#let's just pretend they at least have the same surname

[hellisanhonourstudent]

Dr. Chase,the physician from The Land Down Under

In the Season 8 episode "Dead and Buried",Chase appeared in a TV show playing a stereotypically Australian doctor on some skit(there was no Watsonian explanation given for this,I love how bonkers House MD can be). Despite the embarassment when House and Taub found the video,Chase's "first and big role" was massively beneficial to him.

It started on early clinic duty,due to a mistake. Chase was approached by some random teenager who saw him online. She was wondering why the actor was dressed like a doctor in a hospital waiting room;

In response,Chase claimed to be an aspiring actor wanting to make it in show business. He donned a fake but convincing American accent and a beautiful smile. The girl,now smitten by the not-so-fake doctor,asked to take a selfie with him;

The other professional at the scene were fuming and confused at the same time. Chase was hidden in plain sight,there was no way to convince the other patients the guy was an actual doctor;

The way out of clinic duty was discovered,and Chase was over the moon. He looked up the girl's social media,lo and behold,she not only posted the pic with him but also said she wanted to see more of him;

Chase created social media profiles for his character,totally separated from his professional/personal ones(that were very low-key and private,especially after the nude pic fiasco. As for professional fame,Chase didn't need more than he had - Princeton-Plainsboro was cozy and high-stakes enough). The character was named Robert Chase as well. Between the fact that his name was already common and the fact that "Doc from Down Under" had way more fame than "Head of Diagnostics/House's Successor",it would make him being hard to found out with search mechanisms(this particular tactic made Robert love the fact that the surname Červený was far too complicated for the immigration officers that recieved his father in Australia. Robert Chase vs Robert Červený says it all). To top it all,the real "Dr. Robert Chase" might look like an elaborate goof;

Now,onto how Dr. Chase would be able to keep the facade and his medical career. His main method of testing the candidates to Diagnostics Fellows is to have them pretend to be R. Chase - regardless of gender,race or any characteristics. Of course,he's keeping tabs on both the new doctors and patients - same doctors see the same patients. It has a double usefulness - the candidates have to be skilled with deceit and quick on their feet while able to be coordinated by Chase himself;

When it comes to the cases themselves,Chase goes see the patients sometimes,but always in a disguise(glasses,a thick beard,make up to look 10 years older and a British accent(canon have him an American accent for no reason,so let me make Chase a fake Brit!);

Oftentimes,Chase is seen making videos of the Doctor. After a while,his videos had extremely simplified explanations of complicated diseases. The simplifications were done by someone who deeply understood the pathologies,anyone with medical knowledge would see it. The cherry of the cake was when American Accent Chase played the dumb person who needed said explanations(but still struggled to understand them). His underlings found it annoying but overlooked it,because Chase was generally competent and nice overall;

Last but not least - Chase got away with all that BS because competence levels and he was fucking his boss. Foreman is just as batshit,he's classy about it tho.

Just gimme Chase being just as chaotic as House,but in different ways,please!

[basilone]

22 for Nora Graham from the trio prompts?

Thank you for sending this one! Prompt 22 is a red convertible, a priest’s collar and dogtags... which naturally made me think of Nora & Crank! 😊 I hope you will like this one.

It’s remarkably easy to hide this.

It helps, she supposes, that most days when she walks out the girls aren’t clamoring a where are you going, Nora at her. They used to back when they were in training, but she’s well-practiced enough to make everything she does sound like a great boring yawn. Just going to grab another cup of coffee, just going on a walk and watch the birds, just going to find a place to sit and draw my maps in peace, and nobody bothers to ask to come along to any of that.

She sometimes wonders how it is that they didn’t wash out. Tiny spends more time gossiping than anyone she knows, but yet managed to get her pilot license just fine. Val and Push are some of the most combative arguers she’s ever met, getting into trouble for it until they’re airborne and doing their jobs better than anybody. By all rights, Frosty should have been on the outs when the brass figured out just what that Lombardi surname was about – all Chicago mob in that girl, right down to her stash of cash and jewels – but then Frosty’d calculated a bomb drop with alarming accuracy and that had stopped them all cold.

Nora supposes beggars can’t be choosers in a time of war. Whatever she considers to be their personal flaws – Max calling girls pretty but never calling a man handsome, One-Eye’s refusal to sleep without her teddy, Dee’s hatred of men’s mustaches – are things that Colonel Huglin and Colonel Harding both wouldn’t give a damn about. As long as they can fly right, it hardly matters what they do when down on the ground.

“You’re doing it again,” says Charles, then, all soft admonishment beside her.

She allows her grin to stretch to the corners of her mouth. “Doing what?”

“Thinking too hard for the occasion.”

“One of us ought to,” she says, turning her head only to find him smiling at her already. “Just realizing that nobody cares what we do as long as we’re able to get into a bomber and give hell to everyone who deserves it. It’s a sole purpose sort of thing, you know?”

“Hmm.”

“That’s a hmm, Nora, you are clever but I disagree sort of hmm.”

“I wouldn’t say nobody cares.” His voice is as earnest as his eyes – soft yet unyielding – and a soft sigh accompanies his words. “They care enough to send us to a flak house, or give us weekend passes when we really need them. They care enough to keep us grounded when we fly too much. Buck would’ve passed out if they’d made him fly one more run, but they sent him to barracks and made Lottie fly with DeMarco day before last.”

“Which was a great decision, considering that she is finally realizing this fad of hers with Darlene won’t last and DeMarco’s solely responsible for that realization hitting her at all,” says Nora, rolling her eyes a little to let Charles know just what she thinks of all that. “It was like being in a plane with my parents, who’d also pretend everything is fine while making you feel miserable over dinner. Val kept talking over comms just to stave off how unbelievably awkward it was to have DeMarco in our plane. It took two hours before Lottie gave him more than one syllable answers. Two hours, Charles!”

“At least they’re talking again now, aren’t they? I would say it worked out all right.”

“Of course you would say that, you weren’t stuck in a bomber having to give directions to two pilots who both like the same girl,” snorts Nora as she gives him a nudge. “I still don’t think that’s a lot of care going into those sorts of decisions, you know.”

“If nobody cared,” he hums, taking a sip of his coffee, “I could marry you tomorrow without either one of us being sent home about that.”

Nora feels herself flushing crimson from the root of her hair all the way down to her toes. “I thought you said we had to wait until we got home? That you wanted that sweet red convertible to drive us off into the sunset with?” she teases, remembering some of his more fanciful daydreams she had laughed about before realizing he was really quite serious. “Maybe we should get married – find someone with a priest’s collar to do the job – and just not tell anybody.”

Charles’s eyes crinkle into a broad smile. “Don’t have a ring,” he says, ducking his head slightly as he takes a bigger gulp of his drink. “Am saving up to get you one. That’s easy enough, just need to avoid playing craps with DeMarco for a while...”

“We could… exchange dogtags. Or ask Two what sort of thing she’s exchanging with Blakely the second they go on leave.”

“What?”

“Apparently they’re getting married,” shrugs Nora, having mostly learned this through Tiny’s inability to keep quiet about anything. “They’re being too obvious about it, once you know where to look”– Two’s post-flight smiles, Blakely’s refusal to dance with other girls –“but I suppose not everyone is as good as us at hiding that sort of thing. We could pull a sneak wedding off better than they could.”

“Or we could wait,” he says, hand finding hers, “and do all of it better than they could. None of this hurried business where you don’t even have a dress for the occasion. I want us to have a moment, Nora. Something just for us, without…”

“Without the war peeking around the corner asking us to get back into our bombers,” she sighs, dropping her head onto his shoulder. “I know. I want that, too. That moment with you, where it’s nothing but us, where it’s just love. I was just…” Being silly, she almost says, except she doesn’t think Charles would find it silly at all. “I was just getting ahead of myself.”

“I was there with you. Ahead and terribly in love with you about it.”

“Really? Tell me more about that,” she smiles, lifting her head off his shoulder just to kiss his cheek. “How in love are we talking, hm?” She can’t help but giggle as he takes his time to set his coffee cup down. “Oh, you need to take a moment, Charl–mmph!”

“More than a moment,” he laughs, once he pulls back from their kiss. “I am, after all, very in love.”

“Keep talking,” she says, before kissing him briefly.

“Can’t,” he breathes as her hands slip into his curls, “unless by talking you mean…”

Nora tilts her head. Nudges her nose against his a moment. “Kiss me more?”

It shouldn’t be easy to hide this. But for now, toppled over in the grass and laughing about it, Nora is glad this is the one thing she doesn’t have to share.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Jubilation

So far, Season 5 has been pretty decent for the most part. Sure, there have already been a handful of plotholes and retcons (to the point where I'm honestly thinking of starting a retcon counter in the future), but at the very worse, the first three episodes were below average at worst. But now we have to see how the Akuma of the day formula will play out now. Can it bring new life to this show, or is that nothing more than a pipe dream?

Let's get into the fourth (chronologically the fourth) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Jubilation

The episode starts off with Marinette going for a jog, and shockingly, it isn't in her pajamas, but rather, clothing appropriate for running. She stops to see an advertisement for the Alliance rings, and reminds the audience that she's totally not in love with Adrien anymore because it cost her most of the Miraculous. Marinette is about to continue running, when she sees her principal, Mr. Damocles, dressing up at the superhero, the Owl, while attempting to save a cat from a billboard... even though he learned his lesson all the way back in his spotlight episode, “The Dark Owl”. Before Marinette has the chance to save him from his incompetence, another girl dressed as Ladybug saves Mr. Damocles, though Marinette recognizes her as an old friend. Both “heroes” run off, but Marinette has an idea of who the fake Ladybug is.

Marinette: That fake Ladybug from this morning, I think it was Socqueline, a school friend from last year. Knowing her, I’m sure she means well. But I have to convince her to stop putting herself in danger like that.

So basically, we're repeating the civilian plotline of “The Dark Owl”, but this time, with two different heroes. I'm also confused as to why we've never heard of Socqueline until Season 5, especially if Marinette already knows her. It's not as egregious or forced as Zoe's introduction, but it's weird that Marinette has never brought her up, not even to Tikki or Alya.

Also, why the hell does she look like Marinette? It was at least understandable to reuse Adrien's character model for Felix because they were related, but these two are just friends, and Socqueline doesn’t even have the same name most fans use for the PV Ladybug, Bridgette. What, did you think changing her name would make the reference more subtle? Oh yeah, and even though we already have two Asian characters with the same surname, Socqueline’s last name is also Wang. Because just like the mayor and ice cream man sharing the same first name, this isn’t confusing in the slightest.

Socqueline works at a local arts and crafts store, and before Marinette can ask her for why she's pretending to be Ladybug, she pretends to be buying paint first... even though she could just transform into Ladybug, walk in and say “Hey, I heard you've been impersonating me, so stop it before you get yourself killed, idiot”. But then I guess we wouldn't get an explanation as to what Alliance can do. Like we saw in “Multiplication”, it's basically an Alexa in ring form that totally isn't a front for supervillain activity. Marinette and Socqueline talk about Adrien, and Socqueline assumes the two are a couple after Marinette talks about how close they are, when all Marinette does is recap the whole thing about his mother “disappearing” and that he doesn't want to be a model. Wow, you really know him, don't you?

