#gabriel seems almost reasonable yeah?

[wisteria-lodge]

JK Rowling & the Color Pink

So I'm working on a thing about queer coding in the Harry Potter books... and first I needed to do a sidebar on how the color pink is used. I’ve made a list of every time a character either wears pink, or is heavily associated with a pink object. We actually get some pretty clear categories that are unintentionally very revealing, and say a lot about how JKR sees "girly" femininity.

Let’s start off with the obvious: 

PINK = VILLAIN (FEMME) 

Petunia Dursley: “salmon-pink cocktail dress," "neat salmon-colored coat." Also paints her walls "a sickly peach color."

Gilderoy Lockhart: “lurid pink robes to match the decorations” 

Pansy Parkinson: “very frilly robes of pale pink” 

Rita Skeeter: “long nails were painted shocking pink” 

Aunt Muriel: “feathery pink hat gave her the look of a bad-tempered flamingo.” 

(Aunt Muriel only shows up briefly at Bill and Fleur’s wedding, but then proceeds to insult pretty much every other character, and give Harry an existential crisis by spilling the tea on Dumbledore)

Dolores Umbridge: “a horrible pink Alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan.” 

(Also: has pink stationary, and her pamphlet MUDBLOODS and the Dangers They Pose to a Peaceful Pure-Blood Society has a pink cover) 

Cho Chang

(Okay. Not a villain per se, BUT. Cho is the reason the mole gets into the DA in the books (and just is the mole in the films.) And given that she is a sort of Umbridge-aligned sub villain in book 5, at least structurally... it IS interesting that the place she brings Harry for a date has this very pink, Umbridge-coded description. 

It was a cramped, steamy little place where everything seemed to have been decorated with frills or bows. Harry was reminded unpleasantly of Umbridge’s office. “Cute, isn’t it?” said Cho happily. “Er . . . yeah,” said Harry untruthfully. “Look, she’s decorated it for Valentine’s Day!” said Cho, indicating a number of golden cherubs that were hovering over each of the small, circular tables, occasionally throwing pink confetti over the occupants.

Fleur Delacour: “[her wand] emitted a number of pink and gold sparks.” 

(Also not quite a villain, and I adore Fleur BUT… she’s written hyper-femme in an intimidating, borderline threatening way. She’s very opinionated, bordering on rude. She’s “full of herself” as Ginny puts it. And when she gets engaged to Bill and becomes an unambiguously good guy, she has this interesting moment of ~Pink Rejection~)

“. . . Bill and I ’ave almost decided on only two bridesmaids, Ginny and Gabrielle will look very sweet togezzer. I am theenking of dressing zem in pale gold — pink would of course be ’orrible with Ginny’s ’air —”

Hermione Granger: “Wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown”

(Hermione wears pink exactly one time, and it is at her most villainous… during Book 1, when she tries to stop Harry and Ron leaving in the middle of the night to go duel Malfoy.)

A voice spoke from the chair nearest them, “I can’t believe you’re going to do this, Harry.” A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown. “You!” said Ron furiously. “Go back to bed!” “I almost told your brother,” Hermione snapped, “Percy — he’s a prefect, he’d put a stop to this.” Harry couldn’t believe anyone could be so interfering.

(She literally does the sitting-in-the-dark, villain-lamp thing. Also, in case you were wondering, yes Hermione DOES get a moment of ~Pink Rejection~)

Near the window was an array of violently pink products around which a cluster of excited girls was giggling enthusiastically. Hermione and Ginny both hung back, looking wary.

Which brings us too: 

PINK = SILLY/FRIVOLOUS (FEMME) 

Sybill Trelawney: “after you’ve broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue-patterned ones? I’m rather attached to the pink.”

(She’s a fraud. Also hides empty bottles of sherry in the room of requirement. (I’m going to have to be uncharitable in this section, need to get in Rowling’s head a little, so am sorry.) 

Parvati Patil: “robes of shocking pink"

(Often described as “giggling,” thinks Professor Trelawney is amazing, the real deal.)

The Fat Lady: “a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.” 

(Often described as giggling. Drinks too much during the holidays. JRK is unfortunately well known for being fatphobic. Also the Fat Lady has a friend named Violet, and Parvati has a friend named Lavender. Not really going anywhere with that, just funny that they’re both shades of purple.)

Hepzibah Smith: “an immensely fat old lady wearing an elaborate ginger wig and a brilliant pink set of robes.” 

(So… almost identical description to the Fat Lady. And I think we should maybe talk about her more, maybe? Because the way she’s framed… I think she might be Tom Riddle’s sugar mamma?)

“I brought you flowers,” he said quietly, producing a bunch of roses from nowhere. “You naughty boy, you shouldn’t have!” squealed old Hepzibah, though Harry noticed that she had an empty vase standing ready on the nearest little table. “You do spoil this old lady, Tom. . . .” 

(Or maybe we… shouldn’t talk about that. Either way, Tom Riddle does kill her, steal her stuff, and frame her house elf so thats… not great.)

PINK = EMBARRASSING 

“Everyone take a pair of earmuffs,” said Professor Sprout. There was a scramble as everyone tried to seize a pair that wasn’t pink and fluffy.

(Pink fluffy earmuffs are adorable.)

“Wash out your mouth,” said James coldly. “Scourgify!” Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape’s mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag.

(The next two example are 'pranks' as well, I think the pink-colored soap is there to add a kind of insult to injury.)

Shocking-pink Catherine wheels five feet in diameter were whizzing lethally through the air like so many flying saucers. 

(This is a bit from Fred and George’s farewell firework show, it's funny that they’re specifically pink fireworks that Umbridge can’t get rid of.)

“Headless Hats!” shouted George, as Fred waved a pointed hat decorated with a fluffy pink feather at the watching students. “Two Galleons each — watch Fred, now!” Fred swept the hat onto his head, beaming. For a second he merely looked rather stupid, then both hat and head vanished.

(also just, pumping up an embarrassing moment)

PINK = OUTSIDER, WEIRDO

Hagrid

Hagrid’s flowered pink umbrella, which contains his broken wand, is brought up a lot. In this case I think we’re meant to see it as a joke. Hagrid’s so big, and so masc, but the pink umbrella makes him non-threatening. However… the pink umbrella, it’s not a totally positive thing, is it? It doesn’t match, it isn’t *him.* Hagrid wouldn't have chosen to carry this around, totally on his own, if he'd had any other choice. It sets him apart, both visually and socially (because it's a constant reminder that he doesn't have a wand.)

Dobby

Dobby, once he is freed, gets pink-and-orange striped socks, and they’re meant to communicate that he’s… kind of a lot. “Yeh get weirdos in every breed,” as Hagrid puts it. JKR has a very strange, honestly antagonistic relationship with Dobby. He’s the victim of book 2, but structurally kind of the villain? He describes the house-elves situation as “enslavement,” but Hermione’s treated as overdramatic for calling house-elves slaves two books later. And then everything is ret-conned and Dobby is… just kind of weird for liking freedom (and socks) as much as he does.

Tonks

Book!Tonks defaults to “bubblegum-pink” hair. Her hair is described as pink a lot. (Movie!Tonks defaults to purple hair, because they were worried that pink would visually align her with Umbridge.) And this is the oddest one on the list to me, because Tonks is such a universally beloved, fan favorite character. But I really do think that *as written*... we’re supposed to put her in a category with Dobby. The two of them leave (unintentional) destruction in their wake. They’re loud, they’re a lot, they take up too much space. Harry thinks they’re both kind of annoying. (and yeah, Harry 100% thinks  Tonks is “a little annoying at times.”)

[domreader-headcannon-scenarios]

There's a whole bit about Satan and Sitri not knowing what a dildo is, and whether or not they call it something else in canon I like to imagine that they actually don't have toys in hell and they think it's just a silly human thing, cause if you want pleasure you could just ask for it, who cares.

Cue Ppyong coming back from earth with MC's hitachi wand in his little bag and MC getting evil thoughts.

The demon decides to humor them. Sure, whatever, you can use that little machine on them. They have a little pride about it, joking or not, mentioning how it won't compare to actually touching him, but go ahead, he's curious.

Maybe twenty minutes later and he's trembling, holding on to you like you're a lifeline as you use it on him. You tell him that this is the low setting and they whine.

Ah, this was meant to be a request, but it's kinda long now. If you understand where I'm going then can I ask for something like this to be written for Satan, Lucifer, and Gabriel but for the replaced god au, if you want? If you do decide to write for Gabriel you can make that a separate post if you need to.

I really love this!! (And spoilers but Mc summons dildos infront of Mammon, Satan, Sitri, Marbas, and Foras. None of them know what they were!

So like, I know there ARE sex toys in hell, but they don’t seem to have as many as humans! So that leaves so many thoughts!!

They’d be so sensitive to the vibrations at first…(I have a pastel blue/green one I’m using as reference;) )

-

Satan

Cw: overstim,

Satan lazily watched you prepare the hitachi wand, he was confused as to why you were lubing his dick, shouldn’t you prepare the toy to go inside him? “(M/c)? What does that thing do?” Satan asked in a bored tone.

“It vibrates.”

You turn it on, it’s the lowest setting but the toy is fully charged, so it’s quite strong against Satan’s unprepared manhood. He jumps and hisses as his body adjust to the sensation. You can see him lose focus for a few seconds before he grabs the bed sheets and claws into them. You grin and press it against the tip of his cock, Satan howls, thighs snapping shut around your waist.

“F-fuck! T-that’s strong…” Satan hissed out, trying to regain composure but unable to do so. He’s panting, his heart is racing and he’s positively dripping pre in response to the toy. He moans and rolls his hips forwards, his eyes blurring as he does so.

“Yeah, it’s used as a ‘personal massager’ for humans to get off on their own, or use on their partner like this.” You say calmly, slowly, intentionally pausing to draw out his torture. You were taking your time overstimulating him, it was fun!

“W-well if this is the strongest setting, t-then I have nothing to worry about!” Satan laughs out. Even as he’s clearly blushing, embarrassed and being overstimulated, he’s trying to act like he’s holding his own.

“Oh this is the lowest setting!” You laugh out. Lightly flicking the wand up one more setting. Satan whimper and grabbed your hand, the toy was vibrating so hard he couldn’t even keep his hand still, though he doesn’t tell you to stop.

“W-wait you can’t turn it up like that! He whines, nearly screaming as you press the wand down on his sensitive tip. His hips tremble and you can see the muscles in his stomach convulsing, you have to hold his cock still as it pulsates. He cums in your hands fast. Too bad for him you don’t stop, as his bliss wears off and the overstimulation kicks in, it nearly hurts to feel the wand vibrating in his cock.

Lucifer

Cw: overstim,

Lucifer didn’t think this through, he for some reason thought he could…tone it out? Lucifer upon seeing the wand was bored and laid down, acting like he’s rather sleep than entertain the toy. When you mentioned its intense he dared you to put it on the highest setting.

He thought he was being smart.

Too bad you two have the same brain cell.

As soon as you turned it on, he’s hissing, trying to wiggle away from the toy. His cock actually a quite a bit of pre out almost instantly. He moans and you can see the shock on his face, his eyes black, his iris no longer visible.

“T-turn it down!” He hisses, he’s confused when you don’t do anything, he tries to growl but you press the wand down on the tip of his cock, turning his growl into a whimper. “Turn it down-now!”

You laugh and press the lower button to turn it ‘down’. But nothing happens.

You mean forward and whisper into his ear, he can barely hear you over the buzzing of the wand and his heart racing.

