#consequences Roman you gonna need to face them

[wonderpommey]

“I wasn't crying about mothers," he said rather indignantly. "I was crying because I can't get my shadow to stick on. Besides, I wasn't crying.” J-M Barrie, Peter Pan

Help! Roman seems to be irremediably stuck in the denial stage.

He denies Logan's death and his subsequent grief, rewrites the fact that he’s partly to blame for Logan souring on Gerri and in fact wasn’t he helping the old gal actually, he can’t face up to the unsavoury dealings that the realities of being in charge entail etc.

He’s also completely unable not to see his own plight in others; Rushing over to Kerri, {the jilted shadow chosen one who displays her uncontrollable pain because Logan promised her the world and taking her side against the older arguably wronged woman who’s exacting her revenge} is the thing getting his most pained whines of this episode. His most selfless act is also his most self-centred one... "Oh this I can understand, I too was dad’s to fuck. He also promised me things he didn’t make good on and when I lost him, I didn’t even get the comfort I deserved from the person I’ve wronged”.

This season is hailing honesty as the single redeeming feature for enduring relationships within that universe. 

Connor and Willa of all pairings have gotten there. 

The sibs manage an imperfect version of it. 

Shiv and Tom keep trying to say something real to each other.

Roman and Gerri? No, she doesn’t care about getting fired, it’s fine. He didn’t hurt her at all. They, who have always used the shadows of business talk to live their romance, are utterly failing at honesty and openness.

Unless Roman starts facing up to reality in general, this will end tragically for him. Do pills and transferring caring skills to random Logan-approved people help keep a genuinely loving personality at bay?

It’s all incredibly ominous by the way the mounting tension of the dangers facing Roman. The guard dog arriving, the nazi watch, the blowup at Shiv about Mencken, conveniently ignoring his role in Gerri’s fragility (of course nazism and masculinity are the only things that allow him to ignore what he’s done). There are also outspoke references to paedophilia in the obit and the Gauguin paintings. Roman is fine, he’s smiling, he’s moving on, he’s 'pre-grieved'. And frankly, who notices the cracks? Ken maybe…

Yeah there’s no way this doesn’t end taunting a progressive crowd, T-posing for his sins.

Gerri will be fine reassuringly. Roman is proving with every minute that passes that not allowing herself to be wooed by him had been the right call all along. She’s proving how the tiniest sliver of impropriety could have been her death - including at Roman’s hands. And she’s acting every bit as smug as she should.

But of course now she loses CEO and he gets the leverage of knowing Logan was going to fire her. They both have prejudicial information about each other they’re not currently using...

So was a sham marriage better than a romance that wouldn’t say its name? In succession? Welcome to our era of fearing the answer…

[z3nitsusgf]

omg help me your Roman Roy fic was amazing,,, you truly have a gift .

we need more Roman pussy eating fics! just thinking about his hands moving up your skirt, you sitting up on his big important boss man desk, his face buried between your legs, stubble grazing your inner thigh, you grab his hair and your back arches, head thrown back, your gasps and moans are echoed by his own as he gets off from eating you out.

You resist the urge to make a sound. Even though he’s lapping at your cunt like a fucking dog, you restrain yourself. You gnaw on your lip, feeling the busted capillaries at the surface release that familiar iron taste. You’re wet, embarrassingly so. You can hear the slick sloppy sounds of Roman sucking at your clit. You’re breathing heavy, panting and clawing at his desk as if that’ll help.

Anyone could walk past and see you getting tongue-fucked by their bosses son. Not that they’d say anything, but you’d be absolutely mortified.

“Roman- please, you can’t,” you squirm when he nips your folds, “not here.”

He groans, you sound so whiny. So breathy and on the verge of crying. He grips at your hips, your pencil skirt slid up and pooled around your waist. Panties tugged down (semi-ripped) across your ankles.

“Shut up.” He mumbles into you, the stubble across his jaw prickling your inner thighs. You jump at the feeling, squeezing around his head. You whine, trying not to kick up your legs and crush him.

“Just let me fucking drown myself in your pussy.”

He’s pawing at your hips, slipping them from outside to in. Running clean hands across your jumpy thighs and over your slick folds. He smashes his thumb against your sticky clit, rubbing sloppy harsh circles against the soft bud. Your hips stutter, he chases your bucking hips to rub at your clit.

“Sensitive?”

He asks with a grin, he knows you are. He loves it. You whine, feeling the wet stickiness between your thighs drip.

“Roman-“

There’s most definitely a puddle of cum and slick underneath your ass. But Roman doesn’t give a shit, he’ll probably get some underpaid janitor to clean it up. It’s not like they haven’t done it before. Vaguely, you wonder what would happen if someone important saw. Like his brother, or his dad. Or even Gerri.

“Fuck, you’re fucking dripping.” He mumbles, hair messy and swept back. Strands of brown draping across his wide eyes and tickling your thighs.

You let out a yelp when he buries his face back between your legs, licking from the bottom of your cunt to the very top. It’s like he’s making out with it, dipping his tongue in and moaning at the way he can feel you clench around the soft pink muscle. He’s almost tempted to just say fuck it and fuck you over the desk. Who cares?

You feel like you’re gonna pass out. You’re panting, chest heaving and you scratch at his expensive glossy desk, nails trying to find purchase without tugging at your bosses hair. Your moans have his cock leaking against his slacks, staining the light grey dark. He tries not to hump the air, but it gets harder with each passing second. He might cream his pants if he’s not careful.

“Gonna soak my face, hm? Gonna get nice and fucking wet for me?”

You wish you could say you hate the way he speaks to you, but you’d be lying. It makes you whimper and drip and clench around nothing. Nodding your head and shuffling your hips to try and get a better angle. Roman grins like a fucking demon, staring up at you while he demolishes your pussy. Sucking at your sensitive clit and pressing his thumbs into your thighs to hold you open. It’s debauched, messy and wet. The definition of slutty.

It’s like the middle of a shitty porno, a boss eating out his favorite assistants cunt on his desk. Uncaring of the consequences because he’s never had to face them before.

Because who’s gonna tell the Roman Roy shit?

[like-rain-or-confetti]

Top 5 having a Love At First Site moment during an Arkham riot? I think thatd be fun.

Does anyone else think of those tiktoks where people take the piss out of love at first sight by putting it in ridiculous situations like being caught by a serial killer?😂

Can you believe these menaces have all been in Arkham? All have witness some riot one way or another. Ugh. AND NOW (Y/N) IS GONNA BE IN? OH LAWDY.

The Riddler: He put on a show that would humiliate ever guard in the most brutal ways. He knew he'd outsmart them all, one riddle at a time and they'd all face the consequences. His audience, although somewhat captivated, were dim-witted. He could tell by the emptiness in the eyes of the other patients. Most were as dumb as they come. However, you got his attention. Your eyes wide, captivated with a smile as you watched intently. He got addicted to your awe stricken eyes almost immediately. He was hooked. Something about you had his attention but it didn't freak him out. Not at all. You seemed to submit to him. He held all the power and the Riddler loved it. Given his impeccable memory. He'd be able to find you in no time.

Scarecrow: It was less of you caught his eye and more that he caught your eye. It was blatant that you knew who he was. Many ran in terror before they would do much as dare to face the Scarecrow. Yet you were pressed up against the bars with grin and a curious gaze. His unwavering stare didn't put you off and to his intrigue, you dangled a set of keys in front of him. With a giggle to yourself, you unlocked the door and that was that. You skipped away. By then he made sure he knew your face. You only sweetened the deal when you later led him by the hand to a room of panicked doctors. His doctors specifically. He smiled. Revenge was almost as sweet as you.

Two-Face: He was in deep shit as the guards approached him with a taser. "Give us the coin." They demanded lowly. Suddenly there you were. "Ah I see!" You grinned and dug your hand into...you're kidding. That's the charity donation box. "Is this the coin you're looking for?" You asked. "No." The guard replied flatly. You made a noise of protest. "You didn't even look!" The guard sighed before he made it clear that he was scrutinising this coin. "No. That isn't it." "Oh... how about this one?" "No." "This one?" "No." "This one?" "No!" Slowly Harvey began to back away as you present the guards with coins and toss them on the floor. Eventually, you dumped out the donation box's contents. "Any of these!?" "No! We want the one in Dent's hand!" The guard insisted. "Well, you can't have that one, love." You said quickly and the next thing they knew, you swung the box hard into the guards faces with a loud "Run!" Harvey didn't need to be told twice as he bolted.

Black Mask: "Crazy shit!" The security officer raised his baton and you squealed, shifting back and under the table. Suddenly a hand lodged a pen into the security guards necks, his helmet and bullet proof vest ironically useless. There was a gurgling sound, choking as red sprayed out as the hand pulled it out again. The pen clattered to the ground. "Fucker." Roman sneered, he gave one swift kick to the man's back before spitting on the guard. That was when he noticed you under the table. You smiled slightly, eyes wide in awe of Roman. He was surprised, not expecting anyone but immediately noticed that whilst he'd never seen you before, well, you were rather pretty looking up at him like that.

Mad Hatter: You had been curious as to the damage Jervis had caught. For anyone else with sanity intact, it was nothing short of devastating. People were hypnotised to kill themselves or each other in the most brutal ways. The aim was to paint the walls red. You cupped Jervis face and gave him a blood stained toothy grin, a sign of approval of his work. He grinned back. He himself also covered in blood. His face already bloodied and now it was on your hands. Your communication to each other seemed to surpass words. Such a thing seemed unnecessary. The two of you would be attached ever since. No one quite understanding your relationship but quite frankly scared to find out since Jervis has grown super protective.

[fantastic-mr-corvid]

♥️,🥩, and 🍓 From Yunessa!

aww thank you! for this ask game, last one under the read more bc it got longg

❤️ (heart) - Who is the most important person to your character? To what lengths would they go to protect this person?

To Conficcare, Rametta is by far the most important person to him, which is why her rejection of him & his attempts to keep her safe from their mother cuts him so deeply. What lengths? well for as much as its known that he would pick Muro over Tesoro in a heartbeat, he would betray all of them for Rametta.

🥩 (steak) - Does your oc have any coping mechanisms? Healthy or unhealthy?

Celias smoking comes to mind, she used it to calm herself, fit in/seem cool, but mainly to decease her appetite and lessen the hunger pains when there wasn't enough food [which was most of the time] Hes been trying to kick the habit for years with little long term success, but no matter how many gross images of the consequences Conficcare shoves in his face he always ends up rolling up a cig when things get stressful or he needs to think. [I mean, he knows hes gonna die young, its inevitable, why worry about cancer and fucking up your body when your not gonna be around in time for it?]

🍓 (strawberry) - Does your oc believe in anything? Are they superstitious? Religious? Atheistic? Has anything in their past made them this way?

Muro & Cecio [& Tesoro & Conficcare & Rametta] all have a complicated relationship with religion. Raised Roman Catholic [with some influence from Eastern Orthodoxy from the large amount of Ukrainian immigrants in their community] Much of their community was centered around worship, which meant that being rejected due to their trans and queerness was devastating when it happened.

Notably, Paula refused to go to church after she was deemed to be going against the will of god by accepting that Cecio was a trans boy and raising him as such- though given she opposed the priest by punching him in the face it wasn't like she was exactly welcome anymore. Celia also got much side eye when he started presenting fully as Muro.

Despite that [and the homophobia of Tesoros father & Conficcares mother that they justified through scripture and worrying for their childs souls] they all maintain quite a strong level of faith, keeping god in their own way. Muro notably often keeps his mothers rosary around his right wrist, hidden under the cuff of his jacket, Tesoro still goes to church and prays for forgiveness often, Conficcare goes occasionally, while Rametta used to go before she had an annoying atheist phase, but after her brothers death refuses to feel uncomfortable as herself in a house of god [She loves the 'god made us trans for the same reason he gave us wheat instead of bread and grapes instead of wine, so we could partake in the act of creation' [paraphrased] idea, and as she sees the world and many religious leaders become more accepting of trans & queer people she wishes so much that the rest of her family were there to see it]

I need to do more research into Catholicism bc while i was undeniably raised culturally christian i had very little interaction with protestant practice let alone catholic, but they are all very steeped in catholic practices and habits, while they question and disagree with spesific teachings- mainly around queerness- they are very much religious and it is important to them.

[smolwritingchick]

Forced To Believe Chapter 30- Trying To Gain Momentum

Chapter Summary:  Morgan continues to have targets on her back while Punk butts heads with her

Words: 3,000+

------

'Smackdown'

The Rhodes Brothers were already in the ring while The Shield jumped over the barricade. Morgan was frowning. 

"Morgan looks like she's in a sour mood." JBL pointed out.

"Well, she did get kissed by Goldust," Cole said. "Roman and Seth take on The Rhodes Brothers for the WWE Tag Team Champions."

Morgan and Dean go on commentary as the match starts. 

"How are you, Morgan?" Cole asked.

"I'm doing good. I'm just surviving and chilling." She replied.

'Sure...' Dean thought. 

He was gonna make her eat those words. 

"You sure?" JBL asked. "What's been going on?"

"Well, that crazy gold psycho in the ring kissed me and I'm going to get revenge on him tonight." She declared.

"Not if I get to him first..." Dean glared at Goldust.

"You know, you've been acting pretty weird since Monday. Are you okay?" She asked him, looking concerned.

"I'm fine, never better."

"Do you think Cody and Goldust have The Shield's number?" Cole asked.

"First of all, nobody has The Shield's number," Dean stated. "The Shield has had everybody's number. Look at the list of superstars that we've taken out and defeated. I don't have enough time in this broadcast to list the number of superstars we put on the shelf. Let me ask you, Michael, where's The Undertaker these days? He's probably still in London where we left him laying. Where's The Rock these days? He can't hang anymore, he's in Hollywood."

Later on in the match, The Shield start to take control of Cody. 

"So, what are your plans for the new year? We know you lost the title. How do you feel?" JBL asked Morgan.

"A little disappointed but I lost to a better woman. I'm not going to be champion forever. I'll just have to earn another title shot. That's going to be my New Year's resolution. To try to earn another title shot." She replied.

"Earn?" Cole asked.

"What do you mean earn? She earns her stuff." JBL retorted to Cole.

"Yes. Earn, Michael. Right now Natalya is going to be up against AJ for the title. It's her time to shine. I'm rooting for her." She replied.

"So Morgan, what's been going on with you and CM Punk," Cole asked. "You've been having quite the targets on your back."

"I don't mean to have targets on my back. People just love to feud with me. But they just don't seem to remember that I can drop them just...like...that." she snapped her fingers. 

"CM Punk says he's after me. Well, go ahead. I'm not scared of him. If he wants to fight with me, then we can rumble. I can't run away or hide by The Shield. I need to be responsible for my actions. I kicked Punk in the face. I did it. I did it on Raw and I admit it." She continued. "I know what I did and I know Punk has a problem with that. So, if he wants to grow some balls and step up to The Shield's Girl, then he can take me on one on one and I can give him the Morganizer, a backfire and the breakdown to shut him up and take him back to Chicago. He does not know who he's messing with. I am from Philly. He may think I'm all talk but no action but once he steps in the ring with me, it's over. D.O.N.E. He's done. Finished!" She motioned her hand to her neck like she was slicing her neck.

"Be careful what you say. That may come back to haunt you." Cole replied.

Morgan had a feeling that it would but she loves a challenge. "I know that. But, I have to step up to my actions and deal with the consequences. The Shield can't always help me and I proved that I can do things alone at Survivor Series."

"This is why I love a woman with confidence," Dean smirked at her. 

In the ring, Cody starts to fight back and he throws Seth out of the ring. During this, he hits the announce table as Dean stands up. 

"He moved our table. Come on buddy. Get back in there." Ambrose said.

"I hope he's okay." Morgan looks concerned. 

Seth gets in the ring and manages to tag in Reigns but Cody tags in Goldust. Goldust starts to take control and do his signature moves. Meanwhile, Dean was biting his knuckles.

"You all right?" She chuckled at Dean.

"Yeah, I'm not worried, just excited," Dean replied.

Later on, Cody hits Seth with the Cross Rhodes and Ambrose runs into the ring to break Cody's pin on Seth as the bell rings. 

"I knew that was gonna happen...I knew it..." Morgan said. Dean starts to attack Cody until CM Punk runs out with a chair. "Great...It's him."

Punk runs down the ramp and hits Roman with the chair twice. He runs in the ring as Dean runs out of the ring. Goldust gets in the ring to help Cody as The Shield regroups. 

"Are you kidding me?" Morgan yelled at Punk as she removed her headset. 

As The Shield regrouped, Vickie was on the titantron and made the match a 6 man tag team match.

"What's she talkin' about? Six man tag? Are you kiddin' me!?" Seth yelled as Dean tried to calm him down.

When they get in the ring, Morgan is at ringside and Punk takes control of Dean.

"Come on Dean! Break his neck." Morgan cheered.

"I'll break yours if you don't shut your mouth." Punk turned his attention to her.

"I wish you would! I am not scared of you, cookie monster!" She snapped. "I dare you to put a finger on me! Do you wanna get hurt?" 

Near the end of the match, Morgan was near the ramp, watching the match. Dean was put in the GTS position by Punk but all of a sudden, the Wyatt Family's opening surrounds the arena and the arena goes black. The light comes back on and the Wyatts appear at the end of the ramp.

"Oh, we got company," Cole said as Punk got distracted.

Morgan turned around and looked at Bray. "I thought I told you to leave me alone." She exclaimed, narrowing her eyes at him

"We simply came for Punk, my rose," Bray replied with a sick smile as she backed away from them.

Dean turns to Punk and attacks him from behind as The Shield takes control of him. The Wyatts attack Goldust and Cody before Punk could tag them in and the faces get beat up by the heels. 

The Usos run into the ring and attack the Wyatts as a brawl occurs. Then, Rey runs into the ring to clear house. Outside the ring, Luke is attacking Goldust and sees Morgan near him.

Morgan was keeping her distance and watching the action in the ring. She thought it would be best to keep herself out of more trouble. 

Suddenly, Luke picks up Goldust and brings him to her. She looks at Luke in confusion and then looks at Goldust. 

Luke wanted to give Morgan what she wanted. She wanted revenge on Goldust and he decided to give that to her. 

"What are you doing?" She asked, looking confused.

"You wanted revenge, correct? Don't stray, get your revenge." He said.

As much as Morgan hated to admit it, she had a soft spot for Luke. She thinks that he has a heart even though he is with the Wyatts. 

She grabs Goldust and hits him with the backfire.

"What? Morgan and Luke Harper working together? This is scary. The Shield and Wyatts working together. I wonder what's going on between them." Cole said as the crowd chanted 'Yes! Yes! Yes!'

Morgan gets up and looks at Luke. She wasn't expecting to get Goldust back this quickly but she was thankful for what Luke did for her. She decides to give him a small smile. A smile wouldn't hurt. Call her crazy but she actually forgot the fear she had for the Wyatts as she looked at the bearded, strong, and erratic man in front of her.

"Thanks." Morgan turned around but he grabbed her wrist and she turned around to face him.

"You're welcome," Luke mumbled and released her but then they turned their attention to the stage.

"Excuse me! No! No! No! Excuse me!" Vickie yelled as she walked onto the stage. "This chaos will not continue, not on my show, not on Smackdown! I demand order!" 

"This match is now a 12 man tag team match!" She announced as the crowd cheered.

Later on in the ring, CM Punk was in the ring with Bray Wyatt. He was out of the ring and saw Morgan, glaring at him. 

"What? What are you gonna do? Step up, I'm ready." She motioned Punk to come at her. 

Punk smirked and made a loud slapping sound with his hands and fell down. The crowd cheered once the ref looked at Punk and then Morgan. 

