#because he's a father too and he's also just a guy making decisions under duress

[cornertheculprit]

i think dhurke's decision to send apollo away but not nahyuta was a total thought fumble on his part. like i think he thought long and hard about it and went "hm. if i died in a foreign country would i want my son to be dragged into a rebellion against said country. No. I would want him safe and sound" and then he sent apollo away and just fucking. let his firstborn son be dragged into a rebellion against said country LMAOOOOO. like i know there had to have been other factors to it (for one thing nahyuta's hair + eyes + forehead tattoo were distinct enough that he'd absolutely be recognized as amara's son no matter where he went) but like. hdnzksjdjsndgsjn. dhurke. my man. what

[emeraldvagabond]

Do you think tamlin has too much pressure that he carries a lot? I think about him begging amarantha to spare lucien and she want him whipping lucien in utm. Him being called pathetic by brannagh before he whipped a sentry.

Yuuup. Exactly.

Not to mention, Brannagh and Amarantha are from the same kingdom. Their goal is different- Amarantha wanted her own kingdom, Brannagh wants to see Hybern is complete control of the world. But they both have this obligatory hold of Tamlin by having the real power in these situations.

Which is why I think its fucked that Feyre went and did....exactly what she did in front of everyone. I mean think about it, if Feyre had stood there, and said "yes /i/ know it was Ianthe. I saw it," or something of the sort to back the sentry, instead of just saying she would hear him....do you really think Tamlin would have gone through with it?

I dont.

but Brannagh and Ianthe are goading him, telling him hes weak, pathetic, allowing his court to walk all over him- which is going to end up killing them, etc.

And...he was NEVER trained for this. He doesn't want to be Highlord. He doesn't want to have a whole court to rule....he doesn't think he's any good at it, he had two or three brothers before him that would have killed him had he even thought of wanting to be Highlord. But besides that, he saw who his Father and his brothers were because of their positions and their power, and it disgusted him. Horrified him.

Which, ig is why it's so sad that he's so easily manipulated into becoming this weapon for Ianthe and Brannagh and Dagdan and Feyre to tear his court apart. He's only ever wanted good for his people. He's double crossing a literal super-power to get it(and he has receipts of his loyalty), but the people he's supposed to be able to trust the most, his high priest and the lady of his court....are....basically on Hybern's side. They do all the work so Hybern doesn't have to.

So yes- I think a lot of his actions in the second and third book are born from duress, pressure, stress, whatever you want to call it. At his heart, Tamlin was always one of the people, never a political figure. He wanted to be good, and do good, but he loses sight of what is good somewhere along the way. And that's not entirely his fault, without the influence of outsiders he wouldn't have, I dont think, but in the end he just...isn't ready to be Highlord and face his inner-self at the same time. He can't balance his own aches and trauma alongside of staying wary of everyone around him, AND being the only one with the good of the court in mind.

And, circling back to Aamarantha making him whip Lucien....I think it's another situation where he realizes he's been cornered. He can't say no, because then who knows what Brannagh, Dagdan, or even Ianthe will do to this guard. It's better if it's him, but saying yes means losing the carefully cultivated trust of his people. What is the right call when you aren't in control? When you're biding your time to save a whole civilization, but also trying so hard to do what's right by the people you love? When you're destroying caches of the enemies weapons and feeding them false information, so you can't make a single misstep in front of them for fear of being discovered.

whixh.....I guess is what she was trying to do with Rhysand. But the execution was bad and fell short, because he actually just did things because he could and he wanted to. And he did things that were unspeakable. And he isn't sorry or guilty, and at the last minute all of these things are spun off onto some other Super Evil Supervillain That Was Totally Framing Him.....that we never get to see in any of the books, or ever hear about beforehand. That isn't strategically hidden throughout the first book....who exists in this void of, no, actually Rhys is the good guy and here's why, and nothing else. We don't have to see Rhysand struggle with these decisions or the sorrow or regret because....he just doesn't. He doesn't have to be, because somehow, someway, the plot will be spun in his favor.

in contrast, we Get to see Tamlins struggle. His hesitation and self-loathing, we can pinpoint exact moments, after he comes clean about being a spy, where he was actually working against Hybern. Or moments where Dagdan and Brannagh make him question himself and his actions, even though he NEVER says these things aloud. We can see him hurting, desperately trying not to crumble under unrealistic standards that he was never prepared for...

and I think Sjm misses this SO BADLY with Rhysand, but accidentally makes it work with Tamlin....BECAUSE she hates him and the Spring Court. They're ALLOWED to suffer, and be flawed, to make bad decisions and repent.....whereas the ic and Rhysand just....always have to be right, so they lose their nuance and the feeling of being actually good people, making bad and hard decisions.

[intheseautumnhands]

More Sorting Hat Chats

All right, I have had Daughter stuck in my head all day, and I want to talk about Abigail Hobbs.

(I basically always want to talk about Abigail Hobbs, she is my favorite television character and would make a good running for my singular favorite character ever if I could ever pick one.  If you are considering if this is an invitation, please take it as one. But, I digress.)

As I can tell, there’s been discussion of Will and Hannibal’s sortings, and nobody else in the show. I’d love to dig in and do the whole rest of the show, but I don’t feel like I’ve rewatched recently enough to do everybody. I can always talk about Abigail, though!

As I continue to be exceedingly wordy as I do these things (whoops. I tried...), under a cut it goes again.

Let’s start on the Primary. We know pretty clearly that a lot of what Abigail has done has been focused on survival above all. We know for a fact that her darkest actions were: we see her kill Boyle in self-defense, and when she’s discussing helping her father, she says outright, “I knew it was them or me.” That... doesn’t actually help narrow it down, of course, because none of the houses have a claim on survival, and you could come at that feeling from any start point. But what it points to for me is that whatever her Primary is, it’s Burnt, and probably pretty badly. She hasn’t had the ability to come at decisions from a standpoint of what’s right, or what’s good for anyone else, or hell, even what’s good for her -- it’s all about what will get me through this alive.

