#for this new family so im glad i didnt buy anything

[confetti-critter]

A thing I always do is go to some place where I gotta choose something with no clear idea of what I want (going to the library or a candy store etc) and thinking I'm gunna walk in there and see something and know immediately that ~that's the thing I want~ but that never happens so I spend a very long time meandering around that particular place

[gritsandbrits]

So how;s adam and eve reunion gotta be ? it's must be full with drama

"So this is what youve been up to all these centuries?" Adam remarked, taking note of Eve's outfit. 

Gone were the elegant blue, pink and white robes that denoted her as his Other. Now she wore overalls and a plain gray shirt. A leather ultility belt hung around her hips. Her hair, once a luscious river of brown, was cut shorter and braided. 

"If youre here to take back there the answer is no," replied the brunette.

Hm. it seems looks werent the only thing that changed about Eve.

"I'm not here to take you back, Im just wanted to know how youve been," said Adam. Hs lips formed a sly grin. 

"Though if you want to, I can convince Sera to-"

"You will convince nobody, Im through with that place."  Eve's voice sharpened some more. 

Adam was taken aback. The audacity of this woman he grumbled internally. He didnt know what to think! He was so used to her soft, demure mannerisms. She never raised her voice at anyine not when the kids were acting up, and definitely not at him. 

What changed? 

Adam glanced over at his sweet wittle Abel, who only stood awkwardly at the unexpected family reunion.

Of course, if he played his cards right then Eve would be back by his side by the night's end. She would do anything for their real kids!

But then he remembered Kané. He had told her to hide, that he would not reveal her until he could persuade Eve to hear him out. 

Charlie felt it wasnt her place to interrupt. She didnt know what to say. But she did know Adam had a trick of his sleeve. So she sent him a warning glare, daring him to mess up.

"Ooh this is better than a soap opera," Angel Dust whispered excitedly as he cradeled Phat Nuggets. He was enjoying the mayhem unfolding.

"Normally I wouldnt care about Adam but I'm bored," Veggie replied with equal interest. Even back in her exterminator days it was no secret how Adam treated Eve. He never defended her when other angels scorned & looked down at her, so when news of her disappearance reached her ears, Veggie was not surprised. 

Besides, he had this coming a LONG while. She was glad to have a front row seat at the day of reckoning. 

Husk simply took out his flask. This was going to be a long night. 

All the while Kané stood in her hiding spot behind the cacti. She could see the resemeblance between her mama and Eve, even with obvious differences there was no doubt the First Woman Ever was their grandmother. The way she presented herself caused a wave of comfort for the girl, as if she could trust her with her deepest, darkest secrets. 

Adam was not moved. He didnt expect his wife, his soulmate to reject him like that.

"Now look after everything we've been through, you dont want to be in paradise? We worked hard for it, Evie! You deserve to stay here."

Eve crossed her arms. Adam began to sweat. He really wished he had his mask. 

"I mean, not here in this shitstain or Earth, but up there", he pointed up at the ceiling. "Please Evie, come back to us. We miss you, the rest of the brood miss you."

That part was genuine. He really did miss her. He hated that the one chance at being together again was slipping through his fingers. Lilith was probably cheering somewhere at this update.

Eve shuddered at the pet name. She loathed him for pulling that out, and loathed herself for nearly buying that. Centuries apart and he still managed to makr her weak in the knees.

But she had to keep going! Evelyn Lambert worked too far and too hard to succumb back to that demure helpless trophy everyone expected her to be.

"No. You dont get to call me that! You knew how they treated me and did nothing to stop it! All they did was insult and belittle me, you were my husband and supposed to protect me!" She pointed an accusatory finger at him. 

"Well what did you expect me to do punch every angel who ever looked at us funny? That's not exactly holy behavior," chided Adam. 

"Oh you are a real piece of work my love," Eve snipped. "Like we're all supoosed to ignore that you went off on a mad crusade because you were too spineless to admit all of us are capable of sin? You didnt even think twice that doing so would cause a war!"

Adam winced. He hadn't thought of that. But no matter! There was no war and a mere instance of hell figthing back didn't erase countless years of victories his extermination squad achieved.

"Hey a war wouldn't be possible anyways because look at them! We are much more stronger, they just got lucky," boasted the First Man. 

"And they cheated! That fucking thing stabbed me in the back!" He pointed at Nifty, who could only reply with a satisfied grin. 

"An unnarmed man! And left his kids without both parents!" Adam continued, hoping his put-on was enough to soothe his beloved' heart. 

Abel cupped his face and sighed. Even during a serious moment his fayher loved being a drama king. It was such a common put-on Abel could smell it a mile away. 

Unknown to him, Kané shared the same sentiment. She pinched her nose, wasn't Adam's arrogance the reason why he was in hell in the first place? Why is he regressing all of a sudden? She held her tongue.

Eve gritted her teeth. God, she was so done with her ex's mind games!

As if somebody left the window opened a cold wind blasted through the room. Everyone tensed, Vaggie and Angel ready to move in case things got uglier.

"Talk about hell hath no fury," muttered Kané shrinking hwrself further away. Whisps of curls flew about Eve's face, her eyes glowing even more purple with a protective fury.

Charlie tugged her jacket tightly, her drealocks blowing around her face.  She watched as Eve posed herself straighter. She swore she could see the faint outlines of butterfly wings on the woman.

Before Adam could say anything else (preferably HIDE), Abel finally stepped in and placed comforting hands on his mom's shoulders. He spoke to her in a language Kané couldnt ubdertand. It seemed to calm her down as the wind stopped blowing and the room temp returned to normal. 

"Come on, Let's all sit down and discuss this like real adults." Abel directed that last part at his dad.

"I believe this matter also concerns you Your Highness," he addressed Charlie. 

"Hopefully we can get all this sorted out peacefully," the hell princess spoke. She was ready to intervened one she felt that wind. She wouldnt let anyone get hurt, especially at Adam's hand. 

Shrugging, Adam went over to the table, as Eve Abel and Charlie sat down. The older brunette took a place on the opposite end but still kept her violet eyes on Adam. She had a good mind to throw a wrench at his stupid smexy face. 

Kané still watched as her family began to convers, interspersed with bits of Angel Dust's disappointment at the lackluster resolution. 

For some reason she couldnt muster the courage to step out. Was it fear? Eve would probably hate her if she found out she was Cain's grandkid. 

Suddenly she felt something tugging at the bottom of her jacket. She turned to see a little purple lamb nibbling at her. 

"Hey hey hey shoo shoo!" She spoke as loudly as she could to not give away her position. The lamb was too entranced by the flavor of unwashed polyester. Kané tried to pushed it away but some how she tripped.

"Gah! Fuck!" 

The poor girl fell forward, causing everyone to turn her away. The mischievous scampered off with its prize, a piece of green cloth. 

The four royals got up to see the irritated girl laying on the floor. Eve and Abel could only gape as Charlie rushed over the help her.

Adam froze.

The jig was up.

[herrscherrofyatta]

hi i was the one who asked you for the amber x herrscher!gn!reader and i had a long way to found you again because my dumbass didnt follow you back than which im very sorry about. And you did amazing with the request and i saw that your still open so if its not a problem could i ask for a continuation of said amber x herrscher!reader like they defeated the honkai or something or they made a family somehow XD

I'm glad you liked it! I was kinda hoping to write more about them so I'm glad you want a continuation! I'm definitely going to write like a different version of this since the new chapter came out and it gives me ideas lol! Hope you enjoy!!!

A month or two had passed since Otto Apocalypse succeeded in his plan of changing the past so Kallen Kaslana could live even if it didn't change anything in this timeline.

You wondered if in other timelines would you and Amber be together like you two are right now, hand in hand as you two stroll around the Hyperion on your break time.

Things were calm, something you weren't quite used to since you always had to move from place to place to prevent yourself from being captured for simply being a herrscher.

"How are you feeling from the training with Kiana and Bronya?" Amber asks as you two pass by a couple of your co-workers.

"A bit sore but nothing I can't handle," you reply as you two turn a corner only to be met with a scene of Theresa holding something in her arms, clearly stressed as you two approach her.

"Theresa? Is something wrong?" You ask, making her jump as she looks back.

Her eyes glance down at her arms before showing what was the cause, to you and Amber's surprise it was a baby that looked around to be a couple weeks old at best.

She begins to explain that someone had left this poor baby just outside the ship and that a couple of valkyries found the poor child out during their shift.

"We can conduct an investigation to find the mother and return the baby...." You suggest to Theresa as Amber takes a closer look at the sleeping baby wrapped around in the blanket before moving around a bit, seemingly wanting to start crying.

"I'm good at finding parents of lost kids back when I was in the city." Theresa thinks to herself, taking your words into mind. "I can gather some information in town to find the parent, it shouldn't take long."

The loud crying of the baby startles you and Theresa, "he's been crying non-stop," she sighs as Amber gestures her to hand over the baby which she did.

Blinking at the sight of Amber rocking the baby in her arms trying to calm him down, you smile a bit before she looks up at both of you, the baby cries a bit quieter but still there. "He's hungry, I don't think we have any formula on board."

"I'll head to town and buy some there while finding anything about his parents." You say, Theresa agrees and you prepare to leave, giving Amber a quick kiss on her cheek before leaving the ship.

Theresa looks at Amber a bit amused, "you know a lot about taking care of babies," the taller white haired woman looks at the baby before responding.

"I've seen (Y/n) take care of crying lost children before in the city, so I thought I should know what to do if a lost child stumbled in my path."

Theresa smiles, "then I'll leave him to you. Any problems you know where to find me."

Amber nods, "of course."

The day goes by rather slowly, it was only until the sun was setting had you finally returned. Carrying a bag in one hand, a stoic look on your face, walking at such a slow pace towards the Hyperion.

The events of today were no different from ones you have seen and experienced in the past but still, they left your heart heavy in the end.

'Please....take of him....take of my son.'

Closing your eyes at those words, your brows furrow as you let out a sigh.

'....give him a future I cannot give him....please.'

Walking through the corridors, you pause when you finally arrive at the door of Amber's room. You knew she would be here, taking care of that poor child. Preparing yourself, you put on a smile as the doors open.

Amber looks up as you walk in, "I got food for him." You hold up the bag, "luckily a vendor was selling formulas. I brought enough for the kid."

Setting the bag in the small table in the corner, you turn around to be met with Amber standing there, her eyes glancing down at your coat, "you have blood on your coat, are you hurt?" She asks, tilting her head to the head when she looks up at you.

"I'm fine," you lie, "some guy was starting a fight, this is his blood. Don't worry, I'll wash it off later."

You say, smiling at her, she eyes you, before the baby that was sleeping finally woke up, demanding for food.

Amber quickly returned her attention to the crying baby as you left the room with a can of formula, heading to the cafeteria area the ship had.

While waiting for the machine to do it's job, you stand there in deep thought, not noticing Theresa seeing you and walking over.

"You're back, did you find anything?"

You shake your head, back facing her as you speak, "found the mother, beaten to death, she said her last wishes to me."

"and the father?"

Your hand turned into a fist, feeling angry just thinking about that sorry excuse of a dad.

"I beat the shit out of him, you could say I placed judgment upon him." You sigh, crossing your arms, "he was an abusive man, if the mother had not brought the kid, who knows he would've done."

Theresa gives you a pity look, you seem kinda shaken up about the whole thing, "did...." she doesn't finish her sentence, the look on your face is enough when you turn around, bottle in hand.

Instead, you give her a tight smile, "I'll be going now. We can talk about it more in detail tomorrow."

Arriving back to Amber, you hand her the bottle as you lean against the wall, watching as the baby sucked on the warm bottle of milk.

"I didn't find anything," you began, Amber looks at you, "but that doesn't mean the mother just tossed him away for no reason."

"why do you think that?"

Your gaze shifts downwards, "...just a hunch, just look how good he was taken care of till now." The white haired woman looks at the baby who gives her a smile. "He was loved until the end."

She smiles, caressing his head gently, "I see."

For the next few days, the two of you took care of the nameless baby until Theresa voiced out that you two should adopt him, seeing how you two warmed up to him.

Amber was hesitant at first while you remained stoic but went along with what she wanted to do. In the end, she decided to take him in so now you guys have a little family.

"What should we name him?" Amber asks, changing his diaper as you laid in the bed with your eyes closed. Remembering his mother's last words to you, "I think...we should name him, 'Yasu'. It means quiet and it suits him well, he's an awfully quiet baby, hardly gives us any trouble." You point out.

Feeling the bed dip to your right, you open one eye, Amber holding Yasu, "alright, 'Yasu' it is."

Sighing, you smile, "looks like I have to put in double the effort to protect my family." You comment, missing the way Amber's face flush at your words.

This idea with the new chapter in game works so well, the angst potential this has....

Masterlist

[bbarican]

december 18, 2023; 7:14 am - roadtrip!

good morning, tumblr! happy monday! its rainy and gloomy and cold, but im not mad about it; im currently in a starbucks sa slex kasi i decided to help out my boss toda sa batangas project niya; its just gonna be me, her, and our client’s assistant today

im excited! its been so long since i last went to batangas kaya im excited for the roadtrip and to see our project down there too kasi this is on of our last high end residentia projects kaya im looking forward to taking lots of photos too

this weekend has been the most fun ive ever had in a really long time! so many new memories with my family and the fact na we’re only getting started palang is making me suuuuper stoked for the rest of the holiday season kasi hanggng katapusan pa sila ng december dito!

i also bought gifts na for my parents and funny enough, i didnt even try as in not at all to hide their gifts kasi nga i love giving gifts and i dont do well with hiding surprises, especially if i know na mgugustohan talaga nila yung ibibigay ko

for example, kagabi napadaan ko sa store that sells collectible toys and i was initially there to look around for gifts for my cousins pero and unang tanong ko talaga is if meron ba silang anything n voltes v related

and they did! they had 1 funko pop and i didnt even hesitate that much kasi i know my dad is gonna love it so i bought it tapos natatawa pa ko kasi it was impossible to hide from my dad either way kasi yung plastic bag from the store was clear too so he wouldve seen it kaagad din

for my mom naman, i bought her clothes and make up is thats some of the things she wanted and it was also an excuse for me to buy myself a new lip balm from sunnies so its always a win win situation in the end

im so grateful na i get to spoil my parents na

the homily last night was very spot on too - we should learn how to be okay with things and situations just being enough; and im glad to say na everything has been enough for us and i will forever be thankful

anyways, i hope you guys have a lovely monday and a lovely rest of the week! for those na may work pa like me, ingat kayo sa mga biyahe niyo! and for those na naka bakasyon na, eh di sana ako din

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

"the church on ruby road" thoughts + reactions

(tumblr is broken so i cant delete this space without breaking the post :))

"you saw a ladder in the sky and you thought, yeah, ill give that a go, babes" rose tyler CALL OUT

"what's the problem with hanging on? it's all the friction and the weight and the burns. so i got rid of that" and that's why u are still Fucked Up doc. this is NOT how u do rehab!!!

"learn the lenguage" eyes emoji "coincidence is what makes the baby tasty" EYES EMOJI

"it sitches you in. it weaves you into the day. you become all complicated and knotted and vivid"

"it's like a tapestry, it's gorgeous" self congratulating ur own writing, russel? sldkfjsdlkfj

"like the best, like wow" 13 and ‘fam’ walked so 15 could run

"a screwdriver needs screws" (so whenever the screwdriver works it, it works by resonating articulations and undoing binding agents, but it cannot do “untangling”)

VENTILAITON SHAFTS!!!! (my "this new era is the cartoon era" meta is born)

"amazing!" "no it's not" nothing changes lol

this feels *so* wilderness years (positive)

the MASTER knot you say....………………………...

