#anyway. she is going fully mary (mothering)

[starphobe]

why does she look so demure here .... filled with all the patience and grace of our lord... perhaps .......

[enbysiriusblack]

just realised i have a habit of headcanoning characters leaving the wizarding world and magic behind them...

mary macdonald, lydia pettigrew, draco malfoy, remus lupin, andromeda tonks, etc.

[vinylfoxbooks]

September 9 - Curl | @into-the-jeggyverse | wc: 715 Previous part | First part

When Regulus finds his brother, Sirius is leaning against the bars to another cell, “Sirius.” He hisses, causing both his brother and Remus to turn to him, “We’re getting them out of here and we’re leaving.” 

Sirius takes a second to put together what he said before his face lights up, “You’re… you’re saying what I think you’re saying.”

“If we get them out, the punishment that we will face from our parents is far greater than anything that I want to face and we won’t be able to see the crew for a while. We’re getting them out and we’re going with them. But we need to do this as fast as possible, get a plan for sneaking them out, find Lily, and fucking do this before mother finishes up with Druella.” Sirius nods. Sirius presses a kiss to his boyfriend's lips before taking off to find Lily, grabbing his younger brother’s wrist and dragging him along. 

They find Lily at the very end of the dungeon, humming a song to herself. At their approach, she looks up and tilts her head, “Well, well. I knew that I’d get out of here eventually, but I didn’t think it’d be you two that would save me.”

“Can it, Evans.” Regulus mumbles, “We just needed to know where you were. With you three being so far apart… planning is going to be difficult.” But they figure it out anyways. 

And by the end of the hour, Sirius has gone up to distract the guards even longer by doing something irresponsible while Regulus has gone through and unlocked the cells with the key that he had Kreacher steal from his mother. Once all three of them are standing at the stairs up to the door, Regulus is about to sneak out when James catches him by the wrist, pulling his body to the taller’s. James reaches up and gently tangles his hand into Regulus’ curls, pulling him into a gentle kiss, “We’re going back to our ship, and we will wait for you.”

Regulus nods, “I know. If we’re not there, or one of us doesn’t make it by an hour to dawn, you all need to leave.” James nods and Regulus slips away and up the stairs. 

When Walburga comes storming into his room, asking why he let Sirius back into the castle and cause trouble, Regulus hums and straightens, “You told us that your meeting should be done with Druella by now. I wanted to go back home, I honestly thought that he was still in his room. My apologies, mother.” 

Walburga sneers at him before hissing, “You’re lucky that we have guests, Regulus Arcturus Black.”

“I won’t make the mistake again, mother.” Regulus shakes his head and waits until the door behind slams and the sound of his mother’s heel goes clicking away. He gives it until dusk before he’s going to Sirius’ room with a bag that he’s packed slung over his shoulder.

Sirius looks up at him, his own back slung over his shoulder is waiting for him and, together, the two of them follow the usual route that they know Remus and James take to get out of the palace. They take to the alleys with their hoods thrown over their heads, sneaking through the growing dark as best they can. 

It’s not long until they’re on the ship. Marlene is standing by the dock toying with something on her belt. She looks up, knife suddenly in hand and pointed at them, before calming once she sees who was approaching, “Took you two long enough. Get the fuck on.” She jerks her shin towards the ship and the brothers don’t argue. Marlene follows behind them after getting the ship ready to depart. She lets out a call and the ship starts fully moving, Mary up at the helm nodding down at her. “James is in the captain’s quarter, Remus is below deck.” And with that, she walks off. Regulus is quick to find himself in the captain’s quarters, where James is lounging on his bed, seeming not at all affected by the events of the day. 

“Hello, love.” James smiles, “How my bed is comfortable when you’ve spent the whole day in a cell.”

“You’re ridiculous.” 

“Come here.” And Regulus does.

[thesharkwhalewhoohooooo]

Red x fem! Oc

In which the daughter of the Mad Hatter and the daughter of the Queen of Hearts have been twisted friends for a while.

Red ran through the alleyway, all the way up to the castle walls, until she inevitably got trapped there.

Before the guards could fully close in on her, she got pulled up from a pair of arms around her waist.

"Hey princess Rose." Mary smiled at the princess, who smirked back at her as she wrapped an arm around her neck to stabilise herself a bit more.

"My dad's not gonna be happy with you." She warned as they approached the hatter's tower, Red merely rolling her eyes.

"Also, he has a surprise for you! How exhilarating is that!" Mary hoisted her up a bit more, so she wouldn't slip, before Red could respond.

"You what's the surprise?" Mary shrugged, smiling down at her.

"I don't spoil surprises! You'll love it!" She grinned as they finally arrived, she swung the rope she was holding onto a bit, and she let go so they fell through an opened window.

Mary landed with a smooth roll, standing up in the same motion, whilst Red rolled and stuck to the ground, leaning against her friend's legs.

"Hi dad."

"Hey Maddox." The hatter sighed at the princess and his daughter, both looking at him, one with a smile, the other with a mischievous smirk.

"You really ought to stop one day, she'll find out and not be happy! I cannot keep sending my daughter towards an impending doom!" Red rolled her eyes, getting hoisted up by Mary and let herself fall back onto a chair.

"I finished it..." hatter finally spoke up once his daughter had taken off her coat.

"Really?"

"Yes, the time machine." Red shot up and went towards him, trying to snatch it out of his grasp.

He pursed his lips and slipped it into his coat, shaking his head.

"No, going back in time can be harmful to those who remain still, I cannot give it to you until you've grown in time." Red frowned, looking over at Mary, who even though she was devoted to her, wouldn't betray her own father.

"Okay. Well, doesn't matter anyway, because I can't even get out of this rabbit hole."

-

"Her royal majesty, my queen, it appears that there is a letter, from Auradon." Mary spoke up from behind Red, her father rushing towards them with it.

"Majesty!" The queen of hearts waved her hand and the letter started, it kept everyone captivated, the first sight of anything Auradonian in almost two decades, what a momentous occasion.

"I won't go if Mary can't." Red stood her ground, the queen sending Mary a warning glare.

"Princess Red, I must remain here, I have duties in court-."

"As my personal maid, so yeah, you're coming with."

"- and i'd much prefer simply seeing you off, as the invite only is for you, and your mother seems to be delighted by this new opportunity." Red rolled her eyes, looking at her mother with a dead panned stare.

"She's coming with me or I'll just escape that wretched institution."  The queen sighed, waving everyone off.

"Either you go, or she gets her head chopped off."

"But what am I supposed to do without my personal maid, you don't suppose I'll have to get a new one!"

"You don't need a maid there."

"I do! How dare you try revoke my right as a princess."

-

Red won, and Mary got to go with her to Auradon prep, an institution for the good and the even better.

"Mary!" Red whisper yelled as soon as her mother stood up on the stage, Mary quickly moving to stand behind Red.

"The watch." Mary muttered as she passed her princess, who quickly grabbed it and held onto Mary's hand.

"Let's go." Red was about to start it when Cinderella's daughter tried to pull a sword on the queen, and Red rushed in to try and stop her from getting executed, Mary staying behind in an attempt not to get executed too.

When they disappeared, she felt relieved, but deep inside also saddened.

"Where did she go." The queen turned to Mary, who was not sure herself.

"I would not know my queen, I shall search the highest of lows and the lowest of heights in my pursuit of my princess." She kneeled down as she spoke, keeping her head low and eyes trained onto the ground as she waited for the Queen's response.

"Mh. Don't fret it, she'll return soon." She didn't dismiss Mary, of course she didn't, and of course Mary just had to have kneeled into a small shard of stone, her knee starting to bleed from the constant pressure and the shard.

