#like we got someone in a relationship someone becoming a parent someone joining a social justice cause someone healing their inner child

[here-comes-the-moose]

The Bad Batch makes even more sense when you remember that they’re basically all in their twenties.

[becomingpotatoes]

finished the teal mask and oh boy do i have thoughts…

(SPOILERS FOR THE NEW DLC IF YOU DONT WANT SPOILERS PLS DO NOT READ)

god. kieran. kieran is so refreshing from a character perspective. kieran is like the anti-hop. it kind of feels like he’s the protagonist and we’re the classic jerk rival, doesn’t it? this guy clearly has Issues and i really like that, im enjoying this sort of “why can’t i beat you” rival trope that gamefreak’s been doing lately. they nearly did it with hop but with kieran they’re really going full in. the character arc that kieran went through in this dlc was actually difficult for me to watch, seeing this poor boy destroy himself mentally. the first time i battled him for the final time i actually lost, and i was hoping that he would get to keep ogerpon because altho shes cute and i adore her, i felt so bad. but ofc thats not the way the cookie crumbles. kieran is socially awkward, he doesn’t know how to communicate, and he’s never had a true friend. then florian/juliana comes along and suddenly there’s someone who seems to genuinely enjoy hanging out with him that isn’t, yknow, related to him. but then that person that he was so eager to trust goes along and begins befriending and helping a pokemon that hes adored all your life behind his back. i relate to kieran a lot and ofc yknow the absolute maniac arc hes about to go through is probably not healthy but i rlly hope this ends up being good for him. he idolized ogerpon because of how he related to her story, not because of the actual living creature she is. i wouldnt be surprised if it turns out he doesnt value his pokemon as actual living creatures either. i could see him being like a reverse silver, as he grows colder growing to not even care about his pokemon.

on the other hand, carmine! carmine was such a delight, i was genuinely not expecting to enjoy her as much as i did. sure, she also has Issues and has probably been a negative effect on her brother, but at the end of the day she is also just a kid. she probably has no idea what shes doing, and i dont think shed ever hurt kieran. she went through a lot of growth in the dlc and i can see her trying to become a better person with the help of florian/juliana and repairing her odd relationship with kieran.

also, it seems like she kind of has to play a parental role for kieran, as its implied that their parents arent around. thats another thing that separates kieran and carmine from siblings like hop and leon (and oh my god im just realizing all the parallels between hop and leon and kieran and carmine). its implied that the galar bros had a good childhood, and hops Issues dont start until hes set off on his journey and leon is a full adult with an actual life. with the kitakami siblings, if you read between the lines you can tell that theyve had a harder time growing up. with carmines comments on tourism and how it’s negatively effected their town and give her Trust Issues, that obviously fucked them both up a little, seeing that people only valued their hometown as an attraction, and that they themselves were a part of that attraction. and of course we dont know what the issue was with their parents. also, why are they going to school in unova? (side not oh my god it is so obvious that we’re going to get bw remakes in gen 9 or a legends unova game)

kitakami is such an interesting region. obviously its tiny, it has one town and then everything else is just untamed land. i feel like something Else is going on here. or maybe its just small idk

i love ogerpon a lot i think shes adorable and i love that we got to run around with her before she joined our team and it makes the whole “ten year old catches legendary thing” feel more realistic

also why are ogerpon and the loyal three legendaries i feel like they should be mythicals them being legendary feels Wrong

anyways these were my silly thoughts on the dlc and i hope kieran turns out to be the bb leagues champion (pulling a blue) and also i dont trust briar now time to finish my pokedex and talk to legends arceus pandering i mean perrin and if i see anyone call carmine a terrible person i will trade away your ev trained competitive team ok bye

(also this scene made me emotional)

[calmasyoghurt]

The joker out pride project.

I'm at the airport, so tired.

Anyways, Nace coming out. Also on ao3.

June 22nd, prompt 17. Coming out with a relationship.

From nace.jordan@gmail.com

To darja.jordan@icloud.si, andrej.jordan@hotmail.si

Life update

Dear mum and dad. I wish I had the courage to visit you, or even call you, but I fear that you would close the door in my face or hang up the phone. So I’m doing this over e-mail so that I at least get the chance to tell you what I have to say. I have been trying to write it in to words for an hour now, but can’t find a better way to say it than purely the way it is.

First of all, I want to say that I miss you so much. I wish we never would have had that fight. Or I wish we hadn’t needed to have it. But my point still stands, much stronger now then it did then. I’m gay. I’ve always been and will always be. Only recently have I been able to accept that about myself. My biggest wish in life is for the two of you to accept it as well.

Second of all, I want to share something that is really important to me. If you’ve been following my life through the news or social media, which I hope you have, then you know that since October, I’ve been the bass player for the band Joker Out. Joining them was the best decision I ever made, not only for all the fun concerts I get to play, but for the guy’s as well. They’re some of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and I’m so grateful that I get to call them my friends.

But that’s not the point I’m trying to make. One of the guys is extra special. His name is Jan, and is one of the guitarists. He’s the kindest, funniest and prettiest person I’ve ever met. I had been flirting with him for a few weeks, he had flirted back, and one night when we were hanging out just the two of us, he kissed me. We kissed a bit, but it didn’t go any further that night. But then a week later we went out with our friends to a bar, and afterwards he stayed at my place to not have to go all the way home. Then he stayed for all of the Saturday too, and that night, the kisses didn’t stay just kisses. I’m blushing just writing this. Anyways. It happened three more times, and after the fourth time, he asked me to be his boyfriend. I said yes. 

It makes me so incredibly happy that I get to have someone as amazing and caring as Jan in my life. It makes me so happy to be able to call him mine. If you only take one thing with you from this e-mail, then I want you to know that I’m happy. I’m so, so happy now, living the way I do. Again, I also wish you can accept me like this. I love you so much. 

Best wishes from your son,

Nace

ps. If you’ve read this entire e-mail, I can give you some other existing news that will go public tomorrow. Joker out will represent Slovenia in eurovision! Okay, bye for real now.

***

From darja.jordan@icloud.si

To nace.jordan@gmail.com, andrej.jordan@hotmail.si

Re: Life update

Nace. I want to start by saying sorry for not replying to this email when we got it. We both read it the very same day, but we couldn't come up with a decent enough response.

We also want to congratulate you and your friends for your eurovision performance. We are so proud of you for that. It also seems as if you're playing multiple festivals this summer. We wish you the best of luck with that. 

Now, to the main subject of your email. As parents, it is our obligation to love our children. We do still love you, as our son. But that doesn't mean we aren't having a difficult time accepting this whole gay thing, let alone the boyfriend. It seems as if it's becoming more common these days, so it is something that we at the very least will have to get used to seeing.

We are however not there yet. We aren't used to it yet. We might not be for a long time. But that doesn't mean we won't ever be. As a mother it is my job to try getting better in order to help my kids. I hope that we can meet sometime again, in the future. We miss you too.

Best wishes from your mum and dad. 

[greatwyrmgold]

Been thinking about Ai Hoshino (Oshi no Ko) and Kenzie Martin (Ward).

They're both girls from abusive households (including one incident where their parents put a hazardous substance in their food). Both are desperate to love and be loved, and contort their personalities around whatever they think other people would want from them. This involves a lot of fake smiles and false personas and a deeply flawed understanding of how interpersonal relationships are supposed to work, inhibited by disorders that were probably not diagnosed by anyone except fans. Both of them end up in industries where their talents can be exploited, which caused more problems.

The second-most-obvious difference between them is their age. (The first most obvious is Kenzie's tinker powers.) Ai is, what, 12 when she becomes an idol and 16 in chapter 1? Something like that? Kenzie became a parahuman at age 8 and she's 11 by the time Ward starts. By the end of her story, Kenzie might be as old as Ai was at the start of hers.

Kenzie also arguably has more supportive adults in her life. First her foster dads, later Breakthrough, probably some PRT staff in between. Unfortunately, where Ai tries to avoid potential problems, Kenzie has no social boundaries, which tends to sabotage any healthy relationships she wants to develop. (The iconic example being what happened with the foster dads, of course. She didn't know better and didn't have the intuition to realize she was missing something important.)

Ai's inhibitions are stronger, for better and for worse. This lets her function in society, but also means she isn't quite sure whether she loves her kids or not until the last minutes of her life. Where Kenzie dives into her relationships headfirst, Ai keeps a bit of distance between her and the people around her.

If circumstances allowed Kenzie to try and latch onto Ai, her response would probably be—to quote @aihoshiino—"free daughter??? Free daughter for Hoshino Ai????" Which could be good for both of them, they have complimentary needs and trauma...but the same was true of Ai and Hikaru, and we all saw how that ended.

I suspect Kenzie would find Ai weirdly cold. Sooner or later, I think Kenzie would pick up on that distance Ai keeps from people and start to worry. Ai doesn't have much use for Kenzie's cameras, so what does Ai get out of their relationship? Meanwhile, Kenzie's competent acting skills and advanced technology let her hide her emotions really effectively; sooner or later, Ai would notice that Kenzie is always energetic and helpful, and realize that she has no way of figuring out how Kenzie actually feels about anything. Not that either of them would actually voice these concerns. Neither of them is going to do anything that might drive someone away.

And that's before we consider whether Kenzie would get jealous of the twins (or whether Ruby would get jealous of Kenzie), or problems encroaching on them from their jobs as idol and superhero, or the plots of OnK and Ward.

Considerations about how to make characters in two very different worlds and timelines (and continents) interact are below the cut.

Let's start with time.

Wildbow's pretty good about his timelines and the fandom is great at putting the dates together. Kenzie was born in 2003, got powers in 2011, spent a few years in the Wards, and joined the therapy group that would become Breakthrough in 2015 (before her 12th birthday). And she participated in the big Worm spoiler in 2013 to some degree. (Houndstooth agrees that she "actually really helped".)

If I understand the OnK timeline, the twins were born around 2009, when Ai was 16. That means Ai was born around 1993, which would put her in first grade when the Kyushu incident happened, which would be as good an excuse as any to put her on the same continent as Kenzie. However, I'm pretty sure Ai gets murdered in 2013.

I'm more inclined to adjust OnK's timey-wimey line than Worm's detailed chronology. If we move the twins' births up to 2011 and Kenzie met Ai right after the big spoiler, Ai's murder would be scheduled either right before or towards the beginning of Ward's plot, which feels right.

That would put the start of Ai's career around 2007, her birth to 1995, and her family's refugee-ing to preschool. Leviathan's tsunamis and their aftershocks might be some of Ai's first memories, which I don't think is relevant to this scenario but it is sad. Anyways, it also means that Kenzie meets the twins when walking and talking isn't that suspicious. That reduces the chance of the Hoshino-Martin drama getting diverted by Kenzie's cameras catching magic babies doing un-baby-like things, which is good.

[bunbeeplays]

The Lemon Legacy: Generation 1, Chapter 36 - Just Go With It

It’s the first day of fall. A season all about change.

Well, a big change happened at Ophelia’s house last night.

Ophelia makes a full fry up and some coffee for them both. They definitely worked up an appetite last night, and it gives her something to do other than panic. She can’t believe she woohooed Xander of all people! Sleeping with a friend, who’s also a coworker? What got into her?

The smell of breakfast must wake him up, as Xander comes downstairs and joins Ophelia. Ophelia: Hey. Xander: Hey. Thanks for the meal. You doing okay? Ophelia: Yeah. I’m just… embarrassed, I guess. Xander: Don’t be, that mole on your butt is really cute.

Ophelia: I’ve never done anything like that before.

Xander: You’ve never woohooed before?

Ophelia: I have, but never so… casually. I don’t know what came over me.

Xander: Yeah. That was a first for me too.

Ophelia: Have YOU never woohooed before?

Xander: No, I have. That was my first time with a woman. I’ve only ever slept with one man.

Ophelia: Oh. Well that was my first time with a man, and my second time ever. First time in a bed, though. Don't ask.

Xander: I’m pansexual too, by the way.

Ophelia: I gathered. If you were gay, you did a pretty bad job at being gay last night.

Xander: Did I do a pretty good job at being pan?

Ophelia: If this is your way of getting me to praise your woohoo techniques… then yes, you did.

Xander: We’re good, right?

