#i think each side voted for the wrong reasons and I cannot get over that

[phantomsies]

my last time speaking on this bc I’m back to my smut and stupid shit afterwards (cause yk this is my safe space 🤪😜🫶🏾👍🏾) , but I’m genuinely scared, not just for this presidency but my local leadership too. Hence why I always make such an emphasis on it. I live in a small town and it’s very much class/racially divided. The sheriff (a white woman btw but a woman nonetheless) has been actively trying to harass and run everyone from my side of town. She pretty much wrote off this area as a bunch of drug addicts and says ‘she hopes we all just kill each other’. (My family has never done, sold or even been around drugs and yet her dumbass cops are convinced bc we’re black with nice vehicles, that we must sell). She’s also pushing for the gentrification of our area so all of her rich cohorts can come and tear down our houses and build a suburbia. Just the other day, a cop made me move my vehicle from in front of a store I park at all the time bc im disabled and even the closest parking spot is far on this leg and he did it just to be an asshole. I can’t even cry abt this presidency yet bc I’m now worried that my local leaders are going to make our lives hell. Not to mention, they voted no on abortions and gender affirming care as well. I hate it here so fucking bad.

[sneezemonster15]

why do u think sasuke apologized to sakura at the end? it's not like she apologized to him after all that she's done... he shouldn't have

I couldn't agree more anon. He shouldn't have, Sakura didn't deserve an apology from him.

My sense is that he did it because of Naruto. Don't get me wrong. Naruto didn't force him to do it or anything. But after chapter 698, Sasuke came over to Naruto's side and committed to adapt to a new life where he pledged to assist Naruto to reach his objective of uniting the shinobi world, and he wouldn't make Naruto's life unnecessarily difficult.

It's not that black and white, it's a little more nuanced. Naruto always urged Sasuke to treat Sakura and Kakashi better, because Sasuke was so irreverent towards Kakashi and contemptuous towards Sakura.

After Sasuke learns about the truth of Uchiha massacre, he sees Kakashi's very evident hypocrisy and gives him a good dressing down in the kage arc. Which I really enjoyed btw. Sasuke just hits the pressure points, that's one of the things I like about him. He says very valid shit that others either dont see or are unwilling to see. Naruto is led by the light side, Sasuke is led by the dark side of their world, which is why they work well together, evidenced by their symbolism, the yin and yang, perfectly balanced and attuned to each other.

Anyway, Sasuke attempts to kill both Kakashi and Sakura in kage arc and it becomes very clear that he doesn't owe Kakashi or Sakura any consideration. Kakashi who conveniently uses Sasuke's clan's Sharingan to further his own interests or objectives and then has the audacity to lecture Sasuke about things, the enormity of which he doesn't even begin to comprehend and Sakura for the more obvious reasons, her egotism, narcissism and self absorption to the exclusion of everything else.

Sasuke doesn't give a fuck about team seven in Shippuden. But he tries to remain tactful as much as he can. In the war arc, where you see team seven gathered again, Kakashi tries to find about Sasuke's intentions and Sasuke meaningfully remains quiet. He doesn't want to be distracted from the battle, he who is so anal (no pun intended) about keeping an eye on the enemy, and he doesn't consider Kakashi or Sakura significant enough to satisfy their queries. And I like him a lot for that. :)

All he has to say about team seven's teamwork is a succinct and insouciant 'hmph'. Lol.

He really cannot give a fuck. And Naruto is trying to be the peacekeeper. So he chides Sasuke, like a mum, to behave. Lol. I find it cute.

Sasuke would grudgingly relent and answer Naruto but he still won't really address Kakashi or Sakura.

Naruto mum - Sasuke, did you say thank you to Obito and Sakura properly?

Sasuke - ......focus on the enemy Naruto (dobe!).

I mean c'mon, they are in the middle of a war and Naruto is trying to correct Sasuke's manners, lol. In a good humored way, of course, but it's very funny. Naruto was obviously very happy and relieved to see Sasuke was unharmed and brought back to the current dimension safely. Sasuke does tell Naruto point blank that for him, Naruto is the only priority because he has the seal and the rest of the players are pretty irrelevant. Naruto agrees but Naruto can't help his nature, ie, protecting people he cares for and urges Sasuke to understand since there was a time when Sasuke did the same for Naruto.

So at the end of vote 2, when Sasuke apologizes to Sakura, as compared to how other apologies went, like Obito to Naruto and Kakashi, or Itachi to Sasuke, or even Kushina to Naruto, so eloquent and emotional, Sasuke's apology is trademark tokenism, like seriously it has five words in total in it, lol. Sasuke's apology is not even specific, it's deliberately blithely vague, and immediately after his attention latches back onto Naruto.

And truth is, neither Sakura nor Kakashi were condemned in the narrative for their ways of thinking. Kakashi, with his well established faulty perception goes on to believe that everything has gone back to the way it was before, and Sakura, having not changed or learnt at all, acts like she deserved the apology so damn much, like it was due for so long and she is only getting it now. As if it really was Sasuke's fault and not hers. Lol. Some nerve.

But the point is, Kishi could not have made Sasuke ask for it, because harking back on it would have meant revisiting/rehashing the issue all over again, which would have given the impression that Sasuke wasn't over his bitterness and resentment, which would go against the climax where Sasuke just got his resolution. Ideally, this condemnation should have come from Naruto. Naruto should have held Sakura and Kakashi accountable for their third grade treatment of Sasuke. Which is one of the reasons why I hate the ending. Well, first of all, I don't think Sasuke should have been written to completely give over his ambition to adopt Naruto's but Kishi had to finally 'resolve' (I use the term with a pinch, nay, a fistful of salt) the problems of the current shinobi world, even if he had to do it forcefully while breaking storytelling rules, so as to move over to the upcoming plotline, Boruto ie, which had to do with aliens and shit as the shinobi world in it is sans shinobi problems, as Naruto has erased them. That and he couldn't have brought about any more discussions on issues that were related to democratic dissent or more nuanced ethical dwellings on the individual vs collective. It's not for SJ. Kishi did his best to imbue the narrative with it anyway, giving Sasuke the revolutionary, the role of anti hero, and painstakingly making his character narratively equal to Naruto's, under the aegis of SJ. But he could not have taken it any further. Sasuke's story itself was the allegory. But well, SJ celebrates Japanese sensibilities and so it would not have been possible. And Kishi had already fought quite a few battles for his manga. Revisiting certain things would have potentially opened a can of worms for him. Kishi got away with a lot to begin with. It was also important for Kishi to portray Sakura, as per her consistently written character as a self absorbed and self important wench who only cares about her own ego and needs and not Sasuke's, but wants Sasuke as her trophy anyway. It was necessary for them to be put together for the sake of Boruto (to sire Sarada), and with a person like Sakura, Sasuke could get away with not being emotionally attached at all, giving her meager and so obviously half hearted scraps and yet, she would rejoice in them. She is shallow like that. Heh. So this apology, and Sakura's reaction to it, is yet another indication that Sakura is so addicted to Sasuke that she would happily ignore and dismiss Sasuke's honest feelings for her as long as she finally gets to marry an unwilling and unloving Sasuke.

Anyway, apart from that, it obviously makes Naruto happy to see Sasuke adjusting to new circumstances and from how it looks, apologizing to Sakura doesn't make much of a difference to Sasuke because Naruto just confessed his love to him. Sasuke doesn't feel alone anymore, look how much lighter and relaxed he looks with Naruto, watching Naruto smiling and laughing, visibly relaxed. The rest of the people, including Sakura, don't matter half as much to him, which is proven by him flicking Sakura's forehead later, a certified Itachi move repurposed for her, signifying deliberate distancing and obfuscation/lies.

He also knows that Naruto tries to avoid conflict as much as he can and when he needs to confront, he tries to deal with things with as much empathy and genuine consideration he can garner. So Sasuke doesn't want to make it any more challenging for Naruto, who is leading the gargantuan task of bringing all the shinobi nations together. Sasuke's job is now to assist him in his objective and make it easier. Sasuke has already clearly been shown to hide information from Naruto so as not to cause him any worry, like he did when he made Sakura promise not to tell Naruto about the curse mark. Sasuke is wholeheartedly devoted to Naruto and he takes his position as Naruto's best friend, work partner, soulmate (implied), shadow hokage etc very seriously. So he would take on things himself and endure them, because he knows if Naruto knew, he will not sit quietly. He would go one step ahead and demand to share Sasuke's burden, he would not allow Sasuke to be alone or hurting, he would make it his life's mission to relieve Sasuke, just the way he did. That's just how they are.

Which is why the ending really hurts. Sigh.

[ginnyluna]

Ok this is such an interesting question. I think I could have voted for any of them, but with a very different reasonning for each of them?

I could have voted for Frank, because despite his shapeshifting powers being awesome, i cannot for the life of me remember one awesome thing he did with it? Like, don't get me wrong, i know he used his powers efficiently at several points, but i feel like we never really got truly iconic *GENIUS* moments with them, it was always pretty basic (needs strenght -> turns into something strong and punches hard; needs to fly -> turns into some type of bird and flies, etc.) he never really did something original with them (or if he did, the fact that i can't really remember says a lot about that scene).

I could have voted for Hazel, because even though some of her powers were explored quite a bit, I'm still not sure what her full set of powers is exactly? Like, yeah, she can create gold and gems, and she does use it a few times, but this power seems pretty limited for what she can and can't do. I'd vote for Hazel, but it'd be more about her powers related to death: what death powers does she have exactly??? None?? Some?? i'm still unsure, sometimes it feels like she doesn't have any death powers at all, only gems powers, but other times she can feel death and death-related monsters, she can shadow travel, feel the location of the Doors of Death, etc.

-> i went on the Riordan Wiki page for Hazel, and i kid you not, they are also unsure. At this point i think Rick is probably unsure as well.

And ALSO also, the Mist Magic she learns from Hecate. That one was a little bit more explored in HoH (which is the 4th book out of a 5-book serie) but it was pretty much dropped after that, except for like one minor illusion and one case of Mist Travel (which we didn't even knew was a thing until it was casually mentionned during the last battle of the last book). I get that Hazel was not a pov character in that last book, but I still think this could have been explored more.

I could have voted for Jason, cause despite him being the son of JUPITER, child of the BIG THREE, only son of the litteral KING OF OLYMPUS ...he didn't really feel as op as he should have been. Of course there was the brick problem, but also, there were soooo many cool things Jason could have done with his airbending, other than fly (control over sounds and airwaves? air pressure/air vacuums? air shield?) but we didn't get to see any of that (i mean, he did get to breath underwater that one time, i'll give him that **even though he did almost drown in the nymphaeum barely three weeks before, but ANYWAY).

Also, all children of the Big Three have so much potential to go evil and use their powers in some truly dark way (example example) but this is still a kids' book serie so i'm giving it a pass for not exploring this side of his powers.

I could have voted for Piper, not really about how much her powers were explored, but more for how the use of her powers could have affected her. In TLH, we had the begining of a character arc which would have been sooo interesting, about what it meant for Piper to violate someone's mind and force other people to do as she wanted. Piper saw Drew using her charmspeak against other campers, she saw her two best friends being mind-controlled to fight each other, and she struggled with the fact that this was exactly the same thing that she had been doing, and would probably have to keep doing to complete her quest. But that was in TLH. After that, Piper never once had any second thoughts about the ethics of using charmspeak, and if that's not unexplored potential then idk what is.

Ok I'm gonna be honest here, i don't think I could have voted for Leo here. Don't get me wrong I love this boy, but i think his powers were explored quite well enough, or at least, more than the four other. But I do think there were a lot of other aspects of Leo's character that would fit well in the Unexplored Potential box, like, idk, his entire discovery of self-acceptance without the involvement of a shitty girlfriend -- but, sorry, i digress.

feel free to explain your answer!

[beauty-and-passion]

What Eurovision 2021 taught us

1. That a nice, enjoyable show was possible (even if 4 presenters are still too much)

Of course nothing can beat Love Love Peace Peace (even if Ja Ja Ding Dong does its best), but this year's intermissions were very enjoyable.

We expected something flashy and over the top because hey, The Netherlands. Sex, drugs, gays and all that jazz.

But instead Covid surprised us. And then The Netherlands surprised us even more, by making a very enjoyable show, despite the restrictions. My personal favourites were:

The water intermission of the first semi-final. I loved the mixed feelings, how water is both scary and respected, for being such a powerful, unstoppable force.

The rooftop concerts during the final. Social distancing? Sure, no problem, let's make the past winners sing on top of some roofs all over Rotterdam. That was pure genius, I loved it so much.

On the other hand, the presenters were basically all useless. We could've had just two of them instead of four. But hey, at least they weren't as cringy as the three scary ukranians from 2017 or the useless four ladies from Portugal. The true highlights of the show were the intermissions, the guests and especially the songs themselves and this is perfectly good for me.

________________________

2. That we can live in a world without boring ass ballads

I’ve never been so proud of the Eurovision public, especially during the second semifinal: that evening was PACKED with ballads. Boring ballad after boring ballad, with just a couple more funny songs in between.

The ballads were all left behind. Even the two Amen. And I love the irony we chose El Diablo and the finnish band for the final, but no Amen. No saints allowed, only the norwegian angel. As it always should be.

And so we had the best final I've seen since I started following Eurovision in 2014. Catchy songs, dance songs, upbeat songs. And power ballads. Yes, ballads can still have a place, but only if they're good.

Because yes, Switzerland and France were good. Very good. Just not as good as the ones the public wanted.

________________________

3. That we want Eurovision, not Englishvision

Every year, the same message blasts from all Europeans: send a song in your native language. This show is supposed to make other people from Europe (and the rest of the world) to know more about your own country, to enjoy its rhythm and to listen to something we don't usually hear. So why waste this huge opportunity, to bring a generic song in English?

Because the English song wins. Because we all understand English, so English has more chances.

Flash news: GUESS WHO WON THIS YEAR. No, it’s not the generic English song.

The public has been crystal clear, the final poll is even clearer: the top five includes an italian song, an ukraine song, two french songs and only one english song. We want different styles and rhythms, we want to listen to Europe.

So I want to give my full thank you to:

Albania: amazing song, great voice, wonderful language. Do it again.

Serbia: these ladies are fantastic, their song is great and they sang it in their language so I love them

Switzerland: thank you for leaving English to the side to give us some good french

Spain: the song wasn't as good as Universo, but it was in sexy spanish, so thank you for using it almost every year

Danemark: the song was terrible, but it was in your language and this alone deserves everything

France: I know we all make fun of you for being France, but your language is perfect for songs, so thank you for always using it

Ukraine: take note, Ukraine, because Europe is madly in love with your language and your rhythm

Italy: our language is beautiful, so thank you for delivering every year

While my biggest biases go to:

Greece: a generic pop song with no balkan rhythm and no greek either? An absolute shame, greek should always be used for songs.

Russia: russian language is very melodious and yes, we got something this year, but what about bringing a full russian song? We want it!

Germany: I may sound crazy, but I honestly think german language is good for songs. It's not like the mediterranean languages, but it still works. So please, do not be scared and show what you can do with it!

Scandinavian countries: why do you never want to bring your own language? Do it, don't be scared! Yes, Sweden, I'm talking with you: you still never tried to bring something in swedish, so do it.

________________________

4. That we don't want Americans to play with us

For reasons we still have to understand, Flo Rida was competing this year. And he was competing for San Marino, the smallest European country.

I'm pretty sure they took some time to explain to him what was going on, where he was, where San Marino is, wtf was happening, why there were sexy italians and ukranian witches and a norwegian angel and loads of beautiful women everywhere.

And I loved how we all send memes about this, about ahahah why is Flo Rida here, what if San Marino wins where would they host Eurovision, all while enjoying an actual catchy song.

And then, in the end, Flo Rida basically disappeared. Who remembers Flo Rida, when we got Ukraine, Italy, Finland, Iceland, and the UK? And Germany being wholesome? And the love story between Norway and Azerbaijan? We collectively forgot about him and I think it's very sexy from Europe to just say "nope" and push America away, even if for just one week.

And this isn't the first time: we basically showed Madonna in a corner in 2019, thanks to Mans, Eleni, Verka and Conchita. Once again, Europeans knows what they want: we don't want Americans. Australia can because they're like that little brother we took under our wing for no reason and now it's part of us. But not Americans.

The rest of the year is all yours, but one week is ours.

________________________

5. That we can lose like bosses

This year, the voting results have been absolutely insane and FOUR COUNTRIES got zero points from the public, while the UK got both zero points from the public AND the jury.

Don't get me wrong, the song was bad. And yes, Brexit played a role in this. And yes, hating England is Europe’s favourite sport.

But can we please all take a moment and appreciate how James Newman reacted? The public gave him a round of applause and he celebrated this achievement like a boss.

And he had all the reasons! He achieved something incredible, he unlocked something that this new voting system was supposed to never lead to. But he did it. So hats off to you, my boy: My Last Breath was better.

Germany is also used to the bottom of the chart, but this year I really thought Jendrik could have a chance to achieve a higher position. The song was funny, carefree, lively, the hand costume was the kind of trash we need and the message was nice as well. But he still got 3 points.

Despite that, Jendrik celebrated like a maniac and seeing his this happy made me happy as well. I really wish him the best.

________________________

6. That FUCK YOU JURY

Again, same message every year: the jury vote should be eliminated. It's a fucking farce and their votes have nothing to do with what the public want.

The jury focuses on the voices, except when they don't, and clearly giving points to your neighbours is because you like the song, not because they're your neighbours.

I usually make fun of Greece and Cyprus showing eternal love to each other, by giving 12 points to each other every year, but this time, it sounded even more stupid than usual. It really looked like a farce. Why should we see this farce? Why can't we just choose what the public wants? So at least we would blame ourselves for our shitty musical tastes.

Even if I'm pretty sure we all have great musical tastes. Let's not forget that in 2019 the public's winner was Norway, with a song that mixed english, a catchy rhythm and an amazing part in yoik language. Arcade is good as well, but we cannot deny the norwegian entry was a lot more interesting.

And this year, the public's taste was flawless:

Look at this beauty: italian glam rock, ukranian techno folk, french powerful ballad, finnish hard rock and whatever that thing was with Iceland.

There's variety, there's everything for everyone. And there are native languages. Italian, Ukranian, and French on top three, followed by English.

Moral of the story: the public is great and the jury should be abolished forever.

________________________

7. That Ukranian technofolk is all we needed in our lives

I didn’t see enough love for Go_A, so as italian, I think it's my sworn duty to give my appreciation to them and their amazing entry, because this band is awesome and Shum is currently on top of the Spotify top 50 - as it should be, because everyone should listen to it and join this slavic rave party.

I already liked their entry for 2020, Solovey. But I also liked My Last Breath from the UK and Universo from Spain. And this year they brought two of the worst songs. So I was very wary of Go_A.

But Shum is an absolute blast. Katerina Pavlenko's voice is unique and the song is even more, because based on ukranian folklore and traditional dances to summon the spirit of spring. They managed to teach something to all Europe in a three minute song and I think that’s incredibly sexy of them.

And so, I searched for other songs and OMG, I don’t know how it’s possible, but they are all great. Rano-Ranenko, Zhalmenina, Tanula, they all are perfect and I’m in love with this band.

And if all of this is not enough, THEY DID A COVER OF DANCING LASHA TUMBAI. The most iconic Eurovision song, sang by our god Verka. And this is the coolest, most badass cover ever in the whole universe. Please listen to it HERE everyone needs to hear this.

So thank you, Ukraine, for giving us Go_A. We all had a small empty place in our hearts and this place has ben perfectly filled by them.

And yif you think you don’t need ukranian technofolk, is only because you still haven’t listened to it. Please listen and enjoy Shum. You’re welcome.

________________________

8. That rock and roll never dies (and Italy’s well deserved victory)

The last time Italy won was in 19-fucking-90. 31 years ago. I was just born.

And now, they finally won again. And what a song! Despite being italian, I've never listened to Maneskin before, but oh damn, this song is good. Not all their songs are, but this one is. And also Morirò da re.

Their show was perfect as well. This post is really eye-opening about how well they put on their show. The use of the stage, the movements, everything has been part of a great performance, even their clothes. Damiano's voice never faltered, despite having an entire continent watching him. They handled the stage like bosses, despite being only in their twenties. And they gave us some good fucking rock.

And so the public said a loud "FUCK YOU" to the jury and chose its winners. The sassy, sexy italians.

And yes, I know that there has been a lot of petty polemics because those youngsters are having drugs!1!! as if they were a bunch of idiots who used drugs on international TV, with their manager sitting next to them.

Of course it was a pointless accusation and honestly I don't care if some people are sore losers. The drug results were negative anyway, what a shocker.

What we should truly think about is how strong the Maneskin's bladders are, because they spent the whole evening of the final drinking the entire alcohol supply of the Eurovision and, at the end, they were still happy and cool. Hats off to you, you sexy people.

This man is just iconic, why did I miss him before.

Also, have some more Maneskin. You know, as a treat.

________________________

9. That solidarity and wholesomeness are the biggest winners

It's just beautiful to see these nice people, from all over Europe, bonding, having fun, taking photos together and being friends.

The true winner of this, is probably Norway: Tix wanted to have a good time and he had a good time. The video of him vibing with Ukraine and Germany while listening Hard Rock Hallelujah is the best (HERE). His love story with Efendi from Azerbaijan is even better (please, check the video on his youtube channel, it's hilarious). I don't like his song, but he's a great guy and deserves everything.

The italian and finnish rock relationship is also great. Maneskin and Dark Sides found each other, considering they were the only two rock bands in the competition, so mutual appreciation was inevitable.

But Damiano is also a man of culture and he appreciates Ukraine's entry. And Ukraine appreciates both Finland and Italy. Is this what world peace looks like? Because I love it.

________________________

10. That Italians will be Europe's clowns again (and you're all allowed to make fun of us)

Beware, Europe: we Italians are messy and chaotic, our presenters don’t know a single word in English, we are homoerotic AND homophobic at the same time, our musical competitions are so fucking sloooow... let’s say next year’s Eurovision is going to be interesting.

And yes, you’re allowed to make fun of us. We don’t care, we won, so we deserve to be Europe’s clowns once again.

And I don’t know who the presenters will be (my bets are on everyone’s favourites: Fiorello, Amadeus and Malgioglio), I don’t know how we will ridicule ourselves once again, I don’t know where will we find the money to put on the show, I don’t know how ungodly long it will be... but I know that Mans Zelmerlow will be part of it. This man loves Eurovision just like all of us, so I can already see him packing his suitcase and planning his flight to Italy. Come to us, Mans, we will wait for you. We actually need an English presenter, so if you have nothing else to do...

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

I’m sorry, but can I just go on a little rant about the Louis, clouis, and the Clem comic...? 

I didn’t really talk about Louis in my overall review of the comic because I wanted that to be more contained to the content shown on the pages, Clementine’s relationship with AJ, and her as a character.... but the more I think about these comics and Louis, the more frustrated I become thinking about what Clementine abandoning everyone would do to him. 

[... okay it’s not little anymore since I guess I can never just do anything simple when it comes to Louis, sorry my bad]

So, no surprise, we all know the comic’s bullshit by now. Clementine leaving everything and everyone behind because she’s not happy is dumb, AJ just letting her go is dumb, and Clem going to the mountains on crutches and a peg leg to find this so-called happiness is dumb. 

Now that we’ve established it’s dumb, I wanna talk about Louis because I got a lot of built up feelings about how bullshit this storyline is with how Clementine would not only abandon AJ, but also abandon Louis. 

Because let me tell you..... his heart would be broken beyond repair and I need to talk about why.

Sigh.... so.... muh boy. 

Before he met Clementine, Louis was this laidback, irresponsible, but caring and musical person who kept his head down to avoid conflict and never looked at the future. He was the kind of person who took things one day at a time, saw survival as a day-to-day task, and said that the future doesn’t exist, there’s only today. You get the point, he was never too concerned with things because they always seemed to work out, and if they didn’t, then that sucks and that’s why we should appreciate every day while we have it. 

Louis is shown to be charismatic and friendly, he spends his free time playing piano and card games, but no one really takes him seriously. Not even Marlon, his best friend for 8+ years. While he doesn’t seem to be on bad terms with anyone [including Aasim, they just act like people who disagree with the other’s point of view and have had the same argument many times, but that doesn’t mean they hate each other, y’know?] he also doesn’t appear super close with anyone outside of Marlon and possibly Violet, but even then. 

