#audrey makes poor life choices | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

gigglemugger · 2 months ago

Text

The Fish and the Ten of Cups.

Fandom: Little Shop of Horrors (1986).

Pairing: Seymour Krellborn/Audrey Fulquard.

Synopsis:

In which Audrey Fulquard hears about Seymour a lot throughout her life, before even seeing his face for the first time

(Aka M.D. watched the Theatrical version of Little Shop of Horrors '86, cried copiously, and had another fanfic idea beamed into her brain).

I'm posting it here because a nice commenter renewed my interest in this fic and I decided to rewrite some parts for pacing, and better sentences. No content was heavily altered, though. Still not beta read :)

Word Count: 8,867.

AO3 Tags: Falling In Love, Tarot, sorry - Freeform, Poor Life Choices, Slice of Life, idk how to tag this it's kind of like a 5 + 1 things but it's also not?, I wrote this in 3 days, I'm Bad At Tagging, Fluff and Angst, mostly fluff, Character Study, her life is kinda tragic until she gets to the flower shop tbh, but that's relatable right.

Language: English.

CW: Mentions of abuse, because it's Audrey. Men are gross in this :(

AO3 link.

The first time Audrey heard about him, it was a Monday night. The streets outside were vicious, chaotic, noisy. She was in bed, looking at the ceiling and intently listening to every police siren, every alteration of voice, and every dog bark that Skid Row had to offer. She was alone. She was thirteen years old.

Tomorrow she had school, though she didn’t know how long she’d be going to that anymore. It seemed like a waste of time considering how bad her grades were. Every time she tried to put her mind to the books something distracted her, either a boy who pulled her hair, or a girl sticking gum to her pages before calling her a slut.

She needed to think of something else...

Tentatively, Audrey got up. She knew she couldn't sleep, not now, so she traced the steps necessary to cross the room, making sure to keep her steps light enough. She didn't want to alert her mother. She hoped she was fast asleep and peaceful.

Audrey slowly opened the door. She stepped into the hallway thinking of what she could find in the fridge to turn into a meal, but something else stopped her on the way, something other than street sounds: Voices, coming from the kitchen. Two women, one clearly her mother–bearer of a mousy voice, she spoke in a lower tone surely not to wake her–and another, of unknown origin–a hoarse sound, raspy. They talked amongst themselves, in confidence.

The latter woman was definitely a smoker and Audrey twisted her nose. She didn’t like smokers--she kissed only a couple of them, but it was enough for her to know that the taste lingers in your mouth for far longer than it should.

With her heart now beating fast and hands clammy, Audrey decided to approach the edge of the hallway slowly, as to not be heard. She leaned on the corner to look into the kitchen and saw her mother was sitting at the round, chipped kitchen table they had. The woman with her, the stranger, had what Audrey considered to be pretty, bright, flaming red hair. She figured it was dyed, which only made her more fascinated–she herself wanted to dye her bland, brown hair into a bleach blonde, like the women she saw on the magazines at the newstands when she was on the way home from school. They all looked so glamorous and she wondered if she would look the same when she grew up.

Fat chance, said the girls from her class.

The woman sitting at the table coughed every few seconds, pulling Audrey back into the scene, and she watched as she put the cigarette on her lips before dragging, longly. Her pink lipstick stained it all over.

"Is he going to come back home?" Audrey's mother asked. Her back was towards her, but a daughter recognized that tone of voice, could see in her head the sort of expression she had in her eyes. Her mother had blue eyes, which always looked tired and wet. Her father used to say that they looked like a dog's, but sometimes added that they were pretty once upon a time, when he was feeling merciful. That was one of the nicer things he had to say about her.

“We’ve been over this,” the hoarse voiced woman with pretty hair answered, shuffling a deck of cards. “He’s not gonna be back.”

Her mother was silent and Audrey held her breath, looking at the floor. So that was that. The fact her father was taking longer and longer to visit wasn’t simply a quirk of moving towns and “trying to make it big” as he put it with what neighbors called a used car salesman smile (but never to his face). No. It was something else entirely. He had left them permanently.

“Will he at least send some money?”

The cards were shuffled again. Audrey watched as the expert fingers moved to put one over the other, over the other. It was so enthralling that when a bunch of cards fell on the table, she was nearly startled. She put her hand on her mouth, as to not to make any accidental yelps or gasps.

Luckily, the women seemed to be likewise entranced and nothing was done to sever their focus.

The reading resumed.

“You have the three and the four of swords. This is a period of stagnation. You are heartbroken, clearly." Both nodded their heads, forlorn. No shit. "The four is showing a time of rest.” She flipped another one of the cards “Five of pentacles. Sorry. No money being sent here.”

Audrey’s mother’s head bowed down. The pretty haired woman dragged a cigarette. The lipstick stained and the fire caught. Audrey took another deep breath on the beat before her mother said anything else.

“Alright,” her mousy voice arose. “No money then. I’ll just have to make do, of course.”

“I’m sorry, doll,” the woman said, looking at her with sympathy, but soon turning to what Audrey thought would be admire the pretty flowers her mother kept at the vase nearby. Anything to not observe an uncomfortable situation. Without warning, though, her eyes fell on Audrey instead. “What about you, girl?” She retreated in a panic, putting her back against the wall. The woman continued: “You want a reading?”

“Audrey?” her mother’s voice arose, a little louder. “Audrey?” she called again in the silence. Audrey closed her eyes. "Are you there, honey?"

“Yes, mama.” She said and came out, after a slight pause. It was better this way, she thought. Trying to run back to her room was not the right choice. Besides, she wanted a reading, or whatever the woman called what she was doing. It was too good to run now.

“Have you been there long? Come here,” her mother said. She looked at the two, who in turn stared at her, her mother with her mouth slightly ajar and the woman as unbothered as ever. Upon closer inspection, Audrey could see she had wrinkles all over her face, and exaggerated eye make up. It suited her and she thought she looked pretty, even though she had a vague notion no one else would.

“You shouldn’t be awake at this time,” her mother said. “You have school tomorrow!”

“I know, mama.” What else could she say? Her mother sighed, but her expression turned from a frown to a softer one.

“Sit down, darling,” she said, pointing at the chair, the only other free one. “This is Sandra.”

“Hi, I’m Audrey,” she said to the woman, positioning herself in front of her. She, in return, smiled.

“I know who you are, honey. I held you in my arms when you were just a baby. You don’t remember Auntie Sandra, do you?” Audrey waved her head. Sandra shrugged. “Eh, we can’t all be winners. It was a long time ago.” She picked up the cards again. Audrey could see them up close now, and realized they were ripped at the edges, faded and yellowed. Auntie Sandra must have had that deck of cards for a long time. “You have grown a lot since the last time I saw you. You’re becoming quite the pretty woman too!” She punctuated the enthusiastic statement with a cough, and even through the spit and heaving, all Audrey could do was smile, even if just a little. All they called her at school was beanpole, freak, airhead, slut. She liked to be called pretty once in a while.

“What do you want to know?” Audrey looked at her mother, who smiled at her encouragingly. Her eyes were indeed wet, even wetter than usual, as she had predicted from the corner.

Audrey turned her attention to auntie Sandra instead.

“I don’t know, I… I’ve never done this before.”

“Well, it’s easy. You” Auntie Sandra pointed a finger at her, “ask a question and I," she pointed at herself, “predict the future.” Audrey thought about the future. She did that quite a lot already, from her bed, imagining a time in which she’d be far away from where she lived, maybe in another country, another planet... Anywhere.

“I don’t know what to ask…” she said, her blue eyes huge, the possibilities endless. “There is just so much I want to know!”

Auntie Sandra dragged on her cigarette. She blew the smoke away from Audrey’s face, before continuing, which she thought was sweet. “You believe in guardian angels, honey?”

Audrey pondered that for a bit, but quickly nodded. Her mother told her they were real, at least, so she believed in them. “Alright then, lemme give you a get out of jail free card: I’ll ask what your guardian angels have to tell you, what they think you should know about your future. Is that alright?” Audrey smiled.

“Alright.”

Auntie Sandra smiled back and her teeth were as yellowed as the cards. The little one now supported her head on her hands and looked down to see how the deck was shuffled and what cards came out first. She watched Sandra’s lips forming her question over and over again, ceaselessly as if in prayer, until four different cards went flying out one by one. The reader organized all of them, looking for a few long seconds before uttering the word:

“Interesting.”

“What is it?” Audrey’s mother, decidedly more anxious than her, asked, holding her daughter's hand. Her blue beaded eyes had followed her old friend’s every movement. Auntie Sandra coughed on her sleeve.

“You got quite a few things here, Audrey,” she said at last.

“Good things?” her mother asked. Auntie Sandra shrugged; her movement was sluggish.

“Some of it, yes,” she said finally, and Audrey looked down. All she saw were drawings. "Others though,” Auntie Sandra pointed at a card with a tower in it and showed it to both of them, taking another drag before continuing. “Not so much.”

"You've always been so dramatic..." Audrey's mother began, with an eye roll, but her daughter cut her off with a question.

“What does that mean?” she asked, looking at the fire, both from the card and from the cigarette.

“Something is going to happen in your future, child that is not going to be all good. Now, I have no idea what it’s gonna be, they’re not telling me. You shouldn’t worry too much about it, though, you’re gonna come out on top, somehow.” She picked another card up and paired it with the previous one, laying both together. The card showed two people beside trees that were either on fire or full of leaves, with an angel watching over them. “The good news, which is always the best, is that love seems to be a big theme here.”

“Love?” Audrey asked, her voice barely leaving her throat.

“Yes, love. This card right here,” Auntie Sandra began, putting her cigarette in her mouth and tapping the paper with a long, red nail, "This means a choice in love. It can also indicate soulmates, though.” She dragged the cigarette, put it down, and picked another card up, this time with a family and ten glasses over a rainbow. “To me, it’s the latter. This card indicates a soulmate for you, dearie. You are going to be fine.”

“Look at how beautiful that meadow is, Audrey!" Her mother said, hugging her shoulders. "So full of life!”

Auntie Sandra handed the card to her, for her to be able to see it closely. Sure, it was a tad yellowed and sticky, with black spots, here and there, but she could still see the couple together, holding hands. There were kids too. She wondered about those. Kids. Two. A boy and a girl, a small house and a meadow...

“It’s not gonna be easy for you two,” Auntie Sandra said and showed her another one of the cards. Audrey put the previous one down. “This one, nine of wands, shows you two might have to be brave. Are you brave, Audrey?” She was taken aback.

“Well, I… I don’t know…”

“Well… Things will happen the way they need to,” Auntie Sandra affirmed, shuffling once more. Audrey looked at the card, she put down.

"So this is where I’ll end up regardless?” she asked, her soft voice nearly trembling in excitement.

“It’s likely. All of this is only a possibility.” Audrey’s mother rolled her eyes.

“Sandra needs to say that, to be professional, but she is always right. I haven’t seen her being wrong once.”

“Yes doll, you have,” Auntie Sandra said, not looking at her and instead rearranging the cards. Audrey’s mother stopped smiling, looking down at the table. She had a wistful look.

“Well… We were both wrong.”

“Surely.”

“What is he like?” Audrey’s voice, still small, found herself asking. The women exchanged a look.

“Well, I usually don’t go around giving away two free questions to new customers,” the reader said, dragging her cigarette once more and finally putting it out. She turned around and took a beaten up, crumpled pack off her purse, pulling another cigarette out.

“Oh, Sandy, c’mon. It’s her first reading,” her mother plead. Audrey looked up at the woman in front of her and saw her brown eyes scrutinizing her. When she blew the smoke from her lips, she looked away, feeling a tad embarrassed.

At the end, Auntie Sandra shrugged.

“I’ll pull three more cards,” she pointed the cigarette at Audrey. “That is all you get, though.”

“How do we say?” Her mother asked, looking at her smiling daughter.

“Thank you,” Audrey said. She looked on as Auntie Sandra shuffled. The movements were the same: She said Audrey’s question out loud once, and then continued on silently, with only her lips. At the end, she pulled out three more cards.

“Hm. Interesting fella.”

“Oh, really?” Audrey’s mom asked, moving forwards, “Good or bad?”

“Seems to be good. He’s really into something specific. A hobby of sorts. He hasn’t had an easy life, this one. Poor boy.”

“Oh, poor?” Audrey’s mother asked, with a tinge of disappointment. Audrey twisted her nose at that. She was also poor, wasn’t she? Sure, she dreamed of a big house, of a stable place, of being able to afford nice things like clothes and internal heating. But she never thought she’d get those anyhow, so it was alright if he was like her. At least they’d have that in common.

Auntie Sandra’s next words took her out of her trance.

“Piss poor, excuse my language kid,” she pointed her cigarette at Audrey again, briefly, still looking at the cards.

“It’s alright,” Audrey said, approaching the table once more, looking down. “Is he nice ?”

“He’s nice, but he has made mistakes, plural,” she picks up the three cards at once to showcase, aligning them perfectly between two fingers. One of them is a man with a cup and a fish jumping out, the other is a man hanging from a tree. The last, and scariest of them all was The Devil, with two naked people chained to it. “You see here? These are the mistakes. This,” she tapped the other card, with the man holding a cup, “Is him. He’s sweeter than molasses, this one, just…” she tapped the card with the man hanging from a tree, “Very helpless, or seemingly helpless. At least he feels that way."

“Do you know what he looks like?” Audrey asked, looking at the card with the man, the cup and the fish. She didn’t want to focus on the hang ups and mistakes. We all make them, don’t we? She had made hers, she thought, even if she was so young, and she was likely to make more...

Auntie Sandra shrugged again.

“Hardly. Best I can tell you is that you shouldn’t dream of Cary Grant. Look for dark hair, maybe brown or black. That’s all I see.”

“Thank you, Sandra,” her mother said.

“Yes, thank you,” Audrey said too.

And that was that.

---------

The second time Audrey heard about him, four years had passed since the conversation with Auntie Sandra. She had no idea where time had gone, only that it had, and fast. It was probably flying on right now, passing her by, and she’d have no clue, just like before.

She had other things to concern herself with.

Presently, she was completely wet–her pretty, new dress was in shambles, and her newly bleached blonde hair felt like a steel sponge at the touch. The rain was pouring incessantly over the streets, and then some, hitting the windshields of the nearby parked cars. Anyone watching would think of her as a pitiful vision there, dejected, on the sidewalk. It was her date that was missing. He never showed up.

It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. They had been together for approximately two months at that point, and she could count the dates in which he showed up in one hand (two). Her mother advised her to not go out with him again and outright disliked the boy, but how could she not? He could be the man Auntie Sandra was talking about in the cards–after all, he had brown hair, and made more mistakes than anyone Audrey had met in her life!

…Well, maybe that’s not all auntie Sandra said. He was supposed to be sweet after all, and this boy wasn’t sweet. Sure, he was, at first: They had Algebra together and he helped her with it, because she was lousy at math. He also defended her from all the people calling her a slut–mainly other boys that had professed undying love for her months prior, before they…

He had left her stranded in the pouring rain. Again. He’d no doubt call her in the morning, tell her she was beautiful and ask her to skip school to go on a ride with him, where they could make-out in the backseat. And she’d go, because she loved him and he could be the man from the reading. Right?

Audrey, looking around herself, knew she needed to make a decision. Skid Row was scary at night, but there was no ride for her, and no other way to get there. It was hopeless to try to get a taxi, even if she had the money. So, with limited options, she decided to walk home. Being in motion was better than being static.

Hugging herself to shield from the cold, Audrey promised she’d never leave the house without a jacket or an umbrella at least if there was no guarantee of a ride. A good lesson can be taken from everything.

She looked down at her feet and counted the steps to ignore the voices coming towards her from the dark corners:

“Hey, girlie, all alone?”

“Hey baby, look at me!”

“Oh, baby, don’t do me like that!”

"What's a pretty little thing like you doing--"

“Are you alright girl?” She finally looked up, startled. A woman was looking back at her with a puzzled look from the steps of her house. She was big and her hair was wrapped in a scarf. Her brown eyes bore into her, wild and shocked at the fact she was alone at that time.

“Yes ma’am, thank you," Audrey said, faking a chipper tone. The woman wasn’t convinced.

“Aren’t you too young to be walking around on your own in this pouring rain?” She didn’t mention the fact she was herself in the pouring rain. Audrey found that odd, but thought it was better not to bring it up.

“Yes, ma’am I am, but I’m getting right home!” The woman looked like she was going to say something else, but instead decided to stare fixedly beyond Audrey’s body. When she looked back, she saw what it was: A few men were approaching her and no doubt gave up and stepped away, when they saw she had company, back into the alley from whence they came.

"Go," the woman said. Audrey promptly resumed walking, as fast as her white heels allowed her, going over each cobblestone and trying not to trip. She was getting more dextrous at it, which was also something to be proud of. The plan now was to get to point B as fast as possible–and in that way avoid any more men.

Still, as if seized by something, Audrey stopped in her tracks. There, bathing her and half the Skid Row sidewalk, beyond the now faltering rain and night, was a bright yellow light. The building needed no identification. It was old, probably a century or so, and its decrepit brown, chipped walls were unmistakable:

She was at the steps of what people called the Skid Row home for children. It probably had a proper orphanage name once, but why beat around the bush? It was a home for those even more destitute than the destitute. Usually when Audrey went by it---or rather sprinted by it, guiltily thanking God for having a mother who loved her---the doors were closed. This time though they were open a sliver. Inside, the silhouette of a woman could be seen, talking to one of the kids. The conversation seemed to be going on for a while now, about a specific child, and despite herself, Audrey leaned in to listen.

“...Think he’s gonna be happy where he was sent to, Mrs. Jones?” Mrs. Jones was shuffling some papers and walking briskly.

“Our job is not to make sure you children are happy," she began, austere. "But to give you homes. He has a home now.” The child, no less than nine by the voice of it, pondered this.

“Yes, but that mister didn’t give me the best impression. He didn’t seem very fatherly, ma’am.”

“That mister only wanted someone to help him with the shop, so he got someone to help him with the shop. That is all. Have you taken your meds?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Then go to bed, it’s late.”

