#but i was also very struck by the forgiveness bit

[clotpolesonly]

on fathers, homes, loyalties, and defectors

The Raven Boys ch 7 // Dream Thieves ch 5 // The Raven Boys ch 36 // Dream Thieves ch 5

[maleficore]

I've seen a lot of people talk about how the game doesn't give you any leeway when you play The Dark Urge, how it makes it very clear that Durge was A Bad Person, but I haven't seen it pointed out that Sceleritas seems VERY well versed in gaslighting the hell out of them and steering Durge away from any doubt or guilt in regards to their actions. Makes me think that they've probably had those types of conversations before because Durge actually always had a soft spot, only it got smaller and smaller in time. I have not had the opportunity to see the Heal cutscene yet, but I've got the butler in my camp now and he had some interesting things to say, like

[Durge: Can you tell me the worst thing I ever did?

Sceleritas Fel: There was one time you gave a beggar some coin while we were en route to the Devil's Fee.

Sceleritas Fel: You didn't kick him or spot on him or anything! I was so shocked I almost fainted!

Sceleritas Fel: I still have nightmares about it to this day. But I'm sure you only did so to lower the suspicions of the Flaming Fist. Surely?]

and it struck me because tossing a coin to a beggar is a bit of a thoughtless act isn't it? You don't put much thought into it, you just see someone in need and you do it. Out of empathy, generosity, something The Murder Incarnate should not be capable of. Sceleritas' uncertainty of Durge's reasoning for it totally convinces me it was NOT intentional. A simple act of kindness that slipped out.

ALSO

[Sceleritas Fel: The only way for a Butler to die is if we are not of use to our Master. But you have always needed abundant assistance.]

They always needed abundant assistance. Why? Because they kept slipping out of Bhaal's grasp? We know they did at least once, with Gortash. Maybe it was not the first time, maybe there are more "Letters of Forgiveness" tucked away somewhere.

To me pre-tadpole Durge is just terribly mindbroken and indoctrinated person hooked onto the sense of safety, purpose and acceptance of their dark side that the cultists and their father give them. Yeah they enjoy murder, gore and all that. That's the curse of their blood, but I don't think they were ever entirely consumed by it. Morality, guilt and empathy have always been there on the edge of their mind. Losing their memories (depending on player choices I know, but bear with me) was what they needed for them to be finally brought forward.

[tyquu]

Ah I remember my question now!! Since Ezra is a growing boy, how does that impact his prosthetic use? I'm assuming they can't just go get him refitted like normal... do they help him resize? Do they build new parts? Or help him find some?

Hiii!! :D) So I doodled out my thoughts as I pondered this question but my handwriting is ass so… I’m also gonna write a little summary too!

Ezra's first Prosthetic was given to him by the same people who performed the amputation on his leg in the first place. Some concerned Lothali citizens who couldn't bare to watch him hop around on his severely infected leg any longer. 12 year old Ezra was pretty pissed about it though (understandably). It didn't help that his first prosthetic was old as balls and awful to walk on.

Thankfully, using bits n bobs he'd collected out on the streets, Ezra was able to tighten the loose hinges at the joints and modify the top to fit better. Alas, he ended up loosing this leg after bopping Kallus over the head with it pretty early on into joining the spectres.

Hera set him up with a pair of crutches and then devoted herself to finding him a replacement. She was determined to find something that was better than his last prosthetic and thought she'd struck gold when she figured out Vizago had one sitting in storage. She haggled hard but eventually managed to pocket the rarity, and delivered it back to Ezra. Sabine helped modify it fit to properly, and to Ezra's delight he discovered that the hinges on this leg were motion activated, and could pack an even better punch (or kick) than his previous one.

Ezra hadn't really manage to curb his habit of using his leg as a weapon on occasion, and during such an incident ended up losing leg 2 (much to Hera's despair). Thankfully, Sabine had helped Ezra do enough maintenance on his last two legs that she was confident she could fix up some similar prototypes using her engineering skills. The spectres all contributed to a scrap box that would be used to build replacement legs whenever Ezra ended up losing or outgrowing one. All of them were very dedicated to scouting out parts for him and happy to help with maintenance.

At some point the rebellion had gotten large enough to start having a more organised healthcare system, and Ezra was offered a spot on the surgery waitlist for cybernetics. Ezra was initially hesitant, however, post the incident on Malachor he eventually agreed.

The cybernetic, although not the most advanced for it's time, is connected to his nerves giving him full mobility over the prosthetic. However, it came with it's own new quirks that took some getting used to. Detaching and Reattaching the cybernetic takes between 2-5 minutes to do, and often requires tools to help, rendering it no longer an option as a spontaneous mid battle weapon. As a result there was no longer need for him to cut holes in the left leg of his trousers either.

Ezra doesn't sleep with the cybernetic (same as one wouldn't with a prosthetic) cause it would be hella uncomfortable. On lazy days, he often goes without it, opting to use crutches around base instead. The cybernetic is waterproof, however, in both snow and sand it can sometimes become clogged and stiff, and may need extra maintenance after the mission is complete. The ghost crew is always willing to help pitch in with their engineering expertise (mainly Hera, Sabine and Chopper) or spare part gathering.

Anywho,,, yeah. I hope that sort of answers that question?? I'm not 100% familiar with how prosthetics and cybernetics work in the Star Wars universe so forgive me if some of this info doesn't check out. ( also if u see a spelling mistake,,, no u don't)

[elronds-meleth-nin]

Healing Hands

This is just a short little fic, based on this post here. The tall, broad High-King demanded a drabble aside from the ones I'd already started about him, so what else could I do? He is the High King, after all. 🥰👑

Cross-posted to AO3 here.

~*~

Gil-Galad (RoP) x Half-Elven!Reader

[A/N: This is just fluff.]

Warnings: Spoilers for RoP s2e8, non-graphic descriptions of injuries, mentions of blood, soft!Gil-Galad, affectionate teasing, romantic tension, healing injuries, Gil speaking Quenya, battle aftermath, minor angst with a happy ending.

~*~

Did she truly think she was being subtle with such a limp in her step? The High King and his Herald had led their soldiers and the survivors of Eregion into a valley, establishing around it a protective, magical barrier using the rings of power.

Together, the pair had healed Lady Galadriel, but as they settled her in a soft, flat spot to recover, Gil-Galad saw his lady, clad in her own black-splattered armor, attempting to limp away unnoticed.

"Go. I'll stay with Galadriel," Elrond volunteered quietly, and with a grateful nod of acknowledgement, the King hurried through the trees after her. He hadn't even remembered seeing her struck, but obviously she had been if she was limping.

She didn't get very far. At the edge of a small clearing, he found her sitting with her back against a tree, struggling to remain conscious. His breath caught when he saw how pale she'd become. She'd clearly been hiding this for quite some time.

Without a thought beyond healing his lady, Gil-Galad dropped to his knees beside her and began slicing a window into the leg of her trousers. The cloth parted easily at the behest of his dagger, and at the waft of cool air over her skin, her eyes fluttered open.

"Ereinion?" Her voice was so shaky and quiet. "I'm sorry. Didn't...want to bother you..."

"Hush, I am here, now," he murmured as he beheld the broken-off shaft of an arrow embedded in her leg. She'd lost quite a bit of blood if the dark, drenched fabric of her trousers was any indication. Thankfully, the arrow was not lodged too deeply, and she'd left enough of it exposed for a healer to grip in order to remove it. "Fool of a girl, you should have come straight to me."

She let out a weak laugh at his affectionate scolding.

"Calling your favorite patient a fool? Ondórëa ingaranya," she murmured cupping his cheek and drawing his eyes to her own. There was no real acidity in her tone. Gil-Galad took courage in the fact that she still had enough clarity of mind to tease him. He had, in fact, healed her before, but the injuries were always insignificant and superficial. And, she'd never actively hidden them from him before.

What cause had he given her to do so? Had she been embarrassed?

Without hesitation, he turned his head just far enough to kiss her palm.

"I humbly beg your forgiveness, meldanya." He hoped that she knew he referred to more than his playful jab. He also knew that to call her such, to allow such a slip, would be tantamount to a confession for which he was not certain that he was prepared. But, to call her anything less than his beloved would be a lie. Furthermore, to do so in the aftermath of such rampant death and destruction would summon within his heart guilt in such quantities that he could not abide.

Turning his attention back to her leg, he laid his palm as lightly as he could over her thigh. He whispered in Quenya, allowing the magic from his ring and from his own healing abilities to seep into her skin and numb her pain. Working quickly, he removed the arrowhead and pressed his hand over the wound, murmuring some of the same healing spells he and Elrond had used on Galadriel.

Fortunately, though, this was not a cursed wound as the former had sustained from Morgoth's crown, nor was it as severe. Her skin glowed readily beneath his touch. Within moments, the skin bound itself shut and his lady shuddered in relief as a trickle of light penetrated the canopy of trees overhead to mingle with their own.

Her hand had fallen limply away after mere moments, but Gil-Galad retrieved it once his work was complete, grasping it gently between his own blood-stained fingers. Her pulse beat steady and strong in his grasp, and his eyelids fluttered shut as he breathed a sigh of relief. She would be alright. She had survived.

"Did you mean it?" She breathed, and he was so surprised that she was conscious that his eyes snapped immediately to hers. Despite the dirt and grime coating them both, he felt entirely exposed beneath her gaze - vulnerable and transparent before her.

He relished the sensation of being known so completely. To everyone else, he was Gil-Galad, the High King of Lindon, the bastion of strength from which his people drew their courage when darkness threatened.

To her, he was simply Ereinion. The feeling was more pleasant and intoxicating than he could possibly express.

"You called me your beloved," she continued. "Did you mean it?"

How could he deny it? He loved her. He had for centuries. Since the moment she set foot in Lindon nearly three hundred years before, Gil-Galad had surrendered to the realization that his heart would settle for no other. Her light was beyond compare, shining into even the most uncertain parts of his heart which he hid from all others. She drew him out so easily, comforted him simply by smiling in his direction. She was his strength, his courage, his most luxuriant pleasure and joy.

But, he was a king. Because she knew him, she also knew better than any other how taxing his position was. Over time, he'd convinced himself that she would not wish to bear the burden of ruling by his side, so he'd remained silent - reluctant to steal her own contentment and joy by forcing the responsibilities of a ruler upon her. She deserved to have a life unburdened by the weight of a crown.

In his secrecy, however, his heart had grown accustomed to a more profound loneliness than he'd ever previously known. On too-silent nights in his chambers, he longed to hold her close and whisper poetry in her ear - he'd composed more verses in her honor than he'd expected his heart to harbor. On tranquil mornings before the rush of the day's duties began, he ached with the need to see her curled peacefully in his arms as the light of the sunrise spilled in through the windows.

No longer. After today's battle, Ereinion could no more hold his tongue than the pair of robins who sang so freely in his gardens each morning.

"Yes. With all of my foolish heart, I meant it," he admitted, his heart singing with every word, and she lifted her free hand, threading it lightly into his hair. The King savored the feeling. Never before had she touched him so brazenly - he'd made it clear that she was more than welcome to, of course, but she never availed herself of such liberties.

He bent lower, hoping to encourage her by making his person easier to reach. He felt her bare wrist brush against the tip of his ear - sharper than her own, thanks to her half-mortal parentage - but he could not hide his blush nor the light groan she tugged from his chest.

"You have tempted me...enchanted me since our first meeting. I have eyes only for you, but if you do not feel the same, I swear on my honor that I will not torment you further." The King's oath came from the most sincere depths of his heart. For her, he would. Much as it would pain him, if she wanted nothing to do with his feelings, he would bury them deep so that only he would feel the ache. She would suffer no discomfort at his hands.

Her lips met his, stopping his spiraling thoughts in their tracks, and all his worries fell away beneath the most delicious relief. They were as soft and sumptuous as they looked - as he'd imagined them to be - and Ereinion didn't hesitate to return her affection. He may have healed her leg, but with that once simple act, she had healed the King's heart.

~*~*~

Elvish Words (Quenya):

ondórëa ingaranya = my hard-hearted/pitiless high-king

meldanya = my beloved

~*~

Taglist:

@bigblissandlove1 @gandalfthepimp @horta-in-charge

[mochinomnoms]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Congrats on 1k followers Mochi (っ˘з(˘⌣˘ ) ♡ you so so so so deserve it. You always make me smile when I see your posts so I hope you have fun writing them.

If I might make a request, could I have Jade, Trey, and Ace with a romantic prompt 16 (“I won't lose you again.”)? I want to see them cry a lot just a tiny bit. Feel free to let the vibes guide you, I trust it will be very good.