Marlon’s shown to have little faith in him with the way he talks about if Louis will even show up to hunt. He has a controlling grip on Louis that’s prominent during the confrontation scene when he uses intimidation to try to convince Louis to not interfere. Oh, and there’s the fact that Marlon’s been lying to Louis for the past year about the twins and then continued to lie to his face about what really happened to Brody... which isn’t great when you consider how Louis was the only one who had blind faith in him as a leader and, according to Marlon, was the only one who couldn’t see how pathetic he always was. 

Violet, while having a few more nicer moments with him than Marlon, still invalidates him and his feelings several times throughout the first half of the game which makes me wonder how close they ever were, or at least if Violet ever considered him a close friend to begin with. And no, a small monologue in the dorms doesn’t make everything better or confirm they were brotp the whole time... especially when once they’re on the boat, Louis might as well not exist because Violet can’t be bothered to acknowledge what happened to him or inquire about how he’s doing. I guess she just didn’t have time react while standing in her cell for several unbothered minutes-- no wait, it’s she already reacted off screen. Right. Good writing is good.

What I’m getting at here is that even though Louis is surrounded by people who he genuinely cares about, there is an argument to be made that he’s a lonely person. Hell, he’s aware of his loneliness when he says that no one hears past his music and jokes. I mean, how many nights do you think he spent by himself playing the piano because no one wanted to hear it? Are they like Violet and crack jokes about how he doesn’t have actual talent? Probably, given that someone literally carved “you suck at playing” onto the side of the damn piano. 

Oh, and let’s touch on that backstory of his. Louis grew up wealthy with two parents who loved him and each other, and they gave him anything he wanted except singing lessons. Louis says he wanted to be a real musician. But I guess his father didn’t like that idea and told him no, with the [as Louis puts it] dumb dad lesson of, “You get to be happy, or you get to be rich, can’t be both.” ...which is interesting given that Louis and his family were stupid rich but also.... were they not happy? well, that doesn’t make sense because little Louis knew that if he broke up their marriage, they would be hurt. 

So yeah, Louis was so upset that his father continually refused to let him take singing lessons that he broke into the man’s credit cards and faked an affair, which led to his parents divorcing... and then he spit his father’s words back in his face. 

Then they dumped him at Ericson. And the walkers came. 

There’s so much to unpack from the story he tells that it could be it’s own analysis, but basically.... Louis is aware of why what he did was fucked up, and he carries it with him every day. 

He regrets what he did, chews himself out for being such a “vindictive fuckhead” [and the amount of force used in that line tells you a lot, like how it’s not the first time he’s chastised himself like this] and he admits that he doesn’t even know the person he’s talking about. Yet, he still sees himself as bad, saying that they [I assume the staff] told him and the other kids they’re bad people. I don’t doubt that Louis internalized that which played a huge role in the confidence and self-esteem issues he has during tfs. 

Anyway, I’ll come back to this later, but when you take that amount of guilt and regret, and mix it with the fact that they dropped him off at this school that was supposed to make him better.... then the walkers came and those teachers, staff, and headmaster? Gone. Left a bunch of kids to fend for themselves, with the exception of Ms. Martin [but given how she looks when we find her I doubt she lasted that long] and I cannot imagine how horrifying that was for all of them. The dead are up eating people, and if you die you become one of them... and the people you thought you could rely on just fucking left you to die at this school. 

Every kid in that school has trauma and abandonment issues from before and after the world went to shit, every last one, and Louis isn’t the exception here. Over the years, a lot of kids died and they’ve all seen horrible shit. They all knew they were never going to see their families again, and as far as we know, no one came to get their kids at the beginning. They had to find ways of coping while trying to survive, and all they had left was each other. 

Louis copes with music and games and jokes. He’s built up this persona where it seems like he’s unaffected by the comments the others make, that the death and suffering he’s gone through is in the past, that he is confident and open to those around him.

But then Clementine and AJ show up, and Louis grows close with both of them. They had immediate chemistry upon first meeting, he was the one who looked after AJ since it seems like everyone else saw him as a little terror, and he went out of his way to be kind and make them comfortable. 

When they go hunting with him, Louis and Clementine have a moment after taking care of the walker where they lower their guards a bit-- Louis gives her more in-depth reasons for his views of survival, and going off her expression, it gets to her and makes her think.... but they’ve know each other a day and he’s not quick to infodump his life story or let her in, so he cuts the conversation short.

Then we have the Marlon confrontation scene that I have gone over so many times in the past. I won’t dillydally with it too long but..... Clementine appeals to Louis, who curls in on himself because of the control Marlon has on him. He wants to help, and hell, he knows this is wrong but he’s so used to not getting involved that he gets defensive.... plus, he’s known Clementine for two days, and he’s known Marlon for 8+ years.... he wants to believe Marlon but you can tell he doesn’t want this, either. It takes Clementine talking to him to give him courage to stand between her and Marlon’s gun and it’s a lot.

AJ shoots Marlon and everything goes to shit, and Louis is a goddamn mess. His best friend was murderer right in front of him, so add that to the trauma list, and he’s overwhelmed with all these feelings that again.... they keep getting invalidated by Violet because “Marlon was a liar and murderer, therefore you shouldn’t feel bad about his death. Get over yourself, Louis, you can be such a shithead sometimes.” 

Oh yeah Vi, I guess he should care more about two people he’s known for a total of two days rather than for the safety of the people [including you] he’s grown up with and cared about for 8+ years.... makes sense. 

So yeah, little to no support during this time. Alone again. 

And just because I have to make this clear so no one gets a hair up their ass-- both Louis and Violet are wrong here. Kicking them out isn’t the solution, but neither is acting like AJ was right to commit murder just because it was Marlon.

 But plots gotta plot, so they get voted out and you can see that Louis is conflicted about the whole thing. He wants them gone, but at the same time, he knows what kicking them out means. You can see it on his face that he’s not okay with kicking them out. He’s hurting when he’s there in the dorms telling them how the vote went... he literally doesn’t know what else to do. He just knows that everything hurts, Clem and AJ caused it, and he wants the pain to stop. He even tries to justify it to himself by figuring that they’ve done this before so they’ll be fine. Not a great thing to say, Lou. 

Anyway, we know the story, Clem and AJ come back and Louis once again sees the consequences of acting out of pain.... AJ is shot because Louis was hurt and he made a bad decision that he’s gotta live with.... something that he’s done before, and this affirms to him that he’s bad. He wishes he could take it back, and goes as far as to admit that to Clementine during the archery scene. 

By the way, credit to him for his apology to her. It’s rare in these games that Clem gets a genuine apology from someone who hurt her and doesn’t turn around to repeat the hurtful behavior, y’know? Plus, I can think of plenty of characters who owed Clem an apology in the past or if they did apologize, it was half-assed. 

You can feel how conflicted he is with this whole thing-- learning who Marlon really was and what he did, feeling something for Clementine before everything went down and not knowing how to handle those feelings afterward, caring about AJ and understanding why he thought shooting was the best choice but still hurting that his friend is dead.... 

And the thing is.... Louis forgives her for so much, as she does him, and through all of that bullshit, they manage to develop that strong connection that turns romantic. Louis lets himself be fully vulnerable with her and is honest about his feelings, how she listened when no one else did and seeing him for more than just the persona he put on. 

This works on Clementine’s side, too. Clementine has been through her own fair share of bullshit-- trauma, abandonment, loss, injury, you name it. She’s made mistakes, done terrible things, and has been in enough groups to know that romance usually ends in heartbreak.... and yet, she’s willing to open herself up to Louis and admit she feels a lot for him. 

Is it a little rushed? Yep. Could it have been handled better? Of course, most things this season could’ve, but what we got was pretty good. 

So Clementine and Louis are romantically involved now, the raiders attack, and she saves him... and boy does Louis feel guilty about that one, too. He feels bad enough that he questions why she would pick him because he can’t fathom his life being worth saving over another’s. He doesn’t see himself as useful, and even though Clementine is literally his girlfriend at this point, his self-esteem is so all over the place that he can’t understand why she would have him at her side. 

And when Clementine tells him that he’s too important to her, he’s too baffled to even give a response. He looks at her in disbelief like he wasn’t expecting her to say that.  But this shows that at the beginning of their relationship, he still doubts himself, and through her working with him, he begins to build up that strength in himself. 

He becomes brave enough to share what got him sent to the school with her, and he plays Don’t Be Afraid for everyone at the party and like.... for once, everyone is listening to him. Really listening to him. They’re not talking shit about his musical skills, they’re not ignoring him or the feelings he’s putting into the song, they’re sitting there with him and I just..... if you watch him, you can see that his eyes get pretty glossy throughout the song. The moment meant something to everyone. 

There’s also the fact that Clementine asked him to come with her and AJ onto the boat, and to be the one in charge of the bomb... that’s a huge responsibly and he feels the pressure of that. He starts to panic a bit about if he can do it, because what if he fucks up? What if he gets them caught and makes everything worse? What if something happens to Clementine and he can’t do anything about it? 

She’s there to reassure him that she believes in him, and that he can do this. They’re going to get everyone back, and he needs to focus... then he asks her to slap him which why would you? that’s dumb, so Clementine smooches him instead and like.... he physically relaxes into her because he’s comfortable and trusts her in this situation. 

Also, he loves her and cares about this mission enough to cover himself and his fancy jacket in walker guts.... sure, he complains while doing so but how else is he gonna cope with rubbing rotten guts on himself to blend in with a herd of walkers? 

Skipping ahead so that we’re not here all day, I wanna talk about the walk back to the school because it’s one of the most important clouis moments in the game and a huge reason that solidifies why the comic is bullshit.

Louis went off on his own to go out and find them. He didn’t know where they would be, he just knew that he had to go out and find them after making sure everyone was okay back at the school because he couldn’t bare the thought that he had lost them. And the way the AJ gets so excited to see him? and the group hug??

At this point, Louis has grown so much as a character. With Clementine by his side to support him, he’s grown stronger and more reliable. Remember how he never thought about the future? Well, now he is because his relationship with Clementine has given him a reason to long for a future. He talks about building this imaginary house with her, one he knows they can’t physically build... but it’s his way of saying we can build a home together, that he wants a future with her and AJ and everyone else. It’s such a personal conversation that flows so easy between them. Louis is more comfortable talking to her about things from his past, which is something he didn’t want to do back in ep1. 

He confides in her how he’s feeling after he shot and killed Dorian, he tells her that having a home means protecting it and I just.... it’s so good, okay? And from Clementine’s side, you can feel how at ease she is with him, too. Just the way she smiles at him as they’re walking? like he’s the cutest thing and she’s so happy to have him with her? 

But then we gotta deal with Minerva’s crazy ass on the bridge and well, AJ shoots Tenn and Louis is having flashbacks to Marlon and it’s not great. That’s a whole thing, and he ends up separated from them while escaping.

We don’t get to see Louis’ reaction to Clementine getting bit and losing her leg since I guess that puts a damper on the overly happy ending. But, going off of what we know about him and what I’ve explained [which isn’t even all of it, this isn’t a full Louis character analysis. if it was, it would be much longer and in multiple parts... believe it or not, I’m trying to not make this too long and only sorta failing...] we can get an idea of how he would react. 

Um, to say he was upset is an understatement.

Because remember, he had no time to think and climbed over the fence, thinking he could get them to climb over and they could get away, but it didn’t work. He ended up leaving them in order to save himself since walkers were closing in on him.

But you know that he’d blame himself for the bite. A lot of, “if I had just stayed” and “I should’ve climbed back over, I should’ve stayed with you.” I’m sure there were points where it looked like Clem wouldn’t make it and I can’t imagine how much hurt he went through watching her suffer and heal from losing a leg like that. 

Not only that, but knowing that AJ was the one to do it? And him thinking about what Clem’s death would do to AJ after all this? There isn’t a doubt in my mind that Louis would take care of AJ if she died. He cares about AJ, and he loves Clementine, so he be there for both of them, even if he’s still hurting from Tenn’s death. 

However, Clementine didn’t die. She survived the bite and amputation, and when we flashforward, she and Louis are still happily together. Louis is right there next to her at dinner, and he’s the one to help her with her crutches. He’s there to go over future plans to meet the traveling caravan, and Clementine wants him to be the one to go. 

Oh, and Louis once again forgives AJ for shooting Tenn, claiming that he understands that AJ saw something that he couldn’t. Like with Marlon, he’s not happy Tenn’s dead but he can see why AJ did it to save his life. 

I just..... happy ending. Clementine and Louis are together and she’s truly happy to have found a home for her and AJ with him at Ericson. 

....But then the comic thought it would be fun to say “nah.” 

The comic isn’t canon, I’m still insulted that it would ever consider itself as such, but even so I can’t help but feel so frustrated about how this would destroy Louis. 

He finally found someone he would consider his best friend, not just his girlfriend. She saw past that funny man persona and he trusted her enough to let her past this wall he built around himself. He let himself become vulnerable around her, he named his song after her. Their initials are carved into his piano with a heart surrounding them. He loved her. 

Clementine left him feeling loved, something he probably hasn’t truly felt since he was a little boy with his parents before their divorce. She loved him even after hearing his past because she knew that wasn’t him anymore, and she helped him build the confidence he needed to step up. Because of Clementine, Louis wants to enjoy every day while also looking at the future. He isn’t lonely anymore, he has her and AJ. He’s truly happy.

So to tell me that Louis would wake up one morning only to have AJ tell him that Clementine’s gone, she’ been planning an escape without telling anyone because she wasn’t happy...? I’m sorry, but if you think that wouldn’t leave Louis absolutely devastated, then you know nothing about him as a character. 

This idea is just.... look, Louis is perceptive. That’s a big part of his character, he’s perceptive of those around him. If Clementine was showing signs of being unhappy or depression, he would see it. He would notice a change. He would be able to tell if something was off, and he would ask her about it. Louis is the type of person to ask you what you need. What can he do to help? What do you need to feel better? And if you don’t know, it’s okay, he’ll help you figure it out in any way possible. 

Plus, the comic suggests that there are times where she went off on her own but came back [probably doing her escape prep ugh] and you expect me to believe that Louis wouldn’t notice that or wonder what she’s doing? Wouldn’t sense that something’s going on? 

After she’s gone, he’s going to blame himself for not being enough. He couldn’t make her happy and he was a fool to think he ever could. AJ lost the only family he’s known since he was born because Louis couldn’t help her, couldn’t do anything to stop her from leaving. 

And for him to realize that she didn’t love him? Clementine, the girl he thought the world of because of how strong and confident and in-charge she was, because she saw him for who he was..... she left him, abandoned him... and she couldn’t even be bothered with a goodbye.... that says that she didn’t care all that much about him in the end.

You KNOW that he would think he had this coming, too. How could the universe allow him to fall in love and be happy with someone who loved him back after what he did to his parents? He would feel so heartbroken that he would see this as some sort of karma for breaking up his parents happy marriage as a kid years before he ever met Clementine and before the apocalypse.

I fucking can’t.... I don’t have the words to fully explain how much I hate this. Louis wouldn’t be okay afterward, and I doubt he’d ever fully recover. I wasn’t joking when I mentioned before that Louis would stop playing piano. How could he sit there and play when I he can see is their initials and remember the night she confessed to him? When he named his song after her? Clementine left and took the music with her because Louis wouldn’t have it in him... something that he used to cope would be ruined and that’s just.... it’s fucking awful. 

Not only that, but now he has AJ who I assume is hurting just as much [though the comics inaccurately assume he would just let Clem go sooo... yeah] and he would be the only one Louis would really talk to about it, but then again.... what if AJ doesn’t wanna talk about it? What if AJ starts to act out and things just become terrible and Louis is just too overwhelmed? 

I just.... UGH. That’s how I feel. UGH. 

Clementine from the comic? Not her. She would never fucking do this to Louis, AJ, or anyone else at Ericson, and you would know that if you played the tfs. 

Sigh.... sorry, I just needed to get this all out. I haven’t seen anyone talk about how Clem leaving would affect Louis and I’ve gotten some asks/come across some posts about Louis that have left me incredibly annoyed.... well, I was annoyed before because of the comics, so my annoyances with those things were only heightened. So yeah... I wanted to talk about Louis’ character in hopes of explaining why he would be so hurt if this comic was canon. 

Which it’s not. So it’s fine. 

How are we all feelin’ at this point, by the way? I know I’m not the only one still annoyed with the comic, so I hope y’all are doin’ okay. Hope you’re stayin’ chill and thinking about your faves to help cope with this mess hahaha

[captnjacksparrow]

Why do I ship SNS?

It is a known fact that when people experience a good media, they like to discuss various things they liked, hated, interpret what the creator trying to say and get something from what they have consumed. Eventually people end up in a shipping war if there are multiple possibilities. 

I started watching Naruto on a whim, hoping to see some ninjas in action with some revenge as a background (after all when you have power, there will always be a revenge). Am a sucker for revenge, btw. I am a person who hates romance in media. Because, every movie, book, novel, series has this same recycled romance plastered into every story even though the story don’t need at all. So, I am very tired of it. Every media portrays romance as something inevitable, necessary and something we can’t live without. That’s wrong. 

Usually, romance goes like this... Person A sees Person B... they hate each other and add some possessiveness, jealousy... they magically gets attracted through some shared experiences eventually... they kiss and make babies. There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s just very tiring as I’ve seen million forms of this same repeated trope. I always cringe and yell “Can you give us something different? Grrr.....”.

And also, my motto is that love can happen with any person. It can’t be restrained into certain boundaries. So, I don’t like to put some relationship under an umbrella called Gay, Lesbian, Straight or whatever. Of course, illicit relationships and incest are not normal and am not okay with it.

With all that being said...

My experience after watching the Shippuden series until episode 478 was “Wait, do they love each other?”. I know am very late to realize this, but I have never even viewed them with any romantic lens throughout. 

On my first watch, I was always under the impression that “They are friends”... But there are certain moments I felt “Wait, why are they doing like this which could’ve been handled in a different way!!” I will get to this later in this post. But those moments were overlooked by me because of my curiosity of “What happens next ??”. 

And on my rewatch, it only confirmed my view. 

The other popular ships like SS and NH put forth many points to invalidate what SNS represents. The most common being “They are reincarnated brothers” or  “They are best friends”. Am just going to debunk them from my point of view. 

Naruto and Sasuke are like brothers.....

Nope. 

The best brotherhood title, in this series, should officially go to Itachi and Sasuke. 

You can argue as much as you want that Itachi mindfucked Sasuke and killed his parents....yaada yaada.... 

It is repeatedly shown why Itachi put a curtain on his own clan. The reason is, Uchiha clan decided to forcefully take over the village. No matter how much innocent you are, you cannot take over something with force. Dot. I will write about this in a separate post.

In short, Sasuke realised how his clan members were wrong after hearing the story from the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. That’s why he openly proclaimed “I am going to protect Konoha and become Hokage”. 

Back to the topic, Itachi and Sasuke are blood brothers. If I ship them both, then what you claim is very valid. 

The above gif says, “Sasuke, I know, I made a mistake by filling you with hatred. But whatever you decide to do from now on, I will love you always”. Meaning, He stopped treating Sasuke as a kid and accepts that Sasuke has his own path to walk.

This is exactly how brothers behave. I would do the same to my kid sister. You can see a fraternal instinct from Itachi’s eyes realizing that this is their last time together.

Another thing, Brothers trope always has this hierarchy.... Protect the younger sibling no matter what. It is evident from Madara/Izuna and Hashirama/Tobirama.

Not convinced?

If you pull the Indra and Ashura bullshit, let me tell you one thing. Indra and Ashura were separated and formed their own clan long ago. They eventually branched off into Uchiha and Senju clans. No way you can relate a century old blood relation as brothers. It’s just their chakra got reincarnated over and over. 

Don’t pull up an incest angle between Naruto and Sasuke. Because they never shared a womb. Dot. 

Naruto and Sasuke are Best Friends only.

You know what, you are almost right. I thought that for a very long time. Remember I never wore any shipping goggles ON. 

There are two types of best friend categories. Best Friends without a reason and Best Friends through rivalry. 

Best Friends without a reason in Narutoverse are: Shikamaru/Choji. 

They just became friends and became BFF. They won’t fight or hurt each other. But when you have something to share...you would go to that person and share everything honestly.

Best Friends through Rivalry: Kakashi/Obito, Hashirama/Madara, Naruto/Sasuke

I really cannot provide more proof for the first two pairings as Best Friends as it is not the scope of this post. Although the latter two also qualifies for shipping category. Why?

Because, the common thing among them is that all the three Uchihas awakened/reawakened their Sharingan for their best friend. But Hashirama/Madara and Naruto/Sasuke are the only pairings to awaken or evolve Sharingan when trying to break their bonds with each other. 

Special Brownie points for Madara. He had 4 brothers and lost 3 but still couldn’t awaken his Sharingan but when trying to break up with Hashirama, his eyes were brimming red. 

Sasuke’s Sharingan matures in the first Valley of The End.

That’s why I excluded Hashirama/Madara and Naruto/Sasuke from this Best Friends list.

Because to the both Uchihas, the other person meant something special which cannot be comprehended into a mere term called ‘Best Friends’.

Which is exactly why Kakashi/Obito would perfectly fall into this category.

The way they quarrel, fight with each other, protect each other are perfect scores for a friendship. What makes them best friends is when Obito decided to give his Sharingan despite Kakashi was always putting a cold air around him and most importantly asked him to protect his love ‘Rin’. Also Kakashi carried his friend’s will to his heart and passed on to Team 7.

It all falls under ‘In the memory of my Best Friend’ trope.

Obito may be a trash but he is a good friend. Because after Rin was killed, he massacred everyone around him except for Kakashi. He could have killed him. Understandable. Or he could have plucked his Sharingan back (because he literally plucked most of the Sharingans from the Uchiha clan massacre and kept those eyes as a reserve). This could have enabled him to use Susanoo. I believe Susanoo can only be used with Mangekyo Sharingan in both eyes. But for some reason, he didn’t. 

So what makes me think Naruto and Sasuke love each other, not as a brother and not as a friend but something beyond which I can’t term?

My way of shipping is not about marriage, sex and rearing babies. Because literally everyone does this as an obligation. 

So, I don’t ship them in terms of living together in my headcanon and having sex daily. Nope. But it is not wrong though if you ship in that sense.

In this Narutoverse, Women are just some stow away pieces whose sole existence is to fawn over their dreamboy and cry for them. (Usually literally nothing useful comes out of them). Me being a girl, as much as I hate this setup but I have come to terms with whatever it is and have accepted it. If you are a girl looking for a strong female character...... this is not the place. Watch something else. 

But I draw inspiration from male characters who are characterized deeply for which I have to applaud the creator. Reason being, the very first character which I connected with was Itachi. It was when Sasuke thinks about his past with his family in the flashback before the first VotE battle in part I. I will be writing a separate post about Itachi in this week. 

In short, If you are a person who wants inspiration, draw it from male characters. Not in a single moment, you stoop so low for characters like Hinata and Sakura. That’s not how I envision myself or any woman. Dot.

With all this being said, I ship them as a couple who necessarily don’t have to get married or have sex... But they each other has some special allowance towards each other in their hearts which no one can touch, not even their wives or children. 

This doesn’t mean I accept what came after episode 478 as they are literally something they made for $$$$$. 

There are some basic traits which are absolutely necessary for a ship to sail successfully. They are Acknowledgement, Reason, No Hierarchy, Influence, Owning each others rights and Privilege. (All these reasons should come from both the sides for the ship to be worthy)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Acknowledgement, I mean here, is to accept and acknowledge what they are to each other.

They both agree that they are Bonded/Friends verbally as well as emotionally.

To me, this is essential in any relationship especially for the ones you are trying to ship. I didn’t see this in any other ships like SS or NH where it is always one sided. Sakura confessed before the village entrance to which Sasuke said “You really are annoying!!”. Hinata proposed in Pain arc. Naruto didn’t even acknowledge her confession. He went on to beg for pardon for Sasuke. Again she proposed in the War at the expense of Love Cupid “Neji”. Naruto went on to joke with Minato that Sakura is his Girl Friend. 