When she does talk about what she’s done, it all feels very instinctive: “I’m a monster.” “Some places are stained now. Some people too. I know I am.” Even this: “I thought there was something wrong with me because I didn’t feel ugly when I killed Nick Boyle. I felt good. That’s why it was so easy to lie about it.” There doesn’t seem to be any weighing or rationalizing behind it, and every time she does try to come off as doing things from a rational place, it feels extremely put on -- that first scene after she wakes up, when she talks to Alana, for example, and Alana immediately sees through her.

So, not a Bird. She could be a Lion, instinctively knowing that what she’s done for her own safety is wrong and trying to fight that feelings -- it would fit with her judgements of herself, and with how she talks to Will about killing, trying to find someone else to rationalize it for her. But: I’m going to argue that’s she’s an extremely Burned Badger Primary.

First: why Badger, not Snake, when she’s shut herself down until she’s the only person she’s looking out for and that’s basically the original definition of a Petrified Snake? Because Abigail isn’t shutting herself off from connections in general. As soon as Hannibal reaches out, Abigail doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t try to back away from that connection; she leans into it, tells him about her nightmares and trusts him when he asks her. She pushes Will away -- until she’s reassured that he’ll accept enough of what she’s done that she doesn’t have to, and then she’s so quick to accept him and talk to him about it that she almost reveals her other secret in the very next conversation we see them have. She even opens up a little to Freddie, despite the fact that she has to know that’s a bad idea.

That conversation is also one of the reasons I’m going to call Badger, not Lion -- specifically, her view on Nick Boyle sounds so hard like either depersonalizing him to make herself feel better, or trying and failing to depersonalize him to make herself feel better. “I blame Nick Boyle for Nick Boyle’s death. He killed Marissa, he got what was coming to him.” We the audience already know this isn’t true to some extent -- we’ve seen Boyle crop up in Abigail’s dream, among the girls she clearly still feels guilty about, but it doesn’t feel like something she’s saying entirely for Freddie’s benefit either. It’s so emphatic, and it’s not a lie that will necessarily make her look better -- it makes so much more sense if it’s what she wants to believe.

And then Freddie blows it up, reframes it all and makes the guilt flood back in. And it could be either Lion or Badger -- he’s no longer such a bad guy, so having killed him is no longer something she can even try to frame as okay. But, even if Boyle wasn’t a killer, it was still self-defense. Reframing who he was doesn’t necessarily reframe what happened, and the fact that it still changes her feelings on it so thoroughly is part of what makes me go to Badger instead.

She doesn’t react to Hannibal the way I imagine a Lion with all that guilt would, either. Even after she knows for certain that he’s a killer, in the 3x09 flashbacks -- even when she’s outright saying that she’s not sure it’s smart to trust or accept him, she’s not really that guarded with him. If she’s a Lion, her talk with Freddie about Boyle and her guilt for the part she played under duress in her father’s killings speaks to some pretty intense gut feelings about killing and people who have done it. I see absolutely none of that in how she talks to Hannibal immediately after he confesses to killing more people than her father.

(There is some debate about how accurate the 3x09 flashbacks are, I believe, whether they’re closer to Will’s hallucinations of Abigail than actual memories; I do think some of the details may be embellished or changed by Hannibal’s memories, but I’m going to assume they’re more accurate than not to make this easier on myself.)

There’s also what she says in the therapy flashback, and yes, it’s clearly led and influence by Hannibal, but it still appears to be her words and her emotions:

He was as good to me as he knew how to be. Hunting with him was the best time I ever had.

And there’s the simple fact that this is the tact Hannibal takes with her, over and over, which I think can be read into. Hannibal is perceptive, very good at reading and manipulating people, and over and over again, when he wants a way to connect to or manipulate Abigail, he puts himself in a position where she can mentally link him with her father and her family. The tea and the dinner in 1x04, the dinner with Freddie and comforting Abigail in the kitchen in 1x09, “You accepted your father. Would it be so difficult to accept me?” -- it’s the tact he takes with Will too, to encourage his desire to bond with Abigail, pushing him to think of the three of them as family. It makes sense if it’s because he can feel both of them looking for that connection, and knows it’ll serve his desires and plans best if they find it with him and each other.

(I don’t want to go into this too long because I’ve already talked a lot, but there’s also something so fascinating about the idea of Abigail, whose trauma is about fathers and family and girls like her, whose downfall is in who she gives her trust to, being a Badger. And that’s not, y’know, a reason to sort her that way -- but it does add a really interesting layer to her if she is one.)

Okay. Let’s see if I can do the Secondary in under a thousand words this time.

Abigail is trying so hard to perform Snake, or maybe a really fast Bird. She’s trying to manipulate, to show everything what they need to see to want to protect or help her, to have a plan, to be one step ahead of everybody else.

And she’s really, really bad at it. Because Abigail has a loud, screaming Lion Secondary that hates every second of what she’s doing. All the decisions that give her any sense of control, all the decisions that seem to come from what she wants to do instead of what she thinks is best -- going back home to confront what happened, unburying Boyle, going back with Will again in 1x12, even, to some extent, agreeing to work with Freddie -- are impulsive, and involve facing the issues instead of trying to bury them. And the biggest one of all, the thing she does to feel like she has control, unburying Boyle -- it’s the worst possible thing she could do, to try and keep herself safe, but not having to wait for it to happen, to be able to confront it head-on, is the part that matters to her.

