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denkamis · 4 years ago

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hi!! could i get double chocolate and cherry with kaminari, shinsou and midoriya please?❤️

idk if i did this right so im sorry if i didnt!

to anon: hey anon, no worries! you did it perfectly :)) aww i love the characters you chose for this prompt, this is adorable. enjoy some fluffy times with these sleep deprived boys from a very sleep deprived writer <3

warnings: none! just some swearing and some bad sleeping habits lmao. reader is gn!

prompt: denki kaminari, hitoshi shinsou, izuku midoriya scenarios + “it’s okay, i couldn’t sleep anyways.”

denki kaminari

denki stays up late playing osu and minecraft

what can i say, he’s just a gamer man

so he’s honestly pretty reliable when it comes to you knocking on his door at late hours of the night

always the biggest cuddle bug, really happy that you go to him first out of everyone

literally drops everything for you hehe

lots of sleepy kisses too

“fuck! goddammit,” denki grumbled, shaking out his wrist as he had just failed the six star version of the intro of blend-s on osu. he had gotten rather addicted to the circle clicking game. this further resulted in denki staying up late on school nights, despite kirishima’s warnings of him potentially falling asleep in class the next day. it was fine, he could always borrow notes from you or jirou anyways!

as he went to restart the map again, a soft knock came at the door to his dorm room. spinning off his computer room chair, he prepared himself to be lectured by aizawa for the fifth time this week about breaking curfew. “aizawa-sensei, i know that i’ve been loud lately but i swear this time it won’t happen- y/n?” he stopped mid-sentence as he saw you standing on the other side of the door. “what are you doing up so late?”

you shook your head, immediately hugging his torso instead. you were clearly a bit distraught about something, but denki wasn’t a mind reader. he figured that from the way you were clinging onto him, it must have been a bad dream of some kind. “hey, hey, easy there! nearly knocked me over, huh,” denki laughed lightly, pressing a soft kiss to the side of your head before closing the door behind you. you clung onto him, face buried in the crook of his neck. it made a small blush dust across his cheeks, a warm feeling spreading through his arms as he held you close. “i hope i’m not bothering you,” you mumbled, to which denki hummed. “you never bother me, babe. it’s okay, i couldn’t really sleep anyways.”

the two of you stayed like that for a long while, denki swaying the two of you back and forth. you could feel gentle lips peppering the crown of your head with kisses. as your heart rate slowed, denki piped up. “wanna stay here for the night? my bed’s missing out on some action! and by some action, i mean sleep. i really can’t sleep.”

you snorted at his words, your eyes flicking up to his goofy yet endearing smile, his eyes bright yet a bit tired from late night gaming. he poked his tongue out at you, making you roll your eyes with a tiny smile of your own gracing your features.

“how could i say no to that?”

hitoshi shinsou

we already know he’s up at these unholy hours

not for any particular reason, just because he can’t really sleep

quite the insomniac that one

and the fact that he can’t sleep properly or well unless you’re with him

you smell like lavender in the morning too bc he puts it in his pillow to help him sleep, thank you

shinsou lay awake in bed, eyes trained on the ceiling as he waited for himself to fall asleep. it was no secret that he barely got any rest, so it was simply easier to just sit and wait until his body exhausted itself to the point where he simply fell asleep. staying as still as he could, he kept counting the amount of times he breathed in and out. it made him acutely aware of his surroundings. the crickets outside his room, the way the moonlight streamed through his blinds, the miscellaneous creaking sounds of the dorms. yeah, he definitely wasn’t sleeping tonight.

he didn’t flinch as the door to his room opened, blinking slowly as his eyes adjusted to the light spilling into his room along with a new figure. “y/n?” he asked, not bothering to sit up. “hey, are you up? sorry toshi, i couldn’t sleep,” you explained softly, allowing the door to close behind you as you tiptoed across his dorm room. his hair was sprawled across his pillow, deep violet locks hiding his hands situated behind his head comfortably. it showed off his arms that were built from training for when, not if, he ever got into the hero course.

a lazy smile crossed his lips at your words, his heartstrings being played by you so seamlessly. “it’s okay, i couldn’t sleep anyways,” he replied with a tilt of his head towards you. he moved over a bit in his bed as to give you space to lay down next to him. you crawled beneath his comforters, inhaling the scent of lavender as you did. apparently shinsou had said that the smell helped him fall asleep easier. strong arms wrapped around your waist, encasing you in a protective embrace as your head rested comfortably against his chest. the comforter was thrown over the two of you. you felt so much safer already.

his large hands were placed on your lower back, his thumbs drawing lazy circles on your skin as his breathing began to relax noticeably. hiding your smile, you cuddled closer to him. to this day, you had never seen shinsou fall asleep so quickly since that night.

izuku midoriya

baby is up studying for a test that’s in like 2 weeks

either that or he’s on an all might video spree on youtube and no that is not the first time this has happened, it is certainly not the last

he has so many stuffed animals in his room probably, like he just has them stuffed in his closet

the all might plushies stay on the bed tho

his cuddles are unmatched tho, change my mind

izuku was pacing around his room, vocabulary words spinning about his mind as he counted them on his fingers. he was mumbling definitions to himself, going over all of them in his head before referencing his notebook to make sure nothing went wrong. amidst his ramblings, a knock at the door made him jump to attention. “come in?” he called out, watching intently as he saw you come into view. his face showed relief, grateful to know it wasn’t aizawa or kacchan complaining about his incessant pacing.

“would it be alright if i sleep here tonight? i’m worrying about my grades and stuff again,” you rubbed the back of your neck with a small smile, trying to play off your question as relaxed as you could. it wasn’t exactly a secret that you had a crush on the boy in front of you. he was kind and humble, wanting to help as many people as he could despite all the circumstances that had the world against him. it was admirable. even now, he looked so concerned from the clear lack of sleep you’ve been getting these past few days. “of course you can sleep here. ah, wait! i have to, ah,” he stumbled over his words as you looked to the bed to see not one, not even two, but four all might stuffed toys on his bed.

“oh.”

midoriya’s face erupted with crimson, shoving the plushies into his closet as he sputtered out various excuses as to why they were there in the first place. when he turned back to you, you were giggling. not at him, but because of the entire situation in general. “you’re adorable, izu,” you told him gently. a light feeling bloomed in his chest upon seeing the smile you held for him. you looked so undeniably beautiful to him, the way your hair was a bit messy and how you stood in your pyjamas. while others, including yourself, would find that you looked completely normal, midoriya loved seeing you be so casual, so comfortable around him.

“you’re sure i’m not interrupting you, though?”

midoriya returned your smile with his own, stepping forward to intertwined his scarred fingers with your delicate ones. “it’s okay,” he murmured softly, holding your hand as if you were the most precious thing in the world to him, “i couldn’t really sleep anyways.”

all works © denkamis 2021.

tags:

@meilbox @honeykami @httpfirx @strawberrysalwa @hey-i-really-miss-you @smexy-goose @satis-kei

want to be on the taglist? see this post!

#bnha x reader #mha x reader #bnha scenarios #mha scenarios #denki kaminari x reader #denki x reader #hitoshi shinsou x reader #hitoshi shinso x reader #shinsou x reader #shinso x reader #izuku midoriya x reader #midoriya x reader #bnha drabble #mha drabble #denkamis.scenarios #denkamis.requests

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adoriels-tears-if · 3 years ago

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As far as I've read the demo,I can say that it is amazing! I love the interactions between Tobias,our mother and Cecily because it gives a lesson to everyone on how friendships can and should be! Also the writing makes it very immersive for the reader especially since we are seeing and experiencing the world through the eyes of a growing child and we have options that are given to us in order to choose how we feel about evrything: from our mother's somewhat overprotective nature towards us to our almost uncle and aunt (which by the way are the best that anyone can hope for❤).The father,Ashlyen is making me curios though: Does he not acknowledge his child/feels embarrased or does he have his reasons why he hasn't meet us🤔? Anyway,the familiars are also some who the MC(me personally) would consider as their best friends.Their bond with the Tears is to be envied and looks kind of like the concept of solemates (Sorry,if I'm wrong).The amound of lore that the demo contains (thanks for that by the way), made it easier to understand the story and the depth of the world the MC lives in.Anyeay,my ramblings are getting tpo long but the main thing I wanted to say is: Thank you for sharing youe story with us and putting so much effort into it! A**hole anons are going to be everywhere,but I have the feeling that this anon is the same troll that has been sending mean asks to some other if authors (just my opinion).Take care of yourself and know that you are an amazing person💐🌻🌸🌹💠🌺

Hi Dear !

First of all! Thank you so much !

I'm so glad you like the relationship I've established between Cecily, Tobias and Elianna, friendship should be as simple and beautiful as this I agree and I love describing this one! I also think I'm not exploiting it enough at the moment, but I just have to be patient, it's coming soon!

Familiars are like you said, soulmates created especially for magical beings, I would like to say more but I would enter in spoiler territory.

And now it's off to a presentation about Ashlyen!

Yes, Daddy knows we exist! Doesn't he come to us because he is embarrassed, no! He has his reasons and embarrassment regarding his child is not one of them. The embarrassment of what led to the birth of this child, yes!

He is a Tear, Elianna is a Tear, they have always been told that relationships and love between two people of different People is forbidden and they have dived into it head first. Ashlyen feels ashamed of not having been stronger, because as a result, a child is born, a child who will never be able to have a normal life, who will have to live hidden at the risk of suffering the anger of a world that will hate them for what he represents. Ashlyen is angry, because he has failed to protect Elianna from the pain that this life with this child will be.

Ashlyen is angry because he can't allow himself to love this child at the risk of not being able to do what needs to be done for the good of all if things go wrong.

Ashlyen is sad because he is an Elf, he will live a long, long life and the love he has for Elianna will not cease, when an Elf loves, it is forever; yet; he loves a human. A human who gave him a child, whom he cannot see, not loved, not protected despite his position in the House of the Eight

Is what he is doing right? Is he making excuses, maybe or maybe not? But in a way, I assure you, he loves his child in his own way.

#Ashlyen #Daddy issues #Elianna #Tobias #Cecily

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laurieteddy · 4 years ago

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alone together | laurie laurence

Description: March!reader is upset about life’s rather quick changes, Laurie is there to comfort but also it turns into him proposing (don’t ask me how, it just happened)

Request: anon requested Laurie comforting the reader

Warnings: describes experiencing some anxiety about feeling left behind

Word count: a brief ~3.5k

A/N: this took me 5 rewrites and forever to finish because I ended up self reflecting a lot and just couldn’t get it how I wanted at first.

Requests are open!

“I’ll only be a moment,” you called out to Marmee as you quickly made your way up to the attic.

You had “misplaced” your book and were on a wild search for it. Really, you left it in the attic earlier that day and planned on using it as an excuse to be alone for just a minute longer. No one would’ve minded had you wanted to be alone for a bit but you couldn’t help but feel judged for it.

You didn’t want to make anyone worry about why you wanted so much time alone. There was so much going through your mind lately and you just needed time to think it through, Marmee could tell and so she didn’t press you to talk about it. Your two older sisters, Meg and Jo, also knew you needed time and kept Amy from pressing further, Beth was no trouble.

The book was sat on the old three legged couch, right in plain sight. You picked it up, taking a seat on the couch and looking out the window taking in the evening sun. The attic was a safe and quiet place for your mind to wander.

Life was picking up, or at least the people around you live’s were. Meg was soon to marry, Jo wanted nothing more than to escape to the city, Amy was soon to leave with Aunt March for Europe. Beth was still young, unsure of where exactly she was heading which was completely fine being so young. Even Laurie was leaving for college soon.

You hadn’t a clue what you’d be doing. Life away from the March home didn’t even seem to exist as a possibility. You’d be separated from Marmee, from your sisters, from Hannah and Laurie. Nothing would be quite the same.

But, everyone was growing up. And it was near time for you to be as well, Jo only being a year older than you. Tears seemed to prickle your eyes every time you thought of the occasion of your childhood ending and adult lives beginning.

“Y/n’s right up the stairs, looking for her book.” You heard Marmee’s voice.

You assumed it was Jo she was talking to, as she had left to go to the butcher earlier. You quickly wiped the tears that were forming from your concealed thoughts and stood from the couch. Tucking loose hair behind your ear, you made your way towards the stairs.

“I found it, no need to help Jo.”

“It’s me, actually.” The voice was a bit startling, definitely not Jo’s or anyone that lived in your house.

You froze, waiting to see who would come up. Dark curls peaked from the stairs, allowing your shoulders to relax and you found it was Laurie. He had a smile on his face and parcel in his hand.

“Sorry to disappoint,” he joked at your lack of enthusiasm to see him.

“No, no. Sorry,” you smiled, “I just wasn’t expecting you.”

You hadn’t seen Laurie in a few weeks, he was gone with his grandfather visiting someone. It was great to see him, you were awfully close and could use a good talk with him. You were hiding your thoughts, though, not wanting anyone to see. The problem was, Laurie would notice right away as he always had. You knew each other far too well.

“I got this for you,” he held the package out to you.

You smiled, taking it from his grasp, “Oh, Laurie, thank you.”

You gently untied the dark green ribbon, curious to see what was inside. To your surprise it was a new copy of Pride and Prejudice, a novel you had read time and time again. Laurie knew how much you enjoyed it, noticing how the spine of your copy was wearing.

“Pride and Prejudice,” you smiled softly.

He nodded with a grin, “As a much needed replacement. Pages are practically falling out of your old one.”

You chuckled, picking up the old copy. He was right, it had been through a lot for a book. Well read, pages torn thanks to Amy, and even dropped in the mud before, once again thanks to Amy. Still, you kept it and continued to read it. The mud hadn’t ruined much and what was ruined you had memorized anyway.

“Thank you, again. I don’t know how much longer this one would’ve lasted.” You held up your old book, looking at it with tender eyes.

It was just a simple book but the idea that he remembered how much you loved it was too heart warming.

“Let’s catch up!” He clapped his hands together, “You have to update me on everything I’ve missed.”

“Oh, you were only gone for a few weeks,” your eyes followed him as he took a seat on the couch. “Nothing really happened.”

