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nevermindirah · 3 years

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Do you have any thoughts on the use of AAVE for Nile (or lack thereof) in TOG fanfiction? I've been reading some Book of Nile fic and some writers seem to write her as a Millennial™ (using words like "fave" and "woke") but never acknowledge her Blackness in her patterns of speech. I know we don't see her use as much AAVE in the films, but I would argue she's in situations where code-switching would be valued (first in a "professional" environment in the army, then around a group of non-Black strangers).

Hi anon! I have many thoughts on this and I'm honored you asked me! But I should start by saying I'm white and any thoughts Black fans and especially Black American fans have on this that they want to share would be beyond lovely. (I'm not gonna tag anybody bc that feels rude but please add onto this post if any of y'all see this and want to!)

The main reason I personally avoid AAVE for Nile in my own fics is because I'm not Black. But Nile-centric fics by Black writers tend to avoid using much of it too, at least from what I've noticed/understood, and my guess is it's largely for the reason you mention, that she's in situations that encourage code-switching.

In movie canon Nile is highly competent at tailoring her language to each situation she finds herself in. This fantastic linguistics analysis meta shows how skillfully Nile chooses her vocabulary and grammar to meet her goals with different conversation partners in different contexts. In comics canon Nile had a bunch of different civilian jobs before joining the Marines, so she would've had experience code-switching in the ways that made sense for all those different contexts as well as the Marines and her family and high school and wherever else she spent her time before we met her. And now she's spending her time with a handful of immortals none of whom are native English speakers and a fellow Black American but one with a Queen's English UK accent whose professional experience is in the CIA where high-status code-switching is often an absolute must for success or even survival.

Fics featuring Nile are charged with extrapolating from that to how it might show up in her use of language that she's coping with a traumatic separation from her family and her career and pretty much everything she's ever known and now she needs to be able to make herself understood to people who seem to care about her and each other but are super duper in crisis, three (soon to be four) of whom predate Modern English entirely and the only one who's anywhere near her contemporary she's not supposed to talk to for a century. All of these people are telling her that pretty much any contact with any mortals poses an existential threat to her and the rest of the group. How the FUCK is she supposed to cope with that, like, generally? And would it be a more effective way for her to cope if she talked to Andy Joe and Nicky using the speech patterns that she used to use with her mom and brother, to at least retain that part of her identity even if it means having to do a lot of explaining, or would it meet her needs better to prioritize Andy Joe and Nicky understanding what she means with her words over using the particular words and grammar forms she used with her family?

I've seen several fics, both Nile-centric / BoN and otherwise, explore this a little bit in how/whether Nile uses Millennial™ speak. It's often a theme in Nile texting Booker despite the exile because of the popular headcanon that he as The Tech Guy is the only other immortal who understands memes. But Nile's much-younger-than-Booker mom probably uses Boomer and/or Gen X memes and Andy has been adapting to new communication styles for forever as evidenced by her canon high level of fluency with standard-American-accented English.

Which brings us back to people avoiding AAVE because they're not Black and they don't want to make mistakes (or they're not Black and they don't want to get yelled at for making mistakes, though I think many people overestimate how much they'll get yelled at while underestimating how much these mistakes can hurt). I can imagine some Black fans hold back from using much AAVE in fic because they don't want to share in-group stuff with white people who are likely to then adopt and ruin it, as white people so often do with Black cultural stuff. Some links about this including a great Khadija Mbowe video. I'm saying this gently, anon, because you might not know: woke, an example you cited as Millennial™ speak, is AAVE, and that's gotten erased by so many white people appropriating it and using it incorrectly online.

And also there's the part where fandom is a hobby and you never know when you're reading a fic that's the very first thing someone's ever written outside of a school assignment. This cultural considerations of language shit takes a level of effort and skill that not everybody puts into every fic, or even could if they wanted to because they haven't had time to build their skills yet. It's definitely easier for non-Black fans to project our millennial feels onto Nile than to do the layers of research and self-reflection it requires to depict what Blackness might mean to Nile, and it's not surprising that often people sharing their hobby creations on the internet have gone the easier route. There's not even necessarily shame in doing what's easier. It's just frustrating and often hurtful when structural white supremacy means that 3-dimensional Black characters are rare in media and thoughtful explorations of them in fandom are seen by the majority of fans as not-easy to make and therefore Nile Freeman, the main character in The Old Guard (2020) dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood, has the least fic and meta and art made about her of our 5 main immortals.

I've been active in different fandoms off and on for twenty years and I barely managed to write 5,000 words about Sam Wilson across multiple different fics in the 7 years since I fell in love with him. There's an alchemy to which characters we connect with, and on top of that which characters we connect with in a way that causes us to create stuff about them. Something about Nile Freeman finally tipped me over the edge from a voracious reader to a voracious writer. It's not for me to judge which characters speak to other individuals to the level of creating content about them, but I do think it's important for us to notice, and then work to fight, the pattern where across this fandom as a whole Nile gets way less content, and way less depth in so much of the content that's in theory about her, than any of these other characters.

Anyway, back to language. My two long fics feature Nile with several Black friends — Copley and OCs and cameos from other media — but all of those characters except Alec Hardison from Leverage aren't American. It's very possible I'm guilty of stereotyping Black British speech patterns in I See Your Eyes Seek a Distant Shore. I watched hours and hours of Black haircare YouTube videos in the research for that fic and I modeled my OCs' speech patterns on what I heard from some of those YouTubers as well as what I've heard people like John Boyega and Idris Elba saying in interviews, but the thing about doing your best is you still might fuck up.

I'm slowly making progress on my WIP where Nile and Sam Wilson are cousins, and what ways of talking with a family member might be authentic for Nile is a major question I need to figure out. For that, I'm largely modeling my writing choices on how I hear my Black friends and colleagues talking to each other. I haven't overheard colleagues talking in an office in a long-ass time, but back when that was a thing, I remember seeing a ton of nuance in the different ways many of my Black colleagues would talk to each other. Different people have different personalities! And backgrounds! And priorities! A few jobs ago my department was about 1/3 Black and we worked closely with Obama administration staff many of whom were Black and there was SO MUCH VARIETY in how Black people talked to each other, about work and workplace-appropriate personal stuff, where I and other white coworkers could hear. There are a few work friends in particular who I have in my head when I'm trying to imagine how Sam and Nile might talk to each other. From the outside looking in, God DAMN is shit complicated, intellectually and interpersonally and spiritually, for Black people who are devoting their professional lives to public service in the United States.

One more aspect of this that I have big thoughts on but I need to take extra care in talking about is the idea of acknowledging Nile's Blackness in her patterns of speech. There's no one right way to be Black, and Nile's a fictional character created by a white dude but there are plenty of real-life Black Americans who don't use much or even any AAVE, for reasons that are complicated because of white supremacy. (Highly highly recommend this video by Shanspeare on the harms of the Oreo stereotype.)

Something that's not the same but has enough similarity that I think it's worth talking about is my personal experience with authenticity and American Jewish speech patterns. My Jewish family members don't talk like they're in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and I've known lots of people who do talk that way (or the millennial version of it), some of whom have questioned my Jewishness because I don't talk that way. That hurts me. Sometimes when another Jew tells me some shit like "I've never heard a Jew say y'all'd've," I can respond with "well now you have asshole, bless your Yankee-ass heart," because the myth of Dixie is a racist lie but I will totally call white Northerners Yankees when they're being shitty to me for being Southern, and this particular Jew fucking revels in using "bless your heart" with maximum polite aggression, especially with said Yankees. But sometimes I don't have it in me to say anything and it just quietly hurts having an important part of me disbelieved by someone who shares that important part of me. The sting isn't quite the same when non-Jews disbelieve or discount my Jewishness, but that hurts too.

Who counts as authentically Jewish is a messy in-group conversation and it doesn't really make sense to explain it all here. Who counts as authentically Jewish is a matter of legal status for immigration, citizenship, and civil rights in Israel, and it's my number 2 reason after horrific treatment of Palestinians that I'm antizionist. But outside that extremely high-stakes legal situation, it can just feel really shitty to not be recognized as One Of Us, especially by your own people.

It can also feel really shitty to be The Only One of Your Kind in a group, even if that group is an immortal chosen family who all loves each other dearly. Sometimes especially in a situation like that where you know those people love you but there are certain things they don't get about you and will never quite be able to. I'm definitely projecting at least a little bit of my "lonely Jew who will be alone again for yet another Jewish holiday" stuff onto Nile when at the end of I See Your Eyes Seek a Distant Shore she's thinking about being the only Black immortal and moving away from the community she'd built with a mostly-Black group of mortals in that fic. Maybe that tracks, or maybe that's fucked up of me.

Basically, this got very long but it's complicated, writing about experiences that aren't your own takes skill which in turn takes time and practice to build, writing about experiences not your own that our society maligns can cause a lot of harm if done badly, it can also cause a lot of harm when a large enough portion of a fandom just decides to nope out of something that's difficult and risky because then there's just not much content about a character who deserves just a shit ton of loving and nuanced content, people are individuals and two people who come from the exact same cultural context might show that influence in all kinds of different ways, identity is complicated, language is complicated, writing is hard, and empathy and humility and doing our best aren't a guarantee of avoiding harm but they do go a long way in helping people create thoughtful content about a character as awesome and powerful and kind and messy and scared and curious and WORTHY as Nile Freeman.

#nile freeman #linguistics #TOG POC Love Fest #nileweek2021 #tog meta #tog #long post #mine #antiblackness #jewish things #hi i'm an antizionist jew no i don't really want to talk about it

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hopesbarnes · 5 years

Text

Falling for a God

Summary: Everyone still thinks of Loki as the alien who ruined New York. But after getting to know him you realize he's far from that. But is this just harmless flirting or more than that?

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Warnings: Smut, 18+, Curse words, fluff, Loki is really cute in this

A/N: This is a repost of a one-shot originally posted to my AO3 page

The flirting has been going on for weeks now. You’re unsure if this is just a game or if the god wants you as much as you want him. It started when you were training one day.

You were sparring with Sam to work on your skills in the off chance your powers were impaired. For some reason, it was unusually hot in the training room. So naturally, you took off your top, thankful you put on one of your nicer sports bras this morning. It was one of those zipper front sports bras and it was slightly unzipped. However, it had been a push up one and maybe not the most appropriate one to wear in front of your teammates. But it was what was clean, and you felt confident in it.

Sam was looking at you, distracted by you taking your shirt off. You took this chance to knock him off balance and straddle him so that he was pinned. “Uh, I think that is enough for today Y/N, we’ll continue tomorrow” Sam managed to spit out as he scrambled to head towards his room.

You decided to go over to the treadmill that happened to be next to Loki rather than ending your session early.

“You nearly had that poor man panting, Y/N.” Loki snickered at you.

You looked at him confused and asked Loki what he meant.

“Are you that naive? How did you miss that he was clearly aroused?”

There was no way Sam was turned on by you, was there?

“Oh dear, you are that naive. What did you expect when you took your top off to show that off brassiere that quite wonderfully shows off your breasts. Then you straddled the man and had him beneath your thighs in a way we all dream of having you.” he says nonchalantly.

“I didn’t mean to do that, I- oh no” you mumble. What if he thought you liked him? “Uh Loki I should go shower, I’ll see you later,” you say as you head towards the showers to clear your head. It wasn’t until later you thought back to Loki’s words and how he admitted to wanting you on top of him.

A couple of days later you find yourself up late unable to sleep so you go out to the kitchen expecting it to be empty. But sitting at the counter is a shirtless Loki with a cup of tea and a Harry Potter book. You can’t help but giggle at this. When he sees you he magically changes the book to one of Asgard’s history but it is too late, you saw the book already.

“I- uh was just reading this book about history, I couldn’t sleep and this usually bores me enough that I can drift off.”

"Sure, whatever you say there, Wizard’” you laugh at his discomfort

“Okay, fine. I may have started this series and can’t go to sleep until I finish this book. I need to know who wins the tournament.” He mutters and drops the spell that turned the book into an Asgardian one.

So he was at book four then. “I’ve read them a few times and seen the movies more than that. It’s okay to fangirl a little Loki.” you smile.

“There are movies!?” he says way too excited and it causes your smile to get bigger. “Also who is ‘fangirl’?” It takes a few minutes to explain the concept of fandoms to Loki, and then to show him what fanfiction is. The rest of the night is spent with him telling you all of his theories and favorite parts of the books.

The next three nights you talk about Harry Potter and he tells you where he is in the series. The fourth night he finishes the series (you’ve learned that Loki reads really fast) and you guys discuss the ending. You make plans to start a movie marathon tomorrow after you promise to do it in his room where nobody else will find out his love of a mortal book series.

His room looks as you imagined, clean and very minimalistic. It’s decorated in dark black and green with one wall being taken up by bookcases. He has mostly books from other realms but you notice the last shelf is full of Earth books, mostly fictional novels. You spot the Twilight series and upon learning that he read the first one (he begrudgingly admits to liking it) you decide to watch those movies next.

Both of you settle into his bed and begin your marathon. You fall asleep during Prisoner of Azkaban and he pauses the movie and naps with you. It takes a couple of days to watch all of the movies as both of you fall asleep a few times. But you learn a lot about Loki and grow closer to him during this time.

A week later a couple of the Avengers decide to go out for the night, mostly looking for a reason to dress up and act like they aren’t protecting all of humanity. All the girls get ready in your room together.

“Nat can you do my makeup, I want to look hot,” you beg.

“Looking to impress someone?” Wanda teases and you stay uncharacteristically quiet.

“Oh my god, you are!” Natasha says shocked.

“Maybe, I don’t know!” You huff, “I’m not even sure how I feel yet. But he said something a few weeks ago and now I can not get the idea of mounting him like a horse out of my head.” you confess to your best friends.

They both stare at you, then start asking a million questions, who it was, what they said, and many more. Then they start to guess.

“Well, it can’t be Vision or Bruce unless there’s something we don’t know” Wanda points out.

You promise that it isn’t their boyfriends, that is definitely something you would not do.

“Not Bucky or Steve, those two barely take a moment to look at anything but each other. It’s not Tony is it?” Natasha asks as the two girls running through various team members to figure out your secret crush.

You laugh, “No definitely not Tony. Guys, I promise if it becomes something I will let you know, but for now, I just want to look good to see if they even were serious.”