“Lucifer. This IS the lowest setting…”

Lucifer whimpers in frustration and disbelief. This is a joke, you can’t be serious…but he hears the toy clicking, letting him know you’re not lying. He tries to ignore it, but he can almost feel himself going numb from the vibrations and he knows he can’t last long. He trembles and watches the toy, his cock is practically drooling out his seed…it’s pitiful…

Gabriel (Replaced god Au)

Cw: overstim

Gabriel was trembling, the toy wasn’t even on, you haven’t even done much more than stroke him until he was hard. When you place the wand to the tip of his cock, he whimpers.

You flick the toy on, as soon as it turns on he cums. You don’t turn it off, even as his orgasm fades he’s trembling with the toy on. He feels like he can’t stop cuming!

It hurts, but feels so good, he can’t believe…his Lord, His Master is giving him such amazing pleasure! He doesn’t know what he did to deserve it, but…he’s not sure he can handle it!

“P-please my Lord!!” Gabriel whimpers out, he’s desperately holding onto you, he’s kissing your neck, trembling and crying as his all six of his wings spasm behind him, flapping unevenly and nod nearly strong enough to lift either of you up.

“Shhhh….it’s ok.” You shush him. “I’m going to turn it to the next level, ok? This is the first level, there’s six more to go, ok?”

Gabriel trembles and hides his face. “I-I don’t know if can handle all of t-them!” He whimpers out. He hugs you like he’ll fall all the way to Hell if he lets go. “I-I’ll do anything for you…”

He bites his lip trying to ensure the vibrations. It hurts….but it feels amazing! He has to do this! He has to prove to you he can do this! H-he owes you everything!

-

[princess-of-the-corner]

ML Roleswap (RichSwapAU)

Random assortment of thoughts that don’t really have rhyme or reason!

- Biggest change, Sabine’s brother hit it big as a TV chef, and he worked with Tom and Sabine when his restaurant chain started up. Tom and Sabine, as a result, hit it really big themselves. They now have several chains of bakeries coffee shops, and bistros all over Paris, and the greater France in area. This has done little to change their overall outlook, still being very calm, kind, compassionate, down to earth people.

- Marinette, while technically the “heiress” to DC Delights (company name) is still an aspiring fashion designer, and her parents are very supportive. She is privileged and knows it, but is occasionally unaware of how that privilege can affect others.

- Honestly, I can’t see Tom and Sabine being friends with André, and still being cool with how he and Audrey treat Chloé, so we’re going to have “decent!dad” André here. André is friends with Tom and Sabine, the pair supporting him through his divorce with Audrey, probably around when Chloé is … let’s say 6? 8? Under 10, at the very least. Audrey did not take this well, and has been showing up to pester André since the divorce was finalized. Mostly, she does this through Chloé, who still harbours a great deal of affection for her mom, and wants her approval.

- Marinette and Chloé were a little too young when the Divorce happened to really GET why Audrey and André were separating, so both still see Audrey in a (mostly) favourable light. (Sabrina, ironically, is staring at them like, “really? No idea why they split?”). Marinette in particular looks up to Audrey a lot as the “Style Queen”.

- Gabriel and Emilie own Gabriel’s, a small fashion boutique that does well enough for itself. Gabe has never managed to make it big, partially because as a young man, he told Audrey Bourgeois to shove her “patronage” up her ass, meaning Audrey did her level best to kill his career. In “current canon”, Audrey has encouraged Chloé to “oppose” Adrien, as Gabe’s son, and Chloé’s feels conflicted, as Marinette is clearly crushing on him. (Later, she will start almost exclusively buying from Gabriel’s to piss her mom off.)

- Nathalie is their store manager, cashier, and general help. She’s also dating them both. Adrien has grown up with her in his life, and calls her “Auntie Nat”.

- Adrien is mostly still homeschooled, though rather than a model, his parents taught him how to sew, and he helps out around the store. Recently, he made a push for attending public school, and Gabriel and Emilie reluctantly agreed, partially because they have … stuff going on, that they want to hide.

- Here, rather than using the Peacock and/or Butterfly to make Adrien, Adrien is a perfectly normal human kid. Instead, the Peacock and Butterfly (found as antiques, along with the book, and purchased for inspiration) have been used to help the Agreste’s with their business, getting inspirations for designs and so forth. However, though they’ve used the Miraculous far less than in canon, they still used them, so Emilie is becoming ill. She is not yet in a coma, just seems to be getting sick, so Gabe hasn’t dived completely off the deep end. He is still Hawk Moth, but is far more reasonable, and part of him making Akumas is experimenting, in the hopes that if he can’t get the Ladybug and Black Cat, he could eventually make an Akuma that can cure Emilie.

OR

- Amelie still uses the Peacock to create Felix, which puts HER in a coma eventually, resulting in Emilie taking up the Butterfly, so she can cure her sister, supported by Gabriel and Natalie.

-

Fuck it let’s go for a bit

- Honestly yeah roll with the big franchise of bakeries.

- Yeah I can’t take away /all/ of Mari’s naive nature. So she’s nice but a bit clueless on occasion. Like the ‘why don’t you just buy a new *insert item here*?’ response when someone complains.

- I’m going back and forth on Andre because like. Yeah Tom and Sabine wouldn’t approve of his nonsense. But there’s other factors like. 1.) they may not like him but being civil with people you hate is part of adult business deals, 2.) they may not have known how bad he was until later at which point Mari and Chloé are attached in which case 3.) Mari and Chloé are friends so Tom and Sabine are gonna play nice with Andre so they can make sure Chloé has genuine good influences who will actually be parents to her

- I think that even if they didn’t ‘get it’ before, the kids are old enough to understand now that things are fucky there and Audrey sucks

- Audrey being a petty bitch tracks lmao.

- Nathalie still being involved hell yeah

- Also yeah I can’t imagine Gabe and Emilie not being overprotective

- the potential with the Miraculosu is all sorts of hot mess to figure out tbh. Out of those options I’d lean toward the first because tbh if it was the latter I’d just swing back and knock out Emilie instead

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I actually thought that Adrien and Gabriel's relationship seemed like it might have been possible to salvage in the early seasons. What do you think?

@tallwriter Starting a new post since this one was getting super long as this is a different topic.

The problem with Gabriel Agreste's character is that they very clearly wanted to write a sympathetic villain - you can tell that from how the show handles his death - but sympathetic villains don't work if you make them cartoonishly evil. You have to handle the situation with nuance and delicacy, especially when one of the main heroes is the villain's son.

Gorizilla is not a perfect episode by any means, but it does showcase how Gabriel should have been written if they wanted him to come across as complex and sympathetic. In that episode, Gabe thinks that Adrien is Chat Noir and, because there's no way to magically force Adrien to reveal himself or confess his secrets, Gabriel has to come up with a situation where Adrien would be forced to transform of his own free will (since that can't be overwritten with a ring or something crazy like that). Which is how we get Adrien hurtling to his death while his father looks on:

Adrien: Always! (jumps out of Gorizilla's hand, and over the side of the building) Yeah-ha! Hawk Moth:(from his lair) No! ... Hawk Moth:(from his lair) If indeed you are Cat Noir, then transform, son. Please. (Adrien continues to fall downward, resolutely remaining as he is) Come on, son! (Ladybug looks down at Adrien, then raises her head, eyes closed.) Ladybug: Cat Noir, help!! Hawk Moth:(from his lair, to Gorizilla) Drop Ladybug!

This is good writing. Yes, Gabe's plan was kind of dumb (you live with Adrien, dude, just bug his room), but if we accept that this was the only way to go about a forced reveal - and that does seem to be the writer's logic - then we see a situation where Gabriel put his son above winning. A situation where he's still very much the villain, but he's not a dastardly, cold-hearted one. He does love his son.

There are actually several of these moments in the first three seasons. Some involve Adrien and many more involve Nathalie. It's why season five's claim that Gabe put beating Ladybug above everything else rings hollow. He never actually did that outside of Evolution (S5E1). He's almost always been loved-ones first when it really counts, a thing that Ladybug uses against him in the final when she tries to crush Emilie. The whole "Ladybug obsession" thing truly feels like something they just made up for that one episode to justify Nathalie "turning sides" aka doing nothing useful beyond maintaining the status quo (hey, they needed someone to keep the senti plot from having consequences and it wasn't like she was doing anything useful anyway!)

The problem is that this "loved ones first" mentality is only used for big dramatic moments, often as a way to keep Gabriel from winning. It's not Gabriel's main characterization even though it needed to be if you want season five's ending to feel even remotely earned. Going into that ending, we should have all thought that Gabe was a messed up dude who truly did love his son. And, if Gorizilla, Style Queen, and Ladybug had all been examples of his standard characterization, then we would have thought that.

But that's not who the writers told us Gabe was.

Instead, his standard characterization paints him as petty, controlling, and manipulative. Which is wild because there was no reason to do that! Gabe could - and should - have been played as stern and removed, but generally loving when he's outside of the mask. In other words, Gabriel Agreste could be well liked while Hawk Moth was hated.

The crazy thing is that this is such a simple change to make. You either removed the episodes where Gabe's awful parenting is the source of the conflict (ex: Bubbler) or you just make a few minor changes to show that he's conflicted about his actions.

For example, take Chat Blanc, the episode that ruined so many elements of this show! In that episode, Gabe is a total bastard. He happily sacrifices his son's happiness to make an akuma in the form of Marinette and then, when Adrien's secret is revealed, does Gabe have any sort of conflict about traumatizing his son? The kind of conflict we'd expect after episodes like Gorizilla? Nope! He straight up delights in showing Adrien Emilie's... corpse? Comatose form? Whatever! Gabe then akumatizes Adrien with a smile on his face.

That gets the writers a solid F for consistent characterization. It's why I highlighted "almost" in red when I mentioned Gabe's motivation. Because in Ephemeral and Chat Blanc, the writing ignores the sympathetic stuff that characterizes the dramatic moments and goes straight for the worst-father-of-the-year, love-to-hate-him, please-let-him-die-now characterization that we get in most episodes.

If you were writing Chat Blanc's Gabriel to fit his intended complex, sympathetic mold, then you would probably drop the breakup plot or you'd have spent all season setting Marinette up as the perfect akuma target, changing the breakup into something that Gabriel felt that he HAD to do instead of opportunistic evilness. You'd also have Gabe drop a line like, "I'm sorry, Adrien. You'll thank me later" before the Chat Blanc akumatization. Or at least don't have him grinning! Do something, ANYTHING to show that Gabe sees using his son like this as a necessary evil and not a fun time! You know, like how he was begging Adrien to transform during Gorizilla? Almost like Gabe had stopped caring about winning and started just wanting his son to live.

Would these changes make Gabe less of a fun cartoon villain? Yes, but that's the point. Cartoon villains are cartoony. They're over the top. They have no nuance. Sympathetic villains don't work with those characteristics.

The normal way to get around this in a cartoon setting is to have secondary antagonists who can be played as cartoonishly evil. And, confusingly, Miraculous has those characters. Chloe, Sabrina, and Lila have been here since season one (Kim could also have stayed a bully and been added to that list, but he's not a teenage girl, so I get why they didn't do that /s.) Felix has been around since seasons three. Nathalie has been an active villain since season two. Any or all of these characters could be the cartoonish, nuance-less villain while Gabriel stays sympathetic.

Instead, they play Gabe however they want to play him in any given episode, making it so that he's impossible to understand from an audience perspective. I personally like the sympathetic take and think that those are the show's best episodes because I like complex villains. It's even how I write Gabe in my stuff because I go for less cartoony takes on canon.

