was a hockey player in his own right, an elite defenseman but in a more visible way than jess in the way that all male players are. he was drafted in the first round of the nhl draft and jess was there proudly ( and a BIT sorrowfully, because she knew her future in the sport wasn’t possible like it was for her brother ). but she swallowed those fears and did not allow it to sour her relationship with her brother.

— ultimately, she follows him to the same college where they BOTH lead their teams with a ferocity unmatched. they were the unstoppable samaroo siblings, always having each other’s backs and and the lynchpin in their respective teams. she grows in those years, as a person, as a player, and in her own power.

— two shared years of college was all they got before jonny went into the nhl, leaving jess behind as she knew he always had to. and so she returned to school, continued to dedicate herself to the game, her team, and her studies and was a PROUD little sister. and maybe, her own skill would lift her up someday, more than just a footnote in her brother’s pressers about childhood, about how she just might’ve been the reason he got so good at defending against unpredictable players.

— jess led her team to a national championship her junior year, falling just short her final year at clarkson making the end all very bittersweet. it was after that she was faced with a choice. given her talents ( and her BROTHER, though she loathes to admit anything she does is because of him ), she was offered a contract with the buffalo beauts in the nwhl, but ultimately declined it in favor of continuing her education.

— eonia had been on her radar for a little while, a new consideration as she realized there was a whole other side and community she hadn’t yet truly made contact with. and with a little more time and a little more maturity under her belt, jess felt like she was willing to give the demigod community a change again. so in spite of the very mild and sadly fair-weather location, she made the decision to apply and enroll. and well, their hockey team was pretty good too.

𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐂:

— jess... really didn’t attend a camp long term. being a daughter of khione has its benefits sometimes. given her godly mother’s lesser standing ( sometimes, she’s not even considered a goddess, but don’t tell khione that ), it makes her scent less noticeable to monsters meaning jess was able to live a rather normal life with the occasional need to dispatch a monster, y’k. there are probably other factors too : mainly, how hockey locker rooms and equipment tend to smell, and two, the fact in st louis they lived over her father’s caribbean cuisine restaurant.

— jess has one older brother, jonathan ( completely mortal ), only a few hours older than her and they share a birthday, so it’s no surprise that many think he’s her “fraternal twin.” to most, that’s what they easily believe. the TRUTH is something jess tries not to dwell on but it’s as simple as : her parents were celebrating their anniversary at a mountain chateau and — never the most conventional when it came to the bedroom— they decided that the beautiful brunette they met at the lodge’s spa would make for a fun addition that night. being the fallout of your parents' threesome with a goddess isn't how jess saw her life starting but sometimes you don't pick these things... they just happen. regardless, she loves her parents lmao. practice safe sex lads... not this.

— jess effortlessly combines the worlds of being a beautiful woman along with the rougher sport of hockey, not quite splitting the image of a female jock when she’s off the ice though that hardly means she doesn’t fit in. she’s simply in touch with both aspects of herself extremely well.

— her dad is from trinidad and now runs a very successful caribbean cuisine restaurant in st. louis !! despite the fact her dad is a chef, jess cannot cook save for the most basic things...

— extremely bi with a strong preference for women, though she tries not to fall into the cliché of gay female jock. this was something she explored only after her entrance to college and came to the conclusion about rather quickly. always so self-confident, this wasn’t an aspect of herself she struggled to come to terms with — simply an accepted fact. she’s definitely in the LGBTQ+ Alliance though she probably doesn’t attend a lot of meetings between hockey conflicts and just.... other things. she’s at their events tho and... around enough :)

— she isn’t the neatest by any terms, though not unhygienic by any means. her dorm has a very lived-in feel, clothes not always put away and the tendency at times to look like a storm hit it. regardless, she always seems to find what she needs when she needs it, so why change.

— she is a WINGER : a strong and agile skater with an ability to slip past defenders and a quick and startlingly accurate SHOT that has been touted the best on her team and one of the best in the east back at her first college. her nature off the ice translates well onto it, often with high risk, high reward situations. some have compared her to a loose canon, others have compared her to a ghost with her ability to drift between players and always be in the spot she needs to be to SCORE. she leads her team in goals, and sets up on the right circle in the powerplay. her defensive game is a little lacking, but she’s working on it. generally too irresponsible and unpredictable to have an A or gods forbid.. the C. so none of that for her. she does on occasion rile up the girls ( in a good way ) pretty good though.

— played for the national women’s team the spring of her final year at clarkson :) it was during these games in europe that she visited eonia and it confirmed to her that she wanted to attend !!

— love pilates so much... like so much. also come to her for ab workouts bc she’s the queen of them.

— pursuing her masters in JOURNALISM with a focus on sports journalism. if she’s not playing hockey, she’s probably at some other game covering it. with the slim chances of her being able to make a life playing professional hockey, she wants to at least be able to COVER it professionally. her undergrad degree is communications from clarkson university in upstate new york.

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘:

— she’s been called a LITTLE SPITEFIRE ever since she was a little girl, when she was nearly always in contrast with her quieter and calmer brother ( and even in spite of her godly heritage ; it's a little IRONIC really ). though she’s not the smallest anymore, her height landing her a hair above average, the spitefire comment remains true. fiercely independent, jess goes after what she wants with a ceaseless ( but not always the most logical ) attitude. it has given her a little temper too, though her rage is often intense and brief and passing. she’s not one to hold a grudge, especially against those she considers friends.

— there’s an undeniable underlying confidence that jess carries herself with, on and off the ice. it’s intimidated some and endeared her to others. but with this fierce independence comes some drawbacks : mainly in her reluctance to ask others for help and sometimes inability to admit she is wrong. there are a few that she’ll begrudgingly listen to : her close friends, her brother, her teammates, but she can’t promise that she always HEEDS what they say or that their opinions go into making the more informed decision. she has a brash and an ‘i can do anything’ attitude which has on occasion gotten her into a few binds though she’d never admit it, constantly ignoring people if they tell her she can’t do something. she’ll leap before she looks and then splint her own ankle after the fall if she has to.

— she has a big heart, resulting in no shortage of friends but carefully guarded when it comes to romance. incredibly passionate about what she does, her few adventures into romance have been fleeting : either the other turned off by her fierce independence or her growing bored rather quickly. her spitefire name holds up, her relationships intense, bright, and fleeting. she isn’t afraid of break ups, and historically has been the one to do so. her own unwillingness to stick to a partner for very long could speak to commitment issues, though she’s decided to put that examination on the back burner. her hookups are not an extensive list, but it isn’t skimpy either — she goes after what she wants, after all.