You walk out of the room in a skin-tight black dress, black heels, and dark red lipstick to go with it. Noticing Loki isn’t dressed you go over to him,

“Not coming out Loki?” you ask.

“Midgard clubs aren’t really my scene darling,” he says still looking down at his book. He finally looks up at you and his eyes go wide.

“At second thought maybe I should see what this place is like,” he says while magically changing into black pants and a black button-down. You smile and go to leave.

“Hey Y/N, save me a dance would you?” he asks and you nod in response.

At the club, everyone is trying to get a picture or dance with the Avengers. Being a lesser-known member you are able to avoid this thankfully. An hour or two go by before you make your way from the dance floor to the bar. There you see Loki with a drink in his hand looking bored.

“No screaming fans wanting a picture with the almighty God of Mischief? you ask.

"It seems that once you kill people and try to take over their planet, they do not respond too kindly to you. No Midgard trusts me enough to come near me,” he says and you detect a bit of sorrow.

“Well I am from here and I trust you completely Loki. What happened before is in the past.” You assure him. “Well then I want a picture with you, it’s not every day you are around royalty, is it?” you tease and move to sit on his lap.

"Considering we live in the same tower I would say it is but if it pleases you then sure.” You take out your phone and take a few selfies with him and your heart flutters when he grabs your hips.

“I do believe I was promised a dance.”

“You were,” you say while standing and he grabs your hand and brings you to the dance floor.

The dancing started as innocently as it could in a crowded club, then he whispered in your ear.

“I never did compliment this dress, it truly is exquisite.”

You moved closer to him and continued to sway your hips along with the music. He grabbed your hips and guided them. Loki then begins to place small kisses along your neck making you moan and grow increasingly wetter.

“Baby, as much as I am enjoying this, we should leave now before I take you here in front of all these people,” he said into your ear.

In a haze, he took your hand and led you to where one of the Stark cars were. You quickly texted the girls letting them know you left and were okay. Loki couldn’t keep his hands off of you the entire ride back. He started by just rubbing your thigh but his hand kept moving higher up until it reached your underwear. You had to hold your tongue to keep yourself from moaning in front of the driver. He started to rub over your panties and you swear the look on his face was enough to make you cum. Unfortunately, you were already back at the tower and running towards his room like two horny teenagers.

As you entered his room he shut the door and pushed you against it. He pulled your dress up and knelt down between your legs.

“I apologize for leaving you hanging there Y/N,” he said before pulling your panties down and tossing them across the room. He licked a hot stripe up before flicking his tongue against your clit. You let out a moan that was far more high pitched than you wanted to. He continued to trace patterns with his tongue before pushing a finger into your hot core. It felt like heaven.

He pumped his finger a few times before adding another finger, then added a third and you felt the start of your high. When he sucked on your clit you felt your orgasm take over and you screamed his name. He continued to lick and lap up all of your juices before picking you up and walking you towards the bed.

“Wait, Loki.” you stopped him. “I don’t just want to fuck and be done, I want you.”

He looked startled, “Y/N I want that too, but are you sure. The parts of me you’re asking for are fucked up darling. I’ve hurt people before.” he said.

“Loki, I told you earlier, I trust you. You’re more than a villain. You get excited by books and cuddle when you sleep. You make me feel whole.” You confess. “But please, right now I need you to take me and show me a little bit of that dark side.”

He lunges towards you and kisses you fiercely. Why have you not done this before? He slips his tongue into your mouth and you moan into the kiss. When you finally need air and pull apart you feel dizzy.

He starts to kiss you again and you pull at his shirt not having enough concentration to tackle the buttons. Eventually, you tug hard enough to rip it off and hear the faint sound of buttons hitting the floor around you. Within seconds both of you are completely undressed and on the bed. His hands are all over you, from squeezing your thighs, to lightly touching your nipples he explores every inch of your body. You are doing the same thing, scratching his back, feeling his muscles that nobody else would know he has, and softly grinding against his cock while moaning loudly. His hands hold your hips hard enough that you know tomorrow you will have bruises. He flips you over so that you now are beneath him and starts teasing your entrance with his cock.

“Loki, please. I need you inside of me now. L-L-” you say but are cut off by him slowly entering you. He is by far the biggest you have ever had and the stretch feels amazing.

“By gods you are tight.” he moans. As soon as you get used to his size he starts to thrust out and back in leaving you speechless. Your eyes flutter closed but open when tweaks your nipples. “Be a good girl and leave your eyes open.” he pleads and you obey.

After a couple more thrusts he pulls out leaving you whimpering.

“Baby, I want you to ride me. I want you to use me for your own pleasure and cum on my cock. Think you can do that?” He says breathlessly.

You nod and climb on top of him before taking him all in one movement. You start to move up and down bouncing on his long thick cock. Loki makes these delicious groans the entire time, and you know he’s close when he starts bucking his hips up to meet your movements. He starts to play with your clit and you can feel your orgasm just out of reach.

“Come on baby, cum for me.” his words are enough for you to see stars and he shoots his load into you at the same time while yelling out your name. Once you’ve ridden out your high you collapse on his chest and he rubs circles on your back while kissing your forehead.

“That was by far the best sex of my life.” you manage to mumble sleepily. He chuckles and pulls out from you and moves so that you are next to him. He manages to tuck you both in with the comforter and you hear him tell FRIDAY to turn off the lights.

“Y/N, I think I love you,” he confesses and you smile.

“I think I may love you too Loki,” you reply before falling asleep in his arms.

In the morning you put on a robe and go to grab coffee for both you and the sleeping god in your bed. A few of the other Avengers are awake talking about last night. Before you can escape back to your room you see Loki enter the kitchen, dressed but missing his shirt.

Tony yells “Put a fucking shirt on man!”

Loki replies slyly, “I would have if Y/N didn’t rip it apart last night.”

The various Avengers all look at you with wide eyes.

“Wanda!” Nat yells, “You owe me, it was Loki, not Sam!”

You gasp at the fact that your best friends were betting on who you were trying to impress last night.

“You bet on me?!” you yell at them. They laugh but you ignore them and take the coffee cups and turn to leave with Loki hot on your tail, ready for another round.

#loki x reader #Loki Laufeyson #loki fanfic #loki smut #loki imagine #marvel smut #marvel fic #loki x y/n #marvel one shot #loki odinson

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carreraleigh · 5 years

Text

The New Girl

Pairing: Raleigh (M) x Hannah (MC)

Words: +3.0K

Rating: G (General)

Summary: Raleigh and MC in chapter 2 (Raleigh's POV)

A/N: Well, this is my first fanfiction of Raleigh and MC! I'm so in love with this new character aka Raleigh so expect to see more fanfics soon! 💗

Tags: @vienroose @nazariortega @queenkaneko @drethanramsey @isabella-choices @lilyofchoices @adricnraines @sinclairemckenzie @attuneless

I'm going to create a special tag list for the fics of this couple, so if you want to continue or be added please tell me!

I'm not a native english speaker so I apologize for advanced errors.

——

Raleigh wanted to be anywhere, except for that place. He had been there since early in the morning, seeing how during the course of the day the lobby, that had been empty, was now filling up with people faster and faster. He didn't understand why he had gone, it was the audition day and he had nothing to do there, of course, apart from standing up and smiling as if he were having fun. His PR team planned everything, according to them, his presence would be "good" for his image and it would show interest in the program, he cursed the day when the yacht news came to light. He was trapped there, waiting for an audition with more than 8,000 people to start and not a chance to escape it. Well, at least he had his guitar next to him to keep him company.

Boredom was about to take hold of him completely when he saw a girl running into the lobby, followed closely by another black-haired girl. The two stopped very close to him, close enough for him to hear their conversation. The black-haired girl was accusing the other one of spying on her during her presentation, but he knew there was no way she could have gotten in on her own, someone had to have put her in. His theory was quickly confirmed when he heard the girl's voice saying that Avery invited her in. Admitting that was a bad idea, he thought. Now, she had become a target for anyone who is obsessed enough with joining the competition, and from the girl's behavior, he was sure that was her first audition. The girl with the black hair said a few last words, furious, and walked out in quick steps towards the exit. The other one stood there, thinking out loud.

“Guess I’m not making any friends.”

Oh no, she was so wrong.

“Where I come from, that’s a good thing.”

The girl turned around and looked at him. Wow, she was more beautiful than he thought she would be. He smiled to her.

“If you aren’t making everyone around you jealous, it means you aren’t worth being jealous of. So in my book, it’s a good sign that girl found you so threatening.”

The girl looked at him for a moment, frowning, still saying nothing. Oh, yes, now he was sure, typical girl who was just starting in the music world, with a heart too pure to know how to swim in a sea full of sharks. For a moment he worried that at some point she would start behaving like a crazy fan and would jump up and yell at him to take a picture with him, but she didn't do it, on the contrary, she just stood there, looking at him, there was no way of knowing exactly what was going through her mind that moment. The more she looked at him, the more he realized how beautiful her eyes were. The girl smiled mischievously and raised an eyebrow.

“Do you find me threatening?” she asked.

It certainly wasn't the answer he expected, she didn't seem like the kind of girl who went on the offensive, but he couldn't say it bothered him, she seemed to have some hope of survival after all.

"Me?" he said almost laughing, looking at her up and down, there was nothing intimidating, not at least not for him, but he knew that under that mask there was a great potential, he could see when someone was exactly like him "Not yet. Maybe I should keep an eye out though.”

The girl smiled for the first time, and Raleigh could swear that it was one of the warmest smiles he had ever seen, she made him smile too. He was more curious than ever, he wanted to know who was the stranger who caught his attention among so many people, and it was the only conversation he had enjoyed since he came to this nightmare, which slowly ceased to look like a punishment with her presence.

"So, what's your name?" he dared to ask.

"I'm Hannah, what's yours?" she replied, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Like Hannah Montana?" he said mockingly, she rolled her eyes.

"I have definitely never heard that joke." she said in a sarcastic tone and looked at him again, as if she was waiting for him to say something else "You didn't answer my question, what's your name?"

Was she serious?

"Very funny." he smiled.

"Very funny. That's a weird name. So are you gonna tell me or not?"

Funny but demanding at the same time. This girl was full of surprises.

"Huh. You really don't know who I am, do you?" he was starting to like this game.

She saw Hannah open her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by voices that were heard all over the lobby.

"OH. MY. GOD. IS THAT RALEIGH CARRERA?"

Several girls approached him quickly, he sighed and grabbed his head in his hands. It was the first time after so many tours and concerts that he had the chance to talk to someone who wouldn't jump at his feet or scream when they saw him, he liked the idea of being able to have a quiet conversation with someone, many times more than wanting, he needed it, it made him feel more connected to the earth. After all, he was just a human like everyone else. Hannah looked at him with a confused face, as if trying to figure out exactly what the girls who were now surrounding him everywhere were referring to. She took a step to the side before the fans surrounded him completely, he followed her footsteps with his eyes, expecting for her to leave, but she didn’t.

"RALEIGH. I LOVE YOU. LOOK! LOOK AT MY ANKLE!"

He put on the best smile his face allowed and looked at the girl's ankle, which had his face embodied in her skin. Raleigh had seen a lot of crazy things that fans did, but he didn't know exactly how to react to the fact that a person has his face tattooed on their ankle.

"Wow. That, uh..." he tried to articulate the words "That sure is a tattoo of my face." he didn't know whether to feel flattered or terrified "Kid, I hope that's temporary."

"NO! IT'S PERMANENT! IT TOOK TWELVE HOURS, AND IT HURT SO BAD!" the girl was still screaming, excited. Before she could say anything, another girl started talking.

"CAN I GET A SELFIE? OR AN AUTOGRAPH? OR-"

As much as he liked spending time with fans, he thought that wasn't the proper way to approach him. Besides, she still had Hannah in mind, who was still watching the scene without saying a word, and Raleigh was surprised that she hadn't left yet.

"Nah. I'm good.” he said.

"N-no? What do you mean-"

"Means, I'm busy having a conversation with Hannah here..." he fixed his gaze on her and saw how a shy smile formed on her lips "Y'all have a good one."

The fans looked at each other and then began to move towards the exit, clearly disappointed. Hannah approached him again, her face changed to an angry expression, and he knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Whoa, that was harsh!”

A girl who wasn't afraid to say what she thought even though she knew who he was. He liked that.

"Why did you blow them off?" her face fell "They just wanted one picture.”

Raleigh thought well of the next words he was going to say. It was obvious that he had behaved like a total idiot and that she had been uncomfortable with his reaction, but he didn’t regret it.

"Everyone always wants something.”

"Well, you certainly live up to your reputation as a jerk.”

He didn't take it as an offense, he liked it that she told him. He had forgotten the last time someone said something they thought directly to his face. Honesty was a value that hardly existed in that industry, he was tired of people licking his boots and telling him how good he was when he was really behaving like an idiot.

“Oh, so you do know who I am?”

“I’ve heard your songs,” she admitted “and now that I put your face to the name, I know I’ve seen the tabloid covers too.” low blow, he thought “You’re kind of notorious, Raleigh Carrera.”

Every word that came out of her mouth was like discovering something new about her, perhaps he had judged her too soon. He didn't know what her ability for music was, but the attitude she had was one of the reasons he would choose her if he was on the jury that day. He wondered what it would be like to see her sing on stage, would she be shy and sweet?, would she be dominant and badass?, or would she break under the pressure?, her voice took him out of his thoughts again.

“What’d that magazine call you again? R&B’s timebomb? Puerto Rico’s hottest export?” she was laughing, it was obvious that she was teasing him “I’m used to your hair being longer.”

“My crisis PR team made me get a cut. Going for a more responsible image.” he smiled mischievously “You like it?”

Raleigh knew that he had barely met her, but he couldn't help but feel a certain spark between the two of them, he hadn't spoken so freely to anyone in a long time and it was noticeable that he enjoyed her company because suddenly his head wasn't full of idiotic comments that could make her angry and leave.

“Why did you hire a crisis…” he noticed how she deflected the question “Oh. Right. Didn’t you crash a yacht or something?”

“Or something.” it was obvious that his reputation was something that followed him everywhere “Insurance paid out a couple million in property damage, but it’s all good.” he took one hand to his hair and smiled “I go off with community service. The judge was a fan.”

"Just community service?" she seemed to question her answer "That's so cool." her brow frowned automatically “Every day I read about rich, famous people breaking the law and getting off scot-free.” her eyes had a fire he hadn't seen before “The justice system in this country is broken.”