"I didn't do it! He faked it! He faked it! He's faking it! He's not really hurt!" She tried to explain.

"That's it! You're out of here!" Ref yelled as the crowd erupted in cheers and The Shield start to protest.

She shot Punk a dirty look. "Bastard! I'm gonna frickin' kill you!" She yelled while Punk grinned and waved goodbye to her. 

"I'm gonna get you! I'm gonna get you Punk!" She reluctantly walked up the ramp.

Morgan tweets 'Well it looks like the #CookieMonster is going to be #Morganized real soon. Thanks for making me go backstage CMPunk. That was so funny, I forgot to laugh.'

'Next week, Hours Before Raw'

Melanie was in a black dress that stopped before her knees and with black low heels. Her hair was down and curly at the end. 

"Hey, Melanie!" Brie beamed and hugged her. She was wearing her dress for the Slammys next week.

"Hey. How was your shoot with Bryan?" she asked.

"It went great. I love your outfit."

"Thanks, I love yours too. I'm surprised I'm surviving in heels. Nicole and Nattie are the veterans when it comes to heels."

"Yeah, that's true."

Jon walked up behind Melanie and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her on the cheek and she turned her head and smiled. 

"We're up next." He said.

"Have fun you two." Brie smiled at them as they walked to the set.

Melanie looked at Jon's suit. "I'm not surprised that The Shield has to keep wearing black."

"I still look hot right?" He grinned.

She punched his arm and laughed. The cameraman finished setting up his camera and turned to the couple.

"Okay, we are going to take a few photos for couple of the year. Not a lot but we should be done in 5 minutes."

"All righty." Melanie grinned.

"Okay, can we have you lean on the wall?" The cameraman asked. 

Melanie leaned on the wall and The cameraman motioned Jon to stand in front of her and put his hands on the wall on each side of her head. 

"Can we have Morgan and Dean's smirk?" 

As they continued to snap photos, Melanie turned her head away from Jon and the photographer took the shot. 

She then looked up at him with a smile. "Does this remind you of Mr and Mrs Smith? Since we're wearing black?"

"Kind of. All we need is guns." He grinned.

They get off the wall and stand in front of the camera. She stood on her tippy toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, smiling at him while he grabbed her waist. 

The photographer also started taking pictures when Melanie grabbed his tie and when he kissed her on the cheek. 

He then got behind her to wrap his arms around her waist while she leaned to the left side 

"All right, that's a wrap!" was announced as the photographer stopped snapping photos.

"Sweet. High five." She said as Jon gave her a high five. 

"Down low." He gives her a low five. 

"Too slow!" She laughed as he tried to give her another high five. 

Jon reacted by picking her up bridal style and spinning her around as she laughed.

'Raw, In The Ring'

The Rhodes Brother, Kaitlyn and Big Show were in the ring to take on The Shield. Dean, Seth and Roman were walking through the crowd. "Wait, where's Morgan?" King asked. "It's supposed to be a 4 on 4 match, not 4 on 3."

'Backstage'

"Wardrobe malfunctions can be a pain." Sandra Gray, the seamstress said as she pinned Melanie's Shield shirt like how AJ had her CM Punk shirt.

"Yeah, it happens. I really appreciate you doing this for me." Melanie replied.

"Oh no, problem honey, I just hope you're not late for your match."

"Nah, I can go out to my own theme. You're fine." She smiled as she got her shirt fixed.

"There. Good to go."

"Thank you so much!" She sprinted to the gorilla as the producer cued her music

'In The Ring'

"And introducing their tag team partner, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Morgan Lopez!" Justin announced as she walked out with a grin and did her taunt. She twirls around and runs to tag some hands before running into the ring. She spins on one knee and stands up on the other foot.

'Ding Ding Ding'

Dean and Big Show start the match. Show takes control and pushes Dean to the turnbuckle. He lifts up his shirt and slaps him on the chest. He then decides to throw Dean to the turnbuckle across from him as he falls down and holds his chest. 

"Believe in The Shield now, huh?" Big Show taunted.

"Shut up! You shut up!" Seth yelled as the ref restrained him.

"He's not worth it." Morgan put her hand on Seth's shoulder. 

Dean stands up and leans on the turnbuckle, only to have his shirt lifted up again by Show. Show gives him a big slap on the chest as Morgan holds her chest. 

"Gosh..." She murmured as she remembered the hard slaps that Tamina gave her during Survivor Series. Cody, Goldust and Kaitlyn were holding their chest too.

"One more?" Big Show asked the crowd. Dean was leaning on the ropes, shaking, trying to recover from the big slap.

"No!" She yelled. "Don't do it! He's had enough!"

"This one's for you, Morgan." Big Show gives Dean a hard slap on the chest as she holds her chest again, feeling the pain. Dean stumbles and tags in Rollins.

"You all right man?" Roman asked him.

"No!" Dean exclaimed before getting on the apron, and standing next to Morgan.

Rollins was being manhandled by the Big Show. He grabs Rollins by the vest as he tries to make a tag and decides to release him as he tags in Reigns. The crowd cheers while Dean pats his shoulder. 

"Here comes the big man," Cole said as Roman got in the ring.

"Show em' what you got." Morgan supported him. 

Unfortunately, Roman gets thrown to a turnbuckle and gets his vest unzipped. Big Show gives him a big slap on the chest and the slap echoes around the arena. Morgan holds her chest when Big Show gives him another slap on the chest. She was glad she wasn't in the ring with him right now.

Roman gives Show a rake in the eyes and tags in Dean. Dean gets on the top rope but gets grabbed by the neck and thrown off by Big Show. 

"Pull on his beard! You gotta pull on his beard." Seth exclaimed as Morgan started laughing at his statement.

Later on in the match, Cody tags in Kaitlyn as the crowd cheers loudly while Morgan gets in the ring. Kaitlyn has her hands out, trash talking as the Outspoken Diva smirks at her. 

"Here we go! These two hate each other." JBL looked on.

"Woo hoo! Diva action!" King cheered.

"Two former best friends in the ring. Anything could happen." Cole said as Kaitlyn and Morgan started to get in each other's faces and talk trash. 

Kaitlyn slaps her as the Outspoken Diva places a hand on her now reddened cheek. She returns the slap and they slap each other back and forth.

"Slap, after slap," King exclaimed. 

Kaitlyn tries to clothesline her but she ducks. She waits for Kaitlyn to turn around and hits her with a roundhouse kick. 

"Whoops, too bad..." She retorted and pinned her for a two count. 

She takes control of Kaitlyn, putting her in a headlock. Kaitlyn stands up and elbows her in the stomach, picking her up over her shoulder to slam her down. She pins her for a two count. She picks her up and throws Morgan to the ropes, aiming for a clothesline but Morgan ducks and holds on to the ropes to stop herself. 

Morgan shook her head at her. "Nope."

They lock up again and Kaitlyn throws her to the ropes. She runs towards her but Morgan moves out of the way. She takes advantage and hits her with the Morganizer and pins her but Kaitlyn puts her leg on the ropes. Kaitlyn tries to make a tag but gets her leg grabbed. She kicks her away and tags in Cody while Morgan tags in Seth. 

"The Shield really enjoy doing things like this," King said as The Shield continued to dominate the match.

Later in the match, The Shield continue to take control of Big Show until he tags in Goldust. Goldust does his signature moves on Seth and pins him until Dean breaks it up. Cody gets in the ring but Dean throws him on the apron and dropkicks him as Cody hurts his arm.

Ambrose runs to the run but falls back as Big Show grabs the ropes for payback. Roman spears Big Show out the ring but then Cody jumps on top rope and dives on top of him, hurting himself in the process.

Morgan gets off the apron and runs to where Kaitlyn is. She tries to grab her off the apron but Kaitlyn kicks her away and jumps off as Morgan holds her mouth. She runs to spear her but Morgan pushes her to the steel steps. She grabs her by the hair and hits her with the backfire while Goldust suplexs Dean. The Philly Diva leans on the barricade to recover as some of the fans pat her arm and back.

She watches as Seth rolls up Goldust to win the match and roll out of the ring. She runs and hugs him as he has his arms up in victory. 

"The winners of this match, The Shield!" Justin announced as Seth and Morgan jumped over the barricade.

"Woo!" Seth cheers as Roman and Dean meet up with them and celebrate.

"Numbers, numbers and more numbers," Cole exclaimed as Kaitlyn and the Rhodes brothers were hurt and recovering in the ring. "What's gonna happen when it's 3 on 1 with The Shield against Punk at TLC?" 

[timelord-emmet]

Chapter 7

-Darkness ,is what he notes first , with the strange heaviness of his body and strange warmth? energy flowing through his body, overwhelming at first crushing even then it slowly calms , swimming around stretching through every nerve every muscle through his body till at a calming temperature and not as heavy feeling-

-Then buzzing noise slowly turning to ringing ? that slowly dissapears aswell and he can hear someone talking? saying his name , who is that?-

*Emmet! Emmet!*

He groans as he feels this person shaking him gently ugh his body still isn’t co-operating as his fingers twitch and eyes feel glued as he opens them vision blurry , focusing best he can at the figure in front of him.

“Uugh??” he manages out words still escaping him.

*MR.EMMET! , are you alright!?* Agent Looker asks worridly helping the Subway boss sit up .

“Ugh...Maybe?” Emmet lets himself be pulled up by the other man blinking and rubbing his eyes a bit as function comes back to his arms he glances over at Celibi who seems to be watching curiously .

“What happened ? I remember Celibi showering me in their power?”

*You collapsed! Was near instant i honestly thought.....i thought you perished , it looked like you stopped breathing for a few mins and when i was gonna try bringing you back, your Mesprite friend stopped me *

Looker explains a frown on his face worried , said mythical pokémon floating over .

>Couldn’t risk you messing something up , the power of time is unpredictable < Sprit says looking Emmet over .

>How do you feel?<

Emmet hums and looks himself over , his clothes from what he can tell have small alterations it seems , silver buttons now gold , a more prominent brownish red stripes , strange runes? no roman numerals along his collar and sleeve , slightly darker blue tie and patch .

he picks his hat up blinking as the badge on it has turned into a clock? Emmet gently pokes it curiously .

“I feel quite sluggish and a bit confused i wasn’t aware i get a slight uniform change with such powers granted to me , speaking of my head is killing me, what’s with this clock? what are roman numerals ? how do i even KNOW of them? how long was i out for for? wait it’s been 30 mins yes? how do i know this?”

Emmet rambles on becoming more confused and frustrated, a tad nervous aswell, soon he has two hands landing on his shoulders ,Agent Looker looking at him quieting him.

*Woah woah hey calm down Emmet, slow down and breath , you need to stay calm ok? just breath*

The Subway Boss nods and does as told breathing in for 2 seconds then out in 4 seconds then out, his mind though keeps running a mile a minute with questions and information he never knew of before maybe this is one of the consequences he gets for not asking more questions.

Bi ! Celi-cel bi!

The humans look over at the now chatting Celibi who makes gestures and talks to them , Sprit the Mesprite hovering over to listen nodding then translates to the two humans.

> Apparently gaining the power to time travel has side effects including gaining knowledge of certain topics , Roman Numerals are an ancient number chart of sorts from extreme ancient times and your most likely getting a bunch of knowledge right now <

“Certainly explains the throbbing headache !” Emmet replies holding his head with a wince and strain smile.

“I do hope this passes soon yes ?”

*What other side effects ?* Looker asks keeping a comforting hand on the Subway bosses shoulder .

The two mythical pokémon covered for a bit Celibi explaining to the shiny Mesprite who hums listing .

>A number of things it will mostly effect Emmet or anyone real close to him until he gets the hang of his powers or it settles down and fully merged with his body<

Goodie” Emmet drawls quietly thankfully the headache is subsiding by now just a bit.

Agent Looker sighs standing up hand to chin thinking a frown on his face a million thoughts going through his mind , oh lord the pros and cons , goods and bad of things or possibilities that could happen!

-If this information ever escapes to the public who knows what will happen! The amount of people who personally seek out legendaries and mythical help ! Who else will be granted powers!? What if the evil teams hear of this ?! Team Rocket,Team Galatia’s, Team Plasma, Team Flare!!?!?!! etc etc!-

glances to the new Timetraveler ? TimeLord? Being ? to Emmet , the man who was stupid enough to go so far for his goal, a goal to save his brother no find his brother , prove his alive and being him home -

Looker sighs *You do realise i can’t let you out of my sight now yes?*

Emmet looks over at the Agent and grins “As long as you don’t try to stop me Mr.Looker i have a free seat in my cart for another passenger !”

he stands slowly placing his hat on his head and dusts himself off humming .

“Thank you Celibi! you have helped me with my second step in finding my brother ! If i may ask how do i control my new abilities ?”

Cel, bi celi!

>They say your gonna have to stay here a few days for the basic of lessons on time travel before you can continue our journey < Sprit translates

Emmets eyes twitches “I suppose that makes sense, veeery well! shall we begin?” he smiles and Celibi nods clapping

Looker crosses his arms with a sigh *What did i get myself into?*

(To be continued )

[howlingday]

tragic backstory (tm) au) team rwby and team npr cause chaos in vale. turns out that with fewer classes for second years and the fact that all of them are more than willing to take on entire criminal organizations means that they need someone who's normal to keep them out of trouble.

of course jaune hears about all this later from neo who's having the time of her life watching the assholes she sicked the teams on get beat over and over again (she even recorded it in 4k and had a team of professionals make it look as good as possible) all in all she has to say she has great taste and was 100% in the right to decide to form a harem will all of them by getting them all attracted to jaune. does she like all of them? well red's alright and miss perfect and her fun team member are hot. not to mention blondie is defiantly gonna be fun to rile up. still the important thing isn't that she likes any of them. the important thing is that they're all hers!

(since neo is supposed to be like Tinkerbell I figured it would be fun to bring that up. neo is easily bored but extremely dangerous as well as mischievous. also anything she wants is automatically hers. the only exception to this is jaune and roman because they make her feel those weird things that slightly shift the universe to make her not the total center of it. what are those called? emotions? tldr: neo is a geedy fairy and rwby and friends are fun to rile up also they need jaune to keep them out of trouble which is bad considering what he gets up to)

Thirty Flavors of Chaos Plus One

In the world of Remnant, there are three types of people. Those who would do harm to his fellow man. Those who are harmed by their fellow man. And those who defend and avenge those harmed. But what if those who are to defend from harmed, in their actions, harm those they intend to defend? The consequences would be quite severe, no?

Goodwitch: That is the third time this month, Mister Arc.

Jaune: (Deadpan) Yes, Professor Goodwitch-

Goodwitch: Three times your team has joined Team RWBY in their crusade to "fight crime," and in doing so create collateral damage that our institution is forced to pay coverage for!

Jaune: (Deadpan) Yes, Professor Goodwitch-

Goodwitch: I have better things to do with my weekends than repair public property with my semblance!

Jaune: (Deadpan) Yes, Professor Goodwitch-

Cinder: Oh, such as writing fan fictions about your colleagues?

Goodwitch: YOU LISTEN HERE, YOU IMPUDENT-

Ozpin: What Professor Goodwitch is trying to say, Mister Arc, as that this behavior is unacceptable, even on the first offense.

Jaune: (Deadpan) Yes, Professor Goodwitch. (Blinks, Sheepishly grins) Er, I mean, Professor Ozpin.

Ozpin: (Sighs) You've heard it all before, which explains your response to these scoldings. I'm afraid drastic measures must be taken, Mister Arc.

Jaune: To be fair, sir, I told my team to keep Team RWBY out of trouble-

Ozpin: Which then devolves to "keep Nora from biting someone," I'm aware. But I'm left with no choice, Mister Arc. My hand has been forced on this. (Pulls up Team RWBY and NPR profiles)

Jaune: W-What are you doing?!

Ozpin: What I must. As of today, Team RWBY and JNPR, with the exception of Jaune Arc, (Red Xs cover all their faces) are expelled from Beacon Academy.

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

Neo was having a good day. It had started as a great morning, following another wonderful week in a fantastic month. Everything was in place for her pet project for her future pet. Neo had a plan, and the first step of that plan was to get everyone together in blissful harmony, and nothing brings true solidarity like mutual animosity.

She would sneak into a rival gang's turf, disguised as one of the girls (usually Ruby) and cause general mayhem. Said mayhem included, but was not limited to, loitering, theft, assault, battery, indecent exposure (but only just her panties to other crime girls), and disrespectful gestures to other crime bosses. So far, she's pissed off two street gangs and was on her way to her third one.

She peeked around the corner. Two burly men stood guard outside a fenced off gate. They wore golden chains around their necks to look tough, but Neo could see the flakes fall off as one of them scratched their neck underneath the ornament. They wore tank tops dirtied by oil or grease to look like spots. Aside from that, neither of them looked too interesting, or tough.

Neo ran through her approach in her mind. First, she would disguise herself as someone. Red was getting too boring, so she decided on her partner this time. She would approach, disarm the men, then break in and cause as much destruction inside as she could. She might even pretend to ballet. She and the Ice Queen had the legs for it.

With a sigh of content, she changed and rounded the corner, running into a thick wall of muscle. Her semblance broke before it could finish, returning her to her true self. She looked up with a glare at the burly man she didn't see leaving. Was she that deep in thought?

"Excuse me." He rumbled softly as he passed. He stopped and turned around, opening his wallet. He pulled out twenty Lien. "Here. Buy yourself a triple scoop."

Neo was ecstatic, she snatched the Lien from him. He turned away, mumbling something about children. With a blink, Neo realized what happened. He gave her money because he thought she was a little girl!

With a silent growl, she stomped her foot, then pocketed the money. She resumed her disguise and stomped to the gate. Before the guard could say anything, she swung her foot to right between his legs. He fell with a whimper, and Neo leapt onto her new prey. She was angry, and she needed to vent.

It was considered healthy. At least, that's what she told herself as she kicked down the gate, disguised as Weiss Schnee and unloading the guard's pistol into everything in her sight. And you know what, she was feeling better already.

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

Ruby: (Knock at the door) Just a sec! (Opens the door) Hey, Jaune! What's up?

Jaune: Hey.

Ruby: Is... everything okay?

Jaune: We... We need to talk. All of us.

Ruby: Oh...

Later, in JNPR's dorm

Yang: What's up, Jaune? Rubes said this was something serious.

Jaune: It is. It's about what you've been doing this past month.

Weiss: In regards to...?

Jaune: The vigilantism. The crime fighting. The destruction of public property! The attacks in the middle of the street!

Ruby: We were just protecting ourselves.

Jaune: The police reports are saying you guys are starting these fights.

Nora: That's not true! I would never start a fight! (Every deadpans at her) Okay, I wouldn't start a fight without a good reason.

Jaune: The point is that Beacon is getting tired of it. They said that you were all on thin ice two weeks ago.

Yang: Not so thin if we're still getting away with it, right?

Jaune: Wrong, because Ozpin said that, in order to prevent further issues, (Deep breath) he decided to expel you guys from Beacon.

Yang: WHAT?!

Weiss: Unacceptable!

Ruby: He can't do that! We were protecting ourselves! It's not our fault the criminals keep trying to kill us!

Jaune: Ozpin said that if that were true, then the criminals wouldn't attack anyways, if the police reports are true.

Nora: Kind of weird for Professor Ozpin to send you to expel team RWBY. Oops! Sorry, I meant RWBYE. No offense, Emerald!

Emerald: None taken. (Thinking) Considering I'm not going to be expelled.

Jaune: He didn't send me just for them, Nora. We're just as guilty, since you guys have helped them out, too. He said you, Ren, and Pyrrha are being expelled, too.

Nora: (Falls to her knees) NOOOOOOOOOO!