— she puts on the air that she doesn’t care what other people think, but the truth is that she does. taking critique was hard for her at first, but she’s forced herself to learn over the years to not take that to heart. she does want to improve, after all, and that is part of that process.

𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒:

AEROKINESIS ( + LEVITATION ) —

by far jess’ most honed godly power would be her aerokinesis. it was the first one that presented itself and the one she feels the most comfortable with. because it is the power most integrated with herself, it’s also the one jess is most prone to lose control over — and the more unhinged she is, the colder the air ; she’s definitely caused frostbite before. it’s not uncommon to see a few snow flurries in the gusts of wind she creates, though if those are because she’s summoned them or just the scientific result of humid air rapidly freezing... well that remains to be seen. jess never has been the most science-minded. given how well-versed she is in aerokinesis, it’s also not uncommon for her to walk around like her own personal air conditioner, especially given the heat sensitivity of her and her siblings. she really hates heat — why did she go to school in greece again ??

she also often combines her control of cold winds in tandem with her levitation powers to achieve something that’s like not quite flying but it’s similar ( being supported by the air, more like, yadda yadda, y’know ?? ). levitation took her a while to get a hang of ; it’s actually quite different from her use of the winds and requires much more focus and a sense of CALMNENSS that wasn’t easy for jess to find. because of her tendency to defer to the more “brute force” approach of using the winds, it’s been a struggle, but it’s something she’s been working on since she came to eonia and something she’s been steadily adding to her godly powers toolbox. she’s never had a fear of heights which allows her to push herself further, and she loves to do aerial acrobatics ( the lower temperatures at high elevations don’t BOTHER her either. whooo bonus ). though powers are banned in eonia hockey against mortals, she sometimes can’t help but reflexively use her aerokinesis or levitation to keep herself from getting injured — she has enough practice with using it subtly it that it’s pretty much not noticeable when she does ; and it’s NOT cheating shhh.

CRYOKINESIS —

one would think with an unpredictable temperament like jess’ that she would be rather prone to freezing things on accident, but this couldn’t be less true. the TRUTH is she lacks the discipline to truly freeze things, not having enough focus to still molecules and all that jazz. she finds the exercises to hone this part of her ability rather dull — a surprise considering she loves hockey so much. but she considers between her siblings and poseidon kids she doesn’t need to bother honing something that doesn’t interest her when she could just make someone else do it instead. instead you’ll find she’s much more prone to creating icy gusts of wind or frost when she’s angry or emotional. besides you’ll find flying stinging snow that’s almost sleet is a pretty effective offensive weapon. otherwise her prowess with “freezing” things is limited to her lowering her drinks ( and the air around her ) to the perfect temperature.

however, she does have some levels of mastery over other parts of cryokinesis, specifically when it comes to summoning and manipulating snow. she finds the more unpredictable and scattered nature of snow something she can more readily relate to and perhaps why she has found much more mastery over it. you won’t find her freezing lakes or making ice patches but if you need a little bit of snow for the Aesthetic she’s definitely your gal. given her prowess with aerokinesis, this means she can whip up a pretty mean snowstorm, but not for a sustained amount of time unless one of her siblings or a demigod with complementary powers helps her. one of these days she’s going to team up with one of the zeus kids to make thundersnow on the grounds that she thinks it would be “really really fun.”

FEARSPEAK —

jess didn’t even realize she had fearspeak until she came to eonia, but that doesn’t mean she hadn’t used it before then unlike her levitation. “soft, snow-like whispers” aren’t really her natural vibe — more prone to being loud and rather visible with her emotions and feelings, but there have been times on the ice where her anger had dissolved into something crueler. it’s an odd thing to sense people’s fears, and an even odder mindset to want to confirm them, but there are... situations. it’s something she’s only used a handful of times, mostly in certain high pressure and high level games, the fallout of her friends’ bad breakups ( no harm in putting a little unease into their exes right ?? ), and not something she intended to do.

jess truly isn’t able to sense people’s fears, even when she uses the power — it’s more just a gut feeling of knowing just what to say and knowing it will be believed. she hasn’t tested this power much outside the handful of times she’s accidentally used it and doesn’t like when she does. the mindset she’s in when she uses fearspeak... that’s not someone she wants to be — but deep down her own fear is that it’s inevitable that’s who she’ll become.

FIGHTING SKILLS —

jess’ skill in battle is... probably a little above the average demigod. a lot of this is due in part to her natural athleticism and agility training than any true taught skill. she picked up fighting rather late in the game. her weapons are simple : a short sword and dagger, both good for offense and the dagger lending to more unpredictableness. much like her approach to hockey, she tends to be unpredictable and can be quite emotional in her approach. sometimes this is an advantage, other times the risks she takes do not pay off. her strategy is often to employ offense rather than defense which again... works sometimes and other times not so much. she does enjoy sparring and especially sparring with powers involved. it’s a good challenge and often times she comes out on top though her recklessness is most likely one day going to get her hurt. her aim is quite good and she has the potential to be quite skilled at archery, but she finds the practice to get to the more exciting applications of the weapon rather dull and lacks the patience to see it through.

𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄:

— 5′6″, very athletic build, strong legs from skating and impressive arms. brown eyes and brown hair often kept in her natural curls a little past shoulder length. she will straighten it on occasion for events, but does so rarely because the effort isn’t worth it.

— she’s incredibly handy with a make up brush, an expert on her own face and drawing out her features in a simply but beautiful manner.

— to say the least, jess never looks bad. she believes attitude and mental health all start with appearance and therefore always goes through the effort of making herself look good even if she feels the opposite inside. the times when she doesn’t look that great truly speak volumes of just how down she must be.

— jewelry : loves a bit of sparkle, owns plenty of jewelry she cycles through regularly from necklaces to earrings to bracelets. these are often gold or bronze, warm-toned. when she plays though, the only piece that remains is a very simple short gold necklace with a small sapphire from her brother.

— style : she has an eye for BEAUTIFUL things, simple clothing that’s comfortable but also makes her look great. with no shortage of fabletics leggings, tasteful cropped shirts, and colorful sports bras often worn as crop tops, she strikes a fit figure on campus, though she also mixes in a healthy mix of skinny pants in a rainbow of colors. it’s a toss up if you’ll get her more athletic style or her snappy casual day-to-day look, honestly even she doesn’t know how she picks. she’s fond of denim jackets and nike sneakers ( honestly… a fan of nike and adidas, she may as well be a walking advertisement for them ). while she owns a fair number of skirts and dresses, she tends not to wear them until the occasion calls for it or when it’s quite warm out, just due to her eccentric and very active nature ( and nike pros under them when she does ofc ).

𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒:

in general... lemme get back to you on this lol... but a quick note :

jess just started at eonia this past fall ( fall 2020 ), but that definitely doesn’t mean she hasn’t already integrated herself into campus lol. given her personality, she’s definitely already found friends and hookups and all that fun stuff, they just all will have formed relatively recently !!

i’m also open to past connections in the states ; however, these might be a little limited and hard to fit given the specificity of her background... i would love for her to have had a demigod friend back at clarkson ( it’s a small-ish school in upstate new york... it’s surrounded by a lot of pretty woods and definitely the opposite of urban )... i have ideas but also i know that’s a specific ask skskalsdkjf

𝐎𝐎𝐂:

hey it’s ollie again ✌️ . bringing u jess who’s cool, fun, and funky. unlike a certain man ( jason ).

#eu.intro #eonia.intro #( do i remember the tag?? no lol #also don't assume i proofread this... im sorry )#( but she's here !!!#finally !!! )#( again...#not a jason-length intro but...#it's up there )

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specialagentrin · 4 years ago

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dream wanted the glow squid, didn’t he? || Chapter 1 - Update

PLEASE NOTE THAT IS WORK HAS EXPLICT CONTENT BETWEEN DREAM AND A GLOWSQUID. THANK YOU. Read on AO3? Dream and his companions perched themselves on a cliff, waiting for their universe to change as they know it.

The night of the 7th full moon shone bright above the active children simply fooling around, launching arrows at one another, building up their home and completing pathways. And as it shone brighter by the minute, only stopping once Wilbur called it out. A small ping flashed through their universe, their pockets flashing gold as a scroll appeared inside of them.

Hello community! This is a notification from the universe itself that your world is about to change in ways it hasn’t before, a long due update that we apologize on our behalf. Tomorrow, the moment the sun begins to set, it will shift to give higher points and darker depths, and a few more creatures to kick off your fight or flight instinct. Please make sure that you are awake at this time, as being asleep may cause corruption to your eye vision for a few days and make you see things that aren’t supposed to be there. Have fun, and we hope you are entertained by our newest update!

- And here they we’re, content to have small talk with each other and enjoy the peace while it lasted. Dream rested in a tree, at first watching Techno but when he realised that he meant no harm, decided to pay his attention to his friends fooling around.

Without any warning - a wave of emotions flooded through their very existence with such power, such intensity, such warmth - that they all collapsed and blanked out. They awoke, one by one, to a sunset that was in an array of colors, much brighter than it had been before. In an instant, they raised their hand and a paper levitated on it - giving off a list of the latest updates in their domain, eyes scanning for anything particularly interesting.

“MOOBLOOMS INTERACT WITH BEES!” Tubbo screeched at the tops of his lungs, giving an apologetic smile when everyone turned to pass him a glare. “Sorry! I just love bees!”

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going to head down to the caves. The fossils sound pretty cool to me.” Sapnap states, and George hums in agreement.

“I’m coming with, then, I’m not going anywhere near plants for the next week.” George says. “I don’t want to think about the fact that tomatoescome alive.”

“I’m going down to the docks, then, I’m desperate to see the glow squids.” Dream states, before sliding down the cliff. From here, the ocean is a more pristine, darker shade of blue, but just enough to see the large abundance of sea life swimming around happily. Walking over to the docks, he plops himself down at the ledge, breathing deeply. He continues to watch the sunset in peace - chuckling lightly when he hears Wilbur scream over something in the distance.

Dream must’ve dozed off, because when he awakened there’s a full moon in the sky, a lot more stars than he remembers, and a soft glow of neon blue in the water coming closer to him.

That’s gotta be the glow squid.

He opens up his inventory in the palm of his hand, clicking the fishing rod with his middle finger and gripping it tightly when it appears in his left hand. The inventory disappears from the plane of existence, swinging the rod around a few times for the string to gain some speed before launching it forward. It doesn’t land too far from the squid, his foot tapping in anticipation to see one close up.

A minute passes.

Then two.

He pulls back the string quickly with his bare hands, as using the reel would take way too long. Dream swings around the hook over his head again, before launching it into the ocean once more.

“Yes!” Dream cheers loudly as it plops right above the luminosity inside the vast sea. In an instant, he feels a tug on the line and he’s reeling it in with all the strength he has. It’s not enough, so he quickly summons his inventory and drinks a strength potion, feeling it’s power run through his veins.

Dream gives one tug and it lands on the docks, the size of it almost coming to his waist. He plops it into a nearby bucket, forcing its body into the cool metal.

He sits crossed-legged on the wood, watching the soft neon glow with fascination. It squirms around in the water bucket for a bit, Dream pushing his mask aside to watch it in all it’s beauty. It eventually stops when he makes eye contact with him, and a shiver runs down his spine.

It’s eyes are... alluring . Heterochromia eyes - infused with all sorts of shades of blue and green that can’t possibly be real. It’s like something that should be treasured, tucked away safely, never to be seen by the naked human eye. Words cannot even begin to describe the mere beauty of it, truly.

His hand reaches out to touch one of the glowing tendrils when he hears a scream ring through his head, coming from his two closest friends. Dream’s eyes turn away from the large squid, pushing his mask in front of his face, where it belongs.

“Are the two of you alright?” He speaks to the sky, for the wind to carry his message.

“No, I’m far from alright!” George screams. “Sapnap attacked a tomato bush and now it’s entire civilization is coming after us!”

“How was I supposed to tell the difference - they’re all red!” The raven haired boy screamed right back. Dream laughed harder when it glanced back at the squid. It wiggled it’s tentacles around in anger, it’s enchantment spell on it’s prey failing for once in it’s life.

“Not so smart, huh?” He snickers.

In a last effort attempt, the bucket falls over and in front of Dream, soaking his jeans and shoes as it latches onto his waist. Dream jumps and falls onto his back, certainly not expecting something that to occur. The two of them are in a staring contest, Dream grinning widely as he watches the glow squid try to hypnotize him once more.

And then a tentacle rubs right against his cock, and he lets out an embarrassing moan.

His hand flies up to his mouth, covering it in shock. He looks up to the sky, praying to Irene that no one heard him. When there's no response or teasing, he looks back at the glowing squid resting on its legs, looking at him in curiosity.

Then one extended a tentacle in Dream’s direction, eyes blinking up at him curiously. Dream looked around to see if anyone was near him, and when he felt no other presence or saw anyone else nearby, he placed the palm of his hand on top of the tentacle. It was - interesting, so to speak. Not slimy, like he had thought, but a smooth, silky texture on it.