-Yuri

jade leech, trey clover, ace trappola (separate) x gn!reader [tags] — angst in Ace's, hurt in Trey's, humor in Jade, implied time loop theory [wc} - 1,000+ each prompt 16: “I won't lose you again.” song: Be, Talk (Hozier, “Wasteland, Baby!”), Francesca (Hozier, “Unreal Unearth”) note - @yuri-is-online got it! went a lil wild cause I got massive inspo lmao. Also, let me know if yall can guess the anime I got inspired from with Ace's francesca (1k event)

“Be like the love that discovered the sin (Lover, be good to me) / That freed the first man and will do so again / And, lover, be good to me (Lover, be good to me)”

There were several things that caught Jade Leech’s attention during his life, but only a few kept his attention, after which he’d abandon his ‘toy’. Fungi, mountains, and poisonous flowers, were exceptions, to name a few. He had to admit to himself (and only himself) that there was one thing that revolved in his mind all this time later, dug deep into his brain like the mycelium of his beloved mushrooms in the forest floor. 

One. Thing. You. The funny little human from the broken down dorm. The funny little human with not a single ounce of magic in their veins. The cute little human that was captivated by his merform, an entirely foreign concept to them. The sweet little human with the even sweeter crush on him all throughout his second and third years. 

Perhaps it was cruel of him to entertain your affections with no real desire to follow through on them. Actually, scratch that, it was cruel of him to do so. It was just so…interesting to him at the time. He grew alongside his brother and Azul, none of them exactly being the most sought after during their childhood or teens. They were feared, each of them for multiple reasons, not exactly prime boyfriend material, despite some of their attempts to curate a specially crafted facade. 

Yet, you were so bewitched by him, enthralled, beguiled, and dare he say lovesick with him despite all the signs screaming “DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!” So please, forgive him for shamelessly flirting, and finding entertainment in your reactions. 

The dilated pupils as he leaned down to make eye contact. The sharp intakes when he cornered you against a library shelf, nonchalantly reaching for a random book. The shiver down your spine as he would lean over in class to whisper some nonsense in your ear regarding the class. All for the sole purpose to see you blush a pretty color and get flustered. Not for the jump in his heart at the thought of being revered so sweetly, or a potential lover being so good to him. 

It was just a bit of fun. That’s all it was. That’s all it was meant to be, when he finally left for his internship his third year. He paid no mind to the wistful look on your face as he gave his goodbyes, nor the strange creak in his heart at the sight.

Jade Leech was all he’s always been, and all he will ever be: a man that left his toys once they ceased to interest him.

Which is why he loathed that he’s been unable to remove you from his mind. Though, did he really? It wasn’t annoyance or hate, but an aching yearning that resided in his being. Jade spent many months tossing and turning in bed as he dreamt of you: shy smiles, soft eyes, and sweet words. He wanted, he needed to be free from this love-struck feeling, this infatuation. It was dragging him down from his finely constructed pedestal, like a sin striking an angel down from heaven. 

Yet, coming back to campus now, presenting his internship research at the end of the year, Jade found himself strangely content with the concept as he watched you. You’d taken on your role at NRC quite beautifully, and were the object of affection for many admirers, much to his dismay. Currently, you were attending to visitors, directing them to their destinations and helping the fourth years find their old clubs and friends, while he admired from around the corner.  

You were as you’ve always been, sweet, cute, and clueless to your surroundings as he stalked closer until he was behind you, leaning down until his lips inched close to your ear. 

He purred breathlessly into your ear, “Oh Prefect~ Is that you, my dear?” Jade didn’t miss the shudder that flew up your spine as you jumped away in shock. 

“EEP! W-what the—” You whipped your head around to berate the man before realizing who it was. “Oh, jeez, Jade! You’re back—why’d you do that?!”

The tall man chuckled as he straightened to his normal height. Oh, how he missed you. And your reactions, of course. 

“I simply missed your delightful expressions, you always have been rather reactive with me, haven’t you?”

“What—nooo. I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Huffing, you crossed your arms and jerked your gaze away in irritation. At least, it would be if not for the blush on your cheeks. 

“Fuhuhuh, that blush suggests otherwise.” A giddy feeling filled his chest as Jade inched closer to you, in which you backed away. This continued until he managed to corner you against the stone way of the hallway. 

“This is a familiar sight, is it not?” Jade cooed as he leaned down again, a hand reaching to caress your cheek. “I did miss you, didn’t you—”

A smack. Jade blinked in surprise as his hand was thrown back by your own. Now you looked more annoyed than flustered. 

“I’m sure you did.” You hissed sarcastically, narrowing your gaze at him. “Ha! Please, more like missed messing with me. If you really missed me, you’d’ve called or messaged me like the others in our class. Even Azul checked up on me!”

Jade…hadn’t been aware of that. He’s been too into his own head, reliving memories with you that it hadn’t occurred to him that you’d actually might lose affection for him. 

The thought made him a little sick. 

He pouted, taking your chin in his hand to tilt your head up to his. “Is that so? Please forgive me for my most egregious sin. I don’t wish to lose you again.”

“Hmph, again?” You made a sound of offense. Despite your words, you still looked up at Jade with a  shy gaze, eyes darting down to his lips every so often. 

You never had me in the first place.” You scoffed, trying to avert your blushing gaze, though he kept a firm grip, moving to squeeze your cheeks into a pucker.  

Jade chuckled, “Your previous actions say otherwise, though I am quite a fool for not taking what was mine in the first place.”

“Y-yours?! You-you-you can’t just say things like that—eep!” You let you a deliciously cute squeak, which he swallowed up as he stole a kiss. 

“Now, now my little lover, be good to me and let me revel in your affections, I’ve derived myself from them for far too long now, have I not?”

And I'd be the immediate forgiveness in Eurydice / Imagine being loved by me / I won't deny I've got in my mind now (Hey, yeah) / All the things I would do

He wasn’t sure why he had any faith in Crowley to get you back home. Really, that’s on him for thinking the headmage would put any work into your return home. If Trey had known that you’d still be here in Twisted Wonderland, years after his graduation, he wouldn’t have ever broken up with you. 

Granted, it hadn’t exactly been his choice in the first place, as you had abruptly ended the relationship towards the end of his fourth year. Told him to enjoy his life without you weighing him down, despite his insistence that you’d do no such thing. 

Trey finally relented when you told him that you had a world, a family, a home (without him) to get to. Somewhere you belonged, somewhere that wasn’t with him. 

It hurt, yes, knowing that you were never really meant to be with him in the first place. It was simply by magical chance that you were plucked from your world to turn his own upside down. Likewise, it was simply by chance that you and him got together to steal and eat his heart, leaving him almost an empty shell of himself. 

So it was a surprise to see you at Riddle’s wedding, of all places, dressed up in a pretty green outfit as you giggled with some bridesmaids. Seven, you looked good, the fabric hugging all the right spots. Maybe he was being a bit delusional, but Trey swears that the green of your outfit matched the color of his hair, and he had a small possessive streak pass through him at the thought. If it wasn’t for Cater pinching his arm, Trey would be sure that he was in a dream. 

“Ow! Cater!” Trey hissed, rubbing his arm as the strawberry-blonde smirked at him. Cater’s hair was longer now, but he kept his signature style from school still. 

“Go on, talk to them.” Cater nudged him with his elbow, gesturing to you. “I know you want too~”

Trey huffed, watching the liquid in his cup as he swirled his punch. “I’m fine, thanks.”

“Oh, come on!” Cater whined, latching on to Trey’s arm. 

“We didn’t end on good terms.”

Cater countered, “You didn’t end on bad ones either.”

“Hmph.” Trey clicked his tongue, eyeing you from the corner of his eye. Your hair had grown longer, and was dyed. It looked nice on you.

Still leaning against Trey, Cater pouted before a mischievous look passed over his face as he leaned in to whisper in Trey’s ear. 

“Besides, I heard they’ve stayed single since being with you.”

“…” A sigh. “Really?”

“Totes, so you really ought to go make a move before that blonde dude does, though it doesn’t look like he’s having much luck.”

Finally deciding to look up, Trey noticed your uncomfortable expression as the guy twirled a strand of your hair with his fingers. Despite being known for being rather mild-mannered, a handful of your mutual friends knew the truth: Trey had a nasty jealous streak where you were concerned. 

He wasn’t sure when or how he got across the room, but Trey was suddenly hovering over you and the blond man, hazel eyes piercing his back. Surprise flitted your features as a hand was offered to you, along with a familiar. 

“Sorry, hope I’m not interrupting.” Trey had to withhold a smug smirk as he saw your eyes light up at the sight of him. “But would you mind sharing a dance?”

You eagerly nodded, taking his hand and mumbling a half-hearted apology to the other man as Trey guided you to the dance floor, filled with couples sharing a dance to the latest love song. 

His hands rested on the familiar curve of your waist as your arms wrapped around his neck, hesitating before finally settling your hands on the back of his neck. The two of you swayed to the music, a surprisingly comfortable silence between you two. Honestly? It was as if you two never broke up, with how your bodies curled into each other, heart-to-heart.

Yet, neither one of you seems willing to start the conversation he was begging to have.

“… You look beautiful—”

“You look wonderful—” 

Both of you opened your mouths at the same time, interrupting each other before sharing a giggle.

“Sorry, sorry. You go first.”

Trey shook his head. “No, go ahead.”

You smiled, something soft and a bit sad, before looking him up and down. “You look good, got stockier. The bakery’s got you working hard, hm?”

“Ha, yeah. It has, what…about you?”

Your lips thinned, as you looked away. “Still at NRC with Grim, we teach the new Beast-tamer curriculum. It’s…fun.”

Silence fell over you two again, the elephant in the room hanging between you two.

“You’ve been here, all this time, then?”

You nodded, a sliver of shame passing over your features. 

“He never did find me a way home after we…you know…”

Trey sharply inhaled, tightening his grip and rubbing soothing circles as he nodded. “Yeah…why didn’t you…tell me. Why didn’t you come back?” He left out the ‘to me.’

You stopped dancing, making him stumble slightly as he watched your face intently, heart aching at the tears growing in your eyes. 

 “I—” Trey watched as you swallowed a lump in your throat, voice shaky. “—I felt so bad that you’d spent your time and energy on being with me when I might not even stay, so I wanted you to go off and live life. But then, he never did find me a way back, and I realized that I just pushed you away, and I just couldn’t face you—”

You broke into sobs, burying your face into his chest as Trey led you away from the dance floor. He managed to pull you into a secluded hallway, one for the staff to enter in and out of the kitchen. Trey held you close as he rubbed your back, resting his cheek on the top of your head as you rested into the crook of his neck.

“I-I'm sorry… I shouldn't be…” You were sniffling, letting out little hiccups as you spoke. “—crying like this… I'm not trying to make you… feel bad… I just… I should go…”

As you moved to pull away, Trey tightened his grip, hand reaching up to caress your cheek as you looked up at him with watery eyes. You were as beautiful as the day you left him, tears streaking your makeup and all. 

“Don’t, please, I—” Trey sighed, resting his forehead against yours. “I won’t lose you again. I missed you so much, please, stay?”

You nodded, still sniffling, as you moved to kiss the palm holding your cheek. “I missed you too, but aren’t you mad at me? For not coming back?”

Trey shook his head, smiling softly at you. Whatever anger he had was immediately forgiven at the sight of you before him. He couldn’t care less about the last few years, as long as he had you back in his arms again. 

“As long as I can have you back in my arms, the past is forgiven. As long as…you’ll have me?”

The two of you shared another sweet smile, leaning into each other to press your lips in a soft, fleeting kiss. The type of kiss you give when you can’t tell the difference between a dream and reality. Cater’s quick photo of you two lovers would later help cement that fact that this was reality. 

It’s a week later that Trey has that exact same picture set as his home and lock screen.

I'd tell them, "Put me back in it" (Da-ah, darlin') / I would do it again (Ah-ah, ah-ah) / If I could hold you for a minute (Da-ah, darlin') / I'd go through it again (Ah-ah, ah-ah)

It’s all dark. It’s always dark until the moment Ace opens his eyes and the coffin opens. Ace goes through the orientation ceremony, only to have it interrupted by you stumbling into the Mirror Chamber, an energetic and egotistical Grim demanding to take your spot. 

It’s dark in the cave that he goes into with you two and Deuce to collect the new chandelier magistone. You're screaming, he’s screaming, so are Deuce and Grim. It’s a shit show, even before Riddle comes to drag him and Deuce back to the dorm. 