Eventually, the conversation goes back to Socqueline dressing up as Ladybug.

Marinette: Well, it’s a good thing you’re not trying to be a superhero, because it’s very dangerous to do the same thing they do when you don’t have magical powers and supersuits!

Socqueline: Yeah… Well, what if it’s a relief for Ladybug to have people help her?

Marinette: No way would she want that. It’s too risky!

Socqueline: Yes, but you gotta know when to step in. That’s the only way you can change things in life!

Marinette: I know. You told me that last year, but in this circumstance, it’s Ladybug’s job to take risks, and no one else’s! Because if everyone takes risks, then Ladybug may have to take more risks in order to deal with their risks, which is even riskier!

Mr. Damocles: Sounds like someone’s jealous because she wants to be a superhero.

Marinette: I do not! I’m Marinette! I’m very happy to be a normal girl, with a normal life, AND SO SHOULD EVERYONE ELSE!

Admittedly, this is a decent argument for Marinette and Socqueline to have, but I feel like they're kind of oversimplifying it. Yes, it's obvious that Socqueline and Mr. Damocles can't do much to help Ladybug without any powers, but that doesn't rule out Ladybug getting other allies in the form of local law enforcement or even other heroes with high-tech gadgets like Batman. It's also strange that the whole deal with Marinette last season was that she wasn't willing to trust anyone like Cat Noir, so wouldn't it make sense to call back to that, and consider getting help from people in other ways, like moral support?

While Socqueline tries to console Mr. Damocles, some of the dinosaurs from “Rocketear” break out, so Marinette quickly transforms into Ladybug to catch them again, but while she does so, she accidentally brings Socqueline's Alliance ring with her. Turns out that, shock of all shocks, Gabriel is secretly monitoring the Alliance rings, and the data gathered from the step counter app registers the user as moving around far beyond human capabilities. Gabriel obviously assumes that Socqueline is Ladybug, and transforms into Monarch, where we see how the new Akuma routine will go for the season. Sensing Mr. Damocles' negative emotions from believing he can't be a superhero, Monarch uses Kaalki's Voyage to send his Akuma towards one of his masks. When it reaches Mr. Damocles, Monarch uses his Alliance ring to grant him Daizzi's Gift, turning him into Darker Owl.

Darker Owl is basically just the same as Dark Owl, but with some shinier parts, and instead of the campier Batman he was originally themed after, he has a sightly deeper voice, not unlike Christian Bale's interpretation of the character. Nothing special, but compared to reusing past Akuma designs, at least an effort was made to make him look different.

Darker Owl breaks into the paint shop, believing Monarch's claim that Socqueline is Ladybug. Using one of his gadgets with the Pig Miraculous' gift, he traps Socqueline in her fantasy to be recognized as a hero by the real Ladybug and Cat Noir. Before she was trapped however, she secretly used her Alliance ring to trick Darker Owl into revealing where the Akuma is.

Of course, like a concerning amount of episodes before it, we finally get Adrien's first scene, where he's just playing video games until he learns about the Akuma, transforming into Cat Noir. Both heroes arrive to stop Darker Owl, who has taken Socqueline as a hostage, and while Cat Noir saves Socqueline, Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, an old fashioned alarm clock.

After Cat Noir saves Socqueline, both him and Ladybug are hit by Gift, where their shared fantasy is beating Darker Owl and finding Monarch's business card in Mr. Damocles' jacket. After the two defeat Monarch and get the Miraculous back, they grow closer together, and eventually... get married... even though they're still teenagers.

Okay, that's very concerning, especially since Cat Noir's “suit” is just the Cat Blanc model with green eyes, but it's not like they're going to become parents too, right?

Oh.

Ohhhhhh....

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh nooooooo.....

Yep. The writers REALLY didn't think this through. I get that it didn't really happen, but I don't get why they had to make the fantasy of Ladybug and Cat Noir being all about them starting a family when they can't even afford new models to show that they're older so they could avoid these implications.

Putting that aside, the fantasy is decently put together, but it's nothing special compared to something like “Perchance to Dream” from Batman: The Animated Series. I like the recurring surreal imagery with the alarm clocks, and the babies looking like dolls could be seen as a way to show how fake this all is. On the other hand, I don't get whose fantasy this is exactly. Yeah, it's implied that since the same Gift bullet was fired at both Ladybug and Cat Noir, they're sharing an amalgamation of their fantasies (Ladybug defeating Monarch and getting the Miraculous back and Cat Noir starting a family with Ladybug), but it feels like more focus is given to Cat Noir's fantasy even though he didn't even get to do anything before the Akuma showed up. They even have the scene with him hesitating to leave the fantasy when it should have been Ladybug struggling to reject it. In fact, I think the reason this fantasy sequence rings hollow for me is because it doesn't really connect to the idea that Marinette wants a normal life. Wouldn't it make more sense for Marinette's fantasy to be a world where Socqueline or Alya is Ladybug instead of her? You could easily alternate between Marinette's fantasy where she lives a mundane life and alternate it with Cat Noir's fantasy where he embraces the superhero lifestyle. It would have made more sense given that this was a Marinette-centric episode,

Even after the two heroes break out, it's Cat Noir who snaps at Darker Owl, not Ladybug. You could have easily had a scene where Cat Noir is the one who has to restrain Ladybug from getting too aggressive while fighting Darker Owl to show how reliable of a partner he is. Instead, well... remember how last episode, Cat Noir felt a lot of guilt for accidentally Cataclysming Monarch when Monarch let himself take the hit? Yeah, he almost Cataclysms Darker Owl out of anger. Yeah, he’s not thinking straight, and he stops at the last minute, but it makes him look like a real hypocrite. It also doesn’t really reassure the audience that he's now the only ally Ladybug has at the moment. This moment would have made more sense if the roles were reversed, with Cat Noir begging Ladybug to not hurt Darker Owl because Monarch was the one who taunted them with their ideal lives.

Ladybug purifies the Akuma, gives Mr. Damocles a useless Magical Charm, fixes the minor damage Darker Owl caused, Daizzi is sent back to Monarch's lair, and nobody ever acknowledges that Cat Noir almost killed a man.

After Socqueline apologizes to Ladybug, and Ladybug gives a vague statement of wanting Socqueline to find another way to help, she goes back home as Marinette. Sabine offers her an Alliance ring, but Marinette decides against it, mostly because of what happened earlier.

The episode then ends to Ladybug talking with Cat Noir about what happened with Darker Owl, how he got the power of the Pig Miraculous, and what happened in their fantasy.

Cat Noir: Ladybug, that power of Jubilation... it’s supposed to show us our deepest desires, isn’t it?

Ladybug: Yes.

Cat Noir: But that was... that wasn’t real, right?

Ladybug: Tell me about it. The wedding, babies, totally… fake.

Cat Noir: Are you sure?

Ladybug: Monarch… must’ve altered it somehow, to trick us. Yeah, that’s got to be it.

Cat Noir: Of course, otherwise, it would be totally super weird, wouldn’t it?

Ladybug: Right. Totally… super… weird.

Yeah, calling what you two lived through “weird” is an understatement.

Overall, this episode was just mediocre, and other than the climax, there wasn't much for me to talk about.

Socqueline as a character confuses me. Do we really need another member of Marinette's friend group, especially when you could have easily replaced Socqueline with another character? Seriously, someone like Alya, Mylene, Kagami, Zoe, or even Chloe would have worked better, as their personalities and motivations would fit a story like this. She's just an unnecessary addition to an already bloated cast of characters.

I will say I liked how the villain side of things was handled. In a world where the use of technology in our daily lives is more common, the idea of the Alliance rings being a way for Gabriel to monitor the public is pretty clever. I’m still confused as to why he even needs to use a Miraculous to give Akumas more powers when he can already do that with Akumas in the first place, but I like how the conflict seems to be ramping up.

I also don't get the point of this conflict, especially since we already did it three seasons ago. Back in “The Dark Owl”, it was unnecessary because Ladybug and Cat Noir were already doing a good job at fighting Hawkmoth's Akumas, but now, he's stronger than ever, and they need all the help they can get. Yeah, Mr. Damocles and Socqueline were endangering themselves by trying to help others, but at least they're doing something after everyone just gave up preparing for Monarch's new wave of Akumas in “Multiplication”. But then again, at least Ladybug didn't call either of them entitled for actually wanting to help people instead of focusing on their own selfish desires like the “hero” in Kamen Rider Geats.

Even the resolution feels tacked on. In “The Dark Owl”, the ending was similar, with Mr. Damocles choosing to stop trying to be a hero, but instead focusing on doing community service, helping people in his own way. Here? Ladybug tells Socqueline to help someone without endangering herself, and we don't get any follow-up on that, not even with Mr. Damocles. It feels more tacked on than anything else.

It doesn't help that despite the episode hinting at Marinette wanting a normal life, the actual highlight of the episode, the fantasy sequence, doesn't really connect to those wishes, as Marinette stays transformed the whole time. From an out of universe perspective, it's obviously because Cat Noir and Monarch can't find out who Ladybug is, but it's not clear why her fantasy is like that. You could have easily thrown in something like that rule they established last episode of Miraculous magic not being able to interfere with other Miraculous, so Monarch and Darker Owl have to make up their own ideal fantasy for Ladybug and Cat Noir to live in because they can't completely read their minds. Well that, and also, DON'T SHOW TWO TEENAGERS BECOMING PARENTS WITHOUT EVEN AGING, BECAUSE IT GIVES OFF THE VIBE THAT THEY HAD SEX.

This episode wasn't really terrible, more boring than anything else. At least I had something to talk about with the past three episodes, but here? Outside of the fantasy, there's not much else to say.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... MR. DAMOCLES

Even though he already learned his lesson three seasons ago, he still didn't get that a man of his age and physique wasn't fit to be a superhero. At least Socqueline was established to be in good shape for her age. On top of that, he easily gave away his cover (even if it was obvious, the joke before was that everyone else pretended to not know who he is) at the drop of a hat, and when he was supposedly confronted with Ladybug's civilian identity, he didn't think to just rip her earrings off, and spent way too much time talking before he zapped her with a Gift bullet.

[maleficore]

Okay. My actual RDR2 Modern AU might be set in 1990s USA and pretty dark, but I have this nostalgic worm in my head that wants to throw these funky guys into late 90s/early 00s Poland SO BAD agshdjdbfk

Ramble under the cut because I can't be normal about any idea ever.

I can see it in my head so clearly... a silly "Rodzina Zastępcza" type sitcom. Hosea and Dutch are still crooks who sell counterfeit shit at the local outdoor market with a side business smuggling in cheap cigs and alcohol from abroad. I would do a little age fuckery to shrink Arthur's, John's and Tilly's age differences so that they all still live with them. Arthur would be like 16-17, John 12-14 and Tilly arund 10 or so. Arthur and John are fucking Monster Children, but Tilly is good at pretending an angel lol

Miss Grimshaw and Dutch are technically married, but just because they got hitched on impulse years ago and can't be bothered to get a divorce. It's good for appearances as well so whatever. She lives with them too, keeps the house from imploding.

Uncle is the town drunk and can usually be found thoroughly soaked through near the local grocery store. Always bugs Arthur for change and never gets shit, but John sometimes slips him something in exchange for buying him some beer or cigarettes with a part of the money.