Another one wrapped around it’s waist tightly, Dream nearly sagging into the touch. Like a firm, tight hug, reassuring him that everything was going to be okay. It still looked at him questionably, teasingly rubbing a tentacle against his pants.

He could just...shove the creature off. Through it into the ocean. Dream did just drink a strength potion after all.

But he didn’t.

Dream takes a deep breath, cursing himself internally for what he was about to do and if anything, blame it on a witch. Undoing the button and zipper on his jeans, hastily pulling it down just enough to free his cock. It seemed to get the idea, as tentacles wrapped around his legs and wrists, holding him down onto docks. Not too tight where he couldn’t move a muscle, but just lose enough where he could pretend to struggle.

But why would he want too anyway?

A soft gasp leaves his mouth as a tentacle wraps around his cock and grips tightly, giving a tentative jerk. The coldness of the tentacle is still off-putting, and yet his dick twitches and leaks precum from the touch. Dream makes a soft whine at the motion, feeling his face flush a deep red that goes to the tip of his ears down to his shoulders. He’s trying to keep himself still, let the creature take its time - but the amount of pleasure he was getting from just a few strokes of it’s tendril was making his mind go hazy.

He pushed himself up onto his left elbow, other hand adjusting the loose tentacle around his dick. When it’s tight enough he begins to push into it like a fleshlight. His head falls back onto the wood underneath him, thrusting into the tight hold desperately. The wet texture sending sparks all over his skin, hugging his cock like an actual suction cup -

His mind goes white with pleasure. At this rate he’s going to cum quick, like the first time he had fucked one of the villager girls in the forest, just shoving into her with sharp, quick thrusts of his hips. He tries to shave off his orgasm but it’s no use, he’s leaking a puddle of precum onto the tentacle and onto his stomach.

It’s over for him when one pushes against the rim of his asshole, making a shocked noise as he cums all over himself. Hot, thick, heavy streaks of semen coat his sweater.

“Oh my Ender - fuck! ” He pants, and for some reason the damn squid looks cocky.

“Dream?” Fundy’s voice rings through his head. “You okay? You sound like you're in trouble.”

“Oh no no no -” He scrambles to get the squid off of him, pulling up his jeans. “I’m fine! I’m perfectly fine!”

“Are you sure? I’m near the docks, I can quickly detour to check up on you.” The fox hybrid replies. Dream peels off his sweater, throwing it into the ocean and scooping it back up quickly with the bucket. He dumps the water onto himself before getting another pail full of seawater, dropping the squid inside. Just in time, actually, as he can see Fundy coming down the stairs to the docks.

“Hi, Fundy.” Dream says awkwardly. “What’s wrong?”

“If anything, I should be asking you that question. You’re soaked, man.” He states, before his eyes look to the bucket. “No way, is that the glow squid?”

“Yeah.” He states, looking down at it. “I think I’m going to keep it. For...educational purposes, of course.”

#explict #explict content #explict writing #dream #dreamwastaken #mcyt #sapnap #george #tubbo #tommy #tommyinnit #fundy #dream x glowsquid #squid fic #i've been here longer than you most of you mcyt pEOPLE OKAY I KNOW WHAT IM DOING I PROMISE #mcyt fic

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aboveallarescuer · 4 years ago

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Daenerys Targaryen in A Storm of Swords vs Game of Thrones - Episode 3.4: And Now His Watch Is Ended

In this series of posts, I intend to analyze precisely how the show writers downplayed or erased several key aspects of Daenerys Targaryen’s characterization, even when they had the books to help them write her as the compelling, intelligent, compassionate, frugal, open-minded and self-critical character that GRRM created.

I want to make it clear that these posts are not primarily meant to offer a better alternative to what the show writers gave us. I understand that they had many constraints (e.g. other storylines to handle, a limited amount of time to write the scripts, budget, actors who may have asked for a certain number of lines, etc) working against them. However, considering how disrespectful the show’s ending was to Daenerys Targaryen and how the book material that they left out makes it even more ludicrous to think that she will also become a villain in A Song of Ice and Fire, I believe that these reviews are more than warranted. They are meant to dissect everything about Dany’s characterization that was lost in translation, with a lot of book evidence to corroborate my statements.

Since these reviews will dissect scene by scene, I recommend taking a look at this post because I will use its sequence to order Dany’s scenes.

This post is relevant in case you want to know which chapters were adapted in which GoT episodes (however, I didn’t make the list myself, all the information comes from the GoT Wiki, so I can’t guarantee that it’s 100% reliable).

In general, I will call the Dany from the books “Dany” and the Dany from the TV series “show!Dany”.

Scene 4

Summary: show!Dany enters Astapor and exchanges Drogon for the Unsullied. Then, she orders them to attack the masters and has Drogon burn Kraznys. At the end, she frees the Unsullied and leaves the city.

As I've explained many times in my reviews of episodes 3.1 and 3.3, the show writers have sidelined Dany's thoughts and feelings and overall motivations a lot in their adaptation of the books' events. The moment above is another example. Do we have any clue on how show!Dany is feeling in the screenshot above? Because we do in the books:

If I look back I am lost, Dany told herself the next morning as she entered Astapor through the harbor gates. She dared not remind herself how small and insignificant her following truly was, or she would lose all courage. (ASOS Daenerys III)

When it comes to this change, it's important to have in mind how the show writers (particularly Benioff) perceive Dany at this point:

Benioff: Dany is becoming more and more viable as a threat, you know, both, you know, in attaining an army and because she's the mother of these three dragons who are only gonna get more and more fearsome. (Inside the Episode, 3.4)

The darker moments can weigh on fans, though. The Red Wedding in particular is infamous for making many fans very upset with the books. One reader once claimed on the EW boards that there are no heroes in Martin’s novels, only victims.

Benioff: Well, that’s not true. It’s hard to think of Daenerys Targaryen as a victim.

Weiss: She started as a victim. But many heroes start as somebody who is powerless. (x)

Because show!Dany is "becoming more and more viable as a threat" in Benioff's eyes, she is no longer even acknowledged as a victim (as if one ever "stopped" being one) and her emotional expressions are flattened accordingly. In the show, expressing fear and anxiety and sorrow is restricted to either powerless victims or unhinged characters, not "badasses". In the books, on the other hand, Dany is allowed to feel a variety of emotions:

Dany fed her dragons as she always did, but found she had no appetite herself. She cried awhile, alone in her cabin, then dried her tears long enough for yet another argument with Groleo. “Magister Illyrio is not here,” she finally had to tell him, “and if he was, he could not sway me either. I need the Unsullied more than I need these ships, and I will hear no more about it.”

