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ray935sworld · 3 months ago

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VR's academy of supernatural riders (Part 6: Lego, unwanted apologies and a phone call)

Mention of religious belief. They don't allign 100% with the taught practice as this is from my own believes that I decided to copy. I do not intend to disrespect someone or a religion.

Mention of injuries

Alex was raised Christian. He always followed their believes, at least those that went along with his morally views. Still he couldn’t help himself but believe in past lives. The thought that a soul would just disappear to heaven didn’t sit right him. Thinking that there was something like a past life in between or before going to heaven gave him chill he couldn’t describe.

He sat in his corner, his head on Luca’s shoulder, trying to sleep. No, he didn’t really try to sleep. He knew he wouldn’t fall asleep when he didn’t knew what was going on with his brother. There was no reason to lie about that.

Maybe Marc was paying off a debt of his past life. That would explain the accident. Afterall there was no rational explanation for it. It would also explain his constant injuries. It would explain why the arm was still a pain to him.

The irony was clear. What used to be his worst injury was now actually the least of his worries. Not to mention the eye. It was nothing compared to that. Back then, they had worried if he could ever use it. No he worried he might never be able to use his brain again.

Looking back, Alex realized that Marc must have been a terrible asshole if his theory was true. He already suffered a lot. How much debt did he had to pay?

“Do you think Marc was an asshole in his past lives?” Luca didn’t believe in past lives, Alex knew that. He chose to ignore it. “No. Not if he was anything like this Marc” “He is an asshole in this life.” He reflected. “He always destroyed my Lego-houses because he wanted the stones. Just because he didn’t like mine. Mine were beautiful. I used all the colours. His were organized. Who built organized Legos?” They haven’t played in years. Why did he think about it now?

He remembered how they played together. They even had small bikes and tried to rebuild tracks. They raced against each other which mainly meant waiting for the point they just put them at the finish line screaming they’d won.

“Yeah? What a mean kid” “And on track- he always told me I couldn’t take the corners like that. But he did it the same way! He is such a hypocrite. Have you seen his riding style? That’s fucking dangerous! Look at his scars.” “If you now tell me about his track war crimes in italian, I’ll drag you to the ranch. As if I haven’t heard enough about that already” Alex couldn’t help but giggle about it. “Maybe I didn’t had to worry about you and Vale getting along all the time. Maybe you’ve got more in common than I thought” His voice was playful. He didn’t mean it of course.

He didn’t know how long they sat there. Alex was a mess of memories. The older man that was sitting in the waiting room with them had already left. His wife had surgery for ovary cancer. Everything went well. She just needed radio therapy and she’d live to see her grandchildren graduate.

The kid and the mother were gone as well. Her other child, an even younger boy had ear surgery to fix a small problem that had grown wrong.

After that he went back to counting the minutes and thinking about everything and nothing. At some point he realized something else. “I haven’t called our parents yet” he admitted. A mix of guilt and relieve made itself known in his chest. Yes, his parents didn’t know that Marc was hurt but that also meant they didn’t had to worry like he did right now.

Now it was only Luca and himself. And the stars. It was already dark outside. A young nurse had come to them at around 7pm and offered them something to eat. Alex denied it immediately. He felt like throwing up. The thought of having to swallow something made him want to throw up. Especially bread.

Luca had given him a worried glance and paid for a big bottle of water, two apples and two packs of nuts. As soon as they were alone he made a point of asking (forcing) the older one to at least eat a little bit and drink something. If it wasn’t for Luca, he wouldn’t have listened.

“That’s okay” It wasn’t, Alex reminded himself, but Luca wouldn’t risk making him feel worst than he already did. “No it isn’t… If Marc gets worst… They have a right to… You know” “Yeah, so… What are we going to do?” “I… I don’t want to tell them when we know nothing but it’s been so long and I’m not sure if that’s good or not.” “We could wait until we have at least a vague certainty.” “But if it’s a bad certainty? Shouldn’t they know immediately? I know I wasted that chance but still.” “Maybe. I think at the moment it’s the most important is to do what helps you the most. What feels right to you, Alex?” “Not telling them” he admitted. “Okay, then we’ll wait” Luca agreed.

It was like a bed time story. He almost fell asleep when it was past 1am. It had been a long day after all. The mess of emotions tired him. So he asked his boyfriend to grab him a red bull. He couldn’t fall asleep yet. Luca bought two. One Acai, Alex favourite flavour and a tropical-yellow one, the one Luca preferred. Both knew it’d be a long night and both being sponsored by energy drinks, the needed level of caffein was higher than normally. It probably wouldn’t even affect them as much.

Luca sometimes texted his friends. They didn’t tell them what happened obviously. Alex read the texts as well. He understood written Italian very well, but Luca had to explain some inside jokes.

It was a good distraction. It helped him focused on different things other than the obvious. They later went through the Italians gallery. He told him the stories behind his favourite pictures. Alex knew most of them already. Not that that mattered.

He loved to hear how Migno had once accidently sat Bez hair on fire. Or how Cele had once gotten a speaking-stop after asking to many ‘why?’ questions and Franky had used the opportunity to put some kind of thick mechanical tape over his mouth. He screamed like a baby when the pulled it off and with it came the first hairs of the beard of the youngest off. Or what unhinged spooky stories Pecco had told them when none of the academy boys were adults yet and they had decided to camp in the garden of the ranch.

The hours passed and it felt like days.

With every hour he wasn’t sure if he it was good or bad. The only updates they got were “We don’t know yet” “We can’t say anything certain at this point” “Please have some patients. His injuries are really severe” It was never good when someone was in a long surgery. But if he needed it? It was good if they didn’t hurry and took their time to do it right, wasn’t it?

It was in the middle of the night when an exhausted looking doctor opened the door. He didn’t care about the time. He didn’t want to look at a watch right now either. He knew he’d just be terrified if he knew that his brother was in surgery for well over 12 hours. The head of surgery was exactly like he imagined her earlier. Old but not senior. Around 50, maybe early 60 if she has a good skin cream. Her eyes were tired. He didn’t had the energy to notice the sad look in her eyes as she approached him.

“So, how is my brother?”

“You must be Alex Marquez?” she asked looking at the Spaniard who had hurried to stand up and get to her. Another, way younger doctor was there. He was probably around 30. He gave them a neutral look with a kind nod.

“Yes I am.” Luca seemed a little bit lost like he wasn’t sure if he should leave them alone or listen. Alex answered the unspoken question by taking his hand, their fingers intervened, pulling him closer. “That’s Luca, my boyfriend. Is it okay if he listens too?” “Yes, of course it is, as long as you agree.” She gave them a small smile.

It was the one question he had to ask but was too afraid to actually get an answer to. His shoulders were tensed. He felt his muscles close around his bones. It almost hurt. His pulse was shot. He felt his hands shaking. The tiredness he felt was away, just like his exhaustion. The only thing that mattered was whatever he would now hear.

“Please understand, before I say anything else, that your brother is severely injured. We are talking about bad injuries even in your career field. There are wounds no medicine can fully cure. And in your brother cases, he sadly is one of those examples. He-“ “What is that supposed to mean? Is he… gone? He’s dead?”

Saying it out loud broke a part of him he already thought was broken. He felt Luca holding his hand tighter. But it didn’t make sense. She would have say it right away, not talk like that.

“He isn’t pass the dangerous time. He is still at a very critical point. His body is weak. Exhausted from the injury and we can’t know… How long he can survive in that state. There is nothing we can do for him at this point. He- His injuries were deep and very, very bad. His body kind of hit the emergency button. He is in a coma and we can’t do anything about it. You can imagine it like… Like a computer, you close everything you don’t need to focus the energy on that one part that needs it.”

Focus Alex. Focus.

He didn’t know what to say to that. It felt like a thousand punches right in the stomach. It was like someone put their hand through his chest and pulled out his chest just so he could see his heart beating.

The doctor continued her explanation. She saw her lips move. Word after word. Marc. She was talking about Marc. He should listen.

Only some fragments made it to his brain. He could hear the blood running in his ears. It was loud. Why was it so loud? He needed to listen.

No. Doctors weren’t supposed to apologize. She wasn’t meant to say sorry. ‘Sorry I cant save your brother. Sorry you have a dead brother. Sorry I have to tell you that you are going to watch your brother slowly died’

“… has internal bleedings… a lot of blood has collected in his pelvis… broken bones… spine…” No. Panic rise in him.

Not focus. Don’t focus. He had changed his mind. He didn’t want to hear it anymore. Scary. It was too scary. Marc would be okay. He’d be okay. Luca had promised it. “…brain injury we can’t locate fully when he is that weak.”

He wanted to return to his delusional thoughts that allowed him to believe the injuries weren’t major.

He felt his legs gave in. He felt like falling but he didn’t. Then he heard the sentence that gave him the rest. “It is unlikely he is physically able to overcome his injury. I am so sorry.”

No. No, Marc wasn’t a helpless case. He wasn’t doomed to spend the rest of his life fighting for a chance of survival that was impossible to catch. He had to see him. He needed to see that what his heart was telling him – that Marc would be okay and fine and that everything was a lie – was true.

He knew she was still speaking when he heard himself asking “Can I see him? Now. Please?” He didn’t care that he had interrupted him. She looked at him sad. Like she felt sorry for him. He didn’t need her pity. He needed her to save his brother.

She agreed and showed him the room. They walked through the corridors. It was early morning so only a few staff member were around. Still it was too much, even though Alex didn’t realized that they were there. His mind screamed for his brother.

“That won’t be a problem” she confirmed. “But… are you absolutely sure? He… His injuries took a tool on him and he needs, like I mentioned, he is depending on machines. He doesn’t quite look like he normally does” She spoke to him like someone would speak to a child.

Under different circumstances Alex would probably be angry at her for it, but now it was what he needed. Easy explanations. Saying the obvious. Telling him what to expect. He just nodded.

He felt his body physically hurting and the thought of seeing Marc as weak and exhausted as predicted took a tool on him.

He felt his muscles move without his agreement.

With every step he moved closer to his boyfriend. His shoulder now pressed against his side. Luca had already pulled him in, under his arm and tried to stabilized him. He refused to let go of Luca as they got closer.

They went inside and he wished he didn’t. He suddenly realized deep down he wouldn’t leave this hospital soon.

“You don’t have to” the younger man told him. His voice was warm. He meant it. He would go with him or sat in a dark corner trying to find the courage to face his brother. But that wasn’t an option for the Marquez.

“I do” he answered. “I don’t want him to be alone right now” “Okay, we’ll go to him but if it’s too much, we can leave anytime or just you if you want me to stay with him.” “Thanks” he whispered.

If he didn’t know that the body in the bed in front of him, he wouldn’t even be sure if the mess of scars, red skin, machines and bandages stiffed with tubes, was even human.

He sat down and stared at the body trying to see his brother under the white cover of the hospital bed. But he couldn’t see his face. The muslin covering his cheeks. And his head. His hair was shaved. He couldn’t even see his eyes. They were closed. The material was sticky. Maybe sweat or tears or blood. He didn’t know. He didn’t want to know.

He sat down next to him. He moved the chair closer. Wanting to talk to his brother, asking him to wake up. He failed. He knew his voice wouldn’t be able to admit that the abused skin was the man he knew since birth. It didn’t make sense that the boy who learned about the world with him was now not moving. He failed to understand that the kid that taught him how to laugh and be happy, taught him everything he knew was not responding to his presence.

He sat there just looking.

He sat there for minutes and more minutes. He let time passed.

Then he looked up. Luca was standing a little bit away. They looked at each other, both wanting the other to say something and decide where the moment would go. Neither of them did. Luca wanted to but he needed to know what Alex needed.

“Luca” His name still sounded right in his mouth. It was time. That was the only thing he knew “Can you call our parents?” he asked, knowing he wouldn’t be able to recreate the events without breaking down. He’d just cry until his voice went dead. “They need to know about this” Luca understood. “Of course” It was out of the question that he’d do it.

Luca turned around to leave. In his mind he had already pulled out his phone when Alex stopped him. “Luca, wait!” He sounded so desperate it worried the Italian. “Yeah?” “You’ll be back, right?” His hands had started fidgeting with Marc’s sheet. A habit he had whenever he was nervous. “I will always come back to you” he promised and crossed the room with fast steep.

Carefully he put his hands on his cheeks. He turned his face towards him and gave him a soft kiss. “Marc hates it when we kiss in front of him” “No he doesn’t. He just likes to make fun of us” “Maybe” He kissed him again just to prove his point.

Then he left promising he’d just be in a quiet corner in the hallway not to disturb other people.

He thought about what he was supposed. He thought about his possibilities. He went through them in his head, weighting what was better and what would just make everything worst. A plan was forming in his head. He sighed, feeling unsure about leaving Alex alone for too long.

Luca had pulled out his phone. He was leaning against a wall, knowing no one would hear what he was about to say. He went through his contacts. He looked at the different names. Roser Marquez. He looked at the contacted and closed it again.

Next one. Julia Marquez. He stared at the picture of Alex and his dad that he had sat for him during a vacation once.

Roser had insisted he had their numbers. “In case my idiots are giving you trouble, querido, vale?” “Vale” he had agreed. It still felt weird to answer with his brother nick name, as if he would ever agree to something.

He swallowed, unsure how to phrase what he wanted to say.

He chose the contact he needed and pressed call. He put it against his ear and leaned against the wall. He waited a few seconds. He probably wouldn’t answer. It was unlikely. Maybe he should see it as a sign. Throw away the plan and –

“Who the fuck calls at this time?” Maybe that was his actual sign. Maybe he was supposed to go through with his plan. Maybe he had to.

“Asshole, do you know what time it is? Who is that even?” “It’s me. Luca.” There was a break at the end of the line, like he was thinking. “What happened?” His voice had lost the morning angriness he always had when he was woken up too early.

He knew he meant what he would say. It was cruel. He didn’t want to ask him but he had to. “I am so sorry for what I am about to ask you. I wouldn’t if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Please believe me that, Franky.”

#VR's academy of supernatural riders #ray's writing #medical accuracy is not guaranteered #theres a reason i chose a degree thats known for students who want to avoid science #Im here to write shit thats supposed to make you cry at 3am

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echonk3 · 1 year ago

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999 Week 2023 - Clover

dabbled more into Clover being a model since I believe that was mentioned in the series, plus the theory that she's faking her dumbness in vlr along with SOIS as a company

You’ve heard of Clover Field briefly before from one or two of the few friends you’ve made in this industry who weren’t trying to backstab you. Plus, there’s been a couple magazines with her in it that you’ve seen with her bright pink hair that is apparently one of the rare people in the world with an abnormal hair colour. A genetics thing with her and her brother according to her.

From what your friends have told you, she models on the side from her job as something something information something (and yes, that’s literally what your friend told you) and that they wanted to keep their distance from her. They warned you to do the same, because they unnerved them for some reason. Honestly, you can’t understand why. Her portrayal is as a dimwitted girl with big dreams, but then again, you’ve seen so many inaccurate portrayals. Some are portrayed as absolute dolls when in real life they’re some of the biggest bitches you’ve met.

At first glance in real life at the studio, she does look like that dimwitted girl, looking in awe at everything in such a nice place. Not to mention her outfit looking almost out of a teen movie. But at a second glance, that isn’t it. It’s almost as if she’s observing the place top to bottom. It doesn’t help that she’s asking questions, such as “where are the bathrooms? You never know when you have to go!” and “Oooo, I wonder who’s in charge? I want to compliment him on how good this place is!” and all are said in that sweet voice with a tone that you expected from her. A woman hovers in the background a bit further behind, talking with the staff. You recognize the brand on some of her clothes. Expensive, though a tad inappropriate with her cleavage. Just what agency is she with?

“It’s nice to meet you!” you plaster on a smile when she finally approaches you. “Maya’s said so many things about you!”

“Oh! You know Maya too?” she says, a similar smile on her face and a tilt of her head, though you notice something. That it doesn’t exactly meet her eyes, that her eyes look a little… hollow. Devoid of emotion. Like some of the models you’ve seen during shoots.

“Of course! She was one of the first people I had photoshoots with!” Truth actually. They decided to pair up two rookies and she’s been your rock. “Who’s your agency?”

Both you and Maya are decently known, so you’re curious to how they were able to hook her up with you, especially here.

“Oh, SOIS!” she replies.

“I’ve… never heard of them.” Your smile falters for a second.

“Oh that makes sense,” she waves her hand. “They dabble in a bit of everything. Money or something like that, which they get a lot of. I work for them in my day job.”

“Doin what?” you ask, and her smile goes on for a bit too long before the woman who had been hovering her practically appears out of nowhere.

“Clover, I need to talk to you.” Her tone is friendly, though with an underlying sense of sterness.

“Okay, where do you need us to go Alice-” The woman whisks her away without another word.

Odd. But not the oddest you’ve seen.

It only takes minutes for her to come back, and soon enough, the shoot had started and ended in a whirlwind of camera shots and different clothes. Clover, for her credit, was pretty obedient and knew the terms that were being thrown around, even if she did mishear some terms for some… absurd words.

“This has been great!” she tells you after it. “Hopefully we’ll model together again sometime!”

“I hope so too!” you tell her. At least some of the things she said were amusing during the shoot and kept things less boring.

“If you or your agency is interested in collaborating with her again, don’t hesitate to give us a call and we may be able to work something out.” Alice hands you a small card branded with SOIS, a bit of ambition in her eyes.

“Got it,” you reply, and with that, the two leave.

You don’t exactly get the unnerved vibe that your friends got, but maybe they just see her as more of a threat than you did. How could a girl who forgot her day job and misheard common terms be a threat? No matter how odd her agency and observant tendencies may be.

