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that-yandere-life · 3 years ago

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How would yandere Peter Parker(Tom Holland version) and poly yanderes Stucky react to reader living with their friend and she and her friend are roomies? Let’s make it a male roomie since I need some drama

[Warnings: Yandere Themes *Obviously*, Break-in, violence, beating, murder, mentions of blood, knives, descriptive unaliving scene.]

Peter (Tom)-

Peter will hear you talk about your roommate Alex from time to time but has never met them and they have a kind of gender neutral name so he doesn’t automatically think it’s a male or anything like that.

However once he meets them and sees how close the two of you are he will go into instant possessive mode without you even realizing it at first.

Constantly begging you to stay the night, purposefully drawing activities out so that it gets too late for you to leave, and he is a responsible Spider-Man he isn’t about to let you wander through the city at night even with him by your side.

Would want to straight up ask you to move in with him but he understands how that might seem a little abrupt and likely you would inquire as to why he all of the sudden wanted you to.

The conversation of moving in together never really has taken place previously, but he might mention it in passing just to see how you react to the subtle idea of it happening one day, not specifying a timeline.

If you accept, the problem is solved not that he would demand that you and your friend cut all ties, but more secure in the idea that you would be coming home to him every night instead of another man.

If you are apprehensive he will have to figure out another way to force you to come running to him rather than Alex, deciding that maybe a mock break in would solve the issue.

Hiring some somewhat questionable people to break in and rough up your roommate and scare the living hell out of you, firmly stating that you were not to be touched or harmed in any way.

Watching the scene from the window, swooping in when he was satisfied that you were thoroughly frightened and your roommate was bruised and bleeding to his liking, taking care of the intruders.

Meaning he just took them out and let them go, he couldn’t exactly take them to the police despite what he will tell you, they would easily flip on him getting him in trouble for his involvement.

Returning to you hysterical fussing over the injuries of your roommate, shaking and nearly sobbing until you saw Peter return, rushing over to him grasping onto him like you were going to disappear if you didn’t anchor yourself to him.

Asking Alex if he needed medical assistance he declined, then Peter inquired if he had a place to stay for the night, eagerly ready to take you home with him where it was safe, not actually giving two thoughts to the man’s safety just putting on a front for your sake.

Confirming that they had somewhere to go and watched as they called to make sure, walking you over to your room having you pack some things, telling you that he would feel better if you stayed with him for a while.

Never intending on letting you ever go back but you were unaware of his true intentions behind his caring actions, leaning on the man you trusted most for comfort and that was him at the end of the day.

Settling you into his house with ease, making you some hot chocolate or tea, his aunt taught him long ago the healing effects of a warm beverage after a harsh event has taken place.

Soothing your fears and worries about what had happened, hating that it had to come to this but this was just the wedge he needed to get you away from a possible interloper who could interfere with your relationship.

By the end of the week he will have convinced you to just stay with him, while it won’t end your friendship with Alex, it will put distance between the two of you and instead that time would now be devoted to Peter just how he wanted.

Everything was done just right so that you don’t suspect that he could have possibly had a hand in what happened, he was highly intelligent even if sometimes his excuses were a bit shoddy.

Planning each thing out with strategic perfection, playing out exactly the way he intended, manipulating the situation to his advantage, leaving you reaching for him, even if he had to traumatize you a little in the process.

At the end of the day you belonged to him, and only him, he would forever make sure of it.

Poly Stucky-

Bucky will be the one to find out that you are living with a male roommate, as he tends to get a little stalkerish at times when it comes to you, following you in the shadows leaving you feeling like you were constantly being watched… and technically you were.

Instantly he will have to control himself from busting in and beating the guy to a pulp, wanting nothing more than to demand to know why you hadn’t told them who you were living with.

Incredibly insecure already when it comes to being in a relationship and sharing you with his best friend this information might push him over the top ready to spring into action to ensure his place in your life.

Calling Steve up when he was far enough away to be out of possible earshot of you, informing him of what he had witnessed, ranting and raving before asking what they should do about it.

Thankfully Steve has a more level head when it comes to these kinds of situations, beckoning Bucky back to their place so that they could come up with an actual plan instead of flying by the seats of their pants.

Pacing the floor once he got there, throwing his hands up in the air every once in a while at his own intrusive thoughts, anger seething out of every ounce of his being, quite apparent to his other half.

Calmly placing a hand on Bucky’s shoulder telling him to take some deep breaths, that it wasn’t the right headspace to be in if they wanted to actually do something about it.

Nodding he inhaled and exhaled for four seconds doing his combat breathing to soothe himself, taking a few moments to engage in this before turning his attention back to Steve telling him he was ready.

Now they could have just asked you about them, but instead they decided that it was best that they appeared as if they had no idea who your roommate was, as you had mentioned them but never went into heavy detail.

Steve would be with you to make sure you didn’t get caught in the crossfire, while Bucky would be on a mission to get rid of your friend, although the mission you were informed he was taking part in was far from the truth.

Watching Television with you and your roommate Todd who you had introduced Steve to, you all decided you wanted take-out so he offered to go pick it up for the three of you, all according to plan.

Venturing out, Steve sent a sly text letting Bucky know what restaurant they were going to be walking to, but they never would return back home.

Yanking Todd into an alleyway, covering his mouth so any efforts to scream were dampened, holding a knife at his neck, whispering threats to silence him.

Not that the guy understood that either way he wasn’t getting out of this encounter alive, quickly and effortlessly slitting the guy's throat, tilting it back so that blood was spraying all over the side of the building in front of them.

Holding him like that until his body went limp, his face and eyes still held the fear and anguish he had experienced as he was thrown to the ground carelessly, as if he were a mere addition to the garbage sitting around him.

Seeing Todd’s cell phone light up with your name on it, quickly stomping on it repeatedly to destroy the means for you to track the friend in the near future, fully aware that the body would be found at some point.

Bucky wipes the knife off on Todd’s shirt before disappearing into the dusk that had fallen over the city, returning to their home to clean himself up and remove any evidence, something he had grown quite efficient at over the years.

After all he is the Winter Soldier often referred to as a ghost story until everything became public after he was acquitted and deemed worthy of joining the Avenger’s in spite of Tony’s staunch protest.

Sending a message to Steve letting him know that the job was done, hoping that you wouldn’t be too distraught but knowing it was likely that they would be comforting you for a long time.

Part of him felt bad that he was going to be the source of your pain, but the other half was ecstatic to be a part of your comfort and solace after you were notified of the fate of your roommate and friend.

Meanwhile you were nervous as you tried over and over again to get ahold of Todd as they had never returned from their outing and it had been hours at that point, now it was just going to voicemail.

Deciding to call the police who were of little help as Todd was a grown adult who had only been missing for a couple of hours, but they took the report nonetheless, stating for you to keep trying to get in contact.

Steve stayed with you as you couldn’t stand to be alone, making Bucky incredibly envious but he was not supposed to be in the country as far as you knew so it wasn’t like he could just show up.

It was the next morning when there was a knock on the door, wrapping a robe around your waist getting up off the couch where both of you fell asleep, you opened it revealing uniformed officers who notified you that your friend’s body had been discovered in an alleyway in the early hours by a garbage truck driver.

Falling to the ground you were sobbing so harshly your body was trembling, Steve getting down on the floor pulling you into his arms, burying your face in his chest, gripping his shirt tightly in your first.

Thanking the officers he shut the door from where he sat, not wanting to leave you even for a second, wishing that he could call Buck and tell him to get his ass over there, but unable to move.

Asking a million questions that you knew he didn’t have the answer to, but needing to get them off your chest even if it was to the ether and not for the sake of actually hearing a response.

Promising you that he wouldn’t rest until he found out what happened to your friend, wanting to provide you with some sort of respite, even if he had to lie and tell you that they had figured it out, or eventually that it would never be figured out.

Offering for you to stay with him and Bucky when you said you didn’t think you could stay there anymore, nodding softly you accepted his proposal trying to get to your feet to pack a few things not wanting to remain there any longer the rest of your things could wait.

Assisting you, he heard his phone start to ring, answering it as it was Bucky of course, who pretended like he got back from his trip early and had just gotten to the apartment wondering where Steve was.

Explaining the situation which he was already fully aware of but reacting as if he had no idea or any involvement in the fatal events surrounding the person, offering to come there to help but was told they would be coming to him.

Everything went according to plan, having you right where they wanted you at the end of the day, it was a tragic circumstance that brought the three of you even closer together, and that was something they would secretly relish in for the rest of their lives.

[I am sorry if this got darker than you were anticipating but I really wanted to get into the minds of them and figure out how they would actually react. Thank you so much for the idea, and I hope that you enjoy it! <3]

#yandere peter parker #yandere peter parker x reader #yandere stucky x reader #yandere stucky #yandere poly stucky x reader #yandere poly stucky #yandere marvel #dark peter parker x reader #dark peter parker #dark stucky x reader #dark stucky #dark poly stucky x reader #dark poly stucky #dark marvel

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starshipsofstarlord · 4 years ago

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World Revelations

@etherealsxnder

Warnings; spoilers for season 13, mentions of death, angst, lack of hope, some Alex Calvert x reader, and tiny bit of jack x reader, swearing, brief illusions to sex, angry brothers, mentions of a sex scene, insecurities, online hate, protective winchester brothers, apocalypse world, major character death, lucifer

(Y/A/N) – Your Acting Name.

A/N; it’s a little bit different from the request, so sorry about that, but I hope that any one that reads this enjoys. Also sorry about the wait, I had bad writers block, but when I started writing this it sorta figured itself out and I may have got carried away. Feel free to tell me what you think ☺️

“Look, I am not going to some other world to help stop Michael. But I can help you in another way, one where none of us get harmed.” Gabriel shrugged, reducing Sam’s expression to confusion. The archangel had felt like their last hope at retrieving their mother, into delving into the apocalypse world, and here he was, turning him down.

He had tried his very best to make the celestial being better, and here he was, talking again, able to use his grace rather than have it removed and syringed into a demon’s veins. However, he still refused, and the hunter had no other plan in forcing Gabriel into helping. This was the last shot, and it had been blown.

But however could he still help? This was the primary problem that had to be solved, there was no other route they could take to bring their family back together. And that was all that mattered in this life, saving people, remaining together.

“What are you talking ab-“ Before Sam could complete his question, Gabriel set him with a poised glare, and snapped his magical fingers, a spark of electric blue grace sparking from the action. That was all Sam saw before he felt himself transported, and once he opened his eyes, he remained in the bunker, however there were cameras around him, and an entire filming crew.

Gabriel had sent him to the other life, another world in which he presumed that he was called Jared. “What the hell Sammy?” Dean barked from beside him, twisting and turning his sights around, upon realising that although this looked like their home, it was an alternate version of it. A set, made of fake walls and truthless literature that was not at all necessary in this peaceful, monster-less realm. “Son of a bitch!”

“Cut!” One of the cameramen called out, shaking his head exasperatedly at the line said wrong. Jensen had been doing so well, and Jensen seemed to have slipped far too into character, to the point where he had forgotten his lines. “Do you need to see the script again, or would you rather take a short break?”

“I’ll go for the break.” Dean confirmed, grabbing Sam’s forearm and hastily dragging him from the onlookers, and towards which he assumed was his, well, Jensen’s trailer. It looked pretty much the same as last time. “Gabriel?” He asked, rightly assuming that the blame of this mishap ordeal was down to the glowing figure.

“He refused to help us open a rift.” Sam licked his lips, his eyes jutting around the luxurious space. “And then he snapped his fingers, and we were here.” Here, another earth. However this was not their home, it was a disfigured writing of it, if anything, it was worse than the books Chuck wrote. There were more fans, and more complications that came along with being here in place of the actors.

“We don’t have time for his tricks.” Sighed Dean, raking his hair with his rough hand. “Parading around as a painted whore is not on my agenda, all I care about is getting mum back, we have to get home quick.”

“Dean, I don’t think that this is a trick…” Sam spoke to his elder brother, in thought of Gabriel’s words. “He said he could help us in another way. I don’t think he meant taking us away from the problem, there must be something else.” No matter how much he rolled the idea around his head, he could come to no conclusion.

“What?” There was already plenty on the man’s mind, he didn’t need another incident coming their way. Dean was to begin speaking again, until a knock rapped against the door to his double’s trailer, intruding his mindset. Him and Sam shared a glance and frown until Dean called whomever was on the other side in, and to their dismay, he looked exactly like Castiel.

Misha Collins. Last time they had visited this place, he had died, but the return of the real selves must have somewhat fixed the timeline, he looked well, even if he still was dressed as their angelic friend. “Hey, I was seeing if you are ready for the scene tomorrow.”

“Scene? Which scene?” ‘Jared’ asked the colleague of his false identity, unaware of the context in which Misha spoke in. Dean only huffed and rolled his eyes, until Misha spoke, and he froze, both the brothers understanding Gabriel’s meaning for sending them to this world.

“(Y/N)’s death scene. Apparently it’s gonna be quite emotional, and it’ll be strange after, not having the kid on set anymore.” It was a revelation, a nightmare that foreshadowed the truth in their own dimension.

“Thanks uh- Misha.” ‘Jensen’ rubbed his hand over his face, shocked by the oncoming doom. They had already lost far too many members in their makeshift hunter family, but this was different. This was their sister, whom they had protected and vouched to continue doing since the day she was born. And now the universe had this grand plan of cutting her young life short, and sending her to either heaven or hell, where so many people they loved already were.

“Do you know where um, (Y/A/N) is right now?” Sam asked, desperate to somehow convince her to remain on the show. It was the only way in which he could save his younger sibling, and he would, by the gods, do anything that he possibly could. Him and Dean had already had meetings with death himself, he couldn’t allow the new version to come and take you.

Billy would not compromise, she was intent on having a Winchester under her cloak, forever taken from life, never to return to the living. And they couldn’t take a chance, any chance on not getting (Y/N) back, she was a legacy as were they, but she was supposed to live on for longer. Their names would otherwise be nothing more than memories in the world of hunters, until they faded into distant and dead members of the community.

“In her trailer, I think. She’s rehearsing with Alexander I think.” The name that he mentioned was unfamiliar to the unfitting pair, but they spared no thought to it. Instead they sent him a quick smile before leaving the confines that they felt trapped in, and began their search for the actress of their sister.

“We have to change her mind Sammy. If she stays on the show, then our (Y/N) lives. It is the simplest solution.” Dean spoke as they walked through the lines of trailers, unable to find the name that they were searching for on any door. “Where the hell is her damn trailer?”

Sam squinted, until a name he had heard was seen on one of the doors. Alexander, whoever that was. Before he could even put any thought into his actions, he subconsciously knocked on the door, waiting a moment for an answer. And when the door opened, they were met with who looked like Jack, his hair a mess, and his shirt hanging over his shoulder, clearly put on in panic.

“What’s up guys, need something?” He scratched the back of his neck, impatient with the situation, considering the one that he had been interrupted from. A part of him feared that this was one of Jared’s infamous pranks, he had mostly been on the end of shifted lines, but worse could have been heading his way for all he knew.

Dean frowned at the sight of young man, it hardly felt right seeing the innocent boy that they knew with sex hair and slight bruises upon his neck. He cleared his throat, keeping up his expression, as he spoke to the boy. He had softened up to Jack, he was their kid in some ways, but this was no Nephilim, if anything it was worse, it was a man who impersonated they kid.

“Heard that uh, (Y/A/N) was running lines with you. Y’know where she is?” Alex’s eyes shifted slightly inside of his personal space, before everything was given away by a familiar giggle. It sounded the exact same as the one that often left (Y/N)’s mouth. Dean knew it, he would never be capable of mistaking it.

The noise had renegaded in his ears since she had been born, in the impala as John drove, through the halls of the bunker as her and Sam made jokes about his cholesterol. At the worst of times, before he knew that they existed, he liked to think that it was the voice of angel, she always guided him on the right path, and if she were to disappear from his life, he would sorely lose the track that he was hellbent on walking down.

And he could see her face now, as she tugged the sheet over her body. A frown sculpted her expression, as she looked exasperatedly between Alex whom had tried to lure the tall pair from the confines of his trailer, and the intruders who had barged carelessly in. It wouldn’t have mattered so much if her and Alexander had actually been running lines, however the situation explained more than enough of the fact that they indeed were not.

“Jared, Jensen, can you like, I don’t know, not cockblock me, for once in your elderly lives?” It felt peculiar, for both Sam and Dean. They knew that this was not their sister, but her calling them by other names was so foreign. Their skins crawled at the labelling, and it only reminded them farther of their cause, the reason that they were sent by an angelic being to be here in this very moment.

“I am also getting bored of it.” Alexander tilted his head, in agreement with (Y/A/N), who only grinned at his compliance to suit her opinions, and Dean could only roll his eyes, just like he did with Jack the majority of the time. “But it’s cool, but can we hurry this along, I mean not to be rude, but aren’t you guys supposed to be filming a scene in like five minutes?”

Sam cleared his throat, admittedly he did like Jack. The kid was sweet, however this was not him, it rather was a man who pretended to be a Nephilim for payment, and was bedding the doppelganger of his sister. If he were to see his sister and the devil’s child in such a compromising predicament, most people would assume he’d be the calm sibling, but they’d be wrong. He would go mad, and think of a way to keep the pair separate.

But luckily for them, there had never been such adult situations insinuated between their dear (Y/N) and Jack, or at least not that they were aware of. This riled Dean, and so he couldn’t help but feel like exploding. It angered him that any man had laid their bare and lustrous hands upon his youngest sibling. No one was to have that pleasure, she was supposed to remain innocent, even if she were legal.

“Seriously?! Jack of all people?!” He bellowed at (Y/A/N), shaking his head at their obvious exchange. If (Y/A/N) had any clothes on underneath the white sheet that hugged her body as she lay on the sofa, her instincts would have driven her over to Jensen and her palm would have met the side of his stubbly face.

“First of all, you need to start remembering Alex’s name, and that goes for Jared too. You can’t just keep calling him Jack, even after I’m done here and move onto my next project.” Her words, although not having the intent to, had the effect of triggering Sam’s goal, in-deliberately reminding him of their foremost goal. It was not to get angry at the characters that played them and their loved ones, it was to save someone that was incredibly important to their world.

“And second,” the woman in covering continued, “this isn’t exactly going to get me to stay on the goddamn show, if you barge in here, interrupting our privacy. If you don’t like what me and Alex are doing off screen, you sure aren’t going to like what is gonna go down between (Y/N) and Jack. Sometimes I do swear that you’re just like Sam and Dean.”

The jab she made at them struck nerves, but they knew that this was not the real her. It may have looked like (Y/N), but this was only a woman who played the part of her. “We’ve been trying to make you stay on the show?” Sam asked, his voice soft. He didn’t want to be harsh, she was already uncomfortable enough.

It was her unknowing that they were actually Sam and Dean that could be an element that they could use, a tool of convincing. “Yes, for weeks now.” (Y/A/N) sighed, pinching the point that was between her eyebrows. “And I’m getting tired of it, and overall, this character. I’ve played her for years on end, I think that her story should have a finishing point, a finale. I’m ready for bigger and brighter things, something that is not pretending to be a strong woman on set, and as soon as I walk away from the cameras, I go back to being weak.”

“I think you’re going to have to explain a little more if I’m going to get any of that.” Dean prompted, both him and Sam had turned away, giving the actress in the sheets the privacy to change. The shuffling of fabrics could be heard, they had been in worse situations with their sister, small motel rooms, of which they could usually only afford one in the past, helped nobody. And none of them received the personal space that should have been an outright human right.