I see Swanson as this comic relief "friend of the family" character that keeps waltzing in uninvited all the time. There's like no protestants over here and I don't know shit about the eastern orthodox church so I'm making him a washed up catholic priest (sorry my dude). I think it would be pretty funny if he was like totally oblivious to the fact that Dutch and Hosea are Very Gay despite it being super obvious. "Mr Matthews and Mr Van der Linde must be very good friends if he lets him, his wife and their unruly foster children share his home :)" ahah

Most of the names would probably need to be changed to make sense.. Arthur mostly works, just have to throw out the h. Tilly is short for Matilda apparently, but I don't see it. Maybe Tosia? Tola?Both short for Antonina. John>>Jan makes me fucking insane... Little Jasiek Marston 😂😂Though American media had a real boom in the east after the soviet union fell so I could maybe keep Johnny/John as a nickname? So that I don't cringe myself to death. Dutch is going to make me go grey so I won't even try. Hosea is biblical so he could technically stay, but apparently they translate it to fuckin' Ozeasz in the polish version of the texts so idk. At least the surname is easy because it's from a given name and I can just go with a Polish surname of the same meaning -- Matysiak. Uncle is easy because that's just a common word so >> Wujek, or Wujcio if i really wanted to make it silly. Susan is Zuzanna so very easy, but Grimshaw is untranslatable. Though I could just pick something phonetically similar like Grzymała or Gryszkiewicz or something (good luck trying to pronounce that). Orville is straight up a fake name from the 1700s and has no real meaning? Makes it hard to switch out so I'm just gonna be lazy and go with Oliwier? Sounds similar enough. Swanson doesn't have a straightforward equalivent either, but it apparently means "servant"? And "Szewczyk" (tailor) feels like it could work. I dunno, my brain is fried at this point. I'll leave it at that.

I know this probably makes no sense to anyone else but I'm So Into the idea it's insane agsjdkflk I had to write some of it down. I just want them to be silly. Nothing bad ever happens in a polish sitcom ✨

I think I might doodle some stuff for this since I don't have an actual story in mind to write... We'll see. I just want to be self-indulgent and go crazy a bit 🥴🥴

[ihaveatheoryonthat]

We’ve reached the point where I have too many pans on the burner again, and need to clear some of them out to get anything done. This is another one of those that falls under ‘I’d like to revisit someday, but that day is not today’.

This in particular is really only setup, and I never got to what the piece was supposed to be about-- as such, it’s woefully incomplete.

TW for a fictional illness that’s pretty blatantly based on covid.

---

Travic [surname] had one primary problem and two sub-problems.

The overarching problem was that he was sick. Quite sick. The kind of sick some people didn’t recover from. He’d been sick for days and hadn’t noticed, seemingly fine until he very much wasn’t.

Enter the first of his secondary problems: Vick had accidentally passed the illness onto his youngest son; Emmet getting sick had been the last tumbling straw before the weight of it all finally fell into place. He’d done everything he should have as promptly as he could, even if days after the fact, his own symptoms magnifying under the sudden comprehension-- calls made, warnings to get tested issued, supplies ordered same-day delivery.

Which brought him to the second problem: his eldest, miraculously, had tested negative. He didn’t pretend to understand how that worked when the pair was always in direct contact with one another, but Vick would take what small mercies he could get. And while that was [undeniably] good news, the issue was was keeping Ingo healthy. Stuck in the house with his his immediate family, he was almost certain to catch [it] eventually, no matter what precautions Vick belatedly put into place.

The only solution his foggy mind could put together was to call for help, and so he had. Drayden was on his way to Anville Town; Ingo could stay with him until things were better. Soon, all Vick would have to worry about was getting two of them through this.

‘Soon’ could not come quickly enough.

“INGO.” He [idk], but his usually booming voice came out as something gnarled and [?]; it was little wonder the six year old startled at the sound. Hands frozen in the air, he turned meekly, eyes wide and uncomprehending as he idled at the side of his brother’s bed.

He was only trying to help, Vick reminded himself; he couldn’t truly be angry about that, but it still sounded [angry] when he forced out, “Back up. Don’t touch. Go sit on the couch until I come talk to you.”

Worrying at his bottom lip, Ingo glanced back at his brother, eked out something in a much quieter voice than usual, and darted off, eyes on his father until he rounded the corner.

Vick sighed, the usually [?] of the medical mask hot and stifling to his raw senses. He would endure it. He had to endure it, for Ingo’s sake. If there was anything he could do to prevent further exposure, he would [do it] to spare his eldest this [danger/suffering].

Not even an hour now, and Drayden would be there.

Thoughtlessly, Vick found himself doing precisely what he’d scolded his son for just moments prior; his hands automatically moved to Emmet’s face, brushing damp hair away from his eyes, to no response. He’d been asleep for hours, which, in Vick’s experience, was infinitely preferable to suffering through the day fully conscious.

That said, he still needed another dose of medicine, and whatever fluids Vick could coax him into drinking. They would give it a shot after their respective older brothers left, he decided; best to let him sleep while there were so many other things vying for attention.

Glancing up at the clock, Vick grimaced and got back to it. His body ached with every step, but, dutifully, he trudged back out to the bathroom and scrubbed his hands under the hot water. This time, when he admitted himself into the twins’ room, he didn’t let his tired mind take the helm, instead beating a direct path for the jet black dresser.

Clothes, at least, were easy to pack; going through each drawer in succession there was no way to miss something vital. It became orders more difficult when he tried to to remember what else a child would need while away from home. Snagging a ragged Purrloin plush on his way out, he turned his attention to raiding the bathroom.

He found himself repeatedly checking the time, and constantly surprised by how much had escaped without his notice. It wasn’t fair to have left Ingo waiting for so long without [cause], but Vick had yet to spot him peeking around any given hiding spot, so odds were he’d found a way to entertain himself.

Vick hoisted the bag over a shoulder, and the effort left him wheezing. It meant he was all too ready to let it [flop] down onto the nearest couch cushion when he reached the living room.

To his surprise, the TV wasn’t on-- not even at the low volume his aching head had dictated for the past few days. Neither was there a library book or a fidget toy to be found, just Ingo on the far side of the couch, hands tugging at the sleeves of his sweater, wilting under his father’s gaze.

Ah, shit. He thought he was in trouble.

“Look, bud,” Vick croaked, but combined with the strain of hauling the bag out, it sent him into a coughing fit before he could say anything of substance. He turned away, head spinning, and tried to stifle it into an elbow.

As he regained his breath, there was a knock at the door, and he gratefully shuffled toward it.

[not gonna bother w/ the greeting rn (I DO think it would be funny if Drayden is also wearing a mask, but it kind of just looks like his beard is a different color at first glance)]

Drayden squared his shoulders and strode past, kneeling in front of the couch so they were on the same level.

“I see you have your bag packed. Are you ready to go?”

Instead of any verbal answer, Ingo made a sound of confused protest. The look Drayden shot Vick wasn’t much better.

“I know, I know. It’s for your own good, buddy-- and uncle Drayden promises to take great care of you, right uncle Drayden?” His throat burned as the sentence stretched on, but he could do this. Just a little longer, now, until his son was safe from him.

Drayden inclined his head, eyes pinching as he made the effort to look nonthreatening, and offered his hand. Keeping an eye on Vick, watching for what he was meant to do, Ingo tentatively reached out to mirror it; when it closed around his, he nearly flinched.

“Good boy,” Drayden rumbled, ruffling his hair with a free hand and encouraging him to stand up, too; moving to take the travel bag, Drayden scooped up the cap sitting at the top and settled it over the mess he’d made.

“His coat’s by the door,” Vick said, backing off to leave a good six feet of space between them. It was only as that coat was settled over Ingo’s shoulders that he [vocalized] again, a high whine that Vick knew from experience would only grow louder if it was allowed to continue.

“Ingo,” He said, and he was trying so hard to be what the situation called for, but his mounting exhaustion still shone through, “I know. I’m sorry, but this has to happen. I love you. Have fun with uncle Drayden.”

The door swung shut, and Vick all but collapsed against the wall in his relief.

---

Drayden wasn’t great with kids. As part of being a gym leader, he had to deal with older ones on a semi-regular basis, but his experience with six year olds consisted entirely of Ingo and Emmet.

He wasn’t prepared to look after a child, even if only for a few weeks.

But Travic had asked for help. His brother and nephew were sick, and the biggest help he could be was looking after the odd boy out. He could do that, for his family’s sake.

Only… Ingo was acting incredibly different from what Drayden knew. Usually, you had to pry the kid away, but instead of clinging to Drayden’s hand as they walked toward the train station, the little fingers poking out of his sleeves worked themselves into a nervous tangle. He had yet to speak a word, to talk about the Pokemon they passed by or ask about the ones Drayden had brought with him, and his own stubborn expression hadn’t budged from ‘deeply distressed’.

That was completely understandable-- Drayden himself had only forced a smile for Ingo’s sake-- but it was still troubling. He didn’t know how to connect with young kids, let alone one coming from such a tough spot.

Well, he supposed, when in doubt…

“Do you know what a Swablu is, Ingo?” He asked, readjusting his grip on the bag. The boy next to him nodded, and, somewhat [belatedly] Drayden realized that the pace he’d set was too much for someone so short. Forcing himself to slow, he continued the thought, “You do, hm? Have you ever seen one in person?”

It was met by a small shake of the head.

“It so happens a trainer brought one into the gym last week; his wings are too sparse to carry him right now, so he’s staying with me until his plumage grows in. Would you like to meet him when we reach Opelucid?”

Ingo hesitated far longer than Drayden had expected of someone usually so excitable. “...can I?”

“I offered, didn’t I?” / “Yes, you can meet him if you’d like. He’d benefit from having someone else around, and maybe he can help keep you company in return.”

[…]

He waited until Drayden set the travel bag down, and then climbed up to sit along its other side. Strangely, he didn’t move to dig through its contents once throughout the commute; surely he had something to keep himself entertained in there? Vick had mentioned at some point or other that he was being dragged to library nearly every day as the twins’ shaky grasp on reading began to solidify, so it only made sense that Ingo would have brought a book with him.

The kid pulled his legs up onto the subway bench and rested his chin on his knees.

That was… probably not a good sign.

[…]

Swablu hopped up without a second thought-- the exact behavior that had landed him in Drayden’s home instead of its natural habitat-- and cocked his head one way, then the other. The difference it wrought in Ingo’s expression was subtle, but unmistakable; despite his clear interest in the bird, however, he stayed put.

It seemed to take that personally, fluttering its [?] wings with enough energy to give itself the tiniest bit of lift, nipping at the pair of hands that dared to not to pet it. Surprised rather than hurt, Ingo reeled backwards, and Swablu jumped again. Its weight was negligible-- there was absolutely no way the little guy could bowl over a human, no matter what their age-- but Drayden still held a hand out, steady against the boy’s back, to keep Ingo from tripping.

---

Ingo usually liked school-- really, he did!-- but if he’d had a say in it, he would prefer not to go today.