"Cinderella's execution shall be now!"

-

Prince Charming glanced at the girl kneeling a bit behind the queen, and the small puddle of blood around her knee, as he was being restrained.

"Where is my wife! Where is Ella!" The queen laughed at him, gesturing at Mary, who quickly stood up, her knee wobbling a bit as she stood up straight and went to grab the cushion with the glass heels.

"My queen." She kneeled next to her, her bloody and wounded knee on the ground, and held up the red pillow.

"Here.... Is my Ella." Mary looked up slightly with an arched eyebrow.

"Your Ella?! She chose me! Over you and your monsterly-." The queen threw the heels at his face, they broke, and cut his face open.

He silently stared at the broken glass, limp in the soldier's hold.

"It appears that she chose you until the very end."

-

"I cannot believe that I had to leave Mary because of you!" Chloe scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"What? Couldn't leave your maid behind?" Red took a step closer to her, eyes narrowed.

"Don't disrespect her like that, at least I know I can trust her."

"Yeah cause she fears you, not the same." Red nearly launched at her and killed her right there, but Chloe tried to get the watch.

"You don't get to go back if you disrespect her."

"What?! What did she do that you're so freakishly-!" Red cut Chloe off, smirking proudly as she answered.

"She swore her full devotion to me, so, technically, she's mine, which means she'll do anything I say." Chloe took a step back, fearing she'll get stabbed by the gloating princess.

"I really don't care about how low that poor girl stepped, but honestly, isn't that a bit like an exhibitionist?" Red's hair seemed to flair up in anger, baring her teeth as she launched at the girl, pulling at her hair.

"Do not call my girl a whore! You fucking bitch!" Chloe was more shocked by her language than anything else.

"Let! Go! Of! Me!" She tried getting her off, eventually resorting to kicking her off.

She stood with her hands on her knees trying to get her breath back, Red standing perfectly straight and gesturing for her to get up and move along.

"C'mon, let's go inside."

-

"Mom!" Chloe nearly cried out as they saw the heels break into Charming's face, Red rolled her eyes, instead focusing on Mary, who was still kneeling in front of her mother.

There was a small puddle of blood where she previously stood, and there were glimpses of blood where she had now rested her knee.

She clenched her fist, but quickly snapped the looking glass closed when Bridget turned around.

"I don't have one like that... but if it's a banned book, it's in Merlin's office, but that's enchanted...." She pouted, a bit sad she couldn't get what the girls wanted for them.

"I have a date with Athene, so I really have to start getting ready, I hope you'll find it though!" Red nodded slowly, pulling Chloe along as she exited the room.

They bumped into Athene along the way, who was going up to Bridget's room.

"Athene." The girl hummed and looked up from Fred, her mouse familiar, to Red.

"We kept Bridget up a bit, she just started getting ready." Athene let out a small Oh, then smiled.

"That's perfectly fine, I'll go back to Olivia then, she'll probably like having that saddle off a bit longer." Red raised an eyebrow, abandoning Chloe's arm and stopping Athene from leaving.

"Olivia?"

"Oh, she's one of my familiars, she's a water dragon, and such a sweetheart, I was planning on introducing her to Bridget and going to the dragon stalls with her, because she's my nicest dragon, the other can get a bit... snappy, yeah, that's the word." She tilted her head when Red didn't answer, "would you like to meet her? She's beautiful, her scales are a bit darker than Chloe's hair."

Red smirked, quickly nodding before grabbing Chloe's arm again and once again dragging her along after Athene.

The young witch wasn't kidding when she said the dragon was sweet, because she quite literally had no idea what danger even was.

"I told you, she's way too kind, it takes more effort to keep her safe from people than to keep people safe from her." Chloe had finally snapped out of her stupor and was staring in amazement at how the dragon seemed to trap Red with her tail, keeping her there until she could grab her with her front legs-?-.

Chloe snorted out a giggle, Red grumbling about getting saliva on her jacket was way too funny.

"Hey! Poet! Bridget's ready for you!" Ella yelled out of a window somewhere, and Athene nearly dashed away.

"She's sweet... do you think they'll last longer than this?" Chloe turned to Red to ask, who had been set down.

"Mh. They'll last yeah, but she'll die when their daughter is like 10." The shock on the charming princess' face was way too much to comprehend.

"Yeah, my mom really lost it after that."

-

"Red! Princess!" Mary rushed up to her when she finally got back to the present, not wearing her usual dark green, but instead a sage green and off white colour combo.

"Hey... what's with the-?" She trialed off when her mom stood up, turning around, with a whole other dress, and starting to make... bubble hearts?

"Where were you, you are so late Rose." Chloe snorted at the nickname.

"Well i'm here now."

[angeldreamsoffanfic]

Elizabeth Marie Munson née Hart was buried on the 2nd Sunday of May back in 1977, back when Eddie had only been eleven. It had been hard, not that death was ever an… easy thing mind you.

She’d been buried in Hawkins, as stated in the will that’d she’d put together (no matter if it had been written on hospital napkins or not it was followed just the same). Eddie’s custody had been a bit more complicated, as Al Munson had put up a bit of a fight in regards to Elizabeth’s wishes. She was adamant that Eddie go to Wayne, while Al didn’t care about what happened to him… as long as it went against what Elizabeth had wanted.

But no matter, because Eddie knew that Elizabeth loved him as much (if not more somehow) than Wayne did. And Eddie loved Wayne, honestly and wholeheartedly he did. But there was something missing from his life, and that was his mama.

Which, Eddie knows distantly, is what makes the day today as difficult to swallow as it does.

Because not only is it the day of his mama’s death but it’s also Mother’s Day.

And he can’t exactly fault anyone in his life for not being able to understand how he feels today. He really can’t bring himself to, even as he sits right in front of his mama’s gravestone- knees to his chest like he’s a little kid again. The rest of his odd found family has their parents, and so they just… they don’t fully understand what Eddie’s going through.

Not really anyway.

He knows they mean well, really he does. But no matter, because it’s hard and he already has a lot on his mind as it stands.

Eddie pauses and draws in a shaking breath, eyes wet and glossy with yet to shed tears, as he keeps his chin on his knees even as he hears a car door slam shut. It’s followed by several other ones, and Eddie doesn’t look behind him as he hears slowly measured footsteps behind him. He doesn’t turn, but he does speak.

“You don’t have to be here, Harrington.”

“Not Harrington, son.” It’s Hopper’s voice that makes Eddie finally turn, and he’s greeted to the sight of the older man- holding a bouquet of pink tulips wrapped in cellophane. Hopper���s in one of his nice shirts, one of the ones that Eddie knows that Joyce forced him in.

“What are you doing here?” Eddie manages to croak out, and the corner of Hopper’s lip twitches slightly- before he gestures with his head back to the parking lot.

“If you think you’re alone today, kiddo, you really got another thing coming.”

Eddie turns his head slightly to look past Hopper, and he can’t help the choked gasp that manages to make its way out of his throat. The entire group is there, all the way from The Party down to even the Corroded Coffin boys. Everyone in their crisp Sunday best (or as close to it anyway) with bright bouquets of pink tulips held between their hands.

Eddie turns again to look at Hopper, and can’t get out any words as he watches as Hopper is joined by Steve Harrington. Eddie has never quite been able to figure out Steve (no matter how much he tries), but he never…

“Hey ma’am,” Steve isn’t even looking at Eddie though, instead focused quite intently on the area behind Eddie… and oh.

Oh.