She’s just really bad at lying in general, too. Every time she’s around somebody she likes or who knows the smallest part of her secret, she says something that hints about what else is going on. Again, the first time we see her talk to Will alone after she’s stopped trying to push him away, she almost gives it all away: “I wish I had killed him. For killing my mom. For killing all those girls, for making me...” Then there’s what she says to Jack while standing over Nick Boyle’s body, her speech about how she survived -- she’s trying to dismiss suspicion, but she can’t help some honesty leaking out even though it does nothing to help her sound innocent. Alana pegs her as trying to manipulate people and trying to be too practical in their very first conversation, that one that seems so far removed from what she’s like in private, with people she does trust to any extent.

It’s also notable that even with all her manipulation and masks being so see-through to everyone around her, she still ends up with some of that reaction she’s looking for anyway, and not just in Will’s crusade to protect her -- Alana says she can’t help but care about her as well. (You could easily argue Freddie seems to have some extent of genuine feeling towards her as well, sympathy if nothing else, though that’s more debatable. Hannibal is entirely debatable as to whether he has genuine feelings for her or not, but if you view their relationship that way, there’s that as well.) Lion Secondary’s accidental inspiration maybe, twisted and warped by that manipulative performance and the situation altogether?

In conclusion: Badly Burnt Badger Primary / Lion Secondary (probably at least somewhat burnt, or at least repressed) with inexpert Snake and Bird Performances layered on top.

[nobodywritesthings]

Some more random bits of trivia about With Great Power

Part 1

Might as well just… put this here.  Spoilers below!  I ended up talking a lot about the villain side of things.

All for One uses a quirk he refers to as “Clothing Swap” to replace Izuku’s hero gear in Chapter 1.  For some random reason, I made a description of the quirk that ended up in my notes, though it never became relevant again.  Here it is: Clothing Swap: The target may have any article(s) considered to be “worn” swapped with any other article(s) the user has seen them wear previously. The user may choose themselves as a target. The swap may be uneven - a hat can be swapped for a full outfit, leading to someone really overdressed, or a full outfit for a hat, leading to the opposite - but “nothing” is not an option for either side of the swap. Objects in pockets or similar places of holding may be transferred into similar places in the new outfit, if available; otherwise they will stay with the clothing they were originally in. See that part about the user needing to see the target wearing the clothes previously?  All for One’s been stalking, and Izuku would’ve been able to guess almost immediately if he heard the details of that quirk.

Speaking of my notes, I tend to name the random fic ideas I write down in order to keep them easy to reference in my notes (or head).  I don’t always use those names for the finished product.  I liked the reference to the quote, “With great power comes great responsibility”, that I ended up going with for WGP’s story/chapter titles; but I actually came up with that theme after the majority of the fic was done.  For most of the writing process, I kept it filed under “Kingmaker AU”.

All for One’s threats to Izuku in the first chapter were something of a bluff.  If Izuku refused to listen, All for One would’ve been in quite a pinch - he certainly didn’t want to kill or Noumufy Izuku, and he had the feeling that “lock him in a vault and make him listen” wouldn’t work any better here than it did with his brother.  He did have other plans in case getting Izuku to agree to parley failed, but he was massively relieved when it worked.  (Izuku’s threat in Chapter 10, on the other hand, was definitely not a bluff.)

Gigantomachia saw the resemblance between Izuku and All for One the moment Izuku opened his mouth - not just in the contents of Izuku’s self-introduction, but Izuku’s voice itself.  As seen in canon, he has a very dramatic emotional reaction to hearing All for One’s voice; and while Izuku’s isn’t an obvious match, he could hear similar notes.  This was helped by the fact that Izuku was very tired and decided to start making threats, and was consciously using All for One as a model for those.  Gigantomachia’s easy initial acceptance of Izuku was mostly down to this (”He speaks with the voice of my Master”).  Of course, Izuku’s speech about not proving himself to everyone who asked did make something of an impression on its own merits.

As for the rest of the villains, Shigaraki and Kurogiri were the only ones close enough to All for One to notice Izuku’s resemblance to him (or care; if Dabi had any suspicions, he kept them to himself).  It took a few days after Izuku was left with the dictatorship for Shigaraki.  Kurogiri, on the other hand, noticed years ago - but decided it wasn’t his place to wonder about it, so he didn’t.

None of the villains guessed that Izuku was a close relative of All for One’s.  They all thought, at best, that he was some distant relative who All for One had taken an interest in and who happened to suit his plans.  They were immensely surprised by All for One’s choice of successor.

Shigaraki and Kurogiri got emails after All for One disappeared, too, not just Izuku.  All for One drafted them beforehand, as well as a few alternate versions for theoretical scenarios that didn’t happen.  Shigaraki’s gave him some sarcastic advice on how to make nice with the new Overlord, which worked surprisingly well.  Kurogiri’s included advice on Izuku’s preferred coffee brands, which also worked surprisingly well.

All for One had discussed a few things with Gigantomachia beforehand and so didn’t bother with an email - namely along the lines of, “I’m planning to make someone else the Supreme Overlord in my place.  Do what you want, but your life will be short and painful if he doesn’t stay in one piece.”

Shigaraki and Kurogiri spent most of their free time after All for One disappeared trying to track him down.  Izuku won their loyalty over time - or more accurately, having gainful employment and being surrounded by decent people while trying his best to behave himself helped Shigaraki feel less inclined toward villainy, and Kurogiri appreciated being given a fair chance at all.  However, Shigaraki in particular had many questions for All for One, and Kurogiri followed his lead.  Gigantomachia them helped out for a while, until…

Gigantomachia saw Izuku’s “father’s” signature, and realized he might’ve accidentally stumbled upon a secret that All for One would be happy to kill half of Japan over.  He smartly refrained from telling the other two, and pulled back somewhat on his assistance in their search.

When Gigantomachia met “Hisashi” in person for that trip to America, he sent a panicked text to Shigaraki that he wasn’t offering any more help and that they should stop going behind Izuku’s back if they truly valued their lives and limbs intact.  This sparked their decision to bring their research to Aizawa while Izuku was away.  Yagi’s assumption that they were afraid of Izuku’s reaction was entirely legitimate, but that wasn’t the full reason for their choice of timing.