If I were in both of these girls place, I would literally be mad and drop this shit right away.

Wheras in SNS, I saw both the people I am trying to ship were asking “What am I to you?”, to which they reply “You are my friend”. To me this is very important.

Reason

To those who are saying “Love is blind”, “Love is Madness”, “Love needs no reason”, you all need self-evaluation. This is not some K Drama situation where you don’t need any reason. You should know why you love someone and why you need the other’s presence.

Naruto’s reason is very simple.

I could provide many reasons. But here, Sasuke, without any reservations... knowing full well of the consequence if he feed Naruto but still extended the helping hand to someone who was always hostile. It is just like what Iruka did. And many incidents which happened during Land of the Waves arc are evident.

He wanted to be friends with this lonely Uchiha boy way back when he was around 7 or 8 for a simple reason that he understands his pain more than anyone. But he really became friends when they were grouped together for Team 7.  

Sasuke’s reason goes even way beyond when Naruto series started.

“Because he felt relief”.

Imagine a young boy who witnessed a massacre before his eyes and lost everyone he loved. But somehow another young boy of his age made him feel relieved. This explains why Sasuke went all out of his way to make friendship with Naruto despite being aloof. 

Isn’t this what we want from someone we love?  

Rather than being completely insensitive about an orphan life or just stalking from the distance and never offered any support, I would prefer someone who understands my pain from their heart and try to reach me. Sasuke reached out to him by offering the lunch and Naruto reached out to him by making him his rival and bug him.

NO HIERARCHY

This is pretty self-explanatory. Unlike blood brothers, there should be no hierarchy in a relationship I want to ship. 

We saw Naruto yells at Sasuke many times absolutely for no reason, despite Sasuke bearing this cold attitude. Probably he is the only person who can call him by such variety of names. 

Sasuke always calls him by his trademark ‘Usuratonkachi’. Sometimes he calls him fool just like everyone. But was never insulting or mean towards Naruto. Except for that time in the final battle, he made fun of his Shadow Clone jutsu citing his loneliness. 

In short, be it a physical fight or verbal offense.... neither of them wilts like a flower. They equally give back. 

The only other person who can verbally assault Sasuke is Karin and probably the only girl who never addresses him as “Sasuke-Kun”. 

U-SU-RA-TON-KA-CHI..... Why do Sasuke spend such an effort to call someone with a 6 syllabic word, instead NA-RU-TO, a 3 syllabic word which is way more convenient to call?? I always wonder.

POSITIVE INFLUENCE

I don’t have to spell out anything here. There are many obvious examples but will try to keep it short. 

Naruto became strong because of Sasuke. He trained hard for 3 years with Jiraiya , a month with Kakashi developing Rasen Shuriken and controlled Kurama’s power with Killer Bee. Except for Sage Mode jutsu everything he learnt was all for bringing Sasuke back. 

In short, Sasuke is Naruto’s predominant strength. 

Though Naruto was not the source of strength for Sasuke, but he brings out many vibrant emotions in Sasuke which he really needed for his traumatic mind otherwise he would always be that cold angry brooding doll without any emotions and I am sure Sasuke enjoys to banter with Naruto.

LOL!!! I don’t know why Sasuke feels competitve here. It’s pretty childish even for Sasuke.

Friendly tease :-) I think he also protected Sakura in this scene. He can also ask her the same, isn’t it? I mean as a friend. 

The best one is yet to come

It’s incredibly hilarious to see how Sasuke pouts when he was with Naruto. Sakura!!!! You third wheeling joker :-D :-D

Throughout Shippuden, Sasuke never shows his emotions with anyone. He either looks very cold or angry.

Reminiscing his Team 7 days, for a split second. 

Probably the only positive emotion is this, in all of the Shippuden. I mean not counting Episode 478.

I don’t think Sakura brought any kind emotions in Sasuke except annoyance when they were together in Team 7. Or Hinata too. These girls just moan “Sasuke-Kun”, “Naruto-Kun” but brings nothing to the table. Total wastrels!!!!!

OWNING EACH OTHER’S RIGHTS

This section is exactly where SNS moves on to a whole different level.

Sasuke wanted to inflict his pain over everyone who lives in peaceful Konoha for what it did to Itachi. (though I don’t really accept with Sasuke here since he never even bothered to question about his clan’s history, but what he was doing is understandable. Just like Naruto tells him).

But the context here is Sasuke is on a murder rampage. Starting from the Kage Summit, killing Danzo, unnecessarily hurting Karin and almost reached a point where he could not be stopped anymore. Then Ms.Annoying appears. She literally have no fucking clue what Sasuke is going through. So started to spout nonsense that she wanted to go with Sasuke-Kun with an ulterior motive to kill him without a strong resolve. 

The interesting SS dynamics here is Sasuke asks Sakura “Do you know what I want?” and to which she gives a carefree-shitty-pathetic answer “I don’t care. I will do whatever you want”. Geez!!!

If I were Sasuke, I would think, “This person standing before me don’t even care about what I want but coming with an intent to kill me and not only that... she is a kunoichi from Konoha where I planned to inflict my pain by slaughtering them.. I better ram my Chidori and be done with it”... He doesn’t see her as his former Teammate. He just want to kill that person.

However, Kakashi deflects the attack and saves Ms.Useless. 

( Me : I am a Sasuke fan through and through. But, Sakura..... You always says you will do this, do that.... But you never succeed at anything... Why is that? Why are you even continue being a ninja? No one asked you to kill Sasuke, you decided to. But why don’t you kill him. Probably you would’ve earned my begrudging respect... Pffft” ****sighs with a heavy second hand embarassment)

Anyways, Sasuke becomes an unstoppable maniac at this point because he was very irritated on seeing Kakashi and Sakura spouting some unreachable nonsense. So he started to attack Kakashi as he is even more irritated on seeing his Sharingan.

Again, Ms.Idiot wants to kill Sasuke when he is at his weakest point due to chakra exhaustion and that too from behind his back. (You!!! Gutless wrench). Sasuke sensed this and attempted to kill her again... (Naruto!!! You idiot. Why did you save her...)

However, Naruto appears and saves her. Naruto and Sasuke’s eyes meet each other.

But somehow Sasuke calmed down and hears out Naruto for what he has to say. He says, “Whatever you are doing until now, it’s understandable”. 

Kakashi wanted to kill him and Sasuke got riled up and prepare his Chidori. Anyways, Naruto intervenes and they go to some meta physical plane and talks privately. And Naruto comes up with his idea and announces as below:

Me: Naruto!!!! Sweety..... Do you realize that you have a big dream of becoming a Hokage which you have been shouting from Day 1? But still you want to overthrow everything for that one person who is in unbearable pain. It’s alright. But you don’t want to go alone or send him alone. No Best friend would go this far. And to those Sakura shippers.... Why didn’t Sakura try to bear the burden? Why didn’t she come up with this Idea? Afterall, you spout nonsense like ‘Sakura saved Sasuke from Darkness, isn’t it?’ And, Naruto.... Who gave you the right to take his hatred and shoulder the burden? And what makes you think you are that only person to do it??? Sasuke, might have other special person in those 3 years. How can you decide on Sasuke’s behalf??? Aren’t you going overboard ?

The answer to all the above is simple, Naruto can risk anything for Sasuke. And he clearly knew that Sasuke’s only living bond is him.

And what happened next was almost unbelievable and for the first time I thought ‘What is it with these two guys?’. 

Sasuke agrees with Naruto’s proposition to not destroy Konoha before fighting with Naruto. 

Me: Sasuke!!!! You have every right to reject his proposition. Since, he was not in your life for the past 3 years, your side of bond with Naruto should have been cut-off long back, right? Sasuke??? Well, at this point he was just your former Team 7 member. You don’t need to honor your proposition. You can attack Konoha anytime. Why did you accept?

Also Me: Sweety!!! Why do you always question Naruto ‘Who am I to you’? Why do you need his opinion always? There is an annoying princess standing behind Naruto vying for your attention. And yet you didn’t even ask her this question at any time. But before Naruto, you completely calmed down from your rampage and willing to wait for what he has to say plus asking for his validation. After all you don’t care about anything, why just Naruto???

And the reason being, Naruto is still his closest bond which he couldn’t cut off despite trying very hard. After all, Many years ago, Sasuke was the one, who readily jumped in to protect Naruto knowing full well that it’s a trap. He was ready to throw away his revenge for this boy back then. Sasuke is afraid that he will give in to this bond once more and Naruto is his weakness which he wants to eliminate so badly.

This is definitely not any Best Friend would do..... Fix that in your mind.

The purpose of these GIFs is not show how protective Sasuke is..... Well, I can talk about it all day. Let’s save it.

Me: Yo!!!! Sasuke..... You wanted to kill Naruto.... You said so yourself under the bridge. Meaning, He is the only person standing between your goal and your resolve and Naruto is always known to weaken your resolve. And yet why are you protecting him here? There is absolutely no need. Because, if there is a situation like Kaguya where both of you are must needed to save this world , then there is a reason to save him. But why now? Plus do you know, if Naruto dies, then Madara’s plan may not succeed because if a Jinchuriki dies, tailed beast also dies. It is perfect for your Revolution, isn’t it? Who gave you the right to own his life? Obito has his reason to kill Naruto, why not let him?Why is it that you want to personally remove him from your life? If he is dead by an external factor, you can carry on your path without any interference and pain. Why go so far to protect him ?

The answer is Sasuke values Naruto’s life more than his own even during his Team 7 days. He has this high esteem for Naruto and almost consider it to be a shame if some worthless fool takes his life. And Sasuke never hated Naruto. He once hated Itachi and his resolve to kill was real and intense. But when Orochimaru asked him to kill 1000 people for practice, Sasuke never killed anyone. He even implemented no kill policy for his team “Hebi”. So, someone like Sasuke who never liked to kill random innocent people, how could he let some trash take away a life, he considers dearly to the same level of Itachi? That’s why in this situation, his body moved on his own to protect something special for him. He may not agree it, but he always shows it.

But some other ship wankers try to say Sasuke may have said “You are annoying” but inside he deeply loved her which is why he was smiling. If so, Why didn’t Sasuke never showed his care not even once? He not only tried to kill her twice when she was defenseless but also let her die twice or didn’t bother at all during the war. Or show me where these soul level connection happened between SS or NH

In short, Sasuke and Naruto own each other’s rights unconsciously. Because they are the only ones who can understand each other’s soul which nobody can reach.

Me: Oh, by the way Sasuke, I think Susanoo should be used like this. You really don’t need your hand to protect Naruto. Susanoo can do it’s work for you. Minato would be proud though!!!!

PRIVILEGE

Most of the points I written above are in and of itself is a privilege they give for each other and not for anyone else. Privilege is essential in a ship. Because it shows how different a loved one is from normal people. 

For Naruto, 

I originally want to put how he begs for forgiveness on Sasuke’s behalf before Raikage and weeps immeasurably before hyperventilating. But this one trumps the other. Naruto literally broadcasted everyone how important Sasuke is to him and how he regretted not offering his friendship at that time and how he couldn’t stop Sasuke from reaching Orochimaru. 

If you want to inspire Alliance shinobi forces, you should have shown how you worked so hard from the bottom to top. Projecting Sasuke as your regret and inspiring people shows how deeply you prioritize this person which affects you after so many years and hence, you don’t want any more regrets. 

It’s very unconventionally romantic which passes the shipping category in flying colours. 

For Sasuke,

The following is the Land of the waves arc which was novelized in the name of Innocent Heart, Demonic Blood released in 2006. 99.9% of the material is exactly as it happens in Manga/Anime. 

This is the privilege Sasuke provides for Naruto. “ But coming from Sasuke, It almost counted as a hug”... 

BROWNIE POINTS:

Now, the following are the scenes which add a mysterious flavour to this ship. I sincerely don’t understand why Kishimoto put this. I mean I am absolutely happy with it, but why? What was he thinking while drawing these scenes? 

It’s also strange that, whenever they clash a Chidori with Rasengan..... They always gets repelled to their own sides and fall with a loud thump. But Naruto’s posture looks very perfect, I mean it looks like someone carried him and laid him down. Anyways, What’s Sasuke doing on Naruto’s side?? He should have fell on the opposite side. Why didn’t he walk away? There is absolutely no reason for Sasuke to come over to Naruto’s side and have an intense meaningful gaze. 

This is another mysterious plus intense scene. I am still wondering, Is this really Sasuke? He is a person who avoids casual touches with anyone other than his brother. I’ve seen so many times Sasuke rejecting hugs from Sakura. I can’t even imagine what Kishimoto was thinking. 

If you people pass these scenes off as Brotherhood or Best Friend chemistry... Then you lack basic human emotions. That’s all. 

Me: Well, Sasuke, If you really want to kill him, you should have shovelled your sword right through Naruto’s vital point when you made that exuberant landing. There is literally no need for you to draw a long sword in close quarters. And what about the Personal Space??? With your speed, you can land without leaning on Naruto’s shoulders... 

Also Me: Yo, Naruto... You were panicking when Sai does the same....but you don’t even flinch when Sasuke invades your personal space????

Anyways, it’s funny that both the intense scenes I have mentioned here were initiated by Sasuke. Quite strange and thrilling.

So, to conclude.... All these scenes I have mentioned  made me unconsciously ship them as a pair. With all these being said, I believe all the ingredients for a good romance were laid perfectly. A moment of impulsive tension or affection, say a hug, between them after a difficult battle could mess with both and make a romance happen. And I don’t think either of them will deny especially Sasuke. 

I don’t see any of this aspect in other popular ships such as SS and NH. If I am Sakura or Hinata in this universe, I will not be okay with my pair doing all these things with other person. I intentionally left scenes from Episode 478 as it is so intense and require a separate post. I am happy that even without Episode 478, SNS ship sails high. So, I believe both Sakura and Hinata are still fourth wheeling their respective pairs in Boruto universe also, I guess. 

P.S: I don’t watch Boruto

Final memento:

No way a friend will look this mesmerized on seeing the other one. 

[nightacquainted]

Vincent was surprised that Wanda wanted to live in the Tunnels permanently, but the more she explained to him, the more it began to make sense. Losing everything and not feeling as though one belonged in the world Above were two of the most common reasons for wanting to leave it behind. However, while it may seem ideal on the surface, some found it difficult to adapt.

"He is only wary, because he has seen many who thought they wished to live here, and instead they returned to the World Above before long. And each time that happens, it is a risk to us. A great risk," Vincent explained. "The more people Above who know of us, the more chance there is that we will be targeted, taken advantage of, or driven out of our homes. It has happened before, many times."

"Father only wishes to keep us safe, and it is difficult to know who will be able to adapt to this life, and who might not. There are also limited resources here. We cannot take in everyone who might want to live here on a whim. Father tries only to admit those who cannot live Above, or those who would do so at great peril. Ultimately, though... it is a committee of a few of us who vote to allow others to move here." A pause, and then, "And he has always been particularly protective of me. Do not take it personally. Once he gets to know you better, I know he will love you."

His head tilted as she had to ask if he really did want her to stay with him more often? Did she not know what she meant to him? "Of course I do. I miss you the moment you leave my side," he said, smiling shyly. "I would give anything to be able to spend more time with you, Wanda. But you must decide for yourself if you really want to make that sort of change in your life. Living down here can be very rewarding, but there are also challenges. Lack of sunlight and wind can cause depression. Dust and most can aggravate allergies. Diets are limited to basic necessities. Medications are hard to come by. So it is not a decision you should make lightly." He wasn't trying to discourage her, but he also didn't want her to make the wrong choice for herself. "Think it over carefully," he said gently.

"I want to stay with you."

Vincent's head canted as he considered Wanda's words. He knew why she had said it, and yet he wondered if she truly knew what she was saying. "I know. But you would be happy here? Isolated from your friends? From all that you know?" As much as he would love for Wanda to live with him in his world, he worried that she would at best grow tired of it after a while, and at worst... come to hate it, and him. "I would never want you to feel trapped or lost in my world, Wanda. Even for those who can no longer live in your world, living here was a great adjustment. With all that you have been through, do you want to put yourself through all of that?"

[extremelyblackandwhite]

innocence - 36

PAIRING: bodyguard!bucky barnes x innocent actress!reader

WARNINGS: smut, oral (female receiving), angst (18+)

A/N: all i can say is alexA PLAY NO BODY NO CRIME. hope you enjoy it xx

NEXT CHAPTER

There had been no honeymoon or even an honeymoon period for Bucky and Y/N. It wasn’t like he could even leave the state much less the country without the danger of being accused of kidnapping his own wife and even if they could, whatever free time the two of them had between Y/N working and Bucky, now fired, collecting as much evidence which proved he was innocent, was spent in his lawyer’s office trying to build a defence. He tried his best to keep her out of it, to give her some sense of normality, some sense of being a regular newlywed couple but he knew she wasn’t stupid, he knew she would notice whenever he’d had a particular rough day and Bucky was getting worse and worse at hiding how he felt during those particular days. “Court is going to be a circus, you cannot engage no matter how much you want to” his lawyer would tell him time and time again after pointing out what the prosecutors would most likely use against him. What could he say? There was a lot they could use about him, not only just from his Winter Soldier days. 

The days quickly rush through and soon enough the court day arrived. He’d barely slept the night before, his mind going through what could happen, what they would say, what they’d do once they discovered he and Y/N were married. There was just too much on his mind which weighed down on him until early morning when he could finally catch some sleep. Just as he was in soft sleep, he felt the bed rustle and the warmth which was so familiarly hers, left the bed. Bucky groaned, turning around in bed and hoping she’d just gone to the bathroom and would return soon. However, as time went by he could only hear footsteps going side to side in a frantic motion. He grumbled, opening his eyes to check on what his wife was doing. Taking a quick glance at the clock on the bedside table, the 4AM number flashed at him. 4 AM, what is she doing at four in the morning? He rubbed the sleep of his eyes, raising his torso to sit down in bed only to see the room was empty. He grabbed his trousers from the floor, hastily putting them on before exiting the room. Y/N was leaning against the kitchen tabletop only wearing his blue henley and nursing a cup of what he guessed was some sort of peppermint tea, based on the scent. She couldn’t sleep. 

    - What’s wrong? - Bucky approached her slowly, his hands resting upon her hips once he was close enough. She looked at him through her lashes, placing the mug on the marbled surface before leaning her head against his chest, her hands flat against his biceps. - Do you want to talk about it? 

    - I have a bad feeling. - she said but it sounded more like a muffled mumble, as if she didn’t want him to hear it. - I can’t sleep. 

    - It’s gonna be okay. - he cupped her face, his thumbs grazing her jawbone on each side of her face. - You said it yourself, your father’s friend is a good lawyer. He’s not gonna let anything happen to you, I am not gonna let anything happen to you.

    - It’s not me I’m worried about. - her hand meet his on her face. 

    - You don’t need to be worried about me. You think a court room scares me, princess? I’ve been through worse. Besides, you know I didn’t do it. Other than speculation, what proof do they have?

    - I don’t know ... - she looked down once again. 

    - C’mon, princess. I want to cuddle with my wife while I still can.

    - Those jokes are not funny, Bucky. - she rolled her eyes at him. For whatever reason, he had taken to deal with all of it by merely making jokes out of it but she, she was scared. She knew the public wasn’t particular found of Bucky and a weak case would lead to the jury voting against him. 

She couldn’t sleep, no matter how much she tried, and if it wasn’t that, it was her agency constantly trying to force her into psychiatric analysis by various experts. She wanted to ask him how he felt, what he thought about all of it yet whenever he did, he would just laugh it off or kiss her. Steve and Sam weren’t much help either, mostly hiding it from her what they knew and Sharon knew as little as she knew. There was nothing she could do but worry about him. It wasn’t like her view was particularly valued by the court who either believed her to be on some sort of Stockholm Syndrome or being held over some sort of control by Bucky. 

Bucky looked at her, watching how she would furrow her brows and slightly scrunch her nose whenever she was deep into thought. He’d rather not think about it, about the court, about what they were saying about him in the media. He’d rather not think about it, it just didn’t matter. She, however, did matter to him. Simple and plain. If it came between her own safety and peace of mine and his, she’d come first. Whatever happened, what mattered was keeping her safe, ensuring. whatever happened didn’t hurt her or destroyed her career. She was good, too good for him. In all honesty, he’d started to believe she was too good for anyone in her own environment. She deserved her happy ending, the riding into sunset, ensemble waving her off ending. She did and he would give it to her, even if he wasn’t in it. 

     - Why don’t you let me take your mind off it? - he moved his hand under the henley, leaning down to kiss her half exposed shoulder. She whimpered, her hand holding onto his bicep as his kisses climbed from her shoulder blades, to her neck, to the spot just below her ear lobe in a slow manner. 

Bucky turned her around, her back against his shirtless chest as his hands wandered under the henley, feeling the warmth of his skin as his fingers lightly drew upward lines from her belly to just under her breasts. He chuckled under his breast, leaning down once more to kiss her neck as his hands cupped her naked breasts under the shirt. Her hand gripped the stone from the kitchen balcony as a hot flush started to overcome her face as body. He ran his thumb over her perked buds, watching her get goosebumps and squirm merely by his touch as if she hadn’t been touched for years.

     - You like it when I touch you, hm, princess? - he hummed against the back of her neck. She averted her eyes, looking at what was in front of her to contain the flush that only seemed to further spread. - Isn’t this sweet? You’re still shy when I touch you, princess. 

     - I’m not. - she bite her lower lip, gasping as he pinched one of  her nipples without any prior warning. Bucky laughed against her skin, moving his lips to kiss yet another spot below her ear

    - Perhaps you like it a bit too much. - he whispered against her ear. 

Instead of keeping with his motions, he merely took his hands from under her shirt, leaving her to miss his touch as he stepped away from her to grab one of the whiskey bottles which laid in a silver platter with some glasses. She pouted, eyebrows furrowed as he poured himself a drink and rose his glass to his lips, swallowing the strong amber liquid in one gulp. She watched him with an almost angry look, yet she knew that was the last thing she looked like, following a small droplet which fell down from his lips, to his chin and down his neck. She opened her mouth but he beat her to it, boyish almost arrogant smile at her dishevelled look and irregular breathing. 

    - Ask for it. - he put the glass upside down on the sink, leaning against the opposite balcony with his arms crossed.

    - What?

    - Don’t be shy. Ask for it. You know I always give you what you want, princess. Just ask for it. - he beckoned. -  Or are you too shy? 

    - I’m not shy. - she adverted his gaze. 

    - Okay then. 

Y/N watched as he left the kitchen and walked up to his bedroom. She pouted out of frustration before following him down the hall and inside the bedroom, her socks almost slipping on the hardwood floor from how fast her pace was. He was laid down in bed, torso against the bed frame and head slightly cocked to the side. She stood in front of the bed with a look which he could only describe as the most adorable angry look he’d ever seen. 

    - It’s not fair. Why do I have to ask?

    - I can’t read your mind, princess. How would I know what you want? 

    - Fine. - she sat down on top of his lap, hands on his shoulders while her chin was down almost touching her sternum. He was enjoying this way too much. She looked to the side before looking into his eyes. - Can you do it? Please?

    - Do what? - he kissed her shoulder, his fingers toying with the hem of her shirt as she struggled to let herself say it. - Come on, princess. 

    - You know what I want. - she moved her head to the side, allowing him a better access to her neck. 

    - Yes, I do. - he stopped kissing her to pick her chin, raising it up. - C’mon, tell me, just tell me. I know you’re a good girl, you’re not gonna stop being my good girl if you tell me what you want.

She looked at the ceiling biting the inside of her bottom lip. Stubborn, she was definitely being stubborn, he thought to himself. His hands held her hips tightly, his thumb grazing her hipbone through the fabric of the henley, and he started to push her back and forward against his clothed cock. She was taken by surprise, hands holding onto his shoulders not to lose balance as he continued to control her movements. She could feel his cock against the thin fabric of her underwear, the feeling itself tight in her lower abdomen. 

He watched her face as he rubbed her against him, her lips partially opened, eyes shut tight, hands holding onto his shoulders as she tried to get a hold of herself. It didn’t take long for her to hide her face in his neck, moaning against his skin as he continued to move her back and forward in his lap. 

