#i think i need to move on from this onr
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Songs the Ninjago Fandom is Sleeping on.
Okay so while I do art there's only so much my chronic pain ridden hands can produce and so animatics/animations aren't really in my wheelhouse BUT I have a bunch of ideas and songs that the Ninjago fandom should use + some ideas that yall can totally use (@ me or send them to me though if you do cause I want to see them)
The Songs in question (it's be song-artist btw):
Always Gold-Radical Face: Is literally a perfect song for Wu and Garmadon, like it's literally about two opposite brothers treading wildly different paths like what more could you want
Brutus- The Buttress: Yall please I am begging that someone does something with this song relating to Morro's hatred/jealousy towards Lloyd because this song is absolutely perfect for it! Lines such as "-and if you want I'll call you king but why do I lie awake each night thinking "instead of you it should be me"" and "Please know my actions are not motivated only by envy, I to have a destiny" there are so many more but I'll let yall do the rest of the work (Also you could kinda do it with Wu and Garmadon but ehhhh)
Human Enough- ONR: This could work for multiple of the characters if you ask me but if you ship anyone with Zane or Pixal the song could totally work those two them specifically cause it talks about the singers partner/love interest being "made perfect" and idk we need more Pixal content soooo. Honestly any of the characters that get de-human-ed (for longer than one episode) would do great with this song, like Cole in his ghost arc, Nya after Seabound or Garmadon at like any point in the story. Line examples: "Cause you are made of perfect stars and I was built from broken parts" and "I'm not human enough to love yo right now/ I'm not human enough to cry or cry for" are my personal favorites.
Laplace's Angel (Hurt People? Hurt People!)-Will Wood: Lloyd, Sora or Wu (Specifically the young version of him from the Spinjitzu Brothers books) song about the weight of the world being on your shoulders and not knowing what to do and like the consequences of actions and fun stuff like that
Easier- Crane Wives: Misako, like seriously so many Crane Wives songs work well for this woman because A) her whole attempt to change destiny or B) Her failure as a mother and you know the whole kinda cheating on her husband thing, but this one specifically cause it's a song about leaving someone behind and feeling bad while also not being able to stay. Lyrics such as "If you woke and I was gone from the house that we made our home would it bend yo, break you, overtake your heart?" and "I won't move but I can't stay here. So what the hell am I supposed to do?" and "If I were someone else, would this be easier?"
Stranglers Fig- This could definitely be a Cole (specifically relating to his father and dance backstory) or Kai song, many of the lyrics involve someone being pushed to do more and more and finally snapping because they've done everything they can and there's nothing left but their desire to be better. Lyrics "You bult your kingdom around me, now I'm trapped within your walls and all I want is to be free" and "Climb me to the canopy, higher, higher 'till there's nothing left of me." and "You're the culprit so don't blame me."
And that's all for tonight cause I'm tired BUT I will be posting a couple more of these cause I have a bunch of these floating in my brain and I'd love it if some of these idea's inspire people. I really wish I could do it myself but chronic pain is a bitch so instead I'll throw it out for yall to try out! Anyways I hope you have a great day/night! Peace out!
#ninjago#ninjutsu#spinjitzu#ninjago secrets of the forbidden spinjitzu#cole ninjago#lloyd garmadon#garmadon ninjago#cole brookstone#wu ninjago#kai ninjago#sora ninjago#ninjago sora#nya ninjago#nya smith#nya x pixal#ninjago pixal#pixal borg#zane x pixal#zane ninjago#ninjago zane#cole x zane#ninjago misako#misako montgomery garmadon#garmadon#lord garmadon#songs#ninjago morro
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You know, for as much as I hoped we didn't have to wait ANOTHER volume and god knows how many more years to see rest of the cast and as much as the "team rwby are the only characters who should have any development or focus at any given point" takes annoy me, I am really glad they're taking every single moment of this volume to focus on the girls. Actually seeing the volume as is makes me realize that continuously cutting away would've weakened it significantly. So sorry for coming into your inbox and going "But the others!" a few months back.
That being said, I do think that not following up on them before the big reunion would be a bad move, especially since they set up the "half my friends and family are dead" angst for many different characters, and I think the big reunion would be cheapened if we didn't follow up on that at least a little. How do you think they should handle that?
Another thing I wanted to ask is what you think Weiss' arc is gonna be based on what we've been getting so far? I'm really intreged on what we might get based on the tiny scraps we got today.
(Also the Penny doll in the jar representing Ruby's hope and Ruby's big speech destroyed me emotionally)
I'm asking a lot of different people these questions cause I'm curious. (Sorry if I accidently asked you twice)
Tbh with the way that the volume has been progressing, cutting away at all to the others would feel like too much time wasted on things that aren't developing the main focus of the volume. Like, as much as I'd like to see ONR, Emerald, and Winter in Vacuo, spending time on them would waste the limited time we have to really explore what the fuck is going on with Ruby lol. What we've gotten so far has been great and I can't imagine it's be even half as a effective if, in maybe the first 5 minutes or so, our attention had been taken up by a completely separate conflict happening a literal world away.
And we don't really need to cut to them imo. The journey that RWBY is going through in the Ever After is fairly self-contained from we can see. There's nothing going on in Vacuo that would give us better context for ever After or vice versa, and it's not like we can't fill in the gaps or just. wait.
As for a reunion, given my experience with CRWBY's writing style, I wouldn't put it past them to have team RWBY drop into Vacuo somehow in the middle of whatever ONR+WE are dealing with. And I'd be fine with that. Maybe volume 10 could spend a little time on ONR+'s feelings, but again I just don't think volume 9 has the time.
As for Weiss, it seems like her arc is going to focus on her feelings of failure toward Atlas. We only have a sliver of it right now, but I could see it developing along her path to rebuilding the SDC (if that's what she wants to do) and trying to create a new legacy on the ashes of her father's and her society's. Just like Ruby is feeling like a failure of a hero, Weiss might feel inadequate as a partner and as someone who can be trusted to lead others into an uncertain future. Everything they've done feels like a loss, and the loss of her entire home came from it. I can't really give many specifics because I'm terrible at predicting what CRWBY will do in the future, but that's what I've been guessing at.
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Every day I think of just disappearing lol
#tutter vents#im not suicidal. id still be here.#i think i need to move on from this onr#this blog#im sicj of it#everything about it#everybody#lmao?? i wish i could. i really wish#and nobody would miss me#which is super funny
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DRIVER'S LICENSE || LEE HYUNJAE
Driving lessons with your best friend seems pretty tame. Except, they're not.
Genre: bestfriends to lovers! Au, part-time uber driver hyunjae, young adult! Au, mentions of sexual harrassment.
Words: A lot.
A/N: I KNOW ITS BEEN SO LONG BUT I SWEAR I AM STILL WRITING. i just have no time to be constant so i apologize for my sporadic updates :( enjoy this one! It's a cute one!
—————
"You can cry if you want."
You hope the glare you throw Hyunjae over the rim of your glasses is enough to shut him up. But like anything else, Hyunjae never does know how to shut up about stuff. Any stuff, for that matter.
He babbles on, unknown to the murderous intent forming at the back of your head, "I mean, you could have done all you could but driving is hard. You're not a loser for failing and you're definitely not a loser for crying about it."
"I swear I will throw this tomato at your face if you don't stop talking," you warn, hand already reaching for the tomato beside your chopping board. You're in the middle of cooking up a simple lentil and tomato stew, not bothered with your usual meat and vegetables combo that work supposed wonders on your diet and lifestyle (whatever the fuck that means).
You're usually not this carefree when it comes to food. You always have your meals planned for the week, the weekend, the snacks, everything in between. You've grown up this way, counting nutrients and macros and micro calories until it comes as natural as breathing does.
But you're a mess right now. You're a mess and you don't give a flying pig's fuck whether you're eating all the right nutrients for the day. Not today. Nope.
It's just... you do know that driving isn't everything. It's not. There's wars happening, there are people losing their lives, there are countries struggling to keep their finances afloat and families who are counting every penny they're making just to make it through another day. And when you put things into perspective, you can't help but think of how privileged you are to be even standing here, in a flat of your own with food you buy with your own money. Your family is safe, your family is healthy. Honestly, what more do you need?
And yet.
And yet.
That driving test had been so important to you. You'd already put aside some money to buy this second-hand toyota vitz that you've had your eyes on for over six months, you want -- no, crave -- this desire to drive. To be free.
And the worst part -- you could've done so much better than this. Than whatever had happened on the road this morning.
"What mistakes did you make? You're allowed up to three mistakes until you fail right?" Hyunjae asks as he lifts himself up from the couch, where he's been stationed for the past hour, "do you need help by the way?"
"No I don't," your scowl deepens despite knowing Hyunjae and the driving test are not related. Not onr bit, "I crossed the yellow box at the intersection. And I turned a little too aggressively apparently. And then there was stupid stuff too, like switching lanes. I was too close to the white line as I waited."
"Bullshit."
"See?! It is bullshit! I mean, the errors are so ambiguous!" Your hands shoot up in exasperation, "I don't get it! And some people pass on the first try."
Hyunjae can't help but snort, "like me."
"You don't have to rub that in my face."
You're too busy sliding in your tomatoes into the pot to notice Hyunjae's figure moving over to stand next to you, until your elbow bumps into his stomach.
"Ouch," he grimaces.
"What do you expect? You're in my way," you answer back with a roll of your eyes. You stir the pot, the aroma lifting up in the air and making you sigh in bliss. Hyunjae does the same. He's always loved your stews.
"I can help you out."
You don't look at him as you ask, "with what?"
"With the driving."
This time, you look up at him, browa furrowed in confusion, "you? Helping me with my driving? You barely even have time for yourself."
"I've cleared up my schedule for uber so I'm free on Wednesdays and Fridays. And the weekend."
"I thought you needed money," you turn to fetch two bowls from your cabinet, only to see them in Hyunjae's hands, ready to be served.
"I do, do you wanna pay me?"
You punch him lightly in the arm, grabbing one bowl at a time to serve a decent helping and of course, adding extra chicken pieces to the said young man's bowl.
"Are you serious?" You can't help but ask because in all honesty, Hyunjae ia a good driver, "I can definitely pay you...if that's not too much trouble for you."
"It'll be more fun to hear you complain while driving, that's for sure."
You show him the middle finger in response, which makes him laugh before following you to the dining table cramped with two chairs.
"So is that a yes?" Hyunjae asks with a mischievous gleam that makes him look like a little kid.
You throw him a pointed look, "I'm going to ask you again: you're sure about this?"
"Hundred percent."
"Do I get a discount?"
"No."
"Why?" You can't help but whine out, leaning over the table to give him the best puppy eyes you can muster up, "I can pay you back in free meals."
A spark lights up Hyunjae's eyes. He grins, cocking his head to the side, "now that, is a good deal."
---
"Watch out for the sidewalk--No! Don't--Don't turn!"
It's your first lesson with Hyunjae and it has been a week since the start of your small arrangement. It's Friday afternoon and you'd skipped your business management class in favour of driving around the neighbourhood with Hyunjae. Him, on the other hand, had cleared his schedule of any uber activities. And for that you're grateful.
However, it seems that your best friend has a temperament. And you're not quite sure whether that works at your advantage or not.
"Jesus Y/n," Hyunjae's breathing hard by the time you swerve back into your respected lane, chest heaving up and down and if you watch closely enough, you're certain you can spot the sweat dripping down his face, "no wonder you didn't pass your driving test."
"Thanks Hyun, that's exactly what I wanna hear right now," you retort.
"What do you want me to say? That you're an excellent driver when you're a danger hazard?!"
"Well no--but a little support would've been nice!"
He snorts at that, arms crossing over his chest, "you don't need support. You need someone to actually show you how to drive," a pause as you hit the brakes at the red light before you. That gives him a little moment to breathe. You see him turn towards you at the corner of your eye, "why didn't you continue with that driving school you used to go to?"
Instantly, your mood turns sour.
You don't answer. The light turns green and with a little more force than necessary, you swivel to the right, following the traffic crawling up one of the main streets.
"Hellooo," Hyunjae, however, doesn't pick up on the sudden change in mood, "you could at least not ignore the person trying to help you out here."
"I didn't have time."
You do know that your voice is coming out colder than expected. You hope Hyunjae is too oblivious to care.
"In any case -- oh, go. The car's moving," he directs you forward upon seeing the traffic ease up, "slowly, make sure to check out the upcoming red light. They dock marks when it turns yellow."
"That's such bull."
"Uhuh. Go right. Keep your vehicle steady," his hand rests on yours, gently turning the wheel and navigating you into the right position. You notice how big his hand is in comparison to yours.
You're turning onto another side road when you aak, "Has your hand always been this big?"
"Pfft. Honey, my hands have always been big," he wriggles his brows, "if you know what I mean."
You shove him, "dick."
You try not to let yourself think about what happened in driving school back then. The memory still haunts you even to this day, despite you brushing it off and hoping to carry this secret to your grave. There are many things you regret in life. One of them is continuing on with it despite of what was happening. How stupid--pathetic--an idiot.
Hyunjae, of course, doesn't know anything.
You meet him a few days later for another lesson in the heart of the city and you're waiting where driving school students usually do, when your eyes suddenly spot a familiar green vehicle in the distance.
You freeze.
It's him.
You blink. A shiver runs down your spine. Fear.
A hand on your thigh. You, unmoving, terror spreading like venom.
A voice in your ear. Disgusting.
The car turns and a gasp leaves you upon spotting his face. The world suddenly comes to a halt, blood freezing and air suddenlt getting sucked out of your chest.