I don't think a redemption was needed, but a sympathetic villain doesn't require one. All that term means is that you can understand the villain and be sympathetic to their plight. Redemption is optional. In fact, the goal is often not redemption, but an understand that, "there but for the grace of the gods go I." I mean, we've all lost loved ones. Wouldn't the power to bring a loved one back tempt you, too?

If they wanted to go for evil, cartoony Gabe, then they needed to drop all of the complexity and go for a Disney villain type character who gets a Disney villain death a la Scar or Mother Gothel. Don't give Gabe the wish. Let him fall to his own hubris by falling into the water of his secret layer and lading as a puddle of ash while a sad Ladybug looks on, having just failed to save him.

If you want to see an excellent look at how cartoon Gabe could have worked, then I highly recommend @zoe-oneesama's Scarlet Lady comic, which is just nearing its end after a multi-year run. I think it's fair to say that Zoe and I largely agree on canon's flaws, she just fixes them by leaning into the cartoon side of things, creating a hilarious story with lots of heart. Canon could have absolutely gone that way too and worked out wonderfully! The issue is not a lack of nuance, it's that they tried to add nuance without ever fully committing to it, making a story that is the worst of both worlds. While a more serious nuanced reboot would be my ideal dream, a reboot that scraps all of Gabe's nuance and just makes him go full evil would be just as satisfying and Zoe proves that.

[edosianorchids901]

Feeling Blue

@flashfictionfridayofficial prompt - "muted colors"

Cw: verbal abuse, depression

“Are you serious with that?” Gabriel’s whole face contorted with disgust as he looked Aziraphale over. “That’s completely inappropriate.”

“I’m sorry?” Aziraphale asked, confused. “What’s inappropriate?”

“That!” Gabriel pointed at Aziraphale’s tunic. “Are you seriously wearing blue?”

Aziraphale glanced down at himself. Almost all of his doublet was in fact white, although it had a bit of bright blue trim. “Well, not very much. It was just so pretty, and I thought—”

“Don’t think.” Gabriel waved a hand, and Aziraphale jumped as the miracle slammed into him like a harsh wind. “Thinking requires brains. And you pretty clearly don’t have those, so just follow orders. Okay, champ?”

“Oh. I-I’m sorry.” Wilting, Aziraphale looked down at himself. His doublet was now all white. Gabriel had miracled away the color. “Um. What orders, precisely?”

Gabriel gave an aggrieved sigh. “Uh, I thought it was pretty obvious. Bright colors are super inappropriate. Only wear muted colors. Got it?”

Aziraphale opened his mouth to ask why bright colors were inappropriate. So many of the things in Creation, from flowers to animals, sported quite vivid colors. But no, he wouldn’t ask. Asking questions was a truly dreadful idea.

“Got it,” he repeatedly dully. “Muted colors only.”

He went back to Venice after a further lecture on how his choice of blue trim would have brought terrible shame to Heaven. The lecture further continued into chastising him for his sorrowful expression. Angels were to be joyful at all times.

Dejected, Aziraphale found Crowley seated near one of the many canals, drinking wine and watching boats drift past. “Well, you look awfully content. Having fun ruining lives?”

“Oh, always,” Crowley said, casual despite Aziraphale’s unusually sharp tone. “That’s me. Planning to bring about the downfall of humanity by drinking all their wine.”

Aziraphale sat and poured himself a cup. He rather felt like drinking the whole jug. Or perhaps pouring it on himself and adding some color back to his outfit. Gabriel could hardly complain about that, could he?

No. Of course he could. Gabriel could complain about every single thing that Aziraphale did.

“What’s up?” Crowley asked, tilting his head. “You look like want to murder my wine.”

“Oh, I do. By drinking all of it.” Aziraphale drank some, then rested his chin in one hand and sighed. This degree of petulance was likely inappropriate for an angel, too. “I’m sorry. I just had something of a difficult review.”

“No need to be sorry.” Crowley topped off Aziraphale’s cup. “Is that a new doublet?”

Aziraphale shook his head. “It’s the same one. But Gabriel miracled away all the color.”

Crowley gave him a horrified look. “Wot? Why?”

“Because angels are only supposed to wear muted colors.” Rather envious, Aziraphale eyed the red accents on Crowley’s doublet, an absolutely brilliant, rich color. “It’s my own fault, really. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be wearing anything other than white or beige or what have you.”

Frowning a little, Crowley tilted his head. “Did he say only white or beige?”

“Well, no. Just the muted colors bit.”

“So…” Crowley drummed his fingers on the table. “Could you do colors as long as they weren’t bright?”

“I don’t know. Possibly.” Oh, this was so miserable. Aziraphale simply wanted to flop over in the sun and lie there on the street being sad. It was an unusual impulse, and one that was likely also inappropriate for an angel. “Most likely. But it depends on Gabriel’s mood, really.”

“Nnnh. Yeah, I get that.” Crowley gave him another thoughtful look. “If you could get away with it though, what would you wear? Blue?”

“That seems a reasonable conclusion,” Aziraphale snapped. “Since I was, until an hour ago, wearing blue.”

“Lots of pale blues out there.”

“I suppose there are.”

“Wanna go shopping?”

Aziraphale shrugged, much gloomier than he liked to be. Angels ought to be cheerful and positive, not, well… blue.

“Come on.” Standing, Crowley offered a hand. “Let’s go for a walk, at least. Check out the latest fashions.”

Sighing, Aziraphale took his hand and rose. It likely was a better idea to get up and move about. Otherwise, he might simply melt into a puddle of sadness.

Venice was quite pretty, full of color. Aziraphale found himself rather envious of all of it. He even found himself envious of the sky and the water. They were allowed to be blue, and didn’t get accused of said blue being inappropriate.

There were even some blue flowers. That wasn’t fair either. Why was everything allowed to be blue except him? Even Crowley didn’t have to smile all the time.

At the immediate moment, Aziraphale was quite failing at smiling. Oh, he was an awful failure. Gabriel was likely right to chastise him so harshly.

“Oy.” Crowley nudged him. “Look at that. Bet you could get away with something like that.”

Aziraphale felt rather more like crying, but he made himself look. They’d wandered near a tailor’s shop—which was likely Crowley’s doing—and some truly lovely fabrics were on display. Many of them were extremely colorful, the sort of thing that Aziraphale would love to wear if it was solely up to him.

The fabric that Crowley indicated was subtler than that, primarily an off-white. But there were also bits of light blue, a swirling sort of pattern rather reminiscent of waves.

“Oh,” Aziraphale said wistfully. “It is very nice.”

“Yeah.” Searching Aziraphale’s face, Crowley squeezed his hand. “Maybe someday, eh?”

Although still feeling blue, Aziraphale managed a genuine smile in response. He wasn’t bold enough to risk even a muted blue soon after getting in trouble. But perhaps someday, he would gain the courage to try again.

[whataboutsimple]

Hi, it’s G again and it’s kinda late here so I apologise for my ramblings. I think what makes Gabriel so interesting and likeable is what we do know about him in Canon and what was shown. Despite the lie, his personality seems so earnest and it’s not like he’s just a blank slate filler good boy. He has snark, he has flaws, he’s interesting because of what we’ve seen of him and what we’ve heard of. He tried to bring people to safety when the wither storm attacked but the fact that he had an obsidian building in the first place was what intrigued me, even if I didn’t know it at the time. He already had something set up and made of the strongest material mineable and close to beacon town too, as though he’s prepared for anything just in case people become endangered and with a nether portal too to the minecart railway. He’s quick to think, to know when he needs help and all these other little things are what make him so interesting and the more I look, the more I speculate, the more I want to see. Anyways that’s enough for now I’m very sorry have a good day/night take care!

No need to apologise, dear G! I love your every ask!

For me personally it was almost the same, but at the same time I liked the fact that from the whole Order he's the only one who actually took responsibility for something.

C'mon, Magnus, Ellegaard and Soren are chillin' at their bases, Ivor doing Notch knows what and than there's Gabriel, who still goes around and does something for people.

I bet this whole EnderDragon thing for him wasn't even for fame, but a way to tell people that they can ask for his help because he can and will help.

Let's start from the very begininng:

Clearly as we can see he's the only functioning member of The Order Of The Stone. There's posters everywhere and merch, but I doubt he's the one selling it since there's a lot of stands with product not only his, but the Order, no way he would managed to do it all counting the fact that they do EnderCon every year but it's only now when Gabriel actually arrives there, so he's not trying to make money of it. For his protection he hired a guy who makes stupid puns and is afraid of chickens. Clearly he thinks he doesn't need normal protection, but he still hired him probably just to help the guy out with a job. At least he trusts himself to be able to fight properly if something will go down. We also see no guards in the building itself, which also means that Gabriel wasn't organizing this since he clearly can put himself in danger, but not others. He wouldn't risk people's lifes like that if it was on him. He doesn't even have any programm for the whole show, all he does is talk to people. He says that all of them can be like him if they want to. For example Magnus clearly wants to hold the crown to himself, meanwhile Ellegaard thinks she's the smartest person in the whole world. But Gabriel? No, no, no, he believes anyone can be great with proper training (for safety reasons). He talks to people as if it some friends meeting or whatever, he doeasn't put himself above all of them. When Axel tries to warn him about the danger, he patiently wait for a normal explanation, but of course he needs to continue the show because other people are there too. He still waited at least. Than there's Ivor. What Gabriel does? Nothing, he doesn't even think about hurting Ivor or calling the guard, he even let's him hug him. Of course he makes this "unhappy" look in case Ivor starts speaking about Order's lies. But other than that? He doesn't do anything, though he probably should've. Yeah, he attacks the Wither since he doesn't know just how strong the Command Block is. Maybe he assumed that this thing as strong as normal Wither? Which means he was ready to fight a freaking Wither just to keep people safe. And we all know that Wither is almost as hard to defeat as EnderDragon (we're talking abt normal way without clutches and glitches). When nothing is working, he thinks quick and gives the Amulet to Jesse, already knowing he won't go through the Nether Portal, but instead he will stay here and try to help people.

And that's obnly the first Episode! I could've ramble maybe abt other episodes as well but this thing is already long enough, ahah- I'm always waiting for your asks, dear G!<3

[httyddragonfox]

The Bad writing of Miraculous Season 4 & 5

Is it just me, or did the writing of Miraculous go down after season three? Chat blanc did so well that they tried to make every episode similar to it, but in doing so they completely changed the format of their writing.

For starters, Adrein is a sentimonster. That's alright, but their little to no hint before hand. Gabriel didn't even use the amok to keep Adrien in line, just scolded him. If he was so against it he could've done that, or if he had his suspicions he could've demanded Adrien tell him the truth with the amok.

Second, Gabriel is suddenly much worse of a parent. At least he had his morals in the first three seasons, and could be slightly reasonable, but now he's completely overriding Adrien's life. It's also inconsistent, sometimes he's completely aghast at the idea of Adrien being Cat noir, sometimes he's like "Yes, evil plan!" Sometimes he's against akumatizing Adrien, others he's "Yes, let's akumatize my son!"

Third, Suddenly 'Kagami is a sentimonster?' This isn't confirmed, but it's heavily implied. Gabriel suddenly has an arrangement with Tomoe. Almost as if she was aware of this the whole time. There was no hint before hand. When the ring is akumatized and broken, Kagami is fine, just like she was before when it was akumatized, Yet suddenly it's a big deal if it is.

