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drawlfoy · 4 years ago

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Mirror, Mirror Finale P.2

masterlist request guidelines

pairing: draco x ravenclaw reader

request: yes very highly requested lol

summary: despite never speaking before, y/n has a big crush on draco malfoy, a particularly broody and obnoxious slytherin. what will happen when they finally have to start associating? and what if they run into a certain mirror that shows you what you truly desire?

warnings: cursing!

a/n: so ik i said this was gonna be out later this week but i love you guys too much! here it is...the final part of mirror, mirror! it’s weird to finally finish a series like this but ohhhh boy here we are

taglist: @theres-a-dog-outside-omg @mey-rapp @kaibie @blackpinkdolan @the-wiener-soldierrrrr @sugarbby99 @gruffle1 @missmulti @cleopatera @hahaboop @accio-rogers @geeksareunique @eltanin-malfoy @war-sword @cams-lynn @itsivyberry @ayo-cowbelly @nerd-domland @yesnerdsblog @shizarianathania @evanstanfanatic @strawberriesonsummer @hariosborn @night-ving @straightzoinked @imintoodeeptostop

word count: 2.1k

“About time you got off your arse.”

“Hello to you too, Rena,” Y/N sighed as she dropped her satchel on her bed. Her roommate watched, bemused, as she began to unpack her things.

“How are you?” she asked, her voice noticeably softer. “I really missed you. We were all worried sick, you know.”

Y/N snorted, tossing her wrinkled robes on the bed and making a mental note to spell them neat later. “I do know. Madame Pomfrey was going to kill me for how many times she had to tell you to leave me and let me rest.”

Rena’s eyes sparkled.

“I’m fine, thank you,” said Y/N. “I missed you too.”

The two sat in silence for a bit as the cold afternoon breeze wafted into their room, carrying the smell of fresh snow in.

“So, anything exciting happen? Did anyone tell you anything….interesting?”

“No.” Y/N was about to turn back to her work before she caught the mischievous expression on Rena’s face. “What? Why?”

“Nothing,” she sang. “I’m just wondering. I have to catch up with my best friend, you know. It’s been forever.”

“It’s been the whole of four days.”

“It’s been forever,” she restated, jumping up and spinning Y/N around (who couldn’t help but allow a slow grin to spread across her face).

“I was going crazy in there.” Y/N’s voice was considerably more serious. “I never told you, but--” she chose to ignore the look of anticipation written all over Rena’s face, “--Malfoy talked to me. And he was so nice to me, it was we--”

“That COWARD!”

The outburst started Y/N, who dropped her things on the floor in shock. “I’m sorry? Rena, what happened?”

“I can’t tell you,” said Rena, her tone dutiful and mournful. “It’s not my place. Anyways, what did that loser do?”

“Er,” began Y/N, “I don’t know how much of it was real or if it was because I was on pain potion, but he and I--I don’t know, flirted? There was a lot of banter, and before he knew it he pulled me off the ground--”

“You were on the ground?”

“--he pulled me off the ground and picked the gravel out of my palms.” Y/N swallowed as she recounted the instance. She’d never seen him look so soft before. “He said he had something he wanted to tell me, and his voice got all strange.”

“And then?”

“And then Madame Pomfrey came to yell at me and basically--oh god, Rena, she basically told him that I dreamt of him!”

Rena snorted with laughter. “Shit, dude. I don’t think you should worry, though. You’d think any bloke with half a brain would’ve figured out that you were obsessed with him by now.”

“Shut up.” Y/N’s face was hot. “Anyways, I haven’t seen him since. I’d prefer if we could stop talking about this.”

“Sure, sure.” She took in a breath. “Wait, what about rounds? Don’t you still have to see him?”

“No. Flitwick told me I’m off. At least until next month.” If she sped through the thought, it didn’t hurt as much.

“Ending of a chapter, huh? How are you feeling about that?”

Y/N sighed. “Honestly, Rena, I love you, you know I do, but I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Okay? It’s over.”

If her words carried any deeper meaning to Rena, she didn’t show it. “Lighten up, girly. Maybe it’s not.”

“All I’ve done is make a fool of myself,” lamented Y/N, throwing her empty satchel in the closet and collapsing onto her bed. “I’m just going to go back to what everything was before. This hasn’t changed anything. Now, Rena, I have a Potions exam to study for.”

“Whatever floats your boat.”

Her interactions with Draco were few and far between in the following weeks. Sometimes she caught a few glimpses of a pale blonde head of hair as she walked down the halls to her classes, but nothing concrete, nothing even close to the amount of interaction they had while she was still bound to her rounds.

It was certainly a punch in the gut--after all, she did spend a good portion of her academic career thirsting over him--but the sensible part of her knew that this was for the better. Her schoolwork became her top priority again, just like it had been the years before she was assigned to be his partner.

So, given this pattern of communication, it was fair to say that Y/N was completely and utterly flabbergasted when she saw Draco waiting by the entry of her common room at 11pm one night.

“Can I help you?” she asked as she shifted the books in her satchel to be secured over her shoulder.

“Yes, actually,” he said smoothly, not tripping over his words in the slightest. “I have rounds tonight.”

“I’m aware.” She hoped that he couldn’t hear her heart pounding the way that it was.

“And I’m out of Wide-eye potion.”

“That really sucks,” Y/N said as she held up her hand on the door of the common room, uttering the riddle’s answer under her breath before she stepped in.

“Wait!” His voice turned her around--it was pleading, almost desperate. “I have an exam tomorrow. No one in Slytherin has any. Snape would kick my arse for waking him up now. I know you have some left over since you never finished the rounds, and I--I understand if you don’t want to but it doesn’t have a very good shelf life anyways and I was hoping you’d...that you’d be alright with giving it to me.”

She paused, completely stunned. The most hopeful part of her wondered if he had made this up, but she squelched this with a force that nearly knocked the wind out of her. “Fine. Come with me, you must be freezing outside.”

Y/N wasn’t wrong--the weather had taken a turn in the past few days to be bitterly cold--but it wasn’t like she’d object seeing him for any longer. She mentally cursed herself for being so weak-willed.

Draco looked pleasantly surprised at the suggestion and stepped into the common room with her, following her up until she reached the base of the stairs. “I’ll wait here.”

“If you’re comfortable,” she began, “I’d honestly prefer if you came with me. I don’t want to explain to anyone why I let you into our common room unsupervised.”

He looked like his mind was buffering the information for a second, standing with a glazed look in his eyes before he sucked in a breath and became the picture of confidence once again. “Want me in your room that bad?”

Yes.

“You wish.”

He scoffed as they climbed the stairs, Y/N a few steps above him. She thought that if she maintained the space he wouldn’t see how hard she was shaking and wondered where Rena was. Studying with Hermione like she told her she was? She hoped.

Y/N stopped in front of her door at the very end of the hall, decorated with a banner that had their names displayed in glittering bronze letters that moved in the light. “Ok. You can come in with me if you want--it might be a couple minutes since I don’t quite remember where it is.”

He looked amused with himself as she got out her wand and attempted to unlock her door with the specialized charm she and Rena had decided upon. Mortifyingly enough, her hand was too shaky to execute it.

“Hey, hey,” Draco tutted, holding his hand out. It enveloped hers and held her wand still as she muttered the incantation, unlocking the door and swinging it open.

“Er...thanks,” she said. His hand was still over hers.

Y/N broke the eye contact to dart through the door to a thankfully dark and empty room--if Rena had seen that, she never would’ve let her hear the end of that--and began rifling through her drawers as Draco shut the door and examined her room.

“You’re flustered,” he noted as she tipped over one of her candlesticks and just barely managed to catch it. “Is everything okay? Trouble in paradise, little Ravenclaw?”

“Like you care.” Y/N shut the desk drawer with an audible BANG. “And don’t call me that. Rowena Ravenclaw is rolling in her grave hearing you infantilize her good name like that.”

Draco laughed from his stance by her door--a sound that she hated to admit that she really missed. “I take back what I said. You certainly sound like yourself.”

Y/N’s fingers finally closed around the last bottle of Wide-Eye, which was quickly tossed to Draco. “Happy now?”

He sent her a strangely weak smile as he slipped the vial into his pocket, no doubt silk lined and expensive. “Sure. So this is goodbye? Actually?”

“I think...I think so.”

Y/N had moved closer to him so only about a foot stood between them, a distance that felt like a mile from where she stood.

This is goodbye.

Draco was making a motion to turn around and open the door when Y/N experienced the most severe lapse of judgement in the entirety of her 17 years.

She sprung forward, her fingers curling around the satiny soft fabric of his tie and pulling. Her motion was rough enough that he jolted forward, his eyes wide with surprise as Y/N closed in and pressed her lips to his in a very chaste and ungraceful movement.

The split second that it took for her to realize the consequences of her actions was enough for her to let go completely and jump away, apologies readily falling out of her mouth in disjointed and clumsy collections.

“I’m so sorry...Oh my god...I have no idea what got into me...Draco, I--”

Before she could finish, his hands were already cupping her face, his frame bent down the slightest so he could be more level with her. And he was--oh--he was kissing her, actually properly this time, without the tense closed-offness of her first attempt.

When Y/N imagined what it was like to kiss Draco Malfoy, she didn’t imagine him to be so soft. Or warm. Or gentle, or pliant, or whatever other good things he was to her as he snaked her arms around her and held her tight to him.

His kisses turned feverish, almost desperate as he turned her so she was pressed up between him and the wall. Everywhere his hands touched felt charged with electricity and energy, and as his hands traveled up and down her spine she decided that this must be what it’s like to die of happiness.

“Draco,” she managed in between kisses, pulling away for air for just a moment and sliding back down so her feet touched the floor again. “Can we talk? About this?”

“Thanks,” he responded, his eyes glittering with endearment. “I almost forgot you were a Ravenclaw.”

“Shut up.”

He grinned but made no effort to step away from her, instead choosing to drag his fingers up and down the side of her exposed neck. “What’s there to talk about? I like you, you like me, there’s nothing we need to do to complicate this further.”

“You...you what?”

“Yes, genius, what else did you think I was planning on telling you that day in the courtyard,” Draco said. “I’ve been avoiding you because I thought you were over me. That was horribly embarrassing, you know. Had to nurse my ego for weeks before I could garner up the courage to speak to you again.” He stopped to gently press the pad of his thumb into the little dimple she had in her left cheek, smiling uncontrollably as he moved his hand back to cup her face.

“How was I supposed to know that?” argued Y/N.

“Isn’t this supposed to be the smart house?” he teased.

She slapped his shoulder. “Don’t make me decide I don’t like you anymore.”

“Oh, so you admit it?”

“Admit what?”

“That you like me?”

“I’m going to scream.”

“Just from kissing me? Wow, I must be good.”

“I mean it!”

“So do I!”

Y/N gazed up at the boy in front of her for a few beats, admiring how the moonlight bounced off the silvery strands of his hair and how his smile reached every corner of his face.

“I take back what I said,” she told him.

“Oh, and what is that?”

“This isn’t goodbye.”

He smiled again, leaning in close so his lips barely brushed her ear. “No. No, it isn’t.”

#draco x reader #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy #dracotok #draco #draco imagine #draco malfoy imagine #draco x y/n #draco x oc #draco malfoy x y/n #draco x you #draco malfoy x oc #draco malfoy x you

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rpbetter · 3 years ago

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I'm a novella roleplayer who writes long-term threads. Since this is very rare on tumblr, I've noticed that many muns are intimidated or put off by how much I write, how much information there is on my muse, and other things inherent to long-term roleplay. People have even told me outright, "I'm intimidated by you". But I do wonder if there's another component besides, well, just the amount of writing I do. Maybe there's a way to negate some of this by using certain techniques, wording, etc in my rules and overall presentation. Do you have any advice on how to reduce how intimidating I seem, even with the amount of writing I do? Any particular things I should avoid? And at what point should I just not worry about it, because it's out of my control?

Hello, Anon! Thank you very much for this question, I think it's a discussion many could benefit from. That should probably be head's up for everyone that this is going to get long, yes.

People have also told me, outright, that they're "intimidated," and I know that's something my writing partners have been told as well. It's also something that seems to be a common statement toward novella roleplayers in particular, and one's chance of having it said increases with factors such as being a long-term RPer, particularly good vocabulary, visible skill with writing, and indeed, having a muse you've dedicated obvious time to developing - made obvious in not only the amount of information available on your muse but also in your confidence about that muse.

I honestly do not think most people who say this any more realize that it's a little offensive than they know precisely what it is they are trying to tell you. Regardless, it makes it a bit hard to know what you're doing, if it's actually something wrong, is it something you can or should change, or is it just another case of being the minority in the RPC, therefore, having more muns out there that you're not suited to writing with? No one knows, because it's vague!

So, I’m additionally going to beg everyone out there to not say this. Please, if you find yourself categorizing another RPer as “intimidating,” do everyone a favor and consider what is making you feel this way, even if you never tell them this. Eventually, you will tell someone, and if you’ve thought on it already, you’ll be better able to express yourself in a way that is neither offensive nor vague. If you do tell someone they are “intimidating,” expand on it and be specific. Tell them whether it is the length, writing style, the mun OOC, it’ll be very helpful. You needn’t be shitty about it, just honest and polite.

Try: “I’m not confident enough to write with you, I don’t feel like I’m capable of writing that much, or that well, but I would love to keep following so I can read it!”

You’ve not been offensive at all, but have told them what your difficulty is. You’ve also kept this a you problem, not a them problem. When we tell people they are “intimidating,” that is a negative connotation that implies they are doing something wrong. We've made it a Them Problem. Maybe there is something they could work on, but your feelings over perceived limitations aren’t their problem. They can’t change the way you feel about yourself and your writing in contrast to theirs. By saying it this way, it’s still clear that you don’t think this will work out, you’ve told them why, and you’ve done it without projecting responsibility.

Alright, sorry, just in case anyone out there who says this and isn’t immediately turned off by the length of this reads it.

As I said, I've been told this as well, when it seemed like a mun that would be alright with me asking for specifics, I have. Unfortunately, they couldn't describe those specifics in any more detailed terms. I'm not saying this to shame anyone's capacity to describe their impressions or wishes, sometimes even the best writers aren't good at expressing themselves more personally. I'm just saying that a clearer description wasn't possible, and that I am taking this from what has been expressed by these people and others in limited ways, directly stated or vented about vaguely.

The length appears to be the predominating issue.

"It's just a lot," "I feel like I'd miss things in it," "intense," and "I like quicker back and forth" are some of the major points that have been made to or around me. They're the first and primary things that are mentioned, and they all deal with the length (though, the intensity thing also deals with the writing itself).

As you already know, as a novella RPer and how unpopular that is, the length is usually an issue, yes. Let me rephrase that - it is an issue that is a part of the vague descriptor of being "intimidating," I do not feel that lengthy RP itself is a problem! Just the problem that some muns are having with seeing you as a viable, approachable RP partner.

Looking at someone's writing is something I always highly advise doing while looking for new partners, but I believe that our writing as novella RPers can obscure it for some when they're not actively a writing partner yet, thus, not involved in it. I enjoy reading threads I am not a part of, and since everyone I write with is also novella, that means I'm essentially reading short stories every time I do - that's not typical. Most people just see Wall of Text in a novella thread they're not involved in.

It's kind of a seeing the individual trees in a forest situation, and might not have anything to do with the mun's potential interest or viability as a partner. I mean, I doubt you're looking to engage interest of short multi-para or one-line muns, since that isn't your preferred writing type and yours is not theirs. So, you're likely looking at the few and far between other novella and any lengthier multi-para muns. So, it's not going to be an issue of simply being novella, thus immensely overwhelming and not their thing. It's more likely to be that your novella is particularly lengthy, and again, they're not yet involved in it. They’re seeing a task, not the fun engagement of it yet.

I know that I've had several mid to lengthier multi-para muns approach me wanting to write, they're usually interested specifically in beginning to move toward doing novella. They also see the fruits of these great storylines, OOC friendships, and in-thread relationships on the dash, not the building that went into them. The expectation is different from the reality, and once they start receiving my replies, that can quickly turn overwhelming. They've now got something on their hands that has been too lengthy for other, established novella writers, and it's all at the beginning still with the muses.

This is when I tend to get that I'm intimidating from people who have begun to write with me, and I think it is telling of the Wall of Text problem with partners you've not gained yet, too. The problem of how they're viewing the writing is that they do not see things within it that are immediately, and easily, engaging to them specifically.

The people I referenced, they're having the same problem. Our muses do not know each other, there is no established connection of animosity or affection, no "dynamic" to fuel their replies. When looking at a lengthy novella reply and trying to judge interest in writing with the mun, they're naturally not going to see that either, since it doesn't exist yet.

And it might not exist at all.

I want to be clear to everyone that I am not saying one needs to write in a way that is not enjoyable to them, I'm just guessing at problems based on the majority of the RPC's interests and what I have been told over the years, a lot of years. Like, no one come at me about forcing anyone to write anything, or being acephobic or something fucking nuts, thanks!

People are really, really into the romantic ships. I do not care what the RPC says because it knows it's the right thing to say lol if it wasn't true, it wouldn't be a huge, and totally observable as true, problem that characters who are hard to ship with or do not ship are passed over. Regardless of beautiful writing, engaging muses, and incredible worldbuilding, they're passed over because they're not a ship partner in the waiting.

So, it's quite possible that if you do not have threads in which there are observable ships, muns are seeing the Wall of Text because there's nothing that grabs at their particular interests. I don't even just mean smut, either. I've found that far more muns than there used to be are willing to not write that, but they still want the ships.

You might be a RPer who does not do shipping at all, has a difficult to ship with muse, or who simply does not place this as a priority in your own interests. There is nothing wrong with either direction of this preference! It’s alright for people to have preferences, even if they can feel annoying to us because they’re leaving us out, or we genuinely just do not get the thrill. It’s totally okay for people to not be interested in shipping, or not place a particularly high value on it, and more muns than the RPC realizes feel this way. It’s as unpopular, and far more limiting, take on RP as being here openly only for them is. There’s nothing wrong with you as a writer or a person if you don’t write ships and smut, but it is the opposite of many people’s interests here. This would be something you can’t control, yeah. It’s still good to know as a part of the puzzle!

They see a lot of things they do not have any instant feelings about and/or what they perceive as interaction points. As, unfortunately, the predominant mode of writing here is reactive, and in brutal honesty, often self-interested. It's not rewarding to many muns in this RPC to build stories cooperatively together for the sake of those stories and love of the muses, they require putting their muse on display, having impassioned interactions through that muse's reactions.

So, you might be writing the most vivid scenes, the most beautiful character study, and letting your muse be a fleshed out, realistic person, but they're seeing "I can't react to this."

Which is, by the way, bullshit. Not just that it's bullshit as a way to try to write together, it's also bullshit in that you can react to anything. You can react to, literally, nothing. If you're muse has said not a word to mine for an entire reply, not physically interacted with them, they're just sitting there in a chair staring off into space (also not a great way to write, but I'm giving an extreme example) the whole time, I can react to that.

