#it's not a cult you guys. do you seriously think they give each other cups of milk in cults?

[mycharacterdump]

WHEN YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE LEFT DANCIN' WHILE THEY'RE ON THE FLOOR, TIME TO GO.

children's laughter  ,  spinning around without a care in the world  ,  wildly curly hair  , morning dew in the garden   , passing on wisdom  ,   the sound of a faraway brook  ,  an abba song   ,  holding up peace signs in every photo  ,  make love not war   , denim dresses over white tees  ,  flowers decorating intricate braids  ,  perfectly warm tea on a cold night  ,  cardigans draped over chairs  ,  speaking up for the voiceless , socks with sandals  ,  lilies of the valley  , talking to plants to help them grow   ,  a mother's love.

SEPTEMBER 1978.

— two healthy identical twin girls are born in manhattan, nyc to amihan rivera and walter wozniak. they name the little one elaine dalisay, after her maternal grandmother. it's classy. timeless. the other... hm. she's difficult to pin. but her father pitches in, nearly crying out in the white confines of the hospital room: rainbow! and so... rainbow she was. rainbow lualhati.

JANUARY 1980.

— amihan is tired. she isn't certain she was ever meant for this life - mothering two children she can't recognize as her own. but she knows that she can't leave them both behind if she wants the support of her family. so she makes an impossible choice between the two. scooping elaine out of her crib, she escapes in the dead of night, and walter and rainbow are left alone.

APRIL 1983.

— it's been over three years and new york city is unrelenting. rainbow seems to like the shiny buildings and her classmates, but walter is restless. he's begrudged that amihan made her own way to leave it all behind. so he does the same. he hears about a place upstate where they could belong, more so than they do in the city. he packs up the few books he knows he can't live without, makes rainbow do the same. by morning their apartment in the upper east side is empty.

JUNE 1983.

— sunrise village. that's what they call it. rainbow has always liked plants and the outdoors, spending much of her time begging walter to be taken to central park, so this is paradise for her. she likes to think it is for her father, too. she spends her time reading on the front porch, eating fresh fruit their neighbors bring, listening to the birds chirp and the brook behind their house wash over the stones. she's never felt more free. she doesn't even have to wear shoes if she doesn't want to! but her father makes her wear socks. they're still a little civilized.

AUGUST 1985.

— rainbow befriends the other children in the village. even some younger ones as well, who she's taken under her wing and cares for whenever their mothers or fathers aren't around. they all have names just like hers: there's basil, cloud, dream, bodhi, feather, harmony, light, meadow, moonbeam, hawk, petal, twig, serenity, wolf, tulip, venus and true. she reads to them and teaches them piano. everything is peace and love, man. for a long, long time.

DECEMBER 1991.

— it's the dead of winter in new york state. all that's growing in their garden are the snowdrops that twig planted for her. thirteen - year - old rainbow has her work cut out for her with all these kids, but she thinks they're worth it in the end. this may be what she's meant for, she realizes. but walter says she's still too young to really know. she disregards him at first, leading her little ducklings out for a day of ice skating at the pond. on her tail are dream, harmony, moonbeam, twig and tulip. half an hour later, after a distant scream alerts some other villagers, they discover rainbow collapsed on the shore alongside twig. one of them is breathing. the other isn't.

JANUARY 1992.

— it is time to go, walter has decided before rainbow regains color in her cheeks. they can't stay in a place where she was once responsible for the children and let one of them die under her care. she doesn't get any say in it. he packs her things for her. as she's dragged from the only home she's known since she was five years old, she sees twig's mother in the distance and she wants to say i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i'm sorry, but no words can escape before she's out of sight forever.

SEPTEMBER 1994.

— rainbow doesn't think the hurt will ever go away, even as she lays a hundred miles away in a full-sized bed in a manhattan apartment. she dreams every night of bright blue eyes that drain to gray; plump and colorful skin that deteriorates beneath her touch; soft blond ringlets that she's run her fingers through countless times now wetted down and dripping with pond water. time passes, but she is still there. she will always be there. it's her sixteenth birthday, and her father chooses not to remember.

FEBRUARY 1997.

— there's a boy in her government and civics class that she finds herself fixating on when she tunes out of the lesson. he's a little dorky, though seemingly not on purpose, but he has the most contagious smile she's ever seen. she thinks sometimes when she sees him attempt to woo other girls that they would get along, somehow. i understand you, she thinks quietly, from a distance. i want to be loved, too.

[seal-writes-stuff]

Boyfriend

Word count: 2.6k

Warnings: swearing, fighting, alcohol consumption, a brief mention of cults, Christian Hughes (derogatory)

Summary: Turns out things can escalate pretty quickly when it’s just you, your best friend’s asshole boyfriend and a party that you really, really didn’t want to attend.

A/N: Hi everyone! I’ve noticed that I keep subtly dunking on Christian in my fics, so I decided to change things up for once. Time to dunk on him full-force. Hope you enjoy!

“Look, I mean no disrespect and all that,” you sink deeper into the couch. “I just don’t trust these people. End of.”

Dani, who’s sitting right next to you, tilts her head. There’s no judgment in her eyes, just a mischievous sparkle that enables you to continue.

“What, not even Pelle?”

“Especially Pelle, Dani. Nobody’s that nice.”

“Pelle’s that nice.”

“Cult leaders are that nice!” you see the surprised look she gives you and quickly catch yourself. “Well, maybe not cult leaders… I don’t know, I’m getting vibes off of him, that’s all I’m saying.”

“Ri-i-ight. And Mark is…”

“Mark.”

“Yeah, fair enough. What about Josh, though?”

“Josh…” you rub your chin, mulling it over. “Alright, you’ve got me, Josh is okay. But why does he hang out with the rest of them, then? Something’s not right.”

“Maybe you just don’t like anybody.”

“I like you.”

Dani looks away with a smile while you pretend to be extremely interested in the carpet. She’s your best friend, you remind yourself, and she’s taken. Don’t do stupid shit.

“Why are you the one convincing me to go anyway? I thought you hated parties.”

Dani shrugs. There’s a deep sadness in her eyes, a sadness which breaks your heart.

“Well, Christian’s excited. I know you don’t like him very much, but…”

Well… That’s one way to put it. To be more specific, you hate Christian’s guts and the feeling, from what you could gather, is quite mutual. You bite your tongue to keep yourself from saying things you’ll regret later, though. For Dani’s sake, of course – not his, never his. You’d gladly keep your opinions to yourself if it meant her happiness.

Happiness, that is.

“Oh, Christian’s awesome.”

“You don’t believe that.”

“What gives?” you laugh as Dani taps your arm playfully, pretending to punch you. “Okay, seriously though: if you guys love each other, that’s all that matters. Who cares what I think, really?”

“Yeah, you’re right…” she mumbles. She then realizes what she’s just said and blushes. “Wait, I-I didn’t mean it like that. I care what you think, I just-”

“I know! I’m just joking around, relax,” you brush her shoulder with yours, smiling. “No hard feelings, I promise.”

“Oh, okay… Okay, great.”

For a brief moment, Dani looks down, pink still dusting her cheeks. That look on her face, that sweet smile on her lips make you speak before you can talk yourself out of the idea.

“Alright, you know what, I’m in. Let’s go together. If you’ll want to escape, just blink twice or something.”

“Thank you!” Dani throws her hand around you. “You’re the best, you know?”

“I’m trying,” your words are quiet as you hug her back, feeling the subtle scent of her shampoo.

This might be fun, right?

***

Well, who could’ve guessed. This party fucking sucks.

You stare at the kitchen floor, swirling what’s left of your drink in a red plastic cup. Dani’s catching up with some of her other friends while you’re stuck in the sad and inevitable “I should’ve stayed home” phase of any gathering you’ve ever attended.

You can’t blame her, though. You know she would’ve stayed by your side the whole evening if you asked her to, but you didn’t. You wouldn’t, too; she deserves to relax and enjoy herself. Can’t expect her to cater to your every need.

After some quiet contemplation you finally decide that enough is enough. You’ll check on Dani to see if she wants to leave, make up some excuse for the host and then dip. No, first you’ll need to call an Uber – you’re leaving either way, so better to take care of that in advance. Or maybe you should first-

“Y/N.”

You look up, only to be met with none other than Christian Hughes himself lingering in the doorway. The whole evening – just like any other evening, you suspect - he seemed like he desperately wanted to be somewhere else. You’ve never known if it was a result of your presence or his general attitude about life. Honestly, you couldn’t care less either way.

Right now, however, Christians’s not bored. Right now, he wears some kind of a strange blank expression you’ve never seen before.

Oh, to hell with that. He can’t expect people to walk on eggshells and guess his every mood.

“Christian,” you nod, pushing yourself away from the counter. “I’d love to chat, but-”

Before you can finish, Christian blocks the exit, standing right between you and the door. There’s some dumb defiance in his eyes, like’s about to cause trouble and is well-aware of that.

Except you’re not in the mood. You’re tired, you’re irritated and you’re a bit drunk – just enough to lose some of your inhibitions. The only thing you can offer him right now is annoyance.

“Oh, come on.”

“Why are you like this?”

You stare at Christian for a moment, wondering if he’s worth the fight he’s so desperate to start for some reason. You know in your mind that he isn’t. The hardest part is to convince yourself of that.

“Like what?”

“You know what I’m talking about. Look, whatever problem you have with me, it’s not-”

You sigh, exasperated.

“I have no problem with you. Now, could you please-”

“I’m not going anywhere until we sort this out.”

“Dude.”

“It’s because of Dani, isn’t it?”

You feel a wave of all-consuming rage rising deep in your chest. As if every ounce of your suppressed anger, years worth of it, resurfaced to escape your body and strike Christian right in his stupid head. But just a moment later, you take a deep breath, forcing yourself to be calm and collected.

After all, you need a clear head to really kick his ass.

“M-m-m...” you look away and bite your lower lip. “Speaking of Dani, what was she talking about in the living room, do you remember?”

This catches Christian off-guard. He blinks at you - you can almost hear the gears turning in his head.

“Wh… No?”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit weird? I mean, it happened, like, ten minutes ago.”

“Why does it matter? I’m not-”

“It does matter, Christian, because Dani finally got done with the shittier part of her thesis. Now she’s doing the stuff she actually loves.”

“She-”

“So she was excited and wanted to share with you. You know, because she loves you? And you were too busy being vaguely annoyed, or whatever the fuck, I don’t even know. But hey, at least your buddies must think you’re really cool, huh?”

“I… You’re fucking crazy.”

“I'm fucking cra- Okay, you know what, I'm not even entertaining that. You know I’m right, so you say this shit to feel better about yourself. Cause God forbid you’re wrong for once, right?”

It seems like you’ve hit a nerve. Christian huffs through his nose; his face flushes as you bite back a smirk. You’re past holding back, past feeling bad at all. He started it, and you sure as hell will finish it.

“You know nothing about our relationship.”

“Well, you know nothing about your girlfriend! It’s shocking, really, gets me every time. She always tries to talk things through with you, tries to include you in everything, buys you these … What are they called, these fucking cookies you like every time she goes to the grocery store. Every time! Simply because she cares. So tell me, does she always get that face on your face in response? That’s something I don’t know.”

Shit, what are you even saying? ‘Face on your face’?

“What does it have to do with-”

“Jesus Christ… Okay, third time’s the charm. You treat my best friend like shit. I don’t know why. I honestly don’t care why either. So yeah, I don’t like you, I don’t respect you and the sooner you leave her life the better.”

“Leave? Please. Like anyone would treat her better. You don’t know how much I-”

“Exactly, anyone would treat her better! I would treat her better!” you shake your drink for emphasis. “This fucking solo cup would treat her better! Do you even hear yourself?”

Christian opens his mouth for another retort, but stops before it can come out. His eyes widen in realization.

“Oh, so you would treat her better.”

“Are you really gonna dismiss everything I’ve said-”

“So that’s why.”

“I’m done talking to you.”

“Do you really think-”

“Hughes, if you don’t move out of my way right this fucking second-”

“Guys?”

Both of you fall silent. Christian turns back while you stare over his shoulder in horror.

Dani.

Christian says something in that faux-friendly voice of his while you’re frozen, unable to make a sound. You don’t know why, you don’t know how, but you’re so terrified that you can barely breathe.

How much did she hear?

“I’ve gotta go.”

Panicking, you finally manage to push past Christian and run out of the room, leaving both of them behind. You’re pretty sure you’re choking on tears by that point, Dani’s calling out to you, and all of this is so, so-

Focus. All you need to do right now is leave, now.

***

It’s been two weeks. Two longest weeks of your life, you might say.

You’re curled up on the couch, trying to watch a movie but failing miserably. None of that matters, you think. You’re alone and Dani’s with Christian. Hell, he’s probably having a field day right now: gloating, calling you stupid, crazy, jealous and a million other things you don’t even want to imagine. Guilt-tripping her for something you did. For something he did too, no less.

Son of a bitch.

The worst part, however, is that he wouldn’t even be that wrong. It was stupid to give in. It was crazy to think that it would change something, that it would help Dani somehow. At the end of the day, what did it accomplish? Losing a friend over a petty fight?

And you have to be honest with yourself: you are jealous. You were, you are and you probably will be. This must be the most awful way to finally realize that you’re in love, truly in love, yet you have to deal with it. You’d let go off this jealousy, though, you’d leave it behind in a heartbeat – if she wasn’t with someone who made her miserable every day. If…

You force yourself to stop this thought spiral. It’s all over, the damage is done and there’s nothing you can do about it anymore. It is what it is.

You start to sniffle when you’re started by the knock at your door. Must be the pizza you’ve ordered, you think. Your life’s falling apart anyways, may as well treat yourself. With a sigh, you drag yourself to the door.

“Hi, do you accept ca-”

The rest of the sentence dies on your lips. Dani’s standing at your door, sweet as ever.

Just very, very tired.

“Hey there. Um… I’ve made some cookies, so…”

“Oh,” you rub the back of your neck, trying not to cry. “Thank you. I-I appreciate it.”

Dani nods, pinching her lips. She fidgets with the hem of her hoodie for a few seconds, looking down.

“Are you… Waiting for someone? I didn’t mean to-”

“Oh, no. I mean, just the delivery guy. Come in, please.”

Just a moment later you’re on the couch again. The same couch you were on when you’ve decided to go to this godforsaken party. The irony.

You contemplate whether you should offer Dani something to drink, but decide against it. There’s no reason to dance around the issue – it’s what created this whole mess in the first place. You need to be open, you think, you need to be honest.

She deserves that much.

“God, Dani, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, don’t-”

“No, it’s not okay. I’ve made a scene, ran off and then flaked on you. That wasn’t right and… I really regret it.”

This isn’t a lie. You don’t regret what you’ve said – honestly, you’d say it all again. But everything that came with it, the way you spoke on Dani’s behalf…

Yeah. ‘Could’ve handled it better’ doesn’t even begin to describe it.

When you gather the courage to look at Dani again, you see her soft smile. She forgives you. Of course she forgives you, the way she always does. She forgave you before she even entered this room.

“No, that’s fine. Really. I’m not upset,” Dani takes your hand, squeezing it. “I was just worried about you, that’s all.”

You chuckle, shaking your head.

“You’re very kind, you know that?”

Dani moves closer to you, putting her head on your shoulder. You close your eyes, your temple pressed to the top of her head.

“How’s Christian, by the way?”

Dani tenses; you feel her calm breathing hitches. Instant regret washes over you, but she replies before you can do anything about it.

“Oh, he’s- I don’t know actually. We broke up a few days ago.”

For a split second, you freeze. Did you hear that right? Are you dreaming?

“Holy shit, I’m sorry,” despite everything that happened, your words are sincere. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I… I don’t know, really,” she shrugs, biting her lower lip. “Still processing, I guess.”

“That’s okay. Look, Dani, you-you don’t have to answer, of course, but…

“But..?”

“Can I ask why?”

Dani lowers her head with a bitter chuckle – something you’ve never seen her do before. You don’t say anything, rubbing her back in gentle motions. Does she feel the same warmth when you touch her?

You hope so.

“What was the final straw?”

“Um, yeah. Yeah, that.”

“Well, Christian kept saying things about you… Whatever, I don’t want to repeat it.”

You shake your head with a huff. “Fair enough, I guess.”

“No! No, that’s-”

“I mean, I wasn’t exactly a ray of sunshine to him either, so...” you shrug. “And what, that really was-”

“It should’ve been, but no. I… I can’t believe I’ve let him-”

“Hey, hey, Dani, look at me. He’s an adult. He wanted to talk shit, so he did. That’s on him.”

“But I-”

“And besides, we got into a fight. You did nothing wrong, I promise.”

Dani nods in response, still deep in thought. You know that no matter what you say, some part of her still blames herself for how things played out – maybe always will. You know you can’t change that. Because that’s how Dani is, that’s who she is at her core – reflective, responsible, kind.

You’d never want her to change. You just wish that you could make her life easier.

“Thing is,” she continues. “I-I’ve missed you. And I’ve never missed him the way I missed you.”

You swallow, trying to stop the tears threatening to come out. Despite your best efforts, though, your voice still cracks.

“Oh… Thanks. That’s…” you sniffle. “That’s the nicest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Really?”

You don’t answer. Instead, you pull her in a hug – and Dani reciprocates. Of course she reciprocates.

Like she always does.

You don’t know what will happen next, you don’t know what the future holds. All you know is that it will be better than the past.

And for now, it’s more than enough.

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

After reading your opinion on Molly Weasley, i want to know: What are you're opinions on the Weasley family? Besides Ron & Molly that is.

Five characters? In one post? Well, alright, here we go.

The Weasleys as a Whole

I’ve mentioned this before but JKR writes the Weasleys to clearly be a believable but ideal family. They’re all fiercely loyal, progressive per wizarding world standards, love each other and Harry deeply, and have this wonderful off-kilter joyous house where there’s always some rambunctious thing going on. 

Harry comes to associate the Weasleys with family and, personally, I believe a large part of him marrying Ginny boils down to it will make him a Weasley for real. 

That said, they’ve got some major issues. They’re very righteous people who, as a whole, will ice you out the moment they even suspect you do something that disagrees with them. You don’t even have to do it, what you did or didn’t do doesn’t even have to be something terrible or something bad, but god help you if the family decides they’re done with you. 