It would have been impossible to avoid him forever. But you hadn't expected to see him again this soon.
You feel trapped. You can't breathe. Your legs feel like cement, stuck to the ground.
Your voice. You can't speak, you can't--
"Y/N."
You jump. Swivel around to see Hyunjae waiting for you with a confused furrow to his brow. He's looking pretty good, with a simple white shirt, checkered shirt thrown over the top, and dark jeans and sneakers to match.
"I've been calling your name for ages, you asleep or wha--" his words are cut off when you stride towards him, grab his arm to pull him away. Away from him. Away from all the mwntal pictures flashing before your eyes.
"Y/N?" He's calling after you, worry now lining his voice, "what-- what's wrong?"
"I--nothing I just--where's your car?"
"Y/N--Hold on. Wait," he grabs your shoulders, turning you around with a firm grip that's impossible to escape and though you avoid his eyes, drop your gaze to the ground, you know from the way he's tightened his hold that it hasn't escaped his notice.
He waits though. Until your door is closed, until you're already pulling out of the parking lot without a backwarda glance. Until you're driving down the road at full speed as if you're on the run for your life.
You don't know how much time has elapsed until Hyunjae calls your name. Once. Twice.
"Y/N."
"What?"
"Can you pull over to the side?" He points towards a free spot where another car is pulling out. You diligently slide in, and Hyunjae grabs onto the wheel for assistance. He makes sure you're well settled into your space before turning to you in a way that makes you squirm in place.
"Care to tell me what that was about?" His tone is serious, causing you to look away and swallow hard.
Of course he deserves explanations. It's just that... you don't know how to tell him.
"And don't tell me it's nothing," he cuts off your mental scramble with a finality to his tone, "you can't hide that from me Y/N. Who do you take me for?"
Crap.
"There's nothing to say," you lie. But it's useless, because Hyunjae has seen the fear stretching across your face, has noticed the terror glazing your eyes over.
His hand grasps your wrist, a familiar action he does whenever he tries calming you down, "tell me, Y/N."
You can't keep it in any longer.
You break.
You tell him everything. About how it had started with comments on your appearance at first, how pretty you looked today, how beautiful the clothes fitted on your body. You'd thought it weird but not weird enough to stop. So a polite thank you was your only response. Apparently, that had only escalated from there. His hand, venturing under the wheel to touch your knee, then slide up your thigh. And you, driving, terrified that doing something about it would be overreacting. Was it overreacting? You weren't sure. Of anything. And you were ashamed.
So ashamed.
The more you speak, the more tense Hyunjae seems to become. His jaw clenches and he fists his hand so hard in his lap that his knuckles turned white. He doesn't look at you, instead keeps his gaze on the vehicle before him and finally, when you're done and drying your eyes with the edge of your sweater while avoiding his at all costs, Hyunjae's hand slowly slips up to your shoulder and pulls you in.
He hugs you to his chest, not minding that your bodies were separated by a joystick. He tucks your head into the crook of his neck and it was only upon noticing the trail of tears on his shirt that you realize you're crying.
"I'm sorry," you attempt to pull away but Hyunjae halts you, arms locked into an iron cage of comfort that leaves you no choice but to melt even further into him.
When he speaks next, his voice is filled with silent, seething rage.
"How long has this been going on for?"
It scares you. And yet, the concern, the security that pools around you in layers of warmth in the form of Hyunjae's figure. He makes you feel safe. Heard. And most of all, not judged.
You shake your head. Time had blurred the moment this started happening. As if a recurring nightmare that would go on and on without end.
"Did he do anything else, Y/N?"
You don't answer, hiding your face into Hyunjae's neck.
"Y/N. I need to know. Did he do anything else?"
Maybe it's the way Hyunjae speaks that make you shiver. But you answer in a hoarse murmur:
"He--tried. But--I... I uhm, I--"
Hyunjae hugs you even tighter in response, though you can feel the physical tension running through his veins. He's burning, ready to explode and knowing Hyunjae, he's bound to get into a reckless fight just because of you.
"I'll kill him." He grovels out.
His words make your heart jump. You tug onto his shirt in response, "don't," you murmur, pulling back to look up at him, "don't do anything stupid."
He doesn't respond, but you feel his jaw clench. Reaching up to cup his cheek and turning his face to yours, you continue, "it's not worth it. And it's already done."
"He hurt you."
"Well, technically--"
"He hurt you, Y/N." Hyunjae's eyes darken menacingly, "I don't--I can't--" taking in a breath, he exhales shakily as though trying to regain a sense of control, "I can't let that slide."
"You can't beat him up for it. There's no proof. And you can't complain either--"
Anger flares through his nostrils, "what about the other girls he did that to? Are you just going to let it slide?"
"It's not worth it, not for you. If anything, I'm the one that should do something about it, " you try catching his gaze with your eyes after a moment of deliberately ignoring them, he does. And the anguish, the amount of emotion running, swirling through them is enough to knock the air out of your chest in one single breath.
You don't know how long you stare up at Hyunjae, him doing the same. You don't notice that his other arm has fallen to your waist, gently caressing the bit of skin underneath your shirt. Nor do you notice the way his heart speeds up as if he's just run a marathon in five minutes.
"Will you?"
"Hm?" you blink back to focus. Since when has Hyunjae been so close to you? Absentmindedly, you hear a car honk in the distance to remind you that you're still in the parking lot, and this is definitely still a public space.
"Will you do something about it?"
"I--" suddenly, it feels too hard to breathe. Hyunjae probably notices your inner turmoil, for he shushes you, hand smoothing down your back and pressing his head atop yours.
"I'm sorry I raised my voice at you," comes his murmur.
You shake your head, "that's nothing to apologize for."
"I still think you should go and report him to the driving school company he works for, at least."
Biting down so hard on your lip that you taste blood, you allow your eyes to fall to Hyunjae's collarbones and notice, for the first time, that he's got a scatter of moles across his neck. Cute.
"I will," you mumble in hopes that he'll be convinced. He isn't.
He grips your shoulders, turns you to him and says, "I know it's hard and I don't want to push you to do something you don't want to. But for the goodness of everyone else's and for the safety of the other students that are taking his lessons, you should report him."
You lower your head to his shoulder, "...I will."
How you will do such a thing, you're not quite sure.
But one thing you do know is that you haven't felt more safe anywhere else but in Hyunjae's arms and you wish this, this feeling can last forever.
As if listening in to your thoughts, Hyunjae snuggles even closer to you, dares a small kiss to be pressed upon your forehead.
"What's that for?" Your words echo against his nape.
He shifts against you without answering, though you hear his heart rate pick up through his chest.
"What?"
"You just..." your voice trails off at the last two words, "kissed me."
"No I didn't."
"Hm. Could've fooled me."
----
Nothing else was said on the matter of the forehead kiss. You did, however, pluck up your courage with two hands and, with Hyunjae's help, deposited a formal comppaint to the police station. Thankfully, both officers are kind and gentle with you, listening in attentively and assuring you that they will be looking into the matter as soon as possible.
"Since when has this been happening?" One of them asked while the other has his pen ready in hand. Outside, you can hear the bustling of police officers mixed in with landlines ringing in caocphony. It's no wonder the police are always running around the clock.
Is this a mistake? Just a waste of time?
"Hey," Hyunjae's voice brings you back to reality, one of his hands coming to a rest upon your own before he squeezes it softly.
Your eyes flutter up to meet his, and his tender smile makes your ribs contract.
"You okay?" He asks.
You croak out, "yeah."
You've never seen auch an attentive side to him before so it does surprise you, the way he coaxes words out of you as you continue babbling on about what your driving instructor had done, the way he gently guides you down the corridor, away from the policemen, away from the thought of what you'd just confessed in your own words.
He pushes open the door so that you can step outside and you take a shaky inhale, not noticing the way your best looks at you as if you've just opened up a whole entire universe to his eyes. A universe at which you're the center.
"Thank you," you can't meet his eyes. Not after everything that had just transpired.
"You don't have to thank me, Y/N."
"I do. It--that--I--" you stutter over your words as emotion catches in your throat, "I never would've been able to do that without you."
A few beats of silence pass, in which he gazes down at you, and you back up at him. Something stirs in the air, as new as a baby bird shaking its wings, as new as a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon for the first time.
His hand reaches for yours, pulls you closer until you have no choice but to look up at him, and the depth in his eyes makes your heart jump up to your throat.
"Proud of you," he murmurs.
You can't help but smile, "shut up."
"I really am," he pushes a strand of hair off your face. You feel the heat of a blush creep up your face. What? This is Hyunjae, the guy who'd make fun of you because you'd always sleep with your mouth open!
"W-We should probably head back." You stammer and proceed to side-step him. He lets you, allows the distance to grow once more between your bodies as you walk up to the said car. Nothing else is said during the drive back home and, despite the heavy realization that maybe you have a teeny tiny crush on your best friend, you try not to give that away when you say goodbye with a small sidehug.
"I'll see you around," you'te already gathering your things, scrambling to get out and away from him as soon as possible.
You don't even wait for him to say bye.
----
You could've imagined it.
The forehead kiss.
His hand holding yours.
The way he looks at you.
The more you try to push it out of your mind, the more Hyunjae seems to come haunt you.
You continue your driving lessons once per week, which does not help matters in the least. It's as if you brought your best friend back and yet, he'd do something like put his hand on the back of your seat, or place his hand upon yours to steer you in the right lane. More often than not, Hyunjae would lean over to direct you and you'd get a whiff of his deodorant. And oh my, had he always smelled this good?
"Earth to Y/N."
"What?" Your head whips up only to catch Hyunjae's eye as he strides to you. His hair is parted sideways this morning and he can almost pass as a model with those tight-ass jeans, black v-neck and metal chain hanging just above his collarbone.
The thing is, you've known Hyunjae all your life. You know that he knows how good he looks. And he'd played with those cards without fault today apparently.
" it's the D-Day," he grins wickedly, "how do you feel?"
"Like I'm about to throw up."
He takes a seat beside you, "you drive well. You just have to be careful of your turns and that you don't run over any red lights."
"But it's so hard! And you know how unlucky I am when it comes to that!"
"You'll be fine," he holds your gaze, "I promise."
You were not.
It's only fifteen minutes later that you step out of the police car, tears stinging the back of your eyes as you make your way back to the police station as shame crawls all over your tummy. The police woman recites off all your mistakes but you're barely listening, the rush in your ears so loud that you only nod in response to all her complaints and by the time you do make it out of the police office, you're disoriented, lost. Unsure of what to do.
You find Hyunjae or rather, he finds you in the middle of the parking lot, glassy-eyed and flushed to your toes.
"I'm such a loser," is the first thing you say to him, almost laughing at yourself. Except this situation is not funny at all and you soon realize that you’ll have to do this again, and again, and again, until you somehow miraculously get this stupid piece of paper that doesn’t even mean much in the real world. That fact alone is frustrating in itself and you swear you almost break down right then and there, if not for Hyunjae’s firm grasp on your shoulder, propelling you out of your thoughts.
“You did nothing wrong,” he looks into your eyes, searches your gaze until he’s sure you’re finally looking at him and not through him, “and we’ll keep trying until you get it. There’s no shame in failing a driving test Y/N. You know that right?”
“For you probably,” you mumble.
He pulls you into a hug then, as if that might solve all the problems that seem to burst out of your life. Though it does calm you down, the way his chest presses against yours, the way his warmth engulfs your entirety, like you can drown yourself in him if you really want to.
You briefly wonder whether he’s aware of the effect he has on you, but decide against saying anything. You’ve said enough for today.
So you only hold on to him even tighter if that’s possible before breathing in deep. Hyunjae’s scent fills your nose and you’d be a liar to say that it doesn’t ease your worries, because it does.
You’re not sure how you feel about that.
The more you try to push away thoughts of your best friend being what people called "boyfriend material", the more his presence haunts you. It's impossible to go five minutes without thinking of the way his body feels when he leans over you, or the way his hand covers yours, or the way butterflies erupt in your chest when he looks at you for a little too long.
To the point where it annoys you, grates at your nerves. So annoying.
It seems though, that fate isn't on your side, when you bump into him on your way home from work.
"Hello stranger," his face eases out into that mischievous grin that makes your cheeks warm. You look away, as if burnt, "you've been avoiding me."
"I've been busy," you retort, "and I have other friends."
"But I'm your favourite, right?" He wriggles his brows as he follows you to your said bus stop. It's the middle of the week, around five in the evening, and the place is void from people.
That doesn't help. That leaves you alone with him. You can't have that.
"What's going on with your driving? You haven't asked to meet up after your test," Hyunjae asks.
"Ugh I don't even want to think about it," you grumble.
"You don't want to pay me anymore?"
"Stop being so dramatic, Hyunjae. You know that's a lie."
"So you're avoiding me then?"
"What makes you think that?" You scoff, looking down at the scuff of your shoes, at the end of your road. Anything to avoid Hyunjae if you can help it.
"Well you're not looking at me, for one."
You look up, frowning, "that's not--"
Hyunjae stepping forward to trap you against the wall of the bus stop has you yelping in shock. Dipping his head towards yours with a smirk that causes you to squirm in place, his arm presses against the wall to trap you in, heat against heat. Tempting.
Your head is buzzing. You feel dizzy. Light-headed.
Suddenly, it's hard to breathe.
“What are you—“ the words catch in the back of your throat upon seeing his face up close, so close to yours. You turn your head away, only for his fingers to grasp your chin, turn you back to face him with again, that mischievous glint in his eye, almost as if he’s a five year old boy ready to tease you senseless about your unexplainable crush on him—
You do not have a crush on him. As if on cue, you take a sharp breath.
