#and this other show means she probably isn't going to be supervising this show but she hasn't let me know yet

[youremyonlyhope]

Boy is it good I get to see my therapist tomorrow.

[tellmeallaboutit]

knock knock (Raphael x Player)

Chapter 16, In Which You Take The Pills and Stop Seeing Things

Read on AO3

Apollonia Saintclair - La paix des profondeurs

"How bad?" you asked, rolling a cigarette between your fingers.

Angus sighed and adjusted his round glasses. 

"How bad, Dr Bambauer?" you repeated, your eyes drawn to the rhythmic chiming of the antique clock on his desk.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

He cleared his throat, fingers intertwined on the polished wooden surface of his desk. "Well, in our line of work, there isn't really a benchmark for such severe cognitive turmoil, Mr. D'Avergni."

Translation: it's bad. You sank back into the plush upholstery of the guest chair, running a hand over your face.

"Ms Berger is suffering from an intense case of delusional psychosis. She's heavily invested in her fantasies, I am afraid," Dr Bambauer began, his voice as dull as a lullaby. "She has invented her own elaborate universe centred around your alter ego - you might know him as Raphael".

At first, you found it strangely endearing - flattering - that Anya saw you as the literal devil. Less so when you found out the character who she was actually referring to.

"Not only him, though. Other characters include a certain being she refers to as Mr Goat - possibly a manifestation of her Catholic guilt - as well as Agent Cooper and the dwarf from Twin Peaks..."

"The TV show?" You raised an eyebrow. "Anya genuinely believes Twin Peaks is real?"

The office was dimly lit despite the midday hour, the walls lined with bookshelves and framed pictures of Bacon-esque paintings that were clearly meant to unsettle rather than reassure. 

"Ms. Berger's understanding of the concept of "real" seemed tenuous at best," Angus nodded. "And I too seem to have been cast as a character known as 'The Dollmaker'. According to Ms Berger, I perform lobotomies on children and sell them to sex trafficking rings”.

"And you've done nothing of the sort, I trust?" You gave him a wry smile.

You had always found Angus a little eerie, but the family would never associate with someone who fiddled with children. Plus, he did manage to keep Uncle Giovanni off the bottle. 

"Do you find it appropriate to joke about this, Mr. D'Avergni?"

There was probably no scenario on Earth that Angus would deem appropriate to joke about.

"I don't know what's appropriate in such situations," you said. 

Dr Bambauer rose from his chair, his hands clasped behind his back. He was skinny as a rake, not a muscle on him. You could learn anatomy on him, the outlines of his skull very visible through his gaunt cheeks.

"What would be appropriate is a daily regimen of olanzapine, under my strict supervision. Ms. Berger will have to stay here for at least a month”.

A month?..

How are you supposed to go a month without Anya?

“There is an issue we need to discuss, however”, he continued.

A month.

Dr Bambauer's eyes drifted across the clinic courtyard. "Mrs Berger is expecting a child. I'd say she's in her first few weeks of pregnancy; her hCG levels are just beginning to indicate implantation."

You re-played his phrase three times in your mind before it finally registered.

"Are you serious?" you asked, sounding more choked than you intended.

Could this really happen? Anya had made some casual remarks... You hadn't bothered with condoms, true... But she never seemed worried, or even to mention it; you assumed she must have been taking birth control pills, and if she wasn't, well, that didn't bother you either.

"Why would I joke about such a thing?" said Dr Bambauer. 

Then it's true. It's true. Anya was with a child; your child. Your firstborn.

"I mean..." you laughed, your hands spreading with joy. “This is brilliant news! The best bloody news I've heard in ages! That’s what you should have started with, doc!"

If only your father would have killed himself half a year later to live to hear the news. 

Angus did not smile back.

"I'm not sure you're following me, Mr D'Avergni," he said. "Mrs Berger needs to be heavily medicated with antipsychotic drugs in the first trimester of her pregnancy. Do you follow me now? There is an imminent risk of serious birth defects. I recommend a pill-induced abortion”.

The urge to grab this man by his collar and slam him against the wooden desk until his skull cracked suddenly became absolutely irresistible.

"Dr Bambauer," you said, rising from your chair, "you are talking to a Catholic man about his firstborn. Choose. Your. Words. Carefully. Anya and I will make the decision, and I can already tell you what our decision will be. We are keeping this child.”

You drummed your fingers on the table.

"I'm afraid Mrs Berger is not in a position to make a rational decision at the moment," Angus interjected. "She's unaware of her condition, and given her current psychological state, informing her could trigger catastrophic delusions. Carrying the Antichrist, for example."

He went on, seemingly unaware of the thinly veiled threat in your eyes.

"So, without an appointed guardian - and as a lawyer you are well aware what a long and complicated process that can be..."

Well, he was right. 

It is a long and complicated process unless you have a psychiatrist with the right connections behind you.

"Let's say that would be me," you interrupted.

Dr Bambauer visibly stiffened (a feat considering his already rigid posture) and gave you a long, hard look.

"Mr D'Avergni, I have to say…"

“Let me have my say first”, you interrupted.

You snatched up his notebook and pen, scribbling across the next page - two million Swiss francs in cash.

"A small donation to one of the most prestigious mental health institutions in the world," you said as you pushed the note towards him. “God knows the world needs sanity now more than ever”. 

His expression barely changed.

"Your generosity is truly boundless”, he said. “I suppose we could speed up certain procedures. I have no doubts you act in good faith and Mrs Berger's welfare is your priority."

"Seeing right through people is your job description," you replied. "Listen, Dr Bambauer... I need to get Anya out of here immediately. She can't be cooped up in this hospital all alone while she's pregnant. She needs to be with me. I can keep an eye on her."

"You cannot be serious, Mr D'Avergni. You are still taking your medication, aren’t you?"

Your muscles tensed at his comment as you gave him a stiff nod. You watched these videos from Davos over and over again. You fiddled with the cross on your chest, your mother’s; the night Anya was hospitalised, you pulled one out of the old jewellery box.

It wouldn’t hurt, you thought.

And it didn’t.

"Mrs Berger is not well. At all. She has to stay under my direct supervision," you tapped on the paper you promised money on, so that Angus corrected himself: "Mr. D’Avergni, at least until she somewhat stabilises. We are still keeping her restrained in case of another attempt at self-harm".

"Well then, do everything in your power to give her the best treatment”, you said. “I expect quick results".

"Mr D'Avergni," Dr Bambauer sighed. "I don’t think you realise… Let’s put it this way: I don't think Mrs Berger even knows what you look like".

"I beg your pardon?" 

He shrugged his shoulders and said, "One of the nurses overheard Ms. Berger describing her fiancé. Let me say, I was surprised with certain… deviations… from reality”.

***

They said if you behaved better, they would stop strapping you to the bed.

Which, of course, turned out to be complete bullshit.

"We are so sorry that we have to restrain you, Mrs Berger”.

Like hell they were. They were not sorry at all when they tied your ankles and wrists to the bed in your solitary confinement suite, a postcard view of the Matterhorn through the window. They were not sorry at all when they forced more pills down your throat, as if you were a cat fighting against its bitter medicine, and when you spit them out, they actually stripped down your trousers and injected something in your asscheek.

How disgustingly polite they were about it only made things worse; people are only polite like that to fucking crazies, and you were not crazy. You would definitely cooperate if they stopped treating you like one. It was a mistake, you told them, a terrible fucking mistake and misunderstanding, and it should not be happening to you.

No way Raphael would allow that. 

He won’t treat his little mouse this way. You know him. They do not know him, so they would regret what they are doing very, very much. You did what he wanted. You killed that woman. You deserved a treat, not a punishment. You did what he…

"You didn’t kill anyone, Ms. Berger, please, calm down. We don't want you cutting your wrists again, Ms. Berger."

Fuck you, was your eloquent reply, fuck you, and where the fuck was Raphael? 

I wish he was here. 

I wish you all would die. I wish, I wish, I wish.

You passed out before you could see if your wish had come true.

***

You were half asleep when it came true and you saw Raphael again. Black waistcoat over a crisp white shirt, a bunch of roses in his hand. He looked so sorry, as if he hadn't been the one who had thrown you into this madhouse in the first place.

"You're here at last," you murmured from your sleep. "Now tell me why I've been trapped in this hellhole."

Next you tried to reach out to him, only to be held back by your restraints. He glanced at them, clearly torn between freeing you or leaving you trussed up like a Christmas turkey, and chose the latter, gently stroking your shoulder as if that would make you feel any better.

"You have too much faith in my bondage kink," you tried to joke. Didn't really land.

"Anya, mia piccola," he said softly. "I'm so sorry this is happening to you."

No, not Raul. Not him, not now. 

Where...in...the...bloody...hell...is...Raphael!?

"I never wanted to kill myself," you said. "I swear, I only cut myself with broken glass because I panicked and wanted to snap back to reality. Not because I wanted to die. Please tell them to stop strapping me to this bed, it's ridiculous. You believe me, right? You don't think I'm crazy?" 

There was a very long pause. 

Much too long a pause.

What the hell have you done to deserve such treatment? Yes, you cut yourself, yes, you wanted with him to talk about Mr Goat (you still do), you... Oh no. Was this Raphael's twisted form of revenge for fondling Mr Goat's horns? It seemed the only explanation for why he'd thrown you into this five star prison.

"Anya," Raul finally said, "what colour are my eyes?"

This is a trick question, Anya, don’t trust him. This is a trick question. He is trying to set you up and make you think you are crazy. Go for something noncommittal.

"Hazel? Honey?" Raul’s expression twisted painfully and shit - what colour were Italian men’s eyes supposed to be? You quickly corrected yourself: "Brown! Definitely brown!".

He looked at you as if you'd slapped him across the face, and not in a sexy way.

"Light. Blue." He spoke every word as if he had difficulty breathing. "Quite unusual, I know. People have been complimenting my eyes all my life. Can't you see that?"

You could not see that. You didn’t want to see that either.

Damn, of all the Italians in Italy, why did you have to end up with the one who had blue eyes? What were the chances?

"Shit," was all you could say.

"I thought you were in love with me," Raul said. "you didn't even know what I looked like." 

Damn. What were you supposed to say to that?

He got up from the chair next to your bed and repeated, his voice hollow: "You still don't know what I look like. You still… CAZZO!"

He slammed his fist against the window frame so hard that you flinched, but the glass held steady. 