When the woman got up and closed the doors, Audrey was nearly shaken awake with a jolt. She remembered where she was, looked around herself and sprinted past.

Poor child! A child who wasn’t supposed to be happy, just useful. What a miserable existence!

She didn't stop walking an inch until she was safe and sound inside of her own home.

----

When Audrey heard about him again, it was another four years later. She was working at a bar, which was bustling and loud, feeling very uncomfortable in the clothes her boss insisted the waitresses wore. It was a skimpy, sequined outfit, which she felt showed too much cleavage, but it got her tips and she needed tips: Her last boyfriend broke up with her and threw her out of his apartment where they had been living for the two years. He had essentially left her penniless again.

It was for the best, she kept telling herself. He was not a very good man and her mother was sick. She couldn’t work as much anymore, so she moved in with her to help. And working as a waitress was good! Her hair was better than ever now that the other girls helped her know all the good products for hydrating bleached hair, and it was either this or stripping. Audrey didn’t think she was there yet, though her co-worker Sally was always trying to sell her on it.

“I mean, you just go up there and take your clothes off,” she'd say as they both looked at the stage, where a girl was dancing. She slowly unhooked her bra to whistles. “It’s totally fine. I mean, eventually a few jerks come around, but we have The Muscle for that, he takes care of ‘em.” The Muscle was a big, but sweet guy who always treated Audrey nicely. He lived with his boyfriend around the corner and Audrey never judged him for that, but they all kept it a secret from the boss, who might not like it very much

“Oh, I don’t think it’s for me," She'd eventually say. "Thank you, though, Sally.” Sally would shrug, big, wavy and luscious red hair falling over her, so similar to...

“I’m just saying that’s where the big bucks are, honey. The good money."

“Well, I just don’t feel very comfortable with that, that’s all.” She'd shrug again.

“Suit yourself, hon.” Sally would then go downstairs, to get ready. Audrey would watch her every time and then nod to herself, reassuringly. She was going to suit herself alright. She wasn’t gonna strip. Sure, she didn’t think it was a bad thing, considering everything, but she wasn’t going to do it. She didn’t need her mother to find out something like that about her and march to an early grave. Not graduating high school, skipping classes to be with boys, chain smoking behind the bleachers and coughing all over herself, having that many boyfriends… All of that was enough, she thought.

Working at bars at nights had to be the cherry on top of the cake. This itchy dress would have to be the end of it.

“Hey, honey,” a man said, approaching her with a drink in hand, snapping her out of her thoughts. She smiled. “Do you work here?”

“Oh yes, I do." She looked at him, analyzing. He was balding, but his hair was brown… Well, perhaps it was more blonde. He looked old---Auntie Sandra never mentioned anything about old, did she? She mentioned mistakes, and being sweet. Now, being at a bar like that at this time of night was definitely a mistake. Was he sweet?

“Nice cleavage.” No. He was not sweet. Audrey swallowed the urge to hit him over the head with the tray she was holding, and kept smiling, frozen in place.

“Would you like anything to drink?”

“Sure, give me a double vodka,” Audrey nodded and went to the barman immediately, squeezing herself in the crowded place, sinking her stomach in to go by some men who were definitely getting more out of this than she was.

"Danny?"

“Hey, Audrey, what’s up?”

“A double shot of vodka, please,” she said, looking at the man. He smiled at her, as usual.

“Coming right up!” Audrey watched as he prepared the drink and tried not to pay attention to the people around her. She would sometimes stop to watch the numbers or hear the conversations, but as it was it was just too much. She wanted out, but her shift had barely just started.

Taking the double vodka, she left.

That routine continued through the night. A man came up to her, was perhaps nice, perhaps not, ordered a drink, she gave it to him, rinse and repeat. She was glad to be used to wearing heels, because that was not a life for someone who wasn’t. At the end of the day, truthfully, the thing she liked the most about working at the bar (and there were always advantages everywhere) was when it was empty, or nearly so. The barman wiped the counter up and the other waitresses huddled together on the corner, exchanging things that happened to them that night, half acquired gossip they overheard, and cigarettes, counting tips. Audrey thought there was a nice, peaceful energy that surrounded the place then. The stage was empty and the strippers were all downstairs, powdering. They’d be up for a drink and she could talk to them about their new routines, their hair and make-up, which was always impeccable, as it should be, throughout their number. The girls were always nice, even if perhaps a bit beaten by life. But then again, so was she, right?

“Another one, sir?”

“Yes, sure, why not?” Audrey turned to the bar. There was still a man there, drinking. He was old, but not balding, so it wasn’t the same man from the beginning of the night. For some reason, Audrey decided to stop and sit by him, which she never did.

“Hello." When he looked at her, he flushed and nearly dropped his drink. “Oh, I'm so sorry!"

“Don’t worry, I got it,” he said, with a smile, before examining her further. He stopped at her face and squinted. “Say, I know you. You stop by the flower shop sometimes.”

“The flower shop? The one next to the corner store?”

“Yes, that one. I own it.” Audrey perked up.

“You’re mr. Mushnik?”

“The one and only!” Audrey was baffled. This was akin to meeting a celebrity.

Many times she had stopped to look at the flowers, however briefly, at mr. Mushnik’s window. She had noticed that, as time went by, the flower populace there became scarcer and scarcer, but she decided not to bring it up, for fear it was rude. Besides, they always had peonies and lilies, and Audrey adored those.

“Oh, I simply love your shop!” She said, turning her body to face the man now, all inhibitions forgotten. “It’s so lovely! When I was little, my mother used to buy flowers, and I’d play at making arrangements. Of course, that was before my dad left us…” Mr. Mushnik’s expression went darker. “Oh. I’m sorry, I...”

“Don’t worry about it, uh...” he trailed off, trying to gauge her name out.

“Oh, I’m Audrey.”

“Audrey! Say, what are you working in this joint for? No offense,” he added to the barman, who merely rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, man..."

“It’s good money!" Audrey said, but then admitted, "well… Better than nothing.”

“And you’re not…” Mr. Mushnik trailed off once more, looking at the strippers who came up the stairs talking amongst each other. She vehemently waved her head.

“Oh no, Mr. Mushnik. Not me. Though…” Audrey glanced at the stage and then down at her clothes. She turned her body away, towards the bar, changing the subject, “I’ve never seen you here, before.”

“Oh, special occasion, or should have been,” he rolled his eyes, “My employee, Seymour, turned twenty-one these days, and I brought him here for his first drink. This was the only bar open,” he explained himself when Audrey’s expression became puzzled. He looked at his own glass. “Lousy idea. He threw up outside in the alley, and I had to take him home. So I came back here for a drink of my own.”

“Oh, that sounds dreadful!”

“It was! Kid can’t hold his liquor much like he can’t hold anything else!”

“Oh no, Mr. Mushnik,” Audrey retracted herself, her eyes wide with worry. “I meant Seymour. I hope he’s alright!”

“Oh, Seymour? He’s gonna be fine,” Mr. Mushnik said, waving his hand, before taking a sip of his drink. Audrey saw it was probably whiskey and wondered what Seymour had drunk. If he had never done it before and this man gave him straight whiskey, she thought it was no wonder that he had thrown up all of it in the alley. “You shouldn’t be working here, y’know?”

“What do you mean?” Audrey said, blinking in surprise.

“You’re a nice girl, I can tell,” she looked down, with a small smile.

“Oh, I’m not sure about that, mr. Mushnik…”

“Yes, you are. Say,” Mr. Mushnik downed the last of his drink and put the glass back on the counter, seamlessly pulling a few bucks from his wallet “If you need a job, come work for me. I’ll remember you, I bet.”

“Work? At the flower shop?” Audrey had thought of that, of course, many times. She never once thought it could be so, though, “What would I do?”

“You said you like to do arrangements, right?” She nodded. “Perfect! Seymour has no talent for arrangements, no taste. I’ve tried to teach him, but I’m just as hopeless. I see you got good taste,” she looked down once more and shrunk into herself. He didn't seem to notice it. “You can come work for me anytime, ditch this joint for good!”

“Well, I’ll think about it. Thank you Mr. Mushnik,” he smiled and began to leave, being halfway to the door when she yelled: “Oh, and tell poor Seymour to take care of himself!”

“Oh, Seymour!” Another eye roll “He’s gonna be the death of me one of these days!”

And that was that.

----

When Audrey heard about him again, it was on the day of her mother’s funeral service, nearly two years later. It was a peaceful event, as she thought it should be. She was there, by the coffin, looking at her mother’s face and crying.

Few people showed up and her own father was nowhere to be found, as usual. He sent some money instead, when Audrey called him to let him know what had transpired. At least that was good. She could afford to pay for everything and then some, as he had sent some extra for her never to contact him again, so she could live and pay the bills without killing herself working for at least two more months.

Audrey caressed her mother's hair. She looked happier in death than ever. She wondered if she was going to look like that too when she passed, but then thought that maybe that wasn’t a nice train of thought to pursue.

Drying her tears, Audrey made mention to leave, when a hoarse voice sounded behind her.

“Hey, kiddo." When she turned around, she froze in surprise. There, facing her with a cigarette in hand, was auntie Sandra and her pretty, bright, red hair. Audrey would have squealed, no doubt, if the situation was not so hopeless.

“Hello, auntie Sandra. I haven’t seen you in a while, are you well?”

“How could I be well in a time like this, kid?” She asked, expelling smoke from what seemed to be every pore of her body, “Sorry ‘bout your mom.” Audrey looked down, joining her hands.

“Thank you, auntie Sandra.” It felt odd to her to call the woman that, but she didn’t know her last name. In fact, she didn’t know anything about her. In all of the years that followed the woman’s consultation---nearly ten!---Audrey wanted to contact her, to ask more about the future. She even saved up some money for it, but her mother told her it wasn’t nice to meddle with these things too much and wouldn’t tell her where the woman lived. Other people in Skid Row offered a similar service, but Audrey never knew how to approach them, and it felt almost like a betrayal of sorts---Auntie Sandra existed, so why would she go after anyone else?

It was nearly a miracle she had found her way to her again. In fact, she was wondering how she even heard of her mother’s passing, considering she didn't call, when Auntie Sandra began talking again.

“I hope you’re doing well, kiddo,” she said, tossing her cigarette on the floor and stepping on it unceremoniously, before getting another one. She coughed. “Your mother was a good woman, one of the best I’ve ever met, and I have met many of them," she paused, scrutinizing Audrey the same way she had all those years ago. "You look like her.” She ended her statement lighting her cigarette.

“I do?” Audrey asked, looking at herself on a nearby window. She couldn't see the resemblance.

“It’s the eyes, kid, they're nice. And the voice too, I suppose. You look better with this hair, though,” Audrey lifted her hands to her head and smiled genuinely for the first time that day. It was short lived, a daughter shouldn’t be smiling at a mother’s funeral, but it was meaningful.

“Thank you, Auntie Sandra.”

After the service and the burial, Auntie Sandra insisted on giving Audrey a reading for free, for old time’s sake.

“Oh, I don’t know if I should accept it,” she said at first, feeling unwell about the ordeal. “I ought to pay you something.” Auntie Sandra waved her hand.

“Nonsense, your mother never paid me. I read to her since we were in high school, you know?”

“You knew my mother in high school?” Audrey asked, shocked.

“Yeah, before I quit for good.”

“Oh…” Audrey said, trailing off. Auntie Sandra looked at her intently.

"Say, don’t you wanna know more about that guy from all those years ago?”

“Guy?”

“Yeah, the one I told you about. I’m assuming you didn’t find him, did you?”

Audrey hadn’t. In fact, this was the first time in what seemed to her a long time, at least a year, that she even thought about him. With her mother’s illness aggravating and the medical bills – which were absurd – she was too busy to think about love. She figured Auntie Sandra’s warning was correct: It was just a possibility, not a fixed future. Even now she didn’t think about asking her whether or not she’d be married. All she wanted to know was this: “Will I ever leave Skid Row?”

Instead of saying any of that out loud, though, she contented herself with a more direct response:

“No, I haven’t.” Auntie Sandra tapped her cigarette with a long nail.

“Figures. I’ll meet you at your place, alright?” And without expecting an answer, she took off.

Audrey watched as she left – the tight dress, which some would say it’s inappropriate for her age, and the high heels clicking – wondering where the woman lived. How did she know she still lived at her mother’s place? It was for sale now, her landlord wanted to live in Europe, or something, so Audrey had her days numbered. Her mother said it was for the best, though. Rent was too expensive there, even for Skid Row.

With a small sigh, she decided to go and finish putting her mother’s things in boxes. Despite herself, she cried all the way there.

It was nine pm when Auntie Sandra showed up. She wondered if it had been a similar time back then, during her first consultation, and thought it was plausible. After all, she was supposed to be in bed by eight thirty. Little Audrey had always thought it was late into the night, maybe two am, but now, as an adult who had been out at such a late hour, she saw how that could easily be a fabrication. She smiled at the innocence of her youth and wondered where time had gone again.

“Kid? You gonna invite me in?”

“Oh, sure. I'm sorry Auntie Sandra,” Audrey stepped aside, cursing herself, and closed the door once the woman was in.

“Place’s cleaner than ever, good for you,” Audrey smiled at the compliment and began lifting her hand to offer the woman a chair. That wasn’t necessary. Auntie Sandra was already sitting, with the cards in hand. “Sit down,” she said as if she owned the place, and wordless, Audrey did just that.

She lightly played with a fake pearl necklace she was wearing, wide eyed.

“Are you going to see into my future?”

“Yeah, kid. Is there anything specific you want to know?” Audrey opened her mouth and closed it again. Hmm...

“Well…” She began, at last. “I wanted to know about leaving Skid Row. For good.”

“I see,” Auntie Sandra said, shuffling the cards. “I’ll ask them about you leaving Skid Row then.” Before Audrey could ask who they were, if she meant her guardian angels again, the woman fell into her ceaseless prayer stage. When the cards fell on the table, she looked at the drawings and felt thirteen again. The deck was new – different, better. It was laminated and it didn’t have as many creases as before, so she could see it crystal clear, which made her happy. She wondered what thirteen-year-old Audrey would think of her if she could see her now, before Auntie Sandra took her back into the real world.

“Your fella is here again,” she said, tapping her cigarette with her finger over a leftover glass of water. “Front and center.”

“He is?” Audrey didn’t want to sound too excited, but found herself looking at the card she pointed to immediately: It was the same one from ten years ago, she knew, the man with the cup and the fish flying out. “Oh...”

“Anything the matter?” Audrey waved her head, putting her back against the chair.

“I haven’t been thinking about men much lately. Dating in Skid Row is a no go! I should have seen that from my parents’ relationship. Then again, I was never very bright.” Auntie Sandra waved her hand.

“You’re bright, kid, don’t say you ain’t. You’re seeing men for what they are after all! Lousy pigs…” She tempered with the cards again, distractedly, before taking another drag of the cigarette. “This one’s ok, though. He seems to be..." she squinted at the cards. "Sudden? Yeah, sudden.”

“Sudden?” Audrey repeated, confused.

“Yeah, sudden. You’re not gonna see him coming, and then BAM!” Auntie Sandra hit the table for effect, making Audrey jump back with a startled noise. “He’s right there with ya! You’re a fighter though,” she continued, eyeing the cards closely while Audrey removed a hand from her chest.

“I am?” she asked, recuperating from the scare. She looked down at the card that had a woman and eight swords, beside another with a woman and a lion. Audrey never thought of herself particularly as a fighter. If anything, she was the opposite: Weak willed and willing to follow. She looked down at her lap.

“Yeah, you’re not gonna see it until it’s right there, don’t even try,” Auntie Sandra continued, despite her thoughts. “You don’t think you deserve this fella.”

“Oh, so he’s not any of the ones I dated?”

“Fat chance, kid.” Audrey knew as much, but she needed to try. She didn’t believe someone as nice as that man sounded was going to suddenly appear in her life. It was too good to be true, so, retracing footsteps could be her better chance at love. “Don’t go chasing exes either, they’re off of your life for a reason.” Audrey’s head jolted up in time to catch Auntie Sandra’s cigarette hand lowering down onto the cup.

“You can read minds?” Her voice was even smaller than usual and Auntie Sandra smiled largely at that, before dismissing it with a hand wave.

“Nah kid, but I can read sweet girls like you, and they all go back to their exes, trust me.” She looked back down at the cards, while Audrey resigned herself to wait. “I get why they wanted to talk about this fella of yours.” She lifted one of the cards up to show her. “Remember this?”

Audrey looked closer.

“Sure!” She said, fighting back the sudden urge to cry, while grabbing the card in hands “It’s the card my mother…” She paused to sniff, hoping it didn’t sound as loud in reality as it did in her ears, “That my mother said was so full of life.”

“Yeah. It’s pretty green I guess,” she said, staring at Audrey intently “Your mother always wanted a garden, all that stuff.”

“I know…” Audrey murmured to herself, running her fingers through the surface of the card delicately, as if that movement alone could ruin the illusion.

“Well, it seems like you and your fella get that at the end.” For the second time in the night, Audrey’s head jolted up.

“We do?”

“Yep. The garden, the kids, the house. Now, it’s a small house, right there,” Audrey looked down when she pointed. “But it’s a house. If you wanted undying fortunes, you should have gotten the ten of pentacles. As it is, though, the ten of cups is good. Out of Skid Row.”

Audrey put the card down.

“Now, here it is again, these two,” Audrey looked at the other cards indicated: A tower crumbling and a Devil with two people “I remember your reading well. I’ve done several since, but you were my youngest client,” she smiled at her, “These two came up as well, do you remember?”

Audrey waved her head. She only remembered the fish and the ten of cups. It was the nicer part of the reading, she figured. She focused on that.

“Well, you’re older now, so I can go into depth. There’s crumbling alright. Necessary. I don’t know if it's emotional or physical, but it’ll happen. Here,” she pointed at another card, “Nine of pentacles. There’s another woman here.”

“Another woman?”

“Yeah, kiddo. Another woman. She’s greedy, wants everything for herself and nothing for the both of you. She’s your obstacle out of here, it seems.”