It’s dark when he makes the trek to your dorm after being collared. Grumbling about just wanting a snack, about Riddle’s unnecessary rage, and about who the hell can remember all 810 rules. It’s light, though, that he sees when you open the door to Ramshackle, the warm, old lightbulbs from the hallway creating a halo around you. 

It’s light again, in the morning as the sun filters through the broken window, you poking him awake to get to class.

Ace has never been one to get sentimental, the idea of love is frightening, to be frank. But looking at you again, light curtaining your features, he was reminded why he did what he did. 

Why he punched Riddle for his outburst and insults to you. 

Why he threw himself into the fight against Leona as he threatened to turn you to sand. 

Why he let himself get “tricked” by Azul again and again, get beaten up by the twins under the sea again and again. Why he tried to run back to school to your rescue, only to be too late again and again. Why he endured the embarrassment of losing the SDC. 

He’d hoped that this time he’d be able to avoid getting into a coma from the S.T.Y.X. Charon robots again, but he had no luck, so you once again had to depend on Rook and Epel getting you through the Isle of Woe. Maybe he should’ve focused on getting Grim back after scratching you, or maybe just prevented him from eating all the blot stones, then you wouldn’t have been in this mess. 

It might have prevented Malleus’s own blot, though Ace wasn’t really sure what led to his spiraling. It was probably a combination of a lot of information, as it was with the rest of the blots. Either way, he’d been hoping that preventing Grim from eating the 8th blot stone would’ve prevented this. 

Ace wouldn’t know though, as he’s been through this year at least 4 times now. Trying to prevent what he’s slowly starting to believe is inevitable.  

He’s replayed your deaths over and over in his brain. The first one that happened, he was upset for losing a friend, but probably would’ve gotten over it. It sounds harsh, but that was the reality of the situation. 

After the second loop, Ace started noticing you more. Things he missed out on the first time. The way you smiled, the way you walked, the way you tugged on your shirt when you were nervous. It was cute. 

It was his third loop that he started noticing little things. How you liked to grab on to his arm when it got too crowded. How you always made an effort to help him in class, despite having to catch up with nearly 2 decades of curriculum just to understand the professors. He noticed how you’d blush whenever he’d make flirty jokes. 

It was his fourth, and current, loop that he really started to view you differently. That he started to view these second, third, and fourth chances as a way to keep you safe. To not lose you again. 

You were always helping him, despite the stress he caused you. Every time you’d let him crash in your dorm, eventually convincing you to let him share at least your room. He’d be up, tossing and turning as he watched your sleep. He wasn’t trying to be creepy, but seeing you take your whole situation in stride, every overblot, every condescending comment, every shenanigan Grim, Deuce, and him really made Ace think about why he was doing this. 

Was it because he felt bad? No, it certainly wasn’t the first time, anyway. Was it because he liked having you around? Kinda, maybe a little. Was it because every time he’d ask you why you got involved with all the drama at school, you’d answer with a shrug, a smile, and simply answer “I gotta protect my friends, as best I can anyway.” That was probably partially the reason.

He thinks the reason he’s so desperate to make sure you stay around is because of the promise you made with him the first loop around: “If I can’t go home, let’s always stick together! I like you, and you like me, so we can support each other every way we can.”

You’d made this promise, in one form or another, every loop.

“Promise we’ll stay friends, even after graduation! I wanna stick by my first friend’s side!”

“Ace? Do you actually promise to take care of me? I know I’m a pain, no magic and all, but I’ve taken care of you in my own way, do you really promise to do the same?”

It was his fourth time watching you live your year in Twisted Wonderland. And it’s then that it clicked for him: he was falling deep into love with the magicless Prefect that cared way too much for others, and much too little for themselves. 

“Ace…” you gasped, a bloodied hand reaching out for him as an overblotted Grim made a rampage throughout the Mirror Chamber. He could hear the others screaming, magic being cast, and a distinct yowl from Grim as Riddle launched another fire spell at him. 

Ace cringed as the giant direbeast that was once his little fiery friend screamed in pain, running around until he tripped and fell through where there was once a wall. Grim let out an eerie, inhuman scream as he fell, a sickening crunch echoing as he landed on the stone ground. For the fourth time, Grim was gone. But that didn’t matter, not when he was watching you die for the fourth time. 

“Hey! Hey, hey, hey I’m here.” Ace had managed to crawl over to you, clasping your hand with his own. He rested your head on his lap as you coughed, red liquid leaving your mouth as you did. 

“No, nononononono—you’re fine!” Ace hyperventilated as he looked over your battered body. He was sure that he had prevented Grim from eating Vil’s blot stone. Was that not the reason he turned into this? Did he only need to eat a few before turning into a monster? He was so confident that he’d managed to keep you safe. So why? Whywhywhywhywhywhywhy—

“Ace.” He froze as you murmured his name, your other hand reaching for his cheek, wiping away the tears he didn’t realize he was leaving. 

“Ace, promise me you’ll stay with me? I don’t want to be alone right now…” you hiccuped as you started crying, curling into his chest as Ace cradled you. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t help! I was so useless, so useless to let Grim get to this point. So useless as a friend, I’m so sorry!”

Ace curled into you, ignoring the voices from behind you two, no doubt the other students coming to the realization that you’d be grievously harmed. 

“I’ll stay with you, I’m always with you.” Ace shuddered. He felt like throwing up. “I’m going to try again, I won’t be too late this time. I’ll make sure to keep you safe this time. I won't lose you again.”

Ace ignored the person shaking his shoulder as he watched you hyperventilate, before your breathing slowed and eventually stopped. He ignored the surprised cries as magic swirled around him, as he activated his signature spell for the fifth, and hopefully final time:

With a flick of the wand, a rhythm sublime,

Reverse The Clock, turn back the chime,

No time to say 'Hello', goodbye!

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!

It’s all dark. It’s always dark until the moment Ace opens his eyes and the coffin opens for the fifth time.

comments and reblogs appreciated 🩷

[faeble-drabbles]

Hello! If you don't mind, I'd like to ask for a few headcannons of Kite, Wing and the main four (aged up Killua and Gon) with a s/o who seems like they're very weak and mild, but are strong and intimidating af during battle. Fem!reader if you can please.

Thank you!! (⁠*⁠´⁠ω⁠｀⁠*⁠)

Thank you for being the first requester!! <3 I will never not be in the mood to write some HxH <3 Even though this wont be spicy, all characters in this are/aged up to be 18+ (Also probably gonna leave out Kurapika and Leorio this time around, probably gonna keep my limit at four characters per post)

•°• KITE •°•

+ This man was HIGHLY against bringing you along on one of his little adventures. Weak or not, the places he went were highly dangerous and he would never forgive himself if something happened to you.

+ It took a lot of convincing but he eventually agreed. But you best believe he is gonna be glued to your side and watching your surroundings like a hawk.

+ Just in a brief moment of being distracted by talking with you, Kite was attacked by a poacher with powerful nen abilities. Kite was about to attack the man, but something flashed past him before he could react.

+ "How DARE you hurt Kite, you asshole!!" With that battle cry, you used your abilities to take down the poacher with ease. Which left a confused and awe-struck Kite, standing in silence. When did you become so powerful??

+ Kite snapped out of his daze when you returned back to him and started worrying over his injury. Kite just gave a smile and shook his head. Looks like he had absolutely nothing to worry about with you by his side. You had each others backs.

•°• WING •°•

+ You had been training for a while with Wing and during that process, eventually started to date as well. Unfortunately for you, this made Wing a bit more protective over you.

+ It also was starting to seem like Wing was slowing down your training a bit. When approached about it he would just give the same "I just want to make sure you are fully prepared and ready" talk.

+ You hated to go behind his back, but you had to prove him wrong. You signed yourself up against a powerful opponent at Heavens Arena, making sure the fight was as soon as possible so that Wing could not interject. + When Wing heard your fight announced, he was both furious and terrified, especially when he saw the other opponent. Did you really have to pick out the strongest looking fighter just to spite him? He wanted nothing more than to jump on that stage and stop it before it even could begin.

+ Right as Wing was considering taking action, the fight had already begun. As the fighter barreled towards you, Wing found himself clench his eyes shut tight. The sound of surprised cheers made him chance another look, just to find you beating the shit out of the other fighter. It was a complete shock to him watching his sweet s/o give such a brutal beatdown. But at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a swell of pride.

+ When Wing found you after the fight, he made sure to give you a earful of how your actions were very irresponsible and dangerous. But once he was done, his face soften to a smile. "...And I'm sorry for doubting your abilities. You are very powerful and I can not wait to see you grow even stronger"

•°• GON •°•

+ Gon was never really attracted to people for their strength, but their hearts is what caught his attention. So when he met you, he never viewed you as strong or weak, just a good person with a big heart. And that's what lead the two of you to dating.

+ Though finding out you had nen abilities alone excited him. Gon wanted to know everything about your techniques. What did it do? How does it work?? How did you train to perfect it??? He's just in awe.

+ Even knowing you possessed nen powers, he never really associated it with you being a fighter. He didn't exactly view you as weak but he also didn't really expect you to single handedly beat up a group of powerful hunters.

+ The group was causing problems with a local villager and right as Gon was about to give them a piece of his mind, you got there first. He wasn't sure what was more surprising, the profanities spilling from your mouth or the fact that you took on all these skilled hunters with such ease.

+ You best believe when the fight is over, he's going to be drowning you in praise and even more questions. "Wow!! You keep getting more amazing with each day!! You're so cool Y/N!!" If you have not already gotten your hunter license, he's definitely going to beg you to give it a shot.

•°• KILLUA •°•

+ Similar to Gon, Killua isn't attracted to people for power alone. Yes power can impress him, but he prefers to be around people who love and appreciate him for who he is, flaws and all.

+ Which you do. You know all about Killua and all the awful things he's gone through, as well as all the good times and friends he has met. Meanwhile, there is still something he had yet to discover about you.

+ Killua had needed to get something from his home, but did not want you to get involved in any of his families shenanigans (God forbid if his mother found out the girl he was dating was in reach). He instructed you to wait a bit of a distance away from the gate and he'd be back as fast as he could.

+ After a while though you started to get impatient and wondered if he ran into any trouble with his family again. Anxiety started getting the better of you, leading you to make a trek up to the gates.

+ Right as Killua was about to exit, he nearly jumped when the gates had opened before he had the chance to touch them. And to make it more surprising, it was the 6th door out of the 7. All of his family had been home, so who..?

+ You ran through the gate and gave him a hug. "Good! I was starting to get worried about you!" Killua couldn't even respond for a moment, he was still in shock that you had managed to open all those training gates without much effort. At the same time, he couldn't help but smile in knowing that his s/o he loved so much was secretly so powerful.

+ "So you want to tell me what sort of training you've been through to be so strong? I might have to get some tips from you, heh"

[queenendless]

Chase (Darth Vader x Fem!Adult!Reader)

A/n: Tales of the Empire gave me ideas. Particularly on a snowy chilly planet ... it's a very open setting as to what is going on in this so bare with me. First time writing SW stuff on here.

So AU with unburnt Vader who's also kinda OOC in this, some fluff and steamy romance with some Anakin at the end, but it's a short ass piece cause of short notice for today.

PLEASE DONT REPOST, EDIT, COPY, PLAGARIZE, TRANSLATE AND OR STEAL MY FANFIC WORK. RATHER IF YOU DO ENJOY IT THEN LIKE REBLOG AND FOLLOW ME PLS N THNX.

And May The 4th be with you.

Your cloak blew from the chilly winds.

Your hood covered head raised up to meet at the top of the snowy hill.

Climbing up with the darkening gray storm clouds piling up, heighting the anxious tension filling you up inside, the helmeted figure coming into view struck through your core.

He had pursued after your wandering lost self.

You wanted to see how far he would go, as selfish as that was.

Your fear of the cold blooded, brutal Sith Lord becomes mingled with how you are lustful of his imposing presence.

Your cape fluttered in the blowing cold winds as you hurried away, straight to the ice cave entrance.

He knew you thrive off the chase.

And you knew he was relentless in playing along.

“You cannot run forever, Y/n."

His deep modulated voice bounced off the towering crystal ice walls, using the light shining from the high cracked ceiling to guide you.

“I've come this far.” Your tepid sweet voice echoing back at him had him growling a bit.

“You cannot hide from me.”

You didn't need to be Force sensitive to feel that he was honing in on you quickly.

Your flushed nervous face met your eyes as your bumpy reflection followed your side, his heavy footsteps sounding that much closer. “Doing good so far, all things considered.”