Forth, what are they doing with Felix? In the third season, he was introduced as a horrible person who could pretend to be nice. Yet in the fourth and fifth season, it's a bit confusing what they are doing with him. He seems to be obsessed with going against Gabriel, that's consistent. Yet they have him appear in season 4, and "have him controlled by the ring?" In season 5, they have him be horrible in making everyone disappear, Kagami calls him a monster, and he sympathizes with the sentimonsters. Next time, he kidnaps Kagami and she loves in love with him, which is problematic. Then showing the truth to Marinette, he gets rid of the sentimonster even though he cared before. They made him horrible and then they redeemed him, but I'm not sure if he should have been redeemed, especially after the big win he gave Gabriel.

Fifth, the turned Chole into an irredeemable person. Yeah, she was bad before but at least she had her morals. She was somewhat kind to Sabrina, and she had insecurity issues. I don't disagree with the fact that she was selfish in her heroics and that made her a bad person, but I would've liked her continue to have a bond with Sabrina even as she was tormenting Marinette.

Sixth, Lila just seems a little ridiculous in how much she gets away with everything. They were trying to set her up as the next big bad, but in doing so she doesn't even have a set character. It turns out even the character of Lila is a lie and she has three moms, who just believe her lies whole-heartedly. Marinette told Alya that she was Ladybug so Alya should know that she is not Ladybug's best friend or maybe trust her friend a little more, but even she believes Lila!

Seventh, why is Natalie still working for Gabriel when she told him he didn't deserve her help?

Eighth, Kagami and Adrien are supposed to be together according to Gabriel and Tomoe. They never mentioned this before, heck, they weren't even paying attention when they were dating. Suddenly in season 5 it's super important that they end up together.

Ninth, They keep playing around with cataclysm. Cat noir was hit with a Cataclysm before and shattered his ribs but that was it. I thought his suit protected him, they're supposed to be near indestructible. Suddenly they act like if Cat Noir is hit with it he dies, if Monarch is hit with it he'll die.

Tenth, Gabriel destroyed the miraculous like it was nothing. They're supposed to be indestructible to the point that only cataclysm can destroy it.

Eleventh, the alliance rings are supposed to be made of metal, but they're also made of plastic and they're easily broken, yet they turn the alliance rings into a statue.

Twelfth, Tomoe easily gives up on the goal as soon as Gabriel is gone. Yet they wrote her as helping him to achieve her goal.

Thirteenth, Suddenly they're living in a utopia at the end of season 5, even though realistically it's not that easy to turn the world around. What about that school that's not really a high school? It didn't really sound to have that much structure to it. It sounds more like an activities center. Everything just sounds a little too good to be true.

Fourteenth, Gabriel got what he wanted, even if the world being destroyed and being remade is portrayed as a bad thing. Also, he's portrayed as a hero to the public even though he was horrible. Adrien even sees him as a hero, despite being the frontal victim of his abuse. That's problematic writing.

Overall, they tried to create a more serialized writing for seasons 4 and 5 whilst forgetting their writing for the first 3 seasons that were more episodic. It's a complete 180, shocks the audience, and feels sloppy.

[kisilinramblings]

I don't know if you've seen the last two final episode yet but if you have, any thought?

I actually like it?

Sure, I was disappointed that Chat Noir didn't join up the fight. At the same time, I understand Adrien's reasons for not turning into Chat Noir in order to break himself free.

Not only was he hunted by the nightmare of him as Anti-Chat killing everything he cared about, but he was very self-aware at how emotionnally vulnerable he was to be akumatized and making that nightmare come true. This season made him realized he can be so angry to the point of he wants to cataclysm people. It almost happened with both Darker Owl AND Dark Humor this season. Adrien backing off, remaining in "prison" and taking off his Miraculous so Plagg put it in safety for the time being was not him giving up. It was him trying to protect his loved ones. And he was also unaware this was a Monarch attack going on that needed Chat Noir.

Also, everything was made so Adrien doesn't find out for now that his father was Monarch. I don't consider Marinette was in the right even if Gabriel asked her to make sure Adrien doesn't learn the truth. And unbestknown to Gabriel, his dying request landed exactly on Marinette's nightmare territory. Remember the nightmare she had at the beginning. In it, Marinette accidentaly "kills" Gabriel after vanquishing him, right under Adrien's eyes which upset him, asking her why did she did this to his father.

So all ingredients seem to be there for this secret to come back to bite them if it is ever discover. The fact Gabriel has a statue, even if it built on a lie, means that something of him remains even if he is gone. And lately, we have seen that statues IRL can be toppled. But yeah, as long as Gabriel's statue is standing high, his shadow still is present. That is how I view it.

Outside of that, the fight between Bug Noir and Monarch was satisfying. I love that she swung a shovel at Monarch's face sending him flying and the use of Lucky Charm in succession was actually interesting.

I liked that La Résistance try to help however they can. I'm not sure on how pertinent it was for Gabriel and Tomoe's last attack to be international, but I didn't mind. DC and Marvel both have heroes from their respective IPs coming together to fight when there is a global threat affecting more than one city. And it is no secret both Jeremy Zag and Thomas Astruc desire to create their own Zag universe of superheroes.

Also, Tomoe is so up to no good.

Luka was a surprise. I didn't expect him to be trained by Su-Han, however, considering that Su-Han was able to repel an Akuma and since Luka does know both LB and CN's identity, and that Su-Han and Luka already have met once during Ephemeral (as that part wasn't erased), that ending is not that weird if they wanted him back in the story eventually (and reminder that Mirakungfu is meant to disarm Miraculous Holders who went rogue). Anyway, with Luka, a side story about that would have been welcome. But fun detail, Luka's martial style is based on the Snake!

Love the true form of Tikki and Plagg and seeing them fuse into Gimmi was something.

"You humans always summon me to complain. Never to rejoice".

Yeah, feels about right.

Lila's intervention in the finale was pretty tame, but the conclusion is what we expected : she gets the Butterfly Miraculous. But it is probable she might have seen Ladybug untransformed alongside witnessing how to summon Gimmi (although there is no way to know for sure right now). Plus, Lila will have help which I didn't expect. And it seems it is someone who knew where to find here.

Btw, can we have more politician like Mayor Bustier, please? I know it is very utopist, but sign me up for that future.

So yeah, that finale closed a book BUT this isn't the end. There is something uncanny going on during the pool party. It's the illusion of a perfect ending.

Sign me up for S6. o/

[cillacantstudysosheshere]

About Crowley's angel name and why it's not that important

Ok hear me out here, I know there are a million speculations about Crowley's angel past, who he was before the fall, what was his name etc...but I don't think we'll ever fully know the answers to these questions.

The reason I believe so is mostly because, as Crowley pointed out numerous times, he's not that angel anymore. Aziraphale, as far as we've seen, only knows him as Crowley, we as the audience know him as Crowley, that's his name and it will continue to be his name. His former angel colleagues don't call him his old name when he goes to heaven at the end of season 2, they call him Crowley.

His angel name is a dead name (as Neil Gaiman pointed out when he talked about Satan/Lucifer in an ask here on tumblr), so yeah, given that Crowley seems very secretive about his old name (he doesn't tell Aziraphale when they meet and he almost seems bothered when Aziraphale refers to his past) I don't think we'll ever know. We had many chances to know what his name was in season 2 but we still don't know and yes it was clearly on purpose but not because it's important, it's because it's not, It's not relevant to the story.

What I do think is relevant is his status, or more precisely what his status was. I'm a firm believer of the Archangel Crowley theory but even if that ends up not being true we know for certain he was a high ranking angel:

- he confidently says to Shax that he could have performed a miracle that only "the mightiest of Archangels could have performed",

- he built parts of the universe both alone and with Saraqael

- he can stop time and seems overall more powerful than Aziraphale

- he can access Gabriel's files in heaven

- he seems to relate to Gabriel's lack of memories

So yeah, very powerful former angel who probably got their memory whipped who knows exactly what Aziraphale is getting himself into. THAT is the important part of the story, not his name. They leaned so much into Crowley's past in season 2 that it's pretty obvious that it will be relevant in season 3 at some point but I feel like we mostly already know what we need to know. Crowley is Crowley, I don't think a name could give us that many clues about his past.

I hope it won't be that important because what should matter is who he was for Aziraphale: the whole point is that despite being a demon he is not bad, that things aren't only black and white etc THAT is the point. If they lean too much into the "you are a different demon because you were a specific kind of angel" I would be a bit disappointed not gonna lie, because that's not the point. Crowley chose who he wanted to be, that's the main thing he keeps telling Aziraphale and that is what I want them to focus on.

So yeah, speculating is so much fun but in the end I don't think I care about Crowley's angel name.

[fandomandangstlover]

y'all wanna know about Wings of Blood's V1?

too bad, ah'm rumbling about it anyways. btw ah have no idea what ah wanna call V1, or fuck, even Gabriel?, so names might be changed in the future. yippee :thumbsup:

this isn't rlly all about V1, just. things about this au in general. ah have aus and ah need to rumble. feel free to ignore

- V1 is, very much stuck in a timeloop. where it resets when it kills Gabriel for good. no one rlly seems to notice except the Prime Souls (and V2 kinda? unsure as of now.)

- yes, the Gabriel in the Timeloop and the Gabriel? stuck in Purgatory are sorta separate people. Gabriel? is basically just future(aka fucking DEAD) ultrakill Gabriel. yeah imma call the Angel stuck in basically Purgatory "Gabriel?" or Angel till further notice.

something something.. Gabriel? doesn't recognize himself anymore. he's not the righteous hand of the father, he's not the judge of hell.. Gabriel was those things. Gabriel? is not, not anymore.

- V1 is kinda... numb to the Timeloop?? it's basically just infinite blood but he sorta develops a personality as each loop goes on. and man it's not dealing with his emotions well, as expected lmao.

- he's a little attached to Gabriel. in its own way, he sees him as a friend. he likes fighting him, he likes watching him laugh. the amount of times he goes through this just to see him again is.. yeah. idk what's going on between them but it's not straight lmao.

- Respawn is still a thing. Hell brings it back everytime it dies, and V1 sorta suspects it to be the reason for the Timeloop. it isn't. no one got a fuckin' clue on How in Fuck this in happenin'.

- Gabriel? does appear in his universe sometimes. he doesn't really have a stable way to differentiate the universes he's thrown into, so he often or not doesn't even know that this was his home. he often shows up in the Church in Heresy's final level, and rarely everywhere else.

he'll dance and play the oregon, or go up the levels just to see the sights. he's sneaky, of course. hiding and carefully flying around to avoid any demons or husks. he sometimes stay in Lust for awhile to just... repent? it's a reminder of what he had done in his blind faith. a reminder to unlearn them.

he encounters the Machine at times, too.

- V1 has seen & met Gabriel? before. In the loops that has gone by, he'll sometimes see glimpses of gold & red. he'll see those colors fly out of sight like a bird that got too close to a human.

when he managed to meet him in full, it was in the last Level of Heresy. it wasn't bathed in red, in fact, it's never covered red when Gabriel?'s around. it's.. bright. like the second phase of Gabriel's fight.

neither spoke. one because it was unable, and the other because it wouldn't matter. the Angel reached his hand out to the one who freed him from his chains, and the Machine took it without question. they danced the entire time. V1 never knew why Gabriel, not the one bleeding with his organs in full view dancing with him, didn't show up for his battle. but it knew that there's always be a next time to do so.

he would meet Gabriel? time and time again, always in rare moments and barely for more then a few hours. it would fight him, it would dance with him, and Gabriel almost found it with the Angel once. he ran before his past self could spot him.

- Gabriel? likes V1. he loves fighting it, he loves that it's actually a Challenge. he is eternitly grateful for what it has done to him. he's curious on what he could do, how many ways it could destroy him.