Ophelia: Yeah, of course. We weren’t juiced or anything. We both consented. I don’t know, a lot of wild stuff happened the past few days, I guess our emotions got the best of us.

Xander: A little stress relief never hurt anybody.

Ophelia: I don’t want things to be weird between us. I’m still trying to get back to a normal place with Libby.

Xander: Hey, it doesn’t have to be weird. We had a fun night. It doesn’t seem like either of us want a relationship right now, so it doesn’t have to become one.

Xander: Buuuut… Last night was pretty good, huh?

Ophelia: Yes, it was great, how many times do you want me to compliment your woohoo technique?

Xander: I’m just saying… maybe we could keep doing that part?

Ophelia: Xander Pappas, are you asking to be woohoo partners? You horndog!

Xander: Hey, I just told you I’ve only ever been with one person! That’s something Drew and Moses don’t even know. And you’re not exactly saying no over there, lady!

Xander: I’m not into casual woohoo with strangers, and you don’t strike me as the type either. We get along well, socially and, uh, physically. This way, we don’t have to worry about romance or dating but we still get some of the… benefits.

Ophelia: I don’t know. Woohoo partners always end with someone getting hurt.

Xander: So we won't hurt each other. If things go south, we'll communicate with each other and resolve whatever comes up.

Ophelia: We’d need to set some ground rules.

Xander: So is that a yes? Or do I have to do the face again?

Ophelia: Ugh, you’re lucky you’re so sweet. And good in bed.

The two start to work on some ground rules as they eat. They both agree they want it to be a secret. Nobody needs to know, that'd just muddy the waters.

Speaking of people not knowing something, Xander never told his family he wasn’t coming home… whoops.

He does damage control with his parents and Hilary, who also apparently stayed with their parents last night.

What has Ophelia gotten herself into?

[meditating-honey-badger]

Fandom: 911 Lone Star | Fic: Pretty Penny | Relationships: TK Strand/Carlos Reyes, TK Strand & Original Character | Chapter: 12/? | Chapter Word Count: | Total Current Word Count: 70211 | Rating: Mature | Warnings/Tags: Past Drug Use, Unplanned Pregnancy, Fluff, Angst, Canon Compliant to the End of Season 3, more tags will be added, picking a wedding date is hard, Stressed Carlos, engaged tarlos, Family Drama, Tarlos, Childbirth Class, Discussion of Birth, possible birth complications, Mildly Graphic Description, it's a bloody nose, discussion of past sexual abuse, Relapse, Overdose, discussion of suicide, Original Character Death(s), Explicit Language, Derogatory Language, Dad!TK, Papá!Carlos

Now that TK and Carlos are engaged, TK is ready to put the past behind him and move forward with their lives. But when he runs into a childhood friend, his entire world is turned upside down.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11

Let me tell you, friends, after struggling to have the time to write this chapter with so much going on in my life (My sister got married, yay! Work has been incredibly busy, Boo!), my ADHD did its best to try to prevent me from editing and getting it posted today. But here it is, finally! I hope you enjoy the new POV! Not sure if it will become regular, but I really needed it to tell this the way I wanted to.

Chapter 12

Carlos fought back tears as he looked at the grim faces around his parents’ dining room Sunday morning. The only thing keeping him from falling apart was that TK was already falling apart. He looked at TK’s red-rimmed eyes, swollen from crying and lack of sleep, and knew he had to stay strong for his husband and baby.

They’d always known this was a possibility — it had been their worst fear since the day they became Kennedy’s dads. Confronting it was an entirely different thing. Just like the lack of sleep and taking Kennedy to get her shots, nothing could have prepared them for this feeling. 

TK reluctantly handed Kennedy to Andrea, then joined Carlos, hugging him around the waist and burying his face in Carlos’s neck. Carlos rubbed his back and waited for someone to come up with a solution. Typically, he was fiercely independent, especially when his parents were involved, but right now he just wanted a grown up — or someone more grown up than him — to make the nightmare go away.

“We don’t have to tell anybody,” Owen said, sipping on a smoothie. He’d made an entire pitcher, but, not surprisingly, he was the only person drinking one. “It’s not like anyone subpoenaed you for the information. It’s very easy to factory reset a phone. Do it, sell the phone, and forget this ever happened.”

“That still doesn’t solve the problem of this Kenny character existing,” Andrea said.

Carlos let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s Kyle, Mamá.”

“Whoever he is, he’s trouble,” his mother answered back. She propped Kennedy on her shoulder and kissed her temple. “Isn’t that right, mi cielo?”

“Andrea,” Gabriel spoke up, “Aren’t you friends with the social worker? Couldn’t you call her up and explain the situation off the record? See what she thinks.”

“Really, Gabriel? I’m surprised you think I would put a friend in that position. Besides, that could easily backfire.”

TK turned around and leaned back against Carlos. “We have to tell social services,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do.”

“Maybe in theory, but not in this context,” Owen said. “The priority here is Kennedy’s well-being, so in that case, saying nothing is the right thing to do.”

“You’re not talking about context, dad. You’re talking about looking at it in a vacuum. Don’t everybody’s feelings matter here?”

“Not to me,” Owen said. “I’m your father, and I’m Kennedy’s Buddy. You and Carlos’s feelings matter. Her well-being matters. I don’t care about anybody else.”

“Buddy?” Gabriel said, raising his eyebrow.

“People would never believe I’m a grandfather anyway,” Owen said.

Gabriel rolled his eyes, and Carlos snorted. His father-in-law was really too much, but at least his heart was in the right place. “Well, I agree with Owen,” he said. “We don’t owe anybody anything. Our family is what’s most important.”

“You’re all saying our feelings are the most important,” TK said, pointing between himself and Carlos, “but then dismissing my feelings about it.”

“Nobody’s dismissing your feelings, TK. We’re just saying that Kennedy is our number one priority.”

“Whatever, Carlos,” TK said, shrugging out of his arms. He walked down the hallway toward the bathroom.

“He didn’t sleep at all last night,” Carlos explained.

Read on AO3

[what-if-rpg]

Welcome to the family, MARGARETH! Your application to NOAH PUCKERMAN was accepted. We’re really happy to have you around! Make sure to read the beginners checklist, and remember, have fun! We can’t wait to roleplay with you! Have fun!

IN CHARACTER

CHARACTER NAME: Noah James "Puck" Puckerman CHARACTER AGE & DATE OF BIRTH: 30 & August 14th, 1994 OCCUPATION: Buisnessman FACE CLAIM: Jack O'Connell HOMETOWN & CITY WHERE LIVES NOW: Lima, Ohio & New York City, NYC SEXUAL ORIENTATION & GENDER: Pansexual & Cis-Male RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single POSITIVE TRAITS: Loyal, Generous, Kind-hearted NEGATIVE TRAITS: Hot-headed, Silly, Stubborn CHARACTER QUOTE/LYRIC: “You think you’re a badass. I’m the original bad-ass. I had my first threesome at seven, and once I beat up a police horse.”

HEADCANONS

Noah Puckerman has never been the sharpest tool in the shed but has always been, at least to the outside world, incredibly selfish and cruel. It all began when he was a young boy and he noticed something was off at home — his dad was hardly around and his mom was always working. Without his parents to look over him, he knew no one would care if he did his homework or if he got in trouble in school. It was liberating and even then, he rejoiced in that freedom; the freedom to do whatever he wanted. That was nothing though, compared to the boy he became after his dad abandoned them. One day everything was as normal as it usually was at home and the next, all his dad’s belongings were gone and he could hear his mom crying in the kitchen, having left his little sister unattended. Angry, he lashed out at anything and everything. He might not have been the smartest guy, but he knew what’d happened.

Shaving off his unruly hair into an intimidating mohawk was just the change that he needed for everyone at school to know that he wasn’t the guy they wanted to mess with, especially not now. His grades suffered greatly, but he didn’t care since his social status rose. Noah Puckerman was something of the past and now, he only answered to Puck. Puck, the guy with the cruel nicknames and uncanny ability to make someone feel even smaller than they already were, as if they were nothing more than dirt at the bottom of his boots. They were nothing to him; it helped him ignore the feeling that he, himself, was nothing as well.

Fight Clubs and sex and alcohol fueled him; too young to handle any of it, Puck spent most of his time in detention or seclusion away from his peers and arguing with anyone he thought looked at him wrong. ‘Influential’, they called him. Teachers thought he’d distract other pupils and, as a last resort, football was offered to him to release some of his energy. It had helped, for the most part, until Puck had started noticing the cheerios skirts more than the ball–which was probably why they were such a crappy team. Puck wasn’t dumb, not like they thought he was, but he knew he wasn’t smart so conquering high school either with as many notches as he could was his goal and he was well on his way to succeeding. If Lima was where he peaked then he was planning on doing it in style, in ways he’d be remembered forever and with as many broken hearts behind him as he could count.

When the New Directions became the thing at William McKinley, Puck smirked to himself and looked at who was the lowest of the low and with slushie in hand, let each and every one of them know that they were the biggest losers there. If anyone were to defy him and go against the grain, they’d get at the very least one slushie a day till they remembered their place at school. Even if they were on the football with him, he’d give them a clear nudge in what he believed to be the right direction. A slushie to the face of the losers — especially those in that stupid, useless glee club. However, when after Quinn Fabray joined the club, Puck discovered that she had become pregnant with his baby, and joined the glee club as a way of being closer to her. But, in the end, Puck begins to enjoy Glee Club and find his passion for singing.

After high school, Puck found his way to the army, and soon enough, he was one of the best in there. He spent all his time working out, and doing his best for everyone to see that he really wanted to be there. He was not going to mess this up like in high school. The army was where he felt at home for the first time. He felt like he had a family again after leaving high school and his friends behind. He knew he had found his place! But, after four years, he wanted more and more, and that was why he decided to transfer for the American Air Force. He also served his country outside of America, and he couldn’t be prouder of himself. He really was finding his way and no longer was the same ‘lost boy’ from high school.

Last year, Puck decided to retire from army and become a business man. And now, he owns his own beer company. Homemade beer, to be honest. Everything started as a joke, but soon enough, Puck started to receive requests from people asking him to sell his beer, and well, Puck, as always, was looking for money and more ways to make money to spend on his motorcycle, and well, he decided to let himself go, and get into this crazy world of business. He is now looking for ways to make his beer company grow. He really fell in love with this industry, and not just with the beer.

CONNECTIONS

DAVID & GINA PUCKERMAN (Parents): There is no one in his life that he wants to make more proud than his mom. He knows he was never the best son, but now, now that he is older and finally he is settling down in his life, he is sure that he can make his mom proud now. His relationship with his father is getting better, but still not the best. SARAH PUCKERMAN (Sister): His sister was two years old when their father left them. Due to their mother working 24/7, Puck had to become a father figure to his younger sister. They have a very close relationship and Sarah is one of the few people who calls him by his name. JAKE, CALEB, TOM & ELIANA PUCKERMAN (Half-Siblings): Puck's relationship with his half-siblings aren't very close. They text each other one or two times a year wishing each other happy birthday and merry christmas. QUINN FABRAY (EX-Girlfriend & Baby-Mom): Everything started with their one-night-stand after Puck decided to give Quinn some alcohol, and all Quinn knows is that after the alcohol she drank, she got pregnant. They were barely friends before that, but after the blonde got pregnant, they even dated more than one time actually. Puck always tried to be there for the blonde and for their baby, and even today, he still makes sure to contact Shelby from time to time to see if Beth needs something. Even if after high school their relationship ended, even after they tried one more time during Quinn’s first year of college, they decided that they were better of as best friends and nothing more. Puck still cares about her, but now, he cares about her as a friend.

[cosmossoleil]

Hey! No malice here just wanted to enter this conversation/post!

Well, excep for the two marauders that were fleshed out, which was Sirius and Remus, (and technically Peter) we barely have any information about James. Alot of the characters for the marauders era have little or to no characterization at all, we either get small snippets (like snape’s POV when the marauders bullied him, or when Remus and Sirius sing praises for James and Lily) but alot about them as characters are so unknown.

Since we know so little about them, we as fans, want to flesh them out as people. And people can be extremely messy.

To argue about Regulus. He was mentioned in the book about 3-4 times. And that’s it. The facts are, He was Sirius’s little brother, he joined the death eaters, he defected, and he died trying to do the right thing by getting that horcrux to destroy it.