They’re very resentful of people like the Malfoys. This isn’t just because Lucius is a smarmy, pompous, ass (he is) or that he indirectly almost murdered Ginny but seems to mostly be because Lucius has so much money. All of their interactions seem to boil down to the money. More than this though, the Weasleys seem fully supportive of laws that... well, used against themselves would be a travesty but used against the likes of the Malfoys it’s about damn time.

They’re unquestioningly loyal to Dumbledore. Granted, most people we see in canon are, Dumbledore’s very very very good at convincing people he’s a saint. However, these guys are practically his cult member to the point where they do things like refuse to have Harry over the summer, even before Voldemort returned, because Dumbledore told them not to. 

They also never really adopt Harry into the family. Oh they give him a nice sweater, he comes over every once in a while to the house, he’s very good friends with Ron but he’s mostly treated just like that, a good friend. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this, except the way JKR sets it up we’re supposed to believe this is the family Harry found. It’s just that the family Harry’s found let’s him stay in a house with bars on his window where twelve-year-old Ron tells them, “Harry’s muggle family is really really awful” in a way that should have been raising red flags. Hermione practically lives at the Weasleys, Harry never does.

Now, are the Weasleys evil? No, far from it, they’re ordinary people who act in ways I’d expect ordinary people too. Technically they didn’t have to do anything more for Harry than they did, they didn’t have to hate Lucius Malfoy for better reasons, and they don’t have to be even slightly less worshipful of Dumbledore. They’re people, and they’re fine characters, but the overwhelming worship and love of the Weasleys we see across fandom does get on my nerves.

But you asked for individuals, so here we go.

 Arthur Weasley

Arthur is the epitome of “Pretty Fly for a White Guy” in the worst of ways and is, frankly, a giant awful joke to me. He’s the white kid you see going around with dread locks, a beanie the color of the Jamaican flag, smoking weed, and attempting to speak like Bob Marley 

Only, because he does it with muggle things, we’re supposed to find him funny and progressive.

Arthur is absolutely, albeit unwittingly, condescending in his love of muggle knickknacks. He has no idea how any of it actually works, not limited to how muggles could possible survive without the gold standard, but ardently believes he does because he can enchant the car to fly. Seriously, that he believes he’s an expert on muggle culture, as a pureblood wizard who heads an office in the ministry on it, is the worst part. His love of toasters comes across as, “Wow, look how cool it is that these poor little muggles made all this neat stuff. We should absolutely love the muggles because of it!” And that he heads an office in the ministry called “The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts” which is all about catching down Jackass style pranksters who think it would be hilarious of they enchanted toasters to bludgeon muggles to death...

Goddammit Arthur, why do you exist?

Right, otherwise, he’s got some pride issues going on. Part of the reason Percy is excommunicated is not so much that Percy doesn’t believe Harry, but because Percy dared to do better than Arthur in his own career. Arthur is stuck in his position as head of a joke of a department, he is an underling at its finest, and frankly likely only has that position because he’s a pureblood and the idea of putting a halfblood or even muggleborn at the head of a department dealing with muggles just made the higher ups shudder. (Don’t tell Arthur that though, he likes to think he’s not benefitting from nepotism). 

Arthur goes so far to accuse Percy as Fudge’s secretary as spying on him. Arthur, the guy who heads “Misuse of Muggle Artifacts”. Yeah, Arthur, I’m sure Fudge is really wasting his time using his straight laced secretary to find out all your dirty secrets. 

He also tends to see the world as very black and white. When Skeeter in book 4 writes an article after the Quidditch World Cup disaster complaining about the ministry’s lax security in enabling domestic terrorists to enter (something completely valid and true by the way) Arthur is so personally offended that both he and Percy go straight to the ministry to complain about Rita Skeeter and her daring to assume freedom of speech! HOW DARE SHE CALL THE MINISTRY’S NON-EXISTENT SECURITY AT THE WORLD CUP LAX! (To be fair, she also cited Arthur as having been in attendance at the event, a ministry employee, and having done nothing but, well, this is also true Arthur. You’re in a guerilla, underground, resistance movement. If I didn’t already think the Order was a joke this would kind of highlight it for me).

He’s also very resentful of Lucius Malfoy, and it seems to mostly be about the money. Arthur and Molly have a severe spending problem and actively resent that Lucius is swimming in money. That Arthur is ardently pleased about a law being passed in which the ministry without warrant can ransack Lucius Malfoy’s home... 

Well, Arthur, imagine the slippery slope if the government decides that it would like to search the Weasley home without warrant? In fact, he doesn’t even have to imagine it, as the beloved government in a few short years turns against him and then it’s all about how corrupt the ministry is. 

Arthur’s delightfully narrowminded, basically, and reminds us at nearly every opportunity.

Percy Weasley

Mostly, I just feel bad for Percy. Percy’s the son/brother that nobody likes and he’s painfully aware of that fact. He doesn’t fit in with the others, he has far too much ambition for the Gryffindor family and they resent him for it, and then he dares to say things like “I don’t know guys, Voldemort resurrecting from the dead after decades doesn’t sound plausible, we know Harry’s a little off kilter, and Dumbledore’s one shady dude”. Percy happens to be wrong about Voldemort resurrecting (and admits as much when the evidence is plainly visible), but he’s pretty on the money with the rest of it.

Regardless, growing up we see Ron constantly hating on Percy along with the rest of the siblings. I’m sure Percy is obnoxious, and certainly full of himself after making prefect and head boy, but he’s very clearly even before Order of the Phoenix the Least Favorite Brother (TM).

Then the Weasley family completely ices him out for a) getting a very high ranking position very quickly as Fudge’s secretary and b) not being gung ho about Dumbledore saying crazy things in the paper. Remember that to Percy Harry is Ron’s weird friend who seems to get into highly illegal activities every other week. From Percy’s point of view, it’s probably a matter of time before Harry becomes a crack head in Knockturn Alley (or given how behind the times wizards tend to be, an opium den). 

He’s constantly getting Ron into not only trouble but life threatening situations, is erratic and apparently a parseltongue of all things, and now Harry’s flipped his lid and saying that Voldemort has been resurrected after having gone through a very traumatic experience of watching a classmate somehow die. 

While we see Percy kind of (sort of)  make up with the family it’s clear that for Percy to have any relation with these people he’s the one who will always, ALWAYS, have to come crawling back on his knees and begging for forgiveness. It’s the Weasley way or the highway and I imagine, at some point probably a little after/during that epilogue, Percy will just slowly drift away because it’s just not worth it anymore.

Percy’s very much the black sheep of the family.

Fred and George Weasley

You all are going to kill me, but I actually don’t care in the slightest about Fred and George Weasley. This is because they basically have no personality aside from “funny”. 

They just have their weird, tandem, twin act and are either playing jokes on the school or else serving as Deus ex Machina in giving Harry magical items such as the Marauder’s Map for no apparent reason. The plot told them it was time, I guess. 

Their jokes, while not as bad as Sirius and James’ “Let’s sexually harrass Severus Snape by pantsing and beating him at the edge of Hogwarts lake” or Sirius’ “Let’s get Snape eaten by a werewolf!” are still often needlessly cruel and... kind of pointless. They harass Slytherin house constantly just because they happen to be Slytherins, they’re acceptable victims (which of course makes house tension that much worse). Harry gets sent a toilet seat in the hospital because... that’s funny? Har de har? 

They’re so indistinguishable from one another I routinely see people mistake which one got his ear chopped off and which one died. Because the point is, that we can’t tell the difference! It doesn’t matter who lived and who died because all we know is that Freorge is dead! 

Similarly, you see tons of fics around where character of the day ends up in this weird twincestuous relationship with Fred and George and it’s not only for a) that delightful twincest but b) because they’re such a singular unit that any attempt to pair one with somebody else feels weird. So you just get these porn fics about Fred and George being weird rapey teenagers who seem like they’d be more interested dating each other. 

Charlie Weasley

I really have no thoughts on Charlie. He raises dragons in Romania, the family loves him. Now, dragon raising feels like one of the most dangerous jobs in the Harry Potter universe, like Charlie had just gone and signed up to be a lumberjack but he seems to like it?

We really don’t see much of Charlie, he’s just the obligatory older Weasley son so that the Weasleys can be this ridiculously large family.

Bill Weasley

We see slightly more of Bill, but again, not enough to really leave an impression. We know that his marrying Fleur sent Molly into a complete state, and that they’re going to have awkward Christmas dinners forever because of it where Fleur just sits there and pretends not to loathe every second of Molly’s presence while Molly notes how bad it is that Victoire got stuck with that ugly pink hair instead of the Weasley red. 

Bill doesn’t seem to really do anything about this. He still marries Fleur, but we don’t really see a major confrontation where he tells the family “Look, I’m marrying her, so grow up.” So, I imagine he just tries to smile pleasantly and tells Fleur to just endure it for another few hours. He loves his family, his family’s great, but they only have to see Fleur once a year at Christmas.

Ginny Weasley

Ginny is weird. She’s this weird, frankly, almost personality-less void whose sole obsession in life seems to be marrying Harry. She and Harry end up in the world’s weirdest relationship and I honestly have no idea how people ship it other than canon told them to.

Ginny’s... well, first off, she’s very much in love with an idea. She had always worshipped Harry Potter but then he personally saves her life in what was a horrifically traumatic year and so that feeling just grows even more. Despite being Ron’s sister, she barely seems to know Harry, and everything she seems to like about it are just things she made up.

I imagine her and Harry’s marriage will be littered with affairs on her end. Not divorce though, because Harry would never admit his wife is having affairs on him all the time even if someone directly confronted him. Harry also won’t admit he’s gay. 

More than though we get hints of a personality. Ginny’s a fiery red-head tomboy with a temper. But... Well, it’s only ever hints. She never felt like a real person to me. She has I think one throwaway line about the Chamber of Secrets incident and how it personally affected her. We’re told she’s great at the bat boogey hex so we know she’s a fiery independent woman.

She feels more like a character sheet than an actual person. 

Whenever she’s around I always had this nagging question in my head where I ask why Ginny’s here. She has a lot of potential but nothing’s ever done with her. And when something is, it’s to get her into this bizarre relationship with Harry where he imagines there’s a green rage monster in his chest that loves her skin.

Okay Harry, if you say so. 

TL;DR: The Weasleys aren’t evil or anything, I’m not on Team Bash Them All, but they are shortsighted, ordinary, people who don’t deserve to be worshipped as all that is good in this world.

[apenapaperandadoofus]

19 (habits) with saeran and its hurt/comfort? 👀

Yusssss I love those

Habits (Saeran hurt/comfort) also a bit smutt bc I needed it I'm sorry I felt so bad and I needed to spoil muh baby

TW: mentions of abuse and self harm (not explicitly and it isn't the extreme kind though!)

You had been living with Saeran for a whole month now, and you couldn't be happier. You had managed to get the twins reunited again, and you solved the whole issue with the cult and RFA. Saeran was finally free.

Still, even though there were good times, there were bad times too. Saeran had spent most of his life in an abusive home, and afterwards was held in a place that did even more damage this mental health, and even if everything was solved, it still took time for him to be able to control his temper or ignore the sudden mood swings that would come.

Even if he managed to merge his two personalities together, sometimes Saeran came out, and sometimes it was Ray. It mostly depended on the situation.

Saeran wasn't one to easily get angry though, and he was really good at controlling his temper. Yet, sometimes he couldn't help but feel this anger inside, this hatred. And then he would scold himself for feeling that way, and he'd be back in the habit of calling himself so many awful things. Not only that, but sometimes he'd punch a wall, or tear at his hair, or just grip his arm so hard he'd end up bleeding.

But he was working on it.

One morning you had woken up to Saeran happily cooking you breakfast, and you smiled and gave him a kiss on the lips, making him blush.

Still, Saeran looked at you with a surprised expression when he saw you didn't go and sit beside him.

"Y/N?" He asked.

"Sorry Saeran, but I told you yesterday that I had something to do in the morning and so I couldn't eat with you. Still thank you for the food, could you please put it in the microwave so I can heat it up later?" You said.

Saeran frowned though. "I don't remember you telling me anything about that, I thought we were going to spend the day together."

"I know, but they suddenly called in at work, there's this new guy who keeps making mistakes and he really fucked up this time. But I'll be home as soon as possible!" You said as you made yourself a cup of coffee. Saeran sat quietly for a few minutes and then looked up at you.

"Well can't you leave it to Jihae and Emma? You've been working every single day ever since we moved in. Can't you work at home?"

You sighed. "Saeran, we've talked about this. I'm really sorry that I wasn't able to fulfill my promise today, but I swear I'll make it up to you!"

"That's what you said last time...." Saeran mumbled, and you stopped in your tracks.

"This time I promise I'll do it-"

"Well this is the fifth time you've said that. Listen Y/N, I don't exactly know if there's anything going on with the house, or with me or us, but you've been gone the whole time."

"Yes working! It's not like I'm super hyped up about it either, stop talking as if I'm doing this on purpose or something! I'm just trying to provide for us."

"Yeah but before it wasn't like this." He stood up and sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Whatever, fine. Go to work."

"Why are you suddenly so irritated that I'm going to work?"

"It's not that, it's just that spending time with you is really important to me and I feel like..."

"Like what Saeran?" You glared.

He looked at the ground. "Nevermind, I don't want to fight."

"No, no please finish the sentence. Like what?"

He stood quiet for a bit and then said, looking at you. "Like you don't really care anymore."

"Excuse me?"

"Every single day it's work, work, work, and everytime I want to just spend a few hours with you you always seem to have something come up. It wasn't like this before."

"Saeran I just got promoted, I have to show that I was worth it. I can't just put everything on hold because you feel lonely!"

"Wow, thank you, I love hearing that the love of my life actually cares about work more than me." He said sarcastically, and your eyes widened.

"Oh, I'm sorry for wanting to PROVIDE for us, Saeran, I'm just trying to help! Seriously I can't stay by your side every single hour of the day, you're not a child! And work is important!"

"Well then if work is so important then why don't you just go and start a relationship with it. You seem to be in love with it. In fact, why don't you just go and never come back!"

Now the both of you were yelling, and you felt so...so mad. You had never seen Saeran this angry before and that only made it worse.

"Maybe I will! You'd like thaytright!? For me to just leave and not turn around!"

"Yes, in fact, you're right! I don't need to be around you the whole time, I can take care of myself, in fact, I don't even need you anymore, so just leave! Maybe then I'll be truly happy for once!"

You stiffened. "You aren't happy here?"

Saeran crossed his arms and gave you that familiar cold glare you had seen in Mint Eye all those months ago.

"No. Why would I be happy with an idiot like you? All you've been doing is ingnoring me and trying to avoid me."

"Saeran I....ugh, you're just- you're impossible sometimes!!! Just because I'm busy doesn't mean I don't care! And I hate that, I hate that every time I look the other way for a bit you get sad and mad, it's so tiring, you're tiring, so don't blame me for wanting to go and spend some time by myself for once!!"

Saeran flinched, but you were too mad to stop. "Why can't you think of that for once, I mean, you aren't even making sense! Why did you think I moved in with you?!"

"Oh I don't know, maybe because of pity and to make yourself feel better. That's the only reason you've been doing anything at all, every single action you do it's to make yourself feel as if you're important, as if you actually matter in this world, and that's why sometimes you get into stupid shit, because you're thinking of being the 'good charitable one' and head into problems without thinking. And now you're doing it with that thing at work, you saw that I was getting better so now you got to hop on to the next problem to give your worthless life some meaning." He snarled. "You-" then Saeran stopped. He was pacing around the room and turned to look at you to say something else, but then he saw tears were streaming down your face and he just...he felt so many emotions at once. He felt...mad to see you cry. And he felt....guilty. You had been the first one to call him tiring, and he just lost control at that moment. His immediate reaction was to insult you, to try and cause you the same pain.

Saeran quickly moved towards you and tried to touch your cheek, to make you look up.tl him. "I'm...I'm sorry Y/N I-"

Then, as if on reflect you slapped his hand away and glared. "Don't....just...don't..."

You grabbed your purse and keys and left the kitchen, leaving Saeran all alone.

He looked at his hand. You had never....never done something like that before. It wasn't as strong as when his mother would do it, in fact it didn't even physically hurt him. But he felt his heart break as he realized what the two of you had done.

He had said things...awful things. The two of you. And he had regretted them immediately.

Saeran felt his eyes water and tried to wipe them.

Don't cry, don't cry. You're not weak. Weak people cry and you're not weak.

Still, he couldn't help the sob that came out of his mouth and he paced around the room, gripping his hair. Then he quickly went to the bathroom to look at himself, to try and calm down.

He looked at his reflection. His hair was now messy, and his eyes red. He had been crying non-stop. Still, he glared at the person he saw in the mirror.

He hated it. He gripped his hands so hard. He didn't know what to do, he wanted to scream, to take it out on someone like he usually did, or to take it out on... himself.

You idiot, you goddamn idiot. You've ruined everything, this is your fault all your fault. Now they're... they're going to leave and it's because they finally saw that you weren't worth it, you are never worth it you stupid, stupid weakling.

He sobbed and then felt the anger inside of him suddenly take over, and he punched the mirror.

"DAMMIT!!" He cried, as he held his now bleeding hand and sat on the toilet.

You idiot! You abdolute idiot, why, why?! You're nothing you're worthless why why?! You don't deserve happiness you don't deserve anything nice in this world, why don't you just shrivel up and die you worthless bug.

He gripped his hair as memories of what his mother would say to him came back, of what Rika used to tell him all the time. Then he also remembered the cold look in your face and panted, feeling as if he wasn't able to breathe anymore. God what should he do? You were never going to forgive him, and you were right.

He was tiring. He wasn't worth your time, your love. Yeah...he wasn't worth it, he doesn't deserve you...maybe it'd be better if he....if he...-

"Saeran."

He suddenly jumped up from the toilet and snapped his head to look at the where the sound came from. You were standing in the doorway, your hair messy and your eyes red from crying. Saeran felt his heart break once again.

The two of you stood in silence for what seemed like hours, until you walked over to Saeran.

He held his breath, getting prepared to hear you saying you wanted it to end, that you didn't love him anymore. But...you didn't say anything of the sort. He gasped as he felt you wrap your arms around him in a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry Saeran." You cried, and it was suddenly as if something inside him moved, something that finally made him break. He gripped you tightly and buried his face in the crook of your neck.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I love you Y/N, I love you, I love you so much." He mumbled as he felt the tears freely fall from his eyes this time. The two of you hugged each other, tightly, whispering so many words of love, of comfort. You ran your fingers through his hair as you whispered how much you loved him, how much he meant to you and you kept apologizing for what you said over and over again, while Saeran did the same.