The test he’d had to take that morning, to make sure he wasn’t sick after all, said he was okay, but he wasn’t so sure; this wasn’t his first time staying overnight at uncle Drayden’s house, and the last time they’d been here, the guest room hadn’t felt so cold. He remembered being sick once, too, and how much more intense everything had felt against his skin-- how cold it was when he tried to sleep without a blanket, but how unbearably hot it was when he changed his mind and pulled it back over himself.

It wasn’t exactly the same-- he’d been cold with the blankets and even colder without-- but it still made him worry.

He didn’t want to accidentally break a rule. He didn’t want to go to school sick and risk making anyone else sick.

Plus, he was all the way in Opelucid City. School was in Anville Town. He didn’t know how long it took to get there, but he was pretty sure class started before the first horns sounded in the rail yard. If he had to take the train to get there, he’d definitely be late. Being late was rude. He hated it, and it didn’t matter that uncle Drayden promised to ride with him today; that was nice of him, but it didn’t fix the problem.

Also! He didn’t have his backpack. He didn’t have any of the practice sheets he was supposed to have filled out, or the library book he’d wanted to show the teacher, or his water bottle or the little key chain he could fiddle with without bothering anyone or--

He bit down on a whine building in the back of his throat, and when that began to fail, stifled himself against his jacket.

More than anything, he knew that Emmet wasn’t going to be with him today.

He was going to get to school late and without any of the things he was expected to have, and that would have been bad enough, but he was going to be alone all day today. And tomorrow. And the day after that. Ingo didn’t know when he was going to see his brother again, and it made him want to scream.

That wasn’t allowed, though; he definitely wasn’t supposed to yell, because people always got mad at him when he did. It was extra important that he follow the rules right now. He was already in enough trouble.

And that was why he was going to go to school, even though there were a million reasons not to, and it was the very last thing he wanted right now.

Swablu chirped and frantically flapped his wings, painstakingly making his way onto the back of Ingo’s chair, and then hopping down onto his head. It was a little heavier than his hat, but in a nice way. While it stayed there, it was easy to focus on the warm fluff instead of the school day that awaited.

Uncle Drayden laughed when he saw them. Ingo liked that, too.

[…]

[after school]

“Here you go,” Uncle Drayden said, holding out the familiar black-and-red-and-blue backpack. Ingo took it with numb fingers and dislodged the ‘thank you’ stuck in his throat.

He only peeked inside when he was back in the guest room, where nobody could see. Piece by piece, he unloaded it onto the much-too-big bed: the homework he hadn’t been able to hand in, the book he’d been so excited to share, his water bottle and the rubber key chain-- and more, beyond that. His library card and the pouch he kept all his best pencils in, the stretchy Clodsire toy Emmet hated so much he refused to touch it, and that Ingo liked to stick to the walls, the hooded sweatshirt with the ears that he’d wanted to wear yesterday, but had been in the dryer.

He was struck, again, by the desire to scream.

Instead, he gathered it all up, put each item where it belonged for tomorrow, and went to bury his face in Swablu’s fluff.

[code01746]

META   +   smoking

　　　oh, man. i actually do have a lot of thoughts about this.

for starters, him picking up smoking was not so much a conscious decision, but because one of his very few friends would smoke. either smoker, hina, or bellemere; but i like to go with bellemere since they not only have a ship together, but it happens to be the only non-problematic ship of rosinante's that is at least semi-popular (his other two popular ships being, uh... incest, & a relationship with a boy he's known since they boy was 10 & he was 23). so i'll take any opportunity to flesh out a healthier one.

i mentioned a bit yesterday that, prior to meeting law, rosinante was very much an isolated, directionless person with no real goals in life. not necessarily unhappy, but he just didn't see himself as having enough of a future to care about 'finding himself', so he let the people in his life do it for him.

he was adopted by a marine? guess he'll join the marines now.

his brother is a criminal? guess he'll volunteer to catch him now.

doflamingo assumes him to be mute? guess he'll pretend to be mute now.

he very much 'mirrored' people in the sense that he would follow along with what they did, valued what they valued, and even dressed how they dressed. he grew up isolated just by virtue of having to hide his true surname/a big part of who he is as a person just so he wasn't murdered in his sleep, so he just latched onto things people did. he wanted to be included. he wanted to make them happy. he wanted connection.

honestly, rosinante infiltrating doflamingo's crew was ironically the best thing that could have happened to him because, for the first time in his life, it forced him to create a persona for himself and be conscious of the choices he was making. also, just being in the presence of his brother again seemed to 'wake' him up and realize he couldn't just be passive anymore. stopping his brother, honestly, became his first real 'goal' in life that he choose for himself, the same way helping law survive became his first real 'purpose'.

(he also may or may not have kept up the smoking habit because someone told him it made him look cool and he would do anything to distract from the fact he's just a clumsy, lame loser inside but that's more of a side note).

-

in verses where he lives, he no longer smokesーeither because of encouragement from law (he'll do anything to make that little shit happy, after all) or because of a collapsed lung during his recovery made him quit the habit cold turkey.

[gaoau]

Joy manifesting in tears, grief manifesting in laughter—humor for those who weep, pain for those who rejoice

What's In A Friend? warnings — none. word count — 1.3k

prev. — next.

Just the same, [Name] is detached, leaving a space in between every one of her points, portraying the absence of something more not meant to exist at all. Her trust in Komori grows stronger each passing day they spend together. It's strange; the depths of her conscience chastise her to stay quiet even when he screams to the wind he wants to take care of her. It's with too many exclamation points he reminds her not to self-medicate or take drugs lying around her home—she shouldn't randomly swallow non-prescribed antipsychotics, but he can't stop her habits with the distance between them. He accepts how far apart they stand as she clings to him with balled fists.

Her thoughts weigh too much at times she lurks in the shadows of the gym. She can't interrupt practice; she's close to everyone on the team and they know her well, yet her awareness of the distant proximity she shares with Komori doesn't allow her to do much at all. Iizuna calls a short recess upon recognizing the dense cloud of stones over [Name]'s eyes, nudging the libero to run to her aid. It's Komori the one that approaches first, always, routinely. She pretends not to see when other people do nice things for her.

Komori's comforting smile is distressing. He follows her outside the building wordlessly, understanding silence is too loud for her, but that's the way it's always been and she's not looking to change it. Her head hangs low when she calls, "Motoya." It thunders against his ears quietly. He hums in response despite knowing she'll never talk to him. "Come closer," she says, but she's so far away.

"Oh?" he chirps with humor to pretend he can't see the raindrops on her cheeks on a perfectly sunny Spring afternoon. He laughs only because she's told him his laughter is contagious. When he takes a step towards her, her fingers curl around his jersey and her forehead sinks into his chest. [Name] hides herself in and from him, keeping away from all eyes and especially his. She doesn't utter a single syllable to let him into her mind, she doesn't let him see any of her weaknesses. She's so close to him but so detached; she reaches out to him whenever she needs selfish strength.

[Name] borrows his happiness while Komori borrows her pain. There's nothing he can say when she's staining his clothes with tears. She trusts him with her life—one she doesn't care for—and her essence. Although she believes him firmly whenever he speaks his every word, he hasn't found a way in which he can convince her he's real. She sees him and yet she doesn't; she cannot know him, for he'll always be beyond her comprehension.

She remains absurdly close either way as she sticks right to his side, and constricts his fingers with her own until he whines, and finds slumber in the sturdiness of his lap. Komori can barely manage to live one single day without having [Name] herself or her essence hanging off his back. He doesn't mind it at all, and even relishes in the knowledge that she depends on him so much. It's always one step closer to having her within reach. So closely detached, but so detached in her closeness.

She clings to him with a powerful firmness everyone on the outside can witness—the one she denies every night she lies awake and chats with the shadows of the moonlight. People take advantage of the brief yet endless moments they are miraculously separate. Some have a friendly chat with Komori while others attempt to get one pesky word out of [Name]. Both always work out.

[Name] is keeping quiet to herself, leaning patiently on the wall of the cafeteria when a girl she's never seen—or at least doesn't remember seeing ever—approaches her with a skip in her step. She knows to keep a distance out of respect, but it's still too close for comfort. "[Surname]-chan! Quick question," she calls with a chirpy tone all too similar to Komori's. [Name] nods on instinct. "Are you and Motoya-kun dating?

The list of things [Name] absolutely despises is insanely lengthy, enough to cover the circumference of the planet at least thrice. There are plenty of points she doesn't remember loathing, but at the top of all those nonsense concepts stands other people pretending to be close to Motoya. He's Motoya for her, and she demands he be Komori-kun for this girl. "No, we aren't?" she replies with slight uncertainty. She knows they aren't dating and never will. She's had this conversation with more people than she can handle; enough to entertain the idea plenty of times. They're not close. "We're friends—best, I guess." Yet they're so close.

"Oh, that's great." [Name] doesn't bother concealing her displeasure when the girl sighs in relief. She's now grinning to herself with newfound hope. "Then, could you, ya know, get me his number? Help a girl out."

"No." A monosyllable resonates firmly and with unwavering vigor. For outsiders not familiar with her operation system, her tone is seethingly hostile. "He's right there; ask him yourself. It's not my place to do that." It sounds almost encouraging when the words hop off her tongue. She's only challenging this girl, pushing her over an edge to have her jump off her business—namely Komori Motoya. He will always reject any romantic advances from anyone and [Name] knows this. It's condescending, too.

The girl twists her features into a defeated pout. She throws a flitting glance at Komori as he steadily approaches with Sakusa by his side. A sigh flutters into the air, "It's just that I already asked him, but he very kindly said no. You know how he is." She giggles to herself. Of course [Name] knows how he is. "That's why I thought you guys were a thing."

It takes every amount of self control somehow existing dormant within [Name]'s conscience to hold herself back. She breathes in deeply to avoid spitting an exhausted snarl to get the point of Komori's rejection across. Being so close to him shoves her into unwanted situations. "If he already rejected you, then logically it means he's not interested." Being so detached allows her to not measure her natural frigidity.

An offended scowl tugs down on the girl's brows. Her mouth opens to hurl out either insults or cries of shame. Miraculously, as if he'd been waiting for his grand entrance, Komori manifests into [Name]'s field of vision. She wonders if he's nothing but a mirage as he rescues her from strenuous social interaction. "Hey, [Name], my love, my sky, my goddess, my dearest sweetheart. Kiyoomi's got his lunch, let's go." He motions her to follow and she simply nods in response. His beckoning hand acts as bait for the dumb fish she is.

Before [Name] can fully escape, the girl brushes her wrist with her fingers. [Name] recoils. The girl is almost breathless when she starts her exclamation of, "You said—"

"We aren't dating, he just does that a lot." She meets the glower stabbing into her eyes.

"Come on, my most precious wife."

"Anyway." [Name] gives a final nod to wrap up the conversation and chuck it into the trash before it can progress any further. "Don't call me that, Motoya." When she returns to him, she's practically clinging to his side. She stands closer to Sakusa to avoid Komori's playful fist.

"You love it, Komori-san."

She can only sigh out her chortles, "I will pay you to shut up."

[fancifulrealist]

what about haejun (never twice) and hanseo (vincenzo) twins! au crossover. Like a smart twin x a little less smarter twin dynamic and the smarter twin tries to help the other one out.