“Oh, well, if there’s another woman, then maybe it’s best not to get involved...” Audrey knew better than to steal another woman’s man. She had seen the fights at the bars and even her own neighborhood. Many times she had woken up startled with a woman yelling and the loud noise of a car window being smashed.

“I don’t think it’s like that, but it could be, come to think of it,” Auntie Sandra looked closer. “I’m not sure. Still, going beyond this energy here is not gonna be easy. I don’t have to sugarcoat things for you anymore, you’re not a kid. It’s gonna be the hardest thing your man does in his life, to let go of this woman, and he might not be able to do it in time. She promises a lot and delivers too little. Poor fella.” She took a deep breath before continuing “Either way, the future changes all the time. Right now, it seems you two are gonna make it, though. Besides, you’re gonna start working again soon. It’s not in the question I asked, but it seems to be important. You lost your job recently?”

“Oh yes, at the bar. I stayed back to take care of mama.”

“Well, consider yourself lucky. An opportunity presents itself! Close to home too,” Auntie Sandra showed the Queen of Pentacles “But not this one. You’re moving.”

“Yes, I am.” Audrey said, looking around the apartment she grew up in. “I don’t know where to go yet.” Auntie Sandra began putting the cards away, her cigarette dangling from her lips.

“My sister owns an apartment next to that corner store, you know it? Maybe you could rent it.” Audrey’s eyes lit up.

“The corner store?” She asked, newly excited “Next to Mr. Mushnik’s flower shop?”

“Yeah, you know the spot.”

“Yeah…” Audrey said, trailing off. “I sure do!"

----

In the morning after moving, Audrey finally mustered up the courage to walk up to Mr. Mushnik’s flower shop, fixing her hair and dress all the way. It had been a while since she had stopped by the windows to look at the peonies and lilies, which were still there, although even scarcer than before, so the nervous feeling pooling up at her stomach was predictable, she thought.

When she walked in, the bell chimed to indicate a customer, and mr. Mushnik was quick in his step out of the back.

She smiled at him.

“Hello, mr. Mushnik." He looked as if he saw a mirage at first, before opening his arms expansively.

“Audrey! Audrey, right?” Audrey nodded. “Got out of that joint? Came to work for me?” he looked around, putting his hands on his hips. “Now, I’m afraid it’s not much, but it’s honest, and we still need a girl to make arrangements. Is that a deal?” She was flabbergasted.

“Sure!” she said, stepping further into the store. It was the first time she ever went in, and she couldn't believe it wouldn't be the last. Mr. Mushnik continued:

“Great! Can you start right away?” Audrey stared at him, wide eyed.

“Sure!”

“Great, fantastic news. I gotta tell Seymour.” Mr. Mushnik went to the door at the left of the shop. She had entirely forgotten about the man that Mr. Mushnik told her he employed, the same one who had thrown up in the alley.

Audrey had never met a man who couldn’t hold his liquor before. She hadn’t been with too many men who weren’t at least a little drunk, so she was eager to know what that Seymour looked like.

“Seymour!” Mr. Mushnik yelled and Audrey could hear a noise of not one, but several things breaking at the lower levels. When she made a mention to go and check it out, Mr. Mushnik stuck an arm out, preventing her. “Don’t worry, he does this everyday," he rolled his eyes. "Seymour!”

Audrey could hear a faint “I’ll be up in a minute!” before identifying the sound of rushed footsteps coming upstairs. Her heart was racing in her chest and she swallowed a lump. She thought she was gonna faint until Seymour finally opened the door, emerging from within.

“Seymour, this is Audrey. She’ll be working for us, doing arrangements.” Mr. Mushnik said, pointing from one to the other. “Audrey, this is Seymour.”

Audrey raised her hand in a wave and both stared at each other as if they had never seen another human before, or as if they were completely alone in the world. Forgetting himself, Seymour fixed his glasses and almost dropped another pot.

"Oh!" Audrey said and bent over to help him. Crisis averted, they raised their bodies together, looking into each other's eyes.

“Hi,” Audrey’s shy voice was the first to breach the gap. “Pleased to meet you, Seymour.”

“Li… Likewise,” Seymour said, stuttering a little.

“Great, great, introductions done.” Mr Mushnik clapped his hands. “Seymour, go check the flower pots, I need you to spray pesticide on that snake plant.”

“On it!” Seymour said, finally looking at something that wasn’t Audrey, diligently lowering his head to go and tend to the plant. She followed him with her eyes all the way to the back.

“Seymour will show you the flower arrangement table next, won’t you Seymour?”

“Yes, sir!” Seymour yelled without looking back. Mr. Mushnik glanced at Audrey and pointed in the direction of his employee’s voice.

“Go on,” he said, before putting his coat on. “I need to go out for a little errand. I trust you kids are gonna be fine until I come back.”

“Yes, mr. Mushnik!” Audrey guaranteed. “Don’t worry about us, we’ll be just fine."

“I wouldn’t worry about you. It’s the other one that’s the problem,” Audrey looked down, not meeting Mr. Mushnik’s eyes. “I’ll be right back.”

Once he was gone, she raised her head to look at the window to the back, which was still open. She could see Seymour tending to the plant in there, looking at it intently. It was much in the same fashion Auntie Sandra looked at her, she supposed, but exceedingly more lovingly. She observed him at work for a second, before realizing it was also part of her job to tend to plants.

She made her way to the back, high heels on wood, and didn't notice that every single hair on his body flew up at the sound of her.

When she finally showed up at the door, he nearly dropped everything again.

“Oh!" She exclaimed, rushing towards the table.

“I'm fine, thank you, Audrey.” Realizing they were close again, but this time alone and unbothered, she took this opportunity to observe Seymour better.

His glasses were a tad crooked once more–which he fixed again upon noticing her glance–and he had no fashion sense, but not in a bad way. It was more in a quirky, cute way. He also had blue eyes, which looked into hers, even if for just a second, making her blush.

Looking away, she decided to tend to the flowers.

“You’re good at your job.” It was a statement of a fact. She didn’t need to know him for too long to understand this. All those plants looked magnificently green.

“Me?” Seymour asked, dismissing the notion in a second, with a shrug. “I just like plants.”

“Oh, me too! I used to stare at the flowers on the window every time I walked by...” Seymour’s eyes flashed in recognition.

“Hey, I think I’ve seen you before!” he pondered for a second, but only a second. “You used to stare at the peonies, a... and the lilies!” Audrey looked at him.

“Yes!" Seymour smiled at her for the first time and Audrey caught herself mirroring it wider. She could tell he didn’t smile much by the way he tried to hide his face from her, and once he was looking at the plants again, Audrey observed him once more. The flowers were completely forgotten.

Seymour had brown hair. He was sort of helpless. He definitely was no… Who did she say at the time? James Stewart? No... Cary Grant? Yes... But he was sweet and charming in his own way. And he was poor, by the looks of it. Could he...?

No. Seymour seemed far too sweet. Far too good. She watched him spraying the plants in an almost devoted manner, trying not to trip and drop any of them on the floor.

Audrey finally devoted herself to her own work. It was hopeless to want anything further in that direction, she could already tell. What would a guy like Seymour even want with a former waitress, a girl who never had any prospects in life, who skips from bad boyfriend to bad boyfriend? It just simply couldn’t be between them.

She’d have to look for her brown haired, sudden man, elsewhere.

#audrey fulquard #audrey little shop of horrors #audrey lsoh #fanfiction #fanfic #ao3 #writeblr #fanfic writing #character study #seymour krelborn #seymour x audrey #seymour krellborn/audrey fulquard #seymour/audrey #little shop of horrors fanfic #little shop of horrors #phew lots of tags #5 + 1 fic #in a way #fluff

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k7l4d4 · 7 months ago

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K Reviews and Rants: Miraculous Ladybug Season 5! Episode 18

Here we are, time for the "Emotion" review! Oohh boy... this is gonna be an annoying one.

Overall, beyond the issues with this episode in how it tries to shill Marinette and Zoe's friendship, Felix literally trying to wipe out Paris and all of humanity just because he can and the show framing it as "him having no choice" and "just doing what he needs to," the biggest issue with this episode is it's criticism of "the rich."

Like, I know, "eat the rich" is a thing, and there are a LOT of exploitative jerks who take advantage of the lower class in the world. But this? What this did was try and present a bunch of teenagers just being spoiled brats and doing nothing but being uncomfortable with a "poor person" around them as deserving of Felix's pointless rampage. It tries to have Zoe critique them by labeling them as "braindead zombies," which if anything makes Felix's actions WORSE because it makes them come off as not a threat, just annoyances. And what really sinks it home how shallow this episode's "message" is... is how it doesn't criticize the biggest Rich Hate Sinks in the show, Andre and Audrey. Oh it takes a stab at Gabe, but he's meant to be sympathetic later on (emphasis on "meant to be"), but the series has already downplayed how much of a corrupt official Andre is and ignores how horrible Audrey is as a person in favor of making her toxic control over Andre a joke and blowing off her emotional and verbal abuse of BOTH her daughters. It's aimless, weak, and just doesn't seem to have any overarching POINT to it.

Anyway, that's my two cents in hindsight. Onto the review!

Episode 18: Emotion

And we start off with Andre giving a "couples' ice cream" to Adrien and Marinette, and aside from acting like a bit of a brat and demanding that there's no drama going on, he doesn't look like he'll go Akuma for once.

And another near kiss between Adrien and Marinette got killed. Albeit this time it doesn't look like supernatural BS by Gabriel, just regular BS.

Marinette is worried at how "weird" Adrien is being lately, and tries to get intel from Nino about what's happening to him... and we more or less get yet another case of the show trying to act as if Marinette's stalking was some big joke they could wink and nudge about.

And now we have Marinette learning about the Diamond Dance. From Alya. Which, granted, wouldn't be so bad since Alya is a journalist... but she apparently didn't even do the research, she just "knows about it" and used Alliance to pull up the info for Marinette.

Now we get a scene of Kagami training in swordsmanship with Tomoe, before...ughh... Lila shows up. Nope, not gonna mention how royally idiotic her still believing anything Lila says is, I'm not gonna do it.

...PFFFT. Wow, I genuinely cannot tell if Kagami is that fucking dense or she is genuinely throwing shade at Lila. "You're not a precious stone, you're just a stone." Best line in this mess.

If this is meant to be Kagami having an "autism" moment, though, I'm not impressed.

Zoe making a "joke" comparing the attendants of the Diamond Dance (the sons and daughters of Paris' elite) to a party of brain-eating Zombies is gonna set the tone for things. The unironic description of the children of the 1% in such a way is all kinds of toxic and obnoxious to me.

We get a tiny reference to Zoe's life in New York (no real details beyond the "rich brats making her life a nightmare at school").

And a moment of Zoe shilling how "Marinette taught her not to let her family control her life" despite the fact that, by all accounts, THEY NEVER DID.

I honestly just have no words at the moment. I can barely follow along with whatever thought process the writers are having Marinette go through right now. All I can get is that Marinette thinks she needs to "save" Adrien from his dad... again.

Also, the masquerade masks acting as the invitations just screams obnoxious to me.

Oh, and yet more proof that Gabe is a fucking hypocrite who puts his need for control over whatever alleged "love" he has for Adrien as his son.

The one upside is that we are getting more signs that Gabriel is gonna cut Lila loose... which is both one of the smartest and dumbest things he could possibly do. Smart since she's a manipulative troublemaker who isn't nearly as useful as she presents herself as, dumb because she's far too close to his operations at this point.

Although the fact that Lila is genuinely dumb enough to think she can dictate terms to the guy who is literally HER BOSS makes his decision even smarter. This level of arrogant self-assurance and ignorance of reality is one of the biggest reasons her being so successful baffles me.

Now we get a "funny" moment involving Andre, Audrey, and Chloe arriving at the ball.

Chloe describing Adrien as "the traitor" just sounds so completely and utterly WRONG to me. Like, it adds nothing and just sounds awkward with her voice. It's the issue with the lead-up to her becoming Sole Destroyer all over again. She just DOES NOT SOUND RIGHT when they try and put words nastier than kindergarten grade bullying in her mouth.

Marinette's reasoning for why she's even going to the party screams of plot contrivance. She's literally forcing herself into a party she wasn't ever invited to... just to tell Adrien that it'd be okay if he told her about it and that she wouldn't have minded if he had to go but didn't want to. All things she could literally have just TEXTED HIM ABOUT. IT IS NOT THAT FUCKING HARD!!!

There's one big fucking hole in Marinette's plan to infiltrate the dance: even if she has an invitation, she's walking through the front-door. While paparazzi are mobbing the entrance for photos, and unlike in Inside Job, they aren't just going to conveniently lose all ability to notice her.

And we get Adrien's arrival and then his staring weirdly intently at Kagami's ring. THAT doesn't mean ANYTHING at all, I'm sure. /s

And now Amelie is on the scene. And we get a scene of Amelia accusing Gabriel of having "changed" since whatever happened to Emilie, which doesn't make a lick of sense since Adrien, consistently, has described Gabe as ALWAYS having been this much of an ass.

And NOW we get a scene of Amelie criticizing Nathalie for going along with the "different" Gabe... and Nathalie going, sorry but I have no choice. The FUCK YOU DON'T WOMAN!! This, shit like THIS, is why them trying to make Nathalie redeemable DOES NOT FUCKING WORK!!!

"There's always a choice, Nathalie," AMELIE IS THE LAST PERSON WHO SHOULD BE SAYING THIS!! She KNOWINGLY harbored her son from the heroes, CHOOSING to shield him from the consequences of his actions!! She does not get to say shit like this!!

I'm honestly just baffled that the security detail isn't concerned on any level by how out of place Marinette is. Not to be classist, but literally EVERYONE looks dressed up, whereas she's... casual. Granted, so would Zoe, so maybe they somehow knew that's the kind of style Zoe likes? Who knows.

And now, after using the mask/invitation to get in, she's just "suddenly dolled up to the nines," in the same ritzy style as the rest of the guests are. HOW!? Is, is it some kind of super-tech or something?? That would honestly be believable, IF we were given ANY kind of explanation at all!!

And now we get Chloe shoving her face in the disguised Marinette's, with Marinette using Zoe's name... I'm honestly baffled on why Chloe doesn't recognize her, since she should know damn well that Zoe had an invitation and recognize Marinette's voice... nope, not gonna think about it, that way lies madness. Also, they are really hitting all the "shallow, vapid brat" stereotypes with her today, huh?

The way she more or less implied that all rich kids have underlings makes me want to drive my head against a wall. Like, this is just obnoxiously stereotypical. THIS is what Astruc is dead set on implying is the deepest evil humanity can sink to!? THIS!? Also, her stating that they make fun of their "underlings" doesn't make a lick of sense since Chloe hasn't really ever made fun of Sabrina. She, at worst, just takes advantage of her.

We get a few brief muffled snippets of conversations of the other rich kids and, again, they are basically just cardboard cutouts of Chloe's post-flanderization personality. This is literally a "party" of walking stereotypes. Kagami and Adrien then have a conversation, with Kagami questioning why Adrien kissed her hand "because he's in love with Marinette," which is the kind of thing that's really shoehorned in. At a big fancy event like this, I'm pretty sure he would be expected to do that REGARDLESS OF HIS FEELINGS.

Adrien, who I'm "suspecting" is not Adrien, asks Kagami if she's jealous. Kagami honestly answers, and I'm just... why? WHY!? Why would EITHER of them CARE enough to talk about this!? Is this meant to be a set-up of some kind?? I don't get what this is meant to introduce!! WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS AWKWARD CONVERSATION!?

Also, the way Kagami phrases her reaction as "shutting off her feelings" feels icky to me. If this is meant to be some kind of neurodivergence wink and a nudge, MY ANGER RISES. But even if it isn't, the set-up, treating emotions like something you have to "turn off for other people's happiness" DISGUSTS ME on so many levels!! You don't have to stop loving someone to want to support their happiness with somebody else!! God fucking DAMMIT I thought we were past this shit!! And now we get "Adrien" calling Kagami "his Queen." I am creeped out on so many levels, since he's not even pretending to talk like Adrien by now.

Kagami saying things like "I am the descendant of Samurai women, we follow orders because we choose to" makes me want to puke. THIS is the kind of shit that I find infuriating, because they are all but blatantly stating that she is being emotionally abused and gaslit, and that's not even going into the implications she's a fucking SENTIMONSTER!!! God dammit does this infuriate me.

"Let's leave." "Are you insane, we can't do that!" "Of course we can, I can." Well THAT isn't ominous at fucking ALL.

The way they frame Kagami realizing "Adrien" is serious as something interesting weirds me the fuck out. It comes off as kinda predatory, like him being someone who knows something deeply personal about another and intending to exploit her over it, with her being none the wiser.

And after the remainder of that awkward "conversation," we get the sight of them before the guests of the Diamond Dance... and Marinette immediately rushes for Adrien. ...She's supposed to be SMART, right? RIGHT!?

Honestly, even if she HAD been invited, her basically shoulder-checking her way past the other guests to get to Adrien SHOULD HAVE gotten her kicked out of this idiotic ball.

And now she's in front of "Adrien" rambling like an idiot. Telling "him" things that she could've just fucking TEXTED HIM. Deep breathes... deep breathes... And now we get Marinette and Fadrian dancing together, nothing uncomfortable about that at all, while Chloe tries to rally the guests... who all can't bring themselves to touch Marinette for the most superficial reasons imaginable. Astruc really wasn't even TRYING.

Also, for once? Chloe's basically entirely in the right about all this. While her elitist attitude is deplorable, not only does Marinette not have permission to be there at all, she had already massively disrupted the entire (boring, dull, unoriginal) party. I'm just wondering why the HELL none of the fully human security detail members from outside the ballroom itself haven't been called in to kick her out!? It's not as if she (in her civilian form) has any kind of powers that would let her get the drop on things!!

Also, I'm mildly surprised that Gabe hasn't tried ordering F-Adrien to pull away and stop dancing with her... but that would spoil the surprise, now wouldn't it? It's not as if he's had any problem using his power over Adrien in as unsubtle ways possible BEFORE today.

