#because it means when i get tired of environment drawing i can just. put them there.

[static-void]

attempting to keep my brain intact through this drawing via taking breaks to draw them running around

[moonsandmobilityaids]

The Flu Part 4

Pairings: Poly!marauders x disabled!reader Summary: You get the flu. But for someone with your immune system, the flu is never just the flu. Warnings: Flu Series Masterlist | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

You feel the cool, crisp air of the castle as you return from St. Mungo's, and it's a stark contrast to the warm, sterile environment of the hospital.

You'd spent a few days in isolation as you recovered from the flu, but despite being out of it, your body was still weak and tired from the lingering effects of the illness, and the strain it had put on your body. And even though you were now back at Hogwarts, you weren't yet ready to go back to classes.

“I want you here for a couple more days," Madam Pomfrey insists. "Just to make sure you're well enough to return."

It was frustrating; you were so close to the Gryffindor common room, yet you were still stuck under the watchful eyes of Madam Pomfrey. You roll your eyes, but ultimately nod; there would be no arguing with her, and she was technically right - your body was still weak, and you knew that your immune system would take longer to recover than most people, and that could mean another infection or worse if you went back too soon.

James, Sirius, and Remus are waiting for you when you arrive, and as soon as you're settled into bed once again, they come over. They'd been worried about you, and while they tried not to show it too much, you can see the relief in their eyes when they spot you sitting up in bed.

James is the first one to reach you, dropping down into the chair beside your bed and immediately taking your hand. His grip is almost tight enough to hurt, his hazel eyes showing just how scared he's really been.

Sirius and Remus aren't far behind James; Sirius leans against the foot of the bed, crossing his arms in an attempt to look relaxed, while Remus hangs back slightly. He gives you some space, but doesn't look away, watching you intently, the same worry etched into his face.

"I'm okay," you promise, your voice hoarse from not speaking for so long.

They don't pressure you with questions right away or fuss over you too much - they know better than to overwhelm you when you've just woken up. And yet, there's a tension in the air that suggests that while they're relieved you're awake and doing better, they aren't happy about what had happened.

"You missed out on everything," Sirius tells you after a moment of silence. "I mean, I thought I was going to fail Transfiguration without you, but then Evans gave me her notes, and she really doesn't like me, so I think we can all agree that you need to hurry up and get better."

You laugh softly, shaking your head at him. He was obviously trying to keep things light, and you were grateful for it - as much as you knew how serious this situation could have been, you couldn't handle the weight of it right now.

"Didn't realise my life would be so boring if you weren't around," James says, looking up at you. His hand is still holding onto yours, his thumb drawing patterns across your skin. "And I don't want to even think about what the common room will look like. You haven't been there to clean up our messes, after all."

"I didn't think I was that important," you admit, smiling slightly.

"You are to us," Remus points out, and you glance up at him. He seems to be studying your face, taking in every detail, as if he's searching for something.

There's a pause before he speaks again, clearly picking his words carefully. "How do you feel?"

He looks at you curiously, as if he knows that you might lie to avoid them worrying, and you hesitate for a moment, unsure of whether or not you should lie. But you'd promised yourself that you wouldn't hide anything anymore, so, despite the fact that you knew they were going to worry more because of it, you tell the truth.

"Tired," you confess. "Weak. Not ill, though."

It wasn't surprising that you felt weak; aside from being seriously ill, you hadn't eaten properly in days. Madam Pomfrey would likely force some soup down your throat later to help you regain your strength, but until then, you'd probably continue to feel fragile and shaky, as if you were made of glass.

A sigh of relief passes through them, one that only you seem to see, and their bodies relax ever so slightly. They don't completely relax, however - you're not better yet, so why would they?

****

The boys stick close to you over the next few days, visiting between classes and bringing you news of what was happening in the outside world.

James manages to sneak some food out of the Great Hall for you, insisting that you eat something because even though your appetite had returned, it hadn't increased much.

"And this is why Y/N leaves us," Sirius says with a roll of his eyes, sitting down on the end of the bed. "You're being too fussy."

You shake your head at him, taking a bite of the apple James has held up to your mouth. He's clearly trying to get you to eat more by feeding you himself - and unfortunately, it seems to be working.

"I'm just looking after her," James retorts as he pulls away slightly, but not enough so that you can take the apple from him. "It's my job as her boyfriend."

Sirius shakes his head, scoffing softly under his breath, but doesn't respond, instead choosing to tell an exaggerated story about how Lily has been reigning hell on people while you were gone, making you giggle despite yourself.

Remus hangs back, saying very little unless spoken to directly. He hovers around, keeping a careful eye on you, watching every move you make to ensure you don't push yourself too hard. You'd noticed him doing it during their first visit, and while you found it annoying, you knew he was only doing it because he cared about you. And besides, Madam Pomfrey was hovering close-by, checking your vitals once every hour or two, and she wasn't shy when it came to telling them off if they got too boisterous.

You're relieved when Madam Pomfrey allows them to stay until curfew, completely ignoring her own rule for once, despite being hesitant on whether she should let them visit you again so soon. She's reluctant to allow them to do anything except sit there and talk with you, but they don't seem to mind too much, happy to just be near you after not knowing what would happen to you for almost a week.

James is ecstatic when he hears this, going straight for your hand which is under the covers and giving it a gentle squeeze. You can't return the gesture yet, still feeling weak and fragile, like you'd break if someone touched you wrong, but he doesn't seem to mind. He brings your knuckles up to his lips and presses a soft kiss against them, keeping his eyes on yours the entire time.

"I love you," he says quietly, smiling slightly but mostly looking serious. "And I'm glad you're okay."

The words feel heavy on your tongue, but you try anyway, managing to mumble, "love you too."

He smiles properly then, pressing another quick kiss to your hand before lowering it onto your stomach again, careful to keep it covered with the blankets so you wouldn't get cold.

****

You spend a few more days in the hospital wing, slowly but surely building your strength back up so that you could return to normal classes. It was boring and annoying and you couldn't wait to get out of there, no matter how much Madam Pomfrey insisted that you needed a lot of rest to recover.

Finally, after what felt like the longest week of your life, she agreed to discharge you from her care, but only on one condition: You had to take it easy for at least another week, not overexerting yourself or getting too tired, and report any signs of a relapse immediately - she'd given you a long list of what these could be, making sure you were aware of them all before letting you leave.

James, Sirius and Remus are already there when Madam Pomfrey makes the announcement, helping you pack up the small amount of belongings you'd accumulated while staying there. James is careful to keep an eye on you as he does this, though, clearly worried about you even if you weren't going far.

Remus takes charge of pushing your wheelchair, guiding you through the familiar halls of Hogwarts on the short but very slow journey back to Gryffindor Tower. The chair moved slower than you walked normally, which wasn't very fast as it was, but neither of you mind too much, taking your time because you don't have anywhere else to be right now.

The boys' presence is comforting, providing some silent support as you transitioned back into your regular surroundings, and you can't help but feel grateful for them.

The common room is warm and familiar, the fire crackling in its place on the other side of the room. The few people who are sitting there turn to look at you when you enter, but none of them say anything, instead just giving you a small smile before turning back to their conversations or work.

You’ve never been so relieved to see a room; it felt like coming home after being away for weeks, even though it hadn't quite been that long yet, despite how it felt.

"Welcome back," Remus murmurs as he pushes you towards your accessible bedroom, through the door which James had already opened. "We're glad you're okay."

You nod slightly, unable to speak without feeling choked up. James and Sirius help you into bed once Remus moves out of the way, moving slowly so that you can take your time. Sirius is careful, more than usual, making sure you're laying down comfortably before pulling the blankets up over you properly, tucking you in as if you were a child.

"Thanks, Siri," you say quietly, and he smiles sadly at you, pressing a quick kiss to your forehead before standing up again.

"Who gets the first hug?" Sirius asks, his grey eyes sparkling with mischief as he glances between James and Remus. There's a challenge in his voice, an invitation to contest this claim.

"I believe I should," James replies without missing a beat, his brow furrowing in thought. He steps forward, coming to a stop at the foot of your bed, and sits down near your feet. "I've been the most worried, after all."

"Says who?" Sirius scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the doorframe, every inch the picture of casual defiance.

Remus chuckles, shaking his head as if amused by their antics. Without a word, he lowers himself onto the edge of the bed, claiming the space beside you. His arm drapes gently across your waist, drawing you toward him until your sides are pressed together. You have another side, after all.

"Alright, enough," Remus murmurs, though there's a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "We're not here to argue about who gets to cuddle her."

There's a pause as they all look at one another, then back at you. You can see the concern etched in their faces, especially James's. He's always been the most protective out of the three, and now that he has an excuse to be even more so, he seems ready to use it.

"Yeah, let's figure this out," Sirius agrees after a moment. His voice is calmer than before, and when he sits down on your other side, he's careful not to jostle you too much.

They spend the next few minutes discussing what needs to be done for you. James insists that he'll help you catch up with your schoolwork once you feel better, promising to make sure you don't fall behind. Sirius counters by saying he'll carry your books to every class, wanting to lessen any physical strain on you.

"And I'll make sure she takes breaks when needed," Remus adds quietly from beside you. "Rest is important."

The words hang in the air between them, each sentence carefully constructed to show just how much they care about you.

****

As the days pass, they prove true to their word. Each of them becomes more protective over you, watching your every move like hawks, but never in a way that feels suffocating. Instead, it's comforting, knowing that they're there, ready to lend a hand or offer support whenever you need it.

You notice it in the little things—the way James's eyes flicker to you during meals, checking if you're eating enough; the subtle tightening of Sirius's jaw when someone jostles you in the hallway, ready to step in at a moment's notice; the quiet concern etched onto Remus's face as he watches you pour over your textbooks late into the night. You've never seen them quite so protective before, their usual playful banter tinged with an undercurrent of watchfulness that wasn't there before.

"Need anything else, sweetheart?" James asks for what must be the tenth time this evening. He leans against the doorway of your bedroom, arms crossed and brow slightly furrowed—a testament to his lingering worry.

"James, really, I'm fine," you assure him, trying not to let your smile waver even though you can feel the fatigue pulling at your bones. "You don’t need to check on me every half hour."

But despite your words, James doesn't seem entirely convinced. There's a tension in his shoulders that wasn't there before, one that only eases marginally when Sirius strides in, carrying a tray laden with sandwiches and pumpkin juice.

"I thought you could use a break," Sirius says, setting the tray down beside you. His grey eyes meet yours, reflecting a warmth that belies the casual shrug of his shoulders. "Besides, Prongs was driving me mad with his hovering."

A soft laugh escapes you, followed by a grateful nod towards Sirius. But as you reach for a sandwich, your hand trembles ever so slightly—a reminder of the strength you're yet to regain. It's a small thing, barely noticeable unless you're looking for it. And they are—always watching, always ready.

Remus catches it first, his gaze sharpening as he moves closer to you. "That's enough studying for tonight, Y/N," he declares softly, closing your textbook with a gentle push. "We promised Madam Pomfrey we'd make sure you rest."

His touch is light, almost hesitant, but it carries an unspoken promise—one that echoes through the silent room and settles in your heart. A vow made between friends, binding them together in the aftermath of a scare none of them had anticipated.

Days pass, and bit by bit, you regain the strength that had once slipped through your fingers like water. Each morning greets you with a little less pain and a little more energy, the dark circles under your eyes fading in time with the autumn leaves outside your window.

Madam Pomfrey insists on regular check-ins, her gaze sharp as she monitors your progress—a testament to the severity of your condition at St Mungo's. "Your immune system took quite a hit," she explains one afternoon while conjuring a small vial of potion for you. "It'll take some time before it fully recovers."

A sense of normalcy gradually returns to your life within Hogwarts' stone walls, but it's a new kind of normal—one tinged with caution and an awareness of your limitations. You resume attending classes, mindful not to push yourself too hard under the watchful eyes of your professors.

James, Sirius, and Remus are constant shadows by your side, their presence both comforting and grounding amidst the whispers that follow you down the corridors. They carry your books, shield you from the crowd during passing periods, and make sure you're eating enough—all subtle ways they've stepped up to support you without crossing boundaries.

"Slow down, Y/N," Remus chides gently when he catches you rushing to finish a Charms essay one evening. His hand covers yours, stilling the frantic movement of your quill. "There's no need to overwork yourself."

His voice is like a balm, soothing away the stress lines etching themselves across your forehead. You let out a breath you didn't realize you'd been holding, allowing your shoulders to sag against the backrest of your chair.

"Besides," James cuts in, his tone lighter as if trying to lift the weight off your chest, "Sirius here could use some help understanding the concept of 'expanding charms.' He thinks it's all about making his ego bigger."

The corners of Sirius's mouth twitch, a hint of a smirk playing at his lips even as he feigns offence. "Oi! I heard that, Prongs."

[immediatebreakfast]

One thing that is scarier in between the limbo like horror of Dracula using Lucy's sleepwalking not only a frequent source of food, but also a new person to torture is how slow it is going to be.

I must imitate Mina, and keep writing things down. Then we can have long talks when we do meet. I wonder when it will be.

Writing like Mina, imitating her in journalism out of desesperation to remember anything out of a horrible night. Was it sleepwalking like her dear deceased father, or something else that Lucy doesn't know, but it doesn't matter since she doesn't remember at all. So, the only way Lucy can realistically get answer is to simply document.

It’s scary to see, and anticipate how relentless Dracula is going to become, yet the worst part is how he will drag out Lucy’s possible demise like a snail going to one place to another. We already know how Dracula loves to “play” with his victims; Jonathan and the captain being very good examples, and how if Dracula has the opportunity to slowly make them lose their minds before killing them he will take it.

I don’t want to think about any death foreshadowing surrounding Lucy because Jonathan managed to escape with one foot in his grave, but Lucy’s condition is different.

Her education, environment, and social expectations shaped Lucy to put the happiness of others at the cost of her own being, to the point that even when she is asleep her first move is to cover any “imperfections”. Lucy wonders if she can ask her mother for comfort, searching for an "excuse" to make; she doesn't even try in the meaning of the word, Lucy tries to try and talk to her mother.

Last night I seemed to be dreaming again just as I was at Whitby... It is all dark and horrid to me, for I can remember nothing; but I am full of vague fear, and I feel so weak and worn out.

Lucy is going to become terrified of sleeping because of this mysterious horror cloaking her in the night. It’s horrifying to see Dracula once again in this horrible game of his. He is not just drinking Lucy once, killing her, and being done with it (that would be far too merciful for him). This asshole is going to draw it out to toy with Lucy until she is at her breaking point.

Moreover, thanks to the hypnosis Lucy has no idea what is happening. The poor girl already reads ashamed because Arthur noticed how tired she was. Lucy is going to keep getting sicker, and more confused while asking herself what is wrong with her.