At one point Saeran gently pushed you away and cupped your cheek, making you look up at him. Then he kissed you.

It was a messy, desperate kiss, the two of you still crying and sobbing and saying even more I love you's until you couldn't talk anymore.

When you pulled away you looked at Saeran, and then you noticed the bathroom mirror and gasped, immediately taking his hand to check it.

"Saeran..." You sobbed, as you looked at his bloody knuckles.

"I'm sorry...I got...I got a bit carried away...."

You shook your head and made him sit down on the toilet while you grabbed some towles and opened the sink, getting them wet. Then you knelt in front of Saeran and gently cleaned his hand.

Saeran bit his lip, trying to stop more tears from falling. He felt so bad, about telling you to leave, that you didn't matter, he felt so mad that he let his anger get the best of him.

And even after he said that....you came back. And you were taking care of him.

He can't remember the last time someone took care of his wounds like that for him. Last time he got hurt it was at mint eye, and you weren't even there yet. And now, he felt so grateful, so lucky to have you here.

As soon as you finished cleaning his knuckles you grabbed his hand and brought it to your lips, kissing them.

"Saeran...I'm really sorry. I should've...I should have never said said that. You...you are everything to me and I love you so much...I honestly don't know what I would do without you and...I'm sorry I've been away. I was...I was just so nervous about this new step in our life and I...I dont know, I panicked. I'm really sorry." You said, looking at the ground.

Saeran lifted your chin with his hand, and then he helped you stand up, so you'd be straddling him. Then, he leaned his forehead against yours and gave you a small smile.

"I'm sorry too. I know that you've been....so stressed lately. I'm really sorry for being selfish and only thinking about myself. I...I seemed to forget that a relationship is a two way street. And I'm supposed to also spoil you and smother you."

"And you do Saeran...you're...you're the best boyfriend ever. I love you."

"I love you too."

"And... I'll be more honest from now on...about my feelings and I won't try to run away. I'm...I'm going to be someone that also gives everything to you, just like you do to me."

The two of you smiled, and Saeran tangled his fingers in your hair pulling you towards him, kissing you again. This time the kiss was slow and tender, the two of you taking your time. Then, Saeran kissed your cheek, your neck, and made his way down to your chest, unbuttoning your shirt. Every kiss he gave you was his promise to you, to always love you and cherish you.

You helped him take off your shirt and you gripped his hair, gasping as he nipped and sucked, and kissed.

Eventually you stood up and took both of your clothes off, leading him to the shower. You could see he was about to put on the cold water, probably out of habit from doing it for so long, but you grabbed his hand and turned it so the water was warm. He looked at you confused for a second, but then you pulled his face down to kiss him once again.

He pushed you against the wall, and you gasped as he bit your neck and moved his hands to grab your hips.

Eventually the whole place got hot, and you wrapped your arms around Saeran as he slowly inserted himself inside you.

"Are you alright?" He whispered in your ear, and you nodded, making him look at you.

"I love you so much Saeran. I'm all yours, and I will always be. I promise I'll never leave you." Saeran's eyes widened and you gasped as you felt him suddenly move, his lips quickly against yours.

"I....I'm yours too. Forever, and ever, and I promise that I will always love you and stay by your side. I love you, I love you so much.....I love you...."

.......

That night the two of you laid cuddling in your bed, the covers against your bare skin. As you looked at the man sleeping beside you, you couldn't help but smile.

You loved him so much.

Every couple fights, and everyone has both good and bad days, but you wouldn't let that get in the way of your relationship. You had made a promise that day to always be with him, and you swore you would fulfill it.

You kissed him and held him closer to your body, finally letting yourself relax with the person you love the most in the world.

[yeah-klave]

Softness and City Sounds

Summary: Klaus has a bad dream and Dave makes him feel better.

A/N: Modern!AU. Pure fluff.

Word length: 1.1k

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything.

*******************************************

Klaus’ eyelids twitched, his fingers clenched and he awoke with a start. With his face smooshed into the mattress and eyes still mostly closed he reached blindly with one hand towards the other side of the bed. Finding nothing, he turned his head, cracked his eyes open further and stared blearily to find the other side of the bed empty, covers drawn back. Klaus rolled onto his back, bringing his hands up to scrub over his face and push his hair out of his eyes.

Hearing movement in the apartment, Klaus swung his feet out of bed and got up. He pulled on a pair of rumpled pink boxers, cheerfully covered in cartoon ghosts, and padding out of the room and down the hall. He raked a hand lazily through his disheveled bedhead, leaving his dark curls even more tousled than before.

Hearing sounds in the kitchen, he walked in and straight over to his boyfriend who was standing at the stove, fixing something in a frying pan. Klaus wrapped his arms around him tightly from behind, propped his chin on his broad shoulder and inhaled deeply. “Umm, that smells good.”

“Good morning to you too, sleeping beauty” said Dave smiling, turning his head to nuzzle his nose against his boyfriends’ and catching his mouth in a quick kiss.

“Oh, yeah, morning,” Klaus murmured against Dave’s lips.

Dave chuckled and stole one last kiss, before turning back to the frying pan. Klaus stayed where he was and just enjoyed holding the solid weight of his boyfriend in his arms and smelling the scent of his woody aftershave on his skin. Absently, Klaus nuzzled his face closer into the crook of Dave’s neck and stroked one hand over Dave’s smooth, sculpted chest, finally bringing it to rest right at the center, over his heart.

“Not that I’m not enjoying this koala impression,” Dave teased as he continued to stir. “But you might have to detach at some point to let me finish this.”

“Umm, don’t want to,” Klaus hummed into the skin of Dave’s neck, pressing his cheek into the warm, lightly freckled skin.

“Hey,” Dave said, tilting his head to get a better look at his boyfriend, “everything okay, pumpkin?”

“No,” Klaus sighed. “I had a horrible dream.”

Dave smiled, rolling his eyes fondly and huffed out a light laugh.

“Go on,” he said. He turned off the hob, moved the hot pan to the back ring and slowly turned in Klaus’ arms so they were facing each other, “what was it about?” He brought one large, gentle hand up to cup Klaus’ cheek and let the other rest in the dip of Klaus’ tiny waist.

“Well,” Klaus said, both hands resting lightly on Dave’s chest. “I dreamed I was a sexy trash superhero and I accidentally went back in time to the Vietnam war and ended up falling in love with a handsome soldier, even though he was a terrible dancer, but then he died and I went forward in time to help my other superhero siblings stop didn’t-know-she-was-also-super-Vanya from blowing up the moon, and then I went even further back in time to pine over a baby version of my dead soldier boyfriend, in between starting a cult based on song lyrics from the 90s.”

Dave let out a laugh, “Really? Klaus? The 90s?”

“Yes,” Klaus replied with a straight face. “It is a highly underrated era of music.”

Dave looked at his boyfriend, his kind, blue eyes sparking. “Wow, a genuine nightmare. I don’t know how your survived,” he teased. Klaus frowned. “I mean, being a superhero and zipping through time and falling in love with hunky guys in uniform doesn’t sound too bad…”

“It was,” Klaus pouted, “you were the soldier Davey, and you were a terrible dancer, and you got shot and died. It was awful. And then I let baby-you sell me a load of pink paint because you were just so darn cute and earnest. Also, did I mention you were a really terrible dancer?”

“What was so bad about my dancing?” Dave smiled.

“Oh, it was just dreadful,” Klaus shuddered. “I don’t think I can accurately convey quite how horrific it was.” Dave chuckled again. Klaus pulled away, bent his knees, spread his legs, leaned forwards and started walking backwards, swaying his body to an imaginary beat. Klaus looked up at Dave, his mischievous green eyes large and twinkling, ringed in the smudged remains of yesterday’s eyeliner.

“Eugh,” Dave laughed while pulling an exaggerated grimace, arms crossed over his broad chest, “yeah, you’re right, that really is awful.”

“It was,” Klaus replied shuddering again. “Actually,” he said, straightening back up, “this is giving me horrible flashbacks.”

Dave opened his arms, “Come back here, muffin.”

Klaus moved over and Dave pulled him back against his solid chest, folding him into the safe embrace of his arms. Klaus sighed and snuggled against him.

“That’s better,” Dave soothed, gently working his fingers through the tousled mess of Klaus’ hair. “I’m sorry you had a bad dream, sweetie-pie.”

“Good,” Klaus pouted.

Dave smiled down at Klaus fondly. “If it helps, I promise I will never try to sell you any pink paint. I promise I will never sign up to fight in the Vietnam war.” He smiled wider, “And if Vanya starts making any darkly threatening comments about the moon, I promise we will just say ‘No explosions today, thank you’ and turn around and go and get doughnuts or something. Although, I think I’d probably also send Sissy a quick text telling her she might need to help her girlfriend blow off steam some other way, if you know what I mean.”

“Ew, Dave, that’s my sister you’re talking about.”

Dave crinkled his nose, “Yeah, you’re right, that’s weird, sorry.” He kissed the top of Klaus’ head. “So, you good now, sugarplum?”

“Nearly,” Klaus said, but Dave could feel him smiling against his chest.

“Well,” Dave said slowly and seriously, tucking a finger under Klaus’ chin and encouraging him to raise he head and look him in the eye. “I also promise, hand on heart, I will never – ever – do that truly awful dancing every again.”

“Good,” Klaus said with a decisive nod.

“Right,” Dave smiled fondly, leaning forwards to press a sweet kiss against Klaus’ lips, “now that we’ve got the really important business of the morning sorted, how about you pass me a couple of plates and I can finish fixing our breakfast?”

Klaus returned Dave’s smile, but before he pulled back he rested his forehead lightly against Dave’s. The pair stood peacefully in their bubble of happiness, both enjoying the quiet moment of tender, domestic intimacy. 

After a while, Klaus moved to get the plates and make drinks as Dave dished up. Then they both headed out to their balcony to start the day together; sipping coffee and eating breakfast and listening to the city wake up beneath them.

[estherwritess]

Sunflower

Also happy birthday to my beautiful boy Iwa!! But seriously, I cannot thank you enough for getting me to 700. I love each and every single one of you and seeing you interact with my fics make me so happy! I hope you guys enjoy this one as well! 

Pairing: Iwaizumi x reader

Genre: Fluff!! just fluffy fluff

Words: 1,1k+

Description: Songfic based off Sunflower- Post Malone

Needless to say, I keep her in check

She was a bad bad, nevertheless Callin' it quits now, baby, I'm a wreck Crash at my place, baby, you're a wreck

Leaning against the window, your eyes notice the reflection of the sunflowers mixed in with the raindrops on the other side. A huff left your lips as the flowers stood on your desk reminded you once again of how you hadn’t seen Iwaizumi for a good three days; not a word on texts either.

Setting your now empty cup down, you turned away from the window. You’d like to think you were quite used to him being gone so often, but none of that was true if you were being honest about it. The nights he left without a word, without so much as a warning the evening before, hit you the hardest. Waking up in the middle of the night only to find a cold spot next to you; sometimes you even wondered why you stuck around for so long but if you truly listened to what your heart was telling you, you knew you could never leave Iwaizumi over this. Sure, you’d argue, a lot, but in the end, things went back to the way they always were. The two of you were high school sweethearts after all.

Just as you were about to slip back under the covers, having decided you’d stayed up late enough, the door cracked open light flooding into the room.

“Ah, Hajime” your voice sounds dry, unbothered by the fact he seemed to have just nonchalantly waltzed in after his sudden disappearance. His eyes flicker towards you, mask dangling from his hands; “Y/N, you’re still at my place?” a lopsided grin forms on his face as he closes the door behind him.

“Well, since you were gone all of a sudden, I just assumed I inherited this place” you retort, an amused look on your features. “You need to stop doing that, you have a perfectly fine dorm room” The conversation had a light and airy tone however you knew deep down that what he just said came from the concern he always had.

“I guess you can stay a little while longer,” he steps closer to you, one of his muscular arms slid underneath your knees, the other supporting your upper body as he lifts you up.  The air leaves your lungs as you’re dropped on the bed, his arms caging you in on both sides.

“I’ve missed you.”

You're the sunflower

Every time I'm leavin' on ya You don't make it easy, no, no Wish I could be there for ya

The bliss you felt last night was quickly replaced by disappointment once more, your hands were clutching the sheets in front of your chest; eyes warily following Iwaizumi as he’s hectically sprinting through his already small apartment. He stops in his tracks as his eyes fall upon you, your brows are furrowed at him.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he sighs, “please”. Your pout disappears off your face as he’s trudging towards you, a conflicted look in his eyes. As you’re trying your hardest to look away your eyes begin to sting, trembling as you stare at your feet placed on the rug next to the bed. Iwaizumi bends through his knees, leaning his arms on your legs as he tries to seek eye contact.

“Y/N look at me,” his index finger hooks itself under your chin, lifting it up to make eye contact, “I’m really sorry, this’ll be quick, I promise”. His words don’t help much, his expression seems to soften as he notices the tears threatening to spill from your eyes. Shakily you let out a breath that you’d been holding for far too long,

“I’ve just missed you,” you wipe the growing number of tears from your eyes, sniffling as you look at him. It’s quiet in the apartment, the only audible sounds are your breathing and occasional sniffles; he lets his head lean on your legs, not a single word leaving his lips.

“I’ll be back soon” he lifts himself up, planting a kiss on the top of your head before giving your hair a rustle. Your eyes refused to halt their gaze on his figure, following his every move desperately hoping for a miracle so that he would be forced to stay here with you, for once.

I know you're scared of the unknown

You don't wanna be alone I know I always come and go But it's out of my control

And you'll be left in the dust Unless I stuck by ya You're the sunflower

You only realize how generic your days feel when he’s not around, the lectures feel like they’re dragging on endlessly overwhelming you with more information than anyone could possibly process in a day. As your head nearly slips out of your supporting hand, you feel your phone buzz in your pocket.

Come to the rooftop – Hajime

Your fingers nervously drum against your textbook, eyeing your surroundings; It’s not like the professor would care, you paid enough for this so why wouldn’t you be able to just walk out? Dumping your books into the flimsy tote-bag you carried around virtually anywhere, you let your seat close behind you as you silently nudged the person next to you to let you out. As soon as you reached the end of the row, you couldn’t have possibly gotten out of the hall any faster, your feet tirelessly carrying you further.

When you reach the top, you’ve practically swung open the door so hard that it crashes into the wall with a bang; your tired expression replaced with an excited one. Iwaizumi has his back turned towards you, stuffing the remnants of his suit into his backpack. When he notices you, he jumps up slightly, despite the door sounding like a bomb had just been dropped. You can’t help but laugh a little as he scrambles to his feet, dusting his shirt.

“Sorry I haven’t been around much, “he pauses, hands folded behind his back, “so I wanted to do something to thank you for sticking around”. Your eyes fall onto the meticulously laid out picnic blanket with a basket placed atop. Disregarding it, the only thing you can really do is let your feet carry yourself to him, letting yourself fall into his open arms.

“Ofcourse I’ll stick with you,” your voice is muffled against his chest while your hands are gripping his jean jacket, “I love you, so why wouldn’t I?”. Your words bring a genuine smile to his face, his hands reach around and clasp your hands.

“And I’m so happy that you do,” his lips place a gentle kiss on the back of your hand, eyes meeting yours, “because I love you more than you can imagine”.

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[snippychicke]

I will probably never write this out, but I outlined it and thought it was too cute to share. An Otto/OC(self-insert tbh) story with a happy ending.

Allison's husband Raymond gets a very unsettling surprise when Otto starts trying to get out of the rolled carpet. Turns out he was unconscious but not dead. He freaks out because a beat-up woozy white guy in a black man's house is going to get him in jail, and likely dead. 

He helps Otto into his car and races to one of the few allies he knows, a nurse from a local hospital. She helps him get him into her home and promises to keep silent (though doubts the story he tells her, because to her it sounds like gibberish.)

She takes care of him in her old family home. He wakes up while she is cleaning his wounds.She begs him not to kill Raymond, stating he's a good man who got in over his head. That no one should be judged on one mistake.

He leaves and searches for Axel but there is no sign of him at the cat house. Some of their stuff is there, but all of Axel's belongings are noticeably absent. It's been years since he was truly alone. The ache of losing both brothers hits him hard. 

Otto wanders around Dallas but ends up back on the nurse's porch, where she finds him sitting on the stairs looking absolutely dejected and lost.She has seen a lot of different people on wrong paths in their life. Offers him a bed as long as he needs it, fusses at his wounds that reopened? Leg wound too? She pointedly doesn't ask questions, and he appreciates that.

They fall into a domestic situation that he is unused to. He is used to living on the road, always travelling and hunting. He needs something to do but isn't ready for an ordinary job. The house is run down, and she explains her father meant to fix it with the supplies in the garage but never did. 

It gives him something to do. She of course gets flustered by seeing him sweaty and shirtless but does her best to be respectful. He masters the skills needed by stumbling through the how-to books left behind, with her helping occasionally when he silently points to a word. And of course physical labor is rather easy for him.

She wants to thank him and asks around to find Swedish recipes and such.

The night she makes a sweedish dish as a thank you, he breaks somewhat. She apologizes profusely, saying she didn't mean to. He hugs her. Well, pulls her down into his lap is more like it, desperate for physical touch. She settles in his lap and just lets him cry into her shoulder, soothing his hair and reassuring him it would be okay.

They shift from roommates to friends as the weeks pass. Her obvious trust in people leaves him on edge. He makes a habit of making sure doors and windows are secure because she never does. She fusses at him to take breaks and relax, wondering why he is so paranoid in her opinion. They enjoy early mornings together on days off. 

They also adopted all the cats. She wakes up to the half of a dozen cats wandering the house, acting like it's theirs now. When she asks where they came from, Otto just shrugs. She gets use to it quickly when she sees it brings him some sort of peace, and sees the mouse infestation vanish in a fortnight.

She does start to drag him out once in a while on her days off. To the theatre, street festivals, and to other such events. Otto seriously starts to wonder how she hasn't been killed yet because trouble seems to follow her. Especially when white men see her being polite to poc, whom she tends favor more than others. Otto has to stop a few fights from being started with a strong glare. Just his presence diffuses more than one fight, and she has to admit she feels a lot safer with him at her side.