You should have figured uttering those words into existence would jinx your ongoing streak. The moment you stepped back from the dead end and spun around on your heel, you bumped into that armored chest.

You screamed a bit as his leather black gloves grabbed your forearms and pinned you to the wall gently but firmly.

His red lenses hid his eyes boring into your very soul, his giant frame enveloping you, pressing you carefully against the alien texture. His heavy breathing made your breathing go silent like a scared mouse, caught by the big bad beast.

“The game is over.” For some reason, he sounded so smug about it.

“You're unbelievable.” You pouted up at that obsidian face.

“You're foolish.” He scoffed.

“Says the man wearing the robot suit.”

The fact that he released his grip on you and leaned back a bit to actually take off that intimidating helmet still took your breath away.

“It helps with the image.” To hear that warm enriching amused voice again already had you giggling as your hands cupped his sculpted cheeks to pull his face down to peck those tempting lips.

His helmet clanked along the ground as his arms slithered around your waist to lift you off the ground, grinning slyly to you hugging his waist in response.

“It's working, my Lord.” You shakily spoke, weaving through that shoulder length darkened hair to tug him closer, pecking many a time quite desperately.

“This little ploy of yours has gotten us completely off track.” His husky tone was sheer evidence that he did not give a damn. Not one bit.

“Forgive me, Lord Vader, for my teasing.”

You squeaked as those giant leather hands of his cupped and squeezed your ass.

“I shall have to punish you, my dear. Quite thoroughly~” Those blue eyes were riddled with devious intention, marking your neck with ferocious bites along your delectable skin.

Your fevered gasps and lecherous cries traveled the caves as you became a mess under his wet steamy mouth. “A – Ani~!”

The former Jedi turned Sith Lord smirked, devouring your mouth with that needy tongue of his.

“Hush, my love. We're just getting started.”

[absurdumsid]

I need info on saejun an you obviously know him better than me, so can i have you favorite hcs, theories (how he joined the mtt), or interactions on him w/ the mtt :)

OF COURSE U CAN !! so sorry, it took me a bit to compile all of this from my older notes aaaa have a compensation doodle bc i took SOO long GHGHHHGH

anyway saejun nation pspspspss

saejun !! THE beloved if u will

he regularly speaks korean but learned english after meeting nightmare and killer

i love to think he's very very strong, he can beat the mtt in a fistfight kind of strong (not like he would, but he'd win)

he can cook decently but he'd choose his brother's cooking any day (even if pilsu is still um learning)

he also really likes spicy dishes !! he bonds over that with dust !

he'd forgive ppl who steal from the farm but he wouldn't forgive harming the crops

he HATES pesticides (i think this is canon actually) but also really hates strong smells in general

sleepy 24/7 he lays in the grass to photosynthesize (he just passes out, pilsu wakes him almost every time)

probably knows a lot of offhand herbology/biology trivia (he can explain the aerobic and anaerobic cycle by heart)

his general attitude toward the mtt/bad sanses is not to pry unless they're the ones who open up to him (even now he only rlly learns about their situations through nightmare who doesn't talk that much about it anyway)

he accepts mtt with open arms and its that accepting (almost forgiving) nature that makes them so super attached to him !!

for me, it's the concept of meeting a version of yourself that lives the most peaceful life and being happy for him, but ALSO not being shunned by that alternate version for being violent and hurting the people that you both love

as for how saejun met mtt, my general interpretation of it is that nightmare struck a deal with saejun for food supplies in exchange for manual labour (so mtt and nightmare help a lot with the harvests! the only ones who really know about it is pilsu, saejun, anseung, and suggu)

killer // ��통씨 (Mr. Misery/Grief)

saejun meets killer first and was the only one helping around the farm

i don't think saejun would be the type to pry into their pasts so he doesn't question killer about himself or anything

killer is the one who opens up to him one stormy night after a stage 3 episode where he holed himself up in the shed and saejun found him cold, shaking, and curled up embracing himself

he calms killer down and tells nightmare abt it and that's how he finds out about killer's past (he doesn't bring it up, but he's always there to help killer after his panic attacks)

he likes to do the chores with killer most of the time just in case he has a run in with chorongi or suggu (the kids are very silly and tend to mess with him and he doesn't know how killer is with children)

they photosynthesize together and sometimes nightmare just comes to get killer in the evening and finds them in the grass

horror // 취급주의 (Handle with Care) or 주주씨 (Mr. Vermillion)

he meets horror second (after he gets kidnapped by nightmare) and saejun isn't really scared of him because he figured that he probably has some hidden issues like killer

saejun thought horror was really fragile at first (because he was very thin and had a skull injury) so he actually had him do mostly little chores like going to the market or gathering eggs from the chickens

after a few months killer doesn't come in (was sent to a mission somewhere else) and saejun needs someone to handle the heavy hay bales (<- he could've done it himself but hes lazy) and horror just kinda Does It and surprises saejun

he starts to depend on horror more and actually admits that he was underestimating him out of concern for his wellbeing and horror says its ok because he was also underestimating saejun (until he saw him carry killer AND a bunch of crops home that one time)

they start to cook together and do the heavier chores (while making silly jokes abt killer) together

horror starts to learn korean by talking with dorihye, saejun, and pilsu as well as asking nightmare for some reading material ! (after finding out that dust also speaks korean, he starts practicing conversation with him !)

dust // 유골씨 (Mr. Ashes)

saejun's meeting with dust was noooot planned at all, nightmare just kinda forced mtt into a portal to farmtale during one of errors visits

horror mostly stayed with dust at first who was just dead silent and stayed in one spot (saejun asked if he wanted any drinks and it took ten excruciating seconds before horror had to answer water for him)

its not until pilsu comes into the house and greets killer and horror and makes a remark about a new brother that he starts to actually talk

dust doesn't exactly warm up to pilsu and more like forces himself to because pilsu starts to ask him what his favourite pasttimes are, his favourite food, if he wants any snacks, etc (killer and horror went through the same thing)

dust eventually gets carried off to the kitchen to cook with pilsu and that's how pilsu finds out dust speaks fluent korean even though they have different dialects

saejun goes into the kitchen and has a little talk with dust (where he learns they both speak korean !! and that that's why dust wasn't speaking that much !) and they bond over pilsu's silliness (dust talks about how his papyrus also loved to cook etc etc, saejun notices that its in past tense but doesn't dig any deeper)

dust eventually starts to visit farmtale with horror frequently to exchange makguksu and ramyeon recipes with pilsu !!

dust is also relatively close with dorihye, anseung, and suggu who tend to remark that "the other saejuns dont really talk much" to which horror always chuckles

that's all (for now) !! TYSM FOR ASKING ABT MY BLORBOS BGHGHRGRHG

[nhlclover]

snowflakes sparks fly au

✭ — summary: sofia's finally admits her feelings for rutger

✭ — warnings: angst

✭ — a/n: …sorry lol. also i don’t know if i like this soz

✭ — word count: 0.85k

Sofia was struck with nerves, sitting at the café table. Her knee was bouncing and she felt her palms slick with sweat. She honestly couldn't believe she was doing this.

Based on Rutgers text, Sofia had about 3 minutes to perfect her speech. Maybe she should steer away from a speech. More of a declaration. Of feelings.

Sofia wasn't entirely sure where this burst of confidence came from. Over the past few weeks, she'd worked up the nerve to tell Rutger about her feelings. He had agreed to meet for coffee, under the guise that Sofia wanted to bounce some ideas off him for their upcoming final essay. In actuality, Sofia was going to tell Rutger how she truly felt about him. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to practically ambush him, but Sofia didn't know how else to do it.

His latest behaviour, with Rutger constantly cancelling and barely talking to her in class, was maybe a sign she shouldn’t do this. Because what if he doesn’t like her back? What if Sofia ruins a friendship that she felt so comfortable in? 

These thoughts are immediately gone from her mind as she spots him walking on the sidewalk, approaching the cafe doors. He sits down, his brown hair covered in little snowflakes, slowly melting from the warmth of the café. The sight of him brings a sense of ease.

The new season entering Ann Arbor brought joy to Sofia. She loves the winter season, seeing the snow-coated ground and the surrounding houses beginning to be decorated with lights for the approaching holiday. 

"Hey." He smiles.

"Hi." Sofia replies softly.

It's silent for a few moments as Sofia simply looks at the boy across from her. His cheeks were tinged with a light pink hue from the bite of the wind.

"So you wanted to go over the essay?' Rutger probes.

"Oh, uh, I lied." Sofia says. Her heartbeat picks up as she realizes what she is about to say. Rutgers brows furrow as leans on the table in front of him. "I asked you here because I kind of wanted to talk to you about something."

Rutger stays silent allowing Sofia to continue. Any previous plan or words Sofia had thought of went out the window. Her mind was blank with any way to ease into her confession. It was out of her mouth before she knew it.

"I like you." Sofia says.

The words hang in the air as both Sofia and Rutger process what was just said. 

Rutgers' thoughts were going a million miles a minute. While Rutger was over the moon that the girl he'd been infatuated with did return his feelings, the fact that she was Luca and Adam's sister was weighing on him. If Rutger and Sofia were to ever date and God forbid something happened and Sofia was left heartbroken, the two Fantilli brothers would never forgive him. He would lose three people he cared about in one fell swoop.

“I like you as…as in more than a friend. I would say I have a crush on you but that feels a little juvenile and I don’t want it to come across as just that I think you’re cute, and don’t get me wrong I do think you’re cute cause, like, wow you are, but I also just really like being around you and—”

Sofia is suddenly very aware of the fact that she has been rambling and shuts her mouth promptly. “I’m sorry, I should let you speak.”

“Sofia…we can’t have feelings for each other.”

Sofia’s caught off guard by his response. “I…I’m sorry?”

“I mean…Sofia come on.” Rutger says. “You’re Adam and Luca’s sister.”

Sofia furrows her brows. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, it would be weird if I dated their sister. I mean I’m best friends with them, they’re practically my brothers.”

“What, it feels like I’m a sister to you?” Sofia asked.

“I guess so.” Rutger says.

Sofia can’t help but let her jaw go slack at his answer. Sofia knew that it would maybe be a bit weird for her to date her brother's friend, but not a complete deal breaker. Sofia nods, suddenly feeling stupid and embarrassed. She was so sure he liked her back. 

“I’m going to go.” Sofia says, standing up, the chair scraping against the floor. The tears she knew were inevitable began to brim in her eyes.

“Sofia… Rutger says, reaching for her but she’s just too far.

“No, it’s okay.” She says, wiping away a tear immediately as it escapes. “Good luck at your game tomorrow.”

Sofia leaves, stepping out into the falling snow, flakes delicately landing in her hair and melting on contact. Despite the freezing temperature outside, her body felt like it was on fire. Sweating under her jacket, she walked down the sidewalk at a rapid pace, just wanting to be in her dorm.

Rutgers' response to Sofia confessing her feelings was much more than just rejection. He made her feel small, like a little girl.

She finally reaches her building, collapsing into sobs when she was safely alone inside her dorm. Sofia couldn’t help but feel utterly stupid, having embarrassed herself completely. Crawling under her covers she allowed her emotions to overflow, crying into exhaustion as she replayed the scene in the coffee shop.

[vivitalks]

Last night I saw the Great Gatsby musical. Before I went, I reread the Great Gatsby book (for the first time since 11th grade!) to get a refresher on the source material and the original story. Having the book so fresh in my mind made seeing the musical really interesting, and now I am going to do something I never thought I'd do, which is post some lengthy meta about The Great Gatsby. If you haven't seen the musical, this post may still be interesting to read, but it does contain some mild spoilers, so I leave that up to you. If you also haven't read the book, godspeed lol.

There's a lot I could talk about here when it comes to the way the book was adapted for the stage. But there's one particular thing I want to zero in on in this post, and that's the "unreliable narrator" of it all.

In the book, Nick Carraway is our narrator. He's an unreliable narrator practically by default - the idea is that he's retelling events that occurred two years prior, from memory. But even knowing that Nick is probably not reporting all events and characters with complete accuracy, it's hard to know which parts exactly are wrong, or what might have happened in reality, because even though he's an unreliable narrator, he's still the only narrator and this is the only version of events we know. We're forced to take Nick as our surrogate and take him at his word. Until the musical.

(I wondered how the show was going to deal with the fact that the story of Great Gatsby is not only told by an unreliable narrator but also by an outside perspective - generally speaking the events of the Great Gatsby aren't happening to Nick, they're just kind of happening around him. Yet he's the voice of the story, so in that way he's central to it, and I was curious how they were going to balance that fact with the fact that Gatsby is functionally the main character.