[yourhighness6]

I Just Listened to the First Episode of Braving the Elements and I Know I'm Late to the Party but I Have Very Incoherent, Babbling Thoughts About It

(now that I heard Janet and Dante talking I needed to draw young Zuko and Korra. I think they'd be friends. Like, they'd get into fights [with Sokka, too] about who's muscles are more impressive and dumb jock stuff like that. Their respective girlfriends would be so tired.)

Anyway, I think the UGGs ad was a great way to start this out. Really set the tone. I'm also vibing to the theme music cuz I literally haven't listened to it since I rewatched the finale a couple of weeks ago.

[I had no idea Dante Basco was in a dance group as a child I'm laughing for no reason now. I shouldn't judge though I was a drama kid too lol]

I feel like they're doing the whole "the LIGHTS, the CAMERA, the CINEMATOGRAPHY" thing while they're talking about the opening scene. you know what, i'm fine with it.

Basically them:

"Kataang."

"...And I digress,"

The animal crossing segment is cute Appa finally getting the appreciation he deserves

"thINgS HapPEn SoMEtiMeS" has the same energy as Zuko telling Suki "oh, sorry about that" when she reminded him he burned down her village

"I love GranGran" do you Zuko? DO you??

(jk they get along after the war when he apologizes properly)

Aww they brought up Greta Thomburg. I forgot how old this podcast is, but that was a really great message about how the young are the ones saving us and stuff. As a Zoomer [do people still say that?] I can say confidently most of us have no idea what we're doing but we're opinionated and we're here and we're ready to fight for the environment and social justice and shit

HE SWORE

HE SWORE TWICE

HE SWORE THREE TIMES IN LESS THAN TWO MINUTES

Idk about ya'll but I don't think Nick should be letting Mr. Basco represent them I mean that was like three whole "damn"s that is some inappropriate behavior right there

"they're people of privilege" This hit me so hard for no reason. Like it's really obvious, especially in Book 2, that despite all of the abuse Zuko went through he was still in that whole royalty mindset where he basically expects things to be handed to him for most of his arc.

I mean, yeah, that speaks for itself, and there are other instances too. I think Zuko's arc largely corrects a lot of his entitlement, which is a great thing to see throughout the series, but IROH. For some insane reason, maybe because he's very wise and seems content with the little things in life and is basically trying to oppose books 1 and 2 Zuko in every way possible, I never really thought of him as privileged but now it's so obvious that he is. IDK I think that was an interesting thing to point out. It almost makes me value Iroh more because he obviously had to go through a similar journey to Zuko's unlearning all of the arrogance that came with his position and came out of it on the other side as a kind, wise individual who cares deeply for other people and puts the fate of the world before his own. Still interesting to think about on my next rewatch of B1 though, I'll have to start looking out for those behaviors in Iroh.

ANYWAY

Dante Basco, trying so hard to be impartial: "Kataang!"

Janet Varney, one with Zutara nation, apparently: "Meh"

OMG THEY TALKED ABOUT THE SPYGLASS!! I know that scene with Zuko standing on the boat was supposed to be all suspenseful and scary and everything

But I just laugh

I can imagine Aang being like "Aww Zuzu thanks for noticing"

OMG I love Katara finally getting some recognition!! Like there's this meme about the world being saved by "nagging" or whatever and it kind of annoys me. Like, she's calling Sokka out on all of his sexist behavior and that's "nagging"??

Let's be honest it's because she gets kind of "emotional".

Whatever. She deserves to be emotional. Let's be honest the Avatar world was saved by Katara deciding she was done putting up with her brother being a misogynistic ass. [END RANT]

Okay, honestly, I liked it. It was funny, it was cute, I can see it being good, I'll keep listening to it... But, I felt like we were only getting surface level thoughts? There were a few moments where I was like "GODDAMMIT JUST SAY WHAT YOU THINK" which is kind of annoying on a podcast that's supposed to be reviewing the episodes. Like, really? That heavy pause after Dante mentioned Kataang? Janet hesitating to say what she thought when it came up again? C'mon guys, I know you don't want to start anything but the ship wars are not stopping no matter what any of us do at this point because there will always be people on both sides of the war that are toxic and like to start drama. They're not saying everything they want to about the ships and that's a fact. We know it. They know it. Bryke knows it. Also, Dante having not read the series bible was funny but it's only going to be a good joke for so long. Know your shit if you're doing a podcast on it.

I might just be complaining because I need to complain, it's only the first episode, after all, so I want to be clear that I really did like it. 10/10 would recommend, I just hope they maybe get more into the fandom stuff as we go along instead of just looking at the episode. Dig a little deeper, discuss controversial stuff, have a little fun with it, READ THE SERIES BIBLE.

(btw I might make more Korra and young Zuko fanart. It was fun, and now I have ideas for them meeting in some weird spirit world thing)

[aaronstveit]

I saw you talking about the gifs you were excited to make because they’d make you happy and I can def relate to knowing only a couple of people will be interested/will like my creations and yet that won’t stop me from creating them because I want to see that idea become something *concrete*. It is pretty lonely, though. Like, sometimes I trick myself into thinking I won’t care nobody will like something I’ve made and then it happens and it really gets to me. Especially because I wish I could share it with someone. The enthusiasm, my creative process, etc.

My hiperfixation has tired the friends of mine who know about it, since I’ve had the same one for years. So it’s not new to me, I struggle to accept this lonely/rejecting feeling, but I accept it (most of the time).

What’s been making me really sad lately though is that whenever I create something to gift to someone, their reaction to it is very… underwhelming. I feel like I see in my art something others don’t see. I mean, maybe my drawings aren’t actually good and my stories aren’t really moving to others? Maybe I’m only good at it in my head, and whenever I want to surprise someone with a portrait or comment with them about fics I’ve been working on and stories I wish they’d like, I get to see what I make through someone else’s eyes and… it happened this week again, twice, and it devastated me. Because it’s not the same person, a lot of people have reacted the same way. So I’m always putting my heart into these creations and giving people pieces of my soul for them to look at it and not say anything in return. To treat it like it’s nothing, like it doesn’t mean anything to them. To not even tell me if they’ve read what I wrote, let alone talk to me about it. It’s like my best is not only not enough, it’s less than ordinary to those around me.

I don’t know how to live with this feeling, I know you’re very kind and pretty good at giving advice so I wanted to ask your opinion, or what would you do if you were in my shoes?

Sending you love xxx

hi anon, first of all i'm sorry for the late answer, i meant to reply last night but i'm sick right now and getting my brain to put words in a functional order is. a task.

i am really sorry that you have those experiences :( sharing your art with someone is one of the most intimate and personal experiences you can share with a person and when you're just sort of written off, that is genuinely one of the worst feelings in the world. and it's so natural to want to share your art with others, even if you made it for an audience of one (yourself). art is an extension of who we are. of course we want others to see it and to love it.

i want you to know that your art is good. i don't have to see it to know that. your art is good just by definition of being yours. your art is something that wasn't in the world and now it is, because of you and you only. that is amazing! you created something that only you are capable of, and that is nothing less than a miracle.

i wish that your friends would tell you all of this and would appreciate your art. you deserve friends who love the things you make, who get excited about them, who support your art and all your ideas. i hate that they make you think that you and the things you create aren't enough. you & your art will always be enough, even if some people can't see that.

i hope you can find a community that appreciates you & your art and makes you feel extraordinary, because that's what you are. this is some pretty hilarious advice coming from me, the world's first and foremost discord coward, but i really recommend finding or creating a discord server for your fandom. post about it on tumblr, invite people who seem interested, and really try to make it an environment where everyone feels good sharing their art & engaging with each other's.

i wish i could offer you better advice. you really, really deserve to be able to share your work with people who are just as excited about it as you are, even more. you deserve better friends than people who make you question if the things you make are even good. and you deserve people who love and appreciate and treasure the art that you make for them. you put your heart and soul into it, and you deserve the same energy back. i'm sending you lots and lots of love, i hope your experiences get better ♡ you are always welcome to come talk to me about your art and your hyperfixations, even if we don't share the fandom! 🫶🏻

[m00nt4r0t]

✮ the impact of your gaze ✮

pile one, two, or three?

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀ pile one

the impact of your gaze, pile one, makes people feel dominated by you. people may be intimated when you lay eyes on them, even if it's not the first time your eyes have met. they feel as though you have this inner confidence that makes them need to be submissive or obedient to you. some may even think that you're mean or hard to please. people may put you on a pedestal, to be honest. they could see you as someone who is on a higher level than most others, and that they need to respect you because of this. in a work environment, people think that you're someone who doesn't like to make friends with your coworkers. they could very well be wrong, this is just based off of how people feel when you look at them. people definitely think you're a hard worker and that you finish whatever you start, no matter how long it takes you or how stressful it may be. even if you're not in a position of power, people look to you for guidance and orders. you may have a resting bitch face, or you just don't come off as friendly as people wish you would. i get the feeling that people do want to get to know you, but are too nervous to initiate conversation with you first. if you're not in a position of power, people see you as someone who may be rebellious and make your own rules. they think that you'd be the type to challenge authority and possibly try to take the boss's place.

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀ pile two

when you look at people, pile two, people feel as though they can trust you and be taken care of by you. you may have soft, inviting eyes that draws people in and makes them feel like you care about them. you may smile at people when you make eye contact which gives people a very friendly vibe. i'm getting doe eye vibes from this pile, but it doesn't have to be. people feel as though you are the complete package just by looking at you, which is a lot to assume about someone just by their gaze. this just shows how powerful your energy is. if you wanted to lure someone in, or seduce someone, you most definitely could, but i'm getting it in a more-so innocent and sweet way rather than super sexual and daring way. but, no matter your eye shape, people are very enticed by your eyes and the way you look at them, even if you're not trying to draw them in. i'm getting a different energy, too. so, there are some who are seduced by your gaze, while there are others who feel relaxed by your gaze. people feel like they can rest and that they don't have to act a certain way or tip-toe around you (like they do with pile one.) they don't feel judged by you.

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀ pile three

when you lay your gaze on people, pile three, they get the impression that you are someone who is open to try nearly anything. they could see you as an adventurous person, and this could possibly even inspire them to want to explore and try new things with you. they also get this creative vibe from you, just from the way you look at them. you could be other people's muse, pile three. when you look at people. they can sometimes think that you're tired because of multiple responsibilities you have to take care of. but they see this lust for adventure in you, and they see that you're being called to pursue new things. this can draw people to want to pursue new things with you, as well. people see multiple different things when they make eye contact with you, if i'm being honest. super adventurous, fairly tired, and extremely passionate. i'm also seeing that some people may even feel a bit judged by you, but i'm getting that's only when you're more on the tired side and don't have the energy to cater to other people's emotions.

thank you for reading and interacting! <3

masterlist ⭑ personal readings ⭑ patreon

[unknownwriting]

Hiii I love your work!!

Could you please write law, ace and kidd with their S/O being TERRIFIED of needles and drawing blood? So much that law/ace/kidd have to hold them down bc they are kicking, screaming and crying so much. It can be Non-binary reader if you want.

I'm sorry if it's too much to ask for!! And thank you if you decide making this request<33

ѕυммary - requested ^^

cнaracтerѕ - Trafalgar Water D Law, Portgas d Ace, Eustass Kidd

warnιngѕ - implication of needles, mentions of blood, tiny suggestive material with Ace and Kidd, unedited too bc I’m lazy 💃🏼🤪

oĸoĸ ι don'т lιĸe ѕнoтѕ either so I can completely understand!! Also I so am not late with this request, it’s right on time, idk what y’all are talking about…anyways!!! I hope y’all are able to enjoy this!!

→ тraғalgar law

- um he’s a doctor so you know for a fact that this man is gonna make sure your all health and caught up on your shots. He knows that you hate then but tough shit Ya’know?

- now it’s not really allowed for Law to prescribe you medicine or do your check up due to his professions policy but that doesn’t mean he can’t. But when it comes down to it, Law has to leave it in other doctors hands

- however this is the only thing that law would refuse to let other people do. Even with Law being a doctor he still needs to see one some time so y’all have the same doctor and because of this Law is able to take the shots and other equipment with him

- very rarely do y’all need shot with how much Law keeps you health and all but even then every year or 2 y’all need to draw some blood for documentation purposes and this is the worst out of it all.

- when it comes to shot, Law is barely able keep you from passing out. He tries to make the most comforting environment for y’all, limiting only him in the room to not over whelm you

- luckily Law is soft handed meaning the shot doesn’t hurt but that still doesn’t take the fear away. So while you’re still crying and gasping for air, Law is able to keep his steady and strong grip on you to keep you from kicking or moving

- afterwards Law doesn’t leave you side until you’ve calmed down or tired yourself out. Y’all lay there with your head on his chest and his hand rubbing your back to calm you down. It’s really one of the sweetest thing he can do

- now getting a shot would be the easy one, drawing blood is the hardest one. While getting a shot something is getting put inside of out and with soft hands there would hardly be any pain or anything to worry about. But with blood, stuff is getting taken out of you and this, along with your crying and anxiety is not fun.

- because you work yourself up so much you end up getting light headed easily leading you to pass out. Law tries to take only a little blood at a time but he can’t just stop for and hour then continue. So he tried his best to draw the blood quickly yet slowly enough to try and keep your blood pressure down.

- of course it never works, so law just ends up taking all the blood he needs and let’s you pass out in the process, in the nicest way possible. With you out it much easier seeing how you won’t fight back anymore or stop your breath

- afterward, with you still passed out, he cleans you up and the mess. He washes the blood off your arms and washes the tears and snot from your face, then puts you in your favorite pjs and y’all spend the rest of the day in bed. You definitely need a break afterwards, with all the tension, and Law doesn’t leave your side through it all either

- he knows it can be hard, but he always knows it needs to be done, so to make it up for you he tries his best to heed to your calls to make you feel better

→ porтgaѕ d. ace

- god he just hates holding you down. The pain he sees you in and the way you rebel against it so much upsets him so much. He knows he can’t do anything about it but seeing you in that state just makes him so upset

- the only thing he can really do is just stand next to you and hold you. Everything you get a shot you always hold Ace’s hand and cry into his chest. You’ve been able to calm down your reactions for a while but that doesn’t mean you don’t stress yourself out

- Ace stays by you the whole time. And afterwards he doesn’t even make you walk. You don’t even leave the doctors seat before your on his back with you legs wrapped around him. His ends up doing everything after that too. Signing papers, setting up the next appointment, driving you home.

- which you end up falling asleep in the car and he carries you to y’all’s bed.

- he lets you sleep for as long as you need and the moment your up he’s by your side once again catering to everything you need.

- a bath, which he gives you a message to release some stress, of course avoiding your sore arm, making some food, putting on a movie, and once your finally able to calm down from the tension and what not he takes you out for ice cream.

- it’s something y’all always do after every doctor appointment whether you get a shot or not. Ace doesn’t like the doctors much either so it’s his way of giving both of y’all a treat. 

- but getting your blood drawn is the hardest of course. Y’all literally don’t even do it until the doctor is holding y’all both down. So y’all can be in pain together. So romantic.