“Of course neither of you understand.” Alex sighed, “she wants a smaller workspace, one where there aren’t so many eyes on her. The whole ordeal got out of hand, and now there are people online saying terrible things about her and I. Neither of you have made such a mistake, or had something so sacred and personal leaked on the internet. The things people say really digs in deep, she at least wants a break, can’t you understand that?”

“Wait, what got leaked?” Sam’s curiosity often informed him of things that he did not wish to be aware of, and this was one of their instances. Alex huffed and rolled his eyes, walking over to where (Y/A/N) was now fully clothed, and took a seat on the sofa beside her, their eyes meeting and mirroring smiles shining at one another.

The sight admittedly made Sam smile, but it made Dean feel internally sick. The sight of what looked like their sister and Jack fuelled a fire inside of him, he wanted his eyes to burn and the memory to be forever removed from his sights.

“Look, you play a pretty badass character, although I’d say Dean has a bit more kick to him.” The man himself chuckled, but no one joined in, so he continued through a forced smile, coming to sit down next to Alex, his ignorance to what happened there merely minutes ago encouraging his brother to cringe.

“But that’s not my only point, you’re here, whilst those sad souls that sit behind their computers all day waste their time typing crap. The life you have, the family that you have here, is worth more than the opinions of a few, invisible idiots, who are only jealous of everything that you have earned for yourself. Don’t breathe their toxicity win, because if you do, the bad guys win, and then you will only fade out of the spotlight and they’ll forget all about you, and all of the things they ever posted about you.”

Alex had been understanding through all of (Y/N)’s decision to leave the cast, although to begin with he had tried to convince her to stay. And it seemed out of all of them, it was Jensen that made her reconsider her options, he could see it behind her eyes, the unravelling of interest, the flickering of hope.

The only thing that the younger actor could not tell were that these were not Jensen’s words, they fell from the lips of Dean Winchester himself. A character that he knew of, and was an important symbol on the show that he was cast on. But it did not matter if he was not aware of that snippet, because it changed nothing, other than possibly (Y/A/N)’s mindful decision.

“You know what, you’re right Ackles. It’s not often that I say that, but the thought of leaving everyone here, settling for something that I have no connection to or history with, it is undermining. And I’m going to talk to Kripke, he’ll be over the moon with the consideration, however if he chooses that (Y/N) is to die as was planned due to my indecisiveness, then that shall be the battle that I am to bargain with.” They had won (Y/A/N) over, it was victory.

It was also the closest that they could do by themselves to save (Y/N). If this didn’t work, they would be nothing more than John’s broken tools, defined by all those that they were always mourning. And it would only make their sister another name on that sour list, even if her death would pain them substantially more than others.

“I guess we’ll go then.” Sam awkwardly spoke, encouraging Dean to stand from the christened furniture and join him in leaving the sexually active couple alone. He sent the woman a nod, and Alex a raised eyebrow. He would have Jack’s head if he ever thought he had the guts or wings to be so intimate with their sister, he’d make him feel something, and it would be painful. Torturous even.

They shut the door behind them as they departed from the actors, a smirk on Dean’s face. He felt victorious, he was the same hero that would read (Y/N) stories when it was dark and a storm was thundering outside, as she hid under the duvet of some dingy motel bed, a torch protecting her from the enveloping bleakness, but also her brothers. “I’d call this a win.”

“They said about a video…” Sam had Jared’s phone in his hand, he scrolled through the feed with a wrinkled nose and scorned eyes. After he received an answer to what it was concluding, he put the device away, he could never look at Jack and (Y/N) around each other the same again. It was burdened by the facts of this world, contradicting the innocence that both the kids in their world showed. “It was a leaked sex scene of the show, Dean.”

“Heck no!” Growled the elder brother, shaking his head. The instant images that flashed through his mind of the Nephilim atop of his little sister made his teeth grit in anger, and a pit of queasiness fold in the cave of his stomach. He already wasn’t too sure on Lucifer’s spawn, this only enhanced that formed opinion, and he wished to shoot the child more than ever in this instant, even if the real him was not around.

“They’re not actually the people we know Dean.” Sam comforted him, easing his anger, but only slightly. “Nothing like that has happened between them, he is in another world, whilst (Y/N) is in the bunker, reading lore and trying to find a way to bring mum and Jack back to us.”

“Yet Sammy, nothing has happened yet.” He allowed himself to shut his eyes for a second, and the next thing that he knew, he was returned home. His speech must have worked on the employee of the show Supernatural, otherwise, Gabriel surely would not have returned them to their home world.

“He’s gone, for chuck sake. How are we supposed to bring Jack and Mary back if we don’t have archangel grace?!” The stressed voice of their younger sibling often triggered a debate from the brothers, but seeing and hearing her, it was a miracle. They couldn’t waste time and argue, instead Sam lurched forward, grabbing the girl and bringing her into the embrace of his giant like arms.

“We’ll figure it out (Y/N/N), we always do.” He spoke softly, earning a confused yet pleased smile. The hug had come out of nowhere, but it calmed her nerves, the rushing of the blood that hurtled around the veins of her body slowed, and it gave her a moment of peace, a blank mind before she began researching again.

“I have a question.” Dean stated with his gruff tone, squinting at his female sibling. He suppressed a smile, she was oblivious to the blockade that had rested above her head like a raincloud, but he knew that she was here for good. And that she was not leaving to any sort of afterlife any time soon. “Do you have the hots for Jack?”

(Y/N)’s eyes went wide, however she forced a scoff to hide the shock and cover up anything that her brothers could pick up on. She released herself from Sam’s hold, taking a couple of simple steps backwards, so that she could have a clear view of the expressions that both of them wore. “Are you seriously asking me that at a time like this?” Her sentence was finished with a sigh and a roll of her eyes.

But her brothers knew their sister well enough, and that she indeed did not want to admit something to them. (Y/N) was much easier to read than (Y/A/N) was, they had known this growing woman since the day that she was born, the same day in which John rescued the shrieking baby from a mother that was fed and eaten by wolves. She would have been next, however the hunter saved her, as was in his job description, but he couldn’t bare to let her stream through the system.

He felt an attachment to her, and looking at her was practically the same as the notion of peering at one of his boys. She was to be a Winchester, he hadn’t decided it, but God himself did. The universe worked in mysterious ways, it was as though it was all written out for the family, but this instant, none of them minded. It gave the boys another reason to fight, another person to love, and eventually another family member to lose.

But it had been evaded this time, Gabriel had although not helped them with reaching their mother and the son of Kelly Kline, however, he had somewhat saved (Y/N) himself. Without his trickster interference, they’d have never known of her doomed fate, or have been able to fix it.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Dean was smug with being right, as he always was. Overall though, he was more pleased to know that they had stopped the crumbling of the bottom of the family tree, they had protected their sister, literally to the ends of the world.

“Pick up a damn book and help me, I’m not doing all of this research by myself.” Another sign that he was indeed correct, changing the subject, how original. But neither of the brothers, more so Dean than Sam, even wanted to try and switch the mindset that (Y/N) had about the boy. They were allowed to have feelings, romantic and so on, and their sister appeared happy with the tether that was from her heart to Jack’s.

The vampires were almost mutated. This apocalypse world had really taken a toll on all life. Michael of this plain had destroyed everything that was known to be true, even living itself. The habitat of these morsal creatures was dark, and disgusting. Humans had already tried to pass through the deadly lair to reach the other side, to get to the rebellion camp, however, no one had survived to the opposite end of things.

(Y/N) felt hopeless, even as she walked through the home of the starving monsters. She had never been a fan of vampires, no hunter was, but this was cruel to every extent. They didn’t even appear as human anymore, their fates had been cursed by this ruined land. Without the world that was in her own, they would be worse off, everything in this dimension was.

Everyone of their company was on edge, Dean ensured that he kept a sturdy eye forward, looking for any light. He knew (Y/N) would have to be okay, it was paved for her to be so in the other universe, she’d be fine. Of course, he still worried, that was what he did in retrospect, all day, every day, he worried that it was to be someone’s last.

And he was right, as the monsters crept from the dark, tasting the scent of rushing blood in the air. They had lured them from their slumber, and they began to attack, dragging one of the travellers towards their death, where they would be fed on until he was completely drained. (Y/N) swung her machete, beheading one of the animals without a second glance, but perhaps she should have spared another look on the side, as she was a target.

She was the prey to what she was raised to hunt, it wrapped its clawed hand around her leg like a coil, dragging her to the ground, and feasting its teeth into her supple flesh. This was it, there was no route away from her fate, and her body was already weak from blood loss, and so she gave up, and refused to fight. Her body was dragged into the abyss of the nest, and its members followed after her.

Sam noticed their apparent glee, they had yet again prized food from them. He looked around to see whom it may be, and he was aghast with the sight. (Y/N) had her eyes shut as her limp form was being taken by vampires, and he froze, traumatised by the sight. And his surprised and hurt stature gave another of the beasts the perfect opportunity to rip into the rubber of his neck, and relish in the unstoppable river of blood that poured out from the fatal wound.

“No!” Dean cried out, noticing that his sister too had disappeared. Before he could follow after the menaces and get vengeance, and possibly save his family from being the meal of savages, Castiel grasped his arm, pain rendering in the blueness of his vessel’s eyes.

“They’re gone Dean.” His words rang through the hunter’s head. This was his worst nightmare. Gabriel’s warning had not helped at all, because (Y/N) was dead, and so was Sam. He forced himself to trudge on, pained like no other time before. Sam had died before, but he had always found a way to retrieve him back into life, and even through his tragic absence, he always had (Y/N). Now, the only other Winchester was his mother, who also needed to be saved from this damned world.

“Think about it Sammy, Jack is going to be so pleased to see you alive, but your little sis, well, I’m sure that is going to be one hell of a reunion between them.” Lucifer smirked, he was in Nick’s body again, using it as a vessel. “And he’ll think of me as a saviour, a knight that saved his princess from a terrible fate.”

The fallen archangel always had ulterior motives, and Sam realised that he had no choice in whether he’d rather remain dead, or be used as a bargaining chip by the devil himself. His interest in Jack was not exactly pure, it was clear to the man that he sought the backup, the power of his biological son. His intent was to creep into the boy’s mind, and decipher for the kid the difference between wrong and right.

“That’s what you want, to lie to him about who you are?” He couldn’t exactly say he was surprised, even more so that the audience of vampires were seething to break free from Lucifer’s force. He wasn’t even supposed to be here, he should have been in the bunker, his grace feeding away at Rowena’s spell, and keeping the gate open for their return.

“I’ll just bend the truth to fit the story, and I care about my son. As you care about your dear sister, and it would be a shame if she were not to wake, and then the news will have to be delivered to my boy, and I’m sure that would just break his half and half heart.” The celestial being, the epidemy of evil tutted at the thought, only to send Sam a mischievous smirk afterwards. “You don’t want him to be like me, but without her, he’ll be in so much pain that he won’t think about his actions. If he has (Y/N/N), then that choice will be entirely up to him, and what he believes in, yada yada yada.”

The sight of his sister covered in her own blood, motionless on the ground, bite marks on her shoulders and elsewhere drew out a desperation in Sam. He couldn’t not allow the villain to bring her back to life, and it seemed that no matter what he disputed, that Lucifer would do it anyway, to get himself in Jack’s good books. And so he hung his head low, awaiting the personal enemy of his to resurrect the most important woman in his life.

On first instinct, (Y/N) gasped in air. There was a lack of it rolling around the vitals of her lungs, but her breath was taken away once more, when she saw the looming of a horrifying figure, a first son of god. He was supposed to be, even if forced to do so by the traditions of magic, be at the bunker, revelling them with a way back. Rowena had been left there also, to keep the spell brewing, and a fearful eye on the hellish shadow.

Assumingly, he had escaped his sentence, and for some reason, brought her to life. It was no mistake as to what the vampires had done to her, she could smell the spilling of her own blood over her thrifted and worn clothes, and it was gruesome. Although it was not the hunter’s first time in being a sponge to her injuries, but nevertheless, she fought to stand beside Sam, who steadied her shaken feet, and balanced out the rest of her body by looping his supportive arm around her waist.

“Come on.” Lucifer rolled the human eyes that he wore like spectacles into the lives of the Winchesters, unimpressed by the slowness of the world’s large cockroaches. “We have places to be and sons to meet.” At his verbalised of clarity for his ungodly presence, (Y/N)’s body became rigid. His intent was to get to Jack, she couldn’t allow him to provoke a fire inside the boy.

He was sweet and innocent, even harmless, despite the accident that had happened when he accompanied her and her brothers on a hunt. If Lucifer reached him, he would only try and navigate the darkness inside of him to be what it was, rather than try and make him change it into something brighter, something that was good, like Kelly would have wanted.

“No.” (Y/N) refused, earning a frown from Sam and a elongated groan from Lucifer. She had died, it didn’t matter if she were to return to that fate, not if she stood by what she truly believed in. Nothing much would change, other than the vampires getting another meal from the same body, Dean already thought that she was extinguished from life, and the news would be passed on before any of them were to reach him.

“Oh, for crying out loud!” The devil shook his wolfish head, Winchesters were always so stubborn. “I’d allow it if Sam were to stand against the gift of life, I’ve seen what is inside of his head after all, but you! You’re the priority here, you are Jack’s weakness.” This gesture of good faith seemed to be more than it was worth, but if she didn’t comply willingly, then he would force her to follow him along, and live.

“Where’d you hear that from? He doesn’t have a weakness, he just has a good heart. I’m just another person that he lives with, a soldier that is going to fight anyone that dares to try and hurt him. And I won’t mind if I have to give my life to try and kill you.” She spat at the disgrace of heaven, hardly moved by his goal. As a Winchester, the stubbornness ran through her veins, even if the bloodline itself did not.

“I hear things, and I did in that bunker. Like how Dean was speaking about you and Jackie boy, and how it all made sense. The shared looks, the flushed faces, all that gross stuff. He didn’t seem too happy with the circumstances, but he was content with the fact that you were alive, like you are again, because of me.”

Lucifer was the last person that (Y/N) would thank for her existence, but she realised that there was no way out of his trap, she was the bait for Jack, that would reel the boy into the wings of his dreaded father.

He could sometimes be so naive, that she feared that Jack would fall for the extension of kindness, one that hardly suited Lucifer. But that was up to him, and in this apocalyptic version of her world, anything could happen.

“She’s dead.” Dean’s voice was gravelly, it had been dragged through hope, and now the realisation that his baby brother and sister were lost to life. The eyes belonging to Jack widened, and tears began to form.

He could quite comprehend how he felt. There was a tearing in his chest, he felt as though he was being split apart, his breathing rapidly increased, and his eyes flared like the bursts of the sun.

Until whispers hit his ears, and he looked up, only to see the girl alive and well. He was not the only one relieved in the circumstances, Dean and Mary were too, but they feared the fact that Lucifer had joined them, and was being trailed by the bloodied siblings; the ones that he had saved for his selfish purposes.

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hwy-unicorn · 4 years ago

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show me the places where the other’s gave you scars

Summary: He holds you, tighter than you’ve ever been held before, but it feels safe. You are not frightened by it. And he whispers your name into the night, as he presses you into the mattress, his firm hands caressing your body in ways that make you feel on fire. It’s a burn that you welcome; you are willing to be engulfed by the flames.

More loving Normero smut ;) also my first time writing in second person so lmk what you think!!

It was no secret to Alex that you had scars. He had spent hours exploring every inch of your body, committing each and every part of you to his memory. He considered you a treasure, and he was one of the few people that you allowed to see you in such meaningful ways. Not that you were a stranger to sex, you’ve had your fair share of experiences with men before, but it was never like this. No man before him had wanted to take their time with you, to see and love every part of you. So while others have seen you, no one has truly seen you in the way he has. And no one ever questioned your scars, sometimes you wonder if they had even noticed them at all as they were too caught up in having a woman to lay claim to.

Alex, however, noticed everything. Every scar, scratch, bump and bruise of yours was tucked away in his brain, and he was always careful to treat such an area with a tenderness that it may have not had before. Your scars didn’t hurt anymore, the pain washed away with the years, but it didn’t seem to matter to him because he was always attentive to those areas. He would always provide each spot with the most featherlight touches and faintest of kisses. You wondered if he was even aware of what he was doing.

He never brought it up though, never asked you questions about where they had come from, and for that, you were grateful. It was not that you didn’t trust him, you actually trusted Alex with every part of you, but you were still cautious about what you revealed. You couldn’t help the fear that lurked beneath the surface, afraid to see Alex walk out the door and never return, the burden of your monsters too dark for him to handle.

But you noticed him, his curious eyes and wandering fingertips, always tracing the edges of your marred skin, silently wondering where they had come from. And at night, when he’d carry you to bed after dinner, intent on making love to you for the rest of the night, that one particular scar would always catch his eye. It was the one on your inner thigh, the patch of skin that provided you with a traumatic flash of memory every time your fingers grazed it. You remember the panic you had felt on your first night with him, when he had touched it and gazed up at you sadly, almost like he knew that it wasn’t from an innocent accident. And then you had pulled him away from it, had distracted him with a searing kiss and a well practiced moan, and he didn’t question it. You let him see it now. You wonder what he might say if you told him where you had gotten it.

You want to tell him everything, you don’t want to feel like there is a barrier between you both, but you don’t know how or even when to say it.

Tonight, you eat dinner alone. Alex is working late; he has been working late quite a bit these past few nights, and he sounded so apologetic on the phone that you couldn’t be the least bit upset with him. You know his job isn’t easy, but you have been getting lonely. Though, these lonesome evenings have given you some time to think about your whirlwind of a relationship with the man you had once hated and was sure hated you in return- even though he said he never did. You had only been married a few months now, truly together for even less than that; it felt like you didn’t really know each other at all, but at the same time he knew more about you than anyone before him. It was you who didn’t know much about him, and you longed to know more.

You finish eating your dinner by the time you hear the front door creak open, and you pause your work on the dishes to heat the leftovers. He comes up behind you, sweeping your hair off to the side to place a gentle kiss on your shoulder and you smile, leaning into him. He feels strong and safe and you want to stay here forever, and luckily for you he has no intentions of letting you go yet

“I’m sorry I’m late,” he sighs into your neck, peppering more soft kisses there, his fingers rubbing soothing circles on your hips. “I won’t be working late much longer, I promise.”

The microwave beeps but neither of you move, his hands still on your waist and face still buried in the crook of your neck, but it feels different now. “Are you mad at me?” he asks and you shake your head, pulling one hand from your hip to kiss his palm.

“I’m not mad,” you reassure, and he smiles, gently turning you to kiss you.

“I’m not hungry,” he whispers against your lips, and you frown, pulling away to give him a soft glare. “I ate already,” he admits, his eyes apologetic and you gasp mockingly, placing a hand on your chest, as if you are truly offended.

He rolls his eyes, he knows your tricks by now and you can’t help but giggle as he lifts you onto the counter. His lips are on you again, devouring you hungrily and you shiver against him as his hands move up and down your body, as if he needs to touch every part of you. He is always so careful with you, gentle, yet rough all at once and the contrast is intoxicating. Alex is strong and dominant, but it is not something that you fear, no, you lose yourself in it. He leads, and you follow, but it’s pleasant because you know you are taken care of and that he would never do anything to cause you harm.

“Not here,” you murmur against his lips. You are both desperate, buzzing with need, but you don’t want a quickie on the kitchen counter.

He lifts you with ease, carrying you up the stairs, though you would’ve accepted the couch as a reasonable second option. Laughter fills the room as he stumbles, falling onto the bed with you in his arms, and you push yourself up, straddling his hips, giggling wildly as you push him onto his back. Sometimes, he is happy to let you lead; he would gladly follow you into fire.

