#her life ruined by the very system she wants to be a part of so bad

[apocalyptichearts]

there’s something about Coulson telling Daisy, a girl whose entire life has been dictated and irreparably damaged by a system set up by SHIELD, to trust the system.

[ovrgrwnivy]

THE WALLS ; JJ MAYBANK

SYNOPSIS ; when an unknown face appears in the outer banks searching for a father she's never met, she's unaware of how her life is about to be completely turned upside down.

WARNINGS ; jjmaybank x routledge!reader, strong language, depictions of violence, afab!reader, sexual content, mentions of abuse, drug and alcohol consumption, strangers to lovers, fast burn to slow burn, canon adjacent, not proofread.

AUTHORS NOTE ; there is now a taglist! to be added simply let me know down in the comments. enjoy part two!

part one.

as much as you’d grown fond of sarah in the couple of hours since your arrival, her friends made your skin crawl. topper, her boyfriend, with his dumb face and holier-than-thou attitude. you didn’t see what sarah could possibly find appealing, but it wasn’t your place to meddle.

for the duration of getting ready, all sarah did was talk about jj. more specifically, you and jj. she even offered to set you two up, but with sarahs standing with the pouges, it didn’t take a genius to figure out it's better to go solo.

sarahs cropped, off the shoulder sweater does little to shield you from the cool breeze sweeping across the beach. even stuffing your hands into the pockets of your shorts did very little.

you’d seen on tiktok, the most reliable source of information, that alcohol warmed people up which is why you were already on the fourth drink of the night.

nothing to do with finding the courage to talk to john b, that would be ridiculous.

you and sarah were sat on the opposite side of the beach to the pouges, the wooden log hurting your butt as it was used as a makeshift seat. through the flames of the bonfire you watch the pouges, laughing and drinking.

you’re looking at john b and can’t help spotting the similarities between you two, even down to small mannerisms you shared. you wondered if he had any idea about you, if your father had ever told him about you.

taking another swig, your gaze falls onto another pouge of interest. you’re surprised to see he’s already looking at you, nodding his head to gesture you over.

you smile, a genuine, excited smile. it’s too early for schoolgirl crushes, yet you can’t help it. the alcohol in your system doesn’t help it either.

you mumble a quick 'be right back' to sarah, sitting beside you engrossed in deep conversation with an unknown girl about selling sunsets' newest season. she glances at you over her shoulder, giving you a quick nod of acknowledgment and reminding you to be safe.

you head over to the pouges, a light jog across the beach brings you there faster but not fast enough. the reckless, and tipsy, part of your brain wants to get your intentions out in the open. you want to pull john b to the side and pour your drunken little heart out, and if it ended badly you could blame the alcohol.

but then you imagined yourself in his position, how you would feel if john b randomly showed up and dropped a bomb into your life unprovoked.

he looked so happy, like he was having the time of his life, and you couldn't bring yourself to ruin that. the least you could do was spare him the honour of hearing it from you when you were sober, without an audience.

"there she is," jj grins, not exactly slurring his words but you could tell he was buzzed at the very least "turn around, wanna get a good look at you."

with a playful eye roll, you give in to his request, twirling in a circle and laughing at the wolf whistle he lets out in response.

you're more than compliant when he reaches a hand towards you and pulls you closer, the same hand gripping your waist as he held you against his side.

admittedly, you're surprised when he doesn't make a move the second you're close enough. instead he holds on to you as he continues his conversation with pope, almost protectively, possessively.

"kie, back me up here," jj pleads, free hand being thrown up in the air in protest. the same girl from earlier, which you now know to be kie, throws her hands up in surrender.

"not my beef, i'm the neutral party in this war"

you can't help but laugh at the swiftness of her shutdown, your head resting comfortably against jj's shoulder as his thumb grazed back and forth against the skin beneath your sweater.

now, pope and kie are bickering back and forth, john b is flirting with what was commonly referred to as a 'touron' which leaves you and jj in your own little bubble, content and comfortable.

"so, what do you think of paradise so far?" jj asks, voice soft and a sarcastic emphasis on paradise "not too bad, huh?"

"it's growing on me," you grin, putting the sudden butterflies in your stomach down to having too much to drink "i've lived in worse places."

an eyebrow quirks, curiosity evident on jjs face, you can tell he wants to ask more, but for someone so forward he seems to be reluctant.

"don't exactly have the best track record when it comes to sticking in one place," you admit, as truthful as you can be without saying too much "kinda just bounce around."

"sounds expensive, you sure you ain't a kook?" jj teases, head tilted downward to bring you two face to face "'cause, i'm down with the whole being a sugar baby thing."

you laugh, loudly, head flung back, hair being blown in the wind as jj retains his grip on you, awestruck as he took you in for as long as he could. he wished he could freeze this moment and live in it forever, which made him want to squirm because he had just met you that day.

your bubble of euphoria is quickly burst, the beach erupting in roars as people grouped around the shore. a fight.

you roll your eyes, annoyed beyond explanation. you scan the crowd, trying to pick out any faces you could even somewhat recognise in an attempt to work out who was at the root of the fight.

much like this morning, you see that recognisable flash of blonde pushing through the crowds. your posture straightens, a weird feeling of protectiveness taking hold as her screams of toppers name rise above the chants of 'fight'.

you really did not like topper, so you weren't pushing through people for him, but for sarah.

"top! you're gonna kill him!"

and she wasn't wrong, as you drew closer to the scene you had a plain view of the scene that had the partygoers enthralled. topper holding someone under the water, obviously wanting whoever was under to not come back up.

it's only when you catch sight of who topper is trying to kill does your feet speed up, carrying you faster and faster towards the water. your brain struggling to come up with a plan as fast as you're moving.

you don't know how it happens, but you're on toppers back, your arm wrapped so tightly around his neck that you're starting to lose feeling. in some sort of femme fetal action movie, you would've taken him down.

but it wasn't a movie.

as if it was nothing, topper reaches behind himself and pulls you off him, ripping you straight into the ice-cold water.

"fuckin' pouge" he spits, hands wrapping around your throat as he forces you underwater this time. you claw and kick and squirm, but he's stronger. what feels like hours is only seconds, when you break the surface your hands are bloody and there's a gash across toppers face.

your reprieve is short-lived, only having come up in the first place because topper had recoiled in pain. you were far from a quitter, but this was a fight you knew you weren't coming out of. so when the water covered your face once more, you let it.

it was scarily peaceful, people's screams and shouts practically inaudible. falling asleep would be easy right about now, you could just drift off.

you would probably be better off.

your delusional tranquillity comes to an abrupt end when you, yet again, resurface. this time the party is well and truly over, people running in every direction.

you worried it was the cops, you really would have been better off if topper had finished the job if that was the case.

"hey, hey you good?" john b is holding your face as you cough up the water you inhaled. his voice is soft, gentle as he checks on you.

he was the big brother you grew up praying for, only he was none the wiser.

when you burst into tears it's put down to shock, and when you throw your arms around john b he doesn't question it, instead he helps you to your feet.

"come on kid, we got you."

when you wake you have no idea where you are, sun filters through flimsy curtains and you're dressed in clothes you definitely weren't wearing the night before.

before you have time to work yourself into a breakdown, a soft knock raps against the door. it opens before you can say a word.

john b gently closes the door behind him, sitting at the foot of the bed to give you as much space as possible "how are you feeling?"

"whose clothes are these?" you blurt out, desperately wanting to figure out how she got into this outfit and, more importantly, who put you into it.

as if he could read your mind, he explains "kie, kiara, had the supplies. got you changed out of your wet clothes, alone, scouts honour."

a sigh of relief bellows through your entire body, at least that was something.

"i gotta ask you something," john b starts, his tone shifting ever so slightly to one more serious "i went through everything in my head a dozen times but i can't work out why you did that?"

"did what?"

"saved my life." john b deadpans, looking you in the eye with an intensity that tells you you can't lie your way out of this one "you could have died."

without a word, you stand. you find your damp clothes tossed in a corner and pick them up. john b watches as you stuff your hands into your pockets, dread bubbling up as he tried to come up with what your reasoning could possibly be.

when you return, you sit beside him with your hands clasped around the cold metal you'd pulled from the pocket of your shorts.

"you have to hear me out." you being, hyperaware of how insane what you were about to tell him was "believe me, i know this is insane."

watching his reaction, you show him the compass your father had given you. up until recently, your mother had it tucked away safely in her room. you never met your father, you were told he died when you were a baby. but then you got a sweet sixteen card in the mail, and then there was no record of a deceased john routledge, and then, a week ago, his face is all over your television screen alongside a brother you never knew you had.

you pop the back off of the compass, revealing the hidden compartment not many people knew existed and taking a small, folded note from inside.

"hey, ducky. been a while since i wrote, you know what mom is like. listen, duck, we haven't been entirely honest with you, your mom and i. if you're okay with it, there's someone i'd like you to meet." you read out the note, voice shaky and hands trembling "he left an address at the bottom."

john b carefully takes the note from your hands, wiping away a stray tear thinking you hadn't seen it. he reads it, over and over "this is this address, my dads writing if he signed it dad that means.."

you nod, knowing whats racing through his head all too well "yeah" you sniffle, not exactly sure why you were crying.

"john b, you're my brother."

taglist!

@rainingcecilias

[coolshadowtwins]

Shen Brothers where the system puts SY into the role of SJ’s brother (younger or twin, either), and changes the world accordingly. This happens around the time that SY would have come to the world normally (Binghe is 14~)

Ask YQY, and of course he would tell you about Xiao-Yuan, who had been there all their childhood.

Ask LQG, and he will tell you how he absolutely hates SJ, the bastard, but he guesses his brother is ok. He doesn’t like him or anything but.

Ask QHT, and she will angrily tell you about the man who ruined her life, SJ, and how he just pulled his sweet brother into it. How SY was always quiet and withdrawn in the manor and so obviously wouldn’t have helped kill her family.

As NYY or MF, and any of them would tell you about their Shizun’s brother who only comes around sometimes but is really nice to them.

Ask SJ? He will tell you that he has no brother, he has never had a brother and who the hell is this stranger with his face?

The system changed everything, except for the tagged characters- ‘protagonist’ and ‘scum villain’ did not get involved with the world change, and have no idea who SY is. LBH is pretty ok with this. SJ absolutely is not.

SJ- You stay away!

YQY- Shen-Shidi, I don’t think Xiao-Yuan has done anything….?

SJ- Xiao-Yuan? Xiao-Yuan?! Who is he?! We did not grow up with him!!

This does lead into a horrifying idea where, as SY breaks SJ’s walls down and befriends him, SJ becomes less of a ‘scum villain’. And as he loses the title, then he gets more memories of ‘his brother’ back from childhood. Idk, that level of manipulation, especially where they can’t do anything about it, sounds horrific lol

(I did think of a funnier thing as I was writing this where the title of ‘wife’ was also excluded. It wouldn’t change much, because not many wives would have come into contact with SY but that does mean a couple of things.

1) NYY has no idea who all her martial siblings are talking about. Shizun’s nice brother? Since when??? At least A-Luo has also not met him.