- when this happens the doctor doesn’t let y’all leave until Ace is at least ok. Someone need to drive y’all home. And when this happens, even with all your snot and tears, Ace takes you to the closest ice cream place. Something as a treat and to get y’all’s blood sugar up.

- afterwards y’all do nothing. And I mean nothing. The moment y’all get home y’all hit the bed. Not even nothing to change your clothes. Ace even needs time to relax. But Ace happily wraps his arms around you to calm you down and tell you everything’s ok

- shots Ace can handle, but when it comes to drawing blood even Ace needs some time to calm down.

→ eυѕтaѕѕ ĸιdd

- lmaoo tf is a doctor

- kidds never heard of it.

- your the one who has the drag him to the doctors…(lmaoo Kidd is not anti-vac he’s just stupid)

- but Kidd always follows behind you surprisingly without complaining. Throughout the whole doctors visit. But the moment Kidd sees you freaking about a shot you had to get. He’s about the kill the doctor

- how can Kidd just stand there and watch you cry and panic and freak out and not do anything about it. It’s the doctors fault for giving you a shot in the first place and making it hurt

- with Kidd you’ve trained yourself to calm down quick so you can calm Kidd down or else the doctor’s gonna need a doctor. It something you’ve trained yourself to do pretty quickly. Looking at thKie out come of your shots and then the anger from Kidd, Kidd definitely out weights you

- its ok tho, Kidd feels really bad about it afterwards. He’s not too romantic but he does still care about you and feels like a jackass afterwards. He’s suppose to comfort you not make it a bigger deal, so in his own little, weird, boyish way He tries to make you feel better.

- lots of food, physcial touch (not on the arm with the shot of course), baths together, and of course Ice cream. Just like Ace, Kidd loves to get ice cream everything yall have a rough day. Of course, he always like his with a side of hard liquor. but you always stop him knowing that once he starts drinking he won’t stop

- that basically what happens every time. And Kidds very part out of it all is the bath of course. He loves just to lay there and relax with you. To the point where y’all would end up like human prunes.

- and the times where you will fall asleep on his chest is all the more reason to stay in the bath.

- when Kidd finally decides to get out of the bath, he’ll happily wrap you in a towel and carry you to be where y’all would fall asleep. Don’t worry, Kidd loves to take cold bath so y’all aren’t to hot when y’all get to bed. (He likes to warm up with your body heat)

- now when you get your blood drawn, you always end up passing out so luckily it’s the one time you don’t have to worry about Kidd getting angry. He’ll simply place your on his back, drive you back home and places you in bed, where he lays playing with your hair

- he’s just in awe with you terrified you get with needles. And the fact that you end up passing out when you get your blood drawn. You always seem so strong and yet seeing you like this just make him so upset.

- but it’s not like he’ll say it to your face. So for now, in his own ways. Making sure to treat you with care, making sure to hold you in his arms, and making sure you are able to relax after you get a shot

- it’s hard for Kidd to try and understand your pain but he’ll definitely try to make an effort to help you feel better

[xiaq]

With kids who consistently have problems with other classes/teachers I wonder what could be causing the difference- because you’re right about the kids being good, kids usually are good, so there’s probably something external causing the difference.

Could be as simple as meeting the expectations teachers have, but I feel like based on what I’ve seen you put in a lot of effort to reach kids where they’re at without judgment so I was wondering if you have any tips on student interaction/classroom policies/grading rules that have created a positive environment in your classroom?

I'm really tired so this might not be very coherent, sorry.

I haven't been in a high school environment long enough to have a strong opinion on the difference, but from what I've seen, most teachers at my school are just...tired. They aren't adequately paid or supported by the administration. Something I'm already very frustrated about. Examples: I've had to buy all my own supplies for my class, and I still haven't received my first paycheck. I also only just got access to my class rosters/online grade book/curriculum/printing capabilities this week, and I still don't have an ID or (non-borrowed) keys to the building/my classroom. I also have several students who don't speak fluent English and two who speak No English At All (literally just came to the US this year) and there's no support for those kids or for me. So I'm having to translate all the materials I give them myself and then translate their responses to grade them and that's not really helping them learn English or how to communicate in English and they're mostly lost during the actual teaching portion of the class, but it's the best I can do since I have over 100 kids I'm trying to teach each day. I also have several kids who need accommodations for learning disabilities and I similarly can't tailor lessons to their needs the way I'd like to. It's super frustrating to feel that you're trying your best but no one seems to want to help you. I imagine that gets old really fast and makes you pretty jaded. I mean, if you don't care so much, it doesn't hurt so much that no one else seems to care.

And the students--90% of students at my school qualify for free lunch and the majority are ESL students whose parents can't help them with most of their homework because they don't speak or write in English. These kids already had disadvantages they were dealing with that were just compounded by Covid. Most of my students haven't interacted with other people their age face-to-face since 7th grade. AND they're dealing with typical teenage hormones on top of the whole being emotionally and socially stunted due to a global pandemic, thing. They need heaps of extra help and kindness right now that most teachers just can't provide because the teachers are also at the end of their rope. I'm just shiny and new enough that I haven't yet hit that point. As for tips--I try to just treat kids like less-educated adults who are Going Through It and need a lot of compassion. I try to make them all feel seen and appreciated and try to set myself up as a trustworthy authority who won't judge them. I'll come down hard on them if they're being disrespectful to me, other students, or even themselves, but I don't hold their bad days against them. And I don't ever force them to participate or belittle them in any way. I have a "you always get second chances" policy because how the hell are they supposed to learn otherwise? So if at any time a student is unhappy with their grade, whether it's a 0 or a 99, they can redo the assignment and I'll re-grade it.

I have my blackboard wall that students are allowed to draw on any time they aren't working, or need a break during work time. I also have led light strips that change color and they're free to play with the lights (something that they inexplicably love?) when they're done working. I have my visible "Sin Bin" for folks using phones during class, which they seem to respond much better to than the whole "I'm going to take your phone and put it in my desk drawer where you can't see it" that most of the other teachers do. And I let them use their phones if they finish their work early. They also all have permanent invitations to eat lunch in my classroom if they want to avoid the cafeteria, which about 15-20 of them do at this point (I'm worried we'll run out of room, soon!). So I've set up me and my space as a safe place for queer kids and oddballs and pretty freshman girls trying to avoid predatory older boys because they know I won't let anyone in my room be unkind to them.

Mostly, though, I just try to say at least one positive thing to every student every day, and during lecturing, discussion, and individual work time, I spend time moving between all the desks speaking directly to each student to try and make them feel included and valued. Some will sleep through class anyway, but the majority seem to respond well to that.

I don't know if any of this is helpful--but I'd love to hear other folks' tactics as well!

[queerofthedagger]

Look I like, talk a lot about how much I love Arthur but I feel like I rarely if ever elaborate, and it's 4 am and I'm running on little sleep but --

The thing about Arthur is, he isn't just inherently good. No, my boy grew up in an environment so fucking toxic, as a social worker I can say with confidence that it's a miracle that he didn't turn out really, really horrible.

Privileged to his teeth, no positive, caring influence in his life apart from -maybe!- some nannies, and a father that makes my pedagogical heart throw bricks. Like. There's absolutely no positive, constant role model whatsoever, the best influence you can argue for is Gaius and well. Let's just say the road to hell is paved with good intentions and leave it at that.

Do you think Arthur got hugged as a child? Told that he was doing great? That whatever he was into at the time was appreciated? That Uther ever took the time to sensibly explain what happened to his mother? That it wasn't his fault? Do you think Uther ever told Arthur that Ygraine's death wasn't his fault? And if you do, do you think it was convincing? Because Uther sure as hell considered it at least partly Arthur's fault and believe me when I say that kids sense this shit.

Arthur might've been cared for on a material level but honestly? I think that's about it and let me tell you that it's not even anywhere close to enough. Not, like, at all. I want to cry just thinking about it and to draw a real-life comparison - kids I work with that come from these kinds of situations struggle so badly because there's a whole axis of guilt to it. Of course, there are loads of kids who have it way worse but we're talking about children and this is not the trauma Olympics.

Anyway. "I've been trained to kill since birth." Ever think about a 6, 7 year old Arthur who gets a wooden sword pressed into his hands, not for fun but for a training that is ingrained in him, will be his whole purpose? Ever think of Uther always finding him lacking and him not having any real friends because again, kids sense this kind of shit? Ever think about a 15-year-old child being forced to murder people? Ever think about how disgustingly ingrained the whole "sense of duty" thing is and where it comes from? That shit doesn't go as deep as making someone who's in their early 20's willing to sacrifice their life if you start telling them at 16. And even that is disgusting but anyway.

Arthur's whole existence, from the moment he could understand it, was always aimed at duty and responsibility and what Uther wanted from him. I'd bet the little money I have in my bank account that Uther made damn well sure there were no outside influences to "tarnish" the mind of his heir; and I'm not only talking about magic.

And yet. And yet, the moment there actually was an outside influence, the second Merlin stumbled into his life, "I know I'm just a servant and my word doesn't mean anything," Arthur fucking Pendragon leapt that shit up. Lancelot, maybe a commoner and forged his sigil but if he can't be a knight, the code is wrong. Let's go save a druid child Uther is turning the castle upside down over because Morgana and Merlin asked (and if this wasn't a recent change, Morgana would've enlisted his help much sooner, fight me.) Ealdor. The unicorn, obviously magic and because Merlin said so. Etc etc I could go on and this is just season one.

This is getting ridiculously rambly and long and is basically just an incoherent version of my extensive Arthur character analysis but what I mean to say is: yeah maybe he didn't legalise magic in the first four years of his damned rule, and there are definitely things he could've handled better or where his character was just inconsistent (though I'm also going to die on the hill that opposed to what tv shows make you believe, actual change of ingrained beliefs and behaviours does take a lot of time and in that regard, Arthur was maybe more realistic than this fandom was ready for. Anyway.) Considering the 100 bad experiences compared to the maybe 3 good ones with magic, Arthur did fucking great and I'm so tired of people shitting on all he did in the context of his reign/the show.

Uther was a tyrant, and he was an abusive, horrible father, and frankly it's a wonder Arthur didn't simply end up worse than him. No one ever really took a leap of faith on him - and I don't blame them, no one is ever required to reveal something about themselves that could put them into danger (unrelated but yes this applies to Merlin telling Morgana too, deal with it) - and there was little to nothing provided that could've prompted him to change his mind in the first place. And yet he kept questioning it. I'm sorry yeah it's not the Golden Age and it's oh-so-easy to find a single culprit to blame it all on but Arthur is not it, it's -imo- never what the show was about, and I'm just about ready to throw hands over this.

Arthur wasn't just inherently good, he fought and worked to be better, constantly, and to be honest that is bloody hard and it eludes me how people can not see this.

[babbushka]

Some of those prompts are so funny! Can you please write this one for Flip or a Kylo AU? It’s hilarious!

“I may be loves bitch but at least I’m man enough to admit it.”

A/N: This silly little something is completely inspired by chatting with my dear friend @safarigirlsp !

2k, Flip chugging his respect women juice aka being his wife's #1 fan (he's a lil confused but he's got the spirit) cw: lowkey 1970s misogyny

Flip’s about ready to bang his head on the fucking desk in front of him from frustration, when he hears it. Those magic words that somehow get him through the day, each and every day, when the hours drone on and on and on at the station, when he feels like he’s been there for six years instead of only six hours.

In the habit that he and Ron have built up ever since being desk neighbors in the narcotics unit’s special glass office, Ron has finally come around and saved him from sudden death by boredom, by slapping a hand on Flip’s shoulder and happily announcing, “Present for you in the lobby.”

“Shit it’s already lunch?” Perking up at once, Flip shoves himself away from his desk, sparing a glance to his watch and seeing that it was in fact noon. He doesn’t even bother to push his chair in as he weaves through the other desks in the office on his way to the door, stopping himself before practically bolting to ask, “Thanks Ron, you stickin’ around? She said she was bringing stuff over for us.”

Ron only nods, knowing that Flip wants to get to you as quickly as possible, and so he spares him the conversation so that the detective can do just that.

You’re beautiful, as you always are, in the lobby of the CSPD. Currently chatting away with one of the secretaries at the front desk, you’re dressed in that new outfit Flip likes so much, your hair done up all pretty and fashionable. Instantly, his day is made better just by your being here -- something that he’s grateful for, because his day had been pretty fucking trying up until this point.

“Hi honey!” You catch sight of him, face lighting up, and Flip can’t resist a smile when you’re so happy to see him like this.

His cowboy boots take him across the lobby and into your arms, and he’s immediately taking the weight of the basket that you’re carrying out of your hands, placing it gently on the floor so he can squeeze you tight with a hug and a kiss.

“Hey ketsl, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” He pats your ass lovingly, before picking up the basket and leading you through the lobby back towards the rec room.

“Right back at you handsome, I hope you’re hungry, I brought you the biggest roast beef sandwich I could possibly make.” You wink at him, and like clockwork, his stomach growls, making him chuckle a little.

“You’re a fuckin’ miracle and a half, I’m starvin’ -- ”

Suddenly, you stop with a frown, looking through the little window of the door to the conference room as you pass by it.

“What’s going on in there?” You ask, pointing your thumb in the room’s direction, and Flip doesn’t know what you mean.

“Huh?”

“Is there a meeting that you’re missing?” You ask, and Flip frowns then, because he doesn’t think so anyway.

But save for Jimmy and Ron, it looks like the entire narcotics unit is crammed into the conference room, along with a handful of rookie cops, homicide detectives, janitors, and even some of the press. They’re all watching someone draw a big graph on the black board, the unmistakable sound of chalk squeaking punctuating the speaker’s passionate presentation.

“No, Chief would’ve said something...oh for fuck’s sake.” It takes Flip two seconds to recognize what’s on the chart, and immediately he’s shaking his head.

It’s a line graph, the Hot-Crazy Matrix, this new thing that’s got all the men in the country thinking they know everything about women. The gist is the hotter a woman is, the crazier she gets, and everything about it rubs Flip the wrong fuckin’ way, especially when he presses his ear against the door and listens in on what they’re actually saying.

“...If you find yourself in the Fun Zone, your main goal is to move out of the Fun Zone to a more permanent location.” “Now above the ‘crazy’ line, we have the Danger Zone. This is your redheads, your strippers, uh, anyone named Tiffany -- ”

“Hairdressers!” One of the men from the back of the room shouts.

“Yes, hairdressers, this is where your car gets keyed, your tires get slashed, and you wind up in jail. At this point you have to understand that this is not a static environment. This is a situation where you have got to use this matrix over time to develop some relatable data. At any moment in time, any woman that you have previously located on this chart can vanish, and reappear anywhere else on the chart.”

“Let me break this up really quick -- ” Flip reaches for the door with a dark scowl on his face, but you put a hand on his arm to stop him.

“No.” You look at him with wide, playful eyes, “No I think we should sit in on it, see what they say. Cause a little trouble.”