To be fair, my primary muse is really uh, busy, let's say lol it does make him both incredibly easy to interact with and very easy to generate natural reactions from. And that might also be a problem people are having...

Your muse is quiet.

They're the opposite of someone who is physically or verbally “busy.” They think more than they move or speak, they remain at emotional, verbal, and physical distances from others. The quiet, and still, type on the outside.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that, I love reading a muse's internal processes because I'm approaching this as a reader as much as I am a writer. It doesn't need to be something my muse can know or react to for me to enjoy it, I want to enjoy your muse, other people's muses are part of the joy of RP for me. And not just in what I might achieve having mine interact with them. There are muses mine very, very much did not work out with that I have continued to enjoy the stories of for years without writing with them!

But that's me. And I'm weird.

A lot of people are going to look at the sort of writing, particularly when not involved with it yet, and see...Words. Maybe they don't find them boring or any such thing, but they can't so easily envision themselves responding to it with the sort of vigor required to reply with length in kind. It's again the same dual issue going on that might just be making your writing difficult to approach.

It might be legitimately daunting, and might be more so if...

You're well-written.

One would think this would be a boon to written roleplay, but I haven't seen it be that in a long time. On tumblr, that has weirdly come to signify "elitism."

It's not just more legitimately intimidating for some out there because they feel they cannot write as well as you, might appear lacking or boring, end up dropped because of it. No, of course not! It's tumblr, where decent behavior as well as logic comes to die! It's because they've gotten the idea that you might be shitty to them because you posses more experience, skill, or innate talent with writing.

That's not helped when every time someone is told on any basis at all, in any manner at all, or one has any existent expectations for RPing that someone else might take issue with as though they're being forced to comply with them instead of not interacting, people freak out and call it elitism. Since most people who choose to be mutuals only and as such, are going to have to decline sometimes, are also those who are lengthier RPers...we're all categorized as Elitists.

People see what works for us as different kinds of RPers as something that is in opposition to them, and judgement of them. We can’t have scores of active partners when we write ten thousand word or more replies to everyone, it doesn’t work for us, and that doesn’t mean we think you’re an awful RPer for doing this differently than we do. We’re just exercising boundaries that are necessary for the way we enjoy it. Like how much length in return, literacy, and dedication we’re going to give and expect in return. It isn’t passing judgement, but when you want to write with a particular portrayal and they’re limited threads, mutuals only, novella and it shuts you out of the interaction, it’s easy to agree with the posts you’ve seen condemning differences of choice as elitist and hateful.

While you'd hope that people would exercise their own judgement, with the way that the RPC is so often on edge, you can't entirely blame people for being willing to believe they can identity a potential source of unpleasantness to avoid. As wild as it is, that includes people within the novella community. Your OOC is too well-spoken, your writing is too well-written? Might be an elitist. Even while they write much the same way as you do without realizing it!

I think when most people say someone here is "intimidating," it's not exactly what they mean, but for others, it's more literal than it is literary.

If you have any reason to believe this might be part of the issue, while I would never advise anyone to alter their writing to be something they personally feel is lesser than what they're capable of, you might want to consider a greater air of the casual in any OOC posts you make. Try to be as approachable there as you can - so long as that doesn't mean lying about it, of course! If we're genuinely not that gregarious or socially open, we shouldn't act like that's the case. That sets up one party with expectations that are neither true nor going to prove anything but frustrating to the other party.

I've had some success with that! And, even at my most casual, I'm not the most approachable of people lol I come off as rather intense, kind of aggressive, way too salty, curses flow from me like water during a monsoon, interspersed with...well, things like "interspersed." So, if I've seen success with that, it's possible that muns who are more genuinely gregarious, chill, and verbally polite people might see it as well!

It seems to be a case of allowing other muns the opportunity to see that you, yourself, are not frightening. You're just a person like they are, and a person who isn't going to be hateful to them if they are not perfect writers or perfectly on your level of writing. When that is apparent, approaching the writing itself is more openly done - yes, this mun has a grasp on description/dialogue/vocabulary/descriptive scenes that I do not, but they don't aggressively think they're the shit for it, so, it's safe for me to try to interact.

The Wall of Words that was once a poster for how badly they might be treated is now a collection of RP replies.

Write for the partners you want to attract.

Again, I do not want anyone to stop writing in the way they enjoy! However, what we put out is also what we attract to a large degree. It could be that your writing is an attractant for only a very small portion of the RPC, and it already is, by virtue of being both novella and the sort of novella it is.

That's very easy to do anyway, but even more so if we have few partners to write with. What we have on display is minimal, it might not have the range we're actually capable of, and therefore, might not be attracting that range of muns.

This is something I have experienced as well, though it was a little different a situation. Upon first writing RP on tumblr, I couldn't find anyone writing novella. I could barely find anyone doing short multi-para. Just as I'd find it inappropriate for someone approaching me to insist that I do one-line RP because it's what they do, I didn't find it appropriate to force novella on these muns. That's what I agreed to by interacting with them, after all! It isn't what I enjoy doing, however, it's harder for me to write short replies, so, I was consistently on the lookout for novella partners.

Those novella partners couldn't exactly see decades of my lengthy RPs, though, since they didn't take place on tumblr. They could only see the current threads, which were all quite short and rather limited in range of action, tone, muse interaction, and so on. Basically, just about whatever someone was willing to give me, and those things were pretty similar. I couldn't exactly blame potential partners for looking at this "resume" and thinking that I just thought I wanted to write novella, but was capable of neither that nor the sort of stories I wished to create.

Since I couldn't find partners to organically give me these different things, I wrote them sans partners. Much of this was in headcanon form, showing that I had spent quite a long time thinking about my canon character as more than was presented in canon only, as well as showing that I could string more than a paragraph together, but it seems like you've got the muse information down, so this might not be the best direction for you.

That might be the other thing I wrote to this end: one shots.

Especially as I do not do open starters as someone who requires some plotting, these served as a way of allowing various situations to be displayed in which other muns could better see what interacting with my muse was actually like. They could see that this truly is the way I'd prefer to write, this is a better display of my muse under various conditions and emotions, and this is how interacting with my muse as this or that type of person might go.

I don't know if you have a canon, OC, or multiples of both, but it also seemed to be helpful that I took canon events people might be familiar with and wrote snippets of them from my muse's perspective - yes, even if they were already in those events, it shows your unique portrayal. People like that for the same reason they like fanfic, a dozen people can write a canon event and give you a dozen different takes on it. It meant that they'd be more likely to read it at all, too, let's be honest.

If you have an OC, you can flesh out a fandom-specific verse they have by writing such a one shot revolving around a fandom event. I'd say not to directly insert your OC into a major canon event, but if you're going to anyway, be sure you are giving realistic changes that might occur with this character's presence in that event. Not going overboard and making them the thing that saves the day, not just having them there in the midst of some great cataclysm miraculously surviving to bear witness only. It's still my advice to place them within that world and have them aware of an event.

Something like...trying to think of a fandom and event the most people would be familiar with here...your OC is in the MCU or has a verse there, they're employed as a police officer with the NYPD - tell me what they did at work the day of the invasion in New York City in the 2012 Avengers. Did they see superheroes in the distance while they and their fellow officers were engaged in a situation they were in no way equipped to handle? And how did your OC feel about that?

That sort of thing.

If it's a canon, try to think of a situation that isn't represented among your current threads, but that is also going to be of interest potential partners. If you have few threads showing your muse in friendship with another, find something in their canon that does. No threads with much action, go for that. Show an aspect of your muse that was present when they were younger, but that is downplayed in them now. Show some things that will be new information from your unique portrayal, and do all of this while displaying your range as a writer - you can be more serious or more fun, can destroy someone with angst or make them hope a ship works out well.

This way, you're showing people what all they might get, not just what you've been given to work with. That can go a long way toward negating feelings of "intimidation" if all they're seeing is you doing one thing extremely well, so well that they feel they cannot compete with it. So, yeah, write the things you feel you're not good at, too! It puts people at ease to see you're not perfect either.

As regards rules...

Oh, boy...lmao with no intent to inflame anyone's righteousness here, so long as your rules are conveying what you feel they should, they're fine. I'm not going to say that rules cannot be a turn off, that you shouldn't find a voice that is clear, polite, and when it needs to be, firm. It's simply that you do not come off as someone who needs to be told that, Anon. If you're worried about how your rules might sound, they're almost certainly fine.

However, rules are the way they are for a reason - if you feel like you're coming off as too strict, harsh, whatever, there might be a reason why that was your first inclination. If you remake them to be softer, are you going to run into the same problems that caused you to harden them before?

I know, you're trying to attract people and downplay a notion of being "intimidating," but it's important to realize that, short of either finding a way to please everyone who comes across them or telling everyone to do whatever they please, you have no opinions, expectations, or needs, you're going to put people off. I've seen people be incredibly offended by the nicest of rules simply because they were rules. They were still clearly stated boundaries that did not align with what was desired.

For example, if I were to have in my RP rules the following:

My rules are basically just have fun and don't be a dick! This is just a hobby, I'm not paying you.

That's going to turn some people off and anger them because that's, firstly, incredibly vague, secondly, the latter part has become seriously negative.

If I were to have in my RP rules this:

I have a lot of detailed rules because I want to only write with people who will be as dedicated to it as I am, I'd rather we know now than later that we're not a good match before anyone is disappointed or offended!

That's going to turn some people off and anger them because it is contrary to the way they view and partake in the hobby. To these people, it'll come off as ridiculous expectations that are aggressive despite the wording not being so.

The point is, because this is a hobby dependent upon interacting with other people, there is a lot that is out of your control.

I probably should have done a better segue to this, but hey - most of this is out of your control.

By its very nature of individuals interacting, what is "intimidating" means different things to everyone. What I find to be that, isn't going to be what you find to be so. You can't know what someone, let alone everyone who says this, means by it in order to make those changes.

Some of those changes are a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation, like the rules.

Other changes are undesirable. You, obviously, cannot RP without partners, but it's no good making changes that will see the partners you won't work with being added, or that will ruin the things you enjoy about RP. If changing your writing style is going to do that, don't do it. If opening up new types of plots is going to do so, don't do it. Anything that is going to excessively give you stress or personal disappointment isn't a change you should make. That’s the sort of shit that was meant by it being “just a hobby” in the beginning - you’re not obliged to make yourself miserable like you are at a job sometimes, and you aren’t beholden to the standards of a professional author unless you wish to be.

It's wonderful that you're addressing this problem from the perspective of what you can do! The idea of changing much of anything is a negative one to many people. They have to be carefully approached to even consider that as a possibility, and once they do, it's more often than not that the reaction is volatile. We never think we're perfect until someone so much as loosely implies we might need work on something. So, your willingness and interest in what you can do to fix something nebulous is both incredible and a credit to how approachable you probably are in all actuality.

It bodes really well, is what I'm saying lol or...it would, if this were not the environment that it is. One in which people do react with volatility to anything that does not go exactly and immediately the way they desire. Including wanting to interact with a particular muse, then seeing that the mun doesn't write in their preferred style, length, or with their desired topics.

Many times, that's really what is meant by "intimidating." It isn't truly that they're afraid of you or your writing, but rather, that they're not getting exactly what they think they want, in the way they want, on the timeline they want. But they don't want to be offensive, they're walking on eggshells like most everyone is when telling someone, "I'm sorry, but I don't think we'll work out" is tantamount to personally attacking them.

So, giving what they feel is a compliment that still shuts down the possibility of someone trying to push for interaction anyway, that becomes the best approach. They're not giving you specifics because no, they may not even know those specifics, it might just be the feeling your writing gives them, but they're also not giving them when they have them because they don't want to be unfairly taken to task for the crime of being honest with you. After all, when we don't know someone OOC yet, we don't know that they're a reasonable person. Telling someone, "I like what you're doing, I love your muse, but the tone of your writing isn't something I can reply to, it's just too different," might have them defensively putting words in your mouth.

As I said, asking someone for details didn't get me very far. I've had to try to piece together what "intimidating" means to many different people over the years by what they tell me in conversations away from the mun they said was thus more than anything. So, don't expect that you'll get much either, but next time someone tells you this, if they seem like someone who won't take as you pressing for interaction and react badly, ask them to give you specifics. Tell them you'd like to know what makes you intimidating to them so that you can work on it, that it would really help you out to know. Make it about them helping you, not declining you.

Just going off of the only writing I have from you, which is definitely not sufficient (if you'd like, you can always submit a portion of your in character writing or tumblr message me some of it so that I might be able to be more effective) since it's both short and OOC, I'd say people might feel that you're not...relaxed? Not entirely the word I am looking for, I apologize! But something in that vein!

It doesn't come off like you're frighteningly or excessively official to me, but knowing tumblr, I can see it. Because you are quite well-spoken, and even in this casual format, you are displaying good grammar and principle. Fifteen years ago, I might have also felt something like “intimidated" by you!

Like everywhere, tumblr is full of educational snobbery. Which is insane, considering it's also full of crimes against writing that make me want to rip my hair out, but anyway...the mark of being authoritative is to display one's intellect the only way we truly can here - by suddenly out writing everyone. If we're already establishing ourselves as well-spoken muns, we've laid the foundation of being capable of utterly destroying someone publicly by shaming them on a core level.

Tumblr is also full of people who are not at a point of life experience, and the writing experience accrued within it, to use what they've learned in the higher education the majority have or are presently obtaining. It's easy for younger people to feel pre-offended by someone who writes with more skill and confidence than they do. They've bought into the notion of such validations of superiority, but they can't quite lay those down upon themselves yet, or see that they’re capable of this and it doesn’t make them an elitist, so, it’s absurd to assume everyone else is on the same pretext.

Please, everyone here under, like, 25, I'm not shaming you. I've obviously long internalized it as well! When I'm angry, I don't become less articulate, I become more so. That probably says something unpleasant about how well I understand this problem. So, don't be offended. It's a societal problem, we're all impacted by it. It just takes a little bit to realize these things is what I'm saying here. Not that you're dumb and malicious because you're young and learning.

With this in mind, it's very possible that some younger muns, or muns who have otherwise been given cause to feel they are lesser than you because of your proper writing, might be intimidated by it. Part of that is also that proper writing, and verbal speech, can come off as lacking warmth. It can be impersonal, give fewer clues as to someone's tone when that's already lacking in writing that isn't descriptive, as in an RP thread itself.

Again, I always have a bit of an issue recommending someone change something vital about themselves, and one's mode of writing is that. However, you might want to consider giving way to some indicators of not being official in your OOC behavior toward others. It's something that I did, something I will admit I still struggle with as well. I'm not naturally inclined to add things like a :) or a xD because I have some problems conveying those things either correctly or organically in person. If I'm not either, literally, acting or feeling something intensely, I'm the grand master of resting bitch face no matter what I'm feeling.

As a quick on-the-safe-side interruption: people, please, I am aware that some forms of neurodivergence can exhibit in struggles with understanding and conveying tone, as can be the side effect of some medications and physical conditions. It’s possible that you have this difficulty, Anon, it’s possible that some of the people you have approached do. Advising how to work on understanding and conveying tone with these difficulties in mind is a huge post of its own, however. (Though, if people might be interested in it, I can add it to the list, of course.) All we can do is try our best, work on it, and if we know we have this issue, politely warn partners in your rules so they know you’re not coming off less emotive and warm intentionally. You’re not thinking yourself in an ivory tower above them. I so do not want to be bitched at about how advising someone in ways to be more approachable in text is ableist, just don’t. I don’t know you, Anon, so I don’t know what difficulties you may or may not have, if you do have some complication that is impacting this in your own opinion, please, just send another ask and I can work with that information more specifically!

It's also...it grates on my nerves when people text speak, I'm not going to lie. So, forcing myself to do anything too close to it feels like someone has separated the halves of my brain. I do it because it can make people more comfortable, I don't sound like a damn robot like I easily can when trying to explain something with a lot of specifics, for example.

What was easier was letting go of the inhibition of writing conversationally. That is always something that is advised against intensely, it isn't proper writing. Don't write like you speak, and all that. It's often been my inclination to write conversationally, even if I struggled to let the hell go and actually do it, and when I allowed myself to do so, people responded to it much better. It's something I get compliments on as a part of what can make my storytelling immersive, humorous, relatable, and frightening. (Just so that the last bit there isn't confounding - in addition to the professional writing that sometimes pays for my internet, I write horror lol...now y'all know! I deal in "freak shit," I'm sure.)

People responded to me much better. I still get that my writing is intimidating, but it tends to be over length and wording more than being wholly unapproachable. Too like trying to respond to a novel that most people would only listen to if it was about a character they were deeply into and read by an actor they were also deeply into. There seems to be a more natural engagement with the material for more people this way.

I'm only using this as an example of something I found that worked to some degree in making me more approachable, meant to say that there might be something that you would enjoy, unique to yourself, that would make your writing more approachable for more muns. I'm in no way recommending that you, or anyone else, try to go with what I did! That isn't going to work out for everyone, of course. It isn't everyone's solution in those specifics, just the idea that following what people have expressed they especially enjoy about your writing could be a good path.

Other things to consider:

When you have obtained a new partner who says this not in declining further interaction, but within a conversation or one of those interaction memes, especially if you are writing them a starter at this time, experiment with what you can do in your writing that makes it more approachable. I say “experiment” because this is another point of individuality, it's naturally going to vary like everything else.

Like I said above a few times, most people approach RP in terms of reaction. And, again too, that's part of RP. I didn't say it earlier because I felt like that was obvious, but after considering...how tumblr is, I probably should say it. It is necessary to have things to react to in order to build the interaction between muses and their world. I believe in the “yes, and” method and having things to react to. My meaning by saying that people approach RP in terms of reactions was that people excessively do so. Their muses have trouble existing fully in their own right sometimes, they literally require multiple points of possible reaction.

So, give it to them while you’re figuring each other’s writing out.

When you're writing your starter or replies, give them what I call Actionable Points in unexpected places. For example, when your muse is doing as I said earlier, sitting in their chair, having Deep Thoughts they're not expecting any action within, give them something in the environment itself to interact with. Perhaps there is a pet, an insect, temperature change, or sound for their muse to notice.

He was still, as though the animating force of his very soul had flown. So entrapping were his thoughts that the ladybug making its way across the floor, technically before his eyes, escaped notice. No notice, even as it briefly took flight like a tiny, skipping stone across water, headed for where his attention would truly prefer to light as well.

Which would be, of course, the other muse in the room. They can't interact with the things in your muse's mind that you're revealing to the mun, but they can have their attention jump to the insect. They can also react to your muse’s facial expressions, most people make micro-expressions even while in thought, but this isn’t as active or available.

Just small, simple possibilities that make no difference to the immediate happenings in the thread. They can become things of great difference, that's half the fun of it! How something like a bug can alter the course of a thread's trajectory is really cool to see happen.