2) LMY has no idea when her brother had gotten this crush, but are we sure this guy is even real? Don’t get her wrong, the idea of falling in love with your hated rival’s sibling sounds romantic, but she has never in her life heard LQG talk about this guy before. And apparently they were disciples together! Does her brother just not tell her things, or is he making things up? LQG, on his part, insists he had mentioned SY just last week. Also, he didn’t have a crush on his hated rival’s sibling, thank you very much!

Man’s QHT would only know about SJ. She sees him together and goes… ‘who’s he?’ And SJ is like ‘Thank you! I never want to see you again, but someone else finds this weird!’

And then someone, probably OPM, pulls out a slave contact and goes ‘hmmm… but it says here both Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan were sold to the Qius…?’

QHT:……. That sounds fake, but I’ll go with it for the sake of my accusations.

SJ-Damn it!)

[katyspersonal]

What I do not get about Soulsborne fandom at all is the urge to do the random old men into creepy weirdos for no reason?

Gwyn is an amazing morally grey character who tried to create an arguably better world but did a lot of shit to accomplish it, he is tragic more than despicable, an early draft of Marika but clinging to his failure system until the very end. He has shown being generous as far as he is able even with species he feared and many people loved him, including his children. He doesn't have any dialogue or cutscene but his theme is the sole most heart-rending piece of music in everything From created and says more than words could about devs' intention behind this character. But people will say that he had to fuck Priscilla to give birth to Gwyndolin when Priscilla was banished into the Painted World as a child! So like, did he have sex with a kid, or predatorily waited for a kid to grow up? But no, he must be Gwyn Lord of Grooming when there are at least two way more canon-palatable explanations for who was second parent of Gwyndolin? Why would he need to keep Priscilla as a sex slave anyways? Are you telling me THIS guy lacked sex partners? The GILF Marika guy lacked sex partners to the point he needed a sex slave? Seriously?

Gehrman is the hunter who has done a lot of shit in his life, affiliated with Byrgenwerth and directly involved in Fishing Hamlet, who cherished the student he took down the dark path of the hunt a lot and got completely crashed after her death, immortalising her soft and innocent side that was ruined in a mourning doll of her. He poured so much warmth into simply caring for her former hair ornament that Doll cried tears of joy holding it - emotions he had hoped Doll would have, whom he distanced from seeing she was only Maria lookalike otherwise acting mechanical and lifeless. But people will say he is a creep who drooled all over Maria from the corners and made a sex doll of her that he also offers US to fuck. 🤦‍♂️ Bonus points for claims of objectification, misogyny and loathing her masculine vibe so much he bastardised her into his tradwife ideal, as if this notion on itself doesn't directly contradict the very fact of training her to be the hunter to begin with. And you'd think clarifying that "Even the Doll, should it please you" and "his curious mania" were invented by English localisation would be enough, yet some people still insist that either Japanese original script is somehow "not the gospel" (???), or that it is somehow valid to replace canon character with our negative experience with them dreaded cis white males and be bitchy towards everyone who wants posts about the canon character as he is (??????).

Godrick is straight up the symptom of how wrong things went in this setting, both in the world and in his big family. He is not seen as his own person but only as a disgrace of his cool strong awesome golden ancestors due to being born weak, he got driven out of his rightful place due to internal political contrivances and ran for his life, he adopted the mindset and expectations imposed on him and does everything he can to make himself what he "should" be. There are reasons to pity him, in good or bad sense, but somehow he gets baseless accusations of being a creep/pervert/rapist thrown at him, especially on Reddit? Also random takes about him being a groomer too because of Grafted Scions, when they are literally just his children? Why??? What do people THINK "grafted scion" means? I suppose people have a strange way to look at grafting as a concept, even though Rykard or Warrior Jars like Alexander also make people they've killed parts of their bodies?

Like, nothing wrong with creepy and uncomfortable characters and dark topics in media, but what's with the insistence of forcing these topics onto characters who don't actually have them? I just feel like there is a concept of "old = creepy" in fandom consciousness

[cosmiclily]

Hi! I love your writing so much <3 Can I have a request? Where reader helps Vi after things with Caitlyn went downhill and Vi realizes that true love has always been by her side? Something fluffy <3

the ruins of our world - part one

vi x firelight!reader

wc: 2k

notes: soooo���.. i got carried away, and i thought it would be weird without context, so i decided to divide the fic into two parts….. the next part is what you requested but i strayed a little (a lot) from the fluffy (if you count tending to her wounds and helping her heal as fluffy), i’ll post the part 2 tomorrow 😭😭 i just need to edit it and it’s 1 am right now 🤡 but i hope you like it either way!

Six years. Vi had lost six years of her life locked away in a prison cell, and you had spent six years believing she was dead. In that time, everything had changed. Powder was no longer the bright-eyed girl you both once knew—she was Jinx now, working under Silco, the last person you ever imagined she'd align herself with.

While Vi was gone, you and Ekko had fought to bring some semblance of peace to the Undercity. You helped people escape the grip of shimmer addiction, built a community, and held onto the hope that, one day, things would get better. That, somehow, you could honor the memories of Vander, Benzo, and—most of all—Vi.

But everything shifted the moment Ekko brought back news that Vi was alive. And not just alive—back in Zaun, with an Enforcer at her side. The thought of her working with someone from Piltover, the very system that had stolen so much from all of you, made your stomach turn. It didn’t make sense. Vi would never betray her people. Would she?

"You can't be serious, Ekko” you scoffed, crossing your arms tightly over your chest. "She would never do this to us. She would never help an Enforcer."

Ekko let out a heavy sigh, rubbing his temples. "Well, you can tell that to her yourself. We brought them back. She's downstairs. I was just about to interrogate her." His voice was laced with exhaustion, but more than that—hurt. Vi had practically raised him, taught him everything he knew about fighting, about surviving. If she had really changed, if she had truly sided with the people who had oppressed you all for so long, then what did that mean for the rest of you?

You hesitated, feeling your pulse quicken. You had spent years mourning Vi, carrying the weight of her loss like an open wound that never fully healed. And now, she was here—but was it really her?

"You go first," you muttered, looking away. "I don't think I can handle it if she's changed that much."

Ekko studied you for a moment before nodding. "Alright. But you know you're gonna have to face her eventually."

You knew he was right. But after six years, after all the pain and loss, you weren't sure which would hurt more—seeing Vi again or realizing that the Vi you once loved might be gone forever.

──────────────────────

After Ekko finished interrogating Vi and the Enforcer who had come with her, ensuring they weren’t a threat, you felt a little more at ease. But even with that reassurance, the weight of the past six years pressed down on you. Six years of believing Vi was dead. Six years of mourning your best friend—the only girl you had ever loved. And now, just like that, she was back? It was almost too much to process.

Sitting on the edge of your bed, you tried to steady your breathing, gripping the sheets beneath your fingers. Your heart pounded so hard it felt like it might burst from your chest. You had faced death, fought for your people, built a life from the ruins of your past—but nothing had ever terrified you as much as what you were about to do.

It was time. Time to face her. Time to face everything you had buried deep inside yourself.

Maybe, after all these years, you would finally tell Vi what you never had the chance to say. That you loved her. That you had spent every single day trying to live up to the kind of person she was—the kind of person you thought she would want you to be.

The kind of person she still is.

You had to get used to that. Vi is still here. And whether she had changed or not, whether she felt the same way or not, you couldn't let this moment slip away.

Taking a deep breath, you stood up, forcing your feet to move as you made your way to where Ekko had taken them—the mural. The place where you had painted the faces of the ones you lost. The ones you still fought for. The ones you refused to forget.

But as you got closer, you slowed, your breath catching in your throat. Vi stood there, talking to the Enforcer—Caitlyn, you had learned. There was something in the way she looked at her, the softness in her eyes, the gentle way she moved around her, as if they had a silent understanding. And then, Vi smiled—a real, genuine smile, the kind you hadn’t seen in years.

Your stomach twisted painfully. Maybe you had spent the last six years loving her, but it seemed she had spent them falling for someone else. Maybe she had never felt the same way about you at all.

You took a step back, instinctively retreating, but it was too late.

"Y/N?"

Vi’s voice cut through the air, freezing you in place. The voice you had memorized, the one you had whispered to yourself on sleepless nights, terrified you might forget it.

Slowly, you lifted your gaze, meeting Vi’s eyes for the first time in six years. And just like that, the floodgates opened. Every emotion you had buried—grief, anger, love, longing—came rushing to the surface, threatening to consume you whole.

Your feet moved before you could even think, dragging you toward her. The tears in your eyes blurred your vision, but it didn’t matter—you felt her before you saw her. Strong arms wrapped around you, holding you tight, grounding you, just like she used to when you were fifteen. When the world was cruel, but Vi made you feel safe.

"I missed you so much," you choked out, your voice shaking, raw from the sobs that tore through you. But you didn’t care. You didn’t care how you sounded, how broken you must have looked. You had spent six years holding this in, and now, with Vi in front of you, you couldn't hold it back any longer.

"I thought you were dead," you cried, gripping onto her as if letting go meant losing her all over again. "I thought you died when the building blew up."

Vi tightened her hold on you, one hand cradling the back of your head like she was trying to shield you from the pain that had already happened. "I'm not," she murmured, her voice softer than you had ever heard it. "I'm here."

But that reassurance wasn’t enough to stop the flood of emotions crashing over you. Six years. Six years of mourning her, of carrying the weight of her absence, of trying to be strong for Ekko, for the Firelights, for everyone who had looked to you for guidance. Six years of swallowing your grief, forcing yourself forward when all you had wanted to do was break.

And now, you were breaking. Right there in Vi’s arms.

The tears you had refused to shed, the ones you had swallowed down in the name of survival, poured freely down your face. And Vi didn’t let go. She held you through it, letting you fall apart, just like she always had.

When you finally calmed down, you sat with Vi, Caitlyn, and Ekko as they laid out their so-called brilliant plan—one that involved going to the council and talking like that had ever done anything for the Undercity. You wanted to scoff, to tell them it was a waste of time, but deep down, you knew arguing wouldn't change anything. Vi had made up her mind, and despite everything, you trusted her.

Still, someone had to stay behind.

“We can’t both leave,” you reasoned with Ekko, arms crossed as you stood with the others. “If something happens while we’re gone, the base could be compromised. Especially now that Silco knows Vi is here.”

The four of you exchanged glances, the weight of the situation pressing down on all of you.

“You guys go,” you finally said, forcing the words out even though they felt like knives in your throat. “Talk to your council friends, explain whatever you have to explain. I’ll stay here.”

Vi’s brows furrowed, her mouth pressing into a tight line. You could tell she didn’t like the idea of leaving you behind any more than you liked watching her go again. But this was the right call. You had spent years fighting for Zaun, for the Firelights—you weren’t about to abandon them now, not even for her.

Even so, as Vi stood up, ready to leave, you couldn’t shake the feeling that this time, letting her go might hurt just as much as losing her the first time.