Flip loves the way you think, and with a sigh, he makes sure you stay behind him as you both slip through the door, unnoticed with how quiet you are. All eyes are on the blackboard as the speaker -- a greasy looking beat cop -- draws a line on the chart.

“Now, above an eight ‘hot’ and between a seven and a five ‘crazy’, this is your Wife Zone. When you meet this girl, you should consider a long term relationship. And if you find a woman who is below a five crazy, and above an eight hot, this is your Unicorn. We call them that because they do not exist. If you happen to find one, please uh let us know, we’d like to study it and try if we can, to replicate it.”

There’s a round of laughter from the crowd, and Flip can feel your hand tense in his own. He’s practically unable to hold himself back, when the cop finally sets down the chalk, dusts off his hands, and regards the room as someone else turns the lights back on.

“Anyone have any questions?” The cop asks, and Flip’s clearing his throat before he knows what he’s even doing.

“Yeah, hi.” Drawing all attention to him, Flip puts his hands on his hips, towers tall above all the other men in the room by at least three inches, and deadpans, “Have any of you actually spoken to a woman before? I mean, for longer than the two minutes it takes for them to reject you.”

That’s clearly not what the men in front of him were expecting, because they just blink, slackjawed like the morons they are.

“What?” The speaker asks, caught off guard.

Flip sighs, lights up a cigarette and crosses his arms over his chest, puffing out a big intimidating cloud of smoke.

“Show of hands, who here is married?” He waits, and predictably, no one comes forward. He knows this, because he knows all the married couples at the station. You make it a point to know them, anyway. “Okay then, well, who here has a girlfriend? Who here has ever had a girlfriend?”

Still no hands, and maybe Flip shouldn’t be surprised, the kind of men that believe this shit are the kind of men that either wind up alone or abusing poor women that they can manipulate into staying with them, and Flip doesn’t have the time or energy for it much longer.

“Interesting.” He muses, having made his point while the room murmurs amongst themselves.

One particularly stupid cop makes the mistake of trying to be a tough guy, some pipsqueak five-foot-four wannabe wrestler speaks up from near the front of the room, “We don’t need your condescending bullshit, okay, Zimmerman -- ”

“And women don’t need your bullshit charts splitting them into categories of fuckable or not, and yet here you are.” Flip cuts him off, and you feel a sense of pride blooming in your chest. Flip is a good boy, it’s why you married him after all.

“You’re only saying that because your wife is standing right next to you.” The cop tries to push his buttons, and maybe it’s because Flip hasn’t eaten yet, but anger itches up his spine, and soon the crowd is parting like the Red Sea, for Flip who is gunning straight for him.

“Oh yeah? How’d you think I got my wife you piece of shit? Because I promise it wasn’t by treating her like some shiny object to win.” Flip grabs the cop by the front of his uniform, and hoists him clean off the floor so that he can pull him up to eye level.

“Well then maybe you got lucky and married the only woman in Colorado Springs who isn’t a huge bitch.” The cop doesn’t know when to quit, does he?

“That’s not fucking true, my wife is a bitch and I love her for it.” Flip’s temper flares, and he’s about to raise his fist to punch this guy in the face, when he hears your voice from across the conference room where you’ve been watching with an amused smile.

“Flip, come on let’s go eat, lunch is getting cold.” You say, even though technically the sub sandwiches were supposed to be cold anyway. They don’t need to know that though.

Flip drops the schmuck, lets him fall to the floor with a thud, and walks towards your outstretched hand. Apparently that’s funny to the guy, because he slaps his knee and scoffs with a dry laugh.

“See? You’ve gone soft from love. Maybe we’re better off without it.” He tries to get the other guys to chime in, but they at least know what’s good for them, and instead just scratch the back of their necks, averting Flip’s gaze.

“I may be love’s bitch but at least I’m man enough to admit it.” Flip places his hand in yours, and you give his palm a tight reassuring squeeze. Looking down at you sweetly, he flicks the ash of his cigarette onto the floor and holds the door open for you leaving the conference room with a patronizing, “And at least I have a damn good woman to come home to. You losers enjoy your pity party.”

Finally in the rec room, you and Flip relax with Ron and Jimmy, your CSPD boys enjoying the big sub sandwiches you made and brought over. The little excursion in the conference room ate up only about fifteen minutes of Flip’s lunch hour, something that you and your husband are happy about. He’d be pissed off if he wasted any more time than that.

Everyone enjoyed the sandwiches and bottles of pop, most especially your Flip, who happily sat you down on his lap and wound his arms around you, feeling extra possessive.

“Out of curiosity, where in that chart would you put me?” You ask Flip, expecting him to take a couple moments to mentally weigh his options.

To your unamused surprise, Flip, Ron, and Jimmy all unanimously answer just about as soon as you’ve finished asking the damn question, not one of them even bothering to swallow their sandwich first before replying, “Danger Zone.”

“Hey!” You smack Flip’s chest with a scoff, and Ron and Jimmy immediately break out into laughter.

“You asked.” Jimmy points out with a shrug, just lucky that he’s out of your reach, lest he get smacked too. Ron also dips out of the way, but it’s only a moment later that Flip’s got his hold on you tighter, preventing you from swatting at your friends.

Flip holds you and kisses all over your cheek, his goatee tickling you as he presses his face against yours, nuzzling his nose against yours sweetly even though he’s basically just called you crazy.

“I married you anyway, didn’t I?” Flip’s big brown eyes try to sweeten the deal, and as much as you want to give him a hard time for being such a dork, you have to admit that it works.

“Thin ice, Zimmerman, thin ice.” You shake your head playfully, relaxing into Flip’s embrace a little as he settles you properly onto his lap again from where you were a wiggle worm, squirming away.

“You love me.” Flip smiles.

And despite it all you have to roll your eyes and grin because, “Yeah, I really do.”

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

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Tagging some Flip lovin’ friends! @mochabucky@sacklerscumrag @artsymaddie @bitchydecisions@direnightshade @reyloaddict55 @thembohux@kylorenswhxre @sunflowersinthesnow@babayagakeanu @safarigirlsp @steeevienicks@materialisthicc @hswritingrecs @han68000@rosi3ba3z @chapterhappygirl @loverofallthings@groovetoob @bxnnywriting @glassbxttless@angel-bxby3 @smallgirlbigpersonality @lovelyyy-luna @2000andwhat @raddo1975@cornmousequeen @metsienmenninkainen@caillea @painttheskylineforme @holding-on-to-starwars @caitlin-was-here @icarusinthesea

[lunatriense]

Ozpin for the bingo (I know you don’t like him, but I would like to know why /serious)

Oh man, okay, just remember you asked me to do this lmao 😆

So Ozpin. I'm not going to break this one down by square, because they all draw from the same things, so let's just dive right in.

Why oh why do I hate Ozpin so? He's the defender of Remnant, the sole protector in the long war against Salem, the only reason the world still exists, and the architect of peace, right? Weeeeeeeeell not so much if we look closer.

To begin with, Ozpin is an agent of the gods, the most evil beings ever to have existed. Now some people argue that he didn't know they were evil until Jinn showed everyone in The Lost Fable, but I don't buy that simply because the question asked of her was 'what is Ozpin hiding' which means (as far as I'm concerned) he had to already know everything that was shown.

Yes, RWBY is full of things that don't make sense, and yes, it's technically possible this could be one of them; that said, Ozpin isn't like Ironwood where he was doing pretty much everything good up until suddenly becoming cartoonishly evil. No, right away, as I'll get to below, he was already being his heinous self, so working for Johnny and Jerry Bagodicks fits right in with his other actions.

Like, say, allowing the existential threat of the relics to sit there on Remnant like a shiny sword of Damocles. All four of them have to be brought together to summon the gods back — something no one in their right mind would ever want — so why hasn't he gotten rid of one?

He certainly hasn't been using them to improve the world; on the contrary, he's actually made the world worse with them, (apparently) devastating Vacuo's environment with the Sword and using the Staff not to create infinite food or energy, or an instantaneous and safe transportation network, or defences to protect the world from the Grimm, but to lift a city into the sky and physically divide upper class from lower while simultaneously putting both in imminent danger of annihilation at any moment should anyone try to use such a powerful device for something actually useful.

What possible reason could he have not to rid the world of the threat the four relics pose? The Staff is amazingly useful — assuming someone other than Ozpin is using it, anyway — so sure, keep that one. Grimm are terribly dangerous, so maybe keep the Sword too if it can be used without turning the better part of a continent into barren wasteland in the process. And the Lamp being able to answer any question at all several times per century could be a wonderful boon to the world.

But the Crown? From what we know of it, that thing isn't so hot (and if it is, or if the Sword always destroys the land it's used on, it can go instead); it should've been on a rocket, or a cannon shell, or whatever, headed straight out into space the moment anyone could figure out how (oh look, something the Lamp and Staff would work great in tandem for!). And yes, I know Dust stops working somewhere around Remnant's equivalent of the Kármán line; that doesn't matter at all when you don't want to get the projectile back.

So why hasn't Ozpin eliminated the threat of summoning the jackasses? Because he wants to summon them. He wants to complete the mission he was given. But why? There are really only two possible reasons for that. One is that he honestly believes the world would be better off as it was before — under the thumb of the Bastard Brothers, where if anyone dared to question them it was be cursed or have their entire species wiped out, where faunus didn't exist, technology was medieval-equivalent, but hey, there was magic (not that it could cure the flu) so that made up for it, right? The other is that he just wants his curse to be lifted; he may have accepted it willingly, but he's tired of all this and he didn't really understand what he was getting into and he just wants it to be over, and this is the completion condition he was given. Hmm, where have I heard that before...?

Not from Ozpin, that's for damn sure! Because despite knowing his ex-wife is trying to do the same thing (apparently), only right fucking now because she doesn't have 'unite humanity' as a win condition, he doesn't bother to tell anyone about that! Now I wouldn't blame him for keeping his personal trauma to himself — that must've been horrible for him (as Ozcar) to relive and isn't actually relevant to the conflict at hand — but people need to know about Salem, her capabilities, her goals, and that she's immortal.

Not everyone — the shopkeeper doesn't need to know this, the waitress in Higanbana doesn't need to, Tukson doesn't need to — but decision makers and those involved in the conflict do. They need to know so that they can strategise, so they can build up forces and develop new technologies, tactics, and defences against her and against a Grimm horde that can assault them with intelligent command. They need to know so that they can prepare their troops and not have their morale shatter when they find out firsthand.

Nevertheless, Ozpin flatly refuses to tell more than a handful of people that she even exists, and tells exactly no one about her true danger, nor will he do much as consider a different strategy even when presented by one of the few people that know of Salem. Why? Is he trying to save face somehow? Is he the platonic ideal of paranoia? Is he just so arrogant he thinks he can handle it by himself? I don't entirely know — probably some mix — but whatever the case he's very, very wrong. The headmasters needs to know this. The councils need to know this. The hunters need to know this. The militaries need to know this.

Yes. Militaries, plural. As in, the ones that every kingdom had until King Ozforth of Vale in his infinite wisdom (/sssssssssssssss) decided after the Great War that they shouldn't have them anymore. Even though Remnant is full of soulless monsters hell-bent on eating every last person on the planet, that spawn infinitely and from all sorts of places, and that are attracted by negative emotions.

Y'know, the sorts of emotions that might be rampant in the wake of a massive war or, or I don't know, a world with widespread slavery and racism, or perhaps brutal capitalistic exploitation? Yeah, perfect, getting rid of militaries is a magnificent plan! I'm sure good ol' Ozpin must've had a great idea to fill that huge gap, right?

What? He did what!? He replaced the professional militaries with a system of child soldier indoctrination starting at least as young as 13, possibly younger. A system whose pinnacle of power he then placed himself atop — and designed in such a way as to be nigh impossible to remove him from that pinnacle — in a new incarnation so that no one would be any the wiser. A system which produces small numbers of very powerful individuals with no real oversight whatsoever, who Ozpin can use as his own personal minions while they attend his academy (and his lieutenants can likewise use at theirs) and can at least attempt to manipulate (and it would seem generally succeed if STRQ, RWBY, and JNPR are any indication) into serving in such capacity even after they graduate.

Speaking of RWBY and JNPR, hoo boy, Ozpin put on his extra bastard gloves when he saw them... at least, some of them.

The obvious one here is Pyrrha. Ozpin did poor Pyrrha dirty, almost as dirty as CRWBY did. He sees this wonderful, kind, pure hearted girl with incredible talent, who's been conditioned to believe that her worth lies entirely in being a hero and that it's her destiny to save the world. Being headmaster of the school she attends, he's supposed to nurture her growth and help her overcome her challenges, to look out for her, so what does he do?

He waits until she's already under intense pressure from the world's largest sporting event, which she's expected to win as the biggest celebrity in that field, and then tells her that magic is real, so are fairy tales, and he wants her to become the new Maiden and save the world, except to do it he needs to stick the current Maiden's remaining soul into a blender with hers and hit frappe and he's not really sure what will happen. That there's more going on, but she doesn't need to know it right now — not until she decides to try the soul smoothie experiment — and oh, he needs her answer by Friday.

Never mind that it's already Wednesday night, she'll def have a fight tomorrow and might have one Friday, she's already low key freaking out because the boy she's been crushing on all year finally noticed her, and oh yeah, Ozpin has another candidate right there who's a professional soldier, an elite fighter, the right hand of one of his lieutenants, and (according to recent volumes) was intended to be a Maiden anyway, potentially through this very process! So why not use her? Well, she's loyal to Ironwood, not Ozpin, and he can't have that now can he... besides, sweet Pyrrha is so manipulable.

Okay, okay, it's pretty widely accepted that he did wrong by Pyrrha, but she's the only one right? Hahaha nope! There's also... Jaune! 'Wait, Jaune? But Ozpin let him stay even though he forged his transcripts', I hear you say, and to that I reply, exactly! Jaune had no business whatsoever being at Beacon, whether or not he wanted to be a hero, and letting him stay for even five minutes into the initiation exercise was negligent in the extreme.

Consider; Jaune was launched from the cliff to a height from which he easily reached terminal velocity in an uncontrolled fall. Now, at this point, giving Ozpin the benefit of the doubt, he didn't know that Jaune was so ill-prepared, however he and Glynda were supposedly monitoring all the students during the exercise. Even if they somehow didn't notice that he had no landing strategy and that he only survived thanks to Pyrrha's save, they most certainly should've seen that his aura wasn't unlocked.

At that point (if not before) he should've immediately been extracted and expelled, not to punish him but to protect him and every other student that would ever work with him. Instead, Ozpin knowingly left an untrained, unprepared boy — essentially a civilian — in the middle of a Grimm infested forest and allowed him to remain in the dangerous academy, and not only that, put three other hunter students under his leadership!

He even did this with Ruby herself, somewhat. Sure, she sees being let into Beacon two years early as a great thing, and her friends do too. Normally it might even be true, despite missing out on extra growth that should be rather important to a combat profession. But in this case, there's a catch.