"You're kidding? It's total bull." he leave aside the jokes for a moment and was honest "Just go to show how fake everyone is.” he wondered if she was that kind of person, and begged with all his strength that she might not be "My team's got me on this PR tour to clean up my image Volunteering, kissing babies, TV appearances- "

“That’s why you’re here?” she interrupted him “You’re one of the mentors?”

“I wouldn’t make much of a mentor.” the truth was that he thought it would be a disaster “But I’m judging for the finals next week.” Raleigh waited her answer with a smile.

"Well..." she began "It's good that you're giving back."

"Sure, but does count if I'm faking it?" he laughed, she shook her head and laughed too, for some reason she felt he could be transparent with her.

“If you act like the best, kindest possible version of yourself… that’s what you’ll become, right?”

“So you’re a singer and a philosopher?”

She chuckled “I think all the best songs have a philosophy behind them, don’t you?”

Raleigh felt like his whole body was pushing him directly towards her. He started noticing every detail of her face, her hair, her gestures, the way she stood up, he tried to read her but couldn't, she was totally unpredictable and that made his head spin trying to figure out what she would say next. It was strange for him, he had not felt that kind of attraction to someone for a long time and found it in the least expected place, now more than ever he wanted her to stay, he knew that if she didn’t get the spot he would never see her again, and at this point she already had his attention too much to let her go.

"Next up… contestant #9276!"

He looked at the number Hannah had on her clothes.

"Sounds like you're up."

"Oh my god!" she began to panic "Just let me get my-"

Hannah began to turn her head around looking for the one thing she lacked for her performance, her guitar. Raleigh followed her movements with his eyes and watched as she quickly approached a seat, where a totally damaged guitar lay.

"I'm guessing a half-strung guitar isn't your gimmick" he said mockingly, but he regretted it as soon as the words came out of his mouth. Looking at her face, it was obvious that she wasn’t planning to play it.

"This is my nightmare." she said, he could see how her eyes began to water.

It was obvious that someone sabotaged her, perhaps the black-haired girl who had previously been arguing with her. A few tears began to fall from her cheek and he felt the urgent need to stop them, he might be an idiot, but she didn't deserve what was happening to her. Her personality captivated him and he was curious to find out if her talent would have the same effect on him. He looked at the guitar he brought with him, it was the first time he felt like he really wanted to do something good without expecting anything in return.

“Come on, Hannah. All you gotta do is ask.”

"Ask what?" she wiped the few tears that had fallen, her expression was now serious, you could say even confused.

"To use mine." he said, grasping the guitar next to him and extending his arms for her to grasp.

Her panicked face returned "This costs more than my life!”

"Cost? No clue about that. Prince gave it to me as a birthday present years ago.”

“Prince gave you this guitar?" Hannah opened her mouth completely, she looked cute when she made those facial expressions "Raleigh, I can't. What if I break it?"

"Nah, you're not gonna break it. It's sturdy. Here. Try.”

He extended the hand holding the guitar towards her again, he could see the doubt in her eyes. After a moment she smiled and took the guitar, and he felt her fingers touching his, the two looked at each other with a smile. Hannah tried the guitar and by the way she grabbed it and played, Raleigh realized she was really good.

“Oh, wow. This sounds phenomenal, and it’s not even plugged in.” her smile vanished again “Still, I couldn’t live with myself if I accidentally wrecked your guitar.”

“Look, just take it.” he said without giving it any importance “Besides, I wouldn’t mind an excuse to run into you again.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she said excitedly “I won’t let you down. Or destroy your guitar.”

“Relax.” he said, feeling as if his cheeks had warmed up a little “Get in there.”

Hannah gave him one last smile and entered the auditorium. He entered through the next door leading to the seats, could see Hannah getting on stage, clearly more nervous than before. Her eyes fell on him as she walked to the center of the stage, and he indicated that everything was fine by raising his thumbs up. He could see how her body relaxed a little more after that gesture. She began to speak in the microphone, but he felt his cell phone vibrating inside his pockets, so he took advantage of that time to check the messages that had come to him all day.

It wasn't long before a soft melody flooded the room. Raleigh raised his head quickly, almost in shock, and saw her behind the microphone. Hannah was smiling confidently as she sang and played the guitar with ease, moving her body back and forth slowly to the rhythm of the song. He felt all his senses were now focused on her, and his heart began to beat a little faster. Her voice was undoubtedly one of the best he had ever heard, the notes were in place and the lights in the auditorium made her look even more beautiful from where he was, almost like an angel signing a song for them. Their eyes met in the middle of the song and he could see the intensity with which she looked at him, as if through the music could say millions of things that couldn’t be said out loud. Raleigh knew that music could arouse all kinds of emotions, but that was the first time he had felt that way, it was as if he could sit and listen to her singing for hours. Everything about her attracted him, she had a unique personality, she was unpredictable, she was not afraid to say what she thought, or to take what she wanted. She was sweet but at the same time demanding, and she had a talent that would embarrass even the greatest musicians who at that moment were outside earning money by singing with auto-tune and repeating the same words a thousand times.

When the song ended, she couldn't stop smiling. He knew one of the mentors was going to choose her, there was no possibility of her being left out after such performance. If it was him, he would have chosen her the moment she started the first sentence of the song without hesitating or thinking twice. And it wasn't just because he was attracted to her, but because really, with all the things he had seen, she had everything she needed to become a star. The inspiration he had found in her was undeniable, and without a doubt he would have written for her a few paragraphs of a song if he had a pencil and a piece of paper at the time. She came down on stage and he followed her behind the curtains. Her smile was big and her eyes were filled with tears of happiness. He approached her with a smile.

"You looked pretty good up there. You just might be the real deal."

"Sure hope so. Thanks for letting me use your guitar.”

He remembered how beautiful that guitar looked on her in stage. There was no way he could get his guitar back without thinking about her every time he looked at it.

"You know what, I think you two belong together. Keep it.”

"You're giving me this guitar? But it was a gift! From Prince!” her eyes opening wildly.

"Yeah, when I was an up-and-comer. And now I'm paying it forward to a new one..." he lied, he had not intended to give her his guitar, at least not until that moment. Also, he liked the idea of her having something to remember him by.

"O- OKay," she said unsure.

"See you later." Raleigh said.

"Yeah," she said with a sweet smile "See you later.”

By the time Raleigh arrived again, he could see Hannah smiling happily next to Avery on the stage, a sense of pride and relief invading every part of his body. He had not erred in believing in her talent, and he was sure that she was destined for great things. But best of all, from now, the two of them would be able to share more moments together, or at least that was what he expected. After a speech he obviously didn't pay attention to because his eyes were still focused on the new girl who had awakened something in him, he saw everyone leaving the auditorium. He began to move with the people and for a moment found himself back with her, who was still on stage.

"Congrats. Hope you can handle the spotlight." he said with a satisfied smile, and closed the doors behind him.

Raleigh couldn't stop smiling, and if there was one thing he was sure of, it was that she was going to be trouble for him for the rest of the competition.

#raleigh carrera #raleigh x mc #platinum #choices platinum #choices pt #poeticscolt fanfic

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ardenttheories · 5 years

Note

Thoughts on the epilogue so far?

So glad you asked, anon. I’ve spend a while thinking over it, and I’ve got a few thoughts in mind. Mostly ramblings and potentials, at the moment.

Prefacing that with a warning, and some information:

All of the CW tags on the Epilogue are relevant. I’ve seen a lot of people assuming it’s a joke, or Hussie mocking people - but it’s genuinely not. The tags have apparently been checked by a lot of people (including trans folk and cis women) to ensure they’re relevant and suitable for the content. However, a lot of it is apparently just going to be talked about, not actually brought up in graphic detail during the events of the Epilogue - so please take caution as we continue on. I’m sure people will eventually write up a page-by-page of content warnings so that we know exactly where each potential trigger comes in, and someone, somewhere, will do a writeup of what happens to avoid the warnings altogether.

Additionally, the entire Epilogue has already been written up, which means we’re back to upd8 schedules. We’ll just have to see how they plan on working the upd8s, since, as far as I can tell, there’s currently no specific plan in place, or at least not one that we know of.

And now, into my ramblings.

First of all, the hints towards relationships? Very cool. It’s nice that we confirmed Dave, Karkat, and Jade have that weird dynamic going on that none of them even really understand, and that Roxy and Calliope remain a sapphic mystery to pretty much everyone. Hopefully a lot of this gets confirmed later on in the Epilogue - or at least that we get something more solid to hold onto than John’s non-understanding of relationships.

John’s lamentations on his potential relationship with Roxy also seemed incredibly sad, and actually furthers my theory on John as a True Heir of Breath. As does just about everything he mentions, honestly.

Since he still has his Retcon powers, he’s still technically “Free”; Free from Canon, yes, but also free from the potential destruction of their Canonicity. He’s also, once again, the person who has to Free everyone from that fate. He’s Freedom incarnate, but also, it seems, Apathy incarnate. The fact that he’s apparently barely been speaking to any of his friends, feels disconnect between who they were and who they are now, still seems to be struggling to find his place in Earth C, and (so far, at least) seems unable to fully connect with Rose and Roxy implies that his inheritance of Breath is slowly reaching its peak.

On the other hand, the talk of Canon is wildly interesting. I never 100% completed the comic - lost my place somewhere before the Tricksters, but kept roughly up to date on stuff that happened afterwards and have since managed to catch back up to Jane’s introduction, though I’ve yet to continue reading again - so I know she’s likely referencing things I don’t fully understand yet.

Having said that, there is something pretty disturbing about the ideas that Rose is presenting.

The way she puts it, there’s three categories of existence defined by the amount of three different factors within them:

Relevance, Truth, and Essentiality.

Canon has varying levels of Relevance and Essentiality, I’m assuming based on the fact that past events can be changed through something like a Retcon and thus nothing that happens is entirely Essential and nor is everything in Canon wholly Relevant. All things in Canon, however, are True - the full events of the story 100% unquestionable.

Non-Canon has no Truth behind it, and thus renders whatever Relevance or Essentiality it has meaningless. It doesn’t matter that the events happening in these Non-Canon scenes are Relevant or Essential to a subjective degree - that to us, or to the characters, they’re Relevant to development or the story, or Essential to moving the plot on in the direction the author wants, or in presenting an idea or foundation for a character’s development - because they’re not Canon, and they can never be canon unless brought into Canon by the Canonical author or characters.

Out-of-Canon has almost no Relevance or Essentiality and holds no baring on Canon events or plots at all, but remains Truth in the sense that it’s still part of Canonicity. These events don’t matter to the main Canon, the real Canon, but they aren’t exactly Untrue. They’re as real as whatever’s happening in Canon, but can be easily looked over, forgotten, or overall viewed as insignificant.

This is, essentially, what Rose is implying is happening to Earth C. It’s becoming forgotten and insignificant, it’s shifting too far away from Canon, and something very bad will happen if it does - not physically, but metaphysically. I think she essentially means they’ll either become Non-Canon, or they’ll lose their place as the Alpha Timeline.

That’s a lot to think about, so let me use an example I gave a friend who has never read Homestuck:

The Star Wars movies are considered to be Canon. These are what you go to when you want to watch the actual events of the Star Wars series - the main plot, the main storylines, the main characters.

The comics and the animated TV shows are Out-of-Canon. These events do not follow the main Canonical events of the Canon movies, but still happen within the same world at roughly the same time, or set up/explain events that happen in the movies. Sometimes they don’t even include main characters, and characters mentioned in the comics/TV shows may not ever appear in the movies, or even be referenced. These are True events, but hold little Relevance towards the watching of the Canon movies - and can hold varying degrees of Essentiality based on what the comics and TV shows are showing.

Fanfiction is Non-Canon. These are events that hold absolutely no Truth towards either the Out-of-Canon or Canon plot and storylines of Star Wars. Reading a piece of Fanfiction will never give you any additional, Canonical information about Star Wars unless it’s made Canon by a writer. Princess Leia might absolutely deck a Storm Trooper and single-handedly raid a Sith hideout and slaughter the bad guys with one hand tied behind her back to save Han Solo in a fanfic, but none of those events have ever actually happened in Canon. They might hold some sort of Relevance or Essentiality - either because they develop the characters better, or plug up plot holes, or spread some Canonicity of events, or even just help to keep the actual Canon alive by ensuring fans are still consuming anything about it so it stays firm in their minds - but they are never True.

So what Earth C has done is placed itself in a position where they no longer align with the Canon events of Homestuck. Homestuck finished as soon as they stepped through that door, but they are still very much Canonical. They no longer contribute to the progression of canon, but they are still a product of Canonical events and are 100% the Canonical players of Homestuck.

But the longer they stay Out-of-Canon, they lose their Relevance and Essentiality - their Importance. That’s what Light is all about, after all. Rose is essentially realising that the longer they stay living in Earth C, in a world that Hussie can’t ever fully write out, no matter how hard he tries, they’re going to become less and less important.

Rose’s marriage to Kanaya is Out-of-Canon. Wholly Canonical, and it definitely happened, but her marriage is in no way Essential to the progression of Homestuck. It’s losing its meaning and importance because it didn’t happen in Canon. The more they do Out-of-Canon, the more unimportant it gets - until eventually some drastic event occurs that means it’s completely lost its Truth.

So, John has to go back and defeat Lord English to ensure they stay Canonical. If he doesn’t, their timeline will go on - but they’ll no longer be the Alpha timeline, and they’ll no longer be Canonical. They’ll become Non-Canon. They’ll lose all Truth completely.

I have the feeling the Apophis thing that kept popping up in the 413 event on FFBF will also become relevant here. I mean, it’s literally a snake that’s meant to eat the sun, and we get told that the Green Sun has to be consumed by a supermassive blackhole - one that John’s been dreaming about “in anime”, which I think probably means something to do with Lord English. At the very least, Caliborn.

I’m incredibly interested by the idea of John going back into canon, nabbing their younger selves, and doing… something. He can’t attack LE head on, and they’re going after his younger self - so Caliborn, probably? - but I’m genuinely curious where in the timeline John will end up, and who he’ll need to take. Definitely Dave, at least, since Rose mentioned some sort of weapon he has, and I’m assuming by proxy that means the other kids - but which trolls, and does that also include Calliope? Is this the event we’ve been waiting for, where John goes back and saves everyone?