Sibling relationship are such a messy thing as well, speaking as someone who has a sibling, you can love them with your entire being but also hate the choices they make. Even if Sirius was pissed at Regulus for standing by or for following their parent’s footsteps, or for being just like them, that is his little brother. People like to explore the complex relationship that Sirius and regulus would have had. Sirius up and leaving, leaving regulus to carry the burden of the family name on his shoulders. Of course it’s not his fault for leaving but you cant deny that that is what happened.

We don’t know much about the personality of regulus, but we knew he writes in a very poetic way. We know he became a death eater at the age of 16. (Which is also the same age Draco got his) Sirius had called him Soft, the way kreacher speaks about regulus wanting to protect his family. Hell, both him and Sirius were rich kids. We, the fans, like to expand on it from there.

To expand on Jegulus (James and Regulus), yes there are the tropes people love. Best friend’s Brother, Gryffindor X Slytherin, golden retriever X black cat. So on an so forth.

But Jegulus is such an interesting idea, of two of the most unlikely people, and watch them fall in love. Regulus wasn’t always a death eater, and James was a kind person. Maybe regulus begrudgingly accepted James company one day and something happened. There could be thousands of scenerios. If you want to fit it into cannon, regulus becomes a deatheater and they break up. james ends up with lily. Boom, now we have the harry potter series.

But it all boils down to fun. It’s all just for fun.

Just because it doesn’t fit in canon doesn’t really matter. Until JKR ACTUALLY writes things for the marauders, (not just claim on social media like aANOTHER CERTAIN CHARACTER) I’ll have fun creating my little scenarios.

(BTW fuck JKR because of her TERF ass, but that’s not what we are talking about here so.-)

Everyone always says James "I would die for you" Potter and Regulus "I would kill for you" Black

But I think James "I would kill for you" Potter and Regulus "I would die for you" Black has so much force

Like James is not a violent person but would become violent for the ones he love in an instant, and Regulus is a martyr, a tragedy, but at the same time he would only sacrifice himself for the ones he truly loved in every circumstances

[the-curated-woman]

I can't help but consider our modern relationship with social media and digital content as one of the keystone elements in the surge of identities that people (especially young people) are having. I was lucky. I remember what life was like before computers and phones became everyday objects. And even when they started to become the norm, my family still took a while to join the boom. We didn't have a lot of extra money to throw around for things that weren't yet necessary.

Sometimes I tell people, "I can't imagin being a kid or a teenager now." I can't imagine having to curate an internet image, aesthetisizing every moment of my life for clout. The smoke and mirrors of it all, how exhausting.

And then the porn. Always just a click away, even on mainstream social networks and sites. Children seeing oversexualized people, becoming desensitized to what used to be in the centerfold of dirty magazines, all which now pops up on their daily feed. Influencers advertising makeup, clothes, sex toys, substances. Through the screen they act like your friend, through the screen kids don't see the paycheck, the script.

Their brains are still developing, for crying out loud, and we're allowing them access to a world we adults aren't even able to handle! And then these things are telling kids to define themselves, quickly now, so the algorithm can give them what they like.

So of course children and teens are getting wrapped up in the Barnum effect of it all. They're inherently curious - I know I was. But before, you'd look things up in books, or ask a friend or family member. There was a physicality to it all. If you wanted to look up something naughty, perhaps, and you were too ashamed to ask someone you knew, well then you'd better be willing to brave the library, the looks of the librarian if you needed help. Shame could be a factor in keeping some people from going too deep, too far into something that's hard to come back from.

But those physical checks and balances - asking someone, going to a place of knowledge - helped us keep each other accountable, and look out for each other if something was up, have conversations if something was wrong or uncomfortable. There was a collective, in a sense. Now, the collective is the world wide web, and it fits right in the palm of your hand. Now, you have kids seeing posts from their favorite celebrities, their favorite bloggers, their peers talking about identity, kinks, politics, anatomy, language, the whole package. Now, you have kids reading tweets (or Xs or whatever nonsense it's called now) telling them if they feel something then they ~are~ something. Now, you have kids barely in their teens coming out with pronouns and wanted surgeries to their parents with no warning, the children having done all their identity homework via the internet.

I helped a customer at my job one day who didn't want anything, didn't need to use our services. He just wanted to come in and update his name on his store account. "I'm really excited," he explained to me, playing with the string of his hoodie, his light scruff of a beard a little bed-heady. "I've thought really hard about what I want my name to be, since I'm nonbionary, and I've finally got it." He told me his new name (still masculine, but referencing a favorite author of his) and then rattled off his list of all the other places he had to go and change it. He was seventeen, maybe eighteen, and couldn't wait to legally change his name on his learner's permit. He seemed sweet, albeit a little weird, and I could tell he was waiting for a reaction, a congratulations or an offended look. Any attention to affirm his choice. Sorry, his "truth."

Kids are creative. They create stories with toys, ideas, inanimate objects. When the home computer came along, kids created avatars. Naming them is fun, important - especially if someone other than you is going to see them. One word or short phrase is supposed to encapsulate who you are. (I laugh at how long it took me to come up with my first Tumblr username.) But then the digital became too personal, the lines blurred, and suddenly there's clout in naming yourself.

But in embracing their "true selves," their "authenticity," kids today are disassociated from themselves more than ever before. Outside of who technology tells them they are, what else do they have? If the internet stopped telling them who they were, what could they become?

I'm thankful that I grew up without the internet holding my hand. I was a very nonconforming girl: cargo shorts were my uniform, I refused to wear makeup or shave, I liked collecting bugs and playing in the dirt. If I had grown up today, I'd have changed my pronouns at least, if not opted into a full transition. But instead of spending my teenage years watching short videos on qu**r theory takes and how 2+2 can equal 5, (shoutout to Foucault, the enemy of logical thought) I spent my time playing with friends, creating things with too much paint and glitter, reading any book I could get my hands on. And the thing I love is that nearly every hobby that was important to me as a child is still important to me in my adulthood, is a healthy escape from the mundanity of work and obligations.

But what if what was important to me as a child was intangible? What if it was my identity? Like I said earlier about curating the perfect internet profile, this is simultaneously too much pressure for young folks AND it's far too narcissistic. Stop looking in the black mirror of a phone screen and start looking for the things that make you genuinely happy and curious. You'll be healthier for it.

[aati-coach]

TOP 10 Lessons From The Book: GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY: Overcoming Self-Defeating Behavior by Mark Goulston, M.D., and Philip Goldberg

1. It is better to begin in the evening than not at all. Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday. There are, of course, many reasons people procrastinate: self-doubt, boredom, fear of failure, the feeling of being unready or unprepared and so on. But these feelings, by themselves, don't necessarily lead to procrastination. Often what tips the scales is going through them alone, with no one to help you, bolster you, or cheer you on. Loneliness , . , is and. always has been the central and inevitable experiencee of every man. The key to overcoming loneliness-based procrastination is to enlist the support of other people.

2. Empathy is a priceless commodity because it invariably defuses hostility. It is psychologically impossible to be angry at someone if, at thc same time, you feel what he or she is feeling. When people iust don't underctand you, get them to feel

what you're feeling.

3. It often takes a tragedy to make us look honestly at our lives. Tragedies trigger reevaluation and regret, sometimes too late to make things right. You don't have to wait for someone to die before you realize what's important,

4. If you want what you never got fnlm your parent, become your own gandparent.

It takes courage to be your own grandparent. You have to be willing to give what you might sorely need yourself, with no guarantee of a return. However, it might be your best hope for gening the love, pride and acceptance you have always wanted. At the very least it will help prevent the anguish that a patient of mine expressed so well:

5. A true friend unbosoms freely, adttises justly' assists read:ily, ad,aentures boldlg, nkes all patientlit, fuIerle courageously' and continues a frriend unchangeably. If your friends are not in this list, GET OUT OF YOUR WAY!

6. No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched. Anger is a short madness. Convert the anger to conviction and act on the basis of principle. fhenever you can transcend your personal feelings and uphold strongly felt values, you gain something far greater than the thrill of retaliation: the courage and power of conviction.

7. There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. We forgive when we no longer need to blame; we forget when we no longer need to remember.

8. When you accept someone's generosity, you might take on a debt you do not even know you owe, and if you fail to pay it back, you will be punished for reasons you cannot comprehend. Try to determine at the outset whether the act is a gift, a favor or a loan. Don't kid yourself into thinking you are a saint who gives to others and wants nothing in return. If you :ue not clear about what you really expect, you can jeopardize relationships by seeing yourself as a victim.

There are always strings attached.

9. Don't look wherc you're going, go where you're looking. Try to turn your fears into oppornrnities.

10. if you think you're always right you can't learn anything new. You're closed down because knowing and learning can't occur at the same time. Having to be right all the time just isn't right. It isn't just, it isn't fair and it isn't even possible. It will bring you contempt, not power and esteem.

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[cookinguptales]

veggiesforpresident said: wait whats up with irl cult deprogramming?

---------------------

*long sigh* 

Okay, to preface all this, here’s a massive content warning for pretty much everything you can think of. I’m happy to talk more about this subject, but it gets very heinous very fast.

The main issue with the actual IRL cult deprogramming movement was that it was headed up by fundie Christians, and they were the ones who were allowed to decide what constituted a cult and what measures were necessary to get someone out of one.

I think people have this mental image of a bunch of trained professionals using therapy to convince someone to not be in a cult anymore, but that’s... not what it was.

The fact of the matter is that cult deprogrammers used and abused laws designed to protect the mentally ill in order to strip healthy, able-bodied adults of their legal rights. Think about Britney Spears for a few minutes and you’ll start to see how this became very dangerous very fast.

Parents of adult children in New Religious Movements (NRMs, the less-loaded academic term for “cults”) would often lobby judges to have their children labeled as legally incompetent and incapable of making their own decisions so they could get them out of these groups. The problem was, the only evidence you really needed of your child’s “insanity” was that they’d joined the group to start with.

And people always imagine... you know, Jonestown. Children of God. Truly heinous, dangerous groups. But if we’ll all kindly remember the Satanic Panic, the fact of the matter was that anything non-mainstream conservative Christian could be considered a cult.

Sure, it’s imperative to get someone out of something like The Family. But like... what if your kid is just kind of a hippie? What if they’ve joined some kind of pseudo-Buddhist New Age group? What if they’ve joined a socialist club at their university? What if they’re just kinda goth?

What if they’re gay?

Once these adults were stripped of their legal rights, their parents could do pretty much anything to them. That usually involved hiring a deprogrammer. That deprogrammer would then literally kidnap them (I’m talking throwing people in vans) and then drive them to an isolated location. They would then do anything they could to “break” the person. The goal was to break them so they could then build them back up the “right” way -- in other words, using the exact same tactics as the most dangerous NRMs.

These were not trained professionals, mind. These weren’t social workers or something. These were just random assholes who had the stomach for it. We have records of brutal beatings. Tying people up and denying them food, water, and sleep for days. Extreme emotional and physical abuse. Rape.

The worst case I can think of is that of Stephanie Riethmiller. She was a 19-20yo woman who had distanced herself from her parents after she left home for college, for reasons which I think will become immediately apparent. Her parents believed it was because she’d entered into a lesbian relationship with her roommate and had been led astray. So they hired cult deprogrammers to “fix” her. Stephanie was maced and thrown into a van and driven to another state, where she was chained up, beaten, and “correctively raped” for five days straight. Her parents were there in the house and approved of all of it.

After Stephanie was released, she attempted to bring charges against her parents and the people who had abused her, but the courts basically argued that any means were necessary when it came to deprogramming a lesbian. Despite not denying what they did, all parties got away with it. No jail time was served. This happened in 1982 in my hometown of Hamilton County, Ohio. 🙃

Ted Patrick, the quintessential cult deprogrammer, was involved in all of this. He didn’t do this deprogramming himself, but when her parents reached out to him with thousands of dollars, he recommended the people who did, helped make arrangements, and was paid for it.

They made a Drunk History episode about him calling him a hero and I just about threw up.

I guess the thing about cult deprogramming is... again. Who’s deciding what is and isn’t a cult? Who’s deciding what “deprogramming” looks like? Who’s deciding how far you can legally go? Who’s deciding what “normal” is?