"i've got no one" aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

"it's not magic, it's a lenguage, like a different form of physics" he’s coping about the “little” salt mistake still...

damn 15/ruby chemistry is so good….. can't wait for it all to go up in flames. And tragedy. Flaming tragedy.

"but only one of them stayed" mirror...? QUICK someone count how many companions have there been and if it's 33?????

im having sm emotions wtf

honestly ppl thinking rtd would retcon this were so hilariously off-base lol as if there's anything more of a catnip-plot for a soap opera writer than a “figure out parental origins” plotline

follow the crack... the crack in time and space...

it bothered me that in the special they used so much contemporary colorful theatrical lighting, that didnt fit the "grounded" doctordonna era at al, but it works much better here in that we're properly in the color ncuti era

"dont say that" aggggggggggggg

(ppl forgeting about ruby feels kinda clara coded / foreshadowing?)

"then why are you crying?" im going feral

"i will fix this" rtd voice: he will make it worse

oohh, the hubris in this ep was the arrogance of the doctor saying "they are NOT time travellers" sdklfj

baby catching... xena coded

blue / gold motif my beloved!!!

its a wonderful life~

"everything i do just makes it happen" -> "maybe im the bad luck"

"where are you goin now?" nbd just ruby going to buy some bread at the same store as yaz

CONCLUSIONS!

this was so wholesome t.t i really enjoyed that!! it has some lore implications and long-run stuff but mostly i’m really glad to finally get some new stories/a new vibe. I really enjoyed the glimpse we got of ruby’s family world and also love that both mine and 15’s reactions was “i’ve only had ruby for half an hour but if something happened to her i’d murder everyone here and then myself probably”. her wardrobe is beyond iconic.

besides the “biggest family in the world” parallel, the bb photos in the fridge give me like… TTC’s o"ther lost incarnations are their siblings vibe". Or, every "other time lord is technically the doctor’s children" vibe.

aesthetically, i really enjoyed this one. Specially The Big Scene (13-era blue/gold motif my beloved). This is one i see myself rewatching in the future just for the feel-good feel of it. the goblin number was fun! a clever parody of how much of pop uses “baby” and sweets-related metaphors for the sake of romance and here it becomes all for the sake of cannibalism lol (big brown eyes, caramelise~). 15/ruby being *so in* tune is cute+fun (and slightly sus). promising start to the new era.

[bonesandthebees]

HI! this is an anlysis ask but i saw spruces ask and was like oh no did i do something, and wanted to say that in my last ask i wasnt trying to be negative or anything about niki, i just was talking abt what we were discussing in stars discussion in the discord. didnt mean to try and pressure you in any way, im not upset abt niki or anything! :) now onwards!

so proud abt stars, its amazing, loved the new chapter, super excited for epilouge aswell!

"i need to talk to my boys" AHHAHAJHDBHGDUYBEDGJSJSHLDKJ my childhood traumatized, found family loving, i wish that was me self is SCREAMING >:3

"never trust a traitor" love that quote sm, i cant explain or really describe why but there is something about it that i was just like, oh damn that slaps

glass divine: ive never read someone elses dream, and im not 100% sure i plan to, but i WILL be reading through a glass divine! so hyped >:D

tubbo's betrayal: i want to say i saw it coming so clearly, and honestly, the little voice in my head did, but part of me was also like, nooooo tubbo, he will get hurt, save tub boi, so i was 100% in denial lmao

so glad they got to hug it out man so happy 10000000/10

overall, it was amazing. (are we rly surprised, its always amazing since it is Bee) so so proud, so grateful, and i gotta say, this is the best fic ive ever read. i loved it. i will be buying copies for all of my friends, and if you ever do a book signing, i will be there (if i can convince someone to take me) ill be there in spirit no matter what. you are my favorite author. much love to you, and i hope you know how amazing you are, and that you understand how hard to do this is, dont be afraid to take a break after stars is 100% over, because this is a huge project thats taken you super long, and its done, dont be upset about that, and if you need anything at all, we are here! sorry for being sappy fren but im so proud! <3

-👑

omg no king anon you're fine, there was someone in my comments on ao3 who posted some critique that I made a post complaining about so that's what spruce was referring to. you're totally fine I promise!!

I knew the "I need to talk to my boys" line would get people screaming (and tbh I was so excited to write that too)

THANK YOU I was so proud of the "never trust a traitor" bit

literally no pressure to read someone else's dream you don't need to and tbh I do not like someone else's dream that much bc of how I rushed it so... also glass divine is gonna deviate from it so you literally have no need to read it. so glad you're excited for glass divine!!

awww thank you so much king anon. if I ever do actually get to publish stars as an original novel that'd be a dream come true, but we'll have to wait and see if it's something I'm able to do. I'm so happy you enjoy my stories though. and don't worry about me! I'm not taking a break because I actually need a writing project going on at all times or else I have no creative outlet and I get very stressed. I love writing so much and while I know I COULD took a break, I genuinely don't want to. I always make sure I have something planned I can be working on or else I just feel way too restless. I'm just so happy I have readers who I know will read and support whatever silly story my brain decides to come up with next :)

thank you for the kind words you guys are seriously the sweetest <3

[chelleztjs18]

Hello you mrs. honey nut cheerio lefty eyebag 😌

I'm glad you're back and hopefully it was a safe flight back!

I'm doing okay, not much has changed hahaha I don't think you've missed much! It's been so so since I was just working and haven't really been out because it was windy and snowy.

You partied hard while in CA didn't you haha just kidding. How did the huckleberry champagne taste? So was it like a Moscow mule?

Uh oh that's not good about your brother in law. You guys hung out with him before he got covid?

Yes the tiramisu turned out amazing. I am thinking of doing another version using a sponge cake. Then the mango dessert was too sweet. I may have used too much condensed milk. But I still enjoyed it.

Of course, I thought of you! Cause I remember you like honey ham, but won't have any. I even finished the leftovers yesterday..it was still so good.

By the way, I saw on google news an article about dark chocolate. Something about them having too much thingy that is toxic and they mentioned Lindt. And it got me thinking of you too because it's the kind you like.. I don't know if they'll be removing it from the shelves or what they're going to do.

What did you get for Christmas? Anything nice? 😌 did Emily get to open the presents you guys got her too?

Those dishes sound good. When you say fried crackers, like shrimp crackers?

Hm let's see, since we did songs... I'll do tv shows and movies next.

Name 3 shows/movies that will always make you cry.

-CuriousGeorge

Hiiiiiii corn-punn lil' jon righty eyebag!!

I'm glad u saw my answer. I thought u were probably sleeping or not interested in sending me curious asks anymore 😅 just kidding. 😁

Yeah i made home safely. My flight was delayed from 5.30 to 6.30 pm. Then they made us waiting longer than that,, it took so long to finally take off. I think we took off around 7.pm. i got home around 1.30 i think. N em got excited when she saw the gift santa left at our house when we werent home, so after bath, she played with the toys until like 3.30am.. i stayed up with her.. so i was pretty tired.

N today, i cleaned up pretty much almost all day, i unpacked n did a lot of laundry loads. I had to do iy because we will go to texas for new year with my cousin n her family.

Aaw it's okay, sometimes not much change doesnt mean that bad, u know? 😊 n i'm glad we r still talking after i got busy for a week n we didnt talk much.

Haha no, i didnt party that hard at my friend's christmas party..it's far from how hard we partied few years ago.lol.

It taste like moscow mule but u can also taste the berry juice my friend made with a hint of ginger beer. I love it..it's really good. I might wanna make it for new year 😅🤣 if it's not complicated to make.haha

Yeah we hung out with him before he got covid.. but so far everybody r okay.. n after christmas we hung out with them in the driveway n he wore mask just so we can give the presents to the kids.

Ah i see.. i think most of tiramisu i ate, they use spongecake. It's not bad, but i think it will be better if it uses lady fingers. This cookies sounds so weird with the name.lol.

Ah i see.i love mangoes. But if it use too much condensed milk, might be too sweet for me. I would still try it though if u make it for me.😁

That was actually sweet of u that u thought of me. Thank u! Yeah, maybe next time,u should try buying it from honey baked ham brand..with the sides..it will be faster to cook n they are tasty.

I didnt eat the turkey that much at all.. because u didnt really like it. Plus i know after that dinner i was going to my friend's party n i know he has so much indonesian food so i was so glad that i safe a lot of space for them. 🤣 he picked the cattering from our friend's mom that we know that her cooking r so delicious.. gosh now im hungry.lol.

Oh yeah i read that a bit of it abou it. But i didnt know it's the lindt brand 😭😭 curious george righty eyebag, u r very sweet that u remember that small detail i told u! I appreciate that.. 😊 once again, thank u! If u didnt tell me i would probably still buy it.

I got shoes from my husband 😊. N i got good amount of cash from his mom. I think i will buy something for my archery stuff with that money or safe it.😊

We didnt tell emily any of them from us.. it's okay, we want her to have a great christmas spirit n believe in santa. 😁

Yes, it's like shrimp crackers.. i love it.😁 anyway, when i went to the indonesian restaurant there, the area has a bunch of philipinos restaurant n now that i know u, it reminds me of u n i wonder if it's easy for u to find philipines food where u live?

Okay, 3 movies that always make me cry, i have to think hard about it because i rarely cry because of movie..n i try not to cry because of movie. Well in general, i try not to cry easily because i dont want people think im weak or something. Sorry i got off track.haha.

So the movies are;

1. Avengers End Game the part that Nat n Tony died.

2. Happy Death Day 2U, the part about the main character's mom that passed away.

3. Between Age Of Ultron or Infinity War (wanda's sad part of course)

What about urs?

Next question?

Cheerio! (Not the cereal ones) 😆

[moongoddessmox]

ok, Man Candy M update for yall. long long long

last Wednesday I was sitting in my car on break, he came out and was screaming and yelling to his mom (who also works there) about some $400+ charge that came out of his account and he doesn't know what it is, ( I think his wife did it or something idk for sure)

like hes literally about to break down crying yall, I mean, it was fucking gut-wrenching hearing him lose control and be so fucking broken over it. he was so frustrated and upset and hopeless, and he then started to let everything flow and was talking about how he can never do anything for himself, that he cant even get a haircut because his wife wanted to get one, or that he cant even buy himself new clothes. and how his son stole the last of his cigarettes and weed and his wife took the sons side, and he said "no ones on my side" and that his daughter's birthday was the next day and now he cant even get her a present. he was just so fucking broken over it. dude i was about to cry in my car hearing his voice shake like that.

i understand the feeling, i know that frustration, i grew up in it, ive lived it. so. naturally, i wanted to help. because regardless of this little crush, i really do hold him to a high regard, like, hes been nothing but kind to me and i genuinely love working with him and i appreciate what he does because every little thing doesn't go unnoticed.

so i tell Dr. A, who was working the same area as us that night, that i'm going to disappear for a few minutes as soon as my paycheck clears and i need him to cover for me. i don't tell him what im doing, because i want to remain as anonymous as i can so no one is mad or embarrassed by what im gonna do.

paycheck hits, i rush off and get supplies, and take out some money and leave it on his windshield, its only 20 minutes before lunch so im praying that it stays there.

lunch time, we go outside, i wait to see his reaction and HOMIE DOESNT FUCKING SEE THE WHITE ASS ENVELOPE ON HIS CAR.......YALL HE FUCKING DROVE OFF...........im about to shit myself, im on the brink of a fucking heart attack thinking this shit really about to fly off and be GONE

so i have to break anonymity and tell his mother that i put something on his car and he NEEDS to check before its gone.

30 minutes later, he comes back, hes not acting like he just received a large sum of money. im freaking out even more. he doesnt say anything to me. i tell Dr. A, he says something to MCM and he says "no i didnt see anything, my mom told me but i didnt notice anything" but he didnt check so im like "oh my god, brb" and run to check his car. ITS NOT THERE. i come back inside, my heart has a few beats left before its gonna give the fuck out.

Dr. A tells me he told MCM that he NEEDS to find it otherwise he will be extremely upset. so MCM walks the path he took to leave, comes back it and IS HOLDING UP THE ENVELOPE THANK THE FUCKING LORD. it was still in the parking lot praise jesus.

yall, i made this man cry. he couldn't fucking believe it, he was like "you put this on my car? are you serious?" and he started to tear up, he told me he doesn't know ANYONE friends or family that would ever do anything like that at all. and he was crying, his face was all red, and he went on and on ALL NIGHT about how shocking it was and how grateful he is, and how he "didn't know people like that existed"

and im telling him all the reasons why i did it, how great hes been and how kind and how much i appreciate him and what he does (super platonically guys, i s2g i really dont give any reason for them to think i have a crush on him, im not actually a homewrecker) and its like the first time hes ever heard this kind of thing

and Dr. A was telling me he's proud of me and that its good that i told him WHY i did it so he can hear that. and im so glad he had that reaction because i was scared of overstepping but his voice yall, it was heartbreaking hearing him out there, i only wish i could've done double the amount but not on short notice like that.

so now we're all like best friends lmao and Dr. A told me that MCM's mom and wife both cried too, and MCM showed up with a haircut on Sunday as well so im glad he got to use some on himself!

and now we're planning to have a BBQ and get to actually hang out outside of work, and i exchanged numbers with Dr. A and tonight i'm gonna get MCM's number too because we want to have a group chat with the three of us lmao (to talk but also for emergencies because my battery has died twice and MCM jumped it for me and said he'll do it any time so)

so

today, we weren't in the same area but we took our breaks at the same time and talked outside and shit, and hes so awkward lmao hes like, ya know when youre on the phone and walk around aimlessly, thats how he acts when we talk, its like bashful but hes intently listening.

and when we walked back in together, no one was talking but he turned around and smiled at me, like for whAT HOMIE YOU CANT LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT I'LL PASS OUT.

oh and the other day i saw his bicep, his sleeve was rolled up a little and i saw his full arm and it was flexed bc he was carrying shit and yall, fuck me uppppppppppp, arms, hands, bellies, im gonna fucking scream

oh also he was helping me with cardboard and our arms touched, ughhhhhhh sdhfslkjfhsldhl

so yeah, im like, best friends with him now basically lmfao

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: January 17th, 2021 (Part 1)

More ask answers! It’s gonna be a lot today, so we’re splitting it into two.

i love Cliff and Kyra's relationship so much ?? even though they had issues they managed to work things out and remain friends through the years! it's so refreshing over the narrative of people resenting each other after they break up.. im kind of curious tho , do they see each other strictly platonic now or is there still something lingering?

Aw, I’m glad to hear you like their relationship. Their feelings are very platonic now. Kyra views him as an ex and co-parent and then a friend as time goes on. Cliff does struggle not to think of her as still his family, even though he’s not romantically attracted anymore. But he’s knows it might be crossing a line to be that attached to a woman who divorced him and so he tries to let her just live her own life.

Can i ask just how tall Cove exactly is in Step 3? And will he be even TALLER in Step 4? My short heart cannot handle this. (Also this game is absolutely flawless and I haven't been able to stop thinking abt it since I played. Planning on getting the dlcs soon, y'all did SO WELL!!!!!!!!!) 

Haha, thank you very much.

Step 1: 4'1 feet Step 2: 5'4 feet Step 3: 6'0 feet Step 4: 6'4 feet 

Hey! So, I know Steam is having its fall sale/boxing day sale or something so i was wondering if you guys were gonna participate in that?? I was thinking of buying XOXO Droplets (the extended version) but i didnt want to do anything before there was a potential sale. May seem like an odd question, but I was genuinely curious. I can't wait to play the full game when i get it tho :D

I’m afraid we have some things we wanna fix in XOXO Droplets before really promoting it/pushing it with sales, so for now it won’t be participating in Steam sales. Hopefully we can update it soon.