   - It’s really easy to rile you up, princess. - he chuckled through his own breathlessness, the movements and feeling of her clothed core making him hard. Her grip tightened on his shoulders and as it did, he stopped his movement, stilling her right on top of his hard cock.

   - Buck ... - she whimpered, head still buried by his neck. She tried to move her hips, get back the momentum but he had a death-like grip on her hips, not allowing for any movements.

   - Nice try, princess. - he chuckled. - Come on, tell me what you want. 

   - Bucky! - she whined, moving her head to look at him. - Please.

   - You know I’ll do it. - he moved under her for a slow second, before stilling once again. - But you’ll have to ask me, princess.

   - Fuck ... - she mumbled, trying to go against his strength. - James, please. 

   - You can keep trying, princess. - he kissed up from her neck to her ear, whispering against it. - I’m not gonna fuck you until you as for it. 

   - Please. - she tried to move again but failed. Bucky threw her onto the other side of the bed, pinning her under him. - Bucky, please.

   - You can beg all you want, princess. I’m not going to fuck you. However ... - he hooked his finger on the sides of her underwear, slowly pushing it down her legs and throwing it to the side. - I do think I can get it out of you. 

Bucky put her legs on each of his shoulder, hands caressing her skin from her calf to her hip, a trail which his lips followed suit, kissing the inside of her thigh up to the hem of the henley she was wearing. He pulled the fabric off her, throwing it somewhere in the bedroom before continuing his trail of kisses. His lips drew a line from her hip up to her breast before climbing up to her collarbones. 

    - You even smell sweet. - he mumbled against her skin, playfully bitting her collarbone before kissing her. - I did really get myself a sweet wife, didn’t I?

    - Bucky, stop teasing. - she pleaded, hands coming up to play with the hair on his nape. 

    - Not sweet enough to chance my mind though. - he gave her a mischievous look, kissing down her body once again and stopping at her thighs. 

He once again propped her legs on top his shoulders, leaning dow to slowly kiss her inner thighs as if she were a goddess, and she was. He continued to kiss her thighs, getting closer and closer to her core until he kissed her swollen bud, still sensitive from grinding on him. Her hand gripped the sheets, face looking to the other side as she instinctively tried to close her legs but he stopped her. Her back arched as he dragged a long lick from her hole to her clit, hands holding her hips closer to his face and face digging deeper with each lick. Bucky moaned against her core, the vibrations only making her shiver more with each lick. Her extended her hand up to his hair, pulling at the roots which made him moan even more. She was more whining than moaning as he started to pay more attention to her clit in each lick until she felt herself start go over the edge. Just as that white-like feeling became closer and closer he stopped, bringing her legs back to the mattress.

Y/N looked up, her chest going up and down, hand grabbing onto the sheet and pleading eyes. Bucky smirked, licking his lips and dragging his thumb across the sides. 

    - No, Bucky please.

    - I told you so, princess. - he leaned down, his face dangerously close to hers. - You have to say it. 

    - Please fuck me. - her voice was meek, filled with desperation and plea filled eyes which he could just not deny. 

Bucky kissed her harshly, pushing his trousers off before leaning down to kiss her again. Her hand rested upon the nape of his neck as he thrusted inside of her. 

     - Fuck, princess. - he chuckled breathlessly as he started to thrust in and out of her at a slow pace. - Not a fucking stutter. You were really frustrated weren’t you, princess? So good to me.

She nodded through her pleasure, holding onto him, her feet pressing onto his ass as he continued to thrust in and out of her. Fuck, he could do this for the rest of his days and be happy. He took his time to reach a faster pace, enjoying the feeling of her tight and warm walls around his cock. He moved the hair away from her face, kissing her in a messy yet long kiss. 

    - Bucky, faster, please. - she begged between his kisses.

    - Aw, so you can talk, princess. - he teased, bringing his thrusting to a halt before starting a fast pace. 

She moved her hands from the nape of his neck to his biceps, holding onto them as she quivered, moans coming uncontrollably from her lips. Bucky continued with his pace, basking in all her moans and his name coming from her lips. Y/N whimpered, her hole pulsating as she fast approached her own release until she let out a high pitch moan, her walls contracting around his cock as her back fell completely onto the mattress. Bucky continued to pump into her and she looked up. She watched him from her dazed out state, his face contorted into pleasure, pleasure that she was giving him. His thrusts started to become sloppy and slow until he stilled into her, groaning as ropes and ropes of cum filled her. He groaned once more, leaning down onto her shoulder, his nose nuzzling against her neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist, rolling so she stood on top of him. He softened inside of her and pulled out, mumbling “shit” as he watched him cum leak out of her. If there ever was a sight, it was that. 

    - I think you achieved your goal. - she kissed his nose, quickly returning to that sweet face of hers. 

   - You’re gonna be my downfall. - he laughed, kissing her before holding her close to her. - Let me go grab a cloth to clean you up, princess.

   - No, I need to shower. Court. 

   - Fine. We will shower.

Bucky held her tightly against his chest before climbing out of bed and walking to the bathroom. The two of them laid in the tub, feeling the warm water but she was more interested in feeling him, memorising every feel and every part of him before the two of them had to be in court. She wanted to be positive, she really did, but she also knew without any proof it is up to the jury to decide. He’ll be fine, he’ll be fine. She’s not going to let anyone hurt him.

The rest of the morning seemed to go by on a blur, a quick one and soon the two of them were in Bucky’s car, parked in front of the court. She looked at that building as if it held the whole of hell within, gaze not averting from the building as if constantly staring would make it disappear. Sadly, it wouldn’t disappear. It’s here.

   - Can you check my tie? - Bucky tried to take her eyes from the building, turning slightly and messing up his tie without her seeing it. 

   - Of course. - her hands were shaking as she pulled the knot up, smoothing the fabric down. - You look so handsome. 

   - I’m not going off to war, princess. - he rose her chin. - It’s just us, princess. Just us. 

   - Sharon is here right? 

   - Sam, Steve and Sharon are here. You are not gonna be alone in the bench and I’m gonna be just in front of you. - he leaned his forehead against hers. - When all this shit is over we’ll go have cheesy chips and watch Phantom. What about that?

   - I’d like that.

   - Let’s go. - he opened his door and walked out and to her door, opening it for her too. Y/N climbed out and sighed. 

It’s gonna be fine, it’s gonna be fine, she told herself as they climbed up the stairs to the courthouse. Everyone was looking at them, they shot dagger looks at him and looked at her as if she was a mere lamb. His hand left hers as he went to meet with his legal team leaving her in the middle of all the people she knew. Some of them were from her agency, actually most of them were from her agency, some were doctors which had tried to analyse her and at the corner, Ms. Olson, Mr. Hawthorne and Mr. Powell. She sighed, putting on a smile. Just breathe, Y/N.

    - Y/N. - she turned around to see Sam, Steve, Sharon and Chuck. Sharon gave her a short hug, patting her back. - How are you?

    - Well, I’m still on my feet so I would say well. 

    - That’s my girl. - Chuck patted her shoulder. - Let’s win a trial. 

Y/N had been in courthouses before. As a child, whenever her mother wasn’t around, her father would bring her in to more child friendly cases and back then she was always astonished by rooms, always happy to sit down and watch the trials but now ... now as she walked into the room, everything was somber and dark. The mahogany wasn’t as shiny as she remembered as a child and the jury looked at Bucky as if they were ready to hang him. Sam led her to one of the front benches and the five of them sat down. Her eyes were on the back of Bucky’s head, her hand clenching the dog tags she was still wearing. It becomes harder when the person who you love is the one at the defence table. 

    - All rise. - the bailiff waited for everyone but the judge to get up. Y/N got up but her legs were shaking, she felt at any point her nerves would get the best off her. - Department One of the Superior Court is now in session. Judge William presiding. Please be seated.

    - Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Calling the case of the People of the State of New York versus James Buchanan Barnes. Are both sides ready?

    - Ready for The People, your Honour.

    - Ready for the defence, your honour. - Bucky’s lawyer responded.

The clerk swore in the jury and she hoped it was a non biased jury yet by the looks they constantly seemed to send to Bucky, she wasn’t much too hopeful. Everything works on paper but when in real life, well, things don’t seem to go as planned. She looked at her wedding band, the small thin copper material next to his mother’s engagement ring which he had given her a few days ago. He did not deserve this. He did not deserve a wife who put him through this.

    - Your honour, ladies and gentlemen. - the prosecutor turned to the jury and Y/N’s heart started beating fast. - The defendant has been charged with the stalking and harassment of Miss Y/N Y/L/N. Our evidence shows Mr. Barnes was responsible for breaking into her apartment and writing hateful words on her mirror as well as sending a hateful letter to her childhood address in London. This man is an unstable person who has been accused with a string of murders and was formerly working under HYDRA. We believe Mr. Barnes made Miss Y/L/N feel unsafe so he could get intimately close to her. 

The prosecutor sat down and Y/N rolled her eyes. Bucky was a handsome man, the last thing he needed was to harass someone to get a woman. 

    - Your Honour, ladies and gentlemen of the jury: under the law my client is presumed innocent until proven guilty. During this trial, you will hear no real evidence against my client. You will come to know the truth that James Buchanan Barnes did not do any of the things he’s being accused of. During the break in at Miss Y/L/N’s flat, my client was at his home in Brooklyn and thus could have not committed the travel from Brooklyn to Soho and back and still be stuck in traffic that morning. Moreover, my client was the one who found the letter in Miss Y/L/N’s London residence and there are several phone registers of my client calling Mr. Steven Grant Rogers about Miss Y/L/N’s safety and wellbeing. Therefore my client is not guilty.

    - The prosecution may call its first witness. -  the judge beckoned.

    - The people call Miss Y/N Y/L/N. 

 The bailiff walked up to her. Her body felt heavy as he walked her to the witness stand. All eyes were on her, yet, few of them knew what she was about to do and say. Bucky gave her a reassuring smile, mumbling “love you” to her as the clerk had her swear to only say the truth and state her first and last name. 

   - Miss Y/L/N could you explain your relationship to us? - the prosecutor asked.

   - Your honour. - she turned to the jury. - I will be evoking spousal privilege.

   - Objection, your honour. The witness is not married to the accused. 

   - Objection, your honour. - Bucky’s lawyer got up. - Miss Y/L/N has been married to Mr. Barnes for two weeks as of today and as such has every single right to evoke spousal privilege and refuse to testify against her husband.

The court erupted into chatter, everyone was mumbling and whispering at the same time, people with raised eyebrows and some with open jaws as Y/N felt the smallest she had ever felt. Bucky’s lawyer got up to hand the judge her marriage license. The judge looked at her before looking at the license. 

   - The witness is excused. - he said. 

   - Objection, your honour. Miss Y/L/N is not under enough mental capacity to consent to marriage. 

    - It’s Mrs. Barnes. - Y/N smiled sarcastically at the prosecutor. 

    - It’s a valid marriage. The witness is excused. 

The bailiff helped Y/N off the witness stand and back to the bench, where Sharon gave her an encouraging smile. She could see Mr. Hawthorne looking at her but she chose not to look his way, instead keeping his eyes on the prosecution. So far, so good. 

    - The prosecution would like to call the jury’s attention to a video. - the bailiff rolled in a television which made Y/N furrow her brows. - This video demonstrates just how unstable Mr. Barnes is. 

Y/N looked at Steve, not understanding what was going on but Steve seemed to know. A video started playing in the television and Bucky seemingly stilled as the first words “Howard” echoed in the court room. She turned her head to the side as more sounds started to come, the moment she turned her head back, the video from Washington was back, then the Bucharest, everything. 

Bucky’s brain seemed to shut off as his worse nightmares played on the rather large screen for everyone to see, for her to see. He turned around to see Y/N, his wife, with her eyes closed, her head buried in Sharon’s shoulder who was holding her defensively. His breathe quickened and he tried to get up, he had to tell her, he had to explain it to her, he had to but his lawyer stopped him. The video came to a close and the prosecutor turned to Bucky.

   - Mr. Barnes, was that you in those videos?

   - Yes.

   - So you do confirm you were responsible for killing Howard and Maria Stark as well as attempting to kill Steve Rogers, Natalia Romanova and Samuel Wilson as well as being uncontrollable. 

    - Objection, your honour. Argumentative. 

    - Is it true, Mr. Barnes? - the prosecutor continued.

    - Objection, your honour. 

    - What would make you suitable enough to even be allowed to be free and not in prison for various crimes, some still unaccounted for?

   - Objection, your honour. Relevance.

   - Order! - the judge said and everyone came to silence. - We will be going on a break. Court dispersed. 

Everyone got up and all eyes were once again on Y/N with people coming up to her but she merely tried to go after Bucky who had stormed out the court room. She managed to break through most of the swarm of people surrounding her and almost reached the door until someone grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Mr. Hawthorne. 

   - What are you doing? We are trying to help you. - he said through gritted teeth, a tight hold on her arm. - We are here to help you.

   - Don’t touch me.

   - Excuse me?

   - I said, don’t touch me. I didn’t say you could touch me. 

   - You should take a look at your contract. - he shoved a stack of papers against her chest. - Let us help you or you will be doing invisible ensemble roles for the rest of your 10 year contract. 

 His grip softened on her arm and she completely moved her arm away from him, ignoring his threats as she stormed off the court room. She looked around the hall, to where Bucky could’ve possibly gone. It was mostly other court rooms and other areas where he wouldn’t have been allowed to be so he had to be in the hall but he wasn’t. She grabbed her phone to call him yet there was no signal. Once again, she was running, this time outside to get signal but that proved unnecessary as sat on a bench just behind a stone of plants was her Bucky. She climbed down the stairs as fast as her heels allowed her, making her way to the bench.

   - Bucky. - he had his face hidden by his hands, elbows dug into his thighs. She knelled up to him, throwing the contract on the bench to cup his face. - It’s okay, yeah? You’re fine, you’re safe. 

   - No, it’s not fine. - he rubbed his face and she could see his blood shot eyes, the tears pooled at his eyes. - You were not supposed to see that, Y/N. I was not, I was ... I didn’t want you to see that. 

   - It’s irrelevant to the case. You’re not being trialled on them.  

   - But it is there. I did that, did you not see it? Did you not heard it, Y/N?

   - No. I don’t care about that, why should I care about that? I care about you, I care if you’re okay, I care if you have nightmares. I don’t care what’s on those tapes, I don’t want to see them, I just want to see if you’re okay. I love you so much, Bucky. 

  - No.

  - Yes. - she moved to sit by his side. - What did you say? It’s just us. Forget it. 

  - I didn’t do it. 

  - I know. - she cupped his face, kissing him softly. - I know, Bucky. 

  - Y/N. - Sharon came up to them. - We have to go, it’s starting again. Are you okay, Buck? Do you want me to ruin that tape?

  - It’s fine, Sharon. - he got up. - Let’s go back to the circus. 

She stood there through doctors saying she was either insane, sensible or suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. She wanted to yell out for them to consider the fact he was innocent. If she was so unstable, how come she had been able to work all this time? If she was insane, how come she had been going to events and working? She sighed, leaning against her seat as the judge spoke once more

  - The trial will resume tomorrow. Thank you ladies and gentlemen. Court dispersed.

Bucky left the table to walk up to his wife, holding her close, afraid at any point she would realise who he was, afraid the video would register of her. Y/N kissed his cheek, cuddling against his side as the two of them walked out of the court room. The two of them were ready to go back home, forget this day ever happened and just sit on the couch and watch some cheesy movie on the TV while cuddling. As the two of them prepared to walk away, Mr. Powell’s assistance made her way towards them, eyes looking side to side and shoulders risen almost up to her ears. Bucky’s hold tightened around Y/N, almost pushing her behind his back. 

  - Hi Eliza, how are you? - Y/N asked sweetly, hand on Bucky’s bicep to calm him down.

  - I’m ... good. I was ... I was wondering if I could speak with you Mr. Barnes? It’s important.

  - Uhm ... okay.

  - Just us. - she said and Bucky gave her a weird look, moving his gaze to Y/N who just shrugged. - It’s really important. 

  - Sure. I’ll be back okay. - Bucky pecked Y/N’s lips quickly, before going up with Eliza leaving Y/N with Sharon and Chuck with Steve and Sam having left to go grab some food. 

  - I’ll be going, Y/N. - Chuck said. - Got my girl waiting at home for me but you call me if you need anything, okay? 

  - Yeah. - Y/N moved to hug Chuck. - Thank you for being here.

  - See you tomorrow.

  - See you. - she waved at him, now being just her and Sharon.

  - Before I forget, you left that outside. - Sharon handed Y/N the papers she had left in the bench. - What’s that anyway? Looks like the bible.

  - It’s just my contract. Mr. Hawthorne gave it to me. 

She quickly opened it out, mostly mindlessly going through the pages until she hit the last one where her signature and Mr. Hawthorne’s signature were. It was merely black ink on paper yet her brain seemed to focus on Mr. Hawthorne’s name, on the letters quickly scribbled on paper. It was just ink yet as she looked at it again, the mirror in her flat flashed in her mind. She knew those letters, she remembered those letters. The more she looked at the signature, the clearer the memory of the mirror she had tried to repress became. It was almost as if she was back at her flat looking at her mirror, at those letters. The same handwriting of his signature.

He did it. 

taglist: @disasterbi​ @lookiamtrying​ @buckysteveloki-me​​ @americasass81​​ @jamesbarnesappreciationclub​​ @lostinthebeans​​ @mariahthelioness29​​ @oh-nohoney​​ @peaches-roses-sins​​ @theadorasabditory​​ @sipsteacasually​​ @saiyanprincessswanie​​ @booktease21​​ @noiralei​​ @learisa​​ @everythingisoverratedbutgreat​​ @uglipotata72829​​ @naturalthrone22​​ @husherstan​​ @mandiiblanche​​ @vicmc624​​ @newyorkgoddess​​ @itsallyscorner​​ @chipilerendi​​ @emzd34 @writerwrites​​ @bluevxnus​​ @that-girl-named-alex​​ @captnrogers​​ @nsfwsebbie​​ @sarge-barnes-sir​​ @niki-is-a-thing​​ @cynic-spirit​​ @tenaciousperfectionunknown​​

[another-dra-anew]

Should you fight the beta dras?

under the cut for length that's it

Maki: No??? she'll beat your ass she doesn't even need the rifle. you have no advantage. if she likes you she'll beat you worse to try and hide that she likes you. do not fight miss maki

Higa: yeah lol. it's not gonna go well and he'll probably beat you but odds are you can get some good smacks in and he'll get embarrassed by that no matter what, so yknow. do it. take one for the team, the pride of embarrassing him will prolly be worth loosing

Tomori: no. if there's a reason tomori fighting you, you deserve it. you'd have to be decently athletic to beat her, and even though you deserve it, shes still gonna feel bad after beating you. why are u such a dick man she's so sweet. don't be the sort of person tomori would have to beat up, for your sake, and more importantly, her own

Hatano: mmmm. maybe. she's strong but i don't think she could really take a hit. however i can't see her fighting anyone??? whatever your reason is for wanting to fight her, she's just gonna throw you off her and run before questioning you later and then you're gonna be embarrassed so?? yeah i'm gonna have to vote no

Inori: hm. yeah do it. but do it in private or smthn don't attack her out in the open. if it happens in private she'll fuck you up a little but her biggest weapon is her teeth, and her lack of restraint, so if you're also the type who will bite people, go for it. the key aspect is that if it's in private she'll be chill with you after but if you embarrass her publicly she's gonna get her revenge. and it will hurt. so yeah it'll prolly improve ur relationship with her but be smart about it

Yamaguchi: ....a tentative no. you could mess him up some and he prolly deserves it but when he keys in on what's happening, he's gonna grab you and pick you up by your collar, smack u back if you need it to stop, then once you're done, his big brother instincts will kick in, and he'll question why you did that. similar to hatano, you're just gonna end up getting embarrassed, and even tho you have a good reason this time around, hes not gonna understand ur reasoning and the only way ur getting down is by apologizing and promising to not do it again so?? i'd have to say no

Uehara: No?????? why tf did you think this was smart dude. the man is 6'6 without the platforms, and those platforms? he uses to curbstomp people at the drop of a hat. also like. he's a sweet boy you have zero reason to try and fight him. his biggest crime is that he'll fuck you up.

Kobashikawa: You probably don't have a good enough reason to. hes skinny and spends most his time at crazy altitudes that will fuck u up physically but he's another one who won't hold back, and dude he's got rings on all the time so... depends on ur resilience but you've got a strong chance if he did something wrong, then he'll forgive u but if he didn't do anything wrong, and you win? he's gonna find someone to sicc on you so like... yeah. and he rlly doesn't do stuff wrong very often so good luck justifying it to the army of simps that will come for u

Iranami: How dare you even think of this. could you? yeah. her physical capabilities are mostly flight based, not fight, and she's used to getting shoved around, but there in lies the issue. she's so sad. and she's done nothing wrong ever. why the fuck would you fight her?? doesn't she get enough bs already???? you could absolutely decimate the poor girl and she'd let you. but what do you gain? you monster

Kurokawa: Yeah! fight her! do it so she can record it and post it on social media. you'll become meme of the month as she beats your dumbass up. she'll probably help you up at the end, be sweet and kind and offer you a cake pop to eat as she grabs disinfectant but there's no healing the bruises to your ego.

Kisaragi: youre not fighting him, you're fighting kurokawa. you could tap this man on the side of the head and he'd crumple, but before you can float about your victory against this poor little kid who hasn't moved from his desk in four days, kurokawa is there to deck you. she is not going to help you up this time, she's gonna knock you into next week. fight kisaragi, and win, but at the cost of everything.

Taira: Sure! but it's gonna go down like that one mushroom post. if you're fighting taira it's because she's inflicting psychological damage to you for fun, and while she knows the name of god, she's not gonna tell you, because you can't kill her, not in a way that matters. so yeah fight taira! you two are in this together now, if you win, she does too.

Maeda: i guess??? i don't think you'll win. this dudes hobbies include hopping fences to hide from people and using his baseball bat to. not crack skulls, but leave decent bruises. i don't think you'll be able to beat him, but i don't think he'll beat you. you two will just tire each other out and call it good because. what reason do you have to fight him? he's long established that he'll throw hands with a kid then have lunch with him twenty minutes later. this is maedas fight, we play by different rules now

Mekaru: sure! why not. she's not meaaaan? but odds are you won't feel too guilty, and irregardless of her physical capabilities, it wouldn't be very lady like of her to throw hands, and that's kinda her priority so. why not

Ōtori: mmmm?? i??? guess??????? but he runs the student store and stuff and he's a good friend to have he'll take good care of u. he made maeda snacks bc he was worried abt maeda eating even tho their some other interaction involved him thinking maeda was talking shit so? you can, and depending on physical ability, you may win, but there's no reason good enough. the loss does not justify the win

Tsurugi: What the fuck is your issue? You cannot sneak up on him. try anything and he will knock you to the floor, restrain you so you can't attack him, then gently soothe u as u realize how much it fucking hurt to full body slam into the ground. he's such a sweet boy and i already know there was no reason for you to fight him. you we're screwed over from the start, and now you feel bad. the only thing youve gained from this is that he probably hugs u as u start to feel really guilty because "shhhh no it's okay we all have bad moments it's alright i'm not upset" but u could've gotten a hug anyways?? so???

TL;DR: don't fight most of the betas they can fuck you up and they're perfect kids so like??? you'd gain nothing even if winning was a possibility (Exceptions may apply)

[auspicious-lilana]

Two Cats, One Heart (Chat Noir x reader)

Summary: Y/n Ross and Adrian Agreste are childhood best friends, they’ve been through thick and thin, including losing their mom, and dad. Since then Y/n’s mom made her live with Adrian at his mansion and forever leaving her life. Watch as their lives Change as they become the new heroes of Paris alongside Ladybug and see how Romance sprouts between the two models.

Part 1 |  Part 2 |  Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7  | Part 8

Warnings:  It’s a bit long hehe? 

"And now I'm pretty sure Chat doesn't like me the same way I like him." I finished explaining everything to him.

Adrian and I were sitting on my couch, Alpha in the coffee table in front of us munching away his brownies.

"What makes you think that?" Adrian asked.

"For one, besides the usual flirt banters, He didn't show anything that could give me a hint that he likes me back."