John’s dream also worries me. A supermassive blackhole devouring the entirety of Paradox Space, permakilling billions upon billions of ghosts as it spans the width of the universe. This makes me wonder if we’re going to get the final ending to Homestuck - the True ending. One where everything is wrapped up so neatly that every other timeline is devoured by this blackhole. There will be no more offshoots, no reason for doomed timelines or successful-but-not-Canon sessions. I get the feeling that’s where it might be going, or at least that’s what John’s dream is implying.

So what that concerns me with, then, is Rose’s hesitance when John says he’ll come back. There’s the implication there that, no, John won’t be coming back. Or at least that Rose won’t be seeing him again. Roxy’s concern, too - and Calliope’s ensuring that this is a choice John gets to make rather than something he has to do - holds some sort of worrying note I’m not fully sure of yet.

Talking to a few people, I get the feeling it might be something along the lines of these:

- John has to die to complete this mission.

John’s death is at the hands of LE, or in his attempts to defeat LE, and becomes a vital part to his defeat

John’s the “powerful being” who attempts the suicide strike to destroy the Green Sun, and that’s why he’s having dreams about it now

- John will be creating a new timeline, and will end up getting Canon-locked into it, meaning that he won’t be able to return to the current Alpha-timeline Earth C

- Something will happen to Rose? Her condition might be worse than she initially thought, or she might be downplaying it for John’s sake, and rather then being concerned about his safety, she’s actually concerned about hers

- John will create a timeline that has no End State, or will create a new Alpha timeline. Either way, he’ll be dooming the current Alpha-timeline Earth C.

In any case, I am incredibly excited to see what happens with this. I feel like it’s going to be a very long, very interesting Epilogue - one that, hopefully, plugs up a lot of the plotholes we’ve been complaining about over the past three years.

#long post//#ardenttheories #anonymous #homestuck epilogues

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self-proclaimed-chaotic-good · 6 years

Text

Prospecting Gold | Carlton Drake x Reader

(AKA The Chemical Husbands turning into relationship counselors)

Words: 3846

Crossover: Venom x The Sisters Brothers

A/N: Idk why I keep writing Carlton Drake stories that involves weddings or being engaged, but never married. One day! One day I will write reader getting married to Carlton. Just not yet. I hope the format isn’t too confusing. It’s a bit dialogue heavy and I kind of envisioned it in movie scene sequence, so feel free to leave feedback on how it is.

Chemical Husbands = Hermann Warm x John Morris

You packed the last luggage and flopped onto the bed while you waited for Carlton to finish in the bathroom. With his space venture launched, he proposed a vacation and an opportunity for you to meet his twin brother. He had mentioned his twin many times when he spoke about his childhood and while their interests were quite similar, they ended up going their separate ways, living different lives. While Carlton researched in biomedical engineering, Hermann researched in chemistry and sustainable science.

“Where exactly is his place?” you asked.

Carlton’s head popped out of the bathroom, shaving cream on his cheeks. “Dallas. Country side. He lives with a friend who inherited acres of land and an estate there,” he said before shuffling back in to finish shaving. You could hear the faint sound of the razor gliding across his skin, followed by tapping as he flicks off the excess foam into the sink. “He never liked the city life. I was surprised when he got in contact with me last year. I hadn’t spoken to him since… I don’t know. I don’t even remember why we stopped talking.”

“I mean, it sounded like you two were close growing up,” you said, kicking your feet in the air and started doing bicycles.

“Yeah, yeah we were,” Carlton said, walking out of the bathroom, wiping his face clean. He sat next to you. “You two will get along fast. I just know it. My brother… he’s the type to see the good in people- “

“While you’re the pessimistic one,” you added.

Carlton narrowed his eyes at you, pushing down your legs and hovered over you. “Anyways,” he punctuated as you giggled up at him, “Not sure about his friend, but I think you’ll like it there. He sent me pictures and everything. The house has an extension that connects to the main house by a covered walkway, so we have an area to ourselves.”

“That sounds nice,” you hummed, running your fingers along his smooth, freshly shaven jawline. “But why did he contact you all of a sudden?”

“He asked if I could invest in his new company,” he said with a shrug, “I thought why not. He never liked working with those large corporations. They often tried to steal his ideas anyways, so I understand why he’d do it. I wanted him to work with me, but it wasn’t his thing.”

“You’re probably too bossy that’s why.”

“I’m not. Why, did someone say that? Was it one of the research scientists?”

“Carlton, honey, I’m your assistant. You are bossy,” you said, poking between his eyebrows to stop his frowning, “And temperamental. And a workaholic. And from what I’ve gathered from your stories, he’s the patient, level-headed type that appreciates the simple things in life.”

“Yeah, you two are definitely going to get along just fine.”

Carlton insisted on carrying the luggage for you while you looped an arm around his. He was finally out of that black tracksuit, suit jacket and plain t-shirt ensemble, and in a more casual flannel and jeans attire. Breaking out from the crowd of the airport, you spotted a man that looked practically identical to your boyfriend, but instead of the groomed cut hair, his dark hair was windblown and curled at the ends, a small moustache trimmed over a friendly smile. He waved happily at the two of you, walking up to take the bags from Carlton despite his stubborn protests.

“You must be (Y/n),” he said, “I’m Hermann, Carlton’s brother… obviously. It’s a pleasure to meet the woman that melted my brother’s frozen heart.”

“Very funny, Herm,” Carlton muttered, fighting a smile with irritation.

A tall man with brown hair and blue eyes climbed out from the truck’s driver’s seat to help Hermann carry the bags into the trunk with ease. “Oh, uh, this is my fiancé, John Morris,” Hermann said, gesturing to the man with a wide smile and bright eyes. “John?”

The man, John, closed the trunk gate and turned to face the group. “Pleasure to meet you, (Y/n),” he said, taking your outstretched hand and kissed it with a wink. You laughed behind your other hand, risking a glance at Carlton whose eyes were slightly wide as his brother’s admission.

“Fiancé? Congratulations, you two!” you said.

“And you must be Carlton, Hermann’s brother.” John took his hand in a tight grip and shook it firmly with a forced smile as Carlton hid a wince.

“Uh, you never mentioned that you got engaged,” Carlton said to his brother once John released his hand.

Hermann scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Yeah, it happened recently. I wanted to surprise you, being that you’re the closest family I have, so…”

“I’m very surprised. Uh, congratulations! Perhaps we should get something to eat as a celebration? I’m paying, of course,” Carlton suggested as he wrapped an arm around you.

Hermann grinned, “That’s very generous of you. What do you say, John?”

“Well, if the man is paying…,” John said with a shrug.

Carlton helped you into the large truck and climbed in after you, glancing back as his brother and John were discussing something. “I don’t think he likes me,” he muttered next to your ear.

“He’s probably being cautious,” you assured him, patting his thigh. “He’ll like you, or at least tolerate you, eventually.”

“Engaged, huh?” he mumbled under his breath as Hermann and John made their way back into the truck.

“You guys are going to love it there!” Hermann said excitedly as he clambered up the passenger’s seat.

Throughout the rest of the drive, Hermann and Carlton shared stories from their childhood, inputting from how they remembered it and sometimes arguing on past events, much to your amusement, the carefree laugh that bubbled out of him made your heart swell. Carlton pointed out how Hermann used to be bullied in school because he was easy to walk over, so he had to stand up for him even if came to throwing punches before notifying the nearest teacher. It was so frequent that Carlton ran for class president so no one could touch either of them. Not to mention that they were two of the teachers’ favorite students. Then, they moved on to what they had been up to since they went their separate ways. Hermann dropped out of college, travelling a lot and learned about the world and how he could help people and the environment while Carlton went to an ivy league university and made a few breakthrough discoveries in the medicine field.

“So, what do you do, John?” Carlton asked, wanting to know the man that his brother fell in love with.

John’s blue eyes flickered to Carlton through the rearview mirror. “I’m a writer,” he said, “freelancing here and there. Wrote a novel or two.”

Your brain scanned through all the books you’ve seen at bookstores and gasped. “You wrote The Prospectors, didn’t you? You’re that John Morris?” you asked, leaning against his seat.

John chuckled. “Indeed, I did. Now, give me your honest opinion… how boring was it?”

“No! It was amazing!” you said, leaning back in your chair, “I read that book in one sitting. Although, it did have a bittersweet ending. While Elizabeth and Charlotte Brothers finally made it home, I really wanted Joan and Hera to have a happy ending, but their demise were left open ended. What really happened?”

“While that I’m glad that you’re invested in my characters, what happens to Joan and Hera is open to speculations. You can think of all the theories you want, and I will be glad to hear about them.”

“I bet there’s a lot of fanfiction for this book,” you muttered, knowing that if there was a dissatisfying ending to any story, there will be fans out there to rectify it.

Hermann nodded. “There is, I’ve read some. They’re quite good, too,” he said. “Have you read it, Car?”

Carlton shook his head. “No, I’m afraid I haven’t.”

“Well, I imagine you’re quite busy running an entire company of that scale,” Hermann said. “You deserve a break from all of that. I’m sure (Y/n) would appreciate the opportunity to spend time together. There’s so much sights to see. Look out the window.”

You leaned to the side and watched as the truck continued a long stretch of road lined by trees as they neared the country side. John took a turn, showing a glimpse of a lake below the cliffside, the sunlight glimmering off the smooth surface. You felt Carlton’s warm hands slide into yours and squeezed affectionately. It had been months since the two of you had time to relax, what with running a huge groundbreaking research facility. Although you were his assistant, he barely left the lab or his office, buried in paperwork.

After dinner at the fanciest restaurant Hermann could think of that was within miles of their estate, John drove the group to the estate, off the main road and in a clearing overlooking a lake. A gate blocked the driveway, which swung open after Hermann pressed a large white button that was clipped to the sun visor. Even Carlton couldn’t hide how impressed he was at the sight of the luxurious two story, four bed room, with a housing extension, estate. While Carlton built his facility and his home near a cliffside overlooking the ocean, there was something about the seclusion and the calm of nature that took his breath away.

Hermann showed you and Carlton your living area for the time being and went to leave the two of you to unpack. Carlton had offered to walk Hermann to the front door and left. You squealed in excitement and ran to the wide balcony, taking a deep breath of fresh air and allowing the cool wind envelope you. As much as you loved San Francisco and the ocean, you needed to get away from all that pollution and noise.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” John asked from behind you.

You opened your eyes and nodded. “And all of this belongs to you,” you said.

“On paper, yes. But it’s strange to say that a section of land belongs to anyone,” he said, leaning against the railing next to you. “We’re glad that you’re here. Both of you. Hermann hadn’t spoke about his brother until later in our relationship, but he admitted that he missed him. It’s strange to see someone identical to him and yet feel so different.”

“They’re like the sun and moon.”

As the two brothers reached the kitchen of the main house, Hermann turned and crossed his arms, leaning against the granite counter.

“Come now, brother, I’m sure you hadn’t walked me back here out of courtesy,” Hermann teased, raising an eyebrow.

Carlton chuckled. “Well… I just wanted to talk with my own brother alone, that’s all.” Hermann looked unconvinced, making the forced smile drop from his face. He sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face as he started to pace.

Hermann sighed at his brother’s distress. “Coffee?”

“You didn’t seem to like Carlton when you first met him,�� you commented, facing John.

John grimaced. “Sorry about that. It’s just, from what Hermann had told me, the last time they spoke, before Hermann reached out to him last year, they were in a huge argument. His brother wanted him to work under his company, but Hermann disagreed with the way he was running things.” John crossed his arms, leaning his back against the cool rail. “Hermann was too soft, apparently, too naïve, and was told that he will always get run over if he continues to act that way. Hermann said he rather be soft and naïve instead of cold and arrogant and controlling like him. More insults were thrown that landed in the other’s weak spot and they never spoke again. I was just being protective of Hermann when I heard that he invited his brother and his other half over to the estate.”

“But, I’m okay, right?” you said, trying to lighten the mood.

The corner of John’s lips turned up. “You are more than okay in my books. How did you end up with a guy like him? No offence.”

You shrugged. “Cold, arrogant, controlling, that sounds like Carlton. Of course, being his assistant for a while, having to remind him about things from business meetings to making sure he ate, running errands for him, and seeing him in his working environment, I’ve come to see what kind of person he was and when he went too far, I wasn’t afraid to voice my opinion. He had worked the scientists to the ground. We were so close, he said, and they couldn’t stop to rest. I told him it was cruel, and nothing would get done if they are working in exhaustion. He had also run himself down, told me not to tell anyone when he almost collapsed in his office from dehydration and exhaustion. I told him he was being ridiculous, and he told me to just do as I was told.”

You shook your head at the memory of his stubbornness and the scare that it gave you when you saw him stumble against his desk. When he snapped at you, you slapped him before you even realized what you were doing. You honestly thought he was going to fire you right there and then. It was unprofessional of you. Bosses were bound to snap at some point, and as an assistant, you just had to take it in stride. What possessed you to do such a thing, you weren’t sure at the time.

“And how did he win your affection? Was it his dedication and recklessness? If so, it may be a shared trait of theirs.” You both laughed fondly at your respective boyfriend’s charm.

“That sounds about right,” you agreed, “and he also… he actually listened to me. He became kinder, more thoughtful, slightly humbler. Slightly. He can only change so much, right? But, working for him so closely, and for him to actually value my help and opinion, I grew to care for him deeply. It was honestly a shock when he asked me out on a date.”

“How so?”

“He never seemed to be the relationship type. Married to his work and all that.”

Carlton sighed for the hundredth time as he stared down at the swirling dark liquid in his mug, his twin sitting across from him at the kitchen table. Hermann rolled his eyes, taking a sip of own coffee, then wiped the remnants from his moustache. He studied his brother’s face, trying to discern what was giving him grief.

“You know, twin telepathy doesn’t work if you don’t look at me,” Hermann spoke up, snapping Carlton out of his daze. “You seem troubled.”

Carlton went to open his mouth and sighed again. “I just… I’m scared, Herm.”

Hermann’s brows furrowed, his body leaning forward and ready to listen. “You can tell me anything. You know that.”

“I was going to wait to talk to you about this, but hearing that you and John got engaged, it got me thinking…,” Carlton trailed off, but the implication was there. He raised his head, his brown eyes showing a swirl of excitement and anxiety.

Hermann’s own brown eyes widened. “Whoa, Car, are you serious? This is a big commitment- “

“I know.”