"They're all looking at me like I'm a monster," Marinette, please shut the fuck up. They aren't looking at you like you're a monster, they are looking at you like you are someone who broke into a party you had no business being at under false pretenses (and being too much of a bunch of whiny brats to want to remove by their own power). Also, it's really "funny" how the only adults present are Gabe, Tomoe, Audrey, and Andre.

For a so-called gathering of the Elite.

"Look closer Marinette, THEY'RE the monsters." Why? What have they done, IN ANY WAY, to be described that harshly!? Adrien's a fucking shut-in, so it's not as if he knows any of these people, the worst you can say about them is that they are spoiled!! They aren't monsters, they are just people, people who don't yet know better, and whose only crime is being part of a group you don't fucking LIKE!!! GET THE ABSOLUTE FUCK OVER YOURSELF ASTRUC!!!

Of fucking COURSE it's fucking Felix!! All it took was him saying something totally out of character within earshot of Marinette for it to make any kind of sense!! Also, I kinda just "love" how Marinette instantly thinks Felix "did something to Adrien," which doesn't make any sense given his track record. Even at his worst up until now, all Felix really did was impersonate Adrien and tried to damage his reputation. So her thinking he "did something to Adrien" just... feels insanely stupid.

Now we get Chloe literally JUMPING on Marinette to tear off her mask... instead of just calling in security from outside. Because WHY THE FUCK NOT!? Oh, and Felix is transforming in public, I guess.

Wait, NOW I see the other adults, they were just out of most of the shots.

"I can wipe out anyone bathed in the light of the Red Moon with the snap of my feathers!" Question: When did Felix get the fucking Rooster Miraculous? You know, the one that is supposed to grant people any superpower they can imagine so long as it doesn't violate some utterly arbitrary rule?

And also, WHAT THE FUCK DID ANY OF THOSE PEOPLE DO TO DESERVE GETTING WIPED OUT AT ALL!?

Argos honestly works fairly well as a delusional villain, honestly. He talks like he's "wiping people out" for some kind of moral basis, but literally EVERY TIME HE HAS SHOWED UP, he has done nothing but torment Adrien, damage his social life, enable Gabe's cruelty, so on and so forth to utterly idiotic degrees. Him acting like what he's doing is for the sake of others is BULLSHIT. He just wants to be the one doing the controlling.

Kagami screaming in horror at the sight of her mother being wiped out is honestly the most believable part of this whole episode. As much as Tomoe has been shoehorned into the role of being a villain, Kagami genuinely CARES about her, which makes Felix's attitude even more stupid. Literally all of this is just him power-tripping over getting to do whatever the fuck he wants to the people around him.

"Adrien is the last person I would want to hurt" LIES!! FUCKING LIES!! YOU LITERALLY DID NOTHING BUT TRY AND DAMAGE HIS REPUTATION THE LAST FEW TIMES YOU HAVE BEEN AROUND!! HOW DO YOU THINK THAT ISN'T HURTING HIM YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!?

Now we get a cringe-inducing musical number. Like, the lyrics alone basically spell out that Felix is a selfish hypocrite who only cares about anything so far as it relates to him getting what he wants.

Also, while he's right in that he isn't working for Monarch/Hawkmoth/WHOEVER THE FUCK HE IS, him acting as if he needed to hand over all the Miraculouses "for his plans" when he literally had the perfect Miraculous for stealing the Peacock without any problem at all just reeks of self-serving hypocrisy.

And now we get to the root of his hypocrisy. His wish wouldn't even be BAD if he hasn't been consistently a self-serving hypocritical douche-canoe all this fucking TIME. The fact that he's labeling Marinette with the "controlling others, deciding others' fates" BS just spells that out. He doesn't know what he's talking about, and he doesn't fucking CARE. He just wants free rein to do what HE wants and fuck the consequences towards anyone else. Also, he can't realistically use snapping her away as a threat because he's already revealed he needs her to stick around.

Also, them trying to make him sound sympathetic by acting like he has "nothing to lose" just screams "PITY ME!!" at max volume. It falls flat with how much of a selfish and despicable tool they've made him out to be. This isn't revealing someone previously thought bad has depths no one had considered (like what it looked like they were doing with Chloe in Season 2), this is them trying to ignore how blatantly hypocritical this idiot is.

Like, he literally just admitted he would rather wipe out EVERYONE in the world if he has to if it means getting his way.

"The whole world has been bathed in the light of the Red Moon." Seriously? Like, seriously. It's a spherical object hovering over the sky of Paris. It's not even covering ALL OF FRANCE, let alone the world.

"All of humanity will disappear if you don't hand it over!" BECAUSE OF YOU!! YOU ARE TRYING TO PIN THE BLAME ON HER FOR YOUR FUCKING CRIMES YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!!! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!

And we get some scenes of Felix wandering an empty Paris before getting confronted by Kagami. Ugghhh....

And he reveals he can bring people back, fantastic.

If the transformations are meant to block people from realizing someone is transformed, how did Adrien notice that Argos is Felix? HOW!? Also, we literally fucking SAW Red Moon get created during the ball, so just... did he make TWO OF THEM? AND USED A SMALLER ONE IN PRIVATE OR SOMETHING???

Him calling Adrien his "favorite cousin" is a bad joke. Adrien is his ONLY fucking cousin, and he routinely treats him like shit. Unless Felix is delusional beyond words, this comes off more as him mocking Adrien for "not having the guts to stand up to his oppressors."

Seriously, them framing the wholesale slaughter of the entirety of Paris as "saving Adrien" and conveniently ignoring how literally NOTHING Felix has ever done or said to Adrien prior to this has been anything other then malicious really makes me feel sick to my stomach.

Okay, so he DID make the stupid thing earlier. Still doesn't explain how he made it disappear and reappear, OR how Adrien could see through his transformation. Also, he's apparently been stalking Adrien for WHO KNOWS how long, yet the knowledge that Adrien is in Love with Marinette came as a SURPRISE TO HIM!? WHAT KIND OF BULLSHIT IS THIS!?

Wow, how convenient of him to ignore how he tried to ruin Adrien's social life. And tormented his friends pretending to be him. And all the other times he's done nothing but make life harder for the people he allegedly cares for to satisfy his personal whims. This... this is just some delusional psycho throwing a tantrum. I think I'm gonna throw up.

I just... I just cannot take this seriously. Felix has been consistently utterly malicious and self-serving all this time. Trying to reframe that as him giving a shit about Adrien (who he hasn't properly seen in years and tried to ruin the life of) and Kagami (who he doesn't even fucking KNOW) just doesn't WORK.

"Do you really think I'm that evil?" Yes. Yes they do. Because you literally ACT that evil. You literally threatened to WIPE OUT THE WORLD just to get your own way.

Something's wrong, I can usually bring back whoever I want!" How would you even KNOW THAT!? HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE YOU BEEN TESTING THIS FUCKED UP POWER ON IN SECRET!?

Again, them trying to make him sound remorseful DOES NOT FUCKING WORK when he didn't have any problem wiping out ALL OF FUCKING PARIS.

"I never meant to hurt you two," THAT IS FUCKING NEWS TO ME!! CONSIDERING YOU LITERALLY TRIED TO RUIN ADRIEN'S PERSONAL LIFE YOUR VERY FIRST DAY BACK IN PARIS!!!

If him talking so remorsefully to the non-sentient orb in the sky he made is supposed to be touching, it fails. He just looks unhinged.

And now we learn that Amelie knew all along about Felix being Argos and what he was planning. Mother of the fucking year people!!! You can't make her come across as sympathetic when she's the accomplice of the guy who tried to genocide Paris.

And it's done. I'm just... drained by this. I don't hate this as much as the prior episode, even if I am infuriated by it, since my anger is more inflamed by... things going on in the world being carried over to the writing here. These writers are fucking HACKS.

#miraculous ladybug #mlb season 5 salt #mlb season 5 spoilers #mlb writing critical #mlb writing salt

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cobaltswriting · 1 year ago

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"Are you aware that a lot of these 'tiny issues' and 'malfunctions' that you decided to overlook are the reason behind the larger issues?"

"Not this again... I told you, you're a junior engineer, you're not authorised to-"

The Captain held up his hand, silencing the Chief Engineer.

"...This is actually the first I've heard of it. Continue, Engineer...?"

"Ramirez. Audrey Ramirez."

"Well, Engineer Ramirez?"

The junior engineer took a breath to steady herself before speaking.

"A lot of these smaller issues are supposed to be failsafes, in order to keep the major issues from happening. Like, whenever we have the engine overheating, there are supposed to be heatsinks to divert that heat, instead of it being an ship-threatening emergency. Those heatsinks are currently broken, and in need of repairs or replacements. Whenever a missile fails to launch, there is supposed to be a secondary firing system to launch it. And if that fails, then a small localized EMP is used to disable the missile, rather than risking it exploding while still in the port. You shouldn't be surprised to know that both of those failsafes are in need of maintenance."

Audrey listed off many many other issues, most of which had failsafes which had been deemed 'tiny issues and malfunctions'.

The Captain was shocked.

"...How did no-one else realise this?"

Ramirez looked at the Chief Engineer, who was looking pale and scared by now.

"Ramirez, don't you d-"

"Sheer laziness, Captain. All of Engineering knows these problems, but refuse to deal with it out of laziness, despite the fact that if we fixed these failsafes, the end result would be having a lot less work than we do now, and far fewer emergencies."

The Captain's eyes moved to the Chief Engineer.

"... No longer. You will remedy this, Chief Engineer. You, and several other of the most skilled members of the crew, will be excused from this duty, but you will be organizing and directing the others to these tiny issues to fix them. If a larger issue occurs while they are at work, it will be down to you and the most skilled mechanics to fix it."

The Captain looked to Engineer Ramirez.

"...Audrey Ramirez will be promoted and will be part of your group-"

"I appreciate the promotion, Captain, but I would rather be part of the group fixing these issues."

"...Ramirez?"

"This issue was caused by laziness. It seems like a poor choice for you to let too many people continue to be lazy while this is being fixed. I believe that the Chief Engineer and the most skilled in the department, while lazy, will be enough to deal with any major emergencies."

The Captain considered this, while the Chief Engineer was seething, glaring daggers at Ramirez.

"...True enough. You will be part of the groups fixing the various issues around the ship, then. And Chief Engineer..." His eyes moved back to the Chief. "...I know you are angry at her, but you are not to punish Ramirez at all. If I get even a WHISPER that you are abusing your position to make her life a misery, she will be replacing you far sooner than she ordinarily would be. Do I make myself clear?"

"...Yes, Captain." He said, gritting his teeth.

"I will want regular reports on the progress, and I will clear space for a meeting with the both of you again when you have solved all of the issues. And hopefully the ship will be running a whole lot smoother by then." The Captain stood up, surverying both the Chief and Junior Engineer in front of him for a few moments, before nodding. "You are dismissed. Get back to your tasks."

Centuries into a generation ship’s journey, the ship has a constant plethora of tiny issues and malfunctions overlooked by most of the crew’s mechanics in favour of the larger issues. In your off-time, you decide to start fixing some of these minor issues and discover some interesting functions.

#for those who spot it #yes that is a reference to Atlanis: The Lost Empire #writing prompt

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gerryland · 6 months ago

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In love with fashion, still trying to be Audrey Hepburn Grabs a check, but she spends what she hasn't yet earned Life's a bitch, if you play with fire you get burned The road to riches could throw you off at the next turn Yeah, poor little rich girl Cries her eyes out, it's all part of the show Fell in love with the fast life but started it slow Loves creative types, slept with every artist she know Comes from high society, but they frown on her actions Instagrams half naked, how she sounds in her captions Always snobby and conceited, she knows what the deal is Wants to party, thumbs through a roll of decks for the dealers yeah 'Cause she said the high was divine The first time is when she kept on searching trying to find Scared to lose it all but everything was nothing inside Couldn't face the truth but everyone's got something to hide It's ironic how conscious she is of how she appear Two hours getting dressed but still can't look herself in the mirror Making poor choices, even at her wealthiest year Was a fast lifestyle that no one helped her to steer, yeah

Downtown love Don't want none of your downtown love

#g-eazy #music #hip hop #fashion #photography #female empowerment #tumblr girl #movies #g eazy music #downtown love

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diianthus · 4 years ago

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where did this come from? @keith.

@mendlieur | where indeed? | keith & myan-myan.

He’s not going to try to sugarcoat it. The bruise was still fresh on his face and didn’t bother hiding it since, well, he didn’t feel bothered enough to. Cradling his cheek, feeling it throb at the tiniest of touches, he shrugged. Audrey was reasonable in asking where such a bright, purpling injury came from, but it wasn’t exactly her business.

But then again, there was no reason for him to not tell her either. Oh well. Not like she can do anything.

“Just ran into someone who was pissed off at me for something that happened a long time ago, don’t worry.” Keith wants to smooth it over with heavy indifference. It was an old fuck buddy who still nursed a grudge over whether they were ‘official’ or not and when Keith denied it, well, that happened. “They misunderstood something and you can guess the rest.”

#ic. keith #v. modern #queue. wait for it #keith also makes poor life choices #but he's not looking for anything like audrey!!#mendlieur

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cosmictulips · 3 years ago

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♥️♥️ Your Heart... It Sings..(PAC) ♥️♥️

Follow me! for more free readings! Check out my carrd

So this isn't so much about your love language more so than how I see your feelings toward love. your love story essentially. the kind of love you attract and want. what your heart yearns for. it'll make sense when we get into it. so Pick a song, and I'll tell you the story of your... love.

1, 2, 3

Pile 1!

I don't wanna live for nothing, just wanna be something, I never knew what it took to win. Don't wanna live for nothing, just wanna be something, I never knew we'd be more then friends. do you hear me now?

ahhh what a beautiful song haha. so you chose the song Hear Me Now by Bad Wolves. honestly, I'd give it a listen it's very beautiful haha.

the songs meaning talks about a couple really trying to understand their emotions for one another. perhaps they met when they were younger or during a rougher time. they separated and then came back.

some other songs this reminds me of:: 1. If I'm James Dean, You're Audrey Hepburn by Sleeping with Sirens 2. Gravity of You by Stars Set 3. C'est Pas Si Loin by The Bunny the Bear 4. Poison and Wine by Civil Wars 5. Good Enough --- Evanescence 6. This Love by Taylor Swift 7. Rain by Breaking Benjamin

Your cards! :: knight of Cups, Knight of Wands, 03 of Swords, the World, the Fool, Queen of Pentacles, 9 of pentacles, 02 of Pentacles

so to me, your love story is that of lovers turned distant and back to lovers lmao. you both present as this 3 of swords energy. hardended and wounded from past loves. and hell you may thought you could have loved this person as well.

but whether due to life, poor choices etc, you left this person. but they never fully leave you. and it could be years from now. when you both have lived a full life, or it could be a couple of months and you two run into each other, but you two find each other again.

and this could also be said about being with this person. the relationship got rough, and you two started feeling distant from one another. but something brought you two back together. just when you two were about to end it, you kept fighting.

and to me, this is your love story. the themes to your love life. you want something substantial and long lasting. but you are terrified that the other person has given up because so many have before.

the love that you seek, and your happily ever after, will lie with someone you didn't expect to hold on just as strongly as you. this love will always be there. when it rains, or snows. and you two find comfort in each other. especially once that fire dies and you realize that they never wanted to let you go.

be weary of miscommunication. always be straight forward about what you want. this love is something slow and will bloom in time. something maybe you both take for granted. but at the end of the day, you are each others rocks. there is no giving up.

pile 2

I don't wanna sleep, I don't wanna dream, 'Cause my dreams don't comfort me -- The way you make me feel -- Waking up to you never felt so real

The song you chose is Comatose by skillet. this makes me think of the more intense love. dare I ask if you have scorpio, capricorn or maybe even taurus energy lol.

some other songs this makes me think of::

1. Eternally Yours --- Motionless in White 2. Starlight --- Starset 3. Everglow --- Starset 4. Earthrise --- Starset lmao a lot of starset I know but it works. 5. If I was your Vampire -- Marilyn Manson 6. Fire Meet Gasoline --- Sia 7. Born to die --- Lana Del Rey

the cards! :: the Wheel of Fortune, Death, The Tower, the Fool, the Empress, 09 of Pentacles, 09 of Cups, Queen of Swords, 10 of Swords

yea, this love is intense. powerful lessons. I feel like for some of you, it's learning how to be more open with this person. I don't want to say jealousy or anything like that. but the love you have for one another is just.. all consuming.

you may not be able to express it with words. I'm seeing a lot of like... cliche kind of things ya know. the constant staring, the poems, giving each other space but never leaving the minds of one another. you don't really know what to do so you hold each other.

you've been searching for so long to give or to find someone who will match that intensity that you do. people will say it's toxic or codependent. but the thing is, it's not. it's mutual. you both understand the silent squeezing of each others hands in public. you don't have to say very many words to one another. your conversations are intense and deep.

You both are naked with each other. you both are .. not necessarily slaves but vulnerable. there is something so raw to this connection that it both scares you, and changes you. this is the kind of connection where you both will be different people if it ever ends. even as you grow old together you look back and notice that you are not the same person.

You both give each other the world. you go through the harshest storms to yield the riches of the earth. traveling together, fine dining, movies. you both go all out. you two are the center of the world, and not anyone else. very protective as well.

it's soft but only in private. you two are fiercely independent but when the quiet hours dawn, you come together. and simply let the world pass.

Pile 3!

Fill my heart with song and let me sing forevermore, You are all I long for, All I worship and adore --- In other words, please be true, In other words, I love you

songs that make me think of this pile lol 1. Lost in You --- 3 Days Grace 2. When you look me in the eyes --- Jonas Brothers 3. When I look at you --- Miley Cyrus 4. Venus -- Sleeping at Last 5. Love Me Tender --- Elvis Presley 6. Put your Head on My Shoulder -- Paul 7. Electric Love --- Borns

the cards:: temperance, the world, the hermit, the hierophant, page of pentacles, ace of pentacles, 08 of swords, 10 of wands, 10 of swords, 04 of cups, 02 of pentacles

there is something so old fashioned but loving and fun about this pile. You have fun with love, and you want to have it even with someone you adore. when you are with someone you want to have those fun amusement park dates, but also something steady and true.