#zero escape #clover 999 #clover field #999 week

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abbynx · 3 years ago

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Gotham Edward Nygma with a bubbly lab partner

Genre: Platonic, because I can't pass up an opportunity to give Eddie a good bestie who gives him good influence, headcanons

Warning: Cursing, violence, it is Gotham baby

A/N: So my definition of bubbly maybe borders on being one of those girls (keep in mind, I always writing in gender neutral, this is just how I describe it) who are extremely outgoing, maybe I can hear them talking with a valley girl accent, girly, maybe a bit of a fashionista, always limping their wrist, uttering slangs, unexpectedly smart— I love these type of people.

So this is perhaps a Pre-season 1-season 1 kinda thing and may deviate from the show so ye.

Ed: "What's yours but others use it more? Your name. I-Im Edward Nygma um... Nice to meet you! Mx. L/N..."

- You adopted him, there's no other way of seeing it. Upon meeting with him, then and there you decided to adopt him.

You, internally:

You externally: Nice to meet you too, Eddie :D

- Eddie has a lot to get used to— for example you were extremely chatty person. Admittedly it can be very annoying to him, but he got used to it. Besides, you never did have him a nasty look if he were sharing "stupid riddles and theories" with you, in fact you always encourage him to go off.

- He never realised it before, but being allowed to finish a sentence without being given the stink-eye was refreshing to him! He loves how engaged you are with the conversation and though sometimes you miserably fail at riddles, you still try your best! And he loves how you don't get butthurt when you don't answer his riddles correctly.

- "What has an ear but unable to hear?" Edward waits for you to consider for a moment, his smile widening at the moment your face lit up.

"Hmm... Newborn puppy!" You were particularly proud of your answer, having been quicker than usual to come up with an answer.

"The answer was ear of a corn, but technically you are correct!"

"Awww yiee!"

- Okay but the first few times he goes off into a tangent, rambling on and on, he would look sheepish and apologize. And you know we are not going to let Eddie feel apologetic because he is talking about his interests 😤

"Eddie, honey, you can chant the alphabet three letter back or forward with the Swedish chef from the Muppets' accent and I will still encourage you to go on."

- Calling him cute petnames admittedly makes him blush, but then realises you do this with everyone.

- If you are into make up and into practicing on other people... Eddie wouldn't protest.

"Ohhhh.... This shade of green looks lovely on you, sweetie... Omg with the winged eyeliner too, sharp and can cut a man! So do you like Genieva red or Abigayle pink?"

Ed raises furrows a brow in confusion. "But those are not shades of colours?"

You gasp out, as if having an epiphany. "Omg, what if we mix it? Then put a gloss on top? OH! Can I paint your nails? I mean... Ugh, omg I forgot it might violate regulations but LIKE hypothetically, would you?"

"Uh... Of course! What colour?"

- When you found out about the workplace bullying that takes place in the precinct... Oh boy...

"Either green or black or purple, or all of it! I've been watching a lot of nail art online! It is SO gorgeous and it seems doable—"

- If you're into fashion and adores styling people... Edward wouldn't protest if you gave him fashion advice or drag him in a store to be your personal dress-up doll.

"Omg, so you give off dark academia vibes, but like... I want to see you in more vibrant colours, green specifically so what if like..." You pull a white button-up shirt, a brown knitted sweater before running off to get a green necktie from another stand of the store before shoving it in his arms. "Here! I'll be waiting!"

He had no time to process anything, before you shove him in the dressing room. Having no qualms with your request, he shrugs and indulges you, and came out of the dressing room with the clothes you have chosen for him.

"OMG!" you excitedly clap at the sight of him. "You know what else would look cute? Or hot? Like, try folding the sleeves up to your elbow, mhhm, like that... Omg! Perfect! Can I see it without the necktie?"

It honestly raises his confidence and appreciate how you implore him to dress more stylishly.

"Listen here you catterpillar-having-eyebrows, women's-touch deprived, egotistical testicle— without Edward around here, your workforce is only effective by one percent." You turn away from the shocked officer only to then snatch equally shocked Eddie away from the scene, almost skipping off. "C'mon! I found like the best moisturizer yesterday let's test it out!"

- You are always roped into the little mess in the precinct, aka, sneaking behind the Medical Examiner's back and do the autopsy yourselves. At first you are hesitant and tried to talk him out of it, and he respects that... Then you realise how much details the Medical Examiner missed on previous investigations, and that convinced you to accompany Mister Nygma on these medical endeavours.

- "Forensic examination by Edward Nygma,"

"And Y/N L/N," Edward hands you the device and you cheerfully spoke on it, as if you're hosting a radio station channel..

"At exactly eight forty two AM, at GCPD morgue. It is approximately ninety three degree—"

"One hundred and ninety nine Fahrenheit." You cut in with a grin after snatching the device from Edward. He only smiles at the shared enthusiasm as you handed it back to him.

"I ate half a cranberry muffin earlier, saving the rest for later." He then passes the recording device to you again.

"I didn't eat because I'm on a diet today."

- You two were caught, but not after finding myriads of details. You hated how Eddie did not stand his ground, as you assume into position to chastise the current medical examiner, when Ed left and all you wanted to do was to console him instead of wasting your breath on the sloppy ignoramus.

- He appreciates the fact that you're there to appreciate him, reminding him how much of a good job he's done and cursing people at the fact that they forget to thank him.

"Like... Detective Bullock is a dick, yeah? Don't listen to him and keep telling your riddles. FYI, he is totes jel that you're waaaay smarter than him." He slightly winced at your usage of a vulgar word, but he did not allow that overshadow the amount of praises he's been getting from you. "So anyways, I replaced all ink cartridges in his pens with almost empty ones."

"Oh..." Ed panders outloud. So that's why there's a random stack of ink cartridges on your desk, unorganized.

- There are times when certain officers assume that your bubbly and airheaded nature is a proxy to your intelligence and capabilities, and it was insulting. You try not to let it get to you, as you assure your bestie that you're okay. At the beginning of the friendship, Ed doesn't pry further because he truly does believe you're okay— you're a self-assured genius who knows their worth and so he lets you be... But the longer you've been friends, he knows you're lying.

"What is the saddest fruit?"

"Durian because people judge them by their exterior and scent and throw them away without seeing their insides and eating it..."

"Correct!" The answer was blueberry, but he lets you be because it made you slightly smile. "Would you like to get some snacks with me? Also, there's a new cosmetic store that opened up if you would like—"

- As you can see, he is bad with emotions and he wishes he can cheer you up the way you do to him, but it felt insincere of him. And, you can see that and you appreciate him for trying his best.

- Oh the amount of names given to you on the precinct... Bobblehead, airhead, dumbo, that one h/c idiot— it was upsetting how they call you this behind your back.

- Maybe at some point, Ed thinks he has fallen for you. His thought process goes along the lines like this, "I love them... I think I'm in love with them... Am I? I mean, I do love them, but I don't see myself kissing them... Is this what love feels like?"

The moment he resolved this dilemma is when he slipped and fell while you walk on the jcey sidewalks. Instead of helping him out, you burst out of laughing. It was funny because he didn't feel offended by it, in fact, he started to laugh with you too. Wanting to pull you into it, he pulls on your ankle causing you to fall as well.

There, he realised he didn't want to change your relationship.

- Everyone in the precinct saw your friendship as unlikely— they were judgemental to think you would be more likely to befriend the party people in the precinct instead of sticking around the bookish nerd that is Eddie.

- Even Eddie thought of that and when confronted about it, he couldn't help but to shed a tear of two.

"I don't know what goes around that head of yours to think that I'm only hanging out with your because I pity you, well that's wrong. I genuinely like your company and I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Ed's face soften, allowing the reservoir in his eyes to open and when he felt the first drop, he removes his glasses and feverishly swiped it off with the cuff of his sleeves. "Sorry Y/N um... It's just that... I've never heard that from someone before... Referring to me..."

"Awww, Eddie! C'mere," you pull him to your chest and allowed his tears to soak through your clothes. You ran a soothing hand on his back. "How 'bout we go to that one Chinese place you've been wanting to try, then after that lets go to my house to test out some new mud masks."

- The both of you are on both ends of a spectrum of socialising, and he knows how much of an outgoing person you are. He feels guilty whenever you turn down invitations from coworkers to attend a social gathering because you excuse yourself to hang out with him.

- Playful banter on the daily and it is top tier

- You being an absolute wingman and impulse control for Mister Riddleman.

"Okay, so you tell her that she smells nice, WITHOUT sniffing her neck, mkay?"

"But how would I know if she smells nice?"

"Then her perfume is totes ripping her off."

Or alternatively:

"Heyyy, Eddie, buddy, honey... Mind if you tone it down with Kringle before you get a lawsuit—"

- Okay whether you hate or like Kringle, you will snap at her if her judgements are uncalled for.

"I don't get how you can stand him, Mx. L/N—"

"Maybe because he and I are on the same level of intellect. Low IQ's tend to be annoyed at what they cannot understand." You say under your breath, but loud enough for her to hear.

Kristen blinks owlishly at you, and indignantly says, "I'm sorry—"

- Ed is a stubborn nut when he was pursuing Kristen, it was getting out of hand. He was ignoring you and ignoring Kristen's discomfort that you had to step in and put it for him bluntly:

"You are forgiven. Now, could you please hand me the files I've been asking for?"

Or alternatively:

"He is such a freak..."

"People label things with negativity when they don't understand it."

"Hey Ed, I don't think Kristen will bite—"

"You speak of her as if she's a mere fish I'm trying to catch, I'm not—"

"That's not the point! It's honestly painful to watch you get rejected and how uncomfortable she looks when you try to pursue her! Didn't it occur to you why she surrounds herself with towering buff guys from work?" He stares at you, his hardened face softening as time goes by. "There's a line between being persevering and asking for a harassment report— fuck it, make it a restraining order! If you continue chasing something that isn't worth it, you're just throwing your life away all for a girl who doesn't care!"

That hit him hard and had him speechless. It's not worth it. Why did he do it? He doesn't know, he thought she was a lovely woman, but now he realises how right you are.

"Do you understand what I'm telling you, Eddie?"

"Yes... I'm sorry..." He sighs.

"Don't apologize to me, go to Kristen. Then after that, let's not harass her again." You take him in your arms and he immediately found solace within your warmth. "There's a sweet calling my name back home, but I'm sharing it with you because you're my bestie. Also, I just received my face mask package from Korea, so we can try them out—"

- A lot of people thought you were a couple, there will always be people who will say that the two of you look cute together. And honestly, they are right, but both of you consider each other as platonic soulmates.

- In this verse, the Abbynxverse, maybe Eddie would not stray to become the Riddler because honestly, with a bestie like you, he cannot imagine you being scared and disappointed in him. You keep him sane, feel like the best version of himself and just feels great.

#x reader #edward nigma x reader #edward nygma x reader #gotham #platonic #the riddler #the riddler x reader

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quillsanddaydreams · 4 years ago

Text

what great men say

james potter x reader

—author’s note: I was extremely soft about James and just how goofy he is around his friends and I just had to write it down. So what does being friends with James and eventually falling for him include? Enjoy!

—warning(s): mentions of food, she/her pronouns!reader

—wordcount: 3,196

You sighed looking at the time. He would be here any minute— he never came late. Tapping your foot, you turned your attention to the book open in front of you. Transfiguration. The subject that you struggled with the most. James excelled at it.

The turtle he transformed the teacup into that day was stunning. Popping its head inside the green-gold shell as everyone looked on. James smiled teasingly wide when McGonagall had commended him. No one noticed when he shifted aside to talk to the turtle in a baby voice. It made you smile. You blinked. Words swirled on the page you’d opened. Shaking your head, you turned to concentrate on them.

“There you are!” James shouted as the librarian shot him a glare. He was huffing— apparently from running to the library. He made an apologetic face and slowly came and plopped down beside you.

��Do you always have to be loud?” you said as he playfully rolled his eyes.

“Well, a great man once said loudness is the way of life,” he huffed, breathing deeply as you raised an eyebrow.

“And is this great man you?”

“Are you saying anything to the contrary?”

You let a small smile play on your lips which etched his grin further.

“I wouldn’t dare,” you said as he adjusted his collar, looking smug.

“I mean, even great men tell the turtle they made from a teacup that it is a good boy,” you said nonchalantly, opening a notebook. James flustered.

“I didn’t tell Jake he was a good boy,” he murmured.

“Jake, huh?”

“Shut it.”

The two of you spend the next hour working on the transfiguration assignment. James was patient as he helped you through spells and theory. You laughed, studied and talked. It was just like that between you two. You were good friends, you teased each other, pulled a few pranks and had fun. There was something about him that made you open up more than anyone else. And you loved him. It was stupid really.

James was utterly and completely in love with Lily Evans. Everyone knew that. You tried and you tried to push it back but you couldn’t help it. It crept up upon you- he had always been so kind to you, so adorably cute that you just fell for him. As torturous as it was, you didn’t dare to even hint him about it. Listening to him gush about the perfect head-girl, you never let your smile fade even if it never reached your eyes.

James poked your side as you packed your books.

“Hmm?”

“Lily and I talked a lot last night,” he said excitedly as your chest contracted. You zipped up your bag, hanging it by your side.

“Oh yeah?” you asked, plastering on a smile. The two of you started moving out of the library.

“It was amazing,” He said, punctuating each word, a dreamy look on his face. “She told me about her muggle life- records, music tapes- that sort of stuff. She was surprised when I talked to her about Queen and Beatles, impressed even.”

He scratched the back of his head, narrowly avoiding a first year who ran past the two of you.

“Couldn’t tell her you introduced it to us and it’s what Sirius blasts in the room all day long.”

You giggled.

“Did he listen to all of them already?” you asked, desperate to change topics. The two of you turned around the corner. James scoffed.

“Pretty sure he heard each of them at least a hundred times.”

“It’s good music James,” you sighed. “Ask him whether he’s free next Hogsmeade weekend, I’ll show him a place he’s going to adore.”

“Ah, I have some head-boy duties with Lily, Remus is helping Slughorn for extra credit and Peter is practicing astronomy,” James said as you furrowed your eyebrows.

“So Sirius is free?”

“Yes, but we aren’t,” James shrugged as you laughed.

“Okay,” you dragged on, not sure where the conversation was going. “Ask him if he’d like to go with me?”

James turned to you, confused.

“You’ll go with Sirius, alone?” he asked as you hummed in response, shrugging. He scowled.

You turned back at James standing at the door to the common room.

“Tomorrow, same time?” you asked with a smile. He nodded giving you a half-hearted grin and moving towards his room. Did you say something wrong? Shaking your head, you retreated to your dorm.

-♡♡♡-

A loud knock shook you. You looked towards the window and… James?

“James what the hell are you doing there?” you asked, jolting towards the sill and unlocking it. The idiot was standing a broom nearly forty feet above ground.

“I was wondering whether you’d join us all for a trip to the kitchens?” he breathed, a small smile playing on his lips. You heard snorts making you look down at the ground. Sirius, Remus and Peter were rolling out in laughter, but you couldn’t think much about that.

“Are you insane? Bloody sit down on your broom or come in,” you said eyes wide.

“Fine, I’m coming.” James grinned, jumping inside. He grabbed your arms almost falling over you. A strong perfume attacked your senses. His face was so close to yours, you could count the faint freckles on his face. Messy strands of hair fell over his forehead making you want to run your hands over them. You blinked, steading yourself before taking a step back. James coughed.

“Um, I was sneaking out for some hot chocolate,” he said placing his hands in his jeans’ pocket, thumbs out. “I remember you complaining we never took you.”

“Oh,” you said, feeling awkward all of a sudden. “Let me just get my jacket, it’s kinda cold.”

Grabbing the nearest jacket, you put it on as James stared around your room. You had decorated it beautifully. Post cards, quotes and some letters were put up on a wall on the far end. His eyes fell on you as you turned to him smiling, ready to leave. He gulped.

“How are we leaving?” you asked and James gestured to his broom floating outside your window.

After much bickering, you found yourself sitting behind James, holding onto him for your dear life. That wasn’t to say you didn’t enjoy it. It felt good being so close to him, having your hands around his waist. You almost felt sad when you reached down. Sirius smirked at you as you climbed off the broom. He knew more than he probably should.

“What took you so long?” Peter complained. You saw Sirius open his mouth to say something but closed it on seeing your glare. He wrapped an arm around your shoulder.

“Well now that she’s here, shall we?” he said leading you ahead of the group.

James frowned at the two of you. Sirius whispered something in your ear making you roll your eyes playfully.

“What’s made you so off now?” Peter asked. Remus patted his shoulder.

“Jealousy is always a bad colour on people my dear wormtail,” Remus said dramatically. James raised it eyebrows.

“I’m not jealous,” James said pointedly and then shrugged. “What would I be jealous of?”

Remus rolled his eyes.

“Sureeee.”

You took in the warm room while the boys asked for hot chocolates for all of you. Sweet smell of banana bread and muffins eloped the kitchen. Remus called for you, handing you a steaming mug of cocoa. You sat down beside James tuning in to their conversation. He gave you a small smile as Remus and Peter quarrelled about their divination predictions. You laughed and you talked, feeling the week’s tension slowly slip off your shoulders. When it was time to leave, you felt oddly content. Making them promise to make this a monthly thing, you finally turned to leave. James held you back.

“I was wondering, if you’d like to have a bit more fun?” James asked, biting his lip. “Just us two.”

You looked at him curiously and licked your lip.

“And what will this fun, entail?”

“There’s this small place near the edge of forbidden forest,” he said and you raised an eyebrow. “I swear it’s not that dangerous. It’s honestly beautiful.”

James didn’t know why he was so bent over to spend some more time with you. All he knew was that he didn’t want the evening to end. He didn’t want to leave you just yet. So when you nodded slowly, he couldn’t stop the grin that spread on his face.

The two of you tip-toed through the castle, James’s invisibility cloak with him just in case. Checking the map, he turned towards you. Taking your hand in his; he whispered, “Run.”