[david-watts]

nothing makes my blood boil more than seeing the piece of shit school I used to go to flying a pride flag outside. what do they have to take pride in? fraud?

[morporkian-cryptid]

The fandom : What is Lupin’s first name? What a mystery, we may never know.

Me, neck deep in research about the naming conventions of samurais in the Edo era: Forget about Lupin, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOEMON’S NAME??? .

There’s a very strong chance that Goemon Ishikawa XIII is an alias.

I know that Goemon is probably the least mysterious character in the whole franchise, and the one we have the most lore about, and I’m overanalysing, BUT I’m a nerd with a special interest on medieval Japan and too much time on my hands, and I’m about to make this everyone else’s problem.

(Disclaimer: I am in no way an expert on Japanese history, this is the result of a few days of Internet research; all my sources are listed at the bottom. Please don’t hesitate to correct me if I made mistakes!)

.

The first thing that tipped me off was the way the number is written in Goemon’s name.

Let’s look at his complete name in Japanese: 十三代目 石川 五ェ門 (Jūsan-daime Ishikawa Goemon)

Jūsan means “thirteen”. Notice how the number is the front, and followed by the suffix -daime; in contrast with ルパン三世 (Rupan Sansei) who has the number at the end and followed by the suffix -sei.

I’ve already mentioned it here (x): -sei is a counter for generations, while -daime is a counter for positions or titles. So basically, Lupin Sansei would translate to “Lupin, third of his name” while Jusan-daime Ishikawa Goemon would translate to “the thirteenth person to hold the title of Goemon Ishikawa”.

The “Number-daime Name” pattern is famously used by kabuki actors. Names are passed on along lines of actors, who are not necessarily related. Actors formally change their names during a ceremony called Shūmei.

So, just judging by the shape of his name, it’s likely that Goemon acquired this name later in life, and wasn’t born with it.

.

On top of that, you’ve got Edo era samurai naming conventions, and oooooh boi does this complicate things! :D

Goemon is basically a walking-talking-anachronism, if he could live in the Edo era he would, and barring that, he does his best to live in the 21st century pretending it’s Edo-era Japan. (see Part 1 episode 5: “I’m not weird, it’s every other Japanese person who’s weird.”) His name is also the same as all his ancestors, most of whom lived in the Edo era. So it’s not a stretch to assume that his name follows the customs of that time. And in the Edo era, names were a MESS.

(Please note that the following information is an attempt to coherently describe a custom that evolved without strict rules. Also, the naming conventions described below apply mostly to nobles and the samurai class, not to commoners.)

First off, Edo-era samurais typically had 4 parts in their names.

Two surnames:

Myōji: household (or ie) name, chosen by the family, often named after a local landmark.

Ujina: clan (or uji) name, given by the emperor, refers to the larger clan that the household branches off from.

Two “first” names:

Jitsumei: “true” first name, which typically remains private: only your family, close friends and your lord can call you by your jitsumei, and if anyone else does it, it’s super rude. Most people don’t even know your jitsumei.

Tsūshō: public first name, kind of a formal nickname.

And then you have the

Childhood name: that’s the first name you’re actually born with, but when boys come of age, they stop using it, and instead receive a jitsumei and a tsūshō. Boys’ childhood names often end with -maru. (Apparently this doesn’t apply to women, who kept the same name throughout their lives.)

Then it gets even more complicated. An uji (a clan) usually contains multiple ie (households). When an ie grows big enough, it splits into multiple smaller ie. A person can use the name of any of the ie along the family tree as their own surname, sometimes using multiple names depending on the situation and who they’re trying to impress.

.

In Goemon’s case, this is what his name probably looks like:

Myōji (household family name) : Ishikawa

Ujina (formal clan title) : Minamoto (the Ishikawa ie (household) branches off from the Seiwa Genji ie, which itself is part of the Minamoto uji (clan) )

Jitsumei (true first name) : ???

Tsūshō (public first name) : Goemon

So, not only is Goemon not his birth name (that would be his childhood name, which he does not use anymore), but it’s also not his “true” name, more of a formal nickname that people are allowed to call him.

.

You thought this was already a mess? Don’t worry, it gets worse!! :D

Not only did samurais change their names when coming of age, they could also change it multiple times in their lives, for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to:

to signify that they had attained a higher social status

to demonstrate their allegiance to a house or clan

to show that they had succeeded to the headship of a family or company

to shed bad luck that was attached to an inauspicious name

to avoid being mistaken for a neighbour with a similar name

The third option (succession to the headship of a family) could totally apply to Goemon. So if that’s the case, that means he would have been born with a childhood name (unknown), then changed it to an adult name (unknown), then changed it again to a new name (Goemon) signifying his position as the head of the Ishikawa household.

.

Btw, we don’t know if all of his ancestors were named Goemon, but we know that at least a few were:

In Part 6 ep. 5 and 6 “The Imperial City Dreams Of Thieves”, Goemon the Thirteenth assumes the identity of his grandfather and still uses the name Goemon Ishikawa

In Part 2 ep. 24 “Rats To You”, Goemon Ishikawa the Tenth and Goemon Ishikawa the Eleventh are mentioned

.

So, in conclusion: what the hell is Goemon Ishikawa XIII’s actual name? Fuck if I know, but it sure as hell isn’t Goemon.

.

PS: Regardless of what his birth name is, I think we can safely assume that he is really descended from the OG Goemon Ishikawa. Even though name succession in Japan (or at least in kabuki and other performance arts) doesn’t require a blood relation, Goemon did state multiple times that Goemon Ishikawa the First was his ancestor. It is possible that he or other ancestors were adopted into the family, as adoptions were frequent in the Edo era; but during that period, an adopted child had the exact same status as a genetic child, and was considered a part of the family just like everyone else. So, even if he’s not genetically descended from the OG Goemon, he’s still legally descended from him.

PPS: slightly off topic, but I couldn’t resist mentioning additional bits of trivia:

The kanji in the name Ishikawa mean “river of stones”. It’s the 19th most common surname in Japan. It’s also the name of a region, which the family is likely named after.

The historical Goemon Ishikawa’s name is written 石川 五右衛門 (last name - first name), while in the anime both he and Goemon Ishikawa the Thirteenth’s names are written 石川 五ェ門 (last name - first name). The third kanji of the first name differs ( 衛 in the historical spelling, ェ in the anime).

Wikipedia says that the historical Goemon Ishikawa probably used that name as an alias. Wikipedia gives “Kuronashin Sanada” as a possible “real” name. Interestingly, the Sanada ie and the Ishikawa ie both branch off from the larger Seiwa Genji ie and the Minamoto uji.

 .

Sources (if you want more info about the wonderful world of Japanese names throughout history):

Tofugu – A long history of Japanese names

Wikipedia – Shūmei (Japanese page, translated with Deepl)

Wikipedia – Japanese names : Historical names

Linfamy on Youtube – Why are samurai names so long?

Linfamy on Youtube – Why did samurais keep changing and reusing names?

Wiktionary - 世 (-sei) - see “Japanese”

Jisho - 世 (-sei) - see “Counter”

Jisho - 代目(-daime) - see “Counter”

Huge thanks to my sister @aime-aine , who helped me research all of this, used her knowledge of Japanese to help me read Wikipedia pages in their original languages, provided me with several of the above articles, and listened to me infodump about samurai naming conventions in medieval Japan for a whole evening. Aime, I love you so so much <3

[limetimo]

i'm having an amazing time, thank you! <3

oh, I'm part manifesting it's existence by putting the idea out in the open, part hoping someone has already written it and a beautiful soul will share a link; and a part of me is eyeing my overflowing WIP folder and deciding if I'm feeling up to tackling the challenge myself 😬

it'd be Young!Andrew POV (obviously), starting with an officer at juvie telling him he's got a visitor. Andrew is not very happy about this, the list of people interested in him is very short and nobody he wants to see. (If he wanted things, that is.) He does not expect a man that looks just like him (except bigger) (not taller, tho), wielding a birth certificate, claiming to be his father; claiming he wants to take Andrew home with him. .

(Not sure what Adult!Andrew's surname would be, if he kept Minyard (Tilda's brother is a Hemmick which implies she has been married at some point??) or if he took Josten or if he and Neil bought different identities entirely.)( answered this question to myself not five minutes later lol)

This is what Andrew No-Longer-Doe learns about his father:

Was overseas for the last 10+ years, only recently came back and found out about Andrew and Aaron.

his full name is Andrew Aaron Minyard. 0 points for creativity to Tilda.

he doesnt try to grab at Andrew

he doesn't really touch anybody, not even his weird friend who looks like he went three rounds with a meat grinder and lost

he's sorta loaded, if the sports car and the house are any indication (Neil looted some of his mother's stashes he knew they didn't use on the run)

(Neil is probably mansplaining manspreading manipulating manslaughtering at Nathan's assets and estabilishing himself as an anonymous but influential player on the American organised crime scene.)

They (because Pops (sarcastic&derogatory) and Neil are attached at the hip) live near Aaron, but not too close as to interact with Tilda or Luther

Neil and Pops are sharing a room

Neil and Pops both wear armbands just like Andrew. Neil and Pops both carry knives in their armbands.

he offers to teach Andrew how to fight. With knifes.

he believes him. He believes him without question.

"would you feel safer if he was gone?" Neil asks one night after nightmares kept them awake. He just nods and sips his disgusting black coffee when Andrew says yes.

Drake dies a week later. Andrew refuses to feel gratitude.

Neil is an Exy fanatic and Pops indulges him. Disgusting.

He and Pops have the same preference for sweets They both mock Neil's rabbit food (though there is Something in Pop's voice when he calls Neil that.)

Aaron is at theirs more than at Tilda's house. They all notice the bruises and the drugs.

Tilda dies of overdose. Aaron wasn't there to keep her from choking on her own vomit. Andrew catches Neil and Pops having a Conversation about it.

Those fuckers know at least 6 different languages and learn more faster than Andrew can keep up, even with his Eidetic memory

multilingular chaos household

Cousin Nicky flies back from Germany to attend the funeral, hits on Neil right there over the coffin. Andrew threatens him with a knife. Neil is strangely charmed by the whole thing.

Aaron detox :/

Some years of everything going well ig

Andrew tells Kevin Day to shove his exy stick where the sun doesn't shine.

Not sure what I'd do with Young!Neil/Nathaniel, if they would hunt him down and pretend he's Neil's kid, or nephew, or if they let him be and the Foxes naturally and wait for Andrew to bring him home as his boyfriend… would depend on the vibes we'd end up having ig.

Hmm. Yes. Welp.

hiii! I just joined the fandom a few weeks ago (tbh I was sticking to ao3 as I was genuely afraid of tumblr ruining the experience with bad takes and petty drama, but so far so good lol) and I'm looking for people to follow and fic recs to devour. Your blog seemed like a pretty good place to start with the "networking" 🥰 I'm insane about Andreil and currently in a desperate need of a time travel fic where andrew and neil end up raising their younger selves (and Aaron), (do you see my vision?)

hope you're having a good day night and everything in between ^^

hi!! thank you! im glad you stumbled across my blog and i hope you feel safe and have fun here :)

i do see the vision, altho im not sure if ur asking me to write it or just discuss it or smth? either way, happy u reached out and hope u enjoy ur time in the fandom x :)

[louwhose]

Blind Spots | Flowers

AO3 | Previous | Next Well, I may not have posted a chapter yesterday, but I DO have this one today! I should theoretically be able to finish the rest of the story on time, but... we shall see.

flowers | noun

flow·​ers | \ ˈflau̇(-ə)rs \

1d : a cut stem of a plant with its flower

-

Thorn Princess.