By doing this, feeding multiple Actionable Points into the reply, you're giving someone who feels intimidated by the thread's length and weight more points to feel active within it. If they can see themselves interactively within the text of the story, it's less intimidating I've found.

Eventually, people relax and start creating these points for themselves. They're now part of this story and its direction, so they organically see things within it. While their muse is in the room with the Chair Muse, they notice a ladybug on the floor themselves because they feel comfortable and confident enough to create that sort of realistic moment.

Most of my experiments of this nature have had that objective - make my writing partner feel more confident about their writing, muse, themselves. It either works out wonderfully, or...you can spoon-feed some people actions, ideas, and confidence forever without them ever taking up the spoon themselves (some people will totally miss the spoon every time, even). At the latter point, if they're still feeling unconfident about writing with you, "intimidated," it's never going to change. It might be better that this be addressed as something that simply isn't going to work out for either of you.

Because it can become tiresome to do this. Tiresome and disheartening, and you never want to set yourself up to feel like you've wasted your effort and energy. That's a great way to experience burnout and frustration.

Another thing to make yourself, and by nature of that, your writing, more approachable and available is to put out a decent variety of memes for people to send you and engaging in tagging games. Not only do these not need to be writing memes like starters, it's better that they are not! If someone is intimidated by you/your writing, they're not going to engage with a meme meant to begin a thread.

Reblog memes that are meant to be answered OOC like headcanon asks, writing asks, and asks about the mun. Do tag games with tests in them, bolding aesthetics or other information, and those that give details about the muse...or even yourself, there are Munday versions as well!

The point of doing this is to show people you want to interact with them, neither you nor your writing is scary and removed from the vox populi of the RPC. You're not someone with so much skill that you're above such common pursuits. You're just another RPer with the same things of interest as they do - enjoying yourself whether it's something silly like a quiz that tells you what coffee your muse would be or an in-depth headcanon. Just another mun who loves their muse and wants interactions with them.

This, too, is something I tried, and it might have been the most successful thing I did. It's even easier to do these days, as more muns don't just tag people outright, but rather, offer that anyone can take it, they just want to be tagged back so they can see the results. You don't have to wait for someone who neither knows you nor knows whether you'd be alright with being tagged to tag you in them anymore!

And as an aside, this is why I encourage that. I've seen some muns out there taking issue with it, thinking it lazy and less interactive for people to be forgoing tagging others in it. Yes, it is unfortunate that you might miss such a game from a mutual or friend, but you do realize you can go to their blog anytime? You can search their tag for these kinds of dash games, or scroll what you missed while you were away, and I recommend doing that anyway with close friends because tumblr's notifs are perpetually screwed.

It's not less inclusive, it's more so. I think it could even go a distance toward lessening the illusion that all friendships in the RPC are "cliques." Instead of the same five muns, none of whom are you, being tagged every time because they occur more quickly to the mun who interacts with them often, there is an open invitation for you to do it. It allows muns to be more visible to those they haven't established friendships with yet and allows others to put themselves out there as approachable and interested.

Alright, back on topic!

Send others these sorts of interactions when you see them. Unless someone has it in the tags or their rules that memes are only for established writing partners, send them an applicable meme.

Applicable, in this case, would be those OOC-answered memes. With most muns, it would be poor form to send in memes that are too personal. Such as sending someone you've never really spoken to, plotted with, etc. a particularly raunchy headcanon ask. I was going to give an example, but for the sake of keeping this SFW lol...we all know the sort of ask I speak of.

With some muns, this isn't an issue. Any excuse to talk about their muse is a good excuse, and they'd not have reblogged the meme if they did not intend for people to send it in. I know that I'm such a mun, and unless someone only ever sends me sexually explicit questions like this, I don't mind at all. It's just an aspect of my muse to detail in a HC.

Just exercise reasonable awareness - "read the room." If a mun seems to answer those questions from anyone, then it is alright to send them in. If they have established openness on these discussions, have nothing in their rules that would imply they'd be perturbed, etc. Conversely, if they've established such opposing behavior that you have to wonder why they posted this meme at all? Don't send anything from that one. They may be trying to establish greater comfort with these topics, but whether they realize it or not yet, they may not be ready for this to sent by anyone who isn't a very established writing partner/friend.

You want to be attracting good attention, demonstrating that you're not someone intimidating, not giving muns any reason to be disturbed by you. Even if they openly asked for it!

This brings us back to: no, really, a lot of things are out of your control.

How people view us isn't as up to us as we'd like, on or offline. Everyone has preconceived notions, biases, and developed preferences. And everyone has had experiences that lead them to react differently to all of these things where they do and do not exist.

Unfortunately, the RPC fosters a serious environment of paranoia, hostility, and the inherent defensiveness of both. Even when that is coming across more peaceably, it can lead to things like...the multiple muns I've known in the last two years alone that seem to almost panic and block potential partners for extremely negligible things they're perceiving as a red flag portending of inevitable bad behavior.

I really do mean irrational actions that are often contrary from one move to another. One potential partner is too exuberant in response to plotting, they are designated a red flag for being too inclined to pester OOC. Another is lacking exuberance and does not easily come up with plots, they are designated as being too passive a partner who will drop. One is too nice, they won't possibly be able to tell that mun of problems in the thread, another is too aggressive, they'll do nothing but stress the mun and fight with their friends. And on and on.

It's not an unreasonable situation, as we all continue to be reminded, the RPC is far more hostile than it should be for what it is. We all (that's not entirely true, but let us pretend it is) want to avoid problems and enjoy the hobby, but in the attempt to avoid those problems, we often see them where they are not.

So, you really cannot control whether someone designates you as being too much this, too little that, an inevitable problem. Your presentation is in the eye of the beholder, just as what "intimidating" is, is in the eye of the intimidated.

You can only try to identify the things that might be putting off the most people you want to write with, work on them when and where they will not ruin your time here, and hope for the best.

It's wonderful that you care, but it's also wonderful that you seem willing to accept that there are things you just have to let go of as already being out of your hands. That's honestly the best way to approach RP, period. The only things you are fully in control of are your own creativity and your behavior. That's it, in the end.

Present yourself with honesty as to who you are as a mun, be as approachable as you truly are, and know what you're looking for in writing partners.

Personally, from what little I have seen of you, Anon, there isn't anything that glaringly needs changing. You're not possessed of a shitty attitude or unrealistic expectations. You seem like a pretty reasonable mun to me who is struggling with something any of us who concentrate on the writing do; being vaguely told we're "intimidating," and seeking other partners who are interested in the same variety of RP we are.

That's my final point to touch on, and the one most likely to piss people off: there are different varieties of RP, and the people telling you this might be in the wrong corner for you.

That doesn't make them bad RPers or anything, variety is good, it's an open hobby! We're not all compatible, though, and so many problems arise from muns not accepting this reality, but rather, taking extreme offense over it.

No one I have ever established the sort of RP I enjoy most with has told me that I am "intimidating."

The people who have said this to me have been those who would not have worked out anyway. That's not said in some bizarre bitterness lol I have the best writing partners, I could not ask for anything more! It's just said in honesty of continuing to see them on my dash and/or interacting with friends. They blog and muse hop often, prefer the genres and fandoms I do not, and so on.

Changing to be less intimidating to those RPers would put me back where I started when joining the RPC here years ago, and while it's great that a lot of people enjoy RP the way they do, I don't. I worked rather hard to get away from it.

So, you do have to consider what you want. Do you want any partners, or do you want the right ones for you?

I'm genuinely glad that people are enjoying themselves, especially when they do not have hateful things to say about those who enjoy RP differently than themselves, but it'd be nice if some of the niches in the RPC were a bit wider! It shouldn't be this difficult to find people in a writing hobby who are invested in the writing, but it is. And it is something you should keep in mind when figuring out this whole "intimidating" thing.

So, my ultimate recommendation would be to assess whether there are things you can be doing to make you, as the mun, more approachable so that your writing is less “intimidating" to people within the RP corner you’re trying to attract, but consider whether the people who have said this to you might just be looking for different things and not as viable as partners as you might have liked. There are definitely more RPers on tumblr who do not enjoy RP in this way than there that do, and while the only thing you have control over is yourself, you don’t have control over how you and what you are putting out there is perceived.

I really do think that most of the “intimidation” problem comes from different varieties of RP and what muns have been led to believe about them. You check off a lot of boxes for the false perception of “elitism,” as a literate, long-term, novella RPer. People are going to see many things that you do in a threatening or off-putting light through no fault of your own because of that. Even other, lengthier writers can fall into that because they feel overwhelmed at the volume of content you have, for example. A thing that should be promising of how well-developed your muse is and how committed you are to your interest in them can come off as overwhelming to people who are less well established or interested in being around for the long game. I certainly don’t think it’s a good idea for you to remove that material or stop writing it! I cannot encourage people enough to do what you have!

Maybe, since you expressed concern of this specifically as well, you could consider how it is presented?

Do you have approachable formatting on those posts? Do they appear to be a lot of very plain text, or do you practice adding some graphics like a header and dividers, formatting that also breaks up the text like segmenting it into clear topics with bold, bigger text, and so on? Is it the opposite and potentially difficult to read, like using font that is smaller than the default small size available, or incredibly busy with colors? It’s a difficult balance, and one that will never be 100% appealing or accessible to 100% of the RPC, to make things visually appealing, easy to read, and informative while being engaging. It could be that you have information people would love to know, but the design of how you’re putting it out there is adding to them feeling overwhelmed.

Maybe, consider how it is placed on your blog, as well? Using specific tags for organization and having a detailed navigation might help. Instead of someone pulling up every one of your many HC posts in the HC tag you have, they could choose specific topics to view at their own pace with a little more control over it. Giving people some control in their experience can go a long way to giving them comfort in it!

So, let’s say you have a headcanon that addresses how your muse portrayal diverges from strict canon, and in that HC, it’s important to address their mental health and how it impacts their relationships with others. That’s a great HC, it’s going to be informative, but it has multiple topics within it. You’d want to tag it with the overall HC tag, a tag for your “player canon” topics, muse metal health discussions, and a general tag for your muse’s relationships/interactions with others.

When you do that, in your navigation, if someone clicked your tag-based link for all information pertaining to the muse’s mental health, they’ll just get that. They’ll see this headcanon post, they’ll see all relevant, tagged posts you’ve made or reblogged, but only that pertain to this topic. They won’t also get twenty extra posts that don’t discuss this, but do discuss your muse’s personal opinion on making bread at home and why sourdough is a labor of love. Unless, of course, your muse is partaking in that labor of love as an exercise that benefits their mental health, of course lmao

Delineating topics for people to engage with at their own pace, need, or interest can prevent them from scrolling through what could be hundreds of HC posts. We all desperately want people to read every one of our posts, especially if our portrayal is different from canon or popular fanon or we have an OC whose entire existence has to be learned this way, but we have to resist the temptation to make people read them all, and all at once. Because that is how it comes across when someone pulls up a ton of HCs - they may be super interested, but it’s a lot that they may put pressure on themselves to learn immediately, back to back to back. It begins to feel like a task quickly. Most people who are genuinely interested in your muse and writing are going to end up reading all of them eventually! If they don’t shut themselves down on doing so prematurely, and this could be a way of helping them avoid doing that.

Hell, if you’re really feeling it, you can even link to closely related posts and your navigation on those HC posts! Just mention at the top of the post that this is related to the one linked here, and to find more informative posts on any topic, please visit the navigation page here. You can even remind at the bottom of the post with just the links.

While like anything, it could make people feel you’re too organized and “serious” about RP, but you probably want other “too serious” RPers to interact with, so it might be a passive way of establishing partners that won’t work out. I think, for the right partners, an organized system they can interact with easily would be appealing, and again, a lot of people in the RPC do have problems that disrupt their ability to engage with a great deal of content at once. This might make them feel less overwhelmed and frustrated by themselves, or negative about themselves that they cannot but aspire to your level of content and organization.

Willing to bet that much of “intimidation” comes from negative feelings about oneself projected outward protectively and unconsciously, honestly. So, when you see ways to combat that, take it on. Make it clear that you’re not expecting anyone to be anything other than themselves, you appreciate your partners’ unique approaches and skills. The more of them you have, the more approachable you are proving yourself, too.

Since you are interested in long-term and have so much material on your muse, I have to assume this is a case of having gone on hiatus or had partners who have left. You could be appearing as less approachable because you’ve few interactions, and that’s a problem that will start correcting itself as you have more of them. If that’s the case, it may be adding serious frustration in the slow process of getting your foot back in the door, but I believe you can do it!

I hope people haven’t made you feel too anxious or bad about yourself by telling you you’re “intimidating,” Anon. Try not to internalize it or make into a more serious matter than it is! I really do think it has less to do with the RPer being told that than it does all these other factors, poor ability to express ourselves very much included. You’re interested in what you can do, willing to accept what you can’t do, overall approaching this from a chill and reasonable place, I think you’re going to find the people you need to with this attitude!

Keep at it, keep doing what you love, and my sincerest best of luck to you! Thank you for giving me the excuse to discuss this topic, it’s an important one that I hope made some difference to others out there as well. I apologize that took me a minute to get it out, and that it is still a bit more disjointed than I’d have liked.

#answered #anonymous #the intimidation problem #interactions #rp advice #tumblr rp advice #tumblr rp #long post #rpbetter

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misssophiachase · 4 years ago

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For @klarolinefallbingo “Broomstick”

What a month it has been! Thank you @eliliyah for organising this (and all your stunning graphics) and all of your hard work! I don’t think I have any more left in me but thank you everyone for being so supportive and kind.

I also got 3 BINGOS (almost 4 if I do one more) which isn’t too bad I thought lol. I’ll do a master past soon : )

Thank you also to @helpfulfairy for her awesome quidditch knowledge, whatever would I do without you, luv?

Everything She Does is Magic

Witch and wizard Caroline and Klaus can’t stand each other according to school gossip. Although, news of her addition to the quidditch team is going to make things much more interesting and complicated.

Wednesday

“I think I misheard you,” he offered, a slight smile playing on his crimson lips from across the wooden, dining table. “You’re starting in this weekend’s quidditch match?”

“Did I stutter,” Caroline shot back, rolling her blue eyes in his direction.

As someone who made over-achieving an art form, Caroline was determined to master everything the school had to offer, including quidditch. She figured that all the pain and bruises from an extra circular activity would be worth it to secure good, future job prospects.

She was always thinking ahead.

Obviously, Klaus Mikaelson didn’t share her view. Not that she was surprised given he’d made it his main aim in life to terrorise her since she started attending Hogwarts School of Magic two years earlier.

Just because he came from a rich and powerful family didn’t give him the right to make her life difficult.

“I just wouldn’t want you to falter and fall off your broomstick, Forbes, that’s all,” he chuckled, a stray dimple appearing without notice.

Why did he have to look so good insulting her?

Ass.

“Funny, I thought that would be you, Mikaelson, given last week’s pathetic loss,” she muttered, trying to avoid the urge to throw a french fry in his direction. “Gryffindor is going to wipe the floor with Slytherin this weekend and clearly you’re worried.”

“Me? Worried? Highly, bloody unlikely.”

“We’ll see about that,” she argued. “I’ve got moves you haven’t seen before.”

Caroline wasn’t sure she was talking about quidditch anymore and given the way his dark, blue eyes clouded over briefly she wasn’t sure he was thinking that either.

“Bring it on, love.” His husky tone only confirming her suspicion. He was gone before she could reply, no doubt on purpose.

Maybe it was a ploy to distract her before the match but Caroline was struggling to decipher whether they were enemies or something else completely.

“He wants to nail you and I’m not talking in a competitive sporting type way.”

“Why thank you, Lorenzo,” she drawled, swatting her best friend away from her personal space. “I’m just glad he didn’t hear you.”

“Why would you care if you didn’t think it was true?”

“I’m not going to dignify that with a response.”

“Which translates to you wanting to jump his bones,” he teased. “If he swung my way I’d have joined the quidditch team myself.”

“I did not join the team for him,” she huffed, gathering her books and attempting to make her getaway.

“Whatever you say, darling.” His unconvincing tone wasn’t lost on Caroline. Either way she was going to wipe the floor with him and enjoy doing it.

Saturday

“Niklaus? Hello?” The repetitive sound of his inquisitive, and annoying, younger brother’s questions were wearing on his last nerve.

He was trying to get into the zone before the quidditch match. Seated in the Slytherin locker room, it wasn’t something he struggled with usually but today was very different and he knew why.

Caroline Forbes.

He teased her, sure, and pretended he hated her but that wasn’t the case. Not by a long shot. He was head-over-heels and pathetically in love with the blonde witch who’d stolen his heart when she turned him into a toad during charms class.

Not the love at first sight scenario most would imagine.

Sure, he should have been furious, and he’d acted that way, but it only made him want her more.

Then she decided to join the Gryffindor quidditch team.

Klaus wasn’t averse to anyone playing the game but he’d been surprised when she’d admitted it during study hall. He’d been arrogant, because that was his defence mechanism, but only really to mask his real feelings.

It didn’t help that she was a chaser just like him.

“Niklaus!”

“I heard you the first time,” he barked, looking at Kol in frustration.

“Wow, I was only letting you know the game was about to start,” he joked. “If I’d known you were going to be so uptight, I’d have stayed away.”

“I’m not uptight,” he uttered through pursed lips.

“Oh, that’s right,” he offered. “You’re scared your girlfriend is going to whip your ass.”

“I am not.” Klaus didn’t mean for it to come across so abrupt and childish but decided to blame it on his brother’s bad sense of humour. “Enough talking, I’m ready.”

Klaus wasn’t sure if he was but decided that bluffing was his best way of deterring his annoying brother.

45 minutes later

Slytherin had the lead, although Gryffindor was attempting to even the score. Caroline felt the wind whip through her hair as she competed, her attention solely focused, well except for the annoyingly handsome idiot on the opposing team.

If she knew playing was going to feel this good she would have taken it up two years ago. She’d always been competitive but this was next level.

Her persistent opponent was certainly not going to let her forget it though. He was so close she could smell his spicy scent So much so, that after a particularly rough tackle, Caroline felt herself spinning out of control.

The blue sky above and green grass below were playing on uncontrollable repeat, Caroline not quite sure what was happening until she felt someone catch her before she hit the ground.

In fact, she dropped onto something which helped cushion her fall and she was madly trying to get her bearings. Feeling her surroundings, Caroline could make out a set of toned arms, not to mention the hard abdomen she was straddling.

The sound of a muffled groan was enough to wake her from her daze. Caroline’s eyes opened, not expecting Klaus Mikaelson, of all wizards, to be lying beneath her.

“If you wanted me, all you needed to do was ask, love.”

“You wish,” she growled, attempting to stand but failing miserably given their hard fall. “Hang on, why are you here?”

“Because I’m stupid obviously,” he groaned, his pain evident. Then she remembered the strong grip that caught her fall.

“Did you, of all people, really break my fall?” She waited for his response, not realising she was holding her breath.

“If I wasn’t in so much pain, I’d argue you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, sweetheart.”

Clearly that was a yes.