Your eyes widened. James sprinted forward, taking you with him. There was no time to think. Trying to keep up with him— you made your way through the grounds, the air icy against your face. You were huffing by the time you reached the lip of the forest.

“What exactly were we running from?” you asked, taking in gulps of air.

“No one— we were taking too much time,” he said shrugging. “And adrenaline always feels good.”

He didn’t notice you glaring at him. You slapped his arm playfully.

“Hey—” he groaned, rubbing at the spot.

“Now that you’ve wounded me, shall we?”

You nodded, biting the inside of your cheek. Placing his palms on your shoulder James turned you, leading you towards a small clearing. Your arms erupted in goosebumps, feeling him right behind you. His breath tickled your neck. Did he really not know the effect he had on you? Reaching there, James gestured around dramatically. Fireflies buzzed around the area and the ground bloomed with wild flowers.

“Wow,” you gasped. James watched you, his face lighting up. Running your hands through the shrubs you looked up. Night sky was always clear at Hogwarts. But somehow it seemed even more beautiful then. You glanced towards James catching him staring.

“See something you like?”

“You look beautiful,” James uttered before he could stop himself. Your cheeks heated up.

You did. You looked gorgeous every single day. James swallowed, a distinct blush covering his cheeks. He felt your gaze on him, waiting for him to say something. He heard you sigh after a little while.

“You know, when I was small, I used to collect fireflies in a jar,” you said, sitting down slowly. James joined you. “Pretty little things they were. I would stare at them for hours. Mum hated them. Dad didn’t seem to mind. They would zoom around in the jar and I would take it in hand running through the house saying they were my army. Danger shall befall those who cross me— I used to say”

James let out a laugh, sighing as you both watched the stars. Sneaking a glance at him, you caught him doing the same. Light from flies lighted up his face, his brown eyes sparkling. You didn’t know who leaned in. His lips were soft against yours as you let your hands tangle in his hair. His arms went to your waist, tugging you towards him. The kiss seemed to light you up. Pulling back breathless you stared at him, seeing something that made your stomach. Guilt. You dug your nails into your palm, waiting for the excuses to come. And it came. He called out your name.

“Don’t.” You snapped.

Scrambling to your feet, you started moving back towards the castle. James followed you.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think. I don’t know what happened and I—”

You twisted towards him.

“I’m not angry at you James,” you said, your voice barely above a whisper. James frowned. “I— I just like you, okay? I’ve liked you for quite some time.”

James’ eyes widened a little. You let out a laugh, looking away.

“I’m not angry at you. I’m angry at myself. Do you realise how pathetic it is, to love someone knowing they’ll never love you back? Every day I’ll tell myself; it doesn’t matter. That it’s a crush and it’ll go away. And every day I fall a little more in love with you knowing you’ll never feel the same.”

Silence fell around you and you wrapped your arms around yourself. You felt cold. James watched you, desperate to reach out. He wanted to stop you but he didn’t know how. All he could do was listen.

“I think, I think it’ll be better for me to stay away from you for a while,” you breathed, trying your best not to let the tears in your eyes fall.

You walked back to the castle leaving James alone. A tear fell down his face and he furiously wiped it off.

-♡♡♡-

The next few days seemed never-ending. Classes, homework and head-boy duties kept James busy. He practiced harder and longer on the field. But his mind wasn’t in it. It was full with the thoughts of you. He tried. He really tried to reach out to you somehow. To catch your eye during classes, give you a small smile, but you hardly even glanced at him. It hurt. More than he could ever care to admit. He had quite forgotten what it was like not to spend time together every single day. To not listen to you complain about your day, hear your laugh. He felt alone.

Bacon and eggs were laid out in front of him, but he couldn’t bring himself to eat. He toyed it around with his fork.

“Ahhh James! Just the person I was looking for,” Lily said with a bright smile as James looked towards her. “I was thinking maybe you could join me after lunch? We can review the prefect rounds’ details.”

James furrowed his eyebrows.

“Didn’t we do that last week?”

Lily’s expression fell, but she covered it up quickly.

“Yes we did, but I thought maybe we could go over them again?” she said expectantly.

“Uh- sure.” He said, moving his attention back to his plate. He pushed it away.

Sirius, Peter and Remus raised their eyebrows at him. James looked at them questioningly.

“Are you dead?” Remus asked.

“No?”

“Yeah I think he’s dead.” Sirius pipped in. James opened his mouth to retort but Sirius bet him to it.

“Look, I know finding out your friend is in love with you while you think you’re in love with someone else isn’t easy—”

“Especially when you’re actually in love with the said friend," Peter said, taking a bite of his toast. James opened his mouth.

“Especially then —but you gotta make up your mind. Go date Lily and find out how worthless it is and then go back to friend or go now and talk to her and tell her what you really feel about her.”

James blinked.

“I’m not in love with her,” he said slowly as they collectively groaned. He ignored them. “And how did you know that she told me she likes me?”

“It was obvious?” Sirius said as Remus rolled his eyes.

“You know what? Let him continue his idiocy for more. I want to see how long this can actually go on,” Remus said as others hummed in response, shrugging.

“What? You’re not even going to listen to me now?” James stated as his friends paid no attention.

“Not when you’re being a dumbass, no.”

James banged his head on the table. Remus continued to read his book while Sirius and Peter concentrated on their breakfast.

“What if, what if I said,” James began slowly. “That maybe I do love her. I do love her and I was the biggest fool in the world and screwed this up beyond repair?”

Remus stared at James, a small smile overcoming his features.

“You tell her exactly that.”

-♡♡♡-

You sighed turning the page. The story was captivating at first, but now— not so much. There was a knock at the window and you turned to see… James? Your heart thumped against your chest. He stood there, probably on his broomstick waiting for you to let him in. Pushing the covers aside, you got up and opened the small lock as James hopped in. Your chest clenched seeing him for the first time in weeks. You had missed him. His hair was disheveled and he fidgeted awkwardly, staring at you.

“James why are you here?” you asked softly. You wanted nothing more than to hug him. But you held back. You couldn’t do that to yourself, not anymore.

“I— um— I wanted to tell you something,” he said as you gestured at him to go on. There was silence.

“Well?”

James flushed, looking down.

“I— I had this whole speech prepared and now I forgot what I was supposed to say,” he said and you looked at him curiously. “I know it starts with me saying I might be the biggest dumbass at Hogwarts.”

“That I can agree on,” you pointed out, a small grin evident on your face. James cracked a smile hearing you tease him after weeks. Somehow, he never minded it when it was you. There was silence again, but this time it felt calmer.

“You see? I had a fascination with this red-headed girl,” he whispered. Your throat bobbed. He was here to talk about Lily? “This fiery girl who rejected me every time I asked her out. And my fascination just grew. So much that I couldn’t even notice myself falling for someone else. Someone who’d been an amazing friend.”

Your eyes snapped towards him and he gave you a light smile.

“I don’t love Lily. I don’t. And I hate myself for not realizing it. But even more than that I hate myself for turning you away. I’m sorry,” he said as you sniffed, letting his words soak in. He loved you, not Lily. You knew you must be looking like an idiot then, giddiness blooming through your body.

“Are you sure this isn’t the speech you prepared?” you said as James chuckled. He shook his head.

“My prepared speech was written by a great man and it did not end with an apology.”

“Oh? What did that great man end the speech with?” you said, joy evident on James’ face. He was enjoying this.

“Asking you out,” he said cheekily and you let out a snort.

“Well, that’s a let down,” you said, putting on a disappointed expression, noticing James furrowing his brows. “I was hoping the speech would end in some kisses; after all, don—"

You couldn’t finish the sentence as James pulled you closer by your waist and pressed his lips against yours. You sighed, tugging him closer by his neck. Pulling back, you rested your forehead against his taking deep breaths.

“I fucking love you,” James said, cradling your face and starting to press kisses all over. You giggled.

“I love you too. Tell that great man I’d like to go out with him this Hogsmeade weekend, will you?” you said as James let out a laugh.

—as for the taglist: I don’t make taglists, I have a blog @from-my-quill which is updated whenever I post fanfiction. You could have the notifications on for it and it will work just like me tagging you.

⟨⟨REBLOGS AND FEEDBACK ARE APPRECIATED⟩⟩

#james #james potter #james potter x reader #james x reader #sirius black #remus lupin #marauders #marauders x reader #the marauders #hp #harry potter #james potter x you #james x you #james potter x y/n #james x y/n #from anu's quill

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dreamingpartone · 3 years ago

Note

you're one of my favorite artist, i just adore your art style!! and if you dont mind explaining a bit, can i ask how you get all those bright colors to look harmonious and put together in your art? your coloring style is gorgeous and id really love to learn a bit about how it works <3

thank you so muuch, I’m so glad you like it!! <3

and that is a very good question that I will try my best to answer…!! to be honest, some of it is just trial and error, but I would say it mostly comes down to a bit of patience and colour theory knowledge (and probably also the benefit of my favourite yellow-blue colour combo, which I use a lot)

*general disclaimer that there’s no wrong way to use colour and that most of this is just stuff I’ve absorbed over years of art exposure and my own practice; I am by no means an expert*

the obvious place to start:

COLOUR WHEEL BASICS!

Admittedly, it’s not really something I think about consciously anymore, but I think understanding the basic combinations/groupings of the colour wheel (warm and cool colours, complementary, analogous, etc) is particularly useful when it comes to bright colours

To look at it in practice: a majority of my art can be broken down into a complementary colour scheme (usually warm yellows and cooler blues), then the addition of one or two other prominent colours, and then a spread from there

For example, this asny piece is just the primary colours (red, yellow, blue) + everything on one side of the colour wheel:

The yellows and oranges contrast nicely with the blues and purples, and then I’ve got my red-pinks which both pop out and blend with the other colours

I also made sure to use all those colours across different areas of the artwork (e.g. the ribbons match each others’ clothes, the cloud colours crossover, etc), which leads me to...

PLACEMENT!

When I’m using a lot of bright colours, I find placement can be just as important as actual colour choice itself. And that’s probably where a sense of harmony comes into it too!

Where you put certain colours can dictate the overall balance of a piece, and how your gaze is directed. Often, unless I want the focus to be on a specific area, I’ll make sure any bold colours are used at least twice across a larger artwork

(Like how I mentioned for the previous piece; there’s a lot of matching colours between their outfits and the background, and it works with the composition in moving your eye across the whole thing)

However, obviously, you can use colour placement in the opposite way (as a single source) to make a focal point as well!!

Like one of my few successful uses of bright green (which, for anyone paying attention, is something I don’t often touch with my yellow-blue preferences...) is in this Kiss artwork:

and I suspect it works here because your eye is drawn down the piece anyway. Plus, it’s mingled with flowers that have the same colours from the rest of the image, so it still strikes enough of a balance overall

Other Things To Note!

I try to pay attention to the value (how light or dark a colour is/how close it is to white or black) of the colours I'm using — particularly in relation to the subject and background, because that’s gonna determine contrast and depth between them

I'm not super fussed about making lighting look ~realistic~. I’d rather get a mood across, so that gives me a bit of leeway with colouring!

One of the last steps in my process is often adding a blue fill layer set to ‘lighter colour’ and a yellow set to ‘darker colour’ which kind of helps blend tones together as well

Oh and hot tip that basically every artist gets told: if you’re going for vibrancy, avoid using black or grey to adjust the shade of your colours. I pretty much always use blues or purples as my darkest colour (aside from lineart and select details)

Also, START SIMPLE!!

I never go into an artwork knowing exactly how colourful I’ll make it. Quite frankly it’d be daunting jumping from a sketch to “yes I will use ALL the bright colours in this one :)” !!! so for me it’s about beginning with a rough idea and editing and/or adding colours from there

(And actually, any artists out there struggling to balance colours, I feel like it might be a useful exercise to limit your palette to say, 3 or 4 colours (a light, a dark, and something in between) and then slowly add more variation to see what works or what doesn’t?)

It isn’t the most colourful, but I think a useful example of this is my Karasuno piece bc it had a specific colour scheme that I had to balance across fourteen different outfits. So to keep my sanity I just started with the same orange, cream, two blues, and “black”, and refined it from there:

To conclude: there are multiple things going on to make sure my colours look good together — some conscious choices, some more intuitive... And I'm still learning/trying new things/getting it wrong sometimes, but that’s just a part of the art process :’)

Anyway I have definitely talked enough here but if you want me to explain anything else or if this raises more questions, let me know!!

#LONG POST UNDER THE READMORE #me: i'll just look at a few key points :)#me several days later: i have written half an essay :)#anonymous #ask #art asks #ANON I'M SORRY THIS IS A SLOW REPLY /AND/ A LONG ONE #it's probably way more information than you wanted but fjdskfsjg #i hope........some of it........is vaguely useful........lmao #you know how every friend has a few topics that they just go into full powerpoint presentation mode when you bring up?#that's me with art process questions ;;u;;#(also psst if the person who sent me the name of their asny fic sees this i got your ask !! and i'm adding it to my reading list !!)

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minor-solemnity · 4 years ago

Text

Invention and Intrigue pt.3

Tag List: @jinxqsu @naps-and-lemons @riddles-wifey @mainlynonsense @cakesarecute

“You know, my friends call me Tom.” He interrupts you, sounding faintly amused, a small, irritatingly handsome smile curling his lips.

“And that’s what we are? Friends?”

You start meeting him more regularly after that. He finds you after dinner most nights and you spend hours in abandoned classrooms, researching and practising obscure forms of magic. Thankfully, he doesn’t bring any more fluffy animals for practical demonstrations. You swap theories and notes on cursed objects; delve deep into the histories of generational bloodline curses; and break down spells - both light and dark - into their most base forms to learn their mechanisms and constructions.

Honestly, it’s strange how easy it is to sit in companionable silence reading from the ancient tomes that Riddle has somehow managed to source. Riddle is patient and oddly kind when he explains aspects of magical theory that you don’t understand; he’s a good teacher. Given his reputation for being a studious, polite, and unendingly fair young man you don’t think this should shock you, but it does nonetheless.

More interesting is the gratification that lights his expression when he succeeds in performing a spell for the first time, and the morbid curiosity he has for everything that could be classified as ‘dark’. You think that you should be concerned or nervous or scared but it’s difficult to summon those (very sensible, very reasonable) feelings when you are just as interested in what you’re discovering as he is.

It’s nearly seven o’clock and you think you should probably be thinking about heading back to your common room in case Melanie starts to wonder where you are. Except… From where you’re sitting on the floor with a large, dark green blanket wrapped around your shoulders that Riddle had conjured for when when you’d complained about being cold, you can watch him without him noticing. You can study the way he curls over the book on legilimency he’s reading, head bowed, dark hair falling into his eyes and casting shadows along the sharp planes of his face. He pauses every so often to scribble down a thought or annotation and you watch the crease that forms on his forehead whenever he reaches a part of his reading that particularly interests him. He looks calm is the thing. Content. Peaceful.

Unbidden, an image of him stretched out on a sofa, a book in his hands, you curled at his side, springs fully formed to the forefront of your mind. You can picture the way he might absently run a hand through your hair, or maybe it would be you tracing patterns against his chest… It’s a horrendously tempting portrayal of domesticity. You’re so lost in your fantasies that you don’t realise that you’ve been staring until he coughs politely and you’re brought thundering back to reality. He’s watching you with an expression that reads as part amusement and part consideration and you feel your cheeks grow warm under his scrutiny.

You get up and brush yourself off, folding the blanket over your arm and studiously ignore him. “I should… I need to get back. It’s getting late.” You say and are proud that your voice only wavers slightly.

He hums softly in contemplation and nods. Once you’ve both gathered your things, he offers you his hand and you are reminded of the first time you’d spoken. You slumped against the wall, shivering and scared and him, holding his hand out to you like it was the most normal thing in the world. “Let me walk you back,” He says. Just as before, he doesn’t let go of your hand until you reach the entrance to your common room. When you try to return the blanket, he shakes his head and presses it back into your hands. “I conjured it for you. I’d like for you to keep it.”

Just as before, he departs and you’re left holding the blanket, soft and warm and deep emerald green. Slytherin colours. His colours.

***

Three days later, you’re ready to take back every nice thought you’ve ever had about Riddle. You are seriously regretting ever having caught his attention. Sure, it’s been fun, you’ve learnt a lot of interesting things, and you’d be lying if you said that you’d not been enjoying getting know Riddle beyond the persona he puts forward to the rest of the school, but none of that can make up for the fact that he is leading you down into the bowels of the castle once more without a care in the world for your comfort or sanity.

“You don’t like the dungeons very much, do you?” He asks, taking in your jumpy demeanour and suspicious gaze with a sardonic smile. “Why is that, I wonder? Too scary for a good little girl like you?” The emphasis on the word ‘good’ serves both to underline the obvious sarcasm in his words and make your stomach clench in a way that is entirely inappropriate for the conversation at hand. You could curse yourself for the incredibly misplaced crush you’ve apparently developed.

You fold your arms over your chest and stare at the floor, unwilling to let him see how much his comment has affected you. You let out a shaky breath and murmur, “Self-preservation is not the same as being scared. Excuse me for not wanting to actively tempt fate and die in some godforsaken dungeon.” You snip, well aware that you’re being a little bit dramatic and not caring in the slightest.

Riddle purses his lips together in a hard, thin line and it’s not difficult to see that you’re irritating him. “You seemed perfectly capable of defending yourself the last time you ventured down.”

“Just because I can defend myself doesn’t mean I want to have to.” You snap, following him through the door he’s holding open for you and glancing around in case this has all been some elaborate hoax Lestrange is waiting in the shadows to hex you to hell and back.

The door slams shut behind you and you whirl around, your wand outstretched. Riddle leans against the closed door, arms crossed, looking incredibly bored. “I would have hoped you’d have a little more trust in me by this point.”

And well… He’s right, as much as it pains you to admit it. He’s only ever been kind to you - maybe a little condescending and arrogant at times, but that only serves to add to his charm. With a twinge of embarrassment, you stow your wand away and clench your jaw, unwilling to admit defeat quite so soon. “Yes, well, that was before you decided to lure me into the dungeons, Riddle. Forgive me for being—"

“You know, my friends call me Tom.” He interrupts you, sounding faintly amused, a small, irritatingly handsome smile curling his lips.

“And that’s what we are? Friends?” You stare at him blankly. Because… Well. You’re not. Friends, that is. Up until a few weeks ago, Tom Riddle hasn’t spared you a second glance since first year and why would he? You are… Well, you’re you. Angry at the world, melodramatic, and apparently, a budding dark sorcerer. It’s strangely reassuring to realise that it’s these things that he likes about you.

“Why wouldn’t we be? We’ve been spending plenty of time together, we have similar interests, we know things about each other that no one else does,” He’s circling you now, sweeping closer and closer until he’s right in front of you, perched elegantly against one of the desks. “What else would you call us?” He sounds so… calm. Congenial. Like it’s the most obvious and simple thing in the world. Except that there’s nothing congenial about the heat that flickers in the depths of his eyes.

He cocks his head to the side, as though considering something very carefully, and then reaches out and catches your hand. With the same surprising strength that he’d displayed the last time you’d been in the dungeons alone with him, he pulls you forwards. Velocity and inertia work in tandem and you stumble towards him, prevented from collapsing against his chest only by his hand that moves to clasp your waist. Unbidden, your hands move to rest on his thighs. You can feel the way his muscles tense under your touch and you wonder if he’s as affected by the sudden proximity as you are. You wonder if his heart is tripping over itself the way yours is. You wonder (and a distant part of your mind laughs at the ridiculousness of the thought even as you think it) if he wants you the way you find yourself wanting him: entirely. You want to wrap yourself around every part of him, insert yourself into every aspect of his being. You’ve never considered yourself to be a possessive person before; you might have to start reconsidering that now.

You feel, more than you hear, his short sharp intake of breath and he spreads his legs just enough to provide a space for you. You press forward, tucking yourself between his legs, hands on his thighs, emotion and heat and, god, want flooding through you with all the unstoppable force of a tsunami crashing over a seawall. His eyes flicker between yours as he brushes a lock of hair away from your eyes, tucking it carefully behind your ear. He tilts your head up and lowers his until his lips are barely grazing yours. There’s something almost tentative about the way he holds himself, as though he’s holding himself back.

Nervous. You think he might be nervous. And isn’t that just the most delicious thought?

Your heart thrums wildly in your chest and your fingers tighten instinctively against the fabric of his trousers. “Definitely not friends,” You whisper against his lips before you finally give in to the want that’s been building inside of you for weeks.

(part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4)

#tom riddle #tom marvolo riddle #tom riddle x oc #tom riddle x y/n #tom riddle x you #tom riddle x reader #tom riddle imagines #tom riddle imagine #tom riddle fic #tom riddle fanfic #tom riddle fanfiction #minific #jinxqsu

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worstloki · 4 years ago

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please read the article 'How White Fandom is Colonizing "Character-Coding"' by Shafira Jordan and quit while you're ahead

Okay, so I read it and see the problem, and I’ll try to address all their points in order because I don’t wholly agree with the article. I know it’s a lot to read so I’ve put tldr; sections at the end of each :)

Misusing the Term Reinforces Negative Stereotypes for Marginalized People

The article essentially argues that labeling characters which are villainous as POC-coded is bad because they’re not morally pure and doing so "reinforces the idea that people of color are naturally dangerous and not to be trusted.”

Which is fair as you don’t want all the representation to be of ‘bad’ characters, but I also don’t believe all representative characters have to be ‘good’ either as it would be equally racist to divide good/bad in such a way. Not that I would place Loki under ‘bad’ to begin with, but arguing that characters shouldn’t be labelled as POC-coded for reasons unrelated to what’s presented in the narrative or because they did bad things is :/ even if lack of good representation is a prevalent issue in current Western and influenced media.

Ideally there should be a range of representative characters that fall into ‘good’, ‘bad’, and ‘anywhere in-between’ because variety and complexity in character types should, in theory, be treated as common practice (which can only happen with a multitude of representation!).

And a bit unrelated but... within the fictional context of Thor 1, all the Jotnar (sans Loki) are presented to the audience as ‘bad’ by default. They desperately want to get their Casket back to the point of attempting stealing it (from the ‘good’ characters), they fight the heroes and even when the gang and Thor (’good’ characters) are enjoying or going overboard with taking lives it’s inconsequential, Laufey wants to kill the opposing king (who just happens to be a ‘good’ character) and will resort to low-handed methods to do so, etc. The narrative itself is from the frame of reference of the ‘good’ and we only see warriors of Jotunheim though so we understand why it’s like this, because regardless of their race/experiences the narrative carries, even if it most definitely would be seen as racist from our real-life perspectives if the ‘monstrous’ race were presented by actual people of colour, even if it would make sense for the people on on different realms living in different environments to be different from each other, and realistic even for that to be the root of some conflict.

tldr; not using a specific label to prevent negative presentations of the characters seems a bit strange to do when the coding would be based off the text, but with limited representation available I see why it would be done, even if I still believe minority-coding is free game to expand/interpret.

Improperly Labeling a Character as “POC-coded” Suggests the Experiences of All People of Color are the Same

The article argues that labeling Loki as POC-coded “suggests that all people of color have the same experiences, when in reality, people of color come from different places, have different cultures, and have different traditions.” And while it’s true that the term doesn’t go into detail about which particular experiences (and these experiences can vary vastly due to diversity!) the appropriate measure would be to remove the umbrella term POC altogether as people of colour tend to also vary. But that’s also exactly why it’s an all-encompassing general term? It’s a way to denote anyone who isn’t “white” and has the associated cultural privilege that comes with the concept of white supremacy.

And, obviously, in the fictional setting presented, the concept of white supremacy is not prodded at, but cultural supremacy is definitely one that makes recurring appearances, right next to the parts about Asgard being a realm built on imperialism with ongoing colonial practice.

My take on this is that Loki’s narrative features a struggle with identity after finding out he’s of a different race and was being treated differently his entire life and being Jotun was presumably a part of the reasoning even if he didn’t know it. He’s basically treated as of less worth for inherently existing differently. I do believe that racism is a common-enough POC experience, but that while Loki was born with blue skin he passes/appears white which is why I don’t say that Loki is a POC, just that he has been coded/can be interpreted this way.

There’s also the entire thing with Loki trying to fit in and prove he belongs by trying to fit the theory and be The Most Asgardian by committing genocide (which ultimately makes no difference as he’s still not the ‘acceptable’ version of Asgardian), and the denial/rejection of his birth culture in destructively lashing out towards them (which even Thor is confused by because Loki isn’t typically violent), and the fact his self worth plummets and he is passively suicidal upon finding out he’s Jotun (internalized racism? general drop in self-worth after finding out he’s adopted and has been lied to? Bit of both?), but what do I know, I’m sure none of those are, at their base, common experiences or relatable feelings for anyone or decent rep because we see such themes on-screen presented wonderfully in different lights all the time.

tldr; every set of experiences could be different, some types of discrimination could overlap, if you limit an umbrella term to only very specific circumstances then it’s no longer an umbrella term.

Suggesting that White Characters are Meant to be Seen as People of Color Ignores the Actual Characters of Color that are Present in these Stories

I don’t agree with most of this section, but that may just be the way the arguments are put together, which I don’t blame the author for.

“ Implying that Loki is a person of color completely ignores Heimdall and Hogun, the only Black and Asian Asgardians who appear in the movie. ”

Characters such as Hogun and Heimdall which are played by actual people of colour have smaller roles in the films and any prejudice they could face for being POC in-universe isn’t made apparent, while Loki at the very least comes to the realization that something he couldn’t change (race, parentage,) was having him treated differently his whole life and had to come to terms with it. The Vanir/Aesir are also both treated similarly on-screen, and Heimdall having dark skin isn’t plot relevant, whereas Jotnar are treated as lesser consistently and are relevant through the movie (breaking into the vault, Thor and co. attack Jotunheim, Loki’s deal with Laufey, the attempted regicide (and the successful one XD), destroying jotunheim, Loki saying he’s not Thor’s brother,).

I also see including characters as POC-coded as... more representation? In all canon-compliant interpretations of the characters Hogun being Vanir is always explicitly mentioned because it’s a fact that just is, up to the appearance and even the world-building of Vanaheim in some fanworks use particularly East Asian culture as inspiration. I have never come across a Marvel fandom Heimdall interpretation where he’s not Black... but because these characters are more minor/side-characters of course they get less attention!

“ In Loki’s fandom, Heimdall’s name sometimes gets thrown in to suggest that it was he all along who was the real villain due to his “racism” against Loki and the rest of the Jotun. It is, of course, ironic to suggest that somehow the only Black Asgardian to appear in the movie can oppress the privileged white prince. “

I... don’t know where to start with this. But the example of theorizing given in the article wasn’t suggesting Heimdall was bad or trying to explain his actions in Thor 1 by saying he is Black... and just looking at a character’s actions shouldn’t be done less or more critically because of skin tone in my opinion. Heimdall may have been trying to do what was best and protect the realm but if the audience didn’t know that Loki was up to dodgy things then the coding would be switched around because he was trying to spy and committed treason and then tried to kill Loki. People... can hold feelings towards others... regardless of skin... and suspect them... for reasons other than skin... although I do still have questions about whether Heimdall knew Loki was Jotun or not. (Even if I personally don’t think it’d make a difference to how he’d treat Loki?)

Some Loki fans have also suggested that because Jotuns have blue skin that this alone makes him a person of color (even if the audience is only allowed to see Loki in his true Jotun form for mere seconds of screentime). This, again, shows a lack of understanding when it comes to race. It doesn’t matter what skin color the Jotuns have.

Race can differentiate between physical and/or behavioural characteristics!! Not being blue all the time doesn’t make him any less Jotun!! He’s got internalized stuff to work through and is used to being Aesir!! At least 1 parent is Jotun so even if Loki was passing as Aesir he’s probably Jotun!! (I don’t know how magic space genetics work for sure but Loki being Jotun was an entire very important jump-starting point in Thor 1!!). It’s a fantasy text and typically things like having different coloured skin indicates a different race or is sometimes if a species has multiple then is just considered a skin colour. That’s how coding works!! The Jotnar are very specifically the only race we see in the movie with a skin-tone not within the ‘normal’ human range, which alienates them to the audience from the get-go!! They’re an “other” and on the opposite side to the ‘good’ characters.

Both Loki and his birth father, Laufey (Colm Feore), are played by white men, and it is impossible for a white man to successfully play a character of color.

The specification of men here bothers me, but yes, you don’t get ‘white’ people to play characters of colour if it can be avoided. (And it can be avoided.)

This also connects with the previous point made that people of color come from various places. There is nothing specifically about the Jotun that could be traced to any specific person of color, and even if there were, there would be no way for white men to portray them without being disrespectful.

This is where arguments about the definition of coding and how specificity/generalizations and do/don’t come in. I know I’m subjective and lean towards the more rep the better, but while I agree ‘white’ people wouldn’t be able to respectfully play a POC I don’t think that rule should have to carry over into fantasy-based fiction. I know texts reflect on reality and reality can reflect within texts, but if contextually there is racial discrimination and there are similar ideas which resonate with the audience’s own experiences I’d say it’s coded well enough to allow that.

tldr; Thor 1′s narrative revolves mainly around Thor and Loki, of which race is kinda kinda a significant theme in Loki’s part of the story. Not so much explored with less-developed side characters such as Heimdall and Hogun, even though their actors are actual people of colour.

How Much of this is Really Well-Intentioned?

In the fantasy space viking world Heimdall and Hogun don’t face any on-screen prejudice and their appearance is not mentioned (which is nice, for sure! good to have casual rep!) but adding on to the roles they play in the narrative the explicit fantasy-racism in the movie isn't aimed at Asian/Black characters, but towards the Humans -to a lesser extent- and the Jotnar, including Loki, who only just found out he comes under that bracket.

The article mentions how fandom space toxicity often “reaches the actors who portray the characters,“ which is true, and it’s shameful that people have to justify their roles or presences are harassed for the pettiest things like skin tone/cultural background, but I don’t see coding characters as removing the spotlight from interesting characters such as those which are actually POC, rather expressing a demand for more rep, since well-written complex characters which are diverse are often absent/minor enough in the media, and therefore can get easily brushed aside in both canon and fandom spaces.

tldr; It’s obviously not a replacement for actual representation, but, if a character is marginalized and can be interpreted as coded, even if they would only be considered so within the context of the textual landscape, I don’t see why spreading awareness through exploring the coding as a possibility for the character shouldn’t be done, even if the media is being presented by people who are ‘white’ or privileged or may not fall into the categories themselves, as long as it’s done respectfully to those it could explicitly represent.

#please don’t patronize me by asking to quit while i’m ahead #it doesn't help anyone #so anyway i've summarized my opinion on the coding thing here for the many anons whose answers could be answered in this ask alone #i think i covered everything?#the article started out okay but I found it kinda :/ in places even though there were valid concerns #I do believe that in-universe context and creators of the media should be taken into account #and that if marginalized themes can be touched on by non-marginalized groups then... great? fictional texts can help people understand #i do also think that rep being presented should if not on-screen have people working on the product to support and ensure it's done well #the world is cold and harsh and cruel and i just wanted a desi Loki AU but here we are #I've got to try and summarize how I think Thor 1 presents Loki's part of the narrative well with POC-coding there because of fantasy-racism #even if the POC-coding is ignored the themes of racism are far too apparent to ignore #loki spends the entire film being a multi-dimensional character and having an entire downfall fueled by grief and a desire to be loved #I don't think attaching a label to such a character would be a negative thing... but perhaps for casual watchers it'd be a bit :/#apparently not everyone takes into account the 1000+ years of good behavior around that 1 year of betrayal/breakdown/identity crisis/torture #MetaAnalysisForTheWin #MAFTW #ThisPostIsLongerThanMyLifeSpan #TPILTMLS #AgreeToDisagreeOrNot #ATDON #poc-coding #yes i ignored everything not about loki in the article what about it #hmmm I know people are going to disagree with me with what should and shouldn't be allowed #I know some people are okay with it but some don't like the poc-coding thing #and that's fine #completely understandable #makes me uncomfy to talk about fictional space racism in comparison to real life but I do think that lack of rep is why coding is important #for some people coding is all that they get #but also!! @ifihadmypickofwishes suggested the term racial allegory and I do believe that is also suitable here!! so I’ll try using that too #rather than poc-coding even though I still believe it applies

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sirtadcooper · 4 years ago

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🎨 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

Astrid, Astrid, Astrid, what am I going to do? Sort through your consistently perfect gifs? Pick favourites? You have truly set me a great challenge.

Usually I will go through a person’s whole edits tag but I have sorted these into Narcos and The Mandalorian because I was just looking to see how much you had made and accidentally saw a major spoiler for The Mentalist which I am only on season 2 of. I’m looking forward to [redacted] happening, though, because I was starting to ship them a few episodes in! Anyway, onwards with my impossible task.

Narcos

So before I start on this list I want to say that your colouring? It’s perfect every single time. Seriously. Fair warning: I’m going to be saying “perfect” a lot.

Javier Peña + that thing he does with his right hand - A great compilation! I never noticed this little detail so this gifset was a real (pleasant) surprise. I was checking the notes just to see what the general consensus was and I like the he-wants-a-cigarette theory. Just excellent acting from Pedro what a very keen eye you have! Or maybe you just spend a lot of time fixating on Javi’s hands...

Javi being snarky - Gosh, I love this one! Javi’s sense of humour got me though Narcos, although I think only one or possibly two of these gifs is from season 3? The way the life drains out of him over the course of the series just breaks my effing heart, baby. By the end of the three seasons I was pretty cross with the guys in episode one for calling him an asshole, but maybe I can see their point now, haha! But I still love him. I will protec.

1.05 There Will Be a Future | 3.01 The Kingpin Strategy - It was a great choice to jump from one scene to the other like this. Really adds to the heartbreak. It makes the contrast between his life now (sharing stories in the cool dark) and what it could have been (warmth and light and checked shirts) all the more vivid. The way he looks back at her in the last gif? Ouch.

Narcos, “The Palace in Flames” (2015) | We Can Be Heroes (2020) - A parallel I love and respect, thanks for making such good gifs of it. Shout-out to @keanurevees for being the single funniest person on this planet.

“Jungle Rescue Javi” in Convivir - Listen Jungle Rescue Javi can come and rescue me anytime. You’ve done a great job of colouring so many scenes with different lighting conditions and still have that green shirt look like a green shirt. Like it’s the same hue in each one. How did you do that? That’s pretty neat.

We’ve all gone off the rails down here, Javi. - This scene! I’m not okay! I love the colouring work you have done here. It’s just so perfect, so nice to look at. The whole set has this earthy colour palette and I mean, even Javi isn’t wearing a colourful shirt for once. This is serious.

Javi wearing a leather jacket - These gifs are so HQ I could practically reach out and touch his jacket, you can just feel the textures... with-with your eyes...? You’ve picked shots that all work together as a set, nothing stands out for the wrong reasons. No wide shots, no super close-ups, nothing to throw us off of our jacket appreciation rhythm.

Javi and his yellow aviator sunglasses - My biggest “YEAH BOY!!!” ever for this one. The amount of work that must have gone into this. 24 individual gifs coloured to your usual levels of absolute perfection and then laid out in this very pleasing and completely accurate, not-a-pixel-out-of-line way. Amazing.

Javi chasing Franklin Jurado through Curaçao in Best Laid Plans - Gosh this scene was so tense! You’ve done a great job colouring this despite the changing lighting conditions and the blazing sunshine. Well done! And I never noticed until I saw this gifset for the first time that he’s wearing a pink shirt and jumps from a pink building, haha!