──────────────────────

When you heard about the explosion on the bridge, and how Ekko hadn’t returned home, panic gripped you. Ekko had always been your constant—your family, your closest ally. You couldn’t bear the thought of losing him, not after everything you had been through together.

You rushed through the streets of Zaun, your heart pounding with every step. The familiar chaos of the Undercity now felt like a heavy fog pressing in on you. Your thoughts raced, images of the bridge, the fire, and the violence flashing through your mind. What if something had happened to him? What if he didn’t make it back?

It was then that you saw him—Ekko, alone, limping through the streets. His body was battered, blood staining his clothes, and his face was drawn with exhaustion and pain. Your breath caught in your throat, but you ran to him, relief flooding you as you approached.

“Ekko!” You grabbed his arm to steady him, worry flooding your voice. “What happened? Are you okay?”

He gave you a weak smile, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m fine. A little banged up, but I’ll survive.”

Your gaze flicked to his injured side. “You’re not fine, Ekko. What happened on the bridge?”

He sighed heavily, looking away as if the weight of the situation was too much to bear. “Jinx. She caused the explosion. Vi... Vi tried to stop her, but...” His voice faltered. “I couldn’t save her. I couldn’t stop Jinx. She...”

You could see the regret in his eyes. The bridge, the explosion—it all made sense now. But there was something else that hurt more. Vi. She wasn’t with him.

“Where’s Vi?” you asked, trying to keep your voice steady.

Ekko’s expression darkened. “She and Caitlyn—they’re gone. They went to Piltover. Jinx took the stone, but they still think they can make a solid case for the council.”

“God, she’s still so stubborn” you muttered, rolling your eyes before sighing. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

Ekko’s hoverboard was in pieces, and from the way he winced with every step, his leg was probably broken. Still, with difficulty, you managed to get him back to the Firelight base. You took most of his weight, your arms burning with the effort, but neither of you complained. You had been through worse.

That night, as you helped patch him up, silence settled between you. There was nothing left to say. Vi was gone—again.

And from that day on, you didn’t hear a single word from her. Not even when Jinx blew up the council.

At first, you told yourself she was busy. That she had bigger things to worry about. That she was trying to help her sister, to fix the mess that had spiraled so far out of control. And you understood that. Of course you understood that.

But a selfish part of you wished she had reached out. That she had come to you for help. That, after everything, she still saw you as a safe place too.

But she didn’t.

And for the first time since she came back, you wondered if she ever really had.

──────────────────────

masterlist - part two

[wotay27166]

Goodbye Sparklecare.

This will be my final post for actual for real this time.

What can I say that hasn't been said already? I've done my part. I've learnt everything that I needed. It's not the complete sense of closure I'd want but I don't think that's something I can get. I have to accept that. This has all been an incredibly painful past 2 days for me.

In a way, I grew up alongside Sparklecare. I was a minor when I was there during the preboot days, and now I'm an adult with an income. An income that I used in part to support Kittycorn for 2 years. Kittycorn's work was formative to me as an artist and a writer. I related to a lot of the characters and the plots because I too was a traumatized mentally ill/disordered person who had suffered at the hands of both a society and a medical system that did not treat me with dignity.

8 years of my life this comic was a part of.

Everyone has already said everything about Kittycorn the person, her actions, and her predatory associates so I'd like to talk about something else.

Sparklecare as a piece of art

...and how it just speaks to the lack of true artistry that everything about it ceases to hold up entirely once you know the Real Intent.

Because it's insincere.

If you essentially have to deceive your audience to get them to care, you have failed. If you're going to pull deception on your audience it has to be intentional to the experience. You can have stories that are fucked up, transgressive, and taboo succeeding in being fantastic stories in spite of those things as they wear their heart on their sleeve, genuine in what they want to convey. Sparklecare and all its surrounding media is none of that when Kittycorn put on a fake safe persona with a fetish mining work full of dog whistles and falsehoods.

When you set a standard for what your work is and what to expect, it is a MASSIVE 'Fuck you' to your audience to go against what you supposedly stood for the entire time otherwise. I guess a kind of similar example I can bring up is exactly why people hate the ending of Bunny Drop so much. It goes beyond the incest as a presence, it's more about the betrayal of expectation I'd say. It forces you to retroactively look at everything differently and it just ruins it entirely. Every single familial interaction in Cometcare is now impossible to see as just wholesome familial bonding, it's all warped to hell and back right down to the extended lore and themes. The very existence of 'secret canon' or whatever excuse tampers the whole. If it was like a fan-made thing it'd be like whatever, but this is the actual creator - this is a part of her vision. Right from the source.

But even once you realize this, it still doesn't work because it feels unnatural like what is actually wanting to be said/done is being held back. So you're stuck in this awful middle ground of a horrific realization.

The point is, people who aren't upfront about this sort of shit will never make good art that's worth remembering. In a few years no one will give a fuck about this comic outside of its controversy. That is the legacy one leads through insincerity. Even if it does remain it will never again reach the height or momentum it once did.

If you really want to really 'do whatever you want forever', you have to do it with honesty. You can't hedge around it or downplay what you actually want to do. All you will do is build yourself a mounting wall of expectations you know you will never meet because it's all a lie. For all Kittycorn saying in the past she never wanted it to be popular or get the attention it did... she kept pandering to the popular instead of doing what she actually wanted to do, and that's make a fucked up incest comic. It's because the allure of material reward of a large safe fandom that gives you fanart, recognition, and money is rewarding rather than making something real.

That hypothetical fucked up incest magnum opus, I wouldn't be apart of that audience nor would a lot of people in the current Sparklecare fandom. It is an alienating thing to create just purely based on what it is and if that's the 'whatever you want' to make 'forever', it is something one must accept. It also takes a lot of skill to make a work that an audience that otherwise would never engage with something like that to still enjoy/see the merits of it in terms of a piece of art/story. Good writers are perverts, but not all perverts are good writers. If you're not putting your entire ass in everything, the ass crack will show. As an artist who willingly puts their art out into the world and curates a specific audience and tone with their work... how she did not expect any of it to backfire is beyond me.

With an art and writing style that lends itself to a more juvenile audience with how very 'teaching a lesson' focused things are (even the incest comics are like this) it does not naturally lend itself to nuanced discussion nor the sea of depth in terms of character complexity. Sure the characters are multi faceted, but their actions are very black and white with the creator very not open to alternative interpretations that she cannot control within the audience to the point of distress (see people having a problem with Doom in a relationship with former patients he inadvertently aided in torturing by being complicit in the system that enabled it, for example). Even if it turns out if, for example, Sly is supposed to be seen as victim of her own illness (OCD acting on intrusive thoughts) it doesn't magically alleviate her of the actions portrayed nor disgust overshadowing sympathy. There is nothing Kittycorn can do to repair the reputation of this character within her art.

She is still calling the rampant incest canon just a comfort thing and thinks that being like 'umm all the canons are separate it's all AUs' changes intent and mindset in any way. You can't magically just switch off part of your brain when working on certain things - that's not how it works. It's not even like I can't fathom or understand where the coping comes from - a world where what if this awful thing that happened to me wasn't awful and I can reframe it in a positive way for myself so the abuse I endured hurts less. What if the codependent trauma bond meant so much more than a vessel of having power over someone in a life devoid of it? Potentially, a work like that could be quite profound because incest as both a moral dilemma and as a form of abuse, there is no easy 'out' when dealing with it. Themes of generational trauma, legacy, power, sexism, desperation...

--

EDIT: Okay never mind, that entire last three paragraphs before this one was written before the giant ass Sly x Eve defense and... no one is misrepresenting anything. It turns out it is full on incest romanticization in the most literal way. Incest true love. There's no nuance here whatsoever. Which, damn, I... I guess I'm truly speechless here. I was expecting like ANYTHING I guess but it's just... NOTHING...? I feel like an idiot. Fell for it again award received by me!!

I would like to formally apologize to the Coffin of Andy and Leyley - I didn't give you enough credit.

8 fucking years I invested into this shitty fucking comic and it turns out I was reading way WAY too deeply into EVERYHTING. FOR YEARS. Sparklecare was only good because I autistically indulged and overanalyzed everything into thinking there was more here being said and presented than it ever actually was.

I need to sit down.

--

But the key to that is sincerity.

Which is what Kittycorn lacks. It extends beyond her art as even her 'apology' posts are insincere. I don't think Kittycorn understands that no amount of 'actually you are supposed to interpret it like this' will change people's perception purely because of the sensitive nature of the topic at hand. You can be a big massive pervert with big massive pervert parts in you story and it could potentially have merit as art, but it has to be sincere all the way through. You can take perverse to mean purposefully contrarian or sexually taboo- either way I feel it applies. If you can't even be honest about the sorts of people you hang around with nor the way you approach your very public persona...

How can anyone trust a word you say? When all you've done so far is lie? At what point does the audience stop accepting the 'Fell for it again' award?

Why should anyone view your art as anything but a farce?

Anyway, that's my ramble about art.

Wotay27166 signing off for the last time, peace ✌️

[pepperf]

What I think Steve Blackman and everyone who bleats on about how 'Five and Lila have SO MUCH in common!!!' have missed is that...this is an ensemble show. None of these characters can or should exist in a vacuum, or locked off in binary pairs. They need the wider community, or they stagnate. And yes, Five and Lila have some past history and traits in common (thanks for ruining that relationship as well, Steve!), but no more than they do with the others, their bond isn't unique. Their experiences with the Commission and the Handler were vastly different, as are their attitudes towards kiling - Five sees it as just a job, nothing personal, he found a way to rationalise it away, whereas to Lila it's always personal. Five tells both Lila and Diego in the same ep that they're not cut out for the Commission (although frankly I'm not sold on him being quite as all-knowing about it as he claims).

The show has always been about the siblings coming back together, and Lila got integrated into that bond more than any of the other partners, partly as a result of her being one of them. She had so much in common with Allison, we barely got a glimpse of it, but their brief conversations were always so sparky. She and Luther were the only ones who stayed with their abusive parent well into adulthood, that would've been fascinating to dig into - especially as they have very different personalities. Almost everyone expected her and Klaus to be chaotic bffs, and it was such a pity that never materialised. And I would have loved to see how she got on with Ben and Viktor - I've seen it done well in fic, there's so much potential there, but it was basically entirely bypassed.

And Diego, of course. They are each other's best cheerleader and defender, they admire each other's fighting skills, they can read each other like a book, and they have absolutely unmatched chemistry. And all the way through, what they actually want out of life aligns so beautifully: they crave excitement and adventure with the people they love, they don't care about stability or safety, they love being in the thick of it, throwing themselves into a fight. They don't want calm, quiet lives without conflict. Lila gets lost in the subway system for the same reason Diego is off at the CIA. This is in sharp contrast to Five, who was clear from the start that he'd done his time and was dreaming of retirement, he didn't want to deal with yet another emergency every five minutes.

And (again unlike Five), Diego and Lila aren't content to go it alone - they thrive around other people, they are drawn to being around family and friends. It's healthier, in real life as well as on TV, for couples to have close relationships outside of the core one - and Diego and Lila, although they revolve around each other for two whole seasons, never feel like they're trying to isolate themselves from the group, they're always including other people in their shenanigans.