I feel like some of you may have committment fears or issues. you keep people at a certain level. and so I feel very strongly, if you are to fall for anyone, it is going to be someone you have known for a long time. I feel like you want to have all these happy memories but you're afraid of them leaving. so if you keep it casual, they can't hurt you when they ultimately leave.

so I feel like your story starts of slow, and patient. you both will work with one another, afraid to speak up about how much you have fallen. perhaps you have concluded that it's better to be friends because you have hurt them or vice versa. but you can't stop the slow fall.

and before you know it, you both have opened up with each other. you both fight the same fears together and you realize you have more with each other than you realize. and that happily ever after may not be perfect, but you still will enjoy each others company.

you want that stable sturdy love. and you'll get that from them when you both are ready. I feel like it'll be over dinner or something quiet. and you both may just spring it on to one another but it's not a surprise. this is a love that slowly builds, and works through the fears.

and at the end of your lives together, you'll look back and realize you had fun. and it felt very caring and strong. your fears weren't ignored. you simply just kept spending more and more time. it's gentle, and balanced. always listening and helping to heal and overcome burdens.

I hope I'm putting this in a good way. there's something old school about it, and surprising. fearing the worst but learning to release it because this person just wants to dance with you. and make you laugh. and never leave.

#it's so cute #pac #i hope it makes sense yall lol #pick a card #tarot #tarot reading #free tarot readings #pacs

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cinewhore · 2 years ago

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Worth Every Dime

I’ve been reading a lot about the “Dollar Princess” and this story came to me and hasn’t left me alone since.

A little history lesson: dollar princesses were American new money heiresses in the late 19th century who married normally broke nobility from Britain to receive a higher title while the men got a large chunk of change.

Authors note: starting to do more original things as I felt that fanfic was pushing me to create in a sort of box I did not wish to be in. Yes, there may be some grammar issues but surely they can be overlooked? It feels nice to write something for me again without the strain of all that comes with sharing your creations. Enjoy it or not. In the words of a great scientist: “I didn’t make him for you!”

Audrey Everett was a handful and she was very aware of that fact. It shown in every aspect of her life, from the elegant outfits she wore to the people she occupied herself with. She enjoyed that no one in particular could manage to rein her in. Her parents, however, found it repulsive.

“You mustn’t act so brash.” Her mother would scold after yet another suitor denounced their pursuits for her hand. “You’ll besmirch our name.”

What’s in a name?

Well, for the Everett’s, it was oil. Lots of it.

James Everett knew how to play his hand right and make risks that even the other professionals in his line of work wouldn’t dream of.*Lucky bastard*, they would whisper behind their glasses during a social gathering. How did he get it all? The money, the house, the wife, the picture perfect family?

The American dream.

It’s yours, too, if you could afford it.

While it was enough for James, his wife proved different and she made sure to remind him of his shortcomings every chance she got.

“Our daughter will never marry and be seen as some sort of spinster. Or worse, incompetent! Barren!” Margaret would hiss at him.

Margaret knew both of those things to be untrue for she had hired the best tutors for Audrey and saw to it that her daughter remained pure after she was caught with the boy from the other side of town.

No, Margaret wanted more. She needed more.

The ad in the paper came to her seemingly out of thin air. All her prayers had been answered.

The plan was simple. A title in exchange for a hand in marriage. There were hundreds of British men searching for their American sweetheart and Margaret was going to ride this train all the way to the bank.

“No.” Audrey would later exhale, glaring down her mother from across the table.

“Do not backtalk me. A bunch of other girls have done the same thing and look where it gets them! A noble title, high status, an estate with servants at every corner. You’ll be treated like a princess.”

Audrey steels herself, perfectly sculpted eyebrow raising. “I know what it gets, mother. A piss poor excuse of a man and a cold home.”

Margaret gestures to Ann, pointing to the table. Ann scurries over quickly, clearing the tea cups and half eaten sandwiches while keeping her head down. Margaret is careful as she gets up from her seat, pacing toward Audrey.

“Do you wish to end up alone? Without someone there to take care of you? Do you not want me to be a grandmother?”

“If my children are to be raised by you then I suppose I’m doing them a favor by never having any.”

The slap was expected.

“You better learn to fix that attitude and mouth of yours because this is happening, your choice or not.”

Audrey took one look at her future husband and one thing was certain: she was going to eat him alive.

---------------------------------------------

Matilda checked her bags, assuring that everything was in tact. Nothing was amiss as she didn’t have much to her name but it never hurt to be certain.

Fool, she thought. You need to stop acting childish and return home. Shaking her head, Matilda clutches her belongings tightly, looking over her ticket stub. Her trembling fingers rub circles over the material, wearing it down with each passing touch.

The ticket salesmen looked her over twice before handing her the ticket, asking if she needed another. There was no way an unchaperoned woman such as herself was making the trip on her own.

She muttered her thanks, briskly walking off to avoid another form of questioning. Should anyone else ask, Matilda answered them by saying her husband was awaiting her arrival and this proved to be a sufficient answer for most.

The horns from the ship sounded and a startled Matilda jumps onto her feet. The quicker she got aboard, the faster she could get to her new life and leave this messy one behind.

The mixture of foreign languages caressed Matilda’s ears and made her giddy for the world she was preparing to enter. Sure, New York was a melting pot but London was rising from the ashes and she wanted so desperately to belong.

Matilda was lucky that she was able to afford a second class ticket, indulging in the small luxuries it brought her. She was careful not to stray about too much as there were strict rules about where she could and couldn’t be, a natural conformist. It would only be day three of her journey where she would break this rule, scrambling to get to the top deck for fresh air.

The regret and realization began to settle and it reached its lanky hand up Matilda’s throat, helping her empty her stomach and ruined her sleep.

She gasped for air as if it had been stolen from her, hands gripping the railing with loose might. The inky sky stretched on for miles and this is when Matilda knew that there was no turning back.

Sharp whispers break her brief panic and Matilda makes herself smaller as she observes a man and a woman some feet away from her, in a heated conversation. She had half a mind to speak up but the cat had her tongue and was refusing to let go.

From the shadows, Matilda gazes intently as the man grabs the woman by her shoulders, forcing his mouth onto hers. The woman stops in her tracks and it makes Matilda reel backward, afraid that she would be labeled a peeping tom for being present for such an intimate moment.

Before she could sneak away, the jingles of the lady’s jewels adorning her dress causes her to halt.

“..may have my hand but you’ll never have my body or my heart.” The woman spits, struggling in the mans hold.

“If you think I married you for your body then you are sadly mistaken. Do not think for a second that I am without affections but if you wish to keep the title I gave you, you must learn when to be a good girl and take it.”

The irate man makes another advance on the woman but she calculates this and takes a swift step to her left, his foot getting tangled in the bottom of her dress.

Matilda to this day couldn’t accurately recount what she saw as the truth or a figment of her selfish imagination but either way, with a tiny slip, or perhaps it was a push, he went over the railing.

Audrey’s chest heaved as she heard the splash from below, making a careful effort not to look. What she did not see, she couldn’t lie about.

Matilda remained frozen in her position, assessing what to do next. Should she call for help? There had to be some sort of night patrol. She stopped the thought before it could fully form, not understanding the gravity of the situation laid out before her. There had to be more to this story.

In the span of a week, Audrey Everett had become a bride and a widow.

Gathering her wits and the retched gown she swore to burn after tonight, Audrey begins her descent back to her suite when she stops. The hairs along the back of her neck stand on edge, legs wobbling as she turns her torso. Out of the corner of her eye, nestled beneath a small light, was a figure.

With bated breath, Audrey regards the lady with slight terror and awe. Goosebumps from along her arms, mouth left agape. Their gaze locks, remaining in tact for what felt like an eternity. The rest simply faded into obscurity.

This is the story of how they fell in love.

#cinewhore #worth every dime #original writing #original fiction #dollar princesses

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latte-fairytaekwoon · 4 years ago

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Kickstart My Heart Pt.1 (Racer! Yeosang)

Next>>

Pairing: Racer! Kang Yeosang × Waitress/Fuckgirl! Reader (Female)

Genre: Fluff, Angst, 80s AU.

Summary: During an era known for its vibrant colors, eccentric fashion styles and rise of new yet unconventional genres of music, the young generation of that time was infamously known for their need to rebel and live their lives rather scandalously and Y/N is no exception. So when a new and attractive man moves into her town, she has her eyes set on making him her next boy toy.

Word Count: 4K+

Warnings: Dumb attempts at crackhead humor, reader is a cold hearted bitch, guy gets dumped in public, reader's friend is lowkey creepy.

█ █ ▇ ▆ ▅ ▄ ▃ ▂▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ █

Throwing on the last article of clothing that had been discarded the night before, the young woman shook out her hair, still damp from the quick shower she just took. Picking up her bag, she looked over at the figure still sleeping soundly, the subtle hint of a smile on his face. With a pitied pout on her lips, she walked over to the edge where his face was. Taking out the lipstick tube from her bag, she applied it all over her lips, painting them in the dark burgundy color that she fancied so much and had practically become her signature hue. Bending over, she pressed her lips against the corners of his mouth, giving him the faintest whisper of a kiss before pulling away. A satisfied smirk was plastered on her pretty features as she stared at the lipstick mark on his face, the only memoir she'd leave him with as she had done with countless others.

Closing the front door behind her, she pulled her denim jacket tighter on her body, shivering slightly from the early dawn's breeze that blew across. It was always like that even though summer had just begun, the early morning hours still feeling obnoxiously cool and then transpiring into slightly uncomfortably warm afternoons that had more than one soul in that quaint town grumbling and fussing about the weather. But oh did the evenings feel absolutely refreshing, and that's when everything would start bustling to life.

Having finally made it out of that small residential area and finding one of the main roads that helped her locate where to go, she started heading south towards the all too familiar diner where she had been working in ever since her school days, first starting part time and eventually transpiring to full time when it came time for her to spread her wings and fly out on her own, a feat she had been most anxious to do to get away from the overly controlling nature of her parents. She knew they cared about her, but she herself cared very little about the morals and principles they had raised her with, a common trait all the young people in that town shared: their rebellious and headstrong nature to not conform and go against everything they had been taught thus far. Live their own lives as freely as they chose to do.

And she definitely lived as she wanted to, even if it ended up with a rather bad reputation and ugly labels that rather than infuriate her, she openly embraced, as others had come to as well.

The light twinkle of the bells above the glass door let the person at the register know someone came in and they immediately plastered on their business smile, which quickly faded when they saw who it was.

"You're late Y/N." The minuscule raven haired waitress informed her, eyes never leaving her coworker's figure that came behind the counter and started punching in her number.

"Only by like 7 minutes." She waved her slip at the nonchalant looking girl before placing it back in its respective slot.

"One day it wouldn't surprise me if you just didn't show up because you got too caught up in.... something else."

Chuckling softly, Y/N walked up behind her coworker, hands coming up to ruffle the cheekbone level bob cut hair framing her unusually small face.

"Awww come on Lynn, you know I'd never leave you hanging here to attend customers by yourself. You're my bestie." Y/N assured her, playfully poking her lips out as she tried to place a kiss on her friend, the poor girl craning her neck away as she tended to dislike physical affection.

"I will squirt ketchup on you." Lynn threatened as she picked up the cherry red bottle as a last resort to get her attacker to back away. A rather noisy struggle ensued between both girls, catching the attention of the owner and cook behind the two doors, prompting her to come out and see what was the cause of such ruckus.

"Well I'll be darned. I don't remember paying you youngsters to simply slack off and behave like the hooligans you are." The middle aged woman spoke up, her thick accent becoming more prominent. Although she had a stern look and hands placed at her hips, the girls knew she was not in reality angry at them.

Looking over at the recently arrived girl, the owner closed her eyes and sighed deeply when she took in the attire she was wearing: low cut white tank, ripped denim shorts that left little to the imagination if she bent down, fishnet tights with a few holes in them, and her beloved denim jacket that was almost always on Y/N's body.

"I swear to god, Y/N , everytime I see you wear them rags you call clothes, I feel like my body is about to collapse. Why must you insist on dressing like a common street worker?"

Y/N wasn't at all offended by her words, having grown used to and becoming fond of her boss's abrupt, direct and honest manner of speaking.

"Gotta start looking the part if I'm going to dedicate my life to the occupation." She giggled at her own joke, resulting in the older woman taking the rag off her apron and smacking her with it.

"This little runt, talking nonsense like that- get your ass back in there and change into your uniform. Can't have you prancing around here in those skimpy clothes and have all these men that come here say disrespectful things about you. Nuh uh, not to my girls." She shook her head.

"Yes Miss Audrey." Complying with the woman's wishes, she pushed open the swing doors leading to the back and quickly made her way to the corner where all the employee's cubicles were located. Grabbing the necessary items, she turned and went inside the bathroom to change into her uniform, consisting of a knee length crimson red dress, which she had actually altered so it would be shorter and display her thighs more, the cap sleeves slightly puffed up and the torso part had a trail of white buttons going all the way up to the modest v-neckline, usually most buttons were left undone so her cleavage would shamelessly peak out. Exchanging her black Doc Martens in favor of her white Nike sneakers, Y/N tied her apron around her waist, making sure it was as tight as possible so it would accentuate her curves and give her body a more flattering appearance. As she made her way out, she quickly piled her hair up before securing it with one of the many elastics she kept around her wrists, leaving out a few tendrils to fall on her temples.

Coming back out to start her daily work, she stood in front of Lynn, who merely spared her an unamused glance.

"How do I look?" Y/N asked.

"Like a total slut." Her friend answered in her usually rude way.

Rolling her eyes, Y/N grabbed a spray bottle and a rag. Making her way over to the table that had just finished being used, she quickly picked up the plates and glass, bringing them back over to where Lynn was, who took them so she could wash them in the sink. Spraying the top of the marble piece, she had began her task of wiping down the table when the ringing of the bell signaled new customers had arrived, and rowdy ones at that too.

"Damn! Is today's special fluffy sponge cake? Cause I would sure love a piece of that ass."

Y/N recognized that annoying voice even from miles away, belonging to none other than one of her old classmates, Jung Wooyoung, whom she considered a friend, if he didn't manage to irk her too much. Turning around, she of course wasn't surprised to see him surrounded by his crew of equally idiotic and adrenaline junkie friends, whom she had to admit were pleasant and fun to hang out with.

"Sit your asses down already, I'll be over in a minute to take your order." She told them before resuming her previous task, earning a scoff from the most dramatic of the group.

"Fine customer service! Don't think you'll be getting a tip from me." His words made her nearly burst into a fit of giggles.

"Wooyoung please, you never ever tip whenever you come. None of you, except Yunho." It kinda saddened her that said male unfortunately wasn't there with them at the moment.

"He doesn't tip you, he tips short stack over there." His friend with cat like eyes pointed towards Lynn, who upon overhearing him held up a rather explicit finger in his direction.

"I'll poison your food San." She threatened with a sing song tone.

"Like I wouldn't know that you already spit on it." San spat back, sticking his tongue out in his immature and infantile fashion.

"Can you guys hurry up and order already? I'm starving and we gotta head to the tracks as early as possible." The fiery red haired male known as Song Mingi blurted out, fingers tapping impatiently against the top of the table.

"If little miss g-string would care to hop her luscious ass over here, maybe we could."

Strutting over to where they sat, Y/N harshly threw the dirty rag on Wooyoung's face, causing a faint grunt to come out of his mouth.

"No matter how many times you mention my ass, I'm still not letting you tap it." She firmly stated, making Wooyoung slightly purse his lips outwards in a disappointed grimace.

"So anygays-" Mingi began.

"Umm I think you mean anyways." San corrected him.

Leaning in towards him, Mingi locked eyes on the shorter male and stared him down with an intimidating glare.

"Did I stutter Choi?"

San immediately shook his head rapidly. With a victory smile, Mingi reclined back in his seat.

"I'm just going to get the breakfast platter with some orange juice."

Y/N couldn't stifle her snort when he said his choice of drink, the other two men looking away in embarrassment.

"You've been drinking orange juice since you were in grade school Mingles, don't you think you outta start taking something more grown up? Like coffee?" San suggested and Mingi did not appreciate it.

"Coming from the one who still brings a plushie to sleep with him, your suggestion holds no value or power." He retorted.

"OK SHIBER IS NOT A PLUSHIE, HE'S FAMILY YOU JACKASS!" San sprinted up from his seat, nearly leaning across to grab Mingi by the color, but he was held back by Wooyoung.

Lynn, who had thus far stayed quiet, promptly came up with a spray bottle and consequently doused the untamed boy on his face.

"Bad kitty, bad kitty." She reprimanded him, unable to resist the opportunity to attack her long time frenemy.

"Lynn!" Y/N looked at her with surprise.

"You're welcome." Lynn replied rather monotone before going back to her place behind the counter like she didn't just spray San with disinfecting water.

"There's too many germs going around anyways..." She muttered under her breath.

Without any further interruptions, aside from the rumbling coming out of the boys' stomachs, they finished ordering what they wanted and Y/N sent it over so they could be prepared. Not wanting to be near their loud asses, Y/N went back over to where Lynn was, peeking over to see what she was currently reading in the magazine she held.

"What you reading?" She casually inquired.

"Horoscope section." Y/N wasn't surprised, her friend tended to be into more mystical, eccentric and rather.....extreme with her taste in fashion and music. If Y/N was the one who turned heads for her scandalous attire, Lynn was the one people turned away from in fear when they saw how she dressed. It was a sight that truly made both of them laugh at people's foolishness, well at least made Y/N laugh. Her friend rarely had any other expression plastered on that wasn't utter disdain for society and life.

Unexpectedly, another customer came in. Both girls looked at each other in confusion when neither of them recognized him. Their town was rather small with few people living there, so they deduced that he must be a traveler who probably got lost on his route. He himself looked around nervously, eyes barely lifting up. Y/N couldn't help herself as she took in his perfect face. Big, round eyes with crystal clear orbs, small face with a V-line jaw, perfectly sculpted nose with no sign of defects, skin smooth and blemish free, he looked like a prince out of a fairytale. He was incredibly pretty, yet stood there so awkwardly that it was almost comical.