One more note about Gigantomachia: When Izuku had his panic attack in Chapter 5, the reason Yagi showed up was because Gigantomachia made a beeline for his office and told him that the Supreme Overlord needed his help.  Yagi ran.

I honestly didn’t expect for the villains to take up so much of the fic (or this trivia).  I also was hoping to have more of Aizawa and Class 1-A in the story.  But since criminal rehabilitation ended up being such a focus, the villains ended up being particularly relevant.  I’m still a tiny bit annoyed about it.

How much did Inko know about Hisashi?  He tried to give her a similar story to the one he gave Izuku once he returned.  However, she knew him and his views well enough that she managed to get out of him that he wasn’t “working with villains” entirely under duress, and that he had done a few things to earn the enmity of “people who were after him”.  She was surprised when Izuku made All for One tell her the truth about his villain identity, but less than Izuku expected.

I don’t usually have soundtracks for my writing - I’ll put on whatever music I feel like listening to, or even nothing, depending on my mood.  However, for Chapter 10, I wrote most of it while listening to “Devastation and Reform” by Relient K on repeat.  I think it fits the self-inflicted tragedy that is All for One’s existence pretty well, and helped me capture the right tone for his side of the story.

Alright, a cheerier note is in order.  Originally, Chapter 6 (now the Social Media Chapter) was an utter slog of exposition that made me despair.  I ended up scrapping it and rewriting it as a social media interlude that communicated the stuff I wanted it to communicate, but I ended up cutting along with it a draft of the scene Hatsume’s video refers to.  Y’know, the one where Izuku sets an attempted assassin on fire.  It was indeed accidental - she was hounding Izuku to let her make the perfect Supreme Overlord outfit, and had shoved an ordinary-looking watch at him when the assassins showed up.  He threw the watch at one of them and it exploded.  Hatsume got yelled at by a tired Izuku afterward for endangering the paperwork he’d have to fill out all over again.

In the Discord conversation where I mentioned the initial concept of this fic, someone proposed a scenario in which Izuku starts crying in the middle of the UN because some representative was being an asshole about how Japan was being handled, and then everyone else would jump in to go, “Nice going, Rick, you ruined a perfectly good Supreme Overlord, now he has anxiety.”  I therefore decided that I would indeed make Izuku cry at the UN.  This was how the UN chapter came to exist.  Of course, in my version, the tears were because of the support Izuku got, and the good guy was named Rick.

Izuku setting someone on fire was also a concept I got from my favorite Discord server.  Several other people had Izuku setting people on fire in their stories.  I decided to join them.

Finally… you know how I abbreviated “Supreme Overlord” to “S.O.”?  Yes, I’m aware that the abbreviation usually stands for “Significant Other”, and I decided to go with it because I thought it was funny.  And a good way to embarrass Izuku even further.

I think that got all the major trivia and a few minor bits too.  Though I probably can dig out other things from my brain if people have questions; my askbox is open.  Otherwise, I’ve got a new prospective writing project in the concept stage, so I’ll switching mental gears off of WGP, I think.

[lilacmoon83]

Clarity

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 15: Sparks Fly, Pt 2

Snow cuddled against him, as they turned the corner and walked along Main street with his arm slung firmly around her.

"Cold?" he asked, with a chuckle.

"The winters here are just about as miserable as they were back home. But I guess cursing us to a place with sunny beaches would have been too pleasant," Snow mentioned. He chuckled and kissed her hair.

"I'll keep you warm," he promised. She smiled up at him.

"You always do," she said, as they were so absorbed by each other that they almost didn't see Kathryn barreling toward them.

"Oh…Kathryn," she said. The other woman glared at her.

"Well, I should congratulate you on the success of your article," the blonde said, as she held up a copy of the Storybrooke Mirror.

"My article? I didn't write that," Mary Margaret refuted.

"Oh no...but do you really expect me to believe that it wasn't you that fed these lies to this reporter!" Kathryn hissed.

"She didn't...we don't even know who this August person is," David insisted.

"Then why did he write these things!? You were my husband! I didn't make it up!" she shouted. He sighed.

"Maybe not, but for a really long time, I was gone and you didn't seem to give me a second thought. Did Regina tell you that she knew I was in the hospital the whole time?" David questioned. He knew that they couldn't really tell her that the marriage was exactly fake since that didn't mesh with her curse memories. But pointing out certain anomalies would bring other things into question.

"N...no, she didn't. She said she just found out you were there when you woke up," Kathryn said.

"But that can't be true. She was listed as my emergency contact and would have been notified the moment I was in whatever accident that I was in," David replied. Mary Margaret caught onto what he was trying to do.

"That's right...and the hospital had you listed as John Doe. That doesn't make any sense if you had an emergency contact. Regina would have been able to identify you," she recalled. This made Kathryn recoil in confusion. Everything they said made a lot of sense.

"But why would Regina hide you from everyone, especially me?" she asked.

"I don't know...but I don't think she's your friend like you think. Besides, do you really want to be with someone that can't love you the way you deserve?" he asked. Kathryn swallowed thickly and shook her head.

"Of course not...and I know we were just going through the motions," she admitted.

"You'll find someone," Mary Margaret assured her.

"That's easy for you to say," Kathryn grumbled.

"It is, but I happen to know someone at the school that's perfect for you. He's the gym class teacher," Mary Margaret said.

"I don't need dating advice from you!" Kathryn replied, as she stormed off.

"Well...that went well," he muttered, as they continued along the street.

"It was so nice of Regina to plant it into her head that I must have influenced the reporter to write that article," Mary Margaret said sarcastically. He scoffed.