He looked on the verge of tears. Please don't cry. How were you supposed to handle a grown Italian man crying? You are the one who should be crying right now!

"CAZZO MALEDIZIONE!" Raul shouted again, his voice shaking. “MERDA, MERDA, MERDA!”

Great, keep screaming and we'll have nurses rushing in here, and you bet your ass it’s not him they would be sedating.

"I'm sorry, Raul." You said as you watched him try to regain control of himself. "It doesn't mean... Doesn't mean... Just because I see you differently doesn't change how I feel about you. Looks aren't everything, right? Who cares?"

That didn’t sound right. 

He must have thought the same, because he did not say anything for a good minute and then gave you a very formal smile, all business nothing personal, which was way scarier than his outburst. 

“I am sorry…”, you tried again.

"You don’t need to feel sorry for anything, Anya”, he interrupted. “You're sick, that much is clear. It's my…. responsibility to do everything I can to help you heal”.

You don’t need to heal, you opened your mouth to say, but he cut you off YET AGAIN:

“But I do think now it would be best if you stayed under Dr. Bambauer’s supervision for now."

Holy fuck no not the Dollmaker you are not stepping into his therapy room never

“No-no-no, baby, please”, you pleaded, struggling against the restraints. “Angus is… not a good man. At all. I swear he isn’t. And not because he lobotomies children or something. He just… isn’t. Don’t leave me alone with him. Baby, please. He will fuck me up”.

“I believe Angus to be a competent specialist”, Raul said, arms crossed over his chest. “Whether he is a good man is a different matter. I will have my people monitor this place - and your state - at all times, don’t worry. I won’t let anyone harm you”.

He placed a very chaste kiss on your forehead. 

“I wish you all the best and pray for your swift recovery, Anya”.

FUCK YOU AND YOUR PRAYERS YOU PASTA-GOBBLING ASSHOLE!

That’s not what you said, no. What you did was put all your most “baby please” face and plead:

“Raul…”

“Don't argue with me, Anya,” He interrupted. “I know what’s best for you.”

read the rest of the chapter on ao3

[bunnimew]

In the rotg film, do you think the Guardians get along with any other spirits, regardless of alignment? The Groundhog, Leprechaun, and Tooth Mouse are only mentioned or seen briefly, but most of their relations with the Guardians seem negative: Bunny apparently doesn't like the first spirit, and with the third spirit, there seems to some sort of discrimination and unawareness from the tooth fairies based on how Baby Tooth reacted so violently to what was basically a co-worker?

Hello Anon!!

Well, we know Bunny doesn't get along with the groundhog, and he didn't seem particularly impressed with anyone's suggestions for teammates, or even the idea of someone new joining the team, so I'm gonna say Bunny does not get along with anyone.

Everyone else seemed very excited about someone new, so it's conceivable that they have positive working relations with any number of spirits. But yeah, Tooth clearly never gets out into the field, to the point that her own fairies don't know about other international divisions. So even if she has positive working relations, they're probably not anything more than acquaintances.

North seems like the kinda guy where everyone is instantly his friend for the length of time they are in his presence. I bet North has invited every spirit on Earth back to the workshop at least once, and upon arrival, he's completely forgotten why they're there but welcomes them in and offers fruit cake, anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if the more extrovert spirits showed up more than once and those are the spirits North actually thinks of as his friends.

There is no telling what Sandy gets up to, though. That gremlin could be partying in every time zone every night and his teammates wouldn't even know because they never leave their houses. Maybe Sandy isn't tired all the time because he's the Sandman; maybe it's because he literally hasn't slept for 48 hrs, jumping from edm concert to edm concert, throwin back dippin' dots and slamming gummy bears because he has no adult supervision to stop him.

So Sandy probably has all of the friends, and plays a mean game of Mario Party.

Jack clearly did not have many friends, but did know about other spirits, which would imply someone bothered to stop and talk to him. He probably has some fair weather friends or acquaintances who are willing to spread some gossip, but aren't interested in actually hanging out. Otherwise, he would not have been nearly so lonely, or talked about Sandy in that distant, "Oh cool, that guy I kinda know but shouldn't bother," kind of way. If he'd had friends, Antarctica would have looked a lot different.

Insofar as alignments, I imagine Bunny and Tooth would give a thought to the day job of whoever they were talking to. North sees the good in everyone, and seems like he'd give them a shot or three before writing them off for good, if he ever does. Sandy was going to punch a child, so I don't think he cares. And Jack was too lonely to be picky about who he talks to, but I think he would have been picky about what he was willing to be party to, to keep them talking. He listened to Pitch's offer, he just didn't want to doom the planet to darkness, yanno?

Thank you so much for the ask, Anon! And thank you for putting the image of Sandy guzzling Dippin Dots in my head.

P.S. Alternatively, maybe Baby Tooth is just a crazy brawler and it isn't that Tooth never mentioned the other divisions, it's that Baby Tooth's fight or flight instinct is superglued to fight and the mouse jumpscared her.

[jasontoddsdarling]

barbecue day (feat damian)

— aurora todd verse

"Well it's not."

"It is, Todd. I know it's kind of hard for you to understand, but it is."

"It's not—"

She is in the kitchen, cutting some condiments for some sambal to go along with chicken thighs and tomahawk steaks that Jason is currently roasted over portable grills in backyard.

But he's apparently bickering with Damian—who is visiting from his university's summer break, who's helping here and there but mostly supervising Aurora, which she has provided with entertainment in the form of her inflatable pool and her baby toys.

The thing is, they've been bickering for like ten minutes straight. She's pretty sure their closest neighbor know what they are arguing about already—meanwhile she only caught something about latest episode of some sci-fi show and latest video game update because she was chopping garlic with her new chopper and it drown their voices for her.

She needs to make sure that they get along.

And oh, how she has an idea.

As she wash her hands, she can hear them becoming more louder.

When she is finally opened the kitchen door towards the backyard, she finds out Jason's making gesture with his free hand and his other gripping kitchen tongs and Damian, which is inside Rora's inflatable balloon, making gestures with his hands holding some of her baby girl's toys.

If this isn't comical.

She clears her throat.

"Jay."

Jason instantly stops talking and Damian too—but not without drawing out his last syllables.

Damian immediately sits down on inside the pool.

"Yeah, sweetheart?"

Jason is back facing the grill, flipping some of the chicken thighs. You want to roll your eyes in affection.

"I need you and Damian to buy me some Thai chili and lemongrass."

"I thought we already have all the ingredients."

"Well, we actually were underestimating the need of several sambals."

Jason basically can't say no to her request, so he just drops the kitchen tongs and cleans his hands on the nearby outdoor faucet. Then, he picks up Rora from inside the pool.

Damian gets up, eyeing the grill—probably about to take over Jason's work. But she claps her hand seemingly to surprise her brother-in-law.

"Damian, why don't you go with Jay and Rora? I can handle the grill."

"How much she said she needs the lemongrass again?"

Damian asks when they're at the last traffic light before the grocery store. He's the one driving. Jason's shotgunning and Rora is on her baby chair on the backseat.

"Five stalks, but she also said just pick one plastic wrap building."

"And—"

"Ten ounces."

"Ons!"

Rora mimics, which surprised Damian.

"Thank you, Rora."

When it's green, he starts talking again—while Jason is currently turning to face Rora, giving her grubby little hands her a baby biscuit.

"I cannot believe she's your spawn, Todd."

"Me neither."

Jason looks ahead—back to the street in front of them afterwards, but Damian can see from the corner of his eye that he sports a fondly smile because they're talking about his niece.

"I actually think she acts more like her mom and the biggest evidence that she's yours is because she literally have your eye color, which is improbable for it to come from her mom's genetics because her eyes are dark and her heritage; but now I can see that she behaves like you, too."

Jason definitely isn't prepared to hear his little brother saying all of that, but he turns his head to the

"Really?"

"Yup. Believe me or not, before we were bickering—which I am sure why your wife sent us away, if you haven't noticed yet—I was inspecting how you and Rora interacts."

"Of course you did."

Damian dismisses his older brother.

"And from that, I can see that she's your mini you. I mean, she's obviously her mom's mini me, but it's not without you."

"That's genuinely the nicest thing you said to me today, little brother, and I appreciate that."

The twenty-one years old man shrugs.

"Don't thank me. I was just saying facts. Anyway, we're here."

Damian stops the engine and opens his car door. He goes to the backseat door to release and hoist Rora from her seat.

Jason definitely can see his smile before opening his own door, though.

"What's this sambal called again?"

Damian points his fork at the chopped herbs and Thai chili bowl of sambal.

They already finished cooking and are sitting together in a round backyard dinner table.

"Matah. M-a-t-a-h."

"Matah," Damian nods, "it's so fresh and fragrant from the kaffir lime leaves and the lemongrass. I like it. It's unlike anything I have ever tried."

"We can put it in a jar if you want to have some when you're going back to to uni, right, Jay?"

"Of course. You should send him your recipe too, so if he runs out he can make it himself. It's quite easy to make."

"Thank you."

Damian smiles gratefully at her and Jason. She almost cannot believe these two were bickering like teenage boys awhile ago. That's just what being siblings like, she guesses.

"Easy! Uncy!" Rora giggles. She's perches on her baby high chair beside her mom and face to face with Damian. Her little fingers holding a piece of cucumber that she's chewing.

(She is pleased she picks up "uncle" when she's talking to Damian)

"Thank you, little Rora."

mariea's notes: another writing out of aurora todd universe. randomly, "cannot believe she's your spawn" line came into my mind and then the rest is history. i know this series(?) don't have much readers compared to my regular fluff or especially regular smut (lol) but i really love exploring the dynamics of this family throughout my writings. also, trying the third person now. probably going to stick to this. as always you can drop a request (any) or a question and thanks for reading <3

[clovermine13]

It's been awhile since an IF has managed to completely take over my brain in awhile so I decided to get a drawing of my @infamous-if MC Delilah Rose, commissioned from @inorheona, who always does a fantastic job.

OC Fun Facts below

Pansexual

100% has a praise kink, she wants to explore that more but the kind of sex she has doesn't usually leave much room for conversing.

Has been wildin' in the club since she broke up with Seven, like a lot, probably to much, maybe needs therapy. Definitely needs therapy

has a very particular Pen Preference and while she will use whatever is available, she might complain. Also, prefers to write in one of her many notebooks over her notes app.

She does drink, she does do drugs (Coke or Oxy depending on her mood) but tries to stay sober and makes sure her friends get home. Also, she sleeps around and would rather do that as sober as possible.