I’ll leave you with this. Think about Fox News. Think about these fucking Republicans getting all het up over ~your children~ going to college. Learning new things. Becoming socialists. Becoming atheists. Becoming “brainwashed” by the libs.

Think about all this rhetoric about “groomers”.

Then think about a court system that will allow your insane, weirdo QAnon parents that you’ve gone no contact with to track you down and “reverse” all that by any means necessary.

Think about how terrifying that concept is if you’re part of literally any marginalized group.

And that was just... the late 70s through early 90s. People were so whipped up by things like the Mansons in 1969 and Jonestown in 1978 and the Satanic Panic of the 80s that they would allow people to do anything if they said it was going to be protecting people from cults.

Anything.

And they did.

And that’s why I fully believe that, as dangerous as some NRMs truly are, as vile and abusive and life-ruining? Yeah. The deprogrammers were often just as bad.

[userkhael]

Summary: You’re doing just fine being a single mom until your son fell in love with a lost dog.

Pairing: Henry Cavill x OFC

Warning: RPF

Word Count: 2400+

A/N: Here I am again with one shots I intend to be a series and not keeping up with it. I literally just wrote this a few hours ago after contemplating on the GIF I made of Henry about Kal disappearing. I blame that GIF for this lmao. But I hope you enjoy and let me know if it deserves a part two. Your like, comments and reblogs are appreciated. Divider is made by me! :)

Update: I decided for this to be with an OFC bec it would make so much sense if I’m going to add parts to it. I hope you like it xx

**I edit my own work, this is not beta'd and there will be errors. I do not give consent for my work to be reposted outside of Tumblr without my consent.**

It's been more than 6 years since I've had a decent meal in peace. I'm not even complaining since I already got used to it but somehow you craved quiet even just for five minutes. My handsome and equally adorable son is so close to throwing tantrums because he can't seem to stick the straw in his juice box. The straw's pointy end snapped and he's so frustrated by it. Hunter is a smart boy but he can sometimes be stubborn, not asking help when he needs it the most.

I can't help but roll my eyes at his stubbornness. I ate the remaining pizza on my plate, leaving him with just the French fries side of your meal.

Staring at the people crossing the road, I kept a mental note of whatever dinner Hunter will ask for on the way home. Picking up my phone, I check for any nonsense updates in social media.

Mom's about to babysit Hunter for the night so I can try the dating world again. It's very exhausting but it is more exhausting when your parents hound you nonstop until you say yes.

"Such a beautiful boy. His father must be really handsome." An old sweet lady ruffled my son's curly hair and smiled at me. There's no denying that I do not resemble my son at all. He looked like the exact replica of his Daddy. But some people say his smile and mine are the same.

Wherever we go, I would always get compliments at how handsome he looks. Brown, curly hair, blue eyes and the cutest cleft chin there is. One time, Mom almost told him the truth in between rage of emotions. Henry himself doesn't know about Hunter and it's become a family secret.

But as Hunter grew, so this magical pull Henry has on him. He became a super fan with just one look at the video of it. It gives me a headache most of the time and I've never allowed him in any fan event he'd like to join, or anything that would make him see Henry in person. It's just too much of a risk. He'd cried for days just so he can have his shirt signed by Superman. And by the looks of how he's living his life, he looks content and happy. He's an eligible bachelor in everyone's eyes and I'm not someone to ruin a career and a relationship. He's got a girlfriend who won't be too happy about both of us popping back up in his life. And with how the movie industry take things like this, I would appear a gold digging bitch in everyone's eyes. The media hell will break loose for sure.

It was a mistake. Something someone would do if their sanity is the least of their concern. One drunken night and a broken condom later, my life has completely changed. Then came the pregnancy, which was a nightmare, extending to the date I've given birth. It has been a continuous day to day adjustment but Hunter made it all bearable. His goofy smile makes up for the sleepless nights I've experienced.

It was indeed hard raising him alone. And for someone who's just figuring out their life and didn't have her shit together. Someone who's just cruising through life without an actual purpose. Hunter is my new purpose. My renewed license in life.

I've always wondered how different it would be if Henry was there. Hunter was extremely fussy when he was still an infant. The amount of body water I've spent crying for days and having the urge to storm into Henry's house, a baby in my arms and just be done with it. I also thought of just leave town and never to come back again but my family supported me, backed me up in anything and everything I might need.

But besides being perfect, he literally has no patience in anything. And that includes his juice box.

"Here, let Mommy help." I reach out for the juice box and he hands it to me almost instantly. He sips and continues to watch none other than Superman on his tablet.

Silently gazing out at the unknown, I almost fell off my chair when a dog on a leash came straight to our table. Hunter giggled when the dog playfully licked his feet and was about to feed him his fries.

“Hunter, no. Don’t feed him anything. We don’t know if he’s allergic or not.”

I mean, who can be allergic to potatoes? It’s better to be sure than sorry. The dog doesn’t look like a stray at all. With his well-groomed coat, clean collar and almost brand-new leash, it must’ve strayed from its owners. Keeping Hunter in his seat is hard to do when there’s an animal involved. He loves everything that moves. And you’re still not sure about the dog not being aggressive.

I stood between the panting dog and Hunter and laid out my palm. The dog licked it and his body language suggests he’s a friendly one. 

"Hi, buddy. How did you get here?" I looked at both sides of the establishment, checking if someone’s running and looking for a missing dog but unfortunately, there’s none.

The dog looked up, his eyes somehow begging for something. When I spread out my palm and poured some water on it, he immediately indulged himself. I give him a pat on the head when he’s done.

"Mommy, he looks so cute. Can I play with him?"

The dog looked up at you and at Hunter with puppy eyes and you couldn’t say no. After giving him the go signal, Hunter played with him. The dog is also well-trained to be behaving that good around a kid.

"Can we keep him Mommy?" Hunter said, casually chewing his fries.

"Well, baby, he's got a family out there. He's just lost. We'll wait with him so his family can pick him up, okay?"

Hunter looked sad for a minute but the dog's companion paid off. The fluffy bear is really gentle towards him and would lick his face nonstop. It’s too precious to even pass up so I whipped up my phone and started recording a video of Hunter giving commands and rewarding the dog with a french fry. I can’t help but smile at how adorable and genuine the interaction is.

"I'm going to call you Floof." Hunter said and kissed the dog's head.

"I'm sure that's not his name." I suppressed my laughter and took one last photo before giving Hunter the inevitable news. Sure enough he's going to cry for days once the owner comes back to pick Floof up. 

It's been two hours since you've waited and no one came. The next thing I’ll have to do is to have him checked for a chip since his collar doesn't really tell anything. I’ve searched and the nearest vet clinic is only 15 minutes away. With all the risks that you’re taking here, I hope Floof comes home safely.

Your son is still hugging the ball of fluff when you arrive at the clinic. They checked his weight and temperature and made sure nothing was wrong. Then proceeded to ask questions about what happened. The checking of the chip didn’t take long and was done in five minutes but then the clinic staff mentioned it might take an hour for the owner to arrive since his location is too far away.

"Mommy, can I play with him while we wait?" Hunter pleaded, his eyes on the verge of tears, knowing he would have to leave his new found friend. 

Yes is the only answer he would accept right now. I smile as the dog playfully wrestles with him. Hunter always wanted to get a dog but timing is far from perfect. With the homeschooling and your work at home set up, having a dog feels a bit too heavy on my plate.

For what feels like an eternity, both of you waited with heavy hearts. Moreso with Hunter than I. But the lovable floof made its way into your heart and you can’t deny the fact that you’re sad too. The clinic staff mentioned the owner is only minutes away and will be able to pick up the dog in no time. With the owner's location and assuming they lived far away from here, the chance of Hunter seeing the dog again is slim to none.

"Hunter, he needs to come home to his family, okay? But you have one last chance to hug him."

And he did, gave him so many kisses too. When a black pickup truck arrived, you knew it was the owner and it was time. I smiled at Hunter, reassuring him everything will be okay as the owner walked straight to the desk, not noticing the dog in the corner.

Still ensuring Hunter about what will happen, I wanted to talk to the owner about what happened but when I look up, the wind is knocked out of me.

This cannot be happening right now. 

I’m sweating profusely and can't deny the fact that I wanted to puke. Right then and there. Out of all the dogs in the world, Henry Cavill is the owner of the dog my son fell in love with.

"Hi, mate! The vet mentioned you kept my buddy safe while I'm away." Henry smiles and even though I’m standing far enough from him, I can still feel how genuine that smile is. He must have been really scared about his dog being lost.

Henry looked really good when he was younger but there’s just something about him that reels you in. His simple white shirt and jeans combination is too much to handle. He's wearing sunglasses that made him look like a model straight out of a magazine. I noticed a signet ring in the same hand he’s holding his cellphone. So much has changed yet it's still the same.

Henry stooped down at Hunter’s level when he realized he’s actually speaking to his favorite superhero, Superman. Hunter smiled at you, beaming with that same energy Henry’s smile has. 

“Mommy, he’s Superman! He’s Superman!” Hunter couldn’t stop himself and clung to Henry’s neck, hugging him hard and he did the same.

Just by looking at them, there’s some serious memory whiplash. I swear the nights Henry and I spent just flashed back in front of my eyes. That night was kind of a blur but your curse if remembering every second of it.

"Yes! I named him Floof." Hunter squealed, answering Henry’s question, his gap tooth showing. "Mommy said he needs to go home to his family. Are you his family?"

Henry nodded and looked up at me. His eyes are always a dead giveaway and I immediately knew he recognized me and I wished he didn’t. It will be extremely hard to sleep tonight.

"Did she, now? Well, his name is Kal and looks like you're already best friends. Can you keep Kal company for a few more minutes? I need to talk to your Mom."

Hunter nods and even when everyone’s all smiles, anxiety is crippling me from the inside. I wished I hadn’t felt this way but things took an unbelievable turn and I just hope he’ll thank me for keeping Kal safe and nothing more.

"Riley, wow! It's been what? Five years?" Henry smiles with his eyes and that’s one of the things you love about him. His boisterous laughter are not match with how his eyes light up when he sees something he likes.

My hands are getting clammy and it’ll be too rude offering wet hands to him, so instead I just smile and nod.

"Six years, to be exact." It’s hard to keep my hands to myself at this point.

“Really? Six years have passed and I didn’t even hear a single word from you.”

Well, you’re the one who left. My mouth wanted to say but my brain can never process. Talking about each other’s past is just too awkward for you but definitely not for him.

"It’s been forever since I saw you and the first time since forever that I bumped into you, you have a son? That’s really great. You’re raising him so well to be an animal lover.”

I smile and contemplate his words. And I wanted to tell him all his traits, Hunter inherited. Even the small mannerisms with his face when he’s listening to someone or something. I wanted to tell him the truth but at the same time, I wanted him to know nothing at all. So far, he hasn’t noticed anything suspicious even though he’s looking at his minime.

"It was really nice seeing you. Maybe we can hangout for a bit, so your son and my dog can hangout too." He smiles at both you and Hunter. Smiling back, I can’t even look him straight in the eye.

"Okay, Hunter, time to say goodbye." I stood up beside him and ruffled Kal's hair. Hunter hugged Kal tightly and Kal seemed to do the same and gave him extra sloppy kisses.

Everything seems to be going well when Hunter’s super observation skills surfaced.

"Kal's eyes are brown. They're not like mine."

Of course, Henry being the sweet human that he is, stopped and indulged the boy.

"Why is it?"

"Well, mine's blue. But I guess we're the same in one tiny part."

"Really?"

"My eyes are blue but my left eye has some streaks of brown in it. Just like Kal's brown eyes. Mommy said I got it from my Dad. Did Kal get it from his Daddy too?"

Oh my God. Having a smart son has his disadvantages sometimes. I mean it’s totally fine. There are a lot of men with blue eyes, the other eye with streaks of brown in them. The only problem is you’ve had sex with only one.

I just want the ground to eat you whole and spit you out in the middle of the Caribbean ocean. I can’t even look him in the eye. I can’t do this right now. I kept my head bowed down with the sole intent of shutting Hunter’s mouth before he could say anything way worse.