So yeah, unless you weren't paying attention to Lila until Five started making googly eyes at her, you would have seen the beauty of her progress in finding her place with the Hargreeves - and it's significant that her last line (other than "fuck you", lol) is to thank them for letting her be part of their weird family. That's her underlying character arc, and it sucks that all the focus went on a grubby little detour for the last couple of eps instead.

[370005]

sollux & terezi on beforus are in the business of ruining lives (for fun and profit)

details + bonus doodles under cut

ive been in a beforus mood lately so im thinking abt what the trolls lives could have been like.

sollux and terezi are white collar criminals. i wanted to give her the seer curse of Seeing Things even though she isn't a player, so she utilizes her infinite outcome matrix analysis abilities to forsee tragedies specifically caused by negligence. there was definitely a point in her childhood where she attempted to be a mothmanesque figure, warning potential innocents of upcoming events and terrorizing the people responsible for totally preventable misfortune.

but then she grew up and realized that the people who were responsible for shoddy architecture, massive layoffs, and general societal injustices didn't have a conscience to torment. They were gaming the system for money $$$ and you had to hit them where it hurts. she used her proclivity for predicting small-scale catastrophes to predict how said ensuing scandals would affect the stocks for the entities involved. you can't make the executive heads feel bad about dropping 30% of their staff to feed their own salaries, but you can definitely manipulate the market and ruin their public perception until people are papering their hives with the company currency

sollux, who worked the BSE as their best surveillance analyst, clocked terezi as a front runner when she showed up out of absolutely nowhere and scored huge profits after two consecutive PR disasters led to the bankruptcy of like 8 corps and heavy damage to their subsidiaries. it was kind of impressive, but he had a job to do yaknow? terezi, who was immediately on the run from the beforus finance cops and had to be sneakier and meaner with her manipulation, and sollux became completely obsessed with this criminal mastermind who was VERY easy to track. she was always behind the scenes in every major upset but sloppy about it. he probably should have turned her over to the authorities the second he knew her location. but, let's be honest, can you resist a pyrope on a mission?

after a very tumultuous rivalry that swung red and black like a centrifuge they eventually join forces because it turns out terezi doesn't have any inside info. she's just acting on VERY good hunches. there's honestly not really anything illegal she's doing PERSAY. and then sollux joins the efforts and uses his forensic experience to make her a lot harder to track, as well as collecting sensitive info and facilitating scandals that will rock the bottom line of anyone they consider an enemy. terezi is very into the networking part of it, amassing a silent army of business associates who can do the dirty work for them, either through bribery or blackmail. she knows how to get people to do what she wants >:] it's a bit morally dubious but it's all for the sake of the people.

lots of fun moments with these two, like when sollux brainstorms a series of possible connections that could insinuate that a group of people have been too careless in their various embezzlement schemez and theres a big tower of cards begging to be toppled. or when terezi comes to a sudden realisation that a potential whistleblower's nerve is about to run out and they've gotta act NOW if they want to benefit from the fallout.

these two are always hiding from the 9+ cumulative life sentences they've accrued and the financial ruin theyve rained on corporate beforus. as a result, they pretty much only have each other, and maybe a handful of their most trusted affiliates. kind of hard to nourish any type of relationship when the people close to you are in danger of being implicated in your many crimes and all of your enemies are incredibly wealthy, powerful, and influential. i imagine their luck runs out one day and they're disappeared from society without a trace.

[bishovapls]

⚠️ MAJOR THUNDERBOLTS SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️

I’ve taken a moment to collect my thoughts, so this one’s a bit more organised than just me screaming about how much this movie destroyed me. I’ve got a few of these little rants sitting in my drafts, honestly not sure if I’ll post the rest but here’s this one because...Alexei Shostakov is not a good man and I hate that (some) people seem to think that he is.

Spoilers below the cut!

Alexei is not some bumbling, well-meaning father who just made a few mistakes. He’s not misunderstood. He’s not the comedic relief with a heart of gold buried under the bluster. No. He’s a coward. A narcissist. And worst of all, he’s a willing participant in the very system that destroyed Yelena and Natasha from the inside out.

Let’s be clear: That motherfucker gave them to the Red Room. He knew exactly what that place was. He chose to hand over two little girls, two children who trusted him, to a man he knew would brutalise them, rip away their identities, their agency, their futures. And he did it because it suited his goals. His comeback. His glory. That’s what mattered to Alexei. Not the children in his care. Not their safety. Just the chance to wear a red suit again.

And when he sees them again after all those years? He doesn’t apologise. Not immediately anyways. One of the first things out of his mouth isn’t regret, it’s a rant: “I could have been more famous than Captain America. Then he buries me in Ohio. Three years! Boring me to tears. Then prison for the rest of my life.”

As if he was the victim. As if he was the one who suffered most.

No accountability. No acknowledgement that he ruined their lives. No acknowledgement of the scars they carry, the memories they can’t speak aloud. That he was the one who tossed them straight back into Dreykov’s hands. Just ego. Just bitterness.

And when he does talk about the girls? It’s not with love. It’s not with pride in who they are. It’s pride in what they became. “Yelena, the greatest child assassin in the world.” “Natasha, not just a spy...but an Avenger.” He doesn’t see daughters. He sees achievements. Killing machines forged by the very system he sent them into. He doesn’t see the brutality, let alone take responsibility for it. Because in Alexei’s mind, it worked. That’s all that matters.

And then… suddenly he flips? At the end of Black Widow, he starts trying. He says sorry. He wants to be forgiven. And the thing is, he even seems genuine. But it’s not earned. Not even close. Because barely an hour earlier he was whining about being stuck in Ohio.

Then we get to Thunderbolts, and somehow, he’s meant to be this goofy dad again. Rolling up in a limo, talking like he’s here to save the day, when in reality he hadn't spoken to Yelena in over a year before she shows up desperate, barely holding it together, practically begging him for some sense of permission to stop. And he uses it as an opportunity to talk about himself again, about how he’d love to work for Valentina. Still, it’s about what he could be. Not what she needs.

Yes, in Thunderbolts, he tries. He gives a speech. Seems to care, is genuinely trying to be supportive. And okay, fine, he’s not completely useless. He does make an effort.

But even during that big speech when Yelena breaks down, he says he doesn’t see Yelena’s mistakes. And on the surface, that’s kind. But dig deeper? It’s just more of the same. Because to him, her “mistakes” weren’t mistakes at all. She did what she was trained to do. She killed. She was efficient. That’s what matters to Alexei.

The films want us to forget what he did. They want us to laugh with him. To see the warmth. The effort. But they’re asking us to ignore the damage. The betrayal. The fact that he let his daughters burn, and only now wants to hold the ashes like they still belong to him.

And here’s the part that really fucking kills me: Yelena accepts it.

She’s not angry that he gave her to Dreykov. Not angry about the years of torment. No. She’s angry because he didn’t call. Because after pretending to care in Black Widow, he just disappeared again.

And that's even more devastating for her. Because she’s been hurt so many times, by so many people, that even Alexei’s bare minimum, his delayed, fumbled attempt at showing up, is enough for her. She’s been taught to expect nothing, and she’s learned to be grateful for scraps. She’ll take whatever little piece of warmth he offers, and call it love, because she doesn’t know what love without condition looks like.

He was never a father. Not in the way that matters. He was another person who broke her, who gave her away and never looked back. And now, he wants forgiveness. He wants to be seen as someone worthy of redemption.

But forgiveness without accountability is meaningless.

And Alexei? He still doesn’t understand what he did. Not really.

[haine-kleine]

my extremely petty and self-indulgent headcanon is that Dabi had started regularly visiting Rei after he joined the League of Villains.

the basis? he lived with a guy who had the best teleportation quirk in the mha universe. and one thing about that guy? he was the dad of the group. sorry not sorry but Mr Daddy Issues was doomed to imprint on him.

more basis? the first thing Touya thought about when he woke up after almost burning to death and spending 3 years in a coma with no idea how he survived or even where he is? 'i need to apologize to mom'. he would be taking that chance if he had it at all.

what about Rei? there's really no reason for her to be faithful to the system the way she for some reason is in the latter part of the manga. some facts from her biography include: being sold by her own family to the man who would offer to buy her, with no possibility to object, becoming an incubator for said man even when she plainly stated she didn't want to have more kids, being abused so badly she was slowly driven into psychosis while being the primary caretaker of 4 children, being aware of her slipping mental state, begging her mother to help her on the phone and being denied that help. then she spent 10 years in a mental hospital and the only people who visited her were her children. this woman's entire life was ruined by the system and by a hero number two personally. the only reason she had started recovering at all and didn't lose her sanity completely was her children, who became her new reason to live and work harder on her recovery. until Shouto came to visit her, 10 years after they were separated by Enji, only Fuyumi and Natsuo were visiting her. and neither of these two was in a good place mentally, both having to raise themselves after their nanny had left and Enji didn't hire anyone else to take care of his teenage children. that, coupled with her guilt over hurting Shouto and mourning Touya's death when he died so young and neither she nor Enji did anything to save her, is an very heavy burden to bear.

with that basis, I truly think Rei not caring about her son being a villain would have been fully in character, had he sought her out before the war. she would have jumped on the first chance to have her eldest son back in her life, and she would have supported him just the same as she supported Shouto. she cares about her children's well-being first and foremost and her life experience allows her to be aware that public approval does not necessarily mean a good thing. she knows her children and she encourages them while being respectful of their boundaries. she never told anything to Natsuo about him moving out and leaving Fuyumi alone with Enji in the family house. she was never showed scornful or disapproving of Touya's training despite the fact Enji literally beat her for it, because she recognized how important that was to Touya. when she started a conversation with him on that topic, she asked 'do you even want to be a hero?'. little Shouto hated the thought of becoming a hero because he hated his father, but Rei still encouraged him, because she saw his admiration of Allmight.

so, if Dabi showed up in her hospital room and announced himself as a villain, I don't think this would make Rei any less motivated to reconnect with her long-lost son. she would want to know everything about his life in the past 10 years, and she wouldn't judge him for any of it. just like with Shouto, she would meet his apology with one of her own, because she felt genuinely guilty and responsible for the way he suffered throughout his childhood, and she would make amends by giving him as much of her attention and support as he would allow her.

also I just adore the image of the three Todoroki siblings coming to visit her unannounced and Dabi hastily hiding under Rei's bed. the funniest family reunion possible.

and Rei listening to Dabi's tales of League's antics just the same way she listens to Shouto talking about his classmates? top tier content

[queerponcho]

Transfixed | part 1

collage made by me with pictures from pinterest

moonknight!system x female!reader

a/n: been writing this fic for about a year now so it's nerve-wrecking to finally post the first chapter. I hope you'll like it!! (pls be gentle...)

thanks to the lovely @nexusnyx for motivating me a few weeks ago, would've never considered posting without having our convo the other day!! Thank you so much<33

Warnings: no use of Y/N, fluff, NOT beta read, gushing about the moonboys, flustered awkward dorks, plot-twists, (eventual smut, the chapters will be marked individually), inaccurate depictions of DID, egyptian mythology and religion (although I did extensive research I took liberty in changing some things to adhere to my plot...), if I missed anything or made any spelling mistakes pls don't hesitate to tell me!