Derived from Yor’s surname, or rather her maiden name, of Briar. The spines that accompany a flower. The thorns that protect a wild rose.

Of course, Yor hadn’t been clever enough to come up with it herself. No, that credit was due to the Shopkeeper.

Yes, the Shopkeeper, the Gardener of Garden. Her coworkers weren’t quite as bad as Yor, but they were all hitmen, not exactly valued for their brains. The Shopkeeper was always the mind behind each operation.

So Yor chose to tell him about her discovery.

Of course, she spent quite a few days debating about whether or not she should. After all, it was so easy to ignore, and pretend that she had imagined the whole thing. Was it really so bad if Loid was a spy for Westalis? Even the fact that they got along so well despite their opposing nationalities and conflicting interests gave her hope for peace beyond this cold war their countries were locked in.

But… their goals were just too different. Yor had married him to avoid discovery by the secret police, but it could hardly be good if the west knew she was an assassin either. And Loid was sharp. Sooner or later, he was bound to notice that something was off, if he hadn't already.

So Yor, after nearly a week of knowing Loid was a spy, she chose to call the Shopkeeper while her husband was away at work, whatever it was that he really did.

"Thorn Princess?" the kindly voice of the old man answered after a few rings. "You don't usually contact me. What is it?"

"Umm…" Yor hesitated. Not because the Shopkeeper was intimidating, at least not to her, but because this was something big, and important, and suddenly she didn't feel quite as certain that Loid was, in fact, a spy. But she had come this far. She might as well voice her suspicions, even if that was all they were.

"I think my husband might be a spy for Westalis!" she blurted.

All that came through the earpiece to the phone was the faint crackling and static that accompanied every call. Then finally, she heard a long breath being let out under the static. "What makes you think that?"

Yor explained how she had found the bug in Loid's room, and how she could think of no other possible explanation, and how there might be a scheme with Eden and Anya somehow involved.

The Shopkeeper sighed. "I can see why you thought that. It still might be for some other reason, but you're right, we can't discard the possibility that he might be a spy."

There was a suspenseful pause before he continued. "Do you think he might be Twilight?"

Yor froze. Twilight, the most infamous of all the spies, man of a thousand faces, able to infiltrate anywhere, do anything? While all of that did seem to be fairly in line with the kind of capability that Loid always showed, she didn't think that alone necessarily pointed to the two being one and the same. "Why?"

"We had so little reason to suspect him before. Your husband seems to have done an extremely good job of keeping his work removed from his home life, if he is indeed a spy."

Yor dragged a hand over her arm, as though there had been a chill in the air. “So he might be the best.”

“Yes.” There was a pause. “We’ll try to get some of our own people that are skilled in information gathering to try to confirm that Loid Forger is, in fact, a spy. It will be difficult, since a spy will take precautions to avoid detection. But until then, just act normal. We’ll let you know if we need you to do something.”

And just like that, the Shopkeeper hung up.

Yor slowly drew her hand away from her ear and let it clack back onto the receiver. Wondering what they might need her to do at all. She wasn’t good for much besides killing. Her hand started trembling before her thought process caught up with the emotion.

They might want her to kill Loid.

Of course. She was an assassin. What else was she good for? But that didn’t make it hurt any less, even as a possibility. Yor sunk to the floor, clutching her arms around her knees and crying into them.

Could she even do it? Kill Loid, or rather, an enemy spy? She wondered as she sobbed.

No, she realized with alarming clarity. No, she couldn’t. Because, no matter how much their professions opposed the other’s, he was Loid. Her husband, the one that she… loved?

Yes. Loved.

She realized it now.

Yor loved Loid. Had for… a while now. Might have first fallen for him when he stood up for her at that first date where he pretended to be her husband. And everything since had only built it up.

This little family was real, to her, anyway. And no matter what she was told to do, she couldn’t destroy it. She took this job to create peace for others, and… well, killing Loid was not the answer to that. If the Shopkeeper told her to do it anyway…

Yor clenched her fist.

She stood up and wiped her tears off of her cheeks, feeling the heat radiating from them after getting so worked up. She went into the bathroom and washed off her face, which both helped her to cool down and refreshed her.

The door opened and slammed shut, and Yor came out to see Anya bursting in, just back from school. She smiled.

“Mama! Mama!” Anya squealed, literally bouncing up and down with joy. “You’ll never guess what Sy-on boy said to me to—”

Anya’s ramble quickly came to a halt as she somehow tripped over her own feet and face planted on the floor.

Yor hurried over to help the girl back onto her feet.

“Are you alright?” Anya nodded, and besides her nose being a little red and her eyes a little wide, she didn’t look any worse for the wear. “What were you saying about Damian?”

“Mama.” Anya stared at Yor with an oddly determined expression on her face that managed to make her nervous. “Are you a good or a bad person?”

Yor’s jaw just dropped in shock. What was this now? Sure, she had been considering the fact that she might have to kill Loid, and hadn’t quite recovered from that train of thought once Anya came home, but what would make the girl question it?

Yor raised her hands defensively and waved furiously. “Good! I’m a good person!”

Anya nodded solemnly. “That’s good. I see, I see.”

Yor stood there, looking at her daughter and wondering if she should ask about the story again. Or about her day? Or maybe just offer to let her play for a while as she prepared a snack for her. Any of these were fine, really, but she was still reeling from that question out of the blue. It was hard to figure out what to do when you found out your daughter seemed to think you might be a bad person for some reason.

Of course, Anya had no consideration for this, and proceeded to ask a question that somehow managed to take Yor even more off-guard. “Do you like Papa?”

“O-of course!” she answered instantly, face starting to burn up to a bright red once again. She had barely managed to realize that she was, in fact, in love with Loid, and now to talk about it, with her daughter of all people. If she hadn’t just realized that she loved him romantically, it would have been no problem to admit it, since she had been aware of loving him in a broader sense for a while now and had no shame in admitting that. “I mean, of course I love him, just like I love you. Well, maybe not just like the way I love you, but…”

Yor trailed off, unsure of what she was trying to say. She must resemble a fire engine now. She buried her head in her hands.

And of course, that of all times was when Loid came home. With a bouquet of red roses clenched almost uncertainly in hand. Not nearly as large as the one Yuri brought that first time he came over, but that was truly ridiculous and this one was still large by any normal scale.

Of course, Yor only knew any of this by peeking out between her fingers, taking in his slightly perplexed expression as he tried to figure out what was happening here, with his wife beet-red and face in hands in front of his daughter.

“Papa!” Anya exclaimed, running over to him and hugging onto one leg. “Mama likes you!”

One corner of his mouth quirked up in something between understanding and amusement. “Well, I would hope so.”

She rested her chin on his leg, looking up at him pointedly. “No, Papa. Mama actually said that she loves you.”

“Oh?” Loid asked, raising an eyebrow before turning his gaze from his daughter to meet Yor’s eyes.

She immediately uncovered them from behind her hands as she explained. “I was just saying how I love both of you, of course. You’re both my only family, besides Yuri, after all. And…” No. She was not confessing yet. Not here, not like this. Not so totally unprepared to do so. She changed the subject. “What are the roses for?”

Loid looked back down at them. “Ah, I saw them on my way home from work.” He looked back up to meet her eyes again. “And thought of you.”

Yor felt her face warm up again, not from embarrassment, but from the warmth of being… loved? Was that it? The revelations she’d had in the past week made it seem unlikely, but she certainly felt like she was being loved.

“Papa and Mama are going to kiss!” Anya exclaimed. Yor’s attention turned back down to the girl looking back and forth between the two parents and felt the embarrassment creep back in.

Instead of loudly protesting with a “no” like she usually would, Yor just… considered it. And how, erm… nice it sounded.

Loid drew her attention again with a sigh as he leaned down to gently pull Anya off his leg. “Why don’t you go put your stuff down in your room, and we’ll get a snack for you once you’re out?”

Anya grumbled about being kept out of the “juicy stuff,” but went as she was asked.

Yor managed to shake herself out of her daze enough to walk over to where Loid was, first helping him out of his coat to hang it by the door, and then taking the bouquet from him. “I’ll put these in a vase. Thank you so much for these, Loid.”

And then, with a burst of confidence from she didn’t know where, Yor leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him. Just on the cheek, but still.

Then, too afraid to see how he would react to that, she hurried to the kitchen to get a vase and prepare the flowers. Loid did follow her a few moments later, setting to work on preparing Anya’s snack.

Yor went to place the vase on the table, listening to Loid and Anya’s banter absentmindedly as she carefully checked the arrangement to see that it was nicely done.

As she drew back to admire it finally, one hand lingered, and she was suddenly struck by a bit of melancholy. These flowers were beautiful, of course, but cut off from their roots, they wouldn’t stay alive very long, no matter how much water they had.

She couldn’t do much for the flowers. But Yor  would not let herself be cut off from her family.

If you have questions about Loid and the flowers like my brother did, I will simply ask you to please wait until the next chapter, because that should clear things up. Probably. If I did my job right. *sweats nervously* Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a comment! I love hearing what people think about my work (even if I'm not the best about replying)! Previous | Next

[just-an-enby-lemon]

This is kinda canon-meldy, but there were two movies were Velma was a villain. In one, she was hypnotized to be a Frankenstein-like mad scientist. In the other, she was pretending to be Cleopatra's ghost to scare off tomb robbers.

Do you think that when Dr. Crane heard about the first time, he saw a spark of potential in her? And do you think the Velma asked for him to teach her, so that she could pull off the Cleopatra's Ghost disguise more effectively?

That is an excelent question!

Now, I'll admit I'm not the best Scooby Doo fan. I used to love it as a kid but since then I'm only now restarting my Scooby jorney (totally influenced by the announce of Velma's being explicitly lesbian in the new movie). So I'll not enter in the discussion of how canonical other media events are to HHSD (except to attest that I don't think any of the other Batman Crossovers are cannon in the HHSD universe unless they happened after this movie events, as it is implied Crane is the first supervillan they catched and also Batman would have been at least name droped in movie if they had meet before).

Now let's go to the question itself.

YES. To both of them. Let me elaborate.

While it's heavilly implied that he being captured in HHSD is the first time they meet, Crane seems to be already familiarized with the Scooby Gang and particularly with Velma, as he only speaks to her and calls her by her surname (wich she never gave). Now detective work is not something that interests Jonathan, Nygma of course, but Jon? He is just not that kindda of villan. He has two very specific loves and he focus on them and nothing more: fear and chemistry. In my opinion Crane already followed the adventures of Mistery Inc. on the news, but his focus was not in the group itself but the various criminals they arrested and their fear inducing tecniques. As he was focusing on the evil side of things when Velma temporarly joined it he finally noticed her and more important her scientific endevours, he found them impressive and decided to look up to see if she had any article or scientific papper and founded ratter genius homework chemistry assigments. After this, he was truly impressed by her and wished to teach her more about chemistry- he was a professor once - and trade ideas. By following her work he also found a local interview with the Mystery Incorporated where she stated her opinion about fear being unecessary and stupid and he decided he also needed to change her honestly awfully incorrect (in both his opnion and mine) views on the subject.