Has definitely written lyrics on the back of a one night stand. In sharpie, she was very sorry. She always dedicates that song to that poor women.

Would kill to play a rain show. She has a thing with rain storms.

Loves to read romance novels. especially fantasy ones, ESPECIALLY spicy ones. Its trash but she loves it.

Is she still actively in love with her ex, probably, is she planning on avoiding that with every fiber of her being, absolutely.

I like to think she is part of a VERY casual FWB situation with the lead singer of another band where they meet up when they are in the same place and send each other memes. For two rockstars, its pretty wholesome.

Would absolutely love to be in a committed relationship, monogamous or otherwise but is too afraid to even try.

Wants a big family, is looking forward to being an aunt, is convinced she is going to be a horrible mother, which isn't true but she doesn't think highly of herself, also she doesn't know how to balance her music and the relationships she has that aren't directly tied to her music and having a baby scares her. (She is very careful)

Is okay with the idea of being married but doesn't think it's necessary, catch her with her lover initial around her neck, or initials tattooed on her wrist.

Is super committed and very touchy in a relationship, really enjoys PDA but wants to keep as much of her relationship private as she can, just for them.

Will eventually write love songs but hasn't written one in a long time.

Is completely unaware of how she affects people, not is a mean way, she just doesn't think she is that important outside of her music. She is sweet, just sad and a bit oblivious. She is a sweetheart she just doesn't believe you really like her.

Says she is indifferent about her parents, that's kind of true, she still wishes they liked her (Head canon wise, I think her Dad does and wants to reconnect but at this point he doesn't know how and her Mom resents Delilah, she never wanted kids and D is aware of this. )

She is Chinese on her Dads side and Portuguese on her Moms. She is First Gen American and doesn't really know he extended family.

I think friends would call her D if nicknames ever become a thing.

Would love to have pets, maybe a bird or some bunnies. But she is literally never home.

Love language is a tie between Physical Touch/ Words of Affirmation

Loves pet names.

A pacifist unless she needs to fight then she can.

I like to think she has a lot of half baked talents like her parents put her in a ton of activities to keep her busy and supervised when she was young so she can sew, tie fancy knots, put up a tent, build a fire, has basic tap/ballet, karate and can raise goats and ride a horse.

Is an absolutely mid cook. She tries but generally hates cooking.

Has everyone's things in her apartment. Like she has a spare room and in that spare room is two dressers and a closet full of the bands stuff and they can sleep there whenever.

Has a top secret email that Fans can use to get in touch with her and there is a higher chance of getting a reply. Sometimes people use it as free therapy (She is not someone who should be giving advice) or different artistic pursuits, fanart, short stories. I think she has written songs based on short stories sent to her email, she gives them credit and dedicates those songs to the author. Has she received fanfic to this email.... Yes.

Is artistic and tends to work on other projects while idle. Right now she is crocheting a baby blanket.

Has so many belts.

Favourite Colour- Green

Favourite Show- Black Mirror

Favourite Movie- The Princess Bride.

I only create one MC per game. I am not a multiple MC girlie. So she will romance everyone but as an angsty, second chance romance girl, Seven is probably gonna be her main. (Although G is a close second.)

[okayto]

Mini-Review: Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space

Bee, an unemployed woman in her early twenties, encounters a mysterious creature she terms PuppyCat. She adopts this apparent cat-dog hybrid, and together they go on a series of temporary jobs to pay off her monthly rent. These bizarre jobs take the duo across strange worlds out in space.

This is the kind of show I often enjoy, episodic while expanding the world and our view as the stories pass; humorous without making me cringe.

It's a very fun show that looks like its aimed at kids, and would probably be fine for that audience--it's not adult humor in the vein of things like The Simpsons or Rick and Morty, but it feels like adults are the audience because of the atmosphere.

Bee is a mess, in a recognizable way: she's been fired from her job for possibly valid reasons but also partially for taking the blame for someone else. She's aimless: if it wasn't for the rent being due, she wouldn't really be looking for another job.

The aimlessness of being an adult, yet not automatically having things all together, is a running theme. Bee definitely doesn't. Her best friend and neighbor, Deckard, is struggling to decide between following his passion, and staying where he is in a predictable environment with friends and family.

His sister Cas gave up a passion project in favor of the predictable work and stability of software engineering, something she has complicated feelings about. Their landlord, Cardamom, seems to have everything all together, except he's a 7-year-old with no adult supervision, and as the episodes go on you realize that his straightforward approach to life is actually a child being forced to handle things that are an adult's domain.

The setting is also fun: it's hard to tell whether things like toilets be a place to store food instead of, well, bodily functions are normal, or why a 7-year-old seriously acting as a landlord doesn't seem to raise many comments. Is this a fantasy land where things are just kind skewed anyway? Or are Bee and her neighbors extra-odd? In that way, it reminds me a bit of Steven Universe, with its mix of cartoon reality and non-main characters eventually making clear that they think this is weird, too.

The actual fantastical bits are interesting, too. We get information about Puppycat towards the end, but he definitely has secrets, and Bee isn't as straightforward as she appears at the beginning, either. Their visits to other planets/dimensions (?) to earn money would be an interesting show even without showing any of their home lives.

You can definitely see the influences of classic magical girl anime, but this show is also the answer to the premise: what if magical girl, but tired adult? What if magical girl, but it's just kinda a job?

Verdict

Voices: Very good! They sound very...realistic, not super polished. I don't mean that they sound like inexperienced voice actors, I mean that they sound real and variable, which isn't common in voice acting. I really enjoyed them.

Also, special shoutout to my favorite character, Toast, whose first line had me wracking my brain to figure out why did her voice sound SO familiar and why was her voice affecting something in my emotions until I looked it up, and her voice actress is the English voice of Sailor Moon/Serena that I grew up with!

Visuals: Vibrant and pastel colors, a very round cartoon style, it feels modern and cozy.

Worth watching? Yes! On one hand, it's just a fun series, the balance between "just living life as an aimless young adult" and "brightly-colored fantastical adventures" is done well. The supporting cast of characters is great and entertaining. And on the other hand, it's also nice to watch a cartoon that feels very much like the target audience are adults, but not because the show is raunchy. I really hope we get another season someday.

Where to watch (USA, as of September 2023): Netflix. Note that a 10-episode original web animation (titled Bee and Puppycat without any subtitle) can be found on Youtube; the Netflix series I watched is both a reboot (covers the original series' material in a few episodes) and then continuation. After asking advice on here, general consensus was that newbies starting with the Netflix series is a good idea, but there's nothing wrong with the older, original web animation.

Click my “reviews” tag below or search “mini review” on my blog to find more!

[ofwraithsandwords]

Sees: "This sort of goes into my headcanon on how Integra's father has influenced her conduct with her subordinates and her position as director, but that's another subject entirely."

May you please explain more about this! (same anon btw). I am very interested! I feel like it might be in the minority of thinking she's not a very good leader/director. Her go-to solution to most things is to send Alucard out. Which always leads to a mess. Even her father realized that using him too much could've been bad. Not sure why or how he came to that conclusion. Or if ever learned from it in his later life… But I do find it interesting that his daughter proceeded to use Alucard for everything involving vampire extermination. Even gaining a replacement for alucard in seras during the 30-year gap.

More likely, stuff like that was written for cool set pieces/fights rather than show questionable leadership choices. Thus some of my confusion comes from whether this is sloppy writing or was actually intended in some way. Also, I should end this by saying this isn't a knock on her character. I just like to overthink ideas in this manga too much.

Hey again, Anon! Sorry for the delay!

Yeah, I do feel like Integra's leadership skills are definitely lacking in certain situations, but like you said, this is likely more of a way to showcase Alucard's abilities and violence in the anime as opposed to showing how Integra is kind of an incompetent director.

But here's the thing: you have to remember that Integra was given the organization when she was...14, I think? So she basically had 7 or 8 years to learn all the ins-and-outs of not only vampires as a species, but occult/supernatural-related subjects as well AND has to direct, supervise, plan, and mitigate any incidents/operations thrown her way. All the while keeping this secret sector of the English government totally under wraps. So...no pressure?

Like you, I don't think less of Integra as a character if she's seen as a faulty leader. In fact, I think it makes sense in certain cases and makes her characterization more complex and nuanced.

Anyways, as far as my headcanons about how her father shaped some of her mannerisms goes, I think it was his more clandestine behavior is what really effected Integra the most. The womanizing, drinking, smoking, fraternizing with other officials and superiors, keeping the true nature (or at least part of) the Hellsing Organization from his only daughter - the list goes on. Being around this behavior is going to have an impact on a child, especially seeing how her father probably treated women as little more than arm candy and a means for pleasure.

I think this might've been part of what drove Integra to dress in suits, to smoke cigars, and go by "Sir" in order to be on the same pedestal as her male counterparts. You could argue that it's because only knights could join the Round Table of Protestant Knights and not dames, but honestly? It's not like they couldn't make an exception. They wouldn't have had a choice. Regardless of what your opinion is, Integra chose to go by "Sir". No one calls her Mistress Integra, Lady Integra, or Dame Integra - there's only one person that refers to her with a female title and it's the Nazi war criminal himself with "Mein Fräulein".

I also have a headcanon that until Seras showed up, Integra was very in the closet and had a good bit of internalized misogyny. I mean, she grew up around and was raised almost exclusively by men, most of which who implicitly benefited from their patriarchal government. I'm sure a few of them had a few choice things to say about women and minorities in general despite Integra being half-Indian.

Anyway, once Seras was introduced and she and Integra spent the next 3 decades together, I like to think that Integra really unlearned quite a bit of the prejudice that was put on her at an early age and came to be proud of her identity as a half-Indian woman.

Most unsavory comments are met with criticism or a good glare from her which ended up causing quite a rift between her and some of the other knights. But most of them are maggot food at this point, so it doesn't really matter.

I will say though, despite her being much more respectful than her father, she's been known to put on the charm in front of a pretty lady once in a while.

[axvwriter]

My Phantom Bride ideas

Making a list of some of the different ideas I've had for writing fanfiction for Twisted Wonderland's Phantom Bride Event. I don't know if I'll actually write them all out. If I do, a good amount will probably be done at later times since I don't have character intro posts for them all ready yet.

-Bobo challenges Eliza for Idia's hand in marriage. (Would technically be a au of an au- Twst Bobo follows the game's storyline pretty closely and this would deviate quite a bit.)