Pyrrha: I... I see. If that's the Headmaster's decision-

Ren: Wait. You said myself, Pyrrha, and Nora. What about you and Mercury?

Jaune: Along with Emerald, Ozpin planned to make us a three man team.

Ruby: Well, at least Emerald gets a chance to be a Huntress still.

Ren: So this is how it ends? We try to do good, and we're being punished for it? I can't say I agree with this mindset.

Yang: Well, I can! (Stands up) I'm going to tell Assmaster Oz what I think of his decision!

Jaune: Wait, Yang-!

Yang: No! To hell with all of it! If I'm being expelled, I'm going out in a blaze of glory! Who's with me?!

Nora: I am!

Ruby: Yeah!

Yang: Hell yeah! Let's go! (Storms out with Ruby and Nora)

Mercury: So... You wanna tell them what the real plan is, or...?

Blake: Real plan?

Jaune: I guess Cinder already told you, huh? Alright, here's what happened in the Headmaster's office.

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

Vas: Hey, Shishi?

Shishi: (Via scroll) Yes?

Vas: I found one of those guys you asked us to keep an eye on.

Shishi: Yeah, which one?

Vas: The Schnee girl, Lieutenant Stick-in-his-rear's favorite.

Shishi: Oh, you mean Weiss Schnee? What about her?

Vas: She's crazy, boss! I just watched her blow up a gang's hideout with just a pistol!

Shishi: Interesting. Follow her, but don't let her know.

Vas: Sure thing, Shi- Whoa!

Shishi: Hm? What happened?

Vas: She just got shorter! And hotter, too.

Shishi: I wasn't aware she had a transformation semblance. What does she look like?

Vas: Hot. Like, really hot. Long legs on a short body, brown and pink hair like a-

Shishi: Neo Politan...

Vas: Yeah! I wouldn't mind having her on a hot, summer day. (Lecherous chuckle)

Shishi: Change of plans. Keep your distsnce. I know that girl, and she's not someone you mess with. Understand?

Vas: Uh, yeah, got it, boss. (Shishi hangs up) Not some to mess with? With a body like that, I wouldn't mind a mess.

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

Ozpin: Ah, Mister Arc! So glad of you to join us!

Nora: And another thing; why are your glasses so small and why do you have so much coffee? Save some for the rest of us!

Yang: Nora, you already said that.

Ozpin: I take it you told them the good news?

Yang: Good news?!

Nora: You think us being expelled is good news?! That's it! I'm gonna smash this office to pieces, and then I'm-

Jaune: Nora, enough! (Places a hand on her shoulder) Nora, he's not expelling you.

Nora: But you said-

Jaune: I said the Headmaster decided to to expel you, but I managed to work something out with him. You guys will still be attending Beacon, but...

Ruby: But what?

Jaune: Teams RWBEY and JMNPR will be combining into one team. We'll all be in one dorm room with ten beds.

Ozpin: (Nods) Under one leader. The only one of this group with no record of criminal history.

Ruby: Wait, you mean-?

Jaune: Yeah, I'm, uh, your new team leader.

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

Grounded

Prompt: I know you don't let Patton, so I understand if you no want, but can we get some hurt/comfort pat? Maybe with janus or remus?? - anon

Read on Ao3

Warnings: character bleed, lite flavors of dissociation

Pairings: intrumoceit (sanders sides fandom why do we have the weirdest goddamn ship names I'm dying here) can be platonic or romantic you decide

Word Count: 2087

As anyone who spends too much of their time reading things about characters receiving the things they want is wont to do, Patton spends a little too long reading something he maybe shouldn't have and now has to deal with the consequences of having many emotions that aren't actually his and, well, dealing with it. 

Luckily, he's got some help.

He made a dumb choice. 

It wasn’t like he meant to do it, and he didn’t mean for it to get this bad either, but he—okay, maybe he’s just bad at realizing when he doesn’t actually need to feel the feelings and he can just—just—

Patton stares at the ceiling tiles. Have there always been little scratch marks on that one? They look like they’re from a cat. 

He wants a cat. 

You’re allergic, he hears Logan’s voice drifting in from ages away, it wouldn’t work out. 

But Patton wants something to cuddle now and he can’t find anything because he can’t get up because of stupid feelings. 

His phone still lies next to him, the screen just flickering to black as he glances over. He blinks once, twice. Who knew people were so good at making him feel things?

Okay, he did read the tags, but like…that’ll only get you so far. And it’s not the author’s fault, they did tag it, and he’s—he’s fine. He’s fine. This will go away. It’s just a bad time right now. It’ll be fine. 

It’ll be fine. 

“Ho, ho,” and that’s Remus, isn’t it, “who’s having a not-fun time right now?”

He can hear the record scratch as Remus’s gaze lands on him and barely has time to blink before a concerned face is leaning over him. Remus reaches down and lightly smacks his cheek. 

“Pat-Pat?”

“Hi, Remus.”

Remus’s face softens, sitting on the edge of the couch. “I heard a bad thing, are you okay? Wait, no, stupid question.”

“’S not stupid.”

Remus frowns and runs a hand through Patton’s hair. The soft touch makes him want to close his eyes. Why is he so heavy?

“Patton. Patton.”

Oh, Remus is calling him. 

“Hey,” Remus murmurs as he opens his eyes again, “what’s going on? You look…floaty.”

‘Floaty’ is a good way to describe it. “I made a mistake.”

“Okay,” he says without missing a beat, “what’s going on?”

“I, uh, read something I don’t think I should have.”

“Like, it-suddenly-had-sex-in-it shouldn’t have or it’s-giving-me-character-bleed shouldn’t have?”

“The—the second one.”

Remus makes an ‘ah’ sound and ruffles Patton’s hair again. “Roro does the same.”

“Of course he does.”

An affectionate roll of Remus’s eyes as he stands up. Something in Patton wants to reach out, ask him to stay, but he doesn’t have time before Remus’s arms are winding carefully under him. 

“What…?”

“You’re having a bad time,” Remus says softly, hefting Patton into his arms like he weighs nothing, “I’m gonna help.”

“Um…”

Remus pauses. “Is that okay?”

“…do I even weigh anything to you?”

“Nah. It’s like carrying a kitten.” Remus nuzzles into Patton’s hair. “A big floppy kitten.”

The image of Remus with a massive cat in his arms makes him giggle as Remus carries him up the stairs. He pushes the door to Patton’s room open with his shoulder and lays him down on the bed. 

“Now,” he says, sitting next to him, “do you need to ride this out or do you want me to try and get rid of it?”

Patton’s fingers clutch at Remus’s costume. “Getting rid of stuff is bad. Logan said so. We’re not supposed to try and force them out.”

He feels more than hears Remus’s breath catch in his throat and when he speaks next, his voice is wet. “Oh, Pat-Pat, you’re such a softy.”

“Mhm.”

“Alright, then. Riding it out it is.” The hand is back in his hair and his eyes drift shut. Remus is warm. How is Remus so warm? “I dunno, you gotta ask Roman. We both run super hot.”

“…is that why Janus is always hanging off of you in the winter?”

Remus chuckles. “Yeah, probably. I know he wants Roman as his space heater as well ‘cause sometimes I gotta do things that he doesn’t wanna be around for.”

“Has he asked?”

A sigh warms the top of his head, somewhere between fond exasperation and bittersweet resignation. “You know Roro. He’ll give up his own heart if someone else asks for it and not give a damn that he’s bleeding all over the floor except that he’ll have to clean it up.”

…that is true. 

“They’re getting there,” Remus murmurs, still ruffling Patton’s hair, “but it’s gonna take them a bit. Until then I don’t mind.”

The floatiness is beginning to subside but in its wake comes a terrible heaviness that immediately threatens tears in the corners of his eyes. Remus notices because of course he does and in a flash he’s cradling Patton’s head in his hands. 

“Hey, hey, Pat-Pat, what’s wrong? Shh, shh, you’re okay, am I hurting you?”

“’S so much,” he warbles, pawing clumsily at Remus, “’s—’s not mine but it’s so much an’—an’ I—“

“Cmon, let it out, kitten, it’s okay. I’m right here.” Remus must’ve changed because Patton’s face meets soft cotton as Remus scoops him to his chest. “Better out than in, Pat-Pat, it’s alright.”

The sobs come in waves, the heaviness sinking so deeply into his chest one moment, receding and leaving him grey and cold the next. He loses track of where he is, swept up in the waves of strange and impersonal emotions, clutching Remus’s shirt as a warm hand runs up and down his back. 

Remus stays with him, murmuring a litany of comforts, nuzzling the top of his head and pressing chaste kisses to his temple. His fingers idly trace patterns between Patton’s shoulder blades, rubbing firm circles when the sobs start to sound painful. 

“Hey,” he whispers when Patton finally goes limp, “it’s okay, you feeling a little more like you?”

Patton nods blearily. “Thanks for staying.”

“Of course, kitten.” Remus grins as Patton’s cheeks flush. “Too much?”

He shakes his head even as his ears burn brighter. Remus softens, another kiss against his forehead. 

“I’m not trying to tease, I promise.”

“I know.”

“You wanna try and get back on your feet a bit more? Or you wanna lie here?”

Now that he’s cried, his shirt sticks to his chest and arms, tacky with sweat. His glasses lie lopsided on his face, face all stiff and swollen. As warm as Remus is, parts of him are freezing and other parts feel like they’re about to combust. 

“…c-can I…clean up?”

“Yeah, kitten, you can.” Remus ruffles his hair. “You good to move on your own?”

…he can, but he doesn’t want to.

“Can I call Janny?”

Patton blinks. “Janus?”

“Yeah. He’s the best at, uh, this part.”

“…really?”

“Hey,” Remus chides, tugging playfully at his hair, “don’t knock it ‘till you try it, okay?”

“No, no, I didn’t mean it like that, I just—“

“Shh, shh, kitten, it’s okay. I was teasing.”

“I’ve never had—“

“Patton,” Remus sighs, “calm down. Shh, shh, come here, yes, that’s it, I’m right here, it’s okay. I’m not mad, Janus won’t be mad, you didn’t do anything wrong. That’s it…shh, shh…oh, kitten…”

Patton sniffles. “Sorry.”

“No, I should’ve known better. You’re really fragile right now.”

“‘M not.”

Remus just raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, you are,” and there’s no condemnation in his voice, “and that’s okay.”

“…maybe.”

Remus smiles, leaning down and resting their foreheads together. Patton can’t feel anything other than the weight of the hand on his shoulder and the mattress under him, but he knows Remus is there. 

“Can I call Janny,” Remus asks again after a moment, “can he help?”

Patton’s fingers find their way shyly around Remus’s wrist and he nods. 

A few moments later, there’s a telltale rustle of fabric as the door opens. 

“Well, this is certainly an expected surprise,” drawls a familiar voice, “and I’m not at all upset that you’ve disrupted my schedule.”

Oh. Was he in the middle of something? Did—did they mess up his schedule? 

He doesn’t get to stay in that train of self-doubt for long, though, because two seconds later, Janus glances over and sees him weakly clutching Remus and he barely has time to blink before there’s another concerned face hovering over him. 

“Sweetie,” Janus murmurs, expression open and soft, “can you hear me?”

Patton nods dumbly. Janus smiles. 

“Good. Can I ask Remus to catch me up?”

Another nod. 

“Character bleed,” Remus says softly, “too many emotions that aren’t his.”

Janus makes a quiet noise of understanding and stands up. “Have you gotten any food or water in him?”

“Not yet.”

A cool glass is pressed into his hand. “Drink, sweetie. Don’t want you getting dehydrated.”

Patton sips at the water as Janus bustles about the room. Remus reminds him to go slow, carefully taking the empty glass and setting it on the table. He keeps one hand under Patton’s head, playing absentmindedly with the hair at the nape of his neck. 

“All done?” Janus holds out his hands. “How about a rinse-off? It might make you feel better.”

“But standing.”

Janus chuckles. “You do know you can sit and lie down in the shower, right?” When Patton just blinks at him, wide-eyed, he rolls his eyes fondly and leans down to scoop him up. “Come on, sweetie.”

“Eep!”

“Hey, easy,” Remus barks as Janus starts to carry him to the bathroom, “be gentle, Janny.”

“I will never be anything but.”

“Now that is a lie.”

“I won’t,” Janus whispers just for Patton to hear, “I won’t hurt you.”

Patton just nuzzles into his collar. Janus smiles, setting him on the edge of the counter and sliding his glasses from his nose. 

“Are you alright from here?”

“Mhm.”

Janus narrows his eyes. “Are you saying that because you think it’s what I want to hear or it is true?”

When Patton hesitates, he steps closer. 

“I’m not mad, sweetie.”

“…I don’t know.”

“I’ll get the shower going. And—“ he slides two fingers under the hoodie sleeves and undoes the knot— “you can do the rest?”

“Okay.”

True to his word, Janus leaves the bathroom once the shower is warm, leaving Patton to get in. He can’t feel the warmth of it, not really, not over the pressure of the water pounding over his head and shoulders. Slowly, he eases himself down, letting the water run over his front. 

Oh. 

Oh. 

…well, now he really doesn’t want to stand up. 

There’s a quiet knock at the door an undetermined amount of time later, rousing him from a daze as he fumbles to shut the water off. He looks up blearily as he tugs the towel down to dry off, dressing in the big t-shirt and shorts he keeps in here. 

“Patton? Are you alright?”

“Mhm. Coming.”

“No rush, sweetie.”

Oh. They made his bed. Janus holds his arms out, smiling as Patton stumbles across the room. 

“Your hair is all wet,” he says, but it isn’t scolding, only slightly bemused as he catches him. 

“Here, kitten,” Remus’s voice says before there’s a towel over his head. 

Distantly, he can hear the two of them having a conversation. 

“’Kitten?’”

“Tell me he doesn’t look like a stray kitten when he’s all sad and weepy.”

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with your ability you share with Roman, would it?”

“Shut up.”

“Just because he can summon puppies—“

“Janny, shut up.”

Janus chuckles as Patton’s face reemerges from the towel. “Hello, sweetie. Is that better?”

“Mhm.” He blinks slowly. “‘M tired.”

“I bet.” A hand slips under his arm and guides him to bed. “Have a nap, sweetie. You’ll feel better.”

“W-will—will you stay?”

Remus is already sitting on the edge of the bed with Patton’s head practically in his lap, hand carding through his hair before Patton has a chance to finish his sentence. Janus just smiles and reaches out to pat his chest. 

“Go on, sweetie,” he whispers, “we’ll stay.”

“‘M I warm enough to be a space heater?”

Janus’s eyes widen. “You—you told him?”

Of course, Remus just cackles. 

“Remus!”

“He asked, Janny, I’m not you, I don’t lie all the time.”

There’s enough softness in their voices to tell Patton they’re not actually fighting and he falls asleep with his heart full of his affection for them to the sounds of bickering. 

“Okay, but have you seen what he looks like when he’s cold?”

“That is not the point.”

“So it is the point.”

“Remus!”

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[sleepless-in-starbucks]

I Want Us Both to Eat Well

Ao3

Summary: Remy might not be great with self-care, but they've got the 'taking care of Logan' thing down to a science. And Logan can work with that. Content: Overworking, mentions of poor eating/sleeping habits, caretaking, it’s pretty soft overall, nonbinary remy Pairing: Losleep

~

Despite what some may think, Logan didn’t have the most demanding of jobs within the mindscape. He wouldn’t call his work a walk in the park, of course, but when he was largely tasked with matters such as scheduling and memory allocation, versus such things as emotional processing or idea creation, Logan had no plans on complaining.

And Logan’s most complicated job? Even less complaints to be figuratively filled, given it was his favorite.

See, for a good while now, Logan had been dating Remy, a figment of the Imagination created by Roman for a one-time vine gag that somehow managed to get enough permanence for themself to function as their own being. For a bit, they had simply wandered about, teasingly flirting with not only the sides but Thomas himself. Something about Logan must have held their attention however, because soon enough he was the only side being ‘bothered’.

It didn’t take long for the feelings of ‘botherment’ to morph into amusement, which furthermore transformed into affection and soon even love. Remy had made a bad attempt at celestial flirting, and despite the inaccuracies, Logan had greatly appreciated the sentiment.

Appreciated it enough to allow “I love you” to escape both his thoughts and mouth, an acknowledgement that had left the two of them in similar states of shock for a whole ten seconds before Remy was in Logan’s lap and doing their damndest to kiss him breathless.

Remy only became more cemented in the inner workings of Thomas’s mind after that, likely a consequence specifically of how much time they were spending in Logan’s room. They were still a figment, but they were rapidly gaining actual responsibilities, things they had to do or else Thomas would directly suffer. Most were connected to sleeping- making sure the sides were rested, bullying Thomas to bed when needed, lining up memories as appropriate to be saved and stored during REM- but some were simply random, the misc assignments settling onto the not-a-side.

Usually, Remy could manage it all without much issue. They would complain heavily, sure, bemoaning the days when they were a free-spirit with nothing to do, almost sounding like Roman when they spoke of the cruelty of fate that such was the price of love, but as long as Logan was there to hum sympathetically and play with their hair, they were good.

Occasionally however… it was too much. Too many late nights and sleepless mornings convincing others to rest, too many memories to pick between and sort, too many tasks all piling up. Remy would get overwhelmed and end up overworked if no one stopped them in time.

Luckily for Remy… they had Logan.

Figuring out that Remy had hit their breaking point wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, the first step of Logan’s ‘job’ therefore being the most difficult. Remy, for all their bellyaching, didn’t want to be perceived as a slacker or irresponsible with their job. With sunglasses, coffee, and their devil-may-care attitude, they could normally fake being alright for a day or two past actually being alright.

But the facade always cracked in the end, and as soon as it did, Logan was there.

So, the second step, taken once Logan recognized those cracks: eat a good and filling breakfast. This step was especially important, and made the list to remind Logan that a coffee and crofters-covered bagel wouldn’t be sufficient.

Next, Logan went about assigning Remy’s usual tasks to the other sides. To Virgil and Patton, enforcing Thomas’s bedtime. To Janus, memory dealings. To Roman and Remus, whichever various misc tasks Remy had at the time. And top it all off with a lecture to the lot of them to sleep well.

(Logan always expected some resistance on this step, and was always surprised to find none. “If you say they need a break, they need a break.” Virgil said one time with a shrug. “We want to help where we can.”)

Then there came the final step: convincing Remy to take a break. To most, this would be the hardest step. Even when all their work was attended to, Remy would insist they had things to do, that they couldn’t just take a break, especially not one as long as Logan would suggest.

Logan wasn’t ‘most’.

Before Logan entered his room (or, more accurately, his and Remy’s room, the figment not having a place outside of the Imagination and therefore opting to move into Logan’s), he double checked that everything was ready.

Breakfast? Eaten.

Time? Well past noon.

Work? Distributed.

Tie? Loosened.

Shirt? Untucked.

“Hotel? Trivago.” (vocabulary cards!)

Logan let himself into his (now shared) room. Remy was sprawled across his (now shared) bed, flipping through their own notecards- the form memories took when viewed within the logical side’s room. Their sunglasses were set aside on Logan’s (now shared) desk, making it easy for Logan to spot the dark bags beneath their eyes.

They glanced up when Logan entered, cocking an eyebrow as they took in his appearance. “You’ve looked better, babe.” Remy commented lightly, though Logan could hear the concern in their voice. “You here to crash? I can move.”

Logan didn’t answer right away, instead walking over to stand in front of Remy. Before his partner could guess what he was doing, Logan had grabbed the memory cards they were sorting, easily willing them away.

Remy’s eyebrow only raised higher. “Alright, yeah, someone needs to take a nap.”

“And that someone would be you.” Logan replied. “Or, more appropriately, someone needs to take several days to rest.”