But one time he's maybe distracted at a fair, thinking of buying her a small cat charm she had been eyeing but denied herself, and comes to find some assholes getting rough with her and he loses it. The assholes are on the concrete within seconds. She is barely able calm him and begs him to quit as he's punching the man that smacked her, but manages to pull him away and go home.

She cleans his bruised and cut knuckles with shaky hands and he stops her so he can tend the split lip on her own face. 

"They hurt you...I'm sorry."

He has barely spoken monosyllabic words at this point, so she tears up. She enjoys the feeling of him cupping her face, and presses his hand tighter to her cheek as she laughs and says he easily paid them back 10 fold. 

He realizes this cute little nurse has become dear to him.

She realizes she's fallen for her housemate. 

Then the commission steps in. The new council asks Otto to return because their reduced numbers. Except he's already lost both of his brothers to them, he cannot lose her too. He doesn't feel strong enough to stand on his own. He turns them down, and turns back inside to wrap his arms around her as she is cooking. No kissing or words, just holding her in his arms as she sways. 

Herb comes alone a few days later. Otto turns to leave but Herb stops in his his tracks by offering to track down Axel. Not because to get them back for the commission, but as a peace offering for what happened to them. The offer makes him torn. On one hand it's his brother, Axel. The last of his family. But yet he still has nightmares of Axel choking him, even though he knows it's not his brother's fault, which leaves him conflicted. And he's built a life in Dallas. Helps the neighbors both colored and none with any heavy labor needed. And of course his budding relationship with the woman.

But ultimately it's his brother. Family. He cannot give up the chance. He leaves her a simple note asking her to stay safe. (he drafted over a dozen notes which she finds in the trash, ranging from promises to come back and ones where he thanks her for her kindness, and others scribbled out harshly she cannot make out the words.)

And when she realizes he left hurt it breaks her heart. She still fusses over the cats, but can't bring herself to do much more than work and sleep. Her friends try to pull her out for nights on the town, but she cannot. 

It takes weeks but Otto finds wherever the hippies have travelled to, the reunion of brothers is heartbreaking. The Cult fear the worse as the two storm towards each other before embracing tightly, trying hard not to cry. Axel thought he was dead, that he killed him. So to see him all be and okay breaks his facade. 

He begs for forgiveness, but Otto immediately assures him there is nothing to forgive. 

Otto brings Axel back to Dallas. When the woman sees him coming down the street, she forgets propiet and races down the sidewalk to jump into his arms. Axel watches both surprised and amused as his brother holds the tiny woman close. The woman is too emotional to think and ends up confessing her feelings in a jumbled mess. Otto silences her with a kiss, soft and sweet. Which she turns into a rather long intimate one.

Otto awkwardly introduces Axel after his brother clears his throat during the couple's kiss. "Can he stay with us, Älskling?" Otto asks, pushing her hair away from her tear-streaked face.

She happily says yes. 

Axel enters the house and the first thing he sees are the cats.

Otto: "What? You think I could leave them?'

Axel: *did leave the cats to fend for themselves* …

Just need to figure out a way for Oscar to show up sans his one leg but otherwise okay. Maybe he was a patient she has been caring for at the hospital?

Axel and Oscar quickly accept her as their little sister-in-law. Ships their brother with her so hard and push them together. Sets up so many cute dates for the two that usually end up not going as planned but still cute

Edited: i lied

[junquisite]

You just can’t get enough

WORD COUNT : 2.9K

WARNING : Dream Manipulation. Manipulation, Hypnosis (of sort?), idk man but there’s nothing sexual but its still kinda mature?

GENRE : Supernatural AU, Goblin! Junhee X OC

PART 2 - NOT suggested to read if you like how this ends. Because the part 2 is NOT happy.

I’m honestly more then proud of this. There are a lot of references to the Lyrics of A.C.E Favorite Boys so you might wanna watch the Lyrics once. But you can read this without it too.

“Still the same?” Eunbi asked as she handed Minji a cup of coffee.

“Yeah. 3 shots of espresso?” she asked and Eunbi nodded with a grim face.

“How long are you going to work and survive on coffee?”

“Till that man stops haunting my dreams.” Minji said as she took a big gulp of the coffee.

“What was it again?” Eunbi asked as they entered the lift, thankfully just them two, and pressed the  button of their floor.

“The same thing – blue hair, blue eyes.” Minji said as she tried to remember something else. But there never is, it's just these two things, haunting her to the point that she's actually scared of sleeping.

“So like.. lenses?” Eunbi said and Minji thought over it.

“no like..his eyes were literally blue. You know how werewolves and vampires have golden or red eyes? That way blue.”

Eumbi gave her a long stare. “You’ve been watching too many shows.” And Minji rolled her eyes at her as the bell rang and they exited the elevator.

“You look like you haven’t slept in ages.” Minji heard as soon as she arrived at her desk and she looked up to see a slightly concerned Donghun leaning over her desk.

“I haven't.” she grumbled out.

“Why?” he asked and she shrugged. She was in no mood to explain her supposedly delusions and have more people judge her on that.

“Donghun, you have dyed hair.” Eunbi said and Donghun ran a hand through his grey hair and raised an eyebrow at her.

“You also have friends who have pink and red hair.” Eunbi continued and Minji elbowed her.

“why do you even know that?” she asked and Eunbi smiled, “Instagram.”

“I do. why?” 

“Do you by any chance know someone having blue hair and blue contact lenses?” Eunbi said and Minji groaned, hiding her face behind her hands while Donghun laughed loudly.

“Why? did he come in your dreams or what?” he said between laugh and Minji straightened up as Eunbi gasped. 

“How did you know?”

Donghun sobered up at that. “Seriously?” he asked and Eunbi nodded, pointing at Minji, “Her’s”

“Shut up.” Minji siad and focused on ignoring the other two, focused on her work.

“I do have a friend like you described though. He owns a bar, I'll send you the address if you’re interested.”

“No thanks.” Minji said and Donghun nodded, leaving for his own desk.

~

It was almost close to evening when she got off work, tired to the end of her wits and craving nothing more than her bed and hopefully a dreamless sleep when she saw a blur of golden and blue in her peripheral vision turning into a small alleyway. She wasn't sure how she recognised him to be the man of her dreams when she had never seen a glimpse of more than the back of his head but she knew, she just knew it was him. And so she followed him into the alleyway until the dead end, trying to catch any more glimpse of him on either of the sides to know which one to follow.

But a loud crashing sound of two cars made her turn around and rush to the main road to see two cars, crashed into each other and the drivers, uninjured but at each other’s throats.

Across the road, she caught the sight of Donghun staring behind her at the alleyway she came out of, giving her a smile when he caught her eyes and turned sideways to leave, but not before throwing an amused smirk at the accident site.

Almost cocky.

Almost as if he was behind it.

But it was a stupid thought.

She shook her head and sighed. Maybe she had started hallucinating too.

~

Fog, wherever her sight went there was fog. Nothing but fog with a black set drop behind it. It was horrifying yet calm. There was no sound, but there never is any.

Until now.

There was a ragged breathing sound overpowering her every sense until she could feel that breath over her shoulder. But there was no one behind.

Suddenly there was a dash of golden in her vision and it almost blinded her, not used to colours. But then again even the fog was new.

Blue hair and a back of the blue head came into her vision and she sighed with familiarity - this was what she was used to. Blue hair but no face.

Soon enough the sight of blue hypnotic eyes came into her sight and like always it sent shivers down her spine - it was always like this. She was not sure how a pair of eyes were capable of showing so many emotions in a passage of seconds but it always left her drained and overcome with emotions she saw.

They were the same today too - some she could recognise, some foreign to her but leaving her with a tiring emotion in its place.

Possessiveness

Anger

Hunger

Passion

Control

Anticipation

Longing

And like always it left her drained but at the same time filled with other feelings.

Fear

Loneliness

Captivation

Submission

Surrender

Pain

But today took a different twist again, leaving behind a sense of comfort, protection and safety behind which confused her. But not enough to wake her up.

She knew she was asleep and it was a dream but it was not like she was in control of it.

And then something happened that woke her up. 

Something that left a ringing sound in her head even after she woke up, the words repeating in itself again and again till it was like a mantra in her head. The words she heard in a foreign voice in her own head.

Now or never.

Don't hesitate.

~

“You look even worse. I didn't know it was possible.” Donghun commented and Minji glared at him.

He went back and brought a coffee from the vending machine to her, which she hadn't had the chance to buy since she was running late and Eunbi had coincidentally chosen to take the same day off. 

“You're the best.” she mumbled as she drank half of it in one gulp.

“I still think you should come to the bar with me. It can't hurt to take a chance right? Your conditions seem to only be worsening.” Donghun said and Minji contemplated his words.

~

Minji decided she’ll blame it all on the no sleep and high caffeination which lead to her one weak moment of asking Donghun regarding his blue haired friend’s address. And to make her own suffering double, she had somehow managed to ask Eunbi to come too, who would do nothing less then keep on reminding her, when all this will fail, that how she gave into Donghun’s charming words simply because she had a thing for him.

She didn’t have a thing for Donghun.

She just thought he was good looking even with all the hair colours he chose to dab into every once in a while and with all the different piercings and maybe, JUST MAYBE, she may have made a passing comment on how he had started looking fit and swooned over how he folded his shirt sleeve to show off..

BUT she didn't have a thing for him.

“This is.. something..” Eunbi mumbled as she looked at the location they had driven too, the place where apparently the guy, Junhee had his club at. And Eunbi was right, it was something alright. But definitely not a club. It was more of an abandoned old warehouse building.

Minji called Donghun at that who, when picked the phone, had a slight background noise of music behind him.

“Are you here yet? I'm inside.”

“The address you sent..” she trailed off. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to explain it.

“Are you outside the warehouse?” Donghun asked and she agreed.

“Just knock on the door. Someone will peep out and just wait. I'll come to pick you up.” and he ended the call.

So they did just that.

Minji hesitantly knocked at the door and the small peephole of sort slid open to reveal a strict looking face, a bouncer probably.

“What is the meaning of life?” he asked and Minji blinked at him.

“What?” she asked asn he repeated the question.

“This is a sign Minji, let's go away.” Eunbi said and before Minji could agree, a voice resounded from inside and Minji stopped. It was Donghun.

A few seconds later the door opened up to reveal a smiling Donghun and Minji swore she stopped breathing for a few seconds. Donghun was wearing a black and white patterned suit and she could see there was no shirt underneath and it took all of her efforts to not gawk at him openly.

“You both look like you were about to turn and leave.” he said as he rushed them inside and Eunbi shrugged, “it was considered.” as they looked around.

It was as it looked from outside, abandoned and dirty but there was a staircase which Donghun led them through and Eunbi muttered to her how they were going to be sacrificed for some cult and they heard Donghun laugh at it which left Minji embarrassed on Eunbi’s behalf.

Finally a shiny double door was in front of them and slight lighting was peeking from underneath it and reverberation of music could be heard which led them both to sigh in relief.

Donghun knocked on the door, muttered the codeword without letting them hear it and led them inside and it was.. mind-blowing to say the least. It was a perfect mixture of lavish and breathtaking but with a dark aesthetic. Minji was happy both her and Eunbi had chosen darker clothes for the night as well.

“Let me get you some drinks.” Donghun said as he guided them to a table, the dance floor scarcely filled and people looming around their tables, music playing from somewhere but no DJ in sight.

It was mysterious.

~

Donghun ordered enough drink for all of them, his three friends soon to join the girls when the much anticipated owner came to stand by him.

“You know you stole her from me.” he muttered and the owner chuckled.

“Did i now? You were not making a move for years now. 4 to be exact. She was full game.” he said.

“I won't blame you but the friend is mine now.”

The owner raised his hands in surrender as he left, his eyes zeroed on the girl fidgeting in her seat, trying to look for Donghun in the crowd. Donghun  left his side but he stayed at the bar, kept looking at the girl until he met her eyes, no matter how brief, he was quick to leave as he saw hers widen.

As Donghun approached the girls, he saw as MInji stood up, looking around frantically.

“What's wrong?” he asked as he set the drinks down.

“I just saw him.” she muttered, trying to get up on her heels to look around.

“Saw who?” Donghun asked.

“The blue eyed guy.”

“Junhee hasn't come yet.” Donghun said with finality and for a second his eyes glowed royal blue that made Minji sit down obediently. 

She convinced herself it was just the lights at the club playing tricks on her and smiled at the three people Donghun introduced them to, her mind full of the blue eyed guy yet again.

It was all going well, or as well as things could go while one was anticipating someone’s presence. The club since their entry was comfortably filled with people who had taken place on the huge stage in the middle of it all. One of Donghun’s friends, Chan insisted on going to the dance floor and they all agreed.

It was different.

She was used to going to the dance floors and this was certainly not her first time but it was certainly different this time. She just wasn't sure if it was because of the breathtaking club or the people in it but they certainly had a different.. vibe to them.

For the first time, in a club full of people, she could feel no one touching her, not even accidental touches and it was weird. As happy as she was for it, it was slightly unnerving. 

Even Donghun’s hands were ghosting her waist as he crowded her against some non existential wall behind her, hands there but not completely touching - leaving her craving for some sort of physical touch. She wanted to blame it on the alcohol but 2 cocktails were not enough to do so.

She needed a drink.

She said the same to Donghun who was more than okay to bring her one but she said she would get it herself. She reached the bar, asked the bartender for a drink which she was handed in one go, no questions asked and in her sane moments, she might have questioned it. But it was not one of those moments.

Suddenly a hand was on her waist, tight enough to let her know she can't move or turn around but soft enough to let her know she was not in danger. The hands softly curled around her waist as they entwined on her belly.

She felt a soft breath near her ear and shuddered, more in anticipation then fear.

“It is strange, and eternally beautiful

An unknown emotion, entrust yourself to it.”

As soon as the words ended she felt an unusual breeze in the closed off club and felt the arms around her disappear. But her feet stayed planted.

That voice.

He was the same guy from her dream. 

But she couldn't turn around.

She stayed frozen in front of the bar for who knows how long until Donghun came looking for her. He took her back to their seat where everyone else was already sitting and she took a seat beside Eunbi. She felt like her legs were made of jelly, the words from the man before going around her head making her close to nauseous.

Maybe coming here was a mistake.

She managed to convince Donghun to leave and Eunbi was more than ready to leave with her so they stood up, Donghun insisting on dropping them off since Eunbi was clearly drunk and Minji looked like she had seen a  ghost. As he was guiding them to the door, a sudden fire alarm went off and they turned around to see large waves of fire erupting near the bar area.

Chaos erupted but at the same time it was peaceful - unlike anything she had seen. People were not scared - they looked almost bored and many of them were rolling their eyes.

It was almost like only she and Eunbi were the ones freaking out. Not even the four men standing beside them looked bothered by the fire.

She heard a few people muttering.

“I can't believe he did this.”

“To his own club? Talk about being a show off.”

“He could have warned us.”

It was confusing. Did the Junhee guy do this himself? Was that what they were implying?

Eunbi was tugging at her arm to go and she was about to turn around when a glint of gold caught her eyes.

In the middle of the fire among wary people, was the man of her dreams, standing tall.

A dazzling golden shirt, blue hair but black eyes.

Until they met hers and glinted blue.

The blue she remembers from her dreams.

His lips were moving but it was slightly hard to understand since she couldn't hear him.

But suddenly in a room full of people and a loud Eunbi thrashing behind her, the sounds of the room got distorted until all she could hear was his voice.

“You will probably find me in one glance

Without even looking around

I'm the boy who stands out in your heart

Your pulsating heart, don't doubt it”

As if only after hearing him did she felt herself, she felt her heart give a painful clench and she gripped her chest as her face contorted in pain.

He was smiling at her but his eyes held a lot more emotions in it - the biggest one - danger for her.

But she kept taking steps towards him, ignoring the cries of her friend, ignoring the pain in her chest, ignoring the warmth of the fire.

Until all her senses were doused by him only.

His voice

His sight

His eyes

And finally, she was close to him as he opened his arms to her and she fell in them, unable to hold herself.

A soft chuckle rumbled his chest but felt uncanny, scary even.

He turned her around to show her Donghun dragging away a thrashing Eunbi until he forced her to look at him and Minji saw Donghun’s eyes flashing royal blue and saw as Eunbi’s body calmed down and she complied.

She saw Donghun looking up at them and  ignoring her, nodding at Junhee.

Then Junhee’s arms were around her again as they were near that bar and he leaned in to speak in her ears again.

In the midst of fire - both around them and in her heart - she heard him say, 

“You just can't  get enough.”

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 88

Sophia, the day after her conversation with Tyche.

Thank you to @satan-parisienne and @baelpenrose for keeping me going and on an even keel! Sorry the Author’s Note is so short... I didn’t realize until I had about 10 mins before I had to be back at work that I forgot to queue this for today *facepalm*

The next day was an entire education on new places I could be sore. A hot shower and analgesics only took the barest edge off, and I ended up needing a transport to get to my office instead of my routine walk. I did my best to ignore the grin on Conor’s face every time I moved too fast and winced.  After the third time I scowled at him, I brought up my datapad and did some research, careful not to tap my legs as I gestured, which had become something of a habit.

 “That snot,” I gasped. Conor glanced at me, so I clarified. “Tyche had me doing fencing footwork yesterday…. Intermediate footwork, it turns out. No wonder I’m so sore.”

 “Least it wasn’t sparring,” he pointed out cheerfully, gently lifting my chin to get a look at my lip.  “You should have let Noah heal that, love.”

 I brushed my cheek against his hand. “I want the reminder. May even let her do it again once it heals.”

 This time, it was his turn to scowl. “Not funny.  That face has been bruised enough for one lifetime.” He gently rubbed my cheek as the transport stopped. “Okay, time to go be the boss.  No fighting with the other kids.”  Despite the joking tone, his eyes were serious as he leaned in to kiss me before he headed to his shift.

 I realized that Alistair not only beat me to work, but could apparently hear me groaning as I tried to walk, because the door opened before I was even within three feet of it.  True to form, he gave me an appraising look before his expression settled on my face. “Door get a bit mouthy today? Or did your feet decide you needed to stay home?”

 “Tyche punched me, actually.” My tone was light as I inched my way to my desk. “For defending myself. And then she decided I need more ways to defend myself, so now I can hardly move.”

 “Solid logic,” he deadpanned as he handed me a cup of coffee. “I feel obliged to point out that the coffee is hot, seeing as you display a disturbing propensity to get hurt.”