Your hands make quick work of the buttons on his shirt, gasping against his lips as he bucks his hips up into you. You can feel him through his jeans and you can’t help the breathy moan that escapes you at the sensation. You fumble a bit with the buttons, becoming too desperate to even think straight and Alex takes the opportunity to gently flip you onto your back, taking his place on top of you.

Sometimes you find it strange how much you enjoy being underneath him, as with men before it had felt claustrophobic. But he doesn’t press you down hard, does not make you feel trapped or suffocated beneath him, instead, protected, and while you often are on top of him for sex, this position doesn’t bring you any discomfort.

He kisses you, softer this time, as he works at the buttons of your blouse. His movements are not frantic anymore, you can feel the energy slow, though arousal still courses through you like fire in your veins. Alex slides your blouse off your shoulders, and you sit up to help him undo your bra. The light is still on, you can see his face as he watches you, so full of love and adoration while you undress for him.

His hands slide up your tummy, and cup your breast, just softly squeezing and you sigh, laying back onto the pillows. He does not want it to be quick this time, you can already tell by the way he is looking at you. He wants to watch you come undone, and while you love your passionate, heated encounters, you truly don’t mind this. It feels strangely empowering to have him see you in such a vulnerable way.

Alex’s lips close around your nipple, his hand cupping your other breast, as he nips at you playfully, soothing the sting with his tongue. You can feel yourself becoming needy, and he can feel it too, but he holds down your hips as you push them into him and you can’t help but groan. He shushes you, too intent on taking his time with you tonight, and you know you will not get what you want so soon.

He will make it worthwhile though.

His mouth trails down your body, his hands pulling your panties off as he kisses your tummy, moving down towards your thighs and spreading your legs.

Your eyes flutter close as his lips trace a gentle path up your legs, and he smiles at your frustrated groan when he skips over the place you need him most. He moves his mouth down your other thigh, placing a soft kiss against your scar, like he always does, and your eyes flutter open. You prop yourself up on your elbows to see him watching you lovingly while his lips trail along the edge of the blemished skin. There is no judgement in his eyes as he looks back up at you, his face full of adoration and you feel your tummy flutter, suddenly wanting to reveal every secret you have to him. He already knows so much; he knows what Caleb had done to you all those years ago, that Dylan is his son, he knows about Norman and how he killed Sam to protect you. What is one more secret?

“It’s from an iron,” you breathe, and he pauses his movements to look up at you. You open your eyes again, looking down at him as he stares up at you questioningly. “The scar. It’s from an iron.”

He looks back at the mark that he was kissing only moments ago, his fingers touching it softly as if he was worried he would hurt it. “Oh.”

You swallow, fingers flexing nervously against your tummy as he waits for you to say more, unsure if that is as far as you will go.

“It happened when I was little,” you clear your throat, staring down at the mark with disdain.

“My brother…” you feel his grip tighten just a little, before he relaxes. “He wanted… erm… I was ironing and he was-he just-” you can’t bring yourself to say the words again, but he understands, you can see it in his eyes, so you just continue.

“My dad came home and I was scared he would see, he-he was scary, he would’ve hurt Caleb I just know it. So I jumped up really fast and I knocked the iron over and it fell on my leg. And he just- he just put his hand over my mouth because I was crying so much and-” you can feel your resolve cracking, tears filling your eyes and you’re upset because you’ve ruined the mood- you can just feel it- and you feel a mix of guilt and disgust with yourself

But Alex says nothing to make you feel that way as he moves from his spot between your legs, shushing you gently while you begin to cry. You regret saying anything at all. Your hands cover your face, but you can feel him hovering above you, his voice soft as he promises you that everything will be okay.

He gently pulls your hands away from where they are covering your eyes, and you look up at him tearfully, letting your eyes flutter close as he wipes the tears away. He leans closer, so his chest is against yours, but is keeping most of his weight on his arms so you don’t feel crushed, and you feel more tears coming to your eyes at the gentleness of it all.

You wrap your arms around his neck and pull him closer, sighing in relief as your face rests in the crook of his neck.

“I’m sorry,” you whisper, and he hums questioningly. “I’ve ruined the mood. I know you don’t want me right now.”

“Norma,” he murmurs in a sort of scolding tone, but you shake your head.

“It’s okay, I understand.”

“Stop,” he sighs. “You haven’t ruined the mood.”

“Yes I h-” you gasp as his fingers press against your clit, rubbing soft circles. “Oh.”

Your head falls back against the pillows, eyes fluttering close as he kisses your lips sweetly. “You haven’t ruined anything. Do you want me to keep going?”

You nod frantically, and although the weight of your revelation still hangs in the air, your arousal is too heavy to ignore. His fingers slide into you and he moves down your body, probably wanting to finish what he had begun before you had told him everything, but you stop him. You cannot wait any longer.

“No, I-” you shudder against his fingers, feeling yourself getting close. “I want you inside me.”

He groans at your words, and you quickly reach down to undo the button on his jeans, frantically pushing them off of his legs, along with his boxers, in one quick motion. His movements are slow and gentle as he pushes inside you, and although you pull him closer and try to make him go faster, he holds off, as if he’s afraid to be too rough and hurt you. And he continues those slow movements as he thrusts in and out of you, his fingers dancing ever so gently, almost teasingly against your clit and it's agonizing.

“Alex,” you whimper, pulling him closer against you. “Harder please, I need you.”

He shakes above you, but gives in to your demand. You can feel yourself beginning to come undone as he thrusts into you harder and faster, and you are gasping, gripping at him, at the sheets, unsure what to hold onto to keep yourself grounded.

He holds you, tighter than you’ve ever been held before, but it feels safe. You are not frightened by it. And he whispers your name into the night, as he presses you into the mattress, his firm hands caressing your body in ways that make you feel on fire. It’s a burn that you welcome; you are willing to be engulfed by the flames.

“Norma, Norma, Norma.”

Repeated like a mantra as he gasps and moans, and shakes above you, willing himself to hold back until you’ve crashed over the edge. It’s entirely different from anything you’ve ever experienced before, no man has ever wanted you like this. No man has ever touched you like this. No man has ever seen you like this.

It’s freeing, but scary all the same, because you’ve never been this vulnerable or exposed. No one had ever known your darkest secrets or deepest flaws, because you were sure that no one could handle it. The monsters under your bed are much too frightening for anyone to fight, but he fights them for you. He goes into the thicket of the woods that are your fears, like a knight in shining armor, armed with nothing but his love for you and he fights all those monsters that bring you harm. He wants to destroy them, and maybe someday he will, but for now they remain. It doesn’t matter though, it’s enough for you to know that you have someone fighting for you. You are not alone anymore.

#normero #normero fanfic #norma bates #alex romero #bates motel #bates motel fanfic

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imagine-lcorp · 5 years ago

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All the Rest (One Shot)

Request

Part 1. Lena x male reader. Reader is a speedster and reformed villain who became a hero for Lena. So when edge poisoned Lena reader gets really angry and gets Lena to the DEO and learns that Lena is pregnant with their baby and so reader waits until Alex says she’ll be okay and then Reader goes and gets his suit on and speeds over to edges office grabs him and smashes his window and hangs him off the side and tells him to confess? Part 2. The next day edge confesses about the lead poisoning and trying to kill Lena. Lena is happy to see edge going to jail. Then they show the video from a hidden camera in edges office where it shows reader threatening edge and Lena learns that reader did it. Reader tells Lena he is sorry for going evil and he’s worried Lena will leave him. Lena tell him it’s okay because edge needed to be stopped. Ends with a make up kiss and Lena tells reader about the baby. (Reader’s suit is like Zoom.)

A/N: Guyssss!! I’m so very excited to be writing your requests agaaain!! So now we start with the first one of this round, I hope you enjoy it and so much thanksssss to the person so sent this one, you know who you are, so it is here!! Finally!! Please let me know what you think!!!

Lena Luthor x Speedster M!R//Word Count: 2648

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The moment you heard Lena’s cracked message over the DEO speakers you didn’t even stop to think about what you were about to do. You put on your black suit and ran to where she was, and cursed when you realized your speed wouldn’t help you get up there where she needed you.

The whole thing happened too slow for your own liking. Supergirl’s blurred silhouette getting on the plane, the way it went down afterwards, Lena’s screams as the plane was cut in two. It was one of the rare occasions in your life when your powers felt useless. You were a bystander stuck on land.

Supergirl called then for you over the comms. She had Lena on one side of the plane and the chemicals on the other but she couldn’t hold both.

“Save the chemicals, not me.” You heard Lena scream and you hated they way she was always trying to put others before herself. The hero complex with it’s damn self sacrificing principle you could never understand. But if you had to play the hero for Lena you would do it, over and over until she was safe.

You ordered Supergirl to drop the chemicals. With your speed, you swore, you would be able to catch them before they touched the water. Then you ran across the them, grabbing every single bucket and putting them one by one at the edge of the water where they would do no harm. It was a matter of seconds. The chemicals, the city, the children and whoever, they were all saved, and you couldn’t care less about it. You saw Supergirl land gently on the ground on the other side and you quickly caught up.

You saw her smile the moment she caught you running towards her but at the first step she took you knew something was wrong. There were many things you loved about Lena Luthor and one of them was the way she always carried herself, with such grace and poise that it had to be impossible for her to miss a step. But she did and you were so surprised that even with your super speed you barely had time to stop her from hitting the floor.

“Lena!” You cradled her in your arms and looked for any sign of injury she could had have.

There were no visible signs of injury and as far as Supergirl knew nothing happened to her while they were on the plane.

It took you two seconds to go back to the DEO and a painful hour of waiting for Alex to finally talk to you.

“What happened?” You pushed as you paced around her office. The movement was the only thing keeping you grounded.

“She’s stable now. Don’t worry, she’s in good hands.” She sat, watching you intently. They hadn’t let you see her yet and it was clear that was getting on your nerves.

“Don’t tell me not to worry, Alex. Tell me what happened.”

“She was poisoned.”

“Poisoned how?”

“She had a mark on her arm, someone injected her, maybe before she was put on that plane. The symptoms were similar to lead poisoning but it was the same chemicals that affected the children. We’re treating her right now-”

“Was it Edge?” You just needed confirmation.

You had hear the news about the children getting sick in National City due to lead poisoning and about Morgan Edge’s friendly visit to the Luthor Hospital. Edge had showed up, pretending to care and using that as an excuse to hurt Lena’s image. After all, it was a well known fact that Lena had been the one to create the device that filler the earth’s atmosphere with it in order to avoid an alien invasion.

Edge would have done everything to get her out of the way and, if he wasn’t shy about poisoning children, you were sure as hell he had no problem with killing Lena with his same poison. How fitting would that have been? The apparent villain of the story dying by the consequences of her own doing.

“We don’t know that but, (Y/N), there’s something more. Lena, she’s…she is pregnant.” That finally made you stop.

Even with your speed, her words seemed to slowly sink in. “She’s what?”

“Pregnant, (Y/N). Lena is pregnant.” Alex punctuated each word and she no longer believed it had been a good idea to tell you about it as she saw your face draw into a frown.

“I wanna see her.” You demanded a second later.

Some people used to say that your story with Lena was some kind of a Beauty and the Beast type of story. It was laughable but you came to believe there was truth in all of that.

Lena was pretty much a beauty. You didn’t think one single person could look at her and not think she was an angel. But there was so much more. She had this confidence and elegance that made her stand in a room full of a thousand people. She knew what it was to walk that fine line between good and evil and still choose to do good for others. She had been the only person able to outsmart you and the only person you could say to actually have fallen in love with.

You, on the other hand, were a monster in some sense, never letting a tender heart get in the way of doing what had to be done.

You saw the world and the darkness that filled it. It was a brotherhood, full of killers. Thieves, fraudsters. Perverts, corrupt men. More and more criminals, with no shame or guilt or anything that could prove they were even human. They were all the same, scum infesting the earth just like the rest. You were no human either but at least you acknowledged it. A monster with a conscience and the power to stop further evil. The fastest man alive. That’s who you were. That’s what you were going to do.

“Are they gonna be alright?” You said to Alex without taking your eyes off Lena.

“They are both in the best hands.” Alex assured you again.

“Good. Take care of them. I’ll back in a minute.” You got up from your chair and were about to leave the room when she stopped you.

“(Y/N), where are you going?”

“I figured I need to grab some things for her. We are not leaving until you assure me they are completely fine.” You looked at her, putting a slight hint of concern in your expression.

She couldn’t read your face clearly but she knew you were more than worried about Lena. Furthermore, she knew what you were capable of but still she let you go. Not that she had a real choice.

But you were true to your word. Partially. You left and headed to the private apartment Lena and you shared. You took some clothes and toiletries for her and put them on a small bag. Then you returned to the DEO but not before taking a little detour to Edge’s office.

“Morgan Edge.” You called with your vibrating voice once you stepped inside his office. He looked up from his desk and he went pale.

It wasn’t your voice but your suit that gave you away. He had seen a couple of blurred pictures of it before and the rumors that came with it. All black and a mask with hollow eyes that could have matched a scarecrow’s face. Looking at you, right in the middle of his office in the middle of the night meant nothing good for him and he knew it.

“Wow, I though Halloween had already passed. Sorry, I don’t have candies.” He tried to hide the tremor in his own voice with a bravado.

“You are the man I am looking for.”

“Me? Sorry, who are you?”

“I know what you did.” You declared.

“What I did?” Edge scoffed. “And what exactly did I do?”

“Poisoned children, tried to drop chemical waste into the city’s waters, attempted murder.·

"So I guess you’re the new vigilante in town and have come to punish me for my so called crimes?” He mocked with a grin.

“No. I’m here to finish you.” He hadn’t fully caught what you had said but your next actions were clear enough.

With a swift motion you grabbed him by the collar and pulled him at the edge of his office window. Shards of glass went flying over the street and you left his body hanging fifty floors above the ground.

“W-wait!” He screamed. “You can’t kill me, if you do you are no better than I am, isn’t that right? Y-you are the hero.”

“I am no fucking hero.” You responded with a growl.

“No! Wait, please! What do you want? Whatever it is I’ll give it to you!”

“Your confession.” You said and he seemed to be more startled by your words than by his impending death. “I offer you a way out.”

You only needed to open your fist and let him fall. It was what he deserved, you thought, but Lena deserved more. She deserved justice and for once you realized this wouldn’t have been it. You had been angry but letting him die would have been to easy for you, for him. He needed to live and pay for what he had done.

“Confess to the police and this will be the only time you’ll have to see me. If you don’t, I assure you, I have plans for each day of the rest of your miserable life. This will be nothing compared to what I can do to you. Understood?”

When didn’t answer right away you pulled him back into the open air.

“Alright, alright! You win. I’ll do it.” He grabbed your arm and shouted frantically. You pulled him towards you, face to face.

“You better.” You said and tossed him back into his office.

That was the end of the night for you. You returned to Lena and sat beside her until the sun came up again. You stayed there watching the slow tempo of the rise and fall of her breathing. You had wanted to wake her up and talk to her about what had happened and about the baby, but thought against it. She needed rest and a peaceful sleep, now more than ever. You would both have a lot of time for that later.

Finally a new dawn came and Lena slowly started to wake up.

“I’m sorry.” She said once she recovered enough to remember what had happened during the night.

“Don’t worry about it.” You assured her. “But please, if you’re going against some bad guy, don’t go alone. You should call a professional and that means I would like you to call me before you rush into anything dangerous.” You tried to keep the lightness in your voice as you held her hand. It was ridiculous how soft you could be with her some times.

“I will.” She promised. “But, (Y/N), there’s something we need to talk.”

“I guess we all need to talk about something.” Kara came into the room, along with Alex, and carrying her bag. By the looks of it, she had been heading to work and, on a closer look, she didn’t look happy.

“We have some news.” Alex announced. “Edge confessed this morning to the police.”

Lena looked stunned. “I…I never thought I was going to hear something like that in my life.”

“Maybe he finally got a conscience.” You stepped out of your chair and faced the Danvers sisters.

“Maybe he got help getting one.” Kara opened her bag and pulled a tablet out. “(Y/N), can you explain this?”

A video started to play. It showed Edge’s office and him working over his desk. Nothing seemed to be wrong until a few seconds later, as the video showed a shattered window and Morgan Edge dangling from your arm above the street.

You snorted and rolled your eyes. “I think it is pretty self-explanatory.”

“(Y/N), what is it?” Lena couldn’t watch the video but by the tone of the conversation she guessed there was something wrong.

“I went after Edge and I convinced him of turning himself up to the police.”

“Convinced him? You mean, threatened him and then pushed him off his office.”

“Yes.” You admitted. “Yes, I did.”

“Do you realize what you’re saying?” Alex said.

“You’re acting just like him!” Kara raised her voice.

“Like him? Please, at least I had the decency of never hurting anyone who didn’t deserve it. Edge needed to be stopped and If I had known he was going to cause all this trouble I would have done it sooner. Now it’s done. You should be grateful.”

“This is not the way we do things, (Y/N). We could arrest you for this.” Kara pointed at you and you started to see red.

“And how do you exactly plan on doing that, uh? You can’t outrun the fastest man alive. Not you, not even Supergirl.” You looked directly at her. “I mean, you can keep trying. You have done it before, multiple times, and you have failed every single time. If I’m here it’s because I agreed to help and because of Lena, not because you have a hold on me.”

You hadn’t noticed the way you body had started to vibrate, ready for the fight, but Lena’s voice brought you back to reality. “You know he is right.”

“Lena-” Kara tried to say.

“No, let me finish, please.” She pulled herself up from the bed and faced the three of you. “(Y/N) is right. If he’s here is because we asked for his help and that’s what he did. His method may not suit the DEO or match the way we had done it ourselves but he did it to protect the city, to protect us, to protect me… and my baby.” There was a shift in the room after her last words. “Sometimes we don’t need a hero to fight for us but a monster to help us fight the darkness back.”

You three couldn’t have been more speechless even if you had lost your tongues.

“Now, I would like to talk to (Y/N) myself. If you don’t mind.” Lena finished.

Alex was the first one to move. She shook her head slightly and gently grabbed Kara by the arm. “We’ll leave you to it.” She said as both of them left the room.

��Are you mad at me?” You turned to look at her, a bit more worried than you could have admitted.

“No. I’m actually very proud.” Lena motioned to you to sit beside her. “You could have killed him but you didn’t.”

“Not that I didn’t want to.” You moved towards her and sat at her side.

“What made you change your mind?”

“You crossed my mind before I could drop him.” You looked at her. “To kill him would have been easy and I didn’t want to make it easy for him. And yes, I know a coerced confession isn’t necessarily fair but I thought about you and how I wanted you to see there was going to be justice for all his crimes. You deserved at least that after all the shit show he started.”

Lena smiled at you and placed a soft hand on the side of your face. “You’re going to be a great dad.”

“I’m gonna be a father.” Her words took you a bit by surprise but you smiled back and chuckled. “We’re pregnant. Oh dear, we are pregnant.”

Lena laughed as you kissed her again and again and again. The rest of the world instantly forgotten. They were your world now, let all the rest be damned.

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signoraviolettavalery · 5 years ago

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Okay, so, Carina made a post about Malex and I’ve gotten an ask about it from @makeitfeelover and @gra-sonas made some very astute commentary so I figured I’d throw in my two cents

First of all, Carina has said nothing new. She made a big post and now people are freaking out and there’s Discussion again so I just want to reiterate: she has said exactly this before. In my book, she said two things:

1. She’s not making any promises, which she has said before, because she cannot promise a happily ever after at this point in time. She has no idea what will happen 4+ years down the line. She has no idea if the actors will stick around, if the network will cancel them, if network leadership will change and make her curtail Malex. It sucks that we don’t have a guarantee, but also, that’s reality. I do believe she wants to give Malex a happy ending, she just can’t promise it.