Remy chuckled. “You sure about that, sweetheart? I wouldn’t think you’d want me falling behind on work, especially for Thomas’s sake.”

“Your work is being handled, Thomas will be fine.” Logan assured, taking a moment to tenderly tuck some of Remy’s hair behind their ear. Remy’s expression softened at the gesture. “I have taken care of everything for you, save one thing.”

“Oh?” Remy prompted, looking vaguely amused by Logan’s approach. “And what’s that one thing, doll?”

With a smile, Logan settled himself in Remy’s lap, arms wrapping lightly around the back of their neck. “Myself.”

Remy’s brow furrowed at the answer, their concern returning full force. “Log-”

“I have not eaten since breakfast,” he neglected to mention it was a large enough breakfast the lack of lunch hadn’t truly affected him, “I am stressed,” he ignored that the stress was Remy-based, “and my appearance is unkempt;” he pretended this was not a very conscious choice, “therefore, I should be resting, and yet, I am not.”

“You do seem tired…” Remy murmured, one of their hands moving to rest steadily on Logan’s hip while the other gently cupped his cheek. Logan appreciated the moment as long as he could, lazily leaning into Remy’s touch while the overworked figment searched his face for more signs of exhaustion.

Then they squinted at him. “Wait. This isn’t some ploy of yours, is it? ‘Cause no offense hun, but this feels a bit too easy. Normally you go running when I try to stop you from working on bad days.”

“I admit I am usually more… difficult about such matters, but I assure you, my love, this is no ploy. That would imply only I benefit from this situation. I think we both would.”

“Oh? How so?”

Logan’s fingers traced random patterns on Remy’s upper back. “You prefer to see me in good health and enjoy taking care of me. I prefer to see you in good health and know that letting you take care of me will subsequently lead to you being taken care of as well.” He kissed Remy’s forehead. “We both benefit, for the sake of not only ourselves, but each other as well.”

Remy sighed, their attempt at annoyance falling rather flat, in Logan’s opinion. “I can tell you’ve planned this out, babe.” Their hand on Logan’s cheek slipped into his hair, lightly scratching at Logan’s scalp.

The logical side involuntarily let out a content hum at the motion, briefly letting his eyes close as he pressed closer against Remy, their hand now supporting more of his head than Logan was. “Mhm, the plan of self-care? I think it’s a good plan.” Logan partially opened his eyes to catch Remy’s gaze. It was fond and sweet, Remy having clearly been swayed by tired Logan. “Do you think it’s a good plan?”

“Yeah.” Remy agreed softly, Logan grinning as he realized he had ‘won’ (really, they had both won, seeing how desperately Remy needed rest, but for the intents and purposes of this particular situation… Logan had won). “It was a great plan, angel.”

Logan allowed his head to be transferred onto Remy’s shoulder, happily nestling it into the crook of their neck. He could feel as Remy shifted their position, clearly going to lay Logan down on the bed. However, the bed alone would not be enough, Logan locking his arms behind Remy’s neck when they tried to let him go.

“Oh, come on, sugar, I can’t- I need both my hands- oh, alright, fine, if you’re gonna be like that, I’ll make it work.”

It took a couple minutes longer than it might have if Logan had allowed Remy to let go of him, but soon enough Logan was being deposited in a proper pile of blankets and pillows, all packed in together and arranged in the corner of the bed that lined up against the corner of the wall. He released Remy this time, comfortably sinking into the heap.

“I’m happy you’ve deemed this arrangement of your bed more acceptable than the one you yourself made, sweetheart.” Remy teased even as they worked on tucking the pile closer around him. “I’m going to grab lunch now, alright? Don’t go anywhere.”

It was an unnecessary request, given that Logan’s master plan of self-care wouldn’t benefit from him making Remy hunt him down, but the familiarity of it made Logan snort. The blanket-pillow lump had a one hundred percent success-rate with dissuading Logan from escape, no matter the circumstance, but Remy’s consistency in reminding Logan to stay put was endearing every time.

Remy returned within a few minutes, carrying a plate filled with ham and cheese cubes and some bunches of purple grapes. They placed it on part of the bed not overtaken by the plush pile before carefully climbing over it, cautious to not make a mess as they joined Logan. They slid into place behind him with practiced ease, shifting Logan to be more in their lap and against their chest before tucking the blankets back in around them both.

Logan leaned back against Remy as they settled, resting his head at a tilted angle so that he could keep his eyes on Remy. Noticing this, Remy smiled softly, pressing a kiss to Logan’s forehead.

“Alright babe who hasn’t eaten since breakfast, time to eat.” Remy said, tugging the plate closer to them before picking up one of the cubes and offering it to Logan. He let Remy pop it in his mouth, swallowing it while Remy grabbed another morsel of food. The motions were easy and repetitive, and soon enough nearly half the plate was gone.

Breaking the skin on a grape, Logan caught Remy’s wrist as they went to offer him a ham cube. Remy raised an eyebrow. “Darlin’?”

“You need to eat too.” Logan explained, nudging Remy’s hand towards their own face. “I know how you get when you’re busy.”

“Well now you’re not even being subtle.” Remy teased even as they accepted their redirected ham cube. Alternating between themself and Logan, Remy returned to their work of emptying the plate, quickly finishing off what remained of it.

When there was nothing left on the dish, Remy gracelessly pushed it off the bed, Logan well aware they’d pick it up later but still rolling his eyes at the laziness in the gesture.

“Shh, I can hear you thinking, love.” Remy trailed a few kisses down the side of Logan’s face, their arms wrapping snugly around his waist. “It’s my mess, I’ll clean it up later. Don’t worry about it.”

“You could take care of it now though.” Logan argued weakly, already once-more melting into Remy’s hold.

Remy chuckled, peppering more kisses across his chin. “Then I’d have to let go of you, my lovely Lo, and I don’t think that’s happening anytime soon.”

“Mmm, fair point.”

“Plus,” Remy went on as they began to slide into a more horizontal position, laying Logan down with them and briefly releasing his waist so as to move his glasses from his face to the bedside table, “it’s naptime. Someone needs their rest.”

“You.”

“Which one of us is taking care of the other again? You’re the tired one.”

Logan laughed quietly at Remy’s rebuttal, rolling over and nuzzling his face into Remy’s neck. He wasn’t sure when the lights in the room had turned off, but he was fairly certain it had been Remy’s doing. “Fine. I am very tired. So tired I have completely forgotten what to do now. Remind me how to sleep.”

“Dramatic-ass.” Remy’s tone was too soft to match their words. They pressed their cheek against Logan’s hair, their breath as they spoke close enough for Logan to feel its warmth. “You’ve just gotta close your eyes and stop thinking about anything that isn’t your wonderful partner and their wonderful fluffy pile of comfort and relaxation.”

“Sounds easy enough.” Logan dropped a kiss on Remy’s collarbone. “I could do this for days and days and-”

“Shhhh, starlight. Rest.” Remy slowly ran a hand up-and-down Logan’s back, successfully distracting him from his poorly-veiled (but loving) jab at Remy. “Bully me later.”

Logan didn’t respond verbally, opting instead to hum in contentment and snuggle up closer to Remy. There was no way they’d be able to slip out of bed without Logan noticing- not that they’d try, not now, but Logan appreciated the assurance of proximity. Despite not truly being tired, Remy’s warmth and Logan’s relief at knowing they would finally be resting themself were enough to make his eyelids heavy, the idea of sleeping peacefully with his partner too tempting to pass up.

So, yes, Logan did have some difficult duties to attend to, the caretaking of Remy the most complicated of them all. But drifting off happily in Remy’s arms, Logan remained firm in his stance that it was his favorite duty.

[sleepy-achilles]

Jennifer's Body au-

Requested by @el-los-world

Rough draft ofc

Taker is Needy

Shawn is Jennifer. Because I'm allowed cheerleader Shawn.

Chip would probably be stone cold or goldust. I mean I og had goldust down as Colin but I was only at the start of the film tbf.

The rock band would be the Harts. Just because I know there's enough of them. And well Shawn and Bret aggressive flirting is dangerous for both parties.

Hunter or Kevin as roman. Just for shits and giggles.

And well you know the plot of Jennifer's body if your watching this. That all still happens. But I did read probably too much into the fact that Needy hunted the band down and came up with a sort of after story for this au.

Taker, now on the run for killing the harts and escaping prison is now trying to bring Shawn back.

That's when he meets Paul who offers to help as long as Taker does somethings for him.

Taker accepts as he just wants Shawn back.

And he gets Shawn back. The good old Shawn, just a demon you know.

And shawn remembers what Taker did to him, and taker expects him to be angry but Shawn just smirks at him, baring fangs, and says he's proud taker finally stood up to him.

Shawn hates Paul, but taker tells him to play nice as Paul helped brought him back. But unlike Taker, shawn already knows Paul. He remembers seeing Paul around the bar when the harts took him and the fire took baby brother kane.

Paul Hates Shawn because he knows Shawn knows. He also knows taker will always pick shawn over him.

Taker notices Shawn still needs to eat to stay his young beautiful self. Shawn is slightly jealous that taker doesn't need to eat but just has a taste for blood. He's also angry that taker just goes pale without blood for too long and doesn't begin to look how Shawn does.

And whilst taker doesn't like the idea of Shawn killing, they manage to make a deal. Especially when they discover taker can feed off shawn and not face any consequences. They take to killing bad people. Which shawn finds boring as he likes the thrill of hot people thinking they're gonna get some only to die.

I mentioned goldust earlier but I like the idea of him being apart of this part of their story somehow. Idk how.

This is messy. It's my first time watching the film and I'm trying to think if I was to make a second film what would I do. But make it hbtaker. Ofc.

[fangirlwriting-stories]

A Kind Of Understanding

Summary: Remus' decision to babysit a kid for a couple nights to earn some extra cash ends up getting him in over his head when the kid tells him something the parents didn't mention.

In all fairness, Roman had told him he was probably getting in over his head.  Remus was the idiot who didn’t believe him.

He just needed money.  If he was actually going to be able to afford all the spray paints he wanted for his new art project by the roller rink, he was going to need a lot more money than he had.  Curse him and his ambitious ideas.

Remus considered himself lucky when he quickly found a family willing to pay 60 bucks a night to watch their eight year old kid.  Roman took one look at the offer and said he was definitely going to be dealing with a brat.

“Why else would they pay so much?” he asked, giving the flyer a suspicious look.

“So?  I need, like, two hundred bucks to get the kind and amount of spray paint I need.  I’d only have to watch the bratty kid for four nights and I’d be good.  I can set her up in front of a movie she really likes, make her some mac and cheese for dinner, and it’ll be all good.”

“I think you’re underestimating kids, Re.  You have met Patton and Logan, right?”

Patton and Logan were Virgil’s little brothers, and Remus honestly wasn’t sure why he was bringing them up, because they were both absolute sweethearts.  Sure, Logan could sometimes get a chip on his shoulder about being too old for a babysitter, and Patton could be a bit of a crybaby sometimes, but otherwise Remus never minded when Virgil brought his friends along for a hangout.  Especially when Patton teased Roman about liking Virgil, and Remus got to watch him go bright red with embarrassment.

Well okay, granted, Logan had been much more insufferable when he was Patton’s age.  But Patton was still a sweetheart.

“I’m telling you, I’ve got this,” he said, waving Roman’s concerns off.  “It’s just one little girl, anyway.  How hard could it be?”

This was the attitude Remus took with him when going to the Ekans house the following night.  The parents sent him the address, and the mom was waiting outside.

“Hi, Mrs. Ekans,” Remus said, putting on his ‘I am talking to an adult that I respect’ voice.  “I’m Remus.”

“Yes, hello dear,” she said.  “I was so happy to get your call.  It can be rather hard to find a babysitter to deal with Janice, what with how she can get with all her silly fantasies.”

Remus tipped his head in confusion.  “Silly fantasies?”

“Oh, I’m sure she’ll tell you all about it.  You don’t need to indulge her, dear, we’ve told her many times that no one who watches her will be doing so.  But anyway, here’s ten dollars for a tip, we ordered a pizza, the delivery man should be here any minute, so you won’t have to worry about dinner.”

“Thanks,” Remus said, taking the money and putting it in his pocket to grab when the delivery person showed up.

The door opened behind the two of them and a man came out, adjusting a tie.  Behind him, a girl in a sparkly pink dress stood in the doorway, who could only be Janice.

“Oh, good,” the man said when he noticed Remus.  “Janice, your babysitter’s here, be good for him, okay?”  He turned to Remus.  “Bedtime is at 8, pizza’s on the way, otherwise you should be good to go.”

“Thanks,” Remus said again, heading past him and into the house.  They both waved at Janice as they left, who notably did not wave back.

As soon as the car drove off, Remus shut the door and turned to face Janice.  “Well, sweetheart—” he started.

“First of all,” Janice snapped, sounding so furious that it took Remus aback.  He had barely even said anything yet.  “I have rules.”

Remus raised an eyebrow.  “Isn’t that kind of my job?”

“No!” Janice screamed, stamping her foot.  “You are here for me, that means I’m the boss!  First of all, don’t ever call me sweetheart.  And I am going into my room to change into my real clothes, and you aren’t going to stop me!”

Remus’ brow furrowed.  “What’s wrong with the clothes you have on now?” he asked.

“Dresses are for girls,” Janice snapped, voice filled with way more vitriol than Remus expected.  “I’m a boy.  And you are not going to take away the only chance I get to wear my real clothes!”  And, like that decided that, he turned and stormed away towards the back of the house and where his room no doubt was.

Remus looked after the kid, blinking for a second as he tried to process everything that had just happened.  So that’s what Mrs. Ekans meant by silly fantasies.

Well, fuck, he was way out of his depth with shit like this.

The kid came out of the hallway a couple minutes later wearing a t-shirt and shorts.  And while the t-shirt was still bright pink, he at least looked a little more comfortable than he had in a dress.

“Okay, J— kid,” Remus said.  “So let me see if I’ve got this right.  You say you’re a boy?”

“Yes,” the kid snapped.  “And you don’t get to say otherwise, you got it?”

“Hey, understood,” Remus said, holding his hands up.  “Can I just ask a question?”

The kid narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.  “What?”

“Do you want me to still use the name your parents gave me, or do you want me to call you something else?”

The kid seemed to grow even more suspicious at that question.  “Mom didn’t tell you not to indulge my silly fantasies?”

“Doesn’t seem to me like there’s anything silly about it,” Remus said with a shrug.  “I was just wondering if you had a different name picked out.”

The kid’s eyes widened slightly, though not enough to stop looking suspicious.  “You can do that?”

“Of course you can,” Remus said, taking a couple steps forward and kneeling down in front of the kid.  “I have a friend named Virgil who changed his name.  He used to be called Jacob, but he hated that name.  He thought it was boring.”

“He was right,” the kid said instantly.  Remus laughed.

The kid seemed to think for a minute.  “I don’t know,” he said finally.  “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Do you want me to use the name your parents gave me, then?”

“No,” the kid snapped instantly, looking angry again.

“Okay.  Got it.  For now, I’ll just call you kid.  How’s that?”

The kid seemed to consider that for a minute, then nodded.  “Okay.”

Remus smiled.  “Okay.  So your parents said that a pizza delivery person should be here soon.  Do you want to watch a movie while we eat?”

“No,” the kid snapped.  “Movies are stupid.”

Remus blinked.  “Okay.  What do you want to do while we eat?”

“I want to sit in silence and do nothing!” the kid snapped.

Remus blinked again.  “Uh, I’m not so sure that would be very fun.”

“You’re not fun anyway!” the kid screamed.

Remus was honestly a little offended.  How dare this child say he wasn’t fun?  He could be super fun!  Before he could reply to correct this wildly false statement, the doorbell rang.

Remus stood up and headed over to the door, and opened it to see, as expected, the pizza delivery person.

“Thanks,” Remus said, taking the pizza and pulling out the ten dollar bill Mrs. Ekans had left him.  He handed it to the delivery person, who thanked him and headed back towards the car parked out front.  Remus shut the door and carried the pizza over to the table, and the kid came over after him and grabbed one of the plates that had been left out on the counter.

“Give me two pieces,” he said, holding the plate out to Remus.

“Let’s start with one,” Remus said, taking the plate.

“No!” the kid snapped.  “I want two!”

“Kid, I’m gonna start you with one,” Remus said, taking a piece of pizza and putting it on the plate.

“No!” the kid snapped again.  “I want two pieces!  I’m hungry, are you trying to tell me I shouldn’t eat until I’m full?  That can have harmful consequences!”

Remus took a deep breath.  “I am going to start you with one.  If you want another piece after you finish that one, I will happily give you one.”

“I want two right now!” the kid screamed, stamping his foot.

Remus squeezed his eyes shut.  “Nope,” he said, handing the kid the plate.

The kid narrowed his eyes, and Remus had a second to wonder if eight year olds still threw temper tantrums, when instead the kid shot Remus a glare that could kill and stomped into the other room and sat down on the couch.

Remus took a piece of pizza and put it on the plate.  This was about as bad as it was going to get, right?

…

“Kid, you need to go to bed,” Remus said, leaning against the door frame, looking at the kid who was sitting resolutely and reading through a book.

“Why should I?  Bedtime is a social construct.”

“Oh my god,” Remus groaned, looking up at the ceiling.  This had been a recurring theme for most of the night.  The kid’s father was apparently a philosophy nerd, and the kid listened in on a lot of his conversations about the subject with his wife, and had turned that into a belief that all of society was a construct and he could do whatever he wanted.  He was brilliant for an eight year old.  And it was as annoying as all fuck.

“Look,” Remus said.  “If you go to bed now, next time I come, I’ll bring you a surprise.”

“What kind of surprise?” the kid asked, narrowing his eyes.  “How could any surprise you give me be worth it?”

“Well, if you don’t go to bed now, you’ll never know,” Remus pointed out.

The kid seemed to know exactly what Remus was doing with that, but he also finally put the book aside and laid his head down on his pillow.  Remus flicked off the lights and shut the door, and finally let out a breath.

He made his way back out to the living room, put the remaining pizza in the fridge, and then collapsed on the couch.

“Children are exhausting,” he said to no one.

By the time the kid’s parents got back Remus was ready to go home and sleep for a week and a half.  But that was a feeling that faded as soon as Mr. Ekans walked through the door and opened his mouth.

“How was she?” he asked, putting the car keys on a hook by the wall.  “She didn’t give you too much trouble, did she?”

Remus had to fight to keep from grinding his teeth.  “Fine,” he said, keeping his voice as pleasant as he could.  “The flyer said I should come back Saturday next, right?”

“Yes,” Mrs. Ekans said, pulling out her wallet and thumbing out the sixty dollars in cash.  She handed it over, and Remus took it.  “I’m glad things went well.  Janice has been known to drive away a few sitters in the past.”

I can’t imagine why.

Remus got out of the house as quickly as he could.  He had some thinking to do, and he wasn’t going to do it in front of a couple of transphobic pieces of shit.

…

By the time Saturday arrived Remus had a battle plan.  Roman had been amused when Remus had described the first night as “frustrating,” but had been surprised when Remus had been determined to go back.  Remus left out most of the details that weren’t his to share, though he imagined Roman must have figured something was up when he spent most of the week researching boy names and hairstyles.

When he got to the Ekans house next time, the kid looked surprised to see him, and Remus couldn’t say he blamed him.  He tried to smile and nod whenever possible, as hopefully it would get the kid’s parents out the door faster.  The second they left Remus took off the backpack he’d brought and moved over to sit on the couch.  “Hey, kid, c’mere.”

“No.  Why?”

“I’ve got something for ya.  I promised you a surprise if you went to bed, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but I turned the lamp on again as soon as you left the room.”

Remus sighed.  “Of course you did.  Come here anyway.”