Caroline wanted to argue because that was her immediate instinct when it came to him but he looked so vulnerable. It also didn’t help that she was straddling him in a not so innocent way.

But the way he was staring up at her, dark blue eyes trained on hers, was causing her to falter.

She hated him.

Or so she thought.

“Caroline?Klaus?” She was broken from her trance by their teacher, clearly concerned about their wellbeing splayed out on the field. “Are you both okay?”

Their gaze hadn’t deviated at all, both clearly okay with their current and extremely close predicament. It took another question for them to finally separate.

“Can I help you?”

Caroline immediately felt lost when they did eventually separate. Given the look on his face, she knew Klaus felt the same way.

Slytherin won that match but Caroline promised to avenge the result the following week, secretly hoping she’d find herself wrapped around her opponent again.

Not because she liked him at all but so she could tell him what an ass he was.

Or that’s what she told herself.

#klaroline fall bingo #klaroline drabbles #klaroline fanfiction #klaroline #dramione #fusion

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fantastic-rambles · 4 years ago

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Ahhh yaknow what you’re right. I just went back and looked over some of the rod, and I didn’t see Langa explicitly agree to not to skate with Adam. He promised that he wouldn’t quit skating with Reki, but he only acknowledged Reki’s warning to not be reckless. It actually makes a bunch of sense why Langa would be confused by the distancing and argument. I see now why you were upset with Reki’s behavior. It feels kind of like a ‘secret contract’ sorta thing where Reki got upset over a broken rule Langa never realized he was supposed to abide by. And not only is that unfair like you said, but it flipped the situation as if Langa was being untrustworthy to his word when really Reki didn’t trust Langa not to quit skating with him just because of danger/injury. And especially since I’ve seen people make solid arguments for Langa being neurodivergent or neurodivergent-coded, it’s really not a stretch at all for him to see the situation like you did. Langa most likely saw the issue as solely reckless behavior leading to quitting. But clearly Reki’s own jealousy/insecurities added Langa preferring better skaters as potentially leading to them not skating together without ever discussing it until Langa was blindsided during the argument. I would’ve looked a better apology from Reki where he fully explained why he was upset when they were making up. It’s human for his feelings on the issue to change, but that should’ve been better expressed to Langa. Although Langa did a great job of accurately smoothing over what was bothering Reki without that. Maybe that’ll be rectified if he apologizes to Miya. I think Miya deserves one especially since Reki physically shoved him after he opened up about why his actions were such a sore spot for him. I actually thought Miya’s words would help Reki see the other side of things so seeing Miya get pushed was like a “Bro wtf??” moment for me. Again it’s understandable that people act out when they’re angry and Reki was obviously already struggling with his emotions, but it should be acknowledged again how wrong that was. Boy are you opening my eyes to a lot of problematic stuff lol.

Also, I’m very curious as to why you hate Shadow. For me, it’s because I can’t move past that comment in ep 1. I know ppl brush it off as just an (unnecessarily misogynistic) act for his persona, but that woman literally didn’t say anything to him and he insulted her for no reason by using her body as trophy to be defaced if he won. Ew. And just because he’s super nice to the flower shop lady, he does not get a pass. If he’s only respectful to women he’s attracted to and jumps at any other the opportunity to degrade women, he’s still a misogynist. And I’m pretty sure that he already new flower shop lady when the series started, so I don’t think you can argue that his character developed to be better towards women as a whole because of her or that he wouldn’t do something like that again at this point in the story. Especially since the goal of proving yourself as a “strong man” has not historically worked out to men being compassionate with women. (Tho within a vacuum devoid of his other actions, I can appreciate his commitment to a makeup routine)

Oh! And I would totally wanna read that fanfic if you write it!! I’m not even as gung-ho about Adam going to jail as most fans and Adam-haters tbh. Mainly because it’d probably be for political corruption via money bribes which is already kinda common and I don’t think the show has stated him to be doing anything particularly bad with it I don’t think so?? Like it seems to be mainly for the purpose of keeping S secret which is indeed a waste of money and effort when he could just buy it, but on the other hand, there doesn’t seem to be any ill consequences on the citizens the politician represents. So yea, it’s illegal so the jail time is technically deserved. But also like... no harm no foul🤷‍♀️ If he would be getting charged for assaulting other skaters than I definitely think that’s fair, but I doubt that’ll happen in the show just because I feel like no one will actually say anything when the time comes partially due to the shock of his arrest if they’re even involved. And I mean, Cherry was pissed at Adam for getting skaters hurt but still rolled out the hospital and joked like he was fine, so I just don’t particularly see anyone calling him out on it to the point of it being apart of his sentencing. The end of ep 11 with Cherry and Joe arguing about one of them going against Adam just doesn’t sound like condemning him to battery charges to me XD

But yaknow I’ve been loving hurt/comfort type fics lately, so I’d be really interested in seeing Adam truly work and change himself for some type of redemption in that setting. I can see hitting rock bottom as being really good for him given it may provide a reprieve from having to manage his image. Adam is underrated in complexity so it’s always cool when people try to flesh him out more and dive into his inner world. And of course Tadashi is kind of my fave (if you couldn’t tell) so I love anything healing for him as well :)

Yep, I was majorly pissed at Reki for how he treated Langa and Miya. His behavior is absolutely problematic. Not as bad as Adam, obviously, but with everything I’ve said and you’ve realized... yeah. I’m glad he made up with Langa and will probably make up with Miya, but it doesn’t invalidate everything he’s done before. Yes, he’s still an immature teenager, but I don’t think he realizes how messed up his behavior was, even after making up with Langa (the resolution seems to be based on him accepting that he’s not an ace skater, rather than recognizing how toxic his behavior was), so I’m still not satisfied. But hey, it’s probably just me being hyperfixated on trivial details that nobody else even cares about. /shrug

(I’m glad to know that I wasn’t misinterpreting the “promise,” or lack thereof, though!)

And I have two major problems with Shadow. My first--and biggest--problem is, as you’ve pointed out, that he’s an enormous misogynist. At “S,” people have the freedom to be exactly who they are beneath the facades that they show to the world. For example, Adam is someone desperately searching for someone who can understand him, not the perfectly put-together politician Shindo Ainosuke. Cherry and Joe are more true to their “real life” selves, but there are differences in their behavior on the track and off. And then there’s Shadow, the overcompensating “strong man” who threatens to make a guy tattoo “Dumpster Slut” over his girl’s name. So I 100% agree with everything you said about Shadow. He’s a chauvinistic pig.

The second problem is that I honestly think his actions when he’s racing are worse than Adam’s, and the only reason it’s not made out as such is because he’s the buttmonkey rather than the villain. I believe that, as problematic as Adam’s antics are, he does not intend to cause severe physical harm to his opponents. I’ve discussed this idea in more detail in other posts, but in short, even in the most extreme case--Cherry’s--his injuries were far lighter than they would have been if Adam had seriously wanted to hurt him. Death, coma, etc. were all highly probable outcomes of that situation, so the only reason they didn’t happen was because Adam was holding back. Or anime logic. But even anime logic can only stretch so far. And against lesser opponents like Reki, he generally holds onto them to ensure that they don’t accidentally hurt themselves when they’re panicking.

Of course, Shadow doesn’t intend to cause severe physical harm to his opponents either, but he does not exert any control over the situation after he throws fireworks at his opponent or shines a laser in their eyes. We’ve twice seen his opponents fall off the course as a direct result of his actions: Reki in the first race, Harry in the quarterfinals. They could have just as easily fallen off the cliff or slammed into a wall (at full speed) and been badly injured. If Shadow were an actual villain, I fully believe that he would have an actual body count of people who died racing against him (as opposed to Adam’s trail of injured opponents). So it bothers me that people shrug off what Shadow does while screaming for Adam’s death.

As for the scandal subplot... I’m *pretty* sure it’s a lot more serious than Adam bribing the police to leave “S” alone. I think he’s actually involved in some majorly shady/illegal activities politically. Like, in Episode 7, when the other Diet member gets pulled over, arrested, and has his house searched... there’s no way that has anything to do with “S.” At the very least, the two of them were collaborating on something really bad, something serious that Adam lied about under oath, and that’s enough for Adam’s staff to worry about what’s going to happen, especially Tadashi. We don’t know what it is specifically, but it’s definitely a lot more than just passing out bribes to hide “S.”

Lol, I’ll have to see how it goes. Probably won’t start it until after the anime finishes at the very least so I can see how it turns out for Adam and Tadashi, plus I have another half dozen WIPs at the moment and nowhere near enough time to work on them all. xD

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surveys-at-your-service · 4 years ago

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Survey #359

“i’m only a crack in this castle of glass / hardly anything there for you to see”

Do you look better with your hair down or up? It's too short to go up. Has you mom ever directly told you that she favoured your other sibling(s) over you? Yeesh, no. Have you ever read The Outsiders? Seen the movie? Read the book, seen the movie. Adore both. What’s your favourite drink from Jamba Juice? I don't think we have those here. Can you stand eating the crusts of a slice of sandwich bread? I don't mind the crust at all. Do you do your homework at home or in class? Prior to college, I did my work right after getting home to get it out of the way. In college, I did it in-between classes or when waiting for Mom to finish class. Do you feel uncomfortable sharing drinks with other people? Yes, I never do it. Do you get jealous if your boyfriend hugs another girl? I'm single, but hypothetically, I wouldn't... It's just a hug. At least for me, it's just a friendly gesture. Is there something that happened in your past you hate talking about? A few things, yes. Is it hard for you to be “just friends” with the opposite sex? Nah. If you had to choose, what color is your favorite? Baby pink. How many times have you dated the person you’re with now? I’m single. Has anyone suspected you of being a different sexuality? Yes. Do you like chocolate or vanilla cake more? Chocolate. Does it bother you to have blood drawn or not so much? Nah. What color is your toothbrush? It's a white electric one. Do you normally fall asleep fast or slow? Ridiculously slow. Have you ever had a severe allergic reaction? No. What do you want to be for Halloween this year? I'd love to dress up as like a Ms. Oogie Boogie and take some cool pictures, but I highly doubt it'll actually happen. What color are your glasses, if applicable? Black. Do you still look in the toy aisle, or do you pass it by? I walk past it. What are your summer fashion essentials? I don't have fashion essentials for any season. Do you have your own website? For my photography, yeah. Do you think you would be a good salesperson? Ha, no. I worked in retail before and I fucking sucked. Do you like candy corn? NO. Just colored wax, ugh. Do you like to wear skirts? I don't wear anything that shows my legs. Were you happy as a kid? Yeah. That, talkative, and hyper. Favorite store to browse but not really buy anything? Haha, I LOVE going on MorphMarket now and again to browse the ball pythons especially, but boy if I had the cash and space would I buy like fifty of them at once. I don't really know about a store I like browsing but not buying from. Skittles or Sour Patch Kids? Both are great, but I guess Sour Patch Kids. BUT, if you throw SOUR Skittles in there... then it's a war lol. If tattoos were free, how many would you have? A HELL OF A LOT. I wanna be just about totally painted. Do you wear a retainer at night? Not anymore. I had one, but I stopped using it. Are you afraid of dolls, puppets, or clowns? I'm not a doll person, particularly porcelain ones. When you’re in your room, do you keep the door locked? No. It's not even closed. Do you think your face is mostly symmetrical? Actually no, and I'm self-conscious about it. Stupidest thing you have ever said out loud? OH Christ, I'm not retrospecting on this. What’s your least favourite ice-cream flavour? That I've actually tried, strawberry. It's disgusting. What was the last good news you heard? I got approved for TMS therapy! Who was the last person to comment on your Facebook status? My friend Lyndsey. How did you meet him/her? World of Warcraft. She's actually my guild master, and she is the sweetest damn person. Have you ever learned any self-defense? If not, would you be interested in learning? I haven't, but yeah, I'd like to. When was the last time you took a nap? How long was it? Yesterday. For some reason, I actually slept a LONG time, like at least three, but probably close to four, hours. I mean I was tired, but I didn't feel THAT tired. Do you like Gushers? YAAAAAAAAAAS What would you do if you could do anything without failing? Actually get a degree for SOMETHING. What is your native language? English. Do you have a younger brother or sister? A younger sister. If so do/did they really get on your nerves? No. We were very close as kids, but we've drifted apart. Now, she absolutely doesn't get on my nerves. I'm so proud of her. Name something that happened to you that was completely unexpected. Uhhh I dunno. Do you judge people that have multiple piercings? Lol wtf? No. Do you watch the Olympics? No. What did you have for breakfast this morning? I had Kix cereal. Do you like orange juice? Yes. So long as it doesn't have pulp in it. Do you think it’s cruel to keep an animal in a cage while you’re away? It depends on the size of the cage as well as how long you're away. Do you have a pet gecko? No, but I'd love a fat-tailed gecko. Are you scared of reptiles? Not at all, I adore them. Is your car messy? I don't have my own car. Mom's kinda is, though. It needs a wash badly, but because of her bumper literally being zip-tied on, she doesn't trust going into a car wash. And neither of us are about to do it manually, lol. Have you ever seen the show 16 and Pregnant? No, fuck that show. Do you buy expensive clothes? No. Does death scare you? Not really. What are your current goals? Conquer my social anxiety, get a job, lose weight, do something to strengthen my legs... Those are the four biggies. Do you clap or cheer when at a concert? I did both at the one I've been to. Do you drink coffee? What brand? No. Do you use a comb or brush? A comb. When you were younger, did you ever do that exclamation point that looked like an upside down triangle and had a really big dot? No. I loved the cutesy girl handwriting though, haha. I just could never do it. You’re locked in a room with the person you last dated, any problems? Well yeah, we're locked in a room lmao. What kind of relationship do you have with the last person you kissed? It's perfectly fine, we're best friends. Have you ever gotten burnt by a cigarette? No. Do you get mad when people smoke around you? Yes. Honestly, have you ever eaten raw cookie dough? Yeah, more than once. When was the last time you were on a city bus? Never. Do you have a garden? Does it have flowers, vegetables, or both? No. Where do you want to raise your kids? Who said I even want kids? Have you ever been to Cracker Barrel? Yessssss, good shit. Have you ever seen a ghost? I think I have. Have you ever burned an ant with a magnifying glass? No. Have you ever been to craigslist.com? Yes. Have you ever used Nair? Yes, on my legs. It works, I just have stupidly hairy legs that need so much to get it all. How many tabs do you have open and what are they? Two YouTube tabs and then Tumblr. What browser do you prefer to use? Chrome. What room are you in right now? My bedroom. Are you excited for anything this month? 1.) I get my tattoo on the 19th, and 2.) I start TMS next Wednesday. What language course did you take in school, if any? I barely survived one semester of Latin, then I did all four available German courses. What language would you most like to learn? I'd love to improve my German. What would you like to get a degree in? Photography. What book are you reading, what genre is it and do you like it so far? Wings of Fire: The Brightest Night. It's young adult fantasy, I think. Did you ever sometimes flip through your text books even when you didn’t need to? Yeah, mainly to just look at pictures because I was that bored in class, haha. What types of magazines do you read? None. Would you prefer to read a book, watch a movie or TV show, or play a video game? Play a video game. What’s your current relationship like with the person you lost your virginity to and do you wish it was different? We don't have any relationship anymore. I don't regret losing it to him, if that's what you're asking. If you mean our relationship stance, it'd be nice to still be in touch with him, but I know it wouldn't be healthy for me. Have you ever felt responsible for someone’s death? Pets, yes. No humans. What was the last book you recommended to someone? Idk. What’s the most difficult thing you and your current or last significant other have gone through? Distance was very hard. What’s your best memory with your ex? I'm going to assume this refers to "the ex." In which case, we were "play arguing," and I came storming into the kitchen after him to make a point, and I slid mid-sentence, and he caught me. We just held each other laughing our asses off. It's the simple things, man. Who was the last person that asked to hang out with you and what’s the story of how you met that person? Summer. My little sister and her were in pre-k together and became friends, but I gradually became closer to her than Nicole did when we were teens. Has anyone ever asked you out and you turned them down? Yes. Is there something you generally always ask for help with? Yeah. Like recently I've been having apples and peanut butter a lot, and I ask my mom to cut the apple because I'm terrified of knives. Do you feel comfortable telling people how much you weigh? NOPE. Have you looked at any old photos of yourself lately? No. In a relationship, have you ever been on and off with your partner? No. Do you consider cooking to be an art? Yes. Are you a fast or slow reader? I'd say I read at a moderate pace. Does it take a lot to gross you out? It depends on what it is, but I am actually more squeamish than I used to be.

#survey #surveys #questions #lyrics: ''castle of glass'' by linkin park

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eldritchsurveys · 4 years ago

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1087.

survey by chasingghosts

You consider yourself to have good luck with trivial things. >> Yeah, kind of. Like, I’ve been dealt a shit hand when it comes to big things, but a lot of little things have happened that I think are strange and fortuitous.

You have purchased a book and never read it. >> Italicised because I don’t actually remember? Like, I might have. But it’s pretty unlikely, just because I don’t buy books that often and if I do, it usually is because I really am into it.

You have donated a large amount of money, food or clothes to charity. >> I have never had a large amount of any of those things, lol. I was usually the one accepting the charity.

You have visited a state/country where gay marriage is legal. >> It’s federally legal here.

You live in a state/country where gay marriage is legal. >> ^

You have a good sense of direction. >> I do! Well, particularly in urban or at least “settled” environments. I don’t know how well my directional senses would work in the wilderness, but I’m guessing most people would have a handicap in that area unless they live in the wilds.

You dislike all types of gravy. >> Not all.

You use more than two pillows to sleep. >> Nope, I use two. One for my head, one for cuddles.

You find that you have to repeat yourself a lot. >> I have to repeat myself often with Sparrow because she doesn’t always hear or understand me the first time.

You have spent more than $100 on a meal at a restaurant. >> I might have? When I took Sparrow and Sigma to New Orleans, it’s possible that we ate out and got a bill that high. That was a very special case, though, and I will never have that much money again, so.

You have smoked an entire pack of cigarettes in one day. >> I highly doubt this. Even when I was smoking pretty regularly, I didn’t smoke this much.

You use a blue toothbrush. >> Nope, it’s off-white and charcoal.

You have given someone a promise ring (or received one). >> Nah.

You have worn hemp clothing. >> Probably can’t afford it, either.

You are spatially aware of your surroundings at all times. >> I don’t think I’m terribly hypervigilant, but I certainly have a touch of it. I feel like I notice way too much about my environment sometimes, which is partially why I experience sensory overload so readily.

You almost always have your fingernails painted. >> I almost never have my fingernails painted, as much as I like the way they look when they’re freshly done. Too much work for too little (or too short-lived of a) reward.

You are currently in a long-term relationship. >> Correct. Multiple ones, if we count Inworld (and I always count Inworld).

You are slowly but surely losing your sense of hearing. >> Nope, still kicking. Sometimes too well.

You have friends in another state. >> I have at least one friend, and that one is in Texas.