"Hey Yeosang! You made it! Sit down! I ordered for you in advanced!" Wooyoung surprised both girls when it seemed he knew the stranger and even waved him over to where they sat. The other two boys also seem familiarized with him and welcomed him to sit with them, chatting up a storm already with him.

"Who's that?" Lynn was the one to finally ask out loud.

"Beats me.....but he sure is adorable."

Noticing the way her lips curled upwards, Lynn could already see the wheels inside Y/N's head turning.

"And I bet you're going to go over there and find out- aaand there you go." She ended up answering her own deduction as she watched Y/N happily walked over with a more bright expression on her face, that soon soured when her boss came out of the kitchen and beat her over to the table, laying down several plates of food.

"I knew as soon as I saw the orders that it had to be the lot of you." She scoffed softly as she looked at the boys' grinning faces.

"You know us Miss Audrey, we wouldn't ever think of eating anywhere else but here. You're the best cook in all of town." Wooyoung praised her with a sparkling charm that could have fooled anyone else but not the robust woman in front of him.

"Boy stop trying to tickle my ears, I've known you since you were in your soiled diapers being carried around by your mama, running around and creating chaos anywhere you went. Flattery may work on them poor girls you play with but me? I can see right through ruffians like you."

Turning her head to finally notice the new addition to the group, she looked him up and down.

"Boy who might you be?" She questioned him, earning the ears of the girls nearby to listen in for any valuable information.

"I'm..... Yeosang Kang, nice to meet you." He introduced himself, tilting his head slightly down when he said that.

"He just moved into town this week! He's the new guy who is going to work with us down at the car shop and help on the race track!" San enthusiastically shouted, making the older woman cringe.

"I may be old, but I still haven't gone deaf for you to yell in such a way boy. So...." She crossed her arms and looked at Yeosang again.

"You a racer too?"

Now the girls, particularly Y/N, were more interested in what his response would be.

"I- yes. So it seems." The poor boy looked so flustered, obviously being more of a soft spoken individual, contrasting starkly to the other 3 boys.

Miss Audrey let out a seemingly displeased hum at his answer.

"As if we needed anymore hooligans running wild. We already got enough with the 3 Stooges over here."

The girls couldn't help but snicker at their boss's words, always having a blast whenever she put the boys back in their place. They however looked displeased, glaring at them intensely.

"Shouldn't you both be off somewhere cleaning dishes or making sandwiches?"

Snatching one of the knifes, Lynn held it up and was about to jump over, but Y/N came up in front of her.

"Lynn, no. Just calm down ok? You know they're just being idiots." Y/N reminded her.

Grumbling something in a foreign language no one knew for sure if it was real or not, Lynn put the knife back, squinting her eyes at them before turning around to not look at them again. Y/N giggled softly, finding it absolutely cute whenever her friend lost her cool and collected form cause it reminded her of a chihuahua, barking and yelping at anything larger than itself trying to establish dominance.

Noticing that in her display of aggression, Lynn had inadvertently knocked over a few of the brochures that were on display for people to take, Y/N stooped down and proceeded to pick them up in a casual manner. Standing up, she neatly arranged them properly, making sure they all faced the same direction and the sides weren't poking out anywhere. Feeling as though someone had been watching her all along, she looked at the table of boys, half expecting Wooyoung's smug grin to greet her, but she was completely wrong as it was none other than the new guy who seemed unable to keep his eyes off her figure, staring intently at the length of her skirt. When he realized she noticed, his eyes went wide, cheeks burning up with utter embarrassment. Y/N however seemed unbothered by this. Wanting to test something, she pretended to accidentally drop one of the pamphlets. Bending over, she made sure he could get a perfect glimpse of her cleavage, if he payed enough attention, he'd be able to see that she was in fact, not wearing any bra. Coming back up, Y/N looked over to see the results, smirking when the agape mouth of Yeosang confirmed to her that he had indeed noticed everything.

"Oh sweetheart, you're gonna be too easy..." She had already made up in her mind that Yeosang would be her next target, and she had to put her plan in action. Placing the brochures down, she was about to go over and start flirting with him, until a familiar voice called for her.

"Y/N! There you are!"

She internally groaned when she heard him, wondering why on earth did he not get the hint of ditching him like that, especially when he very well knew about the reputation she had. She tried ignoring him, but of course, he had had to be the persistent type, no doubt thinking he was going to have a different ending than the rest before him.

"I thought you'd be here. You could have told me you were going to be gone early. I would have made you breakfast."

Knowing she had to say something, Y/N grabbed her pad and gave him the fakest smile she was capable of donning.

"Hi, what can we get started for you today? Waffles? Eggs and bacon? Coffee to start off with?"

The trio of friends, having no choice but to witness the interaction due to it happening right in front of them, snickered amongst themselves.

"Oh shit. He's in for it." San whispered lowly.

The boy obviously looked extremely confused, his smile lightly falling off, but then returning to its hopeful state.

"Why are you acting like this candy bear? Pretending like you don't know me?" When he tried to reach a hand to pull her close, the girl simply pushed him away with one of her fingers.

"Look, clearly you're too stupid to understand so let me spell it out in a language you can understand." Letting out a tired sigh, she crossed her arms in front of her chest, a sour look displaying on her pretty face.

"We had a nice time together, and last night was... average to put it nicely."

"Oh man. That was a total burn." Mingi couldn't help but snort, some of the orange juice being spit back into his glass.

"But that was all it was and all it's ever going to be. So why don't you do yourself a favor and just go back home to your Star Trek figurines and watch the latest episode of Thunder Cats?"

The not so discreet snickering coming from the table behind them only made the humiliation for the man multiply significantly. Turning red with utter despair and rage, he quickly brushed past Y/N rather brusquely.

"Fucking bitch." She heard him mutter under his breath, a phrase she had grown accustomed to hearing among many others.

"Oh god. Homegirl struck again." Wooyoung laughed, swirling his milkshake in his hand.

"Ayo why you gotta do Thunder Cats like that? It's actually pretty entertaining." San commented.

Looking over at the time, the guys quickly stood up, dropping their share of bills onto the table.

"You guys get paid today too right? Come meet up with us at the track." Wooyoung suggested.

"Why on earth would we want to go see your greasy, oil smelling ass after dealing for nearly an hour with you already?" Lynn questioned him, eyes never peering up from her magazine.

"Because Yunho would be there?"

Still she didn't respond, the only movement made was her finger turning the page.

"Bro we been knew she don't give two shits about him." Mingi reminded them.

"Because we're going to the drive in theater after work, they're playing a horror movie."

Lifting her gaze, Lynn closed the magazine, although still stone faced, her eyes seemed to brighten up.

"My interest has been greatly piqued." Her lips showed the faintest whisper of a smile that gave a rather eerie and chilling feel down the people's spines.

"Maybe we should rethink inviting Satan's offspring." San leaned in towards Mingi, shivering significantly.

"Great! So we'll catch you gals later."

The boys quickly dispersed themselves, save Yeosang who still sat quietly, keeping mostly to himself. His fingers fidgeted with the half drunk cup he was holding, gaze fixed on the table in front of him. Looking up, he was attempting to work up the courage to talk to Y/N, but before he could even get the chance to gather strength, the owner came out from the back, whispering a few orders to her and gesturing for her to go tend to a situation in the kitchen. With a defeated sigh, he got up to go join the rest of the gang outside who were waiting for him. Slumping his hands in the pockets of his pants, he moved out of the booth with a solemn gaze.

"Hey."

His steps came to a screeching halt when he heard Y/N call out to him. Looking over, she smiled sweetly in his direction.

"Hope I see you later." With a flirtatious wink, she bid him goodbye as she disappeared into the back.

Yeosang stood there stunned momentarily, replaying her words over and over again in his mind, pondering endlessly at their meaning.

"Little pussy cat sure got you brain dead, didn't she?"

Startled by the unexpected voice next to him, he jumped when the face of the kind yet stern old lady studied him carefully. With a disapproving shake of her head, she decided it'd be best to warn him before he started getting ideas in his head.

"Listen, you seem like a sweet and sensible young man, so it's best for you to listen to me and stay away from that darn girl. Don't let them sugar coated lips of hers sweet talk themselves into your heart. You'll just end up heart broken like all the lovers she's had."

Picking up some of the plates, she gave him one last look, pointing an accusatory finger at him to get her point across.

"She's dangerous." Finally saying what she needed to say, Miss Audrey headed back with plates in her arms, slapping away Lynn's hands when they attempted to pry them off her, barking instructions at her to watch the counter and leave her be.

"Dangerous....." Yeosang thought to himself, the warning the good intended woman gave him sinking deep in his mind. Although he took her words to heart, something about the way she glanced at him pulled at the strings in his chest, taking his breath away when he remembered the risque position she was in that purposely allowed him to view more than he should have. That memory tinted his cheeks pink, lips unable to suppress a small smile. He knew that he should heed the old woman's advice.

But he had to admit that he loved danger and the thrill it came with.........

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Taglist: @little-precious-baby @yunhofingers @brie02 @galaxteez @multidreams-and-desires @deja-vux @hanatiny @couchpotatoaniki @daniblogs164 @a-soft-hornytiny @yunsangoveryonder @minhyukmyluv @nanamarkie @ateezbabysitters @mingismoon @rainteez02

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mesillusionssousecstasy · 2 years ago

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Gossip Girl Reboot 2x04: Quotes

- “I’m gonna take you behind the scenes of moments that looked perfect but were actually painful. Curated instead of experienced. (...) for the truth about how hard “marking it look easy” is on the people who love you.” (Julien)

- “Well, I used to use it to perpetuate a whole bunch of lies to help people feel bad about themselves. But now I’m trying this thing called honestly, you know? Pulling back the façade. Exposing the lies beneath.” (Julien)

- “I simply thought I would extend it as a sort of interpersonal olive branch to repair whatever wrong foot she and I got off on. (Kate) - Right, because telling someone their husband is cheating on them always makes them like you.” (Wendy)

- “First he shuts down in bed, and now he’s lying to us. My spidey senses are tingling, Hope. And not in a good way.” (Max)

- “I felt that chill from here. (Audrey) - Okay, so it’s not just me. (Julien) - No. No. He’s definitely avoiding you. Just like old times!” (Audrey)

- “Are they on the agenda? (Monet) - It’s just one simple question. We don’t need an appointment for that. (Shan) - Have you ever heard of precedence? If we do it for you, we have to do it for anyone. And we do not do things for anyone. Do I look like Cupid for poors? Kindly move along. (Monet) - The lower steps are getting bold.” (Monet’s minion)

- “Queen D, I know your dress code said only designer khakis, but Matches, Mr. Porter, and Essence sold out in my sample size, so I had no choice but to Rag and Bone. I kneel before thee as a sign of remorse. It’ll never happen again.” (Student in front of Monet)

- “They’re expecting to be excoriated. (Monet’s minion) - Were you actually serious? (Monet’s minion) - What.. When am I ever not? Yes, I mean, too many restrictions is turning people against me. (Monet) - If you want what she has, you have to rule with an open hand. Not an iron fist.” (Luna)

- “Hey, it’s fine. He’s just a guy. No. He... iIt’s just a distraction from all the shit in my life. It’s not real.” (Zoya)

- “I mean, who’s even paying for them? Make-a-Wish?�� (Monet)

- “Luna, what would you do? (Monet) - Recast?” (Luna)

- “As promised, I’m here taking your questions about love, loneliness, and the moments in between. Questions are open.” (Julien)

- “So if you want someone to hate... (Zoya) - Right. Here’s the thing. Why give you his phone number when he’s just going to say no? Haven’t you heard I’m benevolent now? I’m sparing you pain.” (Monet)

- “If she won’t give it up, we’ll just have to take it.” (Shan)

- “Ooh. This comment’s interesting. “Have you ever been interested in someone who was unavailable?” (Julien) - Trick question. Is anyone ever emotionally available? (Luna) - Do dead men count? What? No way I’m alone here.” (Audrey)

- “You say a word of this to anyone, I’ll have you all exiled to Exeter. All of you.” (Monet)

- “I want fresh ginger tea. And when I say fresh ginger, I mean make it yourself.” (Monet)

- “Besides, it’s your word against mine, and your word means nothing anymore.” (Grace)

- “Dating before Valentine’s Day is just a game of musical chairs. Seats swap, partners change, and options are eliminated.” (Gossip Girl)

- “Being liked is awful.” (Monet)

- “I had to see more. (Max) - Just be honest with us. (Audrey) - We can get through anything if we’re honest with each other. (Max) - From the two people who secretly tailed me, violated my privacy, and tried to break into my phone? Is that the kind of honestly you mean? Yeah, that’s what I fucking thought.” (Aki)

- “Dad! Have you no sense of decency or discretion?” (Monet)

- “That’s not it at all. I’ve just... I’ve just been a little messed up lately, and... (Shan) - And you wanted me to feel as miserable as you do? (Zoya) - Well, maybe I’m miserable because I’m keeping a fucking secret I shouldn’t be!” (Shan)

- “Your privilege has afforded you the ability to live your life as a proud, out, young Black woman in a country where none of those things come easily. But they come easily for you because of me. So you have no right to question how your father and I live our lives, just like we have never... questioned how you live yours. My only regret is that you chose a public place to make a mess. But that is what you are growing into. A mess.” (Monet’s mother)

- “Even I didn’t see that twincest coming.” (Luna)

- “The parents are the true monsters. The kids are simply modeling their behaviour.” (Kate)

- “What if I don’t want to be loved? Love only exposes you to trouble. Isn’t it better to hate and be hated? (Monet) - No. Not at all. (Luna) - I want to be loved. (Monet) - Me, too. Me fucking too.” (Luna)

- “There’s no such thing as a love story. Because for it to be a story, it would have to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. And love doesn’t end. It changes. It grows. It dims, and it dies. But even then, it’s never over. It lives in your shadows, waiting to wake you in the middle of the night... to tap you on your shoulder when you least expect it. A splinter you can never get out. Each love is a crime that haunts us and we pile up crimes as we go. And while we tell ourselves we’ll never get caught, we know we always will. It’s only a matter of time till we commit our next crime. And this one, we swear... will be our last.” (Gossip Girl)

#quote #quotes #citation #quotation #gossip girl reboot #gossip girl reboot 2x04 #gg reboot 2x04 #gossip girl reboot quotes #gg quotes #luna la #monet de haan #julien #audrey x aki x max

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starryknightwrites · 2 years ago

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I actually agree with you. If you'll notice, I said "Between Chloe defenders' unwillingness to give her any responsibility for her actions and the writers' determination to ruin her completely, I can't choose a side."

Disclaimer: I know not all Chloe fans are disillusioned to the point of blaming the class and Marinette for her actions or acting as if they are in some way culpable for not doing enough for her. But I've seen this opinion floating around in multiple places lately, thought it was ludicrous and it irked me so I wrote a post about it. Even with Marinette's advice, that does not even make up 1 percent of the blame for Chloe's behavior and trauma. The damage had already been done.

It is 99% down to the adults in her life AND Chloe to change. I know it's not easy to change. It often takes time, hard lessons and different experiences. I have negative personality traits due to the way I was raised as well, but when it came down to it, I had to take responsibility for them and work to better myself. I learned that through trial, error and epiphany. I could depend on no one else to do that for me. I learned that others should not be expected to pain themselves by accommodating poor treatment from me due to my trauma. That's not healing. It's a cycle of trauma and I don't blame them for not always having the best reactions either. They weren't my therapists. They were people too with their own hangups and issues just trying to figure things out. How could I expect angelic behavior from them with all of their intricacies while I'm acting like a bat out of hell? It would be narcissistic of me.

It was this idea that Chloe should be coddled by children her age or that they should be held accountable for her worsening in particular that I took issue with. I am not defending the writers' choices for Chloe from Season 4 on at all. In fact, I'm just as irked by them, but I'm keeping from writing about that in detail until I actually see the episodes (I haven't fully read the leaks, but it's pretty bad from what I've seen).

While I've never been a Chloe stan or even felt that the writers owed her a full redemption arc (I was alright with her being a Captain Jack Sparrow like character. Always teetering back and forth), I am completely aware that they have had a vendetta against her and her fans since Season 4. I wasn't even engaged in the fandom when I saw Queen Banana and it was still obvious to me that something went very awry in the writer's room. So I too don't have a lot of hope that Chloe's fall will actually mean anything. As I said in the original post, the leaks seem more vengeful than anything. And Andre's behavior is appalling. Unlike the class, he is an adult man who is responsible for Chloe as her father and someone who enabled her and demonstrated to her time and time again that abuse of power is okay.

The writing feels like a salt fic. I'm not on board with it. I'm just also not on board with the opposite side of spectrum and the blame game. If the writers are being vengeful- and they likely are- I really wish Chloe's issues had been dealt with properly with her learning through trial and error and having an epiphany (maybe through losing Sabrina or bonding with Zoe against Audrey). Or even just remaining mostly static with the odd realization here and there (which is probably most realistic). What it looks like they're doing is actually pretty vile.

It is not the victims' responsibility to save their bully.

(Miraculous Season 5 Spoilers be here)

I don't know who all needs to hear this, but I've been seeing some... takes... around the ml fandom. Between Chloe defenders' unwillingness to give her any responsibility for her actions and the writers' determination to ruin her completely, I can't choose a side.

It's not Chloe's 14-year-old classmates' duty to save and bend over backwards for her anymore than it's Audrey's 14-year-old daughter's duty to save and bend over backwards for her. Her classmates are kids with no experience dealing with abusive parents or who can barely sort out their own home problems. Not trained therapists who must know exactly what to do to make it through to Chloe. They're also kids who suffer from Chloe's cruelty all the time and are understandably hesitant to get in her face constantly touting self improvement methods. How counterintuitive to human behavior would that be? Twice bitten (or in this case 100+ times bitten), twice shy.