The kid looked curious, and given that it was one of the few times he hadn’t been glaring at him, Remus would take it as a good sign.

“So I did some research these past couple days,” Remus said, starting with the notebook.  “And I found some names you might like.”

“Wait, what?” the kid sat on the couch and took the notebook from him.  “What do you mean you looked at names for me?”

“Well, you said you didn’t know what you wanted your name to be.  I don’t really want to call you ‘kid’ forever.  If you don’t like any of these we can keep looking, though.”

The kid turned and stared at him.  “But I was mean to you.”

“You’re the kid I’m babysitting,” Remus said, smirking at him.  “I think I can take it.  Besides, what does that have to do with your name?”

“Why are you being nice to me if I was mean to you?”

“Being nice and basic human decency are two different things.  You can be the snottiest kid in the world, that doesn’t mean I’m going to start treating you like a girl.”

The kid’s eyes widened.  “Really?”

“Really.  You say you’re a boy, I believe you, and I’ll treat you as such, okay?”

To Remus’ surprise, the kid’s eyes welled up with tears.

“Oh shit, don’t cry.  Hang on—”

The kid threw himself at Remus’ and buried his head in his side.  Remus awkwardly patted him on the back and waited until the kid stopped crying, after which he pulled back and wiped at his eyes, still sniffling.  “Mommy always says I shouldn’t make people indulge me,” he whispered.

“I’m not indulging anything,” Remus said.  “This is what you said you want, and it should be respected.  If you change your mind later, that’s fine too.  But even if you do, I’m not going to treat you in any way that makes you miserable in the meantime.”

The kid sniffed again and wiped at his eyes.  He looked like he didn’t know what to say, which was fair.

After a moment, he picked up the notebook and started looking at the names, sometimes pointing at one he didn’t know and asking Remus to read it.  He stopped at one on page three.

“You just wrote Janice,” he said.  “I thought you said I didn’t have to use that name.”

“J-a-n-u-s is a masculine spelling,” Remus said.  “I just figured if you liked the way your name sounded but didn’t like that it was associated with being a girl, that was an option.”

The kid looked at it for a while longer.  “You could use this one around my parents,” he said.

“Technically, yes,” Remus said.

The kid turned and looked at him.  “Where does Janus come from?”

“It’s the name of a Roman god,” Remus said.  “He’s the god of doors, gates, and beginnings.  He has two faces.”

The kid started to grin.  “I could be named after a god?”

“If that’s what you want.”

He started nodding.  “I like that.  I like that a lot.  And it could be like lying to my parents.  They’re forcing me to lie to everyone else, but this way I get to lie to them.”

Remus started to smile too.  “Yeah?  You think that’s the one?”

“Definitely.  And besides, if I don’t like later it I can change it again, right?”

“Of course you can.”

Janus beamed at him.  “Yeah.  That’s the one.”

“Awesome,” Remus said, leaning over and ruffling his hair.  “Now, onto the second manner of business.”

“There’s more?”

“Yep.” Remus reached into his bag and pulled out a hairbrush and ponytail holders.  “So I’m not going to cut your hair without your parent’s permission or I’d get fired.  But I have a couple ways I can deal with your hair as it is right now if you want to.”

Janus nodded quickly, and turned around so Remus could get to his hair more easily,  “So we could put it up in a bun so it’s out of your face, or I could move the curls further behind your head so it looks more like a style than just you having longer curly hair.”

“What would a style look like?” Janus asked.

“Alright, give me a sec,” Remus said.  He grabbed the bobby pins he’d borrowed from his mother and used them to tuck Janus’ curls further behind his head.  He turned Janus around after a moment and brushed some of the curls across his forehead so they looked more like bangs.

“Alright,” he said, sitting back.  “Here, check that out.”  He pulled out the mirror he brought with him, and handed it to Janus.

His eyes widened as he looked in it.  “Woah.  You did this with my hair?”

“Mm-hmm,” Remus said.  “You like it?”

Janus grinned at him again and nodded.  Then his gaze turned curious.  “Why are you doing all this?”

“I already told you—”

“No, I mean… Mommy says boys and girls can’t change who they are.  She says I’m a girl no matter what I do.”

“Bah,” Remus said, waving the concept away.  “Gender is a social construct.”

Janus snorted.

“You laugh, but it’s true.  Have you ever heard the term ‘transgender’ before?”

Janus shook his head.

“It’s a term people can use to describe themselves when their gender doesn’t match the one they were born as.  Plenty of people describe themselves that way.  I’m friends with a couple on the internet.”

Janus looked fascinated, and almost painfully hopeful.  “Not just me?”

“Definitely not just you.”

Janus sat back, seeming to take a minute to process that.  “Can you show me?” he asked, looking back up at Remus.

And so they spent most of the day on Remus’ phone looking at transgender people and stories and definitions.  Remus made sure to steer clear of any discourse or transphobia.  Janus had enough to deal with already without having to learn about that on a broad scale yet.

By the time Janus’ parents texted Remus saying they were on their way back, they’d been there for hours.

“Okay,” Remus said, setting the phone aside.  “I should probably take your hair down now.”

Janus sighed, even though he seemed to have expected that.  “Okay,” he mumbled.

“We can put it back up next time I come, okay?” Remus said.

Janus nodded.  “Yeah, we fucking better.”

Remus coughed in surprise.  “Wha— where did you learn that word?”

Janus grinned at him.  “You’ll never fucking know.”

Remus laughed despite himself.  Okay, so maybe this kid wasn’t so terrible.

…

Things went smoother for the last two times Remus had signed up to babysit him.  Janus had so obviously needed some kind of positive role model, because the second Remus reassured him that he believed him and would treat him as a boy, Janus got loads easier to handle.  At the end of the third time Remus babysat for him, Janus looking at him very seriously and told him that he was clearly one of those rare smart adults.

“Well, technically I’m a teenager,” Remus admitted.

Janus nodded.  “Oh.  That explains it.”

Remus blinked at him.  Well, this kid was definitely going to turn into even more of a nightmare as he got older.

Roman seemed more than a little surprised that Remus hit it off with the kid so well, and when Remus eventually mentioned it to Virgil, he got the same result.  But Remus would just shrug and say something generic along the lines of “We just clicked, I guess.”

He found himself actually looking forward to the last time he was supposed to babysit, which unfortunately came with a realization that this would be the last time he babysat for Janus.  The time passed much too quickly, and Remus, at the end of the night, was not looking forward to leaving.

So for once, an interaction from Janus’ parents brought a positive consequence.

“You just make Janice so happy,” Mrs. Ekans said.  “And that’s not really something that happens with her very often.”

I can’t imagine why.

“I know this wasn’t supposed to be a long term thing, but if you would be willing to become her regular babysitter, we’ll pay you eighty a night instead of sixty.”

Well, Remus probably would have agreed even without the pay raise, especially after he noticed Janus watching hopefully from the hallway, but the extra twenty a night didn’t hurt either.  In the end, after what was basically the opposite of a long and hard decision, Remus agreed, and was now going to spend his Saturdays (and many week nights) watching a kid that he was quickly growing to care for.

Janus plopped himself down on the couch next to Remus a second after he showed up next time, with his lip wobbling and sniffling in a way that immediately made Remus nervous.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“Do you only like me because my parents pay you?” Janus asked.

“What?  Of course not, I love hanging out with you,” Remus said, relieved he was actually telling the truth.

Janus brightened immediately.  “Cool!  So if we’re actually friends does that mean you can take me out for ice cream?”

Remus blinked at him for a couple seconds, trying to figure out how in the hell he just got played by an eight year old.  Regardless, they ended up at an ice cream parlor that day.

There came times Virgil had to watch his little brothers too, and Virgil must have told them about Janus, because one day Virgil texted him asking if they could maybe set up a playdate with the little girl he babysat.  Remus winced, but said he’d bring it up next time he was there.

“Their names are Patton and Logan,” he said to Janus, who was looking up at him over the the drawing he was making.  He’d become insistent on drawing better than Remus ever since he’d shown him one of his pieces.  “They’re Virgil’s little brothers.  They want to meet you.”

Janus bit his lip.  “Do I have to pretend to be a girl around them?”

“Kid, that is entirely up to you,” Remus said.  “I haven’t told them yet because you haven’t given me permission.  I can tell you they won’t mind, if you’re worried about that.”

Janus gave that a moment of thought.  “Okay.  You can tell them I’m a boy.  If you’re really sure they won’t mind.”

“I’m sure.”

Janus nodded.  “Okay.  Can they not come here though?”

“I don’t think we picked a place to go yet.  But we could go to a park, or possibly Virgil's house.  We’d have to run it by everyone’s parents.”

“Ugh.  Well that’s not gonna work out then,” Janus said, turning back to his drawing.  “My parents never want me to do anything that makes me happy.”

Remus felt his heart crack at that.  He didn’t know how to explain to the kid the difference between his parents being transphobic and his parents never wanting him to be happy.  He supposed the end result was the same either way.  But Remus couldn’t imagine them having an issue with Janus meeting some other kids.  He was apparently pretty lonely.

“Give it a chance,” he said eventually.  “They could surprise you.”

Janus gave him a look of such doubt that Remus considered, not for the first time, murdering Janus’ parents and hiding their transphobic asses out in the shed.

Luckily, Remus was at least right in Janus’ parents wanting him to meet new kids.  And he was of course also right about none of his friends having a problem with Janus being trans, although they seemed sad for the kid when they learned what his parents were like.  Good.  Remus would have lost respect for them if they didn’t.

They ended up meeting over at Virgil’s house, which was good, because Remus had a sneaking suspicion Janus’ parents would not have approved of Patton, and his love for all things pink and/or sparkly.  They walked through the front door and saw Virgil and Roman sitting on the couch chatting as Logan was doing a puzzle nearby.  Patton was sitting next to him, coloring in a coloring book and wearing a bright pink sparkly dress similar to the one Remus had met Janus in.  Janus’ eyes got really big when he saw Patton, and he hid behind Remus’ leg.

“I thought you said Patton was a boy,” he whispered.

“He is,” Remus replied.  “Patton likes wearing pink sparkly dresses, but that doesn’t make him any less of a boy.”

Virgil glanced up and waved.  “Hey, Remus.  Guys, Remus and Janus are here.”

Patton and Logan both glanced up, and then Patton hopped up and ran across the room.  “Hi!” he said, sticking out his hand.  “I’m Patton!  Virgil says you’re eight just like me!”

Janus slowly stepped out from behind Remus’ leg and shook Patton’s hand.  “Hi,” he said.  “I’m Janus.  J-a-n-u-s.  It’s the boy spelling.  Because I’m a boy.”

Patton grinned at him.  “Yeah, Remus told us!  I think that’s really cool!  Do you want to come color with me?”

It was clear Janus didn’t know quite what to do with that, but he nodded anyway, and Patton took his hand and dragged him over to where he’d been coloring.  Remus noted Logan saying hi as he did so, and including a note about how he was ten and too old for a babysitter.  Remus walked over to sit on the couch next to Virgil and Roman.

“That went about like I’d expected,” he said, nodding at Patton.

Virgil snorted.  “Yeah, pretty much,” he agreed, leaning back and ending up partly against Roman.  Remus would have to tease him about how bright red his face got later.

Overall, the afternoon was a success.  Janus and Patton got along very well, and they made a deal that next time, Janus would bring a sparkly dress and trade it for some of Patton’s more boyish clothes.  Janus talked the whole drive home about how much he liked Patton.

“Even though he could be a little less bouncy,” Janus said.  “He’s kind of a lot.”

“I get that,” Remus said.  “Patton is a really excitable kid.  He’ll mellow out the longer you know him.”

Janus nodded.  “Good,” he said, and Remus laughed.

Just like Remus had expected, Janus’ parents were glad to see him happy from hanging out with other kids.  Which unfortunately also meant they likely had no idea what had actually been happening at the playdate.  It was definitely worth it, though.  Janus gave Remus a hug, a beaming smile, and said he would see him on Saturday, before running off to his room still smiling.

Remus texted Virgil that they would have to do so again sometime soon.

…

Remus arrived on time Saturday, but Mr. and Mrs. Ekans were already rushing out the door, barely having time to hand Remus money for dinner, and saying something about getting something to cheer Janus up before they ran out their car and drove off.

Remus blinked as he watched them drive off, before processing the fact that they’d said something about cheering Janus up.  He headed inside, looking around and hoping to find him.

“Janus?” he called, but no one responded.  He started looking around the living room and found no one, there wasn’t anyone in the kitchen, not even the cabinets, and Remus checked in all their usual hide and seek places, but didn’t find anything.

“Janus?” he called, sticking his head into his room.  There still wasn’t anyone obviously in there, but just as Remus was about to leave he heard sniffing that sounded like it was coming from under the bed.

He shut the door quietly behind him and pulled up the blankets, and there was Janus, curled into a ball.

“Kiddo?” he asked quietly.

“Adults are stupid,” Janus said.  “They don’t understand anything.”

“As a seventeen year old I wholeheartedly agree,” Remus said, trying to get a chuckle or a smile, but not succeeding.  “Are we talking about something specific?”

“They just don’t understand,” Janus said, tucking his head into his knees.  “No matter how many times I explain it to them they don’t get it.  I don’t want to be a girl, Remus.  I mean, am I just explaining it wrong?  If I explain it enough times they have to understand, right?”  He sniffed.  “I just have to explain it a few more times, right?”

“Oh, kiddo,” Remus murmured, reaching a hand under the bed.  Janus grabbed it and let Remus help him out before burying his head in his chest.

“I thought they were supposed to love me,” Janus whispered.  “Isn’t that what parents are supposed to do?”

“They do love you,” Remus tried to reassure, because he’d seen some proof of that.  He’d seen the way they smiled when they saw Janus happy.  They’d thanked him so many times, saying they were unsure of how he did it.

“No.  They love J-a-n-i-c-e.  They love the little girl they think they have.  But that’s not who I am.”  Janus looked up at him, tears pouring down his face.  “Remus, why do they hate who I am?”

Remus didn’t have any good reply to that.  He just gently pulled Janus back to his chest and rubbed his back.  He wasn’t surprised when that just made Janus cry harder, but he didn’t know what else to do.

Janus pulled back and looked up at him after a second.  “Remus?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you still like me if I was a girl?”

Remus had no idea what that question entailed.  He nodded.

“And you like me even though I’m not?”

“Of course I do.”

“What if—” Janus sniffed.  “What if I end up liking boys too or something?  That would be even harder to explain.”

“I like boys,” Remus said instantly.

Janus sniffed again.  “You do?”

Remus nodded.  “Kid, you know what my mom said when I asked her about this stuff?”

“What?”

“She said love should never be conditional.”

“What does conditional mean?”

“It means, Janus,” Remus said, shifting so Janus could sit more comfortably on his lap.  “That you could be trans, cis, gay, straight, a weird half snake man who wears a really stupid hat—”

Janus finally laughed a little at that.

“And if you ask me that question, the answer will always be ‘I love you,’ over and over.”

Janus blinked a couple times.  “You mean you like me?”

“Nope.  I mean I love you, kid.  No matter what.”

Janus’ eyes got big, and tears welled up in them again.  “Over and over?”

“Over and over,” Remus agreed.

Janus sniffed again, and leaned his head into Remus’ chest again.  Remus wrapped his arms around him.  “I am so sorry your parents can’t see what an amazing kid you are just as you are,” he murmured.

“Yeah,” Janus said.  “They just don’t understand.  They’re stupid adults.  Adults don’t understand anything.”

Remus held Janus tighter.  “Yeah,” he agreed.  “Adults don’t understand anything.”

…

Over the next couple months, Janus and Patton ended up trading half their wardrobe.  Janus often had a monster truck or dinosaur shirt on within ten minutes of Remus coming over, though he would admit to Remus that those weren’t really his favorite.  He said he liked the one with the cartoon snake on it.  Remus spent the day going over shirts with more realistic snakes on them that Janus liked.  In the end they purchased a couple that Remus said he would keep at his house for days that Janus came over there.

They also spent quite a few days at the park with Patton and Logan, sometimes with Virgil, sometimes with Virgil’s mom or dad.  They felt bad about Janus’ situation too, and Remus could tell they wished they could be doing more.  But Janus wasn’t being abused or neglected, and transphobic parents weren’t a legal reason that someone could be removed from a home.  Remus was really doing about all he could for him.  At least it seemed to be making Janus happier than he was.  Sometimes, Janus told Remus everything he would do once he was too old for his parents to stop him.  Fifteen, he said.  When he was fifteen he would get a haircut.  And Remus would come, right?

Remus would consider for a moment that he’d probably be in college at that point, but he couldn’t imagine leaving this kid to deal with his parents alone, no matter how old they both got, so the conversation always ended with Remus promising that he’d be there when Janus got his first real haircut at fifteen.

There were, of course, things to teach Janus about how to rebel against all of society, though the kid already had an excellent head start with all the philosophy he knew.  Remus took him spray painting one time, and Janus sprayed all of curse words he knew on the wall.  Remus couldn’t be prouder.  They’d shoplifted together a couple times too.  Remus made sure Janus understood that you couldn’t shoplift from a small business that would actually get hurt by it.  Only big chains like Walmart.  And no stealing in a way that would hurt the employees.  Janus seemed to accept all of this easily.  “It’s about eating the rich,” he said, nodding firmly.  “Not hurting people who are already struggling.”

“You’ve got it,” Remus said with a proud smile.

But one of his favorite parts of being with Janus, after he spent one time at the park with Roman and Virgil, was how easily the kid picked up on how in love the two were.

“We have to do something about it,” Janus insisted.  “They’re wasting time!  They don’t have mean parents to worry about, why are they wasting time being scared?”

“I ask them that question all the damn time,” Remus said with a smirk.

“Okay,” Janus said, biting his lip as he started thinking.  “We’re gonna come up with a plan.”

“Oh, are we?  What are we doing?”

“I don’t know yet.  Come help me.”

They spent the rest of that afternoon coming up with their plan, and planned to enact it that Saturday.  They ended up at the ice cream parlor along with Patton and Logan, who were also in on the plan.  Janus was there with Roman and Remus, and Patton and Logan were there with Virgil.  The two in question were not aware that the other group was there.  So, after a couple minutes, Janus loudly remarked to Roman that Patton was there, and could they go say hi.

“You know,” Janus said before Roman could reply.  “I’m going to marry Patton one day.”

Roman smiled, his heart no doubt melting in the same way that Remus’ had when Janus had first told him this.  “Are you?” Roman asked, taking a bite of his ice cream.

Janus nodded.  “And he can wear a wedding dress, because he likes wearing dresses, and I can wear the tuxedo because I don’t like dresses, and you and Virgil can be the best men because it would be cool to have another married couple as the best men.”

Roman started coughing, and Remus patted him casually on the back as he struggled to stop turning bright red.  “What— Virgil and I aren’t married!” Roman exclaimed.

Janus gasped.  “What?  Why not?  When are you going to propose?”

“I— Janus, we’re not dating,” Roman said, turning more into a tomato by the second.

“What?” Janus said, sounding for all the life of him like he was heartbroken.  “You have to ask him out then!”

“Janus—”

“Roman, it could mess up Patton and I’s whole wedding!  You’re gonna mess up our wedding?”  His lip wobbled in a way Remus could tell was fake three months ago, but Roman was clearly not there yet.

“I— look, kiddo, I do like Virgil, but—”

“Then go on!  Time’s ticking, you have to get married before Patton and I do!” Janus called, jumping up and pulling Roman up out of his chair.  “Go on, go on, go on!”

Roman was left with not much of a choice at that point, and he headed over towards the booth across the parlor, where an equally red-faced Virgil had appeared to have been having a similar conversation.  Remus and Janus both followed him over.  There was no way they were missing this.