You attend a lot of local events. >> I mean, I’ve been to as many as interested me. There aren’t really a lot of local events that I’m interested in, and now that there’s a pandemic going, I haven’t been to any.

You have lived away from your parents for more than 5 years now. >> Thank fuck.

You watch cooking shows on television and Youtube. >> I watch them with Sparrow, but I rarely watch them without someone else putting them on. It’s a thing that I like when it’s shown to me, but don’t seek out on my own.

You have a Youtube account and are subscribed to people on it. >> I really only started subscribing to people this year. It took me a while to really get interested in YouTube.

You don’t consider yourself to be a very creative or artistic person. >> I consider most people to be creative, actually. I think creativity is not exclusive to people who make specific kinds of art...

You have taken an aerobics class. >> I probably wouldn’t, either.

You are a percussionist. >> Only in Rock Band (and then, only sometimes). :p

You live in a city of 100,000 or more people. >> 200,000+ people, in fact.

You are currently listening to music. >> I’m in the living room with Sparrow and I don’t want to have to pause music to listen every time she says something.

You have been using the internet regularly since 2007 or earlier. >> Since around 2005, I’d say. I used it in high school too, but not regularly.

You are the type to keep every single promise you make. >> If I go so far as to make a promise, then I absolutely plan on keeping it. Consequently, I don’t make promises often. Can’t remember the last time I made one, in fact... do marriage vows count? Probably, huh.

You find it personally insulting when people break promises they make to you. >> I guess “insulting” is a word you could use? I’d prefer to say that it makes me distrustful and is a bit of an emotional trigger.

Your favourite type of candy is anything fruity. >> I don’t have a favourite type of candy. Oh, except maybe sour candy.

You have cable/pay television. >> Never. Although paying for streaming services is similar, but at least I don’t have to put up with advertisements (and it costs less, overall, even for the multiple streaming services we use).

You have a lot of celebrity crushes and can’t pick just one. >> I mean, I like a variety of performers, but I have no use for the word “crush”.

You have given money to a homeless person. >> I have also been the homeless person (which has probably contributed to my occasional acts of charity -- occasional because I’m still poor!).

You are a very skeptical person and hardly trust anyone or anything. >> I use my critical thinking skills whenever possible and I do have trust issues, but I don’t think this specific statement is accurate for me.

You have one or more friends who are in bands. >> I don’t think I know any musicians anymore. I used to know quite a few.

You live in a place where it snows at least a foot every winter. >> I’m pretty sure this is true, yeah.

You live at least 10 miles from the nearest supermarket. >> I live one mile from a supermarket, 1.5 miles from another one, and by the time you’ve gone 5 miles north you’ve been in the vicinity of at least 3 more supermarkets.

You own a pair of noise isolating headphones. >> I do, and I’m wearing them right now. I got them with the stimulus check they sent out earlier in the year. These are one of the most favourite things I’ve ever owned, and I will probably have a full breakdown if/when they stop working (which, hopefully, will be far enough in the future that I can at least buy an almost-as-good pair to replace them?).

#surveys #survey #bolding survey #taken the fun way ~#not for reblogging *glare*

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littlestsnicket · 5 years ago

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the witcher: four marks

I think it’s interesting that we meet Yennefer and Jaskier in the same episode

What is Istred doing here? Is he really trying to protect her from Tissaia? Cause if so, it’s not super effective, and I would think he would know that? Also, I feel like Istred would think it was best for Yennefer to study magic?

“That woman’s a witch, you know what she will do.” What is that supposed to mean? They certainly can’t suspect what she actually does to young girls that don’t make the cut.

It’s really cruel that Tissaia haggled like that. She could easily afford 10 marks for Yennefer, but she wants to make a point that Yennefer is worth less than a pig in the eyes of her father, and that is really messed up psychological manipulation.

Clever Ciri, hiding her hair! And she looks so cold, poor baby.

Dara is excellent. He’s so patient with Ciri while she gets over being casually rude and dismissive. But he’s also never like a dishrag, doesn’t endorse her bad behavior. And she shares her gloves :)

“You think you're safe” of Jaskier’s song overlaps with Ciri entering the encampment where she thinks she will be safe!!! AAAAAAAAH!!! Also, what is up with Posada? That tavern is in an absolute batshit location that doesn’t really match with where they end up going looking for the devil.

All the tavern patrons just looking at Jaskier, lol. He’s also clearly dressed better than anyone else there. He can (or could until recently) afford really nice clothing but it

“They don’t exist” what was Jaskier playing before the “abortion” song cause I’m sure Geralt knows that people having ill advised sex exist.

So, I’ve seen people make fun of this (Jaskier stating the obvious that Geralt is a Witcher), but Jaskier knows who Geralt is, specifically, by name. And the kid that gives Geralt the job, even though he is clearly desperate, doesn’t approach him until after Jaskier has identified Geralt as a witcher.

“I could be your barker, spreading the tails of Geralt of Rivia, the Butcher of Blavikin.” Jaskier is not stupid. Does he possibly really think that Geralt is not upset about that story? Depending on how it is told, he probably comes across as competent and ruthless and efficient, and “taking no prisoners”, which would be good things for a witcher to trade in on for work. It does make a certain amount of sense to assume that a Witcher (especially as they are known not to have feelings) wouldn’t mind being associated with that story.

Tissaia’s outfits are all great, but I particularly like this pin-strippy one. The silhouette and the sleeves!

“You should have let me die, at least I had control over it” --that’s a big thing for Yennefer.

I like that they don’t try to hide how short the actress that plays Tissaia is. It makes her presence that much more impressive when she is so small.

The face Tissaia makes when Yennefer eats the flower, like she puts together where that came from that quickly.

“Doing my part to avenge the lives lost in Filavendral’s uprising” which WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED IF THE ELVES HAD STAYED WHERE THEY WERE OUTSIDE OF POSADA!!! Actions having far reaching and unintended consequences is a witcher theme. What is Jaskier doing all the way out there?

(Since I paused to look at the map, Arteuza is really close to Oxenfurt, huh.)

“Oh child your shoes, let’s get you a fresh pair.” this is so uncomfortable. Like this woman is so cruel and racist (speciest?) but she’s kind to Ciri--possibly only because she can identify her as someone of high class. There’s a lot going on. (“Don’t worry, he’s one of the clean ones” eeeeeh!)

Jaskier clutching his lute case strap when Geralt moves past him too quickly. He has some amount of self preservation instinct after being sucker punched. But then he is also like “ACT TWO BEGINS!”

You have to admire Yennefer’s nerve just lying to Tissaia like that. That’s crazy.

“Even if you were a beauty, still no one will love you.” --this colors so much of Yennefer’s behavior.

Istred is so kind to her. Maybe he’s the first person to do so. “Are these the things you love? These are the things I thought you would love.” That is such a subtle poetic difference, I love it.

Shouldn’t someone know who Geralt is and be able to tell Ciri? There are a bunch of points where he seems like almost a household name.

“That’s impossible, No, it’s magic” it seems like Tissaia has taught them nothing.

“There are mages like Sabrina who ignore their emotions, then there are mages like us who are consumed by them” You have to wonder what Tissaia is like when she lets her emotions out.

Jaskier seems to speak Elder pretty well. And goes from delighted to concerned about Geralt headbutting elf lady so quickly!

Jaskier’s education on elves at least started as part of a deliberate misinformation campaign, though that was probably generations ago. It’s interesting that he seems to be fairly unquestioning about it while he clearly has his own highly developed skills in the area. But he does take being wrong in stride, so he must be well versed in propaganda, just hadn’t questioned that specifically?

Filevandral is “not a king, not by choice”

“One human, and you can let him go”

“The lesser evil, no matter what you choose, you’ll come out bloody and hating yourself.” --someone is speaking from experience :(

“They’ll make slaves of us, pharias of half blood children” — I doubt Yennefer’s deformity actually has anything to do with being part elf, sounds like racist fear mongering.

“Show the humans that you are more than what they fear you to be”

Oh, Yennefer is lying about being sent home. But i think most of this is her using her real feelings to manipulate Istred rather than actually lying.

“Rewriting history with the stories we tell, the songs we sing about our own triumphs, it’s what we do.” the “plot arc” in this episode is questionable at best, but all of the different threads tie together so nicely! They all build on one another despite taking place decades apart.

Stregobor!!! In this moment, he’s not doing anything worse than Tissaia, but he still makes me angry just by being there.

I don’t even know what to say about that bit with the mother and how the dwarf stabs her. I don’t blame him?

Dara rescuing Ciri!

So there’s a bunch of points earlier in the episode where Yennefer asks questions and is ignored. It feels important.

When are mages supposed to learn that Aretuza is powered by eel-girls?

So how did Jaskier end up with Filavandrel’s lute? Was he just like, you broke my lute give me a new one?

“That’s not how it happened, where’s your new found respect?”

“Respect doesn’t make history.”

The face Geralt makes is pretty close to “oh no what have I unleashed on the world? Should I do something to stop this?” he’s underestimated how clever and ruthless Jaskier is. And it’s also too late, this is Jaskier’s thing and Geralt does not have the skills to counter it if he wanted to.

“He wiped out your pest” also lines up with Yennefer sweeping the eels into the lake. (And of course, as the writer of the episode mentioned on that podcast, Yennefer is on screen with the line “a friend of humanity”)

Yennefer and Tissaia smiling at each other in that last moment. This is probably the one singular moment where Yennefer is taken in on the whole being a mage thing. It gets more complicated for her again very quickly.

#mayo blogs the witcher #the witcher #am i a little bit obsessed with jaskier and yennefer? maybe

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weirdochick56 · 6 years ago

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The Seduction Game- Dean Winchester And Klaus Mikaelson Chapter Two

Dean Winchester x Reader x Klaus Mikaelson

Warnings: Explicit language. Lots of it. (lol, what’s new) Jealous!Dean Asshole!Dean Slut-shaming

Disclaimers: I don’t own any SPN or TVD/TO characters/plots mentioned.

Word Count: words

Read Chapter One Here

***

You knew Dean wasn’t going to react well to your proposal, but this was a tad bit too much.

“The hell you are. If you think I’m letting you seduce Richy Rich over there, you’re sadly mistaken sweetheart,” he spits with angered indignation and some other emotion you couldn't quite pinpoint...

You scoff. “I’m not asking you to let me do anything.” You quirk an irritated brow at him again. “Do I really need to repeat myself again Dean?” You hiss lowly. “I’m going to do it with or-”

“Without my help,” he grumbles. “I know. But just know,” he jabs a finger aggressively in your direction, “that I ain’t happy with this,” his neck vein protrudes and you struggle not to point it out with amusement as he continues. “We can’t just ditch our initial plan! This is crazy Y/n! You-you can’t seduce people. You’re...” he trails off and throws a hand in your direction weakly, seemingly stumped and at a loss for words.

For some reason, his words slice into your heart like a boiling hot knife. Did he think you were so unattractive you wouldn’t be able to seduce people? Though, you don’t let him see it because that'd be a major blow to your pride. So, instead, you opt to hold your chin higher in the air, painting a smug smirk on your face. “No? Watch me.”

You wipe the smirk from your face and replace it with an enraged frown. You smile -albeit somewhat wickedly- mentally at Dean’s deliciously confused face.

“What the hell do you think you’re doin-” he doesn’t finish, eyeing you strangely as you raise your half-full glass of champagne. Then, you promptly throw your drink in his face. He lets out a loud gasp as the cold liquid hits his face and deep down you know you enjoyed doing it.

He wipes his dripping chin with a ‘really?’ expression thrown your way.

You whisper a little to him. “Just play along,” then you slip back into character (although you’re not entirely sure it’s a character anymore) and shove his chest away from you, speaking loudly. “You fucking dick!” Several people eye you as you whirl on your heels, bring back your shoulders and inhale deeply, readying yourself to give the performance of your life.

Because let’s be honest; you weren’t really a seductress. Although you could acknowledge the great power a woman’s beauty and charming personality could have over any man, you just weren’t a master at the art. You’d had a few conquests here and there, worked a few tricks on them, but none of them lasted long. And none of them looked or were nearly as electrifyingly magnetic as Klaus Mikaelson.

As ungracefully as you can, you make your way to the other side of the room where Klaus is. You don’t stop near him, nor do you acknowledge his presence when you feel his scrutinizing gaze bore into you again, only, in what you hope is a subtle manner, cock your head gently to the side, exposing your neck to his sensitive nose.

You watched closely for a reaction out of the corner of your eye. A wince, a flinch, or hell- even a smirk would do! Something to prove him a vampire and your neck being a tantalizing enough snack for him to savor. But alas, he doesn’t crack, only follows you with his gaze as you practically stomp your way towards the door.

Admittedly, you were a bit disappointed at his quite obvious lack of initial interest, but that wasn’t your entire plan so you weren’t that worried.

Throwing a glance at Dean, who stands in the same spot you had left him, fuming, you move to the outside with your gaze, hoping he’d get your meaning. I’m going outside alone, you hope your expression conveyed. He frowns, but that’s all you have time for if your plan was to run smoothly, so you look away, immediately painting a pained look on your face and hoping that Klaus was still looking.

The familiar small shivers of twisted delight were pretty hard to miss though, so you knew he was.

You shake your head to clear the prohibited thoughts and hang it as you step out, closing the door shut behind you.

You wait in the cool night air, becoming more and more unsure of your plan as you plop down on a stoop. Maybe you had misread all the signs. Maybe you hadn’t really hadn’t caught Klaus’s attention and this would be a flop and then you’d have to do it Dean’s way. Just as you begin to worry, though, the door swings open.

Your head snaps to look over your shoulder, slightly startled. Klaus Mikaelson stands there, armed with a perfectly-fitting high-end tailored tux, shiny dress shoes, his irresistible smirk, and mischevious baby blue eyes.

You pretend to deliberately ignore his presence, looking away from him as he comes to sit next to you. You immediately tense up at his proximity. He smelled really good. Like men’s gel and something chypre.

Finally, he speaks. “Hello love.” You immediately fall into a trance at the sound of his voice. He has an English accent that makes his brooding voice velvety soft, although he still has an edge of mischievousness to it. The word ‘love’ rolls easily off his tongue, spilling from pink luscious lips easily.

Hot-fucking-damn.

He speaks again, eyeing you suspiciously. “I noticed you storm out just now. Everything okay?”

You refuse to look at him or shiver at his pet name, speaking in a slightly teasing tone to deflect his question. “Do you normally sneak out of your own party to talk to strangers?”

He chuckles heartedly and you can’t help the delightful tingles that shoot through your very core at the sound. Why the hell was he so attractive for?

“Not commonly, no. Only the beautiful ones induce such a rash reaction from me, I suppose.” He shrugs furtively, sneaking you a flirtatious smirk and making your heart speed up almost immediately.

Wow, he was very blunt. You smile. It was like a breath of fresh air. Especially with Dean and all his mixed signs...

Though you don’t blush at his sly compliment visibly, you very well want to. Silently, you look over at him, an unimpressed look drawn on your face. “Wow, that might actually be the cheesiest pickup line I’ve ever heard anyone give me.”

Klaus studies your face closely and you don’t think you’ve ever felt so exposed. in your life. “For some reason, I highly doubt that, beautiful stranger. Though, I cannot keep calling you that when you already know who I am.”

You smirk up at him, this time genuinely, although you’re sure all your reactions with Klaus have been so far. “Really? Because I was actually thinking it has a particularly nice ring to it.”

He narrows his eyes as if to inform you he knows you’re unwilling to give him your name. You take quick mental notes.

He was very charming. Dangerously charming, even. But...not in a Dean-way. It was another kind of charming. An effortless yet elegantly dark air about him that sucked you in from the moment you’d met him. Dean gave off more of a standoff-ish typical bad boy vibe off that drove girls crazy. You included.

“You seem a tad bit too cocky for your own good, though. What makes you think I know who you are?” you inquire challengingly. If he liked his women fierce, then you were just the gal.

Take that Winchester, you beam mentally as your eyes scan his body language. Light lip licks, quick but not too quick. Slightly raised brows and pointed pelvis, toes. He’s leaning into you in such a way the untrained eye wouldn’t notice and he’s sitting with his legs spread which would normally indicate deep interest, but seeing as you’re sitting on a stoop, could also indicate he’s searching for a comfortable position.

He offers a crooked smile. “Well, for one, you’re at my family’s party and you just said it was mine. How would you know otherwise?” he’s got a sharp ear too, you note. Not as in enhanced-hearing sharp, more like...listening-gains-you-information sharp. That one was far more dangerous.

You chuckle softly then go silent, observing as he begins trailing his eyes over you again, taking his time to take in your appearance. You know he’s noticed you study him. Well, you looked at him from beneath your lashes, so you hoped it looked more like checking him out than reading him (although that was virtually impossible to do). He was lightning quick and the hardest person for you to read yet- aside from Dean.

Klaus was fast -used his charm and wit to hide his true feelings as soon as they surfaced. But Dean...he was hotheaded and used hostility and his macho-man act to hide his feelings. In a way, they were similar. In many ways actually, but in this area, you noticed, they were both attempting to seem more okay than they actually were. And although they had different methods of getting there; they both ultimately had the same goal. Detachment.

There was something awfully calm about being near Klaus. His presence tranquilized your mind and soon, you were scooting closer to him, searching for his warmth. He looks over at your light shuffling with raised brows and you can only hope Dean is watching you in case things go sideways.

Klaus smells really, really good. You inhale subtly at his elegant scent. Dean smelled more masculine, you note. Although both are equally delicious. Wow, you’re a creeper Y/n, you laugh mentally,

You elbow him lightly. “C’mon, out with it. I know you wanna ask.” You pull on your best ‘I-just-broke-up-with-someone-but-am-trying-to-act-cool-in-front-of-a-hot-rich-man’ look.

He looks at you with curiosity and the seemingly everlasting mischievousness ever present. “Whatever do you mean love?” God, the breathiness in his voice is going to be the death of you.

You smirk at him, flipping your perfectly-curled hair over your shoulder. “I know you're wondering who that guy I threw my drink at was.”

Klaus chuckles slightly, turning to you. “Actually I’m not, love. I already know you’re both are lovers of a sort. I do, however, wonder whatever happened to end such an affair.”

You sigh, hoping to seem upset and reluctant. “Well, as probably everyone in the party knows,” you turn to him. “He’s a dick.” Oh, now you really hope he’s watching and hearing.

Klaus hums in contemplation. “And, if you don’t mind me prying love, can I know why you think that?”

You bite your lip in order to hold back an ironic grin at all the thoughts going through your mind right now. So, so many reasons.

You finally settle. “Well, for starters, he’s always lying to me.”

Klaus let’s out an ‘ah’ sound. “Deceit is quite disappointing when you take the other person seriously is it not?”

You breathe out a soft laugh. “That it is.” You don’t wait for him to probe further, already knowing when he opens his mouth and turning to him. “Here’s the thing,” you swallow thickly. “Dean?” You scrunch up your nose. “He doesn’t love me. I think hate is the word that fits his emotions towards me best.”