“I’ve had the pleasure of being one of your son’s friends this past year,” Steve carefully speaks as he moves closer until he’s next to Eddie, before he sits down- not minding getting dirt and grass on his pants. “And we all missed this last year but we figured… well we couldn’t let him come down here and mourn you alone.”

“Stevie-” Eddie tries, and Steve says nothing as he reaches a blind hand out- before he entwines his fingers with Eddie’s. Eddie sniffles again, even as Steve presses the tulips as close to the grave as he can.

“Your son matters to so many people, Ms. Hart, I mean that genuinely and honestly.” Steve keeps going, as if Eddie had said nothing. Eddie tries to keep the tears at bay, holding onto Steve’s hand as if it’s a lifeline. “And I didn’t know how to really show that… but I figured this might help a bit.”

Eddie is confused for just a split second, before he hears Jim Hopper clear his throat- before he then speaks.

“Ma’am, I know that your son has made a safety net for my daughter in the times where I couldn’t. I know that she loves him, truly, and for that I’m a bit more than grateful towards you.” Hopper then clears his throat, before he carefully steps around them- and sets his bouquet of tulips right next to the ones that Steve had put down.

Hopper curls a hand around Steve’s shoulder and bends to whisper something into his ear, and Eddie focuses on blinking back his tears as the man turns and walks away.

It’s silent for a minute, before it continues again.

“Hi Ms. Hart, Eddie’s told me a load about you and he was my first friend here in Hawkins and I just want to let you know we… we haven’t forgot about you.” Gareth’s voice is next, and Eddie lets out another sniffle as he sets a bouquet down. He doesn’t leave though, and instead sits right next to Eddie- taking the hand that Steve isn’t holding.

“Hi ma’am, Eddie hasn’t told me much about you… but I think you’d like the man he turned out to be, and from one mom to another? I’m keeping an eye on him for you.” Joyce. Another bouquet.

“He’s like really cool and taught us so much about this game we play, Dungeons and Dragons and I’m not sure if you knew what that was but it’s like this role playing-” Dustin. Another bouquet.

“He’s like my brother-” Jeff. Another bouquet.

“He’s like my son-” Wayne. Another bouquet. And a firm hand on a shoulder that never leaves.

“You’re someone he talks about whenever I need him to and that means a lot-” Max. Another set of flowers. A kiss against the top of Eddie’s head.

“He’s a good kid and you had to have been like an amazing mom for him to turn out the way he did because let me tell you-” Robin. Another bouquet.

“My dad says I’m allowed to choose my family and I chose Eddie, and from what he’s told me… you were a good mama.” Eleven sniffles softly as she presses her flowers into the ever-growing pile at the base of the gravestone. Eddie reaches out a touches the back of her leg- and it’s enough for the girl to launch herself into Eddie’s arms.

They stay like that. No one questions it.

“From his stories you sound really interesting and I think my mom and-” Mike. Another bouquet.

“Hello ma’am-” Lucas. Another bouquet.

“He’s kind of a nerd but-” Erica. Another bouquet.

“He’s a really good friend, Ms. Hart. Like there’s not a lot of them out in the world, and Eddie’s a good one.” Freak. Another bouquet.

“You and Wayne raised him right and I hope that wherever you are-” Nancy. Another bouquet.

“From what he’s-” Jonathan. Another bouquet.

“Ms. Dudette he’s so-” Argyle. Another bouquet.

“He’s one of my brothers. And that’s all there is to it, and I’m so sad we couldn’t meet and I couldn’t tell you this in person-” Will. Another bouquet.

In the end, Elizabeth Marie Munson née Hart has nineteen bouquets of pink tulips surrounding her grave. In the end, she and her son are completely and wholly surrounded by people that may not have known her— but they love her just the same.

Eddie Munson smiles, and clears his throat as he begins to speak, pulling the attention of his family to him.

“So the reasons why mama liked pink tulips is-”

The sun slowly begins to set as the ragtag group settles in to listen to Eddie’s story, all scrunched in as close as they can.

And for once in his life?

Eddie Munson hates the 2nd Sunday of May just a little bit less.

-

sacrifice to the readmore gods. mother’s day is really hard for me sometimes, so enjoy this word vomit of a ficlet i produced in about an hour. <3

[lenaboskow]

gay!eddie is happening in the near future, a post brought to you by someone who spends way too much time dissecting queer media (and usually ends up being at least half right)

bear with me, it's a long one under the cut

i have a longer, more scene specific post that i will finish during the break if nothing happens tonight but i am a full believer that eddie's big arc this season (or next season, depending) is that the reason none of his past relationships worked out is because he's gay (not bi, gay)

disclaimers: i fully believe eddie loved shannon, just not the way he wanted to. you can also be gay and still enjoy heterosexual sex. sometimes sex really is just sex. this post is purely about romantic attraction.

I also tried to leave as much out about buck as possible (though that's hard, the man is obviously an integral part of his life) because gay!eddie diaz will happen no matter if buddie is endgame, and people need to realize that. their sexualities are more than just about each other.

anyways, on to the post-

it's canon that eddie will put christopher first when it comes to deciding relationships, and i think we first see that with shannon. rewatching season 2, i didn't get the impression that he wanted a romantic relationship with her, but he wanted her back in his son's life, and to eddie, those two go hand in hand.

and, if we're being honest, i think eddie's habit of putting other people first is the whole reason he got with shannon, because his family taught him that he was supposed to find a nice girl and settle down. who better to do that with than his best friend? my theory is further proven when shannon gets pregnant and eddie marries her out of a sense of duty, and then immediately ships off to afghanistan under the pretense of "providing" (and isn't it something that he picks a profession where he'll be away from his family for months at a time)

the only reason eddie returned is because of the helicopter crash, to which shannon immediately started talking about moving to california. while i believe that wanting to rest after the crash could be part of the reason he was hesitant, i think there was also a fear of what would happen when he was no longer near his family he was trying to please.

of course, eddie eventually moves to la after getting a job offer from both lafd and chicago. carla mentions that it is only thirty minutes from shannon, and while that could be because he wanted to reconcile, i think it was more to do with wanting to have his son's mother near. that, and lafd is the best in the world (according to eddie)

eddie only kisses shannon in 2x07 after she does her family interview for the school. this specific fact coupled with the absence of the eddie diaz heart eyes™️ (which, despite his closing off at the beginning of the series, we'd already seen in 2x01 when he and buck call truce) makes me believe he realized he could trust her and wanted her back in his son's life, and the way to do that was to get back together.

"but they hid their relationship for a while" eddie was still scared. comphet is a real thing, and causes people to act on things they necessarily don't want. i believe he pursued a romantic relationship with shannon because that's what she wanted, and if he kept her happy, she wouldn't leave again. this is why i wish we could've seen divorced shannon/eddie instead of her dying immediately, and i wonder if maybe it would've sped up the whole deconstruction process for him.

the next time eddie dates, it's with ana. on paper, ana is the perfect wife for him. she's a teacher, knows how to handle kids, is latina, the whole package. eddie tries so hard to make it work, that it actually does, and this causes him to panic. both carla and buck tell eddie not to take just chris into consideration, but to make sure he wants it too, and after some time, he breaks it off with her. the way ana reacted to the breakup makes me wonder if she could also sense the reason for the breakup.

marisol is where it starts to get tricky, but i feel like we've seen enough (or not enough) in these four episodes to piece some information together. chris is the one who encourages eddie to call her, and that makes me wonder if that's the reason they're still together. before the promo of the bucktommy date eddie and marisol crash, we only got two mentions of marisol, and both times was in relation to her helping with chris. at this point, eddie has spent more time with tommy than he has with marisol, as far as we're aware.