I'm sure Audrey has some trauma/valid reasons for being a jerk too, but no one is suggesting that Chloe spread herself super thin in the face of her assholery so that she can just CHANGE her.

Chloe's classmates have been nice and open to her, given her chances, gone to her party and tried to include her in group events. They often only lash out at Chloe when she lashes out at them (if that), which is constantly. Marinette went out of her way to get her back in school and made an attempt to get her mother to open up to her. A misguided attempt, but AGAIN, Marinette is a child. She is not a therapist and she was meeting Chloe where she was. She knew Audrey would laugh in her face if she tried to use the "she's your daughter and you should treat her better" route.

Anyone who says the class didn't try hard enough with Chloe/ didn't give Chloe a chance hasn't met a middle school class. Those kids could be horrific to Chloe with all she has said and done. But they're generally nice. And they demonstrated kindness to one another ALL THE TIME so it's not as though Chloe doesn't know how to be kind.

Chloe is 14. Not 4. She knows what kindness looks like. She's not an alien, scouring the dictionary and hoping someone will PLEASE teach her how to kind. She, at this point in time, does not want to be kind. Funny thing about recovery. You have to want it. YOU have to want it. Any professional will tell you that. It takes more than people continuously bending over backwards in the face of your cruelty. All that will result in is doormats. Sabrina has been "kind" and bending over backwards for Chloe for years. Well, a lot of good that's done. No. In order to heal and to improve, you must be at a point of accepting responsibility for you and DESIRING change.

Chloe isn't there yet. Nothing her classmates do will change it. Maybe it'll take time and reflection. Maybe it'll take a new setting. Maybe it'll take a harder fall. But she's not ready and that's no one's fault but her crappy parents and hers.

I don't mind Chloe having to suffer an incredible low to rise, though I'm not sure if that's what the writers are doing. The leaks for future episodes seem a tad too... vengeful- especially where Andre is concerned.

But let's not lean all the way to the other end of the spectrum and eliminate Chloe's personal responsibility from the matter. The primary factor in her turnaround will be CHLOE.

#miraculous ladybug #ml leaks #ml revelation #chloe bourgeois #ml fandom critical

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immaturityofthomasastruc · 3 years ago

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Hope you don't mind me spit-balling in your inbox, but I think if the show were to try to portray that you don't have to be around someone who has hurt you, no matter how much they've changed, that would be a really good thing! Chloe has been a bully and none of the people she's hurt have any obligation to be around her, but with that, they do still need to portray that she can get better in a healthier environment. Not everyone with depression or PTSD is going to minimize themself and avoid conflict as much as possible, and she just happens to be the type of depression/PTSD that lashes out and causes harm because she's been hurt. She deserves just as much as anyone does to be able to grow and get better, in a better environment. You know how Giddian Grey (I probably didn't spell that right) from Zootopia years later is implied to have gone to therapy and recovered? I think something similar but more fleshed out would be amazing for her.

Oh hey, you brought tea. Sensei Wu will be happy.

As much as I ramble on about how dumb Chloe’s “damnation arc” ended, I really wouldn’t have minded if she was completely irredeemable as long as the show didn’t spend so much time giving her sympathetic moments, because the way Chloe turned out. And this is just my opinion so feel free to say I’m wrong, it only served to unintentionally trivialize victims of poor parenting by saying it’s all the child’s fault by never showing either Chloe or her mother work out their issues and never holding Audrey and Andre accountable for negatively influencing Chloe in the first place. I’m not saying Chloe is blameless, but an environment can easily meld a person’s mentality depending on how it affects them.

Another thing to mention is even if it was possible for Chloe to get better instead of being completely irredeemable, the other characters don’t really facilitate a positive environment to help her change. At most, they tell her to get better without doing much to help her work on her behavior, much less call out her relationship with Sabrina, and after she betrays the team, they just write her off as a lost cause. They never talk with her about why she’s mean, why she believes she has to act this way, or why she feels entitled to everything she likes. At most they slightly nudge her into being a better person, and we’re supposed to be surprised she doesn’t take that advice to heart. Yes, it’s not Marinette or Adrien’s responsibility to change Chloe, but if they actually cared about wanting her to be a better person, you would think they could at least put in more effort to help her at times but ultimately understand she has to make some important choices in changing her life on her own.

I had some serious anger issues growing up, and the adults in my life didn’t just tell me to stop being angry. They helped me work through my issues and found other ways to deal with stressful and upsetting situations. Although if I was a character in Miraculous Ladybug, I’d probably just be portrayed as a rage-fueled maniac because Astruc doesn’t understand the struggle the path to self-improvement really is.

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #thomas astruc #thomas astruc salt #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug salt #chloe bourgeois #queen bee #queen b #audrey bourgeois #andre bourgeois #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #adrien agreste #cat noir #chat noir

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hotrod2007 · 4 years ago

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focal point

i wrote a buddie fic abt buck being reckless and eddie being stressed <3 i owe all my thanks and love to robin for encouraging me to write it she owns my heart mwah! (here is the link if u would like to read it on ao3 maybe n drop a kudos or a comment even 😳)

Bobby’s hand slaps against Eddie’s back as he hurries them towards the exit. He’s sure Bobby is yelling at him to move faster, hurry, but over the building collapsing behind them, Eddie can’t hear much else besides his own labored breathing. Hen and Chim are ducking their heads, barreling forward in front of him, and he trusts that Buck is following closely behind Bobby. They’re so close to the exit, he can see the flashing lights of trucks and engines from the other stations, and the closer they get, the more the smoke thins, and breathing gets a bit easier.

Bobby practically pushes him out of the small exit when they reach it, and he slams into Hen’s back, and they both fall through the opening with a shout and then take several deep breaths as they inhale fresh air as much and as quickly as they can. Eddie’s staring up at the sky, mask off, letting himself breathe before remembering he has to get up and move farther away from the building, but as he gets up he sees Bobby arguing with Buck at the threshold of the building. Before he can think he’s on his feet and walking towards them as fast as he can – he knows what Buck’s doing.

“I heard someone, Bobby!” Buck shouts, his voice is raspy from the bad air and it cracks. “I have to go back!”

“Buck, no! It’s too dangerous! The building is becoming less and less stable the longer we stand here. Come on!” Bobby points towards the line the police have marked off, Chim and Hen stand by it, watching them, trying to decipher what’s going on.

“Exactly! So I should go now!” Buck counters and Eddie wants to pick him up, throw him over his shoulder, and march back to the safety barrier.

“Buck do not–” Eddie steps towards him and reaches out, but Buck cuts him off.

“You know I have to do this, I’m sorry.” Buck gives them both a pained look before turning and running back into the haze of smoke and fire.

“Buck!” Eddie hears two other voices yell in unison with him, but he’s the only one Bobby is dragging away.

Hen and Chim are trying to push past the officers at the barrier, stressing that they need to get to Eddie and Bobby. Eddie distantly hears them arguing, but he’s too busy trying to break free from Bobby’s grip to pay attention to what exactly is being said. He’s yelling and twisting, but Bobby won’t let go of him, and he watches the rectangle Buck ran through getting smaller and smaller. In a last-ditch effort to get out, he stills and feels Bobby’s hands relax for a second, and in that second Eddie throws his full body weight forward and just barely slips through Bobby’s fingers.

He takes maybe three steps before he stops in his tracks, staring forward in horror.

The building gives a giant moan. Eddie freezes. The front collapses. Time stops. The sound of the flames gets louder. Time begins again.

In his peripheral, he sees Bobby grind to a halt next to him, he imagines a similar look of horror sits on his face. The only exit now sits in front of them, burning, and smoke billows out of the windows surrounding it.

Before he can process what’s happening, police officers are pushing him back, shoving at his shoulders causing him to gracelessly stumble backward. His eyes don’t leave the building. Buck is in there. Buck is in there. With no way out. The last thought makes him want to be sick.

He’s guided to the 118 engine where he meets Chim, Hen, and Bobby gathered around a radio, exchanging worried glances.

“Buck?” Hen says into the radio. “Buck?” She tries again.

“Anything?” Eddie bounds up to them, breathless, pushing down the sick feeling in his gut and trying to focus on what he can do at this moment.

Hen opens her mouth, presumably to say no, but the radio crackle interrupts her.

“-en? Hen?” Comes Buck’s voice through the tiny speaker. “Hen, I can hear you.” Buck’s voice sounds tired and worse than it did the less than two minutes ago Eddie had seen him.

Hen briefly rests her forehead against the radio and lets out a small sigh of relief. Bobby and Chim both look up and give short relieved breaths. Eddie stays focused on the radio, watching the red light blink. As long as that light is blinking, Buck is okay. That’s what he keeps telling himself. Red light means he’s alright. It becomes his new mantra that he chants in his head over and over again.

“Are you okay?” Hen asks, biting her lip with worry after letting the talk button go.

It takes a second, but Buck replies, “I’m okay. I was right, though. Tell Bobby I was right.” And Eddie can practically hear his shit-eating grin, which makes him relax a bit.

“You can tell me yourself when you get your ass out of the building,” Bobby replies, leaning forward a bit so he can be closer to the radio while Hen holds it.

“Yeah, yeah,” Buck replies. “Hey Eddie, I found a new best friend,” Buck jokes, but his voice is tighter than it is when he’s usually joking around. Eddie knows this tone, they all do, he’s trying to play it cool for whoever he’s with.

Eddie plays along. “Oh yeah?” He tries to sound light and happy when he says it, but his voice gives out at the end and he knows he’s doing a shit job of covering up his stress.

“Yeah. Her name’s Audrey, and she’s the coolest third grader I’ve ever met.” Eddie imagines Buck gently kneeling with her, letting her use his mask and air.

Bobby leans back in, so Hen presses down on the talk button again for him. “Hey, Buck,” he begins, “The exit collapsed.” There’s silence for a moment, and they all hold their breath. Then comes the crackle from the other end.

“Yeah.” Buck sighs, his voice closer to the radio and quieter than before. “I heard it.”

“What’s your exit plan?” Bobby responds.

“Uh, right now, I’m trying to get to the other side of the first floor and find a window, and get,” Buck pauses to take a few slow breaths, “Audrey out, and then I’ll follow her.”

Okay. He has a plan. He knows where he needs to go, and a general sense of direction. That’s comforting to know.

“Be safe, Buck,” Chim tells him and his voice is hard, and they all know it’s more of a command than a well-wish. Briefly, Eddie wonders if he’s told Maddie about what Buck did.

“You know me, caution is my middle name.” And that time Buck sounded like himself again. “I’m gonna start moving Audrey and me towards the other side of the building. Radio me if something changes.”

Eddie’s stomach sinks at the thought of not talking to Buck on his radio for several minutes, but instead pushes it down and takes Hen’s radio into his own hands and says, “That goes the same for you.”

“We’ll be extra careful for you, Eddie.” Buck radios back. He hears Audrey muffled in the background, and then Buck says, “Audrey made me promise her that we won’t get hurt, so now I’m going to be extra safe.”

Eddie hands the radio back to Hen and they all turn to face the building, the fire spreading despite having hoses from three different stations trained on it. All he has to do is get from one side to the other.

The captain from one of the other stations jogs up to Bobby and asks for his help on something, and Bobby gives him a clap on the shoulder and a head nod before he heads off with the captain. Chim peels away from him and Hen to go call Maddie and update her about what’s going on, and Eddie’s selfishly glad he won’t have to listen to Chim talk Maddie out of coming down here and storming in herself – he can’t handle the added stress.

“He’ll be okay, Eddie,” Hen says, giving him a soft look. “He’s done shit like this before, he’ll be okay.”

“I’m gonna kick his ass when I see him again,” Eddie says and he bites the inside of his cheeks to keep himself from crying. His eyes are stinging and his vision is blurring, and the last thing he needs right now is a meltdown.

Hen laughs a bit, and she looks down at the ground and kicks at some loose gravel. “You two are gonna be the death of me.”

They fall into an easy silence for a few moments, and Eddie opens his mouth to say something in response to that – to shrug it off, to point out her poor choice of words – when they hear shouting, and they both run out to stand in front of the trucks and engines to try and get an idea of what’s going on. He hears the creaking again, but before he can register what’s happening, Hen’s radio crackles to life.

Buck’s voice comes through, “Eddie–!” and just as soon as Eddie was flooded with relief, dread replaces it as Buck is cut off and the line goes silent.

They both hear a crash and their heads fly up from the radio, and they watch, panicked, as another section of the building collapses right in the direction Buck was heading. A truck turns its water on the newly collapsed part, and people are shouting directions around them. He and Hen both look down at the radio at the same time.

There’s no red blinking light.

Eddie feels the color drain from his face. Hen looks up at him, her eyes wide with fear and brows furrowed. Chim runs up to them and before he can say anything, Hen just lifts the radio towards him.

“Maddie’s driving down.” He sounds as if he’s realizing she might be driving to the scene of her brother’s death. “I couldn’t stop her.”

Bobby rounds the corner of a truck and his eyes catching on the radio Hen is limply holding in her hand. “I know you guys are worried about Buck, I’m worried about him too, but we’re still on the job and there’s still people to look after and care for.” He’s using his Captain Voice and Eddie knows his heart is as close to breaking as theirs if just one more thing goes wrong. The three of them look at Bobby, exhausted, but ready to listen. “Hen, Chim, go to the ambulances and help them attend to the people there.” He nods at them and they split off, hustling towards the few ambulances remaining to take care of those with minor scrapes and bruises. “Eddie,” he turns his head to Bobby at the mention of his name, “You need to be here, present, mentally. We aren’t any good to him just standing here, staring at the building, okay?” Eddie mutley nods at him. “Good. I need you with me. We’re going to talk to the other captains about what to do next.” Bobby turns and walks away from Eddie without looking back, and Eddie hurries after him.

There’s so much noise going on all around him – news choppers, reporters, police yelling at people to stay back, people shouting, the fire, the hoses – but all Eddie can focus on is the clear and heavy absence of Buck. He pulls his radio out of his jacket pocket and clips it to his shoulder, watching for that blinking red light.

The other captains are gathered around the back of one of the engines, slightly hidden from view of the building, but Eddie adjusts himself so he can still see it. He doesn’t know how long he stands in the circle with Bobby and the others, just staring at the fire, trying to will Buck to stumble out of it, but he rejoins the conversation when Bobby slightly shoves his shoulder with his own.

“We need more water. More engines, more trucks, just more.” The woman who’s saying this has a patch on her jacket that reads PARKER. “The whole building could come down soon and then we’re really at risk of it spreading.”

“So what do you suggest we do?” Asks a man with the name HARRISON patched onto him.

“Radio other districts for help. We need to douse this thing.” Parker explains and Harrison and Bobby nod in agreement. “Then, we move everyone back and prepare for building collapse.”

Eddie frowns when he sees Harrison agreeing again, and shoots a look at Bobby. “But wait, we still have a man in there, Captain Parker.”

“Diaz is right. There’s a firefighter and a little girl still inside.” Bobby calmly explains and Eddie thanks whatever God there is that Bobby’s there to back him up.

“Any word from him?” Harrison asks after a brief silence.

“Not since the second collapse, but–”

“Where was he when it collapsed?” Harrison interrupts him.

Eddie falls silent, so Bobby speaks up, “He was in the general area of it.” Eddie catches the other captains shooting each other knowing looks.

“He’s not dead!” Eddie exclaims and they all turn to him.

“Look at the facts, Diaz. He was near the collapse, you haven’t heard from him in minutes, he was in the area, and he’s probably out of air by now.” Parker tells him matter-of-factly, though her eyes are sad. Her tone softens as she says, “I know this isn’t easy. But we can’t put two lives above everyone else’s.”

Eddie knows she has a point. He knows she’s right. But it’s not just any person, it’s Buck. “We can’t just… we can’t leave him – them – to burn!” And Eddie feels his eyes stinging again. “He’s alive! He has to be.”

Parker turns to Bobby, softness almost gone and commands, “You need to get him in check. This isn’t an easy decision, but it’s what we have to do, and you know it.” She puts her helmet back on, and Harrison follows her lead. “I’m going to make a call to another district. Harrison, I want you to help the police back everyone up.” She gives Bobby one more serious look, and then she’s gone.

“Eddie, what did I tell you earlier.” Bobby turns to him once they’re alone.

“Bobby, I know, but it’s Buck,” Eddie says again like if he keeps saying the words, it’ll explain everything.

“Eddie, we all want –”

“No! No, because it’s different for me!” And Eddie grits his teeth as he feels tears run down his face. “It’s different for me.” He repeats, but softer, and his voice cracks. He’s staring hard at the ground as he leans against the engine.

Bobby pauses before responding. “Eddie, we have to start moving back.” He’s using his Dad Voice on him now and Eddie might laugh if the situation was anything but this. “We don’t have to move fast, we can lag behind. We can stay here as long as we can, but if Buck isn’t… but when the building comes down, we’re at risk.”

“He has to be alive, Bobby.” Eddie knows how he sounds – defeated, worn down, desperate. “Because if he isn’t… if this is the time that…” And he trails off, knowing Bobby understands where he was going with it.

Bobby doesn’t say anything else, but he leans against the engine with Eddie, watching police move the barricades and moving people back. They’ll have to drag Eddie kicking and screaming from where he’s standing.

Eventually, Parker makes her way back to them and fixes Eddie with an unimpressed look, and only addresses Bobby while she talks, “You have to move. We’re backing everything up now, and last to move is apparently this engine, a truck, and you two.”

Eddie opens his mouth to argue with her, ready to lament about how he won’t move unless she can pick him up herself when he sees a shape moving in the smoke and haze. He doesn’t let himself get his hopes up, not yet, it could be someone that was doing a last-minute look at the building to assess it. But then he sees a smaller figure slide off the first figure, and then they’re both running towards the lights as fast as they can, and Eddie’s so relieved he wants to scream. So he does.

“Buck!” He shouts and Buck takes Audrey’s hand and leads her towards Eddie and Bobby.

Parker’s head twists around fast and before Eddie can be smug about being right, she’s yelling for someone from the ambulances to come get the girl. Hen and Chim are heard before Eddie can see them, he’s zeroed in on Buck.