Klaus frowns. “And why is that?”

You want to burst with a response. Something inside you clicks like you wanted to confess your entire feelings on the situation, but you somehow hold back, remaining cooly composed. It was empowering for some reason. “If I’m honest?” You shrug cooly. “He’s a lying sack of shit that only cares for himself.”

Klaus bursts out laughing and you smile as you confirm your even tone has convinced him you’re completely over your now “ex-boyfriend.” You almost laugh at the notion. As if.

Klaus clears his throat, offering you a light grin. “And I suppose you’ve gained a particular taste for bluntness as a result?” He sounded almost...hopeful.

You can hear the underlying meaning in his words, but cock a suspicious brow, shrugging. “I suppose so, why do you ask?”

He smirks broadly. “Because I’m extremely blunt, love.”

You laugh at his sneaky tease. “Oh? And I suppose that comes in handy when...”

He looks into your eyes, a dark look flickering in his which contradicted the lazy smirk curling the corner of his lip. “When I seduce you.”

You almost beg him to do so as you all but melt into a puddle at his indiscreet words, but then it’s gone, replaced with a joking gesture of his eyebrows. This knocks some sense into you, and you remember the plan. Hard to get. Right.

“Oh, I really doubt you’d be able to do that easily. Don’t think that I’m easy just because I’ve broken up with someone. Emotional vulnerability isn’t my strong suit. I’m more of a let go and move on gal.” Wow, smooth Y/n...Way to shove the idea that you’re over your “boyfriend” and be subtle all at once! You cringe mentally.

But Klaus seems to buy it, a devilish smirk on his face. “Oh, trust me, love,” he leans in and his breath fans your face. “I can be convincing when I want to be.”

You’re almost ashamed to admit that you were quite literally trembling. The effect he had on your body...the fire suddenly stirring in your belly like a hurricane had wreaked havoc on the hottest pits, your curled toes when you look into his eyes to see completely dilated pupils and you both gravitate towards eachother and you’re suddenly so close you could feel his breath on your face. You lean in, getting close to his lips. They brush against eachother and you can feel him suck in a sharp breath but then you switch paths, placing your lips on his cheek tenderly. You let them linger there for a while, taking a whiff of his intoxicating scent one more before leaning slightly away. Your noses brushed as you look longingly at his lips. He himself was staring at your lips like he was about to eat them. He looked so...feral.

As a vampire should.

You lean away, blinking with surprise. That was...incredible. The feeling he gave you...Your heartbeat thumps loudly and your ears and you push down a blush at the fact that he could probably hear it too.

“Uh...it was nice speaking to you Klaus,” you offer a meek smile and get up, attempting to walk away. Well, at least your hard-to-get tactic was still somewhat salvageable. What would he think if you kissed after just having met him?

But Klaus’s firm grasp on your arm stops you mid-walk and you turn to look at him. His eyes are surprisingly pleading. “You haven’t even told me your name, love.”

You smirk up at him, winking. “It’s Blair.” You turn on your heel to walk off but turn back around, giving him a soft smile. “Goodbye, Klaus.”

Then you walk away.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” Dean yells, all but slamming his duffel bag onto his bed. He turns to you with enraged green eyes. “You were so clearly into him Y/n! He’s a fucking vampire for God’s sake! What the hell is wrong with you?!”

Dean had met up with you at the motel and was more outraged than you’d ever seen him. He’d walked in, slamming the door behind him and simply wouldn’t drop the subject of you and Klaus “cozying up”. He claimed he was pissed because you were jeopardizing the case.

It was a miracle you’d even gotten that much info from his rantings. You were a little too busy watching his mouth move. Angry Dean was hot as hell, to be honest. Clenched jaw, fisted hands, tense arm muscles that allowed you to see all those years of hunting and protruding veins.

You were indecisive between putting your hands around his dick or his neck.

Somehow you remain calm from your spot on the shitty motel bed, shaking your head. “Dean,” you sigh. “I was only acting the part for the job, okay?”

Dena growls frustratedly, running a hand through his hair and steps closer to your bed. “Yeah? And I assume you were doing the same when you were bad mouthing me too huh?” His voice grows louder at your unresponsiveness. “For the fucking record, I never even fucking agreed to this! You were the one who came up with this dumb ass plan for some reason, and I’m beginning to think you weren’t doing it for the job,” he hisses venomously.

You ignore his insinuation, sitting up on the bed. “Dean, we need to get the facts straight for this. I suspect his family is vampires too so if we’re going to take him and them down, we need the proper preparation. It was acting. Okay? Now drop it.” You were growing more and more irked with his stinky attitude.

He laughs humorlessly “That was not fucking acting Y/n, and you know it. You were turning into a fucking puddle at his feet. Is that how you expect to kill him? By falling in love? Hm?”

Your eyes widen at his claim and the last of your already-strained patience disappears. “Who the fuck mentioned anything about falling in love?!” You stand up, stomping closer to him. “Let’s make something else clear because it seems you just keep getting denser and denser as time goes on.” You stand only a few inches from him and can feel your face red with anger as you poke his chest harshly with every word spilling out of your mouth. “I. Don’t. Fall. In. Love. Dean.” Lies, they’re all lies. You’re in love with him, your mind teases cruelly. You scoff, taking your finger off his chest and letting your arms go limp beside you when he eyes it dangerously. You continue, pushing the heart-wrenching thoughts away.

“And quite frankly, I don’t know why you’re so upset. So what if I was into Klaus? He’s handsome and charming and he’s blunt with his emotions,” you inform with a light growl. Then look him in the eye. “He doesn’t send mixed signals about what he wants. He’s a real man.”

Okay, so might’ve been a bit...low on your part, but you couldn’t help but enjoy the dark look that flashes across Dean’s face as he smiles darkly, knowing it was him you were hinting at.

“I’m sure he fucking is, sweetheart. Seems you won’t have a problem spreading your legs right up for him, hm?” he steps back, the sadistic smile still instilled on his face. “I never doubted you on that aspect though. So go right ahead Y/n. Go be the real you with that rich asshat. Because we all know what that is. A lying, cheating whore.”

You immediately reel back, a pang of immense hurt hitting you like a bullet in the chest. He-he just...he called you a whore. You couldn’t believe it.

Dean’s eyes widen a fraction and a look of regret crosses his face at what he’d said as he opens his mouth.

You don’t give him the chance to speak though, glaring holes into him. You bite out, “Get out.”

He eyes you warily, the hurt look on his face clear as day. “W-what?”

You sniffle, wiping at the tears you hadn’t felt coming violently with the backs of your hands. You feel pathetic crying in front of him like this, but you couldn’t help it. You could feel your heart coming apart at the edges, slowly coming to the center.

Steeling your eyes, you somehow remain cool and collected. “You heard me. Get. Out,” you grit out, barely holding your scarred heart together. He hangs his head and releases a shallow breath.

You almost feel bad about kicking him out of the room this late night at night, but then you remember what he’d just told you.

As he walks out you call to him, feeling like a hurt shit. “Oh and Dean?”

He looks at you with hopeful eyes from the doorway. You want to take that hope and smother it.

You give him a wicked grin. “It’s good you’re leaving so you don’t hear me and Klaus fucking eachother. I think the playing-hard-to-get approach isn’t really working out.”

He clenches his jaw without looking in your direction and walks out, slamming the door so hard behind him the motel room shook.

***

Y'all already know. Send me asks, messages, requests, REPLY, LEAVE FEEDBACK MY LOVESS PLEASEEE. Do whatever suits you the most lovelies! Tags are all open so don’t hesitate to let me know if you wanna be tagged in any shape or form.

A special thanks to:

@alexwinchester23

@fan-of-many-bands

@hailqueenconquer

@aomi-nabi - My TSG peeps

And of course, my forevers.

@jessikared97

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@lilypalmer1987

#klaus mikaelson x reader #dean winchester #klaus mikaelson series #dean winchester x reader series #dean winchester x reader x klaus mikaelson

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cantusecho-archive · 5 years ago

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(Episode 5 thoughtsssss.

OKAY. I took forever to write this one up since I couldn’t process my thoughts correctly, and still can’t. But going to try!

Episode starts with the government taking over S.O.N.G headquarters.

Thing about this is, it’s clear that Fudou is using his power and influence to stop them, but why? That’s at the end of the episode it seems and the reason I think is hinted here;

Honestly, the second he said this, it made me think of him wanting to make it into a sword for Tsubasa to use it. However, she clearly shouldn’t be able to handle it since she can’t wield divine power? Maybe Fudou thinks he can wield the power instead? He’s crazy strong, but does he believe he can handle it? It’s possible he does but his exact ideas/plans are still fairly in the dark.

And Noble Red really are just pawns for him. So, if they didn’t agree to his terms, then they would die since that blood is the only way they could live. Basically, this humanizes our villains, as to be expected, since they’ve been abused and experimented on against their will.

However, I’d still be happy with them not being forgiven for their actions (Millaarc especially) because of how much it’s effected everyone, especially Tsubasa. But that’s later on in the episode.

(also it’s interesting that they’re hiding within the remains of Carol’s Chateau)

Now the scene between Genjurou and Yatsuhiro is actually really really nice. It’s nice to see the two of them interacting more, but they’ve also come to a conclusion that it’s pretty much clear that Fudou may be behind Noble Red’s actions. Yatsuhiro says that they can’t jump to conclusions just yet despite being suspicious. Of course WE as the audience already knows that Fudou is behind it. But in terms of the characters, who don’t see what we do, it makes sense.

Also heard a small tidbit about this scene on twitter; according to people who actually know Japanese, one of the documents on Yatsuhiro’s desk is basically hinting to another name in the Kazanari family. The people who could read this made all the connections about Genjurou and Yatsuhiro’s names (they have characters in their names that mean numbers? I can’t remember them offhand but I think Genjurou at least means ten) and said that it’s very possible that Fudou has like...ten+ children. LOL.

Like, he had sooooo many kids, probably hoping one would fight for him, until Tsubasa was born. I can’t find the twitter posts that actually explain all this in much better words so yeah, sorry. Just some interesting stuff.

Moving on! Because of all this investigation stuff, all the Gear users are on standby and are literally left with nothing to do whatsoever.

Eventually, this gives everyone the idea to at least take a break. And so what Hibiki decides to do is invite Tsubasa, as well as Elfnein, to have fun in the town. This is really just a huge callback to S1 episode 9 where Hibiki and Miku take Tsubasa on a date. Lmao.

What’s cute about this is that Elfnein ACTUALLY TAKES A DAY OFF LOL.

AND SHE SINGS. ABOUT CAROL PRETTY MUCH.

But what’s clashing in this scene is that while Elfnein is singing and literally having fun, Tsubasa finally opens up and admits how she’s been feeling lately.

This is particularly sad because she literally said in episode 2 how much she loves singing. Before all the chaos in the concert and Fudou tearing down something she loves doing, Tsubasa was happy to sing and enjoy herself by spreading her music throughout the world. It’s taken a long time for Tsubasa to get to this point, even after the Zwei Wing disaster. So for her to feel this way is just really sad to hear and see.

And this sets up the brief argument between Hibiki and Miku.

Now my feelings on this scene is a lot but I’ll try to be brief as possible; personally, I don’t think Miku was in the wrong. This has been building up within her ever since season 1. However, was her outburst at the best time? No, it wasn’t. Miku isn’t a perfect person (in my opinion), no one is, but that’s what makes her interesting to me.

Even before S1, she’s been dealing with this guilt of hers for so long, so many years. And because she related to Tsubasa’s feelings of guilt and fear, it all came bursting out all at once...so she calls Hibiki selfish. I can see if people think this is rushed or literally came out of nowhere, or Miku’s wrong but it’s not as if Hibiki hasn’t done things wrong too.

Hibiki’s heart is always in the right place, yes, but she’s not perfect either. Normally, pulling people into her rhythm or ideas is fine and ends up working out really well. Her energy is enough to brighten those around her...but not all the time. Sometimes pulling people into doing something you think might help might end up hurting them instead. If you ask a person how they feel, maybe that way you’d be able to figure things out more.

But Hibiki didn’t ask Tsubasa. This isn’t to say that Hibiki doesn’t care about Tsubasa’s feelings, she cares deeply for Tsubasa, but she technically pulled her along into something that’s really only reminding her that she can’t enjoy songs. It’s hard to explain what I mean haha.

So even though Miku calls Hibiki selfish, which is debatable within itself but I don’t have time to explain it all lmao, I can kinda see her point. I don’t think Hibiki nor Miku are right or wrong here. It’s really just a clash of emotions and miscommunication. At least in my opinion.

And then having Hibiki ask her this question finally gets Miku to openly admit how she’s been feeling for years.

Can I say as a side note how crazy it is for Hibiki to raise her voice back, like she’s actually frustrated so she stresses the words? It made me feel so uneasy, no joke haha.

Moving on, Miku finally admits her guilt, and I think it’s a legit worry. A lot of things wouldn’t have happened in Hibiki’s life if she didn’t invite her to that concert. She wouldn’t have almost died. She wouldn’t have been harassed. Her family wouldn’t be as broken as it is. She wouldn’t nearly be dying all the time from fighting. Hibiki probably wouldn’t be fighting at all.

It may sound unreasonable for Miku to blame herself for all of this, but I can understand that blame somewhat so I guess I’m a bit biased in that regard lol.

Hibiki, who didn’t see all this guilt Miku’s been having, is surprised by her admission. Again, I don’t see anyone in the wrong for this exchange because of the miscommunication; Miku was too afraid to admit her feelings because she thought it would be a burden.

Hibiki, in my opinion, never once blamed Miku for the incident or never saw it in that light before, so she didn’t think Miku would have feelings like this.

I don’t intend to ever write Hibiki doing things right all the time. I enjoy writing her making mistakes and learning from those mistakes.

So I’ll leave it at that. After this, there’s Alca-Noise summoned into the city, so everyone separates. Hibiki tells Miku they’ll talk later as Miku takes Elfnein and herself away to safety.

Now this whole fight just shows how unstable Tsubasa is and possibly what that ability Millaarc used is effecting her still.

Side note: her song and transformation are REALLY good. Tsubasa’s transformation is really high if I had to rate them because it’s so beautifully animated. I love how special each transformation feels for each character this season. They’ve always been special and unique, but these intensify that to the max and I love it.

ALSO, during this scene, Hibiki makes a comment of thinking that the Alca-Noise are possibly a distraction. However, due to these other people from the government that took over, they don’t take her gut feeling seriously, which I think plays a part in the end. My child was being smart for once and they didn’t listen FFFFFFFFFF

Okay, but Tsubasa fighting.

She starts seeing Millaarc as her and Hibiki are fighting the Alca-Noise.

This is where Tsubasa starts attacking relentlessly.

Tsubasa is the most experienced out of them all, and to see her lose control over herself and nearly do all these huge attacks that start destroying the town instead is really the thing to see.

And all it really is is Tsubasa seeing the Alca-Noise as Millaarc. This is concerning because what if she ends up seeing one of her friends as Millaarc instead, and possibly ends up hurting them? I honestly was really worried that she would end up hurting someone with all these attacks. Luckily not. And she created a lot of damage to the city because of this.

It really feels possible that Tsubasa will have to sit out of fighting for a while. Not sure if they’d actually do that in the show, but it seems fitting. It may not make her feel any better though.

Now the cliffhanger;

Miku and Elfnein are still making their escape before being cornered by Millaarc and that same government man from earlier. Their goal was clearly to get Elfnein out of HQ so they could take her. I could be wrong, but I assume it’s because Fudou needs her help possibly to help turn the Vambrace into a sword? Or whatever else he wants done to it.

But they didn’t come for Miku, and Millaarc wonders what she should do with her before getting a “call” from Vanessa.

There’s no telling what Vanessa told her until probably the next episode I assume, but it ends on a large geyser of blood, making it seem as if Millaarc killed Miku.

I HIGHLY HIGHLY doubt this for multiple reasons; ---It’s just like episode 8 in G where people probably thought Miku died when the explosion at the tower happened. ---That random dude was there and it’s more than likely him being killed and seems the most obvious choice. ---Killing Elfnein seems pointless (unless she ran out in front of Miku even though Miku was protecting her at first) because they needed her. ---Would they really kill a main character only 5 episodes in?

I think that if Miku got hurt, they wouldn’t be showing so much blood coming out because that seems excessive. Or if she was actually hurt, I think it would have been sooooo much better if they actually showed Miku getting hit. That would make for a better cliffhanger in my opinion. But oh well. If they actually hurt Miku, I’ll be surprised. But for right now, unless the episode proves me otherwise, I don’t believe it at all.

What happens after this is a mystery; because if it’s actually the dude Millaarc killed, then what does that mean for Miku and Elfnein? Will they still hurt Miku another way? Possibly take her with them or just Elfnein? Would they get away?

I kinda doubt about them getting away because Hibiki literally saying “we’ll talk later” feels like “We’ll try to talk later but we won’t really because shizz goes down to prevent us from talking for a while” LOL.

But yeah, two more days until the episode to see how it all went down. Preview will be tomorrow so that can help stir some thoughts.

That’s really all I got haha.)

#ooc #(I wonder if I explained myself well enough in this; I feel like I wasn't but lol my bad)

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the-council-of-new-york-vampires · 6 years ago

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Can you please submit Adam's past!!! As well as some headcanons on him ;(

Out of Character:

Adam’s past is in the works… You see, I started some day in December and didn’t do so much work on it since. 😅 Technically, it’s finished, but it’s especially hard to edit, because it’s the longest one I’ve yet written, and I really do want it to be perfect. But don’t worry, I’ll def publish it. ☺️

Lemme start with my headcanons:

My biggest one: Adam is a psychopath. So, sometime ago, I asked people on their opinion on that topic and legit no one replied… Thanks for that, guys. 🙃😂 Anyway, I have been drowning myself in research for several weeks now, and I know that there’s a lot of misinformation about psychopathy online. Like, psychopaths have very little to do with Hollywood movies, and it’s not a mental illness but a neurological disorder. I differentiate between sociopaths and psychopaths as well, as in: Psychopaths are born, sociopaths are made, and they behave and think differently. I have been analyzing Adam’s behavior and scenes carefully and, as far as I’m concerned, he meets all the signs for psychopathy. I know it’s kind of a critical topic to discuss, but I’d love to analyze Adam’s behavior and thoughts and compare it to psychopathy, in a separate post. (I am not looking to insult or offend anyone with this, I just love giving interesting characters more depth and exploring their minds and ways of thinking, especially when it comes to villains.)

Fitting the above one, Adam was a con artist at some point. I always thought of this job he would be so good at, but never knew the name until I came across it during my psychopathy research. Con artist! That job is made for him. I headcanon, some day after being a politician as a human, he came to America and started working as, I don’t know the name, but those people who came to people’s houses and sold them bullshit. He didn’t do that for a long time, though, because I don’t think it makes good money and it has a low social standing. However, that’s how he slipped into the con artist job or how he calls it “working in the finance sector”. He did that for, I don’t know, ten years or more, before he decided he had made enough money with it. He wanted to get into poilitics again to satisfy his desire for power, and quit being a con artist, because it would have been too risky to do both at the same time. (I doubt he was ever caught, but conning people is obviously illegal.)

It was slightly hinted at by Adrian that, sometimes, Adam kills women after sleeping with them. I think when he was around Priya’s age, he did that very often. Just sought them out and killed them afterwards, because he liked the feeling of power and control it gave him. In the present, it is more likely that he has contacts for things like that, contacts he does not kill, because it would be a huge scandal, obviously. Still, he sees all people as objects, humans more so than vampires, and attractive young women primary as sex objects to use and discard, and he thinks it’s pathetic that they adore him and seek him out the way they do, that they ‘let’ him kill them. But of course, he pretends to be this super elegant gentleman. I do think he was taught to treat women with special respect, but, if you consider his actual personality, it’s highly unlikely that he keeps that mask on in the bedroom. He displays it in public, because most women love gentlemen, but, unless his lover needs to be manipulated by him or he wants something from her, he is totally different, degrading even, in the bedroom.

I think Adam is very vain to the point that he needs longer in the bathroom than some ladies. I think he has a personal barber, stylist, you name it, and they come over every morning. He loves his appearance and - sorry - I can definitely see him making out with a mirror. At least, whenever he walks by, he does admire the guy he sees. But how could you not? How could women not? At least, that’s what Adam thinks. And lemme judge: he’s damn right. Adam’s About 183 cm tall (I just know), he’s muscular, he has a nice haircut, a fancy beard, great taste in fashion… And those, lemme guess, thick 7 inches. 😌😏 Hehe.

Pretty sure that Adam has a wild, irresponsible streak in him that he must live out somehow. I mean, he dated Priya and as if she would ever date anyone boring. Adam loves partying, irresponsible sexual acts, the adrenaline when seeking thrills. Despite what people think, I can definitely see him as a reckless driver, especially when alone. This guy has no fears. He is similar to Kamilah in some ways, but that’s one where they differ: I think he can let go better than she can, he just needs the right circumstances, right people, right situations. He is a lot more likely to play Roulette and bet on black just for the hell of it. With Priya, he did many irresponsible things, thinking “I don’t care. I love it.” Icona Pop knows. 😉

As a mortal, Adam had a family and children. Considering the historical context, this is more than likely. People often say they can’t imagine him as a father, and in a way I agree: I think he was a very neglectful and absent father who had a lot more kids than he wanted (considering the fact that he wanted none 😂). Furthermore, he was a very disloyal husband, married more than once, got women pregnant who he wasn’t married to, banished them or forced them into an abortion (people knew there were ways to miscarry)… I’m guessing the probability for him to cheat in a relationship to be as high as 80%. I see no reason for him not to cheat, because he has no moral compass and he believes he can have anyone, deserving of as many lovers as he wants. However, if she would cheat, he would either be incredibly angry or totally careless. Anyway, if there is one person seeing a crying toddler and thinking “Damn, I’m glad my kids are dead”, it’s Adam.

Back to his roots: Adam grew up Catholic. This is not me saying religion makes people bad (I’m religious myself), but me saying he grew up at a time and in a country that was certainly Catholic. However, I highly doubt he ever believed in any religion, simply was raised into a strictly religious environment. In that way, he broke rules very early such as no lying or no touching yourself, and this is how he learned to be sneaky about it. This theory explains his name as well, as Adam was the first human created by God, and he was likely named after him, not as the first human in the world, but the first baby born to his parents, a noble couple. I’m very sure he grew up in a big family. However, he is only focused only on himself since… all the time.

Obviously, regarding sex, Adam has done almost everything there is to do. I think he is much more animalistic and pleasure-focused than people think, and he loves to break taboos the same way he breaks rules as he considers himself above them. Imagine anything nasty and I bet he has done it. Either with someone kinky like Priya or he just persuaded a ‘normal’ person into letting him try whatever ‘sick’ fantasy he had. Also, he loves group sex with, like, four women who cater to his needs. I tried to widen this headcanon a bit by bringing guys into it as well. While I think Adam is definitely heterosexual, I wouldn’t be surprised if anything happened between him and a man. I headcanon something like: He was at an orgy, drunk or whatever, centuries ago, doing his thing, and a guy just approached and gave him oral. Lol. And he let him do it, because why the hell not? Meanwhile, I find kissing a bit too intimate, but I can imagine he has done it, too, out of manipulation or because a guy just kissed him. With Priya, I headcanon he seduced young women, killed them… and they had fun with them, like… blood play and stuff…

I think Adam’s basic directive is “I don’t care”, regarding the other members of The Council as well. Of course, there are things he cares about deeply, like killing the Clanless or getting votes, but all of that serves no one but himself, the only person on Earth he actually cares about. You could give him any person’s name and ask if they shall live or die and he wouldn’t care at all what happens to them (unless that person’s existence is useful or bothering for him). Yeah, he has no conscience and he gives zero shits. His emotions are super limited. Like, when Gaius presented them his morbid plan, Adam was careless to the point that he had to observe the others’ reactions to be able to form and voice an opinion. He is calm by default and rarely gets angry (the anger he showed in several scenes was fake in order to appear believable).

Regarding lovers, Adam has a type. He likes young women (22-28), naive and ‘stupid’, women he can easily control, and he sees himself deserving of having all the pretty ones, like trophies or possessions. When someone doesn’t have the right age or look, he considers them not good enough for him and would find it pathetic if they asked him out. He doesn’t like independent women, he likes women he can make dependent on him. He always needs to be the superior one, financially as well as intellectually. All this explains why he never had and never ever will have a thing for Kamilah. She is everything he can’t control, can’t subject, and that’s why he respects her and can openly express a platonic liking for her. But deep inside, women like that threaten him and he wants to destroy them, because they are too smart to fall for him. And women (people) he can’t benefit from, who refuse to obey him, who he can’t manipulate, have no use to him. Regarding one night stands, which he had a lot more than gilfriends, he only targets very attractive women. He likes dark types, like himself, rather than blondes, and women who are particularly feminine. Long hair, long nails, dresses, high heels… I think that attracts him. And he loves asses. And Latinas. Sorry.

I think Adam has more than two faces. To the public, he is that super friendly, charming guy who wants the best for anyone. To The Council, he is that friendly guy who has drastic measures, but still puts a lot of importance on their team-spirit. Part of the mask is off, but he still presents himself as friendly and interested in the well-being of the public. Like, he greets the members happily and calls them his “friends”, but everyone does know they shouldn’t turn on him. (The Baron even said so.) When dating Priya, he showed a different face again. More of that easy-going guy, a great sport, overly protective of his ‘loved’ ones. He always alternates between “Hello, I am super friendly and chill, you can talk about anything with me” and “I am super dangerous and you better not fuck with me”. Then, in reality, he is a cold-hearted snake who cares about no one but himself. Now imagine him around his Clan. I think his mask slips off even further than it does when he’s with The Council, in a way that they might even fear him, because they know what he’s capable of. Or they admire him because he leaves the mask on, like the nerd in the train to the Ball does, who obviously has a crush on him? It is so different to assess Adam, because he is a great actor and he can legit be anyone. He can be the kind philantrophist you support, the sexy celebrity you admire, the relaxed guy who is your best friend, the intelligent Clan leader, the most caring boyfriend you have had, the most abusive boyfriend you have had… or the man who is actually planning to murder you.

#adam vega #bloodbound #bb #choices #choices: stories you play

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aloice-talks-about-games · 6 years ago

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The Hoperai Salt Masterpost, OR: Hope deserved better in Lightning Returns.txt

I’m not going to put this under the Hoperai tag because yes, it is ship salt... I am aware that Hope has his own flaws and problems as well in LR (that warrants a whole other masterpost by itself) so the salt doesn’t just go to Lightning, but I’m going to focus on Lightning in this post.

Thesis: Hoperai is a great ship that can, under certain circumstances, work out (and work out beautifully!) in the post-LR new world, but it has a lot of issues within Lightning Returns and I highly, highly doubt that Lightning reciprocated Hope’s feelings within LR, or even treated him well as a friend, partner or surrogate family member.

I’m going to address this in three and a half parts, with the parts discussing Lightning’s knowledge, Lightning’s heart/compassion, Lightning’s plans and possible dev intentions respectively.

Part One. Lightning’s Knowledge

Argument: Lightning doesn’t show a lot of care RE: Hope’s well-being in Lightning Returns because she couldn’t tell he was in a lot of trouble.

Answer: uhhhhh, about that.

In the beginning of LR, Hope shows confusion about who he is or why he’s at the Ark, saying:

Of course Lightning is also a little dazed at this point since she also just woke up, but at least she knows her terms with Bhunivelze, while Hope doesn’t seem to be aware of his. She doesn’t think or comment much about Hope’s confusion (or his suddenly-child-again-form, or why he, as the most human-oriented of the entire XIII cast who was the only cast member in XIII-2 to not be granted time travel by Etro, is suddenly serving God) and simply goes on as if it’s normal. Perhaps this is because she doesn’t yet have reason to think that Bhunivelze means ill towards the two of them (she did serve Etro willingly, after all) - so let’s give her the benefit of the doubt for this one.

She does learn about what actually happened to the adult Hope she knew from Vanille (mysteriously disappeared from the world 169 years ago before ending up in his current situation with no memories of anything), but makes no comments about it.

She also has this conversation with Snow regarding how odd it is that Hope is barred from leaving the Ark to do things such as talking to Snow (which, from the tone of this conversation, both Snow and Hope would enjoy), but doesn’t comment on it.

She also makes no comments about this.

She acknowledges and feels hurt that he has forgotten, but doesn’t think about why that may have happened.

Here she learns that even Hope’s colleagues have no idea what happened despite wanting him back, but no comments either.

She also doesn’t say anything when he blatantly talks about dying.

She also doesn’t seem to catch on the meaning of this (”It’s really nearing the end now. Soon it will be over.”) being Hope’s existence will also be over.

Sure, we can argue that Lightning is just not the most astute of people and these hints all flew over her head. But then there’s the nail on the coffin:

If she didn’t know before, Lumina’s forced her to know now - that Hope is wrong somehow and that to achieve her goals might mean turning on him and killing him. Which, of course, is fine if Hope is a fake - but where is the real Hope then, the one she knew she cared for and could trust, and shouldn’t she care about saving him, since she puts so much effort into saving everyone else and tries to save even Caius?

Or, alternatively, if she believes the real Hope is dead/gone, shouldn’t she show some sign of grief or disappointment over it?

This is the first and only time in LR Lightning explicitly discusses the problems with Hope before Hope’s final farewell; she does not talk about (her thoughts on) him to anyone otherwise.

Part II. Lightning’s Heart/Compassion

That brings us to our second point.

Argument: Lightning’s a fine companion to Hope during LR. If she was cold to him, it’s because her heart (Lumina) was missing, so you can’t fault her for that, and she’s cold towards everyone, really, it’s just a part of her character.

Answer: uhhhhh, about that.

Let’s put aside her lack of reaction towards all the alarming stuff covered in Part I for now (especially the part where her heart, Lumina, seems particularly sardonic in tone while grilling her about the possibility of killing Hope). Let’s just look at the moments when Lightning showed she was perfectly capable of compassion in LR, even to street NPCs.

To the boy playing Serah’s theme (I think) in Yusnaan, she makes a remark that shows caring for Snow:

She shows empathy regarding the ghosts of the murdered women in Luxerion, wishing to save them despite knowing she had no powers over the dead:

She is quite unhappy about that one fireworks guy’s story in Yusnaan:

We know how emotional she got in person with Snow:

She understands Luka’s pain about crying solely for others:

She helps the girl who claims that she used to be a chocobo despite agreeing that it’s logically absurd:

She quite obviously cares for Sazh and Dajh:

And so on and so forth (too many screenshots.)

In short, Lightning’s perfectly capable of caring and worrying for others, especially her friends and allies. She even muses about love and dependence, but those thoughts are purely introspective, making no mentions of Hope even though he could fit right into them:

She explicitly wonders if she’s unable to love. She likely comes around to the idea by the end - I’m in no way against Hoperai post LR, I’ve written fics on it - but here, she isn’t there yet, and her thoughts don’t even drift to Hope when she thinks about her feelings (even though mutual dependence is like, basically the nature of her relationship with Hope in LR).

Now, her lack of action or commentary regarding Hope’s impending problems with Bhunivelze notwithstanding, (and Hope deliberately trying to mislead her into not trusting him notwithstanding - that still doesn’t explain why she wasn’t more upset and proactive with either him or the “real” Hope, though,) she also snaps at Hope a whole lot. Of course Hope goes overboard with protectiveness and I’ve also heard that some of it is due to the translation from Japanese to English, but just look at this.

She isn’t very subtle when she lies to him about trusting him, even though she was trying to keep her agenda secret:

She basically blows up on him when he circumvents a lot in his explanation of where Serah might have gone, and doesn’t say anything even after in response he makes the extremely morbid promise to look for Serah and reunite the sisters after his own death:

And, of course, even though Hope sounds absolutely dejected with this line, no investigations or words of comfort either:

Part III. Lightning’s Plan

Argument: Lightning did all of that above because it didn’t matter, she had a plan and she saved him in the end.

Answer: I don’t like thinking of “murder” as a plan.

Lightning makes a vague mention of a “last resort” when talking to Lumina. The problem... this occurs right before the conversation regarding killing Hope, which then means

1) Her “last resort” involves willingly killing Hope (which really does not show her care for his well-being) OR

2) She knows Hope’s going to end up needing to be saved somehow (in which case she’s... basically waiting for the end to happen, and risking the success of saving him in the process) OR

3) This is strictly talking about her ability to fight Bhunivelze and has nothing to do with Hope (which also doesn’t help our case RE: caring about Hope).

I’m inclined to think she didn’t really have much of a plan, going by how shocked she seemed to be at their final conversation:

She straight up admits that she’s not been the greatest with him even just as a friend and partner.

... And even when she goes to fight Bhuni it seems to be more about Serah and the world than about Hope.

And this is not even going into how Lightning feels about Bhuni’s more lewd words to her in JPN, which she definitely knows to have come from Hope because she tells Bhuni that his downfall is due to having a human’s heart within him...

Part III.1/2 Possible Dev Intentions

Now, perhaps a lot of these happened the way they did because the devs 1) didn’t want Hoperai to become “too” canon (due to pedophilia reasons and to keep Lightning open for fandom to ship her with others) or 2) wanted to keep Hope’s problems mostly a surprise until the end. However, I’d argue that you can easily still do 1) while showing Lightning to care about him even just as a friend (asking him if he has any theories of his own on why he ended up the way he did at the beginning, for example; Hope doesn’t even have to answer correctly, but just showing her asking shows that she cares). As for 2)... I’m really upset with the Lumina scene LOL if they’re going to be so explicit about Lightning having to (at least try to) kill Hope, then why don’t they give us a single throwaway line where either Lightning OR Lumina considers some kind of alternative? They really don’t talk about saving him at all before they actually do save him, while everyone else (Sazh, Snow, Vanille, Noel) etc all have a lead up section where Lightning contemplates how she used to know them and how they may have been affected by everything that’s happened. As LR was made by the devs, we skipped any potential thoughts Lightning could have had regarding Hope’s adult life, his feelings of abandonment, and extremely difficult leadership for hundreds of years. It would have been so interesting to read. But we didn’t get any of that - and nothing explicitly romantic from Lightning, either. So anything between them has to fill in those gaps on their own - and they have to do it in the new world, after that train arrives, and after they see each other again. Within LR Lightning and Hope are not romantically linked, but that should not stop anyone from exploring their romantic future together in the new world they both fought so hard to create, especially when it’s filled with so much potential for soul-searching, for honesty, for understanding, and for happiness.

#I played LR you guys #and if I didn't care about LR or didn't care about Hoperai I wouldn't have spent so many hours collecting screenshots and writing this #the more you love something the more you hurt over it #I want them to be happy; and thus I do not want to write them as happy when they're not there yet #It's not *WRONG* of Lightning to have done all of this either #Her life and her feelings are her own #if she finds it difficult to care or simply failed to see things it's not on anyone to force her to care or see #that's on her and if in some cases things don't work out that's just how it is #long post #Lightning Farron #Hope Estheim #ffxiii

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alixofagnia · 7 years ago

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Kylo Ren/Ben Solo Episode IX Speculation

Ascension of power does not equate to maintenance of power.

I think Kylo is going to be overthrown in the first half of the film. By necessity, there will have to be a time skip, maybe anywhere from 6 months to a year, but not longer than that because I don’t think Kylo will be able to hang on to his position. I would be highly surprised if he made it past a handful of months and here’s why:

General Hux

Hux was played up for comedic effect in TLJ, but it’s somewhat undermined by examples of real leadership, engagement with fellow, high-ranking FO officers, and the distinct feeling that this man is more cunning than you think. That’s not to say that Hux will hit epic levels of villainy; but he will most assuredly continue to be an antagonist to Kylo and, with Snoke’s murder, he will now have a justified reason for being so.

How could Hux go about it?

Aside from the fact that he’s basically in charge of the FO military, Hux could go after Kylo with a smear campaign by revealing his true identity. Of course, this hinges on whether the galaxy at large knows that Kylo Ren of the First Order is Ben Solo, son of rebel Generals Leia Organa and Han Solo. Evidence points to the negative:

-Poe seems unaware of Kylo’s relation to his revered general, both in TFA and TLJ

-Han and Leia speak about Ben in a hushed, private conversation in TFA; they never speak his name aloud (though mostly, of course, to withhold information for dramatic effect)

-barely anyone in the FO is shown wanting to make eye contact with Kylo Ren; I doubt they know anything personal about him

-Finn clearly has no idea

-it’s unclear how Rey found out; in TLJ, she not only knew Ben’s family history but she knew that Luke redeemed Darth Vader, which I didn’t think was common knowledge based off of Bloodline. Alternately, I suppose Chewie could’ve filled her in on the way back from Starkiller Base, during a shared grieving moment for Han (which also explains why she knows but not Finn).

So, I would posit that the basic story put about, the one the galaxy knows, is that Kylo Ren hailed from Luke’s small academy, turned on Luke, killed his fellow students, one of them being Ben Solo, and joined Snoke as his apprentice.

At the least, then, Hux knows Kylo Ren has a personal link to Luke Skywalker, which is memorably reinforced by his TFA warning and TLJ reminder to Kylo about personal interests. But with their relationship being what it is - competitive, hostile - I wouldn’t put it past him to have some extra dirt on Kylo, gathered prior to TFA, that he’s been holding on to; certainly, he will have it now that Kylo’s taken hold of the power vacuum left by Snoke, a role Hux surely felt he was better qualified for.