"Yeah, we probably should have anticipated that, but why did you tell her that she should meet the gym teacher?" he asked curiously. She smiled coyly.

"Because Jim the gym teacher is really Frederick, her true husband," she replied and he smiled.

"Sneaky…I like it," he said, as they arrived at the Storybrooke Mirror's building. They knocked on the office door and unsurprisingly, Sidney Glass answered.

"Well...if it isn't Storybrooke's favorite adulterers," he said.

"Watch it or you'll find out how good my right cross is," David warned.

"What can I do for you and the fair Miss Blanchard?" Glass asked and David studied him with scrutiny. He seemed familiar, but he couldn't place who he might have been back in their land.

"We're looking for August W. Booth...he wrote an article in your newspaper," David said.

"We'd just like to talk to him," Mary Margaret added.

"Well...that makes three of us. You see, Mr. Booth neither works here nor had authorization to put that article in my paper," Sidney explained.

"Then why did you print it?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Isn't it obvious? This man broke into my office and placed his article in my paper without my knowledge or approval," Sidney replied.

"You must be in hot water with Mayorzilla then," David joked. He had heard Emma call her that in an offhand remark and decided that it was a fitting description if he had ever heard one.

"Laugh now, if you must, but I'll be printing a retraction to the article and then the town will go back to believing the truth about you both. You the cheater and her the tramp," Sidney said, which caused David to put his hand around the other man's neck and push him back against the door.

"If you hurt me...I'll make sure you're thrown in jail!" Sidney warned nervously.

"David...he's not worth it. He's a worm," Mary Margaret urged, as she touched his arm. David released him and backed away, as he attempted to collect himself.

"The waters have been muddied now and the truth always comes out, trust me. The town isn't so eager to believe anything reported by you anymore," David warned, as he took her hand and they continued on their way. As they walked by the alley, they didn't see the man standing there listening to the whole conversation.

Now that August knew they were looking for him, he would have to be careful to avoid them. They were clearly awake and he didn't want to be the one to tell them the truth about the wardrobe and who he really was.

"You two look cold...how about some cocoas?" Granny called, as she happened to be outside at the moment they walked by.

"Really?" Mary Margaret asked.

"I thought our kind wasn't welcome?" David asked and she nudged him.

"I see where Emma gets her lack of tact now," she murmured.

"Do you want the cocoa or not, chisel chin?" Granny asked shortly. Mary Margaret smiled.

"We'd love some," she said, as they followed Granny inside.

~*~

The gavel slammed down, as the Judge brought the hearing to order and they were seated. The Bayliff announced the docket number and the Judge looked over the documents in front of him.

"How do we know this guy isn't in Regina's pocket?" Emma whispered to Gold.

"That's actually a really good question," Neal agreed.

"I will be very convincing and he is more afraid of me than he is of her," Gold assured him.

"What did you do to him?" Neal questioned.

"Here...nothing yet. But I know things about him he'd rather not have made public," Gold replied vaguely.

"Wonderful…" Neal drawled.

"Who cares if it gets us visitation," Emma said and Neal conceded to that point with a nod.

"We're here today to discuss the visitation right of the biological parents of Henry Mills. I will hear opening arguments now," the Judge said, as Albert Spencer got to his feet and buttoned the front of his suit coat.

"Albert Spencer for the defendant, Mayor Regina Mills, Your Honor," he said, as he approached the bench.

"For the last ten years of Henry Mills' life, my client has raised her son and quite admirably so. She has been there for everything. The sleepless nights, the diapers, the nightmares, and all the ups and downs that come with often grueling duties of a parent. Now that the boy is older, the birth parents have come out of the woodwork to demand him back. To rip him from the woman that raised him would be a grave error in judgement, I believe. The birth parents are unstable and both have criminal backgrounds. It is my position that Regina Mills remain the sole custodian of Henry Mills," Spencer said, as he took his seat.

"Mr. Gold for the plaintiff, Your Honor," Gold said, as he rose from his seat.

"While we can agree that Regina Mills has raised young Henry from birth and provided him with all the material necessities he wants, she has not been exemplary when it comes to the boy's mental health," Gold said, which made Regina seethe.

"I have witnesses willing to submit testimony that they have heard the Mayor call her own son crazy for his very vivid imagination. The boy's own psychiatrist can testify that Mayor Mills' language alone could be very harmful to the boy. So much so that they boy sought out his own birth mother on his own," Gold continued.

"And while both Mr. Cassidy and Ms. Swan have made mistakes in their past, they were barely adults and have since turned their lives around. The boy wants them in his life and his opinion should be considered in this," Gold stated.

"Objection, Your Honor. That boy is a minor and it is not the practice of the courts to allow minors to make decisions concerning their well being themselves," Spencer objected.

"I believe I said that his feelings should be considered; not the sole basis of this case," Gold clarified, but the Judge put his hand up.

"As this is not the actual custody hearing, I believe this is a very simple decision," the Judge stated.

"I have reviewed the case, including comments from Dr. Hopper, who has stated that he has noticed a positive change in the minor in question since the resurfacing of his birth parents," he stated.

"Until we convene on the matter of custody, I am going to grant visitation rights to the birth parents. Every other weekend and two weeknights," he said.

"Your Honor...this is an outrage!" Spencer objected.

"Save it for the custody trial, Counselor. The visitation is only until trial and will be re-evaluated upon the outcome of the trial. But considering the birth father did not even know that he had a son, which could have changed whether or not his son was even adopted, I cannot in good conscience deny him the chance to know his son. The same goes for Ms. Swan, as she was clearly under duress at the time of his birth. Whether they are fit or not will or will not be proven in the custody hearing," the Judge ruled, as he slammed the gavel down. By now, Regina was fuming and if looks could kill, they would have surely all been dead.

"If you think this is going to go your way...then you're sadly mistaken," Regina growled, as she stormed out.

"Thanks...papa," Neal said, as he shocked Gold by giving him a gentle hug, which he reciprocated.

"You know that I would do anything for you...and Henry now," he replied. Neal nodded. He was still struggling with his feelings toward his father, but this had definitely made him reconsider his decision to keep him at arms length.

"Yeah...thanks. I owe you another one I guess," Emma said.

"This one is on the house, Ms. Swan," Gold replied.

"We should go see if we can get the kid and go to Granny's to celebrate. We can invite your parents too," Neal said, as they exited the courtroom.

"Will you stop calling them that?" Emma asked.

"How long are you going to keep denying what you know is true?" he replied.

"Neal…" she said.

"No…I'm serious. You have a gift for knowing when people are lying. I am from a place called the Enchanted Forest. My Dad is Rumpelstiltskin...also known as the Dark One. I escaped through a portal and landed in this world in the 1800's, London, to be specific. Then I got carried off to Neverland by Peter Pan's shadow…" he continued.

"Do you know how insane you sound?" she interjected.

"Yes...but am I lying?" he asked. She scoffed and walked off, but he persisted.

"I got rescued by none other than Captain Hook from the water, only for him to later sell me out to Peter Pan himself. Then I spent two hundred years in trying to escape that hell hole, only to finally succeed and find myself in the Land Without Magic again, America this time, in 1997. Then I met you just a few years later…" he continued, as Gold followed them, listening intently.

"Why does it matter to you so much if I believe or accept them as my parents, which they're not?" Emma asked, as they stopped on the street.

"Because I know how much you always wanted to find them and how much you wanted answers. Both are now staring you in the face and you're running away again," he accused.

"Screw you...Henry is the only thing keeping me here and you know it," Emma replied.

"Nope...now you're lying. You care about Mary Margaret and even David," he insisted.

"Enough! I don't give a damn about them and if it's all true, then why should I?" she shouted, as they were now just outside the diner.

"You've seen the book. You saw that nursery they made...for you. Parents that don't want their kid don't do that, Emma and you know it," Neal said, as neither of them noticed David and Mary Margaret coming out of the diner.

"Why do you care so much!?" Emma cried in exasperation.

"Because I know the truth! You were cheated out of having them and they were cheated out of having you! First, because of the curse...but ultimately, because of a lie told by people that were supposed to be their friends!" he said.

"What?" Mary Margaret asked and he suddenly realized they were there...

[triggeringthehealing]

We have an emergency

Summary: Stiles would like to state for the record that he's not trying to get himself injured on the job. And it's also absolutely unnecessary that he be admitted every time. Unlike when Chief Hale does get injured and Stiles insists on the EMTs doing a thorough job. And it's not like he cares about Chief Hale particularly, he's just being a good Deputy, that's all. Aka: five times there was an emergency, and one time there wasn't.

A/N: Written for the Full Moon Ficlet challenge on Livejournal - prompt #221: emergency

Derek/Stiles || PG || ~3k || AO3

“Come on, Melissa, I’m fine,” Stiles protests loudly.

He’s sitting on the edge of the bed, his uniform ruffled and shirt undone, fingers clutching the edge of the mattress.

“You’ll be fine when I say you are,” Melissa replies without looking at him, scribbling down notes on the pad in her hand. “I’ll need you to lie back down and stay still.”

“I’m fine,” Stiles repeats, but he does as she says and slumps onto the pillow. “It’s nothing that a little fresh air couldn’t fix.”

“Who’s got the medical experience here, kid?”

“You?”

“That’s right,” she says firmly. “Now, your blood test will be a while, but I’m gonna need you to get the oxygen mask on and keep it there until I tell you it’s okay to take it off.”

“I wasn’t even…” Stiles starts, but Melissa levels him with a glare that leaves no room for argument. “Fine,” he says with resignation and grabs the mask out of her hand.

He’s been brought into the emergency room -- under duress, he stated several times -- after he and his partner were called out to the scene of a fire a few hours earlier. The fire brigade had arrived after them, and both Stiles and Parrish spent a little too much time around the smoke for the EMTs to be comfortable just letting them go, apparently. So he’s in Melissa’s hands now, the same ones he used to appreciate when it came to his Dad’s health.

“I’m still supposed to be on shift,” he mumbles into the mask, knowing that he’s sounding a little like a petulant child.

“And I’m sure your father would rather you get checked over thoroughly instead of letting possible smoke inhalation mess up your lungs,” Melissa tells him. “Don’t make me call him to talk sense into you.”

“He’ll probably be here soon anyway, I’m sure he heard,” Stiles says with a deep sigh that sends a fresh load of air into his lungs.

So he coughed once while at the scene. He just stupidly did it within earshot of one of the firemen -- Chief Hale -- who immediately alerted the EMTs.

“Stupid overprotective Hale,” Stiles mutters to himself as he thinks back on the Chief’s decision to get him checked out. “Could’ve been back in the car with Parrish already, but no…”

His shoulders slump as he keeps breathing through the mask, and he starts running through the events of the afternoon in his mind so he remembers all the details later, when he’ll inevitably end up writing the report. He might as well use the time for something, since Melissa won’t let him leave until she’s completely happy with his results. He’s learned that lesson over the years he’s been her son’s best friend.

-=-=-=-=-

It’s not a fire the second time they run into each other that week. Stiles gets to the scene as fast as he can, ignoring Parrish’s complaints about his driving. And yet, the fire brigade is already there, Reyes and Boyd standing at the back of the truck with worried expressions on their faces as they’re looking up.

Stiles follows their matching gazes to the roof of the school, and he almost -- almost, dammit -- gasps at the sight that greets him.

“What the fuck is he doing up there?” Stiles asks when he sees Hale on the ledge, ladder quite a distance away from him.

“He refused to let anyone else up,” Boyd grunts. “Said he knows how to deal with it.”