I think they struck a really good balance in the end. Nick's beginning and ending lines, lifted verbatim from his book narration, frame him clearly as the anchor of the story - I think that's the best word for it; the audience jumps from scene to scene, many but not all of which contain Nick, but we know that Nick is always going to be where the action is, or that he will at least know about it. He may not be the main character, but he's an essential character. But I digress a little bit.)

The difference between the way the story is imparted to the audience in the book versus in the musical boils down to this: in the book, Nick "plays" every character, so all their dialogue and actions, their mannerisms and the way they're described and reported, it's all informed by the beliefs Nick holds about them. Whether he means to or not, his biases paint certain characters in certain lights, and because he is our eyes and ears to the story, we have no choice but to absorb those biases.

But in the musical, every character is literally played by a different actor. Nick can only speak for himself. Nick can only tell his own parts as they happened. He may be "telling" the story, but we're watching the story. We have the benefit of an unblemished perspective on things - we can watch the events the way they actually unfold, regardless of how Nick believes or remembers they went down.

This difference - between Nick as the narrator and Nick as merely his own voice - is crucial in how the musical develops each character, some of them fairly different from how Nick described them in the book. And there's one book-to-stage change - a fairly small one, all things considered - that, to me, illustrated this difference perfectly.

There's a line towards the end of the Gatsby book. Something Nick says in narration, after his final conversation with Tom Buchanan, talking about how Tom gave away Gatsby's name and location to George Wilson (which ultimately led to Gatsby's death). Nick writes:

"I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…"

When I read this line in the book, I couldn't help vehemently agreeing. Screw those rich assholes! Money does corrupt! Tom and Daisy ARE careless wealthy people! It was easy to side with Nick, not only because he was the only perspective on the situation that I had, but also because he said this in internal response to a conversation with Tom, who, I think we can all agree, is a major jackass and a deeply unsympathetic character.

But in the musical, this line is spoken aloud by Nick. And he says it to Daisy, in her house, as she's packing up to skip town after Gatsby's death. In fact, he doesn't just say it; he shouts it, visibly and audibly outraged at her audacity to lead Gatsby on, ghost him, skip his funeral, and then move away to avoid the fallout. Nick is angry and highly critical of Daisy. But because we're no longer confined to his shoes, we also get to see Daisy's reaction - not as Nick remembers it, but as Daisy actually reacts. And because of that, we're able to really see, and confirm, that "Daisy is rich and careless" is not the full story.

I have to credit Eva Noblezada for a phenomenal performance (duh). Daisy in this scene is emotional, grieving, and it's clear she has been trying to contain these feelings for the sake of her husband and her own sanity. She's remorseful, not that Gatsby is gone necessarily, but that she allowed herself to entertain the fantasy of running away with him, only for it to be torn from her. She is trying to make the best of her unavoidable reality. And then Nick tears her a new one, calling her careless, accusing her of destroying things and being too rich to care.

And as I watched that scene, I was no longer wholly on Nick's side. I understood that this situation was so much more complex than Nick's chastisement acknowledged. Sure, Daisy wasn't innocent, but she also wasn't the callous rich girl Nick made her out to be. She did love Gatsby. And she also had a whole life with Tom. She had a daughter. She was a woman in the 1920s! That's a kind of life sentence even wealth can't erase.

The way Daisy responded may not quite have landed with Nick (if we consider the kind of fun possibility that the musical is the events as they happened and the book is Nick retelling those events as he remembers them two years later, then clearly Nick's disdain for Daisy's actions overtook whatever sympathy he felt for her), but the musical gave Daisy the opportunity to appeal to us. The audience. Having this omniscient perspective of things allowed us to draw our own conclusions, and I found myself a lot more sympathetic towards Daisy when I could both see and hear how she responded to Nick's verbal castigation.

In the book, Nick is the narrator. In the musical, Nick is a narrator. But he's no longer the sole arbiter of the story. The audience got to make our own judgements on the events as we witnessed them. Every one of us was a Nick - beholden to our own biases, maybe, but at least not beholden to his.

[jellysxtarr]

Hi! May I request the neighbors having a sleepover with y/n who’s scared of thunderstorms and they comfort y/n?

This turned out longer than expected, do forgive for the long reading you have to do!

Thunderstorm, Thunderstorm, go away! | Neighbor who's afraid of thunder

Warnings: //

ʚ — It was a nice day in the neighborhood, spring was around the corner, the sun was shining and nothing was disturbing anybody! So, the best thing to do today was to hang out with your lovely neighbors for today and even have a picnic!

ʚ — It wasnt until you struck up the idea on having a sleepover with them all! Seeing that the day was doing perfectly fine so far, a sleepover was the cherry on top!

ʚ — Now, you must have a really big house to fit all of them in, considering on how tall Poppy and Barnaby are. But hey! You made it work! It wouldn't be very neighborly of you to exclude either of them since they would take up most of the space.

ʚ — The evening went by quick, having played board games with them, acting out a random script Sally came up with, painting with Wally (thats if you know how to paint!), cracking silly jokes with none other than Barnaby and even baking something sweet and delicious with Poppy!

ʚ — Now that it was finally time to get some sweet sleep with your neighbors (which, ended up being silly stories told instead of actually getting rest), it didn't really got noticed by you, or anybody, that the weather was getting rather worse each hour.

ʚ — What started with light slowly turned into heavy rain, thunder emerging from the dark clouds that coverved the dark blue sky, it made you feel more anxious and uneasy rather than comforted by the weather.

ʚ — That, of course, didn't go unnoticed from your fellow neighbors, hearing it right outside in the comforts of your house.

ʚ — Poppy Partridge was the first person to ask if you're alright and commenting something about the bad weather, putting her wing gently on your shoulder with a face of care. Of course, even she was being a bit jumpy herself, but you were the first priority to see if you're doing fine.

ʚ — Julie Joyful joined in next, sitting next to you while seeming concerned for you, too. Soon enough, the other neighbors were coming over to help you out with the awful feeling of fear the weather has given you.

ʚ — Barnaby was making silly jokes, making sure it made you feel better rather than worse (even Howdy who remembered a few jokes), Poppy tried to ease you with simple words of comfort, Eddie...he did forget at first that you had a fear of thunderstorms, who also was trying to comfort you in the same way Poppy has.

ʚ — Frank might not have been the best in comforting people, only telling you that "the weather will soon go away", or "that it'll calm down in a few hours or so". Sally tried, she really did! But not being entirely sure on how to handle the situation was making it rather hard than simple.

ʚ — Julie on the other hand was telling you stories to keep your mind away from the thunder, having a lot of them in store! Even if it happened days ago, or even months!

ʚ — Wally was taking it on a more calmer approach, listening to his neighbors trying their best to comfort you while staring at you. He would try to say something to ease you, comforting you in the best way he could and even hearing you out if you had something to say.

ʚ — Eventually, you all had to go to sleep, nobody wants to walk around feeling cranky all day with the lack of sleep! But, also seeing that the weather wasn't going to get better any time soon, Julie decided it was the best to sleep close to each other! Just in case the weather (somehow) gets worse and with you getting more uneasy.

ʚ — Now with your neighbors sleeping close to you (and Wally's repetitive of "I'm sleeping, I'm sleeping"), you felt better! They tried their best, which was enough for you. Somehow (managing) to ignore the thunderstorm outside, you went to sleep, enjoying the peace and not so quiet sleepover with your neighbors.

ʚ — The day didn't go upside down, even with the horrendous weather that happened. The sleepover was truly the cherry on top!

ᜊ. TAGS: @robotoast03

[orionsangel86]

I was once again flicking through the Sandman comics and thinking about the changes made to the show (as I am pretty much always doing) and something that struck me as interesting is why they chose to swap out Tales in the Sand for Men of Good Fortune.

In the comics, The Sound of Her Wings is the last story in Preludes and Nocturns. Dream’s meeting with his sister Death closes out the first of the overarching storylines within the Sandman saga, and it ends with Dream finding some measure of peace after speaking with her, and finding joy in hearing the sound of wings.

This can be interpreted as the first bit of real foreshadowing of Dream’s desire to die. Anyone who has read the Kindly Ones knows how important The Sound Of Her Wings is as it is called back to heavily at the end.

In the comics, the next issue can be seen as a one off, but is included in The Doll’s House book. This issue is Tales in the Sand - the tragic love story of Dream and Nada.

Right after Tales in the Sand, we get to the Doll’s House, which begins the exact same way that episode 6 of The Sandman Netflix show ends - with Desire calling on Despair to begin their scheming over the existance of the vortex.

I found it very interesting how the show swapped out Tales in the Sand for Men of Good Fortune - a story which in the comics comes much later within The Doll’s House storyline.

On the one hand, it makes sense to move Men of Good Fortune outside of the Doll’s House story for pacing reasons. But by putting it where they did they have drastically changed the tone of the story in a few ways.

1. It changes the end of The Sound of Her Wings. Show!Dream doesn’t leave his sister to sit and find peace in the thought of death, instead he does the opposite, he immediately goes and seeks out the one person he knows who is quite literally the antithesis of death - someone who finds joy in living. It still ends the Preludes and Nocturns story with Dream finding some manner of peace and happiness, but not in the sound of wings. Instead, it’s in the reunion with his friend who loves life so much he refuses to die.

2. It takes the place of the only love story we are given for Dream at that point in the comics. The Sandman comics have a tendency to avoid revealling too much information about Dream too soon and up until this point in the comics, all we know about his love life is that he condemned a lover to hell 10,000 years ago, based on a very brief conversation in A Hope In Hell. Tales in the Sand is the expansion of that brief conversation, giving us at least one perspective of how the tragedy played out.

I am really curious about why they decided to leave it out of the show completely. Partly I think its because it isn’t exactly a flattering look at Dream as a character. Probably didn’t seem like good business sense to the people who wanted The Sandman to perform well to basically destroy your main characters likeability half way through the first season (imagine all the Twitter puriteens and anti types who would get on their high horses attacking Sandman fans and Neil Gaiman alike for daring to like a main character who comes across a little bit rapey in this particular story - among other horrific character flaws).

Also, Tales in the Sand generally fits better with the Season of Mists story arc overall, and I think we will get a much kinder and more forgiving version of this story in the show.

So instead of being introduced to the first of Dream’s lovers, we are introduced to Hob Gadling. Make of that what you will.

3. It makes the immediate cut to Desire at the start of The Doll’s House story all the more eyebrow raising. Part of the reason why I think Desire’s scenes follow on from Tales in the Sand is because Desire had a lot to do with Dream’s bad behaviour in that story, and what ultimately happened is partly their fault. It is brought up both in comic and show when Desire tells Despair that “Nada was a mistake” but in the show, this comment remains a mystery, whereas in the comic, it goes some way into explaining the horrific story we have just read.

In the show, instead it makes for absolutely beautiful subtext as they cut to Desire’s realm and the song Desire as Desire says “Attend sweet Sibling” whilst we have just watched Dream reunite with Hob and smile the first real smile he has had all season so far. For a split second on my first watch I legit thought Desire was talking to Dream at that point and encouraging him to hook up with Hob. It was a very confusing few seconds!

At the end of the day, I think the change to the order of these stories was a very good idea, even without the added level of shipping fodder it gives us Dreamling shippers. In changing the end to The Sound of Her Wings in the show, it removes the foreshadowing of Dream’s desire to die, which I’ll be honest, so far I can’t see at all in the show version of the story. Instead, we get a Dream who is happy for the first time after reuniting with his friend - who apparently waited an additional 33 years for him and built/refurbished a pub in that time.

I have a bazzillion more thoughts on the changes from comic to show on the Men of Good Fortune issue in particular, but that’s for another post. I just had to get my thoughts down as the more I read and re-read the comics, the more I feel like the show is considering a different direction, a more hopeful happy direction. But I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

[magpie-trove]

August Reads

Cress & Winter • Marissa Meyer | it was Trying Times and for some reason Lunar Chronicles is one of my go to escapes and comforts turns out. I really wanted to reread Cress but got sucked in and had to do Winter too. Still as good as the first time. Deeply near and dear to my heart.

The Talented Mrs Mandelbaum • Margalit Fox | new non fiction about a Victorian crime boss lady and her band of thieves and fencers. Short and to the point. Interesting. Wouldn’t say it was one of my favorites of the year but it was worth reading.

Your Vote Matters • Rebecca Katzman | childrens non fiction about the electoral process. Made sense and had a real nice layout and pictures!!!!. (Not a picture book it was like 80 pages or something? But yeah I like it!)