His face is covered in ash and there’s a sizable gash across his left cheek and his chin, but he’s smiling and telling Audrey something as he runs over. It finally clicks into place that Buck’s coming towards him, the little girl in tow, and he starts walking towards Buck without a second thought. Bobby’s telling Parker that they’ll move back in a second and agrees to help her move the engine and truck to appease her, and she takes him around the engine.

Hen and Chim are getting closer and yelling out Buck’s name and some phrases a child probably shouldn’t hear, but Eddie gets it. He’d be yelling too if he wasn’t on the verge of sobbing.

When Hen and Chim get to him, they call him a dumbass before dropping to their knees and asking Audrey if they could pick her up to take her to the ambulances. She nods at them and when they pick her up, Eddie notices that her feet are cut up and she’s wearing a nightgown and feels a pang of sadness. He doesn’t realize he’s stopped walking until he looks at Buck who has also stopped walking and is just staring back at him. He flashes Eddie a smile, scratches the back of his head awkwardly, and that sets Eddie back in motion.

When he’s within arm’s reach of him, Buck throws his hands up and opens his mouth, “Look, Eddie–” But Eddie will never know the end of that sentence.

Because he walks right up to Buck, ignores him trying to talk, and kisses him. He’s gripping the front of Buck’s jacket in his hands and holding on tightly as if he’s worried the fire will pull back in. Buck makes a surprised sound in the back of his throat but quickly wraps his arms around Eddie, pulling him in closer. Buck tastes like the mint gum he was chewing earlier and ash, but Eddie doesn’t care.

Eddie screws his eyes shut as he presses in closer to Buck, and he can feel his face getting wet again from his tears, but it doesn’t matter because he has Buck. He has Buck in his arms and he’s kissing him. He feels Buck’s hand move up to his face and he smiles into their kiss, Buck’s hands cupping his face, and Eddie never thought he’d enjoy feeling small, but right now it’s the best feeling in the world.

Unfortunately, there’s still a burning building at risk of collapsing, so they break apart, Eddie wipes at his eyes and pretends he doesn’t see the fond look Buck is giving him. For a moment, it’s just them standing in silence before Bobby comes over and drags them both back to the new barricade.

“Nothing is ever easy with you two.” He grumbles, but there’s a hint of a smile on his face. He unceremoniously dumps them at the edge of the barricade before he walks off to talk to Athena.

Eddie keeps his eyes staring straight ahead because he can feel Buck smiling at him with his megawatt grin, and he’s trying to play it cool. He glances over at Buck and finds himself grinning back. Playing it cool is overrated anyway.

“So,” Buck says as Eddie turns to face him. Buck’s jacket lays haphazardly at his feet now, and he’s got his arms crossed in front of his chest, eyes bright and smile wide. “Is that gonna happen every time I do something reckless now?”

Eddie rolls his eyes, dropping his jacket to the ground too. Feeling bold, he says, “It doesn’t just have to happen then, you know.”

Eddie’s eyebrows shoot up as if he hadn’t considered that. “I’d like that.” Is all he says.

“Good. Me too.” Eddie feels his cheeks flush a bit.

“Are you blushing?” Buck exclaims. “I made Eddie Diaz blush?”

Eddie tries not to smile, trying to look upset. He fails. “Shut up.”

Buck’s expression schools itself one of confidence, and he drops his arms, taking a step towards Eddie. “Make me.”

If Eddie wasn’t red before, he sure as hell is now. Still, he leans in and whispers, “Okay, Buckley.” Before connecting their lips again.

#buddie #911 #911 fanfic #eddie diaz #buck #evan buckley #ok :) i will post this and run away thank u

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princess-of-the-corner · 4 years ago

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Another thing that large portions of the ML fandom does that is really irritating (I'm not the same anon as before their ask just made me think of this) is lumping instances of bad writing in with character flaws. I remember forever ago someone sent you an ask that said something about Lady Luck and Scarlet Lady both being in character for Chloe depending on what episodes you pulled that characterization from bc of how inconsistent the writing is, and that can be applied to every character in the show being treated not as characters, but as plot devices by the show.

The class 'turning on' Marinette in Chameleon and blindly believing Lila's ridiculous and easy-to-disprove stories? Bad writing (and poor animation choices in the opening scene where all of Marinette's friends hostilely glare at her) that dumbs down the class to make Lila seem like a threatening antagonist instead of putting in the effort to write her as an actual master manipulator like she's portrayed. But more salt fics than I can count use this one episode to paint the whole class as fickle golddiggers who take advantage of Marinette's kindness, which directly contradicts two season worth of characterization.

Alya being so dead-set on helping Marinette get together with Adrien that she doesn't notice Juleka is basically having a panic attack in Reflekdoll? Character flaw; Alya has been shown to get tunnel vision when she's focused on something multiple other times (not realizing that Chloe can't be Ladybug bc she's been saved by Ladybug before in Lady Wifi, being so excited by having an interview from Ladybugs 'best friend' that she doesn't think to check if Ladybug is actually friends with Lila and if she's okay with that info being made public in Volpina, etc) and it's something she could work on and that can be expanded upon to make some compelling content.

It's infuriating to see these characters be used as nothing more than plot devices and have their established personalities be overwritten at random just for the sake of cheap lazy drama, and it's even worse to then see those instances be used to demonize them.

OH yeah definitely!

I think at one point I wrote up a whole thing on this but I can’t for the life of me find it.

BUT YEAH

There’s a difference between a Character Flaw and Bad Writing!

Ayla is 100% an example of this! She is stubborn and kind of tends to steamroll things and doesn’t think of consequences! This is shown off a lot! She doesn’t notice Juleka in Reflektdoll, she was so focused on finding out LB’s identity that she never stopped to think what would happen if that was publicized, she’s so determined to be helpful with getting Adrienette together that she can drop the ball on other things.

Those are all character flaws.

Alya taking Lila’s stories at face value, even telling Marinette the ‘a good journalist checks her facts’ is the bad writing. Because even if caught up in the moment, and knowing Lila’s lies are more believable in-universe, she shouldn’t have said that at all given the situation.

Same with the other classmates and that whole mess. Why should they have that ‘oh a napkin can totally gouge out an eye!’ line when someone could just have pointed out that reflexes overpower pain, so Lila could have easily caught that with her ‘sprained’ wrist?

Marinette is similar!

She can make snap judgements thanks to her own biases or wants. She ignores Chloé in Antibug because she doesn’t like her. She does dumb things because she’s worried someone else might get Adrien’s attention (ruining the Adrien and Chloé dance in Bubbler, stalking Adrien and Lila in both Volpina and Onichan, sabotaging Kagami in Animaestro and Ikari Gozen, etc). She also has a different, more naive perspective. She has such wonderful loving parents, so it’s hard for her to imagine awful parents a child should get away from, even when faced with Audrey or Gabriel. This also has her not question authority figures, which leads to her going along with Fu’s poor mentoring methods.

However, Marinette still being unable to even form a sentence around Adrien by season fucking three? The way in Chameleon that she just.... didn’t tell him that Lila was doing more than telling entertaining lies? That’s bad writing.

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tinyyoungblood · 4 years ago

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a night in | peter parker

summary: queens’ coolest friends group of smarty pants is back with fun sing-alongs, some life advice and a few hilarious childhood stories while peter can’t keep his hands off you

pairing: peter parker x reader

warnings: swearing and quick mentions of violence and vandalism

word count: 2.2k

song: Boys Ain’t Shit (feat. Tate McRae & Audrey Mika) by SAYGRACE

a/n: this is for everyone out there who would like some company on a boring friday night. just hang out with peter and the gang:)

↳ masterlist

* * *

“These boys ain’t shit, I’m not here for it,” you sang on top of your lungs while holding the white blanket around the nape of your neck, hips moving to the beat.

“If you want me, act like it. Act like it!” MJ sang the next line and twirled around the kitchen counter while carelessly throwing her hands up in the air. You met halfway and locked eyes with each other, a sparkling gleam dancing in them.

“These boys get pissed. ‘Cause I won’t stand for it.” MJ threw her hair over her shoulder and you cheered her on, “If you want the sweet life then act like it!” The LED lights dunked your skin in vibrating pink.

You were just two careless girls, dancing and singing their hearts out on a Friday night while the music was blasting through the speakers. “Run it backwards, don’t be such an asshole, run it backwards, run it, run it back— “

Suddenly the joyful moment ended when the music was abruptly turned off. Your heads snapped to the door, ready to cuss out the person who cruelly paused your music.

When the harsh lights were switched on, you could see them standing in the doorway: Your very confused boyfriend and his amused best friend, each of them holding bags of food.

“So this is what you do when we’re gone for ten minutes?” Ned asked with a grin on his face while setting his stuff on the kitchen counter. MJ rolled her eyes at him and fished out a can of soda, replying, “Always. Next thing on the list would be a pillow fight and a makeover.”

You walked to the living room to put away your fluffy blanket and called out, “Don’t forget sneaking out to meet up with leather jacket-wearing biker gangs.” As you turned back around, two strong arms slung around your waist and the familiar curls were nestled into the side of your face as Peter placed soft kisses on your neck.

Melting into his embrace right away, you smiled at his affectionate greeting. “Missed me?”

“You tell me,” he mumbled into your neck and you giggled slightly at the vibration, “I’m gone for two seconds and my girlfriend sings about boys not being shit.”

You gently removed him from your neck before he could reach your sweet spot and rested your hands at the back of his neck to face him. A sweet pout was resting on his puckered lips and you couldn’t help but peck them, immediately conjuring a smile.

“I was just jamming out to a song with MJ.” He cocked his head to the side to mutely question the song choice, but you just shrugged. “Besides,” you said with a smirk while playing with his hair, “you know, you ain’t shit, Parker.”

He gasped at you and placed his hand over his chest, making you laugh at his dramatic gesture. “But I love you anyway.” You leaned forward and captured his cold lips with yours.

The familiar warmth promptly welcomed you and rose from your stomach to your chest and the distinct chatter of your friends quickly vanished into the background. Peter melted into the kiss and you smiled at the impact you had on him.

When you pulled back, he instantly pressed your waist closer, prolonging the soft-lipped kiss. Not wanting to let go either, you moved your lips with his whilst soft curls slipped through your fingertips.

When his tongue glided over your bottom lip to ask for permission to enter, you had to fight everything in you to not let him take control and instead, reluctantly pulled away, leaving your lips disappointedly cold again.

“We wanted to spend the evening with MJ and Ned, remember?”

“They have food in there, they’ll be fine,” he waved you off and went in for another kiss, but you turned your head to the side, making him peck your cheek instead.

“Come on Pete, we promised them.” Groaning slightly, he pouted again and you wanted nothing more than to just plant thousands of kisses on his soft lips. Instead, you dragged him back into the kitchen.

And that’s how the four of you ended up on the living room floor, eating takeout pizza and exchanging embarrassing childhood stories.

You were cuddled in between your boyfriend’s legs and listening to Ned’s funny memory as Peter mindlessly drew circles on your waist with his fingers.

“And because nobody was paying attention to him, I had no other choice but to scream out his name while preparing myself for the impact!”

“You had to prepare yourself for the impact?” you laughed and MJ shook her head with a look of disapproval on her face, though she couldn’t help but grin herself, “You yeeted the poor blind kid across the playground!” You burst out laughing.

“Dude, pushing over a blind guy is not cool,” Peter chocked out between his laughter, your back feeling his chest vibrate.

“I was on a swing!” Ned defended, still aware that it was all kinds of messed up, “What kindergarten teacher lets a blind kid walk up to the swings?! That’s child neglectment!”

Everyone burst out laughing again, tears were almost streaming down your face. Eyeing your half-eaten pizza, you turned your head and handed it to Peter who wordlessly grabbed it and took a bite off it.

You smiled up at him and loved how he had a great time. He deserved every second of joy and happiness. Noticing you stare at him, he curiously looked down at you and you just silently exchanged warm smiles. A sparkling gleam was dancing in your eyes and Peter felt his heart flutter again.

Sometimes he couldn’t get over the fact that you were his. The funniest, smartest and kindest girl out there was sitting in between his legs, sharing her pizza with him. God, he was lucky.

He bent down and pecked your lips. Your nose scrunched at the heavy taste of onions, but Peter just gave you a lopsided grin.

“So what happened next?” MJ asked and picked up a bag of skittles off the floor, ripping it open to hand it to Ned.

It was an unspoken rule in your group that he always gets the bag first since he only eats the red skittles.

“Our parents were called in and I was expelled for the rest of the day,” Ned explained sheepishly and picked out his skittles.

“Getting expelled in kindergarten,” you chuckled, “Ned Leeds, you are a wild one.” He shrugged with a huge grin on his face, returning the bag of sweets to MJ.

“Well, if you want to talk about being a wild one, how about you share a story now, babe?” Peter nudged your side and you grimaced, nibbling on your bottom lip.

MJ nodded while leaning back on her arms, “It’s your turn.”

“Yeah,” Ned agreed, “I know like nothing about your childhood.”

You snatched the skittles bag from MJ and acted like you were deeply invested in picking out a specific colored skittle. “Because there’s nothing to tell,” you mumbled, clearly embarrassed of your younger self, but as always, Peter caught it with his enhanced hearing.

“Your mom told me what you were like as a child. There’s plenty to tell!” he urged and you elbowed him, but he just snickered, finding it adorable that you believed you could hurt him in any way.

“You seriously need to stop having dinner with my mom.” You deadpanned but you just felt him shrug.

“She makes the best lasagna.”

The others agreed, “She really does.”

“Bless that woman’s lasagna.”

You groaned and threw the bag in the middle of the floor for the others to grab. “Since when is everybody having dinner with my mom?”

“You wouldn’t know, you’re never home.” MJ shrugged, causing a pang of guilt in your chest.

“I get it, I’m too busy,” you mumbled while playing with the sweets in your hands.

“Well,” Ned eyed you and glanced at Peter who was absentmindedly playing with your hair, “you do have a lot on your plate with all the extracurriculars. You can always drop some, you know.”

Sensing the growing discomfort, Peter let go of your hair and hugged you from behind, pressing you against his chest. You naturally melted into his embrace and his heartbeat calmed you down.

“I guess I could drop one or two,” you mumbled and the others gazed at you knowingly.

“You know,” MJ spoke up in her monotonous voice that indicated that she tried to be gentle, “there’s nothing wrong with giving up on something if you don’t enjoy it anymore. No shame in that.”

“She’s right,” Peter encouraged, “babe, you don’t have to keep going just because you don’t want to let other people down. Whether it is the marching band or the speech and debate team, they’ll be fine without you. Do what makes you happy.”

The others agreed and the corners of your mouth turned up. You were grateful for moments like these with your friends.

They were right, you haven’t had dinner at home with your mom for a while now and you couldn’t even remember the last time you properly talked to her or even to your friends. You were always out, always doing something and always trying to please somebody.

“Thanks guys, I really needed this.”

MJ gave you a two-finger way and Ned beamed at you. You felt Peter place a gentle kiss on the top of your head and you honestly never wanted this evening to end.

“Anyway,” Ned announced loudly, “before we got all emotional, it was Y/n’s turn to share an embarrassing childhood story.”

The others nodded and you plastered a smile on your face, deciding on telling them a rather harmless story of your childhood. They would get to hear the cooler ones eventually.

“So,” you clapped your hands together and set the scene, “when I was 6 years old, I had to pop into the store around the corner to get some eggs for my mom since she was sick and on bed rest. But on my way home, I ran into this boy who I had a crush on and I was super embarrassed because I was wearing these pink barbie pajamas that I really did not want him to see me in.” You rolled your eyes at your younger self.

“But there was no way to hide from him since he was coming my way and I had to go down the street from the direction that he came from.”

“Very thrilling,” Ned commented while popping mini pretzels into his mouth. MJ swatted him with her hand to shut him up. You smiled at that motion and continued,

“But to my luck, a police car just pulled up and what my 6-year-old super brain immediately came up with was that instead of letting him think that I was a girly wimp, I could be a super cool badass right in front of him.”

“Of course what every 6-year-old aspires to be,” Peter snorted and Ned added, “Understandably.”

You jokingly rolled your eyes at them. “So I pulled out the eggs and threw them on the windshield of that police car while also making sure that the boy witnessed it all.”

Ned slapped his hand on his forehead, staring at you bewildered, whereas MJ just proudly grinned at you.

“Obviously, the cops jumped out of the car and chased me down. Clearly haven’t thought it through, I ran as fast as I could to escape them but when I passed the boy, he tripped me!”

A collective gasp left their mouths as they gaped at you with wide eyes.

“Turns out, he was the cop’s son,” you paused for dramatic effect, “and he was disgustingly proud of having stopped me.” Peter let out an irritated huff and you mindlessly rubbed circles into his arm.

“When the cops asked me why I did what I did, I obviously told them the truth because you know I suck at lying. The boy, of course, had to hear all of it and was just as awkward about it as me.” A small laugh escaped your lips as you remembered the memory clearly. “To my luck, they found it adorable, so they just drove me home with a simple warning,” you ended your story and popped another skittle into your mouth.

Ned shook his head at you comically, “Nope Y/n, I take everything back. You are the wild one. Shoving a blind kid doesn’t sound that bad anymore compared to your story.”

“It’s still just as bad, Ned,” MJ interjected and gave him a pointed look.

Peter leaned forward to catch your gaze. “I can’t believe you did that.” He smiled at you amused but you just shrugged it off and grinned at him.

“It’s nice to be wanted, you know?”

He stared at you horrified as everybody laughed. “Not by the law!”

* * *

quarantine sucks, i miss my friends:( anyway, this was a lot of fun to write so feel free to leave some feedback, send in requests or talk to me!

check out more of my stuff on my masterlist and if you don’t, that’s fine too. buh-bye!

#i think a night in with them would be so much fun damn #man i need friends who like to stay in #what i would give to have a cool night with mj and ned #spiderman #marvel #mcu #peter parker x reader #peter parker drabble #peter parker #peter parker one shot #peter parker imagine #fluff #peter parker fluff #ned and mj

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