Summary: You're a woman who as been visiting the same library for all your life. One day a handsome new face comes walking in. That's the moment when the ball starts rolling and your entire life changes. Will you accept the new challanges coming your way...?

2,200 words

You have been visiting the same library all your life. While you were in school you  would go there to have a quiet place to study. Since at home you always had a lot of family and busy energy around, you needed the library as sort of an...escape from all the noise. Later when you got into university, the library had become kind of a safe space for you. So you would rather sit in the bus for half an hour to and back to study there instead of the grimy and packed library on campus.

Even now that you work and have enough books at home to basically open your own library, you still can't part from your little paradise. Everyone knows you here and a few months ago the owners of the library even adopted a cat that seemed to really like you. So chances of moving on from here had definitely been ruined.

You loved reading all kinds of story based books, but spending so much time here made you curious, so you also picked up a few skill based ones. you had read a few gardening and science books but the ones you would actually start applying were the books that had to-do with art. Autobiographies of different artists and painters, different studies and research on colour and brushes. You became almost a bit obsessed at some point. So you started sketching and drawing things around you based on the knowledge you'd gathered from your extensive research. you would draw people around the library after work or before meeting friends in the nearby café. You'd never claim to be an artist but you were proud of your drawings nonetheless. for the past few weeks you had started to draw one very specific person. You saw them for the first time a bit over a month ago…

It was a rainy day and you'd just finished lunch with a friend. You said goodbye and you decided to head to the library to continue on with your sketches of the cute ginger kitten. After saying hello to the owners and giving the kitten a treat, you made your way to your usual corner in the back. Since the library wasn't very big you had a good view of the entrance and a few tables. you'd been sitting and drawing for about ten minutes when you noticed the kitten smelling your coat pocket in search of more treats. You smiled down at her 'hiiii kitty!' you picked her up and placed her on your little round table. 'you want another treat huh?' She looked back with big shiny eyes 'alright alright...there you go'. She happily chewed on the fish-shaped cookie while you continued drawing her. 

The familiar noise of the door opening caught your attention....a man came in, he was wearing a brown flat-cap which was obscuring your vision of his face. He reached to take it off with a gloved hand and pushed his black curls back to reveal the face, of what you could only describe, a Greek god. He had strong and angular features, a sharp jawline and a beautiful slightly crooked nose which you felt the need to trace over with your finger. He had crows feet decorating his eyes, you'd assume he had them from laughing but seeing his resting facial expression, smiling almost seemed to be a foreign task to him. He brushed the remaining rain off his shoulders and made his way to the history section. When he disappeared behind a shelf you were brought back from your trance and took the first breath in what seemed like minutes. 

You wondered what he would be looking for in the history section of this old library. You were in London, a place with alot of people, then again this library was old and in a secluded part of town so it was usually the same people walking in and out. You would definitely remember his face if you had seen it before. Whatever it was that he was looking for he had apparently found since he was making his way to the register with a thick leather bound book in his glove covered hand. You had a bit of a thing for hands and you knew you'd be sketching hands for the next few hours because of this stranger. He hastily left the library and was gone as fast and suddenly as he appeared. After that day you couldn't stop drawing that pretty stranger, you'd given him multiple names during this time. His name had been Jack, Edward, Steve, Malcom and many more. you'd started just drawing his gloved hands and his forearms but quickly you would switch to drawing his intense gaze and soft curls. The amount of times you fantasised about running your fingers through them and tugging slightly had you embarrassed. It had been weeks since you'd seen him and you wouldn't stop imagining him in your apartment just sitting next to you, sometimes you would also imagine him a bit closer and wearing a little less clothing…

A month had passed since you'd seen him and you finally managed to stop drawing him and went back to drawing people around the library. Though you still looked up when the door opened and a new customer came in hoping for your handsome stranger to come in and maybe stay a little this time so you could find out more about him and his movements, for drawing references of course...nothing else. It seemed the universe wanted to help you out, because the next time the bell chimed and a customer walked in, the familiar brown flat-cap wearing stranger entered. This time it was warm and sunny outside so he wasn't wearing any gloves and wore a white fitted polo. His muscles were visibly moving underneath the fabric of his sleeves when he reached up to take off his hat and ruffle through his hair with the same intention as last time. He was also holding the same thick leather bound book from his last visit to the library.

 According to the owners he couldn't buy that one since it was rare literature, so he got to borrow it for a month...you knew this because you may have asked about him and his purchase after he left. This was also when you found out that the book he borrowed was about an Egyptian god. During your time in this library you have read books on Egyptian history and it did peak your interest. All this time you’d never even noticed that book before? Recently, you’d been spending a lot more time studying in that part of the library, so overseeing such a unique looking book was very strange of you.

You see him talking to the owners, it was quiet enough to make out parts of the conversation. It was 10am on a Tuesday so you were pretty much the only customer here. He had a pretty strong Latin accent and you were pretty sure he was from mexico. part of your family is from south America so you grew up learning Spanish and you remember hearing them speak English with that exact same accent. 

He was thanking them for the book and asking if he could take a look around the library again. The owners kindly told him to go ahead and that he didn't even need to ask. He briefly nodded his head mumbling a quick 'gracias' and went over to the history section. You watched intently and spontaneously decided to head in the same direction. You felt a bit creepy lurking on this man but you were sure you wouldn't get caught since you were rarely a very visible person. it's not that you didn't have a strong presence but you know how to blend in really well and when to use that to your advantage. You hid behind the shelf of the history section facing his profile. He really was a pretty man, his eyes were squinting and his bold eyebrows furrowed. There was a stray curl hanging over them and you badly wanted to brush it back and feel his thick hair between your fingers...you couldn't of course, since you were too preoccupied drawing him at the moment. The window was creating beautiful shadows beneath his hooded eyes and high cheekbones. His jaw looked sharper than ever and his neck extremely kissable. His lips needed an honourable mention, they were like two squishy pillows that were begging to be bitten. You've been paying special interest to them and trying to get the details just right, so you didn't notice that he had moved from his previous spot. 

You couldn't see him anywhere and were actually kind of disappointed to think he probably left. you were about to turn around and go back to your discarded belongings when you accidentally bumped into someone while moving backwards. 'ohssshit! i- i am so so sorry um- i didn't mean to wal-'

you had managed to pick up your pencil, sketchbook, and hopefully all of the scattered pages- when you finally looked up just to be faced with the god-like looking man you had been fawning over for a month now. he was practically towering over you and… was that a smirk? If you weren't already kneeling on the floor right now you would've probably lost your balance. 'hola~ I don't mind this view but do you need help standing up, muñeca?' This is when you realised that you were on your knees in front of the most attractive man you have ever seen and you quickly scrambled to your feet 'nono um thank you-' 

'Jake, my name's Jake' he stuck out his hand and you introduced yourself after thanking him again. So his name was jake...huh pretty basic for a man like him. You were kind of joking when you temporarily gave him very basic names but you guess his parents weren't much more creative than you are. 

You realised you were staring when he raised his left eyebrow and started grinning.

 'So...why were you spying on me?' He asked cockily and it had you word-vomiting all over the place 'what? i wasn't-? I-I was just…drawing-?' pretty hard to sound convincing when finishing every statement with a question mark... 'yeah I know-' he looked you up and down and coming a bit closer 'I saw you get lost in your notebook and I just had to come see what you are drawing that garnered all of your precious attention, hermosa' 

The nicknames were really starting to get to you, making you feel all sweaty and nervous. you were clenching the book to your chest accidentally pushing up your breasts and making your cleavage much more noticeable. you saw him glancing down, taking his time in bringing his eyes back up your neck and finally to your face. This entire time you were basically pressed into his chest, you were leaning on the shelf and he didn't seem like he wanted to move anytime soon 'h-how long were you looking over my shoulder exactly?'

 'Long enough to see what had you so...como se dice...transfixed' Your breath hitched and he answered with a toothy grin. 

'I am flattered, preciosa. I really am, didn't think someone as pretty as you would follow me around the library just to draw my hands and ass' 

You push him back- 'I did NOT draw your ass! I-' You were interrupted by his chuckle and him moving closer again and grabbing your chin between his fingers and caging you in with his other arm. 'I know muñeca , I just like seeing you flustered...toda nerviosilla...it's cute.' At this point you’ve decided it's best if you just don't speak. '...maybe next time you can draw me shirtless? I would love to see you solely focused on my abs for half an hour.' He flashes you a toothy grin. Oh he’s getting too cocky…somehow you manage to move away from the bookshelf, momentarily getting even closer to him. After seeing his eyes flicker with surprise you move to the side, backing away from him. Turn around finally being able to take a breath of normal air that wasn't deliciously tinted with his aftershave. 

'Sure, next time you can waltz into the library without a shirt on and we will see how far you get before being kicked out' you say while looking over your shoulder. 

 'Seeing your reaction would be worth it, nena' he called after you, not even registering your feet carrying you back to your corner. you took a deep breath replaying what just happened. He should not have this effect on you, it's almost embarrassing how easily he got so close to you. You are a grown woman, damnit! How did you not shove him away and get mad at his advances? You should be creeped out but you notice how you’re wishing to bump into him again soon...you hear the doorbell ring and see him walk out. He takes one look back and holds up a piece of paper. ‘Oh fuck me’ you feel your feet glued to the floor when you see what it is…its a drawing you made of him. It was a closeup of his torso upwards. You had drawn him from above and he was laying in your bed with heavy lidded eyes and parted lips. you were absolutely mortified- he was grinning like an idiot and winked at you before storing the drawing in his back pocket, crossing the street and vanishing from your eye-line. leaving you in the library, plagued by his stupid masculine scent and his dumb pretty face.

a/n: I really hope you enjoyed the first chapter, I've got a few already locked and loaded sooo the next one should be posted soon. Pls like and reblog if you liked it<3 it would mean the world!

part two

[violetjedisylveon]

hi, for rotten fruit au, so i got it that when mac and wukong meet again macaque is still with the lbd. But i got confused on how they managed to get her arrested/got rid of her, like its after chao xing and her other father appear right? So with their help they get all the proves to go against her and mac get the courage to say fuck you to her when she try to harm his family?

Also i picture lbd kept mac hair short to make him look more perfect and clean, after she is gone he let them grow long like in the past before wukong went to jail.

previous, next

LBD finds out about Wukong interacting with her son and grandchildren (unwillingly on his part, they just keep showing up), soon after he and Macaque meet again and she starts making plans to get rid of him. Mayor spied and snitched to her.

And around the time she's getting ready to enact those plans ready is when Wukong's family comes to reconnect with him, and she immediately recognizes her son's ex partner and her granddaughter (Chao-Xing's got two tails as a genetic quirk so she's very easy to recognize).

LBD quickly starts to make new plans that would allow her to get her wayward grandchild under her control, while she accepted the decision to split the twins, she wasn't happy about it in the long run since she quickly viewed MK as a failure and thinks it might have been better to take the one she didn't want.

Chao-Xing was deformed in her eyes, too small and with the extra tail, so at the time of the decision, she was perfectly fine with letting the little freak go. She's come to realize she was wrong.

While she's making Wukong's life even harder, she's plotting behind the scenes to kidnap her granddaughter from her family, and mold her into the perfect heir. Bai He has always been a replaceable back up in her mind.

Monkey demons are very close knit with each other and don't tend to go anywhere without at least one other monkey, so it proves to be very hard to get her granddaughter sufficiently isolated to abduct her. LBD moves to a backup plan of sending a hitman after the family to get rid of them, if Chao-Xing's parents die custody would be given back to Macaque because she's still a minor.

This is where LBD gets her comeuppance, she believes herself to be untouchable, especially with how she's so easily been able to manipulate things in Wukong's life to make things harder for him or just to spite him and show that Macaque is under her control no matter what he does. One of her manipulations is what leads to Wukong seeing Mayor and Macaque in their act as "husbands" that I mentioned in this (long) post.

it's a classic moment of hubris.

She still thinks she has Macaque completely under her thumb, but she is sorely mistake.

It's a combination of her threatening his family, hurting Wukong again, and finally reaching a breaking point that he didn't know he had that convinces Macaque to say "fuck it" to the potential consequences and stand up against her. He's finally more angry than he is afraid of her.

And an anonymously provided pile of evidence detailing all of her crimes certainly helps put the final nails in her coffin.

LBD's abuse of Macaque, hurting him until he agreed to give a false testimony against Wukong, her generally abusive behavior towards him, fucking sexually trafficking him around certain circles (though the names of to who are left conspicuously absent), her making up charges against Wukong with no evidence and bribing the legal system to get him the worst punishment that wouldn't kill him, her current efforts to ruin his life, her abuse of her grandchildren, her attempts to kidnap a minor, and to kill a family, and her less than legal manipulations in other areas, all of it is there.

LBD had always been sloppy in covering her trail, it was easy to find and compile if you knew where to look, she thought she was so far above everyone else that she never bothered to actually check if there was anyone above her.

So she's cooked and being put away for a long time.

It's just a shame Snake Boi didn't have nobel intentions in turning all that evidence over 😔

There's a very substantial debt to be paid now, and he's not eager to make that happen fast, not when he gets so many new toys to play with.

Xiuying also has no issues with testifying about LBD's crimes, so that does help too.

LBD's fall is swift and cruel.

Yes, Macaque does have short hair with LBD, she keeps his appearance strictly controlled, he had grown his hair out to an improper length while with Wukong as teenagers.

LBD made him cut it before delivering his testimony of her made up crimes with Wukong still in the court room, it makes things easier too, less hair to clean up and manage.

He gets to let it grow as long as he wants when she's locked up! And he dyes his grays pink to match Wukong's!

He's got an insanely stressful life and has streaks of grays by his 30s, LBD made him dye his whole body to cover for it, she made him dye it lighter so he would look younger too.

Now he gets to go back to his natural color and dye his grays a fun color with his mate! They help each other touch up their roots when they grow out!

Thanks for asking! This was so much fun to talk about!

This is the last thing I'll answer for the time being, I am very sleepy

[zero-257]

A lil more fleshing out of the components for those who asked 🫶

A lot of the time I associate the word “new” with experimental and as a result (kinda compounded by the fact the guy literally blows up at the end of the workshop 😭) I see 83 Electra as a kind of experiment into electric fuelling. At his inception there are literally no other trains like him so after a while that starts to grate on him.

He has a vague understanding of other trains, as well as the fact that he was created by someone. So he starts attempting to essentially replicate himself with any material he can salvage from scrap yards and wherever else. As well as this, he uses his own power in order to keep them alive, so with each component he creates the more zombie-like he becomes.

Krupp- His first component, with evidentially the most to work with. A lot of Krupp was made with leftover paint and parts from Electra’s own creation. He had a lot of passion going into making Krupp, basically determined to make the “perfect” companion. Though when he brought Krupp to “life” and realised he isn’t really alive but just carrying out what Electra tells him to or mimicking him, he becomes frustrated and starts to take less interest in him.

Volta- She was Electra’s attempt to remedy where he went wrong with Krupp. However she has essentially the same problems as him, she is not really “alive” neither does she understand or care why Electra is irritated with her. But, she has a key role in keeping Electra stable (again going back to him exploding lol). As the “freezer truck” she is interconnected with Electra’s cooling system which alerts her if he is overheating/unstable. (Credit to dissl3xia for the idea) As he starts to give more of himself to create more components this instability worsens.

Purse- By component number three Electra is starting to become genuinely aggravated. Purse isn’t made with the same passion he had for the previous two and it leaves him without much of a purpose. He is Electra first real “experiment” and is really built with whatever parts he can possibly scavenge. Purse is also where the components start to look less “human” and take a turn towards just a vague human shape.

Wrench- Unlike Purse, Wrench was built with a legitimate purpose in mind. As Electra loses more and more power he requires more than just Volta to keep him from imploding. Wrench is an amalgamation of anything he was able to salvage, she only has to do her job and not much else. He has basically given up on creating the components with emotions or any personality by this point.

Joule- She is the product of two scrapped trucks Electra happened across. For the dynamite truck her bottom half was completely unsalvageable, and the animal truck was ruined from the waist up. She renewed hope in Electra, thinking that reanimating a truck who was previously alive would fix the issue of the components only following programming. This was not the case, and although there are some moments where Joule seems “aware” they are few and far between.

Killerwatt- The final component. Electra is drained to the point of appearing in his mostly zombie-like state, this has somewhat subdued his personality and has brought him back to feeling lonely. He created Killerwatt from literally anything with very little of it being train parts. He often talks to him in a friendly manner he never uses for the other components although he cannot respond. Killerwatt is essentially a statue, a work of art that Electra has poured a lot of time and energy into and in some ways he represents what Electra wanted all along - a friend.

Half of this makes about zero sense but these trains occupy about 99% of my brain at all times and this has come of it.

[glowinthedarkjellyfish]

So this is going to be part of a reader x dick series.

I’m using fem pronouns and will write as if reader were a girl but please feel free to imagine reader with whatever pronouns you like.

Petty crime

Growing up in Gotham sucked. Literally anywhere in Gotham sucks but Crime Alley. That was a new low. It was hell.

But Jason Todd my best friend helped, a lot. One day he decided to steal batmans wheels. He said the guys probably loaded if he can just spend his life fighting crime all night, every night and even being part of the Justice League. And I agree. How do you balance all that and a job? At least à job that pays for your vigilante lifestyle and extremely cool car? So we decided you know what, he probably won’t miss a couple of car wheels.

Wrong.

So so wrong.

We were just so wrong.

Of course batman had to sneak up on us last minute. I mean we had gotten 2 of his tires off, I was sure that if we had another 7 minutes we could take the last 2 aswell.

But alas our plans were ruined.

That was 4 years and I haven’t seen him since and that worried me a lot but that’s life in Gotham for you. He could be lying dead somewhere and I would never know. It’s stupid to hope he’s not dead, especially living in gotham but I’ll always have hope that one day he comes home. If ever.

And I hate to say it but that’s not my number one worry right now, he’s number 2 my number one worry is I’m getting adopted.

Yeah.

Apparently my orphanage had found family of mine through the “system” I don’t know what the system is but yeah.

So after a good 17 years in a rundown orphanage I get adopted by à biological family member, or they want to meet me at least.

So I was here, eating outside a coffee shop for a girl Helena, her name was.

We could be twins. Apparently.

That would be cool. I think.

I’m not sure, most of the kids at the orphanage were little shits and after Jason I’ve never been close to anyone really.

Also because don’t think she’d like having a thief for a sister.

Id love to be able to say I’m not proud of what I do but I really can’t. I don’t kill or rob grocery stores.

I like heists. And you may be thinking how can a 17 year old pull of heists.

My answer, Red Hood. He’s a new vigilante that’s been around my neighborhood recently. Quite chill. And his gang of… misfits? Or outlaws I’m not too sure what he said he was but he fits the misfit description to me, anyways, he has a super cool space chick a guy with a metal arm who calls himself Arsenal. I don’t know why he’s trying to be an edge lord. And best part, à shit ton if guns and somehow immunity from batman.

He obviously doesn’t know who I am and my sister won’t either but if I get to move in with her it’d be hard keeping my nightlife hidden from her.

Anyways I was brought out of my thought when a girl say in front of my and ok yeah we’re definitely twins.

Before she could ask me for my name I asked.

“Are you Helena?” I mean she didnt need to answer that, I’ve only seen her for like 5 seconds and I can tell we’re twins.

“Yeah, it’s nice to meet you, I guess we don’t need to worry about dna tests being wrong or anything” I mean no shit Sherlock were identical girlies.

“Yeah, this is almost freaky”

It wasn’t just “almost” freaky it was very freaky, the more we talked the more we learnt about the other and we have a lot in common, she likes shiny stuff me too, I mean I track down and steal some of the most valuable gems that pass through Gotham so that’s a given. But she didn’t need to know that, yet at least.

We both like purple, and cats, she grew up in a nicer area of Gotham but was trying to find out who her birth mum and dad were, she had been adopted but her parents had died recently(for the plot gang, sorry helena you were happy 😔) and when she was sent to an orphanage they said she had a family in the system wich is how we were able to meet.

Thank you Helena’s dead parents I guess.

I had spent most of my life alone so I wasn’t really bothered finding out parents but when I try and think who I’ll be in 20 years, I want to be able to picture my parents next to me. So I told her I’d help her.

This is where my life got interesting.

After our coffee hop meeting we kept in touch and decided once we’d turn 18 we’d move in together and start looking for our parents.

There is this really cool and freaky DNA collection system that you can submit some dna into and if any relatives, distant or close have also been put into the system you can contact them.

The company that runs the whole gig does it for you though so that people can still have some privacy, it’s cool but can take ages for analysis to find a match.

And that is why we’d still do our own investigating. Helena had gotten a job at the Gotham City Police Department to learn how to be a proper investigator and also to see if the GCPD had any files that could be of use. Pretty smart if you ask me.

I ended up getting an internship at Lex Corps. I am well aware that LexCorp is shady I mean I’ve broken in like 3 times this year alone but, they are one of the leading companies in biochemical research and LexCorp is the company that does the DNA ‘find your family if you have any’ tests so I thought it’d be useful to keep track of mine and Helena’s results while she investigates any files that have leads.

One night she hasn’t gotten back from work yet and guess fucking what.

Nightwing swings through and lands on the fire escape, he hands over the Huntress who turns out to be Helena.

Fucking Nightwing.

That was crazy.

I am so so glad he didn’t recognize me because I’ve had quite a few run ins with him, with my mask and everything but still.