 “Very funny.”

 “You have been warned, et cetera, so on, so forth.” He waved a hand nonchalantly as he turned, bringing up my agenda for the day. “Your first meeting is the one to discuss medical testing ethics, criteria for volunteers, and determination of the necessity of the procedures. Then you have time set aside to review the status of the Galactic Core Curriculum, along with proposals for expanded learning topics and their existing analogues in the education systems of other planets - “ He paused and tilted his head. “I will never cease to be caught off guard when sentences like that exist.”

 I restrained the urge to nod - or more accurately, my back twinged with a warning not to even consider it. “Believe me, I understand. Noah and I were talking about other species a few weeks ago. Did you know there is a species of avians out there who essentially live on a planet with no surface atmosphere?”

 “The Preeyar, yes,” he sighed wistfully. “Knowing that Fermi was simply impatient has been quite eye-opening, so to speak.”

“Well, he wasn’t wrong,” I conceded. “We were too young for extraterrestrial civilizations, we weren’t listening properly, they apparently weren’t trying to contact us until recently…  But they do exist.” A smile crept on my face at the idea that we really hadn’t been alone in the universe.

My office door opened without warning, and a familiar voice chimed in as Alistair turned with clenched fists. “I do argue that we are entirely too dangerous to have been contacted.” Arthur Farro stood leaning against the frame, and Alistair relaxed marginally. “At least we were until relatively recently…. Throwing nuclear ordinance at each other the moment killing each other in the thousands - rather than the millions - stopped scratching that vicious itch. Who does that?  We’re like demented eight-year-olds who got bored of burning ants and started setting each other’s hair on fire instead.”

“You really should keep that door secured,” my assistant sniffed as he closed out my agenda, right around the time he caught Arthur squinting at it.

“He has the code,” I admitted.

“Or maybe that was accidental,” our resident history teacher continued, ignoring us. “I’m a big fan of assuming stupidity instead of malice where possible.  And, dear lord, does our track record make it plausible.”  Finally entering the room, he flicked a finger at my face. “That was not, however.”

Before I could stop him, Alistair took one glance between me and my friend, and strode to the door. “No.”

“Alistair…”

“I’ll clear your calendar. No. Have a good day.”

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Arthur asked as the door closed behind my soon-to-be-ex assistant.

“That he’s a coward,” I muttered.

“You know damned well that’s not what I mean.”

“Tyche already decked me.” I gestured at my split lip and the bruise that bloomed on my chin overnight. “So, yeah, I know - “

“No, you really don’t seem to.”

“Arthur, stop.”

“I will not.” He stepped forward and placed both his hands, palms down, on my desk.  He knew I hated that gesture. “Bjornson’s entire narrative hinges on you being more dangerous than anyone realizes, and you putting up a display of false helplessness to make everyone trust you.  By decking one of his followers, not only did you show that you do, in fact, have violence in you - meaning that it’s now entirely plausible you’re as Machiavellian as they claim - but you’ve also gone and indicated for whatever reason that Jokull is enough of a threat to drop that premise.” Straightening, he crossed his arms in clear disappointment. “If you wanted to give him more credibility, good job. You succeeded.”

I swallowed every bit of hurt I felt at his words, reminding myself they were nowhere near as barbed as the ones Tyche had given me the day before. Instead, I tilted my head and arched an eyebrow at him. “Are you done? Did you say everything you needed to say?” I paused, giving him a chance to respond. When he didn’t, I poked harder. “Feel better?”

“Not particularly, but big picture? I’m not a terribly gleeful person, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. But yes, it is your turn now.”

��Gracious of you,” I cooed sarcastically.  “Tyche made the same points yesterday, after punching me in the face, with the added gravitas of a guilt trip served with that special seasoning of having watched me almost die and thinking I abandoned her as a child. Also three hours with a rapier, whipping my ass. So. Far more impressive, I assure you.”

“Foiled again by the smaller Reid,” he sighed dramatically before catching himself.  “Rapier, you say? I was going to say no pun intended, but I’ve decided I did that on purpose. Yep. Totally intentional.”

I rolled my eyes before pulling up my tunic to show the bruises on my midriff. “I’m not very good at it, for the record.”

He waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry, saber’s a better style anyway.  And I’m not just saying that because it’s my favorite.”

“Uh huh,” I nodded, not entirely convinced. “As far as Bjornson… seriously. She gave me the scoop.  I seriously fubared the entire situation yesterday.  Apparently, our suspected cult leader only believes in physical attacks on those who would defend themselves. No honor in beating a beaten foe, et cetera.”

“Mmm hmmm,” he nodded, like I was a student he was letting reach her own conclusion.

“Which means I just made it open season on Sophias,” I groaned.

“Really, saber is much better for brawling tactics,” he hedged.

I laughed bitterly. “Doesn’t matter.  My walking privileges are revoked until further notice. Must be accompanied by one of six people, or two out of another ten, and on a transport.” The last word came out like a profanity.  It was a known fact I hated using them.

Hence why I was now being forced to, unfortunately.

“If you think there is any possibility that I’m going to argue against Tyche on that decision, I need to talk to her about that head scan,” he told me pointedly. “Then again, you and I have different definitions of the word ‘think’, but I’ll be clear - it’s not happening.  Moving target, faster than a walking pace, with a protective attachment? Which roster am I on, again?”

“Very funny. You already know.”

His expression softened slightly when he realized I was actually upset. “There is some good news in all of this.”

I threw up my hands and spun in my chair. “Oh, do tell, great military historian and warlord. What is the shining silver lining to the fact that I just gave a man who thinks I am the only thing standing between him and his New Start a golden ticket to sic his followers on me?”

“Okay, first off, sassy shit, my main career is a school teacher. I only moonlighted as a warlord to pay those apocalypse bills. Not my fault I was good at it.” Suddenly, he got serious. “The good new is, if he was too stupid to realize that your talent for inspiring loyalty meant you were a massive problem for any takeover plan, and a problem he’d have to deal with sooner or later….. Well, he’s probably too stupid to keep his little cult together much longer.  Leaders who don’t recognize more than one kind of strength never manage to build a lasting legacy.”

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair…” I said, half to myself.

“Yeah, our guy is no Ramses II,” Arthur replied.  “Besides, those who seek power are rarely good at keeping it.”

“I would have given him my seat on the Council if he’d just asked,” I admitted.

“Besides the fact that you literally just proved my point, if he was suited to the Council, he’d be on it.  It’s not like you were the only candidate.”

I shrugged. “No idea. I didn’t even know I was on the Council for the first week. I think it was a week.”

When I turned to look at him, I was met with a flat stare. “I know it was explained to you at some point.  How does that search function work?” He reached forward like he was going to tap my head before I swatted his hand away. “You were appointed to the Council to replace Simon, you represent a specific population on board the Ark, when we arrive at Von, you will serve an additional two planetary standard years before elections are held, of which you cannot be a candidate….”

Ugh. “I was put forward as a recommendation by Simon. The other Councillors put forward their candidates. The population I represent voted based on my personnel file, since no one even knew any of the candidates at that point. We’d only been on the Ark about six months. Some of us, anyway.” Glaring, I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t know how you figured that out, but I have a feeling I’m going to kill someone.”

He waved a hand at me in a very familiar gesture. “I see other people do it all the time. Jog your memory, and some phrase or word triggers it.  Cool to watch, though.” With a shrug, he continued. “Point is, Bjornson wasn’t even a candidate, same as me.”

“How do you know that?” I asked incredulously.

“Fuck, Sophia. You really need to keep track of your constituents.”

“Hey, I didn’t even want to be a - Wait. You are one of my so-called ‘constituents’!?”

“Even voted for you,” he grinned.  “Didn’t know it was you-you, but… Communications background, peaceful but intelligent attributes to balance out our resident warhawk, fair enough to offset Huynh, and you seemed like the type to actually listen to Grey, Pranav, and Eino.” He shrugged. “To be fair, I was right.”

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[tiny-maus-boots]

Queen of Hearts pt 5

A/N: thank you as always to my bestie and beta. she always does the posting thing for me because i’m lame and she is awesome. @chloes-yellow-cup

05. Ace High

“Wait wait wait. You telling me that Aubrey used to get down with this chick?”

Stacie nodded and took a sip of wine as she flipped through another bridal magazine. Everything seemed so extravagant and dated. She gave a sigh and tossed the magazine aside so she could try another. “Apparently. She was undercover at the time.” Cynthia Rose shook her head with a laugh and took a deep hit off a joint before holding it out to her. Stacie declined with a vague roll of her shoulder. “Nah, thanks. With the feds lurking I’d better not. I have the feeling Agent Esposito would just love to catch me at something, anything.”

She flipped another page while her friend mulled that over. She knew it was only a matter of time before one or both of them were arrested. Aubrey acted like she wasn’t bothered but Stacie was starting to get a little nervous. Cynthia Rose watched her carefully from the loveseat.

“You think because of what happened to Wes or because she still wanna hit it?”

The thought made Stacie’s nose crinkle and she shook her head. “Gross but accurate on both counts. With a healthy dose of revenge since the whole thing fucked her career.” She didn’t hold Aubrey responsible for that. That woman had chosen to alert the media, had chosen to get a warrant before she had proof and had made a fool of herself. As far as Stacie was concerned that was all on Alice not Aubrey.

“So then what are you going to do? You and Aubrey gonna bounce? I hear there’s no extradition in Djibouti.”

Stacie stopped at a picture of a woman in an ornate gown with long embroidered train and sighed. It was everything she didn’t want. Her eyes flicked up to catch CR smiling innocently at her.

“You just wanted to say Djibouti didn’t you?”

The other woman was caught with a lungful of smoke and the amused snicker quickly turned into a choking wheeze. Stacie laughed and reached out to take the joint and stub it out in the ashtray while her friend doubled over expelling puffs of smoke with each wracking cough. When she was able to get herself under control she slumped back into the seat and sighed.

“Damn Stace. For real though, what are you gonna do?”

That was the question wasn’t it? She shifted on her seat and held the open magazine out to Cynthia Rose who took it and looked over the dresses she had selected. They were simple fitted sleeveless tunic style dress with full length skirt.

“For now? Plan a wedding. Keep working with my charities. I don’t know…just keep living I suppose. What about this but in coral?”

“The dress is tight but coral? Hm, I don’t know about that color.”

Stacie looked at the dress again and gave a slow agreeing nod. Maybe coral wasn’t the right color for any dress. She wasn’t seriously worried about the investigation, just mildly worried. But she was willing to put it aside for something bigger, something like her wedding. The wedding she had always wanted instead of the one she had been forced to have. It made her giddy and just a little reckless with some of her choices. Stacie held the magazine out again at another dress, a mermaid cut monstrosity with skirting full of ruffled tulle.

“Fuchsia?”

“Look Ima let you know right now that just because I look good in every color does not mean I should be forced to wear every color. And what’s this? We in the 80s all of a sudden? I’m telling you this whole thing is one bad choice away from Jersey mob chic.”

Stacie tipped sideways on the couch, one arm around her belly as she laughed. It felt fucking fantastic to release some of that underlying tension she was still feeling. Cynthia Rose stretched out with her own magazine on the loveseat. Stacie laid there for a second before sitting up right again and picking up her discarded magazine.

“Don’t let Aubrey hear you say that.”

“What? Mob chic?”

“No, Jersey.” Cynthia Rose cut her a quick look then full on giggled. Stacie bit her lip to keep from laughing as she continued to flip through pages that she dismissed almost instantly. “You’re so easy to amuse when you’re stoned.”

“You jealous?”

“Yes.” Obviously. And apparently for more than just weed. Stacie felt herself blush at the sudden rush of sensory overload that the memory of Aubrey taking her roughly on the foyer table produced. “Okay do you really think part of Esposito’s motivation is…you know. Getting back with Aubrey? Like…”

CR gave her a mild look and raised one shoulder in a shrug. “I mean. You ain’t ever heard of revenge fucking? That shit is lit.” Stacie narrowed her eyes as she processed all of that information. “And I’m not saying I checked your girl out but I got eyes. Aubrey fine as hell. So. I don’t know, you tell me. Would you still be trying to get all up in that?”

“I hate you so much right now.” Not really, not even a little. Stacie threw a pillow at the other woman but CR easily snagged it out of the air and used it to prop herself up. “Assuming you’re right, so what? Just because she might want to fuck Aubrey doesn’t mean Aubrey wants to fuck her. I have nothing to worry about.” And even saying it she knew the words were right and she had complete faith in Aubrey. That wasn’t even really a concern.

But it still bugged her.

“I know that shit bugs you.”

“It DOES bug me!” Stacie nodded her agreement and reached out for her forgotten glass of wine. “I’m not even going to lie about it. They had a thing for a year.”

“What does Aubrey say about it?”

“Nothing. That it was business and there weren’t any feelings attached.” Her best friend gave her a look and she sighed and nodded. “No I do believe her on that. Even if there had been something at one time, there isn’t now. I just don’t like the idea that this woman is out there ready to jump right back in bed with my fiancée.”

“You say that like this bitch is outside hiding in the bushes or some shit.”

The front door opened and they both leaned to the side, craning their necks to see down the hall. Ashley, CR’s girlfriend strolled in with take-out bags full of Western Wok Chinese. She smiled widely at Stacie as she placed the bags on the kitchen counter.

“Who’s outside hiding in the bushes?” The petite brunette paused to kiss Stacie on the cheek before making her way to the loveseat to settle in with Cynthia Rose. “Are you talking about those cops across the street?”

Stacie sighed and shook her head. “No that’s just Happy. Aubrey says I should have a driver so I can enjoy my time with my friends. Really I think she just wants me to have a bodyguard…”

“No, I know about Happy. She’s in the truck playing Angry Birds. There are some cops outside across the street about three houses down. They look like feds to me.”

“How you know what federal agents look like?”

Ashley shrugged and picked up a magazine to look at a few dog eared pages. “Please they all have that sad air that’s a mixture of cult worship and superiority. They tip for shit too.”

Cynthia Rose turned to look at Stacie and blinked. All she could do was raise her shoulder in a shrug and make a vague ‘I told you so’ gesture. She hadn’t actually thought there would be agents outside or following her around but apparently so. Her friend got up from the loveseat and walked out to the front of her house. Stacie followed the other woman walked to the end of the drive and looked down the street first one way then the other.

“Are they out here?”

Happy got out of the Escalade and wandered to the edge of the drive with her usual smile in place. “Looking for the feds?”

“You knew they were there?” Of course she did. Stacie knew it was a stupid question the second it fell from her lips. “How long?”

“Since we left home. I figured you knew and if you didn’t, why worry you?” It was reasonable enough of an answer and Stacie was oddly reassured by how unperturbed Happy seemed. The blonde turned toward the parked black unmarked SUV across the street and waved.

Like magic it pulled away from the curb with a screech of wheels and roared up the street to pull up alongside them facing opposite of traffic. Agent Esposito was at the wheel and she lowered her window to give them all a hard stare down.

“Hey Ali. Long time no see huh?” Happy’s amicable small talk made them all turn to stare at the woman. She didn’t seem intimidated when she waved to the other agent sitting in the passenger seat. “You guys hot out there? It looks hot. You’re a little bit sweaty.”

“Shut it, slutbag.” Happy shut up immediately, the smile never left her face but something hard and angry glittered in her eyes for a moment. Alice turned her gaze away from Happy and pinned Stacie with it. “You having fun? Enjoying your life of leisure? You know that’s all going end for you when I bring your thug girlfriend down.”

Stacie had to resist the urge to say or do something her mother would disapprove of. That would just play into their hands. “Agents Esposito and Applebaum. Of course. Don’t you have something better to do like…catch actual criminals?” A snort broke the tense silence between them and they both turned to Cynthia Rose.

“Her? Really?”

Stacie cleared her throat and held in the amused chuckle. “Let’s go back inside, you too Happy. Let these guys get back to collecting tax payer money to sit on their asses.”

Cynthia Rose laughed and started back toward the house with a backward glance at the car. Alice’s face was a contorted with rage as she watched them walk away. They were inside the house again before CR jerked her thumb back at the car outside.

“That’s who you’re bugged about? Girl please.” She dropped herself back onto the loveseat with Ashley and reached out to pick up her lighter and joint. Ashley leaned over to light a candle sitting on the end table. “Yeah she wants to hit it.”

“Who?” Ashley took the joint from Cynthia Rose with both brows raised in question. Stacie shook her head at them as she started to open up the bags of take out. She really didn’t want to answer that question because it would be an acknowledgement of something she wasn’t ready to deal with.

“That lady agent watching us. She used to go with Aubrey but shit went bad and now she’s trying to fuck with them.”

“Her? Really?”

“Right? Stacie over here trippin’ on that.”

“Oh honey…no….”

It was said in the casual way a couple discusses mutual friends and Stacie had to smile at it. Cynthia Rose had always had girls around but they had always been here one moment and gone the next. All of them as insignificant and disposable as the last and none of them at all familiar enough with CR’s likes and dislikes to order the exact right items from the exact right restaurant. None of them familiar enough with her to tease and joke. Ashley was special.

Ashley was the one for Cynthia Rose and Stacie couldn’t be happier about it. “I know! I know. It’s dumb and I’m fully aware.”

Ashley smiled and waved Stacie back to the couch with her container of orange chicken. “Okay so let’s talk about something really important. Bachelorette parties. Are we doing the basic penis slash strap on theme with party hats or are you going to really do this up? Because I have ideas if you’re interested…”

Yeah. Ashley was kind of the perfect complement to her bestie. She understood the life they all seemed to swim through and knew exactly the right thing to focus on right then. Stacie settled with her legs criss crossed and pointed her chopsticks at Ashley. “A woman with a plan. I like it. Tell me more…”

[zenonaa]

Jealousy

Touko only meant to cross through the courtyard on the way to the library, but she hesitated when confronted with the sight ahead of her. One person hiding behind a fountain wasn’t odd. She would be a hypocrite if she said as such because nothing about how she admired Byakuya from afar was weird. Two people, she could understand. But three? Four...? More?

In total, Touko counted six people lurking by the fountain, all from her class. 

Now, she could have just gone on her way. Whatever they were doing probably didn’t concern her... right? Almost all the girls in her class, concealing themselves like this without inviting her... Granted, Touko wouldn’t have accepted their invitation, but still.