- yeah ah'm not sure if ah wanna make him a masochist or not. probably though. EDIT: RETCON AH ALREADY DID LMAO. anyways yeah dw he's fine with constantly injured. not sane at all but he's fine in that department, at least.

- uhh.... something something the Forest fucks with every bit of Gabriel?'s senses. sounds that he recognizes, glimpses of people, smells of blood & fire & everything else, the feeling of his wounds worsing.

- yeah Gabriel? looks HEAVILY fucked up. his wings are just Blood, his helo can go grey, pieces of his armour is broken to show organs, his helmet/head is cracked open with broken stars coming out of it, etc etc. ah honestly am not sure if ah wanna change his color scheme entirely or just.. add a color. but uh, yeah. yippee

kHxbsjakz wings of blood.... beloved.. things might change as time goes on but please enjoy a struggling mentally V1 & universe hopping fucked up Gabriel? !!

[redfluffz]

It's been touched on a few times, but what is everyone's damage exactly (like Mike's perfectionism)? I know there's the little snippets in the scribbles of God telling them each how to be "better", but I feel like there's a lot left unsaid so far. Raph almost seems checked out half the time, and it breaks my heart to think of what little Ariel might be dealing with.

(Anon because I fear I'm just very dense and am missing the obvious.)

(Also, I love this AU, even if God is definitely not Heaven's Greatest Dad.)

First, you are NOT dense! Those are really good questions and I really love to answer them. ❤️

Second, thank you! Yeah God is definitely one of the worst dads in history. 🥲

The reason why there are so many unsaid things is that we didn't get to the point in the comic and I really wanna show it, because describing wouldn't give you a fully understanding. You know, the feelings, how things came to be, ...

And I really hope y'all aren't so shocked when you see God creating Gabriel. In that time Luc wasn't around to stop his father ...

Yeah Ariel is the youngest and the most quiet one. I would even say, sometimes people (even God) don't recognize she is even there. Oh and Joph is really bad to her. Always telling her that she's not good enough to be an archangel, she is not beautiful ... and so on.

Raph has so much to do. He can't even catch a break and when he's taking one, he is told to be lazy. But he surely is handling his issue better than the others.

So I hope we are reaching to that point where we can see them all. Chapter 3 will be about Michael and this i where the fun begins!

Anyway thanks for asking! ✨️

[princess-of-the-corner]

I think a reason why Lila gets as much salt as she does is that she's more of a plot device than an actual character

Like, we've all ranted/seen other people's rants about how the writers dont seem to want to put the work into making her a convincing manipulator, so they just dumb all the other characters down and make them forget/ignore things they really should be thinking about (post-Gang of Secrets Alya still believing Lila despite knowing Maribugs secret fir example)

But more than those obvious signs of lazy writing, she's never really been...given much character.

Like, we don't know her motivations for doing what's she's doing, vs Gabe who has the very sympathetic motive of 'i wanna save the dead love of my life'. All the ways Gabriel's writing was botched aside, that gives him character. It shows he's devoted to Emilie, maybe even obsessed, and that he'll throw morals to the wind for someone he deeply cares for

That's character!

Can anyone think of like, any hobbies Lila has? Or how she even feels about any of her mothers?

I cant

But I can tell you things Chloe likes! And what Felix's relationship to his parents is!

Bc Gabriel, Chloe, and Felix are all characters (later season assassinations aside)

But Lila really has no character, so it's hard to treat her like one, especially when the ways the writing bends to make her look more clever than she really is are so obvious they're hard to ignore

She's just, so obviously a plot device and not a real character that it almost makes sense to treat her with the same ire that the other bad writing choices are bc that's what she feels like: a bad writing choice

Oh yeah no that's absolutely it!

We have never seen anything genuine about Lila that isn't her lying and manipulating and being evil. Everyone else, even when they're worse on the whole like Gabriel or who were botched and retconned like Chloé, have at least been shown as people who care about things at times.

Lila is just a plot device that the show bends to whenever she's on screen.

Anything that adds any depth to her comes from fans who take the bike and run aka: make shit up entirely!

[lizardperson]

ockiss24 - day 4!

well we had the big "i love you" confession kiss, how about a little flashback to like 8 years earlier - first kiss! as usual when it comes to Mika & Gabriel, unnecessarily horny.

tfw the hot college student your wife is casually fucking suggests a threesome...

content warning: lewd talks but no actual naughties happening (yet)

"By the way, my brother still thinks this is all just a ploy to get me into a threesome with you and your husband." "Oh, definitely not, don't worry." "I mean, not that I would mind, he IS really hot too…"

So, tonight was the night. They had dinner together, a few drinks, chatted, laughed, and once again Gabriel was surprised about how easy it all was with Mika - he, who usually needed a while to warm up to people, just joking around with her, talking about everything and nothing. A random observer would have thought they all had been friends for years. And now on to the actual purpose of the evening… Part of him still couldn't believe Kat had agreed to this. That Mika seemingly had brought up the idea did not surprise him on the other hand - that girl seemed to be very open when it came to sex, and her shameless flirting told him that she at least wasn't uninterested in him. Still, "threesome with an extremely hot college student" did sound like something out of a midlife crisis fantasy, or porn. When Kat brought it up, his first instinct was to assume this was some kind of trap, but he couldn't think of any reason she could have for that. So, naturally, he agreed, trying not to sound too enthusiastic about the whole endeavor - only mildly succeeding, she just knew him too well. But who could blame him… He had been attracted to Mika from the moment they met. She wasn't even his usual type, but there was just something about her that drew him in. Very pretty smile. Amazing curves. Of course he wanted her. And the prospect of Kat being involved also sounded very enticing. They haven't had sex in what, ten years now? Yeah, that seemed about right. Just because she realized she was lesbian didn't mean he had to stop being attracted to her. So to say he was looking forward to the rest of the evening almost was an understatement.

Somehow he and Mika had ended up alone in the kitchen, and once again he couldn't help but let his eyes wander over her body. He usually was bit more subtle when checking out women, but somehow she made it really hard to not constantly openly leer at her like some old pervert. He wondered how many other middle aged guys she had wrapped around her finger.

Leaning on the counter, she gave him that smirk again. "So I heard you want to fuck me, old man." Straight to the point, she really wasn't shy. God, he should bend that little brat right over that counter…

"I do, yes," he chuckled. "Assuming you want that too of course."

"Oh, definitely," she confirmed, licking her lips. "Why don't you start with kissing me then."

Now if that wasn't the textbook example of a great idea. He closed the last few steps between them, now standing right in front of her, looking down. He brought his hand up to her face, very lightly caressing her cheek for a moment. Being so close, he was once again reminded how young she was, and that morality voice in his head popped up again. You could almost be her father, you creep. He wondered if Kat ever had any qualms about her age.

Fuck it.

As soon as their lips touched that voice went quiet. How soft she felt. How hungrily she kissed him back. God, how much he wanted her. He buried his hand in her hair to pull her even deeper into the kiss, and when they finally separated he needed a moment to catch his breath again. She would be the death of him one day, he could tell already.

Smirking, Mika looked up to him. "If you fuck half as good as you kiss, then this is going to be a very interesting night…"

Gabriel laughed, then went for another kiss, pulling her closer and letting his hands wander over her body. He couldn't wait to get her out of her clothes.

Kat's voice interrupted them. "Starting without me, I see." She leaned in the door frame, eyebrow raised, amused by the view.

"Sorry, couldn't resist," he chuckled, being sure she understood.

"Why don't we take this upstairs then…"

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Adrien's feather allergy as foreshadow of his status as sentimonster is reaching on fandom part. But fandom claimed Felix being one isn't. His name being the episode name definitely foreshadowing his status as sentimonste, considering in s1-3, the episode always named after either akuma or sentimonster bar the Origins. That's what I call foreshadowing. Not whatever feather BS people like to claim.

Felix being a sentimonster is just make senses, always make senses for me, considering he seems harbor a jealousy toward Adrien especially at his remark "You always do everything your father tells you to do?" Considering as sentimonster he couldn't disobey whoever had his amok while human Adrien can disobey anytime he want yet choose not to, in his view.

Then come s4 and 5 with a huge retcon.

Also prior to s4 I don't believe the rings is amok, Felix want it because his mother want it since it's her family heirloom. Again, make senses that she want one of it considering Emilie is dead at this point. She has the right to own one of her family heirloom, Gabriel don't.

One of the episode in s5 implied that Felix always know that the rings are amok and this doesn't make senses if we were to connect back to his debut episode where he just give the ring he stole to his mother, even if say Amelie is a better parents/human than Gabriel, Felix who claimed to love his cousin and want to free him, should know better than to give his cousin's amok to his mother. The math is just not mathing, unless Felix doesn't know the rings are the amok in his debut episode and only know later which is a huge plot hole.

The retcon isn't inherently bad per se, in initial plot Luka is supposed to be Juleka's brother older by two years, s4 retcon him to be her twin. This isn't a problem because it's a minor thing that people either doesn't notice or doesn't care. But when what retconned is almost about the whole world building and lore, that's when it become a big problem. S4 onward doesn't seems like the same series as it's prior season.

,

Would you also argue that Nathalie is a sentimonster given the name of the final episode of season two?

[Image showing that episode 25 of Miraculous season two is named "Mayura"]

And what about the first episode of the origins two parter? Does this mean that Marinette and Adrien are both not humans?

[Image showing that episode 11 of Miraculous season one is named "Ladybug & Chat Noir"]

In seasons 1 to 4, episodes were mostly named for akumas and sentimonsters, but it wasn't a hard rule, so that's a pretty weak argument for Felix being a sentimonster. Even if he was human, he's still the episode's main antagonist, so naming it after him isn't weird even if he was fully human. This is extra true since Chat Noir was originally named Felix, so calling the episode "Felix" apparently drove up hype from fans who were saddened by the change. People wanted to see Felix make at least a cameo and would even pester the head writer about it prior to this episode. A lot of people wanted him to be a former Chat Noir or Adrien's older brother or something like that. You can find a lot of fanfics that did this long before season three was even airing.

Plus what else would you call this episode? There wasn't a single akuma, there were three, and "Princess Fragrance, Lady Wifi, Reflekta" is both an awkward name and something of a spoiler since I think this was the first time that we saw one item lead to multiple akumas.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, I would actually buy that Felix was planned to be a sentimonster from the start. That doesn't feel like a retcon in the same way that Adrien and Kagami do because there is some setup for Felix. The "always do what your told" line fits him being a senti and evil "twins" are often revealed to be magical in origin in these kinds of shows. Plus sentimonsters were a thing at this point, so yeah, I'd totally buy it.

The big reason I still call it a retcon is because of the issue you bring up about the rings. The way they're handled in that episode makes no sense if they're supposedly Adrien's amoks because how would Felix even know that? Who told him? Amelie?

I mean, I'd buy that Amelie knew because it's implied that she was somewhat close to her sister, but that just raises more questions! Why is she demanding her nephew's amok? Why does she give it to Felix? What does she think he's going to do with it? What is going on here?

And, of course, there's the biggest issue of them all: why is Gabriel only mildly annoyed that Felix and Amelie have Adrien's amok? If that was me, I'd be demanding it back! I'd be sending akumas! I'd go to war! You are not controlling my kid!

But Gabriel does nothing. He just waits for Felix to bring it back in the next season. Like this is how he greets Ameilie the next time he sees her:

Amelie: Gabriel! I'm so happy to be able to thank you in person for giving our family's ring (kisses his cheeks) back to Félix. Gabriel: It was the sensible thing to do, Amelie. Adrien: That was very thoughtful of you, Father.