"I think he does like you."

"How do you know?" Adrian seemed a bit stuck, looking around for an answer.

"Since you've been pretty honest with your secret, I guess I can't keep mine without feeling guilty." Adrian sighed.

"What secret?" I got more confused as he took out a piece of cheese. "Wait, is that what you kept reeking of?"

"Yes, It's the only thing he eats, every single time." I got more confused.

"Who's he?"

"How much longer are you going to play dumb?" Alpha asked while chewing as I cringed. "He means his kawami, Plagg."

"First of all, Don't talk while you eat. I thought I told you that a hundred times Alpha." I scolded before turning to Adrian before it dawned on me as I saw a little black cat attached to the cheese in his hand. "If you have a kawami then it'd mean you're..."

"Yes," Adrian nodded. "I'm Chat Noir." I felt myself blushing, realizing I had just rambled about my crush on Chat Noir...to Chat Noir!?

"You...I...Wait, that explains why you're always going near my locations to change back." I remembered. "Who knew,"

"I thought you were planning to try and sneak a peek at my identity." Adrian chuckled. "But you were just trying to get home too."

"So...When you said Chat Noir likes me back..." I looked to my side, trying to hide my blush.

"Yes, I meant I liked you too, a lot."

"Hey, Plagg. I got a little spot I hide whenever these two get all lovey-dovey, wanna eat there?" Alpha offered, noticing Plagg's disgust.

"Don't have to ask me twice." The two kawami's made their way out as Adrian and I rolled our eyes.

"What happens now?" I asked.

"Well, this is normally the part where we umm, we...kiss." We inched closer to each other as he grabbed my arm to lead me closer to his face, I looked to admire his features, fluttering my eyes shut as we touched lips.

"This counts as us now Girlfriend and Boyfriend, right?" I whispered.

"Of course."

***

"Agent Smith, It's too dangerous! We must evacuate!" Adrian exclaimed as he and Mylène were crouching behind the teacher's desk, water guns in hand.

Our class was filming a movie for a project and Adrian and Mylène were the voted leads. I was going to be the lead girl but I wanted to work behind the scenes, so I play the role of the Assistant Director, while also Mylène's understudy if anything were to happen.

"You're suggesting we run, Officer Jones?" Mylène asked with a determined look. "After it devoured my family, my friends, and even my beloved dog, Sniffles?" She dramatically stood up. "Never! I won't run! I no longer fear it, I'm going to face it, then I'll-" Ivan loomed over as scripted with a monster mask, roaring as best as he could as Mylène broke character and screamed in fear, hiding under the table as Adrian and I looked at her worried.

"Sorry, Mylène." Ivan apologized, taking the mask off.

"Mylène! That's like, the tenth take." Nino scolded, frustrated as he rubbed his forehead. "And we're only on the first scene!"

"Fourteenth actually." Alix corrected, holding up a count from her seat in the back. "But who's counting."

"Ughh..."

"I'm...sorry." Mylène apologized, getting out from under. "I'm gonna do better on the next take, I promise." Juleka was reapplying blush, fixing Adrian's look.

"Anyone want some tea?" Rose offered, holding a portable kettle.

"You're playing a hero from the special forces. You're not supposed to get all freaked out!" Nino lectured.

"I know, but...that monster mask he's wearing is so...realistic and scary!"

"Just big ol' me, Mylène." Ivan stuck his fingers through the eyes of the mask, show how harmless it was. "Nothing to be scared of."

"You ask me, he doesn't even need a mask," Chloé said, laughing with Sabrine as I frowned at her.

"Does it hurt you to be a little bit nicer, Chloé?" I asked.

"Ivan, put the mask back on, you're playing the monster!" Nino demanded. "And Mylène, we need you to stay in character!" Ivan put the mask back on, causing Mylène to get scared.

"I need to sing my happy song, it always makes me feel better." Mylène took a deep breath as she began singing to herself, slowly stepping back. "Smelly Wolf, Smelly wolf." I felt Alpha scoff from my pocket, muttering his offense at her song. "stinky breath and slimy--" She bumped into Adrian, suddenly jumping back, shrieking in fear.

"And the Oscar for the best pathetic scaredy-cat afraid of its own shadow goes to...Mylène!" Chloé laughed, making Mylène feel worse as Adrian looked at her, disappointed.

"Chloé, seriously?" Adrian asked.

"Yeah, so what?" Mylène ran out of the classroom, crying.

"Mylène!" Marinette shouted. "Anyone gonna go after her?" Ivan ran after Mylène, calling out her name as he took the mask off.

"Epic, Chloé! Just Epic!" Nino sarcastically exclaimed. "What are we supposed to do now without our leading actress?"

"Who needs her, anyway?" Chloé scoffed. "She was totally lame!"

"You're lame!" Ivan shouted, coming back in. "Mylène is crying her eyes out on the bathroom thanks to you!"

"Me, Lame?"

"Hey, Hey!" I came in. "Fighting over this isn't going to get this film done any quicker, We'll find a way to get this done by tonight!"

"As a producer, I'll make sure of it too!" Marinette agreed.

"The Deadline for the Parisian Student Short Film Festival is tomorrow evening, precisely 26 hours, 15 minutes and 14, 13 seconds from now." Max clarified.

"Thank you, Max." I smiled.

"And we still have editing, post-sound, soundtrack..." Marinette listed.

"And who's gonna take Mylène's part?" Adrian asked.

"Um, me of course!" Chloé got up from her seat.

"You haven't even read the script!" Alya argued.

"Of course I have! The first scene anyway, I can even tell you that it ends with a kiss between Agent Smith and Officer Jones!" Chloé batted her eyes at Adrian as he pleadingly looked over at me as I moved next to Nino.

"As Mylène's understudy, I'm the one who's supposed to take her place if anything were to happen. Remember?" I reminded Nino.

"Right." Nino nodded as Marinette screaming, looking at Alya.

"You wrote that?!" She shrieked.

"Hold up!" Alya exclaimed skimming through her script again. "I didn't write that!"

"Uh...I wrote that." Nino admitted. "It was just a little tweak. You know, to move the story forward."

"What! You edited my script without even telling me!" Alya gripped onto the collar of Nino's shirt. "That's low."

"Wait a minute! You mean our script!" Nino argued, removing her hands as Adrian and I sighed before Rose came up to us.

"Juice?" We gratefully took a cup.

"Thanks, Rose." Adrian thanked.

"Guys, it doesn't matter who did anything, we have a film to get done by tonight." I reasoned.

"she's right," Max said. "Principal Damocles is only allowing us to use the school until 6 p.m. sharp. Which leaves us 9 hours, 12 minutes, and 12 seconds. 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6..."

"Adrian and Y/n kissing cannot happen! No way!" Marinette hissed at Alya quietly, as so nobody could hear.

"It makes no sense story-wise anyway." Alya shrugged. "The main character's emotional journey-"

"Hold on!" Marinette ran over to Adrian. "We can't let Mylène just leave just like that! It's...wrong!  We all chose her to play the leading female role! And...we're all in this movie together! She needs our support. I'm gonna go find her and bring her back."

"Always trying to save the day, aren't you, Marinette?" Chloé mocked.

"Wait," I said, holding her arm. "I'll go, you're the producer, you're needed here." I left before she could say anything more, missing the satisfied look on her face.

{Third POV}

"Nice going, Miss Producer." Nino sarcastically remarked. "Now we have no lead again!"

"Yeah, but now we'll be able to go look for our real lead!" She argued, hiding her intentions of just wanting to keep Adrian kissing Y/n out of jealousy.

"I told you. Tick tock, there's no time! We need a lead now!"

"Marinette can do it!" Alya exclaimed as Adrian got uncomfortable at the thought of kissing a different girl.

"What?! No! I can't act. I'm... the producer." Marinette started furiously blushing.

"But you wanna kiss Adrien, don't you?" Alya whispered to her as Marinette glanced at Adrian who mentally hoped Y/n can get back in time.

{Y/n's POV}

"Mylène!" I called out as I entered the Bathroom. "Mylène?!" I looked to see nobody was there, missing the monster feet in one of the stalls as I noticed the mirror was covered in some sort of slime.

"Wow," Alpha gasped, peeking out from my pocket to take a look. "I knew you girls were disgusting in terms of love, but I didn't think you guys were that disgust- hey!" I glared at the little wolf, shoving him back in my pocket with a finger.

"She isn't here." I noticed, "Didn't Ivan said she'd be in the bathroom? This is the only girl's bathroom in this half of the school, she should be here."

"I think that slime might have something to do with this."

"I can't find her on my own, I'll have to get the others to help look for her. I have a feeling crying wasn't the only thing she was doing in here."

"Wow, the best idea ever!" Alpha sarcastically praised. "Not like it was the only choice you had!" I shoved him back down my pocket as I had an eerie feeling as I ran back to the classroom.

"Guys!" I shouted, seeming to have boast through the door right before Marinette could kiss Adrian, who was trying to prolong the kiss as long as he could, relieved at my interruption as Nino shouted Cut. "Mylène isn't in the bathroom, we need to find her. I think something might be going on- wait, Where's Max and Kim?" Right as I asked, we heard two screams. "Did you all hear that?"

"Loud and clear." Adrian nodded.

"We better scope this out," Marinette said as everyone ran to the source of the scream.

"A fruity snack for the road?" Rose offered.

Nino began recording them, following me as I noticed something on the floor.

"Hey! Anybody here?" Adrian shouted. "Kim! Max! Where are you guys?!"

"Wait, I felt like I saw the same pink goo...the bathroom!" It finally clicked as Adrian came up to me, picking up the armband covered in goo.

"That's Kim's!" He exclaimed.

"They vanished!" Nathaniel began panicking.

"Or they're playing a sick joke on us." Alya scoffed.

"We should go to Principal Damocles's office and tell him what's going on!" Marinette declared, She then noticed Nino was filming everything. "Nino, come on! Stop Filming!"

"Not a chance! This is just getting good!" I took the chance to slip away from the class quietly.

{Third POV}

Adrian had tried to slip away with Y/n but soon got caught by his best friend.

"Yo, Adrian!" Nino called out.

"I left Officer Jone's jacket back there!" He quickly came with an excuse. "Should probably wear it in all the scenes." Nino nodded as the rest of the students went upstairs, Adrian already running back into the empty classroom which Y/n had already snuck into the other way.

Neither noticing the Horrificator Akuma, a slimy monster start gooing the entire school roof, doors, and windows to keep them shut-in.

"This is the first time transforming with another person in the room." Y/n admitted, feeling a bit nervous and awkward for some reason.

"Then we better get used to it." Adrian winked.

"Hey, your Chat side is already showing!" Y/n pointed out as Alpha and Plagg came out from their pockets.

"Y/n, Darling." Alpha calmly called out. "I never ask you to hurry up and transform, it isn't me. but right now, I'm begging you to just transform. I can't stand this lovey scene." Y/n scoffed.

"So um," Adrian awkwardly shifted before he took off his right shoe. "Guess we should first make them think we've vanished."

"Good idea." Y/n nodded her head, reaching to take off her hairpin, throwing it to make it seem like she was struggling as it came off, Adrian doing the same after showing Plagg his shoe, making the small black cat cringe.

"You say I stink of Camembert," Plagg said.

"I mean, you both do." Y/n pointed out as Adrian gave her a look before sighing.

"Plagg, claws out!"

"Alpha, Tails out!"

***

The rest of the students were going into the Principal's office, looking inside to see pink goo around.

"Even Mr.Damocles isn't around," Rose said, worried as Marinette stood outside the door, making sure nobody was looking back before she took out her phone, dropping it on the floor as she ran into the library.

"Time to transform." She quickly said to her little kawami, Tikki. "Tikki, Spots on!"

***

"Anyone seen Agent Smith- I mean Y/n?" Nino asked. "And Marinette too?" They ran out of the office, Alya stopped to see her phone on the floor.

"Oh no," Alya gasped. "This is Marinette's phone."

They soon walked around the entire school, checking the ceiling, windows, doors, to see a pink goo covering them shut.

"We're trapped!" Chloé exclaimed before taking out her phone. "I'm going to call Daddy!"

"Dudes, you know cellphones never work in horror movies." Nino reminded, still filming everything.

"No bars..." Ivan said, checking his phone.

"No coverage!" Nathaniel sadly said along.

"Told you so!" Nino got excited. "Boo-yah!"

"Is everything okay?" Ladybug asked, appearing at the door.

"Ladybug in my movie? This is legit!"

"And on my Ladyblog!" Alya started filming too.

"We've got to calmly evacuate the building, okay everyone?" Ladybug ordered. "

"Easier said than done, Ladybug," Chat said as he and Lady Wolf came jumping down, landing next to Ladybug.

"The place is covered in pink goo, nothing can come in or out." Lady Wolf added.

"Triple Legit!" Nino exclaimed.

"Lady Wolf in the flesh!" Maya grinned, taking her phone out. "This I can't miss, my viewers are gonna eat this up."

"We tried to cut through the goo, but it's no good." Chat Noir explained. "Totally indestructible. So looks like we're trapped inside the school for now. Just stay put and try to relax, guys."

{Y/n's POV}

"Let's talk for a bit," I suggested as Chat and I led Ladybug to the corner of the office, out of the student's sound range.

"We know that Hawkmoth's taken another innocent victim somewhere in this school." Chat said.

"And there's only one way to get rid of the goo and get everyone out of here," Ladybug added.

"And that's to capture the Akuma like always,"

"Exactly." Chat flirtatiously grinned at me. "I love it when you read my mind."

"Ugh," Ladybug playfully groaned, already used to the usual flirty banters of her partners. "But we better find this thing first, and it's prisoners." Before they could say another word, they soon had Nino right behind them, filming them.

"Don't mind me." Nino quickly said. "finding the missing peeps and solving this crazy mystery with Chat Noir, Ladybug, and Lady Wolf...This movie's gonna be so swank!"

"Stay together, right behind us." Ladybug said, walking away before grabbing Nino's arm, pulling him towards her. "Means you too, Spielberg."

***

We were following the trail of pink goo, not noticing Sabrina and Chloé leave their group, running off to hide elsewhere.

We entered the classroom Adrian and I had transformed in, Ladybug noticing Adrian's shoe and my hairpin.

"There!" She exclaimed, picking it up.

"Anyone recognize this shoe and pin?" Chat asked, playing dumb.

"That's Adrian's shoe," Nino exclaimed.

"And that's Y/n's pin, she never goes anywhere without it!" Maya pitched in.

"That's weird." Ladybug said. "There's no pink slime here."

"Yes, there is." Nathaniel pointed out the slime on the desk, kneeling before he got grabbed by a slimy tentacle.

The other students started to step in fear as Nathaniel started panicking. Juleka being the only one who was more awed by the slimy monster than scared.

"Everybody run!" Ladybug shouted as they all ran out of the room, Nino remaining by Chat's side to record and Juleka staying put near the door, admiring the monster which grew larger.

"Awesome." Juleka grinned, the monster roared at Juleka as she seemed a bit taken back before grinning. "So Awesome." I noticed the height difference, it's power. He shrunk when Jeluka wasn't scared?

It spits goo at Juleka but I quickly grabbed her arm and took her out of the classroom before it could touch her.

"Eww!" Chat exclaimed. "What's your name, Drool-lator?" The monster spits goo at him but he spins his staff to avoid any touching him before swinging his staff to remove the slime. "Cats aren't afraid of slimy toads like you."

"We better hurry and find our where that Akuma is hiding!" I exclaimed.

"I don't see anything," Chat exclaimed as they dodged a slime, jumping down the stairs as the students hid in the corner, watching them. "Just miles of slime!" The monster looked at the fear in the kids, growing in size, confirming my suspicions thoughts.

"Fear!" I suddenly shouted, catching Ladybug and Chat's attention. "It grows from fear!" Ladybug ducked tying a yoyo around its leg to a pole as Chat tried to land a hit before he got slimed into the wall, I gasped, going in from behind before getting caught to the wall as well.

The monster then grabbed the yoyo string, pulling in Ladybug before sliming her onto the basketball hoop.

The monster turned and grew as everyone screamed, it approached the class, recognizing Ivan, affectionately licking, grabbing Nathanial (who was released during the fight) and Alix, jumping away.

"Oh no! It took Nath and Alix!" Rose exclaimed. (A/n: No way! what a shock! Not like we just witnessed it happening.)

They soon managed to get out the slime, running to a door to see it was slimed shut.

"Did you see how it only left Ivan alone?" Ladybug mentioned.

"Yeah," Chat agreed. "What's that all about?" I thought about it before remembering what happened earlier, the goo in the bathroom, Mylène's long disappearance.

"The monster has to be Mylène!" I exclaimed. "She was the first to disappear...from what I heard..." I quickly covered up.

"Where are Sabrina and Chloé?" Alya asked, running up to the teen heroes with the small group of students behind her, Nino still recording.

"We'll find them, don't worry." Ladybug reassured. "If we can find a way out of here..." They soon heard Chloé's screams and ran up the stairs, pushing through the doors as something seemed to have been blocking the front of, they looked around to see nothing but a trail of slime.

"We're too late!" Chat exclaimed.

"But look!" I said, pointing to the trail. "We can still follow it!" I lead the group as we were led to a dark workshop.

"I'm so amped!" Nino exclaimed, recording as I was about to open the door before we turned to Nino with a frown.

"Turn your amp down to about 4, will ya?" Chat asked.

"My bad...." Nino sheepishly chuckled as we stood on our guard, slowly opening the door, walking into the cellar, looking at the large blobs of slime.

"Anybody in here?" Ladybug asked, her voice ringing in the room.

"Ladybug, it's me, Chloé Bourgeois!" Chloé cried out.

"Don't worry! We'll get you out!"

"Well, hurry it up!"

"Is everybody here?!" Ladybug, Chat, and I went around, trying to get a count of everyone. "Mr.Damocles."

"Present!"

"Alix?"

"Yeah!"

"Nathanial?"

"Here!"

"Adrian?!" Ladybug started to panic at the silence as Chat froze, "ADRAIN?!" Chat quickly hid behind a goo pod.

"Yeah, Yeah, I'm fine!" He exclaimed. "What about uh Y/n?" I glared at Chat for mentioning my name for everything.

"Y/n?" Ladybug repeated, I hid behind a corner.

"Oh um! I'm here too!" I quickly shouted. "How about Marinette?"

"Yeah! Yeah! We got everyone!" Ladybug exclaimed, tugging on the Goo Pods. "Ugh! they won't budge!"

"Get us out!"

"I can't stay here!"

"Help!"

"Everyone! Try to calm down!" I shouted before a giant slime went past us, covering the door we came in from, the monster jumping down in front of us.

"Okay, now this is getting scary." Ladybug admitted.

Chat distracted it throwing pieces of the goo at it as it tried to attack him, giving Ladybug time to use her powers.

"Lucky Charm!" Guitar strings dropped to her hands. "Guitar strings? Are you kidding me?"

"How would...Mylene's song...." I exclaimed. "Ever heard of Smelly wolf?" I asked Ladybug as she nodded, catching on. While Ladybug used her vision to gather the things needed to make temporary instruments, Chat used his powers to the bars rusted and trap the monster in its place.

"Okay, we're all going to sing!" Ladybug announced, strumming her fingers to the strings attached to a broom and bucket.

"Sing?" Chat asked, jumping down to us. "That's your plan?"

"The only way to get through this to get your fear under control. You all know Smelly Wolf, don't you?"

"Seriously? Smelly Wolf?"

"Care to join us?" I asked, blowing into a pipe to warm up a tune. Chat grinned, making a drum set out of pots and trashcan lids.

They began singing to the monster, their fears slowly going away as the monster shrunk shorter and shorter before it turned cute bite-size, no longer terrifying.

They all walked up to it as it looked up at the students, jumping into Ivan's arms.

"That's the same button I gave to Mylène!" Ivan gasped.

"That's where the Akuma is!" Ladybug exclaimed, taking the pin as she did her thing, breaking the pin. " No more evil-doing for you, little Akuma. Time to de-evilize!" She let it go as it turned into a pretty white butterfly. "Bye-bye, little butterfly." She threw the strings to the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

The energy from her power goes around, getting rid of the slime and shifting everything back to normal as the monster turned back into Mylène.

"Pound it!" the three of us exclaimed, fist-bumping before deadpanning as Nino, who surprisingly still was recording came up to us.

"Awesome." He muttered.

***

The movie playing ended with Mylène and Ivan kiss as Nino wore a confident grin, sure he had it in the bag.

"Well, Mr. Mayor. What do you think?"

*** {Third POV} ***

"We didn't make the cut!" Nino complained to the rest. "He said the monster was a horrible replica! Completely unbelievable! No joke!"

"Don't worry, Bud." Adrian placed the hand he wasn't holding Y/n's hand on his shoulder. "This is how all good movie directors start out."

"Learn from mistakes right?" I pitched in.

"Yeah, even if that final wasn't quite what we thought it would be." Alya said, giving Marinette a side glance, the girl was too distracted at looking horrifedly at the intertwined hands of the two models.

"H-hey, anything going on between you two?" Marinette nervously laughed.

"Yeah." Alya thought about the day. "You two have been awfully closer lately."

"We're uh.. Dating?" Adrian got flustered, looking away with a shy smile, neither noticing the heartbroken look on Marinette

"No. Way. Since when?!"

"Around a week ago?" Y/n thought about it.

"I have to go." Marinette ran off, Alya following after.

"I wonder where they're going in a rush?"

"Who knows." Nino shrugged. "But dude, why didn't you tell me? I thought were best buds?"

"It didn't come up."

"What got you to suddenly into each other?" the two looked at each other, chuckling.

"It's a long story,"

Leave some feedback! Have a nice night!/Day/Evening! 

[originalwinnercheesecake]

Chain of Iron Theories on the Killer’s 5 victims

tinSo we know that the chain of Iron will have a mysterious killer who will kill 5 shadowhunters. Here are my theories on who will die.

1.) Maurice Bridgestock

Lets start with the obvious first, of course this man will be killed. He is Inquisitor and that is a powerful yet cursed position, take it and you will die a horrible  death. I am hoping he dies pretty early, because I have a feeling until then he will be gunning for the Fairchild family. Remember he and his wife were the ones who really wanted Charles and Ariadne to marry. Charles and Ariadne were originally friends, who both figured that being forced into a hetro marriage was inevitable and that they could both do worse. Charlotte and Henry gave there blessing because they thought Charles and Ariadne were actually in love. Once Charles told this parents that he and Ariadne weren’t they immediately gave him permission to break the engagement and gave their blessing for him to marry someone else (who he doesn’t love either, Oh poor messed up fairchild family). This infuriated Bridgestock. Charles and Charlotte know to avoid him unless it is for official business, done in public, with witnesses. Does Matthew? Chapter 4 is called “The King is Dead”; so maybe the Inquisitor is the “King” listed. The next half of that phrase is “Long live the King” symbolizing the transition of power, so that would mean choosing a new Inquisitor. The most obvious ones to get the promotion is one of the TID dad’s given how close they are with Charlotte and the sway her vote would give. According to the cards it looks like she gives the position to Will (cough Gideon would have been a way better choice cough), we will see how that goes.

2.) One of the Wentworth’s

The Wentworth’s will have importance in the COI.They have been referenced and set up like the Lightwood’s in CWA. We know at least 3 of their names, we know that Martin Wentworth is kind of a thorn in Will and Gabriel’s side. We know that Piers and Rosamund have a... tense relationship with our mains, but do have their own friends and seem close to each other. Honestly with how much this family is mentioned/established I was thinking for a while that it would be just like the Lightwoods in CWP. Like maybe Piers was Eugenia’s ex boyfriend, maybe he had wanted to marry her but bad stuff was happening at home, his dad keeping secrets, and he couldn’t get blessings. Then that snip-bit at the party came out and I read about Eugenia being done with suitors and Piers hitting on Catherine. Piers still may be Eugenia’s ex, and he may trashed her rep and then moved on to courting his sister’s best friend. If so and he dies I will not miss him.

I would say Rosamund is pretty safe. She has a fiance now, and is planing her wedding. Wedding are actually great places for interactions and drama. Rosamund is good friends with Ariadne. Maybe Ariadne will try to bring Anna to the wedding, or maybe Ariadne will have Eugenia ask Anna to accompany her to the wedding, because Anna is less likely to say no to that, and then use that as a chance to “win her back.”