Having talked herself into it, she padded over, gripping the strap of her satchel.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

The compact group exploded then imploded. Several hands grabbed at Touko and pulled her into the cluster. Touko inhaled, about to shriek, only for a palm to smother her mouth.

“Sh!” hissed Aoi, the owner of the hand muffling Touko. Aoi’s other hand hovered by her lips, index finger pointed up. “You’ll give away our location!”

All attempts to talk, and believe it, Touko tried, were stifled. Touko stopped squirming and once Aoi couldn’t feel Touko’s lips writhing anymore, she removed her hand. 

First, Touko took a gasp of air, and then she snapped, “W-What’s the big idea? Are you sacrificing me to your cult’s idol?”

Aoi reached for Touko’s mouth and Touko inhaled sharply, stiffening. After a few seconds, Touko seemed to plan on staying quiet, so Aoi withdrew her hand. Touko didn’t relax.

“My, you are noisy,” remarked Celes, peering down at Touko.

“That’s because you’re holding me hostage,” grumbled Touko. She kept her voice low and fidgeted. “Just tell me what you’re doing skulking here.”

Celes aimed her index finger into the distance, and Touko slowly rose to peek past the fountain to see what Celes was referring to.

The fountain sat in the centre of a slabbed plaza, and on the other side of the fountain, further past it on the edge just before the slabs ended and grass resumed, was a bench. Two people occupied it, seated close together as they discussed something that though Touko couldn’t distinguish any words, appeared passionate.

“... Maizono and Naegi?” said Touko, squinting.

“Yeah,” said Junko, her hands on her hips as she craned her neck to glare at them. “Look at them... sitting all cosy like that. It makes me sick!”

Touko glanced. Makoto said something that made Sayaka tip her head back and laugh. She delicately covered her mouth, and the girls around Touko glowered.

“It’s to be expected. They knew each other previously from their time at junior high,” said Sakura, her arms folded over her chest.

“But they never talked,” Celes pointed out, and while she looked calm and sounded calm, her nails dug into her palms. “They’ve said as such themselves. While Naegi-kun knew who Maizono-san was as she was an upcoming idol, he is just a regular guy.”

Kyouko narrowed her eyes and cupped her chin. “Don’t forget, Maizono-san witnessed Naegi-kun nurse an injured crane back to health after it became trapped in their school pool. That incident planted a seed in Maizono-san’s heart, and since then, she has wanted to get to know him better.”

“It’s almost like they were fated to come together,” said Sakura and though she tried, she was unable to stop herself grimacing. “Such a kind heart and warm aura... is like a magnet. Anyone would fall for such a person.”

“I... I wish that was me over there,” muttered Mukuro, clenching the edge of the fountain. “That smile... is powerful enough to stop all wars and bring about peace.”

The other girls stared over at them, clearly in agreement.

Touko quirked her brow and scoffed, “Seriously? Naegi? That’s who you’re drooling over?”

A pause. Everyone turned to her and cocked their heads.

“Naegi-kun?” said Celes, frowning. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m not drooling, am I?” asked Aoi as she wiped her mouth. No one paid her any mind.

“We’re talking about Maizono-san,” explained Junko. She fixed her eyes back on the people on the bench and wrung her pigtails in frustration. “I couldn’t give a toss about him. Such a cute girl... choosing a plain guy like that! Absolutely despairing!”

That made more sense.

“Someone with as sharp intuition would be perfect for a detective,” said Kyouko. She blushed and touched her hair. “Also, she’s... very nice.”

Celes laced her fingers together and plastered on a smile.

“That girl would treat me like royalty and prepare me delicious meals,” said Celes. “And I would reward her in ways none of you could imagine... only someone of my standing is appropriate for her.”

“She’s beautiful!” Aoi piped up, shimmying her shoulders as her face scrunched. “And she might look fragile, but she has super high levels of endurance. I want to take her out to get donuts and hold hands, and stuff!”

“Like she’d want to do that!” Junko rolled her eyes. “I bet she’d rather have a hot, quirky girlfriend who appears in tons of magazines.”

They all started to bicker, only for Celes to clear her throat into her fist, calling in silence.

“Let’s not argue. I think we can all at least agree that Maizono-san is a most captivating individual,” said Celes.

Everyone nodded in agreement, including Touko, who then joined them in spying on the two.

[iamconstantine]

RWBY CHAPTER 12: BLACK & WHITE (I SUCK AT COMMITMENT)

* Okay so we are leaping RIGHT into Sun and Blake talking together * Sun actually kinda-sorta sounds like Jaune with a deeper voice tbh but I’m sure it’s not the same VA * I was going to make a joke about Blake suspiciously sipping her cup while Sun smack talks the White Fang but then she actually did it * And there it is * I just noticed that Sun’s hair is yellow and his eyes are dark while Blake’s eyes are yellow and her hair is dark. Interesting contrast. * (Insert LOST flashback woosh) * YEEEESSS Different animation style! * The White Fang originally being a sort of “peace group” is actually way more compelling than just an all-out terrorist group. It’s a repeating cycle of hate of one side against the other. The things they do are way, way overkill, of course, but it’s also a reminder that things aren’t always b-- * I just realized why this episode is called “Black and White.” * ._. * Lil kitten Blake. Baby. * “And the New Leader’s first decree was that the old symbol wasn’t edgy enough, so we gave the animal fangs and claw marks and we made it red and people took us more seriously” * The image of the signs becoming weapons was very nice * The portrayal of prejudice and response and related topics are presented pretty realistically in the show, and honestly, credit to them for not doing some weird sugary stuff with it. Usually I see this kind of stuff as like “The other group had their fewings hurt so they hurt peopwe too but that’s not okay uwu” but here it’s just like “Yeah man we started being violent instead of peaceful and people started listening which was good but they were also afraid of us which is bad” * Blake’s explanation of why she left gives newer context to her fight with Weiss. It isn’t just that she has to once again experienced hatred just because she’s a Faunus, and it isn’t just that she has to keep her mouth shut about who she is out of fear. Blake left the White Fang because she hated how violent they were becoming, but after doing the right thing, she once again has to deal with discrimination just for being...Blake * No Sun she hasn’t told anyone but I think they know * Also HOW did Sun know she was a Faunus? Did I miss something? * The way Ruby hisses “Ugh...Weiss” was so acidic like she is 110% done with Weiss’ crap * Yang is trying to hard to be peacekeeper poor thing * Penny returns and everyone is scared * I’m assuming that either A) Penny actually SAW Blake’s ears, or B) Penny saw the bow and just said “yeah there some ears under there” which would kind of explain how Sun knew but not really * I didn’t hear what Ruby said at first but then I put on subtitles and “She does like tuna a lot” almost made me WHEEZE. Ruby’s VA has a really good grasp on comedic delivery * Ruby was like “fam?” but Yang and Weiss were like “peace” * Penny noting on how windy it is is funny but honestly is no one going to comment on the tumbleweeds? * Sun and Blake immediately teaming up is kind of heartwarming; I imagine Blake hasn’t met another Faunus who she could be open with in a while * That said isn’t Sun supposed to be hiding from police? Aren’t they just wandering around? * I still don’t side with Weiss but her line about how the innocent don’t run does remind me that she believes Blake is some kind of criminal. Yes, Weiss has a definite prejudice against Faunus people, but again, I think she’s been ingrained with the lie that all of them are dangerous terrorits * “Is she a MAN?” girl what * Ruby’s outlook on the situation makes a lot of sense. She’s not mad at Blake, not at all, and she’s definitely against Weiss in the argument. That said, she doesn’t know what to make of Blake just running off. I’m sure as the team leader she expects everyone to trust each other on top of being friends, so learning that Blake doesn’t trust her enough to talk to her must her. Of course, Blake has every reason in the world to keep her secret, but I get where Ruby is coming from * I admire Blake and Sun deciding to investigate but what is there plan there’s only two of them * I was fully expecting Sun to respond to Blake with some kind of cheesy pick-up line but him just clapping back with “Weren’t you in a cult or something?” honestly surprised and pleased me * Also Blake’s pout * Oh that animation isn’t...good...not bad, just...not good... * Speaking of animation I’m noticing a kind of recurring thing where characters are technically “walking” but they’re also sliding at the same time. I really, REALLY am not trying to nitpick but it is noticeable. * Speaking off the detail of Sun’s hair, his necklace, and his abs are all pretty good. Definitely a great character design * “See I told you our new logo was cool and edgy” “man u right” * I know I just commented on the whole slide-walk think but at least a few seconds ago it was kind of hidden by the ramp just now it was all up in my face * He’s baaaaaack * So is Blake implying that Torchwick might actually be a Faunus, or is something else amiss? * On the one hand I know Blake can take on countless robots and a giant bird monster but on the other hand I’m with Sun. What is she doing? * Was Torchwick about to drop the f bomb? * Blake talking to the WF as one of them is pretty clever * Torchwick’s VA is doing a good job but he still has that teeth-talk problem * I’m sorry did this guy just blast an actual star at her? * This once again brings me to my upcoming study: “RWBY: Everything is Gun” * Sun’s attack on Torchwick was animated very well, a definite step up from last episode where he seemed too restrained * Torchwick just spoke my thoughts. I do admire everyone’s bravery but come on. The bad guys WILL have backup. * Holy CRAAAAP Sun beating all the WFs with his bo staff is AWESOME and it is animated AMAZINGLY * On top of that Blake’s...I don’t know, “teleport” effect is really cool to look at * What I appreciate mostly about the fights in this show is that even though it’s all very energetic and fast-paced you can keep up with what’s happening. It’s not just trying to look “fight-ish”, it’s real and you can follow every movement * Sun’s bo staff splitting into nunchuks are really cool I wonder if it’s also a--

* There it is. * I also like that the fights make use of the environments * I felt like Torchwick laughing was a little too on the nose but the subtitles saying (evil laugh) just confirms it * Penny is not mad muffin * Let me guess Penny’s about to do a murder * Excuse me

* OH YEEEEAAAAH PENNY’S OFF THE CHAIN * SHE MOWING THESE GUYS DOWN LIKE GRASS * OH * MY GOSH * How is Ruby just mildly pleased and not losing her mind right now * Is Penny about to do a Captain America? * Ruby your question is legitimate but how is that your first one? * Bout time the police showed up * Okay. Moment of truth. How is Weiss going to handle this? * Gooooood. Good girl. * At the same time I appreciate (?) that Weiss almost slipped up on calling Sun something there. She’s going to turn over a leaf to accept Blake as a teammate but that doesn’t mean she’s cured, and she’s still super suspicious of Sun because, well, he is technically a criminal * Is Penny?? A criminal too? * “Hey Ozpin what cha doing” “Oh you know stalking students again; not getting involved or helping in any way” * Oh!! Qrow!! Ruby’s uncle!! * And so the season concludes! * Overall? Not bad. Did it blow my mind? Well, not necessarily. Am I impressed? Absolutely! * I still stand by what I said before about the pacing being a bit off for this first volume. * I do like Jaune. I like his arc and his relationship with Pyrrha and his struggle to be a leader. At the same time, the fact that he gets an arc before Yang or Blake, despite both of them being two of the titular characters, doesn’t feel right. If Weiss and Blake’s storyline had been running alongside it, I think that would have paced things better. Giving Jaune focus without stealing the spotlight from the leads. * Jaune’s arc also has the side effect of bringing things to a halt. It was an enjoyable arc, but following Ruby and Weiss dealing with their feelings on their new team, it more or less feels like a sudden roadblock than anything else. The fact that it really only includes Jaune, Pyrrha, and Cardin (who I wonder will show up again, creepy little sh*t) and not Ren or Nora is something I’ll get to in a second. * Yang herself didn’t get much attention at all, which is very disappointing to me. I don’t know very much about her other than that she’s a thrillseeker, a peacekeeper, and is just nice in general (as long as she’s not angry). I feel like she kind of got robbed here. * I also still believe that the lack of background characters, though explainable and really not that big a deal, is not a “good” thing. To me, it makes Beacon feel really, really empty, not the giant of a school it really is. Cardin’s team were shown, thankfully, but even then their designs are pretty bland and suffer from “Guess Who’s the Main Character?” syndrome * The animation has some highs and some lows, and I’m going to take a guess that most focus was given to the fights, which I will say again look absolutely fantastic. I completely admire the animation team’s work and direction, while at the same time I think other animations feel a bit rough and incomplete. It’s nothing that absolutely breaks my immersion, but there are times when it seems something is supposed to have a lot of energy and instead is too rigid or even too “smooth”, i.e. no sense of gravity or weight. * The designs of every character are always very nice to see--and I would like to once again reaffirm my opinion that character designs don’t always have to be realistically practical and “grounded”. I’d much rather Ruby be wearing see Yang wearing kerchiefs and short shorts than have her be in a completely unnotable outfit with muted colors. Each design also serves the character well. Even Jaune’s very simplistic design highlights how he doesn’t quite fit in at Beacon, and is just “average” compared to everyone else. * The VAs all did very well, even if I did feel at times that they were holding back. * Ren and Nora also did not get very much attention and more or less just feel like filler on Jaune’s team for now. Not absolutely boring, but they don’t nearly play as much of a part as everyone else. I haven’t even seen Jaune interact with either of them that much, which lessens the impact of his struggle to be their leader. * The backgrounds are a bit hit-and-miss at times. Beacon itself looks amazing and grandious, a fairytale castle mixed with a bit of a futuristic edge. Other times, the backgrounds are flat and textureless and don’t feel very real. * I really do wish the first season was able to do episodes of “average episode length” (18~ minutes), as opposed to snippets that could range from 3 to 15 minutes. Even though I felt that “The Stray” ended in a very nice place and set up the next episode well, the season finale doesn’t really feel like a season finale. It just feels like the ending of a typical episode. The only thing that tipped me off that it was a finale was the longer credits. * This is on top of the fact that a few of the episodes were very short and really only progressed one or two things. * I still don’t quite get Auras or what the point of them is. This is the first season, of course, but thus far I really can’t tell how Auras change anything about fighting. I guess it does kind of explain why everyone isn’t bleeding and bruised by the end of every fight, but still. Right now, it feels that if Pyrrha’s explanation of what an Aura is was snipped out, I wouldn’t notice a difference. * Just speaking broadly, even though I think RWBY has a lot of things going for it--design, fight animations, character writing, etc--they’re kind of like a bunch of different candies all jumbled into the same bowl. On their own, they’re good and I can appreciate them. Together, stuffed into the same season in uneven episode lengths, they don’t really work all that well together. * Anyhoodle I’ll be starting season 2 soon and I look forward to it.

[paper-daisy]

Plot bunny from the Keanu Reeves/Winona Ryder ‘marriage’

“You’re married.”

Both Coulson and May paused in the middle of their quiet afternoon coffee, tea and chat as Daisy barged into the kitchenette, a wild look in her eye as she waved a data-pad about her like a weapon.

The pair she was accusing shot a confused look at one another before Coulson smoothly replied, “What, really? This is news. Which one of us, exactly, is married and to whom?”

Daisy slammed the data-pad down on the table and swiped it open. “You two. Married. To each other. For years.”

Their twin looks of confusion morphed into incredulous ones as they leant over to closer study what Daisy had brought up on the pad. May was the first to recognise the photo and quickly scoffed at it, relaxing.

“Oh … I know what you’re talking about,” she said, holding her cup in two hands as she took another sip. “No. We’re not.”

“No, but that’s the thing —” started Daisy earnestly before being interrupted by Coulson.

“Ah, I see it now!” he said, picking up the pad and looking it over. “Louisiana. Some of our earliest undercover work. That cult … what we they called again? Sun Worshipers? Sun Babies?”

“Children of the Sun,” supplied May, turning to Daisy. “And why exactly were you going through our old files?”

“I wasn’t, not at first,” she said defensively. “I was looking into Lant, the leader, when I found … well, this.” She plucked the pad out of Coulson’s hands and held it like a teacher giving a lesson, pointing to the picture she’d unearthed. A picture that was taken of a whole mass of people dressed in the same sickly yellow smocks, standing together in twos, hands clasped, as a single man in red stood before them all with his hands raised like a priest. Daisy then selected a small portion of the picture and enlarged it to show a younger version of Coulson and May amongst the throng. “You two. Together. At a mass wedding.”

“A mass wedding conducted by a cult leader who had doomsday fantasies,” shrugged Coulson. “Not exactly binding.”

“Actually …” Daisy drew out the word.

“No, but it wasn’t,” agreed May, although now she was gripping her mug a little tighter. “It couldn’t be.”

Daisy pulled a strained half-smile. “Thing is …”

“Wait. But — how?” Coulson and May now shot stunned looks at each other.

Daisy flipped through the pad and brought up some scanned files. “Well, Lant might have been a psycho, but he was a registered psycho. And you two …” she flipped though some more pages before bringing up one that was a scan of a book, a whole host of signatures in neat columns. “You were at the ceremony. You said the vows. You signed. According to the law …”

May finally set down her cup with a firm thump and fixed Coulson with a hard stare. “Hello, husband.”

“Hello, wife,” he echoed, still off kilter.

A long moment passed where Daisy felt almost like an intruder as something uninterpretable passed between May and Coulson, and the air became thick with things unsaid.

“So?” she asked, when she couldn’t stand it anymore. “What are you going to do about it?”

And just like that the tension snapped. Almost as one they just shrugged, May again picking up her cup as Coulson took the pad back from Daisy and looked over the evidence.

“Well, I don’t think there’s much to do, to be honest,” said Coulson.

“You could get it annulled,” suggested Daisy.

“We’re both wanted fugitives, they’re not going to give us an annulment without a cell,” said May in deeply unimpressed tone. But then her expression changed. “Huh. I guess that made me a bigamist.”

“Maybe not,” said Coulson. “I mean, we never consummated.”

“Oh, I remember that,” said May, rolling her eyes playfully. “You nearly strangled me trying to get off my bra.”

“Oh God!” Suddenly there was way too much detail for Daisy.

“For the last time, it was an act!”

“Yes, very convincing.”

“I — I don’t need to hear this, guys!” spoke up Daisy as she snatched the pad back off Coulson. “But … seriously? You’re not going to do anything?”

“Well, like May said, there’s nothing to really do, it there?” smiled Coulson, although his eyes were fixed on May as he took a sip from his own cup. She smiled back, and Daisy once again felt like she was missing something.

“I mean, no, not really, but …” She closed the pad. “I thought you guys would be more worried.”

“Well, there’s no point worrying about something you can’t change,” said May. “Don’t worry. We’ll keep our relationship strictly professional.”