2. She wants to give Malex a satisfying, fulfilling story. I fully believe she means this. The problem is that I doubt both Carina’s knowledge and ability to do so. Granted, everyone has their own definition of a satisfying story, but. Carina has shown that she has trouble writing a story without major plot holes and lapses (what was the point of Alex heading up Project Sheppard to find the serial killer if he wasn’t around in 1x11 when they found the serial killer? Who knows what about aliens? Does Alex know the truth about Rosa’s murder? When could Alex have told Maria about museum guy if they went straight from the museum to the toolshed?), that she is willing to engage in harmful tropes and destroy established characterization just so she can satisfy her very particular storytelling desires (the disaster that is the love triangle and assassinating Maria’s character to do it, and yes, I know there’s people who think it’s good representation; I think it’s terrible, the queerbaiting that was Rosa/Isobel, the Latina woman forgiving the white man who endangered his family, the white man who won’t recognize his own privilege, the black woman who is nothing more than a dispensary of ~wisdom~ whenever the plot demands it), and - this is my biggest issue with her - lacks a fundamental understanding of the queer experience.

It’s this last point that bothers me. I 100% believe Carina that she loves Malex. They matter to her. She wants to give them a good story. That doesn’t mean she’s capable of telling that good story, or that she has a good enough understanding of what it’s like to be queer to satisfyingly tell a story about queerness. She insists she consults LGBT advocacy groups (whose names she mysteriously won’t give us), but frankly, based on her writing choices and the things she’s said, I have my doubts about whether she actually listens to what they say and makes changes. She’s stuck a bisexual man in the middle of a love triangle between a man and a woman, perpetuating the indecisive bisexual trope, and frankly I don’t think I have to explain why that’s harmful; there’s been more than enough written about that already. She’s insisted that Michael going to Maria for something “easy” has nothing to do with her being a woman, when he lives in a canonically homophobic small town and his relationship trauma stems largely from homophobia and a homophobic hate crime. In Roswell, in Michael’s situation, being with Maria is “easy” because he would never, ever have to deal with the kind of issues he and Alex have been traumatized by.

So yes, I think @gra-sonas is completely right that we want to see them together, and we don’t think that’s going to be boring, because they have a lot of issues to work through, and it won’t be satisfying if we have to wait until the last episode for them to get together. All that is true. But I think there’s an even bigger problem, which is the discrepancy between Carina’s intentions and her knowledge and ability. I was so hopeful and excited about season 1, and in the end, so fundamentally disappointed with how it turned out. Carina brought to life an amazing world and set up amazing stories, but didn’t follow through with their full potential. She threw characterization and representation under the bus to satisfy her desire to see a man and a woman kiss onscreen as soon as possible.

I know all this is my opinion. There’s fans who are satisfied by season 1. There’s fans who think the love triangle is good representation and that Maria is a tolerable character. There’s fans who don’t see the plot of season 1 as engaging in harmful tropes, or who have found ways to explain away the plot holes. My opinion is just that - my opinion. It’s not universal. This has been my evaluation of the first season for a long time now, and frankly, I’m not going to argue about it. I just thought I’d share my two cents because I was asked.

I’ll also say, I’m not positive I”ll be watching season 2 beyond the premiere. As I’ve made clear, I don’t trust Carina as a storyteller, and there are so many ways I could envision season 2 disappointing me (Alex forgiving Maria chief among them). I had such high hopes for season one, and they were dashed. I’m not keen on being disappointed again, so Imma let all of you suffer through it first and tell me what happens before I consider touching it with a ten-foot pole. Carina had a season to win me over and get me to trust her enough as a storyteller to keep tuning in. She failed. In my book, that’s her failing at her job, because her job is to tell a story that gets people to tune in. But again, I don’t expect that stance to be universal.

#roswell new mexico #carina adly mackenzie #my two cents #my opinions

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nelvana · 5 years ago

Text

In which the territory of others is crossed

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which the dungeon with fossil foes is explored Previous: In which there are dreams and discussions

The following morning greeted everyone suddenly. Typically, they rested for the nights in forests, or somewhere with cover, and even when they had gone out to Magma Cavern, they had been tired enough to sleep through the early morning. Now though, them being out where it was more open forced the sun to their eyes from the beginning of the sunrise. There were only a couple that slept in very long, but otherwise everyone was up right at dawn. They handled breakfast for the morning, and then began heading out towards Brine Cave.

While they still lacked a proper map for the Grass Continent, the memory of those who had been here in the dead timeline was enough to server as their directions to the dungeon. The four of them took the lead, including Nelvana, who Alex would talk to enthusiastically about their previous experiences in this location that she could not remember, in hopes of prompting some sort of memory. He wasn’t successful, but she enjoyed the conversation nevertheless.

“My only worry now is that we don’t have that relic fragment thingy. Do you think the Rainbow Stoneship will be functional?” Ceebee pointed out, interrupting the other two’s conversation.

“It should be,” Dusknoir spoke up, and then coughed. “The Rainbow Stoneship was only damaged from the meteor, as was the Temporal Tower. We should have complete access to it now.”

“The Rainbow Stoneship… would that have been our first time actually seeing bright colors?” Nelvana murmured, “it was still rainbow, right?”

Alex, who previously had turned to Dusknoir with a frown, grinned as he spun back to look at his partner, eyes lighting up.

“Yes, yes it was!” he answered.

“I bet that looks really pretty, must have been especially pretty then, for your first time,” Keahi chimed in, stepping closer up front. “Hey, you guys haven’t seen a rainbow out here yet, haven’t you? Hopefully we’ll see one soon, they’re always really nice to see!”

“Oh, yeah, an actual rainbow would be nice,” Nelvana agreed, “I’m just excited to see the Rainbow Stoneship for now in the meantime. I have an idea of what it looks like, but it will be nice to see it for myself again.”

“Natural rainbows usually only show up when it’s raining but also sunny,” Damien pointed out, “considering the season, we’re only going to have a few more chances for that.”

“There are ways to manipulate water to make your own rainbows!” Keahi countered, “we could see about using the waterfall from Whiscash’s pond if we wanted to do that.”

Damien blinked, glancing upwards as he thought back, but then nodded in agreement to Keahi’s idea.

“Hey, you know…” he mumbled instead, “for the ‘Grass Continent’, there sure is a lack of grass out here-“

“Everyone stop!” Tsuki suddenly yelled.

Freezing in place, the rest of the group stiffened and stopped walking at the command, as Tsuki leapt over to the front of the group. She bent her head down, sniffing the ground and taking careful steps back and forth.

“This is the territory of absols,” she said, her voice sounding far away as she lifted her head.

“It is?” Keahi questioned.

Alex paused to sniff the air, and then nodded, “it is. Good catch there, Tsuki, we wouldn’t want to be trespassing on someone else’s territory… I guess there were absols here before the time collapse.”

“Wow, more absols? That’ll be cool, right? Tsuki, you said that you haven’t seen any other absols before,” Edgar chimed in, floating ahead to join Tsuki at the front.

“Are absols typically territorial?” Dusknoir asked, glancing around the area, which had become rockier and slightly more mountainous as they had gotten closer towards Brine Cave.

Tsuki didn’t answer, only continuing to look out into the distance. After a pause, Damien stepped up instead.

“I… From what I remember, they can be sometimes, if they have something to protect,” he said.

Dusknoir glanced back at the gengar, appearing mildly surprised that he was the one that was able to answer, but accepted this and turned back to face ahead.

“Should we wait for some sort of border patrol then? If this territory is marked, there should be someone to check the borders, right?” Nelvana asked, crouching down to the ground as well. “This doesn’t really smell that recent…”

Alex sighed, “well, I’d hate to be trespassing, but we can’t wait here all day… who knows when someone will be back here to check the borders. Best to ask forgiveness then permission in this case.”

Tsuki’s fur bristled, but then she slowly nodded, “that would certainly be impolite, but these are dire circumstances; they should understand.”

“Could we go around?” Damien offered.

“We don’t know how far the borders stretch out,” Ceebee pointed out, “we could get sidetracked and end up wasting more time; we’d be better off waiting for some sort of border patrol in that case.”

“If everyone agrees then, we should keep going,” Nelvana said, “keep your eyes out though, if we see anyone, we should try talking to them.”

“Like how you called out to Tsuki when we saw her for the first time!” Keahi added.

With that decided, the group proceeded forward. Tsuki continued to hold the lead of the group even after this; everyone silently agreeing that in the case of running into another absol, that it would be best for her to be seen first for diplomacy. For the first five tense minutes, they still didn’t run into signs of any other pokemon. Then…

“Stop!”

Following the booming voice came an absol leaping out from behind the rocks to stand in front of the group. Their fur, while still with a blue hue, was greyer than Tsuki’s. As well, they towered over Team Galaxy’s absol by over a foot, and their build was larger as well. Despite this, Tsuki held her head high and locked eyes with the other absol.

“I am Daichi of the tall cliffs! Who are you, and why are you here?” the absol questioned.

“I am Tsuki of the winter night!” Tsuki answered proudly, “and these are my allies, of Team Galaxy and otherwise. We wish to cross these lands to Brine Cave.”

Daichi narrowed his eyes with suspicion, “why do you wish to enter Brine Cave?”

“There is a great disaster to soon befall this world! Surely, you have sensed it as well?” Tsuki answered, “we wish to pass through Brine Cave so we may find Dialga and speak to them so that we may prevent this disaster,” she further explained.

“If I may…” Ceebee fluttered closer to the front of the group. “Please, trust my word with this as well. We need to pass your territory so we can eventually make it to the Temporal Tower.”

Glancing from the absol to the celebi, Daichi slowly nodded. His steely gaze then moved across the rest of the group, finally landing on Dusknoir for a few moments before he directed his attention back to Tsuki.

“I have sensed this danger as well, you are correct,” he sighed, “I would like to believe that I can trust you. Myself and my pack guard these lands against anyone who may even try to enter the likes of Brine Cave. I can tell that you are true in your words of your goal, and I wouldn’t wish to turn down a mythical…” He stood straighter, holding his stance firm. “However, I sense disaster amongst your own group. The dusknoir is not allowed to pass. The rest of you… should be fine.”

Dusknoir stiffened before hastily making his way over to Daichi, who bristled at his approach. Pausing, Dusknoir moved back slightly again to provide some comfort to the two absols before he spoke up.

“Please, sir, I will admit to being such a danger in the past, but I can assure you that I only mean to help now,” he told him.

“No,” Daichi insisted without hesitation, “I cannot, in good conscience, simply allow you to pass through here. I cannot trust you like that.”

“Look, we’ve been keeping him supervised before now, can you trust us to keep doing that and prevent any harm?” Damien offered instead with a sigh.

“Our mission is too important, his help is required,” Tsuki spoke up again before Daichi could respond to Damien. “If you wish, I will prove it to you in whatever way required. From an absol to an absol, you know that I would never allow someone to cause disasters under my watch.”

Daichi huffed, “very well. We shall duel to prove ourselves. Come with me.”

He stepped back a few paces, distancing himself from the rest of the group, and Tsuki followed after a brief moment’s hesitance. The remainder of the group glanced at one another, silently asking each other if they should follow.

“I remember learning about this, back when I was a trainer,” Damien whispered, “we’ll have to stay back, or else it breaks the… the…” He snapped his fingers, trying to recall the right word. “…the integrity of the duel. It has to just be the two of them; if we step in to help her in any way, it doesn’t count.”

“The integrity?” Keahi repeated, “so how… does it work?”

“Not sure the specifics, but I think it’s a way to prove the strength of their goals…?” Damien responded with a shrug. “I only had some books to go off of, so what I know might not be accurate, but I think they’re going to prove whoever’s, uh, intention is stronger.”

“Do you understand the rules?” Daichi’s strong voice asked, breaking through the quiet air.

Tsuki bowed her head, “yes, now, thank you.”

“Aw, we missed what the rules are!” Keahi groaned quietly.

“Hopefully we’ll pick it up along the way…” Nelvana responded.

Everyone falling silent, the two absols began to circle around one another. After a couple cycles of the two simply staring each other down as they paced, Tsuki made the first move. Throwing herself at Daichi, their horns locked against together, before with a heavy toss of his head, Daichi easily threw Tsuki away. She rolled on the ground, immediately pushing herself back to her feet to return to the duel.

“Can she not use moves?” Alex whispered.

“I never thought about it before, but I don’t think so… I can’t remember ever seeing one where they used actual moves, just their horns,” Damien murmured, “no, wait, they can use moves, I have seen that before. Maybe just not directly…? I remember seeing one use slash, but it was only to cut the grass since the other was hiding in it…”

“I’ve seen that in other pokemon,” Dusknoir commented quietly, “it relays more to their true strengths to not use moves directly. It would be disrespectful for one of them to use a move in this sort of duel, but they can use it to affect the terrain, as that commends to their intelligence and tactics.”

“What other pokemon does that, that you would know of?” Alex questioned with a hiss, but Dusknoir did not answer, instead motioning for everyone to quiet down so they could pay attention to the battle.

Circling each other again, Tsuki’s eyes shot around, studying Daichi and the area around them. She threw herself at him again, their horns clashing against each other. This time she managed to hold her ground longer, but had to tear herself away and step back to avoid being thrown again. It was obvious that she could not win by brute force.

They continued to pace, before eventually Daichi lunged at Tsuki instead, their horns clashing once more. Tsuki’s claws dug deep into the earth, the two forcing their weight against each other. After a few moments though, Tsuki changed her angle, forcing them to begin moving in a circle again, horns still locked against each other.

After a few paces, she opened her mouth, puffs of frost floating out before ice was shot out at the ground. She held the attack, continuing to force the two of them to slowly turn in a circle, now with her tracing an outline out of where they had been pacing around each other before. Daichi pushed harder to try and throw Tsuki off, but that only seemed to turn them faster. She was using his strength against him. The more he would attempt to force Tsuki down to the ground, the more she would use that force to push them around, allowing her to continue to freeze their perimeter. Slowly but surely, she was creating a circle of ice around them. Not that it was easy, sometimes Daichi would tug and force Tsuki’s forelegs off the group, but she always managed to twist her way back down to force the both of them to continue turning around in place.

Just as she barely completed the circle, Tsuki tore herself away from Daichi, scrambling away and across the ring of ice she had created. Throw off by her sudden disappearance, Daichi stumbled under his own weight, but caught himself before he fell over, standing tall again. He glared over at her, him inside the circle of ice and her now outside.

Daichi growled with frustration, evidently not expecting this duel to last this long. Tsuki panted from her position outside of the ice ring, exhausted from putting so much force into redirecting Daichi’s strength, but she did her best to continue holding herself high. Daichi saw this sign of weakness, however, and seeking to finish this battle soon he dove at her once again.

As one paw stepped on the ice, however, he slid over, his entire weight crashing onto his chin where he landed, crumpling onto the ring of ice. Tsuki held back a smile of triumph; he was not built for the cold like she was, her paws were larger to handle the ice, and his were better suited for climbing rocky cliffs. Daichi scrambled to pull himself to his feet again, chin bleeding from a cut from the ice, but each time he would attempt to stand, his paws would slip on the ice and send him crashing down again.

Before he could get the idea to slide off the ice instead, Tsuki made her move. Leaping at him again, she landed safely onto the ice without any trouble and firmly placed her forepaws onto his head. He struggled against her, but his head alone could not free itself under all her strength, and the rest of his body still couldn’t manage to even stand on the ice. His claws scraped the frozen ground in a fruitless attempt to pull himself up, and then he kicked wildly back, but Tsuki had positioned herself where he could not simply reach her like that. Finally, she leaned down and tugged on his fur with her teeth.

“Yield,” she growled.

Daichi continued his struggle for a bit longer, but with a long sigh, he relented to her and slumped onto the frozen ground instead, breathing heavily from all his effort.

“I yield,” he gasped back.

Accepting her victory, Tsuki stepped off from Daichi, shaking her fur off. He attempted to stand once more without the extra weight, but still slipped over. After a pause, Tsuki padded back up to him, offering her help, which he accepted, and she dragged him off from the ice.

With the battle clearly over, the rest of the group hurried over to their friend to congratulate her, complimenting her tactics and commending her for the success. Daichi sat down during this, patiently waiting for his opportunity to speak again. Fortunately, the cheerful chatter quickly died back down, and Tsuki turned her attention back to the other absol.

“I must admit, I underestimated you, Tsuki,” Daichi said, “but you have most certainly proven yourself; you won that battle fairly. Your resolve for your duty here is greater than mine; you may all pass to Brine Cave.”

Tsuki smiled, “thank you, Daichi.”

“Excuse me, Daichi, your chin is still bleeding,” Edgar pointed out, “would you like an oran berry for that?” he offered, glancing over from Alex to Damien, the two bag carriers.

Daichi shook his head, “thank you for the offer, but I will not need it. I will get medical attention from my pack for it later,” he replied, “now, however, I shall escort you all to Brine Cave.”

“Oh! Thank you!” Keahi hummed, “that would be helpful, thanks! Are you sure you don’t need anything for the cut though…?”

“I am certain. You should all save your supplies for the journey ahead anyway,” Daichi insisted, “now, come along, and stay close. We would not want to lose anyone along the way.”

Shaking the dirt from his fur, Daichi stood again and padded off in the direction the group had been heading in before they had run into him. After exchanging some silent glances, the group followed him deeper into the absol territory.

It was silent for the beginning of the walk, aside from Daichi exchanging some quiet and simple pleasantries and advice with Tsuki for what was to come, most of which she, and the rest of the group, already knew. Eventually though, the terrain grew even rockier, and they soon began spotting dens between the stones, and would glimpse some white pelts darting around behind the rocks. What started as glances though soon became stares, as more absols from the pack were drawn out to stand on the rocks and look over the passing group. None of them moved up or spoke up, likely because Daichi was escorting them, but there were some mixed expressions that could be seen from a lot of them.

Suddenly though, one of the absols bounded out from behind the rocks to greet the group. This absol stood out right away, their red instead of blue fur and green eyes made sure of it. They boldly padded up to the group, smiling politely at them. Standing next to Daichi, she was at tall as him, though not as broadly built.

“Hello! I’m Sabi!” she greeted, “er, Sabi of the mountain ores, that is,” she added.

Tsuki smiled back, “and I am Tsuki of the winter night.”

“Yes, greetings, Sabi,” Daichi sighed, “this group is here to visit Brine Cave. They’re going to do their best to handle the disaster we’ve all been sensing.”

“Ohhh, I see,” Sabi replied, nodding. “Did you two duel?” she asked, looking at the cut on Daichi’s chin.

Daichi nodded, and Sabi grinned and swayed in place, her long fur swishing around her.

“I wish I could have seen it! Daichi getting beat by this runt- no offense,” Sabi laughed.

Tsuki sighed, though still smiling, “none taken. I have… noticed that I am smaller than most of you.”

“Noticed? Couldn’t you tell from… your own pack?” Sabi questioned, her own smile faltering. “Oh. Are you a lone absol?”

“I was. I do not even remember what pack I would have come from,” Tsuki replied, gaze hardening. “I have my own pack now though, right here,” she continued with pride.

“Aww… that’s really sweet!” Sabi purred, looking over the rest of the group. “Shame you lost your old pack, but it’s nice to see you found your way.”

Daichi furrowed his brows, though if he doubted the value behind a non-absol pack, he did not mention it.

“Hey, actually, are you a shiny absol?” Ceebee commented, fluttering up to Sabi.

“Yes!” Sabi chirped with a broad grin, “only one in the pack, and proud!”

“That’s neat, I’m actually a shiny too!” Ceebee replied, “I’ve never gotten to see another shiny before!”