Hello I'm still trying to get the CG for Step 2-3 and didn't see or get it when I told Cove of the deal in the Dinner moment like your guide says. I got the achievement but no CG. Is there another choice I'm suppsed to make after telling him?

Make sure you go back to the house with Cove after he leaves and don’t stay in your living room.

* don't be suspicious* *don't be suspicious*  ...Hi, there's another way to pay for the Our Life +18 dlc besides Patreon? Patreon have very limited payment options and I've been struggling with the platform. Anyways, thanks for the amazing game I hope I could support any way ^u^

Haha, right now there isn’t anything specific, but once it’s finished in a few months we’ll look into other hosting sites.

do you think we can get another our life dlc plzzz i would pay so much for it <3 i want to see their life together when they have kids or pets or just live with the two of them and i really want them to adopt kids too since jamie is adopted :)

I’m afraid we likely won’t. As much as we love OL: B&A, we’ve gotta start putting our whole effort into new projects soon. Maybe someday we could come back and do special new content, but it’d be quite awhile after all the planned DLCs have released.

How do you delete a save file? 

On PC or Mac you hover over a slot and hit the delete key, or you can go into the saved data folder and delete the files directly. On Android I’m afraid I don’t know. You can save over them with something else, though.

this is like. totally embarrassing and silly to ask but im dying here; i love cove so much i wanna climb that boy like a tree. so basically what im asking here is like. will the nsfw dlc have explicit stuff or is it more like an implied kinda situation? cuz i want some full on nsfw shit im so thirsty for cove and only this can satisfy me

It’s truly 18+ and explicit with nude art and straightforward descriptions of sexual acts. That’s why we can’t release it as part of the main game, haha. I’m glad you’re into Cove~

Hello! I've really been enjoying Our Life and am noticing some animation changes with the update! I just had a question though. In Step 2 we meet Jeremy but I was wondering if he was only meant to appear in Step 2 as a typical mean kid or is there more we don't know? 

Jeremy is a horrible pill in Our Life, but he is also a beloved romance option as a teenager in our other game XOXO Droplets. His personality is quite different once he grows up more. I imagine Cove and the MC would be pretty surprised.

Hi! i absolutely adore our life so far and I can't wait to continue supporting the game with the upcoming dlc drops! i was just wondering if y'all were planning on uploading any art for steam icons/the steam point shop in general<3 

Thank you! And we might. But we’re first trying to focus on making a new game update since there are still some improvements we have in mind.

I hope this question doesn’t come off weird but would Cove be the type of guy to memorize your period? I imagine he’d be the kind of best friend/boyfriend who would keep track of your cycle to support you during it or something like that 

We’d be shy about it at first and avoid mentioning what he was doing, but he would try to keep track of it based on any insight the MC gave him. The longer you’re with him, the more it could be just a normal thing the two openly talked about.

Hi there, how often do you do auditions? I am a voice actor and would love to be part of a project ?

We usually have auditions two to three times a year. Our next planned casting call will be for side character in Our Life Step 4.

Are the 5 moments included in the Derek and Baxter DLCs different from the normal Step 2 and 3 DLC? And will they focus exclusively on Derek and Baxter respectively? I was a little confused when I read the DLC FAQ. Thanks! 

Mostly they’ll be completely new Moments that star Derek or Baxter. Though, for example, Derek’s DLC will allow you to take him to the Soiree. If you go with Derek that will remove your ability to go with Cove in the Cove Step 2 DLC.

Sorry if you've already said this, but how will your character transfer over to the patreon exclusive NSFW DLC?  Can it access your game memory or will you select traits your character showed and choices you made from a list? 

It’s a standalone event that happens for MCs who are in a relationship with Cove and have been dating him for a while. Other details about the MC/their dynamic with Cove will just be picked in the event itself. It won’t try to take data from a specific save in the actual game.

I love your games, but currently only have an Android. When will you put your other games on android? 

I don’t know. They might not able to be formatted for Android very well, unfortunately. We’ll see how much time we’ve got later this year to try figuring it out.

Thank you so much for all the questions :D

[randombubblegum]

SYD HAVE U FINISHED TUA3 YET BC I NEED SOMEONE TO SCREAM ABOUT IT WITH

YES I DID i stayed up all night by accident watching it….. under a cut for spoilers

I WAS NOTTTTTT PLEASED WITH HOW THE DRIVING PLOT OF THIS SEASON WAS 2 STRAIGHT ROMANCES???? NEITHER OF WHICH WAS GOOD????? bro how did we go from 2 gay romances last season that drove character development to LUTHER MEETS AND FUCKS RANDOM GIRL IMMEDIATELY and DIEGO AND LILA ARE BACK ON THEIR BULLSHIT AND ALSO BAD FOR EITHER OTHER …….. anyway.

everyone this season was kind of a stupid asshole? EXCEPT klaus viktor and five of course. god they are such good characters and i love them so much. i was wondering for so long how theyd ~bend reality~ to fit viktor being a dude into the new timeline but he was just like “im…viktor now” and all his siblings were like “k cool whatever” LMAOAOJDLAJSLS it was SOOO funny…. loved that. very real sibling interaction.

also i love klaus soooo much im glad we got to see more of him and his backstory and even some character development… and his powers!!! MY BOY. i also love five and tho aiden gallager is super annoying in real life my GOD does he play that character well. i LOVE five. old man in body of 13yo just never gets old hes sooo good i just wish we got SO MUCH MORE about his plot????? like it was wayyy more interesting than anything else going on??

honestly tho the whole last seasons driving plot being about the Commission and the intricacies and laws of time travel and how it intersects with the umbrella academys stories was SOOO GOOD…. and then this seasons main plot points were. luther wants to bone and then marry the enemy family girl. diegos still doing his weird toxic ass thing with lila who lies to him about having his child???? and allison goes full evil because she thinks her daughter not existing is like the most trauma anyones ever faced :| girl shut the HELL up. i felt rly let down by the plot in this it sucked honestly. and how did we go from 2 amazing moving queer relationships to ZERO while i had to sit through tropey straight bullshit. ugh. did yall forget to run this script by gerard or what lmao

i did generally like the ben plotline tho, like i rly didnt see it coming that he was gonna be a huge asshole??? i kinda wanted more of OUR ben who i loved tho :( but they rly made it work in the latter half of his plotline i think. like i didnt buy his whole deal but they finally gave him motives and emotions by the end and that was GOOD. really liked how that rounded out. the other sparrows were literally nothing tho like bye rip i guess????

overall i did enjoy watching this season and felt pulled in but got the plot was SOOOO lackluster compared to seasons 1 and 2. bleh. viktor klaus and five are my SPECIAL LITTLE BOYSSSS and i love them tho

[sanchoyo]

danny phantom season 2, episode 17-20 thoughts! finishing up season two! the finale is the THIRD 2-PARTER OF SEASON 2. that's so many! I wonder how many season 3 will have?

see prev episode thoughts in this tag <3

-UERGH WHY DOES VLAD HAVE AN AI WITH MADDIE'S FACE ON IT. SOOO CREEPY. AND MORE 'CREATIONS' waiiiit. vlad is Dr. Frankenstein! (despite his ghost design obviously referencing vampires) HE HAS 'CREATIONS' HE MAKES THEN WONT TAKE REAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR!!! this bitch.

-danny was late and his friends immediately start going off about how hes inconsiderate, and has been treating them like sidekicks??? he just overslept, my god. chill. even if he has, be nicer about talking about it with him?? he really can't help that he sometimes has to chase the ghosts, or has a secret identity to protect...

-'what kind of ghost haunts a miniature golf course' umm. me as a ghost. next question

-imagine going home and theres a tiny child on your bed claiming to be your cousin. with as many cousins I have, I would probably believe her. but the 'ran away from home' BIT....SHES 12?? SHES SO TINY. I hate that they have her belly out in her ghost form, but I like how her colors are asymmetrical. something about her design...maybe the proportions?? are weird to me...anyway danny was good to feed her, but he shouldve taken her to his parents FIRST. or, tbh, probably jazz. (JAZZ DIDNT EVEN GET TO MEET HER!!! NOOO. I mean she said she'll be BACK BUT STILL)

-ANYWAY. shes voiced by AnnaSophia Robb, the girl who was in because of winn dixie, played as violet from charlie and the chocolate factory, and was the girl from bridge to terrabithia. (the movie that made me cry hysterically when I was 12 and I never watched it again because it Broke Me!) thats super cool.

-vlad sucks: the episode, basically. what's new!! I love how he's like, I'm Not A Villain. *immediately cuts to him torturing danny to make him transform, to get mid-transformation DNA, to perfect a Clone.* *immediately shows that he doesnt give a shit about his new daughter Dani and just wants a ''more perfect clone'' and will put her in danger to get that. will let her DIE to get that*

-Dani is danny's clone and is a girl? transgenderism....one of them has to be trans. or they both are.

-dani just. leaving at the end. WHAT? SHES 12. DONT JUST. NO!!! SHE WAS PROBABLY JUST BORN, A MONTH AGO AT MOST, RIGHT?? SHE NEEDS...SOMEWHERE TO LIVE. MONEY? FOOD?? A FAMILY?? AN EDUCATION???! WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S LEAVING!!! OKAY BYE I GUESS!!! D: concern!!!

-the next ep opens with skulker chasing a ghost down. ...does skulker count as a ghost hunter in the way valerie and danny do? I mean, sure, he hunts the good guys too, but he. he hunts ghosts...also, we haven't seen his Real Form since his debut episode! tiny...

-the guys in white are back! ngl, I assumed they were a gag for that one episode. you're telling me they might actually be a threat? ok.

-valerie in her lil nasty burger uniform looks so cute!! glad shes not in that mascot uniform this time. I guess she stopped hiding that she's working there now?

-gregor having white hair, dressed in black and white...and green eyes...sam has a Type, I guess.

-danny being unnecessarily hostile about gregor. danny!!! hes been nice so far. he looks a little...tall to be 14, but. danny doesnt know anything about him! (he does Suspect, but...you cant just spy on people and be rude to them from a hunch.) also, gregor kissed her, and when she freaked out, he was like 'oh no!! sorry, we can take it slow! I understand!' which was NICE. I hate jealousy plots still tho.

-altho. umm. tucker, being concerned about danny spying on them??? SAM AND YOU WERE SPYING ON DANNY AND VALERIE A FEW EPISODES AGO!!!!! im not saying its RIGHT, but dont be a hypocrite!!! AND THEN SAM BEING MAD ABOUT IT, TOO.

-DANNY IS A 7 ON THE SCALE OF ECTOPLASMIC POWER!!! out of 10? so I want to know where the other ghosts rank...I mean it's a list from the guys in white, so, it may not even be accurate, like, they havent seen ALL of his powers, have they?

-Lancer being like 'im not cooperating with the FEDS' until they said they could access his tax records. they already did that joke with jack, but like, its still funny. kings of tax evasion.

-tucker's aggressive third-wheeling. but gregor being super into it. gregor/tucker is the real ship here. then gregor kissing danny on both cheeks after hugging him. bi poly king gregor. (he does turn out to be a liar with a phoney accent. unsurprising, BUT THE CONCEPT OF HIM BEING GENUINE AND THEM ALL DATING IS FUN)

-THE...GUYS IN WHITE THINKING GREGOR IS DANNY PHANTOM. LMAOOO. GET HIS ASS. or,, Elliot. lmfao

-sam saying tucker is part of the package because theyre friends was super sweet <3 but also 'part of the package'...polyships are obviously the solution to these dumb jealousy/love triangle plots.

-danny crashed a whole plane. the collateral damage...

-is he....

-you know....

.... (ITS NOT GAY IF YOU'RE DOING IT TO PRETEND TO BE SOMEONE YOU'RE NOT, AND LIE TO A GIRL. RIGHT? he was getting a little too into pretending to enjoy tucker's company, and the above...c'mon, guy.)

-lmao, freakshow is in actual prison. I didn't expect a follow up, or for him to show back up! in the finale of this season, too!

-THE SICK TATTOO GHOST IS NAMED LYDIA!!! more Lore On her. freakshow seemed genuinely concerned about her. also, is she mute? I don't think she talked the first time we saw her, either. and we didn't know freakshow 'envied' ghosts, either, the first time, we just knew he was controlling them. interesting!

-...they literally stole the infinity gauntlet from marvel and called it the reality gauntlet. is that legal. what the fuck. even with the gems in the lil slots, having different powers...they had freakshow in jail, but didnt check his pockets??! hes just still in his lil outfit??? what kind of ...oh, its in amity park. yeah, all of the adults are idiots, okay, sure.

-'freakshow!' 'in the anemic flesh!' dude take some iron pills then. also, sure, the red eyes could be contacts for his aesthetic, but the whites of his eyes are yellow! does he have jaundice?! he severely needs more...like, every kind of vitamin. (this is what im worried about as freakshow attacks danny with giant robots)

-again, goth circus is a sick theme, and I love his goth train.

-oh FUCK every single person saw danny transform. on a stage. including his parents via TV. oh god. the guys in white and immediately like 'youre coming in for experiments!' SCARY. at least the crowd is willing to help him to escape...perks of now being a local celeb! even the kids at school are accepting :) this is what, the third time his family has found out? its always been an alt timeline tho. and danny fully intending to just rewrite things again instead of...I dunno, trying to roll with it this time? hes really worried his family won't accept him, huh...

-'maybe our son IS THE GHOST BOY, but its not as if our family's ghostly activities have EVER PUT YOUR FAMILIES IN DANGER' maddie. mmmmmmmmmmmm. okay.

-danny 100% prepared to run away from home because of this :( oh :( and saying his parents are 'looking for him, or a scalpel to dissect him with' ouch...

-THE GUYS IN WHITE TRYING TO ARREST A 14 YEAR OLD. fuck da feds.

-side note (another one about voice actors...) freakshow's voice actor, Jon Cryer, was lex luthor in pretty much every DC tv show, which is why I recognized his voice, because my dad loves those shows so I've seen a good bit of them without seeking them out...)

-the old man saying 'hey, i still had minutes left!' and danny saying 'you gotta watch those roaming charges!' about danny destroying the people in the diner's phones so no one could report seeing him...would kids today understand these things. can you even BUY minutes anymore...I remember my first phone being a flip phone, and the fact I always had minutes when my sister ran out super fast, because I didnt have friends calling or texting me like she did...:/

-the fentons being genuinely like 'why didnt danny trust us and tell us this, we love him :(' and JAZZ LAYING INTO THEM WITH THE 'DISSECTION/MOLECULE BY MOLECULE' LINES. LITERALLLLY. they need to apologize

-technically, lydias stronger than you! -jazz lesbianism moments! when did you even learn her name!!! but also get freakshows ass. lydia is also cooler looking. looove her design sm still.

-jazz psychoanalyzing freakshow... (also, her also having ghost envy? au where jazz is a ghost!! id like to see it)

-im glad the kids still got to go to their respective vacation things, even if they cant really stick around and enjoy them much...

-furry: confirmed. (also tucker calling her hot. tucker is a furry confirmed)

-danny being mad someone at the comic con is selling comics of him without permission, lmfao. give him his royalties!

-freakshow > thanos because hes a drama clown and does use his gauntlet to be FLASHY AND DRAMATIC.

-jazz's 'USE PYSCOLOGY' to danny about freakshow LMAOO. AND THEN IT WORKING. but, oh, freakshow's ghost form sucks. I like him as a clown better tbh. good thing danny took away his ghost powers!