“Okay. Uh, cool.” Stumped, and with nothing else to say, Daisy turned to leave. Just as she was at the door she called one last thing over her shoulder.

“By the way. Happy Anniversary!”

[huntertales]

Let’s Write a Different Ending.

Pairing: Sam Winchester x Prophet!Reader

Word Count: 4,343. // Episode Setting: The Monster at the End of This Book.

Summary: What if the “Supernatural” book series wasn’t written by Chuck Shurley? Instead, by a young woman named Y/N Y/L/N? She finds herself living out her most recent story—about the end of the world, an archangel whose sworn to protect her is moonlighting as a trickster and two fictional characters by the name of Sam and Dean are about to drag her straight into it. (Semi-rewrite from episode 4.18 The Monster at the End of This Book to—?)

Full Masterlist | My Other SPN Rewrite

Note: Is this a possible semi-rewrite of the show for my Sam girls???? Yes, it is! And no...This is not like my regular rewrite where I do it episode by episode, this is more like I’m taking Chuck’s entire plot line and writing it as the reader up until the season five finale. Along the way I’m gonna try to focus on a Sam/Reader element ‘cause my boy needs some love.

And before you fret...this is a side project. My original rewrite will always come first. Plus I’m still figuring out the details of what I want to do, but updates for this are gonna be really scarce. I don't know how many parts this will be or how many episodes I will cover, but it'll be part by part. Updates are probably gonna be scarce until I finish season six. More importantly, if you guys like this and want to see more, please let me know. I hope you guys enjoy possibly a new series! 

Chapter One: It Started With a Knock. 

Carver Edlund: it was a name nobody would be probably familiar with if you asked a stranger on the street who he was. To Sam and Dean, he was a man who knew too much. A thief who made a buck and gained an underground cult following from a book series he wrote called "Supernatural." Twenty four books detailing the lives of two hunters who traveled across the country in their 1967 Chevy Impala, saving people from monsters and seeking revenge on the yellowed eyed demon who killed their parents. Each action, every little personal aspect of their lives—from their upbringing, to every internal thought—was all in paperback for the world to read. 

The brothers made the horrifying discovering when they were working a case in town, the first stop on the list of places to check out was some run-down looking comic store. The guy behind the counter mistook their questioning as a game of "LARPing" and failed miserably in attempting to remember the main character's names, only for the younger Winchester to correct him after the third time. That's when they discovered the first book in the bargain bin, a hidden gem abandoned with other comics no one bothered to read. The cover alone looked like a seedy romance novel someone might find on their middle middle-aged mother's nightstand. Sam and Dean found every copy they could find and examine each word. 

Sam tried to figure out who this Carver Edlund was, but he was shady as the characters he wrote about. There wasn't a single paper trail or photograph of him in an attempt for either of the boys to recognize his face to figure out who he was. Best guess the guy was using a pen name to keep his identity. All they knew that the books started rolling out in early of'05, the year Sam left a life behind after tragedy hit. His girlfriend Jess, the only woman he was weeks away from asking to marry him, was killed in the same gruesome manner as his mother. The finale of the "Supernatural" series ended in of Dean being torn to bits by Lilith and Sam alone, just like reality they were forced to live in.

Sam and Dean doubted it ended here. There was someone behind this name, a person the boys were itching to have a  “formal” chat with to figure out how he knew so much about them. The boys decided to start with the most obvious place to track down the author’s real name, the publishing company that printed the crap. A lovely young woman held the possible trail to finding out who it was, only it came with a test when Sam and Dean claimed to be journalists wanting to write an article about the books.

The publisher wouldn’t give up any sort of information so easily. She grilled them with all sorts of questions each of the boys got correct, but only seemed satisfied they were the real deal as she sat in her office chair, watching with a close eye as Sam unbuttoned his flannel and under shirt slightly to reveal the anti-possession tattoo on his chest. She had one of her own, right on her bare ass to show the boys. But the view that made Dean’s day wasn’t the only parting gift she gave the boys. She might not have known the true identity of the person who wrote the books, she had a  current address the boys could visit. All though she warned them—authors were temperamental people.

“He’s very private.” She warned them. “Like Salinger.”

You lifted your hands away from the keyboard when you attempted the second draft of the newest edition to a series that ended months ago. But it didn’t mean the adventures that ran through your head would stop. It flowed vividly as it did after the first dream you had them and sat down to write the first page of the "Supernatural" series. You read the words back to yourself as another part of the newest story printed, waiting for your approval to join the rest of the story you were working on.

Writing was a tedious process. Some people could whip out a beginning line to sink the reader in, others thought to start in the middle and figure out the rest later. Your process was a jumbled mess. You wrote down fragments until everything connected itself together into a perfect story you were happy with. However, the newest story you were working on was a bit...different.

You sat in your office, a small room containing a desk pushed up against the window to enjoy a spacious backyard and the rainy days when you felt the most inspired. Behind was you as book shelf taller than you, crammed with novels your family collected over the years along with bound and unpublished books that haven’t seen the light of day. You reached out to grab the second cup of coffee you made for yourself and the still warm papers from the printer. Skimming the words, you snickered into the ceramic mug at what the hell you were attempting to write late last night.

You took pride in being a creative person since early childhood. Maybe it came with having both of your parents being successful writers and having a hunger for all sorts of adventures you tried to seek in reading endless books. Ever since you could hold a pen and form proper sentences you were writing down all your crazy stories. You were a daydreamer, with a wild imagination to match. Never did you think any of it would be good enough material to be published.

It was the summer before you were supposed to start your freshman year of college when you had a dream that felt so real. Normally you forgot the dream you had the night before the second you woke up. But this one stuck like glue. All day your mind wouldn’t stop replaying what you dreamed about, thinking about these characters you named Sam and Dean. For a week you had dreams that felt so vivid about them, the first adventure of many to come. Over the years you had some that were pleasant and quite enjoyable to form into words. Other ones made you wake up in a cold sweat, terrified from the horrendous things your brain could think of all on your own. You showed the first fifteen pages you had wrote nonstop in the span of three days to your parents—who suggested you to go for it. Write a novel and see where it took you.

It took you farther than you ever expected. You made the decision to publish the name under a pen name of Carver Edlund, You were afraid nobody would take an eighteen year old with no prior experience seriously. You sent the books off to every publishing company you could think of and waited for nothing but rejection letters. Almost all of them were a fail, until you got your lucky break with an Indie company that loved your work. She gushed over the first "Supernatural" book and how good it was, so good that she was reading for the second time after finishing it all in just a day. The work was so good, she  desperately pleaded for more. You agreed to work on more stories, if you were granted complete and total privacy. She agreed.

You placed the cup back down on your desk in favor for a pen, deciding to edit the part you were working on last night. You felt a tinge of embarrassment from what the kind of nonsense your mind was able to come up with. It was always the day after you decided to edit. A fresh perspective to edit the mistakes you might have made and correct words that might flow better. However, it didn’t take much effort to slip back into the fictional world you thought you created.

“Sam and Dean exited the Impala and stepped onto the sidewalk. Dean took out the ripped piece of paper with the address scribbled down and read it one more time, wanting to make sure it was correct. All though he wasn’t sure what kind of house a man who wrote the lives was to look like, what they saw wasn’t what they...perceived. A small two-story house laid in front of them didn’t look like it belonged to a person they never met. It looked like every other one on this street, a white picket fence and a flourishing garden blooming this early spring. The boys knew looks could be deceiving. They wanted to make sure this was the residence of the man who knew personal details about themselves, things nobody should know.

The boys waited not a second longer. They approached the front door with trepidation. Did they really want to learn the secrets that lay beyond that door? The brothers traded soulful looks, answering the question without speaking a word. With determination, Dean pushed the doorbell with forceful...determination."

You furrowed your brow when you noticed you accidentally repeated the same word twice. You clicked on your pen and scratched out the word for something better. Before the tip of the pen could even touch the paper, you found yourself looking over your shoulder when the doorbell rang. Your dog, who had been peacefully resting at your feet, raised his head in curiosity. You rolled your eyes when he followed the behavior by a series of loud barks. You shushed the German Shepherd, mumbling for Winchester to calm down as rubbed a hand across his fur. You weren’t expecting any visitors today. And it’d been ages since you ordered any packages. You pushed yourself up to your feet, deciding to answer it anyway.

You heard a set of nail tap across the wooden floors, Winchester followed behind you to join you in the adventure of who was bugging you this early afternoon. You lived in a safe neighborhood, it was the reason why you moved here in the first place. Plus the rent was cheap. You unlocked the dead bolt and opened the door a crack to see who stood on your porch, two men you’d never seen before.

You noticed their hands were empty—no bible, no useless products to sell you. It meant the “No soliciting” sign worked. But the “Beware of Dog” didn’t ward off strangers who weren't’ here with a good explanation. You were a single woman living on your own and two men that looked to be twice your size were visiting you. Nobody could be too cautious these days with all those sickos running around. Winchester peeked his head out from behind you to see who it was.

“Excuse me, we don’t mean to bother you, but…” The man standing closest to you greets you with an expression that makes it look like he’s having a bad day. He trailed off momentarily when he saw Winchester peek his head out, the dog staring at him. The stranger continued on by asking you a question that made your welcoming smile drop slightly. “We’re looking for a Carver Edlund.”

“Never heard of the guy.” You lied straight through your teeth, shrugging your shoulders. You gave the two strangers another smile, this time, more sympathetic. “You got the wrong house.” “We’re looking for the man who wrote the ‘Supernatural’ books.” You turned your head to the second man, who’s taller, but much more nicer looking. “We know he wrote them under a fake name. But we didn’t get his real one, just his address. We were told he lives here.”

“We really need to talk to him.” The man standing next to you said, urgency in his voice. You could tell he was trying to be polite. Your swallowed slightly as you wrapped your fingers around the door frame. It seemed he could read your hesitance. “Let me guess, he’s your boyfriend. He probably likes his privacy. But this is important. Is he home, by chance? It’ll just take five minutes. That’s all.”

“Why do you want to meet him so badly?” You questioned the both of them.

“We’re...We’re really big fans.” The taller one said. You narrowed your eyes slightly when both of them share a look before directing their attention back to you. “You see, my brother and I are journalists and we were hoping to have an interview with him, see who the real man is behind these books. Shed some light on the series to gain more attention. That’s all.”

You looked at the two of them for a moment, wondering if what you were hearing was true. You had never had something like this happen before. Most journalists, all three of them, contacted you through email to try and get a personal interview with you. You never had someone show up on your front door, trying to figure out the true identity behind a book series that paid your way through college, something that started out from a vivid dream. Your body relaxed as you let out a sigh, deciding if they were big fans, you’d let him in on a secret.

“Well, since you guys went all this trouble...Hi,” You opened the door slightly wider and leaned yourself against it, your lips stretching into a smile when you spoke the truth you had been trying to hide for over four years. “The name’s Y/N Y/L/N. I’m the author of the ‘Supernatural’ books.”

"Wait, you? You’re the sucker who wrote all those books?” Your face scrunched up slightly when the man standing closest to you changed his attitude. He suddenly broke out into a smile, acting as if you told him a funny joke. You slowly nodded your head and gave him a dirty look. If he was here to make fun of your work, you’d be more than happy to tell him to shove his arrogance where the sun didn’t shine. It seemed that wasn’t the case. He sobered up when he realized you were telling the truth, he was in the right place, and he was speaking to the author. “Well, nice to meet you. Let me tell you who we are. I’m Dean. This is Sam.” He pointed a finger to the taller man stan is next to him. “The Dean and Sam you've been writing about.”

You stared at the two men standing on your porch, trying to process what they just said as the ends of your lips slowly stretched into a smile. You didn't know what you should laugh first at. The fact that these two men went through all the trouble of tracking down your publisher that you hadn't talked to in almost five months for an address to figure out who the real writer of a barely popular book series. Or they were crazy, pretending to be fictional characters you made up. You didn’t even bother wasting your breath to give a response. You stepped back and slammed the door right on their face. You reached up a hand to lock the door, but before you could, you heard the doorbell go off again.

You contemplated for a moment if you wanted to do the right thing and ignore them. Worst case scenario if they got rowdy you'd call the cops and get their asses hauled off. However, you found yourself suddenly overcome with anger when you heard them switch from the doorbell to furiously pounding on your front door. You rolled your eyes, you decided to confront the two very delusional men who needed a dose of reality.  

“Look, uh... I appreciate your enthusiasm. Really, I do. It's, uh, it's always nice to hear from the fans. But how about you be like everyone else and drop me an email or something. Not show up on my doorstep like a bunch of freaks. The reason why I wrote under a fake name was so I could keep my privacy. And I’d like to keep it that way.” You spoke in a serious tone, informing them they needed to get out of here. “For your own good, I strongly suggest you get a life.”

Your left the two men with the words of advice they should take as you swung the door shut to end this conversation once and for all. Instead the one who called himself Dean thought it was a good idea to reach out a hand and slam it against the door, using his strength to keep it open.

“See, here's the thing, sweetheart. We have a life.” He said. You scoffed loudly at his words that sounded like a lie from how they were acting. You attempted once more to shut the door and lock it, but he was quicker than you. He inched himself closer so his fingers wrapped around the edge of the wood. “You've been using it to write your books.”

“Right.” You mumbled, chuckling at the tough guy act this idiot was putting on. You didn’t try and make Winchester calm down when he prowled closer to the two strangers. He let out a low, threatening growl when he sensed a changed in the atmosphere. “You have five seconds to get your hand off my door and off my property before I call the cops.”

It seemed “Dean” would take his chances with your threat. He pushed his way into your house, making you stumble slightly into the place as Winchester jumped in between the both of you, making the men suddenly stop dead in their tracks before they could do anything else. The dog began to bark incessantly and growl at the strangers when he thought one of them might try and do something stupid.

“Look, we’re not here to hurt you.” The one who thought he was Sam reassured you. Your face scrunched up from his words that sounded the least bit comforting. Their actions spoke louder, and it screamed they were a bunch of lunatics. “We just want to know how you’re doing it.”

“Doing what?” You asked them. “I’m not doing anything.”

“Are you a hunter?” The other man questioned you.

“What? Are you high or something? Get out of my house. Now” You ordered, as if you had any sort of authority to do such a thing. It took all of your control to keep your voice steady as your heart pounded roughly against your ribcage. The two men didn’t listen, they just stared at you, waiting for an answer. "I'm a writer. That's it."

“Then how do you know so much about demons and tulpas and changelings?” Dean threw out a few fictional monsters you wrote about in your series. You backed away slowly, wondering how to stop this situation before it could escalate to the nightmares a single woman had while living on her own. Murdered, robbery...other things that made a shiver run down your spine just form the thought.

“I read a lot of science fiction and horror books. H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King all that stuff. That’s where most it came from. And I did research, too. I wanted it to be realistic as possible.” You admitted. You thought the answers would be enough, but the one who thought of himself as Dean wouldn’t back down so easily. “Look, is this some kind of weird ‘Misery’ thing because I killed off Dean?”

“It’s not a ‘Misery’ thing. Believe me, we are not fans.” He said, shaking his head at the accusation. You didn’t believe one word he spoke. The man looked down at your dog when he heard it stop barking but showing no signs of backing down. Because it thought his owner was in danger. He quickly realized barging in like this made a wrong impression. They didn’t think a twenty something year old woman wrote their lives. The man changed his tone of voice, into more of a calm one. “Look, we aren’t here to break your legs. We just wanna talk. That’s it. Five minutes. And then we’ll be out of your hair for good.”

You didn’t feel the least bit reassured by his promise, but as a sign of good faith, or stupidity on your part, you stepped forward and shushed Winchester to keep quiet. You ushered him to back down and reassured that everything was fine. You stared at the two men in front of you, wondering if they were going to keep to their word.

“Fine. Who are you?” You asked them. “Really?”

“I’m Sam. This is Dean.” The taller man must have thought you were stupid when they tried to keep pulling this little act.

You rolled your eyes and pushed yourself back up to your feet, trying your hardest not to lose your patience with them. “For the last time, Sam and Dean are fictional characters.” You told them in a quiet, strained voice from what was going on. “I made them up! They're not real!”

The two men thought they could change your mind with some proof. You didn’t know why, but you found yourself following outside to their car—which was a 1967 Chevy Impala, color black and in mint condition, kept a single scratch on it. You’d never seen one in person, but she was a sight for sore eyes. Winchester trailed behind you to the outside and sat himself down on the sidewalk after you told him to. He was quiet, but he remained diligent, waiting for one of them men to try something.

The one who called himself Dean wanted you to take a look at the inside of their trunk, the words were a bit more creepier than he expected. You crossed your arms over your chest, expecting it to be empty and for one of them to shove you inside before locking you in there. When the trunk opened up, it wasn’t empty and you remained where you stood, but what you saw was even more horrifying. You inhaled a deep breath as you felt your eyes jumping around at all the stuff they had in there, an arsenal for a mad man.

“Are those real guns?” You asked in a meek tone.

“Yup.” The one who thought of himself as Dean said. You swallowed when he pointed out all the things you mentioned in the book. “This is real rock salt, these are real fake IDs.”

“Well, I got to hand it to you guys. You really are my number one fans. That’s,” You scratched the back of your neck as you felt yourself choosing the flight option in this situation. You nervously chuckled and began to slowly back away, hoping you might be able to dash inside the house and call the cops before things got too far. They were crazy, you thought. Obsessed. “That’s awesome. So, I-I think I've got some posters in the house.” You turned so fast on the back of your heels, you had a shot at running for your life. But before you could take a single step to safety, you heard the one who was pretending to be Dean spoke up. “Y/N, stop.” He called out to you, and for some reason, you listened to him.

“You lay one finger on me and I’ll start screaming.” You warned them as you turned back around to face the two men. You gave them a deadly glare as Winchester pushed himself back up on all four legs and came back over to you. "What the hell do you want?"

“How much do you know?” The taller one, Sam, questioned you with all sorts of things that you had written about in the secrecy of your own office. “Do you know about the angels? Or Lilith breaking seals?”

“Wait a minute. Wait a minute.” You mumbled, shaking your head from what he was asking you. You looked at the two men in front of you with a confused expression from what was going on, all of a sudden you had a few questions of your own. “How do you know about that?”

“The question is,” This supposed Dean asked, “how do you?”

You furrowed your brow slightly, "'Cause I wrote it."