Dude, what are you doing? Why didn't you just tell her that Felix stole the ring? What is going on here? Why does this episode (Gabriel Agreste) end will Gabriel totally fine that he didn't get the ring back because he finally got his hands on one of Ladybug's magical charms? It seriously comes across like he the completely forgot about the ring even though this is the season where Adrien is finally foreshadowed to be a sentimonster! Writers, what are you doing???

A better version of the episode Felix would see Felix show up with the goal of learning if Adrien is also a sentimonster and - if yes - figuring out what the amok is. Have Gabriel give Adrien a command to be nice to Felix so Felix is a total brat to see what his cousin will do. This would be excellent foreshadowing because you could do all of that without directly stating what Felix is doing, but once the reveal happens, it would be a major "oh!" moment on a rewatch.

As-is, the episode is just weird. It may have been intending to set Felix up as a sentimonster, but why? What was the plan? What's with the rings? Why did Felix try to take away all of Adrien's friends and ruin his reputation? There are just so many questions raised here that - sentimonster or not - Felix was still massively retconned.

I will also agree that a retcon isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the writers claim to have planned everything out which is why I will point out every one as it clearly refutes that claim. Plus most of them aren't minor things like the weirdness of Luka's age. It's big stuff like all of the above, which does negatively impact the show. Everything about Felix is extremely unsatisfying and I don't think we're getting answers to any of the questions I asked in this post.

[slashersgostabbystabstab]

Ohhh okay, I understand a bit better now :D So maybe something like resting your head on Hux, a hand on the cheek, a surprise hug, or a silly attempt at hand holding?

I tried, it's cringey but...blame Miss Rona for screwing me over for a week ;7; Thank you for the suggestions!!!

Tfw you need to reassure your robot...

Your turn for the survivor scavenging had come, and you really weren’t looking forward to it. Thankfully, your friends were not expecting you to go alone, hence why you now walked alongside Dwight.

Well, you had hope for at least a moment.

“Which map is next?” came Dwight’s voice as a whisper, his attention on your pondering expression while your strolling continued.

“We could try for MacMillan. The food there somehow always restocks fast.” You suggested while looking up ahead. “Though we’ll have to be real careful about the traps.”

“Maybe a different place?”

“Yeha, maybe.” you chuckled before returning to your thinking.

“How about Dvarka?” Now Dwight gave his own input, but this specific idea prompted you to stop walking. You turned your head to him, blinking for a few moments.

“There’s nothing worth looking for in Dvarka.”

“Oh.” Dwight gave a slight pout, but his features changed to those of alertness once you resumed your walking. “I figured you’d be the one to know.”

“What makes you say that?” you questioned as Dwight caught up to you.

“Well, you do seem to visit Dvarka a lot.” he began while fumbling with his soiled tie.”A-Aren’t you ever scared of the Singularity?”

“Scared of Hux? Of course-” Hold up; you had to pause for a moment.

Once again, you and Dwight’s walking ceased as you mustered something up. In all honesty, you really weren’t sure how to explain that this robot wasn’t a threat to you. It wasn’t an unnoticed fact, but nobody really knew what was going down between you and Hux. Well, neither did you. 

“I mean…he’s just a robot. An extraordinarily smart one.” you gave a bit of a shrug. “Are you scared of him?”

Such a question was practically rhetorical with the way Dwight stared at you, not a single word slipping from his lips.

“Nevermind.” Another chuckle escaped you before you dug your hand into the stained satchel slung around your body. “Let’s scratch Dvarka off the list, we could maybe head over to Autohaven. Heard the sandwiches are typically tolerable and the Wraith doesn’t seem to mind company as long as he’s left alone.”

“Yeah, we can do that.” Dwight nodded before you carried on with your wandering in the direction you knew would bring you to the Wraith’s realm. And although the journey was silent, save for the world’s environmental sounds, the thoughts in your mind swirled rather loudly.

You wondered just how much Dwight knew about your ordeal with Hux, if anybody knew more about it in fact. Knew that this supposed superior being kept you around for some strange reason. The robot lacked affection and emotions, lacked so much that…there was basically no name for what went on.

“Hey Dwight…can I ask you something?” you finally broke the silence. “Do I really go to Dvarka a lot?”

“Is this a trick question?”

“No, of course not.”

“Well, you do go often. Not even Gabriel goes, and he’s the one who knows all about it.  “Dwight shared. “A-And he brought something to our attention.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s almost like…the Singularity seeks you out. We all assumed it was a one-sided thing on his end. But then we noticed he leaves you alone during trials, even when you’re the Obsession.”

“Saving the best for last, I guess?” you cleared your throat  with a shrug.

“Yeah, but…when he doesn’t find you…” Dwight stuck a finger between his neck and shirt collar rather apprehensively, soon clearing his throat. “There was a time you were called in for a trial and for some reason he came to the camp!”

Dwight then shrunk at the volume of his own exclamation before continuing. 

“The Entity wasn’t very pleased with that.”

You could only nod your head as more thoughts entered your mind, wondering just what other things Hux was up to when you weren’t around. You hoped nothing harmful.

“Do you…” Dwight interrupted your thoughts. “Do you think the Singularity can feel? Like us?”

Good question.

“I’m…I wouldn’t know what to say.”

And while you were deep in thought, you were almost instantly brought back to reality when your shoe collided with a girthy root of some sort. Your body immediately fell forwards as you tried to catch yourself, but to your luck that wasn’t exactly necessary.

You felt Dwight’s arms holding your torso, wrapped tightly around your waist before you were hoisted backwards. Ignoring the compromising position the two of you were currently in, you turned your head to the side with an expression of relief.

“Thanks.” you breathed out, right before Dwight’s prideful expression contorted into a terrified one. So, you turned back to your front, already hearing the sound of machinery furiously whirring in your direction. Now it is your turn to widen your eyes in terror upon taking notice of a robot aggressively rushing your way.

In that instant, you tore Dwight’s arms off of you before positioning yourself in a protective manner. And while Dwight cowered behind you, you shut your eyes and quickly raised your hands in front of you.

“Hux, don’t!”

Before a slash pierced the air in front you, the last thing you were able to hear was the mechanical sounds come to a sudden halt.

After a few moments in which only Dwight;s whispers were heard, you finally opened your eyes to see an oversized scalpel hovering inches from your face. To your luck however, the massive weapon was steadily lowered to the ground.

A shaky breath was released from your body before you cautiously brought your arms down. In front of you stood Hux, dangerously close as his scanners shone red over your face.

He remained that way for more than a few moments, completely fixated on your form, never moving an inch and instead twitching as he recalculated. But that was when Dwight’s voice sounded from behind you.

“Please…don’t hurt us.”

“Hux!” You shouted when the robot attempted going around you, almost flinching at the sound of his name. “Don’t do anything.”

“The insect will suffer!”

“No, Hux! No.” you ordered. “Let him go. For me.”

Dwight gulped at the sight of you handling the robot, praying to the Entity that this being listened to you.

“Please.” you added in a whisper, gingerly reaching out to Hux’s scythe-like limb to place your hand on its non-lethal edge.

Hux’s decision of Dwight’s termination was no doubt firm as could be apparent with the way he somehow glared murder into Dwight. But…you were eventually able to see Hux’s body sag as if in defeat, prompting your shoulders to relax. 

“Here Dwight,” you removed your satchel to hand it over to the man, and he accepted it with trembling hands. “Just go. Don’t worry about me.”

Dwight was hesitant for a second, but he hurriedly scurried away into the fog the moment Hux threateningly lunged at him. You watched him disappear before turning your attention to Hux who you noticed stood erect enough to tower over you.

“Your location was undisclosed after your services to the greater being were done.”

“Can I at least get an apology for nearly getting mauled?” you crossed your arms as Hux surprisingly stepped back to give you some space. “Besides, I didn’t think you’d notice if I went to Dvarka or not.”

“Your thought process was incorrect.” he posited while digging his scythe-like limb into the ground beside you, caging you in just like several other times, but you turned in the opposite direction and began to walk away. Hux rapidly whipped his head in your direction, right before following suit. “Infinitesimal worms can’t reach you there.”

You reached a point in the fog where you found a rock large enough for you to take a seat, so you did just that before Hux loomed over you yet again. 

“Are you gonna kidnap me again and take me to the colony ship?” You blinked up at him, feeling the warmth of his sensors come close to your face the minute he leaned in.

“You shouldn’t taunt me.”

“But I’m not taunting you.” you murmured, internally angry at yourself for smiling at his words of warning. And you just hated how you couldn’t control yourself, bringing your hands up to Hux’s fleshy head with a palm on each side. Right then and there, you felt as Hux’s body limped into your touch, melted in fact.

His machinery almost seemed to cool down, settle down, as his joints gave in and he dropped onto the ground. Even his sensors managed to dim down while he used your lap as his head and torso’s landing platform, but he still used his scythe to remain stable. 

With his sensor block on your chest, your thumbs caressed his organic material before you moved your hands behind his head. You carefully played with each of the instruments that protruded from him, right before you hunched over enough to lay your head on his.  

“What am I supposed to do with you?”

You hated the way you gave into this robot even after his impulses took the best of him.

He despised the tremors his organic matter quivered with every time you held him. Made him feel…like him. And the new stroking on his back…he could almost feel his circuits ready to blow. And to top it all off, you ceased all those actions which caused him to instantly lift his head up at you.

A quiet laugh left your lips before you cradled his head once more, smiling softly at him before leaning down to plant a kiss right in between his two red orbs.

So, Hux assembled the only word he and his inner voice could agree on in response to your question.

“Live.”

[mydarllinglover]

Alone || Baby Steps

Previous

When Natalia hadn't been informed of the death of Negan, like she was hoping for, she decided not to let anyone know about what she did, or the conversation they had, she had full intention of getting her knife back, but baby brain was still in full affect, it soon being a lost thought, until a month after.

Daryl and Natalia were assisting the twins on their morning walk, they almost had the whole walking thing, they still stumbled, and if either parent let go, they'd fall down, but they almost had the hang of it, baby steps!

"Nat! Nat" Aaron's voice reached them, him and Gabriel were chasing behind them, until Aaron keeled over, catching his breath.

"What's going on?" Daryl asked, as the pair turned around.

"Did you give a knife to Negan?" Gabriel asked her, accusingly.

"What?!" Daryl snapped his attention to his wife.

"I- No, I- uh, oh... oh shi- shoot." Natalia looked down, picking up Bambi, full intention of using her as a shield.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Michonne practically bellowed, pacing across the front of the table, as everyone sat around it, staring at Natalia, who was seated at the end, trying to hide under the table from the angry and disappointed glares of the other council members of Alexandria, the only person who wasn't mad at her, was Daryl, who was playing with the twins, three year old Gracie, five year old Judith and baby RJ in the living room, Michonne had kicked him out of the meeting, he was more upset at the fact that she hadn't told him, than her actions.

"Okay, it was a month ago, that seems very unreasonable for me to be blamed and berated for it." Natalia stared at the wood, working out how to worm her way out of this.

"You gave him a knife!" Rosita pushed, she had only come back a few days ago, from The Hilltop. "What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't, okay, and I didn't give it to him."

"So how did he get it?" Aaron asked, much more gentler, in an understanding tone.

"...Ithrewitathimhopinghe'doffhimself" She muttered.

"What?" Siddiq asked.

"I believe Natalia said she threw it at him, hoping he'd use it with the intention of ending his... suffering." Eugene translated, for some reason, being able to perfectly understand her.

Michonne hit the table.

"When? When did you do this? Why would you do this?" Michonne asked her.

"Last month, when I came home."