-his parents hugging him and saying theyre proud :"( and saying 'of course you lied to us, we never gave you a reason not to!' and saying they were in the wrong basically for always talking about hurting ghosts aaaa :""(

-then he WIPED THEIR MEMORIES AGAIN!!! FUCK. I can understand him wiping the goverments/student bodies' memories, but why his parents?? they were being accepting!! ARGHHH. season 3 couldve been them all trying to adjust to them knowing!

-I know, on a meta level the showrunners probably wanted to just reset things to the status quo of him having a secret identity. But. We've been doing that for (2) seasons, I'd love if season 3 could be like, his parents adjusting to this and trying way harder to learn more and accept it (and the shenanigans that could come from that) and for fun, if he didn't wipe the students memories, it could be him being popular for a while, then everyone slowly realizing, oh, he's still Danny. Like. he might have ghost powers but hes Just The Same Guy instead of putting him on a pedestal (and seeing them all try and help him hide it from the giw/people who don't know!!)

-fuck they didn't even explain WHY he wiped everyone except sam, tucker and jazz's memories. he just Did It right when his parents were saying they loved/accepted him!! and sam and tucker didnt question it at all!!! HELLO??? very annoyed about this turn of events.

-anyway. onto season 3! I know its shorter than the first two seasons, and is the last season... I might just do it in 2 bursts if I can... :3c depends on the episodes' content and how much I want to say about each!

[consumeconstantly]

Small Buff Girl Sightings Ch. 5

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ao3

3:00AM | CoffeeVamp: bb bat update us TheOG: ^^ more info on the situation in paris

3:28AM | Demonspawn: It is difficult to obtain information on Hawkmoth. The butterflies disperse after they are cleansed, and before they land their target, they don’t show up electronically.  Coffee Vamp: o how the mighty have fallen i thought u said u could best me bb boi

3:42AM | Demonspawn: I’d like to see you do better. Coffee Vamp: IS THAT A CHALLENGE Coffee Vamp: ill take u up on that gimme 24 hours and ur going down TheOG: he has had a whole month so dont be too sure of that LadyLady: would you guys SHUT UP its two and some of us have jobs to do Coffee Vamp: cmon babs u luv us dont deny it LadyLady: Don’t make me hunt you down, Tim. Coffee Vamp: oOooO proper punctuation im shaking TheOG: just shut off notifications Babs TheOG: Bruce does Jesus: i don’t think the man has checked this chat in years Coffee Vamp: wdym brucie checks the chat all the time hes just a silent lurker Coffee Vamp: he doesnt even set himself to invisible

3:57AM | Daddy is away. Coffee Vamp: im so glad i have admin privileges imagine if i didnt bruce would have a boring normal nickname like his actual name LadyLady: good lord, why am I even in this chat?? Daddy: You’re supposed to keep them under control. Coffee Vamp: SEE I TOLD U BRUCE IS A SILENT LURKER> THIS. IS. SOLID. PROOF. IN YOUR FACE TheOG: nobody said otherwise Coffee Vamp: also how are the people have you made friends Jesus: Demon spawn? Making friends? Id be less surprised if he told us he has a new fling Coffee Vamp: is j right? Got a winter fling? 

4:12AM | Coffee Vamp: ur lack of a response tells us nothing  TheOG: im sure he’s just adopted his usual icy persona Coffee Vamp: haha hes the bb of so many things Coffee Vamp: bb vamp bb demon spawn ice ice bb Coffee Vamp: getitt im so funny

4:36AM | Coffee Vamp: guys?

“I told you I could get her to write her number on your cup,” Marinette grins with pride.

“And I told you I didn’t want her to.” Damian scowls and kicks a pebble in his path.

“You’re still wearing the clothes I picked out for you,” she points out.

“You told me to wear it. I wore it. I’m not interested in her.” 

Marinette squints at Damian, evaluates whether he’s telling the truth or not. “Huh, you really aren’t interested. I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t wear the other outfit I picked out for you-- that one would have gotten her to ask you out on the spot.”

Damian groans. “We’re going to have to find a new coffee place.”

“Or we could just come when she’s not on shift and run away like mice when we do see her?”

Damian gives her The Look.

“But they have good coffee here,” Marinette whines.

“Maybe you should have thought about that before dressing me up and sending me to my death.”

“It’s not my fault! You only have your parents to blame for your looks.”

It’s true; both of Damian’s parents are good-looking. His whole family is, actually, adopted or not. All of the good looking people he meets are talented and have a tragic life story. Which is the cause and which is the effect, Damian isn’t sure. But it holds true even in Paris. All he has to do is look at Marinette or Adrien, though he’s not a hundred percent sure where the tragedy kicks in for Marinette. Probably the time when she was at odds with Lila, but he hasn’t looked much into the situation. He can even use Lila Rossi as an example. She has even worse color coordination than Damian is, but her features are model worthy. Lila Rossi is also definitely fucked up in ways that Damian doesn’t care to explore.

The effects of Marinette’s well-placed compliments has Damian thinking about himself in a positive manner that he never has before. Bruce is always stingy with praise, and the other senior members of the Justice League of America see him as another Robin that doesn’t need praise because competency comes with the mantle. Dick and Barbara compliment him occasionally, but that’s rarer now that his place is more firmly cemented in the family. Damian doesn’t think he’s ever had someone so willing to genuinely compliment him. Marinette’s compliments extend to more than just his looks, as well. She praises his technological skills as he sets up her website and has complimented him as he helps her out with whatever altercations she inevitably comes across on the streets. If he reveals his skills as Robin, reveals himself as Damian Wayne, will he receive even more praise?

“But since we did buy you that absolute knockout of an outfit, you’re going to have to wear it eventually. So whose heart do you want to steal?”

“I don’t want a relationship,” Damian repeats. They seem like more effort than they’re worth, and he always sees couples fighting and complaining about each other. Plus, they have to make time for each other and his alter ego doesn’t allow for that, though he supposes that he isn't Robin. At least, not right now.

“You don’t need to want a relationship just to flirt with somebody. Who’s it going to be? The intern at the Louvre? My parent’s newest hire? Oooh, how about Nicolette?” Marinette’s voice takes on a more mischievous tone. 

Damian will give Marinette this much: her taste in the aesthetics of people is far from bad. The intern from the Louvre is two hundred pounds of lean muscle with a devil-may-care smile and a deep, belly laugh that makes people laugh with him, but Damian and he don’t have anything in common. Her parent’s new hire is knockout gorgeous, with warm brown eyes, and definitely the kind of girl Damian would have gone for as a one night stand back in Gotham. However, he’s also 98% sure that she has a very possessive boyfriend who stops by the bakery every time she has a shift. Nicolette is considered her college’s belle, and her intense gaze paired with her surprisingly friendly demeanor might have been appealing to Damian if she weren’t ten years older than him. 

“I’m not into any of them,” he says, simply.

“Then who are you into? Surely someone has caught your eye in the past month?” Marinette looks genuinely curious, but her expression shifts into horror. “Oh my god. I’m so sorry. I never asked your preferences, if I was being insensitive, I’m sorry, I mean I’m pan, but you absolutely don’t have to tell me, it’s your right if you’re not comfortable.”

Damian does look slightly uncomfortable now that she’s looking at him more closely. His arms are crossed over each other, across his chest, and his hair is tousled. Then, he lets out a small laugh, and Marinette melts. “It’s fine, Pigtails. All of the people you listed are attractive, but I’m not attracted to them. I’m more of a personality guy, though I can’t say that personality has stopped me from things more than dates before.”

He’s had his fair share of hook-ups and makeout sessions in the past when feeling particularly frustrated with something that wasn’t going his way, though his primary method of relief is through sparring. Short missions and one night stands go fairly well together; he doesn’t ever have to deal with people wanting long term relationships, and even if they do, he’s gone before they know it. So far, he hasn’t hooked up with anyone in Paris, but then again, he’s only been here for a month and this is a long term mission. Whatever time he’s not with Marinette or at school is dedicated to piecing together the mystery that is the Miraculous and trying to figure out Hawkmoth’s identity. 

“Oh,” Marinette continues to blush.

She’s clearly too embarrassed to bring up any other topic, so Damian decides that he’ll shoot the same conversation topic back at her. Marinette is attractive, and people she meets ask for her numbers and dates often enough. She’ll accept the former if they aren’t a total creep, but she always turns down requests for dates.

“And you? Why aren’t you out there questing for love? No crushes or significant others that I need to beat off with a stick?”

This does manage to lessen her flush. She frowns, turns something over in her mind. 

“No crushes right now, no. I used to have a huge crush on Adrien just a year ago. He’s such a sweet person, but we don’t see eye to eye on important matters.” And also not into sex, either. Even physical affection hits him the wrong way sometimes, which makes Marinette worry even further for his well being with Lila’s constant touches. Still, he hasn’t said anything, and Lila hasn’t done anything more than grasp his arm or shoulders every now and then, to reassure the class that yes, they are the golden couple. Marinette also suspects that he is very unwilling to talk about the whole situation in general, and it’s not as though they’re super close.

Of course she had a crush on Adrien. Damian can see it now, Marinette looking at Adrien with her big blue eyes, her lashes fluttering when she gets close to him. Stuttering when she gets embarrassed or when she gets close to him. It makes his lungs constrict, but he’s not sure why.

“As for past relationships, there’s only really Luka. We had a pretty good run, but he’s out of the country, touring. He wanted to try long distance, but I didn’t really want that. But he’s respectful-- there’s no need to beat him off with a stick or anything.”

“I’m surprised a pretty girl like you doesn’t have more suitors,” Damian says, stepping over a crack in the sidewalk as they walk towards the park.

Marinette gags. “There are some other people who have been interested, but I wouldn’t exactly consider them relationship material. If you’re going after a girl just because she looks exotic, that’s sort of nasty. I guess I’m just unlucky in love.”

“At least you’re not as bad off as Ladybug is,” Damian jokes.

She looks at him strangely. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, first there was that creepy sculptor who must have been twice her age, then there’s Chat Noir who keeps flirting with her despite her requests not to, plus all of the random love akumas. I’m not even going to talk about the hordes of guys who chase after her, trying to get a date just because she’s a superhero. It’s not even like she can kick them between the legs because she has an image to uphold and all that.” He smirks, nudges her with his arm. “I’m surprised you haven’t done that with some of your stalkers.”

“Oh. You’re right, huh. Though, I don’t think Chat Noir has actually flirted for a while now.”  Chat Noir has been very subdued as of late, and it makes Ladybug worry.

Marinette feels uncomfortable with the way the conversation has shifted. How does Damian know about all of these past akuma attacks? As far as Marinette is aware, most information about anything Miraculous related is difficult to get a hold of abroad, largely because the Miraculous try to hide their existence as best they can, and partially because Mayor Bourgeois doesn’t want word to get out that he hasn’t flushed a supervillain terrorist out even though he’s had three years to do it.

“Copycat happened three years ago.” It’s a question, almost.

“I figure I might as well keep up with the heroes of Paris. I’m here and they’re interesting.” Damian figures this is as good a time as any to bring up his interest in Hawkmoth. Marinette has been nothing but helpful and she’s definitely the kind of person whose heart is in the right place. Not to mention that she’s definitely smart and seems impartial; the one time he asked her about her thoughts on the heroes, he found out that she didn’t see them as perfect. She was able to critique Ladybug in full, which seemed pretty odd considering the rest of Paris seemed to have nothing but glowing praise for the heroine. “You’ve had some awful luck with akumas yourself. Weird how Ladybug didn’t show up when you got kidnapped by Evillustrator. One of the only times she didn’t show up for an akuma.”

“And what happened to the other heroes? It’s mostly Ladybug now. She must be in an awful state with her civilian life.” He looks off to the park, occasionally flicking his attention back Marinette’s face, evaluating her expression.

She catches his eyes and he swiftly looks away, looking almost nervous. Marinette stiffens. He knows, he knows, he knows, he can’t know. But how? How does he know that she’s Ladybug? She hasn’t let anything slip around him. She's been careful not to. Everything she’s ever said about Ladybug has been brief and curt, taking on an almost angry tone.

“If you’re so interested in Parisian heroes, I’m sure you saw the press conference Ladybug and Chat Noir gave last year about why the other heroes would be showing up less often.” Marinette keeps her voice carefully neutral. She needs to play this safe. She’s probably over reacting-- she’s been on edge with Hawkmoth sending out an akuma attack nearly every single day for the past few months.

Damian shakes his head. “It didn’t seem like good reasoning. Ladybug and Chat Noir are too untrained. They haven’t beat two villains in three years. They should let someone else take over.” 

Marinette has come across a good number of Ladybug and Chat Noir haters throughout her time. Those who dislike the Parisian heroes often make the exact same arguments Damian is now. That they’re not fast enough. That they should have taken down Hawkmoth and Mayura already. This is nothing new to her, though it does hurt hearing it from Damian, for some reason. She can’t even argue with most of the points he’s brought up. Going mostly solo was because of her own, selfish reasons. She really should have beaten Hawkmoth and Mayura by now. 

“The only thing they have going for them right now is that they’re keeping their Miraculous out of Hawkmoth’s hands.” She pretends that the reason why Chat Noir doesn’t show up to battle is to ensure that Hawkmoth can’t get both of the Miraculous in one fell swoop. It feels hopeless to fight villain after villain without any movement forwards. Her mind wanders to the increasing frequency of akumas and smiles, sardonically. “Some people think it’s only a matter of time until Ladybug and Chat Noir lose.”

“Hawkmoth almost seems to be the better strategist.” The two of them pass store front after store front. “Do you ever wonder what they look like, under the mask? Who they are?”

Marinette stares at the concrete underneath her feet. Hawkmoth, the better strategist? Laughable, and entirely incorrect. Even the people who hate Ladybug admit that her plans almost always work out, and that her plans are second to none. Really the only person who can possibly think that Hawkmoth is a better strategist is--

She can’t think like that. Damian is her friend. He’s just curious about Paris. Her lack of sleep and increase in paranoia re making her imagine things that are impossible. Besides, Damian isn’t on her list of suspects-- he told her he’s only been here for a short time, and Hawkmoth’s Miraculous definitely has a limited range. It’s a real pity that the world of Miraculous makes concrete evidence hard to come by, otherwise, Marinette likes to think Hawkmoth would have been behind bars already. 

“No,” she lies. Hawkmoth haunts her dreams and every waking hour. She spends hours and hours on theories and scouring out information and people who fit the clues she’s painstakingly pieced together. “Not really.”

Damian’s eyes are a piercing green, and for a moment, Marinette thinks she stops breathing. “Is that so? I’m really interested in who Ladybug is under the mask. I’d love the opportunity to talk to her in person, especially about her Miraculous. The powers she has are… very interesting.”

No. There’s no way that Damian can be Hawkmoth, right? This is all just her paranoia speaking. Damian is just a foreigner who is interested in super heroes. It’s no biggie. Still, she can’t shake off the idea that there’s more to Damian than meets the eye. The way he walks-- no, prowls-- commands respect. Marinette can tell that he knows how to fight, and knows how to fight well. He’s very good at finding information on people-- she sent a whole case file to her on Renee and his situation with his mother within twenty four hours of going into the precinct, complete with video evidence Marinette knows should have been impossible to procure without hacking-- and keeps up with her critiques on Ladybug and Chat Noir’s techniques like he’s watched their battles over and over again. He remembers akuma battles Marinette has half forgotten, because they happened so long ago.

She stares up at him, hands shoved in the pockets of the jacket she chose for him when they went on their wardrobe makeover. Damian is surprisingly wealthy; he purchased anything she even glanced at with passing approval. He looks straight forward, apparently waiting for some response from her. Just because Damian is her friend, doesn’t mean she can immediately expunge him from her list of suspects. So far, she has taken all of Damian’s words at face value. It didn’t matter to her that he rarely talks about his family or his life before Paris. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t brought her to his home during all of the weeks that they’ve been hanging out together. Really, Marinette just figured that he had a rocky relationship with his family, and that he may have been on the poorer side and was embarrassed to show her where he lived. But clearly. Damian is well off enough to afford brand name clothes without batting an eye. Things aren’t adding up. All of the red flags that she’s blatantly ignored start to crop up in her head.

The book on the species of butterflies that akumas are made of, tucked under his arm. The way he showed up after every single akuma attack when she rarely saw him in the area before or during it. His knowledge of the three languages that form the basis of the Miraculous Tome-- Mandarin, Arabic, and English.

If he is Hawkmoth, what sort of emotions would he be feeling right now? Some sort of euphoria, maybe, realizing that he could get infinitely closer to Ladybug when she is Marinette. Anticipation, too. Has Marinette been hanging out with a super villain for the past month? Has she really come to the point where she can call a supervillain her best friend?

Marinette takes another look at Damian’s outfit. Master Fu said that the Miraculous Hawkmoth owns is in the shape of a brooch. Marinette sees no such object on Damian, which could either mean that he’s not Hawkmoth or that he’s just been taking it off whenever he’s with her. She’s really hoping it’s not the second option.

She needs to gather her thoughts, make a plan on how to proceed. When she’s sure that Damian isn’t looking, Marinette sets off the ringtone that is saved for her Maman’s texts and calls. This catches Damian’s attention, and she waves looks up from her phone as though she’s responding. 

“Maman wants me to do a delivery. If you’re looking for more information on the whole superhero situation in Paris, I can get you Alya’s number. She runs the Ladyblog-- I’m sure she’d be glad to talk with you.” Alya also has some of the worst conspiracy theories that Marinette has ever seen. She doesn’t often keep abreast of what the Ladyblog’s portrayal of Ladybug is, but back when Marinette and Alya were friends, she was subjected to wild theories that made her stomach nauseous with how little logic there was. Which means that if-- if-- Damian is actually Hawkmoth, he might be thrown off by what she says.

“I’ll see you on Monday? Jagged texted me last night and wants me to change the embroidery on his commission.” This isn’t exactly a lie; Jagged wants one of the smaller details to be changed, but it certainly won’t take as long as she’s suggesting. Marinette hopes that it’s enough of an excuse to get Damian off her back for the rest of today and tomorrow while she reevaluates her game plans and life choices. 

Damian waves her off. “I don’t think that Ladyblogger girl knows anymore than I do. She’s of no help to me. I’ll see you on Monday.”

#

Marinette’s reaction to Damian’s questions are weird. There’s an underlying tension that she exuded before they parted ways, and he’s still thinking about it a day later.

Marinette, who he always finds near an akuma attack right after it occurs. Marinette, who is emotionally and physically superior to most other Parisians. Marinette, who hasn’t been akumatized in a class full of idiots and other victims. Marinette, who doesn’t like Ladybug even though she seems like a fairly competent and kind hero, despite the fact that she hasn’t caught Hawkmoth yet. Marinette, who rarely talks about akumas despite all of the time he spends with her, which is highly unusual because even people he only briefly meets manage to slip in something about akumas into the conversation. Damian feels like there must be some sort of connection between Marintte and the akuma situation that he’s not getting, but it’s eluding him.

He sits down with his laptop in his apartment and looks up information about Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She’s definitely just as talented as he suspected; in her ninth year of schooling, she won a Gabriel competition, participated in a music video of Clara Nightingale’s, and collaborated with Jagged Stone on an album cover. So that was how she met him-- he wondered, but never asked. There are also a few instagram posts that have tagged her as a good samaritan and a few articles that detail a small, asian girl who’s going around Paris helping random people that are in need.

The weird things that Damian finds are contained in her school records. She’s apparently in very good company with her IQ, but what’s more interesting is all the dates that she is tardy or absent from school. They line up perfectly with all of the dates that akumas appear. He feels dread gather in his stomach. 

A few more searches seem to cement his growing suspicions. Around the same time that Marinette obtained a truce with Lila matched up with when theorists believed that the Italian girl started working with Hawkmoth. He reads the instagrams and tweets of her classmates from the first year that Hawkmoth arrived, which talk about how excellent Marinette is at calming them down and guiding them to a better place. He also reads the posts of Chloe Bourgeois and Alya Cesaire and the articles about Marinette and Evillustrator that tell a slightly different story-- that Marinette is capable of manipulating others into more unpleasant situations.

Damian jolts. There is an incoming call from his father. 

“Are updates on Paris, Damian?” 

Should he give them a clue to his growing suspicions that Marinette is Hawkmoth? No, he can’t tell them until he gathers more information. 

“No,” he says. “Information about Hawkmoth and the Miraculous are hard to come by.”

There’s a sigh and what sounds like the rustling of papers from the other side. “I figured. Tim and Barbara can’t find anything over here, either, but the Justice League is worried. They want results.”

“The Justice League and I agreed that having Robin make an appearance would be beneficial. Gain Ladybug and Chat Noir’s trust, or find Hawkmoth. Information might come easier with your alter ego.”

“All right.” 

Another pause. He and his father have always had an awkward relationship. Bruce didn’t know of his existence until he was ten, and by that time, the most formative years of Damian’s life had already passed. Bruce Wayne may be many things, but good at dealing with children, he is not. Even after adopting so many children, he doesn’t know how to raise a child. Damian and his brothers have all raised themselves, with Bruce only stepping in when one of them is really going off the rails.

“Is everything else going well in Paris? School is good?”

“School is fine.” Damian wonders whether he should tell his father about Marinette. About the girl who is kind and capable and scarily efficient at dispatching criminals for a citizen and-- he can’t think about her like that. He decides against telling his father about her. She might be Hawkmoth, after all, and confirming her existence to his father means that he’s denying that possibility. “Gotham?”

“Nothing out of the usual. A few run-ins with the Joker.”

Another silence. The lapses in conversation aren’t awkward, but Damian thinks of the playful banter Marinette has with her parents and frowns. 

“Goodbye, Father.”

“Goodnight, Damian.”

Damian looks around at his empty apartment. There is nothing in it, except for his suitcase and a few pieces of furniture. It’s nothing like the manor, where he knows that Tim is up at all hours slaving away on another project that Damian rarely gets to see, or that Jason is in the training room with Dick joining him occasionally. He can’t pick a fight with Tim or have Dick try to mediate the conflicts between himself and Jason. No nightly patrols with three or four people talking over the comms, or near instantaneous backup when he gets into a tight spot. There is no Alfred or Barbara or Cassandra or Bruce here. Only Damian. 

He looks down at his laptop, at the various information and images of Marinette that he has up on his screen. In good conscience, he can’t continue being friends with her. Not with the possibility that she is the person he’s trying to hunt down. 

He remembers her saying that being lonely is different than being alone. 

Damian is lonely.

#

Patrol is a necessary evil. 

Ladybug doesn’t hate patrol. She’s not very fond of it, though. It cuts into time that she could be spending sleeping or designing or anything else, really. In the beginning, it started as a way to figure out how everything worked under the guise of the dark and without the constant threat of an akuma hanging over head. Then, it progressed into disproving the theory about Ladybug’s age, because civilians aren’t inclined to believe that a teenage girl who has school the next day would patrol every day in the early morning. Now, it shows the Parisians how devoted Ladybug is-- that’s something that she’s struggled with ever since withdrawing the Miraculous from all of the part time heroes-- and lets Marinette blow off any steam that she has. 

Right now, Marinette needs to blow off a lot of steam. Still, even as Ladybug, as much as Marinette wants to scream to high hell and back about how she’s been friends-- very close friends, she’d dare to say-- with the same person who has been terrorizing Paris for years, she can’t. If she screams, there will be media coverage on it, and she doesn’t want to deal with what the press would write up some article about how Ladybug was overworked and needed to bring back the other heroes, or that Ladybug wasn’t mentally sound enough to take care of Paris, she should just give up the Miraculous, or that Ladybug’s scream was [insert some poetic nonsense that English teachers wax about for hours even though the author never intended the audience to read that deeply into it].

Marinette doesn’t want to admit it, but she’s gotten close to Damian. She’s as close to him as she is with Kagami, Luka, Jagged and Penny. Damian knows that she’s MDC. He knows her hopes and aspirations. He knows her family, knows the majority of her friends, and knows what’s important to her. It will be so easy for him to tear her apart now. Marinette isn’t sure what Hawkmoth is waiting for, but she almost hopes that he’ll get it over with sooner rather than later.

What will Hawkmoth do first? Go after the website that he helped her make, probably. Cut off the financial support that she could use to run away and create another identity. Then, he’ll go after her friends, few and far as they may be. Renee next. Her family, last. She wonders who Mayura is, if he is Hawkmoth. She hasn’t seen anyone that’s close to him. Then again, Damian reveals next to nothing about himself. She’s never even seen where he lives.

There’s a shadow on the rooftops. 

God, of course Hawkmoth would send out an akuma today. He knows how horrible her mental state must be. There’s no way he wouldn’t take advantage of that.

She yoyos over to the shadow, not close enough to strike or apprehend, but close enough to easily give chase without the akuma being able to give her the slip.

“Ladybug,” the akuma says.

“Cut the crap. We all know you want the Miraculous, Hawkmoth. Let’s get to it.” The shadow steps forward where a street lamp illuminates its costume, and once again, she is assaulted by the barrage of colors on her eyes. After seeing how awful Damian’s color coordination was, it’s easy to come to terms with the awful designs of all of his costumes. Still, she’s surprised that the boy who dresses in the same outfit every day creates such outlandish costumes for all of his minions. 

The akuma frowns, tenses. 

“I’m not Hawkmoth,” it insists. “I’m Robin, a vigilante from Gotham. I’ve come to learn more about the current situation and aid you in taking Hawkmoth down.”

 Ladybug scoffs. She’s not sure what this akuma’s tactic is, but none of the others have tried to lie to her so blatantly about their identity. And ripping off an identity? That is a new low, even for Hawkmoth. She’s sure that the real Robin didn’t agree to this, and if she were close with the vigilante, maybe she could get him to throw a lawsuit or two at Hawkmoth once he was in custody, just for kicks.

Robin the akuma scrambles, apparently looking for something that can verify his identity. 

Ladybug strikes. There’s no pride in striking an opponent when they are distracted, but it’s a means to an end. If Damian is dumb enough to send out an akuma confused about its identity tonight of all nights-- a night where Ladybug is distressed and it would be all too easy to take advantage of her-- then she’s going to take advantage of it.

It’s easy to bind the akuma. Startlingly easy. The akuma is different tonight, then. His powers have something to do with close contact, maybe? Ladybug looks on his person for things that could be the point of akumatization, eyes flitting from Robin’s waistband to his mask.

She comes to an unpleasant conclusion. The measurements and the coloring are a perfect match. Hawkmoth has come to meet her in person.

“Damian,” Ladybug hisses. 

Damian’s eyes widen, like he doesn’t know how she’s pieced together his identity. How stupid does he think she is? He’s been dropping hints constantly. Information a transfer to Paris shouldn’t know. Never telling Marinette anything personal. Always being near an akuma attack when it happens. It’s almost like he wanted her to figure out his identity.

“How did you know?” 

“Please, Hawkmoth, did you really think that Marinette couldn’t connect the dots? You must have thought awfully little of her if you thought that your constant appearances near all of the akuma and questions about the Miraculous didn’t lead me to your identity.”

“Hawkmoth? Ladybug, I’m not Hawkmoth, I’m Robin.”

“And I’m the queen of England. Renounce your Miraculous now, Hawkmoth. Or I’ll beat you until you detransform and take it from you.” 

Damian looks confused before his face contorts to an expression of resignation. He recognizes a cold fury in her eyes that is distinct to people who won’t give up until they get their way, and there’s really no other way around this right now. He should have brought his comm with him, but he wasn’t expecting to meet Ladybug tonight; he just wanted to assess the situation as Robin, to get out from his apartment for a second. Rookie mistake. 

True to her word, Ladybug beats Damian unconscious and also until he’s black and blue. She’ll be lying if she didn’t say she took out some of her fury from the past years on him.

But here’s the thing; Damian doesn’t detransform. He stays in his god-awful costume that has the same disgusting shade of mustard yellow as that one top Damian owns. That’s not what’s supposed to happen. When Miraculous users faint, they detransform because it takes a sort of mental awareness to handle the powers bestowed upon them. Is it different because Damian is an akuma? Is there some sort of Miraculous bylaw that if a Miraculous user gets akumatized, they get to stay in their alternate form? Oh wait, that’s right, he’s an akuma, not Hawkmoth right now.

Ladybug stumbles forward, breaking all of the weapons that are on his belt, taking off his mask and breaking that as well. No akuma comes out. She tries his gloves, then his boots. She pats him down, seeing if there’s anything she missed. She rips his suit, too. Nothing. There’s no brooch in his personal effects either.

What is she supposed to do now? 

Seeing no alternative, Ladybug picks Damian up and yoyos back to Tom and Sabine’s Boulangerie to safely detransform and figure out what the fuck is going on.

He’s not Hawkmoth, is the conclusion Marinette comes to after a side by side comparison of pictures of the vigilante and Damian. The horrifying conclusion: the person lying on the floor of her bedroom is actually Robin, the vigilante from Gotham. 

Marinette knows it’s better to err on the side of caution, but she still buries her head in her hands in embarrassment. How can she have gotten him so wrong? She really needs to get better at reading people, because deciding that random civilians are Hawkmoth clearly has not paid off. 

She also cannot believe that the Justice League has decided to step in now, and with a sidekick from America, of all things--Marinette is pretty sure that she sent the videos to the European branch. It must have been three years since her first notification to them. She contacted them immediately after Stoneheart, and again, after Syren when she was distraught at the death that surrounded her. With no response, there was nothing she could do. She has to start relying on herself and her own skills. 

Ladybug only contacted them once more, after Heroes’ Day. At that point, Ladybug had been thinking for a while that someone who was naturally superpowered or someone with a high grade of intelligence-- like the heroes affiliated with the Justice League-- would do more harm than good if they were allowed in the city. After the devastation of her teammates being akumatized, and the nearly week long battle that ensued, she was certain that she could barely fight her teammates, let alone trained professionals. So with shaky hands and red rimmed eyes, she said to please disregard her earlier messages; the situation in Paris wasn’t that bad, and Ladybug could handle it. 

Damian groans. Marinette jumps; he is waking up far earlier than she anticipated. She wants to transform back into Ladybug. Being in her spots gives her a pseudo sense of security. First, though, she has to restrain him. Even though he isn’t Hawkmoth, she’s not sure whether he’s a threat or not. She makes quick work of it, using the thickest zip ties that she has on hand and restraining his arms and legs.

She doesn’t get the chance to transform back into Ladybug, but that’s just as well, because at the end of the day, Marinette is the foundation of anything that makes Ladybug a hero to the public. Damian opens his eyes almost immediately after she has finished restraining him, taking in his surroundings and the person in front of him.

“Marinette? Where’s Ladybug?” No questions of how he got there; Ladybug can clearly carry her own weight and more. No questions as to why there are zip ties cutting into his wrists and ankles; he has seen too many of Marinette’s victims on the streets.