the synopsis of tonight's ep says that eddie and marisol "take a closer look at their relationship" and given that we haven't seen much of them on screen, it makes me wonder what this could be about. does it maybe have something to do with them crashing the bucktommy date?

obviously, i wouldn't be mad if eddie turned out to be bi. however, to me, all of his relationships seem be a big case of comphet. speaking from experience, as someone who's pursued relationships with men purely because that's what i was expected to do, not because i actually wanted to be with them. and just like eddie, there was a time where if my best friend (who was of the opposite gender) had asked me out, I would've said yes and married him had it come to that, because it would've made my family happy. i've gotten to a point where i don't care what my conservative family thinks or wants, and i truly believe that this season, we'll see eddie get to that place to.

if you've made it this far, thank you for listening, and here's to hoping we get gay!eddie tonight.

tag: @queeredmundo

[elwolfen]

Alfred Molinathon Day 8

The Forger (2011)

Everly Campbell

His Role: When I first watched this a while back, I thought Everly was going to be a more kinder man who takes Joshua under his wing... boy, was I wrong. He is so full of himself and thinks his the most hottest artist in that town, which I can't fully say, I don't fully comprehend the intricances of painted works. But I think it looks nice (when he's not copying others). He does take Joshua under his wing, but for more unsavory reasons. Watching him explain the process of art forgery and take such care with this delicate work was very enjoyable, I would like to see him paint his own work.

His lies of wanting to take in ths lost kid just for the purposes of profiting off his artistic gift? Sly and devious, then to over exert this poor, abandoned, literal child? Even more unethical than just forgery. While what he said about his mother wasn't too far off, it was still a hurtful thing to say towards a kid dealing with abandonment.

It's absolutely twisted for him to keep telling everyone (including Joshua) that it's for Joshua's own good, that this will better his life, and how Everly wishes that someone would've been so grateful as to give him that same chance at honing in on his talent and become successful. While Anne-Marie reasonably calls out his bullshit of not nurturing a child from a terrible situation and profiting off his hard work for his own gain.

For Joshua to go from a physically abusive mother to a mentally abusive, possible father figure is a horrible thing for any kid to go through and I'm happy that he's with someone who truly cares about his him.

I very much enjoyed Everly and Joshua's dynamic beginning to end. Especially how it changed when Joshua hid the artwork and Everly started to squirm at the thought of losing this big gig.

Little tidbit: If I were Joshua and suddenly a very imposing man just walks up behind me very fast and knowing he was pissed? I'd leap from fear so high I'd get stuck in a tree during their little walk and talk scene.

And how did our dear Everly fall from grace? Beautifully. Presenting the totally "untouched" work he "found" to be examined to be a true piece at his birthday party!? What could possibly go wrong? Everything. First, Anne-Marie comes up and tears it with a knife she threatens him with and her announcing his crimes that she had help with a long time ago. That's a bad look already, but oh no, the final nail on the coffin? Underneath the paint was a drawing of Dennis the Menace, a piece of masterful thinking from Joshua. He wasn't ever gonna get away with this, and Joshua has no interest of staying any longer.

~~~

The Rest of the Movie: I did think Amber and Joshua were kinda cute, but slow down was right, Amber! 30 minutes, and this is their second scene together and Joshua is already asking for a kiss? Then, forcibly kisses her anyway? Hormones be damned. It gets a lot less cute when his jealous ass can't behave during the party. Look, I get it, I wouldn't have assumed that was her cousin either by how close they were. I wasn't like that with my guy cousins but to still attack someone like that? Jeez. He didn't even hesitate. And him just lying to Anne-Marie about what happened? Goodness.

Ryan (Amber's brother) really was the true wingman in all of this. Even after all the fights.

~~~

The relationship between Joshua and Anne-Marie was sweet. It's understandable why she took him in so quickly, this kid needs proper care and comfort. Then, to find out an accidental fire caused her only surviving daughter to need life-saving surgery; which she funded from her forgeries. Only for her to die not too long after? I'm sure it was overly agonizing for Anne-Marie to go through, something that finally made her quit that art world. Her seeing more of Joshua's dark drawings of his mother's drug abuse was saddening to know that's all he saw of her. Her final reveal at Everly's birthday was a delight, she had zero fucks to give about this art world. But if I were Joshua? I'd be a little pissed that my thunder was stolen, but still, good for her. Good for them! He finally has a home.

~~~

Ms. Reese going out and searching for his mother like that, is an extra step I appreciate. Just for her to find an absolute mess of a person and to later learn she was abusing him was heartbreaking. All she wanted was to help and finds the worst in parenting.