"Where's your Daddy now?" Henry’s curious voice wrapped you like warm silk. Wrapping you until you’re gasping for air.

"Mommy said he's not around. I really haven't seen him." Hunter fidgets with his fingers.

I nervously chuckled at Hunter’s words and decided to take the matter in my own hands. I gently coaxed and bribed him with more of his favorite food when he got home.

"Alright, honey, let's get going. Gramma will pick you up in a few."

Hunter waved incessantly at Kal and Henry while you both walked to the car. Henry somehow kept up and after fastening Hunter's car seat, Henry’s head against the half-up car window.

"Riles, we need to talk."

Hearing him call me that same pet name brought back a lot of emotional baggage I’ve been trying to get rid all this time. The tinge of desperation in his voice makes it even worse. Without saying anything, I gave him one last nod and left without answering. Keeping the tears at bay, you kept your eyes on the road or else you’ll fall apart.

[ashesandhackles]

The Hogwarts Express scene in Prince's Tale: A Sirius and Snape analysis

I really, really enjoy Sirius and Snape as characters and their respective narrative functions in story. But what gets me most about them is how much Rowling hints about their backgrounds and so much of it makes sense with regard to who they are as adults. So I am going to be breaking down a very small scene from Prince Tale and getting into long winded hypothesis about their respective childhoods.

So, let's start with Snape. The scene begins with Snape rushing to find Lily, already in his Hogwarts clothes. Harry notes he must have been eager to get out of his clothes - ones that look like he borrowed from his mother, as Petunia spitefully pointed out. This has always been a very interesting detail to me - first off, it indicates how poor Snape's family is. Second, this indicates his tiny rebellion from his father - he refuses to wear clothes of the abusive man, and prefers his mother's. I admit, I am partial to the reading that Snape refuses to associate with his father in tiny ways, rather than Tobias refusing to hand his son clothes.

(I have seen readings which say that it is also a sign of neglect - perhaps his parents bought clothes that simply don't fit him, but I am more inclined to think it's a hand me down, simply because Harry identifies so strongly with it. Because Harry knows what it is like to wear a hand me down that don't quite fit, that are too big for you, or the ones that make you look ridiculous.)

Lily and Petunia's relationship is fraught with Petunia's jealousy. And young Lily is upset over it when Snape meets her. "I am not talking to you. Tuney hates me" she tells him. "Because we saw the letter from Dumbledore". Young Lily shows signs of being extremely emotionally reactive and this scene is one of them. It's easier for her to deal with Petunia's rejection of her by telling Snape she doesn't want to talk to him. It's a childish displacement of her hurt over her sister's rejection. (I am genuinely baffled by interpretations that Lily and Hermione are similar. Hermione is very cognitive person, Lily, as we have been shown repeatedly in memories, is not).

Snape, however, with his bad history with Petunia and his inability/ poor social skills to understand why this matters to her, goes: "So what?"

Lily, who throws him a look of deep dislike, says "So she's my sister". This seed is important because this is what develops into "he doesn't get me" feeling she later displays in her teenage scenes with him. Interestingly, most of Lily's personal relationships have deeply interwined love and dislike - Petunia (whose rejection bothers her but she cheerfully informs Sirius that Harry nearly broke a vase her sister sent - which means there is resentment on her end too), James - who she was attracted to even before 7th year but also disliked at one point, and Snape - again, a contentious friendship filled with love and distance.

"She's only a -" we dont get to hear what Snape intended to say. And given his own acrimony with Petunia, it could be anything. However, I read it as "She's only a Muggle" because it ties into his feelings about his father. Snape, who is proud of being half a Prince, emphasizing his magical lineage from his mother's side, his refuge in a violent, neglectful home. (Barty Crouch Jr and Snape with their disappointing fathers - I imagine Voldemort is supremely attractive leader to people with broken homes like this)

Snape, by all accounts, shows a disorganised attachment style. His caregiver, his mother - and perhaps the only parent he seems to have regard for, is too preoccupied by her own abuse to be there for her son - we see this in glimpses Harry sees in OOTP: " woman cowering" where a man shouts at her, and a young, neglected Snape cries in the corner. Children born in homes like this have trouble regulating their emotions, simultaneously displaying tendencies to aggressively lash out or show disassociative symptoms. Both of which Snape displays. Statistically, this is also seen more in low income households where economic instability and resulting domestic instability creates an unsafe environment for the kids to safely form ideas of their identity, or express emotions in healthy ways, modelling instead out of behaviour seen at home.

Then, Snape reminds her that they are going to Hogwarts. He is already in his Hogwarts clothes - now, Snape gets to be the impressive figure. The one who told her about magic, who theorised about how Muggles get letters from magical people, the one who told her about Dementors and Azkaban. He has already left behind the Spinner's End version of him, he wants to bigger than that, and is keen to be in place of magical learning and to join Slytherin. Essentially, he shows signs of unstable identity, insecurity - all prime for grooming into a cult.

And here comes along James Potter, who looks around at the mention of Slytherin. James's comment uses Snape's line and directs it to Sirius instead and it becomes a conversation between them, as a way to bond more with a fellow "rowdy boy" Sirius. Effectively ignoring the other two.

Sirius as we see here, "does not smile" when James talks about Slytherin. He essentially says something that can be construed as a way to nip that conversation in bud: "My whole family has been in. Slytherin". This suggests to me that there is some loyalty to his family there and his disillusionment with them isn't entirely fixed yet. After all, Sirius's intense loyalty to his friends, more specifically James, did not come out of thin air. It is reasonable to suggest that he felt some loyalty to his family at some point and the intensity with which he regards his friends is a reaction to burned off and being a "displaced person without a family" as Rowling put it.

Interestingly, while his reaction to his mother and Bellatrix are obviously sore spots, his response to Regulus is comparatively quite soft. ("Stupid, idiot" - something he calls James later on in the same book, OOTP). I imagine Sirius has quite complicated feelings about his brother and he is capable of nuance (when the person isn't Snape, where his dislike seems to be borne of an intense projection): "The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". As someone who is grown up among them, Sirius would understand that.

His framing of Regulus's need to please his parents also further highlights what exactly is the source of disillusionment. He calls Regulus "soft enough to believe them" - which means he is crediting his own intelligence to see through his parents bigoted world view. Clearly, bigotry is not something the Blacks explained in a way that Sirius, eldest of their male line and their heir, bought it. It also probably didn't help the Blacks case that Grimmauld Place is in a Muggle neighborhood and that their eldest son is a bit of a wild boy with interest in pushing boundaries. His intellectual disconnect leads to the righteous rage he later feels but it began there. (Boy, it must suck to discover that everything you have been taught to value in the world and in yourself as the heir is essentially rubbish). Since his differences with his family began with seeds of intellectual disconnect rather than on intense empathy with downtrodden, it makes him, as a pureblooded privileged boy, unable to truly understand Lupin's fears regarding his lycanthropy. Hence, the Werewolf prank (I am not getting to the Snape bit, just the Lupin bit). To James' credit, he does understand what that means for Lupin and saves all three of them from different set of consequences.

Anyway, back to the scene. James, who has made an ass of himself in front of his new friend, who he was getting along with fine until now, then goes "Blimey, I thought you seemed alright". (Btw, I find James wildly large ego kind of hilarious here, especially in light of Snape's comment about him to Sirius in OOTP: "You will know he is so arrogant that criticism simply bounces off him"). Sirius, who I believe has been raised like "royalty" as Blacks would, has good enough social skills to defuse a situation. He grins and says: "Maybe I will break the tradition".

This line is an indication of Sirius's desire for independence, an identity seperate from his family. The use of the word "tradition" is interesting. It sounds like Sirius is expected to behave in a certain way, the heir of Black family whose parents thought being a Black "made you practically royal". Adult Sirius is contemptuous of this, or their "valuable contribution to Ministry" which means they just gave gold - it tells me that any and all conditions put on him by his family were to fulfill tradition that is either worthless or holds no meaning in his eyes. The root of the emotional abuse Sirius suffers from his family is this - realising his parents love for him is conditional on him being a certain way. (In fact, you can read Regulus desire to emphasise his connection to the family as a reaction to what he sees with Sirius - Sirius does not behave, Mum and Dad don't love him). As a child with unconscious knowledge of lack of love, Sirius then acts out, they react, rinse and repeat "until he has had enough". Sirius chafes against boundaries well into adulthood and doesn't react well to people enforcing it on him, even if it is out of love for him. Cue the fire scene with Harry where he behaves as if Harry is rejecting him instead of protecting him.

Sirius asks James about where he wants to go, and Snape, who is incensed about James being insulting about a House he put stock in, which he made part of new identity (so that he is no longer that Snape boy from Spinner's End) and was in general trying to be impressive about in front of Lily, "makes a disparaging noise" once James talks of Gryffindor. Snape's response to James' : "Got a problem with that?" is interesting. He says: "If you'd rather be brawny, rather than brainy-"

This is an important value for Snape. He knows he is clever and values it. He spends his spare time inventing hexes, making great shortcuts to Potions. He has genuine thirst for learning and he hones it. In SWM, we see that he has written far more longer answers than anyone else, he is poring over his paper after exams. He even mocks Hermione's lack of inventive answers: "Answer copied word to word from the textbook, but correct in essentials". He values originality. It may be me stretching this, but I am partial to the reading: this is his way of rejecting his father once again, who is implied to be a violent man. (in other words, someone who is hypermasculine - "brawny". In fact, Snape's rejection of hypermasculinity is a huge post on it's own - Potions (brewing, cauldrons - coded as feminine arts), the doe Patronus, his proficiency in Occlumency and Legliemency (intuitive mind arts, again seen archetypically feminine) etc).

"Where are you hoping to go, seeing as you are neither?" - Sirius is quick with emotionally cutting insults. Snape hasn't even finished his sentence, but Sirius is already on his case. Which suggests growing up in a household with sharp tongues. It's a fair assumption, given Mrs Black's half mad portrait. It also tallies with Sirius's talking about his mother: "My mother didn't have a heart Kreacher, she kept herself alive out of pure spite" . The wounds are fresh enough on this. (Another interesting way Snape and Sirius act as inverse mirrors - Snape rejects his father, Sirius rejects his mother. Sirius acts as proxy for James for Harry while Snape takes on Lily's role of protecting him). However, you know who else is spiteful? Sirius.

While James is the physical bully (the tripping Snape, doing most of the bullying in SWM), Sirius attacks emotionally. ( Sample the one about Snape's appearance - "I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment, there will be great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word" or even the carelessly vicious- "Put that away, before Wormtail wets himself in excitement"). Curiously, with all that talk of how his mother being spiteful, it's her room he spends time in when he is depressed. (Again, in inverse mirror way, we can talk of how Snape looks for a father figure in Dumbledore - craves his validation and is proud of Dumbledore's trust in him). We could argue it's also because Buckbeak is there, and perhaps it's the largest room in the house, but it's very telling that's where Sirius spends time when he is "in a fit of sullens". Sirius's sense of abandonment from his family, makes him look for family connections with friends - a trait he shares with Harry. Interestingly, the first time he glimpses Harry in Privet Drive, Harry is also running away from home - just like he did. Anyway, I could go on.

[randomshyperson]

Wanda Maximoff x Reader - Dating is still only about love

Summary: Based on the prompt received in AO3 "Reader is a lot like Bucky. Bucky saves Reader, and recruits him to the Avengers team. Reader and Wanda begin to develop a relationship, but it is shy and awkward because Reader is from 1940."  ///////////// Read on AO3 too

Words:  3.914k (one) //  

Warnings: 13+ Fluff and a bit of language, mentions of torture.

Notes: I think this turned out to be more about the 1940 reader in love than anything else, but I hope you enjoy it.

Part II (Special Smut request)

////////////

You are dancing to Glenn Miller in a bar in Brooklyn. Your parents would kill you if they saw you now, spinning in the arms of a stranger. But you laugh, and move your body to the music. 

And then you see Bucky and Steve, entering the place, and you let go of your partner and run to hug them.

- Hi, boys! - You greet them with a smile that they respond to.

- Someone is cheerful. - Bucky jokes looking at your slightly alcoholic state. 

You fake a serious expression. 

- Are you implying that your superior is drunk, Sergeant Barnes?