"Oh, right, when you left and didn't think to tell a single soul." She glared at her. "Everybody out."

"Michonne." Aaron stood, his hands up, as if he were trying to calm down the situation.

"Now!" She finalised.

Aaron, Eugene, Siddiq, Nora and Gabriel all got up from the table, but Rosita stayed seated, ignoring Michonne's harsh glare.

"Rosita." Michonne spoke up, when only the three of them were left in the room.

"If you want me out of here, you're gonna have to move me." She stated, still watching Natalia as she kicked her feet up onto the table.

Michonne sighed, dropping it.

"Natalia, what in your right mind would you think it's okay to give him a knife?" Michonne asked, taking a seat, breathing deeply. "Hey, I'm trying to reason with you, okay? Just, just tell me, I wanna hear it from you."

"I gave it to him in an act of immaturity, and impulsivity, he's not dead, so it failed."

"He tried to attack Gabriel." Rosita told her. "He had it for a whole month, did nothing and then when he thought the time was right, he tried to attack him, and you gave him the perfect opportunity."

"And I didn't mean for that, to be honest, I forgot I even did it." Natalia shrugged.

"You're not even sorry" Michonne winced in disgust.

"At the time, I thought I'd be doing us all a favour. All he is, is another mouth to feed, and a reminder to us all of what he did, don't know about you guys, but I prefer to ignore my problems and pretend it never happened. The man deserves to be rotting in hell, I was promised that, Maggie was, and Daryl."

"Carl wanted him alive. so did Rick." Michonne looked down.

"Yeah, I get that, I do, but what about me? What he did to us? He had me locked in a cell and paraded me around like I was a full course meal, did even worse to my husband! Hershel, he's two, never met his father, though, oh? Why's that? Because of Negan! My girls, they're turning one next month, and yet their friendly locked up neighbour is someone who had their parents life on a gambling table, every single day, like it was a game! What about us? Why don't we get the justice we deserve, huh! Back at the Sanctuary, one of his men touched me, I took the son of a bitch down, was about to kill him dead, y'know, just like I did with Harley, oh, you remember that, right, Mich? You were there, when he tried to rape me, right on the road as they beat Daryl to death, after I saved Carl from having to face the same fate, but he took that gun away from me, killed the man, used it as a lesson to them all, then chucked me back in my prison, the same day we escaped, he stole my justice from me, took that away publicly, then shut me in the dark, I couldn't do anything."

"It's not as easy as you think." Michonne's angry posture dropped, as she recalled everything that Natalia brought up. "We have to keep him alive, okay? It's bigger than you think, and what you did was stupid and careless."

"Maybe, my only regret is that I decided to give him the chance to do it himself, instead of me, never make a worthless piece of shit do a woman's job."

"Why were you even down there?" Rosita asked, digging for more information. "After our conversation?"

"It didn't happen exactly like that, okay, it wasn't even planned."

"Then what?"

"I can't say, I swore myself to secrecy that it would only stay between me and the person."

"Evie was talking to him, again." Rosita guessed.

"What, you knew about that?" Natalia stared at her. "You didn't tell me?"

"Secret keeping, just the worst, am I right?" She replied, sarcastically.

"Rosita, that's my daughter!"

"And she wasn't in any immediate danger, she thought she was doing something good, so I let her, was like her own personal diary, I kept an eye on it."

"Yeah, 'cept he can talk back, you have no idea the sorta shit he could be telling her"

"And she hates him, always will and always have, she's a smart kid, she won't believe any of the bullshit he comes up with."

"And so what if he decides to tell her the truth?" Her throat hitched, an obvious sign of fear creeping over her.

"Like what?" Michonne asked, reading her.

"Like... the stuff I've done, the people I killed, why all those people are dead."

"Nat, is that why you did it, is that what he told you?" Rosita asked.

"He only called it what it was, that Glenn, Abraham, Sasha, Carl and everyone else, all their deaths are on me, that I'm a murderer, stone cold, asked if that was the sort of stuff I'd be teaching the twins, raise them to be just like me, that's if I don't kill them first." Natalia confessed. "That's why I did it, because he was right, and I can't. I just couldn't, I let it get to me, like I said, it was an act of immaturity and impulsivity, I'm sorry for what he did to Gabriel, I'm sorry I forgot to mention it, sorry I was too weak to finish the job, which has never been a problem for me before, can I have my knife back."

"I don't think that's wise." Michonne stared at the table.

"Whatever, I got more, I'm leaving, don't know for how long, I'll probably be back, I can't be here right now, all that oversharing, for nothing, just drained me of any socialness I can handle."

"Nat, don't go." Rosita argued. "Nothing he said was true, okay? None of that was on you."

Michonne didn't try and stop her.

"Whatever you think you need to do, do it, I don't care, I just need to get away right now, so it can hold." Natalia turned around, walking out of the room and towards the living room, towards the front door.

"Aunt Natty." Judith smiled at her.

"Momma!" The twins chanted, using the sofa's to walk over to her.

"What's going on?" Daryl asked, looking up at her from the floor, surrounded by the babies and small toddlers. "You on probation or something?"

"I'm going out." She told him, rubbing at her eyes. "Just for a little while, maybe, don't worry, you can stay with the kids, not like their safe around me anyway, I need space." She opened the door.

"Nat! What? What the hell you on about?" He stood up, going after her.

"Daryl, please, goodbye, I need to breathe, away from all this." She closed the door behind her, blocking out her daughter's desperate cries at her departure, after locking it from the inside, to stall his chase, then quickly made her way out of Alexandria, making sure to cover her tracks, just in case.

She had walked for miles, before finally reaching her destination, knocking on the familiar wooden door.

"Oh, it's you, back so soon." Leah didn't look too excited to see her.

"Who else would you be expecting?" Natalia asked. "You got other friends you helped give birth?"

"Nope, just you, and we're not friends."

"Ouch, Leah, that really hurt my feelings, I'm having a rough day."

"Tell me about it." She rolled her eyes.

"Why, what you got going on?" Natalia asked.

"You arrived."

"Har, har. I came to you, looking for company, you're like the only person I can stand to be around, right now."

"Why? We're not friends, or anything, I want you to leave me alone."

"What, and you thought I came here cause you're mine? I need the opposite of my friends right now."

"Shouldn't you be at home with your daughters?"

"Nope."

Leah let out a sigh, moving away from the door and allowing the woman to enter. 

Natalia walked in, staring at the tiny ball of fur that was curled up beside Willow.

"Puppy." Was all she could say.

"Yeah, I don't even know how that happened." Leah shook her head. "Hid him last time you were here, because of... this."

The puppy lifted his head, turning it to look at Natalia, blinking at her before getting up, leaving his mother to hobble over to her, looking for attention.

Natalia bent down, scooping up the puppy, happily, feeling the calm wash over her instantly.

The puppy licked her face as she smiled, scrunching her face up.

"You gonna bore me with why you're here, or what?" Leah asked.

"Oh, right." the two women sat on the couch, Natalia refused to put the puppy down as she recounted what had happened, giving a brief description of the war and who the man she hated so much, was.

"I don't get it." Leah looked at her, as she caught her breath. "He's a twisted asshole, why's it so important that he's still around?"

She wasn't even phased when Natalia admitted her unknown kill list, she had a feeling that had something to do with her fighting before the world even fell.

"My friend, Carl, Rick's son. It was his dying wish that we were all united, able to live in harmony, put an end to the war, so that's what Rick dedicated everything towards."

"So locking the guy who killed a bunch of your people, and was trying to threaten you into marrying him, in a cell for the rest of his life, is what, bringing your community to harmony?" Leah asked.

"Not exactly... no one wants him there, it's just principle, y'know?" Natalia stared at the puppy, rubbing behind his ears as he slept in her lap. "Like a lesson to people, you fuck around and cause problems, this is what'll happen. I don't know, I was pissed off when Rick explained it, so most of it was blocked out."

"What are they going to do to you?" Leah asked.

"I don't know, not much, I'm kinda like royalty." She shrugged. "My best friends the leader, though our friendships been kind of strained for a while, I'll claim insanity from having two under two, if need be."

"Sounds like a plan." Leah agreed.

"I don't wanna put him down." Natalia whined, when she was ready to leave, the sun was about to go down, and she had to get home, considerably a lot calmer. "I'd trade one of my twins for a puppy. I already got one, but I can't get another puppy"

"Take him." Leah shrugged.

"Really? Cause I was joking about the twin thing, you picked up on that, right?"

"Free of child. I don't know what to do with him, he seems to be fond of you, and it never harms a kid to have a pet." She folded her arms over her chest.

Natalia didn't care for the woman's obvious dislike for her, bringing her into a hug, too excited to resist.

"Alright, go, before I change my mind." Leah told her.

Natalia did just that, there weren't much walkers to take care of on the way back, or she just didn't notice, too entrapped over the puppy, she couldn't wait to show the kids. 

When she got back to her home, the events of the day flooded back into her mind, reminding her of her dramatic exit and her argument with Michonne and Rosita, the way she said goodbye without barely saying goodbye.

The house was silent apon her entry, she took it as everyone had already fallen asleep, the second time without her.

Natalia didn't know if she was up to facing Daryl, this late, she didn't even know how to handle the situation, she knew she was in the wrong, he hadn't done anything to warrant her departure, she was rude and unfair, she knew this, but she couldn't be bothered to beg and grovel for forgiveness at a time like this, anyway, so instead, she curled up on the couch, using a throw blanket as a duvet, the puppy snuggled against her.

If she had to guess, Natalia could only assume that she was asleep for about twenty minutes, that's what it felt like when she was being prodded awake.

"Hmm?" She groaned, sitting up without opening her eyes just yet.

"Nat." That familiar raspy southern drawl.

"Daryl?" She wiped at her eyes, trying to wake herself up.

"Nat, why ya asleep on the couch, why didn't yer come to bed?" He asked, his arm resting on her lap as he inspected her.

"Cause we're in a fight." She answered.

"We ain't in a fight." He shook his head.

"Yeah, this morning, when I left, couldn't deal with it right now."

"Nat, that weren't a fight. I know why ya left, I don' blame ya, was a lil mad that you didn't take two seconds to breath or even say goodbye to the kids, but we ain't in a fight, you don' gotta avoid me or sleep on the couch."

She looked at him, chewing on the inside of her cheek, feeling dumb, for the whole day, and the way she'd been acting.

"Look, I heard most've what you said to Michonne an' Rosita, they filled me in on the blanks, I get why you're angry, or why ya upset, y'know I do, I'm the one backing you up 'bout the whole Negan thing, he's a prick, we know this."

"He called me a murderer, Daryl, Negan did, looked down on me for it, him of all people" She looked like a kicked puppy, he couldn't stand it, wanting to kill the man for simply hurting her feelings.

"I know, baby, but you ain't, alright. He was just tryna piss you off."

"He implied that I'm a bad mother, too, that the reason I've never been alone with them, is cause you're scared their gonna end up like Winnie, and the baby I lost, which, that part don't make much sense, but y'know. Said if I didn't get them killed, I'd turn them into little killers, my babies, my girls, and what sucks is, that it's true, that's why I lost my temper, cause I know he's right, and I don't wanna do that, I'm so scared I'm gonna fuck up again." She dropped her head into her hands as her eyes pooled. "Through everything we've gone through, everything I've done, still, the scariest thing to me, is screwing those kids up and being a terrible mother."

"Natalia, stop it." Daryl snapped. "Listen ta me, you ain't a fucking bad mother, take it from the guy who's mom died cause she set the house on fire by falling asleep with a smoke."