See, Ruby isn't just any girl she's the daughter of Ozpin's previous agents, Summer and Taiyang, and the niece of Qrow, all of team STRQ. That matters because this family has already suffered from Ozpin's manipulations. Summer died for his shadow war, Tai lost both of his wives over it, Qrow has sacrificed most of his life for it. Now Ozpin brings Ruby to Beacon early? Immediately they must be expecting her to be sucked into things just like they had been, and there's nothing they could do about it.

But okay, Ozpin gave team RWBY special treatment that looked like it was going to lead into things, but he never actually drew them into the Salem conflict; they did that themselves. That's valid, cool. However, there's still a problem here, namely that Ruby and Yang should under no circumstances be on the same team.

'But why not?' you ask. They're sisters! They already have good rapport and they can look out for each other, right? Yes, that's true, but... what happens if a mission goes terribly wrong, like Mountain Glenn nearly did? There's a reason modern militaries stopped assigning siblings to the same posts, or even people from the same village. By bringing Ruby in two years early, and then putting her and Yang on the same team (he could have put them in different initiation batches even if he insisted on having Ruby come to Beacon right then, considering not all the people from the sleepover night went that day) Ozpin created a situation where it's very likely that Taiyang will lose both of his daughters at the same time.

Which he almost did twice in their first year because of Ozpin's gross negligence. Well, gross negligence if we're being generous, otherwise it has to be malice, but let's go with negligence; even so it's to a criminal degree. What might I be talking about? What indeed.

Could it be the safety of those under his care? He's most assuredly negligent there, horrifically so. Some of his offences have been discussed above, but let's explore a few others, shall we?

Hmm... Mountain Glenn? Sending four first-year students and their teacher to a Grimm-infested massacre site — the closest thing to a warzone Remnant has — to follow up on suspected terrorist activity... yeah, that's suuuper negligent, but it's not like he had any other choice or anyth-.

Oh. He totally had another choice. Ironwood offered to send the actual goddamn military to deal with that obviously military operation, but Ozpin doesn't like the military so he sent his kids instead. Oops. And it's not even like he was unaware of the danger, considering it was a mission he was originally only offering to upperclassmen, but instead of just putting a guard on team RWBY to keep them from going like a responsible headmaster would he overrode the restriction to let them take it. Double oops.

Still though, it was really mean of Ironwood to snitch on him to the council, right? I mean, sure he screwed up once there, but his security record can't be that bad. Oh you sweet, sweet summer child, witness the fuckery that is Ozpin's idea of security.

In addition to students (which you'll recall become the only defence against life-hating demon beasts for most of the world), Beacon's campus houses a CCT tower which, if compromised, allows complete access to secure infrastructure and the ability to completely stop international communication for the entire world. It also houses the comatose Amber, who is the key to one of the vaults holding the relics necessary to destroy the world because someone didn't remove that option from the table.

Now, you'd think that this would call for heavy security, especially considering that the CCT tower and its capabilities are public knowledge, right? And you'd think that if terrorist activity was known to be on the uptick and it was suspected that a major terrorist organisation was planning a significant operation, security should be heightened even moreso? And you'd also think that if one of Salem's affects had already attacked Amber, and you knew they would want to finish the job, that she would especially need to be under very capable guard at all times to prevent that from happening, no?

Well Ozpin wouldn't think so. Ozpin wouldn't have a single guard, not even a bored rent-a-cop on a scooter, anywhere to be seen! Only a few Atlesian guards — brought by Ironwood when he arrived, mind you — stood between anyone at all (it didn't even need to be Cinder) and the ability to cripple global communication, or infiltrate secure systems to, oh I don't know, plant a virus that spreads to every device that connects to it and allows backdoor access. Might be bad, that.

And Amber didn't even get that much! Even during the absolutely critical aura transfer process, when all of team JNPR (and more!) were right there and most certainly would've been willing to take a few minutes to go protect this vital procedure that held their friend's life in the balance, Ozpin took... no one, only grudgingly allowing Jaune to come because he insisted. His secrets were more important, obviously.

And oh yeah, so was his super special consumable item. See, it turns out Ozpin totally could've saved Beacon, like pretty much effortlessly, cause he has this nifty cane that's basically a directional nuke with adjustable yield and the ability to choose what targets are affected (including little to no structural damage if desired).

So if he wanted to, he could've popped that sucker off and wiped out the Grimm in one shot so that everyone else could focus on the White Fang and hacked robots. Or for that matter, he probably could've hit the Grimm and the robots. Hell, maybe he could even specify White Fang and hostile robots without having to individually identify them — I don't know tbh — and wipe them all out with no more collateral damage than some ringing in the ears. He most certainly could've vaporised Cinder, thus denying Salem her Maiden and allowing him to move on to also blast the wyvern. He just didn't want to.

He (as Ozcar) was awfully quick to use it to save only himself later on though, when he was falling toward the vault floor in Atlas. Think about that. He didn't use it in Beacon, when Salem was making her first overt move in... ever, apparently. Judging by her reaction to his reincarnation, it normally takes much longer for him to come back, which likely would've had him out of play entirely — with no one at all aware of Salem's true capabilities — for long enough that she would've had all the relics by the time he returned.

Maybe he's just that confident that she won't find the Crown, no one else will find it either (who knows what semblances might be out there?), and she won't figure out the Lamp's password. Even so, what could he really do if he came back to a world where Salem had three of the relics, could use the Staff at will, had a Maiden with the power of three if not all four (or possibly just all four Maidens), and his handful of followers were gone? No... I think it's more likely he knew he would come back quickly somehow (whether he caused it or not) and cared more about keeping his toy than saving all the lives lost at the school he was charged with protecting.

Besides, he hates fighting his own war, even though he's the only immortal one. Better to send a bunch of other people to fight it for him, and the less they know about it the better. It would only make them not want to fight his personal war using his bone-headed tactics that make it completely unwinnable, and who cares about something trivial like informed consent anyway? Much better to just send them out to the meat grinder blissfully unaware!

Or even better, bring the meat grinder to them! Which he can conveniently do with his shiny relics, all he needs to do is hide them in the middle of the academies and they'll attract the Grimm to the students! And also Salem and her agents, too! Oh, and to the cities where all the civilians who are completely untrained in combat and have no military to protect them anymore are, but whatever, who cares about them anyway right?

So yeah... Ozpin. Is he monumentally stupid, actively malicious, or some combination of the two? My verdict?

[isolemnlyswearpevensie]

Strawberry Jam Sandwich | Regulus Black x Reader

Warnings: Nothing :)

Time/Era: Marauders Era

Word Count: 2.2k

Summary: Y/N Potter and Regulus Black are a match made from heaven, even if other people didn’t expect it. 

Request: hello first of all I really like your writing and hope you and your loved ones are doing well. could you write a regulus black fic? like reader is James’ sister and they get married (because regulus doesn’t die) and years later they meet Harry?

A/N: Thank you and thank you for the request! Let me know how you like it! Enjoy! I love Reg and I’m so excited to FINALLY write for him!! For anyone else wanting a fic; please request away! 

masterlist | read on ao3

Y/N Potter and Regulus Black were a weird pairing in most people’s eyes. Both being the younger siblings of the two most popular guys in school, it made their peers raise their eyebrows. Not to mention, they were in rival houses and seemed to be on opposite sides of the war. But they just worked. 

Y/N was a lot like her older brother, James; very loud and loveable. She was naturally talented on the quidditch field and loved to make friends. It was obvious that she had relationships with people of all the houses due to her outgoing attitude and warm sense of humor. While Regulus also played quidditch, he was much more introverted and shy. He didn’t have many friends, due to being categorized by his surname automatically, so he often kept to himself and spoke only when necessary. Y/N was the talker, Regulus was the listener. 

Funnily enough, Y/N and Regulus met through the means of getting Sirius to make amends with Regulus again. Regulus had cornered Y/N in the library and begged her to help him come up with a plan to talk to his brother. They ended up meeting multiple times in the following weeks and grew to be friends. 

Regulus adored her ability to be interested in small things; she once asked him what a necklace he wore meant. It didn’t mean anything in particular, but she sat and listened to him speak about his jewelry for almost 15 minutes. No one ever took the time to listen to what the younger Black sibling had to say. 

To their ‘plan sessions” in the library, Y/N always brought a strawberry jam sandwich to munch on. They met after her quidditch practices, so James and Sirius wouldn’t find them, which meant she needed a snack to keep her energy levels up. She always offered him half, which the rather regal boy would decline nearly every time. Nearly. Regulus found her little snack absolutely adorable, especially when the jam got all over her face. It made her lips even pinker, and that much more kissable. 

The sandwich became an inside joke between the two quickly. Even when passing in the halls, they would scoff and find the most outlandish way to mention the food. It wasn’t funny in hindsight, but it was something that connected the two in its ridiculousness. 

~

Regulus paced back and forth among the bookshelves of the Hogwarts library, hoping to bump into his now best friend, Y/N. The library was near empty, as it was Friday night and very close to curfew, so even just looking for her held very little hope. She had mentioned something about having to finish an assignment she was procrastinating, so Regulus hoped she followed his advice to just get it over with. 

The bookshelves were high and blocked most of the ceiling in the room, making the books impossible to read. Long, vertical shadows cast their darkness over almost every inch of the floor and offered very little light to allow him to navigate the maze of shelves.  During the day, of course, this was a different considering the wall of windows that looked over the courtyards. The window seats were some of his favorite places to come and think. And the seats just happened to be his and Y/N’s meeting spot. 

Regulus was about to give up on his search, but he noticed Y/N hunched over an astronomy book, sitting on the floor with her back leaning against a bookshelf. He casually slipped next to her, offering a shy hello. 

“Hey, Black. What are you doing here?” 

“I was about to ask you the same thing, Potter. Not exactly the best studying environment.” Regulus tilted his head back until it hit the books and turned his head to see her. 

“Well, I’m trying to save myself from having to do this entire project tomorrow. I have a book, yet you appear literature-less. What’s your excuse?” Y/N moved so she sat with her legs crossed, the thick book laid open on her lap. 

“I came to return this, you left it at our last meeting.” He placed a slightly toasted strawberry jam sandwich on the book. It was wrapped lazily in a green napkin and left an abundance of crumbs on her homework. Upon further inspection, the words will you be my girlfriend? were scribbled messily on the paper in black ink. Y/N’s jaw grew slack as she looked over at the highly attractive man next to her. 

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I just wanted to ask.” 

“Are you being serious?” 

“Dead, Y/N.” 

A smile crept over her features and she held out half of the sandwich. “Suppose we can start our relationship with a snack?” 

Regulus accepted the food, making a subtle crunching noise as he bit into it. “I suppose I can make the exception to eat your exceptionally plain choice in snack food, just this once.” 

~

“I’m sorry, you’re dating who?” James laughs, shrugging his younger sister off before grabbing his broom. 

By this point, Y/N and Regulus have been sneakily dating for more than half a year and Y/N was tired of hiding their relationship. After Regulus and Sirius had failed to rekindle their relationship, Sirius shoved his brother even further away than they started. It hurt the younger black to the point of giving up, but even he was tired of hiding their relationship. He loved Y/N with his entire being, and his jerky older brother couldn’t ruin that. 

“Have you ever even talked to Regulus before?” Sirius adds, grabbing his own broom to prep for quidditch practice. 

“Yes, and I am dating him. Not sure what’s so hard to understand about that.” 

“We understand it, just don’t believe it. Now, don’t speak about things you don’t understand.” James kicked off the ground and flew in the direction of the quidditch pitch. 

“Don’t understand? Excuse me?!” 

“He’s right. I know you were just trying to prank us, but joking about something that personal isn’t funny, Y/N.’’ Sirius mounts his own broom and flies off after James. 

After practice, Y/N hurried to the library to meet her slightly anxious boyfriend. Regulus knew you were telling Sirius and James, and he knew they would react badly. Y/N saw Regulus sitting on the windowsill furthest from the door and hurriedly walked over. 

“Hey! How’d it go?” He asked after Y/N pecked his lips and sat next to him. Regulus wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. 

“Not much to tell, really. They said I was trying to prank them and to not talk about things I didn’t understand. Honestly, I kind of wish they yelled.” 

Regulus laughed and kissed her temple. “They’ll come around, I’m not exactly their favorite person so I can see why they don’t believe it. And I’m happy they didn’t yell because I know how you feel when people yell and I don’t want you to feel like that.” 

“Holy shit! Get away from my sister!” James’ voice filled the area, Sirius quick on his heels. They must have been following Y/N after practice. 

~

“Riddle me this, you want to spy for the order and potentially get KILLED?!” Y/N paced around the living room of Regulus and her shared flat. 

It didn’t take long for Sirius to reaccept Regulus back into his life after seeing how he treated Y/N. At first, both older brothers thought Regulus was using Y/N to feed secrets and information to the opposing side of the war. They didn’t accept the couple and wanted Y/N to have nothing to do with the boy. But, after many feelings were hurt and various words were shared, they decided to give the boy a chance. 

Regulus treated Y/N like a queen and made sure his girl knew how much he loved her. He wasn’t very good with words, but his actions spoke volumes. Flower bouquets were gifted periodically, as were small gifts that had a lot of thought put into them. During one of their study dates, he spent over an hour drawing a beautiful portrait of her. Not too long after, he gave her an entire sketchbook of drawings he knew she would love. Whether that was pictures of her friends, family, her favorite flowers, or something as mundane as the bench she loved to sit on, the gift had taken hours and hours of his time. It was obvious that Regulus was in love with his girl. 

After graduating from Hogwarts, both Regulus and Y/N joined the Order of the Pheonix. Regulus still had heavy ties with Voldemort and his family, so Dumbledore asked him if he would consider being a spy for the Order. Even Sirius thought it was a bad idea. But, he had to prove that he wasn’t who he was raised to be. He had to prove himself to not only everyone around him, but to his inner soul. 

“Listen, Dumbledore thinks that there’s a spy that infiltrated the Order and if I can find out who, maybe I can stop it. Think about it, James has a kid, a kid who is very valuable to you-know-who. We haven’t even spent a ton of time with him yet, but I know I can save him if I find the spy.” 

“Yes, I realize that, Reg. But I can’t lose you in the process. We’re supposed to get married and have kids of our own and have a happy life-” Y/N takes a deep breath. “I can’t live without you.” 

Regulus smiles a comforting smile, taking his girlfriend’s hands in his. “I know, darling. I’m not going anywhere. How about this,” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small ring box, presenting it to Y/N. “Let’s get married. I’ve never been a fan of the big white wedding...and all you need is a few witnesses and two signatures. I’m sure Sirius and James would be more than willing to witness. What do you say?” 

Y/N gapes at her boyfriend. “Are you asking me to marry you?!” Regulus laughs and pecks her lips. 