Hyunjae notices, causing his smirk to grow wider, “so,” he says as casually as you would discuss today’s weather forecast, “my dear Y/N, I’d like to ask you something—“
“Please don’t.”
“—Because I think that you and I have—“
“Shut up Hyunjae—“
“—still have things to discuss and you—“
“I said shut up!”
“—do you like me like I do?”
You’re about ready to kick him at this point, to throttle him with bare hands. That is, until the weight of his words sink in.
You blink up at him, momentarily lost. Did you hear him correctly or is that another figment of your imagination? Because in a universe tucked away from this reality, you and Hyunjae are — well, if you’re being honest with yourself — fully immersed in each other’s being. It’s a pathetic secret that you’ve merely realized was true a few nights ago as you lay in bed, wide-eyed and staring up at the ceiling, and wondered why your heart beat so fast whenever Hyunjae’s name floats to mind.
Hyunjae prods the side of your hip, bringing you out of your sudden daze, “hello? Did you hear what I just said?”
“Wha—I—Did you—I—“ you can’t help but splutter out and making him chuckle deeply as his hand reaches up to curl a strand of hair behind your ear. You feel the heat ignite within your chest, so tight and bundled up in a knot of fire that makes you squirm in place and — why the heck was he so close?!
Amused brown eyes gaze down at your flushed face, though his grip on your chin is firm, stopping any attempts for you to hide your face somewhere, anywhere. His body, his warmth, you can feel it. The heat that buzzes between you, a tension that’s been pulled tight like an elastic band and ready to pop at any given moment.
“Hey,” Hyunjae murmurs.
You bite your lip. Your eyes flit to his, then back up to his.
Your heart lurches at the tenderness swimming in his orbs.
“Wh-What?” Your heart is pounding.
“Are we…” Hyunjae searches your gaze for a moment as the tension wraps around you in a tighter embrace, “…can I…kiss you?””
You don’t know what to say. You don’t know what you can say to such words, except that there’s no denying the jolt that your heart gives, practically jumping up your throat as it tightens. Which is why you blurt out the first thing that comes to mind:
“Are you flirting with me?”
Hyunjae blinks. You blink back. Then, horror seeps in.
Oh no.
Oh no no no—
But he bursts out laughing, “yes Y/N, I am — well, no — I’m trying to flirt with you. I have been trying for ages now.”
“Stop shitting me.”
“I swear it on my mother’s head that I am not shitting you,” Hyunjae’s hand releases your chin to raise it at his side and despite yourself, you miss the warmth of his fingertips, “ask the rest of the boys if you’re not convinced.”
“Is this why you wanted to give me driving lessons?”
“Well…” He grimaces, “partly, yes. But I also genuinely wanted you to pass your driving test.”
That earns him a hit on his arm, causing him to yelp, “ouch! What? What did I do? I helped you!” He whines out like a kicked puppy and though you’re aware that Hyunjae is a little too close and that it should’ve made you more uncomfortable that he’s in your personal space, you can’t help but laugh at his expression. He joins you soon enough, all grins and smiles. His free hand absentmindedly drops to your hip to draw comforting circles.
Your small moment is broken when a bus pulls up. Your bus. And though you should’ve been more surprised when the said young man decidedly hops on to accompany you home, there’s something that shifted in the air between you. The ball is in your court now, you know Hyunjae feels and there’s a warm glow that seems to spread across your heart and tingle at your fingertips the more time you spend pondering over the thought that yes, you want this. You want this as much as he does. Maybe more.
He goes back to being your best friend during the bus ride home and it isn’t until he walks you up to your apartment door that nervousness creeps up on you again.
“Thanks for dropping me off. You didn’t have to do that,” you tell him.
He answers with a raised brow, “I only accompanied you home because I’m waiting for an answer. A positive one, hopefully.”
“What answer?” You play dumb.
“Don’t make me repeat it again. My ego’s already gone under the bus. Do you really have to do that?”
You only grin up at him.
He sighs, “fine. Y/N, I like you and I’d like to know if you like me too because otherwise I don’t think we’ll be able to be best friends anymore. On top of that, I don’t think I can keep the promise of being your best man at your wedding—“
Your hand clamps upon his t-shirt and you tug him down, cutting off his speech as your lips press against his in a short, sweet kiss.
Hyunjae’s eyes are glazed over when you pull back, looking at you as if he’s seeing you for the first time.
“Wow.” He murmurs, and before you know it he’s wrapped his arms around you, pushed you back against your front door, before his lips lock upon yours.
Wow is an understatement.
His mouth, so gentle yet firm, opens up against yours. His arms firmly press you to his chest and your hands flatten against his t-shirt, instinctively curling into the material when he parts your mouth and kisses you till your head starts spinning. You never would’ve taken Hyunjae for a gentle kisser, but the way he handles you with care — cupping your face with one hand to tilt your head sideways — causes tingles of excitement to shoot down to your stomach down to your toes.
Every color of the rainbow imaginable bursts behind your lids the more you kiss like you’ll never kiss again for the rest of your life. Pressing you against the door, a gasp suddenly falls from your mouth upon feeling his chest against yours, and that urges his tongue to slip past your lips into your mouth. You moan softly, the slightest of sounds that rumble at the back of your throat, but Hyunjae’s satisfied growl is enough to send your stomach cartwheeling with fireworks. His hands pull you even more insistently, slipping past the material of your shirt to rest against your naked skin, leaving you gasping against him as your hands slip up to the back of his head to fist into those gorgeous locks of his.
Hyunjae grunts in pleasure, tongue tangling up with yours and one hand tracing random shapes along the small of your spine. One of his legs slip between your thighs, causing you to gasp at the sensation. His only response is to drop a hand to your thigh and before you realize what he’s doing, he’s pulled your leg up to hook it around his waist as another soft growl of satisfaction rumbles from the back of his throat.
You can't hold back the whimper escaping you as he traces patterns up your clothed thigh.
"Hyunjae," you gasp out when your lips disentangle so that his dot a line of kisses down to your jaw, "you--"
You never thought of your best friend, capable of doing such things.
You never thought of your best friend, and doing such things with him.
It causes heat to spring up your entire body. It feels all kinds of wrong and all kinds of right at the same time. But one thing for sure is that it feels good. Too good.
He grumbles out something that sounds like, "don't move," mouth echoing kisses along your neck. He brushes along a sensitive spot, causing you to let out a sharp breath and grasp onto his shirt like he's the last thing keeping you afloat.
Pulling back only for air, you're met with his brown eyes filled with such naked affection that makes your tummy twist inside out.
Your nose brushes against his tenderly. With affection.
And when he gives you a smile, it is one filled with a feeling so exhilarating that it knocks the air out of your chest.
He's so beautiful.
"I--" you're at loss for words. What to say when there's nothing that can match the way he makes you feel?
And when he speaks next, his alto has dipped to a murmur:
"I like you."
Your breath catches in your throat.
"I mean, I wouldn't be kissing you if I didn't," he chuckles nervously, pulling back and allowing his hold on your thigh to fall slack, "I couldn't help myself, sorry, maybe I should've asked--"
You tug him to you and kiss his next words away, and the young man moans, kissing back hungrily, even following your lips once you pull back.
"I would've punched you if I didn't like you," you whisper.
As if unconsciously, your hand reaches up to his cheek, thumb stroking over his cheekbone.
He shivers at your touch, leans into it before closing his eyes, "so...you think we can go out for a coffee sometime?"
You can't help the smile that breaks over your face, "if you let me drive us there."
#tbz hyunjae#the boyz hyunjae#hyunjae x you#hyunjae fluff#hyunjae scenarios#hyunjae imagines#hyunjae imagine#hyunjae angst#hyunjae x reader#hyunjae drabbles#hyunjae headcanon#thebiyz fluff#the boyz imagines#the boyz scenario#the boyz fanfiction#the boyz headcanons#the boyz soft hours#tbz x you#tbz fluff#tbz scenarios#lee juyeon#kevin moon#kim sunwoo
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Quarantine: Low Key (LokixReader)
A/N: Hi everyone! How are you all doing???? I'm feeling fantastic (lie)! Anyways, now that Im singllllle I can do whatever the FUCK I want. Meaning slowly working smut back into here bc when I was like 14 y/o I wrote 1 hardcore Liam Payne onr which has already been deleted unfortunately. This will only be light smut sooo if you don't like that shit, keep scrolling.
Pairing: Loki Laufeyson (Loki) x Reader
Warnings: Light SMUT, teasing, language
Normal POV
"Same old, same old?" You asked him before heading to the kitchen. He gave you a quick nod before making himself comfortable again on the couch.
The quarantine is both a blessinh and a curse. Curse because you can't trust people anymore when you go outside and it's fucking boring as hell, but a blessing because you get to spend time with Loki. Just the two of you in your small but chic apartment.
You met him at the tower, when you were recuited as a S.H.I.E.L.D agent and you were captivated almost immediately. His eyes, crystal-esque with a glint of mischief, which he is widely known for. But you, you saw more than what those beautiful eyes held.
You have been dating for 6 months, but you kept it below the radar as you didn't want them to think of you otherwise, not that he's a bad person. He just has a reputation that's all...
But now you are here, quarantined, making waffle sandwiches in the kitchen and your love just chillin'.
You walked over to the couch where he's seated and sat down beside him. You placed your leg on his lap as you chowed down on the sweet sandwiches as you watched TV.
He was only wearing sweats and a tanktop with his hair brushed back. You always thought he was really attractive in this state because it highlighted his features that were mostly hidden in his Asgardian garments. In all honestly, it turned you on. The curves and edges of his form when he moves, his skin looking so touchable and his lips tinged in a tint unique to him.
The way he was slumped on the chair gave you a bit of a sneak peak on his flaccid member clothed by a layer of soft grey fabric. You thought of how much more if he was aroused just for you. You felt the heat on your core rise as your mind raced with endless possibilities.
You bit your lower lip as you withdrew your leg from his lap and got up. He looked at you with wide eyes thinking you were going to leave for a sec. You smirked as you straddled him and kissed him deeply. He cupped your face and you entangled your fingers in his dark hair. You were only wearing panties and you could feel yourself get damp as you kissed.
Loki trailed his hands down to your neck, breasts and waist, holding you closer to him. You moaned into the kiss and he smirked and chuckled as you do. He put a hand on your ass cheek as he draw little shapes on it, making you need him even more.
You could feel his erection press on your clothed flesh, making you grind against him. You pulled away from him as he dreaded the loss of your taste on his lips as your kisses travelled to his jaw and to his neck and you could feel him twitch under you.
You pulled away from kissing him as you focused on grinding on him. He looked at you with needy eyes as you grinded on him. You threw your head back as you grind harder on his clothed crotch earning moans from him.
"You need to stop this instant, love..." he groaned as you laughed a little as you got off him and on your knees. He bit his lip in anticipation and need as you got rid of your oversized sweater, putting your tits on full display for him. You looked at him with doe eyes as his knee nudged one of your tits giving you a bit of friction.
"Mmm... I want you so bad, Loki..." you moaned as you kissed the knee that nudged your tit. He looked at you, his eyes darker with lust as you parted his legs.
His erection is evident under his sweats dirtied with your wetness. A small round spot can be seen on the grey fabric and you gave it a kiss. He smiled as you looked at him through your lashes. His eyes crinkle as he loves seeing you at your state.
Luckily his sweats didn't hide how big he is. The outline of his erection prominent as you licked along his clothed length and gave it open mouthed kisses. You continued this pattern of teasing and licking as your hand reached down your wet clothed core, rubbing through the lacy fabric. The texture of the nude lace adding more to the sensation you needed.
"I swear, y/n. You need to stop this." He growled as you continued the teasing and nuzzling your face on his crotch looking at him innocently.
"No..." you smirked as you kept licking at his crotch. He ran his hand through your hair and he yanked your head back pretty harshly, making you face him. Your eyes looking innocently as you took away your hand from your slicked flesh, covered in your scent.
He saw what you just did and he laughed lustfully, "You naughty little minx... You yourself couldn't wait. Looks like keeping it 'Low Key' is not good for you..."
A/N: Sooo we're gonna stop here because if I go in deeper... I go in deeper HAHAHA. But anyways, I hope you like this fic. Stay saaafe
-Alri
Taggies 💕
@luna4501 @witchymegg @theaussiedragon
#avengers#avengers fanfiction#avengers x reader#loki laufeyson#loki laufeyson x reader#loki laufeyson fanfiction#loki laufeyson smut#loki#loki fanfiction#loki smut#loki x reader#tom hiddleston#tom hiddleston smut#tom hiddleston fanfiction#tom hiddleston x reader#chris hemsworth#sebastian stan#chris evans#robert downey jr#tom holland#marvel#smut#quarantine writing
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The Soulmates Who Aren't Soulmates
Chapter 11
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Hey everyone, I'm sorry for the slow update just school is back and I'm trying to balance between school to writing and because now there's a lot holidays I'll have more time to write, hope you all good!
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Five years ago, in another universe:
Jason smiled at Dick, they were face to face and between them there was Tim, still sleeping peacefully, one hand holding Dick's shirt tightly, the other hand under his check (it was a habit that he had from his childhood, he likes the feeling of the blood rushing to his hand when he wakes up and Dick think that the hand shaped mark on Tim's check in the morning is onr of the cutest things about his soulmate) and his legs are combined with Jason's.