3.) At Least One of The Carstairs Parents

Risa Included. We all care about this family, we all wish their troubles could be over, and tat things and the next two books could be rainbows and sunshine for them. And we all know that will not happen. Terrible things will befall London. Elias is unbalanced from PTSD and weak from detoxing after years of addiction, Sona is weak from a difficult pregnancy/ recent childbirth, Risa is a mundane and lacks the ability to kill demons. They don’t have a lot of friends, all three are old. It is not fair and I hope whoever dies is at least given a good death.

4.) Cecily Lightwood Nee Herondale

I hope I am wrong, please let me be wrong. The family tree and CWP2 epilogue say that she will live through this, but those were written 7 years ago and are no longer accurate. The Second book always has one tragedy that will emotionally destroy us and leave us crying till the third comes out. It is unlikely that all The TID gang will live through another series. Other people have been guessing Gideon, but his branch already lost Barbara in COG2. In a book with so many nuclear families why kill from the same one twice? No it won’t be Gideon. After careful analysis I have determined Cecily is the most likely of the one to die.

First off Cecily didn’t come into TID until the final book and she was mostly squeezed in as a secondary character. That means that CC put less time and development into her and while she probably likes her, is maybe less attached to her. Secondly Cecily is some one very important to Both Will and Gabriel, two people Tatiana hates more than anyone in the world. She also played a key role in Killing the Lightworm, she caused it to wound itself to were Gabriel was able to kill it. For Tatiana Cecily would be three birds with one stone. Another reason she might die is Cecily is the only one of The TID characters who I cannot find any information on what her job/role in the clave is. Everyone else has a job listed, is seen investigating or talking at meetings, Cecily is just a mother, okay the best of the TSC mom’s. But having to take so much time off shadowhunting to raise her children might have put her out of practice, and having such a strong bond with her children, nieces, and nephews would make it all the more heart breaking if she died. One final reason is that unlike her Gabriel does have an overall arch. He idolized a fantasy of who his father was, had that come crashing down, then wanted to become someone different. His wife dying would put Gabriel just were Benedict was when Barbara Lightwood the first died: A single father with three kids, one of whom is coincidentally about the same age as Gabriel was when he lost his mother.

I love Cecily and writing this has made me very say (Please let me be wrong about her dying) but moving on...

5.) Tatiana Blackthorn Nee Lightwood

She will die. Tatiana probably joined Belial willingly, she probably does not see it, but Belial is not her ally. The truth is she is just as much Belial’s pawn as anyone he has tricked. When he is done using her and no longer has any use for her, he will kill her to keep her quiet. She will probably die last, her blood is Jesse’s and can be used as a sacrifice. She dedicated her life to resurrecting her son so she could have him back, and she will die with the knowledge that she has doomed him to Belial’s plans.

Bonus 6.) Charles Fairchild

Charles will not die. I originally I thought he might, but he is actually necessary as a foil/parallel to Matthew. Two brothers who grew up in the same family, yet have personalities and struggles that are literally flip sides of the same coin. Cassandra Clare has said she is planning on “developing” their relationship. She has also said Charles will be away for a lot of the book. So that does not leave a lot of space for this development in COI, and Charles has to make it until COT. I believe that he will disappear. No one will have any idea were he went or why, His parents will send out a search, while that is taking place Charlotte task Matthew with assisting her the way Charles usually does. Matthew will hate it. He will hate the piles of work and stuffy meetings; he will hate having less time to see his friends; and especially the cranky, foul mouthed, horrible politicians he has to deal with instead. As time goes by and the Killer at large Charlotte will become more desperate to find her older son. When she cannot find him her and Henry will start to fear the worst and cry over it at home.

Matthew will eventually start looking into his brothers disappearance, not because he misses him, but their parents are miserable and Matthew is tired of having to do Charles chores.  He might learn Charles and Alastair were “good friends” before and try to force information out of Alastair, Que to him learning one of his brothers secrets. While I do think Matthew will be the one to find Charles I do not think it will be until the end of COI or early COT, when Matthews life has morphed into a much bigger mess than it was before. I also do not think Charles will be in the same... way as he was before his disappearance. There will be a whole new list of issues when the brothers meet again.

[vanillawaiver]

i tried to figure out the enneagram types of dream smp characters

have you ever wanted to know the enneagram types, and therefore motivations and fears, of your favorite dream smp characters? that’s a rhetorical question. don’t answer. this post contains a quick explanation of the enneagram and an analysis for every included character. i’m just gonna put it all under the cut.

i’d absolutely love to hear your thoughts!

ENNEAGRAM EXPLANATION

a quick low-down on the enneagram, for those who don’t know:

the enneagram actually refers to a funky circular graph, numbers 1-9 on the outside that depict 9 different personality types. each type is adjacent to two other types around the circle (see image for clarification). the two types on either side are the possible wings for that specific type, a wing being an additional set of personality traits alongside the main personality type. an enneagram type is written as [type]w[wing]. for example, my enneagram type is 4, and i have a type 5 wing, so my enneagram type is 4w5.

(the lines through the inside of the enneagram won’t be mentioned in this post, but you can find more information on them online if you’re curious. i won’t link anything because links can be sketchy)

the nine enneagram types are mostly easily explained by their basic fears and basic desires. the enneagram is intended to explain the “why” behind someone’s actions, which is why it’s so hard to type someone else. you cannot get inside their head to find out their true motivations. however, today i am working with entirely fictional characters and not the content creators themselves, so i give myself a free pass. please don’t go around psychoanalyzing your friends or people you don’t even know and jumping to conclusions without their input lol

also all of these are just what i think ! if you (respectfully) disagree, i would actually love to hear your opinions - you are probably right and i am probably wrong.i don’t watch every stream or even know of every event, and my reasoning is probably weak at best. enough rambling, here we goooo

the grouping will be by type, just because… idk how else to organize this.

again, /rp /rp /rp ! i don’t know these ccs in real life and will not pretend to. i’m talking about minecraft roleplay.

(also, i didn’t proofread this. sorry fnjakdfda)

type 1: the reformer

principled, purposeful, self-controlled, perfectionistic

desire: to be good, to have integrity

tubbo - type 1w2

tubbo is a classic example of a type 1 being put into the worst possible situation for their current mental state. tubbo was the moral and sensical anchor for tommy’s more eccentric and self-centered actions, and they functioned as this duo UNTIL tubbo was made the president of l’manberg. tubbo’s more self-critical tendencies were amplified because his actions had so much weight. tubbo is quick to turn against and polarize those he sees as “evil”, making broad generalizations like “technoblade is wrong” and “tommy is good”, regardless of all the moral gray areas, and even changes his mind drastically between them as he seeks the right answer. (ex: exiles tommy, but then decides it was the wrong idea, and now seems to agree with everything he says again.) i think part of his flip-flopping comes from a sense of people-pleasing and generosity, again amplified by his position as the (now former) president of a nation.

type 2: the helper

generous, demonstrative, people-pleasing, possessive

desire: to feel loved/appreciated

quackity - type 2w3

(as far as i know) quackity’s first major action on the smp was to run for president. wilbur and tommy wanted quackity (as part of swag 2020) to share the votes of the two parties in order to ensure a victory over schlatt. however, quackity acted out against them because he felt used instead of appreciated for his ideas. schlatt promised him at least some amount of respect, so quackity switched sides regardless of what was better for the smp at large. i believe quackity kept looking for approval from others, but also some sense of accomplishment, by founding mexican l’manberg (is this even canon…idk but i liked it), starting the butcher army, and trying to bring schlatt back to life. quackity even fought technoblade despite being grossly unqualified and i believe this is due to the martyr mindset that often comes with unhealthy type 2s. 

type 3: the achiever

adaptable, excelling, driven, image-conscious

desire: to feel valuable

nihachu - type 3w2

(at the time of writing this, niki hasn’t had a ton of canon screentime, so this is mostly based off of the doomsday stream.) when in emotional distress, niki applies her type 3 ideas of being the best she can be to others, hyperfocusing on “teaching them a lesson” by destroying l’manberg. unhealthy 3s also tend to become jealous of other people’s happiness and success to the point they attempt to destroy it, perhaps explaining how niki’s character felt that no one wanted to listen to what she had to say about the political state of things. i see niki as a character that values her image in relation to others, hence the 2 wing. when fundy showed her respect, she became even more sure of herself, and this seems to be the kind of thing she is after.

schlatt - type 3w4

much like ghostbur (as mentioned later), schlatt is a very exaggerated character. it’s hard to type him, because the enneagram focuses around people who behave in the way real people do, and schlatt is a larger-than-life villain. i’ve typed schlatt as a 3 because of his narcissistic tendencies. schlatt not only wanted to be but believed he was integral to l’manberg’s continued function. unhealthy 3s tend to be devious and manipulative in order to hide their own wrongdoing, like how schlatt exiled the main opponents of his rule. schlatt doesn’t have the emotional introspection of a 4, only the temperamental self-absorption, but i think this is the best i can do lol

type 4: the individualist

expressive, dramatic, self-absorbed, temperamental

desire: to be significant, to find identity

tommy - type 4w5

most of my reasoning for tommy’s typing comes from his time in exile. tommy displayed an impressive connection to his emotions, maybe just out of necessity because he was alone. his constant cry was that no one cares about him, but not in the way a 2 may fear the same thing. tommy feared he had faded from significance. when he felt this way, he was quick to make rash conclusions and decisions. he is self-centered, caring more about his discs than about anything on the server. the 5 wing is there because of tommy’s constant assertion that people pity him when they show basic human kindness. he dreads others viewing him as incapable.

type 5: the investigator

perceptive, innovative, secretive, isolated

desire: to be capable and competent

awesamdude: type 5w6

is sam incredibly important to the plot? not as i write this. but i don’t want to leave type 5 empty. sam does cool redstone and built a cool prison. he’s super swag. i’m too lazy to attempt to do an analysis. this is just what i believe to be the objective truth on his character. give sam your primes.

type 6: the loyalist

engaging, responsible, anxious, suspicious

desire: to have security and support

wilbur (alivebur) - type 6w5

(pls disagree with me on this. this was so hard and i didn’t start watching dream smp until after the original “it wasn’t meant to be” moment sjkdfadkl) it’s right in the l’manberg national anthem. a place men could go to emancipate the brutality of their rulers. wilbur created l’manberg for what i interpret as security reasons. a peaceful land without americans. as an american, i understand completely. wilbur demonstrates the tendency of 6’s to shun outsiders and to turn to hysterical violence in times of distress. wilbur’s final action before his death was to blow up his safe place, because he believed the security had been tainted. i have typed wilbur with a 5 wing almost exclusively because of the intentionally radical beliefs that unhealthy 5s exhibit, becoming obsessed with blowing up the place he once called home.

type 7: the enthusiast

spontaneous, versatile, distractible, scattered

desire: to be satisfied and content, to avoid pain

fundy - type 7w6

fundy grew up in constant distress, what with his dad kinda losing it and the constant political turmoil. fundy has acknowledged that there is nothing that comes from conflict except for personal gain. fundy is selfish (taking netherite meant for everyone, hardly taking other people’s feelings into account) by nature of the society he was born into. like most distressed 7s, he has mood swings and comes off as demanding. i gave fundy a 6 wing because of what i see as the origin of his issues: a lack of support and stability. because of this, fundy often seeks external solutions (material possessions) instead of internal ones (fucking THERAPY OH MY GOD).

badboyhalo - type 7w6

“l’manberg? pogtopia? who cares?” :D

type 8: the challenger

self-confident, decisive, willful, confrontational

desire: to protect themselves, to be in control of their own life

dream - type 8w7

(warning, a lot of this typing is based on my own theories about the smp, because dream doesn’t stream rp to give us his own perspective.) dream claims that his motivation, at least presently, is to cause as much chaos as possible, but this has to come from a more philosophical place. dream is the one who started the server, and, i believe, canonically created the world they all populate. dream’s rule was originally questioned by the creation of l’manberg, which he interpreted as a personal attack. as a type 8 would, he is attempting to destroy all that does not conform to the vision he has for a peaceful, unified server. this may make it seem like dream should have 9 wing, but i don’t believe stability factors into his reasoning. dream seeks fun, for himself and others, and also finds this by causing chaos, as mentioned before.

technoblade - type 8w7

now, just because techno and dream have the same enneagram typing here does not mean they are at all similar. techno also lashes out at things that do not conform to his vision (anarchy) but has a stronger connection to his 7 wing. he wants to protect himself because of the comfort and happiness that would provide, not exclusively to be in control. he cares more about the pain and suffering caused by the government. still, i don’t think techno’s primary motivation is to be happy, as he still causes harm and puts himself in danger in order to achieve his goals. when a type 7 would become depressed and isolated, techno decides to spawn six withers. to each their own.

type 9: the peacemaker

receptive, reassuring, agreeable, complacent

desire: to have inner stability, to avoid loss

ghostbur - type 9w1

more than anyone on the server, ghostbur is a two-dimensional character. (absolutely not meant in a negative way. i adore ghostbur as both comic relief and a consistent character. ghostbur simply doesn’t behave like a normal person, and that is the point.) this makes it difficult to type him, but i tried my best. ultimately, ghostbur cares about others, but not in the way a 2 does. blatant negativity from people he interacts with doesn’t affect him in the slightest. he hands out blue because he is good, hence the 1 wing, and not to be loved. the only time (i can remember) that ghostbur has expressed anger was when friend the sheep was killed in techno and dream’s terrorism upon l’manberg. loss is the only thing he seems to be afraid of, and he applies this to all people within the smp. 

philza - type 9w8

to put it nicely, philza is a mediator. to put it not-so nicely, he doesn’t give a fuck. philza has actually achieved much of the goals a 9 has, making him an anomaly on the smp. (most every one of these characters expresses extremely unhealthy characteristics of their type.) philza is accepting of others, and does more listening than speaking. however, philza still feels the effects of loss from murdering his own son in cold blood (just minecraft things <3) and presumably fears losing something else important to him, thus forming few attachments (ex: didn’t care his house in l’manberg got blown up, didn’t react much to tommy’s betrayal.) i typed him as a wing 8 because of his healthy self-confidence and confrontationalism.

please keep in mind that this is all referring to the dream smp characters these streamers portray. i don’t claim to know anything about their deeper philosophical reasoning for whatever they do irl. not really on that parasocial type beat, ya feel me? i would love to hear your thoughts.

 thanks for reading!

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 111

This may be my favorite spooky story of the October, although I admit it is not the best one of the bunch by a long shot. It is a very-shortened and edited version of “Paid Piper” by Tanith Lee, from her collection Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer. I don’t own the story in any way, shape, or form beyond owning 2 copies of the aforementioned book (one hardcover, one paperback). I don’t know if the story is in print anymore, but if you can find a copy that is legible, please consider picking it up. The 1983 edition is a retelling of 9 popular fairy tales, and I understand the 2014 edition has an extra one, based on “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”.

Quick shout out to @baelpenrose who had to sit through me writing this and the eventual reveal. ;) you are so patient, lol.

P.S. I am in the U.S, so if you have early voting in your state, please go vote now so you are exposed to fewer people. If you are still able to register to vote, please do. If you can’t vote in person, please vote by mail-in ballot and check local regulations on how to turn it in.

Once everyone stopped laughing, Maverick held up his hand. “I have a story,” he offered. After a brief moment, he accepted silence as permission to speak and started telling his story. 

“In the Muromachi Period, there was a small village named Bodaiju, which lay beside a river. Bodaiju was a prosperous village, for they gave offerings to Tesso in hope that the rats would not ruin each years’ harvest.  One late summer afternoon, the washer-woman’s daughter Himari was stealing a moment to wash her hair while her mother thought she was hard at work.  Himari dreamt of being a priestess in the temple and leading the prayers to Tesso, because the priestesses wore beautiful white robes with wide belts, and never had rough hands like Himari’s were.

“Just as she was wringing out her hair, Himari heard the song of an unusual bird. Following the song, she was surprised to find that it wasn’t a bird at all, but a young man playing a wooden flute.  As he played, animals drew close to him in curiosity, and even the trees seemed to bow closer in order to hear his music.  Himari had seen musicians before - they came every year during the harvest in hopes to earn extra coin by providing the entertainment for the local celebrations.  But none had played such music as the young man before her made now.  Himari’s heart and soul could feel the freedom of the sky and the mountains as he played, and her soul ached to see these things for herself.��

While Maverick wound his story, Simon leaned over to me and whispered, somewhat relieved, “This sounds like a fairy tale.”

I just arched a brow in a way that I hoped he would realize meant Just wait, or at least Really? Are you sure?

Maverick continued. “Without realizing, Himari stepped closer to the musician, snapping a twig beneath her foot as these things happen in stories like this. The music stopped, and the young man looked up at her.  Rather than anger at being interrupted, he was smiling gently. “Who are you?” he asked, as though she were the stranger in this land.

“I am Himari,” she answered. “Who are you?”

“Who do you think I am?”

“I thought it was a bird singing,” she responded, embarrassed. “Before I saw you.”

“The young man kept smiling. “I saw a temple in the distance. Who do you worship here?”

“We pray to Tesso,” Himari confessed, glancing down. “He keeps the rats from ruining our harvest.”

“Does he?” the musician asked before standing to walk away.

“Suddenly terrified, although she couldn’t say why, Himari turned as well and ran in the opposite direction, toward home. Even while her mother scolded her for being lazy, Himari felt she would rather be standing there than be back in that clearing in the woods.

“That night, Himari thought of the young musician. She berated herself for not getting his name, for not insisting he tell her where he was coming from or travelling to.  She berated herself even harder for being afraid of him with no reason.”

Beside me, Simon groaned as he realized what was happening.  Charly grinned viciously as she and Tyche rose to their feet to go back to pumpkin gutting, Conor and Coffey closely behind them.

Maverick raised his voice so they could hear, winking at our partner as the other man realized that Maverick couldn’t tell the story and work at the same time. “The festival of the harvest was three weeks later, and every night Himari thought of the musician. Would he be one of the entertainers playing that year, in the grand homes of the rich men in the village?  Even as she donned the snow-white robes and berry-red sash of a temple maiden - as all girls in the village were until they turned sixteen - she could not think of Tesso, or the fine clothes she was wearing instead of washing.  She could not even think of how rough her hands were when she touched the silk of her robes.

“She could only think of the nameless young man.

“As all the temple-maidens lined up behind the shrouded statue of Tesso that would be carried through the fields by the young men of the village, a familiar tune drifted on the breeze.  As faint as the music was, Himari could hear it as though it were played in her very ear.  Soon, the entire village could hear the beautiful music that swelled impossibly from a single wooden flute, played by a single young man in travelling clothes.  Himari forced herself not to gasp, not to look as though she had met him before.

“Blustering, the mayor asked the musician what he was doing, as the village had already paid for entertainment during the procession. “I only ask to play for your village,” the young man. “For the honor and joy of your people, for the prosperity of your harvest.”

“And you would charge us less than those we have already paid?” the mayor asked.

“I only ask that you pay me what I deserve.”

“After much haggling, during which the musician would only ask to be paid what he deserved, the mayor finally relented - not admitting that there were no other entertainers that year.  And so the procession began: first through the streets of Bodaiju, then over the river and into the fields.  For minutes, or hours, or days, the village marched and danced without feeling weary, without aching feet, following the nameless musician.  That day, the sun seemed to stand still in the sky as they celebrated their harvest for what felt like lifetime upon lifetime.

“But, eventually, every path within the village and every row in every field had been marched and danced upon, and the sun seemed to be upon the horizon after no time at all and an eternity.  The mayor, no less tired than when they began, turned to the musician. “I was wrong about you, young man,” he said. “I have never felt so well after a festival, and you deserve to be rewarded for all your hard work.  Whatever you want, in gold if you like.” Other men in the village clamoured to sweeten the deal, offering bread, honey, wine, fine cuts of meat, and the like.

“But the young man shook his head. “I want none of that,” he told them.

“Surely you didn’t play for free?”

“What I want is better than gold, or wine, or beef,” the musician told them. “I only want your hearts.”

“Incredulous, the mayor started laughing. “Our hearts?” he asked. “Our love? You are a stranger to us. Take our gold, our wine, even our finest horse, but we cannot love a stranger to our village.”

“Unphased, the young man shook his head. “If you will not give me your hearts willingly, then I will take them,” he promised.  Immediately, the men and women of the village began jeering the man, who no longer looked young at all. Stones were thrown at him behind slurs, both striking with sharp accuracy. With a sad smile, the man turned and began to leave the village, and though his flute was in his hand by his side, the music he had played for them echoed on the wind.  With a great chorus of baying and howling, no sooner had the no-longer-young man reached the gate of the village, than every dog from every home bounded after him with the ropes that bound them trailing.

“The air chilled as silence fell over the villagers, now as frightened as Himari had been when she met the man that first time by the river.  In the days and weeks after, Bodaiju was nearly silent and no one dared speak above a whisper.  Children were kept close to their mothers, even as siblings told each other that the musician would come back and eat their hearts if they misbehaved.

“However, as time does, months passed and nobody was found with their heart missing. Lovers still met in secret, and couples still married.  It seemed nothing had really changed in Bodaiju, the curse upon the village nothing but an empty threat.  Over the course of the winter, it was forgotten entirely.

“When summer began, and the first of the births that always followed the festival was stillborn, Bodaiju suddenly remembered the musician’s curse. By the end of the summer, no children had been born crying, and many mothers hearts were broken.  By the end of that year, there were no more births at all, and as the children of the village grew to be adults, no more laughter could be found in Bodaiju.  In the summer of Himari’s twentieth year, the river that watered their abundant crops dried up, and those that could left the village.  Even now, you will find Bodaiju on no map, and none whose family come from there, for the curse of a musician who could find no kind people in a village beside a river. All that remains the tale of Bodaiju, shared by those who left the village.”

Arthur leaned back and rested his weight on his hands as Maverick finished the story. “That’s…. Actually a terrifying idea,” he admitted, seemingly impressed.

Simon groaned again and rubbed his face briskly. “At least if that one was true, it happened a long time ago,” he sighed. “Much less terrifying that way.”

“Because the idea that a mysterious stranger could cause every person in a small village to spontaneously become sterile is so far from reality,” Grey intoned solemnly, gesturing at all of us.  Maverick and I both snickered, but Simon paled when he realized the irony. They gave us a small smile before continuing. “I honestly feel badly for the young man… He just wanted to be loved for who he was.”

“Are you kidding!?” Charly called over. “That didn’t give him the right to take all the dogs!”

That set Arthur chuckling. “Because stealing the dogs was the worst thing he did in that story. Certainly not magical mass-infanticide.”

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[forever-rogue]

Step Into the Daylight - Part 7

Summary: After being reunited with your Mandalorian and little green friend, you find that it’s time for the next part of your journey. You’re just not so sure if you’re ready, but as Din reminded you the strongest stars have hearts of kyber.

A/N: Thank you guys for all your love and support, I love all of you!! I hope you enjoy this part, it’s a lot of sweetness and fluff, but you know, it’s Din, so yeah. Enjoy some fluff! Taglists are open, and as always feedback is welcome! xx

Pairing: The Mandalorian (Din Djarin x Reader)

Word Count: 5k

Warnings: none

Main Masterlist

Mandalorian Masterlist

SERIES MASTERLIST

»»————-　♡　————-««

"Ilum?" you sounded the name out slowly, testing it out on your tongue. You'd never heard of such a place before, despite how well versed you were in different parts of the galaxy, "I've never even heard of it before."

"Are you suggesting it's not real simply because you've not heard of it?" Jeele asked as she looked at you from across the fire you had lit. You immediately shook your head and leaned back in your makeshift seat on the old, fallen log, inadvertently leaning further into Din. You quickly looked at him and gave him an apologetic look. A quick throat clear recaptured your attention and you turned back to your master who looked between between you and your Mandalorian.

"No, Master," you reassured her quietly, "I'm just curious. Traveling to a place I've never heard is a bit intimidating."

"You've survived this place," she pointed out and you shrugged lightly, looking over at the Child playing with PC. The Child was cooing happily, and PC was beeping just as fervently as they chased each other around. The Child has been so happy to see you, as you had been him, holding onto you tightly for a long time before quickly becoming enamored with his new droid friend.