Howl’s Moving Castle • Diana Wynne Jones | was just rereading all my faves for a bit there. Still a 12/10 book.

Yours from the Tower • Sally Nicholls | new YA epistolary fiction set in the 1890’s. Surprised me! Actually had a little nuance! Was very good about the characters. Important to me cause it made me understand how people work in certain situations better than I had before. I think I cried sad and I know I happy cried a little towards the end. I do recommend.

Sonnets from the Portuguese • Elizabeth Barrett Browning | still a favorite

Voices in the Air • Naomi Shihab Nye | the Emily poem!!!!! I think I loved Everything Comes Next more, a lot of these poems got more specifically political and idk it takes away their power a bit to me? But it still had plenty of bangers

Wheels of Change • Sue Macy | YA non fiction about the role of the bicycle in the suffragette movement. Interesting topic, real nice layout, lots of good primary sources. It had a reprint of a lot of pretty funny things women were advised not to do while riding, including “do not say Feel my muscle” and “do not ask Do you like my bloomers?”

The Castle of Llyr • Lloyd Alexander | follow up to The Black Cauldron. Beloved. He writes at such a good level and manages to keep the Nobility to the story.

Kilmeny of the Orchard • LM Montgomery | I actually didn’t like this one that much? Kinda hinged on some racist stereotypes and was mean about adoptees and the romance felt kind of condescending. Idk I wasn’t really impressed.

Saintly Women of Modern Times • Joan Carroll Cruz | Learned so many cool stories!!! I did also discover though at times you need examples as encouragement and at times examples might get a little discouraging. The women highlighted were all unique and interesting though!

Mapmakers and the Lost Magic • Amanda Castillo and Cameron Chittock | children’s graphic. Nice art interesting premise and world building. I’d probably read the next one.

Uniformity with God’s Will • Alphonsus Linguori | very good

A Wish in the Dark • Christina Soontornvat | HELLO!!! Childrens fiction with the premise Les Miserables but in Thailand. LOVED IT. SHOOK. I CRIED. BEAUTIFUL. I loooved the characters looooved the words, it was sooooo goooood!!!!!!!!! Made me want to do something nothing else has ever succeeded in (read Les Miserable). Do recommend!

The Lucky Poor • Mazie Lovie | adult graphic memoir about getting a house through Habitat for Humanity and unexpected drawbacks or something? Nothing really struck me about it tbh

Sisters of the Lost Marsh • Lucy Strange | the VIIIIIIBES VIIIIBES FOR DAAYYYYS. Middle Grade fantasy based on English folklore and circus, about six sisters who’s father says they’re under a curse. Beautifully done. This one will haunt me. Do recommend.

Romanov • Nadine Brandes | YA historical fantasy. had its moments but I kinda wanted the fantasy out of it at times though it wasn’t as jarring as some other stuff in that regard. It was a nice walk in the park and then the most nightmarish thing I’d read then just kind of ok. Not bad at all but not my most favorite. I just wanted to read about Anastasia tbh. I think (?) it had a pretty good illustration of forgiveness at one point though that made it make sense to me in a new way.

[hazelcephalopod]

So it was… complicated in the end. Everything went tits up basically. Not entirely unexpected. The Betrayers Betrayed. There was the unpredictable. The CG god of beauty and magic destroyed Aeor, after the weapon was fired by the Betrayers and a mage fired the failsafe via a localized wish over Aeor* -basically weaponizing the entire city.

The hardest parts, the very worst- the Stormlord and whoever else was sending every wind in Exandria towards Aeor killing hundreds in minutes? Everything else was the heat of battle, decisions made of many sides. That was… well, a massive brutal assault with no warning and siege all in one. No one hardly blinked, they entered battle with glee. Then. They looked at what they had done. They regretted it, they had remorse. In the end they struck me as very fallible; but also how they are not mortals, how they conceive of things is based on how they exist. They’ve seen countless cities rise and fall, probably with and without their involvement. Mortals live so quickly, have such a small affect in the grand scheme of things 99.9% of the time. Mortals can not fully comprehend gods, but imho even if they can live as mortals for a bit they can not truly comprehend mortals -based off what we’ve seen with the Matron I think godhood fundamentally affects their perception and psyche. This to me was not explanation nor excuse, just perspective. They committed an atrocity, now they have to reckon with it. They are now realizing they can not remain and preserve their beloved world and children, all except them -perhaps even them- will be utterly obliterated if they stay and they have to reckon with that. They will eventually exile themselves. I don’t think mortals need to forgive them or not -personally, I think the truth coming out would be enough justice and let each make their own choice as to how to deal with that information.

Who came out looking the worst imho was the Archeart. They made the choice to destroy the city, destroy the knowledge -save perhaps for themself and the KM. That did take me by surprise, yet, most fitting. This was in fact their mess. They gave mortals magic, and they created a weapon to destroy gods with it.

Personally I am conflicted, they destroyed this entire city. An entire culture. Nearly every Aeormaton in existence fell with Aeor -and yet in a few centuries they will be repaired, will roam the ground beneath. They will how we be forever scarred by it, as all Exandria is. Yet. What being does not seek to persevere its existence? We saw, the gods came to exandria not on purpose, but by circumstance. They crash landed fleeing obliteration they had never having even faced an end before. Their entrance into this existence prompted by massive trauma, the need to survive for the first time. They do not wish to die, especially as ending is a thing that so very rarely happens to them and only in violent or unnatural end. They have little experiance with they type of entity ending that is not deeply traumatic. Tbh. I don’t think another wrong will make a right. I don’t thing vengeance disguised as some desperate justice will a) work; b) lead to much good. Especially when we know who is at the helm of seeking that.

Which brings us back to the final and first point -as best as we can assume so far. Ludinus wants to use Predathos to destroy the gods. He shows this to Bells Hells to convince them to join him? Tbh I don’t think much will change, perhaps opinions will be cemented. In the end Ludinus is still the man who killed Orym’s husband and kin. He’s still the boss of the one who killed their friend. He’s still a man who has orchestrated so much harm, and done so as a mortal -as far as we know. We still don’t really know the extent of Predathos danger. We do know Ludinus has already brought one civilization to ruins, led another as the shadow leader of an authoritarian state which is dripping in blood. He evades justice constantly. Is this the person to being justice to the gods? What will he sacrifice for his vision of what the world should be? I struggle to believe BH will go along with that -i admit I can not discount it entirely. Are the willing to gamble their world on Ludinus’ dark dream?

(Edit) *did so while embracing the woman who created the weapon. Telling her he was proud. (And then pushing her into the gate tbh. I do not remember where that gate went)

PS: we barely know Braius so no idea but I’m going to guess anti Ludinus. Teven is a champion of hell, so also no.

PPS: Essek? Maybe if things were different, if he didn’t have the history he had, with Ludinus and other. If he hadn’t accepted that his actions have consequences and has regrets. Interestingly he might sympathize more with the gods especially if they see how much the gods regretted what they did. He cussed the inciting incident of a war, he did some fucked up shit during that war. He can never go home again.

[eunseoksimp]

Omg i am the one who requested a part 2 for the "love me , love me not " and i was told to suggest my ideas through the inbox, I wasn’t even sure where to do that soo yeah.. if this is the right section I’m glad. First of all ,your writing always makes me soo mad (in a good way) and makes me want to beg for more, even though I love your writing and would prefer the story you could come up with you kindly ask for my suggestions so hear me out, Eun Seok is kinda of obsessed with Yumi even though he has a girlfriend and their relationship was steady and better this time so he starts spending all of his time with his gf which make yumi feel insecure, hurt and everything (you named it) so she starts to distance herself from him which leads to his mental break down. Also, make her hate him a little bit and make it very toxic.. Kinda. This is all no pressure 💕 like I said it was too good in my head

thank you so much, for liking my work and also sending me this request. i initially had no intentions of writing a part 2, but your ideas definitely helped me.

i got extremely carried away (over 6k words is crazy), and i wrote a lot of this at work, so i hope you enjoy :)

Toxic!Eunseok x Yumi

Warnings: extreme manipulation and gaslighting, mentions of depression and substance abuse, suggestive content, basically eunseok just being the worst person ever.

read part one for some background on their dynamics here.

.   ݁ ˖ ࣪ . ⋆ * .♡ *:･ﾟ.   ݁ ˖ ࣪ . ⋆ * .♡ *:･ﾟ.   ݁ ˖ ࣪ .

‘i’m sorry yumi, you know i love you.’

she’d heard this all before, eunseok pleading for her mercy, telling her that he loved her and not to get mad at him. and of course she would easily find herself forgiving him, melting into his touch as she told him not to worry. tonight was the same.

eunseok was supposed to take yumi out the day before, to celebrate the one year since they began their own messed up version of a relationship. only, that didn’t happen because he instead rushed over to his actual girlfriend’s side for her art exhibition.

he was so caught up in showing up for her, that he forgot to at least inform yumi. she spent two hours, doing her makeup till she was sure her face was perfect, curling her hair and ignoring the times she burnt her neck with the barrel. she had put much thought into her outfit, mulling over the better option for what felt like 30 minutes.

then she waited, excitement flaring up inside of her as she anticipated his arrival. even as the time ticked away, getting closer and closer to the time of their booking she still waited.

she sat upright in her living room, not wanting to rumple her clothes, ignoring the growling noises being emitted from her stomach because she didn’t want to ruin her makeup.

‘i’m sure it’s just traffic. maybe he got caught up in something. maybe this is all part of his big surprise.’

she comforted herself with these possible scenarios, trusting that eunseok would come to her eventually, like he always did.

only this time was different. she sat on standby until the clock struck midnight, their anniversary passing her by in a flash.

it was only then that it became obvious that maybe, for once, he wasn’t coming today.

she sighed, ridding herself of her jacket first, and untying the ribbons weaving up her calves to free herself from her heels, kicking them across the room.

at a slow pace, she began to undo her hard work, messing up her hair, wiping off her makeup, getting changed back into her pyjamas. every two minutes she would tap her phone screen, expecting a call or a text from eunseok. but there was nothing.

and even though she felt hurt, even though there were tears pricking the corner of her eyes, her lip quivering, all she could think was, ‘i hope he’s okay.’

the next day rolled over, and yumi didn’t get much sleep, in the event that eunseok would call her, explaining the whole situation to her, telling her how he wished to be there with her, how mad he was that he didn’t get to see her yesterday.

but it was radio silent. she had made up her mind that if he didn’t communicate with her by midday, she would go over to his house to see him. she knew that he might not be pleased, seeing as he always told her to never show up to his place unannounced.

but she was sure he would understand, that she was just worried, and maybe he would feel her sincerity. only to be met with a totally different reaction.

‘you shouldn’t be here,’ eunseok dragged yumi inside first, looking back to make sure no one saw her before following after.

‘i’ve told you not to-‘

‘come to your house unannounced. i know this eunseok,’ yumi would be lying if she said she wasn’t a little dejected at his response to seeing her. did he not miss her like she did?

‘then why did you come? you know how much i hate it,’ he looked agitated, hands in his pockets as he stared her down.

‘our anniversary. you didn’t show yesterday and i thought something happened,’ she couldn’t help the sob that escaped her lips at the end of her sentence, frustrated and angry at the fact that even though her feelings were hurt, eunseok’s were more of a priority.

at the sight of her face, and how close she looked to breaking down, eunseok began what he called damage control.

‘i’m sorry yumi, i had an emergency yesterday then my phone died. you know i would have loved to take you out,’ he lied, but she was none the wiser, sniffling as she aggressively wiped her tears away with the back of her hand.

‘i really wanted to see you.’

‘i’m sorry yumi, you know i love you,’ and with those simple words, he had her in the palm of his hands. she would go on and on about how much she loved him too, about how relieved she was that he was okay.

‘let’s go out today then, it can be a late anniversary celebration,’ yumi suggested, moving to wrap her arms around his waist. eunseok flinched, not unnoticed by her as she frowned, stepping back.

‘sorry it’s just… i’m supposed to go watch a movie with minjeong,’ he refused to look her in the eye, afraid of her reaction.

but before she could say anything, there was a brisk knock on the door before the sound of someone entering the passcode traveling all the way to the living room.

as quickly as he could he almost shoved yumi, rushing to the door, not even bothering to look back at her.

‘hey baby,’ he lifted her into his arms, spinning her around in the process as minjeong squealed, arms coming around his neck to steady herself.

when he eventually put her down, she grabbed him by the neck to give him a kiss. it was deep, and it lasted long enough for yumi to feel the ache in her heart intensify.

minjeong pulled away, pressing another quick kiss to his lips before her eyes finally settled on yumi, shuffling awkwardly on the spot, eyes darting around the room.