"He's so cute when he sleeps" Dick whispered, moving his hand a bit to move away a stray strand of hair, Jason nodded in agreement, his fingers moving in soothing circles on his soulmate's arm.
Bit by bit the sleep took over him and forced Jason to close his eyes, he went to sleep warm and safe and smiling. He may have gave Tim a drugged coffe so the boy will fall asleep and there might be a little pouting from the small one in the morning but they will deal with it in the morning.
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The sun light kissed the tip of his head, his black hair binds the sunlight which makes his hair shine a little in red-black colour.
He is too comfortable to move, two bodies hugging him from each side and a big blanket throw on him, the sun warming him and it was just too comfortable.
But then again, Tim didn't remember when he fell asleep. Or going to bed. Or even going home.
The last thing he remembered was being in the cave, drinking coffee that Jason offered him...
"You drugged me, didn't you?" His voice cut the silence but his eyes reminded closed.
A kiss to his neck and one arm tightness around him, as his lovers weren't going to let him up (And they really weren't, it's rare to have baby bird with them in the late hours of the morning, even though they are soulmates)
"It was four a.m baby" Jason whispered in his neck, kissing him softly. And then he could feel Dick slowly kissing his forehead, down to his nose and then his lips.
"Yeah Tin, we need to take care of our soulmate, and you just look so cute when you're sleeping" Dick said from his neck, his hot breath tickling Tim's skin.
"I had work to do" he said and melted in their hands, making his soulmates smile and hug him tigher.
"You always have work to do" Dick said and layed his head against Tim's shoulder, closing his eyes. "Oh no, don't go back to sleep, I'm going to make food" Jason said and rolled out of the bed.
"And undrugged coffee?" Tim asked and was answered with a quite laugh from Dick.
"I need a shower" Tim said after couple of peaceful silence between the two of them and Dick moved so now he's laying on his boy, "No. You need to stay here with me"
"You need a shower too, you smell like trash"
"Wow Timmy that's exactly what I want my soulmate to tell me"
"Then I shall do it all the time"
"Ha ha"
...
"What if we will shower together?"
"Now you're talking"
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Four years ago, in another universe:
The seller smiled as she handed him the brown paper bag and the reception "Good luck sweetie" she aaid with cheerful voice that made Tim feel even more happy "Thanks" he said, his smile not leaving his face.
So Tam may kill him because he didn't went to work but he doesn't care, this time he had a better excuse than Jason and Dick kidnapping him.
His smile was still there as he drove home, it was the perfect time to do it, Dick was at work and Jason was with Roy somewhere, probably shooting something.
It usually took soulmates less time to think about it but the three of them had too much on their heads so when Tim was so sure about it that it almost hurt he started to plan.
It wasn't something big, he bought tickets for the new movie that Dick told him about and how much he wanted to see it, he booked a place at this restaurant that Jason loves so much and now that he got the rings, it's just matter of time, he just need to hide the rings until the date will come and hope for the best.
He put the rings in his clothes drawer, under all of his jeans, knowing that they would never look there.
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When the date finally came most of Tim's plan was thrown to the fucking trash because some super creep old man known as Ra's al Ghul couldn't delay there attack. So now red robin was fighting ninjas while thinking about a backup plan and why the hell didn't he thought about one in the beginning-
"Red, you good?" Nightwing asked over the comms, "Yup, how are you and hood?"
"Getting tired of Ra's" made red huff a small laugh as he moved his stuff to knock out two ninjas with one hit.
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"Hey so I think that we will maybe make it to the restaurant" Res said, his cowl replaced by domino mask and hjs smile oh so bright looking at his soulmates, hood laugh was muffled by his helmet and nightwing just smiled back and bended to kiss the smaller vigilant.
Tim pulled awat first and turned around fast, both his hands pulling the other two with him around the corner and
"Holly shit"
A dark room was open, and one of the biggest bombs that red had ever saw was there, counting down two minutes.
"I can hack it" He declared and looked at his soulmates, "Trust me, you need to go out I'll be right behind you" A small smile "I love you" and without waiting for an answer he turned around and walked to the bomb.
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They didn't went to the restaurant. They didn't went home. They didn't went to sleep. All they could do was to look, to dig, to try not to let their feelings show, to try not to cry, but after two days when they found the hand.. Everything fall apart.
When they finally got home the anger that was tingled with sadness took control on Jason and he ripped out Tim's clothing drower. Everything in there was spilled on the floor and his breath hitched when he saw the two small rings boxes.
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"Who are you?" The young man asked, his eyes wide open, trying to understand.
"I'm your soulmate, don't you remember?"
"I don't remember who I am, sorry"
"That's fine, I can help you with that, Your name is Timothy Jackson Drake, and you are my soulmate"
"Sorry but I don't know what your name is"
"My name is Ra's al Ghul"
#tim drake#jason todd#dick grayson#jaytim#dicktim#dickjay#dickjaytim#fluff and angst#angst#death#tim drake death#the soulmates who aren't soulmates#memory loss#ra's al ghul#wthcew
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The Star Wars Saga Is A Meditation On Single Motherhood
It recently dawned on me that the entire story line of the Star Wars saga is built on the lives, loves and tribulations of 3 generations of single mothers. There are monsters to slay and aliens to find and planets to explore, yes, but if you think about the powerful message in the movies, you’ll come to realize it was mostly a reflection on the status of single mothers, the outcomes of their offspring, and the conflict that lives forever in their descendants.
Each trilogy, once reframed, becomes the story of one woman, who finds herself in a situation that is as old as time. She is with child, but the person who planted the seed in her is not by her side.
Shmi Skywalker or The Good Single Mother
In the Phantom Menace, Jedi Knight Qui Gon Jin meets Anakin Skywalker, a slave boy with a talent for repairing machines. The Jedi knight is impressed with the child’s abilities. He’s knowledgeable, intuitive, and most importantly he’s also kind and thoughtful. When a sand storm threatens the group of travelers, Anakin takes them to his own home and offers them shelter.
We meet Shmi Skywalker, who in many ways is the archetype of the good single mother. She is not just quiet. She has completely erased herself. She has no personality, apart from being Anakin’s caretaker. She expresses no needs, no desires, no dreams. She simply loves Anakin, and when she sees an opportunity for him to leave the desert planet ruled by the Huts, she doesn’t stand in his way.
In a now famous scene, Qui Gon asks her about the child’s origins and Shmi famously responds “There was no father”. The line continues: “I carried him. I gave birth. I raised him. I can’t explain what happened”.
The immaculate conception myth refers to the idea in Christianity that Mary, much like Shmi, was impregnated by some magical force, a holy spirit. Both are parabols: images we use to discuss painful topics. Single motherhood has probably always been a part of the human experience. Jared Diamond explains in “Why Is Sex Fun?” that in terms of evolution, it is more rewarding for human males to be “super spreaders “ rather than “good fathers “ . The “good father” gene does not pass down to future generations, because in effect, not sticking around to raise the child is a better strategy for a human man to pass on his genes to the next generation. Not convinced? Just count how many women have been impregnated by a rapper like Future (8 last time I checked). If you’re not into hip-hop, you can think of the offspring of the Mongol Genghis Khan
The purpose of the parabol is to provide an image, to extract ourselves from the technicalities of onr person’s story and to instead talk about all single mothers at once. Indeed, single mothers come in all shapes and sizes. Some are widowed, some are abandoned, others are lied to, and some run away from abusive environments.
Shmi raises her son the best she can, and her love for him is unconditional. She doesn’t bat an eye when he is freed while she is to continue her life as a slave. She doesn’t even seem to mind when Anakin leaves the planet and never returns to free her, even after he marries into some serious money.
But the story of Star Wars tells us that Shmi’s relationship to Anakin, because it was so fusional, because it was all that he had, led to his undoing. In Episode 2, when he senses she is in danger, he jeopardizes his mission to protect Padme to go rescue her. When he eventually finds her, he is so upset about her ultimate death that he commits mass murder, targeting the Tuskan riders of the sea of Dunes.
When Yoda first lays eyes on Anakin, he senses Anakin’s pain, he is just a child whose been ripped away from the only human that’s ever cared for him deeply. The turmoil inside the boy is palpable, and Yoda advises against training him.
Padme Amidala or The Bad Single Mother
Anakin develops feelings for Padme, and in Episode 2 the pair decide to secretly get married in the lake district of Padme’s home planet Naboo. Their relationship is very intense. Both share a strong sense of civic duty: Padme was elected queen of the Naboo when she was just 14 & Anakin is a keeper of the peace. They care deeply about issues such as how the galaxy must be governed, how much action needs to be taken versus when diplomacy must be prioritized.
Their strong sense of service has made them lonely young people. They’re far away from their families, surrounded by advisors, servants and droids - not friends.
They jump into their relationship with an eagerness that suggests it is their original caretakers they crave for.
Padme becomes pregnant while the Clone Wars are raging, and immediately Anakin begins to experience trouble with his sleeping. He imagines Padme is dying in childbirth, and the visions haunt him during the day. His fear that she will die ultimately leads to his decision to join the Dark side of the force. Senator Palpatine has manipulated him into believing that Sith Lords have discovered the power to prevent death itself.
Just like his mother before him, we need to look at Anakin’s story in terms of symbolism. It isn’t really about his specific experience with fatherhood : it’s about the universal conflict that men feel towards their own offspring. Even the way it is announced to him, in the Senate chambers, barely hidden from the rest of the Coruscant elite, implies some sort of entrapment. The columns around them seem to be like a cage that is closing in on his life. He is in the middle of the Wars - he should be celebrating his victory over General Grivious, but instead he is stuck with his wife and he has to absorb her anxiety & reassure her.
Anakin makes a weird, forced smile and says : “This is a happy moment.” But neither Padme nor the audience believe him. Nothing about him feels happy, he isn’t relaxed: he is tense.
At the end of Episode 3, Anakin attempts to kill Padme when she condemns the mass murders he’s committed against the younglings in the Jedi temple. Hr uses for the first time his “strangling” trick, which becomes his signature move in the original trilogy.
Palpatine makes Anakin believe that he’s killed Padme, but the truth is somewhat more nuanced. She dies of heartbreak shortly after giving birth to twins. For anyone who thought this was corny, it’s actually been proven by the scientific community that heartbreak reduces your life expectation (it diminishes the size of the telomeres in your body cells, which is the molecule that helps replicate your DNA).
As Lisa Feldman Barret wrote in How Emotions Are Made:
Emotional harm can shorten your life. Inside your body, you have little packets of genetic material that sit on the ends of your chromosomes like protective caps. They’re called telomeres. All living things have telomeres—humans, fruit flies, amoebas, even the plants in your garden. Every time one of your cells divides, its telomeres get a little shorter (although they can be repaired by an enzyme called telomerase). So generally their size slowly decreases, and at some point, when they are too short, you die. This is normal aging. But guess what else causes your telomeres to get smaller? Stress does. Children who experience early adversity have shorter telomeres. In other words, emotional harm can do more serious damage, last longer, and cause more future harm than breaking a bone
More severe cases involve patients actually dying of a broken heart, the myocardia just collapses under the weight of the sadness the human feels.
The original trilogy should be re-viewed with all of this new information we have. In the 80s, when Empire Strikes Back came out, the “I am your father” line became instantly iconic. But the plot twist was more like an “Oh My gosh!” moment rather than a profound reflection on fatherhood. The audience sympathized with Luke not because his father had been absent and negligent, but because his father’s job was to serve a fachist leader. It was the actions of Darth Vader as a political servant that were questioned, not his refusal to nurture a smaller being.
Padme is the opposite of Shmi. She is the archetype of the “bad” single mother. The bad single mother is the single mother who can’t deal with the situation and checks out of it. She collapses under the weight that she feels on her shoulders. She can't get over the heartbreak, she can’t find the will to live.
Society tends to punish the Padme’s just as much as it praises the Shmis. Television programs like “Teen Mom” are set up to shame the young deviants into adopting the correct behavior. The purpose of the show is to judge these young women into becoming self-sacrificing mothers.
Leia Organa - The Non-single Single Mother
Leia Organa is Anakin Skywalker’s daughter. She is raised by an adoptive frailly on Alderaan after she’s separated at birth from her brother Luke. Much like her mother, she becomes a dedicated public servant, a trusted leader and a beloved public figure.
She is raised by a wealthy family in the central galactic systems. The Organas teach her the ways of the elite political class. As an adult she serves the cause of the Rebels, and when she meets Han Solo in Episode 4, the mediocre smuggler fascinates her.
In the now famous scene from Hoth in Episode 5, Leia declares her love for Han Solo right as he’s about to be frozen in carbonite. The ultimate bad boy responds his chilling, because realistic “I know”.
Han is nothing compared to Leia. He drives a broken down ship, doesn’t have any morals or even a simple code of conduct, much less a cause that he’s dedicated his life to. He has nothing to offer her, and is definitely not in her league. But still, in Episode 6, the pair become an official item.
The last Trilogy was an opportunity to explore Leia’s experience with motherhood. By now we know that Leia’s grandmother was a “Good single mother”, she completely sacrificed herself to protect her son & more importantly she never questioned her status of sole caretaker (remember the “there was no father“ line). We also know that Leia’s mother was a public servant, and a passionate woman who allowed herself to fall deeply in love with a sensitive young man with a non existing support system. Leia’s mother was the “bad” single mother: driven only by her career (Queen of the Naboo, later a Senator of the Old Republic) she did not step up to the task when her destiny revealed itself to her.
Leia seems to share her mother’s taste in reckless young men with a lot of attitude and no emotional security to offer. It’s the excitement she craves, not the tranquility.