He raised a hand as if to pause him. “Are you sure you’re ready for this, though? There’s no doubt that you two love each other, but marriage is a whole other thing. Even if you work together, there’s many things to consider- “

“Well,” Carlton shrugged, lifting his hands slightly, “how did you and John know when you were ready?”

“When we know that we can work things out, worked on our communication, showing each other respect and consideration,” Hermann listed. “I mean, for me, I just knew, you know? When I first met him, spoke to him for only a day, I felt like I knew him my whole life. It’s different for others.” Hermann then smiled, tilting his head to the side. “How did you know (Y/n) was the one?”

Carlton snorted. “She slapped me and calls me out on my bullshit.” Hermann nodded matter-of-factly, impressed by her potential sister-in-law. Of course, Carlton would fall for someone like that. “She checks in on me, not just reminding me to eat and drink, but my mental state, and she knows when I’m upset or when I’m tired. Sometimes she surprises me with her wit and makes me smile. She just… she’s so intelligent. So beautiful.”

“Ah, the Belle to your Beast,” Hermann mused. “Have you talked about it to her yet?”

Carlton shook his head. “No, I… well, she brought it up a couple of times. Just mentioned things here and there, especially when her friends got married. And I’d just…” He dropped his head.

“You brushed it off,” Hermann finished. He took another sip of coffee and readied himself if his brother wanted to argue. “You know, the longer you drag this, the more she’s going to question the state of your relationship. I’m sure she might wait, but if you keep dismissing the subject- “

“I know.”

“Carlton is probably just not ready,” you reasoned, “I mean, he’s so busy right now. Sure, we work and live together, but marriage is another thing, right?”

“I’m afraid it’s not my place to say,” John said, “but I do know that you need to talk to him if it’s bothering you that much. You have the rest of your vacation to discuss it.”

“Right. Of course.”

John lead you back inside as the temperature dropped along with the sun. You plopped yourself on the soft plushie couch in the living room downstairs and hugged the nearest pillow. John sat at the other end with one foot on the floor and the other leg bent on the sofa to accommodate the space. He watched as you sorted through your thoughts, your frown deepening the longer you took.

Eddie and Anne were one of the first of your closest friends to get married. You were so happy for them, happy that they found their way back to each other. You had joked to Carlton that day that you wanted your wedding with him to be bigger and you were sure he can afford it, but he nodded stiffly and looked away. When Tony and Pepper got married, their wedding was extravagant, of course. Tony was a diva and Pepper deserved it for having to put up with Tony as his assistant turned girlfriend and CEO of Start Industries. Tony pointed at Carlton and questioned why he wasn’t marrying his own assistant yet, for which he sneered that it wasn’t any of his business before walking briskly away and leaving you in an awkward position. Tony being Tony tried to make light of the situation while Pepper looked at you sympathetically.

“I guess marriage isn’t for everyone,” you found yourself saying, “maybe he’s fine with the way things are. I mean, we don’t necessarily have to get married. It’s something that’s on a piece of paper. We’re technically under a common law marriage by living together and what not… Right?”

John shrugged. “Again, I can’t say for you, (Y/n).”

Carlton ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “What if she says no?”

His brother gave an indignant laugh. “And what if she says yes? Carlton, it’s been almost a whole day since I’ve met (Y/n) and the way she looks at you, the way she talks about you… she’s crazy about you. And,” he emphasized, pointing at him, “she’s crazy to even be with you.”

Carlton smiled at this, then frowned. “She deserved better,” he muttered.

Hermann sputtered at the sudden change. “Are you serious? What happened to my confident and arrogant brother?”

“This is different! I’ve… I’ve never been in this deep before! I’m scared,” he repeated his earlier confession. “You know how it was, right? We were looked down for so long and I wanted my visions to be put into action and show the world what I can do. I didn’t have anything to lose when I rose from nothing.”

Hermann leaned his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his palm. “This is more than just fear that she’ll say no,” he realized.

Carlton stared at his hands. “What if I can’t give her everything?”

“Well, what does the word ‘everything’ mean to her?”

You tightened your hold on the pillow and looked up at John who was watching you carefully. “What if I’m not enough for him?” you asked softly.

John’s eyebrows turned up at the hint of sadness in your tone. “If you’re not enough for him, then nothing else will ever be,” he said firmly, resting a comforting hand on your knee. “Then, if that’s the case, he is not good enough for you.”

“It’s just that…,” you took a moment to gather your thoughts again, tracing patterns on the pillow, “he never really talks much about being fully content with anything.”

Carlton shrugged. “She always seemed to be okay with a lot of things. It’s not to say she doesn’t voice her opinions, it’s just… no matter what gift I give her, no matter where I take her, she always seemed so… happy. What if one day she’s not? What am I to do then?”

John suddenly stands up. “It’s getting late and you had a long day. We should get some rest,” he suggested, helping you up. “And I think you know what you should talk about with Carlton.”

You nodded. “Yeah. Thank you for listening, by the way. I don’t think you invited us here to talk about our relationship problems,” you said sheepishly.

“It’s no problem, (Y/n).”

John headed back to the main house while you trudged up the stairs to the bedroom, changing into your pajamas before climbing into bed.

Hermann stood up, grabbing the now empty mugs and headed towards the kitchen sink. He spotted his fiancé making his back through the walkway and said, “It’s getting late. You should head back and rest.”

Carlton silently agreed, hoisting himself up slowly. “Thanks for listening, Herm.”

“And you know what you need to talk about to (Y/n)?”

Carlton nodded.

“Good.”

Carlton passed John on his way back, muttering a goodnight to each other before heading towards their respective partners. When he turned to close the door to the extension, he spotted John enveloping Hermann into a warm hug, kissing the top of his head while they spoke softly. Carlton looked away and made his way to the bedroom where he spotted you curled up under the sheets. He climbed in slowly as to not disturb you and wrapped an arm around your form. You hummed, grabbing his hand and fell back asleep.

You had a whole vacation to talk things through and he wasn’t going to miss up the opportunity.

#Carlton drake x reader #venom imagine #venom x the sisters brothers #crossover fic #John Morris x Hermann Kermit Warm #Morris x Warm #idk even know #Carlton and Hermann are twins #venom

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whitewolfofwinterfell · 5 years

Note

Jonsa

Grab a drink and some snacks and make yourself comfy, because this is gonna be a long ride.

My opinions on Jon and Sansa as a pairing are very complex. In the time that I’ve shipped them I’ve gone through these different phases where at some points I’m hardcore for them and other times I’m not really that fussed about them. Currently, I’m somewhere in between. Before I get started, you can read what I’ve previously said about Jonsa here (just scroll to the bottom, they’re the last ship I talk about).

The thing that drew me to Jonsa as a ship is the chemistry. To me, when Kit and Sophie are on-screen together I don’t feel like I’m watching siblings (even when the dialogue and circumstances portray that), I feel like I’m watching lovers. The eye contact, the tension, the tenderness; it’s all there. Every single scene they share feels like it has an undercurrent of sexual and/or romantic tension. It was that tension that led me to stumble across the Jonsa fandom and I was immediately like, “hey, so, I’m not the only one!”. Because you know when you’re watching something and you sense that chemistry between two characters that you know probably shouldn’t be there and you think you’re going crazy? Well, that was like me with Jon and Sansa.

There are so many aspects of the ship I enjoy and their story is beautiful to me in lots of ways. The fact that they grew up estranged, then parted ways, endured awful tragedies and finally found each other and began to heal as a result of that is beautiful to me. Jon and Sansa both reserved themselves to the fact that they would never see or be with their family again, and the emotion in their reunion scene encapsulates that immense surprise and relief that they feel at having found each other. I love that Jon was amidst a deep dark depression following his resurrection and was ready to give up on everything until Sansa walked back into his life and gave him a purpose; a reason to fight. Her strength and determination that they needed to reclaim Winterfell impassioned him to join her and fight for their home, for what what rightfully belonged to them and their family. I love that despite the fact that they were each others least favourite sibling growing up they were able to have a second chance and forged an incredibly unique and special bond as unique as the bond they had with any of their other siblings.

Psychologically I find Jonsa fascinating, because I think the possibility of Jon and Sansa developing romantic feelings for each other speaks to the experiences and traumas they’ve had. They both endured so many horrors and regardless of the coldness between them when they were children, for them the Starks and Winterfell have been and always will be their safety and strength. So in each other they found that literal embodiment of home and family, of safety. For Sansa, Jon is the only man she can truly trust after being used and abused by a string of men. For Jon, Sansa is his purpose; someone he needs to protect and that’s important because Jon as a person is built to protect others, that’s what drives him at all times and without that he’s lost. There’s a reason there’s so much emphasis on Jon’s instinct and desire to keep Sansa safe (besides the fact that he loves her and wants to protect the future of House Stark), and it’s because her safety has become one of the two sole purposes of his life (the other being to end the Night King). It’s funny because whenever I see criticisms of Jonsa as a ship it’s mostly about how gross or wrong it is because they grew up as siblings and are blood related, but that connection, in my opinion, is specifically a part of why they make sense as a pairing. It’s complicated for me to explain, but I’m going to give it a try. But the way I see it is that they grew up distant enough that they didn’t develop a full brother-sister bond so there isn’t that whole “ew he/she is my brother/sister” vibe between them. However, the familiarity they have and connection to Winterfell and the Starks draws them to each other. They longed so much for home and for family that it makes sense that when they found each other their feelings for each other would become conflicted, particularly when there’s that lack of brother-sister bond from childhood.

However, despite how much I love Jonsa, I’ve realised that I like the possibilities and tropes associated with the ship more than the actual ship itself. I guess you could say that I’ve been conditioned by fanfiction and meta to perceive Jon and Sansa’s relationship in a certain way, but over time (especially recently) I’ve come to realise that in canon they’re not necessarily written that way. For example, on the show they’re written as being quite untrusting of each other and resistant to work together. Sansa calls upon the Knights of the Vale without telling Jon about her plans, Sansa constantly questions Jon’s decisions, Jon rarely listens to Sansa’s ideas and has to be told to listen to her because she might actually have valuable advice and insights, he barely writes to her when he’s away south in season 7, he bends the knee to Daenerys without consulting her first and even in the season 8 premiere, there’s still that kind of vibe between them where Sansa doubts Jon and he’s fighting for her to trust him completely. There is a lot of conflict between them and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because all the best ships have conflict, but I think that until recently I failed to see that this conflict existed between them and projected my own perception of them (shaped by fanfiction, fanvids, meta etc.) onto their canon relationship.

Following on from that, based on 8x01 I’ve also realised that I have some issues with the way Jon and Sansa are being written. Their scene in that episode and Sansa’s behaviour generally throughout the episode is an exact repetition of what’s been going on between them since season 6. They seem to be stuck in the same cycle - Sansa picks at Jon and questions his decisions, Jon gets frustrated that she doesn’t trust him and she then confirms that she does trust him, despite all of her words and actions being the contrary. At this point, it’s just bad story-telling because it’s been established repeatedly that Sansa does trust Jon and vice versa (Jon left Winterfell in her hands, the ultimate symbol of trust), so why are they still writing them this way? If Sansa has faith in Jon and she knows it and he knows it, why is she questioning his decision to bend the knee? At this point in their relationship, Jon and Sansa should be united. They definitely needed to have a conversation about why Jon bent the knee, with Jon apologising for doing so, but immediately after that all of this tension between them should be put to bed because it’s being unnecessarily dragged on when it no longer makes any sense. However, I’m trying not to be too judgemental about their scenes in this episode, since it’s only the first episode out of 6. There’s still plenty more to come from them and it could go in a much better direction from here onwards.

Generally, I hold a lot back when it comes to shipping Jon and Sansa, because I don’t want to get caught up in the Jonsa-Jonerys ship war (I’m still too exhausted from the Stelena-Delena ship war that took up 8+ years of my life lmao), but mostly because unlike most other Jonsa shippers, I don’t have much faith that they’ll actually be endgame. I’ve over-invested in so many ships in the past and I don’t want to do that again. I always try to be realistic with my ships, regardless of how much I love them, and in my opinion, the chances of Jon and Sansa being endgame are very slim. It’s clear that D&D are invested in Jon and Daenerys, and that that’s the main love story of their show. They condensed the development of their love story into one season so that they could make it a central plot for season 8, so the chances that they’re going to completely scrap that relationship or end it abruptly and go for a Jonsa endgame doesn’t seem feasible to me. The chances of Jon and Sansa marrying for a political alliance is more likely, but still not very, because that would require Jon not only surviving the war (which, I don’t think he will) but also fully embracing his parentage and proclaiming himself King of the Seven Kingdoms. Also, if you go to other sites and read fan theories or opinions, barely anyone thinks a Jon and Sansa endgame is feasible. So I suppose you could say I’m being cautious not to become over-invested in a Jonsa endgame only to be disappointed. The ending is going to be emotional enough without the added blow of being disappointed that my ship isn’t endgame.

Having said this, you don’t choose your ships, they choose you and whether I like it or not I am a Jonsa shipper. It’s my shipper heart that wants to believe they’ll be endgame and to trust in all of the signs I’ve seen that indicate they could be. I mean can it really be a coincidence that Jon and Sansa fulfil so many romantic tropes or that so many of their scenes share characteristics with romantic ships from the show? (x) (x) (x) (x). Sometimes I think that fans put more thought into analysing the show than the people that create it do (which I definitely think is true), but nonetheless great consideration is given to every single scene that makes the final cut of an episode. We know that GOT suffers from great time constraints since they have so many characters and plots to fit in and do justice, yet Jon and Sansa consistently get scenes. Familial relationships have been important throughout the show, but from my recollection no familial/sibling relationship has had the kind of emphasis Jon and Sansa have and certainly not scenes framed in the same way that theirs are (with the romantic undercurrents). And what’s the significance of showing us not one but two scenes where Jon physically threatens people because he’s so protective of Sansa? Why is it important to show us that? If Jon is really just Sansa’s big brother (cousin), isn’t it implicit that he’s going to be protective of her? We don’t need to be shown that unless it serves some other purpose. And why is so much of their relationship saturated with this ongoing tension? Starkbowl didn’t happen in season 7 (at least not between Jon and Sansa) and I doubt it’ll happen in season 8, since there isn’t enough time to fit it in, so the only real purpose that kind of tension serves is because there’s underlying sexual tension. There are so many what ifs about the ship, so many signs that indicate that we Jonsa’s aren’t just imagining their romantic chemistry, but I’ve been very wrong about this stuff in the past, so like I say, I’m proceeding with caution.