The second one is even a bigger yes. As the self-named "Master of Fear" Jonathan would be deeply ofended if she didn't.

Honestly Velma almost regreted asking when Crane started almost vibrating with proud enthusiasm, his basically baby sister asking help on how to scare someone? They grow up so fast. That being said he was actually very helpfull, using the same teaching tecquiniques he had developed as an university professor and being a total expert on the subject. He may have offered her some cannisters of fear toxin to add an extra terror to the heart of the robbers. But Velma politely decline because she isn't really evil, she is just taking a drastic measures. (Jonathan answered with a disapointed "your loss").

They also have a deal were she sometimes sends him footage of the cases so he can study fear tecniques and fear responses without having to gas people (the last part is Velma's reasoning). Crane is deeply interested on Scooby and Shaggy as test subjects and the only reason he never gassed them was in respect to Velma.

[robininthelabyrinth]

I'm pretty sure this is prompt four. Jiang Cheng/Qin Su - Jin Rusong as heir to Lotus Pier

ao3

Jiang Cheng heard the news in pieces, scraps of wild rumor and gossip repeated a hundred times over, but he still refused to believe it until he actually saw the official announcement.

Jin Guangyao had divorced his wife and sent her back to her father’s house, along with their son.

“Is he insane?” Jiang Cheng asked his second in command, who only shrugged helplessly. “Putting aside the fact that I’m certain that he loves her madly, putting everything else aside, Sect Leader Qin is influential and powerful, and a strong supporter of his father – no matter what happened between them, surely someone as pleasant and compromising as Jin Guangyao could find a way to work it out?”

Jiang Cheng had only met Qin Su a few times, always at Jin Guangyao’s side. He’d heard about how she’d fallen for the dashing young man that turned out to be Jin Guangyao and sworn to marry him, no matter the obstacles; he’d heard how they’d managed to overcome every storm, fight the wind and rain, and eventually made it to their marriage bed.

They’d even had a son together, little Jin Rusong; he was Jin Ling’s best playmate.

And Jin Guangyao was kicking him out? Kicking her out?

Absurd!

Who did he think he was?

And yet, contrary to Jiang Cheng’s expectations, Sect Leader Qin did not immediately explode, or, rather, within a few days, he did, but not in the way anyone had expected. Everyone had joked that he would find Jin Guangyao and strangle him, and he really did physically attack someone – but not Jin Guangyao.

He attacked Jin Guangshan instead.

It was as if he’d gone mad, red-eyed like Nie Mingjue in the throes of his qi deviation; he’d charged at Jin Guangshan, his old friend of thirty years or more, right in the middle of Jinlin Tower, and swiped at him viciously with his sword, cutting a gash in his chest as the surprised Jin sect leader darted back too slowly to wholly dodge.

What could be done? The Lanling Jin sect guards could not stand silently by with such provocation – they counter-attacked at once, and Sect Leader Qin did not survive. A little later, and it was discovered that he had never intended on it: his sword was laced with poison.

Sect Leader Qin died, but he took Jin Guangshan down with him the underworld.

The rumor mill exploded.

Everyone was talking about Sect Leader Qin’s motivations – the suspicious timing of the divorce – Jin Guangyao’s now inevitable ascension to the seat of Sect Leader Jin –

Only Jiang Cheng thought about Qin Su, who should have been ascending right beside him. It had been her father that had died, after all.

Laoling Qin was far enough away from Lanling Jin that they were still mostly independent, and they were close enough to the Qinghe Nie that Jiang Cheng could pretend that he’d only made a short detour on a visit directed towards Nie Huaisang, that notorious purveyor of gossip; luckily enough, Nie Huaisang remembered their old friendship and was more than happy to help cover his tracks.

When Jiang Cheng arrived, the house was already decked out in mourning. Qin Su greeted him, eyes red and swollen from tears.

“I’m sorry,” Jiang Cheng said awkwardly, then flinched when he realized he probably should have said something in greeting first – they really didn’t know each other well enough to skip over all that.

Nevertheless, Qin Su nodded, forgiving him the slip-up before he could even retract it. She was gracious and gentle, kind and quiet, economical and thoughtful – a consummate hostess. The wife of Jin Guangyao could not afford to be anything less.

Former wife.

Jiang Cheng’s gaze danced around the room, searching for something to say, and then abruptly he noticed – “There are two deaths in your household?”

“My mother took her own life,” Qin Su said, her voice dull. She tried to suppress it, but tears gathered in her eyes again. “Shortly before…”

Whatever it was that Jin Guangshan had done that had driven Sect Leader Qin mad, it had involved his wife, Jiang Cheng thought, and then abruptly he turned pale as he put two and two together. He’d never doubted that Jin Guangyao had adored Qin Su, so why would he divorce her?

Unless…

Jin Guangshan had a reputation.

Qin Su laughed a little, a bitter sound. “Everyone will know, soon enough,” she said wisely, seeing that Jiang Cheng had figured it out. “I don’t blame my former husband at all; he acted as he ought to in every respect. It’s only my poor A-Song…I can’t imagine what his life will be like from now on.”

Jiang Cheng looked helplessly at her. To lose not only your parents, one right after the other, but your husband, your reputation, and next even your son…

“Marry me,” he said suddenly, and Qin Su stared at him. “If Sect Leader Jin’s assault were recent rather than ancient, it would have provoked the same result. The only reason anyone might suspect the truth is because of the timing of your divorce – if there’s a reason given for that, people won’t think twice about it.”

His words had come out all in a rush, smashing together like stones tossed around by a waterfall; he hadn’t thought of the idea until right this moment.

“Are you suggesting I admit to adultery?” she asked. Her eyes were as round as the full moon.

Jiang Cheng shrugged, a little helpless. “Your reputation is gone,” he pointed out, wishing he knew how to be kind or tactful. “Adultery or incest – it’s the same either way for you. But for A-Song…”

To be the son of an adulterous woman was disgraceful, but such things happened and people generally looked the other way, as long as the real father was powerful enough.

It was better than being a child of incest.

“But what of your reputation?” she asked. “Sect Leader Jiang, you can’t. I won’t let you injure yourself for my sake.”

“Not for you,” he said, though maybe it was, just a little bit. The loss of your parents, the loss of your whole life, everything you’d ever believed – who could understand that better than him? “For A-Song. He’s Jin Ling’s best friend.”

Qin Su had always been kind to Jin Ling, he thought. She didn’t need to be, could just tolerate him the way most people in Jinlin Tower did, but she really seemed to like him…

It occurred to him suddenly that Qin Su met all of his requirements for a bride: a beauty from a good family, obedient, economical, with a mild personality who wasn’t too loud and wasn’t too talkative, who was good to Jin Ling…

“How’s your cultivation?” he asked abruptly. “Do you know how to cook?”

“Mediocre,” she said, blinking at him. “And I’m better at baking, I think. I like making sweets.”

“Good,” Jiang Cheng said, relieved. “That’s – good. I’m glad. Will you marry me?”

Qin Su bit her lip. “Let me think about it?”

Thoughtful, he added to the list. Cautious, not reckless.

“Take all the time you need,” he said.

She came back to him two shichen later. “What happens to A-Song?” she asked.

“I’ll adopt him as my own,” Jiang Cheng said. “Or he can keep the surname Jin, if you prefer. And if Lianfeng-zun agrees, which I think he will – it’s his birthright, after all.” Too many times over. “Jin Ling lives with me sometimes; they can grow up as cousins, the way they should.”

Qin Su nodded, lips trembling a little. “You won’t regret this?”

“I might,” Jiang Cheng admitted. “But I’m probably not going to marry anyone else, and I’m willing. Are you?”

“I am,” she said, and smiled at him. Her eyes were still red, and the smile shaky, but it was something. “Thank you. I…no, never mind.”

“If we’re going to be married, you’re going to need to learn to ask things of me,” he reminded her.

Qin Su wiped her eyes. “Yes, but there’s asking reasonable things, and then there’s asking to alert my former husband before we announce our engagement.”

“Oh, no, that’s a great idea,” Jiang Cheng said, immediately relieved. “If there’s one thing Lianfeng-zun knows, it’s how to manage an announcement of that sort of magnitude. We should definitely tell him.”

Qin Su’s smile this time was stronger.

Nie Huaisang pulled a few strings and got Jin Guangyao to come over to the Unclean Realm, and when he walked in and saw Qin Su, he flinched. Jiang Cheng could see on his face that he still loved her, and he felt bad for him – not enough to stop, but still.

“I see,” Jin Guangyao said, hearing the plan. His expression was surprisingly neutral – thoughtful, but not as upset as Jiang Cheng would have expected. “It’s not a bad idea. And you don’t even need to admit to adultery, either.”

“We don’t?” Jiang Cheng asked, surprised.

“We can say that my marriage with A-Su broke down after my father’s actions - painting them as recent, rather than ancient,” Jin Guangyao explained. “I didn’t feel I could oppose him, she had no choice but to do so – it was an irrevocable breach. You came to comfort her, having met her during your visits with Jin Ling, and her sect is in need of support…you can say it developed naturally from there. It might not work to quell the rumors, of course, but it would at least provide a way to save face in public…Leave it to me.”

“Thank you, A-Yao,” Qin Su said quietly, and he smiled at her, pained.

“Just be happy,” he said to her, then looked at Jiang Cheng. “Treat her well.”

“I will,” Jiang Cheng promised, and took her by the hand. “I swear.”

-

It was a few years later. Nie Huaisang sat beside Jiang Cheng.

“I think he killed my brother,” he said, playing with his fan. “I’m going to destroy him.”

Jiang Cheng stared at the newest memorial tablet in the Lotus Pier, his hands clenched into fists with knuckles turned white.

“Good,” he said, voice savage. “I’ll help.”

[hakka84]

I was about to reply (in private) to the ask, but since you also replied through a reblog, I'll do it publicly. :)

I think we already "crossed swords" on the "Uhura actress" theme on someone else's post, so allow me to refrain from getting into it again. Let's agree we will never agree on it.

To be fair, as I might've said already in the post mentioned above, I too fail to see Celia Rose Gooding as a younger Nichelle Nichols. The issue never crossed (and still doesn't cross) my mind with Zoe Saldana because with AOS there isn't such a close link with TOS. Sure, they are the same characters, but everything is so different that they could even be genetically different and just have the name and surname and general birth decade in common (at least two characters are hinted to have born earlier than their TOS counterparts, to be able to be there on the bridge together!). Cho's Sulu could be the son of Mr.Sulu and a different woman, for what we know (and that could explain why he's played by a South Korean actor, when Takei is Japanese, and also why Takei didn't agree with Sulu being gay which would mean that, at least for him, TOS!Sulu isn't gay I guess?).

With Strange New Words, though... I'm supposed to watch, say, Paul Weasley in S1 last episode and believe that he's the very same guy, same stardate, same events, different ship chair of Shatner's Kirk in Balance of Terror. I know, prequels - you're supposed to oversee the different actors and all. But usually you get prequels set ten, even twenty and more years before the "main" material. You get prequels when the original adults are still teens, or when original parents are still children (or the original adults are barely newborns and the story is about their parents/families - see Star Wars Prequels Vs Original Trilogy). You usually don't get prequels that are set like 5 years before the "main" material.