Bucky laughs at your imitation of an authoritative voice, and you turn to Steve, who looks mildly annoyed. 

- Hey, Rogers. Why the long face? - you ask, and he shrugs. You can tell by Bucky's expression. He had been rejected from the army again, and you let out a sigh and decide to cheer him up. - Come on, Steve! Let's dance!

You pull him by the hand before he can refuse. And eventually, he laughs. Bucky joins you next, and the three of you spin around the room, your steps out of sync as you laugh.

/-/

You try to move but there is something holding you to the surface where you are lying. And then you try to scream for help, but there is something in your mouth that prevents you from doing so. 

You widen your eyes with surprise when a man dressed in white appears in your field of vision, and he fits something cold to your head.

You grumble against the tightness in your mouth, but he just gives you a mocking smile.

- Vital signs? - He speaks in German. You close your eyes tightly when a light goes on in front of you.

- Stable. - Says a second voice in the room that you don't know where it comes from.

- Good. You can apply now.

And then you feel your veins burn, and you scream, but your scream is muffled by the object in your mouth. The pain chokes you until you can't see anything anymore.

/-/

Someone is pulling you. You blink to regain consciousness, but it takes a long time. You are tired, but there is a feeling that is in your body that you don't know.

- Hey, Y/N. - You hear someone calling, and then you take a breath trying to remember. - Can you hear me? Can you walk?

- Bucky... - You grumble and accept the arm he offers you to get up. - Where the...?

- We don't have time, we need to get out of here.

And then you are running out of the compound where you were being held prisoner. Bucky is wearing the same clothes as you. And then you see Steve, but he looks nothing like the Steve you knew. This Steve is tall, and muscular, but still has the same gentle look as your friend. But you don't have time to ask.

-/-/ 

You haven't rested for a long time. But that's okay, you want to help your country win the war. You want to help Steve, and you believe in him. And so you and Bucky jump on a train for him.

- Watch out! - You warn your friends, and they just shrug as they smile.

And things go well for about five minutes, and then one of the Hydra soldiers has a gun pointed at Bucky, and the next second you are jumping on the man. 

When Bucky goes to help you, a second man appears. A grenade explodes ripping out half the compartment and you hear a whistle in your ear. You manage to knock out the man who pinned you down, but then someone kicks you in the back out of the train. You grab the metal bar, and when Bucky is thrown out, you hold him fast. 

You see Steve run up to you two, his hand outstretched in the air to reach you. And then the iron breaks and you both fall.

-/-/

You wake up in a jolt, in a cold sweat. And there are chains on your wrists. You let out an angry grunt.

No one tells you who these men who test you are. And every time you scream or try to free yourself, they inject something that makes you lethargic, and vulnerable. And then they electrocute your mind, and you forget any flash of memory that might appear.

As long as you don't remember who you are, you accept every command they give you.

-/-/

You use a pillar of the building next to you to protect yourself from gunfire. You are starting to get annoyed. 

Your mission is to eliminate the Winter Soldier, or divergent soldier, as your leader has begun to call him.

But he is being particularly difficult to eliminate, especially since there is a man with a shield and a woman with a machine gun protecting him. 

And then you use bombs, and disarm them. The men who came with you keep them busy while you run towards your target, and throw him to the ground with a blow to his ribs.

You arm your knife, but he gets up quickly, fending off every attack as skillfully as you do.

And then he hits you in the face, and your mask falls off. You have a gun pointed at his face next, but the completely shocked look on his face makes you hesitate.

- Y/N? 

- I don't... - You find yourself talking, but then there is a second explosion that distracts you, and then the man disarms you.

You strike back, knocking him to the ground. But you run away, and on your way back to the Hydra establishments, you say that you have lost sight of him.

-/-/

You are being punished. Again. You've been failing a lot in your tests, and you've been unstable for weeks. You don't want to obey any of those people, you want to go back to the man on the road who knew you and ask him about your life.

And then there are shocks in your head, but you don't forget. And then they throw you into a cell, saying that the madness from hunger will take away any memory from you.

But then there are loud noises that you think are coming from bombs. And then the man in the road is in front of your cell, and he rips the door off with a metal arm, and reaches out to help you up.

-/-/

It takes time to get your memories back. But it happens. And you cry a lot when you remember everything.

You remember your hometown, your parents, your pet dog. You remember jogging down the street from your house, and playing ball with the kids. You remember punching a boy in the face because he pushed Steve Rogers off a swing. You remember delivering a frog you found on the sidewalk into Bucky Barnes' hand. You remember finding Bucky and Steve kissing in the alley behind your house and remember promising to keep it a secret when they cry. 

You remember entering the US Army before Bucky. You remember the training, and the battles, and most of all the war. And then you feel your heart fill with warmth and longing when you remember the dances. So many parties where you went jazz dancing, most of them with Bucky and Steve.

You lose your breath when you remember Hydra. When you remember the experiments, and the murders. But Bucky holds your hand, and assures you that you are the same girl who danced with your two best friends at the prom even when the most handsome young man in high school asked for a dance, and assures you that you are not what Hydra wanted you to become. You repeat the same words to him, and you hold each other for a while.

-/-/

Bucky wants you to join the Avengers. He has been a member for a few months, and then he rescued you, and he doesn't want you to just hang around like him. He wants to help you, and he wants you to have a home.

When you nod in agreement, he hugs you.

-/-/

- Here is your room. - Said Bucky as he led you down a long hallway in the Avengers compound. He held your bag, even though you said there was no need for it.

You entered the space, and you let out an impressed hiss. It was definitely better than the motels and well, any place you had actually been sleeping in all these years.

- When you're ready, come meet the rest of the team. - He said as he left his suitcase on the bed. He flashes you a smile before leaving.

You look around, still impressed. It would be strange to call this place a home, but you were willing to give it a try. Besides this, your best friends were here. There was nothing to be scared of.

-/-/

You were wrong. 

Everything was perfectly under control, you smiled and waved politely to all the Avengers, and even laughed at Tony Stark's jokes. And then you met Wanda Maximoff, leaving training and arriving late for your introduction to the team and looking absolutely stunning.

- Hi, sorry I'm late everybody. - She said as she entered the room. And then her gaze fell on you, and she gave an embarrassed smile as she held out her hand. - I'm Wanda, I think we're going to be door-mates.

Unable to form a coherent sentence, you just smiled awkwardly, shaking Wanda's hand, and hoping that she didn't think you were a complete idiot. 

And then Bucky and Steve finished introducing you to the team, and everyone went back to their activities.

You let your gaze linger on Wanda, before quickly turning away, blushing. It was amazing how unlucky you were. You had barely arrived, and already you had a crush.

-/-/

Things are going well, you think. You got along with everyone on the team, you did well in practice, and you had a secret crush on Wanda. Maybe the last part wasn't so good, but you are optimistic.

You eventually realized that Wanda was quite anti-social, and didn't talk much with the other team members.

That might have made things difficult, because if she had a close friend, you could ask this friend to speak well of you.

You grumbled to yourself as you cooked your dinner. You were used to preparing your meals, and almost always the other avengers joined you. When the food started to smell, they appeared. 

- Great! Y/N food. - Tony said as soon as he entered the room, and you giggled. You were stirring the sauce when Wanda came into the kitchen. She smiled at you as she walked towards you and you tried to hide your nervousness.

- Wow, this looks tasty. - She said, looking at the contents of the pot. You smiled, handing her the spoon in your hand. She then tasted some of the sauce, and let out a satisfied groan. You tried not to stare so hard at her lips. - This is delicious.

You just nodded with flushed cheeks, and Wanda gave you a curious look before turning toward the table.

You decided that you had better do something soon or she would think you were completely crazy. 

And then that night, after dinner, you called Bucky up to your room.

- You have to help me with something! - you told him as you walked in. You slumped in your chair, tapping your feet on the floor in nervousness, and he sat down across from you.

- What was it? Did something happen? - he asked worriedly.

- I need to ask a girl out!

You look surprised. And then you laugh.

- I thought it was something bad. - He grumbles, leaning back in his chair.

- It's not bad, it's terrible! - You replied, running your hands through your hair. - I have no idea how to ask a girl out! In fact, I never knew how to ask anyone out. The boys did it in '36s.

Bucky laughs at your desperation, and you bury your face in your hands.

- Hey, calm down. - He says, straightening his posture and looking at you tenderly. - I swear dating is still as hard as it was in the 40s. 

- Was that supposed to make me feel better? - You grumble as you take your face out of his hands and look at him. Bucky laughs.

- I was going to say that, regardless of the era, dating is still about liking someone. - He replies. - It's scary, but you can do it. Why don't you try inviting her over as a friend?

You stand thoughtfully for a moment.

- I don't understand. - You say. - How does the date work between friends?

Bucky laughed again.

- It's not a date, Y/N. - he says. - It's just a hangout among friends.

You frown.

- But I like her. 

- Wow, you're difficult. - Bucky scoffs lightly. - People in this century go on unromantic walks together all the time.

- That sounds like a lie. - You retort with a smile, Bucky laughs. - And how will she know that I like her?

- You tell her. 

You let out a nervous laugh.

- Worst possible idea. - You grumble as you throw your back into your chair. - Besides, I haven't seen you date anyone since '35. I think I'll ask someone else for advice. - You mock lightly, and Bucky rolls his eyes humorously.

- I've been busy. - he says. - By the way, have you ever seen what they call dating apps? It's creepy.

You laugh and nod, and Bucky moves to reach for his cell phone. He spends the rest of the day showing you how dating works in this century, and you laugh a lot.

-/-/

You made too much hot chocolate. Maybe it was on purpose.

What is relevant is that you are walking toward Wanda's room, carrying a mug for her. 

Bucky was in the kitchen with you, and when he got some of the drink, he said that the opportunity for you to make conversation with Wanda was right in front of you.

So here you were, trying not to look so anxious as you knocked on the door.

When Wanda opened the door, she was wearing a sweatshirt and looked comfortable and very pretty. You thought you were staring, so you hurried to say:

- H-hi. I brought you some chocolate. - You say and Wanda looks surprised, but smiles.

- That's very sweet, thank you. - She says to you as she accepts the drink. You feel your cheeks heat up as your hands rub together for a brief moment.

And then a noise you knew well can be heard, and you let out a surprised exclamation.

- Wow, you like Sweet American Family? - you asked excitedly when you noticed the old sitcom you used to watch playing on the in-room television. 

Wanda raised her eyebrow slightly in surprise, and then gave you space to enter the room, and your body just followed the cue automatically, too excited about the show, without really thinking that you were walking into Wanda's room.

- Do you know it? - She replies with surprise and you laugh as you approach the television.

- Of course I do! - you reply excitedly. - I used to watch it with my parents.

Wanda takes a sip of her drink while you stare at the television.

- Watch it with me, then.

It takes a second for you to register the invitation, and your heart races, but you nod with a smile, and watch Wanda sit on her own bed, and pat the duvet for you to join her. Trying not to look like a complete mess, you follow her.

You watch in silence for a few minutes, and a joke later you are used to Wanda's presence.

- So how accurate is this show? - She asks with a smile, leaving her mug on the small table. You sigh thoughtfully.

- Well, we didn't used to eat in our rooms. - You comment, watching the scene on television, and Wanda nods looking interested. - But they got the bad food right, and the tight clothes and weird social rules.

Wanda giggles and goes back to watching. And then the episode switches to a romantic scene, two teenagers talking at school.

- Wow, that was scary. - You comment watching the boy try to invite the girl for a walk.

Wanda looks at you curiously, wanting to know more. You smile.

- The kids used to wait for us in between classes. - You tell her. - And they were very obvious about it. Usually the whole school knew that you were going on a date with someone. 

- Have you been on many dates?

You giggle.

- I didn't like the boys at my high school very much. - You confess. - But I liked to dance. And so they called me to dances, and I said yes. And then I was enlisted, and I started hanging out with the soldiers. It was fun.

- Sounds like great. - She comments with a smile. - In a way, it seems like it was easier.

You let out a surprised exclamation, laughing lightly.

- Wanda, no way! - You respond with humor. - It was horrible! Scary! And all the dates were ultra official, and people expected you to be engaged! Bucky told me that nowadays people go out as friends? That is impressive.