To sum up, because I could talk about this all day, my opinion on Jon and Sansa is that I love them individually and together. Their chemistry is fantastic, I love their relationship platonically and see a lot of potential with them romantically. I adore reading and watching Jonsa content and writing Jonsa fanfiction (they’re my favourite couple to write for out of all my ships). They are potentially the most interesting couple on GOT and could have such an incredible love story. If the show was to follow through and deliver what I believe should happen (political!Jon and Jonsa) I’d be ecstatic and have no hesitancy in proclaiming them my OTP. But, unfortunately, I have reservations so for now I’m keeping my guard up because my shipper heart has been burned too many times before. Instead, for the final season I’m trying to focus more on enjoying their relationship from a platonic POV and if they are endgame I’ll be over the moon, but if not I’ll love and appreciate the depth and emotion in their relationship no matter which direction it takes in canon.

Thanks for asking!

send me a ship and i’ll give my honest opinion…

#answered #my meta #got meta

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ruffsficstuffplace · 7 years

Text

And The AWRD Goes To... (Part 44)

“A vacuum cleaner monster...?” Diana muttered. “Seriously?”

“Told you they can get kinda ridiculous!” Akko said.

Diana groaned. “Honestly, merits for creative application, but come on!”

“It actually makes a lot of sense considering how the rest of the world works,” Ruby said. “C13O did mention that most Automa are only ever built for the one specific job, with the brains to match.”

“Okay, that I can get, but then how do they suddenly know how to effectively weaponize their tools in times of crisis?” Diana asked. “Aren’t they only suppose to be smart enough to do their one job, and little else?”

“Maybe they put in space for combat subroutines?” Ruby replied. “Look, Diana, I’d love to discuss and debate with you, but C13O and Dash are finally fusing and I really want to see what they look like combined.”

Diana sighed. “Fine, we’ll do this some other time… these inconsistencies are so jarring and common, it gets so hard to enjoy this!”

“Do you want to change shows again after this episode, Diana?” Weiss asked from her new position, sitting beside Ruby’s bed with Ruby’s scroll and quill in hand.

“No, I really want to see what happens next,” Diana replied. “These two have been bickering and coming to blows since they met, this fusion can’t be anything but a complete and utter disaster until they find some way to compromise—if they even do!

“Not to mention how they’ll act from here on out...”

Weiss chuckled “Getting attached to Dash and C13O, Diana?” she asked.

“Look, they’re both jaded, disillusioned individuals trying to grow past their initial programming and technological limitations, whilst running headfirst into new and strange experiences with the intention to adapt and grow, and I really admire that, okay?!” Diana cried.

Quietly, she added, “C13O’s really cute, too...”

Conversation stopped as Dash and C13O went through their transformation sequence.

Ruby and Akko watched in awe as their new form took shape, Weiss added official images to Ruby’s notes on the MagiMon designs and their mechanics, Diana chuckled both Automa said the fusion speech through gritted teeth (or whatever the mechanical equivalent was).

“Oooh, that’s so cool!” Ruby cooed as the fully fused MagiMon was showed off. “C13O’s like a cockpit over Dash, and now the wheels are attached by magnetic levitation and electric currents! I wonder what sort of powers they’ll have now?”

A few moments later, Diana chuckled. “Evidently a vastly expanded ability to disagree and argue with each other...”

Weiss smiled. “It makes you wonder how many curse words the VA’s wanted to throw in.”

The action picked up again, Ruby dictated her notes about about the impressive if impractical/impossible mechanics of the battle to Weiss, Akko and Diana cheered and reacted as was appropriate, the former much louder than the former.

“Well, that climax was about as ridiculous and convoluted as I though it would be,” Diana said as the dust settled.

“Agreed!” Ruby chimed in. “If they didn’t suddenly get that power boost, they’d have probably gotten sucked in, not abused the cyclonic suction to vastly increase their own momentum and thus their wheels’ cutting powers.”

“I disagree, actually,” Weiss said. “There’s a lot to be said about mindset keeping you from your full potential—or in this case, spending more power arguing with your partner than dedicating it to… well, whatever is moving their wheels like that.”

“An electromagnetic suspension field, most likely, though with a WHOLE lot of that ‘Magia’ everything runs on to excuse the violations of basic mechanical principles,” Ruby replied.

Diana smirked. “… And of course they immediately resume butting heads after they defuse...” she said.

“Maybe the writers want to use the fact that they hate each other for a few more fights, before they get along,” Ruby said.

“If they ever move past their alliance of convenience.” Diana replied.

“Oh, they will, but it will be very slowly and painfully drawn out,” Weiss said. She sighed. “I always hated that about this series, you know, their establishing how limited the intelligence of MagiMon are to excuse them barely learning anything each time.

“What’s the point of building majority of the plot around the characters growing beyond what they used to be if they never actually make any significant changes over the season, and they’re basically acting almost exactly like they did in the start, until you’re almost to the end before they finally stop making the character-flaw-inflicted mistake for the 57th time?”

She sighed. “It’s really sad that the fanfiction writers who do their craft for free can do a much better job than the writers who were actually paid to do it.”

“What’s fanfiction?” Diana asked.

“Stories written by the fans of a series,” Weiss explained. “Setting, characters, or plots are really the only constant; they can go any direction, and some of them to TERRIBLE, dark, awful places.” Her face turned serious. “From a veteran to a newbie: beware, and ideally have a guide with you, for what you might find, how it might change you.”

“Can it really get that bad...?” Ruby asked.

Akko and Weiss both nodded grimly. “Don’t bother trying to see if there’s a bottom,” Weiss said. “There is none, only an endless, ever deepening abyss, some fandom’s deeper, more awful, and wider than others.”

“I get the feeling you’ve both seen some things.” Diana said.

“Because we have.” Akko replied. “Please, don’t ask.” she said, Weiss’ haunted expression saying much the same.

Diana and Ruby decided not to.

Lunch and came and went, as did various nurses. They spent the rest of the afternoon going through the rest of the first season of MagiMon, and were still watching it by their tutoring session at 5:30.

“Is that MagiMon?” Blake asked as she came in with a bag full of books and other teaching materials, a foldout table under her arm.

“It is!” Akko replied.

“Wow, I never thought I’d ever see that show again ever since I left grade school,” Blake said as she set up the table.

“The designs are really cool!” Ruby said. “Horribly impractical and sometimes in blatant violation of common sense, but you can tell the artists put a lot of love into them, and I can appreciate a passion project.”

“And simplistic, immature, and at times amateurish as it is, it’s got its charm,” Diana said. “I’m especially fond of C13O.”

Blake’s ears twitched. “Ugh, was she floating robot ball that was their leader?” she asked as Lotte set up beside her.

“She is,” Diana replied. “I’m sensing you don’t like her?”

“She was too much of a bitch,” Blake said. “The moment I learned that word was also the moment I could finally accurately describe what I thought about her.”

“Okay, I’ll admit that, but you have to consider the constant stress she’s under and the people she has to work with makes it difficult to maintain patience and calm at all times!” Diana countered. “There’s also her good points, like her willingness to adapt and step up to new situations.”

Blake scowled, her ears flattening menacingly. “Yeah, just because you’re the leader doesn’t give you an excuse to start behaving badly when your job gets hard, independent of your good points.”

“So!” Lotte interrupted, squaring up a stack of papers in her hands. “You guys ready to switch from cartoons to schoolwork?”

“Let’s do this!” Weiss cried as she shut Ruby’s scroll, slotted the quill back in. “Ruby’s got me all warmed up to take notes since we started, just let me get the remote…” she said as she stood up and set it aside.

“Aww, and it was getting close to when a new MagiMon usually shows up...” Ruby muttered.

“Priorities, Ruby,” Weiss said as she grabbed the remote. “Same to you, Diana,” she added, smirking.

“I know, I know!” Diana replied. “I’m just a little displeased at the timing, but I’m ready to go back to my studies!”

The videos were paused, and AWRD tried to study as best as they could with only one of them able to write, the rest having to make do with listening to Blake and Lotte, or reading from their own notes through their beds’ screens.

And if it was any consolation to Akko, they were a LOT more forgiving of her zoning out than all of their professors.

6:50, Blake declared the session over and started packing up. “Okay, I think that’s enough for today; I’m sorry I can’t tell you how to do it exactly, but try and do some reading on your own; Dr. Freya might not appreciate hearing you’re using the CCT as a primary source, but it’s better than when you don’t know the answer, period.”

“We know,” Akko and Weiss replied, nodding.

“See you all on Wednesday!” Lotte said, waving goodbye. “Hopefully, I can have enough ingredients for another song of healing by then.” She sighed as she hoisted her bag back over her shoulders. “There’s just so many vendors here, I can hardly find a decent supplier at my budget...”

“I know someone who can help with that!” Ruby said. “She pretty much knows EVERYTHING there is to know about Mistral, especially the markets in the lower cities.”

Blake’s ears subtly twitched, but otherwise her expression betrayed nothing

“Oh, that’d be great, but definitely some other time!” Lotte replied. She sheepishly looked down. “I don’t really have much to spend at the moment...”

“She can help with that, too, actually!” Ruby said.

“We’ll keep the offer in mind when we’re not as busy, Ruby, thank you,” Blake said.

Blake and Lotte left the room, Weiss looked over her notes, the reading assignments they were supposed to be doing if they weren’t in the hospital. “Well… anyone want to try having a group reading session?” she asked as she looked up. “I could just project to all of our screens and scroll for all of us.”

“A good idea in theory, but it might not work in practice,” Diana said. “Akko and I alone have vastly different reading speeds, it’ll likely be an exercise in frustration and futility.”

“Tell me about it!” Akko said. “You just burn through books like I do umeboshi, and that’s really impressive!”

“It’s not really that hard once you get enough practice,” Diana replied. “Better still if you start learning how to skip the parts where the authors wax poetic.”

“She’ll probably be out of the hospital by the time she gets good enough to make a difference, though,” Ruby said. “Maybe it’s just better if we go back to MagiMon.”

“Yes, more MagiMon seems the better option!” Diana said with a nod. “I’d really like to see how C13O deals with these new ‘Illogic’ Rogues, anyhow.”

“MagMon it is!” Weiss said as she picked up the remote, and brought the show back on. Just before she pressed play, however, there was a frantic knocking on the door, before it was clumsily opened.

“Hi girls!” Taiyang said, sweating and out of breath as he rushed in with an armload of devices. “Managed to borrow some head-pointers, mouth-sticks, and accessibility scroll mounts from the Bunker! Gonna need them all back as soon as you guys are able to start using your hands again, though!”

He set them down by Ruby’s end table, kissed her on the forehead, before making his way back out. “Would love to stay, talk, and help set these up, but visiting hours are already over and they’re not letting us extend again!”

“The management felt it would begin to set the wrong kind of precedent with all the other patients,” the nurse explained as Taiyang weaved his past her. “I am, however, ready to assist you with setting these up, whichever of these two options will suit you better.”

Weiss looked at the others. “Well… I guess that’s our studying problem fixed! So, who’s bowing out?” she asked.

No answer.

“Diana?” Akko asked. “You sure?”

“Yes,” Diana replied. She sheepishly looked away. “… I really want to get back to MagiMon.”

The nurse smiled. “Is there anything else I can assist you with, then?”

Everyone answered no, the nurse excused herself, and they went back to the anime, until they fell asleep.

Early morning the next day, Weiss was sitting beside Diana’s bed, helping her take notes. The mouth-sticks worked well enough for checking messages, browsing the CCT, and making short replies and searches, but as soon as Diana needed to type anything longer than a handful of words it became a chore, not to mention not having access to her numerous custom gestures.

“Did you ever think of setting up a system of voice commands, Diana?” Weiss asked as she had to make yet another intricate gesture over Diana’s scroll.

“I had, it was too inefficient,” Diana said, still gripping the mouth-stick between her teeth. “I could work faster and use them more easily if they were physical movements.”

“Taking a page straight out of Basic Combat Training?” Weiss asked.

“’Repeat, repeat, repeat, until it’s as instinctive as breathing,’” Diana replied. “Cycle twice, please.”

Weiss put her finger to the surface, circled her finger around twice to her note-taking app.

“Thank you,” Diana said, tapping away for a moment, before she said, “Stick.”

Weiss took it out of her mouth and held it for her. “Need to dictate something again?” she asked, holding up her scroll with her other hand.

“No, I’ve just had enough of tasting plastic for a while,” Diana said, before she shuddered, then sighed. “I truly, deeply feel for whoever has to use these things on a regular basis...”

“Lucky it’s only temporary,” Weiss said as she wiped down the grip, before setting it aside.

“Luckier still Ruby’s father procured them for us without prompting,” Diana said. “Dust, it feels so good to be able to function at somewhat normally, I can’t wait to get out of this cast.”

“Ugh, I know how you feel; being laid up in the hospital is the absolute worst,” Weiss said. “About the only good thing was that someone was that Akko was almost always there with me, or visiting as often as she could.”

“You two got into a lot of misadventures before, I’m gussing?” Diana asked.

Weiss smiled. “Plenty. Back in Hoshiko, Sanctum, especially now here in Haven, we were always getting into trouble—generally because of Akko’s poor impulse control, or my own terrible decisions, but sometimes trouble just can’t seem to help but find us,” she said, looking at the Shiny Rod on the other side of the room.

“Speaking of which: how are you holding up?” she said as she turned back to Diana.

“Well enough, I suppose?” Diana replied. “I mean, I’m currently in a full body cast, lagging behind on all my classes, and I just know the Shiny Rod’s probably going to be attracting more Grimm and assorted trouble to us like a superpowered magnet pretty soon…

“… But, you’ve all been excellent friends and teammates; we’re setting ourselves up for quite the comeback by midterms, if Constanze’s machine works as well as I hope it will; and I’ve discovered the joy of anime.”

She looked up at the ceiling. “Never would I have thought I’d feel so attached to, and care so much about what’s essentially a malfunctioning secretarial AI, determinedly leading a group of assorted misfits.”

Weiss chuckled. “That’s art for you!” Her voice softened. “Really don’t know what I’d do without it, which is why it’s number three on the Big Three things I can’t live without.”

“What’s number one and two?” Diana asked.

“My family plus a handful of friends like Akko, and...” Weiss blushed and looked away. “… Yuri.”

“What now?” Diana asked.

“Yuri—it’s a Tenjin term for lesbian romance,” Weiss explained, still blushing. “Look, homoerotic subtext is fine, but I really prefer homoerotic main text, even if I can’t always handle it.”

Diana chuckled. “Colour me completely unsurprised.”

Weiss scowled. “Speaking of which…” her expression softened as she reached and touched Diana’s shoulder. “If you ever need someone to talk about it, I’m here for you.”

“Talk about what, exactly?” Diana asked.

“You know, being too gay for something?” Weiss replied. “Trust me, the first handful of times I watched a lot of sequences with Eluna, I had to pause the stream and physically leave the room till my face stopped feeling like it was melting.

“Even then, some scenes are just too...” she sucked in a breath, and blew it out her nose. “… Yeah.”

Diana looked at her in confusion, before her eyes widened in realization, and she said, “Weiss, I’m not gay.”

Weiss stopped, and blinked. “Wait… you’re not…?”

“No, no I’m not,” Diana replied, matter-of-fact. “As I mentioned, I’ve got bigger priorities than romance, which is why I haven’t really had the time nor the interest to explore my sexuality.”

“O-Oh!” Weiss stammered. “I’m sorry, it was just that, I… uh...”

Diana sighed, her cheeks getting a light dusting of red. “Did you assume that because of all the fanservice in Rune Rangers, and how I reacted to it?”

“Yes…” Weiss replied, nodding. “I suppose that was just culture shock?”

“Yes, yes it was,” Diana said. “As I’m sure you and Akko are aware of, Atlas is a rather conservative kingdom, and that aside, I… never really chose to seek it out myself, so it’s rather more shameless and extreme that what I’m used to.”

“Oh. Okay. Thanks for clearing that up.” Weiss said. “Offer still stands, though, in case you find out it’s not just culture shock!”

“I’m firm in my plans to not get into a relationship or involve myself in romance, Weiss, I’m sure it won’t be a problem,” Diana said flatly.

“And I believe you, but I thought the same way before I met Aqua,” Weiss replied. “Sometimes, it really only takes the one person to change your life forever—kind of like how I was, before I became friends with Akko.

“Never hurts to have a plan just in case, doesn’t it?” she asked.

“I beg to differ: there’s such a thing as opportunity cost, after all,” Diana said.

Weiss nodded. “Well, whatever your opinion, my offer still stands.”

“The thought is appreciated, Weiss,” Diana replied. “Stick, please.”

Weiss picked up her mouth-stick, wiped down the handle again, before putting it back between Diana’s teeth.

Ruby and Akko woke up some time later, they had breakfast and resumed watching MagiMon, and the conversation was—for the most part—forgotten.

C13O stands for “Comptroller 13 Omega,” her old position before the events of the series. Though she retains her spelling as reminder of where she came from, it’s always pronounced as “Cleo.” Calling her either by her full designation or reading out the code as you should is a surefire way to activate her new found “rage” subroutines.

Dash used to be “Deliverer 507 Iota” (D507I) before the actions of this season’s villain caused her to voluntarily turn Rogue from Central. Her outright refusing to bow to any sort of authority, period, is the basis for her joining the protagonists and not the Rogues, and is the frequent cause of her clashes with C13O, who was, in a literal sense, an extension of the arm of Central and the Overseers there.

Yes, I have in fact constructed massive details for this world, how it functions, the conflicts, and even an AU with Dash and C13O where they're humans working at a crappy start-up, and have an "on-off, but mostly off" relationship.

Yes, there’s gonna be a Big Gay Panic for Diana, but it’s mostly going to be in the sequel. Doesn’t mean none of these girls won’t get their Big Moments this story, don’t worry.

#rwby #little witch academia #fanfic #and the awrd goes to #dianakko #white rose

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caustic-synishade · 7 years

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A Quick, Very Urgent Livestream

(Fanfiction, don’t worry lol)

There was something completely wrong about Mark’s late night livestream. Especially since there was a weird red reflection on just his eyes in the thumbnail.

2:37 AM. That was not a usual time for Mark to be awake, not really at this point in his life, well, as far as the fandom knew. As far as everyone knew, he got up early in the morning to be a productive human being and couldn’t afford these late night shenanigans like his fans could. He needed sleep, and rarely ever posted past midnight, and seemed to really stay awake that long during the charity livestreams. It was still two weeks away before another one of those events. It was odd to say the least, but nonetheless, the chat was excited.

“Why are you waking me up, Mark!!!” Things like this blew through the chat, since most people who watched him were in the US, and prone to be asleep, or falling asleep.

It wasn’t a chat that Mark was interested in, however. He wasn’t on his phone, nor was he in his recording room, places he would usually be in events like this. It was clear that it wasn’t his phone hosting this event as well. The man was illuminated by a bright screen, surrounded by pitch black as he sat in his bed. It almost looked as if he was hiding, sheets over his messy black locks like a hood, reminiscent of a child at a sleepover trying to protect their secrets. There was a concerning expression on his face. One of pure and utter terror.

“Hello!” He nervously croaked, reading the chat, “I don’t have long, but I wanted to update you guys with something extremely important. I’m not going to wait around for more people to join cause I just need this out.”

The chat raced and roared with excitement. Theories of a new skit, but approached in a different way via livestream. Maybe a teaser. Maybe Darkiplier! Some people showed genuine concern for this appearance so late, but it being so close to witching hour in California, most assumed a joke. Especially with the cheesy, dark setting.

“No, no, this isn’t...” Mark stopped, gazing upwards before looking back at the chat, quieter now, “This isn’t Dark. I-I... really need to explain some things...”

More people seemed to show concern now. However, most assumed some other ego. Maybe it has to do with Jack! Jack had been teasing Anti for awhile now, and due to the cryptic titles Mark was posting, maybe... Some assumed he was still joking and trying to pull a stunt of some sort.

“There’s been something... God, there’s been something wrong...” The man looked away again, eyes widening, “I don’t... I-. There’s something following me. I couldn’t find my phone before it...”

The stream lagged. The chat was blowing up with a growing fear for the man. But again, it mostly stayed fun and joking.

“No, no, no, no...” Mark could be seen again, fiddling with the keyboard, “Okay. We are back? Good. Fuck, I have to get this out quick. Had to shut the door to keep it out... Wifi isn’t going to...Fuck. I-I.. A few weeks ago. This thing just came out of no where... I... see it everywhere. It’s...? I don’t know what the fuck it is. It’s this tall red thin thing. Like. Slender I guess? I know I joked about this a few days ago, but... I’m serious. I’m 100%...”

There was a crash from some unknown source as the man quickly ran off screen before the room spun. Soon, Mark was in another room, a closet, before he curled up in the corner with the stream and started shaking.

There was a moment of silence from him, “It’s following me. It’s here. Oh god, its IN my apartment...” He looked directly into the webcam, eyes welling with tears, “I don’t know what’s happening...”

A voice behind the door groaned out, deep and smooth, “Mark...”

“... Oh god...” Mark whined aloud, searching around frantically.

The chat grew wilder. People joked about him dying. Told him to stop fucking around. Accused Tyler of messing with him.

“Come out, Mark,” the voice insisted.

“It’s never fucking spoke before!?” Mark shrieked, cowering further into the corner, “I... fuck!!”

A loud rumbling began as the door shook. Hell, the entire camera feed shook. It was like the chat was witnessing a 9.0 earthquake or something. However, people within the LA confirmed in stream that no such thing was happening... Then began the trumpet sounds. It sounded straight from some alien sci-fi. A metallic whistling of sorts drowned out any cries and screams that Mark was making. The sounds clipped the mic harshly. Quickly, he covered his ears as the feed glitched in and out. Unknowing to Mark, something red flashed on screen. Again. And again. And again. But as soon as it began, it all stopped. Silence followed. Mark was still, mind for the heavy breathing. Silence followed for ten minutes before the man tried anything.

“I... I’m not safe. I know I’m not. No, I am NOT going out there. No, I don’t have my phone,” Mark responded to the concern in the chat, “Look. It woke me up. I saw it outside the window... God, that fucking image.. It shouldn’t have even been able to be that high up... It’s... If... I-if it gets me. I’m going to try to get it on the stream...”

“Mark?” Amy’s voice could be heard from outside the door, “Mark where are you?”

Quickly, the man rushed up to greet the voice, snatching the laptop with him. A stupidly happy grin was plastered on his tear ridden face, “Amy! Thank god you’re-” The smile faded quickly. Whatever Mark saw made him drop the laptop as he ran. Luckily for the chat, he was still visible in the corner of the room, barely on screen.

There was a shadow that extended down over Mark as he screamed, primal reactions forcing him into that damn corner. The shadow wasn’t right. It’s proportions were too unnatural. A thin waist, thin arms. An oddly shaped head. It twitched forward, it’s shadow growing smaller as it approached Mark. All that the audience could see was the gorey red of it’s thin and writhing skin of it’s leg as it passed the webcam. Mark fell to the floor in terror, screeching a horrible sound as the stream lagged and soon ended.

The chat continued on, everyone focused on that leg. That shadow.

The red man.

----

The next day, as the fandom blew up in terror, seemed to go about like nothing ever happened. Mark uploaded like normal. No delays. He even tweeted a few times, but never acknowledged the night before. All that was different was the red smudge in his pupils.

#i wrote something for the red man are you happy #markiplier #fanfiction #youtube

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superhusbands4ever · 7 years

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With all the uproar over the all-female Wonder Woman showings in Texas this past week, I want to point something out to all the people out there who think it’s stupid or don’t understand the point.

There is a large problem with sexism in so-called “nerd culture,” especially among the fans. I had to explain this to a male friend of mine the other day because he knew it happened, but he didn’t know to what extent.

I take part in nerd culture and I see it every day, and I’ve even dealt with it myself a couple of times. It’s hard to be a woman involved in nerd culture and be taken seriously. I have seen other women be accused of being a “fake fan,” a girl who’s only pretending to be interested in things like comic books or Star Trek or D&D because they want to impress boys. I have seen women’s opinions and thoughts on topics ignored or disregarded by men because they believe these women have no idea what they’re talking about. Not to mention within the content itself: video games and books where men are the heroes, and women are always the damsels in distress. In comic books, women are drawn to be extremely sexualized, costumes barely covering their bodies, and their bodies are drawn to be extremely unrealistically thin, yet curvy and top-heavy. Remember when all those people were throwing a fit over Ghostbusters being remade into a movie with female leads? Did you really think the only reason people were mad about it was that they were remaking it? Think again. (And don’t even get me started on Big Bang Theory.)

I, myself, am involved in nerd culture. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I am heavily invested in Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Comics. I go to conventions, I cosplay, I take part in discussion boards and forums, I write/read fanfiction, I buy comic books, I do RPs and RPGs, and I have a Tumblr dedicated to Marvel and Iron Man. But I cannot tell you the number of times my authenticity as a fan has been put into question because I am a woman.

I once walked into a comic book store to buy the new issue of Invincible Iron Man, and while I was perusing through the old comics, a man came up to me and started asking me if I was lost, or if I was waiting for my boyfriend. Then, when I said I was there for myself, told me that I must be confused, and the beauty salon was actually two doors down. I have been accused of only being interested in the MCU because the “actor dudes who play them are hot.” I have had my opinions on comics disregarded by men in my own family because I am a girl, and girls “aren’t into that kind of stuff.” In anonymous RPGs, I am always, without fail, assumed to be a man by other players until I state otherwise. I have even been accused of only showing interest in superheroes because I wanted to impress a guy. (Yes – I have spent probably hundreds of dollars on movie tickets, comics, and merchandise, I take part in RPGs, I spend countless hours talking to people on Tumblr about character analysis of the MCU vs. different Marvel Comics universes and plot analysis, spend hours running my blog for my followers and my own entertainment, writing fanfiction and participating in writing events, I’ve read hundreds of fanfics online, spent a couple hundred dollars to make a homemade Black Widow costume to wear to Rhode Island Comic Con where I proceeded to spend another $200 to get a photo with and an autograph from STAN LEE on the off chance that I will one day meet a boy who is impressed by all of these things. Of course, I must have forgotten.)

Not to mention, I don’t look like the stereotype of a “nerd girl,” so I am often not taken seriously by men within fandom for that as well (that stereotype is complete bullshit anyway). And I’m not even as heavily involved in this stuff as some women are! I have seen and met women who eat, sleep, and breathe this kind of stuff! Star Wars, Stark Trek, D&D, LotR, anime, video games, comic books, whatever it may be. I’ve seen other women get treated a lot more poorly than I have simply because of the things they like! And because of what? Gender roles? Stupid societal expectations?

So yes, I understand why a movie theater in Texas is offering women-only showings of Wonder Women. Women are very much underrepresented in the superhero genre, particularly in movies. Wonder Woman is the first female-led superhero movie since Hallie Berry’s Catwoman in 2005, and that movie was given so much shit by critics and fans. Marvel has never released a single female lead movie, and won’t until 2019.

The women only showings show women that they can be powerful and save the world. It empowers little girls and shows us that we are more than just a plaything for a man to rescue or wait around for them to save the day. And it shows women within this so-called “nerd culture” that they are important too. Their presence matters, their opinions matter, and their validity as fans matter just as much as anyone else.

Hell, if some theaters wanted to do an African American only showing of Marvel’s Black Panther when it comes out, go for it. People of color are just as, if not more, marginalized and erased from nerd culture than women are. With Marvel blaming low comic book sales on “diversity,” they’re continuous whitewashing of characters and erasure of ethnic backgrounds, and the erasure/disregard for POC characters by the fandom within fanon. I can only think of two or three popular superhero movies that have come out in the last 20 years with a POC lead.

It’s not like the theater is denying you the right to see the movie, you just won’t be allowed into that specific theater room showing it. Hell, 99% of the people complaining about it don’t live in Texas or anywhere near that theater.

Basically what I’m saying is, stop throwing a bitch fit over dumb shit, go watch a different showing of the same movie that’s being offered five minutes later, and stop trying to deny women their right and their place within fandom as more than just casual participants.

#omg i had to rant #women are important in fandoms too #jesus christ #wonder woman #discourse #fandom

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enemymine2000 · 8 years

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Fandom rambles: Eye colors

Disclaimer: Okay, I'm a Sterek fan. I became one without so much as seeing one episode of that god-forsaken show that pairing originated from. I started watching after about a year of reading purely Sterek fanfiction. I stopped watching after season 5, because no matter what, I simply couldn't take that amount of stupid anymore. I refuse to rewatch it for the same reasons.

I started to ramble to myself about „stupid Paige and stupid fans for taking Peter's words at face value“ like many times before a couple of days ago, when again some fan took Peter's narrative and made it the basis of a pointless case about Derek's „type“ and blue eyes and his transformation. Don't even remember the correct context anymore. Didn't stop me from continuing to ramble. So it wrote it down to get rid of it. Hopefully.

P.S. English is not my first language, but the language in which I always operate when browsing my fandoms. I know I make mistakes. But I don't care. Also fandom wank not welcome. Just stating my opinion here and putting out my headcanon.

That being said…

I believe Derek became an alpha again when he “died” and thus triggered his transformation into full wolf.

Don't give me that "but his eyes were not red"-argument. Eye colors are deciving in canon at best.

We were fed the line that betas who have killed innocent lives have blue eyes, normal betas have yellow ones and alphas' glow red practically from day one. But there is barely evidence supporting it. Yes, Scott's eyes turned red after becoming True Alpha - whatever that may be. But in all seasons since Scott never actually has shown true "alphaness". He doesn't lead, instead he practically disbands the pack after Derek leaves for hopefully greener pastures. He just has one real beta, an unwilling one at best and isn't seen to have a real connection with Liam.

When Scott was bitten by Peter it was all about him being practically enthralled by his alpha and being forced to go out and hunt (and kill) with him. Nothing of that sort ever happens between Liam and Scott.

Practically all of the planning for the pack and most of the "education" of the beta(s) is in fact done by Stiles, who is the glue that keeps all these different people together. Yes, Derek's eyes turn red after he killed Peter and thus ascended to “alphaness”. Just like we are led to believe Peter's eyes turned red after killing Laura. We never actually see how the eyes thing works when there is a natural progression from one pack alpha to the other like it had to happen to Laura, when Talia died in the fire. Or how the “alphaness” chooses its next "host", when not forced to “jump ship” by killing the previous one. In scientific terms "We just don't have enough data!"

Okay, so what about how someone becomes alpha. Scott became alpha supposedly by sheer strength of will and character - or so says Deaton, who is an unreliable narrator at best, because the sneaky bugger doesn't like to share important information.

We saw Scott getting stronger for a while, but it only started after the icebaths. Which were supposed to stop the sacrifices of the parents, but were clearly surrogate sacrifices. So something fishy there.

Okay, Darach sacrificing parents was stopped, but Darach's aim of sacrifices was fullfilled. Only they came back and each brought something with them. Because, you know, the door was ajar.

The void came with Stiles, Allison had walking nightmares of Kate and turning into her, but Scott saw himself becoming more werewolf.

So true alpha my ass!

Scott brought something more powerful with him, woke the beast inside him and that was, what was able to push through the mountain ash barrier and turned his eyes red.

But Scott rarely feeds that beast, because he is a special little flower, who rather have everyone he loves die, than really do something to protect them. Who rather manipulates others to do the dirty deeds - like biting people or just being responsible for things. And can't fess up to his responsibilities, when he actually did do something - like taking care of his freaking beta after biting Liam, like admitting to using Derek non-consentually to bite Gerard so he himself didn't have to.

So the power seems to dwindle again. Maybe it (the thing that came back with him or simply his spark, because something must transfer to spark a transformation in a previously purely human being) even transferred some to a better host - again thinking of Liam, who is ever so angry and willing to do, what needs to be done. Alpha material if I ever saw one (and somewhat reminiscent of Derek pre-giving up his alphaness for Cora).

As stated Laura became alpha after her mother and former alpha, Talia, died in the fire. Talia, as stated by Gerard, was made something of a leader because of her rare ability to fully shift. He never stated whether she became an alpha before or after aquiring that ability.

But my theory is, she became alpha after she could shift into full wolf.

Hear me out. I think it is a genetic trait, that runs in families of born werewolves. Which is why it's so rare. Bitten weres will never be able to achieve it, because they lack the genes (active gene combination more likely, but I don’t feel like going all biology AP here). And born ones will need it from both their parents to do it. And even then they seem to need a certain state of mind.

We know Derek only achieved the full shift after he came to terms with his own humanity, after letting go of his anger issues and accepting his own fallacy. His "death" at the time of his first full shift is only a coincidence.

Talia is shown to have a sort of nearly eerie calm, a serenity about her in the scene where she meets Deucalion, despite the serious topic and dangers discussed.

Fandom thinks that the Hale pack has been matriarchial, because Talia's alpha went to Laura. Again, not enough evidence.

Assuming my hypothesis is correct and the serenity of the the full shift enables the werewolf to become alpha in their own right, Talia could very well have become alpha outside of the normal order. Which is supported by Peter's feeling that he should have been alpha and has "always been the alpha". Maybe he was actually next in line of natural succession and being groomed like Laura had been groomed, but then Talia went and became literally one with her inner wolf and the spark went to her after their previous alpha died. And she went on to lead her pack in a strong and confident way.

So no killing, but also no normal inheritance. Something different. Something a true “True Alpha” should be able to do.

Something Scott never did and Derek always tried, but couldn't do, because he couldn't embrace his wolf after feeling at guilt for the fire for so long and being angry at the world and especially himself for it.

But Derek let go of it all, when he sacrificed his spark so Cora could live.

Peter - being the instigator behind it - probably had hoped that Derek's “alphaness” either reverted back to the family line, therefore himself, or simply vanished, so he would have only to deal with one pretty incompetent alpha (Scott; in contrast to an alpha, who was willing to learn, to do what was needed and became stronger for it) to claim it for himself again.

And Derek's name didn't appear in the deadpool anymore, while Scott's bounty rose, while Peter was again in a prime position to manipulate him. Maybe even getting him to willingly give up his spark to him?! (Berserker-plot; “I can’t even keep myself safe and am a danger to my friends, here,Peter, take that burden from me.” - But there was Stiles and his somethingness and Derek evolved and disposed of the threat and well, it didn’t work out. Next plan. Damn, Eichen House. How inconvenient.)

Derek evolved. Losing his spark allowed him to come to terms with his life. He let go of his anger and Stiles took its place as his anchor. Humanity in its purest form. Flawed, spastic, vulnerable, but oh so strong.

Coincidently he died to be "reborn". I think, his eyes just would have started flickering back to were-life at some point anyway, but him being in mortal danger probably sped up the process a lot. Because werewolf healing couldn't have gone amiss in that situation and human Derek was a bit left without it for a moment here.

Now "reborn" or evolved, Derek possesses the same serenity as Talia did. He knows how to lead, but chooses not too. But he is responsible enough that should the need arise, he would take up the mantle once more. Which will be when his eyes will turn back red. But he doesn't need that additional sign of power right now, so they flash blue.

Okay, blue eyes.

Supposedly eyes flash blue, if a were killed an innocent. But what defines an innocent? Neither Deaton, Derek nor Peter ever give details.

We are shown scenes of Peter's narrative of how Derek's eyes turned blue. I don't call them flashback for a reason.

It is not Derek's story!

Evidence: Peter and Derek were impossible to roam high school at the same time. I don't know about your schools, but any adult not belonging to the faculty had to announce their present at my school. Without good reason you would be banned from campus if caught. (Again: I'm in Germany, where we don't have security guards in public schools and aren’t paranoid af.) Still Peter was supposedly always there to give young Derek advice and watch it all go down.

According to his driver's license Derek was 22 at the beginning of the show (born November 7th, 1988 according to Google). The Hale Fire was supposed to have happened at least 6 years prior, which is the amount of time Peter spent in a coma. So Derek was 15/16 during that time, which would make the possible timespan between Paige and Kate no more than a year.

Peter was born during the 1970s. Which according to the timeline of the show would put him in his early 40s about now, so maybe late 30s at the beginning of it. Let's say he was 38/39, when he went on his alpha rampage.

Meaning he was 32/33 at the time of the Hale Fire and about 31/32, when Derek supposedly fell in love with Paige in his sophomere year.

That's a big fat "nope" right here. One thing for a 22 year old to stroll the boundaries of campus and sometimes enter the school undetected while its in session, but 32 is a stretch even with good werewolf-genes.

On top of that I believe that would it have been Derek's story, he never would have fallen into Kate's trap the way he has. He would have been extra wary including anyone not family in any kind werewolf business. Not to mention still grieving.

No, Derek fell for Kate's trap because he was still able to trust her with his secret. And the innocent life lost which turned his eyes blue was his own among others. He lost his innocence and felt personally responsible for the Hale Fire.

No, Paige was Peter's first love and the reason his eyes flash blue. He was the high school basketball star, he was bright-eyed and slightly narcisstic. It would therefore be in character for him „to keep the things he finds“ - meaning having Paige bitten to keep her with him forever – and to keep her save from dangers the only way he knew how.

The Nemeton was cut down somewhere between World War II (the events surrounding the summoning of the Nogitsune in the internment camp) and 2003, when the meeting took place. Derek not knowing the members and details of the Alpha Pack would make more sense if it was Peter's story.

A 15year old beta would not have been involved in the meetings and I doubt Talia has told her children more than she absolutely had to about potential dangerous pack business.

Although Ennis was supposed to have bitten Paige in Peter's narrative, Derek shows no sign of recognition or special kind of anger towards him, apart from Ennis kidnapping and killing his betas of course.

15 year old Peter however, possibly groomed to become the next alpha by his parents until shortly before that, would personally know alphas of different packs. Maybe even a younger Ennis, who maybe just became alpha himself and needed to have more betas. For an alpha is always stronger when he has more betas.

Peter is an unreliable narrator, for he will always put himself in a favorable light and to have the story around Paige fit into the time in which he told it to Stiles, he mixes in the element surrounding the meeting of the packs with Talia in the old destillery.

So he can use his own personal story to manipulate the pack around Scott against Derek's attempts at leadership and at the same time disclose some of his knowledge of the members of the Alpha Pack.

Peter never shows and tells without some form of personal gain.

Also in hindsight it would make so much more sense for Talia taking Peter's memories of his daughter Malia, if having to mercy-kill Paige had been his story.

Realizing that his lover, the Desert Wolf, wanted to kill their child and probably having to fight the mother to get her to back up and definitively having to give up the baby for its own safety, would be a painful memory Talia would want to spare her brother.

(Remember we only get the Desert Wolf's unreliable narrative of events in season 5, when Peter was already taken by the Ghost Riders and therefore erased from memory of all involved. Corinne would therefore only have Talia to lay the perceived blame onto.

So she may not have been forced to bring the child to term, but did it because she actually loved Peter. Or because Peter told her that it was also his and she could leave, after she had delivered the baby. But she would not have been able to remember when she started to track her daughter down.

Which she incidently only stated doing once Peter had disappeared. Never once during the fourth season, when there was a certain confusion about the Desert Wolf and the She-Wolf – who turned out to be a werejaguar; how's that for a misnomer – was there any indication Corinne was travelling north to Beacon Hills. She was simply there and assassinating things/people in the deserts of Mexico and Southern California.)

So, back to topic:

Paige nicely fits into the hypothesis of Peter being next in line for alpha in the Hale pack, but then Talia went and managed the full shift, making her spark go all alpha and throwing that plan out of the window. And leaving Peter with guilty-blue eyes shortly after. (Maybe even because he didn’t want to go to his better-than-thou sister for help with finding this yellow wolfsbane which Chris used to cure Gerard and Peter, walking encyclopedia on all things supernatural, surely at the least had rumor about before having Paige bitten. I mean, come on, the Hale’s where supposed to be as very old family and they sure would have taught the knowledge of all variations of wolfsbane to all their children! He might in panic not have remembered, what exactly, but Peter surely would have known, that Talia would have ways to help. Instead he hid in a root cellar. - But that is a whole nother ramble.)

Since the alphaness needs to have a next generation - the only thing we know for certain - Laura becomes next in line, while Peter is pushed back even further.

Derek gets roped in by a young, ambitious hunter chick, which leads to most of the family being killed and his eyes turning blue.

Fast forward 6 years Peter kills Laura and becomes alpha the „unnatural“ way, bites Scott, because he is at the wrong place at the wrong time and an alpha needs betas.

Scott becomes flashy yellow eyes and refuses to learn how to be a werewolf, just how to use its powers, if he can stop suck so much at life with them. (Like creeper-stalking his (ex-)girlfriend or becoming the number one jock in school.) The only thing he really doesn't like is when someones is to be killed. No matter who and why, he can't have that.

Cue the Darach, who wants to kill pretty much everybody. Scott gathers all the will and power he possesses (or which possesses him) and breaks through her mountain ash circle. The exertion sparks the possible alphaness every werewolf has or allows the thing he brought back through the door to take over for a moment, just enough to spark the flame. Flare the red eyes.

Questions left to ponder, should new information get available:

1) Theo's eyes stay yellow even after killing. Is that because he is a chimera or because he doesn't feel guilt?

2) Malia's eyes are blue. Because she accidently killed her adoptive mother and sister and feels guilty about it? Or is it because she is a werecoyote and not a werewolf? (Different concepts of social structure and as loners more likely to kill, if even in self-defence? The Desert Wolf is a merciless killer and Malia states without emotion, that coyotes kill their young.)

3) Kate's eyes glow green? Some unexplained powers? Or simply a matter of different species? And why did she work towards the plan with Peter? Yes, he turned her – with his claws, which is another WTF?! - but he is not her alpha, because he is no alpha anymore and well, she hates all weres. 4) Jackson’s eyes are snake-like green-ish as kanima, sometimes glow orange-ish and flash blue after being “killed”, subsequently anchored by Lydia and then turned into a werewolf. So do have kanima only glowing eyes, when called by their master? Or before they start their transformation towards the cocoon-thingamabob? If a were-species can change (through change of personality and) another bite or deep claw-injury, why doesn’t it happen all the time during fights? (Bonus: Does that mean Hayden is now purely werewolf without a trace of chimera? Also Jackson is still technically Derek’s beta. Why would Derek allow his beta to leave him without ever mentioning him ever again? I am utterly confused by this god-forsaken show.

#Teen Wolf #ramblings #eye colors #were-beings are confusing #don't hate me #confusing lore is confusing #meta

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