"Daryl-"

"Nah, I'm talking, listen ta me." He covered her mouth with his hand. " You're the best momma to them kids than anyone could ever be, not just to our kids, don' ever tell Michonne, cause she'd kill me, but you were to Judith, an'all, you saved her life when she was just born, and after that, and Tommy, Cindy's kid, you're a fucking amazing mom, don't you dare fucking listen to that prick, he don' know shit, never has an' never will, those kids upstairs, they wouldn't even have a chance without you, look at everything you did for Evie, helped her through her dad's death, saved her when the walls came down, then with Denise, you gave that lil girl a real fighting chance, she wouldn't of had that with anyone else. What's that?" He looked down, pointing at Natalia's lap.

"A puppy." She sniffled, picking him up and showing him to Daryl. "He's ours."

"Where the hell did ya get that from?" He asked, his brows furrowing as he took the fur ball, cradling it in his arms.

"When two dogs love each other-"

"Stop." He glared at her. 

"You asked." Natalia shrugged, using her top to dab at her eyes.

"Tell ya what, we're gonna take 'im upstairs, grab all three girls, an' have a sleepover in our room, the six of us, they been missing you all day, Evie's been torn up about you leaving an' everything, blaming herself, don' know why though."

"I do." Natalia sighed, getting up from the couch.

"Why?

"Daryl, you gotta promise me not to get mad." She took his hand, "And remember that you do have a temper, which is why, sometimes, as your wife, who loves you deeply, might keep some things from you, okay?"

"Why?" He asked, more impatient.

"The reason why I was even talking to Negan, is cause I caught Evie talking to him when I got back, he told me that she did it often, shoving in his face our lives, and how happy we are, Rosita said she'd been using him as a diary, basically."

"Rosita knew?" He growled.

"She knew long before me, that was the first and only time I saw it, Evie promised me not to go back, since, and I only found out that Rosita knew, this morning."

"Let's go upstairs before I do something to break my promise."

"Good idea." Natalia nodded, snatching the puppy out of his tight grasp.

They headed up the stairs, Natalia went for Evie's room, to wake her up, whilst Daryl went into the twins, getting them from their crib.

She knocked on the door three times, before opening it, prepared to find the girl had just woken up, or maybe even still fast asleep. 

What she didn't expect to see, was the ten year old sat at her desk, a pile of folded pieces of paper beside her as she wrote on another.

"Eves? What are you doing?" Natalia asked in a soft voice.

Evie sniffled, turning in her chair to face the woman, wiping at her cheeks, where dried tears were. 

"Evie, you're crying." Natalia rushed into the room, getting to her knees as she sat beside the chair, looking up at her oldest daughter. "What's wrong?"

"I'm making apology cards for everyone." Evie told her. "Dad told me what happened, and it's all my fault, I'm so sorry, mom."

"What, no honey, why are you sorry, you haven't done anything wrong." Natalia told her, she brushed her blonde hair out of her face as her other one hid behind her back, hiding the puppy, that was wiggling around in her grasp. 

As she was getting older, Natalia couldn't even deny the resemblance between her and Beth Greene, the stubborn teenager who her heart still hurt for every day, she knew that Daryl saw it too, the pain in his eyes when Evie did the slightest thing that reminded the pair of their friend.

"It is! I caused all of this!" She argued.

"No, sweet girl, you didn't, okay, it was me, I was being silly, you don't need to blame yourself for that, you did nothing wrong, and I'm sorry I shouted at you last month, I should've apologised a while ago, but I was angry and upset, but sometimes, it's okay to let our emotions get the best of us, and to let our anger out, as long as our actions don't cost others, not like what I did, if anything, I should be making these cards, what I did was bad, but please don't think it was because of you. But, something good did come out of it."

"What?" Evie asked.

Natalia revealed her hand, showing off the puppy that was chewing on her fingers as he layed across her arm, his head resting in her palm.

Evie let out a sharp gasp covering her mouth as Natalia placed the puppy down, letting him run to the girl, licking all over her face.

"You got a puppy?!" She squealed, giggling excitedly.

"My friend gave him to me, so he's ours now."

"Momma! Momma! Momma!" Natalia turned around, Daryl stood in the doorway, the twins in his arms as they chanted for their mother, clapping their hands excitedly.

"Hi, babies!" Natalia waved at them, her own smile plastered on her face.

Daryl set them down, before he dropped the wriggling babies, letting them stand as he assisted them so they don't fall over.

"Dad, Mom got a dog!" Evie told him, showing off a wide smile.

"I know-"

"Momma!" Daisy shouted again, cutting her father off.

She took a step forward, heading for her mother, Daryl went to grab her, thinking she was about to topple over, but Natalia hissed at him to let her go, as she took another step forward. 

"Daryl, Daryl, she's doing it." Natalia told him, not taking her eyes off the walking baby.

"Can see that." He said, his arm wrapped around Bambi, hoping she was taking in what her sister was doing.

Evie was holding the energetic puppy, stopping him from charging at either twin.

"Come here!" Natalia encouraged, waving Daisy over. "Come here, sweetie."

Daisy continued until she reached Natalia, falling on her lap as she hugged her, Natalia lifted her daughter up, standing as the three cheered on the girl, Bambi even clapping encouragingly.

"Well done, Daisy!" Evie cooed, proud of her little sister. "Now it's just Bambi's turn!"

"Daisy's a big girl!" Natalia bounced her on her hip, as she giggled, she looked to Daryl, who had such a wide smile on his face that it nearly made her knees buckle, she didn't think she had seen him this happy in a very long time, like every single worry, problem and loss was dropped from his shoulders.

She cupped his jaw, kissing him as the twins hugged each other, they were very affectionate babies, more than any she had seen before.

"I love you." She muttered to him. "Thank you, for every single thing."

"I love you, with everything I got." He kissed her again, before laying his head on her shoulder.

"Ew." Evie groaned, scratching the puppy's ears.

"Ew? Seriously?" Natalia looked at her, furrowing her brows, as Daryl looked over her head, his hand holding her waist.

"Yeah, you guys are gross." She stuck her tongue out. "Lovey Dovey, yuck."

"Don't say that, one day, when your older, you'll meet a person, who you'll be lovey dovey with, and be romantic and happy." Natalia told her.

"Nuh uh, I won't, boys are gross, I don't wanna kiss them."

"Could be a girl." Daryl shrugged.

"What about Henry?" Natalia asked.

Although the two couldn't see each other, they seemed to have grown extra close since the war, Daryl had even handed down his and Natalia's long range walki-talkies, considering they wouldn't need them anymore, though Evie had expressed her annoyance at her mom for not making up with Carol, as she wanted to see the boy, he who had also been trying to force his own mom to apologise to Natalia.

"What? No!" She shook her head. "Henry's my best friend, that's it, don't tell Judith, she says I'm her best friend. But me and Henry, are just friends, he's so gross, I would never think about kissing him."

"Good girl." Daryl nodded, in his most proud dad voice. 

"Yeah, I used to think that about boys, till I saw Christian Bale In American Psycho."

"That explains somin'" Daryl grumbled.

"What's that?" Evie asked, her face pulled in confusion.

"Don't worry about it. What are we gonna name this dog, huh?"

"Dog." Daisy repeated.

"Tha's right." Daryl encouraged, bending down again, letting Bambi meet the dog, whilst Natalia did the same. "It's a dog, Bam, can you say Dog?" He asked, leaning towards her to see her face, holding her up as his hair fell in his eyes. "Dog?"

"Dog!" Bambi yelled. "Dog, dog, dog!"

"Atta girl." He rubbed her tummy, causing her to laugh loudly.

"Momma" Daisy patted her mom, before pointing at the dog, "Dog!"

"Yes, that's good." Natalia nodded.

"Dadda." She then pointed at Daryl, then back at the dog. "Dog"

"I think she's a lil show off." Natalia teased.

"Yeah, gotta prove who's the smarter twin." He agreed.

"She made Dad read the duck book, four times tonight" Evie shared, holding up four fingers.

"Really?" Natalia laughed, looking at Daryl, who nodded with a grim look on his face. "And you did it?"

"Wha' else was I supposed to do? Didn' wanna upset her."

"You are so adorable." She kissed his cheek. "But you're gonna turn 'em spoilt, needa learn the word "No." now and then."

"Nah, ma girls get whatever they want, whatever, whenever." 

"Thought that only applied to me?" Natalia pouted.

"Yeah, look how that ended up, you expanded the invitation." He told her, covering Evie's ears.

"We should name him Dog." Evie said, when Daryl pulled away.

"Dog? Just Dog?" Natalia asked her.

"Yeah, the twins know how to say dog, and they were very adamant on that word, it fits, doesn't he look like a dog?" Evie held the puppy up.

"Dog!" Daisy shouted again. "Dog."

"Dog, dog, dog" Bambi joined in.

"Yeah, you're right, Eve's, Dog suits him."

Eventually, the family of five, now six, moved towards Daryl and Natalia's room, all climbing into the big bed, that Natalia had spent a while tracking down, after the war, demanding a large bed for everything she suffered through.

When the kids were asleep, snuggled against each other, in between the two adults, who's fingers were linked on their pillows, Daryl squeezed her hand, gaining her attention. 

"Hm?" She looked at him, her other hand brushed through Bambi's curls avoiding getting knots in it as the baby slept, the twins hair was a hassle to deal with in the mornings, and it made Natalia cry when they cried as she brushed it out.

"I do trust you, you know that right?" He asked, his blue eyes scanning her face.

"Of course I do." She smiled at him.

"Good, cause I do. And I trust you with the kids, it's just that, I ain't never had a family before, not one like this, Merle was never around when I was a kid, it was just me an' my dad." He swallowed. "And we weren't much anyway, when he weren't out on a bender or asleep."

"I know." She nodded, talking softly, kissing his knuckles, the only time Daryl talked about his family was when he shared stories about Merle.

"I never wanna be apart from them, from you, that one day, you could all be gone, I wanna spend ma whole life never apart, but I didn't mean ta make you think I don't think you can look after them, alone."

"I know, babe, it was just me, being an idiot. I'm lucky I ended up with you, you're an incredible father."

He reached over kissing her forehead before moving back.

"I'm gonna go hunting tomorrow." He told her, this would be the first time he left Alexandria since the girls were born, it'd be a big thing. "We needa start bringing in real food, again, the others are shit at it."

"Are you sure?" She asked, letting go of his hand and running her fingers through his hair, she'd trim it soon, at least his bangs to keep them out of his eyes, with or without his permission.

"Yeah, wanna introduce the girls to a proper meal, was thinking about taking Evie with me, as well, sharpen up her skills, teach her how to track and hunt, give her a break from here, too."

"That seems like a good idea, yeah, if you want to." Of course Natalia was worried about Evie going out there, but she'd be safe with Daryl, and he was right, and if she was sure about the twins going out there in the next few months, she'd have to be okay with Evie.

"Was thinking, if tomorrow goes alright, we could go on a camping trip"

"What, all of us?" She asked.

"Nah, just me you an' her, Aaron can watch the twins, he did offer to be the designated babysitter."

Natalia laughed at that, "Yeah, sounds like a plan." She kissed his cheek, before getting comfortable enough to fall asleep.

At her movement, Daisy turned around, snuggling into her neck, as she slept. Natalia wrapped her arms around her, as Bambi snuggled into Daryl, a proper daddy's little girl, which was okay, because Daisy was a mommy's girl, Evie was for both, but for the night, she was curled up with Dog.

Natalia laced her fingers with Daryl's again, squeezing it.

She was obsessed with her own little family, she just wished there was another little girl on the bed, but she knew she was watching from above.

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