Javier Peña leaning over tables - You see stuff like this? This is why I consider you to be the ultimate expert on Narcos. You make compilations like this and make it look effortless. I wouldn’t know where to start looking for scenes like these without having to rewatch the whole series and take notes. But, hey, maybe that’s what you did. But the fact that you did and made this set is still amazing.

NARCOS | 1.06 EXPLOSIVOS - Great job with such a dark and unforgiving scene! You have the Talent. He looks really pretty here.

Javier Peña + favorite look - Gosh, yes. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Pedro Pascal is a very talented actor. He takes clunky vintage tactical equipment and makes it look flipping incredible, like something he was born to wear. Also thank you for that delectable bonus gif. Arms.

The Mandalorian

Okay I have rambled for, like, 800 words already so I’ll try to say a bit less about these. I’ll try.

Din’s beskar spear heel kick in The Rescue - First of all, I saw this and now I’m pregnant. This is on the list because not only is it Din’s hottest moment for me, but because colouring-wise it is impressive. It’s bright, there’s no colour cast at all, and yet the blacks are really deep and rich. Gideon’s I’m-evil-I-must-wear-nothing-but-black cape looks especially good.

Din’s walk - You are the compilation queen! There’s nothing really that I can say here that I haven’t already said about your other compilation gifsets, it’s just perfect as usual, ya know? You make it look so easy. How does Din look so good when [New Yorker voice] he’s just walkin’ here?

Din just being a dad - Yeah. That’s the Good Stuff.

Din’s shoulder/waist ratio whenever he walks into a room - Everyone shut up I am Thinking.

Din engaging in a dogfight while his son has the time of his life on the backseat in The Siege - Like with your set of pink-shirted Javi chasing that guy in Narcos, you have a real talent for giffing action scenes. You’ve coloured this really well. You can still see details in the clouds and the shadows and your colour balance is impeccable.

Din lifting his helmet to sip soup in The Siege - I love the warmth of this little scene and the colouring you’ve done here. And the bonus gif... same, Grogu, same.

And I think I’ll stop there. I have sadly had to leave out some really excellent posts but I had to draw the line somewhere, haha! You, my friend, are just incredible. Time and time again you grace us with perfect gifs in crisp HD 4K 1080p HDR. And for what? Not for money or reward, but for love. Thank you for all that you do, because you may make your gifs look effortless but I know it is anything but. You’re amazing, you’re talented, you’re perfect.

creators send me 🎨 and i’ll tell you my favourite of your last ten creations and why

#javier-pena #ask #you're one of the best gifmakers on this site if not the best #i could go on but i already have #🎨 reviews

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dreamescapeswriting · 4 years ago

Text

Friendly Neighbourhood Boy ~ MYG [Request]

WORD COUNT: 2k

GENRE: Superhero AU, fictional universe, marvel characters mentioned, mentions of blood and angst

PAIRING: Yoongi x Reader

A/N: I made this take part in Hell’s Kitchen so I hope this is okay for you my love! Also Yes I know I’ve probably done a huge no no by mixing multiple marvel universes together lmao (Also yes NeighboUrhood cause I’m British 😅😂)

The walk from your apartment to the local corner shop seemed to be taking a lot longer than it normally would all of the roadblocks that were around the city were the ones to blame.

"Excuse me," You mumbled as you made your way past Josie's bar, ignoring the catcalls from the drunk men that were finally picking themselves up from the bar and heading home for the day. Hell's Kitchen wasn't so bad as long as you knew how to look after yourself and stay out of the way of the wrong people. Keeping your head down you finally made it into the corner store, smiling as the small bell above the door sounded to let Yoongi know that you were there.

"Good morning Yoongi," You called out as you walk around, glancing over at him when you saw him sitting there with his eyes glued onto the screen anxiously. He was a 5''9 boy with dark black hair, always doing the same thing every day you went in there. Sitting on his laptop writing away or watching the news since it was the only channel the TV seemed to get. You didn't blame him for watching this morning though. There had been some bank robbery happening further into the city, the robbery was in the line of so many more that had been happening that week. The whole investigation had everyone on the edge of their seats, no one knew who was the one behind the bank robberies. Just that, whoever it was left everyone alive but not being able to remember anything.

"Crazy isn't it?" You questioned after grabbing your usual cat food and bringing it to the counter, watching as Yoongi scanned it without taking his eyes off the screen. It was as if he didn't even know you were there, you giggled softly as you waited for him to realise someone was talking to him.

"Yoongles," As soon as your nickname for him caught his attention he turned to look at you and began stuttering,

"I-I what?- I-I wasn't-" You giggled which made him blush deeply, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to come up with some excuse as to why he had ignored you.

"I said, it's crazy isn't it?" You nodded at the TV and he began nodding his head, turning it down so that he could talk to you about it. Over the years of living in Hell's Kitchen, you'd gotten to know Yoongi a lot and considered him to be one of your best friends. Whenever you worked a nightshift down the road he would always come back to walk you home, not wanting you to walk around Hell's kitchen at night by yourself. Everyone knew what on around here, it was no secret that people had "abilities" in and around Hell's kitchen. Even around the whole world. Half of the things you'd seen people would call you crazy for, a woman shorter than you beating someone up, ten times her size and putting him through a wall? You'd learnt to keep your mouth shut about the things you'd seen around you, easier than trying to explain anything to a policeman who didn't care.

"Wanna know what I think?" You asked, jumping onto the counter and staring at the screen with Yoongi as you watched a reporter talking to the camera about the information the police had...Which was nothing.

"What do you think?" Yoongi chuckled, sitting down on the counter beside you and handing you one of your favourite chocolate bars. You looked at him out of the corner of your eye and smiled,

"Someone with special abilities has to be doing it, think about it...They always forget what happened, whoever it is that does this is in and out quickly...It's the only explanation." You waited to see if he would react to it, you'd known about Yoongi's powers for a while but you never said anything to him. If he really wanted you to know then he would have told you but there was one other thing you knew about him that no one else did. There was a local "hero" that went around at night saving people. Moved so quickly it was like a blur to everyone around him, you'd never have seen him if he hadn't stopped you from getting hit by a car on a walk home once.

"Luke, I'm fine," You laughed as you drunkenly stumbled out of Josie's bar, ignoring the owner who was trying to convince you to let him take you home. If he did that you would have to make everyone else in the bar leave and you weren't going to ruin the fun.

"Look-" You stood up straight and walked in a straight line, holding eye contact with Luke as you smiled proving to him that you were fine to walk home on your own and that you were at least...A little sober.

"Fine. Text me when you're home," He grumbled in a thick deep voice and you nodded your head.

"Yes, Father!" You rolled your eyes as you began to walk home. Deciding to take the main roads instead of all the alleyways where the cameras couldn't see you. At least this way if you were mugged or taken the cameras would be able to see what happened to you.

"Hey, do you have a light?" A woman asked as she jumped from an alley, holding up an unlit cigarette staring at you as she repeated the question to you again but you shook your head. Feeling soberer now that she's practically scared the life out of you,

"N-No I don't smoke-"

"LYING WHORE!" She lashed out, jumping at you and making you jump back into the road, everything happened so fast you could barely think about anything. There was a loud horn blaring out with bright lights shining in your eyes, you threw your hands up in front of your face bracing yourself for the impact that never came.

"Y/n?" You heard a voice call out before you opened your eyes to see Yoongi standing beside you and smiling at you,

"What-What?" You stuttered out as you turned around, the lady that had scared you was on the other side of the road to you and you and Yoongi were standing together. His arm around your waist as he looked at you, eyebrows raised as he smiled.

"What's wrong?" He questioned innocently, pretending as though he hadn't just raced over to stop you from getting hit by an oncoming taxi and zooming you onto the other side of the road.

"I thought I was just-" You turned to look over the road again but Yoongi pulled you in the direction of your apartment, reminding you of how drunk you were and that he'd been walking with you the whole time.

You knew the next day as soon as you saw Luke and he told you that you'd been alone when he saw you. Slowly things with Yoongi began to make sense, like how he would abruptly leave the store unattended sometimes whenever there was something on the news. Only for a boy, his height, his build with his hair to appear on the screens having saved the day from whatever it was this time. As Yoongi heard your theory you watched the colour drain from his face and he began shaking his head at you,

"N-No, not everyone with abilities is bad...It might just be some scum bag," You smirked to yourself as you paid for the can of cat food getting ready to leave when sirens went screaming past the shop. Yoongi's eyes lit up as he turned the volume up on the TV,

"Police are in a high-speed chase with the suspect, everyone is warned to stay inside as he is believed to be armed and dangerous," Yoongi began bouncing his leg up and down as he tried to come up with some kind of fake excuse to give to you as to why he had to leave the shop.

"I have to go make sure mum is safe at home-"

"I'll watch the shop, go." You cut him off, he smiled at you before walking out of the shop as calmly as possible but you knew as soon as he was out of sight he would be using his super-speed to get out of the streets and after the car.

"Make sure his mum is safe, who does he think I am?" You mumbled to yourself, sliding down off the counter and looking around for something that needed doing but settling for a magazine instead.

It was pitch black outside, you'd shut the shutters when Yoongi would normally close up and then locked the door, pulling the final shutter down and waiting inside for Yoongi to come back. The lights were all off except for a lamp in the office you were using to do a crossword in one of the newspapers.

"Six letter word for Liar," You bit down on the pen as you began writing out Yoongi's name in the space and smirking to yourself,

"Pretty good," You giggled to yourself stopping as soon as you heard a huge crash coming from the basement, you stood up and grabbed the bat that was inside of the office. Clutching onto it for dear life as you waiting for something else to happen, the door to the office swung open and Yoongi stood there. Drenched in sweat and blood as he moaned out, throwing himself down onto the chair not noticing you in the room.

"Fuck sake Yoongi," You whined out, dropping the bat and grabbing the first aid kit right away. Yoongi's eyes widened as he stared at you, wide eyes as you began sitting down in front of him and cleaning him up without a word.

"A-Aren't you going to ask how?" He stuttered out an hour later as he watched you burning the bloody bandages and tissues and then turning to look at him.

"I already know-how, you went after the bank robber didn't you, quicksilver?" You smirked as you said his name that the tabloids had given to him recently, giggling when you saw a huge blush appear on his face and he began to stumble over his words.

"I wasn't as drunk as you thought that night you stopped me getting hit by a cab...Thank you by the way," You smiled at him as he began to get ready to leave the shop with you, shutting and locking the back entrance door as you both headed out into the alleyway.

"If you knew why didn't you tell me?" You shook your head at him and shrugged your shoulders,

"I figured if you wanted me to know, you would have told me Yoongi." You both began walking out of the alleyway and in the direction of your apartment building,

"Why did you think I was always so welcoming to look after the shop? You had big hero things to do," You giggled to him as you began to quiz him on everything he could tell you about his life.

When you reached your apartment door you turned to look at him,

"I don't know how I'm going to make it up to you for keeping my secret and helping with the shop," You smiled at his comment and shook your head at him,

"Well, there's one thing..." You started slowly as he turned his head to look at you, nodding along.

"Make it up to me...Over dinner? This weekend?" You smirked as soon as you saw Yoongi blushing and he began nodding his head vigorously,

"Y-Yeah yeah! That sounds-" He bumped into a table in the hallway knocking over a glass vase but he caught it,

"That sounds great! I'll pick you up! I'll see you Saturday," You giggled as you watched him trying to walk away from the hall but kept bumping into stuff.

"Hey, Yoongi?" He turned around as he reached the elevators and you giggled once again,

"I'll see you in the morning when I come in for my cat food." He blushed once again and you giggled watching as he got into the elevator, never taking his eyes off you.

Tagline: @lyoongx @mitzwinchester @rjsmochii @fan-ati--c @kneel-begyourpardon @taestannie @bisexualmess007 @sweeneyblue1 @sw33tnight @jin-from-the-block

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megashadowdragon · 3 years ago

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Warning: this theory contains HEAVY SPOILERS! If you’re not fully caught up with the manga, read at your own risk.

Since English isn’t my first language, I apologize in advance for any spelling/grammar mistakes. Also, this is my first time posting.

It’s practically obvious to everyone that we will get a Kaido flashback in this arc, whether he dies or not: of course, there will be a part about his time in the Rocks Pirates, but we will also get to know possibly one of the most important people for him: his wife.

Because, let’s face it, Oda hasn’t done much yet to give his personality some depth and not being just an arrogant, cruel, child-beating antagonist with a penchant for alcohol and an obsession for death, and a figure such a woman he loved could be a great opportunity for doing so.

Some might speculate that she’s actually dead and that’s why Kaido started drinking.

It could be true but, knowing Oda, he would never introduce a deceased character of that importance out of the blue, without some sort of foreshadowing: a well-kept grave located in a secret place where an important character stumbles upon in the Onigashima raid (on screen, obviously), a framed portrait on a desk or a wall, a name seemingly being thrown offhandedly in a conversation… but there is nothing in Wano which even remotely resembles one of those things.

Therefore, she must be alive.

(Also, there are already too much fundamental figures in various characters’ history who ended up dead in flashbacks, such as Bellemere, Rocinante, Russian and so on. Come on, Oda.)

Is she going to be someone new, at least?

Well, that’s a possibility, however in next arc(s) new characters will be introduced and One Piece has got more than a thousand of them already… quite a lot, aren’t they? Consequently, there is a very good chance for her to be someone who has been already introduced into the story.

Of course, there must have been some sort of foreshadowing when she had been introduced, too: she was the lover of a Yonko, after all. Has there been a woman with an unknown lover in the past arcs?

Yes, actually.

It was her:

And I believe that the mysterious man she fell in love with was none other than Kaido himself. But wait, there’s more: Gloriosa has also eaten a Devil Fruit. An extremely powerful one.

Don’t worry, I will explain everything on the way. Now, hold onto your seat, because this will be quite the long ride.

Kaido and Gloriosa comparison

Kaido of the Beasts, Governor General of the Beasts Pirates, one of the Four Emperors, the Strongest Being in the world and Gloriosa, a former Kuja ruler. These two may have little to nothing in common... or have they?

Probably the most striking difference between them is their respective height: while Kaido easily dwarfs normal humans, Gloriosa is shorter than Luffy; however, both of their heights are currently not canonically stated.

Unstated as both of their ages are, although it’s clear that both of them are past their younger days: in Gloriosa this is highlighted by her grey hair and wrinkled face, but it’s clear that Kaido is not that young any more, too, having crow’s feet under his eyes and forehead lines. It is likely that these two are quite close in age, actually.

A notably interesting fact is, canon heights and ages of the various characters, along with things such as their favourite food, are revealed in the SBS corner in manga volumes. And yet, not even one of these little pieces of information has been revealed for both Kaido and Gloriosa.

It’s very unlikely that nobody has ever sent these question to Oda, or that the latter forgot to answer them; given the importance of the two characters in the arc where they have appeared, there must be a very specific reason why Oda didn’t tell us a thing. More than that, when Gloriosa talked about her Love Sickness in chapter 522, there was no flashback; not even silhouettes.

With these things and questions on mind, let’s move on to their position. Kaido is now an Emperor of the Sea, and Gloriosa was an Empress of the Kuja. Also, while Gloriosa was an Empress Kaido held no particular position, except by maybe being a pirate captain; and now the tables have turned, Kaido being an Emperor and Gloriosa being a nobody. A neat little parallel, isn’t it?

Now, let’s get to their Haki usage and knowledge: Gloriosa seems to have some knowledge about how it works and the characteristics of the people who are able to use the various Colours: in fact, in chapter 521 she comments about Luffy’s Haki, surprised by how he willingly bowed his head to Hancock to help those who saved him instead of a boat to leave the island without a second thought. She is not a confirmed user of any form of Haki; however, in a place where pretty much every powerful warrior can use at least Observation and Armament, it is hinted she is a wielder of these two colours at least and, since she used to be an Empress, there is also a chance she can use Conqueror’s, too. Kaido is a confirmed Observation, Armament and Conqueror user, and also one of the very few people, as he himself stated in chapter 1010, who can make the latter colour flowing through their body and coat their weapon(s). In the very same chapter, he also recognized Zoro’s illusions while performing Ashura as a manifestation of Conqueror’s Haki, revealing his in-depth knowledge about the subject.

Last but certainly not least... their strength. Kaido one-shot Luffy in Gear Fourth despite the Emperor being so drunk he could not stand on his feet properly; also, he was able to clash against a fellow Yonko for days and tanked pretty much both all the Scabbard’s hits and the majority of the Supernova’s attacks on the rooftop. Moreover, how can his absolutely epic introduction not be taken into account? He fell from a Sky Island literally 10000 metres above the sea level and he ended up with... a strong headache. I’ll tell you what: Gloriosa fell from a great height, too! In addiction to it, she landed without suffering any serious consequences, as shown in chapter 517, where she landed on her feet seemingly undamaged after Hancock quite literally threw her out of the Kuja Castle. As Gloriosa herself said, she might have grown old, but she is still a Kuja warrior. Also, being a former ruler where strength is beauty, she undoubtedly was a force to be reckoned with in her prime.

That being said*... Maybe they’re not so different, after all, huh?*

Mythology references

One Piece has loads of references to Japanese myths and folklore, however Wano is especially loaded with these; and how could it not be? It is inspired by Japan, after all.

Moreover, since Kaido can transform into a dragon, there must be some kind of reference to Japanese myths and legends regarding these legendary creatures.

There’s one in particular, which might be the key to Kaido’s backstory: the story of the Enoshima Dragon.

According to this myth, in the mountains near the Koshigoe village lived a five-headed dragon, called Gozuryu, who terrorized the inhabitants over a period of some-thousand years by provoking countless natural disasters such as huge storms, floods and earthquakes, as well as eating their children. The villagers kept praying and praying, until something happened: in 31st May, 552 AD, during a bigger and more violent storm than the usual, the clouds split in two and a rock began to emerge from the sea. A beautiful woman descended from a ray of light where the clouds slit and sat foot on the island just created, making it her home. The dragon, who assisted to the whole thing, immediately fell in love with her and asked her to marry him.

The woman, who was perfectly aware of the dragon’s evil actions, was none other than the goddess Benzaiten herself.

Benzaiten on a white dragon

Now, there are two versions of how the story ends: in one, the goddess turned him down at first, and told the dragon she would have considered his proposal only if he helped the people he used to terrorise. Gozuryu accepted and the village prospered thanks to their dual protection; in the end, the goddess agreed to marry him and the couple lived happily until the dragon met his demise. In the other version, Benzaiten straight up refused Gozuryu’s proposal due to his evil actions; ashamed for his wrongdoings, the dragon promised the goddess he would have never disturbed the village again, and retired in the mountains where he died of guilt.

Anyway, regardless of how the story goes, when the dragon died he fused with the land of Kamakura, creating the Dragon’s Mouth hill (Japanese: Tatsu no kuchi yama) facing south, the direction of the island where his beloved lived. Needless to say, the island of the myth is Enoshima.

The comparison between Kaido and Gozuryu is immediate: both are extremely cruel towards children, with the former having no qualms beating them, even his own, and the latter eating them. Moreover, the Emperor, much like the five-headed dragon, terrorizes the inhabitants of the place near where he lives (Wano Country and Koshigoe Village respectively) turning the land into completely inhabitable wasteland in the process, and is capable of causing huge storms; his apparition in chapter 921 is also being accompanied by a thunderstorm. Note that, in Chapter 1003, Zoro states that fighting Kaido was like “facing a natural disaster”, much like the natural catastrophes Gozuryu caused.

Now, let’s talk about Benzaiten.

Goddess of water (especially rivers), eloquence, and good fortune, Benzaiten is considered one of the protector deities of Japan, where she’s one of the most beloved and revered gods: every major city has at least one place for her worship and countless temples and shrines dedicated to her cult are present in many other areas across the country, all located near water sources such as rivers, ponds, lakes or even in the sea. She is part of Japan’s Seven Lucky Gods, and she’s the only woman among them.

Benzaiten, however, is not originally Japanese: she is in fact a syncretic deity derived from the Hindu goddess Saraswati whose cult was brought to Japan by Buddhist monks who arrived in the VII century from China.

Due to her extreme complexity, only the most relevant facts to this theory will be reported.

She wasn’t very popular until the XI century, when her cult was fused with Ugajin’s, an obscure Japanese Kami of water, agriculture and good fortune, often represented as an old man with a snake body. Once this happened, her popularity skyrocketed as a goddess of water and by assonance ‘of everything that flows’: rivers, eloquence, knowledge, music, art and Haki. Even nowadays, Uga Benzaiten, the goddess with Ugajin on her head, is one of the most common Benzaiten representations.

Both lived in an island inhabited only by women: Gloriosa in Amazon Lily, and Benzaiten in Enoshima, since she was the sole inhabitant of said island and also a woman;

Benzaiten originated from an Indian goddess and Gloriosas, the flowers which Gloriosa was named after, grow in India too! Gloriosa superba is even Tamil Nadu’s national flower.

Due to being goddess of water, Benzaiten was naturally associated with animals connected with said element: snakes, turtles… and dragons. Especially the white ones, since this colour is linked with water in Japanese culture.

Snakes are a big part of Amazon Lily’s culture: almost every warrior on the island has her own Snake Weapon which can be used as a bow, the island’s dome is sculpted with snake motifs, the Perfume Yuda, Kuja Pirates’ flagship, is carried by two Yuda snakes, even Kuja, the name of the tribe, means ‘Nine snakes’

White snakes were considered to be Benzaiten’s main messengers and avatars and Gloriosa in Share the World opening appeared with a blue top and*...* a white snake.

Also, the traditional representation of the Black Warrior is a turtle intertwined with a snake, much like Kujas with their Snake Weapon. Due to these facts, I believe that Gloriosa has eaten the Mythical Zoan Kame Kame no Mi model: Genbu.

Timeline and character analysis – a PERSONAL take on what could have happened and when (and why)

For this section, other than time markings scattered throughout the story, Momonosuke’s (biological 8 – actual 28), Yamato’s (28), and Hancock’s (31) ages will also be taken into account for comparison.

It is known that the Rocks Pirates were defeated and subsequently disbanded 38 years before the current time. Also, Kaido was captured, and presumably sentenced to jail, eighteen times; given his reputation and danger, it’s pretty safe to assume that at least one of those nine prison ships he sunk was directed to Impel Down.

Impel Down is actually not that far from Amazon Lily: the journey takes one sailing week with an average ship, while Marine ones can make it in just four days, about half the time, because of the reserved currents. In my opinion, it makes sense thinking that Kaido has sunk a prison ship in the Paradise and somehow ended up in Amazon Lily.

Now, everyone here knows the supreme rule of the Island of Women:

NO. MEN. ALLOWED.

For any reasons.

So, by the laws of the island, he was imprisoned and, just like Luffy, was sentenced to death. But, like the latter pirate did, Kaido defeated/broke/knocked unconscious all the animal/things commonly used for executions on the island, therefore the Empress finally decided to take the matter into her own hands.

I believe the Kuja Empress at the time was Gloriosa. Why?

Well, it was stated that 33 years ago the remnants of the Rocks Pirates sent off to found their own crews, and probably Kaido arrived in Amazon Lily even earlier, between 38 and 33 years ago. As Hancock stated, Gloriosa is actually the former-former-former empress of Amazon Lily: this means that there were two Empresses between her and Hancock; since the latter is stated to have become Empress at the age of 18, 13 years ago, and given that the other two unnamed Empresses died of Love Sickness which probably is more likely to strike the unlucky rulers at a fairly young age, 20-25 years are more than enough for two Empresses to have reigned.

To estimate her actual force at the time, let’s analyse her name a bit.

Like all Kujas, Gloriosa is named after a flower (or a genus of those): Gloriosa is a genus of 12 flower species, widely spread in areas of the world such as Africa, the Arabic Peninsula and tropical parts of Asia. It can reach 3 metres in height and they display showy, vibrant-colored flowers with distinctively shaped petals, earning them the nickname of fire lily.

So, the question arises spontaneously: why is this short, wrinkly old woman named after one of the most beautiful (and tallest) flowers in the world? Given Oda’s attention even for the tiniest details, I highly doubt he chose this name randomly; at least, not for her.

Either she’s a grotesque parody of her own name… or it could be a foreshadow.

Gloriosa is also the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan word meaning ‘glorious’, if the subject it’s related to is feminine and singular. A truly fitting name for a ruler and the wife of a Yonko, isn’t it? And Kaido want his death to be… glorious.

Maybe Gloriosa in her prime was actually even more beautiful and stronger than the current Hancock, to the point where nobody had ever beaten her in combat.

Anyway, you know how the saying goes: if it’s one on one, always bet on Kaido.

Therefore, Gloriosa was defeated for the first time. By a man.

Hancock’s case probably gives us how Empresses fall ill with Love Sickness: it happens when a man catches them off guard by behaving in a totally and positively unexpected way, defying all the previous experiences the rulers have. Hancock fell in love with Luffy because he showed her kindness and didn’t judge her when she told him about her past; Gloriosa got Love Sickness because she fell in love with Kaido for his strength.

Because love… is always like a Dragon Twister hurricane!

How about Kaido?

It is common knowledge that he respects physical strength, even in his enemies.

That’s probably why he joined the Rocks Pirates in the first place: out of respect for Rocks D. Xebec, because he was actually the first person ever to defeat him in combat.

Just like Zoro with Kuina, or Douglas Bullet with Gol D. Roger (in the Stampede movie).

Gloriosa may have not defeated him in combat, but she surely gave him a very good run for his money, maybe she almost won. And he respected her for that, to the point where he actually accepted to leave Amazon Lily, even if he won. He stayed there for a little more, while a ship for him to sail the sea was being prepared, and lived peacefully (meaning: extensively touched and examined) with the Kujas.; what are the chances that one of his favourite (or least) foods is actually penne with Gorgonzola and Sea King’s meat, the island’s culinary speciality?

When he sat sail, he probably found out that the Empress snuck aboard his ship when he was far away from the island already. He thought of bringing her back, but, after listening to her reasons, he decided to let her stay with him because, let’s face it, Kaido is not Luffy, he actually appreciates the company of women.

The most beautiful woman in the world fell in love with him and contracted a mysterious illness which would have killed her if she didn’t go with him and follow him anywhere?

Oh no! /s

I’ll tell you what, I don’t think that Kaido was actually in love with her at first that much. He surely enjoyed spending passionate nights with her, and was amused by her curiosity due to Gloriosa knowing little to nothing about the external world.

There was a specific moment when he actually fell in love with her.

Have you noticed that, despite being often shirtless, Kaido's back is never fully uncovered even in his dragon form? He always wears a coat, a shirt, or both.

That hints that Kaido has some kind of mark on his back he wants to hide from public view, just like the Gorgon Sisters. Something must have happened that made him show her said mark, maybe Gloriosa caught a glimpse and asked him to see it. Anyway, Kaido was reclutant at first, but she had the right to know, she was his wife after all.

So he showed it to her, in a way that, when it will be shown in the flashback, might be a callback to when Hancock showed Luffy the Celestial Dragon hoof.

That mark meant that for the world he had and would always have been something inhuman, a failed experiment, a monster; even Big Mom, who has the best spy network in the world, calls him a 'thing'. But Gloriosa didn’t judge him for said mark, nor she believed he was a monster. For Gloriosa, he was just Kaido, the man who she had fallen in love with.

That's when Kaido fell for her. And he fell hard, probably to the point of no return.

At some point, the two conceived a child, and that's when Kaido decided that it was time to move to Wano instead of travelling the world: the pirate life is dangerous for grown people let alone for a child, plus he was one of the most wanted men by the World Government, meaning the child was in danger simply by existing.

But how did Kaido know about Wano?

He probably heard something about the Continent Puller and the ‘country’ he formed about 600 years before but, since it was a closed nation, he probably didn’t know much more until he met someone who escaped from said island: Kurozumi Higurashi.

41 years ago, she told Orochi that she fled the country because of the persecutions against the Kurozumi clan, and because she knew nothing about the outside world, joining pirates was the easier choice. Also, in that way she could have found allies and power for the Kurozumi cause easier.

The Mane Mane no Mi allows the user to create a perfect copy of a person whose face has been touched. She transformed in a woman, who, judging by the color scheme in the anime, is heavily hinted to be Bakkin and a young Shiki, both known members of the Rocks Pirates, so Higurashi may have traveled with said crew for a while. There she met Kaido, who she sensed he could have been a great help for the Kurozumis: big, powerful, and stupid, easy to manipulate.

A closed off country not part of the World Government: a perfect nation for Kaido to reside to ensure the safety of his family (mainly his child, because Gloriosa was more than capable of defending herself) and to use as a base for his operations.

When Oden went with Whitebeard 29 years ago, there were no factories in Wano, but they were there when Toki arrived in Wano with Momonosuke, who was 3 at the time, and Hiyori; so Kaido must have arrived in Wano three years earlier at last.

Gloriosa may not have been the Kuja Empress anymore, but had everything a woman like her could ask for: she was one of the heads of a soon to be powerful army, plus a devoted, loving husband and a child.

Why did she leave it all behind?

I have already talked about the parallels between Gloriosa and turtles in the mythology section, but here’s another one: in Chinese culture, turtle (especially turtle egg) is a very serious insult regarding the morality of one’s mother; that’s why Genbu is called Black Warrior instead of Black Tortoise.

This also expands one of Wano’s most prominent themes: betrayal.

Gloriosa was forced to leave Wano and Yamato behind because she cheated on Kaido. But with who?

Well, the Beast Pirates follow a card games and decks naming theme, and currently there is none named Ace; also, when Oden faced Kaido, Jack was only 8, so my hypothesis is that the third Calamity before him was called Ace. He probably had a crush on Gloriosa and when she went to him for comfort while Kaido was away, probably out to recruit subordinates or captured, he couldn’t resist.

But Kaido caught the two in the act, and was absolutely furious.

He killed Ace, and his position remained vacant for quite some time, until Jack finally took his place in the Calamities; that's why, in Episode 972, there were only King and Queen along with the fodder.

However, Kaido couldn't bring himself to kill his wife personally, so he offered her a choice: be dispatched by the hands of King or Queen, or leave and never return.

Gloriosa chose the second option.

She packed her things and left, only to realize she had nowhere to go: Wano obviously was not an option, but she couldn't just go back to Amazon Lily, not after she betrayed Kujas by abandoning them while she was an Empress. Plus, as a pirate, she was wanted by the Marine. So she lived on the run, continuously assuming new identities and never staying in the same place for too long.

Also, Love Sickness certainly has played its role in weakening her, making her age faster and dramatically decreasing her height in the process.

Taking a look at Hancock’s bed, it’s decisiverly oversized for her: said bed could comfortably fit a laid Boa Hancock together with her Snake Weapon, which is way larger than the others, her sisters, the doctor and Gloriosa, and still have room left for someone else to stand on it.

It is very likely that this bed was the Empress’s for a long time, and, since that position is not inherited, it had to fit Kujas of all sizes. So Gloriosa could have been taller in her youth, maybe a little shorter than Kaido, but still enough to handle him.

Anyway, Gloriosa managed to survive through sheer willpower, the same that allows her to snap out of Hancock’s charm much faster than the others, until her feelings for Kaido eventually faded away, thus healing from said illness.

When she finally arrived to Sabaody Archipelago, at least fifteen years ago, she was unrecognisable. Coincidentally, Shakky's Rip-Off bar was searching for new waiters, and Gloriosa applied because she needed money. The former pirate immediately recognised her.

How is that possible? Feminine intuition!

In chapter 591, she correctly predicted that Hancock would became smitten with Luffy despite not seeing her for thirteen years and every evidence in Hancock's behaviour pointing out the contrary. (Also in the very same chapter Hancock asks Gloriosa how to have a proper marriage while surrounded by monkeys wearing Wano's typical hat. Let that sink in).

Shakky understood that Kaido had no interest in her anymore and let her stay with her and Rayleigh, until the Boa sisters arrived and Gloriosa could finally return to Amazon Lily with the excuse of bringing them back home.

On the other hand, Kaido was devastated, to say the least.

Can you blame him? His beloved wife was cheating on him with one of his most trusted subordinates. He needed to forget, to get rid of all those negative feelings overwhelming him: that's why he started drinking.

However, Kaido isn't stupid. Okay, he may not be as smart as Benn Beckman, the most intelligent person introduced in the East Blue arc, but he surely has some brains: you don't reach and mantain high positions within a crew without some smarts, let alone being an Emperor of the Sea. Kaido soon realised that he caught the two relatively easily. Too easily.

Almost if they wanted to get caught in the act.

While Kaido was drinking his sorrow away, someone else was toasting to a risky plan gone smoothly.

The Kurozumi clan.

Higurashi may have lured Kaido into Wano and the alliance with the Kurozumi, but she didn’t predict that he would have arrived with a wife and a child. Gloriosa probably had a great influence on Kaido, who was (and maybe is still) regarded as little more than a muscle head; and the Kurozumis were actually afraid that she may have been plotting something. This impression was confirmed by the Onibanshu who spied the two pirates: probably Gloriosa wasn't happy about the shogun and suggested her husband some ways to dethronate him.

She was a threat, and they needed to get rid of her as soon as possible.

They sensed that one of Kaido’s top subordinates had feelings for Gloriosa, and they decided to use this fact to their advantage. So Higurashi transformed using her Devil Fruit powers and seduced the crew’s Ace, in a time and a place where she was sure Kaido could see them, while someone else distracted Gloriosa. In the end, everything went according to plan.

However, when Kaido saw the old hag using her powers some time after, he understood everything. But he had no concrete proofs, and certainly wasn't in the position to kill someone so important to his pawn based only on simple suspects; so he waited, until the perfect moment arrived.

Meanwhile, Kaido kept drinking, to forget his actions and to numb his guilt. At first, a little quantity of alcohol did the trick, but eventually he needed more and more, slowly falling into addiction.

You know, Gloriosas’ beauty is only matched by their toxicity: as proud members of the Colchicaceae family, they contain colchicine, a powerful metabolic toxin; all parts of these plants can be fatal if eaten, even a simple touch can cause skin irritation. Due to this, Gloriosa superba has been used for centuries to commit suicide.

Just like colchicine corrodes the body, alcohol, together with shame, guilt and anger, slowly eroded Kaido’s soul, corrupting him from within.

While Kaido's original plan for Wano was simply to make the island his operational base, after all that happened he decided to destroy and utterly annihililate it, just like Orochi destroyed his happiness. The shogun was fine with his ally’s devastations and never suspected that Kaido knew. The latter made Orochi believe he wouldn’t touch the Flower Capital, just to completely erase it from the face of Earth once his army would have been powerful enough to fight an all-out war. Revenge is a dish best served cold and then smashed on the forehead.

The rest is history.

Surely Kaido will be defeated, but he will not be completely dealt with in this arc.

Yamato probably got their kind, selfless nature from Gloriosa. The latter would have never approved of the terms of Kaido’s promise to Oden, let alone all the hostages and atrocities done by her husband; since Oden began to dance naked in the streets 25 years ago, probably Gloriosa was already gone at that time.

Because of this, Yamato has little to no memories of their mother, so they will likely ask Kaido about her at the end of the battle. However, Kaido himself doesn’t know her whereabouts because he didn’t send spies after her; at first, because he didn’t care about her anymore. When he realised his mistake, he still didn’t search for her because otherwise it would have shown that she was still important to him. He is not naive, he knows there are spies in his ranks, even at high levels; therefore he wants to avoid attracting unwanted attentions to her.

Plus, Kaido doesn’t even want to know, because Gloriosa probably is dead or has found another person to be with; and he deep down knows that those news would definitely break him.

However, there’s one little detail: Gloriosa’s speech quirk-nyon. Even if her appearance has changed quite a bit, she surely did nyot change her way of talking. Luffy would probably understand Kaido is talking about her because of this, and will tell them that she’s alive and well in Amazon Lily.

It is a known fact that our protagonist either kills the villains’ dreams or changes them: Kaido will change his goal too. He wouldn’t want to die yet, he will probably want to meet Gloriosa again to apologize properly for what he had done to her.

Thus, he will survive the battle and somehow, after almost thirty years, Kaido and Gloriosa will meet again.

Will Gloriosa forgive him? Will she not?

Only Oda will tell.

Other references

Black Maria Many people actually believe she’s a Kuja, and I admit, they have pretty good reasons for thinking so. Let’s start by her name: other than being a card game, Black Maria is also a variety of bougainvillea, a clear reference to Kuja’s floral naming theme; there is also a flower named Spider Lily (Lycoris radiata) referencing her Devil Fruit powers and Amazon Lily alike. Black Maria has also flowers in her hair; the most prominent ones, colored in red, have also five petals, much like the one Gloriosa wears in her hair! She is also the owner of a brothel in Onigashima and, also due to her size, it’s heavily implied that she and Kaido have a… passionate relationship, as Oda would put it (However, Kaido probably views her as nothing more than a distraction). Of course, Kaido and his wife must have had their passionate moments, since they have a child. Moreover, Benzaiten is almost always represented playing a biwa, and, as shown in chapter 992, Black Maria can play it very well. She also has a remarkable singing voice, a feature which was one of the basic requisites to become a geisha. Geishas also were protected by Benzaiten. All in all, Black Maria is actually the biggest reference to Gloriosa... in a literal and figurative sense! Oh, one last thing: the men tied to her webs in Chapter 1005 can be a symbol for Kaido’s soul, unable to move on and perpetually being trapped in the memories and regrets of his relationship with Gloriosa together with his alcohol addiction.

Kaido’s flagship Currently, Kaido’s flagship is the only one among the four Emperors’ which has yet to be seen or named. Some speculate that it’s actually Onigashima, but, in my opinion, that’s not the case: why would he travel with his entire home, with the concrete risk of it being destroyed every time he faces an opponent? Also, Yamato is in there: they have explosive handcuffs which doesn’t allow them to leave the island, but what if someone with internal destruction haki actually removes them thus freeing Yamato and letting them escape? Also, what if Yamato actually gets severely wounded, or worse, killed by invaders? Kaido actually strikes me as an overprotective dad, thus he will never directly expose his child to external danger. The handcuffs will explode if and only if Yamato actually tries to leave Onigashima: if they stay there, nothing will happen. Plus, in chapter 997, when Kaido started lifting Onigashima someone said that the island had never trembled like that before. Kaido actually has his flagship, and the reason why it hasn’t been shown is its name. I’ve said before that Gloriosa means glorious in some languages, therefore there’s a big chance that the ship will have in its name also the Japanese word of the same meaning. Maybe it’s called ‘Glorious Dragon’ in Japanese, or something like that.

Yamato Now, this will touch one of the most controversial topics within the community right now, which is Yamato’s gender; I wish not to discuss about it under this post, because this isn’t the time nor the place (IMO it’s better to delay the discussion at the end of this arc, when Yamato will hopefully detach from the Kozuki Oden persona and find their own identity). Regardless of all this, Yamato was born as a female: and Kujas give birth to female babies only.

Kaido and Big Mom comparison: Although they were part of the same pirate crew for some time and both of them being now Emperors, there are a lot of things about their characters which mark these two as counterparts: first of all, Kaido is male and Big Mom is female. Big Mom belongs to the older generations of pirates, while Kaido belongs to the new one (together with Shanks). Kaido drinks a lot while Big Mom eats a lot. Big Mom has more than 80 children, while Kaido just one*. Lastly, Big Mom has had many unknown husbands, who she married and treated as equals only to discard them when their children are born, revealing she had zero feelings towards them. With the previous comparisons in mind, it would make perfect sense for Kaido to have had only one wife who has already appeared in the story and who he has loved dearly and maybe still does.

*In my opinion, Katakuri, Oven and Daifuku aren’t Kaido’s sons. Even if the physical resemblance is uncanny, there are two major arguments against this supposed paternity: first, the triplets don’t display any type of horns, which Yamato, the known child of Kaido, has. Secondly, the Yonko’s age: he is surely younger than 68, since this is Big Mom’s age and she considers him like a little brother; however, being heavily implied that Shakuyaku was part of the Rocks Pirates as well and she was considered a pirate, while Kaido was only an apprentice, it’s implicitly stated that he must be younger than her, too. She’s now 64, and this puts his maximum age at 63; given the triplet’s age, 48, Kaido may have had them when he was 15, which is an age when men usually have reached their sexual maturity, but he may be even younger than that, so draw your conclusion.

I admit, this turned out a lot longer than I actually expected. My sincerest kudos to you, dear reader, for reading all this time-consuming post – I hope you enjoyed it as much as I had fun writing it.

Please, let me know your thoughts, they are more than welcome!

TL;DR: Gloriosa is Kaido’s wife and Yamato’s mother, she has eaten the mythical variant of the Kame Kame fruit, Katakuri is not Kaido’s son and Gin will become Pirate King.

comments on reddit :

kaido has been revealed to be 59

I really want to know who yamatos mother was and I am willing to accept any theory for now

#one piece #op theory #one piece theory #one piece theories #kaido of the beasts #kaido one piece #op kaido #one piece kaido

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lilflowerpot · 4 years ago

Note

Soulmate AU where the marks on one person's skin show up on the other, but obviously they can't understand each other's writing, so Keith mostly just tries to express himself through art instead. So naturally, when he starts investigating the Blue Lion he starts drawing THAT too. Which is why, when Voltron shows up, Lotor is Dead Certain that the blue paladin is his soulmate, and he desperately tries to force himself to fall in love with Lance even while he's like "... Really? THIS guy?"

Lotor’s soulmate is not illiterate, but they may as well be. He’s compared their careless scrawl against every language in the Imperial data banks - thrice! - and it’s simply... not there.

“They’re a primitive,” Ezor nods sagely from where she’s half draped over his shoulder, eyeing the illegible lettering on his wrist with an entertained curl to her lips, “must be. Guess the universe wanted to counterbalance all your insufferable braininess.”

When Lotor shrugs her off with a snarl, she has the audacity to laugh.

Acxa’s kinder, or she tries to be, comforting him with the notion that if his soulmate is a primitive, they’re at the very least an educated one, or better yet of a more evolved society wherein knowledge of scripture is commonplace, so... they’re not feral.

Zethrid seems to half wish that they were, if only for the thrill of it.

“And the sex,” Ezor tacks on with an evil little grin, “the sex would have been fantastic.”

Her soulmate’s raucous glee drowns out any further discussion of the topic.

So they can’t communicate, not with words, but if Lotor’s soulmate is anything it’s tenacious (and the Prince can’t help but admire that). They come to the conclusion that pictures are the way to go, painting Lotor’s forearms with a veritable rainbow of quadrilaterals, each containing varying stripes and symbols, and then a series of dotted squiggles that Lotor is beginning to recognise as their approximation of a question.

The problem being he doesn’t actually know what it is that they’re asking.

There’s one rectangle - the majority of which is striped red and white, with a one contrasting quarter of stars in a blue sky - that his soulmate keeps coming back to, and Lotor realises it must be a clan symbol of a sort, indicative of their own people and culture, but... once again scouring Imperial logs turns up nothing of import. Frustrated, Lotor practically carves the hateful Imperial emblem into his palm with jagged lines of ink - Vrepit Sa - and turns in for the night.

In the morning, his arms are wiped clean.

They stay that way for a quintent.

Two.

On the third, he hears back, and it rocks his entire world view.

Kraliept Sa.

The lines are careful, deliberate, as if someone unfamiliar with the old scripture had taken great pains to transcribe that singular character, and Lotor quite simply can’t believe his eyes, because that would mean... that would mean that the only two things he knows of his soulmate are in direct contrast with one another: the first being that they are completely isolated from the Empire, and the second more impossible yet, that they have ties to the Blade of Marmora.

They continue this way for almost a decaphoeb, and it’s not perfect, but it’s something.

Lotor sends renderings of the stars, his ship, Kova, and in return his soulmate replies with sketches of the animals and sunsets and vast expanses of desert on an alien world.

One evening, they blur blues and greens into a perfect little marble on the inside of Lotor’s knee, an arrow pointing to one of the green patches labeled with a sequence of characters that the galra Prince is beginning to recognise as his soulmate’s name - though he can’t so much as begin to guess at how they might be pronounced - and so on the opposite knee Lotor paints Daibazaal, and then, because that feels inadequate, smears his thumb through the centre of the planet he no longer calls home, doodling a battalion of ships leaving the wreckage in a mass exodus, the children of an orphaned world.

And once more, his soulmate falls quiet.

It’s almost a full phoeb until they reach out again, and when they do Lotor finds them franctic, frightened, their little blue-green marble only the beginning; an entire solar system follows, complete with details such as what Lotor assumes must be an accurate number of moons on each planet for how deliberately they’re marked out, and then-

A ship.

It’s small and unassuming and positively archaic in design, but it’s a ship nonetheless, and as Lotor watches, his soulmate draws and erases and re-draws that same design until it’s traveled the length of his leg - thigh to ankle - and ‘lands’ on an unassuming moon of the most distant planet. They circle it with agitation, jabbing whatever implement they’re using to mark their own skin so violently that Lotor’s quite sure they must bleed under the force of it, but he doesn’t know what to say, let alone know how to say it if he did.

The next morning, his soulmate’s mural has gone.

The phantom ache of it remains.

They call him Champion.

Lotor only takes interest because of the timing, because of the circumstance, because it’s Sendak’s fleet that located these new lifeforms on a desolate moon in some distant corner of the universe, and of all Zarkon’s commanders he most of all has something of a reputation for toeing the line between cruelty and outright sadism.

The odds are one in a million, but that’s not a risk Lotor is willing to take.

He paints an obnoxious criss-cross of colour onto his own face that will be impossible to hide or mistake for anything other than what it is, and sends his generals to ascertain whether the Champion or either of the two lifeforms that accompanied him - soon to be subject to the work camps - share the mark.

They don’t, not one of them, and so Lotor chalks it up to coincidence and moves on.

Finding what could almost be mistaken for the legendary Blue Lion on the back of his hand only for Voltron proper to re-emerge into the universe after thousands of decaphoebs with the Champion himself allegedly at the helm, is not so easily written off.

And this time, when his soulmate abandons him to cold silence, it feels final.

Thayserix was very much a spur of the moment decision, but Lotor has never been so glad of such impulsivity as he is now, with the blue Lion of Voltron having been stolen from the thick mists and safely in his grasp.

Though, it’s not the lion that interests him.

Yes she’s a beautiful beast of considerable power, but in this case it is quite literally what’s on the inside that counts, that being of course Lotor’s soulmate... or so he’d thought.

Princess Allura of Altea cannot be them.

At least he certainly hopes not.

She’s lovely, in theory, but they’ve been in a stalemate for the past varga with her sullenly refusing to so much as consider entertaining Lotor’s attempts at hospitality, let alone conversation, and instead quite stubbornly standing with both her guard and weapon raised.

“I really would simply like to speak with-”

“Release me.”

Her end of things has consisted solely of those two words, and the monotony of it all really is growing rather tiresome.

Narti saves him from another repetitive bout, slinking into his mind and whispering that the rest of Voltron have located them far more quickly than Lotor would have thought possible.

The worst part is he’s almost grateful.

“Very well,” he growls, temper wearing thin, “your friends are here to collect you Princess, perhaps they will be more amenable to a little tête-à-tête, hm?”

They are not.

“Release Allura,” is the first thing to pass the dark-haired Paladin’s lips, teeth bared and tongue sharp, and it takes everything Lotor is not to simply concede on the spot.

“Frankly, I would love to,” he spits, gratified by how completely this blindsides the lot of them, every face on the holoscreen struck blank by his immediate compliance. “I do not believe she is the individual I am looking for, nor does she seem inclined to assist me in locating whosoever is. Answer my questions, and you are welcome to her and the blue Lion both.”

“We... We are?” It’s an older gentleman who speaks up, the only other altean among them.

“Absolutely,” Lotor hisses, and then graciously concedes: “the mistake was mine. I simply wished to open a dialogue with who I had assumed to be the blue Paladin, but as she is of a background that would doubtless have allowed us to communicate in galra script, that no longer seems the case.”

Their group look like they’re going to ask him to further explain what must sound to the lot of them nonsense... all except the black Paladin whose eyes have gone wide on some personal revelation, whispering “you,” as if he can’t believe his ears, only to spit out an obscenity before repeating himself with all the fury of an imploding star. “You!”

There are several exclamations of “Keith-!” as those violet eyes narrow to slits, the man smacking his hand down and cutting their com-line dead.

Ezor, helpful as ever, mumbles: “Well that went well,” quiet enough that it’s almost as if she doesn’t mean for everyone in the otherwise silent cockpit to hear her.

For the first time in ten thousand decaphoebs, the black Lion is - technically - in Imperial hands.

Lotor couldn’t care less.

The man who strides out of her is a veritable firestorm, all dark brows and snarling lips, and in a heartbeat Lotor knows, he just knows, who he is.

What he is.

Galra, for one, almost certainly a hybrid like Lotor - it’s the eyes that betray him, half luminescent with rage - and there’s a gorgeous poeticism to that.

Reckless for another, and behind him from where she’s been brought to stand witness, Princess Allura is clearly horrified to see her companion step from Voltron’s keystone and leave it completely unprotected, but the Paladin doesn’t seem to care, and neither does Lotor.

“Release Allura,” he growls again, voice like thunder and just as electrifying as he storms across the landing bay without hesitation, not even stopping to glance in his fellow Paladin’s direction and affirm that Zethrid has, in fact, released her as instructed.

No, Lotor’s soulmate simply fists pale fingers into paler hair and hisses, “fuck you,” into his mouth before kissing the Prince senseless.

Later - much, much later - Lotor is pleased to report back to Ezor that the sex is, in fact, fantastic.

#sorry/not sorry I wrote an entire ficlet thing but this was just TOO GOOD #this is totally self-indulgent but like.. if that's not the point of fanfiction then idk what is #one day I will actually write out a keitor soulmates au in full but today is not that day #so for the time being you will have to content yourselves with this #sa screams back #keitor #other aus #ficlet #prince lotor #keith kogane

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starprin101 · 4 years ago

Text

Soundscream Week

Day 1: Flight

In the state of Nevada, America, Earth, a wind came and picked the sand granules from the ground and swirled them across the sky. Twisting and turning, in an unknown pattern. Starscream shuttered his optics when the grains landed in them. He rubbed his optics gently and glared at the wind.

Not a lot of planets he visited had such unpredictable weather patterns, but Earth wasn't the worst one. At least there would be some kind of warning first, in the clouds, in the rising or falling temperature. Not always, but usually.

His optics focused on the sky itself. How it's once blue hue was now a dark orange, and it still changed colours as this side of the planet turned away from the sun. He would never in a million years admit, vocally, how... interesting Earth was. The Decepticons, as well as him, had originally judged the planet negatively based on the disgusting dirt, and the pathetic fleshlings that covered the surface. But one time he stopped and actually looked at it. It was- Primus forbid he ever say this- amazing. He had visited many unique worlds in the past, but this one was just... different.

Starscream stared at the wide rocky terrain laid out before him. He took one step-

- and plummeted down head first from the cliffedge.

He let himself fall, feeling that familiar thrill that, despite the millions of times he'd done this before, always had his spark rising into his intake. And at the last minute he transformed, thrusters barely scraping the bottom of the ravine, and shot up. He silently praised himself with the perfect timing. Once in the open air he made a little twirl and shot through the sky.

When life on the Nemesis became too overbearing, and/or chaotic, Starscream would always take an unscheduled flight to clear his processor. Which has been happening a lot recently.

Megatron came back and practically threw a grenade into his plans as the new leader. It was almost saved when he was believed to have offlined when the spacebridge was destroyed, until Soundwave insisted that he take another look. Now Megatron is back again and is basically a vegetable on life support.

It both fascinated and disgusted him how unwavering Soundwave's loyalties could be, especially to that madmech he calls a leader. How he would do absolutely anything for him. Probably even tear his own spark out for him.

Starscream invented deeply and concentrated on the wind beneath his wings.

Naturally, flying was his greatest stress reliever. Not when he was practicing formation with the Eradicons though, he always preferred to do it alone. By himself.

His thoughts trailed to his trine mates. They would always go flying together, and they played games and showed off new tricks they copied from other seekers. Those were good times. Even though they were the most annoying creatures to have ever been forged, he missed him. They were his trine mates, they were fami-

He cut that line of thought before it brought back the bad memories.

He missed them, yes. But it didn't matter. Now he's grown, and he doesn't need them, or anyone, anymore. He was happy alone, by himself. That was his norm now, and he preferred it that way.

Out of the corner of his optic, he saw something. A blob of black hiding in the clouds. He angled himself to get a better look and realised it was another plane. A long, slender drone to be exact. He recognised it as one of the last bots he wanted to see.

Soundwave.

Why would he be here? Was he spying on him?

Experimentally, he gently turned himself in a different direction, and the drone followed.

Now why is Soundwave following him? Is it to keep an optic on him in case he decided to take chance at destroying his oh-so-precious leader?