“Fuck protocol, right,” Stiles says with a sigh. “He shouldn’t be up there.”

“Kid wasn’t gonna jump,” Reyes -- Erica, Stiles reminds himself -- says, her eyes fixed on her Chief still. “Got stuck when the Seniors were pulling a prank, but Derek still insisted he’d go up to help.”

“Small mercies, I guess,” Stiles says.

They all watch as Chief Hale helps the kid back up from the side of the building, and they follow him as he climbs back down. Both the Chief and the kid are almost on the ground when the ladder shakes, the kid loses his balance, and they both come tumbling down onto the lawn below them.

This time it’s Stiles who insists that the EMTs -- who arrived just after Stiles and Parrish -- check Chief Hale over and bring him to the hospital to rule out breaks and concussions.

Payback.

-=-=-=-=-=-

The next time that he’s brought to the hospital, he’s cringing in embarrassment. He knows why he’s there, and he knows it’s unnecessary, but he also remembers the exact sequence of events that led to him being there.

“I thought you were past fainting at the sight of blood, kiddo,” his father says when he gets in.

“This wasn’t just blood, Dad,” Stiles protests weakly.

The scene that he went to was particularly gruesome, but Stiles is still not proud of his fainting spell. It wasn’t the blood really, that made his head spin, but the burns on the victim and the still smoldering parts of the house. He was the first on the scene, before the fire trucks or the on duty patrol car arrived. He’s gotten better with blood, and with injuries of all different kinds, but fire… fire is still something he’s having a hard time with. He doesn’t know how the firefighters do it.

“I saw,” John says, and he lets out a sigh. “I also saw that you were there before the scene was cleared for anyone to enter.”

“Dad…”

“No, do not Dad me here kid,” John said sternly. “As your father and your boss, I’m extremely unimpressed right now. You went in before the fire department even got there, without backup. You’re lucky that Chief Hale was there so fast.”

“Oh no,” Stiles mutters at the mention of the Fire Chief. “Please don’t tell me…”

“He’s the one who got you out, yes,” John says, and there’s a smirk playing on his lips. “Glad he did. Extra glad he checked the house before they doused it with water.”

“I’m never gonna live this down,” Stiles says, slumping into the pillows on the bed.

“Well, at least you’re gonna live to tell the tale,” John laughs, “even if it’s missing the parts where you were carried out of the house.”

“He did what?” Stiles sits up a little too fast, and them falls back into the pillows when his head spins.

He pointedly ignores his father’s chuckles, and instead decides that a nap will somehow help restore his dignity.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Parrish stops the patrol car at the neighboring house when they arrive. There’s a commotion in the street, and Stiles can barely spot the firefighters among the crowd, though the truck is right in front of the house they got called to. He can’t see smoke, which makes him let out a relieved sigh, but the amount of bystanders who look like they’re impeding the firefighters’ work is worrying.

“Think we’ll need backup?” Stiles asks Parrish as they start getting out.

“We’ll see. Keep the comm handy though,” Parrish says, already assessing the situation.

They walk past the Fire Chief’s car on the way to the scene, and Stiles can’t help but look for Chief Hale. When he can’t see the familiar dark hair among the uniforms, he starts worrying, because he’s so used to Hale always being somewhere very visible.

“Where’s the Chief?” Parrish asks, like he’s reading Stiles’ mind. “Who can brief us?”

“No fire, no smoke, call was to a recovery from the roof,” Reyes rattles off. “Simple job, ladder fell down and the guy slipped down the side. EMTs got him now, but he’s…”

She’s interrupted by a protesting yell from where the ambulance is, and Stiles glances over to spot the injured guy fighting the EMTs, though he’s strapped to the gurney.

“He’s been fighting us about getting admitted,” Reyes finishes with a heavy sigh. “I’m guessing he doesn’t have insurance, but since we got the call, Chief insisted on getting him checked out.”

“Of course he did,” Stiles grumbles. “Where is he, anyway?”

Both he and Parrish turn in the direction that Reyes points to, and Stiles freezes when he sees blood on Chief Hale’s face.

“What the hell happened?” Parrish asks sharply.

“Guy really didn’t want to be treated, even though his arm was covered in blood,” Lahey -- another one of the firefighters who appears next to them -- explains. “Chief insists that he’s fine, he just tried to help hold the guy and got a fist in the face for his trouble. That’s not his blood. Or so he says.”

The EMTs finally get the gurney into the ambulance with the help of some of the other firefighters and a civilian -- the way she’s talking to the injured guy, Stiles figures it’s his wife. Before they drive off, though, one of them turns to Chief Hale. She’s rewarded with a shake of the head, and a frown that Stiles is all too familiar with. It’s the one that says “no” in several unspoken languages. Allison -- the EMT -- is however determined, and walks closer, making the frown intensify in a way that even Stiles thought was impossible.

“I’m gonna check in with the EMTs,” Stiles says. “You okay?” He turns to Parrish for a beat, and then heads towards the ambulance when he sees Parrish’s nod.

Allison is frowning right back at Hale when Stiles reaches them, and he’s momentarily wondering whether he should get in the middle of that stand-off.

“What’s up, Chief?”

“Nothing, I’m fine,” Hale grunts out the response, eyes still on Allison.

“See, I’m not so sure,” Stiles starts, already knowing he’s about to ramble. “I can very clearly see blood, and while I’m willing to give a moment to your insistence that it’s not yours, I also don’t completely believe you. So how about you just let Miss Argent here look you over, maybe wipe off the bodily fluids, and while she’s doing that, she can brief me on the fallen hero over there,” he finished with a nod towards the ambulance.

It’s just the right thing to say, apparently, because Hale turns to Stiles, and that’s enough for Allison to step closer and put her hands on the bloodied cheek. The hiss Stiles hears when her fingers touch the Chief’s cheek is enough for him to dig his heels in and insist that the fire truck deal without their Chief until he gets checked out in the hospital.