“I love you so much, Y/N Potter. You are the light of my life and I am so lucky to have you. You have brought me so much joy and really made me the best person I could be,” He wipes a tear delicately from Y/N’s skin. “I asked James for his blessing, too, after the last Order meeting. He said he was ecstatic for us. So, Y/N, will you marry me? We can eat strawberry jam sandwiches together for the rest of our lives.”

“Yes! A thousand times yes!”

~

“Hi, little one, I’m your uncle, Regulus, remember?- Ow! Not the hair!” Regulus sat in a suit in the parlor of Potter cottage with one-year-old harry in his lap. Y/N watched from the doorway, decked out in her white cocktail dress and heels. She couldn’t help but gush at the sight of her soon to be husband with a child; it felt so natural. Her heart swelled just thinking about watching him play with their own children. 

“Yeah, he does that, keep him at a distance,” James responded, coming into the room. He was running late, as always, and was trying to tie his tie. “I can’t believe I’m witnessing my baby sister getting married!” 

Harry gargled and reached his hands towards his father. “Dadadadada!!!!” 

“I know, buddy, I’m right here. Hang out with your Uncle Reg for a while, yeah?” James responds, messing with his hair in the mirror. No matter how much he ‘fixed it,’ it all looked the same.

“It’s crazy how he looks so much like you, it’s like you copied your baby photos and made them come to life!” Y/N stated. Harry was almost an exact copy of James, but with Lily’s eyes. 

Sirius came into the room, perfectly dressed with his hair tied back. “Well, are we leaving or not?” He asked, fixing the bowtie around his neck in the mirror for the 8th time. 

“Pa’foo!” Harry squeals and squirms in Regulus’ arms. His grip tightens around the baby before pressing a kiss into his dark curls. 

“No, not Pa’foo! Reg!” Sirius turned towards Y/N and whistled. “Damn, Reggie, not sure how you picked up this one! Look at the legs on her! Phew, lucky I don’t snatch you up myself!” 

“Stop it! Can we please go?” Y/N swatted Sirius’s chest with her bag, embarrassed.

James plucked Harry from Regulus’ lap and hands him to Lily. “Yes, yes. Sorry, let’s go!” James kisses Lily’s cheek and disapperates out of his house.

Y/N walks over to Regulus and offers him a hand. “Ready to go get married?” 

“I’ve never been more ready, my love. “ 

[captaincravatthecapricious]

Along Came a Spider

Yeah this is for an anon and is basically Season 1 gang learns about Mr. Spider. Also it’s a sickfic.  Also it’s probably not that good I really ought to proof read it.  

Anyhow.  I have a nice little backlog of both fics and prompts but if you want I am still accepting the “things you said” prompts for Jon, Martin, and/or Tim.  So if you want to see something, give me a shout.  Enjoy and have a nice day!

cws fever, mentions of disassociation, mentions of spiders but not much about spiders, food mention, mention of nausea, panic nothing graphic, glancing mentions of grief

Now, hearing an undignified shriek from Jon’s office wasn’t a Common occurrence.  But, Martin knows well enough what it means.  It’s common enough that Martin, Tim, and Sasha are unconcerned, but glance at each other, mentally drawing straws over who has to retrieve the spider.  

It’s… it’s not funny.  Martin knows that Jon is genuinely very afraid, and can’t help it.  But… it’s a little funny in that stuffy, pretentious Jonathan Sims, sceptic extraordinaire, is afraid of spiders, of all things.  Cute, little, gentle creatures, who do so much for the environment.  

But there is always something in the set of Tim’s face that puts him on edge.  Martin knows that Tim isn’t afraid of spiders, but there is a darkening in his gaze when it’s his turn to take them outside.  Like he understands something that Martin can’t.  

Sometimes Jon gets a bit weird those days.  Hiding in his office more than normal, snapping more quickly and with less discretion.  Usually at Martin.  

But a few times, Martin has caught him in the break room, staring at the wall, holding a long-cold cup of tea, shaking ever so slightly.  

And Martin knows that feeling.  He Knows that feeling.  

And, contrary to popular belief, Martin isn’t stupid.  

He knows this is probably about the spiders.  Probably.  But Martin can’t fathom something like that shaking anyone This badly for a whole day.  

Then again… Martin lives in the institute, hiding from worms.  So maybe he can’t be one to talk.  

Jon’s been getting ill.  Martin can tell even from the few brief moments Jon has exited his office to retrieve a file, or to go to the loo.  Flushed fever-red, huddled in his threadbare coat, hand trailing on the wall to keep steady.  

Martin would have to be blind to miss that.  But… there’s not exactly anything he can do.  If Jon doesn’t want to rest, it’s not like he can force him to.  

Much as he wants to just go into his office with a thick blanket and carry him to a real bed.  Not just the sad cot that Martin has been using, not the sagging break room couch.  Although Jon has somehow acquired an office couch.  Martin has no idea how.  Honestly, he thinks it’s Tim.  Tim probably somehow got a couch into Jon’s office during one of the few times Jon isn’t in there, and Jon just… was either too tired or too small to move it.  Martin will have to ask Tim about it sometime.  

Then again, Jon still falls asleep at his desk, or the break room counter, and a few times, the floor and rarely gets to the couch.  Maybe the couch feels too much like giving in.  

In any case, Jon is ill, and Martin is going to bring him tea.  Maybe he’ll do the lunch run with Sasha today, and bring back some soup. 

His thoughts are interrupted when Jon shrieks.  It’s hoarse and ragged from whatever flu Jon’s been fighting for the past couple days, but it’s the “spider” scream.  It’s Sasha’s turn, which means the spider is going to be killed, which Martin feels a little badly about, but he also don’t want to go in there, because Jon’s likely to be more snappish than normal.  This is more so than spider snappish.  This is ill and scared Jon.  Who, Martin has come to realize, is very much trying to push everyone away to keep people from seeing him vulnerable.  Just another veneer.  A weaponization of a natural impulse.  Martin understands this too, but that doesn’t stop the words from hurting.  

It’s settled back into a normal day.  Although the slightly weird version of normal, because normally evening would bring a late night meal and tea with Jon in the frightened hours of the dusty and dark corners of the deserted archives, but with Jon ill, he’s been walling himself in his office, probably not eating, probably not sleeping, too afraid to go home, too afraid to stop working, and too afraid of getting Martin ill too to leave his office.  

Martin would much rather be able to care for Jon, it’s worth the risk if Jon actually would let himself get well.  But, again, not much Martin can do.  

Martin brings Jon tea.  Jon’s asleep on his desk.  Flushed cheek smushed against a smudged notebook, one hand around a tape recorder, one around a statement that it looks like Tim did the research for, based on the handwriting.  It doesn’t look peaceful or comfortable, and Martin has to fight the impulse to move him to the couch.  But, they aren’t that close.  Martin can’t invade Jon’s space like that.  Besides, Jon doesn’t like him much, and doesn’t like to be touched often.  (Sometimes he leans into it, sometimes he jerks away like he’s been scalded).  

At least Jon’s getting some rest, even if it doesn’t look comfortable, or easy.  

He fidgets.  He mumbles.  Fingers twitching around buttons and papers that he is definitely crumbling and will be pissed about later.  

Martin watches for a little too long, entranced by Jon’s careful, delicate fingers.  

Great.  Like this isn’t creepy or anything.  Getting hot and bothered by your boss’s hands.  

Martin sighs and leaves.  

He just about makes out what Jon’s mumbling, however.  “Mr. Spider wants more.”  

Martin shivers.  He must have misheard.  He closes the door.  

Martin is startled, but not surprised when Jon screams himself awake about mid afternoon.  

Tim looks troubled.  That spider stormy look back on his face.  

And Martin distantly thinks that might be similar to the look that Tim wore most of August this year.  Martin wonders if that is a yearly thing.  

Not that it’s his business.  

…But he worries.  

He wants these people to be his friends, and they are.  On a surface level.  And he thinks he might be getting closer with Jon… what with the late night bonding.  But it isn’t deep or anything.  Not like whatever Tim and Jon apparently have.  

He thinks Tim might get there with him, eventually.  Maybe.  Sometimes he feels like they are there already, but sometimes, like now, it’s clear just how little he knows.  

Never-mind that.  Someone should check on Jon.  

Tim is already out of his seat and halfway across the room, while Sasha is still exchanging glances with him.  

It makes him feel… inadequate.  

What role does he have in the office, if not the role of caretaker.  It’s all he knows how to do, even if he doesn’t know if he Likes that role.  But… what else is there?  What else is he?  Well… he’s also a little bitch, and he knows it.  

But these people are His people.  They are his friends, even if they aren’t as close as he wants them to be.  

It’s supposed to be him that comforts Jon, even though that doesn’t seem to be a place that he is needed.  Not with Tim around.  Not that he thinks Jon likes Tim in the way that Martin likes Jon, but that could be willful blindness.  But he doesn’t want to be jealous of Tim.  He won’t be, because Tim is one of His people, too.  

In any case, Tim is in Jon’s office already, and there is a crash and another shriek, and then Martin feels very awkward, because he thinks he might hear Jon crying.  

Martin scuttles off to make tea, followed by Sahsa.  

Martin knows that she doesn’t know what to do when people cry.  And is either here to help make tea, or maybe to try to find Jon a snack, or bring him the archive’s blanket.  (Not one of Martin’s.  One Tim bought for the break room, with a subtle design.  Cheap fleece, but very warm and homey.  Martin loves it.  But leaves it for Jon, to make him feel more welcome and cared for even since Martin has stolen his cot.)  

Sasha goes for the blanket, instead of food.  But she hovers while Martin makes the tea.  She’s leaning over his shoulder in a way that should be annoying, but it isn’t.  It’s grounding.  And feels like friendship.  

“You should make him some mint.  Sometimes nightmares make him queasy.”  She hands him the box.  

Martin fidgets, and wishes he knew this sooner.  He suspects that might be why Jon eats so poorly some nights.  He should have known sooner.  He should have asked.  “Uh, right.  Thanks, Sasha.”

She bumps his shoulder.  

It’s reassuring.  

It feels like the friendship he’s been aching for.  Searching out in little moments where it shouldn’t be.  But he’s so isolated here.  And never had many friends even before getting stalked by a bunch of worms in a dress.  

In his office, Jon is clinging to Tim.  It makes Martin a little jealous.  But also not.  Because Jon, in all his fever swept glory, is crying.  And Martin feels like this is something he shouldn’t be seeing.  Aching and private.  Not a spectacle to be heard, but Jon looks actually… relieved to see them all together.  In a half delirious sort of way.  Which… might be the best Martin gets, so he’ll take it.  

Sahsa drapes the blanket around both Jon and Tim, who have somehow gotten to the couch, to Martin’s relief.  And Jon takes the tea without too much fuss.  

Martin and Sasha make to leave, clearly Tim has done this before.  And knows what is going on.  But Jon stops them, voice ragged.  

“Wait!  Don’t… don’t go.  He could be there.”  

And Martin can’t begin to know what that means, but Tim tuts over him, and says, “We need to get your fever down, boss.  We can talk about this later, okay?”  

But Jon fights his way semi-upright.  “No… no… they deserve to know.  It… it was a book.  I… I was a child…”  

Well… SHIT.

[felikatze]

gosh overthink huh. do you mind writing about cheese man, maybe? could be about anything! i love him a Whole Lot and i just.... mmmmm chesed aaaaaaaahhhhhhhHhhhhhhh

OURGH THE CHEESE MAN. SO MUCH

this post is Late bcuz word empty and getting distracted by things such as exams, video games, driving, and semi regularly going to sleep at 8pm. anyway

I prepared this one in a libreoffice doc this time hooray for structuring

My main thesis for Chesed as briefly touched upon in my netzach post was this: "Activist Burnout."

i actually went wayyy overboard on uh. just lobcorp itself without LoR, so I'm cutting this particular post off with his Core Supression so I actually post something. But. I do have more. Also I feel like this is mainly recap instead of digging but you may like it anyway? Maybe? Dunno.

"I'm just gonna rewatch his LobCorp scenes to refresh my memory," I said, making this post entirely about LobCorp

The lovely brainworms anon even put this into context of Lobcorp's main symbolism, which I have transcribed from an eaten ask for reading ease.

"It makes sense as well based on the Kabballah, (Disclaimer: I am no expert on the subject matter and am only using what knowledge I've managed to scour on the internet.) Chesed is supposedly the Sephirah of loving kindness whose mercy and compassion balanced out by Geburah the supposed Sephiroth of strength and justice. The two of them needing each other to balance each other out lest  they each go too far. Geburah by going on a rampage and wanting to punish the abnormalities even at the cost of employees. And Chesed as you said, falling into despair, guilt, and activist burnout by putting the blame for things way outside his control onto himself."

Thank you brainworms anon, you are very smart. Though because neither of us are jewish (which i presume from your disclaimer) I'm not the person to go in depth on that particular aspect, but rather take this as confirmation that a major aspect for Chesed is compassion, and an overabundance of it.

Now then, what is activist burnout? A definition I could find courtesy of alive magazine was “when long-term activism-related stressors deteriorate activists’ physical or emotional health or sense of connectedness to their movements, impacting their effectiveness or abilities to remain engaged.”

Another source lists symptoms as

"Exhaustion: Feeling emotionally and physically drained

Cynicism: Having negative associations with the work that once seemed so important

Inefficacy: Doubting self-worth and lack of activist achievement"

The first even notes that prolonged trauma in these environments can even lead to PTSD.

So, why am I saying specifically activist burnout, and not regular burnout?

Because Carmen's crew were activists, easy. Daniel came from a place of privilege as a citizen of a Nest, but recognized the unfair conditions of the world around him and sought to change them for the better through Carmen's great project. The setting of the City and associated Wings is once again a potent satire of the most extreme capitalistic society possible, thereby drawing attention to how the less murdery version affects us in the current day. Of course they're activists.

However, by the time of LobCorp proper, we see all these aforementioned traits. We can see how tired he is from his design alone, as the only Sephirah with bags under his eyes, and always clinging to a cup of coffee to get started in the day.

For the second point, from his second story section onward it becomes clear that he is disillusioned with LobCorp's work. He has an attitude of "why bother wasting effort being mean when it'll be over soon enough" from Chesed's very first interaction with X. He says himself that he's feigning niceness though; he's utterly distanced himself from everything, seeing all of it as "wasted effort" because this cup of coffee went cold a long time ago.

He doesn't see any worth in what he's doing. At all. It seems like he has really low expectations for everything, and acts accordingly. This includes the manager; only when they actually fulfill his tasks does he seem pleasently suprised. In his third interaction, he mocks Angela's meaningless speech of "contributing to something better"

Now the last point is where we get spicy. "I hadn't even developed a taste for coffee back then. Should I say I developed that taste after learning the bitterness of life?"

From flashbacks, we see that during the early days, Chesed was extremely passionate. But, every measure he took failed, courtesy of Angela's sabotage (later revealed to be all in the name of the script). His efforts were doomed to failure in the first place, because human sacrifice wasn't collateral damage to be avoided, it was a necessity.