My beef with Strange New Worlds is that... they didn't even try to make the characters similar/coherent to the TOS ones. Let's not talk about Spock and the inconsistencies with his relationship with T'Pring - he's an alien, we can pretend at some point something happened to change him so drastically. Besides, he was less stunted and definitely more smiling in The Cage anyway. But the others TOS-original characters? Meh. We don't know much of doctor M'Benga, besides that he's now CMO under Pike but isn't under Kirk - they'll have to explain why he was demoted at some point. Other than that, he's blank, they can make with him everything they want. Same with Una. She's as emotionless as a robot in The Cage, and Rebecca Romijn's is a fresh update to the character. Then we have Pike and Uhura - they are as physically and in nature/attitude distant from their TOS counterparts as they could. No harm done with Pike, since you can't not love Anson Mount's Pike, while Jefffrey Hunter's swings from bland to annoying, depending on the scene.

Uhura's, on the other hand... I think it's the Cumberbatch's Khan effect here at play - the character works, and is well written and charming on its own, yet it would've been better to make it an OC instead. They really wanted to force Uhura in Strange New Worlds when it wasn't necessary (as she wasn't part of Pike's crew in The Cage). Not only did they had her have a training run on the Enterprise that lasted all a season, but - judging from promo material released so far - she gets promoted/included to stable crewmember in Season 2. IMHO, it would've given them more freedom by casting Celia Rose Gooding as a brand-new character. Ortegas is, and she's a wonderful character - we're not missing anything just because she isn't a TOS-character, right? Why then force Uhura in this? With characters from The Cage that never got used again, why pick one of the "Five Non-Main"? The more you include characters from TOS the more you have to be careful with the canon to not break anything. Same can be said for objects/things, plots and alien races.

And so we're back to the topic with Chapel. Chapel could be named Kristina Snapel at this point and you wouldn't miss a thing. The only thing in common with Majel Barrett's, is the feelings for Spock and that she serves as nurse. That's it. Character wise, is a total different person. A good character, actually! Just, not the Christine Chapel we know.

As for the pairing(s).

When I discovered AOS it was early 2010 (I think). I was suggested to watch Star Trek, and I watched it in chronological order (TOS->TOS Movies->ST 2009). You have no idea how much I hated Spock/Uhura back then. Like VERY MUCH. I didn't write them, but I did play in my mind with the (now I understand stupid and harmful and narratively wrong) trope of "evil jealous Uhura who hates Kirk". I just couldn't stand them (to be fair, it was because of how poorly they had been introduced, making them both look unprofessional with the timing of the romantic scenes, and the way they made Uhura act, bordering on clingy!girlfriend stereotype material). I've come accept the pair with Into Darkness, as they were painted as a more healthy and mature couple, and by Beyond I'm fine with it, so much that I've jumped on the whole "Beyond ignored ID" so to elaborate a theory that ID and Beyond are two divergences of 2009, so to keep both Spuhura and have a chance at Spick. One direction goes straight from ST XI to ID and develops into Spirk (or Kirk/Spock/Uhura) and another fork heading straight toward Beyond and established Spock/Uhura) but that's me getting offtopic.

It might be me being in a niche, or not following the "right" people, or Tumblr might just be the wrong place (I follow on Twitter an artist who is here on Tumblr as well: on TW they are soft-key complaining about "recent Spock developments" but they haven't said anything here on Tumblr), but I don't see much backlash. After I made the original post, I went into the Christine Chapel tag here on Tumblr and there were literally only two/three Spock/Chapel enthusiasts posting and no complaints? I have nothing against the pair either - I ship hard Spirk so I can't really judge other non-TOS-canon-ship shippers. And good for them fans if they already shipped Spock/Chapel in TOS. Me? I was already annoyed by the closeness between the two as per Season 1. Frankly this is the nail on the coffin. If I didn't already stick to my "Burnham mother's as the Red Angel unwittingly created a time divergence so Disco and SNW belong to another timeline" headcanon, I'd be foaming from the mouth by now. But, since I do, I'm not here, being all zen and waiting for Season 2 to drop and give me some good entertaining with brand-new, alternate version of the characters I know.

Said all this. While I still don't agree on your opinion on Celia Rose Gooding, I can understand where you come from, for it's how I had to face the original X-Men movies trilogy. I don't know if you're familiar. But my fave - like favest comic book character, possibly my favest character ever - is Angel/Archangel/Warren Worthington III. Who is, by Marvel comics canon, handsome - like, very, very handsome - the kind of guy that would make everyone''s head turn and droll, in an angelic way though. The comic version of 90s Brad Pitt-status? Get it. Almost 17 years later, and I still can't swallow the casting for his character. Because the actor picked (Ben Foster), while certainly talented, is bland and not astonishingly handsome.

(I'm tired and have an headache so this ramble might not make sense)

Here, I can offer an old Spuhura manip of mine to raise your sour mood. Enjoy. ;)

Strange New Worlds S2

I don’t get how Strange New Worlds can still be sold as a TOS prequel at this point. Just admit it’s an AU and so be it. I swear.

People who spent the most part of the recent 10s shitting on the Kelvin Trilogy for changing the characters, insulting J.J. because he didn’t stick to TOS characterizations and relationships (despite the movies being officially marketed as an AU from the start)… have nothing to say on Strange New Worlds retcons and blatant ways of ignoring TOS-canon?

More behind the cut, in case you haven’t seen promos/trailers.

Keep reading

[rebelwrites]

Trouble Is Your Middle Name

Dominic Toretto x Sister Reader

A/N this is my fic for Fanfic Friday

Join The Group Chat Here - If You Want Tagging Manually Let Me Know 🖤

Dominic Toretto Masterlist

This Months Writing

There were two rules you had, two rules your half brother gave you when he promised to take you in when you had nowhere else to go.

Rule One you kept up with your studying, just because you had the surname Toretto didn’t mean you could slack off, he wanted the best for you and not to end up like him or the rest of the family.

Rule two was you would keep out of trouble. Stay off the police radar and keep your head clean.

The first rule was easy and you were keeping your grades up and would be ready to sit the Bar soon enough, becoming the first lawyer within the family. But the second rule was hard, you grew up around cars and the fast life so it was in your blood.

It had been a long and exhausting week of studying and you needed a break, before you exploded. So as you climbed into the driver's seat of your Hellcat you went into auto pilot, cruising through the streets until you found an empty parking lot. You needed to let some steam off, it was late so you were less likely to get caught, or that’s what you thought. Little did you know you had a cop following you ever since you left the campus library.

A few burnouts and donuts never hurt anyone.

There was something about throwing the car about that made you feel free, the smell of burning rubber was one of the best smells and you found it relaxing. There was no doubt that you were a Toretto, it didn’t matter that you didn’t have the same mother as Dom and Mia, all that mattered was the Toretto blood than ran threw your veins.

You were in your own little world as you tore up the car park, leaving tyre marks as you went, to even notice the cop had put his lights on. It was only when you heard the blip of his siren you knew you were fucked. And you had broken rule number two.

“Fuck,” you mumbled bringing the car to a stop, killing the engine before slowly climbing out of the car.

“Should have known it would have been a Toretto,” the cop scoffed, instantly getting your back up.

“Talk about pre-judgement,” you mumbled under your breath.

“What was that Toretto?” The cop spat.

“Nothing,” you shrugged. “Look can I just go and we pretend this never happened?”

“I’ve been watching you all night, ever since you left campus, so far I can do you for speeding, reckless driving, criminal damage, and I’m sure if I looked probably illegal modifications,” he said, puffing his chest out.

“Look, do what you gotta do, I need to know what’s happening with the car so I can arrange a lift,” you said calmly, when inside you were panicking. You knew Dom was going to flip.

“I’m tempted to seize the car,” he laughed.

“Do it,” you shrugged, pulling your phone out, looking for Dom’s name, hitting call.

Within three rings he answered.

“You do realise the time right?” He laughed.

“Yeah I do but I need you, look don’t flip out but I went to let off some steam in an empty parking lot,” you sighed, “turns out a cop followed me from the campus and is tryna do me for so many things. And is now threatening to seize the hellcat.”

“Fuck sake, Y/N. What did I say?” Dom shouted.

“I know I broke rule two and I’m sorry okay.” You mumbled. “Just please come down, I don’t like the look of this cop, he is giving me the creeps.”

“Say no more kiddo, I’m on my way, ping me your location.” Dom said softly, he knew you didn’t get scared or creeped out often so he trusted your feelings. “I will bring the busta as well. Don’t worry.”

It didn’t take long before you heard the sound of Dom and Brian speeding down the street, pulling into the parking lot, parking with your car.

Dom jumped out the car, instantly pulling you into his arms. It didn’t matter that you were half siblings, neither of you saw each other as that. You were blood and he was going to do anything he could to keep you safe.

“Has he touched you?” He asked.

“No, thank god,” you whispered looking up at him. “I’m sorry, I should have come straight home.”

“It’s fine kiddo, I know you are stressed.” Dom smiled softly, kissing the top of your head, before letting you go.

“Oh so I see you called your half brother,” the cop laughed, “thought you were meant to be a Toretto?”

“You wanna shut your fucking mouth officer,” Dom snapped, pushing you behind him. “I mean is it that slow of a night that you have to follow a young woman and keep her blocked in a parking lot at eleven pm?”

“She was breaking the law,” the officer shrugged, “and just one look at her car tells me that it’s been illegally modified,”

“Well I’ve just had a walk around your car and I can find at least three different violations,” Brian said calmly. “For starters your tyres are bald, you have a brake light out, and the window wiper is broken, that is just from walking around the car.”

“What would your chief say if we reported you?” Dom said, “told him all the issues with your car and how you made a young woman feel uncomfortable. I’m not quite sure that would go down well.”

“Dom my dash cam is still recording,” you whispered.

“And we have proof,” Dom laughed, stepping closer to the cop. “So here is what’s gonna happen, you are going to climb back into your squad car and drive off, pretending that this never happened, that my little sister was never here.”

“But she obviously was here,” the cop laughed.

“I mean it’s our word against yours, these tyre marks could have been from anyone,” Brian shrugged, “and plus Y/N has been with me working on my car.”

“Fine,” the cop huffed, “but if I catch you driving so much one mile an hour over the speed limit I will be coming for you.”

“And then I will just come after you and send this little video to your chief.” Dom hissed. “Now get the fuck out of here and go you know, be a police officer.”

The three of you stood there, watching as he pulled out of the parking lot, driving off into the distance.

“Thank you,” you whispered, hugging Dom. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause you any trouble.”

“You are kidding right?” Dom laughed, “Trouble is your middle name”

“So you aren’t mad?” You asked looking up at him.

“What is there to be mad about? You were never here remember,” Dom laughed, “Now come on let’s get you home.”

@chibsytelford @phoenixhalliwell @galaxysanduniversesinmymind @withmyteeth “jessprins13 @rightwhereiwantyou @jasonbabymama @pumpkin-spice-hate @garbinge @zozebo