The anger burned the grief and fear from her, for a few hours at the least. Afterward she called her bloodriders to her cabin, with Ser Jorah. They were the only ones she truly trusted.

She meant to sleep afterward, to be well rested for the morrow, but an hour of restless tossing in the stuffy confines of the cabin soon convinced her that was hopeless. Outside her door she found Aggo fitting a new string to his bow by the light of a swinging oil lamp. Rakharo sat crosslegged on the deck beside him, sharpening his arakh with a whetstone. (ASOS Daenerys III)

On the night before she frees the Unsullied, Dany is restless. That's quite understandable - she is putting the lives of her entire retinue (which she describes as "small and insignificant" in numbers) and her child at risk to fight for the dignity of the slave soldiers. She even cries on her own, perhaps due to her guilt over the exchange of Drogon for the army. Then, she asks for the people whom she trusts to sleep in her cabin because she can't stand being alone during these hours in which there's nothing she can do but to wait and have doubts. This moment of calm before the storm is crucial because it perfectly illustrates Ned's lesson to Bran back in AGOT - by allowing us to see Dany's fear, her bravery becomes more apparent later. By allowing us to see Dany's vulnerability, we get a better sense of how difficult her narrative conflict is and her ultimate triumph feels even more hard-earned. Unfortunately, the show writers never understood any of this.

The calm before the storm is also important for this reason:

“Khaleesi. You ought to be asleep. Tomorrow will be hot and hard, I promise you. You’ll need your strength.” 

“Do you remember Eroeh?” she asked him.

“The Lhazareen girl?”

“They were raping her, but I stopped them and took her under my protection. Only when my sun-and-stars was dead Mago took her back, used her again, and killed her. Aggo said it was her fate.”

“I remember,” Ser Jorah said.

“I was alone for a long time, Jorah. All alone but for my brother. I was such a small scared thing. Viserys should have protected me, but instead he hurt me and scared me worse. He shouldn’t have done that. He wasn’t just my brother, he was my king. Why do the gods make kings and queens, if not to protect the ones who can’t protect themselves?”

“Some kings make themselves. Robert did.” 

“He was no true king,” Dany said scornfully. “He did no justice. Justice ... that’s what kings are for.” (ASOS Daenerys III)

This is one of the key moments of the chapter, not only because it's one of the hints of Dany's eventual breaking of the deal, but also because it highlights Dany's character development: after being a slave and witnessing what others experienced as slaves, she comes to the conclusion that she is no true queen if she doesn't fight for and protect the oppressed. There are no feudal alliances or benefits to be found here, Dany is doing this just because it's the right thing to do.

Benioff may say that the surprise attack made sense in the books because of the hints scattered across the chapter, but neither he nor Weiss seem to have considered including any of the scenes above into the TV show. More than just signaling what will happen, they are pivotal to understanding Dany's character motivations. By understanding them, the resolution of the conflict becomes obvious in retrospect. Unfortunately, they don't care enough about them to make sure that they are conveyed onscreen. As a result, the show scene begins on a much weaker foundation.

Some key details are missing in the exchange scene of the show:

Aggo went before her with his great Dothraki bow. Strong Belwas walked to the right of her mare, the girl Missandei to her left. Ser Jorah Mormont was behind in mail and surcoat, glowering at anyone who came too near. Rakharo and Jhogo protected the litter. Dany had commanded that the top be removed, so her three dragons might be chained to the platform. Irri and Jhiqui rode with them, to try and keep them calm. Yet Viserion’s tail lashed back and forth, and smoke rose angry from his nostrils. Rhaegal could sense something wrong as well. Thrice he tried to take wing, only to be pulled down by the heavy chain in Jhiqui’s hand. Drogon coiled into a ball, wings and tail tucked tight. Only his eyes remained to tell that he was not asleep.

The rest of her people followed: Groleo and the other captains and their crews, and the eighty-three Dothraki who remained to her of the hundred thousand who had once ridden in Drogo’s khalasar. She put the oldest and weakest on the inside of the column, with the nursing women and those with child, and the little girls, and the boys too young to braid their hair. The rest—her warriors, such as they were—rode outside and moved their dismal herd along, the hundred-odd gaunt horses that had survived both red waste and black salt sea. (ASOS Daenerys III)

As we can see above, in the books, Dany brings her entire retinue and organizes them in a way that makes them look more imposing to the masters; it's a detail that showcases her political skills. In the show, she is only accompanied by Jorah, Barristan and Missandei (and Drogon). The Dothraki mentioned in episode 3.1 are nowhere to be seen here.

This part is also cut:

He looked at Missandei. “Tell her they are hers ... if she can pay.”

“She can,” the girl said.

Ser Jorah barked a command, and the trade goods were brought forward. Six bales of tiger skins, three hundred bolts of fine silk. Jars of saffron, jars of myrrh, jars of pepper and curry and cardamom, an onyx mask, twelve jade monkeys, casks of ink in red and black and green, a box of rare black amethysts, a box of pearls, a cask of pitted olives stuffed with maggots, a dozen casks of pickled cave fish, a great brass gong and a hammer to beat it with, seventeen ivory eyes, and a huge chest full of books written in tongues that Dany could not read. And more, and more, and more. Her people stacked it all before the slavers.

While the payment was being made, Kraznys mo Nakloz favored her with a few final words on the handling of her troops. “They are green as yet,” he said through Missandei. “Tell the whore of Westeros she would be wise to blood them early. There are many small cities between here and there, cities ripe for sacking. Whatever plunder she takes will be hers alone. Unsullied have no lust for gold or gems. And should she take captives, a few guards will suffice to march them back to Astapor. We’ll buy the healthy ones, and for a good price. And who knows? In ten years, some of the boys she sends us may be Unsullied in their turn. Thus all shall prosper.”

Finally there were no more trade goods to add to the pile. Her Dothraki mounted their horses once more, and Dany said, “This was all we could carry. The rest awaits you on the ships, a great quantity of amber and wine and black rice. And you have the ships themselves.[”] (ASOS Daenerys III)

We do get Kraznys's advice on what to do with the Unsullied, but we don't see the exchange of the trading goods happening in the TV show. Some might consider this a minor change, but it is, nonetheless, part of an overall pattern to reduce the extent of Dany's sacrifices to save the Unsullied.

Like in the books, show!Dany also asks Kraznys if the deal is done after she hands him the dragon and is given the whip. The way that show!Dany confirms that the Unsullied are now hers is different from the books, though:

She stood in her stirrups and raised the harpy’s fingers above her head for all the Unsullied to see. “IT IS DONE!” she cried at the top of her lungs. “YOU ARE MINE!” She gave the mare her heels and galloped along the first rank, holding the fingers high. “YOU ARE THE DRAGON’S NOW! YOU’RE BOUGHT AND PAID FOR! IT IS DONE! IT IS DONE!” (ASOS Daenerys III)

DAENERYS: Unsullied! Forward march! Halt!

In a way, I actually like this change. That show!Dany makes a command (rather than just an announcement) that the Unsullied obey gives her (and the audience) even more assurance that they will remain faithful to her - she is being clever here.

My only quibbles are that:

In the books, Dany shouting that the deal is done and that the Unsullied are now hers is Dany making sure that they'll fight against their former masters when she offers them freedom. This ties back into her questions to Kraznys and Missandei about whether the Unsullied want (or even can) turn against their previous owners. In the show, as I said, making sure that they follow a command is a surer way to guarantee their allegiance, but it's not connected to any of the many hints that she'd eventually rebel like the moment from the books is.

In the books, we are supposed to be unsure about whether the Unsullied would take Dany's side or not (and it's important that we don't know until the very end), but I'll get to that in a second.

Another change is that, in the books, her advisors do not look surprised when they see her speaking to the Unsullied (we witness Missandei's surprise earlier in the chapter), only one of the masters do (while the others are too distracted to pay attention):

She glimpsed old Grazdan turn his grey head sharply. He hears me speak Valyrian. The other slavers were not listening. They crowded around Kraznys and the dragon, shouting advice. Though the Astapori yanked and tugged, Drogon would not budge off the litter. Smoke rose grey from his open jaws, and his long neck curled and straightened as he snapped at the slaver’s face. (ASOS Daenerys III)

While we're at it, remember how I mentioned in my reviews of 3.1 and 3.3 that the show writers tend to center on show!Jorah's perspective and make it the one we're supposed to relate to?

Like in episode 3.3, his reactions were conceived to mirror those of first-time viewers (and Benioff's):

“It’s a hallmark of a number of scenes in [A Storm of Swords] where, in retrospect, I should have seen it coming because George laid out all the pieces, he had given you all the clues,” Benioff said. “The best kind of surprises aren’t the ones that come out of nowhere. The best ones are where after you see it you’re asking yourself, ‘Why didn’t I see that was coming?’ I remember reading [Dany planning to give up Drogon to the slaver] and thinking, ‘Oh, this is kind of disappointing.’ When the real plan was revealed I think I even called [Weiss]. This was before we had met with George, when we were still trying to figure out if this show was possible. The culmination of that scene was one of those moments when we were like, ‘We got to make this f–king show.’ It was very gratifying seeing that wish fulfilled … I think it will be one of the most staggering things ever put on television.” (x)

It is, of course, problematic to prioritize the perspective of a male slaver over that of the female revolutionary who is the POV character in the books. It's also sad to see, even early on, that her male advisors were given priority over her. It just wasn't as noticeable because, despite everything, we were still supposed to be on her side rather than torn between her and her male advisors.

Like in the books, Drogon won't obey Kraznys, which leads Dany to tell him that "a dragon is no slave". Then, the sequence of events change.

In the books, Dany makes that statement, hits Kraznys in the face with the whip (as a payback for his whipping of the slaves and everything else he did in the previous chapter) and has Drogon breathe fire on him immediately after:

And Dany swept the lash down as hard as she could across the slaver’s face. Kraznys screamed and staggered back, the blood running red down his cheeks into his perfumed beard. The harpy’s fingers had torn his features half to pieces with one slash, but she did not pause to contemplate the ruin. “Drogon,” she sang out loudly, sweetly, all her fear forgotten. “Dracarys.” (ASOS Daenerys III)

Chaos ensues in the Plaza. The masters shove one another as they attempt to escape, Viserion and Rhaegal are unchained (which doesn't happen in the show) and Dany's bloodriders and Belwas defeat the Astapori guards before they can do anything to help. Meanwhile, the Unsullied remain still. The master who heard Dany speaking Valyrian tries to order the Unsullied to attack her in vain:

“Unsullied! Defend us, stop them, defend your masters! Spears! Swords!”

When Rakharo put an arrow through his mouth, the slaves holding his sedan chair broke and ran, dumping him unceremoniously on the ground. The old man crawled to the first rank of eunuchs, his blood pooling on the bricks. The Unsullied did not so much as look down to watch him die. Rank on rank on rank, they stood.

And did not move. The gods have heard my prayer. (ASOS Daenerys III)

This is why I said it was important that we didn't know that the Unsullied would be on Dany's side or not until the very end of the chapter. Not only that intensifies the tension, it also highlights that Dany's leap of faith ultimately paid off because the Unsullied were still willing to fight for their freedom. Kraznys might have said that they no longer had any desire of their own and weren't even worthy to be called men anymore, but the narrative ultimately proves him wrong: there is still enough strength of will in them to fight for their dignity. So, when the chapter closes on this note:

“Unsullied!” Dany galloped before them, her silver-gold braid flying behind her, her bell chiming with every stride. “Slay the Good Masters, slay the soldiers, slay every man who wears a tokar or holds a whip, but harm no child under twelve, and strike the chains off every slave you see.” She raised the harpy’s fingers in the air ... and then she flung the scourge aside. “Freedom!” she sang out. “Dracarys! Dracarys!”

“Dracarys!” they shouted back, the sweetest word she’d ever heard. “Dracarys! Dracarys!” And all around them slavers ran and sobbed and begged and died, and the dusty air was filled with spears and fire. (ASOS Daenerys III)

It is all the more impactful because it reinforces that the Unsullied willingly took the opportunity that they were given to fight for their rights.

On HBO, after show!Dany says that "a dragon is not a slave", she doesn't attack Kraznys with the whip nor does she burn him via Drogon. Instead, this is what happens:

KRAZNYS: You speak Valyrian?

DAENERYS: I am Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, of the blood of Old Valyria. Valyrian is my mother tongue.

As @mytly4 explains here, Dany's mother tongue in the books is not Valyrian in the books, but rather the Common Tongue of Westeros. My guess is that this mistake was made simply because they wanted to make it clear that show!Dany is sassy and completely outsmarted Kraznys. Don't get me wrong, I love to see Dany being a badass, but it was still a change made overlooking her characterization (which, sadly, is the pattern for the show writers).

Then, she orders the Unsullied to kill the masters and has Drogon burn Kraznys:

DAENERYS: Unsullied! Slay the masters, slay the soldiers, slay every man who holds a whip, but harm no child. Strike the chains off every slave you see!