“You’re a shiny?” Sabi blinked, and then chuckled to herself. “Sorry, I’ve never gotten to see a celebi before! This is really cool! What do other celebi look like?”

“They’re green instead of pink,” Ceebee answered.

Daichi cleared his throat, “pardon me, but I sense that this is a time important mission, yes? We should continue heading to Brine Cave.”

“Right, of course!” Sabi responded, “here, I’ll escort you all too!” she offered, “I’ll provide better company than Daichi here,” she teased.

“We don’t mind the extra company!” Keahi replied.

Daichi sighed, shaking his head, “very well, but walk and talk then, Sabi.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, old man!” Sabi barked with another laugh, padding along ahead as if to prove her understanding of Daichi’s instructions.

“Have either of you two been through Brine Cave before?” Nelvana asked, “any… tips you could maybe give about this dungeon in particular?”

“I had been getting to that before we were interrupted,” Daichi replied, “Brine Cave is a fifteen-floor descending dungeon with one rest stop after the ninth floor. There are traps, but no monster houses. Common type is water,” he told them, “its final floor is also the home to several fossil pokemon.”

“Ooh, yeah, them,” Sabi hissed, “we’ve managed to work out a truce with them so we can get through without… too much trouble, but they’re really territorial. Most definitely will attack you all, even if you say we’ll chill with you. They’re the time to attack first and ask questions later.”

“So, expect a big fight at the end, got it.” Alex nodded. “How many of them are there?”

“Uhh… it varies depending on when you go in, but usually there’s at least one kabutops and two omastar; they’re the leaders of the gang,” Sabi answered, “expect those three as a minimum and anywhere upwards to… ten? Other pokemon in the pit.”

“And I expect you would rather stay on good terms with them, so we shouldn’t be too rough?” Dusknoir responded.

Daichi glanced back at Dusknoir with narrowed eyes, “if you could, please,” he grumbled.

Dusknoir narrowed his eye back instinctively, but quickly caught himself and did his best to relax again. Fur bristling again slightly, Daichi turned ahead again to watch where he was walking, electing not to respond to Dusknoir again if he didn’t have to.

Eventually, the sight of other absols disappeared as the rocks grew into mountains spreading out into the distance. The scent that this was their territory still lingered in the air, but they by now had passed the main living area for the pack. It wasn’t long after this that the group stopped at the mouth of a large cave, the path descending into the darkness of the dungeon below.

“Here we are, Brine Cave,” Daichi announced, glancing back at the group again. “We wish you all the best of luck, I trust your strength and intentions. Know that considering the graveness of this disaster to come…” He shook his head. “…the very fate of the world rests on your shoulders. I wish I could help you more from here, but this pack must continue protecting these lands first and foremost.”

Tsuki nodded in return, “we understand. Thank you for helping us here.”

“We’re here if you ever need any other sort of help!” Sabi added, “well, we still don’t travel too much, but we’re still good for advice and directions, and any local-er disaster prevention!”

“We’ll keep you all in mind. I’m sure we’ll want to come back to this continent again some other time in the future,” Ceebee replied.

“Thanks again for the help!” Keahi chimed in.

“May Arceus watch over you all,” Daichi hummed.

Giving their final farewells to the two absols, the group entered their single file line, entering Brine Cave together.

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whimsically-ominously-auspice · 6 years ago

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The only reason to hate is to protect the purity of love.

Apparently something I said about someone got spread thickly through the NHRA playing grounds....

That they perv hard on girls but doesn't rape them just is possessive on them to a way where it's almost questionable

I did say that and I never wrote it because I don't believe they're a harmful person just makes a person wonder or do a double take

I know Matt is always saying nice things and I'm always Matt shut up he's a perv. But a perv in a way that old guy from Hustler is. Like he knows he can probably bang any girl out there with it a problem.

I think for some girls that work he's more protective than anything but it still looks very perv.

But it takes a fine eye to see the difference

I write this today because I know a lot of people are like she just says bad things about people

I do. But people I know look a way but aren't I don't say anything and I'm not even writing initials but I can guarantee I have never written about this person before and he's a driver.

And I probably will never have to write a "hate piece" on him because he's not a bad guy. He's actually just a happy person.

I'm not defending myself. I'm just saying I'm not one of those persons that will be like Will Lester is a Rodney Acala because his name is like molester and he has a camera. I have no problems with Will, I like his photography and he keeps his lens clean unlike that one dumb ass that literally held onto his camera by the lens and then took pictures with smudging. Back in the 80s and 90s we would wipe vasoline on the lenses to create affects. But this is the 2010s there's a ton of software that you can keep your greasy ass hands off the lens.

Almost all guys naturally born in a male body have a dick. Not all of them use it as a weapon. Just like not everyone can use a camera.

Obviously I'm nothing like Megan or Leah. Or I wouldn't be so angry.

I'm not even like a Dejoria although I can understand one and call her an attempted Hero and forgive her although she inaverdantly destroyed my life.

I had PTSD for a long time because I gave someone money to bail her boyfriend out of jail whom then went on a crime spree destroying everything he could see and even people died and I had to look their best friend in the eye.

So yes, I do hold Dejoria responsible, however, like me, her intent was not the destruction that occurred. So I can forgive her only mostly because she does care and she is as angry as I am. I know she's not lying because she told me a long time ago she was very sorry for what my daughter had suffered and I knew her to be genuine. She probably did feel guilty.

But a person can feel guilty when someone they met once or twice kills themselves and you wish you had done something to save them. I have felt that more than once.

So there's a lot of willingness to have sex, protection because a girl is a girl, good photographers, guilty people that don't deserve it, and more people that deserve a smile to lighten the dark clouds surrounding their hearts and a pat on the back and a hug at the end of a day.

Don't forget love.

The only reason to hate evil is to protect love, tp allow others to trust everyone to be kind, to live freely giving communication and kindness.

Everyone knows I use to say how much u hated what Dejoria did. But now she's had her hip break, communication directly from God and herself that continuing to rape is wrong. And she quit the NHRA and raping. For me, that is enough, provided she gets the other girls and guys to stop raping.

Yesterday I said my daughter doesn't remember what happened. So why push criminal charges? Because I remember. Because I was tied to a bed and the only way I got untied is I used my leg to fuck up this dudes balls. What you do when you're being raped and they're about to cum, cross your leg over your other like you're sitting, so when they slide back they slam into your leg, if they have a small pens their balls will be hanging down and it will hurt them greatly. The smaller the penis, the more ball sack they have. The larger the penis, the shaft needs more skin, so it pulls up skin from the ball sack and the balls will then be two lumps around the base of the shaft if they use all the skin. It is actually something that a guy can control, if he knows how to. Which is why masterbation and rhe acceptance of masterbation is crucial to the development of a young male.. that said I rather believe that Alex does not have pubes nor a dick that is used for nothing other than peeing. However I do know about what he does with other people to the extent of hickies or him casually mentioning that he saw a person he would french kiss. We do not share details like he did this unless it's all "my friend --" and I'm naive enough to believe that he wasn't even there when it happened.

If he's murdered I should know the name(s) of the people he french kisses often so I can give the police a name and location of where the person works. If he has an issue, I would want him to ask someone trusted and I am someone trusted. .... this one time he tried to tell me something and I was all "they got you high and turned on a porn and touched you while you fell asleep?!?! That's a bad person, Alex!!! Never see them again!!!" I misunderstood his awkwardness as "im confessing I liked it" as "I'm have always been uncomfortable about this" he was all "we will talk about it later" as it was late and I was driving and etc etc. And obviously I was not understanding

So until i read that book yesterday that I didn't have to pay $2.99 for because I can see through the Internet. But not in a Steven Hawkins way. I wasn't a Goddess.

So that kinda communication will never happen again. Still. I prefer to think of his physical being as that of a ten year old. My daughter is a two year old but potty trained. Because what they do with their body is their business unless they are hurting themselves or others.

What my daughter does in her pants is her business. I tell her "when you are doing anything sexual, you make sure it's about you and not what you think the other person wants or needs unless you want or need it because if it's not okay with you then it's probably not okay it happened or maybe for you to even be with this person."

It doesn't take more details than that. I don't have to say vagina. I don't have to believe she has one or boobs or a spot that makes her go crazy with giggles or with homicidal rages. I day it to her and the air around her as if there was people I would be warning or she would carry a cloud with her to tell people to get the Hell away unless you care about equality and compassion.

And one time she asked if she needed help to get away from a person that would hurt her and I told her "yes, even if I'm dead. Even if all I can do is pray, then yes I will. Obviously, I love you, of course I will! But if I can do more then I will, of course! Because I love you"

And she smiles.

Since the law says basically I have to report and file charges on someone who would hurt her, then obviously I would. Because i promise her I will do all I can. When what happened in Okmulgee, she was 5. She just graduated kindergarten and we were there to see how she could handle a separation from her father as I had planned to get a divorce and him and I had had separate bedrooms for nearly a year. Not to be raped or molested or to have an adult make her kiss a place that she should know only pee comes out of and shouldn't even know what looks like in great detail at the age of 5. She told me it was slimy because he had put it in me. I explained her to that he had basically in a way peeed in me and that was why and she was all pee is slime!?!!?! Sometimes what comes from from a private part is what you would call slimy.

When she got her period the first time I bought her a book. She was suppose to get the majority of her sexual education from books, TV and the internet. And from touching herself.

Now it's quite well that the first time she has sex , after marriage or her first boyfriend or whatever she is going to remember a slimy Gary penis that was inside her mother. Don't you think that would be the worst way to experience your first sexual encounter with flashbacks? That could damage her entire sexual future and any chance of having a relationship with a man that is worthwhile.

So yes. To fix that, to prevent that. Yes she has to say my mom had those people prosecuted and they went to jail and paid me a lot of money and so now i never have to remember and if I do then I can supress it and know that it should never happened and that justice was served and I know that I never have to remember. So if she gets a flash back feeling she never has to look at it. It's just what happens sometimes.

Moral of the story: don't do bad things and you're safe from me.

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ancient-depressed-druid · 6 years ago

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Tyrys Week, day 2: Comfort And Confessions

One hour to the end of today and I finally got time to post this chapter, this week is gonna be wild

Tj was shaking on his way to the swings that Monday afternoon. He was going to travel to out of the country for a two-month vacation at his aunt Sheyla's house in Scotland and was debating with himself if he should come out to Cyrus during a near future (possibly), which lead him to the swings, the best option to lay out some stress without all the sweat of the basketball hoop behind his house.

While making his way to the park, tj remembered all the times he had come out that year.

After his last game of basketball playing for Jefferson middle, tj and his parents went home for a rare homemade dinner, an event kept only for special occasions where tj and his parents would cook together some meal and chat for the whole time. Tj thought that was maybe the best moment he would get any time soon to come out to his parents, so right after they finished layering the lasagna and shoved it up on the oven, he started talking.

“Mom, dad” he stole their attention from their wine bottle, both looked attentively to their nervous son. “I… I have something I need to tell you” Tj stuttered but still looked them in the eyes.

“What is it Ty?” his mom asked with her soft voice, her simple clothes still a little wrinkled from dressing too quickly after her hospital shift to be at her son’s game on time, her soft blond hair, a tone lighter than Tj’s own, fell at her shoulders with light curls and her green eyes that contrasted beautifully with her faintly tanned skin full of worry.

The basketball player looked at his father, an older version of himself, only with red hair and a full beard, his paler face exhibited the same concern his wife, they love me enough to be worried Tj said to himself internally I can do it.

Taking a deep gulp of air, he looked at his parent's eyes and left forgotten his prepared speech to a short and simple sentence “I'm pansexual” he said as he closed his eyes, not ready to recognize the rejection on his parent's faces.

“Ty,” his father’s voice called him after a couple seconds, he opened his eyes to see their faces full of confusion and another expression he could not exactly pinpoint confused “as much as I would like to say I fully support you” Tj’s heart beat so loud he almost didn’t listen to the end of his father’s sentence “but I think neither me nor your mom could say that without lying to you, since we both don’t have idea of what does that term means” he finished with an understanding expression, almost as he was hurting for not being able to fully support his child in this particular moment as much as he did on every other aspect of his life (including the discovery of his dyscalculia).

His mom seemed to feel the same, as she took a hold of Tj’s hand placed over the table, thumb softly massaging the back of it to assure her son that they meant no harm to him at any moment, only looking to comprehend what he was telling them. Fuck he thought again, exhaling the air stuck in his lungs for the last minute or so I'm so lucky to have them supporting and trying to understand me he then remembered daniel’s words about his family’s views on sexuality and got a little sad for the boy.

“I am pansexual,” he started, oh so much calmer now that his parents weren't going to get mad at him for being himself “ and being pansexual means I’m attracted to a person, no matter their gender identity.” His parents still seemed confused at that explanation “ This means that I can love either a boy, a girl, a person that is both or a person that is neither of those things” his parents looked less confused now, but his mom started crying and got up from her seat to hug Tj. His dad also hugged him, making all of them part of a family hug completed with sobs and wet tears from all three of the Kippens.

Suddenly a loud pig came from the stove, the warning that their dinner was ready, they were quick to separate from the hug and settle the table for the meal, their usual rhythm coming back as his mom cracked jokes and his father told them about his latest project on the firm he worked.

“So you guys are not mad at me?” Tj asked after a few minutes of eating his second portion of lasagna (his parents were indeed really good cooks), mouth still full of the delicious treat. His parents looked at him as if he had grown another head on his arm all of the sudden.

“Why would we be mad at you, ty?” his mom asked, taking a sip of her glass of wine to wash down the food she just swallowed.

“You know because I’m not straight?” he said a little lower “There’s this kid at school, he’s gay, and his parents didn’t fully accept it…”

“Oh baby, I so deeply sorry for your friend, but we want you to know we fully support you, even though we may need a few days to search more about the LGBT community.” His mom answered him.

“And we’re actually kind of ashamed, we didn’t know we were raising you in such a way you felt uncertain of our reaction to this subject, and if you ever felt pressurized to be something you aren’t, we are profoundly sorry for it.”

“And I'm sorry for you to even consider this wrong, how could I feel anything other than pride for my baby boy being able to love someone without restrictions?”

Tj smiled despite the squeezing feeling at his chest, he was so relieved he had understanding parents that loved and encouraged him that much

Tj never really came out during his first year of high school, he didn’t announce it publically with a megaphone, at the sound of born this way from lady gaga, and a rainbow parade complete with pink glitter in the middle of the cafeteria. It actually when pretty non-climatic to be honest.

He had just entered (after much work and dedication) the basketball team, being the only freshman to play court, so, as per usual on this situations, he got to be a little bit of a celebrity among his peers, being given high fives from random people at the halls, invited to parties at houses he didn't know the owner and girls asked him out almost every week.

So it wasn’t a surprise when his older teammates came near him at his locker during his interval between biology and history (both his favorite subjects, since he couldn’t choose between them both) and took a view of the inside of that said locker, where Tj had put up a small Panic! At The Disco poster (he got really into it since that day), sided by his class schedule, a note from Cyrus wishing him good lock on his high school journey and a small pansexual flag with the words ‘love is love’ written on it.

“YO KIPPENSTER!” called his team captain, Carlos, came accompanied by two other players- Alex and Leo – and the three seniors stopped behind him, hands on his shoulder in a sort of rough massage as Tj replaced his books for the next period.

“My man, why is there a random flag with that girly shit written in it?” asked Leo in a friendly mockery. Tj didn’t even look at them as he responded with half a mind

“That’s the pansexual flag. As in attracted to any gender or biological sex, as in my flag” and realizing what he just blurted out without a care in the world he dreaded himself for if those were panphobic shitheads he, without a doubt, might as well without a doubt he be throwing out all his hard work in the nearest trash can available.

“Oh, okay.” He heard his mates answer and the following “We don’t really give a fuck to who you fuck as long as you keep playing like you did yesterday. And talking about fucking, you going to Thalissa's party this weekend? You have to get laid man!”

And that was that up until now he had come out without any problematic consequences, his parents had gotten more involved with lgbtqa rights and his teammates only tried to join him with their friend and random people until they caught him smiling dumbly to his phone after a long practice and none other but forced him to confess his crush on Cyrus and proceded to tease him lightly every time Cyrus went to watch a game at high school.

However, none of that mattered in sight of telling Cyrus about his crush on him.

Tj was really close to the swings the moment he identified the hunched up form of his friend (and object of his affection), Cyrus goodman.

“Hey, underdog!” he called as he got closer to the set of swings he knew all too well by now.

“Oh hey Tj!” the smaller boy greeted him with a visible lack of enthusiasm.

“What you swinging for?” he asked the now common question between them

“You are probably gonna think I'm stupid for it,” the Jewish boy said looking down at his black sneakers.

“After all this time you still think the worst of me, underdog?” Tj joked as a way of telling the boy he was safe “is that what you take from our relationship till now?” he said and cursed at himself internally, his mouth needed a better filter or else he would just keep coming out to people without the intention to do so and one day he would get himself in a bad situation, just as this one, he thought.

Cyrus, however, didn’t seem phased by the sentence, more worried about his actual problem than overanalyzing his friends choice of words. He sighed and seemed to accept his fate as to tell Tj his problems, the basketball player sat beside the boy on the other swing.

“Take your time” he tried to lift a little bit of the obvious pressure on the other boy's shoulders. Cyrus seemed to take the advice to heart as they sat there in a pregnant silence for almost five minutes.

“I'm afraid of going to high school” he blurted just as Tj thought this subject would just be classified as more of their ‘stuff’ and never spoken about again Tj face frowned in confusion.

“What are you talking about,” he said with light a voice “we’re going to study at the same school again,” he could not control his smile nor the butterflies on his stomach at the mere thought of being able to see Cyrus every day at school again “what would be there to be afraid? You’ll miss Slayer too much?” he joked

Cyrus seemed torn between happiness at the prospect of studying with Tj again and almost desperate by whatever else he was feeling.

“Tj, I'm not afraid of going to a different school from Buffy, I mean, I’ll still have andi and we’re still gonna go out together…” he affirmed with confidence “I'm afraid because I AM different” at Tj’s utter confusion he forced himself to say the words that still sounded too heavy at his own tongue “Tj, I’m gay”

Tj’s heart sank to his stomach, beat faster than ever before and not beat at all, all at the same time at what those words implied. He had a chance, the slightest that it was, it was still bigger and better than what he had imagined.

“Underdog, I can assure you no one gives a shit about your sexuality in high school,” he said, and then realizing how he had sounded he tried to fix his words “I mean, people won't treat you different just for that, I won't treat you any different” Cyrus seemed relieved, but then his anxiety came back with more doubts at his head.

“How can you be so sure?” he inquired from the older boy “ How can you affirm to me that I won't be made fun of or beaten or anything like that?” he grew even more anxious with every word, as well as did Tj, but for completely different reasons.

“I can be one hundred percent honest with you because” his throat felt drier than sandpaper, his hands sweeter than a fat kid on the line to the last McDonald’s burger ever. It felt like he was Lúcifer going to confess his sins to God himself (mental note, don’t read paradise lost after ten pm, or else you’ll end up making more religious comparisons). “I can tell that because I'm not quite straight and I haven't suffered any major bullying during this whole year”

Cyrus stared at him with a blank face, now completely calm all of a sudden “So let me get this right,” he started with a monotone tone to his voice “you are gay”

“Pansexual actually” the blonde boy interrupted.

“So you’re pansexual” Cyrus's voice acquired a heavier, more full of anger tone at every word “and you’ve been out to strangers for a whole year” he was now nearly shouting but contained himself “but to me, ‘one of your best friends’” he made quotes on air “you chose not to say a word?”

“Yes?” Tj said nor sure if he was supposed to be feeling bad or angry about what Cyrus was telling him. But then, before he could weight his options fully, Cyrus made something I've never seen before coming from the boy.

“Fuck!” Cyrus cursed, leaving Tj astonished “Oh my god, Tj, I’m such a shitty friend, ugh, I made you somehow feel like you couldn’t come to me and talk about it unintentionally, haven't I?” he started to beat himself up, that made the taller boy’s heart feel tight on his chest.

“No, Underdog, it's not like that.” He calmed the boy, holding his hands to stop him on his over the top sequence of gestures, it’s now or never. C’mon men, you can do it. Tell him how you feel! “I didn’t say anything before because, because I…” that moment, Cyrus phone started to ring.

Looking apologetically to Tj, Cyrus got up from the swing set and answered the call. Tj only waited, knowing full well that Cyrus’ parents only called him on emergencies, preferring not to disturb their son during the day if not for something important.

Minutes later the brown-haired boy was back in front of Tj, biding his goodbyes and walking home, Tj and his reasons forgotten in midst of whatever his parents told him that left him in a near catatonic state. Tj watched him run home as his own cellphone ringed in his sweats’ pockets, most probably his mom calling him home so they could travel.

Cyrus arrived home were his two pairs of parents waited for him, having already come out to them not long ago made him feel lighter around them and allowed him to act more instinctively by their side.

He couldn’t believe when his dad told him on the phone, still processing the news ‘you’re gonna be a big brother’. But in his living room, he found his mom and stepmom both talking and touching their bellies in a protective way.

He was never happier than that afternoon, receiving the news of two babies on their way, commemorating until late with his family, he only remembered to tell his friends after he got up to his bedroom, too tired to keep partying on the first floor.

He sent a text to buffy and andi marking to see them the next day to share the news and was ready to send Tj the same text when he saw he had a voicemail from a said basketball player. curious, he made his phone play it.

“Hey, Underdog,” Tj’s voice sounded clear through the speaker “it’s me, obviously. I hope everything is okay with your parents” Cyrus smiled at the kind gesture “I'm calling to give you a heads up that I'm leaving the country for two months since I’m gonna visit my aunt in Scotland…” he felt his heart sink a little, his best friend was going to leave for two whole months.

“about earlier, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I was such a coward and didn’t tell you before, I'm so, so sorry.” He felt bad for Tj, the blond’s voice sounded strangled from emotion “I guess I thought you would see me in a different way if I’ve told you, or maybe you would realize how obvious I am” Tj let out a sad chuckle and Cyrus got even more confused at that exclamation.

“ you know, I wanted to do it face to face, but I guess this way you can have time to think about it better without me around, you can decide how to act when I come back, if you want to keep things as they are…” there was a loud sigh from Tj, Cyrus could hear the sound of running water in the background now, as well as some voices “so this is my admission of guilt. Fuck, am I really doing this at an airport’s bathroom? I'm so fucked up…” he almost laughed if not for the serious subject of the (one-sided) conversation.

“This is me confessing my crush on you. A crush that lasts for over a year now and just grew stronger, even though I tried to find other people to like, or trying to find reasons to not like you as more than a friend.” All air from Cyrus' lungs was knocked out at the impact of that confession. Tj has a crush on me he thought to himself, unable to do any other thing than just stare blankly at his phone, the only current source of light in his dark bedroom.

“As I said before, from now on the choice is yours, you chose if we should not be friends anymore, or be just friends or if you want to try and be more than that, cause I will follow whatever path you chose, no contestations. I'm not gonna contact you during this months to give you the time to sort things out within yourself. I'm sorry for the sudden bomb I just threw on you…Just,” his voice sounded painful and closer than ever to tearing up “I'm gonna miss you during this two months… goodbye Cyrus”

#tyrus andi mack #tyrus #tyrus week #Andi Mack #cj andi mack #tj kippen x cyrus goodman #cyrus x tj #tj kippen #cyrus goodman #pansexual tj #confessions

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striddums · 6 years ago

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ok, keeping this under a cut cause i just really don’t want to start a whole discourse on my blog, i hope you all understand. so, to the anons:

first: i realise i need to be more mindful & discreet about this topic than i initially was in my tags, especially as a white person, like you stated. and i apologise. i hadn’t watched any of the videos (including pdp’s) yet, and writing “i don’t think he’s a nazi” was just literally me carelessly sharing my gut feeling. cause i still think that he’s not... maybe i’m horribly naive for it. but i don’t think he is. the post i linked there is a piss poor “apology” and whatever, but he does state very clearly that he doesn’t share the same hateful thoughts as those people. he even calls the idea laughable - which to me perfectly summarises the entire problem with this guy. which brings us to...

...point two: in that post he says, i quote, “As laughable as it is to believe that I might actually endorse these people...”. he’s a dumbass. he thinks it’s fine to call it laughable, that he has a place to do so, and that it proves his point. “of course i don’t think that way! that’s so ridiculous i’d never in a million years even consider it! it’s laughable!” to me, that has seemed to be his thought process every time something like this happened... and, again, it’s fucking stupid. he SHOULD realise (especially with his massive audience, god) that he needs to be more careful talking about that stuff, more respectful, more empathetic. people get hurt by what he says and what he does. so many people (RIGHTFULLY) responded the way they did to his offensive jokes cause he caused HARM. and he simply hadn’t fathomed it would have the colossal impact it did. so i understand that people see that and think “well, he’s going around trampling on different groups, seemingly without remorse. this clearly shows his ideologies.” it’s a logical response! my feelings on it however... i’ve been watching his channel since 2012, and i just don’t think he’s that guy? not in a i-watched-him-so-long-and-i-wuv-him-too-much-to-see-mistakes kinda way. i’ve unsubscribed from many people i watched since 2009-2012 in the past cause they did something horrible (alex day for example). but i never got the feeling felix is the horrible person people worry he is. in the recent post (that i now deleted) i saw someone in the comments say “most of his videos have antisemitic tones”, but that’s simply untrue. i still watch a lot of his videos (think of that what you will...) and it’s literally 99% silly, inoffensive memes. the vast majority of his content is completely harmless. i can vouch he does not mention jewish people, or hitler, or anything like that, ever. cause...

...point three: why would he? he’s been under fire by the media and the internet and a big chunk of the whole world for what he did. disney fired him, his youtube red series got cancelled and thus scare pewdiepie 2 will never see the light of day. and, again, RIGHTFULLY SO. his “”””jokes”””” were distasteful and awful, and he had to face consequences for it. (which he agreed with btw! in the end with all the companies dropping him, he was most upset that other people who appeared in scare pdp 2 did all that hard work for it to never get recognised, all due to his idiocy.) so, as we all know, people were very upset with him for what he thought was just a funny-kinda-risky joke, and they still are. i lose followers every time i mention his name lol. he has expressed many times that he feels remorse and wishes for himself to do better and never fuck up like this again. that’s why i think he was not aware of the antisemitic references made by the creator he named in the recent video. if he did know it, regardless of him actually being antisemitic or not, he never would’ve mentioned them. he would’ve known what kind of shitstorm he could expect, ESPECIALLY since it’s regarding a topic he’s already screwed up in! i legit think he had no idea. also cause watching the video by the twitch streamer (from the post i now deleted), i had to rewatch the clips apparently showing antisemitic content many times. i didn’t get the references... at all... maybe i’m super uneducated, but i didn’t recognise them as anything nazi-related. <:/ they’re not blatant, in your face antisemitic references, they’re apparently very hidden and specific. all of them went right over my head, until the twitch guy paused and went “oh my god” and i then tried really hard to look into it... so i think it’s the same with felix. i believe most people wouldn’t notice the messages in them, unless they were familiar with nazi references. i think pdp likely just found a death note review that he enjoyed (it’s his favourite anime and he has Big Opinions on the netflix remake) so he decided to shout out the channel that made it based on that. i think this cause in his video, it’s literally the only thing he had to say about them... “i liked their anime review”. that’s it. so i believe the references went over his head too. (EDIT: after i wrote all this & posted it i saw pewdiepie had just uploaded a video addressing the matter, and he confirmed what i thought. he had no idea there were antisemitic references and never would’ve shared the channel if he had known.)

now, about that creator he gave a shout-out to, point four: from what i understand of the clips the twitcher showed, the offensive person isn't spreading blatant supremacist propaganda, or clearly stating to be in favour of those things. they’re putting in hidden references, and these might reflect his feelings (i wouldn’t be surprised.) but one thing became clear: he is in fact, a horrible edgelord lmao. the 4chan kind. the person who thinks putting a hitler speech bit in a steven universe video is funny. which is disgusting. i honestly doubt pdp has seen that su video, cause it’s on the man’s second channel that he never mentioned in this shout-out video, and cause it’s steven universe related lol. i don’t think he’d click on a su video, but that’s based on assumptions entirely so not very credible, i know. the su video’s title also has a rape joke in it... it’s just all round bad. that’s the only vid that had a more obvious nazi ref too (literal hitler) and the terrible title... so yeah fuck that guy. it’s unsure if pewdiepie actually knew about that video at all (and that one was referenced the most by the twitch streamer). all we can say for sure is that E;R guy is a massive twat. (EDIT: so yeah again, we now know for certain pdp had never seen the su video and junk)

to round it all up... to me pewdiepie is a guy with edgy humor, who thinks he can joke about everything (which, no ya don’t, especially as a cishet white dude), and who by far doesn’t take things as seriously as he should. and by a LANDSLIDE not as seriously as he should as a youtuber with 75 million subscribers. he’s made a lot of mistakes and it was never my intention to come off as if i’m defending or excusing them: i’m not, and i think they’re terrible. they’re extremely upsetting, and i’m deeply sorry for not being clear about that and putting those irritated tags under the post so carelessly. (my irritation was also mainly directed at felix for screwing up... again.)

but yeah, i do feel like he’s not actually someone with offensive thoughts... just someone who needs to grow up more & get better at handling such a big audience (which he has had like 4 years for... too slow). he has a far larger impact than he realises at times and there’s just certain jokes he CANNOT make. not only cause they’re simply unfunny and distasteful, but also cause they harm people. so all the people who say he handles things unprofessionally and has WAY too many screw-ups for someone with the large following he does - i wholeheartedly agree. but i don’t think he’s a nazi.

#i hope my thoughts came across well #personal #ask #Anonymous #pewds

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dramaplustautology · 6 years ago

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Lost Time Part 2/???

Siegfried goes after the kidnapped Captain.

No warnings and that’s going to be the last you’ll see those two words.

I want to split the first part into at least 2 and this one used to be part of an even bigger one but it was so weird so I had to break it up. I feel like my pacing is much better but now, “chapter” cuts are confusing. like there’s several climaxes in the original but when you cut them up, there’s just no climax. AAAAAAAA

Ok and also, I have so much trouble going through Siegfried’s thoughts. Just so much even when I reread those events, his fate eps, everything, but I’m trying ajdhalskg.

Waaaay shorter this time, still with tons of talking and thinking instead of actions orz

whatever, I’m tapping my watch @ me like where’s the kink???

Barely paying attention to what his students were talking about, Siegfried began drifting, toying with his helmet when Cagliostro spoke up.

“Is it the island or Utala’s god father that’s strange?” Cagliostro toyed with her hair ornament. It hadn’t been sitting right on her head after her couch flipped over. “I was hoping a more sensitive nose could sniff it out.”

“Go ahead and call me a dog, it doesn’t matter anymore,” Vane said, genuinely guilty about almost killing Cagliostro. He glanced at the other crew members returning to the ship, whispering amongst themselves about the newcomer and the strangely silent forest. “But now that you mention it, I didn’t see any animals while we were here.”

“We arrived so soon after the storm and if those happen often, we assumed the animals were used to taking cover,” Lancelot added, looking to his former teacher. “Siegfried, you were deeper in the mansion. Was there anything strange?”

Siegfried had nothing to say. He was sure that he did, after sneaking ahead and scouting the second floor of the abandoned mansion but it had been cut short. Overhearing the conversation about Utala’s lost sibling wasn’t his intention and yet, he had become enraptured by a footnote of the past.

Of course, this wasn’t the sort of topic that come up in casual conversation, which Siegfried was also unused to handling. Still, he knew enough that despite Utala saying that the scars from growing up as a different person were small, talking about such a thing would be deeply uncomfortable for all participants.

That was similar to how, during discussions about Siegfried’s time as a fugitive, pain would flash in Lancelot and Percival’s, sometimes Vane’s, expressions.

“They really care about you,” Sara had noted to him one day. “They’re afraid that you still hold it against them for doubting you for all those years.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Is it bad to say that I’m a bit jealous?”

Did they think that he would hold a grudge? He hoped that the way he acted didn’t give the impression that he did.

In all honesty, he didn’t remember those feelings. He knew that they had existed but they were so hazy now.

Siegfried hadn’t thought about that until Utala brought up the subject. The knight couldn’t make a good comparison between something as subjective as how much spite a person could hold for others wishing that they were someone else and spite for being framed for a crime.

The closest he had returned to those dark, wriggling emotions were from Alex embracing Utala and dragging her away. But that was only because Alex’s mannerisms were somewhat off-putting, to put it politely.

Utala said that it didn’t bother her, however, Siegfried was also sure that he had only heard a part of the story. Cagliostro on the other hand, who had recognized who Rio was…

“I’ll give you the details. Most of them. The rest has to come from the Captain herself.”

That implied that Cagliostro knew the rest of the details, intimately knew them if she was so confident about separating what should be said and what shouldn’t.

The more Siegfried try to ascertain why Cagliostro knew before Utala decided to tell him, the more questions it brought up about himself. Utala had always been jumpy around him, having to calm herself down before he felt it was safe to touch her.

As opposed to Cagliostro, who could drop out of a tree, disguised as a snake but be embraced wholeheartedly anyways.

“Am I so adorable that you can’t help but stare?” Cagliostro asked, winking at Siegfried with a finger pressed to her lips. Lancelot’s wrist twitched, like he had been about to shove her over the edge of the rail.

“Ah, apologies,” Siegfried came back to reality, refocusing on the actual topic at hand. “While I was in the mansion, I didn’t come across any sign of life except for Alexander and his maid. After putting more thought into the observation, it’s strange that such a structure wouldn’t be used as shelter by the wildlife.”

“Uuu, don’t say that after staring at me for a solid five minutes.” Cagliostro playful smile sharpened into a smirk.

“Which leads me to my other observation,” Siegfried, thinking fast, continued. “You wanted to know if we smelled anything amiss. Should we be smelling anything amiss?”

Crossing her arms, Cagliostro huffed and made a big scene about her pouting. Percival, who had been staring at Alex and Utala hugging for the entire conversation, didn’t notice and spoke over her.

“The incident with my brother was fresh on my mind today. That man’s dilapidated home was similar to the depths of my home. I thought that I was imagining the smell because of my memories being stirred but, did any of you feel the same?”

“Is that why you were so uptight today?” Vane asked, like Percival wasn’t high maintenance at all hours of the week. “I thought you were just being jealous.”

That got Percival looking, sputtering angrily trying to find a dignified way to reply.

“Jealous of that vulgar display?” The crease of Percival’s brow was so deep that it must have been burrowing into his skull. “If I saw a father handle their child in such a way, I would turn him to ash on the spot!”

“Haha! Tell us how you really feel, Percy!” Vane laughed but it didn’t get Percival riled in the normal way.

“I’m serious.” Percival shot a scathing look at the way Alex was practically spooning Utala where she stood. “There’s a difference between a ‘fatherly’ hug and harassment. No wonder Lyria and Vryn were pushed aboard first.”

“I can see it,” Lancelot agreed. “I didn’t want to bring it up since she seemed happy but there really is a difference between the way he’s been touching her and say, how Siegfried touches her.”

“Is that so…” Siegfried trailed off, a part of him wanting to correct him but he didn’t know why and in what way. Somehow, Cagliostro also knew how to correct that.

“Yes there is but not in the way you’re thinking.” Cagliostro snorted. “Come now, pat my head like you do with Utala.”

Lancelot and Vane were shaking their heads at Siegfried and Percival was looking at him like they were meeting for the first time.

Curious, Siegfried patted Cagliostro’s head and the alchemist rolled her eyes.

“How are you as clueless as my niece? Pretend that I am the Captain, and I mean really pretend that I’m your Captain.”

Hearing Percival tighten his crossed arms, straining the straps of his armor at Cagliostro’s intonation, made Siegfried cautious. Did Percival see a trap that Siegfried couldn’t?

Either way, there was nothing that hinted at harm so Siegfried closed his eyes and reached back out. He ran his hand over Utala’s forehead, weaving his fingers into her hair until his palm cupped her temple.

Feeling Cagliostro lean into the touch, Siegfried opened his eyes and found that the alchemist was batting her eyelashes at him, lips pursed. Jerking his hand away like he’d been bitten, he realised that Lancelot and Vane had lost the ability to speak and Percival’s confusion had turned to clenched teeth behind pressed lips.

In such awkward mishaps, Siegfried would look to Lancelot to keep them on base but his eyes darted to Utala down on the island. Her god father’s hand was splayed over her chest, thumbing at the collar of her dress as she gazed up at him.

An ugly emotion writhed inside him, boring into his chest as Alex rested his chin on Utala. Siegfried turned his back and started for the way under the deck.

“Siegfried?” Lancelot tried to go after him and expected the other knights to do the same.

Lyria began to scream.

All at once, everyone was on the move. Percival was the first on the gangplank with Katalina at his flank. Lyria held her hands out to the air as Vryn clung to her shoulder to brace for what was to come.

Then, the deck of the Grandcypher tilted ninety degrees. Siegfried stabbed his greatsword into the deck and grabbed Lancelot’s arm before he was swept into the nightmarish wind.

Another storm had picked up with vicious speed, forcing the summoned Tiamat to right the Grandcypher instead of coming to their Captain’s rescue. She couldn’t stop them from being thrown so high into the thundering clouds that Lancelot’s nose was bleeding from the sharp change in atmosphere.

The pouring rain washed it away and all around Siegfried was the chaos of his crewmates struggling to understand what had happened. Katalina had been forced back on deck, shielding Lyria and Vryn as they shouted for the Captain.

Thrown to the other end of the ship, Vane had his arm curled around the rail and the other curled around Percival, trying to keep him from thrashing out of it. He was shouting and the lightning crashing all around them made it impossible for Siegfried to hear him.

He couldn’t hear anything, only the white noise and the Captain’s absence telling him to make a mistake.

“What are you doing?” Lancelot yelled as Siegfried donned his helmet and began to run.

The Grancypher’s rail came at him fast and he jumped on the wood divider, and off the side of the ship.

“Siegfried!” He heard Percival call out, the monstrous wind devouring what might be the last voice he’d ever hear.

He dove into the flashing storm and its freezing torrential rain, fearing nothing but what he would find on an island that had disappeared from view.

That long winding conversation that had led nowhere had taken a little more than twenty minutes, and they had lost Utala and Siegfried in under twenty seconds.

“I should have known he was lying about knowing Utala’s father!” Vryn wrung his hands as Lyria hugged him, wincing at Percival slamming his fist on the railing. “All of those sketches and those stories fooled me. I should have waited for Rosetta to wake up.”

“No, he probably wasn’t lying,” Cagliostro, sitting in the corner of the deck with her knees against her chest, pressed her palms against her eyes. “If Utala’s father is anything like her, history’s just repeating.”

“What are you talking about?” Katalina asked, arms still shielding Lyria and Vryn long after the storm had gone, taking the island with it.

“I knew the smell inside that mansion but I wasn’t sure until now. Maybe I was blocking it out,” Cagliostro dragged her hands down her cheeks as the others approached. “It’s the same way I smelled after you freed me from my prison.”

“Then, does that mean—“Lyria coughed, clutching her side.

“Are you alright.” Katalina knelt, holding Lyria’s shoulders as coughs wracked her body with trembles.

They grew louder until everyone on deck turned their heads, just in time for her to collapse.

There were limits to what humans could do. Surviving a four hundred foot fall was a stretch that even some primals couldn’t reach.

But, as the puddle he lay in rippled from his stirring, Siegfried had discovered that a dragon could.

Fafnir’s blood had saved him a second time.

He awoke to a dimming violet sky, the stars twinkling above the gap in the forest canopy. Siegfried’s fall had been broken by branches that lay shredded to pieces around him, floating in the remnants of a storm’s rain.

There was no telling how long he had been asleep. Being stabbed by Hagan had taken days to recover the blood lost. He didn’t know how long it took for shattered bones to heal and if they did so correctly.

Raising his arm, Siegfried flexed his fist. The test yielded piercing pain but he held his breath, enduring. Slowly sitting up, the water flowing from the gaps in his freezing armor, he checked his surroundings as his spine creaked in protest.

The woods were so thick that it felt like he was sitting at the bottom of a well where the light leaking into the hole he had punched into the branches was fast disappearing. Water was still dripping from the branches, either meaning that the storm that attacked the Grandcypher had just ended or Siegfried had slept through a different one.

And during his time asleep, something could have happened to Utala.

Siegfried forced himself to calm, spying his greatsword stuck into the base of a tree trunk nearby. It had struck the middle, sinking until the half the blade was sheathed, and gravity had helped the weighty weapon slide further until it touched the ground.

Utala had deflected that sword, the first time they met and the numerous times they sparred. Alexander wouldn’t be facing a helpless child.

He ignored the ugly crackling his legs made when he stood. Finding his stride, Siegfried tugged his sword from the tree, hefting it on his shoulder, and found himself in a familiar landscape.

Like back then, there was no time to dwell on fears. The likeliest place for Utala to take shelter as in the mansion and in the worst case scenario, Alexander would have her imprisoned there. Siegfried just needed to know which direction it was.

As if a higher power was sending him a sign, the bitter smell of something burning reached his nose. He looked up and saw thin wisps of smoke wafting over the gap. Judging from the way it moved and the thickness of the plume, the knight knew which direction he needed to go and estimated that it wasn’t going to be a far walk.

Beginning slow, Siegfried went from a walk to a sprint, clearing distances that would’ve taken much longer with the uneven ground and foliage obstructing the way. He traversed the sodden landscape, snaking around the trees and the rotting husks of the ones that had fallen to the storm.

The blanketing darkness barely did much in slowing him down. It would have done a lot less several years ago. It had been a long time since he had to move through this kind of terrain with such urgency. Ironically, he was running towards a fire instead of away from it.

Being able to go so far, his shadow moving through the night, he supposed he hadn’t stopped being an inhuman beast.

“Leave it!” He heard a man hiss, coming to an abrupt stop.

It came from up ahead, where Siegfried could see the trees stop at a craggily wall of stone. He sped towards it, beginning to climb up the slick moss covered rocks.

“It never stops raining on this godsforsaken chunk of hell. If the fire spreads, it’s not going to go far.” Siegfried heard the sound of a window slamming shut and waited at the edge of the wall’s top. Footsteps scurried into the distance, and a door creaked open and shut before Siegfried thought it safe to pull himself over the ledge.

He had reached a barren terrace, the looming figure of the mansion standing beyond it. There were lights glowing in the third floor windows, and below in the corner of the terrace farthest from the mansion, was a brick incinerator.

Alexander had his maid burn garbage.

A deep sense of dread filled Siegfried’s stomach; an overwhelming creeping dread that had only taken him over a single instance in Feendrache Castle.

He approached the incinerator, reaching for the iron door like he had when Isabella had summoned him to the King’s chambers.

The fire inside was already dying down and a memory of Utala from outside Fafnir’s cave, shaking in fright and awe of Siegfried, edged into his mind. Hand shaking, he opened the incinerator hatch.

Laying on scattered ashes away from the small flames were patches of Utala’s dress, singed bits of her gloves, and what remained of her charred bones.

#Utala (S)#Alex (S)#maid's name still a spoiler

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johnboothus · 4 years ago

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11 Years of Untappd: How One App Gamified the Relentless Pursuit of Novelty

On Jan. 20, Gregory Avola announced he was stepping down as chief creative officer of Untappd, the online beer platform he helped found and then actively ran for a decade. This, Avola writes, is driven by a lifestyle change, and he will remain at Untappd’s parent company, Next Glass, as executive advisor. As when software developer Next Glass purchased Untappd in 2016, and then joined it with newer purchase Beer Advocate in 2020, this update is stirring up conversation and reflection on Untappd’s impact on beer culture.

Such reflection yields a mixed bag. In the 11 years since it launched, Untappd has facilitated a wider-reaching community in beer. It’s helped users find beers they otherwise wouldn’t, and, therefore, has helped breweries reach new customers. Some, however, feel that Untappd has fueled “ticker culture,” and that its rating system is a breeding ground for biased, baseless ratings that only favor hype beers and often hurt breweries. Beer’s relationship with Untappd might be complicated, but Untappd’s role has proven undeniably significant.

Foursquare for Beer

Avola created Untappd with Tim Mather in 2010. Perhaps surprisingly, he wasn’t all that into beer when he started working on the app.

“My main interest was in communities and building social platforms to connect people in different ways,” he tells me in a recent call. Avola and Mather used Foursquare as a model — which the press ran with — but, as Avola puts it, with more focus on what those check-ins could do. “No one cares if you’re checking in at a grocery store,” he says. “But people checking in at bars, saying what they’re drinking, that starts connecting people across the globe.”

Avola wanted to take the inherent social aspect of craft beer and grow it online. At the time, there were only BeerAdvocate and RateBeer, both representing an older generation in beer. Untappd arrived at the party hot on the heels of IPAs becoming a thing people traveled and waited in hours-long lines for, a ready and willing platform for drinkers to discover, share, swap info, and, by checking in that they were at those hype breweries drinking those hype beers, brag. In a way, and as was Avola’s intention, Untappd became a wide-scale, virtual tasting room where beer geeks could talk shop but, coming from different cities and even countries instead of different barstools, they could introduce each other to new brews. Avola says that at the time he was living in New York City and learned what Fat Tire was when Mather, living on the West Coast, checked it in.

The Next Generation of Beer Raters

Whereas BeerAdvocate’s pages were filled with long, thoughtful beer reviews, Untappd catered to a generation of beer drinkers that was always on to the next and wanting an app to keep up. This is why Untappd is credited with — or blamed for — “ticker culture.” After all, while Untappd was still in its infancy, The Alchemist was able to survive closing its brewpub after Hurricane Irene by pumping Heady Topper out of its production brewery. There’s no telling if this could have happened had Untappd been in its prime, fueling beer seekers to move on in search of a hot IPA they hadn’t already tried. Indeed, within a few years, the script had flipped. How to be a beer nerd went from having a discerning dedication to select brews to relentlessly trying every new beer released. The proof of your beer cred was in your Untappd portfolio, where millions of fellow users could marvel at the sheer breadth of hype beers you’d checked in.

“Ticker culture represents an emphasis on breadth of experience over depth,” says Alex Kidd, of Don’t Drink Beer. “The pour sizes seem to diminish, the style ratings seem to be heavily skewed as a result, and the check-ins seem to be a system of accomplishments predicated on consumption over contemplation.”

At best, it could be argued, ticker culture catalyzes beer sales by keeping drinkers motivated with the thrill of the hunt. At worst, it can be an arrow through the heart of brewers’ ability to create and diversify their offerings, since the haziest IPAs, slushiest sours, and most candy-packed pastry stouts are going to win ticks every time over a loving homage to an English mild. This can also hurt beer sales for breweries on an individual basis, if they decide to commit the cardinal sin of making the same beers and therefore lose luster in the eyes of tick-seekers.

“I don’t want to be an old crank who decries ticker culture, but I really can’t imagine what positive impact it could have on anything,” says beer writer Will Gordon. “The most obvious downside,” Gordon continues, is too many people “stumbling around juggling flights and phones in their mad dash to overrate beers that are either too sweet or too sour.”

“Ticker culture is negative, full stop,” says Gage Siegel, founder of Brooklyn’s Non Sequitur Beer Project, citing people buying cases of beer just to flip and festival-goers trying to cram in 100 different beer pours in three-hour time slots as less-than-ideal results. “Ticker culture certainly doesn’t start or end with Untappd, but I’d say they did a lot to normalize it [and] make it easier to participate in.”

An Inevitable Evolution in How Drinkers Engage With Craft Beer

The ticker-culture discussion never happens without mentioning Untappd, but it’s important to clarify: The app did not create ticker culture. It has aided what could be considered human nature in an industry exponentially exploding with new options every year. One could get bogged down in a chicken-or-egg quandary: Do breweries continuously push the envelope to meet the demand of tick-hungry Untappd users, or are tick-hungry Untappd users tripping over themselves to keep up with the constant deluge of hop innovations and wacky adjuncts? It’s a two-way street, and Untappd provides the platform for everyone to talk about it.

“Untappd serviced ticker culture, but I feel comfortable saying it would have happened anyway,” says beer and spirits journalist and author Tara Nurin. “Across any number of industries … younger generations are more peripatetic. … It’s about what’s next, what’s new, and that plays out very profoundly in beer.” Nurin has mixed feelings about the way Untappd has arguably “gamified” beer. On one hand, it’s a great push for people to try new things. On the other, it could disincentivize people revisiting brews.

“I do think the novelty effect can be harmful to breweries,” says beer writer Carla Jean Lauter. “The pressures of ‘newness’ have led to some of the proliferation of extremely similar beers (e.g., having eight IPAs on tap at once) to try to give something new, rather than to just provide the best.”

Subjective and Unqualified: How Ratings Affect Breweries

Whichever side of the fence one falls in the ticker culture debate, one specific aspect of Untappd’s rating system that helps propel it is especially murky: the subjectivity. Even the industry insiders we spoke with who generally like the app acknowledged that the ratings are far from uniformly trustworthy. Many users skip actually commenting on their beers in favor of punching a number of “caps,” from zero to five. These ratings are obviously completely personal and often offer no explanation, yet, as Siegel points out, they’re considered by beer buyers at stores and bars as well as consumers weighing their beer options. The problem is, what a “3” or a “4.5” means can vary wildly from one person to the next. There’s no agreed-upon metric.

“I’ve just never put faith in numeric ratings of beer,” Lauter says. “In Untappd’s case, there’s also the twist that many people for a long time treated the reviews as their own personal tastes. ‘If I don’t like pineapple on pizza, and I order a pineapple pizza, I give it one star just to remind myself: Yep, still don’t like that.’”

The range of expertise among Untappd’s millions of users may range from from zero to cicerone, but on average, these ratings aren’t coming from people with beer-judging criteria. In some cases, this can be great, as it levels the playing field for anyone who’s enthusiastic about beer. It can be not so great but harmless if you remember to take rankings with a grain of salt. Or, it can do a bit of damage to some breweries.

“Some people develop an over-inflated sense of self because of their amount of check-ins, and they think this makes them some sort of expert despite the fact that they have no formal beer education,” says Paulina Olivares, Sacramento Pink Boots Society chapter leader, who notes that this issue isn’t exclusive to Untappd. Olivares says she’s stopped rating beers on Untappd unless it’s a “5.”

Of course, subjectivity as a concept also isn’t something Untappd created, but for all of its positive features, the app has become such an authority, and the microphone it therefore gives to biased, careless, and/or ungrounded opinions can now in some cases actually affect whether a brewery’s beer makes it onto shelves. A beer might not get a high rating from the Untappd masses because it isn’t hazy or dank enough, even if that wasn’t the brewer’s intention, and many retail outlets take those ratings into consideration. They could therefore decide against selling what could be a perfectly great beer. And this can create pressure on breweries to stick to what lights up the ratings board on Untappd.

As Avola points out in our call, this is rating culture. It happens with everything from restaurants to dry cleaners on Yelp. And yes, it even happens to Untappd itself in the form of one-star, “this-app-sucks” reviews in app stores based on one-off experiences with little context. Avola says he understands that it’s frustrating for breweries to see their beers rated poorly, beers they put a lot of effort into. These subjective rankings, though, are a by-product of Untappd’s main goal to help people share what they’re finding and drinking. The downsides of this are something Avola says really can’t be policed, but that he hopes can be mended as Untappd continues to evolve.

A Platform for Visibility, Discovery, and Nostalgia

On the flip side of the biased ratings are some of Untappd’s key tenets. There is community on a global scale, more relevant now than ever as most beer drinking is done at home, and poised to only become more crucial as beer culture and even beer retail grow online. There is increased visibility, discovery, and access between users and breweries.

Plus, as many users report, Untappd is a helpful tool for tracking one’s own beers: It’s less about a rating for others to see, and more about actually being able to organize and remember brews you loved and brews you didn’t love. This becomes increasingly helpful as the number of options in craft beer only grows and styles bloom into sub-styles and hybrids year after year.

“I do feel like more and more people are using it just to keep track of what they’ve drank versus tracking ratings,” says beer Instagrammer Valerie Delligatti, who appreciates being able to remember what she’s sampled from breweries to (pre-pandemic) bottle shares.

This is even a helpful professional tool, as beer writers can track and sort brews they try and report on, something beer writer and “former semi-professional blackjack player” Mike Pomranz values, noting that even if it weren’t free, he’d pay Untappd for this feature. Checking in beers creates your own library to refer back to whenever needed. “When I check in beers … I am thinking about what I’ll want to know later,” Pomranz says. “So, someone asks me for a good IPA in Arizona. Well, I haven’t been there in a while, but I can filter IPAs produced in Arizona and then sort those by rating, and then read my notes and boom, I have the perfect beer ready to go.”

This also creates a sort of scrapbook for craft beer lovers. “I personally love the nostalgia of looking back and remembering where [I was] when I had a certain beer,” says craft beer drinker and wellness coach Amanda Steele. “That’s kind of my favorite thing about Untappd.”

Beyond this core tracking function, Nurin notes that by the same token as Untappd possibly deterring users from returning to beers in favor of trying new finds, it can just as easily be a conduit for users to remember beers they love. While we spoke, she scrolled through her feed and found promos poised to remind users that a beer they loved once is on sale, or a bar they forgot about is doing a great happy hour. Speak with enough users and it becomes clear: Untappd has definitely, if inadvertently, provided a stage for ticker culture and its disadvantages for breweries. But it’s also achieved its goal of creating a virtual community for beer drinkers, and it’s proven itself quite the handy tool for tracking a whole wide world of beers.

The Future of Untappd

All that remains is to see how Untappd continues to evolve, especially in this new, increasingly online chapter, and how beer culture will evolve alongside it. One safe bet is on Untappd increasing its attention to international markets: In 2020, the app saw growth in European cities where it saw declines in the U.S.

In December, Next Glass also acquired digital beer magazine and event producer Hop Culture; according to Hop Culture founder and now creative director at Next Glass Kenny Gould, we’ll be seeing further integration of Next Glass acquisitions Untappd, Hop Culture, Oznr, and Beer Advocate, playing to the unique contributions each of these has made to beer culture. “I think we’ll continue to see the development of a digital craft beer community,” Gould says, “with more content, sales, and connections happening online.”

The article 11 Years of Untappd: How One App Gamified the Relentless Pursuit of Novelty appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/untapped-impact-craft-beer/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/11-years-of-untappd-how-one-app-gamified-the-relentless-pursuit-of-novelty

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signoraviolettavalery · 5 years ago

Note

I’m new to the Roswell New Mexico fandom and I have noticed people,you, don’t really like the creator Carina and I was wondering why.

Ooooh boy. Would you like those answers in alphabetical order, chronological order, order of egregiousness, or order of how much they piss me off?

I have a lot of issues with Carina, as do a lot of other people. Obviously, not everyone agrees with me, and some of my answers may be controversial (they’re the subject of biiiig debates in fandom). I have no intention of re-opening those debates, so what I write below is a summary of my opinions (many of which I know are shared by at least some others in fandom) for the purposes of answering your question. I’m also putting it all under a cut, because it’s a lot of negativity that some people may want to skip.

I mention a lot of tweets and interviews in the answer below; I, frankly, don’t want to go searching for and linking to each interview and tweet (and also, Carina has me blocked, for reasons I’ll get into), but everything below has a source that I can find if you super want to read it yourself.

So, here goes.

Firstly, Carina pisses me off because she is a white, straight woman who is writing about oppressed and marginalized minorities and, quite frankly, doing a bad job of it. She brags constantly about how progressive her show is, how much she wanted to include people of color and comment on things like immigration, how important the Malex storyline is to her, etc, etc, but doesn’t seem to be capable of (or care about) the delicacy, nuance, and care such issues require.

In a panel she did on Roswell (at ATX or NYCC, I think?) she talked about how she had qualms writing about marginalized people from identities she didn’t belong to; she said she was plagued by the question of “should I even be doing this?” Which she then immediately answered with, “but we’re doing it!” and that was that, and that seemed to me to be such a flippant way to answer the question. Like, you’re writing about people whose experiences you don’t share and your response isn’t “I’m going to do research and talk to people,” it’s “eh, I”m doing it anyway”?

Then there’s the fact that when it comes to representation, Roswell has done a really really shitty job, engaged in harmful tropes, and thrown its characters of color under the bus. Carina insists that she consults with a lot of advocacy groups when writing about the experiences of undocumented immigrants and Latina characters, and yet. Liz simply forgives Max in the span of two episodes, even though he covered up her sister’s murder and was responsible for subjecting her family to racially-motivated hate crimes for a decade. Max, a white man, at no point acknowledges his privilege; he just pouts and whines when she rejects him until the Latina who was fucked over by his use of privilege just...forgives him. It is, in my opinion, incredibly indelicate and kind of insulting. She made the south Asian man (the only Asian character on the show, in fact) the borderline pedophile serial killer who violated Isobel for years, was creepily grooming both Isobel and Rosa, and murdered a bunch of women. She made the only black woman on the show (Maria) the plot device for an entire season: Maria had no storyline. She was there to give information to Liz when Liz was solving Rosa’s murder. She hasn’t known about the aliens all season and was thus excluded from the major show narratives. Her one defining character trait (her loyalty to her friends) was completely thrown away in order to make her a plot device for Malex (because let’s face it, Miluca won’t last and Malex will get back together). Narratively, she was thrown under the bus.

And then there’s the queer representation, which...don’t get me started. She keeps talking about how much she loves Malex and how they’re her favorites, but she’s also very explicitly said that she finds happy relationships boring and that she uses fiction to work out her own trauma, which means that she’s essentially likely going to put the only same-sex ship on the show through an interminable amount of tragedy (because that’s what queer viewers absolutely need in this day and age).

Plus, the idea of a straight woman using a fictional same-sex relationship to work out her own issue makes me really, really uncomfortable, because she’s made it clear that she fundamentally doesn’t understand the queer experience. She says she consults with advocacy groups when she’s writing queer characters (she won’t actually name these LGBT advocacy groups, which doesn’t make me sideye her at all), but I have doubts about whether she listens to them. I mean, she said, after the season 1 finale aired, that Michael going to Maria has nothing to do with her being a woman, even though she also explicitly said Michael wants something “easy,” and a same-sex relationship in Roswell, as it’s presented in canon, can never be easy. Roswell is canonically a homophobic, bigoted town, and Malex’s trauma stems largely from homophobia. Their relationship issues stem (not entirely, but largely) from them being the victims of homophobic abuse and a homophobic hate crime. Being with Maria means Michael never has to worry about any of those things, and the fact that Carina doesn’t seem to conceive of this is mind-boggling to me.

Then there’s the fact that Maria...basically outed Michael to Liz, and this doesn’t seem to be a problem. Of course, maybe they’ll address it in season 2, I don’t know. But, Carina basically wrote a woman who has been best friends with a gay guy for more than a decade as casually outing someone (when she tells Liz that Michael is Museum Guy). The fact that this is a problem doesn’t seem to cross her mind for a second when she tells Liz, even though this is information Michael has never told her himself and they’ve known each other for a decade. It’s not something Carina’s ever mentioned in the numerous post-finale interviews she did. And frankly, it doesn’t matter who Maria outed Michael to; the fact that she’s capable of it when best friends with a gay guy in a town like Roswell, when Maria has been written as a loyal and understanding friend up to now, again suggests to me that Carina just does not comprehend the queer experience.

(Also, technically, all the Isobel/Rosa hints, then it turning out that actually Noah was possessing Isobel, screams queerbaiting to me)

And then there’s the mess that is the love triangle. I’m of the camp that things that it’s complete and utter bullshit that contributes to the stereotype of bisexual people as promiscuous, though I know there’s people who think it’s good representation. It shows that she’s more interested in her particular (and frankly, kind of esoteric) storytelling preferences more than she cares about representation or continuity. The love triangle is, frankly, really badly written, and nothing about Maria developing “feelings” for Michael (or him for her, honestly) is in any way believable. Maria getting with Michael behind Alex’s back requires throwing out Maria’s only character trait (her loyalty and commitment to being a good friend). But Carina ~has~ to have her love triangle, characterization or continuity be damned.

Speaking of storytelling, Carina is kind of...a bad writer. Look, I love the characters on Roswell, and I love the world she created, and it had some truly beautiful moments. But let’s just admit the season 1 plot was a mess. There were so many plot holes. Who knows what? Does Alex know Liz knows about aliens and vice versa? Does Alex know about Rosa, or just about aliens? Why did they spend episode 9 establishing that Alex is taking over project Sheppard to find the alien serial killer, only to have him be missing from the episode (1x11) where they find the alien serial killer? Does Alex know that it’s Noah? If Michael’s hand got broken right before he went to cover up Rosa’s murder, why did Liz think it couldn’t have been Michael “because his hand was broken then”? If Isobel is an event planner (a busy and demanding job) how did they manage to cover up her being missing for so many weeks? If Malex went straight from the museum to the toolshed, when did Alex have time to tell Maria about Museum Guy? What is Alex’s rank? (it changes from the pilot to the show). I could go on. Like, I just don’t have a lot of trust in the narrative going forward, in character and emotional continuity, in a fulfilling story for the characters I love, given that Carina seems to have a basic inability to so much as google (”my entropy changes”? that makes no sense), let alone write a story that makes sense.

Part of the reason she’s not a very good writer, though, is because she doesn’t seem to like criticism. She insists she listens to it from people who matter and whose judgment she trusts, but, um, the mess that is the narrative suggests otherwise to me. The fact that she wrote in the love triangle suggests otherwise; it screams to me that it’s something she just had to have, regardless of whether it made narrative sense. She also literally blocks fans on Twitter who give her any kind of criticism. I don’t mean hate and vitriol, I mean criticism. She complains about how she, a public figure, a showrunner with a show that has millions of viewers, wants to log in to twitter and only see positive things and have fun interactions with friends. And I get it, criticism can be exhausting. But her job is literally to bring viewers to the CW. It is to tell a good story, and, if she wants to be as woke and progressive as she insists she is, it is to listen to different people - including fans. If she wants to shoot the shit with friends on Twitter, maybe she should get a private account. But I personally believe that she can’t use queer and marginalized characters to work out her own trauma, with no understanding of those people’s experiences, and then demand that people only ever praise her for it. It reminds me of the debate about criticism in fic comments, actually: some fic writers don’t want any negative comments. Which is fine if you’re writing fic for fun. Carina’s a professional writer with a TV show, who is getting paid. Insulating herself from literally any and all objections from the audience she’s writing for is, in my opinion, stupid, and also incredibly self-centered if she’s writing about people who’s experiences she doesn’t share.

Honorable mentions, probably not worth getting into:

She has like, a really creepy crush on Michael Vlamis, and even though she’s technically his boss, she’s constantly basically...thirsting over him on Twitter and Instagram in very uncomfortable ways

Max’s little speech to Michael in 1x11 about how he felt “everything,” every part of the abuse Michael suffered, and how guilty he felt about it, was just absolutely horrifying and tone deaf. Max, a character with great privilege, basically making all of Michael’s abuse about himself and how guilty it made him feel and acting like he can in any way share or understand Michael’s experience was just in every way gross, but clearly intended to make Max ~compelling~ and get the brothers to start talking and become closer and it just again shows a complete misunderstanding of the experiences of people less fortunate than her.

Which, in short, all means that I have absolutely zero faith in Season 2. I’m not in the least bit excited for it. I think she’ll completely let us down, and I expect a lot more of the same tone-deafness and lack of nuance in relation to complex issues and marginalized characters. I think she’ll put us through the wringer, emotionally, for the sake of writing angst rather than telling a good story.

Anyway, hope that answered your question, anon.

#carina adly mackenzie #ask #roswell new mexico #negativity #roswell negativity #roswell wank #Anonymous

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wineanddinosaur · 4 years ago

Text

11 Years of Untappd: How One App Gamified the Relentless Pursuit of Novelty

Foursquare for Beer

Avola created Untappd with Tim Mather in 2010. Perhaps surprisingly, he wasn’t all that into beer when he started working on the app.

The Next Generation of Beer Raters

An Inevitable Evolution in How Drinkers Engage With Craft Beer

Subjective and Unqualified: How Ratings Affect Breweries

A Platform for Visibility, Discovery, and Nostalgia

The Future of Untappd

The article 11 Years of Untappd: How One App Gamified the Relentless Pursuit of Novelty appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/untapped-impact-craft-beer/

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stillrecruitingrp · 7 years ago

Photo

The D.A. has recruited Pat to the character of Lavender Brown with a faceclaim of Alex Steele. Take a look in your teacups, girl. Do you really see yourself ever making up for your mother’s failure?

OOC Details

Name: Pat

Pronouns: she/her

Activity Level: Right now I’m studying for my licensing exam and looking for work. I feel like I can be pretty active between that, family obligations, and other writing groups. At the very least, I can check in a few times a week!

Acknowledgement: I acknowledge that the themes of this game may include triggering elements. I also acknowledge that my character may be harmed or even killed during paras/events or may cause harm to or kill others during paras/events through the violence roulette.

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General IC Details

Name: Lavender Brown

Age: 18; seventh year

Ships: Lavender/chemistry is the most important! I imagine that she’s bicurious though, but it’s not something she’s actually thought about for a while.

Gender/Pronouns: she/her

Face Claim: 1. Alex Steele, 2. Liza Soberano, 3. Kelsey Chow

Desired Changes: Lavender has a squib parent now

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Bio Questions

Biography:

Violet Brown amicably said goodbye to the wizarding world once she was old enough to figure her life out without her parents’ care. Squibs were not only an anomaly but a disgrace in many circles, so it was difficult to leave quietly when her family was already scrutinized. Several years in hiding within the muggle community, she was able to live with her partner and eventually carried a daughter through a surrogate donor.

Lavender raised by two mothers, so already she understood that she was a bit different from a young age and was proud of it. It felt like the world had a problem with her family and her parents instilled the idea of killing them with kindness; despite all of the awful things people say, it was never a good look to retaliate. The only metaphor that resonated with Lavender was she had to carry herself like a princess – and her parents were more than willing to spend a little more money to help her dress like one.

Her favorite movie, however, was the Aristocats, if only because it inspired her mantra: ladies don’t start fights, but they can finish them. While Lavender herself never tried to take part in any physical fighting, she could hold a grudge like no other. She tended to bide her time until she became a bit of a saboteur when the opportunity presented herself.

Violet raised her daughter on stories about the wizarding world, reading her stories from books that seemed to be impossible to find elsewhere. Lavender was never aware there was a second world – because Violet assumed that her daughter wouldn’t be magical as well – but was mostly convinced that these stories were created just for her.

Her Hogwarts letter only confirmed further that most of Violet had told her was true, and it was difficult for Lavender not to be in awe – especially since she felt like an expert in all things magical just based on what she had been told as a child. It was also the first time she had met her grandparents through Violet, who needed help raising a magical daughter. Lavender’s magical abilities set new hope aflame for the Brown family; while she may not be a pureblood, the magical lineage did not end after Violet.

Once sorted, she had never felt more welcome in Gryffindor house. She became fast friends with Parvati Patil, who had grown up to be magical herself, so most of Lavender’s introduction to the prejudices of the wizarding world was because of how Parvati told about her past experiences; Lavender only then realized how strange of a predicament her mother had been in her entire life, and put that as just another fact about herself that made her separate from everyone else.

Lavender was probably average academically when she started her coursework, but often asked her fellow Gryffindors for help regardless of whether or not she understood the material. After all, what better way to make friends? Lavender gets along with everyone, or so she believes; she’s driven by this need to be liked, to be accepted, especially considering that her childhood was marked by the fact that she hasn’t been. It’s difficult to balance both trying to fit in and trying to stand out, especially with the end result being that she often comes off as shallow and selfish.

Her priorities seemed to focus more on gossiping with Parvati and keeping up with the latest from Witch Weekly. Lavender herself comes off as thoughtless and often stuck in her fantasies, it didn’t mean that she was cruel. In the rare instance that she had come across someone who was upset, her bubbly demeanor may be unwelcome but her intentions were always good, insisting that the sun will come out tomorrow, referencing a muggle movie that only those raised around muggle culture would understand.

It was during the fifth year that she realized that she had to pick sides – though she was rather unaware at the time that there were larger issues at hand than whether or not the Boy Who Lived was actually the Boy Who Lied. But Seamus Finnigan didn’t believe him at first, and Lavender only thought of Harry Potter as the talk of the town, and that somehow he was much more of an attention seeker than Lavender was. Her participation in Dumbledore’s Army was more out of curiosity than belief, and it was only until Professor Trelawney had been sacked that she had become more dedicated to the cause.

Her first serious relationship with Ron Weasley was immature at best; for all of the moments Ron didn’t seem as interested in her as she was with him, she felt as if she had to make up for them. In a way she lived in her delusion of grandeur as someone who could have it all – the perfect boyfriend, the thriving social life, and an eventual career as a journalist as she had decided in her fifth year. She still holds a grudge against Hermione Granger for their fallout; after all, Lavender sure as hell wasn’t going to be anyone’s second choice.

School Year So Far

Dumbledore’s death never changed Lavender’s mind that Hogwarts was the safest place to be, until half of her classmates had gone missing. Lavender was occasionally chosen to participate in demonstrations done by the Carrows – but she was always on the receiving end of some curse, where she was reminded that her only saving grace was the fact that her grandparents were considered pure and that it was no fault of hers that she was tainted by a squib.

That didn’t stop them from making an example of her though for those who willingly break their rules, especially because of the one and only time she had stood up for her mother. It wasn’t until Neville Longbottom had come back visibly shaken from his detentions because of her transgressions that she was aware that it was just better to keep her mouth closed and pretend that she didn’t have a wand.

Despite her once thriving social life, Lavender sought no comfort from Neville, Parvati, or Seamus during the few times she was selected to be a practice dummy. Being poised and graceful was the only thing she could hold on to that let her keep some of her dignity. She felt herself becoming more and more detached from her friends, keeping her fear to herself; what was there to say anyway? She walked the halls with her stomach clenched tight for any sign of the Carrows – or students for that matter, who pursued her as a target for extra credit. Lavender was an experiment in which the Carrows only wanted one answer: her blood was tainted somehow because of her squib mother even if her magic had just skipped a generation, and that Lavender was weaker and lesser because of it.

It didn’t help either that Parvati was a true pureblood – a difference now that had never bothered her until now – because Parvati was never punished as harshly as Lavender was for greater transgressions against the Carrows. Lavender knew that Parvati’s blood status (as well as her own) was something they couldn’t choose, but she couldn’t help but feel bitter and jealous as their evenings in the Gryffindor Common Room were now silent. Dumbledore’s Army met, of course, but Lavender preferred not to be present; it was difficult to save someone else when you had trouble saving yourself to begin with.

If Hermione Granger loved the library, then Lavender Brown loved the Divination Tower in equal amount. Most of her free time was spent there and it essentially became her new hiding place as she tried to read tea leaves, tarot cards, and crystal balls for some shred of hope, only to find none. Every prediction always seemed to turn sour, and for the first time she felt frustrated with the art; it was her only way to feel useful and the only way to feel like she still belonged in this world.

Her winter vacation was spent at the school; she didn’t want her parents to find out what had been happening, with her skin marred by curses and her body always pained, and it wouldn’t be hard for the Ministry to follow her home. All she could do now was pray that her parents wouldn’t be found, with her hope in the fact that the muggle world was much harder to navigate than the wizarding one. Besides, she had so much more work to do; after all, ladies don’t start fights, but they can finish them.

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Open Themes: Experimentation - Reconnaissance

Inception

While Lavender still considered herself a member of the DA, it was difficult to become involved since she was a daughter of a squib. Fear held her back, and she thought it foolish of her pureblood friends to purposely endanger themselves to do what was right.

But Lavender had to do something. Her winter break was spent avoiding the Carrows, of course, but reading into a new kind of Divination that she hadn’t yet explored. Perhaps Professor Trelawney had been out of her tower just the right moment, leaving Lavender to peruse her shelves.

The way her wand felt when she cast the spell the first time felt right, at least moreso than it ever had since she held her wand over the last seven years – as if she were destined to do this. She was very easily convinced that she had found her way to help the DA, but little was she aware of the consequences that might come of it.

Specification:

Lavender was working on her ability of astral projection. It was seeing, but during the present, especially considering that Lavender found that she could now walk around the halls unseen for a few minutes. She found herself more exhausted coming back to herself, and often unable to focus.

But she was obsessed with this new ability because it allowed her to escape and tried to practice every chance she got, despite the fact that it drained her significantly. It would affect her schoolwork coming into the second term, but she would consider it worthwhile if she could train herself to project for longer and longer periods of time.

Utilization:

Her friends were busy leading the fight against the Carrows, but she had tried to keep herself off the battlefield because she was daughter of a squib. At least now she had something useful for the DA – she could be a spy. The Carrows were unpredictable, but it wasn’t a secret that they were following orders from someone else – if only the DA could be one step ahead of them. She has yet to tell her friends about this ability, but doing so would be difficult: she’s not very good at it yet and many of her friends had long disbelieved in Divination.

Even if the DA didn’t want her, then who cares? Projecting was the only way Lavender felt like herself again, anyway. It made her special, even if it did have its negative effects: she was tired, depressed, forgetful, careless… but it wasn’t like she had been seen as any different before.

What Lavender would fail to realize, is that the more she projected, the less aware she would be of her surroundings coming back. The longer she thought she was escaping death at the hands of the Carrows, the more she pushed herself into closer. And little was she aware of what would happen if something gone wrong – which it could, she was only eighteen.

How difficult would would it be to keep a projection and a body together, especially after forcing herself to undergo the process so often? She doesn’t understand that there’s control she has to exercise now in her waking hours. And what would she do if somehow her body was found and taken away before she could go back? Eventually she’d have to answer the question of whether this ability would be worth dying for, essentially rendering her as useless as she thought she was from the beginning.

OOC Questions

Writing Sample

Even when she kept quiet, she was punished. Professor Carrow dug her claws deep into Lavender’s arm, pulling her out of her desk. Lavender clung to the desk, her free hand sliding across the flat table stop before reaching for a leg. Her balance was thrown completely and she felt her foot loss its traction across the marble floor as Professor Carrow continued dragging her to the front of the class.

“Useless girl!” The woman shrieked. It wasn’t the worst that Lavender had been called but the Carrows were predictable enough that anytime Alecto opened her mouth to screech, Lavender knew to fight her own instincts to cry out. Any whimper of noise only earned her more infractions as she was forced to demonstrate what the punishment was for dirtied blood. Her hand rubbed her eyes on her sleeve and she glanced back at Parvati.

She shook her head, but not in disdain. The panic in her eyes as she tried to tear her arm away from the Carrow’s grip communicated something else entirely: what have I done to deserve this? There was a swelling in her chest that she could only liken to hope — perhaps Parvati would stand and save her now —

Alecto had grown tired of dragging her across the classroom, letting her tumble to the floor. Lavender gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, feeling the tears dampen her cheeks as they overflowed. She felt like she was drowning; breathing quietly was hardly an option now as she pulled herself up on shaky hands, dragging herself to her feet using Seamus’s desk.

She inhaled as deep as she could, staring blankly back at the woman who had expected her to stay on the ground. After all, everyone else had, haven’t they? Lavender intended to be the last mudblood standing. Her knees almost buckled underneath her when the woman raised her wand, a reminder of the last time that Lavender hoped would be the last time.

Finally, she lifted her head in time for Alecto to wield her wand like a sabre; Lavender was knocked off her feet, tossed to the back of the classroom like a discarded toy. Her body collided with the wooden door and her limbs folded underneath her in painful angles as she slid to the ground. She coughed, the metallic taste layering over her tongue as she gasped. Her fingers pried the buttons of her collar open, unsure if the shivering was out of fear or out of weakness, as she gingerly pressed at the new wounds above her breast. The blood spread easily onto her clothes. Her robes hid most of the bleeding but she still cursed herself for leaving evidence of her suffering.

Lucky for Lavender, the floor had already been stained scarlet.

Exploration

Her relationship with her fellow Gryffindors and other classmates. As a minor character, Lavender doesn’t get much spotlight. I want her to think she’s the “voice of reason” especially since she might be the one trying to talk her classmates out of hurting themselves for supposedly no reason. It would be easy for her to be seen as selfish, especially since everyone else is rising up to defend those who are defenseless. She’s currently on the sidelines and she wants to help, but she wants to stay out of the game – I’d like to see her convinced to be in the thick of the fighting. Lavender also holds grudges against Hermione and Ron; would that affect which leader she follows, especially if they come back? We also don’t see much of the Gryffindors talking with other houses, and we see these interhouse relationships as more of a rivalry; would the crisis with the Carrows actually promote unity amongst the houses?

Her mental and physical health. The Carrows have done a number on her since she’s considered a target, but she never really talks about it with her friends – instead resorting to hide in the Divination Tower. Perhaps she’ll get the opportunity to open up, especially if she has someone who suffers equally if not more than she has. In addition, she’s probably going to get some flack for hiding when she should be fighting; I’m curious to see what kind of arguments happen when she’s thinks she’s given everything and others think she hasn’t given enough.

Her use of Dark Magic. Perhaps this astral projection would be considered Dark Magic, especially since the aftermath of it is so negative and the intention might be considered sinister. Once realizing this, she’d probably continue to do it, regardless; she’s a Gryffindor, after all, and it doesn’t help that she’s the kind to think little of the consequences. But would there be someone to talk her out of it? How would it change people’s perception of her, and would the DA be okay with her doing this? (Does the end justify the means?) Are the effects of projecting going to cause permanent damage?

Her empathy for others. The moments where Lavender has to comfort someone else have been rare, and it wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that she had been focused on herself for a long time. Especially with the pain she’s dealing with now, perhaps she can better understand how others suffer similarly, and offer more help to them in the form of emotional support. That being said, would this empathy be limited to those on her side? There are characters who also struggle on the Dark Side or on no side at all, and it’d be interesting to see if Lavender would allow herself to feel sorry for them too.

#recruitaccept #lavender brown

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