Wanda laughs, and leans on the bed crossing her legs and turning completely toward you.

- But people aren't as romantic as they used to be! - she smiles back. You imitate her position, while you ignore the TV show to talk. - No one seems anxious or shy about going out anymore. There are no flowers, or requests to hold your hand. People just text you to get laid.

You feel your cheeks heat up a little, but laugh at the comment. And then you have an idea.

- I would like to invite you to something. - You say, surprising Wanda suddenly. You swallow your nervousness. - A proper evening out, like the one you saw on TV.

-W-what?

- A date, Wanda. - You clarify with a blush. - But it's okay if you don't want to...

- I do. - She interrupts with a shy smile. - I'd love to go for on a date with you.

You smile, looking away. And the credits music for the episode begins to rise.

- When do you want to go? - you ask her, twiddling your fingers nervously.

- As soon as possible, I'm excited. - She says with a smile, and you let out a giggle. Then you get out of bed.

- Okay, then, Miss Maximoff. - you say with a smile. - I need time to organize this, so I'll pick you up here in your room tomorrow at seven?

- Sounds great. - Wanda agrees with a smile. 

You nod slightly before leaving the room. When you are walking down the hallway, you can't stop smiling.

-/-/

Wanda was wearing a simple, blue dress in the same 40s style when you picked her up. You choked in surprise, thinking she looked absolutely stunning. And she blushed and thanked you when you told her so.

Tony lent you one of his classic cars, and you drove to the sounds of old jazz toward the carnival that was set up in town that week. You didn't notice Wanda looking at you as you hummed the song.

The park was very busy, and they had many entertainment options, but you made sure to ask what Wanda wanted to do.

You competed in the bumper cars and laughed every time your cars hit each other. Wanda threw her head back laughing, and everything seemed to go in slow motion with the image.

And then you went on several other attractions, and then she pointed to the Ferris wheel. 

You both let out excited sighs as the cabin began to rise.

- Wow, this is amazing! - She commented excitedly, you agreed as you looked down, seeing the ground getting farther and farther away.

- The Ferris wheels were smaller. - You say, and Wanda lets out a giggle.

- Are you going to tell me you are afraid of heights now?

You laugh lightly and look at Wanda.

- If I had, and I had accepted your invitation, would I look braver? - You retort sheepishly. Wanda bites her lip thoughtfully, but still smiles.

- Why does it matter, are you trying to impress me?

You look away in surprise, and feel your cheeks heat up. Well, Bucky had told you to be honest after all.

- Only if it's working. - You retort with a slight insecurity in your voice. Wanda smiles though.

- Oh, believe me. It's working very well. - She answers finally, and then you two are on the top.

You try not to blush so much at Wanda's affirmation, and you bite back the smile on your lips. And then she asks you about the dances of your day, and you almost forget to be nervous.

And then you walked side by side off the Ferris wheel, and you took her to see the shooting games, and when you hit all the targets, she whispered that being a trained sniper should be considered cheating. You won many tickets, and you carried the big teddy bear you won for Wanda.

You take her to eat cotton candy, and you laugh as you share the flavors. And then you think you have seen all the toys and are walking back to the car, smiling.

Wanda keeps the teddy inside the back seat, but doesn't get into the vehicle. From your position, the distant light of the Ferris wheel partially illuminates the parking lot, and Wanda's green orbs catch your eye.

- Did you enjoy the evening, Wanda? - you ask her as you approach. She is leaning on the car door, and smiles at you tenderly.

- I loved it. - She confesses. - I didn't want to leave.

You chuckle shyly, looking down at your shoes.

- We can do it again. - You say. - I could take you dancing.

Wanda lets out an excited exclamation.

- Please, I'd love to. - She says, smiling. You think your heart will explode with happiness.

You are silent for a moment, and then Wanda straightens her posture, slightly shy.

- I think we missed something on our walk.

- What? - You look at her anxiously, but Wanda smiles tenderly.

- You didn't ask to hold my hand.

You let out a shy little laugh, coming closer. You stop a step away from Wanda, and hold out your hands. Wanda smiles, and raises her hands to yours. You let your hands fall together at the front of your bodies, waving them lightly as you kept they together.

- How did these walks used to end? - Wanda asks softly, you think that the closeness is preventing you from thinking correctly.

- I would lead you to your front door. - You say. - And you would decide if I deserve a kiss on the cheek.

Wanda smiles, blushing. She looks away quickly, and sighs lightly. You were going to ask if everything was okay, but her sentence makes your mind shut down.

- I want to kiss you now. - she confesses. And then she brings your faces together until your foreheads rest against each other. - Is that okay?

- Yes.

And then the distance is broken. Wanda kisses you on the mouth gently, and you sigh at the sensation. You think that maybe you shouldn't kiss like that on a first date, but your tongue asks for passage and Wanda accepts. And then you have her pressed against the car.

It feels good, and it makes your heart race, and it's the best you've felt since 1940.

[prfctethereal]

Can you write James Potter smut please. Thank you

frosted hearts. | james potter

pairing: single dad!james potter x preschool teacher!reader

word count: 3.5k

warnings: NSFW. smut, sub!james, dom!reader, talk of masturbation, talk of punishment, mommy kink, praise kink, tit sucking, thigh riding, slap and degrading kink only for a short amount of time at the end

summary: you are harry’s preschool teacher and one day james is late to picking his son up from school

**

It was hard to be around screaming toddlers, all day, every day. By the end of your long shifts, your head was blistered by the engraved sound of whining, moaning, and that smacking sound the children make with their lips.

But for the most part, you loved being around kids. Their tenderness brought so much joy to you and you were happy to have become an early childhood teacher. Your workplace was loving, with your fellow teachers continuously supporting you through everything. Even the kids were decently nice.

The age old stigma that kids were devil spawn seemed like the most foreign concept to as you coddled a near sleeping three year old, his warm body curled up to your side. Reading a children’s story to the kids, you felt so much adoration for the children around you, enough to make your cheeks rouge. All of them looked at you with doe eyes as you finished the last page.

“And the princess and the prince fell in love and lived happily ever after.” You closed the book with a soft clap. “The end.”

Looking around, the children beamed, flashing their pearly, toothy smiles towards you. In that moment, you felt at peace, almost content, knowing that you were bringing enjoyment to the kids surrounding you. Gently, you stroked the arm of the nearest child, Harry, as he slowly unraveled from your side.

“Miss?” Harry asked placidly, his tiny fingers down playing with the hem of your skirt. He looked up at you, fluttering his long eyelashes.

“Yes, Harry?” You responded, once you knew that he wasn’t going to speak without permission.

“Do you have a prince?”

At those words, you frowned, your smile disappearing from your face. Admittedly, you have been quite lonely for the past year. Focusing on work has been devastating for your social life. After your messy breakup with your previous partner, you felt like it was unnecessary to rush into another relationship. Quickly enough, those days turned into months, and eventually a year. Your dry spell was becoming quite unbearable.

As the winter months closed in, you wished for more comfort at night. The smoking fireplace could only fill your lonely apartment with so much warmth before you got desperate - needy - for something more. Some nights were spent with your fingers curled up into your cunt, tight from the months of neglect, desperately trying to churn some pleasure out of you, but, there was only so much your own fingers could do. They couldn’t go nearly as deep enough, or stretch you nearly as much as you so deeply desired. You were starting to become flustered just thinking about it.

“No.” Your reply was short, until you realised the kids around you would want a longer explanation. Sighing, you folded your hands in your lap, pursing your lips forward. “I’m not a princess of any sort. Even then, sometimes people don't have someone with them.”

“Just like my Daddy.” Harry babbled unprompted, dawdling away from you to join the midst of his pre-school friends. “He is all alone too.”

You knew Harry’s father, and just the thought of him made you curl your toes in delight. He was one of the most handsome men you had ever seen. Deep hazel eyes that light up when he laughs. Plump pink lips that frame his mischievous smile. Strong, muscular arms, complimenting his toned hands, that you can imagine wrapped around your neck...

Before you could even process the dubious insult thrown your way, you felt a sprinkling of fingers press lightly against your shoulders, snapping you out of your daze. Furrowing your eyebrows, you traveled your eyeline up, locking eyes with another teacher who worked there, Lily.

She looked absolutely wrecked. You knew she had been on the phone for most of the afternoon, for reasons you didn’t know, but you expected that you were going to be told now, as she beckoned you away from the kids.

“One moment.” You held up your finger, showing the kids an example of counting. As you walked away, you saw the kids out of the corner of your eye. They too had one finger in the air, repeating the same word - “One!” - over and over to each other. It was very cute.

“Roads have been closing because of the weather.” Lily started, her nimble fingers gesturing out of the frosted window panes. She was right; the roads were starting to look pretty bad. A thin layer of snow seemed to be shredding downwards, coating the town like powdered sugar. The sun stayed behind the clouds, not even daring to peek through, keeping the town in a cold flurry, and keeping the children inside. This was going to be a long shift.

“So, we’ll have to stay here longer tonight?” You asked, an exasperated sigh leaving your lips. You brought the pads of your index fingers up to the window pane, feeling the chill of the temperature seem into your skin. WIthout realising it, you traced a heart shape into the frost, your own heart sighing as you exhaled.

“Hopefully not.” Lily replied. “I’ve contacted all the parents and have told them to come pick up their kids as soon as possible. This storm seems to not be slowing down any time soon. So, potentially, we might be able to go home early, if the children all get picked up before the snow gets too thick. And, don’t bother coming in tomorrow. The snow’s gonna settle, meaning there will be road closure all across town.”

“Great.” A sarcastic laugh poured from your mouths as you turned back to the kids, who were still being occupied by the thought of having one finger in the air. “We should start getting them ready then.”

You and Lily worked diligently side by side, bundling the kids up in layers of soft clothing, keeping them secure from the storm. The kids joined in too, helping to clean the classroom, picking up litter off of the floor, and clearing off tables. As you sprayed down the surfaces of the tables and kitchen counters, you hummed a soft tune, getting into the rhythm of cleaning.

While you were occupied with cleaning, parents started arriving, greeting their kids with loving smiles and gentle touches. You melted as the kids ran excitedly into their parents arms, wrapping themselves around their mums and dads, wishing to not let go. In those sweet moments, you felt a fleeting pang of loneliness. You longed for your own child, and with that, a loyal husband. You breathed out a sigh, something that was becoming quite regular for you by now.

As more and more parents arrived, you saw the sun trickle behind the horizon. Soon, the night sky appeared, painting the sky in hues of indigo and cerulean. As much as you loved the night, you didn’t love the idea of being stuck here all night, and neither did Lily, who was looking even more restless than you.

Her ginger hair fell across her face, partially blocking her vision as she lethargically signed out the second to last kid. Deep, violet bags were forming under her eyes, her skin borderline white from her exhaustion. It was getting hard to look at.

“Why don’t you just go home?” Your offer made Lily perk her head up. “You look way too tired to even continue standing on two feet.”

“I couldn't do that to you.” Lily yawned, clasping her perfectly manicured hand over her mouth. “And besides, Harry hasn’t been picked up yet. I still have to do my job.”

You looked at her with pity in your eyes. You hadn’t seen her this exhausted in years, and you knew her anxiety was bubbling up as more and more snow fell onto the ground. “Please just go Lily. It’s only Harry; I can monitor him by myself. You need to get home before the snow gets heavier.” Before she could butt in, you continued. “Besides, Harry much prefers me over you.”

Lily laughed, closing you tightly into a friendly hug. “Thank you so much. I’ll get you back another day. Are you sure you’re all good closing up on your own?”

“Go home.” You waved her away dismissively. Lily bounced around and in only five minutes, she had collected herself, and had dashed out the door, leaving only you and Harry in the pre-school.

He was looking quite tired himself, which was understandable. By now, it was nearly eight o’clock at night, a time you knew was well past his bedtime. Harry had curled himself up on one of the naptime beds himself, his raven hair falling over his eyes. Staying by his side, you caressed his back, until he fell into a soft slumber.

You felt lonely again. Harry was asleep and there was nothing left for you to do until Harry’s father arrived to pick him up. You knew a few things about Harry’s father, from the fleeting conversations you had had over the time Harry had been at this school. You knew his name was James, and he looked like heaven. Everytime you glanced his way, you felt yourself grow wet. It probably was a problem, but your secret crush didn’t hurt anyone, so you kept it secret.