"I've survived worse," you sighed lightly, "as most people have."

"Enough," she insisted firmly, "you cannot downplay all of your accomplishments constantly. You have survived a great deal, but there is still so much ahead of you. Trust only in the force. And yourself."

You were suddenly hyper aware of how close Din was to you, how his leg brushed against yours, warm and comforting. You trusted him with your life; as he did you with you. Nothing would change that. A small smile tugged on your feature at the sheer thought, "yes, Master."

"Ilum has been a special place, a sacred place to the Jedi for ages. It is our planet, our place. No one else knows about it," of course. More illusive secrets kept between the mysterious brotherhood, "it is a right of passage to go there for every Jedi. It is one of the homes of the Kyber crystal."

A sharp inhale of breath next to you, cause you to turned your head to Din. He turned to you and shook his head lightly, giving your leg a light squeeze, "you know of them, Mandalorian?"

"I have heard of them," he said quietly giving her a soft nod, "just stories I heard in my youth. I never thought much of this to be true."

"I'm sure you're heard many things you thought to only be legends in your life that have come to be true," she insisted and he let out a small sound. You looked at him and gave him a small smile. You liked to think that he had one on his face too.

"What am I going to do with a Kyber crystal?" you asked and Jeele looked to Din, raising her eyebrow at him as she sought to know if he could explain.

"At the heart of every weapon wielded by the Jedi is a Kyber crystal," he explained as realization hit you. Something had to power the beautiful and elegant weapon after all, "there was an old expression I've heard...the strongest stars have hearts of Kyber."

"You're very attuned, Mandalorian," Jeele smiled at him, as you did your best not to completely beam at him. You wanted to maintain somewhat of a layer of subtly, even if one wasn't required at that point. Another six months had gone by, and while you had missed him terribly, now that he was back, it was like no time had passed at all, "and you, young one, must surely understand what this means."

You gave her an innocent look as you slowly shook your head. You thought you knew what she meant, but you didn't want to just shout out an answer and have it be wrong. Din seemed to lean closer almost as if he was trying to radiate the answer to you. Despite the cool beskar, you could feel his heat flowing towards you. It was comforting; warm. It always felt like you were home when he was close by, even if he wasn’t physically touching you.

“I...” you channeled off, gnawing on your lower lip, “I don’t know.”

“It’s time for you to find your own crystal,” she explained as your face lit up with a mixture of fear and excitement. You had thought living on this deserted planet was an adventure? Hunting down an illusive crystal was a whole different story, “and then you will construct your own saber. It is a time honored tradition; a rite of passage for every Jedi. I crafted my own many years ago, when I was much younger. Now, it’s your turn.”

While the prospect of such sent a thrill running throughout your whole body, a pang of loss settled into your bones. Barely reunited with your Mandalorian and your small, sweet green friend, and it was apparent you would have to leave them. Once again. You weren’t sure if your heart could handle it; the continuing back and forth of having them in your day to day life and then being separated for long, bleak stretches of time was wearing heavy on your heart. You knew this was important, that this was worth it....but it didn’t make the decision any easier.

“They will join you on this leg of your journey,” Jeele’s voice was barely above a whisper as she looked over at the foreign child playing with the droid, seemingly have no cares in the world. You wished you could give him this simple life, such saccharine pureness everyday; but even you knew that it was not the life any one of you were destined for. But, you had vowed it upon yourself, you’d give him a tranquil life, some sort of stability. Him and Din. You looked back at Jeele, giving the aging woman a small smile, “but they cannot join you in your pursuit.”

“I...don’t understand,” tilting your heard to side, you were, once again, confused by her words, “they can come with me...but they can’t?”

“They can make the journey to Illum with you, but once we arrive, you must go on alone. It is a solitary journey, and everyone must go through it by themselves,” she explained as Din sucked in a long breath. Even though he was well aware of the fact that you could handle yourself in combat, or anything that came your way, he still loathed the idea that he wouldn’t be able to protect you. There was something about you, no matter how competent and talented, that urged him to protect you. 

Every day of the six months you had been separated his thoughts had drifted to you; wondering if you were safe, if you had a comfortable place to rest, enough to eat, something or someone to keep you company (although he hadn’t expected a droid), and if you were okay. There were times, often in the dead of night, he felt something, a weird tugging in his heart as the vision of you flooded his mind. It was comforting in an odd way, and but it soothed his nervous and reassured him that you were okay. Despite how much he ached and yearned for your company, to have you present at his side, he would wait. And he knew he’d do it over and over and over again, even if he only got to gaze upon your exquisite beauty one more time.

“Without you?”

“Without anyone.”

“And how am I supposed to know what exactly what to do?” you mused as you tried to imagine what the mysterious planet even looked like. Would be a desert terrain much like Tatooine, or Jakku? Perhaps it would be lush and forest like? Maybe it would a spot hidden in a crowded city like Coruscant? 

“Just the same as you knew you exactly what to do here,” it was a simple statement and while it frustrated you to no one to get these half answers, shrouded in mystery, you were beginning to see it was very much the Jedi way, “you listen, you learn, and you do. The answers are right in front of you.”

Currently right in front of you was the Child, climbing onto his new friend, giggling and cooing in delight as PC rolled around slowly. Whatever strange vendetta Din had against droids, you hoped this would help to quell his nerves. 

“So, I’m going to go there and...figure it out,” you asked quietly and she gave you a quick nod, “okay, well, let’s hope I don’t screw this up.”

“You won’t,” two voices insisted at once; a small smile crept onto your face at the realization. You didn’t looked over at Din, but you could feel his gaze intently trained on you. 

“Well, I thank you both for the vote of confidence,” you said quietly, letting out a long sigh, “I suppose only time will tell.”

“We shall leave in the morning,” standing her to full height, which was not much, she stretched before beckoning for PC to follow her. The droid obeyed immediately, turning gently to let the small child slip to the ground, landing on his bottom with a small plop. He cooed as he watched the droid roll away, lifting his small hand in a little wave, “I’ll remain on the ship and get the droid acquainted with it. You will remain in the hut. I shall come for you when it is time.”

You opened your mouth to say something but decided not to bother; when her mind was made it up, it was made up. There were still many things to learn about Jeele Takar, but you knew you would get the privilege of knowing more when the time was right. 

“You trust her on your ship...alone?” you stood and stretched as well, shaking off the stiffness in your bones before feeling a small tugging on your leg. Looking down, your heart instantly melted as the sweetest eyes looked back at you, silently pleading for you to pick him up.

“I have no reason not to,” Din stood to his full height as he started to put out the fire, and you nodded. What a change of pace from the man who had meet well over a year now. He’d always been so guarded and in many aspects he still was; but slowly, piece by tiny piece, his walls were wearing down and he learned that it was okay to trust in others.

“Come here,” you scooped up the small bundle and clutched him in your arms, pressing him as tightly against your chest as you could without completely squeezing the life out of him. He made a few soft sounds, and you felt yourself overrun with emotion. Whatever bond you had with him was strong, inexplicable even, but it was a beautiful thing. He looked back at you, reaching his little arms up and resting them on your cheeks, letting out a string of small sounds, “I missed you too, buddy. And guess what, I’m not leaving again. Not matter what.”

It was a bit of a hollow promise, considering you didn’t know what could possibly be coming up. But you vowed that if you had any control over it, you wouldn’t leave them again anytime soon. 

An idea struck you so quickly, causing you to hand the small child to Din, surprising the two of them.

“What’re you doing?”

You shook your head but reached around your neck, quickly untying the necklace that had lived, nestled just above the swell of your breasts for months now. Din watched in silence, trying to figure out what you were doing, but he quickly put two and two together. Reaching over, you tied the sacred necklace around the child’s much smaller neck, adjusting the cord before securing it. He burbled happily he instinctively grabbed it with one and stuck it into it his mouth, sucking on the cool metal.

“Now we have to stay together, my little aliit” you gave his ears an affectionate scratch, and you swore that a small sound emanated from deep within the Mandalorian’s throat. Turning to move into the small hut, you motioned for him to follow inside, “it’s not much, but it’s served me well.”

You held the door open for him and he stepped inside, dwarfing the small space with his height and the bulk of the beskar. It was a sight you hadn’t expected to see, and it made you giggle slightly; it somehow made the place you had called home for so long truly feel like home. 

“What?” he asked with an upward lilt to his voice as he set the child down, watching him waddle around and try to explore. You leaned against the door frame and shook your head, unable to keep the grin of your face, “you’re thinking much too loudly, mesh’la.”

Mesh’la you noted, that was a new one. 

“It’s just...I never thought I’d see you here,” you gestured around the modest little hut, “I wasn’t sure when I’d see you again. I wish I had more to offer, but unfortunately this is it.”

“It’s wonderful,” he said quietly as he took off his gloves and trailed them over everything he could touch as he studied everything closely. He had wondered what your space looked like, he wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but this was very much like you. Warm, inviting, and it felt like home, a sense of calm washing over him.

“I...I’m glad you’re here, Din,” you said softly as you picked up your small friend and set on a chair near the table, quickly busying yourself with finding him something to eat, “I’ve missed you.”

Your last words were a rushed whisper, barely audible to yourself, but to Din, they were loud and clear, not just due to the his modulated helmet. A warmth spread throughout him as he watched you work; it felt like no time had passed at all. Quietly, ever so gently so only you could hear, he repeated the sentiment, “I’ve missed you terribly.”

A flush spread across your face, and you were thankful that he wasn’t facing you. You knew you wouldn’t be able to hide your true emotions from him. He’d had years of practice when it came to reading people, and you were no exception; he was even more attuned to you than anyone else. Instead, you focused on chopping some bits of vegetables and scooping them into a bowl. 

He watched you worked with such precision, and a sense of comfort settled into his bones; it was almost like a domestic dream. Maybe one day it wouldn’t be a temporary reality, but an everyday affair. He vowed to do everything in his power to make it so - maybe not next year, or even five years from now, but one day. One day was enough to make his heart content.  

“Hungry?”

“Starving,” feeling like you might combust completely, you decided to focus on cutting the vegetables into small, even sized pieces to toss into some soup. If you didn’t, you were sure that the buzzing deep within you would take over and you’d lose control of all your senses and act only with emotion. You weren’t sure if you were ready to cross that bridge just yet, although you were sure you were inching slowly closer everyday.

»»————-　♡　————-««

“Here you are, my little love,” pressing a kiss to his forehead and followed by each of his large, soft ears, you tucked the child into his makeshift bed for the night. You could tell he was trying to stay awake, but his yawns and drooping eyes gave him away, and he didn’t end up fighting too hard when wrapped him up in a few soft blankets. He cooed quietly, one hand wrapped around the metallic mythosaur as he slowly drifted to sleep. 

“He’s glad to see you again,” Din had busied himself with cleaning up after the quick meal you had prepared, despite your protests that you could handle it, “he’s been missing you.”

“And just how can you tell? He doesn’t exactly speak Basic, and I’m going to go on a limb and say that he hasn’t grasped Mando’a either,” you nudged him lightly out of the way as he let out a small laugh. It was such a lovely sound, one that spoke directly to your soul. 

“I can tell,” he insisted, “I know.”

“Hmm,” you mused as you washed the few dishes for maybe the last time in your small home. You wondered if you’d be back, if you’d ever get to see it again. It had become a place you loved, but your true home was wherever Din and the Child where. It was then that you realized there was one little problem, eyes glued on the bed in the corner, “umm, there’s only one bed...you can take it though. I’m sure you must be exhausted.”

“Don’t be silly, mesh’la,” he insisted softly, “it’s yours, and therefore yours to sleep in. I can rest on the floor. You’ll need sleep before we leave tomorrow.”

“Din,” you turned to him and put your hands on his shoulders stared straight into the black T of his helmet, “I insist. And technically you’re my guest so you should listen to me.”

Tugging off his worn leather gloves slowly, he set them on the counter before putting his warm, tanned hands to the sides of your face. The flush that rose up was instant, and part of you wanted to look away, but your gaze was firmly locked onto his. Instead, you brought your hands to his wrists, giving them a soft squeeze before resting them on top of his larger ones. 

“I won’t do that,” you knew he wasn’t going to make you sleep on the floor; it would be a cold day in all of the hells before that happened, “but...we can share?”

“Share?” you repeated and he slowly nodded, almost as if he was trying to make sure he knew what he was saying. In reality, to most, it wasn’t that big of a deal; but with your Mandalorian, you knew just how much it meant. You dropped your gaze but quietly agreed, “we’ll share.”

You dropped your hands from his, taking a step back and moving to turn off the lamps you had scattered around the small space, shrouding the room in a veil of darkness. Taking his hand, you slowly led him towards the bed, having memorized your way through the space in darkness. After pulling back the soft blankets, you looked at him before gently reaching up and starting to unclasp his armor, slowly pulling it off his body, piece of piece, setting it down in an organized fashion near the foot of the bed. 

He was silent the entire time, as you were, taking a moment to soak everything in as you relished in the intimacy of the act. For a mere outsider, this was normal, this was nothing special. But you knew how much mutual trust and respect the act required. When you were finished, you gazed up at the helmet and gave him a small nod, hoping he could see; but you knew he could through the helmet. A small part of your heart ached to take the helmet off as well, but you’d never dare - no, that would have to come from him of his own volition. 

Instead, you settled for climbing in the bed and snuggled under the covers as he followed suit. You faced the wall, unsure of what to you; did you touch him? Hold him while he fell asleep, or would he hold you? Did he even want that? Or were you to remain apart, facing separate ways and not touching? The questions in your mind were almost too much, and but like Din could read them, he whispered, “c-can you see?”

The question surprised you at first, but you soon followed his line of reasoning. You felt him close to you, his body radiating his natural warmth onto you. If you’d had him next to you all those cold nights, you wouldn’t even have needed a blanket. Holding your hand up in front of your face, you checked to see how much you could actually make out; it was faint, only a silhouette, “a little. Only faint outlines.”

He was silent for a moment as a soft, modulated sigh escaped his lips, but after that he remained silent. You knew he was just contemplating his next move, but it was his to choose, and his only.

A few moments of silence passed before he spoke again, his voice, unsteady and unsure, “I...trust you, mesh’la.”

He didn’t need to expand. You knew what he was referring to. After a few beats of silence, you felt him move slowly, but you were quick to through your hand behind you and grabbed his wrist, quickly stopping him, “Din...I... can wearing a covering or, or, something. Just in case.”

He gently pulled out of your grasp and went on with removing his his helmet. You’d never seen or heard him do it before, but you instantly knew what the small hiss meant. With silent hesitation, he set the helmet on the floor, and it clinked lightly. Your breath hitched as you realized what this meant; you were sharing your bed with Din, just as he was, just him. Not the Mandalorian.

“I trust you,” his voice, pure and unfiltered was so soft, and warm, almost enough to bring tears to your eyes. You had thought it was beautiful with the helmet on, but this? This was on a whole different level, “Y/N?”

“I’m here,” you answered quickly, trying to keep your voice from cracking altogether. He scooted closer to you and with only mere inches between your bodies, your heart was racing, stomach erupting in butterflies.

“C-can I...may I...”

“Yes,” you answered as a small smile crept onto your face as you realized what he was asking. Slowly, almost timidly, he inched closer to you, until he was at your back, his body pressed against yours. You knew he’d had women before, that he’d known them intimately, but this was different. This wasn’t just about getting out carnal desires and having it be done within five minutes; no. This was gentle, sacred, personal, this was...love. 

You’d never admitted it out loud to yourself before, barely even to yourself in your mind, but you just..knew. You’d always known. 

Din slowly brought and arm and wrapped it around your waist, pulling you tightly against his chest. He was warm and...firm, but still managed to be soft at the same time, a combination that you found to be perfect. His legs found yours, and his much longer limbs quickly tangled up with yours. Putting your hand on top of his, you slowly, almost as if testing the waters, laced your fingers together, taking it so far as to bring his hand to your lips and pressing a soft kiss to his palm. He made a soft sound from behind you, mere centimetres from your ear. 

Soon enough, you felt him rest his head against your back, and you were sure that you had never experienced anything better. And you laid like that for some time, breathing in sync as you tried to capture every moment as best as you could. 

“I can hear your heart,” his voice was slightly muffled from how he had it pressed into the soft fabric of your tunic. You wondered if he could hear just how rapidly it was beating. Unable to stop yourself, you reached back and ran a hand gently through his hair, touching it and trying to memorize it all; how soft it was, how it seemed to have a slight curl to it, how a few pieces seemed uneven. But it was all Din, and he seemed to enjoy the touch, something that had become so foreign to him over the years, and a faint mesh’la left his lips.

“Do you hear it?” you asked softly as he clutched you tighter, almost as if he was trying to meld you into his body. Taking his hand, you brought it up higher and held it against your heart, against the strong beat you felt, “do you hear how it beats only so for you?”

Din remained silent as his throat welled up. In reality it was such a small thing, to feel the heart beat of another, but to him it was so much more. He’d felt the life leave many bodies before, he’d felt the life faint in creatures, but he’s never felt this. 

"It beats for no one else like this," you whispered, almost as if speaking too loud would cause you to wake up and realize this was all a sweet dream. If this was somehow a dream, made in your mind due to the strong yearning, you hoped you would never wake up, "do you feel it? How it speaks to only you?"

Din remained silent as a stalking loth-cat as he listened to the steady rhythm of your heart, each beat like a part of a song, a song only meant for him.

Eventually he let out a slow exhale, his warm breath fanning over your cheek before he rested his face in the crook of your neck. You relished in the feel of his naked skin on your, unobstructed by the layers of armor and tradition that normally created a barrier. How soft, how human he felt, how his light stubble scraped deliciously against your skin. There was a sense of urgency to his motions almost as if he was afraid to lose you, when in reality he never would. Not if you had any say it. You closed your eyes and held onto him tightly, trying to convey your every thought and feeling flowing through your body, "I am yours."

"As I am yours," he breathed out in response, almost as if relieve was washing over him. How easily the words came out of his mouth; how truly he meant. 

"Din?" you desperately wished you could roll over and face him, to grab him and claim him as yours with your touch, not just words. He mumbled a soft response, his lips ghosting over the bare skin of your shoulder,  "I...I like to think you have dark eyes, the warmest of ambers, so sweet and honeyed in the sunlight. Dark hair that you've deemed unruly, that you cut but no matter what there's a few pieces that betray you, the ends curl slightly and sometimes it sticks up everywhere. Am...am I right?"

His heart panged with such a sense of warmth that he found himself dumbstruck and unable to speak for a few moments. You knew him, so well, and you'd never even truly laid eyes upon him. But you also him; you’d always seen him. 

"Yes," it was soft and faint, but brought a smile to your face nonetheless. Slowly, still testing the waters he pressed his lips to your shoulder, a soft, gentle kiss, “how...did you know?”

“I just...know,” you sighed contently, wishing that you could never move, that you could remain like this forever. It was the most comforted you had ever felt; the most loved and cared for you had felt since you were just a child, “I know you’re beautiful, Din. I’ve always known that - from the day you saved me when you didn’t have to. Can...I ask you something?”

“Anything, cyar'ika,” you could feel his every movement against your bare skin, his lips soft and surprisingly delicate against your skin.

“When Jeele...decided it was time to come back for me-”

“I asked her every day if it was time,” he confessed quietly, “I came to her every afternoon. I’m sure she must have grown sick of me. But I had to know...I wanted - needed - to come with her. When she was finally ready, she found me and that was that.”

“You waited for me?” it was more a croak than anything else, and the familiar stinging had appeared at the back of your eyes, as you realized what he was saying. Din reached up and wiped away the single tear that had run down your cheek before nestling further into you.

“I waited every single day,” he promised, “and I would do it again. In every lifetime if I had to.”

»»————-　♡　————-««

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[the-girl-in-the-box]

Not Today V

A/N: Hello everyone! So, if you didn’t see my announcement earlier this week, this update may seem early compared to my usual posting schedule, and it's true! But also not. Let me explain- from here out, I will be posting chapters twice a week! These will go up late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning, and late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. That said, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and the next chapter will come in a few days! Skål!

Summary: When Ivar takes the throne of Kattegat, Lagertha flees to Wessex along with Björn, Ubbe, Torvi, and the Bishop Heahmund. There, they seek the aid of King Alfred. This aid comes in the form of his sister, Aethelind, who agrees to travel to Kattegat and try to reason Ivar, who she spent some time with during their youth, when her grandfather King Ecbert hosted Ragnar Lothbrok in their castle. Now, she is the only hope for Lagertha and her supporters to retake Kattegat from Ivar the Boneless.

Masterlist

--

Björn was somehow unsurprised entirely when Aethelind approached him once more, a very happy look on her face. He figured her talks with Torvi, Ubbe, and his mother must have all gone well. He’d be lying to say he hadn’t sort of kept an eye out from his place, watching to see if he could tell anything, and each time, Aethelind had seemed thrilled by their answers. So… He guessed they’d all come around to her plan- daft as it seemed to him.

When she finally reached him, he chuckled a little. “Am I outnumbered?” he questioned with a small, expectant grin.

“Drastically so, I’m afraid,” Aethelind answered him. “Though, with specifications I believe you’ll approve of.”

“Let me hear them,” Björn said, “and I will tell you if I approve or if I do not.”

Aethelind nodded, and took a deep breath. “Torvi and your mother wish to train me to defend myself before I go, and with a majority rule, and my brother’s permission for this quest, I can go to Kattegat to speak with Ivar.”

"You could have no better mentors than Torvi and my mother,” Björn agreed. “But Ivar would not send two shieldmaidens to kill you if he wanted it done. He would likely send an assassin in the night. We would need more than defense training for you… We would need a reason for you to gain his trust, before he ever learns you are there on our behalf.”

“Your mother agrees that we need to work out more details before she can agree to send me to Kattegat, but she has at least agreed to begin working toward that goal. You know we only need a majority, per Torvi, and I have her support, your mother’s, Ubbe’s, and even Bishop Heahmund’s. So, the majority is had, but I would still like to have your support, Björn. The more support I have in this, the greater success I believe we’ll have, and you are quite the ally. You could do much for this plan, I’m sure. We’d be all the better for having you.”

Björn hummed as he thought over what she said. It was true, they would all be better off if he’d agree to give them aid. And his agreement to provide aid, assuming Alfred didn’t stop this- which, considering how Aethelind had talked him into multiple things already, he figured he wouldn’t- then it was really Aethelind who would be better off. And could he hold his support, to have the ‘moral high ground’, so to speak, just so he could say he didn’t support it if something went wrong? Or would he be angry with himself, for not having given her all he could have, and always wondering if it hadn’t been because of him that things had failed, if they did.

This wasn’t a question Björn was certain he had the answer to, just yet. There was too much on each end to consider.

“I imagine you will speak to your brother about this regardless of my decision?” he soon questioned, having already taken a few moments to ponder on what he would decide. When she nodded, he sighed slightly. “Then ask him to allow us all to meet,” he requested. “I want to discuss this with all involved, and then we should take a vote. Those who agree to the final plan will speak in support of it, and those opposed will speak against. I cannot decide now what I think.”

Stubborn, just as Torvi said, Aethelind thought, and yet still gave a slight nod. “That’s very understandable,” she said. “I’ll go and speak to my brother, then, and we can have that arranged. I’m sure he won’t have any issue with it.”

“Aside from sending you to Kattegat?” Björn asked, and Aethelind grimaced.

“Well… that, he may not like at first. But that’s what this meeting will be for!” she almost chirped. “Not to… convince him, exactly, but at least to make everyone feel better about it.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’ll go regardless of what is decided?” he questioned, regarding her with a curious, yet suspicious gaze.

The almost guilty expression she wore proved his theory. “I-” she began, and then paused. A sigh escaped her, and her eyes dropped. “I can’t stand to see this situation stay this way, or end in violence,” she finally confessed. “Or, more violence, at least. I want to at least try to do some good in it. More than just offering food and shelter. I want to be part of bringing peace back to your lands. It isn’t my place, to shove myself into these plans, I know, but…”

Björn put a hand on her arm, cutting her off there. “Your eagerness to help is appreciated, Princess,” he said, and she smiled.