Her fate will be the same as her foremothers. She has a child with Han, but when she sends him away to be trained by Luke, she loses them both.
Their dialogue in Episode 7 goes like this:
Han Solo : Listen to me, will you? I know every time you... Every time you look at me you're reminded of him.
Leia : You think I want to forget him? I want him back.
Han Solo : There's nothing more we could have done. There's too much Vader in him.
Leia : That's why I wanted him to train with Luke. I just never should have sent him away. That's when I lost him. That's when I lost you both.
The last trilogy develops Leia’s character in a way that allows her to be something else than just a single mother. She loses her husband, she even loses her son to the dark side: but she never loses herself. Leia doesn’t allow her condition to define her. She becomes a leader of the Resistance even if it means going after her son’s New order.
In Episode 9, Leia even destroys her son to protect Rey - the symbolism is that she’s overcome her role as a mother, she’s rejected the notion that she must sacrifice everything for her son even if it goes against her own self interest (like Shmi). She also rejects the idea that her partner abandoning her is the end of her. It isn’t. Unlike her mother, she finds the will to live, and to lead the next generation of freedom fighters and peace keepers.
The saga ends on a hopeful note for all of us single mothers out there. It comes with a message for us : we don’t need to choose between the austere Shmi and the weak Padme. We can instead decide that this “single mom” problem is kind of like beauty : it lies in the eyes of the beholder.
Single moms don’t need to think of themselves as failures, they don’t need to live in modest conditions, they don’t need to beg society's forgiveness for merely existing. They don’t need to be ashamed.
Single moms don’t need to erase their brains and their lives, and sink into an ocean of denial either. They don't need to be obsessed with their careers or caught up in romantic entanglements that are only going to exhaust them.
Single moms can just decide that they’re women, with beautiful, inspiring personalities and kind, loving hearts. Mothers are first and foremost, the leaders of the young, the protectors of the realm and the makers of the future. It’s not that it doesn’t matter that they’re alone. It’s that they don’t have to be alone at all.
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Dabi x FemGeten
I was suggested the idea of this story by kannra21
If your reading this, I hope its how you wanted the story!
Dabi x FemGeten
Shigaraki stood infront of a group of villains, announcing groups for the next project. Most people were fine with their group, Twice and Toga worked together fine. Compress and spinner worked together well too, alonge with shigaraki and kurogiri. Dabi was rather annoyed when learning he was put in a group with Geten. Geten and Dabi look at Shigaraki with a dissiproving look, either Shigaraki diden't notice or diden't care. Once Shigaraki had finished talking, Dabi and geten had both told Shigaraki about there dissiproval. "So? I don't care about your dissagreement." Shigaraki continued, " I don't give a shit, get to work." Dabi gives Shigaraki a feed up look, causeing Shigaraki to continue talking. " Your powers can balance eachother out. getens quirk will stop you from over heating, and Dabi's quirk will keep you from freezing." Dabi and Geten start bickering about how they don't want to work with eachother. Shigaraki snarls, " I don't care what you WANT." Dabi takes a deep breath and calms himself. If he can deal with the leauge he can deal with some ice cube. Dabi thinks and agrees to work. As long as he is going to be able to meet and fight Endeavour in the war, he was going to keep going. Dabi was following Geten around, incase she needed help. Although she was a pretty good leader. Dabi and Geten were finishing something up when Dabi looks around. He notices that shes onr of the only women here. yet, she is one of the strongest, and she wears a hood over her face and goes by 'Ice Man'."So, whats will the name 'Ice Man'?", Dabi askes. Geten sighs, and pulls down her heavy hood. He had to admit she was quite beautiful, but he wasen't going to tell anyone that. Geten walks up to one of the members, giving them orders. One of the members had refenced to take orderss or even listen. "Listen Doll face, you should watch that mouth of yours.", one of the men even attacked her after she persisted. Dabi Quickly defended her, he diden't like her but he was discusted at the men ien front og him. Dabi then yelled ordrs at them with a snarl, he was quite pissed off now. They had started quirk training, which would be helpful if they were to end up fighting Shoto. Deika is placed in Okumikawa, which is around mautiple rivers, and since geten needs a water source they thought it would be nice to train there. Dabi and Geten ended up fighting against eachotherr for training, and dof course geten won. Geten in the process had soaked her entire jacket. "Here, ice Cube", Dabi lended her his jacket. "Can you stop calling me 'ice cube'?" Dabi just laughed of the queastion and they contined. Dabi and Geten were getting ready to return to the base with her. As he looked at her he notice how small she was. He was staring for a second, but moved his vison to the floor. He felt like he needed to protect her. Even though she was stronge and had just on eagaist him, he felt like she was small and needed protecting. When they returned geten took a Shower, walking out dressed. She was having a hard time brushing all her hair, and asked Dabi to help. He brushed her hair the same way he used to brush Fuyumi's hair. He was suprized in himself that he was here, brushing Getens silky, damp, white hair. He brushed his fingures threw her hair a few times. The more he brushed the more fluffy getens hair got. Geten and Dabi even ended up getting cold soba togtherr, and Dabi diden't hate it. maybe Ice Cube wasen't so bad. Geten talked about herself and the things she likes, dislikes, been threw. Dabi sighed talking about the leauge and vagley about his past. As their walking back to the hidout, Geten kisses him on the cheek and thanks him for the cold soba and time spent together. Dabi realized he was too deep in all this, he was emotionally atached to geten. He wanted to go into war without connections, without realations, without emotional attachments to people. He regrets it now, but it's too late. He's too afraid to lose her now, he doesn't want her fighting in the war. Now hes attached, now he's in too deep.
The End. I hope you liked the story!
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Consumed part 4
Deans pov
I heard the door slam behind me, i looked back but she wasnt there. She wasnt watching me leave, she wasnt the least bit worried where i was going. I jumped in baby and took off, i spotted a liquor store around the corner. I quickly pulled in and grabbed two bottles of whiskey, paid for them and left. I drove for a few more minutes and the neon lights of a motel caught my eye. I got a room for the night and order some takeout. The delivery guy showed up twenty five minutes later.
I opened the whiskey, took about five big slugs of it the slammed it back down on the table. (Y/n)'s words haunted me as the replayed over and over in my mind. Her eyes were cold her voice flat. I really had no one to blame but myself for this.
I couldnt be angry with her about any of it, she was right it is my fault. Thats all that went through my mind. How i fucked everything up and now i think i have truly lost the one woman who loved me just as i was. The other women i cheated on her with knew me as a FBI agent, a marshal, a lawyer, a cop. They all knew the fake me, and (y/n) knew the real me. Dean 'the fuck up' winchester, yet she loved me.
I think thats what scared me, i didnt want to be dean winchester. I wanted to escape my life and be someone else, anyone else but who i really was. She could see down to my broken soul, everytime i made love to her she would somehow see a little farther down inside me. I couldnt pull another innocent person down with me, so i would go out at night and thought about fucking other women but all that would happen would be a heavy makeout session and that was it.
I never fucked any woman despite what (y/n) thinks, or sam for that matter. They suspected i slept with every woman i was with but the truth is (y/n) was the only onr i was having sex with. I couldnt tell her though because she would never believe me, not then and defintely not now. I brought the whiskey back up to my lips and drank a generous amount before stopping.
I had to make her see reason, but how could i? She was hell bent on not listening to anything i had to say, but i could see it in her eyes just a sliver of feelings that she once had for me was still there. She didnt want me to see it i know she didnt, but it was there. Thats what makes me hopeful that eventually she will come around and talk to me, but for tonight im getting drunk and passing out.
I woke up to bright sunlight in my face and a scratchy kind of fabric against my cheek. I opened my eyes to see i hadnt even made it to the bed, i was laying on this half ass carpet or whatever they want to call it beside the bed. The two empty bottles of whiskey lay on the floor beside me, the chinese takeout box was turned over on the table with food spilling out.
I groaned and pushed myself to a sitting position, my mouth felt like it was full of cotton and a really bad taste was on the back of my tongue. I stood up, made my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth. After i brushed my teeth i jumped in the shower and changed into some new clothes. I glanced at the clock and it was one thirty, damn i must have really been out of it.
I grabbed my bag and keys and headed for baby. After i dropped the key off at the front desk i headed straight to (y/n)'s house. When her house came into my vision i saw an all to familiar car sitting right behind hers in her drive.
I parked at the same spot i had yesterday on the street across from her house. I walked up to her front door and raised my hand to knock, then i moved it down and turned the door knob. It was unlocked surprisingly, so i didnt bother with knocking or announcing i was there. I could hear their voices comig from the living room.
"We have to do something before this blows up in our face." She said to sam.
My rage boiled as i saw them sitting close together on the couch. Sams around rested on the couch behind (y/n).
"Before what blows up in our face?" I asked and smirked as they both turned around in surprise, like they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
"You just cant take a hint can you? Youre not wanted here." Her words stung, there could be only one explanation. Sam was replacing me.
I looked at sam, my eyes glaring holes into my brother. "So this is how it is. Im out and sam is in now." My jaw muscle clenched and my teeth grit together saying those words. I couldnt believe what i was saying.
Sam actually had the nerve to look confused. "What are you talking about dean?"
"You swooped in the moment im out of the picture. I always knew there was something between you two." I really never felt like there was something between them but now i was starting to wonder. I was surprised when she laughed, laughing at me or what i said i had no idea.
"Sam is here because i still like him. He never lied to me. He never hurt me, i trust sam."
Sam sighed and quickly added, "theres nothing between me and her. Im helping her with a case." I internally breathed a sigh of reliefe when sam laid all my fears to rest. Even though it would piss me off if they got together, i couldnt think of a better man for her.
I walked over to the recliner that was sitting across from the couch and plopped down in it. "In that case im all ears." I could see how much it annoyed (y/n) but i was getting one step closer because she didnt tell me to leave. Not yet at least.
"Just humor him for the moment. Im in no mood to argue." She waved her hand in my direction but kept her eyes on sam. He nodded but looked at me and smiled a little because he was thinking the same thing i was.
I listend closely as she described what the hunt was like last night and that vampires and werewolves were working together. "If vampires and werewolves can work together its untelling how many other monsters are." Sam said rubbing his hand over his face.
"I say we get some food then come back to it with a full stomach." I said standing and stretching. Sam nodded and surprinsgly so did (y/n).
"I'll go get the food." She said but before i could disagree sam did first.
"Nah we will go get it." Sam said standing and motioning me to come outside with him. I walked outside on the porch but stopped sam before he went down the steps.
"Here," i said handing him the keys to baby. "Take my car, ill stay here." I said smirking at sam but he looked uneasy.
"I dont think thats a good idea dean. Just because she didnt throw you out this time theres no need to push your luck."
I shrugged, "worth a shot. Dont hurry back." I winked at him, sam shook his head and turned to leave. I stood there on the porch for a few minutes collecting myself. I have to go about this differently i cant just demand anything from her.
If i want her to talk to me, i have to change my tactics. I took a deep breath and opened the door. I could hear the shower running down the hall and it took all of my strength not to go in there and rip that curtain open to make her mine.
I walked into the kitchen and helped myself to a beer then sat back down in the recliner. I take a long sip of beer hoping it will calm my nerves. I hear the shower turn on off a few minutes later, then the bathroom door open. 'Alright, game time.'
@an-unhealthy-obsession @vicmc624 @holylulusworld @tftumblin @justanotherwinchester
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Roman Godfrey Imagine
Roman Godfrey x reader
Requested: “Can you make onr Where i am peters sister and i like roman and he likes me to which i dont know and his otger friend makes a bet to get me in bed and it works but he doesnt want it to be a brt anymore but its too late and the next day at school i daw his friends give him money and telling that he get me in bed and i hear him and roman os not happy that he got the money but he fakes it and he sees me and i run off and peter finds out and fights with roman and after a couple of days at scgool this boy corners me at the lockrs and touches me and days he doesnt to things like that to me and i dont want it and he tries to touch me and roman sees it and fights him and he helps me yo his house and we talk and we get together? :)”
Your Pov You had just arrived to school after being driven by your brother Peter. when you guys got there he immediately left your side saying he needed to talk to one of his teachers. You didn't mind slash didn't care so yo just went your own way which was to your locker.
In school you were considered the shy girl who wasn't popular but at the same time you weren't considered a loser either. People knew who you were and you knew others but didn't converse. You just sticked with your group of friends.
You hated school. School was never really your thing but the only reason you went was to see your brother friends Roman. You knew a lot about him considering he was friends with your brother but you guys didn't talk that much. Even though Peter was friends with him, he didn't want you getting involved with his friends. This caused you to just day dream about him on what you could've been.
You got to your locker, opened it and started to transfer stuff to and out of your backpack and to the locker. Out of the corner of your eye you saw someone staring at you. You looked at saw Roman staring at you. You offered him a smile to which he returned and you looked away getting back to what you were doing.
Bills Pov Unbeknownst to him, one of his friends who were standing next to him saw Roman staring at you and smirked.
"Trying to figure out how you're going to get the next girl into bed?" One of Romans friends asked.
Roman looked at his friends, "What makes you say that?" All Romans friend did was nod in your direction. Roman looked down unhappily knowing what his friends were about to make him do.
"I'll give you $200 if you get her to sleep with you." His friend said to him.
"That money is like change to him," another friend of his said. Roman hesitated to say anything watching as you walked away. He had a crush on you since you moved here with Peter. Ever since he found out you guys were related, he always wanted to hang out with Peter in hopes that he could have a decent conversation with you but he never could.