-Bobo joins the B Team as one of the Suitors. (This would be closer to how Bobo would follow the game event, though somewhat of an au offshoot since I think it would be fun for Bobo to try to win Eliza's heart, but the last group never really gets to try. They sorta do with the doorman ghost.)

-Hex joins in as one of the suitors and upon being rejected, he absolutely loses it. Eliza doesn't get a slap in in time as Hex uses his chaos magic as he throws a crybaby tantrum over being rejected. Using his chaos magic, he creates the illusion of him being Idia and Idia looking like someone.

-Sophia, who has adopted Idia and Ortho as her family, barges in with Ortho, crying about how cruel and mean it is for Eliza to take their brother away from them. The two trying to guilt-trip Eliza into releasing Idia. If that doesn't work, Sophia and Ortho are going to shoot up the place- and probably end up joining the failed suitors in being frozen. Maybe Idia loses his cool at his brother being slapped and breaks a bit of the delusional image Eliza has of him, but she is in heavy denial...

-Milo and CatMask? Milo, six or so-year-old mute mage is horrified by the idea of anyone being killed. So he tries to stop the wedding despite it being very scary to him. The ghosts cause young boy to cry and CatMask goes ballistic. CatMask already upset that Milo is trying to throw himself into danger, now has a proper target for its rage upon them making the boy cry. CatMask blazes through the ghosts and goes to attack Eliza, Puffy steps in the way and thus Eliza realizes her true love.

-Grim actually tries to win Eliza's heart. In the event the boys did goad him into helping by saying how he has no chance of winning her heart. So cue ghosts confusion upon this small cat saying he's a suitor and them asking if he's a cursed prince.

There are a few more of my ocs that I have imagined them if they were to interact with certain points in the game's story, but there isn't all that much interesting potential for them.

Like Riddles would be pretty similar to Hex's, except she's calm and using her illusion magic right away to confuse Eliza and the ghosts until they break down and give up. Cinder is absolutely useless- Psyfur would attend as a guest and point out Puffy to Eliza, just very calm and boring.

Piper could have potential except for the major thing of she wouldn't know how to do what I have in mind. CatMask without a ward wouldn't really feel motivated to help out. If it's directed by those it favors to help, it'll only give a half-hearted effort. Basically sneaking in and trying to carry Idia away. Then could just end up similar to Milo's ending wise.

The one's I really want to write are both versions of Bobo's and Hex's. I would love to show off how chaotic Hex's magic is. Especially give an idea of how dangerous Hex's duberio ancestors were.

If any of you find any of these ideas interesting and would like to see them, please send in an ask for one of the prompts after I get Bobo's fight for Idia's hand in marriage one up. That will help motivate me to write them as otherwise who knows if I'll actually write the others.

Edit:

I forgot to add this idea!

-After event aftermath of Bobo fighting for Idia's hand where Crowley sets up a small class for a selective few to learn how to propose to royalty. He sets Bobo up as the teacher and doesn't even bother supervising or checking in on it at all. Leona and Malleus are the students, but perhaps a few other students get to try it upon showing interest. Bobo sets it up as a bit of a game, basing it off of her own kingdom's customs and hiding bits of knowledge of these customs amongst ghosts and the octavinelle trio.

Her reasoning being that if they're visitors to her kingdom, they'll have to go about to learn about it. Since she's pulling in some of the ghosts, the ramshackle three, to help her with this, she'll have them know. She'll hint to look about for this info, but wont tell them where the sources are. Will also give some knowledge to the Octavinelle trio along with telling them its up to them how they give out this knowledge and if they actually give it or lie since there's always the chance of learning the wrong stuff from the wrong sources. Also bringing up they should still be cautious about how they try to obtain information since the Octavinelle trio could choose to force them to sign contracts first.

For this aftermath prompt, I will take some character suggestions.

[ladyluscinia]

Pretty boring take on the whole deal between Izzy, Spanish Jackie, and Badminton to me is when people kind of imply it was an above board arrest of pirates on the Navy side.

Like - ok, first, I do have completely genuine and serious thoughts about the whole thing I alluded to here where Chauncey is acting as a person who wants revenge and not an agent of the empire and that accidentally screws him over on a narrative level (in a different way than being the empire would) by allowing everyone around to be people too. But beyond that...

This isn't a real arrest! It's a bunch of dirty cops doing an off the record meeting with mobsters in a warehouse! There's lots of fandom discussion on Izzy's deal with the devil but Chauncey did the same thing! Not much of a bitter deal for him if the extent of his sacrifice was having to enter Jackie's bar.

No, Chauncey is not operating with the full control of the situation and enforced power of the British Empire, and you can tell.

I mean, The Plan - prior to Edward and the Act of Grace - was for Chauncey to sail over, make a big show of arresting and interrogating all these pirates to confirm what he already knew (that Stede killed his brother), hold a sham trial to tell Stede dramatically that he was going to die, kill Stede, and then leave all the other pirates and the ship with Izzy, Ivan, and Fang entirely free to go about their business. (Like, they do this. No one on Stede's crew is even bound during the episode and none of them need an Act of Grace.) Izzy can be dumb sometimes, but it would be entirely new monumental levels of stupid to have no guarantees that this was going to happen beyond an Admiral's pinky promise, and even stupider on Chauncey's part not to immediately renege on this deal and arrest / kill every pirate on the ship. Unless he couldn't. And it becomes really fucking obvious that he couldn't once Edward gets caught too.

(If I'm going to speculate, that's probably what Spanish Jackie is bringing to this deal. She's negotiated with the Spanish Navy before. Presumably she has a way to ensure the Brits don't do something like just arrest everyone as soon as they have Stede - just like how Geraldo can safely head home from the Spanish ship despite apparently being an infamous gang member.)

Chauncey literally has Blackbeard in custody happily admitting to death penalty crimes and he's just announcing mid "trial" that Edward will be heading out with his First Mate on Stede's ship without any sort of punishment or supervision? And no one questions this at all? Yeah, no fucking way are the actual events of this day in any way official, nor do I buy that Chauncey did not already have his hands tied in some way making him just let Edward go. The "legal record" stuff is all just pageantry / falsifying evidence for the story later and everyone's in on it. Also why Stede's Act of Grace doesn't mean shit unless Edward signs too. This isn't a real arrest that Stede's legalese-ing his way out of. It's just Edward making a better offer (+ required narrative spin) to the other British officers than Jackie and Izzy did.

Somehow - and this is a comedy so we're going to waive the actual how - the only person whose fate was up in the air was Stede. Which works really well in terms of all the antagonists getting together to make an "enemy of my enemy" deal, and for Chauncey getting blinded and eventually screwed over by his quest for vengeance. If he'd done things officially, as a pirate hunter going after a pirate, then he wouldn't have had Edward and Stede's crew just hanging around in the peanut gallery to screw him over. Probably wouldn't have been doing this in an isolated spot in the middle of nowhere at all. But he made a deal instead, and sacrificed control of the situation for it.

Which is why I find it kind of lame and boring to read the situation like Chauncey did have the power to just do whatever he wanted, and instead simply chose to let everyone go and not screw over Izzy for giggles or weird antagonist solidarity. As if he had the opportunity to put "guy who executed fucking Blackbeard" on his list of accomplishments but wasn't feeling it that day, so might as well just release him.

This definitely throws a wrench in blaming Izzy for all the hypothetical stuff that could have gone wrong in a real arrest (and for stuff that didn't happen like "selling" Edward - a British citizen who can't just be sold to some guy by the Navy even if he was actually in custody), but it actually makes sense as a deal all these people would make instead of Izzy, Ivan, and Fang just strolling onto a ship with fingers crossed that arresting bonus pirates is not a priority today.

[caroldantops]

(this might be a lil dub con bc it’s part of a hazing ritual but um)

rushing nancy’s sorority and there’s all these tests/hazing rituals you have to go through. and you’re nearing the final rounds and nancy splits people into pairs and you get paired with a cute girl named robin for the next task which is ALL about showing love to your sister. but jokes on you, it’s sexual love. she pulls you and robin into a private room and tells you to hop to it. and you’re both virgins and you’ve never been with a girl so it’s clumsy kissing and groping and your eyes bugging out when Robin takes her top off. and you’re both humiliated because Nancy is there to “supervise” and she’s making comments like “don’t you sluts know how to kiss?” and “christ stop covering your tits they belong to the sisterhood now, robins allowed to fucking suck on them” and she laughs when you eat robin out because while you’re bent over she can “see that cute little asshole peeking between your cheeks”.

soon enough she has you two scissoring and your pussies are so slick and wet and your clits are bumping and robins already made you cum once and you’re whining and you’re feeling that pressure build again and Nancy is eagle eyed on those bouncing tits. And you start feeling like you have to pee and you’re mortified but it’s not pee right? Your sorority rushes all say feeling like you need to pee means you’re gonna squirt right? And you’re humiliated that this special event is gonna be part of rushing with a girl you barely know (but kinda wanna fuck forever) in front of Nancy but fuck it right?

Except whoops your sisters might have given misinformation because you let go but you’re full force pissing against robins pussy and Nancy is shrieking with laughter calling you a piss slut and a baby and “don’t you know not to potty during big girl time?” and “fuck are we gonna need to stock diapers?” And you’re near tears and robins having a fucking life altering moment and starts humping harder as you continue peeing and fully orgasms to your pissing spectacle.

And sure enough, a week later at a sorority event nancy grins and clicks a few buttons on her laptop before you and robin taking each other’s virginity and your accident is displayed on screen to your new sisters because Nancy forgot to mention the task WASNT just showing sister love, it was recording said sisterly love for ALL your sisters to enjoy.

god.

deviating slightly but i like the idea that you were totally the one to convince robin to rush in the first place. she didn't want to at all, but you promised it would be fun! or if anything, front row seats to all the greek life drama (which was much more convincing to her)

and some of the hazing has been. kind of weird but nothing super insane. skinny dipping in the lake on campus in the cold sure wasn't your preferred activity, but at least it was dark out and nobody could see you (or at least you thought. nancy reveals those pretty pictures do you during your official initiation)

both you and robin are wondering if this is normal - robin questions this fact out loud and nancy just rolls her eyes and grabs her by her face. "I don't think I gave you permission to speak, and definitely not to ask stupid questions."

robin n you both Know that this is each other's first time, and it definitely isn't how you dreamed about it tucked away in your bed with your fingers between your thighs. though, you'd be lying if you hadn't pictured robin on top of you the way she is now...

god i just love the part about your sorority sisters telling u oh its fine, if u ever feel like you have to pee during sex, you're probably just about to squirt!! like!! that's so!!! hhhgn and nancy definitely does get you into diapers at some point, probably your next hazing ritual

you're far too distracted by robin's moaning and nancy's degrading words to realize nancy's recording everything. and you're embarrassed how...wet you are watching it over again. both you and robin next to you are visibly squirming hearing all the other girls mocking you, calling you and robin piss sluts and wondering out loud if you're enough of a whore to let them use you as a urinal.

you are.