“What do you mean, where’s Ladybug?” Marinette is right in front of him. She might not have the suit on, but at the end of the day, she does have the Ladybug Miraculous, which means she’s Ladybug through and through, and Damian must know that. Otherwise, there’s no real reason for Robin to be spending so much time with Marinette. The fact that she feels more real and true to herself as Marinette than as Ladybug probably means nothing to him.

“She knocked me out on a rooftop. Didn’t know that you two knew each other personally. I’m not Hawkmoth, by the way.” He twitches, then realizes that he’s been tied up. “Why’d she leave me with you?”

So he doesn’t know that she’s also Ladybug? This whole thing keeps getting more confusing. Still, the less people that know about her alter ego, the better. Marinette will keep him in the dark. She attributes his blatant misunderstanding to the identity concealment magic of the Miraculous. It’s powerful stuff. If it didn’t exist, she’s sure she would have found concrete evidence as to who Hawkmoth is by now. 

“She asked me to assess whether you were a threat or not. Whether or not she casts the Miraculous Cure is contingent on my response.”

“Ladybug wants you to assess whether I’m a threat or not? Why’d she leave a possible super villain with a civilian?”

“I help Ladybug out with many things.” Her voice turns to clinical detachment. She uses this method to dissociate as Ladybug when things get overwhelming. Assess the situation. Get in, deakumatize, get out. Marinette needs to distance herself. It’s bad enough that the situation is this convoluted, but she doesn’t need Damian to doubt Ladybug’s capabilities as well. “Ladybug knows that you’re not Hawkmoth now, and she knows that I can handle myself with any run of the mill bad guy, even if they are a supposed vigilante.”

“Tell me, Robin,” Marinette spits the name like a curse, “Why should I tell Ladybug that you’re not a threat? That you are who you say you are?”

In all honesty, all Marinette wants to do is knock Damian out again so she can collect her thoughts. She’s not sure how she should address his presence as Robin in Paris and is still reeling from the whiplash of thinking he was Hawkmoth only for him to turn into a foreign vigilante. Next thing she knows, he’ll tell her that his name isn’t even Damian Grayson. Well, now that she thinks about it, he’s definitely not. After this encounter finishes, she’ll look up Damian and Gotham and see what she gets.

He looks flustered, like he never expected anybody to question his identity or presence. It’s laughable, really. Marinette doubts that the Justice League actually sent him; he’s probably here to explore on his own. That means he’ll only be a pain in the ass to deal with. Maybe she needs to get into contact with the Justice League again, if only just so she can deport Robin with more ease. 

“I can call Batman,” he says.

Marinette doesn’t think this is a very good solution. There’s no way for her to prove that the person on the other side actually is Batman and not some actor. But after racking her brain, she can’t come up with a much better solution. It’s not like Robin has any superpowers that she can request to see, and she doesn’t have a direct line to anybody from the Justice League.

“Fine. Call Batman.”

“It’s in the pocket near on my right side.” Marinette doesn’t bother going closer to him. She destroyed everything on him earlier, in case it was the akuma’s vessel. Ladybug thought she came across a phone, but now she’s glad she smashed it and left it on that random rooftop. He probably has some sort of tracker on his phone. In any case, Marinette thinks it’s weird for a vigilante to have a phone on them while on the rooftops. Shouldn’t he have an earpiece or something? 

“Your phone was destroyed by Ladybug. Tell me the number to call. I’ll put it on speaker.” Marinette isn’t sure if the number he’ll have her call will be some sort of secure connection or direct line that is only accessible through Damian’s phone, but she doesn’t particularly care because the Miraculous Communicators are exactly that. Miraculous. Master Fu assured her that all communications were private and impossible to crack unless they also had a Miraculous. Which is why she’s using the Miraculous Communicator to call Batman.

Damian winces, then speaks into the offered phone. 

“Batman, it’s Robin. I need to verify my identity in order to proceed.”

“Are you with Ladybug?”

So he is on a mission, then, and not just playing hooky. If Batman is involved, Marinette has no doubt the rest of the Justice League will follow soon. This will be a dreadfully unpleasant call.

“I’m making it a video call,” Marinette says. “And no, he’s not with Ladybug. I’m Ladybug’s point of contact, and she doesn’t take kindly to people encroaching on her territory without permission.”

“Robin, what happened?” Batman isn’t accepting her video request.

Marinette cuts off whatever Damian is about to say. “Damian was suspicious; I reported his activities to Ladybug and she believed that he could be Hawkmoth. Then, she caught him on the roofs and took him back to my place after verifying that he wasn’t Hawkmoth. Video call, Batman. I’d like to see that you are who you say you are, before I send Robin back to the states.”

“She knows your civilian identity? Two people know that you’re Robin?”

“Turn your video on. If you can’t prove that you are who Damian says you are, Ladybug and I will do everything in our powers to deport him and make sure that the Justice League is not allowed in Paris again. Ladybug said that she doesn’t need any unknowns in her city, and I’ve been hoping Robin came here of his own volition. It sounds like that isn’t the case.”

Marinette thinks that Batman curses in English, but she’s not sure. Fluent though Marinette may be, she is not well versed in curses, colloquialisms, or American memes. The camera turns on. It’s Batman, or at the very least, an actor wearing a very good knock off costume.

It’s annoying that Marinette can’t see his eyes. There’s some white film where his eyes should be, and the fact that his cowl covers more than half of his face isn’t doing her any favors in letting her read his facial expression. She moves herself so that Batman can see both her and Robin.

“Why is Robin restrained?��

“Like I said: he was suspicious. I’m not taking any chances.”

A moment of silence.

“How do you want me to prove my identity?” 

That’s good. He’s not asking who she is, though she’s sure that there are cameras pointing at the screen on Batman’s end, running facial analysis and background checks on her. The Miraculous magic will ensure that any connections between her and Ladybug will not come to light. Other than her identity as Ladybug, Marinette has nothing to hide.

“If you’re Batman, then you should have access to the League’s calls, European and otherwise. Play me the last video that Ladybug sent you. I know what she said.” She spares a glance at Damian. His jaw is tight, but when he looks at her, she finds what looks like regret. It’s not entirely Damian’s fault. A mission is a responsibility, and Marinette understands that in order to be a hero or vigilante, one must be willing to do anything to accomplish the mission. Really, she’s only Ladybug because she feels that heavy weight of the words duty and responsibility on her shoulders. Fu’s fault.

“Behave. If you try something, I’ll knock you out.” Marinette sets the communicator on her desk and eyes him. The zipties are so tight around his arms and legs that he is bleeding. Marinette feels a flash of sympathy, then pushes it away. It was his fault for-- why was he at fault, again? 

“I have the video.” Batman sounds even peakier than when they started the call. He plays the video.

“Justice League. This is Ladybug. I rescind my requests for help; I can take care of Paris with my own team. Any help from you at this point would be a detriment and could potentially harm the citizens of Paris. Hawkmoth manipulates strong emotions, and I don’t need to handle a metahuman or tactical genius to gain more power to wreak havoc on my city. I will not contact you with any further requests for assistance.”

It’s an awful video. Marinette had to wait a day after the Heroes’ week fiasco just so her eyes wouldn’t be red. At least her voice doesn’t waver in it. There’s a conviction in the whole video that was unique to that moment. 

Marinette looks at Batman, then at Robin. 

“Clearly the Justice League refused to listen. Ladybug doesn’t want or need your help at this point in time. Why are you here?”

“The Justice League is at fault for not paying attention to Ladybug’s other videos. But Mayor Bourgeois and President Macron can only cover such alarming incidents for so long. Ladybug and her… team clearly need help in order to find and take down Hawkmoth, so once the American branch of the Justice League found out half a year ago, we started to investigate.” Batman speaks in lieu of Damian. Marinette briefly wonders if Damian knows who Batman is under the mask. She bets he does. They’re probably close, what with how worried Batman sounds. 

“What makes you think that the Justice League is any better equipped to handle this situation? Ladybug and her team have been fighting for the past three years and resolved every akuma with no help from you. She needed your help in earlier years. Now she doesn’t.”

“Exactly; it’s been three years and she still hasn’t caught Hawkmoth.”

“You say that like the Justice League doesn’t have a team with more wealth and manpower than Ladybug does that’s been looking into Hawkmoth and the Miraculous for the past half year and clearly has not found any reasonable leads. Ladybug has only been actively looking for Hawkmoth for the past two years, not three. The police handled the first year, not that you’ve done any homework on the situation. Thought that a field agent would help your chances?” 

There is fire in Marinette’s stomach. Batman sounds so dismissive of all of the work that she’s been doing. It’s been hard on her; she doesn’t have the support that she needs and doesn’t have the experience or expertise to hunt down Hawkmoth on her own. She trained briefly under Master Fu to learn spells and ways to expand her powers as Ladybug, but that was an equivalent exchange: she no longer trusts that other holders won’t be akumatized. Her growing cynicism and physical training from Maman came at the expense of Chat Noir; after the whole Lila incident in her first year as Ladybug, she found out that Chat Noir and Adrien were one and the same. And Gabriel Agreste is not afraid to use his son until Adrien is stretched far too thin, which forced Marinette to nearly bench her partner.

“Three years,” Batman says again.

“If the Justice League can’t figure it out nearly unlimited resources and funding in half a year-- both ordinary and super human-- then clearly it isn’t a question of time. It’s a question of capability. Get off your high horse, Batman. You haven’t given me any reasons why Ladybug and I shouldn’t deport Robin here, and you’re definitely not making a good case as to why she shouldn’t go to Mayor Bourgeois and France’s president to ensure that the Justice League and its affiliates and ban hero travel into Paris. Bourgeois already doesn’t want information on it’s supervillain situation to get out.” 

“Marinette,” Damian pleads.

As Robin and as Damian, he doesn’t pose a threat. He hasn’t been helpful, but he certainly hasn’t messed with the status quo for the month that he’s been here. Still, he is a liability. If he stays in Paris, he is the gateway for the other members of the Justice League to fly in and try to commandeer the fragile balance that she has found. She can’t afford for something like that to happen.  

“You’re not any better, Robin. Why did you even hang around me? Thought I was a threat?” Her eyes narrow in realization. It makes sense why he decided to hang out with her, despite his initial cold front. He was playing a role.“You thought I was Hawkmoth.”

His silence is an agreement.

“We just want to help,” Damian says, and against her better judgement, Marinette believes him. 

Her shoulders round, and Marinette sighs. She can’t truly begrudge Damian for that train of thought, not when she believed the same about him. She’s been a little harsh on them so far, in part due to old resentment that they never responded to her in that first, awful year when she needed the help. 

There’s a dull tiredness that comes with knowing someone who she considered one of her closest friends suspected her of being a supervillain, though she did believe the same of him, so maybe they’re even. It still hurts, though. It hurts like when Alya decided that Marinette was mean-hearted enough to stop the members of their class from reaching their full potential. It hurts like when Marinette finally realized that she couldn’t repair their friendship, not to what it used to be. It hurts like when she looked around the classroom and realized that she couldn’t talk to anyone there. It hurts like when Marinette decided that she couldn’t risk helping her friends the way she wanted to. 

“What kind of help can you offer us? We don’t need any more of you to come out here.” Resources are nice. More money to fund therapy programs around town won’t hurt. Master Fu doesn’t help on that part. Really, he doesn’t help at all. Even though she has Chat Noir and had a team, she often feels like it’s herself against the world. Some days, she reaches up to her earrings and feels an aching emptiness, like there’s something more to the Miraculous that’s been sealed away.

“We can give you resources. Money, connections, experience. Robin is good with technology. He can help you track down where Hawkmoth is.”

Marinette’s laugh is bitter. “Sure, he can try, but the butterflies Hawkmoth sends out aren’t visible by the normal human eye or electronically until they’ve found their mark. Once they’re purified, they’re just normal butterflies, and they go off in random directions.”

“Normal human eye? It sounds like there are exceptions.” Damian readjusts himself. He has fidgeted his way into an uncomfortable looking seiza position, where his ankles are bleeding. 

“A true holder can see the butterflies at all times.”

Marinette also decides to throw them a bone so there’s no questions as to why a mere civilian is working with Ladybug. “That’s why Ladybug recruited me. I was Multimouse.”

Multimouse was in the file that Damian sent his father, but he asks, just to make sure. “The one that can split itself?”

“That’s correct. I guess now is as good a time as any for the two of you to get your questions answered.”

“Why are you the point of civilian contact instead of any of the other more frequently used heroes? Didn’t you appear only once?” Damian avoids looking Marinette in the eyes, and that makes her feel slightly better. He’s ashamed of his actions. Good. 

“Ladybug said that the other hero’s civilian forms were either compromised or not in a good position.”

“Ladybug knows who all the holders are.” Batman speculates. He looks less tense now that Damian is no longer tied up, but his voice remains gravelly and distrubed. Maybe that’s what he sounds like all the time.  “Who else knows? Do you?” 

“Only Ladybug knows.” Marinette lives in half truths. She’s not sure that they’re much better than lies, but they’re all she has. Secrecy is the only thing Master Fu has sincerely taught her.

“Why have all the other heroes disappeared?” 

“Ladybug said that it was too dangerous for someone who could be akumatized to hold a Miraculous. Rena Rage, Shell Shock, Queen Wasp-- they were all frighteningly powerful akumas. It’s also why Chat Noir has been showing up less and less; his home life is not the best, and she’s trying her best to ensure that he doesn’t get akumatized.”

“She’s not worried for herself or,” Damian’s eyes flick to Marinette, away from Batman. “For you?” 

“She knows that both of us are good at dealing with stress. We have our own methods of coping.” She looks at Damian, her mouth tightening into a frown. “If you want to stay in Paris, I’ll cut you a deal. We can work together for two weeks, and if we don’t get any results, you have to leave and the Justice League must promise that they won’t interfere again.”

“Two weeks isn’t enough time,” Damian objects.

“If you don’t think it’s enough time, just leave now. I’ll say now that I’m only willing to work with you during the night. That’s the time I work on Miraculous related stuff now, anyways. And stay out of the akuma battles.” She doesn’t actually think that working together will help anyways, and she wants Damian gone sooner rather than later. He’s been making her feel too much and emotions that are far more explosive and easy to take advantage of than Marinette has in a long time. She doesn’t want to be targeted by an akuma because of her inner conflict. 

“Two weeks, then,” Batman agrees. “Robin can contact me if you need any extra resources.”

Marinette hangs up and assesses Damian. He looks almost pitiful, with bruising around his eyes, tousled hair, a ripped suit, and cuts where his skin is exposed. She opens her trap door in a clear gesture for him to depart. Downstairs is dark; her Maman and Papa have long since gone to sleep, and it’s only a few more hours until they wake up to start baking. “We start tomorrow. If you need Ladybug for anything, tell me.”

He’s half way down the ladder when he looks back up at Marinette, into her eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” he says.

Marinette can’t breath. She feels like vomiting. His eyes are so green in comparison to the purple bruising on his face. She did that to him. She made him look that way. All she’s ever wanted to do as Ladybug is protect the people she cared for. But Damian-- Marinette doesn’t know. She doesn't know whether what Damian has done can actually be described as bad. He was just trying to do what Batman told him to do. Keeping an eye on a threat. Marinette wonders how long he thought she was Hawkmoth. She wonders if he ever thought they were friends. 

“I’m sorry too,” Marinette says, and shuts the trap door.

They’re both sorry for very different things.

[pocmuzings]

hello hi , it is g , ur friendly local neighbourhood hindu indian ( as in south asian  ) ! so a few people requested that i just make a guide-esque sorta thing on hindu  indian characters ! im not really good at guides , so instead , these are just little things i’ve noticed or picked up on that could really potentially strengthen the next indian character u ( pretty please ! ) pick up ! 

disclaimer : i am writing this from my perspective and it is NOT definitive , nor do i speak on behalf of all hindu indians  ! i am a 23-year-old bisexual cis female hindu indian , with one older gay brother, and a Train Wreck middle brother . my mother is from new delhi , and my father is from nairobi but has indian heritage ( not sure which part of india bc he’s an Engima ) . i have extended family in india and have visited india about 10-15 times throughout my entire life .

so firstly , im so glad u all are here and want to write more hindu indian characters ! please please do so !  i hope this helps , encourages u , and isnt too confusing !! 

psa : i need everyone to know that this is a very basic ‘ guide ‘ and theres a lot it DOESNT touch on or address bc i didnt want to get too Extensive and Detailed and have people Turn off and not Read it . this is just written in the terms of hopefully helping build  character / be relevant to characters a bit better that ive employed into writing my OWN hindu indian character creations !  but if u have any other questions pls reach out to me or any other indians in the rpc and im sure we’ll try our best to assist u !

FCS: 

one thing i’d really like to say is that its great to see fcs like dev patel  , deepika padukone and avan jogia picked up every now and then in rps , but there’s actually a LOT of other indian fcs you could be and should be using ! the main reason people don’t seem to know them is because they’re not ‘ hollywood ‘ stars per se ( it was a super big deal when pr*yanka broke out of bollywood and into bollywood but we don’t talk about her on this Blog ) . they’re usually bollywood stars and i don’t really see bollywood discussed that much in the rpc ! 

if you’re after MORE indian fcs , i have a tag of indian females here , and indian males here . the fcs on my blogs are also not ALL that exist . there are plenty of other blogs out there that post indian fcs , such as sonamhelps &  bollymusings !!! there’s also some really great faceclaim directories out there that include a LOT of indians with resources !

 unfortunately , i do not know of any trans indians or nonbinary indians but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist . indian cultures and beliefs are still quite Old School and not super progressive . india only just had it’s first wlw mainstream bollywood film released last year . lgbtqia+ issues are NOT really spoken about in india or within indian families at ALL , and if they are - they’re usually dismissed or reacted to Very Very Badly . ( again this isnt definitive and im sure and hopeful that some indians have had GREAT coming out stories and been accepted by their families but this has not been a common thing ive seen or witnessed from my cousins my age , indian friends , myself and my brother who are lgbtqia +  ) 

FOOD : 

we do eat with our hands and we eat like PROS with our hands . we can shovel it so easily and quickly . i don’t know how to describe it but you use the first three fingers of your hand to place the Food there , and then use your thumb to kinda scoop it off and into your mouth . this is NOT unhygienic because indians wash their hands very regularly and most of the time we aren’t actually touching our mouths to our hands ! 

indian food is MADE to be eaten with your hands for the most part . it is literally NOT practical to eat food with a knife and fork . here’s a really great article explaining things more in depth re: indian food and using our hands !

cows are seen as Very holy beings in hindu indian culture , and for that reason - there isn’t a lot of beef being eaten or consumed. sure , some indians DO eat beef but i don’t think its super common, but in my personal experience as a non-beef-eater this results in A LOT of me asking ‘ oh ,  sorry what sauce does that pasta come with ? ‘ ‘ oh those are beef sausages ? sorry i can’t eat them ‘ etc etc . beef is in a LOT of things , and this makes me very very careful and almost pedantic about what i do eat and ask about , food wise  !

indian food is seen as stinky by a majority of white people . it has a very very strong smell as im sure u know , and opening ur lunch box as a little kid to a Curry or Dal ur mum has made u ? one way street to being bullied . i also remember a time a real estate agent continuously told my dad nobody was interested in buying our house bc it smelled too much like curry,  despite my mum not having cooked curry in Weeks ( just say what u Really mean ,  bitch ! )

 indian curry exists but so does dal / daal . this is curry-like dish that is usually made out of lentils . so if ur going to talk about indian food and u know curries and samosas . . pls also bring up dals . and sabji ! ( sabji is usually just boiled vegetables plopped together . a lot of potato usually )

desserts are what we call Indian Sweets  . this is stuff that is usually very VERY sugary and a bit of an accustomed taste . theyre very colourful and LOOK beautiful but even i , for one , can not eat many indian sweets bc they are a Lot of Sweet and Sugar    . examples of indian sweets that u can google  : gulab jamun , burfi , rasgulla , jalebi etc . here’s a great link for more !

give me spiced food or give me death . literally . . put some cumin in . . put some garam masala . . put some chillies . . flavour ur Food for my Indian Taste Buds 

FAMILY : 

if you are the oldest son of an Indian Family . . congratulations . you are now the Head of the family and must carry every weight and burden alone . it is extremely isolating and taxing on you ( my dad is the oldest indian son , and also - so is my eldest brother , obvs ) . there is a LOT that is expected of you to do . you are expected to quite literally run the family and be the ‘ man of the house ‘ by yourself . 

if you are a daughter . . . even BIGGER congratulations ! you are basically a maid to every male or guest who EVER comes over to your house . you must be a Hostess , you must be in the kitchen cooking , serving snacks, bringing tea , and then washing up and basically waiting on Hand and Foot . you will not be included into a lot of dialogue or engaged in a lot of conversation and TRUST ME ! THAT WILL GRIND UR GOD DAMN GEARS IN THE 21ST CENTURY ! 

if you are a boys’ boy ( aka straight and Sporty ) , then congrats ! you get it the easiest : you are the favourite of every social event . the uncles and cousins love talking to you and dude-ing it up with you , and the aunts fawn over you and think you’re the Best Thing since sliced bread . sit back , put your feet up , and expect to be treated like a God. you can do absolutely no wrong . ( my middle brother is this to a T and listen . . he’s been in and out of jail for physical violence and ab*se for over 5 years . and family still FROTH over him . my teeth are gritted to dust thinking of this again ) 

indian aunties are lethal . they gossip like teenage girls . they will find out everything . they will bitch behind your back . they can NOT be trusted .

everyone is ur uncle or aunt, sister or brother . literally everyone . ur cousin ? no. thats ur sister . ur dads friend ? no , thats ur uncle . you will call them as such . EVERYONE is family .  

family is in general a VERY BIG THING in indian culture , too . ‘ what will it Look like to everyone else if we don’t all arrive together ? ‘ my dad usually asks dskjdfjn . it’s all about Looking Right and Standing As A United Front  . that being said , indian family has undying and unwavering loyalty for one another , they just show it in a very Weird way .

FASHION: 

female hindu indian formal  clothes are usually really embroidered to hell and back and this makes them very scratchy , uncomfortable, and HEAVY . you aren’t running anywhere anytime soon in a full blown lehenga or saree 

most ‘ modern ‘ hindu indian women do not wear full Indian Clothes all the time . some do , but usually it’s a lot of wearing a kurti tunic with jeans , or just normal everyday clothing . again , this is going to be different based on which parts of india your character is from , though ! 

usually , older women and married women  wear traditiona hindul indian clothing quite often . i know my mum wore a sari AT HOME everyday when i was growing up, until i was like 13 and took her shopping with me to get something Else to wear . 

bindi’s just stick right onto ur forehead but they do fall off a lot , especially when ur wearing makeup or sweating . again , you don’t need to wear a bindi everyday , unless thats ur preference . i usually only wear them for festivals . ( festivals means indian celebrations , not like . . coachella  ((which u should not be wearing a bindi to , if ur not indian fyi )) )

male formal clothes are usually just literally anything Formal and buttoned up for the most part , and u can get away with that , or you can wear a really nice kurta

indians wear white at funerals , not black  ( not sure if this should go in the fashion section but this entire thing is being organised into a Mess by now anyways ) . you CAN wear black to a funeral of course , but its common to wear white !

DATING ( tw’s for islamaphobia ): 

modern day indian / desi fuck boys exist and my god they are Something Else . hasan minhaj did a really good piece about this and explaining them to a T ( starts at 1:43 )

( THIS IS THE POINT THAT WILL MENTION ISLAMAPHOBIA AND HOMOPHOBIA ! ) basically according to Older  indians , ,  ur dating options  in 2020 go like this ( if ur a cis female like me ) : hindu indian men are god tier , white men are Not Okay But I Guess So Bc We Have To Accept They’re Everywhere , females / being lgbtqia+ is not Taken Seriously , and muslims are literally not even close to being an option or Accepted  . again this isn’t definitive but based on a lot of  indian media i’ve consumed and seen how they portray muslims in general as well as Dating Options , as well as talking to other indians  , both who are older / traditional and hold these ideals , whereas Younger gens generally do NOT hold these ideals  / actively are Against these backwards ideals.   i remember when i was in year 6 and had my first boyfriend . . he was a muslim and my dad FLIPPED the FUCK out  . it’s not even that i was dating someone / young / his only daughter . . it was mainly because i was dating a muslim . again , this is a very OLD SCHOOL and traditional way of thinking and it is NOT CORRECT .  pls don’t take this as a note to be islamaphobic if u write an indian character bc . . thats literally the opposite of what im trying to tell u here . 

yeah arranged marriages are definitely still a thing for us , even now in 2020

YES if u are an unmarried / single indian ( ESPECIALLY if ur a woman ) about to enter ur 30s . . ur in DANGER and u are the black sheep and theres probably something Wrong With You bc why are u still single ?

TRADITIONS / BELIEFS / SUPERSTITIONS :

idk if its just me and my family but we are SUPER superstitious . if you say anything like ‘ he hasnt gotten sick in years !’ immediately , everyone knocks on wood or their head . if you were planning on leaving the house and sneeze ? thats bad luck , stand and wait for five minutes then u can leave . we have a strong belief in drishti , or  alternatively : The Evil Eye  , and making sure we don’t invite it into our lives . a lot of our prayers are about warding drishti away .

the evil eye is kinda Complicated but basically its an ill-wishing upon an unsuspecting person . if somebody is jealous of you or angered by you , they may wish upon you or cast upon you the Evil eye ( or even just glare at u whilst ur not looking and thats Big Bad ) . 

a lot of older indians , like older people in general i guess , are not super progressive or Open . this isnt ALWAYS the case but older indians can be very very stubborn in their beliefs in what is Right and Wrong , Normal and Not Normal 

theres a LOT of hindu indian festivals and events ! tbh too many for me to even keep up with . but without fail at least once a year ill say to ONE of my friends ‘ oh sorry i cant make it . i have an indian Thing on that day ‘ and its usually about a festival , so pls be aware that there are a LOT of indian festivals and if ur writing an indian character , its perfectly understandable and Relatable for them to say they can’t make it to a party or hang out with their friends that night , for that very reason !

the main / most popular ( ? ) festivities  that i personally do celebrate every year without fail are : 

diwali ( the festival of lights , celebrating goddess lakshmi roaming the earth . in my household this is usually turning on literally every single light and lighting candles and fireworks / sparklers and saying some prayers , and eating a formal dinner all together !  )  

holi ( the festival of colours . celebrating victory and love . again personally for me , this was usually celebrated at the temple with all of us Kids running around throwing paint on each other ! ) 

rakhi / raksha bandhan ( a day of sisters celebrating their brothers . you tie a rakhi which is usually a bracelet / holy string around your brothers wrist , feed them some food , pray for their wellbeing and in return they gift you something . in my case, i usually get money from them ) .

navratri  / durga puja ( 9 nights and 10 days of celebrations but tbh u don’t have to do all the days . or i mean . . i don’t . i fast one day from morning to night and then i slide on over to boogie and dance dandiya which is literally the MOST FUN dance ever bc its based off some Historical Fight and u go faster and faster and keep going until ur absolutely SPENT bc u dont wanna lose ur place in the circle )  

there are SO MANY HINDU INDIAN GODS too . and so many prayers to all of them and to just general Life Wellness . chances are that ur character will know at least ONE aarti / gazal / prayer off by heart and have sung it at least 30 times in a monotone voice . the ones i know off by heart bc ive had to sing them 3000 times ? om jai jagdish hare , & the gayatri mantra 

GENERAL LIL THINGS I DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO CATEGORISE ( tw’s for skin whitening , colorism and classism ) :

( THIS IS THE POINT THAT NEEDS A TW FOR SKIN WHITENING AND COLORISM  ) lets hold indians accountable right now : we advertise SKIN LIGHTENING CREAM  . i think they finally stopped that earlier this year / due to BLM ( i’m not entirely sure / could be wrong ) , but thats literally how bad it is , that we would openly advertise and encourage people to literally bleach their skin rather than look darker . 

( THIS IS THE POINT THAT NEEDS A TW FOR COLORISM AND CLASSISM ) colorism is a BIG thing in india and usually linked to class . generally speaking , the people who are Darker Skinned are usually people who work outside / labourers or homeless even , and are therefore seen as lower class / bottom class . the lighter skin you have , the more privileged and advantaged you are bc ur seen as working a Good job out of the sun and having a home . it’s incredibly classist as well as just generally Fucked Up . why am i telling u this ? mainly so u understand the importance of using a dark skinned indian fc vs a light skinned indian fc which i know is hard , bc a lot of darker skinned indians arent in hollywood / have resources , but its still something to Think About .  

i have a long Ethnic name . literally my first name is 10+ letters , which i know doesnt seem that long Necessarily but its also a Super Ethnic name with e’s and and j and n . it Flows and Sounds very clearly different from a christian name . it is VERY important to me that my name be said Correctly because i’ve spent so much time having it said incorrectly or Westernised . i also know a lot of indians my age who ( like me ) have had to dramatically shorten their REAL first name ( which is usually also pretty long . not always , but it is Common ) , to fit their name into white people’s mouths better . please put some thought into ur indian characters name !

not all indians speak hindi ! hindi is one of MANY dialects within india . there is also tamil , urdu  , bengali , punjabi , telugu and SO many more , so pls research which part of india ur character / their family  is from bc hindi won’t always be the default language for them !

not every indian is hindu ! of course ur character doesnt have to be religious at all , bc if im being honest IM barely religious but my FAMILY is and this is smth u should think abt bc religion is a pretty big thing for indians . so even if ur character isnt hindu , they were probably raised with SOME religious beliefs . have a think about which religions they would have been brought up with ! there’s a very large percentage of practicing muslims , sikhs and buddhists too ! and even christianity !

WRITING WISE / CREATING AN INDIAN CHARACTER WISE :

the first step should be to consume indian media ! listen to indian music . watch bollywood movies ! theres SO MANY  out there on everyone’s netflix . if u want some recs , let me know and i can try my best to find smth for u ! if u want smth thats Hollywood-indian . . . Hasan Minhaj is great to watch , especially his episodes on indian culture / politics , and Never Have I Ever on netflix was rlly good / relatable for me personally as an indian growing up in a western society !

i would really really love to see more indian rep in general , but i’d also like to discuss the Stereotypes that ive seen indians portrayed as in mainstream hollywood media :

indian women as soft spoken and subservient beings who are abused by their husbands and have no say in anything 

heterosexuality within indian relationships and indian dating 

indian men as sleazy 

indians in general not being seen as Sexy or Sexual beings with any sex drive at all 

Stumbling , Stuttering , Nerdy awkward messes of men who don’t know how to interact with anybody they find sexually appealing

an indian character that everybody ( usually white ) finds Uncomfortable and Weird and is seen as usually the Butt of the joke .

 i think those mentioned above could be helpful in how to plan your next indian character and think about how to SUBVERT a trope theyre often portrayed as , or create an indian thats not stereotypical !

so what and who SHOULD you write ? 

an indian character who is proudly and openly gay , or bi 

a trans or nonbinary indian ( PLEASE ! ) 

an indian character with really super accepting parents and family 

an aromantic indian 

an indian who is focused on their career first and not their dating life 

a fuckboy / fuckgirl ( honestly . . i’d love to see it )

a indian character who is a party animal 

an outspoken indian female who takes no shit and is strong in every sense of the word

a confident , smooth talking indian businessman who is Sexy and Lusted After ( not in a gross christian grey way but just . i’d love to see indian characters seen as Sexy . not in a fetishy way , either , but just because it’d be a nice change in pace ! )

a character who IS traditional / religious but also very progressive and forward thinking in their beliefs 

honestly just any character that isnt whats mentioned above

[ghostofsin13]

Untouched (pt2)

A/n: OOOOOKKKAAYY yes. So I have been chipping away at this because I have like 20 other Fics I'm working on at the same time in between the videos I'm making. But part 2 is finally here! Hopefully part 3 will come much faster.

TW: child marriage I guess. manipulation, lies, torture

It was several hours later before Boss joined Kai in the lounge for tea. Yui  had fallen asleep on the couch next to him, her tea half finished and cold.

Boss took in the scene of the two of the two children across from him as he sipped his tea.

Seeming to come to a decision he placed his cup down on the table. 

“I am glad to see you getting along with someone your age Kai.”

“She is…. Interesting.” Kai replied, his eyes moving to the sleeping girl next to him. 

“Indeed.” Boss sighed heavily, “as much as I hate to admit it, her dirtbag father was correct about her being beneficial to us.”

“Will you be adopting her into the family then?”

Boss sighed again and scrubbed a hand over his face in a rare show of fatigue. 

“No. Not exactly.” He straightened his shoulders and locked eyes with Kai. “She will be marrying into the family.”

The statement shocked Kai. It wasn’t like Boss to marry a child off to an adult for power. 

“Don’t you think she’s too young. A child bride and a grown man…”

Boss blinked and let out a booming laugh. 

“It seems you misunderstood my intentions. She would be marrying you Kai.” 

“What?”

 “As my successor you will need someone beside you. Even as strong as you are. I realize you both are young. But you are both strong. And as your guardian I want to make sure you don’t miss out on the same things I did.”

Kai sighed and closed his eyes briefly, processing.

Opening his eyes  he looked back at his adoptive father. “You’ve already made up your mind on this haven’t you?”

Boss crossed his arms over his chest, his expression firm. “Yes. This is the best choice. For both of you and the future of the group.”

Kai stood and made his way to the door. “If that is what you want then I have no ground to object. But I can’t speak for how Yui will take the news.”

Yui didnt make any objections to Boss’ request. How could she!? He was going to take car of her, and he had removed her horrible father from the equation. She was nothing but grateful for the protection he was offering, even if it meant she became a pawn in the greater scheme of things. 

The wedding was held a week after Boss had made his decision, in secret and within the walls of the yakuza. It was a formal but extremely small affair. 

The two exchanged rings which they wore on chain necklaces. Yui kept examining the ring Kai had given her after the ceremony, rotating it around between her fingers as she walked down the hall with Kai toward their rooms. 

“If you keep doing that it will tarnish” he commented with a sigh.

“Oh, sorry. Its just…its really pretty. I’ve never had jewelry before.” A slight embarrassed blush colored her cheeks. 

She was so adorably honest with him, it was becoming habit for him to drop his guard and get comfortable with her. 

“Then I’ll teach you how to keep it from tarnishing. So it stays pretty.”

Yui smiled at him, “Thank you Kai. I’ll take good care of it.”

****************************************** 6 years later *****************************************

Yui was making her bed when there was a knock on her bedroom door.

“Yui, its Kai. Can I come in?”

Blushing she grabbed her silk robe off the closet door and pulled it on, quickly closing the front and tying it closed.  She exhaled to calm herself.

“Yes of course, come in” Yui sat down on her bed. 

Kai entered her room, closing the door behind him and leaning against it. She supposed she shouldn’t have expected any less, since it wouldn’t be like him to come see her in his sleepwear, but she was still surprised he was already fully dressed. 

“There’s something I wanted to tell you about.”

“Is this about me using the kitchen again? Look, I told you I want to cook for you. I get bored and I found a cookbook in the library. I don’t see what is so wrong with me learning-“

“Calm down, I’m not here to scold you for learning how to cook. You can keep doing so if that’s really what you want to do. But it’s not necessary. We have people who will cook.”

She grabbed a pillow, hugging it to her chest. “So you’ll let me keep cooking!?”

“If that’s what you want to keep doing then yes. I’m not going to stop you from having hobbies.”

“Thank you Kai!” 

“You don’t need to thank me for something as basic as this you know”

Yui just smiled at him in response. Kai sighed, though he was glad she was at least happy.

Kai crossed the room and sat next to her on her bed, putting his elbows on his knees and threading his gloved fingers together. It was a very relaxed and casual posture that was rare for him. 

Though it had become habit for him to feel comfortable in her space and around her, her quirks passive benefits cleaning the very air around her; soothing his anxiety about the dirt and germs. 

“So what was the thing you wanted to tell me?” 

“Well, to put it simply you and I are moving. I purchased a house outside of the compound for us.”

“Oh! How exciting! When will we be moving then?”

Kai smirked at her reaction behind his mask “Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow! But we haven’t packed. And how is the house ready? Didn’t you just buy it?”

In general Yui had learned not to question Kai’s ability to do the impossible, or to doubt him when he would ask something impossible of her, but this entire development had taken her by surprise. 

“I commissioned the build a few months ago. Its completely finished and ready to move in. Don’t worry about packing. Someone will take care of it. We leave tomorrow morning so be sure to take anything with you that you want immediately.”

She seemed a bit anxious, squeezing her toes tightly against the carpet. Kai reached over, capturing a lock of her long long hair between his gloved fingers, “you seem nervous.”

She nodded slightly, hugging the pillow tighter. “Its just so sudden…. I can’t help but feel your keeping something from me”

Kai’s fingers around her lock of hair froze from their slight caress. It was moments like these he hated. He hated how damn perceptive she could be even without any information.

“I see. I suppose it does seem sudden. It had been on my mind for awhile. You know I’m taking over for Boss when he passes. As it is with his current health I’ve been handling most of the business. I just feel having a home for us off the compound, away from where I handle dangerous business, would be safer.” He brought his hand up to caress her cheek. 

“Im really not keeping anything from you Yui.” He lied, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“I just want to keep you safe from any unsavory characters that come here” Kai fed her half truths, his focus on reassuring her that everything was fine. 

She didn’t need to know about his dealings with the League of villains, his plans to revive the yakuza, his experiments with Eri’s quirk, the war he was waging and intended to win. He wouldn’t subject her to those horrors. Truthfully he hadn’t even been angry at her for cooking for him. He had just used it as an excuse because she had nearly caught him coming up from the secret basement with his arms covered in Eri’s blood.

Keeping Yui in a house away from the group was for the best to move their agenda forward. She would be free to pursue whatever hobbies she desired in their new home, away from dirty dealings and prying eyes.The house would have guards on the grounds and all the comforts they would need. 

Kai looked into her sunset eyes, and the image of a bird in a cage appeared in his mind. He frowned behind his mask. 

No. 

No, she wasn’t a bird in a cage. She was just… important. She needed to be kept safe. 

He had promised to keep her safe. And he would.

[roguestarsailor]

thoughts on blackpink: light up the sky netflix doc

- lisa in particular uses the highest loudest pitched baby voice ive ever heard which contrasts a lot to the voice she uses when she raps and even when she speaks english

- the amount of men (aka all grown ass men) in the room when these ladies who were literally teenagers watching them dance (suggestively) and critiquing them

- the fucken ABC grading system like what we do in school for all the trainees

- every single one was of them was like i love to dance/sing and/or play musical instruments as a kid but also like every kid sung and danced cuz thats just a past time that children like lol

- lisa’s grasps of languages is to die for. she speaks thai (native), korean and english pretty much fluently. she didnt even know korean in the beginning and had to learn it. her english has only a tiny accent but she truly can speak it. i wish i could do that!!!😭

- just that these girls who were like 14 ish when they had to leave their families and start a new life in a new country, learn dances/songs in the most intense way, and guided by money hungry strangers??? they spent their formative years being told what to eat, what to wear, how to channel their stage presence (sometimes really suggestively), made to perform for groups of men, compete against one another, and doing it for the HOPE of making it?? like hows that ok??? imagine the girls who didn’t make it?? like i hope they are all ok.

- their hairstyles as kids is so similar to the hairstyle i had when i was young haha but i think its just the limit of having textureless, straight, black hair. literally everyone swoosh their hair to the sideway part haha

- jisoo is so fucken mature and like handles everything w such grace. also they keep making her sound like shes so goddamn old when shes literally just 24 (like me!!!) she definitely doesn’t talk in a baby voice or like act super childish compared to the rest of the group tho and i decided i vibe w her the most. shes so calm and collected and takes everything seriously. a quiet intensity i think. love that for her.

- that teddy fella is really chill (and should help them produce more music!!!!!!!!)

- rosé is such a perfectionist and super relatable when she says she struggles w showing her work unless it was *absolutely* perfect. she literally hides everything until its right (although she still hasn’t released anything yet) and thats literally what i do haha i create fake accs/hidden folders of work i do because i am not ready for the feedback esp if its bad

- theyre all literally just in their early twenties i feel like they lived through so much :(

- the intensity that is performing at coachella. that was such a moment cuz american audiences are crazy and also super intense about their music and what they like. they were right that performing at coachella isnt like performing at their concerts-- coachella audience is a mixed bunch and dont have the same understanding as folks who love kpop and know the ~vibe~. im so glad we got to see the prep and the moment they got on stage. they killed it the first weekend but the second weekend was a bit less than best imo (i watched the livestream it cuz i was hella excited!!! i legit wanted to buy tickets haha but saw they were +$1k excluding food/travel/hotel 😭)

- they all live together!! their house is huge and cute af. some of my fav moments is cooking w my roommates back in college and seeing the ladies cook together and sharing meals is such a joy to watch 😌

- jennie speaking english to jisoo so jisoo can learn more organically

- jennie seems the most sad out of all of them. must have been tough growing up with only her mom in new zealand and then mostly by herself afterwards (with a host family) and then making the move to korea again and living away from home AGAIN. those things all happened to her as a child 😥

- jennie saying her fitness trainer is “one of the few friends that i have” oof

- my critique for yg is that they are treating them like marketing tools rather than musicians. they collab w so many luxury brands and do so many appearances/shows and are trying to break into the american music market which is fine but i wish that at its core its the music. maybe thats just kpop now and within kpop its the marketing element that is meant to sell and be sold and the music and dancing element is just that getaway drug. 

anyways, this was a good doc to watch and i enjoyed it. its nice seeing so much behind the scene and seeing them grow and evolve to what we know of them today. 

[babysizedfics]

m glad ur feelin better!!!! do u have any spare hcs? im in a Mood and i love hcs sm 🐝

thank u bee anon!!! i am wracking my brains let's see

EDIT: this turned into a fairly long HC that focusses a on ro with adhd and autistic vee!

i can imagine the family all watching rilakkuma and kaoru on netflix (if you haven't already PLEASE watch it it's so soft and cute!)

because baby vee is very particular about what he watches, he is so jumpy and sensitive when little that his anxiety can be triggered by the smallest most insignificant details so logan and patton both carefully scour any possible triggers in cartoons and movies before putting them on for him

logan had learned that this particular show was pretty much all clear from triggers for virgil plus it was highly rated as being enjoyable for all age groups so he deemed it one of the few shows that they could probably all watch together

within the first few seconds, virgil was hooked - patton saw on his little face how his eyes blew wide with adoration at the cute bears on screen and he smiled past his paci and bounced on patton lap and reached toward the screen whispering 'cubble cubble' because the characters just looked so huggable

after a slight disappointment in finding out that he couldnt cuddle the bears, patton huddled vee close and the baby squeezed him tight and squeaked with excitement at the bears as the episode went on

roman was slack hawed and absolutely marvelling at the craftsmenship of the show - he actually fell right out of littlespace because he was so enthralled by the creativity behind the stop motion figures that he snapped 'out of character' as it were

he kept talking through the show, though not neary as much as he often did - only occasionally and always to ask logan how they did a certain thing with the models - logan dutifully explained what he knew about the animating process for stop lotion though admitted that he did not know much

they only watched two episodes as a family before vee got sleepy and logan insisted they should do something less screen-based, but that night roman binged the rest of the show in his room, amazed and adoring

and that started romans hyperfixation with stop motion animation and virgil's special interest with rilakkuma!

roman spends hours and hours and hours of the next couple of weeks studying the artform and collecting supplies to try his hand at it - albeit on a much smaller scale of course

and whenever vee draws pictures for the next couple of weeks they are always of the characters and he only cuddles his bear softies for a whole week before he picks up mento again

the caregivers of course indulge their littles' interests, amazed that both of them had clung so much to the show

they watched an episode every night, until they had gotten through all 13 of them - since roman had already watched them all in his adult headspace he had satiated his fascinstion in the artform and was able to enjoy them while little as well, he was very talkative and excitable and would infodump on all of the animation tricks he saw in the behind the scenes videos he watched on youtube

roman's hyperfixation only lasts about three weeks but he did create some cute characters with modelling clay and shot an amateur thirty second film with them that the other sides were very impressed by

but virgil's special interest is far more longlasting - baby vee doesnt stop drawing the characters for several weeks, there is no end in sight - he even gets so excited when he sees anything to do with the characters that he actually starts to breathe a bit too fast and shake and logan has to be careful to keep an eye on virgil's exposure to it as it can really overexcite him and strangely enough trigger his anxiety (projecting woohoo)

it carries over into his adult mindset too! he reads about the origins of the characters in sanrio and becomes equally fascinated and adoring of the other sanrio characters. he's pretty embarrassed about it at first and doesn't let anyone know about his new fascination, he keeps quiet about it and tries not to let the others see that his phone and laptop backgrounds are now of his favourite sanrio characters

but one day a couple months later roman casually brings up the show in conversation at dinner and virgil starts joining in the conversation, his toes are scrunching and unscrunching in his socks and he is rocking slightly from side to side on his chair as he blurts as much information as his tongue can manage about the characters and his favourite things about them and how the show handled the characterisation and what ither characters there are in the sanrio universe and what he thought of them and he doesn't even realise until he is talking through a thoroughly dry mouth and flapping his hand by his hip that he's been talking non stop for who knows how long

and suddenly he shuts up and feels his cheeks burn, noticing now how everyone around the table is looking at him, he grits his teeth, cursing himself for being so cringey and talking so much and why is he so selfish why didnt he let anyone else talk he shouldnt take up so much space

he mumbles sorry and keeps his eyes down from their stares but the others immediately reassure him, they weren't at all upset that he spoke so much, they were maybe a little surprised but really really happy that virge liked the subject so much and wanted to share it with them

he is still humiliated, he says okay thank you but deep down he still doesnt believe that its okay he still thinks its embarrassing and hes such a dork

but over the next few weeks the others invite him to talk about it more, roman sends virgil sanrio memes he finds on tumblr, logan plays the soundtrack to the show when he is trying to calm virgil down, patton buys him a little korilakkuma plush thats the perfect size to fit in his hand and it's even got the little beans in it and everything! it becomes his go to stim toy when he needs to calm down

and YEAH lots of feelings but to summarise: rilakkuma and kaoru is so so cute pls watch it, good for bby vee because soft, good for roman because art, roman has adhd and hyperfixates on the artform for a couple weeks before moving onto another hyperfixation, virgils special interest becomes longterm and though he is reluctant to infodump at first his family assure him its ok and they show him support through little acts and gradually he becomes more confident in it!