Chesed has a rather unique position as Sephirot of the Welfare Team. It's literally his duty to help the employees and keep them safe. Unlike most other teams, he directly confronts how death can be minimized, and thus has the greatest awareness of how unavoidable it really is.

"It's a good thing that everyone has such clear-cut assigned roles. It makes it easy for them to be faithful to their task with no unnecessary contemplation or distraction."

"Lady Angela does a very good job at keeping everyone in check in her play. Anytime someone tries to rid themself of their assigned role... Well, she becomes merciless."

Again, his position in the Welfare Team is what allows him to contemplate all this at all, combined with the fact that we know Chesed is already much smarter than he first appears. From his theatrical metaphor, we can even glean that he either came to the conclusion of a script himself, or managed to glean it from Angela's actions. The other Sephirah simply do not have the space to think about it to such a degree.

Angela tells him the truth about how LobCorp creates its energy not only because Chesed was already onto it, but because showing a passionate young man that his every goodwill is useless and will be sabotaged is the best way to break him.

(Another youth broken by the sharp jaws of capitalism~)

We only do things efficiently. Be happy you have this job at all. Just drink some coffee, you'll feel better.  "What's the point of it all?"

By the end of it all, he just gave up. If he went against Angela, if he told the employees the truth, she'd just kill them. And it will be his fault.

During Chesed's fifth segment, we actually get to see his relationship with Gebura, as touched upon by Brainworm Anon.

Angela herself says that "Gebura has failed to control her enmity, and has now lost her way." Chesed's kindness had made him unable to act, unable to rebel for fear of consequence. Despite saying he doesn't care for the welfare of employees, who else could it be for? "I hope you continue to rot until the day you die, succumbing to your fears like the servile bastard you are," says Gebura, hitting the nail on the head while also being very mean.

Gebura goes hard in the exact opposite direction. Chesed is consumed by fear, but she won't let herself be afraid. Ever. She'll confront everything head on, she'll punish each and every Abnormality as much as she can. The flipside to this is that "lack of fear" doesn't just mean for herself, but also for others. Her initial task as Kali was protecting others, and by refusing to show fear and setting her focus on raw strength, she accepts any casualty, completely contradicting her initial mission. But that's a topic for another post.

From the wise words of Brainrot Anon:

"But the way both Geburah and Chesed both grow into being healthier more balanced versions of themselves makes my heart swell with happiness in knowing that all our hardwork in LC did pay off when it came to helping our friends."

Indeed.

Speaking of growing into a healthier version of yourself, we have arrived at the turning point!

"Everyone has their own battle in this place...," he says after Gebura storms off, "But I can't seem to shake off this feeling that I'm the only one who just observes this situation from afar, not taking any action."

Wu oh! We've finally arrived at the self loathing! In a way, this is both completely out of his control, and a prison of his own making. Angela's sabotage was a delibarate effort to break his spirit, and yet Chesed himself tried to distance himself from the harsh reality as much as possible.

This dear statement shows us that his unique position, the most aware of the truth of LobCorp amongst the Upper and Middle Sephirah as well as seemingly unable to do anything about it, was eating him up inside.

Flashback to Garion. She tells him flat out, it doesn't matter whether he opens the door or not, because Garion will just do it herself if he doesn't. Eerily similar to the exact previous moment of Angela asking Chesed to lower the Qlipoth Detrrence. Hell, it's both about setting the Abnormalities free!

Daniel doesn't resist, because he has no choice, right? Resistance's all pointless, right? Daniel was consumed by fear, the same way Chesed was.

His core supression, his rebellion, is about taking the reins back into his own hands, about moving past the burnout and actually acting again. To him, every word of praise for his cowardice was just another pile of guilt. And the manager kept fulfilling his tasks, kept reducing casualties, kept showing him that its possible to act and to succeed!

"I don't want to undertake dirty work for Angela's show, or be a puppet who gets praise and applause from everyone. Nor do I want to be your "aide" who can't do a single thing. All of this has been a series of shame for me. Manager, this shall be my rebellion against you and Angela."

He was sick of taking a step back, of letting the shame pile on and on. We also see a bit of survivor's guilt from Daniel, regretting he was the only person who survived the initial attack from Garion.

Making this post, I'm seeing that Chesed's story is about how one gets burned out, and how one breaks out of it. How too much compassion results in guilt, and that with enough external pressure, compassion is discarded because of fear. You can try to change the world all you like, but the world will chew you up and spit you out. If you let it, that is.

"Why did I never come to the realization that I myself could be my own saviour?"

"I'm still afraid, manager. I'm still unsure if I can truly fight back against the fear I may face in the future. But I've decided not to run away, at the very least."

Chesed's Seed of Light is called "Those who are Faithful and Trustworthy." He reevaluated who he should really believe in, whose orders he should really follow, without just giving up and rolling over. In the end, if he decides to place his trust in the manager, it's of his own volition.

In a way, my initial grasp of his character may have been lacking..... I mainly focused on the first half of it, without touching upon the important aspect of reconcillation and regaining the passion thought lost. Only once he starts believing in his work again does Chesed not only act but feel like he is kind again.

One thing I may have mentioned about Chesed in regards to LoR, is that he still distances himself from other's suffering... but I don't think it's a bad thing as it was in LobCorp. It's all about the scope. LobCorp was something Chesed was directly involved in. A lof of "What if Daniel tried to resist Garion? What if Chesed tried to resist Angela?" and in the case of Chesed vs Jae-heon, the Library is the thing Chesed decided to place his trust in, which Jae-heon tries to destroy. Them standing in direct opposition leads Chesed to fall back on the attitude of "why waste effort being mean?"

As a final note, I find his Core Supression incredibly ironic, as all Core Suppressions are, since his is damage amplification. He's not hurting Angela or the manager, just the employees. Maybe that's why he needs to be supressed in that case in the first place. Well, it's always darkest before dawn, and every Sephirah is most batshit before enlightenment.

[miraculouswolf99]

Field Trip To Greece

My own take on the Field Trip salt stories that usually are crossovers with Batman and have Damienette. But this is my version with them going to Greece and involves my OCs Lyon and Vallia Garden.

*****

“Mari, Mari, MARI,” Adrien basically yelled into his friend’s ear.

Marinette woke up with a jolt in her bus seat.

“What,” she groaned, never being much of a morning person.

“We’re almost at the sanctuary, so I figured to wake you up,” Adrien smiled at his friend.

“Thanks and curse how fast this bus is,” Marinette said.

“And curse Hawkmoth for late night akumas,” Adrien suggested.

“That to,” Marinette agreed. “Even in Greece, he still finds a way to annoy us in Paris.”

“Well, you brought the horse miraculous for a reason,” Adrien said.

“How are you not tired,” Marinette questioned him.

“I’ve always been a morning person,” Adrien shrugged. “Blame my father for a lot of early morning photoshoots.”

“I’d slap your father if it did not mean risking my future as a fashion designer in the process,” Marinette says.

After revealing themselves to each other after Miracle Queen, the two had developed a more brother-sister relationship. They both thought that it would be better for them to know each other after having all their allies exposed to Hawkmoth and Mayura. They joked around, teased each other, and also always had each others backs.

Having each other’s backs certainly helped them when Lila’s lies got worse. After Chloe had willingly helped Hawkmoth, she had been sent to a private reformatory school in Sweden. Lila took the opportunity to tell more of her lies, saying that she had been telling her “best friend” Ladybug to keep the Bee miraculous away from Chloe for months. And just like everything else Lila ever said, their class ate it up like it was their last meal.

Adrien had joined Marinette almost immediately after he made his “deal with the devil” in order to get her back into school. He threw himself off the “high road” the moment that Marinette told him that Lila threatened her. But even with him backing up Marinette every time she caught inconsistencies in Lila’s tales, there were still few that actually believed them. Some even went as far as scolding Marinette for her “brainwashing Adrien” into thinking that Lila was a liar.

Kim, Juleka, and Nathaniel were the only ones that stayed loyal to their friends. Especially since Marinette had done so much for them in the past. Like curing Juleka of her photo curse, helping Nathaniel get together with Marc, and Kim had been her friend since they were in diapers. With their group was also Kagami, Luka, Marc, Aurore, and Mireille. The rest of Bustier’s class was pretty much made up of Lila’s attack dogs.

What annoyed Adrien the most was how his so-called best friend. Nino may be siding with his girlfriend, Alya being Lila’s biggest supporter/attack dog, but that also meant he was part of the problem. He certainly never helped Adrien when Lila would constantly hold onto his arm no matter how many times he told her to let go. It was driving Adrien crazy and he was very close to taking Plagg up on his offer to Cataclysm the liar.

“I bet the garden is going to be beautiful,” Juleka says, her seat next to the two heroes.

She was sitting next to Nathaniel while Kim was in the seat in front of Adrien and Marinette. They were all in the seats at the back of the bus.

“I heard that the Garden Family Sanctuary is ranked as an unofficial wonder of the world,” Nathaniel said.

“Anyone else find it odd that a nature sanctuary is run by a family with Garden as their last name,” Kim asked.

“I think this is one of those ‘don’t think about it too much’ times,” Marinette shrugged.

“I haven’t been here in years,” Adrien was glad to be back.

“You’ve been here before,” Juleka asked.

“There was a charity fashion show here about a year before my mother disappeared,” Adrien explained. “I was here with my parents for it.”

“Did you meet any of the animals here,” Kim looked excited. “I heard that they let any animals here roam free even when they have events or tours here.”

“The animals do roam around the sanctuary as they wish,” Adrien says. “But the Garden family and all their employees work hard to tame all their animals privately to make sure that even the predators do not harm anyone. They spend months to years taming them before releasing them into the main part of the sanctuary.”

“It really sounds like an amazing place,” Marinette said.

“I can’t wait to draw some of the animals,” Nathaniel already had out his sketchpad. “Marc requested I draw him the most amazing animal that I see. No pressure. Haha.”

Juleka patted his shoulder, but her obviously hiding her laughter made her attempt to comfort him fail. 

But, as usual, their good moods had to be ruined by the Italian that never seemed to go five minutes without hearing the sound of her own voice. And, also as usual, she was spouting her nonsense. They were very close to throwing her out the back of the bus if she did not stop talking.

“Of course I know the Garden family,” Lila brags, lying through her teeth. “They are basically family to me.”

“Here we go again,” the five friends groaned.

“The mother and her two daughters mostly handle the plants,” Lila continues. “The father and their son handle the animals. It’s only natural since they are the only ones that can stomach having to put down the more dangerous animals.”

“Tell us more, Lila,” Alya was recording the entire time.

Adrien growled. “There has never been a case of an animal being put down at the sanctuary. The closest that comes to that is when an animal gets sick and there is nothing they can do to help it.”

“They have to put it out of its misery, don’t they,” Marinette asked.

Adrien nodded. “The youngest two Gardens speak fluent French, so I was able to spend some time with kids my own age during the fashion show. They told me that while it breaks their hearts, it is better than letting the animal suffer.”

“I can see where they come from for that,” Juleka says. “They love, take care of, and train all the animals. So it’s only natural that they form a bond with them.”

“I know I am not the brightest person in class, but how can they believe such crap,” Kim shook his head. “Whenever anyone even slightly mentions someone famous, she instantly says she is either best friends with them or somehow related to them. It’s impossible.”

“Tell that to the sheep that follow her around like she’s god’s gift to the world,” Marinette rolled her eyes.

“Makes you wonder if we really are the only ones in class with braincells,” Nathaniel, of all people, said.

The bus doors opened as it came to a full stop at the sanctuary. Bustier was the first out and the class followed her. They all first went into the sanctuary. And even from what little they could see from where they were, it already was one of the most beautiful places any of them have ever seen.

Trees, flowers, and even fruit and vegetable plants were growing as far as their eyes could see. The entire sanctuary also seemed to be covered by a glass dome, making an environment similar to a greenhouse. It made sense since there were probably plants in certain areas that needed to be grown in certain temperatures.

But today the dome’s windows were open, letting in the natural light of the sun, even if it looked like squares on the ground because of the dome’s window linings.

As Bustier lead them to a stop, two teen their age approached the group. Adrien recognized his two penpals. The ones he met in Greece when he was there for the fashion show. Lyon and Vallia Garden.

Vallia was quite beautiful and had a grace and elegance to her style. She had long blond hair braided with roses and butterflies and had pink streaks. Her eyes were a stunning silver that you could see, if you were close enough, had specks of blue in them. Her style was a red, pink, and purple dawn colored dress with gold flats. On her wrists were diamond rose cuff bracelets, a butterfly on the one on her right wrist.

Lyon gave off a very icy exterior that also screamed honor and loyalty that only a knight would have. A tall boy with hair that was black with streaks of white and blue in it, coming to the length of Adrien's. His eyes were the opposite of the girl's, blue with silver specks. His outfit of choice was a sky blue t-shirt under a white jean vest, matching the blue pants with white boots. On his hands were white fingerless gloves. Around his neck was a sword and shield pendant as well as a white cloak only going down to his knees.

They all also saw that the two did have crystal medallions on their foreheads. Vallia’s was a rose quartz butterfly and Lyon’s was a sapphire wolf.

“Your pen pals are hot, Adrien,” Marinette smirked as she saw her honorary brother staring at Lyon.

“Shut up,” Adrien grumbled, making Marinette giggle.

Bustier turns to the class. “These two are going to be our guides through the sanctuary. Please show them the proper amount of respect since they are the ones that work here.”

Lyon and Vallia gave the teacher the side-eye. While they technically did work there, their family owned the sanctuary and it was like Bustier had completely forgot about that and thought that they were just employees of the sanctuary.

“Shouldn’t we be guided by adults,” Mylene asked, trying not to sound offensive to the two teens.

“We’re your tour guides because we are the only ones here fluent in French,” Lyon told the class, his French flawless.

Adrien hid that he was chuckling behind his hand. He knew the twins were fluent, but the looks on his classmate’s faces when Lyon spoke in French was just so funny.

“Before we begin, let us introduce ourselves,” Vallia said, also switching to French. “My name is Vallia and this is my twin brother, Lyon.”

“Please also take note of a few rules of the sanctuary,” Lyon says. “While the animals here have been tamed, do not touch or interact with them without permission. Certain movements or actions could cause them to badly react. They are all also on specific diets, so do not feed them unless we give you food to give them.”

“The plants should also all remain untouched,” Vallia added. “There are certain plants here that are not native to the area and survive here only because we created the right environments for them. Especially the ghost orchid. There are barely even 2000 ghost orchid plants left in the world and they need to remain here so that they do not go extinct.”

Most of the class nodded, understanding the rules. Lila hid how annoyed she was at not being able to take whatever beautiful plant she wants or touch any cute animal that she sees.