‘hi?’ she tilted her head, looking back at eunseok to explain who the mysterious girl was.

‘my love this is yumi, she’s my partner for the new project we have. she came over to get some materials,’ he waved yumi off like she was insignificant, his eyes set only on minjeong.

when had his love changed? since when was she reduced to just a classmate, someone not even worth a decent introduction.

it hurt, immensely, and the corner of yumi’s lips quivered as she tried desperately to hold her cries in, making her way out of the apartment.

she looked back one more time, eunseok not even concerned about her feelings, or at least subtly trying to make sure she was okay.

that evening the rain poured down heavily, the wind spraying every single drop in her direction.

she felt her clothes cling to her body, and the way her fingertips were slowly turning red, a sharp pain accompanying it.

she didn’t flinch when the car that sped past her had drove over a puddle, splashing her in the process and adding more to her pain.

‘he doesn’t love me anymore. eunseok doesn’t love me anymore,’ these were the only thoughts consuming her mind, as she walked in a zombie like state.

she felt numb, like she was floating and observing her lifeless body drag herself through the city, no destination in mind, legs walking on their own.

‘why doesn’t he love me?’ she was so preoccupied, trapped into her own mind that she didn’t notice the once green crossing signal turn red, or the sounds of the cars revving their engine.

she stepped into the middle of the road, mind still far away until she felt two strong arms pull her backwards, almost stumbling in the process.

for a split second she was hopeful, whipping around, praying that it would be eunseok behind her, telling her how worried he was, that all the things he did in front of her face was an act so minjeong wouldn’t get suspicious.

instead she was met with the face of a complete stranger, towering over her, his eyes raking over her now shaking figure, worried about her.

unable to hold it in any longer, she broke down in his arms, the grief crashing down onto her as she clung into him, choked sobs leaving her mouth.

although he didn’t know her, he felt sympathy, pulling her closer to him and he let her cry, offering gentle rubs on her back.

she cried and cried, until she was certain there was no more water left in her body to expel, and yumi felt weak, unable to move from this strangers embrace.

‘do you have your phone with you,’ he asked, still practically cradling her.

she shook her head, closing her eyes as she felt an impending headache.

‘how about remembering anyone’s phone number? someone who could come and help you? could you do that?’ he was ever so gentle with her, treading lightly due to her sensitive state.

he handed her his phone, watching as she put some numbers in his phone. he stayed with her as she explained to the other person on the line that she needed them to pick her up.

‘thank you,’ her voice was hoarse, and barely above a whisper as she gave him back his phone, but nonetheless she expressed her gratitude.

‘you’re welcome…’ his voice trailed off when he realised he didn’t know her name.

‘jung yumi, my name is yumi.’

‘nice to meet you yumi, i’m sungchan, same jung clan too,’ he smiled warmly down at her, and she managed to also reciprocate a weaker one.

‘then maybe fate brought us together.’

sungchan stayed with her until chaewon ran up towards them, hugging her tightly as she went on about how worried she was.

‘thank you so much for taking care of my yumi. lord knows what would have happened if you weren’t here,’ chaewon said to him as he helped her walk yumi to her car.

‘it was my pleasure. i couldn’t leave her all alone out here.’

he pitied the young girl, wondering what could have possibly occurred that could turn her into this state. but he knew better than to pry, especially when it seemed like she was still recovering.

so he did all he knew he could do to help, by helping yumi get into the car, waving off the two girls and waiting till they turned the corner till he made his own way back, wishing her the best.

but yumi on the other hand was broken. chaewon had taken her home, promising to stay over with her as they cuddled on the couch, indulging in sweet treats and mediocre romantic comedy films.

‘is it eunseok again?’ she asked after a while, her chin resting on her head as yumi snuggled further into her chest. she didn’t have to reply for chaewon to know that he was the cause of her agony, the silence filling in the gaps.

‘one day i’ll kill that man i swear, for hurting you.’

‘you can’t. i don’t think i know how to live in a world without him,’ yumi whispered, and chaewon just sighed. she was so irrationally in love with him, it would be hard for her to move on.

‘yes you can. you’ve done it before, and you’ll do it again. it’s time for you to let that bastard go.’

she said nothing else, allowing yumi to soak in her own thoughts, wanting her to build the conviction to free herself from his clutches and rediscover that her own happiness did not revolve around that boy.

even though she knew it might really be time to move on and leave him alone, that it wasn’t logical to cling onto someone who clearly didn’t love her back anymore, she still waited for a call or even just a text.

maybe he would come around and realise that he needed her just as much as she needed him. but days turned into two weeks, and she received no attempts of contact from eunseok.

wallowing in despair seemed to be the only thing she knew how to do, frequenting bars and the liquor store whilst she consumed unhealthy amounts of alcohol. the thought of food repulsed her, and she was unable to stomach anything, sticking to supplements and her sparse drinking of water.

she had become defunct, devoid of any signs of a real human being inhabiting her body. it was hard for chaewon to watch, and she became more and more distraught.

‘let’s just go to a cafe or something. it doesn’t have to be a big deal, grab a few drinks, talk, anything to get you out of the house,’ chaewon pleaded with her, willing to do anything to get her out of her funk and able to assimilate back into society.

‘i don’t feel like it chae, im tired.’

‘you haven’t left your room in three days, yumi i’m starting to get scared,’ she held her hand in hers, crouching down till they were eye level.

‘please just try, for me. i just want you to be ok.’

eventually she gave into the begging, allowing her to drag her every which way in her apartment, helping her wash her hair, picking out her outfit, even adding a little bit of makeup.

yumi couldn’t wait to be back in bed, but she bore with the pain for a little while, just to please chaewon. she took her to a cosy cafe, not too far from where she was that day when she had almost been in an accident.

‘welcome to sm cafe, can i-’ the server froze, pausing mid-sentence as yumi looked up from her phone to peer curiously, only for her eyes to widen in recognition.

‘sungchan? you work here’

he was pleasantly surprised to see her, given that he would find at random times during the day that his mind would flash back to thoughts of her, whether she was still as emotionally wrecked, or if she was able to eat or sleep well in her state.

he had caught himself a few times, finger hovering over chaewon’s unsaved number, debating whether he should call and find out, but he decided against it, convinced they would find him weird.

that was why even though he was supposed to be working, his eyes would often drift over to where they were sitting. he recognised the affliction swimming in her irises, and it let him know that she clearly hadn’t been doing well.

even know, her spoon stirred idly around her cup, forcing a smile on her face as she listened to what her friend was talking about.

they stayed for a little over two hours, before chaewon got a phone call about a late shift change that required her to be at work. she knew if she dropped yumi back home she would go back to bed rotting, so she came up with a plan.

‘you should treat sungchan to a drink, for saving you that day. it would do you some good to stay out a bit longer,’ and before yumi could protest she gave her a kiss on the head and dashed out. sungchan stood awkwardly at the foot of the table, not wanting to make her uncomfortable but eager to be able to spend some time with her.

‘i have a one hour break. i could sit with you if you didn’t mind,’ he offered, and although she would give anything to be snuggled up in bed, she didn’t want to appear rude to the stranger who kindly cared for her.

‘i don’t mind, you can sit down.’

it was uncomfortably silent for a couple of minutes, sungchan fiddling with the ring on his index finger. trying not to stare too hard, whilst yumi played with the bracelet on her wrist.

‘i should um- definitely saying thank you. you know for looking after me that day.’

‘it was my pleasure. i’m glad nothing bad happened to you,’ he answered, witness to how yumi’s facial expressions softened for a second and she bit her lip. like she was trying urgently not to cry in front of him again.

‘yumi, is everything alright?’ his tone was gentle, and the question transported her back to her first ever meeting with eunseok. unable to hold back any longer, a few tears slipped as she shook her head, taking sharp inhales.

‘i know i’m just a stranger, and i have no right to ask this of you. but please talk to me, i want to help in anyway that i can.’

so yumi explained everything from the beginning, from the party, to the class, and even the continuing of the relationship when she knew he had a girlfriend. she was nervous at first, expecting some kind of judgement, but his face remained the same and he listened intently, not once interrupting.

‘and he hasn’t called back since then?’ he asked, when she was done with telling her story.

‘no, and that’s what hurts the most. pathetic right?

‘you’re not. all i see is a girl in need of some love, who may have found it in the wrong place with the wrong person. you don’t deserve any of this,’ he comforted her, offering another tissue when he saw her eyes become wet with tears again.

‘i just don’t know what i’ve done wrong. why does no one love me?

‘that’s not true. i know for a fact chaewon loves you. it might be platonic but it’s a start.’

‘you’re deserving of love yumi, real love. the kind that is not afraid to take you by the hand and profess its feelings. the kind that wants to spend every waking minute with you, that yearns for you.’

‘it’s out there yumi, you just have to look in the right places,’ it had been so long since she had truly felt a glimmer of hope. that maybe her mother was wrong, that she wasn’t hard to love.

sungchan hardly knew her but he spoke with such conviction, it made her certain that what he was saying was true. with this new found mindset, she vowed to work on herself, on her weaknesses, and the part of her that still yearned for eunseok.

she quickly became friends with sungchan, who was always sweet to her. he took her out on impromptu park walks and star gazing and even lent his shoulder to cry on when things weren’t so great.

slowly but surely she was starting to accept a reality where eunseok was not the centre. she stayed away from alcohol and drugs, made sure she ate her food on time and felt herself coming back to life.

and when eunseok finally appeared in front of her for the first time in two months, her resolve was much firmer than it used to be.

‘you coming to watch my game?’ he slid into the seat next to her the first time she was finally able to attend their shared class, not even offering a greeting or an explanation for why his presence was scarce.

but that was no longer yumi’s problem, and she recounted the steps she had taught herself in her head, courtesy of sungchan. don’t look him in the eye, keep answers short, flee when the opportunity presents.

‘cant.’

‘why not,’ he frowned at her answer. she never missed any of his games. even when she had rained curses down on him, told him she hated him, or how she wanted him to get out of her life. it was hard for her to stay away.

‘do i have to tell you everything?’ she still wasn't looking at him, preparing herself to get up and leave any time soon and it drove him crazy. just as he was about to confront her another voice interrupted them.

‘hey yumi, i think i'm ready to go now.’

eunseok whipped his head around, desperate to know who the voice belonged to.

sungchan stood right behind him, a couple inches taller than him and his toned biceps on display every time he fixed his bag onto his shoulder.

"hey sungchan, i was just finishing this report," she smiled sweetly at him, closing her laptop before standing up and putting her things away.

so this was the reason why she couldn't come?

eunseok scoffed at her pathetic attempt to make him jealous. looking him up and down he let out a little laugh and the pair turned to him.

‘you're so cute yumi. i see what you’re trying to do.’

seeing sungchan's confused face made her want to get away quickly, scared of what eunseok could say. so she took his hand and led him out of the room, not sparing a glance to him, leaving a rather perplexed eunseok behind.

the past two months had been bliss. minjeong had given up her player ways, committing to him and it was all he could ask for. they went on frequent dates, slept with each other every other day, and it felt like their relationship had been revived.

the first couple of weeks he paid no mind when yumi abruptly stopped the calls and the texts. she was probably trying to pretend to punish him, to make him crawl back.

after all, everyone knew a piece of her heart would always belong to him.

he continued on with life, focusing more on his girlfriend, hinging on the fact that one day, very soon, she would reach out to him again. and when a month had passed he just assumed it was taking her a little longer to come around.

he expended all of his energy on minjeong, but was finding it harder to answer the question that constantly came to mind. why did his mind keep drifting towards yumi?

there was a small space in his heart carved for her, and even though he knew it was wrong he didn’t want to let either girl go. he finds himself being reminded of yumi everywhere he goes, to songs he listened to and even certain scents he caught a whiff of.

so how was it possible that she didn’t seem to care anymore? that she was able to so easily walk away from him without so much as a look back.

his stomach turned at the thought of her finally moving on, being happy with another guy would kill him. he would stop at nothing to get yumi back into his arms.

eunseok knew it was wrong, but he didn’t care, showing up to her house the next night with fake tears in his eyes, pretending that minjeong had left him, that he was broken and all alone. he knew she wouldn’t be able to resist him when he looked so sad, and sure enough she moved aside to let him in.

‘i can’t believe she did it again, she’s so good at hurting me,’ he buried his head in his hands, attempting to conceal his false emotions, he knew her weaknesses, and he played it to his advantage, letting her lift his head up with her own hands, and reassure him that everything would be fine.