[thenexusofsouls]

"Oh yeah? That's cool. I never got that into tea, but that's only 'cause I didn't have any friends who could hook me up with local shit. I do like craft beers, though. So many weird and seasonal flavors... and some of the names of the breweries and beers themselves are just wacky. There was this one called blueberry belch I tried once... and the label had like... these cartoon blueberries in mid-gross-belch, with stink lines comin' out and everything." He laughed a little. "Totally ridiculous. Good actual beer, though, if you like blueberries."

"That's right," he said with a half nod. "One day at a time. That's all any of us can do, right?" But when she apologized for her social ineptness, Wade shook his head. "It's not a problem. You're doin' fine. It's not like I'm here gradin' you on your performance or anything. it's just a casual conversation." And as for her not engaging in enough self care... "We've all got our difficulties. Bumps in the road of life. I don't fault anyone for theirs, 'cause I know I'm not doin' great with my own. I'm a lotta things, but a hypocrite isn't one of 'em."

There was definitely something going on with this woman. Something Wade couldn't quite put his finger on, but something was off. Not necessarily even off in a bad way, but off nevertheless. Here and there he noticed things... Little hesitations, unexpected reactions to things, side glances, nervous mannerisms. She was either in trouble, being hunted, both, or something else entirely he wasn't quite able to figure out yet. But like he'd just said to her, he didn't judge, and right now, she wasn't on his list of people he was looking for. Maybe he could say right now that she'd never be.

There were times when Wade looked the other way for people. It was rare, because it was equally rare that people had a good excuse for evading the law, but it did happen. Outstanding circumstances for why people couldn't make their dates, why they couldn't go to jail right now, why they needed to get somewhere or leave the country. A dying relative, a false conviction, children left in a bad situation, things like that. Laws, for the most part, needed to be followed and enforced, but they weren't absolute or perfect. Sometimes, Wade had to go with his heart and his gut instead of the letter of the law. He'd done that with Mae, letting her just disappear after everything that went down in Mexico, and maybe he'd do it for this woman too.

At her question about his laptop, Wade chuckled. "Well, I'm not givin' it to you to walk off with it or anything, that'd be pretty stupid, wouldn't it? I mean, put yourself in my place for a second, I'm sure you wouldn't let me run amok on your computer either. But if you wanna sit down with me to look somethin' up, yeah, I'll let you use it. It's not like you're gonna be hackin' into classified government shit or anything like that, right?" Right? Actually, now he wasn't sure. "Okay, well, for the record, please don't use my laptop to hack into classified government shit," he clarified.

"With supervision, I'll let you use it. If you want complete privacy, I'm not sure how to help you. I mean, even a library's gonna have people walkin' by, maybe lookin' over your shoulder, Nosy Nellies 'n shit. And they probably keep records of what everybody looks up. I don't know what you're lookin' for, or who, but given my job and what I do, I have a lotta databases and archives and things that I typically search to look up information about people. I'm not sure if that kinda thing would be helpful to you, but if you want me to show you how to use 'em, I can."

The soldier bunched herself up under the desk, palms pressed to her ears with enough pressure that she could hear the squeak of her joints. She was trying to block out the noise. The angry shouts as she disobeyed direct orders. When had she entered the office? One minute she'd been searching the aisles...

well,

Shallow breaths

A tap on her shoulder, sending her jolting alongside her racing heart, wide eyes searching for the source- an elderly woman with a light laugh, and an apology for startling her. She was only reaching for the milk

Bright, fluorescent lights

Constant chatter and clanging and beeping that was not, in fact, a heart rate monitor, and was instead the tills as the cashiers scanned various items

Too many options

kind of.

At some point she'd passed the bakery, and a small child in a cart had wheeled by, holding a...

And then she'd found herself in the office. The door was locked from the inside. The desk had the indent of fingers on the edge of it's surface, as though imprinted in wet cement. One of it's legs wiggled like a snake. Both still gleaned with the sweat of her hands.

The manager kept slamming on the door, shouting and raving about calling the police, and company files and trespassing. And yet she was frozen in place. - For Wade, sadiebrin

@sadiebrin

"Donuts or muffins?" Wade muttered to himself as he looked around the bakery section. His head tilted to one side, then the other. "Eh, they each have their good points..."

It was supposed to rain today. Not just rain, thunderstorm. So far, though, the sky had gone dark for a couple hours and it had gotten rather windy, but so far... no rain or thunder. Perfect weather for Wade to do a little shopping during normal human hours without fear of getting too impaired by the sun. He'd felt a mild tingling on his skin when he stepped outside, but... not too bad. And really, he just had to go from his apartment building to his SUV, and then from there into the store. He could do that standing on his head, so... time to shop.

Being a vampire sucked, pun intended. Needing blood all the time was not only unappealing to Wade, but it was massively inconvenient with his schedule and lifestyle. And he refused to give up the foods he loved, even if they did nothing for him nowadays. At least he could eat whatever he wanted without fear of getting fat or developing heart disease, since whatever made him a vampire seemed to regulate his body to keep it in tip-top shape without him having to do much of anything.

His deliberations on exactly what kind of indulgent human food to buy were interrupted by a very distressed woman staggering from near where he was toward the back of the store. Confections could wait. Wade followed her, sensing that something was very wrong. When she went inside an office and slammed the door, Wade stopped and watched as the manager began pounding on the door like a child throwing a tantrum. "Really?" Wade mumbled to himself.

Making his way to the door, Wade laid his hand on the manager's shoulder. "Take a breath, okay? I think she's havin' some kinda problem." The manager was taking too many breaths, as it were, and spouting more boisterous nonsense about how she wasn't allowed in there, and if she didn't come out right this instant he was going to called the cops!

With an irritated smirk, Wade reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "Dude, relax, I am the cops," he said, flashing his badge just fast enough for the manager to see something that looked official but not long enough for him to actually read that it only said government licensed bounty hunter on it. It worked, and the manager took a step back from the door. Only one. Wade looked at him like, you gotta be kiddin' me with this bullshit. "Yeah, you wanna gimme some time here, man? I'll handle it, don't worry." With that, the manager huffed and left to deal with an irate woman who couldn't find the type of cheese she wanted and was making it everyone else's problem.

"Hey... miss?" he called through the door. "You okay in there? Need some help?" He was trying to get through to the woman but also sound as non-threatening as he could manage.

[stardust-kenobi]

My Purpose

Din Djarin/Mando x Reader

Summary: You're captured by the Empire, held for questioning concerning the location of the child. Under Moff Gideon's supervision, you endure harsh punishment. You knew that Din would never leave you behind. The moment you heard blasters firing rapidly outside your holding cell, you knew he'd come back for you.

Warnings: violence, mild torture to reader (no SA), mention of blood, death, reader being "helpless", helmetless Din, fluff

Word count: 2.8k

A/N: I mean, don't we all fantasize about being rescued by a bounty hunter as a helpless damsel in distress? Just me? well, enjoy anyways. This honestly reads like a Mandalorian episode. @ jon favreau, hire me pls. reader is referred to as “her” once or twice but otherwise can be read as gender neutral.

gif credit: @isetthetone

"I won't talk" You spat at the men towering over you. You were firm, and steady in your composure. More troopers, higher ranking than the predecessors, continued in the attempt to break you. The Empire wanted the child, and you'd never let them get close. The vents blasted near frozen air onto your shoulders from above, insulated in your holding cell that was encased with metal and designed for discomfort.

Without another helpless word, and the press of a little red button, bolts of electricity coursed throughout your already exhausted body, delivered by the small device forcibly wrapped around your head. The pain was excruciating, but you were beginning to feel numb with every passing second. This was the 5th...no, 6th time...so far, that this pain has been inflicted on you. It benefitted neither party in the room. You offered no evidence of weakness aside from your obvious pain. They had to know that you weren't any close to revealing any useful information.

"If you won't talk, Moff Gideon will be taking matters into his own hands. Give us the location of the kid, or suffer the consequences" Their voices were muffled in a similar way that Din's helmet muffled his voice. It reminded you of him in an oddly comforting way. You missed him terribly already. Without even seeing the true look in Din's eyes when they captured you only seconds before you were able to make it to the Razor Crest, you knew his heart made the most difficult decision he's ever had to make. You knew it was you or the child, and neither of us would ever let them get their hands on him.

Although you kept your composure in the presence of your captors, you were scared. Petrified, even. Din swore to himself many months ago to protect you in exchange for you assisting him in raising the child. You knew little of childcare, but Din knew you could both figure it out together. After all, you did owe him big time for saving your life when you first met. And here we were, right back where it all started...you needed to be saved again. You hoped he'd gotten the child miles away from here by now. You'd lost track of time but it felt like hours, maybe even half a day at this point.

Your silence was the only response to the further questions.

"Suit yourself" One of the troopers scoffed, and swiftly exited with his partner. The door slid open and closed just barely long enough for them to leave. You were then trapped, cold, and alone again. As much as you wanted to be relieved from your situation, you cared significantly more for the safety of the child and your armored protector.

The minutes dragged and your chest felt heavy as the panic began to sink in. This was it for you. No way they’d let you leave after being of no use to them. Your death was inevitable, and your racing thoughts began to slow as you came to peace with that.

You heard the faint hissing of a door on the other side of your cell, signifying someone's entry. Then suddenly, your cell door slid open, revealing a towering figure. Although you'd never seen the late Darth Vader, the way you imagined him was reflected in this man.

The jet-black shine of his armor was enough to startle you in his presence. But his expression...the menacing grin framed the picture of a despicable man.

Your face was blank. Showing any fear was not an option right now. Although, you were subtly trembling in your seat.

"You know that you've made a big mistake, right?" He said, approaching you slowly, using his height to tower over you while you were seated on a steel bench.

Silence.