“You kept writing?” Sam, or so he called himself, wondered.

“Yeah, even after the publisher went bankrupt, but those books never came out. Nobody's ever seen them except for me.” You said, telling them as you pointed a thumb over your shoulder and to your house. You suddenly felt a nudge against your leg, the dog was growing funny all of a sudden when he let out a low whine. You rolled your eyes and gave him a command, speaking his name for the first time in front of the boys. “Winchester, sit.”

"You named your dog Winchester?" You nodded your head, knowing this was the conversation that you would make up the lie that it was about how your dad was a big fan of guns and you named the dog after him. The man decided to formally introduce himself. "Well, nice that's a mighty fine coincidence. Cause you see, like I said...I'm Dean Winchester, and this is my brother, Sam."

You looked up from your dog after you began to subconsciously ran a hand through his fur to try and calm him down. You felt your face fall in surprise from what they told you. "Last names were never in the books. I never told anybody that. I never even wrote it down. Nobody knows I even wrote those books. People only think I named my dog after a freaking gun. You mumbled. You suddenly felt yourself hit with a dizzy spell from the things that were slowly connecting in your head. You stared at the two men in front of you, the ones you had wrote God knows how many books on and years of dreams about. Alive and in the flesh. “Sam and Dean Winchester...Well, nice to meet you.”

[Next Part]

[imadeletingmysocials]

My scores for E3, because apparently now i’m a dumb 4channer who thinks this /v/ meme shit matters, like it’s not gonna affect sales or anything it’s pointless as all hell [this is lenghy, but hear me out ok]

EA: 

4/10 - people will probably play the games regardless of how shitty this presentation was but... It felt pretty insulting. 

Battlefield V is probably gonna make a lot of money regardless cuz people like war games and it seems pretty well done, the more footage they have shown seemed better than their weird advertizement that made world war 2 seem very wacky, which honestly regardless if you’re a sexist neckbeard or not, seemed like a poor advertizement move. 

TinyBuild:

No one watched this lol and it was just 1 GAME and a fun cute musical that made people who aren’t strong enough to musicals die, 6/10 because it made nerds die and their song is catchy, i dont really care about their 1 game.

Microsoft:

 9/10 - I'm giving this much of a high score because I would play practically almost all of these games showcased (they’ll probably be available on PC which I’m biased for cuz I have a gaming PC), no kidding, I pretty much liked everything I saw and it was fairly straight to the point. Many gamers don’t appreciate the finer details of each game and think they’re generic but that’s just fanboys who haven’t played a single game outside of their favorites. 

Also my cousin uses those Xbox One netflix rip offs that gives you games so i’m happy for him. The presentation had a lot of diamonds in the rough games that will I will probably appreciate more over time (they might even become cult classics like Metro or Dying Light) than any of other games at other e3s. As for the stuff I won’t be playing: It’s mostly harmless so eh.

There was an abundance of trailers! It was like one after the other, pure goodness, it seems as if they left out all of the Sports games to EA to present and the only thing they showed that might not be anyone’s cup of tea was “Forza”, but honestly? I appreciate it, it seems like a good racing game even if I’m not one to buy racing games.... But the more you think about the number of good games presented, the less you’ll think about that, I mean they showed DEVIL MAY CRY 5!!! 

...The Funko Pop game made me scream though.

Bethesda: 

8.5/10  I cannot deny that these are games I will want to play regardless if they’re good or not. Sad to see nerds not enjoy the opportunity to meet ANDREW W.K. but I’m glad all of the divisions they own are making sequels to stuff I already like, so pretty much Bethesda played it safe.

Devolver Digital:

 8/10 It’s like that one b-movie film your college students made and you had a laugh with creating.

Square Enix: 

5/10 seriously, 30 minues of just trailers? Most of which we saw?? I guess it could be worse but who uses E3 screentime for mostly MMORPG deals! The new stuff was too vague to be excited about too.

Ubisoft: 

7/10 - I liked it when they made funny quirky things and their games are probably gonna be okay like usual, Ubisoft has dedicated fans that like their collectathon games they release every year, and it’s usually that one game you play when you’re bored and got nothing else, it’s okay. 

Gamers hate fun and dancing and all that stuff but I kind of find stuff like that exciting, while nerds who never went outside and who are sensitive as all hell to any representation of fun find it “cringey”. A panda dabbed, and that settles it, Ubisoft was the only E3 Brave enough to dab this year. 

PC Game Conference (it was fairly long):

I know none of you watch this one cuz y’all fake as hell but listen... Fuck you LOL, these are the type of games people actually play over 400 hours and really get people’s money. Like these are games built to last that might be on the best-selling Steam front page for MONTHS, like how Frostpunk was comfirmed last year during this conference, PC Gaming has been known for sleeper hits that nobody knows about (because the attention goes to cinematic experiences on consoles most of the time) but suddently everyone’s playing it. 

PC gaming has always been an alternative lifestyle and seeing as many people didn’t watch this one, that just proves the point that it still relatively alternative. Maybe it’s because everyone sounds dumb as fuck when saying “PC GAMER MASTER RACE” and acting like an elitist. 

The PC Gaming conference is always more of a talk show than a regular E3 which is why I respect it every year, fuck the hyperactive gamers that just wanna see flashy trailers, this one’s more SOPHISTICATED!! It feels a lot more human and less artificial. Either way, lot’s of what you might’ve expected: Simulators and Survival games you’ll probably spend 3 years playing until they make a better minecraft clone. 

Gamers like to act as if they’re tired of Battle Royale (already? It’s a new fad it still is here to stay for a little more) but the numbers and success of it doesn’t lie that it isn’t a fad that proves itself to be highly tempting to try out for developers. Go cry to valve that they didn’t release Half-Life 3 cuz you haven’t played any other FPS game without even researching that Valve pretty much fired all of it’s developers and you’re just being annoying.

I feel as if I need to comment what I saw at this e3 cuz nobody watched, they made a mod I liked from skyrim into a fully-ass game, they’re rebooting Star Control which not a single gamer today knows of, the HP Lovecraft open world detective game also seems very good. YAKUZA IS COMING TO PC!!!!!!!!! Killing Floor 2 stuff, Road Redemption stuff, SHARK RPG, cute indie games, Jeff Goldblum was there, Wall-E with a gun in VR which seems to have promissing good vr design by Insomiac games (yes the spyro people), 2 games about Taxi driving... Like sure I think it’s a good format for story telling but.

A cell-shaded art game, star citizen is still being made, and it’s gone to the point nobody really wants it anymore even if it’s... Still being made you know? So most guys are wrong that it was gonna be canceled. After that was the technical graphic card stuff which gamers don’t have enough capability to understand, stuff like 9k laptops that SELL a lot mind you. Rich people love that technical stuff. 

A space defense sim game, Don’t Starve Sequel, Just Cause 4 detailed explanation of the engine, Overkill’s The Walking Dead gameplay which has been in development hell for years now now has a release date, I discovered Clementine’s voice actor is white... Go figure, a literal pixelated roguelike (not what you think it is, it’s Noita), 

Theme Hospital REBOOT!!!! YES!!!!!!!!! And the doctors were cute. Probably one of the funniest games presented... Followed by REALM ROYALE HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That harvest moon clone with a cute art style is still being made: Ooblets, no release date sadly. Anno is still going, cyanide and happiness still exists? and they’re making a battle royale? lol okay. How was Hitman 2 not announced during Square Enix?? Anyways it’s here at the end, the trailer was amazing and it’s coming out this year. 

I don’t have that much strong feelings because it’s just a normal conference and not a special one you know? But I’ll give it a 8/10 or 7/10 im not sure cuz I seem to like most games and I found Frankie cute.

Sony: 

Yo usually Sony makes like a huuuuuuuge thing about their conferences (like this year they didn’t even showcase indie games) but this year they started from a church for the sake of immersion?? It reminded me a little of their first E3s during the 90s, and it almost felt like a indie gathering for musicians, I swear to god, Sony is borderline experimental trying to balance out their E3 across stages. Jeb played the banjo and people just ACCEPTED it... AND THEN someone played some JAPANESE FLUTE? aRT. It might come off as a bit arrogant for some tho.

Nerds hated it and thought it was bizzare, which is why it means it’s good. HAPPY PRIDE MONTH BITCHES. Anyways could have been a little more fast-paced... But then again when it was fast-paced it was just like: Huh? What was that? I’m a big Resident Evil Fangirl, RE2 was my childhood but ignoring that for a sec: finally, Death Stranding gameplay, remins me of shadow of the colossus but post-apocalpytic, survival horrorish and abstract sci-fi.

 Kind of feels more Metal Gear than MGSV did already Cuz Norman Reedus sounds like snake a lot more than the 24 hours guy, and because from what I’ve seen in the footage, someone acts like Otacon to “Sam”. I think most now can figure out the plotpoints of this game with what has been established. I might be a bit sad at the fact that this will be a PS4 exclusive just like Metal Gear Solid 4, which I still haven’t played fully because it’s PS3 exclusive and I only have a gaming PC. 

Also this E3 was surprisingly entirely SINGLE PLAYER, I sorta don’t believe in the “single player doesn’t exist” myth honestly, especially now. I’m not sure if that makes Sony’s E3 better or worse, maybe it needed more variation, like I’ve commented, usually they have an indie showcase which this year did not. There were few games shown but for what it was worth, it’s still interesting... But yeah just 5 games? No Spyro? (easy picking), nothing extra? I can understand why many people felt this E3 was upsetting.

8/10.

Nintendo

Here it is, the most overhyped developer of all of E3, the source of “Nintendo wins E3 by doing nothing” memes because Nintendo fans really don’t care about anything except Nintendo and then act surprised when they only care about Nintendo when they try to be a little more open-minded (and fail) even if other E3s probably make more games built to last in comparisson, cuz we gay people only care about NINTENDO YOU KNOW? Shade asside... 

I was pleasantly surprised this E3, it wasn’t just a series of okay at best releases, a strong 9/10. 

tHAT WAS WHAT I WROTE IN PREPRATION....

BUT THEN???? IT WAS JUST THAT??? NO PRIME 4 NO ANYTHING LIKE JUST 3 GAMES BASICALLY? (maybe there was 5 games but eh) I mean smash is good.. It’s pretty much just an update of the last smash, every character is REALLY FUCKING GOOD BUT.... JUST THAT? jeez.. Like, the only stuff I wanted from it was Mario Party and Smash... Okay maybe that 1 Mecha game. Also I guess fornite is now on Switch but I can play that anywhere else really.

I guess a 7/10 is all I can give to just Smash, if there was a little more I’d give it a 9/10 for sure but... ehh Just Smash? jeez, fuck... i MEAN I kind of get it, Nintendo doesn’t do “e3″ normally, they usually do 1 big game at E3 and then wait a couple of months to do that little seasonal announcement thing they do across the year, ugh.. Okay. Yeah I guess i shouldn’t have expected much. Still isn’t it weird that Miyamoto was in Ubisoft’s E3 but not this one??? what!

Anyways

[highyenas]

here’s my take on mania

tw: personal experiences with bipolar depression

overall, i like mania. bishops knife trick, wilson, and church are definitely some of my favourite songs they've made to date. tlotro too, the new has worn off of it but it's still a solid track, and i have emotional ties to it because of the interactions i had with not only pete, but patrick as well due to its existence (i've never cried so much in my life). so that's a pretty special track.

though, there are a few things about it that feel off or incomplete. or unnecessary.. ex: the llamas ,, please no more i can't stand them

the things i don't really like include "are you smelling that shit?", and how they chose the word "boost" for heaven's gate of all things - it sounds weird to me but i've gotten used to it, no big deal. i still can't get really into stay frosty, sadly.

some tracks feel incomplete or too repetitive, champion being the biggest contestant here. it's too generic, its meaning is too obvious, unlike most of their songs. i appreciate the idea it's conveying, though. it released at a time i was fighting with my mom and step family really badly so it helped me through that a lot, but it is still very generic and i can't really get past it.

then - young and menace. i just don't like this track. i remember listening to it as soon as it came out in awe but not in a good way. it didn't feel real. is that what i really heard? at the time of course, i grew to like it because i was just happy they were back making music. do i like it now? not really. - but if you look at the song from an artistic standpoint, as a audible presentation for manic depression, it works very well. i can appreciate the song in that light. my grandpa has bipolar disorder and i've been through at least 4 of his manic episodes - at one point he's as sweet as he can be - the next my aunt is fainting because of how terrified she is of him. the contrast between the soft verses vs the chorus (which i feel like could be shorter with more variation with each) represents it well. but do i think it should have been the leading single? of course not. so many people still have a bad taste in their mouth from it and can't look at mania well because of it. first impressions and all. i understand if they were excited (or rushed) to get something out but i feel like if they just waited until they made a song like tlotro, reviews on this album would be much more positive.

now i don't just have negative things to say about the album, but i feel like a good fan should critique what's given to them, not just take it in blindly and never question the methods, or never theorise on what could be done to improve it. but a fan should also appreciate the values it has within it too, "what makes it this album special?" "what makes this part unique?" "don't you just love how (band member) did this?" i'm sure they appreciate the feedback as well. nobody wants an audience of zombies who still say "thanks pete".

(also if you guys could not comment shit like that on sensitive or serious subjects it would be really great - people seriously commented "not bad joe" on joe's post about his mother's passing.)

track by track review  (excluding y&m and champion since i pretty much covered them)

* stay frosty royal milk tea 

this song left a bad taste in my mouth before i even heard it - im easily influenced by how people hype things and how every yeemo trinity kid was freaking out over the title really drove me away. - but the track itself isn't bad. it's very powering and has memorable, strong lyrics like "the only thing that's stopping me is me". the track feels like someone wanting to become great as they can possibly be but they are plagued with obstacles and downfalls - "the alcohol never lies", "some princes don't become kings", but they recover and keep trying. they're resisting failure. (allusion: it really reminds me of ling yao trying to seek immortality for his country in fmab, ahaha. it fits perfectly. "some princes don't become kings.") the track isn't bad at all, just not my cup of tea. i can really appreciate it.

* hold me tight or don't

i don't have much to say about this track, im not too big of a fan of latin themed music but it's a nice poppy song with lovesick lyrics that go deeper than usual pop love songs. i've grown to really enjoy it. to me it sounds like someone desperately holding onto a lost relationship and being pretty frustrated with how their significant other treats them, but they're so obsessed they don't want to leave. 

* wilson (expensive mistakes)

when i first heard this song on a live recording i fell absolutely in love, the music sounds nothing like i've ever heard before and it's truly captivating. and when i heard it live myself, oh wow. it was amazing. i've seen someone else say this, can't remember who, but they said they believed it was touching on how irrational people with manic/bipolar depression can be. once again, i have personal experience from my grandfather and i really do believe that's what they're trying to do. "i hate all my friends." this is sort of personal and i don't usually talk about mental illness, but this for me personally reminds me of how my grandpa nearly convinced my dad into touching an electrical unit that would have killed him. but when he's on his medication for his bipolar disorder, he loves my dad. i believe the same concept is used here, the narrator doesn't actually hate his friends, the disorder convinces him he does whenever it kicks in. also the secondary title (expensive mistakes). this could be referencing how people with bipolar disorder have a lot of trouble managing their money and often splurge. my grandpa went ahead and bought 2 grave sites for himself and my grandma during one of his episodes. it's not a nice thing to witness.

* church

this song immediately grabbed my intention as soon as i saw the title. i love the music and choir in this song so much, butch's (their producer) bass line is very nice and i love listening for it. also i adore the "if death is the last appointment then we're all just sitting in the waiting room" part. it's a little repetitive but not in a generic way like champion, it has a lot of other things going along in it. - i'm not religious whatsoever but i love religious imagery - it's so fascinating and it's very easy to manipulate it into something twisted. i feel like church is simply referencing how people do absolutely absurd things for their faith and the narrator is willing to do all of those things for their significant other. they are holy. a deity. - or maybe it's just about sucking dick. 

* heaven's gate

when i saw the title track for this song i was hoping we were gonna get some more cult related lyrics. unfortunately not really, but there is a couple that may be referencing it.  "out of my body, and flying above." the heaven's gate cult believed that the body was merely a vehicle your being, (i don't know if they used the word "soul") would essentially leave and enter the next stage in existence, away from earth, possibly on an aircraft, reunited with god. the other one is "go in the world and start over again and again, as many times as you can" the cult believed that god came as a human on earth to warn those of when the world would be recycled, or, restarted. once as jesus, the second as applewhite. a little farfetched, but it's something to consider. - it could also just mean you keep trying to keep your faith but you just don't make the cut for heaven, hinted at in the following lines after it. overall i really enjoyed this song, "boost", like i said, took a little getting used to but it's alright. i really love the music and the bridge is amazing. it's nice to see them incorporate other genres.

* sunshine riptide

this song immediately became my favourite when i heard the previews  - i absolutely love the reggae and i think burna boy did an excellent job. he really spices up the track. this song sounds really pleasant but it's got some of the deeper lyrics on the album in it, blatantly talking about pills, drinking and smoking. it sounds as if this song is guiding you through a manic episode but using substances to mask it - as many do. it has a heavy narcissistic feel to me, burna boy even calls himself "god" at the first part of his verse. it also touches on relationships again, possibly blaming them for the cause of all of their emotions. "you came in like a wave when i was feeling alright." give this song more credit, it deserves it. it truly is a riptide, it's so aggressive and it has so much stuff going on in it.

* bishops knife trick

here it is, my favourite. this song - i can't even explain how much i love this song. it's like a slow rock ballad with a modern twist, it's so beautiful. the bridge makes me break down into tears almost every time. - sadly i feel like this song may be referencing pete's suicide attempt - "these are the last blues we're ever gonna have" - and you probably all are aware what blues mean. ativan. also "im just a full tank away from freedom" i feel like this could be referencing a full bottle of pills to death, but that may be stretching it. on a lighter note, this is totally chicago is so two years ago part 2, just on a sadder note. it's an amazing closer to the album.

many people say mania is too jumbled and inconsistent - i do believe this was their intention since bipolar disorder is unpredictable. though, it could have a better arrangement to flow smoother, perhaps they could've made the second listing for the listening experience, and the original for the more artistic presentation of the album.

is mania my favourite album? no. is mania a bad album? no. is it their best? no. do i like it? yes.

overall, i feel like this album was a success and im very grateful for their fearless experimentation. this era has been quite an entertaining, pleasant experience so far. i give it a 7.5/10