He let out a little laugh, “You want me to believe that nothing happened in the March family over weeks?”

He was making a point, your family was always up to something. Lately you hadn’t been paying much attention though, doing your best to avoid the reality of things. Everyday consisted of simply going through the motions, doing your best to make it to the next day without crumbling into tears. You couldn’t say that to him though.

“Well, nothing too important. Just the usual. Amy’s tantrums, Jo’s rambling, Meg’s pining, Beth’s music.” You wiped your hands on your legs, sweat forming on them.

Laurie leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. He watched you carefully, a soft smile on his lips. He could tell something was off, and you knew he that could.

You hadn’t hugged him when you saw him, which you would do whether it was a day or month since seeing him. You’d typically immediately be going on and on about everything he missed out on. He wouldn’t have even gotten to give you his gift until a good hour into talking, and when you opened it he’d earn another hug from you.

At the moment you seemed shut off, hardly even processing the conversation you were having with Laurie. He knew you had countless thoughts running wild in your mind, you always had. Typically you’d let out all your thoughts and he would very happily listen, but you seemed to be desperate to hide them which was far from normal.

“What’s on your mind?” He decided to be straightforward, it was usually the best way to go with you.

Your breath hitched and you looked to the floor. You wished deeply he hadn’t asked, there was no way you could not answer. You and Laurie told me another everything. If knew something was wrong he would eventually get you to talk about it, it was just how your friendship was. Part of you was relieved that he did ask though, desperately wanting to share with anyone willing to listen.

“Shouldn’t you be going home? It’s nearly time for dinner.” You glanced at him, looking away when you saw his eyes were still on you.

“Marmee invited me over for dinner, we have time to talk.” He gestured to the empty cushion beside him, “That is if you want to?”

Taking the spot next to him was risky, even staying upstairs with him was. You knew you’d spill if you stayed a second more. Maybe that’s why you were taking a step closer. You knew you could talk to him, that he even wanted to listen.

“No,” you shook your head. “I mean—“ you froze in place, “no thank you. Like I said, there isn’t much to catch up on.”

“I get the feeling there is plenty to,” his voice was gentle, even warm in a way.

He knew you’d deny that anything was wrong for the rest of your life, he wasn’t asking you to admit anything though. He just wanted to talk. To help ease your mind of whatever was weighing it down, and he had a good guess of what it was.

“I hear Meg is to marry.” He leaned back again, making the atmosphere more relaxed.

You should be relieved at the change of subject but this was one of the issues in your mind. If you were to open up to anyone about it Laurie would be the perfect person. He was the most wonderful listener and always offered such great advice.

“She is, John Brooke as you know.”

“What do you think of it?” He asked.

You were puzzled, “What do you mean?”

“What do you think of it?” He repeated. “She is your sister, the first to marry and to leave.”

It wasn’t an odd question to ask and it was a conversation you already had with your sisters, though in a different manner. With them it was all excitement, giggling as you all teased Meg of her engagement. This version of the conversation would be filled with less teasing and laughter and more about how you were dreading the idea.

“I will be happy for Meg, so long as she is happy.” Which was the truth, you would be happy for her.

“Hmm,” he smiled weakly. “But would you be happy yourself?”

Your heart swelled and you nearly lost your balance. The question was so unexpected. “What?”

“I only ask because I imagine her going would be a big change,” he explained. “You’re all so close and none of you have ever left before, it must be scary in a way.”

Maybe it was more than a coincidence. You knew Laurie understood you but you forgot how he could practically read your mind at times. To hear him say the words you were thinking for weeks was a huge weight off of your shoulders, a weight you were forgetting was even there as you became numb to it.

“Laurie, I—“ you were wringing your fingers. “It isn’t just about Meg. It’s,” you shook your head, “everyone.”

His brows furrowed and he leaned closer again, doing his best to show you his interest. He knew that Meg leaving would weigh heavy in all of your minds, it would be a tremendous change with her gone. But when you said that it was about everyone he was a bit taken back, unsure of what you meant.

He was more than willing to listen, even hoping you would explain. “Everyone? Is someone else planning to leave soon?”

“Don’t be daft, Laurie.” You let a breath through your nose, “You’re going to college, Jo talks of moving to the city, Amy is going on a trip to Europe. All of that with Beth being so poor in health anymore.”

Laurie relaxed his face, taking in your words carefully. You were getting frantic, but doing your best to stay calm through it. Having not spoken about it to anyone you knew there wasn’t a possibility that you could remain calm, everything was going to leak out at once.

“You were gone for three weeks and look at me,” you gestured to yourself. “I’ve fallen into shambles at the mere thought of you all being gone. All of you mean the world to me and I just,” you paused for a moment as if to gather your thoughts. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do without you.”

His mouth opened and closed as he felt apprehensive about what to say. He didn’t want to say anything until he had the perfect words but he knew that would never happen. He was now realizing that the issue was bigger than he had first thought, he had to reanalyze the situation.

“We’ll all be back, y/n.” He rested his hand over yours, which were still fidgety. “Meg may be going to marry but Jo, Amy, and I... that’s all temporary.”

“You don’t know that,” you spoke softly.

You were right, and he knew that you were. His own heart was aching as he saw how much pain you were truly in. You didn’t often open your heart to many people, hiding your feelings away in hopes to protect yourself. Laurie understood this and wanted to do his best to reassure you that you didn’t have to do that. He could tell you were shutting down again as you refused to make eye contact.

“I should help with dinner,” you wiped your eyes and turned to leave.

“Y/n, wait, please,” he stopped you with his hand on your shoulder. “Please, let’s talk?”

“No, it’s alright, Laurie. You wouldn’t want to hear all of this anyway, it’s so silly.”

“I’m scared too,” he blurted.

Confusion was arising again. What was Laurie afraid of? His future seemed so bright, having endless opportunities ahead of him. He didn’t seem thrilled to be going to college but it wasn’t something that he seemed to fear either.

He removed his hand from your shoulder, running it through his own hair. “I’m terrified to leave.”

You slowly turned to face him, seeing a true anxiety in his eyes. You wondered how long he was afraid and said nothing. How long he had gone getting lost in his thoughts, digging himself deeper just as you had been doing. Part of you scolded yourself for not realizing but another part was simply glad you knew now.

“You’re terrified?” You asked.

Laurie nodded, finding himself now unable to make eye contact with you. “I’m not ready to leave you guys, especially not for something I don’t even want to do.”

You were all close for so long but you hadn’t expected Laurie to mind that much. You hoped he had, and you truly knew he had, but you also couldn’t help but second guess yourself.

“Y/n, I...” he began, “I don’t want to leave alone. Meg is leaving with John, Jo dreams for some alone time, Amy is traveling to meet all sorts of new people and I,” he chuckled, thinking to himself how foolish he sounded. “I am leaving to be somewhere I don’t wish to go, surrounded by people I have little desire to meet.”

It was shocking to hear. Laurie has opened up to you before but never about such things. Typically you would hear about how Jo had gotten on his nerves one day, just a typical annoyance everyone experienced. And to hear that he was fearing the same thing you were was dispelling your fears.

“I know what you are going through because I’m going through it too,” he stepped closer. “So please, talk to me so I may understand how you are feeling.”

You couldn’t help but hug him, tears already brimming from your eyes once again. No one had even noticed how severe your pain was, but Laurie, who was previously gone for three weeks, recognized it immediately. To even hear someone say that they saw your pain was so emotionally relieving, it meant you weren’t as enclosed as you felt.

“I’m going to miss Meg’s mothering dearly,” you wept. “And Jo’s endless scribbling and mumbling. Oh, and even Amy’s rants about such small things.”

He hugged you tighter, nuzzling his nose into your hair. “Days will never be the same without her telling us of her “dreadful” nose,” he joked.

You laughed, closing your eyes tightly with your cheek to his chest. “And Laurie, how will I ever do without you?” You sniffled, “You are the best friend I’ve ever known. I can’t go without our walks or conversations. Even imagining never hearing your ridiculous impressions you do during stories makes me heartbroken.”

He grinned, a new thought wandering into his mind. He laid a kiss atop your head before slipping out of the hug. His own heart was breaking simply at the thought, just as your’s. The idea of of living without all of these things, and them so abruptly stopping as well, made Laurie quite upset. He didn’t want to leave it all behind, nor was he ready to.

“What if,” he smiled, “we don’t have to let one another go?”

Unsure of what he meant you said nothing, a cue for him to continue.

“Leaving Meg and Jo and Amy is all a horrendous thought, so what if you we at least don’t leave each other?” He could see how confused you were, “Think about it. I don’t want to go to college anyway, you always say you don’t want to be stuck here especially with your sisters gone.”

“Laurie, I—

“I know how foolish it sounds,” he took your hands in his own. “Y/n, I... I can’t stand the thought of living without you. Without your daily hugs, your horrendous yet beautiful singing, your absolutely horrid jokes. I hate to go a week without seeing you, let alone months at a time. I have never let someone know me as well as you, nor have I ever been so infatuated to learn more about a single person everyday.”

It was like hearing your own thoughts being spoken. You could tell his words were true and that these were things Laurie wished he had said long ago. You both seemed to be good at holding back your thoughts until there were so many they all came pouring out.

“Infatuated? Truly?” You asked.

His smile widened, “Completely.”

A blush creeped on your cheeks which you were quick to hide. He let go of one of your hands, gently brushing a strand of your hair behind your ear. He cupped your cheek and ran his thumb over your cheekbone, a twinkle in his eye as he thought more of you.

“I say all this because I love you, y/n. I should’ve said it sooner, I know, and maybe now is not the best time, I’m sorry if that’s the case.” His eyes stayed locked on yours, “I just can’t hold it in any longer.”

Hearing him say those words in that moment was not just craved but needed. You had loved Laurie since the day you met him, he was too sweet to not love at least as a friend from the start. As love does, it grew and developed into something more. Something you believed you could never share with him, until now that is.

To hear him say that he loved you was heartening, it showed you even further that you weren’t alone. He wanted to stay with you, to keep at least some of your normal lives in place. But it wasn’t just about the normality, because if you were to stay together things would definitely take a big turn. It was the idea of being together, of never having to leave one or the other behind.

“To go through life with you would be a dream,” you smiled to him. “But, Laurie, how realistic are dreams?”

“Dreams come true everyday. We could stay together, I’ll get down on one knee and ask you to stay with me. All you have to do is say yes an—

“Laurie,” you cut him off. “Your grandfather expects you to go to college.”

“And I will, but that doesn’t mean we can’t marry after, even before if I wanted.” He ran his hand down your arm, “It’s only four years and I can promise you now that I’ll be returning after, and any chance I get in between. We would still be promised each other.”

It all seemed fake, it was coming from practically nothing and yet it seemed so natural and right. Four years could blow by like nothing, and it would give you the perfect opportunity to prepare for a life you would start with Laurie. You could say your goodbyes to your family, slowly taking time to ease yourself out. It wouldn’t be abrupt, it would spawn from no where. You would expect this change, be ready for it even.

You took Laurie’s hand in your own, “I adore the idea of being promised to you. It would bring comfort to me, too, to know that I would have you to look forward to in my future.”

Excitement filled Laurie, he was trying his best not to jump up and down right then. Instead, he did as he said he would and got down on one knee.

“Well then, y/n l/n... would you do me the honor of marrying me?”

You laughed a bit as Laurie put in a bit of drama into his words. You quickly nodded, accepting his proposal and filling with your own excitement.

“I haven’t a ring,” he looked around before grabbing the ribbon off the book he had given you. “For now... wear this around your wrist?”

“Of course,” you offered your hand.

He gently tied the ribbon on your wrist and gave the back of your hand a kiss before standing. Soon enough he was pulling you into another hug, both of your excitement washing over you. It all seemed like it was something that was meant to happen sooner, though you were both so young. There was something about your relationship from the start that stood out much more than a friendship.

#teddy laurence x reader #laurie #laurie laurence imagine #laurie laurence x reader #laurie x reader #laurie laurence #little women #little women fic #little women imagine #little women oneshot #laurie oneshot #laurie fluff #laurie laurence oneshot #laurie laurence fluff #march!reader x laurie

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emsylcatac · 4 years ago

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I find the take that Gabriel was ooc in chat blanc so bizarre when people use Gorizilla as proof. Why's it so hard to grasp that their situations are different (where in CB, he was more desperate and closer to the jewels). It's like how people say its inconsistent for the class to initially side with Mari in Ladybug but not in Chameleon, despite one situation being Mari being accused of something while another is Mari accusing someone of something.

Hey anon!

First of all: 🍵🍵🍵

I don’t know if this has been brought up recently but it was popular during some times and... yeah I agree with you.

What we need to understand is that Gabriel is an excellent manipulator, and especially with his son who is looking for his approval and affection.

We also need to take into account that more than one season has passed between Gorizilla and Chat Blanc, and it has been clear that Gabriel is getting more and more desperate and irrational as the time goes on.

And if we look back to Gorizilla, I know people tend to take that as an example & proof as to why Gabriel care for Adrien and why Chat Blanc Gabriel isn’t the “real” Gabriel and that he’d never do that. Well. I’d like to ask: really?

Are we really sure the Gabriel from Gorizilla wouldn’t have somewhat turned into a Chat Blanc Gabriel had he had the solid proof Adrien was Chat Noir?

Because among the many different ways he could have had to verify his hypothesis, he decided to:

Akumatise his body guard, aka the person in charge of protecting his son, to have an akuma go directly after him. With no one to possibly protect Adrien (as we’ve seen the Gorilla try to do when Adrien is targeted by an akuma)

Give his akuma a giant and powerful form, completely capable of crushing Adrien at any given moments. I mean, Ladybug didn’t give him the helmet for nothing.

No, Gabriel hadn’t planned for Adrien to jump off Montparnasse tower and fall but it was still a possibility when he decided to direct a dangerous fight on top of it. Something he should have considered.

Him wishing his son won’t fall flat on the ground is normal: Gabriel loves his son. Gabriel cares for his son. Gabriel does all of this for himself, but also for his son. But in his own, twisted way. In his mind, this is what happens.

Truth is: it’s completely toxic and Gabriel is convincing himself of all of this. That’s not how you should love your son, how you should care for your son.

My point is: Gorizilla clearly shows us that Gabriel is an excellent manipulator with Adrien (just watch the end of the episode and tell me this isn’t what he’s doing), and that in his own head he cares for Adrien except... Not in a healthy and normal way.

So probably that at the moment Gorizilla happen, this Gabriel wouldn’t have done what he did in Chat Blanc. Maybe. But now, end of season 3...? I think so.

And you can’t compare Chat Blanc and Gorilla without taking into account the whole season between these two episodes: we got the Queen arcs that clearly showed him hesitating but in the end deciding to pursue his actions, in a more and more damageable way.

Now in Chat Blanc: Gabriel is completely desperate, more than before and he is so close to his goal thanks to his newfound information of his son’s identity. He has never been this close.

In his head, Adrien will forgive him because after all, he does that for him too, right? After all, Adrien is his son, Gabriel is the one Adrien should and will obey to. As his parents he is allowed to decide what his son can or cannot do.

So if all it takes to get what he wants is to akumatise his son... Why not?

Gabriel has never asked Adrien’s opinion on anything and has always taken decisions for him (except for when Adrien went to school). In Chat Blanc, it ain’t any different.

And after Chat Blanc or even during Gorizilla.... It ain’t any different either.

* * * * *

Anyway, sorry I rambled a lot and went in many directions but I’m very passionate about this part of the plot line in ML that I think is really well done hahaha.

To conclude though, it’s important to keep in mind that:

Gabriel loves and cares for his son in his own head but in reality it’s very toxic and not at all how a father should care about his son, and it doesn’t excuse his behaviour at all, quite the contrary

Gabriel is getting more and more desperate as time goes on, so he got worse from Gorizilla to Chat Blanc and plenty of episodes in between have shown it

Gabriel is not on a redemption route after Chat Blanc and likely to follow the same path as the Chat Blanc timeline in his madness and thirst for power. Proofs: Ladybug episode, Félix episode, the finale where he blatantly attacked an old man and once again manipulated a teenage girl, the New York special (trying to get another miraculous, threatening to start a world war, etc.)

I’d love to also ramble about the 2nd part of your ask with the classmates & Marinette vs Lila (and maybe I will in another post) but this one is getting pretty long already but all I have to say is: anon I love you and I agree 100% 👏 bless you!

#ask #anon #ml analysis #is it #ml fandom salt #????#i have no idea anymore ajhzea #but just in case i tag it as such #but no gabe wasn't ooc in chat blanc #everything was going fast #but he's def capable of all of this

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ickle-ronniekins · 4 years ago

Text

placing bets

request from anon: A fluffy, soft, and pining George please? Like, he was really young when he fell in love with her upon first meeting—he made a joke that caused her to laugh, and he just found it to be the most beautiful sound and was smitten ever since. 😭❤️

word count: 3.9k

A/N: i love a pining, head over heels, irrevocably in love george with a girl who knows it and is totally going to make him work... bye i’m crying

tag list: @mintlibri @georgeweasleyx @seppys-return-to-madness @fopdoodledane @fredd-weasley @iprobablyshipit91 @darling-details @laneygthememequeen @lupinsx @keoghans @helloallthethingsilove @bobduncanlover @dreamer821 | message me if you’d like to be added!

Your laugh seems to echo across the entire Quidditch pitch. Okay, not really, but it’s both loud and soft at the same time in George’s ears, and it floats in the air between you both, and he’s desperately clinging to the sound of it—just like he does whenever you laugh. Just like he did when you were both eight years old and met for the first time in the village outside of Ottery St. Catchpole all those years ago, after having shown you a magic trick when you giggled yourself into oblivion.

In love with you right then, he was.

“You’re not allowed to laugh at me,” he teases you now. His voice is calm and steady in his ears and he’s thankful that he doesn’t sound as nervous as he feels. He rebalances himself on his broomstick after nearly falling off and peers at you with a smirk.

“I’m sorry—but you can’t expect me to not laugh when you do something as silly as try and surf on your broomstick, George.”

His feet finally touch the ground, and much to his dismay he sees the rest of the team emerging from the changing rooms, undoubtedly gearing up for tryouts. He swallows over a lump in his throat when both Harry and Fred nod at him from the other end of the pitch. He knows he’s a fantastic bloody beater, but the fact that you’re going to be watching tryouts with Ron, Ginny, and Hermione are making him feel less confident than before. He stands up straighter to try and push these feelings away. It doesn’t work. You seem to notice.

“Hey,” you say after a moment and place a hand on his shoulder, “you’ll be great. Just try not to fall off of your broom this time, okay?”

A laugh escapes his lips and he says to you as you make your way toward the stands, “Well I bloody hope I don’t fall, since I’ll be spending the majority of this tryout doing my very best to impress you, anyway.”

You roll your eyes at his comment, but he sees a rosy pink color flood your cheeks. “Best focus on the bludgers, Georgie, don’t want any of them to whack you, yeah?”

He laughs again, takes a deep breath, and turns toward his teammates. Fred is looking at him with raised eyebrows and a laugh so sweet it could cure an illness. Once he realizes that you’re now out of earshot, Fred teasingly slings an arm around his twin’s shoulders, turns to Harry and asks, “He’s been in love for the longest bloody time—how much longer d’you reckon before he finally does something about it?”

“I dunno, mate,” Harry says and kicks George playfully in the shin, “he’s been pining for what—eight, nine years now? Give it another five or so, I reckon he’ll be able to maybe ask her out then.”

“I’ll be sure to send bludgers toward the both of you today, then,” George replies with a mischievous grin as the other two fall into raucous laughter. He peers up at the stands, easily finding you sitting with his siblings and Hermione, and when you finally look up and meet his gaze, you wiggle your eyebrows at him, and wink.

Like George seriously needs to be sent into overdrive before what is arguably the most important Quidditch tryout of his entire life. He does his hardest to nudge Fred very hard in the ribs when all he can hear are snickers and kissing noises in his ear.

— -

George peers up at the very dark, cloudy gray ceiling in the Great Hall. He absolutely hates it when it rains. He’s looking particularly grumpy as he listens to the thunder clap outside the tall windows. He’s sipping rather moodily on his pumpkin juice when you plop down next to him and say, “Brighten up, would you, Weasley? Why the long face?”

“It’s raining,” Fred replies before George can catch his breath and answer you himself, “Georgie hates it when it rains.”

“Why?” you ask suddenly, scooping a bit of vegetables onto your dinner plate, “We’ve known each other for so long, how have I never known this about you? I love it when it‘s raining! The sound of the pitter-patter on the roof, the way the grounds smell right before a rainstorm—it’s absolutely beautiful.”

“Don’t ramble on too much, Y/N,” Fred says, again. George can’t seem to get a word in edgewise. “George might just try and make it rain all the bloody time if you love it so much.”

You turn to George, who’s rib cage is being flooded with butterflies. He tries to ignore it. He grins cheekily at you when you raise your eyebrows and inquire, “Is that so? Trying to impress me more, are you?”

“Can’t help myself,” he replies with a wink.

“I’ll get you to enjoy the rain one day—for real. You can count on it. You’ve got to find the beauty in everyday life.”

He wants to tell you, when he peers into your sparkling eyes and feels the nerves grow stronger, that he already does find the beauty in everyday life. Instead, he asks, “Mmm, is that a promise?”

“Most definitely.”

“If you don’t mind,” Fred stands up from his place across from you and looks in the direction of Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny and winks at his twin, “I’m going to go and have a chat with that lot while George continues to embarrass himself with his rubbish flirting.”

George is upset when he realizes that Fred is far enough away from him that he’s unable to kick him quite hard underneath the table. But then, much to his surprise—and delight—you respond to Fred with, “His flirting isn’t rubbish.” Then, you turn to George with a slight little smirk and continue, “it’s quite cute, actually.”

George finds himself biting down on his lip to keep from smiling too much as he watches you twirl your spoon carefully in your fingers. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“I swear to Merlin,” Fred says under his breath, but both you and George are still able to hear him.

“Oi! Get over here, you three!” Ron calls from a few seats down. Hermione rolls her eyes when he continues, “We’re placing bets on how the Hufflepuff versus Slytherin match is going to go next week—first of the year!”

Fred jumps in between Ginny and Ron and begins animatedly discussing the first match. To you, George shrugs his shoulders and says, “We’ve been summoned.”

“Too bad,” you say, picking up your bag to take your spot next to Hermione before continuing with a bit of flirty sarcasm in your voice, “that little smirk of yours was getting me all flustered.”

The banter between you both hardly gets George all worked up anymore. In fact, it’s pretty normal for the two of you, and has been for years. But sometimes, he finds himself thinking now, you’ll say something, or do something, or bat those beautiful long eyelashes at him and he feels nothing but nervousness take him over. This is one of those times. You notice the tension rising between you both, alongside the cherry red color now flooding his face. You squeeze his arm and say playfully, “C’mon now, Georgie—we’ve got bets to place.”

Another bout of nervousness creeps up on him when you pull him by his arm and you place yourself down next to Hermione. Harry, Ginny and Fred are all discussing the upcoming matches very animatedly, Ron is pulling at his hair due to confusion and stress, Hermione is immersed in her spell book, but when George looks down, all he can focus on is the very small amount of space on the bench between his hand and yours.

— -

The sun is flooding the Hogwarts grounds, and it’s quite warm for an autumn afternoon. George, Fred, Lee, Harry, Ron, and Neville are all sitting beneath a tree near the water’s edge, certainly not working on the assignments they’d planned on doing, but instead, engaging in what could only be described as tomfoolery and a complete and utter waste of time.

Fred is laying in the grass, one hand behind his head, the other twirling his wand in between his fingers. He’s saying something to the others, there’s a bit of mock laughter floating through the air, but all George can do is watch you up near the castle, immersed in a conversation with Ginny and Luna and a few other students, and he can’t help but smile as he watches you place your bag gently on the ground and proceed to engage in some type of hopscotch-like jumps.

When Lee throws his hands up at the fact that George is completely ignoring him, Ron shoves his older brother playfully and says to the others, “You’ll have to excuse him.”

“You see,” Fred continues, “little Georgie here is quite in love—”

“—and he can’t seem to focus on anything,” Harry finishes.

“Shove off,” George retorts before sticking out his foot to trip Ron, which sends his younger brother into the grass while another roar of raucous laughter echoes across the grounds.

“So Georgie,” Ron says, getting to his feet and brushing the dirt off of his robes, “today the day then, mate? Finally going to tell her how you feel?”

Fred chimes in with his eyes closed, “He doesn’t need to tell her how he feels, he makes it rather obvious, doesn’t he? I reckon she’s known for years.” In his heart of hearts, George knows this, too. He doesn’t exactly hide the fact that he’s mad for you. But he wonders, now, as he watches you laugh at something Ginny says, if you know deep down how he truly feels. Do you just see it as him being playful, overly friendly—flirting just for the sake of it? Or can you really tell that he actually does have feelings for you?

It’s as if his thoughts alone call out like a signal to you, because he’s taken by surprise when you peer up at him when he’s not fully prepared, and you wink. And there they are. Those butterflies again. He smirks mischievously at you.

“Settle down, you lot,” Fred says rather politically to the crowd of rambunctious boys. George finds himself finally coming back to the conversation after being a bit distracted yet again. Always letting his mind wander, he is. “All in favor of placing bets on when Georgie, here, finally makes a move? Yes, Lee—I am planning on winning this one, actually, nobody knows my twin better than me.”

“I’d like in on these bets,” George says suddenly, taking the entire group by surprise.

“You can’t place a bet on yourself,” Ron says through laughter.

Harry and Neville say together, “I think he should be allowed.” Harry continues, “Would make for quite the adventure, don’t you reckon?”

Fred peers at George, who’s standing now, with his hands in his pockets, glimpsing back and forth between you and his friends, waiting patiently for his twin to make a decision. A very slow decision, George comes to realize.

“Alright then, George,” Fred finally agrees, sticking out his hand for a very professional, firm handshake, “you’re in. What’ve you got for us?”

“Give me a week,” George says. A week? There’s no denying that George Weasley’s a confident bloke, but when it comes to confessing his feelings to the girl he’s been pining over for years, well—even hearing himself say it now sends a bit of a chill down his spine. “Seven days. If I don’t do anything by Sunday evening’s feast, you lot win. Alright?”

George looks around the group, each and every one of the boys has raised eyebrows. But they all nod in agreement, and the feeling of dread suddenly looms over George—he can handle it though, can’t he? Fred notices his skittishness and says with a bit of a smirk, “See you on the other side, mate.”

— -

It’s been four and a half days since George stupidly decided to get involved in Fred’s antics, and the boys have absolutely no problem reminding him that less than seventy-two hours remain for him to finally “make a bloody move already.” This isn’t helping George’s nerves—nor are the winks you’re sending him from across classrooms, as your entire friend group is creating mischief right under your nose.

“Hey, wait up!” Your voice bounces off of the walls in the corridors as you frantically hurry through the sea of students to catch up with George, who’s heading to Potions with Fred, rather reluctantly, of course. Fred begins trying to poke George in the ribs, winks, and vanishes before you can even notice he’s there, leaving you and George alone near the entrance to the dungeons.

“Hey you,” he says and immediately regrets how cheesy it sounds in his own ears. Quick to hide the fact that he’s very embarrassed, he continues, “what’s going on?”

“What’s going on with all of you?” you ask curiously. “Fred keeps telling me that we’re all in for a rather exciting weekend, but as far as I’m concerned, I have absolutely nothing planned except to sit outside and read. Yes, a very wild few days, I know—” you say when George stifles a bit of laughter, “—so, you want to tell me what you have planned? Some sort of major prank, or something?”

You’re essentially giving him an opening and George isn’t sure why he’s not just asking you out right now. It’s the perfect opportunity! Not yet, he thinks. There’s still around seventy-something hours, or so. Instead, he opts to go for something different. “Oh, erm, there’s some—Gryffindor bloke who’s been mad for this girl for years and hasn’t told her yet, so we’ve all placed bets on when he’ll finally do something about it—next few days, apparently..”

“Really?” you ask, intrigued. You wiggle your eyebrows at him and clutch your books tighter in your arms. “Who is it?”