Long after it had become dark, you finally saw canary coloured headlights glint in the distance. It was a relatively nice car, something you’d expect a well paid ministry worker, like James, to drive. You watched attentively as the car parked slowly and surely. Then, the car door opened, and you got your first look of James for the day.

He definitely looked a little tired but there was something endearing about it. His fluffy brown hair was slightly disheveled, as if he had run his fingers through it greatly. His round glasses sat low on his nose bridge, with his natural eyes scanning the area. There, he locked eyes with you through the window, the same window you had drawn your pathetic heart on. Right then, James was positioned right in the middle of the heart, condensation like a halo.

Before you knew it, James had opened up the door into the school, realising a sigh of relief when he was hit by the warmth of the classroom. Dramatically, he closed the door behind him, leaning up against the frame, apologies falling from his lips like rain from the sky.

“I’m so sorry I was late. Traffic was crazy. Too many road closures.” James seemed frantic, but the solidarity of the preschool was definitely calming his mood down.

“There’s no need to apologise, Mr Potter. Harry is delightful to look after.”

“Please,” James held out his hand, “call me James.” You intertwined your fingers with hsi, shaking his hand ever so lightly, the same hand you had fantasised about. It was everything you dreamed of.

“I should drive Harry home now.” James broke the silence, his voice cutting through the tension, making you want to salivate. You didn’t like the idea of James driving in his state, especially since he looked so tired. If anything, he would need some caffeine in him before the journey.

You reached your hand up, stroking his right cheek with your left hand, concern filling your eyes. “Oh, please James, you look so tired. Let me make you a cup of tea before you journey back home. You look as though you need it.”

James chuckled. “Alright then, just one though. Besides, Harry seems to be having a lovely nap. Wouldn't want to disturbed him now, would we?”

You guided James into the back kitchen through a secret door. Here was your break room where you could have some peace and quiet away from the kids. It was one of your favourite places in the entire school, because even though you loved the kids, sometimes you just needed a place to help you unwind, and unwind you did. Countless times you had fallen asleep back here and had dreamed of James.

“We have Earl Grey. Is that okay?” You looked through your cupboards, eyes locking onto a small red box, tea bags flooding out of it. Personally, you weren’t a big fan of it, that's why there were still so many, but James didn’t seem to mind it.

“Please, sounds lovely, dear.”

You worked in silence, turning the kettle on to boil. Carefully, you dunked a tea bag into a mug, swirling it around in your fingers as you waited for the water to boil. The emptiness of volume was killing; you could’ve heard a pin drop. James was the one to speak up first.

“Harry really likes you. He talks about you often.”

“Oh really?” You chuckled in disbelief, facing away from James, fiddling with some lint of your sweater.

“Yes. Sometimes, he even calls you Mum. I’m happy that he has a mother figure like you to look after him.” You chuckled when hearing James’ words, which confused him. “Why are you laughing?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” You said, reaching for the kettle. “He’s just not the only one to have called me Mommy before.”

James furrowed his brows, even more confused. “You have kids of your own?”

“Not quite.” You swung your head around, throwing James a cheeky grin. That’s when he understood what you meant. He gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat, his pants seeming just a bit tighter than before. It was definitely hotter in the room.

“What normally happens when people call you that?” James asked, testing the waters. As you stood to move around, the chair scraped against the wooden floors, alerting you of his prowling presence.

When he was a mere inch away from you, you smirked once again. “Why don’t you kiss me and find out?” You weren’t sure where this rush of confidence was coming from but you both seemed to not want to slow down.

Consciously, James raised his hand to your cheek, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear. His soft hands lingered a little too long, before his eyes flickered downwards towards your lips. You knew what he wanted, but you never took him for the shy type. Something about this made you aroused. Needing relief desperately, you lunged forwards, connecting your lips to his.

It was everything you thought it would be. Hungry, passionate, skilled. Your lips melded perfectly together with his, as his lips sucked gently on your top lip. Yearning for something more, you moved your hands down to his ass, giving James an experimental squeeze. Just like how you wanted, he gasped, giving you the perfect entrance to insert your tongue into his ready mouth. He moaned, his lips vibrating against you.

“Show your Mommy how much you need her.” You pulled away, whispering those words at the shell of his ear. You could hear James whimper in front of you, positioning himself so he was straddling one of your thighs, as you were pushed up against the counter tops.

James’ fingers worked at the hem of your sweater. Eager to remove as many clothes as possible from you, he tugged at the edge, slow whimpers escaping his pretty mouth, as you tilted your head down to his neck, aching to leave soft love bites on his skin.

He was getting needier and more submissive by the minute, but to you, he was acting like a brat. “That’s not how we ask for something we want, is it baby? Use your words.”

“Please Mommy, may I take your sweater off?”

With a curt nod, you obliged, watching James’ eyes light up in fascination. Quickly, he pulled your sweater over your head, glad to see that your thin shir had stuck to the material of your sweater, leaving you in just a bra on top. His eyes were transfixed by the way your nipples were hard on your pert breasts, sticking out from your bra.

“Can I take your bra off please, Mommy?” James’ hands had already made their way around your torso, preparing for the inevitable.

“Yes love, good boy for asking.” You felt James grow harder against your thigh as you praised him, a thought that made you smirk in delight and what could be in store.

Like you were made of glass, James slipped the bra off of your shoulders, dragging it slowly off of your arms. You knew he wasn’t teasing on purpose, as it seemed that he was distracted by the sight of your tits, but you needed relief anyway, bucking your thigh up against his crotch as encouragement. “They’re all yours.”

Delighted, James leaned in, his whole mouth engulfing your nipple. With vigour, he bagan sucking, the pleasure of it going straight down into your core. You moaned loudly, something you learned that egged James on. Greedily, he started rubbing his hands down your side, eager to feel all of your skin. You didn’t mind though, as you were lost in your own moment.

“Good- good boy.” You stuttered out as James’ mouth left the centre of the nipple, beginning to suck small bruises into the side of your boob. Normally, you would punish him - well, anyone - for doing that without permission, but you didn’t care at that moment.

Content with his handiwork, James moved onto your next nipple, ready to give you the same amount of pleasure as last time. As he worked your nipple to a bright scarlet like the last one, you noticed a curious movement with his hips. Looking down, you saw James, rutting his hips into you, humping your thigh as if he was a bitch in heat. You moaned at the sight.

“You like that, huh? You like,” -  you jolted your thigh upwards - “Mommy’s thigh?”

“Mmm, so good.” James mumbled against your tit. You knew he was close to coming, but you weren’t quite done with him yet. Pulling him away from your body, you looked into his eyes to see a hurt expression, something you didn’t like seeing. Luckily, it wasn’t going to last long.

“If you can make Mommy cum from your tongue, then I’ll let you cum on my thigh, alright?” With an excited nod of his head, James immediately sunk to his knees, diving his head underneath your skirt. His fingers worked quickly, stretching the fabric of your panties to the side so he had the best access possible. When you heard a muffled “Oops” against your thigh, you could tell that your panties had snapped from James’ force, but you didn’t mind. He made up for it by being so damn skilled.

He dove in nearly straight away, his tongue licking straight up the lips of your cunt, lapping at it as if it was his first ever meal. The end of his tongue teased the entrance to your velvet walls, pressing in ever so slightly and pulling away, creating tension and frustration for you. But it felt so good.

“Feels so good, darling. Doing so good, my good boy. My good, good boy.” You knew he was spurred on by praise, so you gave him what he needed. Threading your fingers in his hair, you held him down slightly, taking the tiniest amount of control back.

When he began sucking at your clit, that's when you really felt the tide going out. It was ebbing at your senses, the only indication being your shaking body and the mewling whimpers coming from your mouth. This only encouraged James further to topple you over the edge.

Slowly, James brought his fingers up to your cunt, teasing your entrance with his finger. Then, he slipped it inside of you, feeling the way you clenched around his finger. You were so tight that James dreamed of how you would feel around his cock, these thoughts going straight to his straining dick in his pants. He needed relief, so he worked faster, inserting another finger and pumping faster.

You were so close by now. The combined stimulation of James’ lips suctioning at your clit and his fingers working in and out of you was too much. With one last hard suck, you felt your orgaasm wash over you like a tsunami. You could hardly hold yourself up, and that was evident by the way you toppled to your side. The only reason you didn’t hit the floor was because of James’ lightning fast reflexes, keeping you upright.

“Did I do good, Mommy?” James asked, his shiny eyes looking up at you with adoration, his lips glistening with your cum. You smiled sweetly down at him, stroking his cheek with your hand, until you pulled it back and gave him a harsh slap across his face.

“It was so good baby, but I thought I said only using your tongue?” James had the look of realisation on his face, but you kept going. “Naughty boys who don’t follow rules have to be punished, and I don't think you want to get put in the Naughty Corner, do you?”

James whimpered, but it sounded like he was enjoying the degradation. A smile spread across your face.

“Oh so you do? Good boy.”

[fureliselost]

Hi, I was doing some thinking (and we all know that's a dangerous thing). Just random thinking. It ventured vaguely into DP territory and Brainy said "HOLD UP BITCH LEMME AU THIS" so here we go:

Sam Fenton AU.

Ok, that's not an accurate name because in this AU it would also be Danny Manson.

And Brainy also said "Valerie Foley/Tucker Gray" but didn't elaborate, so lemme elaborate on the first part before I figure that out.

Ok, so Sam is Phantom in this AU, she's Jack and Maddie's younger child instead of Danno. She's still her activist, vegan, goth self; except it has a little less "why can't my parents accept me for who I am" and a little more "screw society", because here she would've been, like Danny was in canon, basically a social pariah without having done anything to deserve it.

She, like Jazz, takes this one thing about her (being goth/alt) and maximizes it so that people will stop thinking of her as the "Fentons' child" and start thinking of her as her own person (even if her own person is viewed as "the freaky goth").

Unlike Danny, Sam joins Jazz in taking a stand against Jack and Maddie because "why can't you be normal parents".

Her relationship with Jazz would be a little different from Danny's. In this situation, Jazz wouldn't be as overprotective as she was with Danny because I can see Sam learning how to take care of herself and how to handle things in a way more similar to Jazz. The part about Jazz being overbearing, though? Not different. Jazz and Sam would bicker a lot too, there would be a lot of Jazz talking about Sam's "phase" and Sam complaining that Jazz tries to adequate herself to society's standards.

Danny in this AU is fun (as in, fun for me :))) ), his parents (Mr & Mrs Manson) had him study in private school in middle school but he convinced them to let him go to Casper High for High school. I pictured him having a sorta Lane Kim (Gilmore Girls) relationship with his parents, in that he pretends to be a good little boy who gets good grades, but in reality he hunts ghosts with Sam and Valerie and listens to rock (on Control Freaks he literally brings Sam a cd of his from a bad called Morbid Antisocial Youth, so that part is canon). I can imagine some scene like one from GG where Lane had a band shirt and when she took it off there was another one underneath written "Trust God", so someone asks "is that a band" and she answers "no, my life".

Valerie in this AU is supposed to be to Sam what Tucker is to Danny in canon, but also what Tucker is to Sam. She's not a social outcast tho. She used to be an A-lister but left/was kicked out when -- hold -- Tucker got into the A-listers. She's still very much that no-nonsense 8th degree belt (or 9th, idk the term) badass and, man, does she rock some guns/Fenton creep stick.

Our beloved Tucker is Valerie in this AU. He is an A-lister and uses some of his talent for technology to be the school blogger -- so even after the Cujo event, he's not completely demoted from the social ladder. But, boy, is he every bit as furious as Valerie was after the Cujo incident. He becomes the Red Hunter (Maybe I'll switch the color to Yellow or Green), yada-yada.

I was thinking about the whole GrayGhost romance, and like... Sam and Tucker would never date in this AU because Tucker is an A-lister, even if he's the one who doesn't beat anyone up. Valerie is also unlikely because, well, he's the reason she's not an A-lister anymore. But you know who doesn't have many objections towards Tucker? Danny-boy. I picture that they start talking via Doom and things go up from there.

Anyway, this is my crazy take on the Sam Switch AU (not the best name, but whatever), have a bad edit: