#i can damn well make him come back to take revenge on his family thinking they left him

[yonemurishiroku]

In New Rome, a strict selection of babies is carried out — only healthy and strong children who have inherited only the best from their parents.

And the rest of the children, who are sickly and have not received divine powers, are sent to a special adoption system in the mortal world…

And now, after three years of a happy marriage, Jason Alexander Grace and Penelope Amaryllis Jackson learn the good news — they are expecting their first child.

Nobody even remembers about the selection, but why? it is crystal clear that their child will be strong and healthy.

They had absolutely healthy and strong triplets — two beautiful boys and a wonderful girl, blessed with the golden curls of their proud father and the sea eyes of their happy mother.

Aurelius Elmo, Adrian Emilius and Ennia Amara.

But after giving birth, the nurse brings only Aurelia and Ennia to the mother and father.

Next, a disheveled and angry Reina flies into Penelope's room.

Oh no.

Adrian Emilius Grace-Jackson did not qualify.

They are trying to return the child with all their might, Frank, Hazel, Reina, Penelope and Jason themselves literally put pressure on the senators with their authority, but they are adamant — the ancient law issued by Jupiter himself, thanks to which Rome is still alive, is the same for everyone.

A tiny boy with blond hair and green eyes, nameless Adrian Emilius, is sent for adoption.

Sally and Paul are desperately trying to find their grandson, but the boy was adopted too quickly by a rich couple from another country.

After going through tears, tantrums and other severe torments, Jason and Penelope come to terms with the loss of Adrian ... they will love and remember him until the last day of their lives.

Time passes, the wound on the souls of Jason and Penelope does not heal, but becomes covered with a crust.

Aurie Elmy and Eni Ama grow up to be great children, then one by one they have three more children — two girls and a boy, now Penelope is pregnant, there will be two boys.

The Grace-Jackson family is beautiful, perfect and happy.

Until one day Ennia Amara finds a magazine with a photo of the French model Adrian Emilius Agrest, who is a spitting image of the girl herself and her brother, and Aurelius Elmo finds documents about the first pregnancy and childbirth of their mother Penelope ... she had not twins, but triplets ... there was another boy…

Ngl the first half sounds like the start of a dark deep humanity's-value-focus manga and if it was me I would have made Adrian an antagonist just for the family drama.

[circeyoru]

The Boy & The Witch _ Part 2

[Human!Alastor x Witch!Reader]

Part 1 — Part 2 (here)

The boy, now named Alastor, came often to your little home in the forest. His attitude could be described as excited, eager, and twisted. You’d say that it was near your level and perhaps over as time goes by. You weren’t wrong

Alastor was more adapt in learning darker arts. While you can heal, Alastor shows no talent in such. Though as if to make up for it, he was extremely talented in shadows. A form of magic you have trouble with due to your abilities in the purer magic. Soon, his shadow came to life with glowing eyes and a crescent moon as its smile

You told him that he needs to control his shadow as it started doing it own thing when it came to life. It was harmless to you, but if anyone were to find out, there’d be hell to pay. It took a while but Alastor and his shadow got used to each other. When dealing with sentile beings, it takes time, you told him while he mediated, if he wants more control, he must be of sound mind and body first

Once, you were in town again, gathering on some supplies to stock up and saw Alastor. You were going to greet him, but you saw a women step into the frame. You figured it was his mother, but you were conflicted, his smile was genuine, familiar to how happy you saw him when he was learning and mastering the darker arts of voodoo magic

Thinking back, he never mentioned his mother to you, only his father that he loathed and seeked revenge on. The conclusion you came to was that he was doing it for his mother too, the mistreatment included her

You left, reminding yourself to talk with Alastor the next time he visited

“You know you can’t go to Heaven now that you meddle in voodoo magic, right?” You leaned against the door frame of your little experiment room, your arms crossed over your chest while you looked at the back of Alastor’s form. You noticed his shadow’s smile turned to a frown and shivered, but Alastor reminded focus on his task “What brought this along?” Alastor questioned as he grind down some animal bones accounting to one of your many books “The other day, I saw you with your mother I presume. She’s a nice lady that will go to Heaven and you’re damned for Hell.” You continued “You’ll be there with me, right?”  “Well, of course, I’m the one that brought you into this, so naturally. I think my family and relatives made some sort of clan down there. They living the life ther.” You chuckled, “And Hell is supposed to be a punishment too.” “If you’ll be in Hell as well, I can live without my mother there, she belongs in Heaven. I’ll treasure my time here now while I’m alive.” Alastor spoke softly Your eyes narrowed, a small frown on your face, you turned to leave but not before saying, “Then you shouldn’t be there with me. Go back home, boy.”

Like Alastor was listening to you, he didn’t come back the next day, or the day after. For a while, your home was void of the apprentice you took in and given the name of Alastor to. You’ll admit that you felt lonely and thought if you were being too cruel to him

You waited for a week longer to see if there was any change in Alastor’s visit to the forest. Oddly enough, there was no sighting of him. Why you say that because when he was younger, he’d play disappearance for a few days to catch your attention. You found him hiding within the tree branches when you went to look for him

But now it was a teenager, nearly adult. Some can say you two grow up together, you’re not shy to admit that he has grown to be quite the lady’s killer. He has gonna popular in school and town. Getting a nice internship at the radio station to prepare him for his future career

You knew that under his perfect front, how painful and cruel his life behind closed doors was. Not to mention his cruelty and heinous thoughts he habour to those that do him wrong. So you left your home when the sun was about to set to where Alastor’s home was. You peeked inside from one of the uncovered windows. It was all quiet. Too quiet

Securing your cloak and the deep hood over head, you went to the back door. Using your own shorted staff, you tapped the lock and unlocked the door as it opened on its own and closed when you entered into the house

You wandered around, coming to a stop when you passed the living room with a body laid on the carpet and another on the couch. You cautiously stepped forward, checking the mother to see if she was breathing, when she was, despite the blood from her head. You turned to the man, father of Alastor’s due to the resemblance, and checked his breathing. He was sleeping

Kneeling down, you hovered your hand over the mother’s injured head and healed her a bit. Then you turned your attention to the staircase and slowly made your way up. When you made it up, you scanned the doors that were all opened, except one. You stood before it, trying the handle first, locked. You did the same thing to the back door and unlocked it with ease

The door creeked with a whine, you eyes pierced into the room, bathed in the light from the setting sun. You noticed the motionless body on the bed and made your way over. You sat on the edge of the head, facing away from Alastor. “You know, your mother’s in a dying state. But I healed her enough to get through the night.”

Alastor merely flinched, enough of a sign to show you he was awake and listening

“I wonder though, still you let this father, this man, to rule over your life any longer. You’re not the only one suffering.” You spoke

You sat there playing with your shortened staff when you left Alastor get up and left the room. You waited for a while before you followed suit and went down. You weren’t surprised to see Alastor standing over the now dead body of his father and the blood staff in his hands

With a snap of your fingers, the living room was in a worst wreck. You walked over to Alastor, pausing to let him lean over you. “Don’t worry, this would be like your family was attacked by armed robbers. You’re going to sleep for a while and your neighbours will find out then alert the police. I honoured your revenge, now let me handle the aftermath.”

As if your words were what he needed, his eyes closed shut and his full weight crashed into yours. You carefully kneeled down to set him on the floor. Making sure he was just sleeping. You eyed his shadow and pushed the staff to it so that it was hidden when the neighbours and officers come

You stood on the branch of a nearby tree, its leaves hiding you while you watched concerned and nosy individuals crowd around Alastor’s house. The police set up the perimeter and medical officers brought Alastor and his mother’s unconscious bodies to the hospital

“Glad it wasn’t the young boy or the mother that’s killed.” “Yeah, would have been unjust.” “Now they can live peacefully.” “That’s good.”

So the father wasn’t well-liked already. You thought to yourself, your staff elongated to its original form. You tapped the end of it to the tree branch. All the better. You stared down as the deceased body was brought out. Makes for an easier target. I have to ask my family to catch his soul.

Note: Long overdue part 2. Since things have slowed down, I'm working on the requests meant for longer writing. The ones where I can rant or is just a short answers will be posted quicker~

Circe Y.

Other Works: MASTERLIST

Taglist:

@aconfusedwonderland

@crowleysthings

@donustellaron@mistpurpl3

[rita-repulsa-ke]

Death and the Scarlet Witch

"She tried to wreck my life, destroy my family, literally murder me after she thought she'd stolen my power," Wanda says, using her fingers to count off all of Agatha's crimes. "She also tormented me with my past and lied to me. A lot."

That does, Rio has to admit, sound like the woman she loves. Especially the lying part. She can't keep a smile off her face.

This probably makes slightly more sense if you've read Scarlet. Rio goes to visit the Scarlet Witch, during the time Wanda is hanging out in that cabin at the end of Wandavision studying the Darkhold.

This one has warnings for lots of mentions of death, small-d, and also Rio is not always very nice. She is, however, very romantic over Agatha.

Death is everywhere. She is on a Road that doesn’t exist and, in that same second, she is next to the hospital bed of a young man, both of them ignoring the flurry of activity around them as nurses and doctors try valiantly to save a life that has already passed into her hands.

“I wasn’t ready,” he says.

“Most people aren’t,” Death replies. “How was what you had?”

He thinks about it, then gives her a tentative smile. “It was pretty good?"

She offers him her hand. “Sometimes, that’s the best you get.”

In the same blink of an eye, she sits on wet pavement next to woman staring at a mess of twisted metal.

“I wasn’t ready,” the stranger says.

Rio keeps her sigh internal. “Most people—“

An elderly woman in a nursing home. A child swimming where they shouldn’t have been. A man killed in a fight gone wrong.

Death is everywhere she needs to be.

And simultaneously, she is at a cabin in a beautiful, remote wilderness, a cabin that radiates an achingly familiar dark power.

She pushes open the door, startles a woman making herself a cup of tea, and has to hastily deflect the bolt of red energy flung toward her.

It isn't a very good deflection and in her head, she can hear Agatha murmuring, you’re so sloppy. You have so much power, but your technique—

Yes, Ags, I know. Shush now.

“Hi,” Death says. “I’m Rio.”

The woman stares at her, then gives a short, mirthless laugh. “I know who you are,” she says. “You have followed me all my life.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Rio says.

She can’t help but notice that Wanda is beautiful.

Not like that. No one is beautiful like Agatha, frustrating, gorgeous monster that she is. No, Wanda Maximoff is beautiful like an apocalypse. She is the end of any number of worlds, the potential for a sea of corpses the likes of which even Rio has never seen.

It does amuse Rio to imagine how jealous Agatha would be, though, were she here. She always hates when Rio is looking at anyone but her.

Rio never is, of course. Not really.

“What do you want?” Wanda asks, snapping her back to this moment alongside a million others. “Is it—is it my time?”

She sounds so hopeful.

"No," Rio admits. "I wanted to talk."

She isn't sure what she wants, not really. Revenge, maybe, but why should she? Agatha doesn't deserve her fury, would scorn her protection.

Rio wants to protect her anyway.

Still, there are rules. She can't simply take Wanda. And she's made enough exceptions for Agatha already.

Wanda's laugh turns softer and simultaneously more hollow. "To talk. Death wants to talk to me. Why not? I feel at this point we should be good friends, you and I." She sits in a chair that wasn't there a moment ago, and Rio is coming to the interesting realization that Wanda is not entirely well.

Agatha had told her once that the Darkhold broke weak minds. She'd told her that while throwing bolts of dark magic at Rio and crowing over her success in having mastered the Book of the Damned, of course, but the point still stands.

"Lots of people die," Rio says. "You aren't special."

"Aren't I? Aren't I special? The Scarlet Witch," she says the words with too much emphasis, drags her voice over the sounds. "There's a whole chapter on me in the Darkhold, did you know? If that is not special, I don't know what is." She laughs again and there has never been a more humorless sound.

"Riiiight," Rio says. She's starting to think she doesn't need to enact revenge, she can sit back and let the universe take its course.

Feels a little passive, though.

"What more can you take from me?" Wanda asks. "What more can I lose?"

Yeah, I'm trying to figure that out too, she thinks. "I'm not here to take," she lies. If Agatha can do it, so can she.

"…Do you understand grief? Can you?" Wanda asks without prelude, and now Rio isn't sure this broken woman, sitting in a chair that doesn't exist, is talking to her at all.

She's also starting to notice a very interesting similarity between that chair and a certain Road she's currently walking, a Road she always knew wasn't real.

"I do understand grief,” she says, no lies this time. There is something she grieves more deeply than she'd ever thought possible.

Wanda is still talking, still mostly to herself. "I had a husband. I had children. I had everything I ever wanted."

"The ones you made with magic?" It had taken her some time to find Agatha—she isn't sure how long, she's never been good with time—to find the strange little town and the stranger situation her beloved had gotten herself into this time. But find and save her she did, unsticking her from that miserable curse.

Not that Agatha had appreciated Rio sweeping in to save her. She never does.

Still, she remembers Agatha screaming herself awake, sobbing in Rio’s arms, and she does hope there is something more she can take from the Scarlet Witch.

Wanda nods in listless agreement, that family, the fake magic ones.

How fake is suddenly a very interesting question.

"Hey, I want to ask you something," Rio says.

Wanda only nods again, staring vacantly into the past with the expression of a woman who has not fully lived in the present for some time.

"When you broke the spell, you also broke a woman's mind and left her in that place, imagining she was someone else. Someone even more annoying. Why'd you do it, Wanda?"

Now Wanda's attention snaps to her, rivulets of scarlet magic racing up her neck and down her arms, and oh, she is dangerous, all that power with so little control. Rio can picture Agatha's sneer.

"Agatha," Wanda hisses the name. "Is that who you're here to ask me about? Death has come all this way to ask me about Agatha Harkness?"

"That's the one," Rio agrees.

"She tried to wreck my life, destroy my family, literally murder me after she thought she'd stolen my power," Wanda says, using her fingers to count off all of Agatha's crimes. "She also tormented me with my past and lied to me. A lot."

That does, Rio has to admit, sound like the woman she loves. Especially the lying part. She can't keep a smile off her face. "Still. Aren't you supposed to be the good guy?"

"Not that good, I guess," Wanda says, and now even more of her attention is focused on this conversation. Though much like Rio, some part of her always lives elsewhere.

Motorcycle accident. Liver failure. A bad heart. Death deals with all of them without taking her eyes off the Scarlet Witch.

"Agatha did also break you out of your weird sitcom project," Rio points out. "Made you realize that what you were doing was hurting people. Did you know, I wonder? What you were doing to them? Did you know and try to ignore it, in order to keep everything you wanted?"

Wanda comes to her feet, surges like a wave, staggers like a corpse. Her teeth bare with fury, her eyes leak pain. "Of course I didn't! Are you just here to torment me?! Do you think that I don't have nightmares about what I did to those people? Do you know what I lost to make it right?"

Wow, she's dramatic.

"She only did it because she wanted my power. I was in her head. That woman has never done a single kind thing for anyone in her life, not without getting something in return," Wanda continues and Rio can't hold back her laughter, high-pitched, shrill giggles that contain a note of unfettered delight.

"You've got that right," she agrees, and ugh, she wants Agatha, Agatha smiling, Agatha laughing, Agatha complaining about things not happening fast enough, Agatha kissing her—

Agatha whirling her around with a crown of flowers in her hair, her expression that of someone being tortured on the rack. Agatha, laughing too loudly, cheeks flushed with cheap beer, toasting to them both. Agatha, explaining some ritual in intricate detail while she inscribes runes, talking to Rio mostly to keep herself on track.

Agatha, in their bed, lit by the fireplace behind her, head on her hand, looking at Rio like she hasn't in centuries. "I've missed you," she admits, with a sly smile. "I've been thinking. You and I always made a great team. What do you say we get the band back together?"

This isn't right. This isn't how it happened.

"Can you forgive me?" Rio asks anyway, hating how desperate she sounds.

Somewhere a man falls from the top of a building, several stories too high for survival to be a possibility and lives anyway.

"Of course I can," Agatha says. "I love you."

Hah, as if. Even during their best times, Agatha never would have said it so easily. But her hand is on Rio's cheek, and she's so warm, she feels so real. It would be so easy to lean forward and kiss her.

There’s something important she's forgetting.

An ICU has a quiet night, no deaths even among their most critical patients.

"Rio, kiss me," Agatha prompts, and the smile on her lips is so close to being right, a taunting, teasing, tormenting expression. "My love, come to bed."

This is what she wants, isn't it? This is what she's always wanted, Agatha, gentled a little, sweeter, softer, but still the woman she loves.

No, she thinks, this isn’t what I want. I want the real thing. I want the jagged edges, I want the cruelty and the manipulation and the way she screws up her face before she says anything even slightly romantic. I want the way she makes big, sweeping gestures to prove her own power, the way she kisses me like she owns me, the way she sings silly, made up songs to herself when she thinks no one is listening and how she can never sit still, not even for a minute—

I want my Agatha.

A girl falls from her bike, in front of a car and—

Death roars back into the world.

Now it’s Rio’s turn to stagger, as reality reasserts itself. "...You got into my head," she says, and she's still so shocked that she's not even angry about it, only impressed. "Congratulations, no one has ever done that before, not even Ags."

No wonder Agatha went after Wanda. Enough power to, however briefly, divert Death. And suddenly, she's very glad that Agatha, who at least claims to hate her, did not succeed in gaining that power, no matter how much Rio loves her.

"You love her," Wanda murmurs. "You really—kind of creepily—love her."

Rio throws her head back and laughs, a shrill, sharp sound, the squeal of tires on the road, the scream of witnesses. "I do," she admits. "I really, really do."

"I could see you, for a moment. The whole of you," Wanda continues. "All the places you are. All those people. So many, all the time. I don’t know how you stand it." She sags suddenly, leans her weight against the much more real counter. "…Can I ask you something?"

"Go for it."

"When I die, will I see them again? My boys and Vis?"

"Yes," Death says, with absolute certainty. "You'll see them again."

Wanda sinks to the floor, pulls her knees to her chest and shakes with relief, tears rolling silently down her cheeks. "That's all. That's all I needed to know."

"Not yet, though. It isn't your time. You still have things to do," Rio says. "Because you know what, Wanda?"

Wanda only stares up at her, face slick with tears.

"You're right. Death will follow you all your life. In fact, I think we'll be seeing each other again very soon," Rio says, letting her mask drop, and she can see her own skinless reflection in Wanda's widening eyes. "You and me? We are going to have so much fun."

Then, as Wanda starts to form a question, Death is gone. After all, how could she take Wanda now? There is still so much the Scarlet Witch can give her, so many bodies.

Besides, it would be breaking the rules.

But it turns out that there is something of Wanda's she can take. Something waiting for her on a Road that doesn't exist, something she's overlooked, something Agatha, manipulative as always, has been hiding in plain sight.

Rio will make certain that Wanda sees her boys again.

She leaves the cabin, but remains everywhere else.

Somewhere a girl sobs on her shoulder and Death pats her back with practiced movements, perfected over millennia. In that same blink of an eye, she holds an old woman's hand, kisses an old man's cheek, listens patiently to a priest perform his own last rites and guides a protection witch beyond the veil.

Then she steps back onto the Road, hands behind her head, whistling to herself. She's going to go find Agatha. She's already annoyed by all that has been kept from her, and she has no doubt it will be a fight, one where her beloved will probably say something manipulative, cruel or both.

Still, even knowing all of that, she can’t wait to see the real thing.

Want to read something sad? Try Nicky

Want to read something fluffy? Try Flirting

Want to read more Rio thinking about Agatha? Try the thief

[madhatterbri]

Lesson | E.M.

Summary: Elijah is forced to pay for his past.

"You really are an easy man to predict, Elijah," the voice of one of his lovers from the past echoed. High heels clicked against the stone floor as she descended down the stairs. The vampire looked up to see her. She hadn't changed much.

He turned to see he was in one of the many tunnels underneath New Orleans. Candles attempted to light up his current prison. "Your family is in danger and you come running in to save the day,"

Minerva was a witch that was quite powerful back in the day. The last time he saw her she was begging him for forgiveness after her betrayal. She reported them to his father Michael.

Now he only wanted to make her suffer. Elijah was kind back then. He allowed her to plead for her life. The Original could hear her heart beat in her chest. How he wished he could rip it out of her chest. Elijah wrestled against the chains that imprisoned him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. It's going to hurt," she tsked as his skin burned. A grunt of pain ripped from his body. The handcuffs were laced with vervain. She clicked her tongue a few times while walking around him. "That's got to hurt,"

"What do you want?" He demanded. "You deserved whatever Michael did to you,"

"Revenge. You have forgiven that awful brother of yours for far worse than what I did to you," she spoke through gritted teeth. "You left me to die with your horrible father. All he wants is your bastard brother, Klaus! We could have had a life together if you allowed your father to take him,"

"A witch as yourself can't possibly be foolish enough to think you can bring down the Original family," he scoffed. The witch laughed. His eyes turned black at her lack of respect towards him.

"Not the whole family but you. I thought about how to exact my revenge ever since I stepped foot in New Orleans. I watched as you continuously fought for your family. I thought all was lost until," she stopped and smiled. Minerva looked at him with pure evil in her eyes.

"Until?" Elijah asked boredly.

"Until I saw you and the pretty little red head walking around New Orleans at night. Your newest victim no doubt," Minerva answered. Elijah's demeanor changed. Long gone was the tough exterior. His face crumpled in panic. His teeth were clenched.

"Leave her out of this," he demanded. He wrestled against the chains once more. Be damned the vervain laced handcuffs. Elijah had to protect you at all costs. You didn't deserve to get caught up in this.

Minerva giggled and looked at her watch. "Actually, she should be coming in any moment. A shame she is mixed up in all of this,"

"Do whatever you want to me. You have me right where you want me," he insisted. Elijah's enhanced hearing picked up the footsteps above. He hoped they didn't belong to you. "We can work out a deal, Minerva,"

"I don't have time for games, Elijah. Don't worry. I won't finish her off you will. I'll leave her down here with you all cut up. Eventually you will get hungry and well," she drifted off once the door opened. Elijah looked to see you being dragged down the stairs. You thrashed around to be free from your captors.

"Your name," Minerva announced with a wide smile. She waved her hand in excitement. You noticed the mysterious woman and then Elijah.

"Wh-what's going on?" You stuttered.

"Afraid your boyfriend over here needs to learn a lesson. I'm sorry but it seems like you are getting the punishment," Minerva pouted. She placed her hands on your cheeks. Panic started to set in. You knew your boyfriend wasn't a mortal human but this was too much. Quickly you shoved her hands from your face and attempted to run.

"I swear I will make your life absolutely unbearable every second you hurt her," Elijah threatened. His eyes black once more. Black veins appeared under his eyes. His fangs making an appearance. He had fed off of you before but this was all too real.

"Well, start counting the seconds then," she laughed. The witch moved her arm towards you. A simple hand movement and you dropped to the floor screaming in pain. Elijah watched you helplessly. Tears filled his eyes.

[dbnightingale24]

Love Me or Just Let Me Go

A Jonathan Crane Love Story

~~

~~

Look who's back and trying to find her footing again 🙃 sorry for the delay, but between my mental health and personal life, things weren't going well and I needed a break. ANYWAY, I'm back with a new series (as well as ready off a few others), and I hope you all enjoy it! I really missed posting.

Just in time for Halloween, Dr. Jonathan Crane. I just figured (as I start to branch out) it's time to write about my favorite Scarecrow. I'm sorry this is so damn long (I really am), but I hope you all enjoy it! Since Tumblr is still on its bullshit, I can only post part of it here, but the full post will be on AO3 (I'll leave the link). As always, thank you @fuckingbye for the amazing moodboard. I love you!

Word Count: 56,703 (I said I was sorry)

Warnings: SMUT (Minors DNI), Swearing, Drinking, Degrading Kink, Car Sex, Semi-Public Sex, Smoking, Arguing, Family Drama, Angst, Mentions of Abuse, Fluff (ish), Childhood Trauma, Self Hate, Revenge, Loneliness, Trust Issues, Mental Health (or lack thereof)...I think I handled everything?

Song(s) That Inspired This Chapter: Man, You Make It Easy For Me. So, Why Can't I Make You Love Me?

~~

I do not give permission/consent for my works/stories to be posted elsewhere. I do not condone this kind of behavior or relationship, this is for entertainment purposes only.

~~

“Doctor Crane,” you smile sweetly as your favorite patron makes his way to the counter.

Your smile may be sweet, but you know your eyes show the same thing they always do whenever he shows up: pure desire and lust. The coy smile he always returns lets you know that he’s very well aware of the effect he has on you.

Effect.

“Same as always?”

“Coffee, black, please,” he smiles as he pulls out his wallet.

“New admittance at Arkham?” you ask, turning and starting on his second usual

At least three times a month, he orders a black coffee.

“No, but it is late night for work.”

“When isn’t it in Gotham?” you scoff, placing the lid on his drink.

“How about you?” he asks, handing you a twenty.

“What about me?”

“Another late night?”

“I’m the only one brave enough to close the store, so yeah. I always have a late night,” you laugh softly, taking his money while typing the amount into the register.

“Gotham doesn’t scare you?”

“Well, I’m sure you’ve met my Mother already, and I witnessed what drove her to madness, because I saw my Father’s death, so no. Gotham doesn’t scare me.”

“Your Mother...” he trails off as he looks you over, “Y/M/N?”

“I’m surprised you’re just figuring it out,” you laugh handing him back his change. “Everyone always said I look just like her, but I’m guessing the piercings, dyed hair, and tattoos have changed my appearance a bit.”

“Your Mother is quite the character.”

“You’re putting it nicely.”

“Keep it,” he says, gently pushing your hand back.

“The coffee was only two dollars.”

“Your company is always worth much more than that,” he laughs. “If you don’t mind me asking, how were you able to handle it so well?”

“If I tell you that, there will be no reason for you to come around for your afternoon tea, will there? Besides, you’ve got a late night of work ahead of you, and I’ve got ungrateful customers to tend to,” you smirk, cocking an eyebrow.

“Guess I’ll just have to ask again tomorrow.”

“Play your cards right and you may just get an answer,” you shrug and he laughs.

“You have a good night, Y/N.”

“You too, Dr. Crane.”

“Jonathan.”

“Jonathan Crane,” you smile as he grabs his coffee, nods, and walks away.

And just like that, he was gone. It’s the same conversation every day, today a little more telling just because he knows a bit (or a lot depending on how you look at it) about you. It’s always the same amount of small talk, flirty eye on your part, and him looking as if he’s interested but knows better. Smart on his part.

Sure, he deals with crazies, but he’s never dealt with you.

For the rest of the evening, you live in the feeling of that little exchange. Yeah, the man looks like he can’t carry a bookcase, but you know it’s all an act. You’re not dumb. You’ve heard whispers about Dr. Jonathan Crane, and most of it isn’t pleasant. It’s most definitely in your best interest to stay away, especially considering that your Mother is a patience at his place of work, but you can’t stop yourself. Beside, you live in Gotham.

It’s not like you have a ton of “good guys” to choose from.

You can’t pin down exactly what draws you to him, but you know that you can’t turn it off. You’ve tried multiple times. From the first time you laid eyes on him, you wanted him. No, you needed him, in the most unnatural way. Maybe it’s from living in Gotham all your life but, for whatever reason, you feel a sense of security when he comes in.

Yeah, you’ve definitely been in Gotham for too long.

“You’re sure you’re okay to close up all by yourself?” your co-worker Michael asks as he grabs his backpack off of the coat rack, while the last customer scurries out.

“I do it every night, Mike,” you scoff, wiping down the counter. “Get home safe.”

“Ya know, working with you is hard,” he sighs and you start laughing. “What?! It’s true! You’re the only one ever willing to close up shop-”

“It gives me a thrill,” you smirk with a cocked eyebrow. “Go home and tell Josh that you fought off a mugger, if it’ll help your ego.”

“He’d kill me if I ever tried to stop crime from happening,” he laughs softly. “You sure you’re okay, babe?”

“I promise. Get home safe.”

“You too,” he nods before walking out. 

You lean against the counter, pull out your phone, and scroll through all the evening news you’ve missed. 

Another raping, another stabbing, another kidnapping....it’s all just another day in Gotham. You don’t even bother to look up when you hear the front door open and close.

“If you want coffee, you’ve come to the right place. If you want anything else, I’m afraid you’re in the wrong damn shop,” you mumble as an article about Arkham Asylum catches your eye.

You may not see your Mother often, but that doesn’t mean you don’t care about her.

“How about a cup of tea?” a familiar voice asks.

You look up to see Dr. Jonathan Crane standing at the counter, small smile tugging on his lips, but his hair is out of place.

“Rough night, Doc?” you question, pushing yourself up with your foot, making your way over to the kettle and setting it up. 

“What makes you say that?”

“Your hair is out of place and there’s a bit of blood on your glasses, and the lapel of your shirt.”

“You’re more observant than I thought.”

“You’ve thought about me?” you tease, pulling out his his favorite tea powder.

Ginseng.

“More than you think.”

“And why is that?”

“Because you’re a mystery.”

“I’m sure you’ve met far more interesting subjects than me. You’ve already met my Mother.”

“While she is very much a fun case to study, now that I know she’s your Mother, you’re much more...complex.”

“I’ll choose to take that as a compliment,” you laugh, finishing up his drink before pouring it in a to-go cup. “That’s the nicest way I’ve ever been called insane.”

“Far from insane, Y/N. Very far. More like-”

“Troubled?” “Not that either...a to-go cup?”

“You’ve never been one to sit and stay since you started working at the Asylum.”

“A good point. What else do you know about me?”

“Nothing.”

“What else have you heard about me?”

“Things I’m sure you don’t wanna hear about,” you promise, looking him over as you lean against the counter. “No charge. You get home safe.”

“You see blood on my glasses and my shirt, but tell me to get home safe?”

“Who am I to judge?”

“You know, this day has been very telling about you but, at the same time, I feel like I know you less than I did before.”

“If I’m not keepin’ ya guessing, what’s the point of our lovely little chats?”

“Who says that I need these little moments to keep me interested?”

“Show me that you don’t.”

“Have a drink with me and I will,” he smiles coyly, mischief in his eyes.

Every red alarm in your brain goes off, but you’ve never bothered to listen to them before, so why start now?

You poured yourself a cup of coffee and slowly made your way from around the counter, ignoring the the sirens as they grow louder and louder, and sit across from him at the small table. 

“Jonathan,” you smile, mischief dancing around in your own eyes as you take a sip of your coffee. “Take your best shot.”

“What do you fear?” he asks with a cocked eyebrow and you scoff. “What?”

“What do you think I fear?”

“I can’t get a read on you.” “That’s fair, I guess,” you shrug, swirling the coffee in your cup around a bit. “I’ll tell you what I fear if you tell me something about you. I’ll know if you’re lying, so don’t try it,” you proposition, meeting his gaze with a devilish glint in your eye.

You really shouldn’t be playing this game.

An evil smirk spreads across his face before he responds with, “I’m the one who created the fear toxin.”

‘Will you stop fucking playing this game?! Tell him you need to get home!’ your brain begs, but you’re just starting to have fun.

You’ve never been good at doing what’s in your best interest.

“That tracks,” you shrug before taking a sip of your coffee.

“It tracks?”

“You work at the Asylum, no one in this city really has a good and clean record-”

“Oh? What’s on your record?”

“I put laxatives in drinks of customers who piss me off,” you tell him nonchalantly and laugh and when he practically chokes on his tea. “What? I don’t seem capable?”

“For some reason, I thought it would be something along the lines of murder.”

“No, I’m afraid the only thing I’ve ever really broken is hearts.”

“Why’s that?”

“I learned very early in life to never get too attached to anyone in Gotham. Never works out well for me.”

“Your parents?”

“Parents, first real love, last serious relationship. I fuck until I’m bored and then I leave.”

There’s a flicker of something in his eyes, but you can’t tell what it is. It’s not disdain or disappointment, but more along the lines of...shock? Confusion.

“So, you have fear of abandonment?” he asks as your timer goes off.

“Well, it’s time for me to close up shop, Dr. Crane,” you smile, getting up making your way back behind the counter with your half full cup of coffee.

“I didn’t take you as someone who’s a liar,” he comments and you don’t miss the irritation in his tone.

“I never said I wouldn’t tell you, I said it’s time for me to close up shop. However, I do like having this effect on you.”

“And what effect is that?”

“Rattling your cage.”

“Oh, you do much more than that, and I think you’ve known that for quite some time.”

“Oh, but Doctor Crane, this is the first time you’ve ever had the balls to court me,” you smirk over your shoulder and he laughs.

“How long does it usually take you to close up shop?”

“As long as I want it to. Why do you ask?”

“Do you have any plans tonight?”

“Do you want me to?”

“I figured we could...take a walk around the city.”

“You’re a very confident man, Dr. Crane.”

“No one’s gonna touch me out there.”

“And what on earth would we talk about on this little walk?”

“You.”

“Your obsession with me is cute. I like it a lot.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s an obsession, more like...fascination.”

“And what’s so fascinating about little old me?” you ask, covering the tops of all the different syrups. 

“Like I said,” he responds softly right behind you, causing you to jump, “because you’re a mystery.”

Oh, you’re fucking in it now. 

~~

You can read the full story here

~~

tags: @autumnrose40

[talesfrommedinastation]

My redneck neighbor Doug watches 'The Bad Batch': 'The Harbinger'

Yup, as we all know, Doug unlocked a HUGE character with Asajj Ventress, who is apparently an embittered ex-Navy wife lurking somewhere in the depths of the Florida Panhandle and not a reborn Jedi goth chick.

CW: You will learn more about this poor ex wife of John then you will ever deem fit. Be warned.

All images taken from here: https://www.cap-that.com/starwars/the-bad-batch/309

-----------------------------

Episode 9, “John’s-Ex-Wife: The Revenge”

Daddy Warcrimes does what a daddy in need of a mommy will do, and is going to pick up women by the dockside. Wonder if they take cash or not. 

And here’s Julio to remind him to wrap it before he snaps it, ya know? Good bro, when has Julio done anything wrong, love him. Maybe Julio laid his pipe in Space Louisiana last week, who knows if the mantis had a sister who had bills to pay and Terrebonne Parish don’t have a lot of jobs but has a lot of lonely people and, where were we? 

Why is it all foggy here now? We in Maine now? 

Well, Mutant Jimmers is doing work, as the kids say now, tracking down the junkies hiding out in the caves. I can’t blame Mutant Jimmers or the junkies, they gotta do their smack and doing it in the park ain’t good. I wonder who makes the meth on the island? It ain’t Church Lady, she’s too busy working and having fun in the snow with her beau, Sassy-Park-Ranger*.

Awwww shit it’s not space junkies, it’s worse! It’s JOHN’S-EX-WIFE! Of course she’s hiding her Ford pickup in a cave, the other one got booted outside of Pensacola after she banged the neighborhood granddad and he called the cops after she stole his TV. 

(the last shot John saw before he left for the rig that one time)

God damn, she’s wearing the same outfit you wear to work, Meat Muffin! Do you think she writes papers and yells at people on the phone like you do too?

Well John’s-Ex-Wife hasn’t changed, first thing she starts doing is fighting and bitching at everyone for not paying their bills on time. I hated that damn woman but I’ll say this much, she was organized. But that’s how the Devil is. Not organized to not cheat on John with every sailor in Pensacola and the neighborhood granddad but nobody’s perfect I guess. 

Well, she’s going to test Little Orphan Blondie by making her do yoga on the beach while her brothers watch. Doing dumb shit in public to be different, yup, that’s John’s-Ex-Wife for you. Surprised Daddy Warcrimes hasn’t capped her and her bleached hair yet. 

Oh! Now she sent Little Orphan Blondie on an errand leaving the boys behind in a dark room with her. How much do you wanna bet there’s gonna be a train and Thomas the Tank Engine ain’t involved? God, it was a miracle John never ended up with the clap. His ex wife really was the bike of Escambia County. 

And there’s a fight. Woo! John’s-Ex-Wife’s history as a bartender is coming on through! Girlfriend can handle her own–and here’s the lightsaber! WOAH! I don’t want her to kick my boy’s butts but damn girl, git ‘er done! 

Also why don’t they all just pile on her, why are they waiting, this ain’t ballroom dancing boys! Toaster Strudel and Rex would NEVER.  

Where IS TOASTER STRUDEL AND REX?!?!?!

Well, Little Orphan Blondie’s back and seems to like John’s-Ex-Wife for some reason. God damn it, Little Orphan Blondie, you’re a rube and I ain’t happy about it. At least Church Lady got you sushi and hit on your idiot brother who didn’t deserve her. 

Little Orphan Blondie’s no Jedi, whatever. But nothing brings the family together like deep sea fishing, even more then going off into the snow and punching each other in front of the trailer! 

Off John’s-Ex-Wife and Little Orphan Blondie go while the dads do a lil bit of peepin. Except Daddy Warcrimes who knows a thing or two and keeps a gun tailed her. Yeah, Daddy Warcrimes! 

Oh! What’s this? Ain’t this the shit from Aquaman? Are they gonna get jumped by sea aliens until Aquaman throws flashlights at them?** 

Nope! It’s that thing from Pirates of the Caribbean! Where’s Johnny Depp and his dreadlocks?! They’re firing up the HMS Search Warrant to do a rescue and…woah. Woah. What’s Johns-Ex-Wife doing here? The force? She can do all that shit but she can’t keep her marriage, oh Johns-Ex-Wife.  

Look at Daddy Warcrimes being a gentleman and helping the ladies onto their stolen work truck. Most ladies get upset when a creepy old man with a gun hoists them into a windowless van but not Johns-Ex-Wife. Trust me. 

Johns-Ex-Wife warns them and then flings off, as she is wont to do. Why do I feel the next episode is going to be the DEA raiding Space Florida? I bet she’s a snitch for the government, calling it now!

*=Doug will never get off the Phee/Mayday train. I tried. I failed. I’m sorry, internet. 

**=I THINK Doug means the Trench from the movie. The Trench Scene | Aquaman [4k, IMAX] - YouTube

For my Doug fans! @eyecandyeoz @cdblake1565 @sued134 @megmca @skellymom @yeehawgeek @amalthiaph and anyone else!

[littleweowmeow]

I just love people who shout about the villainous deeds of Zuko that he committed sometime before our era (as if this cancels his redemption arc and the fact that he is a hero in the end lol). And they do it with such pathos of great enlighteners, the only ones who see the truth while the "gray mass" is blinded by their love for the "colonizer". It is impossible to look at this without laughing. It's like smart thoughts were chasing people, but people were faster.

Like I always say that Zuko is a villain at the beginning of his journey and that's what makes his arc so impressive. He has the potential to become like Ozai or Azula and he is already on the way to it. But he stops and doesn't do the same thing. Although he may also thinked, namely, "well, if it hurt me, then I have the right to hurt others," and I do not claim that he has never resorted to such rhetoric. He fucking stopped and went in the exact opposite direction and damn it it's so important! It's as if we're talking about a character who turned away from an entire political system that brainwashed people and from his disgusting family, which drove him into a psychological trap for a long time and breaks the cycle of violence because he doesn't grow into an abuser. The plot itself holds him accountable both for his actions and for what was done by his ancestors. He wanders around the Earth Kingdom and feels all the damage done to the world by his country on his own skin, he cannot escape from his past and the past of his people, so despite the fact that he saves the villagers, they drive him away with horror and hatred. In the finale, Zuko literally becomes the Fire Lord, pledging to atone for the sins of his entire people over a hundred years of war. But come on. What if Zuko was the one who didn't want to continue the violence from the very beginning?

Agni Kai with Admiral Zhao. Zuko, in a position of power, can do whatever he wants with his opponent. An opponent who smiled when his face was burned, an opponent who reveled in power over him right before the duel, an opponent who would definitely not show mercy. And what does Zuko do? Shows mercy. Although he remembers exactly what Ozai did when Zuko himself ended up on the floor. He refuses to act like his main tyrant when he can do it but doesn't. It is also interesting that Zhao calls Zuko a coward for showing mercy and then, when the duel is over, hits him in the back. Yes, Zuko is definitely definitely an evil and incorrigible guy.

And now my favorite:

Anon : You understand that the Blue Spirit literally robbed people, the same refugees because in his opinion these people owe him? He's still a disgusting racist and colonizer!

I'm : I am aware of this and I do not shut myself off from the inconvenient truth. And in the subsequent series, he literally saves the village of such "peasants" from people who abuse power over peaceful and defenseless residents, although he was more than inclined not to do so. Oh yes, no one tells him what to do, there is no one around and Zuko is alone. He chooses what to do and his choice is to save the inhabitants of the enemy village from the oppressors. (A very villainous act of a real colonizer) Zuko does not get mad at the inhabitants when they drive him away because he did not save them in order to get laurels. He just walks away. Not taking revenge for ingratitude or anything else. (Very villainous, but okay).

Anon : ...

I'm : ...This is called personal growth.

Anon : * piss with boiling water *

I don't even need to do brain gymnastics to justify him. He changes himself and accepts responsibility for his actions, faces their consequences. Zuko doesn't make excuses for himself and the plot doesn't do the same for him. Unlike many, he has a real redemption arc. There is a group of fans in the fandom who justify the villain in every possible way and humiliate other characters so that they seem worse against the background of their "poor meow meow", these are those people who cannot stand criticism of their favorite and want their favorite not to face the consequences of his actions. Oh yes, this character does not have a redemption arc. I didn't mention their names, but you all know who I mean. Zuko stans doesn't need to babysit him and justify everything he does. Because Zuko accepts responsibility himself. Because Zuko is no longer a villain. Cope with it.

[shewhowas39]

wip whenever

thank you so much @kalmiaphlox for the tag!

so the next chapter of Juniper & Starlight is going to be a bit late, because i'm finally working on the smutfic i promised. which also serves as my Fall in Faerun piece for @thekindredcollective's ongoing event!

so here's another snippet from that piece! which i hope to have up in the next day or two.

***

Astarion makes his way past them all, heading straight for the library. He’s eager for June to see his costume and inevitably swoon over him. He’ll tease and tantalize her until the end of the night, until she’s wild and desperate for him, and that will be his revenge for her betrayal. A nice, simple plan. 

He pushes open the large oak door and is greeted by a few familiar voices. 

“I’m real sorry she couldn’t make it,” says a woman with a twangy accent from somewhere deep within the chamber.

“As am I. But it sounds like she and her brother are having a nice evening back in Baldur’s Gate with our little girl.” A pair of large devil horns appear around the corner of a shelf. “But I should be getting back. Gale has been kind enough to allow me use of his Teleportation Circle so I can make a speedy return to my family.”

“I hope you don’t mind if I join you on this return trip, my boy,” warbles an old man’s voice. “Though I have enjoyed the festivities, I do have an engagement I must attend to in Baldur’s Gate that is of the utmost importance. I dare not say urgency for that implies a level of danger that I do not think exists in this situation, but importance nonetheless.”

“Of course you may, Elminster.” 

Wyll, in a very elaborate knight’s costume, with full, shining plate armor, comes into view. He pauses and smiles at Astarion, raising his sword in greeting. Beside him, the famed elderly wizard has cast an illusion on himself to appear as a walking hunk of cheese. It is both impressive magic and a disturbing image at the same time.

“Astarion!” Wyll says. “It’s good to see you. You look quite scholarly.” 

But Astarion isn’t listening to a word Wyll is saying. His mouth has gone dry and his eyes have gone wide, because just behind Wyll is the most beautiful woman Astarion has ever seen.

June is dressed in a flowing pink gown that coasts elegantly over her soft curves. The bodice of her dress cups and pushes up her breasts in the most enticing way. And a glittering silver crown with pink jewels sits atop her head full of dark blond curls. He’s seen her every day for the past three years, and somehow she still has the power to render him speechless. It would be embarrassing if he wasn’t so damn smug about being the one this gorgeous woman wants.

And, of course, beside June is Astarion’s current rival for her affection: the dog. Scratch has a spiraling white unicorn horn attached to the top of his head. The princess’s noble, magical steed.

Astarion does take some amount of solace in the fact that June’s blue eyes rove over him as well, and a flattering blush colors her cheeks as she does so. 

Wyll’s gaze darts between the two lovers, and after a moment he laughs before clapping the elderly wizard on the back. “Come on, Elminster. Let’s give the lovebirds some space to compare costumes.”

“Hm? Oh, quite right,” says the walking cheese.

***

no pressure tags for @kittenintheden @khywren @dungeonsdragonsandlawyers and @aevallare

[thepresentmic]

Regarding drummer!Bakugo... I want to my hat into the ring and add that what if Reader was the one who wrote the songs and after the whole break up with Bakugo, she comes out with her band and plays her new song 'Distracted' (by Honey Revenge). I heard this and I was like THIS FITS THE FUCKING VIBE!!

Distracted

(part 1 - still into you)

inspo for this part below

band!au

ʙᴀᴋᴜɢᴏᴜ ᴋᴀᴛꜱᴜᴋɪ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

follows directly on from pt. 1 but works as standalone

summary: your new band is making quite the name for yourselves after your introductory show. rumours circle but as the main songwriter, you've always been good with words

contents: part of series (?), light angst, post-break up, band!au, bakugo is bad at feelings, flashes between performing and old memories, no beta

· · ─────── ·☆· ─────── · ·

Excited muttering broke through crowd. nobody had heard anything from you for the last 6 months.

"Didn't she used to be part of dynamite's band?" someone muttered from the crowd. "i heard he dumped." "damn, they were such a good couple." another added. "do you think she's back for good?"

"Hi everyone, we're ____-" your voice cut through the muttering, ringing out over the mic. you commanded attention in that same way you always had for them. "This is our first single, it's called distracted."

The first few beats of the backing track began to play out over the speakers as shoto counted you in with light strums on his guitar.

"Hyper aware of any change in your voice. Yeah I can tell when I've stared to annoy." You sing out as you circle Sho, his tongue sticking out to make you roll your eyes, quelling a little of your nerves.

You walk led around the stage towards Shinso as he kicked in the drum beat. "Being alone is what I try to avoid. I put in effort but it just gets destroyed."

You circled back to the front, moving your body in time with the beat. It was an upbeat song despite the circumstances of why you wrote it. But that was how you dealt with these things.

"You seem so distracted with yourself, with yourself. Say I overreacted but it's hard for me to tell. You're my only distraction in this hell, but it's oh well."

───────

"Babe, I'm sorry." Katsuki wrapped his arms around your waist as you began to clear off the dinner table, blowing out the candles.

"Kats, it's fine." You shrugged off his arms, scraping the last of your date night dinner into the trash. He looked hurt, following you to try and take the plates and help.

"It was Eijiro, he and I were just working on this new bridge and I lost tr-"

"Honestly, don't even worry about it." You said, resigning yourself to the fact that you

You loved the band too, of course you did. The boys had become like family you, and you loved Katsuki more than anything. But it just- it sucked that you were a second thought.

Ever since the band took off, things were hectic for all of you. But you still tried to make the time for him. For both of you.

"I'll make it up to you." He promised softly, cupping your face in his palms.

Looking up into his earnest eyes, you believed him. He really did look apologetic. You leaned your cheek into the warmth of his callous palmed. "You better."

He smiled, kissing you gently.

"When have I ever broke a promise?"

───────

"I've gotten used to being the second choice." You sang out, making your way to the front of the stage between Sho and Tetsu.

"Can you hear me or am I background noise?" You grinned and leaned down to Denki as if asking him, smiling a little sadly as he yelled back that he heard you.

"I guess I'm only good for filling the void."

───────

"Stop trying to blow this up into something it's not." Katsuki yelled right back at you as you stood in the dressing room backstage, furious.

"You didn't even listen to me before you booked this fucking tour. I thought we were going to try and take some time, find time for us again?" You argued, waving around you.

"Look at everything we've been able to do because of the band. Why can't this be enough, just for now? Why can't I be enough?"

"Because this band is my fucking dream." He threw his hands up, exasperated. "I've been working towards this- we - have been working towards this all this time."

"I want that too. But I also don't want to lose us along the way."

───────

You put the mic back into its stand as the song fell back into its final chorus. It was beautiful put together, the boys had done a great job.

While you took a few seconds to bring you back to the present, Shinso took his drum solo, overlayed wtih Sho on the electric guitar.

You scanned the crowd, eyes finding all those all too familiar vermillion ones again.

"Don't mean to be a bother. I'll get out of the way." You held his stare, ignoring the pain in your chest, or the muttering of the people in the crowd.

"You were my one distraction, but I still wish you well."

[9554ver]

As promised i full color, I don't know why the paper reacted like that but oh well. 🤷‍♀️

All of them are either the deity got a body, Clover and "Shadow Milk", or had some sort of contract to share the body with the host.

Clover - out of the "siblings" he is the only one who got a body made for him, that night it wasn't only Dark Enchantress and White Lily that were created in the ultimate dough, consequently he got the looks of White Lily, even not liking her he can live with it.

"Shadow Milk", changed his name to Blueberry Yogurt [Water Hyacinth nicknamed him "Blue" because she thinks the name is a mouthful] - the only one who managed to take the body of the one of the first users, it was a desperate attempt because it was either be sealed alongside the original Shadow Milk or continue inside of that damned sugar crystal and hope that the next users were more easy to manipulate. After taking the body he dedicated his time to partially change his appearance to avoid being recognized and then to find someplace to live without worrying about being hunted and to plan on freeing his siblings.

Bloodberry, abandoned her previous name after hosting the deity - not much of her past is known but accordingly with Copper she is one of Hollyberry's descendants, she is from a line Hollyberry wants to pretend it doesn't exist, she planned to steal the shield on the day of the princess contest but when she got in contact with the soul jam she contacted the deity inside, she agreed on being it's host as a way to escape her bloodline and as a indirect revenge against Hollyberry, since now the soul jam is just a battery with constant use and someday it will end.

Smoked Cheese, later changed his name to Gouda Cheese - his contact came when he took the soul jam from Golden Cheese, the deity was already done with her using it's powers to power up her delusions and when he took it... let's say that the deity was impressed that someone broke the hidden obedience command Golden Cheese created and thought that he was the best choice as host, when the contract was done Smoked Cheese got his body back and found out that Burnt Cheese was alive and the one in the simulation was just a placeholder. After he went to search for him, even if the "golden kingdom" leaves a bitter taste in his mouth he wants to hold on something familiar in a unfamiliar world.

Dark Choco - the invasion on the castle went differently in this universe, Affogato had other issues and planned to destroy the Dark Cacao kingdom instead of taking the throne, in this universe he didn't trust Pomegranate, and in the midst of the mess he found the sword, he was supposed to be the original host but the deity also sympathize with Dark Choco, specially with wanting to make his father proud, let's say the deity saw red when Dark Cacao said that he didn't consider Choco his son anymore, after the possession Choco left much earlier than intended, ironically he encountered Affogato who, along with his followers, bowed to him and called him their master, turns out he was having visions of the deity coming to reality, along with them there was Milk Foam, a girl from the milk tribe who also was having the same visions, and people who she converted to the new cult, all of them left to find a place where they can live their lives in peace and away from the Dark Cacao kingdom.

All of the siblings meet later, Water Hyacinth accidentally collected them all and then created villages near the reasort so each one of them would have some semblance of power, except Clover because he is living on Parfaedia with Eclair, he keeps contact with his family.

[merthurxxxmerthur]

James and Lily as a replacement for Sirius and Severus

Yeah, damn, the title of this post is a bit crooked, but listen to me.

This thought has been nagging at me for quite some time now, and to be honest I'm not sure I can convey it properly… But let's imagine that Sirius and Severus (together, as a couple, or separately, each with their own family's) were targeted by Voldemort because of the prophecy. They might have had children in their 20s, right after school, for various reasons, but those children (or one child together, haha, if we follow the James and Lily analogy…) would be born in July 1980. So, they would be the ones who fought back against Voldemort 3 times (Sirius as a member of the Order, and Severus as a deserter, a turncoat who now serves Dumbledore), and they and their families would be locked under the Fidelius Curse for safety at Grimmauld Place and Spinner's End. In any case, in this hypothetical scenario, it's obvious that James will walk the path of Sirius. He will play a role in his best friend's death, he will be crushed by it, and being a loyal and devoted friend, he may even end up in Azkaban. He will only come out to save his best friend's child, to whom he is godfather, and he will die for that child just as selflessly as Sirius. There is no doubt that he will speak warmly of Sirius, teach his son or daughter Quidditch, give them a broom, be a father figure to that child. James, as well as Sirius, will be driven by a thirst for revenge on Peter for betraying and going over to Voldemort's side. He will grieve, he will miss him, he will blame himself for Sirius' death. Everything James does will mirror Sirius's actions, with the possible correction that Lily and their children may be on James' side.. I mean, that is, in my opinion, how canon describes their relationship. Their love for each other (platonic or not) is mutual, strong and unwavering. James would take full responsibility for Sirius' child, and would do everything to make sure he was safe and happy, just as Sirius tried to do for Harry. Sirius' child would live in the Potter family and be accepted as their own, with Lily or any other woman, alone or with Remus.

But if we are talking about Severus and Lily… Is it possible? If we follow the canon events, where their friendship fell apart in 1975 or so, and Severus still cared about her and her fate in 1980 when he brought the prophecy to Voldemort, so much so that he even went over to Dumbledore's side, because he loved her like no one else in the world, because she was the only person who cared about him in his entire life, and because he considered himself responsible for her death and swore to protect her child…could Lily do the same for him? I don't think she would become a double agent (she's Dumbledore's woman, in any universe), but could she sacrifice her dreams, her life, her safety and her health for Severus? Who called her a filthy little mudblood just like she called him Snivellius, leaving him to be torn apart by the Marauders, and he forgave her, but she didn't. Sacrificing everything for him, just like Sirius sacrificed his dreams, his youth, the life he could have had with Harry, for James? (just like James would have done for him).

And my answer is no. No.

I mean, it's obvious in canon that she, well, didn't really care about him. She even talks about how her friends don't really understand why she hangs out with Severus. Or when she tells Severus that James saved Severus' life and he should be grateful. She doesn't believe his theory about Lupin, she downplays the damage the Marauders are doing to him… Maybe she loved him once, when they were kids, when he told her about magic and Hogwarts, but not when they became teenagers and their differences became too uncomfortable. I'm not saying Severus is perfect, that he wasn't as toxic as she was, that he wasn't cruel to her when he called her a mudblood. He was. But he also loved her and cared about her. He didn't want her to die at 21, he would have preferred to die instead of her. He still remembered her when no one else in the entire series does. Sirius and Remus don't even talk about her, she has no girlfriends or friends outside of her husband's group, even her sister refers to her as some kind of trash for most of the series. Harry doesn't ask about her the same way he does about James. None of the teachers, except Slughorn in book 6 when the whole secret about her is revealed, remember her. I just can't imagine Lily going through all that hardship for a friend she didn't really care about at 15, let alone putting herself at risk at 20. She couldn't live her life just to protect his child and ultimately die for him. In fact, it's unlikely she would ever feel the longing and bitterness for him that James will feel for Sirius if he dies. Why should she? He didn't matter to her by the time she married Potter and that's okay. It's part of life, friends, even the closest ones, are sometimes not right for us. She didn't love him as much as he loved her and she didn't even have to.

But it just hurts. When Sirius and James have this strong bond that the reader feels even through a small memory of them, Severus and Lily feel like something less, something not as significant as Sirius and James soulmates, well. I don't think their friendship is any less valuable because of this, but the sad thing is that there is no character in canon who would do the same for Severus that he did for Lily.

If Sirius Black dies, James Potter will go mad and give his life to get revenge on Peter. If Severus Snape dies, Lily Evans will shed tears (or not) for him and nothing more.

Anyway, these are just my stupid thoughts:D

[ask-the-royal-absol]

Dela floated up to the gengar. Being a ghost therapist is something that Dela is fascinated with. Particularly, because she felt like she needed one.

"Just curious, but have you had any pokemon that you have helped confess to or ask for horrible requests? What do you do in those cases?"

Felix: It can be tricky sometimes. Some Pokémon just become so hellbent on wantin’ ta take revenge that they don’t wanna consider other options. I’ve even had a spirit or two want ta harm Destino and their family. Of course I’ve gotta put friendships aside for those ones as ta not let my feelings get in the way of providing ‘em with some form of support.

*Felix put his arms behind his head, getting into a position that looked even more comfortable than the last. He looked in thought, considering all of the cases he’s had to work with. He couldn’t go spilling these spirits secrets but he supposed he could explain things a little clearer.*

Felix: Being a therapist for ghosts can be hard. I’ve heard a lot of things from these spirits - things that they would have never admitted ta anyone if they were alive - and I have ta hold onta their secrets unless it’s gonna cause someone harm. I’ve had spirits admit to all sorts of crimes they’ve committed. From thievery ta some downright awful things that I just couldn’t repeat, I’ve had ta treat every spirit same, without judgement or fear of bein’ judged by me.

Felix: And it tends ta go well. They’ll talk about themselves, I’ll repeat back what they’ve said ta get ‘em ta process it, they usually think of a solution and I give ‘em the chance to work through whether that solution is best for ‘em and then reflect on everything that’s been discussed.

Hope: It doesn’t surprised me about Destino being a target for the spirits. I imagine their family may not be kind rulers.

Felix: They certainly have things goin’ on which make ‘em not great rulers but, considerin’ what they have ta work with, they’re doin’ a damn good job.

*Felix paused his thought for a moment. There was something he needed to ask about that hadn’t come out of his mind since he heard it.*

Felix: Speakin’ of royal families, how close are ya with the other kingdoms’ children? If they have any, that is.

Hope: Dad mainly deals with the political side of the kingdom so he knows a lot more about them than I do. I’ve met the Whimsain prince Kader and princess Clover before. Clover tends to do public displays of combat in the city which are really cool to watch. I think Kader also likes to wander through Whimsain to speak to his subjects but we haven’t heard much from that kingdom recently. My dad hasn’t mentioned King Regis or Queen Melody for a while so I have no idea what’s going on there.

Hope: I haven’t seen Prince Oswell of the Mechania kingdom for a long time but I know my dad tends to speak with his dads often for trades. I really don’t know much about him. And I wouldn’t know where to start with the royal family of Naaturo. I don’t think many Pokémon know what their deal is but I know they have more than 30 royal children. I think the eldest is called Mira. Could be wrong though. I’ve not met them myself.

Felix: More than 30?!

Hope: You heard me right. Again, that whole family has a weird way of doing things. I’m not sure even dad knows what’s going on but he speaks with Queen Pollen sometimes.

Felix: Ya know, I think I much prefer the Underdark’s system of only havin’ one royal family ta worry about.

[fanfic-inator795]

Man, like- Chip Whistler isn't even my favorite BCG character (Bill, Vasquez, Remy, Cricket and Tilly all outrank him by a wiiiiide margin) but the way the BCGs writers have developed Chip's whole arc really is fascinating in a morbid way - like a car crash you can't look away from.

Just like how the show - even if Chip's most intimidating moments - never forgets to still also show him as the loser he truly is, the show also never forgets to emphasize that EVERYTHING that has gone wrong for him is his own damn fault, regardless of how tragic it is.

(continue reading for a full look at Chip's arc and how I think it'll end)

I feel like whether or not Chip acknowledges this fault is going to be the catalyst as to whether or not he gets a second third FOURTH FIFTH chance, gets arrested or even gets killed off for realsies like the classic Disney Villains.

To get any sort of somewhat-happy ending, Chip would have to not only take responsibility for ALL his mistakes and crimes, vow to be better AND actually put in the work to be better, but he'd also has to acknowledge that the thing that started it all - chipping his tooth on fake produce - was something that he can ONLY blame himself for. And judging by the latest ep, this isn't just a matter of shifting blame but also a matter of finally realizing and accepting this self-inflicted mistake.

Go back to the scene with the 'Bean' family, which not only paints its fake!Cricket as the worst, least sympathetic and shallowest version of Real!Cricket, but afterwards Chip emphasizes that "(that boy) was so mean and I didn't even do anything to him", referring to fake!Cricket but obviously thinking about Real!Cricket in his mind.

But the thing about Cricket is that for as much as the kid can be reckless and make mistakes, he does put in the effort to make things right - often only needing a slight nudge from Tilly, Bill or his own conscious to fix his mistakes. The episode "Supermarket Scandal" is no exception to this. He realizes his mistake, fixes things, and even sacrifices his giant wad of cash. What's more, when Chip tries the fake produce (which is being clearly advertised as such), there's no 'trick' or 'prank' or whatever - it's just Chip ignoring the world and people around him, only to then blame these things when consequences happen.

Funnily enough, Chip isn't a complete moron. Sure, he's incredibly averse to hard work and thus doesn't have much sense, but he had enough business skills to do a decent job as one of Wholesome Foods' top managers and was even able to hold down an office job as Norm Alguy. Once his dad reminded him he had the power and resources of CEO, Chip came up with a pretty solid plan that nearly worked! He's not an idiot, but he's reckless, foolish, single-minded and - above all else - is driven more by pride and ego (as well as a hidden hunger for power) than by anything else.

Come to think of it, given that a big part of Chip originally being a Wholesome Foods manager was likely due to his father, I feel like his vendetta with the Greens was the first real challenge Chip ever had to face (or was 'forced' to face. We saw in his song that while he could challenge himself by changing careers or learning a new skill, he's not self-motivated enough to even try). Everything else was either handed to him or was something he succeeded just enough in to feel satisfied - so it makes sense that these multiple failures and 'offenses/personal attacks' from the Greens would impact his psyche to the point of it being impossible for him to ever completely let go of his need for revenge, needing that closure above all else.

Which brings me to another point: Beyond the fact that the initial tooth-chipping was Chip's own damn fault, Cricket has only ever been shown fighting back against Chip after Chip initiates it, he's never outright sought the guy out just to mess with him. And, when it came to both their tomato war and the apology contract, it was Cricket who gave Chip a chance to walk away both times. It was Cricket who wanted what was best for the farmer's market above all else, and it was Cricket who was the first one (even before Bill and Tilly!) to sign the contract, believing in Chip's ability to change and be a better person and possible friend instead of an enemy.

But each time, Chip refuses and ends up stabbing Cricket and the rest of the Greens in the back, no matter how illogical or foolish it may be for him, his happiness or his business. Again, Chip puts his ego, pride and power above all else. He can't agree to peace in the farmer's market because that still means surrendering. He can't become friends with the Greens because that would mean actually having to put in the effort to change and find other goals and means of satisfaction in his life. He can't just live a new life as Norm because he doesn't have the power over people that he had as Chip, thus putting him in a position to be 'wronged' again. He can't just let the Greens be happy because why should they be happy if I can't be.

And he can't fully accept blame and responsibility for the initial tooth-chipping because once he does, he has to also accept that EVERYTHING he did in the name of revenge truly was pointless.

At this point, you could make the argument that he really is too far gone. The man's essentially starting his Joker arc, fully embracing that he's a 'monster' by his own words, which kinda makes the idea of Chip simply stopping, apologizing and just going to therapy feel kiiiiinda farfetched (cause again, you can't really offer someone help if they don't want to actually put in the work to properly benefit from it- or at the very least, acknowledge that they need it)

With this in mind, I would honestly LOVE a scene where - after offering Chip chance after chance - Cricket finally just throws all these examples back in his face and forces Chip to fully acknowledge them, telling him its his own fault for never just walking away from this whole revenge thing and outright refusing to accept anymore blame or responsibility for this guy's misfortunes.

...Of course, even if Chip were to by some miracle gain some self-awareness/self-realization, I feel like he'd just respond to all this with "I don't CARE if chipping my tooth was my own fault! It still wouldn't have happened if I never met you or your dumb family! So if I'm going down, I'm gonna do all I can to take you down with me."

Like I said, it's a self-inflicted tragedy, and unless something major happens to break through to Chip - his father stepping in maybe? though tbh Chip seemed to barely respect him in the first place sooooo - I truly do feel like both his Joker arc and his story as a whole is going to end in flames with Chip getting the ol' Disney classic 'falls off a high place and/or into fire' villain death. That or he's finally arrested - either way, it'd be ending that cements his story as being finished (since, given that Chip is apparently going to try to destroy all of Big City and everyone in it, I'm not sure how much more you'd be able to do with his character after hitting that extreme that would still feel exciting or have some tension)

But who knows? The BCGs crew already surprised me quite a bit with where they decided to take Chip's story in his s4 return ep, so maybe they'll surprise me again. Whether they take it, I'm just hoping that (for unlikely as it may be) we don't get something that's either completely unsatisfying or something that feels like it's going against the whole point of Chip's arc - like Chip getting a snapshot redemption and rushing into an actual friendship with the Greens, or Cricket for whatever reason being the one to apologize despite every single one of Chip's misfortunes being - say it with me now - his own damn fault. As long as neither of these two examples happen, I'll probably be pretty happy and satisfied.

[heller-castiel]

My Fics:

Bobby Day: Sam and Dean don’t have a mom to celebrate on Mother’s Day - they just have a Bobby.

This’ll be the Day That I Die: “They had this song, before they got married, that they loved. Cheek to Cheek, you know? And they’d look so damn sad when it’d play on the record, even though he asked her to marry her to that fuckin’ song. Had to tell Sammy to stop playing that record cause they hated to be reminded of their marriage so much.” Dean swallowed. “Hell, the song feels more like a funeral march than anything else after a childhood of that. Promise me? Promise me we won’t be like that? Together and hating each other for it?”

Castiel took in a mouthful of smoke and lied. “I promise.”

Or: The American Pie (by Don McLean) fic

Holy Palmers' Bloody Kiss: It’s nice, getting to take care of his family, getting to heal his family. Dean’s always been looking out for everyone else, was raised for it, bred for it even, and he’s made his peace with that. Held his baby brother in his arms and he knew what he was made for, going to sleep in beige hotel rooms stained in dark browns and reds with a baby in one hand and a revolver in the other. 

He’s never gotten to offer healing, saving, before. It’s the first time since he was a kid that looking out for family didn’t mean guns and death and revenge. 

Worm Ridden Filth: Mary had told him, that was the danger of them coming up - they weren’t made for people. They didn’t know how to avoid being hurt, so people needed to be careful to not hurt them.

Dean didn’t wanna hurt anybody, least of all a worm.

Or: Dean learns about life and love and death over the years through the power of worms.

Safety in the Stealing and Keeping: The hair isn’t what's startling about her. It’s the oversized brown leather jacket she’s swathed in, the sleeves uncuffed that her hands just barely peek out from, that ends at the middle of her thighs. It looks like a piece of armor on her. It looks like a blanket on her. It looks startling like a mirror to Dean, who knows that jacket well.

Or: Claire's got some emotional turmoil in a stolen oversized leather jacket. Dean remembers the feeling.

Goodnight Moon: Cas shifts in his arms, turning to face Dean, and just as Cas wants to hold him, Dean is ready to be held in return. Their left arms reach across their chests where they are pressed together, and they do not clasp hands but rest the backs of them against each other, and Dean’s right arm falls to rest on Cas’s hip just as Cas’s right falls to Dean’s hip, and together they let their foreheads rest on each other’s.

Or, Cas has insomnia sometimes. Dean brings him back to bed.

You Can Start To Make It Better (Beautiful Beautiful Boy): Dean goes to bed with Cas the night Jack's finally ready to reform heaven and give up his Godly powers; but before he does, he pulls Dean into heaven to bring someone back, one last time.

Or: Dean Winchester works through his mommy issues with some heavenly therapy.

Don’t Make it Bad: He walked up to Cas, looming over the kitchen counter, and pressed himself up against those hunched shoulders, wrapping his arms around Cas’s waist, and pressed his nose to Cas’s neck, breathing in, feeling the smell of Cas’s soap and sweat and sleep expand in his lungs and fill him with love. Cause he loved Cas, and he could think it now, even if he still couldn’t saying it. “Stop leaving me,” he prayed to grace that had been left to rot alone in the Empty.

In his arms, Cas tensed. “Sam..?” he said, cautious.

That love in Dean’s chest staled. “What the fuck?”

If You Ran Away, Just Come Home: Dean wandered, after. The night that Chuck died, subsumed into Amara, he had silently climbed into his car in the dead of night, walking past Jack's room, past Sam's room.

In his room, Sam laid in his bed with Eileen, and felt the air displace itself around where Dean slipped past in the hallway, instincts attuning him to movement just as they made Dean move soundlessly, without a thought to it. but Dean didn’t think of that. Dean only thought of moving, getting out, going -

Going to something the bunker couldn’t be, anymore. Something he couldn’t ever go to.

But he had to go.

Five Names Dean Winchester Has Gone By: John walked through the crooked motel door with his tired face and strong, drooping shoulders, looking up like looking at his kids was the last thing he wanted to do, like it made his shoulders all the heavier. Dean was cradling little baby Sam, holding a bottle to his mouth and humming “Hey Jude,” like the only example he had, and his head had startled up at the door, scared of what was coming in with nothing to protect them, relieved to see his father, confused why John was crying.

Ken Doll: Dean was fourteen when he found it.

Your Hair Falling Into Place Like Dominoes: Dean lets his hair grow out when he’s not paying attention to it.

[descaladumidera]

Fuck it, I'm gonna put out my ideas for a Fratt Pacific Rim!AU. Do with this what you want.

Okay, lemme paint the background picture.

SHIELD are the ones behind the Jaeger program, with Nick Fury at the head. Once Curtis lost his leg during That One Mission, Fury seeks him out and recruits him (like Fury does), which leads to Curt dragging in Frank and Billy, because he knows they would be damn good at operating a Jaeger together.

Now on to Frank.

Frank and Billy were marines and friends first, so they have the discipline and they are drift compatible. They go on a lot of missions (don't have a name for their Jaeger yet—maybe The Punisher? *coughs*)—successful missions. They're the heroes of the Jaeger program. Until everything goes to shit. A Kaiju attacks New York and kills Frank's family. Frank and Billy try to stop it, but they fail, their Jaeger breaks, and Billy dies on this mission. Frank is … not in a good place. He wants to find a new partner, wants to take revenge, but Fury and Curt deem him too unstable and pull him out of the program. Frank goes back to New York (meeting the Liebermans during that time).

((Lieberman tie-in.

David do as David does and hacks into databases he shouldn't hack into. So when he finds stuff he shouldn't find, he panics. But he knows that a rather legendary Jaeger pilot (Frank) is back in New York, so he finds him.

"You have the connections! You can tell SHIELD about the illegal Kaiju trade!"

Frank does not want to do this. He does not. He tells David as much, shoves his middle finger into his face, and leaves. But David is a persistent asshole, so he tracks him down. Again. And again. And again. Until Frank groans and comes by to at least look at what David has found. That's when he meets David's family ('cause he has his set-up down in the basement of his house). Of course Leo, Zach, and Sarah make Frank stay for dinner. And then they make him come over again. And again. And again. Until he can't help but feel integrated into their family. Goddamnit.))

And now on to Matt.

Matt has been part of the Jaeger program family since he was a kid. Jack got recruited just after Matt got blinded, desperately needing to provide for his son, and the people at SHIELD were his best bet to give Matt the care he needed. Jack actually was Fury's partner and they operated a Jaeger together (also no name for this one—maybe Daredevil? *coughs*). Of course shit goes south and Jack dies during a mission, Fury taking it upon himself to keep Matt at the base and raise him.

Matt goes on to become one of their analysts, one of the best (at one point Foggy and Karen get recruited, too, and work alongside him). Despite not being able to see any of the Kaiju and the samples that end up at the base, Matt can draw conclusions from the data he has like nobody else. He, Foggy, and Karen find out about the pattern in which Kaiju will appear.

Now onto Frank and Matt meeting.

This discovery prompts Fury to seek out Frank, because, well, they need the best of the best and it has been years by now, so he wants to give Frank another chance. Frank comes back when he hears what's at stake (and brings the Liebermans with him—he doesn't want to lose another family and David can join Matt, Foggy, and Karen). The problem is—nobody is drift compatible with him. They try the best of the best: Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Bucky Barnes, etc. None of them work.

On one night, Frank thinks it would be best to find out anything he can, so he goes to the lab and asks the analysts himself for all the details. Because he knows Fury and he knows that Fury's secrets have secrets. And that's when he meets Matt, that's when he realizes how goddamn fucking smart he is. And he wants to try to drift with Matt.

Fury is like, hell no, of course. But Frank is nothing if not persistent, and Matt has a secret desire to try this. Because of his dad. Because the Murdock boys have the Devil in them. Because he is just so tired of not doing enough. Fury is still like, hell no. So Matt and Frank just. Do it. Without Fury's permission. 'Cause they're assholes.

Of course Matt, never having drifted before, goes down the rabbit hole. That's when Frank learns that Battlin' Jack Murdock—the man he had looked up to since he was a kid—was Matt's dad.

I have a shitton of other ideas, all expanding the universe and including other characters. But this is the more specific stuff I came up with.

[memorydragon]

If you're thinking Mem, you haven't spoken this much in years! What's wrong with you!?

Po Yun and Tun Hai are what's wrong with me. And if no one else is going to be shouting to the void about it, I will do it myself. (You should be glad that the majority of Huai Shang's novels are a flat out hard no for me, otherwise you'd probably never hear the end of it)

Misconceptions get a bad rep in plot, largely due to people hating on when misconceptions are done poorly. This happens quite a lot, because the misconceptions draw on for too long and honestly, just talk to each other. Swallowing the Seas starts with misconceptions, but honestly, I thought it was done really well.

For starters, the misconceptions start from things that are in character. Wu Yu has been in the South City Sub-bureau for two months prior to the start of the start of the action. During that time, he worked the bare minimum, made no real contributions, and was there because one of the higher ups said he's on the team.

Bu Chonghua, one of the youngest Captains in Criminal Investigation sees this guy who got in through the back door and immediately hates him. Bu Chonghua may have come from an illustrious background, but he also worked really fucking hard to get where he is. He worked that hard because he watched as his parents were murdered in front of him when he was nine years old, and he's been told he had to live to get revenge and take down the drug lord who ordered the hit. He sees the murder victims who come across his desk as people who are still waiting for justice, just like he is, and he'll be damned if they don't get it, no matter what the personal cost to himself.

So when this guy is put on his team without warning, and he's told to play nice with the new guy because the top brass want him there, Bu Chonghua is ready to pick every single fight until Wu Yu finally gives up and leaves. He has no time for someone who just wants a paycheck from the government. The only ones who can keep someone from murdering a second or third victim is them, and Wu Yu isn't cutting it.

What he doesn't know is that Wu Yu is essentially in Witness Protection, because the higher ups thought it was a brilliant idea not to tell anyone. Wu Yu faked his results in therapy because he assumed it was something he needed a good grade in (Listen, I'm really fucked up over the fact that Wu Yu had never heard of the term ptsd until Bu Chonghua explains it and brutally shuts down any talk of someone with ptsd being weak or crazy. They never thought to explain it to him. As someone who has watched the government do fuck all for someone in my family, even knowing it wasn't all their fault, it hits hard). That he spent twelve years undercover, ten of which were when he was abandoned by everyone his superiors, while he was on the front lines and still doing the one person who mattered to him's his damned job, infiltrating drug rings, finally getting to the top. That when he was finally pulled out, the one person who knew what he'd done and held his future in his hands jumped to his death before giving Wu Yu the credit.

When Bu Chonghua realizes Wu Yu is inexplicably in intense physical pain, he spends half the day trying to force Wu Yu to admit it, then drags him to the hospital and pays the bill and starts to notice that Wu Yu is constantly on guard of something, even if he doesn't know what. He observes more, stops picking fights and takes a knife that should have gone through Wu Yu's head with his shoulder. He resents that Wu Yu sees him as the same sort of person who would sacrifice their agent to make the arrest, but he resents that Wu Yu is apparently so disgusted with him that he won't eat anything Bu Chonghua has touched, but he's backed off and will bide his time to prove it. He's no longer picking fights, instead looking out for Wu Yu, telling him not to fight the victim's family in front of cameras and hiding the knife with Wu Yu's finger prints (no, really, is it Coproganda when oh my fucking god, if this weren't fiction there are So Many Things Wrong with this. I mean obviously it's coproganda because this is considered helping the protag, but hi, I did not need more reasons to be terrified of the police here) because he's going to prove it.

Wu Yu just wants enough money to retire from the world and never interact with anyone again. He has not integrated in the society that never wanted him, though he knows how to keep his head down and pretend because he's been undercover for so long, what's a few more years? He enters illegal boxing rings to get more money, fights absolutely brutally to win, because he's still on the front lines even when he's supposed to be 'safe' and 'home'. He's never had 'home' so he doesn't recognize it. He recognizes drugs, because he's been a dealer since he was child. He hates drugs because he has no other way to survive. He hates cops, because he's been on the other side for too long and knows how terrible they are.

So when he sees Bu Chonghua, an elite who has enough money to do whatever he wants, who went to good schools and never had to worry about anything, Wu Yu hates him. He sees the arrogance and pride that comes from someone who has never wanted for anything, has never had to struggle for anything. He knows how hollow words like 'justice' and 'honor' are and sees Bu Chonghua as everything he's ever wanted but could never have.

What he doesn't know is that Bu Chonghua is the child he risked his life to save when he was trying to illegally cross the border, the child that he gave up his chance at a new life for, because he over heard how the drug dealers were taking a detour to torture and kill a couple of cops to find out the identity of the undercover agent who hurt their boss. That even though he ran as fast as he could to warn them, all he managed to do was drag the child into the closet and restrain him as his parents are shot in front of him, let the nine year old bite his palm hard enough to draw blood to keep him from crying out. That Bu Chonghua is the child he dragged out of the house the drug dealers set on fire and ran with desperately until the kid couldn't run anymore. How he was only a year or two older than the kid who just wanted to go back and be with his parents, but he tells him that he has to live to get revenge. And as he leaves his blood on the boy's cheek before he hides the kid and bolts off to lead the drug dealers away, never to be part of that life again. He doesn't know how that small moment will do what the man who didn't jump off the roof could not.

He doesn't know how Bu Chonghua will literally walk through fire and water to get to him, because he's been chasing after Wu Yu for twenty years, and no matter how dangerous it is, he'll come to find him. That Bu Chonghua refuses to accept this fate, and will tell the officer that the person dying in the fire is under his command, and he willingly chooses die as well, because that's called Devotion. (If you're asking, Mem, are you okay? No, I'm fucking no where near okay, that's called devotion and I'm a perfectly acceptable level of unhinged about that, thank you very much)

But he sees Bu Chonghua taking the knife for him, and he reconsiders. He can barely understand why Bu Chonghua is being so gentle with him when he's dry heaving because there's nothing left in his stomach because he can't handle even the smallest taste of meat and he's thrown up on his Captain's shirt, but Bu Chonghua just tells him the story of his dumbass cousin (Yan Xie, why are you like that. -_-;;) and makes him laugh instead of yelling. And it's hard to get over his natural prejudices, but he marks Bu Chonghua as a 'safe' person. Is this what 'home' is?

Then Wu Yu sees Bu Chonghua as someone who is perfect and shouldn't be dragged down. Then Bu Chonghua dirties his own hands which are already unclean, because he's been following after Wu Yu for so long without even realizing it so that the most perfect person to him will stop putting him on a pedestal.

The misunderstandings and misconceptions build and fall like sandcastles in the waves, standing strong because they were shaped by who they both are, but crumbling once they finally see the other person.

And if you're waiting for me to be less unhinged about this gay coproganda, you've still got a while to wait, sorry not sorry.