"Your beloved bounty hunter isn't coming back for you," Moff Gideon said softly, getting uncomfortably close to your face. "Why not just comply with our requests so we can move along with the search? hm?"

"You'll never find them" You hissed at him.

"Oh, actually I will. That you can count on" He laughed. The insulting tone made you sick. "However, if you tell us where they are, your torture will come to an end and we can get this whole thing over with. What do you say?"

"Never."

"Your persistence is admiring, truly it is. But why waste your time? He doesn't care about you. He's a Mandalorian. They only care about their creed. Everything else is just...a commodity."

You shook your head in denial. That wasn't true.

"You're wrong."

His gloved hand firmly grabbed your chin, pulling your face up toward him. You cringed and winced under his touch.

“Where are they?” He persistently shouted in your face. You jolted your head backward in attempt to put distance between the two of you. With your response of more silence, you were met with a sharp and painful blow to the side of your face. You turned to look back at him, trying to collect yourself from the pain. His fist was still tight and ready to throw another punch.

The second punch was worse, it radiated pain through your entire skull and caused your eyes to go blurry for a moment. The cuts already open on your cheek were split open with damage you were taking. You felt the blood begin to drip down your face. Any additional infliction would be hell, but you’d take any pain necessary to keep everything you loved safe.

His other hand brought to your attention a small red button. The same button the stormtroopers used to electrocute you before. You whimpered in anticipation and tears involuntarily formed in your eyes.

A deranged smile spread across his face. Your fear just fueled his power. And just before he could inflict any additional pain on you, he seemed to have received transmission into his ear.

His brows furrowed. His eyes then locked with yours.

"Repeat, commander" a look of concern was on his face. Disbelief, even.

"Don't let him step foot on my ship" Moff Gideon seethed.

Although you were uninformed to the other side of the conversation, there was no question. You grinned ear to ear. He came back for you. Of course he did.

"Well, change of plans. The Mandalorian dies today" Moff Gideon snickered.

"We'll see about that" You whispered.

The ship shook and vibrated under your feet. As if a ship had docked...or crashed, maybe. Moff Gideon snapped his attention behind him, as if he could see what was happening through the secured doors.

Another transmission came through, one you still weren't able to hear.

"If he doesn't have the child, then he's no use to me. Kill him."

Your heart sank at the mere thought of losing him. But it wouldn't happen. Gideon's troopers were no match.

Moff Gideon kept his close watch over you while he hid like a coward in your cell with you. His hand rested atop his blaster in preparation for what he knew was to come. The cruiser you were aboard had a crew of probably 50 people. If they all served to be as awful at combat as other troopers that you’d seen Din take down, you’d be rescued in no time.

You watched Gideon’s body language grow more and more nervous and fidgety as the commotion grew on the other side of the door. Blasters and the sharp clinking of metal filled the narrow space of the ships walls. That muffled sound was moving closer. As the situation became less favorable for Gideon, it became more favorable for you. That fact alone put a smile on your face.

Then suddenly…three loud bangs penetrated the walls. It sounded as though someone was trying to break through the first door. But that wasn’t regular armor hitting the metal…it was beskar. Gideon trembled. He jolted when the banging arrived at your cell door. He was displeased to hear you laugh at his reaction, which fueled his anger.

He yanked your arm and threw you in front of him as a human shield, pulling his arm around your chest and igniting the dark saber, holding it only centimeters from your throat. The blade vibrated loudly, threatening to take your life in one motion. What a fucking coward. Can’t even fight without using you as bait.

It took less time for Din to break through the second door. Within seconds, the door snapped and broke open, revealing your protector wrapped in his armor as usual. What was unusual, though, was the splattered blood across his chest plate. You couldn’t even imagine what he’d just been through to get to you.

“Step another foot closer and she dies” Moff Gideon insisted.

“Let her go” his soothing voice broke through his helmet, calming your nerves, even with death being only a movement away. “You’re outnumbered, Moff Gideon”

“I would disagree. It seems it’s one on one”

He pulled the saber closer to your neck. You whimpered and squinted your eyes shut. Tears threatened to fall from your eyes as you opened them back up. You see Din’s fist in a ball, revealing his frustration and anger.

“Based on your fighting skills I’d say it’s more like two on one, wouldn’t you think?” Din snapped back at him.

“Alright. Let’s fight then, Mandalorian” Gideon said with a smirk on his face. He threw you down carelessly back onto the bench. You cried out in pain as your face hit in the cold seat.

Both men circled one another with their weapon of choice in the ready position. The saber was still ignited, and Din had his staff of beskar. No lightsaber could ever cut through beskar, not even the dark saber. Din swung first, striking Gideon’s side armor. He retaliated, only to be met with the staff that rejected the saber’s power.

There were flashes of blinding light back and forth, both men having a fair chance against the other. You watched in terrifying anticipation, fearful of Din’s safety. You believed in him, but to watch him fight scared you. After a few minutes, Din finally had Gideon pinned against the floor, with the beskar staff pointed right below his chin. The saber was thrown from his hands, and out of his reach.

This was it, you thought. We are getting out of here.

But not yet. Gideon made a move so swiftly you couldn’t even comprehend what had happened. The staff was knocked from Din’s grip, and he was thrown backward onto the floor. Gideon somehow maneuvered himself on top of him now, with the staff in his control.

No. Please no.

He could’ve killed him in one motion, but instead, Gideon pushed the staff under the grip of Din’s helmet and forcefully pulled it from his head, slicing his chin in the process. You gasped and looked away, to be respectful of his creed. You’d never seen him without his helmet. All you caught glimpse of was the deep brown color of his hair.

You only listened now, as you were unable to watch how this would end.

“You have nothing now” Gideon started, breathing heavy through his words. “Your creed has been broken. You have no purpose” he laughed, pleased with himself for to bring shame to his opponent. "Give it up, Din Djarin."

A familiar voice broke the air that you’d ever only heard through the distortion of a helmet. You gasped softly.

“She is my purpose. The child is my purpose. I won’t let you take that away from me” Din said. It sounded like the voice was directed toward you rather than Gideon based on your positioning. You melted at his words.

Not another word was spoken before the clanging of metal filled the room again, you couldn’t tell what was happening, which made you all the more terrified. Gideon groaned in pain, it sounded as if he was on the ground now.

“You’ll never take the child. And you’ll never see the light of day again. All because you took my girl” Din breathed deep through his words.

You heard the dark saber ignite again.

The vibration from the saber indicated a swift movement.

A loud thud against the ground.

Silence.

You trembled with your arms covering your head in a fetal position on the bench. You knew it had to be Din who was still standing, but you couldn’t bring yourself to move.

“Y/N” his warm voice graced your ears only inches from behind you. You audibly sobbed. Knowing immediately you were safe. He was still helmet-less, you could tell. You turned over to face him, but kept your eyes closed so you wouldn’t see him.

The electrocution device wrapped around your head was removed gently. You'd somehow forgotten it was even there. His hands then wrapped around yours as you moved to sit in an upright position.

“Look at me” he pleased softly

“But your hel-” you started

“Look at me” he insisted, squeezing your hands gently.

Your eyelids folded open slowly. You weren’t afraid, but you were hesitant. He was crouched in front of you. What you saw as your gaze met his, took your breath away. His eyes were brown, a match to his hair you caught glimpse of before. It was Din. You were finally seeing the man you loved for what he really looked like. He was so beautiful. All the words you wanted to say failed to leave your mouth as you scanned his face over and over again. His expression was riddled with worry and concern.

“Did he do this to you?” He referred to the gash above your cheek, and the other visible bruising down your body. You were suddenly aware of how deeply he cared for you.

On the verge of tears and still remaining speechless, you nodded your head. “I’m okay”

“He’ll never take you from me or lay a hand on you again” your eyes travelled over to Gideon’s lifeless body on the floor. Din gently pulled your face back to look at him so you wouldn’t be more traumatized than you already were.

“I’m here” he reassured you. A smile formed on his lips. Maker…that smile. You were seeing him smile for the first time. Sweat and patches of blood scattered Din's face. You couldn't imagine the hell he went through to get to you.

“But Din, your helmet” you remained confused. You knew that meeting other Mandalorian recently may have changed his outlook but you never thought he’d break the creed intentionally. He could’ve put it back on. But he didn’t.

“It’s okay... I wanted to see you with my own eyes. You are my purpose now, y/n”

He said it again. The same sentiment that surprised you before. Your heart was so full in that moment.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner" He remorsefully spoke. "Its my job to protect you, and I almost failed you. It'll never happen again"

You shake your head. He didn't need to apologize. He was here now and that's all that mattered.

“I’ve never been happier to see someone’s face in my entire life” you say, continuing to admire his features. You bring your hand to cup the side of his face. He closed his eyes gently as a result of your caress. Your skin against his was so mesmerizing...so new to you...so new to him. You halted your gaze this time at his lips and then looked back to his eyes. He was looking at your lips too.

Neither of you had to say another word. An unspoken desire between the two of you was about to be fulfilled. His finger guided your chin closer to him.

The silence was so loud. The lack of troopers and personnel on the ship was haunting, yet somehow incredibly peaceful. The beating of your heart was beginning to fill that silence in your ears. It beat rapidly in response to your near death experience in addition to being this close to him. Being completely alone and intimate with him.

You leaned in to him with his guidance. As your lips just barely brushed against his, you took a sharp breath in. The skin on his lips was supple and warm. As you fully pressed your mouth against his, you fell apart into his kiss. Your whole body was encased in warmth and a feeling of security from this closeness with him. His hand rested against the back of your neck and pulled you closer into the kiss, if that was even possible. Even though you were truly alone, this kiss alone made it feel like you and him were the only two people left in the whole galaxy.

You never wanted to pull away from him. You both waited so long for this moment.

"You don't know how long I've wanted to do that" He whispered, as the kiss finally broke.

"I do, Din. Trust me I do" You giggled. You were captivated by the feeling that this kiss had left with you.

He pulled his head back to take another look at you.

"Let's get you home" He said, before standing to his feet.

Even weak from his battle wounds, he scooped you up into his arms, and carried you back to the Razor Crest.

[chokiipng]

Hay fever : Genshin various

a/n : suffering from seasonal allergies isn't fun . so instead of trying to do school work, i'm gonna write hcs to make myself feel better

character(s) : Xiao, Diluc, Kaeya, Albedo, Childe contents : fluff with a bit of crack (my specialty) + : reader has really bad seasonal allergies

Xiao :

he doesn't really understand tbh

he plays it off as a common cold at first and entrusts you with Verr, much to her annoyance. he didn't realize the true severity of the situation until a week had passed.

he's heard of seasonal allergies before, so it's not like he was entirely clueless, he just didn't know how to go about treating it.

because of this, he turned into a big ball of concern for the entirety of spring

he asked everyone he could for help, even that ginger haired harbinger (to which he had no clue since he basically lives on an iceberg)

this also happened to peek Zhongli's interest, who then took him to Bubu pharmacy to learn more. it took Xiao about 5 different interrogations to actually visit Bubu, he cursed himself internally for not checking there in the first place

of course, Baizhu laughed it off and informed the both of them on how allergies work, how they're triggered, and how to prevent/soothe them

if you sneezed/sniffled, he was immediately by your side with a tissue and some water. itchy eyes, he had a small bottle of eyedrops for you courtesy of Dr. Baizhu and Qiqi

it was amusing to say the least, watching a feared Yaksha running around frantically in order to soothe your allergies

of course, he soon picked up that it was because you went outside every goddamn day to complete commissions and to pick flowers for who knows who (Qiqi, you often found yourself picking herbs with her because who could say no to that face?)

he legit locked you in your room at Wangshuu Inn and did your commissions for you. he didn't want you in any pain, so he stayed with you when he finished all of his tasks

he didn't isolate you though, but if he takes you out he makes sure you take your allergy medicine (given by Qiqi, ty bby) and that you have a mask on

Diluc :

he never really experienced hay fever, but he knows the gist of it

he's heard stories of it from customers of the Angel's Share and was immensely grateful to the Archons for blessing him with immunity to seasonal allergies

but he wasn't prepared to catch you practically sneezing your guts out one morning

Diluc drops everything, much to Adelinde's horror, and orders for a box of tissues and water immediately. he whips out the blankets from under the couch that he knew you hid and props you on some pillows he fluffed in a panicked rush

the maids watch with a nervous chuckle as he runs around the mansion, completely forgetting about his shift at the Angel's Share and his nightly heroic duties

as soon as he calms down from the initial shock of how hard allergies hit you, he asks you how your feeling and if he can do anything

the next day he asks Donna (who stutters at his mere presence), who mind you is an employee at the Floral Whisper, since Flora isn't there herself about hay fever. he figured that people who worked at a flower shop would know about allergies caused by the pollen produced by flowers

he brings back medicine that you've been instructed to take daily as to lessen the affects of your allergies

despite his day duties, he offers to take up your daily commissions during the days you are physically unable to do them or just does them of his own volition

he trusts that the maids will take care of you in his stead

in the mean time, you're allowed to roam the city as you wish, but that's about it. he threatened Lawrence and Swan that they would feel the wrath of retribution if you stepped foot outside the city

Mondstadt was a land of eternal springtime, there was no way in hell he was letting you out of the city without his supervision

while all of this may be a bit much, he makes sure to let you know that this is just him caring for you. he doesn't want to seem overbearing and trusts that you know what's happening to your body and how to treat it

Kaeya :

he laughs at your demise

what did you expect ?

but he really is worrying on the inside

he makes sure to check in with Barbara just to make sure that you're not suffering from a lethal disease

once he knows that they're just seasonal allergies, (almost) all his worries subside and he sighs of relief

he notifies Jean beforehand (but sometimes forgets), he works considerably less during the time of your allergies since he doesn't really trust anyone else to take care of you

he also doesn't drink as much, surprising, he knows

he refrains from bringing you flowers as he usually does and instead spoils you with unnecessary affection

Kaeya doesn't worry as much since he puts faith in you that you know what's going on in your body. since they're seasonal allergies, he realizes that you must've gone through this before and know how to treat it

since you can't really cure it, you just act more cautious in the outdoors

he often accompanies you on your daily commissions and such, just to be sure that your okay. he takes over the moment you pause to sneeze or itch your nose even once

aside from this, he's the other reason why your allergies are unbearable

once they're all done and over, he teases you relentlessly about how reliant you were on him when in reality it was him doing your tasks of his own volition rather than you asking him. you told him several times that you could handle it, but he persisted nonetheless

he's more reasonable during your hay fever, and despite his unnecessary comments, you find it endearing

Albedo :

he is among the few men who are actually calm during the situation, but since when is he not?

he probably already has a remedy for you that greatly lessens the affect of your allergies

but even without it, he trusts that you know how to handle it

the only factor in here that would cause chaos-

is Klee

once Klee hears you sneeze all hell breaks loose in Albedo's workspace

she runs around everywhere looking for tissues and then ends up bringing Mondstadt's entire supply, which you and Albedo laugh nervously at

once Klee calms down, you explain the bare minimum of hay fever, which she manages to understand

while he has faith that you can treat it yourself, Albedo still recommends that you stay inside more rather than going out exploring and looking for chests, to which you sheepishly comply

Jean cannot thank you enough when it comes to Klee's behavior during this season, as Klee tends to spend more time at home with you and Albedo once you finish your commissions so that "you don't feel lonely!"

she even drew you a picture to show how much she cared!

if you can't sleep at night because of your allergies, Albedo (who is probably still up working) will gladly allow you to indulge in his studies or to just simply read with you until you fall asleep

he too is also happy that you managed to tame Klee

Childe :

this man has no idea what the fuck hay fever is

need I remind you that he grew up in the land of perpetual winter, hay fever doesn't even exist to him. unlike everyone else, he hasn't even heard of the concept

so when you hold a finger up during your weekly sparring, he pauses with a curious tilt of his head

he screams in horror as you sneeze out all of your bodily fluids not once, not twice, but three times

Childe calls off the spar and cradles you in your arms as if you're about to die

it's until he rushes you to Baizhu in a panicked frenzy that he realizes that its...a fever?

now Baizhu is a patient man, he had to raise a zombie child who basically loses her memory each time she wakes up and wields a sword/cryo abilities

but he was getting tired of Childe's endless questions quick.

Childe shrieks as the normally passive pharmacist slams his hands down on the counter with a sickeningly sweet smile

he ceases in his questions, apologizes for bothering him, and races back to the Northland Bank in a cold sweat

it takes you explaining it in a calm voice for him to finally understand it

and he takes this very seriously

while he knows that it's seasonal and that you've gone through it before, he can't help but worry for you

he coddles you, and he doesn't relent even if you tell him

he slaps a mask on you, takes away your fighting privileges, and even order his subordinates to keep an eye on you at all times

that is if he's not already

he clings

he's attached to you

he just wants you to feel better, and you appreciate it, but it can get a little too much sometimes

and while you do tell him this, the same situation happens every year when spring comes around and there's nothing you can do to stop it. Baizhu can't catch a break from the rowdy harbinger

[sleepingsun-if]

Can they flip a pancake? How good are they at the art of cooking? <3

GREAT QUESTION!

LUCE definitely can and will. they've been living alone for a while, which means that they need to have some sort of cooking skills. they're not a pro by any means, but there's a few signature dishes they can make. if MC enjoys that kinda thing, they would definitely spend a lot of time cooking together.

EDEN is... not awful at cooking. she probably can't flip a pancake though. she can make, like, a salad maybe. between her an her brother, elias has always been the one who cooked, so she would much rather help out in the kitchen instead. (elias would always put her on dish washing duty which she absolutely hates)

ELIAS can, will and will force you to watch. out of the 5 (+ MC) he is by far the best at cooking, though he personally prefers baking. if their parents hadn't been dead set on him and eden going to the same school, he 100% would've gone to culinary school. he genuinely loves it; it gives him something to do with his hands, and that man is always fidgeting, and cooking for someone is a nice way of showing others you appreciate them and he is not good with words.

FINN was an absolute disaster when he was younger. im talking burning pasta level of disaster. living by himself and hanging out with elias a lot, he's learned some things, but he is definitely not to be trusted with cooking a meal by himself, or without supervision. (he tried to make a birthday cake for MC one year and his mother banned him from the kitchen afterwards)

RISS can, but they'd rather not. she's almost always had to fend for herself, and she had to cook, obviously, but never really enjoyed it. over the years they've also accumulated some health issues, so sometimes spending time in the kitchen simply isn't an option. however, at the moment she's living with elias, ehich means they don't have to worry about it that much.

[thejustmaiden]

Jaken = Rin's Dad?

Okay, is this how a daughter treats their so-called father?

Most definitely not.

Rin and Jaken's relationship clearly screams of your typical sibling rivalry punctuated with cute and silly moments of playful bickering.

Yes, Jaken may technically be her main provider, but that doesn't necessarily equate to him being more of a father than Sesshomaru. If anything, he demonstrates more of a brotherly love towards her. As we all know, parents (which Sesshomaru embodies more based on real life patterns and parallels) will leave their older more capable children in charge of looking after their younger brothers and sisters. In this case, that would mean making Jaken responsible for watching over Rin and protecting her if need be. Ah-Un offers protection, too. Think of it as Jaken as the big brother and Ah-Un as the family dog who are babysitting while Sesshomaru as the parent of the household is away at work or taking care of business. I mean, they literally fit that description to a tee and I'm dying at the accuracy of it all! 🤣👌

[Quick! Someone write up a modern au where Sesshomaru finally gets out to have a nice date night but everything goes wrong in the most spectacular way. Like maybe Rin and Jaken catch a ride on Ah-Un to go spy!]

I recently revisited some episodes from The Final Act, and I couldn't believe how many moments like this there were where Rin got after Jaken or when she would "put him in his place" so to speak. Obviously, all of it is mostly harmless. I was only surprised by how often it occurred, not to mention how Jaken would just stand there and take it. Towards a supposed father figure, Rin's behavior is downright unacceptable. There's a certain level of respect a child is expected to show their parents/guardians, and that's just not what I'm witnessing here between them. Like at all.

Rather their dynamic has the nature of some sibling relationships like I mentioned above. So I really wish fans would stop pretending otherwise, because based on what we know of father-daughter relationships- healthy ones at least- they don't appear anything like what Jaken and Rin have. If you could please provide me other examples of where we've seen similar portrayals in fiction or in real life, then perhaps I can get on board.

Look, that doesn't have to mean that because Jaken isn't her father then Sesshomaru must be. They can both be her caretakers without necessarily filling that traditional father role. I'm just saying that if we're going to start assigning titles to characters, let's make sure we are accurate and truthful in our assessments. If you're going to label anyone Rin's dad, then it needs to be Sesshomaru. Jaken doesn't have precedence over him in terms of fatherly attributes, that just wouldn't make sense.