Starscream couldn't do anything to Megatron when he was miles away from him, and it's not like he was going to shoot the Nemesis down. What would he gain from destroying one of the most powerful warships in the galaxy, as well as an unlimited supply of soldiers at his dispense? Yes, the Vehicons were insufferable morons, but he still needed them for future plans.

For a while Starscream pondered the possibilities, then he wondered if he should bring Soundwave up to speed that he knows. Watching the drone trying to sneak up on him, he decided yes, just to see his reaction.

:Dare I ask what brings you here Soundwave?: he questioned through a private comm.link. But as always, he didn't respond. He did, however, separate himself from the clouds and flew by Starscream's side.

Suppose that counts as a reaction.

:Did you feel the need to keep an eye on me? Are you afraid I'll do something Lord Megatron won't be happy about?: Still no reply.

They flew in silence for a while. Starscream was honestly surprised he was so willing to be alone with him after... the incident. Perhaps it had something to do with that? Maybe Soundwave was preparing to shoot him out of the sky himself?

Then Soundwave did the strangest thing. He slowed, allowing Starscream to move ahead, and then with a loud purr of engines he shot forward, over and under the jet in a single loop and returned to his side, all while spinning non-stop.

This extremely confused Starscream. Mostly because that was a common trick seekers and fliers did. Not a tactic for fighting or anything of actual use, it was just something done for fun.

Why is Soundwave of all bots doing it now? Especially around Starscream.

:Soundwave what are you-: The drone glided toward him, but pulled back at the last second to avoid a collision. Starscream didn't react, not having a clue what was happening, until Soundwave did it again. And then it clicked.

It was an invitation.

:You can't be serious: Starscream almost laughed through the comm.link. Soundwave, in response, just looped around him. Seeing the most apathetic, serious bot he'd ever met act so playful made him suspicious.

From his paranoia bloomed hundreds of theories on the purpose of Soundwave's attitude. All of them bad. But among them was an idea. An opportunity he could use to his advantage. Wether this was a genuine act of friendship or a way to stop him from killing Megatron, the latter being more likely, he could use this chance to gain his trust.

:If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to impress me:

He just needed to play along.

Soundwave twirled by his side, and Starscream smirked, knowing full well he wouldn't see it.

:Well, clearly you've mastered the basics: Starscream revved his engine. :But can you do this?: He shot straight down, as fast as his thrusters would allow him, until the rocky floor was in sight. Then he turned up sharply, almost scraping the floor, and shot back up.

It wasn't flashy, or "beautiful", but it was hilarious how long it took Thundercracker and Skywarp to perfect it. He wanted to see how Soundwave would fare.

Said drone hesitated, but copied him. When he came back, Starscream hummed. :You weren't fast enough, and you pulled up too soon: He concluded, then remembered he needed to be nice. :... But, for a first attempt it was... adequate. Now try this:

And for the rest of the afternoon, that's what they did. They flew around and showed each other tricks, or Starscream did and Soundwave just copied. At some point they started chasing each other, and the jet actually laughed. Only because of how stupid this was. He's not actually enjoying himself. This is just to make Soundwave less suspicious of him. That's all.

At some point he felt a glimpse of Soundwave's EM field. He seemed... genuinely happy? Proud? Something else he couldn't identify because the stupid drone reeled his field back in before he had a chance?

He brushed that last one aside. Whatever it was it didn't make the slightest difference. One way or another, his gift at rubbing at a bot's ego was working, and Soundwave was happy. Now he just needed to keep this up for, well, however long it takes to gain Soundwave's trust.

Starscream looked down at the drone below him, and maybe it was that unexpected adrenaline burning off, or maybe he'd finally lost his sense, but he smiled. A small, genuine smile.

Maybe having a flying partner wouldn't be so bad.

...

... This is so stupid.

#Transformers #Starscream #Soundwave #Transformers Prime #Soundstar #Soundscream #Soundscream Week 2021

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mikauzoran · 4 years ago

Text

Lila Fake-Dating/Emotional Blackmail Adrienette: Betting Against the House: Chapter Five

Read it on AO3: Betting Against the House: Chapter Five: Parental Support

“I’ll call you when I’m ready to be picked up,” Adrien advised as he climbed out of the car ten minutes later. “Thank you so much for this.”

The Gorilla gave another grunt coupled with a soft smile. He watched to make sure that Adrien made it inside the bakery and then drove off.

Tom was inside, bustling around and cleaning up for the day. He looked up at the sound of the bell above the door ringing and raised a meaty hand in greeting when he spotted his guest.

“Hello there, Son!” he chuckled, smiling with such authentic pleasure at seeing Adrien that it made Adrien want to cry.

His own father was never that happy to see him.

Adrien waved sheepishly. “Good evening, Monsieur Dupain.”

Tom’s eyebrow quirked, and he crossed his arms with an affectionate sigh. The look on his face asked, “How many times have I told you that you don’t have to call me ‘Monsieur’?”

“—er—I mean Tom,” Adrien hastily corrected and had to suppress a laugh as Tom’s face burst back into a pleased grin.

“That’s more like it,” Tom praised, waving Adrien in. “I’m actually shutting down for the night, but take your time and let me know what I can get for you.” He tipped his head towards the tray of unsold baked goods sitting on the counter next to the register. “The selection’s a little slim, but there’re still some worthy pastries left.”

“Oh, thank you, but I’m not here for the pastries,” Adrien assured.

Tom’s smile turned knowing. “Oh? Here for my daughter, then?”

Adrien’s cheeks flooded with vermillion, giving him away. He looked down at his feet, lips pulling into a smitten smile as he rubbed at the back of his neck. “Actually, Nino, Alya, Marinette, and I were supposed to be having game night, but I got held up with something, so I’m running a little late.”

Tom nodded, going back to wiping down the glass cases. “Unfortunately, Marinette came home from school not feeling too good. She wouldn’t see Alya and Nino when they came by earlier, so I think game night is off. Sorry no one let you know.”

“Oh,” Adrien gulped, wilting as his face abruptly lost colour. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize Marinette wasn’t feeling well.”

He wondered if Tom was privy to the cause of Marinette’s sudden malaise.

“She’ll be okay after a good night’s rest. No need to worry,” Tom reassured, waving away his concern.

“That’s good,” Adrien sighed in relief, hoping Tom was right. “…Well… Is there anything I can do to help while I’m here?” he offered nervously, not sure he could truly be of any use but willing to try.

“Sure,” Tom responded jollily, happy of the assistance. “Thank you very much, Adrien. Much appreciated. If you don’t mind, could you put the chairs up and sweep the seating area? Broom’s behind you to the left, propped up against the case.”

Adrien turned and spotted the broom. “Uh…yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”

He’d seen brooms used before. He was pretty sure he had the theory down, so it was all a matter of practical application.

“I just need to finish wiping down the cases,” Tom advised. “After that, if you like, we could head upstairs and play some games together. I’m sure Sabine would join in too. I know we’re not much of a substitute for Marinette, but…”

Adrien paused to stare back at Tom, dumbstruck. “Really? Would that…would that really be okay?”

Tom nodded earnestly, looking like he’d be giving Adrien a clap on the back if he were in range. “Yeah, of course. You’re always welcome here, Adrien. If you don’t mind hanging out with a bunch of old-timers, we’d be happy to have you.”

“That sounds great, actually,” Adrien confessed. “My father’s usually busy, so it can get a little lonely at home.”

“Yeah…I’ll bet,” Tom murmured softly, his heart going out to the young man before him as he remembered the distance between himself and his own father for many years. “I think about you sometimes, all alone in that big mansion…. You should come over more. Maybe come eat with us when your father’s busy with work.”

“I don’t think my father would let me,” Adrien chuckled forlornly. “But thank you so much for the offer. I really appreciate the fact that you even care.”

“Of course I care,” Tom scoffed. “There are a lot of people who care about you, Adrien.”

“Thanks, Tom,” Adrien replied, shooting a grateful smile Tom’s way. “It’s easy to get caught up in what I’m doing and forget sometimes. I appreciate the reminder.”

“Any time,” Tom promised, and then a teasing lilt came into his voice as he added, “But, you know, soon, you’ll officially be my son-in-law, and your father won’t have a say in you coming over for family dinner.”

Adrien burst out laughing at the outlandish thought. “Oh, I wish. Unfortunately, Marinette would have to be a fool to marry me, so I think I’m out of luck there.”

“Nah,” Tom insisted. “You’re a good catch, Son. Don’t be so down on yourself.”

Adrien looked up from the chair he’d just put up and studied Tom intently. “Be straight with me for a second. Do you actually think I have a chance?”

Tom shrugged. “I think it’s fifty-fifty between you and Chat Noir, but don’t quote me on that because I am the father of a seventeen-year-old girl. Seventeen-year-old girls don’t tell their papas anything.”

“So long as I’m in the race,” Adrien replied, trying to keep his effulgent grin under control. He failed pretty miserably and ended up smiling like a loon as he finished putting up the rest of the chairs and won a very close match against the broom.

Maybe, if he could just hold on until university, Lila would lose interest in him, and he could explain everything to Marinette. Perhaps she’d forgive him and let him make amends.

Who knew? Maybe his rotten luck would have mercy on him for once, and she wouldn’t stay mad at him for long. Maybe they could even patch things up by the end of the week.

“Thanks again for your help, Son.” Tom gave Adrien a pat on the shoulder as they made their way upstairs to the apartment after closing down the bakery for the night.

“I don’t know if I was much help,” Adrien laughed at himself.

Tom rolled his eyes and waved off Adrien’s self-deprecating response. “Sure, you were. You eventually figured out the broom, and you picking up the chairs saved my back the trouble. I’m getting old, Adrien, so every bit helps.”

“You’re not that old,” Adrien snorted. “You’re only in your forties.”

“Still,” Tom laughed, a big, round, boisterous sound that reminded Adrien of his childhood, when things weren’t so lonely and cold. “You helped, so I’m grateful, and I’m proud of you for taking on something new. You kicked that broom’s butt.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Adrien joined in on the laughter, following Tom into the apartment.

“Sabine, look who’s here!” Tom called to his wife.

Adrien couldn’t see her from the doorway, but the simmering and popping sounds coming from the kitchen gave away her location.

Sabine poked her head around the corner, and her eyes widened in alarm when she spotted Adrien.

“Good evening, Madame Cheng,” Adrien greeted tentatively, getting the sinking feeling that Sabine thought she knew exactly of what Adrien was guilty.

“Oh. Adrien…Honey…. I’m afraid that Marinette’s not feeling well, so game night’s been cancelled,” Sabine informed him awkwardly, visibly warring with her dual instincts to be a good host and to get him to leave as soon as possible so that Marinette never had to know that he’d been there.

“Yeah, I let him know,” Tom explained. “I said he could come hang out with us, if he didn’t mind the company of old folks.”

He turned back to Adrien. “Have you eaten yet? You should join us for dinner.”

Adrien looked back and forth between Sabine’s pained expression and Tom’s eager one. “Oh. I…uh—”

“—I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Sabine interrupted urgently. “With Marinette being sick and everything.”

Tom turned to his wife, confusion carving deep trenches into his brow. “Yes, but, Sabine—”

“—I’m sorry, Adrien, but could I please speak with my husband privately for a minute?” Sabine cast Adrien a pleading smile that was a muddled jumble of embarrassment, guilt, and pity.

Reading the atmosphere, Adrien politely bowed out. “Yes, of course. I’ll just step out into the hall.”

He didn’t mean to eavesdrop as Tom and Sabine held their conversation in whispers. His hearing was just uncannily good nowadays since taking up the mantle of Chat Noir.

“What was that about?” Tom demanded, voice dripping hurt and indignance.

“Tom, we can’t have Adrien over right now,” Sabine whispered regretfully, sounding like she really was sorry to turn Adrien away. “Marinette’s mad at him because he started dating Lila Rossi today.”

Tom let out an incredulous snort. “Oh, come on. It’s probably just a publicity stunt that that rotten excuse for a man who calls himself his father is making him do.”

Adrien winced, a ferocious wave of shame crashing down on him at the fact that Tom thought so poorly of Adrien’s father. Adrien knew that Gabriel didn’t always get passing marks in the father of the year competition, but it hurt to know that things were bad enough that even other people could tell that Adrien didn’t have a good home life.

“Adrien doesn’t have feelings for Lila,” Tom continued, oblivious to Adrien’s pain. “He’s over the moon for our Marinette. If she ever asked him out, he’d die of happiness.”

The pallor of Adrien’s face was quickly replaced by a rampant blush. Apparently, Adrien was completely transparent.

Sabine held up her hands, shaking her head. “You know how Marinette feels about Lila. She feels like Adrien’s betrayed her, and she won’t listen to reason, so we can’t have him over until Marinette cools off a little. We need to be on her side in this.”

Adrien’s heart dropped down into his stomach to be corroded away by acid.

He didn’t know what he’d been thinking coming there, and now he was regretting it immensely.

“So, what are we supposed to do?” Tom challenged. “Just send Adrien away? Back to that empty mansion where they keep him prisoner so he can sit around alone until they let him out for school or work?”

“Tom…” Sabine sighed. “I know. I get it. My heart breaks for him too, but…whose parents are we?”

Chastened, Tom’s gaze dropped to the floor.

“I know,” he muttered wearily. “I know you’re right. It’s just…I’m not convinced he has a single person in this world in his corner, Sabine.”

Adrien’s heart cracked.

It felt like his ears were bleeding, and his skin burned.

“Didn’t you just tell me that plenty of people cared about me?” he thought bitterly and then, more sullenly, “It serves me right for listening in.”

Plagg stirred, yanking Adrien out of his dark thoughts.

Without a word, the kwami gave Adrien a look so full of love and support and compassion.

Plagg floated up to nuzzle Adrien’s cheek, and Adrien nuzzled back.

“Thanks,” he whispered, on the edge of tears. “I may not have any people in my corner, but at least I’ve got you, and that’s even better than people, right?”

“You’d better believe it,” Plagg snorted fiercely.

Back in the apartment, Tom kept going: “There’s no one looking out for him, and I just think of when I was young and my mother went away for years at a time and my father stopped talking to me… If I hadn’t had you, Sabine…”

Tom shook his head sadly, and Sabine went over to him, resting supportive hands on his arm and chest.

“I know,” she cooed, patting his arm comfortingly. “I feel for him too. It’s not like we can’t ever be there for him, Tom. Just not right now. We need to focus on Marinette at the moment, and, once things settle down, we can go back to trying to support Adrien. Okay?”

It was quiet for a stretch, and then Tom nodded, heaving a grave sigh. “…Okay. But what are we going to tell him?”

“I will tell him that we’re very sorry, but you didn’t realize how sick Marinette is because you were busy with the bakery when she came home,” Sabine volunteered. “Since she needs her rest, it wouldn’t be a good idea to have people over to play video games right now. I’ll let him know he’s more than welcome to come back some other day once Marinette is feeling better.”

“Okay,” Tom sighed again, raking a hand through his hair. “Tell him I’m really sorry.”

“I will,” Sabine promised.

“And can we at least send him home with some pastries?” Tom pressed, his voice leaking guilt.

“Of course!” Sabine assured, clicking her tongue. “They don’t feed that poor boy enough.”

Adrien quietly slipped away, descending the staircases quickly on cat’s feet. He couldn’t bear to face them. He didn’t think he could get through it without breaking down in tears of shame, so he snuck out of the bakery, locking the side door behind him.

As he executed his escape, he formulated a plan: go to the park next to the bakery and wait there until a suitable amount of time had passed so that he could call Victor to pick him up without having to admit to being kicked out.

The plan didn’t have a very long shelf life.

As he crossed the street to the park, he happened to look back and spotted Marinette up on her balcony, leaning dejectedly on the railing, fiddling with a rose she’d likely clipped from her flowerbox.

He stood there for an eternal moment, just taking in the sight of her, backlit by the nascent moon.

She sighed heavily enough to make her shoulders lift and drop with the force of it, and then her gaze meandered his way.

She gave a little jolt and straightened up in her surprise when she spotted him.

He lifted a hand in tentative greeting, hoping he didn’t spook her.

She huffed and tossed her head, seemingly offended by the gesture.

She dropped the rose, letting it plummet four stories to the dusty Paris street, and turned on her heel, disappearing back down into her room.

He whipped out his phone and hastily typed, “I can explain”, mentally pleading for mercy.

He waited a few seconds, and, when there was no sign of a reply, he added, “By which I mean that I have an explanation, and it’s a good explanation, but I’m not at liberty to share it with you at the moment.”

He pressed send and looked back up at the balcony, bouncing on the balls of his feet in agitated anticipation, holding his breath as he waited for a response.

Still more seconds ticked by without a reply, so he sent, “You’re just going to have to trust me on this one. Please” as he prayed for clemency.

Finally, three ellipsis points appeared on his screen, signaling that she was typing.

He sucked in a sharp breath, his heart fluttering around his ribcage, making him dizzy.

“leave me alone”

“i don’t want to hear your excuses”

“the last thing i need is to get akumatized and let Lila win so just leave me alone”

Adrien was positive that he looked absolutely crushed because he felt like he’d been gutted.

Shuffling his feet like a zombie, he made his way back across the street to scoop up the battered rose Marinette had dropped.

Cradling it carefully to his chest, he sighed, feeling hopeless.

“Don’t throw in the towel yet, Kid,” Plagg encouraged in a whisper from his hiding spot inside of Adrien’s left shoulder.

“What else can I do?” Adrien scoffed ruefully.

“Maybe not much as Adrien,” Plagg conceded, “but your sweetheart isn’t mad at Chat Noir, is she?”

An ember flickered back to life in Adrien’s eyes, and an impish grin rippled across his lips.

“No,” he chuckled. “She’s not, is she?”

#Adrinette #Adrienette #Marichat #Lady Noir #Miraculous Ladybug #Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction #Adrien Agreste #Tom Dupain #Sabine Cheng #Plagg #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Lila Rossi #Mikau's Writings #Betting Against the House

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