Virgil stood up quickly when Roman got there, and they both started stammering something that was barely coherent, but in the end, Roman managed to get out something about dinner on Friday, and Virgil managed to nod.

All of the kids, and Remus cause what the hell, started to cheer.

“Look at that, we finally got your heads out of your asses!” Remus called, slapping Roman on the back, who smacked him on the arm right back.

“You all planned this, didn’t you?” Virgil asked, looking too embarrassed to be angry, though Remus had no doubt that would come later.

“Maybe,” Remus said, sliding into the booth after Janus, who was now sitting next to Patton.

“We correctly deduced you would never do anything yourselves,” Logan said with a smile from Patton's other side.

“Janus and I are still getting married one day though,” Patton said, completely seriously.

“Yes,” Janus said, nodding along.  “And you two will be our best men.”

“Okay, slow down,” Roman said.  “That’s taking things a little fast.”

“I think they figured they’d make up for all the time you two wasted,” Remus said with a grin.

“I’m going to kill you later,” Roman said.

“No, please, think of my children,” Remus said.

“What children?”

“Me!” Janus exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.  Remus laughed and pulled him to his side, giving him a noogie.

As the conversation started to head back into a normal direction, Janus nudged Remus in the side.  Remus glanced over.

“Sorry I made the children joke,” Janus said quietly.

“Oh, don’t be sorry.  It’s true is what it is,” Remus said, ruffling his hair again.  “I have adopted you.  You can never get rid of me.”

Janus started smiling.  “Promise?”

“Promise,” Remus said.  “You know why?”

“‘Cause you love me over and over?”

“Because I love you over and over,” Remus said, giving Janus a quick side hug.  “You nailed it, my little man.”

“Little man,” Janus said quietly, though he was still smiling really big, and Remus smiled back.  “Little man.  Yeah.”

[lilfellasblog]

Tolerable

Summary: Virgil's been accepted by Thomas and the famILY, even after they found out his secret. But will this be too much for them to handle? Or: Virgil has endometriosis, thinks he has to hide it, and that works out as well for him as you think it will.

A/N: If you liked this, please reblog. It is the only way to help this fic reach a wider audience.

TW: Past bullying and harassment mentioned, endometriosis, menstruation, this is a sick!fic, painful cramps, unsympathetic dark sides.

Word Count: 2351

AO3 here!

Fic Masterlist here!

Virgil groaned and curled into himself. Not for the first time, he cursed the Mindscape’s sick sense of humor for not only making him the only trans Side, but also for giving him the period from hell. After researching his symptoms and checking in the Subconscious (he tried not to think about how he could see everything in there), he had discovered he had endometriosis. It certainly explained what he’d been experiencing. He didn’t even want to think about the number of tampons and pads he burned through. Alternating ibuprofen and acetaminophen could only take the edge off so much. The websites he visited suggested some, ahem, all-natural pain remedies, but Virgil was the opposite of in the mood when he was on his period. He felt tired and dizzy and light-headed and nauseous, and he always seemed to get migraines at the same time of his period because apparently God hated him personally.

He ground a fist into his lower abdomen during a particularly painful cramp that felt like his internal organs were ripping each other in half, and kept it there until the pain subsided somewhat. He wasn’t sure why, but pressing his knuckles into the spot where he felt the most pain seemed to help lessen the severity of that particular wave.

Virgil sighed, trying to figure out if he wanted to ask the others for help. He was exhausted, having dealt with this for a day already on his own. They’d all accepted him, including Thomas (thank fuck), but he didn’t know if they wanted to deal with everything that came with him being a trans guy. Yet, now that they knew, even though he’s dealt with this on his own before, being alone feels even harder.

What if they’re grossed out? They weren’t grossed out by me being trans, they seemed sad whenever I had even asked, but this is… yeah. I don’t know, I don’t want to push it. Just as he finished that thought, an excruciating pain ripped through him. He bit his knuckle and held his breath to keep from crying out.

“Virgil? You okay in there buddy? You missed breakfast, so I brought some up if you want any,” Patton offered through the door.

Virgil had to breathe through his nose to battle his nausea at the thought of breakfast food. “Thanks Pat. I’m good, just not feeling too well. I’ll be fine in a bit.” It’ll be manageable in a few days.

“Oh honey, I’m sorry to hear that! Is there anything I can do? Would soup help?”

Actually… “Yeah, I think I might be able to handle soup.”

“One bowl of soup, coming right up!”

“Thanks Pat.”

“Anytime!”

Despite his pain, Virgil smiled fondly. He’s too good for me. Before, if he’d shown any indication that he was on his period, the consequences would be more pain, some kind of humiliation, and a nightmare sequence courtesy of Remus that always lasted so long he’d bleed over.

Virgil rode out the waves of pain, unable to concentrate enough to follow Buzzfeed Unsolved, until Patton knocked on his door again.

“Virge? I have your soup,” Patton called quietly.

“Alri-” Virgil’s voice cut off as he was bowled over by a powerful tearing sensation that left him seeing stars.

“Virgil? You okay in there? Are you hurt?” Patton called, much more loudly this time.

Shitshitshit, I can’t let him see me, he’ll know I’m in pain and he’ll ask why and then I’ll have to tell him.

“I’m worried you’re hurt or unconscious, can you answer me?”

Virgil took a few deep breaths. “I’m here,” he croaked out.

“Oh honey, you sound like you’re in so much pain! Are you okay?!”

Since he wasn’t holding his breath, a pained keen left him against his will.

“I’m coming in.”

Fuck.

Virgil tried to uncurl his body, but he couldn’t find the willpower to counter the pain. As soon as Patton caught sight of him, he quickly set the bowl of soup (with crackers and cheese, Virgil noticed) on the nightstand and rushed over.

“It’s okay, I’m here. What’s wrong? You look and sound like you’re in so much pain!”

The worst of it passed, and Virgil managed to relax his body a bit. “I’m okay, I’m… kind of used to it.”

Patton’s expression darkened. “Did they hurt you again?” he asked, voice nearly a growl.

“No, nothing like that!” Virgil quickly promised. Patton sagged in relief.

“Thank goodness.” Patton frowned. “This has happened before? Do you have a stomach bug?”

Virgil thought about lying for a brief moment, but was too scared of accidentally summoning Janus to risk it. “No…”

He cursed when Patton’s puppy dog eyes came in full-force. “Is it something bad?”

Just as Virgil was about to hedge around the answer, he felt a telltale dampness. “Uh, nothing dangerous for us since we’re Sides, but I do need to go to the bathroom.”

Patton immediately scooted aside. “Okay! I’ll be here when you get back,” he reassured.

Shit. “Thanks.”

Virgil uncurled himself from his position on the bed, then carefully made his way to the bathroom. He cleaned himself up since he had bled over a bit, changed out his pad and tampon. Just as he was about to flush away the bloody water and toilet paper, there was urgent knocking at the door.

“Virgil, are you okay?!”

Virgil was a little annoyed, but knew to rein himself in. “Yeah Pat, I’m good, just about to wash my hands.”

“Sweetie, are you sure? There’s blood on the bed.”

OH FUCK.

“Um, I’ll be out a in a minute.”

Think think think think THINK!! Okay, what can I tell him? I could just fudge the truth a little bit, but that might be too close to a lie. I could just tell him I don’t want to tell him, but he’d be so sad that I don’t trust him and he deserves better than that. Shiiiiiiiiiiit.

Realizing he’d been staring into space, he dried his hands, then went out to face the music.

Patton was studying the comforter that had gotten stained, and looked up and smiled at Virgil as he emerged. “Hey Virge, I was just gonna wash this for you, is that okay?”

Virgil could feel another wave coming on. “Yeah, but you don’t have to.” Let me lie down so I don’t double over in front of you.

Patton waved him off. “Nonsense, you’re sick and I wanna help!”

SHIT. “Okay, I can help get it off.”

“Sure!”

Virgil frantically tugged at the comforter, while Patton calmly gathered it up in his arms. As soon as the comforter was off the bed, Virgil laid down and curled up, hopefully in a way that made it look like he was just lying down.

“Virgil, can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer!”

Virgil assessed Patton. Patton was looking nervous himself, biting his lip and eyes averting themselves.

“Yeah, go ahead.”

Patton took a deep breath. “Well, I know you’re in a lot of pain, you’re not feeling well, you said it’s happened before, and there’s blood that you don’t seem too worried about.” He fidgeted uncomfortably, trying to figure out how to ask. “Is there anything I can do to help with… this?”

Virgil sighed. Of course he’d figure it out. “Honestly, the soup is more than what I usually get-”

“What?!” Patton cried.

Oops.

“Um, usually I just kinda deal with it on my own?”

Virgil kicked himself for the devastated look on Patton’s face. “Oh Virge…”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind dealing with it by myself!”

“I know, but you shouldn’t have to! And you don’t have to anymore!” Patton declared. “You’re in so much pain, is that normal? Is there anything we can do to help?”

“Normal for me, yeah, and I don’t think so.”

“Normal for you? Why just you, are you in more pain than other people who get periods?”

Way to put it on the nose Patton. “I-”

“What’s this regarding?” Logan asked as he walked in.

Patton didn’t close the door, shit!! “Nothing!”

“Patton seemed to be implying that you’re in a great deal of pain-”

“WHO DARES HARM YOU?!” Roman thundered, sword already drawn.

GODAMMIT. “NO ONE. Okay, Jesus Christ. Look, I’m fine, I’ve just got the period from hell. I’m sorry you guys found out, I didn’t mean to, I’m fine dealing with this on my own, I know it’s weird and-” Virgil cut himself off at the sorrowful looks he was getting. He sighed. These guys aren’t the Dark Sides, they probably don’t think it’s weird and gross and something I’m doing to them on purpose. “Sorry. Just, I have this thing that makes this harder, I can’t think of the name because I can’t think during this, and I’m fine. I’m just miserable for a week and then it’s manageable. This is better treatment than I usually get, and now I can at least get food. Just ignore me.” Virgil cursed God as another devastating cramp chose that specific moment to be an asshole. He held his breath, but couldn’t stop from curling in on himself. Concerned Patton noises could be heard, and Logan was trying to encourage Virgil to breathe. Roman just stood there, feeling helpless.

Once it passed, Virgil unclenched and took a few breaths. “Sorry,” he panted.

“Please do not apologize. Average menstrual cramps-” Virgil winced. “-have been shown to be at a similar pain level as a heart attack, and it sounds like you experience more severe cramping. If you wish to be left alone, then we will respect that,” Logan stated, agreements coming from each of the other Sides. “But there is still the concern of unusual pain. Do you require pain medication?”

Virgil shrugged. “Yeah, it helps me not lose my mind, but it can only do so much. I’m on the max dose for ibuprofen and tylenol right now, and I’m alternating them.”

Logan frowned. “This is your pain level even with medication?”

Virgil shrugged. “Yeah, it’s this thing that starts with an “e”… shit, what is it…”

Logan’s eyebrows shot up. “Endometriosis?”

“Yeah!” Virgil squinted. “How the hell did you know that?”

“I’m Thomas’ center of knowledge. Gracious, Virgil…” Logan trailed off. “Has a TENS unit ever proven helpful?”

“A what?”

Logan straightened up. “A TENS unit administers small electrical pulses to pain points or trigger points via electrodes placed on the skin. Research, as well as personal anecdotes, have shown them to be effective in combating menstrual pain. Would you like me to conjure one for you?”

Whatever, worst thing that might happen is it could hurt worse for a few seconds. “Sure, why not.”

Logan closed his eyes, and a few seconds later a rectangular device with a bunch of wires coming out of it appeared. “Would you like me to apply the electrodes, or would you like to?”

The thought of someone touching his bare skin, especially where he was in so much pain, still scared him, even though he knew these weren’t the Dark Sides. “I can put it on.”

No one said anything as Virgil rolled over to his side and placed the electrodes where Logan instructed. He turned back over, blushing slightly and feeling weird. He could feel another bad one coming on, and he hoped that this would work. Logan handed Virgil the unit.

“There are a few levels of electricity. Since this is your first time, it’s recommended you start at 1 and see if you need to increase from there.”

Before the next bastard cramp could come to do its damage, Virgil just nodded and turned on the device, bracing himself for electrocution pain. Instead, the cramps was… not as bad? It still hurt like a motherfucker, but it wasn’t as godawful as it could be. He cranked it up a few more dials, and the pain dimmed to a level he couldn’t remember ever feeling.

His eyes widened as he uncurled and sat up, jaw slack. The pain was still there, and he could still tell that his muscles were freaking the fuck out, but the pain was down so much he could almost ignore it.

So Logan just made my life about a thousand times better. How do I let him know?

“What kind of bullshit wizard magic is this?” Nice, REAL kind of you to say after Logan literally changed your life.

Logan just did his proud little smirk of his and drew his shoulders back. “No magic involved, merely science, and,” he adjusted one side of his glasses. “logic.”

Virgil sighed, still light-headed and dizzy, but the amount of relief that flooded his body without the pain was helping him feel so much better.

Logan frowned. “If you’ll excuse me, Thomas requires my help with a business e-mail.”

Virgil looked out through Thomas’ eyes and Sanders what the HELL. “Yeah, you’d better go deal with that.”

Patton waved his hand over the bowl of soup to warm it. “Is there anything else I can get you?”

Virgil fidgeted. “Not to be a stereotype, but I’m currently willing to commit homicide for chocolate.”

In the next moment, Virgil found his lap full of his favorite dark chocolate-sea salt-almond bars.

“I should probably go too, make sure Thomathy gets the tone of the e-mail right,” Patton said regretfully.

Virgil waved him off. “No worries, go do your thing.”

“I’ll keep our brave knight company!” Roman declared.

Patton said goodbye and sank out. Roman and Virgil stared at each other.

Roman broke first. “Soooo, friendo…”

Virgil sighed, putting Roman out of his misery. “I don’t usually feel like being a people, but this TENS unit thing is really helping. I’d be down to play some video games after lunch.”

“Sounds wonderful! I’ll get the game set up!” Roman sank out with his usual flair.

Virgil snorted and shook his head. Thank god for TENS units.

He flushed as he thought to himself, Thank god for famILY.

[aspoonofsugar]

The “One” Divided Into “Two”

Hello anons, hello friend,

these asks can be answered together!

First of all:

Hello! I just want to say that I love your RWBY metas! So I'm wondering, have you ever done metas about Emerald and Mercury?

Thank you! And yes, I have written a little bit about Mercury and Emerald here. I would also recommend this wonderful meta by @hamliet because it has an interesting Mercury theory in it.

Now. this answer is gonna mix some analysis with speculation because Emerald and Mercury’s story must still enter its climax. Once it does and we are given a specific interpretative key I will be happy to write more metas on them!

I’ll start with this:

Those two are so out of place in Salem's faction and the last look they share made me doubt that Mercury is rotten to the core and more of a kid who didnt know what he's in for. Since Em has switched sides, is it possible that Merc might follow? I really like him, so I'm hoping that he won't go down like Watts.

In my opinion, yes and here is why.

CHILDREN LOST IN A NARRATIVE

1) Emerald and Mercury have been child-coded since their first appearance:

Roman: Oh, look! She sent the kids again! This is turning out just like the divorce!

2) Both have received a save the cat moment early on:

Emerald: It's almost sad.

Mercury: Emerald, get up, we need to go. (...) Emerald!

Both child-coding and save the cat moments are often used to make characters more sympathetic and this applies to both Emerald and Mercury, even more so than Cinder.

This is why, for example, the major death they are directly involved in:

turns out to be a temporary one.

As a side note, I like thinking of Emerald and Mercury as the Cat and the Fox in Penny’s story since they act as false friends to the main cast, betray them and cause Penny’s first death. Moreover, in the novel, both characters end up suffering consequences for their life-styles. The two murder kids are the same:

At the same time, details about Emerald and Mercury’s backgrounds and motivations are given to the viewers pretty early on:

We are shown Cinder recruiting both and these scenes clearly paint them as two vulnerable kids that get manipulated and groomed:

Raven: Two children you’ve tricked into following you.

Emerald is presented as a scaredy cat and Cinder wins her over by promising the bare minumum aka some security and basic care.

Mercury is given even less aka a narrative to keep himself together:

Cinder: And you're his son. We saw your fight from the treeline. He's taught you well.

Mercury: Guess so.

Cinder: What's your name?

Mercury: Mercury.

Cinder: Mercury... Tell me, are you anything like your father?

Mercury: All my life, my father trained me to be a killer, an assassin like him. And then moments after I killed him, you two showed up looking for someone with my exact skills. Just felt like it was meant to be.

Cinder praises his abilities and frames his trauma as something that makes him strong, not broken. And Mercury has completely embraced this narrative since then.

In short, Emerald and Mercury are framed as two kids lost in an illusory narrative Cinder has crafted. That said, they are also characters in a proper narrative and they are given sympathetic backgrounds and positive qualities that hint they can be better than they currently are.

In particular, Emerald should overcome her emotional dependence on others to make the right thing:

In both volume 3 and volume 8 she is shown the destruction of a city. However, the first time she puts distance between herself and others’ pain, as symbolically conveyed by her looking from above. In volume 8, though, she is shown the same pain up close and she can’t ignore it anymore. This is why the others drag Emerald towards the people crying and light invades the screen when she finally meets the sheltered crew. She is forced to face an uncomfortable truth she wants to ignore.

Mercury should instead let himself depend on others more. He should open up to others and fight for his one positive bond:

Mercury: Back off, freak.

Which leads us to:

What do you like most about Emerald and Mercury's relationship and bond as it is explored in RWBY?

EMERCURY: COMPLEMENTARITY

Emerald and Mercury’s bond being a key one is conveyed both symbolically and in terms of their respective abilities.

When it comes to their abilities, I have written about it in the meta linked above:

In short, Emerald mostly relies on her semblance, while Mercury mostly relies on his legs and fighting prowess.

This detail adds to the idea that Emerald and Mercury have been acting as a unit and have been complementing each other. Emerald acts as the “soul” and Mercury as the “body”.

The soul is one’s personal essence (like the semblance). It is where (once again) wishes reside. The body is what protects the soul and is animated by instincts and self-survival.

They complement each other. This complementarity is shown in Emerald and Mercury’s fights.

In the Vytal festival, Mercury takes on both Coco and Yatsuhashi for a short while, so that Emerald can size her chance to fight Coco at her own terms (and she wins by using her semblance).

In the Battle of Heaven, Emerald uses her semblance to help Mercury fight and, in a sense, she compensates for his lack of one:

The human soul is about wishes, but also duties:

Penny: I feel like I wish I could do both the things I need to do and the things I want to do. Is that normal?

One must accept their feelings, but also struggle with them:

Winter: But yes Penny, we must still acknowledge our personal feelings, wrestle with them. It ensures us that we’re on the right path. It’s what makes us human.

And must do the right thing out of their own free will:

Winter: Penny. The general is making hard choices so we don’t have to.

This is Emerald’s personal struggle. She must let go of her feelings for Cinder and fight her own fear in order to do the right thing.

The human body lets people feel both others’ warmth:

And others’ cruelty:

However, Mercury refuses to feel both. He refuses to truly process his own trauma and pushes his feelings of care for Emerald away:

As far as their symbolism goes, they are linked in at least three different ways.

1) One of the attributes of the Roman god Mercury is that he is the protector of thieves and Emerald’s surname capitalized means thief. What is more:

Mercury: Ooh, Emerald! Master thief! Please don't take my money! I barely have enough to get by!

2) Mercury/Hermes is also the god of alchemy and the one who wrote the Emerald Tablet aka a tablet with the truth of alchemy on it. You, @hamliet​, have written a meta on it, so I won’t add more.