Anyways, Helena turned out to be a vigilante so out of the (totally not) goodness in my heart I revealed to her my identity but I asked her to never interfere with my night life and I’d never interfere with hers.

She agreed!!

And for a while, life was great.

Turns out there was a case of a woman, Silena Kyle who 18 years ago had twins and then died. Okay kinda morbid but, at Lexcorp there have been cases in wich Silenas DNA could be found at crime scenes as recent as last night, so either someone is using her dna to frame her and she is actually dead or she faked her death, gave up her twins and is still a thief at large.

Now, I don’t have that high of clearance at LexCorp but I am qualified to run dna analysis and then choose dna in the system to see if they match wich is what I did.

I didn’t want to risk being found out at work so during after hours I broke in to LexCorp. Wich wasn’t hard since I had a keycard and knew my way around but still. I broke in and made my way to one of the many labs, I uploaded some of mine and Helena’s dna and searched for Selina Kyle, there were 2 Selinas, or à Selena Kyle and a Selina Kyle. I couldnt, for the life of me remember how her name was supposed to be spelt so I ran an analysis on both of them to compare them to mine and Helena’s dna and see if we had a match.

This was honestly a fool proof plan and would’ve worked if Nightwing didn’t show up.

He didn’t know I was here but I had Helena watching from a couple of rooftops over and she told me.

This could end badly for me. Helena couldnt come and help without alerting Nightwing of someone entering the building after him so I was on my own.

And I was curious, sue me.

What was Nightwing doing at LexCorp.

Actually they are pretty shady so I don’t blame him at all.

I looked to the machine and what the heck!!! It’s only 45 percent done!! Okay that’s not that bad it should only take maybe 10 more minutes but with Nightwing in here I probably didn’t have 10 more minutes.

I just had to sit quietly wait for the analysis to be complete, take the results, maybe one of the computers, I need a new one, and then leave.

As I have already said this plan would’ve been amazing if not for Nightwing.

And I am really regretting only wearing my hoodie over my suit instead of my mask. Why would I do that, oh it was really dirty and wet sk my hoodie had to do.

If he sees me then he knows that huntress’s sister is a thief, then he’ll be able to find out her secret identity.

Shit shit shit shit

Yeah and then he opened the door.

I was stood there, next to the dna analyser and he just looked at me.

Wait. I have my keycard, I can pretend to just be a random civilian worker who stayed overtime.

Sometimes my genius, it’s frightening.

He started at me but full on stared and he seemed kind of freaked out, yes I’m gorgeous. But staring is rude, before I could tell him that the machine had finished. Finally.

Now I was pretty nervous, I mean he was just staring at me, like he COULDVE entered the room at least but no. He stood at the door like a weirdo. A weirdo with a really nice jawline holy shit.

And I didn’t want to startle him so I slowly reached for the papers holding my answers. Is my mum dead.

Silena Kyle was a 100% match for a mother….

“Hey H, I’m going to need the spelling for the Silena Kyle who died?”

That was enough to shock Nightwing out of his one sided staring contest and then he looked… I don’t know really he looked like he had just found out the worlds biggest secret, had gotten a promotion and it weirded me out.

Did he know Silena Kyle?

“Do you know her?”

Maybe he did maybe he didn’t.

“Yeah, she’s an old friend I’m doing her à favour right now”

I wanted to know what that favor was but I also really needed to leave so I turned around and

“You’re not going anywhere.”

“Er- yeah I am.” Who does he think he is I can go wherever I want .

“No I need those papers in you hands”okay is he on drugs?

“This is actually private medical information that I can’t Han over to you” if he fights me for this I might not win but I do have a backup plan. An insanely good one.

“How is Silena Kyle’s info your private medical info? Hm are you stealing from dna banks now?” First of all rude and what does be mean now? I’ve had run ins with him but never whilst robbing and he’s never caught me either, unless he’s been watching me…

Okay and I’m better than this but I panicked

“She’s my mum.”

Silence

Still silence

I made a run for it.

I mean he was being really quiet so what else do I do.

“H I’ve been compromised I can try and make it to the streets but prioritise the results, you can bail me out tomorrow”

I hope Helena was ready to take the papers and run.

I was running through LexCorp, taking the elevator instead of the stairs then climbing out of said elevator, going over to a different set of stairs and taking them, so that Nightwing couldnt catch me.

Wrong.

Why am I always so wrong.

I exited the building through a set of emergency doors after coming off the stairs and who is waiting for me?

Red Hood.

Wait.

Oh my fucking gosh yes!!!

I didn’t care if I was about to reveal my identity with these papers I just needed to pass them on to him and either pick them up later or get him to drop them off at my place.

“Okay so, you might not recognize me without the mask but Red it’s me, okay I have my suit so you know I’m not lying”

He interrupted me before I could finish speaking wich was rude by the way.

“[insert name 😝]?”

…… why does je know my name?

“Yeah…?? Okay I’m going to jngore the fact you know me. Right now I need you to take these dna results and take them to your base. Depending on how long my bail is I’ll either pick them up tomorrow or have my sister pick them up”

“Okay… why can’t you do it?”

“Because Nightwing is trying to take them from me but this is proof of my mother’s identity, my sister and I have been searching for her for ages and this will help us reconnect with her. Without it we only have cold leads. So please take this and go”

He turned his helmet away from me, staring of at something on another roof top and then looked back.

“Sure thing, Kori is with me right now so I’ll have her fly these back real quick”

That was all I needed as soon as he said that I ran back into the building and also ran into Nightwing.

I stumbled a bit but he caught me. So he can be rude but also a gentleman. Wow. (Unenthusiastic)

“Slow down there birdie wouldn’t want you to fall for me”

Is he flirting? Actually flirting…. In this situation?! Does he need help…

“I’m not falling for anything and definitely whatever you think y oh have going for you”

“Ouch, you wound me babes, anyways I’ll be taking those papers.”

Yeah fat fucking chance.

“What papers”

….

“The ones you had earlier before running away?” Might as well play dumb.

“Sorry I don’t have any papers I’m also breaking an entering so you should arrest me”

“Are you asking me to arrest you right now?” Okay plan worked papers forgotten successfully.

“Yeah and I can ask again, go ahead and lock me up arrest me but make it sexy sell me some meth please so I can get arrested by this daddy if a cop”

“Okay okay i get it, you can stop now…. Daddy of a cop though?”

“I mean not you that’s just the lyrics…”

“Ah, -sorry- no it doesn’t matter, you’re under arrest, I’m taking you in”

Okay so this is part one of the petty!thief story I’m thinking of, there will be more parts and this one COULDVE probably been 2 pets but I couldn’t figure out a good time to cut of amd I wanted to include the part from the Rookie.

Is that a batton in your pocket or are you just happy to see me is currently my hyperixation lol this is the song that inspired this btw

also this isn’t proofread and my autocorrect is bugging out so yeah lmk if there’s anything thaf makes no sense whatsoever lol

[empressgeekt]

Trolls - Accidental Knight Branch AU (Field of Forget-me-nots part 1)

My hyper fixation continues and for some reason I got this idea while watching a Bug's Life. And i"m thinking of linking this to my Keith and Branch Brother hood Au (link to that post if interested - https://empressgeekt.tumblr.com/post/744629825487126528/trolls-branch-and-keith-brothers-au). I think I'm going to re-name it A Field of Forget-Me-knots Au. If they end up linked that is.

The Au would start before the first movie. Branch is still grey and on his own, with the exception of his little stalker. Keith had been following him for the past year, and branch had taken a reluctant liking to the kid. Pretty much becoming a big/little brother duo that no one in the village gets. Keith's habit of story telling, is encouraged by Branch, who buys the kid notebooks to put his idea on paper. During the summer evenings, Branch would help edit his grammar and spelling, while working on a latest trap as Keith read his latest chapters. The trolling's current story fixation, being one about a trolling knight who protects his village and wears a suit of armor in the brightest green leaves. Branch askes Keith where he found the inspiration for it, and Keith explains that it came to him when he was helping Branch with the alarm systems and predator preventions he made for the village. Branch is flattered when he learn that the kid thinks of him as a hero, but doesn't admit it.

When Keith's birthday rolls around. In addition to another note book, and some custom made drawing pencils, Branch decides to bring Keith's character to life. With all the mechanical know how, he learned from making traps and weapons, (and sewing skills thanks to Grandma), the grey troll can pretty easily fashion together a suit that is both functional and how Keith described it. With room for all the Gadgets that Keith gave his character. Which on the weapons side Branch kind of cheats due to him already having multiple back up bows and spears. He just paints those to match the suit. Keith is ecstatic to see Branch in the suit, and insists on Branch wearing it while they check the traps that day. Branch allows it, partially because it makes the kid happy, and partially because he wants to show off his gadget re-creations. Keith even calls Branch, "Forest Guardian" all through the walk. At some point, Branch falls into a flower patch, and pollen gets all over his hair making it turn into a maroon color.

Their on the last of their safety checks, this one just outside of the village borders, when suddenly the alarm strings go taunt and screaming is heard in the direction of the village. Branch tells Keith to run back to the bunker using their escape tunnels, and keith says that, "Forest Guardian is needed". Branch rushes off, completely forgetting that he's in a ridiculous looking suit, finding a rabid wolf charging through the middle of the village. Most the pods are too high for the predator to reach, but the trolls on the ground are done for...Branch grabs hold of the spear tied to his back.

Poppy is on the ground, trying to get as many trolls away from the wolf, but she's at a lost of what to really do. A predator like this had never gotten this close to the village, so she's scrambling. All she knows is that everyone is screaming and running, their afternoon song is ruined, then suddenly out of nowhere the wolf is taken down. Poppy looks up, and finds a troll with maroon colored hair, clad in armor of the brightest green, their hands gripping a spear that was impaled in to the base of the wolf's skull, killing it. In the corner of her eye, she sees one of the trollings, Keith, Call out "It's Forest Guardian!"

Branch is very uncomfortable with all the people suddenly staring at him, once the wolf is down. Then he hears Keith call out, and suddenly remembers he's in the costume. They don't know who he is. Still he doesn't like being the object of all there attention. Branch rushed back into the woods before Poppy has the chance to thank him.

Keith meets Branch back at the bunker. Branch immediately takes off the suit, and confronts Keith as to why he was in the village and not safe in the bunker. Keith said he wanted to see Forest Guardian in action. Branch retorts he's not Forest Guardian. Keith said he could be, and gets upset, because he based a the character off of branch, but the grey troll doesn't want to be a hero. Branch said he wasn't a hero. Keith says that he is, and recounts all he does for the villages protection and no one sees it! And they are all mean to branch. It makes the trolling frustrated, and this way they can be nicer to branch without Branch having to deal with them invading his personal privacy.

Eventually Branch gives in, after all the armor stopped him from getting hurt by the wolf, and it would make it easier to carry needed essentials. So when ever he goes after predators that get too close to the village he wears the suit. Keith promises to be Branch's man on the inside and reports to the grey troll on all the rumors that were spread about them. They have a good laugh over it.