"Come on! You doing it or what?" The friend who told him to sleep with her said.
"I'm not sleeping with her." Roman fired back. He began to light a cigarette.
"Too ugly?" One said.
"Not ugly, you've got a crush don't you?" Bill pulled the cigarette out of his mouth. He didn't like appearing weak in front of his friends because he wasn't that type of person, that wasn't part of his reputation.
"I'm telling you right now I can get her to sleep with me!" Bill exclaimed.
"Prove it!"
"I will." With that Roman walked away in search for you, not happy about what he was abou to do.
Your Pov School had finally ended and you walked back to your locker. Waiting for you was no other than Roman Godfrey, who was smoking.
"You know you shouldn't smoke, you'll live longer." You said to Roman opening your locker. You were actually super happy that you and him were finally talking to each other. All Roman did was drop the cigarette on the ground and step on it.
"You shouldn't liter, it's not nice," you said.
"To who is it now nice?" He replied with a smirk.
"What do you want Roman?" You asked him seriously and with more attitude. Romans been over to your house before and you know him, or at least you thought you knew him. He was much sweeter than how he was acting now. More of a gentleman, but you guessed he acted like a jerk because of his reputation.
Romans Pov He looked at your facial expressions and knew he was blowing it.
"I was wondering.......if you....." Roman was having trouble getting the words out. This never happened to him. What happened to him and why were you making him feel like this. He took a breath and told himself that you were just another one of the other girls. Ones he could manipulate to do whatever he wanted. But when he looked up at you again he couldn't. He didn't want to manipulate you. He wanted something real with you.
"I was wondering," he started again, "if you'd like to go out with me Friday night."
Your Pov You looked at him curiously. He went from being cocky to sweet.
"I don't...." you said, knowing your brother wouldn't like it.
"Please, just one night, and if you don't enjoy it then I won't try again." Sometimes when you like someone you had to be selfish. You couldn't think about if others would want you to or not. You had to make the decision not thinking about your brother and what he might think but how you would feel.
"Sure," you finally let out.
"Great, I'll pick you up at 8." Roman said and walked away. You stopped what you were doing and just processed what happened. He never once talked to you before even though he was friends with your brother. Why change? You weren't disappointed, rather happy. You just didn't understand him.
It was now friday night and you were getting ready to go out.
"Where are you off to?" Peter asked walking into your room.
"I'm going out with friends." You told him, scared that if you said you were going out with Roman he would get angry.
"You're wearing makeup. You never wear makeup with your friends."
"Well I just wanted to impress myself for once." You told him. Peter looked at you not believing in what you were saying.
You put on your outfit and finished getting ready. Once done you heard a honk outside and quickly said goodbye to everyone and that you'd return later.
Peters Pov Peter watched has you go into Romans car. What were you doing with him?
Bills Pov Friday night came and Roman took you to an amusement park. He had payed for the whole thing so it would be only you and him there.
You guys were now on the carosel and you were holding onto the bar laughing and smiling. He watched as you smiled, as your eyes sparkled in the moonlight. Your smile lighting up his heart making him smile. Roman has never felt this way before.
He'd usually use girls but with you he wanted to be gentle. Staring at you he was reminded of the bet he made with his friends. He looked down disappointed in himself and angry that he was doing this. He didn't want to have sex with you unless you allowed him to. He was willing to wait for when you'd be ready. He was about to doing something he knew he was going to regret.
Your Pov After going on more rides and eating candy and taking pictures, Roman drove you home. You guys were now in your parking lot just sitting in the car in silence.
"I had fun tonight," you said to him smiling.
He smiled and blushed, "I'm glad you did. Does this mean that we can hang out together again."
"Of course, silly." You guys looked at each other. He started leaning in and you followed his lead. Your lips met and stayed together for a few seconds before pulling away. You looked down smiling. You felt a hand on your chin turn your face to be met with a face that made your knees weak. You guys kissed more passionately this time. You pulled away first and just stared at him and smiled.
"I've got to go," you told him.
"I'll see you tomorrow." You nodded and got out of the car.
Romans Pov Roman watched as you walked to and inside your house. He looked at the steering wheel and knew that tomorrow he'd regret seeing you. He didn't want tomorrow to come because he wanted you to see him like this, the guy who smiles when you smile. He didn't want you to think he was an asshole. He acted like that at school and didn't care what people tought of him but he did care what you think.
Roman with tears in his eyes drove away wishing tomorrow would never come.
Your Pov "Yep, this is my house, and this is my room," Roman said while leading you into his room. You looked around and just smiled and chuckled.
"What?" Roman asked.
"It's not what I pictured."
"What did you picture then?"
"You don't want to know."
Roman laughed, "I'm not like that." You laughed along with him and ploped yourself onto his bed. All Roman did was stare at you. H ewalked to you and got ontop of you, interwining your hands.
"Hi," you whsipered.
"Hi." You guys continued to stare at each other when he kissed you. He kissed you gently at first but then it started to get more intimate.
He definitely he hated himself after that. He hated his friends but he hated mostly himself for doing this to you.
It was Monday when Romans friends decided to bother him. Roman unwillingly told the story of you and him.
"Alright man, you did well, here's your $400." The friend who made the bet gave Roman the money.
"Did you catch feelings?" One friend asked.
"Do you think someone like me would catch feelings for someone like her?" When he finished his question he turned and saw you staring at him with tears in your eyes. You shook your head and just ran away.
"Awww looks like she caught feelings," one friend told Roman.
Roman just smirked, "Oh well."
Your Pov How could you have been so stupid? To believe someone like him could love you or even care for you. All you were was an object to him.
You cried while you walked home, heartbroken. Did you really think he was a gentleman, or was that a whole lie to get you into bed? All you thought was that you should've listened to Peter.
You were lost in thought when you heard a car horn. You turned around to see what it was and you saw it was Roman. You turned back around and started to walk faster.
"Y/n listen to me," Roman yelled.
"I don't want to listen to anything you have to say," you yelled at him. Roman parked the car and got out and ran toward syou and grabbed your arm and turned you to face him.
You immediately pulled your arm out of his grasp, "Don't touch me!" You shook your head at him, "How could you?"
"I'm sorry," Roman said softly.
"No you're not! You're not sorry. You're just glad that you won the bet and got money!"
"That money is like change to me," Roman said to you.
"It doesn't matter, you wouldn't miss out on the opportunity to have sex with a girl," you yelled at him, "I should've listened to Peter when he told me to stay away from you," you said normally this time.
"Y/n..."
"Don't," you cut him off, "Don't get near me ever again." You walked away leaving behind a crying Roman.
As soon as you got home you slamed the door to your room and cried on your bed.
Peters Pov He was in his room when he heard both the front door and your bedroom door slammed closed. He got up from his bed ad walked to your room where he heard you crying.
He knew that this had something to do with Roman.
Romans Pov Roman was walking outside smoking a cigarette, at school when he was pushed to the ground. He looked up to see Peter.
"You son of a bitch!!!" Peter yelled at Roman. Peter got ontop of him and started to punch Roman in the face.
"You think you can hurt my sister!" Roman didn't fight back, he just took the beating. Peter punched Roman a few more times before he got up. He walked a few feet away and came back and kicked Roman in the stomach. Not realizing that you need there help.
Your Pov You were at your locker when a guy came up to you and started to touch grope you.
"Get your hands off of me," you told th eguy and pushed him away.
"Or what? Your brothers not around?" He smirked.
"Go away." The guy just smiled.
Peters Pov Peter was on the floor about to kick Roman again when he heard a scream, your scream. He looked to the direction and looked at Roman.
Peter helped Roman get up, "Now you're helping me," Roman said sarcasticly.
"Shut up or I will leave you here."
Your Pov You had locked yourself into the girls bathroom while you heard the guy trying to break the door down. You sat up against the farthest wall crying.
You stayed against the wall until you heard the pounding at the door stop. He looked up at the door scared. You heard grunts but still remained where you were.
There was a lighter knock at the door, "Y/n......"
You got up and walked towards the door and opened it to see Roman all beaten up leaning against the wall for support. You looked to your right to see Peter beating up the guy who was trying to harass you.
You took another look at Roman, "You look like shit."
Roman chuckled, "Thanks."
Peter ended up driving you, him and Roman to your guys house. You went to the bathroom with Roman to clean him up.
You were dabbing a wet cloth to his face when he finally decided to speak up, "I'm sorry. For everything. I never wanted to hurt you. I loved you from the moment you and Peter moved here. I promise you I didn't want to do the bet, but I was so caught up on my reputation. Now i just don't care. I regretted making that bet. And I'm sorry. I know you may never forgive me but I want you to know how sorry I am. You make me feel all weird inside. And......"
You cut Roman off by kissing him on the lips. Roman was surpirsed after first but kissed back gently. When you guys pulled away you guys leaned on each others foreheads.
"I love you, I swear I do." Roman said to you.
"I know. I forgive you because I'm in love with you too," you said, "Don't hurt me ever again."
"I promise I won't."
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Adam and Eve Chapter Three: Friends Keep Promises
Summary:Polly wants Cheryl to move in with the Coopers and Archie asks Jughead a favor.
Words Count: 2602
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
There was a tangible stillness in the trailer. Both Jughead and Betty laid naked on the couch, the itchy material making their skin burn and sweat. The two had just caught a glimpse of a hollow darkness inside them that seemed bleaker than the gray walls of FP’s trailer. Betty grabbed a puke colored orange blanket from the arm of the couch and wrapped it around her nakedness, plus her boyfriend’s Southside Serpent jacket, offering a spot for Jughead with her right arm outstretched. His knees were held up to his chest and he looked frightened. He glanced dryly at her invitation and shook his head.
“What we did was weird and scary,” Jughead spoke up. He opted not to look at Betty until she takes his chin in her hand and gently pulled him into a featherlight kiss.
“But wasn’t it thrilling?” Betty’s soft voice echoed with ashamed excitement.
Jughead felt his lips involuntarily curl into a shy smile, looking anywhere but his girlfriend’s eyes. She was right, there was nothing in this world that compared, in his short 16 years in the world anyway, than engaging in intimate danger with Betty; so fascinating and wrong. Maybe they weren’t meant to be right. Nothing that has happened since July 4th had been ‘right.’ That was how Riverdale was now. That was how Betty and Jughead were now.
Betty presented the space under her blanket for Jughead again. He gladly snuggled up against her this time. The pony-tailed blonde smirked coyly as she realized his signature beanie had been perched upon his head the whole time they had sex.
“I feel like even when I was so hopelessly and stupidly in love with Archie, I was always intrigued by you,” Betty mused as she leaned her sweaty head on Jughead’s bare chest. “The way you didn’t care what people about you while still caring so much about people. You’re so… human. When everything else in this dumb town is primped and polished and plastic you live and breathe and cry and laugh and scream. It’s almost enchanting.”
A pause settled over the room before Jughead said, “Wow. I guess I I don’t know what to say.”
“Just know that I love you,” Betty chirped with a peck on the cheek. “As much as I would love to stay here with you forever, I should get home. I’m surprised Mom hasn’t called already. Alice Cooper must have signed up for coffee hour again.”
Betty checked her phone and saw the screen display 12:31pm.
“It’s only 12:30? This has been the longest day of my life.”
“You’re telling me,” Jughead scuffed, but with an airy laugh.
Betty shed Jughead’s leather jacket to replace it with her own clothes. She had never been naked so often in her life. Before Veronica came to town, Kevin was the only person she felt comfortable changing in front of. She used to secretly wished Archie was peering at her through the slits in his window shade, but now that felt so juvenile. Jughead made her feel like a woman, a desirable woman, when she was so used to rejection from Archie and being treated like an infant by her mother. She felt the weight of her ponytail on her back and it suddenly felt out of place there, like an old man placing an unwanted hand on the back of her neck. She looked at the two guns on the couch, one hers and one his. It reminded her of those silly his and hers towels people get as wedding gifts. She had half the mind to bedazzle hers with pink jewels. She giggled at the juxtaposition in her head.
Jughead rose from his place on the stain spotted sofa and wrapped his naked body around her clothed onr. He left little kisses and licks on the side of her neck, causing the blonde to lose focus for a moment.
“You should probably check in with your foster parents,” Betty let out with unsteady breaths.
The Jones boy sighed and moved from Betty’s neck. He had met them briefly, they were nice people and all, by they didn’t have much room for Jughead and they other children they fostered as well as their own biological son. The littler kids needed to be there, have guidance and protection, but he could take care of himself just fine. He had the trailer and whatever FP left. He would probably even have water and electricity paid for until the end of the month and with the money coming in from working with the Serpents, he could manage all by himself. The foster family was just a pony show for the state. The Carters, his foster family, had a zoo of people; they probably didn’t even notice he hadn’t been around. Betty was right though, he should still check in.
“I would like to meet them,” Betty added.
“Maybe,” Jughead said and kissed her rosy cheek.
“I better,” Betty gave him a playful swat on the butt and opened the heavy metal door. She looked back for a second, absorbing the sight of her boyfriend standing stark naked with nothing but a cockeyed beanie on his head. She smiled warmly and went outside.
--------
Betty crept in the house to find her very pregnant sister caressing her bulging stomach. Betty was constantly aware of the town’s obsession with the new Blossom twins. They were special, certainly, ‘purely Blossom’ Penelope had called it, but Betty couldn’t help but think there was something else to the story of her nieces or nephews.
The younger blonde looked away from her sister. The way Polly had a blank smile stretched to either side of her face as she stroked her body irked her. Betty attempted to sneak past and up to her room to get on the homework she uncharacteristically neglected, but Polly stopped her with, “You’re lucky mom and dad had to rush to the Registrar. Big story on Archie’s dad, but I’m sure you’ve already heard that.”
“I have,” Betty answered, motionless.
“Come sit, Sis,” Polly patted the seat next to her.
Betty sat carefully, her back stiff and arms held tightly to her side. Polly and her and reconnected once she rescued her from the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, but it seemed her limited time at Thornhill, even undercover, seemed to give her the creepy friendliness that the Blossoms inherited.
“Thornhill is in ashes,” she said blankly.
“What?” Betty jolted up and clenched her fists until she felt blood. She relaxed them instantly, regretting giving into the impulse to harm herself. The Cooper girls did not show emotions outwardly, they kept it inside. But Betty’s not a robot, her emotions boil and erupt. So instead of breaking her cool, she projects the pain onto herself. No one can live like that forever. That’s why she was so inspired when her mother threw a brick through the Registrar's window; a Cooper woman was allowed to feel again, just to be disappointed when she took her dad back in the end. Betty wiped her hands on her pants and left streaks of blood there. She hoped Polly didn’t notice.
“Cheryl called this morning from some fancy hotel in town. She wanted to purify the place she told me,” Polly explained. Betty noticed the tell-tale glint in her eyes, Polly was upset. “That was the last place Jason called home.”
Tears were falling from her eyes now. It was an ugly hysterical cry that left her not burying her face in her hands, but looking towards the ceiling as if she was begging Jason to come down from his pillowy cloud and fix everything. Betty sat down next to her and held Polly’s quivering hands.
“That’s all it is. A house. The thing that made Thornhill Jason’s home was Jason,” Betty said softly to her fragile sister.
Polly nodded, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her lavender cardigan, trying to pull herself together.
“Maybe we should have Cheryl, Penelope and Grandma Rose live with us while they look for another place,” Polly offered.
Was Polly hallucinating? Was there a something a little special slipped into the wafer cookies during coffee hour at church? For one, the remaining Blossoms would not feel comfortable in an average colonial, let alone accept an invitation from the Coopers. Who, she guessed, were also Blossoms. What the hell was wrong with this town?
“Polly, that is very sweet, but completely out of the realm of possibility,” Betty said as gently as she was able.
“Maybe at least Cheryl can stay. I know Jason would want me to take care of her.”
“Where would we put her?”
“She can sleep in my room,” Polly proposed.
“Ask Mom and Dad I guess,” Betty gave up and started to go for her room.
“You won’t even see her. You’ll be off with Jughead anyway,” Polly said. It could have been just a friendly older sister teasing moment, but the heaviness in Polly’s voice told Betty it wasn’t. It was more of an accusation. Was Polly jealous? Did she want her to spend time at home?
“He is my boyfriend….”
“Sure,” was all Polly said before quickly ending the conversation by pulling out her cell phone.
Betty climbed the beige carpeted stairs to her room and felt the weight of the gun in her bag. She needed somewhere to hide it. Her mother still looked through her things, for her diary for example, so it had to be super hidden. All traditional hiding places were out of the question, like under the bed or in the sock drawer. There was one place Alice would never think of though. A place she thought was safe from debauchery. Betty hid the gun in her pile of stuffed animals hung from a corner hammock on the wall on the right side of her room. She patted the head of her old teddy bear, Mr. Cuddles, and told him to keep her secret safe.
-----
Jughead was sleeping and still naked on the couch when he heard a knock of the steel trailer door. He was startled awake and looked quickly to his gun, debating if he should wield it or hide it. She chose the later as she slipped the piece under the couch cushions with the echoing sound of the door still pounding.
“Yeah, one sec,” he grumbled to the guest on the other side. He imagined it was Hack Saw and was too tired to get into the Serpent business just yet. The beanie clad boy tugged on his jeans, sans underwear and pulled the door open, pleasantly surprised to see his redheaded friend. His eyes were cast down.
“Can I come in?” When Archie looked up, his blue eyes were bloodshot.
“Of course, man,” Jughead moved to the side and let him in.
Archie went straight to the couch and plopped down. Jughead winced, knowing that if Archie had an inkling of what had just happened on it he would burn it to ugly 1970’s upholstery ash.
“So you’re a Serpent now,” Archie began.
“They said they’d look out for me, yeah,” Jughead answered.
“Are you doing work for them?” Archie asked, his thick eyebrows furrowed incredulously.
“I kinda have to. I’m just getting bar supplies,” the black haired boy shrugged. This felt like a questionnaire and he didn’t want any part of it. Jughead thought it was odd he wasn’t at the hospital with Fred, but maybe he was distracting himself by interrogating Jughead. He wasn’t heartless, he would do whatever Archie needed to feel better. And if that meant pummeling him in the chest like Cheryl did, then so be it. However, Archie pummeling his chest would be a lot more painful.
“Illgeally?”
“Well, yeah. I’m sorry Arch, is everything alright?” Jughead asked.
Archie bolted upright and took one large step toward Jughead, pinning him against the old island counter.
“No! Nothing is alright! My dad is dead! He died two hours ago!” Archie’s yelled with his fists and jaw clenched tightly.
A wave of everything crashed over both boys as the omission was out in the air, swirling around both of them inside the four walls of the trailer. Jughead was the first person Archie told. He was his oldest friend and Archie knew, despite his possible Benedict Arnold behavior, Jughead loved Fred too. The growing men turned into the little boys that used to play in the sandbox in the Andrews’ back yard, and sobbed in each other’s arms. There were tears of apology, heartbreak, understanding and fear for the unknown future. They settled down and sat on the couch together in silence.
“I came by because I need to ask you something,” Archie said, finally breaking the choking silence.
“Anything, Archie,” Jughead said with every ounce of serenity left in his bitter body.
“Kill the man that killed my father,” Archie requested his face serious and unwavering.
Jughead was speechless. He was a Serpent now, yes, but he wasn’t a hitman. He had planned to use his connections with the Serpents to hopefully gather some intel on the shooting, but he hadn’t come up with a plan for what to do if he ever found out.
“Even if it’s a fell snake,” Archie added.
Jughead fell into investigative journalism in light of Jason’s murder and began to thrive on a thrill of uncovering things people wanted to stay buried. The mission was intriguing, but nonetheless, this was several steps beyond playing Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys with his girlfriend. This was murder. A righteous murder most likely, but still murder. He found himself wanting to consult Betty first. What a silly question to ask your girlfriend. Should I tell my best friend that yes, I will find and kill the man that killed your father? In a roundabout way he felt like Liam Neeson. A part of him was also annoyed that Archie would just assume that now he was a Serpent, he was a complete criminal. Another example of how Archie doesn’t see life in technicolor,but black and white.
“I’ll work to figure it out, of course, but killing someone? Could I even do that? Could you?” Jughead’s voice strained against his throat.
“I never could. I wish I could… but you’re the next best thing. He loved you like a son, too. One of us needs to do this. I saw that look in your eye when you punched Chuck,” Archie looked at him with abnormally clouded eyes.
Jughead felt uncomfortable with his assertion, “You think I could kill someone? You think I’m that psycho serial killer, Donnie Darko, Edward Scissorhands bullshit Reggie always calls me?”
“You would be surprised what anyone would do if they’re pushed far enough,” Archie said knowingly. Jughead wondered if he was talking from experience.
“I will find him. That, I promise, Archibald,” Jughead said, draping an awkward arm around his friend’s shoulders.
“I’m sorry I blew up at you earlier, Jug. I’m trying to understand,” Archie admitted.
Jughead just nodded. That was enough for him.Archie was trying.
“I need to get home to my mom,” Archie said, moving to the door.
“How is she?” Jughead asked.
“As good as she can be I guess.”
“Tell her I’m thinking of her.”
“Sure,” Archie said as he closed the front door.
Jughead hadn’t notice how puffy and tired his eyes were until he closed them, trying to envision himself holding a gun to a man’s head, much like how Clifford Blossom did to his son last summer, and actually pulling the trigger.
#rivderale fanfiction#riverdale#bughead fanfiction#jughead jones#betty cooper#archie andrews#polly cooper#multipchap
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Moni and Kelimutu volcanoe
Getting there is half the fun. We snorkelers from Riung needed to get to Ende, Swiss to catch a plane, me to Moni for volcanoe clinmbing. Sam tried to get us on the bus but someone had chartered it, and there was no bus Monday so he charteredus a Bemo. A Bemo is a van converted to benches to stuff in as many people and produce/cargoe as possible. We could go to the nex town where transport to Ende would be plentiful(sic). The lovely Indonesian girl travelling with the Swiss guy chatered with the driver and we chartered all the way to Ende(5 hours) for $12 each. Good thing as the only thing moving in the next town were some dogs, no transport. We were the only Bemo on the road, as evidenced by shouting waving women trying to stop us for a ride. We squeezed onr Muslim hijabbed lady in, though she was repelled by the sight pf us heathens Up over the Spine of Flores, a mountain road that alternated switchbach jungle with surprisingly large flat valley bottoms filled with verdant green rice paddys. Former lava troughs from the surrounding volcanoes?
Descending to the sea the road was blasted and hacked out of the nearly vertical hillsides , and snaked around bare bluffs and sharp turns in gullys. Al lthis with zooming motorcycles and transport trucks on both sides of the narrow road. Our country bumpkin driver put down his cell phone and stopped texting long enough to smoke another cigarette. Everybody smokes, cigarettes are $1 a pack, and banners advertising them read, “ Are you strong enough? Never quit!”
In Ende, a steamy port town, where the ferrys ( think BC ferry rejects from 1960) leave for more remote islands, our driver was lost and nervous in traffic, and he tried to dump us at the nearest bus station. Nope, we had him hire a local on a motorcycle to guide us th the Moni bus stop, a thatched shelter beside the roaring road. Here the German couple anounced they needed an ATM. and retreated into town. I was hussled by the bus wrangler(I hate it when someone grabs my pack and trots off), but bought him a coke and he got friendly, put my big bag up in a secure place on the roof rack, and me in the back of the bus behind the chattering ladys, little kids, and a short climb over bags of groceries, beside the Egyptian faced smoker and the Muslim lady barfing into a bag. Prime seating!
Off we clattered up a sheer sided rock valley on another chopped from the hillside road, where a pretty little stream foamed among big rocks. Presumably the foam from laundry being pounded on the rocks by local ladys living in bamboo huts perched on any flat spot. When, in the dry season, did the first people venture away from the sea and go up this 10 mile canyon, which would have been wall to wall water in the rains? Were they fleeing sea raiders? Needing room for agriculture? There is only oral history and it does not go fat back.
2 hours of climbing into cooler altitudes, leaving the bamboo for full sized forest trees, and passing a few side valleys filled with tiny towns. There are people everywhere, and they are cutting all the accessible trees, milling them with chain saws, and using the off cuts for cooking firewood. We stopped for no discenible reasons here and there, rolled a drunk out the door, and gotto the big valley of Moni town. Here the bus offloadedme on a side road, where the nicelady from Palm bungalows hd her brothe rin law take me to my reccomende guest house. I think the Swiss guy who reccomended it stayed in the more expensive bungalows. I got a bamboo sweat box, for $20, an outrageous price, but I had prepaid online with my credit card ,so... I stayed. Walked back to Palm for a ggod lunch and booked a room for the next night, 3 times the size, private bath, windows and porch. off the road, all for $5 more. there were cute bamboo cabins for $5, but I chose the deluxe. Sometimes it is best to buck up and enjoy. Some people try to travel for as little as possible, eating crap food and sleeping in mosquitoe haunted rooms. With my daily budget of $50 all in, I can usually travel and stay for $30, using the surplus for upgrdes and tours.
Next day I rented a m.c. from Palm and moved there. The Honda automatic had 200,000 k, but ran well. I used it to ride up Kelimutu volcanoe on a switchbacked but well paved road with no traffic. Tough to drive on the left! Tougher to power up the sharp corners, leaning the bike, and watching the spectacular views unfold. Hey, you did’nt think I hiked 5 miles up to 10000 feet?! The vegetation changed abruptly when I paid and entered the park. Big trees, masses of roadside ferns, natural cover, uncut. Topping the last ridge, I parkd and hiked the final mile on a paved path, up 1000 steps to the summit of the inactive volcanoe. The calderas, are filled with lakes, chemically coloured, black(#1), Blue(#2) and brilliant tourqoise. They are perhaps 200 meters across, in sheer sided cliffs.
Break, breakfast is calling, and then snorkelling, More later..
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Pantheons
So this seems to be a popular question. 🌷Do I have to stay within onr pantheon? Do I need Gods and Goddesses? What if I'm a Christian, etc?
As we keep seeing, witchraft and wicca are two different things. Witchcraft is more of a hobby in the fact that it is the practicing of material things and a set of thoughts, more like one would play an instrument or collect figuring. Wicca is a Religion.
This doesnt mean that you cant mesh the two, because arguably witchcraft can be more fullfilling working with deity and believing in a higher power. This also doesn't discount the fact that you can worship anyone or thing you wish and incorporate it into your practice. Personally I always felt a strong connection to what the mainstream religions dub God. It was simple, and fulfilling and it worked. Now even that I have moved away from that, I still acknowledge God, but I am no longer bound to one way of thinking. Religion is whatever you make of it, whatever you accredit power to. If you'd like to work with Mercury or Hermes for instance and also with perhaps the Lady of Guadeloupe, then you are more than free to do so. Each path in witchcraft is completely unique to each person. Though you may find like-minded people who worship the same deities as you...Aphrodite for example, everyone interprets deity differently.
If you'd like to have a statue of Mars on one side of your altar, offerings to Odin in the middle, and Krishna on the left, then all the more power to you. Follow your heart and do what is right for you. Mould these desires to reflect a completely unique, personal version of you. 🌸🌹Blessed Be.
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My little dishwashing #lips and onr of my plate sets I bought for myself. It's not glass, but it's not paper plates either and I just wash and reuse the eating utensils from some meal I had earlier until I remember to buy silverware. But I just think these lips are too cute. ❤ It's calming to come to my lil abode ALONE and be by MYSELF. I'm going to enjoy moving into my next apartment even more. I'm thinking beach territory. I just need some distance between me and all things L.A. and hood. Even distancing myself from my boyfriend. We've spent too much time together and what conflict was cutesy annoying is disgusting me now. Time to focus on me. I feel drained and I just don't want to exert anymore energy. I'm about to start nursing school and men are just annoying. They are helpful for when I wanna a damsel in distress, but I will just hire someone to do all of that muscle work for me. It's like too much stress and shit dealing with men. And communicating that I'm drained and losing interest hasn't done much so, I just need some space and to focus on myself and retail therapy and buy myself some new lips to wash my dishes with while I lounge around in my new satin pajamas to match my satin lined daydreams and pillows. Gawd, I legit don't care how many hours I have to work to pay for the life I want. It's so worth it when I spend my days and nights in satin and driving a car with a bomb stereo and apparently has some status that I didn't even know it had 😂. Everyone keeps oooing and eyeing my whip even though right now it's dusty and needs a major carwash. I just feel like God keeps blessing me without me requesting certain blessings. Things have been lining up so rightly on time. It's been weird, but feels destined. I have jobs lined up to work and interview. I may legit be able to pay all my new bills this month. No1 ever talks about the real shit of adulting. I don't see any reason to make up a whole new life for social media or anywhere than I am really living. I'm legit living paycheck to check. I will never NOT be happy about finding a penny on the floor even if I was a millionaire. That's just ME and MY life. Blessings will always be blessings to ME.
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Office of Naval Research (ONR) Goes Lean
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has been one of the largest supporters of innovation in the U.S. Now they are starting to use the Lean Innovation process (see here and here) to turn ideas into solutions. The result will be defense innovation with speed and urgency.
—-
Here’s how the Office of Naval Research (ONR) was started. In World War II the U.S. set up the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) to use thousands of civilian scientists in universities to build advanced technology weapons (radar, rockets, sonar, electronic warfare, nuclear weapons.) After the war, the U.S. Navy adopted the OSRD model and set up the Office of Naval Research – ONR. Since 1946 ONR has funded basic and applied science, as well as advanced technology development, in universities across the U.S. (Stanford’s first grants for their microwave and electronic lab came from ONR in 1946.)
Rich Carlin heads up ONR’s Sea Warfare and Weapons Department. He’s responsible for science and programs for surface ships, submarines, and undersea weapons with an annual budget of over $300 million per year.
Rich realized that while the Department of Defense DoD spends a lot of money and has lots of requirements and acquisition processes, they don’t work well with a rapid innovation ecosystem. He wanted to build an innovation pipeline that would allow the Navy to:
Create “dual-use” products (build solutions that could be used for the military but also sold commercially, and attract venture capital investments.) “Dual-use” products reduce the cost for defense adoption of products.
Test if the Lean Innovation process actually accelerates technology adoption and an innovation ecosystem.
Use best practices in contracting that accelerate awards and provide flexibility and speed in technology maturation and adoption.
Today ONR has taken the Lean Innovation process, adapted it for their agency, and is running pilots for defense innovation teams.
Lean Innovation is a Process The Lean Innovation process is a self-regulating, evidence-based innovation pipeline. It is a process that operates with speed and urgency. Innovators and stakeholders curate and prioritize their own problems/Challenges/ideas/technology.
The process recognizes that Innovation isn’t a single activity (an incubator, a class, etc.). It is a process from start to deployment.
The ONR pipeline has all the steps of the canonical innovation pipeline:
Innovation sourcing: a list of problems/challenges, ideas, and technologies that might be worth investing in.
Problem/Challenge Curation: innovators get out of their own offices and talk to colleagues and customers with the goal of finding other places in the DoD where a problem or challenge might exist in a slightly different form, identifying related internal projects already in existence, and finding commercially available solutions to problems. They also seek to identify legal issues, security issues, and support issues.
This process also helps identify who the customers for possible solutions would be, who the internal stakeholders would be, and even what initial minimum viable products (MVPs) might look like.
This phase also includes building initial MVPs. Some ideas drop out when the team recognizes that they may be technically, financially, or legally unfeasible or they may discover that other groups have already built a similar product.
Prioritization: Once a list of innovation ideas has been refined by curation, it needs to be prioritized using the McKinsey Three Horizons Model. Horizon 1 ideas provide continuous innovation to a company’s existing business model and core capabilities. Horizon 2 ideas extend a company’s existing business model and core capabilities to new customers, markets or targets. Horizon 3 is the creation of new capabilities to take advantage of or respond to disruptive opportunities or disruption. We added a new category, Horizon 0, which refers to graveyard ideas that are not viable or feasible.
Once projects have been classified, the team prioritizes them, starting by asking: is this project worth pursing for another few months full time? This prioritization is not done by a committee of executives but by the innovation teams themselves.
Solution exploration and hypotheses testing: The ideas that pass through the prioritization filter enter an incubation process like Hacking for Defense/I-Corps, the system adopted by all U.S. government federal research agencies to turn ideas into products.
This six- to ten-week process delivers evidence for defensible, data-based decisions. For each idea, the innovation team fills out a mission model canvas. Everything on that canvas is a hypothesis. This not only includes the obvious -is there solution/mission fit? — but the other “gotchas” that innovators always seem to forget. The framework has the team talking not just to potential customers but also with regulators, and people responsible for legal, contracting, policy, and finance support. It also requires that they think through compatibility, scalability and deployment long before this gets presented to engineering. There is now another major milestone for the team: to show compelling evidence that this project deserves to be a new mainstream capability. Alternatively, the team might decide that it should be spun into its own organization or that it should be killed.
Incubation: Once hypothesis testing is complete, many projects will still need a period of incubation as the teams championing the projects gather additional data about the application, further build the MVP, and get used to working together. Incubation requires dedicated leadership oversight from the horizon 1 organization to insure the fledgling project does not die of malnutrition (a lack of access to resources) or become an orphan (no parent to guide them).
Lean Innovation Inside the Office of Naval Research (ONR) To come up with their version of the innovation pipeline ONR mapped four unique elements.
First, ONR is using Hacking for Defense classes to curate “Problem Statements” (ONR calls them Challenge/Opportunity Statements) to find solution/mission fit and commercial success.
Second, they’re using existing defense funding to prove out these solutions depending on the level of technical maturity. (There are three existing sources for funding defense innovation: COTS/GOTS validation (testing whether off-the-shelf products can be used); Concept Validation and Technology Advancement; and SBIR/STTR funds – there’s over >$1B per year in the DoD SBIR program alone.)
Third, they are going to use Pete Newell’s company, BMNT and other business accelerators to apply Lean Launchpad Methodologies to build the business case for resulting prototypes and products and to attract private investments.
Fourth, they are going to use grants, purchase orders and Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs) to attract startups and nontraditional defense contractors, speed the award process, and provide startups the flexibility to pivot their business model and prototype/product solution when necessary.
BMNT and Hacking for Defense serve as the essential crosslink for tying together the assets already available in DoD to implement the Lean Innovation process for defense innovation.
Lessons Learned
The Office of Naval Research has been funding innovation in universities for 70+ years
They are piloting the Lean Innovation Process to move defense innovation forward with speed and urgency
Filed under: Corporate Innovation, Hacking For Defense
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Office of Naval Research (ONR) Goes Lean
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has been one of the largest supporters of innovation in the U.S. Now they are starting to use the Lean Innovation process (see here and here) to turn ideas into solutions. The result will be defense innovation with speed and urgency.
—-
Here’s how the Office of Naval Research (ONR) was started. In World War II the U.S. set up the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) to use thousands of civilian scientists in universities to build advanced technology weapons (radar, rockets, sonar, electronic warfare, nuclear weapons.) After the war, the U.S. Navy adopted the OSRD model and set up the Office of Naval Research – ONR. Since 1946 ONR has funded basic and applied science, as well as advanced technology development, in universities across the U.S. (Stanford’s first grants for their microwave and electronic lab came from ONR in 1946.)
Rich Carlin heads up ONR’s Sea Warfare and Weapons Department. He’s responsible for science and programs for surface ships, submarines, and undersea weapons with an annual budget of over $300 million per year.
Rich realized that while the Department of Defense DoD spends a lot of money and has lots of requirements and acquisition processes, they don’t work well with a rapid innovation ecosystem. He wanted to build an innovation pipeline that would allow the Navy to:
Create “dual-use” products (build solutions that could be used for the military but also sold commercially, and attract venture capital investments.) “Dual-use” products reduce the cost for defense adoption of products.
Test if the Lean Innovation process actually accelerates technology adoption and an innovation ecosystem.
Use best practices in contracting that accelerate awards and provide flexibility and speed in technology maturation and adoption.
Today ONR has taken the Lean Innovation process, adapted it for their agency, and is running pilots for defense innovation teams.
Lean Innovation is a Process The Lean Innovation process is a self-regulating, evidence-based innovation pipeline. It is a process that operates with speed and urgency. Innovators and stakeholders curate and prioritize their own problems/Challenges/ideas/technology.
The process recognizes that Innovation isn’t a single activity (an incubator, a class, etc.). It is a process from start to deployment.
The ONR pipeline has all the steps of the canonical innovation pipeline:
Innovation sourcing: a list of problems/challenges, ideas, and technologies that might be worth investing in.
Problem/Challenge Curation: innovators get out of their own offices and talk to colleagues and customers with the goal of finding other places in the DoD where a problem or challenge might exist in a slightly different form, identifying related internal projects already in existence, and finding commercially available solutions to problems. They also seek to identify legal issues, security issues, and support issues.
This process also helps identify who the customers for possible solutions would be, who the internal stakeholders would be, and even what initial minimum viable products (MVPs) might look like.
This phase also includes building initial MVPs. Some ideas drop out when the team recognizes that they may be technically, financially, or legally unfeasible or they may discover that other groups have already built a similar product.
Prioritization: Once a list of innovation ideas has been refined by curation, it needs to be prioritized using the McKinsey Three Horizons Model. Horizon 1 ideas provide continuous innovation to a company’s existing business model and core capabilities. Horizon 2 ideas extend a company’s existing business model and core capabilities to new customers, markets or targets. Horizon 3 is the creation of new capabilities to take advantage of or respond to disruptive opportunities or disruption. We added a new category, Horizon 0, which refers to graveyard ideas that are not viable or feasible.
Once projects have been classified, the team prioritizes them, starting by asking: is this project worth pursing for another few months full time? This prioritization is not done by a committee of executives but by the innovation teams themselves.
Solution exploration and hypotheses testing: The ideas that pass through the prioritization filter enter an incubation process like Hacking for Defense/I-Corps, the system adopted by all U.S. government federal research agencies to turn ideas into products.
This six- to ten-week process delivers evidence for defensible, data-based decisions. For each idea, the innovation team fills out a mission model canvas. Everything on that canvas is a hypothesis. This not only includes the obvious -is there solution/mission fit? — but the other “gotchas” that innovators always seem to forget. The framework has the team talking not just to potential customers but also with regulators, and people responsible for legal, contracting, policy, and finance support. It also requires that they think through compatibility, scalability and deployment long before this gets presented to engineering. There is now another major milestone for the team: to show compelling evidence that this project deserves to be a new mainstream capability. Alternatively, the team might decide that it should be spun into its own organization or that it should be killed.
Incubation: Once hypothesis testing is complete, many projects will still need a period of incubation as the teams championing the projects gather additional data about the application, further build the MVP, and get used to working together. Incubation requires dedicated leadership oversight from the horizon 1 organization to insure the fledgling project does not die of malnutrition (a lack of access to resources) or become an orphan (no parent to guide them).
Lean Innovation Inside the Office of Naval Research (ONR) To come up with their version of the innovation pipeline ONR mapped four unique elements.
First, ONR is using Hacking for Defense classes to curate “Problem Statements” (ONR calls them Challenge/Opportunity Statements) to find solution/mission fit and commercial success.
Second, they’re using existing defense funding to prove out these solutions depending on the level of technical maturity. (There are three existing sources for funding defense innovation: COTS/GOTS validation (testing whether off-the-shelf products can be used); Concept Validation and Technology Advancement; and SBIR/STTR funds – there’s over >$1B per year in the DoD SBIR program alone.)
Third, they are going to use Pete Newell’s company, BMNT and other business accelerators to apply Lean Launchpad Methodologies to build the business case for resulting prototypes and products and to attract private investments.
Fourth, they are going to use grants, purchase orders and Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs) to attract startups and nontraditional defense contractors, speed the award process, and provide startups the flexibility to pivot their business model and prototype/product solution when necessary.
BMNT and Hacking for Defense serve as the essential crosslink for tying together the assets already available in DoD to implement the Lean Innovation process for defense innovation.
Lessons Learned
The Office of Naval Research has been funding innovation in universities for 70+ years
They are piloting the Lean Innovation Process to move defense innovation forward with speed and urgency
Filed under: Corporate Innovation, Hacking For Defense from Steve Blank http://ift.tt/2kDxQOQ
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