3) According to at least some traditions, emerald is the gemstone associated with the planet Mercury.

So, it is clear the two characters are meant to be important in each other’s arcs.

Let’s now look at Emerald and Mercury’s bond, as it is explored through their interactions.

Mercury clearly cares about Emerald and gets along well with her. She is the only person he shows vulnerability to.

This is what their scene in Lost is about:

Emerald: Why did you come with us, the night Cinder and I found you?

Mercury: Why are you asking--

Emerald: Just answer the question.

Emerald is trying to open herself up and wants Mercury to open up too. This is why she gets annoyed when Mercury gives her a superficial answer. Still, in that conversation, Mercury is genuinelly trying to answer Emerald’s feelings:

Mercury: I'm sorry you didn't have a mommy that loved you, but I had a father who hated me! He never went easy on me! Every day of training was a beating. And when I unlocked my Semblance, he stole it with his! "This is a crutch!" "This makes you weak!" He told me I could have it back when I was strong. So I got strong, but I never got it back! I've had to work harder than anyone to get where I am. You may not like it here without Cinder, but I think I'm right where I'm supposed to be!

Here, Mercury is telling Emerald details of his past he would not be sharing if he did not trust her. He can’t let himself be completely vulnerable, though, so he discloses them by lashing out at Emerald. He mixes violence with authentic vulnerability and also with care:

Mercury: Cinder doesn't care about you! She doesn't care about either of us!

He has seen how self-destructive Emerald can get when it comes to Cinder:

And he is trying to have Emerald move on from her obsession.

However, Mercury’s small steps towards opening up and caring for another person are constantly challenged:

Tyrian: Oh yes, the world is mean, and I'm a big, bad man now just like the others.

Mercury: How long have you been standing there?!

The moment he opens up to Emerald, Tyrian appears to threathen and mock him.

Mercury’s positive development lies in accepting his own feelings of pain and in sharing them with others, so that he can be helped. However, the environment he is in goes in the way of it:

Emerald: Mercury, I wanted to...

Here, Emerald is trying to either apologize to Mercury for their fight or to at least check out on him. Still, Mercury is not listening to her because he is too frightened by what Salem is doing.

Mercury’s current struggle is conveyed in a nutshell by the glance he gives to his left in Midnight:

Is he looking at Emerald out of concern?

Or at Salem out of caution?

It is not clear. Still, what is sure is that Mercury should focus on Emerald, but Salem goes in the way. He deep down wants to care about others, but he is too scared to do so:

Tyrian: All you ever learned was pain and violence, and now you're too afraid to leave it. Such a tragedy.

At the same time, Mercury is for Emerald what she has been looking for in Cinder:

Emerald: We don't need him! Everything was going fine!

She initially refuses him, but it is clear that with time Mercury becomes the thing most similar to a family Emerald has:

She has been so fixated on Cinder and on how she can be worthy of Cinder’s love that she has missed how much Mercury has tried to protect her all along.

This is why Hazel is important for Emerald’s development:

Hazel: No more Gretchens, boy.

His sacrifice is about breaking his personal cycle of pain. His story starts with Gretchen dying when she was only a girl and it ends with him preventing another girl’s death. At the same time, he also helps breaking the cyle of abuse between Emerald and Cinder.

Emerald is told the truth about her relationship with Cinder by Mercury. Moreover, it seems something finally clicks for her here:

She observes Salem’s manipulation of Cinder and understands Cinder has been manipulating her in the same way.

However, it is thanks to Hazel’s sacrifice that Emerald sees what a genuine parental bond should be like. It should be about the parent protecting the child:

Hazel: What Gretchen would have done. And that starts with getting you away from here. Both of you.

And not the child protecting the parent:

Emerald: I know I can’t beat you. But I can fill that thing full of holes before you take me down.

It should be about the parent caring for the child unconditionally:

Hazel: Go.

And not about the child working hard to gain a parent’s love:

Cinder: You… You brought me back here. We failed.

Emerald: Cinder, you were hurt. I was just trying to help.

At the same time, Hazel’s death has taught Emerald the pain of losing a loved one:

And has forced Emerald to stand on her own two legs:

Oscar: I've seen what you can do, Emerald. However this fight ends, we could really use someone like you.

She can’t be protected forever, but she should start protecting others. She is powerful enough to do so and she must accept this responsibility.

So

I think Emerald could be key to Mercury's redemption

I think so too. Emerald saving Mercury is the perfect objective for her personal arc. It forces her to act as the savior instead of the one being saved.

Moreover, Mercury told her the truth about herself:

Mercury: You're in denial.

So Emerald might do the same for Mercury. This would also fit with her being the Emerald Tablet. The Tablet is written by Mercury to convey the truth to the world. Here, it might very well be the inverse: the Emerald Tablet might convey the truth to Mercury.

In general, Mercury and Tyrian’s foiling has to pay off, just like Emerald and Hazel’s:

The set-up is there for Tyrian and Mercury’s subplot to be about breaking cycles as well. Mercury’s story is about a child left alone with his abuser. Nobody comes to save him, so Mercury is forced to save himself by killing Marcus. Still, this only leads to him being stuck in the idea he is nothing, but an extension of his father. Right now, the cycle is repeating, but it is possible this time things will go differently because there is at least one person who cares about him.

Not only that, but (and this is nothing, but a baseless theory) even Qrow (aka a character who has unfinished business with Tyrian) might be a thematic fit to help Mercury:

Mercury: Bad hair, used a scythe, and smelled like my dad after a long day. It was him.

After all, Mercury himself draws a comparison between Qrow and his father since they are both alcoholic. However, Qrow has started a journey of rehabilitation for the sake of his nieces and their friends.

Qrow sees himself as bad for others and fundamentally unlucky because of his background and his semblance. So, his third fight with Tyrian being about saving a kid, who, in a sense, is even less lucky than him and has no semblance might be thematically fitting.

Despite it all, Qrow found a family and a place to belong and he might help Mercury find his (Emerald) as well.

SEMBLANCE OF THE SELF

Got no gun But I gleam like a blade and I'm harder than iron

Delusion I'll steal til your blind and defeat you from inside your mind

Emerald’s best weapon is her semblance, while Mercury’s semblance was stolen, so he could become a weapon.

This difference symbolizes their respective reactions to abuse.

Emerald uses her illusions as a coping mechanism.

This mechanism is well conveyed in CEM’s fight against Amber:

On one hand, Emerald creates a child version of herself who is well dressed and owns a bike. It is a rich version of Emerald because she must think that is the kind of child others would stop by to help. She does not believe she is likable or lovable. This is why she makes an illusory alter-ego, which is both true (she deep down is a crying child) and false (she is a street rat with nothing).

In general, this is Emerald’s way to approach others:

Emerald: Just left the stadium after your amazing fight! You guys were awesome!

Ren: Because she's scared. Just like us..

Emerald: Or maybe because I know how to get out of here. Anybody coming?

She either fakes an overly friendly demeanor or acts tougher than she is. In any case, she hides her true self.

On the other hand, Emerald is symbolically trapping herself in an illusion together with Amber. Amber can’t see the dangerous thief in front of her, but Emerald too can’t see the generous woman who is offering food to a crying child:

Cinder: Follow me, and you’ll never be hungry again.

Cinder promises Emerald food and love and this lie makes the girl unable  to see the genuine article when it is right there.

So Emerald tricks both others and herself. This is how she survives abuse.

This is why she keeps believing in Cinder while she is gone:

Emerald: You’re here! I knew you’d co--

And this is why symbolically her semblance grows stronger in an abusive environment:

Emerald: I’ve been working on my Semblance. I can help. I won’t tell anybody.

Salem: You really have been honing that Semblance of yours.

After all, this is when Emerald gets a “power-up”:

She has just lost Cinder and finds herself stuck with Salem. Her reaction is to have a breakdown and to project an illusion in the minds of nine people, when she had previously stated she could only do one/two minds at most.

Mercury weaponizes his trauma.

This is why his legs are Mercury’s true weapon, while Talaria is there just to cover and embellish the pain and ugliness under it.

Mercury fights Amber with only its bare legs because symbolically his trauma is still fresh and he has yet to work out a structured coping mechanism to it. His meeting with Cinder is the first step in this construction that evolves in the following months and is still evolving:

In CEM’s fight against Amber, Mercury uses his unfeeling legs to whitstand the violence of the elements:

Fire

Earth and Water

Air

He goes through the whole cycle without feeling any pain simply because his trauma has made him unfeeling:

I'm the one That was ripped from the earth and exposed to the sun

Marcus has literally turned Mercury into Iron:

But I gleam like a blade and I'm harder than iron

Still, the point is that mercury as a metal is not as hard as iron, but (in the alchemical scale of metals) is way more refined and closer to gold. Mercury can be better than his father, but his way to survive abuse is to repress himself.

This is why his semblance was stolen by his abuser. It is because abuse has taken away Mercury’s personhood.

So, both Emerald and Mercury face abuse by masking or repressing themselves. The difference is a matter of degree. Mercury can suppress his emotions and needs more, while Emerald can’t.

Theirs is a foiling about feeling too much to the point of self-harm and of feeling too little to the point of negation.

So, Emerald must struggle with her feelings not to be controlled by them, while Mercury must aknowledge them.

Emerald’s Hallucinations is a Semblance of The Self because it hides both Emerald herself and the truth.

This is interesting because, as stated above, the Emerald Tablet should convey the truth about alchemy. However, Emerald’s environment has turned her into an inversion of herself:

I'm the one Who rose out of filth and was loved by no-one

She is a gemstone, but is currently covered in dirt. She needs to polish herself, so she can shine and fit better in her allusion.

Mercury’s stolen semblance is a Semblance of The Self because it is linked to Mercury’s self-expression, which he must claim back.

Until then, he is bound to be stuck in an abusive cycle as nothing, but a weapon.

In general, there is some symbolism around Mercury which needs unpacking:

Mercury quoting Marcus:"This is a crutch!" "This makes you weak!"

Firstly, he has clearly interiorized what his father told him here. He refuses the idea of weakness and crutches to the point that his prosthetics, which are literal crutches get turned into weapons and even covered by other weapons. However, this refusal of crutches means Mercury can’t heal. After all, crutches, bandages and treatment are necessary to become healthy once again.

Secondly, there is this: 

I'll run circles round ya, I can touch the sky

The God Mercury’s main attribute is that he can overcome any boundary. He can go wherever he wants in no time. However, Mercury is the opposite because no matter what, he can’t leave his abusive environment. This has to do once again with his father’s abuse which culminated with Marcus taking Mercury’s legs. This is symbolically why Mercury is trapped.

Like for Emerald, Mercury’s arc should be about growing into his allusion, so that he can finally be free.

Still, how to turn Emerald and Mercury in the positive versions of their allusions? The answer has to do with this question:

(I think Emerald could be key to) maybe Cinder's (redemption) too

I’M THE ONE

Emerald and Mercury are two parts of the individual (body and soul) and two parts of a Huntsman (semblance and weapon):

Ren: A common philosophy is that a warrior's Semblance is a part of who they are.

Ruby: Just weapons? They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of us! Oh, they're so cool.

Together they make a unit. Together they make Cinder. They are two sides of her trauma, her two sins:

Emerald: Actually, I was wondering, do you have any copies of "The Thief and The Butcher"?

And the wounds behind those sins.

This is why Cinder takes them in, but also why she abuses them.

She uses them as weapons:

In CEM’s fight against Amber she lets them go in first and has them take the majority of Amber’s hits.

Not only that, but she uses them as “red herrings” she hides behind.

She acts as if Amber’s blow takes her out of the fight, while Amber focuses on Mercury who resists her attack:

She has Emerald display her semblance at full force, so that the girl becomes Amber’s first target:

She makes her own illusion where Emerald and Mercury are her smokescreen.

However, her two disciples are not just things she can use as she pleases. They are two people who depend on her:

Mercury: You mean--

Emerald: She's alive?

They are literally two kids she takes in framing their relationship as parental/hierarchical hence she is responsible for them.

However, she fails them and leaves them in a dangerous environment. This is why they both leave her out of self-survival.

Narratively, Emerald and Mercury are two kids that must grow up. Right now, they are in some kind of adolescent phase. They have started their emancipation from their “parent”, but they have still to grow until they’ll be able to truly face Cinder.

It will probably be in this confrontation that they will affirm their growth. Right now, Cinder does not need to be coddled, but to be called out. Both Neo and Watts try to, but Cinder ignores them and retaliates against them. She needs a call out she can’t ignore and Emerald and Mercury are too rooted in who she deep down is for her to be unaffected by them.

At the same time, it would mark Mercury and Emerald’s first step into adulthood. Only then they can stop being a “half” and can truly become “one”, so a whole person.

[confinesofmy]

Question about the conservatorship fic, do Shiv and Roman (and Connor) ever process that their dad treated their brother like an object? Or do they feel the need to keep their distance when he’s so regressed?

hey char! thank you for the ask! i think it's super complicated and could see it going all sorts of ways, but i have a fuzzy idea of what might happen. i'm gonna put it under a read more bc it's a sensitive topic etc. content warnings for discussion of parental death, abuse, ableism, and all the other normal warnings for the pringles can fic.

i think at the very beginning, after logan's death when they're discovering where kendall's been this whole time, they develop a theory that logan and kendall had worked out a deal. kendall basically retires to a cushy life of hermithood and bides his time and when logan dies he pops back out, a dark horse, and takes control of the company, completely fucking over his siblings. that's the energy they take with them into the apartment. they think it's going to be a 3-on-1 (or maybe 2-on-1, connor doesn't like confrontation) battle for control.

that idea probably starts to decay pretty rapidly when they get a good look at him and when he starts crying at the sight of them, even before they tell him that logan's dead. talking to household staff and eventually talking to him also erodes the idea bc no one closely involved in his day-to-day particularly minces words anymore, and it's pretty obvious that, like, oh. he wasn't allowed to leave. oh god.

so they probably attempt to shift to "dad only did this to help kendall," which is what kendall himself is saying. but all his siblings have their own moments of "he doesn't have a phone," or "he doesn't know the address for this apartment," so that also falls apart. then the specialists they send him to to figure out appropriate care basically communicate, "yeah, he's fine. he can probably care for himself, actually, maybe with a little help? that's up to him." which really does not line up with logan doing this to help him at all.

roman probably jokes about stockholm syndrome and even worse things a lot but it's not funny and he's barely even joking.

i don't really know how they would grapple with it all, once they had all the information available. i think their dad dying would devastate all of them, and send them into their own little spirals of "was dad abusive," "did he ever really love me," "how do i live without him," etc. add in kendall, who's almost unrecognisable and incredibly traumatised, walking proof of the consequences of logan's love and care. i can see them being very uncomfortable in his presence bc he makes questions like "was dad abusive" a little too easy to answer.

i like to think, after months of trying to interact with him the way they used to in the before times, and all attempts failing miserably, they would be able to shift their communication methods and have a relationship with him again. that would create a lot of potential for the siblings' processing bc the way that kendall acts would be so visibly tied up in logan's dehumanisation of him.

i don't think connor has a chance in hell of processing it. i think after his dad's death he would fully embrace idealisation of logan now that logan's not around to prove him wrong. he'd be the family member who's always shutting down conversations by scolding, "hey, don't speak ill of the dead." hopefully that would resolve at some point but i have no idea how. it's actually possible that he and kendall talking about logan together could hurt both of them bc they're both so caught up in idealisation.

shiv and roman would be grappling with it together, i think they'd have better odds. they'd also maybe be more involved with kendall's day-to-day needs so they'd have to face it. it might even help them to more quickly process their relationship with logan? in a weird way? bc kendall says logan loved him and took care of him and any pushback results in arguments involving kendall explaining that he was heading for an early grave and logan saved him from that. but then also a trip to the park can make him have an hour-long panic attack bc he can't really tolerate fresh air or open spaces or other people anymore. so shiv and rome have to face the reality that kendall himself can't face and they might not have bothered to face on their own.

probably a big part of why i abandoned it is that i don't know how that processing and recovery would go. there'd be a lot of room for missteps and the siblings falling apart from stress. and honestly the business side of things is incredibly complicated. i like logan leaving the company more or less to kendall for the drama of it all but i have no idea how that would go, realistically. guy's been locked in an apartment for over a year, y'know. idk.

i do like to think about it tho! so thanks for the ask! c:

[spicycreativity]

Intertwined - Chapter 4

Chapter: 4/8

Additional Notes: My AO3, WizardGlick, is 3 chapters ahead on this. Critical thinking exercise: Read the following Twin Peaks quote and consider how it related to Intertwined and to post-PoF as a whole:

WINDOM EARLE: What do you fear most in the world?

MAJOR BRIGGS: The possibility that love is not enough.

Chapter Content Warnings: Again, it's a hanahaki fic.

Excerpt: "Here's what I want you to do," Janus said, and his voice was surprisingly tender given the hard look on his face. "Cook for yourself. Don't make something you can take to the others later. Don't make something to share with me. I'm giving you a free pass to be selfish."

Yesterday, Patton supposed, could have gone worse. He had haunted the kitchen after his departure from Janus, begging the mindscape for some sort of hint. Like the answer to all their troubles was lurking in Thomas’ subconscious, just out of reach.

When morning came, he returned to Roman and Logan's rooms, was again rebuffed, and so floated back to the kitchen, made himself some coffee, and sat down at the counter. Again, he reached out with his mind for some kind of reassurance. He had to fix this. There had to be something he could do.

A 5,000 piece puzzle appeared in front of Patton. The image on the box was that of dogs playing poker, captioned A Friend in Need. The subconscious was funny sometimes, in a way that made Patton feel kind of sick and hollow. He opened the box and shook the puzzle pieces put onto the counter. It was a way to pass the time, at least.

A few hours crawled by. Patton’s hands began to shake from the caffeine, and he knew he should eat something, but… It almost didn’t seem worth the effort. He was happy to cook for his fam-ILY, but, when it was just him, what was the point? He put down another edge piece and flinched at the sudden appearance of Virgil in front of the coffee pot. Virgil had made himself scarce after yesterday’s meeting, only reappearing to turn down Patton’s offer of dinner. Patton couldn’t even blame him. How terrible, to wake up after a bad day and find your friends inconsolable and enemies at your door.

“Hi,” Patton said. Finding faux-happiness out of reach, he settled for ‘not completely miserable’ instead.

“Did you eat?” Virgil asked, pouring coffee into a purple mug decorated with this logo.

Patton saw no reason to lie, not about this. “Not yet. I got a little distracted.”

“Mm-hm,” said Virgil.

“Listen,” Patton said, already getting up to make toast. “Are you okay?”

Virgil shrugged and opened up another cabinet. “Want some orange juice?”

"Um, sure." Patton got out the bread and popped a few slices into the toaster. "Thank you."

"No prob." Virgil stood on his toes and got down two glasses, pivoted to the fridge for the orange juice.

"It's just," Patton said, "You don’t seem very upset?" It wasn't that Virgil was necessarily acting upbeat , but… Well, Patton had been expecting something more intense than Virgil's baseline levels of casualty.

"I am," Virgil said. "But I also want orange juice."

"Oh." Patton fell silent. His own feelings were so big and loud in his head they didn't really leave room for anything else. In the light of everything that had happened, Virgil's response felt cold. Patton had half a mind to tell him so, except that… Well, he had no room to talk about 'proper' emotional responses to things. If this was how Virgil wanted to navigate the situation, that was his right. "Did you talk to Roman yesterday?"

"Sorta." Virgil put the orange juice back, scooted a glass to Patton, and took a seat on the counter. "He said he wasn't ready to talk, but might be soon."

"To you?"

"Yeah." Virgil's expression was cloudy. "To me."