Meanwhile, the village is set on fire with news of their new hero. People are gossiping and word of the "Forest Guardian" is spreading fast. And one troll in particular has become engulfed by the flames. Poppy has become obessed with the Forest Guardian. She wants to thank him, know who he is, and become his best friend. No she is totally not fangirling over him, like the twins tease. The snackpack is equally enthralled with the new village hero. Cooper, Biggie, And GD are impressed with how cool he looked, The twins have been making fan wear based on eye witnesses on the armor, Fuzzbert and DJ Suki want to know who his gear works, and Smidge wants to know where he learned how to take down a wolf. They are all willing to help Poppy find the Guardian. Creek is grateful for the new hero, but he is a little apprehensive about Poppy wanting to find him. After all he could be dangerous, and what kind of troll would use violence before friendship.

Nothing could stop Poppy's hunt. She askes everyone in the village what they know about the Forest Guardian. She sadly doesn't get much information. Until she asks Keith. The little trolling tells her all about how the Guardian lives out side of the village in the forest, and that he's been defending the village from predators for years, the wolf had been a rare instance when they snuck passed his defenses.

Poppy: Keith how do you know about this?

Keith: I see him. I go into the woods sometimes, he's always looking out for us.

Poppy: And no one knows? No one's thanked him!

Keith: He's shy and a little different. He doesn't think the village will accept him.

Poppy: He's our hero, we'd always accept him

Keith: he doesn't think so. He's seen how you treat other people who aren't like you.

Poppy: We aren't mean.

Keith: not actively.

Poppy: Look Keith Sweetie, you think you can get me meeting with him?

Keith agrees and leads poppy out into the woods. And calls out to the "Guardian". Branch and the trolling had come to an agreement that if he was refered to Guardian or Forest, then someone was with th trolling and Branch needed to play the part. Branch just didn't think Keith would bring the princess of all trolls. Poppy excitedly begins to ramble, until Branch clears his throat. In a deeper voice he sends Keith home, and asks what Poppy wants.

Poppy: We'll first to say thank you

Branch: I don't do this for thanks your highness

Poppy: Well, we're going to give it to you now that we know about you! Especially since you've been protecting all of us for so long.

Branch: How do you know about that?

Poppy: Keith told me.

Branch: Of course.

Poppy: Now, to show you how grateful the village is for all your work, we're throwing a party for you and officially inviting you-

Branch: Pass.

Poppy: WHat?

Branch: Apologizes for my brashness Princess, but I do not enjoy big loud parties.

Poppy: Why not?

Branch: You're larger celebrations attract a lot of attention from Predators your highness. Any part you through means a lot of work and stress for me. After years of this, I've lost my taste for such gatherings

Poppy's thrown by this, but in some form understands. The Forest Guardian's work is dangerous, he could've gotten hurt many times over while they partied. She had no idea that their parties attracted predators. She asks if their was any way to prevent that

Branch is shocked, all he had to do was save the village and put on a mask and suddenly people wanted to listen to him?! Taking advantage of this new found respect. Branch takes Poppy around the forest explaining how he keeps everyone safe from the forest, and just how vulnerable they all are. And that he deosn't want them to stop their fun, he just doesn't want anyone to get hurt or worse.

Poppy takes all this information, back home to her father, and suggests a few changes to make life better for both their guardian and the village. Peppy says that some of these suggestions would need to be consulted by the council however one of them they wouldn't need approval for. When talking with Keith the trolling had offered a less explosive way of thanking the Forest Guardian. Peppy agrees to knight the hero.

Word spreads quickly as troll village hadn't had a knight since before bergen town was established. So everyone is really excited. When keith tells Branch about the knighting thing, it's really surprising to the grey troll. After all he only took down one wolf their acting like he conquered the sun for them. Still the kid talks branch into going to the ceremony.

The ceremony goes smoothly although branch doesn't stay very long at the after party. Keeping up appearances is hard. Not to mention Poppy is all over him wanting to dance and find out his real name. He doesn't give it. Still some how rumors fly about hiw the princess and the new knight are smitten with each other. Keith teases branch about when ever they meet up. Branch is just worried about Poppy getting too close to him. After all in reality he isn't the hero they all think he is.

Life goes on, Poppy tries to reason for more safety measures but the council won't allow them. She goes to branch as the forest guardian for help. Shockingly its easier to standup and reason his ideals while in costume. He gets them to think about it, and Poppy offers lunch as a thanks. She disappointed that he won't take off his mask to eat, which leads to a conversation over why he hides his face. Once more rumors about the knight and princess pick up pace.

When the 20th freedom anniversary rolls around, Poppy trie to invite the knight but Branch declines saying that such a party 2as too big of a risk during predator season. Poppy doesn't head his word as Guardian or normal branch and goes trhough with it. You all know how this ends. Poppy goes to the bunker and asks Branch if he has seen Forst Guardian any where worried about if the Bergan had already gotten to him as he didn't show up to fight the bergen. Branch said he didn't know. As in canon Poppy stuffs the village in his bunker. Keith tells Branch to go after her as Guardian. They both know Poppy has 0 to none on survival skills, and this way no one will stumble onto his secret while in the bunker.

Poppy is at first thrilled when Forest Guardian joins her, however her excitement dwindles as she realizes that he's more of a grump then she thought their hero was. He doesn't join in on her songs and she's desperate to hear his voice. So also probs him on his back story, which Branch lies and says, "I don't have any."

Poppy: what how?

"Leta just sya that the story of the escape isn't as happy as everyone makes it out to be princess."

Cloud guy pissess him off as usual. And they can't spare Creek from getting "eaten". When freeing the snack pack, some of them ask for his autograph which, branch thinks their crazy for. Not the time and who has a pen on them at the moment anyway.

Branch still refuses to sing, with Bridget, and when cornered all he can say is that it tore his family apart. With a mix of truth and lies forest guardian says that he used to sing all the time with his family, but that made them prime targets for bergens. He became silent that's what saved him. "So forgive me if I'm not comfortable with singing in bergen filled town. I stay silent so that others don't have to."

The date goes the same, only Poppy is more giggly than in canon when Branch says she has a nice smile.

They both choke creek

True colors happens

then when confronting the chef, she doesn't react for Branch when she tries to for feed gristle. She reaches for Poppy. Branch jumps in and stabs the chef in the hand protecting the princess. Chef would then pull out a knife and with it smach brnahc into the far wall. Severally injuring him. Gristle orders for Chef to be captured. While Poppy runs over to Branch. She pulls off the mask and reveals the identity of the village hero. Shocking everyone.

Brnach remains unconscious for weeks afte the event. Poppy and Keith at his bed side. The village is rebuild. Peppy announced his retirement. And Poppy planns to create a team of well trained trolls to help bench protect the village.

When he does wake up, Branch is welcomed back home and offered the position of head of village security. If he wants it. With peace with the bergen established. Branch accepts the job. Creating the Forest Guardian's. Pop villages own defences force.

--'

Not sure what will happen in the othe movies yet, but branch is definitely sporting a new scar that JD will freak out about.

[bethanydelleman]

do you have any theories on why wickham turned out the way he did? his background sounds humble but not dirt poor as i know steward was a really valued job at the time. and as the elder mr. darcy liked him, he probably had a better life than plenty of boys. correct me if i'm wrong but i don't recall any mention of a mom or siblings, so darcy was probably his main childhood companion. it's just horrible to think that over the years he went from seeing darcy as a friend to someone he could ruin. and he was prepared to ruin georgiana's life, not just take all her money but cause a scandal so she might not ever get married again. and if darcy hadn't found lydia he'd probably just leave her where she was with no way of getting home and destroyed the bennets. like why? everyone was nothing but nice to him his whole life and all he does is hurt them and enjoy doing it. when you think about it kind of sounds evil.

From what I understand, Wickham was a failure of a system whereby a rich person would choose someone poorer to patronize. We can see other examples of this in Emma (Jane Fairfax & Harriet Smith) and especially Mansfield Park (Fanny & William Price).

The idea was that the rich would find someone worthy of improvement, sponsor their education, and give them the ability to raise into the gentry class. This sounds like what Mr. Darcy Sr. tried with Wickham, but in this case it was a failure. What ended up happening isn't that Wickham was grateful, but he ended up feeling entitled to the life of a Darcy. The novel's implication is that Wickham had a bad character, which education could not improve, and that Mr. Darcy Sr. was deceived in because Wickham had a veneer of decency.

From Darcy's Letter:

Mr. Wickham is the son of a very respectable man, who had for many years the management of all the Pemberley estates, and whose good conduct in the discharge of his trust naturally inclined my father to be of service to him; and on George Wickham, who was his godson, his kindness was therefore liberally bestowed. My father supported him at school, and afterwards at Cambridge; most important assistance, as his own father, always poor from the extravagance of his wife, would have been unable to give him a gentleman’s education. My father was not only fond of this young man’s society, whose manners were always engaging, he had also the highest opinion of him, and hoping the church would be his profession, intended to provide for him in it. As for myself, it is many, many years since I first began to think of him in a very different manner. The vicious propensities, the want of principle, which he was careful to guard from the knowledge of his best friend, could not escape the observation of a young man of nearly the same age with himself, and who had opportunities of seeing him in unguarded moments, which Mr. Darcy could not have.

Wickham's account:

“We were born in the same parish, within the same park; the greatest part of our youth was passed together: inmates of the same house, sharing the same amusements, objects of the same parental care."

In Mansfield Park, Sir Thomas talks about how difficult it will be to maintain the distinction between his daughters and Fanny, their adopted niece, and when I think about how Wickham turned out, I think this is meant to be taken seriously (even though Sir Thomas and Mrs. Norris screwed up massively):

“There will be some difficulty in our way, Mrs. Norris,” observed Sir Thomas, “as to the distinction proper to be made between the girls as they grow up: how to preserve in the minds of my daughters the consciousness of what they are, without making them think too lowly of their cousin; and how, without depressing her spirits too far, to make her remember that she is not a Miss Bertram. I should wish to see them very good friends, and would, on no account, authorise in my girls the smallest degree of arrogance towards their relation; but still they cannot be equals. Their rank, fortune, rights, and expectations will always be different. It is a point of great delicacy, and you must assist us in our endeavours to choose exactly the right line of conduct.”

Fanny feels grateful for what the Bertrams give her, even though it's scraps of a real education. Wickham ends up feeling entitled, even though he is "liberally bestowed" and that may have been the problem. He was treated too similarly to Darcy and felt that he was a Darcy, only to find out the patronage didn't go as far as he wanted.

Wickham comes off to me as one of those people who is ALWAYS innocent in his own mind, someone else is always the cause of his misfortunes (he's like Willoughby in that respect). So when he tells Elizabeth about how he lost his inheritance, I think he believes what he is saying. He does think Darcy cheated him somehow even though he was in the wrong. Darcy becomes the tyrant because Wickham refuses to be the villain of his own story.

In addition, I don't know if he would have seen Darcy as a friend. Darcy is one of the few people who can see through Wickham and a con man would hate that. Wickham's dislike of Darcy may well have started because he hates that Darcy can perceive and judge the real him.