KRAZNYS: I am your master! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!

DAENERYS: Dracarys.

The change in the order of events is a problem here. As I just explained, the books make this moment about the Unsullied: when they refused to obey and then responded to Dany's order, it meant that they decided to fight for themselves. On the other hand, in the show, Dany gives the Unsullied the order before their former master attempts to have them obey him once more, so their act of defiance from the books:

The Unsullied did not so much as look down to watch him die. Rank on rank on rank, they stood.

And did not move. The gods have heard my prayer. (ASOS Daenerys III)

Is impossible to happen in the show. This change makes the show scene culminate in this point:

DAENERYS: Unsullied! Slay the masters, slay the soldiers, slay every man who holds a whip, but harm no child. Strike the chains off every slave you see!

KRAZNYS: I am your master! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!

DAENERYS: Dracarys.

When it should have culminated in this one:

“Unsullied! Defend us, stop them, defend your masters! Spears! Swords!”

And did not move. The gods have heard my prayer.

To summarize what's happening above:

Books: Master Grazdan tries to get the Unsullied to his side, but they choose not to => Dany commands the Unsullied to attack the masters => Dany says dracarys and the Unsullied shout it back

Show: Show!Dany commands the Unsullied to attack the masters => Kraznys tries to get the Unsullied to his side => Show!Dany says dracarys

As I just said, it was important that Dany would give the Unsullied the order to attack the masters only after they decided to not remain on the masters' side - this reinforces that the scene is not only about Dany, but also about the Unsullied's newfound agency. On HBO, the scene where show!Dany gives them the order happens before Kraznys tries to have them to get them to his side, so it becomes less about them and simply serves as a buildup to Dany saying dracarys and burning him.

Speaking of dracarys, as one can see in the quote above, the word is associated with freedom in the books. This intertwines Dany's mhysa identity (the part of Dany that wants to protect the freedmen and give them freedom) with her mother of dragons identity (the part of Dany that birthed the dragons and said dracarys). That's only fitting since, as @yendany said to me in a conversation, Dany was acting as mhysa way before she was hailed as one. On HBO, dracarys will be remembered simply as the word that show!Dany used to burn Kraznys (which happens in the books, of course, but the most relevant part is cut). Changing the order of the events overfocuses on show!Dany's "capacity for cruelty" (as Weiss puts it) which was not the point in the books.

Also, as @yendany notes in this meta, many of Dany's servants were seen actively helping her during the slave revolt. In the show, their roles are transferred to the Unsullied while her entourage reacts to the events passively and seemingly with apprehension:

While partly triumphant, the song "Dracarys" also hits dark notes that signal show!Dany's so called "capacity for cruelty", which is not at all supposed to be the purpose of the scene in the books. There, the author cuts the action in the middle of it because the point is not to highlight the violence and how ~wrong~ it is, but rather the adrenaline one feels in the midst of a successful and rightful slave rebellion. These statements from Frederick Douglass that GRRM recently posted in Not A Blog only further strengthen this reading:

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”

On HBO, on the other hand, having show!Dany order the Unsullied to attack earlier leads to the audience witnessing the slaughter of more people than in the books (which cuts the action). Again, this deviates from the main thematic intent of the scene. That's not to say that Dany did things perfectly in Astapor - we'll see negative consequences on ASOS Daenerys VI, when we find out that her council was deposed for the sake of the Butcher King. Here, however, Dany is doing the right thing. One can still interpret the show scene as such, don't get me wrong, but it rubs me the wrong way that the show writers would rather talk about this scene as one that indicates show!Dany's "capacity for cruelty" or how she is "becoming more and more viable as a threat". Also, in light of the show's ending, the scene becomes even worse: because show!Dany is killing Ghiscari characters, the show asks us to root for her. When she eventually kills Westerosi characters, on the other hand, she (and the Unsullied and the Dothraki) will be the villains.

DAENERYS: You have been slaves all your life. Today you are free. Any man who wishes to leave may leave, and no one will harm him. I give you my word. Will you fight for me? As free men?

This part of the scene was an addition from the show writers. It's a good one on its own. To begin on a positive note, we see show!Dany explicitly freeing the Unsullied, promising that none of them is forced to stay with her and wanting them to fight for her because they want to fight for her. This erases any doubt that show!Dany didn't free show!Missandei in the previous episode (which didn't show Dany immediately freeing her like in the books).

That being said, there are still issues when you compare what happens in the final scene of the episode with what happens in canon. In the books, as I said, the Unsullied are seen willingly rebelling against their former masters when they ignore Grazdan's order. In the show, while this final scene still features the Unsullied making their own choices, it doesn't have the same impact because they weren't shown choosing a different path even when they had another one just as viable (similar to how the negotiation scene on HBO took away show!Dany's alternatives and undermined her altruism).

One could argue that there was another viable path in the show scene too: they could have left. However, considering that the option of staying with your master (which is the one the books presented) would be much easier and that the books deliberately complicate how much of a choice the former slaves really have even after being freed ... I would say that the scene does lose part of the impact. In other words:

Books: Do I stay with my former masters? VS Do I fight for my freedom?

Show: Do I stay as a freedman with Dany? VS Do I leave?

One dilemma is about their freedom, the other is about whether they join Dany or not. This change ties back into others I've addressed in previous episodes, namely how the show writers have overfocused on Dany's need to get an army.

Second, I don't like that it's implied that show!Dany leaves Astapor in the same day that she sacked it (she's still wearing the same clothes she wore during the sack of Astapor and it's evening). It gives weight to the superficial read (that ignores her entire characterization, of course) that she primarily wanted an army and freeing the slaves was convenient. In the books, I highly doubt that she left in the same day. Since we know that she left the city with a new government, she must have spent some time there choosing (or letting the freedmen choose) which freedmen she would support as the new leaders:

Dany had left Astapor in the hands of a council of former slaves led by a healer, a scholar, and a priest. Wise men all, she thought, and just. (ASOS Daenerys IV)

We'll find out in episode 4.5 that show!Dany did the same thing, sure, but, on its own, the scene makes it seem that she just sacked the city and left.

Third, we don't see the Astapori freedmen following her like in the books:

Yet even so, tens of thousands preferred to follow her to Yunkai, rather than remain behind in Astapor. I gave them the city, and most of them were too frightened to take it. (ASOS Daenerys IV)

For all the show writers will say that they cared about showing the viewpoint of the lowborn when they had show!Dany burn King's Landing, they sure as hell didn't care about it before.