This wouldn’t be a difficult smear campaign to pull off. Only consider how badly a secret identity, one with close ties to the enemy, would threaten Kylo’s position within the FO:

“Kylo Ren is a New Republic and Resistance sympathizer, a double agent and traitor! He is the son of rebel scum, but not just any dirty rebel: he’s the son of Leia Organa, the most dogged enemy of the Empire and First Order! At her behest, he aided and abetted a Jedi in the assassination of Supreme Leader Snoke, and then allowed her to escape! He has seized power in order to restore the Republic!”

Can’t you just see Hux spitting that out over a loudspeaker?

It’s made painfully clear that Kylo has no real allies in the FO. He never really engages with any FO officer other than Hux, though he has a smattering of brief interactions with Phasma, poor Mitaka, and a few Stormtroopers. But that smattering few are not equals; they take orders, not question them. They are not in positions to keep him in power.

We briefly saw the Knights of Ren in TFA and they will likely have a role in IX, but we also don’t know the nature of their relationship to their leader. If some or all are Kylo’s former Jedi mates (as alluded to in TLJ), then do you suppose they share Kylo’s view about a new order, a new balance? Or did that view only come to Kylo as he was ForceSkyping with Rey? Is Kylo’s view and aspiration for power motivated by lineage? Politics? Ideology? A mix? Is it even truly his aspiration?

I’m getting slightly off topic.

Suffice it to say, I don’t think the Knights of Ren will be particularly helpful in Kylo’s ability to maintain his position. At least, not in an area where it really counts: bureaucracy. And say what you will about it, but years of bureaucracy and the re-centralization of power was how the Emperor actually conquered the galaxy, not massive-scale battles or “new tech” WMDs alone.

Back to the point: Kylo’s visible instability on Crait could only have made a poor impression on the FO military, hitherto shown to be highly ordered and rigidly structured, if nothing else. And I’m not just talking about his gross waste of FO resources for, what, 40 rebels in a crumbling base, but also on a single man who turned out to be, well, a freaking wizard! Imagine following someone like that, putting your trust and loyalty into someone so obviously unhinged and undone? (Nobody bring up real-world comparisons lol!)

Essentially, Kylo will struggle with leadership. He will not turn out to be politically and diplomatically gifted, like his mother (because that would be a bit out of character at this point), and it will be to his detriment. Of the two men, Hux is repeatedly shown to be the carefully calculating and cunning one, not Kylo, who is a loaded gun waiting to go off. He will bide his time, discreetly sowing the seeds of discord and gathering support even as he secretly (or not secretly) launches an investigation into Snoke’s death. The results of this investigation may play out in the opening of IX wherein Kylo’s position is shown or implied to have been tenuous from the minute we left him in TLJ.

In light of Carrie Fisher’s death and confirmed omission from IX, I wonder if the film might open on Leia’s funeral. After her prominence in TLJ, I don’t see how it will be believable that Leia is alive and well in some OTHER part of the galaxy. It would be along the lines of “she’s lost the will to live” and it just falls flat, particularly since Luke (and Rey, to an extent) renewed her hope in TLJ. For speculation purposes, let’s say her death occurs off-screen and that it comes very early on. The information could reach Kylo, he has a strong reaction to it (especially if he didn’t know that Leia survived the Raddus explosion), which triggers the Force connection with Rey.

[Speaking of which, I don’t think that part of their relationship is over with; I think it will continue to be explored in IX, but not so much as it was in TLJ. In TLJ it was used to establish intimacy; in IX, it will by nature have to take on a different role, probably less occurring but more dramatic, in order to prevent overuse/overdependence, which will deteriorate its effectiveness.]

Anyway, this connection with Rey, particularly if he expresses regret at their last parting or grief over Leia and Luke, may be observed by Hux, who uses it as his opportunity to overthrow Kylo. Presumably, Hux will not be able to see Rey, but he will be able to hear Kylo and use whatever he says against him. Alternately, Hux may initiate an arrest or even an assassination, which Kylo escapes. After his escape, Hux puts out the smear campaign as well as a bounty, making Kylo a wanted fugitive of the FO. He won’t find recourse with the Resistance, not after Crait, so he can’t join Rey, and anyway, he won’t yet have become the balanced equal she deserves.

As a fugitive, I think the second half of the movie will find Kylo on his journey to self-discovery and self-reconciliation. It would also be an opportunity to visit different worlds within the Star Wars galaxy, some so far removed from the political feuding that Kylo will be able to find that inner peace and resolve he needs. Maybe he will begin atoning by helping those suffering under the effects of both the FO and the Resistance in some way; not that he’ll “get all mushy” about it, he’s still got the heart of Han “Scoundrel” Solo, after all.

Something like that.

What I will say is that I can’t see IX featuring the big space battles we got in TLJ. 1) it’s not an even fight right now; hell, it’s not even an underdog fight, with the Resistance so crippled and 2) since the question TLJ mulled over is about balance (grayness), then the message of IX will have to be along the lines of coexistence. Right?

We’re talking small scale conflict, with large scale effects.

And then Rey and Ben will be free to fly off in the Falcon, retire somewhere green where Ben can take up calligraphy again and Rey will design/build space crafts, and every once in a while they’ll answer the call to bring balance to the galaxy, like some kind of married vigilante Force users.

Or something like that.

#star wars episode ix #ben solo #kylo ren #reylo #star wars the last jedi #armitage hux #leia organa

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musetotheworld · 7 years ago

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I'm glad you're still taking prompts because I have one, lol. Set after the Adam fiasco. Supergirl rescues Cat after an alien attack but a chemical secretion/reaction from the alien means they're literally stuck together until the effect fades. Quarantined at the DEO, they can't be 'professional' any longer.

Kara spends the first hour wishing teleportation were one of her abilities. That, or maybe J'onn’s ability to fade through walls. Anything that would get her out of this situation.

They’d tried to keep up the charade, of course. Sent agents to CatCo rather than bring Cat to the DEO. Spoken about Kara as if she were just an innocent bystander. There was no familiarity with any of the agents Kara knew so well by now, no bright smiles or questions about family. Everything stayed perfectly professional. They brought in a few DEO medics to act as ‘emergency responders’ and did everything possible to make it seem like a routine response to a strange situation.

And of course, none of it impressed Cat. She seemed impossible to please, sighing endlessly as she pulled away from Kara as if hoping the mysterious substance would suddenly release its hold. She didn’t yell at the agents, not beyond a few snapped comments here and there, but even without that it was profoundly uncomfortable.

Because no matter what happened, Cat would not acknowledge Kara’s existence. She avoided looking at her, the tugs at their joined arms were never commented on, and any time an agent spoke to Kara the pretense extended to that agent as well. For all the attention Cat paid her, Kara might as well have been a mannequin.

It had Siobhan smirking all afternoon until the DEO banished her from the office citing contagion concerns. Likely one of the agents had seen Kara’s barely suppressed anger after a particularly pointed interaction between CEO and new assistant, but whatever the reason, Kara was grateful. Even if it meant sitting next to Cat in awkward silence as the agents gathered samples and the medics ran their tests.

“We’d like to call your emergency contacts,” one of those medics says after the first hour, approaching with caution as Cat stiffened. “It’s been an hour, and protocol states we’re to reach out to the designated individual if the situation continues past that. Do either of you need to update that contact?”

“You can call, but I highly doubt she’ll bother answering,” Cat says. She sounds dismissive, even bored, but Kara hasn’t spent this much time learning her tells for nothing.

There’s a layer of hurt beneath the calm, and Kara wishes things were better between them. Wishes they still had the ease and familiarity from before Adam, before things went to hell and “strictly professional”. If this had happened then, she could have reached out, offered some form of comfort or understanding. Anything but sitting awkwardly and pretending she didn’t hear how much this was affecting Cat.

“No, Eliza is fine,” Kara says quietly when the medic turns to her, hoping they’ve been briefed well enough.

Alex is Kara’s official emergency contact in the CatCo system, but they can’t risk her showing up here. Not when the agents react with an instinctive respect, not when Alex commands it without thinking. Not when Alex has been around CatCo more than a few times since Kara started here. And not when Kara knows her sister’s image has shown up in several Supergirl shots over the last few months as DEO agents respond to whatever alien threat is looming.

Cat isn’t blind, and with the recent appearance of Bizarro so soon after only barely convincing her Kara wasn’t Supergirl, there was no sense in tempting fate. Better to keep Alex out of sight.

Except it turns out Alex might have been safer, all things considered. Because Cat goes politely cordial when Eliza arrives, asking questions and making casual conversation. And when Eliza makes a suggestion to the medics, Cat asks about her work.

“Oh, I’m a bio-engineer,” Eliza says with a smile. She seems fairly charmed by Cat’s friendly demeanor, even if she’d been a little wary at first. “This particular situation isn’t my area of expertise, but I do know a few things here and there.”

“Well then it’s a good thing you’re Kara’s emergency contact,” Cat says leaning forward a little in the way she does just before springing a trap. Kara wants to jump up, wants to do something, anything to stop whatever is about to happen, but she doesn’t know what it is. What if she just makes things worse?

“I doubt she ever considered they’d call for a situation like this, but I suppose it is,” Eliza says, looking at a sheet of paper one of the medics hands her with a slight frown. “I’m just grateful I can help, even if my doctorate isn’t really in medical fields.”

“I suppose that runs in the family,” Cat says, sounding interested but relaxed, as if she’s splitting her focus. It’s her way of putting people at ease, and it scares Kara more than any alien she’s faced before. She can’t stop it, doesn’t know what’s coming, but she knows something is about to go wrong. “A scientist mother with some medical knowledge, one daughter following in her footsteps, and the other flying her own path.”

“I’m very proud of them both,” Eliza says without looking up from the report in front of her, totally missing the way every agent in the room freezes at her words.

The worst thing is the way Cat reacts. Rather than anger, or gloating, she’s silent. Even Kara can’t tell what she’s thinking.

The agent in charge reacts first, phone out and calling the DEO and giving an update now that Cat Grant has proof of Kara’s identity. Even if she didn’t have a recording or the words in writing, she had enough information to run the story anyway. The lack of concrete evidence wouldn’t matter at that point. The story would be out, and millions of eyes would be on Kara. Irrefutable proof would follow soon enough under that kind of attention.

The relocation to the city DEO base doesn’t take long, and if the situation were any less serious Kara would be seriously put out at the fact there’s been a closer base all this time. The flight to the desert base takes no time at all, but getting the dust off her boots and cape is a pain. Every time she forgets and collapses into her bed or onto the couch she has to spend the next day cleaning up the mess.

“Well, thirty minutes alone in a shadowy government building and no one’s come to threaten me,” Cat says once they’ve been settled into the med bay. The medics have all scattered to run various tests on the substance now that they’re in the same location as the labs, and the two are alone for a moment for the first time since the alien had attacked. “I’m starting to think I might make it out of here after all.”

“Give it a bit,” Kara mutters. “This time of day, Alex is probably just stuck in traffic.”

“Ah yes, that would be the Danvers sister with a spine, correct?”

The words hurt, and for once Kara doesn’t push down the emotion. She lets it boil over into anger in a way she’s never dared before. But she’s never been both Supergirl and Kara with Cat before. She’s never been able to show every side of her, she’s had to hide no matter what face she presented to the woman.

“If we have to be stuck together, you could at least try not being insufferable,” Kara grits out, raising their joined arms to make her point. “You might be the Queen of all Media, but this is a shadowy government organization that doesn’t exist. This kind of fight wouldn’t be as easy as you’d like to think.”

As soon as the words leave her lips Kara wants to take them back, horrified she’d spoken so frankly. But she’d impressed Cat, Kara can tell that much, and it keeps her from immediately backtracking. Beyond that, she gets nothing.

Settling back in her chair with a disgruntled sigh, Kara resigns herself to a very uncomfortable few hours until the scientists come up with something to break them apart.

At this point, she’d rather go five rounds with her uncle.

***

“Kara!”

The worry in Alex’s tone, as well as the fact she’s using her real name, tips Kara off that someone has filled her sister in on the latest developments. Which means things might get very awkward very shortly.

Well, more awkward than they already are, she thinks as she moves to stand and gets pulled back by Cat’s weight against her. She’s consciously dialed her strength back to human levels to avoid hurting her boss, which means the tug nearly pulls her off balance and has her staggering slightly to regain it.

“I’m okay, Alex,” Kara says, resolutely ignoring the way Cat rolls her eyes. They haven’t said a word since Kara had snapped at her, and this doesn’t seem like an auspicious time to break that silence.

“You’re not okay! Mom gave your secret away to your boss, who happens to be the head of an international media conglomerate. Oh, and you’re also physically stuck to that boss. So no, Kara, don’t tell me you’re okay.”

Kara can’t blame her sister for being upset, but she’d hoped it wouldn’t be this bad. Right now, she’s not sure whether to be embarrassed or frustrated with Alex, even though Kara understands where her sister is coming from.

“It’s handled, okay?” Kara tries to reassure her, still hoping they can keep the situation from devolving further.

“Not yet it isn’t,” Alex says darkly, turning her attention to where Cat is still sitting looking fully composed. How she manages that with one arm stretched in front of her and attached to Kara’s is anyone’s guess, but she does. “You have a single good reason I shouldn’t lock you in a cell so deep they never find you?”

“You mean other than the inconvenient detail that I’m currently attached to your sister?” Cat fires back. Alex is in full tactical gear with a rifle slung over one shoulder, probably to make a statement, but Cat doesn’t flinch. And if not for a small flicker of fear in her eyes, even Kara would think she was perfectly calm in the face of Alex’s anger.

“Alex, relax,” Kara orders, trying to sound authoritative in the hopes it will make Alex trust her. “She didn’t tell the world last time she figured me out, what makes you think this time will be any different?”

“We don’t know she wasn’t going to tell the world,” Alex argues. “We convinced her before things got to that point.”

“Oh, please,” Cat says, finally standing and moving to Kara’s side. It presents them as a unified front, something Kara has missed and hopes isn’t temporary. “Do you really think I would let a story like that just sit around if I had any intentions of publishing? Like hell I’d risk the Planet scooping me. If I’d intended to expose Supergirl’s secret identity, the article would have been written and posted that night.”

“You could’ve been waiting for proof,” Alex argues, refusing to back down even when Kara raises a calming hand. “The way you’ve treated Kara lately, you really expect me to believe you were somehow looking out for her?”

“I had all the proof I needed to at least raise the question in people’s minds. The rest would have followed.” Cat is just as determined as Alex, and considering the agent’s earlier threat, Kara is impressed. It takes a strong soul to stand up to Alex when she’s feeling this protective.

“No more arguing,” Kara tries again.

“You’re right, no more arguing,” Alex says, eyes narrowing as her hands tense. “Because there’s nothing to argue about. If she tells anyone who you are, or if she so much as hints at holding this against you in any way, I might not bother with that cell.”

“Alex, out!”

This time Cat’s reaction isn’t subtle, though she mostly hides it behind a scoff. But Kara knows her too well, and Alex is too well trained to miss this one. Cat is legitimately frightened Alex might actually carry out her threat.

“I see what you mean about the sister,” Cat says, turning as far as their linked arms will allow. “She’s certainly convincing.”

“She’s worried,” Kara defends, wanting to make this right but not knowing where to begin. It’s not just Supergirl that’s between them now. It’s betrayed trust and buried hurts freshly resurfaced. It’s secrets and confidence and failed communication. There’s too much to fix with a few words.

“I did manage to catch that, beneath the bluster,” Cat says with a deep sigh, turning back to meet Kara’s eyes. “And loath as I am to admit it, she’s right.”

“What do you mean?” Kara asks, not sure where this is going. Cat almost never admits she’s been wrong.

She can show it in a hundred different ways, but the words don’t come easily. And when she’s in situations that put her on the spot like this, she usually defaults to pretending she’s completely in control.

“God, Kara,” she groans. “Even you, with all your Sunny Danvers optimism, have to admit I’ve treated you like shit lately. I can’t blame Agent Scully there for thinking I’d do the same in this situation.”

“Then why did you push Eliza for my identity?” Kara asks, confused. “We could’ve sat in your office until they solved the problem and skipped all of this.”

“I saw a chance for the truth and took it,” Cat shrugs. “I didn’t think much beyond that. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised your sister wants to lock me in some cage somewhere.”

“I won’t let her do that,” Kara says immediately, daring to reach out with her free hand to rest it on Cat’s shoulder. “She’s worried about me just like she always is, but I won’t let her do that to you, okay? In fact, I’ll make her bring you a phone so you can call Carter. And Adam, if you want.”

She’s not blind or an idiot, she knows why Cat is scared. If it were only about herself, she would have fought. She would have reminded Alex who she is and what pressure she can bring to bear. She would have demanded to speak to the director, to the President even. The fact she hadn’t speaks just as much as her threats would have.

“You aren’t my assistant here,” Cat says with an attempt at her usual dismissiveness. But Kara can see the thanks in her eyes, and she knows how much the offer means.

“I am unless you’re firing me,” she dares to say, one brow raised in something like challenge as she stares Cat down.

“I believe that would fall under the ‘holding this against you’ clause of your sister’s threat,” Cat points out with a wry smile.

The moment stretches on, full of unspoken communications that Kara doesn’t think any of the languages she knows could encompass. It’s them, purely and completely, and nothing else. Something has shifted, something has changed, and for once they’ve both decided to let it happen, trusting it’s all for the better.

“So we think we have a solution,” Alex interrupts. She’s removed most of her tactical gear, and is holding an opaque container in one hand and a stack of papers in the other. “So we’ll see about getting you free, then we can move on to making sure none of this makes headlines tomorrow.”

Cat sniffs at the sight of no doubt every NDA the DEO has on hand, but doesn’t protest. Kara knows any protest would be solely for show, but she’s grateful they won’t have an argument about this as well as everything from before.

As Alex directs them towards the sink and begins to scrub at their joined arms, Kara narrows her eyes down at the foam. “Alex, is that dish soap?” she asks incredulously, recognizing the blue liquid from years of household chores.

“Something about it negates the adhesive properties of the alien secretions,” Alex says with a shrug. “One of the scientists suggested it after remember something her kids did a few years back.”

“Soap and water,” Cat says in disbelief. “We were glued together for hours because no one thought to try soap and water.”

“Would you rather we tried that first and the soap had a negative reaction with the substance?” Alex says sharply, looking a little defensive of her science division.

Kara’s just glad to finally be free, and as soon as they’ve dried their arms off she pulls Cat into a hug, unable to resist the need to hold her close. They’d been stuck together for hours, but this feels different.

And from the way Cat doesn’t fight, just wraps her own arms around Kara, she thinks the need is mutual. Whether it’s just catharsis, or whether it has something to do with the shift in their relationship, Kara doesn’t know. But for the first time since Cat had insisted they be purely professional, she’s hopeful they’ll have a chance to figure it out.

And when Cat’s lips press just barely against her neck before she finally pulls back, Kara thinks they both know what’s changed.

#supergirl #supergirl fic #supercat #supercat fic #prompt fill #I don't even remember when I got this prompt #I'm sorry it took so long #And I'm sorry if it sucks

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