"That's a lot," Patton said, treading cautiously. "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

Virgil's knuckles went white around his glass, so much that Patton was worried he might break it. "Oh, there's plenty I want to say," he said darkly. "To you and to-- to him."

"Janus," Patton said, feeling it important, somehow, to say his name.

"Yeah. To Janus."

"You can," Patton said. "To me. I won't get mad."

"I just don't understand!" Virgil said, the words exploding from his chest. "What did he say to you to make you trust him? After everything he did to Roman, to you, to Thomas! What did he say?" It was almost a plea, "What did he say?"

"I already told you, kiddo," Patton said, poking at the water droplets collecting on the side of his glass, unable to remember that they were called. Logan would know. "I made a choice to trust him."

"But why ?"

"I don't know, I just-- I felt something. I don't know if I can explain it in a way you can understand. I just got it. I understood what it was all for. "

"So, what, he just gets a free pass for treating us all like crap? Just gets to talk his way out of consequences?"

"Well, no." Patton kicked the toes of his loafers against the molding under the counter. "But I don't know that it would do any good to… punish him? Be cold, be mean, yell at him. What's done is done. I'm not asking you to forgive him."

"Good, 'cause I don't."

"But I also need you to understand that I made my choice and I'm committing to it. I…" Patton smiled sadly, gazing at the countertop without really seeing it. "I gave my word, in a way."

"Fine," Virgil growled. "But if he hurts you, if he does what he did to Roman and Logan, I swear, I swear--" Patton covered his ears briefly and Virgil seemed to get the message. "Well. I'll avenge you."

"Thanks, Virgil." Patton smiled again, happier this time, and looked Virgil in the face. It really wasn't all that long ago that he had thought of Virgil as an enemy. And now look at them. "I'm proud of you, you know."

"You are?"

"Of course I am! You've been a really good friend to, to all of us. And I'm so happy--"

"Stop," Virgil said, pulling up his hood. "Stop, stop, stop."

"Aw, did I make you blush?" Patton teased.

"Yeah," Virgil said, his voice breaking on that one syllable. He cleared his throat. "Let's not-- I'm gonna--"

"Is something wrong?" Patton asked, already reaching out for a hug. Virgil couldn't see him with his face buried in his hood, so Patton stopped short and let his arms fall to his sides.

"I just, uh." Virgil took a deep breath and let it out in a huff, swept his hood back with a jerky motion. "Sometimes I don't feel like I deserve all this."

"Oh, kiddo, of course you do!" Patton said, again holding out his arms for a hug. Virgil instead held out his hand, and Patton took it in his own, determined to communicate all the love and devotion he could through that simple contact. He smiled at the matching weave of their friendship bracelets, smiled at the memory of sitting side-by-side with Virgil as they both struggled with five-strand braids.

Virgil nodded, and his breathing was still shaky and spastic when he said, "I'm gonna go-- I'm not going off to cry all by myself, if, uh, if you're worried about that. I just need… Uh. Yeah."

Patton nodded, hurriedly snatching the half-cooked toast from the toaster and imagining it smeared with Crofter’s and butter, arranged neatly on a plate. "Okay!" He said with false cheer, passing the plate to Virgil. "Come get me if you need anything! Maybe we can watch Ghost Adventures tonight."

"Sounds good," Virgil said, slightly muffled around his hand, as he was chewing at his thumbnail. "Later." He sank out.

Patton sighed and stared at their untouched orange juice glasses. Even when he was trying to fix things, he made people upset.

A drop of water slid down the side of Virgil's glass, pooled on the countertop. Patton stared at it as another followed.

What did it truly mean to deserve something, anyway? It was something Janus would probably have an opinion on. He seemed to have opinions on most things. Maybe Patton could ask him in a bit.

“Did you need me for something?

Oh, okay, or Patton could ask him now. He turned, unsmiling to Janus. It wasn’t that he wasn’t cheered by Janus’ presence, but that he had no reason to lie. Janus had made it abundantly clear that he wasn't depending on Patton for anything. “Sorry,” he said, embarrassed. “I didn’t mean to steal you.”

“No harm, no foul,” Janus said, and sighed so heavily his breath displaced a few puzzle pieces. “As you can see, I was hard at work.” Despite this claim, he wore a hard, annoyed expression and Patton remembered with a sinking feeling in his stomach that he was dealing with a liar. "Did you need help with your puzzle?" Janus asked.

Just like that, Patton's heart leapt. "You'll stay?"

Janus shrugged. "I suppose I can clear a space in my schedule."

Patton stood to get him some coffee. The pot was empty, but it was simple enough to imagine it full again. Ordinarily, he disliked the laziness of misusing Thomas' imagination, but he couldn't deny that it was convenient sometimes. He could tell he was on the brink of annoying Janus (somehow) and didn't want to risk pushing him over the edge. "Have you eaten?"

"Have you?" Janus asked, side-eyeing the remaining slices of toast sitting in the toaster. Patton had forgotten all about them.

"I guess it slipped my mind," Patton turned around and set a coffee mug on the counter in front of Janus, then rounded it to sit down again. He tried not to notice that Janus had scooted his chair away from Patton's, that he leaned on his elbow so they were even farther apart.

"Hm," said Janus, making a face. He didn't push it, and Patton was grateful for that. "Oh, and thank you."

"Of course," Patton said.

He watched Janus for a moment. He handled the puzzle pieces with difficulty, his gloves impeding his ability to pick them up. When he realized he was staring, he turned away and started fitting more edge pieces into place.

He couldn't decide if the quiet was pleasant or awkward. It was kind of nice, kind of domestic, sitting here with Janus, but he couldn't help but feel a kind of tension in the air.

Then Janus turned away and started coughing. Patton reached out to put a hand on his back, caught himself, pulled away. The deep, jagged sound made him cringe. He was no stranger to coughing fits, none of them were, brought on by Thomas' cat allergy. But this had come out of nowhere.

"You okay?" Patton asked when Janus resurfaced. Maybe he was just projecting, but he thought Janus looked a little pale on his human side.

"It's warmer today, isn't it?" Janus said, not looking at Patton.

"Huh?"

"It's not as cold. Roman seems to have gotten ahold of himself somewhat."

"Um, yeah, I guess." Patton furrowed his brow, trying to get a good look at Janus. "But Janus, are you okay?"

"Fine," said Janus. "Just inhaled some coffee, that's all."

But his hands shook as he slid a blue puzzle piece down the counter, and Patton was already halfway out of his seat before he even realized what he was doing. "You know, I think I will make breakfast."

"A little late now," Janus said. "By the way, did you really call me all the way down here just to work on a puzzle?"

"So brunch, then," Patton said. "And to be honest, no."

"Oh, do be honest," Janus said, leaning against the counter and resting his chin in his palm.

But Patton's priorities had shifted beyond philosophical debate. He had to take care of Janus now, get him comfortable, get him honest. He had to. "It's not important anymore."

"Hm," said Janus. He cleared his throat quietly, winced. "Well, now I'm not curious at all."

"It's okay," Patton said, trying for a reassuring smile. "We can talk about it later." He spun around, trying to decide what to make. Toast sounded wholly unappealing now, and he should choose something that would be easy on Janus' throat--

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing, by the way," Janus said.

"Making brunch?" Patton said with faux-innocence.

"Mm-hm. And what did you have in mind?"

"Soup."

"Patton," Janus said in a chastising tone. "I don't need you to take care of me. I need you to take care of you."

"That cough sounded like it hurt," Patton said, defeated.

Janus sat back and spread his arms out as though to show himself to Patton. "It did. It went away on its own. I'm fine."

Patton wasn't sure what to say to that. He scratched at his friendship bracelets, embarrassed. "Oh."

"Here's what I want you to do," Janus said, and his voice was surprisingly tender given the hard look on his face. "Cook for yourself. Don't make something you can take to the others later. Don't make something to share with me. I'm giving you a free pass to be selfish."

"But that's wrong!" Patton said reflexively. He regretted it as soon as the words were out of his mouth, but it wasn't like he could take them back. "Not for you," he hastened to explain. "That's your job. But me?"

"I can't very well be selfish for you," Janus said. He seemed annoyed, digging his fingers into both sides of his midriff in a way that looked decidedly painful. "Just try it. It won't be the end of the world."

And Patton wanted to. He didn't want to let Janus down, but… Where did it end? Where did it stop?

"Patton," Janus said. "I can see you catastrophizing."

"Sorry," said Patton, feeling close to tears. "Sorry, sorry, sorry. I just… I don't know who I am or what I want or if I'm even allowed to want."

"Breakfast, Patton. That's all. One little thing."

"Okay," Patton took a deep breath. Calm down. Make food. He could do that.

"There's nothing else," Janus said. "Just us, right now. Just this room. No consequences."

"Okay," Patton said. Cinnamon rolls. He wanted mini cinnamon rolls.

"Good," said Janus. "You're okay." He cleared his throat again, coughed a little behind closed lips. Patton forced himself not to notice, knowing that it would make Janus annoyed if he pointed it out or tried to help.

"I hope so," Patton muttered, half to himself, as he got his ingredients together. A phrase popped into his head and he shouted it out impulsively, "Mise en place!"

"Bless you?" Janus said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, no." Patton smiled. "Getting all your ingredients together. Mise en place."

"Ah," said Janus. He smiled too, his human eye crinkling at the corner. Patton almost sighed at the sight. Janus seemed to hold himself above human standards sometimes. He presented himself as something cold and pure, unbreakable and untouchable and utterly perfect. There was something so beautiful about seeing him step down from the pedestal. Janus seemed to notice Patton staring and turned away, surprisingly demure. "How about some music?"

A turntable appeared on the counter, spinning something inoffensive and charmingly lo-fi. "That's nice," Patton said. He didn't recognize the artist, but it didn't really matter. The music seemed to slide into the cracks of their conversation, filling out the empty spaces and projecting calm throughout the kitchen.

So Patton made cinnamon rolls and Janus worked on the puzzle while he sipped his coffee, and they both pretended not to notice the ragged coughs that Janus couldn't bury under the music no matter how hard he tried.

[ssaltbending]

Ok, guys, hear me out: Zuko is a Capricorn, Katara is a Cancer —and here’s why (it would be so poetic).

Part 1: Zuko

TW: explicit mentions of child abuse.

I know this statement might seem weird and out of place, but in the last couple weeks I’ve been digging a lot into astrology and, in order not to forget my roots, I thoroughly felt the need to combine both of my most recent obsessions in one post, given that this headcanon hasn’t been able to leave my mind ever since I came up with it: if we applied astrology to the Avatar world, I’m sure Cancer and Capricorn would be Katara and Zuko’s signs, respectively. And I don’t say this in a superficial way, just by looking at zodiac memes and associating Katara with the crybabies Cancers are portrayed as or saying Zuko is a Capricorn buzzkill as people who know astrology on a surface level would assume they are —those are some of the most common stereotypes about the signs. No, I’m saying that they embody those signs on an archetypal leve: in the way their stories, especially Zuko’s, resemble the myths that originate the zodiac signs and their respective traits.

Therefore, without further ado, let me explain.

The Capricorn archetype: the sins of the father...

As any casual astrology enthusiast may probably know, the sign of Capricorn is connected to qualities such as perseverance, integrity, resilience and ambition, typically treated as the CEO or boss of the zodiac. However, the sign itself has a richer and much more complex story as we look at the deities it is associated with as well as the planet that rules it: Saturn, linked to the Roman god of the same name and the greek gods Cronus, Zeus, Hestia and Pan. Some astrologers choose Cronus as Capricorn’s patron god and others prefer his children, but that can be explained very easily.

The myth goes like this: Cronus, a giant and father of what we would know as some of the main greek gods (Hestia, Demeter, Hades, Poseidon, Hera and Zeus), was actually the son of Uranos, who he subverted thanks to the advice of his mother Gaia to use an agricultural tool to kill him. But as time went by and Cronus had started having children with his partner, Rhea, the fear of his descendants becoming stronger than him and doing the same thing he had done to his father took over him, which led to his decision of swallowing them all whole. He started with Hestia all the way back to Zeus, whom he couldn’t swallow right after he was born, unlike his other children, because this time Rhea had hid him in the island of Crete to protect him from his father. To deceive him, Rhea then covered a rock in cloth to make it resemble a baby for Cronus to eat it, thinking that it was a newborn Zeus.

Time passed and Zeus grew stronger until he was ready to confront his father and save his siblings from his womb, and when he finally did it, he managed to force Cronus into disgorge them one by one, in the reverse order they had been swallowed —which left Hestia as the last sibling to be disgorged.

After that, Zeus was left with a prophecy, where he would also be possibly overthrown by a son of his. And after Métis, the woman he was told would bear said child, gave birth he swallowed the newborn whole just like Cronus had done with his brothers and sisters. The child in question, however, started giving him headaches as it grew older and bigger inside of him and would become the goddess we know as Athena. What Zeus did with her was the repetition of a cycle perpetuated by his forefathers, a cycle of abuse and trauma that seems inescapable. What this part of the duality of the Capricorn archetype shows one of the ways in which those ideas of tradition and legacy can be carried on (a very negative one, to be honest), but that’s not the only way they can manifest, which gives the archetype this… almost cinematic quality, in my opinion. (And if we take this into account, I might headcanon Azula as a Capricorn rising due not only to the archetypal coincidences but the overall mastermind outlook she has and how much of a natural, domineering and calculating leader she is, but that’s besides the point.)

Now, let’s talk about the other side of the archetype, which gives it this incredible dual quality: Hestia’s path. Unlike her brother Zeus, Hestia was the one who not only had been devoured by her father, but she had spent the most time inside him as well. This is often associated with the emotional isolation many Capricorns experience in their youth, the lack of warmth and love by one of their parents, along with the desire not to become the abusive parent they were exposed to. Hestia is the other side of the story, the unspoken leader of the Olympians, the one who broke the toxic cycle running in her family for generations, vowing to become an eternal virgin and protector of the earth. Besides, Hestia means “hearth”: the inner fire, the one that is never allowed to go out.

(art by @elisebrave​)

That is the soul of the Capricorn archetype: the crossroads of destiny, the moment when the child decides whether to become like their parents, or forge their own path like Hestia did. Do you guys see what I see now? Are the similarities clear enough?

As my dear friend @persephobeee​ points out in her Capricorn essay (a crucial source for this one): “The Capricorn archetype is a cycle of stuck parents putting stress on their children at such a young age so then their kid ends up making money in retaliation, but then treat their kids the same as well due to the lack of warmth and freedom they had in their own childhood. The intense pressure put onto them as a child [then] leads to isolation and depression. It’s a cycle. ‘I don’t want to be my parent, but also… how they have ruined me’. The chain can continue with Zeus (projecting sorrows and nightmares onto their own children) or it could break with Hestia (the path of love, light and protection).”

This is why Capricorn’s planetary ruler, Saturn, is also associated with ideas found in this myth: restriction, limitation, order, boundaries, leadership, responsibility… pretty much dad vibes, to be honest. Do you guys see what I see or do I have to dig deeper?

“But isn’t zuko a firebender?? Why would he be an earth sign??”, you may ask.

The way that I might be making headcanons about the Gaang’s western zodiac signs isn’t gonna be based on which element they bend, because that would be quite reductive and restrictive for me as an astrology junkie, but their similarities to each sign’s archetype and overall characteristics. And yes, I do see Zuko as an earth sun, but that wouldn’t be his only sign, there is also the moon and the rising sign, which also have an important impact on the individual. In my opinion, Zuko’s personality embodies the qualities of fire signs as well: competitiveness, drive, passion, impulsiveness and loyalty. But to me those qualities are better shown in his character through his moon sign: an Aries moon, to be specific. See those anger outbursts? The “I don’t need any [fucking] calming tea!!”? The “you never think these things through”? Aries moon behavior, right there. But I’m not going to focus on moon signs right now. Let’s get back to the behavior I am the most well-versed at: Capricorn behavior.

So, the sign of Capricorn is also a cardinal sign, a leader, since they are the ones that begin each season. In the Northern Hemisphere, Capricorn season starts right on the winter solstice, and the opposite happens in the South. However, since all the astrology lore comes from the North thanks to the Greeks, Babylonians and more, the seasonal connections are related to the seasons there. As a consequence, Capricorn is the cardinal sign that brings the coldest, darkest season of the year: winter. And incorporating that into Zuko’s character would be incredibly fitting, in my opinion, because of some stuff I’ve read here on Tumblr saying that making him being born during the coldest time of the year would make it a terrible omen for a firebender, worse in this case due to him being born into the royal family, symbols of the power and “supremacy” of the Fire Nation. The fact that he would be born in winter, if we follow this reasoning, would have made him seem as a disappointment to his father ever since birth. 

… or maybe I’m just cruel, guys.

Moreover, I think Zuko embodies many of the Capricorn qualities in the way he carries himself (because no, not all Capricorns are confident managers with the world in our hands) and how hard he has to work to earn everything he gets. A key part of what this sign represents is “the path of hardships the goat has to overcome in order to reach the top of the mountain”, which along with the myth I have described before, could easily be applied to Zuko. It describes values of endurance, hard work, discipline and drive in order to achieve your goals, something that can be seen in Zuko all throughout the series, but changes its focus as the seasons go by. Besides, uhm… have you guys seen “The Day of Black Sun, Part 2”? That is literally the positive outcome of the Capricorn myth made into animation: the confrontation between an abusive father figure and his abused child who has decided to part ways with him in order to become a better person.

On another note, I think it is important to highlight how the Capricorn in Zuko could be seen based on how the rest of the Gaang treats him as well when he changes sides and he’s accepted into the group. How?, you may be wondering: as a father figure, but in a positive way. In many scenes it can be noticed how he naturally takes a position of leadership within the group as well as he takes care of the younger members such as Aang and Toph but, especially in Aang’s case, tries to ground them and teach them. As examples, take the following: Zuko reminding Aang that soon he will have to face the fact that he might have to kill Ozai, him trying to get everyone to train when the comet is about to arrive; how when Aang gets lost, it is him the one people look to in order to lead the group, etc.

Another thing that is well-known in Capricorns is our resilience and perseverance and, honestly: do I even need to explain that? When it comes to the guy who would get his ass beaten again and again and again for one season straight in order to get what he wanted which would also give him the approval of his father, what he craved most? It screams earth sign behavior to me, but with a heavy saturnian influence due to Zuko’s background which, to me, can be quite an interesting reflection of the Saturn/Cronus myth with his children. Said tenacity could also be exacerbated by the willpower and energy brought by the possibility of him having a fire moon, I don’t know, think about it. I stick to that headcanon.

That perseverance can also be seen when it comes to Zuko’s firebending, given how much he’s always trying to improve his skills. Although it could be argued that in reality he’s doing so due to the expectations put on him to be a proficient bender just like his sister in order to be accepted by his father, and his constant training to the point of exhaustion is just a manifestation of that toxic behavior. I am sorry to tell you, but that’s textbook Capricorn behavior, associated with the symbolism of the hardworking goat in general: working the hardest in order to get what you want is always on-brand when it comes to important Capricorn placements, and in my opinion Zuko is no exception.

Final thoughts.

Anyway, what I think would be most relevant is what I mentioned before about the Capricorn archetype and how it could tie in nicely to Zuko’s character arc with him as a representation of Hestia, who could grow out of the abuse she experienced and got a chance not to make her father’s mistakes and break that horrendous cycle she had been a victim of. I would go into this more deeply, but I think it has been enough for now. However, I’ll be back soon with a part two, talking about my water queen Katara. What do you think about this headcanon? Do you agree? If not, why? 

Thanks for coming to my weird-ass TedTalk at 1am. I needed to vent and I haven’t been able to put the computer down since 9pm, I literally only stopped to eat, lol.

See you soon, 

a Capricorn sun.