Fourth, I've seen people argue that the timing of show!Dany's rejection of the whip means that she is doing what she's doing for self-interest. In their opinion, she should have discarded it before she had the Unsullied attack the masters and before she asked them to fight for her. That's another stupid misreading that would have been easily fixed if the show writers had had show!Dany use the whip against the master and thrown it away earlier like in the books.

Fifth, it's certainly gorgeous to see the dragons at the end of the scene, but it also makes me resentful considering that the show writers think Dany is overdependent on them and her advisors (so much so that they thought that she had to learn to be self-reliant in season two):

Weiss: This whole season is really the season where Dany learns the lesson of self-reliance, she's never, it's a very painful lesson for her to learn, I mean, she's lost all her people, she's lost her husband, she's lost her bloodriders. The temptation for her has always been to lean on someone else, a man of one kind or another. So, I think for her, what she's learning in this episode, especially, is that she can't trust in other people, ultimately, she ends up in a place where she needs to do things for herself and she needs to do things that nobody in the world could possibly do, except her.

Benioff: Dany is so defined by her dragons, they're so much a part at this point, they define her so much that when they're taken from her, it's almost like she reverts to the pre-dragon Daenerys, you know, everyone is a bit defined by who they were when they were an adolescent, you know, no matter how old you get, no matter how powerful you get, and Daenerys was a scared, timid, abused adolescent and I think when her dragons are taken for her, all those feelings, all those memories and emotions are triggered and come back and all the confidence that she's won over the last several months, it's as if that just evaporates and she's back to being a really frightened little girl. (Inside the Episode, 2.6)

None of this, of course, is true in the books, hence why I've been writing a series of metas to show how Dany's choices and actions are her own. Heck, even in this episode, the dragons barely play a role. Drogon was the bait, sure, but Dany's plan was all hers.

While one can appreciate the final scene simply for what it is, it's important to have in mind that it is informed by the misconception that Dany is "nothing without her dragons".

My comments on the Inside the Episode 3.4

Weiss: We never really got this, a sense of her capacity for cruelty. She's surrounded by people who are terrible people, but haven't done anything to her personally, and it's interesting to me that, as the sphere of her empathy widens, the sphere of her cruelty widens as well.

Benioff: I think she becomes harder to dismiss, you know, for a long time people have been saying, even if she was alive, you know, really, the only threat she poses is her name, she's a Targaryen, great, but she's a little girl in the edge of the world, so she's starting to knock on people's doors a little bit.

Weiss: All at once she becomes a major force to be reckoned with, she spent a lot of time kind of banging her fists on the doors and declaring that she was owed the Iron Throne by right, but now she's stepped in her own as a conqueror.

Weiss: I've already written on how the dichotomy of mhysa and mother of dragons doesn't actually exist in the way people like Weiss talk about. In fact as I said above, this scene in Astapor actually merges these two identities. Also, while I was complaining to @rainhadaenerys about what D&D were saying, she called attention to how stupid it is that he is saying that show!Dany is cruel for harming people who "haven't done anything to her personally". This informs the show's framing of the Starks taking Winterfell back or show!Sansa's killing of Ramsay or show!Arya's killing of the Freys as "righteous" while show!Dany's pursuit of the Iron Throne was seen as "bad".

Benioff: His observation about the episode showing how "Dany is becoming more and more viable as a threat" misses the point because, in the books, the scene is not framed negatively in a way that makes us focus on and/or question the violence. Instead, it is framed triumphantly as the Unsullied get to make their own choices and Dany's draconic force is associated with freedom. Also, it's infuriating that he thought that "the only threat she poses is her name, she's a Targaryen" until the sack of Astapor, for we already had lots of moments in which Dany displayed her intelligence and political skills before it happened.

Show!Dany’s clothes

This is what Dany wears in the exchange scene:

Today she rode her silver, clad in horsehair pants and painted leather vest, a bronze medallion belt about her waist and two more crossed between her breasts. Irri and Jhiqui had braided her hair and hung it with a tiny silver bell whose chime sang of the Undying of Qarth, burned in their Palace of Dust. (ASOS Daenerys III)

I appreciate how the single bell is mentioned to indicate Dany's confidence:

“Drogon,” she sang out loudly, sweetly, all her fear forgotten. “Dracarys.”

It will be mentioned again in the next chapter (where she will have one more bell after her victory in Astapor) when she is talking to the mercenaries and when she rides to meet her children:

“They will not hurt me,” she told him. “They are my children, Jorah.” She laughed, put her heels into her horse, and rode to them, the bells in her hair ringing sweet victory. (ASOS Daenerys IV)

Not only the bells give Dany confidence (the way her Targaryen heritage does) in ASOS, they also come up in these moments in which she is embracing her mhysa identity by giving her people the agency they didn't have. This is very fitting; as this meta notes:

Khal Drogo is, admittedly, a surprising model for a lefty revolutionary to pattern herself on, but I think the important thing is less his example, and more that he and his khalasar provided her with a new set of rules to explore herself within. Knowing them gave her permission to live among her people, putting on the face she needed to guide them to safety, and to allow herself to be called upon through a criteria other than blood and birthright.

While it's true that the Dothraki culture is rooted in violence and misogyny, it's also true that it helped to shape Dany's sense of equality. That's why it's appropriate that the bells are ringing in these moments from ASOS and will ring once again in TWOW. As @yendany aptly said to me, Dany gave up on being both mhysa and mother of dragons when she allied herself with the slavers (even if she thought she was doing the right thing for the freedmen). On the other hand, by re-embracing her Dothraki roots and her identity as the mother of dragons, Dany will be able to truly protect her children and be their mhysa.

On HBO, show!Dany is still wearing the blue dress, this time with a cape:

I couldn't find any interview from Clapton or anyone else explaining why that cape was added. @rainhadaenerys's guess is that she wanted to have show!Dany look like a superhero, which is a good one, though it's questionable since she couldn't remember show!Dany having ever done anything that is not necessarily for personal gain until season seven.

What actually impressed (and delighted) me was to realize how show!Dany's and show!Missandei's outfits are made to resemble each other starting from this episode until the end of the series:

I'm not sure how these similarities were designed to tie into show!Dany's characterization since both the show writers and Clapton misunderstand the character she's based off. That being said, if you choose to not take their word into consideration (and that's more than possible, considering the vast amount of show canon evidence that there is to support show!Dany in the last season), I would say that they highlight how show!Dany, like her book counterpart, also desires equality for everyone.

#daenerys targaryen #asoiaf meta #valyrianscrolls #a storm of swords #missandei #asoiaf vs got #asos vs got #s3

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