After all, this isn't about what you want to see, this is about what Rin very likely sees. It's safe to assume that she views Sesshomaru more like a father than she does Jaken. She knows she's safe with him (broadly speaking lol) and that he'll come for her no matter what. That sense of security and comfort is what a child seeks and what they should always feel in a parent's presence. She trusts and even idolizes him, just as a young and innocent child tends to do with their parents. At that age, parents are perfect and could do no wrong in their child's eyes. Idk about you, but this describes perfectly how Rin is around Sesshomaru.

Rin adores him and will follow him anywhere- yes, even into danger! That's what the innocence and unconditional love of a child will bring them to do if necessary. Fortunately, at the end of The Final Act we learn Sesshomaru takes Kaede's advice when he realizes that leaving Rin with her in the village is in her best interests. That way she'd be able to lead a more normal and safer life alongside other humans. Remember, Sessrin shippers, that doesn't mean he wasn't still a part of her life and didn't witness her become a young woman over the years right before his very eyes. Therefore, if they eventually do become romantically involved, then most if not all of those gifts had intimate and seductive intentions and it essentially constitutes as child grooming.

I understand from a Sessrin shipper's point of view why it'd be so much easier to claim Jaken as the father. In doing so, they diminish Sesshomaru's role in her upbringing. By refusing to acknowledge the real role he had in helping raise Rin (short periods can be crucial and impressionable too esp. in a child's early years so yes they did assist in raising her not only Kaede), these shippers are better able to justify how their filial-like relationship evolved into a romantic one. So yeah, I get it, if I were a Sessrin shipper I'd probably do the same. It's one of the more plausible arguments available to them, after all. "Let's pin Jaken as the father to fend off antis!" is the best chance they've got, but even so, it's still not good enough. But if you insist Jaken is indeed like a father to Rin, then Sesshomaru is most certainly one too. Who says she can't have two fathers anyway?

The thing is however much you want to deny or downplay what Sesshomaru truly means to Rin and vice versa, nothing will ever change or hide the truth of the matter. Please, stop acting like they're only traveling companions and nothing more. Some of y'all even go so far as to say that they're like strangers. Knowing potentially little about a person is not equal to a lack of love and affection. Making big assumptions such as this to defend your ship is actually doing you more harm than good. Let me elaborate.

According to your reasoning, if that's all Rin ever was to him was a companion and Sesshomaru had no real attachment to her, then what precisely is the basis of your ship? Recall that Adult!Rin doesn't exist yet, thus we have no real idea what she will be like or if she's even alive. So how can you make comments like that but then go on later to say "they have such a unique and unbreakable bond" or "only Rin can be the mother because she's the only human he ever cared for" if all that time spent traveling together didn't amount to much in the first place like you claimed to believe beforehand? Do you see how your rationalizing is confusing?

Contrary to what some of you may think, I'm not just saying all this because I'm an anti and I'm obligated to disagree with you, or whatever other excuse you want to tell yourself. Believe it or not, I'm attempting to give as unbiased and objective of an analysis I can based on widely accepted interpretations of family dynamics, development, and any history we know of.

Of course I respect that at times fans will perceive things differently since that's bound to happen. What's hard for me to wrap my head around however is the unwillingness of some fans- not exclusively Sessrin shippers- to apply basic common sense and sound judgment to their observations and deductions.

Looking at all our facts, then taking the small handful of scenes Sesshomaru and Rin do share together into account, one can logically conclude that their dynamic is akin to one found in a typical parent-child relationship. If you still fail to recognize Sesshomaru as a parent to Rin, then that's fine too. In the end, that won't really change the fact that he'd still take on a role resembling an adult figure overseeing a young child's care and protection. Be it as a vassal, guardian, what have you. Plus, nobody is saying here that Sesshomaru doesn't make mistakes regarding Rin's general well-being, but so do all parents. Overall, I think the majority of us agree that Rin is in good hands. Whether it's in his direct company or in his occasional supervision from his frequent visits to the village.

In other words, it doesn't really matter what exact title you assign him in relation to Rin, as the distribution of power is all inherently the same with any and all adult-child relationships. That bond never changes once you've established it either, seeing as it's a special kind of connection one can only form with a child and a child alone.

I was a teacher for a few years, and speaking from personal experience, you don't need to be a parent, per se, to take on a role of authority in a child's life. I know without a doubt that I could never and will never view any of those kids I taught in a sexual/romantic light later down the road; yes, not even once they become grown-ups who are independent and more than capable of making their own decisions. Those of you who disagree are usually missing the whole point though, because we're not trying to dictate what Adult!Rin can and cannot do like many tend to accuse of us doing. This isn't a question of taking away from her autonomy nor does it fall under "purity culture," which is why people shouldn't continue jumping to these outrageous conclusions and really listen for a change. You're deflecting from the real issue here when you choose to misinterpret what we're saying by ignoring the problem we're actually referring to. You cannot present a valid counter-argument if you persist in twisting our words.

Bottom line: once these kids become old enough to pursue a sexual/romantic relationship, of course they have that right if they're ready. All we're trying to say is you guys ought to stop pushing forward this it's-completely-normal-to-want-to-bang-your-adoptive-dad-since-you're-an-adult-and-can-do-as-you-please agenda and not expect backlash. Ship it if you want, but please stop acting like their romance would be the epitome of a pure and healthy relationship.

Sesshomaru may not wear his heart on his sleeve, but it's foolish to presume he didn't actually care about Rin during their whole time together just because he didn't openly express his feelings until the very end. Surely everybody can comprehend that people handle and process their emotions differently. The way Sesshomaru chooses to is completely valid for the most part, so let's cut him some slack regarding this already.

What I'm trying to get at is that any child whose life you played an influential role in will always be a kid in a lot ways to you even when they're old and wrinkly. Just as they will always picture you as the loved one who guided and protected them when they were most vulnerable and couldn't always fend for themselves. Can't we relate this to children we know personally and apply it accordingly?

Finally, I want to end on this note. Could you kindly take a look at these two images below for a second?

The reason I ask is because of something I recently read that's relevant to the topic. There was this pro-sessrin tweet I saw that stated Rin trying to take care of Sesshomaru when they first met is what a mom would do for a child, which in their opinion, translates to Rin being more like a mother than a daughter if anything.

First off: are you freaking kidding me????

Seriously, so now children aren't allowed to tend to their sick or injured parents?! Parents are apparently superhuman and shouldn't be offered a helping hand from a child, even if they mean well and want to help their parent who's in pain?? Now this Twitter user was mostly being a smartass, but at the same time, it was evident they genuinely thought they offered a valid enough point that warranted no further explanation or clarification.

Secondly, by saying this Sessrin fans don't seem to realize that in actuality they're contradicting themselves and proving the point we've been trying to make all along. Glancing at the first picture and moving down to the second, the role of the one being cared for and the caretaker is reversed. So then by their own logic, Sesshomaru IS in fact like a father to Rin.

What it comes down to is the names you give to the roles these characters play aren't as crucial as the dynamic they share. The specific characteristics of that dynamic are what define the importance of said role, not so much the name in the role itself. So real father or not, Sesshomaru and Rin clearly mean a lot to each other. Close relationships are defined and solidified by the devotion and belonging they have to one another, not solely by the duration of time spent together and their proximity.

Well, that's a wrap! I hope you guys got something outta this blog, and that you enjoyed or found some portions of it interesting. I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject from this fandom, but only engage in conversation if you plan to be respectful. Thank you!

[wellntruly]

Hey, Tarra. Happy new year!

I have a random question: how did you end up working at Food Network? I always wonder how people land cool-sounding jobs, especially when the path there isn't so obvious. Thx!

Hello hello! Sorry for the delay, things have been, hm, lately, but happy to answer, it is quite simple: nepotism.

I got drinks with the nephew of a family friend and his wife (neither of whom I had ever met) about a week or so after I landed in New York. From this evening they knew that I was looking for a job, and like a week after that, she texted me asking if I’d like to interview at Chopped, where she was a supervising producer, as they’d fired their production assistant that day because he just...stopped coming into work. Now in any job, just not showing up with no notice is not a great look, but such is the nature of unscripted TV post production that everyone has to be there at your 10 hour shift every day Monday-Friday in order for the machine that makes the show to not break down and keep delivering new episodes to the network 51 out of 52 weeks a year. So not coming into work, for any reason—if you have not begged & pleaded in advance and arranged for some sort of coverage from one of your coworkers and it’s only going to be the one day, just the one day and then you’ll be back—means you’re just choosing to abdicate your position, and you will promptly be replaced.

By: me, that time! I had a background in theater management but I really don’t think they cared, definitely the most important interview question the post production supervisor who would become my boss had for me when I came in was, “Could you start tomorrow?” (The Machiiiinnee) 

And while the editors have to go to editor school, generally it seemed that among the producers, maybe about half had gotten some sort of relevant education in the field (my closest colleague/buddy was the post coordinator and he had a bachelor’s degree in production from Syracuse University, which offers those sorts of things), but the other half just kinda fell into the work. By the time I left I was some sort of junior/assistant story producer and would have been a fully titled producer in like another month, all just from starting as a PA with zero television experience two years earlier, so I would have absolutely been in that latter half.

I also should probably clarify that I did not actually work for the Food Network, I worked for Notional, the production company that makes Chopped. This is shifting around fairly rapidly these days with things like Netflix’s in-house production arm and whatever the fuck Disney+ has going on now, but the traditional American television model that most of the cable networks still follow is that the shows are made by independent outside production companies (their logos will air at the end of the episodes—my example is always Bad Robot because people tend to remember the little robot zooming in the field beeping out “Bad robot!” at the end of Lost episodes), and the network is then buying the show from the production company to distribute. So ABC aired Bad Robot’s Lost, and the Food Network airs Notional’s Chopped.

There are obviously contracts in place to manage the financials, obligations, etc of these business arrangement, and some [shhh] scuttlebutt for you is that when Notional signed their deal with the Food Network for Chopped back in 2009, it was NOT advantageous to Notional, or what a lawyer might call “a smart thing to sign,” so even after Chopped rocketed into popularity, Notional was still only getting a rather modest cut of the ad revenue their show was generating, while the Food Network just raked in all the rest for itself.

Anyway, this has been Into the Weeds of Unscripted Television, let me know if there’s anything else about this bonkers industry I can ~illume~ for anyone