‘you were the first person i thought of when this happened, i knew i had to come to you.’

the guilt tripping was professional, and he revelled in the sight of the walls she had put a lot of effort in putting up crumbling down before his very eyes, and he didn’t even have to do much.

‘i don’t trust myself to stay alone, could you let me stay here. please?’ he could see the internal struggle written all over her face, and he would be more than happy to tip her over the edge.

‘eunseok. you can’t,’ it took a great amount of effort for yumi to even say these words. normally she wouldn’t even think twice, opening her arms wide and letting him use her to relieve all the pain. but she had worked so hard with sungchan, who had told her he planned on making her his girlfriend.

what would he say if he saw her now? overlooking her own boundaries and morals, at the mercy of the very man who didn’t care what she was up to two months ago.

‘i just can’t,’ she replies, and eunseok has to fight to hold back his smirk. why was she fighting it when she knew she wanted to.

‘is it because of that guy? did he tell you to stop caring about me?’

‘you’re not good for me eunseok. sometimes you make it hard for me to breathe. it’s like everyday i’m slowly dying inside, foolishly hoping that you’ll come around and love me,’ he moved forward, inching closer and closer till only a small space remained between the two. she tried to move backwards but he was too fast, his hand seeking refuge in the curve of her hip, giving it a squeeze.

‘remember who was there for you, the person who showed you what love meant. i’m the one that picked up the pieces of your broken heart,’ he was so close now, eyes darting down to her lips and she subconsciously licked them.

‘that guy doesn’t know what’s good for you, he’s just trying to take you away from me,’ his fingers danced up her hip, trailing past her collarbone and finding rest on the side of yumi’s face.

‘don’t leave me like everyone else,’ he delivered the final blow, knowing he now had her right where he wanted her.

a small part of his brain nagged at him, constantly repeating how this was wrong, how it wasn’t fair to manipulate someone so vulnerable. but a larger part of him struggled to stop, the feeling he got toying with her emotions, withdrawing and seeing the light drain out of her eyes, just to ignite the flame again, it excited him.

song eunseok was the bane of yumi’s existence. her ultimate weakness, the only one who could bring her from soaring highs to dangerous lows. and she let him tamper with the trajectory of her life, time and time again.

she was beneath him, metaphorically and physically, as she let him have his way with her, whispering empty promises into her ears, pulling her close to his chest as she swore they would mould into one.

it was always passionate with him, nails scraping shoulder blades, heels pushing into his lower back as she clings on for dear life. it was like an art, one that brought yumi closer to heaven each and every time, mouth agape and eyes screwed shut as she chanted over and over again, ‘fuck me, fuck me, fuck me.’

and of course eunseok would do just as she wished, her legs practically touching the sky as he propped himself up on his elbows, caging her in as he relished in the way she squirmed under him.

the tears only spurred him further, some sort of god complex forming within him. he was the reason why such a pretty thing was reduced to a blubbering mess, mascara smudged as her lip quivered. whether it would be in despair or pure ecstasy, he didn’t care. as long as yumi cried for him, he felt like it was a great display of her devotion.

he spent hours making love to her, his stamina seemingly endless, as he spewed such sweet lies from his pretty lips. ‘you belong to me’, ‘only i can make you happy, ‘you will never love anyone like you love me.’

at the end of the night, the moonlight seeping through her curtains, he pulled her worn out body close to him and gave her a kiss.

‘our souls are too entwined for us to depart from each other.’

by the next morning he could tell that shame washed over her, that she knew it wasn’t a good idea for her to have been laid up with the same person who had her curled up in a ball, sheets bunched underneath her hands as she wept.

he played the role of the doting boyfriend well, making her breakfast, running her a bath, all as if he had made up his mind, that he would commit to her and her only.

how foolish of her to believe it.

not even two days later, she stumbled across a post, minjeong’s post celebrating her and eunseok’s 2 year anniversary together. they looked so happy together, as if nothing could break them apart.

to add insult to injury, yumi immediately remembered the outfit in the picture, the same one he was wearing when he had come to see her that night. cursing under her breath she felt her chest tighten, a lump beginning to form in her throat.

how would she face sungchan now? knowing that she had practically used him, there for her when she was struggling and easily discarded when she thought she saw a future with eunseok.

the guilt ate her up inside, and she stopped replying to his calls, or his messages, hoping he would leave her alone and move onto something better. someone that wasn’t as broken as she was.

but sungchan being the guy he was, couldn’t ignore the gut feeling telling him that something had gone wrong. yumi’s well-being was at the forefront of his mind, discarding any personal feelings he had. he just needed to make sure she was alright.

he knew her schedule pretty much like the back of his hand, and he waited outside her classroom, hoping to catch a glimpse of her.

instead he sees yumi practically drag herself out of the door, a look of defeat on her face. the reason for this trails after her, a cocky smile on his face as he calls out her name.

she shakes her head, picking up the pace, but she’s no match for him, and he easily catches up, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her smaller frame after him.

‘what is he playing at?’ sungchan was sure of it now, that eunseok had something to do with yumi’s sudden change in behaviour, and decided to follow after the pair.

he tugged her into an empty classroom, the door slightly ajar, and sungchan slipped inside.

‘what’s going on here?’ he spoke up, and yumi froze, pleading with her eyes for eunseok to be quiet, to not tell him anything about how she had broken her resolve.

but she should have known better, that eunseok only did what he wanted to do. and that was why he whipped around to face him, all too happy as he addressed him.

‘it’s good you’re here, it would save you all the heartbreak.’

‘eunseok please,’ she was sure she would drop to her knees soon, the tension in the room suffocating her.

‘i’m doing us all a favour babe,’ he winked and it was in this moment that yumi felt like she was finally able to see his true face.

calculating, manipulative, selfish, self-indulgent. this wasn’t the boy she fell in love with. at least that’s what she thought.

‘you have a crush on yumi, don’t you?’ he redirects his attention to sungchan, who still knows no better about the situation at hand.

‘what does it matter to you?’ sungchan’s defensive, feeling like he didn’t owe him any sort of answer.

‘hey man no need to be all hostile, i’m trying to help you here,’ eunseok holds his hands up, as if he was admitting defeat.

yumi is an anxious mess behind him, praying that she could just escape, to be anywhere other than here.

‘it would be a shame for you to be fooled into thinking she felt the same about you.’

her eyes shut, head reeling as she swiped a hand over her face. it was all over.

‘why are you trying to speak for her. you don’t know how hard yumi had worked to get over you,’ his attempts to defend you were futile, all in vain because she had unravelled two months of work in one night.

‘hmm, i don’t think she did a very good job at that. i’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to be under the person you’re meant to be getting over,’ eunseok tapped his chin, practically mocking him and sungchan balled his hands into fists.

‘eunseok that’s enough.’

‘tell him the truth doll. about the amount of times you called me crying, begging me to get back with you,’ he showed no mercy, impatient, as he longed to see everything fall apart in front of him. nobody could have yumi but him, and he would make sure of it.

"stop."

‘or how about two nights ago when you let me in. surely you knew it was a bad idea but you still-‘

"eunseok shut up," tears streamed down her face as as she bunched his shirt up in her hands.

"then look me in the eye and tell me you're over me," his tone softened, his palm reaching out to rest on her cheek, wiping her eyes.

sungchan watched expectantly, hoping that she would quickly sort the situation out, that she would reassure him, push eunseok away, tell him how crazy he was.

but instead she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

‘fuck you,’ was all she said.

‘but you already have love. many times,’ the glint in his eye was pure malevolence, brutal, merciless, just like his actions.

sungchan felt like he had been punched in the gut, reeling from what was going on in front of him. she wasn't over him.

‘get out of here and leave me the fuck alone,’ she let go of eunseok, hands now shaking as she dared not look at sungchan.

‘as you wish darling,’ he said, but it felt like the fun was just getting started.

‘you sure you don’t want one last look,’ he taunted her, taking his time because he knew she wouldn't be able to resist not looking one last time.

and just as he predicted, she was facing him again and the grin on his face was hard to fight.

stepping even closer, he stopped when he was just inches away from her, his tall frame towering over her.

leaning down, he licked his lips, moving as if he was going to kiss her but instead found them by her earlobe.

‘don't fight your feelings my love,’his breath tickled her ear, and although his words sounded sweet she knew him too well.

taking a step back he admired the way her body slightly shook, whether with rage or nervousness he didn't know. and he didn't care.

‘i'm sure i'll be hearing from you soon yumi.’

‘don't be too heartbroken,’ he called out to sungchan, not caring about the catastrophe he was leaving behind as he sauntered away with his hands in his pockets.

‘you still like him,’ it took an unbelievable amount of strength for sungchan to speak up, his tongue feeling heavy in his mouth.

yumi was shaking, hunched over in the corner as she refused to meet his eyes.

he sighed, hating that she looked so broken, that one man had such power over her being. she looked just like the first day he met her, defeated, broken down.

crouching next to her, lifting her head, his words got stuck in his throat as he looked at her. a flood of tears gushed down her cheeks, chewing on her lower lip as she hugged her knees.

he swiped at her eyes but the tears still spilled down, red and swollen as she rest her chin on her knee.

"i tried- i- i didn't even mean," she was a blubbering mess, barely able to get her words, her breathing staggered.

"yumi breathe for me please, it's okay."

nothing about this situation was okay to sungchan. the girl he was convinced he could spend the rest of eternity with was clearly not over someone who didn't even have the decency to call her his girlfriend.

his broken heart weighed heavily on him, but all he wanted was to make sure that the girl he loved would cry no longer.

pulling her into his arms, he tried to soothe her by patting her on the back, another hand playing with her hair.

"i'm so sorry- i'm so sorry. i didn't mean to hurt you, i'm so sorry," she repeated over and over again, knowing that it was not enough to fix the damages done.

but it was all she could muster up for now.

realisation settled in. she would never truly be free of eunseok. that her heart was so full of him, she could barely call it her own.

[ashoss]

Oops you got me going on two of my seven evil hyperfixations (batfam and pjo) so i'm gonna keep going ❤️ I think for Cass it really depends on what aspect of her personality/history you want to focus on! I've always liked Bellona (Roman goddess of war) for her as a connection to her fighting abilities. I feel like she'd have a similar relationship to her mother as Frank Zhang does to Mars. Hades of course for the connection to death. I also like Nike is another good one, especially with how CONFIDENT she is in the comics that she never loses. Like she's so smug about it, i love it!

Actually, if you still want Cass to have a relation to Hades without her being a kid of the big 3, you could have her be a legacy of Hades and have a different god be her other godly parent (like Frank)! Two for one because Cass is that special ❤️

Another one that I've never seen anyone mention, but one that came to me and won't leave my head, is Nemesis. Nemesis is vengeance, yes, but she is also justice and balance, passing judgment where it is and in proportion to what was deserved. Our first introduction to Cass was that she felt so much guilt over killing a man that she felt that the only way to redeem herself was to die. We see this fuel so much of her actions as batgirl, and even though she eventually grew out of that mindset, that really struck me that Cass was someone kind and fair. She values life so much that she couldn't forgive herself for something that wasn't her fault (passing judgment like Nemesis, but inward instead of outward), so now she fights so that others have a right to live and to right what she thinks of as wrongs

Also depending on which origin you use for Diana, the batkids being demigods means that cool aunt diana REALLY IS their aunt now! Or even better, their cool older cousin (which i think would be incredibly funny) LMAO aunt would be if Diana is directly the offspring of Zeus (along with Cassie Sandsmark, who would also technically be Tim's aunt in this case? LMAO) Cousin would be a bit looser, but going the clay doll route, diana could be regarded as being "birthed" by the other gods, or at the very least, is their champion and near-like their child in that way.

akhjds no please keep going!!! you have fantastic takes on this oh my god

god, nemesis Cass is honestly so interesting. i was focusing more on her relationship with fighting and death for some of my other ideas but honestly it makes so much more sense. (and me taking just the justice/retribution for me wanting her to be Jason's mom) but god that makes so much sense i am actually so in love with this take. (hades legacy cass is also sooo good ugh)

and yes!! that is absolutely their aunt Diana!! (when Jason actually gets claimed his first thing is "like wonder woman???") i also think their connection with some of the other Amazonians would be interesting in this case because it could be the cause for the FUNNIEST shenanigans that the other people don't get.

like Tim complaining to Cassie: ugh yeah there was a couple harpies on my way here. they're such a pain to fight.

Cassie: ugh yeah i know.

Kon and Bart: harpies????

or like, "hey Tim why are you covered in gold glitter?

Tim: had to fight a cheerleader.