He’s not gloating when the ambulance drives off with Chief Hale on the passenger seat. That would be childish, and he’s a mature officer of the law who doesn’t gloat.

-=-=-=-=-=-

The easiest of the calls is the one where they go to the scene of a fire as backup, long after the fire trucks have arrived. Those times, in Beacon Hills, the most that Stiles needs to do is interview the people who were nearby, and then fill out all the reports when he’s done.

The toughest of the calls… well, the one that ended up with him fainting definitely counts, but the absolutely worst calls are the ones that have him and Parrish at the scene before the firefighters. Especially when there are victims who are extra vulnerable, and need more help.

“Parrish, we have to go in!” Stiles shouts over the noise of the flames from the house. “The truck is still a few minutes out, we’ve gotta…”

“We can’t! You don’t know when…” Parrish yells back, his eyes darting between Stiles and the house.

Just then, one of the window panes breaks and more flames burst out of it on the top floor. Stiles’ heart is beating in his throat, and he scans the rest of the windows for signs of anyone needing help. There are shadows and there’s smoke, too much of both to let him see anything.

“Stiles!” Parrish calls out when Stiles starts moving towards the house to get a better look. “Come on, it’s too late for us to go in! The truck will be here soon, stop!”

He can’t wait though. Can’t just stand around to wait for the firefighters, can’t do nothing. So he goes closer, keeps checking the windows to see if there’s anyone there. Behind him, he can hear Parrish shouting some more, and through the roar of the flames above he thinks he can hear tires screeching to a halt.

Just when he’s about to turn to check if the fire truck is getting there, another window on the second floor bursts out, and glass shards fly everywhere. Stiles does the only thing he can think of right then: he ducks down and curls in on himself, his back out like a shield. He can feel the prickling pain as the glass rains down on him, and hears the stomping of feet running towards him. There’s still glass falling a few beats later as the next window pane breaks -- or at least he thinks that’s what he’s hearing -- but none of it seems to be falling on him this time.

“Don’t move,” the familiar voice of Chief Hale orders when he tries to stand up. “Are you trying to get yourself killed? Why are you this close to the house?”

“There could’ve been people,” Stiles replies weakly, wondering if he’s loud enough to be heard over the roar of the flames and the fire truck engine.

“You’re insane, and you’re going right into the ambulance, since apparently that’s what it’s here for now,” Chief Hale says, and helps Stiles carefully get off the ground.

There’s glass everywhere on the lawn, and they slowly walk over to the trucks, where a frantic Parrish is standing.

“I told you to stay here!” Parrish says, his voice tinted with anger and worry.

Stiles doesn’t dare to talk as he’s led towards Allison, who’s already putting on gloves and setting out her kit to help, her movements betraying her worry.

“RIght, both of you, stand here,” she says to Stiles and the Chief.

“I have to…” Chief Hale starts, but he’s shut down by a glare from her that sends chills down Stiles’ spine that have nothing to do with the glass pieces still embedded in his uniform.

“You have to nothing, Derek,” she says. “Your team is on it, Boyd’s got it under control. The house was empty,” she says with a pointed glare at Stiles. “The only thing either of you is doing is standing here, letting me get the glass out of wherever it went, and then going to the hospital.”

The way that they curse in unison would normally get some sort of pleasant or amused reaction from Stiles, but this time he just obeys Allison’s instructions and keeps his mouth shut.

-=-=-=-=-=-

“I’m not here for me,” Stiles says when he runs into Chief Hale -- Derek, he reminds himself -- at the nurses’ station.

“Did I say anything?” Derek asks, but it’s that little bit too defensive, giving away that he was going to comment on Stiles being in the hospital again.

It’s a few months after the fire that had both of them treated for cuts, pointedly ignoring each other even though they were in the same room.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m waiting for my friends,” Stiles says just as defensively. “They had their first ultrasound appointment.”

“Allison?” Derek asks, looking surprised.

“How did you know?”

“I’m here to pick her up,” Derek says. “You are Scott’s best friend. I should’ve known.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Stiles bristles.

“I’ve heard stories about the things you two got up to,” Derek tells him, his lips curled into a smile, eyes shining with amusement. “Not that I expected the young delinquent to have grown up to be an officer of the law.”

“Well, it helped knowing the laws we were very much not breaking back them,” Stiles says, matching Derek’s grin.

The laugh he gets in response takes his breath away a little. He’s too used to seeing Derek as the Fire Chief, stern and serious, and the smile on his face is fascinating. When Stiles’ mouth drops open in surprise, he doesn’t miss the way Derek’s eyes follow the movement.

“Oh wow,” a voice from behind their backs interrupts the moment.

They both turn around and come face to face with Allison, who’s unabashedly grinning at them. Stiles briefly considers frowning, but her dimpled face looks too happy to be angry at.

“This strangely makes sense,” she says without explanation, and Stiles glances at Derek, who looks just as confused.

“What?” They ask in unison when they both turn back to her.

“Oh wow,” Scott says when he walks up behind her. “You were right.”

“What?” Stiles asks again.

“Right, we’re going for breakfast. You two are coming with,” Allison says, leaving no room for an argument.

He could try, but Stiles knows better than to try and reason with that tone. The last time he heard it, he had glass shards all over his back, and the memory alone is enough to make him follow her and Scott outside. Derek reluctantly follows, apparently also not willing to fight Allison’s decision.

By the time Allison and Scott leave again, the breakfast has turned into brunch, Derek and Stiles are deep in a conversation that makes them forget everything around them. In Stiles’ opinion -- not that anyone bothers asking -- there really isn’t any need for Allison’s “don’t make out in public, you’ll get in trouble” comment as she walks away.

He’s not thinking about that, honest.

When he meets Derek’s gaze though, he wonders if he should be.