~~~

In that gif above? I swear I have that same exact flannel that Joshua is wearing under his sweatshirt!

~~~

The Poster Situation:

The first poster? Very obvious that whoever made this was trying to cash in the fact that Josh Hutcherson (Joshua) was in The Hunger Games and decided to use that font. Which is hilarious.

The second fits way more with the movie. I like the feeling it invokes.

And the third, I really like it. It slaps hard, but not for this movie.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Can we get a full rant about the Paris special?

You're probably going to get more out of me once it fully airs but for now just.

The evil characters motivations just kinda suck for comparing them to the originals. Which again: I don't want to do because I hate the 'oh this other person had the same trauma and handled it better' thing, but when it's the same character going through the same trauma it's bullshit.

Shadybug's reason for being evil sucks because it's literally just 'she didn't meet Alya' which is supposed to be part of the Derision Retcon of how awful Chloé was even though it doesn't match with anything we saw in Season 1-3 but I can ignore that because it commits a worse crime: Letting us know that if Marinette didn't meet Alya that exact day, she would've gone full murderous villain before the day was over. Like literally Alya is the only thing different, which means even Canon!Mari is just one bad day from snapping and killing everyone.

Claw Noir makes no goddamn sense because Canon!Adrien was able to healthily handle his mother's 'death' even having Canon!Gabriel as his abusive neglectful bastard of a father. How is it that a version of Adrien that had a genuinely good father end up handling his mother's 'death' so poorly that he's down to kill whoever gets in the way as a coping mechanism?

All of this might be rendered unnecessary anyway with the fact that they're working for whatever 'Supreme' that's actually the Big Bad and might be forcing them into this? I need more info on that before I give a verdict.

I thought Hesperia being 'Good' would be the hardest sell considering Season 4 and 5's insistence that his evil plans have been 15-ish years in the making(despite the finale's insistence that he's only 'evil' because he misses Emilie) especially since clearly said plans are still in place as Alt!Adrien exists and Emilie 'died' meaning they got the Peacock. But other than the above plothole of somehow Good!Gabriel let Adrien end up as Claw Noire, he seems fine.

There's a lot of missed opportunities where they're trying to show alternate universes but only focusing on a single one. Like again: give us an Into the Ladyverse. We appearently see them for a few seconds during a Scooby-Doo Chase Scene™ which is the biggest slap in the face.

Other than the fact that this entire special on a base premise shouldn't be possible due to all other episodes insisting that there is only One True Timeline and that if anything somehow diverges, Bunnyx will come and make sure everything goes exactly as she remembers it.

We have yet another round of mass murdering terrorist supervillains who are validated because 'oh they were sad' so it's okay that they committed horrific crimes that they don't feel any remorse for outside of a 'let me just say, from the bottom of my heart: my bad.' but they're now redeemed with no consequences. And I wouldn't even care /that/ much because like a little hypocritical coming from an MLP fan if it weren't for the fact that 1.) they feel no remorse whatsoever and 2.) we have the narrative constantly beating us over the head about how none of this applies to the one abused teenage girl who's acting out because of trauma despite not going full supervillain on her own terms just being a jerk to her classmates.

[troglodytepixieeater]

Royal Portrait

Note: Fanart of my OC! Bianca and Hayden's future family. @bloodlegacies I made this months ago but finally had enough energy to finish it. I know the art is not the best but I tried and I wanted to post it anyway. Happy hoildays.

° Martella Alexandra Norse-Elkar <Age: 17> °

Element: 🧊 Ice Elemental (Allegedly)

Martella, or "Marie," is as cold as a winter storm and as tough as hail. While she is not the favorite child, she is the golden child, as she is the perfect heir with a cool, collected demeanor and a voice of reason. She gets her point across. She knows a large range of topics, including politics, articulture, leadership, and cultivation, and she is one of the best duelists with a sword and ice in the academy, earning respect from her peers. However, she is a mystery, as she leaves the academy often for "wellness" checkups.

° Serah Gloryann Norse-Elkar <Age: 16> °

Element: 🧊 Ice Elemental

Serah is an elegant beauty, but as quiet as a mouse, and one of the friendliest people you will ever meet, with a smile as bright as the sun. While her quiet nature keeps her from speaking up, she is known as one of the smartest people in the academy, especially for her battle strategies. However, she is horrible at dueling and controlling her ice powers, as they go off when her emotions are too strong.

° Eleazar Cymbeline Norse-Elkar <Age: 13> °

Element: 🔥 Fire Elemental

Eleazar, also known by his friends as E.J., has the looks of his grandfather, for which he is named; however, his sly smirk and personality match those of his own father. While E.J. does very well in school. He is not known to be very ambitious unless it has to do with a prank. With a smooth voice like honey, it is no wonder he has such high charisma that it has gotten him off the hook and kept him in school, although it doesn't work very well on his mother. He is known throughout the academy as a playboy, and it is currently rumored that he hasn't fully given himself away yet.

[ramennoodlezzzao3]

Alternate reason as to why Ponyboy joined the party! If you guys want me to make this canon in my fic, it’s not entirely too late, I could add it into a different chapter if you want

My whole life I’ve been devalued, and I was fully aware of that.

Now, of course, nobody downright told me, nobody says that to a twelve year old, but I could tell it was true.

Mom was always too busy keeping Dally out of jail. She always criticized me, comparing me to my brothers if I did anything wrong. When I skipped a grade she barely said anything, she was tryin to figure out what to make for dinner because they had so many. 

They had three, two now considering the fact I wasn’t even a Curtis at this point. 

If the gang went somewhere without inviting me, and I asked about it, she would always go on a tangent along the lines of:

“Oh come on, Ponyboy! You arn’t apart of the gang, your brothers just let you hang around because it would rude not to invite you. Let them spend time with their friends without their little brother nagging them.”

I was ten when she first told me that. That’s when the insecurity started. 

One time, she was trying to bail him out of jail. I hadn’t known he was even jail at the time so I had asked her to come to my track meet. She had never yelled at me so loud and so angrily before.

I never asked her, or anyone for that matter, to go to a track meet again. I just dealt with the fact that I never had a family in the stands and when I won I wouldn’t have a family to celebrate with. I’d be the kid who won but was alone afterwards.

Dad was loved talking to Sodapop about cars and went to every single one of Darry’s football games. Dad was the one that taught Sodapop to fix cars. He was so happy to teach him but when I asked, he was always too busy.

He was always there when Two had a hangover, when Dal needed out of jail, when Johnny was beat up by his dad, when Steve was kicked out by his, when Darry got into a fight or Sodapop had a bad breakup.

But he couldn’t spare five minutes to talk to his youngest son. 

I guess that’s probably my fault. Who would want to talk to me anyways?

Darry never had time, similar to dad. He always had football practice he was hanging with friends. If I needed help on homework, I could always “Do it myself” since I had skipped a grade. If I was ever crying, I was a crybaby.

If Johnny was down, he’d take him to play football or get ice cream. He replaced one little brother for the one he actually wanted. That had stung.

A lot.

But Johnny didn’t have family, so I never said anything. I convinced myself the reason I never got any attention was because Johnny needed it more. So I let him have it. Even if that meant I lost my brother because of it.

Two-bit was always nice to me. I always thought he was the only one who liked me. But that was quickly thrown out the window when I overheard him complaining to dad about beating a babysitter.

I turned down every offer to go anywhere with him after that. I joined tons of free activities at school to keep myself there so h wouldn’t have to babysit. 

I joined the arts club and got really good at drawing and actually enjoyed it a lot. I joined the book club where we all pick a book and read it. We can talk about it when we join again. I joined the fight team, the basketball team, the soccer team, and I kept doing track.

The teachers praised me on how many clubs and teams I joined and always commented on how my family must be proud…they didn’t even know.

I also joined Drama and got any role I wanted, I just had to ask for it. I got Hamilton I the play “Hamilton” and I got Bert in the Mary Poppins musical. My class,ages insisted it was because I was a “Pretty Boy” but I didn’t believe that.

Which is a perfect segway into the next person; Steve. He’s always made fun of me and always told me I was a tag-a-long. Until my mother confirmed what he was saying, I’d always roll my eyes, now I look down and whisper “I know” only loud enough for me to hear.

He would mercilessly make fun of my height and weight. 

“You’re too fat for how short you are”

 “You eat too much, you’re gonna be all chubby when you grow up!”

And everyone laughs. They don’t even try to stop him. Not Darry, not Sodapop. Soda only tried stopping the rude comments after mom and dad died, and I don’t know why.

Dally is self explanatory. He hates me, similar to Steve, and it’s clear. He hates everyone in the world but the gang and I wasn’t apart of the gang. Johnny was the only one he genuinely loved.

He always looked disappointed when I’d go to the drive-ins with them, so I’d make excuses as to why I couldn’t go after I agreed. He’d have a grin on his face when he’d find out it’d only be him and Johnny, or only him and the gang, or only him and Two-bit.

And Sodapop? Sodapop was nicest to me, even more than Two-Bit. He’d invite me places with him and Steve, he’d drive me places after he had gotten his license, he slept in my bed when I’d gotten nightmares.

All it took was for one singular “Shut up! God, you’re so annoying!” To have my one person, my one wall come tumbling down and left in a pile of ash and bricks.

I should have known he didn’t mean it, I should have known he was just having a bad day. But I was thirteen, and growing up how I did, you never think rationally. I asked to stop sharing a room after that too, and Soda happily agreed.

At least Steve couldn’t bug me about that anymore.

Annoying. Brat. Tag-a-long. Stupid. Loud.

Those words rang in my head all the time and they are what kept me in my room almost everyday.

So, I really have no idea why, but I did something insane. I joined a different group. A different gang. The Party.

Sure, I’ve known everyone in the gang since I was still in diapers, we grew up together, but that’s the problem. I’ve known them my entire life they have only known me for, what? Eight years? Ten years?

Sure, that’s a lot, but when they don’t like you it becomes a lot shorter.

They wouldn’t care if I made my own friends. They wouldn’t care who they were. They wouldn’t care that I took off the dog-tag necklace mom got us all when the gang was complete. They wouldn’t care if I got new brothers and new brother figures. 

They wouldn’t care.

But to my shock, they did.

[unsightedjoker]

Spider-man: ATSV NSR AU

Ok, I usually don’t post stuff and only reblog and like stuff but since i just watched Spider-man ATSV and I really liked it that it hasn’t left my mind and won’t leave it any time soon I’m still so hyped I feel like sharing this. I was on my way home when I started to listen to the NSR soundtrack and the inevitable happened just remembering the premise for the game and what happens in the movie I started connecting thoughts and this entire AU happened.

My writing isn’t the best to make a fanfic that does justice to my ideas at the moment and hell if I can’t write I have even worse at drawing so making fanart for this is also out of the picture.

For anyone who doesn’t know NSR (No Straight Roads) it’s an indie game from 2020 that’s very underrated from what I’ve seen. The plot is very simple a Rock duo Mayday (a guitarist) and Zuke (a drummer) enter a competition made to scout for new talents that want to join NSR, a company that besides functioning as a music company works as the main energy supplier for the city by using a Mcguffin that transforms music into energy. Anyways NSR turns out to be a group of EDM artists that have complete control over the city and never allow any other genres to join especially not rock, so after getting rejected and suffering a city wide power outage (which NSR is completely inmune from) our rock duo decides to start a revolution to bring back Rock and take down NSR by hijacking their concerts. If you have not played it take this as a recommendation the art style, gameplay and music are reaaaally good (worth mentioning the music for each boss is dynamic it starts as EDM but as you start having the upper hand the music turns into a rock version of the same song).

The premise for the game and having Gwen and Hobie right there in the movie made this AU inevitable in my mind so I’m sharing it here.

So the characters I’ll be using changing for the AU will be the two main protagonists and the 6 main bosses of the game.

First off the protagonists

Because it’s a guitarist and drummer Gwen and Hobie take Mayday and Zuke’s place that one seems a bit obvious to me. It can also be Gwen and Miles but I ended up choosing Gwen and Hobie. However instead of starting their movement after being rejected by NSR they’re fully into their revolution agenda and hijacking the EDM concerts

DJSS

The first boss is Dj Subatomic Supernova and honestly that one was also an easy pick as he directly fits with Spot, especially because of his last phase in his fight where his face breaks and it looks like a black hole ejecting black matter or whatever. They’re both also so self-centered and silly.

SAYU

Sayu is the second boss and consists of a virtual idol (like Hatsune Miku) made as a project by four adolescents so for the au she could be made by peni parker and the virtual reality spiderwoman (i can’t remember her name :’) ) but idk who else could be put as one of Sayu’s creators in this AU.

YINU

Yinu is a child pianist prodigy so for her I’d go with Mayday Parker, since Yinu also gets help from her mother during the fight I guess Mary Jane helps her or maybe Peter B. idk? It’s just that Yinu’s dad in the game is dead and that’s also one of the reasons she plays her piano because her dad taught her. Yinu’s character is supposed to represent the lack of control child prodigies have in their lives because their parents or guardians are in charge of making all the decisions during their youth so I imagine Hobie would spend a bunch of this confrontation telling her to go wild and start doing whatever she wants to do while Gwen would tell Peter or Mary Jane to pay more attention to Mayday and be a better single parent, culminating in the piano solo at the end of Yinu’s boss fight

1010

So this one’s a bit weird but hear me out. 1010 consists of a boy band made up by 5 robots that are almost identical with the exception of their color and hairstyle so in this case it’s five alternate versions of Miles Morales robots as a boyband while the original Miles (the one that isn’t a robot) is Neon J (the creator of 1010) in this AU. I ended up choosing Miles for this one because despite how much Mayday says she despises them she has a crush on 1010 and while Gwen and Miles wouldn’t really act like Mayday and 1010 respectively I still chose this because of that.

In a similar way Gwen has a crush on 1010Miles but she isn’t entirely into it because the Miles robots have an artificial vibe to them like prefabricated charm and personalities, they can fool a lot of people but not everyone. Once one breaks and the real Miles comes out to replace it they start focusing on him, Gwen and Miles throughout the fight start to realize they like each other mean while Hobie goesout of his way to show how he’s in the wrong as he should question the stuff they do and shouldn’t be following NSR, by the end when they defeat Miles he ends up accepting it and actually rooting for them to beat the remaining members.

I’m using an action figure as a substitute for robots lol

EvE

This one I reserved for my favorites Nadia (EvE) and Pavitr. Eve happens to be an eccentric artist and Diva that is the second in command because of her skill. There’s a couple of reasons I chose to have Pavitr in Eve’s place:

First, during the briefing before her fight it’s stated that the “instrument” she uses to make her music is her body and mind in contrast to all the previous artists which have actual specific instruments (from sinthesizers to a piano) which doesn’t explain much until you get to her fight and see her dance, she dances (and probably uses a bit of magic as well or something) to make her music. If I’m gonna give the ability to make music through the movement of their body to anyone it’s gonna be Pavitr.

Second, during her phases Eve shows she can warp the space around her in what she refers as the Diva’s realm and from what I remember the part of diva’s realm is supposed to be a reference to Deva’s realm and Devas are deities from hinduism if I’m not mistaken, so there’s also that.

Last but not least I like a bit of angst. In the game its shown Zuke and Eve used to have a good relationship as they were a duo and know each other closely to the point Zuke knows what’s going on in her mind while many don’t, however after a certain incident they disbanded. Similarly in this AU they used to be a duo until they received an invitation to join NSR, Pavitr wanted to share his music and art and be in contact with everyone in their community so he accepted, this however was a deal breaker for Hobie so they disbanded. Once he got his position Pavitr could share his music however after being put in a pedestal he no longer could keep in touch with his community as much when he wanted leaving him feeling isolated and only focuses on his craft now as a way to cope. Their fight besides being about taking him down would have the purpose of mending Hobie and Pavitr’s relationship.

TATIANA

This one was also very obvious Miguel takes Tatiana’s place. To begin they’re the respective leaders of their antagonistic faction but also majorly because the entire story of NSR and ATSV happens because both of them had a very specific personal problem and instead of dealing with it by themselves or getting help to solve it they decided to make it everyone else’s problem and never even try to recognize that maybe they’re wrong.

And that’s it that’s all I have in my mind

[kingedmundsroyalmurder]

Jane of Lantern Hill chapters 3 and 4

Standard Jane warning for emotional abuse; new warning for genre-typical child servant abuse.

Two evening events in a row means that I am quite behind. We're doing these two chapters together because they're both about Jody.

The very first thing I noticed, and one that's purely craft-related, is that this appears to be the book in which LMM experiments with ellipses. Blue Castle was all about em dashes, Jane is all about ellipses. I haven't fully been able to pin down what she wants the effect to be. A pause, clearly, but why an ellipsis? I've never seen them used in the middle of sentences like this, to offset clauses or separate ideas. Did she get bored of em dashes? Did her publishers give her bonuses based on the number of characters she used? Was she playing a game with herself to keep the drafting process interesting? I feel like I'm reading this book through the medium of texts sent by my grandmother (who is much nicer than Jane's, thankfully.)

Second minor detail: Jane has RPG character or anime protagonist eyes, apparently. I know she probably intended them to be light, warm brown, but every marigold I've ever seen has looked like this:

This is an eye color that I give my characters in video games when I want them to look like aliens. And "marigold" as a color is a shade of yellow, not brown. So I'm not sure why that's the descriptor LMM reached for, but it is now my firm headcanon that Jane has yellow-orange anime eyes.

Anyway, on to the actual contents of the chapters. Between the rich girl befriending the poor girl and the whole imaginary garden sequence, I am getting such Frances Hodgson Burnett vibes, you have no idea. I don't know if LMM also read her books, or if they were just working similar themes, or if I just imprinted on FHB as a child and see traces of her everywhere.

So Jody is an orphan, kept on at the boarding house out of "charity", a word which in this context means "a servant you don't have to pay or treat well." She goes to school "every day there was no extra rush" which probably means she's not very well educated, which will make it even harder for her to find better circumstances when she grows up.

And she's clearly set up as a deliberate mirror for Jane. Here they are, two girls who on the surface couldn't be more different, who immediately recognize each other as kin because actually, under the surface, their lives are very similar. This is where we diverge sharply from the Sara Crewe/Samantha-from-American-Girls model. Jane doesn't just befriend Jody because she's kind-hearted and sees someone in trouble, she befriends Jody because here is another person who understands what it's like to live in fear of other people. Jane's material circumstances are much better than Jody's, but her emotional ones are just about as bleak.

That thread gets reinforced in chapter 4, when Mary and Frank are talking about Jane's mother. Jane's mother has every material thing she could possibly want -- and a great many that she doesn't want -- but she's not actually happy. She's just as trapped as Jody is, fully reliant on the good will of someone else to keep her home and fully aware that if she upsets that person too much she could be turned out with nowhere to go. And, like Jody, she doesn't seem to have the resources to just leave anyway and make a go of it. Jody is trapped because she's 11, and Mrs. Stuart is trapped because she's never had to make do on her own, and the one time she tried to leave it ended poorly and she's now too scared to try again.

Jane, meanwhile, is also trapped due to her age, and it seems that at each new turn she encounters a new bar in her cage she'd never considered before. "It had never occurred to her that she was not at liberty to give away her own doll" is such a good sentence. LMM is so good at simultaneously conveying Jane's youth -- she is learning these things for the first time -- and also showing the absurdity of the situation. No, says the narrative. Grandmother is not doing these things for Jane's own good. She will not understand when she is older. She is being a cruel and petty tyrant, and that's all she's ever been.

[mommys-gurl]

I'd been invited to a classmate's birthday party and the invite said that party dresses are optional, which my mother read as an advisory note. I didn't have a dress of my own so Mum said she'd either buy me one, or I could borrow one from my cousin Paul who begrudgingly wears a dress for special occasions. Despite the invite saying that dresses were optional, my mother wasn't going to give me a choice other than buy or borrow… so we went to my Aunt's where I tried on a couple of my cousins dresses. The first was bright yellow with cupcakes printed on it, then I tried this one…

Once I had the shoes on, I knew I'd be wearing those too... but what I didn't know was how many other boys would be attending wearing party dresses. Some do for special occasions these days but certainly not many, and it's not even clear if the boy who's birthday it is will be wearing a dress. I could be the only one for all I know. My mother and aunt proceeded to coach me in how to sit; scooping the skirt beneath me, keeping my knees and ankles together, and smoothing the skirt on my lap. They had me walking around, perching on a stool, climbing and descending the stairs, which isn't easy in heels and a skirt that obscures your feet. They also told me how to stand for photographs; at a slight angle with one foot in front of the other so I don't look frumpy. "Try a little canter." Mum suggested. "They might have party games so you might find yourself running around a bit."

"They won't have party games Mum." I protested. "Well... not musical chairs or blind man's buff ...video games maybe." I supposed.

"Well see if you can run a little bit anyway. Down the garden path and back."

"Mu-um, you're just doing this to tease me!" I moaned.

"We're doing it to teach you." Mum told me. "Wearing heels isn't like wearing sneakers. I'm not expecting a sprint, just a little canter, down to the shed and back." she said as my aunt opened the back door.

I swallowed my pride and stepped out onto the patio. Thankfully my cousin Peter was out at football practice so he didn't have to see any of this. It must have been the heels because I couldn't help but run just like a girl; tucked elbows, flailing arms, palms out.... all the way to the shed and back "Perfect." Mum grinned as I drew to a halt.

"Can I take it off now?" I mournfully asked, fully expecting the answer to be no.

"Yes I suppose." Mum replied, much to my delight. 

The shoes went back in their box and the dress was put on a hanger and covered with a protective yet transparent plastic bag. Mum had me carry it to the car and lay it neatly on the backseat to avoid the dress getting creased. Mum prompted me to thank my aunt for loaning me the dress and bashfully I did. "Where are we going now?" I asked as Mum drove the car left out of the cul-de-sac instead of right.

"Town." she told me.

"What for?" I quizzed, knowing the we'd done all the grocery shopping the previous day.

"To get you some knickers and tights." she informed me.

"What?!" I gasped.

Comments:

Corinne: Instead of whining he should be happy that both his aunt and his mother helps him to wear the lovely dress in the right way and how to move in the various situations. If he will be the only boy at the party wearing a dress I am sure he will be the center of the party and be highlighted as an example to all the other boys.

Marie-Christine: Yes, I guess that the party would be so nice for him in his dress. Let's hope that all the boys there will wear pretty dresses but even if not - he will be the cutest boy there.

Aidan: Will be a little terrifying at the party for the party dress boys at first. Very nice for Peter to be able to get used to his dress borrowing one off Paul. It could be worse and he knows it. This way it's just him and his considerate Mum and Aunty and of course he'll know how to behave in his dress too. Thankfully Paul has a nice selection of cute dresses and can spare one for Peter to keep.

[redemn]

i've recently pinpointed ,   within canon explanations as well as my own interpretation of arthur's character ,   why it is that arthur is not a man who is going to sleep with just anyone he meets ,   or with anyone he is even interested in .   and it really has a lot to do with the fact that he's already had one child before ,   when he was very young ,   back when he was rowdier and more inclined to having sex .   in his early twenties ,   he didn't know much in the way of sex education ,   given that those topics were private and not often spoken about ,   and although i can imagine dutch and hosea may have spoken to him about it a little bit  …  he wasn't about to listen to warnings ,   since he believed himself to be a fully grown adult who could make the right decisions .   protection was also really not common back then .

then came eliza ,   then came the unprotected one night stand he had with her ,   then came her pregnancy ,   then came little baby isaac .   and then the four years where arthur came back and visited them every now and again .   he was not a present father by any means ,   and knew he couldn't be his best for them because of his gang lifestyle .   and he wasn't going to give that up for anything not even for a son .   then came eliza and isaac's death ,   which ,   in arthur's words ,   hardened him to the world .   having to try and be a father on top and living with the occasional guilt of not being there or being able to be a "real family" convinced him that that life really isn't for him .   thus ,   when he courted mary ,   he was much wiser about sex .   and she was a good ,   cultured woman who he respected enough not to try anything with until marriage .

nowadays ,   he's pretty put off by the notion of possibly accidentally becoming a father again .   he doesn't want to burden a woman into becoming a single mother without a reliable father    he had an unreliable ,   criminal father himself ,   and he wouldn't want a child to suffer that same fate .   more selfishly ,   he doesn't want to be burdened with having to visit a woman with his child either .   that's not the type of life he wants for himself either .   not to mention it takes a good deal for him to become sexually attracted to anyone anyways .   so he tends not to start in the first place .

[sorcharavenlock]

28. A night at the pub.

After talking to Frigga, Loki's mood improves a lot.

He goes running with Fenrir the next morning...

...and I catch him dancing in the kitchen!

"Mari, come listen! I learned to play a new song!"

Oh, so I'm 'Mari' now! I smile and make my way into the basement.

Before I know it, Loki is singing along with the song he's playing on the guitar. I soon realise it's "Every little thing she does is magic" by 'The Police':

"Though I've tried before to tell her

Of the feelings I have for her in my heart

Every time that I come near her

I just lose my nerve as I've done from the start

Every little thing she does is magic..."

Loki has a nice voice, and he only misses a few notes on the guitar. but halfway through the song his mood changes.

"Never mind, it's a silly song anyway," he says as he stops playing.

"I liked it," I say softly. But Loki floats through the wall before I can stop him.

of course, the last thing he wants to do is encourage my "delusional sentiments" for him...

We agreed to meet up with the others in the pub on Saturday night. I am wearing a new dress and Loki's mood has improved immeasurably.

It is quiet at 'The Gnome's Arms' and we sit down together.

"Hey, you've got your eyebrows fully back!" Loki comments to Nea. "What? I've never lost them in the fire, I just tinted them differently," she grins.

"I'm so glad you are here," I whisper to Kitty. "I think Loki knows I have feelings for him and he hates it!"

"I'm sure you're wrong," Kitty whispers back. "I saw the way he was looking at you when we came in!"

I suddenly feel a lot better.

We order drinks and sit down at one of the tables.

"I did as you nagged and I contacted my ancestral witch," Loki begins. "To my surprise, my Mother was the one to answer."

"That is great!" Kitty says. "You mean your biological mother?"

"No," Loki corrects, "My real mother. The one who raised me, looked after me, and taught me everything that I know about magic.."

"Frigga agrees with you, Kitty," I say. "We need to find Thor. But we don't really know how to go about it."

"I might have an idea," Nea says. "you know how I'm a bit of an amateur photographer? It's really just a hobby," she explains to Loki.

"Anyway, I'm part of an online photography group. We share hints and tips and stuff. I have a friend there, he calls himself 'Webhead2001'. We've been chatting on and off, his real name is Peter. He lives in New York, and he's been posting amazing pics of the Avengers. A lot of Spiderman pics actually, I think he might be a bit of a fan. He seems to be able to get pretty close to him. I could DM him and ask if he can help us contact Thor?"

"That is a brilliant idea!" I say. "Sure, send him a DM. Maybe tell him we know something about Loki that Thor would love to know?"

"I'll contact him tomorrow," Nea promises.

We have a few more drinks, and Nea and Loki end up giggling more and more with each drink they have!

There's a dartboard in the pub, and soon Loki persuades us to play. I'm terrible at it, and Nea and Loki nearly fall over with laughter as I miss the board.

Loki is the next to try.

Loki doesn't completely miss, but he doesn't score a point either.

"I'm a bit rusty," he shrugs.

"Watch me, I've got this!"

Nea's aim is good but the dart misses the board by a hair!

"I bet he's going to miss again, darts aren't daggers," Kitty says to Nea.

This time Loki scores two points!

Nea tries again, but while her dart clearly hits the board, she gets no points.

"Whaaa?" she looks at the board in confusion.

Kitty and I giggle, we have an idea who might be behind this!

"I know you are cheating," I say quietly to Loki, who smiles mischievously.

Nea doesn't score a single point despite hitting the board multiple times!

"YOU!" She realises. "LOKI!"

"What?" Loki asks innocently.

"I know you are cheating!" Nea accuses him.

"You might know, but you can not prove it!" Loki smirks.

"GAAAAAH!" Nea looks at me. "How do you put up with him?"

(despite her grumbling, Nea and Loki just became Good Friends!)

We all hang out together for a bit longer, but it's getting late and Fenrir is bored and in need of his evening walk, so we say goodbye.

I'm about to head up the stairs when Loki stops me. He suddenly seems tense.

"What is it?" I ask, wondering what's bothering him.

"It's about what I said the other night," Loki begins hesitantly.

"Okay?" I'm not sure what he is talking about, but I'm listening.

"Never mind," Loki changes his mind. "It is late and you are tired. sleep well." And with that, he walks out of the door to take Fenrir for his evening walk.

[aggressivelyaverage21]

Once A Rookie Chapter 19: Philippians 4:9

Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Beatrice has a hard conversation with Shannon. Shannon does her best to tread carefully but the mistery of Beatrice's pain remains. Mary takes a crack at it with her own meathods.

It would be another day. Another day pressing forward and trying to learn. Trying to be better. And today was yet another shooting lesson with Mary. Something that didn’t really go well last time. It left Beatrice frustrated with herself, with her struggle to just relax like Mary prompted over and over. Left her feeling exposed for being so hard on herself that Mary had taken notice. 

It was something about the older woman Beatrice hadn’t quite figured out yet. She was tough. Hard sometimes even. Very snarky, almost to the point of being abrasive. But somehow that part was fun. That part seemed normal, friendly even. It was when things shifted toward something more emotional that made Beatrice uneasy, like there was something so wrong with her that it had Mary breaking her normal to accommodate. 

A mortifying thought really. 

To need to be accommodated. 

So, it wasn’t exactly something Beatrice was excited to get out of bed for. Especially not when Mary knocked on her door asking if she was ready before Beatrice could make her way down to breakfast. “Come on Kid, long morning ahead of us.” Mary passed her a steaming cup of coffee as she offered a somewhat apologetic smile. 

It was the earliest Beatrice had gotten up since the trials, not that she’d been sleeping the day away but she had at least appreciated not needing to be out of bed before it was fully light out. 

“Mary, why are we doing this?” Beatrice paused at the edge of the armory while Mary filled up a bag for them and pointed Beatrice in the direction of things she wanted to take as well. 

“I’m teaching you to shoot.” 

“You already taught me to shoot.” 

Beatrice wasn’t really sure where the rebuttal was coming from. She could always use more instruction. She was far from comfortable with the weapon, and only mildly confident in her ability to nail a target. Mary was one of the best in the Order when it came to firearms and Beatrice should be grateful for her vested interest in teaching her. 

However, her discomfort with the weapon left her feeling at least a little hesitant to actually work on it. It had been the only thing she hadn’t come out of training ranked number one in. It had actually been Abigail who bested her in that arena. 

“You’re coming back into the field with us soon.” 

Could that news have been broken a little better? Sure. Did Mary really have the patience for it? No. There were rumors about them being sent to handle a group of people causing problems in the valley. People who the priest thought were likely possessed. It could get violent and she needed to make sure Beatrice was at least able to protect herself. “I taught you to shoot a target. While standing. With your weapon already drawn. That’s not going to happen in real life.” 

“I…” Gwen, and Mary had already taught their class to move and shoot. It would have been irresponsible for them not to, given the order’s purpose and why that had such intense training anyway. Beatrice just wasn’t sure that she was ready for the training to move into something past that into reality. She didn’t want to kill. That’s not why she joined the order. “So we will be doing movement drills then?” 

“So many questions.” Mary sighed as she finished packing the bag up, zipping it closed with authority. Shannon had been urging her to fine tune Beatrice’s technique ever since Mother Superion floated the idea of taking Beatrice out for an assignment like this if the occasion arose. It wasn’t bad by any means but repetition was key, just like it was with anything else. 

Shooting had become a sort of meditation for Mary, and watching Beatrice struggle to find a calm about her in the last few weeks had the pair of warriors willing to try just about anything. Shannon had been emphasizing meditation and stretching, somewhat under the guise of getting Beatrice to recover from the insane demand of the trials. When that wasn’t working she’d walked Beatrice through a few forms with the Bo. Then when that wasn’t working Shannon had caved and taught Beatrice how to throw knives. 

When Shannon was getting a little weary of how to help ease the kid’s worry, Mary had stepped in. She wrapped Shannon up in one of her famous hugs, running her hand up and down the warrior’s spine as she offered to take a crack at it. Shooting always helped her clear her head, and Mary hoped that maybe the repetition would be good for Beatrice as well– after the lesson she had in mind of course. Maybe some insight from someone not Shannon , would help her settle back in, give her some reassurance that Shannon wasn’t the only one who had her back. 

They hoped at least. 

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