“Björn, please. You’re my guest. Aethelind is just fine, you needn’t hold to the formalities.” She smiled sweetly and genuinely at him, and he returned the smile, nodding.

“Then it is very appreciated, Aethelind.”

The Princess beamed at him, and nodded. “I’m glad to be of help, then,” she said. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go and speak with my brother. But I hope you’ll enjoy the feast, and I’ll try to stop back by before it’s all over, hm?”

“I will be waiting,” he said, and gave a small nod. Aethelind smiled, gave a quick, somewhat playful curtsy, and started off to find her brother, unaware of Björn watching her with an interested smile on his face- one Torvi could recognize all too well as she watched the two. She shared a look with Ubbe, who simply sighed.

Alfred smiled as he saw his sister approaching, and Elsewith at his side smiled as well. The Queen herself, Judith, had finally joined the feast, standing with her son and his betrothed. Her dark hair was pinned up as always in a braided sort of bun, a crown resting atop her head that accented her dark gold gown. The bun rested in such a way that it covered the space Aethelind and Alfred knew should have had an ear. But adultery wasn’t treated lightly in Wessex, and they both knew their father had not been her husband.

“Mother,” Aethelind greeted with a warm smile, and took Judith by the arm, kissing her cheek affectionately, before turning to the Northumbrian Princess beside her brother. “Princess Elsewith.” Elsewith nodded politely to Aethelind, a form of quiet greeting, as she turned to her brother. “Alfred, I need to speak with you alone for a moment.”

Alfred looked a bit concerned by her request, but nodded anyhow. “Alright,” he said. He turned to Elsewith and Judith briefly, saying, “Please, excuse us for a moment,” before he followed Aethelind out of the hall.

Once they were out there, Aethelind looked around for anyone who might be nearby to listen, and then positioned herself in such a way that she’d see if anyone tried to do so. Spies tended to be everywhere at an event like this, and while she doubted Ivar would somehow have any there… She wanted to be sure no one overheard anything.

This behavior, of course, only concerned Alfred further, and his brows creased together in show of this. “Aethelind… What’s going on?” he finally asked her. She took a deep breath, and grinned.

“The Vikings and I have a plan to help the situation in Kattegat, but we need your approval for it before we do anything. So, I can explain everything to you as best I know now, and then Björn has requested we hold a meeting to discuss it all with each other. You, me, all the Vikings, and Bishop Heahmund, as he could be very helpful in a few different ways.”

“What could Bishop Heahmund do?” Alfred questioned, tilting his head a bit.

Aethelind took a deep breath at that question, and seemed to grow a bit more anxious. “Train me, and… give me some advice regarding how to handle Ivar,” she explained slowly.

The look of shock on his face might have been priceless in any other situation, but right now, she was too anxious about him taking this well to really enjoy it. “You want- he wants to train you in what?”

Alfred was very nearly certain he knew what she meant, and that it was the cause of her suddenly nervous disposition, but he wanted it confirmed first. There was no need to panic about what exactly this plan entailed, not until she answered-

"To fight.”

Oh no.

Alfred turned as white as a sheet at her words, and he felt like his heart lifted into his throat. Or sunk into his stomach. He couldn’t be too sure, but he knew it couldn’t have been in his chest anymore. It just… it couldn’t have been.

“I’m going to regret asking this, but… Aethelind, why do you need Bishop Heahmund to teach you to fight?” he questioned her. Another deep breath from her, and Alfred was far more concerned than he’d been a moment before. He’d hoped that perhaps she just wanted to learn because it would be interesting, now that two shieldmaidens had turned up- and hadn’t he just told Ubbe he’d thought she’d have been happier with the Vikings? This made sense to him.

“I want to go to Kattegat.”

Oh no.

“And, I regret asking that,” he said.

Aethelind chuckled a little. “We have more plans, Torvi and I, mainly, though I do have her support, as well as that of Prince Ubbe, Queen Lagertha, Bishop Heahmund, and possibly Björn Ironside. He wants to have this meeting, come up with a more solid plan, and have a vote, and he will either give his support or deny it there.”

Alfred sighed, and nodded. “Very well,” he said. “I’ll allow this meeting and arrange for it, but I am not yet backing this. Not until I feel that you could go safely. I could… I could write to him, perhaps, find a way to warn him you’re coming, and make some reason you would be?”

Aethelind smirked slightly. “It sounds as though you’re already on my side with this,” she pointed out, and he shook his head.

“I just know you’re too stubborn to be stopped if you want to go. It’s better I work with you to ensure your safety on this,” he said.

“I believe that’s what Björn is trying to decide. If he wants to support me so I have my best chance, or if he wants no part in something that could go wrong for me,” Aethelind commented, and chuckled. “I just hope he comes around.”

“It seems you have his favor, I’m sure he will,” Alfred said, smirking slightly, and her eyes widened a bit.

“His… his favor?” she questioned, blinking. “How do you mean I have his favor?”

This now earned a slightly shocked look from Alfred. “Surely, you must know?” he said. “He looks at you like… Well, you must see it?”

Aethelind shook her head. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Alfred. See what, exactly? You don’t think Björn is interested in me, do you?”

The look from Alfred assured her that was exactly what he thought, and the girl blanched. “But- but he’s a Viking. Won’t he be returning to Kattegat as soon as we handle all this with Ivar the Boneless, however we handle it? What good would be done for him by having a wife in Wessex, unless he chose not to return to Kattegat after all?”

“I’m not entirely sure Vikings are ever… only interested in marriage, when they meet someone they’re interested in.” Aethelind’s cheeks turned red.

"Oh,” she said, swallowing. “Right. Well… I wouldn’t… You think that’s what he wants here?”

Alfred shrugged a little. “Perhaps,” he said. “But even if that weren’t all he wants, I don’t imagine he’d be open to a Christian marriage.” Through his conversation with Ubbe, he’d quickly learned which of the Ragnarssons were more, and less, open to things not of their culture. And Björn… he was not one of the more open ones. And if he wouldn’t be open to a Christian marriage, then the Princess would not be marrying him, if he asked- and if she approved, of course. But Alfred had already decided the terms of giving his blessing to such a thing when he saw how Björn was watching her. Now, though, he was beginning to wonder if that would ever be an issue, considering the fact Aethelind clearly didn’t even realize he was interested.

But if both Björn and Aethelind ended up in Kattegat, who was to say Björn wouldn’t pursue her? He was getting ahead of himself. Aethelind would first have to go to Kattegat, succeed against Ivar, then Björn would have to go, and she would also still have to be there. Aethelind wasn’t going to pop up wanting to marry a Viking, and that was likely a bridge he was trying to cross before he ever came to the bridge. He did that with many bridges.

“Well.” Alfred was brought out of his thoughts and anxieties by Aethelind beginning to speak. “If he doesn’t want to marry me, we’ll have no issue.”

Alfred nodded. “Right, yes,” he agreed. “So… tell me more of your plan concerning your journey to Kattegat.”

Aethelind began to explain to him everything she had discussed with Björn, Torvi, Ubbe, Lagertha, and Heahmund, and while there was obviously a lot to go over, there wasn’t quite enough for Alfred to agree right there, just as there hadn’t been for Björn.

“We’ll have the meeting, then,” he said with a nod. “And we can set more in stone there, come up with a stronger plan, and see what still needs to be done. Does that sound alright?”

Aethelind nodded her agreement eagerly, grinning widely. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, thank you, Alfred. I know it’s unnerving, but-”

"Oh, it’s more than unnerving, Aethelind. I’d be sending you to possibly one of the most dangerous places I could be sending you. You won’t be safe in Kattegat, not unless you’re trained as best you can be by these Vikings we have here.”

“Or, if I can earn Ivar’s trust and care again,” she pointed out. “I don’t think he’d let anything happen, then.”

“I think that’s going to be harder than simply defeating him in battle.”

Aethelind hated herself momentarily for giggling at that, but she had a bad feeling he was right. “Well, hopefully we can try this first,” she said. “And if we do, then there’ll be peace once again.”

Alfred sighed. He just hoped ‘peace’ wouldn’t mean the Vikings turning their raids back to Wessex once again.

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[bytheangell]

You Can’t Keep Safe What Wants to Break - Chapter One, Magnus

(AO3) (Prologue)  Chapter One - Magnus Bane Magnus probably shouldn’t be here for this conversation, but Jace is already waiting for them when he portals Alec back to the Institute from Idris. Jace is eagerly anticipating the response from the Council meeting, nervously pacing back and forth along the rooftop where they thought they’d have a bit more time to figure out how to break the news to him before going inside. Alec planned on doing it alone, with Magnus at home preparing the strongest cocktails he can manage short of inducing alcohol poisoning to deal with the aftermath. Instead, Alec shoots Magnus a quick, pleading glance - a silent request to stay - and Magnus doesn’t have the heart to try and make an obvious exit with them both in front of him like this.

None of them are ready for the conversation that’s about to happen.

The look of immediate defeat on Jace’s face is so heartbreaking that Magnus actually looks away for a moment. He knows it isn’t his fault, that the real blame lies with the Clave, but he can’t help but feel like he failed Jace just the same.

“There was nothing we could do,” Magnus tries. “We pulled every favor we had.” It’s true - they really did try everything short of actual bribery to get the discussion and the votes to go their way… and, okay, maybe a little actual bribery Alec doesn’t need to know about, but even that wasn’t enough to get the votes they needed.

“They wouldn’t let go of the fact that the Angels took her memories and her abilities, and essentially kicked her out of the Shadow World. They don’t want to risk the Angels’ anger by letting her back in. They’re scared,” Alec says, not that Jace needs to hear it. The poor boy’s heard that argument time and time again ever since Clary remembered him at her art show that night… ever since Jace started seeing her regularly, and reforming a relationship with her.

Ever since Jace decided he wanted Clary to be part of his life - part of all of their lives - again, and started this mission to get Clary reinstated.

Magnus tried to warn him at the start to keep his hopes low and his expectations even lower, but it’s difficult to dissuade a heart so lost in love. The Nephilim have strict rules about mundanes being intimately involved with Shadowhunters, rules that have to be followed to keep them out of the Shadow World. And without her abilities, without everything that once made her one of them, that’s all Clary is to them. A mundane.

A liability.

Magnus knows the look in Jace’s eyes, though. Jace isn’t letting this go. Magnus had hoped, perhaps naively, to stay as far removed from all of this as possible. He did his best to stay out of the previous discussions between Alec and Jace and Izzy and members of the Council; because despite his personal investment in both Clary and Jace’s well being this isn’t a personal matter, not to the Shadowhunters - it’s a political one. Magnus always knew how this would play out, despite their best efforts: duty before all else, the law is hard but it is the law, and all that nonsense.

Magnus wanted to stay out of this, but now he finds himself in the thick of it, staring into the blue and brown eyes of a Shadowhunter pushed to the breaking point between heart and duty.

For a moment, Jace turns away from the two of them. Magnus thinks that Jace almost sounds determined when he finally speaks again. Is he even holding himself a little straighter? Definitely more resolved, but not in a defeated way - in a defiant one. It doesn’t sit well with Magnus but he doesn’t pry.

He also makes no attempt to stop Jace when he leaves. Instead, he watches Alec take one step forward, pause, then fall still beside Magnus.

“That went better than I expected,” Alec admits once Jace is gone.

Magnus gives a distracted nod, but he doesn’t think the matter is over, not by a longshot. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to let Alec feel a bit of peace in thinking that the worst is over, even if he has a sinking suspicion that the worst is yet to come.

“It certainly could’ve gone a lot worse,” Magnus agrees. “Let’s go home, shall we? I think we could both use that drink now.”

---

There’s no warning from his wards before the knock on the door sounds, so Magnus knows the person is a friend before he checks through the eyehole. Unexpected visits in Idris are few and far between these days, and he’s particularly surprised to find Jace Herondale standing in the hallway when he opens the door.

“Alec isn’t back from his meeting yet, is he?” Jace asks, in a tone that implies he not only knows the answer but fully planned on arriving while his parabatai is still out.

“No,” Magnus confirms. “He’ll likely be another hour or so. Come in,” Magnus says, stepping aside for the Shadowhunter to enter. Jace shrugs his coat off and hangs it on the rack by the door, then toes off his boots to leave at the base of the rack. It’s a habit of Alec’s that carries over to all visiting Nephilim, despite the fact that Magnus can easily magic away any dirt stains. It’s an endearing courtesy, and if Jace takes longer than usual to stall by the doorway Magnus doesn’t comment on it.

Instead of prompting Jace, Magnus remains silent, reading the blond’s body language, allowing the tension held in every muscle and the strain of every movement, to let him know that there’s something wrong. Something Jace doesn’t want to tell Alec if he’s here talking with Magnus first.

“I need you to be honest with me,” Jace says. “Because I already know how Alec and Izzy are going to react, and it isn’t going to be good. And I just--” Jace breaks off there, pacing back and forth. “I need someone impartial to tell me I’m not crazy.”

“I’d hardly say I’m impartial,” Magnus points out.

“But you can be. At least, you can be brutally honest when you need to be, and I need you to be. I need to talk to you as Magnus right now, not my parabatai’s husband.” Jace is pleading

“Alright,” Magnus agrees, ignoring the urge to make a joke about Jace’s ego not being able to handle Magnus’ honesty. Something tells him this isn’t the time. “What’s on your mind?”

“I want to be with Clary,” Jace says.

The words on their own aren’t surprising. Of course, Jace wants to be with Clary. Magnus knows that Jace loves her more than he’s ever loved anyone - save his parabatai - in his entire life. But Clary cannot be part of their world as a mundane, it’d never be recognized or allowed by the Clave. They could see each other in secret, but not seriously, not when Clary could never live at the Institute or in Idris. The only way for Jace to be with her now is--

Oh.

The realization dawns on Magnus and sits like a leaden weight in his stomach. His expression must give away what he pieced together because Jace notes the look on his face and continues quickly.

“I’ve thought about it. By the Angel, all I can do is think about it. She never leaves my mind, Magnus. She hasn’t since the day she left and she’s never going to, especially not now that we’ve reconnected. I can’t live without her. And I don’t have to. I just have to…” but Jace trails off there as if saying it might make it too real. So Magnus finishes for him.

“You just have to be deruned, and leave behind the only family you’ve ever known and the only life you’ve ever known.” Magnus manages to say the words with minimal infliction; no judgment, just facts.

Jace winces. “I did ask for brutal honesty, didn’t I?” he says, though the laugh he gives is forced.

“This isn’t a decision to be made lightly, Jace. I know that you know that, but do you truly understand the gravity of that decision? There’s a reason de-runing is the most severe of punishments for crimes against the Clave,” Magnus points out.

“I know,” Jace says. To Magnus’ surprise, he looks like he really does know. There’s none of Jace’s usual nonchalance or dismissive sarcasm. “But living without Clary for the rest of my life… at least the pain of a de-runing is temporary.”

“But the effects are far from temporary,” Magnus reminds him. At the look on Jace’s face, Magnus adds quickly, “I’m simply presenting all of the angles, I’m not trying to talk you out of it.”

When Magnus imagined what Jace might do in retaliation of the Council’s decision, he pictured more of a fit of rage, a ‘fuck the system’ rebellion of finding a way around their ruling to bring Clary back anyway. Magnus would’ve bet his savings on Jace using magic to hide Clary with a glamour or build her a secret rooftop room to live in at the Institute or something equally ridiculous. This option crossed his mind, of course, but never in a million years would he imagine Jace pursuing it.

Jace is quiet for a moment after that. Magnus takes some small comfort in knowing his words aren’t falling on deaf ears. Jace wouldn’t have come here if he didn’t want to talk this through, after all, but Jace is… well, he’s still Jace. It’s rare to see this serious side of him.

“I know losing the parabatai bond will hurt Alec,” Jace says quietly. “It’s the part I keep coming back to. The rest… I know Alec and Isabelle won’t abandon me if I go through with it, no matter what the laws are. I won’t lose them, not entirely. But the bond…” Jace actually looks close to tears simply speaking of it, and Magnus moves forward to take him gently by the hand and lead him over to the sofa.

“It isn’t a bond broken easily,” Magnus agrees. “You will both suffer greatly for the loss of it.”

Jace hangs his head. “I don’t want to put Alec through that, but… but he will someday anyway, right? One of us will, in the end. It isn’t like it’s inevitable. I’m just… moving up the timeline.”

Magnus can practically hear the number of times Jace must’ve repeated that to himself before now, over and over in his head until he was nearly convinced it’s enough justification. He isn’t wrong, Magnus will give him that. But it’s one thing to lose the bond through an inevitable death, and another entirely to know that you’ve caused that pain and loss intentionally.

The guilty expression on Jace’s face as he avoids Magnus’ gaze tells him that Jace knows that, too.

“And I assume you’ve talked to Clary about this?” Magnus asks.

Jace nods. “She said we could get an apartment together. I can’t tell her everything, obviously, but I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think we had a real chance, you know I wouldn’t.” Jace shakes his head. “I don’t want to have to choose. This… being a Shadowhunter, this is what I’m good at. It’s what I was raised to be. But Clary… she’s my future, Magnus. I was trained to be a weapon, but I was born to love Clary Fray.”

Magnus is struck suddenly by the memory of another Shadowhunter he knew who was willing to give up everything for the love of a mundane girl. ‘I was born to be a warrior, and I was born to be with her. Tell me how to reconcile the two because I cannot.’ The words of one Edmund Herondale ring clear in Magnus’ mind, bringing a slow, sad smile to his face. For a boy who only learned of his true lineage a year ago, Magnus wonders how no one pieced it together before then. Jace is a Herondale, through and through, and never more apparent than in moments like this.

“You Herondales certainly have a penchant for sacrificial love,” Magnus observes, not unkindly. Edmund gave up his runes, James his sanity and stability, Will was ready to give up love itself, and now Jace...

“I can give up Shadowhunting. There are plenty of others who can take over for me now, and plenty more to follow after me,” Jace insists.

It’s a strange thing, to witness the blind faith the Nephilim place in their Angels from birth begin to crumble and crack - to question outdated laws and revert back to something more basic, more simply human. Life. Love. Happiness. Desire.

“I’m not concerned about the Shadowhunter’s loss of a soldier,” Magnus points out. “And you don’t have to convince me. I know better than to think there will be any talking you out of this once your mind is made up… and it does appear to be entirely made up. You wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

Jace nods. “I haven’t told anyone yet, but I think Maryse might have an idea. I’ve been asking a lot of questions lately about her de-runing, and what happens afterward.”

Magnus nods slowly. Maryse probably knows, or at least suspects. It says a lot about her growth as a person in the past few years that she hasn’t called Jace out on his plan yet. It also says a lot that Jace risked her piecing things together just to get a few vague answers out of her. If he’s willing to risk that, then he’s sold on the idea, no matter how hesitant he claims to be.

“You won’t be allowed back in Idris again. If the full extent of standard procedure were followed you wouldn’t be able to see any of your family or friends again, but something tells me Alexander won’t let that bit stand.”

He knows that Maryse showed up once or twice to the Institute and that Luke and the rest of the Lightwoods visit her regularly, either at the bookshop or at her home. All of which is highly irregular, but then again, not much about Alexander’s influence over the Clave’s rules and standards hasn’t fought back against their antiquated ways in one way or another. If there’s one silver lining in all of this it’s that Jace won’t be isolated from his past entirely if he doesn’t want to be, and he clearly doesn’t want to be.

Jace sounds uncertain when he replies, “I don’t know, there’s a very good chance that Alec won’t speak to me again after this, law or not.”

“If you think there’s any chance of Alexander abandoning you for this decision-”

“And why shouldn’t he?” Jace cuts Magnus off. “After I abandon him first.”

The harshness of Jace’s tone causes Magnus to wince. This is what it comes down to. Everything else aside, this is why Jace is really here talking to Magnus before his parabatai - before his brother, the person he’s closest to in this world.

“This isn’t a matter of marrying someone and moving away. This isn’t even only about losing my runes. If it was just my own sacrifice there wouldn’t be a doubt in my mind, but…”

“But it isn’t just your own life this choice affects,” Magnus supplies for him, finally realizing why Jace came to speak with him first. These are complicated, deep emotions. Alexander and Jace, when confronted with issues as personal as this, could be a volatile force. Magnus is glad Jace had the presence of mind to try and sort through his own first instead of charging directly into a conversation with Alec all hot-headed and stubborn force of will.

“I took an oath. Entreat me not to leave thee,” Jace huffs out with a broken laugh. Magnus knows the oath. He’s familiar with it enough to know that by doing what he’s planning now Jace is breaking every line of it, every promise. “‘The Angel do so to me, and more also,

If aught but death part thee and me.’” Jace’s eyes leave Magnus’ and fixate on a point beyond him, growing distant. Despite the honesty of their conversation, Magnus can’t begin to imagine exactly what he’s feeling in this moment. “How can I choose? Why do I have to choose? It isn’t fair.”

“Life very rarely is,” Magnus says sadly. He isn’t sure when he shifted from the role of devil’s advocate to a comforting friend - when this turned from discussing a hypothetical to comforting an inevitable loss.

“What would you do, if you were me?” Jace asks.

Magnus considers the question, not taking it lightly. He thinks back to all of the loves he had and lost over the centuries, of the love he has now with Alec. He tries to picture what it might be like if he and Catarina were bonded like Jace and Alec, to have to sever that bond to keep Camille in their prime, or Etta, or Alexander, and thinks that for those few he might have. But in the end, he can only shake his head.

“I can only begin to imagine the intricacies of the bond the two of you share,” Magnus admits finally. “I’ve sacrificed everything for love, more times than many would consider wise, and I’ve been burned every time but one.” It probably isn’t what Jace wants to hear, but it’s the truth. And what follows is also the truth. “But every time was worth the possibility of true love.”

That gives Jace a bit of hope, which is what he needs. It’s what he’s searching for, behind his call for honesty and council.

“If I were you? I’d probably risk what you’re planning now. It’s foolish and reckless, a gamble beyond measure, but isn’t love always?” Magnus smiles softly at that. “And if I were Alexander, and my dearest friend came to me in your situation, I can promise you that any anger or betrayal I felt would be temporary, eventually eclipsed by the joy of knowing they found all the happiness they were looking for in life.”

“You think?” Jace asks, daring to sound optimistic at the mere suggestion that there’s a possibility of Alec being alright with this in the end. Not right away, but someday. That might be more than Jace has allowed himself to hope for before now, but Magnus doesn’t think it’s a stretch to imagine.

“But I’m not either of you, and this is not my decision to make.”

Magnus feels the gentle ripple in his warding that alerts him to his husband’s arrival downstairs.

“Alec’s back,” Magnus says. “I can portal you to the Institute if you’d like to keep this between us for now.” It’s a simple offer, no judgment if Jace wants more time to consider his options, or simply to stall before talking this out with Alec. As difficult as keeping something like this from Alec will be he wouldn’t betray Jace’s trust in coming to him for advice. Magnus watches Jace closely, able to see the flash of panic on Jace’s face and the hesitation as he debates accepting the offer of a portal.

“No,” Jace says with a determined shake of his head. When Magnus thinks back to his similar encounter with Edmund nearly a century ago, he distinctly recalls the feeling of witnessing a disaster, something reminiscent of wreckage. But this is different: Jace Herondale isn’t ruining himself, he’s rebuilding.

“I’ll make myself scarce, then,” Magnus says, standing up to make his way toward the door.

“Thank you, Magnus.” Jace rushes the words just as the sound of the lock turns in the door.

“Magnus, hey,” Alec greets, leaning in to give him a kiss in greeting after he opens the door to find Magnus standing next to it, grabbing his coat off the rack. Alec catches sight of Jace behind Magnus and his brows furrow. “Jace? Is everything alright?”

“I’m heading out for a bit. Give me a call if you need anything,” Magnus says instead of answering Alec. The question isn’t meant for him, after all.

Magnus looks over at Jace one last time before leaving the two of them alone to speak, still surrounded by the ghosts of his past. He sees so much of Edmund’s determination to follow his heart, no matter the personal cost. He sees Will’s enthusiasm and desperate need for the potential of love. He sees James’s consuming passion.

Magnus sees enough of Jace’s ancestors in him to know without a doubt that Jace will be just fine in the end; and if he isn’t, then Magnus imagines he has enough experience assisting lovestruck Herondales to help him through.