The tour than began, the class following the twins deeper into the sanctuary. Already they were starting to see a ton of the animals that lived there. There were some animals of Greek origins. Such as brown bears, red deer, lynxes, rock lizards, weasels, and wild boar. There were also more international animals. Like white-tailed deer from North America, jaguars from South America, pandas from China, African panthers and lions, Indian tigers, horses from Canada, even komodo dragons from Indonesia. And that was just the beginning.

“The Garden Family Sanctuary was founded almost a hundred years ago by siblings Apollo and Persephone Garden,” Lyon says. “Having been named after the god of the healing and the goddess of flowers, they had always loved helping nature and animals.”

“They started out with an animal shelter that took in any and all animals,” Vallia continued for her brother. “They had a very clear rule about being a no-kill shelter. The more popular they became, the more room they needed. And since they already came from a rich family, they bought more land. And over the years, it grew into the sanctuary you see today.”

“With the amount of animals and plants coming, there has been chat about buying land on another island to expand the sanctuary,” Lyon said. “Which means more area to protect from smugglers and poachers.”

“Your French is very good,” Marinette compliments them.

“Thank you, we’ve had years of practice,” Vallia says.

“It helped when we hosted a few French fashion designers here a few years ago for a charity fashion show,” Lyon said.

Adrien caught the smirk that Lyon sent his way. It made the blond blush.

The group continued walking through the sanctuary. A few of the animals curiously looked at the group, but chose not to get near them. There were a few did cuddle up to the twins, who happily petted them before sending them away with a treat in their mouth.

But even as the twins tried to talk about the sanctuary, Lila was still telling her lies as the classmates not under her spell surrounded her. They listened to her more than they did their actual tour guides.

“Yeah, poachers and smugglers try to get in all the time,” she was saying. “The first time I was here, I saw one and tried to tell the employees and they didn’t believe me. They certainly did after I single-handedly stopped him from taking a rare blue tiger.”

“That is so cool, Lila,” Rose unknowingly encouraged more lying. 

“They should make you a partner here if you caught a poacher that they did not even know was there,” Alya said.

“They wanted to, but my mother said I was too young to be part of a business,” Lila says.

Adrien saw the twins look at each other as they hear what is being said. He knew that while the two were mostly quiet around those they do not know, other than when they gave tours, they would definitely not take liars sitting down. They were extremely protective of their family, which was why Lyon practiced archery while Vallia is an expert with the bo-staff.

“The Garden family would never offer someone outside of the family a part of the sanctuary,” Lyon stated, making the class look at him.

“We would appreciate you not tell such tall tales about such a charitable family,” Vallia crossed her arms. “They are well-respected by all of Greece and do not deserve to have such lies told about them.”

The class looked very insulted at the accusation of Lila being a liar, which happened whenever anyone said that. It happened more than you think since Bustier’s class was the only one in the entire school that actually believed her. Everyone else knew that Lila was nothing but a liar.

“Something tells me that things are about to get interesting,” Juleka whispered to the rest of their group.

“You’re the one that knows them, Adrien,” Marinette says. “What do you think they’ll do?”

“I’ve been in contact with them for years,” Adrien said. “And from all I know about them, it’s a slight miracle that Lyon hasn’t already threatened to shoot her with an arrow.”

“Does he do that often,” Nathaniel raised an eyebrow.

“Only to those that really anger him, really annoy him, or threaten his family,” Adrien said. “But that last part also includes the sanctuary and all of the animals kept here.”

“Guess we should be thankful that he doesn’t have them on him right now,” Kim says. “Even if he could get rid of our liar problem with a single shot.”

“Lyon was actually scouted by the coach of the Greek Olympian archery team,” Adrien tells them. “But Lyon doesn’t like competition. He says that they are nothing but barbaric events meant to to do nothing but enlarge egos and decrease braincells.”

“Can are class even lose what they don’t have,” Marinette smirked.

All of them laughed at her joke. When Marinette got sassy and sarcastic, it was hilarious. She could sass-talk like nobody’s business.

“Haw dare you,” Lila put a hand over her heart and then started up the crocodile tears again. “How could you be so mean to me?”

That was when her sheep glared at the twins.

“Lila is not a liar,” Alya was her main supporter as usual. “You’re nothing but simple employees. I bet you do not even know the Garden family. Lila, on the other hand, is basically an honorary member of their family.”

Both twins crossed their arms this time, staring down the class.

“Let us fully introduce ourselves,” Lyon narrowed his eyes at them. “My name is Lyon Garden and this is my twin sister, Vallia Garden. Our family owns this sanctuary and neither of us nor the rest of their family have ever met this girl.”

Adrien was seriously smirking at this point. He had seen this coming and was very glad that it had finally was. Especially since Lila did not even get the number of family members right. There were two Garden parents, but the children were another story. Lyon and Vallia were the youngest of the family, but Vallia was the only girl and they had two older brothers.

“You’re probably just lying to make Lila look bad because you’re jealous,” Alix glared at the twins. “She’s connected to the Gardens while you are not.”

“Don’t believe us, we don’t care, but we do have a friend in your class that knows who we are,” Vallia giggled. “Isn’t that right, Adrien?”

The sheep looked at the model. He only smirked as he joined Lyon and Vallia’s side.

“You two certainly know how to make an impression,” Adrien tells them, chuckling.

“If we really wanted to make an impression, I would have started at my favorite wolf den,” Lyon snickered. “But I would have been too tempted to order my wolves to eat them.”

Adrien laughed at the looks of horror on his classmates’ faces.

“If you guys haven’t figured it out, it was my family that the twins were talking about before,” Adrien says. “We were the ones that came here for the charity fashion show. It was great to meet the two youngest members of the Garden family.”

“So these are the sheep that follow that liar like lost puppies,” Vallia looked at Adrien. “The liar that doesn’t know how to take ‘no’ for an answer?”

“Got it in one, Vallia,” Adrien says. “And she’s been telling lies about your family since this field trip started. She even said that your family was three girls and two boys.”

The twins rolled their eyes.

“Wow,” Lyon shook his head. “Vallia might wish she had a sister, it’s just us and our two older brothers with our parents.”

Vallia playfully slapped her brother’s shoulder.

While Adrien took his two friends over to the rest of his group to introduce them, the rest of the class finally seemed to get that Lila did indeed lie to them. They turned on her like lions on an antelope and started yelling at her for lying to them.

The twins made mental notes to contact their parents about needing to sue a girl for slander and defamation. 

[rachetmath]

JRY vs Ace-ops

Warning: Long read. This is theory on who would survive a fight. A analyses. In my opinion. So with clear, if you agree, then like or comment. Disagree, fine, go wild.  

Hello, so you must have read the title. Okay you might be thinking, "Ratchetmath, bro, you can't be serious. There is no way Jaune and Ren can ever defeat the Ace-ops. Only Yang, considering her and her teammates did in volume 7." Which I would completely side with you on. However, I've come to realize that the Hound was never a threat, and more importantly the boys could've done more if the Worf effect wasn't in place. So, let's give these guys a fighting chance and see what they along with Yang, could've done if they had to fight Winter and Ace-ops.

First, let's discuss the Hound and why the Worf effect failed. For those of you who don't know what the Worf effect is, it is when a new character is placed in the story and to prove their strength: you make them fight already deemed strong characters and let them win or stand a chance of winning the fight. The reason the Worf effect failed for the Hound is because Oscar is not a very strong character. Oscar skill level as the show presents is random at best. The Hound should have aimed for Jaune. Jaune as the show and writers made clear, has an incredible amount of aura. Seeing the Hound break his aura completely without even trying would've been more terrifying and makes sense. Or Yang, showing that it could fight.

But why? Why the Hound taking Jaune or Yang down first makes sense? Yeah, Yang is fine but Jaune is not strong or a capable fighter. Maybe not much of a fighter, but he is strong. In fact, he holds back grimm twice his size on a regular basis like an Urosa and Nuckelavee. Even Yang and the other characters, well except Elm because of her physical appearance, are guilty of this. The Hound is no different, it's basically a harder version of the Beowulf. Let's face it, Jaune couldn't do anything because the show must go as planned. Jaune could've save Oscar by getting close and blowing it away with his gravity dusted shield. The hound attacking Jaune first would prove it was watching them carefully, seeing their weapons and abilities to find who could be a threat to its mission. Proving its power and intelligence.

Now, the main event, team JRY versus The Ace-ops. The fight starts when the Ace-ops arrive after Jaune told them about the grimm river. Sadly, when they arrive, things were not so good. The Ace-Ops were more focused on finding Penny instead of the river. Now the grimm river destroyed the Atlas barrier and Atlas was under attack. However, the Ace-ops still want to arrest the group. Instead of going down peacefully, Jaune, Yang and Ren won't go down without a fight. Can they win?

Now, let's scan the environment. They were in an open plain field full of snow. There is nowhere to hide and almost no way to escape for team JRY. The motorcycle is not fast enough to outrun Harriet or a plane. But more importantly there was a crater beside them where the grimm river used to be. Now there are two ways this can go down, but I'll explain later. Let’s focus on the characters.

Let’s talk about the Ace-ops. They are elite hunters in Atlas. And from what we got from volume 8, Harriet told us that Marrow and Winter are replacements for their fallen comrades. Meaning Vine, Elm and Harriet herself are the remaining, long term members of the Ace-ops. So, they work very well together unlike with Marrow and Winter. That could give team JRY an advantage, but not much. Do to the fact that it's five against three and with only one of them being the strongest fighter, they need a plan to set the odds to their favor.

Now for team JRY. Beacon students turned hunters thanks to James. Now they’re with adults. However, there are a few problems with this team. There are three people in the team and two of them, barely fight or have barely won a fight at all. Jaune is more on the defensive while Ren... well, he spams his attacks, and relies heavily on long range. Sadly, the Ace-ops over power them with combative semblances and fire power. Their best shot would be to run. However, there still a way to win. This is a fight or flight situation, so what would happen if team JRY choose either option?

For flight, the reason being because they're not capable, it's a waste time and more importantly lives are in danger. First, remember they were on a field of snow. What does Jaune have? A shield that shoots gravity waves on contact weather it's from enemies or to the ground. Jaune was already in front of the bike and with good timing, he could activate and slam his shield to ground, sending snow flying, causing a smoke screen. Giving them little but plenty of time to hop on the one motorcycle and ride, while making sure Winter or Marrow have no time to stop them with either of their semblances. The crater also plays a key role for their escape. They can ride in it, but Harriet, due to her semblance granting her speed, will be on their tail. However, if orderly seated, Jaune can stop Harriet from getting too close. But what about the other members? Well, they'll be back on the ship, but they can't do anything. If they fire missiles, they'll get in Harriet's way and more importantly hurt her in the process. Jaune could also block her path himself with shield bomb.  

Now, for fight. Reason being is Oscar is in danger and needs saving. More importantly the plane is better for traveling around Mantle and saving people than a motorcycle. This will be a difficult battle but not one sided. This is going to involve the team trusting each other. And putting their skills to the test.

First off, they would need to get rid of Marrow. Marrow may be the rookie of the Ace-ops, but he is the most powerful. His semblance can stop time just by looking at his opponent or pointing at them, commanding them to "Stay" in place.

To take out Marrow, they need to knock him out before he uses his semblance. So, before the fight truly starts, Yang should be close to Jaune, grabbing his clothes and amplifying her aura. When she has enough, Jaune, since team JRY will get a plane, launches the bike and Ren shoots the gas tank. The explosion should cause a temporary smoke screen. Yang should immediately get on Jaune shield for him to launch her towards the Ace-ops and activate her semblance to knock Marrow out. Wait a minute, but Yang's semblance doesn't work like that, she needs to take damage to even use it. However though, Blake revealed that Yang and Adam's semblances are one of the same. Meaning, both can activate their semblances any time without the need to be attacked. Yang has done this once back at Beacon and in Atlas considering Elm couldn't even touch her. But this would wear her out. Too bad she was amplified by Jaune, so she may not experience the same negative draw backs when using her semblance recklessly before.

Wait, but what about Aura? Can't aura protect Marrow from harm? Well, sadly no. Aura, as the show so far made clear, is limited to what it could do for its users. If you have a broken arm, get poisoned and/or critically wounded, your aura my not save you. So, a heavy blow to the head is something your aura is useless in healing, especially when you need to be conscious.  

Now, it's four against three. So, what should happen next? Jaune pushes Harriet into the crater, allowing Ren to fight her. Harriet may be fast but with the crater being narrow and deep she'll have a hard time moving around and probably climbing out. This will allow Ren to adapt to her movements and fight in her in hand-to-hand combat. Hopefully, he's still good at that and not relying on his upgrade.

Jaune may have to take on two opponents. They are being Vine and Elm. Don't get me wrong, it took Blake and Yang to beat them, but Vine and Elm aren't really that good. In fact, they are just stronger versions of Ren and Nora, except Vine's semblance is better suited for combat. But let’s be clear, Jaune survived a journey of pain without his aura being broken but a few times. Never mind, only once, do to being tired after fighting a giant mech.

Now, hear me out. Elm is strong, and her weapon is an RPG. But her semblance is useless if the ground is cracked, which Jaune can do without wasting aura, or entering a burst mode. Elm also has not demonstrated any hand-to-hand combat skills. Even if she was willing to still use her weapon without her semblance, it only further proves she will suffer from the recoil from her weapon once fired. Plus, Jaune can block or deflect the missiles back at her using the gravity waves from his shield. Also, though Elm is stronger than Jaune, he's faster, has more movability and a sword. So as the saying goes, "Bigger doesn't always mean better."  

But hey, what about Vine? He beat Jaune before. But who can't beat Jaune? More importantly, didn't Vine need the high ground to fight anyone. In the snow plain field, Vine has no high ground but the ship, Jaune already fought him once so he might know how far his arms can stretch, and more importantly, Jaune is physically stronger than Vine. He might use his weapon but again, the shield can deflect it. And if Jaune grabs his stretchable arm, he basically can throw Vine around.

I will make this quick for Yang. Yang will take on Winter. She would be able to reason with her considering she's friends with her sister. But Yang might have some ways to fight Winter considering she should knows how Weiss fights and been working with Weiss for a while. However, we still must consider that Winter can make an army of grimm, but she has not used any other tactics.

But these are still highly trained hunters. They aren't so easily to be defeated especially against Jaune and Ren. Well, Jaune can assist Ren by knocking out Harriet. How? Ren could use his grappling gun to capture and slow down Harriet. Ren gives Jaune a signal, Jaune goes to him, Ren releases Harriet who was running too fast for her own good with no time to react. Finally, Jaune use his shield to knock her out. They climb out and both can fight Vine and Elm. Same for Ren if to assist Jaune first. Harriet may be fast but won't be able to climb out the crater. Once all four members are down Winter would be the only one left. And sadly, the Schnees despite their abilities, still manage to lose battles.

Well, that’s all folks. Remember this is in my opinion. If there are ways for team JRY to win or if there are flaws to my plan, then please leave a comment. However, despite what I said, team JRY would still lose. Mostly due to what I said about the Worf effect not being used properly. And the villains have way more plot armor then the heroes.