“Can’t tell you that, Y/N,” George replies with a smirk, “That’d be breaking the rules, wouldn’t it?”

You roll your eyes. “Oh, fine, I’m not even going to try and argue. How much time has he got left?”

George swallows thickly, thinking of the ticking clock, and says, “Til Sunday evening.” The words sound foreign in his mouth. He can feel his face flush and much to his dismay, you certainly seem to notice.

“Two and a half days, huh?” you ask, clicking your tongue. You inch forward to him and continue in a lower voice, “that’s not a lot of time, is it?”

George swallows again. He has a love, hate relationship with the effect you have on him. “No, certainly isn’t.”

“Think he’ll do it in time?”

“Well, he’s got too, hasn’t he?”

You send a mischievous grin his way, and he’s surprised he isn’t falling to the ground right now. He’s being supported by none other than caffeine and his own nerves. His heart is nearly pounding out of his chest when you look up at him with those sparkling eyes. He can tell now, by the look you’re giving him, that you’ve easily unraveled this. You know. You’ve got too. You’ve completely read him like a book and at this point you’re just teasing him mercilessly. He bites back a smile. “Certainly hope he does—can’t keep the poor girl waiting, can he?” you say now, taking one step closer to him, now just inches from one another. You place your hand on his arm, squeeze tightly, and shoot a teasing, cheeky grin in his direction. Then, you pull back, shrug your shoulders, take a deep breath, and leave George breathless before continuing down the corridor, “Anyway—see you later? Stay out of trouble, Weasley.”

You wink before vanishing completely. When you’re completely out of sight, George actually tightens the grip on his bag and falls back into the wall and to the ground in some sort of emotional, flustered chaos. He’s grinning from ear to ear and is feeling incredibly elated but also beyond frustrated at himself. He should be kissing you by now, but instead, he’s biting his lip in pain due to a sharp blow to his shin.

“You’re an idiot,” Fred says now, and George realizes he’s been hiding around a corner this entire time. “Like putty in her hands, you are. Pathetic. She just gave you an in, mate! And you didn’t even take it!” Ron and Harry are on the other end of the corridor, laughing at this exchange they’ve just witnessed, when they make their way over to the doubled-over George.

“Relax,” George tells them once he regains his balance. “I’ve got to lay the foundation, haven’t I? ‘M taking my time. Still have two and a half days, like she said.” Foundation. You two have known each other for years already.

Fred slings both arms around Ron and Harry and glances cheekily at his twin brother, shaking his head in utter disappointment. “Maybe so, Georgie. But I reckon you’re still an idiot.”

— -

George slumps into the Great Hall rather begrudgingly, not at all looking forward to this feast. At the Gryffindor table are Fred, Ron, Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Lee, Neville and many others who look up and begin to clap sarcastically at the sight of him. George narrows his eyes at them and sits down on one of the benches and places his head directly onto the table.

“Why so glum, Georgie?” Ginny and Hermione ask teasingly.

As predicted by the others, George unfortunately had let time run out. Many opportunities had been handed to him, of course, but had he seized any? No. He absolutely hadn’t. Fred sticks out a hand and nods to the others to follow suit. “Cough it up, mate. One sickle each.”

“Oi, let the poor bloke wallow a bit first,” Ron jokes. George is already feeling poorly. He’d been so stressed about this stupid bet that he forgot to hand in his Herbology assignment, he had an absolutely rubbish Quidditch practice yesterday, and, on top of it all, the gloomy, rainy weather outside is not helping to lift his spirits at all. He groans. In a voice muffled by his face leaning directly on the table, he says to nobody in particular, “I’m an idiot. I’m an idiot who’s in love and I reckon I will be forever.” The others do their best to try and stifle some mock laughter, but George can’t help to let a small, pathetic laugh escape his lips, too.

“It’s alright, then,” Neville says in a low voice, “you don’t have to pay me. I know first hand just how scary it can be..” he glances in the direction of a shy looking Hufflepuff.

But then, when George looks up and rubs his eyes due to exhaustion, he notices a couple entering the entrance of the Great Hall. A Ravenclaw boy is draping his own robes over a tiny Slytherin girl who, by the looks of it, unfortunately has just been caught in that rainstorm outside. Together they huddle closer to one another, laughing at the sight of her drenched clothes and hair. George stands up, quickly throws a bunch of sickles onto the table in front of his friends and says to nobody in particular, “Reckon I can still win in the end!” He’s just got to get over himself.

“No,” Fred laughs through a mouthful of potatoes, looking down at the sickles on the table, “it’s quite obvious that you’ve definitely lost this one, mate.”

But George ignores this, and instead runs through the crowd of students and out of the Great Hall and straight out into the rain. The wind is rather blustery, he comes to realize. Two seconds outside and his clothes are already soaked through, but he’s not regretting his decision—not when he sees you splashing in a puddle a few feet away. He smiles genuinely at the sight of you.

“Hey!” you yell over the howling wind. Your voice continues to soften as he gets closer to you, “You told me you don’t like the rain! If you’ve been lying to me this entire time, then, I suppose you owe me a Butterbeer in Hogsmeade.”

You’re quite a sight to behold. Your white button down shirt is soaked through, tie askew, cardigan wet and dripping and shoes covered in mud. Your soaked hair is plastered to the sides of your face, and your cheeks are the natural rosy color they always are, but it seems to make your eyes sparkle even more so than usual. You’re the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. You bite down on your lip as George walks over to you, his uniform completely drenched from the rain, and he brushes your hair out of your face and presses his lips to yours.

And first kisses are meant to be chaste, soft, innocent—but nothing George Weasley does is ever innocent. He smiles against you, biting on your bottom lip just a bit before melting into you again, his hands wrapped tightly around the back of your neck, his fingers getting entangled in your wet hair. It’s eager and hungry and desperate. He can feel your hands slip underneath his shirt, spread out over his ribs and abdomen and hip bones, and soft, small moans escape his lips in the surprise of the moment.

When the two of you finally pull apart, he peers closely at the droplets of water on your eyelashes, falling down your cheekbones every single time you blink, “It’s a date.”

You peer down at your watch, noting the time and peering inside the entrance to the castle in the direction of the Great Hall. With a sensual smirk, you ask him, “So—that bloke lose the bet then?”

“Yeah, he did,” George tells you now. The wind is picking up, the rain coming down sideways now. He swallows over a lump in his throat but lets out a small laugh, “but a few lost sickles isn’t a big deal—not compared to what he won, at least.”

You sling your arms around his neck and run your hands through his wet hair, teasing him slightly, “Well at least he finally did something about it.”

“Sorry it took me so long, darling.”

“No apologies needed,” you reply, leaving light kisses against his lips, “but you owe me, now.”

“Yeah, the Butterbeer in Hogsmeade.” he agrees, tightening his grip around your waist, eager to get his lips back on yours, “haven’t we established this?”

You throw your head back and let hearty laughter escape your lips. “You’re adorable. No, my love, you owe me for lost time. Best find a way to sneak up to the girls dormitory tonight—and don’t get caught.”

He laughs fully now, poking you in the ribs as nervousness and adrenaline course through his veins. He’s counting down the seconds until he can, undoubtedly, fly in through your open window tonight. You pull on his shirt to get him back into the castle; there’s no part of your bodies or clothing that are dry now. But he grabs your hands and pulls you back toward him, still standing directly in line of the rain and the wind, and he continues to move fat strands of wet hair out of your face. “What’re you doing, Georgie? Thought you didn’t like the rain?”

He wraps his hands around the back of your neck again and pulls you closer. Against your lips, he says through a cheeky grin, “I reckon I can get used to it now.”

reblogs & feedback are always greatly appreciated!

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mallowstep · 4 years ago

Note

Not so much a prompt as hc ask but whats your take on RC culture regarding relationships, platonic or otherwise? I always found it interesting how close Crookedstar was said to be with Silver and how Oakheart was implied to be very involved in his kits lives, but were they outliers due to the tragedy of their circumstances/experiences or nah?

Also love thinking about how Mistyfoot and Stonefur took on Silver’s kits as apprentices...Like in part it was probably bc of the half-clan revelation thing sure, but I love to imagine they were all a friendly cousins trio even if Misty and Silverstream closer.

Side note: loving a lot of aspects of the kinship system you use, but particularly the concept of “maara”!!! Very helpful for explaining relationships and wholesome to boot

...an excuse to talk about my culture hcs? heck yeah anon let's go!!

okay so in general, riverclan has the closest "nuclear family" units. in fact! riverclan is the only clan where the father is expected to help name the kits. in every other clan, it's the right of the queen. (altho in skyclan and thunderclan the father is often allowed to help.)

riverclan is also just generally touchy-feely and friendly, in part because in the forest, they had very little external pressure. they share a border with windclan, and windclan and riverclan have very incompatible hunting styles, and thunderclan, with whom they fought over a pile of rocks.

but they were always well-fed, since in most winters, it's not going to get cold enough to completely freeze over their water sources, and even then, they can hunt on land. i do not subscribe to mistystar's omen and the implication that riverclan can't hunt on land, because that...implies that there's a lot of fish in the river. like, a lot.

so while thunderclan is trying to seem Tough because of their border with the twoleg place, windclan had shadowclan to feud with, and shadowclan had prey-poor territory, riverclan was just chilling.

(imo, the thunder/shadow rivalry was a very new development in tpb. in basically all the prequels, thunderclan and riverclan fight far more than thunderclan and shadowclan. specifically, in bluestar's prophecy, we see a battle with riverclan and windclan (and they don't even share a border), but no momental battle with shadowclan unless my memory is really failing me.)

so anyway, riverclan's culture is that of abundance, and that means art and family.

specifically to crookedstar's family, his relationship with silverkit is pretty common, especially considering willowbreeze is dead. now, adoption by choice sacrifices the kit's previous bloodkin, but silverkit losing her mother is not that. sunfish is definitely silverkit's mother, but crookedstar is still her father.

if willowbreeze was alive, their dynamic would probably be less father/daughter bond and more family bond, but they'd still be close.

usually, when a kit loses one parent, it's their father. just, statistically, their father is more likely to be the one who goes to battle, and if the queen dies, the kits are very likely to die. so there's established "behavior" for that: (riverclan) queens will take their kits to the shrine of their father, tell them stories, etc.

but in this case, crookedstar isn't really welcome in the nursery, so even without his mapleshade problem, until silverkit is old enough to leave the nursery, he stuggles to bond with her. once she's about three moons old, and he's gotten over his mapleshade problem, though, he's very close with her.

so, uh, a little of both: he'd be close with her no matter what, but the father/daughter bond is definitely fostered by tragedy.

as for oakheart, it's a similar deal. when he gives the kits to greypool, they become her kits, but she's allowed to invite oakheart to be a father to them, which she does, and he takes his role very seriously.

if, say, bluefur had gone with oakheart to riverclan, that relationship would have been pretty much the same.

as a side note, oakheart and crookedstar are also definitely involved with all the kits. because they're brothers, they have the same relationship to each others kits (seya), and oakheart especially fills that role for silverkit while crookedstar is working on his mapleshade problem.

he backs off when crookedstar is repairing their relationship because he wants to give them space, but he's close with silverstream. i'd like to think that he has a good idea of what's going on with greystripe, considering he had a similar past.

and on that note! yes, so: to recap, by my kinship rules, mistyfoot and silverstream are sisters, so when silverstream dies, mistyfoot is definitely very involved in featherkit and stormkit's upbringing. doubly so considering their father can't provide a riverclan culture.

(stonefur is the brother of their mother, so he's uhre to them, which is a pretty minor relationship in the clan's eyes, but he's fond of the kits.)

but misty, stone, and silver are definitely close. silverstream is a fair amount younger than mistyfoot and stonefur, but willowbreeze and greypool are sisters and crookedstar and oakheart are brothers, so they're like, double siblings?

that's not how it works, my point is just they're close. silverstream is a generally popular cat, but she looks up to mistyfoot and stonefur. the fact that her kits get mentored by them means a lot to her, up in starclan.

and lastly! thank you! i designed it in part out of an enjoyment of worldbuilding, but also because, hyperspecifically, i was thinking about the po3 apprentices (berry, hazel, mouse, poppy, cinder, mole, honey, holly, jay, lion), and they all have a close bond. lionblaze and berrynose have a rivalry, they're all friends, and i haven't forgotten that in the sight, hazelpaw is the one to help jaypaw find a nest in the apprentice den.

(it's a really cute scene)

and i wanted a word to describe that! because cats are very clique-y and form very close relationships in a group that tend to stick for a lot of their lives, especially in cat colonies.

anyway thanks for this ask if you have any more questions! i love excuses to ramble at length about this. riverclan especially because i feel like i never talk about riverclan? but i have a lot of ideas about riverclan they're very well developed because i have the dovefeather au that's riverclan centric but also very long and i'm trying to finish it.

#ask #anon #riverclan #culture #warriors culture #warriors #warriors worldbuilding #long #essay #kinship

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notthatiwilleverwriteit · 4 years ago

Note

i saw a few posts of yours answering the common questions a lot of ppl have and its the “are tianshan a toxic couple” and i love your responses and how you say “we should take a step back to see the real picture” basically. after reading 19days twice, i’ve come to understand A LOT about our 4 boys. its that they all carry emotional baggage and trauma. and they all suffer with it through out the chapters, slowly overcoming it as the story progresses. what we have to understand as readers is that we can’t have a happy ending just yet- it’s not realistic. OX has written this story in a very clear, realistic way. with that, we have moments in the beginning of tianshans relationship where mo comes off as very annoyed or mad when tian appears. but slowly, he gets used to tian being his friend and even allows tian to see his moments of vulnerability (i.e., breaking down, explaining his child hood trauma, etc) which btw is a HUGE THING? mo literally clinging onto tian like that is a HUGE moment of vulnerability..you can even say its out of character but really its just mo opening up and allowing tian to understand him. another thing a lot of ppl assume that mo “hates” tian..which i guess is shown in the beginning moments of their first encounter but he really just struggles to accept and understand his feelings for tian. which is why he reacts the way he does sometimes when he’s flustered or nervous. (1) we can see this with the whole studs incident and how mo himself eventually came to realize he wants to wear them when HE wants. this is a huge thing again because he wants to show tian basically that he’s not wearing it for the heck of it- he’ll wear it comfortably when he wants to for HIMSELF! another thing is that moments of danger really bring out mo’s TRUE feelings for tian. (1) we can see this in the chapter special where tian pushes mo out of the way and saves him in the forest when its raining. (2) when tian sends mo a pic of his arm “bleeding” and mo LITERALLY drops everything to go to him. in these moments, mo really acts like tian is the only one that matters; he disregards everything and everyone because he cares so much about this one person. in my opinion, i do believe that mo will come to realize and accept these feelings for tian. like come on...we have gotten SO much character development. his current and past feelings for tian can be seen as him struggling to understand his feelings (trying to understand if they are feelings for a friend vs. feelings for a lover). his intimate moments with tian are always showing his frustration.

the flashbacks are coming to an end and im so sure that we’ll get to see how mo and tian dealt with being away from each other, what tian was doing the entire time he was away, etc. anyways it just makes me kinda sad when people assume that mo is heartless or that tianshan is toxic and blah blah...because like DUDE, these are real things people go through. it takes SO much courage to accept your feelings for someone. we cant just expect mo and tian to sort everything out in like 1 chapter. all of this was rambling and idek if i make sense but what do you think? do you agree/disagree? also sorry if i come off as rude it was not my intention at all T^T i really your analysis and wanted to share mine about momo with you too :D

Hello, dear anon!

Oh, please, your message wasn't rude at all! I loved reading your thoughts, thank you for taking the time to type me all this!

Your ask touches on a lot of topics I’ve talked about before, so here is a list of my previous answers that I think are relevant:

Did MGS hate HT in the beginning?

About MGS and SL’s development

Do I think Tianshan is toxic?

Do I think Tianshan is toxic vol. 2

My Tianshan “timeline”

My Tianshan “timeline” continued

Will MGS’s attitude towards HT ever change?

Will MGS’s attitude towards HT ever change, vol. 2?

You might want to check some of those out if you’re interested. But I’ll most probably end up repeating some things anyway.

““are tianshan a toxic couple” and i love your responses”

Thank you! I have to admit those were probably the hardest questions I had gotten so far. As a Tianshan OTP shipper, I understand that I’m easily biased. And as someone who often ships the problematic pairings, the whole “it’s toxic” discourse can get...tiring.

Anyway, the point I was trying to make was that I feel like often when people complain some ship/character is toxic, they erase the context of those things. I understand that context doesn't excuse any type of behavior but it explains it more often than not. To me, context is about taking that step back and seeing the bigger picture/overall development.

Also, I think “toxic” is a surprisingly subjective term and people have very different levels of tolerance for it. If someone sees Tianshan as toxic, I think their take is valid. It’s perfectly fine if the ship is too much for them. But I also like to remind people that this is fiction we are talking about. In fiction, things are often exaggerated. Also, fiction is a safe place to explore different things and enjoy whatever scratches your itch. No one is getting hurt. So, if something isn’t to your taste, that’s fine! If you want to have a discussion about those differences, awesome! Just don’t go around judging people for liking something in fiction.

“a lot of ppl assume that mo “hates” tian / he really just struggles to accept and understand his feelings for tian“

I think this has mostly to do with MGS being a very tsundere character. His first answer is always “no”, “shut up”, “go away”, etc. But deep down, he does care and doesn't actually hate as much as he lets people (mis)understand. Tsundere characters can be frustrating, and I get it if they annoy some people. But it’s important to recognize them, so you won’t let their “tsun” side fool you.

To me, a lot of MGS’s anger and aggression is also about his general distrust of people. In the beginning, he was hostile towards HT because to him, HT was ultimately the same as SL (ch. 138, 150, 155):

MGS didn't understand HT’s interest in him. He didn't trust HT’s kind of people with money and influence. He had had bad experiences with SL taking advantage of him, and he wasn't about to let HT do the same. His guard was high, and the best way to protect himself was being aggressive. (This didn't apply to HT only but everyone who tried to interact with MGS.)

A lot of that early behavior makes more sense if you take a step back and look at the overall development of Tianshan and MGS. On the surface, it easily looked like MGS hated HT in the beginning when it would be more accurate to say he hated people like HT.

You suggested that MGS is struggling to accept and understand his feelings for HT, and I would agree. I’m not sure if I would go as far as saying his feelings for HT are exactly romantic just yet, but I’m sure his relationship with HT is something that MGS can’t quite figure out. He’s not only learning to trust HT but also no doubt noticing that he might - god forbid - actually care about HT. That’s a lot of “figuring out” if you consider what HT ultimately represented to MGS in the beginning and how defensive MGS was towards everyone.

Overall, I would say that MGS is “bothered” by HT. In a good way. He can’t really understand HT or their relationship but HT “bothers” him by being persistent and poking at topics that MGS isn’t really familiar with (for example, romance). The change in him that HT is ultimately the driving force for is “bothering” him which I think is something quite human and relatable. It’s the confusion and uncertainty that keeps bugging us all before we figure something out.

“but slowly, he gets used to tian being his friend and even allows tian to see his moments of vulnerability“

One of the biggest themes in Tianshan is definitely trust. This is very much connected to your earlier point, but I wanted to take a separate look at this. I would even go as far as saying trust is at the core of everything you’re saying.

As I said, in the beginning it looked like MGS hated HT when he, in truth, didn’t just trust him. But once again if you take a step back, you can see the overall development (ch. 130, 144, 160, 188, 282, 283, 318, 346 [the last one is translated by @1154lizz 🖤]):

MGS had learned to be suspicious of people and to believe that no one was looking out for him. No one would be on his side. No one would believe he didn't do it. No one would defend him, let alone demand justice for him. I believe a lot changed in Tianshan when MGS realized HT would be in his corner and fight for him.

After that MGS began to gradually open up about things (SL piercing his ears, his past with SL). With that development, MGS not only let HT closer but also gave HT more control over him. He allowed HT to occupy him in ways that SL had used to abuse him: the earrings and his past. Those had been ways for SL to own and control MGS, but with HT they were about trust and protection.

Lately, it seems like MGS is allowing HT to coax his dreams and pursuing them. No matter what MGS wants to do, HT will support him. He believes in MGS. That takes trust as well because dreams can be a surprisingly vulnerable topic. Especially if you’re someone like MGS who hasn’t had that kind of support and faith for various reasons.

So yes, I would say the ever-growing trust between Tianshan has changed the relationship. MGS has gone from hostile “I don’t know what you want with me but whatever it is I won’t let you” to more positively flustered tsundere-like aggression.

“another thing is that moments of danger really bring out mo’s TRUE feelings for tian“

Yes, I definitely agree with this, too. Those moments are when MGS’s “dere” side comes out so nicely (ch. 233, 234, 255, 259, 309, 329):

With all the aggression in MGS, it’s sometimes easy to forget that he’s actually a very caring person. A lot of that is just protected by thick emotional walls because his caring side has gotten him in serious trouble before. He’s learned to harden himself in that regard, but if people are persistent enough with him they will eventually see how caring he actually is.

It’s taken some time but MGS does care about HT. And he does care about JY and ZZX. They have all wiggled their way into his heart even though it probably rarely looks like that. He curses at them and tells them to fuck off, but if it really came to something serious, he would be worried and scared for them. I think the fact that HT has deemed MGS as someone safe around whom to show his more vulnerable side is proof of how MGS treats people who are looking for shelter - both literally and figuratively.

But again, I do understand if this kind of thing doesn't appeal to some people. It can be frustrating if A’s softer feelings only come out when B is in danger or hurt. Personally, I’m living for those little nuggets of worry and affection.

“i do believe that mo will come to realize and accept these feelings for tian / we’ll get to see how mo and tian dealt with being away from each other“

I’m interested in seeing if these two thoughts of yours will eventually be combined in the comic. It seems HT will be going away, so I wonder how that will affect MGS. Will the absence make him perhaps realize his budding romantic feelings towards HT?

But overall, I do agree and believe that MGS will eventually figure his feelings out and come to accept them. Despite everything, he is the kind who can make up his mind about these things and be surprisingly confident about it. Asking HT for the earrings being a good example of this.

I really liked hearing your thoughts and agreed with your takes! Thank you for sharing them with me!

#mo guan shan #tianshan #19 days #answered ask

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kiatkiat-tree · 4 years ago

Text

Wanderers

A/N: For anon who requested! Honestly, um... it didn’t go romantically. I think Bedivere would be the type to take things incredibly slow. Aside from his Servant-Master thing, it would take some time to form an actual relationship with him. The kiss was a catalyst, but it probably wasn’t the right one to use. Btw I STILL DONT KNOW which name to use: gudako, ritsuka, (Y/N).

Thank you for requesting dear anon!

Even though it had only been a few months since Bedivere was summoned to Chaldea, he felt himself subconsciously reaching for his Master. Gudako had invited him to her room multiple times, talking or asking about anything. In a way, she reminded him of his King. This, he told her multiple times.

“To prevent the incineration of humanity is your goal. That is something my king should also wish for,” Bedivere said. He didn't miss the way Gudako's eyes left him. A Court Official shouldn't be without their perception, after all. Without skipping a beat, he followed up with a, “Is there something wrong, Master?”

“Ah, not at all, Bedivere,” she said. Her seemingly lost eyes were focused again as she picked a biscuit up, looking at it like it was the most interesting object in the world. The Servant didn't believe her, but he said nothing. He trusted her enough to tell him the truth when it was appropriate. “I mean, it's true. Your King is a good person.”

“If your ideals align with theirs, then I'm pleased to be serving you, Master,” Bedivere commented before the conversation came to a lull. The silence allowed him to dwell on his thoughts, as well as the burden weighing on his Master's shoulders. If anything, he was glad that Gudako was allowed down times like this, in between Singularities and training.

“Anyway, it's 2 PM,” she spoke up again, brushing the crumbs off her mouth. Bedivere didn't need to check the schedule to know it's time for her afternoon training. The two of them placed their hands on the food tray at the same time, but Bedivere was quick to speak up.

“Allow me to clean it up for you, Master. The others must be waiting,” he interjected, covering Gudako's hand with his. The odd red tint to her cheeks didn't fade, even when he let her go. He bid her farewell before stacking the teacups on their respective plates and making sure no crumbs were left behind on her personal desk.

His loyalty to the King was never to be tested, and yet here he was, cleaning his Master's table with the same devotion as unsheathing a sword on the battlefield. No, it was not that. Dedication to his King was the sole purpose of his life, and yet, he couldn't help but feel affectionate for his Master.

Affection that bloomed in spite of humanity's state. Confused because of his devotion to his King, but encouraged by his respect for his Master. Gudako wasn't very subtle in hiding her emotions, either. Still, as a Servant and a Knight of the Round Table, Bedivere couldn't let himself be as carefree as her.

ii.

If Gudako's memory wasn't wrong, enemy homunculi were lancers. That meant Bedivere had an advantage over them. But as the two of them hid behind a tree, she knew something significant had to be done to turn the tide. Her Servant was badly wounded and exhausted, with barely enough mana to unleash his Noble Phantasm.

The doctor's connection was unstable, too. Damn it all, Gudako couldn't help but think. This was supposed to be training, not some life-or-death situation. She shivered, pulling Bedivere's cape around her tighter. The two of them were alone, because of her selfishness and poor planning.

When they entered the area, Gudako was confident of Bedivere's abilities and her own. Now, she wasn't doubting her Servant, of course, because only she was to blame for all of this. Aside from training focused on just this one knight, she wanted to spend some alone time with him as well. What a petty excuse to not bring anyone else!

What made it worse was Bedivere's forgiving expression. He gave her his cape in case she felt too cold, even letting her curl into him for the time being. The idea of staying there forever in his hold was too tempting, and yet she knew it was a bad idea. The longer they stayed there, the longer she was going to get drained of her energy and mana. Gudako was useless as a Master.

“This is not your fault, Master. My ineptitude has—“

“Don't say that. None of this is your fault,” Gudako was quick to cut him off with her own words. The last thing she needed was Bedivere blaming himself. She tucked her legs inside the cape, making herself as small as she feels. Her Servant's cold armor wasn't very comfortable, but she wasn't complaining. It kept him safe, especially with the sounds of the nearing homunculi.

She felt him shift against her, preparing for combat. “Master, please give me your orders. Even if I have to fight until my last breath, it is necessary for you to return to Chaldea safely. The field the homunculi has brought with them will perish all the same, so the doctor will be able to rayshift you safely.”

If Gudako wasn't sure about her ability to drown out certain sentences, she was now. She stood up with him, securing his cape back onto his armor. She stared at him, taking a deep breath.

“As if I'd let you die here!” she hissed. Mana pulsed through her veins, just enough to fill in the gaps for Bedivere. If she could help him unleash his Noble Phantasm, they'd both come out of this alive. Even if she supplied him with mana, she wouldn't die. At least, not immediately. “I have mana to spare. Let me give you some.”

“No. You will perish if you do that, Master. I cannot allow such acts,” he pushed. The suggestion was too much, even for her. His body tensed as Gudako took his hands in hers. Such a simple action would've made her flustered if they were in any other situation, but she was serious here.

Gudako whispered a small apology before pressing her lips against his. Direct mana transfers like this were rare, and she understood when Bedivere jerked away from her. His eyes were widened, horrified, but Airgetlam began to glow. The transfer was successful at the cost of their friendship, it seemed.

She felt more drained than usual, a sign of overworking her magic circuits. She slumped against the tree, barely keeping her eyes open while watching her Servant. “Unleash your Noble Phantasm,” she said before finally falling asleep.

iii.

It's been two weeks since their last mission, and two weeks since Gudako has actually talked to him. Bedivere wasn't the type to look for attention, but rather, he was concerned. The Master took a day and a half to sleep, and another day to recover. Dr. Roman reported that she was fine but a bit sore when he asked.

Asking her questions about the mana transfer could wait. Instead, he offered to help her in her recovery, only to be ignored by his Master and prodded by Mordred. The brash knight was acting like an overprotective guard dog that could rival Cu Chulainn. Of course, this also meant questions about what happened.

“Ha?! What do you mean, 'you let Master do it'?! I'll bash your face in, you honor student!” Mordred yelled, earning her a few looks from the others in the hallways. Gudako was nowhere to be found, and this young woman wouldn't answer Bedivere until she was satisfied. “You're the reason why she's limping like that?!”

“Please keep your voice down. I don't wish to disturb others,” he replied. While he disagreed with Mordred's way of speech, he couldn't help but feel the effects of her words. His Master was forced to do such a thing just to save both of them. In fact, despite her reassuring words, he couldn't help but feel as if he's failed both his King and his Master.

“What? As if you're to talk. I bet everyone just wants to know how the hell she ended up in that state,” she retorted, rolling her shoulder. It looked like she was getting ready to make her words come true. Bedivere trusted in the Chaldea Security System for breaking up fights, though. “A mana transfer that you couldn't stop... what, did she kiss you or something?”

He only faltered for a moment, but Mordred already caught onto it. She continued her rambling. “Really? The two of you did it?” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. There hadn't been any explicit confirmation from him yet, but at this point, it was unnecessary. “So that's why she's been acting like... hey! Go talk to her!”

Mordred was acting as if Bedivere hadn't tried that already. The last time he knocked on Gudako's door, something crashed onto the floor and yet she acted as if no one was there. It was obvious their mental link was being actively blocked as well. He tried to call out to her, even just to check on her, but he couldn't. The kiss was an act of desperation, and yet...

“All has been tried and done. It is up to Master to forgive me for letting her do such an act. I understand it was out of desperation, but I understand the toll it has on her. After all, we're only Servant and Master,” he said. If the other woman had realized something, it didn't show on her face. Instead, she only pointed her thumb in the direction of Gudako's room.

“Alright, I think I've finally gotten it,” she grumbled. “Leave, before I really bash your face in.”

Anything else Mordred grumbled about was drowned out by her stomping. Bedivere gave a relieved sigh before turning to Gudako's room, where she was currently staying for a while. After this week, she would be returning to her normal duties. In Bedivere's mind, he didn't want to interfere with her rest, but there was no better time than now.

Two knocks on her room already elicited the sound of something heavy falling to the floor with a thump. He didn't speak for fear of scaring her again. Instead, he waited there as his Master opened the door with a hopeful smile. Her expression immediately became dejected, closing the door on his face once more.

Bedivere held his hand out, stopping her movements. “Please,” he started. “We haven't talked in a while, and I'm concerned about your well-being. If it pleases you, I can stay outside.”

The Servant watched as his Master chewed on her lower lip. She looked down on the ground, avoiding his steady gaze. “About that concern of yours... is it of a Servant's concern for their master, or more like a friend's worry for one?”

It would be a lie if he said he wasn't taken aback, or at least a little confused. Bedivere frowned. “I.. pardon?”

“It's fine, don't answer that,” Gudako replied. Her words sounded too dull for someone like her. Whatever she was hiding, Bedivere didn't want to pry from her. A mistake was made on his part, though, and he wanted to correct that. His Master leaned or the doorway, gently taking Bedivere's hand off the door. “I'm okay, if that's what you were looking for. Circuits are a little fried.”

“Master, I apologise for such a blunt question, but have I done something wrong?” he asked, but he let his arm fall from the door. She was free to close the door on him any minute now. Instead, the doorway was still wide open, and Gudako had gone back to her nervous habit of chewing her lips.

“I didn't think I'd have a conversation like this with you, but I don't want it to be where anyone can eavesdrop,” she said, carefully opening the door to let Bedivere pass. He gave her a grateful nod before letting himself in. Gudako locked the door behind them, taking her time. “What makes you think you've done something wrong?”

“This might sound too inappropriate, but like I have said a while ago, we haven't talked for some time. Is something the matter?” Bedivere asked. He was starting to question himself if her avoidance was just a figment of his imagination, or if he was simply being too needy. Without waiting for an answer, he decided to bite the bullet. “If this was about the kiss, it does not need any discussion. It was a mistake on my side. If only I had been—“

“Bedivere, stop,” she said. Bedivere went quiet, bowing his head in repentance. His eyes didn't meet hers, but he could still feel her presence. The white tiles of her room were his only companions as he listened to her. “It's my fault as a Master. Don't blame yourself, please. The kiss must've been uncomfortable, too. I'm sorry. It was the only way I could think of that didn't require as much mana.”

The kiss wasn't uncomfortable. It would've felt nice if they weren't in that situation, or if they weren't a Master and a Servant. He kept his head bowed as he spoke. “I am not the judge of your actions, Master. I am only a Servant who has done nothing of significance. However we look at it, we are still Master and Servant. Such intimate actions should be reserved for lovers.”

“I don't see you as just a Servant,” Gudako told him. He couldn't stop himself from looking up at her, confusion present in his eyes. She fidgeted in her position, playing with her hands. “You're a very dear friend to me, Bedivere. That's why I wanted you to forget what happened if it meant not being friends anymore. If I left you alone, you wouldn't remember.”

“That... isn't very possible, Master,” he said. There was a deeper meaning to her actions, but he didn't know if he could uncover that now. He settled on focusing on her words. “I'm terribly sorry, Master. However bad a moment may be, I could—or would—not forget it. However, is it truly acceptable for us to be friends?”

“Why not? We aren't conventional Masters and Servants anyway,” she said, giving him a small smile. “We don't know how long this Grand Order will drag out. Even with just one more Singularity left, we're still unsure of the future. If you ever find yourself thinking you can't be friends with me, just tell me, okay? I'll remind you that everyone here's a friend of mine.”

He wondered if the kiss, the shy blushes, and the occasional stutter were all part of being a friend. A Master like her shouldn't be holding that kind of affection for a Servant like him, but a part of her words rang true. This wasn't a real Holy Grail War, and everyone was going to stay here for a while. As he served his King and his Master, he thought of times when he thought he felt lonely.

Perhaps Gudako felt the same way as well. She spent most of her time with Servants, and she had managed to befriend all of them. As professional as they were, they were still bound by time and the Grand Order. Bedivere nodded as he accepted her words, returning a smile of his own.

“I see. Even though we are different, you show signs of perseverance. And even though I serve my King, I shall truly devote my sword to you, my Master,” he said, bowing.

This conversation was far from done, but they had finally talked after two weeks. To him, it was an accomplishment. Gudako's pleased face could tell him that she felt the same as well.

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camelliacats · 3 years ago

Text

Bones

Another random drabble.

Fic: "Bones" [FFN] [AO3]

Pairings/Characters: Theodore Nott/Rabastan Lestrange

Rating: very light T

Words: ~560

Additional info: romance, slash, cross gen, AU fic, Harry's era, 3rd person POV

Summary: Theodore doesn't think it's all right to leave things this way. Rabastan does.

Rabastan is the first one to roll out of bed. He always is.

Theodore tends to play dead and act as if he doesn't know that Rabastan plans this, he always does. Because if Theodore plays along and doesn't act hurt, then Rabastan will keep coming back.

See, that's the problem with Rabastan. He's a very clever man (though how clever must be tested, because he's dumb enough to stumble into Theo's bed time after time), and he knows when to jump out of the fire. Sure, it's one thing to stick his finger in and quickly pull it back out, but he'd never leave a limb in. That's how to be burned.

Instead, Theo—equally cautious—stays still as a ghost and listens to the rustle of cloth as Rabastan dresses. He'd listen for a creak of the mattress, but he or Rabastan would have to weigh something for that to happen. But they're both too light, too skinny for that.

He listens with closed eyes, picturing his older lover (a once-crazy murderer who finally became so paranoid that he's all but given up his former life) as he prepares to leave. Theodore can picture those long, thin, alabaster fingers deftly buttoning his dark shirt. He can hear him putting on his cloak. And he can hear the swish of his long black hair as Rabastan pulls it out of his collar.

"I know you're awake."

Well, that's not fair, breaking the silence and ruining their game. Theodore doesn't roll over, afraid of what's to come.

Rabastan sighs. "This…is just how it is. Nothing more."

Theodore purses his lips, thinking. "It could always be more," he remarks at last.

"No, it can't. If it does become…" He curses. "Brother's mind is broken. He doesn't need to detect changes in me when I visit him."

Ah, yes. The "Rodolphus is crazy without Bellatrix, so I'm not allowed to be happy either" excuse. And if Rabastan had been caught after the war, too, then they wouldn't even be having this conversation. But he wasn't, and so he wears disguises to go visit Rodolphus, despite Theodore's opinion that Rodolphus has only ever been a ball and chain on Rabastan.

"Do you know why I can manage this?" the sane Lestrange says suddenly, kneeling on the bed and hovering a hand over Theodore's shoulder. But he doesn't touch him.

Theodore gives in and peeks at him. "Why?"

Rabastan halfheartedly grins. "Look at us. There's nothing but skin and bones here. I can come here to seek comfort while knowing that there's nothing but skin and bones. With only skin and bones, it means there's nothing beating in our chests."

Theodore wants to point out that that's a cold excuse for never kissing him. But he refrains. He has something better to quip.

He waits until Rabastan stands back up and heads for the door. He doesn't care to bring up their strange history, their degrees of separation (because Theodore watched him from afar, when Rabastan joined the older Nott and others in service of the Dark Lord). He waits until Rabastan has almost closed the door behind him, and then he speaks up:

"If there's nothing more between us, then why do you call it 'seeking comfort'?"

Rabastan slams the door shut, but Theodore smiles. He's won a battle at last.

Yum. -w- Dunno why I ship them, these skinny boys…but I do. I like the idea of Theo maybe/maybe not becoming a Death Eater but getting along with Rab anyway. And it'd be nice if some Death Eaters weren't imprisoned/killed, because STORIES. *rambling*

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave an anon/unsigned review via the FFN link or comment via the AO3 link at the top of the post, especially if you enjoyed this!

~mew

2017 note: =w= I think this 2014 fic was inspired by my headcanon of them being skinny gents. GODS, the twist that took, tho! :O Good on Theo. ;]

#hp #harry potter #theostan #theodore nott #rabastan lestrange #<1000 #romance #slash #cross gen #au fic #rated: PG13 #trio era #3rd POV

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lostcauses-noregrets · 4 years ago

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Hey Lost, from your experience as a long time writer, when you leave comments/try to engage with other writers by leaving comments, do you find that they take the initiative to click your pseud and check out your dash? Whenever I receive a particularly thoughtful comment, I have a natural curiosity to find out more about them, maybe see if they’ve written anything I would be interested in reading and supporting, but from my experience, this doesn’t seem to be common practice among most users.

I'm not sure if you can relate per se since you're (in my humble books) a BNF, but I was curious to hear what you think and maybe hear about other's experiences too. Thank you for being a community hub in a sometimes lonely fandom existence<3

Thank you Anon, I honestly can’t claim to be a BNF, I’ve just been around for a long time! I’m very happy if my blog helps you to connect to the fandom community though.

So in terms of commenters, I honestly don’t know if people who leave comments on my fics go on to check my pseud or visit my blog. I don’t pay any attention to webstats, so I have no idea where people are coming from.

To my endless shame, I am utterly woeful at replying to comments on AO3. I feel incredibly guilty about this, because I treasure each and every comment more than you could possibly imagine. However, even though I don’t often manage to reply to comments, I do check out the profiles of people who leave supportive comments, and if they’re on twitter or tumblr I will sometimes follow them.

Reading between the lines I think what is underlying your ask is the question of how we can make connections and build community in fandom spaces. There’s been a lot of research and writing on this issue in recent years, as fandom spaces have changed out of all recognition over the last decade. AO3 is a case in point. It’s quite hard to make connections and build community on AO3 because it was never designed with that purpose in mind. AO3 is not a social media platform, it was always intended to be an archive, to host copies of fics produced by fandom communities that existed elsewhere on the web. Places like Livejournal for example, which allowed fandoms to set up and maintain their own closed, moderated fandom spaces. With the demise of sites like LJ, fandom moved onto public social media platforms such as tumblr and twitter, where it’s much, much harder to support discrete communities and control who interacts with you. Some of the worst kind of behaviour that is common on twitter, was easier to control on sites like LJ where communities were moderated. That’s not to say platforms such as LJ were fandom utopias, far from it. As long as there has been fandom, there has been fandom wank. I do think it’s interesting that Discord is growing in prominence as a fandom platform as this is another way to support moderated communities, however because of the way discord servers are set up, it can be much harder to find a server to join if you’re new to a fandom.

Anyway apologies if this isn’t relevant to your ask, and please excuse me for rambling! One last thing I will add is that every person who leaves a comment on a fic is making an invaluable contribution to fandom, never underestimate that ♡

#asks #writing #fandom #community #ao3

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waywardfacegarden · 4 years ago

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Hi! Sound's abit weird for asking but what's your opinion on the board slam Adam did to our dear cherry? And what are the best ways to torture/lecture/karma a fictional character for slamming a skate board to another person?

TIA have a good day💙

Hello dear nonnie!!! It’s okay! It’s not weird, thank you for asking! (And honestly, feel free to ask whatever you want about any fandom I’m in; I love getting asks!)

Now, for my answer:

I was honestly so, so mad when he did that, to be honest. I watched the ep the first time alone and it was... a lot. I don’t like Adam; not even one bit. I understand that what his aunts did to him was abuse and it was (still is) fucked up, but that doesn’t excuse what a terrible, horrible person he is. He’s overly creepy, he enjoys making other people suffer, he has hurt people several times on purpose and the asshole enjoys it; he’s also a pedophile, which--yeah, please stay the fuck away from the kids, clown:))) It’s probably because I don’t like him and because I don’t trust his stupid ass that I was expecting something like that to happen. Not--exactly that, hurting Cherry like that, but I wasn’t buying all the “Cherry knows the real Adam” thing. I knew he was gonna pull off some bullshit out of his ass and do something terrible that would piss me off. And he did. But it still broke my heart and made me so angry. First of all, it is NOT okay to hurt anyone, ever (physically or mentally). Second of all, that could have lead to a severe injury and I think Adam knew that and he didn’t care, which makes me more angry about it. He knew what he was doing, he knew Cherry still somehow looked up to him and thought he was a good person, he knew all of that and he still didn’t care. So fuck him, to be honest :) I hate his guts, he’s such a terrible person. Not only did that hurt Cherry physically terribly, because that wasn’t just a scratch Cherry, but also hurt him emotionally. At least, I feel like Cherry had some kind of closure--a terrible, horrible one, but one nonetheless; even if his heart was broken (and I still don’t think he had a crush on Adam, more like just deep admiration and care for a friend, but that’s just me).

First of all, I would love for Adam to get kicked out of his tournament/competition for that. Like, obviously we know that “everything is allowed at S” but... what the fuck?! Slamming your oponent to take them out of the battle doesn’t sound even :) idk, okay? :) Wtf. -- But that’s obviously not going to happen.

I also would LOVE for Joe (or anyone at this point LMAO) to punch the guy real hard. But I don’t think that’s going to happen either. The way he talks about him doesn't seem like resentment to me; as someone pointed out in a post i read before, it’s more like a “lingering exasperation/frustration/disappointment/pity”, not exactly hate. So I don’t think he will punch him. -- So that’s out of the question, too, even if I want someone to punch him.

So, realistically, even if I don’t know if that will happen, I’d love to see Langa refusing to skate with him at the end for Reki. Like, he absolutely ditches him because he’s trying to make up with Reki and trying to fix things at the same moment and he literally doesn’t care if Reki is not there so he stays with Reki instead to mend things and doesn’t go to the race. That’d be awesome. So cathartic. Imagine his face, lmao. Knowing that “his eve” (fucking yikes) doesn’t care about him OOF YES. Obviously, I won’t get mad if that doesn’t happen in canon, but that sure would be fantastic and one can dream lmao.

I don’t know if this is the best way of “torturing/lecturing/karma-ing a fictional character for slamming a skate board to another one” but, after all he has done (not only that), I just want him to get arrested by the end. Hopefully, Kiriko my Queen maybe makes this happen by the end! (I REALLY HOPE). I’d love to see Tadashi beating his ass in a race, as well... I wonder if that will happen. It would be interesting if he accidentally gets hurt somehow by the end and he can’t skate again--that sounds cruel, but I mean. He has done terrible things.

I don’t know what will happen with him by the end, to be honest, and I don’t think I have the right answer to your question, but I seriously want him to get consequences by the end. Like, first of all, stay the fuck away from kids if you’re gonna be a creepy pedophile!!!!!!!!! Second of all, fucking apologize to Cherry, Reki, Miya, Tadashi and everyone you have hurt somehow in your knees, asshole!!!!!!!!! :D Third of all, don’t you dare hurting anyone again!!!!!!!!!! :D

To be honest, the show would be a lot better without him in there (imho). We don’t need him. I love SK8 deeply, but it didn’t need Adam to be great. I could have watched 12 eps of Renga being lovely dumbasses, Miya being Mika, SHADOW! and Matcha Blossom bickering and I’d be very happy. And even if they wanted drama, he wasn’t needed. Sure, Adam is a factor that made it all even worse, but Reki’s problem with his low self-esteem didn’t start there. All the comments that affected him even more didn’t even were from Adam. AGAIN, Adam was a factor in this, but all in all? We didn’t need him. Matcha Blossom also would be amazing without him in there--it kind of adds “depth” to their backstory, but... it could be a lot of other things instead of him. So yeah, I think we could have done a lot better if he wasn’t in there, even if the Bible references are insteresting and everything. Or at least, they could have made him a lot less creepy and a lot less terrible. But yeah, that’s just me and we do have him already so we can do nothing about it, *sighs*.

Anyways, sorry for all this rambling, anon!!!! I don’t think I answered your question exactly SORRY AHDKSHASHJKA, but. Yeah. All in all, the most I hope for is that he gets arrested, or at least that his actions doesn’t get brushed off like they weren’t anything serious, because they were.

#asks #adam #sk8 #ahhh i love getting asks! don't be afraid to ask me anything tbh #even if my answers are always so dumb and just full of incoherent ramble aha...#love you anon! ty for asking!#feel free to tell me what you think of adam and what you think is the best way to end with his character if you want :)#or ask me anything else #have a lovely day/night <3

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praisetheaxolotl · 4 years ago

Link

I’d like to get your thoughts on this, hope this is okay!

Look at this quote from this article:

“It’s easy to pick on the “this wouldn’t be happening if these characters were coded as male,” but it’s nonetheless true—as a fan of the unrepentantly (gloriously) awful Bill Cipher, among others, I can promise you I see it regularly.”

I immediately thought of this blog when I read this.

Not saying you’re misogynist, of course. This blog is just so fascinating, and for someone to dismiss it all like that is frustrating.

I mean, of course they weren’t referring to you directly, but still.

For someone to brush off people’s interesting, thought-provoking theories as nothing but misogyny is kind of close-minded, in my opinion.

But this makes me curious. Do you think you’d still feel the same way about Bill if he was more feminine-coded? Would it matter?

And what do you think about that statement? Are you as annoyed by it as I am?

It’s always alright to get my thoughts on certain subjects, Anon! And lucky for you, I have lots of thoughts on this.

First of all, thank you for liking my blog! I put a lot of work into it, and I still look back on everything I’ve done here fondly. This blog is my only fandom-specific blog that’s still semi-active even after I’ve left the fandom.

And, about what you said about misogyny... I don’t actually think that’s what the article is talking about. It’s not misogyny for someone to pick apart Bill Cipher, but it’s misogyny if someone offers that level of potential depth to a male character while instantly condemning a female character.

But... honestly, from my experience? These two groups of people are different groups.

I used to run in those “anti” circles, back in 2015? 2016? Before the whole “SU criti/cal” thing started to become popular. But I could still kinda see hints of it? It was back when SU was hailed as THE perfect show, before people knocked it off the pedestal they put it on.

Anyway. These people hated redemption arcs. They saw Bill as this irredeemable monolith of a character, and any alternate interpretations were met with outright malice. I got called out once for, and I am not joking, headcanoning Bill as an abuse victim. They claimed I was “excusing his actions,” but when I asked to please show a screenshot of where I said that this excused him, they couldn’t. Because I never said that.

(I ended up publishing the whole headcanon on my main blog, and people loved it. That reception is what pushed me to create this blog.)

I don’t doubt at least some of those people became the type to nitpick SU. So I feel that the same people that nitpick male characters are also the type to nitpick female ones. They’re just nitpickers with a black-and-white sense of morality.

But there are always exceptions to the rule- people who love morally gray male characters but hate morally grey female characters. Yes, some of these motivations may be spurred on by misogyny. But what frustrates me is the initial assumption of malice. I’m not saying the article itself is guilty of this, as it seems to be speaking to a general problem, but more those tumblr posts or tweets trying to “call people out” if they gravitate towards more morally gray male characters than female ones.

Which brings me to my answer to your question: No, I don’t think I would like Bill as much, had he been a woman.

But please let me explain first.

First, you need to know some facts about me:

I am transmasculine. (Not a trans man- I’m nonbinary.)

I have a personality disorder. I’m not comfortable disclosing which one, but it’s one of the cluster B ones.

I was abused, and my reaction to the abuse was extreme anger and irritability. (Hence the PD.)

Another important fact is that my abuser was a woman. She’s my mother. I had to live with constant emotional abuse, gaslighting, neglect and other forms of malice for my whole life. I’m still not free yet, and I’m turning 20 in a month. (No, literally, exactly one month to the day.)

I was abused my whole life by a vindictive, manipulative shit of a woman, and it made me into a vindictive, manipulative shit of a person. The key difference is that I am actively trying not to be a vindictive, manipulative shit.

When I pick apart asshole male characters, I see myself in them. I do a deep dive into the whys, the hows the whos of why they ended up the way that they did, because it makes me feel liberated. It’s personally liberating to see someone like me, whom everyone sees as a monster, have a backstory that shows that monsters aren’t born, they’re made. It’s liberating to see them try and change, it’s liberating to give them someone to help them change no matter what, it’s liberating to look harder. Because that’s what I wanted. I wanted someone to look at me and see past the violent, angry 15 year old that I was, and actually help me. I wanted someone to see I was a victim, that I didn’t like being the way that I was. I wanted someone to help me and be there for me, even though I was messed up and awful.

(But don’t feel too bad for me- A few years ago I met someone wonderful through this very fandom who was exactly the kind of person I needed. And last November I proposed to him and he said yes!)

When I see a morally grey female character... all I can see is my abuser. I see in them the person that hurt me. I don’t want to look deeper, just as I don’t care about my mother’s long rambles about how shitty her childhood was. Was she also abused? Yes. Do I care? Nope! I don’t feel that same drive to pick apart female characters that act like the male ones I like, because of my trauma.

And honestly? Just because I gravitate towards male characters more doesn’t make me a misogynist. How I treat actual real life women does. I do examine my behavior to make sure I’m not being misogynistic- in fact, it was worry that I was being misogynistic in my dislike of these characters that made me think hard enough to have such a long answer to your question.

Maybe someone liking only male characters is an indicator of misogyny. Maybe it isn’t. I’m not shy about talking about what happened to me but people should not have to disclose their traumas in order to be “allowed” to consume fiction in a way some stranger doesn’t like.

And there actually is a specific subset of morally grey female characters I like: my own OCs.

I guess it’s the fact that I created them and thus can control how they act? They’re all assholes and I love them so much, but I don’t feel that same aversion as I do with characters that aren’t mine. Because the lack of control I had over my own abusive situation is what fucked me up so hard, but now I do have the control. If I watch a TV show, I don’t have any control over what the characters do, they’re not mine. But I do have control over my OCs.

(Psst- if you wanna see those OCs, I’ve since moved to the Invader Zim fandom, and am working on a HUGE fic series for it. (It’s not published yet- I’m working on it behind the scenes.) Those OCs I’m talking about star heavily. Here’s my blog, if you’re interested. I kinda wanna do some metaposting for that fandom, too, but I’ve no idea where to start. I love the Irkens, though, haha. Anyway if any of you happen to like IZ and have a meta-question for me... the askbox IS open!)

Anyway. This got really long. But misogyny in fandom is a thing, and the article does call it out well. I just get frustrated that people immediately assume malice. The statement does annoy me, but because it does happen if the characters are coded as male, too. I see it all the time. People just tend to either be fans of the morally grey, or... not.

#asks #idk what to tag this as...#i never established an original post tag and now i am paying for it #anyway i hope u liked my mini essay lmao!#submission

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yourea--stubborn--man · 4 years ago

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read all your fics, can't ask for more, can we at least know about that stuff your working on you're excited about??

yeah that’s fair Anon! Thank you for appreciating my work!

1) So basically I’ve been hyperfixating on this Amok Time fic... it’s supposed to be a PWP they-fuck-instead of-fighting quick thing but... let’s just say I’m 8.5k words in and sex acts are just now beginning to be performed. The rest is like, jim pining, jim worrying about spock, tarsus iv trauma.

Basically, I see a lot of “pon farr is super violent and jim gets a bunch of broken bones” fics, and while that’s great I don’t fully vibe with it, and wanted to write something where Spock is completely out of it but does feel Jim’s pain and fear and his first instinct is PROTECT MATE AT ALL COSTS. And it’s all around kinda sad too because Jim wants to be with Spock, but mentally Spock isn’t really there, or certainly doesn’t feel there to Jim, and Jim barely feels able to enjoy what is happening or feel allowed to touch Spock and kiss him because his logic is gone and would Spock be okay with this if it wasn’t?

I don’t know how I managed to cram so many feelings into alleged porn, and the target audience is probably me, I and myself but fuck it I’m having a blast? I’m churning out 1k words some days after months of exams/basically writer’s block and I love it!

2) I really need to work on this OMS multichapter retirement fic I’ve been working on since summer 2019, I really want to finish it in time for this year’s OMS challenge so I really need to finish the other fic before I can really grind this bitch bc I feel it’s gonna be around 50k words and most of it is only vague planning? It’s been on my mind non-stop for 2 years at this point I hate it and want to ace it out of spite.

3) I really love mutual pining and all tropes associated with it, and I have a good plan for a fic where Jim and Spock have to be fake married for a mission on an alien planet, and I’m gonna cram as many pining tropes into it as I can: you see, it’s the planet’s love festival, there’s going to be several intricate rituals to strengthen the bond with your romantic partner(s), and of course the honoured starfleet guests are invited... it’s mandatory they come in fact ;)

Still planning stage, I’m struggling a lot with pacing, subplots and other stuff so who knows when this will make progress.

4) A shore leave fic entirely from spock’s pov. Triumvirate are on leave, what Spock doesn’t know is that mccoy is tired of jim’s pining and convinces him to use the leave to seduce spock, properly, since batting eyelashes and chees games haven’t worked. Beach setting. Jim in a riddiculously tiny speedo. constantly dripping, sweaty, needing someone to apply his sunscreen... you catch my drift. Spock is gonna die of pining in this one. Failed meditations, constant wet drams, he’ll be close to crying when he finally gives in to Jim’s charms.

Really excited about this one, it feels like it will write itself but that never seems to happen does it?

I have over 50 wips rn, but these are those I’m focusing on. Between these I feel like I’ll need to work on some one-shots to change it up and not get burn out... anyway, enough rambling! Thank you for giving me an excuse to infodump about this!

Thank you for your ask, I love getting them!

#goodoldlemons #I wonder if you're the same person as the guest who left kudos on all my fics today?#if so I love you <3 #asks #anon #my fanfic #Anonymous

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fandom-necromancer · 4 years ago

Text

Let’s write together: Heart Reset

Chapter 1 - Substitute Detectives

Featuring:

@aurea-b with “Don’t tell me you watched me sleep all night.” @thetruefor3stspirit with “Not gonna lie... I’d die for these soft tiddies.” @rufina72 and Spirit with “Gavin’s cat” & “Reed900 cats” A baguette with “Ralph” @sparklingrainbowdragon with “Ralph/Jerrys” An anon with “Connor/Chloe” (more of them in chapter 3) an anon with “Gavin accidentally puts salt into his coffee. Drinks full cup without flinching” an anon with “Maybe an old friend/ ex from Gavin or Nines appears and causes drama™️” (more of him throughout the story)

Thank you all so much for participating!

[Chapter 2]

Gavin was awoken far too early by his alarm clock. He pulled a grimace and groaned: ‘Phhhck.’ Without looking he tried to slap the damn thing off, only succeeding in weakly flopping his arm on his bedside table, annoying the cat sleeping on his chest. Still, the alarm stopped right then. ‘I love to watch your praised Detective brain work’, came the chuckled comment to that from his side. ‘Hey, tin-can, if you can hack my clock, why don’t you wake me up instead?’ ‘Oh, that’s an easy one. I love the way you scrunch up your face being all grumpy.’ ‘Hmm, yeah, I know I’m pretty.’ Gavin smiled sleepily, still not wanting to open his eyes. ‘You do that a few times in your sleep too. It’s cute.’ ‘Hmm, yeah, I’m phcking cute- wait what?’ That made him sit up and actually look at the android next to him. The cat, finally irritated enough, ran off towards the kitchen ‘Don’t tell me you watched me sleep all night.’ ‘Am I not allowed to admire my perfect human?’, Nines asked faking his hurt. ‘Nah, you are allowed to. Just don’t be creepy.’ ‘Oh yes? Well, if I may remind you of the time I was in stasis and you woke me up hugging me and telling me-‘ ‘No, I don’t want to hear it!’, Gavin laughed, covering his face in embarrassment. But Nines knew no mercy. ‘Telling me, and I quote: Not gonna lie... I’d die for these soft tiddies ?’ ‘I was super drunk this evening coming home from the bar with Tina, okay? Alcohol does these things to you.’ Nines just shrugged and got up. ‘Come on, we have to go to work.’ ‘Don’t remind me…’ ‘I’ll make you something to eat.’ ‘Thanks.’

They got to work perfectly punctual, as always. Ever since Nines took over their schedule, they wouldn’t be a minute late unless something happened. He had argued with Gavin so many times, he was tired of it by now and just complied. The toaster had good intentions after all, and Gavin knew he just liked to complain. The downside of this was that people knew when they would arrive and especially those earlier than them seemed to love bothering them when they just got there. One of these people was Connor.

Gavin had just put his jacket over the back of his chair while Nines downloaded the latest progress, when he practically felt the RK800’s eyes fall on him. ‘I’m off to the breakroom, puppy is coming and I need my coffee before that.’ Nines looked up and saw Connor stand up. ‘I’m coming with you.’ They escaped the android for approximately one more minute by this manoeuvre. Gavin had started filling the machine with water and waited for it to cook, while Nines watched him. ‘Ah, good to see you! Good morning to you two! I actually searched for you.’ ‘You mean you waited for us to arrive and the moment we were at our desks you struck?’, Nines corrected him, making Gavin smile to himself. ‘Maybe? Anyways, I need your help. So, me and Hank got this case and…’ Gavin sighed as Connor rambled on, pushing the button of the machine that made it spit out his life elixir, only half-heartedly listening. It was still too early in the morning for such talks. ‘and we have reviewed all evidence, we know nearly everything already, we only need to arrest him when we have enough evidence. And both of that will be possible a days from now, at the theme park just outside Detroit. I planned talking to some contacts at New Jericho who worked there, then plan a trap, but…’ ‘But?’ ‘Well, me and Chloe have our anniversary on that day and… Well I promised her to be there. Why did Browns have to choose that night for it?’

That made both Gavin and Nines give him his full attention, as they both asked simultaneously: ‘You are with Chloe?’ ‘Browns? Jayden Browns?’ Connor looked at them a bit surprised. He answered Nines first: ‘Well yeah, we met at Kamski’s villa before the revolution but after that a few times more and it just worked.’ ‘Honestly I thought you would tend more to Hank…’ ‘Wha- No! I see him more of a dad, I think. And yes, Gavin his first name is Jayden, how did you know?’ ‘Oh, nothing’, he brushed it off, taking his cup and taking a sip just to nearly spit it out. His eyes darted to the two shakers. Were they… Yes. Who the hell had switched sugar and salt around? But damn it, Connor was here, looking at him. And Gavin would never admit and error to the android and pointedly drunk the whole cup without flinching. ‘Old friend of mine’, he choked out. ‘Really? Well, that’s even better then! Because I really need you to take this case over for me.’ ‘What?’, Nines asked. ‘Why?’ ‘My date with Chloe? Also, you are way better suited with Gavin knowing our suspect! Come on, I’ll owe you one. Please?’ Nines looked over to Gavin, who nodded. ‘Fine, we’ll help you out. But just so you know, we’ll take all the credit, too.’ ‘Yes! Thank you so much! I’ll transfer all data we have so far to you!’

And with that he was off, leaving both of them standing in the breakroom. ‘Why did you accept?’, Nines asked. ‘We don’t have an active case at the moment. Also, Connor owing us? Can’t let that chance pass.’ ‘Quick thinking. Did you know you poured salt in your coffee?’ ‘I know.’ ‘Did you know Connor saw it too and chugging it did nothing to mask the error as we are not human?’ ‘I know!’ ‘I admire your stubbornness.’ ‘I know. Come on, let’s go read up on our new case.’

New Jericho, the apartment complex given to Markus after the revolution, wasn’t that far from the precinct. The drive there still felt overly long with the lingering silence neither of them knew how to break. It was Nines in the end, who prodded: ‘Who is the suspect, your “old friend”, really? You know him well.’ Gavin ducked his head. ‘Urgh, he’s an ex of mine. Don’t ask. I had a bullshit taste before you came along. Just… I mean I knew he could easily turn to illegal stuff, but mostly with androids and I didn’t care about your kind back then and-‘ ‘It’s okay.’ ‘It really isn’t, I should have turned him in earlier, even if it was just for property damage. But I was more focussed on getting away from him I guess.’ Nines could tell his human was uncomfortable talking about it. ‘He really wasn’t a good pick when even I realised it back then…’ ‘Well, you get your chance to arrest him now’, Nines said, trying to be comforting. ‘Yeah, right. Still can’t believe the idiot made it that far.’

It was impressive really. Jayden had been many things, but not intelligent. According to Connor’s research though, he had gotten his hands on data that could threaten all of androidkind. They didn’t know what it was exactly yet, but every goon they had managed to catch and interrogate had made a point in bragging about what was coming. Apparently, it would change the world as they knew it. Knowing the man, Gavin was sure though that that was an exaggeration. Maybe Jayden was convinced of it, but if he got his hands on it it couldn’t be that much of a danger. Whatever it would turn out to be though, Jayden was trying to sell it to the highest bidder and from what Connor had found out, the sum that was offered could make a man rich easily. The data would be handed over at exactly seven pm in tomorrow over at ArcaneWorld, a closed amusement park. The website stated it was closed for renovations, but Nines had found out the site hadn’t been updated in three years and the park had lost all investors. The owner had vanished mysteriously, likely because of the amount of debt the park had collected. But that would be a case for another time, now they needed to find out where exactly their suspects would meet on the roughly twenty-thousand square metre big areal.

‘You know, on a completely other point, I have never been to New Jericho. Do they even accept humans?’ It was meant as a joke, but Nines answered seriously. ‘There are certain areas you won’t be allowed in, yes. Although the majority is, not all androids have deviated yet. Some will never need to, being given freedom simply by prohibiting people from ordering them around. Those that do naturally without being converted mostly break their chains by trauma. Most connected to humans. You understand you won’t be let in there?’ Gavin laughed nervously. ‘Yeah, I understand that alright. Damn it, with the amount of hate-crime receding to the, well, to the normal levels, I thought that wouldn’t be that much of a problem anymore.’ ‘It got better the last years’, the android answered. ‘I think nowadays it’s just one floor that’s prohibited for humans. When I was awoken, there was only one floor humans were allowed to enter.’ ‘Shit…’, Gavin hissed, looking up towards their destination. The building could already be seen, although it would take a few more minutes to get there. ‘Our contacts, are they-‘ ‘No. One of them spent a lot of time away from humans, but he got better with time. I actually met him in my time there. The others never had a scarring experience with your kind, although maybe that’s also due to their programming. They are designed to be patient, easily forgiving and caring. No matter how drastic deviancy can change us, a few traits stay.’ ‘They?’, Gavin asked. ‘Just one person or how many are we speaking with?’ ‘Two persons’, Nines answered and smiled. ‘Roughly a hundred units. No one really knows how many there are.’ ‘Excuse me?’ ‘They share a hivemind. It was an interesting thought of Cyberlife as that made sharing information in a theme park much easier.’ ‘You androids are weird.’ ‘Says the human that is partially controlled by his intestine’s flora.’ ‘Yeah okay, point taken.’

They parked the car and went inside. Nines connected to the apartment buildings android network and announced themselves to the other androids. Nearly instantly he got an invitation back he translated for Gavin. ‘They are waiting for us in the gardens. They ask if you need anything.’ A bit phased, the human shook his head. ‘No, I’m good, thanks. Kind of forgot you can simply do that…’ ‘Believe me, it feels strange even to me. I prefer talking, too.’ They moved through the hallways towards the back exit and Gavin was surprised to see how many androids there were. It was normal to see them on the streets now, but without any humans around it still felt weird to him. Some of them didn’t wear their skin, all of them were openly interfacing on a regular basis. Still throughout it all, they acknowledged Gavin’s presence, some even waved or threw him a polite smile before going on with their day. It was so different to what Gavin had experienced with the human-only neighbourhoods that had formed after the revolution and androids had needed police protection entering. Gavin remembered the people living there just too well and how they reacted to Nines as the only android with them.

He honestly had thought of this to be similar for him.

Nines opened the door for him to step into a huge atrium mostly filled by a huge park-like area. ‘Over here’, Nines said, leading Gavin to where and android sat, plucking weeds. As they approached, he stood up, clasping his hands. His face was heavily damaged, Gavin could see that even from a distance. But the other android’s eyes were fixed on Nines, before he awkwardly waddled over. ‘RK900! RK900 is here, Ralph is happy to see you!’ Gavin watched his partner as the damaged android ran at him just to hug him. ‘I’m happy to see you too! Although my name is Nines now.’ ‘You got a name now? That’s good! Ralph likes it, it is a good name.’ ‘My friend here gave it to me’, Nines chuckled and laid an arm on Gavin’s shoulder. ‘Oh, you found a human? The one from the file you told me about?’ Nines blushed a little, refusing to make eye contact. ‘Yes. It all worked out.’ Ralph held out a hand for Gavin to shake. ‘Hello, friend! Ralph knows Nines from when he first got here. We are good friends.’ ‘I’m Gavin’, he introduced himself, not quite sure what to make of the android. Nines had never mentioned him after all. ‘I’m also a… good friend of him, we met at the DPD.’ ‘Oh! Ralph knows! You came hear to ask questions about the case, yes, Connor told me! But Ralph doesn’t know much, he just met Jerry there. Jerry can tell more; Ralph will call him!’

He did not call him loudly, but immediately five androids perked up, all looking exactly the same. They looked at Ralph, then each other, before three of them dropped their tools and came over. One went over to Ralph to hug him, while the other two looked curiously at Nines and Gavin. ‘Hello! Our name is Jerry. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Connor said you needed help?’ Gavin nodded in the general direction, not quite sure which unit to address. But Nines turned to the one who had just spoken, so Gavin followed his example.

‘Do you know the theme park ArcaneWorld?’, Nines asked. ‘Connor told me you would be the best to ask this.’ The unit in front of him nodded. ‘Yes, we were property of the previous park. Pirate’s cove was abandoned but gained the attention after we were found after the revolution. We were happy to leave the place, but we keep it in good memory. We liked working there and making people happy.’ ‘I’m sorry, but how are you an expert on ArcaneWorld when you worked in the previous park?’, Gavin asked. ‘We used the unique android network there. It helped us keep ourselves and not be lonely, much like the one installed here. But we have never been disconnected. And the person who bought Pirate’s cove after the revolution demolished buildings and attractions but kept the network to run the new park. We received regular updates until it closed again, including a detailed blueprint of the entire park and surveillance. Just a moment, please.’ Multiple other Jerrys approached them, pushing their hands together. Gavin had seen the holographic screen Nines and Connor could produce, but never something like this. Every individual screen connected, forming a map of ArcaneWorld. ‘There. What do you need to know?’ ‘We have to intercept a criminal selling off valuable data. We know it happens at seven, but not where in the park.’ A few of the Jerrys nodded in unison. ‘Well, the park is partly still functioning. The whole area here…’ a huge part of the map was marked. ‘This whole area isn’t safe. A huge ride there had been closed due to safety reasons and had to be renovated. That never happened, so now the ride has long collapsed. The old area of Pirate’s cove is still functioning, as well as the main attraction of the new park, a large area of medieval themed rides. Maybe that narrows it down a bit. Oh, and another thing, the surveillance cameras in a large part of the medieval area were shut down lately. May only be a coincidence, but when there are still some working in the collapsed ride, we don’t think this simply happened because of decay. We would search there.’

‘Sounds good to me’, Gavin shrugged. ‘As good a place as any to start.’ Nines nodded. ‘Thank you, Jerry, you helped us a lot. Do keep an eye on the park though and call us if you see anything.’ ‘Of course. Best of luck!’

Nines and Gavin left New Jericho shortly after that. Nines had stayed a bit longer to download the map from Jerry and gain access to the network, but soon they had taken their leave. ‘An old friend, huh?’, Gavin smirked as they walked towards the car. ‘Anything I need to know?’ ‘They really are just friends I made, unlike our suspect’, Nines shot back though. ‘Ralph had been with Jerry from the start.’ ‘Err.. what? How is that even… nevermind, I don’t wanna know.’ Nines looked at him, clearly disappointed. ‘Gavin, please, don’t try to judge them with human terms. I keep one of my processor cores reserved just for you, always. Jerry does the same, but with interchangeable units. It’s not that difficult to understand.’ ‘I said I didn’t want to know that, Nines. If it works for them, fine with me.’ ‘Good. That being settled, let’s get back and find out everything about this park.’

[>next Chapter]

#detroit become human #dbh #Reed900 #RK900 #Gavin Reed #Let's write together #one year of stories

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